LOCAL NEWS

One minute = $1,000

One minute was all it took. University of Dayton student Lori Hanna convinced the judges she had a winning business idea that could improve medical treatment in developing countries and empower a group of entrepreneurial Nicaraguan women.

Hanna’s presentation for Las Mujeres Solares de Totogalpa (Solar Women of Totogalpa), a solar-powered sterilizer for medical equipment, won $1,000 in the elevator pitch contest and a chance to win $10,000 in the 2007 University of Dayton Business Plan Competition.

“We're trying to teach students how to differentiate themselves from others and stand out. When you actually have to make an elevator speech in front of an audience and compete for real money, it raises the stakes,” said Dean McFarlin, chair of the management and marketing department and the NCR Professor of Global Leadership Development at UD.

Judges selected five finalists to develop full business plans for feasible, profitable and innovative products worthy of going to market for a March presentation and a total $20,000 in prize money.

The other four finalists are: Portable/Collapsible DisplayBoard, portable scoreboard for youth sporting events, by Lauren Ruff; Sonne Light Sentry System, wireless automated lighting system, by Elyse Dull; Deck Works, modular outdoor deck system, by Michael Weaver; and Wheelin’ Water, portable 65-gallon water cooler, by James Parks.

“The elevator pitch was a little bit out of my comfort zone,” said Hanna, a senior mechanical engineering major. “There was just so much I’ve learned about international development and how to make this thing work. We’re trying hard to make sure the women keep ownership.”

While the focus of the competition is business, the project to create and markeet the solar sterilizer, also called an autoclave, taps other expertise at the University including engineering, international development and social entrepreneurship, she said. The project, the basis of her senior honors thesis, grew from a two-month internship in a rural village in Nicaragua through UD’s Engineers in Technical Humanitarian Opportunities of Service-learning (ETHOS) program.

"I was introduced to the idea of the autoclave at the end of my internship," she said. "The nurses have to travel to bigger health centers or hospitals to use sterilizers, sometimes traveling long distances by bus and spending precious time and money just traveling to have access to the equipment."

The solar autoclaves fit inside solar cookers, which use reflected sunlight to cook food. Hanna saw an opportunity for the rural women who had formed a small business to sell the cookers. Her team’s business plan will focus on how the women’s group can successfully market the autoclaves.

At the same time, the project has been accepted by the Design and Manufacturing Clinic of UD’s School of Engineering, which will work on perfecting the autoclave design.

"We welcome social entrepreneurship entries because they are consistent with the social justice mission and values of the University," McFarlin said. "Plus, social entrepreneurship can help communities tackle some of their biggest problems and some of the best ideas can be scaled up to the point where you're making a real difference in the world."

The University of Dayton’s School of Business Administration launched the competition in 2006 to help teach entrepreneurship and give students an advantage in the job market, according to Dean McFarlin,

McFarlin said 59 entrants competed in the elevator pitch contest, doubling the number from last year. Prize money doubled as well. Other elevator pitch winners took home prize money but did not advance to the finals, he said. Andrea Ziegler for Flyers for Fair Trade won $500 and David Stargel for MeTV won $250.

Each of the five finalist teams will work with a mentor from local business to refine the production process, marketplace analysis, marketing plan and funding strategy into a business plan each team can use to secure additional funding.

The mentors are: David Ganzsarto president of Alternate Solutions Home Care; Richard Hern, president of Crown Partners; Jack Lohbeck, of Battelle and Battelle, Bob Miller, president of Excellence in Motivation; and Greg Popham, a 2003 UD entrepreneurship graduate, now product manager for BlueStar Inc.

The University of Dayton is nationally recognized for developing student entrepreneurs. Its entrepreneurship program has been rated the fifth-best in the U.S. for the past two years by Entrepreneur magazine and the Princeton Review.

For more information on the UD Business Plan Competition, visit UD Business Plan Competition

The Nativity in paper and string

A three-foot-tall metallic foil church façade from Poland reflects gold, silver, ruby and emerald light, and hides a tiny Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus at its center. A few feet away, dwarfing the tiny figures, tall marionettes from Slovakia are suspended by strings, bringing the Christmas story to life.

The two Nativity scenes, also called crèches, along with scores of others, are on public view this Christmas season at the University of Dayton’s Marian Library and in other locations in the Dayton area.

Selections from the library’s collection of about 1,500 Nativity scenes, one of the largest in the U.S, are on loan to the Dayton Art Institute, Bergamo Center in Beavercreek, Ohio, the UD campus and several local parishes.

Nativity scenes “truly highlight the visual dimension of the Catholic faith” and distinguishes it from other religions, according to the Rev. Johann Roten, S.M., director of the International Marian Research Institute.

“Protestantism is a religion of the ear; Catholicism is a religion of the eye and Nativity sets are one example of how the visual character of Catholicism is very important,” he said. “In depicting Jesus, we are making visual something that became visible at the Nativity through the Incarnation when God became visible, present, local and concrete.”

The library’s collection reaches more venues each year, said the Rev. Johann Roten, S.M., director of the International Marian Research Institute. The loaned displays allow the community to enjoy the artistry and diversity of the crèches and at the same time, remind people that these scenes are more than art pieces, he said.

“We like to make sure what we have in our holdings are useful,” Roten said. “The Nativity scenes from so many countries help to announce the message of Christmas.”

Paper is the theme of the Marian Library’s gallery display this year, which includes 106 antique crèches on loan from Pennsylvania collector Bill Baker. Baker’s collection includes three-dimensional pop-up scenes, some dating from 1880. The Marian Library display is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday starting Nov. 26 on the seventh floor of Roesch Library. It will run for a full year.

Thirty crèches will showcase secondary figures in Nativity scenes including townspeople, animals, wise men and other visitors at the Dayton Art Institute from Wednesday, Nov. 21, through Jan. 6 in a collection titled “Who else was at the Nativity?”

“We want to show who else was at the manger,” Roten said. “Most cultures have very distinctive ways in which an important event is greeted, and those are expressed in ways that are unique to that culture.”

Crèches at the art institute will showcase visitors to the Nativity from a number of different cultures and regions. Different animals, townspeople and protectors can be seen, reflecting the values and practices of each culture and reminding Catholics that “Jesus was born to be present among the people and to be touched by them,” Roten said.

One crèche from Iceland includes 13 Yulemen, mischievous troublemakers who come one by one and who are expelled by the light of Christmas, according to Sister M. Jean Frisk, S.S.M, director of special projects for the library.

Instead of shepherds, angels and wise men Jesus, Mary and Joseph are joined by crocodiles and polar bears. Political conflict is expressed in a scene from the Chiapas region of southern Mexico, where revolutionaries in black and red carrying guns and backpacks gather to be with the similarly dressed Holy Family.

The Bergamo Center in Beavercreek, Ohio, a Catholic, Marianist retreat and conference center, will display 30 crèches in a collection titled “Christmas Around the World” a global village theme. The display is open from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday at 4400 Shakertown Road.

The library’s crèche collection will also be displayed in more than 30 locations across the UD campus in academic and administrative offices including the schools of law and engineering, and the president’s and provost’s offices.

“Once you start looking at them, it’s amazing how many from different countries there are,” said Tim Stonecash, assistant dean of the UD law school. “When I grew up, I had my little Nativity scene as a child ... and I had that vision in my mind. When you go over to the library, you think, ‘Wow, look at the possibilities. Look at what kids in Russia or Ireland must have grown up looking at.

“I think it helps people here feel good about the Christmas season and the special meaning it has for the faculty and the staff and the students here and those visiting the law school,” Stonecash said.

The library’s crèches also are on view at parishes in the Dayton area and other Ohio cities. For more information go to The Mary Page

Full orchestra to accompany student opera

The University of Dayton Opera Workshop will mark two milestones as it presents scenes from four comic Italian masterpieces.

The 14-member opera workshop will perform at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 9-10, in Kennedy Union’s Boll Theatre. The highlight of each evening will be a full production of Puccini’s one-act comic masterpiece Gianni Schicchi, sung in English.

UD music professor Linda Snyder will conduct a 23-piece orchestra of students, faculty and guest artists to accompany the performance, marking the first time the workshop is accompanied by a full orchestra.

“We are performing the work as it was intended, and I always feel singers sing their best with orchestra accompaniment,” Snyder said, calling it a major step forward for the university opera program.

With this production, the UD opera workshop also celebrates the upcoming 90th anniversary of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1918.

The program will also include scenes — performed in English — from Cimarosa’s The Secret Marriage, Verdi’s Falstaff and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale.

UD voice professor David Sievers will stage the production and sing the leading tenor role. Senior music major Michael Blocksidge will sing the role of the unscrupulous but clever and lovable Gianni Schicchi, and senior music major Shannon LaRue will sing the role of his daughter.

John Benjamin is the pianist and assistant musical director for the production, with Daniel Behnke providing technical direction.

Adult admission is free, but a $5 donation is suggested. Children are free, and there is no charge for UD students, faculty and staff with ID.

For more information, contact the Department of Music at 937-229-3936.

America's media mirror

Veteran journalist and author Juan Williams is coming to campus on Nov. 13 as part of the Diversity Lecture Series.

Juan Williams, political analyst for National Public Radio and Fox News and the author of the nonfiction bestseller Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965, will give a talk, ''Eyes on Image: The Changing Reflections in America's Media Mirror,'' at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13, in the Kennedy Union Ballroom at the University of Dayton.

Part of the Diversity Lecture Series, the talk is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Call the Kennedy Union box office at 937-229-2545 or order online at www.udayton.edu/~ku/tickets. Organizers recommend that patrons arrive early for seating in the ballroom. A live feed will be available in the Science Center Auditorium. A book signing will follow the talk in the Torch Lounge in Kennedy Union.

Williams is one of America's leading political writers and thinkers. He is a senior correspondent for NPR's ''Morning Edition,'' a political analyst for Fox News and a regular panelist for Fox News Sunday. In addition to prize-winning columns and editorial writing for The Washington Post, he has written six books. With the 2006 release of Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America -- and What We Can Do About It, Williams ignited debate with his analysis of black leadership in the U.S. Among other acclaimed works, he wrote the non-fiction bestseller, Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965, the companion to the TV series; Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary; My Soul Looks Back in Wonder -- Voices of the Civil Rights Experience; This Far by Faith: Stories from the African American Religious Experience; and I'll Find a Way or Make One -- a Tribute to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

For more than two decades at The Washington Post, Williams served as an editorial writer, op-ed columnist and White House reporter. Williams has received an Emmy Award for television documentary writing and has won widespread critical acclaim for a series of documentaries, including ''Politics -- The New Black Power.''

In a 2003 interview that aired on ''Front and Center,'' a television program about the practices, issues, ethics and politics of journalism, Williams likened modern-day journalism to comfort food. ''People are seeking to have their own opinions and perspectives confirmed when they turn on the television, turn on the radio or open the paper. They don't want to hear a broadcast. They want a narrowcast. They want something that speaks to their own preconceptions,'' he said. ''That, to me, is a real loss. …Journalism should be about shedding light."

Williams is part of an all-star line-up of acclaimed artists and journalists -- including filmmaker Spike Lee and Grammy Award-winning gospel musician Kirk Franklin -- tackling ''The Responsibility of Media in a Global Society'' during the University of Dayton's 2007-2008 Diversity Lecture Series.

The University of Dayton's Diversity Lecture Series is part of a larger strategic plan to increase inclusion and diversity on campus and prepare students, faculty, staff and the Dayton community for success in a global society. Past speakers have included Andrew Young, Coretta Scott King, Clarence Page, Nikki Giovanni, Azar Nafisi and Johnnetta B. Cole.

The Diversity Lecture Series is co-sponsored by the offices of the president and provost, with the support of such community partners as The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ); Dayton Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; United Way of the Greater Dayton Area; Victoria Theatre Association; Markey's Audio Visual; Dayton Daily News; WDTN-TV; and WDAO-1210 AM.

Contact Lynnette Heard, executive director of the office of the president, at 937-229-4122.