Alma Matters: News for CLA Alumni
Issue #7, Fall 2007
Published 23 August 2007
In this issue
- CLA and the U at the State Fair
- CLA Alumni Society: Join Us at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum
- CLA Alumni Society Wins UMAA Award
- Become an Advocate for Students of Folwell Hall
- Be a Guide to the Professional World for a CLA Student
- We’re All Search Engines: Driven to Discover
- CLA Events Highlights
- Links
CLA and the U at the State Fair
Maroon and Gold Day
Show your pride and spirit on Maroon & Gold Day, Sunday, August 26! Bring the whole family, wear your Gopher gear, watch the parade, have fun and learn about U discoveries. Visit the U of M building. UMAA members may pick up a free gift, while supplies last.
> Find out more about the U of M at the fair
Access Minnesota at the Fair
Access Minnesota is a weekly public affairs radio program broadcast across the state. The CLA Alumni Society collaborates with the Minnesota Broadcasters Association and KUOM 770 AM-Radio K to produce this program on which notable guests discuss state and national issues. Come to a taping of the show on Tuesday, August 28 from 3:00-4:00pm at U of M Building stage.
> Tune in to Access Minnesota
CLA Faculty Exhibits
Come and talk with CLA faculty members in the UMAA booth:
- Thu, Aug 30, 5:00pm-9:00pm Institute for New Media Studies
- Fri, Aug 31, 9:00am-1:00pm Institute for Advanced Studies
- Sat, Sep 1, 9:00am-1:00pm MGIS Geography Dept
CLA Aumni Society News
Join Us at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum!
The CLA Alumni Society is sponsoring an afternoon at the University of Minnesota's Landscape Arboretum on Sunday, October 7, 2007. We will be taping an episode of Access Minnesota from 1:00-2:00pm. We will be holding a drawing for a U of M Bookstore prize at 2:00pm.
> Join your fellow alums at the Arboretum
CLA Alumni Society Wins 2006-07 Program Extraordinaire Award
The CLA Alumni Society will be honored with a 2006-07 U of M Alumni Association Program Extraordinaire Award for the group's spring 2007 prospective student outreach efforts. Nearly 70 volunteers—from the Twin Cities and the Chicago area, and a few from other parts of the U.S.—contacted over 600 prospective CLA students to encourage them to enroll in the fall 2007 freshman class. The CLA Alumni Society will be recognized at UMAA's annual volunteer awards ceremony on Tuesday, October 30.
Get involved with CLA
Become an Advocate for Students of Folwell Hall
The U is planning to seek funding in the 2008 legislative session to renovate the interior of this iconic campus landmark. The plans for Folwell are designed to support the most important thing we do: teach.
When the work is completed, Folwell Hall will become the home of the centerpiece of the University’s Writing Initiative: the Department of Writing Studies. The Department of Writing Studies will share the building with the Departments of Spanish & Portuguese; German, Scandinavian & Dutch; French & Italian; and Asian Languages & Literatures. All are important as the University continues its emphasis on global learning.
The way we teach languages has undergone a revolution and Folwell’s learning environment needs to be updated to support that revolution. The building’s electrical system can’t handle all our technology needs. The outdated heating and cooling system—featuring noisy window air conditioning units—disrupts language instruction in classrooms. Students with limited mobility have trouble accessing bathrooms and some offices.
We need alumni like you to advocate for Folwell. If you would like to be involved in efforts to secure funding to renovate this historic campus building, please contact Jodi Gustafson.
Be a Guide to the Professional World for a CLA Student
Share some of your insights on the professional world with a CLA undergraduate. The CLA Mentor Program can connect you with a student who wants to learn more about your career and how you found it. This year, mentoring pairs will be matched by late October. We will have a kickoff dinner and training on Thursday, November 1, 2007, at Coffman Memorial Union.
> Get involved with the CLA Mentor Program
Get Involved with the U of M
We Are All Search Engines. What’s Your Question?
We are all born with a fundamental need to discover. From the origin and meaning of “huh?” to whether we will be able to end stereotyping, CLA faculty are regularly making discoveries that add to our collective knowledge. Learn how faculty discoveries might change your community and perhaps your planet.
> Ask a question of your own or sign up for the Search + Discover newsletter
> Learn more about remarkable CLA faculty and student research in Reach magazine
CLA Events Highlights
For a full list of CLA events, visit the events page on the CLA website: http://www.cla.umn.edu/events/
Off the Shelf: Book Discussion Series
Beginning in September, CLA alumni are invited to Lind Hall for monthly book discussions facilitated by Department of English professors. Off the Shelf will focus on literature with Twin Cities connections, including plays undergoing local productions, works by writers visiting the UMTC campus, and contemporary literature from local publishers and English faculty.
> More details
Faculty Guitar/Piano Recital
September 9, 2007: Come and enjoy an evening of music for guitar and piano performed by James Flegel (UMTC music faculty) and Emilia (Vishnevetsky) Flegel. This free recital features music by Mario Castelnuevo-Tedesco, Mauro Giuliani, Joaquin Rodrigo, and Manuel de Falla.
> More details;
‘Burning Down the House’: Race, Media and the Burning of Churches in the U.S., 1961-2001
September 11, 2007: Between 1996 and 2001, the National Church Arson Task Force reported 1,062 arson attacks on churches. Of these, 338 targeted black churches. Stanford sociology professor Doug McAdam’s discussion explores county-level variation in the burning of black churches and the role the media may have played in shaping the church burning "epidemic."
> More details
Tribal Time, Ceremony and Public Art
September 13, 2007: Hachivi Edgar Heap of Birds will discuss how public art today shows the yearning to renew the Earth, much like the public art of various tribal groups. Mr. Heap of Birds is an internationally recognized Cheyenne artist, and a member of the Native American Studies department at the University of Oklahoma, Norman.
> More details
The Kids Are All Right: Violent Media, Free Expression and the Drive to Regulate
October 1, 2007: Just as the Federal Communications Commission is poised to consider new regulations on violence on television, the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law will present its 22nd Annual Silha Lecture. It will feature Robert Corn-Revere, partner at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine and counsel in litigation and regulatory proceedings involving the Communications Decency Act, the Child Online Protection Act, FCC Indecency Rules, Internet content filtering in public libraries, and public broadcasting and cable television regulations.
> More details
Darfur: Documenting a Genocide
October 11, 2007: Dr. Sam Totten, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and State Department advisor on issue of Genocide, served as one of the investigators with the US State Department's Darfur Atrocities Documentation Team. He interviewed refugees from the region to ascertain whether genocide had occurred and was so affected by his visit that he has been strongly campaigning for action ever since.
> More details
School of Music Annual Collage Concert
October 20, 2007: An annual event, the Homecoming Collage Concert features over 500 student and faculty performers and several University of Minnesota School of Music ensembles, including University Opera Theatre, Jazz Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Symphonic Band, Percussion Ensemble, Concert Choir and many more. Free and open to the public.
> More details
What Einstein Did to Time
October 25, 2007: Sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Study and the series Thursdays at Four, this event features Oliver Pooley, a Philosophy Tutor at Oxford University, and Michel Janssen, a UMTC History of Science and Technology Associate Professor. This event is also part of the University Symposium on Time.
> More details
University Opera Theatre Double Bill
November 9, 2007: Sponsored by the School of Music and Ted Mann Concert Hall, the University Opera Theatre will present Kurt Weill’s “The Seven Deadly Sins” and Puccini’s “Suor Angelica.”
> More details
Poetry of Paul Muldoon
November 28, 2007: Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Muldoon is considered by many "the most significant English-language poet born since the Second World War." He has published 10 major collections of witty, punning, yet resonant poetry. Irish-born Muldoon is also a guitarist and lyricist in the rock band Rackett. He is a professor at Princeton.
> More details
Interactive Art Project: “Telling Time”
November 28, 2007: Artists, musicians, humanists, social scientists, and natural scientists collaborate to create an interactive art project that explores the translation of units of elapsing time, produced by participant/performers into visual and/or audio forms. First of three presentations; events to follow in Feb. and May. Sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Study.
> More details
Marching Band Indoor Concerts
December 1-2, 2007: The U of M Music Department presents its 46th Annual Marching Band Indoor Concerts; conductors include Tim Diem, Craig Kirchhoff, Jerry Luckhardt, and Mary Schneider. Tickets go on sale after Labor Day at the Northrop Box Office.
> More details
Links
Membership and Giving
Become a member of the U of M Alumni Association and the CLA Alumni Society.
For more information on how to become involved with the CLA Alumni Society, contact Erica Giorgi in the CLA External Relations office at giorg003@umn.edu or 612-625-8837.
Make a gift to CLA and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
College of Liberal Arts website: Your first stop when visiting CLA online.
About Alma Matters
Alma Matters is a free periodic e-mail newsletter for alumni and friends of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota and is produced by the college’s Office of External Relations. It is designed to help alumni and friends stay connected to the college.
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