Tag Archives: Grand Valley State University

GVSU’s Sigal Lecture: ‘Social Justice as a Faith-based Imperative’ set for April 10

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Politics, Upcoming Events, , , , ,
The Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe (photo supplied)

By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University

 

An upcoming lecture at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) will explore the importance of social justice in various religious communities around the world.

 

The Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, general secretary of the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, will be the featured speaker during the 2018 Rabbi Phillip Sigal Memorial Lecture. In her role, Henry-Crowe oversees the church’s response to issues including civil and human rights, economic justice, environmental justice, health and wholeness, peace with justice, and women and children.

 

The free event will take place April 10 from 7-9 pm in the Eberhard Center (room 215), located on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus (401 Fulton St W, Grand Rapids, MI 49504). To register for this event, visit the Kaufman Interfaith Institute website, or call 616.331.5702.

 

During her presentation, Henry-Crowe will primarily touch on the importance of social justice in the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), but her points will apply to many different religious, secular and spiritual traditions.

 

“With the rise of activism and an increase of literature on how religious, secular or spiritual traditions impact this activism, this lecture will be a good time to reflect on how social justice is imperative,” said Kevin McIntosh, Campus Interfaith Resources coordinator. “Susan will move from what justice means in these traditions to what social justice means now, and will focus on current issues, such as food, immigration and religious oppression.”

 

Two additional respondents will also participate in the lecture. Marlene Kowalski-Braun, assistant vice president for inclusion and student affairs at Grand Valley, and Muaz Redzic, Imam at the Bosnian Culture Center in Grand Rapids.

 

Kowalski-Braun will examine the definitions of the terms “social justice” and “inclusion and equity”, while Redzic will discuss how his Islamic faith pushes him to participate in social justice.

 

The annual lecture is named for Rabbi Phillip J. Sigal, a pioneer of the interfaith movement in West Michigan until his death in 1995. Aside from his duties at Ahavas Israel Synagogue, Sigal was instrumental in opening the lines of communication among several religions in the area. After his death, a group of local academic and interfaith enthusiasts established the Sigal Memorial Lecture in his honor. Since that time, the event has brought some of the most important voices in religion and social movements to churches, schools and other venues in West Michigan.

 

This year’s lecture is sponsored by Campus Interfaith Resources and the Kaufman Interfaith Institute.

 

GVSU will  host 20th annual pow wow April 7-8

3-bottom, Community Health, Education, Kids Activities, Local Entertainment, Local History, Upcoming Events,
The 20th annual Celebrating All Walks of Life Traditional Pow Wow will be at GVSU’s Fieldhouse on the Allendale campus. (Supplied)

Grand Valley State University

 

Grand Valley State University will host a series of events to celebrate, and learn about, Native American traditions and culture through dance and song on Saturday and Sunday, April 7-8 at GVSU’s Allendale campus.

 

The 20th annual Celebrating All Walks of Life Traditional Pow Wow will take place in the Fieldhouse on the Allendale campus. Hundreds of people are expected to attend, including many traveling from Native American communities in the Upper Peninsula and Great Lakes region.

 

The event will celebrate traditional Native American dancing and music with Grand Entry performances at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m., on April 7, and at noon on April 8. Doors open at 11 a.m., both days. There will be Native American handmade crafts and food vendors, as well as a silent auction to raise funds for Grand Valley’s Native American Student Association.

 

This year, the co-coordinator of the first Grand Valley pow wow will attend the celebration. Scott Herron, a Grand Valley alumnus and biology professor at Ferris State University, coordinated the first pow wow in 1998.

 

The celebration is free, family friendly and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Native American Student Association, Office of Multicultural Affairs and Division of Inclusion and Equity at Grand Valley.

 

For more information, visit gvsu.edu/oma/powwow or contact NASA at gvsu_nasa@yahoo.com or the Office of Multicultural Affairs at 616-331-2177.

 

March madness comes to East Kentwood as it hosts FIRST robotics competition

3-bottom, , , , , , , , , ,
FIRST Power Up, the theme for this year’s FIRST challenge, is based on a Mario game.

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma

joanne@wktv.org

 

The energy in the gym is electric. Mascots lead the crowds in cheers as the teams take the field. Someone runs in front of the bleachers with a team flag with others in the stands holding up illuminated signs of team numbers. It only gets quiet as the match is about to start. The buzzer goes off and the place erupts with noise.

 

This is March Madness not for basketball, but for robotics, specifically FIRST Robotics. This Friday and Saturday, the madness comes to East Kentwood High School’s field house as the district for the fourth year hosts the First Robotics event.

 

“I have been superintendent for the district for five years, so I have really gotten the chance to see this event grow,” said Kentwood Superintendent William Zoerhoff, who added that watching the students work as a team to figure out a problem using their STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts, and math — skills is pretty amazing.

 

Color coordinated fans are ready to cheer on their team at GVSU’s FIRST Robotics competition.

Started in 1992, FIRST is an international high school robotics competition founded by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen — the man behind the Segway — and MIT professor emeritus Woodie Flowers. In fact, Kamen often has stated that FIRST is the invention he feels most proud of.

 

The program began with 28 teams in a New Hampshire high school gym, according to the FIRST website. In 2018, it is estimated that more than 400,000 students across the globe will come together and within six weeks, design, build, and program a functional robot which is able to fulfill the unique and complex challenges specific to that year’s game.

 

“But it is much more than just building a robot, “ said Grand Valley State University’s Dean of Engineering Paul D. Plotkowski. GVSU was one of the first organizations to host FIRST Robotic competitions with the university having its event last weekend. “It’s about teamwork. It’s about students coming together and solving a problem with each student having a specific task in accomplishing the goal.”

 

Teams are not only required to build a robot, but they have to come up with a business plan to help cover costs for parts and travel. In the cast of Kentwood’s Red Storm Robotics, Zoerhoff said when funding for the school’s program was needed, the students pitched the team and event to Switch which signed on as a major community supporter.

 

In the end, it is not about winning either, according to Kentwood’s FIRST Robotics Competition organizer Wendy Ljungen, who is a chief consulting engineer for GE Aviation Systems. It is about getting students interested in the field of technology and in fact, there are a vast array of scholarships available to students who participate in FIRST.

 

“When GE got involved, it was looking at how to get more women involved in technology,” Ljungen said. “GE has been a strong force in creating a balance by encouraging girls and building a better pipeline.”

 

So nine years ago, a GE group, called Women in Technology,  began to look around to see what programs there were to encourage students and specifically pull girls into the pipeline of technology and engineering. They found FIRST and had about three months —which included the two-week Christmas break — to pull together a team. They did and Kentwood’s Red Storm Robotics team became the top seeded Rookie team that year.

 

Mentors work with the South Christian High School team

From there, GE branched out to help with establishing three middle school teams in Kentwood — one which went to the world competition last year — along with helping with the Wyoming High School’s team the Demons and this year, re-establishing the Ottawa Hills High School team. Those teams along with West Michigan Aviation’s Team Spitfire, Lee High School’s Rebel Robotics, and Potter’s House’s Tactical Hams are among the more than 40 teams that will be at this weekend’s event.

 

This year’s competition theme is based on a Mario game with the robots required to be able to pick up cubes that can be placed on a scale along with passing them out for stacking. Robots also need to be able to climb a structure with some able to load another team’s robot and climb.

 

The “game” floor has all the bells and whistles of the Mario game complete with a giant scoreboard showcasing who has the most points. There is a few minutes before a winner is announced as final scores are tallied.

 

Each team is required to attend two district competitions. Those teams that earn enough points or certain awards, then advance to the state competition which will be April 12-14 at Saginaw Valley State University.

 

“It has been quite a journey,” Ljungen said. “When we started there was about 200 teams. There are now more than 500 teams with the goal that ever listed high school in the state will have a team.”

 

The growth of FIRST is evident as to accommodate all the teams with Forest Hills Central High School added to the schedule this year as a new FIRST Robotics event site. That competition is next weekend.

 

For more on FIRST, visit firstinspires.org. For Saturday’s live coverage, tune into WKTV Channel 25 or visit wktv.viebet.com.

Grand Rapids Mini Maker Faire is back for fifth year, call for makers is now open

3-bottom, , , , , , , ,

By Christie Bender

Grand Rapids Public Museum

 

The Grand Rapids Public Museum just announced the 2018 Grand Rapids Mini Maker Faire dates for its fifth annual event, as well as the registration for makers is now open. This year’s Grand Rapids Maker Faire will take place August 18 and 19.

 

Maker Faire celebrates community members who are making or creating things by inviting them to share with the public what they have made. Everyone is a maker, and unfinished products are also encouraged.

 

Individuals and groups can now sign up at GrandRapids.MakerFaire.com. This year’s Maker Faire will be held at the Grand Rapids Public Museum and nearby Grand Valley State University’s Kennedy Hall of Engineering.

 

Maker Faire is looking for participants who enjoy tinkering, hacking, building and designing new technology-based inventions. Any groups or individuals interested in participating in the Maker Faire should complete the application at GrandRapids.MakerFaire.com. The Call for Makers will close on July 27.

 

Spots are first come, first serve basis with openings inside both the GRPM and GVSU as well as outside on the GRPM’s lawn. Makers participation is free for those showcasing. Makers interested in selling products at their booth require a small commercial fee.

 

Part science fair, part county fair, and part something entirely new, Maker Faire is an all-ages gathering that celebrates community members who are making things. All of these “makers” come to Maker Faire to show what they have made and to share what they have learned.

 

Featuring both established and emerging local “makers,” the Grand Rapids Maker Faire is a family-friendly celebration featuring tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, hobbyists, engineers, artists, students and commercial exhibitors.

 

The Faire will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on August 18 and 19. Tickets will go on sale in early summer.

 

The Grand Rapids Mini Maker Faire is being organized by a collaborative committee that includes members from: DTE Energy, GR Makers, The Geek Group, Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Valley State University, Kent District Library, Kent Intermediate School District, Michigan Crossroads Council- Boy Scouts of America, WMCAT and the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

 

Follow the development of the Grand Rapids Maker Faire on Twitter @makerfaireGR, as well as on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/makerfairegr/ .

 

Grand Rapids Mini Maker Faire is independently organized and operated under license from Maker Media, Inc.

They share a dream which will be celebrated at the Cesar E. Chavez March and Community Gathering

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, , , , , ,
The Cesar E. Chavez Social Justice March starts at 11 a.m. and will be along the Cesar E. Chavez Way (Grandville Avenue).

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma

joanne@wktv.org

 

They have a dream: a dream of dignity, respect, and protection for all and for this year’s César E. Chávez Social Justice March and Community Gathering — set for Thursday, March 15 — it will be the DREAMers who will be honored.

 

“Since 2012, we have been working with and encouraging the DREAMers to stand in solidarity,” said CEC Community Gathering Leader Suzanne Hewitt. So this year’s César E. Chávez Social Justice March and Community Gathering will focus on and honor the DREAMers, Hewitt said.

 

Community members, students and business leaders will kick off the day’s activities with the César E. Chávez Social Justice March at 11 a.m. The march will start at the Cook Library Center, 1100 Grandville Ave. SW and head down the César E. Chávez Way (Grandville Avenue) to the Potter House Chapel, 810 Van Raatle Dr. SW.

 

At the Potter House Chapel, there will be a community gathering at around 11:30 a.m.

 

Committee to Honor César E. Chávez Chairperson Lupe Ramos-Montigny

Chávez dedicated his life to workers’ rights, empowerment  of the poor and disenfranchised, civil rights, economic justice, environmental justice and peace. He co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, later the United Farm Workers union, along with Dolores Huerta. After his death, he became a major historical icon for the Latino community with streets, schools and parks named after him. In the Greater Grand Rapids area, Grandville Avenue was renamed the César E. Chávez Way and there is a Grand Rapids elementary school, César E. Chávez Elementary.

 

César E. Chávez National Holiday was established by Los Angeles volunteers who organized and led the effort in California. The legal holiday bill was signed into law on August 18, 2000. The holiday is celebrated in California on César E. Chávez’s birthday March 31. This marked the first time that a labor leader or Latino has been honored with a public legal holiday.

 

For several years,  Committee to Honor César E. Chávez has hosted events and social justice activities in remembrance of Chávez and the contributions he made to the Latino community. The committee is chaired by Lupe Ramos-Montigny, who currently sits on the State Board of Education.

 

All are welcomed to participate in the annual Cesar E. Chavez Social Justice March.

After the gathering, there will be a 2018 César E. Chávez Unity Luncheon at MAYA Mexican Grill and Bar, located in the Rogers Plaza at 1020 28th St. SW. The luncheon is at 1 p.m. and is a fundraiser for a Grand Valley State University scholarship that honors Ramos-Montigny. Tickets are $50 per person or $500 for a table of 10. For more information or tickets, click here.

 

For more on the 2018 César E. Chávez Social Justice March and Community Gathering, visit the Committee to Honor César E. Chávez’s Facebook page.

Governments and Nonprofits: New Partnerships or Paradigm Shifts?

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Non-Profits, Volunteers, , , , , , , ,

 

By K. Caldwell, Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University

 

As priorities of government have shifted away from directly providing services and programs, there has also been an explicit and implied expectations shift between government and philanthropy (defined here to include donors, volunteers, charities, and foundations). The partnerships between governments and philanthropy have evolved from working on similar issues independently, to working together or in place of one another. Consequently, there are new challenges in terms of roles, responsibilities, resources, and repercussions that merit exploration.

 

In recent years, philanthropy has undeniably taken on a larger role in meeting community needs and serving as an economic engine. Nearly one-third of nonprofit sector revenues come from public sources to fund vital services (McKeever, 2015). And one in ten workers in America are employed by a nonprofit organization. That workforce is growing in response to society’s demands (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016).

 

What is more fascinating (and perhaps alarming), is the many ways, in which philanthropy is now temporarily substituting for, or flat out supplanting, the traditional roles of government. A few examples from Michigan present very different, yet similarly complicated examples of sector role conflation.

 

Kalamazoo, Mich. launched the Kalamazoo Promise — an effort to provide higher education opportunities for all public-school graduates — with the support of five anonymous donors (Bartik, 2015). In that same community, two other donors have committed their wealth toward the creation of a new nonprofit, the Foundation for Excellence, which provides funds to maintain a stable property tax rate and structure and funds innovative community solutions as defined by city government.

 

Flint, Mich. experienced one of the nation’s greatest infrastructure failures when the city switched its public water source to the Flint River without proper anticorrosion treatment, thereby damaging the plumbing system, and leaching lead into the drinking water (Bosman, 2016). Foundations and nonprofits stepped up as first responders, delivering bottled water and water filters to residents. A group of foundations ultimately
stepped in to underwrite the costs of switching the water back to the original source, and the community foundation launched a response fund to provide for the long-term nutrition and education needs of the children affected by the increased lead levels (French, 2016).

 

When Detroit, Mich. filed for bankruptcy in July 2013, its debt was estimated at $18-$20 billion. Several foundations pooled their resources to help ensure that pensioners could survive on their fixed incomes, while the Detroit Institute of Arts (which was otherwise headed for the auction block) was reinvented as a nonprofit with a solid financial footing. A new fund was developed through the local community foundation to disperse settlement funds to various individuals and organizations involved in the settlement. (Ferris, 2017)

 

If paradigm shifts such as these are a good thing for the sector and demonstrate the versatility and leadership philanthropy can demonstrate, there are important questions to address as these new “muscles” are exercised. Can philanthropy’s assets substitute for those provided through the public sector? If so, are the sector’s current fiscal and operational systems ready to deal with the change? What are the accountability and transparency responsibilities of philanthropy if it is asked to step into leadership roles traditionally occupied by elected bodies? It is important to be cognizant of the challenges that unclear boundaries and unrealistic expectations can bring to such paradigm shifts.

 

Reprinted with permission from Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University.

GVSU presents Guest Artist Recital: Yoo Jin Noh, piano on Jan. 31

Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , ,
Yoo Jin Noh

By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University


Yoo Jin Noh made her debut with the Cape Ann Symphony Orchestra as a soloist in 2017. She also performed at the United Nation Headquarters in New York City for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2015. Her recent performances include appearances with the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Halfner Symphony and a solo recital at Azusa Pacific University.

 

Noh, who was born blind, pursued her interest in music in early childhood and began her piano study at age 14. Despite her late start, she has received many awards from local competitions. In 2005, she received a grand prize at the U.S. String and Piano Concours of Hymn and played at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York City. In 2008, she received the VSA Young Soloist Award and was invited to play at the National Federation of the Blind Convention.

  • What: Yoo Jin Noh, piano
  • When: Jan. 31, at 7:30 pm
  • Where: Sherman Van Solkema Hall (room 1325), Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

GVSU announces 2018 speakers for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Week

3-bottom, , , ,
April Regin

Two women who started national movements against acts of oppression will visit Grand Valley State University as keynote speakers during the campus’ 2018 commemoration of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

April Reign, creator of the viral hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, is slated as the speaker on Monday, Jan. 15; and Bree Newsome, who climbed a flagpole in South Carolina in 2015 to remove a Confederate flag, is the Wednesday, Jan. 17, speaker.

 

Reign is an attorney and writer who lives in Washington, D.C. In 2015, she sent a tweet critical of the 88th Academy Awards ceremony and lack of people of color nominated in major acting and directing categories. Her #OscarsSoWhite tweet went viral and was a catalyst for a social media movement and caused the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to change its membership policies and voting rules.

 

Reign now has a social media following of more than 100,000, and is listed among the top 15 accounts on #BlackTwitter by the National Journal. She regularly appears at academic institutions, entertainment networks and studios to speak about diversity and inclusion.

 

As part of a collaborative effort among Grand Valley, Grand Rapids Community College and Davenport University, Reign also will give presentations at GRCC, Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids and Davenport’s campus during her two-day stay in West Michigan.

 

Bree Newsome

Newsome is a filmmaker and artist who was in the national spotlight in 2015 when the climbed a flagpole in Columbia, South Carolina — the state’s capital — to lower its Confederate flag. Her action came shortly after the mass shooting of nine African American parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. She was arrested along with another activist and soon #FreeBree was a Twitter trend and $100,000 raised for her $3,000 jail fine.

 

Her actions stirred the political pot in many communities. The Confederate flag was permanently removed from the statehouse by then-Gov. Nikki Haley and discussion moved across the country considering flags and monuments.

 

Newsome lives in North Carolina and works as an artist and community organizer. She earned the 2016 NAACP Image Award and was named to the Ebony 100, recognizing her commitment to civil rights.

 

Grand Valley’s 2018 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Week will run Jan. 15-20; visit gvsu.edu/mlkfor updates.

New report shows that collective giving is fostering diversity in philanthropy

3-bottom, , ,

By Nate Hoekstra

Grand Valley State University

 

A new report from researchers on charitable giving has found that the growing trend of collective giving is helping foster diversity in philanthropy.

 

Collective giving groups, which are often known as giving circles, have become an increasingly popular way for donors with diverse backgrounds to support charitable organizations or projects of mutual interest.

 

The study was conducted by the Collective Giving Research Group (CGRG), which includes Jason Franklin, the W.K. Kellogg Community Philanthropy chair at Grand Valley State University’s Johnson Center for Philanthropy.

 

The study focused on the current scope and scale of collective giving groups in order to understand their impact on donor giving and civic engagement.

 

Researchers found that giving circles have engaged at least 150,000 people in all 50 states and given as much as $1.29 billion since their inception. A majority of giving circles are created around a particular identity — including groups based on gender, race, age and religion. Giving circles have become more inclusive of income levels as the average and most frequent amount given by individual donors may be decreasing, while total dollars donated by giving circles are increasing.

 

“Giving circles are a powerful tool to democratize and diversify philanthropy, engage new donors and increase local giving,” Franklin said. “This research sheds critically needed new light on this popular form of collective giving. In a time when philanthropy is increasingly focused on the giving habits of billionaires, this research is an important reminder that everyday givers are coming together and pooling their resources to make a difference in their communities and for the issues they care about.”

 

Other key findings include:

 

• Collaborative giving is becoming more inclusive with donors from a wide range of income levels.

 

Giving circles have always provided avenues for those without substantial means to participate in significant giving, but this latest study suggests these groups now attract members from a wider range of income levels. Today, minimum dollar amounts required for participation range from less than $20 to $2 million, and the average donation amount was found to be $1,312 – compared to $2,809 in 2007.

 

• Identity-based groups make up 60 percent of giving circles and drive much of the growth in collaborative giving.

 

Giving circles attract many types of people, including those who may not typically engage in institutional philanthropy. Most groups are formed around a specific identity including groups based on gender, race, age and religion.

 

• Women dominate giving circle membership, making up 70 percent of all members. This collective model of giving is particularly popular among women. While men have a presence in 66 percent of giving circles, they are only the majority of members in 7.5 percent of groups.

 

• Giving circles are connected to each other and to philanthropy.

 

Networks of giving circles have emerged since 2007, with 25 networks now in existence. Today, 45 percent of identified giving circles participate in a network or alliance group. Community foundations, corporate partners and other outside donors view these collective giving groups as an effective way to give, with 52 percent of giving circles receiving additional funds or grants from these sources.

 

The study was conducted by the Collective Giving Research Group and was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, via the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, and by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Researchers who co-authored the report with Franklin include Jessica Bearman from Bearman Consulting; Julie Carboni, Syracuse University; and Angela Eikenberry, University of Nebraska at Omaha.

GVSU economist: Local economy will be strong in 2018

3-bottom, , ,
Brian Long, photo from gvsu.edu

By Dottie Barnes

Grand Valley State University

 

The West Michigan economy looks strong for the new year, according to a Grand Valley State University expert.

 

“We are heading into 2018 with a full head of steam,” said Brian G. Long, director of Supply Management Research in the Seidman College of Business. “I don’t see anything on the horizon that will trip us up.”

 

Long surveyed local business leaders and his findings below are based on data collected during the last two weeks of November.

 

The survey’s index of business improvement (new orders) rose to +20 from +11. The production index backtracked slightly to +17 from +20. The index of purchases eased to +18 from +22, and the employment stayed positive at +13, down slightly from +14.

 

Long said the November performance for most groups was mixed.

 

“Despite the modest softening in auto sales, the local auto parts producers remain surprisingly strong, even though they continue to voice concern about possible slower auto sales as we head into 2018,” he said. “It is currently the slow season for office furniture sales, and the industry still appears to be topping out at the present level.”

 

Long said some of the smaller office furniture firms are still expanding, and for most industrial distributors, November was one of their better months. “A plateau seems to be forming for the capital equipment industry, but recent proposed changes in the tax law could result in improved conditions in 2018,” he said.

 

The Institute for Supply Management survey is a monthly survey of business conditions that includes 45 purchasing managers in the greater Grand Rapids area and 25 in Kalamazoo. The respondents are from the region’s major industrial manufacturers, distributors and industrial service organizations. It is patterned after a nationwide survey conducted by the Institute for Supply Management. Each month, the respondents are asked to rate eight factors as “same,” “up” or “down.”

 

For over 28 years, Dr. Brian Long has edited a survey of local purchasing managers for both the Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids areas, which has proved to be a major indicator of current and future business conditions.  This survey appears in many local newspapers and national business publications, including the Grand Rapids Press, MiBiz, and the Grand Rapids Business Journal.  The survey is also a component of the Federal Reserve’s bimonthly survey of business conditions. 

GVSU Music, Theatre and Dance Schedule for December

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , , ,
Varsity Men’s Glee Club (photo supplied)

 

By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University

Arts at Noon

Arts at Noon brings nationally and internationally-known musicians to Grand Valley State University for 14 performances each academic year. All Arts at Noon concerts will take place in the Cook-DeWitt Center, located on the Allendale Campus. They will begin at noon and last approximately one hour. Every concert is free and open to the public. For more information about Arts at Noon, visit gvsu.edu/artsatnoon or contact Henry Duitman, series coordinator, at duitmanh@gvsu.edu.

December 6 – GVSU Brass Quintet Holiday Concert

The annual holiday concert featuring the GVSU Brass Quintet is an Arts at Noon tradition. The ensemble is comprised of Grand Valley State University music faculty, including Alex Wilson (trumpet), Richard Britsch (horn), Mark Williams (trombone), Paul Carlson (tuba) and visiting performer Paul Hardaker (trumpet). Each year, the quintet also performs multiple outreach concerts, and facilitates master classes and coaching sessions at high schools throughout Michigan.

 

Theatre at Grand Valley presents “Cabaret”

  • When: December 1-2, at 7:30 pm, December 3, at 2 pm
  • Where: Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre, Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

Tickets: $12 adults, $10 seniors and GVSU alumni, faculty and staff, $6 students and groups “Cabaret” takes place in Berlin, Germany, in 1930. American novelist, Cliff, is searching for inspiration when he finds lodging at Frau Schneider’s residence above the notorious Kit Kat Club. Led by a saucy emcee and Sally Bowles, a sassy showgirl, the free-wheeling performers at the club turn Cliff’s world upside down. Can Cliff and Sally find happiness as anti-Semitism and homophobia are on the rise?

 

GVSU Early Music Ensemble Concert

  • When: December 2, at 3 pm
  • Where: Sherman Van Solkema Recital Hall (room 1325), Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

Grand Valley State University’s Early Music Ensemble performs under the direction of Pablo Mahave-Veglia, professor of cello. This event is free and open to the public.

 

GVSU Fall Dance Concert

  • When: December 2, at 7 pm, December 3, at 2 pm
  • Where: Louis Armstrong Theatre, Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

During this fall dance concert at Grand Valley State University, which is free and open to the public, the GVSU Dance Company and Freshman Dance Company will perform a diverse collection of dance works.

 

GVSU Choral Concert

  • When: December 5, at 7:30 pm
  • Where: Cook-DeWitt Center, Allendale Campus

This concert at Grand Valley State University will feature the vocal expertise of three ensembles: Select Women’s Ensemble, University Singers and Cantate Chamber Ensemble. The Select Women’s Ensemble has earned a reputation for quality performances of challenging choral literature and performing both accompanied and a cappella repertoire that is representative of a variety of musical periods and styles. University Singers is comprised of students from all majors; over 90 percent of its members are non-music majors. The Cantate Chamber Ensemble is dedicated to the artistic performance of distinctive a cappella choral music for a small ensemble.

 

GVSU Concert Band Concert

  • When: December 6, at 7 pm
  • Where: Louis Armstrong Theatre, Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

For this concert at Grand Valley State University, which is free and open to the public, the GVSU Concert Band will perform a variety of selections, including “A Feast of Wind Treats,” “An American Fanfare,” “Ave Maria,” “Second Suite in F,” “Chimes of Liberty,” “Song for Lindsay,” and “Vesuvius.”

 

GVSU Symphonic Wind Ensemble Concert

  • When: December 8, at 7:30 pm
  • Where: Louis Armstrong Theatre, Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

The Grand Valley State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble will perform under the direction of Kevin Tutt during this free concert, which is open to the public. The Symphonic Wind Ensemble is widely recognized as one of the elite undergraduate wind ensembles, committed to the performance of the finest band literature. In 2016, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble released its first CD, titled “Under Western Skies,” which is available on iTunes and Amazon.

 

GVSU Varsity Men’s Glee Club Concert

  • When: December 9, at 7:30 pm
  • Where: Cook-DeWitt Center, Allendale Campus

The Grand Valley State University Varsity Men’s Glee Club is an all-male ensemble comprising young men who represent a variety of musical and academic disciplines. The ensemble’s diverse repertoire includes literature that spans from Gregorian chant to the 21st century music.

 

GVSU Fall Senior Dance Concert

  • When: December 9, at 7 pm, December 10, at 2 pm
  • Where: Dance Studio Theatre, room 1600, Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

Join GVSU senior dance majors for a showcase of new works created as a part of their capstone projects. This concert will feature the diverse and unique choreographic visions of five students: Sarah Byington, Coral Howard, Mackenzie Matyn, Leigha McDaniel and Hannah Suydam. This event is free and open to the public.

 

Dan Graser Faculty-Artist Recial: The Solo Saxophone

  • When: December 10, at 7:30-9 pm
  • Where: Sherman Van Solkema Recital Hall (room 1325), Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

Dan Graser, saxophonist and assistant professor of saxophone at Grand Valley State University, will present a free recital of the history of solo works for wind instruments in the 20th/21st centuries. This recital is free and open to the public.

 

For more information about Music, Theatre and Dance Department events, contact 616.331.3484 or visit gvsu.edu/mtd.

GVSU Fall Arts Celebration concert to feature holiday music from France

Entertainment, , , , , ,

By Matthew Makowski

GVSU

 

On Christmas Eve in France, churches and cathedrals are lit with candles, church bells can be heard ringing throughout the air and Christmas carols are sung by thousands of people. After midnight mass, French families traditionally celebrate with a feast called “le réveillon” — a cherished household tradition celebrating family, with food and wine that can last up to six hours until the dawn of Christmas morning.

 

Fall Arts Celebration at Grand Valley will honor these French holiday traditions through music with a large symphony orchestra performing selections including Renaissance composer Guillaume Du Fay’s “Magnificat,” Francis Poulenc’s “Gloria,” and France’s most beloved holiday carols, including “Pat-a-pan, Il est né, le divin Enfant” and “Minuit, Chrétiens” (O Holy Night).

 

“Noël, Noël, Joyeux Noël: A Celebration of French Music for the Holiday Season” will take place Monday, Dec. 4, at 7:30 p.m., at Fountain Street Church, 24 Fountain St. NE.

 

The GVSU Symphony Orchestra will accompany a 90-member chorus, including Grand Valley’s University Arts Chorale and high school choir students from East Grand Rapids and Hudsonville. The processional will spotlight eight Grand Valley dance majors who will be dancing in the aisles. The Grand Rapids Symphony Junior Youth Chorus will also be featured, and Ashley Neumann, ’08, will return to perform as soprano soloist in Poulenc’s “Gloria.”

 

“Music is an integral part of this wonderful time of year as hearing the ageless melodies of the Christmas season often transports us back to when the excitement of Christmas morning was the best time of the year,” said Danny Phipps, chair of the Music, Theatre, and Dance Department.

 

For more information about Fall Arts Celebration, visit gvsu.edu/fallarts.

GVSU math professor recognized for contributions to science by national organization

3-bottom, , , ,
Ed Aboufadel

By Matthew Makowski

Grand Valley State University

 

Edward Aboufadel has been named a Fellow by the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his contributions to the advancement of science or its applications. Aboufadel is the first Grand Valley State University faculty member to be named an AAAS Fellow.

 

“My initial reaction to receiving this award was one of pleasant surprise, because I was not aware that I was a nominee,” said Aboufadel, assistant vice president for Academic Affairs and professor of mathematics.

 

Aboufadel has been a member of AAAS since 1987, serving in a variety of roles, including secretary, an officer in the Mathematics Section of the organization, and task force chair.

 

Beyond his work with the AAAS, Aboufadel said he takes pride in his on-going program of scholarship in applied mathematics during his more than 20 years at Grand Valley. Much of his work has consisted of conducting research with undergraduate students. Some of his projects have included mathematically-based 3D printing designs, hiding messages in images, and the analysis of pollution in river systems using subway-like maps.

 

Aboufadel said he is most proud of a project through which he and two of his students helped develop an app called Street Bump. The app uses a wavelet-based algorithm to detect potholes within the city of Boston. Aboufadel and his students received a prize from the city for their work.

GVSU Brass Quintet Holiday Concert set for noon Dec. 6

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , , ,
GVSU Faculty Brass Quintet (photo supplied)

By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University

 

The annual holiday concert featuring the GVSU Brass Quintet is an Arts at Noon tradition. The ensemble comprises Grand Valley State University music faculty, including Alex Wilson (trumpet), Richard Britsch (horn), Mark Williams (trombone), Paul Carlson (tuba) and visiting performing Paul Hardaker (trumpet). Each year, the quintet also performs multiple outreach concerts, and facilitates master classes and coaching sessions at high schools throughout Michigan.

  • When: December 6 at noon
  • Where: Cook-DeWitt Center, located on the Allendale Campus

Arts at Noon

Arts at Noon brings nationally and internationally-known musicians to Grand Valley State University for 14 performances each academic year. All Arts at Noon concerts will take place in the Cook-DeWitt Center, located on the Allendale Campus. They will begin at noon and last approximately one hour. Every concert is free and open to the public. For more information about Arts at Noon, visit gvsu.edu/artsatnoon or contact Henry Duitman, series coordinator, at duitmanh@gvsu.edu.

 

For more information about Music, Theatre and Dance Department events, contact 616.331.3484 or visit gvsu.edu/mtd.

GVSU students tackle importance of political awareness during performances of ‘Cabaret’

Entertainment, , ,
The GVSU cast of “Cabaret.” Photo by Valerie Wojo

By Matthew Makowski

Grand Valley State University

 

In Berlin, Germany, in 1930, three years before Adolf Hitler came to power, Cliff, an American novelist, is searching for inspiration when he finds lodging at Frau Schneider’s boarding house above the notorious and racy Kit Kat Club. Led by a saucy Emcee and Sally Bowles, a sassy showgirl and British singer, the free-wheeling performers at the club turn Cliff’s world upside down while the power of the Nazi party lurks just beyond the club’s doors.

 

This is the plot of “Cabaret,” which Grand Valley students will perform Nov. 16-18, 29 and 30, and Dec. 1-2 at 7:30 p.m., and Nov. 19 and Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. All performances will take place in the Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre, located in the Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts.

 

“These characters are focused on having a good time and living in an environment that is free and liberated, but what they fail to realize, or refuse to realize, is that a change in German politics is allowing the Nazi party to come to power,” said Dennis Henry, director and visiting professor of theater. “’Cabaret’ is a warning about the need for everyone to know what is going on in politics in order to prevent the rise of evil.”

 

Lindsey Normington, a senior majoring in communication studies who plays Sally Bowles, said that portraying her character’s denial has been her biggest hurdle during rehearsals.

 

“I’m the type of person who is generally very concerned when I feel like I see someone being treated unfairly,” she said. “Sally gives off a happy-go-lucky vibe, but she is more interested deep down in protecting herself over others.”

 

“Cabaret” marks the first theater performance to take place in the new Keller Theatre, and Henry said the production will take full advantage of the black box theater’s ability to provide flexible staging and audience seating formations.

 

“For this first production, we are arranging the seats in an ‘arena’ configuration, with the audience on all four sides of the playing space,” he said. “Since much of the play takes place in the Kit Kat Club, this arrangement will give the audience the feeling of being in the club with the performers, and there will even be some limited table seating on the edges of the stage itself.”

 

While the themes of “Cabaret” are serious in nature, Henry said the play itself is light-hearted.

 

“The songs are classics that will stick in your head and the characters of Sally and the emcee are some of the most popular and memorable characters of the American theater cannon,” he explained.

 

Ticket prices are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and Grand Valley alumni, faculty and staff, and $6 for students and groups. To purchase tickets, contact the Louis Armstrong Theatre Box Office at 616-331-2300 or visit startickets.com.

GVSU economist: Positive growth continues

Citizen Journalism, , ,
Brian Long is a local business forecaster. Credit: GVSU

By Dottie Barnes

Grand Valley State University

 

The West Michigan economy continues to show positive growth, and the national industrial economy remains very strong, according to a Grand Valley State University expert.

 

“This is probably as good as it’s going to get,” said Brian G. Long, director of Supply Management Research in the Seidman College of Business. “If we continue this way to 2019, it will be the longest post-war recovery in history without sliding into another recession.”

 

Long surveyed local business leaders and his findings below are based on data collected during the last two weeks of October.

 

The survey’s index of business improvement (new orders) remained positive at +11, but declined from +21 in September. The production index posted a modest gain, rising from +17 to +20. The index of purchases rose to +21 from +14, and the employment index remained positive at +14, down from +17.

 

Long said most of the auto parts suppliers are still maintaining their present status, with a similar mood noted among the office furniture firms. He said October was generally a good month for industrial distributors.

 

The local index of employment remained double-digit positive, while the official unemployment rate nationally has fallen to 4.1 percent. “That’s only a breath away from the 20-year low of 3.8 percent,” said Long.

 

The national industrial economy also remains very strong, according to Long.

 

“U.S. manufacturing stepped up a gear at the start of the fourth quarter, boding well for higher factory production to support robust economic growth in the closing months of 2017,” he said. “Production volumes jumped higher and growth in factory jobs picked up to one of the strongest levels since the global financial crisis, underscoring the improvement in optimism about future trading among manufacturers.”

 

The Institute for Supply Management survey is a monthly survey of business conditions that includes 45 purchasing managers in the greater Grand Rapids area and 25 in Kalamazoo. The respondents are from the region’s major industrial manufacturers, distributors and industrial service organizations. It is patterned after a nationwide survey conducted by the Institute for Supply Management. Each month, the respondents are asked to rate eight factors as “same,” “up” or “down.”

Hollywood costume concept artist to discuss film, fashion and art during GVSU event

Entertainment, ,
Hunger Games costume contest

Los Angeles-based costume concept artist, Phillip Boutte Jr., has created costume designs for blockbuster films, such as “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Man of Steel,” “Star Trek,” “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “Inception.” His upcoming projects include Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time” and Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther.”

 

Boutte will discuss the intersection of film, fashion and art during a panel discussion at Grand Valley State University on Wednesday, Nov. 8. “Film, Fashion, and Art: Imagining Real and Fictional History” will take place at 7 p.m. in Loosemore Auditorium, located on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

 

Phillip Boutte Jr.

Joining Boutte on the panel will be Grand Valley faculty members Durwin Talon, assistant professor of illustration and foundations, and Julie Goldstein, assistant professor of film and video production. Suzanne Eberle, professor of art history at Kendall College of Art and Design, will also sit on the panel.

 

“Having the opportunity to host a concept artist such as Phillip Boutte Jr., who has worked on a range of projects including design for Madonna to ‘X-Men,’ provides a rare opportunity for the West Michigan community to contextualize our studies within the visual trends of popular culture,” said Goldstein.

 

The event will kick off with a screening of the winning films of the Mosaic Mobile challenge, presented by The Mosaic Film Experience. The contest features short films that were produced by college students around the Midwest, including multiple Grand Valley students, using only a mobile device.

 

The Mosaic Film Experience began in 2012 in Grand Rapids as a film festival for commercial and jury-selected works focusing on under-told stories. In 2015, the festival changed formats to include the creation of two-minute mobile videos by students in order to minimize economic barriers to filmmaking.

 

For more information about this event, contact the Visual and Media Arts Department at vma@gvsu.edu or 616-331-3486.

Grand Valley Writers Series hosts Vu Tran Nov. 14

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , , ,

By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University

 

Vu Tran

Vu Tran’s first novel, Dragonfish, was a New York Times Notable Book and one of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Best Books of the Year. His short fiction has appeared in O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Mystery Stories, and many other publications. He is the winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award and has received fellowships from Bread Loaf, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Vermont Studio Center, and the MacDowell Colony. 

 

Born in Vietnam and raised in Oklahoma, Vu received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a doctoral degree from the Black Mountain Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is currently an assistant professor of practice in English and creative writing at the University of Chicago.

  • What: Craft talk
  • When: November 14, 2:30-3:45 pm 
  • Where: Kirkhof Center, room 2266 (Allendale Campus)
  • What: Reading and book signing
  • When: November 14, 6-7:30 pm
  • Where: Cook-DeWitt Center (Allendale Campus)

Authors from around the world will visit Grand Valley State University’s Allendale Campus as part of the 2017-18 Grand Valley Writers Series. The series has a rich history of bringing distinguished and emerging writers to campus to read work, visit classrooms and interact with students. For more information about the GV Writers Series, visit gvsu.edu/writing.

From Mathias to SoulTech, GVSU art galleries feature an array of work

Entertainment, , , , , , ,

 

Mathias Alten-Tarpon Springs (1935)

“Mathias J. Alten: An Evolving Legacy”
Exhibition dates: ongoing
George and Barbara Gordon Gallery
DeVos Center, Building E, Room 103 and 202, Pew Grand Rapids Campus
Gordon Gallery hours: Friday and Saturday, 1-5 p.m.; closed on holiday weekends

 

The German-born American artist, Mathias Joseph Alten (1871-1938) is often referred to as the dean of Michigan painters. Working in a traditional representational style, Alten incorporated the aesthetics and techniques of the Impressionist Movement in paintings infused with light and punctuated with deft brushwork. Based in Grand Rapids, Alten created more than 3,800 works over a more than 40-year career, including landscapes, seascapes, portraits and florals. Grand Valley State University holds the largest public collection of Alten’s work in the world.

 

‘Kunnnby’ – Bush Lolly Dreaming

“Drawn from the Desert: Australian Aboriginal Paintings from the Central and Western Deserts”
Exhibit on display through March 2, 2018
Kirkhof Center Gallery, Allendale Campus

 

From 1940-1960, the Australian government forced Aboriginal groups off their lands and into organized communities of the Central Desert region and along the northern coast. Papunya, located about 150 miles northwest of Alice Springs, was the final community established to collect these displaced groups, and where the contemporary Australian Aboriginal art movement began. This exhibition is drawn out of a recent gift of Australian Aboriginal paintings to Grand Valley State University, created by artists from Papunya and the surrounding region. It features artwork that provides insight into Aboriginal life, retellings of important ancient stories and symbols, and the sacred sites of this vast and arid landscape.

 

“Balloon Popping” Nau-Kim

“2017 SeoulTech & GVSU Art & Design Student Exchange Exhibition”
Exhibit on display through December 8
Red Wall Gallery, Lake Ontario Hall (first floor), Allendale Campus

 

This exhibition continues the collaboration between Grand Valley State University and Seoul National University of Science and Technology (SeoulTech), that was started in 2008. It features 40 photographs of artwork by SeoulTech art students, while a similar number of photographs by GVSU art and design students were sent to South Korea for a partner exhibition.

 

“Hunkered Down” Virginia Jenkins

“Landscapes, Color & Light: Paintings by Virginia Jenkins”
Exhibition dates: December 15, 2017-March 2, 2018
Red Wall Gallery, Lake Ontario Hall (first floor), Allendale Campus

 

Virginia Jenkins is a professor and former chair of the Department of Visual and Media Arts at Grand Valley State University. Landscape forms and images have been the primary focus of her work for over two decades, and her areas of specialty are in painting, drawing and mixed media. This exhibition is drawn from a recent series created in response to the landscape of the Northwest coast of the United States.

 

“Traveling with the Bangalore Wanderlusters: Reflections on a Semester in India by Maya Grant”
Exhibition on display through March 2, 2018
Blue Wall Gallery (Building B), DeVos Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus

 

In the fall of 2016, Maya Grant travelled to India on a study abroad scholarship from the GVSU Padnos International Center. Grant, a sociology major, was led to India by a need to escape and explore. She studied at Christ University in Bengaluru, volunteered at a local non-profit and captured her experiences and interactions through photography. On the weekends, Grant joined a group of expats called the Bangalore Wanderlusters, and traveled throughout Karnataka and its neighboring states. This exhibition includes more than 25 photographs documenting her experiences studying abroad, and exploring the landscape and people of India.

 

For more information about Art Gallery exhibitions, visit gvsu.edu/artgallery or call 616-331-3638.

Theatre at Grand Valley presents ‘Cabaret’ in Nov. and Dec.

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , , ,
Photo courtesy Grand Valley State University

By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University

 

Cabaret takes place in Berlin, Germany, in 1930. American novelist, Cliff, is searching for inspiration when he finds lodging at Frau Schneider’s residence above the notorious Kit Kat Club. Led by a saucy emcee and Sally Bowles, a sassy showgirl, the free-wheeling performers at the club turn Cliff’s world upside down. Can Cliff and Sally find happiness as anti-Semitism and homophobia are on the rise?

 

When: November 16, 17, 18, 29, 30, and December 1, 2, at 7:30 pm; November 19 and December 3, at 2 pm.

 

Where: Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre, Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

 

Tickets: $12 adults, $10 seniors and GVSU alumni, faculty and staff, $6 students and groups

‘Drawn from the Desert: Australian Aboriginal Paintings from the Central and Western Deserts’ at GVSU Nov. 3-March 2

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , ,
‘Kunnnby’ – Bush Lolly Dreaming, Michael Nelson Tjakamarra, Acrylic on Canvas

By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University

 

From 1940-1960, the Australian government forced Aboriginal groups off their lands and into organized communities of the Central Desert region and along the northern coast. Papunya, located about 150 miles northwest of Alice Springs, was the final community established to collect these displaced groups, and where the contemporary Australian Aboriginal art movement began. This exhibition is drawn out of a recent gift of Australian Aboriginal paintings to Grand Valley State University, created by artists from Papunya and the surrounding region. It features artwork that provides insight into Aboriginal life, retellings of important ancient stories and symbols, and the sacred sites of this vast and arid landscape.

Dancers to perform in the ‘vertical realm’ during GVSU Fall Arts Celebration

Citizen Journalism, , ,
Aerial Dance Chicago

By Matthew Makowski

Grand Valley State University

 

Fall Arts Celebration at Grand Valley State University will transcend the traditional dance floor and fly into the sky when Aerial Dance Chicago (ADC) presents a new world of athleticism coupled with an elegant showcase of dancing in the air.

 

“Celebrating Originality: Defying Gravity with Aerial Dance Chicago” will take place Monday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m., in Louis Armstrong Theatre, located in the Thomas J. and Marcia J. Center for Performing Arts on the Allendale Campus. The performance will be preceded by a carillon concert on the Cook Carillon Tower at 7:10 p.m. featuring Julianne Vanden Wyngaard, university carilloneur, and followed by a reception.

 

A pioneer and an international leader in aerial dance, ADC is dedicated to presenting original choreography and performance in the field. The ensemble launches itself into the creative possibilities found in a vertical realm.

 

“Aerial dance has evolved into a highly sophisticated and expressive art form, far beyond its origins in acrobatics and circus-based aerial arts,” said Danny Phipps, chair of the Music, Theater and Dance Department. “It is a visually stunning and innovative approach to modern dance that is a must see for anyone who loves dance.”

 

During the company’s Fall Arts Celebration performance, ADC will incorporate a variety of apparatus, including suspended fabrics, bungee cords, hoops, swings and ropes.

 

Founded in 1999, ADC is currently the only dance company in the Chicago region dedicated to choreography and performance in the field of aerial dance. In 2014, ADC opened Chicago’s first dance center dedicated to work in aerial dance.

 

“While there are more and more such companies developing nationwide, performances such as this are mostly centered in larger cities and urban environments,” said Phipps. “This will be a unique opportunity for everyone who attends Fall Arts Celebration.”

 

For more information about Fall Arts Celebration, visit gvsu.edu/fallarts.

‘Celebrating Originality: Defying Gravity with Aerial Dance Chicago’ Nov. 6 at GVSU

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , , , ,
FAC Dance-Aerial Dance Chicago (photo supplied)

By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University

 

Fall Arts Celebration will transcend the traditional dance floor and fly into the sky when Aerial Dance Chicago (ADC) presents a new world of athleticism coupled with an elegant showcase of dancing in the air.

 

A pioneer and an international leader in aerial dance, ADC is dedicated to presenting original choreography and performance in the field. The ensemble launches itself into the creative possibilities found in a vertical realm.

 

During the company’s Fall Arts Celebration performance, ADC will incorporate a variety of apparatus, including suspended fabrics, bungee cords, hoops, swings and ropes.

 

When: November 6, at 7:30pm

 

Where: Louis Armstrong Theatre, Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

 

*Concert will be preceded by a carillon concert at 7:10pm featuring Julianne Vanden Wyngaard, university carilloneur, and followed by a reception.

GVSU Music, Theatre and Dance schedule for November

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, Upcoming Events, , , ,

 

By Matthew Makowski, Grand Valley State University

 

Enrich your life with these free performances in November at Grand Valley State University!

High School Vocal Day Concert

  • When: November 3, at 2 pm
  • Where: Cook-DeWitt Center, Allendale Campus

Now in its 7th year, High School Vocal Day at Grand Valley State University welcomes more than 100 high school students from around Michigan to a day of learning and performing alongside Grand Valley music faculty and students, as well as nationally known guest instructors. This concert will be the capstone performance for High School Vocal Day at Grand Valley. This busy day of workshops and seminars will conclude with a performance by Grand Valley student soloists and a choir consisting of both Vocal Day participants and Grand Valley students. This concert is free and open to the public.

 

GVSU Faculty-Artist Recital: Sookkyung Cho, piano

  • When: November 7, at 7:30 pm
  • Where: Sherman Van Solkema Recital Hall (room 1325), Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

This free concert will highlight the musical prowess of Sookkyung Cho, assistant professor of piano at Grand Valley State University. This concert is open to the public. Before Grand Valley, Cho served on the piano faculty at New England Conservatory Preparatory School and Continuing Education in Boston. She was also adjunct faculty in theory at Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and served as a Teaching Fellow in the piano minor and music theory departments at The Juilliard School.

 

Cho has performed throughout North America, Europe, and her native country, Korea, in prestigious venues, including the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall in New York, Chicago Cultural Center, Sarasota Opera House, Beaux concerts de la releve in Quebec, Château de Fontainebleau in France and Zijingang Theater at Zhejiang University in China, among others. She received a bachelor’s of music and doctorate of musical arts degrees from The Juilliard School, and her master’s from Johns Hopkins University.

 

GVSU presents Amosa Duo

  • When: November 8, at 7:30 pm
  • Where: Sherman Van Solkema Recital Hall (room 1325), Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

Join the Amosa Duo at Grand Valley State University as they present works for clarinet and piano by Schubert, Schumann, Lindberg, and Weinberg. Comprising Gary June on clarinet and Chia-Ying Chan on piano, the Amosa Duo is devoted to bringing the best of the clarinet and piano repertoires to the concert stage, including both well-known masterpieces and contemporary gems. This concert is free and open to the public.

 

GVSU Laker Marching Band presents Bandorama

  • When: November 12, at 7:30 p.m.
  • Where: Kelly Family Sports Center, Allendale Campus

Join the 220-member Laker Marching Band at Grand Valley State University as they perform a sampling of their 2017 football season halftime shows. This performance will feature song selections ranging in genre from jazz and top 40 to “music from across the pond.” This concert is free and open to the public.

 

GVSU Saxophone Studio Recital

  • When: November 28, at 7:30 p.m.
  • Where: Sherman Van Solkema Recital Hall (room 1325), Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

During this free concert, Grand Valley State University’s Saxophone Studio will perform solo and quartet performances. The Saxophone Studio consists of multiple student ensembles, including the Yavin IV Quartet, GQ Quartet and Jubilee Quartet.

 

For more information about Music, Theatre and Dance Department events, contact 616. 331.3484 or visit gvsu.edu/mtd.

GVSU New Music Ensemble to release new CD, ‘Return’

Entertainment, , ,
Grand Valley State University’s New Music Ensemble releases a new CD on Oct. 27.

By Matthew Makowski

Grand Valley State University

 

Grand Valley’s award-winning New Music Ensemble has released a new CD that was composed by three alumni of the program.

 

The release of the ensemble’s fourth commercial CD, “Return,” will be celebrated on Friday, Oct. 27, with a concert from 7:30-9 p.m. in Louis Armstrong Theatre, located in the Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts on the Allendale Campus.

 

The album’s three composers, Adam Cuthbért, ’10, Matthew Finch, ’15, and Daniel Rhodé, ’12, will be in attendance, and Cuthbért will open the show with a special performance. An opportunity to meet the composers and the members of the New Music Ensemble will take place following the concert. The event is free and open to the public.

 

Bill Ryan, New Music Ensemble director, said this project fulfills his longtime goal of producing a “100 percent homegrown project.”

 

“This recording represents everything I envisioned when I started the New Music Ensemble — an entire album composed by three outstanding creative thinkers who came through our program, enthusiastically performed and recorded by current students,” said Ryan. “The result is a strikingly beautiful 78-minute journey that has been the most gratifying experience of my career.”

 

The composers worked with the ensemble’s acoustic recordings, and manipulated some to create the 15 acoustic-electronic hybrid compositions featured on the album.

 

“There are moments when the instruments are clearly heard, and others where you may think you know what’s happenings or where you are just perplexed,” Ryan explained. “Clarity of the sonic division between the two worlds of acoustic and electronic is a great tool to play with in terms of engaging the listener.”

 

Students were encouraged to explore their instruments in new ways for the album, which Hannah Donnelly said is one of the unique experiences of being a member of the New Music Ensemble.

 

“Being a part of the New Music Ensemble provides students with a musical experience you won’t find anywhere else on campus,” said Donnelly, a senior majoring in music performance and psychology who plays the flute in the ensemble. “You come to rehearsal and are allowed to experiment with your sound, even if it’s ‘ugly.’ You definitely begin to learn the endless possibilities of the sound of your instrument.”

 

Ryan Schmidt, a senior majoring in music, said the process of creating “Return” helped him see the possibilities of music differently through feedback from the three composers.

 

“Something that I thought sounded bad or unacceptable was exactly what the composers wanted, and in fact, they wanted more,” said Schmidt. “For instance, the microphones picked up subtle noises that your mouth can make while wetting a reed or just setting the mouthpiece to play. The composers used these sounds that otherwise would be useless or strange, and made music with it.”

 

Schmidt added that this experience helped him better appreciate the creative process of developing new music.

 

“Most often, we are playing from a deceased composer’s score and it can feel like we are trying to replicate something that has already been done,” he said. “This process was so valuable because we were making something brand new.”

 

Cuthbért said the inspiration for the pieces he composed for the album stemmed from his internal questioning of how people can keep their humanity in the midst of advancements in technology and science.

 

“‘Location Sharing’ and ‘Background Refresh’ are two tracks named for minor features on our phones that streamline communication through pretty complex technology,” he said.

 

“Return” is available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes. The CD will be released on the Innova label, and the album was mastered by Grammy Award winner Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound, whose other clients include Lady Gaga, Adele and Katy Perry.

 

The New Music Ensemble promotes contemporary classical chamber music, with a special focus on music of the past 20 years, through commissions, tours, recordings, educational events, workshops and videos.

 

Since the ensemble formed in 2006, the group has released three other critically acclaimed recordings, which have appeared on “best release lists” by The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Weekly and Time Out Chicago. Some of the ensemble’s recordings have appeared in film and television shows on MTV, Showtime, as well as at more than 75 film festivals around the world, and most recently in U.S. movie theaters as a part of the soundtrack for the film “As I AM: The Life and Times of DJ AM.”

 

The ensemble has completed four tours, including their most recent tour across four U.S. national parks in 2016. The group has also performed at the Bang On a Can Marathon in New York City, the College Music Society National Conference in Atlanta and at Carnegie Hall.

 

For more information about the New Music Ensemble, visit newmusicensemble.org.

GVSU dedicates new black box theater in honor of renowned vocalist

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, , , , ,
This October, GVSU dedicated the Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre.

By Matthew Makowski

Grand Valley State University

 

Grand Valley State University’s new Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre is providing students and faculty who are studying and teaching the performing arts with opportunities to tackle new types of productions.

 

The Grand Valley community celebrated the formal dedication of the Keller Theatre, located in the Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, on Oct. 17.

 

To honor Linn’s memory, the Keller family established the Linn Maxwell Keller Professional Vocalist Experience Endowment at Grand Valley in 2017. The fund provides enrichment opportunities for committed vocal performance students and will aim to encourage them in their professional career development. The Keller Theatre was named in appreciation for their generosity.

 

“The Linn Maxwell Keller Endowment will facilitate and empower our vocal students to move beyond their academic studies and ascend to distinguished achievement by providing needed resources to build artistic capability through advanced study, professional production and community outreach,” said Danny Phipps, chair of the Music, Theatre, and Dance Department. “These experiences are critical to their success as they launch their professional careers as the next generation of performing artists.”

 

Fred Keller, Linn’s husband, said that the endowment supports her long-held desire to inspire young, aspiring musicians, especially vocalists.

 

The dedication included an inaugural cabaret in the theater, including six vocal performances by multiple Grand Valley students and alumni of the Music, Theatre, and Dance Department.

“Linn was an incredible artist, and I’m so proud that we can have this space in her memory, and an endowment that is going to be inspiring students in the future,” he said. “You’ll never remember what somebody did or said, but you’ll remember how they made you feel, and that’s what Linn brought to the stage.”

 

Linn Maxwell Keller was a dedicated professional singer who performed in 28 countries throughout her career. The only child of two musicians, Linn was a mezzo soprano, performing on many operatic and concert stages, from the Essen Opera House in Germany to Puerto Rico and Carnegie Hall.

 

She went on to write and develop numerous original shows, including the critically acclaimed “Hildegard of Bingen and the Living Light,” and “St. Hildegard, Trumpet of God,” both of which were made into movies.

 

The dedication ceremony included an inaugural cabaret in the theater, including six vocal performances by multiple Grand Valley students and alumni of the Music, Theatre, and Dance Department.

 

President Thomas J. Haas said the endowment and the Keller Theatre align with Grand Valley’s mission of encouraging students to reach their full potential.

 

“No matter what we do in the Linn Maxwell Black Box Theatre, we are going to be driven by sustained attention to excellence and quality,” said Haas.

 

A black box theater is an indoor performance space with plain black walls and a level floor, typically designed to provide flexibility in stage configuration and audience seating. Black box theaters gained popularity in the 1960s and the unique performance space creates a closer proximity between the audience and performers.

GVSU Fall Arts Celebration poetry night to explore the extraordinary in the ordinary

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, , , , , ,
Dan Gerber

One of the wonders of poetry is the potential for the intricacies of ordinary life to be described in extraordinary ways.

 

Patricia Clark, Writing Department chair, said this is exactly what audiences can expect to hear during this year’s Fall Arts Celebration poetry night at Grand Valley State University with acclaimed authors Jane Hirshfield and Dan Gerber.

 

“An Evening of Poetry and Conversation with Jane Hirshfield and Dan Gerber” will take place Thursday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m., on the 2nd floor of the Eberhard Center, located on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus. The reading will be followed by a reception and book signing.

 

Jane Hirshfield (Photo by Curt Richter)

“Jane’s vision is informed by her extensive knowledge of international poetry, so her poems take on an incandescence with the ability to layer steady affirmation with, at times, an underlying humor, and compassion for the sorrows, losses and inconsistencies of life,” said Clark.

 

Hirshfield has penned many collections of poetry and prose, including The Beauty, Come Thief, The Lives of the Heart, The October Palace and Given Sugar, Given Salt. Her book, After, was shortlisted for England’s T.S. Eliot Prize and named a “best book of 2006” by the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and London Financial Times.

 

In 2012, Hirshfield was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, and in fall 2004, she was awarded the 70th Academy Fellowship for distinguished poetic achievement by the academy, which is an honor formerly held by Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams and Elizabeth Bishop.

 

Gerber, a native of Fremont, is the author of a dozen books of poetry, fiction and essays. His most recent books of poems include Particles: New & Selected Poemsand Sailing through Cassiopeia. His work has received ForeWord Magazine’s Gold Medal Award, a Mark Twain Award for distinguished contribution to Midwest literature, a Michigan Author Award and a Michigan Notable Book Award. He is also the co-founder of the literary magazine Sumac.

 

Clark said Gerber’s poems provide a clear vision of the natural world and the “inner life.”

 

“Dan studies what’s at hand: an old dog, a fox he glimpses on a walk, a starry night, or a cabin in the woods,” she said. “Often, he, like Jane, begins a poem with something near at hand and then uses that object to find a deeper significance, perhaps about the past, family or life.”

 

For more information about Fall Arts Celebration, visit gvsu.edu/fallarts.

GVSU Opera Theatre to honor legacy of composer Kurt Weill during cabaret performances

Entertainment, , ,
The cast of “A Kurt Weill Cabaret” with Michael DeVries.

The legacy of composer Kurt Weill can still be heard today by audiences in concert halls and theaters, and Grand Valley State University students will honor that legacy when GVSU Opera Theatre performs a selection of Weill’s greatest hits.

 

“A Kurt Weill Cabaret” will focus on the music of Weill (1900-1950), and the many lyricists who collaborated with him during his life and career.

 

Performances will take place Oct. 20 and 21 at 7:30 p.m., and Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. at the Betty Van Andel Opera Center, 1320 Fulton St. SE, Grand Rapids. To purchase tickets, call 616-451-2741. Tickets are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors and Grand Valley faculty, staff and alumni, and $6 for students.

 

“Because his music is being performed in both a popular and classical context, no composer in the 20th century had a more wide-ranging influence than Kurt Weill,” said Dale Schriemer, Opera Theatre stage director. “Indie artists, rock musicians, metropolitan opera stars and jazz greats have all adopted his music because of its broad appeal.”

 

Drawing on classical and popular styles, Schriemer said Weill’s works have been performed by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé, Judy Garland, David Bowie, and The Doors. His most famous works include three operas (“Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny,” “The Threepenny Opera,” “Street Scene”), three musicals (“One Touch of Venus,” “Knickerbocker Holiday,” “Marie Galante”), and a plethora of individual songs and concert pieces.

 

Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1933, Weill, a Jewish composer, traveled to France and subsequently the U.S. while writing in a variety of musical styles that reflected whatever culture he found himself in.

 

During performances of “A Kurt Weill Cabaret,” each of the 14 students in the ensemble will be featured in both solos and small group numbers. Schriemer said the 70-minute performance will be a blend of funny, satirical and poignant songs, as well as songs of beauty and power.

 

“This show will differ from traditional music theater productions and opera because while it may take an entire evening to tell a single story, cabaret performers tell many different stories with each song because each song is in its own universe,” said Schriemer.

 

The students received expert guidance during rehearsals in September from guest artist Michael DeVries, who has appeared in major productions on Broadway, such as “Wicked,” “Hello, Dolly,” “Secret Garden,” “Grand Hotel” and “Cats.” He has also appeared as a series regular on TV shows such as “Law and Order,” “Sex and the City” and “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.”

 

“Quite often, young performers are distracted by achieving technical expertise in the midst of storytelling,” explained Schriemer. “Michael brought them back to the basic questions performers must ask themselves: ‘Who am I speaking to?’ ‘What do I want?’ and ‘Why is this story important?’ The intensity of this experience is a brilliant way for our students to become more skilled artists because it develops confidence and pride of accomplishment.”

 

For more information about “A Kurt Weill Cabaret,” contact Schriemer at schriemd@gvsu.edu.

GVSU economist: Postive growth continues

3-bottom, , , , ,
Brian Long, photo from gvsu.edu

The West Michigan economy is going strong and the trend should continue, according to a Grand Valley State University expert.

 

Brian G. Long, director of Supply Management Research in the Seidman College of Business, surveyed local business leaders and his findings below are based on data collected during the last two weeks of September.

 

The survey’s index of business improvement (new orders) came in at +21, above last month’s +19. The production index eased to +17 from +20. The index of purchases slowed to +14 from +24, and the employment index remained positive at +17, up from +21.

 

Long said for auto sales, the September report reversed the negative pattern of the past six months.

 

“Most auto parts suppliers have been concerned throughout the summer about the slower auto sales, so the September bounce in sales seems to have forestalled any immediate fear of an automotive recession lurking around the corner,” said Long. “The major office furniture firms still appear to be topping out at the present level, but the smaller firms are having a little more success.”

 

Business optimism is strong in West Michigan and the economy for the rest of the world continues to improve, Long said.

 

“Canada and Mexico, our two largest trading partners, turned in strong reports for September,” he said. “Whereas most of the major economies were improving over the summer, growth in September slowed in China, Japan and the UK.”

 

The Institute for Supply Management survey is a monthly survey of business conditions that includes 45 purchasing managers in the greater Grand Rapids area and 25 in Kalamazoo. The respondents are from the region’s major industrial manufacturers, distributors and industrial service organizations. It is patterned after a nationwide survey conducted by the Institute for Supply Management. Each month, the respondents are asked to rate eight factors as “same,” “up” or “down.”

 

For over 28 years, Dr. Brian Long has edited a survey of local purchasing managers for both the Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids areas, which has proved to be a major indicator of current and future business conditions.  This survey appears in many local newspapers and national business publications, including the Grand Rapids Press, MiBiz, and the Grand Rapids Business Journal.  The survey is also a component of the Federal Reserve’s bimonthly survey of business conditions. 

GVSU students harvest hundreds of pounds of honey from bees on campus

3-bottom, ,
GVSU students get the collected honey for transport.

By Leah Twilley

Grand Valley State University

 

This month, beekeepers across the region began harvesting honey created during the summer. Grand Valley State University students and faculty members are part of this group and recently gathered honey produced at the apiaries on campus.

 

In early September, members of the student organization GVSU Beekeepers harvested, extracted and bottled more than 360 pounds of honey. The honey came from apiaries at the Sustainable Agriculture Project on the Allendale Campus and Meijer Campus in Holland. An apiary is a collection of hives.

 

“Honeybees pollinate one-third of crops grown in the U.S.,” said Megan Damico, a senior biomedical sciences major and president of the GVSU Beekeepers. “They pollinate all kinds of produce, from citrus fruits in the South, up to apples and berries in the North, over to almonds in the West. They’re key to our healthy diets.”

 

The honey is for sale for $8 per bottle in room 324 of Lake Ontario Hall on the Allendale Campus and at the front desk at the Meijer Campus in Holland, Monday-Friday.

 

GVSU honey is $8 a bottle and available at Lake Ontario Hall the Allendale campus and at the front desk at the Meijer Campus in Holland.

Researching honeybee health 

 

Honeybees are disappearing and researchers around the world, including Grand Valley faculty members and students, are studying the reasons why. The group is taking a close look at honeybee habitats and health, and organizing community outreach activities to educate people about the species’ importance.

 

Anne Marie Fauvel, affiliate faculty of liberal studies, hopes a mobile app developed at Grand Valley will shed light on honeybee health in Michigan and beyond.

 

The app is part of Michigan PollenCheck, a project led by Fauvel to study bee pollen to project the health of hives in Michigan. The app was developed by two Grand Valley students and computing professor Jonathan Engelsma. More than 20 beekeepers across the state have been trained to collect pollen and submit hive data via the app.

 

After data has been collected, Fauvel will connect with Bee Informed Partnership (BIP), a national organization that researches the mortality of honeybees.

 

“The app will eventually be used by beekeepers and researchers nationally,” said Fauvel, president of the Holland Area Beekeepers Association.

 

Michigan PollenCheck stems from another research project led by Engelsma and funded by a portion of a $2.3 million USDA grant awarded to BIP. The project focuses on collecting data from honeybee colonies using a variety of techniques and tools, including a website developed by a team of students. The website (hivescales.beeinformed.org) houses information captured by electronic scales that are installed underneath more than 150 live honeybee colonies across the country. The scales capture weight, humidity and temperature every 15 minutes. Read more. 

 

“Every morning when the sun warms a hive, we’ll see the weight drop about four pounds as bees leave to find nectar and pollen,” Engelsma said. “Around mid-day, we see the weight increase as bees bring nectar and pollen loads back to the hive. Observing weight increases and decreases can reveal a lot about a hive; it’s healthy for a colony to gain weight, not lose it.”

Michigan’s largest, oldest Shakespeare festival to honor the Bard’s legacy at GVSU

Entertainment, , , ,
GVSU presents “The Tempest” at this year’s Shakespeare Festival

By Matthew Makowski

Grand Valley State University

 

The Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival will explore and celebrate the life and works of William Shakespeare for the 24th consecutive year, with multiple events September 29-November 4.

 

Grand Valley State University’s annual festival is the oldest and largest Shakespeare festival in Michigan and attracts more than 6,000 guests each year.

 

To kick off this year’s festival, students will bring to life what is believed to be one of the Bard’s final solo-written plays. Shakespeare wraps themes of love, betrayal, vengeance, forgiveness, redemption and magic into “The Tempest.”

 

In “The Tempest,” Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan and a powerful sorcerer, has survived 12 years marooned on a remote island with his daughter, Miranda, when the men who cheated him sail within reach of his fearful magic. He conjures a tempest that shipwrecks his enemies and leaves them at his mercy, but the story becomes more complex when Miranda falls in love with a castaway prince, and the island’s native inhabitants, Caliban and Ariel, frighten and amaze the mariners. Will Prospero exact his revenge or learn that “the rare action is in virtue than in vengeance?”

 

Performances of “The Tempest” will take place Sept. 29 and 30, and Oct. 5, 6 and 7, at 7:30 p.m., and Oct. 1 and 8, at 2 p.m. All performances will take place in Louis Armstrong Theatre, in the Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts. Sign language interpretation will be available during the October 5 performance.

 

Tickets are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors and GVSU alumni, faculty and staff members, and $6 for students and groups. Five percent of total ticket sales for performances of “The Tempest” will be donated to the American Red Cross to contribute to hurricane relief efforts.

 

“We feel we could not perform a play called ‘The Tempest’ that begins with a devastating storm that shipwrecks sailors without acknowledging the catastrophic storms of this year and the devastation caused to so many areas,” said Jim Bell, Shakespeare Festival director.

 

“The Tempest” will be directed by guest artist Curt Tofteland, founder and producing director of Shakespeare Behind Bars Inc., the oldest North American Shakespeare program that takes place in medium-security prisons.

 

The award-winning documentary, “Shakespeare Behind Bars,” traces the success of the program while demonstrating the transformational power of performing Shakespeare’s works. A public screening of the documentary and a discussion with Tofteland will take place Oct. 4, at 7 p.m., in Louis Armstrong Theatre.

 

This year’s Shakespeare Festival will welcome guest scholar-in-residence, John Andrews, founder and president of the renowned Shakespeare Guild. Andrews also served as the resident scholar during Grand Valley’s first Shakespeare Festival in 1994.

 

Andrews will give a public lecture in conjunction with performances of “The Tempest,” entitled “Why Shakespeare’s ‘Brave New World’ Continues to Resonate: Reflections on ‘The Tempest.'” His presentation will take place Sept. 29, at 4 p.m., in the Kirkhof Center’s Pere Marquette Room. The lecture will be preceded by a reception at 3 p.m. and include a performance of this year’s festival Greenshow: “The Devil is an Ass.”

 

Grand Valley’s traveling Shakespeare troupe, Bard to Go, also returns this year with a new, 50-minute production, “The Wonder of Will: This Is Your Afterlife!”

 

Bard to Go performs Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.

This year’s production asks what would happen if the Bard was brought back to life and taken on an adventure through his most famous plays. The production includes scenes from “Hamlet,” “Richard III,” “The Comedy of Errors,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Macbeth,” and “The Merchant of Venice.”

 

Bard to Go will perform for students at various secondary schools throughout Michigan in October and November, and offer multiple public performances as well. The troupe will perform as an ArtPrize entry from noon-5 p.m. on September 30 and October 1 at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids.

 

Bard to Go will also perform at 1 p.m. on November 4 in Loosemore Auditorium, located in the DeVos Center on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus. The performance will follow the Campus Student Competition Awards Ceremony.

 

For more information about this year’s Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival, contact Bell at bellja@gvsu.edu, or visit gvsu.edu/shakes. To purchase tickets for “The Tempest,” call the Louis Armstrong Theatre Box Office at 616-331-2300.

GVSU-sponsored event focuses on STEM topics and activities

3-bottom, , , ,

 

By Nate Hoekstra

GVSU

 

A free public event focused on STEM topics and activities for kids and adults of all ages will be hosted by several Grand Valley State University departments on Sept. 16.

 

The event, BrainSTEM, is a hands-on, brains-on expo that highlights the best of today’s innovation and creativity in science, technology, engineering and math. Community organizations that focus on STEM and STEM learning will be available throughout all three floors of the Grand Rapids Public Museum with hands-on activities for all ages.

 

The event is sponsored by Grand Valley’s Charter Schools Office, College of Education, College of Computing and Engineering, and WGVU Public Media.

 

BrainSTEM

Sept. 16

9 a.m. — 2 p.m.

Grand Rapids Public Museum

Free to public, no registration required (museum admission is free)

 

Students in grades K-8 can take part in “Get with the Program,” a group of four computer coding sessions that will help expose students to computer programming.

 

Educators will be able to take part in Code to Compose, an introductory music composition and computer programming curriculum designed for beginners to gain exposure to coding. Participants will learn the basics by creating music with the Ruby programming language using a free application called Sonic Pi. The hands-on workshop for administrators, technology and music teachers interested in STEAM programs for 6-12th graders is offered by Macro Connect.

 

Organizations taking part in the event include WGVU, GE Aviation, John Ball Zoo, Atomic Object, Breakout EDU, Tetra Discover Partner, Michigan State University Extension, GRPS, AirZoo, and West Michigan Tech Talent.

 

For more information, visit http://www.grpm.org/events/brainstem/

West Michigan universities, colleges come out on top in recent ‘U.S. News & World Report’

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, , , , , , ,
Calvin College President Michael Le Roy with students. (Calvin College)

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma

joanne@wktv.org

 

Just before high school students select colleges and start sending applications into the Federal Student Aid, “U.S. News & World Report” comes out with its annual college rankings and this year, several Grand Rapids colleges and universities did quite well in those rankings.

 

Calvin College was ranked tops in Regional Colleges Midwest. Colleges in this category focus on undergraduate education but grant fewer than half their degrees in liberal arts disciplines. The rankings are split into four regions, north, south, midwest, and west. The midwest ranking includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan.

 

Calvin College President Michael Le Roy in a statement said it was encouraging when an independent source such as “U.S. News and World Report” recognizes the work of the faculty, staff and students. The college also ranked second in Best Undergraduate Teaching in the Midwest.

 

Other colleges that ranked in the Regional Colleges Midwest are University of Detroit Mercy, which was ranked No. 19, and Adrian College, ranked No. 20. The University of Detroit Mercy program is offered at Aquinas College and the college has an affiliation with Cornerstone University.

 

The Cook Carillon Tower at Grand Valley State University, Allendale campus.

In the Regional Universities Midwest category, Grand Valley Stated University ranked No. 29, Aquinas College, No. 47 and Kuyper College, No. 59. This category is for universities that offer a full range of undergraduate programs and some master’s programs but few doctoral programs. The Regional Universities also are split info four regions, north, south, midwest, and west. The midwest region includes the same states as the Regional Colleges. Other local and Michigan universities listed in the Regional Universities Midwest are University of Michigan – Dearborn, No. 38; Ferris State University, No. 83; Cornerstone University, No. 115, and Davenport University, No. 122.

 

For the National Universities category, universities that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and doctoral programs and are committed to producing groundbreaking research, the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor ranked the highest at No. 28. Michigan State University was at No. 81; Central Michigan University and Western Michigan University tied at No. 207.

 

West Michigan also captured a couple of spots in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category, colleges that emphasize undergraduate education and award at least half of their degrees in the library arts fields of study, which Kalamazoo College ranking at No. 76 and Hope College was No. 106.

 

The rankings are based on several key measures of quality including peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving. Data was collected from each institution that included several indicators of academic excellence.

 

The data also includes other ranking information such as Grand Valley State University was ranked No. 3 in Top Pubic Schools and No. 4 in Best Value Schools. For more information or to see the rankings, click here, and for just the Michigan rankings, click here. For more information on the schools in this story, click on the name of the school.

GVSU events celebrate Hispanic heritage

3-bottom, , , ,

By Leah Twilley

GVSU

Grand Valley State University’s annual Hispanic Heritage Celebration will feature guest lecturers, spoken word poetry, dancing and celebratory cultural events.

 

The events, organized by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, take place in conjunction with National Hispanic Heritage Month. All events are free and open to the public.

 

Event highlights are below; learn more at www.gvsu.edu/oma.

 

Why (Y)our History Matters: The Latino Experience in the Midwest

 

Wednesday, Sept. 20, from 3-4:15 p.m., 2204 Kirkhof Center

 

Lilia Fernández, a specialist in 20th century Latino history, will give a lecture. Her book, Brown in the Windy City: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Postwar Chicago, is the first to document the history of Latino populations in the city after World War II.

 

Professionals of Color Lecture Series – Hispanics: More Than Statistics

 

Wednesday, Sept. 27, from 1-2:30 p.m., 2250 Kirkhof Center

 

Antonia Coello Novello, a native of Puerto Rico, is executive director of public health policy for Florida Hospital. In 1990, she was sworn in as the 14th Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service; she was the first woman and first Hispanic American to hold the position.

 

Spoken Word with Denice Frohman

 

Thursday, Oct. 5, from 4-5:15 p.m., Cook-DeWitt Center

 

Denice Frohman is an award-winning poet, writer, performer and educator. Her poetry focuses on social change.

 

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

 

Wednesday, Nov. 1, from 6-7 p.m., Niemeyer Honors Building Lobby

 

Dia de los Muertos is a holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and by the people of Mexican ancestry living in other places, like the U.S. The multi-day holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember those who have died.

 

Sabado Gigante (Dinner and Dance)

 

Friday, Nov. 3, from 8 p.m.-midnight, 2250 Kirkhof Center

 

The event, hosted by the Latino Student Union, will replicate Sabado Gigante, a game show well known in the Latino community. The evening will include entertainment and prizes.