SOU Students Excel

January 19th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink

SOU versus Pacific

Photo by RWBalzer

This past weekend (January 14-15) I had the opportunity to see our students perform brilliantly in athletics and in the arts.

On Saturday night, I attended a wrestling match between SOU and Pacific University in the Bob Riehm Arena. I admit to knowing very little about wrestling—I was glad the program included rules and scoring as well as stats—but it was easy to see how athletic and proficient the SOU wrestlers are. From light to heavyweight, SOU dominated.

SOU’s rivalry with Pacific goes back over fifty years; this was our eighteenth consecutive victory (an impressive 41-3). Bob Riehm was there in person (as he often is), so it was particularly exciting that our wrestling stars were so successful.

On Sunday afternoon I enjoyed stars of another kind in the Music Recital Hall. The concert highlighted three students who have been supported by scholarships donated through Chamber Music Concerts. Mitchell Hansen (horn), Lisa Nichols (flute) , and Jamie Krull (saxophone), accompanied by Jodi French on piano, showed professional aplomb as well as technical expertise and emotional nuance in works by Beethoven, Paul Taffanel, and Paule Maurice. Even though the wintry weather was a bit daunting, a good crowd gathered to enjoy our students’ performances.

At both events, it was inspiring and heartening to see faculty, staff, and students as well as community members coming out to support and applaud our students’ talent and hard work.

Catching Up – II

January 17th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink

Max Schmitt in a Single Scull 1871

Thomas Eakins: Max Schmitt in a Single Scull 1871

One thing I love about a holiday break is having some time just to sit and read. My bedside table is piled with magazines, newspapers, and books. In December I made headway on the pile.

Bill Bryson - The Mother TongueI finished two books by Bill Bryson: At Home: A Short History of Private Life and The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way. At Home is a delight. Using his old English rectory home as a base, Bryson takes us through each room and then proceeds to wander off into hundreds of house-related topics, from the history of gardens to the earliest plumbing to the nineteenth-century kitchen and the history of meals we now take for granted. The Mother Tongue is highly readable but covers more well-worn ground, from the earliest spoken languages to the myriad influences that make English so enduring but also so frustrating in pronunciation, spelling, and usage.

At Home briefly recounts the horrific journeys of European adventurers in search of spices in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Over the holiday break, I also finished Nathaniel’s Nutmeg by Giles Milton, a history of those spice traders, particularly the English explorers who battled the Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch and violently conquered unprotected islands in search of a fortune in nutmeg. It’s a riveting but bloody and cruel history that makes you think twice when you’re casually buying spices at the grocery store.

Thomas Eakins: Self Portrait 1902

Another compelling read over the holidays was Sidney Kirkpatrick’s biography The Revenge of Thomas Eakins. Eakins is one of the most revered of American painters (1844-1916), particularly in Philadelphia where he lived and worked, but he never achieved the success during his lifetime that he deserved. His story is compelling and a bit sad. Having seen many of his works when I was in college, I look forward to meeting them again now that I know the stories behind them.

Winter Term is underway, and the calendar is packed. It’s taking me a week just to scan the headlines in the Sunday Times. But, for a few days in December, I made a real dent in my bedside reading!

Catching Up

January 12th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink

Beatriz Abella and Mandee Light with SOU Professors Donna Lane and Dennis Slattery

Welcome to Winter 2012! I hope your holidays were happy and restful.

Once Thanksgiving came along, the President’s Blog took some time off from updating events at SOU. There was too much going on! The following are just a very few highlights from past weeks.

We had a lovely President’s Holiday Reception at Plunkett on December 4. The reception gave us a festive opportunity to launch our celebration of SOU’s 140th birthday. Our institution was first founded as Ashland Academy in 1872 and has gone through myriad names and transformations since then. The early December party got everyone in the holiday spirit.

In December, also, our wonderful, talented students Mandee Light and Beatriz Abella performed at Carnegie Hall (pictured above). SOU faculty members Donna Lane and Dennis Slattery (along with Dennis’s spouse Sandra) were in the audience and celebrated their success with them.

Mt. Hood near Timberline LodgeOver the break, I spent a few days at Timberline Lodge near Mount Hood, which had more snow than just about anywhere else in Oregon.

And now we’ve started a new year and a new term. Classes have started. Men’s and women’s basketball as well as wrestling are well underway. Campuses in Ashland and Medford are humming with activity.

The coming weeks will be exciting, challenging, and action-packed. Stay tuned for updates!

A Dramatic Weekend

November 21st, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

caucasian chalk circle

This weekend (November 18-20) presented four opportunities to see The Caucasian Chalk Circle in the Center Stage Theatre. Putting Bertolt Brecht’s works on stage can never be easy. This play is particularly challenging as it melds realistic and often violent scenes with musical pieces and the conventions of myth and fable.

Director Michael Hume, who has directed for SOU in the past and is a long-time company member of OSF, set the production during the bloody Pol Pot regime in Cambodia rather than in the Russia of Brecht’s original play. The setting enabled the production to include stage sets, music, and dance movements evocative of Southeast Asia while also calling to mind a tragic era familiar to modern audiences.

The production included a number of demanding roles that highlighted the dramatic, musical, and even comic skills of our student actors. Kudos to everyone involved.

If you didn’t get to one of the SOU plays this term, mark your calendars for winter and spring productions!

Civility, Democracy, and Conflict

November 20th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

May 22, 1856 The Caning of Senator Charles Sumner

May 22, 1856 The Caning of Senator Charles Sumner - click the image for the full story

On Thursday evening (November 17), a crowd gathered in the Meese Auditorium to learn about and discuss the concept of civility—our campus theme—and how it applies to our daily lives.

Jon Lange, from the Department of Communication, Ed Battistella, from Language, Literature, and Philosophy, and Jeffrey LaLande, an historian and U.S. Forest Service retiree, spoke to engaged and attentive listeners. Each from a slightly different perspective, presentations touched on the linguistic history and connotations of the word civility as well as watershed moments in American history, both distant and recent, when civility has been embraced or abandoned.

Although we all may perceive deterioration of civility throughout our culture in recent years, the panelists reminded us of days when members of Congress attacked each other physically and disagreements could lead to duels rather than lawsuits. Discussion after the presentations ranged from issues regarding television, talk radio, and Baby Boomers to questions of when some incivility might actually be appropriate.

It was a lively, enlightening, and definitely civil exchange of ideas and viewpoints—reminding us all yet again of the importance of a liberal arts education in maintaining a civil society.

Supporting our Student Athletes

November 18th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

The annual Raider Auction is one of SOU’s most inspiring and delightful events. On Wednesday night (November 16), the Riehm Arena was transformed into a moveable feast as folks from on and off campus gathered in support of SOU Athletics. While dining on delicacies from Beasey’s caterers, attendees wandered among tables lined with sports memorabilia, holiday gift baskets, and other silent auction items.

The out-loud auction offered getaways such as fishing and ski trips, a year’s worth of movie tickets, a hot air balloon ride, and the ever-popular President’s Skybox for watching home football games. Supporting student scholarships was an especially popular auction choice.

With so many SOU athletic teams excelling this fall, the Raider spirit was particularly strong. A good time was had by all—and our student athletes will benefit from this community’s generous support.

All photos by RW Balzer

Simple, Beautiful, New

November 15th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

DrMaltz-and-Poster

Dr. Diana Maltz stands beside the poster for her lecture.

On Wednesday (November 9), we held the first Distinguished Lecture of the academic year. The Distinguished Lectures Series highlights the work being done by SOU faculty. All across campus, our faculty are doing great things—creating art, discovering new species, working on projects that benefit our environment and communities. The Distinguished Lecture Series provides insights into some of this wonderful work.

On Wednesday, we heard from Professor Diana Maltz, Chair of the Department of Language, Literature and Philosophy. Her talk, titled “Simple, Beautiful, New: Counterculture in Britain, 1890-1910,” examined a trend in late Victorian England that seems very familiar today: people getting back to the land, wearing comfortable clothes, and eating a vegetarian diet.

Such values, common today, were revolutionary in the England of 1890 when the middle and upper classes typically wore painful and constricting clothing, lived in ornate and cluttered rooms, and ate a diet relying heavily on meat. The focus on what we might now call “new age” values influenced writers as diverse as George Bernard Shaw and George Orwell.

Dr. Maltz introduced her audience to utopian communities as well as writers and thinkers most of us were unaware of. And she reminded us that, really, nothing is new under the sun.

 

Pirates to Raiders

November 11th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

The room was packed at Talent Middle School on the evening of October 22 as students and their families came to learn about “Pirates to Raiders,” a new partnership designed to open doors for Hispanic students.

The program forms an alliance with eighth-grade students, their families, the Phoenix-Talent School district, and SOU. Each member of the partnership agrees to participate in ensuring that these students take all the right steps over the next five years. If they do, they will be accepted to SOU.

Families are an integral part of Pirates to Raiders. They pledge to make sure their children regularly attend school; they support their students’ academic progress, attend Pirates to Raiders events with them, and ensure students complete the program.

SOU and the school district provide mentorship, access to scholarship and financial aid information, transportation to Pirates to Raiders events, and opportunities for students to learn about the university.

On that Thursday evening, students listened attentively as current SOU students spoke to them in Spanish about why coming to SOU has been so important to them and what goals they hope to reach.

I am very hopeful that the Pirates to Raiders program will be an inspiration and a gateway for students.

 

A Big Thank You

November 4th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

On Wednesday (November 2), the SOU Development folks put on a fun thank-you bash for SOU faculty and staff who have donated to the university over the years. Our own John Stevenson and his spouse Anna played their greatest hits, and guests enjoyed a lovely spread donated by Sodexo. A number of SOU Foundation Board members joined us, as did some alumni and retired faculty.

These photos capture a few of the festive moments as we celebrated the generosity of our university community.

Educating Oregonians

November 3rd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Gov. John Kitzhaber speaks to the audience at the Oregon University System symposium on Tuesday afternoon. (Amanda Cowan | Corvallis Gazette-Times - Click the image for the Gazette Times story)

On Tuesday (November 1) I joined leaders from around the state to discuss meeting Oregon’s 40-40-20 goal. The goal, signed into law by the governor last June, sets the state’s educational mission: by 2025, 40% of Oregonians will have a baccalaureate degree or higher; 40% will have an associate degree or post-high school training; and 20% will have a high school diploma. For the Oregon University System, that goal means increasing overall enrollment by 60% by 2025.

The meeting in Corvallis, put together by OUS, was titled “From Goal to Reality: Achieving 40-40-20 in Oregon.” Representatives from K-12, public and private universities, community colleges, Oregon tribes, and state agencies as well as state and local elected officials, discussed what this goal means and what it will take to get there.  Governor Kitzhaber spoke to us about bringing together the good work we’re all doing to meet this challenging “stretch goal.”

I moderated a panel examining promising practices and partnerships across sectors to help students get to college. I highlighted SOU’s recent agreement with the Phoenix-Talent school district. Mark Mulvihill, superintendent of InterMountain ESD, and John Turner, president of Blue Mountain Community College, outlined their work to create an Eastern Promise in partnership with Eastern Oregon University. Richard Lariviere discussed a number of partnerships between UO and local schools.

Everyone agreed that we’re doing excellent work in Oregon. But reaching 40-40-20 by 2025 goes beyond a standard “stretch goal.” It’s a breathtaking challenge for all of us.

SOU Update on KOBI

October 30th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

On October 21, I spoke on KOBI’s Five at Five about SOU. You can watch the interview at

http://localnewscomesfirst.com/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=431&task=videodirectlink&id=10345

State of the University – Fall 2011

October 17th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

The full text of the speech is available as a PDF here.

 

 

The Art Affair 2011

October 4th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

The Art Affair is a delightful annual event that brings university and community members together to support SOU’s Schneider Museum of Art. This year’s event, on September 9, was particularly memorable as we celebrated the museum’s 25th anniversary. Dining and dancing in the museum itself, we also honored descendants of Bill and Florence Schneider, who were instrumental in fundraising for our Center for the Visual Arts.  These are photos from that lovely evening.

This SlideShowPro photo gallery requires the Flash Player plugin and a web browser with JavaScript enabled.

Weekend at the Lake

October 3rd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

This past Saturday and Sunday (October 1-2), I was up at Crater Lake for a Board meeting. I’m a member of the Crater Lake National Park Trust, an organization that partners with the National Park Service and also helps support the Classroom at Crater Lake.  Over the years, the Trust has successfully won grants and other support for our beautiful Oregon national park.

The weather was chilly but clear up there over the weekend. This year’s snows haven’t begun to fall—but last year’s snow hasn’t yet disappeared from the edge of the lake. From afar, the snow looked like fairly small white patches, but Park Superintendent Craig Ackerman told us that it was actually 10 feet deep. Summer didn’t arrive at Crater Lake until August this year.

On Sunday morning the Superintendent took us on the new Plaikni Trail that winds through tall trees and rocky outcrops to a lovely waterfall. In the photo, taken by Bill Thorndike, I am standing with Nancy Tait and Superintendent Ackerman.

This week, it looks like the weather will begin to turn at Crater Lake. This weekend was a gorgeous taste of the beautiful but fleeting autumn season.

Go, Raiders!

September 26th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

It was a gorgeous fall weekend (September 24-25)—and a winning weekend for SOU athletics. On Friday night the stands were packed with supporters in red for the volleyball game against the Northwest Eagles. After a disappointing first match, the Raiders came back to win the next three sets. Each match was tight; it wasn’t until the last one that SOU players really got into their stride and took over the court, beating the Eagles 25-18.

Michael Springer clinched the win with his interception in the final 10 seconds. Photo RW Balzer

Natalie Scheller finished with 10 kills and a .714 attack percentage: Photo by RW Balzer

The energy in the stands was terrific at that game and also at the football game against the Webber International Warriors on Saturday. The Raiders scored early and maintained the lead throughout—though they spent a good part of the game in defensive mode. The Raiders are 1-3 overall right now, but there are good signs of a strong team emerging as we move through the season.

The SOU volleyball team came back Saturday night to sweep the Evergreen Geoducks decisively in three straight matches. The Raiders are now ranked 18th nationally.

With students back on campus, fall in the air, and wonderful team spirit, it was a great weekend!

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