(Ashland, Ore.) – The Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University presents “Much Ado About Shakespeare in Contemporary America” on Saturday, May 2 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Symposium is a collaborative project between Southern Oregon University’s new ShakespeareAMERICA Institute and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), supported in part by the Oregon Community Foundation. The Symposium includes viewing of the film “Much Ado About Nothing” by Joss Whedon at the Ashland Varsity Theatre, panel discussions and a multimedia performance by SOU students.
The Symposium kicks off Saturday morning at the Varsity Theater with a talk by film critic Steve Vineberg on the subject of “Hollywood’s Debt to Shakespeare,” which will set up a viewing and discussion of Joss Whedon’s recent film adaptation of “Much Ado About Nothing.” Vineberg is a Professor of Theatre at the College of the Holy Cross who has authored three books. His reviews and articles have appeared in multiple publications, including The New York Times.
Afternoon events shift to the Meese Auditorium in the SOU Art Building. The first features a panel discussion focused on OSF’s current production of “Much Ado About Nothing.”  Commentary will center on the mistreatment of Hero, the young woman unjustly denounced as unchaste at her own wedding. Panelists include Lydia Garcia, OSF’s literary associate and production dramaturg for “Much Ado About Nothing;” Leah Anderson, who plays Hero in the same production:  and feminist Shakespeare scholar Evelyn Gajowski, Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The final event in the Symposium will be “An Ill Word,” a multimedia performance written and directed by SOU Theatre students in collaboration with SOU’s Emerging Media and Digital Arts program. A modern adaptation of “Much Ado About Nothing,” the piece sets the classic romance in Hollywood celebrity culture in the age of the Internet. “Shakespeare’s play centers on the stories people tell about love and how those stories can build relationships or destroy them,” said Liz Eckhart, instructor in Shakespeare Studies and popular culture and the faculty advisor of the performance. “This adaptation shows how the same dynamics play out in the treacherous world of tabloid journalism and social media. Today, tabloids and clickbait websites obsess over the real or imagined private lives of celebrities, and hackers steal intimate photos and publish them online. These spectacles lead us to ask, how do “Much Ado”’s central issues of love and shaming play out in today’s volatile social media culture?”
Shanti Ryle, a Bachelor of Fine Arts student in Theatre, wrote “An Ill Word.” She is currently understudying the role of Hero in the OSF production this season and is a member of the ensemble in “Head Over Heels.” The performance is directed by senior Theatre student Natalia F. Regalia-Affinito. Her recent credits include assistant director and director in the SOU Theatre program and at Western Washington Center for the Arts.
The new ShakespeareAMERICA Institute at Southern Oregon University is dedicated to the investigation of Shakespeare’s place in contemporary American culture. For more information, call 541-552-6333.
Registration is $25 and includes a catered box lunch. A discounted fee of $10 is available for university and high school students. Registration deadline is Thursday, April 30. Register online at oca.sou.edu, by calling 541-552-6348 or visiting the SOU Performing Arts Box Office, located in the SOU Music Recital Hall lobby. Box office hours are noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
A professional development credit is available for teachers for $70 for one credit (includes registration fee and lunch). To register for the CEU, call 541-552-6333.
About Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University provides outstanding student experiences, valued degrees, and successful graduates. SOU is known for excellence in faculty, intellectual creativity and rigor, quality and innovation in connected learning programs, and the educational benefits of its unique geographic location. SOU was the first university in Oregon—and one of the first in the nation—to offset 100 percent of its energy use with clean, renewable power, and it is the first university in the nation to balance 100 percent of its water consumption. Visit sou.edu.
Photo: Steve Vinberg, Professor of Theatre at the College of the Holy Cross

(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University Theatre Arts student Stephanie Neuerburg has been invited to the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, where her play, “Science Night,” is a John Cauble Award national finalist.

“Science Night” was selected from hundreds of entries and will be performed on stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, during the festival, which runs April 14-18. Kennedy Center staff will work with Neuerburg to cast professional actors for the play, which up to this point has been performed solely by student actors.
“It’s really exciting to think about professional actors performing my play on stage at the Kennedy Center,” Neuerburg said. “This truly is an honor.”
The play, which is set in a fictional high school, tackles contemporary social issues such as sexual assault and homelessness, according to Neuerburg. “Most of the play takes place during a 30 minute conversation between a teacher and student following a high school science fair,” she said.
Started in 1969 by Roger L. Stevens, the Kennedy Center’s founding chairman, the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival is a national theater program involving more than 20,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide annually. The organization has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States. It has grown into a network of more than 600 academic institutions throughout the country.
“This is a really big deal! We are all so proud of Stephanie and thrilled that her work will be recognized on a national level,” said Professor Jackie Apodaca, head of performance at SOU. “The night her play was chosen as a Region 7 finalist, she also performed as a finalist in the Irene Ryan acting competition. She’s an amazing actor and playwright.”
The John Cauble Award winner will be named at the culmination of the American College Theater Festival.
-SOU-
About Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University provides outstanding student experiences, valued degrees, and successful graduates. SOU is known for excellence in faculty, intellectual creativity and rigor, quality and innovation in connected learning programs, and the educational benefits of its unique geographic location. SOU was the first university in Oregon—and one of the first in the nation—to offset 100 percent of its energy use with clean, renewable power, and it is the first university in the nation to balance 100% of its water consumption. Visit sou.edu.

(Ashland, Ore.) —On April 8, 2015, Southern Oregon University and Bee City USA will announce the launch of the national Bee Campus USA program, designed to marshal the strengths of college campuses for the benefit of pollinators. The University collaborated with Bee City USA on developing the guidelines for certification after being inspired by two of the early adopters of Bee City USA—SOU’s hometown of Ashland, and neighboring Talent.
College students, faculty, administrators, and staff have long been among the nation’s most stalwart champions for sustainable environmental practices. In embracing the recommendations of the University’s Sustainability Council, President Roy Saigo said, “We are very proud to become the first certified Bee Campus USA in the nation. After careful review, our campus leadership agreed that fulfilling the commitments of the program aligned perfectly with and expanded upon initiatives to sustain pollinators that were already underway. This program will help the University, our students, and our community to be better environmental stewards.”
Said Bee City USA director, Phyllis Stiles, “Hard-working pollinators are responsible for about every third bite we eat, and 85 percent of the world’s flowering plant species need a pollinator’s help in order to reproduce. Recognizing the serious threats faced by the thousands of species of bees, butterflies, bats, beetles, and hummingbirds that make our planet bloom and fruit, we feel very fortunate to have found such an outstanding partner in pollinator protection.”
Stiles continued, “Southern Oregon University has already begun modeling many of the practices Bee City USA wants to see become a national movement. A student group maintains a pollinator-friendly garden, the campus includes herbicide-free wildlife areas, and the Bee Campus USA Subcommittee of the Sustainability Council began meeting last year. The University’s landscaping services department has established two new native pollinator friendly beds. They have even identified plant suppliers who don’t use neonicotinoid pesticides–insecticides that are absorbed by the entirety of the treated plant and believed by leading scientists to compromise honeybees’ immune systems and disrupt their ability to learn and find their way back to their hives.”

To celebrate being named both a Bee Campus USA and a Tree Campus USA on the same day, SOU will plant hundreds of native plants and trees throughout its 175-acre landscape. However, the University recognizes that this is just the beginning. Landscape Services Supervisor, Mike Oxendine reported, “We are committed to developing a Campus Pollinator Habitat Plan that will include a native plant list and suppliers of those plants, along with a least-toxic Integrated Pest Management Plan to be shared on the web as a tool for the community at large.”
Jamie Hickner, an SOU Teaching Supervisor and Sustainability Council member is excited about “hosting annual campus events to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators and to celebrate our university’s certification as a Bee Campus USA.” Furthermore, the University will encourage student service learning projects to enhance pollinator habitats both on and off campus.
As professional educators, college campuses are ideal for offering courses to students or providing continuing education credits for professionals. As a Bee Campus USA, SOU must either offer a Pollinator Ecology course, or conduct workshops on Integrated Pest Management or Landscaping for Pollinators, targeted at pesticide applicators and landscape designers.
Each certified campus also is expected to post educational signage in appropriate places. For example signs in the cafeteria might explain the role of pollinators in food production. And they are also asked to maintain a webpage to share news about their pollinator protection activities. Like Bee City USA communities, each certified campus must reapply each year and report on accomplishments from the previous year.
Other institutions of higher education are invited to explore completing the application process outlined here. (Application in Word).
-SOU-
About Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University provides outstanding student experiences, valued degrees, and successful graduates. SOU is known for excellence in faculty, intellectual creativity and rigor, quality and innovation in connected learning programs, and the educational benefits of its unique geographic location. SOU was the first university in Oregon—and one of the first in the nation—to offset 100 percent of its energy use with clean, renewable power, and it is the first university in the nation to balance 100% of its water consumption. Visit sou.edu.
About Bee City USA
Bee City USA® urges municipalities, individuals, organizations, corporations, and communities to promote and establish pollinator–friendly landscapes that are free of pesticides. Since its inception in Asheville, North Carolina in 2012, five more cities and been certified and about fifty more are in the process of preparing applications. For more information about the application process for becoming a Bee City USA community, visit beecityusa.org.

(Ashland, Ore.) — Southern Oregon University, which recently earned 2014 Tree Campus USA recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation, will hold a series of Arbor Day-related events on campus on Wednesday, April 8, beginning at 9 a.m.
Highlighting the day’s activities will be a presentation by renowned mycologist Paul Stamets. Stamets has written six books on mushroom cultivation, use, and identification and received multiple awards and honors for his work. In 2014, Stamets was chosen by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to be an Invention Ambassador.
Stamets will be presenting in the McNeal Pavilion gymnasium. Seating is limited and will be available on a first come, first served basis. Parking will be marked and free, but also limited to a first come, first served basis.
Following the presentation from Paul Stamets, activities will move to the Rogue River Room inside the Stevenson Union at SOU, where Oregon State University urban forestry and arboriculture instructor Paul Ries will speak to attendees from 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. Next will be local arborist August Schilling, who will present from 11:30 a.m. to noon on topics include the health of our local urban forests and strategies for dealing with local pests.
At noon SOU President Roy Saigo will accept the University’s awards of Tree Campus USA from the Arbor Day Foundation and Tree of the Year from the City of Ashland. The presentations will wrap up with John Roden, who will discuss his research on climate cycles from stable isotope variation in tree rings and fog utilization by coastal redwoods. Barbara Saigo, who has authored several books and holds a PhD in Environmental Education, will give closing remarks.
The day will conclude with the SOU Landscape Services department along with Plant Oregon giving a hands-on volunteer planting demonstration from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Please join us and help plant some large trees and hundreds of small plants.
All of the day’s events are free and open to the public. Four Continuing Education Units will be available for those who qualify.
-SOU-
About Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University provides outstanding student experiences, valued degrees, and successful graduates. SOU is known for excellence in faculty, intellectual creativity and rigor, quality and innovation in connected learning programs, and the educational benefits of its unique geographic location. SOU was the first university in Oregon—and one of the first in the nation—to offset 100 percent of its energy use with clean, renewable power, and it is the first university in the nation to balance 100% of its water consumption. Visit sou.edu.