| March 12, 2008 | Vol 9. No. 11 |
Canisius Alert to Launch March 17, Campus Response is Positive
The Canisius Alert emergency communication system, which will go on-line Monday, March 17, has received more than 50 percent enrollment from Canisius College faculty, staff and students since February 20. This is 20 percent higher than the average response at other colleges, according to Ellen O. Conley, PhD, vice president for student affairs. Canisius Alert will enable college officials to quickly notify the campus community in the event of an emergency, college closing or class cancellation due to weather, illness pandemic or an intruder. The college community’s response to date, and their preferred method of notification, is as follows:
- Nearly 2,500 students want to be notified via cell phone/text message
- Nearly 400 students want to be notified via E-mail
- More than 360 faculty and staff want to be notified via cell phone
- More than 100 faculty and staff want to be notified by E-mail
“We are also in the process of installing a campus-wide loudspeaker system, which will alert all faculty, staff and students in the event of an emergency,” adds Conley.
In addition, the Canisius College Department of Public Safety offers R.A.I.N. training sessions (Respond, Assess, Isolate and Notify) for faculty and staff to prepare them to respond to a campus emergency. For more information on R.A.I.N., contact Gary Everett, director of public safety, at Ext. 3197.
If you have not yet updated your contact information for the Canisius Alert system, click here. For more information about Canisius Alert, contact Dr. Conley at Ext. 2130.
Ignatian Scholarship Day is April 16
Faculty and staff are encouraged to stop by the second floor of the Student Center on Wednesday, April 16 from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., to view the projects of more than 160 students who have signed up to participate in the college’s first annual Ignatian Celebration of Scholarship Day. The event showcases undergraduate and graduate student research, and scholarship and performances in a conference environment.
Faculty must submit endorsed abstracts by Friday, March 14. Click here for the abstract form. Musical performances will take place in Christ the King Chapel. For more information or a detailed schedule, click here or contact the Office of Academic Affairs at Ext. 2121.
Celebration of Service
More than 30 Canisius employees who will retire or have worked at the college for 20, 25, 30 or more years will be honored for their service milestones at the Celebration of Service on Friday, April 18 at 3:00 p.m. in the Montante Cultural Center. All faculty, staff and administrators are encouraged to attend and congratulate their co-workers on their special day.
Sloan Award Presentation
Jerome L. Neuner, PhD, associate vice president for academic affairs (center) accepted a 2007-08 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Faculty Career Flexibility on behalf of Canisius College during a ceremony held on Friday, February 8 in San Diego, CA. To the left is David Ward, president of the American Council on Education. To the right is Kathleen Christensen, program director of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Canisius is among six colleges that received a Sloan Award sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and conducted by the American Council on Education (ACE) with support from the Families and Work Institute. Canisius will use the $200,000 award to expand and enhance flexible career paths for its faculty.
Commencement Marshals
Many marshals are needed to help with Canisius College's 2008 commencement ceremonies. Graduate commencement will be held on Wednesday, May 14 in the Koessler Athletic Center and undergraduate commencement ceremonies will be held Saturday, May 17 in UB’s Alumni Arena. Volunteer marshals will receive paid time off for their service.
Marshals assist students with their academic regalia, lead graduates into the ceremony and pass out diplomas to the graduates after they walk across the stage. Marshal duties will be discussed at a meeting on Monday, May 12 at 2:30 p.m. in the Faculty Dining Room.
For more information, to sign up as a marshal or to volunteer in another way, please contact Judy Bruce in the Office of Student Affairs at Ext. 2130.
College Closed for Good Friday
The college will be closed, except for essential operating personnel, on Friday, March 21 in observance of Good Friday.
CANISIUS EVENTS
World-Renowned Xylophonist to Perform at Canisius
The Canisius College Program in the African American Experience will welcome internationally-renowned xylophonist Bernard Woma to campus on Tuesday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Montante Cultural Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Woma is master drummer of the Ghana Dance Ensemble with Ghana’s National Dance Company and a guest lecturer at the State University of New York at Fredonia.
For more information on the Program in the African American Experience, contact Bruce J. Dierenfield, PhD, in the Department of History, at Ext. 2690 or click here.
Canisius to Host “Life in a Jar” Play
Canisius College will host “Life in a Jar,” an interactive theatrical presentation which reenacts the story of Irena Sendler, in the Montante Cultural Center on Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. The performance is free and open to the public.
In 1999, four high school history students in Kansas uncovered the story of Sendler, who saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto during the Holocaust and kept the names of the children she rescued buried in a jar. The students turned the story into a theatrical presentation, which has been performed hundreds of times around the world and featured in USA Today, Ladies Home Journal and on CNN.
The event is co-sponsored by the Canisius College Center for the Global Study of Religion, the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture at Canisius College and the Holocaust Resource Center. For more information, contact Timothy Wadkins, PhD, associate professor of religious studies, at Ext. 2824.
Canisius Hosts Award-Winning News Correspondent John Stossel
John Stossel, co-anchor and correspondent for ABC Television Network’s “20/20,” will speak at Canisius College on Thursday, April 3 at 7:00 p.m. in the Montante Cultural Center. The lecture, entitled “America: The Home of the Free and the Prosperous,” is free and open to the public. The evening is presented under the auspices of the Canisius College Republicans’ Speakers Series and is sponsored by the Young America’s Foundation, the college’s Senate Programming Board and the College Republicans. For more information, click here.2008 Shoes for Shelter
Canisius College and Independent Health will host the 2008 Shoes for Shelter event on Sunday, April 6 in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Registration begins at 9 a.m. at the Canisius College Patrick Lee Center. The one-mile fun walk starts at 11:30 a.m.; and the 5k race begins at noon.
The first 400 registered participants will receive a dri-fit running shirt. Prizes will be awarded to the first place male and female finishers, the top three finishers in each age category, and to the top finishers in the Canisius students, faculty, staff and alumni categories. The cost to register is $18 for adults; $15 for Canisius faculty and staff ($20 the day of the race); $12 for Canisius children 14 and under, Canisius students or Independent Health employees ($14 the day of the race). A post-race party at the Patrick Lee Center with food and refreshments and award ceremony will follow the event.
Participants are encouraged to bring any extra pairs of shoes or sneakers for donation to the St. Vincent de Paul Society. A drop box will also be set up near the Dining Hall in the Student Center. Since 2001, nearly 6,000 pairs of shoes have been collected.
For more information, contact John Maddock, associate director of athletics for external affairs, at Ext. 2977. To fill out an on-line application, click here.
ArtsCanisius
April ArtsCanisius events include an Informally-Formal Chamber Concert, an art history lecture on “The Technologic Sublime in Contemporary Art” and a lecture/demonstration on “1200 Years of Women Composers.” For more information, click here or call Ext. 2536.
Contemporary Writers Series Hosts Native American Poet
Highly-praised poet Heid E. Erdrich will read from her works in the Montante Cultural Center on Thursday, April 10 at 6 p.m. The event, which is sponsored by the college’s Contemporary Writer’s Series, is free and open to the public. Erdrich’s reading will be followed by a question and answer session, book signing and reception. Erdrich is the author of three poetry collections, including National Monuments, soon to be published from Michigan State Press; The Mother’s Tongue, from Salt Publishing; and Fishing for Myth from New Rivers Press. A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibway, she was raised in Wahpeton, North Dakota. For more information, click here or contact Mick Cochrane, PhD, professor of English, at Ext. 2662.
Fukuyama is Fitzpatrick Speaker
Francis Fukuyama, PhD, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, will speak at Canisius College on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in the Grupp Fireside Lounge. The lecture, entitled “America at the Crossroads,” is free and open to the public. The evening is presented under the auspices of the William H. Fitzpatrick Chair of Political Science Lecture Series. For more information about the lecture, click here or contact the Office of Public Relations at Ext. 2790.
Women’s Studies Luncheon
The annual Women’s Studies Luncheon will be held on Thursday, April 17 from noon – 2 p.m. in the Grupp Fireside Lounge and the Regis Room of the Richard E. Winter ’42 Student Center. This year’s speaker will be WGRZ-TV News Anchor Jodi Johnston ’94, MS ’99. Nominations are now being accepted for the Dr. I. Joan Lorch Awards. Presented annually by the Women’s Studies Program at Canisius, the Dr. I Joan Lorch Awards recognize individuals at the college who have made a significant contribution to women on the campus. The award is named after its first recipient, Dr. I. Joan Lorch, professor emerita of biology, who was a driving force behind the establishment of the college’s Women’s Studies Program. Nominations must be sent to Jane Fisher, PhD, associate professor of English and director of women’s studies, at fisher@canisius.edu before March 19.
Canisius Community Day
Canisius faculty, staff and students are encouraged to join the college’s spring Community Day on Saturday April 19 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Volunteers will assist with various projects in the college community and in the city of Buffalo. Sites include meal programs, food banks, shelters, agencies that work with refugees and Habitat for Humanity. All volunteers are invited to a free lunch in the west wing of the Dining Hall at the conclusion of Community Day. More than 200 members of the college community participated in the last community day in November. For more information or to register, contact Joe Van Volkenburg, assistant to the director of campus ministry, at Ext. 2875.
CANISIUS KUDOS
Angelini Wins Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award
Eileen M. Angelini, PhD, chair and associate professor of modern languages, is the recipient of the Dorothy S. Ludwig Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award (university level) from the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF). The purpose of the award is to recognize teachers who have demonstrated excellence and commitment in the teaching of the French language and French and Francophone cultures and literatures. Angelini will accept her award at the AATF Awards Banquet in Liege, Belgium in July 2008.20072007-2008 MLK Winners
Congratulations to the 2007-2008 Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Award winners. Rhonda Dyess-Hands, assistant director of admissions is the recipient of the MLK Administrator Award, and Emilee Flynn ’08 is the recipient of the MLK Student Award. Each year, Canisius College acknowledges a student and faculty and/or staff/administrator who represent the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The winners will receive special recognition during the Spring Honors Convocation on April 25.
Vehar Inducted into Women’s Hall of Fame
The Western New York Women’s Hall of Fame inducted Canisius College Composer-in-Residence Persis Parshall Vehar, in March.An award-winning composer, Vehar’s vocal and instrumental arrangements range from chamber music to large ensembles and include two operas. Her works are performed in the United States and abroad, and are consistently awarded by the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP).
Vehar is also a celebrated pianist. She performs with many orchestras including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Ars Nova Musicians Chamber Orchestra.
Vehar was among seven women inducted into the Western New York Women’s Hall of Fame.
Rabbi Rosenfeld Recipient of Community Leader Award
Western New York’s National Federation for Just Communities presented Rabbi Harry L. Rosenfeld with its Community Leader Interfaith Award in January. An adjunct professor of religious studies and theology, Rabbi Rosenfeld was recognized for his outstanding contributions to community.
He is senior Rabbi of the 1,100 member congregation at Temple Beth Zion and active in many Jewish communal activities including the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education, the Buffalo Bureau of Jewish Education and the Buffalo Board of Rabbis. Rabbi Rosenfeld also serves on the boards of the Network of Religious Communities, the Interfaith Impact of New York State and the National Council for Community and Justice, Buffalo chapter.
Hamilton Lauded for Research Project
Matthew S. Hamilton, ATC, MS ’07, assistant athletic trainer for athletics and adjunct professor of sports medicine, received the Outstanding Research Poster award at the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association meeting in Valley Forge, PA from January 9 -14. His research project was entitled "Effects of high-voltage pulsed electrical current on pain, swelling and function following delayed onset muscle soreness." The paper was co-authored by Ben Anguish ’08.