Members of the Volunteer Committee Laurie Haase, Coral Henthorne and Tami Lubinski presented Brother Edward Siderewicz with a check for $1,500 for the First-Generation Initiative. This money has been raised through Jeans for a Cause and Let's Do Lunch fundraisers throughout the year.
The following students have been named as finalists for the 2010 Outstanding Senior Awards:
Females — Mary Gleich, Vanessa Grams, Molly Jewison, Mariana Sanchez and Sarah Weir.
Males — Gary Borash, David Dahlstrom, William Duffert, Brian Smith and Zhe Song.
Congratulations to these students. Final ballots will be e-mailed to faculty and staff. Seniors will have an opportunity to vote on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at Senior Salute. The awards will be presented at Founder’s Day on March 2.
The sisters of Sigma Alpha Iota will present Fireside 2010, “A Black and White Affair,” at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5; and 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, in the Common Room.
Tickets are available today during lunch and dinner by the Cardinal Club.
The Music Department is planning a recital of music, written by members of the Saint Mary’s community. The event is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, April 10, in Figliulo Recital Hall.
Compositions by music faculty members Dr. Patrick O’Shea, Dr. John Paulson, and A. Eric Heukeshoven will share the program with original music by other SMU composers.
If you are a composer with ties to Saint Mary’s, it is still possible to have your music included in this program. The Music Department will assist in finding performers when possible, but it is preferred that composers provide their own musicians for the event.
For more information, contact Eric Heukeshoven, eheukesh@smumn.edu or Ext. 7292, no later than Feb. 12.
The Chamber Singers will perform a series of concerts in Colorado as part of their 2010 Concert Tour. The 22-voice select ensemble is directed by Dr. Patrick O’Shea.
Tour performances will include concerts at:
• Chapel of Our Savior (Colorado Springs) – Friday, Feb. 19; and
• St. Paul Catholic Church (Colorado Springs) – Sunday, Feb. 21.
The Chamber Singers will also serve as guest choir for Masses at St. Paul Catholic Church in Colorado Springs on Sunday, Feb. 21, and before departing at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Winona. (10:30 a.m. Mass Sunday, Feb. 14).
All performances are free and open to the public. Repertoire will include a cappella works by Willan, Scarlatti, O’Shea, Hatfield and Woollen, as well as some vocal jazz material. For more information, call Ext. 1598.
Campus Ministry is planning a variety of SOUL (Serving Others United in Love) trips Feb. 12-20.
Students will travel to De La Salle Blackfeet School in Browning, Mont.; Camp Hope in New Orleans; Catholic Worker Houses in Missouri and Iowa; De La Salle in Town in Philadelphia; L’Arche Community in Clinton, Iowa; McDowell County in West Virginia; Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Ariz.; San Miguel schools in Chicago; and Tides Family Services in Rhode Island.
Advisors on these trips will include Dr. Tycho de Boer, Chris McClead, Peggy Walters, Kathy Pederson, Katie LaPlant, Dr. Joseph Tadie, Dr. Karen Sorvaag, Dr. Jaime Mueller and Lynn Streefland.
Enormous puppets and spectacular special effects will bring the beloved story of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” to life on Tuesday, Feb. 9, at Saint Mary’s. This performance by Théâtre Sans Fil will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the Page Theater.
“The Hobbit” tells the familiar story of Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Wizard and a company of dwarfs who find themselves caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and dangerous dragon.
Théâtre Sans Fil (Theatre without Strings) was last in Winona in 2008, performing “Hansel & Gretel” at SMU. Théâtre Sans Fil specializes in giant puppets inspired by the classical technique of Japanese Bunraku theatre. The company successfully unites this style with original and modern set design, lighting and music. Fantasy, poetry, make-believe and magic, along with unusual and heroic characters highlight this production of the world-renowned fantasy tale.
Founded in Quebec in 1971 by André Viens, artistic and general director, the Théâtre Sans Fil has given more than 3,000 performances to 3 million spectators.
Tickets $12 for adults and $5 for students and seniors and are available at the SMU Box Office, Ext. 1715, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday or online at www.pagetheatre.org.
Fans of “The Hobbit” are invited for an afternoon of fun at the Winona Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 6, at 12:30 p.m. as Saint Mary’s hosts a “Hobbit-nista Gathering.”
A variety of events are planned:
• Cookies and punch will be served, and Saint Mary’s theatre arts students will present dramatic readings from “The Hobbit.”
• Students 18 years old and younger are invited to bring along their best original artwork, depicting a scene from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” Prizes to be awarded (by random drawing) include gift cards to Mugby Junction, the Book Shelf and Barnes & Noble. Juror’s choices will be on display at the SMU Page Theatre lobby the night of the Théâtre Sans Fil performance of “The Hobbit” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9.
• Those who come early to the Hobbit-nista Gathering will be eligible for free ticket drawings to see the Page Series Théâtre Sans Fil performance.
This event is funded by the SELCO Arts and Cultural Library Legacy Fund. Support for the performance of “The Hobbit” by Théâtre Sans Fil is provided in part by Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and private funders. Support for the school matinee of “The Hobbit” by Théâtre Sans Fil is provided in part by the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest. Additional support provided by the Winona Community Foundation and Target.
Do you have any great jewelry you don’t wear?
Donate those pieces to help the earthquake victims in Haiti!
The SMU community is invited to go through jewelry boxes and look for jewelry to donate. The jewelry should be nice, fashionable and in good repair. All of the donated items will be priced and offered for sale on the first floor of Saint Mary’s Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 10, from 7:30 a.m. until the jewelry is gone. Nothing is over $10!
Donations can be brought to Kathy Pederson in the SMU business office, or Katie LaPlant or Nikki Richmond in the lower level of Toner Student Center by Feb. 8.
The next Let’s Do Lunch event is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 25, in the Common Room. All faculty and staff are invited to enter their favorite chili in the annual chili cookoff. The top three winners will receive prizes. Contestants should bring their crock pots to the Common Room between 11 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. Everyone is invited to eat chili between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Sign up with Deb Nahrgang at Ext. 6966 or dnahrgan@smumn.edu if you plan to enter chili, so that the Volunteer Committee can be guaranteed that there is enough to feed everyone.
As always, water, paper products and dessert will be provided. Go green and bring your own drinking cup.
The February “Brown Bag It at the Fitz” will be held 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, in the McEnery Center Lounge. This month’s topic is “The Reference Collection — Ask Anything: Making our Reference Collection Work for You.” Participants should bring their own lunch. Desserts and drinks will be supplied. Everyone is welcome.
Reference Universe, now available from the library website, provides a new way to search Fitzgerald Library’s reference collection. Because Reference Universe offers a keyword search of the tables of contents and the indexes of our print reference sources, students and faculty can now easily discover just how much high-quality information is waiting for them in the reference collection. Get more information about this new resource on Feb. 12 at the library’s next Brown Bag It Session or try it now.
The Karaba Institute is presenting three business workshops to help students learn to prepare a successful business plan.
The next presentation is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 11, at 3:15 p.m. in Salvi Lecture Hall. Sharon O’Reilly will discuss “financial management and acquiring start-up funds.”
This workshop is open to all majors and all levels of students.
The Saint Mary’s Green Team is presenting a five-part series on sustainability.
The next event is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 23, and will be led by faculty Dr. Joe Tadie, Dr. Joyce Altobelli and Dr. Jeff Amundson. They will lead a discussion on how small, daily changes may have the greatest impact on lowering energy consumption.
On Wednesday, March 17, the topic will be “Food.” Mary Gleich, Curt Coshenet, Chris Kendall and Chris McClead will lead a discussion on how food affects and is affected by climate change, including locally grown foods, composting, gardening, farming, Fair Trade, starvation, and other topics.
On Monday, April 23, Dr. Tom Marpe, Chris Kendall and Andy Robertson will lead a discussion on “Green Economy” — how climate change impacts the way we do business including green purchasing, marketing strategies, and new careers related to sustainability.
Everyone is invited to join the discussions on how Saint Mary’s is responding to climate change issues — and how you can help. All events begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Toner Student Center lounge.
On Sunday, Jan. 31, the Office of Admission hosted a reception at the Minneapolis Airport Marriott Hotel in Bloomington. The event drew 89 students plus many parents. Parents also attend for their sons or daughters. This successful event could not have occurred without the generous support of many faculty, staff, coaches, current students, alumni and SMU parents who shared their Sunday to assist in bringing a taste of Saint Mary’s to our prospective students.
Thanks go to the following individuals:
Winona campus faculty, staff and coaches — Dr. Jeffrey Amundson, Dr. Brett Bodsgard, Bill Davidson, Dr. Gary Diomandes, Dr. Dorothy Diehl, Karen Hemker, Dr. Janet Heukeshoven, Ben Huegel, Philip Hull, Preston Lawing, Dr. Melissa Luedtke, Dr. Dave Lynch, Dr. Deb Martin, Chris McClead, Bill Moore, Nikki Peters, Dr. Steve Schild, Jana Schrenkler, Jami Severson, Dr. Jenny Shanahan, Dr. Ken Stenstrup, Dr. Liz Throop, Tammy Vondrasek, Jill Weigel, Nick Winecke, Jayne Wobig, Eric Zimmerman;
Current undergraduate students — Tina Gonzalez ‘13, Alex Lam ‘10, Catherine McDonald ’10, Megan Mollison ‘10, Elizabeth Myers ’13, Phillip Thomas ’10, Clarissa Matthews-Thompson ’13, Andy Weigman ’10;
Undergraduate alumni — Catherine Bunkers ’02, Jora Deziel ’01, Christine Forbes ’96, Dave Karsnia ‘00, Chad Laroche ’97, Jeffry Lusiak ’99, Nate Semsch ’04, Sara Sloneker ‘06;
Parents of current SMU students — Mr. and Mrs. Doug Mollison and Mr. and Mrs. Dave Weigman ’83.
The positive comments students and their parents make after these events reaffirm that this is a valuable way to connect with future Saint Mary’s students.
The next Chat, Chow and Web 2.0 event will be held Wednesday, Feb. 10, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the McEnery lounge. The event is called “Always Somebody Else’s Horizon” and the discussion will focus on “The Horizon Report,” the annual guide to technology trends that came out in January. What are some critical challenges, some key trends for academia? How will we respond?
Swing Inc., featuring Eric Heukeshoven, will perform 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, at Signature’s Restaurant. Two special guests — Larry Price on piano, and Eric Graham on bass will join regulars Dr. John Paulson on sax and drummer Steve Kulas. They will also perform 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14, at Signatures. The group will be joined by pianist Larry Price.
Dr. John Paulson, professor of music, has adjudicated and performed at two student jazz festivals over the course of the past two weekends. On Jan. 23, he was an adjudicator at the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse Winterfest Jazz Festival, and last weekend he was a clinician/soloist at the Waseca, Minn., High School Jazz Festival. Over the course of the two weekends, he worked with more than 20 high school groups, in addition to being featured as a soloist at the Waseca festival. Dr. Paulson will perform Friday, Feb. 5, at 6:30 p.m. at Michael’s in Rochester along with Heukeshoven. On Friday, Feb. 12, he’ll give a presentation on Music Technology at the MMEA Convention in Minneapolis. On Monday, Feb. 14, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. the SMU Jazz Ensemble performs at Jefferson Pub & Grill in Winona. Over break, on Feb. 15-16, the jazz ensemble will record their first CD on campus.
Dr. John Paulson Eric Heukeshoven, jazz combos, and guest musician and alum Chris White kicked off Black History Month in style as they highlighted some of the great black jazz and blues musicians in history earlier this week.
Other upcoming events include:
• Thursday, Feb. 11 — An Open Mic Night will raise money for the Red Cross Haitian Relief Effort in the Cardinal Club from 8:30-10:30 p.m. The event is hosted by the sisters of SAI.
• Tuesday, Feb. 23 — A baseball team presentation on Negro baseball.
• Wednesday, Feb. 24 — SAC will be showing the movie “The Blind Side” in Salvi at 9 p.m.
• Saturday, Feb. 27 — Taste of Africa
Senior music major Ryan Ballanger is presenting his student clarinet recital on Sunday, Feb. 7, at 3 p.m. in Figiulo Recital Hall. Admission is free, and a reception will follow.
The recital will feature the works of Von Weber, Shickele, Danzi and Offenbach, showcasing music of the early romantic period through the 20th Century. Guest artists include students Jessica Bouska, John Uhal and Saint Mary’s community clarinetists. He will be accompanied by pianist Jan Matson.
The Faculty Development Committee, in conjunction with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, is sponsoring a sabbatical presentation by Dr. Kenneth Stenstrup, “Challenges and Opportunities in Teaching Undergraduate Academic Scripture,” on Tuesday, Feb. 23, in Salvi at 3:30 p.m.
Winona’s Poet Laureate Ken McCullough (PASS and Academic Advising) will host two public events in February.
As part of the Food for Thought Lecture Series, he will present a talk titled “The Poet as Witness” at noon Wednesday, Feb. 10, in the May Murray Room at the Winona Historical Society.
Memoir and creative non-fiction have become the most popular form of writing today, but first-person writing has been part of the American voice since Thoreau's “Walden” and Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” McCullough, will explore this particular American phenomenon by sharing examples from his own work and the work of other contemporary poets.
McCullough and performance artist Marilyn Klinkner will co-host a pre-Valentine's Day poetry round robin at the Winona Arts Center at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10. The public is invited to bring a love poem (or poems) to read (or have read), especially original work. Source books will be available. Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact McCullough at Ext. 8737.
A Chinese Spring Festival will be held at 7:30 p.m. today, Friday, Feb. 5, in the Heights. Admission is $4 per person. The event will include Chinese food, a traditional culture exhibition and a performance. The event is organized by the International Students Club and Residence Life.
The new intern in the International Center is Jesus Camacho. He is a senior majoring in Global Studies. He began working in the center in January and will graduate in May.
The annual Minnesota Beethoven festival, now entering its fourth season, will also feature violinist Midori, the Miró Quartet, pianist Craig Sheppard, the percussion ensemble Nexus, and recorder/guitar duo Michala Petri and Lars Hannibal.
Other highlights include two concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra, and a week-long residency with choral conductor Dale Warland, who will be appearing with the newly-formed Minnesota Beethoven Festival Chorale.
The 2010 Minnesota Beethoven Festival includes nine different performances from June 27 to July 18, including the traditional free outdoor pops concert with the Minnesota Orchestra on July 1.
Individual tickets for all other performances go on sale May 3 and are priced at $25 for adults and $17 for students and senior citizens. Tickets for Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott are priced at $36 for adults and $29 for students and senior citizens.
Tickets are available through the SMU box office at Ext. 1715. For more information, visit www.mnbeethovenfestival.org.
Rodney “Chuck” Spencer, father of Mark Spencer (Maintenance) died on Wednesday, Feb. 3. The Saint Mary’s community extends its sympathy to the Spencer family.