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SOUTHWESTERN STUDENTS TAKE HONORS IN ETHICS MATCH

A team of students from Southwestern won its division and placed second overall in the 2008 Business Ethics Match hosted by the Texas Independent College Fund (TICF).

The competition was held Oct. 30-31 in Fort Worth and featured 18 teams from small, independent (private) colleges and universities in Texas. The teams were split into East and West divisions and the two division winners competed against each other for first and second place.

The competition provides students the opportunity to show their reasoning skills through debating current issues in business ethics. For example, in the final round of the competition, the two teams had to debate whether it was ethical for a fictional university to offer financial incentives to students to get them to retake the SAT in an effort to boost the school’s standings in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings.

This year’s Southwestern team consisted of senior business majors Michael Hust, Christy Catlin, Debran Meyer and Kevin O’Neil. The team won its division, but lost in the final round to Southwestern Adventist University.

“I am extremely proud of the team and how they performed at this year’s Ethics Match,” said team advisor Andy Ross, a visiting professor in the Department of Economics and Business. “I believe the outcome reflects their maturity, confidence and moral reasoning skills. The team represented themselves and the institution proudly, and this is a great example of how Southwestern is achieving its mission of creating bright, moral and courageous leaders.” Southwestern received $750 for taking second place in the event. The money will be used to contribute to ongoing business ethics conversations and programs on campus.

SOUTHWESTERN CELEBRATES HOMECOMING AND REUNION WEEKEND

More than 100 events will be on tap this weekend as Southwestern celebrates Homecoming and Reunion Weekend 2008. The theme for the weekend is “Southwestern’s Greatest Hits.”

Highlights of the weekend include a ceremony unveiling a plaque commemorating the Negro Fine Arts School, a Georgetown institution that was founded by Southwestern students and faculty members in 1946. The ceremony will kick off a year of events that will mark the 40th anniversary of the first African-American student to graduate from Southwestern.

Members of the public are invited to participate in the 8th annual Jameson 5K run/walk, which begins at 8 a.m. Saturday in front of the Mundy Building on Southwestern Boulevard. For more information on the run, visit http://www.jameson5k.org/

A complete schedule of the weekend’s events is available at http://southwestern.edu/homecoming/

SOUTHWESTERN TO HOST ENVIRONMENTAL SUMMIT FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS NOV. 15

Southwestern is hosting an “environmental summit” for high school students and interested community members on Saturday, Nov. 15, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the F.W. Olin Building.

Summit participants will learn about environmental issues from a variety of disciplines, network with students from across central Texas, and learn about activism opportunities and organizing techniques.

“We want to get high school students engaged in environmental activism at an early age,” said coordinator Kimberly Griffin, a junior at Southwestern. “There are a lot of high school groups that are doing great things for the environment, so we want to encourage and keep them interested by empowering them.”

Keynote speaker for the conference will be Tom “Smitty” Smith, co-founder of Public Citizen in Austin, a national non-profit public interest organization. Other speakers will include Laura Hobgood-Oster, chair of the Environmental Studies Program at Southwestern; Mark Lehnick, former mayor of Tucumcari, New Mexico; and representatives from Young Environmental Leaders, a group of local high school students.

Read the rest of the story here.

Events

PUBLIC VIEWING NIGHT AT FOUNTAINWOOD OBSERVATORY NOV. 7

The Fountainwood Observatory at Southwestern will have a public viewing night on Friday, Nov. 7, from 8-11 p.m.

Fountainwood Viewing Nights are always free and open to the public. The observatory is located on the northeast side of the Southwestern campus adjacent to the Rockwell Baseball Field (see #5 on campus map here. Faculty members from the Physics Department at Southwestern as well as observers from the Williamson County Astronomy Club will be on hand to guide viewing.

For weather-related updates about viewing nights, call the Fountainwood Observatory hotline at 512-863-1242.

ALUMNI ARCHITECTURE EXHIBIT OPENS NOV. 7

The works of seven alumni architects and designers will be on display Nov. 7 - Dec. 5 in the Fine Arts Gallery.

Alumni whose works are featured in the exhibit include Phil Henry ’89, Amy Robins Dempsey ’97, Scott Adams ’97, Julien Meyrat ’98, Michal Golinski ’99, Libby Schrum ’00 and Albert Bui ’06.

An opening reception for the exhibit will be held Saturday, Nov. 8, from 4-5 p.m. in the gallery.

MARIMBA PERFORMANCE NOV. 10

Marimba performer Nancy Zeltsman will give a solo concert at Southwestern on Monday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater. The program will include music of J.S. Bach, David Friedman, Daniel Levitan, Steven Mackey, James Rolfe and Paul Simon.

Zeltsman teaches the marimba at both The Boston Conservatory and Berklee School of Music. She is recognized internationally as a performer, teacher, author and festival director.

The performance is sponsored by the Department of Music in the Sarofim School of Fine Arts. It is free and open to the public.

PIANO CONCERT NOV. 13

Pianist Wonny Song will give a concert on Thursday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater. The performance will include works of J.S. Bach, Frederic Chopin, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Claude Debussy. The concert is sponsored by the Department of Music in the Sarofim School of Fine Arts. It is free and open to the public.

ORCHESTRA CONCERT NOV. 15

The Southwestern University Orchestra will perform in concert on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m in the Alma Thomas Theater. The concert will feature soprano Dolores Noel and violinist Eileen Kwee as soloists, as well as student conductor Michelle Perrin. The program will include Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85; Mozart’s Der Holle Rache Kocht in meinem Herzen; Polonaise Brilliante in D major, Op. 4 no. 1 by Henryk Wieniawski; and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21.

This concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call 512-863-1379.

Media Coverage

The Austin American Statesman ran a story about the Decemberists, who opened their new tour at Southwestern. Read the story.

Notables

Helene Meyers, professor of English, has published an essay titled “Educating for a Jewish Gaze: The Close Doubling of Antisemitism and Philosemitism in Sandra Goldbacher’s ‘The Governess’.” The study argues that Goldbacher’s film provides an alternative to contemporary forms of philosemitism that render “the Jew” a postmodern, post-Holocaust abstraction. It appears in the volume Antisemitism and Philosemitism in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries: Representing Jews, Jewishness, and Modern Culture (University of Delaware Press, 2008).