Top News

NEW PROGRAM EXTENDS THE PAIDEIA EXPERIENCE TO ALL FOUR YEARS

It used to be that students who wanted to participate in Southwestern’s signature Paideia® program had to wait until their sophomore year. 

Not anymore.

A new program called “Paideia Conversations” is extending the Paideia experience to first-year students. The program offers students the opportunity to meet monthly from October to February with a Southwestern professor to discuss a book or topic of the professor’s choosing.

“These conversations are designed to continue the best aspects of what students experience in their First-Year Seminars and look forward to the opportunities the Paideia Program offers,” said David Gaines, an English professor who serves as director of the Paideia program.

Response to the program has been positive. One hundred and thirty-five students – or one third of the first-year class − signed up to participate in conversations ranging from “Demonization in Our Public Discourse: How We Talk About Muslims, Migrants and Political Opponents” to “Building Lives Through Math Teamwork.”

Read more here.

INTERNSHIP WITH ‘SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE’ SETS THE STAGE FOR STUDENT’S CAREER IN MUSIC

Senior psychology major Katie Cam is spending her last semester before graduation in New York City on the set of Saturday Night Live, thanks to an internship with the New York Arts Program. Southwestern has been affiliated with the NYAP since the early 1980s and places an average of four to 10 students with the program each year. For students like Cam who are interested in the arts, an internship with the NYAP offers firsthand work experience and skill development, set against the glittering backdrop of New York City.

Read more here.

Events

THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES TO PERFORM ‘THE YELLOW BOAT’ NOV. 19-21

Southwestern’s Theatre for Young Audiences program will present four performances of “The Yellow Boat” Nov. 19-21 in the Jones Theater.

“The Yellow Boat” is a true story about a boy named Benjamin who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion at the age of six. The play was written by Benjamin’s father, David Saar, who is the founder and artistic director of the Childsplay theatre program in Tempe, Ariz. The play is recommended for ages 10 and up.

Performances will be held at 7 p.m. on Nov. 19 and 20 and at 3 p.m. on Nov. 20 and 21. Tickets are $14 for adults and $10 for seniors, students and youth 16 and under. To purchase tickets, contact the Southwestern Box Office at 512-863-1378 Monday through Friday between 1-5 p.m. or by going online to www.southwestern.edu/boxoffice.

SU CHORALE TO PERFORM NOV. 20

The Southwestern University Chorale, conducted by Kenny Sheppard, will give a concert on Saturday, Nov. 20, in the Alma Thomas Theater.

The music for this concert comes from five different centuries and four different countries. The earliest is a Latin motet (1581) by the great Italian composer, Palestrina, and the most recent is a set of Six Chansons (1939) by Paul Hindemith. The SU Chorale will present a wide variety of musical styles from reverent German motets to lively Gypsy Songs by Johannes Brahms, and even a setting of the rollicking “Down Among the Dead Men” by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call 512-863-1504.

INDIAN VOCALIST TO GIVE GUEST RECITAL NOV. 21

Classical Indian vocalist Samarth Nagarkar will give a guest recital on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010 at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater. The concert is free and open to the public.

WHOLE FOODS CEO TO SPEAK AT SOUTHWESTERN NOV. 29

John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market Inc., will visit Southwestern on Monday, Nov. 29, as part of the A. Frank Smith, Jr. Lecture program. Mackey will deliver a public lecture titled “Conscious Business and Conscious Capitalism: New Paradigms for the 21st Century” at 4 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater with a reception to follow.

SU JAZZ BAND TO PERFORM NOV. 30

The Southwestern University Jazz Band will perform in concert on Tuesday, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater. The program features music that spans the history of jazz, with compositions written by iconic figures such as Jelly Roll Morton, Wayne Shorter Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis and a new premiere written specifically for the SU Jazz Band.

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call 512-863-1504.

ANNUAL CANDLELIGHT SERVICES TO BE HELD DEC. 2

Southwestern will hold its annual Candlelight Services on Thursday, Dec. 2, at 6 and 8 p.m.

Southwestern has observed the Candlelight tradition since at least 1914 and perhaps longer. The service is based on one developed in 1934 for the chapel of King’s College in Cambridge, England. Music for this year’s service will be provided by the SU String Quartet and the Southwestern Chorale.

The services are open to the Georgetown community. There will be a hot chocolate reception in the Campus Center immediately following the second service. The Commons also will offer a special holiday meal from 5 to 8 p.m.

LOW BRASS ENTHUSIASTS TO PUT ON ANNUAL TUBA CHRISTMAS IN GEORGETOWN DEC. 4

Music Professor Eileen Russell and other local low brass enthusiasts will stage Georgetown’s annual TubaChristmas event on Saturday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m. on the steps of the Williamson County Courthouse facing Main Street. The guest conductor this year will be Mike Lynch, a lawyer from Austin who owns 180 tubas. Lynch also will perform on a tuba that was owned by Bill Bell and Harvey Phillips. Phillips started TubaChristmas in honor of his teacher, Bill Bell.

HOLIDAY HOME TOUR SET FOR DEC. 11-12

The Georgetown Heritage Society is sponsoring its annual Holiday Home Tour Dec. 11-12 from noon to 5 p.m. The tour will showcase five homes in Old Town, several of which have connections to Southwestern. Among the houses on the tour will be the house at 1403 Elm St., which was once live in by William Dwight Wentz, Southwestern’s first theatre professor.

Tickets for the tour are $15 in advance and $18 the day of the tour. Tickets may be purchased in advance at any of these locations:

  • Georgetown Visitor Center at 101 West 7th St.
  • Hill Country Bookstore at 719 South Main St.
  • Georgetown Antique Mall at 110 West 8th St.
  • Sun City Community Association Office at 650 Sun City Blvd.

On the day of the tour, tickets may be purchased at Grace Heritage Center, 811 South Main St.

For more information, call 512-869-8597 or visit http://www.georgetownheritagesociety.com

Media Coverage

The Williamson County Sun did a story about Mira Nair’s Writer’s Voice lecture.

The Austin Business Journal did a story about Southwestern’s new strategic plan and the campaign being planned to raise the money for it. Read the story here (subscription required for full access).

The Austin American-Statesman ran an op-ed piece by Provost Jim Hunt. Read the piece here.

Notables

John Pipkin has been named writer-in-residence at Southwestern for the next three years. Pipkin has taught creative writing at Southwestern since 2007. Pipkin also has been awarded the prestigious Dobie-Paisano Fellowship, administered by the Michener Center and the Texas Institute of Letters at the University of Texas at Austin.  The fellowship will afford him the opportunity to take up residence at the Dobie-Paisano Ranch for six months, beginning next March.