Top News

JUNIOR MATH AND EDUCATION MAJOR BECOMES THE FIRST ALL-AMERICAN SWIMMER IN SOUTHWESTERN HISTORY

Sarah Ayers has been in the pool since she was four years old. Now she can boast that she is the first all-American swimmer from Southwestern University.

After winning the 100-yard backstroke and placing second in the 100-yard butterfly at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Swimming and Diving Championships, Ayers automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships.

At the NCAA Championships, Ayers swam the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke, where she placed fifth in the preliminary round with a time of 56.42 seconds and placed seventh in the finals with a time of 56.51 seconds.

“Sarah’s performance was just outstanding − it was one of those things that showed her commitment and will be a great example to many of our other swimmers and for any future Southwestern swimmers,” says former head swim coach Dan Carrington, who resigned after the championship.

Read more here. 

STUDENTS FIND CAMARADERIE IN DEVELOPING APPS FOR CELL PHONES

After the preliminary round of the International Collegiate Programming Contest was over his freshman year, sophomore computer science major Erick Bauman found himself missing the Friday afternoon prep sessions with math professor Rick Denman and fellow teammates.

So Bauman approached Denman about doing an independent study in which he would spend Friday afternoons working with Denman on developing an application for the popular Android cell phones.

The result to date has been not only the successful development of an application, but the creation of a Friday afternoon group where students get together to brainstorm a variety of other cell phone apps.

Read more here.

Events

SENIOR ART EXHIBIT RUNS THROUGH APRIL 16

A senior art exhibit featuring paintings by Mary Catherine Scoville, Hannah Adams and Rebecca De Los Santos will be on exhibit in the Fine Arts Gallery through April 16. A public reception will be held on Friday, April 8, from 4-6 p.m.
 
The gallery is open daily from 1-5 p.m.

LATINO HERITAGE SYMPOSIUM TO BE HELD APRIL 9

Southwestern University will host its 2011 Latino Heritage Symposium on Saturday, April 9, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Campus Center Ballrooms. The theme of the symposium is “Art and Activism.” Events scheduled for the day include a lecture by San Antonio artist Cruz Ortiz, a lecture by painter and muralist Vincent Valdez, and a lunch featuring keynote speaker Anita Fernandez from the Museo Alameda in San Antonio, the first formal Smithsonian affiliate in the United States and the official Latino Museum of Texas. There also will be Salsa Dance lessons and Folklorico Dancing.

Read more here.

SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY CHORALE PERFORMS APRIL 9

The Southwestern University Chorale will perform in concert on Saturday, April 9, at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater. The program for the concert includes “The 21st Century - A girl born in Afghanistan” by Greg Bartholomew and “Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine” by Eric Whitacre.

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

FOUNTAINWOOD OBSERVATORY TO HOLD PUBLIC VIEWING NIGHT APRIL 9

The Fountainwood Observatory at Southwestern University will host its last public viewing night of the semester on Saturday, April 9, from 8-10 p.m. (note: this replaces previously announced viewing night of Friday, April 8).

The evening will begin with a waxing crescent moon in the western sky. By 9 p.m. the planet Saturn will be visible about 33 degrees above the southeastern horizon. Colorful brighter stars and multiple stars systems will also be readily viewable in the spring sky.

Fountainwood Viewing Nights are always free and open to the public. The observatory is located on the northeast side of campus adjacent to the Rockwell Baseball Field (see #6 on the campus map at http://www.southwestern.edu/map). 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. Public Viewing Nights will begin again in September 2011.

SAN GABRIEL CHORALE PERFORMS AT SOUTHWESTERN APRIL 11  

The San Gabriel Chorale will perform at Southwestern University on Monday, April 11, at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater. The program will include Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer (Love Song Waltzes) and Zigeunerlieder (Gypsy Songs). Tickets are $20 at the door.  

EVENTS CELEBRATE ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH

The Pan Asian Association at Southwestern University has planned several events to celebrate Asian Heritage Month in April. Upcoming events include an April 14 screening of the movie “In God’s House” and an April 18 lecture by Madeline Hsu, professor of history and director of the Center for Asian American Studies at UT Austin. For a complete schedule of events, visit http://www.southwestern.edu/live/news/4787-asian-heritage-month-at-su

THEATRE DEPARTMENT TO PRESENT ‘AGE OF AROUSAL’ APRIL 13-17

The Southwestern Theatre Department is presenting Linda Griffiths’ “Age of Arousal” April 13-17 in the Jones Theater. Performances are at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday.

“Age of Arousal” is a fantasy-filled, fun and witty re-working of George Gissing’s 19^th-century novel “The Odd Women.” It is set in Victorian London where there are twice as many women as there are men. An ex-suffragette has opened a typing school to liberate women from the home with the new invention that will gain them freedom − the typewriter. When three sisters sign up, unexpected passions and secret desires are unleashed as they each learn what being a New Woman can truly mean.

The play is directed by Lara Toner, associate artistic director of the Austin Playhouse. Tickets are $12 to $16 and may be purchased online at www.southwestern.edu/boxoffice or by calling the box office at 512-863-1378 Monday through Friday from 1-5 p.m.

ORCHESTRA AND WIND ENSEMBLE TO PERFORM APRIL 17

The Southwestern University Orchestra and Wind Ensemble will perform in concert on Sunday, April 17th, at 3 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater. The wind ensemble will perform “Prelude on Three Welsh Hymn Tunes” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Mars” from “The Planets” by Gustav Holst, and “L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2” by Georges Bizet.

The orchestra will perform “Brook Green Suite” by Holst, “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber and “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin.

Both ensembles are directed by Lois Ferrari. They will be joined by guest conductor Willis Traphagan and pianist Audrey Olena. The program also will feature student conductors Briana Garcia, Stacie Glowka, Natalie Phillips-Perkoff and Andrea Plybon.

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

Media Coverage

The Austin American-Statesman covered the announcement of the $720,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for Writing in the Disciplines. Read the story here.

The Williamson County Sun ran a story on the Operation Achievement program.

The Williamson County Sun ran an op-ed piece on the value of AmeriCorps by Suzy Pukys, director of civic engagement.

Notables

Three Southwestern students presented papers at the Economics Scholars Program Conference for Undergraduate Research held April 1 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Ann Alston presented a paper titled “Gender Wage Discrimination Among College Graduates.” Maggie Bishop presented a paper titled “Are You Smarter than A 5^th Grader? An Econometric Study of the determinants of 5^th Grade Math Scores.” Jenna Mossbarger presented a paper titled “Determinants of Major League Baseball Pitcher Salaries.”

Six Southwestern students presented papers at the 2011 Women’s and Gender Studies Conference hosted by the Associated Colleges of the South. The conference was held at the University of Richmond April 1-2. Senior English major Rachel Coley presented a paper titled “Interracial Desire in The Confessions of Nat Turner and Dessa Rose.” Senior English/Feminist Studies major Quentin Greif presented a paper titled “Queer Time and Space in Cunningham’s The Hours.” Junior English major Leslie Haire presented a paper titled “Witnessing History: Representations of Black Women in Toni Morrison’s Novels.” Senior Education major Carol King presented a paper titled “Erasing Race: Biracial Identity and Danzy Senna’s Caucasia.” Junior English major Sierra Perez presented a paper titled “Textual Healing and Womanism in Works by Alice Walker and Ntozake Shange.” Senior English major Chanea Wells presented a paper titled “Authoring the Author: How Cunningham Killed Woolf and Virginia Killed This Paper.” Carina Evans, assistant professor of English, also attended the conference and presented a pedagogy-oriented paper on “Teaching Black Sexual Politics: African American Literature and the Liberal Arts.”

Abby Dings, assistant professor of Spanish, presented a paper titled “Getting Help: A Longitudinal Analysis of Patterns of Repair in NS/NNS Interactions” at the 2011 American Association for Applied Linguistics Conference in Chicago March 26-29.

Emily Niemeyer, professor of chemistry, gave an invited lecture at the American Chemical Society meeting held in Anaheim, Calif., March 27-31, titled “Effect of cultivar on the phenolic composition and antioxidant properties of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.).” The abstract included Southwestern graduate Eileen Kwee.

Five chemistry and biochemistry students also presented their research at the American Chemical Society meeting in Anaheim. Senior Tammy Nguyen, who is currently conducting an honors capstone with Gulnar Rawji, presented “DNA binding and photocleavage properties of dichloro‐2‐(2’‐pyridyl) benzimidazoleplatinum(II).” Senior Matthew Dorris presented “Synthesis and crystal structure of bis‐(N,N’‐dibenzylethane‐1,2‐diamine) copper(I) acetate.” Dorris conducted his research with Willis Weigand. Senior Julia Von Alexander presented “Effect of metal ions on DNA damage induced by photoactivated daunomycin” in collaboration with Maha Zewail-Foote. Sophomore Patrick Flanigan presented “Variations in anthocyanin content and antioxidant properties among 8 purple basil cultivars (Ocimum basilicum L.).” Senior Lauren Kjolhede presented “Identification of phenolic compounds in lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) and lavender (Lavandula) by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS).”  Flanigan and Kjolhede conducted their research with Emily Niemeyer, professor of chemistry.

Tim O’Neill, professor of political science, has four articles coming out in The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America, edited by Wilbur R. Miller (SAGE, in press).  The articles discuss the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the Habeas Corpus Act of 1863, United States v. Ballard, and Reynolds v. United States.

Suzy Pukys, director of civic engagement, and senior Paige Menking are giving a workshop at the National Service-Learning Conference being held April 6-9 in Atlanta, Ga. Their workshop is titled “Seeing the Invisible:  Domestic Violence Internships in Texas.”