Leading the Parade

 

Southwestern led the way at Georgetown’s 2013 Red Poppy Festival Parade. See more photos from the parade here. (Photo by Lucas Adams)

Top News

STUDENTS FROM SOUTHWESTERN AND WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY COLLABORATE THROUGH CLASS OFFERED AT BOTH SCHOOLS 

Most of the students at Southwestern University have probably never had the opportunity to interact with students who live in New England. And most of the students at Wesleyan University in Connecticut have probably never had the opportunity to interact with students from Texas. 

This semester about 40 students from the two schools had a chance to interact with one another through a unique course offered by Alisa Gaunder, an associate professor of political science at Southwestern, and Sarah Wiliarty, an associate professor of government at Wesleyan. 

The course is called Germany and Japan: Losers of World War II? It focuses on how both countries faced the dual challenge of making political transitions to democratic government and recovering from the economic ruin of World War II.

Gaunder and Wiliarty taught the class independently, but thanks to a little help from technology, the students from both schools were able to have two joint class meetings.

Read more here.

TWO SOUTHWESTERN TEAMS WIN SCAC CHAMPIONSHIPS

Two teams from Southwestern have won their respective Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) championships this spring.

On April 21, the women’s golf team won its sixth SCAC conference championship. They hope to earn a bid to the NCAA championships, which begin May 14 in Destin, Fla. 

On April 28, the softball team defeated Trinity in back-to-back games to win the SCAC championship. This is the second time the softball team has won the championship since they began playing in 2009. The team is now waiting to hear who they will face in the NCAA tournament, which will be held May 9-13.

Along with the team honors, the softball team has garnered several individual honors. Coach Angela Froboese was named Coach of the Year for the fourth time in five seasons and first-year player Kelsey Kingston was named the SCAC women’s softball Newcomer of the Year. 

Read more about the golf team here. Read more about the softball team here.

Events

MAY 6 MEETING WILL DISCUSS AN ARTS DISTRICT IN GEORGETOWN

The City of Georgetown Arts and Culture Board is sponsoring a public meeting to discuss applying for the Cultural District designation from the Texas Commission on the Arts. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 6, in the Friends Room at the Georgetown Public Library, 402 W. Eighth St.

Achieving the Cultural District designation will make the district eligible for grants from the Texas Commission on the Arts. The application is due June 1.

Read more here. 

Media Coverage 

The Texas Tribune sponsored a conversation at Southwestern April 28 with State Rep. Marsha Farney and State Sen. Charles Schwertner. Watch a video of the  debate here.

Pam McQuestion was quoted in an Information Week article about the changing role of university CIOs. Read the article here. 

Notables

Three Southwestern students have been awarded Benjamin Gilman International Scholarships to study abroad this summer. Antonio Lopez, a sophomore who is double majoring in chemistry and Spanish, and Jessica Parada, a sophomore who is double majoring in psychology and Spanish, and will use their scholarships to participate in Southwestern’s six-week program in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Alan Ramos, a sophomore philosophy major, received a $4,000 scholarship he will use to study in Beijing, China, for eight weeks through CIEE’s study abroad program. Read more here.

Eight Southwestern music students have auditioned and been accepted into various summer music programs in the United States and abroad. Sophomore Abigail Jackson and junior Julius Young have been accepted at The Festival of International Opera of the Americas in Campinas, Brazil. Junior Keeley Hooker and sophomore Melissa Krueger have been accepted at the Opera in the Ozarks in Eureka Springs, Ark. Senior Stacie Glowka has been accepted into The University of Texas String Project for the Suzuki Teacher Training Certification. First-year student Kevin Bryant has been accepted at the Mediterranean Opera Studio in Palermo, Italy. Senior Andrew Smith has been accepted into the guitar academy of Le Domaine Forget in Quebec, Canada. Senior Allie Bryan has been accepted into the Conductors’ Institute at Southwestern University.  

Christine Bowman, Jennifer Estrada and Dave Voskuil from the Admissions Office gave a presentation Texas Association of College Admission Counselors Annual Conference that was held in San Antonio April 22. The title of their presentation was “Staff Transition: When 78 years of Experience Walks Out the Door.” The presentation chronicled the transition in the enrollment division last year, activities during the transition, and the training of the new staff members who were hired and now on board. At the same meeting, retiring staff member Mike Rossman was recognized and awarded a lifetime membership to TACAC for 40 years of service to Southwestern and the profession. 

Barbara Anthony, assistant professor of computer science, and Alison Marr, assistant professor of mathematics, gave presentations at CombinaTexas 2013: Combinatorics in the South-Central U.S. held at University of Houston-Downtown April 20. Marr’s talk was titled “Some notes on prime labeling” and Anthony’s talk was titled “Complete r-partite graphs determined by their domination polynomial.”

Shana Bernstein, associate professor of history, was invited by the Chicano and Latino Studies Department and the Jewish Studies Program of California State University Long Beach to give an April 25 talk titled “Allies in the Struggle for Civil Rights: Mexican American and Jewish Relations in a Time of Change.”

Senior Colin Berr has received an $8,000 scholarship through the Sumners Scholarship Program to participate in a program in Washington, D.C., this summer. Berr will attend an Institute on Economics and International Affairs and intern with the Department of Commerce through a program sponsored by The Fund for American Studies.

Senior Daniella Garcia has had two works selected for the College Clay Collective exhibition, a national juried exhibition showcasing the best in college ceramics. The exhibition will be on display from June 14 through July 20 at the Firehouse Gallery at Genesee Center for the Arts in Rochester, N.Y.

Alison Kafer, associate professor of feminist studies, has a new book out with Indiana University Press titled Feminist, Queer, Crip. Read more about it here.

Ben Pierce, professor of biology and holder of the Lillian Nelson Pratt Chair, was the invited speaker for Scholars Day at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton. The title of his talk was “The Ecology and Natural History of the Georgetown Salamander.” The talk included the contributions of Southwestern University undergraduate students who have assisted with research on the Georgetown salamander.

First-year student Sabrina Rangel of has been selected to participate in the prestigious Kemper Scholars Program. The scholarship-mentorship program is sponsored by the James S. Kemper Foundation in Chicago and is designed to prepare students at liberal arts colleges for leadership positions, especially in the fields of administration and business. Students are selected for the program from a group of 16 liberal arts colleges around the country. Read more here.

Senior political science and international studies major Katherine Tanner has received a Rotary Global Grant that will enable her to study in London next year. She plans to earn a master’s degree in geopolitics and security from Royal Holloway, which is part of the University of London. Read more here.