Volume 29, No. 26
March 27, 1998
Scott A. Miller
Contact: MU PR Office 662-4844
NEWS
"An Evening with Barbara Bush" planned for April 14
Former First Lady Barbara Bush, one of the most respected and admired First Ladies in history, will visit Mansfield University Tuesday, April 14, for a series of events to benefit the Mansfield University Scholarship Fund.
"An Evening with Barbara Bush" will include a limited-seating scholarship dinner with Mrs. Bush at 6:15 p.m. and a speech, to the general public at 8 p.m. Following the speech, titled "Faith, Family and Friends: Reflections of My Public and Private Lives," Mrs. Bush will take questions from the audience. Mrs. Bush's appearance is sponsored by Mansfield University and CoreStates Bank.
The event occurs during Mansfield's "Global Issues Week," which annually seeks to raise awareness of important topics through a series of discussion panels and speeches. This year's theme is "community."
"Through service activities that include the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, Mrs. Bush has become one of our nation's top advocates for improved communities," says Leslie Folmer, MU vice president for development. "Her experience, intelligence and integrity make her message of love and faith an important one for families, community leaders, school leaders and students."
Her husband's service as Vice President and President of the United States offered her a unique opportunity to make a difference in the public eye. But since leaving the White House in 1993, this Former First Lady continues to serve others with the same tireless energy, goodwill and good humor that has endeared her to millions around the world.
Throughout the years in public life, Mrs. Bush volunteered in and supported hundreds of charity and humanitarian causes. Today, she continues her service as Americares ambassador-at-large; Mayo Clinic Foundation board member; and general supporter of various organizations, including the Leukemia Society of America, the Ronald McDonald House, and the Boys & Girls Club of America.
Her number one cause, however, is family literacy. She believes that if more people could read, write, and comprehend, we would be that much closer to solving so many of the problems plaguing our society today.
In 1989, she helped develop the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy whose mission is to support the development of family literacy programs; break the intergenerational cycle of illiteracy; and establish literacy as a value in every American family. She currently serves as honorary chair of the Foundation and hosts its annual fund-raiser, "A Celebration of Reading," and regularly donates a portion of her proceeds to the foundation's causes.
Mrs. Bush regularly undertakes many projects and a rigorous appearance schedule designed to emphasize reading as a part of daily family life. By visiting literacy programs across the country -- in schools, housing projects, organizations and businesses -- she witnesses, first hand, the powerful impact reading has on those who were previously illiterate.
She is the author of "C. Fred's Story" and the best-selling "Millie's Book," whose profits benefited the literacy cause. Most recently, she wrote "Barbara Bush: A Memoir," her best-selling autobiography emphasizing the importance of family, faith, and friends.
Dinner with Mrs. Bush is $30 per person and includes admission to her speech. The reservation deadline is Wednesday, April 8. Seating for the dinner is limited. The cost of attending the speech alone is $10 per person. All proceeds benefit the Mansfield University Scholarship Fund.
For information and reservations call 4292.
Australian lecturer on campus through mid-June
Jeff Cooke, senior lecturer from Central Queensland University (CQU), Australia, is visiting MU through mid-June as a guest of the Office of Cross Cultural Studies and the Department of Mathematics and Computer Information Science.
Cooke worked in the American defense industry for many years, first as a programmer analyst and culminating as a director and senior principal, before emigrating to Australia in 1989.
He was a senior lecturer in the information systems department of CQU Faculty of Business until Dec. 30. He is a now senior lecturer in the newly formed Faculty of Informatics and Communication at CQU.
While here, Cooke will be working to promote interest and develop mechanisms for staff and student exchanges between Mansfield University and CQU, and promote the development of cooperative research leading to journal publication, He will also lecture to senior level students in appropriate MU courses and informally discuss appropriate and relevant topics of interest with University staff on topics like CQU's distance education program in Australia.
Cooke maintains an office in Retan 110. Interested colleagues are encouraged to contact him via E-mail and by phone (4793).
Those interested in MU's new exchange program with Central Queensland University should visit the International Exchange web site.
TV laughter may not be all fun and games
Television culture steps into the spotlight when MU's Lecture Series presents a talk by editor and writer Josh Ozersky Wednesday, April 1, at 4 p.m. in Memorial Hall 204.
In his talk "A Reaction to Our Own Creation": The Use of Canned Laughter in American TV," Ozersky gives an overview of a technology unique to American television. Through the use of canned laughter, producers of television shows have been able to provide a simulated audience response, a signal to home viewers to let them know what's funny.
The need for such a device is essential to TV, and the technique's history provides an insight into the way American mass media manipulates communal responses to entertainment. It is also an interesting point of departure for discussions of the relationship between those media and their audiences, the nature of technology, and the workings of big-money show business in the 20th century.
Refreshments and discussion will follow the lecture. The Lecture Series is sponsored by The Provost's Office.
Saturday, April 4, 7:30 p.m., Steadman. The MU Jazz Ensemble and guest artists The Jim Snidero Quintet will conclude the 16th annual MU Jazz Festival with free performances. Also performing will be the outstanding high school band chosen from the daylong festival. Led by alto saxophonist Jim Snidero, the guest ensemble includes trumpeter Tim Hagans, pianist Mike Ledonne, bassist Dennis Irwin and drummer Tony Reedus. The evening concert is sponsored in part by Student Activity fees. Snidero and Hagans are sponsored in part by the Selmer Company.
Sunday, April 5, 7 p.m., Steadman. The MU Concert Choir, under the direction of Peggy Dettwiler, director of choral activities, will present one of four performances by the group in preparation for an appearance at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association State Convention in Erie on April 24. The choir was invited to perform after an extensive screening process involving taped selections of music, performance history, and endorsement by the state PMEA. The program will include selections from the Renaissance to the 20th Century, from the motet to the spiritual. Performing in five different languages, the Concert Choir will present works from Italy, Argentina, Hungary, England, Germany, France, and the United States. Compositions by two women, Lili Boulanger and Diane Loomer, are included among others by Monteverdi, Ligeti, Brahms, Lauridsen, and Wilberg. Accompanying the choir at the piano is Mo Sze But, a senior piano performance major. Other students will play a variety of instruments including bongos, drums, bass guitar, and fiddle. The Concert Choir is a select ensemble of 48 singers.
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Several faculty members have been granted sabbatical leaves for the 1998-99 academic year. Receiving sabbaticals with full pay for the entire year are: James Glimm, English; June Rudy, education; Mary Robinson-Slabey, mathematics and computer information science; Jack Sidler, chemistry and physics; Larry Uffelman, English. Receiving sabbaticals with full pay during the fall 1998 semester are Youngsuk Kim, music, and Robert Wooley, social work, anthropology and sociology. Receiving a sabbatical with full pay during the Spring 1999 semester is Jay Gertzman, English. Louise Sullivan-Blum, English, has been granted a sabbatical with full pay for the current semester.
Tommy Harvey, who ranked among the conference leaders in seven men's basketball categories, and Jill Masker, a record setting member of the women's basketball team, have been selected as 1997-98 Winter Athletes of the Year. The presentation was made at the Winter All-Sports banquet.
Harvey, of Pottstown, was one of the most productive players in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference this season. A starter in all 25 games for the Mountaineers, Harvey led the team and ranked eighth in the PSAC in scoring with a 17.0 points per game average. In addition, he ranked second in the 14-team PSAC in steals averaging 2.4 per contest and third in assists dishing out 5.6 per outing. Harvey also ranked fourth in the conference in free throw percentage, hitting 79.8 percent of his attempts while his 2.8 three-point field goals per game was third highest in the PSAC. He was the sixth most accurate three-point shooter in the league hitting 40.9 percent of his shots. Harvey was named PSAC East Player of the Week and was twice selected to ECAC weekly honors. Selected to All-PSAC East honors for the second straight season, the sophomore point guard was also runner up in PSAC East Player of the Year voting.
Masker, of (Hackettstown, NJ, was seventh in the PSAC in scoring, averaging a team best 14.9 points per game. The team's leading scorer in 20 of 26 games during the season, Masker also ranked among the conference leaders in three-point field goals per game (2.8) and three-point field goal percentage (28.2). Masker established school records for 3-point field goals in a season (61) and career (132) while leading the team in assists with 82. She ranks in the top 10 in MU career scoring, three-point field goals, assists and steals.
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