A sampling of media clippings about Lawrence University, its faculty, students, and alumni from Spring 2005 and Summer 2005. For more clippings, see the Lawrence in the News index page.
Wisconsin Public Radio, Madison
August 29, 2005
Headline: Researchers begin nutrition study at high school
Byline: Julia Monczunski
Excerpt: This fall the Appleton Area School District will partner with area universities to begin a study that
will assess effects of its healthy lifestyles program on students. Among other things, researchers will be digging
through the school trash. Researchers from UW-Fox and Lawrence University will use a variety of methods to study eating habits of
students at Appleton West High School. Mark Jenike is associate professor of anthropology at Lawrence University. He and his
students will interview teens to find out what they have eaten over a 24-hour period. From that information, Jenike will figure out the
nutritional content of foods students are consuming. But he says the study will have another, more innovative component. "We're not
only going ask people about what they have eaten, but we're going to examine the actual physical evidence as well," says Jenike.
Researchers and students will study trash generated at the school, a method known as garbology. They'll root through the rubbish
several times a year to find out what type of food items are being discarded. Jenike says this will show what people are actually
eating in the school. District officials and researchers plan to implement the study at different Appleton schools over the next few
years and compare results.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee
August 25, 2005
Headline: James Walrath 'Takes Five'. Providing defense for a public in need
Byline: Gina Barton
Excerpt: James Walrath, 62, of Milwaukee took over Aug. 1 as executive director of Federal Defender Services of Eastern Wisconsin Inc., a non-profit corporation that oversees
the representation of indigent defendants in U.S. District Court. Walrath had spent 10 years as the executive director of the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee. Before that, he
practiced criminal law for 20 years. Walrath took five questions recently from Journal Sentinel federal courts reporter Gina Barton.
Q: Why did you become a lawyer?
A. Because my other interest, philosophy, and particularly ethics, didn't
appear to me to be a mechanism for actually implementing ideas involving ethics,
and also, you don't get paid very well. But actually, I was very interested
while I was an undergrad (at Lawrence University in Appleton)
in ethics issues and after talking to some of my friends in college who had
actually graduated before I did and who had gone to law school, it seemed
like a good plan.
Q. What was your most memorable case or the case you're proudest of [from working at the Legal Aid Society]?
A. I'm proud of the case that involved allegations of insurance redlining. It led to a significant settlement, much of
which, in terms of dollars, actually benefited the City of Milwaukee, in terms of being able to set up low-income loan
programs for central city homeowners. There were a lot of uncharted issues that had to be debated and argued. And it
was an excellent example of how, on the plaintiff's side, about 10 lawyers from six or seven different offices worked
on the case for at least five years - and they weren't getting paid to do the work.
Q. What are your goals for the federal defender's office?
A. My goal is to continue to make services and educational programs available to the panel lawyers who are a big part . . .
of providing representation for low-income people. Another goal is to continue the process of having excellent lawyers on
staff who can not only handle their own cases with good results, but who also can be available to the panel lawyers in various ways.
This office is trying to be sort of a clearinghouse for issues involving the Bureau of Prisons. It has a publication called the
"Doing Time Times." . . . And that is a good tool both for lawyers and even people who are in prison and who are trying to
figure out what can they do to get better access to rehabilitation programs, to work programs.
Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
August 21, 2005
Headline: Fascinatin' filchin'? Debate still simmers over whether Gershwin lifted I Got Rhythm
Byline: Lawrence A. Johnson
Excerpt: With a new recording of William Grant Still's Afro-American Symphony
just released on the Naxos label, a spotlight is thrown once again on one
of American music's most fascinating and, for many, awkward controversies.
A few bars into the symphony's third movement there suddenly appears the unmistakable
four-note theme of I Got Rhythm. A coincidence? On the surface it appears
that the melody originated with Gershwin, who wrote his song months before
Still's Afro-American Symphony was finished. But the actual chain of events
is a bit more complicated. In the 1920s, while composing in his off hours,
Still earned his living by freelance work including arranging and playing
for jazz bands and orchestras. One of his regular gigs was playing oboe in
the pit for the popular musical Shuffle Along by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle.
Still would often warm up and riff on his own melodies before the curtain
went up and even during the show. "That tune is one he frequently used," says
Dominique-Rene de Lerma, a friend of the late composer and visiting music
professor at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. "Gershwin
was in the audience and Still told me he really felt that Gershwin had taken
it from him." That Gershwin was an admirer of Shuffle Along is undisputed.
While it can never be definitively proven that Gershwin heard Still's melody,
many musicologists agree it's a distinct probability. Though he never enjoyed
the kind of high profile or financial success of Gershwin, de Lerma says that
Still harbored no angry feelings toward Gershwin, who he continued to regard
as a great composer. "He was not a bitter man," de Lerma says. "He was a very
sweet, gentle, kind person with a great sense of humor. He accepted it as
something that had taken place in years past, and that's just the way it was."
Courier Post, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
August 19, 2005
Headline: Women stuck with old biases in workplace
Byline: Andrea Kay, Gannett News Service
Excerpt: Nearly every woman in a leadership role I talk to feels frustrated
about not being accepted the same as the men -- someone who tells it like
it is and makes things happen. "The expectation held by both women and men
is that women ought to be nice," says Peter Glick, professor of psychology
at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. "When women act
assertively, they are perceived to violate the prescription for feminine niceness,
leading them to be downgraded, specifically in terms of their perceived warmth
or social skills -- not in terms of their competence." As a result, "Women
in powerful positions find themselves trying to perform a difficult tightrope
act," he says. "They need to act assertively and confidently to demonstrate
competence, but if they do so they can risk being perceived as insufficiently
nice, causing them to be socially rejected and disliked." Men aren't held
to as high a standard of niceness, so they "have an easier time acting assertively
without being labeled as particularly nasty." It can be an unconscious tendency to apply different
standards to women. We all need to notice whether we do that to others, whatever race or
gender they may be.
[The Gannett News Service article also appeared in the Desert Sun (Palm Beach, California) on August 22, under the headline "Women in leadership still face stereotyping."]
The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, California
August 16, 2005
Headline: Big cheese. Quinn Hawley's family tree rooted in Packers' history
Byline: Nathan Max
Excerpt: Quinn Hawley has all the props of a devoted Green Bay Packers fan.
But Hawley -- a 70-year-old Wisconsin native who has lived on West Coast since
1961 and in Perris since 1988 -- has more of a tie to the famed National Football
League club than the ordinary Packers' fan. Thomas Hawley, Quinn's deceased
father, played on the first Packers' team in 1919 before the NFL existed,
Quinn said. His recollection of his father's brief stint is quite specific.
He says Thomas Hawley (1899-1980) graduated high school 1917, then played
two years of college football at Lawrence University in nearby
Appleton. Upon leaving school, Thomas came home to work with his father. After
a group of men decided to field a team, Thomas -- just 19 years old at the
time -- joined. "He played about four or five games," said Quinn Hawley. Thomas'
pay was almost non-existent and derived from fans. Spectators were not charged
admission in those days so a hat would be passed around. Fans would put in
whatever they thought they owed. "It covered expenses and if they got past
expenses the players split it," Quinn Hawley said. "My brother recalled that
my dad said he was paid about $5 his last game."
The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Virginia
August 2, 2005
Headline: Art that won't go away
Byline: Kristina Herrndobler
Excerpt: Once the reputed tattoo capital of the nation, Norfolk is now the
last major city in the area to cling to a 55-year-old ban on tattoo parlors.
In the 1930s and '40s, Norfolk's East Main Street was world famous for its
tattoo parlors, taverns and burlesque palaces. Tattooing first became popular
among sailors who traveled to the South Sea Islands in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Tattoos became especially widespread during World War II, when the Navy's
ranks reached 3 million. Having one was considered macho. “Tattoos and sailors
became linked, but often the sailors got drunk to work up their courage to
get a tattoo, so the ports where the tattoo parlors were located came to be
seen as mighty seedy places,” said Judith Holland Sarnecki, a professor at
Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., who has studied tattooing.
That Norfolk perished in 1950 when the City Council approved a citywide ban
on tattoo parlors. Tattoos were branded unsanitary and generally undesirable,
even “vulgar and cannibalistic.” Linked to the military in the '50s and bikers
in the '60s, tattooing underwent a resurgence in the '90s that made it more
mainstream, especially among women, Sarnecki said. As tattooing became more
commonplace, the fight to get the bans lifted gained force in South Hampton
Roads. Now the Norfolk City Council is being encouraged to do the same thing.
Edinburgh Evening News, Edinburgh, Scotland
July 29, 2005
Headline: Pope should spell out views on Potter
Byline: Edmund Kern
Excerpt: Five is the total number of sentences Pope Benedict XVI has devoted
to Harry Potter -- well, only one, really, but more on that in a bit. The
sentences were written in 2003, while the pontiff was still Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger. His opinion of JK Rowling's hero then attracted little attention,
even though, at the time, he was head of the Church's Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, an institution known as the Universal Inquisition until
1908. One possible reason for this lack of attention is that the then-cardinal
had so little to say. Only one of his five sentences actually offers anything
resembling an assessment of Harry Potter. Another possible reason is the sentence
mires itself in confusion. In the first letter he sent to outspoken Catholic
sociologist and author of the book Harry Potter: Gut oder BÃse (Harry
Potter: Good or Evil) Gabriele Kuby, he said: "It is good that you enlighten
us on matters relating to Harry Potter, for these are subtle temptations,
which act imperceptibly and, for that reason, deeply, and subvert Christianity
in the soul, before it can really grow properly." A second letter compounded
the obscurity of the first. It is difficult not to conclude that it is precisely
the imprecision of this judgment that has led to headlines employing such
words as "disapproval", "peril", "condemnation"
and even "evil." The Pope's "judgment" about Harry Potter
is sad. It is sad because its disclosure calls unwarranted attention to the
simplistic attacks of religious zealots, while denigrating the accomplishments
of an author whose works has enriched the lives of millions of children. It
is also sad because there is nothing to suggest that he read any of the Potter
books. If Pope Benedict believes the Harry Potter books are worth the Church's
attention, he owes millions of readers a better explanation of why he chose
to lend his support this attack.
Edmund Kern is chair of the department of history at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, in the US and author of The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us about Moral Choices, published by Prometheus Books. He will be speaking at the Harry Potter conference at Reading University which opens today.
Nature magazine, London, England
July 28, 2005
Headline: A planet tells its story
Byline: Simon Lamb, University of Oxford
Excerpt: On a recent flight back to Britain from the United States, the person
sitting next to me, after discovering that I was a geologist, asked me if
it was true that predictions about global warming were just bad science. With
a growing feeling of frustration, I realized how effective the smear campaign
against environmental science has been, raising doubts in the minds of so
many people. We certainly need popular science books like Reading the Rocks:
The Autobiography of the Earth by Marcia Bjornerud [Lawrence University
Professor of Geology] to help science fight back. The book reveals the extraordinary
wealth of knowledge that Earth scientists now have about the biosphere and
the lithosphere, and the complex interactions between them, that have made
this planet the only home for us. The book is well written and Bjornerud has
a rare talent for explaining scientific ideas clearly with intriguing and
helpful analogies, similes and metaphors. Bjornerud tells the fascinating
story of how our planet came into being, with its peculiar restless motion
of tectonic plates and the extraordinary role of water, not only in this,
but in maintaining the delicate environmental balance that allowed life to
evolve over geological time. I only hope we don't go and muck it all up in
the next blink of our planet's long history. The planet will survive to tell
another story, but we might not.
Iowa City Press Citizen, Iowa City, Iowa
July 3, 2005
Headline: Jazz Fest grooves downtown. Music fans soak up sounds in event's
15th year
Byline: Rob Daniel
Excerpt: As the Lawrence University Trio played through its set, Robert Anderson
of Iowa City stood, enjoying the music. "I'm really enjoying everything
about the festival," he said. "There's so much new stuff to check
out." The festival features the main stage and three side stages, all
featuring free concerts by local and national acts. One regional act was the
Lawrence University Trio, a troupe of three students from Lawrence
University in Appleton, Wis. Comprised of 18-year-old Karl McComas-Reichl
on standup bass, 20-year-old Andy McGhie on saxophone and 20-year-old Derek
Dreier on drums, the trio blasted out two sets in between acts on the main
stage. Dreier, a 2002 City High graduate, said he has attended the Jazz Fest
for several years and had performed in it as a senior in high school. "Ever
since then, I've had the desire to come back here with a group from college,"
he said. "It's the atmosphere. It promotes the music really well. A festival
like this that can bring people in is great for our music."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri
July 3, 2005
Headline: Tiny college in Illinois drops ACT, SAT requirement
Byline: Kavita Kumar
Excerpt: Knox College in Illinois has become one of the latest schools to
question the usefulness and fairness of the SAT and ACT, joining a small chorus
of other schools in a mini-revolt against the standardized tests. Last month,
the Galesburg college with 1,200 students announced that it would no longer
require applicants to submit scores from either test. The backlash against
college admissions tests dates back at least two decades when Bates College
in Maine began phasing them out. Proponents of the standardized tests say
they can help compare students of disparate backgrounds. Opponents say they
are biased and remove the human side of college admissions. In recent months,
a handful of other mostly small liberal arts colleges have decided to make
the exams optional, including Lawrence University in Wisconsin,
St. Lawrence University in New York, and College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
Exclusively Yours magazine, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
June 2005
Headline: Björklunden: Environment for the imagination
Byline: Jan Brethauer
Excerpt: Picture yourself spending a week in a magnificently pristine environment
where the thoughtful excursion into unique accademic or artistic concepts
is augmented by the beauty of Wisconsin's most celebrated landscape. Just
such a place does exist and it's located immediately south of Bailey's Harbor,
in Door County, on Lake Michigan's beautiful shore. It's Björklunden
vid Sjön, the northern campus of Appleton's Lawrence University,
where the term "continuing education" is measured by the highest
possible levels of excellence. It's a 425-acre estate devoted to the advancement
of intellectual and artistic pursuits by offering a broad and diverse curriculum
that provides its guests the opportunity to refresh, reflect and stretch the
corners of their minds with new thoughts and skills. This year, Björklunden
is currently offering a menu of 30 week-long classes that began late in April
and will end in mid-October. Virtually every week throughout the academic
year, groups of Lawrence students and faculty come to Björklunden for
weekend retreats and study, and the curriculum offered at the north campus
has become a cherished and integral part of the Lawrence University experience.
The New Mexican, Santa Fe, New Mexico
June 26, 2005
Headline: Rocks rock and geologists rule in these books
Byline: Barbara Riley
Excerpt: As carbon-based life forms on a blue-green jewel of a planet, humans
have somehow allowed the study of the Earth to be considered dull. Geologists
rarely make the front page of any media, and geological findings do not appear
to have much cachet in the 21st century unless entire island populations are
involved. Happily, two new books bring style and life to what is an astonishing
history -- the body our own earth. Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of
the Earth by Marcia Bjornerud, lighter in style and actual weight, and Earth:
An Intimate History by Richard Fortey, dense by volume and detail, are the
same story filled with hundreds of stories. Both books please and inspire
while finally giving a speaking part to Gaia. Bjornerud is a structural geologist
(tectonic development of ancient mountain belts in high arctic regions), a
professor of geology at Lawrence University in Appleton,
Wisc., and named a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2003, but
most definitely Reading the Rocks is not textbook. From the aliveness of her
writing, I suspect being taught by Bjornerud must be a wonderful experience.
Using metaphors with the same aplomb that she must bring to a rock hammer.
Bjornerud creates energetic and memorable pictures about land or terrestrial
sediments. By the end of her relatively short book, Bjornerud has inspired
readers to read rocks, not just books about rocks.
Inside Higher Education, Washington, D.C.
June 20, 2005
Headline: Faculty farm team
Byline: David Epstein
Excerpt: Research can be unforgiving in its time consumption, but well rounded
faculty members also teach, design courses, and mentor students. In order
to help multidimensional faculty members, Lawrence University
began a pilot program to mold postdoctoral fellows for successful careers.
This month, the university announced its selection of the first eight Lawrence
Fellows in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, who will begin the two-year program
next fall. While many research universities have postdoctoral fellows, Lawrence
officials see their program as significant for its scope -- from the music
conservatory to the physics department - within a primarily undergraduate
liberal arts institution. The program is the brainchild of Jill Beck, Lawrence's
president, who said it dawned on her amidst a series of one-on-one meetings
she held with faculty members in the fall. Beck plans to bring in six more
fellows next year, and to have a total of 20 on a campus of only about 130
faculty members. “I felt liberal arts colleges should step up and take some
of these bright Ph.D.'s and prepare them to be fine professors,” Beck said.
“There's a deficit of emphasis on teaching in a lot of research institutions.
We'd like to fill that chasm in, and say teaching and research can be interactive.”
When the fellows arrive, they will be matched up with faculty mentors who
will co-teach courses with them and help them design new courses. One of the
expected benefits is a broadening of course offerings. The infusion of young
talent is expected to help keep current faculty members on their toes, and
on the cutting edge.
The Saginaw News, Saginaw, Michigan
June 13, 2005
Headline: Fulbright award sends professor to Sierra Leone
Byline: Susan J. Demas
Excerpt: They were ripped from their homes and raped by rebels who forced
them into a life of sexual slavery. About two-thirds of Sierra Leonean women
were sexually assaulted during the gory civil war that ravaged their sub-Saharan
country from 1991 to 2002. Political scientist Claudena "Dena" M.
Skran, 44, has heard this ghastly story from refugees dozens of times. Now
the Bridgeport Township native has won a $60,000 Fulbright Scholarship to
travel to Sierra Leone to research how more than 400,000 former refugees are
rebuilding their lives, the government and schools during peacetime in a country
the United Nations ranks as the world's poorest. "What many of us don't
realize is what refugees really experience," said Skran, department of
government chairwoman at Lawrence University in Appleton,
Wis. "Something causes them to leave -- their homes are attacked. And
that's just the beginning of many, many years in exile." Skran is no
stranger to academic accolades -- in 1983, she won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship
to Oxford University in Oxford, England. She earned a master's degree there
in 1985 and a doctorate in 1989, both in international relations.
New York Times, New York, New York
May 15, 2005
Headline: SAT essay scores are in, but will they be used?
Byline: Tamar Lewin
Excerpt: Three years after the College Board increased students' anxieties
with its decision to add a handwritten essay to the SAT, and three months
after the test made its debut, many universities are still grappling with
how, when and even if they will use the new scores. So far, less than half
of the nation's colleges and universities have said they will require next
year's applicants to submit writing scores. It remains an open question, however,
whether they will give the essay scores as much weight as those on the reading
and math sections. Amid the tumult over the new SAT, several colleges have
joined more than 700 institutions that do not require standardized testing.
They include the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., which announced
its decision this week, and Lawrence University in Appleton,
Wis., which made the change in February. ''There was so much angst developing
around the writing test, with kids starting to stress out,'' said Steven Syverson,
the dean of admissions at Lawrence. ''When we heard the test-prep industry
say it would add $200 million a year to coaching revenues, we just said, 'That's
it. It's out of line, it's out of whack, and we don't want to be part of it.'''
This month, a task force of the National Council of Teachers of English released
a report raising concerns about the validity of the test as an indication
of writing ability and about its effects on classroom instruction.
[The story also appeared in the Tampa Tribune on May 15 under the headline “Colleges Unsure of Merits of SAT Writing Test”]
The Providence Journal, Providence, Rhode Island
May 12, 2005
Headline: Holy Cross to stop requiring applicants to take standard tests
Byline: The Associated Press
Excerpt: The College of the Holy Cross is dropping a requirement that prospective
students submit standardized-test scores with their applications, joining
a handful of other schools that have dropped their SAT and ACT requirement
in recent years. Frank Vellacio, the college's senior vice president, who
oversees admissions, said Holy Cross has become "increasingly concerned with
the inherent racial and socioeconomic bias in standardized testing - - as
well as the fact that no test can communicate a student's passions, interests,
motivations, and achievements." Other schools that have recently dropped their
testing requirements include Lawrence University, in Wisconsin,
and St. Lawrence University, in New York.
Telegram & Gazette, Worcester, Massachusetts
May 11, 2005
Headline: CitySquare could be a contender. Some city projects get national notice
Byline: Bronislaus Kush
Excerpt: Worcester native Jill Beck was installed last weekend as the 15th
president of Lawrence University, a liberal arts and science
school in northeastern Wisconsin. Ms. Beck, who graduated from South High
School in 1966, is Lawrence's first woman president. She received a bachelor
of arts in philosophy and art history from Clark University; a master's degree
from McGill University and a doctorate from the City University of New York.
Ms. Beck, the daughter of Helen Lindberg of Worcester, served as dean of the
School of the Arts at the University of California at Irvine from 1995 to
2003. Clark President John Bassett was one of the welcoming speakers at the
installation ceremonies at the school, which is located in Appleton, Wis.
Various events were held, including a picnic, an open house and a concert
by faculty.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee
May 7, 2005
Headline: Clock ticking on student loan bargain. Consolidating by July 1 will
lock in low rates
Byline: Avrum d. Lank
Excerpt: Those getting college diplomas in coming weeks can take advantage
of a rare convergence of factors that will allow them to consolidate loans
on extraordinarily favorable terms if they act by July 1. The floating-rate
loans they took out while in college can be changed to fixed-rate debts for
up to 30 years, at low rates set a year ago. This may be the last time that
new grads get a chance like this, if proposed changes in federal law go through.
The opportunity certainly looks golden to Jason Delisle, who as a legislative
assistant to U.S. Rep. Thomas Petri (R-Wis.) is in a great position to know.
Petri is vice chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce,
which has jurisdiction over the loan program. Delisle, a Duluth native and
2000 graduate of Lawrence University in Appleton, recently
consolidated $13,000 in loans. Record-low interest rates are one reason for
the fortuitous opportunity, but a second is political events in Washington.
Student loans cost the federal government money, as it subsidizes the interest
rates paid to lenders. In an era of falling general rates, those subsidies
were minimal. Now, rates are rising, and so will the cost of subsidies. That
has lead Petri and others in Congress to propose changes to the program.
Sarasota Herald Tribune, Sarasota, Florida
May 5, 2005
Headline: Going 'Off the Map.' Composer will bring live music to the cinema
Byline: Charlie Huisking
Excerpt: Audience members at the Burns Court Cinemas will experience composer
Gary DeMichele's music in two ways Friday night. First, they'll hear the music
he wrote for "Off the Map" while watching the film about an unconventional
family in the starkly beautiful American Southwest. After the 8 p.m. screening
of the film, DeMichele will perform a concert with Sarasota jazz musicians
Kenny Drew Jr., Richard Drexler and Alex Tomaino. The "Off the Map"
score is the fifth written by DeMichele. The musician also wrote the score
for "Big Night." DeMichele and [director] Campbell Scott discussed
several options for the film's score. "We could have gone the predictable
route, with American Indian music, or lush sounds to underscore the large
vistas in the film," he said. "But that would have been gilding
the lily. We ended up with a simple, spare score that isn't obtrusive. We
used guitar and percussion and vibraphone -- a more skeletal instrumentation."
DeMichele's earlier films include "The Secret Life of Dentists,"
which Scott starred in and produced. DeMichele has a music degree from Lawrence
University in Wisconsin. "I'm one of those rare people in the
arts who are actually doing what they studied to do," he said, laughing.
Aberdeen American News, Aberdeen, South Dakota
May 5, 2005
Headline: All-State Jazz festival. Participating musicians of note from Aberdeen,
Groton, Webster
Byline: Jeff Bahr
Excerpt: More than 60 high school musicians from 21 schools will take part
in the 2005 All-State Jazz Band Festival, which runs today through Saturday
at the Johnson Fine Arts Center. The three guest conductors are Ron Keezer,
Fred Sturm and Bob Lark. Sturm is the director of jazz and improvisational
music at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in
Appleton, Wis. Prior to his Lawrence appointment, he served as Professor and
Chair of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music
in New York from 1991-2002, where he directed the internationally acclaimed
Eastman Jazz Ensemble, conducted the 70-piece Eastman Studio Orchestra, and
coordinated the Eastman jazz composition and arranging program.
Wisconsin State Journal, Madison
May 4, 2005
Headline: First time's the charm
Byline: Melanie Conklin
Excerpt: Down Beat, the jazz magazine equivalent of Rolling Stone, picked
Madison East High 2002 grad Megan Hamm as an "outstanding performer"
in the college jazz voice category for its 28th annual student music awards
contest known as the "DBs." Winners are in the mag's June edition.
The audition tape submitted by Hamm, now a music education major at Lawrence
University in Appleton, was the first solo recording she ever made.
Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California
April 29, 2005
Headline: The Inside Track. Now that's the old college try
Photographer: Dan Powers, Associated Press
Photo Caption: Lawrence University's Billy Bodle dives over
a fence in a vain attempt to catch a foul ball during a game against Wisconsin-Oshkosh
in Grand Chute, Wis.
New York Times, New York, New York
April 18, 2005
Headline: For writers' program, a new pedagogy
Byline: Dinitia Smith
Excerpt: The first thing to know about Lan Samantha Chang, who has been named
the new director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, is that she has strong ideas
about teaching. Ms. Chang, 40, is a well-praised novelist and short-story
writer herself. Ms. Chang, now a Briggs-Copeland lecturer in creative writing
at Harvard, was among four finalists for the job. She will be the first woman
and the first Asian-American to hold the position, school officials say. Ms.
Chang is the daughter of Chinese immigrants who left China in 1949 and moved
to Appleton, Wis. Her father, Nai-Lin Chang, is a retired professor of engineering
affiliated with Lawrence University there; her mother, Helen
Chung-Hung Hsiang, teaches piano. Ms. Chang, one of four sisters, graduated
from Yale, where she was managing editor of The Yale Daily News. She was also
an intern in a program at The New York Times aimed at minorities. After Yale,
she went to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard to study public administration.
The Press of Atlantic City, Atlantic City, New Jersey
April 16, 2005
Headline: Levy TV ad raises race as issue in A.C. campaign
Byline: Derek Harper
Excerpt: In a series of ads now playing on local cable and broadcast television,
a Democratic candidate for mayor tries to underscore his connection to the
resort's community. But in a departure from the norm, the ad, paid for by
the Atlantic County Democratic Party, seems designed to indirectly appeal
the resort's black community. It features a mostly black cast while touching
on local civic issues. At one point, after the word "unifier" appears
on the screen, the camera shows Bob Levy, relaxing in a red-orange sweatshirt
while his wife, Hazel Levy, speaks. "Married 41 years" floats under
the scene. Hazel Levy, who is black, turns to the camera and says, "Bob
was actually kicked out of Atlantic City High School for dating me."
Atlantic City is a town without a racial majority, and any candidate seeking
office needs to appeal to the diverse community. In this sense, race is relevant,
particularly considering that in the primary, Levy is challenging the sitting
mayor, Lorenzo Langford, who is black. It is not too surprising that a candidate
would seek to emphasize his connections to an ethnic group in a city, said
Christian Grose, an assistant professor of government at Lawrence
University in Appleton, Wisc. Grose, who studies the role of race
in urban politics, said that while candidates appeal to ethnic groups, Levy's
apparent overtures to the black community are uncommon. More commonly seen
are black politicians who try to woo the white community, he said. "Basically
the demographics of a district often predict just how much candidate(s) will
emphasize their race and or the ethnic background of their spouse," he
said. "The patters are actually quite predictable." Grose has seen
the gambit work with differing degrees of success. "You know that thing
where they say some of their best friends are" from a certain group,
Grose said.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee
April 10, 2005
Headline: Quality of Chambers' Merchant' is not strained
Byline: Damien Jaques
Excerpt: David Chambers' presence in Milwaukee this spring is a significant
sign of how far Milwaukee Shakespeare has come since Paula Suozzi became its
managing director a year and a half ago. While a student at Lawrence
University in Appleton, Chambers marched with Father James Groppi
in open housing demonstrations here, saw shows at the old Fred Miller Theater
and visited the Milwaukee family of a young woman who was his fiance. In the
early '80s, he twice returned to the city to direct productions mounted by
the Professional Theatre Training Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Chambers is now in the top tier of American theater artists. He teaches at
the Yale School of Drama, arguably the best theater school in the country,
and is an artistic associate at the South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa
Mesa, Calif. South Coast is one of the country's most influential regional
theaters and Chambers regularly directs there. Then there are Chambers' Broadway
shows and his translations of Moliere plays, which are produced by a range
of theater companies. So why is David Chambers spending a month away from
the rest of the theater world and his home in Portland, Maine, to direct "The
Merchant of Venice" for Milwaukee Shakespeare? The reasons are many.
"The play has always been high on my to-do list. And I haven't been back
here in 20 years. This seemed like a good time to come back to Milwaukee."
Toronto Star. Toronto, Ontario
April 8, 2005
Headline: Campbell Scott looks north; Star 'gets' low-key Canadian humour.
Enjoyed creating priest role out of nothing
Byline: Susan Walker
When director Michael McGowan sent his script for Saint Ralph to Campbell
Scott, he struck it lucky. Scott doesn't just have warm feelings about making
movies with Canadians, he feels he understands us. "It was very subtle,
ironic and had that low-key Canadian sense of humour that I really get,"
says Scott, who thanks to his mother, the late Colleen Dewhurst, can boast
a few Canadian genes. The role of Father Hibbert -- the former runner who
agrees to coach the young boy Ralph in his bid to win the Boston Marathon
and somehow bring his mother out of a coma -- appealed to him. "More
than anything, he's an educator. Teaching is a noble profession that is often
either overdone or underdone in movies." It was, in fact, the profession
that a young Scott thought was to be his. Though the son of Dewhurst and late,
famed American actor George C. Scott, acting was not a foregone conclusion
when Scott was growing up. "I was a very different kind of personality,
very reserved, so it didn't occur to me." So he went to Lawrence
University in Wisconsin, intent on becoming a history teacher. After
he started acting in student productions it struck him "I thought 'Oh
my God, can you make a living doing this?' This is great -- so expressive
and yet you don't really have to show any of yourself.'" It seemed, he
laughs, "kind of ideal." As a stage actor, Scott developed his craft
doing lots of off-Broadway and summer-stock productions including Shakespeare,
and ultimately performing on Broadway with his mother in Eugene O'Neill's
Long Day's Journey Into Night. The theatre is still where he is happiest as
an actor, he says. There he developed the versatility to be the kind of film
star who can't be typecast.
Los Alamos Monitor, Los Alamos, New Mexico
April 5, 2005
Headline: Local, national educators mixed on SAT test changes
Byline: Carol A. Clark, Monitor Staff Writer
Excerpt: Some 300,000 students nationwide and a handful from Los Alamos took
their SATs on March 12 and had to write an essay for the first time in the
history of the test. The new focus on writing isn't much of a worry for local
educators but is of concern to low income, minority and immigrant students
whose schools haven't emphasized writing. Los Alamos High School Advisement
and Career Center Coordinator Edwina Lieb said for many kids, the flap over
the SAT is irrelevant. "If students know they are going to a state college,
the test score is rarely an impediment," Lieb said. "It only matters
when they want to enter schools where there is intense competition for a small
number of kids." Lieb recently informed parents through an e-mail that
Lawrence University would no longer require either the results
of the SAT or the ACT in their admission process. Lieb sent parents a letter
by Steve Syverson, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Lawrence University
in Appleton, Wis. Syverson noted a belief by many in the educational profession
that the emphasis on these tests far outweighs their value in the admission
process. "Preoccupation with their scores on these tests adds an unfortunate
level of stress to this process for far too many students each year,"
he said. "And, for many students, those scores can inappropriately distort
their sense of self-worth -- either positively or negatively." The test-prep
industry is currently a billion-dollar-a-year industry, he said and industry
analysts project that the introduction of the new SAT writing components will
add an additional $200-million to this revenue figure annually. The very presence
of such a large industry further disadvantages students from less-privileged
backgrounds who are less likely to be able to afford to pursue "test
prep." "In the early years of these tests, students typically sat
for either the ACT or the SAT (not both), they did so only once, and they
didn't take a course to 'prepare' for it," Syverson said. "The SAT
claimed to measure 'Scholastic Aptitude' and endeavored to level the playing
field. Now the affluent and sophisticated students take the test multiple
times and often pay for expensive test preparation courses."
Seattle Times, Seattle, Washington
April 4, 2005
Headline: Director added his own vision to indie film
Byline: Ann Mcarthur
Excerpt: On a frigid Friday afternoon in the lobby of a fancy hotel in Washington,
Campbell Scott arrived to promote "Off the Map" dressed casually
in gray corduroy pants, carrying just a black backpack. The actor, director
and producer -- who directed the film -- had no entourage and wasn't approached
by autograph-seekers. But that's the way he likes it. "I don't have the
energy for fame," said Scott, 43. Despite making his big-screen debut
in "The Sheltering Sky" and capturing breakout roles in "Longtime
Companion" and Hollywood vehicles "Dying Young" and "Singles,"
Scott prefers staying off Hollywood's radar and spending his efforts working
on independent films. New Mexico is the setting of "Off the Map,"
which is Scott's fourth directing effort. Scott was introduced to acting and
fame by his parents, the late actors George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst.
Scott grew up in the New York City theaters in which his parents spent much
of their careers and liked it enough to go on to study drama at Lawrence
University in Wisconsin. A decade after he graduated and made the
move from stage to screen in the 1990s, Scott caught Hollywood's eye with
the studio films in which he debuted. Although Scott said he prefers directing
over acting and is always looking for his next project, he has four films
coming out this year in which he acts: "Duma," "The Dying Gaul,"
"The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and "Saint Ralph."
[The story originally appeared in the Baltimore Sun on March 24 under the headline, “Campbell Scott is finding success under the radar. He prefers directing, and his latest is `Off the Map'.”]
Newsday, Long Island, New York
April 2, 2005
Headline: Young Catholics have known only one Pope
Byline: Martha Irvine, Associated Press National Writer
Excerpt: John Meehan struggles to describe what he's felt as he and his fellow
students at Catholic University of America have watched the steady demise
of Pope John Paul II, catching news between classes on the Internet and on
television. "For most of us, this is the only pope we've known."
His generation of young Roman Catholics, whether they have supported or disagreed
with some of the pontiff's staunch views, have been having a tough time imagining
their church without the leader who guided them for 26 years -- one of the
longest papal reigns ever. John Giudicessi, a 22-year-old pre-med student
at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., agrees that John
Paul "was one of the greatest international leaders you could find."
He points to the pope's influence on the fall of communism in eastern Europe
as one of his big accomplishments. But he is among a number of young Roman
Catholics who say that, despite the pope's attempts to connect with his generation,
he's not sure the pope -- or others in the church -- always accomplished that.
Giudicessi, who attended Roman Catholic schools before going to college, hopes
the next pope will set a more accepting tone on issues such as homosexuality
and on women taking leadership roles in the church. "The church is going
to have to adapt to survive," he says. "A lot of us feel that the
Catholic church is a little bit behind the times."
[The story also ran in USA Today, Boston Globe, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and other newspapers across the country.]
The New York Observer, New York, New York
March 28, 2005
Headline: Penn, Depp ... and Campbell Scott
Byline: Sara Vilkomerson
Excerpt: Campbell Scott is an actor who you may only remember as Kyra Sedgwick's
love interest from 1992's Singles, or as that good-looking sick guy from the
Julia Roberts weepie Dying Young. With some prodding, you might recall his
turn in David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner, or his lauded role as the almost-feral
lothario in Roger Dodger in 2002, followed by the heartbreaking portrayal
of the mustached dentist in despair over his wife's infidelity in The Secret
Lives of Dentists. You may have even heard that he is the descendant of theater
and film royalty, the son of George C. Scott (the "C." stood for
Campbell) and Colleen Dewhurst. But you more than likely won't hear about
any of these accomplishments from this exceedingly courteous yet private 43-year-
old actor/producer/director. Don't look for Campbell Scott to wax poetic about
his craft on Inside the Actors Studio, though he certainly would have plenty
to impart, a fact that hasn't gone unnoticed by his peers. "When people
ask who you feel are the greatest actors of your generation, which, granted,
is always kind of a bullshit question, the names that always come up are Sean
Penn and Johnny Depp, and deservedly so," said comic actor Denis Leary,
who co-starred with Mr. Scott in The Secret Lives of Dentists. "I always
bring up Campbell Scott in the same breath, and I know for a fact that those
two guys do too." Mr. Scott resisted the allure of acting for a while,
attending Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., with the
idea of becoming a history teacher. "I was a reader," he said. "Books,
stories, I was all about the reading." But the genes proved too strong,
and soon he was making his Broadway debut in 1982's The Queen and the Rebels
alongside his mother. A breakout role in the 1990 AIDS movie Longtime Companion
caused many to take notice.