______________________________________________________________________

 


______________________________________________________________________
April 26, 2007

 

  1. All Bonaventure Reads selection for 2007-08 is 'Fast Food Nation'
  2. Two physics majors accepted for study in National Science Foundation summer research programs
  3. Softball tourney, concerts and 'Real World' stars highlight Spring Weekend
  4. Pierce exhibits sketches at national museum and Yale Divinity Library
  5. Advertising students head to NYC to present Coca-Cola campaign
  6. Newsmakers
  7. Friday Forum
  8. Career Center

 

____________________

All Bonaventure Reads selection for 2007-08 is 'Fast Food Nation'

And then there was one. From an initial stack of some 60 books, “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal” has been chosen as the All Bonaventure Reads selection for 2007-08.

The book deals with themes relevant to many disciplines and academic majors:

- It speaks to issues from ethics to business law to the importance of education and the plight of low-wage workers.
- It opens up questions of health.
- It explores culture.
- It examines economics, marketing and public relations.
- It touches on many issues that resonate with our Franciscan heritage.

First-year students will be asked to read the book prior to arrival on campus in August and will be involved in multiple conversations about the themes in the book. General book discussions will occur during Welcome Days and more in-depth discussions about various issues the book raises — such as wellness and ethics — will take place in the University 101 course and some other classes as well.

All SBU community members are encouraged to read “Fast Food Nation” and participate in campus discussions and events, which may include a film series, lectures and debates.

About “Fast Food Nation”
In 1998, Eric Schlosser’s two-part article on the fast food industry in Rolling Stone generated more mail than any other story the magazine had run in years. Schlosser has interviewed slaughterhouse workers; cattle ranchers; potato farmers; fast food employees, founders, and franchisees; and families who have lost a loved one to food poisoning. From his extensive research and travels for this book, he has unearthed a wealth of little-known, often unsettling truths about the fast food industry.

In addition to writing for Rolling Stone, Schlosser has contributed to The New Yorker and has been a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly since 1996. He won a National Magazine Award for “Reefer Madness” and “Marijuana and the Law” and has received a Sidney Hillman Foundation Award for reporting. His work has been nominated for several other National Magazine Awards and for the Loeb Award for business journalism.

“Fast Food Nation,” which has been compared to Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” has been a popular choice for First-Year book programs.

Members of the All Bonaventure Reads committee began meeting last October and read about 60 books before narrowing their candidates to “Fast Food Nation,” “The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream,” “The Bookseller of Kabul,” “Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster,” “Remembering Denny,” “When the Emperor was Devine,” and “My Sister’s Keeper.”

Committee members include: Chris Brown, Dr. Nancy Casey, Dr. Lauren De La Vars, Jean Ehman, Dr. Carol Fischer, Nichole Gonzalez, Heather Jackson and student Charles Specht. Committee members appreciated input and feedback provided by faculty, staff and students during the selection process.

Click here to return to the top of the page

_____________________

Two physics majors accepted into National Science Foundation summer research programs

The Department of Physics of St. Bonaventure University is pleased to announce that two of its undergraduate majors have been accepted for study in National Science Foundation (NSF) summer research programs.

The students, both junior honor students, are: Amalie Donius, daughter of Robert and Kim Donius of Alfred Station, N.Y., and Kevin Miller, son of Dr. Edward and Kathleen Miller of Lansdale, Pa.

Both students will be participating in the NSF program called Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). According to an NSF release, “REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research programs designed specifically for the purpose of the REU program.

Donius has received an appointment in the REU program at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla. She will join a research team under the direction of Dr. Arthur Hebard, professor of physics, who directs an ongoing research group working in “Interface Physics and Capacitance Measurements.”

Miller has received an appointment in the REU program of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind. Miller will work in the general area of “Condensed Matter Physics,” joining a group conducting research under the direction of Dr. Margaret Dobrowolska-Furdyna, associate chair and director of undergraduate studies in physics.

The period of study is for approximately 10 weeks beginning in late May. The awards carry a stipend of $3,600 to $4,500 plus free housing and a travel stipend of up to $500. Other support is also available to participants such as tuition waivers for courses taken and travel expenses provided to conferences and off-campus laboratories.

Click here to return to the top of the page

_____________________

Softball tourney, concerts and 'Real World' stars highlight Spring Weekend

The traditional Rick Farina Softball Tournament will usher in Spring Weekend 2007 on Thursday, followed by free weekend concerts and the appearance of two cast members from “The Real World: San Diego.”

Dubbed Buzzfest, eight bands will be performing live outside the Sandra A. and William L. Richter Center Friday, April 27, and Saturday, April 28.

“MTV’s The Real World: San Diego” stars Brad Fiorenza and Cameran Eubanks will be hosting events outside the Richter Center throughout the day Saturday and in the Rathskeller Saturday night. Meet and Greet sessions with Brad and Cameran will also be scheduled on Saturday during the day and also in the Rathskeller in the evening.

The free concert series includes the following bands:
Friday

4 p.m. — The Receiver
5:15 p.m. — The Morning Light
6:30 p.m. — Owen
Saturday

Noon — Klear
1:30 p.m. — Standard of Living
3 p.m. — Dave Melillo
4:30 p.m. —I Am The Avalanche
6 p.m.— Spitalfield
A mechanical bull, inflatable games and a caricature artist, to name just a few things, will also be on the outside courts of the Richter Center both Friday and Saturday where 1,000 students will receive a free Spring Weekend T-shirt compliments of Student Government on Saturday.

At 9 p.m. Saturday, a Green Day Tribute band, “DOOKIE,” will perform two sets in the Rathskeller. The first 100 students in the door will have the opportunity to build their own stuffed bear at the Bear Factory in the Rathskeller. Each stuffed build-a-bear, which can be kept as a Spring Weekend souvenir, will have a custom St. Bona T-shirt complete with the University logo.

The Rick Farina Softball Tournament begins Thursday, April 26. Registration forms will not be accepted without the $45 fee. Each of the first 32 teams registered are guaranteed two games and will play their first game Thursday at either 4 p.m. or 5:30 p.m.

Thursday and Friday’s games will be posted in the residence halls, the Reilly Center lobby and the Richter Center. The championship team will be awarded a Rick Farina softball sweatshirt and a $45 gift certificate. The second-place team will receive long-sleeved T-shirts. All St. Bonaventure University policies are in effect this weekend.

Food for the weekend will be available beginning Friday morning with coffee and doughnuts outside the Richter Center. Steak and chicken sandwiches, french fries, meatball subs, beverages and desserts will be served from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Friday. A hotdog bar with hamburgers, fries, and Boca burgers will be outside the Richter Center Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The same dinner menu as Friday, with the addition of 6-foot Italian subs, will be available from 4:30 until 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Food bracelets will be on sale all day Thursday, April 26, and until 1 p.m. Friday, April 27, in Hickey Dining Hall. Bracelets are $18 and are for use all weekend. Students can purchase these bracelets using their meal plan, Bona Bucks, Flex dollars or cash. After 1 p.m. Friday, bracelets can be purchased using cash only.

Tickets to purchase nachos, fried dough, cotton candy and ice cream will be sold in increments of 50 cents outside the Richter Center during the dinner times.

All members of the university community are invited to attend Spring Weekend 2007 events.

Spring Weekend 2007 is sponsored by the Campus Activities Board, 88.3 The Buzz, Student Government Association, the Student Life Division, Intramurals-Recreation-Club Sports, Counseling Center, Residence Life, Office of Student Activities, and Dining Services.

The rain site for the concerts is the Reilly Center Arena; and two softball games are not guaranteed if Thursday’s games are rained out.

Click here to return to the top of the page

_____________________

Pierce exhibits sketches at national museum and Yale Divinity Library

Constance Pierce, artist and assistant professor of painting, drawing and visual journals at St. Bonaventure University, is exhibiting her sketchbooks, along with 13 other artists, at The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

The exhibition is titled “Artists’ Sketchbooks and Illustrated Diaries: Exploring the In/Visible” and is organized by Krystyna Wasserman, the museum’s curator of book arts. Pierce’s sketchbook pages are reproduced in the color catalog of the same title published this month by the museum.

The exhibition includes sketchbooks and illustrated diaries by 14 women artists from the United States, Argentina and Spain. There are 21 sketchbooks, in a variety of media, and they span the 18th century to present day.

This event is part of the 20th Anniversary Celebration of The National Museum of Women in the Arts and will run from April 18 through July 15. The museum brings recognition to the achievements of women artists of all periods and nationalities. It is located at 1250 New York Ave. NW in Washington, D.C., and is open daily.

An artist’s sketchbook is one of the most intimate forms of artistic expression. Not usually intended for public display, many sketchbooks contain very private autobiographical details.

Pierce said, “I have a passion for recording gestures. When I sketch what I see I am able to record what it is like to be human at a particular moment, in a specific place, in all the confluence of time. Through my sketchbooks I capture the fleeting and preserve it; and through the very process of sketching itself, I am able to offer surrendered attention – an intense awareness – to the given moment.”

Pierce refers to the works as “my Yale sketchbooks.” The sketchbooks were created while she was a research fellow and resident artist at the Divinity School of Yale University in New Haven, Conn. She traveled to Yale to study collections of master sketchbooks and the genre of “artists’ books” at The Yale Center for British Art, the Beinecke Rare Book Library and the Yale Art of the Book Collection.

“I created several of my own sketchbooks while researching in the Yale collections,” Pierce said. “I recorded notes and sketches of masterworks in the university museums, theater productions at the Yale Rep, lectures on Dante and Blake, lunchtime concerts, and the ebb and flow of the local populace on campus. Those were radiant days.”

Concurrent with the sketchbook exhibition at The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Pierce also has a display of sketchbooks on view at The Divinity Library of Yale University.

This exhibition features her own sketchbook pages alongside a wide selection of visual journals and sketchbooks created by St. Bonaventure University students, faculty and alumni who have participated in her special Imaging Journal courses and workshops on campus.

Pierce recently received the Leo E. Kennan Jr. Faculty Appreciation Award for her teaching. The Yale Divinity Library display of sketchbooks and journals on loan from St. Bonaventure University is on view through May 23 and was made possible by a Journey Project grant.

There are also two exhibitions of student works from classes by Pierce on view on the St. Bonaventure campus through the summer. “Imaging Journals” is on display at Friedsam Memorial Library and student drawings and paintings are on display in The Branch Family Gallery of The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts in a show titled “Unframed and Out of the Box!”.

Pierce has exhibited her own artworks regionally and nationally for three decades. Her sketchbooks and monotype prints are in the permanent collections of The National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Archives of American Art of The Smithsonian Institution, the Rare Book Library of The National Gallery of Art, the Georgetown University Special Collections, all in Washington, D.C., as well as The Yale Center for British Art: Print and Drawing Sketchbook Archives.

For more information, contact the artist at cpierce@sbu.edu or (716) 375-2696.

Click here to return to the top of the page

_____________________

Advertising students head to NYC to present Coca-Cola campaign

St. Bonaventure University’s chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) will present its entry for the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) at 5 p.m., Saturday, at Baruch College in New York City.

The Stalwart Group, under the guidance of Br. Basil Valente, O.F.M., is the University’s student-run advertising agency consisting of more than 40 journalism and marketing majors. Its presentation team will exhibit a $15 million multi-media marketing communications campaign designed for The Coca-Cola Company’s Coca-Cola Classic, the most popular and biggest-selling soft drink in history.

Each year, a corporate sponsor provides a case study outlining the history of its product and its current advertising situation. The case study is candid and reflects a real world situation. Students must research the product and its competition, identify potential problem areas and devise a completely integrated communications campaign for the client. Each student team then pitches its campaign to a panel of judges.

Regional NSAC competitions are held each spring in 15 districts, consisting of one to five states each, throughout the United States. The winning team in each district and one wild card team then advances to compete on the national level in June at the AAF National Conference, which will be held in Louisville, Ky., this year.

St. Bonaventure is a member of District 2 along with universities from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia. The Stalwart Group will be competing against 24 other university advertising teams including Georgetown University, Syracuse University, Villanova University and Pennsylvania State University.

The American Advertising Federation provides and promotes a better understanding of the functions of advertising and its values. The St. Bonaventure chapter stimulates and encourages advertising professionalism through on-campus education as it promotes fellowship and a free exchange of ideas while adhering to advertising's ethical code of responsibility. It also allows students to apply the skills, creativity and energy of advertising to help solve social problems.

Click here to return to the top of the page

_____________________

 

Newsmakers

Dr. Alva V. Cellini, professor of modern languages, has published “La visión del mundo andino en la narrativa de César Vallejo” (The Vision of the Andean World in César Vallejo’s Narrative) in the literary journal Cuadernos de Lazarrillo, Winter Issue, 2007, published by Ambos Mundos in Salamanca, Spain. She has also published a book review of Manuel Payno’s novel "The Bandits from Río Frío" (San Francisco: Heliographica, 2005) in the last issue of Multicultural Review. MultiCultural Review is a journal dedicated to a better understanding of ethnic, racial and religious diversity.

An essay by Dr. Michael Chiariello, professor of philosophy, “Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose: Teaching the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition to Postmodern Undergraduates,” will be included in an anthology, Postscript to the Middle Ages: Teaching Medieval Studies through Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, to be published by Syracuse University Press in 2008. The essay is based on a pilot course, The Franciscan Intellectual Tradition, taught at the Umbra Institute, Perugia, Italy, in spring 2007 as part of the St. Bonaventure University’s Franciscan Heritage Study Abroad Program.

The research of Dr. Charles Walker, professor of psychology, is being featured in the May issue of Seventeen magazine. Walker consulted with the editor of Seventeen on an article on the adverse effects of the vicious gossip that is sometimes passed among young women. Also, with senior psychology majors Allison Cafftey, Stacy Frisbee and Megan McQuillen, Walker will present the results of research done in his lab on student gossip about faculty teaching performance at the national meeting of American Psychological Science in Washington, D.C., May 24. In an analysis of gossip of about 128 faculty members at 11 colleges in the Northeast, they found that students spread more veneration than shame gossip and that levels of these kinds of gossip correlated highly with ratings of teaching quality but not easiness or sexiness. This work will be displayed as poster at the faculty-student research exposition under the title “Student Comments Posted at RateMyProfessors.com: Idle Gossip or Potential News?”

Dr. Rene' Wroblewski, assistant professor in the School of Education, presented two papers at the 2007 American Educational Research Association annual conference. She was invited, along with several other female faculty members from Western New York colleges and universities, to present “Peer support groups for writing and research in graduate school and beyond.” She also presented an individual paper titled “Through a new looking glass: Social interactions of adolescents with disabilities through an educational/sociological perspective.”

Click here to return to the top of the page

_____________________

 

Join us for the FRIDAY FORUM

Note two changes from the usual Friday Forum: This event occurs in the Robert R. Jones Board of Trustees Room and the food and beverages are free.

Date: April 27, 2007
Time: 12:30 to 2 p.m.
Place: Trustees Room
Title: “Student Research and Creative Endeavors Exposition 2007: Reception”
Abstract: All SBU faculty, staff and administrators are invited to view posters and paintings summarizing the wonderful projects of students in the School of Arts and Sciences. The students will be present to answer questions about their projects during the reception. Refreshments will be served.

Career Center news...

18 days until Commencement! Do you know graduating students who need some last minute advice on their resume and cover letter? Or are looking for a few tips for job searching? The Career Center will be holding a Career Open House for graduating students on Thursday, May 3. For more information visit our Web site.

Click here to return to the top of the page