May 06 Communique 4-20-06.qxp - Western Connecticut State

W E S T E R N C O N N E C T I C U T S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y
VOL. 8, NO. 8
M AY 2 0 0 6
Court TV’s Catherine Crier to deliver commencement address
WCSU/Photo/Peggy Stewart
Professor of Justice and Law Administration Dr. Casey Jordan (right) appears frequently as a guest on Catherine Crier’s
Court TV show, “Catherine Crier Live.”
by Sherri Hill
Catherine Crier has come a long
way from serving as the youngest judge
elected in the state of Texas to the host
of her own Court TV show, “Catherine
Crier Live.” And on Sunday, May 21,
Crier will share her wise advice with
Western Connecticut State University’s
Class of 2006 when she delivers the
university’s 108th commencement
address.
Commencement exercises will
begin at 10:30 a.m. on the Athletic
Practice Fields on the WestConn
Westside campus. The university will
confer nearly 1,000 undergraduate and
graduate degrees from its Ancell School
of Business, School of Arts and
Sciences, School of Professional Studies,
and Graduate Division.
“We’re delighted Catherine Crier
will be sharing insights from her
distinguished career in law and
journalism with our graduates,” said
WestConn President James W.
Schmotter. “She’s an engaging speaker,
and in her most recent books and
reporting she has been addressing
some of the most important issues in
American jurisprudence today.”
Crier joined Court TV in 1999 after
stints at CNN, Fox News, and ABC’s
“World News Tonight” and “20/20.” She
received an Emmy Award in 1996 for
outstanding investigative journalism for
her work on a “20/20” segment about
nursing home abuses. Her work on the
Court TV documentary “The System,”
about a teenager coerced into making a
false murder confession, earned her a
duPont-Columbia University Award for
excellence in broadcast journalism in
2001. Crier also has received two
Gracie Allen awards from the
Foundation for American Women in
Radio and Television.
WestConn Professor of Justice and
Law Administration (JLA) Dr. Casey
Jordan knows Crier well.
“I first met Catherine Crier in 1997
when she interviewed me during the
manhunt for Andrew Cunanan on her
Fox News show,” Jordan said. “What
struck me most about Catherine, as
opposed to the myriad other news
anchors and talk show hosts covering
the story, was her incredible
professionalism. While other media
personalities covered serial killers and
violent crime with a bent for the
sensational and entertaining, Catherine
approached crime stories as a journalist
determined to ask relevant questions
and get truthful answers. Her nononsense approach, and her intolerance
for media hype and agenda-driven spin,
instantly won my respect and
admiration.”
Prior to her career as a television
journalist, Crier was an assistant district
attorney and felony chief prosecutor for
Dallas County, Texas. She then worked
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Schmotter tells education commission of WestConn’s success
by Paul Steinmetz
WestConn President James W.
Schmotter testified last month before a
U.S. Department of Education
commission about a project that has
improved English and math scores of
high school seniors and reduced the
number of remedial classes the
university must offer.
The Secretary of Education’s
Commission on the Future of Higher
Education asked speakers at the public
hearing in Boston to discuss ways to
make college affordable and accessible,
along with how students are being
prepared for the 21st century.
Schmotter told the committee about
a collaboration between WestConn and
two local high schools.
“I thought it was good to present
concrete examples of what the
committee was talking about,”
Schmotter said. “I wanted to show we
tried this experiment at WestConn and
that it really worked.”
Schmotter detailed a three-year-old
WestConn project, called “Building a
Bridge to Improve Student Success,”
that helps get high school seniors ready
for college.
The program was developed jointly
“I’m here to talk about
a successful experiment
to increase access to
higher education.”
by teachers at Danbury and Bethel high
schools and professors at WestConn.
Danbury and Bethel are the two biggest
feeder schools to the university.
The project began with the testing
of juniors in the two high schools. Test
results found 61 percent needed
remedial English, and 62 percent needed
help with math. After a year in modified
senior-level high school classes, brought
about by work between high school
and WestConn educators, the students’
placement improved dramatically: Only
37 percent needed remediation in
English and 41 percent in math.
The improvements are good for
freshmen bank accounts, too. Students
pay for remedial classes but do not get
credit for them.
Dr. Linda Vaden-Goad, dean of
WestConn’s School of Arts and Sciences,
was part of the campus team that
formulated the Bridge program. She
encouraged Schmotter to testify before
the commission.
“I knew this project would be
pleasing to them and it would show
them some things they think we aren’t
doing, we are doing,” Vaden-Goad said.
“The real key is that it was a
completely collaborative project with
the faculty. Once the WestConn faculty
got together with the high school
educators and talked about how we
share the same students, that is when it
came together in a beautiful way.”
Schmotter’s remarks
to the commission
I’m here to talk about a successful experiment to
increase access to higher education. National data
suggest that almost 30 percent of entering college
freshmen must enroll in at least one remedial course,
which increases costs and often limits access. At WCSU in
2002 we confronted an even more serious manifestation
of this problem. Approximately 52 percent of freshmen
required at least one remedial course at time of entry prior
to our study. Students’ academic progress was being
delayed, and costs for remedial education were rising.
We needed to find ways to improve students’
proficiency prior to entering college. So we collaborated
with our two top feeder high schools to “build a bridge” to
improve student success. Our goal: decrease the number
of students needing remediation by providing high school
students with a clearer idea of college expectations and
by building relationships between the university and high
school teachers.
There were three phases to our plan. First, we
tested the high school juniors in English and mathematics
using our regular placement tests. In both academic
areas, individualized feedback was provided to the
students and teachers, so they could identify specific
strengths and weaknesses. Second, faculty from both the
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cont’d. on page 7
Media Mentions
Below is a sampling of mentions about
WestConn that appeared recently in the local
media. Unless otherwise noted, the articles
appeared in The News-Times:
March and April 2006
WESTCONN STUDENTS REGISTER TO GIVE
THE GIFT OF LIFE
A year ago, WestConn sophomore Jamie Dunbar’s ill
father needed a blood transfusion. She knows that if
others had not given blood, her father may not be here
today. A few weeks ago, she learned of someone from
her hometown in need. ... Dunbar and 24 other WestConn
students — including most of the women’s volleyball team
— traveled to Amity High School in Woodbridge, where
they gave blood samples in hopes of helping a baby boy
with leukemia who needs a bone marrow transplant.
IS FOOD HISTORY ONE’S FOOD DESTINY?
We all have stories and memories about what we ate
while growing up, what foods we loved and hated, and
who served them to us. We remember scenes around the
family dinner table, whether there was conversation and
laughter or bickering and silence. ... Whatever our food
memories, they have a bearing upon how we feel about
ourselves, Irene Sherlock believes. Sherlock, adjunct
professor of English at WestConn, recently presented a
workshop, “Foodchild: How Family Eating Traditions
Shape Us,” on the college’s Midtown campus.
POLICE COLLECT QUARTERS FOR SPECIAL
OLYMPICS
AUTISTIC ADULTS MAY GET STATE AID
CHILD CARE FUNDS LACKING
(HARTFORD COURANT)
State lawmakers appear to have reached a bipartisan
resolution on establishing a pilot program in the state to
care for 50 adults with autism, with plans to expand it to
the entire adult population, possibly within two years. ...
WestConn in Danbury has a program for developmentally
disabled people ages 18 to 21 called Western Connection,
which is being used as part of a model for the state.
Twelve high school graduates from the Danbury area can
enroll in a two-year program to learn better social skills
and be in an audited WestConn class, said (Dr. Ellen)
Durnin, who runs the program as the dean of Graduate
Studies and External Programs.
The WestConn Police Department is collecting quarters to
donate to the Connecticut Special Olympics Mile of
Quarters campaign, which runs through June. The goal is
to raise 200,000 quarters, which would be enough to
stretch for a quarter-mile. All the money raised will
support programs run by Special Olympics.
Demand for state-subsidized child care is expected to
double in the coming year as strict new federal welfare
guidelines push as many as 3,000 lower-income parents
into the workforce. But Connecticut’s primary child-care
subsidy, Care4Kids, is grossly unprepared for the coming
onslaught, family advocates say. ... The budget cuts have
forced state officials to enact tough new restrictions on
program eligibility. That, combined with what advocates
describe as a laborious and demanding application
process, has led to several thousand poor, income-eligible
parents — about half of those who applied between
November and January — being denied assistance after
they asked, advocates say. ... Parents like Maura Zeller and
Tona Coates are already struggling. Zeller is a WestConn
student trying to better herself so she can get a decent job.
LEGISLATORS, STUDENTS BEMOAN
COSTLY COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS
(BOSTON GLOBE)
After shelling out about $400 for textbooks this semester,
University of Connecticut freshman Ben March thought he
was finished with that expensive task. On a recent
afternoon, however, he returned to the UConn Co-op’s
bookstore for an accounting textbook and walked out
$101 poorer. ... Some universities and colleges have started
renting texts to students. None of Connecticut’s public
colleges and universities have textbook rental programs,
but they have adopted several approaches to help
students cope with the costs. At WestConn, for example,
needy students can get $300 in their first four days of class
while awaiting their financial aid.
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A R O U N D
Communique
Communiqué is published monthly
(September - December & February - May)
by the Office of University Relations at
Western Connecticut State University.
Mediation makes a difference in any culture
Managing Editor
Paul Steinmetz
Associate Editor
Sherri Hill
Editors
Sherri Hill
Yvonne Johnson
Paul Steinmetz
Robert Taylor
Photography
Peggy Stewart
Layout & Design
Ellen Myhill
Frederica Paine
Send comments/suggestions to: [email protected]
Western Connecticut
State University
181 White Street
Danbury, CT 06810
(203) 837-9000
or toll free in CT 1-877-837-WCSU
www.wcsu.edu
Contributed Photo
Dan Joynt shows students at the St. Joseph’s Indian School
how to balance strengths and weaknesses with the “truth
ball,” a golf ball in a tube.
by Sherri Hill
Dr. James Schmotter ..............................President
Maribeth Amyot ..........................Vice President for
Finance and Administration
Dr. Walter Bernstein....................Vice President for
Student Affairs
Dr. Koryoe Anim-Wright ......Interim Vice President
for Institutional Advancement
Dr. Roy Stewart Jr...........................Interim Provost
Dr. Carol Hawkes..............Associate Vice President
for Academic Affairs
Barbara Barnwell ....................Executive Assistant
to the President
Charles Spiridon ..........Dean of Human Resources
Lorraine Capobianco........Chief Information Officer
William Hawkins ..Enrollment Management Officer
Dr. Lynne Clark ..............................Dean, School of
Professional Studies
Dr. Walter Cramer..................Dean, Student Affairs
Dr. Ellen Durnin ............................ Dean, Graduate
Studies and External Programs
Dr. Allen Morton ......................Dean, Ancell School
of Business
Dr. Linda Vaden-Goad ....................Dean, School of
Arts and Sciences
Western Connecticut State University is an
affirmative action/equal opportunity educator and
employer, fully committed to the goal of providing
equal opportunity and full participation in its
educational programs, activities and employment
without discrimination.
CORRECTIONS &
CLARIFICATIONS
This section is reserved for correcting errors
or clarifying statements appearing in the
Communiqué. Please report factual errors
or items needing clarification by calling
(203) 837-8486 or sending an e-mail to
[email protected].
COMMUNIQUE STAFF
Paul Steinmetz
Interim Director, University Relations
(203) 837-8771
[email protected]
Yvonne Johnson
Assistant Director, Public Relations
(203) 837-8836
[email protected]
Sherri Hill
Writer/Assistant to Director, University Relations
(203) 837-8774
[email protected]
Sheryl Reynolds
Secretary, Public Relations
(203) 837-8486
[email protected]
To request additional copies, please call
Sheryl at (203) 837-8486.
Vol. 8, No. 8
May 2006
C A M P U S
“Conflict happens.”
So says WestConn Professor
Emeritus Dr. Daniel Joynt, director of
the university’s Center for Collaboration
and founder of B-R-I-E-F SolutionFocused Mediation Training and
Consultation Services. And he should
know: He’s been an advocate for and
practitioner of conflict-resolution
techniques for several decades.
Joynt started WestConn’s counselor
education program and later became
involved in the Center for
Collaboration, a teaching and research
resource for the Ancell School of
Business. The center provides
educational workshops, mediation
services and conflict resolution systems
to a wide range of organizations like
local school districts, community service
agencies, the Federal Correctional
Institution, the Danbury Housing
Authority and even the residence halls
at WestConn.
Joynt recently took his conflict
management services on the road to a
school in Chamberlain, S.D., where he
worked for several days with students
and staff from the Lakota and Sioux
nations at the St. Joseph’s Indian
School.
“My trip brought me into a very
different environment and a very
different culture,” Joynt said. “Native
American students in the prairie states
are much more reserved and quiet than
students in this part of the country,
because so much of their language is
nonverbal. They use dances and
symbolism and tend to rely less on
words than other cultures do. They are
experiential rather than verbal learners.
I gained an appreciation for their values
and culture and learned so much from
them.”
Joynt found similarities to area
students, too.
“Conflict and disputes happen,” he
said. “You can’t eliminate them — you
have to find ways to manage
differences and move on. Relationships
are enhanced when people learn to
deal with each other in a sensitive
way.”
Steve Wahl, dean of students at St.
Joseph’s Indian School, said Joynt’s
expertise was invaluable during the
training — and the benefits continue to
be clear.
“Dr. Joynt’s visit to our school was
a wonderful learning experience for
staff members and students,” Wahl said.
“Seven staff members and 20 students
in grades six, seven and eight went
through a two-day training session with
Dr. Joynt. We learned about the
mediation process and had many
opportunities to role-play and practice
the B-R-I-E-F model. After Dr. Joynt’s
visit, we made sure the staff and
administration fully understood the
process and the program components.
Then we had student assemblies to
make sure the entire student body,
which includes grades one through
eight, understood what the program
would be about.
“We started taking peer mediation
referrals during the last week of
January,” Wahl continued. “Since then,
we have not had many referrals, but
the ones that we’ve had have been very
successful and were good learning
experiences for the mediators and
disputants. The mediators and
disputants received the opportunity to
work out their own issues, empower
themselves to have more control over
their decisions and learn new problemsolving skills.”
The value of conflict management
programs like those conducted by Joynt
in South Dakota comes as no surprise
to Professor of Management Dr. Eugene
Buccini, Joynt’s partner in the Center
for Collaboration.
“Dan’s work out West is an
example of the kinds of things that can
be done with conflict management,”
Buccini said. “At the Center for
Collaboration, we’ve offered programs
to resolve differences for more than 20
years, and we have plans to provide
more options — including a
multidisciplinary certificate program in
conflict management — in the near
future.”
Joynt will participate in a conference at Quinnipiac
University School of Law Center for Dispute Resolution on
May 17; he will discuss “From the Counselor’s Toolbox:
Dispute Prevention Strategies for Schools and Families.”
For more information, call Joynt at (860) 354-9164.
Hatcherson, anthropology students explore
health care in Bangladesh
by Hanna Kiviniemi
Ten students visited Bangladesh
during the January 2006 intersession
with Adjunct Professor of Anthropology
Jean Hatcherson. Accompanying a
medical volunteer group, the students
examined the cross-cultural aspects of
health care in a country that is torn by
disease and crisis. Nine of the students
attend WestConn. The other student
attends Syracuse University and filmed
the entire trip for a documentary of their
experiences.
Hatcherson first visited Bangladesh
in 2001 when she volunteered as an
administrator for Healing the Children
Northeast Inc. (HTCNE) with a team of
plastic surgeons that operated on acid
burn victims. Her second HTCNE visit to
Bangladesh was in January 2005 when
the team did burn reconstruction and
repaired cleft lips and palates.
“It was upon my return from that
trip that I began thinking about a
student trip,” said Hatcherson, who had
built up a strong team of supporters
through her volunteer work.
After months of planning, the
students began their trip with a visit to
the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. An
HTCNE surgical team conducted a
weeklong program to help patients with
burn injuries and cleft lips. Team
members spoke about their experiences
and allowed the students to help with
patient flow and observe in the
operating room.
Junior Katerina Kruzykowski, a
multicultural social science major, said
the trip was valuable.
“Outside of the doctor’s office, I
know nothing about the medical field,”
Kruzykowski said. “Being able to work
side by side with the doctors and
nurses in the operating room was
amazing. I learned so much from all of
them.”
Hatcherson has visited many
countries, including El Salvador,
Colombia, Cambodia and Russia. She
also is a member of the board of
directors for the United States foster
parent medical care team and has been
a foster parent.
During her trips to Bangladesh, she
became involved with the Impact
Foundation and the Acid Survivors
Foundation. With other volunteers, she
coordinates preparations for each trip.
They order the supplies needed and
arrange for the accommodations and
transportation.
“People (of Bangladesh) were very
happy to see us interested in their life,”
Hatcherson said. “It’s meaningful to
educate students and lay the
groundwork of other cultures. The
social exchange of being giving and
generous will help dispel cultural
misperceptions. Students should know
what’s going on around the world. I
want to bring my students beyond the
text and allow them to explore the
health care and gender issues.”
For more information, call Hatcherson at (203) 778-4387.
Contributed Photo
The Bangladesh travel study students: (l-r) Gina Sierra, Lorien Crow, Jessica Harding, Erin Burns, Fahima Chowdhury,
Katerina Kruzykowski, Ariel Jaquez, Laura Skrip and Petra Schwarz
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Newman students learn life lessons in trip to hurricane country
by Paul Steinmetz
A small band of seven WestConn
students and two advisers knew they
would do good work in hurricaneravaged Mississippi during spring break.
What they didn’t know was that the
experience would affect them so deeply
they would immediately make plans to
head back to continue their work.
“No PowerPoint presentation or
photographs or sensitivity sessions
could prepare us for what we saw,”
said Friar Mike Lasky, chaplain at the
university’s Catholic campus ministry,
also known as the Newman Center.
Lasky and Associate Minister Sr.
Mary Anthony Lovezzola led eight
Contributed Photo
Jessica Thibeault puts the finishing touches on a new
ceiling.
students in preparing for the trip, which
was funded by the Bridgeport diocese
and a $5,000 grant from the Knights of
Columbus in Connecticut. (One student,
Richard Pezzillo, got sick and couldn’t
go, but he sent Scripture by text
message to the group every day.)
The work the WestConn group did
consisted mostly of working on houses
and lots in neighborhoods that hadn’t
been touched until the students arrived.
Lasky said the residents told him,
“‘Look, we have plenty of clothes, we
have food. What we need is hands.’”
The Newman Club crew cleared
debris from lots, tore down damaged
roofs, put up wallboard and painted.
They also helped in other ways.
“You do the physical work but a
lot is just visiting with people and
hearing their stories,” Lasky said.
“People would stop us on the street to
thank us.”
One woman, whose house was
obliterated, explained to the crew that
she had spent the night before the
storm sorting pennies by date with her
granddaughter in their living room. One
day, the students dug for three hours
through the muck of the woman’s yard
looking for possessions. They found
several hundred pennies.
“She would take each one home
(to her FEMA trailer) and wash it,”
Lasky said. “They’re her memories. It
gives her a sense of hope.”
Lasky said Hurricane Katrina
probably changed the Gulf Coast
forever.
“I think there’ll be a few
Contributed Photo
(l-r) Jacob Wycoff, Friar Mike Lasky, Kevin Trnka, Jessica Thibeault, Amanda Lee, Jeff LaRoche, Sr. Mary Anthony Lovezzola
and Regina Siergiej
generations of people down there who
will just be different, having a deeper
sense of appreciation and gratitude,”
Lasky said.
The Newman Club group had been
planning to go to Baltimore in June to
work with children, but after the
students’ experience in Mississippi, they
decided to head back there in June.
Some of the Knights of Columbus
grant remains from the first trip, and the
diocese might be able to contribute
again, but each student will probably
pay $200 to help fund the June work
trip, which could expand to 30 people.
“Many of the students said it was
life-changing,” Lasky said. “That’s a
powerful thing for all of us here to
realize how blessed we are and not to
take what we have for granted.”
Students who traveled to Biloxi
include: Jeff LaRoche, a freshman history
major; Amanda Lee, a sophomore
business major; Liz Obarowski, an
undeclared freshman; Regina Siergiej, a
junior music education major; Jessica
Thibeault, a freshman education major;
Jacob Wycoff, a sophomore meteorology
major; and Kevin Trnka, an undeclared
freshman.
Tax-deductible donations toward
the next trip can be made to the
Newman Center, 7 Eighth Ave.,
Danbury, CT 06810.
For more information, call Friar Mike Lasky at
(203) 744-5846.
Women’s History Month wraps up by ‘raising a little hell’
WestConn celebrated Women’s
History Month in March with a series of
workshops, readings and performances.
The events were capped by the April 2
appearance in Ives Concert Hall of the
nonagenarian New Hampshire political
and environmental activist Doris
“Granny D” Haddock.
During her poetry reading on March
1, Panamanian native Bessy Reyna
reminded her audience in Alumni Hall
that “changes in citizenship don’t affect
your identity.”
Lorena Garay, a soloist and guitarist
in Latin-based bands, discussed the
impact of being a Puerto Rican woman
on her professional life in a talk on
March 7 in the Student Center Theater.
“How Family Eating Traditions
Shape Us” was the topic of Adjunct
Professor of English Irene Sherlock’s
workshop on March 10 in the Student
Center.
The March 15 presentation of “The
Vagina Monologues” in the Student
Center Theater included Meg Sikorski’s
performance of “For the ‘Comfort
Women,’” documenting the experiences
of women and girls forced into sexual
slavery by the Japanese military during
World War II.
“Contested Space: A Performance,”
staged March 27 in the Student Center,
was a historical dramatization performed
by five female professors and based on
the 1870 patent lawsuit female inventor
Margaret Knight brought against a male
co-worker.
Writer and teacher Cindy Hanson
offered a writing workshop for
WestConn students, faculty and staff in
Alumni Hall on March 29.
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Doris Haddock, better known as “Granny D,” shared her thoughts about politics and the state of the country during the final
Women’s History Month event. “You’re never too old to raise a little hell,” she said.
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Bessy Reyna
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Lorena Garay
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Students participate in a writing workshop.
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
“Contested Space”
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SPS adjuncts honored for dedication, service to students
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Interim Provost Dr. Roy Stewart and SPS Dean Dr. Lynne Clark (far left) and President James W. Schmotter (far right) flank
SPS adjuncts (l-r) Mary Harrington, Virginia King, Connie Huntington, Richard Bellesheim, Eloise Milner, James Sullivan,
Judith Dreyer, Melissa Dalton, Robert Dylewski, Ellen Hollenback, John DiBenedetto, Steve Roberts, Andy Rodgers, Al
Montecalvo and Chris Morrison.
by Sherri Hill
On March 16, the School of
Professional Studies (SPS) paid tribute
to the adjunct instructors who bring
their unique areas of expertise to the
departments of education and
educational psychology, health
promotion and exercise sciences, music
and music education, nursing and social
work. The annual adjunct appreciation
luncheon is a way “to show how much
we appreciate your unwavering
commitment to academic excellence
and student learning,” said SPS Dean
Dr. Lynne Clark, as she welcomed the
adjuncts, full-time faculty and
administrators to the Warner Hall event.
“You bring many years of
distinguished and dedicated service,
winning the respect and admiration of
your colleagues,” Clark said, citing a
response to an SPS survey about the
school’s adjunct instructors. “You come
with vast real-world experience and
expertise and provide exemplary
professional role models for students,”
she added, citing another reply.
Interim Provost Dr. Roy Stewart Jr.
agreed, telling the adjuncts, “When you
teach, you never really do know where
your influence ends,” before thanking
them “for what you do for WCSU and
our students.”
When WestConn President James
W. Schmotter took the podium, he
reiterated Stewart’s comment that
universities really represent two things:
the students and those who educate
them.
“You really recognize how special
this process of educating students is,”
Schmotter said. “You bring your
professional expertise.”
The following adjunct SPS faculty
were honored at the event: Richard
Bellesheim and Dr. James Sullivan from
the department of education and
educational psychology, Melissa Dalton
from the department of health
promotion and exercise sciences,
Christopher Morrison and Stephen
Roberts from the music department,
Laura Andrews from the nursing
department and Constance Huntington
from the social work department.
In moving tributes offered by their
colleagues, the honorees were praised
for their dedication, professionalism and
service to their students and the
departments they represent.
For more information about SPS faculty and programs,
call Clark at (203) 837-9500.
Boyle tests instrument to help
predict climate change,
global warming
by Yvonne Johnson
Anyone who’s ever tried to skim
the cool “skin” off the top of warm
pudding knows about the delicacy
needed in the research Dr. James P.
Boyle is conducting. “Water in the
ocean behaves similar to the pudding,”
said the Associate Professor of Physics
and Meteorology at WestConn.
“There’s an extremely thin, cool
‘skin’ on the ocean surface,” said Boyle,
a Newtown resident. “I’m trying to
place a thermometer into that skin,
which is difficult because it’s only a
fraction of a millimeter deep.”
Since 1997, Boyle has been
developing a lightweight instrument
with several sensors to directly measure
heat exchange between the atmosphere
and the ocean, determine the water
surface skin temperature, gauge air and
water temperature near the surface, and
calculate the shape of the water surface
and its motion. With implications for
predicting hurricanes and exploring
global warming, the research recently
took Boyle and two students to a NASA
facility on Virginia’s eastern shore.
“The oceanographic and
meteorological communities have been
interested in these measurements for
quite some time,” Boyle said.
“Forecasters make predictions based
primarily on measurements of a system.
Now it’s too expensive to obtain
adequate measurements to characterize
the oceans, which is one reason
forecasting is so difficult.”
With the devastation of the 2005
hurricane season still fresh and
predictions for another active season
beginning June 1, Boyle hopes his
instrument someday will help forecast
extreme weather conditions and provide
information about climate change. Low
cost and simple operation are among
the advantages of Boyle’s machine.
“Hundreds of my multi-sensor floats
could be deployed from ships or aircraft
to provide ground truth for satellitebased measurements and support for
air-sea flux field experiments,” Boyle
said. “In order to understand potential
climate change and climate variability,
you need to understand how the
atmosphere and ocean work together.
It’s a coupled system.”
WestConn recently received a
nearly $200,000 grant from the National
Science Foundation (NSF) for Boyle’s
“Development of a Third Generation
Surface Contact Heat, Flux, Temperature
and Sea State Measurement Instrument.”
The funding runs through 2007 and
Boyle is using it to refine the
instrument, which uses a porous
fiberglass fabric stretched inside a foam
ring that’s about 8 inches in diameter to
support the sensors where the air and
sea meet.
“My device is a wave-following
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Dr. James Boyle conducts testing in the pool at WestConn.
float that’s similar to a Frisbee disc,”
said Boyle, who has a Bachelor of
Science in Engineering and was an
engineer for the U.S. Department of
Energy.
Grants from the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration and the
Office of Naval Research have
supported development of earlier
versions of Boyle’s device.
“It is a continuing process to
develop this wave-following
instrument,” Boyle said. “With this NSF
funding, I’m establishing the accuracy of
the measurements.”
To that end, Boyle and two
sophomore WestConn meteorology
majors, Joseph “J.J.” DePasqua and
Joseph Roy, took the device to a
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
wave tank this spring. Boyle and the
students tested several of these
instruments for 10 days at the NASA
Air-Sea Interaction Research Facility
(NASIRF) at Wallops Flight Facility
on Wallops Island, Va.
NASIRF is focused on exploring the
interaction of the atmosphere and the
ocean, explained Steven R. Long, the
research oceanographer who manages
and schedules research at NASIRF.
“Professor Boyle’s instrument is
intended to float right at the boundary
of the atmosphere and the ocean and
measure several important parameters,
specifically, temperatures and the
transfer of heat,” Long said. “These are
important to the better understanding of
the complex mechanisms at work at the
air-sea interface and play a critical role
in understanding gas exchanges
involved in the study of global warming
and ‘greenhouse gas’ problems.
“Our facility allows us to control
the wind, waves, currents, temperatures
and humidity, providing for a detailed
check on Professor Boyle’s instrument.
His device records what is occurring
and — with our other measurements —
helps provide a complete record of the
process,” Long added.
For more information, call Boyle at (203) 837-8856.
Schmotter’s remarks about ‘Building a Bridge to Improve Student Success’ program (cont’d.)
high schools and our university met regularly to plan and
implement curricular changes for the high school
students’ senior years. Third, we retested the high school
students in the spring of their senior year. Simultaneously,
juniors were tested for the next cohort of students in the
project.
Results Are Very Promising:
For the first cohort of juniors, 61 percent tested into
remedial English, and 62 percent tested into remedial
math — courses for which no credit could be earned at
the college level. After a year of collaboration and change
in senior-level high school classes, however, students’
placements improved dramatically. Now only 37 percent
needed remediation in English and 41 percent in math —
a reduction of 24 percent and 21 percent (respectively) in
only one year of collaboration.
These positive results have continued among high
school juniors in the project. The results for juniors tested
in the second year of the collaboration were vastly
improved over the juniors’ results in the first year. In
English, 61 percent of juniors in the first cohort tested into
remedial courses, but only 43 percent of juniors in the
second. For the third cohort of juniors, the number has
dropped to 37 percent. In mathematics, the change was
from 62 percent of juniors in cohort one to 43 percent of
juniors in cohort two. In both subjects, a change of almost
20 percent was made prior to the students’ senior years.
It appears that the seniors’ teachers in the schools shared
their knowledge with the juniors’ teachers and addressed
the methods used to prepare students for the next steps
earlier in the process — a gain that continues to improve
each year.
What we believe has made “Building a Bridge” so
successful is the collaborative approach our faculty have
taken. This was not a top-down “lecture” from the
“experts” at the university to lower-status high school
teachers. Rather, it was a genuine collaboration of equals
with mutual respect. We’ve come to understand each
other’s worlds better, and I think that’s why the results
have been so positive.
This program, which now is self-sustaining,
improves access to higher education. Identifying students
who need remediation while still in high school and
providing the opportunity in their senior year to improve
their skills reduces the costs involved in college-level
remediation and reduces the likelihood that parents will
have to pay for courses (sometimes, more than once) that
are non-credit bearing. These better-prepared students
enter the university ready to take full advantage of the
opportunities we offer. Thank you for letting us share
this story.
communique
A L U M N I
&
5
D E V E L O P M E N T
WestConn ‘connects’ with alumni at local corporations
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
President James W. Schmotter (right) greets WestConn alumnae during a “Connect with Us” event.
by Sherri Hill
Walk into most any local business
and start asking people where they
went to college and chances are a
many of the employees will say
“WestConn.” In fact, a significant
number of our graduates remain here in
the Danbury area, contributing their
skills and expertise to the local
economy.
Depending on the decade during
which they graduated, many of our
alumni also are juggling roles as
caretakers for their young children,
teenagers or parents in addition to
holding down their jobs. That’s why
WestConn is coming to them with a
series of “Connect with Us” events at
area businesses.
In late March, more than twodozen WCSU alumni who work at
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals
Inc. came together for an afternoon
reception on their Ridgebury Road
campus in Ridgefield. In mid-April,
Barnard Scholars named
by Jessica Borchetta
On April 18, the Connecticut State
University (CSU) System awarded 12
seniors from the four CSU schools
with the Henry Barnard Distinguished
Student Award. The award acknowledges students who maintain a high
grade point average (G.P.A.) as well as
perform community service on and off
campus.
WestConn’s Cheryl Haller and
Stephanie O’Brien received the award
this year.
Haller, a Shelton resident, is a
theatre arts student with a 3.78 G.P.A.
During her studies at WestConn, she
has been the recipient of several
scholarships, including the Young
Family Theatre Scholarship and the
Alumni Association Scholarship. Haller
also has made her presence known in
campus clubs and activities. As a
member of Center Stage, she was club
secretary during her sophomore year
and performed in the club’s annual
one-act plays. She also acted in the
Child Care Cabaret, a show to benefit
the WCSU Child Care Center. Haller’s
desire to aid and educate children led
her to direct the fifth-grade play in
spring 2005 and 2006 at Park Avenue
Elementary School in Danbury. She has
been in many of WestConn’s theater
department shows, including “Twelfth
Night,” performed during the Fringe
Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. This
April, she will be part of a WestConn
group taking the play to Ecuador.
Stephanie O’Brien, of Danbury, is
an interactive marketing and
supervisory management major with a
3.89 G.P.A. O’Brien earned a place on
the Dean’s List and in the University
Honors Program every semester of her
WestConn career. She was listed in the
2006 “Who’s Who Among Students in
American Universities and Colleges.” In
fall 2004 O’Brien helped found the
WCSU chapter of the National Society
of Collegiate Scholars and has held the
position of president ever since. She
also has served as president of the
Gay-Straight Alliance since fall 2005.
She is a member of the American
Marketing Association. This semester
she received their “Above and Beyond
Communications Student Marketer of
the Year.” O’Brien also found time to
intern and work at Branson Ultrasonics
in Danbury, becoming a project
manager overseeing the company enewsletter and Internet marketing.
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Cheryl Haller
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Stephanie O’Brien
about 50 Cartus (formerly Cendant
Mobility) employees with WestConn ties
met for breakfast at their headquarters,
also on Ridgebury Road.
“It’s great to see so many of our
graduates turn out for these events,”
said President James W. Schmotter, who
attended both get-togethers. “They lead
busy lives and it makes sense for us to
bring WestConn’s good news to them
where they work.”
Interim Vice President for
Institutional Advancement Dr. Koryoe
Anim-Wright also attended the “Connect
with Us” events.
“The purpose of these functions
is to reconnect with our alumni,” she
said. “Many work close to the campus.
However, because of work and other
family obligations, it’s very difficult for
them to find the time to engage with
us.
“We reached out to them in two
ways: First, we brought them up-to-date
on programs and initiatives currently
taking place at WestConn,” Anim-Wright
continued. “Secondly, we encouraged
them to take a few hours once every
few months to ‘reconnect’ with us by
attending lectures, theatrical
productions, musical performances and
other campus events.”
Human resource departments at
both Boehringer Ingelheim and Cartus
helped facilitate the alumni “reunions”
by inviting their employees with
WestConn degrees to attend their
respective events.
Senior Vice President for Human
Resources David W. Nurnberger was
WestConn’s liaison at Boehringer
Ingelheim. He’s also a WestConn
alumnus.
“Boehringer Ingelheim
Pharmaceuticals Inc. was very pleased
to hold a ‘Connect with Us’ reception at
our facilities,” Nurnberger said. “We saw
this as a great opportunity to expose
those employees who graduated from
WestConn to Dr. Schmotter and today’s
university. We have more than 120
WestConn graduates working here —
some who graduated more than 30
years ago.
“So much has changed over the
years and those of us who attended
WestConn can be proud of the progress
made at our alma mater,” Nurnberger
continued. “Over those years, our
company has also forged important
partnerships with the university,
especially with the business school and
the science department. BI has
benefited from both those partnerships
and from the contributions of the many
employees who have attended the
university. And, we look forward to
building on our relationship with
WestConn in the years to come.”
Plans are underway for future
“Connect with Us” events.
For more information about the “Connect with Us” series,
call Anim-Wright at (203) 837-9805.
First lecture
in Macricostas
series focuses
on Turkish
pogrom
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
by Paul Steinmetz
Dr. Speros Vryonis Jr.
Dr. Speros Vryonis Jr., an expert
on Byzantine and Hellenic history,
connected the past to the present
during his lecture on April 6 in the
Science Building.
Vryonis delivered the first talk in a
new lecture series funded by a grant
from the foundation of Brookfield
industrialist and philanthropist
Constantine “Deno” Macricostas and
his wife, Marie.
The nearly 200 people who
attended the lecture heard President
James W. Schmotter describe the
Macricostas’ generosity.
“Everyone in this audience knows
what Deno has done — for WCSU, for
the Greek-American community of the
region, and for Danbury,” Schmotter
said. “His personal story is an inspiring
one — the story of a young immigrant
working with his uncle in Dixon, Ill.,
and taking courses at Eureka College, a
young immigrant who moves east and
grows up to become one of the
nation’s most noted entrepreneurs,
businessmen and philanthropists.
“Deno’s is a classic American story,
but one that very much has its
beginnings in Greece,” Schmotter
continued. “And the funding of this
lecture series is yet another example of
how he’s never forgotten those
beginnings.”
Vryonis’ latest work is a book called
“The Mechanism of Catastrophe: The
Turkish Pogrom of September 6-7, 1955,
and the Destruction of the Greek
Community of Istanbul.”
Vryonis detailed how the Turkish
government ordered and led the
destruction of Greek businesses, homes
and churches. The rampage, which
effectively drove the Greek community
from Turkey, included the circumcision
of adult Greek men, particularly priests.
One foreign statesman surveyed the
aftermath and reported to the U.S.
government that, “I have never seen
such an evil in my life. I have left
Turkey sickened and troubled.”
Vryonis pointed out that the Turkish
government’s treatment of its Greek
citizens and other groups reverberates
today. He said that as Turkey tries to
gain entry into the European Union, the
process is forcing change in the Turkish
constitution and the governmental
structure to reflect Western mores.
“The treatment of Turkish minorities
remains on center stage,” Vryonis said.
The Macricostas gift of $1.1 million
to the university established the lecture
series, an Endowed Chair in Hellenic
Studies, a scholarship for students who
recently immigrated to the United States
and a business award for regional
entrepreneurs.
6
communique
C A M P U S
Women’s soccer team celebrates LEC honors
B R I E F S
Meteorology students
Graduate students’
prove accurate forecasters conference fees covered
WestConn students again posted
a strong showing in the National
Collegiate Forecasting Contest held
during the fall semester. Senior Jarid
Root, president of the university’s
Meteorology Club, placed second
among 1,021 undergraduate, graduate
and faculty participants from across
the nation, capturing first place in the
junior/senior division. Also posting a
strong individual showing was
sophomore Joe Roy, who placed
19th overall and third in the
freshman/sophomore division. In team
competition, WestConn achieved a solid
11th-place finish among 46 participating
higher education institutions, besting all
but two universities and colleges in the
Northeast.
The WestConn education
department this spring provided
funding to defray part or all of the
registration costs for three graduate
students fulfilling the departmental
requirement to attend conferences
in their areas of specialization.
The grants were assigned to
pay fees for Steve Ortiz and Julie
Overland to attend the Connecticut
Conference for Music Educators, and
for Joyce Intervallo to participate in a
conference about the educational
philosophy and implementation of
“balanced literacy.”
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
WestConn Head Women’s Soccer Coach Joe Mingachos (right) and Assistant Coach Everton McCalla are pictured with
members of the team during a spring celebration of their outstanding 2005 season. The team honored Mingachos, who
was named the Little East Conference (LEC) Coach of the Year. The evening also included honors for the team’s seniors,
including LEC Defensive Player of the Year Ashley Prescott. Five other members of the team, Nicole Corbin, Jessica
Gomes, Ashley Griffin, Kim Crayco and Caitlin Boyle, also were named to the LEC First and Second teams.
World Music series
features Scottish tartan
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
The continuing World Music, Dance and Culture series
brought a celebration of Scottish Tartan Day, featuring the
sounds of MacTalla Mor, to the university in April.
Percussion concert hits right notes
Machell to conduct
research in New Mexico
Professor of Justice and Law
Administration Dr. David Machell will
gain valuable insights into treatment of
alcoholism among American Indians in
a major interview to be conducted with
tribal representatives who direct or
coordinate substance abuse programs in
the Southwestern United States.
Machell is slated to interview the
program director for the Southwest
Indian Foundation, a Gallup, N.M.,
organization serving American Indian
communities throughout the region; the
clinical director of the Na’Nizhoozhi
Center for substance abuse treatment,
also of Gallup; leaders of the Navajo
nation; and tribal liaisons from the
Zuni, Hopi and Apache nations.
Machell will conduct the interview
during a research trip to New Mexico to
gather information about the American
Indian response to spiritual and other
aspects of the Alcoholics Anonymous
program.
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Learning continues at ‘Ridgefield Crossings U’
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
The WCSU Percussion Ensemble performed an energetic program for an appreciative crowd on April 3 in
Ives Concert Hall.
Congratulations!
Entry earns music adjunct honorable mention
in international songwriting competition
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
Theatre Arts Professor Sal Trapani (left) makes a presentation at Ridgefield Crossings, an assisted-living facility on
Danbury Road in Ridgefield, as part of the Ridgefield Crossings University collaboration. In April, Trapani and a number
of talented WestConn theatre arts students gave the Ridgefield Crossings residents a taste of their department’s
outstanding offerings.
Adjunct Professor of Music Jeff
Siegel, a jazz percussionist, recently
was recognized for his songwriting
skills. He won the recognition from the
International Songwriting Competition,
an annual songwriting contest that
provides the opportunity for both
aspiring and established songwriters
to have their works heard in a
professional, international arena. His
song “Rag Tag” made it to the final
round in the performance category,
where it was judged against 12 other
entries of varying music styles. Siegel’s
composition was awarded honorable
mention. The overall competition
included more than 15,000 song entries
from throughout the world.
If you have an announcement about a recent
appointment to a board, an award or other professional
accomplishment you’d like to share in this section,
please e-mail the information to [email protected].
communique
A R O U N D
7
C A M P U S
Harvard researcher explores life and death screenings
WCSU Photo/Robert Taylor
Dr. Jeremy Wolfe
by Robert Taylor
From the airport security screener
who misses the weapon concealed in a
carry-on bag to the doctor who
overlooks an early sign of a cancerous
tumor in a diagnostic image, recurring
failures in critical visual search tasks
pose a matter of life and death — and a
formidable research challenge for Dr.
Jeremy Wolfe, professor of
ophthalmology at Harvard Medical
School.
As director of the Visual Attention
Lab at the Center for Ophthalmic
Research of Brigham and Women’s
Hospital (BWH) in Cambridge, Mass.,
Wolfe heads a team of researchers who
are pursuing studies aimed at better
understanding visual search processes
and why they often fail. He visited
WestConn on March 29 as a guest
lecturer in the “PsychMatters” series,
sponsored by the university’s psychology
department, to share his lab’s findings on
search techniques and possible strategies
to improve performance.
As head of the Visual Attention Lab,
Wolfe has directed and published
extensively on psychological studies of
how people process visual stimuli, select
specific items for attention, and retain
information from the visual search after
it has ended. Clinical research studies in
progress at the lab are exploring the
practical application of visual search
techniques to airport security screening,
as well as the effects of circadian
rhythms and sleep deprivation on
attention disorders.
Wolfe earned a Ph.D. in psychology
at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) in 1981 and served for
10 years on the MIT faculty. Since 1991
he has held dual appointments as a
member of the ophthalmology
department faculty at Harvard Medical
School and director of psychophysical
studies at BWH, while retaining visiting
and adjunct faculty affiliations with MIT
and Boston University.
Speaking to an audience of more
than 100 students, faculty members and
guests during his slide presentation in
Court TV’s Catherine Crier to deliver
commencement address on May 21 (cont’d.)
as a civil litigation attorney for several
years before presiding over the 162nd
District Court in Dallas County; she
won election to the post at the age of
29, making her the youngest state court
judge in Texas. She won re-election
four years later, but only one year into
her term, Crier left Dallas County for
CNN’s studios.
Jordan said Crier’s reputation
makes her a useful classroom resource.
“As a former prosecutor but
consummate legal scholar, Catherine is
dedicated to giving equal time to both
sides of a controversy,” Jordan said.
“We use her book ‘The Case Against
Lawyers’ as part of our JLA curriculum
because of its even-handed but
unblinking look at the pitfalls of our
legal system and dangers of overlitigation.
“Having participated in more than
600 media interviews in the last decade,
I have learned to say ‘no’ to about 80
percent of the media requests I get each
week, because I don’t want to be used
as a media pawn to further a slanted
agenda; however, I always say ‘yes’ to
Catherine Crier Live on Court TV,
because I know that Catherine will
always offer the fair and balanced
approach to a legal issue that others
boast about, but never achieve,” Jordan
continued. “Catherine embodies an oldschool brand of lawyering, case analysis,
and journalistic presentation that has
become an endangered species in this
world of media wars and rating games.
She never compromises on the integrity
and professionalism she brings to the
table, no matter how tempting. She
believes in truth above all else, and she
illustrates this in her writing, her case
coverage, her television persona and her
life. I can imagine no greater role model
for today’s young generation.”
For more information, call (203) 837-8486.
Schmotter tells education commission
of WestConn’s success (cont’d.)
Schmotter said another positive
result of the program is that the
university has been able to reduce the
number of remedial classes it offers,
thus saving money.
“We are proud of the ‘Building a
Bridge’ program,” Schmotter said. “And I
think it’s good for people to know
what’s happening at WestConn and
institutions like WestConn. Most of the
attention goes to the major research
universities, but we’re doing some
things here that are just as
substantial.”
For more information, call (203) 837-9500.
the Student Center, Wolfe said the
Visual Attention Lab’s field studies of
simulated baggage screening — funded
by the federal Transportation Security
Administration — have yielded
important findings that may lay the
foundations for future improvements in
airport security, diagnostic imaging and
other search tasks.
One conclusion from these studies
is that the rate of “target prevalence” —
that is, how often the target of a search
appears — has a major impact on the
accuracy of the screening process.
Visual searches for relatively rare
objects have demonstrated a much
higher rate of error — a significant
finding, Wolfe observed, since security
and medical screenings typically have
levels of target prevalence of 1 percent
or less.
In a recent study, researchers
showed test subjects a series of
computer images replicating the X-ray
screening of actual baggage, with
controlled studies tracking accuracy
rates when images of guns, knives and
other prohibited items were introduced
in 50 percent, 10 percent and 1 percent
of the screenings. The results were
striking: While subjects made mistakes
in 7 percent of all screenings when at
least one target appeared 50 percent of
the time, the error rate rose to 30
percent on average when targets
appeared in just 1 percent of the
images viewed.
“The job of an airport screener can
be very difficult work,” Wolfe observed.
While popular media reports sometimes
suggest frequent errors in screening
result from poor work habits, he said
the research findings point to another
explanation: “Rare targets are hard to
find simply because they are rare.”
And screening by more than one
individual does not ensure greater
accuracy, he noted. “Two people
looking at the same thing are only a
little bit more accurate than the better
of the two screeners,” he said. “And the
really interesting finding is that they’re
making the same mistakes.”
Research at the Visual Attention
Lab has focused on the strategy of
“guided search,” where the individual
narrows the field of search by seeking
out defined characteristics and
differences from other items to identify
a search target more quickly and
accurately. Such strategies have
particular relevance to search tasks like
mammography or security screening
where the target — whether a tumor or
an explosive — is typically absent.
“We also must be able to identify
quickly the absence of an item,” he
said. “It’s important to be able to set
some sort of criterion to know when it’s
OK for you to quit a search.”
Wolfe observed human search
capacities remain “coarse.” Screening
accuracy is high when targets are easily
differentiated but falls noticeably as it
becomes harder to distinguish a given
target from more common objects. A
case in point: A calculator packed
alongside a baloney sandwich — which
yields the same orange hue as that of
certain plastic explosives on baggage
imaging — is likely to result in a
lengthy stop at airport security.
The task ahead for Wolfe’s lab is to
translate its basic research findings into
practical and effective applications in
the field. He conceded the initial results
in the field have produced some
disappointments, but he remains
committed to the quest.
“Our challenge is to find out how
we might be able to perform these
search tasks better than we do today,”
he said.
For more information about the “PsychMatters” series,
call the psychology department at (203) 837-8470.
Career Fair matches
prospective employees
with potential employers
by Paul Steinmetz
Lauralyn May Schultz believes in
the power of WestConn’s Career Fair.
Schultz, who graduated in 2005
with a bachelor’s in personnel
management, got a job with Home
Depot at last year’s fair. This year she
was on the other side of the desk,
representing the retailer’s human
resources department, offering students
job applications.
Schultz said she wasn’t totally
focused on job hunting when she
attended the 2005 fair.
“I mainly came because the career
office said, ‘This is what you do.’”
Anna Stozek and Aldona
Trzebinska, both senior business
management majors, made the rounds
of 56 businesses set up at the O’Neill
Center on April 5.
Both praised the Career
Development Center staff. “They
prepare you for it, help you with your
resume, everything,” Stozek said.
Career Development Center
Director Maureen Gernert said her staff
takes pride in helping students, with
guidance about everything from what
kind of questions to ask to appropriate
dress.
Gernert said many of the business
representatives told her WestConn
students were better prepared than at
any of the other fairs they had
attended, including at Ivy League
institutions.
For more information, call the CDC at (203) 837-8263.
WCSU Photo/Peggy Stewart
WestConn alumna and Home Depot representative Lauralyn
May Schultz (left) talks to senior Anna Stozek about her
company’s job opportunities.
8 communique
C A L E N D A R
O F
E V E N T S
All listings are subject to change. Please call to confirm.
MAY 1 HONORS CONVOCATION: The WestConn
School of Arts and Sciences will host an Honors
Convocation at 7:30 p.m. in Ives Concert Hall in White
Hall on the Midtown campus. The public is invited to
this annual event at which scholarship and award
recipients are honored. For more information, call (203)
837-9401.
MAY 2 SCIENCE SEMINAR: Biologist and author Dr.
Leslie Pray will discuss “Twisted Fate: Genes, Heredity
and the Environment” at 10 a.m. in Room 125 of the
Science Building on the Midtown campus. The WCSU
Honors Program is hosting the lecture, which will be
free and the public is invited. For more information, call
WestConn Assistant Professor of Biological and
Environmental Sciences Dr. Ruth Gyure at (203) 8378796.
MAY 2 HONORS CONVOCATION: The WestConn
Ancell School of Business will host an Honors
Convocation at 7:30 p.m. in Room 218 of the Westside
Classroom Building on the Westside campus. The public
is invited to this annual event at which scholarship and
award recipients are honored. For more information,
call (203) 837-8521.
MAY 2 CONCERT: The WCSU Symphonic Band and
Wind Ensemble will perform at 8 p.m. in Ives Concert
Hall in White Hall on the Midtown campus. The
performance will be free and open to the public;
donations to the music department will be accepted.
For more information, call (203) 837-8350.
MAY 3 DINNER: The Newman Center will host a free
dinner at 5 p.m. in the center, 7 Eighth Ave., near the
Midtown campus. The event will be free and open to
WestConn students, staff and faculty only. For more
information, call (203) 744-5846.
MAY 3 SCIENCE-AT-NIGHT PRESENTATION: Andy
Revkin, an environmental reporter with The New York
Times, will discuss “The Daily Planet: A Journalist’s
Search for Sustainability, from the Amazon to the
Arctic” at 6 p.m. in Room 125 of the Science Building
on the Midtown campus. Revkin will provide an Earthspanning tour, from reefs and rainforests to sea ice and
tundra, which will reveal how scientists are gauging the
human impact on ecosystems and climate, and how
some communities are working to redefine progress.
Offered as part of the continuing Science-at-Night
series, the event will be free and the public is invited.
For more information, call Professor of Biological and
Environmental Sciences Dr. Thomas Philbrick at (203)
837-8773.
MAY 3 HONORS CONVOCATION: The WestConn
School of Professional Studies will host an Honors
Convocation at 7:30 p.m. in Ives Concert Hall in White
Hall on the Midtown campus. The public is invited to
this annual event at which scholarship and award
recipients are honored. For more information, call (203)
837-8576.
MAY 4 NONTRADITIONAL STUDENT GATHERING:
The WCSU Nontraditional Student Organization, Older
Wiser Learners, will host a “Pizza and Conversation”
event at 4:30 p.m. in the “Fishbowl” of the Westside
Classroom Building on the Westside campus. The event
is free and open to WestConn students only. For more
information, call Dawn Fletcher at (203) 837-8576.
MAY 4 & 11 COFFEEHOUSE: WestConn will present
the Midtown Coffeehouse at 8 p.m. on Thursday
evenings in Alumni Hall on the Midtown campus. The
Coffeehouse is open to WestConn students, faculty and
staff only. Admission will be free. Call (203) 837-9700
for more information.
MAY 5 GOLF OUTING: The WCSU Rugby Club will
host the 5th Annual Rugby Golf Outing at 8 a.m. at
James Baird State Park, 122D Freedom Road, Pleasant
Valley, N.Y. The cost will be $100 per participant, which
will cover admission, greens fees, golf cart rental and a
post-golf dinner in Room 218 of the Westside
Classroom Building on the Westside campus. For more
information, call Keith Prazeres at (203) 837-8522.
MAY 5 RECEPTION: The psychology department will
host a reception from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Alumni Hall
on the Midtown campus to celebrate the launch of the
first volume of the Journal of Undergraduate Psychology
Research. The student authors of the eight research
articles contained in the journal will be recognized at the
reception. The event will be free and open to WestConn
students, faculty and staff only. For more information,
call Professor of Psychology Dr. Norine Jalbert at (203)
837-8476.
MAY 5 RUGBY GAME: The WCSU Rugby Club will
host a Powder-Puff Formal Game at 8 p.m. on the
Rugby Field on the Westside campus. Dresses and suits
are required to play. For more information, call Keith
Prazeres at (203) 837-8522.
MAY 6 UNIVERSITY BALL: WestConn will host the
University Ball at 7 p.m. at the Ethan Allen Hotel, 21
Lake Avenue Extension in Danbury. The 20th annual ball
will feature a gourmet meal, music by “Higher and
Higher,” a silent auction and a chance for all those who
support the university to join together in a common
celebration. Funds raised at the event will support the
WCSU Foundation, which funds the educational services
of the university and provides for student scholarships,
campus enhancements and faculty development. For
tickets and other information, call the Office of
Institutional Advancement at (203) 837-8298.
MAY 6 – 7 WRITING CONFERENCE: WestConn will
host a statewide conference for student and community
writers on May 6 and 7 on the Midtown campus.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt will give
the keynote lecture at 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 6, in
Ives Concert Hall in White Hall. The talk will be free and
open to the public, and a book signing will follow. The
conference also will feature writing workshops,
seminars, panel discussions and readings by noted
visiting authors. Pre-registration will be required to
attend literary workshops for students on May 6 and for
the public on May 7. For more information, call
(203) 837-9043 or visit
http://so-mako.sysoff.ctstateu.edu/AcadAff/cwc.nsf.
MAY 6 RUGBY GAME AND PICNIC: The WCSU
Rugby Club will host the 14th annual Alumni Game at 1
p.m. on the Rugby Field on the Westside campus. The
public is invited; admission will be $20. For more
information, call Keith Prazeres at (203) 837-8522.
MAY 6 PLANETARIUM SHOW AND TELESCOPE
VIEWING: WestConn will host an 8 p.m. planetarium
show, followed by telescope viewing of Saturn, the
moon near first quarter, Jupiter near opposition and the
early summer sky, from 9 to 11 p.m., at the Westside
Observatory and Planetarium on the Westside campus.
The event will be free and open to the public. For more
information, call (203) 837-8672.
MAY 9 ART SLIDE LECTURE: Landscape painter
Jake Berthot will discuss his work at 11 a.m. in Viewing
Room 1 in White Hall on the Midtown campus. Berthot
is the 2005 Weir Farm Trust lecturer; his work has been
called “American sublime.” Berthot’s work can be found
in the collections of many significant American
museums, including the American Academy of Arts
and Letters, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the
Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and
others. The event will be free and open to the public,
and it will be presented as part of the university’s
Master of Fine Arts slide lecture series. For more
information, call (203) 837-8881.
MAY 11 STUDENT RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS:
WestConn Research Day, enabling students from across
the university to present their research to faculty and
colleagues, will be from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Science
Building Atrium on the Midtown campus. The event will
feature a keynote address by science journalist John
Horgan, followed by faculty-endorsed student research
presentations in a variety of academic disciplines. The
event will be free and the public is invited. For more
information, call Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr.
Robin Flanagan at (203) 837-8471 or Professor of
Biological and Environmental Sciences Dr. Susan
Maskel at (203) 837-8799.
MAY 11 GRADUATE COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY
AND RECEPTION: The WestConn Division of Graduate
Studies will host a ceremony and reception at 5:30
p.m. in Room 218 of the Westside Classroom Building
on the Westside campus. Graduate students who have
completed their programs and their guests will be
invited to a brief ceremony with a reception to follow.
Scholarship and award recipients also will be honored.
For more information, call (203) 837-8244.
MAY 11 PLANETARIUM SHOW AND TELESCOPE
VIEWING: WestConn will host an 8 p.m. planetarium
show, followed by telescope viewing of Saturn, the
moon near full and Jupiter, from 9 to 11 p.m., at the
Westside Observatory and Planetarium on the Westside
campus. The event will be free and open to the public.
For more information, call (203) 837-8672.
MAY 11 ORCHESTRA CONCERT: The WCSU
Orchestra will perform at 8 p.m. in Ives Concert Hall in
White Hall on the Midtown campus. The performance
will be free and open to the public; donations to the
music department will be accepted. For more
information, call (203) 837-8350.
MAY 18 HOLISTIC HEALTH EVENT: The Institute for
Holistic Health Studies at WestConn and the Danbury
branch of the Connecticut Holistic Health Association
will present “Sex and Spirituality” at 7 p.m. at the
Center for Healing and Recovery, 650 Danbury Road in
Ridgefield. The speaker will be Tammy Nelson, an
author and psychotherapist specializing in treating
couples with emotional and sexual intimacy issues and
women with eating and body-image disorders.
Registration and networking will begin at 6:30 p.m.,
and the program will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Admission
will be $5 for CHHA members, $10 for nonmembers,
and $1 for senior citizens and non-WestConn students
with valid identification. WestConn students, faculty and
staff with valid ID will be admitted free. For more
information, call Denise Donovan at (203) 837-8612.
MAY 21 COMMENCEMENT: WestConn will host its
2006 Commencement Ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on the
athletic practice fields on the Westside campus. The
public is invited and a reception will follow. For more
information, call (203) 837-8800.
MAY 25 MATH ENRICHMENT WORKSHOPS: A day
of math enrichment workshops for Connecticut’s
mathematically inclined students in grades five through
eight will be from 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. in White Hall on
the Midtown campus. The workshops, sponsored by the
Connecticut Association for Mathematically Precocious
Youth and the WCSU math department, will cost $35
for students and chaperones. Registration will be in
Warner Hall on the Midtown campus. For registration
information and a workshop schedule, visit
http://www.wcsu.edu/math/campy%20on%20campus
%20at%20west%20conn.htm or call Assistant
Professor of Mathematics Dr. Amanda Lubell at (203)
837-9364.
MAY 25 RIDGEFIELD CROSSINGS UNIVERSITY
EVENT: Coordinator of Disability Services and Senior
Adjunct Professor of Social Sciences Jack Sikora will
discuss “A User-Friendly Introduction to the Historical
Buddha and Buddhism” at a Ridgefield Crossings
University (RCU) event at 7 p.m. at Ridgefield Crossings,
640 Danbury Road in Ridgefield. The event will be free
and the public is invited. RCU is a partnership between
WestConn and the senior living community in
Ridgefield, which aims to provide continuing education
opportunities for residents and the public. For more
information, call the Office of University Relations at
(203) 837-8486.
JUNE 12 HOLISTIC HEALTH EVENT: The Institute
for Holistic Health Studies at WestConn and the
Danbury branch of the Connecticut Holistic Health
Association will present “Pro Active Through Pain: A
Panel Discussion” at 7 p.m. at Arcadia Health Center,
499 Federal Road, Brookfield. Five practitioners
representing acupuncture, Chinese medicine, hypnosis,
nutrition and biofeedback will discuss ways to relieve
chronic pain. Registration and networking will begin at
6:30 p.m., and the program will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Admission will be $5 for CHHA members, $10 for
nonmembers, and $1 for senior citizens and nonWestConn students with valid identification. WestConn
students, faculty and staff with valid ID will be admitted
free. For more information, call Denise Donovan at
(203) 837-8612.
Please join us for a conversation with the Pulitzer Prize-winning
author as he talks about his life described in his latest bestseller,
“Teacher Man.” For more information, call (203) 837-8486.
Frank McCourt is coming to WestConn!
Saturday, May 6, 2006, at 4 p.m. • Ives Concert Hall, White Hall, WCSU Midtown campus
Free and open to the public.
Writers, also join us on Sunday, May 7, from noon to 6 p.m.
when four prominent authors in fiction, poetry, film and nonfiction will conduct seminars and
panel discussions for public participation. Student Center, WCSU Midtown campus
Get info at www.wcsu.edu or call (203) 837-8486.
Inside this issue:
On Sunday, May 21, Catherine Crier
of Court TV’s “Catherine Crier Live”
will share her wise advice with
Western Connecticut State
University’s Class of 2006 when
she delivers the university’s 108th
commencement address.
MAY 20 TELESCOPE VIEWING: WestConn will host
a telescope viewing of Saturn, Jupiter, and the
constellations Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila from 9 to 11:30
p.m. at the Westside Observatory and Planetarium on
the Westside campus. The event will be free and open
to the public. For more information, call (203) 8378672.
Office of University Relations
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