eInside Events

Organic Photovoltaics Symposium Brings Nobel Laureate to Kent State

Alan J. Heeger, Ph.D., a 2000 Nobel
Laureate (Chemistry), will give the
keynote discussion at the Symposium
on Advances in Organic Photovoltaics
on April 17 at Kent State.

(Photo courtesy of Randy Lamb/University of
California, Santa Barbara)

Kent State University will host an organic photovoltaics (OPV) symposium to present current research and progress April 17 from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Kent Student Center Kiva. The symposium is free and open to the public.

The symposium is a platform for OPV research, opportunities and development. OPV are specialized solar energy cells that use carbon-based polymer semiconductors, unlike typical solar cells that are silicon-based. OPV are flexible and have the potential to be produced at lower costs than conventional silicon-based photovoltaics using roll-to-roll manufacturing processes.

The symposium’s keynote speaker is Alan J. Heeger, Ph.D., a professor of physics and professor of materials at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Heeger received a Nobel Prize in 2000 for the discovery and development of conductive polymers and is a true pioneer in the field of semiconducting and metallic polymers.

Heeger’s presentation, “Plastic Solar Cells: Self Assembly of Bulk Heterojunction Nano-Materials by Spontaneous Phase Separation,” will describe the discovery of ultrafast photo induced electron transfer as the scientific foundation for the creation of a technology for low-cost “plastic” solar cells.

Grant McGimpsey, Ph.D., Kent State’s vice president for research, said Kent State sees a high potential for the research and development of OPV and will hire several faculty and build labs specifically for research opportunities in the field.

“OPV fits well with our focus on sustainability at the university,” McGimpsey says. “We have a long-term commitment to build faculty expertise and capabilities in this area. We are also committed to providing our graduate and undergraduate students with a modern, relevant research experience in many technical areas in energy, and OPV is one such area.”

The symposium features numerous presentations from professionals around the country. Speakers include C. Daniel Frisbie of the University of Minnesota, L. Jay Guo of the University of Michigan, Paul Berger of The Ohio State University and Yo Shimizu of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Kansai Center, Japan. Kent State faculty members Brett Ellman and Robert Twieg also will present at the symposium.

The symposium is the first of many planned to “showcase some of our university’s top research areas,” McGimpsey says. “We want to highlight all our faculty and student research, particularly in those areas that have significant impact on the lives of the public,” he said. “We also see it as our mission to serve as a scientific forum for the public. Energy is a huge challenge that will require contributions from all of us in order to solve. Our symposium provides a venue for the exchange of ideas that must take place.”

The OPV symposium includes an informal networking session with a cocktail reception. For more information and to register, visit www.kent.edu/opv.

To watch a video of McGimpsey discussing the OPV symposium, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=cANaqgGA8hY.

Kent State University’s 2012 Homecoming Scheduled for Oct. 20

Ivy Lumpkin and Brady Ruffer, 2011 Homecoming Queen
and King, are all smiles as they pose for photos with
President Lester A. Lefton during halftime ceremonies
at Dix Stadium.

Kent State University will celebrate its 2012 Homecoming on Oct. 20. Make plans now to attend the celebration and watch as the Golden Flashes take on Western Michigan at Dix Stadium. Other activities will include the Homecoming parade, the annual alumni continental breakfast and parade viewing party, the Golden Order luncheon and much more.

Be sure to visit www.ksualumni.org/homecoming for event updates and to watch highlights from Kent State’s 2011 Homecoming.

Jewish Studies Program Holds Event in Honor of Holocaust Commemoration Day

Author and Holocaust educator Alexandra Zapruder will
serve as guest speaker during Holocaust Commemoration
Day at Kent State on April 24.

The Jewish Studies Program at Kent State presents Alexandra Zapruder as the guest speaker in honor of Holocaust Commemoration Day (Yom HaShoa). This event will take place on Tuesday, April 24, from 11:30 a.m to 12:30 p.m. in Room 306 at the Kent Student Center, and is free and open to the public.

Zapruder will present Remember the Children: A Presentation in Honor of Yom HaShoah. This event is the last in the Jewish Studies Lunch and Learn series. Dessert will be provided and a book signing will follow the presentation.

Zapruder is one of the foremost Holocaust educators and a powerful speaker on the experience of children during the Holocaust. She was a member of the founding staff of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and the designer of the museum’s exhibition for young visitors, Remember The Children, Daniel’s Story. She became assistant director of the Oral History department, recording the testimonies of Holocaust survivors. Zapruder is also the author of Salvaged Pages: Young Writers’ Diaries of the Holocaust, which won the National Jewish Book Award in the Holocaust category.

She wrote and co-produced I’m Still Here, a documentary film for young audiences based on Salvaged Pages, which aired on MTV in May 2005 and was nominated for two Emmy awards. She is also author of Nazi Ideology and The Holocaust, which was disseminated to teachers and educators across the country. Zapruder is the granddaughter of Abraham Zapruder, videographer of the famous Zapruder film, which shows one of the most unobstructed views of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

This event is supported by Department of History and the Hillel at Kent State.

For more information, contact the Jewish Studies Program at Kent State by calling 330-672-8926 or email Chaya Kessler at ckessle7@kent.edu.

Kent State’s Institute of Applied Linguistics Presents Second Annual Translation Studies Lecture Series

Kent State University’s Institute of Applied Linguistics presents the second lecture in the annual Gregory M. Shreve Lecture Series in Translation Studies on Friday, April 13, at 3:30 p.m. in Room 112.A at Satterfield Hall on the Kent Campus. The lecture series is in honor of the founding director of the Institute of Applied Linguistics, and is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Rosemary Arrojo, Ph.D., a leading translation scholar and professor of comparative literature at Binghampton University, will deliver the lecture “Translation as Subversion in Latin American Fiction.” Arrojo has been teaching translation theory since the 1980s and has published extensively on the interface between translation studies and contemporary thought, including psychoanalysis, deconstruction and post-colonial theory. She also has publications on representations of translation in fiction, both in English and Portuguese. Her work has also appeared in German, Hungarian, Spanish and Turkish.

“The annual Shreve lecture series recognizes the legacy of Greg Shreve, the founder of the Institute for Applied Linguistics, and brings internationally-renowned translation studies scholars to present cutting-edge research to the graduate students and faculty,” says Françoise Massardier-Kenney, director of Kent State’s Institute for Applied Linguistics. “A recent external report named Kent State as having the premiere translator training program and translation research group in the U.S., and as such, we are committed to bringing speakers who have a high impact on the discipline."

The Institute of Applied Linguistics will also present Vadim Jendreyko’s documentary Die Frau mit den 5 Elefanten (The Woman with Five Elephants) at 7:30 p.m. on April 13 in the Schwartz Hall auditorium.

The documentary features literary translation, a subject rarely seen on the screen, and an extraordinary heroine, Svetlana Geier, whose life spanned most of the 20th century, from communist Ukraine to Germany. Geier was the translator of Dostoyevsky’s novels to German. The elephants in the title refer to her 20-year project to retranslate his five major novels. The film is free and open to the public.

For more information about the event, contact Massardier-Kenney at 330-672-2150 or fkenney@kent.edu.

Kent State’s School of Biomedical Sciences Holds Research Symposium on April 12

Kent State’s School of Biomedical Sciences, in conjunction with The Cleveland Clinic and the Northeast Ohio Medical University, will hold a research symposium on Thursday, April 12, at the Kent Student Center Kiva.

The symposium begins at 9:45 a.m. with a presentation by Lisa Noelle Cooper, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University. Cooper will present “Bats and Whales: Life in a Fluid Environment.”

Linda Spurlock, Ph.D., director of Human Health, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, will talk about “Health Literacy Partnership in Greater Cleveland” at 10:45 p.m. John Gale, Ph.D., assistant staff, Department of Neuroscience at the Lerner Research Institute, will deliver a lecture titled “The Ventral Striatum and Associative Learning: relevance to Parkinson’s Disease” at noon.

Graduate student poster presentations will follow at 2 p.m.

For more information about the research symposium, contact Judy Wearden at jwearden@kent.edu.

Kent State University Presents the 12th Annual Fashion School Fashion Show

Forty-seven students show their works in this year’s much-anticipated show

2012 Fashion Show fashion critic Sarah Van Aken kneels
to study the detailing work of student designer Ananya
Guhabiswas (pictured, far right) during the final round of
critiques in March.

The Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising presents the 12th Annual Fashion School Fashion Show titled, Mobius: A Twisting of Evolution. The show, featuring designs by 47 students, will feature two showings at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., on Saturday, April 21, in the E. Turner Stump Theatre at the Music and Speech Building, 1325 Theatre Dr. on the Kent Campus. A fundraising dinner will be held at 5:30 p.m. in Rockwell Hall. Tickets are $165, which includes dinner and the fashion show.

The matinee show begins at 2 p.m. (doors open at 1:30 p.m.) with tickets at $40 per person with reserved seating. The awards show begins at 8 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.) with tickets at $65 per person with reserved seating and the announcement of the critics’ choice awards. Tickets can only be purchased online and are available at www.tix.com. Visa, MasterCard or Discover cards are accepted. There are no refunds or exchanges.

“The only difference between the two shows is that guests at the 2 p.m. show will not be privy to who the final award winners are,” says Effie Tsengas, public relations coordinator for the College of the Arts. “That information will be reserved for the 8 p.m. show.”

Under the watchful eye of faculty fashion show advisors, Associate Professor Sherry Schofield-Thomschin and fashion design lecturer Harriet McCleod, the senior fashion design students have spent a full academic year preparing for the fashion show, from ideas and concepts to garments and styling.

Students’ work is scrutinized by a panel of three design critics, who, throughout the nine-month process, provide feedback and suggestions. The process culminates when the students turn in their final collections and judges decide which collections and pieces from collections should be shown in the final fashion show production.

This year’s critics include John Patrick, owner/designer of John Patrick Organics; Sara Van Aken, designer/owner of SaVA; and Jeff Bergus, fashion industry product development consultant and owner of the Lockhart Smokehouse. Their final determination will be to award the critics’ choice awards to several lucky students.

The fundraising dinner will take place prior to the awards show from 6 p.m. in Rockwell Hall Atrium with a complimentary wine bar that will open at 5:30 p.m. The package ticket price for the combined dinner and awards show includes a close-up and exclusive preview of select designs from the fashion show, as well as complimentary shuttle transportation to and from E. Turner Stump Theatre from Rockwell Hall. To purchase fundraising dinner and award show ticket packages, call the Fashion School Hotline at 330-672-1175 by Monday, April 9. Space is limited.

The event includes the annual induction of a fashion industry professional into the Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising Hall of Fame. This year’s inductee is fashion design icon Dana Buchman. The award is presented to a person who has made a significant contribution to the fashion industry and education for the industry. Buchman joins an impressive list of Hall of Fame recipients including decorated designers Cynthia Rowley, Oscar de la Renta and last year’s inductee, shoe and accessories mogul Leonardo Ferragamo.

In December 2011, Buchman served on the critics’ panel and lent her constructive expertise to students as they presented a few of their outfit concepts sewn in muslin, a test fabric, for feedback.

Dana Buchman, up until spring 2009, was an independent upscale women's fashion brand, and its founder, Dana Buchman, an American fashion designer and creative designer of the same name. Buchman now sells exclusively at Kohl’s department stores across the country. She is also dedicated to helping underserved children with learning disabilities, as the founder and chair of the board of directors for the Promise Project.

The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Rex and Geneva Damron for their years of support and dedication to The Fashion School. This honor is presented every few years to those who have generously contributed to The Fashion School.

Join Kent State’s Relay for Life on April 21-22 and Help Fight Cancer

Kent State’s 2012 Relay for Life will begin at 10 a.m. on April 21 at the Liquid Crystal Small Group Track on the Kent Campus. The fundraising goal this year is set at $87,000. Relay for Life is an overnight relay-style event, where participants camp out around the track. Teams walk the track for 24 straight hours, symbolizing that cancer never sleeps.

The American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life was born in 1985 when one man, Gordy Klatt ran more than 83 miles in 24 hours after deciding to personally raise money for the fight against cancer. Klatt, a colorectal surgeon, raised $27,000 during the 24-hour period.

“Relay for Life celebrates those who have achieved victory over cancer, remembers loved ones that have been lost to the disease, and includes a personal commitment to fight cancer,” says Tara Jackson, advisor of the Kent State Relay for Life group. “It could be getting a screening for skin cancer, raising funds for research or driving a cancer patient to chemo treatments.”

All money raised for Relay for Life goes directly to the American Cancer Society. The money is used to fund life-saving research and recovery programs for cancer patients and their families.

The Relay for Life event features three signature ceremonies: a survivor's lap to celebrate cancer survivors, a luminaria ceremony to remember those who were lost to the disease, and a fight back ceremony to promote cancer advocacy and life-saving ways to fight the disease.

“We would just like the opportunity to invite everyone to the event, give them the chance to see what we are all about and help us make this a university event instead of a student event,” says Jackson.

Teams are encouraged to register prior to the event for planning purposes, but there is no registration deadline.

To register or sign up for a team, purchase luminarias or register as a survivor, visit www.relayforlife.org/ksu or contact Jackson at tjackson@kent.edu for more information.

Kent State’s African Community Theatre Presents “Ain’t Nothing But a Thang”

The cast of “Ain’t Nothing But A Thang” includes Kent State
University students (top row) Stacee Starr along with
(bottom row, left to right) Bryan Miller-Foster, Jessica Ransome,
Cara White, Tyeasha Doss and Denzel Washington.

The African Community Theatre of Kent State University will present its Spring 2012 production of “Ain’t Nothing But a Thang” by Marlin T. Tazewell and directed by Fran Dorsey, Ph.D. The theatre is located in Ritchie Hall on the university’s campus in Kent, Ohio. The street address is 225 Terrace Drive.

The play runs from Friday, April 13, through Sunday, April 15, and Friday, April 20, through Sunday, April 22. Friday and Saturday shows begin at 8 p.m., and the Sunday matinee begins at 3 p.m.

“Ain’t Nothing But a Thang” is a gripping drama that tells the story of one black family – a young mother with three teenage children struggling to survive. The Fazes family, like many others, has been thrown curves by life. Now they must step up to the plate and play to win or lose the game of life.

“This is a story about love, hate, distrust, understanding and misunderstanding,” Dorsey says. “It is a story about the will to survive or die. It is a story about drug addiction and how to cope when it is discovered that a family member has AIDS. The language that tells this story is raw, brutal at times and disheartening, but it is a story that must be told. This is a story about a family that is taught to remember that each new curve life throws them, ‘ain’t nothing but a thang’ with which all of them must deal if they want to survive and win the game of life.”

The play is the winner of the National AIDS Fund/CFDA-Vogue Initiative Playwriting Award and is not recommended for children or youth under the age of 15.

The play features the talents of Kent State students Cara White of Warren, Ohio; Tyeasha Doss of Mayfield Heights, Ohio; Jessica Ransome and Bryan Miller-Foster, both of Washington, D.C.; and Denzel Washington and Stacee Starr, both of Akron, Ohio.

Tickets are $7 for students and senior citizens and $10 for general admission. For more information and reservations, please call 330-672-2300 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 330-672-0151 after 5 p.m.

School of Theatre and Dance Continues Production Season with Nathan the Wise

Graduate student Marc Moritz as Nathan
with Alyssa R. Fox as Recha in the classic
Jewish tale Nathan the Wise. The show will
run April 13-22 in the Wright-Curtis Theatre
located in the Music and Speech Building on
the Kent Campus.

Kent State University's School of Theatre and Dance presents Nathan the Wise, which will run April 13 through April 22, in the Wright-Curtis Theatre located in the Music and Speech Center, 1325 Theatre Dr. on the Kent Campus.

Presented by the Roe Green Visiting Director Series, guest director Ami Dayan directs the new adaptation of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's classic book.

First published in 1779, Nathan the Wise is set in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade and time of enlightenment. It follows Nathan, a wealthy Jewish merchant, the enlightened Sultan Saladin and the Templars as they close the gaps between Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Major themes include tolerance and friendship.

"In experiencing Nathan the Wise, audiences will gain insights to the history and longevity of the tension between Islam, Christianity and Judaism," says Dayan. "They will also be exposed to a unique, enlightened approach to the source of human conflicts -- dispelling the mystery and opening the possibility of acceptance."

Shows run Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. The box office is open weekdays from noon-5 p.m. and one hour prior to each performance. For tickets or more information, call 330-672-2497. The box office accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, checks and cash. Tickets are $8 for students, $14 for faculty, staff and Alumni Association members, $12 for seniors (60+) and $16 for adults. Groups of 10 or more are $7 per person.

Dayan expresses his joy in working with the School of Theatre and Dance, as well as his hope for how students and audiences will interpret the play.

“It is a thrill and honor to be a Roe Green Visiting Director at Kent State's School of Theatre and Dance -- doubled by the exciting opportunity to adapt a classic, rarely produced masterpiece for American viewers today. Nathan the Wise challenges audiences to acknowledge and reflect upon the inherent prejudice and false beliefs that assemble within our minds from our unique cultural upbringing, and offers an articulate path towards greater consciousness of the common threads that weave humanity together.”

In addition to directing Nathan the Wise, Dayan will also perform in A Tale of a Tiger at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 15 in the E-Z Blackbox Theatre in the Music and Speech Center. This event is free and open to the public.

A Tale of a Tiger is an award-winning Israeli-American adaptation of an Italian Nobel Prize Laureate play, based on an ancient Chinese theatre folk tale, with roots in an Indian myth. It is a humorous tale of a soldier who is shot in the Himalayas and left to die. A tigress saves the soldier and when his life is regained, the soldier re-determines the personal and moral standards by which he is to live. It is a total theatrical experience blending physical theatre, buffoonery, circus arts, ancient storytelling and modern theatre, appropriate for anyone age five and above. This performance is made possible through generous support of the Jewish Foundation of Cleveland.

Playwright, director, performer and theatre instructor, Dayan studied and worked professionally in the United States, Europe and Israel. A two-time recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Grant, Dayan's work has recently been commissioned by The Denver Center Theatre Company, The Colorado Shakespeare Festival and The Roe Green Foundation.

Dayan's latest production, Conviction, had its successful off-Broadway debut in February 2010, and was developed into a film by director Steve Klein. His upcoming productions include A Happy End, by Iddo Netanyahu, and his new adaptation of Lessing's classic Nathan the Wise.