eInside Events

Valentine’s Day Program at Kent State to Discuss the Connection between Love and the Jewish Bible

Adjunct Professor at Siegal College of
Judaic Studies in Cleveland Doron M. Kalir, Esq.,
will present “Love and Temptation in The Song of
Songs” on Feb. 14 at the Kent Student Center.

Kent State University’s Jewish Studies Program continues its Lunch and Learn series this Valentine’s Day with an event titled “Love and Temptation in The Song of Songs.”

Doron M. Kalir, Esq., adjunct professor at Siegal College of Judaic Studies in Cleveland, will present on Tuesday, Feb. 14, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Kent Student Center, Room 310 A and B. The event is free and open to all. Attendees can bring their own lunch. Drinks and desserts will be provided.

“On Valentine’s Day, people’s thoughts turn to love,” says Chaya Kessler, director of Kent State’s Jewish Studies Program. “The Jewish Studies Program sees this as an opportune time to explore the idea of love as it is expressed in the Biblical text of the Song of Songs.”

Kalir first studied law in Israel, where he obtained Bachelor of Law (cum laude) and Master of Law (summa cum laude) degrees. He then obtained another Master of Law degree from Columbia Law School (Kent Scholar - highest honors), where he also taught a seminar on Biblical Jurisprudence. Kalir lectures regularly on the biblical narrative. He blogs on the portion of the week at http://portionoftheweek.blogspot.com/.

The Lunch and Learn series is supported by an anonymous friend of the Jewish Studies Program.

For more information regarding Kent State’s Jewish Studies Program or the Lunch and Learn series, call Kessler at 330-672-8926 or visit www.kent.edu/CAS/JewishStudiesProgram.

Jewish Studies Program, Center for Entrepreneurship and Hillel Host Digital Media Producer and Indie Jewish Educator

Executive Director and Producer of G-dcast
Sarah Lefton will visit Kent State on Feb. 20
to talk about her start-up company that is
dedicated to raising worldwide Jewish literacy.

Kent State University’s Jewish Studies Program has partnered with the university’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation and Hillel at Kent State to bring Sarah Lefton, a successful businesswoman who turned her creativity into a career, to campus on Monday, Feb. 20. Lefton will talk about her start-up company that is dedicated to raising worldwide Jewish literacy.

Lefton is executive director and producer of G-dcast (www.g-dcast.com), a nonprofit media production company, and an indie Jewish educator. Her G-dcast raises basic Jewish literacy with fresh, funny animation and games distributed online. She will speak on the topic of “Animating Torah: Why Bible Literacy Matters and How YouTube Videos Can Make an Impact” at 7 p.m. in Bowman Hall, room 137. The lecture is free and open to the public. It will be followed by a desert reception. This public lecture is sponsored by the university’s Jewish Studies Program and Hillel at Kent State.

A graduate of New York University Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), Sarah left the glamour of New York publishing (The New York Times) and the fast pace of Bay Area tech marketing (UGOBE's robotic Pleo dinosaur) in 2008 and started her own company. She was named one of the Forward 50 most influential Jews of 2009 and is a recipient of the Joshua Venture Group fellowship for Jewish social entrepreneurs. Lefton was a guest of the Obamas at the 2010 reception at the White House for Jewish Heritage Month.

“Within the Jewish studies world, Sarah Lefton is very well-known,” says Chaya Kessler, director of Kent State’s Jewish Studies Program. “We are very excited to bring this dynamic entrepreneur who, in her own words, ‘applies start-up thinking to the sometimes dusty world of Jewish education.’”

Earlier in the day and coinciding with National Entrepreneurship Week, Lefton will participate in the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation’s Speaker Series class. She will speak to Kent State students, faculty and staff and then hold a meet-and-greet in the John Brinzo Entrepreneurship Lab.

“Our students love to hear the start-up stories of successful entrepreneurs, and I’m looking forward to the pearls of wisdom that Sarah Lefton will share with us,” says Julie Messing, director of Kent State’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation. “So much of her business is using contemporary media with so much of it being online, so I think her presentation will be very interesting and beneficial to our students.”

Kessler says hosting Lefton during National Entrepreneurship Week is a wonderful fit. “Sarah is very energetic and positive, and she’s a good role model for our students, particularly those women who are interested in business,” Kessler says. “She applied her energies to do something new, and I suggested her to our entrepreneurship center as a possible speaker. It turned out to be a great fit with it being National Entrepreneurship Week and that we are able to have her speak to three different audiences throughout the day.”

Messing also comments that bringing this speaker to campus is a nice collaboration between different areas of the university. “We get excited about working together with other schools, centers and programs outside of our own colleges. It benefits our students, and we’re also able to reach a wider audience through these collaborations.”

A students-only event also will be held for Kent State students to enjoy dinner with Lefton at the Cohn Jewish Student Center in Kent. Students will have the opportunity to meet the guest speaker and learn how she turned her creativity into a career. The students-only event is sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program and Hillel.

For more information regarding Kent State’s Jewish Studies Program, call Kessler at 330-672-8926 or visit www.kent.edu/CAS/JewishStudiesProgram.

For more information about Kent State’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation, call Messing at 330-672-9430 or visit www.kent.edu/cebi.

Kent Keyboard Series Features Duo Piano Recital by Ehlen and Tai on Feb. 19

Original guest, Huang, cancels due to eye surgery complications

Due to complications with a recent eye surgery, the previously announced guest artist Chu-Fang Huang, 2005 winner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, has had to cancel her performance at the Feb. 19 Kent Keyboard Series concert.

Appearing in her place, on Feb. 19 at 5 p.m. in the Ludwig Recital Hall at 1325 Theatre Dr. in the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music, will be the dynamic duo of Timothy Ehlen and Yu-Chi Tai.

Ehlen, International Steinway Artist, recently performed locally with the Cleveland Orchestra’s Schubert Bi-Centennial Series. He also received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree with Paul Schenly at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He first gained international attention after winning the World Piano Competition in 1987. He has performed internationally at music festivals in France, Korea, Austria, and nationally at numerous universities, including Indiana University, Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University, just to name a few. In addition to being the director of piano studies at the University of Illinois, he regularly presents master classes at major universities and conservatories all over the country and the world.

Tai has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia as a solo recitalist, chamber pianist and collaborative musician. She has won numerous international competitions and appeared in many concerts. Last year, she was invited to play the Brahms Piano Quartet I at the CoCha Chamber Music Festival in Illinois, and collaborated a concerto with the South Texas Symphony.

The program will include Mozart’s Sonata I D Major, K. 448, Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Haydn, Opus 56b, Chopin’s Rondo in C Major, Opus 73 and Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 2, Opus 17.

Tickets are available at the door. Cash or checks will be accepted. Cost for adults and seniors is $10. Cost for Kent State students with a valid FLASHcard is $5.

For more information, visit www.kent.edu/music or call 330-672-3609.

KSU Dancers Premiere Original Works in Two Concerts

B.F.A. Senior Dance Concert and the Student Dance Festival

Kent State University School of Theatre and Dance
students perform a dance routine.

Kent State University’s School of Theatre and Dance will continue its 2011-12 production season with the B.F.A. Senior Dance Concert: At(ten)tion to Detail. The concert will run from March 1 - 3, in the Louis O. Erdmann and William H. Zucchero (EZ) Black Box Theatre, located at 1325 Theatre Dr. in the Music and Speech Center. Performances begin at 8 p.m. every evening.

Tickets are $8 for students, $12 for seniors, $14 for faculty, staff and Kent State alumni, and $16 for adults. Tickets can be purchased at the box office by calling 330-672-2497 or online at www.dance.kent.edu. The Box Office is open weekdays from noon - 5 p.m., and one hour prior to each performance. The Box Office accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, checks and cash. Free parking is available and the theatre is fully accessible.

At(ten)tion to Detail will offer audience members the opportunity to see original works that demonstrate the versatility and creative choices of 10 B.F.A senior dance performance majors. This concert represents the culmination of their choreographic endeavors at Kent State and will reflect a dynamic array of work addressing a variety of topics using modern and jazz dance.

Jessica Kraft’s piece, 27 Million, addresses the dark truth of the existence of masses of enslaved people in the world today. Through dance and video projection, this piece explores the global reality of sex trafficking and forced labor. Miles Davis’ words, “Sometimes, you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself” serves as point of departure for Jordan Deckert’s jazz dance, Off the ‘Hinge.’ Jessica Mego’s piece, Tenacity, showcases the strength of women through modern dance choreography inspired by Maya Angelou: “The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination.”

Sifting, choreographed by Diane Skerbec, explores the concept of revealing the purest, most genuine form of self, and Michelle Brown’s, Six Miles Out, uses a series of vignettes to portray life’s overwhelming moments through humor. Original works by Ebby Howarth, Jessica Elizabeth Kinsey, LaRonica L. Southerland, Sabatino A. Verlezza, and Colleen M. Weiher will round out this vibrant and innovative concert.

To close the concert, the 10 graduating senior choreographers will perform together in an excerpt of Pursuit of Happiness, choreographed by modern dance pioneer May O’Donnell. Reconstructed by faculty member Barbara Allegra Verlezza, this piece was created in honor of the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial and is set to the quintessential American music of the Big Band era.

Junior and senior dance performance and dance education majors will debut works in the EZ Theatre at the annual Student Dance Festival: 1 and itself, on Sunday, March 4, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The performances are free and open to the public. Drawing from modern, jazz and hip hop, the choreographers express ideas that are individual and meaningful to them. Audience members are sure to find something they can relate to in this diverse presentation of dance.

Department of Residence Services Invites Faculty and Staff to Campus Conversation Events

The Social Justice team within the Department of Residence Services is dedicated to creating awareness about and advocating for social justice issues.

The team is in charge of organizing and implementing the Campus Conversation program, where students, faculty and staff get together to talk about relevant topics on social justice issues.

This semester, there are three upcoming Campus Conversations events.

LGBTQA Sexuality Panel with Pride! Kent and KIC Diversity Committee
Date: Feb. 22
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: 106 Manchester Hall

Short Fuse (Upheaval 14:45) – short film followed by a discussion
Themes: Classism, trust, national origin, race, gender roles
Date: March 14
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: 106 Manchester Hall

Short Fuse Short (Fueling the Fire 22:16) short film followed by a discussion
Themes: Assumptions, beliefs, values, relationships, perception vs. reality, point of view, holding the right people accountable
Date: April 16
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: 106 Manchester Hall

All students, faculty and staff are invited to attend and join the campus conversations.

For more information, contact Eron Memaj at ememaj@kent.edu or 330-672-2795.

The School of Art Continues Season with 65th Student Annual

The School of Art continues its season with the 65th Student
Annual -- an exhibit that will feature work by Kent State students
majoring in art, studio, art education or art history.

The Student Annual celebrates 65 years and will be open to the public from Feb. 23 to March 14 with a reception on Thursday, Feb. 23, at 5 p.m. in the School of Art Gallery located on the second floor of the Art Building at Kent State University. The exhibit will feature work by Kent State students majoring in art, studio, art education or art history.

“This offers students some real world experience because not everyone who submits something gets into the exhibition,” says Anderson Turner, director of galleries for the School of Art. “Several professional grants, artist residencies and exhibition opportunities are determined by a juror or a panel of jurors.”

Students can submit any kind of work, including but not limited to paintings, textiles, glass, ceramics, jewelry and sculptures. Only School of Art students can have their work entered for the exhibit. Amy Craft, executive director of Arthouse, will serve as juror.

“It is beneficial anytime students have the opportunity to exhibit their work,” Craft says. “It creates networking opportunities, offers a firsthand look at what other artist are creating--specifically their contemporaries, and it builds experience in terms of exhibition participation.”

Craft earned a M.A. in Arts Management from The University of Akron and a BFA in Interior Design from Youngstown State University. As director of Arthouse, a non-profit organization that offers visual arts classes and programs for children and adults, Craft has a busy schedule, but she still finds time to serve as juror. In January, she juried two shows, the Orange City School Scholastics Competition and Guitar Mania organized by United Way of Cleveland.

For more information about the School of Art Galleries, contact Turner at 330-672-1369, haturner@kent.edu or visit http://galleries.kent.edu.