eInside Events

Annual Celebrating College Teaching Conference Takes Place Oct. 25-26

The 19th annual Celebrating College Teaching Conference takes place Oct. 25 and 26 at the Kent Student Center.

This year’s pre-conference workshop, “Simulation and Learning,” will be held in the Moulton Hall Ballroom on Thursday, Oct. 25, from 1:30 - 4 p.m. The workshop will look at ways to help students translate their academic experiences to the post-academic world.

The conference features internationally recognized speaker, Young Zhao, Ph.D., presidential chair and associate dean for global education, College of Education at the University of Oregon; Professor Emeritus of History Thomas Sosnowski, Ph.D.; and Carole Bersani, M.A., Professor Emerita of Teaching, Leadership and Curriculum Studies and director of the Child Development Center.

The conference opens on Thursday, Oct. 25, with the Read Distinguished Lecture, “World Class Education: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students,” delivered by Zhao at 7 p.m., in the Kent Student Center Kiva.

On Friday, Oct. 26, the conference continues at 8:30 a.m. with the Provost’s Breakfast, followed by refereed round tables; invited round tables; a panel discussion on Student Engagement and Experiential Learning to Promote Retention, with related round tables; poster displays; the President’s Luncheon; and Glenn W. Frank Lecture. The conference culminates with a dessert reception at 2:30 p.m. to honor recipients of the Distinguished Teaching Awards and the Outstanding Teaching Awards and the wealth of teaching excellence at Kent State.

Bersani will present the Glenn W. Frank Lecture, “The Teaching-Learning Relationship,” and Sosnowski will host the Emeritus Round Table, “The Old vs. the New: Does the Old Pedagogy Still Work in Our ‘Age of Technology’?”

Celebrating 19 years of relevance, the annual conference on college teaching focuses on the four pillars of a Kent State undergraduate curriculum — knowledge, insight, responsibility and engagement.

All events are free and open to the public. However, registration is required for the breakfast and luncheon. To register, click here.

For more information about the conference, contact Kim Peer at 330-672-0231 or kpeer@kent.edu.

Yong Zhao to Speak About World Class Education at Kent State on Oct. 25

Lecture is part of the Gerald H. Read Distinguished Lecture Series

Yong Zhao, Ph.D., presidential chair and
associate dean for Global Education in the
College of Education at the University of
Oregon will speak about world class
education at Kent State on Oct. 25.

Kent State University’s Gerald H. Read Center for International and Intercultural Education will feature Yong Zhao, Ph.D., presidential chair and associate dean for Global Education in the College of Education at the University of Oregon, on Thursday, Oct. 25, at the Kent Student Center Kiva at 7 p.m.

Zhao will speak about “World Class Education: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students.” This event is part of the Gerald H. Read Distinguished Lecture Series for 2012-2013 and is the Keynote speaker for the Celebrating College Teaching conference. The event is free and open to the public.

Zhao will discuss the need for globally competent, creative and entrepreneurial talents that will take advantage of the opportunities brought about by technology and globalization.

He is the author of two books, World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students and Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization. He has earned an Early Career Award from the American Educational Research Association.

Kent State Presents World-Renowned Photographer Frédéric Brenner, Oct. 29

Frédéric Brenner, a contemporary French
photographer documenting the lives of the
Jewish community, will deliver a lecture at
Kent State on Monday, Oct. 29.

Kent State University presents a lecture by Frédéric Brenner, a contemporary French photographer documenting the lives of the Jewish community, on Monday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. in the Kent Student Center Kiva. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Brenner is best known for his opus “Diaspora,” the result of a 25-year search in 40 countries to create a visual record of the Jewish people at the end of the 20th century. During the lecture, he will share his photos and experiences about his journeys.

“Diaspora” was published as a two-volume set of photographs and texts by Harper Collins in 2003 and appeared in four foreign editions. “Diaspora” is also a major exhibition, which opened at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 2003 and since then has been shown in nine other cities in the United States, Europe and Mexico.

“Brenner’s enthusiastic approach to his art and his profound insights into the human condition will excite all those who attend his presentation,” says Chaya Kessler, director of Kent State’s Jewish Studies program.

Brenner published five other photographic books and has had solo exhibitions at such major venues as the International Center of Photography in New York City; Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland; Bellas Artes in Mexico City; and Rencontre Internationale de la Photographie in Arles, France.

Born in Paris in 1959 and trained in social anthropology, Brenner, now living in Israel, also draws upon history and philosophy for his project to capture images of the Jewish Diaspora in such places as India, Italy, China, Russia, Canada and the United States.

The lecture is presented by Kent State’s Jewish Studies Program and supported by the university’s College of Arts and Sciences, School of Art, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and Hillel at Kent State University.

For more information about the lecture, contact Kessler at ckessle7@kent.edu or 330-672-8926.

Award-Winning Poet Ruth Schwartz Comes to Wick Poetry Center

Award-winning poet Ruth Schwartz will perform a reading
from her new book at Kent State University on Oct. 30.

The Wick Poetry Center’s Reading Series welcomes award-winning poet Ruth Schwartz to Kent State University. She will be performing a reading of her new work on Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 306 ABC at the Kent Student Center.

“We are very excited to bring Ruth Schwartz to Kent State to read from her new book, Miraculum, released this fall,” says Jessica Jewell, Wick Poetry Center program coordinator. “A National Poetry Series winner, Schwartz's generous and musical poems explore levels of consciousness and healing.”

Schwartz has written four award-winning poetry books, most recently the 2004 Autumn House Poetry Prize recipient, Dear Good Naked Morning. Additionally, she has won more than a dozen national literary prizes, including two Chelsea Magazine Editor’s Awards and the New Letters Prize for Poetry.

Hilary Jones to Lecture in Ritchie Hall

Hilary Jones, assistant professor of West Africa and Africa
Diaspora at the University of Maryland, College Park, will
deliver a lecture on Thursday, Oct. 25, at Ritchie Hall.

The Department of Pan-African Studies welcomes Hilary Jones, assistant professor of West Africa and Africa Diaspora at the University of Maryland, College Park, for a lecture on Thursday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. in Room 214, Ritchie Hall.

Jones lecture is titled, “Hybridity and Creole Cultures in West Africa: Urban Life in 19th Century Senegal." Prior to her lecture, there will be a reception and a student exhibit on the upcoming 2012 election on the first floor Gallery Foyer of Ritchie Hall starting at 5:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Jones’s research interests include 19th century Africa, French colonialism, the francophone Atlantic, histories of power and politics and women, and race and class. She is currently preparing a manuscript titled, The Métis of Senegal: Urban Life, Politics and French Colonialism in 19th Century Africa. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, Fulbright-Hays, The Center for African and Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan, Africana Studies at University of Notre Dame and University of Maryland’s Graduate School.

The lecture is sponsored by the Ohio Humanities Council, Kent State’s Department of Pan-African Studies and Department of History.

For more information, visit www.kent.edu/cas/pas or call 330-672-2300.

Kent State University School of Art Gallery Presents “Beautiful Data”

Kent State University's School of Art Gallery presents
"Beautiful Data," an exhibition that showcases the
intersection of math, science, technology and art.

Exhibition shares the intersection of math, science, technology and art

Kent State University School of Art Gallery will present “Beautiful Data: Technology and the Creative Process,” curated by Director of Galleries Anderson Turner. The exhibition runs through Nov. 16 in the School of Art Gallery.

“Beautiful Data” has been curated in support of this year’s inauguration of the iPad initiative in the School of Art. The iPad is the only materials requirement for students — usually first-year students — two-dimensional composition classes beginning this fall semester. This exhibition provides examples of people who use math, science and technology in an artistic way.

“Many of our students coming in as freshmen have very little understanding of what being an artist means or can mean. If they have any concept at all, it tends to sway toward a more traditional bent,” says Turner. “It is my hope that as our students grow in using technology, they can find ways to integrate aspects of contemporary society into their work. This iPad initiative, launched by Assistant Professor Mark Schatz and other faculty teaching 2-D composition, is an important step for our students and our school. This show has been curated with the students in mind and in the hopes that it will help to expand upon the new experiences they are having this semester.”

This exhibition features the work of Jerry Birchfield, Bruce Checefsky, Ellen Hoverkamp, Fathom and Form, Nathan Selikoff, Nicholeen Viall, Elizabeth Whiteley and Ye Zhao. This group of scientists and artists are using math, science and technology to create results that are visually interesting. In some cases the original intention was not artistic, but the result is visually intriguing.

These individuals and their research have been chosen for this exhibition to inspire imaginations and encourage our students — and all of us — to be open to visual expressions originating beyond the artist’s studio.

The School of Art Gallery is located in the Art Building at 400 Janik Dr. on the Kent Campus. Hours are Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 330-672-7853 or visit http://galleries.kent.edu.