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The Harbinger

September 24, 2007

Education that Works Conference begins Thursday

The third annual Education that Works Conference, which brings alumni and friends of Hiram College together with students and faculty to discuss work and careers, has attracted a record number of participants.

Fifty-eight conference participants will be on campus either Thursday, September 27, or Friday, September 28, or both days to take part in career panels, attend departmental gatherings, attend and speak in classes, and learn more about undergraduate research at Hiram.

On Friday at 12:15 p.m. in the Kennedy Center, conference participants will be assigned tables for lunch to give students networking opportunities.

The conference schedule and biographies of the participants can be found at: http://www.hiram.edu/etwc/

For general information about the conference, contact the Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving at 330.569.5283 or alumnirel@hiram.edu, and for the information concerning the networking luncheon, contact the Office of Career Services at careercenter@hiram.edu.

Sarah's Daughters, play will explore breast-cancer issues

Hiram College will present performances of the play Sarah’s Daughters by Canadian physician-playwright Jeff Nisker in Drury Hall in Bates Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, September 28, Saturday, September 29, and 8 p.m. on Wednesday October 3.

Hiram senior theater major Kelly Hanahan will play the role of a woman who lives for 20 years in fear of developing her mother’s breast cancer, and Hiram cellist Emma Strong will accompany her. The play explores the many personal and family issues of breast cancer, and the genetic inheritance of strong susceptibility to the disease.

The performances are part of Stages: Cancer and the Arts, a fall series presented by The Center for Literature, Medicine, and Biomedical Humanities, one of the College’s six Centers of Excellence.

Nisker is Coordinator of Health Ethics and Humanities and Professor of Obstetrics-Gynaecology and Oncology at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario (UWO). His research is transdisciplinary, centering on public engagement for health-policy development, particularly regarding emerging genetic technologies. Similarly, his educational initiatives embrace the humanities and social sciences, such as in his narrative bioethics and health ethics through film courses.

Nisker has written many scientific articles and book chapters, as well as six plays and several short stories to explore health issues and encourage compassion in health care. His plays have been performed throughout Canada, as well as in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Africa. Nisker has previously participated in several programs of the Center for Literature, Medicine, and Biomedical Humanities

During Convocation at noon on Thursday, October 4, Nisker will discuss the use of theater to raise audience awareness of health care issues that may impact their lives. He will refer not only to Sarah's Daughters but also to his play Orchids, which is about pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) that allows prospective parents to select for embryos that do not carry certain genetic diseases. That play, performed across Canada, helped the government determine what its public policy would be about PGD.

Students can register for the Run for Grace & Andy

After more than six months of planning by family and friends of Grace Chamberlain and Andy Hopkins, and with the help of Hiram students, faculty, and staff, the first Run for Grace & Andy on Hiram’s Three-Mile Square will begin Saturday, September 29, at 8:30 a.m.

Students still may enter for the reduced entry of $10.

Proceeds from the run will go into the Fund for Grace and Andy and will be used to fund the College’s Andrew Hopkins Music Award and the Grace J. Chamberlain Prize in Creative Writing.

Entry forms may be obtained at the Welcome Center in Kennedy Center. Students are asked to fill out the forms and return them to the Welcome Center. The entry fee of $10 will be collected at registration, which begins at 7 a.m. at the Coleman Center on race day.

Grace Chamberlain and Andy Hopkins died as a result of a March 2006 automobile accident that also seriously injured Evan DaSilva, who is now a junior. The first-year students were in a car struck by a drunken driver with 11 previous DUI convictions. DaSilva and other Hiram students have formed a group called ID3 (I Don’t Drink and Drive) in response, and the College also sponsors the Chamberlain-Hopkins Symposium on Alcohol and Culture. The second symposium is scheduled for the 2008 spring semester.

Family and friends of Grace and Andy, along with Hiram students, faculty, and staff have chosen to celebrate the lives of Grace and Andy by not only advocating for tougher drunken driving laws and increased education on the dangers of drinking and driving but also through a run that will be slightly more than three miles and a one-mile walk in the place that Grace and Andy loved.

“Grace and Andy loved Hiram because it was so full of life,” said Grace’s father, Bob Chamberlain. “That’s what we want from this event – a celebration of life.”

Convocation about surviving cancer on Tuesday, September 25, in KC at noon

Cancer-survivor Laurie Frey, collaborating with award-winning Cleveland playwright Eric Coble, has created a musical titled Unbeatable, A Musical Journey. Frey and Coble will discuss their play during Convocation in the Kennedy Center Ballroom at noon on Tuesday, September 25.

The lead character is an energetic businesswoman named Tracy, a stage-three cancer survivor whose life's activities have come to a halt because of breast cancer. The character is based on Frey's battle with the disease.

Frey has worked in the entertainment industry for 20 years, and is currently general manager for illusionist David Copperfield’s tours. Her prior work on Broadway includes Phantom of the Opera, Fiddler on the Roof, and Les Miserables.

The Cleveland Arts Prize, the AT&T Orange Award, the National Theater Conference Playwright Award have been awarded to Coble, as well as two Ohio Arts Council awards for excellence. The Machine Stops, a radio play based on E.M. Forster’s short story, and the ballet Luis, based on Richard Selzer’s story of the same name, are two projects the Center for Literature, Medicine, and Biomedical Humanities at Hiram has commissioned him to write.

Community–orientated campus day coming this week

Sometime this week, Associate Chaplain Jason Bricker-Thompson will announce campus day. Classes will be cancelled and community service projects will begin for interested faculty, staff, and students. Campus day is usually announced the day it occurs, however, in order to encourage faculty and staff participation in the scheduled community service activities, advanced warning is being given.

By going to the Kennedy Center welcome desk, one can sign up to participate in any of the activities listed below:

Work with kids
Work with habitat for humanity
Paint a room
Make Halloween decorations for nursing homes
Compost with worms
Fix bikes
Work with wool

Schedule of campus-day events

All day – Trade fair and eco clothing/goods sale
All day – Free fair-trade coffee and goodies
9 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Continental breakfast
11 a.m. – Guest speaker, Vilma Yanez, speaking on human rights in Colombia
11:30 a.m. – Bread-and-soup lunch - proceeds benefit community service projects
12:15 p.m. to about 4:30 p.m. – Community Service events at and leaving from KC.
5 p.m. to 7 p.m. All-Campus Community Dinner (faculty/staff must pay)
7 p.m. – Hiram Record Twister

Music department Faculty Showcase Concert

On Thursday, September 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Frohring Music Recital Hall, the Hiram College music faculty will present the Music Faculty Showcase Concert. The musicians will include Randall Fusco - piano, Jose Gotera, Belinda Yaksich - tuba, Paul Dreisbach - oboe, Alissa Shuster - flute, Paul Petric - guitar, Dale Lacan - banjo, Lee Ann Anderson - harp, and possibly others. A reception will follow the performances.