The Harbinger

January 30, 2006

 

Hiram hosts international art exhibition

Forested Landscape, an exhibition of creative works from the Hiram College Creative Field Studies Program, will open Tuesday, January 31, in the Frohring Art Building at the College. The show is free, and the public is invited.

Opening night will begin at 7 p.m. with a flute/piano performance in the Frohring Music Building. The compsition, which is inspired by a forested landscape, was written by Alissa Shuster, adjunct faculty member of music. Randy Fusco, associate professor of music, will be the pianist.

The Creative Field Studies Program at Hiram College encourages interdisciplinary study of regional and global environmental issues. Multiple views of an issue, said Marty Huehner, professor of art and environment studies, allow communication with diverse elements of the public and raise the quality of awareness about the environment and people’s roles in it.

"This professional exhibition is an international collaboration" said Huehner, who organized the exhibit. "A variety of artists are represented, from the world-renowned Chris Drury of Great Britain and preeminent Australian artist John Reid to Hiram faculty, a Hiram student--senior Kristin Galewood, and local artists."

Drury spent four months in residence at Hiram College during the fall.

The second Creative Field Studies Program also features Hiram artists-in-residence Jeff Schmuki and Lee Renninger, who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina and taken in by Hiram College and the broader community. Both artists, who work with ceramics, will present new pieces inspired by their new home.

"Their work alone makes this show special," Huehner, also a ceramist, said.

Schmuki and Renninger lost their home in Gulfport, Mississippi, to the storm, and Schmuki lost his job at William Carey College, where he had recently been promoted to associate professor.

The participants in the Forested Landscape show, which will continue at Hiram College through Feb. 17 and then move to Kent State University, are: Linda Bourassa (pinhole photography); Drury (spore prints; prints of sculptural installation); Galewood (drawing); Kim King (quilting); A.D. Peters (painting); Annie Peters (sculpture); John Reid (environmental banknotes); Renninger (ceramic sculpture); Schmuki (ceramic sculpture); Shuster (flute/piano composition, with Randy Fusco, pianist), and Anderson Turner (ceramic sculpture).

IF Dinner and Talent Show will create the ‘perfect atmosphere’

Thirteen acts and a rich variety of international cuisine from the home countries of Hiram College international students will be featured during the International Forum Annual Dinner and Talent Show.

The event will be held on February 4 beginning with dinner between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on the second floor of the Kennedy Center. The talent show will follow in Hayden Auditorium between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

The International Forum (IF), which consists of both American and international students, has grown into one of the largest student organizations at Hiram. The IF dinner and show celebrate diversity and international harmony.

"Napoleon (pictured left pointing the way to the IF Dinner) united Europe under his rule by understanding that an army marches on its stomach. We can learn from Napoleon," IF treasurer Remus Suciu said. "Unity can be achieved by going straight through the stomach."

The International Forum will seek international gastronomical unity with such dishes as dashi maki tomago (a vegetable-rolled egg appetizer from Japan), giuvetch (a beef main dish from Bulgaria), aloo (a vegetable dish from India), curry chicken (a main dish from Jamaica), and cseresznyes teszta (a dessert from Hungary).

"Part of the appeal of the IF dinner," Suciu said, “is that it creates the perfect atmosphere for difficult cultures to mingle over neutral territory: food."

Hiram's talented international students will sing, dance, play the piano, clarinet, guitar, and drums, and even recite poetry.

The event is open to the public. Tickets are $10 ($5 for students), and more information may be obtained by e-mailing: IF@hiram.edu or by phoning Taryn Kohler, international student advisor at 330.569.5388.

Director of the East Cleveland Public Library will speak on contemporary jazz

Please join the Friends of the Hiram College Library Sunday, February 12, at 2 p.m. in the Pritchard Room of the Library to enjoy Gregory Reese, Director of the East Cleveland Public Library as he speaks to us on "Jazzkeepers," a look at the contemporary jazz scene in the Greater Cleveland community.

Mr. Reese holds a B.A. in history from Morehouse College and an M.L.I.S from Case Western Reserve University. He is also a member of the American Library Association, the Public Library Association, and sits on the Advisory Council of the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science.
He is the author of "Jazzkeepers: A Pictorial Tribute and Memoir: Cleveland, Ohio."

Mark your calendars and bring your guests to enjoy this presentation. Refreshments will be served.

Free concert of Renaissance, Baroque, and Irish music

The Dreisbachs and Friends, featuring Hiram’s own Top o’ the Hill, invite campus and community to a free concert of Renaissance, Baroque, and Irish music on Friday, February 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Frohring Recital Hall. Early music performers will include Tina Dreisbach, baroque flute; Dawn Dreisbach, violin; Paul Dreisbach, baroque oboe; Amanda Cagle, harpsichord; Janet Winzenburger, viola da gamba; Judith Overcash, voice; and Stephen Toombs, theorbo and baroque guitar. Top o’ the Hill features the Dreisbachs on Irish flute, fiddle, and pennywhistle; Dale Lacan, guitar; Ellen Eckhouse, Celtic harp; and Greg Szulgit, bodhran. There will be some audience participation and families are welcome. A reception will follow the concert.    

Terrier Fight Song turned out to be an unexpected collaboration

Hiram College not only has a new Terrier Fight Song, but it is also an all-star version, the best of the best.

When members of the Fight Song Committee reviewed the seven entries, paying special attention to word flow and the meaning of the texts, they decided that no one song could stand alone as the Hiram College Fight Song, said student Joe Gaither, who represented Terrier Sound on the committee.

So the committee members merged the best of the seven entries into one coherent song of four verses, choosing two verses submitted by Don Farrell of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and one verse from first-year Katie Dragga (pictured right and below) and one verse from sophomore Lauren Sturdivant (pictured left).

The committee that fused the verses included Justin Kelly, associate professor of music; Shawn Brown, assistant dean of the Center for Adult Studies; Jennifer Schuller, associate director of alumni relations and annual giving; LeAnn Starlin, coordinator of campus involvement; Nate Koven, Student Senate vice president, and Gaither.

Sturdivant contributed verse No. 1, for which she receives a $50 gift certificate to the Hiram College Bookstore. Dragga added verse No. 2 and also receives a $50 bookstore gift certificate. Farrell is the big winner, receiving $100 in bookstore merchandise for his contribution of verses No. 3 and 4.

The following verses are sung to the pre-selected tune “Our Director” by F.E. Bigelow, which can be heard at http://www.hiram.edu/athletics/fightsong.html:

Alumnus Majeed Makhlouf named a rising star

Hiram College alumnus Majeed G. Makhlouf '98 (pictured below left) was recently selected by "Law & Politics" magazine and "Cincinnati Magazine" as a Super Lawyers Rising Star of 2005. This honor places Makhlouf in the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in the state of Ohio.

Makhlouf works in the Cleveland office of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP. His practice focuses on complex business litigation, land use litigation, employment litigation, and international law as well as appellate litigation in federal and state appellate courts.

Makhlouf graduated from Hiram College cum laude with a bachelor's degree in international economics and management and political science. Makhlouf received his law degree from The Ohio State University College of Law, where he served the "Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution" as the articles and symposium editor. Makhlouf also graduated from the Ramallah Friends Schools in Palestine and holds an Advanced Level GCE degree in classical Arabic from the University of London.

Makhlouf is a member of the Ohio and Akron bar associations. He is admitted to the bars of Ohio, as well as: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Tax Court, and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

For more information about Super Lawyers and Super Lawyer Rising Stars, visit http://www.superlawyers.com.

Quick hits…

President Tom Chema will speak on "Global Terrorism: The Perspective from Israel" at the Library Forum on Wednesday, February 1, at 4:15 p.m. in the Pritchard Room. Chema's address will be based on his trip to Israel this past fall to attend the Fifth Annual International Conference on the Global Impact of Terrorism, a conference for both academics and intelligence/counter-terrorism professionals. Refreshments will be served.

A reminder: College Assembly will be held in the Kennedy Center Ballroom at 4:15 pm on Thursday, February 9. The College Assembly is a time for the president and vice presidents to report on the status of the College and to answer questions from faculty and staff.

Write on, students: Deadline to enter Hiram’s annual short fiction contest is Friday, February 3. First prize is $500; second, $300, and third, $200. Honorable mention manuscripts will also be selected and book prizes awarded. For more information, contact Professor of English Joyce Dyer, director of the writing center, at 330.569.5152 or dyerja@hiram.edu.