The Harbinger

March 21, 2005

 

Students Win High Honors in Math Competition

Hiram students Mihai Cucuringu and Matt Evert recently excelled in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, which is a national mathematics contest for college students sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America.  In this difficult competition, contestants attempt to solve twelve problems in six hours. A perfect score is 120 with 10 points per problem. The top three scores were 109, 101 and 99 by students from MIT and Princeton, with the median score being 0. Over the years many of the winners of the Putnam competition have become distinguished mathematicians. A number of them have received the Fields Medal and several have won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Nine Hiram students took the exam. Mihai Cucuringu scored 30 points and Matt Evert scored 10 points. The other Hiram students were Matt Bogus, Andy Humble, Kyle Smith, Kyli Foltz, Maureen Malinowski, Mark Paschke, and Jim Lewandowski. The Hiram team ranked 125 of the 515 participating colleges and universities. Individually, Mihai ranked 327 out of 3733 students  (top 9%, an extraordinary achievement) while Matt ranked 1123 (top 30%).There were 8 students from Ohio institutions who scored with a rank of at least 467 (top 13%: 2 from Oberlin and 1 from each of OSU, CWRU, Hiram, YSU, Miami, OU).  Other participating Ohio schools were U of Akron, Ashland, Baldwin-Wallace, Dayton, Denison, John Carroll, Marietta, Mt. Union, Muskingum, Toledo, Wittenberg, Wooster, and Xavier.

Spring Band Concert Wednesday

The Hiram College Concert Band, conducted by James Bane, will present its Spring Concert Wednesday, March 23, 2005 in Hayden Auditorium at 8:00 P.M.

Featured on the program will be works by Franz von Suppé, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Don Keller, Ludwig van Beethoven, Cécile Chaminade, Roland Seitz, Meredith Willson, and Henry Fillmore.

Performing a piece for a clarinet ensemble by Ludwig van Beethoven are first-year Camille Campanaro, sophomore Jessica Hammack, and juniors Aya Maruyama, and Jessica Hoptay.  Under study with woodwind aficionado Paul Dreisbach, these clarinetists worked hard on this technically challenging and exciting piece.

"Trombones Triumphant" gives senior trombone players Maureen Malinowski and Colleen Kardasz the ability to show off their four years of hard work in lessons and concert band.  With the rest of the concert band as backup, these talented seniors are enjoying their last opportunity to perform with a school ensemble.

Coming to us from Bolivia, Vivianne Asturizaga is a very talented flute player. Performing "Concertino" for flute and concert band by Cécile Chaminade, Asturizaga has a chance to show her mastery of range, speed, technical skill, and musical maturity.  As a Teaching Assistant, Asturizaga works hard with the Spanish department and students, sharing her language and culture.  She has also performed at the Intercultural Forum's talent show and in a music department recital in February.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Bourassa included in Major Exhibition

Linda Bourassa's work entitled "Boy and Iguana" will be a part of a major show entitled Man and Beast, Part II of Regional Collections.  The exhibition will present over four hundred items and will include works by Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Gary Baseman, Vince Cianni, Red Grooms, Claus Oldenburg, Komar and Melamid, William Wegman, Mark Mothersbaugh, Wayne Thiebaud, Donald Roller Wilson and recent MacArthur Grant winner Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson. 

The Man and Beast exhibition presents a historically and culturally diverse range of attitudes in the use of animal imagery in art, craft, design, and encompasses a wide range of related fields including industrial design, fashion, and furniture design. Organized around various themes such as The Innocent Witness, Loving Them to Death, Making a Living and Designer Beasts, the exhibition explores varied and changing cultural attitudes toward animals in the contexts of religion, mythology, sports, commercial symbols, and as pets. Other issues consider animal rights, genetic engineering, animals as food and clothing, and extinction.

The show is located at The Emily Davis Gallery in Folk Hall at the Myers School of Art, 150 E. Exchange St, on The University of Akron campus and is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday; 10 a.m. – 9 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday. The gallery is closed on Sunday.

Bouts to Speak on Campus

Former Six Flags Theme Park Chairman and CEO Larry Bouts will speak at Hiram College on Wednesday, March 30 as part of the institution’s Creating Excellent Organizations Speaker Series. Bouts will discuss “Steps and Missteps of Leadership” at 7 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Ballroom.

Bouts currently serves as an investor and advisor to technology, energy, human resources and consumer-oriented businesses. In addition to leading Six Flags, Bouts also was an executive with Toys “R” Us where he led the international expansion of the company throughout Canada, Australia, Europe and Asia, successfully developing a profitable multi-billion dollar offshore retail brand in more than 25 countries. He also served as an executive with PepsiCo.

Hiram Environmental Art on Display

Spend an evening of camaraderie with area artists on Friday, April 1 from 7 to 9 p.m. at The West Woods Nature Center, located in The West Woods at 9465 Kinsman Road, Russell Township. Visitors are welcome to Meet the Artists: Hiram College & Jan Panhuis.
 
The Hiram College artists did works featured in "The Forest," an exhibition of evaluation and creative expression of regional natural resources and environmental issues.  The exhibit brings together artists from various disciplines.  The Hiram College artists' work will be on display in the Oak Room at The West Woods Nature Center.  Works from Marty Huehner, Linda Bourassa, Kim King, local artists Alan Peters and Annie Peters, student Kristen Galewood, and alumna Jessica Miele.  Jan Panhuis, a local artist who uses her love of nature as inspiration for her paintings, will also be a part of the program. 
 
Refreshments are served during the FREE opening night reception.  The entire exhibition will be on display through June 26, 2005.  For more information, call (440) 286-9516, or 1-800-536-4006 (toll free in Geauga).  You can also see the all of the pieces that will be displayed from the Hiram artists at the Creative Field Studies Gallery site on the Hiram web page.

Pictured is Marty Huehner's piece entitled "Flood Deposits of Summer '03".  17" x 17". White Stoneware stained with Silver Creek Clay and metal oxides; glazed and fired to 1063° C. Framed with wind - fallen Black Cherry and mounted on plywood from plantation grown trees.

Grant Awarded Fellowship

Leslie Grant (pictured) has been awarded a Mellon Fellowship by the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, Virginia.  She will be traveling to the Virginia Historical Society in May 2005 to study images of the black middle class and black female culture.

 

Petric to Perform

Classical guitarist Paul Petric will present a Faculty Recital on Thursday, March 24, at 8 p.m. in Frohring Recital Hall.  He will play works by Bach, Coste, Villa Lobos, and Paganini.  Petric, a longtime instructor in the Music Department, has performed widely and won awards in many competitions.  Soundboard Magazine characterized his playing as “articulate and expressive, showing his technical command of his instrument.”

Leadership and Involvement Nominations

Excellence in Leadership & Involvement Awards
Sunday, May 1st at 2:00 p.m. in the Krabil Gardens

The Office of Campus Involvement is now seeking nomincations for the 2005 Excellence in Leadership & Involvement Awards. These awards are designed to honor individuals,student organizations, and advisors that have made outstanding contributions to their communitites through their involvement, service, and leadership activities.

Individual students, faculty, and staff as well as departments and organizations are invited to submit nominations for these awards.  To nominate someone for an award please go to the web site and submit a statement of support that describes how the nominee demonstrates an outstanding commitment to achieving excellence in the areas outlined by the specific award description.

Lewis Convocation March 29

"Kent State, May 4, 1970: Then and Now" will be the next talk in the Convocation Series on Tuesday, March 29 at 12:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Ballroom.  Dr. Jerry Lewis will be the speaker.  Dr. Lewis was an eyewitness to the Kent State shootings, which tragically took the lives of four students and injured nine others.   Dr. Lewis will discuss the events that led to that fateful day,  discuss the structure of remembering that exists on the Kent State campus, and  conclude with a discussion on the rewards and costs of  social memories.

Professor Lewis is an emeritus professor from Kent State where he joined the faculty in 1966.  His research interests include crowd behavior, sociology of sport, and sociology of teaching.

Upcoming Senior Seminar Presentations -- Communication

Communication Senior Seminar Presentations
Pritchard Room of the Library
Tuesday and Thursday Evenings
7:00 P.M.

March 22

Michiko Hirose  “ Impact of Cultural Values:  Analysis of Japanese and U.S. Newspaper Coverage for Iraqi Hostage Situation”
Lina Jarad      “Effective Resistance Strategies for Palestinians”

 March 24

Audra Byler    “Adolescent Same-Sex Female Friendships:  How important are the issues of popularity and ‘belonging’ to socially acceptable cliques; is individuality compromised in these pursuits?”
Abbey Kos      “All My Heroes are Dead”:  Dar Williams as Heir to the Throne of Bob Dylan”
Valeria Johnson  “What are the Communication Differences that Men and Women Use to Cope with Stress?”

 March 29

Audrey Wagstaff  “U.S. Media’s Role in Shaping Public Opinion of Cuba”
Barrie Schmidt   “The Portrayal of Women in Advertisements in Gender Neutral Magazines”
Sheila Stubbs    “Ebonics:  African-Americans Perceptions of Communication”

 March 31

Colleen Kardaz  “Becoming Commander in Chief:  A Rhetorical Study of Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and George Walker Bush and Their Responses to Times of Crisis”
Derek Stanton  “Stereotyped Women’s Portrayals in Baseball Films”
Della Alltop    “Acceptance of Intercultural Relationships”

 April 5

Amanda Hummel  “Comparisons of Objectivity in Mainstream Newspapers and Tabloids”
Dan Murphy   “Objectivity in Sports Journalism”

April 7

Laura Jackson  “The Evangelical Appeal to the Masses: the Salvadoran Lutheran Church
Dante’ DeLisio   “Are Coaches’ Recruiting Messages Matching the Student-Athletes’ Message Processing?”

Upcoming Senior Seminar Presentations -- Chemistry

Chemistry Senior Seminar Presentations
123 Gerstacker  5:30 P.M.

March 17   

Antionette N. Johnson  "Combinatorial Chemistry"

March 22   

Katherine R. Heemstra  "The Emergence of A Novel Class of Antibiotics: The 1st Oxazolidinones"

March 31   

Jennifer A. Leising  "Research exploring novel synthesis of Beta-ketolactone medium sized rings found in medicinal agents"

April 7   

Greg A. Lillvis  "Effects of phosphorylation of E-Cadherin domains on binding with PTPmu and Shc"

Sports Update

Check out the virtual tour of the new Coleman Center!

The tennis teams played Oberlin College last week. The men lost 7-0 at Oberlin, while the women lost 9-0 at home. The Oberlin program is perhaps the strongest it has ever been in tennis, and certainly the best team the Terriers have faced thus far this season. The women host Geneva College (PA) today at 3 p.m. and Ursuline College on Wednesday, March 23, at 4 p.m. The men are off this week.

The baseball team played two of its four scheduled games over the weekend, winning both of them. The doubleheader against Cedarville was rained out, but the Terriers beat Wittenberg 8-5 and Myers University 18-5 to improve their record to 5-6. The team’s home opener is scheduled for this Thursday, March 24, at 3 p.m. at Fishel Field.

 The softball team did not play last week. The team’s home opener is scheduled for Wednesday, March 23, at 3 p.m. at Herndon Field.

 The track & field teams did not compete last week as the team took a break between the indoor and outdoor seasons. The Terriers will not compete until Saturday, April 2.

The men’s golf team is gearing up for its spring season which begins April 2 at Kenyon College.

The women’s golf team is also preparing for its season which starts next week at Grove City College.

Final women’s swimming note: Mark your calendars for the annual CBS NCAA Winter Champions show on April 23 at 1 p.m. ET. Beth Groselle, who was interviewed by CBS at the meet, will be featured in this show.