The Harbinger

November 13, 2006



Hiram receives $46,000 grant from Ohio Environmental Educational Fund


Hiram College has been awarded a $46,044 grant by the Ohio EPA Office of Environmental Education to produce multi-media training for the testing of the headwaters of Ohio streams.

The project is led by Professor of Biology Dennis Taylor. Valerian Anderson, Hiram’s director of the Center for Educational Technology, will provide support using the college’s Sakai open-source software system.

Taylor, who will involve Hiram students in the project, will create instructional materials, including online slideshows, online quizzes and tests, videos, podcasts, and DVDs. These will be coordinated with an Ohio EPA manual and field test. By making an online educational module available on the Hiram College website, the Ohio EPA will not have to require those who want to become certified to collect and report data on the headwaters of Ohio ’s steams to come to Columbus for training.

“The Ohio Environmental Education Fund (OEEF) is very excited to sponsor exceptional environmental educational projects such as (Hiram’s),” environmental public information officer Vicki Saunders told Taylor in an e-mail.

“This blended model of course development – online, face-to-face, and field test – is the best of worlds,” said Taylor , whose target audience includes environmental consultants, the academic community, regulatory entities, and the general public.

Taylor and Anderson will work with Hiram students to build the educational module components during the spring of 2007, test them in early summer and then, following feedback, place them online in late summer.

 Taylor is one of the leaders of the Hiram College Center for the Study of Nature and Society which, utilizing the College’s 360-acre James H. Barrow Field Station, seeks to sustain ecological systems, heighten the environmental awareness and global thinking of the Hiram and Northeast Ohio communities, and promote locally sound environmental action.

 Hiram College ’s water-quality assessment training is the result of a change in state regulations that mandates such training. Hiram College ’s grant was one of eight totaling $342,426 approved by the OEEF in its fall grant round.



Stewart to co-chair national student ministry


Trayce Stewart, a sophomore at Hiram College, will serve as the student co-chair of the Council for Ecumenical Student Christian Ministries (CESCM) through 2007. CESCM is an association of seven mainline Protestant denominations working together on campus and student ministries and is the primary relation to the World Student Christian Federation.

Trayce’s year-long term as co-chair will begin in January of 2007. Her first assignment will be to represent CESCM at the National Council of Church ’ s meeting in Orlando January 7-9. CESCM will meet again in the spring, a meeting she will help plan and oversee.

Read the full article published about Trayce in the 2006 Higher Education & Leadership Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) on the Hiram College homepage.


Love letters and lies in the coffee shop


Wednesday evening the Theatre Guild is hosting a reading of Dear Liar. The two-person play is based on correspondence between playwright and theatre critic George Bernard Shaw and his paramour, prominent English actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell. Professors Rick Hyde and Betsy Bauman will read the parts based on Shaw and Campbell.

The reading will begin at 8 p.m. in the coffee shop on the first floor of the Kennedy Center .



Fall Concert, Wednesday


The Hiram College Jazz Ensemble and Afro-Cuban Drum Ensemble will present their fall concert Wednesday, November 15, in Frohring Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.

Featured on the program will be works by Frank Foster, Hoagy Carmichael, James Van Heusen, Dave Koz, Don Menza, Sammy Nestico, and Richard Evans.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Thursday, GAIA Gender-Studies Reading Group


Join Assistant Professor of English Kirsten Parkinson for the second GAIA Gender-Studies Reading Group. The group will meet on Thursday, November 16, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Bonney Castle Parlor.

The topic for this second meeting is “Gender and Film.” The article for discussion is Judith Mayne’s “Feminist Film Theory and Criticism,” (Signs, 11.1 [1985]: 81-100). The article can be accessed here: http://www.jstor.org/view/00979740/sp040042/04x2183y/0

Following is Professor Parkinson’s synopsis of the discussion:

Early feminist film theory posits the idea of the male spectator and the female object: men both within films and as cinema’s implied audience have control over the act of looking and watching, and women are constructed as the passive objects of that gaze. Feminist film theory also argues that traditional cinema gives the power of storytelling to men, further disempowering women. Judith Mayne’s article provides an overview of these early arguments; she also offers an analysis of the role of contradiction in cinema and in feminist film criticism. Our discussion will look at the main points of Mayne’s text and consider to what extent these early arguments still hold water. Are the male spectator and male gaze still the norm in movieland? Are there contemporary films that offer alternative narrative structures? Is there room for the female spectator and female gaze in today’s cinema?

Additional reading on this topic:

Feminist Film Theory: A Reader, edited by Sue Thornham, which includes both of these important essays in the field:

  • Mulvey, Laura.  “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Screen 16.3 (1975): 6-18.
  • Doane, Mary Ann.  “Film and the Masquerade: Theorising the Female Spectator.” Screen 23.3-4 (1982): 74-88.

 

Fall choral performance this Friday


Take a break from preparing for finals and enjoy one of Hiram's premier choral events. Hear performances by the Hiram Men's Chorus, the Hiram Women's Chorus, Save the Goats, the Madrigal Singers, and the Hiram College Choir.

The performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Hayden Auditorium.


  • Hiram College Choir, Madrigal Singers, Save the Goats Quartet
    • John Drotleff, conductor

  • Hiram Men's Chorus
    • Tina Dreisbach, conductor
    • Amanda Cagle, accompanist

  • Hiram Women's Chorus
    • Damaris Peters Pike, conductor
    • Pat Amor, accompanist

TIAA-CREF seminar for faculty and staff

 
Recently, all TIAA-CREF participants have received information on new enhancements which were added to Hiram College ’s retirement plan.

If you would like more information or simply to ask some questions, please attend one of two seminars being held on Friday of this week.

11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

or

2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Both seminars will be held in the Alumni Heritage Room, Teachout-Price Hall

Topics to be covered will include:

  • What hasn’t changed and what has changed in regards to  Hiram College ’s Retirement Plan?
  • What new investment options are now available?
  • How can I take advantage of the new funds offered by TIAA-CREF?
  • How can TIAA-CREF assist me in better understanding if I need to make a change or stay with my current choices? 

Don’t miss this seminar – it may provide new ideas for you to consider when investing for your retirement needs.

 

Weather.com predicts meteor showers

 
On Saturday, November 18, a few showers may be possible with lows in the 30s. If the evening skies are clear, head out to the field station to experience a shower of another kind – the Leonid meteor shower. Earth will be in close proximity to the 1932 dust trail left by the parent comet Tempel-Tuttle, and this will be one of the last good viewings of the meteors for some years.

 
In addition to viewing the meteors, a telescope will be on site to view planets and other distant objects in the night sky. Light refreshments and a bonfire will be available. Restroom facilities and a warm-up room also will be accessible.

 
This event is sponsored by the Stephens Memorial Observatory and the James H. Barrow Field Station. Viewing will begin at 7 p.m. and end at 1 a.m. This event is open to the public. Cloudy skies will cancel the party!

 
For more information, go to www.stephensobservatory.org .

 

 

This Week at Hiram

 

Monday, November 13 

  • Chamber Orchestra Concert
    7:30 p.m.     , Frohring Music Recital Hall


Tuesday, November 14

  • College Assembly
    12:30 p.m.     , Kennedy Center Ballroom

 

Wednesday, November 15

  • Fall concert: Jazz Ensemble and Afro-Cuban Drum Ensemble
    7:30 p.m.     , Frohring Music Recital Hall
  • Theatre Guild presents Dear Liar
    8 p.m.     , Kennedy Center coffee shop

 

Thursday, November 16

  • GAIA Gender Studies Reading Group
    Noon     , Bonney Castle Parlor

 

Friday, November 17
12-week classes end
Weekend College Classes Meet

  • TIAA-CREF seminar
    11 a.m.     , Alumni Heritage Room
  • TIAA-CREF seminar
    2 p.m.     , Alumni Heritage Room
  • Swimming & Diving @ Oberlin College
    7:30 p.m.     , Oberlin , Ohio


Saturday, November 18
Weekend College & Master's Classes Meet

  • Leonid Meteor Shower (weather permitting)
    7 p.m.     , James H. Barrow Field Station

Sunday, November 19
Final Exams
Weekend College Classes Meet


Terrier Athletics

http://www.hiram.edu/athletics/index.html.

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