Campus Report
News, Calendar & Events

A scholar of Japanese and American literature will visit SUNY Fredonia to present two lectures on the novelist Haruki Murakami March 6 and 7. The talks, presented by the Mary Louise White Fund, are free and open to the public.

The SUNY Fredonia Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Paula Holcomb, will present its first concert of the spring semester on Saturday, March 8, at 4 p.m. in King Concert Hall.  Featured soloists on the program are Fredonia violin professor, Janet Sung, and Fredonia percussion music major, Doug Feig.  The event is free and open to the public

The SUNY Fredonia College Symphony, under the direction of Dr. David Rudge, will perform in King Concert Hall on Saturday, March 1, at 8 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public. This concert features one of this year’s School of Music Concerto Competition Winners, Taishi Nonaka, cellist, performing Camille Saint-Saens’ “Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in A minor.”

The clear, resounding pitch produced by Dresden-style timpani can now be heard during performances in both the intimate Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall and spacious King Concert Hall, as well as in student percussion lessons at the SUNY Fredonia School of Music. The five new timpani, valued at nearly $50,000, were purchased as part of the equipment renovation project for the new Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall

The public relations curriculum at SUNY Fredonia has selected two agencies for its eighth annual 2008 Community Partners program. In the senior capstone course, Public Relations Management, students will develop strategic campaigns to benefit Literacy Volunteers of Chautauqua County and the 1891 Fredonia Opera House, local nonprofit organizations facing public relations challenges.

Gerald Thomas Gray, D.M.A., associate professor of voice and conductor of the Fredonia College Choir, is Polyphemus (tenor) on the recently-released compact disc  "Acis and Galatea," performed by the baroque orchestra, Musica Angelica, under musical director and conductor Martin Haselbock. Dr. Gray will be touring with the orchestra as it performs the work this summer.  "Acis and Galatea" is a one act opera composed by George Frederick Handel in 1718.  Musica Angelica performs on period instruments. The recording appears with the New Classical Adventure label.

CTS tutors are each paid an hourly wage to work a scheduled number of hours (from two to six) for drop-in students at the Learning Center

Fredonia graduate ('06) Kristen Orser, currently a graduate student and faculty member in the English Department at Columbia College Chicago is organizing “Critical Encounters” which is a series of lectures and discussions on issues of social justice. This year’s theme, “Poverty and Privilege” is inspired by her Fredonia J-term travel to Venezuela (2005).

SUNY Fredonia graduate student Nicole Specht has been appointed to a one-year term as the student member of the New York State Speech-Language and Hearing Association’s Board of Directors. 

Professor Ellen Litwicki, chairperson of the history department at SUNY Fredonia, will present a talk entitled “From Emerson’s ‘Portion of Thyself’ to the Gift Registry: Defining the Gift” during the Brown Bag Lecture Series on Wednesday, March 5, at noon in S104 of the Williams Center. The event is free and open to all campus and community members. Refreshments will be served. 

The Saakumu Dance Troupe of Ghana, dedicated to introducing audiences to traditional and contemporary African dance and music, will be visiting SUNY Fredonia for workshops and performances on campus and in the community on Feb. 20, 21 and 22.

The SUNY Fredonia School of Music announces a performance by world-renown and Grammy-winning composer and violin/fiddle virtuoso, Mark O'Connor.  He will perform a solo recital on Tuesday, Feb. 26, at 8 p.m. in the Rosch Recital Hall on the SUNY Fredonia campus.

The SUNY Fredonia School of Music presents a guest artist concert with pianist Logan Skelton on Saturday, March 1, at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall.  A master class with Fredonia piano students is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 29 at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall.  Both events are free and open to the public.  

The Blue Devils advance to a SUNYAC semifinal matchup 7 p.m. Saturday at No. 9 ranked Oswego. The Lakers, seeded No. 2 in the SUNYAC Tournament, are the defending NCAA Division III national champs.

Theatre Professor James Ivey is reading the role of Nuremberg Chief Judge Francis Beverley Biddle during a performance of the play, “Trying,” occurring Saturday, March 1, at 7 p.m. at the Robert H. Jackson Center, 305 East Fourth Street in Jamestown. Junior musical theatre major Chelsea Claiser  will complete the duo in this two-person, dramatic reading. The campus community is invited to a reception afterward hosted by the Fredonia Alumni Association.

The East Coast premiere of a play based upon the life of the filmmaker who chronicled the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany will be staged this month by the Department of Theatre and Dance. “Aunt Raini” will be the third event in the 2007-08 Walter Gloor Mainstage Series and will feature a visit from the New Mexico playwright, Tom Smith. There will be six performances in Bartlett Theatre at Rockefeller Arts Center starting Feb. 22.

For the second year in a row, the Fredonia State hockey team and the SUNY Fredonia Sports Management students teamed up for the fight against breast cancer. Pink the Rink ’08 was held Friday, February 8th, at the Steele Hall Ice Arena. The Fredonia State Blue Devils won against SUNYAC rival Cortland.

School of Music faculty members will show off their artistic talents in the annual "Faculty Showcase Concert" Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to all. The diverse program includes works by such composers as Mozart and Rossini to jazz and traditional music of Guinea.

Filmmaker Dennis Burkhart will present his travelogue in person at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23 at Rockefeller Arts Center. “Hawaii: The Pacific Paradise” will be shown in King Concert Hall as part of the World Travel Series sponsored by Fredonia Place. It is part of the 2007-08 Lake Shore Savings Season at the arts center.

School of Music violin professor Maureen Yuen will present an evening of music with her faculty colleague and pianist Sang Woo Kang on March 20 at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. The program includes works by Igor Stravinsky, Beethoven and Saint-Saens.  This event is re-scheduled from Feb. 15.

President Dennis L. Hefner gave the campus and Dunkirk-Fredonia communities their first glimpse of the highly anticipated SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator on Thursday, Jan. 31, when he reviewed several design boards for the planned 21,000-square-foot, two-story facility. The Incubator, to be located on a vacant parcel of land at 214 Central Avenue in the City of Dunkirk, will be able to support up to 31 start-up companies.

Faculty and outstanding students of the Fredonia School of Music will present the first of two recitals dedicated to 20th-century chamber music on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. Meant to be "user friendly," the recitals will include discussion of the pieces and demonstration of the performance techniques involved. The second recital will be performed on March 15.

The Children’s Concerts Series continues season with the Fredonia School of Music trumpet ensemble on Saturday, Feb. 16 at the Chautauqua County Home in Dunkirk.  The performers will be Fredonia School of Music students.  Planned with the help of SUNY Fredonia faculty who are experts in music and education, the concerts are designed to introduce very young audiences (from infants to 6-year-olds) to musical instruments.

SUNY Fredonia alumnus (1973 chemistry and biology) Michael A. Marletta has won the 2008 Murray Goodman Memorial Prize for “contributions towards a molecular understanding of nitric oxide signaling and gas sensing using chemical and biophysical methods.”  The award consists of a $10,000 cash prize and a banquet in honor of the recipient. The prize will be presented during the 2008 American Chemical Society meeting, in a special award symposium held in conjunction with the ACS Division of Biological Chemistry.

Three students will win individual awards of $350 and the opportunity to perform or present their work.

Two articles by Karry A. Kazial, assistant professor of biology, are in press. Both include SUNY Fredonia students as co-authors.

Linda Dorsten, professor of sociology and coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Minor in Public Health, and Dr. Yuhui Li (Rowan University), are recipients of a Funds for the Advance of the Discipline (FAD) award to continue their study of health in China. Their project is titled, "Data Collection and Modeling in Hard-to-Study but Rapidly Growing Populations:  Socio-Economic Development, Ethnic Population and Elder Health in China." 

Soprano Angela Haas (formerly Dilkey) will perform a faculty recital Friday, Feb. 8 at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. The program features Argento's Pulitzer Prize-winning song cycle "From the Diary of Virginia Woolf".  Dr. Haas will also be performing songs by Strauss, Wolf, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff with pianist Anne Kissel Harper.

Dr. Beez (Lea Ann) Schell was named the founding director of SUNY Fredonia's new Professional Development Center, which will open upon her arrival to the post in June. Concurrently, she will hold the faculty rank of professor in the Department of Sports Management and Exercise Science

Janet Knapp, possessing nearly 10 years of experience in the Educational Development Program at SUNY Fredonia, has been named its interim director through February 2009.  The appointment followed the departure of Kathleen Bonds, who has accepted a position as director of the Educational Opportunity Program at Erie Community College.