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NEWS:

WSU Celebrates Student Athlete
Academic Achievement


Worcester State Theatre to
present "Boy Gets Girl"

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NOTEWORTHY:

Stephen Healy (Physical/Earth Sciences) organized two sessions at the recent Left Forum: Towards a Politics of Solidarity held at Pace University in New York City March 18-20. The 3rd annual conference was attended by 3,000 people and featured Cornell West, Francis Fox Piven, and Barbara Erenreich among many others. At both sessions Professor Healy organized the theoretical contributions and pedagogical approach of the late Julie Graham.

Julie was a Clark University graduate and a professor of Geography at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She died April 4, 2010, from complications associated with cancer treatment. Julie along with her co-author and lifelong collaborator Kath Gibson (University of Western Sydney) are internationally recognized scholars on community based approaches to just and sustainable economic development. The talks given at the two sessions commemorated Julie's life and work were given by her current and former students: besides Professor Healy, Kevin St. Martin (Rutgers University), Marianna Pavlovskaya (Hunter College), Susan Jahoda Umass along with current graduate students--Sean Tanner (Rutgers) Abby Templer (Umass), Leo Hwang-Carlos (Umass), Janelle Cornwell (Umass).These sessions were an attempt at providing a fitting tribute to a scholar whose work has inspired activists and academics alike both in New England and throughout the world.

Professor Healy has also organized sessions at the upcoming Association of American Geographers conference, for which he is chairing, presenting and discussing. He was also been invited as a featured speaker at the Historical Materialism conference in May.



Kat O'Connor (Visual & Performing Arts) had three of her paintings accepted into Dreaming in Color, the spring exhibition of The Worcester Windows Community Gallery. Her paintings 3, Fox Creek Marsh, and Morning Mist, Lake Sherman, will be on display at Bay State Savings Bank, 28 Franklin Street in Worcester from April 4- July 31, 2011.



Amaryllis Siniossoglou (Visual & Performing Arts) has been accepted to exhibit two of her prints at the juried exhibition ? Routs,? on view at the Goddard House in Worcester from April 10-May 8. More information can be found at the Goddard House website.



Mark Wagner's (English) second book of poetry, a chapbook called Home Building, has been published by Finishing Line Press.



Adam Zahler (Visual & Performing Arts) presented two staged readings of scenes from Breaking the Code, his current project with Underground Railway Theatre and the Catalyst Collaborative. Breaking the Code is about Alan Turing, the esteemed mathematician, code-breaker, and father of computer science.

On March 14, Zahler and the cast of Breaking the Code presented the reading at the MIT Museum in Cambridge. A discussion with the audience followed at which the actors and director were joined by MIT Morss Professor of Applied Mathematics and MacArthur Fellowship recipient, Peter Shor.

On March 15, the reading was performed at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A discussion about the work of Alan Turing followed the reading with a panel of A.A.A.S. members: Shafi Goldwasser, RSA Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT; Silvio Micali, Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT; Ronald Rivest, Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT; and Laurence Senelick, Director of Graduate Studies and Fletcher Professor of Drama and Oratory at Tufts University. Breaking the Code runs in Cambridge from April 7 to May 8

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AROUND CAMPUS:

Nationally Known Author and Panel to
Discuss School Food in America

Nationally known author Jan Poppendieck, a sociology professor at Hunter College, City University of New York, is this year's speaker for the Cy Topol Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, April 5 at 11:30 a.m. in the Student Center Blue Lounge.

Poppendieck's most recent book, Free for All: Fixing School Food in America has just been published to rave reviews. She is also author of the classic, Sweet Charity. Free for All explores the history of school lunches in America and documents the financial and policy constraints that determine what kids eat. Jan envisions a system that provides healthy, affordable and fresh food for the nation's students. This topic is particularly hot because of the reauthorization of the child nutrition act.

There will also be a panel of respondents who are involved in the hunger network at the local level: Donna Lombardi, Director of School Food Services for Worcester Public Schools, Justine Kahn, Director of Child Nutrition Outreach for Project Bread and Maureen Binienda, Principal of South High Community School.


"Behind the Swoosh" featured
at Diversity Lecture Series

Jim Keady, of Educating for Justice, told a crowd of students, faculty and staff about Nike labor practices in Indonesia as part of the Worcester State University Diversity Lecture Series last Wednesday. His lecture "Behind the Swoosh: Sweatshops and Social Justice," began with a short film.

Keady detailed the month he spent in an Indonesian factory workers' slum living on $1.25 a day, a typical wage paid to Nike's subcontracted workers. According to Keady, Nike has $19 billion in revenue and $1.9 billion in profits. He also stated that Nike employs over one million workers in over 1,000 factories in 52 countries. "These workers produce the real wealth for Nike," said Keady. "Success cannot be about purely profit."  Keady quoted the price of a pair of Nike Air Jordans at $220. He calculates the cost of making the pair of sneakers $16.25. The materials cost $10.75; Labor $2.43; overhead $2.10, materials $10.75 and factory profit $00.97.

In addition to the low wages, Keady noted that Nike -- and many other manufacturers -- dump and burn waste rubber from the soles of shoes. He showed video of heaps of burning rubber in Indonesian dump sites near where children were playing. "Our video crew would wait outside the factory and follow the dump trucks and this is what we found," Keady said.

He stressed that Nike is not alone in corporate exploitation of workers, nor are Indonesian workers the only exploited workers. "But Nike is the largest. If we can make a case and change the way Nike does business, then we will build from there."

The series is sponsored by the student Center/Student Activities Office, Disability Services, Third World Alliance, WSU Pride Alliance and People's United Bank.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Retirement and Employee Service Reception
President Ashley invites the campus community to the annual Retirement and Employee Service Recognition Celebration and Reception on Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 3 p.m. in the Student Center Blue Lounge. Please RSVP to x8666 by May 4. Hot buffet to be served.

Nominations Sought for Extraordinary Dedication Awards
Each year during our Opening Day Conference, we take a moment to recognize faculty and staff who go that extra mile for our students and colleagues. Recipients of the WSU Extraordinary Dedication Awards are nominated by their co-workers and have shown a consistent commitment to advancing the mission of the university.

Please consider nominating a colleague for this prestigious award. Nominations should be sent via email to debquinn@worcester.edu or through campus mail until Friday, May 13, 2011. Please include information as to why you believe this individual is deserving of this honor.

Six individuals will be recognized in three categories: faculty, administrators (exempt and APA) and staff (AFSCME, Unit 1 and Unit 2). The nominees will be reviewed by a committee comprised of last year's recipients and their recommendation will be forwarded directly to me. Announcement of the awardees will be kept confidential until our program on Thursday, September 1, 2011.

Congratulations to...
John Goodchild - Faculty, Chemistry; Bonnie Orcutt - Faculty, Business and Denise Thomas - Clerk, Business. They each won tickets to Cirque Mechanics Boom Town as part of the Faculty and Staff Annual Campaign.

Academic Scholarship Deadline Extended to April 8
During the final week of the WSU academic scholarships application period, the online application malfunctioned. The scholarship application team sincerely apologizes for the inconvenience this caused students. To allow affected students time to complete and submit new forms, the deadline has been extended to Friday, April 8. Students submitting the online application have until 9 p.m. on April 8th; students who have a printed application from the Financial Aid Office have until 2 p.m. to return them to Financial Aid. More details, including instructions on how to get technical assistance, are available at www.worcester.edu/scholarships.

Summer Reading for K-8 :: Worcester "Give-a-Book" Drive
Worcester State University will once again participate in the annual Worcester "Give- A-Book?" Drive. Thanks to your generosity, WSU has donated over 1300 books in the last two years. The drive is put on by "Worcester: The City that Reads" committee which is led by school committee member John Monfredo. The goal of the city-wide book drive is to collect K-8 level books for distribution by the Worcester Public Schools to students who don't have the means to obtain adequate books for summer reading. New or gently used books would be greatly appreciated. Books will be collected until the end of April in the Public Relations and Marketing Office (Admin Building, Room 231). If you have any questions or need a helping hand getting them to the office, please call 508-929-8018. Thank You!!

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WSU IN THE NEWS:

College Town
Telegram & Gazette 4/3/11
Worcester State University: Tommy Lucas served as a community organizer through the Pernet Family Health Services' Leadership Training Academy for the Green ...


Worcester State expects to name new boss today
Telegram & Gazette 4/4/11
The board of trustees at Worcester State University is expected to choose a new president tonight. The trustees, who meet at 6:30 tonight, have interviewed ...


Double degree option for state college transfer students
Telegram & Gazette 4/1/11
Presidents of Fitchburg and Worcester State universities and Mount Wachusett and Quinsigamond community colleges signed a ?Finish First? agreement yesterday that will let students from the two ...


WSU candidate Battle stresses fundraising
Telegram & Gazette 4/1/11
To that end, Stanley F. Battle, the fourth and final candidate to be interviewed by the Worcester State University board of trustees, was blunt in his ...


Maloney touts school, private housing plan in WSU interview
Telegram & Gazette 3/31/11
Increasing Worcester State University's role in the community would not only help address practical needs, but could have a potentially restorative...


Bilotta looks to bright future for Worcester State
Telegram & Gazette 3/30/11
Mark P. Bilotta told the Worcester State University board of trustees yesterday that if he was selected as the school's next president, he would build a ...


Worcester State finalist Conneely stresses teamwork
Telegram & Gazette 3/25/11
James F. Conneely told the Worcester State University Board of Trustees last night that one of the best working relationships he has had...

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