Archive for July, 2012
July 19, 2012
Professor of Theatre Studies David Hammond will direct the premiere production of British playwright Simon Bent’s play The Tall Boy for the summer new play series at the University of North Texas in Denton.
Guilford’s Department of Theatre Studies hosted the initial workshop of the piece in February 2011, culminating in a public staged reading featuring actor Tandy Cronyn. After a year of rewrites, the play opens in Denton Aug. 2 with Tandy reprising her role.
July 19, 2012
Guilford College and higher education confront unprecedented fiscal stresses, economic uncertainties and strident questions about curriculum and pedagogy. Here we need to avoid the panic that engulfed the University of Virginia this summer or the complacency of other institutions that “business as usual” is good enough.
To this end, President Kent Chabotar has established an innovative grants program as part of SLRP II’s implementation. It is open to faculty, staff and students for new ideas that will increase enrollment, boost revenue or cut costs. Small grants, including honoraria, will be available starting in spring 2013. It will provide some flexibility and an opportunity for “outside the box” thinking even in tough budget times.
We have relied on other colleges and universities who have already launched such programs in developing our own. A draft version of the program prospectus including criteria and application forms can be found here.
Please direct questions and suggestions to Michelle Cole, grants coordinator, at colemd@guilford.edu. We will publish the prospectus a second time in August at the start of the academic year.
July 19, 2012
Faculty member Robert Malekoff has written a column, “Fans are Part of the Problem (and Solution) in PSU and Other Scandals,” that was published by College Sports Business News on July 18. Another column by Robert, one criticizing universities’ spending on athletics, appeared less than a week earlier in the Greensboro News & Record.
“It’s not my intent to disparage Joe Paterno, as so many have done in recent days,” the associate professor and chair of the Department of Sport Studies wrote of Pennsylvania State University’s former head football coach. “Today, even his most ardent supporters would acknowledge his playing at least some role in allowing unspeakably harmful acts against defenseless children. But I find the massive ‘piling on’ excessive and even a bit unseemly. Some of those who seem to be taking so much satisfaction over stomping on a dead man’s grave might do well to think about their own tangential role in this tragic affair.
“We sports fans tend to assign all kinds of positive personal characteristics to players and coaches we admire, whether earned or not. Winning championships and scoring touchdowns doesn’t necessarily make someone a good person, but we are quick to put the Joe Paternos, John Caliparis, et al on pedestals, reveling in every success and finding convenient excuses for actions and behaviors we might normally be quick to condemn. That’s how we empower our heroes to do as they please, often oblivious to who might be adversely impacted by their actions. Make no mistake about it, we fans play a seminal role in creating and nurturing an environment that allows for – at times even encourages – various abuses … some relatively innocuous, and others despicable, like what occurred in central Pennsylvania.”
Robert, a lifelong fan of Penn State athletics, wrote that supporters of college athletics must demand an overhaul of a “too often corrupt and ultimately unsustainable system.”
His earlier column, “Sports spending rages out of control,” appeared in the News & Record on July 15.
“The biggest scandal in American higher education is not a star quarterback being paid by a booster, the relatively low graduation rates of football and men’s basketball players, and certainly not an historically muddled method of choosing a national football champion,” he wrote.
“The real indignity at our ‘big time’ universities is the fact that exorbitant spending increases in college sports dwarf new financial support for overall institutional needs, and that – at many schools – unchecked athletic expenditures come at a time when faculty, class offerings, financial aid, and student services are being severely cut.”
NCAA Division I football recently adopted a four-team playoff that will begin in 2014 and is expected to raise at least $600 million per year.
“Now that the presidents have accommodated powerful coaches and conference commissioners,” Robert asked, “when might they consider standing up for Joe Student?”
The column on spending also was published July 2 by College Sports Business News and July 17 by the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune.
July 19, 2012
The Guilford College Catalog 2012-14 has been posted to the public website and to GuilfordNet (login required).
July 19, 2012
Ed and Vivien Bauman of Greensboro, longtime friends of Guilford, have made a $900,000 real estate gift to the Advancing Excellence campaign to enhance Founders Hall, the College’s student center. More
July 19, 2012
Jeff Thigpen, who as a 27-year-old in 1998 became the youngest county commissioner in Guilford County’s history, profiles 16 young leaders in his new book, On Point: Voices and Values of the Young Elected Officials.
The book describes the experience of the officials in life, politics and campaigning, and offers leadership advice for young people considering public service.
Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell wrote the book’s forward, stating, “In a time where slogans of a few words capture a position, and controversy swirls with each news cycle, On Point offers refreshing and timely insights from a new generation of young elected officials, in the eternal struggle to build a more perfect union.”
Jeff met the former senator when he visited Guilford College for a Bryan Series lecture in spring 2004. Also, he credits former Guilford professor Bill Schmickle as one of the people who inspired him to write the book.
After becoming the youngest county commissioner in the state in 1998, Jeff served six years on the board, including a year as vice chairman. A Greensboro resident, he was elected county register of deeds in 2004 and 2008.
A native of southeastern North Carolina, Jeff played baseball for the Quakers while majoring in political science, and justice and policy studies. He worked at Guilford as an admission counselor and earned a master’s degree in public affairs from UNCG.
The book was the subject of an article in the Greensboro News & Record.
July 19, 2012
EMF fringe presents Soul Central with J-Bird on the lawn in front of Founders Hall at 6 p.m. Sunday, July 22. The local band plays a mix of oldies, Motown and other favorites.
The free concert is part of Music for a Sunday Evening in the Park, a 13-event series presented by the City Arts Music Center.
July 19, 2012
Lucky 32 restaurant’s Farm-to-Fork blog featured Korey Erb, Guilford’s “rock star farmer,” in a July 16 post.
“Korey calls me twice a week with beautiful, fresh vegetables for the restaurant,” chef Jay Pierce wrote. “Right now we’re using the heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers (we should have more in 2 weeks) summer squash and zucchini, and beet greens, the daily vegetable on Saturday’s menu.”
The post includes the recipe for the restaurant’s Roasted Sesame Squash, which is being made with squash from the Guilford Farm. Cultivating about an acre, the farm sells produce to the Guilford and Oak Ridge Military Academy cafeterias; Lucky 32, Josephine’s and Elizabeth’s restaurants; and Deep Roots Market, a natural foods cooperative.
That’s in addition to the roughly two dozen subscribers who pay $60 for Community Supported Agriculture shares. CSA subscribers pick up a box of seasonal produce once a week for four weeks.
July 19, 2012
Students completing their degree requirements this month are invited to a reception in their honor at 6 p.m. Friday, July 20, in the Community Center. The reception provides a time for the community to acknowledge graduates, who are encouraged to attend commencement in May 2013.
July 19, 2012
The Snow Camp Outdoor Theatre has begun its 39th season featuring the Revolutionary War drama The Sword of Peace and the Underground Railroad saga Pathway to Freedom.
The Snow Camp Historical Drama Society was organized in 1971 to promote the rich heritage of the Quakers in the Snow Camp area. The season runs through Aug. 18 and includes a number of Guilford student, staff and alumni performers:
- Jonathan Shine’12 - music director, plays Levi Coffin in Pathway to Freedom
- Amburee Edwards’15 – Bonner summer intern, plays Cloe in Pathway to Freedom
- Puja Tolton’13 – plays Katie Coffin in Pathway to Freedom
- James Shields’00 – plays Preacher John in Pathway to Freedom
- Chelsey Wilson’13 – director of audience development
Tickets cost $16 for adults, $14 for those 60 or older, and $8 for children 12 or younger.
Set during the American Revolution, The Sword of Peace explores the struggles peaceful Quakers face in a time of war. General Nathanael Green, second in command of the Continental Army under General George Washington, is about to meet Lord Cornwallis, commander of British forces, at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.
Like his neighbors, Quaker miller Simon Dixon is faced with an important decision: take up arms or remain true to his faith. Simon and other historical characters reveal their heart-wrenching decisions in this action-packed tribute to the Quakers.
Pathway to Freedom is an account of the struggles and heroism of the 1840s and 1850s along the Underground Railroad from North Carolina to Indiana. Both individuals and some of the organized religions fought slavery in the legislature and on the farms, while some, like Levi and Katie Coffin of Guilford County, led volunteers and free slaves in clandestine efforts to help escaping slaves on their journey to freedom.
Focused on George Vestal, the son of a slave-owning family who became a worker for the Underground Railroad, the play traces the actions of slave families in their hope of gaining freedom and dignity. The score, composed by Ann Hunt Smith, is based on the music of the period. Written by Mark R. Sumner, the story helps explain our past and shines a light to the future, urging us to work for what ought to be.
