Brown Bag Lecture looks at art, architecture during WPA

The March 4 Brown Bag Lecture Series at the Agricultural Heritage Museum will deal with 1930s art and architecture in South Dakota. The lecture begins at the museum at Noon.

John Day, professor emeritus of art at the University of South Dakota, will give the lecture. He has a longstanding interest in the WPA (Works Progress Administration), one of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs designed to create employment for writers, artists and architects during the Depression.

Day’s presentation gives a survey of South Dakota WPA art from photography to architecture. The lecture shows numerous images and is conversational.

For more information, contact the museum at 688-6226.

The Bandshell in Pioneer Park was one of the WPA projects in South Dakota built during the Depression.

PAC concert to trace story of women through music

Twenty centuries of music will be played by Minnesota musician Laura Pelon on a variety of ancient and modern musical instruments March 4 at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center.

In a program called, “Women in Music: Someone Will Remember Us,” Pelon will trace the story of women in music with selections from around the globe.

The concert celebrates music written by or for women. Crossing the boundaries of time, distance and culture, Pelon will sing and play approximately 25 ancient and modern instruments—some of which were traditionally played by women and some of which were forbidden to women.

The program will meld Pelon’s original compositions with arrangements of music from ancient Greece, medieval Europe and contemporary Africa, America and Estonia.

For more information contact April Brooks, 688-6042.

Lauren Pelon plays ancient and modern instruments while she traces the history of women and music.

Investment planning day set for early March

The Investment Planning Day, sponsored by the Human Resources Office, will be held March 5 from 9 a.m. to Noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Volstorff Ballroom at The Union.

Concurrent sessions will provide information on various aspects of investment and retirement. General information booths along with booths of commercial investment firms will be staffed from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Door prizes will be offered as well.

For more information, contact Louise Loban, 688-4128, or louise.loban@sdstate.edu.

Conference looks at American Indian histories, cultures

An exploration of American Indian cultures will take place March 6-7 when the Volstorff Ballroom at The Union hosts the 16th annual conference on American Indian Histories and Cultures. The conference is free and open to the public.

The conference theme is “Health, Healing and the Circle of Life: Native Issues and Perspectives.”

The event begins at 8 p.m. Thursday with “Perspectives on Healing and the Circle of Life” by Elden Lawrence, emeritus president of Sisseton Wahpeton College.

Friday at 9 a.m., Burdette Clifford of Sinte Gleska University will address suicide prevention.

Other Friday presenters:

10 a.m. - Bernie Long, physical therapist of Lower Brule Indian Health Service, “Indian Teen Suicides: Experiences with Preventive and Intervention Activities in Lower Brule.”

11 a.m. - John Christopherson, director of the Health and Fitness Center of Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, “Living in Balance: Fitness, Nutrition, and Community.”

1 p.m. - Kelly Morgan of the American Indian Community of Minneapolis, “Twin Cities Health Care at a Glance: What is Working?”

2 p.m. – Patty Bordeaux-Nelson of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe “Disability Issues and Resources in Traditional and Contemporary Tribal Cultures.”

3 p.m. - Del Lonowski, political science professor, will moderate a student paper session.

For more information, contact Charles Woodard, 688-4056, or Al Branum, 688-4815.

Nationally recognized biomass chemistry expert to speak

Joseph Bozell, associate professor of biomass chemistry at the University of Tennessee’s Forest Products Center, will discuss biomass fuels and converting feedstocks at the Lardy Distinguished Lecture Series.

Bozell will speak March 11 at 4:30 p.m. in agricultural engineering 100 in a lecture titled “Can biomass replace petroleum? Biobased sources of chemicals and fuels.”

At noon March 12 in The Union Lewis & Clark room, Bozell will deliver “New methodology for the conversion of renewable feedstock into chemicals and materials.”

Bozell received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from SDSU and a Ph.D. from Colorado State University in organic synthesis and organometallic chemistry. He has been at the University of Tennessee since April 2006.

During a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University, he studied the use of chromium carbene complexes as synthetic reagents and was on the corporate research staff of Monsanto in St. Louis before joining the National Renewal Energy Lab in Golden, Colo.

The Lardy Distinguished Lecture Series in chemistry was established through an endowment from Henry Lardy, a native of Roslyn and 1939 SDSU graduate, who earned a masters and doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin. Lardy pioneered work in livestock artificial insemination and became a recognized authority in biochemistry.

For more information, contact Matt Miller, at 688-5154.

Joseph Bozell will present lectures on the role of chemicals in the production of fuels on campus March 11 and 12.

Director of popular animated TV series to visit SDSU

New York City-based animation artist Patrick Smith will show some of his work during a public presentation March 12. His presentation is from 5 to 7 p.m. in Peterson Recital Hall at Lincoln Music Center.

The artist’s appearance is sponsored by the Department of Visual Arts, the Helen Van Zante visiting artist endowment, AIGA South Dakota, and Daktronics.

Smith will be a visiting artist March 11-13 with the visual arts department as part of its first year offering animation coursework.

Smith has worked on and directed episodes for such popular animated shows as “Beavis and Butthead,” “Daria” and “Down-Town.” He plans to show some of his unaired work during his residency.

While he visits SDSU, Smith will talk about technique and process of developing story and design from script to screen. His work can be seen on his website, www.patsmith.com.

For more information, contact Cable Hardin, 688-4103.

Patrick Smith, artist and animation series director, will talk about his work to students and the public as a visiting artist.

Daschle to address health care crisis at Griffith Lecture

Former Senator Tom Daschle will present the annual Griffith Honors Forum Lecture March 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Larson Memorial Concert Hall of the Performing Arts Center on campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Daschle’s talk, “Confronting America’s Health Care Crisis,” will examine national challenges to accessible, quality and affordable health care. After the lecture, he will sign copies of his newly released book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis.”

Daschle is a special policy advisor to the law firm Alston & Bird and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC. In 2007, he joined former Majority Leaders George Mitchell, Bob Dole and Howard Baker to create the Bipartisan Policy Center, an organization dedicated to finding common ground in response to pressing public policy challenges.

Daschle graduated from SDSU in 1969, followed by service with the United States Air Force’s Strategic Air Command. He served four terms as a U.S. Representative and 18 years as a U.S. Senator representing South Dakota from 1987 to 2005, during which time he served as both U.S. Senate Majority and Minority Leader.

The Griffith Honors Forum Lecture was established in 1999 to support the highest quality enrichment experiences for SDSU Honors College students and the community.

For more information on the Griffith Honors Forum Lecture or the Honors College, contact Dean Robert Burns at 688-4909.

Tom Daschle will present the 2008 Griffith Honors Forum Lecture.

Commercial grape growing workshops scheduled

Two workshops are scheduled to help commercial grape growers in the region.

A hands-on pruning workshop will be offered at Strawbale Winery near Renner March 14. The workshop begins at 4:30 p.m. with field demonstrations, followed by discussion of techniques and training systems in the winery. Pre-registration is required. Registration deadline is March 13, and the cost is $10, payable at the workshop.

An all-day workshop on March 15 in Brookings will cover issues about growing grapes in South Dakota. The morning sessions will deal with topics such as site selection, trellis construction, variety selection and planting. Afternoon sessions will cover more advanced topics such as managing crop load and fertility for production of high quality fruit.

The Brookings workshop takes place in the Northern Plains Biostress Laboratory from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pre-registration through March 10 will cost $20 per person or $30 for two who share materials. Late registration will cost $25 per person.

To register for the March 15 workshop send a check made out to “SDSPA,” Box 2140A – 201 SNP, SDSU, Brookings, S.D. 57007. For more information or to register for the March 14 pruning workshop, contact Rhoda Burrows, 688-4731, or rhoda.burrows@sdstate.edu.

SDSU Calendar of Events

This calendar is prepared by the Office of University Relations. For more information, to have campus events included in the next calendar, or to make address corrections, please contact April Clarin at University Relations, SCM 105, Box 2230, (605) 688-6161, or by email at april.clarin@sdstate.edu. Thank you.

Campus Kudos

In celebration of National Women’s History Month, the work of South Dakota State University’s creative writing assistant professor, Christine Stewart-Nunez, will be shared when she reads some of her poems on March 6 at 3 p.m. in the Lewis and Clark Room of The Union on campus.

Stewart-Nunez will read from two of her poetry chapbooks. The subject matter in her published poems reflects interdisciplinary work in history, identity, gender and place.

The iconic image of supermodel Kate Moss is the focal point of “Unbound & Branded.” Inspired by a 40-page magazine portfolio of artists responding to Moss, Stewart-Nunez explores the ways media construct women’s bodies.

In “The Love of Unreal Things,” Stewart-Nunez describes the tensions between physical desire and spiritual calling in the life of Catherine of Siena, a 14th-century Italian mystic and saint.

These works take several aspects of womanhood into consideration, as well as the role that society plays in their creation.

Stewart-Nunez earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa, her master’s from Arizona State University and her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she studied with Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. She began teaching at SDSU in the fall of 2007.

Christine Stewart-Nunez is in her first year teaching at SDSU.

A familiar name in South Dakota politics will lead the SDSU student body.

Chris Daugaard, Dell Rapids, and Eric Hanson, Sioux Falls, were elected as president and vice president, respectively, of the SDSU Students’ Association in online balloting Feb. 27-28.

Daugaard is the son of Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

Daugaard and Hanson, both juniors with double majors in business economics and political science, earned 58 percent of the vote. They beat Becca Lutz, Gann Valley, and Brandon Bausch, South Sioux City, Nebr., 1,037 to 748.

They take office March 10, succeeding Alex Brown, Comfrey, Minn., and Chris Schaefer, Victor, Minn.

Daugaard will be the fourth member of his family to graduate from State, following the lead of both his siblings and his mother, Linda (Schmidt) Daugaard, who hails from the Jim Schmidt family, a former SDSU Family of the Year. Daugaard’s dad graduated from the University of South Dakota.

Daugaard has been serving as finance chair on the Students’ Association while Hanson has been the SA administrative assistant.

Treasured objects and artifacts held by the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum will be preserved for future generations with help from the “IMLS Connecting to Collections Bookshelf,” a core set of conservation books, DVDs and online resources donated by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in Washington, D.C., the primary source of federal funding for the nation’s museums and libraries.

IMLS and its cooperator, the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH), will award a total of 2,000 free sets of the IMLS Bookshelf by the end of 2008.

The IMLS Bookshelf is a crucial component of “Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action,” a conservation initiative that the Institute launched in 2006. IMLS began the initiative in response to a 2005 study by Heritage Preservation documenting the dire state of the nation’s collections.

The “Made in South Dakota” exhibition currently shown at the Ag Heritage Museum contains items that will benefit from the IMLS Bookshelf resource.

It was more than a ceremony but a new chapter in the history of the College of Engineering when Alpha Omega Epsilon, a new women’s engineering sorority, was initiated Feb. 23.

National officers provided official pomp to the proceedings. Engineering Dean Lewis Brown and Assistant Dean Rich Reid offered congratulations and future success. They staunchly encouraged efforts by three founding students: President Audrey Bloemendaal, a junior mechanical engineering and music major from Zionsville, Ind.; Vice President Christine Keierleber, a sophomore ag and biosystems engineering major from Colome; and secretary-treasurer Natasha Buckle, a sophomore electrical engineering major from Albany, Ore.

Alpha Omega Epsilon will be called a colony until its members have met certain requirements. Within the next year and a half, they must hold a “rush” recruitment event, create a banner, and conduct or be a working part of three events: one philanthropic, one social, and one professional. Once completed, they will be called a chapter.

The initiates of the new women’s engineering colony at SDSU include, front row, from left, Audrey Bloemendaal, Zionsville, Ind.; Natasha Buckle, Albany, Ore.; Whitney Karpen, Jefferson; Kayla Nelson, New Ulm, Minn.; and Christine Keierleber, Colome. Back row, from left, includes Norma Nusz-Chandler, College of Engineering advisor; Brittni Stephens, Bellevue, Neb.; Michelle McKenzie, Colman; and Jennifer Kalbaugh, Alpha Omega Epsilon international executive board director of expansion.

The Les and Wanda Roberts family of Ashton has been selected the 2008 SDSU Family of the Year. Three generations and 11 family members have attended SDSU.

Staters for State, the student alumni organization, selects the family based on their dedication and support of SDSU, significant achievements and involvement as students and alumni.

In 1948, Leslie Roberts graduated with a degree in agricultural engineering. His wife Wanda, now deceased, was also a 1948 graduate in nursing. He served on the Alumni Council, Foundation, McCrory Gardens Advisory Boards and was a member of the Ag-Bio council. He was also honored as a Distinguished Alumnus in 1998.

They have four children, all of whom attended SDSU. Mike serves on the Ag-Bio Advisory Board, and Kevin is a member of the SDSU Foundation Board of Governors.

The Roberts have earned degrees from SDSU in a variety of fields, including agricultural and biosystems engineering, nursing, political science, history, mechanized agriculture, communication studies and theatre, and agricultural business.

The Roberts family was honored at a banquet Feb. 23. The family was also recognized at halftime of the SDSU women’s basketball game that evening.

The Les and Wanda Roberts family, named 2008 SDSU Family of the Year include, front row from left, Nancy, Lauren and Erin Roberts, Chester; Les Roberts, Ashton; Ellen Boekelheide, Northville; and Ryan Boekelheide, Minneapolis; second row from left, Kelly Roberts, Hillsboro, Mo.; Mike Roberts, Chester; and Andrea Seeley, Findlay, Ohio; third row from left, Kevin Roberts, Hillsboro, Mo.; Tom Roberts, Arlington, Va.; Lindsey Roberts, Chester; and Darin Seeley, Findlay, Ohio; back row from left, Chris McKenzie, Apple Valley, Minn. and Greg Boekelheide, Northville.

The Dakota Chapter of the American Fisheries Society met jointly with the Iowa Chapter in Sioux Falls February 19-21.

Undergraduate students making oral presentations included Bethany Galster and Jeff Grote. Graduate students delivering oral presentations were Lucas Borgstrom, Mark Fincel, Melissa Wuellner, Andy Jansen, and Steve Ranney. Research Associate Cari-Ann Hayer delivered oral and poster presentations, and Research Associate Katie Bertrand was invited to deliver one of the plenary talks.

Undergraduate students presenting posters were: Tyler Berger, Nathan Kuntz, Jonah Dagel, and Maude Livings. Graduate students displaying posters were Tom Bacula, Matt Hennen, Dan James, Andy Jansen, Casey Schoenebeck, Bryan Spindler, and Travis Schaeffer.

Faculty members involved in oral and poster presentations were Chuck Berry, Mike Brown, Steve Chipps, Brian Graeb and Dave Willis.

Ph.D. student Melissa Wuellner, vice-president of the Dakota Chapter, served as program chair for the meeting. Steve Chipps swept the awards by mentoring Steve Ranney to the best student presentation award and Bryan Spindler to the best student poster award.

For more information, contact the Wildlife and Fisheries Department, 688-6121.

Instructional Design Services will offer five, two-hour classes in Desire 2 Learn from 2 to 4 p.m. March 3-7.

The curriculum includes: Monday – introduction; Tuesday – communication; Wednesday – assessment; Thursday – content; Friday - grading. There are 10 seats available in the classroom and 20 sessions available online. Please register for the class and online sessions.

Other offerings of the five classes are: March 10-14 (9 to 11 a.m.); March 31-April 4 (2 to 4 p.m.); April 7-11 (9 to 11 a.m.); April 14-18 (2 to 4 p.m., no online session); April 21-25 (9 to 11 a.m.); and April 28-May 2 (2 to 4 p.m.).

Register at http://ids.sdstate.edu/Training/schedule.cfm. For more information, contact James Lurvey, 688-6340.

Department heads, faculty, active investigators and graduate students are urged to attend the Tech Transfer Workshop Series at The Union in room 153 from 3-5 p.m. on March 12, April 9, and April 30. Much of the subject matter of the workshops will be the domain expertise of the tech transfer professional.

For more information on the workshops, contact Bob Otterson, 688-4165, Robert.Otterson@sdstate.edu; or Kevin Kephart, 688-4181, Kevin.Kephart@sdstate.edu.

News on Newsline

To publicize an event or congratulations on “Newsline,” please submit information by the preceding Thursday at 2 p.m. to Kyle Johnson kyle.johnson@sdstate.edu or Jeanne Jones Manzer jeanne.jonesmanzer@sdstate.edu

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