Held once each semester, the student invitational reading highlights student writing in the areas of fiction and poetry. Katherine Botts, Matthew Stewart and Matt Whitaker will read fiction, and Allys Page, Kat Kelly and Hannah Nobrega will read poetry. You may contact Jennifer Edwards, instructor in english, at (417) 836-5107 or JEdwards@missouristate.edu to learn more about the student invitational reading.
The Chamber singers entertain the crowd during the Elizabethan Christmas dinners.
The Concert Chorale once again joins the University Chamber Singers and Collegiate Singers for the 46th Annual Elizabethan Christmas Dinners. Held in the Plaster Student Union Ballroom from 6:15 to 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 30 through Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, the dinners feature tantalizing entertainment and a delicious array of Olde English style food.
At 6:15 each evening, guests assemble in the third floor lobby of the Plaster Student Union, where revelry and serenading passes the time until the Grande Dining Hall opens at 7:00. The Chamber Singers serve as the royal court for the event, the Collegiate Singers sing and serve the meals, and the Concert Chorale performs the formal concert at the end of each dinner. The following is a description of the menu:
“This year’s menu features the King’s Butternut Squash Soup with Creme Fraiche and Chives, Salad of Winter Greens and Root Vegetables with Sherry Vinaigrette Dressing, the King’s Fowl stuffed with Cheese of the Goat, Fresh Spinach with a Cranberry Glaze, Potatoes Baked a Second Time, Green Beans, and a scrumptious new dessert for the Elizabethan Dinner menu – a Ginger Bread Trifle with Citrus Custard. All of this will be accompanied by an abundance of beverages! Vegetarian or an alternate entree selection may be indicated on ticket requests.”
Tickets are $25 for students, $30 for adults, and $27.50 each for groups of ten or more. Tickets can be purchased online. Hurry to reserve your seat at the table!
Jack Dimond (left), Jon Poorman, Megan Gates, and Michael Gulledge (right) at the National College Media Convention in Orlando after winning a Newspaper Pacemaker award.
The Standard, Missouri State University’s official student-run newspaper, received the first Newspaper Pacemaker award in school history at the National College Media Convention in Orlando, Florida. The Standard was one of thirteen schools out of the 24 finalists in the four-year non-daily category to receive the award, which is given by the Associated Collegiate Press. Jack Dimond, faculty advisor for The Standard, describes the Pacemaker award as a “comprehensive measure of quality of student media” and explains that professional journalists judge student newspapers on several criteria based on five full issues. This year’s finalist nod was the first for The Standard since 1998.
“We are obviously excited to receive this award,” the editorial board of The Standard writes in a Nov. 1 opinion piece about the award. “The award has further inspired all of our staff members to continue to produce a newspaper that is of high quality and most importantly, that serves the students of our great university.”
Convention attendees included Dimond, editor-in-chief Jon Poorman, managing editor Megan Gates, and photo editor Michael Gulledge. In addition to the Pacemaker award win, former members of the Standard received honorable mentions in individual categories. Matt Kile, former photo editor, and Mikaela Buck, former advertising designer, were honored at the convention. Both are Spring 2011 graduates of the College of Arts and Letters.
The Standard, formerly known as the Southwest Standard, has served as the official student-run newspaper since 1912. It is published every Tuesday during fall and spring semesters (with some exceptions for holidays) and has a print circulation of 7,000. You may read The Standard online at http://www.the-standard.org.
Missouri Waltz, by Jacek Fraczak, is included in the printmaking exhibition "50 Places" at the University of Colorado.
Work by Jacek Fraczak, assistant professor in art and design, is included in Prints U.S.A, a national biennial competitive exhibition opening at the Springfield Art Museum in November 2011. Prints U.S.A., which was created to recognize skilled artists in printmaking, is in its seventh year. Elizabeth Wyckoff, curator of prints, drawings and photographs at the Saint Louis Art Museum, judged exhibition entries. Fraczak received a $350 cash award, one of nineteen cash awards distributed out of the eighty-six entries included in the exhibition.
“This recognition, for me, is so valuable because it happens here, in the Springfield Art Museum, in the city where I decided to settle down with my family,” Fraczak says.
Jacek Fraczak received his masters in fine arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland. Since 2007, he has lived in Springfield and taught computer graphics and illustration courses in the art and design department. Fraczak has also been selected for “50 Places” a national printmaking exhibition curated by Melanie Yazzie of the University of Colorado. The exhibition consists of one print representing each of the fifty states. Fraczak’s print, Missouri Waltz (featured above)was selected to represent Missouri.
Fraczak is one of several artists from Springfield and the region to be featured in the Prints U.S.A. exhibition. A reception for the exhibition will be held on Nov. 18, 2011 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Springfield Art Museum. Prints U.S.A. will be on display at the museum from Nov. 19, 2011 to Jan. 8, 2012.
"Two Soldiers," with cinematography by David Boyd, won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
David Boyd, a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and his wife, film producer, actress, and theatre and dance alum Lisa Rhoden Boyd, will visit campus for master class workshops on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011 and a screening of works on Friday, Nov. 4. All events are free and open to the public, and will be held in the Plaster Student Union theatre. David Boyd’s workshop is from 2:00 to 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3, and Lisa Rhoden Boyd’s workshop is from 4:00 to 5:45 p.m. The Nov. 4 screening and talkback session is from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. and will consist of two works for which David Boyd has done cinematography: “Two Soldiers,” an award-winning short film, and “The Trial of Jack McCall,” an episode from season one of HBO’s hit series “Deadwood.” (The “Deadwood” episode is rated “TV-MA” for adult language.) After the screening, David and Lisa will participate in a talkback session about making films in and out of Hollywood.
“Two Soldiers,” which won an Academy Award in 2004 for Best Live Action Short Film, stars Ron Perlman and is based on a story by William Faulkner. When ten-year-old Willie Grier’s older brother enlists in the Army after Pearl Harbor, Willie sets out to track him down, determined to follow his brother and best friend off to war. “Deadwood” ran on HBO from 2004 to 2006 and followed characters living in Deadwood, South Dakota, a crime-ridden mining camp, following the massacre of Custer’s forces. “The Trial of Jack McCall” is episode 5 of the show’s first season. Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) transforms his bar, The Gem, into a courtroom to try a murderer.
David Boyd was nominated for an ASC award in 2004 for his work on “Deadwood.” Other television credits include cinematography, camera, and direction work on “Firefly,” “Without a Trace,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Sons of Anarchy” and “The Walking Dead.” He has also worked on feature films, including “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” (2008), “12 Rounds” (2009), “Get Low” (2009; Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Bill Murray) and the upcoming feature “Joyful Noise” (2012; Dolly Parton, Queen Latifah).
Lisa Rhoden Boyd is a Springfield native, film producer, actress, and graduate from the University’s theatre and dance department. She has worked extensively with Cuban-American director Leon Ichaso, producing his 2009 film “Paraiso” and serving as associate producer on his 2001 film “Pinero.”
The University Film Series is made possible by a grant from the Office of the Provost and support from the College of Arts and Letters. All students and interested members of the public are encouraged to attend the Thursday workshops and Friday night screening and meet these master filmmakers. You may contact Mark Biggs, department head of media, journalism and film, at (417) 836-5218 or MarkBiggs@missouristate.edu for more information.
Jinghua Bi, graduate student in communication, received the Basil and JoAnn Boritzki Endowment award. (Photo credit: Keith Kennedy)
Congratulations to Jinghua Bi, graduate student in communication, who has been selected to receive one of the two Basil and JoAnn Boritzki Endowment awards given in the 2011-2012 academic year. These awards are given annually to two full-time graduate students to recognize their academic excellence. Eligible students must enroll full-time and intend to teach in a publicly-supported educational institution (K-12 or college). Hundreds of graduate students applied for this award, which is one of the few graduate student awards eligible to students across all disciplines.
“I’m greatly humbled and encouraged,” Bi says about receiving the award, which she also feels reflects the support and guidance she received from the communication department.
The University Symphony Orchestra will play a concert with the Joplin High School String Orchestra on Nov. 1.
On Tuesday, Nov. 1 from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. the Missouri State University Symphony Orchestra will hold a special benefit concert featuring Joplin High School’s orchestra at Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts. This concert is free and open to the public, and donations are encouraged to support the Joplin High School and its orchestra to help it recover from the destruction of the school after the tornado on May 22.
For over ten years, the University Symphony Orchestra has hosted concerts featuring talented high school string orchestras from the area. Dr. Robert Quebbeman, professor of music and conductor of the symphony, says that this is the first time the concert has been a fundraising activity, but explains that this event is special due to the circumstances. This year’s program will include three pieces performed by the Joplin High School string orchestra, three by the University Symphony Orchestra, and will end with two pieces performed by both groups. You may contact Dr. Quebbeman at RobertQuebbeman@missouristate.edu or (417) 836-5729 for more information about the concert.
The following is the finalized program for the performance:
Joplin String Orchestra: “Alla Tchaikovsky” (a potpourri of 22 Tchaikovsky melodies), “Adagio Cantabile” (from “Pathetique”), “Lady Gaga Hit Mix” (a medley of songs by pop artist Lady Gaga)
Missouri State Symphony Orchestra: “Polonaise from Eugene Onegin” (Tchaikovsky), “Two Elegaic Melodies” (Grieg), “Rienzi Overture” (Wagner)
Combined groups: Into the Storm (Robert W. Smith), Russian Sailors Dance (Gliere)
KY3 News has also covered the benefit concert. Embedded below is Jay Scherder’s report, which aired on the station:
The Fall 2011 cast and crew of Ozarks News Journal.
The Ozarks News Journal, a news magazine about public affairs issues in the Ozarks produced by media, journalism and film students, has expanded its coverage to include television stations in St. Louis and Kansas City. The show, which has aired on Mediacom-22 every weekday and KOZK-TV every Sunday since it began in Fall 2009, now airs on Time Warner Cable channel 17 in Kansas City and KDHX-TV-980 in St. Louis.
Kevin Swift, assistant professor in media, journalism and film, created the Ozarks News Journal in Summer 2009 as a capstone course for advanced broadcast media students and explains that it fulfills the university’s public affairs mission while giving students real experience in broadcast journalism. “Our students are getting a real world experience in terms of preparation and quality of work,” Swift says. “They are also gaining a very practical understanding of what it means to follow the University’s public affairs mission, since our show is formatted around those three pillars.” The names of the three pillars—ethical leadership, community engagement, and cultural competence—also appear in the introduction to each show, underscoring the connection to public affairs.
This year, the Ozarks News Journal received several awards for its content. At the Missouri Broadcast Educators Association awards, the Journal picked up wins for Best Newscast and Promotional Video and Misty Cole’s “Cancer Walk” story took home Best News Package. At the Society of Professional Journalists Region 7 awards, Monica Scherer took first place in Television Feature Photography for her work on the story “Art Walk,” Adam Hammons received second in the Television News Reporting category for his work on “Book Ban,” and Katy Reed and Courtney Syberg took third in the same category for their story “Adoption.” These award finishes follow up several first- and second-place finishes in these events last year.
“In a few short years, our students have gone from not even having a show to airing on professional outlets and winning awards for their work,” Swift says. “It has impacted the students, the department and the faculty in a very positive way.”
The Ozarks News Journal now has an online presence as well. Dr. Andrew Cline, associate professor in media, journalism and film, is in his second year of publishing and maintaining the web portion of the Ozarks News Journal. Students in Cline’s multimedia journalism course serve as staff for the site, submit regular blog posts, and contribute to feature articles. Cline describes the impact as affecting both students and the Springfield community.
“The first impact is that students get to practice journalism in a venue that makes it real,” Cline says. “The second is that it fulfills the public affairs mission by providing journalism about the community.”
Cline says that the website typically draws between 100-150 unique visitors each day and anywhere between 300-500 on publishing days, which are the days that feature stories go up. These features are on a 2-week timetable, making the website a hybrid between a magazine and a newspaper. Students post blog entries whenever they are ready, taking advantage of the online presence to update asynchronously, and collaborate on the features.
In describing his goal for the Ozarks News Journal website, Cline says, “I want Ozarks News Journal to be thought of as a real place to get public affairs journalism; a credible adjunct to daily reporting that follows issues in multiple formats with greater depth. When people are calling us and saying that they want the Ozarks News Journal to cover an issue, that’s when I’ll know we’ve made it.”
You can catch the Ozarks News Journal broadcast on the following stations and times:
Springfield area: Monday through Friday at 11:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. on Mediacom Channel 22 and Sundays at 11:00 a.m. on KOZK-TV
Kansas City: Mondays at 6:00 p.m., Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m., Fridays at 5:30 p.m., and Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. on Time Warner Cable Channel 17
St. Louis: Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m. and Fridays at 12:30 p.m. on KDHX-TV-980
In addition to the television broadcast, you can also visit http://www.ozarksnewsjournal.com to get more information about the show, watch episodes online, and read additional coverage from Dr. Cline’s multimedia journalism students. You can also join the Ozarks News Journal’s group on Facebook.
Bethany Parry, public relations major, publishes in FORUM.
Bethany Parry, a senior in the communication department studying public relations, published an article in the Fall 2011 issue of FORUM, the national newspaper of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). Her article, “Recent PRSSA graduate overcomes obstacles with man’s best friend,” describes the successes of Tony Selvaggio, a recent graduate of Southeast Missouri State University who lost his eyesight due to an autoimmune disease. With help from his service dog, Marvel, Selvaggio pursued a degree in communication studies and graduated in May 2011. Parry learned about Selvaggio’s story after communicating with FORUM’s editor via Twitter and email. “I noticed Tony and Marvel were from Southeast Missouri State, which is in my hometown, so I felt compelled to write the story as a fellow Missourian,” Parry says.
Parry is Vice President of the Missouri State University chapter of the PRSSA and is in charge of the chapter’s blog and social media. The organization consists of over 300 chapters in the United States and is dedicated to students interested in careers in public relations and communication. She is also the event coordinator for the University’s chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, a national communication honor society. Parry was inspired by her aunt, a public relations professor, to seek a career in public relations and discovered that the field ties together all of her passions and interests. “I can write, speak, create, plan events, and essentially be an advocate for my company I am representing,” she says.
If you enjoyed the Ozarks Celebration Festival this year or in the past and would like to help secure future Festivals, you have an opportunity to help while enjoying a delightful evening of dinner and entertainment. “An Evening of Bluegrass and BBQ at the Top of the Tower” is set for Friday, Sept. 23 at 6:00 p.m. in the Tower Club, located at the top of Hammons Tower. The evening includes cocktails, a dessert buffet, a silent auction, and a private concert by Beyond Reach.
