Below are a variety of items about upcoming events and other news notes on the campus of Youngstown State University.

• International enrollment up 45 percent in three years
• Beethoven sonatas featured at Nov. 9 concert
• Health Fair on Nov. 4 features free screening
• November Music at Noon concerts set
• Business 2020 attracts more than 725 high school students

Calendar
Monday, Nov. 3, 4:15 to 6 p.m. The YSU Dental Hygiene Program hosts an open house in the Ohio Room of Kilcawley Center. Prospective students will have the opportunity to tour the Dental Hygiene Clinic and meet with faculty, academic advisors and current students.

Tuesday, Nov. 4, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. YSU faculty and staff are invited to a Health Fair in the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

Monday, Nov. 3, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Representatives from several law schools will be on hand to answer students’ questions at YSU’s annual Law Day event in the Presidential Suites of Kilcawley Center. For more information, call 330–941–1672.

Tuesday, Nov. 4, 7:05 p.m. YSU women’s basketball team plays an exhibition game against Ashland in Beeghly Center. The team plays Pitt–Johnstown in another exhibition match 2:05 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 9.

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 12:15 p.m. The weekly free Music at Noon concert features the Dana School of Music’s Clarinet Studio Recital in the Butler Institute of American Art.

Thursday, Nov. 6, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. More than 725 high school students attend Business 2020 in Kilcawley Center. See News Brief below.

Thursday, Nov. 6, 4 p.m. The YSU Poetry Center features Phillip Lopate in the Gallery in Kilcawley Center. Lopate is the editor of the bestsellers The Art of the Personal Essay and Writing New York. He is professor of English at Hofstra University and is the author of five works of nonfiction, two novels and two books of poems.

Friday, Nov. 7, 6 p.m. YSU’s swimming and diving squad takes on Cleveland State/Niagara in Beeghly Natatorium.

Friday, Nov. 7, 8 p.m. WYSU holds its annual Folk Festival in Peaberry’s Caf￩ in Kilcawley Center. Admission is free. The festival features singer–songwriter Mike Stout. For more information, visit http://www.wysu.org/.

International enrollment up 45 percent in three years

Enrollment of international students at Youngstown State University is up 20 percent this fall over last fall and has increased 45 percent over the last three years.

Jef Davis, director of YSU’s Center for International Studies and Programs, said the university has 161 international students on campus this fall, compared to 134 a year ago.

Since 2005, international student enrollment is up by 50 students, or 45 percent. Davis noted, however, that international students still comprise less than 1.5 percent of YSU’s total student population. The university’s goal, as part of its strategic plan, is to increase that number to 3 percent, or about 400 students, by 2013.

Faculty members and staff at the university’s graduate and undergraduate admissions offices get much of the credit for boosting enrollment numbers, he said, because they have been providing the support and encouragement to international students who apply or inquire about study at YSU.

“There has always been involvement of faculty, especially with international graduate student enrollments, and that’s important,” Davis said. “There’s got to be someone shepherding those applications, communicating with the students, keeping interest high. Those students have options as to where they will go, so we must be responsive.”

CISP assumed responsibility this fall for handling the international student admission process.

“Our goal is to provide consistency of contact for every need, and we want the international students to talk to the same person as they go through the admission and orientation process,” Davis said. “Faculty and the admissions staff will still have a role — for example, the decision on whether to admit graduate international students will remain with the academic departments and the graduate school – but we want to provide a single place where students can go to get all their questions answered, from the point of inquiry through matriculation.”

YSU has 70 international undergraduates, 70 graduate students, plus 21 students enrolled in the non–credit intensive English Language Institute. ELI is a resource for students who want to pursue a degree but need to first improve their use and understanding of English.

The fact that YSU’s graduate and undergraduate numbers are equal is surprising, said Davis, because international graduate enrollment generally far exceeds international undergraduate enrollment at most state universities in Ohio.

Students from India make up 20 percent of YSU’s international enrollment, the largest representation, followed by 12 percent from Ghana, 7 percent from Canada, 6 percent from Eastern Europe and 5 percent from China. In all, students from more than 38 countries are represented.

The number of YSU students spending a semester abroad has also been rising. This year’s numbers for students studying abroad won’t be tabulated until spring, Davis said, but last year’s total was about double the number from the previous year.

International Enrollment 
2000    124
2001    125
2002    125
2003    131
2004    127
2005    111
2006    131
2007    134
2008    161

Beethoven sonatas featured at Nov. 9 concert

Violinist Hristo Popov and pianist Per Enflo will perform four sonatas by Beethoven 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9 in Bliss Recital Hall on the Youngstown State University campus.

The concert is free and open to the public. Parking is available for $5 in the Wick Avenue parking deck.

For more information, call 330–941–3636.

The performance is part of a series of three concerts in which Popov and Enflo will perform 10 of Beethoven’s sonatas. The other concerts will be 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, 2009, and 8 p.m., Thursday, March 19.

Popov made his orchestral debut at the age of nine and since then has performed throughout the United States, England, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy, Switzerland and Mexico as both recitalist and concerto soloist. Popov is a prize–winner at the Kozian International Violin Competition, silver medalist at the California Young Artist Competition, winner of the grand prize at the International Institute of Music (Germany, USA), and placed first at the American String Teachers’ Association Chamber Music

Competition. He has appeared as guest artist in numerous festivals and has performed in major performing arts centers in the United States including the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Severance Hall in Cleveland, John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and Casa Verdi in Milan, Italy. He is artistic director of the Chagrin Valley Chamber Music Concert Series, and is founder and artistic director of International Festival for Strings & More in Sandusky, Ohio. Formerly, he was the music director of the Euclid Orchestra and has been on the faculty at Kent State University. Currently, he teaches at YSU and Western Reserve Academy in Ohio.

Enflo was born in Stockholm, Sweden. In addition to piano, he has studied conducting and composition. He has performed frequently in recitals and as a concerto soloist in the United States and Europe. In the recent years, Enflo has performed in a variety of recitals and chamber music settings with Kent State University music faculty. Other performances include being a soloist in 13 different Mozart Piano Concerti with the Triune Festival Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio. Many of these performances, as well as recent solo piano recitals, have been broadcast on the WOSU Classics Network in Ohio. Enflo is a professor at Kent State University.

Health Fair on Nov. 4 features free screenings
Youngstown State University faculty and staff are invited to a Health Fair 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4 in the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

The fair is sponsored by the junior YSU Nursing Community Class.

Free health screenings offered at the fair include bone density, blood pressure, blood sugar, fitness testing and more.ﾠ

For more information, call the YSU nursing department at 330–941–3293.

November Music at Noon concerts set
Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music, in collaboration with the Butler Institute of American Art, presents free Music at Noon concerts throughout the fall. Performances are Wednesdays at 12:15 p.m. in the Butler Institute of American Art. The concerts are open to the public and parking is free at the Butler.

The performances for the month of November are as follows:

Nov. 5 — Clarinet Studio Recital
Nov. 12 — James Umble Saxophone Studio Recital
Nov. 19 — Tuba/Euphonium Recital — Brian Kiser, tuba
Nov. 26 — Faculty Chamber Music

For more information please call the Dana School of Music at 330–941–3636.

Business 2020 attracts more than 725 high school students
Youngstown State University's Williamson College of Business Administration, in conjunction with the FirstEnergy Foundation, will sponsor “BUSINESS 2020” 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 6, in the Chestnut Room in Kilcawley Center on the YSU campus.

More than 725 students from 17 high schools throughout the tri–county area will attend. Panel sessions will be offered showcasing various aspects of business, inlcuding ntrepreneurship, careers in business, preparing for the job market, and financial literacy . More than 35 area leaders from various segments of business will offer insight and information during the concurrent sessions. Some of the participating businesses include: Hill, Barth, & King, LLC; First Place Bank; Commercial Metal Forming;  Packer Thomas; Lamar Outdoor Advertising; Fluent, Sackella, & Associates; National City Bank; Progressive Insurance; Huntington Bank, RTI International Metals; Home Savings & Loan and IRS Criminal Investigations Bureau. Panel sessions will run concurrently from 10 a.m. to noon. 

Craig Zamary, president of GreenEnergy, will speak to students about entrepreneurial opportunities and the differences people can make by showing and sharing with the world what they are doing to be green. Green Energy TV is an Online Television Channel that is dedicated to airing green videos for millions of viewers around the world. Green Energy TV now has viewers from 104 countries and six continents .

For more information, call Christine Shelton, coordinator of external relations for the WCBA, at 330–941–3068.