Otesanek, a photograph by YSU student Jessica Bartek, is part of the Spring Graduating BFA Show at the McDonough Museum of Art, featuring artwork from 19 seniors graduating from the bachelor of fine arts program. The exhibit, which includes artwork in various media, opens Friday and runs through May 15. See News Brief below.

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

• Students win prestigious Goldwater honors
• Accounting students place first in regional contest
• English Festival features Shuttlesworth family
• Economic prof's article earns top recognition
• Graduates show off artwork at McDonough exhibit

Calendar
Monday, April 26, 5:45 p.m. YSU's Williamson College of Business Administration holds a Master of Business Administration Information Session in the Cafaro Suite of Williamson Hall. For more information, call 330–941–3069. A second session is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. Thursday, April 29, also in the Cafaro Suite.

Monday, April 26, 7 p.m. Faculty and students are recognized at YSU's 51^st annual Honors Convocation at the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center on the YSU campus.

Tuesday, April 27, 10 a.m. Street banners celebrating the growing and evolving connections between the city of Youngstown and YSU are officially unveiled at a news conference in downtown Youngstown. The news conference, which will feature Mayor Jay Williams and YSU President David C. Sweet, will be on the northwest corner of Wick Avenue and Federal Plaza, near the Vietnam Memorial.

Tuesday, April 27, 5 p.m. YSU's baseball team takes on Kent State at Eastwood Field in Niles. The team also plays Wright State 3 p.m. Friday, April 30 and noon and 3 p.m. Saturday, May 1.

Wednesday, April 28, 12:15 p.m. Brass chamber music from the Dana School of Music is featured in a free Music at Noon concert in the Butler Institute of American Art. It is the final Music at Noon concert of the academic year.

Wednesday, April 28, 3 p.m. The YSU softball squad plays Niagara in a doubleheader at McCune Park.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, April 28, 29 and 30. The Shuttlesworth Family, children of the famous 1950s and 1960s nonviolent protest organizer, and Jennifer Armstrong, an award–winning author of more than 100 books, are featured at the YSU English Festival in Kilcawley Center. The Shuttlesworths will speak throughout the three–day festival. They also will give a public lecture 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 29 in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center on the YSU campus.See News Brief below.

Thursday, April 29, 7:30 p.m. Third Eye Blind performs a May Day concert in YSU's Beeghly Center, presented by Penguin Productions. Call 330–941–1978 for tickets.

Friday, April 30, 6 to 8 p.m. The Spring Graduating BFA Show, featuring artwork from 19 seniors graduating from the bachelor of fine arts program at Youngstown State University, opens with an artists reception in the McDonough Museum of Art on the YSU campus. See News Brief below.

Students win prestigious Goldwater honors
For the fifth time in the past six years, Youngstown State University students have been awarded the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship.

Hillary Howard, a double major in Biology and Medical Laboratory Technology, has been selected to receive the Goldwater Scholar Award. In addition, Lisa Curll, a double major in Applied Mathematics and Biology, has been selected as a Goldwater Honorable Mention.

It is the first time that YSU has had more than one student receive Goldwater recognitions in the same year.

YSU is one of only four public universities in Ohio, and the only public university in northern Ohio, to have students earn Goldwater Scholar recognitions.

"Our congratulations are extended to both Hillary and Lisa for their outstanding accomplishments and for garnering national recognition for themselves and for YSU as a result of their efforts in the classroom, in the community, and their research collaboration with faculty and other students," said Ron Shaklee, director of the YSU University Scholars and Honors Program.

Established in 1986, the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship is named in honor of the former U.S. senator who served for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years in the U.S. Senate.

Scholarship recipients are sophomores and juniors and receive up to $7,500 per year for educational expenses.

The purpose of the scholarship is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers by awarding funds to college students who intend to pursue careers in these fields.

Howard hopes to obtain an M.D./Ph.D. in Pathology/Microbiology and do research in biomedical science focusing on infectious diseases at the industrial level. Curll's future plans include earning a Ph.D. in Computational Biology and integrate mathematics and biology in environmental research while also teaching at the college level. 

Accounting students place first in regional contest

For the second time in three years, Youngstown State University accounting students placed first among 20 teams from universities across the region in the Best Practices competition at the Beta Alpha Psi Midwest Region meeting in Chicago earlier this spring.

Tarik Awad of Canfield, Ryan Garman of Sandusky and Matthew Pollock of Lowellville presented "Chapter Sustainability" as their Best Practices topic. The students now qualify to compete at the national Beta Alpha Psi meeting in August in San Jose, Calif.

More than 320 students from 45 colleges and universities attended the regional meeting. Ten colleges presented in the Best Practices division.

In all, 10 YSU BAP student members attended the Midwest Regional meeting, accompanied by advisor Ray Shaffer of Sharpsville, Pa.

"Our students put in a tremendous amount of time preparing for the competition, and their accomplishment demonstrates that hard work and dedication pays off," Shaffer said. "Placing first or second for three years in a row, in the largest region in the country, shows that our students can not only compete with students from any other school, but excel in relation to them."

In a news release, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan congratulated the team.

"These young people represent the best of what our community has to offer – intelligence, drive, and responsibility – characteristics that will continue to push our Valley forward as a competitor in the global economy," he said.

YSU's second team, composed of Tarik Awad and Karen Cooper of Canfield, Raechel Bodnar of Youngstown, Ryan Garman of Sandusky, Matthew Pollock of Lowellville, and Ashley Tonkovich of Cortland, received an honorable mention for their presentation on "Ethics and Integrity."

Beta Alpha Psi is an honorary organization for students majoring in accounting, finance, and information systems. BAP provides opportunities for self–development, service and association among members and practicing professionals, and encourages a sense of ethical, social, and public responsibility.

English Festival features Shuttlesworth family

The Shuttlesworth Family, children of the famous 1950s and 1960s nonviolent protest organizer, and Jennifer Armstrong, an award–winning author of more than 100 books, are featured at this year's Youngstown State University English Festival.

The event, which attracts more than 3,000 area middle and high school students over three days, is 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. April 28, 29 and 30 in Kilcawley Center on the YSU campus.

The Shuttlesworth Family are the children of the late Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, the noted nonviolent protest organizer in Birmingham, Ala., during the 1950s and 1960s. They will discuss growing up during the civil rights movement and how they continue to work toward the advancement of social justice. The three eldest Shuttlesworth children are featured in one of this year's English Festival books, Freedom's Children.

The Shuttlesworths will speak throughout the three–day festival. They also will give a public lecture 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 29 in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center on the YSU campus.

Armstrong, a native of Salem, N.Y., is a graduate of Smith College in Massachusetts. She is an award–winning fiction and non–fiction writer who has penned over 100 books for ages preschool through young adult. Armstrong will speak at various times throughout the three–day event.

Professor Thomas Gay and Dr. Carol Gay of the YSU English Department founded the English Festival in 1978 in memory of their daughter, Candace McIntyre Gay, who died of cancer in 1977 at the age of 13. Each year, the English Department extends invitations to more than 200 schools in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. Students must read seven books throughout the school year in order to attend the spring festival.

At the Festival, students listen to authors and participate in various sessions, including collaborative workshop activities, impromptu essay writing, dramatic or artistic performances, book discussions and language arts competitions.

For more information, visit www.ysuenglishfestival.org.

Economics prof's article earns top recognition

For many years, YSU assistant professor of economics Yogesh Uppal has admired Gordon Tullock from afar.

Professor emeritus at the George Mason University School of Law, Tullock is an intellectual giant in the fields of economics and law. He is the author of more than 20 books and hundreds of articles, founding editor of Public Choice journal and was a candidate for the Nobel Prize in economics in 2003.

"He's one of the finest scholars in the field," Uppal said.

Now, Uppal is the recipient of an award bearing Tullock's name.

Uppal's research article titled "The Disadvantaged Incumbents: Estimating Incumbency Effects in Indian State Legislature" was recently awarded the Gordon Tullock Prize by Public Choice. The prize honors authors under the age of 40 and is open to graduate students, as well as newcomers in the profession.

"Each year, Public Choice receives over 400 new manuscripts from around the globe," said William Shughart, editor–in–chief of Public Choice and a professor of economics at the University of Mississippi. "Of those, no more than 20 percent are selected for publication. The Gordon Tullock Prize is then awarded to one of the year's published authors."

"I knew that the Gordon Tullock Prize was awarded to the best article of the year," Uppal said, "but I never considered myself a candidate. This is a great honor."

 

The article, which appeared in the January 2009 edition of Public Choice, focuses on state legislative elections from 1975 to 2003 in India. Uppal, a native of New Delhi, found that, unlike most U.S. and European political races, incumbents are least likely to win elections in India.

"Much research in the United States shows that elected officials rarely lose and, hence, enjoy a substantial electoral advantage over their challengers," Uppal said. "But I grew up seeing that the opposite was true. Nobody ever really studied how that impacted economic policies. My research shows that this phenomenon is highly counterproductive in making economic policies."

Uppal began writing the article while working on his doctoral dissertation at the University of California in Irvine. It was not until after receiving his Ph.D. in 2006, and being hired at YSU later that year, that he completed the research.

"Gordon Tullock always hoped that Public Choice would become a place for publishing scholarship addressing problems beyond the boundaries of North America and Western Europe," Shughart said. "Professor Uppal's piece advances that goal and was the unanimous choice" for the prize.

Uppal received the award on March 13 at the annual meeting of the Public Choice Society in Monterey, Calif.

Graduates show off artwork at McDonough exhibit
The Spring Graduating BFA Show, featuring artwork from 19 seniors graduating from the bachelor of fine arts program at Youngstown State University, opens this week in the McDonough Museum of Art on the YSU campus.

An opening reception for the artists will be 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 30. The exhibit will remain until May 15.

Traditionally, at the end of the fall and spring semesters, the McDonough Museum honors seniors graduating from the YSU Department of Art with an exhibition of their work. The current exhibit will feature artwork in various media. Students included in the exhibition are Abbey Bacak, Jessica Bartek, Ryan Booher, Mallory Chick, Sierra Estell, Melissa Fortune, Christina Hammond, Heather Hardy, Thomas Helsel, Matthew Herrmann, Daniel Johnson, Mary Korda, Amanda Mahon, Larry Painter, Lydia Roden, Samuel Romano, Frederick Romito, Zoe Sniderman and Carolyn Thomas.

McDonough Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The museum is open to the public. Admission is free.

For more information, call 330–941–1400 or visit http://mcdonoughmuseum.ysu.edu.