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

Calendar
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 12:30 p.m. Diane Farsetta, senior researcher with the Center for Media and Democracy, is featured in the Shipka Speakers Series in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center on the YSU campus. Farsetta’s presentation is titled “Big Spin for a Small Planet: Public Relations, Lobbying and Climate Change.” The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, call 330–941–3448.

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 12:15 p.m. The Dana School of Music features “New Music” at the Music at Noon concert in the Butler Institute of American Art. Free.

Thursday, Oct. 9, 8 p.m. Sean Jones, a 2000 graduate of YSU’s Dana School of Music and lead trumpeter of the Jazz and Lincoln Center Orchestra, performs with his quintet in Stambaugh Auditorium in a concert celebrating YSU’s Centennial. Local band Redline will open the concert at 6:30 p.m. in Stambaugh’s ballroom, where a dessert and coffee buffet will begin the evening. For more information, call 330–941–3105. 

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Oct. 10, 11, 12. “How His Bride Came to Abraham,” a drama about the romance between an Israeli soldier and an Arab woman in southern Lebanon, is performed by University Theater in Spotlight Arena Theatre in Bliss Hall. Friday and Saturday performances are 7:30 p.m., with Sunday matinee at 3 p.m. Call 330–941–3105 for tickets.

Saturday, Oct. 11, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Western Reserve of Ohio Teachers of English holds its annual meeting in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center. Featured guest is Chris Crowe, a distinguished writer of civil rights books including Mississippi Trial, 1955 and Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. Also featured is Penny Wells, recently retired Youngstown city schools teacher. Wells will talk about Sojourn to the Past, a program in which Wells takes students on a 10–day journey of civil rights sites in the South. For more information, visit http://www.octela.org/newoctela/newwrote.html.

Penguins sports weekend

YSU’s soccer, volleyball and swimming/diving teams are in action this weekend on campus.

• Friday, Oct. 10, 7 p.m. Soccer vs. University of Wisconsin–Green Bay,
• Saturday, Oct. 11, 10 a.m. Swimming/diving, Red–White Intersquad Meet, Beeghly Natatorium.
• Saturday, Oct. 11, 4 p.m. Volleyball vs. University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Beeghly Center.
• Sunday, Oct. 12, noon. Soccer vs. University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Stambaugh Stadium.
• Sunday, Oct. 12, 2 p.m. Volleyball vs. University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, Beeghly Center.

Physics prof, students take research to Japan
Youngstown State University physics professor James “Jeff” Carroll and a team of student researchers will spend the next year studying data they compiled this summer as the first Western scientists to conduct research at the tandem accelerator facility in Tokai, Japan.

The YSU team spent about 70 hours at the Japanese complex over three days, firing beams of oxygen atoms at an isotope sample and recording the results. The research, part of the ongoing YSU Isomer Physics Project, is investigating ways to release energy stored in nuclear isomers.

“We probably have 80 gigabytes of data from those three days,” Carroll said. “We hope that we’ll come up with some results that are interesting, and maybe even something important, but it’s going to take a year to analyze the data.”

Commercial scientists are typically billed up to $1,000 an hour to use the Tokai tandem accelerator, located about 150 miles northeast of Tokyo. Carroll said the YSU group was charged just $100 for its work at the center in mid–August because the project has academic implications.

The facility, which is operated by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, waived its usual fees for the YSU team when it learned that Carroll intends to report the group’s findings in a peer–reviewed scientific journal. Travel and lodging expenses for the team were paid by EcoPulse Inc., a Virginia company that supports scientific research.

Members of Carroll’s student research team who participated in the Japan experiments were: Nathan Caldwell, a YSU alumnus and graduate student majoring in computer science; undergraduates Isaac Mills, an education major, and Geoffrey Trees, a civil engineering major; and Tom Harle, a graduate student from the physics department at the University of Surrey in England who is serving an internship in the YSU Isomer Physics Project.

Another student team spent a week working with Carroll recently at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, conducting a similar type of isomer research with an accelerator and a $20 million gammasphere detector system. A third YSU undergraduate, Ben Detwiler, an electrical engineering major, was part of the Argonne team.

Additionally, Carroll discussed YSU’s isomer research as an invited speaker at the Nuclear Physics Conference in Mongolia Sept. 8–11.ﾠ Mongolia is a developing nation in Asia that boasts the third–largest amount of uranium deposits in the world, the professor said, and is working to expand its ties to scientists and industry in developed countries.

Carroll, an internationally–respected nuclear physicist, was awarded a $1 million research grant in March by the federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency to continue his research on how to release energy stored in nuclear isomers. The grant brought Carroll’s external funding total for nuclear isomer research to $4 million, the largest federal grant total ever awarded to a single faculty member at YSU.

YSU SBDC sponsors seminars, workshops this fall
The Ohio Small Business Development Center at Youngstown State University will sponsor the following programs at the YSU Metro College at Southwoods Commons in Boardman.

• Monday, Oct. 6, 9 a.m. to noon, “Business Start–Up Basics” Room 230 ($10).
• Monday, Oct. 20, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., “Business Start–Up Basics” Room 230 ($10).
• Tuesday, Oct. 28 Part I, 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., “Succession Planning Seminar” Part I Room 270.
• Wed. Nov. 12 Part II, 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., “Succession Planning Seminar” Part II Room 270. ($50 for 1 seminar or $90 for both), payment in advance.
• Thursday, Oct. 30, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., “Veterans’ Business Seminar” Room 270.
• November 17–21, “Global Entrepreneurship Week.”
• Tuesday, Nov. 18, “Women in International Trade Dinner”, time and place to be announced.
• Thursday, Nov. 20, “Export–Preparedness Assessment for Existing Businesses”, time and place to be announced.
• Monday, Nov. 3, 9 a.m. to noon, “Business Start–Up Basics” Room 230 ($10).
• Monday, Nov. 17, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., “Business Start–Up Basics” Room 230 ($10).
• Monday, Dec. 8, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., “Business Start–Up Basics” Room 230 ($10).

RSVP by calling 330–941–2140 or e–mail rsulik@ysu.edu.

Diversity Council announces 2008–09 events
The Youngstown State University Diversity Council has announced its 2008–09 Community Diversity Program Series.

The series, sponsored by the YSU Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, features a variety of events and performances for the community. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

• Oct. 10–11, 7:30 p.m., and 12, 3 p.m. — How His Bride Came to Abraham, Bliss Hall on the YSU campus. In Romeo and Juliet fashion, the play centers upon the romance between young people on warring sides an Israeli soldier and an Arab woman. For tickets, contact the University Theater Box Office at 330–941–3105.
• Oct. 28, 7 p.m. — An Evening with Minnijean Brown Tricky, Ford Recital Hall. One of the original Little Rock Nine will give an evening performance and lecture. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. For more information, contact Penny Wells at 330–788–0545.
• Nov. 25, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. — “Dispelling the Myths of Native Americans,” Main Library, Youngstown. The Pipe family of Austintown gives a Native American presentation as father, Herman Pipe, facilitates a discussion on the misconceptions about their culture. For more information or reservations, contact Deborah Liptak at 330–744–8636, Ext. 118.
• Feb. 24, 4 to 6:30 p.m. — The Langston Hughes Poet Society, Newport Branch Library (early presentation) and East Branch Library (late presentation), The Langston Hughes Poet Society of Pittsburgh will present “Black Tie Poetry — Reading and Remembering Langston Hughes.” For more information, contact Deborah Liptak at 330–744–8636, Ext. 118.
• March 12, 6:30 p.m. — “Summer Art in China” Book Discussion, Newport Branch Library. George McCloud, YSU vice president for University Advancement, and students will give presentations on their book. For more information, contact Deborah Liptak at 330–744–8636, Ext. 118.
• April 2 — YSU 2^nd Annual Diversity Leadership Recognition Celebration, Luke Visconti, guest speaker.
• April 8, 6:30 p.m. — Writing a Multicultural Novel, Newport Branch Library, Mary Claire Mahaney, author of “Osaka Heat,” will facilitate discussion. For more information, contact Deborah Liptak at 330–744–8636, Ext. 118.
• April 14, noon — “The Zoot Suit Riots” by YSU’s Dr. Mehera Gerardo, Main Library, Youngstown. Gerardo of YSU’s History Department will recreate events of a 10–day race riot in Los Angeles during WWII. For more information, contact Deborah Liptak at 330–744–8636, Ext. 118.
• April 14 — Flight to Freedom: A Two–Day Spring Bus Excursion. Educational journey across southwestern Ohio to discover the state’s contributions to the Underground Railroad. For more information, contact the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity at 330–941–3370 or visit the YSU Diversity Web site at www.ysu.edu/div_ysu.

The Hub: Three centers relocate to Maag Library

The English Language Institute, the Reading and Study Skills Center and the Writing Center at Youngstown State University have relocated to the lower level of Maag Library, creating a convenient hub for related student services and classes.

The services, which aim to support and educate YSU students, were transferred to Maag because of their similarities of purpose, said Charles Singler, YSU interim associate provost.

“The centers were spread all across campus, and they weren’t readily available to students,” he said. “With this new location, students can avail themselves to all options at once.”

Formerly in Tod Hall, the English Language Institute offers non–credit intensive English programs for international students. The Reading and Study Skills Center, previously in the Beeghly College of Education, provides students assistance in improving reading, organizational, test–taking and study skills. The Writing Center, formerly in Coffelt Hall, helps students develop their writing abilities in one–on–one tutoring sessions.

Originally an open area for storage, the library’s lower level was redesigned by the facilities department and fashioned by an outside construction company to house the three campus services at a cost of $660,000, Singler said.

“They put up walls and made offices and laboratories for the three units to move into,” he said. “All parties were involved in the design, and the final product should meet the needs of the organizations, at least in the short–term future.”

Enthusiastic about the traffic and opportunities the library setting offers, Lynn Greene, English Language Institute coordinator, said she appreciates the new location.

“Before, our students were isolated, and now they get to mingle a bit with the others,” she said. “The location is so much nicer, and the approach to the new area is warm and welcoming.”

Reading and Study Skills Center coordinator Karen Becker said the new location offers advantages to students and faculty alike. “The greatest part of this move is that it is putting our part–time faculty in a central space,” she said. “They get to see students they’ve had in the past that they might not necessarily see again, so they develop a history with the students.”

Singler said the pervious locations of the three centers were relatively small, so it will not be hard to fill their old offices. “By shifting locations, we made the most efficient usage of the space that we had, and most importantly, nothing was shortchanged,” he said.

The Maag relocation was among several summer improvement projects on campus, including renovations to the pedestrian bridge over Wick Avenue, replacing the gymnasium floor in Beeghly Center, repairing the parking decks on Wick and Lincoln avenues and restoring numerous roofs on campus.

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