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

Calendar
Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 17 and 18. YSU, in conjunction with the Mahoning County Mental Health Board and NEOUCOM Criminal Justice Coordinating Center of Excellence, presents “Mental Health Training, Response, and Awareness on Campus, M–TRAC.” The training for YSU faculty, staff, and administrators is in McKay Auditorium in Beeghly Hall. For more information, call 330–941–3532.

Friday, Feb. 19, 6 p.m. The YSU College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics celebrates Engineers Week by holding its First Annual STEM Awards Dinner in the DeBartolo Stadium Club on the YSU campus. U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan is the keynote speaker. For more information, call 330–941–2512.

Friday, Feb. 20, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The Second Annual Mahoning Valley Miniature Bridge Building Competition will be in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center at YSU. At the event run by the YSU Department of Civil Engineering, local high school students will design and construct balsa wood bridges.

Friday, Feb. 20, 7 p.m. Author, publisher, artist and educational consultant Anthony Browder talks about African Architects of Egyptian Civilization in the Ohio Room of Kilcawley Center. The lecture is part of YSU’s African American History Month celebration.

Theater/Music/Arts

Monday, Feb. 16, 8 p.m. Dana Symphony Orchestra performs concerto/aria concert with Dana Young artist contest winners at the Ford Family Recital Hall in the DeYor Performing Arts Center in downtown Youngstown.

Tuesday, Feb. 17, 8 p.m. Micah Howard, double bass, is featured in a guest artist recital in Bliss Recital Hall.

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 12:15 p.m. The YSU Percussion Ensemble performs a free Music at Noon concert in the Butler Institute of American Art.

Thursday, Feb. 19. The Department of Theater and Dance presents a high school drama day in Bliss Hall’s Ford Theater. Sponsored by the YSU chapter of Alpha Psi Omega and the national theater honorary society, the event gives students the opportunity to participate in three interactive workshops: acting, stage combat and scenic or costume design. A full performance of “The Servant of Two Masters” will be presented in the afternoon. For more information, call 330–941–3810.

Friday, Feb. 20. Mad About the Arts, an event to benefit YSU’s McDonough Museum of Art and SMARTS—Students Motivated by the Arts, will be held in the museum on Wick Avenue. The Friends of the Arts preview reception begins at 6:30 p.m. The main celebration is from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. For ticket information call 330–941–2787.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, February 20, 21 and 22. University Theater presents The Servant of Two Masters in the Ford Theater. 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Sports
Thursday, Feb. 19. 7:05 p.m. YSU women’s basketball team plays Detroit in Beeghly Center.

Friday, Feb. 20 and Sunday, Feb. 22. The YSU women’s tennis team matches up against Cincinnati 6 p.m. Friday at the Boardman Tennis Center. The team plays St. Bonaventure 8 a.m. Sunday, also at the Boardman Tennis Center.

Friday, Feb. 20, 5 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 21, 2 p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 22, 2 p.m. YSU baseball teams opens its 2009 schedule against defending College World Series runner–up Georgia in Athens, Ga. The Penguins’ home opener is set for March 17 against Pittsburgh at Eastwood Field.

Saturday, Feb. 21 and Sunday, Feb. 22. The YSU softball squad opens the 2009 season with back–to–back doubleheaders against George Mason in Fairfax, Va. The Penguins’ home opener is March 21 against Loyola in McCune Park.

Saturday, Feb. 21. YSU men’s and women’s basketball teams play a double–header at Beeghly Center. The women play 2:05 p.m. against Wright State, while the men take on St. Peter’s (N.J.) at 4:35 p.m.

Cornel West featured in Skeggs Lecture Feb. 26
Cornel West, one of the nation’s most provocative public intellectuals, will speak 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26 in Stambaugh Auditorium as part of Youngstown State University’s Skeggs Lecture Series.

The lecture is free and open to the public, but tickets are mandatory. Tickets will be available Feb. 17 to 20 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the YSU Information Office in Kilcawley Center. Tickets are limited to eight per person.

For more information, contact Shannon Tirone in the YSU Office of Alumni & Events Management at 330–941–3497.

Currently a professor at Princeton University, West burst onto the national scene in 1993 with his bestselling book, Race Matters, an analysis of racism in American democracy. Race Matters has become a contemporary classic, selling more than 500,000 copies. West has published 19 other books and has edited 13 texts.

West graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University. After earning a Ph.D. at Princeton, he became a professor of religion and director of the Afro–American Studies program there. West has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard and the University of Paris.

In his last book, Democracy Matters, West analyzes the arrested development of democracy both in America and in the crisis–ridden Middle East. He argues that if America is to become a better steward of democratization around the world, it must first recognize its own long history of imperialist corruption. His latest CD, Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations, is a collection of socially–conscious music featuring collaborations with Prince, Outkast, Jill Scott and Talib Kweli. West also offers commentary weekly on The Tavis Smiley Show from PRI..

YSU American Humanics students attend institute
Eight American Humanics students from Youngstown State University participated in the American Humanics Management/ Leadership Institute in January in Indianapolis. 

In all, more than 1,000 American Humanics students, alumni, faculty, nonprofit executives and volunteers attended this symposium, making it the conference’s largest attendance in its 36–year history. 

Participating YSU students were: Nicole Peterson of Lordstown, Rayshon Harris of Cleveland, Christina Lorenzi of Poland, Kelly Noyes of Hubbard, Melissa Papini of Youngstown, Melissa Miller of Kinsman, Tammy Thomas of Youngstown, and Sherry Johnson of North Jackson.

AHMI is the capstone educational experience for college students earning AH Certification in Nonprofit Leadership and Management. It is an opportunity for AH students to network with nonprofit executives, participate in case studies and a national collegiate dialogue, attend workshops led by experts in nonprofit studies, and participate in interviews for nonprofit professional positions.

YSU AH Campus Executive/Director Jane Reid accompanied the YSU students.

American Humanics is a national alliance of colleges, universities and nonprofits dedicated to preparing the next generation of nonprofit sector leaders. American Humanics is affiliated with more than 70 colleges and universities nationwide, including YSU. 

YSU hosts regional mathematics conference
College students from throughout the region will attend the 11th Annual Youngstown State University Regional Pi Mu Epsilon Conference 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 21 on the YSU campus.

Undergraduate students will give 10 to 15 minute presentations on mathematical topics that interest them. The year’s conference will include special sessions on the COMAP Mathematical Modeling Competition and Mathematical Biology.

Registration is available on the conference website, http://www.math.ysu.edu/pme/conferences/index.php. For more information, contact Pi Mu Epsilon at ysu–pme@math.ysu.edu.

Annual Etiquette Luncheon scheduled for Feb. 27

The Youngstown State University Student Chapter of the American Marketing Association hosts the 6th Annual Professional Networking and Etiquette Luncheon 11 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. in the Ohio Room of Kilcawley Centre.

Networking begins at 11 a.m. followed by lunch at noon.

Students will utilize business, networking and etiquette skills offered at training sessions and in a new required Business Professionalism course. Business professionals will engage students in career discussions during a full–course lunch.

Professionals attending the event are from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Innis Maggiore, Turning Technologies, Youngstown Business Journal, Cintas, AVI Inc., Infocision, Forum Health, Novaquest Pharma, WKBN, HMIS, Prodigal Media, Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber, Keynote Media Group, Superior Beverage, Data Recovery Services, SenSource, Youngstown Business Incubator, Pittsburgh Logistics and CPA firms Cohen & Co., HBK, and Packer Thomas.

Students must RSVP by Feb. 20. Reservation forms are available in the Department of Marketing in Williamson Hall and from the dean’s office in the Williamson College of Business Administration. For more information, call 330–941–3064. 

Small Business Development Center sets seminars
The Ohio Small Business Development Center at Youngstown State University is co–sponsoring a seminar for existing businesses 8 a.m. to noon Friday, Feb. 27. The seminar, titled “Just the Facts — Financing for Existing Businesses,” will be at the YSU Metro College at Southwoods Commonsﾠ in Boardman. Registration fee is $10.

YSU SBDC is also offering loan seminars 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Feb. 11 and Wednesday, March 11. The loan seminars will be at the SBDC on the YSU campus.

For more information or to register, call 330–941–2140 or e–mail rsulik@ysu.edu.

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