Hae–Jong Lee, director of choral activities at YSU's Dana School of Music, welcomes the audience to last year's Dana Holiday Concert in Stambaugh Auditorium. This year's Holiday Concert and Carols & Cocoa is 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2 at Stambaugh. For more information, see Calendar item below.

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

• Bishop Murry receives honorary degree at commencement
• New atomic force microscope advances materials research
• Department of Art sponsors lecture
• African Cultural Celebration set for Dec. 11
• Nominations sought for YSU Heritage Award

Calendar
Tuesday, Dec. 1, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. SMARTS – Students Motivated by the Arts – hosts its seventh annual Holiday Open House at the SMARTS Center, 258 Federal Plaza in downtown Youngstown.

Tuesday, Dec. 1. The YSU Board of Trustees meets in the Jones Room of Kilcawley Center: 2 p.m.  Internal Affairs Committee, 3 p.m.  External Relations, 4 p.m. Academic and Student Affairs Committee.

Tuesday, Dec. 1, 8 p.m. YSUÕs Dana School of Music presents a performance by Romanian–born pianist Maira Liliestedt in Bliss Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public.

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 12:15 p.m. The YSU Dana School of Music's Saxophone Studio Recital performs a free Music At Noon concert in the Butler Institute of American Art.

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 7 p.m. YSU's Dana School of Music presents Carols & Cocoa and the Holiday Concert in Stambaugh Auditorium, 1000 Fifth Ave. Carols & Cocoa in Stambaugh's Ballroom features seasonal favorites, culminating in a holiday sing–along. Handel's "Messiah" will then be performed in the Concert Hall. Tickets may be purchased in advance either in person at the Bliss Hall Box Office or with a credit card by phone at 330–941–3105. Tickets will also be available the evening of the performance. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens, and free for children under 12 and those with a valid YSU ID.

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 7:05 p.m. YSU women's basketball team takes on Pittsburgh in Beeghly Center.

Thursday, Dec. 3, 2 p.m.  The YSU Board of Trustees' Finance and Facilities Committee meets in the Jones Room of Kilcawley Center.

Thursday, Dec. 3, 5:30 p.m. Alexis L. Boylan, assistant professor of Art History at the University of Tennessee, will present a lecture titled "Cities of Light: Thomas Kinkade's Domestic Cities" in the auditorium in the Butler Institute of American Art. See News Brief below.

Thursday, Dec. 3, 6 p.m. Gary Daniels, associate director of the ACLU of Ohio will present a talk on "Religious Liberty and The First Amendment"  in the Gallery of Kilcawley Center. The event is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Greater Youngstown and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, with the support of the YSU Dr. James Dale Ethics Center.

Thursday, Dec. 3. Don Gonyea, White House correspondent for National Public Radio, is the featured guest at a dinner sponsored by WYSU–FM in the DeBartolo Stadium Club at Stambaugh Stadium on the YSU campus. The pre–event begins at 6 p.m., with dinner at 7 p.m. For tickets call 330–941–3363 or visit www.WYSU.org.

Friday, Dec. 4, 7 to 10 p.m. The YSU Philosophy and Religious Studies Club hosts an event at Dorian Books, 802 Elm St., Youngstown. Mustansir Mir, director of the YSU Center for Islamic Studies, will read Sufi poetry in Arabic, translate it into English, and explain the religious and cultural meanings within the poems. Middle Eastern appetizers catered by the Phoenician Grill will be served, along with wine tasting for those old enough and so inclined. Tickets are $15 for students and $30 for non–students and can be purchased in Room 401, DeBartolo Hall. Phone 330–941–3448.  

Bishop Murry receives honorary degree at commencement

The Youngstown State University Board of Trustees will confer a Doctorate of Humanities degree on The Rev. George V. Murry, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, at fall commencement ceremonies 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13 in Beeghly Center.

Bishop Murry holds a master's of divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif., as well as master's and doctorate degrees in American cultural history from George Washington University in Washington D.C.

He served in the field of higher education as both a professor and associate vice president for academic affairs at the University of Detroit before being appointed auxiliary Bishop of Chicago by Pope John Paul II in 1995 and bishop of St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands in 1999. On Jan. 30, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as the fifth bishop of the Youngstown Diocese.

Currently, Bishop Murry serves as a member on the boards of Fairfield University in Fairfield, Conn.; the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio; Walsh University in Canton, Ohio; and Christ the King Jesuit High School in Chicago.

In addition, he is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, serving on the education and domestic policy committees, as well as the board of the Catholic Relief Services. In November 2007, Bishop Murry was elected secretary of the Bishops conference at a meeting of the United States bishops.

 

 

 

New atomic force microscope advances materials research
A new microscope that can make surface profile measurements on the order of a billionth of a meter is now part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at YSU.

The $150,000 atomic force microscope, which has the capability to image small objects down to the size of an atom, was funded as part of a $900,000 grant from the Ohio Research Scholarship Program. The program provides grants to strengthen and increase the number of collaborative research clusters across the state.

The grant will help YSU advance its research into the surface of materials such as polymer multilayer structures being developed in collaboration with Case Western Reserve University as part of a National Science Foundation–supported Center for Layered Polymeric Materials, with which YSU is affiliated.

YSU received the allocation of $900,000 as part of a $15 million grant to the Research Cluster on Surfaces in Advanced Materials, of which YSU is a member along with Kent State and Case Western Reserve universities.

James Andrews, professor of Physics and Astronomy, said the cluster was formed in response to a fall 2007 joint request for proposals from the Ohio Department of Development and Board of Regents under the Ohio Third Frontier Initiative.

The AFM has a tiny probe tip which scans the surface of a material to create a 3–D image, as opposed to using traditional microscope techniques which utilize light to display a two–dimensional image.

"It has become one of the fundamental tools for looking at surface materials," Andrews said.

Andrews, along with YSU physics professor Tom Oder and research scientist Guilin Mao, are the only members of the faculty who have been trained to work with the instrument so far, though they are looking forward to broadening its use and incorporating the microscope into the classroom.

"In addition to involving YSU students in our research efforts, coursework based on the AFM will be integrated into our upper–division courses on condensed matter, semiconductors and advanced instrumentation," Andrews said.

The remaining grant funds will primarily be used to purchase other instruments, including an optical parametric oscillator (tunable laser source), a Raman Microscope, a solar stimulator, a programmable spin coater and various related pieces for studying surfaces. 

Department of Art sponsors lecture
Alexis L. Boylan, assistant professor of Art History at the University of Tennessee, will present a lecture titled "Cities of Light: Thomas Kinkade's Domestic Cities" 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3 in the auditorium in the Butler Institute of American Art.

The lecture is presented by the YSU Department of Art.

Boylan earned a bachelor's degree at Bryn Mawr College and a master's and doctorate at Rutgers University. Boylan is particularly interested in the presentation and performance of masculinity in turn–of–the–century American paintings and sculpture. Her work has been published in journals such as Prospects and Rethinking Marxism, and she has written essays for several exhibition catalogues.

Boylan is currently working on a book entitled, "Man on the Street: Masculinity, Urbanism, and Ashcan Art." She has also edited a collection of essays that consider the art of Thomas Kinkade and his impact on contemporary art that will be published by Duke University Press in 2010. 

African Cultural Celebration set for Dec. 11
The Youngstown State University Africana Studies Program will sponsor the 10^th annual Jabali (The Rock) African Cultural Celebration 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center.  

Keynote speaker is Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams. His topic is "Youngstown on the Rebound." The Harambee Youth Group and the African Student Union will provide entertainment.  

Dinner is $25 for adults, $10 for students, and $175 for a table of eight.  

For more information or to make reservations, contact the Dean''s Office, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at 330–941–3409 or the Africana Studies Program at 330–941–3097.

Nominations sought for YSU Heritage Award
The deadline is Dec. 31 for faculty, staff and alumni to nominate former faculty or administrative staff for the YSU Heritage Award.

The Heritage Award is the most prestigious honor bestowed upon former faculty and administrative staff who have made outstanding contributions to the university. A 16–person committee comprised of alumni, faculty, staff and YSU Retiree Association representatives screens nominees.

Award recipients are honored with plaques mounted on the wall of the concourse of Maag Library. Fifty–five awards have been made since the program was initiated in 1981. The names of all past Heritage Award recipients are available by visiting the YSU Human Resources website at www.cc.ysu.edu/hr and clicking on "Heritage Award." Nomination forms can be printed from the website; forms are also available at the Office of Alumni Relations.

Faculty, staff, or alumni who would like further information on the Heritage Award or who wish to obtain a nomination form may write, call, or e–mail: Cynthia D. Miller, Office of Human Resources, One University Plaza, Youngstown OH 44555, 330–941–7231, cdmiller01@ysu.edu