The YSU Marching Pride, floats and plenty more will highlight the YSU Homecoming 2009 Parade this Saturday at 2 p.m. along Fifth Avenue. See News Brief for a full list of Homecoming events.

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

• YSU celebrates Homecoming 2009 this week
• Exhibition on 'Anne Frank of Slovakia' at YSU
• 'We are IT' conference set for Nov. 13 at YSU
• Dance group holds workshops, performs at YSU
• Research luncheon celebrates record year

Calendar
Monday, Oct. 26, 6 to 8 p.m. Students and others who want to learn more about the Peace Corps are invited to meet with a recruiter in Room 2068 of Kilcawley Center. The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship. Since then, more than 195,000 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in 139 host countries to work on issues ranging from AIDS education to information technology and environmental preservation.

Monday, Oct. 26, 8 p.m. Dana Symphony Orchestra performs in the Ford Family Recital Hall at The Eleanor Beecher Flad Pavilion in the DeYor Performing Arts Center in downtown Youngstown.

Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 28 and 29. Rhythm In Shoes, a Dayton–based dance and music company, conducts free workshops in Beeghly Center, followed by a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 in Ford Theater. See News Brief below.

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 12:15 p.m. Music At Noon concert features the Dana School of Music's Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble in the Butler Institute of American Art. Free.

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 8 p.m. The Dana School of Music's Percussion Ensemble performs in Butler North.

Thursday, Oct. 29, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The YSU Student Organization of Dental Hygienist sponsors at blood drive in McKay Auditorium at the Beeghly College of Education.

Thursday, Oct. 29, 8 p.m. Faculty Artist Recital features the Dana Flute and Guitar Duo (Kathryn Thomas Umble, flute, and Francois Fowler, guitar) in Bliss Recital Hall

Friday, Oct. 30, 4 p.m. Dana Gioia, former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, speaks in the Gallery in Kilcawley Center. He gives a poetry reading at 7 p.m., also in the Gallery. Gioia has published three full–length collections of poetry as well as eight chapbooks. His collection, Interrogations at Noon, won the 2002 American Book Award. Gioia is at YSU as part of a two–day course on Literary Publishing presented by Etruscan Press.

Friday, Oct. 30, 5:30 p.m. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown joins local veterans and university officials to dedicate Armed Forces Boulevard, formerly Spring Street on the west side of campus. Festivities begin at 4:30 p.m. when a U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter lands on the infield of the track on the north side of campus. The helicopter will fly over Armed Services Boulevard at 5:30 p.m. to start the dedication. The ceremony features a procession of veterans from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, as well as the YSU ROTC. The YSU band will perform. (In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will take place in the south lobby of Beeghly Center.)

Friday, Oct. 30, 6 p.m. The Warren P. Williamson Jr. College of Business Administration YSU holds the 14^th Annual WCBA Alumni Banquet in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center. The college will give out Outstanding Alumnus Awards to John A DePizzo, Jr. (Jack), '71, Outstanding Business Alumnus; John Finizio, Jr., '85, Outstanding MBA Alumnus; Ted F. Uehlinger, '99, Outstanding Recent Alumnus; and Richard J. Schiraldi, Outstanding Service Award. For more information, call 330–941–3068 or e–mail cgshelton@ysu.edu.

Friday and Saturday, Oct. 30 and 31. The YSU volleyball squad takes on Wisconsin–Green Bay 7 p.m. Friday in Beeghly Center, followed by a match with Milwaukee 2 p.m. Saturday.

Friday and Saturday, Oct. 30 and 31. YSU's Ward Beecher Planetarium shows 'Nightlights' at 6 and 8 p.m. both days and 'The Halloween Show' 1 and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Visit http://www.cc.ysu.edu/physics–astro/planetarium_2009proofc.pdf.

Friday, Oct. 30, 8 p.m. Misook Yun, Voice Studio Recital in Bliss Recital Hall.

Saturday, Oct. 31. YSU Homecoming features a parade at 2 p.m. along Fifth Avenue, followed by YSU vs. South Dakota State in Stambaugh Stadium at 4 p.m. (Note: It is the first time in 17 years that YSU has played a home game on Halloween. All–time, the Penguins are 4–4 in Halloween contests.) At halftime, the 2009 Homecoming King and Queen will be crowned. For more Homecoming activities, see News Brief below.

YSU celebrates Homecoming 2009 this week
Youngstown State University celebrates Homecoming 2009 this week, culminating with the YSU–South Dakota State football clash and the crowning of the 2009 Homecoming King and Queen on Saturday.

The full list of events is available at http://www.ysu.edu/reccenter/Homecoming_2009_Events_Poster_eps.pdf.

Among the activities: 

• Monday, Oct. 26, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., ROTC Football Toss and Jousting Competition.

• Monday, Oct. 26, noon, Pumpkin pie eating contest.

• Monday, Oct. 26, 5 p.m. "Bocce Game of Hope" for the Hope Foundation of the Mahoning Valley.

• Tuesday, Oct. 27, 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. "Build–a–Penguin" and "Create your own flip flops."

• Wednesday, Oct. 28, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Red–and–White Day office decorating contest.

• Wednesday, Oct. 28, noon, "Monster Mashed Potatoes" eating contest.

• Thursday, Oct. 29, 10:30 a.m. to noon, Peaberry's "Audience Response" trivia game show.

• Thursday, Oct. 29, noon, "The best wing–ding eating contest in the Valley."

• Friday, Oct. 30, 8:30 a.m., Free Arby's breakfast for first 200 students.

• Friday, Oct. 30, 5:30 p.m., Dedication of Armed Forces Boulevard. 

• Saturday, Oct. 31, noon, Student Government Association student tailgate.

• Saturday, Oct. 31, 2 p.m., Homecoming parade along Fifth Avenue.

• Saturday, Oct. 31, 2:30 p.m., YSU Alumni Terrace Dinner.

• Saturday, Oct. 31, 4 p.m. YSU vs. South Dakota State, Stambaugh Stadium. At halftime, the 2009 Homecoming King and Queen will be crowned.

•  Sunday, Nov. 1, noon, Half Century Club recognizes the class of 1959, Stadium Club.
  
  

Exhibition of 'Anne Frank of Slovakia' at YSU
A preview of the exhibition "In Her Father's Eyes: A Slovak Childhood in the Shadow of the Holocaust" and an accompanying lecture by the translator of the diary will be 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center on the Youngstown State University campus. 

YSU students in the Applied History program utilized a translation of the diary of Kitty's father, BŽla Weichherz, to create the exhibition text, which tells the compelling story of Kitty Weichherz, the Anne Frank of Slovakia. The diary's translator, Daniel Magilow of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, will give a lecture titled "The Short Life and Death of Kitty Weicherz (1929–1942)." 

The exhibition and lecture are hosted by the YSU Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies. It is free and open to the public.

The exhibition features an accompanying book, "In Her Father''s Eyes: A Childhood Extinguished by the Holocaust." The book, which is a translation of the diary, is available at the YSU bookstore. 

The exhibition is co–developed and co–sponsored by YSU, University of Tennessee–Knoxville, and Kennesaw State University. It received additional funding from local residents Leonard Spiegel and Joy Elder.

'We are IT' conference set for Nov. 13
The "We are IT" conference, designed for young women in grades 7 through 10, will be Friday, Nov. 13 at Youngstown State University.

The professional Information Technology (IT) conference is an initiative of the Ohio IT Business Advisory Network, produced with funds provided by the federal Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act and through a grant from the Office of Career–Technical and Adult Education, Ohio Department of Education.

The purpose of the conference is to familiarize young women with various aspects of Information Technology and other Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines and to encourage them to continue their education and pursue a rewarding career in one of the STEM fields.

During the daylong program, participants choose from eight workshops, including Engineering (Bridge Construction or Building a Digital Counter); Computer Science and Information Systems (How to Program with Alice, Building Lego Robots, Working with Binary Numbers, Cryptography: Writing Secret Codes; or Flash Animation); and the Planetarium (Behind the Console at the Planetarium).

The keynote speaker is Dr. Consuelo Mendez, a physician specializing in general internal medicine. Born in the Dominican Republic, Mendez completed her education in Puerto Rico and moved to Youngstown to complete her internship and residency at St. Elizabeth Hospital in 1987. Besides having been in private practice full–time since 1987, Mendez has also been employed by Medix Evaluations. She was on staff at Shenango Primary Health Network from 1988 to 2002 and is currently on staff at St. Elizabeth and Forum Health.

Sponsors for this year's program include Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, the YSU Division of Student Affairs, YSU Department of Associate Degrees and Tech Prep Programs, YSU Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, YSU Department of Engineering Technology, Ohio Department of Education, Industrial Information Institute for Education Incorporated and Youngstown City Schools.

Dance group holds workshops, performs at YSU
Rhythm In Shoes, a Dayton–based dance and music company, will conduct free workshops Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 28 and 29 at Youngstown State University, and a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29.

The workshops will be in several on–campus locations and the concert will be in Bliss Hall's Ford Theater. See schedule below.

"We are happy to bring Rhythm In Shoes to YSU and to the community," said Christine Cobb YSU associate professor of dance. "Their unique brand of dance is appropriate for all ages and skill levels, and we encourage those interested to participate in one of the free, open workshops."

Rooted in traditional forms of American music and dance—swing tunes & tap, hoedowns and clogging—the varied repertoire of RIS, directed by choreographer Sharon Leahy and composer Rick Good, is at once original and recognizable. RIS has toured in 47 states as well as Canada, Japan and Ireland, pursuing the companyÕs mission: to engage the world in music and dance.

RIS' visit is underwritten through the Cliffe Family Visiting Artist Series program at YSU. Designed to bring artists of national prominence to YSU, the Series has multiple goals: Cliffe artists are not restricted to one media, rather they may engage in visual arts, music or music composition. They must conduct workshops with students and provide a community outreach segment to their visit. The Cliffe Family Visiting Artist is rotated between the disciplines yearly within the College of Fine & Performing Arts. Former Youngstown–area residents Wayne and Charles Cliffe established the Series to honor their late parents, Dr. Earle and Ida Cliffe. Dr. Cliffe was a prominent physician in Youngstown in the 1920s and 1930s and both were interested in the arts.

More information about Rhythm In Shoes is available at www.rhythminshoes.org. Information about this or any of the workshops is available by calling the University Theater Box Office at 330–941–3105.

The schedule:

• Wednesday, Oct. 28 workshop, Noon to 1:50 p.m., Teaching dance in the elementary school classroom, Beeghly Center room 119; 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m., Dance composition class, Beeghly Center room 100, 4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m., Clogging class, Beeghly Center room 119.

• Thursday, Oct. 29 workshop, 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., Tap Class, Beeghly Center room 100; 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Swing Dance Class, Beeghly Center room 100 or 119.

• Thursday, Oct. 29, concert, 7:30 p.m., Ford Theater in Bliss Hall.

Research luncheon celebrates record year
Youngstown State University's 12th Annual Research Recognition Luncheon will be 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, in the Ohio Room of Kilcawley Center.

Awards will be given to faculty members and academic departments for exceptional accomplishments in research.

This year's awards ceremony comes on the heels of a record–breaking year for the university. Faculty and staff garnered $11.7 million in grants during fiscal year 2009, up more than 70 percent from 2008. Since 2000, the amount of grants awarded to YSU faculty and staff has nearly quadrupled.

Chemistry professor Tim Wagner landed the year's largest grant, $2.1 million through the Third Frontier initiative from the Ohio Department of Development to fund the Center for Excellence in Advanced Materials Analysis. YSU also received more than $2.2 million in federal appropriations, including $1.3 million to chemistry professor Allen Hunter by the U.S. Department of Defense to establish the National Defense Center of Excellence in Industrial Metrology and 3D Imaging.

"We are especially gratified to have reached such a level of success this past year," said Martin Abraham, dean of the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, which brought in $7 million in fiscal year 2009. "This is a testament to the outstanding effort our faculty has put forth, and to the new reality of our evolution into an urban research university. 

"Now the really hard work begins – performing on these projects. With the continued effort of our faculty and students, and the support of the university, I'm confident we can have continued success and even greater achievements in research and scholarship."

External grant funding
Fiscal         Total
year

2009    $11.7 million
2008    $6.8 million
2007    $5.9 million
2006    $4.8 million
2005    $4.6 million
2004    $6.5 million
2003    $5.9 million
2002    $4.4 million
2001    $3.7 million
2000    $3.4 million

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