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

Calendar
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 8 p.m. Guest artist recital featuring pianist Zahari Metchkov in Bliss Recital Hall on campus. See News Brief below.

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 7 p.m. The YSU Wind Ensemble opens its fall 2009 season with a special outdoor concert in the Warren Amphitheatre in downtown Warren. The concert is free and will kick–off a series of year–long tribute concerts celebrating the 140th anniversary of YSU's Dana School of Music. In case of inclement weather, the concert will be moved to Bliss Hall Room 2236 on the YSU campus. For more information, call 330–941–3636.

Thursday, Sept. 10. YSU Board of Trustees committees meet on the following schedule in Maag Library, Archives Reading Room: 2 p.m., Internal Affairs; 3 p.m., External Relations; 4 p.m., Academic and Student Affairs. Board members will then have dinner at 5 p.m. in the Jones Room in Kilcawley Center.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 10, 11, 12 and 13. University Theater presents "How I Learned to Drive" in Spotlight Arena Theater in Bliss Hall. The comedic drama is the winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize. For more information, visit www.fpa.ysu.edu.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Will Allen, founder of Growing Power and one of the world’s foremost experts on urban farming, will be the keynote speaker at the Grey to Green Festival in Wick Park in Youngstown. Allen, recipient of the 2008 MacArthur Genius Award and recently featured in the New York Times Magazine, will speak at 11 a.m. in the pavilion in Wick Park. He will also participate in a panel discussion, “Economics, ‘Food Racism’ and Urban Agriculture,” at 3 p.m. in the Unitarian Church across from the park.  

Saturday, Sept. 12, 4 p.m. YSU Penguins open 2009 home football schedule against Austin Peay in Stambaugh Stadium. Pre–game activities include Kids’ Tailgate Fun Days. The home opener also features “Kick–Off ‘09” promotion, with a $5 ticket for all reserved or general admission seats. See News Brief below.

Sunday, Sept. 13, 4 p.m. The Dana Chamber Orchestra performs, featuring Bryan DePoy, new dean of the YSU College of Fine and Performing Arts, in Ford Family Recital Hall at the Eleanor Beecher Flad Pavilion in the DeYor Performing Arts Center in downtown Youngstown. See News Brief below.

Fun Days, fireworks, more set for home football games
Kids tailgating, fireworks and much more are planned during this year’s five home football games at Youngstown State University, starting Saturday, Sept. 12.

“We’re excited about presenting a full–day of activities for fans at Stambaugh Stadium each Saturday this fall,” said Rick Love, associate athletic director.

YSU will host Kids’ Tailgate Fun Days, presented by State Farm Insurance, on Saturdays Sept. 12 and Oct. 3. The events will take place three hours prior to kickoff in the M–7 tailgate lot on Fifth Avenue, adjacent to Stambaugh Stadium. Kids’ Tailgate Fun Days are free and open to children and adults of all ages. Tailgate activities will include bounce–a–round games, football, basketball and other skill games, clowns, face painting, Pete & Penny and free ticket giveaways. Area school and youth group leaders may contact the YSU Athletic Marketing Office at 330–941–7227 about complimentary game tickets for both events.

BJ Alan Phantom Fireworks will continue the tradition of providing postgame fireworks shows on Saturdays Oct. 10 and Oct. 31, which is also Homecoming.

The season will also feature numerous fan give–aways, including the annual Senior Poster, schedule magnets, YSU mouse pads, stadium cups, Pete the Penguin commemorative posters and team pictures.

In addition, there will be several ticket promotions. The first game will feature “Kick–Off ‘09” with a $5 ticket for all reserved or general admission seats. Also, fans can receive a free ticket offer for the Homecoming Game with their Giant Eagle Advantage Card.

Season and individual game tailgate lot parking passes for both the M–24 and M–7 tailgate lots are available through the Athletic Ticket Office. Game day hospitality tents for companies and groups can be reserved for each home game. Season, individual game and group tickets for all five home games are available through the Athletic Ticket Office during normal business hours, or by calling 330–941–1YSU. Fans may also log onto YSUsports.com for game day promotions, individual game information and to purchase tickets.

New F&PA dean makes local musical debut

Bryan DePoy, newly appointed dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts at Youngstown State University, will make his Youngstown area musical debut teaming with fellow trumpeter and Dana faculty member Chris Krummel in a performance at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13.

The performance will be in the Ford Family Family Recital Hall at the Eleanor Beecher Flad Pavilion in the DeYor Performing Arts Center in downtown Youngstown. Tickets are available at the door or by calling the Youngstown Symphony at 330–744–4269.

DePoy and Krummel will perform Vivaldi’s C Major Concerto for Two Trumpets, Strings, and Continuo. Guest artist and Baroque keyboard specialist Marcelene Mayhall will anchor the Continuo throughout the first half of this concert.ﾠ 

DePoy holds music degrees from Indiana University, the University of Mexico, and a doctorate in music performance from Florida State University.ﾠ His wide variety of performance experience includes the Memphis Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, New Mexico Symphony, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, and many others. Prior to coming to YSU in July, DePoy served on the music faculties and as an administrator at Delta State University and Southeastern Louisiana University.

Also featured in the concert are two contrasting performance styles. The first featuring guest artist and Baroque string specialist Brendan Considine and violinist Karen Considine, along with graduate cellist Maria Fesz in an early music period performance of Corelli’s Concerto Grosso in C, Op. 6 Nr. 10.ﾠ The second features graduate violinist Mariana Szalaj and senior violinist Justin Jones in a more contemporary rendition of Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins and Violoncello, Op. 3, No. 11. 

Students complete STEM research internships
Seven YSU students were assigned paid research internships this spring and summer through a 15–university coalition that aims to double the number of Ohio minority students earning bachelor’s degrees in science, mathematics, engineering and technology.

Charles R. Singler, interim associate provost, said the university was awarded a $49,000 grant to fund the internships created by the Ohio Science and Engineering Alliance program. Students from the YSU College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) received nine internship opportunities, he said, with two students qualifying for consecutive slots in both spring and summer.

“This is a valuable experience into scholarship for these students, one that will prepare them for post–baccalaureate studies,” Singler remarked. “And we’re talking about some significant research projects that augment what the faculty members are doing, so a second benefit is that it allows YSU to highlight its research successes.”

YSU students who participated were: James Aldridge, sophomore, engineering; Darcelle Formby, senior, chemistry; Mark Harvey, junior, engineering; Hillary Howard, sophomore, biology; Brittany Wilkins, junior, engineering; Solita Wilson, freshman, chemistry; and Daniel Oder, biology. Harvey and Wilkins served internships in both spring and summer.

Grant funds were provided by the National Science Foundation and were used mostly to pay student stipends of $3,500 for summer participants and $900 for spring participants. Summer students worked full–time on projects with faculty mentors; spring students worked fewer hours because their internships were combined with a regular class load. All participants were required to make presentations on their findings in August at a research conference in Columbus.

To qualify, applicants were required to major in a STEM field, to have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher and to be a member of an underrepresented minority group. The groups stipulated under the NSF grant are African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American or Pacific Islander.

The Ohio Science and Engineering Alliance is a coalition of fifteen universities, including YSU, working in collaboration with federal, state, and community agencies to encourage more minority students to earn bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields and to pursue graduate study in those fields. Singler said grants for the OSEA internship program have run out, but he believes it is likely that a similar program will be offered next year.

Renowned pianist performs Sept. 8 on campus
Pianist and organist Zahari Metchkov will perform 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8 in Bliss Recital Hall on the campus of Youngstown State University.

Metchkov has performed at such venues as New York’s Avery Fisher Hall and Washington’s Kennedy Center, as well as concerts in Israel, concerto and solo performances in Bulgaria, and numerous concerts in Ohio, Michigan, Texas and New York. He released his first CD in the spring 2008 ﾭ– a recording of Liszt’s Totentanz, Variations on a motive by Bach, Franck’s Symphonic Variations, and Prelude, Fuge and Variation.

In 2008, Mr. Metchkov joined the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he leads courses in music theory and piano literature. Additionally, Zahari is currently on the piano faculty of YSU and has lectured for Cuyahoga Community College, the Cleveland Lecture Recital Club, and Piano Sonata Summer Camp at the Cleveland Institute of Music.ﾠ He is artistic adviser for the San Angelo Piano Festival. In May 2009, he co–directed the YSU Intensive Piano Workshop.

Metchkov holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in music from the Cleveland Institute of Music. For more information, visit www.zaharimetchkov.com.

For additional information regarding this performance, contact the Dana School of Music at 330–941–3636.

Dana School of Music sets Music at Noon concerts
Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music, in collaboration with the Butler Institute of American Art, presents Music at Noon performances throughout the fall semester.ﾠ

Weekly performances run from Sept. 16 through Dec. 2. Performances are Wednesdays at 12:15 p.m. in the Butler Institute of American Art.ﾠ The concerts are free and open to the public, and parking is free at the Butler.

September performances:

• Sept. 16 — Corinne Morini, Soprano
• Sept. 23 — Jazz Combos
• Sept. 30 — Choral Music

For more information, call the Dana School of Music at 330–941–3636.

Flow Theater presents ‘Choreotheater’ performance 
Flow Theater for a New Era, just returning from a performance at the 2009 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston–Salem, N.C., performs 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17 in Ford Theater at Youngstown State University.

Admission is free. Tickets will be limited to four per person and will be distributed on a first–come, first–served basis beginning 8 a.m. Sept. 10 at the Information Desk in YSU’s Kilcawley Center.ﾠ

For more information, contact the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity at 330–941–3370.ﾠ

Flow Theater for a New Era, from Columbus, Ohio, will present a multicultural piece filled with humor, drama, and current events. The group specializes in a unique form of “Choreotheater” that entertains and empowers the audience to be a part of the solution. The group has been acknowledged nationally for its insightful ability to develop a technique for using theater as an entry point to self–discovery, dialogue and understanding.ﾠ

Co–sponsors of the performance are YSU’s Office of Student Diversity Programs, Center for International Studies and Programs, and Department of Theater and Dance, the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Partners for Workplace Diversity, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Planning Committee, YWCA and Jefferson Community College.ﾠ 

Swim team schedules ‘learn to swim’ clinics
YSU’s swimming and diving team will conduct “learn to swim” clinics in October for YSU campus community children ages 4 to 10 as part of a fundraising effort.

Lessons will be held at the YSU Natatorium in Beeghly Center from 6 to 6:45 p.m. on the following Sundays and Wednesdays: Oct. 4, 7, 11, 14 and 18. Participants are asked to arrive five minutes in advance. The cost is $5 per child.

The swimming and diving team is looking to deliver a quality learning experience to children of YSU faculty and staff and students. The clinic is limited to the first 40 participants who register, and the tentative deadline to do so is Sept. 25.

For more information, contact Coach Jess Ewald at jaewald@ysu.edu.

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