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

Calendar
Monday, Aug. 24. Fall semester classes begin. See News Brief below for list of Welcome Week activities, or visit http://www.ysu.edu/welcomeweek/.

Friday, Aug. 28, 7 p.m. The YSU women's soccer team kicks off the 2009 home season against Canisius at Stambaugh Stadium. The team also plays 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 at Stambaugh.

 

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown presents lecture on healthcare Sept. 3

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown will talk about the healthcare crisis in the United States to kick off the 2009–10 Center for Working–Class Studies Lecture Series 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3 in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center on the Youngstown State University campus.

Brown’s lecture, titled “The Healthcare Crisis and Working–Class Communities,” comes as Congress debates President Obama’s proposed reform of the nation’s healthcare system.

“This lecture, which is being held at the start of the Labor Day weekend, will focus on a very timely, much–debated topic that is vitally important to all Americans, particularly the working class,” said John Russo, co–director of the YSU Center for Working–Class Studies and coordinator of the Labor Studies program at YSU.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in the M–24 lot on Fifth Avenue, next to McDonalds. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

The YSU Center for Working–Class Studies was started in 1996 to increase awareness of and respect for working–class life and culture through education, the arts, media, and research. It was the first academic program in the nation to focus on issues of work and class. The lecture series, started in 1996, is the longest–running lecture series of its kind at YSU and has featured topics ranging from “The Wal–Martization of American Industry” to “Women and Work in Modern China.”

Since joining the U.S. Senate in January 2007, Brown has held more than 140 community roundtables, visiting each of Ohio’s 88 counties at least once, to talk with local leaders, workers, business owners and healthcare professionals about how to turn the economy around and rebuild the middle class in Ohio and across the nation.

Prior to winning election to the U.S. Senate, Brown served 14 years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Ohio’s 13^th district in Cleveland and eight years as Ohio Secretary of State.

As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Brown worked with his committee colleagues to pass the historic health insurance reform bill that is now pending before Congress. In 2008, Brown worked to re–authorize Healthy Start, a program that reduces infant mortality and low birth weight. And in 2009, he helped to strengthen the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which expands access to health insurance for 11 million children nationwide.

In addition to the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Brown is a member of the U.S. Senate’s Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, the Veterans Affairs Committee, the Ethics Committee and the Agriculture and Nutrition Committee.

A native of Mansfield, Ohio, Senator Brown is married to Pulitzer–prize winning columnist Connie Schultz. They reside in Avon, Ohio, and have three daughters, a son, and a grandson, all of whom make Ohio their home.

Renowned urban farmer speaks at Grey to Green Festival

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 on Saturday, Sept. 12.

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.

Allen 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.  

The appearance is sponsored by Grow Youngstown, Youngstown State University and the Raymond John Wean Foundation.

The Grey to Green Festival features entertainment, educational exhibits, children’s activities, “green” vendors, healthy food, a farmers market, Magic Carpet Theater, composting, artists, energy assessment activities, recycled products and a Wick Park historic tour. Wick Park is located across from Stambaugh Stadium on Fifth Avenue in Youngstown.

Growing Power, with headquarters in Milwaukee, is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high–quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. Growing Power provides hands–on training, on–the–ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner.

The organization had $2 million in revenues in 2008 and employs 35 people in urban agriculture.  

On two acres in Milwaukee, Allen has 14 greenhouses that produce compost, yellow perch, tilapia, sprouts, greens, tomatoes, livestock (hundreds of thousands of red wigglers, some goats, ducks, bees and turkeys) and more using low tech closed loop systems that incorporate aquaponics and intensive composting.

He also works on the Growing Food and Justice Initiative, a national network of about 500 people that fights what he calls “food racism,” the structural denial of wholesome food to poor African–American and Latino neighborhoods.

“One of our four strategic goals is to dismantle racism in the food system,” Allen said in an article printed in YES Magazine in February. “Just as there is redlining in lending, there is redlining by grocery stores, denying access to people of color by staying out of minority communities.”  

For more information on Allen, visit www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/magazine/05allen–t.html. Or, visit the Growing Power Web site at www.growingpower.org.

Semester opens with foam, fire–eating, Cap’n Crunch

Youngstown State University opens the 2009–10 academic year this week with activities ranging from movies and sword–swallowing sideshows to a foam party and a Cap’n Crunch–eating contest.

For a full list, visit http://www.ysu.edu/welcomeweek/.

Among the highlights:

Monday, August 24
Build a Penguin, Funny Photos with Pete and Prize Machine, Campus Core, 10 a.m. to 2p.m. Win gifts cards from local establishments in the money machine, take a photo on a deserted island or build a Penguin to take home. Call 330–941–2242.

Welcome Week Arcade, Lariccia Family Lounge, Kilcawley Center, 10 a.m. toﾠ 3 p.m. ﾠ
Four X Box 360 setups with all the latest Xbox and Wii games. Call 330–941–3717.

Campus Resource Fair, Campus Core, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ﾠRepresentatives from a variety of campus departments and services will be present to answer questions, pass out prizes.

Pickled Brothers, Campus Core, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sword–swallowing and fire–eating are featured.

Maag Library, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The library hosts a carnival–themed event to encourage students to get their library barcode. Students can enter a raffle with their barcode number to win a number of prizes, such as a Flip video camera, MP3 player, gift cards and gift baskets. There also will be a prize wheel.ﾠ The events will also take place Tuesday, Aug. 25, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.ﾠ

Tuesday, August 25
Student Organizational Fair, Campus Core, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nearly 50 of YSU’s ﾠregistered student organizations will participate. Call 330–941–3580.

Henna Tattoos. Campus Core, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Allow the very talented Jodi Flemming to give you your own personal Henna Pirate tattoos.

Fifth Annual Foam & Dance Party, Rec–5 Area, 7 to 10 p.m. Dance in the foam and get the chance to win prizes, including a flat screen TV. Shirts, shoes and a valid YSU ID are required. Call 330–941–4702.

Wednesday, August 26
Meet the Greeks, Campus Core, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Meet the men and women who comprise YSU’s Greek System. All 16 fraternities and sororities will have informational tables. Call 330–941–4702.

KC Block Party, Kilcawley Center–Chestnut Room, Noon to 2 p.m. Register to win a wide–screen TV and lots of other great prizes. Enjoy a slice of Kilcawley’s 35th Anniversary cake and taste–test what Kilcawley’s kitchens are cooking up this fall. Call 330–941–3571.

Crow’s Nest Climb Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center – Flad Mountain, 4 to 6 p.m. Climb the Flad Mountain Ghost Ship to the crow’s nest at the top to retrieve a prize. Call 330–941–1964.

Captain Crunch Eating Contest, Kilcawley Center – Chestnut Room, 7 p.m.
Watch your students eat the “Cap’n” with over–sized spoons.

Thursday, Aug. 27
Walking the Plank, Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center – Elevated Challenge Course, 4 to 6 p.m. Walk the Plank. Don’t fall off. Just make it to the treasure chest to retrieve a prize. Call 330–941–1964.

Welcome Week Picnic, University Courtyard Apartments– Recreation Area, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Call 330–941–2086.

Texting Competition, Campus Core, Noon to 1 p.m. Show how fast you can move your fingers. The fastest texter will be crowned Text Champ. Call 330–941–2118.

Penguin Production — Welcome Week Concert, Beeghly Center, doors open 6 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Concert features Augustana, Matt Nathanson and Tyrone Wells. Tickets are free with valid YSU ID. One guest ($5 fee) allowed per YSU student. Tickets will be distributed throughout Welcome Week as prizes or can be picked up at the door of Beeghly Center prior to show. Call 330– 941–2242.

Friday, August 28
Party on the Plaza, Downtown Youngstown, Central Square (in front of Buffalo Wild Wings), 5 p.m. Entertainment includes Allies and Rage.

YSU Women’s Soccer, Stambaugh Stadium, 7 p.m.

Saturday, August 29
Kayaking Day Trip, Berlin Lake, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cost is $15. Sign up in the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center. Call 330–941–1964.

Sunday, August 30
International Welcome Picnic, Mill Creek Park — Newport Lake, 1 to 6 p.m.
A picnic for new and continuing international students, international faculty and staff and anyone interested. Food, games and boat rides. Call 330–941–2336.

YSU Women’s Soccer, Stambaugh Stadium, 1 p.m.

Gerontology scholarship created to honor professor
The faculty and staff of the gerontology program at Youngstown State University have established the Dr. James Kiriazis Scholarship Endowment in honor of the late chair of the university’s Sociology and Anthropology department.

The endowment was established at the YSU Foundation through the generosity of Dr. James Collins, Ph.D., YSU class of 1988, and Mrs. Anabel Collins, YSU class of 1987.

“Dr. Kiriazis has influenced most of us in our pursuit in the field of gerontology,” said Daniel J. Van Dussen, coordinator of YSU’s new gerontology program.

Kiriazis, known as Dr. K, taught at YSU for 50 years, retiring in 1991. In 1957, he became the first person to teach a gerontology class in the state of Ohio. He was an anthropologist and long–time department chair, helping to launch aging education and the degree in social work at YSU. He also served on the Ohio Counselor and Social Worker Licensing Board. In addition, he was a research professor in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at the Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine.

YSU’s gerontology program is housed in the department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Gerontology. The program offers a Certificate in Applied Gerontology and a bachelor’s degree in Gerontology.

The first scholarships will be awarded in fall 2010.

For more information about the scholarship, contact Van Dussen at 330–941–1683 or djvandussen@ysu.edu.

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