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

Calendar
Monday, April 6, 8:00 p.m. The Dana School of Music’s Jazz Ensemble 1, under the direction of Kent Engelhardt, will perform its spring concert in Kilcawley Center’s Chestnut Room. The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call 330–941–3636

Tuesday, April 7. Quest, the annual celebration of scholarship by YSU students, will be in Kilcawley Center.

Tuesday, April 7, 8:00 p.m. A recital featuring students in the Dana School of Music’s Musical Theater program is scheduled for Bliss Recital Hall. More than 14 students will perform musical theater selections from current and past musicals. Free. For more information, call 330–941–3636.

Wednesday, April 8, 8 a.m. YSU graduate Riyad Mansour, ambassador and permanent observer for Palestine to the United Nations, speaks in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center as part of the high school Model United Nations meeting on campus.

Wednesday, April 8, 12:15 p.m. A Dana School of Music tuba/euphonium performance is featured at a Music at Noon concert in the Butler Institute of American Art.

Wednesday, April 8, 6:30 p.m. Mary Claire Mahaney, author of Osaka Heat, facilitates a discussion about “Writing a Multicultural Novel” at the Newport Branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, 3730 Market St. For more information, contact Deborah Liptak at 330–744–8636, Ext. 118. The presentation is sponsored by the YSU Diversity Council.

Wednesday, April 8, 8 p.m. The Dana School of Music’s guitar studio recital, under the direction of Francois Fowler, will perform in the Bliss Recital Hall. Free. For more information, call 330–941–3636.

Thursday, April 9, 12:30 p.m. Regina Schwartz, a professor of Literature, Religion and Law at Northwestern University, talks about “Holy Law and Holy Terror” 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9, in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center. See News Brief below.

Thursday, April 9, 6 p.m. The Dana School of Music’s clarinet studio recital, under the direction of Alice Wang, will be in the Bliss Recital Hall. Free. Another recital is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, also in the Bliss Recital Hall. For more information, call 330–941–3636.

Penguin sports

Baseball at Eastwood Field in Niles

• Wednesday, April 8, 5 p.m. vs. Slippery Rock.
• Friday, April 10, 3 p.m., vs. Cleveland State
• Saturday, April 11, noon and 3 p.m. vs. Cleveland State.

Softball at McCune Park

• Tuesday, April 7, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. vs. Robert Morris.
• Wednesday, April 8, 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., vs. Toledo.
• Friday, April 10, 5 p.m., vs. Valparaiso.
• Saturday, April 11, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. vs. Valparaiso.

Women’s tennis at the YSU Tennis Courts

• Friday, April 10, 6 p.m., vs. Illinois–Chicago.
• Saturday, April 1, 5 p.m., vs. Butler.

Men’s tennis, at the YSU Tennis Courts

• Friday, April 10, 2 p.m., vs. Illinois–Chicago.
• Saturday, April 11, 2 p.m., vs. Butler.

YSU alum, UN official visits campus this week

Youngstown State University graduate Riyad Mansour, ambassador and permanent observer for Palestine to the United Nations, will visit his alma mater Wednesday, April 8 as part of the YSU high school Model United Nations meeting.

Mansour, who has been with the United Nations since 2005, will address the opening session of the meeting at 8 a.m. in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center.

Mansour earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master’s degree in education counseling from YSU. He also has a PhD in counseling from the University of Akron.

Prior to joining the UN, he was senior executive consultant for Maali Enterprises in Florida, president of Mansour Consulting LLC, litigation consultant with Leventhan & Slaughter, adjunct professor of political science at the University of Central Florida, vice president of Intram Investments and deputy permanent observer of Palestine to the UN.


Marketing students team with Girard company
Marketing students in Youngstown State University’s Williamson College of Business Administration gained hands–on marketing research experience by helping a local business.

Students Laura Blakeman of Youngstown, Joe Foos of Girard, and Amber Gallagher of Austintown, members of the American Marketing Association, conducted a marketing research survey for Price Heating and Cooling in Girard. 

Peter Reday, assistant professor of marketing, coordinates projects with area businesses to engage students in research with an ongoing emphasis of applying theoretical marketing principles to businesses in the Youngstown area.

Price Heating and Cooling opened in the 1930’s. The company’s many years of service to the community implies that the company understands its existing customers, Reday said. However since markets are dynamic, especially today, a good company tries to understand how the markets are changing so that they can provide appropriate products and services to meet customer needs.

The business students received a check for $2,000 for their services once the project was completed.

Annual Quest event recognizes YSU student research
Quest, the annual celebration of scholarship by Youngstown State University students, will be Tuesday, April 7 in Kilcawley Center on the YSU campus.

More than 300 students from disciplines ranging from chemistry to English will present their research.

Now in its 19^th year, Quest provides an opportunity for all YSU undergraduate and graduate students to showcase their scholarly achievements. 

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit http://www.ysu.edu/QUEST/index.php.

YSU hosts regional electrical engineering conference
About 250 electrical engineering college students from Ohio to Delaware will attend the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Region 2 Student Activities Conference April 17 through 19 at Youngstown State University.

This is the first time that YSU has hosted the conference.

IEEE, with nearly 80,000 student members in more than 160 countries, is the leading, non–profit professional association for the advancement of technology. This year’s Student Activities Conference is being hosted by the YSU chapter of IEEE and the YSU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The conference is an event that brings student branches from all over IEEE Region 2 together to engage in activities such as leadership training, student paper competitions, robotics competitions, student ethics competitions and a project showcase competition, concluding with an awards banquet. 

Region 2 includes colleges from Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland, along with several from West Virginia, Delaware, Rhode Island and New Jersey.

Electrical engineering students from YSU have participated in many conferences and have placed in the top three in various competitions over the past few years.ﾠ Last year, eight electrical engineering students attended the leadership workshop at the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, Pa. They competed in two events, where they placed second in the Hardware & Software competition.

For more information on the conference visit: http://www.eng.ysu.edu/~ieee/sac2009.html.

57^th Greek Sing celebrates Broadway musicals

“Broadway Musicals” is the theme of this year’s 57^th annual Greek Sing 6 p.m., Friday, April 17, in Stambaugh Auditorium. Admission is free.

YSU’s fraternities and sororities perform a variety of songs, dances and other skits in this entertaining musical competition.

“Our annual Greek Sing competition remains one of the most popular student–initiated events on the YSU campus and signals the end of the Greek calendar year,” said Greg Gulas, assistant director of campus recreation and student programming.

“It’s a friendly competition that not only brings the entire Greek system together for the night, but plays host to the many YSU alums who were a part of our Greek system as they return for just one more night of camaraderie and fun.”

Greek Sing is co–sponsored by YSU Student Affairs, Student Life, Campus Recreation & Student Programming, Student Government Association, Greek Campus Life, the Coca–Cola Bottling Co. of Youngstown and Sodexho Dining Services.

For more information, contact Gulas at 330–941–3580.

As part of Greek Sing Week, University Dining will offer a menu of Greek specialties at the KC Food Court, Pete’s Place Restaurant and Christman Dining Commons. Fresh Greek salad, just–baked apple baklava, and gyro pita are but a few of the Greek specialties offered in Kilcawley Center Monday, April 13th through Friday, April 17th.ﾠ Visit Kilcawley Center’s web site for the full Greek menu at www.kc.ysu.edu, and click on the Greek Sing button.

HR Management group meets at YSU this month
The Western Reserve Chapter of the Society of Human Resource Management, in partnership with the Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University, holds its 10^th Annual Conference 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 29 on the YSU campus.

The conference theme is “Learn Today&Lead Tomorrow!”

Connie Dieken, an author, a member of the Radio & Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame and an Emmy award–winning reporter, will provide the keynote address. She will be introducing her new book, Talk Less, Say More. 

The conference will also feature a panel of business executives representing companies named as “top employers” in Ohio, who will share information on how they achieved such recognition and what other companies can do to become better employers. The companies represented include Sherwin Williams, Packer Thomas, Infocision Management and J.M. Smucker.

Also featured will be Jessica Schimpff, human resources manager for Honeywell in Des Plaines, Ill., who will talk about “HR as a Change Agent.” 

The conference also features sessions on topics including “Barriers of Cross Cultural Communications in the Workforce” (presented by Helen Han, YSU assistant professor of management, and Ying Wang, YSU assistant professor of marketing and advertising), “Demonstrating the Strategic Value of HR” (presented by Joe Davenport of Workforce Designs), “Ethics: How to Make it Part of Your Organizational Culture” (presented by Tom Mobley/SPHR), and “Economic Turmoil Changes Corporate Talent Management Strategies” (presented by Julie Duda of Bersin & Associates). 

Register by April 17 for the early registration rate of $99. Visit the Chapter website at www.wrc–shrm.org for a brochure, including a registration form. For more information, contact Joe Davenport at 330–638–1881.

Northwestern professor gives the Shipka Lecture
Regina Schwartz, a professor of Literature, Religion and Law at Northwestern University, talks about “Holy Law and Holy Terror” 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9, in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center on the campus of Youngstown State University.

The presentation is part of the Shipka Lecture Series.

Schwartz is director of the Northwestern University Justice Institute, a past president of the Milton Society of America, co–director of the Newberry Milton Seminar, and director of the Chicago Institute of Religion, Ethics and Violence. She has also served as the chair of the Modern Language Association (Religion and Literature Division) and chair of Northwestern’s Interdisciplinary Hiring Initiative in the Humanities.

Penguin baseball, softball games now on Internet

Penguin fans can now listen to YSU baseball and softball contests via free Internet–radio broadcasts.

The athletics department began producing the broadcasts on March 17 when the YSU baseball team opened the 2009 home season at Eastwood Field against the Pittsburgh Panthers.

All baseball home games will be broadcast. Home games of the softball team that do not conflict with baseball will also be aired. In all, a total of 20 baseball and 13 softball games will be broadcast throughout the season.

Broadcasts can be found on the online home for YSU athletics, www.YSUsports.com.

YSU baseball is broadcast through the Horizon League Network. Unless previously registered, listeners will need to register with the Horizon League, free of charge, before listening to YSU athletic events. Penguin softball is streamed online through TeamLine, also free of charge. To listen to the play–by–play coverage, visit www.ysusports.com/liveeventsschedule  and click the “listen live” link next to the sport.

Ryan Gasser of Hubbard, an intern in the YSU sports information office from Bowling Green State University, is the play–by–play commentator.

In the fall, YSU carries video–streaming of home volleyball and soccer games. The department also provides fans with video–streaming and audio broadcasts for YSU football, men’s and women’s basketball via the Internet.