Campus Currents

Thursday, April 18, 2019
4:30 PM 6:30 PM
McCarthy Center Forum

In 1968, as the Star-Spangled Banner played during the medal ceremony, U.S. Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised black-gloved fists in the air in protest of the discrimination black Americans experienced. Today, we tend to associate the Black Power movement with them, as well as with men like Malcolm X and Black Panthers Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Dr. Ashley D. Farmer’s work makes clear that women, too, played a role in theorizing and organizing for Black Power.

Dr. Farmer’s talk will provide an opportunity to examine the contributions of black women to the black intellectual and political tradition – in the 1960s, today, and beyond. Drawing on a vast array of black women's artwork, political cartoons, manifestos, and political essays that they produced as members of groups such as the Black Panther Party and the Congress of African People, Farmer will demonstrate how black women activists reimagined black womanhood, challenged sexism, and redefined the meaning of race, gender, and identity and Black Power.

For further information concerning Dr. Farmer and her work, visit her website: https://www.ashleydfarmer.com/

By Publications Intern Lizzy Stocks

Reading her suicidal diary entries was the only way a teenage MK Asante communicated with his deeply depressed mother, the author of “Buck” told a crowd in DPAC on April 3.

“I wasn’t authorized to read them. … At this point, me and my mom don’t talk, we don’t communicate. So, everything I’m learning about my mom is through these diary entries,” he said.

With an incarcerated brother and a sister institutionalized for schizophrenia, Asante was no stranger to misery.

It was while his mother was lying in a hospital bed, post-overdose when the two began talking again. She asked him how he was doing in school, but at this point, Asante was a repeat dropout, and had been kicked out of “one of the worst schools in Philadelphia.”

He said, “Once you get kicked out of there, it’s a wrap, you know what I’m saying?”

Wishing to ease the nerves of his sickly mother, as well as thinking she wouldn’t find an institution to accept him, Asante agreed to go back to school.

Asante said the prison his brother was in was nicer than the alternative school his mother enrolled him in. Despite this, he said he had an “epiphany” when a teacher assigned a writing exercise and said, “Write whatever you want.”

On the blank page before him, he wrote, “F*** school,” thinking it would upset her. She encouraged him to continue writing his thoughts and he said he’s never stopped writing since.

In his memoir, Asante focuses on the “school to prison pipeline” and flaws within the education system, especially in inner-city schools. “Some schools prepare you for higher education. Other schools, in other neighborhoods, prepare you for incarceration,” he said.

With permission, Asante wove his mother’s diary entries, as well as letters from his brother and sister throughout his memoir, as he believes his story is best understood through different perspectives.

Asante said the term “buck” has so many meanings to him as an artist personally, but “buck naked” sticks out to him specifically.

“Buck naked. When you write a memoir - that’s what you’re doing, you’re revealing yourself, making yourself vulnerable,” he told the crowd.

The following was written by Dr. Desmond McCarthy, chair of the English Department and Advisor to The Gatepost student newspaper:

The Gatepost received eight Mark of Excellence Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists this Saturday at the organization’s “Region 1” conference, hosted by Northeastern University in Boston. The Mark of Excellence Awards honor the best of collegiate journalism. Region 1 is comprised of the New England and mid-Atlantic states, and the awards recognized material published during the 2018 calendar year. The Society of Professional Journalists, founded in 1909, is the “nation’s most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior.”

Gatepost Associate Editor Jillian Poland won the Feature Writing Award for Small Schools (fewer than 10,000 students) for “The Just-ice League: How the snow crew keeps FSU safe.” Cesareo Contreras, who was The Gatepost’s Editor-in-Chief during the 2017-18 academic year, was one of two Feature Writing finalists for “Innovation Center brews new business.” Cesareo is now a full-time reporter at The MetroWest Daily News.

Gatepost editors won all three awards for General Column Writing for Small Schools. Tessa Jillson, Arts & Features Editor, won the General Column Award for her art reviews, and Lizzie Stocks, Opinions Editor, and Nadira Wicaksana, News Editor, were the two finalists in this category.

Allie Gath, who was a Gatepost Photo Editor during the 2017-18 academic year, was the winner of the General News Photography contest for Small Schools for her photograph, “Students protest hate crimes on campus.”

Matt Ferris, The Gatepost’s Sports Editor, was named one of two finalists in Sports Column Writing for his weekly column, “Ferr or Foul.” Finally, The Gatepost Editorial Board was named one of two finalists for Editorial Writing for editorials written during the fall 2018 semester. Editor-in-Chief Bailey Morrison, Associate Editor Jillian Poland, and Opinions Editor Lizzie Stocks were the primary authors of these editorials, which reflected the collective point of view of The Gatepost’s Editorial Board. The Sports Column and Editorial Writing contests were open to students at both large and small daily and weekly newspapers in the New England and mid-Atlantic states.

As the winners of the Feature Writing, General Column Writing, and General News Photography contests for Region 1, Jillian Poland, Tessa Jillson, and Allie Gath will be entered into SPJ’s national Mark of Excellence contest with the award winners from other regions around the country. A panel of judges will announce the results of that competition in May.

Here is a link to the Mark of Excellence Awards announcement:

https://www.spj.org/news.asp?REF=1636

Please join me in congratulating our Gatepost editors for their awards!

Come support your fellow student writers and hear them read their prize-winning works! Free and open to the public. Today at 4:30 p.m.! Friends and family are encouraged to attend.

-The Marjorie Sparrow Literary Awards for Poetry

-The Howard Hirt Literary Awards for Fiction or Creative Nonfiction

This event is sponsored by the English Department. For more information, please contact Patricia Horvarth at phorvarth@framingham.edu or Sam Witt at switt1@framingham.edu.

Please join the Communication Arts department as we host the Spring 2019 Senior Portfolio in Film Production student screening on Tuesday, April 16th at 6:30PM in the Forum. The show is FREE and OPEN to the public.

Exhibit dates: April 22-May 10, 2019
Artist talk on April 22 at 1:30 p.m., reception at 4:30 p.m.
Henry Whittemore Library

A Tribute to the Oregon Coast is a series of original garments created by FSU professor Laura Kane. The series focuses on utilizing innovative material applications, exploring emergent digital technologies, and implementing non-traditional apparel patternmaking techniques to celebrate unique natural phenomena found on the Oregon Coast.

Saturday, April 27
11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Challenge your perceptions, Explore the world around you, and Discover something amazing!

This year’s festival will feature more science-based, curiosity-fueled fun than ever before, including more than 50 interactive exhibits, and lots of free shows in the FSU Planetarium.

Be sure to join us for the keynote presentation, a fascinating topic just in time for the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing:

Moon Race: The U.S.-Soviet Competition to Put a Human on the Moon
Dr. Jonathan McDowell, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m., McCarthy Center Forum, Framingham State University

In 1957, the first Sputnik propelled the USSR to leadership in space. Shocked, America mobilized to demonstrate its technology surpassed Russia’s – a furious, decade-long race ensued. But, it wasn’t obvious until the finish line that Neil Armstrong, and not Alexei Leonov, would be first to walk on another world. Join Dr. McDowell in an exciting review of the events that marked a pivotal moment in history.

Learn more at: http://christa.org/science-festival/

Opening on Tuesday, April 23 at 4:30 PM in the Whittemore Library Foyer

I am pleased to announce the student organized exhibition "An Exploration of African Art." Libby Goodreau and Aemilia Ohop, two students from the Art Department, researched and curated this exhibition based on a collection of African Art that was recently donated to the university by Dr. Thomas Carroll. As a collaboration between Art History and Illustration major students, this exhibition illuminates the value and meaning of these objects.

An Exploration of African Art demonstrates the visual richness and cultural diversity of the African continent with wooden masks, still provocatively conveying the movements of ceremony dancers, a mother and child sculpture, presenting a notion of gender roles in society, head rests, depicting the status of a social leader, heddle pulleys, showing how West Coast Africans value textile manufacture, and reliquary figures, expressing veneration toward ancestors. Please visit the Whittemore Library Foyer and enjoy how students have articulated the complicated and diverse visual languages of Africa in broadly accessible ways for a public audience. An Exploration of African Art opens on Tuesday, April 23 at 4:30 PM.

-Professor Yumi Park Huntington, Art and Music Department

Join us for a special science symposium where research performed by faculty and students in connection to the Framingham State Food Study will be presented to the community!

Thursday, April 25
4-6:30 p.m.

Presentations will include:

What Did We Learn from the Framingham State Food Study?
Cara B. Ebbeling, PhD, MS
Principal Investigator, Framingham State Food Study
Co-Director New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center, Boston Children’s Hospital

Effects of a Low-Carbohydrate Diet on the Lipoprotein Insulin Resistance Index and Other Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease
Ann Johnson, PhD, MBA, RD, LD
Assistant Professor, Food and Nutrition, Framingham State University

Effects of Diets Varying in Carbohydrate on Cognitive Performance
Ruth Remington, PhD, AGPCNP-BC
Professor, Nursing, Framingham State University
Susan M. Mullaney, EdD, RN, CNE
Professor/Chair, Nursing, Framingham State University
Cynthia Francis Bechtel, PhD, RN, CNE
Professor, Nursing, Framingham State University

Weight Diet Influences on Dietary Compliance and Stress
Andrea Gorman, PhD, MS, RD, LDN
Assistant Professor/Director, Coordinated Program in Dietetics
Food and Nutrition, Framingham State University
Charles J. Sachs, PhD
Assistant Professor, Psychology and Philosophy, Framingham State University

The Academia/Industry Partnership
Ralph Eddy, Director Dining Services/Sodexo, Framingham State University
Julia Wong, PhD, RD, (FS)2 Associate Study Director
Megan Sandman, MS, RD, (FS)2 Clinical Nutrition Research Coordinator
Lauren Holmes, RD, (FS)2 Kitchen Production Leader
New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center, Boston Children’s Hospital

The 17th Annual NES/MAA Dinner Meeting in Memory of Kenneth J. Preskenis will be held on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. Dr. Susan Loepp, Williams College, will give the 2019 Preskenis Lecture, "What Hat are You Wearing? An Introduction to the Hat Game."

6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Dinner
Support for the 2019 Preskenis Dinner provided by Sodexho
Faculty/Staff Dining Room, 3rd Floor, D. Justin McCarthy Center

7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Dr. Susan Loepp, Williams College
Forum, 2nd Floor, D. Justin McCarthy Center

8:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. Reception
Sponsored by the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs
Forum, 2nd Floor, D. Justin McCarthy Center

Learn more here: https://www.framingham.edu/faculty/smabrouk/preskenis/annual/seventeenth.htm

Spanish Language Table is back! We are now meeting every other Thursday at the Dining Commons (McCarthy Center), 5:30-6:30pm. This semester we have new hosts, guests, delicious recipes (Gracias, Sodexo!), and a lot to learn together. All levels of Spanish are welcome. So, keep calm and practica Español!

Take a look at our schedule below and save the dates:

April 25

Spanish Language Table is possible thanks to the collaboration between the department of World Languages and Dining Services. For students, faculty and staff not on a meal plan, please RSVP contacting Everton Vargas da Costa:evargasdacosta@framingham.edu

Wednesday Employer Showcase Series, McCarthy Campus Center Lobby, 9:00AM – 5:45PM:
Employers showcase their organization every Wednesday in the McCarthy Center lobby by the
Welcome Desk. Their goal is to network with FSU students and recruit students for full time or internship opportunities. Stop by their table in order to learn about new internships and job opportunities!

4/17/19
9:00 a.m.—Noon: Rove Pest Control & 2020 Census
12 —3:00 p.m.: Abercrombie & Fitch and Housing Management Resources
3:00 p.m.—6:00 p.m.: The Recruiting Process & Wegman's

4/24/19
9 a.m. to Noon: Booster & The Primrose School
Noon – 3:00 p.m.: The Leap School & Camp Cody
3 p.m. to 6 p.m.: Micro Tech Staff Group & Bright Horizons

5/1/19
9:00 a.m.—12: Social Security Administration & North Hill
12—3:00 p.m.: Culbert Health & Next Generation Children’s Center

MERC Education Fair, Thursday, April 18, 2019 , 9:00 a.m.– 2:30 p.m., at B.U.
Come to the largest education fair in New England - Over 100 school systems and agencies attend! Save the date for this annual recruiting event that brings together teaching candidates and school systems across the country for networking and job opportunities in public/private schools. Must register at: www.merccareerfair.com

On-Campus Interviews Week, May 6—May 10, 2019—Employers TBA
*Coca-Cola Summer Internship Program, Monday, May 6, 2019, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Foster 102
Pre-Registration is required for all interviews through the CSER Office. Call 508-626-4625 for more information.

-Professor Everton Vargas da Costa from the World Languages Department and Professor Megan Lehnerd from the Food & Nutrition Department are recipients of a 2019 Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation Fellowship. They intend to travel to Ecuador in May 2020 to develop a Food, Culture & Language course program. In the future, they plan to co-teach the course and lead a trip with students.

-Professor Cynthia Bechtel from the Nursing Department is also a recipient of a 2019 Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation Fellowship. Dr. Bechtel will use her award to arrange a Cultural, Healthcare & Nursing Journey to Peru in September.  

-Professor Karen McGrail, Director of The John C. Stalker Institute (JSI) of Food and Nutrition, has been appointed as an advisory board member for the newly established Culinary Training and Education Advisory Board. The goal of this national program is to create and offer culinary resources and trainings that address the competencies, knowledge, and skills necessary to assist school nutrition professionals and school chefs to prepare and serve high quality, student-approved school meals. Learn more at http://johnstalkerinstitute.org/blog/blog/2019/04/08/jsi-director-appointed-to-icn-advisory-board/?fbclid=IwAR2C-HCBQ6P9bhw3R-Jq8QnSFzjDT6dYwXZJpzddSa4E1qpn_mK0jMCnCSA.

-The trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry have announced that Ani Gjika, a Visiting Lecturer in the English Department, is one of seven finalists for the International and Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize for her translation of Luljeta Lleshanaku’s Negative Space. The authors of the seven shortlisted books—four International and three Canadian—have been invited to read in Toronto at Koerner Hall at The Royal Conservatory in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning on June 5. The finalists will each be awarded $10,000 for their participation in the Shortlist Readings. The two winners, to be announced at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards on Thursday, June 6, will each be awarded $65,000.
Here are links to the announcement:

http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/the-griffin-poetry-prize-announces-the-2019-international-and-canadian-shortlist/

http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/awards-and-poets/shortlists/2019-shortlist/ani-gjika/#excerpt

-Eamon Cunningham, a Visiting Lecturer in the English Department who is Chair of the English Department at Milford High School, has been selected as a semifinalist for Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. Each of the semifinalists and finalists for Massachusetts Teacher of the Year will be honored at the State House in Boston on June 20, 2019. The ten honorees were selected from a pool of all nominated teachers in each of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts.

Here is a link to the announcement in the DESE Commissioner's Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/doe.mass.edu/commissioners-weekly-update-4-5-19-mcas-teacher-recruitment-teacher-of-the-year-finalists-and-semifinalists?e=fbf1e6819a