Governor, television personality to receive
honorary degrees
New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey and television
talk show host Charlie Rose will receive honorary degrees at this year's
commencement ceremony on May 24 at the Continental Airlines Arena. The
recipients were approved by the Board of Trustees at its April 11 meeting.
The board resolution for McGreevey, the state's 51st governor, cites his commitment to education demonstrated in his creation of an Early Literacy Task force and the establishment of an Education Cabinet. Rose, a television host and news correspondent, has won several awards including an Emmy, the George Peabody Broadcasting Award and a CableACE Award, among others.
In other board news, approved personnel actions included seven tenure-track faculty appointments, 15 professional/managerial staff appointments, 35 professional staff reappointments, 23 faculty promotions and 15 sabbaticals.
Plans underway for Alumni Weekend
Ann Marie DiLorenzo of Biology and Molecular Biology will receive the
Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Award during Alumni Weekend on
May 4.
The 23rd faculty member to receive the award since 1982, DiLorenzo came to Montclair State in 1975 from a National Institutes of Health Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Human Genetics at New York Medical Center. She regularly involves her students in her research on the study of cells and organs grown in culture, and has worked with other organizations on campus to improve science pedagogy in the classroom.
Retiring faculty also will be recognized during the luncheon, one of
several events scheduled for the day.
The festivities will begin at 9:30 a.m. with coffee for graduates of 50
years or more. At 11 a.m., the Alumni Association will hold its annual
meeting when new officers and board members will be inducted. The new
officers are: Wayne DeFeo '80, '82 M.A., president; Frank Alvarez '76,
executive vice president; Vivian Lalumia '86, treasurer; and Valerie Winslow
'95, '99 M.A., secretary. New board members are: Michael C. Gabriele '75,
Donna Teel-Drake '80, Craig Hamilton '81 M.A. and Trina Chance-O'Gorman
'01.
The Alumni Association will gather at 2:30 p.m. at Alumni Green where
a perennial garden will be dedicated to remember alumni who lost their
lives in the Sept. 11 attacks: Jean DePalma '80, Steven F. Schlag '82,
Dennis Taormina, Jr. '88, Doreta Kopiczko '99, Khalid Shahid '99, Robert
Hughes '01 and a student, Shari Kandell.
At 3:30 p.m., attendees can board a shuttle bus for a tour of the campus,
visit the University Bookstore, grab a bite at the Red Hawk Diner, or
check out Floyd Hall Ice Arena or Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center.
The class reunion cocktail party and dinner dance will begin in the Student
Center at 6:30 p.m. when graduates from all classes will gather to renew
friendships and reminisce about old times. The Alumni Citation Award will
be presented to John Iannarelli '85, a special agent at the Federal Bureau
of Investigation. Since 1998, he has worked in the FBI's San Diego office
and currently is working on the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks.
For more information about Alumni Weekend, call the Alumni Office at 973-655-4141.
Big news for dance program
"The biggest thing in the history of dance at Montclair State"
is how Lori Katterhenry of Dance and Theatre describes the selection of
two dance groups to perform at the Kennedy Center next month.
In the last issue of INSIGHT Online, we told you that "Quadrabox" was selected at the Northeast Regional American College Dance Festival to represent the Northeast Region at the National Amercian College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center. Montclair State was the only school in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut or Massachusetts selected for the performance.
Since then, as a result of a $10,000 grant from the National College Choreography Initiative, six Montclair State dancers were selected to present Sean Curran's "Metal Garden" at the closing night of the Festival on May 15. Montclair State was one of only 12 colleges and universities nationwide to be chosen by the Initiative to perform.
"To be selected for performance in these two national dance events is extremely gratifying," Katterhenry said. "The dancers in these two works will represent our dance program, our university and our state in two public and prestigious forums. Because we have been selected for so many of the National American College Festivals -- five of the last seven -- it reconfirms that the dance program at Montclair State stands proudly among the top dance institutions in the nation."
Publisher rewrites history after Sept.
11
Montclair State students, faculty and staff questioned how history
is written and perhaps rewritten at a recent on-campus conference with
Pearson Education editors. Pearson Education publishes The American
Nation, a middle school social studies textbook.
From the Classroom of the Future in the Curriculum Resource Center, students and faculty spoke with editors via satellite from their offices in New Jersey and Massachussetts. Pearson provided pages from a chapter of the textbook from Sept. 6 and the revised version of the same pages from Oct. 23. Before the Sept. 11 attacks, the chapter covered the Persian Gulf War and Bill Clinton's impeachment. Today those pages show the firefighters hoisting the American flag over the World Trade Center rubble and discuss issues of terrorism.
"This was a great opportunity for students and faculty to peek inside
the process that creates the textbooks they use every day in their teaching,"
said Susan Amirian, director of the Curriculum Resource Center. "This
was an especially important issue for teachers and future teachers because
the textbooks published today could be in classrooms for the next 10 years.
It was interesting to hear how an historical event is portrayed as it
is happening."
There's still time to see 'Steel Magnolias'
Don't miss your last opportunity to see "Steel Magnolias" in
the L. Howard Fox Studio Theatre. Performances are 8 p.m. April 18-20
with a 1 p.m. performance on April 19.
"Steel Magnolias" has enjoyed success both on stage and on the
big screen. It tells the story of six women who congregate regularly at
Truvy's hair salon in Chinquapin, La., and examines the individual idiosyncrasies
and foibles of the "steel magnolias" as they share
one-liners, laughter, crises and tears in between shampoos and manicures.
The student cast includes Gina Capano as Shelby, Alison Neff as Annelle,
Allegra Cohen as Truvy, Adriane Lambert as Clairee, Katie Renn as M'Lynn
and Stephanie Colombino as Ouiser. Students involved behind the scenes
include Marc Schneider, director; Patrick Rizzotti, set designer; Jill
Witte, lighting designer; and Leon Dobkowski, costume designer. Faculty
members working on the production include Randy Mugleston, sound designer,
and Michael Allen, stage manager, assisted by student Erica Dobbs.
Tickets are $15 standard; $12 faculty, staff, alumni and senior citizens; and $8 students. Call the Box Office at 973-655-5112.