President Cole on mission to Morocco
President Cole was one of eight university presidents and chancellors who participated in a "Presidential Mission to Morocco" in January. The trip, sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, was designed to promote international education by allowing the presidents and chancellors to explore opportunities for partnerships between American and Moroccan colleges and universities.

The itinerary featured briefings from the Moroccan Ministry of National Education, Higher Education, Training and Scientific Research, and the U.S. State Department. It also included campus visits in Casablanca, Marrakech and Rabat. The U.S. delegation visited Mohammed V. Souissi University, Cadi Ayad University and Hassan II University’s Ain-Chock and Mohammedia campuses.

Also on the trip were top administrators from California State University-Fullerton, Troy University, Longwood University, Shawnee State University, Albany State University, Kennesaw State University and the University of Puerto Rico/Mayaquez.

Kasser presents American premiere of 'The Busker's Opera'
The American Premiere of "The Busker's Opera" will be presented in the Alexander Kasser Theater Feb. 9-12.

Do not expect a charming Verdi romance or Wagnerian epic when Award-winning Canadian artist Robert Lepage directs this American premiere. Instead, look for a biting satire of John Gay's 18th-century masterpiece "The Beggar's Opera." In "Busker's," Lepage transplants the familiar characters of Macheath (Mac the Knife in Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's adaptation, "The Threepenny Opera"), Polly, Lucy and Jenny from London's seedy criminal underworld to the equally sordid environment of today's pop music industry.

In place of Gay's highwaymen and cut-throats, Lepage uses aspiring musicians, groupies and entertainment lawyers to pull the rug out from under opera as high art and to comment on the politics of artistic freedom and commercial success. Like Gay's original, the entire story is told in song, in this case originals in the styles of hip-hop, punk, Broadway show tunes and everything in between. Lepage's cast of 10 performers includes actors, musicians and a DJ who relentlessly poke fun at the conventions of real opera, barely able to carry a tune themselves in some cases. Raucous, risqué and visually stunning, "The Busker's Opera" promises an evening of guilty pleasure and pure entertainment for adventurous theatergoers.

In addition to Montclair State's presentation of "The Busker's Opera," Lepage's other February 2005 projects include "The Far Side of the Moon," featuring music by Laurie Anderson, at the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard University; and his one-man show, "The Andersen Project," based on the life of Hans-Christian Andersen, which will premiere in Québec. Lepage is also hard at work on a collaboration with Cirque du Soleil on a new project, "KA," for the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Performances of "The Busker's Opera" begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 for the general public, $28 for MSU faculty/staff/graduate students, and free for MSU undergraduates through the Performing Arts Fee. For tickets, call the Box Office at 973-655-5112 or visit www.montclair.edu/kasser.

Library offers instruction classes
Sprague Library's Reference Department again is offering library instruction classes for all students, day and evening, Monday through Saturday. Classes will be planned to meet the specific needs of students, familiarizing them with the library and helping them with their specific reference and research assignments.

Classes will include the location of materials, the use of the Sprague Library Catalog, use of the appropriate print and electronic resources, how to access these electronic resources from off campus, the evaluation and use of Internet sources and any other topic faculty would like to have included.

The College Writing I classes will be taught in the McKenzie Online Classroom on the second floor where students will have hands-on experience searching the catalog, electronic resources and other information available from the home page. All classes will be taught by a reference librarian and will meet either in Room 110 on the main floor or the McKenzie Online Classroom on the second floor.

To schedule a class and to discuss the students' needs, faculty should call Patricia Sanders at 973-655-7144.

New emergency phones in Red Hawk Deck;
Flashing sign added to Normal Ave.
As an added security enhancement within the Red Hawk Deck, 39 new emergency telephones have been installed. They are located in the following areas:
• An emergency telephone and blue light has been installed at the outside of every elevator lobby and the outside of each staircase at the west end.
• An emergency telephone and a blue light has been installed at the center of each floor and ramp as well as near the exit ramp at the 5th floor.
• An emergency telephone has been installed in all elevator lobbies at the east end of the Parking Deck.
• An emergency telephone and a blue light has been installed to the exterior wall of Alexander Kasser Theater between College Hall and the parking deck, and another one by the exterior wall of the parking deck by the bus stop.

Under development is evacuation signage which, in addition to identifying the location of deck exits, will provide a visual as to where these emergency phones are located. In addition, solar-powered, flashing yellow signs also have been installed on Normal Avenue to alert drivers to the pedestrian crossings.

Graduate students receive scholarships
Graduate students Barry Broxton, counseling; Lindsey Feldman, counseling, Mia Kirk, administration and supervision; Erin McKinney-Prupis, counseling; and Diana Nwankwu, business administration, are recipients of the Saul and Adelaide Goldfarb Graduate Scholarships for the spring semester, awarded by the Montclair State University Foundation.

Art Gallery exhibition featured on NJN
Celestial Boundaries, an exhibition produced by the MSU Art Galleries last fall, was one of five Transcultural New Jersey exhibitions to be featured in NJN's " State of the Arts" documentary titled, "The New American Art," which aired in January. The documentary featured interviews and highlights from the 2004 TNJ (Transcultural New Jersey) exhibitions. TNJ is a statewide initiative in the celebration of cultural diversity. Twenty-five New Jersey museums and galleries participated in the event.