What's Ahead

On-site health coaching available

Representatives from UMR will be on campus this week to review clinical health assessments with faculty and staff members.

Appointments can be made for Tuesday, April 24, from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. in the Kirkhof Center, room 1140; or Wednesday, April 25, from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. in the DeVos Center, room 297C. Call x12215 to schedule a confidential appointment.

 

Politics, religion center of upcoming debate

Two well-known and influential speakers will discuss the role of Christianity in American politics at a debate hosted by the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies.

“Is Christianity Good For American Politics?” featuring Susan Jacoby, program director at The Center for Inquiry, and Dinesh D’Souza, president of King’s College, will be held at Fountain Street Church on Thursday, April 26, beginning at 7 p.m.

D’Souza recently wrote What’s so Great About Christianity? and has been called one of the “top young public-policy makers in the country” by Investor’s Business Daily. D’Souza was named one of American’s most influential conservative thinkers by the New York Times, and his articles have appeared in many major magazines and newspapers.

Jacoby is the author of New York Times bestseller, The Age of American Unreason and Alger Hiss and The Battle for History. Jacoby is an independent scholar whose work focuses on American intellectual history. She has been a contributor for more than 25 years on topics including law, religion, medicine, aging, women’s rights, political dissent in the Soviet Union, and Russian Literature, to a wide range of periodicals and newspapers.

For more information, contact the Hauenstein Center at x12770 or visit www.allpresidents.org.

 

Convocation honors first Woodrow Wilson Fellows

The College of Education will honor an outstanding alumni educator and the first cohort of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows during its convocation ceremony.

About 215 graduates are expected to participate in convocation on Thursday, April 26, beginning at 7 p.m. at DeVos Place. The ceremony is a precursor to commencement ceremonies on April 28 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.

During convocation, Michael Paskewicz, superintendent of Northview Public Schools, will receive the Outstanding Alumni Administrator Award. Paskewicz has been an educator for 34 years. He spent 21 years in the Grand Rapids Public School District as a teacher, K-12 science consultant, principal and executive assistant to the superintendent. He also taught as an adjunct professor at Grand Valley and Aquinas College.

Paskewicz then served as superintendent for three school districts in Utah, Chicago and Colorado before returning to the Grand Rapids area in 2009 to serve as superintendent of Northview Public Schools. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Grand Valley and a doctorate from Western Michigan University.

For more information contact Forrest Clift at x16230.

 

Grand Valley film to premiere

Grand Valley will premiere its new Summer Film Project, “Message Sent,” Friday, April 27, at 8 p.m. at Celebration Cinema North in Grand Rapids. The box office opens at 7 p.m. Admission is $5.

The plot of “Message Sent” involves a vagrant, played by Michael McCallum from Lansing, who begins to receive emergency messages on a cell phone he found and becomes compelled to find the owner. The cast also includes 15-year-old Kaitlyn Squires, from Byron Center, who recently played the role of Helen Keller at Grand Rapids Civic Theatre.

The screenplay of “Message Sent” was written by Angelo Eidse of Vancouver and selected for the university’s 17th annual Summer Film Project. The project was established in 1995 to offer junior and senior students an opportunity to work side-by-side with professionals to produce a short film. More than 25 students enrolled in the six-week practicum course that shot the film in late July and early August. Post-production was done during a 15-week fall course.

Director John Harper Philbin, associate professor of communications, and cinematographer Jack Anderson reunited for their fifth summer film. The producer is Carian White, a 2011 graduate of Grand Valley’s Film and Video Program. Megan Soderberg, art director, and Adam Rock, camera operator, are also 2011 graduates. Cast and crew members will be in attendance.

A grant from Panavision and Fuji Motion Picture Film allowed the production to be shot on 35mm film, as it was the first year of the project. “In the past we’ve shot on Super-16mm, a format more common for independent and college films because 35mm is too expensive,” said Philbin. “Last summer, students were able to experience making a movie on the same camera and film that Hollywood uses for feature filmmaking.”

Past films have been selected for screening at film festivals throughout the country and have won many awards. The 2003 film “Flickering Blue,” by the same screenwriter as “Message Sent,” won First Place Short at the East Lansing Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Crested Butte Reel Fest, in Colorado.

 

Irwin Fund Golf Outing set

The 40th Annual Irwin Athletic Fund Golf Outing is scheduled for June 7 at the Meadows.

Registration times are 6:30 a.m. and noon. Teams of four can choose a morning (7:30 a.m.) or afternoon (1:30 p.m.) tee time. Cost for faculty and staff members is $100 for 18 holes.

Proceeds from the scramble benefit the Charles H. Irwin Athletic Fund. A continental breakfast will be served at 6:30 a.m., and lunch will be at 12:30 p.m. Guests can attend the luncheon only for $25. There will also be a cash bar and hors d’oeuvres at 6:30 p.m.

Register online at www.gvsu.edu/athletics/irwingolf. The deadline to register is May 25. Questions can be directed to Janine Warfield at x12330.