Zeke Brechtel, Ohio Wesleyan University’s 2013 senior class president, speaks at the May 12 commencement celebration. ‘We have the capacity, in our lifetimes, to become the next great generation,’ sayd Brechtel, a physics major and mathematics minor. (Photo by Sara Blake)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Internet technology pioneer and 1961 Ohio Wesleyan University graduate George H. Conrades borrowed some advice from another successful OWU alumnus when Conrades delivered the keynote address May 12 at Ohio Wesleyan’s 169thcommencement ceremony.

“Our far-sighted alum, Branch Rickey says to Jackie Robinson in the movie ’42’ – in response to Robinson’s question, ‘How do you want me to act?’ – ‘Show the world you’re a fine man and a great baseball player.’ ”

This means, Conrades told the graduates, that you “show up, on time, dressed to play. That you’ve done your homework and worked hard at getting the facts. That you are eager to pursue common ground, to get things done together with infectious energy, passion, courage, and confidence. Show up, on time, dressed to play. That’s all that’s expected of you, whatever you exist to be.”

The Ohio Wesleyan Class of 2013 included 381 spring, summer, and fall graduates, with 64 cum laude, 34 magna cum laude, and 19 summa cum laude honorees. The class also included three graduates with perfect 4.0 grade point averages – Victoria Anne Schlaudt of Holland, Mich.; Bradley Paul Turnwald of Ottoville, Ohio; and Colleen Elizabeth Waickman of Akron, Ohio.

“As soon-to-be leaders in our society, you have a critical role to play,” said Conrades, the former chief executive officer and current chairman of Massachusetts-based Akamai Technologies Inc. “Less than a third of Americans have a college degree – and you have one of the best. As leaders, you can make things better not only by showing the way (the ‘what’) but by helping to get us there (the ‘how.’) …

“I am actually pretty optimistic about you and your generation,” Conrades said. “You see value in one another. You are much more open to new ideas from all over the world than my generation. You have eagerly embraced the opportunity to turn theory into practice with international experiences here at Ohio Wesleyan. You live in a hyperconnected world with instant access to vast amounts of information – a world that promises more transformational change every day. …”

At Ohio Wesleyan, Conrades majored in physics and mathematics. He later earned his Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and then spent 31 years with IBM, serving in senior management roles in the United States and abroad. In 1998, he became involved with Akamai, an Internet technology company that helps enterprises provide secure, high-performing cloud connections to their customers on any device, anywhere. He and his wife, Patricia “Patsy” Belt Conrades, Class of 1963, both are Ohio Wesleyan Life Trustees.

In addition to Conrades, Zeke Brechtel, Ohio Wesleyan’s 2013 senior class president, also spoke before the crowd of graduates, families, and friends gathered for the outdoor ceremony in OWU’s Phillips Glen. Brechtel, a physics major and mathematics minor from Arvada, Colo., encouraged his fellow classmates to avoid becoming overly cynical or complacent.

“We can have the courage to hope,” Brechtel said. “We can have the courage to be true to ourselves and true to the realities of the world in which we live. We can admit that there are unprecedented environmental and economic challenges that our generation will face. The world needs change, and to my fellow seniors, we are the ones who are going to bring it. …

“We have the capacity, in our lifetimes, to become the next great generation,” Brechtel said. “We have the capacity to work together to leave this world in better shape than it was delivered to us.”

Ohio Wesleyan President Rock Jones, Ph.D., also addressed the graduates, reminding the seniors that, as freshmen, each was given a live Chinese Bamboo shoot. At that time, he shared the parable of the bamboo tree, noting that it takes each tree four years to break ground after planting. During that time, the trees work unseen to build the strong, fibrous root structure needed to support them.

“Today, your roots at OWU run more deeply than you could have imagined four years ago,” Jones said. “Now it is time for your branches to spread. … You are ready, and the world is waiting. Congratulations and Godspeed.”

Before concluding the 2013commencement ceremony, Jones also encouraged the new graduates to share their knowledge and compassion with a world in need.

“If, here at Ohio Wesleyan, you have found freedom, take it with you into the world,” Jones said, sharing traditional OWU graduation wishes. “If, here at Ohio Wesleyan, you have found peace, go and share it with others. If, here at Ohio Wesleyan, you have found some portion of truth, go and seek it all the more. If, here at Ohio Wesleyan, you have dreamed dreams, help one another, and those dreams may be fulfilled. If, here at Ohio Wesleyan, you have known love, give some back to a bruised and hurting world.”

During the commencement ceremony, the university also recognized five outstanding faculty members:

• Thomas L. Burns, M.A., part-time associate professor of English and physics-astronomy, received the Daniel E. Anderson Campus and Community Conscience Award.
• Vicki G. DiLillo, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology, was awarded the Libuse L. Reed Endowed Professorship for 2013-2014 and 2014-2015.
• Donald G. Lateiner, Ph.D., professor of humanities-classics, earned the Welch Award for Scholarly or Artistic Achievement.
• Richelle D. Schrock, Ph.D., assistant professor of women’s and gender studies, received the Sherwood Dodge Shankland Award for the Encouragement of Teachers.
• Richard L. Leavy, Ph.D., professor of psychology, earned the Bishop Herbert Welch Meritorious Teaching Award.

Ohio Wesleyan’s commencement ceremony was streamed live and will be archived for additional viewing at StreamOWU.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Louis A. Simpson ’58

DELAWARE, OHIO – Louis A. Simpson is investing in his college alma mater and its faculty – contributing $2 million to Ohio Wesleyan University to benefit the school’s Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship.

Simpson, a 1958 Ohio Wesleyan alumnus, managed the portfolio for GEICO, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., for more than 30 years before founding his own investment-advisory firm, SQ Advisors LLC.

“The economics program at OWU gave me a solid grounding to pursue a career in investments,” said Simpson, who majored in economics and accounting at Ohio Wesleyan. He also holds a master’s degree from Princeton University.

His gift to Ohio Wesleyan will create The Louis A. Simpson ’58 Endowed Faculty Director of The Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship – supporting a new generation of economics faculty leaders such as those he recalls so fondly in OWU professors Blaine E. Grimes and Norman H. Leonard.

Established in 1985, the Woltemade Center works to enhance teaching, learning, research, and community service at Ohio Wesleyan, with its primary focus on the Department of Economics and the fields of economics, finance, marketing, management, entrepreneurship, accounting, and international business.

The center is named in honor of the late Uwe J. Woltemade, Ph.D., an Ohio Wesleyan economics faculty member from 1965 to1995. Grants and gifts from the Cleveland Foundation, the Ford Motor Co. Fund, alumni, and friends also were used to help establish the facility.

The Woltemade Center provides opportunities for students to become Corns Business and Entrepreneurial Scholars and Economics Management Fellows, to complete meaningful internships through the Blaine E. Grimes Summer Grant Program, to collaborate with faculty on research projects through the Norman Leonard Endowed Student Research Grant Fund, to participate in the Burton D. Morgan Student Paper Competition, to be nominated for the Woltemade Prize, and to be selected for the Joann P. Harvey Accounting Award. The center also assists a number of student organizations, including the OWU Marketing Group and the university’s Investment Club.

Simpson’s endowment will provide permanent support to endow the faculty director of the center, who also is a senior member of the economics faculty. The current director is Alice E. Simon, Ph.D., who joined the university in 1985 and whose areas of teaching include monetary and fiscal policy, labor economics, consumer economics, and economic principles.

“This gift supports a program quite unique for liberal arts universities,” said Simon, who also serves as the James Heisler Professor of Economics. “The integration of economics with business and entrepreneurship represents the best of theory into practice. Ensuring that economics department faculty can continue to influence the leaders of tomorrow alongside alumni is a formula for continued success.

“The Woltemade Center and the Department of Economics are grateful to be recognized by this endowment, which applauds both academic excellence and practical applications,” continued Simon, whose interests include consumer sovereignty and information search behaviors. “I feel honored to be the first center director to be named.”

Ohio Wesleyan President Rock Jones, Ph.D., said Simpson’s gift recognizes the significant and continuing return on investment that comes from supporting a rigorous, interdisciplinary liberal arts education for students and, especially, the faculty members who are dedicated to educating future generations of national and world leaders.

“Lou Simpson is proof of the power of education,” Jones said. “He is iconic in the world of high finance, and Ohio Wesleyan is proud to call him one of our own. We are honored that he sees the tremendous value of The Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship and is supporting it with a $2 million gift. He previously served as an instructor of economics at Princeton, making his endowment of the faculty directorship even more personal and more significant.”

Prior to founding SQ Advisors, Simpson served from 1993 to 2010 as president and chief executive officer of capital operations for GEICO, a subsidiary of Warren E. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Simpson joined GEICO in 1979, coming from Western Asset Management, a subsidiary of California-based Western Bancorporation.

In October, Simpson will add another honor to his impressive curriculum vitae when he is awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Ohio Wesleyan. He also will speak on campus Oct. 3, delivering the university’s 2013 Robert L. Milligan Leaders in Business Lecture Series.

Learn more about giving to the university.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Robert Olmstead

DELAWARE, Ohio – It’s one for the books this week for Ohio Wesleyan University’s Robert Olmstead. Make that two.

Olmstead, a professor of English and director of OWU’s Creative Writing Program, is noted in The New York Times’ May 19 “Paperback Row” for his acclaimed novel, “The Coldest Night.”

After the novel’s release, Mike Peed of The New York Times wrote that Olmstead’s elegant writing “makes you wonder if Olmstead was meant to be a poet. But Olmstead is a novelist, and a very good one.”

The OWU faculty member also is among 10 Ohio authors being featured May 11 at the seventh annual Ohioana Book Festival, where it will announced that “The Coldest Night” is a finalist for the 2013 Ohioana Book Award in the category of fiction. Winners will be announced in late August or early September.

The festival, presented by the Ohioana Library, will be held from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center, 546 Jack Gibbs Blvd., Columbus. Admission is free.

“The Coldest Night” is part of a trilogy by Olmstead that also includes “Far Bright Star” and “Coal Black Horse,” which earned a Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Fiction. “Far Bright Star” was named one of the Top Ten Westerns of the Decade by Booklist, the magazine of the American Library Association, and “The Coldest Night” was a 2012 Publishers Weekly pick for best books of the year.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Zeke Brechtel, president of the Ohio Wesleyan Class of 2013, will speak May 12 during the university’s 169th commencement ceremony. (Photo by John Holliger)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Members of the Ohio Wesleyan University Class of 2013 will gather together with family and friends at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 12, to celebrate their graduation and to hear words of inspiration and advice from 1961 OWU alumnus George H. Conrades. The ceremony will be held in Phillips Glen outside of Phillips Hall, 50 S. Henry St., Delaware.

Conrades is the former chief executive officer and current chairman of Massachusetts-based Akamai Technologies Inc., which helps businesses to provide customers with secure, high-performing cloud connections. In addition, he and his wife, Patricia “Patsy” Belt Conrades, Class of 1963, are both Ohio Wesleyan Life Trustees. They are the parents of Ohio Wesleyan alumnae Laura Conrades Wilson, Class of 1988, and Anna Conrades, Class of 2003.

During the commencement ceremony, graduates and their guests also will hear from Zeke Brechtel, Ohio Wesleyan’s 2013 senior class president. Brechtel is a physics major and mathematics minor from Arvada, Colo.

In the event of thunderstorms, Ohio Wesleyan’s 2013 commencement ceremony will move indoors to Gordon Field House, 105 S. Sandusky St. Overflow seating will be available in the Benes Rooms at Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave. The final commencement location will be posted online May 12 on the Ohio Wesleyan homepage.

Before they turn their tassels, members of the Class of 2013 also will celebrate with a baccalaureate service at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 11, in Gray Chapel in University Hall, 61 S. Sandusky St. The theme of the evening will be “Worlds within the World,” exemplifying the different members of the class and the many ways in which these individuals have learned from each other during their shared OWU journey.

Both Ohio Wesleyan’s commencement ceremony and baccalaureate service will be streamed live online and archived afterward at StreamOWU.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

(Photo by Vjeran Lisjak, courtesy of stock.xchng)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Students in Ohio Wesleyan University’s “Geographies of the Global Economy” course will screen and discuss five films they produced examining Delaware’s economic and geographic issues during a free public event at 7 p.m. May 7 at the Strand Theater, 28 E. Winter St., Delaware.

Each documentary, created as part of Ohio Wesleyan assistant professor David Walker’s Geography 345 class, is between 20 minutes and 25 minutes long. The documentaries address the following issues:

• Downtown Delaware: Changing Socio-Spatial Patterns of Production and Consumption. Is the downtown experiencing gentrification? The owners and investors of downtown Delaware businesses employ particular cultural signs to attract desired clientele. What are the socio-spatial impacts of this form of investment, economic production, and consumption? Produced by Rebecca Sufrin of Pittsburgh; Jaquleen Cole of Lakenheath, England; and Margaret Somerville of New Albany, Ohio.
• The Latinoficación of Delaware: Is Atzlan Moving North? With the burgeoning of the Latino migrant population in Delaware, what are the socio-spatial impacts of Latino-owned sites of economic activity in Delaware, Columbus, and Central Ohio? Produced by Hannah Sampson of Kent, Ohio; Kelsey Casperson of Chicago; Mira Singhal of Pittsburgh; and Meg Dill of West Hartford, Conn.
• There Goes the Downtown: How Many Wal-Marts can Delaware Support? The impact of big-box stores on retail businesses is significant. What is the socio-spatial impact of such stores in Delaware? Produced by Gisele Miller of Galena, Ohio; John Reierson of Delaware, Ohio; and Samuel Keen of Evergreen, Colo.
• The Economies of Transportation Geography: The Kroger Distribution Center. There a lot of cookies and snacks in Delaware. Why is there a Kroger distribution center in Delaware? What incentives did the state, county, and city offer the grocery-retail company? What are the impacts on the employment structures, roadways, and environment? How did zoning impact the company’s decision to locate in Delaware? Produced by Eric Easley of Columbus; Chris Henchey of Melrose, Mass.; and Silas Jolliff of Cardington, Ohio.
• Light Manufacturing on the West Side: From Mass Production to Just-In-Time Manufacturing. The west side of Delaware is the city’s center of manufacturing. Because of global shifts in economic trade and regulation, Delaware’s manufacturing sector has experienced many changes in the last 30 years. What is the impact of the changes? Produced by Reed Callahan of Cincinnati; Arthur Taylor of Hong Kong; and Katarina Klemensichova of Bratislava, Slovakia.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Olivia Judson, Ph.D.

DELAWARE, Ohio – Evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson, Ph.D., author of “Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex,” will speak April 25 at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Judson, a research fellow in biology at Imperial College London, will discuss “Earth on Life: How Living Beings Have Made the Planet What it is Today,” at 7:30 p.m. April 25 in the Mulligan Hub of Ohio Wesleyan’s Stuyvesant Hall, 223 W. William St., Delaware. Her presentation is free and open to the public.

During her career, Judson has written for publications such as The Economist, The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Daily Telegraph. Her Ohio Wesleyan visit is sponsored by the Women in Science (WinS) student organization, the OWU Science Lecture Series, the Women’s House small-living unit, and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

(Image courtesy of The Princeton Review)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the 322 most environmentally responsible colleges in the United States and Canada, according to The Princeton Review’s new “Guide to 322 Green Colleges.”

The Princeton Review chose schools for its fourth annual green guide based on a 50-question survey conducted in 2012 at hundreds of four-year colleges. The company then analyzed the resulting data about the schools’ course offerings, campus infrastructure, activities, and career preparation to measure overall commitment to the environment and to sustainability. The free downloadable guidebook is available at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide or www.centerforgreenschools.org/greenguide.

According to the guide, “OWU is taking its environmental mission seriously.” And it deems “impressive” Ohio Wesleyan’s LEED® Silver Certified Meek Aquatics and Recreation Center, which opened in 2010. The natatorium uses a geothermal heating-and-cooling system that features a “whopping 90 geothermal wells, reaching down to a depth of 240 feet, help to moderate the facility’s temperature.”

Since the survey was completed, Ohio Wesleyan also has received LEED Silver Certification for Stuyvesant Hall, its oldest residential facility. The building underwent a complete renovation in 2011-2012 and now incorporates energy-efficient heating, cooling, and lighting systems as well as environmentally friendly building materials. Before work began, plans for the building were certified by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service as meeting the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.

Robert Franek, senior vice president/publisher, The Princeton Review, said, “We are truly pleased to recommend Ohio Wesleyan along with all of the fine schools in this book to the many students seeking colleges that practice and promote environmentally-responsible choices and practices.”

Franek said recent survey findings indicate significant interest among college applicants in attending “green” schools. “Among 9,955 college applicants who participated in our 2013 ‘College Hopes & Worries Survey,’ ” he said, “62 percent said having information about a school’s commitment to the environment would influence their decision to apply to or attend the school.”

The Princeton Review created its “Guide to 322 Green Colleges” in partnership with the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), with support from United Technologies Corp., founding sponsor of the Center for Green Schools.

Rachel Gutter, director of the Center for Green Schools at USGBC, said: “Selecting a four-year college is a big choice. When we learned that the majority of prospective college students factor a school’s commitment to sustainability into their selection criteria, we wanted to ensure we were providing the best information. We’re thrilled to team up with The Princeton Review for the fourth year to offer a guide to help make our future college students’ choices a little easier.”

Learn more about the new “Guide to 322 Green Colleges,” including how schools were chosen for inclusion. at www.princetonreview.com/green.aspx. Learn more about Ohio Wesleyan’s commitment to environmental issues.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

(Image courtesy of U.S. Consulate General Mumbai and Channel V)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan has been chosen as one of three universities in the United States to host a weeklong visit from “College Hunt, USA,” a reality television show produced jointly by the U.S. Consulate General Mumbai and Channel V, an international TV network owned by Star TV and Fox International Channels.

The three-part reality TV show is projected to reach 25 million young adults in India, with a goal of sharing information about pursuing college degrees in the United States. “College Hunt, USA” will film at Ohio Wesleyan between April 23 and April 26. Other schools selected to host the program following a competitive bid process begun in October are the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and State University of New York at Geneseo.

During their Delaware, Ohio, visit, two prospective Indian students will spend a week at Ohio Wesleyan, learning first-hand what it would be like to attend the private, nationally acclaimed, liberal arts university. While at Ohio Wesleyan, the reality TV stars will interact with OWU’s 1,850-member student body, which includes students from 45 countries and nearly every U.S. state.

“Ohio Wesleyan seeks to prepare our students for global citizenship and leadership,” said President Rock Jones, Ph.D. “About 10 percent of our students come to Ohio Wesleyan from other countries because of the international scope of our curriculum and the intercontinental feel of our campus. We are excited to welcome the prospective students of ‘College Hunt, USA’ to OWU. We believe they will find the educational and leadership opportunities available here to be second-to-none.”

While on campus, the reality TV show stars – one male and one female – will interact with current OWU students, visit classrooms, meet with professors, interview with admission counselors, and learn whether they are eligible for admission to Ohio Wesleyan – all with cameras rolling. The resulting 30-minute OWU episode will air on Channel V in June.

Ohio Wesleyan has been welcoming students from India since the 19th Century. The university currently has 11 students from India on its 200-acre, residential campus.

In 2010, Ohio Wesleyan was one of 10 U.S. colleges and universities selected to take part in a new international initiative to increase the number of academic partnerships among higher education institutions in the United States and India. The International Academic Partners Program is overseen by the Institute of International Education, a nonprofit organization that works to create study and training programs for students, educators, and professionals worldwide. The Institute’s programs include the prestigious Fulbright Program and Gilman Scholarships, administered for the U.S. Department of State.

As part of the initiative, a contingent of Ohio Wesleyan students, administrators, and faculty traveled to India in spring 2012 to participate in a joint study at Lady Shri Ram College for Women in New Delhi. Together, the group explored the topic, “Gandhi Today: Perspectives and Possibilities.” The Ohio Wesleyan group blogged about its experience.

Learn more about Ohio Wesleyan’s curriculum, campus, and admission process at http://choose.owu.edu.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Serena Connolly, Ph.D. (Photo courtesy of Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University’s Classics Club is sponsoring a presentation by Serena Connolly, Ph.D., associate professor of classics at Rutgers University. Connolly will discuss “Romans and Friends in the Distichs of Cato” when she speaks at 11 a.m. April 17 in the Phillips Hall Auditorium,  50 S. Henry St., Delaware.

Connolly is a noted expert on Roman law, and her research interests include Roman history, especially late Roman social, political, and legal history, as well as non-elite Latin literature. She has published “Lives Behind the Laws: The World of the Codex Hermogenianus” (Indiana, 2010) and numerous articles on Roman Republican literature.

She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Cambridge University and her doctorate from Yale University. She previously has been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. She has received the Mellon Fellowship for Assistant Professors at the School of the Historical Studies.

For more information, contact Ohio Wesleyan faculty members Lee Fratantuono, Ph.D., at lmfratan@owu.edu or Caroline Stark, Ph.D., at cgstark@owu.edu.

Learn more about classics at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Jan W. Baran ’70. (Photo courtesy of Wiley Rein LLP)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University today announced the receipt of a significant gift to create an endowed fund to support students planning to pursue post-graduate fellowships after earning their OWU diplomas.

The gift comes from Washington, D.C., lawyer Jan W. Baran, a 1970 OWU graduate, and his wife, Kathryn K. Baran. Income from the new endowment will be used to award grants to honors students identified as having a high probability of success in their efforts to earn post-graduate fellowships.

“Historically, more than 50 percent of Ohio Wesleyan graduates pursue advanced degrees – including master’s degrees, doctoral degrees, and law degrees – within five years of their OWU commencement,” said President Rock Jones, Ph.D. “The Jan W. Baran ’70 and Kathryn K. Baran Endowed Fund for Encouragement of Post-Graduate Fellowships is intended to help students with their higher-education aspirations. We are grateful to Jan and Kathryn for their vision in endowing this fund.”

To apply for Baran funding, eligible Ohio Wesleyan students will propose a travel-learning opportunity or individual experience that connects theory to practice. Such opportunities must enhance their OWU experience and strengthen their candidacy for post­graduate fellowships.

Grant recipients will be recognized as Baran Fellows, Jones said. By accepting endowment support, Baran Fellows make a good faith commitment to complete an application for a post-graduate fellowship. Because Ohio Wesleyan students majoring in the natural sciences already have similar opportunities provided by the university’s Summer Science Research Program, only students outside of the natural sciences will be eligible to become Baran Fellows.

“Ohio Wesleyan provided the foundation that launched me into law school and qualified me for a generous scholarship,” Jan Baran said. “With this gift, Kathryn and I hope to promote similar opportunities for current and future OWU students.”

At Ohio Wesleyan, Jan Baran majored in English, played varsity men’s lacrosse, and was elected president of the student body. He later earned his law degree from Nashville-based Vanderbilt University as a Patrick Wilson Scholar in Law. He is a senior partner at Wiley Rein LLP, where he heads the Election Law and Government Ethics group. Kathryn Baran, also an attorney, works in the Washington office of New York-based Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. The Barans have four adult children and reside in Virginia.

Read more about Ohio Wesleyan’s curriculum. Learn about giving to the university.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Through May 12 – “Marks Made,” graduating senior art exhibition, in the Richard M. Ross Art Museum, 60 S. Sandusky St., Delaware. The museum is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is handicap-accessible and admission is always free. Call (740) 368-3606 for more information.

Through Sept. 21 – “Homecoming,” prints by Sherry Smith Bell, OWU Class of 1963, in Mowry Alumni Center, 16 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. An artist’s reception will be held from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. May 18 at the alumni center.

4 p.m. May 1 – OWU Baseball versus Muskingum, at Littick Field, 199 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

1 p.m. May 2 – OWU Baseball versus Capital, at Littick Field, 199 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

8 p.m. May 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31 – Evening programs at Ohio Wesleyan’s Perkins Observatory, 3199 Columbus Pike (U.S. 23), Delaware. Content varies based on sky conditions, but may include a planetarium show, observatory tours, and star gazing with the 32-inch Schottland Telescope. Advance tickets are $8 for adults, and $6 for children and senior citizens. Reserve tickets by calling (740) 363-1257.

May 4-May 5 – OWU Men’s and Women’s Golf hosts the NCAC Invitational, at Oakhaven Golf Club, 2871 Columbus Pike (U.S. 23), north of Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

1 p.m. May 12 – 169^th Annual Commencement Ceremony, in Phillips Glen, outside of Phillips Hall, 50 S. Henry St., Delaware. Ohio Wesleyan alumnus and Internet technology pioneer George H. Conrades, Class of 1961, will deliver the keynote address. The event also will be streamed live online at StreamOWU.

May 13-May 14 – OWU Men’s and Women’s Track & Field hosts the Ron Althoff Invitational, at George Gauthier Track, 45 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

May 17-July 3 – “Unexpected,” the Quilt Surface Design Symposium Invitational, an exhibition of fine art quilts by students and teachers of the Quilt Surface Design Symposium, at the Richard M. Ross Art Museum, 60 S. Sandusky St., Delaware. Summer hours for the museum are Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; and Thursday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. The museum will be closed Monday, Friday, and Saturday, but groups are invited to call for special arrangements. The museum is handicap-accessible and admission is always free. Call (740) 368-3606 for more information.

May 27-Sept. 20 – Photographs by Jessi Walker, in Gallery 2001 in Beeghly Library, 43 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Gallery hours coincide with library hours.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,822 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Ohio Wesleyan’s student dance company, Orchesis, will present ‘To Be Human’ in three performances April 26-28. The company includes Lauren Holler of Cleveland and Jordan Ahmed of Winchester, Mass. (Photo by Ryan Haddad ’14)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University’s student dance company, Orchesis, will explore the theme “To Be Human,” when 19 dancers perform nine dances created by student, faculty, and guest choreographers.

The Department of Theatre & Dance will present “Orchesis 2013” at 8 p.m. April 26 and 27 and at 2 p.m. April 28 on the Main Stage in the Chappelear Drama Center, 45 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Tickets are $10 for general admission; $5 for Ohio Wesleyan employees, senior citizens, and non-OWU students with a valid student ID. Tickets are free for OWU students with a valid university ID. To reserve tickets, call (740) 368-3855.

All of the dancers come together for the full company piece, “One Act.” Choreographed by artistic director Marin Leggat, assistant professor of dance, the piece entrances as the dancers collide in delicate vignettes.

“One Act explores human agency, the ability to act in order to bring about change in the world around us,” said Leggat, M.F.A., who joined the university in 2011. “Compassion and forgiveness, or resentment and revenge, One Act asks, ‘What will our lasting legacy be?’ ”

Leggat also choreographed the duet, “All Things Curious and New,” which seeks to exemplify the innocence, purity, and joy associated with new discovery. The piece premiered in February at the American College Dance Festival’s East-Central Regional Conference held in Rochester, Mich.

In addition, guest choreographer Noelle Chun, M.F.A., will present “READY,” a piece created through a collaborative and improvisational process with her dancers.

“READY is the familiar, but on the verge of change,” said Chun, a participating artist at Feverhead and a member of the improvisational trio Like You Mean It. “Before moving toward the new and unknown, we take a second for ourselves to acknowledge our gratitude for the past and our place in the present. We’ve danced together. We dance together. We are ready.”

The show’s remaining pieces, all choreographed by Ohio Wesleyan dance students, explore varied aspects of humanity.

• Senior April Warner of Dublin, Ohio, will present a multi-part work exploring the complexities of mental illness using explosive, moving choreography and intricate scenic elements.
• Senior Jordan Ahmed of Winchester, Mass., will explore the deconstruction of gender and societal norms.
• Senior Tessa Cannon of Trumansburg, N.Y., will explore the concept of home and finding home outside of the traditional family.
• Senior Kathleen Dalton of Medina, Ohio, will tell a story of the transformation of sin through gesture and emotion.
• Junior Kathryn Sponseller of Berea, Ohio, will celebrate the complexities and wonders of the human body in a power-packed piece.
• Sophomore Lauren Holler of Cleveland will examine the nature of competition through fast-paced, compelling choreography.

The April 26 performance will be free for Ohio Wesleyan faculty and staff with a reception following. An Orchesis alumni night reception will be held following the April 27 performance.

Learn more about Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of Theatre & Dance.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Ohio Wesleyan’s senior fine arts majors — including Danielle Muzina of Cleveland, Ohio — display their creations in ‘Marks Made.’ The Ross Art Museum exhibit opens with a public reception April 13. (Photo by Kathleen Dalton ’13)

DELAWARE, Ohio – The Ohio Wesleyan University students displaying artworks in “Marks Made,” the 2013 senior art show, describe their art as part of themselves. They have a compelling need to create, express, and share the beauty of the world around them.

The title of the show, chosen by senior fine arts major Danielle Muzina, refers to “mark making,” a term used to describe the process of creating lines, shapes, and gestures.

“By entitling our senior show ‘marks made,’ we are trying to encompass all the different marks each artist makes in their various chosen media, and we invite you to see them,” Muzina said.

“Marks Made” will open with a reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 13 at Ohio Wesleyan’s Richard M. Ross Art Museum, 60 S. Sandusky St., Delaware. The show will remain on display until noon May 12 – graduation day for OWU’s soon-to-be alumni artists.

“It’s a competitive process,” Muzina said of the juried show, with works selected by Ohio Wesleyan fine arts faculty members. “The professors know us and our work, and generally people get work in.” Each senior has at least one piece in the show.

• Molly Curry is a fine arts major from Holliston, Mass. Her area of concentration is painting. “While I still have a passion for creating artwork, I have developed a greater passion for working with children and helping them develop their artistic abilities. I hope to create a learning environment where I can inspire students and allow them to experience the same feelings I have when I make art. I want to help students feel successful and confident by encouraging them, the same way my professors at OWU challenged and encouraged me.”
• Chelsea Dipman is a fine arts major and education minor from Gahanna, Ohio. Her area of concentration is painting. “As an artist, I am moved to create art to make sense of the everyday beauty around me, and to appreciate it in the forms that I see most – the people who are a part of my life.”
• Haley Figlestahler is a studio art and biology double major from Minford, Ohio. “Above all things, I am a unique artist because I am a biologist as well. I have struggled with this duel personality for my entire college career, but this is who I am. I am an explorer of the world and I do so by my art and science. Unlike most artists, I interpret my surroundings from two very different directions, which gives me a unique understanding of what goes on around me. My art embodies my perception of the world.”
• Allyson Hays is a fine arts major and psychology minor from Worthington, Ohio. Her concentrations are painting, ceramics, and drawing. “My most recent work has allowed me to explore my interest in the human form. … While I was initially motivated to depict the human body as an exploration of shape and form, my interest has grown to include issues of body image and self-perception. By representing both favored and least-favored body parts with equal attention, my work highlights the subjectivity of perceptions of beauty.”
• Ashley Johnston is fine arts major from Sewickley, Pa. Her concentration is photography. “With my work, I try to make people see the things that are normally looked over, little snapshots of life that usually get passive glances, moments of light or emotions that are generally not given a second glance. I am drawn to lines, mark makings, and high levels of contrast. I love looking through the camera lens and seeing a little glimpse of someone’s life or a close-up view of something so ordinary that its beauty is taken for granted.”
• Chelsea Leeds is a fine arts major and psychology minor from Indianapolis, Ind. Her concentration is painting. “The focus of my artwork for the past two years has been largely influenced by my entire college experience, specifically the women I have met the last four years. I chose to focus on painting my female acquaintances after considering how blessed I was to be surrounded by strong and passionate women. Their self-assurance, compassion, and integrity are things I find both inspirational and surprising in today’s society where low self-esteem, especially among women, is an epidemic.”
• Gissele Miller is a studio art major and Spanish and cultural geography minor from Galena, Ohio. Her concentration is photography. “My work reflects much of my own experiences and memories of life. These experiences can be a mix of things from the beautiful shape of a Brazilian fruit to specific memories of my childhood; sometimes translated into photography or ceramics, these memories may not be recognized. I consider life not to be a continuous event but rather a series of events; thus my work of childhood memories would be remarkably different than my work of today.”
• Danielle Muzina is a fine arts major and English minor from Cleveland, Ohio. Her concentrations are painting and drawing. “I want to elevate the importance of introspection through my work. I intend for my work to serve as imagery for private contemplation. By confronting the viewer with situations in which the figure is inwardly focused, I hope to compel them to focus inwardly as well. … I hope that the physical evidence of my own struggle to respond to what I see both honestly and emotionally will engage the viewer in a meaningful silent conversation and create an environment for meditation.”
• Logan Osborne is a fine arts major from Washington, D.C. His concentration is photography. “I have come to see my surroundings as if they were a photograph. These instances can pass in a split-second and viewing my surroundings as a constant photograph has allowed me to better capture these moments. I have taught myself to see a composition where others may see nothing. I have learned to see these compositions as scenes that capture emotions.”
• Paige Phillips is a fine arts major from Pittsburgh, Pa. Her concentrations are graphic design, computer imaging, and drawing. “I prefer to create artworks that hold meaning to me, whether that be by drawing family or making books using materials I have gathered from close friends. With this said, the process of creating art is just as important to me as the end result. Most of my works depict intimate and sincere moments; therefore, I consider the process to be an outlet for me to express my own emotions.”
• Stefanie Rieder is a fine arts major from Logan, Ohio. Her concentrations are photography and computer imaging. “In this series, Vessels, my work is a compilation of photographs. With double exposure I am able to layer moments in order to form an experience. This is not necessarily a way to change the past, but rather a way to hold onto it.”
• Brandon Sega is a fine arts major from Upper Arlington, Ohio. His concentrations are graphic design and computer imaging. “I try to have fun with all of my work making it as entertaining for the viewer as it was for me while creating it. And just like my works of art, you either go big or you go home.”
• Catherine Spence-Godin is a fine arts major and education minor from Radnor, Pa. Her concentration is drawing. “My work is ever-changing, as I find myself constantly intrigued by new subjects. My current interest, however, lies within the figure. I am captivated by just how much can be told from a few simple human gestures and how the body, rather than the portraiture, can become an expression in itself.”
• Laura Troyer-Joy is a fine arts major and sociology minor from Chicago. Her concentrations are painting and photography. “Much of my artwork can be categorized by the presence of vulnerability in the people and inanimate objects that my work depicts. While I cannot claim that the search for this expression of vulnerability has always been a conscious one, the raw authenticity that it can create is something that I find compelling and that I looked for in much of the work that I produce.”
• Matthew Turner is a studio art major and economics management minor from Worthington, Ohio. “My work is a constructive elaboration on an aesthetic exploration of elements I respond to in nature, society, and my own mark making. I avoid context and embrace ambiguity and functionality.”
• Katie Wegener is a fine arts major and sociology minor from Grove City, Ohio. Her concentration is graphic design. “I am hopeful, colorful, joyful … and my artwork reflects me. I believe art should be beautiful – a gift that brings life. My desire is that the light-hearted, bright nature of my work taps in to the hope that lies in each of us.”
• Andrew Wilson is a fine arts major from Oakland, Calif. His concentrations are metals/jewelry. “My art centers around themes of masculinity and sexuality in black men, a retrospective look at black history in the United States and the complex intersections these identities create within themselves. The different media I work in highlight the intricate nature of identity.”

The Ross Art Museum is open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is handicap-accessible and admission is free.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University student Mary Ann Lee of Decatur, Ga., has been named a 2013-2014 Goldwater Scholar by the national Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation.

Lee, a zoology and psychology double major, is one of 271 college students selected to receive a 2013-2014 Goldwater Scholarship. She was chosen from a field of more than 1,100 mathematics, science, and engineering students nominated for the honor. The one- and two-year Goldwater Scholarships provide up to $7,500 a year for college costs.

After she graduates from Ohio Wesleyan, Lee plans to pursue a doctoral degree in animal behavior and marine biology. Ultimately, she hopes to research marine megafauna and teach at university level.

For her Goldwater Scholar research paper, Lee outlined work she completed on the vocalizations of pilot whales with Douglas Nowacek, Ph.D., of the Duke University Marine Lab. “We were interested in looking at different types of vocalizations and what they mean, including clicks and whistles,” Lee said.

Nowacek, a 1991 Ohio Wesleyan graduate, is a faculty member of Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, Division of Marine & Science Conservation.

An Ohio Wesleyan student paired with an alumnus-researcher also earned a Goldwater Scholarship in 2012-2013. Then-junior Bradley Turnwald of Ottoville, Ohio, was named a Goldwater Scholar for his work with Herbert L. DuPont, M.D., director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas School of Public Health.

“Ohio Wesleyan is proud to have such accomplished students and graduates,” said President Rock Jones, Ph.D. “Having back-to-back Goldwater Scholars who earned their awards by working with OWU alumni speaks to the level of mentoring and collaboration that occurs here. Such support is invaluable. These prestigious awards also reflect the caliber of our science and mathematics faculty and our rigorous curriculum.”

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Sen. Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona, who served in the U.S. Senate for 30 years.

The Foundation seeks to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue careers in these fields. The Goldwater Scholarship is considered the premier undergraduate award of its type.

Since 1989, the Goldwater Foundation has awarded more than 6,550 scholarships worth $40 million. Recent Goldwater Scholars have been awarded 80 Rhodes Scholarships, 118 Marshall Awards, 110 Churchill Scholarships, and numerous other distinguished fellowships.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Gulimina Mahamuti, D.M.A. (Photo by John Holliger)

DELAWARE, Ohio – An article by Ohio Wesleyan University part-time faculty member Gulimina Mahamuti, D.M.A., has been published in the March/April issue of the leading piano pedagogy journal in the United States, Clavier Companion, which was distributed by the journal’s publisher and the Music Teachers National Association to every participant at the 2013 MTNA National Conference in Anaheim, Calif.

Nancy Bachus, the journal’s associate editor of repertoire and performance, describes Mahamuti as “eminently qualified to compare the two systems of music study and training [between China and the United States]” in the introduction to Mahamuti’s article, “Piano Study in Twenty-First Century China.”

Mahamuti is the first Uyghur in China to receive a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance from the United States. She has earned two Master of Music degrees in both China and the United States, taught at collegiate levels in both countries, and owned and operated three piano studios in China, where her students won top prizes in Asia and domestic China piano competitions.

She is an acknowledged authority on the life and compositions of Chinese ethno-musicologist Shi Fu, whose music she performed at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2012, and whose “Xinjiang Suites” she recorded and released in May with Grammy-Award-nominated sound engineer Mark Rubinstein. At Carnegie Hall, Mahamuti also premiered “Variations on Awariguli” by Chinese-American composer Chen Yi.

In summer 2012, she completed a month-long invited concert tour across China, including visits to six cities, where she performed, gave master classes, and lectured at the invitations of several music schools, including the prestigious China Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Her life and love of the piano were featured in a TV documentary broadcast on China State TV in 2010.

Recently, Mahamuti performed in Budapest at the invitation of the Turkish Ambassador to Hungary and in Istanbul under the auspices of the Turkish State Conservatory. She has performed piano concerti with symphony orchestras in both China and the United States. This summer, she will perform piano solo recitals in Denmark. Mahamuti is a board member and chairs the piano workshops of the Central East District of the Ohio Music Teachers Association. She is a part-time assistant professor of music (piano) at Ohio Wesleyan.

Read more about Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of Music.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Branch B. Rickey

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University will celebrate the release of the national feature film “42” with a series of campus and community events commemorating the Branch Rickey-Jackie Robinson legacy – a historic collaboration that ended racial segregation in Major League Baseball and helped set the stage for the U.S. Civil Rights movement.

The new film stars Harrison Ford as 1904 Ohio Wesleyan alumnus Branch Rickey and Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson. The Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures film was written and directed by Academy Award® winner Brian Helgeland, who also wrote “L.A. Confidential.” It opens across the country April 12.

Ohio Wesleyan’s Rickey-Robinson “42” celebration will include an art exhibit, two Battling Bishop baseball doubleheaders, and a roundtable discussion on the state of baseball today. The discussion will feature Rickey’s grandson, Branch B. Rickey, a 1967 OWU graduate and president of Minor League Baseball’s Pacific Coast League, and Bob DiBiasio, a 1977 OWU graduate and senior vice president of public affairs for the Cleveland Indians.

Events currently scheduled for Ohio Wesleyan’s Rickey-Robinson celebration include:

• 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m. April 12 – Baseball roundtable featuring Branch B. Rickey of Minor League Baseball’s Pacific Coast League and Bob DiBiasio of the Cleveland Indians. This event will be held in Phillips Auditorium inside Phillips Hall, 50 S. Henry St., Delaware. It also will be streamed live online at http://streamowu.edu. OWU Director of Athletics Roger Ingles will serve as moderator as the group discusses baseball today.

• Noon April 13 and noon April 14 – Ohio Wesleyan’s Battling Bishops baseball team takes on Denison’s Big Red in noon doubleheaders. All four games will be played at OWU’s Littick Field, 199 S. Henry St., Delaware. Admission is free. Learn more about Battling Bishop baseball at http://battlingbishops.com.
• 2 p.m. April 13 – The Strand Theatre’s public premiere of “42,” starring Harrison Ford and Chadwick Boseman. The film tells the heroic story of two men “whose brave stand against prejudice forever changed the world by changing the game of baseball.” The Strand is located at 28 E. Winter St., Delaware. For complete show times and ticket prices, visit http://www.thestrandtheatre.net.
• April 5-April 27 – “Play Ball: Branch Rickey & Jackie Robinson.” A special art exhibit including photographs from David Levinthal and Jim Dow. Levinthal is known for photographing toy figurines in studio settings, including a realistic recreation of Jackie Robinson stealing home during his Brooklyn Dodger days. Dow has created breathtaking panoramic images of baseball stadiums around the country. “Play Ball” also will include vintage Branch Rickey memorabilia including letters, newspaper clippings, and magazine articles. The exhibit will be held at the City Art Center, 22 E. Winter St., Delaware. The center’s gallery is open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Admission is free. Learn more about the center at http://cityartcenter.org. 

For more information about the Branch Rickey-Jackie Robinson legacy, including Rickey’s history as an Ohio Wesleyan student and coach and how those OWU experiences shaped his life, visit http://rickeyrobinson.owu.edu.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Sean Kay

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University professor and global security expert Sean Kay, Ph.D., says America’s “failure to adjust to repeated shocks to the system” – such as the 9/11 attacks, financial collapse of 2008, and 2011 Arab Spring – has led to “strategic paralysis at a key moment of systemic international change.”

He discusses the nation’s reactions in comparison to its response to the Soviet’s 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite in a new article in the journal “Survival: Global Politics and Strategy.”

“After investing in better research and education, we didn’t just surpass the Soviets,” Kay writes of the Sputnik response and subsequent race to the moon. “We unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.”

Such innovation and investment in both higher education and technology is needed now to ensure the nation meets “our generation’s Sputnik moment,” he states. 

“Survival,” published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, is considered one of the most prominent journals in international relations, along with “Foreign Affairs” and “Foreign Policy.” Read an excerpt of Kay’s new article, “America’s Sputnik Moments.”

Kay is a politics and government professor and director of international studies at Ohio Wesleyan, a Mershon Associate at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at The Ohio State University, and a fellow in foreign policy and national security at the Eisenhower Institute in Washington, D.C. He also is the author of “Global Security in the Twenty-First Century: The Quest for Power and the Search for Peace (second edition.)”

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

The TED phenomenon began in 1984, when people from the worlds of Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) came together to discuss “ideas worth spreading.” Today, the nonprofit organization’s online TEDtalks are inspiring people worldwide, including students at Ohio Wesleyan University.

“The Into the Uncharted element is intended to make pushing the boundaries of current knowledge and understanding a theme within the talks,” said students Linh Nguyen and Lucky Mosola, who are in charge of organizing the event. “The idea is to have each talk speak about a period farther in the future than the one before it. For example, beginning with a talk about the near future and ending with a talk about centuries in the future. The general nature of the theme is to allow talks on a variety of subjects relating to the future of their respective fields.”

Scheduled speakers and their topics include:

• Melissa Awenowicz, Ph.D., Ohio Wesleyan assistant professor of education and director of adolescent to young adult and multi-age programs, “Academic Capitalism: Is Education a Means to an End?”
• Charles “Zeke” Brechtel, senior OWU physics major from Arvada, Colo., “Seasteading: Future Habitats for Humanity”
• Sean McCulloch, Ph.D., OWU associate professor of computer science, “Undecidability and What Future Computers Can’t Do”
• Robert O. Harmon, Ph.D., chair of OWU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and director of the university’s Travel-Learning Program, “The End of the World As We Know It: Current Scientific Thinking on the Ultimate Fates of Earth and the Universe”

For more information, email tedx@owu.edu. Ohio Wesleyan’s online TEDx event – and others around the world – are planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis. Learn more about TED and TEDtalks.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Valerie Martinez-Ebers, Ph.D. (Photo courtesy of the University of North Texas)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Valerie Martinez-Ebers, Ph.D., professor of political science at the University of North Texas, will discuss “Who Are These Immigrants? What Do We Do About Them?” at 7:30 p.m. April 16 at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Martinez-Ebers will speak in the Benes Rooms of Ohio Wesleyan’s Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. The event is free and open to the public.

She is one of the principal investigators for the Latino National Survey – the largest and most comprehensive national survey of Latinos to date. Her research is funded by the National Science Foundation and others such as the Ford, Carnegie, Hewlett, Joyce, Russell Sage, and Anne E. Casey Foundations. At Ohio Wesleyan, she will discuss the dynamics of minority groups in the United States and the current immigration debate, which is heating up again in Congress.

Martinez-Ebers has published widely on educational policy, Latino/a politics, women in politics, and methods of survey research. She has written or co-written several books including “Latino Lives in America: Making it Home” and “Perspectives on Race, Ethnicity and Religion: Identity Politics in America.”

She is a former vice president of the American Political Science Association and former president of the Western Political Science Association. She co-edited the “American Political Science Review,” the flagship journal in political science.

Sponsored by Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of Politics and Government, her presentation is part of the Benjamin F. Marsh Lecture Series on Public Affairs, which is endowed by Marsh, a 1950 OWU graduate.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Michael W. Deem, Ph.D. (Photo courtesy of Phi Beta Kappa)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Michael W. Deem, the John W. Cox Professor in Bioengineering and a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University, will discuss “Evolution in the Bacterial, Archaeal, and Jawed Vertebrate Immune Systems” in a free Science Lecture Series discussion April 4 at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Deem, this year’s Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, will speak at 4:10 p.m. April 4 in Room 163 of Ohio Wesleyan’s Schimmel/Conrades Science Center, 90 S. Henry St., Delaware.

During his presentation, Deem will discuss the effect of the high evolution rate of the influenza virus on the attempt to develop flu vaccines. He will describe methods that he has helped develop to improve the effectiveness of the annual vaccine. Those methods include a technique for detecting new flu strains earlier, as well as a method to predict how effective a vaccine is likely to be by measuring how differently the immune system perceives the vaccine and the virus.

While at Ohio Wesleyan, Deem also will visit classes, meet with students and faculty, and present a second talk at noon April 5. This presentation, “In Search of Fundamental Mathematical Laws of Biology,” is intended primarily for OWU mathematics and biology students and faculty. It will focus on modular structure in proteins, genetics, and biological networks, and the implications of those structural principles for engineering design, ecological food networks, development pathways, physiology, and social networks. He will link the discussion with a consideration of the immune system and its response to viruses and vaccines, including dengue fever. This presentation will be held at noon in Room 393 of the Schimmel/Conrades Science Center.

At Texas-based Rice University, Deem researches Newton’s laws of biology, the theory of personalized critical care, physical theories of pathogen evolution, vaccine design, and the structure of zeolites. He is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the American Physical Society, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His honors include a Sloan Foundation fellowship; the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 2002; a National Science Foundation CAREER Award; the Colburn Award for excellence in publications; the Professional Progress Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; and the O’Donnell Award from the Academy of Medicine, Engineering & Science of Texas. He was chosen one of MIT’s “Technology Review 1999 Young Innovators.” He is an associate editor of the journal “Physical Biology and Protein Engineering Design & Selection.”

The Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program makes available each year a dozen or so distinguished scholars who visit colleges and universities that have chapters of Phi Beta Kappa. They spend two days on each campus contributing to the intellectual life of the institution. Now entering its 57th year, the Visiting Scholar Program has sent 600 Scholars on 4,917 two-day visits since it was established in 1956.

Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic honor society. It has chapters at 280 colleges and universities, and more than 600,000 members. The Ohio Wesleyan Chapter was founded in 1907. It annually elects outstanding liberal arts students in the graduating class, who are initiated on Commencement weekend.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Marilyn and Robert Nims. (Photo courtesy of OWU’s Department of Music)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University will present faculty members Marilyn Nims, mezzo soprano, and Robert Nims, piano, in recital at 8 p.m. April 16.

The free concert will be held in Jemison Auditorium inside Sanborn Hall, 23 Elizabeth St., Delaware. Titled “Manners…the way we are,” the concert will consist of art songs and music theatre excerpts.

“Each selection places a lens over aspects of our shared human character,” the couple said. “Romantic love, family life, work, racism, and war are illuminated with poignancy, joy, humor, and sometimes horror.”

The works are intended to communicate easily to all audiences, they said. Most offerings are in English, but the concert also will feature attractive and meaningful works in German, Spanish, and French.

Marilyn Nims is a professor of music at Ohio Wesleyan, where she has taught since 1984. She has been soloist with many orchestras and choral groups including the Columbus, Mansfield, Welsh Hills, Central Ohio, and Columbus Youth symphony orchestras, as well as Cantari Singers and the Columbus Bach Ensemble. She also has sung with the Marble Cliff Chamber Players, Ohio Wesleyan’s Duvall Ensemble, and the sextet Vocal Colour.

Robert Nims retired in 2002 from Ohio Wesleyan, where he was a professor of voice and director of choral activities. Trained as both an organist and singer, he has appeared as baritone soloist with Opera Columbus and Cantari Singers as well as with the Columbus Symphony, the Akron Symphony, the Mansfield Symphony, and the Lancaster Festival Orchestra. Since his retirement, he has served as an interim teacher of voice at Capital University and at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He is currently a member of the adjunct voice faculties of Otterbein University and Ohio Wesleyan.

For more information, visit the Ohio Wesleyan Department of Music website or contact the department at either musicd@owu.edu or (740) 368-3702.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Richard Baker

DELAWARE, OHIO – Richard Baker, director of communications for the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, will present “From Carnival to the Kardashians: The Changing Face of Public Relations” April 11 at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Baker will speak at 3:10 p.m. in the Bayley Room on the second floor of Ohio Wesleyan’s Beeghly Library, 43 Rowland Ave., Delaware. The free event is sponsored by the university’s Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship. For those unable to attend, Baker’s presentation will be streamed live and archived online at StreamOWU.

Baker has worked in marketing communications and public relations for more than 35 years. Prior to joining the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), he served as a director of communication and investor relations for two pioneering technology firms in central Ohio – CompuServe, the world’s first commercial online information service; and Metatec, a digital storage, supply chain management, and electronic publishing company.

At Ohio PERS, Baker and his staff handle all facets of public relations – from member relations to social media, and from crisis management to market research. For 26 years, he also has hosted the “Bluegrass Ramble,” an acoustic radio program on WOSU FM 89.7. He has served for 12 years on the WOSU Public Media board of directors and was selected in 2012 as “Communicator of the Year” by the Central Ohio Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

The Ohio PERS is the 11th largest public retirement system in the country with $80 billion in assets and more than 1 million members. Ohio PERS provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits, and administrates health care programs.

Founded in 1985, Ohio Wesleyan’s Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship helps students to integrate business theory and practice, and provides resources to benefit the local and regional business community.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

G. John Ikenberry, Ph.D. (Photo courtesy of Princeton University)

DELAWARE, Ohio – G. John Ikenberry, Ph.D., professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, will discuss “The Rise of China and the U.S. Policy in East Asia” during an April presentation at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Ikenberry will speak at 7 p.m. April 11 in the Benes Rooms inside Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. His discussion is the university’s 24^th annual John Kennard Eddy Memorial Lecture on World Politics. It is free and open to the public.

At Princeton, Ikenberry is the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs in the Department of Politics and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He also is co-faculty director of the Princeton Project on National Security, described as “a large, collaborative multi-year project that is examining the changing character of America’s international security environment.” In addition, he is a Global Eminence Scholar at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea.

Ikenberry is the author of six books including “Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order,” published in 2011. His previous book “After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Rebuilding of Order after Major Wars” received the 2002 Schroeder-Jervis Award presented by the American Political Science Association as the best book in international history and politics.

During his career, Ikenberry has been a Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund; a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.; and a Hitachi International Affairs Fellow, for which he spent a year affiliated with the Institute for International Policy Studies in Tokyo. He also has been a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and has earned major grants awarded by the U.S.-Japan Foundation and the Committee for Global Partnership.

Ikenberry has served as a member of an advisory group at the U.S. Department of State and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Henry Kissinger-Lawrence Summers commission on the Future of Transatlantic Relations. He also has held posts at the State Department (policy planning staff) and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (senior associate).

Learn more Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of Politics and Government.

The John Kennard Eddy Lecture on World Politics honors the life of student “Jeff” Eddy, killed in an automobile accident in 1988.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Ohio Wesleyan students will show their documentary films April 19 at Delaware’s Strand Theatre. (Photo by Pam Roth, courtesy of stock.xchng)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Five films created by Ohio Wesleyan University students enrolled in a documentary filmmaking course will be shown and discussed April 19 at the 9th Annual OWU Documentary Film Festival. The free event will begin at 7 p.m. at downtown Delaware’s historic Strand Theatre, 28 E. Winter St.

All of the student-filmmakers are enrolled in Ethnographic and Documentary Film and Filmmaking, taught by sociology/anthropology professor Mary Howard, Ph.D., and Chuck Della Lana, OWU’s director of media services.

As part of the course, students explore film theory from the field of visual anthropology and from filmmakers’ written reflections on the processes involved in completing particular projects. Each student also learns camera use and film editing techniques.

Films scheduled to be screened at the festival are:

7 p.m. – “VDV: Never Forgotten.” This film presents a tribute to Jakob F. Von der Vellen, an outstanding student and leader involved in a fatal car accident in March 2012. It shows the deep impact Jake had on his family, friends, and the Ohio Wesleyan community. It is directed by senior Ashley Taylor of Grafton, Ohio; junior Maggie Medearis of Charlotte, N.C., and junior Max Bruch of Worthington, Ohio.

7:30 p.m. – “Mouthful of Memories.” This film portrays the value of family and family traditions through a personal tribute to the life of Mildred Hix, mother of seven and grandmother of many, including the filmmaker. It is directed by senior Brittany Vickers of Newark, Ohio.

8 p.m. – “In Search of The Funny: From Babies to Babblers.” Come laugh with and/or at the filmmakers as they present an irreverent look at Ohio Wesleyan’s premier improv troupe, The Babbling Bishops. It is directed by junior Natalie “Ocelot” Duleba of Euclid, Ohio, and senior Dave “Dunkaroos” Winnyk of Strongsville, Ohio.

8:30 p.m. – “In a Footstep.” A conversation in a city park sets off an exploration of the universal properties of music and performance. It is directed by junior Karena Briggs of Lake Forest, Ill., and junior Erika Nininger of Yorktown Heights, N.Y.

9 p.m. – “Oh Chaplain, My Chaplain.” Jon Powers has been Ohio Wesleyan’s chaplain for 24 years. In that time, he has changed the lives of countless students, faculty, and friends. This documentary celebrates his dedication to people of all faiths and backgrounds. It is directed by junior Anthony Lamoureux of Woonsocket, R.I., and senior Macauley O’Connor of Montclair, N.J.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Pygmalion (senior Brian Brockman) helps his Galatea (sophomore Haewon ‘Haenny’ Park) learn to walk in Ohio Wesleyan’s upcoming production of ‘My Secrets on Beauty.’ The play was written by the ensemble. (Photo by Elizabeth Bartz ’13)

DELAWARE, OHIO – Ohio Wesleyan University’s Department of Theatre & Dance will present “My Secrets on Beauty,” an original work conceived and written by the ensemble, for five performances April 5 through April 14.

Drawing upon the myth of the sculptor Pygmalion who falls for Galatea, his “exquisitely beautiful” statue-come-to-life, the play explores themes of beauty, transformation, gender, objectification, and love. It contains adult themes and language.

“My Secrets on Beauty” will be performed at 8 p.m. April 5, 6, 12, and 13, and at 2 p.m. April 14 in the Studio Theatre inside Ohio Wesleyan’s Chappelear Drama Center, 45 Rowland Ave., Delaware.

The play is directed by Ed Kahn, Ph.D., associate professor of theatre and dance, who calls the production an “imaginative and provocative experimental journey.”

“Both elements of the myth itself and the issues it raises for our modern society are examined in different stylistic ways,” said Kahn, a member of Ohio Wesleyan’s faculty since 2004.  “It has been exciting to watch the ensemble create theatrical responses to their own questions and observations.”

The ensemble involves 19 students who have been meeting regularly since January. Together, they have been handling all facets of the production.

Ticket prices are $10 for general admission and $5 for Ohio Wesleyan employees, non-OWU students, and senior citizens. Admission is free for Ohio Wesleyan students with a valid ID. To reserve tickets, call the Department of Theatre & Dance at (740) 368-3855 from 9 a.m. to noon or 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Reservations are strongly recommended as seating for this production is limited.

For more information about “My Secrets on Beauty” and other 2012-2013 Ohio Wesleyan productions, visit http://theatre.owu.edu.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Peter Takács will conduct a free piano master class April 6 at Ohio Wesleyan. (Photo courtesy of Peter Takács)

DELAWARE, Ohio – The Ohio Wesleyan University Department of Music, in conjunction with Sunday at Central, a nonprofit recital series, will present a piano master class by world-renowned pianist Peter Takács on April 6. Admission is free, and the class is open to public.

Two Ohio Wesleyan students and three Columbus-area high school students also will perform and participate in the master class, which will be held from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. April 6 in OWU’s Sanborn Hall, 23 Elizabeth St., Delaware.

Takács, professor of piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, has been hailed by The New York Times as “a marvelous pianist.”

Takács was born in Bucharest, Romania, and was admitted to the Conservatoire National de Paris at age 14. He has performed as a guest soloist with major international orchestras and participated in Tanglewood, Music Mountain, Chautauqua Institution, Schlern Music Festival, and the Helsingborg Festival.

“It’s an honor to have such an artist at Ohio Wesleyan University,” said David Niwa, violin faculty, assistant concertmaster of the Columbus Symphony, and artistic director of Sunday at Central.

Sunday at Central also will present Takács with Robert deMaine, principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at the Columbus Museum of Art at 3 p.m. April 7. The “all Beethoven” program will feature the three sonatas and set of variations by Ludwig van Beethoven.

About Sunday at Central
Sunday at Central is a nonprofit chamber music recital series founded in 1994. It offers intimate, personalized traditional chamber music concerts with internationally recognized professional musicians. Its 2012-2013 recital series is funded in part by grants from the Greater Columbus Arts Council and Ohio Arts Council. Learn more at www.sundayatcentral.org.

About Ohio Wesleyan
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Sean Kay

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University professor and global security expert Sean Kay, Ph.D., says the Pentagon’s decision to cancel the next phase of a Europe-based missile defense system in favor of shifting resources to protect against North Korea makes sense.

Kay commented on the decision in Saturday’s New York Times. “In effect, by sticking with a plan that was neither likely to work in the last stage but was creating significant and needless diplomatic hurdles at the same time, we gained nothing,” he told reporters.

Read the full New York Times article, “U.S. Cancels Part of Missile Defense That Russia Opposed.”

On Wednesday, Kay participated in a HuffPost Live panel discussion with host Josh Zepps. Joining Kay on the panel were John Deni, Ph.D., research professor of national security studies at the Strategic Studies Institute, and Natalia Antonova, acting editor-in-chief for Russia’s Moscow News.

Kay said the United States can’t rely on missiles for protection and peace of mind.

“We really need to be assertive and leaning forward in our diplomacy and figuring out how to get to the root of these conflicts before it would ever get to the point where we have to rely on largely unproven, battle-tested systems,” he said.

Watch the HuffPost Live discussion, “Is Obama Wooing Putin?”

Kay is a politics and government professor and director of international studies at Ohio Wesleyan, a Mershon Associate at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at The Ohio State University, and a fellow in foreign policy and national security at the Eisenhower Institute in Washington, D.C. He also is the author of “Global Security in the Twenty-First Century: The Quest for Power and the Search for Peace (second edition.)”

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Jeff Long ’82. (Photo courtesy of University of Arkansas)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University graduate Jeff Long, vice chancellor and director of athletics for the University of Arkansas, will discuss the “Role of Ethics in Leadership and Decision Making” when he speaks April 3 on the OWU campus.

Long will speak at 7:30 p.m. April 3 in the Benes Rooms of Ohio Wesleyan’s Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. The lecture also is scheduled to be streamed live online at StreamOWU.

A Kettering, Ohio, native, Long played football and baseball for the Battling Bishops, earning seven varsity letters before graduating in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He earned a master’s degree in education in 1983 at Miami University of Ohio.

Long has more than two decades of experience in athletic administration at the Division I level including positions with the University of Oklahoma, University of Michigan, Virginia Tech University, Eastern Kentucky University, and University of Pittsburgh. In 2007, he joined the University of Arkansas, where he is credited with streamlining and reorganizing the Razorbacks athletic program.

Long works both in the classroom and on the field to ensure athletic and educational success for college students. Principles of integrity, community service, and winning characterize his work, and he is a strong advocate for the student-athlete.

While director of the University of Pittsburgh’s athletic program, Long played a key role in implementing the “Quest for Excellence Campaign,” which generated nearly $34 million in scholarship endowments and facility construction and renovation. He also served on the NCAA’s Sports Wagering Task Force in 2004 and was a member of the Executive Committee of the Division I-A Athletic Directors’ Association.

Long’s OWU presentation represents the university’s 2013 Heisler Business Ethics Lecture. The annual lecture is funded by the Heisler Family Endowment for the Study of Ethics. The endowment honors university graduates James Heisler, Class of 1938; Robert Heisler, Class of 1942; and Bruce Heisler, Class of 1949.

The lecture is sponsored by the Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship. Founded in 1985, the Woltemade Center helps students to integrate business theory and practice, and provides lectures and other resources to benefit students, faculty, and the local community.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review.

George Conrades ’61. (Photo by Sara Blake)

DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University alumnus and Internet technology pioneer George H. Conrades, Class of 1961, will deliver the keynote address at the university’s 169^th commencement ceremony May 12.

Conrades is the former chief executive officer and current chairman of Massachusetts-based Akamai Technologies Inc., which helps enterprises provide their customers with secure, high-performing cloud connections on any device, anywhere.

Ohio Wesleyan’s 2013 commencement ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. May 12 in Phillips Glen outside of Phillips Hall, 50 S. Henry St., Delaware. The event also will be streamed live online at StreamOWU.

Zeke Brechtel, Ohio Wesleyan’s 2013 senior class president, said Conrades provides an inspiring example of the power and potential of an OWU education.

“When you stream videos, interact with friends on a social network, or purchase items over the Internet – daily activities for most college students – the digital content is often delivered by the company chaired by our speaker,” said Brechtel, a physics major and mathematics minor from Arvada, Colo.

Brechtel also points out that Conrades spent 31 years with IBM, serving in senior management roles in the United States and abroad, and “he accomplished all this as a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan – just like we will be soon.”

At Ohio Wesleyan, Conrades majored in physics and mathematics. He later earned his Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. At IBM, he served in roles including as the head of IBM United States, for which he led the creation of IBM Services. He also established IBM’s Asia/Pacific headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, enabling the region to attain record growth in revenues and earnings. For his efforts, Conrades earned the title of IBM Senior Vice President and membership on IBM’s Corporate Management Board.

In 1992, he left IBM to become chief executive officer of Bolt, Beranek & Newman, whose engineers helped to create Arpanet, the forerunner of today’s Internet, in the late 1960s. Capitalizing on BBN’s internet-related core competencies, Conrades helped the company to become one of the world’s largest Internet service providers in the 1990s. When BBN was acquired by GTE, Conrades was named executive vice president and then president of GTE Internetworking.

In August 1998, Conrades joined Polaris Venture Partners, a partnership of early stage investors with a history of backing successful entrepreneurs in companies developing information and medical technology. One of those was Akamai Technologies, and soon after the company’s founding, he became chairman and CEO. He continues to work with and invest in early stage companies, especially those related to the Internet and electronic commerce.

Conrades also is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and serves on the boards of directors for Oracle, Harley-Davidson, and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals.

In addition, he and his wife, Patricia “Patsy” Belt Conrades, Class of 1963, are both Ohio Wesleyan Life Trustees, and they are longtime supporters of and contributors to the university, providing a lead gift for construction of OWU’s state-of-the-art Schimmel/Conrades Science Center, which opened in 2004. The 150,000-square-foot center is home to Ohio Wesleyan’s departments of botany/microbiology, chemistry, geology and geography, mathematics and computer science, physics and astronomy, and zoology. It also houses the university’s environmental studies, pre-health studies, and urban studies programs. The couple also provided funds to support and enhance the university’s David O. Robbins Neuroscience Program. They are the parents of Ohio Wesleyan alumnae Laura Conrades Wilson, Class of 1988, and Anna Conrades, Class of 2003.

In 2001, George Conrades was awarded an Ohio Wesleyan Distinguished Achievement Citation for his lifetime of success. According to the citation: “The word Akamai is Hawaiian for ‘intelligent, cool, or clever.’ [The university joins] in saluting him for his achievement in the field of business and for being one of Ohio Wesleyan’s most ‘Akamai’ alumni!”

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.

Through April 3 – All Student Spring Show, in Gallery 2001 in Beeghly Library, 43 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Gallery hours coincide with library hours.

Through April 7 – “Diverse,” a group exhibition featuring creations by seven women artists – Marjorie Bender, N. Penney Denning, Eglé Gatins, Elena Osterwalder, Elsie Sanchez, Barbara Vogel, and Leah L. Wong – in the Richard M. Ross Art Museum, 60 S. Sandusky St., Delaware. The museum is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is handicap-accessible and admission is always free. Call (740) 368-3606 for more information.

Through April 16 – Xiamen photo collage by Susan Shafer, Ohio Wesleyan Class of 1959, in the Alumni Gallery in Mowry Alumni Center, 16 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.

3:30 p.m. April 2 – OWU Softball versus DePauw in a double header, at Margaret Sagan Field, 251 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

8 p.m. April 2 – The OWU Department of Music presents the OWU Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Michael Malone, in the Benes Rooms inside Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware.

3:30 p.m. April 3 – OWU Softball versus Heidelberg in a double header, at Margaret Sagan Field, 251 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

4 p.m. April 3 – OWU Baseball versus Otterbein, at Littick Field, 199 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

7:30 p.m. April 3 – Jeff Long, vice chancellor and director of athletics at the University of Arkansas and a 1982 OWU graduate, will discuss the “Role of Ethics in Leadership and Decision Making,” in the Benes Rooms inside Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. This event will be streamed live and archived at StreamOWU. Long’s presentation is OWU’s 2013 Heisler Business Ethics Lecture.

7:30 p.m. April 5 – OWU Men’s Lacrosse versus Kenyon, at Selby Stadium, 45 S. Henry St., Delaware. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students. This event will be streamed live at StreamOWU.

8 p.m. April 5, 6, 12, and 13; 2 p.m. April 14 – The Ohio Wesleyan Department of Theatre & Dance presents “My Secrets on Beauty,” in the Studio Theatre in Chappelear Drama Center, 45 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Directed by Ed Kahn, this ensemble-created work draws upon the myth of the sculptor Pygmalion who falls for his own “exquisitely beautiful” statue-come-to-life and explores themes of beauty, transformation, gender, objectification, and love. This production may contain language and subject matter unsuitable for children. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for senior citizens, Ohio Wesleyan employees, and non-Ohio Wesleyan students. Admission is free for Ohio Wesleyan students with a valid ID. To reserve tickets, call the Theatre Box Office at (740) 368-3855.

8 p.m. April 5, 12, 19, and 26 – Evening programs at Ohio Wesleyan’s Perkins Observatory, 3199 Columbus Pike (U.S. 23), Delaware. Content varies based on sky conditions, but may include a planetarium show, observatory tours, and star gazing with the 32-inch Schottland Telescope. Advance tickets are $8 for adults, and $6 for children and senior citizens. Reserve tickets by calling (740) 363-1257.

All day April 6 – OWU Men’s and Women’s Track & Field host the Marv Frye Invitational, at George Gauthier Track, 45 S. Henry St., Delaware. Tickets are $5, with children 5 and under admitted free. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

1 p.m. April 6 – OWU Softball versus Kenyon in a double header, at Margaret Sagan Field, 251 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

3:15 p.m. April 7 – The OWU Department of Music presents a junior recital featuring Candace Rembert, violin; Joshua Boggs, counter tenor; and faculty member Mariko Kaneda, piano, in Jemison Auditorium inside Sanborn Hall, 23 Elizabeth St., Delaware. Learn more at http://music.owu.edu.

4 p.m. April 8 – OWU Women’s Tennis versus Kenyon, at Luttinger Family Tennis Center, 31 Hayes St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

7:30 p.m. April 8 – Robin Jensen, professor of historical studies at Vanderbilt University, will discuss “Ritual Spaces and Holy Places: The Archaeological Evidence for Ancient African Christianity,” in Benes Room B inside Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave. This presentation is OWU’s 2013 Merrick Lecture.

April 9-May 21 – “Altered Photographs” by April Deacon, Class of 2001, in Gallery 2001 in Beeghly Library, 43 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Gallery hours coincide with library hours.

5 p.m. April 10 – OWU Men’s Lacrosse versus DePauw, at Selby Stadium, 45 S. Henry St., Delaware. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students. This event will be streamed live at StreamOWU.

7:30 p.m. April 10 – OWU Women’s Lacrosse versus Oberlin, at Selby Stadium, 45 S. Henry St., Delaware. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students. This event will be streamed live at StreamOWU.

3:10 p.m. April 11 – Rich Baker, director of communications for the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, will speak, in the Bayley Room inside Beeghly Library, 43 Rowland Ave., Delaware. This event is sponsored by Ohio Wesleyan’s Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship and will be streamed live and archived at StreamOWU.

7 p.m. April 11 – G. John Ikenberry, professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, will discuss “The Rise of China and the U.S. Policy in East Asia,” in the Benes Rooms inside Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. This is Ohio Wesleyan’s 2013 John Kennard Eddy Memorial Lecture on World Politics.

April 12 (and more) – Ohio Wesleyan and Delaware celebrate the premiere of the national feature film “42,” which tells the inspiring story of Jackie Robinson and 1904 OWU graduate Branch Rickey as they work to break Major League Baseball’s color barrier. Learn more about their legacy and “42”-related OWU events at RickeyRobinson.owu.edu.

• 4 p.m. April 12 – Baseball Roundtable featuring Rickey’s grandson, Branch B. Rickey, a 1967 OWU graduate and president of Minor League Baseball’s Pacific Coast League, and Bob DiBiasio, a 1977 OWU graduate and senior vice president of public affairs for the Cleveland Indians. This event will be held in Phillips Auditorium inside Phillips Hall, 50 S. Henry St., Delaware. It also will be streamed live online at StreamOWU. OWU Director of Athletics Roger Ingles will serve as moderator.
• Noon April 13 and noon April 14 – OWU Baseball versus Denison in doubleheaders. All four games will be played at OWU’s Littick Field, 199 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more about Battling Bishop baseball at BattlingBishops.com.
• 2 p.m. April 13 – The Strand Theatre’s public premiere of “42,” starring Harrison Ford as OWU alumnus Branch Rickey and Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson. The Strand is located at 28 E. Winter St., Delaware. Visit the Strand Theatre’s website for complete show times and ticket prices.
• April 5-April 27 – “Play Ball: Branch Rickey & Jackie Robinson,” at the City Art Center, 22 E. Winter St., Delaware. This art exhibit will include photographs from David Levinthal, known for photographing toy figurines in studio settings including a recreation of Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson stealing home. “Play Ball” also will include vintage Branch Rickey memorabilia. The City Art Center gallery is open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Admission is free.

All day April 13 and 14 – OWU Men’s Golf hosts the Strimer Memorial Invitational, at Glenross Golf Club, 231 Clubhouse Drive, Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

All day April 13 and 14 – OWU Women’s Golf hosts the Laura Bump Invitational, at Mill Creek Golf Club, 7259 Penn Road, Ostrander. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

All day April 13 – OWU Men’s and Women’s Track & Field host the All-Ohio NCAA Division III Championship, at George Gauthier Track, 45 S. Henry St., Delaware. Tickets are $5, with children 5 and under admitted free. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

1 p.m. April 13 – Ohio Wesleyan’s TEDxOWU group – inspired by the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) movement and its popular “TEDtalks” – hosts volunteer speakers discussing “Into the Uncharted Future.” The event is not open to the general public, but the lectures will be streamed live at StreamOWU.

5 p.m. April 13-May 12 – Graduating senior art exhibition, in the Richard M. Ross Art Museum, 60 S. Sandusky St., Delaware. The exhibit will open with a special Saturday artists’ reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 13. Afterward, the museum will be open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is handicap-accessible and admission is always free. Call (740) 368-3606 for more information.

8 p.m. April 13 – The OWU Department of Music presents the Choral Art Society, conducted by Jason Hiester, in the Benes Rooms inside Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware.

1 p.m. April 14 – OWU Women’s Lacrosse versus Denison, at Selby Stadium, 45 S. Henry St., Delaware. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students. This event will be streamed live at StreamOWU.

3:15 p.m. April 14 – The OWU Department of Music presents a faculty recital by Jennifer Jolley, composer, with Spencer Lambright, in Jemison Auditorium inside Sanborn Hall, 23 Elizabeth St., Delaware.

6 p.m. April 16 – OWU Women’s Lacrosse versus Hiram, at Selby Stadium, 45 S. Henry St., Delaware. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students. This event will be streamed live at StreamOWU.

7:30 p.m. April 16 – Valerie Martinez Ebers, professor of political science at the University of North Texas, will discuss “Who Are These Immigrants? What Do We Do About Them?” in the Benes Rooms of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center. This presentation is part of Ohio Wesleyan’s Benjamin F. Marsh Lecture Series on Public Affairs.

8 p.m. April 16 – The OWU Department of Music presents a faculty recital by Marilyn Nims, mezzo-soprano, and Robert Nims, piano, in Jemison Auditorium inside Sanborn Hall, 23 Elizabeth St., Delaware.

7 p.m. April 17 – OWU Men’s Lacrosse versus Denison, at Selby Stadium, 45 S. Henry St., Delaware. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students. This event will be streamed live at StreamOWU.

3:30 p.m. April 19 – OWU Softball versus Otterbein in a double header, at Margaret Sagan Field, 251 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

7 p.m. April 19 – OWU’s 9^th Annual Documentary Film Festival, at the Strand Theatre, 28 E. Winter St., Delaware. The festival will include five short films by OWU student filmmakers and discussions with them afterward.

9 a.m. April 20 – OWU Men’s Tennis versus Wabash, at Luttinger Family Tennis Center, 31 Hayes St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

1 p.m. April 20 – OWU Women’s Lacrosse versus Washington & Jefferson, at Selby Stadium, 45 S. Henry St., Delaware. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

8 p.m. April 20 – The OWU Department of Music presents the Spring Opera Workshop, directed by Jason Hiester, in Jemison Auditorium inside Sanborn Hall, 23 Elizabeth St., Delaware.  This free event will feature scenes and arias from the cannon of opera repertoire.

2:30 p.m. April 21 – OWU Men’s Tennis versus Kenyon, at Luttinger Family Tennis Center, 31 Hayes St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

3:15 p.m. April 21 – The OWU Department of Music presents a faculty recital by Gulimina Mahamuti, piano, with Frank Chiou, piano, in Jemison Auditorium inside Sanborn Hall, 23 Elizabeth St., Delaware.

April 23-Sept. 17 – Prints by Sherry Smith Bell, Ohio Wesleyan Class of 1963, in the Alumni Gallery in Mowry Alumni Center, 16 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.

3 p.m. April 23 – OWU Men’s Tennis versus Central State, at Luttinger Family Tennis Center, 31 Hayes St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

8 p.m. April 23 – The OWU Department of Music presents the junior composition recital/composition students’ recital, in Jemison Auditorium inside Sanborn Hall, 23 Elizabeth St., Delaware.

3:30 p.m. April 24 – OWU Softball versus Wooster in a double header, at Margaret Sagan Field, 251 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

4 p.m. April 24 – OWU Baseball versus Heidelberg, at Littick Field, 199 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

8 p.m. April 26 and 27; 2 p.m. April 28 – The Ohio Wesleyan Department of Theatre & Dance presents “Orchesis 2013,” a contemporary dance concert highlighting original work by students, faculty, and guest choreographers, on the Main Stage in Chappelear Drama Center, 45 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Artistic direction is by Marin Leggat. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for senior citizens, Ohio Wesleyan employees, and non-Ohio Wesleyan students. Admission is free for Ohio Wesleyan students with a valid ID. To reserve tickets, call the Theatre Box Office at (740) 368-3855.

All day April 27-April 28 – OWU Men’s and Women’s Track & Field host the NCAC Combined Events Championship, at George Gauthier Track, 45 S. Henry St., Delaware. Tickets are $5, with children 5 and under admitted free. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

1 p.m. April 27 – OWU Baseball versus Wabash in a doubleheader, at Littick Field, 199 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

1 p.m. April 27 – OWU Softball versus Allegheny in a double header, at Margaret Sagan Field, 251 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

1 p.m. April 28 – OWU Baseball versus Wabash in a doubleheader, at Littick Field, 199 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at BattlingBishops.com.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,822 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.