Posted on 02/21/2012

Students from Fitchburg State University shone among rivals from across the U.S. at the recent National Association of Home Builders’ Residential Construction Management Competition in Orlando, Fla., finishing in 9th place among a field of 36 four-year institutions.

The university has sent students from its Industrial Technology program to the competition for years, but this was the highest finish yet logged by a Fitchburg State team, according to advisor and Fitchburg State professor Matt McGee.

“Our students compete and perform at the national level because of their strong work ethic and talent, and the support of an excellent faculty and staff,” Fitchburg State University President Robert V. Antonucci said. “The Industrial Technology program has been part of Fitchburg State for over 100 years, and success like this is testimony to its strength.”

“I’m really proud of this group,” McGee said after the tournament. “It’s probably the most rewarding experience of my teaching career.”

The competition required teams of students to represent a home building organization seeking to develop a 22-acre tract of property. To secure financing, the teams prepared a construction estimate and budget, schedule, cash flow projections, project management plans, marketing strategies, risk analysis, land development and green building initiatives.

The Fitchburg State delegation formed a company they dubbed Falcon Construction Inc., and developed an investment proposal for Silver Maple Estates, a multiunit housing complex offering two different building designs and six individual unit layouts. The competing students (and their roles for the project) were Matt Tharion (project manager) of Belchertown, Christopher Bradley (site superintendent) of Tewksbury, Ashley Kelly (senior architect) of Stoughton, Steven Curtis (senior estimator) of Winchendon, James Gallagher (director of marketing) of Chelmsford, Robert Patenaude (director of finance) of Dunstable, Rachel Lindstrom (marketing assistant) of South Easton, James Rateau (marketing assistant) of Randolph, and Jessica Ruppert (support staff) of Sturbridge.

Posted on 02/17/2012

Award-winning designers who have helped shape and articulate how graphic design defines our culture will be featured when the Communications Media Department at Fitchburg State University presents a new lecture series this spring.

The Communications Media Graphic Design Lecture Series will present Clifford Stoltze in March, Richard Doubleday in April and Alston Purvis in May. The series, organized by Professor Stephen Goldstein, is free and open to the public. An example of Stoltze Design's CD cover work is pictured at left.

The series opens Thursday, March 1, at 3:30 p.m. in the Condike Science Lecture Hall at 333 North St. with a presentation entitled “Music Graphics: LP2CD+” by Clifford Stoltze, the principal and creative director of Stoltze Design in Boston. The presentation is a survey of over 40 years of high notes in design for music featuring favorites from Stoltze’s own LP, CD and poster collections as well as some of Stoltze Design’s own projects for the music industry. An example of the work from his collection is pictured below.

Stoltze has taught at Rhode Island School of Design and Massachusetts College of Art and frequently lectures at schools and design organizations around the country. He has served as AIGA Boston vice president and was honored as the recipient of the design association’s 2005 Fellow Award. Reflecting his love of music and album art, Stoltze’s book 1000 Music Graphics was published in May 2008. He is also curator of POSTGIG, a traveling exhibit of contemporary music posters.

 The series continues in April with Richard Doubleday, assistant professor at the School of Visual Arts at Boston University. Doubleday, author of Jan Tschichold, Designer: The Penguin Years and co-author of Jan Tschichold – Master Typographer, will present “Cultural Identity in Graphic Design” on Thursday, April 5 at 3:30 p.m. in the Condike Science Lecture Hall.

The series concludes in May with Alston Purvis, chairman of the Graphic Design Department at the School of Visual Arts at Boston University. Purvis, author and editor of Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, will present “Dutch Poster Design: A Century of Innovation” on Thursday, May 3, at 3:30 p.m. in the Condike Science Lecture Hall. The talk will address the unique influence of Dutch poster design over the last 100 years.

The lecture series is supported by the Ruth Butler Grant at Fitchburg State University.

Posted on 02/10/2012

A new play from Pulitzer Prize finalist Dava Sobel about the revolutionary astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus will be performed as a staged reading on the Fitchburg State campus on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.

“And the Sun Stood Still” is being presented in partnership with the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT, performed by award-winning Fitchburg State theatre students and faculty member Richard McElvain with Debra Wise, the artistic director of the Underground Railway theater and the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT’s artistic co-director.

The staged reading will be presented on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. in Percival Auditorium, 254 Highland Ave. Admission is free but donations will be accepted.

Sobel, pictured above, will lead a post-performance discussion with Owen Gingerich, professor emeritus of astronomy and of the history of science at Harvard University, and a senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.  Gingerich chaired Harvard’s History of Science Department in 1992-93.

The acclaimed author of Galileo’s Daughter and other books, Sobel takes her first foray into drama with “And the Sun Stood Still,” which recounts the fated meeting of Copernicus and Rheticus that led to a scientific revolution.

“I got the idea for the play about Copernicus years ago, when I first learned his story, how he had shelved his heliocentric universe for fear he’d be ridiculed, until a brilliant young mathematician paid him a surprise visit and talked him into promulgating the theory,” Sobel said, describing the origins of the play. “Although these two men were different in almost every way, especially regarding religion – Copernicus worked as a canon of the Catholic Church in Poland, while his visitor was a Protestant from Luther's own university in Germany – their meeting led directly to the publication of De Revolutionibus. And, of course, no one knows what they said to each other.”

Sobel, a former New York Times science reporter, is the author of Longitude, Galileo's Daughter and The Planets. In her 30 years as a science journalist she has written for many magazines, including Audubon, Discover, Life and The New Yorker, served as a contributing editor to Harvard Magazine and Omni, and co-authored five books, including Is Anyone Out There? with astronomer Frank Drake.

About the Cast

Richard McElvain has taught acting, directing, world drama, modern drama and many other theater courses in the English Department at Fitchburg State University since 1997.  McElvain played the role of Galileo for CC@MIT at the Central Square Theater in 2009, and has been involved with other projects for the URT.

Debra Wise has helped create over 30 new works as playwright, director and/or dramaturge in her tenure at the Underground Railway Theater. Other science theater work includes the writing and directing of "Aging Puzzle" for the Boston Museum of Science, and "InTOXICating – an EcoCabaret," which toured nationally and received an EPA citation for excellence.  Wise is on the faculty of Project Zero Summer Institute, Harvard Graduate School of Education; led a Theater and Active Citizenship residency at Tufts University in 2007-08, and co-teaches a new course at MIT, Making Theater about Science.

The cast also includes Fitchburg State theater students Brian Hennessey, Ian Vincent, Tyler Welsh and McKegg Collins.

Support for the “And the Sun Stood Still” comes from the Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Endowment and Ruth Butler Grant of Fitchburg State University as well as WITS (Women in Today’s Society).

Posted on 02/08/2012

Leading education researcher Robert J. Marzano, Ph.D., will discuss “The Art & Science of Teaching” when Fitchburg State University’s Office of Graduate and Continuing Education and the Center for Professional Studies hosts the sixth annual Distinguished Speaker Series on Wednesday, March 14.

Marzano is co-founder and CEO of Marzano Research Laboratory in Englewood, Colo. A leading researcher in education, he is a speaker, trainer, and author of more than 30 books and 150 articles on topics such as instruction, assessment, writing and implementing standards, cognition, effective leadership, and school intervention. His books include Designing & Teaching Learning Goals & Objectives, The Highly Engaged Classroom, Formative Assessment & Standards-Based Grading, On Excellence in Teaching, District Leadership That Works, and The Art and Science of Teaching.

The program, which will be held in the Holmes Dining Commons at Fitchburg State University from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 14, is designed for superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, curriculum directors, special education directors, teachers, graduate students, and other interested school administrators and educators. Books by Marzano, including The Art and Science of Teaching, will be for sale during the event.

A registration fee of $150 includes the workshop, luncheon and continuing education units. This program offers four PDPs for educators and payment will be accepted by check, credit card or purchase order. Teams of three more from within the same school district pay $125 per person and must register by purchase order. Invoices and registration forms are available online.

Marzano’s practical translations of the most current research and theory into classroom strategies are internationally known and widely practiced by both teachers and administrators. In his foundational book The Art and Science of Teaching, Marzano highlights well-researched practices educators use to be truly effective and realize gains in student achievement. Learn which teaching strategies make the most difference in the classroom and how and when to use them. Gain insights on incorporating quality classroom practices from the perspectives of teacher and leader.

One factor that continually surfaces as the single most influential component of an effective school is the individual teachers within that school. Ensure effective teaching in every classroom. This workshop provides tools and resources for immediate use by educators—and those who support them.

Specific attention will be paid to engagement strategies and a comprehensive framework of effective teaching that schools and districts can put into place immediately or use to generate their own models. This model is articulated in 10 design questions teachers ask themselves as they plan a unit of instruction. We now know that effective teachers are made, not born, and that even small increments in teacher effectiveness can have a positive effect on student achievement. This interactive, engaging workshop will provide tools and strategies to enhance teachers’ pedagogical skills.

Participants may expect the following learning outcomes:

• Learn a common language of instruction.
• Learn important routines, including how to be clear about learning goals connected to proficiency scales.
• Experience instructional strategies connected to delivering new content, and practice them to deepen understanding.
• Discover the importance of applying knowledge by generating and testing hypotheses.
• Learn important teacher behaviors for engagement and for building student-teacher relationships.
• Ensure high expectations for all students.

The registration deadline is March 6, but registrations received by Jan. 31 will be entered into a raffle to receive free admission.

Posted on 01/30/2012

Fitchburg State University students Sydney Kirsch and Matthew Costello recently finished first in the nation in the brief-writing contest at the American Collegiate Moot Court Association’s National Championship at Chapman University School of Law in Orange County, Calif.

Kirsch, of Lunenburg, and Costello, of Raynham, helped Fitchburg State maintain its standing as the only school in the nation to have teams advance to day two of every national tournament for 12 consecutive years. Both students advanced to the national tournament in all three years they competed, part of teams which won 17 of 18 preliminary rounds and made it to the second day of all three national tournaments.

Kirsch graduated on Jan. 27 and Costello is expected to return for one more season.

“The continued success of our Moot Court teams is a great source of pride for this institution,” Fitchburg State University President Robert V. Antonucci said. “I congratulate the students, faculty and staff who have worked so hard to achieve this distinction.”

The national competition, held in January, featured students engaging in written and oral arguments concerning a hypothetical Supreme Court case. This year’s exercise involved threats against the president made in an online chat room. The questions for the litigants in the Moot Court program concerned whether the federal government had the right to order an Internet service provider to provide a subscriber’s chat room dialogue and whether the chat room administrator had the rights to facilitate such a discussion under the First Amendment.

Students had to prepare arguments for both sides of the issue.

“Sydney and Matt are among the best teams that Fitchburg has ever fielded,” said Professor Paul Weizer, chairman of the university’s department of Economics, History and Political Science, and the advisor to the Moot Court team. “The competition gets tougher every year.  This year had both the largest field ever and the highest scores were needed just to get in. Yet Matt and Sydney demonstrated that they were the best in the nation. To have success in both written and oral advocacy shows just how special they are.”

Posted on 01/25/2012

The Center for Italian Culture at Fitchburg State University presents “L'Italia Liberata,” a film series exploring the new Italy that emerged after the end of World War II and its alliance with the United States. The series opens Thursday, Feb. 9, at 3:30 and 7 p.m. with Roma, Città Aperta in the Ellis White Lecture Hall in the Hammond Campus Center, 160 Pearl St., Fitchburg.

All of the films in the series reflect the effort of Italians to first defeat and escape Fascism domination (Roma, Città Aperta); then the immediate post-war choice-whether to escape or to face the heavy task of rebuilding after the crushing defeats of the Mussolini era (Mediterraneo, screening Thursday, April 12); and finally the struggle to rebuild their lives despite the losses, to loosen the strictures of the church on society, as they created a new liberated Italy where the freedom to think freely and creatively was possible (Cinema Paradiso, screening Thursday, March 8).

The series is facilitated by Professor Teresa Thomas.

Roma, Città Aperta is the story of Italian resistance fighters as the Nazis tightened the noose on Rome. The film, shot amidst the wreckage of Rome just after the Nazi surrender, stars Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi. Director Roberto Rossellini took his cameras into the streets and based the script on the experiences of the Italians under Nazi occupation between 1943 and 1945; it was released in September 1945 less than six months after the Nazi surrender. The New York Times called it one of the “strongest dramatic films yet made about the recent war” after its U.S. release in 1946. It won the Cannes Film Festival's grand prize, and the New York and National Board Awards as Best Foreign Language Film. It was co-written by a young Federico Fellini.

Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students and will be available at the door. A series pass can also be purchased for $15.

Posted on 01/20/2012

Fitchburg State University’s International and Conflict Studies speaker series continues Monday, Feb. 6, when Monica Duffy Toft (pictured at right) presents “Resurgent Religion, Global Politics and Conflict Resolution” in Presidents' Hall at the Mazzaferro Center, 291 Highland Ave. The talk, at 7:30 p.m., is free and open to the public.

Toft is an associate professor of public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Her research interests include religion and politics, nationalism and ethnic conflict, civil and interstate wars, the relationship between demography and national security, international relations theory, and military and strategic planning.

A 2008 Carnegie Scholar, Toft is the author of Securing The Peace: The Durable Settlement of Civil Wars and The Geography of Ethnic Conflict: Identity, Interests, and Territory. Most recently, she co-authored God's Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics. She is also co-editor of The Fog of Peace: Strategic and Military Planning under Uncertainty.

Toft was a research intern at the RAND Corporation and served in the U.S. Army in southern Germany as a Russian voice interceptor. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in political science and Slavic languages and literatures from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Toft is also director of the Belfer Center’s Initiative on Religion in International Affairs, which was established at the Kennedy School with a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.

Posted on 01/19/2012

Leading education researcher Robert J. Marzano, Ph.D., will discuss “The Art & Science of Teaching” when Fitchburg State University’s Office of Graduate and Continuing Education and the Center for Professional Studies hosts the sixth annual Distinguished Speaker Series on Wednesday, March 14.

Marzano is co-founder and CEO of Marzano Research Laboratory in Englewood, Colo. A leading researcher in education, he is a speaker, trainer, and author of more than 30 books and 150 articles on topics such as instruction, assessment, writing and implementing standards, cognition, effective leadership, and school intervention. His books include Designing & Teaching Learning Goals & Objectives, The Highly Engaged Classroom, Formative Assessment & Standards-Based Grading, On Excellence in Teaching, District Leadership That Works, and The Art and Science of Teaching.

The program, which will be held in the Holmes Dining Commons at Fitchburg State University from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 14, is designed for superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, curriculum directors, special education directors, teachers, graduate students, and other interested school administrators and educators. Books by Marzano, including The Art and Science of Teaching, will be for sale during the event.

A registration fee of $150 includes the workshop, luncheon and continuing education units. This program offers four PDPs for educators and payment will be accepted by check, credit card or purchase order. Teams of three more from within the same school district pay $125 per person and must register by purchase order. Invoices and registration forms are available online.

Marzano’s practical translations of the most current research and theory into classroom strategies are internationally known and widely practiced by both teachers and administrators. In his foundational book The Art and Science of Teaching, Marzano highlights well-researched practices educators use to be truly effective and realize gains in student achievement. Learn which teaching strategies make the most difference in the classroom and how and when to use them. Gain insights on incorporating quality classroom practices from the perspectives of teacher and leader.

One factor that continually surfaces as the single most influential component of an effective school is the individual teachers within that school. Ensure effective teaching in every classroom. This workshop provides tools and resources for immediate use by educators—and those who support them.

Specific attention will be paid to engagement strategies and a comprehensive framework of effective teaching that schools and districts can put into place immediately or use to generate their own models. This model is articulated in 10 design questions teachers ask themselves as they plan a unit of instruction. We now know that effective teachers are made, not born, and that even small increments in teacher effectiveness can have a positive effect on student achievement. This interactive, engaging workshop will provide tools and strategies to enhance teachers’ pedagogical skills.

Participants may expect the following learning outcomes:

• Learn a common language of instruction.
• Learn important routines, including how to be clear about learning goals connected to proficiency scales.
• Experience instructional strategies connected to delivering new content, and practice them to deepen understanding.
• Discover the importance of applying knowledge by generating and testing hypotheses.
• Learn important teacher behaviors for engagement and for building student-teacher relationships.
• Ensure high expectations for all students.

The registration deadline is March 6, but registrations received by Jan. 31 will be entered into a raffle to receive free admission.

Posted on 01/16/2012

An examination of American media culture following 9/11 will be undertaken with “The Lenticular Image: Politics, Pop Culture & Popcorn,” an exhibition running Jan. 25 to April 10 at the Fitchburg State University art gallery in the Sanders Administration Building, 300 Highland Ave.

The program is part of the CenterStage at Fitchburg State University arts and culture series.

There will be an opening reception and gallery talk with artist Richard Cutrona on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the gallery. Admission is free and ASL interpreters will be provided for the gallery talk.

Stereoscopic and 3D images have been the subject of wonder and intrigue for centuries, from political campaign buttons to Cracker Jack prizes. The lenticular image has been a fixture in American visual culture for generations.

Today, modern technology has made these techniques more accessible to the independent fine artist than ever before. Using a combination of digital illustration and photomontage, artist Richard Cutrona creates digitally interlaced prints that are aligned and laminated to lenticular material. The resulting images are an exploration of post-9/11 American media culture that address issues ranging from the war in Afghanistan to the environmental crisis in the Gulf of Mexico.

This exhibition also includes an extraordinary piece of lenticular sculpture that Cutrona created in collaboration with Kate Farrington. “Confronting the Towers (Not a Memorial),” composed of lenticular panels and stainless steel sculpture, is located in the courtyard garden of the Conlon Industrial Arts Building, 316 Highland Ave.

The art gallery is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Posted on 01/16/2012

Fitchburg State University again welcomes the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival to the region this month, bringing thousands of visitors from seven states and almost 60 colleges and universities to North Central Massachusetts.

The Region I New England festival will run from Tuesday, Jan. 24 through Sunday, Jan. 29. The event will feature theater competition at other events on the Fitchburg State campus, as well as the Four Points Sheraton in Leominster, the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Fitchburg and the Stratos G. Dukakis Performing Arts Center at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School.

A complete list of the programs and locations for the festival can be found on the Kennedy Center website.

The festival, in its 44th year, is expected to draw thousands of visitors to the region from across New England and parts of New York. Fitchburg State is hosting the event for the sixth time. The university has a strong tradition of sending acting, design and critical writing nominees from the regional festival to the national competition in Washington, D.C.

This year, Fitchburg State faculty member Kelly C.  Morgan, immediate past chair and site director for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival’s Region I, is being presented the Kennedy Center Medallion on Thursday, Jan. 26 at the Four Points Sheraton. The award honors individuals or organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to the teaching and producing of theatre, and who have significantly dedicated their time, artistry and enthusiasm to the development of the festival. It is the most prestigious award given by the organization.

Each year the festival brings students and faculty together at the end of January to see some of the area’s strongest productions, participate in workshops, participate in a variety of areas in theatrical performance, design and production and to celebrate theatre in general.

The goals of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival are to:

• Encourage, recognize, and celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theatre programs.
• Provide opportunities for participants to develop their theatre skills and insight; achieve professionalism
• Improve the quality of college and university theatre in America
• Encourage colleges and universities to give distinguished productions of new plays, especially those written by students; the classics, revitalized or newly conceived; and experimental works