NEWS & CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

Theatre-at-Tusculum will welcome audiences into a world where language is not what it seems with often hilarious results during its upcoming performances of “Dogg’s Hamlet.”

The one-act play will be performed at 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, April 24-25 and May 1-2 in the Behan Arena Theatre in the lower level of the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Building on the Tusculum College campus. (The theatre can be reached using the side entrance on the parking lot side of the building.) Sunday matinee performances will be 2 p.m. on April 26 and May 3.

“Dogg’s Hamlet” has been called an experiment in theatrical language, an investigation of meaning and a comedy of confusion. In the play, characters speak a “foreign” language, which consists of English words but with meanings different than their dictionary definitions. This inconsistency leads to confusion on part of the play’s characters who try to communicate in their respective languages, giving the play much of its comedic flavor.

Playwright Tom Stoppard wrote “Dogg’s Hamlet,” in part, as a reaction to comments about the difficulty of understanding Shakespeare’s Elizabethan-era English and as an effort to give the audience a different perspective on appreciating the differences in language in Shakespeare’s work.

The setting of the play is a school, where students are preparing to perform “Hamlet.” At one point, the students in the play practice their parts in Shakespeare’s tragedy. Their unemotional delivery reflects their struggles to understand a language that seems foreign to them, similar to the challenge for the audience to pick up the dialect used by the play’s character.

Onto the scene comes a truck driver who is delivering material for the play’s set. The delivery driver speaks English and the hilarity unfolds as he tries to ask the students help in unloading the materials. The performance of “Hamlet” that follows the eventual construction of the wall becomes a comedy as the actors condense the play into a 15-minute drama and then into a two-minute encore.

Tackling the task of learning a “foreign” language and performing two fast-moving versions of “Hamlet,” are a talented cast of respected local thespians and some newcomers to the local stage under the direction of Frank Mengel, technical director of Tusculum College Arts Outreach.

The leads include Jeremiah Bales, Jabari Bunch, Brianna Cox, and Andrew Ryan Lanford as the students; Brian Ricker as the truck driver; Seth Holt as the schoolmaster; Paige Mengel as the schoolmaster’s wife; and Heather Dalton as a lady who helps during a school awards ceremony. The cast has double duty as they often play more than one character in “Hamlet” such as Bales, Bunch, and Dalton who each play three different roles. The stage crew for the play is Tusculum students Nora Ramsey and Christina Burke.

Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors 60 and over, and a special rate of $5 for all students. For more information, please contact Tusculum College Arts Outreach at 423-798-1620 or email jhollowell@tusculum.edu.

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A group of Tusculum College students, staff, and faculty gathered late Wednesday afternoon to celebrate Earth Day by planting a flower garden at the Honors House. The Pioneer Green Team, a new student organization promoting recycling and care for the environment, organized and coordinated the effort to plant the special garden at the Honors House, residential housing for students in the college’s academic Honors Program. Two other student organizations, Pioneering Music on Campus and the College Democrats, donated funds for the purchase of trees, shrubs, flowers, planting soil, a bird feeder, bird seed, and other planting supplies. The garden will be a continuing project with plans to add to it in coming years.

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Tusculum College Bonner Leader students are once again making plans to strut their stuff down the runway for a good cause. The students are hard at working making preparations for the 2^nd Annual Greene County Habitat for Humanity Fashion Show set for April 30 at the General Morgan Inn.

The show will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Fashion show models will wear outfits pulled together from the merchandise of the Habitat ReStore, and the outfits will be auctioned off at the end of the show.

The runway show will be set to rocking ’80s music and décor to turn up the volume on this fun and upbeat way to raise money for charity. Tickets are $3 for students and children and $6 for adults.  All proceeds to Greene County Habitat for Humanity.

The Bonner Leaders at Tusculum College are part of a national organization of students who ho commit to completing a required number of hours of community service during each term. The Bonner Leaders work on issues such as improving educational opportunities and fighting hunger through community programs that focus on literacy issues, mentoring and nutrition/anti-hunger initiatives. These students also participate in regular training and reflection activities sponsored by their campuses, their community partners and the Bonner Foundation.

As part of their service and community projects, students in the local Bonner group at the College have worked with Greene County Habitat for Humanity, including cleaning, painting and working in the Habitat ReStore.

“The Fashion Show is a way for us to continue to help Habitat for Humanity locally by not only raising funds, but by raising awareness of the organization and what they do for those in need who live right here in Greene County,” said Amber Sharp, a Tusculum College Bonner Leader who is spearheading this year’s event.

The students organize the event from beginning to end, planning, picking out the clothes, staging the event, publicizing and serve as models.  According to Sharp, all of the more than 20 Bonner Leaders from Tusculum College are involved in the Fashion Show project in one way or another.

In addition to their members, this year the group is really looking for community involvement as well. “We need all types of volunteers to help pull off the show, but in particular are looking for people who would be willing to help with hair and make-up,” she said.

“It’s a big undertaking, but it’s fun and for a good cause.”

For more information about the Fashion Show or information on volunteering, contact the Center for Civic Advancement at 636-7300.

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A panel of local business, education, corporate, financial and human resource experts provided insight and answered questions for Tusculum College students, staff, faculty and the community at a symposium held Tuesday at the College.

The event, sponsored by the Tusculum College Corporate Relations Program of the Office of Institutional Advancement, brought together a panel of community experts to address the business challenges they face in dealing with the current economic crisis.

“The goal of the symposium was to bring in experts in the various sectors of the business community and let them talk about how the economic crisis is affecting their business and what steps they are taking in order to preserve their business under the current climate,” said Kim Kidwell, associate director of development for Tusculum College.

Participating in the panel discussion were Dr. Lyle Ailshie, director of the Greeneville City School System; Stephen Gehret, chief financial officer and vice president of Tusculum College; Joey Ballard, director of safety compliance, recruiting and employee services at Landair; Mark Brannan, director of quality and manufacturing and a quality engineer for Angus-Palm and Bryan Cannon, process control engineer at Angus-Palm.

The panel was moderated by Dr. Rick Toomey, a professor in the Graduate and Professional Studies Program at Tusculum College.

Gehret addressed the economic situation from an accounting perspective and told the group that there are five reasons that the current recession is comparable to the one experienced between 1988 and 1993, including tight credit markets, consumer confidence being near an all-time low, high unemployment levels and fear of job loss, a depressed housing market and the instability of the stock market.

“The difference in this recession is that it is global in nature,” Gehret said. Adding that it will take more than an American turn-around to stimulate the economy, and that other countries need to begin to once again spend with confidence as well.

Gehret said that as a private college, Tusculum College will need to focus on remaining affordable as there will be fewer numbers of students who will be able to afford a private college education.

Ballard addressed concerns of human resource professionals as their companies try to remain competitive in a depressed economy.  She told the group that it is important that during these times that leadership doesn’t lose credibility.

“We need to be honest and not sugarcoat,” said Ballard. “We need to communicate to our employees what the company is doing and how they will be affected. In hard times, you often see the company’s true values.”

Ailshie talked to the group about education funding and how reduced consumer purchasing was reflected in lower retail sales and property tax collections, which is how the majority of public education is funded. He added, however, that in Greeneville, the effect had not yet been felt and rural areas were experiencing less of an income reduction.

“It may be hitting here later,” he said, adding that the school system has been budgeting very conservatively. “We can’t generate revenue as a school system, so we are focusing on operating conservatively.”

Ailshie told the group that 10 positions were cut this year in order to trim the budget, but that gas prices stabilizing have helped them stay within budget during tough economic times.

Cannon spoke to the group about his company’s efforts to deal with the difficult economy.  Angus Palm has recently had a significant lay off, and in addition, has asked both salaried and hourly personnel to accept a decrease in wage rates.

“The company is experiencing a 40 percent reduction in revenue, and we expect to see that trend continue throughout 2009,” said Cannon.

And while the company has gone from 420 employees to 180, they have not lost business, only volume, which Cannon says has required them to do a lot of cross-training of existing employees in order to keep product moving out the doors.

Cannon said the company’s focus has been on increased production efficiency through using fewer people to complete jobs, by reducing waste and scrap and renegotiating purchasing agreements with their suppliers.

“We’re managing our business well in this difficult time and actually have become a stronger company,” Cannon said.

Following the presentations, questions from the audience focused around the job market for graduates and what to expect in student loans in the near future.

Ailshie encouraged students to make themselves as competitive as possible by offering more flexibility as job candidates.  And for education majors, Ailshie said he strongly encouraged them to gain certifications in more than one area.

Gehret told that group that he felt student loans would become more competitive and would be available for those considering graduate school. “Graduate school and continuing your education is a good option in this economic environment.”

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Tusculum College Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dr. Kenneth A. Bowman announced today Dr. Nancy B. Moody will officially begin her presidency on April 27, 2009.  She will be the 27^th president of the College, and the first female in the position.

“The opportunity presented itself for Dr. Moody to begin at Tusculum College earlier than expected, and we are very fortunate that she will be on campus this spring and that Interim President Dr. Russell Nichols will stay on campus to facilitate a smooth transition,” said Bowman.

With the many activities that occur on campus in the spring, Bowman said the Board felt very fortunate that Dr. Moody would be able to begin her duties, get to know the campus and participate in spring functions.

“I am very excited and exceptionally pleased by how well this is working out. Tusculum College will benefit greatly by having both of these exceptional leaders working together through this final phase of the College’s presidential transition, said Bowman.

In addition, Dr. Nichols will continue through the end of May to preserve continuity and to assist Dr. Moody’s transition into her new role. Dr. Nichols has served the college as interim president since August 2007.

Dr. Moody was formerly President at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn., where she had served since 2002. She was selected as the new president of Tusculum College by the Board of Trustees in February.

She has associate and baccalaureate degrees in nursing from Eastern Kentucky University, a master’s of science in nursing from Texas Woman’s University and a doctorate of science in nursing from the University of Alabama’s School of Nursing at Birmingham. Her professional career in higher education began at LMU as an instructor of nursing.

She subsequently served in several roles at LMU, culminating in her appointment as the dean of LMU’s School of Professional Studies before joining the faculty at East Tennessee State University where she was tenured and served as department chair. She would go on to become an associate professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, while also serving as the executive director of the Tennessee Center of Nursing.

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A panel of local business, education, corporate, financial and human resource experts will provide insight and answer questions for Tusculum College students, staff, faculty and the community. The symposium will held on the Tusculum College campus on Tuesday, April 21, at 6 p.m. in the Chalmers Conference Center in the Niswonger Commons.

The event, sponsored by the Tusculum College Corporate Relations Program of the Office of Institutional Advancement, will bring a panel of community experts onto the campus to address the business challenges they face in dealing with the current economic crisis.

“The goal of the student symposium is to bring in experts in the various sectors of the business community and let them talk about how the economic crisis is affecting their business and what steps they are taking in order to preserve their business under the current climate,” said Kim Kidwell, associate director of development.

There will also be an opportunity for general discussion among the panelists and for audience members to ask questions, said Kidwell. “Each panelist will give a brief overview on a specific topic related to their field, and then we will host a question and answer session.”

On the agenda to participate in the discussion are Dr. Lyle Ailshie, director of the Greeneville City School System; Stephen Gehret, chief financial officer and vice president of Tusculum College; Joey Ballard, director of safety compliance, recruiting and employee services at Landair; Mark Brannan, director of quality and manufacturing and a quality engineer for Angus-Palm and Kevin Tarlton, welder at Angus-Palm.

The panel will be moderated by Dr. Rick Toomey, a professor in the Graduate and Professional Studies Program at Tusculum College, and the event is approved as an Arts and Lecture Credit Event for students. The event is open to the public and there is no fee to attend.

For more information, contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at 636-7303.

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Members of a Tusculum College service-learning class helped Thursday in the clean-up process at Rural Resources. Students helped remove items from the remains of the office/outdoor classroom building, which caught fire as the result of a lightning strike during a storm last week. The students also assisted in salvaging items from the building that had housed Rural Resources’ offices, a kitchen, and storage areas, including trying to clean some of the furniture that was not destroyed. A load of planting soil had been recently stored in the building, which the students were able to remove to be used for gardens. Rural Resources staff were appreciative of the students’ help in their efforts in the clean-up which is ongoing as the organization continues to serve the community through its many programs. Rural Resources works to educate the community in the preservation and improvement of agricultural, to preserve local rural heritage and develop a locally sustainable system of producing and marketing agricultural products. To learn ways to help Rural Resources in its recovery, please visit its Web site.

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Oliver “Buzz” Thomas addressed how educators can prepare students for life in the 21st century world with global competition and a pluralistic society during the Appalachian College Association (ACA) Honors Program Conference.

Thomas, executive director of the Niswonger Foundation, was the keynote speaker for the opening dinner Friday of the second annual ACA Honors Program Conference hosted by Tusculum College. Representatives from nine colleges in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia attended the conference.

“Knowledge drives the world economy today,” Thomas said, adding that the majority of jobs in the United States are dependent on what an individual knows rather than what he or she does.

At the same time, education in other countries has caught up with what is found in the U.S, Thomas noted.

“It means that our students are competing with the whole world,” he said, leading to a question for educators of how they can prepare students to compete successfully in a world where there is someone who has the same skills but can do it at a lower cost.

Thomas said he had been giving much thought to that question and has had an “epiphany. Yes, we have to do math and science, raise standards and aim higher with more rigor and relevance at every level,” he continued. “Yet, if we do all that, we will still miss the boat.

“Think about people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Albert Einstein. What distinguished these people from those around them that had the same intelligence and skills?”

Creativity was the distinguishing factor, Thomas said, and education needs to nurture this creativity in students. However, he said, when cuts are made in educational programs, those that are eliminated first are often the music, theater, and art programs that help nurture the creativity that helps students “soar, dream, imagine and create.”

The federal No Child Left Behind program was needed to set up an accountability system, he said. However, in the effort to bring the performance up of students who are doing poorly, it has meant that the brightest students are not being challenged to grow intellectually.

“At the end of the day, every student needs an IEP (Individual Education Program),” he said. Educators who work with honors students on whatever level are working with the individuals who will drive the economy in the future, Thomas added.

What has made the United States a great power is its large middle class, but Thomas said he fears that in the future the nation will look like Sevier County, where a few people are in control while most people work in service-related jobs with low pay.

Educators can help prevent this from happening and prepare students to be successful and prosper in two ways, he said.

One is nurturing students’ creativity through the arts and other programs, Thomas continued.  The other is to “keep resisting the temptation to treat education as if it is acquiring a body of knowledge. School is not about filling a bucket but about giving students the skills they need to reinvent themselves over and over,” he said.

Reinvention is important in an economy as today’s when people change jobs many times in their careers, Thomas said. Students need to learn how to find and use information, critically think, problem solve and work in groups, he continued.

Another challenge for educators, he said, is a civic challenge – to teach students to live civilly in a pluralistic society.

Rhetorically asking what makes a person an American, Thomas answered that it was not a place of birth, a race, a religion or a language, but an adherence to the principles and ideals found in the Constitution and Bills of Rights. Educators face the challenge of raising the next generation of Americans, he said. “It is teachers who will determine whether the American experiment of liberty will survive from this generation to the next.”

On Saturday, the Honors Conference included workshops on incorporating travel opportunities into the Honors classroom, incorporating service opportunities into the Honors classroom and incorporating scholarly opportunities such as research and publication into the Honors classroom. Among those presenting during the workshops were two Tusculum College professors Dr. Tom McFarland, associate professor of business administration, and Dr. Nancy Thomas, associate professor of English. Thomas is director of the Honors Program at Tusculum and McFarland serves on the Honors Council.

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Leslie England, at student in the Graduate and Professional Studies program at the Knoxville Regional Center was recently honored by the United Way of Anderson County as 2009 Volunteer of the Year at the Campaign Celebration.

Through the many years of volunteering for United Way in a variety of capacities, England has made it evident that part of her heart belongs to United Way.  According to United Way officials, she has constantly demonstrated passion and enthusiasm in her work with the program. Working countless hours on fundraising events, England uses her overwhelming talents to ensure success.  In addition, she serves on the United Way of Anderson County Board of Directors and various other United Way committees.

In the tradition of Tusculum College and the Civic Arts, England manages the demands of her job while also finding the time and energy to support not only United Way but other civic and community organizations as well.

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A day of nostalgia, art, history, and beauty is planned Friday, April 24, by the Andrew Johnson Heritage Association.

The organization is planning a day-trip full of art, trains and travel with a destination of the O. Winston Link Museum and the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Va.

Participants will travel by Greene Coach bus to the historic city, where their first stop will be the O. Winston Link Museum to be transported back in time to when cars were huge, gas was cheap, and above all, the steam train reigned.

The collection at the museum focuses on the photography of O. Winston Link in capturing the last days of steam operation on the Norfolk & Western Railway in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland. While the steam engines are the common thread of the collection, the photographs capture more than just rail operation – they are vignettes into history and sociology as well as art and part of the history of photography.

During the 1950s, Link did not find much interest for his photographic work documenting an old technology, but interestingly, his high quality sound recordings of the steam trains did gain recognition. It was not until the 1980s that Link’s photography received recognition as works of art, and by the mid-1990s he was widely considered the premier photographer of steam railroading.

The museum is located in the historic Norfolk and Western Passenger Station, which was restored and refurbished by famed industrial designer, Raymond Loewy. Link was involved in the museum’s planning prior to his death in 2001. The museum opened in 2004.

After visiting the O. Winston Link Museum, the journey continues to the Taubman Museum of Art, located inside a building that is in itself an architectural work of art.

Participants will enjoy lunch at Norah’s Café at the museum and then explore the Taubman collection, which ranges from 17th century Florentine paintings to works of regional instrument makers.

This unique opportunity is open to everyone interested. Members of the Nathanial Greene Museum, the Greene County Heritage Trust and Main Street: Greeneville are particularly invited to join the tour.

Cost for the trip is $50 for individuals and $85 for couples. The cost includes all transportation, admission and tour fees. Lunch is not included.

Reservations are required. Please mail reservation and payment by April 10 to the Andrew Johnson Heritage Association, P.O. Box 5041, Tusculum College, Greeneville, TN 37743.

The Andrew Johnson Heritage Association works to not only promote a greater public awareness and understanding of Andrew Johnson’s life and times, but also to support the activities of the Museums of Tusculum College. The association is a primary supporter of the National History Day events for local students. For more information about the Andrew Johnson Heritage Association, please visit this site: http:// ajheritageassociation.googlepages.com/.

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