Comic Operetta “H.M.S. Pinafore” Sails into Salem

The Gilbert and Sullivan comic operetta “H.M.S. Pinafore” will be performed Saturday, Sept. 16, at 3 p.m. in the Smith Auditorium at Willamette University.

The Victorian story of class distinction and denied passion will be performed by Mock’s Crest Productions, a professional summer theater company supported by the University of Portland. Now in its 17th season, the company produces high-quality comic opera, employing some of the Pacific Northwest’s finest actors, singers, directors and designers.

When “H.M.S. Pinafore” opened in London in 1878, it was an instant success and ran for 571 performances. It became Gilbert and Sullivan’s first international success — arriving in New York in 1879. Today, it remains one of their most popular operettas with its lyrical melodies and witty libretto.

The operetta’s story takes place aboard the H.M.S. Pinafore, where Little Buttercup sells wares to the crew. Seaman Ralph Rackstraw’s mind, however, is focused on the captain’s daughter, Josephine, whom he loves despite her lofty social status. Josephine is in love with Ralph as well, but cannot admit her attraction to a man of such low rank.

The Captain hopes his daughter will wed Sir Joseph Porter, but Josephine refuses to acknowledge him. Sir Joseph believes a British sailor is any man’s equal. Taking Sir Joseph’s cue, Ralph declares his love to Josephine, who confesses her feelings for him. Plans are made to smuggle the couple ashore to be married, but the lovers’ intentions are betrayed. The play takes a surprising twist as Little Buttercup saves the day.

The operetta is directed by Thomas Graff, with music conducted by Roger Doyle. Ernie Casciato plays Sir Joseph Porter, Thomas Prislac Jr. plays Captain Corcoran, James Langston Drake plays Ralph Rackstraw, Anne McKee Reed plays Josephine, Alexis Crump Hamilton plays Little Buttercup and John Vergin plays Dick Deadeye.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students, and are available at the door or at the Pentacle Theatre Ticket Office, 145 Liberty St. NE, 503-485-4300. There is a service charge added. Discounted prices are available for the Willamette community. For more information contact the Department of Music at 503-370-6255.

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Olympia Vernon Reads at Friends of the Library Event

New Hallie Ford Chair Olympia Vernon will read from her novels Monday, Sept. 18, at 4:30 p.m. in the Hatfield Room of the Hatfield Library at Willamette University. Light refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. The reading is free to the public.

Olympia Vernon’s raw and formidable talents are on arresting display in earlier novels, “Eden" and “Logic.” Her third novel, “A Killing in This Town,” is a taut, poetic masterpiece that exhumes a horrific epoch from the annals of the American South.

There is a menace in the woods of Bullock County, Miss., and not only for the black man destined to be lynched when a white boy comes of age. The white men who work at the Pauer Plant are in danger, too, but they turn a deaf ear to the black pastor’s urgent warning that the factory is slowly killing them. They are determined to carry on as they always have. Adam Pickens, a white boy on the eve of his 13th birthday, isn’t sure he wants to wear the garb being readied for him by the Klan seamstress or participate in the town’s ugly ritual. It is only when Gill Mender, a man haunted by past sins, returns to town that redemption seems possible.

A pivotal work of fiction, “A Killing in This Town” exposes the fragile hierarchy of a society poisoned by hatred, and shows the power of one individual to stand up to the demons of history and bring the cycle of violence to an end.

“Olympia Vernon’s new novel, a fever-dream evocation of a small Mississippi town” shows “brutal echoes of Emmett Till in the central recurring image,” wrote the The New York Times Book Review. “Vernon ... intimate[s] how cyclical violence in a town finds a way of seeping poisonously into its blood and stunting its growth.”

Kirkus Reviews wrote, “This is a powerful, difficult work by a writer absolutely determined to see,” and according to Publishers Weekly, the “fugue of folk idiom, blues, biblical diction and surreal imagery makes for lots of atmosphere.”

Olympia Vernon’s first novel, “Eden,” was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and she is the winner of the 2004 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2005 she received the Louisiana Governor’s Award for Professional Artist of the Year.

For more information contact Olympia Vernon at overnon@willamette.edu or 503-370-6290.

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Civil Rights Speakers Discuss Emmett Till Case and Southern Racism

Wheeler Parker, the cousin of Emmett Till, will speak Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 7 p.m. in Smith Auditorium at Willamette University. Footage from a 2004 “60 Minutes” program will provide background on the Till murder case. Wheeler will be accompanied by Olympia Vernon, who will read from her widely praised novel, “A Killing in This Town.” The event is free to the public.

In August 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was accused of “whistling at a white woman” by Carolyn Bryant. Her husband, Roy Bryant, and J.W. Milam took Till to a barn, severely beat him and shot him through the head. A cotton gin fan was tied around his neck and he was thrown into the Tallahatchie River in Money, Miss. The boy was identified by a ring he wore that belonged to his father.

Till’s cousin, Wheeler Parker, Jr., was in the house the night Milam and Bryant came for the boy. He will describe the events of that night and share intimate details about Till’s childhood and the atmosphere in Money, Miss. at that time.

Olympia Vernon, the new Hallie Brown Ford Chair at Willamette University, will read from her third novel, “A Killing in This Town,” which features Adam Pickens, a young white boy in Bullock, Miss., who must, upon his 13th birthday, lynch a black man in order to be initiated into the Ku Klux Klan. Kirkus Reviews wrote, “This is a powerful, difficult work by a writer absolutely determined to see,” and Publishers Weekly wrote that the “fugue of folk idiom, blues, biblical diction and surreal imagery makes for lots of atmosphere.” All three of Vernon’s novels have been praised by The New York Times Book Review.

Vernon is a graduate of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La., and won the 2004 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for her first novel, “Eden.” Both "Eden" and her second novel, “Logic,” were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2005 Vernon received the Louisiana Governor’s Award for Professional Artist of the Year.

For more information contact Olympia Vernon at overnon@willamette.edu or 503-370-6290.

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Willamette’s Class of 2010 Shows Increased Academic Strength

Willamette University’s new class of first-year students boasts a strong academic profile that includes the highest median SAT score in the school’s history and a median GPA that is almost one point higher than last fall.

The 481 College of Liberal Arts first-year students have a median SAT score of 1260, and the median GPA is 3.84. The new class includes 37 valedictorians, and almost 50 percent of the students were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.

At the same time, Willamette’s Class of 2010 is ethnically, geographically and socioeconomically diverse, said Susan Rauch, interim vice president for enrollment. Almost 17 percent of the students are multicultural, and they come from 34 states, with 68 percent hailing from places outside Oregon. University-wide, an average of 20 to 22 percent of undergraduates receive Pell Grants, which go to those with the highest financial need.

“It’s not easy to have a strong academic profile and maintain the diversity of the class,” Rauch said. “We’ve been able to balance these often competing goals, and we’re very proud of that.”

Willamette’s freshman class is 36 students larger than last fall. The university’s total number of new undergraduates is 559, which includes first-year, international exchange and transfer students. The total estimated fall enrollment for the College of Liberal Arts is 2,027, and for the entire university, including the graduate schools, it is 2,694. Final enrollment numbers will be available in mid-September.

Echoing national trends, Willamette’s freshman class includes more women than men — the class is 55 percent female. However, Rauch said Willamette’s male/female ratio has stayed about the same for the past few years, unlike some peer schools that continue to see women outpace men. Part of this is due to Willamette’s athletics programs, which bring more balance to the gender ratio, she said.

Rauch said the diversity of the first-year class is evident in the activities they enjoyed during high school. The class includes 11 student body presidents, 175 varsity letter recipients, 175 instrumental musicians, 190 community service standouts, and 35 school newspaper, magazine or yearbook editors. Their past job titles have included beekeeper, U.S. Senate page, guide dog trainer, golf caddy and translator. The students have been involved in an array of organizations, including Model United Nations, Girl Scouts and Dodge Ball Club.

Willamette also has 62 new and returning international students on campus this year from 28 countries, including Afghanistan, China, Ecuador, India, Kenya, Romania and Vietnam.

On the graduate side of the university, Willamette’s College of Law will enroll 160 first-year students this fall, and the School of Education expects to have 92 new students. Willamette’s full-time MBA program has 54 new students, and the evening Professional MBA program in Portland and Salem is processing applications for classes beginning in early September.

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Museum Plans Teacher Workshop and Gallery Talks

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University has planned a workshop for teachers and a series of gallery talks in conjunction with the current exhibition, Recycled Art.

The exhibition, which runs until Nov. 4, features the work of 36 contemporary artists from Oregon, Washington and Montana who fashion artwork from recycled materials. Included in the exhibition are paintings, sculpture, basketry, clothing, jewelry, furniture, textiles and glass.

Elizabeth Garrison, the Cameron Paulin Curator of Education at the museum, will teach a workshop to help teachers prepare their students for a field trip to the museum, develop strategies to tour the exhibition and propose ideas that reinforce the gallery experience and broaden curriculum concepts once back in the classroom. Garrison has written a teacher packet about recycled art that will be available online at www.willamette.edu/museum_of_art.

The workshop is from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 20 in the lobby and the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery at the museum. Admission is free, although advance registration is required. To register, call (503) 370-6855.

In addition to the workshop, an ongoing series of gallery talks about the exhibition will be offered from 12:30 to 1 p.m. every Tuesday, Sept. 5 to Oct. 31. Gallery talks will be presented by Garrison or a museum docent. Admission is free.

Recycled Art has been supported in part by grants from the City of Salem Transient Occupancy Tax funds and the Oregon Arts Commission.

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is located at 700 State St. (corner of State and Cottage streets) in downtown Salem near the campus of Willamette University. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed Sunday and Monday. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for seniors and students. Children younger than 12 are admitted free, and Tuesday is an admission-free day. For more information, call (503) 370-6855.

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Breakfast Forum Features Portland Icon

Gertrude Boyle, matriarch and chairwoman of the board of Columbia Sportswear, and Kerry Tymchuk, state director for U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, will share the microphone at the Thursday, Sept. 28, Willamette University Breakfast Forum at the Multnomah Athletic Club in downtown Portland beginning at 7 a.m.

Boyle has been hailed by Working Woman magazine as one of America’s Top 50 Women Business Owners and named one of 1994’s “Best Managers” by Business Week. Since she and her son, Tim, began managing the company, Columbia Sportswear Company has gone from near bankruptcy to become one of the world’s largest outerwear manufacturers and the leading seller of skiwear in the United States. Columbia’s sales have soared from $12.9 million in 1984 to $1.1 billion in 2004, and the company continues to forge ahead with product diversification and innovation.

Throughout her career, Boyle has been a leader in the Portland community. She has received many honors recognizing her business savvy and philanthropic endeavors, including Oregon’s prestigious First Citizen Award in 2005.

Tymchuk, who graduated from Willamette University with an undergraduate degree in 1981, also graduated from Willamette’s College of Law in 1984.

He has served as press secretary and legal counsel for former U.S. Congressman Denny Smith, and as director of speechwriting for Elizabeth Dole when she served as U.S. Secretary of Labor and later as president of the American Red Cross. Later he served as legal counsel and director of speechwriting for then Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole.

Tymchuk returned to Oregon in 1997 to work for Sen. Smith. Recently, he partnered with Boyle to co-write her autobiography, “One Tough Mother.”

The Breakfast Forum begins with coffee at 7 a.m., breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and the program at 7:45 a.m. Tickets are $15 per person or $100 for a corporate table of eight. Reservations are required. Register online at www.willamettealumni.com/events, email alumni@willamette.edu or call 1-800-551-6794. The reservation deadline is Sept. 22.

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Willamette University Set to Renovate Former City Library

In 1912, the Carnegie Building opened as Salem’s first public library. The stately structure at the corner of State and Winter streets soon will return to its position as a prominent community resource through a series of renovations by the Willamette University College of Law.

The college recently received $300,000 in new foundation grants to help transform the building into the Oregon Civic Justice Center, which will house the college’s Clinical Law Program, the Oregon Law Commission, the Center for Law and Government and the Willamette Law Review.

“We will restore this magnificent building to its former elegance and glory,” said Symeon C. Symeonides, dean of the College of Law. “This is a unique project because it benefits the state, the city of Salem and the university, working in partnership.”

Several of the programs slated to move into the building are ones that connect the law school with the community and with the workings of the State Capitol, located across the street.

The Clinical Law Program provides free legal services to Marion and Polk county residents who cannot afford them, while giving students real-life experience in handling cases. The Oregon Law Commission is an independent state agency that works with the legislature to clarify Oregon laws. Willamette University funds 50 percent of the commission, and it is housed on campus. The Center for Law and Government conducts research and provides education opportunities for public and elected officials. Two of these programs already are endowed for a total of $5 million.

A $250,000 grant from the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation and a $50,000 grant from the Ben B. Cheney Foundation recently were awarded to the college to help pay for renovations. These add to the $600,000 challenge grant the college received last winter from the Meyer Memorial Trust, contingent upon the school raising $1.8 million in construction funding. The new grants, along with a $700,000 award from the Collins Foundation, bring the college within $200,000 of that goal. The total projected cost of the renovation is $3.2 million.

Renovations are scheduled to begin next summer and will include reestablishing the integrity of the building, demolishing a swimming pool structure and constructing a new south entry for the building.

At the time the Carnegie Building was constructed, communities across the country raised money to build libraries through matching funds provided by Scottish-born philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Salem’s library cost $55,000 and included two-story windows, crown molding, hardwood floors and period detail.

The building served as the library until the early 1970s, when it was purchased and modified by the YWCA of Salem. Modifications included building a mezzanine around the top of the first floor, cutting down the lobby’s original openness and high ceilings. Willamette bought the building from the YWCA in October 2003, and renovation plans include removing the mezzanine.

Transforming the Carnegie Building will return an important landmark to Salem’s residents, Symeonides said.

“A lot of people I talk to who grew up in Salem are very attached to this building,” he said. “We are reclaiming the building to return it to the public.”

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Hallie Ford Museum Hires New Collection Curator

Jonathan Bucci has been hired as the new collection curator at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University.

Bucci currently is the assistant director and collection curator at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, D.C. He will start his new position Oct. 2.

“We are extremely pleased to have someone with Jonathan’s background and training join our staff as collection curator,” museum Director John Olbrantz said.

Bucci will oversee the proper care, storage, preservation and security of the university’s permanent art collection. He also will oversee the processing of purchases, gifts and bequests to the permanent collection; assist with organization and implementation of temporary exhibitions, including shipping, insurance and installation; and work with Olbrantz on developing strategies to make the permanent collection more accessible to faculty, students, scholars and others.

A native of New England, Bucci holds a bachelor of arts degree in art from Connecticut College and a master of fine arts degree in painting from American University. For the past seven years, he has worked as curator for the Watkins Collection at American University, and most recently as assistant director and collection curator. Since 1999, he has been an adjunct instructor in the art department at American University and has participated in numerous one-person and group exhibitions on the East Coast.

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art was founded in 1998 to serve as an artistic, cultural and intellectual resource for Willamette University and the region. Four permanent galleries focus on European, Asian and American art; Native American baskets; historic and contemporary regional art; and European and American works on paper. Two temporary exhibition spaces feature historic and contemporary art.

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is located at 700 State St. (corner of State and Cottage streets) in downtown Salem near the campus of Willamette University. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Sunday and Monday. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for seniors and students. Children younger than 12 are admitted free, and Tuesday is an admission-free day. For more information, call (503) 370-6855.

This entry was updated on August 17, 2006. It had previously been stated that Bucci was the assistant director and collection curator at the Watkins Gallery at American University and that he worked as curator of the Watkins Gallery, which was not correct.

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Link Between Autism and Mental Retardation Lacks Data

A Willamette University professor’s recent article in the journal “Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities” challenges the long-held assumption that individuals with autism are mentally retarded, a finding that could potentially change the way families and schools across the country care for children with autism. The finding is especially significant because autism is assuming epidemic proportions, with the number of children diagnosed increasing more than 20 percent each year according to the U.S. Department of Health.

Meredyth Goldberg Edelson’s findings, published in the Summer 2006 issue of “Focus,” are expected to generate controversy, but other peers back her up. When the journal decided to publish claims that challenge 60 years of accepted assumptions, the editors solicited two highly respected autism experts to respond.

“We anticipated strong reservations and were surprised that both individuals commended Meredy for raising the question and for her careful approach to analyzing the data,” said Co-Editor Juane Heflin. Both responses called for more extensive and objective research.

“Although she is challenging the status quo, the quality of Edelson’s work is excellent,” said Richard Simpson, professor of special education at the University of Kansas and former editor of the journal “Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities.”

“There are so many claims and they’re so widespread that no one has bothered to look at the data behind the claims,” said the Willamette psychology professor. “Many claims are based on faulty data or no data at all, and data that is available is 35 to 40 years old and based on measures that don’t even measure intelligence. No one had ever systematically analyzed the evidence in support of those claims.”

Edelson examined the autism research to determine whether these claims were based on empirical data, what the quality of the data is, and whether non-empirical claims could be traced to data. She reviewed 215 studies (dating from 1937 to 2003) that made 223 claims about the rates of mental retardation in autism. Only 58 of those claims were supported by data, 165 were made in the absence of data, and 8 made both empirical and non-empirical claims. Newer non-empirical claims cited older empirical claims, often based on faulty measurements.

“Most researchers reported their results without describing how they measured intelligence,” Edelson said. “And the way intelligence is measured varies widely, with nearly all of the studies based on inappropriate measures. Some used development measures or adaptive skills scales, which are not measures of intelligence. Many times, if the researchers had a child they couldn’t test, they just assumed he or she was retarded and assigned a low IQ score.

“Typical intelligence tests require children to have good verbal skills, among other things, but since autism impairs a child’s ability to communicate with and relate to others, children with autism don’t perform well,” she said.

In an earlier study, Edelson assessed children with the Test of Non-verbal Intelligence (TONI), which involves abstract reasoning and does not require a verbal response. Using the TONI, Edelson found the children in the study had an average intelligence score of approximately 90, which indicates average intelligence. Only 19 percent of Edelson’s subjects scored in the mentally retarded range. A second study conducted in Taiwan with children who were even less verbal confirmed the earlier results.

“I’m not saying that children with autism are or are not mentally retarded,” Edelson said. “I’m just saying the literature doesn’t scientifically support the claims.”

Because retardation in children with autism has been so widely accepted, Edelson said schools and parents have lowered expectations of this group. “In the 1950s, children with autism were institutionalized,” she said. “Today we know that they have more options, from education and treatment to life plans including college and careers, marriage and children. If most children with autism aren’t mentally retarded, we need to find ways for them to interact with society and help them become all they can.”

Edelson’s Findings
Edelson’s research indicated that most of the claims regarding the rates of mental retardation (MR) in children with autism were not based on empirical data.

• Seventy-four percent of the articles that made claims about the prevalence of MR in children with autism came from non-empirical articles; only 26% derived from empirical studies.
• Of the 165 non-empirical claims made, 36% never made a citation in support of the claim; an additional 8% made a citation that did not provide evidence to support the claim; and 21% claimed that a higher percentage of children with autism were mentally retarded than was claimed in the citation used to support the percentage.
• A total of 53% of the non-empirical articles making claims about the prevalence of MR in children with autism never traced back to an empirical source when the citation trail was followed historically.
• Nearly two-thirds of the empirical studies cited by authors of non-empirical articles were published prior to 1980, yet nearly 77% of all non-empirical claims have been published since 1980.
• The results found that empirical studies utilizing developmental measures or adaptive skills measures (that made estimates of intelligence or that assumed that un-testable children had MR, as was frequently done in the 1960s and 1970s) reported average prevalence rates of 80.53% for MR in children with autism, and studies that utilized none of the methods reported average prevalence rates of 55.91% for MR in children with autism.

There were other difficulties with the empirical studies as well. Given these findings, there does not appear to be good data supporting the claims about high rates of MR in children with autism.

Full Article Reprint: www.willamette.edu/dept/comm/reprint/edelson/

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Museum Showcases Art Made of Recycled Materials

In today’s era of heightened environmental awareness, artists are increasingly turning to junk stores, trash bins and surplus outlets to satisfy their urge to create while still caring for the planet.

An exhibition of recycled art will open Aug. 26 and continue through Nov. 4 in the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University. Organized by Director John Olbrantz, the exhibition will feature the work of contemporary artists from Oregon, Washington and Montana who fashion artwork from recycled materials.

“The premise of the exhibition is rooted in history,” Olbrantz said. “The tradition of recycling dates back to the 19th century, when American pioneers recycled items instead of discarding them.”

The exhibition will feature 72 works in a variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, jewelry, furniture, textiles and glass. Thirty-six artists will be featured in the show, including Ross Palmer Beecher, who creates traditional quilts from recycled aluminum cans; Gloria Crouse, who makes fanciful clothing from plastic six-pack rings and rip-stop; Ron Ho, who makes jewelry from found objects; David Gilhooly, who creates miniature tableaus from recycled plastic action figures and old puzzles; Katherine Holzknecht, who makes furniture and lamps from old skis; and Mark Smith, who stuffs vinyl forms with recycled clothing.

In conjunction with the exhibition, artist demonstrations and workshops for youths are planned for September and October. Artist demonstrations are scheduled for Sept. 23 and Oct. 21 from noon to 4 p.m. in the galleries. A family activity workshop led by recycling artist and “Dumpster Diving Diva” Diane Kurzyna, whose work is included in the show, is set for Oct. 7 from noon to 4 p.m. in the lobby. Admission to the workshop is free.

The use of everyday objects in art can be traced to American folk art in the 19th and 20th centuries; to the Dada movement in Zurich, Barcelona and New York in the 1910s and early 1920s; and most recently to the work of Alexander Calder, Joseph Cornell, John Chamberlain and Louise Nevelson, among others. With increased environmental concerns in recent years, the use of recycled materials in art has gained new credibility, Olbrantz said.

Recycled Art has been supported in part by grants from the City of Salem’s Transient Occupancy Tax Funds and the Oregon Arts Commission.

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is located at 700 State St. (corner of State and Cottage streets) in downtown Salem near the campus of Willamette University. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed Sunday and Monday. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for seniors and students. Children younger than 12 are admitted free, and Tuesday is an admission-free day. For more information, call (503) 370-6855.

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