Coast-to-Coast Journey Ends Successfully in Miami

They did it.

It once seemed a nearly impossible feat, but recent Willamette University graduates Kevin Dean, Alex MacKenzie and Wes Randall did it — they successfully biked 3,200 miles from San Diego to Miami to honor their friend Kalan Morinaka and raise money for the ALS Association. Morinaka, 22, died this fall of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes loss of muscle control and typically is diagnosed in people older than 40.

The young men left San Diego Jan. 10 and arrived at Miami Beach Feb. 26. At the beach, they honored Morinaka further by spreading some of his ashes in the Atlantic Ocean. Morinaka was a longtime athlete and national competitor in judo, and the three riders befriended him through the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Willamette.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be done and to know that we’ve completed something great and challenging,” Dean said. “Even though it was tough, it was for a great friend.”

So far, the men have collected more than $14,000 for the ALS Association, and they are still accepting donations. Their online blog detailing their adventures contains numerous comments from friends, family and other followers offering support.

Along the way, the men met many kind people who opened their homes to them, bought them dinner and helped them fix their bikes to continue their journey. They braved frigid winter temperatures, are in better shape than ever and have a plethora of unforgettable experiences — from singing karaoke with Elks Lodge members in Arizona, to watching cows run alongside them for miles in West Texas, to viewing the devastation that still exists on the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina.

“This trip opened my eyes to the facts of life,” MacKenzie said. “Every day we were reminded of the goodness of people and how wonderful this country is.”

To read their blog, learn more about Morinaka and the riders, or donate to their cause, visit www.coast2coast4kalan.net.

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Award-Winning Film Animator Visits Willamette University

Bill Kroyer, animator and award-winning director who has worked on computer-animated short and feature films such as Tron and FernGully: The Last Rainforest, will give a free public presentation March 9 as part of a weekend residency at Willamette University.

Kroyer will discuss “Animation and the Death of Fantasy,” a provocative look at new computer-based techniques and their relation to and influence on traditional animation and storytelling. The lecture is at 7:30 p.m. in the Montag Den, located in the Montag Center at the northeast end of campus.

Trained in classic hand-drawn animation, Kroyer was one of the first to move to computer animation with work on Disney’s 1982 feature Tron. In 1992, he directed FernGully: The Last Rainforest. He is currently senior animator at Rhythm and Hues Studio in Los Angeles, where he supervises animation for theatrical films and directs animation in commercials, including the Coca-Cola ads featuring the polar bears. He serves on the executive board of the animation branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Kroyer’s residency is sponsored by the W. M. Keck Foundation Arts and Technology grant and Willamette University. For more information, call Cheryl Cramer at (503) 370-6122.

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Willamette University Musicians to Perform with New Jersey Chorale

The Willamette University Music Department presents its Winter Choral Concert Sunday, March 11, at 3 p.m. in Hudson Hall in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center on campus. The free concert will feature Male Ensemble Willamette under the direction of Paul Klemme, Voce Femminile under the direction of Christine Welch Elder, and The College of New Jersey Chorale under the direction of Michael Mendoza.

Male Ensemble Willamette will premiere a composition by Mendoza, “Behold, How Good,” based on text from the Bible’s Psalm 113; “Shout for Joy,” a setting of Psalm 98 composed by Dan Davison; and a seldom-heard Beatles tune, “Yes It Is,” arranged by Willamette junior Michael Murray.

Voce Femminile will present “Sing a New Song,” an a cappella piece by Mendoza, and “Welcome Love: Four Settings of 17th Century Love Poetry” by Lana Walter.

With this concert, The College of New Jersey Chorale begins its weeklong tour of the Pacific Northwest. They will perform “La Guerre” by Clément Janequin, “Prayers of Steel” by Paul Christiansen and the “Songs of Faith” by Eric Whitacre.

The ensemble, conducted by Mendoza, has toured the Eastern United States, Eastern Canada and England. The American Record Guide wrote that they “make a remarkably full-bodied and resonant sound,” while the Trenton Times said the chorale has “breathtaking clarity and warmth.”

Mendoza has choral works published in the American Choral Director’s Association Monograph and elsewhere.

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Willamette Alumna Presents Art Lecture

Art scholar and Willamette University alumna Jennifer Hess Mouat will present a free public lecture on the work of John Byrne March 12 at Willamette University.

“A Creature of His Own Imagination: John Byrne’s Theatrics with Visual Art” begins at 4 p.m. in Room 212 of the Art Building, located near the corner of State and Winter streets on the University campus. Mouat, a 1997 Willamette graduate, has a PhD from the University of St. Andrews and a master of arts degree from the University of Wales, Lampeter. She is the first academic scholar to comprehensively explore Byrne’s life and work.

Byrne, an esteemed contemporary Scottish visual artist and playwright, began his career as a visual artist in the 1960s and ’70s designing album covers for groups such as The Beatles, Donovan, Stealers Wheel and The Humblebums. After working as a set designer, Byrne penned his first play, Writer’s Cramp, which was a smash hit at the Edinburgh Festival in 1977. Byrne’s second play, The Slab Boys, debuted in 1978 to rave reviews. Traveling to the U.S. in 1983, the play starred the then-unknown Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn and Val Kilmer and was directed by Robert Allan Ackerman.

In 1987, Byrne’s first work for television, Tutti Frutti, starred the then-unknown Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson. It won an unprecedented six BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards, the British equivalent of the Emmy awards.

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Ecopoetry Reading to Support Focus the Nation

Ronault Latang Sayang Catalani and Alicia Cohen will be featured at a free ecopoetry reading to support Focus the Nation March 13 at 7 p.m. in the Roger Hull Lecture Hall at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University.

Ecopoetry is a form a poetry that focuses on ecology. Focus the Nation is an educational initiative coordinating teams at colleges, universities and high schools across the U.S. to engage in an interdisciplinary discussion about global warming solutions. The reading is free and open to the public, and a reception will follow in the lobby of the museum.

Catalani, a veteran activist and attorney, performs djatung, a rhythmic essay style. He is the Green World Project Manager for Focus the Nation and a 1983 graduate of Willamette University’s College of Law. Catalani has organized civil rights and cultural defense impact litigation for more than 20 years in three West Coast states, is a human rights advocate and political asylum attorney in Southeast Asia, and is an essayist for The Asian Reporter, El Hispanic News, Oregon Public Broadcasting and Wisconsin Public Radio. He has been an International Court of Justice Fellow at Hague Institute for Human Rights and a William Stafford Fellow at the Oregon Literary Arts Council.

Cohen is a poet who writes about the intersection of poetry and ecology. She lives in Portland, where she helped establish the artist-run gallery and show space Pacific Switchboard in 2000. Her book of poems, bEAR, was published by Handwritten Press, and she recently wrote, directed and produced a multimedia opera and gallery installation titled “Northwest Inhabitation Log.” Her work has recently appeared in Ecopoetics, How2, Bird Dog and Traverse. She has shown her installation, video and performance work nationally, and she teaches at Portland State University.

The reading is sponsored by Willamette University Department of English and the Center for Sustainable Communities. For more information, call 503-370-6026, email ksand@willamette.edu or visit www.willamette.edu/~ksand/ecopoetics.html.

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Holocaust Survivor Speaks at Willamette University

Holocaust survivor Guy Geller will speak Monday, March 5, at 7 p.m. at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University. The event is free and the public is welcome.

Born in 1936, Geller was the only child of a Hungarian writer and French-born American mother. His family was respected in Budapest and considered “privileged,” but the onset of World War II caused a dramatic change in circumstances.

The German Gestapo arrested his father on Geller’s fourth birthday. With help, the boy was taken to France, where he hid from 1942 to 1946. Geller didn’t hear of his father’s death in the Auschwitz gas chambers until 1996.

Today Geller is a retired business executive. In his retirement he wrote “Journeys to Freedom,” about his war experience. He has appeared on numerous radio and television programs and was a guest of the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. In 1997 Geller began a weekly column, “Armchair Ponderings,” in the Magnolia Gazette. The commentary column won a top award in 1998 from the Mississippi Press Association.

For information contact Olympia Vernon, Hallie Brown Chair of Writing at Willamette University, at 503-370-6290.

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Willamette University Dedicates New Residential Facility

The booming of taiko drums and the beauty of 1,000 origami paper cranes were just two elements of Willamette University’s traditional Japanese dedication ceremony Feb. 15 for Kaneko Commons, a $17.5 million residential community project.

The ceremony reflected Kaneko’s focus on Japanese heritage, a unique characteristic stemming from Willamette’s long-standing relationship with Tokyo International University (TIU) in Kawagoe, Japan. Tokyo International University of America (TIUA), located next to Kaneko, is TIU’s only campus outside Japan.

Students, builders, faculty, and dignitaries from Japan, including the president of TIU, were among those in attendance at the dedication ceremony. “This is a new era for Willamette University and one worthy of our mutual commemoration,” said Willamette President M. Lee Pelton.

With new and remodeled construction complete, the 72,000-square-foot Kaneko Commons features two community kitchens and nine student room options, including four-bedroom apartments. A three-story atrium houses Kaneko Café, which features numerous food choices including Japanese cuisine. More than 350 students live in Kaneko Commons, 151 of those in the new addition. Kaneko opened its rooms to students in August, but the atrium was recently finished.

“The development of the commons takes our relationship with TIU to a new level,” said Gunnar Gundersen, TIUA’s executive vice president. “By working on such a major project together, one that has such a huge impact on Willamette, it symbolizes a unique mutual commitment.”

The relationship allows numerous Willamette students and faculty to travel, study or teach in Japan yearly, and TIU students spend a year at Willamette as fully integrated undergraduates.

Another distinct element of the Kaneko project is that it introduces the residential commons concept at Willamette. Rooted in the college models of Oxford and Cambridge in the 13th century, Willamette’s commons model features graduated housing arrangements for all classes of students, is self-governing with elected student officers, and includes a substantial faculty presence. A wide array of programming elaborates on the site’s three themes — sustainability, Japanese heritage and community service — and encourages intellectual stimulation beyond the classroom.

Kaneko Commons also was built to meet the standards for LEED silver and possibly gold certification. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a U.S. Green Building Council rating system that is a benchmark for sustainable building practices.

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Museum Hosts Exhibition of Ancient Glass

An exhibition of ancient glass from 1500 BCE to the 6th century CE will be on display March 10 to May 19 in the Study Gallery at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University.

Ancient Glass: Selections from the Richard Brockway Collection, organized by museum director John Olbrantz, features 46 pieces from the Richard Brockway collection, considered one of the finest private collections of ancient glass in the U.S.

Brockway is a 1957 graduate of Willamette University, a retired engineer with GTE telephone company and director of Ancient Art International. Brockway will present a slide show and lecture April 12 from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Roger Hull Lecture Hall at the museum.

Natural glass has existed since the beginning of time, formed when certain types of rocks melt as a result of volcanic eruptions, lightning strikes or the impact of meteorites, and subsequently cool and solidify. Early man is believed to have used cutting tools made of obsidian (a natural glass) to make primitive tools and weapons. According to the Roman historian Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE), Phoenician merchants were thought to have discovered glass on the Levantine Coast.

The Brockway collection features glass from Egypt, the Near East, Greece and Rome, including drinking vessels, tableware, toiletry vessels and a host of other glass items that demonstrate the ancient glass artists’ skill and mastery of glassmaking techniques. A wide variety of techniques are represented in the collection, including rod forming, core forming, mold casting, free blowing, mold blowing and pate de verre.

Ancient Glass: Selections from the Richard Brockway Collection has been supported in part by grants from the City of Salem’s Transient Occupancy Tax 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. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed 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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Willamette University opens Japanese-themed dining facility

Bon Appetit Food Services at Willamette University opens a Japanese-themed dining hall today in the new Kaneko Commons residential facility on the east side of campus.

Kaneko Café features a mix of authentic Japanese foods and American classics and is open to the public. Café hours are Monday through Friday from 7 to 10 a.m. for breakfast, 10 to 11 a.m. for snacks and to-go items, and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch. Menu pricing is similar to Goudy Commons, with most dishes costing $5 or more. Kaneko Café is located at 1300 Mill St., next to Tokyo International University of America.

The café also is meant to educate the community about Japanese culture. Bon Appetit staff members took a trip to San Francisco to visit Japanese restaurants and a ramen shop as part of their preparation for opening Kaneko Café. They researched the flavor profile of certain dishes and learned about the importance of key ingredients and freshness in Japanese cooking.

Food stations at Kaneko Café include:

Menrui (Noodles) – A selection of freshly prepared noodle dishes. Authentic Japanese noodle bowls are offered, including ramen, udon and soba, as well as three broths — shoiyu (soy), miso (soy bean paste) and tonkatsu ramen broth. These can be accompanied by ingredients that include chikuwa, kamaboko, tempura, roasted pork, chicken and vegetables.

Itadakimasu (Bon Appetit) – This station includes a variety of freshly prepared entrées from around the world, from sushi to Thai curry.

Guriru (Grill) – Om rice and American breakfast are featured in the morning, and lunch customers can choose from fresh fish, Spam musubi, tonkatsu, fresh Country Natural beef burgers and antibiotic-free chicken. This station features “The Birl,” a burger tribute to Birl Shultz, a Willamette University student who passed away in 2005. The condiment station includes Japanese sauces and pickled items typical of Japanese cuisine.

Sarada (Salad) – This 100 percent fresh and innovative salad bar changes weekly. The ingredients are based on the freshest available, and the bar features a house-made ginger dressing and Mizuna Greens.

Suimono (Soup) – This station features miso soup each day with an additional chef’s creation.

Omochikaeri (Grab and Go) – The grab-and-go program includes bento-style tasting boxes, salads, sushi and sandwiches. An extensive bottled beverage selection also is available.

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Psychology Scholar Visits Willamette University

Barry Schwartz, the Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action in the psychology department at Swarthmore College, will give two free public presentations March 8 at Willamette University.

Schwartz will discuss “Practical Wisdom: What It Is, Why We Need It, and Why It’s Hard to Get” at 11:30 a.m. in Cone Chapel, on the second floor of Waller Hall. He will present “The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less” at 7:30 p.m. in the John C. Paulus Great Hall, room 201, Collins Legal Center.

Schwartz has received several National Science Foundation grants as well as a fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation, and has published widely in various scholarly journals and popular media, including the New York Times, Parade magazine and Slate. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. Schwartz has written or co-written four textbooks and three books for popular audiences about the psychology of learning and memory.

He is Willamette’s Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar for 2007. Phi Beta Kappa is an honors organization that recognizes excellence in the undergraduate liberal arts and sciences.

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Groundbreaking Film Stirs Debate About Ocean Management

The groundbreaking documentary “Common Ground: Oregon’s Ocean” will be presented Tuesday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m. in Smith Auditorium at Willamette University.

The free 30-minute film features stunning views of Oregon’s underwater world and presents solutions, backed by commercial fishermen and scientists, for restoring the state’s ocean ecosystems. Secretary of State Bill Bradbury will moderate a question-and-answer session between the audience and fishermen, scientists, policy makers and conservationists.

“Common Ground” has drawn overflow crowds throughout the state, having been released just as the push for offshore fish farms and drilling has accelerated and as the largest fisheries closure in the nation’s history has been implemented along the West Coast.

The Pew Oceans Commission and U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy reports have highlighted the alarming health of the world’s oceans.

“Coastal development, unsustainable fishing practices and the loss of habitat and biodiversity threaten our coastal waters,” said Willamette biology Professor Ben Crabtree. “The fisheries closure off our coast threatens the economy of coastal communities and raises critical concerns about the health of our waters.”

According to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, “‘Common Ground’ is a useful tool in stimulating long overdue discussions about marine protection in Oregon.”

Commercial fishermen say the documentary is a must-see cautionary tale.

“Advances in technology have allowed us to aggressively target fish that were ignored before, or that were barely fished for years and years,” said Jeff Feldner, a Newport, Ore., commercial fisherman since 1972. “All of a sudden there’s this goldmine to be exploited, and our nature is to go and do that. We must now do a course correction. Our ability to properly manage those species must catch up with our ability to catch them.”

“If we want to have healthy fisheries and coastal communities we absolutely must have healthy marine ecosystems,” said Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist at Oregon State University who served on the Pew Oceans Commission.

“It’s appropriate for Oregonians to learn about reserves and talk about them quite seriously,” she said.

Question-and-answer panel members include Carolyn Waldron, director of Oregon Ocean; Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University; Leesa Cobb, Port Orford Ocean Resource Team; Terry Thompson, Lincoln County Commissioner; and a member of the State Legislature’s Joint Committee on Ocean Preparedness and Ocean Policy.

The event is sponsored by Willamette University and Green Fire Productions. For information call 503-370-6474 or visit www.oceansonline.org.

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March 2007 Atkinson Lecture Is One of a Kind

Two of the nation’s most gifted writers, one a poet and the other a playwright, will share the stage in Smith Auditorium at Willamette University March 20 where they will discuss the nexus of art and politics in America.

Former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and Pulitzer Prize recipient Tony Kushner will share the evening that closes out the 2006-07 Atkinson Lecture Series at Willamette.

Tickets will be available for faculty, students and staff at the Information Desk in University Center beginning March 1. The first ticket is free; subsequent tickets are $10 each. (Because we expect this lecture to sell out, we are not making tickets available to the general public.)

Tony Kushner’s plays are as complex as his own beginnings. The gay, Jewish socialist, raised in Louisiana and educated at Columbia University and New York University, says he enjoys addressing audiences that are receptive to ideas for change and progress. And his ideas have earned him high praise.

His plays include A Bright Room Called Day, Angels in America, Homebody/Kabul, and Caroline or Change. He wrote the screenplay for the Mike Nichols film of Angels in America and Steven Spielberg’s Munich.

Among his many accolades, Kushner is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, two Tony Awards for Best Play, three Obie Awards for playwriting, the Evening Standard Award, a Whiting Writer’s Fellowship, an Arts Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and an Emmy. In 1998, London’s National Theatre selected Angels in America as one of the “ten best plays of the 20th century.”

Pinsky, U.S. Poet Laureate from 1997-00, has dedicated his career to identifying and invigorating poetry’s place in the world. He is the author of six acclaimed collections of poetry, most recently Jersey Rain. His collection, The Figured Wheel, was a Pulitzer Prize nominee and received the Lenore Marshall Award and the Ambassador Book Award of the English Speaking Union.

He was elected in 1999 to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and his poems appear in magazines such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Threepenny, American Poetry Review and frequently in the Best American Poetry anthologies.

Pinsky teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University.

The Atkinson Lecture series has welcomed world leaders, authors, actors, scientists and educators to campus since its founding in 1956.

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Willamette University Social Pow Wow Kicks Off

The Fifth Annual Social Pow Wow will be held Saturday, March 17, at the Cone Field House at Willamette University. The free event will begin with the Grand Entry at 4 p.m. and last until 10 p.m. The public is welcome.

Drum groups from throughout the Pacific Northwest will be in attendance, and the event will feature traditional dances, native food, crafts and raffles. Prizes are offered in the Round Bustle Dance Contest, a traditional favorite. The host drum will be Richard Sam and the Umatilla Intertribal. Bob Tom will emcee and David West is the arena director.

The event is presented by the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Associated Students of Willamette University. For more information call 503-370-6265.

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Museum Plans Lecture and Discussion on George Johanson

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University will present a lecture and discussion on artist George Johanson, who has been a major force in the Portland art scene for nearly 60 years. Both events are free and are in conjunction with the museum’s current exhibition, George Johanson: Image and Idea.

Prudence Roberts will present a slide show and lecture about Johanson as a printmaker, March 3 from 2 to 3 p.m. in the museum's Roger Hull Lecture Hall. Roberts is an art history instructor at Portland Community College and the author of numerous publications on regional art.

Curator Roger Hull will join Johanson to discuss his art and career, April 1 from 2 to 3 p.m. in the museum's Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery. Hull is a Willamette art history professor, curator of the Johanson exhibition and author of numerous monographs on regional artists, including Johanson, Carl Hall, Jan Zach and Charles Heaney.

George Johanson: Image and Idea chronicles the life and times of this distinguished Portland painter, printmaker and teacher whose work focuses on bathers, swimmers, artists and the streets and vistas of Portland, a place he has called home since the late 1940s. The exhibition is on display through April 1.

The exhibition has been supported in part by grants from the City of Salem Transient Occupancy Tax 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. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed Mondays. 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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Professor Named Oregon Researcher of the Year

The Oregon Academy of Science honored Willamette University political science Professor Richard Ellis as its 2007 Outstanding Oregon Researcher.

Ellis is the Mark O. Hatfield Professor of Politics at Willamette, where he has taught American politics since 1990. He has written or edited a dozen books on the American presidency and political culture.

His most recent book, “To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance,” has been featured on National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air” and in newspapers across the country. It was selected as a Citizens Read book of the month in Portland, was the Library Journal’s best-selling book in politics and law, won the 2005 Langum Prize in Legal History and won an honorable mention from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. “To the Flag” is a compelling history of how the Pledge of Allegiance developed in response to anxieties about immigration and “alien” ideas such as Communism.

Ellis is now immersed in his next book project, a history of presidential travel. “In the early republic, Americans pointed with pride to the lack of a presidential entourage or presidential security detail,” Ellis said. “Monarchs and emperors needed armed guards, but the American president needed no protection from his fellow citizens.”

Ellis’ narrative details the evolution of presidential protection and the way the growth in the president’s security entourage has tended to insulate the president from the people. “The modern president may be safer, but also appears more regal,” Ellis suggests.

His research includes contacting historical societies, studying presidential papers and searching hundreds of 19th century newspapers. “Now that many historical newspapers are digitized, it has transformed the way historians and political scientists conduct research,” Ellis said. “A 10-year project can become a two-year project.”

“Writing is a habit, and while I enjoy research, I’m always eager to get started writing. It’s a back and forth process. I use the writing to find out what I don’t know and where I need to do more research.”

The academy has broadened its scope this year to include people in the social and political sciences. “I’m delighted that the nomination has gone to someone in the social sciences,” said Jeff Myers, president of the Oregon Academy of Science and geology professor at Western Oregon University. “In the past, awards have gone to people in the hard sciences. It’s nice to see the academy expanding.”

“Ellis’ students are clearly lucky to share his insight and experience, and Willamette University is equally fortunate to have Ellis as a colleague,” Myers said, adding that Ellis was “enthusiastically chosen.”

The Oregon Academy of Science promotes science education and scientific research in the state, encouraging communication among Oregon scientists and mentoring new generations of scientists in Oregon high schools.

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Foundation Awards $50,000 in Support of At-Risk Students

The Spirit Mountain Community Fund has awarded $50,000 to Willamette University to support Willamette Academy and the Chemawa Indian School-Willamette University Partnership Program. Both programs are designed to help at-risk students graduate from high school and prepare for college.

Established in 2001, Willamette Academy is a Willamette University college preparation program for underserved youth. The academy recruits underrepresented 7th grade students from the Salem-Keizer Public Schools into a free and supplemental five-year academic program providing year-round teaching, tutoring and activities that prepare students for the academic rigor of a college education.

The Chemawa Indian School-Willamette University Partnership Program, initiated in 2005 by staff from both institutions, brings Willamette undergraduate volunteers to the Chemawa Salem campus four nights a week to provide academic tutoring and mentoring.

Spirit Mountain Community Fund is the philanthropic arm of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Spirit Mountain Community Fund donates approximately $5 million each year to local programs and services that benefit citizens striving for self-sufficiency.

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'A Most Unlikely Hero' Depicts Hidden Racism in Military

A new documentary, “A Most Unlikely Hero,” will be shown Sunday, Feb. 18, at 4 p.m. in the Hatfield Room in the Hatfield Library at Willamette University. This free event will include a conversation with filmmaker Steve Okino and Bruce Yamashita, who battled injustice in one of America’s most powerful institutions.

Hawaiian native Yamashita never intended to be an activist, but he was bewildered when he ran into a relentless barrage of racial slurs and attacks after signing up for the United States Marine Corps. Yamashita waged a lonely five-year “fight to get my dignity back,” unexpectedly uncovering evidence of widespread discrimination. In a case that rocked the Corps and the nation, military officers eventually admitted to disparate treatment of minority Marines.

“Yamashita’s long battle for justice revealed a strong pattern of discrimination in America and transformed him from an everyday citizen to an unlikely hero,” said Gordy Toyama, director of Multicultural Affairs at Willamette University.

The case eventually resulted in fundamental reforms in the Marine Corps.

“The film should convince anyone who believes that America has become a color-blind society that race still remains the principal barrier of exclusion for non-whites, even highly accomplished ones like Bruce Yamashita,” said Toyama. “Okino has produced a powerful film that captures Yamashita’s determination and courage in defending people of color.”

The film has been shown on public television stations and campuses throughout the U.S. For more information see www.unlikelyhero.org or call 503-370-6265.

The event is sponsored by Willamette’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Portland chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League and Alpha Zeta Nu, a Willamette student organization.

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Su-en Wong: Simultaneous Voices (Cancelled)

New York artist Su-en Wong will visit Willamette University Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. as part of the university’s Hogue-Sponenburgh Art Lecture series.

Wong will give a free lecture about her recent work, entitled Simultaneous Voices. The event is in Cone Chapel on the second floor of Waller Hall.

Wong is a draftsperson and painter immersed in figurative concerns. Her works, made with colored pencil, graphite and acrylic on paper and panel, are sometimes playful and enticing, but more often reveal a disturbing side. Her vision is realized through a collection of pairs and groups of self-portrait figures that inhabit scenes of ambiguous space, often commenting on memories of emotional, physical and mental passages.

Born in Singapore in 1973, Wong received her master of fine arts degree in 1997 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the recipient of artist grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts (2000 and 2004), the Joan Mitchell Foundation (2000), the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation (1998), and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (1997). Wong’s most recent solo exhibitions include Danese Gallery, New York; Kevin Bruk Gallery, Miami; the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles; Deitch Projects, New York; and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada.

The Hogue-Sponenburgh Art Lecture series, endowed by the late Janeth Hogue Sponenburgh and Mark Sponenburgh, enables Willamette’s Department of Art and Art History to bring a noted scholar, artist or curator to campus each year.

The Feb. 22 Sponenburgh Lecture at Willamette University featuring artist Su-en Wong has been cancelled. Wong had a personal emergency and cannot attend. Attempts will be made to re-schedule the event at a future date.

(update posted 16 Feb 2007, 9:12 a.m.)

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JELD-WEN Foundation Pledges $2.5 million to the Atkinson Graduate School of Management

The JELD-WEN Foundation of Klamath Falls has pledged $2.5 million to Willamette University to create an endowed chair in Free Enterprise at the Atkinson Graduate School of Management. The donation is the largest in the Atkinson Graduate School’s history.

“This is a significant benchmark for the Atkinson Graduate School of Management,” said Willamette University President M. Lee Pelton. “This gift from the JELD-WEN Foundation is gratifying in that it tells us that the Atkinson program and its faculty are among the best in the nation. This gift recognizes the strengths and the potential of this graduate school.”

“The JELD-WEN Foundation is pleased to partner with Willamette University and the Atkinson Graduate School of Management to create a new endowed chair for the University,” said Rod Wendt, President and CEO of JELD-WEN, inc. “JELD-WEN feels the project’s focus on free enterprise is especially vital today. A large number of American students do not make the connection between a free market based system and the unprecedented and sustained vitality of the U.S. economy. The JELD-WEN Chair in Free Enterprise at the Atkinson Graduate School will provide an opportunity to expand the curriculum to highlight this topic.”

Willamette University’s Atkinson Graduate School, with locations in Salem and Portland, is one of only two MBA programs in the nation dually accredited for Business Administration and Public Administration. The JELD-WEN Foundation focuses on giving in the communities in which the company operates. In the past five years, the Foundation has given more than $33 million.

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