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             The Shawnee State University (SSU) Board of Trustees will meet Friday, April 22 at 1:15 p.m. in the Selby Board Room located in the Clark Memorial Library on the SSU campus.  The Board will also hold a special meeting at 12:15 p.m. in the Micklethwaite Room located in the University Center at SSU.
            The committees of the Board will meet in the University Center
 at SSU as follows:

· Finance and Facilities--9:15 a.m. in the Ketter Room;

· Quality of University Life--9:45 a.m. in the Howard Room;

· Academic Affairs--10 a.m. in the Founders’ Room.

 

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            We all experience stress on the job and at home; it’s unavoidable but there are ways to cope.
            On Thursday, April 28, University Outreach Services at SSU is sponsoring “For People Like Us: Dealing with Stress and Negativity” from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. The two separate seminars will be held in the Micklewaite Banquet Hall located in the University Center on the SSU campus. The seminar is part of Administrative Professionals Day at SSU.
          “It’s geared towards anybody who works in an office setting or any type of setting that deals with people every day,” said Tracy Conn, University Outreach Services Representative and organizer of the event. “It’s a stressful job being on the front line so we try to gear it mostly towards those people but anyone is welcome.”
          Nationally-known storyteller, David Austin Sky will lead the seminar that will focus on using creativity to manage stress and negativity.
          “He is a very funny gentleman,” Conn said. “So, you will be learning all day but you will also be laughing all day which makes your day go fast; it’s not a monotonous event, it’s an enjoyable day. The seminar will teach you how to deal with stress every day and to see the lighter side of things and not take things to heart and go home stressed out every day of your life.”
          A storyteller since 1985, David Austin Sky is the author of “See the Forest, Hear the Trees: The Art of Storytelling” and “Sky Stories: A Storybook for Grownups.” He has a master’s degree from the Methodist Theological School and has experience as a speaker, counselor, U.S. Air Force crew chief, prevention educator, and a janitor.
          Conn said the cost for the seminar is $59 with groups of five or more receiving a discount. She said registrations will be taken until April 27. For more information call (740) 351-3490 or (866) 672-8778.

            Every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday in April the Shawnee State University (SSU) Clark Planetarium is featuring the show “More Than Meets the Eye” at 7 p.m. each night.
          “It’s really a broad introduction to backyard astronomy, and what the amateur can see with the naked eye, with a pair of binoculars, or even with a small telescope up there in the sky,” said Timothy Hamilton, Ph.D., planetarium director. “It points out the major constellations, some of the main galaxies, nebulae, and double stars and things like this, that the average person can see and find. We’re then going to wind up each show with an overview of what you can see over Portsmouth each night.”
          “More than Meets the Eye” continues the Planetarium’s regular line-up of public shows. The show titles will change from month to month but the scheduled days and times will be fixed through Saturday, June 3, Hamilton said.
          “The ‘More Than Meets the Eye’ show starts off at the basic levels but then it goes into more detail pointing out where you can find the Orion Nebulae, or a double star or a pair of stars orbiting each other, things you can make out with a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope,” Hamilton said.
          The show is open to the public and is appropriate for older children and adults. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for children under 12.
           Seating is limited and is done on a first come, first serve, basis. Hamilton said if the 7 p.m. show sells out, there will be a second showing as soon as the first show finishes. Private groups may reserve the Clark Planetarium by calling (740) 351-3125 or 351-3145. Visitor information is also available on the Planetarium website, at planetarium@shawnee.edu.

            In an effort to foster awareness of “Kick Butts Day” and the health hazards of smoking, seven student members of the Shawnee State University (SSU) Student Respiratory Therapy Organization (SRTO²) collected cigarette butts from around buildings all over campus on Wednesday.
            The butts were placed into jars, and on Tuesday, April 19, individuals are invited to stop by the University Center, located on the SSU campus, between 10:30 a.m. and noon to guess how many cigarette butts are in each jar.  Prizes are available for those who can guess correctly.
            Mary Ann Canter, clinical coordinator/associate professor of respiratory therapy at SSU, said a great part of SRTO² is to raise awareness of tobacco use among kids and youth, and to try to reduce that number by having them quit smoking or to not even start smoking.
            “Kick Butts Day is the biggest youth-led anti-smoking initiative in the world,” she said.  “We wanted to get the university involved in the effort, because this is the 10th anniversary.”
            The goal of SRTO² is to promote community awareness, education, and service to Scioto County and the surrounding area.  Student members, in collaboration with Canter, brainstormed to come up with the idea in the hopes that area kids would be influenced by the amount of butts left by students and faculty and staff members who smoke outside the buildings.
            “We are picking up the cigarette butts just to bring awareness that the use is there among students and faculty at SSU,” said Canter.  “We are hoping that, when they go outside to smoke now, seeing the number of butts will influence them to want to quit.”
            Canter is also the adult contact person for the Scioto County Stand Team, a youth-led organization that is fighting tobacco use by youth.  Kids who are interesting in getting involved with the Scioto County Stand Team can call Canter at (740) 351-3240 or visit www.standonline.org .  The next meeting will take place on Monday, May 9, from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the CAY Building, located next to Notre Dame High School in Portsmouth.
            For more information about “Kick Butts Day” and how to become involved in future efforts, contact Canter or visit www.kickbuttsday.org .

            Former CNN and NBC television news anchor Mary Alice Williams will be at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts (VRCFA) on Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m. part of the Leslie Williams Symposium for the Advancement of Women. Williams will speak on women’s health issues.
          “There are not enough days to talk about all the issues affecting women’s health, which include the health of their children, and husbands and parents, often simultaneously,” Williams said. “I plan to talk about stress that contributes to diseases of every single organ, and nutrition and exercise regimens that alleviate stress. I will talk about stages of the aging process that starts with puberty and what’s on the horizon that promises to give us more vitality longer.”
          The free program is sponsored by the SSU Women’s Forum and is being partially funded by the Jane M.G. Foster Distinguished Lecture Series and Southern Ohio Medical Center (SOMC).
            “We’re very excited to have a woman of her caliber come to campus for our Leslie Williams Symposium. She’s going to talk about women’s health issues and in particular she’s going to address working women who are also raising families, and sometimes with our students it’s raising a family, going to school, and working and how do you handle all of the stress and pressure and still remain healthy,” said Marcia Tackett, SSU Women’s Forum member and organizer of the event.
            Mary Alice Williams rose to national prominence as one of the founding anchors and designers of CNN, where she served as the cable channel’s main news anchor in addition to serving as vice president in charge of the New York bureau through 1988. In 1989, Williams moved to NBC where she anchored “Sunday Today,” “NBC News Special Reports;” “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow;” and NBC’s extended coverage of “Desert Storm: War in the Gulf.” Williams was also a frequent anchor of and correspondent for “NBC Nightly News,” “Sunrise,” and “The Today Show.” While at NBC News she became the first woman to win a national Emmy Award for anchoring the evening “NBC Nightly News.”
            Williams is now host of “Quiet Triumphs” on the Odyssey cable network and author of a book by the same name. She focuses her journalistic talents on investigating how health issues impact individual lives.
            “My father was doctor and dean at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Growing up, health was always a subject that fascinated me and very few journalists have the time to really understand all the issues involved,” Williams said.
            An advocate for research on women’s specific health issues, Williams has produced 38 television spots with the Women’s Health Alliance and Hearst TV that have aired on ABC affiliate stations. She has hosted a special with Bill Moyers called “Within Reach” on alcoholism and addiction and currently hosts a short, informative medical-related program called “Daily Rounds.”
            “Despite what the nation’s insurance companies say, ‘WE’ women are the nation’s primary health care providers. We care for our entire families though we’re not great at taking care of ourselves,” Williams said. “’Daily Rounds’ is my attempt to give women what they want; smart, up-to-the-minute information they can use in the care-giving roles they play. And I do it in five minutes, which is roughly all the time they have. It has been very successful.”
            Mary Alice Williams joins an elite list of people who have appeared at SSU as part of the Leslie Williams Symposium. Those people include: Helen Thomas, journalist, dean of the White House Press Corps and former Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief for UPI; Nikki Giovanni, internationally-renowned and award-winning poet; and Rory Kennedy, award-winning documentary filmmaker, among others.
            “Leslie Williams was a wonderful person. She was the chairperson of the Department of Arts and Humanities at SSU few years ago and sadly she died of cancer while still employed here,” Tackett said. “The Women’s Forum has a guest lecture each spring so it was decided that it was an honor to name the guest lecture each year after Leslie.”
            Mary Alice Williams will speak at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 21 at the VRCFA. There will be a book signing following the free event. For more information call (740) 351-3281.

            Would you recommend your lifestyle to your patients?  That is the question being asked by organizers of an upcoming University Outreach Services program. 
            The event, co-sponsored by Southern Ohio Medical Center (SOMC) and part of the nursing professional development series, will be held on Monday, May 9, 2005, at SOMC, in celebration of the beginning of National Nurses Week. 
            There are two session times from which to choose: 10:30 a.m. to noon, and 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. The cost for the session is $29; the session is free to SOMC employees.
            The session has received Ohio Nurses Association (ONA) approval for nurse participants for 1.6 contact hours, according to SSU University Outreach Services director Ginnie Moore.
            The registration deadline is April 18.
            For more information on this session, call (740) 351-3109 or (740) 354-5000.

Shawnee State University (SSU) and Bristol Village have teamed up for their second annual lecture series that begins on April 12.
            Speakers from the SSU Speakers Bureau who are scheduled in the series include James Day, Ph.D., professor of business management, speaking on “An American business professor’s experiences in China” on April 12; Sam Coppoletti, M.P.T., senior instructor in the physical therapist assistant program, giving a presentation on “Prevention in health and fitness” on May 17; and Larry Mangus, Ed.D., vice president for student affairs at SSU, speaking on “Civil War stories and tales” on June 21.
            The presentations begin at 3 p.m. on each date and will be held in the Activities Center at Bristol Village, 660 E. 5^th Street and Bristol Boulevard in Waverly. The series is open to the public and free of charge.
            For more information or to reserve a seat for the series, call Bristol Village at (740) 947-2118 or (800) 223-9766.

            The Shawnee State University (SSU) chapter of the National Honor Phi Eta Sigma, a national honor society, will have their 2005 induction ceremony on Tuesday, April 12, at 6:30 p.m.  The ceremony will take place in the Main Theater of the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts (VRCFA) located on the SSU campus.
            Larry Mangus, Ed.D., vice president for student affairs at SSU, said Phi Eta Sigma is the nation’s oldest and largest freshman honor society.  Founded in 1923 at the University of Illinois, the organization has grown to more than 300 chapters and has inducted more than 700,000 members since inception, he said.  “In order to become a member, a freshman must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale,” Mangus said. “Students become life-long members upon being inducted, and are then eligible for scholarships ranging in amounts from $1,000 to $5,000.”
            Each year local chapter members nominate and vote on a list of honorary members, including people from all walks of life, who are usually in some way relative to the college experience, Mangus said. “This year, along with more than 155 outstanding students, three honorary members have been chosen to be inducted as well.  The chapter has selected Mary Dillard, professor of English; Patricia Spradlin, senior instructor of English and humanities; and Dale Taylor, director of the Student Success Center.”
            All members of the campus community are invited to attend the ceremony and reception to follow.  For more information call (740) 351-3280.

            Shawnee State University (SSU) presents the highly-acclaimed and award-winning acoustic string band Nickel Creek at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts (VRCFA) on Tuesday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m.
            Considered to be among the fastest rising performers in the country, Nickel Creek is known for their “talented musicianship, heartfelt lyrics, and musical maturity well beyond their years,” said Carl Daehler, executive director of the VRCFA. Individually, the members of the group have performed or recorded with such artists as the Dixie Chicks, Dolly Parton, Bela Fleck, and Glen Phillips among others.
            “We are extremely proud and excited to present this outstanding group of musicians,” Daehler said. “Nickel Creek is currently the buzz of the entire music industry. They can do it all.”
            The Chicago Tribune wrote that Nickel Creek is, “arguably the finest acoustic string ensemble operating today; Nickel Creek is the future of American acoustic music.”
            Rolling Stone magazine has included Nickel Creek in their “Best of 2002” while Time Magazine featured them in their music innovators special in May 2000, naming them one of  the “Five Music Innovators for the Millennium.”
            The performance by Nickel Creek is being held in conjunction with SSU’s Conversation Day, a day-long self-assessment of the university according to SSU President Rita Rice Morris, Ph.D.
            “It is a time for the University to assess itself and see how we can better serve our students and community,” she said.
            David Todt, Ph.D., associate provost and director of institutional planning at SSU said “the theme for the Conversation Day is “A nickel for your thoughts, together they’re worth a million for SSU.” “The performance by the highly-acclaimed Nickel Creek will help Shawnee State end the day by celebrating the quality of the university with excellent music,” he said.
            Nickel Creek consists of fiddle player Sara Watkins, age 23, her brother, guitarist Sean Watkins, age 26, and mandolin player Chris Thile, age 23. They have been together as a band for more than 13 years.
            Their self-titled debut album contained hit songs like “The Lighthouse’s Tale.” Their second album, “This Side,” included the number one hit “Smoothie Song” that topped the AAA Radio Chart in 2003. Also in 2003, Nickel Creek won its first Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Both albums were produced by Alison Krauss.
            The VRCFA brings the diverse group Nickel Creek to SSU on April 26 at 7:30 p.m. Capital City Partners is a sponsor of the event. For ticket information call the McKinley Box Office at (740) 351-3600.