News Archive

(08/27/04)

Final "Friends" Concert Aims to Increase MUM Faculty/Staff Scholarship Endowment

The goal of the fifth and final "With A Little Help From Our Friends" scholarship benefit concert is to increase the endowment of the Miami Middletown Faculty and Staff Scholarship, which annually awards approximately $1,000 in scholarships to students attending Miami Middletown who demonstrate academic merit as well as financial need.

The concert will take place at 8 p.m. on Saturday, September 25 in the Dave Finkelman Auditorium at Miami University Middletown.

The "Friends" concerts, which began in September 2000, combine the talents of four Miami alumni pianists in a concert that includes pop, jazz, Broadway, blues, and gospel selections. The pianists perform as soloists, in duets, and together as a group.

"Five years is a great run for an event such as this," said Rod Nimtz, assistant executive director at Miami Middletown and one of the four pianists who will be performing that evening. The MUM Faculty and Staff Scholarship fund began in February 1997 with a special appeal to MUM faculty, staff, and retirees, that raised $15,000. A follow-up effort with MUM faculty and staff a year later took the fund to the full $25,000 needed to establish an endowment to ensure the scholarships would be available for years to come.

Increasing the endowment will mean that more funds are available to award for scholarships for future generations of students attending Miami Middletown.

Nimtz, together with Jimmy Rogers, Jeff Smith, and Julius "Juice" Davis, began the "Friends" concerts in September 2000 to help establish scholarship endowments at Miami Middletown. The four pianists are all Miami alumni from the late '70s and early '80s. They will be joined again this year by Miami professor Bill Albin on percussion and bassist Skip Edwards. Over the past four years the concerts have raised nearly $20,000 for scholarships at Miami University Middletown.

The first concert in 2000 made possible the endowment of the Ryan Green Scholarship, established in memory of a Miami Middletown student. Subsequent concerts raised funds to help endow the Audrey Canfield Neel nursing scholarship, the Middletown Chapter of the Miami University Alumni Association scholarship, and the Malcolm Sedam English scholarship.

Tickets for the event are $20 for adults, $10 for youth and students (up through college age). Tickets are available through the Miami University Box Office by calling 727-3383 or 529-3200, or on line at www.tickets.muohio.edu. Tickets are also available on the Middletown Campus at the Information Desk in Johnston Hall. All seats are general admission.

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(08/27/04)

Allen is Convocation Keynote

This year's Opening Convocation will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 8 at noon in Johnston Hall. The speaker for this event is Tammy Allen, Senior Instructor of Spanish and Portuguese at Miami Middletown and recipient of the Teaching Award of the Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities. This event is free and open to the public.

"This convocation represents a very old tradition in higher education where members of the academic community join together to celebrate the beginning of the new year and especially to welcome new students," said Associate Executive Director for Academic Affairs Dr. Kelly Cowan.

"This will be our sixth Convocation at Miami Middletown and they have proven to be enlightening and entertaining," said Associate Executive Director for Student Affairs Dr. Jim Ewers. "It's an hour well-spent and I would encourage everyone to attend."

Allen has been a member of the Miami University family since 1979 when she entered as a first year student. She earned dual B.A. Degrees in International Studies and Spanish in 1983 and an M.A. in Spanish in 1985. She also received a Certificate in Secondary Education from Xavier University.

Allen began her teaching career at Hamilton High School where she taught for three years before coming to Miami University Middletown. In her first year of teaching, Tammy received the Sallie Mae Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award, a recognition given to the top 100 "rookie" teachers in the nation. In 2002, Tammy received a commendation from President George W. Bush recognizing her "Š hard work and dedication in educating our Nation's young [adults]." This honor is even more impressive knowing students in one of her introductory Spanish courses wrote to President Bush asking for this significant recognition to show their appreciation for her work. In 2003, Tammy's contributions were acknowledged by her colleagues and peers when they nominated her for the GCCCU Excellence in Teaching Award.

Allen's vision and hard work has also helped the Office of Continuing Education to secure and teach more than 20 occupational Spanish programs to community social service, law enforcement, fire department and health care agencies.

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(08/26/04)

Continuing Education Fall Schedule Begins

Miami Middletown has announced its fall roster of Continuing Education courses. With over 50 courses to choose from, adult learners will have the opportunity to strengthen their computer skills, revitalize themselves with personal enrichment or fitness programs or try an online course. The following courses begin in September and October:

Computer Technology courses include A+ Certification Prep, Network+ Certification Prep, HTML-Web Design Basics, Intro to Computers & Windows, Maintaining Your Home Computer, Microsoft Word 1, Word 2, Excel 1 and Senior Computer Club.

Personal Enrichment courses include Faux Finishing, Fall Gardening, ACT Prep & Essay Writing, American Sign Language, Smart Women Finish Rich®, ID Theft, Debt Free Living, Retirement Planning for All Ages, Spanish, Holiday Wreaths and Machine Quilting.

Fitness classes include Pilates, Yoga, Step Aerobics, Tai Chi, Tai Kwon Do and Body Recall. Education To Go offers more than 300 online programs. Choose from topics such as writing, test prep, business planning, technology, legal, sales, marketing and much more. All you need to get started is access to the Internet, an email address and a desire to learn something new!

For more information or to register, log onto www.mid.muohio.edu/conted/ (log onto www.ed2go.com/mum for Education To Go) or call the Office of Continuing Education at 513-727-3300.

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(08/26/04)

Cultural Arts Series Begins Second Season

Miami Middletown's new Cultural Arts Series will begin its second season on Sept. 30 with a lecture by critically acclaimed journalist, author, and investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. Entitled Chain of Command: U.S. Foreign Policy Since 9/11, the lecture will be held at 10 am in Dave Finkelman Auditorium and is free and open to the public.

Hersh is widely acknowledged as the most influential and acclaimed investigative reporter of the past 35 years. His exclusive reports included the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, the C.I.A.'s bombing of Cambodia, Henry Kissinger's wiretapping of his own staff, the C.I.A.'s efforts against Chilean President Salvador Allende, and the current Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. His special focus is, and always has been, the abuse of power in the name of national security.

Other performers scheduled for the 2004-2005 season include: Brazil's Nego Gato Music and Dance Ensemble on November 13, documentary drama My Soul is a Witness on February 11 and legendary bluegrass singer Rhonda Vincent on April 23. All performances and lectures will be held in Dave Finkelman Auditorium. Hersh, Nego Gato and My Soul is a Witness are free. Tickets to Rhonda Vincent will be $15.

"We aim to bring an eclectic, entertaining and diverse array of artists and lecturers to Middletown with this series," said Miami Middletown Multicultural Affairs Coordinator Darius Prier. "We hope that our campus community, as well as the greater regional community, will join us at Dave Finkelman Auditorium many times throughout the coming season."

For more information, call (513) 727-3200 or 1-800-662-2262 (toll-free). Miami University is located at 4200 E. University Blvd.

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(08/26/04)

MUM's Tots Accepting Community, Campus Applications

MUM's Tots, Miami University Middletown's on-campus early childhood program, is accepting applications for both full-time and part-time enrollment in its early childhood program. MUM's Tots is now open to the community at large, having previously been reserved for the use of Miami University faculty, staff and students. The center's hours of operation have been expanded this year to weekdays, 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

MUM's Tots offers young children aged 3-5 a theme-based program with a developmentally appropriate curriculum. All of the teachers there have bachelor's degrees in early childhood education. It is also the model program for students majoring in Prekindergarten Education and Early Childhood at Miami University. Students of the university use the center for observation and as a student teaching site.

The center is a convenient resource for parents with half-day kindergarten students with bus service available to and from some of the Middletown elementary schools.

For more information, call 727-3220.

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