November

As an institution that is committed to teaching, learning, and sharing, American University works in many ways to build a sense of community on campus, in our neighborhoods, and across our city. Here’s a snapshot of our efforts during the past week:

• More than 500 people gathered for a gala at the National Building Museum to celebrate the 50th anniversary of WAMU 88.5 FM.
• On campus, 600 students, faculty, staff, alums, and neighborhood families visited our first Science Spooktacular “haunted house” in the basement of McKinley building. Zombie forensics, the Chamber of Torture (Gummy Bears), an alien crash site, and Dr. Frankenstein’s lab were some of the spooky science learning areas created by teams of science faculty staff and students. They also hosted students from Washington Math, Science ,and Technology Public Charter High School, The Lab School, Ballou Senior High School, and McKinley Tech High School. Visiting students told one teacher it was the best field trip they had ever been on.
• Across campus, the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center hosted an artists’ reception for the opening of the late fall 2011 exhibits.
• The Osher Life Long Learning Institute at AU held classes for retired community members who want to continue learning. Students and staff also met to help plan for a new community garden that will involve our neighbors.

With Veterans Day this month, we are also proud to announce that AU is ranked among the nation’s top Military-Friendly Schools. For the second year, G.I. Jobs magazine rated AU among the top 20 percent of all colleges, universities, and trade schools in the nation. As part of our efforts to welcome veterans to campus, AU participates in the Yellow Ribbon financial aid program for veterans, provides a Veterans Liaison Network, and has a chapter of the Student Veterans of America.

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A Veterans Day Musical Tribute

We celebrate Veterans Day on Friday, November 11, with a musical tribute by AU’s Symphonic Band at 8 p.m. in the Abramson Family Recital Hall at the Katzen Arts Center. The program will feature music that pays tribute to our nation’s heroes, including our veterans and first responders. We hope you can join us as we pause to reflect on all those who have given their lives for all of us. Free parking is available under the Katzen building. Tickets: $10, $5 seniors at http://www.american.edu/cas/auarts.

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Men's and Women's Basketball Season Under Way

Vlad Moldoveanu '11 and Michelle Kirk '11
Photo Courtesy of AUeagles.com

It’s hoop time as our men’s and women’s teams kick off the basketball season. The home game schedule for the men’s team this month includes Randolph-Macon (Nov. 2 - exhibition), Florida Atlantic (Nov. 16), Quinnipiac (Nov. 22), and Howard (Nov. 29). Home games this month for the women’s basketball team include District of Columbia (Nov. 3 – exhibition), James Madison (Nov. 13), Oakland (Nov. 15), Mount St. Mary’s (Nov. 18), and Maryland Eastern Shore (Nov. 30).  For a full schedule and tickets, visit http://www.aueagles.com/landing/index.

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Helping Hands: AU Students Collect Trash in the Neighborhood

We hope you have seen and met some of the teams of AU students out in the neighborhood collecting trash and cleaning up park areas. Office of Sustainability interns, in collaboration with the Washington Semester Program in International Environment and Development, and the AU grounds crew recently organized a trash pickup in the neighborhood. Other groups including the student government’s Community Service Coalition and the student environmental club Eco-Sense also have received kudos from neighbors for their efforts to help clean up a neighborhood park damaged by storms. Our students enjoy getting to know and work with our neighbors, so if you have a project that needs some help, please let us know at Community Relations.

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A Special Afternoon: Kids @ Katzen

Here’s a great way for kids to learn about documentary photography and take their own photos for an exhibit at the Katzen Arts Center. Join us Sunday, November 13 at 1 p.m. at the Katzen Arts Center for our popular Kids@Katzen workshop. At the session, kids will be introduced to the current exhibit of documentary photographer Louise Rosskam, learn tips and tricks from a contemporary photographer, and take home disposable cameras to shoot their own images. RSVP required. Register at www.american.edu/kidsatkatzen. There is a $10 cash materials fee payable the day of the event. Art-friendly clothes are recommended. The photos resulting from this workshop will be displayed in a special Kids@Katzen exhibition at the Katzen Arts Center from January 28 – February 28, 2012. Kids@Katzen will have their own celebratory artists’ reception on Saturday, January 28, 2012 from 6 – 8 p.m.

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The 100 Greatest TV Ads: Can You Name Them?

What do Apple, Mobil, Volkswagen, and Budweiser have in common? They sponsored some of the best TV spots of all time. Join us on Wednesday, November 16 at 7 p.m. for a seven-decade romp through the history of broadcast advertising with former advertising director Drew Babb, who will teach political advertising at the School of Communication this spring. He’ll show why these commercials are works of art, moved people, and changed the world. Free and open to the public at the Wechsler Theater on the third floor of Mary Graydon Center.

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The Arts Shine on Campus: Dance, Drama, Symphony, and Jazz

This month features some exceptional student performances to enjoy:

-- November 9 at 8 p.m. – The Dance Choreolab 2011: Dance Dance Evolution, an evening of student dance works in progress and a panel discussion with local dance professionals at the Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre, 4200 Wisconsin Avenue. Tickets: $5.

-- November 12 at 8 p.m. – The Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Workshop explore improvisation from Dixieland and free jazz to the expanded improvisation concepts in contemporary jazz ensembles. At the Katzen Arts Center. Tickets: $10, $5 seniors.

-- November 17 – 19 at 8 p.m. – A drama Talking With explores the lives of women through relationships to work, other women, parents, men, and the socio-political environment in the Studio Theatre at the Katzen Arts Center. Tickets: $15, $10 seniors.

-- November 18 – 19 at 8 p.m. – The AU Symphony Orchestra’s Storm of Passion explores the fire of human passion in three countries spanning three centuries with Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 in G minor, Saint Saens’ Dance Bachannnale from Samson and Delila, and music from Khachaturian’s ballet Gayane at the Katzen Arts Center. Tickets: $15, $10 seniors.

For program information and tickets for these performances, visit http://www.american.edu/cas/auarts/.

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AU Library Digital Futures Forum

This year’s Digital Futures Forum on Tuesday, November 8 from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m., presented by the AU Library will address Forging a New Path: How Technology and Digital Literacy Are Changing American Colleges and Universities. Keynote speaker is Richard A. DeMillo, author of Abelard to Apple: The Fate of American Colleges and Universities. Free and open to the public in the Abramson Family Founders Room in the School of International Service.

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All the Wonks Are Talking

(Photo: Jeff Watts)

Maybe you’ve seen it during Meet the Press, Face the Nation, CBS Sunday Morning, or The Daily Show. It’s AU’s new TV spot All the Wonks Are Talking, featuring AU students, staff, alums, and faculty. Check out the cool animation that brings still poster ads currently around DC to life. In the commercial’s opening scene, two women in a Metro station are surprised when an Academic WONK drops books from his Metro wall poster out into their walking space. The commercial was created by the University Communications and Marketing branding team. To learn more about AU’s award-winning WONK (KNOW reversed) campaign, and to take the WONK challenge, visit the World of Wonks Web site.

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A Colloquium: Building Living and Thinking Underground

Join us on Friday, November 11, from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. for a colloquium on The Ground Beneath Our Fee: Building, Living and Thinking Underground at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center. The colloquium incorporates the current museum exhibition Wayne Barrar: An Expanding Subterra. Panels will focus on space, history, and infrastructures in Africa, England, and North America. Discussion with photographer Wayne Barrar and David L. Pike, author of Subterranean Cities and Metropolis on the Styx. Free and open to the public. RSVP at lit@american.edu. Talks include Matthew Coolidge, founder/director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation and Rosalind Williams, M.I.T., author of Notes on the Underground, Retooling: A Historian Confronts Technological Change, and Dream Worlds.

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November Events

Tuesday, November 8 at 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. Osher Lifelong Learning Institute free lecture series features current Artist-in-Residence at IONA Senior Services Center Mickey Klein, as she presents a slide show and discussion about her watercolor painting and photography. Temple Baptist Church, 3850 Nebraska Ave., NW.

Tuesday, November 8 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. AU Library’s 4th Digital Futures Forum. Abramson Family Founders Room, School of International Service. Free and open to the public.

Tuesday, November 10 at 4 p.m. The Center for Israel Studies presents Sharett versus Ben-Gurion: A Reconsideration of Israel’s Policy of Massive Retaliation in the 1950s. Lecture by Michael Doan, Roger Hertog, Senior Fellow at Saban Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution. East Quad Building on campus (Old SIS Building).

Wednesday, November 9 at 8 p.m. Choreolab 2011: Dance Dance Evolution presented by AU’s student choreographers at the Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre, 4200 Wisconsin Ave., NW. Tickets $5 at (202) 885-2587.

Friday, November 11 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thinking Underground, a colloquium organized in conjunction with the AU Museum exhibition Wayne Barrar: An Expanding Subterra. Free and open to the public in the atrium of the Battelle-Tompkins building on campus.

Thursday, November 10 at 4 p.m. The Center for Israel Studies presents The Jerusalem Syndrome: How a Tiny Political Network Shapes Israel’s Policies on a Volatile City. Lecture by Ami Pedahzur, Professor of Government and Middle Eastern Studies, and the head of T.I.G.E.R. Lab (Terrorism, Insurgencies, & Guerillas in Education & Research), University of Texas, Austin. In the Butler Board Room, Butler Pavilion.

Friday, November 11 at 7 p.m. AU Volleyball team plays Lehigh. Bender Arena.

Friday, November 11 at 8 p.m. AU Symphonic Band presents a Veterans Day musical tribute. Abramson

Family Recital Hall in the Katzen Arts Center. Free parking is available under the Katzen building. Ticket’s $15 and $5 seniors at www.american.tix.com or (202) 885-2787.

Saturday, November 12 at 4 p.m. AU Volleyball team plays Lafayette. Bender Arena.

Saturday, November 12 at 8 p.m. AU Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Workshop. Abramson Family Recital Hall in the Katzen Arts Center. Free parking is available under the Katzen building. Tickets: $10, $5 seniors at www.american.tix.com or (202) 885-2787.

Sunday, November 13 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Kids@Katzen. Kids will learn about the exhibit of documentary photographer Louise Rosskam, practice photo techniques, and take home a disposable camera to take photos for a special exhibit at the AU Museum from January 28 to February 28, 2011. $10 cash materials fee payable at event. RSPV required. Call 202-885-ARTS or visit http://www.american.edu/kidsatKatzen/.

Sunday, November 13 at 2 p.m. AU women’s basketball team plays James Madison. Bender Arena.

Tuesday, November 15 at 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m. Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s free lecture series presents David Freeman, digital camera enthusiast and Professor of Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Maryland as he talks about digital photography basics. Temple Baptist Church, 3850 Nebraska Ave., N.W.

Tuesday, November 15 at 7 pm. AU women’s basketball team plays Oakland. Bender Arena.

Tuesday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m. The Center for Israel Studies presents The Arab Spring –

Causes and Consequences in the Middle East, Focusing on Egypt, Syria and Libya. Lecture by School of International Service Adjunct Professor Yosef Olmert. East Quad Building lounge (Old SIS building).

Wednesday, November 16 at 7 p.m. Professor David Babb of the School of Communication, a former advertising executive, will show the 100 Best TV Spots of All Time, and discuss how TV ads are works of art, nostalgic views of the times, and can move people and change the world. At the Weschler Theater, Mary Graydon Center, third floor.

Wednesday, November 16 at 7:30 p.m. AU men’s basketball team plays Florida Atlantic. Bender Arena.

Thursday November 17 through Saturday November 19 at 8 p.m. and also November 19 at 2 p.m. Talking With, a drama written by Jane Martin, and directed by Gail Mardirosian, explores the lives of many women through their relationships to work, other women, parents, men, and the socio-political environment. A summation of thoughts, events, actions, memories, hope, defeats, and dreams dramatizing the challenges that all of us face in contemporary society. Studio Theatre in the Katzen Arts Center. Tickets: $15 and $10 seniors at www.american.tix.com or 202-885-2787.

Friday, November 18 at 7 p.m. AU women’s basketball team plays Mount St. Mary’s. Bender Arena.

Friday, November 18 at 8 p.m. The American University Symphony Orchestra presents Storm of Passion, exploring the fire of human passion in three countries spanning three centuries. The program, presented by students, faculty, and community members, features Mozart’s stormy Symphony #25 in G minor, used in the film Amadeus, Saint Saens’ raucous Danse Bachannale from Samson and Delila, and music from Khachaturian’s ardent ballet Gayane, a tale of one woman’s decision to expose her treacherous husband. Tickets $15 and $10 seniors at www.american.tix.com or 202-885-2787.

Tuesday, November 22 at 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s free lecture series presents Dr. Linda Bishai, senior program officer in the Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding to talk on Leaving Nuremberg: America’s Love/Hate Relationship with International Law. Temple Baptist Church, 3580 Nebraska Ave., N.W.

Tuesday, November 22 at 7:30 p.m. AU men’s basketball team plays Quinnipiac. Bender Arena.

Tuesday, November 29 at 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s free lecture series presents author Kristie Miller to talk about her book Ellen and Edith: Woodrow Wilson’s First Ladies. Temple Baptist Church, 3580 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.

Tuesday, November 29 at 7 p.m. AU men’s basketball team plays Howard University. Bender Arena.

Wednesday, November 30 at 7 p.m. AU women’s basketball team plays Maryland-Eastern Shore. Bender Arena.

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For event details and a full list of all upcoming events, see the University Events Calendar.