Servant Leadership — James Autry, former senior vice president and magazine group president of the Meredith Corporation, will speak on “The Transformational Power of Servant Leadership,” 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 19, in Douwstra Auditorium. He will also read from his works 3:30 p.m., Feb. 19, in the Geisler Library Reading Room as part of Central’s Writers Reading series. Autry is speaking as part of Central’s sesquicentennial celebration.

Mills Gallery in February— Rosalie Ann Altena ’72 will show her watercolor paintings and textile works at Central College Wednesday, Feb. 18, through Wednesday, March 17, in the Mills Gallery. Altena will give an artist’s lecture 7 p.m., Feb. 18, in Maytag’s van Emmerik Studio. A reception for her will follow in the Mills Gallery.

Hip-Hop Summit — Central College will celebrate the unique style of hip-hop music and culture 1 p.m. to midnight, Friday, Feb. 27, at its second annual Hip-Hop Summit and Step Show. The summit will feature keynote speakers Bryant K. Smith of Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., and Raphael Heaggans of West Virginia’s Bluefield State University as well as a panel of scholars, students and community members discussing the history and impact of hip-hop music on America today. The panel will examine two questions: “Is this rap crap?” or “Is there a message in the madness?” The step show will feature performances by eight different step teams including the Phi Beta Sigma UnKNOWn Stepteam, Washington, D.C.’s Step Afrika, Des Moines’ East High School Fusion, the Isiserettes, the ISU Hip-Hop Club, the Railmen, the South Tama Dance Team and rap artists DNA, Joe Gallagher and Soloman Starr. The show will be followed by an open microphone jam, featuring spoken word readings and poetry. The public is welcome to attend this event, sponsored by the office of intercultural life. Admission is $4 for students, $6 for adults and free with Central ID.

Auction for Juvenile Diabetes — Pella Corp. is sponsoring a benefit auction for juvenile diabetes research Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Pella Corp. Courtyard, 102 Main Street. There will be a silent auction at 4:30 p.m., dinner and entertainment at 6 p.m. and a live auction at 7 p.m. Cost is $12. For questions or information contact Leslie Johnston at (641) 621-6175 or ljjohnston@pella.com. Please call Jennifer Smith at (641) 621-6699 if you would like to donate an item to the auction. The guests of honor for the event are two-year-old Amanda Paplow and 13-year-old Alisha Landgrebe. Both girls have juvenile diabetes, but have not let the affliction and constant insulin shots slow them down.

Mini Golf — Pella Corp. is holding a mini putt golf fundraiser for juvenile diabetes 10 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Pella Corp. Atrium. Cost is a $5 donation. Families are welcome.

Total Success! — Former Drake basketball star and Des Moines television reporter Dolph Pulliam will present an energetic and uplifting message that emphasizes getting the most out of school and campus activities while enjoying the first-year college experience 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 2, in Graham Conference Center. Pulliam’s message is being brought to campus by Total Success, a program designed to encourage student persistence at Central via intentional curricular and cocurricular programming.

Theatre Central — The theatre production On the Verge or the Geography of Yearning, written by Eric Overmyer, will show at Central’s Kruidenier Center at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, March 3-6. Yearning is a verbal romp that follows the adventures of three Victorian-era lady travelers as they don pith helmets and thwack their way around the globe and into the mysterious reaches of Terra Incognita, or “The Unknown Land.” Like three female Indiana Joneses, they visit jungles, mountains and the polar ice flows sharing date bread and cream cheese as well as stories of their previous encounters with indigenous peoples and crocodiles.

The following people have graduated from the Advanced Connections program igniting Central into a service oriented culture: Sam Vande Weerd (admission); Connie Cross (college relations); Dan Mason (athletics); Dianne Redden (controller); Don Morrison (alumni); John Olsen (admission); Julie Miller (dining services); Lana Goodrich (library); Lynne Steenhoek (dining services); Mark Howard (dining services); Mike Lubberden (physical plant); Pat Joachim Kitzman (career services); Wayne Dille (financial aid); Anna Boat (computing services); Brenda De Nooy (student life); Colleen Evenhouse (athletics); Cyndi Atkins (college relations); Diane Schuring (campus services); Donna Newendorp; Jake Anderson (athletics); Jane Beranek (development); Janine Fontana (physical plant); Jennifer Schuring (athletics); Jim Cadwell (physical plant); Kim Brobst (dining services); Lowell Olivier (campus services); Marge Zondervan (health services); Mary Benedict (admission); Sharon Haning (human resources); Steve Sanchez (registrar); Sue Cerwinske (music); Sheryl Lubberden (athletics); Anna Fischer (career center); Barbara Oscarson (economics); Barbara Pieroni (international education); Carlyn Wei (international education); Cheri Doane (PLACES); Chrissy Spurgeon (development); Gisele Lehmkuhl (health services); Guy Schwab (physical plant); Jennifer Elsloo (financial aid); Judy Roorda (upward bound); Lynne Petty (development); Patrick Roland (college relations) and Sarah Turnbull (international education). Are you interested in becoming a part of this service culture or do you have an employee who would be great for this class? Talk to one of the graduates to find out about their experience or Call John Olsen at ext. 7600 to get signed up for the upcoming sessions.

In December Pamela Ewell (education) received the runners-up award for her paper titled, “Implementing the Iowa Professional Development Model” at the Iowa Educational Research and Evaluation Association Conference in Ames.

Ronald Kane Hardy (library) and eight student members of Central College Common Ground attended the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference Feb. 13-15 in Ames. The theme was “Speak up speak out: celebrating the power of communication to fight hate and fear.”

Russ Benedict (biology) had a paper accepted for publication in summer 2004 in Southeastern Naturalist. The paper, “Discarded Bottles as a Cause of Mortality in Small Vertebrates” describes work Benedict conducted with an undergraduate student at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. During the project, they counted discarded beer and pop bottles along roadsides in Virginia to look for shrews. Shrews enter bottles, possibly because their openings look like tunnel entrances. If the bottle is resting at an angle, the shrew gets trapped and dies. Benedict conducted this nasty, smelly project to determine if bottles represent a potential conservation problem for small animals. He found an average of 3,962 bottles per mile of roadway, containing an average of 295 dead animals per mile of roadway. Most animals killed in bottles were shrews but several kinds of mice, salamanders, lizards and insects also were found. Therefore, the pair determined litter can be more than just an eyesore, it literally can kill. Driven by the findings of this project, Benedict’s family has adopted a two-mile stretch of Hwy. 163, and they will begin cleaning it up this spring.

Mark Johnson (math) traveled to Washington, D.C., Feb. 4-7, to review grant proposals in computer science for the National Science Foundation’s course, curriculum and laboratory improvement program in the adaptation and implementation track.

Janine Fontana, Gayle Freel and Deb Randol (physical plant) attended track II of APPA’s Institute for Facilities Management, held in Tampa Bay, Fla., last week. The institute was sponsored by the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers.

Keith Ratzlaff (English), Treva Reimer (theatre), Louise Zaffiro (chemistry) and Jim Zaffiro (political science) attended the 9th annual local food conference, “Our Food: Safe, Sustaining, Soulful” sponsored by the Iowa Network for Community Agriculture (INCA), Saturday, Feb. 7, in Grinnell.

Dave Pavlat (exercise science) was included in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers 8th edition. This is the third edition he has been included in since he arrived at Central. He was nominated by exercise science major Tiffany Potter ’03.

Suzanne Wallace (economics) wishes to thank the Central community for the many generous expressions of sympathy and support she has received following the death of her mother, Marianne Brown.

Central would like to extend its sympathies to Jane Friedman (library) for the Dec. 19 death of her mother, M. Faye Dykstra Clark.

Bev Brand (education) and husband Denny want to say “thank you so much for the flowers from the Central College family in memory of Denny’s mom. We feel blessed to have the love and support of so many people at Central College. Our sincere thanks!”

Brenda Long has joined the physical plant as a custodian.

The Systems Portfolio Team responsible for the institutional self-study for re-accreditation is starting to work on the study. The beginning phase involves fact-finding by contacting key individuals across campus to collect basic information. Thanks in advance for assisting this team. Since the study is not due until November 2005, more detail will be needed as the team gets further into the process. In other words, it is possible that you may be contacted by different team members for different information regarding your specific department or administrative unit. Working on this self-study process is comparable to peeling an onion, and we are only at the first layer. As we continue to “peel” layers, we will need further assistance in addressing the questions for re-accreditation.

The First-Year Experience (FYE) Team has begun analyzing key data from the recently received CIRP (Cooperative Institutional Research Program) survey administered to new first-year students just prior to the start of the fall 2003 semester. CIRP is the longest-running national longitudinal study of the American higher education system, and Central’s FYE Team will use our CIRP survey data as baseline data against which improvement in FYE-related initiatives can be measured.

Central’s CIRP survey results comprise a detailed profile of our entering freshman class, and include national normative data for students in similar types of institutions. Data elements of particular interest for the FYE team include those related to students’ intellectual curiosity, academic drive and self-confidence, study habits, extra-curricular interests, and short-and long-term academic goals. In addition, the FYE Team was able to customize the CIRP survey to include questions specifically related to Central’s new Intersections course, and responses to those questions will play a key role in the assessment of the course.

The administration of the CIRP survey is the first in a comprehensive and integrated series of assessment initiatives of students’ experiences in the first year at Central. This coming April, all first-year students will be asked to participate in a follow-up to the CIRP survey, called the YFCY (Your First College Year) survey. This survey, designed in concert with the CIRP survey at the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, will provide our first nationally-normed look at students’ first-year experiences at Central. YCFY data will be analyzed in the context of both our baseline CIRP data and the previously-established goals and working initiatives of the FYE Team.

Contact Jann Freed (business management) with questions, comments or great ideas on how to make Central an even better place for students, staff and faculty.

Central Ray journalists Laura Billingsley, Melissa Miller, Mat Willey, Jen Erickson, Lacy Klapperich, Val Miller, Joni Carroll, KT Jensen, Susan Lensch, Perla Garza, Joni Carroll, Betsy Kane, Melissa Miller, Jeremy Huss and graduate Megan Marsden ’03 were nominated in 11 different categories at the 2003 Iowa College Media Association Awards. Willey won third place in the Best Sports Story category for his story “Omkar has himself a special daddy.” CentralMania.com won third place in the Online Publication category for general excellence, news reporting and design. KT Jensen was the online managing editor of CentralMania.com. Robin Buick was and is design editor. The competition included all Iowa colleges and universities. No distinctions made for divisions, for enrollment size, frequency of publication or scholarships awarded specifically for journalism.

Staff Professional Development Retreat — Motivational speaker Steve Siemens will present “Don’t Die Until Your Dead” 10 a.m., Tuesday, March 16, in the Graham Conference Center Banquet Room. Watch for invitations in your mail.

How can I prevent sexual harassment?

• Consider your attitudes — Don’t assume everyone will appreciate a “pat on the back,” a joke, gossip or a friendly compliment. Ask yourself: “Do I know how the person will take this? Would I want someone to say or do such things to me? To my friends or family?”
• Set a positive example — Treat everyone with respect. Let others know you expect the same from them.
• Speak out against sexual harassment — Remember, everyone loses if harassment is tolerated.
• Help promote campus awareness — Take part in workshops, support groups, rallies and other events.
• Don’t follow the crowd — Never take part in harassing another person. Instead, make an effort to stop it and help support the targeted person.