For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Micki Leventhal, 312-344-7383
May 23, 2005
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TACKLES THE TASK OF TEACHING SCHOLARS HOW TO TEACH
Learner-Centered Approach to Teaching the Goal of Carnegie Foundation Initiative
NOTE: David Krause, Director of Columbia's Center for Teaching Excellence and coordinator of the 2005 CASTL Institute, is available for interviews.
Chicago, IL – Though expert in their areas of academic research and often recipients of national and international awards for scholarship, college professors have long been criticized for not having the specialized skills that are needed to share that knowledge with their classroom students; skills that can both assess learning outcomes and result in enhanced learning at the college level.
In 1998, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching launched its CASTL initiative – the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning – to help remedy the situation by sponsoring annual Institutes where college professors gain knowledge of best practices in the classroom, as well as the skills necessary to conduct research on teaching and learning. Through the Carnegie Scholars program, the initiative is also intended to build a national network of college teachers who mentor and support each other in their work to improve the quality of education at the college level.
This June 9 – 11, Columbia College Chicago will host the 2005 CASTL Institute on their South Loop campus. The 2005 theme is Creativity in the Classroom and in addition to mentoring sessions and workshops for the Scholars of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), the Institute features presentations by two noted scholars: Lee Shulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching will deliver the keynote address, "Pedagogies of Uncertainty/ Pedagogies of Innovation" and Craig Nelson, emeritus professor of biology at Indiana University and Carnegie Foundations 2000 Professor of the Year, will present an introduction to how to do the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
The 2005 CASLT Institute is the first of three that will be hosted by Columbia. In 2006 the theme will be "Media Arts and the New Literacies," followed by "Civic Engagement" in 2007.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Through the diversity of its students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and multiplicity of voices to American culture. For further information visit www.colum.edu.
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For Immediate Release
May 20, 2005
NOTE: Allen M. Turner is available for interviews. Headshot available.
Chicago, IL - Columbia College Chicago's Board of Trustees has elected Allen M. Turner, as its chairman. Turner will assume his duties immediately, succeeding William Hood, managing director of corporate affairs for American Airlines, who has served as chairman of the college's board since 2001.
Turner, who is a partner in Pritzker and Pritzker, has a long history of engagement in Chicago's arts community as a philanthropist, an administrator and a creator and performer.
Fans of the Chicago Humanities Festival might remember Turner's star turn in 2003 when he performed his one-man show, "How I Learned to Play the Piano." He's also composed works for the Chicago Children's Choir and created the words, music and vocals for the documentary film "Waiting for the New York Times."
Turner spearheaded the fundraising efforts - and oversaw construction of the current building - for the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, when he served as Chairman of the Board from 1991-1996. He also serves as chair of the Visiting Committee on Visual Arts at the University of Chicago and is a member of the committee on Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. He is founding trustee of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, a trustee for the Newberry Library and for the Market Theater Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Turner is a long-time supporter of Chicago theater. He served as Victory Garden Theater's first board chair from 1974-77. He was Chairman of the Board for Goodman Theatre from 1982-85 and founding chairman of the National Jewish Theater. He has lectured on American theater at Cambridge University and Yale and on arts management at the School of Business at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Poetry is another love of Turner's, so much so that his Illinois license plates read "Poetry." He serves on the advisory board of the Poetry Center of Chicago and founded The Poetry Board of Three Oaks, Michigan, where he maintains a residence. Turner serves as Chairman of the Board for the Three Oaks cultural institution, which awards an annual Poet Laureate prize.
MORE....
ALLEN TURNER ELECTED COLUMBIA BOARD CHAIR/ADD ONE
Turner's thoughts on arts philanthropy are non-traditional. "The days of the Eurocentric model - people in high places who support the arts for the benefit of the masses are over," he says. He maintains that those who are beneficiaries and participants in the arts must be involved and have a say in how the arts institutions are run and how they interact with the public. He cites Chicago's Mexican Fine Arts Museum and DuSable Museum as good examples of arts organizations that seek input from their respective communities.
"Allen's inclusive approach to arts and culture is a perfect match with Columbia College Chicago's mission of access and opportunity in higher education," says college President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. "I'm looking forward to working with him as he helps guide us as we grow the institution and prepare our students to become the cultural leaders of their generation."
"Columbia's commitment to diversity and the school's unwavering belief in the fact that multiple perspectives will enrich the arts and therefore benefit society is why I have chosen to put my energy into helping the college grow its vision," says Turner.
Turner, who received his J.D. from the University of Chicago and a B.B.A. from the university of Wisconsin-Madison, has an equally distinguished career in business. He is a partner in the family investment firm of Pritkzer and Pritzker and has chaired the executive committee of the Hyatt International Corporation. He is Chairman of the Board at Chicago Mill & Lumber Company and served as Chairman of the Board of McCall's Magazine from 1974-86.
In addition to having been appointed a Chevalier de l'Order des Arts et des Lettres from the Republic of France, Turner has been honored as Knight Commander, the Sovereign Military and Hospitaler Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta, Official Seat The Hague, Kingdom of The Netherlands. He is an Honorary Member of Kings College, Cambridge University, England.
For Immediate Release May 4, 2005
NOTE: Chester Gregory is available for interviews. Headshots of Gregory available electronically.
Chicago, IL - Chester Gregory, the up and coming young singer/songwriter/actor whom the New York Times called "dynamic" and WGN's Dean Richards called "a superstar in the making," will return to his alma mater to perform in full concert as part of the college's Manifest activities.
The Columbia musical theater graduate has always wanted to return to his school to perform in the college's Getz Theater. He makes his return on June 3 in an 8 p.m. concert. Tickets are $35 each for general admission and are available through TicketWeb, 866-468-3401 or www.ticketweb.com.
The concert will feature new music written by Gregory along with the industry's newest and hottest producers - tunes that display his five-octave vocal range. His lyrics have been described as "poetically poignant, provocatively thoughtful, and captivating." Critics have described Gregory as a cross between John Legend and Usher, with influences from Prince, Donny Hathaway and the great Jackie Wilson himself, and they note that Gregory gives you meaningful, heartfelt songs that have a message without being preachy, and a high, uncompromising performance level. He has captivated audiences around the country and is ready to come back "home."
A native of Gary, Indiana, Gregory graduated from the Emerson School for Visual and Performing Arts before coming to Chicago to pursue his degree at Columbia. He made his professional debut with the Chicago Theater Company, originating the role of Isaac in Train is Commin'. His Chicago career included a role in Drowning Crow for the Goodman Theatre and in Scapin at Court Theatre. He also became a regular with the Black Ensemble Theater, appearing in such productions as Doo Wop Shoo Bop, The Otis Redding Story, Chicago's Golden Soul and his award-winning performance in The Jackie Wilson Story.
After a three-year run in Chicago, The Jackie Wilson Story and Gregory toured nationally, a tour that culminated in a successful run at New York's Apollo Theater. Gregory moved to New York to build a successful concert career after he landed the role of Seaweed in Hairspray.
"I am thrilled to be returning to Columbia for the Manifest concert," says Gregory. "It'll be great to see everybody, and we're gonna have a lot of fun!"
For more information on Manifest, Columbia's Urban Arts Festival visit manifest.colum.edu.
Chicago, IL - Columbia College Chicago undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies will be held at 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, June 5 at the UIC Pavilion, 525 S. Racine.
This year, Columbia College will award 1981 undergraduate and approximately 100 graduate diplomas. Three distinguished individuals whose lives and work embody the college's ideals and spirit will deliver commencement remarks, announced Columbia's president, Dr. Warrick L. Carter.
Morning ceremonies include the undergraduate and graduate divisions in the School of Fine and Performing Arts and the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
During the morning ceremonies Columbia will award honorary degrees to:
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· Bill Viola, video artist, Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa
Afternoon ceremonies include graduate and undergraduate divisions of the School of Media Arts. The college will award an honorary degree to:
· Alan Kay, computer innovator, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
Mark Heister describes his approach to fashion and design as high-styled and no nonsense with a down-to-earth sensibility about style. This Chicago-based designer is described as having the eye of an architect and the hand of a sculpture which he uses to design unmistakably modern clothes to glorify the female form. Heister creates wonderfully sculptural clothes using signature design elements such as draping, knotting, tying and wrapping fabric. He is on the Apparel Industry Foundations Board of Directors and is a Hope B., McCormick Costume Committee member. He is the first living designer to be honored by the Chicago Historical Society with a retrospective. Heister runs Mark Heister Design Inc, with a showroom and design studio in the Chicago Apparel Center - his clothes are carried in fine specialty shops across the country and have been publicized nationally in publications such as Town and Country and Harper's Bazaar.
Alan Kay, Ph.D. is a former professional jazz guitarist, composer, theatrical designer, and amateur classical pipe organist, who is best known for the ideas of personal computing, the intimate laptop computer, and the inventions of the now ubiquitous overlapping-window interface and modern object-oriented programming. One of the founders of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, (PARC) he led one of the several groups that together developed modern workstations (and the forerunners of the Macintosh), Smalltalk, the overlapping window interface, Desktop Publishing, the Ethernet, Laser printing, and network "client-servers." He was awarded the Draper Prize by the National Academy of Engineering, was accorded the Turing award from the Association for Computing Machinery, and was declared a Kyoto Prize Laureate in advanced technology by the Inamori Foundation.
Bill Viola is recognized internationally as one of the leading artists working in video and sound installation. His works can be seen in the collections of major museums and galleries throughout the world. For the last 25 years he has used innovative multi-media technologies to explore the phenomena of sense perception as a language of the body and avenue to self-knowledge. In his work, Viola has integrated many disciplines and philosophies to present a broad view of the relevance of contemporary art to the modern world. Viola has received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the J.S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and was the recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Award.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Through the diversity of its students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and multiplicity of voices to American culture. For further information visit www.colum.edu.