International Education Week

In celebration of International Education Week, program directors will be promoting their study abroad programs at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.

An information table will be on the second floor of Cavanaugh Hall on the IUPUI campus from 15-18 November, where students can find out more information about programs traveling to India, China, France, Germany, Dominican Republic, South Korea, Greece, Canada and many more.

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USA International Harp Competition

After 10 days of fierce competition amongst 39 harpists representing 15 nations, a gold-medal winner was chosen in the 2010 USA International Harp Competition 17 July at the Musical Arts Center (MAC) of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, reports the IU news bureau.

Agnès Clément (pictured, left) of Lyon, France, won the gold over two other finalists in front of a crowd of more than 1,400 people. The 20-year-old Clément led a field that included Rino Kageyama of Japan, 20, who won the silver medal, and Russian harpist Vasilisa Lushchevskaya, 21, who took the bronze. Susann McDonald, competition founder and artistic director, is pictured, at right.

The eighth triennial contest, which opened 7 July, featured an all-female field. After traveling thousands of miles and memorizing over two hours of required repertoire, competitors vied for more than $100,000 in cash and career assistance.

The fourth- through eighth-prize recipients were:

* 4th Prize: Coline-Marie Orliac, France
* 5th Prize: Jimin Lee, United Kingdom/South Korea
* 6th Prize: Ruriko Yamamiya, Japan
* 7th Prize: Gwenllian Llyr, United Kingdom (Wales)
* 8th Prize: Marta Marinelli, Italy

Special Prizes went to:

* Jan Jennings Prize for Best Performance of "Awakening Stillnesses" by Michael Maganuco: Coline-Marie Orliac, France
* Mario Falcao Prize for Best Performance of Concerto for Harp and Orchestra by Reinhold Glière: Rino Kageyama, Japan

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US-French Symposium Underway at Purdue

The Purdue University Global Engineering Program and the Chicago-based Office for Science and Technology of the French Embassy are co-organizing a French-American Symposium on “Developing Partnerships for Sustainable Water Management and Agriculture in the context of Climate and Global Change” that is underway at Purdue University in West Lafayette.

The symposium, 11-12 May, is sponsored by the The Office for Science and Technology of the Embassy of France in the United States, NSF, OECD, the French Ministry of Agriculture, and several French research institutions (CNRS, INRA, INPT, IRD, IAMM, ONEMA).

About 120 invited scientists from France, the United States and the international community are attending the symposium. Key themes of the presentations and discussions will be summarized in a report to be shared with scientists and interested policy-makers in France, the United States and the broader international scientific community.

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Socio-Cultural Minorities in France Today

Rosalie Vermette (left) will discuss "On the Edge: Socio-Cultural Minorities in France Today" at 4:30 p.m. Friday (26 March) during a Sabbatical Speaker Talk in Room 264, Campus Center, Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, 420 University Boulevard, Indianapolis. Dr. Vermette is Professor of French and Adjunct Professor of Women's Studies and a founding faculty member of University College.

She notes that both within France and between France and other nations there exist borders that attempt to separate social, cultural, and linguistic minority groups, creating a special category of "edge peoples" who have, metaphorically, one foot on either side of the divide. Information, Patti Hair.

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Alexis de Tocquevillle and Bloomington

Scholars from North America, Europe and Asia were at Indiana University Bloomington last week for a conference that examined the work of 19th century French political thinker and author Alexis de Tocqueville in light of recent scholarly publications.

"Alexis de Tocquevillle: New Perspectives on His Works" took place last Friday (5 March). It was organized by the Tocqueville Program at IU Bloomington in collaboration with the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, the Department of Political Science and Liberty Fund Inc.

On 23 April, the Tocqueville Program will co-sponsor a lecture on the IU Bloomington campus by Jonathan Israel of the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, on "Creating Revolutionary Awareness: 'Philosophy' as a main cause of the French Revolution (1770-90)."

Jonathan Israel’s work is concerned with European and European colonial history from the Renaissance to the eighteenth century, with particular emphasis on the history of ideas, the Dutch Golden Age (1590–1713), including the Dutch global trade system, seventeenth-century Dutch Jewry and Spinoza, the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688–91 in Britain, and Spanish imperial strategy especially in Mexico, the Caribbean and the Low Countries.

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Eighteenth-Century Furniture Design

Just a few more days remain to see an exhibition of 18th Century Furniture Design at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, which closes on 21 February. It includes more than 30 eighteenth-century prints of furniture design from France, Germany and England as well as related pieces of furniture, all drawn from the IMA's permanent collection.

These prints provided models for individual craftsman or gentleman clients. They reflected current fashions ranging from the graceful, organic curves of the Rococo to the sober, geometric forms of Neoclassicism. Together with the furnishings, they illustrate the major stylistic developments of one of the most significant periods of European decorative arts. Some of the most famous authors of published manuals of furniture design are represented, including Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Sheraton. Conant Gallery.

(Image credit: George Hepplewhite, Double Chest of Drawers, 1787, engraving, Director’s Discretionary Fund, 73.2.125)

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Liberté, Égalité, Antisemitism

Indiana University will inaugurate its Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism this week with a public lecture by Robert Wistrich, a leading scholar of the history of antisemitism, reports the IU News Bureau.

Wistrich will speak on "Liberté, Égalité, Antisemitism: The French Connection," at 7:30 p.m. 14 January (Thursday) in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 East Seventh Street, Bloomington. He is the Neuberger Chair for Modern European and Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the author of A Lethal Obsession: Antisemitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad, published this month.

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Valparaiso Adds China to Engineering Programs

Students in Valparaiso University's College of Engineering have a new opportunity to study abroad, reports Inside INdiana Business. The Valparaiso International Engineering Program in China is a five-year program that will provide students with a bachelor’s degree in one of four engineering disciplines and a minor in Chinese. Students would study and work in China during the fourth year of the program.

Valpo currently has international engineering programs in Germany and in France. More information on the engineering programs overseas is online.

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Lotus Festival: World Music & Arts

The Lotus World Music & Arts Festival, set for 24-27 September in Bloomington, has so much going on it's hard to settle on just one aspect.

For example, here are just some of the performers scheduled to appear:

# Rahim AlHaj / Friday
Virtuoso Iraqi oud

# Bajofondo / Saturday
Electrotango from Argentina

# BLK JKS / Saturday
Psychedelic, Afro-futuristic rock from South Africa

# Cara Dillon / Friday, Saturday
Irish traditional song

# Forro in the Dark / Saturday
Northeastern Brazilian party music

# Hanggai / Saturday, Sunday
Folk music from Inner Mongolia & China

# Huun Huur-Tu & Carmen Rizzo / Friday
Electronica meets throat-singing from Tuva

# Kinobe & Soul Beat Africa / Friday, Saturday
Ugandan song, dance, & drumming

# Srinivas Krishnan & Madras Broadcast / Saturday, Sunday
Indian fusion

# Little Cow / Thursday, Friday
Ska/rock/funk/Gypsy fusion from Hungary

# Los de Abajo / Friday, Saturday
Salsa, punk, and rock from Mexico

# The Megitza Quartet / Friday
Roma and East European world fusion

# Occidental Brothers Dance Band International / Friday
Central & West African dance music

# Orchestra of Tetouan / Friday, Saturday
Traditional vocal & instrumental music of Andalusia & North Africa

# Parno Graszt / Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Hungarian Gypsy music

# Salaam / Saturday
Middle Eastern & North African traditional music

# Väsen / Thursday
Contemporary instrumental folk music from Sweden

# Vishtén / Saturday, Sunday
Acadian traditional music, song, and dance

# Watcha Clan/ Friday, Saturday
Global fusion from France

# The Zolfonoon Ensemble of Iran / Saturday
Classical Persian

Did you know that the festival honors Lotus Dickey (1911-1989)? The folk singer, songwriter, and musician from rural Orange County, Indiana, wrote tunes and songs that drew from his family and community, as well as from country singers and fiddlers he heard on the radio. Each year, the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival honors Lotus Dickey's memory with a set of music or an interactive workshop that introduces new audiences to his music and the old-time traditions of the United States.

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DePauw Grads Head Abroad on Grants

Amanda J. Gebert, a 2008 graduate of DePauw University, will spend the coming academic year on a teaching assistantship in France as a result of receiving an international graduate study and research grant from the French government and the Institute of International Education, reports the DePauw news bureau.

Gebert becomes the seventh member of the DePauw community to receive an award through the Fulbright application process since spring. Anne M. Schaufele, a 2007 graduate of the University, will conduct research in El Salvador. Four May 2009 graduates of the University also received Fulbright grants: Jessica V. Strong, will conduct research in Germany on "The Effects of Music on Individuals with Dementia and Depression"; Ross A. Robinson will spend the next academic year in Germany teaching English to young people.

Lauren A. Wendling plans to travel to South Korea through an English Teaching Assistantship. Todd J. Schmid will spend a year conducting research in Paraguay as a result of receiving an international graduate study and research grant. Rebecca L. Upton, associate professor of sociology and anthropology and director of conflict studies at DePauw, will conduct research at the HIV/AIDS Centre at the University of Botswana in Gaborone, Botswana.

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IU Business Students Head to France

A group from the IU Kelley School of Business Indianapolis will travel to France this weekend for the school's first undergraduate study abroad program in Strasbourg, reports Inside INdiana Business.

The undergraduate students and their advisors will tour companies, visit the European government and cultural institutions, and hear presentations by European Union experts.

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"One Step Ahead of Hitler"

Fred Gross, author of One Step Ahead of Hitler: A Jewish Child's Journey through France, discusses his book at 7 p.m. tomorrow [11 May] in Carmel Clay Public Library, 55 4th Avenue SE, Carmel. It is sponsored by the Carmel Clay Public Library Foundation.

Gross knew much about the history of the Holocaust, but he knew very little of his or his family's story. It was not until the late 1980s, when he began to ask questions, that his mother opened up about their flight from the German invasion of Belgium. Later, his two older brothers would add to their mother's memories. Most of the Grosses' flight takes place in France during its defeat and collaboration with the Nazis, when 75,000 Jews were rounded up for deportation to death camps.

Gross was born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1936. A graduate of New York University, he was a reporter for the Journal-Courier, a daily newspaper in New Haven, Conn., and has been a public relations specialist in education for nearly thirty years. For the past 17 years Gross has been actively involved in the Jewish community in Louisville, Ky. He has taught a Holocaust curriculum to Sunday school students, and continues to share his story with middle and high school students and adult audiences.

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Deputy Mayor of Paris Coming to Indianapolis

The deputy mayor in charge of local democracy in Paris, France, will visit Indianapolis next week, reports Inside INdiana Business.

In town 17-22 April, Hamou Bouakkaz will speak with local experts about the impact of new technologies on constituent services and explore programs to encourage diversity in the workplace.

Kuijken visits UIndy for IBO concert

Baroque flutist and conductor Barthold Kuijken will perform at the University of Indianapolis as part of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra's concert tomorrow (23 February).

Kuijken, a native of Belgium and the IBO's new artistic director, will lead the orchestra in a program of music from the four principal nations of Baroque music: Italy (represented by the music of Corelli), France (Rebel and Campra), Germany (Handel) and England (Purcell).

"Les Nations" begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Ruth Lilly Performance Hall, Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center, UIndy, 1400 East Hanna Avenue, Indianapolis.

Admission is $15; $10 students and seniors and free for UIndy faculty, staff and students. For tickets and additional information, call 317:202-0546.

International Design Symposium

Designers, critics, scholars, manufacturers and dealers are participating in a two-day symposium at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in conjunction with the "European Design" exhibit on display 8 March through 21 June.

"Shaping a New Century: An International Design Symposium" will be held 6 and 7 March at the IMA to examine the present and future of European decorative and industrial design.

Four sessions will focus on creating, making, judging and designing.

Registration information is online. Cost is $150 for students and $250 for the public.

UPDATE:

Costs have dropped! It's now $50 for students and $100 for the public for both days!

Participants also have been announced. They are:
* Alberto Alessi (Director of Marketing Strategies and Design Management, Alessi s.p.a. – Italy)
* Jurgen Bey (Creative Director, Studio Makkink & Bey– Holland)
* George Beylerian (CEO & Founder, Material ConneXion - New York)
* Juli Capella (Director, Capella Arquitectura & Design, s.l. – Spain)
* matali crasset (industrial designer, matali crasset productions – France)
* Beatrice de Lafontaine (Director, when objects work – Belgium)
* Michele De Lucchi (architect, aMDL-architetto Michele De Lucchi Srl– Italy)
* Sylvain Dubuisson (Dubuisson Associes - France)
* Rolf Fehlbaum (Chairman, Vitra – Switzerland)
* Nasir Kassamali (Owner, LUMINAIRE® – U.S.)
* Eero Koivisto (Co-Founder, Claesson Koivisto Rune - Sweden)
* Didier Krzentowski (Owner, Galerie kreo – France)
* Susan Grant Lewin (President, Susan Grant Lewin Associates - New York)
* Catherine McDermott (Professor, Kingston University - United Kingdom)
* R. Craig Miller (curator, Indianapolis Museum of Art – U.S.)
* Cedric Morriset (independent journalist, curator and design consultant – France)
* Cilla Robach (curator, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm – Sweden)
* Jerszy Seymour (designer, Jerszy Seymour Design Workshop – Germany)
* Penny Sparke (scholar, Kingston University – United Kingdom)
* Dr. Josef Strasser (senior curator, Die Neue Sammlung--The International Design Museum Munich – Germany)
* Richard Wright (Director, Wright – U.S.)

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BASi Receives European Patent

West Lafayette-based BASi has received a patent in Europe for a new data collection system designed at its laboratory and office in the United Kingdom, reports Inside INdiana Business.

The patent for the Culex Automated In Vivo Sampling System is valid until 2019 and is effective in Germany, Denmark, France, UK and Sweden. BASi has its corporate headquarters at the Purdue Research Park and also has operations in Evansville.

And, Speaking of the French...

Indianapolis-based Liberty Fund publishes Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution by Germaine de Stael this month.

De Stael (1766-1817) was a novelist, critic, political thinker, sociologist of literature and autobiographer. She experienced first-hand much of the French Revolution. Her work is edited by Aurelian Craiutu, associate professor of political science at Indiana University Bloomington, who also provides an introduction.

Liberty Fund is a private educational foundation established in 1960 to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.

American Women During World War II

World War II is the topic for fall presentations at noon on the first Wednesday of each month in the Cole Porter Room of the Indiana History Center, 450 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis.

First up, tomorrow (1 October) is Katy Huehl, who will speak on "Coffee, Doughnuts and American Women During War". Huehl joined the Red Cross in 1943, and eventually found herself working in a "clubmobile" serving coffee and doughnuts to American servicemen in Europe. She'll take listeners on a journey from Normandy to Berlin.

Other topics are "Life in a Japanese-American Internment Camp" (5 November) and "African-Americans and 'The War'" (3 December).

Valparaiso University's International Triple Play

First:

Three spring graduates of Valparaiso University’s French program will spend the next year teaching in French schools after being accepted into a selective government-sponsored teaching program, reports the Valpo News Bureau

Emily Peters, a French and biology major from Merrillville; Barrett Ludy, a French and Spanish major from Fremont; and Taylor Steinbruegge, a French and television-radio communication major from Florissant, Mo., will travel to France in September to begin the teaching assistantship program.

The program, sponsored by France’s Ministry of Education and the Cultural Services, places recent Americans graduate in primary and secondary schools where they teach English and help French students practice their conversation skills.

Second:

The dean of Valparaiso University’s School of Law will help the Republic of Georgia begin a major reform of its legal education system this month, playing a consultative role in a gathering of the country’s law educators, judges and attorneys, reports the news bureau.

Jay Conison, vice chair of the American Bar Association committee that is responsible for the accreditation of law schools in the United States, recently was invited to help organize a two-day conference that aims to strengthen the rule of law and the legal education system in Georgia.

Third:

Fourteen Chinese college professors will begin an advanced English program at Valparaiso University this week, reports Inside INdiana Business.

The professors are from Zhejiang University of Technology, the partner university for Valparaiso's Confucius Institute.

The teachers, who arrive tomorrow, will tour houses with two local real estate brokers, visit Fair Oaks Farm to learn about agriculture's significance in U.S. culture and meet with Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas to hear about the nation's system of participatory government.

Mardirossian Joins IU School of Music Faculty

The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music has announced that violin virtuoso and world-renowned teacher of the instrument Kevork Mardirossian (pictured) will join the faculty this fall.

A former concertmaster of the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra (Bulgaria), Mardirossian performed as concerto soloist and recitalist throughout Bulgaria, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe before moving to Europe, where he developed an impressive solo career, with tours of England, Wales, Italy and the U.S., including debuts in London and New York's Carnegie Recital Hall in 1992.

He has appeared as guest artist at international music festivals in Cheltenham, England; the European Cultural Months; the International Chamber Music Festival in Plovdiv, Bulgaria; the Czech Festival in Trento, Italy; and the Sofia Musical Weeks, Bulgaria.

Between 1988 and 1990, Mardirossian was concertmaster of the Baton Rouge Symphony, after which he was appointed artist-in-residence in violin at the University of Central Arkansas. In 1995, he was appointed as violin professor at the College of Music and Drama at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

As a member of the prize-winning Mardirossian-Phillips violin-piano duo, Mardirossian has toured the U.S., England, Bulgaria, Italy, France, Spain, Japan and China. Mardirossian is also a member of the Kapelle Piano Trio, with which he founded the Strings and Piano Chamber Music Festival in Heber Springs, Ark. He joined the faculty of the International Institute at Round Top, Texas, in 2001.

Mardirossian conducts violin master classes for advanced violinists in Bulgaria, held yearly in the D. Petkov Conservatory. He also presents regular master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Boston University, Longy College, Oberlin Conservatory, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Seville, Granada and Cadiz Conservatories in Spain, Shanghai Conservatory and Sofia Musical Weeks Festival Academy.