Archive - Mar 2006

April 1

Or is it All Fools’ Day? One of the first reportings of All Fools’ Day was in Poor Robin’s Almanack (no, not Poor Richard; but Poor Robin) in 1760. Poor Robin said, “The first of April, some do say, is set apart for All Fools’ Day, but why the people call it so, nor I nor they themselves do know.”

            January 23, 2006, Staten Island, NY…..The Department of Modern Languages at WagnerCollege will be screening five recent French films between January 30 and February 3, 2006.  All screenings will take place in the Spiro Communications Center, Hall #2 on the Staten Island Campus.

            The festival is made possible with the support of the French Ministry of Culture (CNC), and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

Lecture Sponsored by Wagner College’s DaVinci Society 

            February 1, 2006, Staten Island, NY… “The Staten Island Italian-American Experience,” will be the topic of a Sociology Department lecture sponsored by the college’s DaVinci Society.

            This class, which began on January 24, is being held in conjunction with the society's latest fundraising effort, "The Staten Island Italian-American Experience" a unique collection of Italian-American family histories and their story of migration to America.

(Presented by Wagner’s Chai Society)

            February 2, 2006, Staten Island, NY…Wagner College’s Jewish Culture Series will have four more lectures this academic year, all hosted by Rabbi Abraham Unger of Congregation Ahavath Israel in Tottenville. Rabbi Unger is Scholar in Residence at Wagner College where he teaches in the Department of Government and Politics.

            The schedule is as follows:

            Monday, February 13, 8pm, Spiro 4: Natalie Profis on the Current Israeli Political Scene. Wagner Executive MBA student from Israel, Natalie Profis will be speaking on her own personal story and the current Israeli political situation. Ms. Profis, originally from the former Soviet Union, is a graduate of Tel Aviv University in nursing. She treated Yitzchak Rabin in the hospital emergency room where he was brought upon his assassination.

            Sunday, March 12, 7pm, Spiro 2: Panel on Birthright Israel. First-ever group of Wagner undergraduates and graduate students who traveled to Israel in January on a Birthright trip will have a discussion about their Israel experience and the Birthright program.

            Monday, April 10, 8pm, Spiro 4: Dr. Ben Morss on the Jewish Influence in American Popular Music. Dr. Morss, Assistant Professor of Music at Concordia College, played piano and arranged for Cake's album "Prolonging the Magic" and the new album by the platinum-selling band, Wheatus. A beat he helped make was sold to Mary J. Blige. Dr. Morss' former rock band the Pilgrims was on the charts of college radio stations nationwide and received tens of thousands of downloads online. His playing was used in the films "Sidewalks of New York" and "L.I.E." He played with the California acid-jazz group 11:11 at festivals such as NXNW and SXSW. Ben is a member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop. He wrote the music for "Pop Star," a musical for teenagers published by Samuel French. He is writing a children's piece for the Vital Theater's 2006 season. Recently, Ben has musical-directed "Songs for a New World" in Delaware, "Anna Bella Eema" at New Georges in NYC, the original reading of "LOST", "Master Class" at the New York State Theatre Institute, "I Love My Wife" at the Helen Hayes Theatre in Nyack, the Queens Theatre in the Park, and the Emelin Theater in Mamaroneck, and "The Most Happy Fella" at the Asbury Summer Theatre. Last year, he arranged the music for the stage adaptation of Trey Parker's "Cannibal! The Musical."  Ben has a doctorate in composition.  His new crossover group, the Infinite Orchestra, has been playing around Manhattan at venues such as the Knitting Factory, Sin-E, and the Cutting Room.

            Monday, May 8, 8pm, Spiro 4: Closing lecture of the academic year: Rabbi Abraham Unger on Outreach in American Jewish Life. "Outreach" has become a buzzword of American Jewish religious life across denomination. How and why did this movement develop so strongly in American Jewish life? What forms has it historically taken prior to the American Jewish experience, and what shape is it currently taking?

                February 16, 2006, Staten Island, NY…Wagner College will recognize V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls, with performances of "The Vagina Monologues."

                Celebrated as the bible for a new generation of women, The Vagina Monologues Eve Ensler's Obie Award-winning masterpiece has been performed in cities all across America and at hundreds of college campuses. It gives voice to women's deepest fantasies and fears, guarantees that no one who reads it will ever look at a woman's body, or think of sex, in quite the same way again and has inspired a dynamic grassroots movement--V-Day--to stop violence against women.

            March 1, 2006, Staten Island, NY…..A panel presentation, "From Tourist to Global Citizen: Bangladesh, El Salvador and New Orleans," will take place tomorrow, Thursday March 2nd from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Faculty Dining Room, Union Building, Wagner College.

            Co-sponsored by Wagner College's Academic and Cultural Enrichment department and Project Pericles, the event will showcase the volunteer efforts of students and faculty who traveled to Bangladesh, El Salvador and New Orleans in January 2006.

            Wagner College nursing students visited New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and helped distribute aid kits to residents. The chemistry and English students who went to Bangladesh worked as scientists and journalists and learned about the country. Political science students went to El Salvador and worked in an orphanage.

            The event will include a roundtable about the meaning of being socially responsible and becoming an active citizen.

(Presented by Wagner’s Chai Society)

            March 7, 2006, Staten Island, NY…Wagner College’s Jewish Culture Series will be having the second lecture for this semester on Sunday, March 12, at 7:00PM in Spiro Hall 2. It will be hosted by Rabbi Abraham Unger, Scholar in Residence at Wagner College where he teaches in the Department of Government and Politics.

During the lecture, the first-ever group of Wagner undergraduates and graduate students who traveled to Israel in January on a Birthright trip will have a discussion about their Israel experience and the Birthright program.

 The Attack on Science From Washington to the Classroom:
Public Policy, Science Education, and the Emperor's New Clothes
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            March 24, 2006….Prof. Lawrence M. Krauss will address Wagner faculty and students on Thursday, March 29th at 1:15 in Spiro Hall 2.

            Krauss is Director of the Center for Education and Research at Case Western ReserveUniversity. He is the author of six popular books, including the international bestseller, The Physics of Star Trek., and his most recent book Atom: An Odyssey from the Big Bang to Life on Earth...and Beyond.

            March 28, 2006, Staten Island, NY…Wagner College’s DaVinci Society will be having its Spring Luncheon on Monday, April 10, 2006 from 12:00PM-2:00PM in the Wagner Union’s Faculty Dining Room. Wagner President, Dr. Richard Guarasci, and former Staten Island Borough President, Hon. Ralph J. Lamberti, will co-chair the event.

            The event will spotlight six Honor Program Seniors who are the recipients of the DaVinci Society's "City-as-Text" Travel Scholarship. The scholarship provides these students with the opportunity to travel to Venice, Italy for a week of study and immersion in Italian Culture with Dr. Miles Groth Wagner College’s Honors Program Director.

                            (Presented by Wagner’s Chai Society)

March 28, 2006, Staten Island, NY…Wagner College’s Jewish Culture Series will feature a discussion on  Jewish influence in American popular music le Dr. Ben Morss on Monday, April 10, 8:00PM in Spiro 4. The lecture is free of charge.  To reserve a seat, please respond to rsvp@wagner.edu.