State of the Region conference to address economic development

Economic development in northwest Ohio will be the theme of the third annual State of the Region conference, to be presented April 2 in Sandusky by the University's Center for Policy Analysis and Public Service.

March 26 is the registration deadline for the conference, which will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Great Bear Lodge, 4600 Milan Road (U.S. 250). Cost is $25 per person, including a buffet lunch.

The keynote speaker will be Mark Drabenstott, vice president and director of the Center for the Study of Rural America within the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas. In his speech, beginning at 11:15 a.m., Drabenstott will address economic development in rural America and the concept of "thinking regionally, acting locally."

After lunch, at 1:15 p.m., representatives of northwest Ohio business and government will lead a panel discussion about the state of economic development in northwest Ohio from their professional perspectives.

Panelists will include Judith Cowan, the governor's regional representative for the Ohio Department of Development in an eight-county area of west central Ohio; Dale Fallat, vice president of corporate services for The Andersons, Inc., based in Maumee; Michael Jay, economic development director for the city of Fremont, and Larry Stelzer, director of the Mercer County Community Development Department.

Also at the conference, attendees will be the first to see the Center for Policy Analysis and Public Service's new publication, "The State of the Region-Northwest Ohio Perspectives." Produced by faculty at the center, the publication will focus on regional trends in population, economics and local government.

Registration for the conference may be done by phone, at 2-8710, or online, at www.bgsu.edu/cpaps. Checks should be payable to the Center for Policy Analysis and Public Service and sent to the center, in 109 South Hall.

Former astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison to speak on campus

The campus community will have an opportunity to hear Dr. Mae Jemison, the first black female astronaut, at the Africana Studies Student Research Colloquium luncheon on March 19.

As the keynote speaker for the colloquium, Dr. Jemison will discuss her remarkable career as a physician, astronaut, chemical engineer, scientist and teacher. Her talk will take place during the luncheon from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

Dr. Jemison entered Stanford University at the age of 16, graduating in 1977 with a bachelor of arts degree in African and Afro-American studies and a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering. She earned her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1981. Since then, she has followed a path of scientific and humanitarian achievement. She is well known for her contributions to Africana and other peoples through her research and international service, said Lillian Ashcraft-Eason, director of BGSU’s Africana Studies Program.

Dr. Jemison spent six years with NASA. As the science mission specialist on the STS-47 Spacelab J flight in 1992, she conducted experiments in life and material sciences and was a co-investigator of a bone cell research experiment.

Today, she is founder and director of two entrepreneurial companies aimed at harnessing technology to improve the quality of life for people around the globe. She also founded a non-profit foundation that engages international students in the study of science through a hands-on curriculum she wrote.

This year’s colloquium will address the topic “Perspectives on Race and Place in the African Diaspora.” The daylong event will offer students the opportunity to participate in panel discussions and share their own research related to the theme. The colloquium is co-sponsored by the BGSU and University of Toledo Africana Studies programs.

The cost of the African cuisine luncheon is $8.25. A choice of Kenyan coconut-curry chicken and potato salad or vegetarian Moroccan chickpea stew is available. Payment may be made at the door and can be made by bursar account.

Reservations are due by March 5. Contact Mary Wrighten, multicultural services librarian, at 2-7897 or mwright@bgnet.bgsu.edu. Include your meal preference and BGSU ID number.

Speaker to discuss Waldorf teaching methods

Ron Zang, a Waldorf teacher at the Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor, will give "A Picture of Waldorf Education" from 6-7:15 p.m. tomorrow (Feb. 24) in 1101 Fine Arts Building. A Waldorf teacher for 12 years, he was also a public school teacher for 15 years.

The first Waldorf School was developed in 1919 by Rudolf Steiner in Stuttgart, Germany. With more than 700 schools worldwide, Waldorf is considered the fastest growing educational movement in the United States. In recent years, increasing numbers of U.S. education experts have extolled the merits of Waldorf education and how it can enhance learning in public school settings. More than a dozen public school districts have adopted aspects of Waldorf methods, and there is growing interest in the use of Waldorf practices with youth in high-need urban settings.

Emphasis is placed on holistic learning, stimulation of the imagination and sequencing lesson content carefully correlated with both individual student differences and the developmental characteristics of children. Throughout the grades, the teaching practices and curriculum foster development of listening skills, creative and critical thinking, appreciation of the beauty in nature and life, and a love of lifelong learning. The arts are a major integrated component throughout the K-12 curriculum, for they are viewed as having primary importance in the development of cognition and thinking skills, as well as engaging all aspects of the child—mind, body and spirit.

Zang’s lecture is supported by a 2004 Partnerships for Community Action/Center for Innovative and Transformative Education partnership support grant received by Karen Kakas, art education. The grant is titled "Using the Visual Arts to Make Connections across the Curriculum, the Community, and the Population in the Vistula Neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio."