Campus Spotlight

“Jim Eng . . . fostered the creative development of hundreds of students throughout his long tenure at the college,” says Art Department Chair Marc Cote. Now Eng is retiring after 32 years as a member of the art department faculty.

The All-Student Juried Show, in the Mazmanian Gallery from April 28 to May 9, is dedicated to him. Eng is seen above April 29 at the exhibition reception with Elizabeth Sousa, ’10, who won the Best of Show award with “Grit,” her brush and ink drawing (on right).

In retirement Eng looks forward to traveling, plein air painting, spending quality time with grandchildren, and working in his studio. “It is amazing to think I have spent half my life so far teaching at the college,” he says. “I leave with unbelievably wonderful memories and I hope that I have contributed in positive ways to the lives of my many students. I certainly have gained much from them.”

April 16, Brandon Krebs,’09, and Ashley Hall,’09 (above), took their commitment to nutrition education to an important segment of the population, children. The two students in the Coordinated Program in Dietetics organized a health fair for children at St. Bridget’s School in Framingham as a project in Professor Janet Schwartz’s Community Nutrition class.

Their aim was to show middle school students that too much snacking at the movies is not healthy. Hall and Krebs designed the project to get through to their young audience. “We bought three movie passes to an AMC theater and raffled them off to the groups of kids as an incentive to pay attention,” explained Hall.

“I think I learned as much as the students,” says Krebs. “This event showed me how capable I am of teaching these kids something useful using the skills and information I’ve learned.”

Hall also felt well equipped to reach out to the community: “Along with the many factual things we learn in class, the faculty prepare us for situations like the St. Bridget’s fair. The program is set up in a unique way that combines academic knowledge with hands on experience which gets students ready to enter all different sectors of the nutrition world.”

Center for Academic Support and Advising
• Ms. LaDonna L. Bridges, director of academic support and disability services, has been elected to the national leadership position of Chair of the Advising Students with Disabilities of the Commission of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). Bridges will assume this leadership role at the end of the NACADA Annual Conference to be held in Chicago in October and serve in this position until October 2010.

Art and Music Department
• Professor John Anderson has several sculptures in an invitational group show, “Free Reign,” at the Clark Gallery in Lincoln, MA, throughout the month of April. He will also have an experimental animation included in the Santa Cruz Film Festival in California beginning May 9.

Biology Department
• Dr. Margaret Carroll, chair, hosted the annual conference of the Massachusetts Association of Biology Teachers (MABT) at FSC March 15. The theme of the conference was “Pandemics and Pandemonium.” There were approximately 60 participants, primarily high school teachers and some college faculty. Among alumni attending were high school teachers Loreen Meyer,’83 (member of the MABT board of directors), and Marguerite Marcoux, ’00, and Rachel Boyce, ’05, a research assistant at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Chemistry and Food Science Department
• Dr. Carol Russell, chair, was one of the coordinators of the State Science Olympiad for high school students from around the state, held on the FSC campus March 15. Students from 35 high schools across Massachusetts participated. The Science Olympiad was created in 1983, with the goal of improving the quality of science education. It has members in all 50 states. This was the 12th successive year that the State Olympiad was held at the College.

History Department
• Dr. Jon Huibregtse, chair, co-chaired a high school history conference, in partnership with Laura Noon, ’06, a high school history teacher, at FSC March 20. The conference, attended by about 300 high school students, was hosted by the New England History Teachers Association with support from the FSC academic affairs office. The topic of the conference was “The Cold War at 60,” also the theme of the fall issue of the New England Journal of History which Huibregtse edits. He gave a talk entitled “The Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement.” Sharon Ann Payne Kelly, ’00, an archivist at the JFK Presidential Library, led one of the breakout sessions for teachers.

Nursing Department
• Dr. Susan Conrad, chair, was awarded the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation Leadership award March 13 for her efforts at FSC over the past three years to redress the shortage of nurse educators in the state: she has developed a nurse educator’s certificate program, launched online courses to accommodate nurses’ busy schedules, and created a two-year Master of Science in Nursing program.

“I can’t wait for Earth Day! The festivities have given me the opportunity to meet people from all over campus that I would otherwise never have met,” says Emma Abby, ’08, a geography major with a concentration in environmental studies, on preparing for this year’s Green Festival. The event takes place today, April 22, in the Athletic Center.

Abby, president of the Green Team: ECO, and Drs. Lisa Eck, English department, and Virginia Rutter, sociology department, are the coordinators of the event. Chris Giorgio, ’09, also a geography major with an environmental studies concentration and Green Team secretary and president-elect, plays a key role: “[He’s] responsible for most of the (wonderful!) Green Festival artwork/advertising that you’ve seen around campus,” says Abby.

Her hope is “that the Green Festival helps spread awareness on campus on many important environmental issues through the various presenters and displays.” Student groups will present exhibits on topics that include Think Green: Change your Behavior!, Alternative Energy Sources: Solar Energy, and Effects of Seasonal Temperature Changes on Plant Growth: Dormancy, Flowering and Reproduction.

There will also be displays from outside presenters such as the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Climate Crisis Coalition, and Whole Foods.

The Radio Club will provide live acoustic music from 5:30 – 7:00.

“It’s a great feeling to be part of such a positive event,” says Abby, “trying to do our part in educating our community about a whole variety of environmental topics that we know are so important to our future.”

Program:
• 5:30-7:00 Festival exhibits, displays and information
• 7:00-7:15 Unveiling of Climate Action Plan by President Timothy Flanagan
• 7:15-7:40 Awards ceremony
• 7:40-8:00 Guest speaker Laura Briere: World Green Business Association, with Amy Mosher
• 8:00-8:30 Open microphone - questions and answers

The first annual FSC Green Festival next Tuesday, April 22, will help take students to a new level in realizing the practical possibilities offered by the green movement.

“As seniors are graduating and looking forward to viable careers, we will paint a more hopeful picture for young professionals aspiring to various ‘green collar’ jobs in a new economy,” says Dr. Virginia Rutter, sociology department, one of the leaders in coordinating environmental awareness on campus.

A talk by a dynamic young CEO and entrepreneur in the emerging field of green business will help bring that about. Laura Briere is the president and founder of the World Green Business Association (WGBA), Worcester, established in 2007 to assist corporate clients in adapting to new ecological realities.

“The WGBA embodies the notion that ‘going green’ is timely and profitable, as well as socially responsible,” she says.

Briere has started four successful business ventures. In 2004 she won the Under Forty Award given by the Worcester Business Journal and Nichols College for excellence in business, entrepreneurship, and volunteerism.

She will be accompanied by her partner, Amy R. Mosher, WGBA director of programs and community relations, who has wide experience in green business, coalition building, and project management.