News

Troy Powell, artistic director of Ailey II American Dance Theater, and Diana White, artistic director at the Scarsdale Ballet Studio, will be teaching dance classes at the Summer Dance Intensive Program at Syracuse University. The dance intensive is offered through the Summer College Program for High School Students.

Powell, a native New Yorker, began his dance training at the age of 9 as a scholarship student at the Ailey School. A member of Ailey II and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater since 1991, he toured throughout the United States, South America, Europe and South Africa before becoming a master teacher at the Ailey School and resident choreographer of Ailey II. Powell has choreographed ballets for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, the Ailey School, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, National Dance Company of the Bahamas and Alaska Dance Theater, as well as three episodes of “Sesame Street.” Powell will work with students Thursday, July 11.

White had a 20-year career with the NYCB and worked closely with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Her repertoire included principal roles in works by both masters, including Balanchine’s “Apollo,” “The Four Temperaments,” “Western Symphony,” “Serenade,” “Liebeslieder Walzer” and “Jewels,” as well as Robbins’ “Dances at a Gathering,” “The Cage,” “Goldberg Variations” and “Moves.” White toured internationally with the New York City Ballet and as a guest artist with other companies. She has appeared several times on public television’s “Live from Lincoln Center” and “Great Performances.” She now is a private coach and a repetiteur with the George Balanchine Trust. White will work with students Monday, July 15.

 

Syracuse University representatives Karen Bass, Susan Corieri, Geraldine de Berly, Andrew Horsfall and Nancy Rothschild will participate in the fourth annual EducationUSA Forum in Washington, D.C., from June 26-28.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the EducationUSA Forum will bring together 500 college and university recruitment and admissions professionals with almost 60 EducationUSA regional educational experts and advisers from around the world to discuss strategies for helping international students to study in the United States and U.S. students to study abroad.

Colleges and universities, including Syracuse University, play an important role in strengthening ties between the United States and countries around the world. Not only do higher education institutions connect future global leaders with the American people; foreign students also have a positive economic impact on the United States. As the premiere study destination for international students, the education sector represents the fifth largest U.S. services export and added nearly $23 billion to the U.S. economy in 2011-12.

The EducationUSA Forum offers practical information and strategies to help internationalize U.S. campuses. Workshop sessions, presented by international education experts, U.S. higher education representatives and government officials, will offer unique and valuable information on recruiting and enrolling international students.

For more information, contact Karen Bass at Syracuse University at 315-443-3846 or the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, 202-632-6454, ECAPress@state.gov

The Onondaga Citizens League released the results of its study “The World at Our Doorstep.”

Heidi Holtz and Kristen Mucitelli-Heath co-chaired the study. Holtz is the director of research and programs at the Gifford Foundation. Mucitelli-Heath is the director of state and federal relations and community initiatives at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center.

The primary purpose of the study was to develop a clear picture and understanding of the refugee dynamic in Onondaga County—the needs, the service continuum and the opportunities new refugee populations offer—and to recommend policies and programs to make the region a more welcoming community.

This report takes a huge step forward in providing the base information necessary to dispel some of the myths about refugees in the community. The report concludes that while service providers are working cooperatively as much as possible, they sometimes work in isolation from each other.

The report recommends, first and foremost, the establishment of a more formal, ongoing refugee task force that can provide timely and regular communication of the numbers and needs of refugees, as well as other data that local agencies collect. The task force can then facilitate the sharing of information among the various agencies and to the community at large.

“There are many pathways to improvement for our community—and if the stories we heard over the past year are any indication, one of these pathways is to work together to welcome a population that offers our community the potential of vitality and renewal,” says Holtz.

“Our community has a long history of welcoming people from around the world,” adds Heath. “The actions we recommend might be targeted toward helping this new population, but are built on the premise that by helping them, we help ourselves.”

 

University College inducted four students into the Alpha Sigma Lambda (ASL) Society at its March 2013 Honors ceremony. ASL is a national honor society that recognizes the special achievements of adult students in higher education. It is dedicated to the advancement of scholarship and the encouragement of nontraditional students to work toward associate and/or baccalaureate degrees.

Syracuse University is one of more than 300 chartered chapters of Alpha Sigma Lambda throughout the United States. The following students were recognized:

• Oritt Blum of Short Hills, N.J., majoring in broadcast journalism in the Newhouse School of Public Communications;
• Cynthia Gannon of Liverpool, N.Y., majoring in information management and technology in the School of Information Studies;
• Jeanette M. Nels of Syracuse, majoring in psychology in The College of Arts and Sciences; and
• Penelope Anne Traynham Singer of Syracuse, majoring in jewelry and metalsmithing in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

The May 2 session of the Institute for Retired People (IRP) will feature Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. Thompson will provide a history of the television/film business from 1945 to present.

Thompson is the founding director of the Bleier Center and a Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture. He was a visiting professor for six summers at Cornell University and served for nine years as professor and director of the N.H.S.I. Television and Film Institute at Northwestern University.

Thompson received a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago. He is the general editor of an ongoing series of books about television published by Syracuse University Press and the author of five books.

IRP runs from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Syracuse, 5833 East Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville. Guests are welcome to attend.

For more information, visit uc.syr.edu/irp, call 315-443-4846 or email cmkarlho@syr.edu.

IRP is a community program of University College of Syracuse University, dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning.