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Our Stephens faculty are not just the most wonderful and engaged teachers and mentors to our students, though they are certainly that.
They are not just committed colleagues who step up to ensure that the work of our community -- the endless administrative, leadership and collegial tasks that keep us humming along -- get done, though they certainly are that as well.
They are also scholars and professionals in their own right -- actors and artists and dancers and designers and producers and riders and researchers and writers, to name a few.
And today, you have the opportunity to view some of their amazing work.
Join us for the opening reception of the Biennial Faculty Exhibition in the School of Design & Fashion from 4 to 6 p.m. TODAY in the Davis Art Gallery.
See you there!
Welcome to the Digital Age, in which we live our lives in a state of "continuous partial attention."
What does that mean?
It means we multitask. It means we do six things at a time, and we are learning to do them well (OK, adequately, most of the time).
As I write this, I'm also on hold on the telephone, waiting to talk to a colleague; I'm listening to the Neil Diamond CD Leslie Willey gave me this morning (and yes, there IS a story behind that. I just know I will be hearing "Sweet Caroline [woh woh woh] in my head for the next three days....]; I am scanning my email inbox for red flags and interesting messages; and I am checking for new text messages on my iPhone.
Come on, you know it's true: you do that, too.
So here's a game to help you get better at it. It's called (what else?) MultiTask.
You may not have a festival pass, or even movie tickets (they're hard to come by at this point) but that doesn't mean you can't participate in the True/False film festival.
Stephens is one of the festivals most prominent sponsors, which is why you'll see banners and signs and all kinds of T/F-ers all over campus this weekend.
Because we're so involved in the event, the festival includes some very special offerings just for our community. They include:
FRIDAY, Feb. 26th
Discussion with Natalie Difford from Chicken & Egg Productions, Penthouse
11:00AM-12:30PM
Chicken & Egg Pictures is a hybrid film fund and non-profit production company dedicated to supporting women filmmakers who are as passionate about the craft of storytelling as they are about the social justice, environmental and human rights issues they're embracing, translating and exploring on film. For more information: http://www.chickeneggpics.org/
LEADERSHIP POINTS
Discussion with filmmaker Laura Poitras, True Visionary Award Winner at T/F
3:00-4:00PM, Penthouse
Poitras is presenting her new film The Oath at T/F this year. Poitras’ last film My Country, My Country was nominated for an Academy Award and for an Independent Spirit Award, in their Best Documentary categories. Her previous documentaryFlag Wars won a Peabody Award. For more information: http://truefalse.org/program/truevision.html
LEADERSHIP POINTS
SATURDAY, Feb. 27
GIMME TRUTH! Screening and Film Competition
9:30-11:30, Blue Note
A record 4 film and media students from Stephens will have their short films competing in this year's Gimme Truth competition. Congratulations to Kira Flanders, Alie McNeil, Sam Schwartzman, and Chelsea Turner! Their films were selected for the top 10 to be screened at this interactive game show/film competition. Come support your them and guess if their films are True or False. (If you don't have a ticket, show up earlier to get one. This event sells out fast!)
http://truefalse.org/participate/gimmetruth.html
MONDAY, March 1
Discussion with filmmaker Sarah Goodman
3:00-4:00PM, Charters
Canadian director of the True/False film When We Were Boys returns to Stephens campus to talk about filmmaking and her most recent film.
This just in from Brenda McSherry:
Congratulations to Kalani Langdon for entering the winning logo for the Amazing Women/Amazing Health Logo Contest. Attached is Kalani’s winning design. It will be used on advertisement, t-shirts, and correspondence.
Eight students entered twelve logos, making the decision for the panel of judges a challenge!!
Thanks to all the students who participated:Ever dream about performing at Disney World or Disney Land?
Now you can make that dream come true!
Disney is auditioning college students for its internship program (see previous post) and its theme park entertainment in both Florida and California.
All you need to do is check out the online presentation,follow the instructions for filling out the application, figure out which park you're interested in, and show up for the auditions....:
Disney World Audition Information: https://www.wdwcollegeprogram.com/sap/its/mimes/zh_wdwcp/students/role_descr/entertainment.htmlDisney Land audition information http://disney.go.com/disneycareers/disneycollegeprogram/dlr/students/roles/students_entertainment.html
And I'll come and see you perform this summer! I promise!
Everybody knows Stephens is a musical community......
Click on the squares.
And listen.
It's musical. And magical.
And all yours.
How fast can you look at twenty images and guess the Google term that would have produced them?
Guess-the-Google is an exercise in rapid synthesis and language mastery. And besides, it's fun!
You know how I feel about Vespers: It's one of the most amazing and special events on campus.
I don't ask just ANYBODY to speak at Vespers. Our speakers must be smart, insightful, inspiring and totally Stephens.
This week, you can add "hilarious" to that list of attributes.
Karith Foster is an alumna and a stand-up comic in NYC. She's coming to campus this week for Black History Month to do a little speaking, a little entertaining, and a little Vesper-ing.
If you've ever been to Vespers, you know it's worth it.
If you haven't, now's the time to start.
(And did you read the small print?
Email Sara Fernandez Cendon RIGHT NOW and you may win a fabulous JUST BREATHE Vespers t-shirt.)
See you there!
Our amazing friends and neighbors at the Children's School are studying the value and importance of compassion -- and they're doing more than just talking about it.
This afternoon (while I was out of the office, I am very sad to report), a group of our very best and brightest Stephens students took a walk across campus to deliver some of the most beautiful hand-produced notecards and a plate of the most delicious brownies (ever!).
As soon as I got back and discovered them, I took a walk all around LRW and shared them with everybody. It was such a lovely surprise for them to see the president standing at their office doors, brownies in hand -- and it was even better when I explained that I was just the delivery person, and that the real compassion had come from across campus.
Every day at Stephens is special, but some days are even better than others. It's Monday, the sun is shining, and compassion is everywhere -- thanks to the amazing faculty and students at our Children's School.
Saturday was a big day in Stephens College athletics, the final home competition for our senior Stephens Stars.
Our swimmers competed against Hannibal LaGrange over at the Mizzou Rec Center. Although we lost the meet to Hannibal-LaGrange 85-68, we had some seasonal best swims and qualified for NAIA Nationals in the 200 Medley Relay. Annie Wolpers also made her conditional cut for Nationals in the 50 free.
Winners from Stephens were Annie Wolpers (50 & 100 free), Emily Younghouse (200 free), and Kelly Adams (500 free). Next up for the Stars will be NAIA Nationals at the St. Peters Rec Plex on March 4-6.
After the meet, Coach Laura Wacker and the team lined up for photos....
And meanwhile, across town, the basketball team faced off against William Woods -- the final home game for Tia LaFavor, Asya Love, and Anya Serebryakov. If you've ever been to a home game, you will have seen Sebastian doing his half-time dance out on the court (and yes, it's a little blurry....that iPhone of mine doesn't have a zoom on it....):
After the game, Coach Dane Pavlovich gave each of the seniors flowers and a plaque commemorating their contributions to the team.
Senior Tia LaFavor and sophomore Andy Young posed for the prez' camera (OK, iPhone...):
...and we were all reminded, yet again, of the friendship, teamwork, commitment and passion that defines what it means to be a Stephens Star....
TED is all about big ideas.
It's an invitation-only think tank that brings together the creative thinkers of our culture -- from Bill Gates and Eve Ensler (author of The Vagina Monologues) to RK Rowling and Kevin Kelly. TED membership costs $2,000; conference registration starts at $6,000.
But TED is like the Internet: it believes that information is supposed to be free.
And its web site -- www.ted.com -- offers video clips of its brilliant and innovative speakers, from artists and politicians to writers and entrepreneurs.
Take a few minutes. Learning something. Think big.
Deb Duren and Mandy Martin, who were recognized this week for their accomplishments in and contributions to women's athletics.
Deb's award: She IS our mentor of the year. Every year.
Deb Duren, our very own Athletic Director and Vice President of Student Services, has been named Mentor of the Year by the Women's Intersport Network (WIN) for Columbia. This award is presented to a woman who has demonstrated a strong commitment to sports and young women within the past year, by giving support, encouragement, time, resources, knowledge and advice.
That's Deb.
Deb received the award at the organization's annual awards banquet on Thursday. It recognizes her contributions to Stephens and to women athletes as a PE instructor, collegiate volleyball coach, Dean of Students, Athletic Director and Vice Presidnent for Student Services.
Among her achievements:
Deb singlehandedly saved Stephens' NCAA Division III programs in the mid-1980s and then facilitated our move to the NAIA, adding cross-country and softball. She was then responsible for our acceptance into the American Midwest Conference (which nominated her for the Athletic Director of the Year). In her nomination for the WIN award, associate AD Dane Pavolvich captured Deb's commitment and talents exactly:
"As an educator, administrator and athletic director at Stephens College, Deb has truly been successful in impacting students' lives...She embodies the "student centered" approach we take at Stephens because she empowers, equips and enables our studentes to be women of distinction...She is a source of wisdom and patience for anyone who might enter her office."
Including me.
I always say that Deb is my 'true north' when it comes to our priorities and our values: students first. Always.
It's wonderful to see that the rest of the world recognizes her achievements, too.
And speaking of students, one of our wonderful Stephens students was also a star at the WIN Awards. Each year, the organization selects an athlete as its WINner's Choice in recognition of outstanding performance and contributions to women's athletics.
This year, for the first time since the awards were established in 1999, that honor went to a Stephens student: Mandy Martin, one of our Equestrian students and a world champion.
Mandy started riding at the age of 13 and came to Stephens because of our outstanding program. In 2009, Mandy won the Championship title in the Five-Gated World Championships -- the highest honor an amateur can receive in the Saddlebred industry.
Mandy is also the Reserve World Champion, and the winner of the Adult Equitation Class and the Reserve UPHA Adult Equitation Championshp at the All-American Horse Classic.
In other words, Mandy is a national champion -- and a Stephens woman -- through and through.
Congratulations to Deb and Mandy for their achievements, their contributions, and their honors.
We are so proud.
I've decided to give you (yet another) reason to come to the blog every day.
Don't get me wrong: It's not that Stephens news isn't sufficient incentive to get you here (after all, here you are!).
But part of my mission in the world is to share great ideas and images and innovations with people I care about (that would be you).
And "Sites to See" is just one more way to do it.
Today's site is more fun (and addictive) than educational. That's OK. It's all about leading people where you want them to go. Or dragging them. Or whatever it takes: ManintheDark.com
Log on and drag your mouse (and the man) around your screen. It's fabulous. It's art. It's....well, it's a site to see......
Common sense told us it was true, and now research confirms what we've always known: Girls who participate in sports are more successful than those who don't.
Not just in high school. Not just in college. But in life.
The New York Times reports today on research by Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, whose work proves that increasing girls' sports participation has a direct effect on women's education and employment. Increases in girls' participation in sports accounts for 20 percent of the increase in women's education and about 40 percent of the rise in employment for 25-to-34-year-old women.
"It's not just that the people who are going to do well in life play sports, but that sports help people do better in life," she said.
Another study by Robert Kaestner at the University of Illinois at Chicago confirmed that girls who participated in sports in the 1970s reflected a 7 percent decline in obesity as compared with girls who had not been athletic during high school.
Read the story here.And then head over to the Rec Center at Mizzou or the Health Connection on campus, and get moving. You'll live longer, be healthier, and be more successful in your career....so you can afford to join a gym!
An important moment in your life is fast approaching. You have received a copy of the schedule for Major Commencement Events; you will receive additional information in mid-April.
In the meantime, a summary of the fun facts you (and your families) should know:
Stephens' Tia LaFavor guards Cougars' Denise Rosario (photo courtesy of Columbia College)
The Stephens College Stars never let up during the entire two-hour
contest against Columbia College Saturday afternoon, proving (yet
again) that Stephens athletes know the meaning of team, heart, guts
and hard work.
Sometimes those things add up to a win, and sometimes they don't.
And while nobody (including me) is going to tell you it doesn't matter, the truth is....well, it doesn't matter very much.
What does matter is that we played with the kind of energy and integrity that makes me proud to be a Stephens woman.
And here's the other important thing:
At the end of an NAIA athlete's college career, she will have devoted thousands of hours to her sport. She will have developed lifelong friendships with her teammates. She will have experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat (a cliche, for sure, but a good one...). And with any luck, she will have developed the kind of lifelong commitment to physical fitness that will inspire her participation in athletics for the rest of her life.
She should also be an educated, experienced, skilled and ambitious college graduate, a young woman who has learned to balance the demands of her sport with the requirements of her education.
She should have spent her college career as a scholar athlete.
In that order.
And that's who we are -- who our athletes are -- at Stephens College.
Columbia College's Cougars outscored us yesterday afternoon -- 85 to 64 -- but it was a closer game than the final score would suggest.
And we came home happy, nonetheless - that "what really matters in the world" kind of happy.
Plus we had a great time on the bus, coming and going.
You SO should have been there.....
