Everyone is invited to the Newman Center tonight for a special presentation on the issue of human trafficking. Sister Mary Jo Swift, D.C., who has dedicated much of her life to combating this issue, will be the speaker. It is especially important to increase awareness of this issue right now, because child trafficking is expected to spike in Indianapolis with the Superbowl next weekend. Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m., with the presentation at 6:00 p.m. Everyone is invited to come for all or part of the evening. The Newman Center is located at 1901 Lincoln Ave., just across from UE's front oval and the Koch Center. Questions? Contact Mike Roesch at mr201@evansville.edu

Two faculty ensembles, the Shepard Brass Quintet and the Harlaxton Quintet, will present this week’s Faculty Recital in Wheeler Concert Hall on Tuesday evening, January 31, at 7:30 p.m.  The Shepard Brass Quintet comprises Professor Timothy Zifer and Assistant Professor Timothy Groulx (trumpets), Consortium Instructor Jonas Thoms (French horn), Assistant Professor Kenneth Steinsultz (trombone), and Neil Parsons (bass trombone), while the Harlaxton Quintet includes Consortium Instructor Shauna Thompson (flute), Consortium Instructor Elizabeth Robertson (oboe), Department of Music Chair and Associate Professor Thomas Josenhans (clarinet), Professor Emeritus Edwin Lacy (bassoon), and Consortium Instructor Jonas Thoms (French horn).  The concert will feature works from the 17th-century English composer Giles Farnaby and modern works by American composers Paul Nagle and Samuel Zyman, Russian composer Victor Ewald, and French composer Jean Francaix.  The concert is free and open to the public.

The Department of Music will welcome the internationally recognized vocal ensemble Anonymous 4 to campus for a lecture-demonstration in Wheeler Concert Hall this Sunday afternoon, February 5, at 12:45 p.m.  Renowned for their unearthly vocal blend and virtuosic ensemble singing, the four women of Anonymous 4 combine historical scholarship with contemporary performance intuition to create their magical sound. Celebrating their 25th anniversary during the 2011-12 season, the ensemble has performed on major concert series and at festivals throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, and they have released over 20 albums during those 25 years. Anonymous 4 has appeared on a wide range of radio and television programs, including NPR's All Things Considered, Performance Today and Weekend Edition, MPR's St. Paul Sunday, WETA's Millennium of Music, Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, and ZDF's Ersteklassich! (Germany). The ensemble has been featured on A&E's Breakfast with the Arts, CBS Sunday Morning, and Australian ABC's Access All Areas, as well as on Discovery Health Channel and Fox News Channel.  The UE lecture-demonstration is free and open to the public.

Heather Cook, a recent organ donation recipient, will share her story with the UE and local community on Monday, February 6.  She will walk the audience through her experience, from the first signs of health issues to the transplant and recovery process.  Information on organ donation and the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization (IOPO) will also be presented.  The presentation will be in Koch 100 at 5 p.m.  It is sponsored by the Biological Sciences Club.  All are welcome and invited to attend.  Please email Ashley Rich (ar197@evansville.edu) or Bethany Bonifield (bb157@evansville.edu) with further questions.
 

The next University of Evansville Andiron Lecture begins at 4:00 p.m. on February 1, in Eykamp 252, Ridgway University Center. A social gathering with beverages begins at 3:45 p.m.

The speaker will be Erika Taylor. Her topic will be “Eliminating racism, empowering women: The YWCA”

Taylor is the new CEO of the YWCA of Evansville, which operates a domestic violence shelter, a transition housing program for homeless women in recovery, a mentoring and after-school program for at-risk girls, and various other programs that further the YWCA’s mission of eliminating racism and empowering women. Taylor earned her JD from Indiana University and worked as a staff attorney for the City of Chicago before moving to Evansville, where she has worked in the areas of civil litigation, employment law, and human resources. When the opportunity came for her to combine her passion for community service with her leadership skills, she joined the YWCA.

The mission of the YWCA is the elimination of racism and the empowerment of women. The Evansville YWCA was founded over 100 years ago in order to provide safe and affordable housing for women who were moving to the big city from the country and outlying towns to work in the factories and mills. For decades, the YWCA remained the social hub for women in the Evansville community by providing educational and recreational classes as well as business clubs, affinity groups, and special events. Over the years, the YWCA’s programs have evolved in order to address the changing needs of women in our community. Erika will discuss the relevance of the YWCA throughout the past 100 years as well as current programming and goals for the future.

For further information, call the series coordinator M. Christine Mohn at 812-488-2585 or the College of Arts and Sciences at 812-488-2589.
 

Anonymous 4, an internationally acclaimed vocal quartet specializing in medieval music, will perform a guest recital and lecture at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, February 5 in Wheeler Concert Hall (not 1:30 p.m. as previously scheduled). The event is free and open to the public.

Renowned for their unearthly vocal blend and virtuosic ensemble singing, the members of Anonymous 4 (Ruth Cunningham, Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, and Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek) combine historical scholarship with contemporary performance intuition to create their magical sound. Celebrating their 25th anniversary during the 2011-12 season, the ensemble has performed on major concert series and at festivals throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

“The winning qualities of this perennially popular a cappella group … are still strong,” wrote New York Times music reviewer Vivien Schweitzer after seeing the group perform last October. “Their impressive vocal blend, purity of tone, and distinctive individual voices, which have helped them sell almost two million copies of their albums on the Harmonia Mundi label, were beautifully highlighted.”

Kappi Chi Imformative Rush Meetings are planned for Thursday, Jan. 26 at 9:00 p.m. and Feb. 1 at 9:00 p.m. Both meetings will be in Room 271, Schroeder Family School of Business Administration Building.

UE faculty, staff, students, and community are invited to attend the free (bring your lunch) Lunch & Learn session on Wednesday, February 8, from noon–12:50 p.m. in Eykamp 253, Ridgway University Center. The session will be presented by Centennial Wealth Advisory. The discussion will cover benefits and drawbacks of long-term care insurance, and cover the Indiana Long-Term Care Partnership, which allows people to keep more of their assets. Please contact Judy Caldwell at jc313@evansville.edu if you have questions. This event is sponsored by the Center for Adult Education.
 

Do you need a little help with your math classes?  Free afternoon and evening tutoring is once again being offered by several of our qualified UE students.  All sessions are located in Room 304, Koch Center, and are offered Sunday evenings from 7:00-9:00 p.m. and Monday through Thursday from 4:00-9:00 p.m.  The only requirement is that you sign in and provide your UE student ID.

The Department of Creative Writing announces the Major George Cowgill and Mrs. Mary Cowgill Award in Creative Writing.

George and Mary Cowgill believed in the power of a good education and the potential freedom and opportunity higher education could provide. Though he achieved much in his life, often through determination and a knack for being in the right place at the right time, Mr. Cowgill felt he could have achieved more if he had earned a college degree and instilled this belief in his sons. Mrs. Cowgill taught English for many years and continued her own education, eventually becoming a high school guidance counselor, where she helped many students in their search for the right college. A number of those students attended the University of Evansville, including her son Michael (BFA, creative writing, ’95). In her retirement, she volunteered at St. Gerard, a high school for pregnant teenagers in St. Augustine, Fla.

Mr. and Mrs. Cowgill both worked hard and made sacrifices so their sons could attend college. Though creative writing wasn’t their first choice of major, they supported Michael’s choice both at UE and later at the graduate level at George Mason University. They were lifelong readers and considered writing an honorable profession. Michael honors their spirit and memories with this gift to the Department of Creative Writing.

DEADLINE: Entries MUST BE RECEIVED ON OR BEFORE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, AT 4:00 P.M.  No late manuscripts will be accepted.

One $1000 prize will be awarded for the best story

ELIGIBILITY:  Any UE writing major or minor.

ENTRIES:  Maximum 15 pages of short fiction.

FORMAT:  All entries are to be typed on one side of 8 ½ x 11 sheets, double-spaced.  Each is to have a title, and pages are to be numbered.  The writer’s name is not to appear on the work, but each submission is to have an attached (stapled) cover page (8 ½ x 11) listing: the name of the award (“The Cowgill Award), the genre (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, academic essay), the title, author, and the UE ID number.  PLEASE NOTE: NO SUBMISSIONS WILL BE RETURNED.

Michael Cowgill will award the prize at the Creative Writing Coffee Hour on April 19 at 4 p.m. in Eykamp 253, Ridgway University Center.  All are welcome to attend.

Students who earned Dean’s List status for Autumn Semester 2011 are recognized in an exhibit at UE Libraries in entry lobby.  Students merit the honor of being named to the Dean’s List at the conclusion of each semester by earning a semester grade point average of 3.5 on a four point scale while carrying a full academic course load of at least 12 hours excluding Pass/Fail courses.  Exhibit continues through February 3.

Clark Kimberling, professor of mathematics, has a chapter titled “The Wythoff Triangle and Unique Representations of Positive Integers” in Aportaciones Matemáticas, Investigación
20 (2011) 155-169, published by Sociedad Matemática Mexicana.  The chapter deals with the Wythoff array, a subject of continuing interest in the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences: 
https://oeis.org/A035513  and  https://oeis.org/A166310 .
 

Congratulations to Paul Bone, Chair of the Department of Creative Writing, whose full-length poetry collection Nostalgia for Sacrifice has been accepted for publication by David Robert Books, an imprint of WordTech Communications.  A number of the poems have been published individually in such journals as 32 Poems, Able Muse, The Cimarron Review, The Iron Horse Literary Review, First Things, and others.  The book is set for release in February 2013. 

The University of Evansville women’s swimming and diving team notched a first place finish at today’s SLU Triangular meet, beating out both Eastern Illinois and host Saint Louis for the top spot. The men’s team finished the day with a second place finish, beating Eastern Illinois 139-71 while falling to SLU 151-69.

“Overall the weekend was pretty good for us,” said head coach Rickey Perkins. “We were a little tired but preformed the way we should at this time of the year. We continue to fight which is promising. Hopefully after we taper we will be ready for a good showing at the conference championships.”

Five Purple Aces claimed first place times for the women, with freshman Michelle Tipton leading the way with a pair of top times in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle. Sophomore Melisssa Thurman won the 200-IM with a time of 2:19.86. Freshmen Samantha Montgomery and Caroline Lee each grabbed a first place finish, winning the 100-buttefly and 100-breaststroke, respectively. Junior diver Sadie Wells won the only diving event of the day, scoring 274.65 on the 1-meter to complete a perfect 3-for-3 showing this weekend.

Junior Alex Seward paced the men’s squad, finishing the invitational with the Aces’ only first place time of the day, winning the 100-butterfly with a time of 47.03. Seward also notched a second place time in the 200-IM. Freshman Ashton Bishop nabbed a pair of second place finishes in the 100- and 200-free while sophomore Ryan Metzger finished second in the 100-backstroke with a time of 54.69. Senior Jake Harrington also took home a second place time in the 500-free, touching in at 48.13.

Both teams will next travel to Southern Illinois for a dual meet against the Salukis on February 4.

The University of Evansville women’s tennis team opened up its spring season on Friday with a hard-fought 4-3 win over Austin Peay on Friday evening.

“This was a great start to the season,” head coach Nick Mueller said.  “Austin Peay is a very good team and we had a lot of people step up right out of the gates.  Overall it was a great effort.”

Evansville took the win by a 4-3 tally, winning two out of three doubles matches and splitting six in singles. 

Doubles play saw that No. 1 team of Dora Kotsiou and Natasha James defeat Austin Peay’s top duo of Tomic and Carre by an 8-6 tally.  The No. 3 team of Jessica Raatz and Aleks Dzakula were also victorious, winning an 8-5 decision.  The No. 2 team of Gaby Fifer and Emily Richardson lost 5-8.

In singles play, Dzakula (6-2, 6-1), James (6-1, 6-4) and Fifer (6-0, 6-2) all picked up wins to lead the Aces while Kotsiou, Mina Milovic and Richardson took losses.  Richardson went to three sets, falling by a 7-5 decision in the final set.

The Aces will be back in Tennessee next week, traveling to Belmont for a Feb. 3 matchup before opening up the home schedule on Saturday evening against UT-Martin at 7 p.m.

Despite battling back from a 12-point first half deficit to tie the score with just under 13 minutes remaining in the game, the University of Evansville women’s basketball team could not take control of the lead, as Southern Illinois used a 16-4 run late in the game to overcome the Purple Aces, 74-60, Sunday afternoon at the Ford Center.

The loss drops the Aces record to 4-16 overall and 1-8 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while the Salukis improve to 6-14 on the season and 2-7 in the MVC.

Junior Samantha Heck led Evansville with 21 points, while also grabbing nine rebounds. Senior Briyana Blair logged her sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 boards. Junior Meagan Collins also reached double figures with 11 points, including a pair of threes.

After SIU scored the first basket, the Aces responded to take a 6-4 lead with 15:47 on the clock. Heck scored UE’s first seven points of the game, capped by a free throw that tied the score, 7-7.

The Salukis went on a run, going ahead by five, 13-8, but UE answered right back with a 9-2 run of their own, and regained the lead, 17-15, capped by Collins’ three at the 10:28 mark. However, that would be Evansville’s last lead of the game, as the Salukis went on a 14-0 run as a result of five UE turnovers.

After SIU led by 12, 29-17, with 5:37 to go, the Aces cut the deficit to seven with 3:53 remaining, but the Salukis were able to build the margin back up to 12 and took a nine-point advantage, 34-25, into the break.

To start the second half, Evansville used a 10-4 run to get within three, and then cut it to one, 42-41, on Blair’s free throw with 15:22 on the clock. It looked as though Taylor Ware would give the Aces their first lead of the half, but her layup rattled around the rim and fell out.

Heck tied the score, 43-43, on a strong drive from the elbow with 12:53 to go, but that would be as close as the Aces would get, unable to shift the advantage into their favor.

Teri Oliver immediately responded for Southern with a three from the top of the arc, and the Salukis stretched the lead to nine following two more threes.

Evansville came back one last time to get within three, 54-51, following a pair of layups by Miranda Liles and a drive by Blair. However, SIU went on a 16-4 run to take a double-digit lead and led by as much as 17, 74-57, in the final minute of play.

A free throw and layup by freshman Juliann Miller cut the final deficit to 14.

In the game, Evansville shot 38.9 percent (21-54) from the floor, 38.5 percent (5-13) from three, and 54.2 percent (13-24) from the free throw line, while the Salukis shot 47.5 percent from the field, 40.9 percent three (9-22), and 75.0 percent from the line (9-12).

Evansville won the battle of the boards, 38-33, but turnovers are what the Salukis took advantage of, scoring 25 points off of UE’s 21 miscues.

Oliver led SIU with 20 points, followed by Cartaesha Macklin’s 18 points, and Alexus Patterson’s 12 points and eight rebounds.

The Aces are back in action Thursday when they kick off the second half of the Valley season at Bradley. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
 

Dwayne Lathan scored a game-high 27 points to lead Indiana State to a 90-81 double overtime victory over the University of Evansville men’s basketball team on Sunday evening at the Ford Center.

Colt Ryan led the Purple Aces (10-11, 5-6 MVC) with 23 points while Kenneth Harris had 19.  Both combined to go a perfect 21-21 from the free throw line.  Freshman Ryan Sawvell finished with 11 points while junior Troy Taylor made another run at the second triple-double in UE history, scoring nine points while tallying 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Four lead changes took place in the opening four minutes of the game as the Aces found themselves up 8-7 after a bucket by Colt Ryan.  Indiana State (13-9, 4-7 MVC) made its first run of the game as Dwayne Lathan scored twice in a 6-0 Sycamores run to give them a 13-8 advantage.

Evansville cut the deficit to a single point with 12:35 left in the half as a shot by Ned Cox made it a 13-12 game, but Indiana State scored six-straight as Lucas Eitel hit a pair of treys to give ISU a 7-point lead.  The hot shooting beyond-the-arc continued for ISU as they hit five of their first seven threes en route to a 33-21 lead with five minutes remaining in the half. 

The Sycamores kept up their 70% shooting as their lead grew to as many as 14 (37-23) in the period before ISU went into the half with a 42-31 advantage.  Indiana State shot 68% (17-of-25) in the half.  It marked the second-straight game the opposition has enjoyed success in the first half.  On Wednesday evening in Wichita, the Shockers were successful on 19 out of 26 (73.1%) shots in the period.

Kenneth Harris and Ryan Sawvell notched four points apiece in the opening four minutes of the second half as UE got within four (48-44).  Evansville hit their first four shots of the half to cut into the lead.  Indiana State quickly responded with an 8-0 stretch as Lathan struck once again, scoring six-consecutive points as ISU put its lead back up to double figures.

Rokas Cesnulevicius ended a four-minute scoreless drought as it was the Aces turn to rally.  Harris hit two and-ones to cut the Sycamore lead to three points (56-53) with just over seven minutes remaining, but Jordan Printy hit his third trey on the ensuing trip down the floor to end a scoreless streak of six minutes  to help ISU go back up by six points.

Over the final seven minutes, the Aces kept fighting.  Another shot and free throw by Ryan Sawvell made it a 1-point game with five minutes left before another trey gave ISU a 62-58 lead.  With just under two minutes left, Harris hit yet another and-one for UE to knot the game at 66.  Those would be the final points of regulation as the teams combined to miss their final four shots at the game went to overtime. 

On the Aces first possession, Ryan gave UE its first lead since the opening minutes of the game, but a quick 5-0 spurt, led by a Steve McWhorter three helped the Sycamores go up by a 71-68 tally. 

The back-and-forth action continued as two Harris free throws and a Sawvell dunk helped the Aces go back up 72-71 with two minutes left before Jake Odum hit a pair of free throws as ISU retook the lead with 1:32 left.  Six lead changes took place in the final two minutes, but the difference  was a pair of Ryan free throws with three seconds remaining that sent the game into a second overtime with the score tied at 79-79.

Indiana State clinched the game in the second OT, scoring the first eight points and never looking back, coming away with the 90-81 win.

Lathan led ISU with 27 points while McWhorter had 12 and Odum notched 10.  The Sycamores finished with the rebounding edge (34-33) and the final shooting advantage (53.4%-45.8%).  Evansville, one of the top 10 free throw shooting teams in the country, continued to make that mark climb, hitting 92.3% of its shots (24-26).

The Aces will be on the road for a pair of MVC contests this week, traveling to Bradley on Wednesday before heading to Carbondale, Ill. for its second matchup against Southern Illinois on Saturday at 2:05 p.m.