Join us this week for I-House: Venezuela, hosted by student Frank Coello Sosa. Bring your friends to enjoy the presentation and complimentary cookies, this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. on the second floor of Ridgway University Center in the Class of 1959 Gallery.

There will be a CNS meeting Wednesday in Room 75 in Schroeder Family School of Business Administration Building at 5:45 p.m. They will be discussing the upcoming semester and Dr. Becker will give a pressentation on visual implats. Everyone is inited to attend!

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.
 

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.

Did you know that the current U.N. statistic shows that 1 in 3 women in the world will experience sexual violence? Join us in raising awareness to end violence against women and girls all over the world. Women's Awareness and V-Day Evansville will present a free showing of Until the Violence Stops on Monday, February 6 at 7 p.m., Room 126, Hyde Hall. This hopeful and powerful documentary chronicles the story of Eve Ensler's performance piece The Vagina Monologues as it transformed into the V-Day movement and touched the lives of women in every part of the world. The viewing 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.
 

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.
 

The next in the series of Crick Lectures in Cognitive and Neural Sciences is set for February 8 from 4-5 p.m. in Room 100 (Vectren Lecture Hall) in Koch Center. The speaker will be Dr. Damani N. Bryant, Department of Physiology & Pharmacology at Oregon Health & Science University. He will be discussing "Mechanisms of Sexually Dimorphic Estradiol Neuroprotection." The lecture is free and open to the public.

Biological sex has historically been one of the most overlooked aspects of Neuroscience. It has become clear in recent years that sex profoundly alters the way the brain responds to its environment. For example, the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Stroke varies as a function of sex and estrogen status. Pre-menopausal women enjoy better protection from AD and Stroke than men, implying that estrogen is neuroprotective.

The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) was designed to determine whether hormone replacement was beneficial to women. Surprisingly, WHI found no benefit to estrogen replacement. However, there are several caveats associated with the design of WHI that preclude the broad generalization of its findings. Misinterpretation of the WHI findings thus represents a critical barrier to advancing our understanding of estradiol’s effects in the brain, which are very complex and are not completely understood. Given the documented impact of sex on vulnerability to insult, it is reasonable to postulate that sex also modifies the brain’s response to other stimuli, such as the neuroprotective steroid 17β-estradiol (E2).

To address this issue, male and female rat neurons are cultured separately and used as an experimental model system to examine biochemical responses to E2. Male neurons show a less robust response to estradiol than female neurons. The most important question is “Why is E2 signaling sexually dimorphic?” This sex difference may be a consequence of the perinatal Testosterone surge, which “Organizes” the male brain or it may be a consequence of genetic sex (XX vs XY). Future studies will address this issue.

UE Libraries has trial access to the ARTstor Digital Library until February 22; although it is not possible to subscribe this year, ARTstor is a valuable resource that would benefit the Libraries’ collection at some future date.

The Digital Library provides a wide range of images. Do you need photos of the London Eye, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or the Great Wall in China?  Each of these icons are easily identified with a search in ARTstor.

The ARTstor Digital Library is a non-profit online digital image library designed to serve educational and scholarly communities with more than one million images on subjects in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. ARTstor provides tools and software to search, present, and share digital images both online and offline for research and teaching. Collections in the Digital Library are continually expanded and updated by collaborating with scholars, museums, photographers, stock photography agencies, and photographic archives in libraries. 
Contact Kathy Bartelt (kb4@evansville.edu) or Shane White (sw69@evansville.edu) with questions or comments.
 

Be sure to check out AcesTV new series "ATV Off-Road" that will be highlighting sports such as swimming, diving, golf, cross country, and tennis. Our first series features the swimming and diving teams. Check out this link to view our first of many series to come: http://www.gopurpleaces.com/news/2012/1/30/MSWIM_0130122815.aspx

The Office of Admission needs current UE students who live in the residence halls to host prospective high school seniors for Road Trip February 17-19. If you are available, you can volunteer by either clicking this link, emailing Ashley Jackson (aj53@evansville.edu) or Jess Sandlin (js621@evansville.edu), or stopping by the Office of Admission (OH 104). We are planning to have a great turnout so the more volunteers, the better!
 

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.

The deadline to enter the UE Student Writing Contest for the Virginia Lowell Grabill Writing Awards and the George Klinger Memorial Prize for Excellence in Writing is February 17. Entries must be submitted to Kathy Martyn, administrative assistant for Departments of English and Creative Writing, in Room 320, Olmsted Hall. THEY MUST BE RECEIVED ON OR BEFORE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2012, AT 4:00 P.M.  No late manuscripts will be accepted.

Grabill Awards
Four $100 first prizes will be awarded for the best (1) Poem; (2) Short Story; (3) Creative Non-Fiction Essay; and (4) Academic Essay.  Second and third prizes of $75 and $50 respectively will be awarded in each category.  In each category a student will receive only the highest prize for which he or she is eligible.

Anyone who is or has been a University of Evansville student at any time between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011 is eligible to submit a work in any category.

For the Poetry Category:  a poem of at least 10 lines.  Three may be entered separately.  For the Short Story Category:  a short story of at least 5 pages.  Two may be entered separately.  For the Creative Non-Fiction Essay category: a creative essay of at least 5 pages.  Two may be entered separately.  For the Academic Essay:  an expository research paper of at least 8 pages. Two may be entered separately. 

Klinger Prize
Two prizes will be awarded in the amount of $500 each, one for creative writing (poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction) and one for academic writing.

Any senior University of Evansville student is eligible for this prize.

Entries in the Poetry category should be a poem of at least 10 lines. Three may be entered separately. For Short Stories:  a short story of at least 5 pages.  Two may be entered separately. For Creative Non-Fiction: a creative essay of at least 5 pages. Two may be entered separately. For Academic Essays: an expository research or analysis paper of at least 8 pages. Two may be entered separately.

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 genre (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, academic essay), the title, author, the UE ID number, class rank, and the name of any teacher who has read or heard the work. PLEASE NOTE: NO SUBMISSIONS WILL BE RETURNED.

Prizes for Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction will be awarded at the Creative Writing Coffee Hour on April 19 at 4 p.m. in Eykamp 253, Ridgway University Center.  All are welcome to attend.  Prizes for academic writing will be given at an English Department event to be announced at a later date.

Seniors will be entered automatically in both the Grabill and Klinger contests.

If in the opinion of the judges, entries in one or more categories are too few or not of satisfactory quality to merit recognition, one or more prizes may not be awarded.  All entries are judged “blindly” (i.e. anonymously.) Please note that all entries in the Poetry, Short Story, and Creative Non-Fiction categories will be judged by the Department of Creative Writing Faculty and may be considered for publication in The Evansville Review and/or The Ohio River Review.  All entries for the Academic Essay Category will be judged by the Department of English Faculty.
 

Emily Fiedler, coordinator of Cultural Engagement and Leadership, and her husband Joey welcomed their second child, Elijah Joseph Fiedler, born January 30 weighing 7 pounds and 11 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well

Evansville will look to put an end to a two-game slide on Wednesday evening as it travels to Bradley for a 7 p.m. matchup on Wednesday evening at Carver Arena.

Evansville will look to put a halt to a recent two-game slide in Wednesday’s game at Bradley.  The Aces fell to Indiana State on Sunday in a double-overtime thriller as the Sycamores came away with the 90-81 win.  Colt Ryan led the way with 23 points while Troy Taylor made another run at a triple-double.  Down by as many as 14 points, UE fought back to send the game to the extra period.  The first overtime saw six lead changes in the final two minutes before Ryan hit two free throws to send it to a second OT.  Indiana State reeled off the first eight points in the second OT to seal the win. 

Double overtime games, as was the case on January 29 against Indiana State, are a rare occurance for the Aces, who have played in just eight since the start of the program in 1919.  Prior to the ISU game, the last time the Aces played a 2OT contest was in a 91-90 win at Tennessee Tech in 2009-10.  The last double overtime home game for UE came in an 94-87 loss to Illinois State in the 2000-01 campaign.

While it is hard to call a 23-point outing a quiet one, that has become the norm for Colt Ryan, who has averaged 23.1 PPG in MVC play, 1.4 points more than his nearest competition.  He has scored 17 points or more in 10 out of 11 league games, including a career-high 39 points in the first meeting against Bradley.  Ryan has garnered two MVC Player of the Week honors and has hit 90% of his free throws since league play began.  The junior is 8th in the nation in scoring.

Over the last two games, freshman Ryan Sawvell has hit 11-of-15 shots and is not shooting 65.3% on the season and is at a 66% clip in MVC play.  He is the most accurate shooter in MVC play and would rank third in the country with enough attempts.  Following a 6-8 performance at Wichita State, Sawvell connected on 5-of-7 field goals against Indiana State.

Starting point guard Troy Taylor has turned his season around over the last seven contests.  Since the Aces’ game at Indiana State, the junior has been on an absolute roll, averaging a team-high 8.6 rebounds per game while dishing out a team-high 35 assists while scoring an average of 8.3 points per game.  Taylor made two stabs at the second triple-double in UE history, most recently on Jan. 29 against Indiana State where he finished with 9 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.

Bradley has struggled to a 6-17 overall record while going 1-10 in the MVC.  The Braves started out the year winning their first three games before going 5-5, but since then have gone 1-13.  On January 15, BU grabbed its lone MVC win, grabbing a home triumph over Northern Iowa.  Taylor Brown has been a dominant force, leading the team in scoring (16.7 PPG) and rebounding (7.0 RPG).  Dyricus Simms-Edwards has averaged 12.1 points and was the top scorer last time out against Creighton, notching 19 points. 

Evansville put up a dominant effort in the first meeting against, taking a 90-67 victory.  Bradley’s lone lead came at 6-5 before hte Aces made a run, leading by 22 points at the half before eventually winning by 23.  Ryan had the game of his career, setting career marks in scoring (39), field goals (12) and three-pointers (8) while tying his mark with nine rebounds.

Evansville will continue on the road this weekend, traveling to Southern Illinois for a 2:05 p.m. game on Saturday before returning to the Ford Center to face nationally-ranked Creighton on February 7.

Faculty, staff, and emeriti basketball tickets are now available at the Carson Center Ticket Office for the men’s basketball game versus nationally ranked Creighton on February 7. The game is set to start at 7 p.m. Carson Center hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Come support the Aces!