Category: Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts

Happy New Year, 2023!

Happy New Year from the College of Sciences and Arts at Michigan Tech!

Campus Abuzz With Activity

large snow sculpture of building
Phi Kappa Tau’s winning sculpture from Winter Carnival 2022
Broomball player in the snow
Broomball under the lights

Despite the short, cold days, campus is buzzing with activity, both inside and out! Outside my office window, the broomball season just kicked off after a brief postponement due to some unfortunate rain that also wreaked temporary havoc on the ski hill. Scaffolding and plywood have invaded campus as the month-long snow sculpture competition is underway in advance of Winter Carnival 2023 February 9-11. This year’s theme is “Tasty foods for wintry moods”.

Our incredible Rosza Center for the Performing Arts had its first sold out show since before the pandemic. We were fortunate to welcome the national touring Broadway show Hairspray. We rely on donor and foundation support to help bring these national shows to the UP and keep ticket prices affordable.

Xiaoqing Tang
Associate Professor Xiaoqing Tang
Paul Goetch
Assistant Professor
Paul Goetsch
Stephen Techtmann
Associate Professor Stephen Techtmann

Biological Science Excellence

I want to highlight this month the amazing performance of our Biological Sciences department both in the classroom and in the laboratory. Last semester 70 instructors from across the university were recognized for having teaching evaluations in the top 10% of comparable sized classes. Out of these 70 spread across 25 departments, a whopping 12 came from Biological Sciences (better than 1-in-3!). Department-wide the average score was 4.47/5.

Meanwhile in the laboratory, three faculty scored big grants this month. Steve Techtmann received another $2 million from DARPA, bringing his total funding on the project to $6.6 million. Steve is an environmental microbiologist who is studying ways to use microbes to help turn plastic waste into edible proteins. Paul Goetsch received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. This approximately $1 million grant is the most prestigious award the NSF has for pre-tenure faculty. Paul is an expert in molecular genetics and biochemistry, including the use of the famous CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing tool. And finally, Xiaoqing Tang received her third large grant from the National Institutes of Health. Xiaoqing studies the role of MicroRNA with applications to diabetes research. We pride ourselves in CSA on excellence in both research and teaching, and biological sciences exemplifies that!

Alumni and Donors Key To Success

Critical to everything we do are our alumni and friend donors. All your donations to our departments, scholarships, and the general fund are vitally important to our success. Thank you so much for supporting Michigan Tech! For CSA giving opportunities please visit: https://www.mtu.edu/sciences-arts/giving/

If you are ever back in town I hope you will stop by, say hello, and share with me your MTU story. Please do not hesitate to email me any time at djhemmer@mtu.edu to share your MTU experience or offer suggestions.

Best wishes,
David Hemmer
Dean- College of Sciences and Arts

PS: You can always follow us on social media.

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

A busy season for Visual and Performing Arts

Perhaps it is because I share a building with the Department of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), but it is interesting that VPA activities have figured several times in my blog comments this spring.   Whatever the reason, I am impressed by the diversity and scope of their recent and upcoming activities. Those events show the full artistic talents of our faculty and students, and enrich us all.

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated 50 years of jazz on campus.  Don Keranan was the legendary faculty member who launched that effort, which Mike Irish has now guided for a long time! A good group of alumni journeyed back to campus to mark  this grand occasion, and joined the current students players.  Quite the event, as the image of the alumni jazz players shows!!

don keranen EDS                    Picture1

                                                                                                  Photo by Hannah Kowalewski

Last week two other notable events occurred.  The first was the VPA faculty and staff art exhibition, which opened with a reception on Friday afternoon.  Labeled Amusement Park Avenue, just about every person in the department contributed to the show.  These ranged from M.C. Friedrich’s historically accurate doll costumes to images and sound resulting from the Listening to the Parks soundscape project that showcases the Lake Superior National Parks (Kent Cyr, Christopher Plummer and Libby Meyer).  Anne Beffel’s Every Color of Eyes project (mentioned in my previous blog) also was displayed along with 13 other faculty and staff works, several in mixed media. The exhibit can be seen in the Rozsa Gallery until April 28, and for the last few days, student art produced this year will be displayed in an adjoining section of the gallery.

The second activity on Saturday April 1, was a very different kind of presentation. Musical performers from Vancouver, the Orchid Ensemble, offered their unique fusion/world music selections using traditional Chinese and other instruments.  They were joined for the second half of their program by conScience, the Michigan Tech Chamber Singers.  The results proofed very interesting for most of us.  For example, in the second combined number, Orchid Ensemble accompanied the Chamber Singers, while in the final number the singers served as vocal instruments accompanying the Ensemble. As always, considering there are no art or music majors on campus, both events were  superb. And a significant part of the success of the gallery exhibit and the musical performance goes back to the students responsible for the technical presentation, lighting, and sound. These students had an special learning experience with Orchid Ensemble

Amusement Park 2                    orchidensembleposter

And there is still more to look forward to, as the department is presenting its version of West Side Story, famous for Leonard Bernstein’s music and Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics.  There will be three presentations from April 13 to 15.  And that will not exhaust the end of the semester schedule, so check out the VPA calendar of events.  We are lucky to have such great opportunities to experience the arts in all of their forms.

west side story EDS