Finance Professor Schools National Radio Audience on Inflation

You may have noticed it at the gas station or grocery store, and now official reports indicate inflation is on the rise. Against that backdrop, Kevin T. Jacques, professor of finance in BW's Business Division helped a national radio audience understand "Why the Fed sees inflation differently than you."

In a report on American Public Media's Marketplace, which is heard on National Public Radio (NPR) stations across the country, Jacques, a former U.S. Treasury Department economist, said that the Federal Reserve works to get ahead of inflation because changes in Fed policy don't have an immediate effect.

“It’s a long and variable lag process,” Jacques told Washington D.C.-based reporter David Gura. “It just takes a lot of time.” The entire report featuring Dr. Jacques is linked on the Marketplace website.

BW SigEp "Big Brother" Featured on Magazine Cover

Rising BW junior Nick Traverso '16 is featured in a cover story for the spring 2014 issue of SigEp Magazine."How SigEps are Defining Philanthropy and the World Around Them" explores the transformation Traverso experienced through involvement in Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS), the national service and philanthropic partner for his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Traverso was among a group of BW students who mentored a group of school-aged children who visited BW's Berea campus on a weekly basis starting in the Fall. Traverso told the magazine that the experience "changed the way I look at a lot of things. Being a big brother makes you think about every little thing that you do because you want your little brother to see you making the right decisions."

Music Theatre Chair Scott Plate Commands Stage in "Seminar"

A rave review for BW Music Theatre chair, Scott Plate, who's spending the early part of his summer playing Leonard in the regional premiere of "Seminar" at Beck Center for the Arts.

Andrea Simakis reviewed the play for the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "As Leonard, Plate, who chairs the music theater department at Baldwin Wallace University, commands the Studio Theater stage with malicious joy; he is a lion moving among a shivering herd of gazelles. They know he could draw blood any moment but are too terrified to move."

"A shrewd director and equally intelligent performer, Plate gives Leonard an air of exhausted genius, a heavy-lidded, I'm-so-much-smarter-than-you-I-could-teach-this-class-in-a-coma quality."

Seminar runs through June 29.

Challenging Summer Camp Featured in Crain's Cleveland

The summer enrichment program started by BW's problem-solving champion and physics chair Edwin Meyer has caught the attention of Crain's Cleveland.

In a story profiling innovative pre-college summer programs for high school students, the weekly business magazine shines a light on Meyer's Gedanken Institute for Problem Solving, a day camp experience that challenges students ages 12 to 16 with real-world problem-solving exercises and games. “It's the week I look forward to all year,”  Meyer told Crain's. “It's exhausting, but the students have a blast. To work with young people, when you see the light go on, it's worth it.”

“This can be a life-changing event for a student,” Meyer said. “It's also an opportunity for them to develop social capital: to get to spend eight or nine hours a day with people who think like them.”

BW is welcoming students of all ages to campus this summer. For more information on the problem-solving camp and many others, visit the BW camp listing page online.

US News Recognizes BW's Hybrid MBA on "Best for Veterans" List

US News has named BW's Hybrid MBA one of the Best Online Graduate Business Programs for Veterans in the country. BW is ranked at number 14 on the national list that recognized "online master's in business degree programs that offer a wide range of benefits for veterans." BW is the only Ohio school recognized.

Most coursework for BW's six semester Hybrid MBA program is completed online, with students meeting on campus for just seven weekends, usually between academic terms in the months of August, December and April.

BW Student Performs In Innovative Cleveland Orchestra Opera

The "grasshopper" on stage in a recent groundbreaking production at Severance Hall was also a Yellow Jacket!

The Cleveland Orchestra's innovative production of Leoą Janáček’s opera, The Cunning Little Vixen, featured BW sophomore Miranda Scholl '16 who says, "It was a surreal experience to be performing on stage with Martina Jankova, and backstage sitting with Jennifer Johnson Cano!"

Mixing projected animation and live action, Vixen earned positive reviews from a variety of newspapers including The New York Times and Cleveland Plain Dealer, which dubbed it "a veritable feast, a dynamic and groundbreaking spectacle."

Scholl, a psychology and theatre double major who auditioned and won the featured roles of Grasshopper/Frantík, is pictured at right in the production photo below. The young soprano says she feels incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity.

"I distinctly remember being in the audience for the Cleveland Orchestra's performance of The Seasons by F. Joseph Hayden, watching the soloists and promising to myself, 'I will someday solo for the Cleveland Orchestra.' Never in a million years did I think it would be this soon!"

BW Student Veteran Promotes Awareness for the Gold Star Pin

On this Memorial Day weekend, the family of BW student, veteran and military widow Kimberly Hazelgrove is featured in a new U.S. Army PSA recognizing the service and sacrifice of surviving military families who wear the Gold Star Pin. 

Kimberly's husband, U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Brian Hazelgrove, died in Iraq in 2004. Her son Brandon is a prominent part of the poignant video and other members of the family are featured as extras in the background.

Kimberly and Brian Hazelgrove

Gold Star Pins are presented to "the surviving families of our brave men and women in uniform who die while in service to our nation. The families of service members who paid the ultimate sacrifice deserve our respect, gratitude and the very best support we can provide."

Kimberly is an eloquent spokesperson for surviving families. She authored a commentary, "Not Another Weekend" two years ago on Memorial Day," encouraging reflection on the sacrifice represented by the national holiday.

BW President Touts Experiential Learning in Cool Cleveland Video

In a new video interview with Cool Cleveland's Thomas Mulready, BW President Bob Helmer highlights how the University's strong partnerships and hands-on student involvement in Northeast Ohio provide valuable "experiential learning" opportunities for students... and help to make Cleveland "cool!"

BW students are plugged in across Northeast Ohio and beyond, applying what they learn in the classroom through service, internships, business collaboration, research, artistic performance and much more.

Growing Ovation Day Highlights Student Success

In an expanded format and new location BW's 2014 Ovation celebration set records for the number of projects, number of participants, number of volunteers, number of reviewers and number of attendees. When the reviews were tallied, this year's Ovation Presentation Awards went to: 

• "We All Want to Change the World: A Deconstruction of the 'White Album'" by Patrick Hyzy with support from faculty sponsor Beth Hiser, Conservatory
• "Exposure to NMDA Receptor Antagonists at P7 Alters Prepulse Inhibition at P21 in Rats" presented by students Janace Gifford and Rachel Zacharias; faculty sponsor Brian Thomas, Psychology
• "SPROUT: Long-Term Impacts of Residential Programs for Single-Parent Students in Higher Education," presented by student(s) Rebecca Shisler, Brook Hradisky, faculty sponsor Jill Stephens Fleisher, Sociology

The Greek Life Award was presented to Katie Nadson from Alpha Gama Delta for her project, "Seasonal Patterns of Anthocyanin Production in NE Ohio Plants," and the People’s Choice Awards went to "YJ4L."

BW Provost Steve Stahl said the Ovation performances and presentations embodied BW's mission. "We demonstrated our commitment as an academic community to the liberal arts and sciences; we conducted rigorous scholarship and illustrated the excellence in teaching and learning within a challenging and supportive environment."

One 2014 Ovation presenter, Jenn Lenart, had her work with biology professor Chris Stanton and other students featured in the Plain Dealer.  Follow this link to see full list of awards and scholarships presented at Ovation's Honors Ceremony.

Commencement Celebrates Resilience and Persistence

"Resilience and persistence" were key themes at this year's the 2014 Baldwin Wallace Commencement ceremonies. Both commencement speakers, Mark Shapiro, president of the Cleveland Indians, who delivered the undergraduate address (now posted on BW's YouTube Channel), and Dr. William T. Hiller, executive director of the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation who spoke to graduate students, urged determination in the face adversity.

Certainly, the Class of 2014's scholar, Cheryl Sebjenics, displayed persistence and determination in her slow and steady march to commencement day. Sebjenics earned a perfect 4.0 while taking one course at night or on weekends almost every semester -- Fall, Spring, Summer -- since the year
2000! Sebjenics said she "loved every minute" of her 14-year journey, chronicled in Sunday's Plain Dealer.

BW Financial Aid Officer Recognized for Dedication to Students

A BW administrator who works hard every day to help students maximize sources of funding for their education has been recognized as one of the best in the state!

At the spring conference of the Ohio Association of Financial Aid Administrators (OASFAA), Cheryl Willard, associate director of BW Financial Aid was presented with the James W. White award.

The award is given annually to a member of the 45-year-old OASFAA who exemplifies "dedication to students, to the aid community, and to the local community."

Willard, a past president of the organization, is pictured with current president Randy Green.

BW Student Performers "Light It Up" at Dazzle the District

Photographer: Ken Blaze

 

 

When PlayhouseSquare, the second largest theatre district outside New York City, planned its recent Dazzle the District event, Baldwin Wallace University Music Theatre students were among a select list of performers invited to entertain nearly 20,000 people who jammed the district for Dazzle. The event celebrated the lighting of the largest outdoor crystal chandelier in the world,  part of a district revitalization effort.

Follow this link to watch a replay of the BW performance taken from live coverage by WEWS-TV. The link is cued to play at 7:10 mark, where BW's "Light it Up" song and dance number takes the stage and wows the crowd!