WConnect

‘The Art of Duo Pianism’ recital spotlights W faculty

Published: 6 October 2022
Written by Tyler Wheat
No comments
Categories: Arts & Sciences, News

Mississippi University for Women Department of Music presents a duo piano recital,“The Art of Duo Pianism,” with faculty Julia Mortyakova and Valentin M. Bogdan. The concert will take place Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 7:30 pm, in Poindexter Hall, Kossen Auditorium.

“We hope that both The W and the Columbus community will join us on Monday evening,” said Bogdan, professor of music. “This is a really interesting program – challenging to perform, but extremely satisfying for an audience to listen to. We titled it ‘Journey for Two’ because it literally takes the public on a voyage throughout multiple musical eras and countries, from the US across Europe.”

The program will consist of an eclectic mix of works written for the two piano medium, including the refreshing compositions “Le Matin and Le Soir” by the French composer Cécile Chaminade, the “Concerto for Two Pianos” by Francis Poulenc featuring a blend of charming melodies and musical humor, and the hidden gem “Variations on Balkan Themes” by American composer Amy Beach, a piece that communicates a powerful, moving message. Other compositions on the program will feature contemporary composers Olga Harris and Valentin M Bogdan.

Bogdan added, “There is no doubt that our audiences will be able to relate to these works, that this music will speak to them. Whether it is a work they might have heard in the past, or some new music they might have not yet found, they will discover something to love.”

Mortyakova, professor and chair of the music department, and Bogdan have been performing as a piano duo since 2007. Winners of the second prize at Ellis Duo Piano Competition (2017), they have performed nationally and internationally at prestigious concert venues and festivals such as the Transylvania University Concert Series, Prokofiev Museum, Moscow Autumn Festival, Assisi Performing Arts Festival, Festival Miami, Fairlane Guild Concert Series, Music by Women Festival, Women Composers Festival of Hartford. They have appeared as duo soloists with the Starkville Symphony and with the Assisi Performing Arts Orchestra. They were the featured performers at the 2015 Mississippi Federation of Music Clubs State Conference, and appeared, on the 2016 National Association of Composers USA National Conference (Knoxville TN), the 2015 Mississippi Music Teachers Association State Conference and multiple concerts across the United States.

“We look forward to sharing this beautiful music with the audience,” said Mortyakova.
The concert is free and open to the public. A livestream will be available at www.muw.edu/music.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 6, 2022

Greenwood named Outstanding Student Clinician

Published: 5 October 2022
Written by Tyler Wheat
No comments
Categories: News, Nursing & Health Sciences

Mississippi University for Women senior Shelby Greenwood has been named The W’s Outstanding Student Clinician for 2022 by the Mississippi Speech-Language Hearing Association (MSHA). 

Shelby Greenwood

“I am passionate about this profession and am honored that my teachers at Mississippi University for Women can see that in me. I wouldn’t be the clinician I am today without them, and I am grateful to them for everything I have learned.  This award validated that all the countless hours of hard work are paying off,” Greenwood said.

The Philadelphia native is a second-year graduate student and is currently at Neshoba County School District for second year placement.

Greenwood received the award at the annual MSHA Honor s Reception Thursday, Sept. 22. The annual conference gathers audiologists, speech-language pathologist and students for professional development. This year’s conference was titled, “Reaching New Heights.”

According to Greenwood, attending the conference immensely grew her skills as a future speech-language pathologist by participating in educational and medical meetings ranging in topics from literacy in speech-language pathology to treating a child with oromyofunctional deficits.

Greenwood added, “Growing up my parents always told me ‘confidence is key’ in any situation I faced. I learned at a young age to be confident and true to myself. This award for sure gave me a confidence boost as a clinician. It helped me to know I am on the right track to being the life changing clinician that I am striving to be. I hope to instill this same confidence in every client that I encounter daily.”

“The speech-language pathology faculty are so pleased to have Shelby receive the MSHA award for Outstanding Student Clinician for 2022. Shelby embodies what we look for in a graduate clinician – she is compassionate, open minded, a team player, organized, flexible, willing to learn and willing to make mistakes and hard working,” Ashley Alexander, interim department chair of speech-language pathology at The W. “All of these characteristics make Shelby an outstanding graduate clinician and will make her an excellent SLP when she completes her education. We are very proud of her and the work she continues to put in every day.”

Mississippi Speech-Language-Hearing Association is the statewide professional organization for its members and affiliates who are speech-language pathologists, audiologists, parents/caregivers, support personnel and students. The overall mission of the Mississippi Speech-language-Hearing Association is to support audiologists and speech-language pathologists in Mississippi by providing resources, information, and professional/continuing educational development opportunities; promote the highest ethical and professional standards; and advocate for legislation and regulation necessary for members to provide quality care for individuals with communication, hearing, balance and swallowing disorders.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 5, 2022
Contact: Tyler Wheat
(662) 241-7683
ltwheat@muw.edu

Women’s Health Awareness Week brings focus on self-care to campus

Published: 3 October 2022
Written by Tyler Wheat
No comments
Categories: News, Nursing & Health Sciences, Women's Mission

Mississippi University for Women’s Department of Health and Kinesiology will host a series of events on mental and physical health for Women’s Health Awareness Week Oct. 11-13.

Dr. Ocheowelle Okeke

“Sometimes we approach our striving for fitness and health in a frantic manner. This Women’s Health Awareness Week let us consider ‘the pause,’” said Dr. Irene Pintado, chair of the Department of Health and Kinesiology at The W.

Richard Morgan, public health instructor, will begin the series with “Walking your way to better physical and mental health” Tuesday, Oct. 11 at noon. There will be a brief presentation in the Pohl building lobby followed by a walk around campus.

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Golden Triangle Rheumatologist Dr. Ocheowelle Okeke will be the guest speaker for the Women’s Health Awareness Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12 in the Pope Banquet Hall on the campus of The W. Originally from Jackson, Okeke is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Pediatrics. The luncheon is held in conjunction with the Department of Health & Kinesiology and with the support of Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle.

On Thursday, Oct. 13 at 10:30 a.m., Dr. Kim Shaw, associate professor of Kinesiology, will present “When exercise hurts: Prevention and care of common leg and foot injuries.”  This presentation will take place in the Pohl building in Room 206.  

Pintado added, “Go for outdoor walks, not just for the aerobic benefits but because it can boost mood and increase blood flow and circulation to the brain. Pause and take the time to attend a luncheon, enjoy the company of others, and learn about our bodies. Listen to a talk about prevention and care of injuries and learn about the importance of pausing and caring for ourselves. We are fortunate to have Baptist hospital in our community, providing healthcare and education and this wonderful opportunity to pause.”

For more information and to reserve tickets for the luncheon, please contact the Department of Health and Kinesiology at (662) 329-7225.

Sonya Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day will be Monday at The W

Published: 29 September 2022
Written by Tyler Wheat
No comments
Categories: Arts & Sciences, News, Women's Mission

Sonya Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day returns to the Mississippi University for Women campus on Monday, Oct. 3, in Nissan Auditorium in Parkinson Hall.

Sonya Kovalevsky

The event, which was started more than 20 years ago by Jane Wenstrom and supported in part by a grant from the Association of Women in Mathematics, honors Kovalevsky, an outstanding 19th century mathematician and the first woman to receive a doctoral degree in mathematics. It brings together high school girls and their teachers (male or female) to engage in mathematics activities. There will be a competition exam (no calculators allowed) followed by a keynote speaker, small breakout sessions, lunch, small group sessions and a closing session.

Dr. Joshua Hanes, an associate professor of mathematics at The W, has been involved in the event for more than a decade. He said he is eager to welcome students and teachers back to campus after COVID-19 forced the in-person event to be canceled the last two years.

“This is a chance for us to show the high school girls some of the fun and interesting parts of mathematics,” Hanes said. “We hope the scholarship offers will encourage students to join us here at The W.”

Hanes said the all of the mathematics faculty members at The W play pivotal roles in the organization and planning of the event. He said he handles the advertising, communication with schools and collection of registration forms, Dr. Dorothy Kerzel handles the competition exams, Dr. Bonnie Oppenheimer arranges for the scholarships to the exam winners and coordinates door prizes with Texas Instruments.

“Everyone will do a small group session in an area of their interest appropriate for high school students, including games, puzzles and hands-on activities,” Hanes said. “Our keynote speakers spark interest in mathematics by choosing topics that interest high school students. This year, former W mathematics faculty member Clifton Wingard will present The Fibonacci numbers, which are commonly denoted Fₙ. These numbers form a sequence, the Fibonacci sequence, in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. The sequence commonly starts from 0 and 1.

Hanes said Sonya Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day plays an important role in educating students and parents about the possible career opportunities in mathematics. He said Oppenheimer, the department chair and professor of mathematics, has a story he believes some parents might relate to.

“My own parents had no clue what I might do with a mathematics degree,” Oppenheimer said. “They snuck out of the house, went to a local college recruiting event and found a mathematics professor to ask about whether girls could get jobs with mathematics degrees. They came home and announced I would be allowed to declare a mathematics major if I wanted to do so. I can only believe many parents also wonder what their daughters might do in mathematics.”

Hanes echoed Oppenheimer’s feelings and said Sonya Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day is less about raising awareness of the opportunities and more about understanding a career in mathematics isn’t just about “doing math.”

“It’s about making the world around you easier to understand,” Hanes said. “By studying mathematics, students develop the mental discipline to focus on abstract concepts, manipulate them in their heads, and use these skills to solve problems quickly and efficiently.

“Having a strong foundation in mathematics also makes it easier to transition into any STEM field. Over the course of study of mathematics, students develop transportable skills that they can use not only in the pursuit of pure mathematics, but also mathematics-adjacent careers and graduate studies such as engineering, physics, computer programming, and chemistry.”

The program begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 2:30 p.m. Registered participants may check in between 8 and 8:30 a.m. in the lobby of Parkinson Hall at The W. Lunch will be provided for free for the first 100 participants to register.

Prizes will be awarded to individuals with the highest scores on the mathematics competition exam, which in the past have included W scholarships awardable to first-time, full-time freshmen.

W students contribute to Where Women Made History

Published: 28 September 2022
Written by Tyler Wheat
No comments
Categories: Arts & Sciences, News, Uncategorized, Women's Mission

Maggie Ellis needed a broader historical context.

Maggie Ellis

Working to complete a bachelor’s degree in History, Ellis opted to take Dr. Erin Kempker’s Women in American History class because they felt it would help the research they were doing for their capstone project that was focused on 19th-century women’s history.

That’s when Ellis was introduced to the Where Women Made History project. Started by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the initiative is designed to tell the full history of women gaining the right to vote in the United States.

Kempker’s class gave Ellis and fellow classmates an opportunity to learn and educate others about the history of Mississippi University for Women. In all, Ellis and the class submitted two entries about The W that can be seen at https://savingplaces.org/where-women-made-history#.Yw4MKX3MKUk. The entries, which focused on the “founding mothers” of Mississippi Industrial Institute and College for the Education of White Girls and the desegregation of The W, were limited to 1,000 characters, so the students had to be succinct when detailing their research.

“We went back and forth for several weeks about the best verbiage to get the most impact with the least characters possible,” said Ellis, who is from Forest and earned a degree from The W in May 2022. Currently, Ellis is working as a graduate assistant at the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi. Audrey Littlejohn, a senior Interdisciplinary Studies student, agreed: “With so little space, we really had to narrow it down—we had so much more to say, too.”

Audrey Littlejohn

Kempker, a professor of History in the Department of History, Political Science, and Geography, said her students had a lot of great essays and scholarship to draw on thanks to the work done by Drs. Bridget and Steve Pieschel and the students who researched desegregation in 2016. They then had to practice condensing their stories by focusing on the most essential elements.

“Any writer can tell you it is so much harder to write with fewer words than with many, so students really had to write, edit and then edit a whole lot more so that the narratives they created told the historical significance of the place but within the text limits of the project,” Kempker said. “It was a task to be sure, and students debated every word in those narratives.”

Kempker said students voted on which destinations/places to submit and there was a real consensus around doing the “founding mothers” of The W and the civil rights pioneers, who desegregated The W. She said students worked in two teams to get the submission images and narratives completed. 

“As a result, our historic campus is well represented in this project that aims to tell the story of American women across the nation and prove that women make history in their local communities and their contributions, though too often unnoticed, need to be celebrated,” Kempker said. “We were proud to put W women on this map.”

Ellis said their group primarily utilized the book “Loyal Daughters: One Hundred Years at Mississippi University for Women, 1884-1984” by the Pieschels because everyone felt the research was substantiated and the book could lead them to other sources. She said she enjoyed working on the project and has plans to keep working on several research projects started as an undergraduate in 2021 and to seek publication for them.

“The process was intriguing as we had to focus on how we were utilizing our words, but Audrey and I spent an afternoon early on in the project laughing and cracking jokes as we dug through historic campus photographs in the archives to try and find one that represented our work the best,” Ellis said.