Newsflash

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Athletes Share Holiday Spirit With Area Schoolchildren
	About 20 athletes are sharing the holiday spirit with area schoolchildren. At North Windham School, one little boy gives his full attention to freshman Daniel DeJesus of Hartford, CT, as he reads a holiday story to a classroom with bilingual students. Some 15 other athletes read to youngsters at Natchaug Elementary School before leaving on break.

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Akus Exhibit to Showcase Crude Oil Paintings

The exhibit “Crude Oil Paintings” will open at Akus Gallery Jan. 20 and run through March 6. The exhibit, which features works by 12 artists, critically engages the complexities of petroleum: its natural origins, its imminent depletion, how it has become an important commodity, and the determining role it plays in the mythologies of different societies, according to curator Elena Sorokina. Some of the works in the exhibition employ imagery from the oil industry; others highlight the often damaging effects of petroleum; yet another explores the close connection between petroleum and warfare. Approached as an aesthetic theme, oil illuminates the troubled times in which we live and the socio-political problems that we must address together. Artists include Justin Beal, Heidi Cody, Christoph Draeger, Yevgeniy Fiks, Anton Ginzburg, Ellen K. Levy, Jason Middlebrook, Mitch Miller, Ivan Navarro, Marcel Odenbach, David Opdyke, and Timothy Tompkins. A gallery talk and reception is scheduled Feb. 3 with a snow date of Feb. 10.

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Schaller Paper Wins Award From Decision Sciences Institute

Jeffrey Schaller, associate professor of operations management, recently won a distinguished paper award from the Decision Sciences Institute. Schaller’s paper, “An Investigation of Group Scheduling on a Single Machine to Minimize Total Tardiness and Earliness,” won first place in the manufacturing/management track and was selected from more than 100 submitted papers. Schaller presented his paper at the 35th annual meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute held Nov. 20-23 in Boston. The Decision Sciences Institute is a multidisciplinary international association dedicated to advancing knowledge and improving instruction in all business and related disciplines.

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CPAs Meet at Eastern For Career Conference

The Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants (CSCPA) held a CPA Career Conference for Connecticut high school students at Eastern on Oct. 26. Because of high demand and increasing attendance figures, a similar conference was held a week earlier at Fairfield University. The popular event, which combines entertainment and education, attracted about 525 students and teachers from 32 high schools. Attendees were introduced to some of the different career opportunities available to CPAs by a variety of speakers and CSCPA members. “The 2004 Career Conference at Eastern was a huge success,” said Patricia Kleine, dean of the School of Education and Professional Studies. Besides Kleine, speakers at the Eastern event included Richard Silkoff, CPA, accounting program coordinator; Lawrence Marini of the IRS Criminal Investigative Division in Bridgeport; and Justine Robertson, CPA and owner of the Webster Theater in Hartford. Musical entertainment was provided by the Accounting Crows, a band composed entirely of CPAs. Eastern provided participants with food, raffle prizes, and an opportunity to take part in campus tours.

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Holiday Teddy Bear Drive a Success

More than 200 stuffed animals were donated by Eastern students, faculty and staff  to the residents at the Holy Family Home and Shelter on Jackson Street in Willimantic.

Eastern’s Office of International Programs and Office of AccessAbility Services collected 203 stuffed animals during their third annual teddy bear drive. The collected animals were donated to the residents at the Holy Family Home and Shelter on Jackson Street in Willimantic.  “The teddy bear drive is a way for members of the campus community to share our holiday spirit with our Willimantic neighbors,” said Christiana Thomas, coordinator of international programs at Eastern. “The teddy bears and other stuffed toys donated by Eastern students, faculty and staff will bring joy to individuals receiving them.”  The collected animals included 117 teddy bears, frogs, elephants, ducks, zebras, snowmen and Cookie Monsters.

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Eastern Chapter of PRSA Hear ‘The Donald’ in NYC

Members of the new Eastern chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) attended the 2004 International Conference Oct. 23–26 in the New York Hilton and Towers in New York City. More than 4,000 public relations professionals and students were at the event. Donald Trump was the featured keynote speaker. The group also attended the 47th Advertising Women of New York Career Conference earlier that week, held at Hunter College. Accompanying the students were Patricia Kleine, dean of the Schoolof Education and Professional Studies, and Professor Olugbenga Ayeni, Department of Communication.

From left: Mark Lawrie; Jaclyn Dodson; Sheree Shields; Patricia Kleine, dean of the School of Education and Professional Studies; Mary-Rose Staley; Lirime Rashiti; and Tracey Udas. Not pictured: Nicholas Koberstein and Professor Ayeni.

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Conference Targets Applying Systems Thinking To Societal Problems

Eastern’s Department of Business Administration and the Nonprofit Leadership & Philanthropy Initiative, along with the Netherlands-based International Operations Research Working Group on Complex Societal Problems, hosted a conference, “Applying Systems Thinking, Information Systems, Operations Research and Management to Social Problems,” on Nov. 19 in the President’s Dining Room at Eastern. The conference was designed for researchers and practitioners to share experiences, dilemmas, proposals and current research. Presenters addressed a variety of complex problems including terrorism, war and global warming. Others discussed how to use systems thinking to address problems and harness potential in business and society, and methodological and research perspectives. Two panels discussed the implementation of systems thinking in university curricula and the human element within complex systems. Besides faculty and students from Eastern, researchers and practitioners came from Philadelphia, Boston and the Netherlands, as well as many participants from Southern Connecticut State University and Central Connecticut State University. The program was co-chaired by Doncho Petko, associate professor, and Eric Martin, assistant professor, both in the Business Administration Department at Eastern.

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