This is a busy time of the year for everyone, with more to do than there are hours in a day… I do hope, though, that you will stop and take a minute to learn about the Giving Tree program here at USI.

The Giving Tree program was started several years ago as a Student Affairs project, but is now an annual project of Staff Council. Our goal is to help those in need here on campus. This includes students, staff, and faculty.

Applications were made available earlier this month and will be accepted until the end of the day Monday, November 24. After an application has been approved, ornaments are made for each gift request. These ornaments are then sent to the eight Giving Tree locations here on campus. Near each tree is a sign-out sheet where ornament information is recorded. Wrapped gifts should be returned to the Giving Tree location where you picked up your ornament by Friday, December 10. After the gifts are collected, they are sorted and prepared for the families to pick up. This year’s pick-up dates are Monday, December 15, and Tuesday, December 16, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

For the past few years we also have given gift baskets to the international students that are not able to go home over the holidays. The square gift tags on the Giving Tree are for this purpose. These baskets include such things as microwave popcorn, bottled water, soft drinks, granola bars, candy, and gift cards. 

Even though this is a Staff Council project, this program would not succeed without the generosity of many – the application contacts, the Giving Tree contacts, and those who choose to take an ornament and purchase a gift for someone in need. Staff Council would like to send our sincere thanks to all that help in any way. This program would not be a success without YOU!

Contact information is listed below. Also, you can visit the Staff Council web page or contact a Staff Council member with questions. Applications can be directly downloaded from the website.

Contacts for Applications
Financial Assistance: Debbie Kerns
Career Services: Chris Jines
Human Resources: Vicki Oshodi
Religious Life: Christine Hoehn
Children’s Center: Pam Buschkill
Dean of Students Office: Mary Alice Weigand

Giving Tree Locations and Contacts
Academic Affairs-WA 104, Sheree Seib
College of Education and Human Services-ED 1104, Terry Martin
Rice Library-First floor, Dave O’Grady
Liberal Arts-LA 3001, Kim Myers
College of Nursing & Health Professions-HP 2145, Sharri Jordan
Admissions Office-OC 1096, Cindy Braker
Recreation & Fitness Center (RFC)-First floor, Jeannie Kuebler
Residence Life-Main Office, Doris Coon

POST CONTRIBUTED BY: PAM MOORE, administrative assistant for International Studies, Performing Arts, and Sociology

Dress rehearsal is scheduled to begin in five minutes.  The theatre is empty, except for the lighting designer, who sits at a table in the back row, his right leg bouncing furiously, as if it were powered by its own motor.  Dim fluorescent work lights provide just enough of a glow for him to see the notes he made at the last rehearsal.

“Can I get my headset down here please?” he calls up to the control booth.  No reply.  A few seconds later, he tries again.  “Can I please get my headset down here now?  I need to add a cue before we start the run.”

The sound engineer appears at his side a few minutes later with the necessary equipment.  Speaking softly into the headset now, the lighting designer says, “Group 101 at 50,” then observes the results as the operator brings the theatre lights up.  “At 45,” he continues, adjusting the intensity of the lighting till he hits on the right cue for the end of the show.

An assistant stage manager walks in and says to no one in particular, “Did the painters paint over the glow tape last night?”  The production stage manager replies from the booth, “I think they did.  We’ll have to fix that.”

Backstage, performers are doing vocal warm-ups as they get into costume.  One actor tells the costume designer that his shoes don’t fit.  “Don’t worry,” she tells him, “we’ll have a new pair for you before the show tomorrow.”

Back in the theatre, the director, designers, and music director have filed in and are chatting with the photographers who have come to take archival photos of the show.  With rehearsal about to begin, the stage manager yells from the booth, “Can I have quiet in the house please?  Quiet in the house.”  After a few moments of silence the director calls up, “Are we ready, Michele?”  She replies, her calm voice betraying only the slightest bit of stress, “We’re waiting on the harmonica.”

Moments later, the harmonica appears and the run begins. 

This was the scene at Mallette Studio Theatre in the Liberal Arts Center on November 5 as theatre students and faculty members along with professional actors and a professional stage manager prepared to open USI’s second annual Repertory Project, featuring productions of “Waiting for Lefty” by Clifford Odets and “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare.

The Repertory Project is one of USI’s most unique programs, bringing together the resources of New Harmony Theatre and USI Theatre, giving undergraduate theatre students the rare opportunity to work alongside professionals from New York, and providing audiences with the chance to see two plays of classic stature in the same three-week period. 

The guest actors and stage manager participating in the Repertory Project are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union for professional actors and stage managers.  To enter the union, aspiring actors and stage managers must have worked for fifty weeks in a union theatre.  Students working on The Repertory Project will receive eight weeks of credit toward their union membership.  USI is one of only a handful of undergraduate institutions nationwide to offer such an advantage to their students.

Students auditioned and interviewed for positions in The Repertory Project in early September.  Rehearsals began later that month, and since then students have devoted themselves to learning lines, building and painting scenery, hanging and focusing lighting instruments, creating costumes and masks, and marketing the productions.  Their titles range from assistant costume designer to usher and from master electrician to stitcher. 

Lenny Leibowitz, artistic director of New Harmony Theatre and assistant professor of theatre, dreamed up The Repertory Project and proposed the idea to Linda Bennett, vice-president for academic affairs, who offered support to get it off the ground.  Leibowitz and Bennett envisioned a “fertile interaction between veteran professionals and aspiring students…offering students a powerful foundation for real world experience and a practical model for transition into the professional arena.” 

The Repertory Project has achieved those goals, and USI students have won rave reviews from the professionals who note that “if we don’t bring our ‘A’ game all the time, they are likely to show us up.”

Remaining Repertory Project performances of “Waiting for Lefty,” directed by Elliot Wasserman, chair of the Department of Performing Arts, are November 15 and 20 at 7:30 p.m., and November 16 at 2 p.m.  Remaining performances of “Much Ado About Nothing,” directed by Lenny Leibowitz, are November 13, 14, 21, and 22 at 7:30 p.m., and November 15 and 23 at 2 p.m.  Tickets range from $8 to $18 and may be purchased through the New Harmony Theatre box office at 1-877-NHT-SHOW.

POST CONTRIBUTED BY: AMY ESTES, managing/marketing director for USI Theatre/New Harmony Theatre.

It turns out that I live in a blue county in a blue state.  Who knew?

Political scientists are trained as experts, but on the whole, our powers of prediction are not always very good.  I knew that polls in Indiana were showing a close race, but I predicted that Senator McCain would pull out a victory in our state.  I mean, really.  Indiana?  We’ve been a red state for 40 years!  Even when neighboring states all supported Clinton in 1996, we were solid Dole country.  We backed President Bush last time by over 20 points!

What was the recipe for Obama’s win?  Others will point to the impact of race, for 90% of African-American Hoosiers supported him.  A quick look at the map suggests it was primarily the urban-rural split, for it is clear that Obama fared better in larger cities and towns than in more rural parts of Indiana.  But I think the single largest factor was age.  According to the exit polls, 61% of Indiana seniors over 65 supported McCain, and he also won slim 51% majorities for all age groups between 30 and 64.  The only age group favoring Obama was young voters under the age of 30.  Sixty-four percent of voters age 25-29 backed the Democrat in Indiana, and 62% of voters aged 18-24.  That was enough support to eke out this small victory.  Because USI is an institution that prides itself on building democratic citizenship among young people regardless of political party, it was good to see record participation by young, first-time voters in our state.

Democrats had worked hard to organize in this state for the competitive primary in May, and that organization led to much larger numbers of field offices and paid staffers than in past elections.  As a result, Indiana had over 800,000 new registrants for this election cycle, and record turnout statewide.  That phenomenon could make Indiana a more competitive two party state long term.

There is one more factor, however, that we should examine.  Important national forces certainly also had a major impact on the race.  Bill Clinton won in 1992 by stressing that “It’s the Economy, stupid!” and that was no less true in this race.  Remember that national polls showed McCain as the projected leader in electoral college votes as recently as early September, following the Republican national convention.  The subsequent financial meltdown, followed by his “suspended campaign” and the debate over the bailout seems like the tipping point for this race.  McCain’s fortunes fell dramatically through the remainder of the fall in a rising Democratic national tide.  It is common for voters to hold accountable the president’s party when the economy turns sour, and McCain was victimized by these national circumstances.

Senator Obama has won the election.  Now he has to figure out how to govern, at a time when our national challenges are many.  Let’s hope that he is able to reach across the aisle and bring the change he has promised.

Thanks to all of you who voted.  It helps make our country great.

POST CONTRIBUTED BY: DR. BRIAN POSLER, assistant provost for undergraduate studies.