February 2010

DSU Music Dept. Hosts 2nd Annual Brass Day

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This year's Brass Day will feature an afternoon performance of the U.S. Naval Brass Quintet and an evening concert of  the Rodney Mack Philadelphia Big Brass.

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  The Delaware State University Music Department will hold its second annual Brass Day that will feature clinics and performance opportunities for brass musicians of all ages as well as be highlighted by three separate concerts by a number of DSU Brass Ensemble groups, the U.S. Naval Band Brass Quintet and the Rodney Mack Philadelphia Big Brass, all taking place throughout the day on Friday, Feb. 12 in the Education and Humanities Building and Theatre. The day will begin at 12 noon with a concert featuring all of DSU’s brass groups – the DSU Trombone Ensemble, the Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble, the “Sting” Brass Quintet, the “Valve” Brass Quintet, as well as DSU faculty members Dr. Patrick Hoffman and Dr. Frank Gazda.   That will be followed by a 1 p.m. clinics/reading session for trumpet, horn, trombone, baritone/euphonium and tuba. These sessions are open to all participants    At 2 p.m. the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) Band Brass Quintet will perform a concert in the Education and Humanities Theatre. The USNA Band Brass Quintet, which is dedicated to the promotion of traditional and contemporary brass quintet literature, is based in the Annapolis area where it has been widely hailed as clinicians by schools and colleges of that area. This concert is free and open to the public.   The DSU Trombone Ensemble -- (l-r) James Scarborough, Ashton Haines, Shawn Walker, Dr. Frank Gazda (director), Ruben Fountain and Janae Huff -- will be one of several DSU Brass Ensembles to perform during the Brass Day event. At 7:15 p.m. there will be a prelude concert featuring the DSU Brass Ensembles and the “Mass Brass” Ensemble.   At 8 p.m. the Rodney Mack Philadelphia Big Brass will perform the feature concert of the day. The band is composed of some of America’s top brass musicians, with member of the group having been performers with elite symphony musicians such as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Baltimore Symphony, Sào Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, Imani Winds, Canadian Brass and the Boston Brass. The bandleader Rodney Mack is a cousin of renowned jazz trumpet player Wynton Marsalis.   The Rodney Mack Concert, which will also be held in the Education & Humanities Theatre, will cost $5 for student and $10 for adults.   All of the day’s events will take place in the Education & Humanities Theatre on campus. Students (DSU and non-DSU) of all ages, amateur and professional brass players, and all music lovers are welcome for a day of clinics, workshops, and concerts.   With the exception of Rodney Mack concert, all other activities are free and open to the public.  Please contact Frank Gazda at (302) 857-7885 or fgazda@desu.edu for directions or additional information.      

DSU to Host "America Amerique" at the Schwartz

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The cast of America Amerique (left) will perform at the Schwartz Center for the Arts in Downtown Dover on Feb. 12.

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  Delaware State University will host the JENA Company production entitled America Amerique at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 4 at the Schwartz Center for the Arts in downtown Dover. The March 4 performance is a rescheduling from the original Feb. 12 date that had to be postponed due to the snowstorm that week. Live on stage, AMERICA AMERIQUE is the story of American immigrants – and America – 1845 to the Present. From the Irish potato fields to Mid-western farms and New York tenements … from New England factories and the railroad across the Rockie, to the Mexican border 2008…and elsewhere. The startling and extraordinary production uses music, sound, and seven actors to bring the audience to unknown worlds. “Voices from Our Past, Dreams for the Future, and a Battle that still rages today, the audience will learn, to know deeply, where we’ve been, where we’ve come from, maybe even where we’re going, in this American story, the story of immigrants. The production is free to students with I.D. and is open to the public with a $10 fee for adults. For tickets call the Schwartz Center for the Arts box office at (302) 678-5152. For further information contact Dr. Donald Parks at (302) 678-3583 or e-mail at Donald@schwartzcenter.com. School groups and other community groups are welcome to participate in this opportunity to learn about the history of immigration in America.  

Student Center Complex Dedication still on for Feb. 25

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Even if snow surrounds the MLK Student Center on Feb. 25, the rescheduled 3 p.m. Dedication Ceremony there will still go on as planned.

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Watch the dedication live! Click here. Even if snow comes, the Student Center Complex Dedication will go on as planned at 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25 in the new Martin Luther King Student Center. The public is welcome to attend the Dedication Ceremony and tours of the Student Center Complex on that rescheduled date. The Honorable Walter Fauntroy, civil right activist and former U.S. congressman, has readjusted his schedule and will give the keynote address. All other originally planned events relating to the dedication will take place on Feb. 25. With the dedication of the Complex – which includes the Strength & Conditioning Facility, the Wellness & Recreation Center with its connected swimming pool, as well as the MLK Student Center, DSU is combining the christening event with its annual observances of Martin Luther King’s Birthday and the University’s Founders’ Day. There will also be remarks from DSU President Harry Lee Williams; Kathleen Charlot, current DSU Student Government Association (SGA) president; Leroy Tate, Delaware State College alumnus and the 1968 SGA president; and Dr. Claibourne Smith, chairman of the DSU Board of Trustees. A ribbon cutting ceremony and the opening of the 1968 Time Capsule that was extracted from the cornerstone of the previous student center prior to its demolition will be other features. The University will also announce the contents of a new time capsule that will be encased in the cornerstone of the new MLK Student Center. In addition, the University will give people a chance to own a piece of history through the sale of bricks from the previous MLK Student Center that was in existence from 1968-2008. The limited edition bricks will be on sale for $15 each in the new MLK Student Center.

Two DSU Students Work with NBC at the Olympics

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Mass Communications majors Shanae Newman (l) and Kevin Davis are representing DSU with their work ethic at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

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  Delaware State University is once again making its mark at the World Olympics. Almost two years after four DSU mass communications students spent an internship working at the Summer Olympics in China, now there are two other students from the same department who are currently assisting with the media production at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The two mass communications students – Kevin P. Davis, a junior television production major, and Shanae M. Newman, a senior broadcast journalism major – are getting valuable real world experience in their chosen professional vocations as a part of the NBC production team at the Olympics. Mr. Davis is working as a “logger,” in which he will review all of the NBC footage that comes into the International Broadcast Center and assign time codes on them. “This will give me an insight to the whole spectrum of what NBC is doing at the Olympic,” said Mr. Davis, native of Wichita Falls, Tex. and now a Dover resident. “Even though it is an internship position, it is important to the overall success of the production.” Ms. Newman will be working with different producers and production team members as a “runner.” The Baltimore native said that she will be there to do whatever is needed to be done. “I will get to see how the broadcasters prepare before they go on the air,” Ms. Newman said. “I will also get to see how the productions are set up.” Equally valuable, both said, will be the opportunity to work side by side with the NBC production team members and hopefully develop professional relationships that could be beneficial to their future careers.  

Dr. Claibourne D. Smith Receives Reappointment to the Board

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  Gov. Jack Markell has reappointed Dr. Claibourne D. Smith to another six years as a member of Delaware State University's Board of Trustees. Dr. Smith has been a governor’s appointee to the board since 1987, when he was first appointed to finish the term of former board member Arthur Richardson. In 1993, Dr. Smith was elected by the board to serve as chairman, which he            Dr. Claibourne D. Smith served until 2008, when he stepped down to serve as the acting president of the University.   When Dr. Harry Lee Williams became DSU’s 10th president on Jan. 10, Dr. Smith returned to the board and was re-elected as board chairman. With the governor’s reappointment, Dr. Smith is now in his 22nd year as a board member and his 16th year as board chairman.   A chemist by profession, Dr. Smith retired in 1998 from DuPont as the vice president of technology and vice chairman of Corporate Education. The Centerville, Del. resident has also previously served on the Delaware State Board of Education, the State Commission on Higher Education, as well as president of the Delaware Math and Science Foundation.          

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