2011 Vocus Press Releases
2/24/2011
Seuss is loose at the Cat-in-the-Hat Ball
Day, The
Dorsey, Kristina
Mitchell College busts outs the green eggs and Ooblicks and cats-in-the-hats for its tenth annual Cat-in-the-Hat Ball on Saturday.
The event celebrating reading has grown to the point that it has attracted 500 kids and family members. What brings them in is the Seussian focus and the mix of kids' games, music, readings by campus staff and community leaders, and pizza.
Attendees can buy children's books from Scholastic Books during the event. Taking a cue from the title Cat-in-the-Hat Ball, they are welcome to wear funny hats, and versions of that familiar Cat-in-the-Hat haberdashery will be sold on site.
This is all part of Read Across Southeastern Connecticut, in conjunction with the National Education Associations' (NEA) Read Across America program.
- KRISTINA DORSEY
Cat-in-the-Hat Ball, 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Weller and Clarke centers, Mitchell College, 437 Pequot Ave., New London; admission free with the donation of one or more books per family, or $5 per family; books will be donated to local schools and early child-care centers; (860) 701-5015.
Originally posted online at http://www.theday.com/article/20110224/ENT02/302249573 on February 24, 2011
3/14/2011
Mitchell College Announces Dannel Malloy Will Be Commencement Speaker
New London Patch
Langeveld, Dirk
Governor Dannel Malloy will be the commencement speaker at the Mitchell College graduation this year, according to college spokesperson Renee Fournier.
Malloy, who has served on the college's Board of Trustees, served as mayor of Stamford for 14 years before he was elected governor last year. He earned a bachelor of science degree in political science and sociology from Boston College in 1977, graduated from the Boston College School of Law in 1980, and served as assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y. from 1980 to 1984.
Malloy sat on the Stamford Board of Education before he was elected mayor. He has also served as president of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut.
Malloy beat the official announcement this morning when he visited JobTarget in downtown New London. There, he described the city's three colleges as economic engines and noted that he would be speaking at the Mitchell commencement.
“We are truly honored to have Governor Malloy speak at graduation,”said Mary Ellen Jukoski, president of Mitchell College. “He has such a deep and personal understanding of the challenges that many Mitchell College students who also have learning disabilities face on a daily basis. His own story is incredibly inspiring and motivating.”
"Governor Malloy has been a part of the Mitchell College community for the past few years, and the opportunity to congratulate the graduates on all they have accomplished and wish them well as they embark on the next phase in their life is something to which he’s very much looking forward," said Juliet Manalan, Malloy's press secretary.
The graduation ceremony will take place on May 14, with the Class of 2011 expected to be 160 students. Seating for the general public is available on the Great Lawn. For more information, call (860) 701-5079 or email .
Correction: The article originally said Malloy graduated from Boston University in 1971. Malloy actually graduated from Boston College in 1977.
Originally published at http://newlondon.patch.com/articles/mitchell-college-announces-dannel-malloy-will-be-commencement-speaker on March 14, 2011
4/11/2011
Mitchell multimedia project explores world of the incarcerated
Day - Online, The
Mitchell College's Cultural Programming Advisory Committee presents "Time In," an exploration of incarceration presented by the Judy Dworin Performance Project, on April 17.
Through a mix of story, song and dance, Dworin's "Time In" brings the emotional experience of women in prison to the public. The performance begins at 3 p.m. in Mitchell College's Clarke Auditorium. At 2 p.m., preceding the performance, Mitchell will host a lecture/panel, "Taking Positive Risks: Arts and the Underserved," in the college's Weller Center.
Simultaneously, a thematic art exhibition, mounted at Expressiones and at Mitchell, will explore visual interpretations of the experience and the broader implications of incarceration. Expressiones will host an opening reception on Saturday, April 16, from 5 to 7 p.m.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information,
visit www.mitchell.edu/timein.
Originally published online at http://www.theday.com/article/20110411/ENT02/304119953 on April 11, 2011.
4/13/2011
Judy Dworin Performance Project Visits Expressiones, Mitchell
The Judy Dworin Performance Project is coming to both Expressiones and Mitchell College this weekend to exhibit both gallery and performance art.
Expressiones will hold an opening reception for the new exhibit from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday. Mitchell College will hold a discussion on topics such as incarceration and youth outreach at 2 p.m. in the Weller Center; Dworin’s performance piece “Time In” will begin an hour later. Both events are free and open to the public.
Originally published at http://newlondon.patch.com/articles/judy-dworin-performance-project-visits-expressiones-mitchell on April 13, 2011.
4/14/2011
Examining 'Time In' in Mitchell College event
Day, The
Dorsey, Kristina
The Judy Dworin Performance Project has created a theater piece inspired by inmates at the York Correctional Institution in Niantic.
"Time In" deals with the women's emotions - from anger to regret, from despair to hope - as it uses story, song and dance to reflect their reassessments of their lives.
A Sunday performance of the piece will be part of a collaborative project with Mitchell College's Cultural Programming Advisory Committee's and Expressiones Cultural Center.
One of the goals of the collaborative project is to encourage people to consider the power that the arts have to positively influence negative behavior.
An art exhibition about the experience and the broader implications of incarceration will be shown at both Mitchell and at Expressiones at 74 State St., where there will be an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday. Artists include Corina Alvarezdelugo, Carol Dunn, Guido Garaycochea, Lynda Gardner, Pam Gordinier, Scott Gordley, Brad Guarino, Jessica Rosner, and Ken Steinkamp.
"This topic touched me immediately," says Guido Garaycochea, who is curator and founder of the not-for-profit Expressiones, as well as a former volunteer at York. "This project will connect the public with a situation it often does not and cannot imagine. Time In gives us the chance to think about a forgotten part of the population. The public needs to understand that many inmates do not belong in prison in the first place, and that all returning prisoners need to be given a second chance."
- Kristina Dorsey
Originally published online at http://www.theday.com/article/20110414/ENT12/304149535 on April 14, 2011
4/14/2011
Performance Portraying the Incarcerated Comes to Mitchell
Day - Online, The
Mitchell College's Cultural Programming Advisory Committee is collaborating with the Judy Dworin Performance Project and Expressiones Cultural Center to bring Judy Dworin's performance piece, Time In, to the college on April 17.
Through a mix of story, song, and dance, Time In brings the humanity of women behind bars and the complex tapestry of their feelings - anger, pain, regret, fear, loneliness, despair and glimmers of hope - to the public. It portrays these women's reappraisals of their lives and identities as they measure and consider the passage of time while serving their prison sentences at the York Correctional Institution in Niantic.
"Time In allows us a glimpse of that human aspect and helps us understand crime, prison, and rehabilitation. It is a timely piece for urban centers everywhere as we reflect upon the more than 2 million people who are incarcerated in America - roughly 25 percent of the total incarcerated population in the world - while we make up only 1/25 of the total world population," Dworin said.
More than 250 Mitchell students will experience the Time In events as part of their course requirements.
This event is free and open to the public.
Simultaneously, a thematic art exhibition, mounted both at Expressiones and at Mitchell, will explore visual interpretations of the experience and the broader implications of incarceration.
Expressiones will host an opening reception on Saturday, April 16, from 5 to 7 p.m. Artists include Corina Alvarezdelugo, Carol Dunn, Guido Garaycochea, Lynda Gardner, Pam Gordinier, Scott Gordley, Brad Guarino, Jessica Rosner and Ken Steinkamp.
The Time In performance will take place on Sunday, April 17, at 3 p.m., in the Mitchell College Clarke Auditorium. At 2 p.m., directly preceding the performance, Mitchell will host a lecture/panel - "Taking Positive Risks: Arts and the Underserved" - in the college's adjoining Weller Center, led by Dworin, who is in her sixth year of artist residency at York Correctional Institution.
For more information, visit www.mitchell.edu/timein, contact Suzanne Bartels at or (860) 701-5155.
Originally published online at http://www.theday.com/article/20110414/NWS08/304149582 on April 14, 2011.
4/27/2011
New London — Employers nationwide plan to hire 19 percent more graduating college students this year than they did in 2010, according to a state Department of Labor official, who told a group of business leaders this morning at Mitchell College that it ta
Day - Online, The
New London — Employers nationwide plan to hire 19 percent more graduating college students this year than they did in 2010, according to a state Department of Labor official, who told a group of business leaders this morning at Mitchell College that it takes at least one post-secondary credential today to guarantee a middle-class income.
Mark Stankiewicz, state program manager for the federal Workforce Investment Act, told a gathering of about 50 people at Future Forum 2011 that he's not sure increased demand for college students will translate into higher pay. It's possible, he said, that employers in the current economic climate are trying to hire college graduates at less than stellar pay to start off.
"It's a tight labor market," he said. "It's an employer's market."
But Catherine Erik-Soussi, director of Mitchell College's career center, said the market is much better for college graduates this year than it has been during the past few years. She added that the Future Forum was an attempt to reach out to local businesses to determine some of their needs in today's market.
Amanda Ljubicic, assistant director of the career center, summed up some of the business leaders' concerns about young workers when she said they tend to need work on "soft skills," such as public speaking, making eye contact, being committed to the workplace and showing respect to co-workers. College graduates, some of whom have never held down a job, struggle to adapt to the work world, she said.
"They're relatively resistant to learning professional skills," she added.
Business consultant Phil Albert said many younger workers have felt the sting of fathers and grandfathers being laid off from companies where they worked for decades. Their natural reaction has been to reject the idea of loyalty to a company, seeing that it was not rewarded.
"Their focus is on a career, not on a company," he said.
Originally published online at http://www.theday.com/article/20110426/NWS01/110429722/1047 on April 26, 2011.
5/7/2011
Mitchell's flowery new way to study Shakespeare
Day - Online, The
What poisonous plant is described in "Hamlet"? Which fragrant flowers are alluded to in "A Midsummer's Nights Dream"?
You can find out soon enough, along with many other connections between William Shakespeare's plays and the plants and wildflowers of his day, if you sign up for "Botany and the Bard" this summer at New London's Mitchell College-an interdisciplinary class that digs deep into its subject from both a literary and scientific point of view.
The course is team taught by Jennifer O'Donnell, associate professor of literature, and Frank Kaczmarek, adjunct professor of biology and health sciences, freelance photographer and naturalist, and author of "New England Wildflowers, a Guide to Common Plants" (Falcon, 2009).
O'Donnell's brainchild, "Botany and the Bard," premiered last spring at Mitchell College. Having taught at the college for 40 years, she says she's always looking for new ways to engage students in Shakespeare. She also happens to be an avid gardener.
O'Donnell explains that she was inspired to teach a class at Mitchell about the flowers and foliage Shakespeare used in his writing, after Misericordia University (her alma mater) memorialized her former teacher, Sister Regina, who loved Shakespeare, with a Shakespeare-themed garden.
"I brought the idea to Mitchell College's head of science, who said, 'I have the perfect person to teach it with you,'" O'Donnell says. "Frank and I met and hit it off from day one. We were on a roll. It's much more interesting to combine different humanities (subjects) than sitting down and dryly reading Shakespeare."
"I'm all for any college course that creates a bridge between the humanities and sciences," Kaczmarek adds.
"I'm not teaching my part as hard science. I'm not trying to make botanists out of the students," he stresses. "I want to show them that science has a role in everyday life-give them a historical perspective of botany and the role of plants in Shakespeare's time, during the Renaissance."
The class is structured to include six Shakespeare plays with botanical references and metaphors. Students watch films of the plays performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, which O'Donnell notes are "very pure with simple scenery," and learn about structure, character, theme and plot. They also do experiential botanical studies.
For example, students are responsible to find/research their own sonnets, which they pen on hand-made parchment paper with turkey quill pens dipped in ink made from extracts of insect galls (collected in the college's own 30-acre woods), which is combined with copper sulfate.
The idea, O'Donnell and Kaczmarek concur, is for students to experience the process of writing one of Shakespeare's sonnets in the same painstaking manner as the Bard himself recorded his work 400 years ago.
In another "mini-lab," students make a salad, which incorporates herbs and edible flowers that O'Donnell brings to class from her kitchen garden.
A segment of the final project is designing a Shakespeare Garden on paper, using the appropriate flowers, shrubs, and trees, and justifying why those selections were made.
"I've always enjoyed Shakespeare and it's great to be drawn back into it in this way," Kaczmarek says. "I'm learning as much-or more-than the students."
He adds that by highlighting particular themes in Shakespearean works in this way, "Students become engaged and uplifted. It's a great way of drawing them out."