Knox in the News

From The Register-Mail:
The Knox College Department of Theatre and Dance presents “A Lie of the Mind,” by Sam Shepard, at 7:30 p.m. through Saturday in Harbach Theatre, Ford Center for the Fine Arts.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and Knox College alumni, and free to all Knox students, faculty and staff. Tickets are available at the door one hour before each performance, or by making advance reservations at 341-7472.

“Shepard has described his play as ‘a love ballad, a little legend about love,’ ” said director Elizabeth Carlin-Metz, professor of theater. “I believe that it also delivers a message that our yearning for security through wealth and power leads to a social economics of competition, possession, mistrust and betrayal. Shepard presents his characters and stories as challenges to the audience and the actors alike, inviting them to throw off passivity and to feel deeply. Perhaps then we can reconnect with our inner selves and the sources of our own myths.

The student cast features Christopher Bakka as Frankie, Kathleen Donoghue as Sally, Joey Firman as Jake, Mya Kahler as Beth, Kate LaRose as Meg, Nellie Ognacevic as Lorraine, Keegan Siebken as Mike and Jimmy Thorton as Baylor.

From The Register-Mail:

The  Knox-Galesburg Symphony will feature guitarist Jordan Mandela Knudson at its subscription concert Saturday.

The concert, sponsored by Blick Art Materials celebrating its 100th anniversary, will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre.

The Knox-Galesburg Symphony, under the direction of artistic director/conductor Bruce Polay, will perform Shostakovich’s Symphony Nr. 10, Opus 93, E minor and the world premiere of Prokofiev’s “Devilish Inspiration,” Opus 4/4 orchestrated by Knox College graduate John Eisemann. Knudson will perform Vivaldi’s Guitar Concerto in D Major.

Knudson, with a degree in music from Columbia College, most recently won second place in the 2010 Society of American Musicians Competition and the 2009 College Church Guitar Competition, in which adjudicator Lorenzo Micheli called his playing “outstanding, with unique and interesting musical ideas.”

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), a Russian-born icon, composed his “Devilish Inspiration” Opus 4 for solo piano in 1908 at the age of 17. It premiered in St. Petersburg in December 1908, and was Prokofiev’s first public performance.

As part of his senior Honors Project at Knox College, Eisemann orchestrated the piece under the direction of Polay.

“Through the process of orchestrating this piece, I drew on my study of great orchestrators in combination with my own ear and trusting my melodic instincts,” Eisemann wrote…

From the Quad City Engineering and Science Council:

Junior Scientist of the Year:
David Bunde

David Bunde, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Knox College in Galesburg, is the 2011 QCESC Junior Scientist of the Year. A faculty member in Computer Science at Knox since 2006, he has strengthened that program with his innovative teaching in parallel computing and his involvement with Knox students in undergraduate research. He has also served as a coach for a FIRST Lego Robotics team in Galesburg.

Additional Information: David received his B.S. (1998) degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Harvey Mudd College and his Ph.D. (2006) in Computer Science from the University of Illinois. He lives in Galesburg with his wife Jennifer and young son Douglas.

Senior Scientist of the Year:
John Dooley

John Dooley, Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Knox College in Galesburg, is the 2011 QCESC Senior Scientist of the Year. Combining 18 years in the computer industry (including Bell Labs and Motorola) with 17 years of college teaching, his refereed publications and numerous oral presentations explore small-team software development, cryptology and small college computing pedagogy.

Additional Information: He received his B.A. (1974) degree in Mathematics from Lindenwood College and an M.S. (1976) in Computer Science from Syracuse University as well as an M.S. (1982) in Electrical Engineering from Rice University. A resident of Galesburg, he is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the Association for Computing Machinery.

From The Register-Mail:
Bruce Polay, professor of music and chair of the Knox College Music Department and artistic director/conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony will return to guest conduct the Orquesta Sinfonia de la Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico, for a single performance March 11.

The program is an all-orchestral concert of overtures and interludes by Bizet, Mascagni, Puccini, Bellini and Verdi. The OSUG is one of the leading professional orchestras in Mexico. It is co-sponsored by the University of Guanajuato and the state of Mexico. This will be Polay’s fifth appearance with the ensemble.

A three-time recipient of the Illinois Council of Orchestras Conductor of the Year Award, Polay most recently received the prestigious Illinois Conductor of the Year, Professional Orchestras Award in April 2010. In addition, Polay has been awarded the ICO Cultural Leadership and Programming of the Year awards. During his tenure, the KGS has been consistently recognized by the ICO 17 times in nine different categories including Illinois Orchestra of the Year Award for an unprecedented third time.

From The Register-Mail:

Their mission

Knox College was included in the 2010 edition of the Princeton Review’s “Best 368 Colleges” under the Best College Radio Stations category. The book selects just 15 percent of colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, giving WVKC 90.7’s ranking an air of prestige — a motivation behind Lovett and Pleines’ work.

“One of the goals we set for ourselves is to live up to that ranking,” said Lovett. “Also, in my mind, having some semblance of responsibility.”

As Lovett and Pleines seek to give WVKC more of a business feel, they have also created a new logo, but Lovett laments the possibility that all of the efforts could someday be changed by someone else.

“The best plan you can build, you can only watch for, at most, three years, before it dies,” said Lovett. “Any change we make might only last about 18 months, before somebody thinks it’s stupid and changes it.”

Pleines said she wants to make sure that as much as possible is accomplished at the station during her time at Knox.

“For me, it’s just hoping the DJs and other people see that we’re trying to make it better, and if they like what they see, maybe they’ll leave it and have more respect for it,” said Pleines. “We hope it lasts, but there’s really nothing to guarantee it.”

From The Register-Mail:
Those who view the throwing of a Frisbee as a casual and leisurely act were absent from Knox College’s T. Fleming Fieldhouse Saturday during the 17th annual Natalie Veneziano Winter Whiteout Ultimate Frisbee Tournament.

Club teams from Northern Illinois University, Western Illinois University, Bradley University and as far away as Wartburg College in Iowa and Valparaiso University in Indiana showed up to compete in the sport, which is part football, part basketball and part-soccer — played with Frisbees.

“It’s getting more and more popular every year,” said event organizer and Knox College senior David Kurian. “We’ve got teams coming from all over the place.”

“We have like 40-some members. It’s definitely the most popular club sport (at Knox),” said Kurian.

“It’s just kind of like a warm-up before sectionals start,” said Kevin Mclaughlin, a junior from Western Illinois University. “It’s like preseason games.”

Though the event is technically a dry run before the beginning of the official season, competition was nonetheless heated as students ran, catching and firing Frisbees down the court.

Also attending the event were about 25 Knox College alumni who return year after year to compete in the tournament, which continues today.

“This is our homecoming,” said Rob Clark, a class of ’95 alumnus who founded Knox’s first Ultimate Frisbee team in 1992. “We bring an alumni team back every year.”

The tournament honors Natalie Veneziano, a 1998 Knox alumna and avid Ultimate Frisbee player who died of leukemia in 2004. Veneziano’s parents drove to the tournament from Missouri this year for the first time since it was renamed in honor of their daughter.

“Obviously we’re honored,” said Carl Veneziano, Natalie’s father. “This was a big part of Natalie’s life when she was at Knox.”

“We knew she was special to us,” said Connie Veneziano, Natalie’s mother. “We didn’t know she was so special to so many others.”

The couple described Natalie’s days at Knox as some of the best and most formative of her life.

“Knox was really an extension of our daughter,” said Connie Veneziano.

The event resumes at 9 a.m. today in the T. Fleming Fieldhouse on the Knox College campus.