1. Steve Rushin to deliver Marquette commencement address
2. Programs earn national recognition in 2008 rankings
3. Submit questions for town hall meeting for faculty
4. Speakers to address United Nations reform
5. Law School hosting national plea bargaining conference
6. Jerusalem women to speak of their Middle East lives
7. Encourage students to sign up for Job Search Boot Camp
8. Conference convenes expert panels on race and prison crisis
9. Marquette to host Samuel Johnson Society
10. Diversity funding available to faculty and staff
11. University Ministry to hold reconciliation service
12. Stephanie Russell to talk about prayer and activism over soup
13. Student Affairs names new director of Recreational Sports
14. Need to relax? Try a $5 massage
15. Control asthma with management program
16. Spirit Shop holding spring sale
17. TIAA-CREF representatives available for financial counseling
18. This Week in History
19. Marquette Interchange highlights for the week of April 2

 

1. Steve Rushin to deliver Marquette commencement address

Award-winning sports journalist Steve Rushin will be the speaker for Marquette University’s commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 20, at the Bradley Center.

Steve Rushin joined Sports Illustrated as a reporter in 1988 after graduating from Marquette University. Three years later, he became the magazine's youngest senior writer. He is a four-time finalist for the National Magazine Award and his work has appeared in The Best American Magazine Writing, The Best American Travel Writing and The Best American Sports Writing anthologies. In 2006, he was named the National Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

Called "the best sportswriter in the country" by the St. Paul Pioneer Press and "certainly the most fun to read" by the Hartford Courant, Rushin has also been described as "one of the most agile essayists around" by Publishers Weekly, which listed his book Road Swing among the Best Books of 1998. Money magazine called the book "one of the funniest travelogues ever written," and Sports Illustrated named Road Swing one of The Top 100 Sports Books of All Time.

Rushin will be presented with an honorary doctor of letters degree. Three other individuals will also receive honorary degrees at the 2007 commencement:

Dr. Louis Dupré, an award-winning philosopher and theologian specializing in phenomenology and the philosophy of religion, early modern thought and spiritual theology, will be awarded an honorary doctor of religious studies.

Rev. Leland Eugene Lubbers, S.J., Ph.D., founder of the international news channel SCOLA, will be awarded an honorary doctor of science.

Vel Phillips, a pioneer in the women’s and civil rights movements in Milwaukee, will be awarded an honorary doctor of laws.

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3. Submit questions for town hall meeting for faculty

The annual Town Hall meeting for faculty will be held on Wednesday, April 4, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Straz Hall, DS105. Faculty should submit questions on any topic to Kristy Nielson by today, Monday, April 2.

4. Speakers to address United Nations reform

Americans for Informed Democracy will host two visiting speakers on “How to Keep from Overselling or Underestimating the United Nations” today, Monday, April 2, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in AMU Ballroom D. Attendance is free.

David Shorr, of The Stanley Foundation, and Mark Lagon, deputy assistant secretary for International Organization Affairs for the U.S. Department of State, will visit campus as part of a national “Global Governance for a Changing World” initiative. The effort includes dozens of presentations throughout the U.S. to address the future of international institutions in the rapidly globalizing world.
 
A question-and-answer session will follow the presentations. Refreshments will be served.

E-mail Jennifer Lorentz or Neal Styka for more information.

5. Law School hosting national plea bargaining conference

The Law School is hosting a national conference on plea bargaining, “Understanding and Improving Dispute Resolution in Criminal Law,” on April 14 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Sensenbrenner Hall, third floor. The conference will bring together distinguished criminal law and dispute resolution scholars from around the country for an interdisciplinary discussion. Several of Wisconsin's leading criminal law practitioners will also participate in a roundtable discussion about the criminal justice field in Wisconsin.

Register by tomorrow, Tuesday, April 2. Cost is $50.

Ever since the constitutionality of the practice was first established in the 1970s, plea bargaining has been the subject of fierce academic debate. Scholars are now increasingly turning their attention from the question of whether plea bargaining should be permitted at all to a consideration of what rules and practices might enhance transparency and accountability, diminish coerciveness and the risk of wrongful conviction, and better address the needs of victims.

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6. Jerusalem women to speak of their Middle East lives

Three women from Israel/Palestine will share their stories, fears and hopes for peace at “Three Women, Three Faiths, One Shared Vision,” at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, in Olin Engineering, room 202.

These women come from each of the three major faiths in Israel and Palestine — Christianity, Islam and Judaism, and voice their hopes and frustrations concerning the ongoing violence.

Huda Abu Arqoub, Muslim Palestinian, is a consultant with the Palestinian Ministry of Education and advocate for students and teachers in the Hebron region.

Tal Dor, a Jewish Israeli, is a community activist focusing her work on underprivileged communities and forgotten narratives in Israel and Palestine.

Amal Nassar, a Christian Palestinian, is a nurse and grassroots organizer of nonviolent responses to war and occupation in the Bethlehem region.

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8. Conference convenes expert panels on race and prison crisis

Marquette and America’s Black Holocaust Museum will host “Holocausts and Healing: Race, Globalization and the Prison Industry,” about the crisis of unemployment and high rates of imprisonment facing the African American community in Milwaukee on Saturday, April 14. The conference will feature panel discussions with community educators, activists and officials, and a keynote address by Dr. Ruth Wilson Gilmore, a national voice on the connection between globalization’s impact in the U.S. and criminalization of African Americans and impoverished communities. Refreshments are provided.

Moderated by Dr. Jodi Melamed, assistant professor of English at Marquette, the panels will be from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Cudahy Hall room 001, and from 2:30 to 5 p.m. at America’s Black Holocaust Museum (suggested donation $5), 2233 North 4th Street, Milwaukee

Dr. Wilson, who will speak at both panel discussions, is an associate professor of geography at the University of Southern California and is the author of the recent book Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis and Opposition in Globalizing California.

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13. Student Affairs names new director of Recreational Sports

John Sweeney, recently named director of Recreational Sports, will begin his duties on July 1. As director, Sweeney will provide leadership for the club, intramural, fitness and individual programs and services and administer the operational, budgetary and programmatic aspects of the Helfaer Recreational Center and Tennis Complex and the Rec Plex.

Sweeney started his professional career at the Helfaer Tennis Stadium and Recreation Center in 1978 and worked there for 10 years, later becoming associate director of Recreational Sports. Following stints at the Milwaukee Athletic Club and Northern Illinois University, Sweeney returned to Wisconsin with the Milwaukee Kickers Soccer Club before taking the Marquette Recreational Sports position. Sweeney holds a master of arts in education from Texas Tech University.

15. Control asthma with management program

Dennis Sobush, associate professor physical therapy, will coordinate an asthma management program on Monday, April 23, and Monday, April 30, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in Cramer Hall, room 267D.

Sobush will present the “Breathe Well, Live Well” program of the American Lung Association, teaching adults how to control asthma symptoms and enhance their enjoyment of daily living activities. Content will include identifying and avoiding triggers, recognizing warning signs of an asthma attack, developing a medication schedule, measure peak flow, creating an asthma management action plan, and getting the most from healthcare providers.

Attendees must be at both sessions and register at 8-7161 by April 19. Participation and all training materials are free. Refreshments will be provided.