Timmons Chapel Concerts a holiday tradition at PSU

A decades-old holiday tradition continues at Pittsburg State University with the Timmons Chapel Christmas Concerts on Dec. 7 and Dec. 9. The concerts, a gift to the community from the PSU Music Department students and faculty, will begin each evening at 7:30 p.m.

David Hurley, a member of the Music Department faculty and director of the Christmas concerts, said the program will include a mixture of pieces ranging from some classical work, such as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, to some traditional Christmas favorites. Hurley said the pieces to be performed showcase everything from harp and bells to orchestra.

To add to the festive mood, Timmons Chapel will be decorated in holiday greens. The Gothic-style, all-faiths chapel was a gift of the late Bess Spiva Timmons and the Timmons family in 1966.

There is no admission fee for the concerts, but seating in Timmons Chapel is limited. For more information, please contact the Pittsburg State University Department of Music at 620-235-4466.

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Pitt State researcher wins award

Dr. Ivan Javni, a polymer scientist with the Kansas Polymer Research Center at Pittsburg State University, received the Regional Industrial Innovation Award at the 40th American Chemical Society midwest regional meeting held recently in Joplin, Mo. The ACS gives the award to individuals and teams whose creative innovations in chemistry and chemical engineering have contributed to the commercial success of their company and to the good of the community and society. Javni, who joined the Pittsburg State KPRC research staff in 1995, received the award for his work on the development of intelligent gels and unique bio-based polyols for use in polyurethanes.

Before coming to the United States, Javni worked for SODASO, one of the largest chemical companies in the former Yugoslavia. He was named its director in 1985. In 1987, he received the Inventors Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina Award for the development of a new type of polyurethane pre-polymer.

Javni served as the national project director and United Nations expert on polyurethanes for the U.N. Development Organization (UNIDO) agency from 1987 to 1990. Javni received his Ph.D. from the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, working on segmented polyurethanes. He has published 26 papers, made more than 70 presentations and holds eight patents.

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Holiday ornament honors McCray Hall

Sigma Alpha Iota, the women’s music fraternity at Pittsburg State University, is selling collectible ornaments featuring McCray Hall for the holiday season. The McCray ornament is part of the Stillwell Foundation series of Christmas ornaments.

Each ornament is $8. Of that, $6 goes to the Stillwell Foundation and $2 will go to the fraternity. Ornaments are on sale at the Music Department office in McCray Hall and at music events, including the Timmons Chapel Christmas Concerts on Dec. 7 and Dec. 9.

McCray Hall was constructed in 1929 to house the university’s Music Department. It was named in honor of Dr. Walter McCray in 1961, who was chairman of the Music Department from 1914 until 1946.

For more information, please call the PSU Department of Music at 620-234-4466.

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PSU staff & students to be angels for needy kids

Faculty, staff and students at Pittsburg State University are being asked to be Christmas angels for needy children in the area this holiday season.

Phi Upsilon Omicron, the Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) honor society, will once again erect an angel tree in the FCS lobby. The tree will be covered with paper angels on which will be the names, ages and needs of some area needy children. Donors are asked to select an angel or angels from the tree and purchase a gift for that child or children.

The tree will be up from Dec. 5-9. Presents may be left at the FCS Department from 9-11 a.m. on Dec. 5, from 2-4 p.m. on Dec. 6, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Dec. 7, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Dec. 8, and from noon until 3 p.m. on Dec. 9.

Organizers ask that the presents be delivered unwrapped. The presents will be wrapped later and delivered by the Salvation Army.

For more information, please contact Hilary at 620-762-1363.

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PSU plans chamber music concert

The Pittsburg State University Department of Music will perform a chamber music concert at the Pittsburg Public Library at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1. The concert will feature the ensembles of the PSU Department of Music. They will perform works by Bach, Bloch, Mozart, Schumann and Torelli.

The concert, under the direction of Selim Giray, assistant professor of violin, viola and chamber music, is free and open to the public.

For more information, please contact the PSU Department of Music at 620-235-4466.

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PSU observes World AIDS Day

Gorillas in Your Midst, a peer health education group at Pittsburg State University, the PSU Women’s Studies Club and the AIDS Resource Network of Southeast Kansas (ARNOSK) will observe World AIDS Day with a variety of activities.

The campus observance begins on Nov. 28 with a display in the Overman Student Center of panels from the AIDS quilt, on loan from the Tulsa Area Names Project. The quilt has memorial panels dedicated to the memory of lost loved ones. Panels will also be on display at the Meadowbrook Mall Nov. 25-27.

At 7 p.m. on Nov. 30, the PSU Women’s Studies Club will sponsor a showing in 109 Grubbs Hall of the film “A Closer Walk.” This film, directed by Academy Award nominee Robert Bilheimer, depicts humankind’s confrontation with the global AIDS epidemic. A panel discussion will follow the film.

A Memorial Service will take place at 7 p.m. on Dec. 1, which is World AIDS Day, at Timmons Chapel on the PSU campus. The service will feature an informational speech on HIV-AIDS in Southeast Kansas by Vicki Bunskill-Stus, Ryan White II HIV-AIDS Case Manager from the Crawford County Health Department; a dramatic presentation by Gorillas In Your Midst; songs by Joy Leeper; and a candlelight remembrance of all who have died and continue to live with HIV-AIDS.

At each of the events, monetary donations for the AIDS Resource Network of Southeast Kansas will be accepted. Ten percent of all monies collected will be forwarded to Doctors Without Borders, the Nobel Prize-winning medical relief organization, with the stipulation that the money be used for AIDS relief in developing countries.

Also, at all of the events, food boxes will be set up to collect canned and boxed food and toiletries. Donations of canned meat, soups, stews, macaroni or shells and cheese dinners, hamburger or tuna helper, toothpaste, shampoo, soap or other non-perishable food or toiletry items are welcomed

For more information, please contact J.T. Knoll, prevention and wellness educator, at 620-235-4062.

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PSU plans playoff GorillaFest

GorillaFest, the free, communitywide tailgate party held before each Pittsburg State University home football game, returns this Saturday when the Gorillas host the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats in an NCAA D-II playoff game.

The tailgate party will run from 10 a.m. until noon in Gorilla Village, just east of Carnie Smith Stadium. Food vendors will provide a variety of options ranging from Southeast Kansas fried chicken to burgers, bratwurst and barbecue. The Pride of the Plains Marching Band and the PSU Spirit Squad will lead a pep rally in the village before the game begins.

For more information, please contact the Office of University Communications at 620-235-4122.

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Choir plans annual dinner

The Pittsburg State University Choirs have issued a dinner invitation, but there is only a limited amount of space at the table. Susan Marchant, a member of the faculty in the Pittsburg State University Department of Music, says that now is the time to plan for the PSU Choir’s annual dinner on Dec. 2 in the Overman Student Center.

This year, the choir will return to a Broadway musicals theme, said Marchant, who directs the choir. She predicts an evening of “favorite old standards” with some “sassy new laughs” thrown in for fun.

“This festive evening has become one of our favorite events and for that reason we offer the dinner annually,” Marchant said. “In the years of our biennial spring tours, it serves as a major component of our fundraising effort, and we also offer a silent auction in conjunction with the dinner.”

This year the choir is raising funds for a spring 2006 tour to New England and Quebec.

The event will take place in the Crimson and Gold Ballroom of the Overman Student Center, where patrons will be surrounded by a students in formal attire who will serve tables and present a evening of varied repertoire drawn from American musical theater and popular song. The choir is working with Sodexho Services to plan and prepare a full-course meal.

“Seating in the ballroom is limited,” Marchant said, “and past dinners have sold out well in advance, so I encourage anyone interested to make their reservations early.”

Tickets for the dinner are $23 and the doors will open at 6:30 p.m. For additional information, please contact Marchant at 620-235-4466.

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