Chronicle Named Among State’s Top College Newspapers For the fourth year in a row, The Columbia Chronicle was named the state’s top student newspaper among nondaily college papers with a circulation above 4,000. The General Excellence Award was one of 11 first-place honors the Chronicle won at the annual Illinois College Press Association (ICPA) convention competition held in Chicago on February 18 and 19. In all, the Chronicle brought home its largest number of awards ever from the ICPA–32–in competition against other college papers. The awards recognize the service and dedication
of not only journalism majors who work for or contribute to the Chronicle, but also students from the photography, marketing communication, interactive media, film, and art & design departments who participate in the production, design and marketing of the newspaper and its online editions. In addition, the Chronicle was one of 10 college papers selected to receive the Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker award for a nondaily college paper published at a fouryear university. More than 200 college papers entered this competition. For details on the Chronicle’s awards, go to columbiachronicle.com/awards.
College Announces First B.S. Degree of Its Kind in Acoustics Following a year of research and administrative reviews, President Warrick L. Carter approved in March a proposal for a new degree major: Bachelor of Science in Acoustics. This decision creates the first undergraduate degree program in acoustics in the United States that also addresses issues of perception and cognition. This new program and curriculum grew out of feedback by graduates and their employers and graduate advisors, and has been specifically designed to address deficiencies identified in our previous relevant curriculum/degree (including its designation as a Bachelor of Arts); to retain a strong liberal arts component; to emphasize acoustics’ perceptual dimension; and to provide a degree path that will prepare acoustics students to compete successfully in the workplace against holders of master’s degrees in acoustics.
Kresge Foundation Awards Grant to CCAP In January, the Kresge Foundation awarded the Center for Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP) at Columbia College Chicago a $300,000, twoyear grant to support the work of the Urban Missions program, CCAP’s flagship program. For 13 years, Urban Missions has brought together Columbia academic departments and community-based arts organizations to develop an array of high-quality arts programs that serve community youth and college students as they work together with teaching artists and college faculty in jointly designed programs. Central to Urban Mission’s collaboration is the concept of a community of professional learning and practice that nurtures rich sharing and open exchange of ideas. Urban Missions convenes 12 Columbia departments that work collaboratively with a pool DEMO8
Photographer John Lyons works with Pulaski School student Monica Valadez through an afterschool filmmaking club.
of 22 community-based organizations to create and implement semester-long youth arts projects. The Kresge Foundation awarded this grant as part of its Arts and Community Building Initiative, which seeks to build infrastructure for the arts and culture to contribute to community renewal.
EKG, My Father, by Rob Hogan Photo: Stephen DeSantis
Hearts a Bluhm Inspires Columbia Community This past winter, Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute and Columbia College Chicago teamed up for a first-of-its-kind consumer education campaign to generate widespread awareness of the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Throughout February, National Heart Month, Northwestern’s “Hearts a Bluhm” public art exhibit and campaign installed 100 five-foot-tall hearts covered in designs by selected artists along Michigan Avenue. The hearts were accompanied by plaques providing healthy heart tips. Because Columbia was selected as the exclusive creative partner for “Hearts a Bluhm,” Columbia students, faculty, staff and alumni were invited to create many of the 100 hearts. To thank Columbia for its participation as exclusive creative partner in “Hearts a Bluhm,” the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute provided $43,000 to Scholarship Columbia. As with many of the college’s artists, Columbia College Residence Life staff member and artist Rob Hogan had a touching story that inspired his work of art. Hogan’s design depicted an image of a normal 12-point lead electrocardiogram (EKG) on the front side. His father’s 2004 EKG strip, when paramedics were attempting to resuscitate him, is depicted on the back. His father’s heart attack was fatal.