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An estimated 3,000 Americans die from a foodborne illness each year. You can’t see these microbes, but they might be there. Always separate raw meat from vegetables by using two cutting boards.

KEEP YOUR FAMILY SAFE AT

2 9.29.2015 University Press

UP STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Emily Bloch

Table of Contents

MANAGING EDITOR Gregory Cox CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ivan Benavides ASSISTANT CREATIVE DIRECTOR Mohammed F. Emran

9.29.2015

WEB EDITOR Alexis Hayward COPY DESK CHIEF Carissa Noelle Giard ASSISTANT COPY DESK CHIEF Rafael Baez NEWS EDITOR Patrick Martin FEATURES EDITOR Emily Creighton SPORTS EDITOR Ryan Lynch SCIENCE EDITOR Andrew Fraieli PHOTO EDITOR Brandon Harrington STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Max Jackson BUSINESS MANAGER Wesley Wright CONTRIBUTORS Jasmyn Williams, Tayler Grossman, Kerri Covington, Brad Casson, Joseph Kennedy, Bibi Patel, Aubrey Haas DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Bill Good ADVISERS Neil Santaniello Michael Koretzky Ilene Prusher COVER Photo by Mohammed F. Emran WANT TO JOIN THE UP? Email universitypress@gmail.com Staff meetings every Friday, 2 p.m. in the Student Union, Room 214 WANT TO PLACE AN AD? Contact Jacquelyn Christie 888-897-7711 x 124 jchristie@mymediamate.com PUBLISHER FAU Student Government The opinions expressed by the UP are not necessarily those of the student body, Student Government or FAU.

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Selling Spirit, Purchasing Pride

Mind Games

FAU alumnus Mark Noll takes on “fowl owls” with his store, It’s Owl Time.

By Emily Creighton

Video games are argued as bad by some, but good by those that play them.

By Andrew Fraieli

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Page 16

Growing Pains

Forgotten Stepchildren

Can the school handle more students?

By Brad Casson and Patrick Martin

There is no answer to why FAU is missing a physician assistants program, one of the fastest growing jobs.

By Joseph Kennedy

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Page 21

Owl Night Long

Raising the Curtain

Fan group Owls After Dark gives a new meaning to the phrase “night owl.”

By Ryan Lynch

Learn how the University is bridging the gap between the academic and professional stages.

By Emily Creighton

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Photo Brief

Galleries Getting Grants

Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

FAU’s art galleries received $148,000 in grants.

By Bibi Patel

ADDRESS 777 Glades Road Student Union, Room 214 Boca Raton, FL 33431 561.297.2960

9.29.2015 University Press 3

SELLING SPIRIT, PURCHASING PRIDE

Mark Noll is an FAU alumnus and It’s Owl Time owner.

Photo by Mohammed F. Emran.

FAU alumnus Mark Noll B is helping solve an on-campus issuethe lack of school spirit – by making affordable apparel with his store It’s Owl Time.

Story by Emily Creighton

4 9.29.2015 University Press

ack in the early 90’s, Florida Atlantic student Mark Noll noticed a problem on campus - a lack of school spirit.

“When I was at FAU back in the day, I would see other students wearing shirts from UF, USF or UCF, not any FAU apparel,” said Noll. “The only FAU gear available was at the store in the Student Union, and it was a small selection.”

Today, he’s the owner of It’s Owl Time the only store in the world to be licensed and approved to make affordable FAU merchandise (see sidebar). Noll is hoping to help garner more school pride.

After graduating in 1994, Noll took a job as the director of sales at AT&T for a year, and then moved on to the role of a financial adviser for Principal Financial Group. Both jobs taught him about business management and customer relationships, but they just weren’t what he was looking for.

“My past work experience in sales with a Fortune 500 company taught me that sales are all about the relationship,” said Noll. “It isn’t all about the transaction.”

So, he went out on his own and started It’s Owl Time. In the beginning, it was just a hobby. As the online store gained popularity, Noll took an early retirement from AT&T to invest more time in his business and opening a storefront.

In March of 2013, It’s Owl Time opened on Northwest 20th Street in Boca Raton – a five minute drive from the Boca Raton Campus.

Lining the shop’s walls are red and blue athletic tank tops, collared shirts, jerseys and more. Shelves and racks hold unique items, like miniature football helmets, keychains, grilling tools and beach towels.

Drew Jackson, an FAU baseball player, said, “I went in there one morning to buy some sort of FAU memorabilia for my grandparents, and there were so many things in the store that I didn’t know where to begin.”

He added, “The selection was way bigger than the bookstore’s on campus.”

Noll not only designs the merchandise on his own, but applies the designs with a screen-printing machine behind the counter.

“The key thing for us, is that I try to get things that nobody else is gonna get,” said Noll.

“If our competitor does one thing, I typically go a different direction.”

He is also open to hearing design ideas from customers. “The students have just been wonderful,” he said. “They come in and say, ‘Hey! You should get v-necks,’ or ‘you should get spirit jerseys.’ Things like that. And they’ll send me photos and then I’ll try to go find it and get it created.”

The connection with the university is not solely in the apparel, though. It’s Owl Time has a close tie with the betterment of students and is an official sponsor of FAU Athletics.

On the front wall of the store, silver signatures from FAU athletes cover the space. Customers can also donate a dollar to the Owl Scholarship Fund, a philanthropic effort by FAU Athletics to help support its athletes, and have their name on a slip of paper reading “I helped FAU win” posted on the wall by the register.

Noll also hires current FAU students, and tries to keep hours flexible so that student-employees have time for class. Junior anthropology major Daniel Young is one of those students, and has been able to balance working part time at the store with his school work for a little over a year.

The low prices also help bring in customers. “I check the [bookstore] prices regularly, so I know our prices are better, and I offer students a 10 percent discount all the time on top of that,” said Noll. “I try to price my items based on the students ... I price [certain items] lower than they should be because I know they’re purchased more by students.”

Junior Rachel Walker has been a regular customer over the past two years.

She said, “I went in there looking for a tank top that I knew FAU sold at their bookstore one time, and sure enough, he had it in the store for a few dollars cheaper.”

With the success of It’s Owl Time thus far – the store has seen a 20 percent increase in sales in the past year – Noll is excited for the future of the store and hopes its on-campus presence continues to grow.

“The best part of owning the store is being able to provide fellow alums and current students FAU merchandise that would not exist if we didn’t have the store,” he said. “It is very rewarding to hear all the great feedback from our customers.”

Aubrey Haas contributed to the reporting of this story.

It’s Owl Time is located on Northwest 20th street in Boca Raton, Fla. Photo by Mohammed F. Emran.

The front wall of the store is covered in the signatures of FAU athletes.

Photo by Jasmyn Williams.

The Price Comparison It’s Owl Time boasts having lower prices than the bookstore.

See how they stack up on a few common items: $18.95

T-Shirt

$17.05 $18.98 $31.95

Polo

$28.75 $57.98 $21.95

It’s Owl Time (original)

Tank Top

$19.75 $24.98

It’s Owl Time (with student discount) The Bookstore

Car Decal

$6.95 $6.25 $5.98

9.29.2015 University Press 5

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Growing Pains More students, but is the school ready?

Story by Brad Casson and Patrick Martin Photos by Mohammed F. Emran

This photo illustration of Garage 1 shows parking congestion during peak times.

9.29.2015 University Press 7

Students waiting 10 to 20 minutes in line at Starbucks.

F

lorida Atlantic recently hosted a sell-out crowd for the University of Miami game, breaking the notion that FAU stands for “Find Another University.”

The recent rise in numbers of incoming freshmen has created some unintended problems: parking, congestion on pathways and long lines for university services.

Lines snake almost outside the Starbucks around 9-10 a.m., as students waiting longer than usual to get their caffeine fix.

The 2015 freshman class is the 2nd largest since the school was founded in 1961, according to President John Kelly.

Every week the school is flooded by students commuting to and from the university.

Freshman speech therapy major Natalia Muneton is a commuter student who chose the school for its location. However, she is dissatisfied with some of FAU’s accommodations.

“The parking is too far from my classes. I have to leave from home extremely early to find a spot and make it to class on time. It can take me 15 to 20 minutes sometimes when looking for parking during afternoon classes,” said Muneton.

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“It takes me a good 15 minutes to find a parking spot, and it’s not easy at all.”

- Rachel Harrypersad, freshman Multimedia Journalism major

Rachel Harrypersad wanted to become an Owl mainly because it was convenient for her to commute to school from home. She plans on staying at FAU to complete her master’s degree and pursue her career as a journalist.

“It takes me a good 15 minutes to find a parking spot, and it’s not easy at all. I find myself following people to their cars just to get a spot. They definitely need more areas for parking,” said Harrypersad.

The university provides a shuttle for students who need a quick ride to class, but some students aren’t familiar with the service.

“They should promote the shuttle more, because I have no idea how to use it,” said Muneton.

With the influx of freshmen, Kelly wants to see a higher graduation rate from the previous “terrible” 45 percent reported last year. He plans on calling all future classes by the year they graduate.

The class of 2015 will be called the class of 2019, he said in a faculty senate meeting.

This all comes as part of an aggressive recruiting plan Kelly referenced, where he is targeting students with a mean GPA of 4.0 and a minimum GPA of 3.6 to attend Florida Atlantic in 2016.

Garage 3, located next to the FAU Stadium, holds more than a thousand cars.

Two Largest Percentage Increases of Freshman Enrollment from 2005 to 2014

36% Information provided by State University System of Florida

“The perception of FAU changes when the perception of student[s] that get in changes,” Kelly said.

His recruiting tactic didn’t mention anything about student services or the incorporation of more shuttles to cater to the nearly full on-campus housing, at 96 percent capacity.

Kelly said the intent is not to get bigger, but to get better.

The freshman class has grown by an increase of 36.1 percent since 2005. That’s an increase of about 800 students, according to the State University System of Florida.

A senior English major Andre Clermont has seen the change with the incoming freshman class.

“I would say the 3,600 freshmen contribute to the congestion,” he said.

Clermont has seen a change in parking, too.

“Sometimes I have to leave my house an hour early now, and I live in West Boynton,” Clermont said.

Students living on campus are experiencing some ramifications to the increase in students too.

Amish Dave uses Night Owls often and enjoys the convenient golf cart ride that takes him from place to place. The freshman routinely uses the transportation service when he eats at the campus’s Subway, which is far from his dorm in the Indian River Towers.

“They definitely need more operators to take in more calls. When I call in they don’t always pick up and I end up having to call more than once. It can be very frustrating,” said Dave.

He also believes the problems are caused by students calling in to use Night Owls.

One policy he doesn’t agree with is the pick up limit of three students.

“I think they should raise it to four people rather than three, or they could have a separate Night Owls designed to pick up larger groups,” said Dave.

Dave thinks Night Owls should expand its operating days and hours to cater to the filled capacity of students living on campus.

“Night Owls should run every night especially on the weekends,” said Dave. “People are out more on campus during the weekends and they are out late. I would definitely use it on the weekends and I am sure others will too.”

With the rise in numbers, or at least more students seeking a traditional campus experience, it is now in the hands of the administration to see if these problems will be fixed.

44%

*Only the six largest schools in the State were used: UF, USF, UCF, FAU, FIU, FSU

9.29.2015 University Press 9

Quarterback Jaquez Johnson returning after a football game, welcomed warmly with cupcakes.

Owl Night Long Win or lose, Owls After Dark greet the football team after every away game.

Story by Ryan Lynch Photos by Max Jackson

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L

osing their first game of the season in overtime to Tulsa 47-44, the humbled football team awaited a 1,400-mile flight to Palm Beach International Airport around 1 a.m.

While the players, coaches and staff took the five hour flight home, Kristen Radcliffe and Andrew Haverstick set up four trays worth of homemade chocolate and vanilla cupcakes on tables in front of the Tom Oxley Athletic Center.

A small group of four other fans and students waited to cheer for the team when they got off of the bus, despite the rain and lightning that was quickly moving into the area.

Radcliffe and Haverstick are the duo behind Owls After Dark. Started midway through the 2013 season, the group provides food and greets the football players after away games.

They often stay late into Sunday morning to wait for the team’s arrival.

“Doesn’t matter what the weather is like,” Radcliffe said. “Our boys play rain or shine, we will be there rain or shine. Win or lose, we will support them.”

Radcliffe and Haverstick met in 2007 and became roommates after Radcliffe graduated from St. Leo’s University in Tampa. After buying season tickets for the team together, they began extensively following FAU football.

Haverstick, who attended FAU from 2003 to 2010, is an alumnus with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the school of business.

“We haven’t missed a home game since we bought tickets,” Radcliffe said. The duo said that they try to make at least one road game.

The concept came in the 2013 season, after former head coach Carl Pelini resigned from his head coaching position because of allegations of drug use.

The change left the team in a vulnerable position with an interim head coach, a 2-6 record and a low morale hanging in the air for many of the players.

“Players didn’t feel supported,” Radcliffe said. “We had been through a tough time as a community and as a football team. We had lost a coach and we took assistant coach (Brian) Wright and made him coach.

The boys just felt like they were being left behind.”

“We sat there and thought ‘What way can we support them?’” she said. “We can’t support them at the away game if we’re not there in person. So what better way to do it than to bake something fresh for them and have it there when they meet us after the game.”

Radcliffe bakes all of the cupcakes on the day of the game, finishing up to go cheer on the Owls at the Tilted Kilt’s watch party at game time. She and Haverstick usually set up a few hours before the buses arrive, often getting a heads-up from one of the people on the flight about when the team will land.

Radcliffe said that players were surprised that they were showing up at first. But players showed appreciation after their initial reaction.

“I’m grateful that they do this,” said sophomore running back Greg Howell. “It’s really awesome.”

Most of the team, including senior defensive back Cre’von LeBlanc, took a cupcake and thanked the group before heading back into the Oxley Center.

“At the end of the day, you want that win,” he said.

“But, when you have supporters waiting on you, no matter win or lose, you know that they still have your back.”

Two other regulars are Nina and Robert “Crash” Taylor. The retired couple worked in FAU’s data center, starting in 1971. The Taylors have seen the university develop its sports programs in their time living in the area. They were two of the first people to buy season tickets for football in 2001.

“After coach Wright put together four wins, after the last win we had well over 100 people,” Crash said of one of the initial greetings. “He had a strength slogan, ‘holding on to the rope,’ so we took 50-foot strands of Christmas lights and fed them through the bell while everyone got a chance to ring it. It was exciting.”

There was a decent turnout at first, but a losing season and harsh weather have worked against the group in attracting students.

“I think it can be rough to get students in at times, because many students go out to drink or party on Saturday night,” said senior computer science major Leead Negri. “Especially after a loss, it would be harder to get people out to show their support.”

Using Facebook and Twitter, Radcliffe wishes to reach out to more students and fans after games to organize the meetup. The hope is to eventually make the group a tradition that they can pass on to a student organization.

“If this catches on as a tradition, maybe one day we can have the prOWLers take it over or another student organization,” said Radcliffe. “We would love to have it be an officially recognized student organization.”

For more info, contact Owls After Dark on Facebook or tweet to @OWLS_AFTER_DARK.

Running back Greg Howell receiving a cupcake baked

by Owls After Dark

“Our boys play rain or shine, we will be there rain or shine.

Win or lose, we will support them.”

- Kristen Radcliffe, Owls After Dark 9.29.2015 University Press 11

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Photo Brief

Florida Atlantic’s fifth annual drag show, hosted in the Carole and Barry Kaye Auditorium on Sept. 25, had approximately 800 attendees. Rubber Child is the latest addition to the drag queen lineup. She shocked the crowd as she brought her pet gimp onstage, who wore a leash and rubber mask while she donned a ball gag.

Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

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Mind Games Scientists examine the possible negative effects of video games, but student gamers have a different opinion.

Story by Andrew Fraieli Illustration by Ivan Benavides

W

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alking into the far corner of the Student Union on the Boca Raton campus, the faint clicking of buttons, playful bickering and occasional uproar can be heard: These are the tell-tale sounds of video games.

Televisions line the far wall, and a dozen people crowd tightly around one TV playing the multiplayer fighting game, “Super Smash Bros.”

Video games have been subjected to more and more research on their possible psychological effects on players, drawing comparisons to recreational drugs and addiction by some, and praised as learning tools by others.

“Video games are short-circuiting our reward system that we rely on for feedback on what we are doing,” said Elan Barenholtz, a psychology professor at FAU. “Video games, I believe, make a much more consistent reinforcement that is kind of unnatural, and in a sense addictive. [They have] incremental accomplishments, rewards. All things we love.”

Human brains are goal and accomplishment orientated. When a person has an intent to do something and succeeds, they subsequently get a shot of dopamine. It makes the person feel good and enforces their will to do it again, a reason that video games are so popular among all ages.

Humans receive dopamine rushes commonly during play as children, learning from the experiences as well. But humans are not the only ones. “Many species of mammals, as cubs, will engage in play,” said Barenholtz. He said it normally disappears by adolescence. “Play going into adulthood is novel to

humankind.” It is a learning tool for children, but asking why they enjoy it is like asking why they like sugar. As stated by Barenholtz, they’re “hard-wired to enjoy accomplishment.”

Video games are a shortcut to this surge of dopamine because they are made up of linear, quick and shortsighted accomplishments. Whereas, “through life, rewards get much more complex and far removed,” said Barenholtz. “[Video games] are similar to drugs, because it can create an artificial reward feedback loop,” said Barenholtz. Recreational drugs and video games function similarly in that they’re both shortcuts to the production of dopamine.

“If anything, it’s more like video games attract addictive people,” said Emilio Lopez, a junior electrical engineering major. “It doesn’t have to be an escape.”

Players see video games as more than just a quick dopamine rush: To them, they teach life lessons. “[They are a] way for me to feel self-confidence, I can put on a show and beat people. It’s like sports,” said junior music major Kyle Wehrs.

“I play because I see [video games] as a way to immerse yourself in a world where anything is possible. You can figure out who you are by playing as others,” said sophomore engineering major John Silva.

Gamers aren’t the only ones who feel that video games can be beneficial.

In 2011, Valve Corporation, the video game company that produced the award-winning physics-based puzzle game Portal, began a program to allow schools to download a modified, free version of Portal to help teach physics.

From their website LearnWithPortals, they describe how “it’s eye-opening to see how video games can be used in amazing and unexpected ways to help educate our next generation.”

Many gamers have a similar mentality about the positive effects of games described by Valve. Malik

“I play because I see [video games] as a way to immerse yourself in a world where anything is possible.”

-John Silva, sophomore pre-engineering major

Junior ocean engineering major Justin Dalton playing video games at the Student Union on the Boca Raton campus.

Photo by Andrew Fraieli.

Andrew, a junior psychology major, said he plays “to relax and unwind from stress.”

Junior ocean engineering major Justin Dalton agrees, saying, “I think anything can be addictive.” Dalton’s reason for playing games was quick to mind. “Some people meditate, I play video games.”

Barenholtz describes video games as “brainwashing, [you] into believing you are succeeding in life, like a magic trick, the brain is being fooled, saying you’re doing great, therefore pleasure.” He says the biggest problem is “you are no longer hinged on reality, you kind of believe you are there.”

He mentioned that these concerns are coming true in China, where government-operated clinics treat sufferers of video game addiction.

Barenholtz looks to the future, with the problems of game addiction in popular society. He is worried people will eventually rather be in virtual reality than real life. “Get an IV drip and we are all good,” Barenholtz said.

9.29.2015 University Press 15

FORGOTTEN STEPCHILDREN There are plenty of dedicated students who want to become physician’s assistants, but there is no program for them here.

Story by Joseph Kennedy Photos by Brandon Harrington (L to R) Natalia Ramirez (senior in biology), Guinda Saint-Fleur (senior in biology), Lauren Glick (post grad), Cynthia Mirand (senior in biology) promoting the Association of Pre-Physician Assistants on the Breezway.

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P

hysician’s assistants start out making just under six figures a year, but most schools don’t have the program — including ours.

Forbes Magazine released its list for the top jobs for master’s degrees, physician’s assistant ranked first.

In the state of Florida, there are 11 universities with accredited PA programs, however Florida Atlantic is not one of them.

The American Academy of Physician Assistants lists their duties as diagnosing illnesses, developing treatment plans and assisting in surgeries, as well as a multitude of other tasks.

There are enough students at FAU so interested in becoming PAs that they’ve set up a club dedicated for pre-physician’s assistants.

Ade said,“Through the club we find PAs for students to shadow so that they have the experience required for graduate school. We also run mock interviews with former FAU students that have been through the application process.”

Attempts were made to reach out to President Kelly for comment, but there was no response.

For current students at FAU that are interested in becoming a PA, Ade suggests, “Be serious about it and learn as much as you can. Come and check out the club and we can help.”

If you want more information about the Association of Pre-Physician Assistants visit: www.fau.collegiatelink.net/organization/APAA.

Physician’s assistants earn an average of $70,000-$118,000 a year, according to Payscale.com.

Cedrick Ade, the club’s vice president said, “Last semester we had around 65 members. It is still too early (to) get a count for the fall.”

However, little attention has been given to a PA program on campus.

In a recent live Twitter chat, FAU president John Kelly was asked if he saw FAU offering a PA program with the expansion of the medical school.

The president tweeted back, “We have no plans at this time.”

FAU’s stance goes against some strong projections for the future of the profession though, like that of the online company review site Glassdoor, who expected it to be the No. 1 job in 2015.

These expectations are supported by data showing the growing need for health care workers required to handle aging baby boomers, as well as the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act. Physician’s assistants earn an average of $70,000-$118,000 a year, according to Payscale. com. This is less than most M.D.s, but certifications for PAs only require a master’s degree along with supervised clinical experience.

PAs need about one year of clinical experience.

M.D.s are required to have three to five years of residency in order to gain hands-on training. This amount of time depends on the depth of their specialized field.

There are 196 accredited programs in the United States, according to the Physician’s Assistant Accreditation and Review Commission’s website.

The ones accredited in Florida include those at the University of Florida, Barry University and five of the Nova Southeastern campuses.

FAU has both a School of Medicine and its own School of Nursing. In the past it has considered the idea of bringing on a PA program.

In 2013 after FAU’s former President Mary Jane Saunders resigned, the school released a statement.

“President Saunders will be returning to a faculty position and be assigned a special research project – to assess the feasibility of developing a physician’s assistant program at FAU,” the statement said.

But the university made no public announcements regarding what her findings concluded.

This spring, the FAU nursing program placed 72nd on the U.S. News list of top 100 Nursing programs, rising 121 spots above the previous year. But that does little for the members of the PA club on campus.

The PA program if accepted will be in the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing.

Some of the areas physician’s assistants receive clinical training: > Family medicine > Internal medicine > Obstetrics and gynecology > Pediatrics > General surgery > Emergency medicine > Psychiatry 9.29.2015 University Press 17

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9.29.2015 University Press 19

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Raising the Curtain

Theatre Lab, FAU’s new professional resident theater company, is helping students in the Arts gain real-world experience.

Artistic Director Louis Tyrrell, Company Manager Lauren Palmieri and Associate Artistic Director Matt Stabile of Theatre Lab.

Story by Emily Creighton Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

S

tudents are now able to get a taste of the professional stage on campus with Theatre Lab – FAU’s new professional resident theater company.

Headed by Louis Tyrrell, the artistic director and Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Arts, Theatre Lab will offer students interested in entering the world of professional theater and related arts a foundation to learn about their craft, as well as introduce the South Florida community to modern productions of American theater.

As a “cultural laboratory for learning, growing and expanding the horizons of knowledge,” according to Desmond Gallant, the chair of the department of theatre and dance who will serve as the producing director, this endeavor will bring in professionals to not only perform, but give students the opportunity to network and work side-by-side with them.

“We have a tremendous talent pool of theater professionals here in South Florida,” Tyrrell said.

“We’ll bring them onto campus, and they’ll have the chance to interact with students who want to become them when they grow up.”

Among the professionals the program will bring in is American playwright, director and actor Israel Horovitz. Horovitz will read three of his short plays regarding politics in one of the program’s masterclasses. Theatre Lab will continue to host masterclasses and discussions with playwrights with the end goal of creating a playwriting program at FAU. Other productions this season will include musicals and script-in-hand readings covering topics ranging from women’s issues to the sciences. With these varying themes, Theatre Lab hopes to engage both the students and faculty of other colleges at FAU.

“If we do plays that touch on a spectrum of issues that touch on the curriculum on all of the 10 colleges in the university system, it’s an opportunity not only to enhance those curriculums, but bring the braintrust of faculty and students together to communicate on a vibrant and illuminating basis,” Tyrrell said.

Theatre Lab will also continue the “Young Artists & Writers Program,” an education outreach program for middle and high schoolers that began in August, to use “theater as a catalyst to discover a child’s personal voice through creative writing and performance,” as stated in the group’s press release.

This venture is sponsored by the Heckscher Foundation for Children and will be led by Theatre Lab’s Associate Artistic Director, Matt Stabile.

With a first-year budget of $500,000 funded by the FAU Foundation, Theatre Lab will run as a non-profit organization. Until a spot for a black box theater can be identified, it will work out of a designated area fitted with 150 seats on the ground level of the Boca Raton campus’s Parliament Hall.

Tyrrell hopes to attract an array of creative minds as the company comes to fruition, saying, “If you want to be entertained, if you want to think out of the box, if you want to hear brand new work in American theater – be a part of an artform that will offer edgy, contemporary, hip theater experiences that are otherwise unavailable in the area – come and be a part of Theatre Lab.” Theatre Lab will host its first event on Oct. 17 and the season will run until mid-November.

For more information, visit the FAU Theatre website.

THE SCHEDULE Making Musicals This play-reading-concert series will include weekly performances of today’s work in American music theatre. With script in hand, presentations will include works by Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen, Jessica Thebus and more.

When: Oct. 17 to Nov. 8, Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. & Sundays at 2 p.m.

Tickets: General admission is $20; $10 with student ID (A four-show package costs $64.)

The Play Slam New and established playwrights will cover “important issues” with their performances.

Starting with “Bakersfield Mist” by Stephen Sachs, presentations will be followed by discussions with the director and cast.

When: Oct. 21 to Nov. 11, Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: General admission is $10; $5 with student ID

The Playwrights’ Forum American playwright, director and actor Israel Horovitz will host a night of political theater along with a postshow discussion.

When: Nov. 18, Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: General admission is $35; $10 with student ID

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“Faux Pas” created by Chelsea Rose Hustad and presented in the spring 2015 Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition.

Galleries Getting Grants Local groups awarded grants to galleries that will provide mentorship programs.

Story by Bibi Patel Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

F

lorida Atlantic University’s art galleries are going to be offering more mentoring programs for middle school and high school students, after receiving over $148,000 in grants.

The money comes from three separate grants: the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties ($115,670), the Florida State Arts Council ($31,150) and the Florida Humanities Council ($15,000).

The largest grant will expand FAU’s current Integrated Arts Mentoring Program, which provides art education to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, according to an FAU news release.

Mentorship includes museum trips to the FAU galleries, which have been approved as field experience providers by the Palm Beach County School District.

“I believe that grants signal that we have a highquality, meaningful program,” said William Rod Faulds, the university galleries director. He also mentioned the program would recycle money back into the community for arts and culture.

Faulds added that the AMP program has mutual benefits for both the FAU student mentors and the 1117 year olds.

FAU students receive hands-on experience as educators, and the middle school and high school students gain visual arts experiences; it also motivates them to go to college, like the students mentoring them.

It will also allow the program to expand to the Boys and Girls Teen Centers in Belle Glade, along with the Boys and Girls Clubs in Delray and West Palm Beach.

New exhibitions for the year will be funded by the grant from the Florida State Arts Council. FAU has not received a grant from this council since 2008 because of a hefty budget cut.

Faulds said the state agency’s budget was reduced from about $33 million a year to $3 million.

This grant was used to pay for the current exhibition in both the Ritter Art Gallery and the Schmidt Center Gallery’s New Art: 2015 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Arts Fellowship Exhibition.

The purpose behind this exhibit is to investigate the painter Albert Ernest “A.E.” Backus’ influence for “Highwaymen.” Money awarded by the Florida Humanities Council is allocated for the exhibition Beanie Backus and Florida’s Highwaymen: History, Commerce and Art. “Highwaymen” refers to a group of black artists from the 1950s and 1960s. Their artwork depicts bright untouched Florida landscapes, according to the Florida Highwaymen’s website.

Both the Ritter Art Gallery and Schmidt Center Gallery are open Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m.

For more information, visit: http://www.fau.edu/galleries/exhibitions.php

THE SCHEDULE Take a look at this season’s upcoming galleries: New Art: 2015 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists Fellowship Exhibition • Ritter Art Gallery: Sept. 11 - Nov. 7 •S chmidt Center Gallery: Sept. 18 - Oct. 31 Opening: Friday, Sept. 19, 6:30 pm 2015 Biennial Faculty Art Exhibition •S chmidt Center Gallery: Nov. 13, 2014 – Jan. 23, 2016 Opening: Thursday, Nov. 12, 6:30 pm Fall Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition •R itter Art Gallery: Nov. 20 - Dec. 12, 2015 Opening: Thursday, Nov. 19, 6:30 pm FAU Potters’ Guild Fall Show and Sale • Ritter Art Gallery: Dec. 18 - Dec. 19

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