The faculty of the UToledo Department of Art are exhibiting their work through Friday, Feb. 21, in the Center for the Visual Arts Main Gallery on the University’s Toledo Museum of Art Campus.

There will be a free, public opening reception in the gallery Friday, Jan. 31, from 6 to 8 p.m. A guided conversation with faculty and their works of art will take place in at 6:30 p.m. This tour will be moderated by Dr. Thor Mednick, associate professor of art, who will facilitate questions to faculty about their work.

“We take this show as a gauntlet tossed, a time to model for our students, and for one another, what it is to be deeply engaged in the practice of researching and making,” said Barbara Miner, professor and chair of the Department of Art. “This show represents a challenge to push for the ‘next,’ the next piece that needs to be made after the grading and the syllabus reconfiguration, the budget alignment and the recruiting report. These are works produced by artist-scholars who live in our fields of study, who carve out precious time to keep our hands in the process.”

She added, “We offer our inner dialogues as part of this exhibition and invite our students and our audience to converse with us about our work.”

A total of 15 UToledo art faculty have work in the exhibition. The artwork ranges from 2D and 3D work to photography to digital/interactive and performance art.

Faculty artists in the show are:

• Brian Carpenter, assistant professor of art and gallery director;

• Dr. Jason Cox, assistant professor of art education and head of the Art Education Program;

• Deb A. Davis, professor of new media;

• Dan Hernandez, co-chair of the BFA Program and associate professor of art, interdisciplinary art and foundations;

• Julia LaBay Darrah, instructor and technical assistant;

• Yusuf Lateef, adjunct professor of art;

• Thomas Lingeman, professor of art, 3D studies and sculpture;

• Linda Meyer, art instructor;

• Barbara Miner professor and chair of art;

• Deborah Orloff, associate chair of the department, photography coordinator, and professor of art, new media studies and photography;

• Dr. Mysoon Rizk, head of art history and professor of art history, modern and contemporary art;

• Karen Roderick-Lingeman, senior lecturer of 2D studies and ceramics, and coordinator of the Ceramics Program;

• Arturo Rodriguez, associate professor of art, head of studio art and co-chair of the Bachelor of Fine Arts Program;

• Barry Whittaker, associate professor of art and new media design practices; and

• Eric Zeigler, assistant professor of art and head of the Art Print Center.

Artist profiles and statements are available online on the Department of Art gallery web page.

The free, public exhibit can be seen Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

For more information on the exhibition, contact Carpenter at brian.carpenter@utoledo.edu.

The Toledo men’s basketball program will host Craft Beer Night at Savage Arena prior to its game vs. Miami Tuesday, Feb. 11.

Cost for the annual event is $35 and includes game ticket, 12 three-ounce beer samples, and appetizers. Tickets are $25 for fans who have already purchased their game tickets. The cost for designated drivers is $25 and includes game ticket and appetizers with soft drinks.

Attendees will be required to show a valid photo ID upon entry. No refunds or exchanges will be provided for failure to provide ID or failure to attend.

The event will take place in the Fetterman Gym from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and is for fans 21 and older.

For more information, visit the Rocket Ticket Office in Savage Arena, call 419.530.GOLD (4653), or go to the Toledo Rockets’ website.

Activist Tiffany Loftin, director of the NAACP Youth and College Division, will talk about advocacy and empowerment for communities of color when she visits The University of Toledo for Black History Month.

She will speak Thursday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m. in Doermann Theatre.

For the NAACP, Loftin serves more than 700 youth councils and high school and college chapters fighting for civil rights. She is known for her passion for membership-based organizing at the local, state and national levels.

She believes her mission is to develop students into leaders who can stand up for what they believe in.

“My first value in this work is to make sure that our young people are treated as respectable young adults,” Loftin said during an interview with The Crisis Magazine. “Our young folks are more woke, taking more risks, and having more important conversations at a younger age that a lot of us didn’t have to have when we were young.”

“We are excited Tiffany Loftin is coming to campus to give our keynote address during Black History Month,” David Young, UToledo director of Toledo Excel and Special Projects, said. “She is a dynamic leader, and we expect her to fire up our students to get involved and make a difference in the fight for equality.”

In 2011, Loftin became the first person in her family to graduate from college when she received dual degrees in American studies and political science from the University of California at Santa Cruz. She became president of the U.S. Student Association, the largest student-led organization in the nation that represents student governments and students, and coordinated campaigns addressing student loan debt and expanding financial aid for low-income and students of color.

She also worked for the AFL-CIO Labor Commission on Racial and Economic Justice and served as racial justice program coordinator for the Civil, Human and Women’s Rights Department, where she focused on creating dialogue and action addressing the racial and economic disparities impacting workers.

Prior to joining the NAACP last February, Loftin was senior program specialist in community advocacy and partnership engagement at the Center for Social Justice with the National Education Association. Her responsibilities included aligning the association’s priorities within the African-American and progressive communities and creating opportunities to address racial and economic gaps that affect educators, students and communities.

When Loftin was 24 in 2013, President Barack Obama appointed her to serve on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans in Higher Education.

In addition to Loftin’s free, public talk, the University will pay tribute to this year’s theme, “A Mile in the Marathon,” with several events during Black History Month. Listed by date, events will include:

• Monday, Feb. 3 — Back 2 Black Involvement Fair and Black History Month Kickoff, 7 to 9 p.m., Thompson Student Union Ingman Room. Stop by to learn about African-American organizations and how to become more involved on campus.

• Tuesday, Feb. 4 — Black History Month Basketball Game, 7 p.m., Savage Arena. Catch the Toledo men’s basketball team playing Northern Illinois; during the game, student organizations, alumni and students who exemplify excellence will be recognized.

• Saturday, Feb. 8 — “Reclaiming Our Narrative: Ending the Epidemic,” 4 p.m., Collier Building Room 1000 on Health Science Campus. International HIV activist Hydeia Broadbent will speak in honor of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. The free, public program is presented by the Ann Wayson Locher Memorial Fund for HIV Care and the UToledo Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

• Wednesday, Feb. 12 — African-American Initiatives Spring Film Screening, 5 p.m., Thompson Student Union Room 2500. Watch a movie about black history and culture, and discuss it.

• Tuesday, Feb. 18 — Black Career Night, 6 p.m., Thompson Student Union Ingman Room. This event sponsored by the Black Student Union will bring together local community members who will talk about their businesses and organizations and allow students to network and learn about career opportunities.

• Wednesday, Feb. 19 — Black Wellness Bash, noon to 2 p.m., Thompson Student Union Ingman Room. This event is designed to raise awareness about the importance of mental health and wellness.

• Thursday, Feb. 20 — Black Love Is Raw, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Thompson Student Union. The Association for the Advancement of African-American Women and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. will offer a safe space to discuss love and healthy relationships.

• Friday, Feb. 21 — Black Student Union Fashion Show, 7 p.m., Thompson Student Union Auditorium. Ticket prices to be announced. Proceeds from the 51st annual event go to a student scholarship that aids in the retention of black students.

• Tuesday, Feb. 25 — “Honing in on Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Improving Health Outcomes for Women of African Ancestry Using Precision Medicine,” 5:30 p.m., Health Education Building Room 105 on Health Science Campus. The free, public forum is hosted by the Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women.

• Saturday, Feb. 29 — Ujima Day of Service, 10:30 a.m. Volunteers will meet in Thompson Student Union Room 2500 for breakfast and then volunteer at the MLK Kitchen for the Poor, the Ronald McDonald House and the Beach House Family Shelter. Ujima is one of the seven principles of Kwanza and stands for collective work and responsibility. “Ujima means to build and maintain our community together and to make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together,” Young said.

For more information and to RSVP for these events, email the Office of Multicultural Student Success at omss@utoledo.edu.

The University of Toledo will host the fifth annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day Saturday, Feb. 1, as the women’s basketball team entertains Kent State at 2 p.m. in Savage Arena.

National Girls & Women in Sports Day inspires girls and women to play and be active to realize their full power. The confidence, strength and character gained through sports participation are the very tools girls and women need to become strong leaders in sports and life, according to the National Girls & Women in Sports Day Coalition.

The day will showcase Toledo’s current female student-athletes, staff and coaches and thank them for their work.

The sports of soccer, volleyball, swimming and diving, golf, cross country, and track and field will be represented at the event, along with cheer and dance, on the Savage Arena concourse from 12:30 to 2 p.m., prior to the start of the women’s basketball game. Those teams will have their own station where they will host an activity and interact with fans.

There also will be videos and photos highlighting all nine Toledo women sports teams, as well as cheer and dance, throughout the game to recognize their accomplishments in the community, in the classroom, and in their respectively sports.

In addition, children have the chance to assist with anthem buddies, starting lineup, game ball presentation and guest in-game host. A link to sign up for one of these activities can be found on the Toledo Rockets’ website. Children also can play in a bounce house behind section 102 from pre-game until the end of halftime.

Tickets are on sale and can be purchased online at the Toledo women’s basketball ticket central website, by calling 419.530.GOLD (4653), or stopping by the UToledo Athletic Ticket Office, located in the Sullivan Athletic Complex at Savage Arena. Groups of 15 or more may purchase general admission tickets for half off, only $7.50, prior to game day by contacting the ticket office.

For more information about the National Girls & Women in Sports Day, contact Adam Simpson, coordinator of marketing, sales and fan experience, at 419.530.2482 or adam.simpson@utoledo.edu.

The University of Toledo will offer six lessons on real-world math Saturday mornings starting Feb. 1 in Memorial Field House Room 1240.

These free, public sessions will begin at 11 a.m.; no registration is required to attend.

Following the success of UToledo’s Saturday Morning Science, faculty from University College and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics decided to create a program for the public that would present basic mathematical ideas in simple ways.

The sessions were designed to prove that mathematics can be simple and fun. The programs are for people considering attending college; parents of potential students who are concerned about college-level mathematics; people who realize it’s important to understand mathematics but never “got it” or have forgotten how mathematics work; and people who want to learn some new ideas.

Organizers stress math is not mysterious or impossible to understand; anyone who knows how to add, subtract, multiply and divide has the skills to be good at math.

Listed by date, the hourlong Saturday Morning Math sessions will be:

• Feb. 1 — “Numbers You Can Touch and Some You Can Eat.” This session will cover the basics — fractions, exponents, multiplication, division, addition and subtraction.

• Feb. 15 — “Let’s Go Shopping” will discuss percents, increases, decreases, markups, discounts and taxes.

• Feb. 29 — “Growth and Decay of Candy.” Exponentials, logarithms, growth, decay, effects of inflation, population trends and more will be explored.

• March 21 — “Life Isn’t Fair” will spotlight ratios, proportions, probability, odds, and why the lottery isn’t a path to riches.

• April 4 — “Lies and Statistics.” Mean, median, mode, distributions, normal curves, and how numbers can be misleading will be the topics of this session.

• April 18 — “What’s Slope Got to Do With It?” Graphs, slope, rates of change, maximums, minimums, and predicting the future will be covered in this hour.

Those who attend will receive free access to ALEKS, a web-based educational program for K-12 and college mathematics, to practice their skills at home.

For more information, visit the Saturday Morning Math website.

In the midst of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial and heading into the 2020 presidential election, a constitutional law scholar at The University of Toledo released a new book providing the first natural law justification for an originalist interpretation of the American Constitution.

In “Originalism’s Promise: A Natural Law Account of the American Constitution” published by Cambridge University Press, Lee Strang, John W. Stoepler Professor of Law and Values in the UToledo College of Law, provides a summary of the history of constitutional interpretation in the United States and writes a thorough and detailed description of how originalism operates in practice.

“This book provides an argument for how Americans should interpret the Constitution and offers a way out of the bitterness exemplified by the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh,” Strang said. “Faithfulness to the Constitution’s original meaning is supported by sound reasons, reasons that help all Americans achieve their own human flourishing.”

The College of Law is celebrating the book’s release with a book launch that features a lecture by Strang Wednesday, Jan. 29, at noon in the Law Center McQuade Auditorium. The free, public event will be followed by a book signing.

Strang, who was a visiting fellow at the James Madison Program at Princeton University during the 2018-19 academic year, has published dozens of articles in the fields of constitutional law and interpretation; property law; and religion and the First Amendment.

“In this presidential election year, my goal is to inform Americans as they debate the Supreme Court’s future,” Strang said. “‘Originalism’s Promise’ is the product of more than 20 years of thinking through two common American commitments. First, Americans strive to be faithful to our Constitution. Second, and following the Declaration of Independence, many Americans are committed to some version of natural law. Together, these commitments suggest that Americans of all stripes should utilize originalism to interpret our common Constitution.”

The UToledo College of Law awarded Strang the Faculty Scholarship Award in 2019 for “Originalism’s Promise.” He was the recipient of The University of Toledo Outstanding Faculty Research and Scholarship Award in 2017.

In 2015, Strang served as a visiting scholar at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution.

Strang said the inspiration for writing the book stems from his experiences as a younger person attending political events with his parents, his education as a law student, and how vigorously Americans disagree about how to interpret the Constitution.

“I listened as politicians and activists argued that the Constitution supported their positions, so this book grew out of an attempt to identify how Americans can ascertain which claims are correct,” Strang said. “Also, as a student taking constitutional law classes, we did not study the Constitution’s text, structure and history. I remember we nearly always read Supreme Court opinions, which themselves rarely paid attention to the Constitution’s text. This book both criticizes and supports aspects of that educational approach.”

Four finalists have been selected for the position of dean of the College of Health and Human Services following a nationwide search.

Each candidate will visit The University of Toledo during January and February. The candidates are:

• Dr. Gary Sayed, professor of radiological science at California State University at Dominguez Hills.

• Dr. MaryBeth Horodyski, research program director of the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, and professor of physical therapy at the University of Florida.

• Dr. Mark A. Merrick, director of the Athletic Training Division and associate professor of health and rehabilitation sciences at Ohio State University.

• Dr. Velmer S. Burton Jr., senior vice chancellor for university strategy and performance, and professor of criminal justice at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The first candidate to visit campus will be Sayed, who will participate in three open forums Monday, Jan. 27. An open forum with faculty will take place from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., followed by open forums for College of Health and Human Services’ professional and support staff at 9:45 a.m. and students at 3:15 p.m. The faculty and student forums will be held in Health and Human Services Building Room 1711. The support staff forum will be held in Health and Human Services Building Room 1712.

Forums for additional candidates are being scheduled. For more information about the open forums and to see the candidates’ curriculum vitae, visit the UToledo Provost Office’s dean search website.

Reporting to the provost and the executive vice president for academic affairs, the dean serves as the chief academic and administrative officer for the College of Health and Human Services and is responsible for implementing the strategic plan of the college to advance its academic programs in population health, social justice, exercise and rehabilitation sciences, and intervention and wellness.

In leading the college, the dean works to attract and retain students, faculty and staff; oversees accreditation, assessment and evaluation; supports research, scholarship and grant-seeking; actively participates in fundraising; and pursues collaborations with corporations and other organizations.

Toledo senior tight end Reggie Gilliam has accepted an invitation to play in the 2020 Hula Bowl. The game will take place Sunday, Jan. 26, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

The Hula Bowl is an annual all-star game that has featured top senior collegiate players from around the country every year since 1960.

Gilliam was a second-team All-Mid-American Conference selection at tight end as a junior in 2018. He led the country and set a school record with four blocked kicks that season. Gilliam, who was fourth on the team with three touchdown receptions, was named Academic All-MAC and earned the MAC Medal of Excellence for superior athletic and academic achievement in 2018. As a senior in 2019, he had nine receptions.

He graduated with a degree in interdisciplinary studies last spring and is working on a master’s degree in liberal studies.

Off the field, Gilliam has volunteered his time working at the Boys and Girls Club, the Glass City Marathon, Central Trail Elementary School, Rosa Parks Elementary School, DeVeaux Elementary School, Victory Day, My First Days Day Care, and area youth football camps.

In 2019, Gilliam was a nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy, awarded annually to the top player in the country who began his career as a walk-on; the Campbell Award, honoring the nation’s top scholar-athlete; and the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award for leadership.

Several area high school juniors and seniors will report to The University of Toledo Thursday, Jan. 23, for the ROTC Program’s Cadet for a Day.

Cadet For A Day is an event open to college and high school students who want to experience Reserve Officers’ Training Corps life at UToledo.

The event is designed to answer questions for prospective students who are considering entering the military upon completion of their degree.

“Our goal is to provide college and high school students with an overview of the Army ROTC Program at The University of Toledo,” Phil Stevenson, scholarship and enrollment officer in the Department of Military Science, said. “These aspiring college and high school students will have the chance to meet with UToledo cadets and Military Science Department faculty and staff, and tour our beautiful campus.”

Following a reception and lunch, the students will hear about the UToledo Army ROTC Program and learn about Army ROTC scholarships.

After touring ROTC facilities and UToledo’s Main Campus, the students will have the opportunity to attend a leadership lab at the Student Recreation Center, where the battalion will participate in the high ropes course and rock climbing wall.

“We hope this day will give college and high school students a look at what the UToledo Army ROTC Program is all about and how it can support undergraduate and graduate education goals of University students who are considering a future as an Army officer,” Stevenson said.

For more information, contact Stevenson at philip.stevenson2@utoledo.edu or 419.530.4696.

University of Toledo freshman Jacob Harris placed sixth with a time of 27:16.7 at the USA Track & Field Junior Cross Country Championships Saturday in San Diego.

“Jacob came and accomplished his goal, which was to get into the top-six and make the U.S. Junior Team,” said Assistant Coach Nick Stenuf. “Considering he has been hurt for the past month with a nagging Achilles injury, this shows how strong and talented he is. To have a ‘bad’ race and to still execute the plan and make it is phenomenal. He also fell mid-race and got up. He is definitely a competitor.”

Harris’ sixth-place finish landed him a spot on the U.S. Junior Team for the 2020 Pan Am Cross Country Championships, which will be held Saturday, Feb. 29, in Victoria, Canada.

USA Track & Field Junior Cross Country Championships
Men’s 8K
1. Corey Gorgas from Northern Arizona — 25:44.8
2. Evan Bishop from East Grand Rapids, Mich. — 26:21.6
3. Bridger Altice from Utah St. — 26:38.2
4. Alex Comerford from Syracuse — 26:40.7
5. Gabe Simonsen from Mustang, Okla. — 27:14.8
6. Jacob Harris from Toledo — 27:16.7
7. Javien Hale from New Town, N.D. — 27:39.6
8. Lucas Chung from St. Mary’s, Calif. — 27:53.0
9. Daniel Beam from Rio Rancho, N.M. — 28:02.5
10. Deshawn Goodwin from Wings of America — 28:10.5