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Wednesday, Jan. 30 marks the beginning of Mid-America Union's 55th annual Music Festival, themed "Sing for Peace – Long Live Love". Both choral and keyboard students are featured this year with several guest directors, headed by Union College professors Dr. Daniel Lynn and Dr. Ryan Wells. In addition, Dr. Gerald Holbrook, a nationally recognized expert in Monophonic Gregorian chant, and Oscar Harriott, a local gospel music expert, will aid with the music clinics.

Union College will host 250 students from 12 Adventist high schools. Though most hail from the Midwest, participanting schools will come from as far away as New York and Utah. The most gifted and skilled students from each institution are invited to Music Festival to expand their melodic horizons.

"The festival is a unique opportunity for the talented music students to all come together and create music," Dr. Lynn explained. "I'm excited about working with these talented students and having them experience great music."

With 14-hours of rehearsal, the combined effort of the directors, visitors and Union's own choral performaers will culminate in two performances open to the community.

Headline concerts are Friday, Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. and Sabbath, Feb. 2 at 4:15 p.m. Both concerts are in the College View Church, 48th and Prescott, and are free and open to the public. Additionally, a piano recital featuring an elite group of visiting student pianists is scheduled for Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in the Engel Recital Hall. Contact the Division of Fine Arts at 402.486.2553 for more information.

Union College communication students are putting textbook tactics into practice by organizing a benefit concert for Invisible Children on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. The concert will take place at the College View Seventh-day Adventist Church (South 48th St. and Prescott Ave.)

Invisible Children is a nonprofit organization established in 2003 to help the homeless and orphaned children of Uganda. More than 20 years of civil conflict in the country has created a need for educational and economic opportunities among Ugandan youth that Invisible Children hopes to address.

Performing at the concert will be Christian singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson, whose nine albums include "Clear to Venus," "Love & Thunder," and "The Far Country."

The benefit concert is the culmination of months of planning for the nine students in Union College's Event Planning class that met last semester (fall 2007). Most of students in this applied-topic course are upper division communication majors.

"In most classes everything is hypothetical," said James Hilliard, senior from Cedar Rapids Iowa. "For this class we are dealing with real people, real money, and real circumstances. Because of that I have learned a lot."

All details of the events have been planned and coordinated by three student teams. The group developed a passion for helping Invisible Children after viewing a documentary film, produced by the organization about the current situation in Uganda.

"This is a great example of active learning—making a difference while we learn," said Michelle Velázquez Mesnard, associate professor of communication. "I'm so pleased that this learning experience can benefit an organization like Invisible Children."

Tickets can be purchased at the Union College Bookstore or through itickets.com. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $8 for groups of 10 or more, or $12 at the door.

Related links:
www.itickets.com
www.invisiblechildren.com
www.andrew-peterson.com

LINCOLN—Union College Chamber Orchestra and the Golden Cords string quartet will present fall concerts under the direction of new Union College associate professor of music, Dr. Frank Restesan.

On Sunday, Nov. 11, 6 p.m. the Union College Chamber Orchestra will perform in the newly opened atrium to the College View Seventh-day Adventist Church (4801 Prescott Ave.). This Fall Chamber Concert is the debut performance in the new wing of the College View church. The concert will include one romantic selection and three baroque pieces. Freshman flutist Sarah Kohls will be a featured soloist for a Vivaldi concerto. Breanna Thornton, 14-year-old guest violinist will be featured as well.

On Monday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m., the Golden Cords string quartet will perform in a Chamber Music Concert in the Engel Hall Recital Room (corner of S. 48th St. and Bancroft Ave.). Program highlights will include a quartet by Hayden and Corelli's Christmas Concerto featuring Dr. Ryan Wells as the keyboard accompanist.

Restesan joined the Union College faculty this school year. In addition to leading the chamber groups, Restesan is the director of the Union College Band. He holds master's degrees in musical stylistics and in music performance as well as a doctorate in conducting from the University of Arizona. Restesan's career has included acting as soloist and concertmaster of the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra (N.Y), the New England Symphonic Ensemble, The University of Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Chamber Orchestra and core member of the Tucson Symphony. He has studied at the State Conservatory in Cluj (Klausenburg) Romania, with Istvan Ruha, the Bachakademie in Stuttgart, Germany with Dozent Peter Streicher and Helmut Rilling and at The University of Arizona. Dr. Restesan's past teaching appointments include positions as orchestra director, strings and chamber music instructor at Atlantic Union College (Mass.), Antillean Adventist University (Puerto Rico) and Walla Walla College (Wash.). Restesan has appeared on prestigious stages around the world including recitals and concerts in Romania, Hungary, Germany, France, Spain, Holland, Puerto Rico and the legendary Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Diversity produces much of the beauty found on campus at Union College. Running until Nov. 4, the eclectic pottery exhibit includes three artists: Jovannah Poor Bear, sophomore elementary education major; Kimmy Wills, junior biology major; and Bruce Forbes, associate professor of art. The trio of artists bring a wide range of style and technique to the McClelland Art Gallery.

Ann Bryant, Union College student chaplain and junior business major, gets excited when her peers have big ideas. "I want to start a tutoring program for refugees and immigrants in Lincoln who don't speak English," said senior Katie Carlson when she came to see Bryant in Campus Ministries recently. "And I want to kick it off during Project Impact next week."

Never mind the short notice, Bryant gave the idea an enthusiastic go-ahead. "We'll do it. How can we help you make this happen?" Bryant said.

LINCOLN—At 10:28 a.m. on the last day registration was open, Serhiy Horokhovskyy became Union College's 1,000th student of the 2007-2008 school year. A senior religion major from Ukraine, Horokhovskyy is the first student since 1983 to help Union College cross the 1000 enrollment mark. By the end of the close of registration on Tuesday, Aug. 28, Union College's official enrollment reached 1,015 students with a full time equivalence of 909.5.

To celebrate the 1,000-student milestone, Union College is invited all students and employees to a free lunch served on the campus Tribute Terrace. In addition to the meal and ice cream from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 28, festivities included a short program. Remarks and recognition of the Enrollment Services team by Union College President David Smith were followed by a college-wide sing-a-long of the well-loved school song, "Slinga de Ink." State Senator Tony Fulton joined in the festivities and added his congratulations and support.

"Students come to Union College for many reasons—caring campus family, a Christian atmosphere and for unique programs like international rescue and relief and physician assistant studies," President Smith said. "One thousand is just a number, but the fact that more and more students value Union's campus culture makes me proud of the students, faculty and staff who have invested themselves in Union."

Union's campus has become a home-away-from home for a diverse group of students from 49 states and 26 countries. Four out of five Union students are from outside of Nebraska, that's a higher percentage of non-resident students than any other college in the state.

"When we recruit new students for the college, we don't just sell Union, we sell Nebraska," said Rob Weaver, vice president for Enrollment and Student Financial Services. "On the coasts we get asked 'Where's Nebraska?' and we take every opportunity to tell them about 'The Good Life.'" Of Union's out-of-state students, more than one fifth choose to stay in Nebraska after graduation, contributing to the state's brain gain.

Union College put in place more stringent admissions standards last year and yet has continued its growth. All regularly admitted students must now have a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 and an ACT score of 18. While these are not as high as elite universities, they are higher than most of the schools pulling from the same demographic of high school graduates as Union College. "Continuing to attract new students to our campus while simultaneously raising the admissions bar is really exciting," Weaver said.

"While we're delighted to reach this milestone, at Union we've always known that bigger isn't necessarily better," said Smith. "We are grateful for each student here and the opportunities each of them represent for Union and for Christ."

View a PDF file (3 megabytes) of the article in the Lincoln Journal-Star here.

For the second year, Union College has been designated a "Top College" by U.S.News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges." Union has climbed from last year's ranking of 46 to the 28th position for its category, Baccalaureate Colleges Midwest.

Of the 11 criteria U.S. News uses to rank schools, a rise in the peer evaluation score from 2.2 last year to 2.7 contributed most to the jump in rankings. This criterion, worth 25 percent of the overall score, is based on surveys of college administrators.

"It is gratifying to have outside sources affirm what our students, alumni and constituents already know Union has something special to offer," said David Smith, college president." To be ranked in the top tier of Midwestern baccalaureate institutions reflects the commitment to quality which marks the Union College experience."

The U.S. News rankings are created annually as a service to parents and prospective students in selecting colleges. This year, 320 baccalaureate colleges, divided into four regions, are included in the report. The baccalaureate college category includes colleges that offer a range of degree programs in professional fields such as business, nursing and education with liberal arts degrees accounting for fewer than half of the bachelor's degrees conferred.

Chris Blake, Union College English and communications professor, spent a semester on sabbatical last year to write. Pacific Press released his newest book in February, Swimming Against the Current: Living for the God You Love. It is a sequel to his book Searching for a God to Love, which has been translated into four languages.

Jacque Smith, Union College director of public relations, received The Lincoln Business Journal 40 Under 40 Award. The award, presented at a breakfast at the Cornhusker Hotel on June 1, celebrates the accomplishments of 40 Lincoln-area business owners, managers, entrepreneurs, and professional men and women under 40 years of age. Smith is the second Union College employee to accept the 40 Under 40 Award; accounting professor Lisa Forbes received the award in 2006.