Painters, potters, crafters and more will return for The University of Toledo’s Art on the Mall festival Sunday, July 27.

Celebrating its 22nd year, this UT tradition will be held on Centennial Mall on the University’s Main Campus from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The free, public event will have more than 100 booths featuring multiple mediums that include acrylic, glass, jewelry, mixed media, pen and ink, oil, photography, pottery, textile, basketry, watercolor, wood work and more.

“The thing about this show is that as we go year to year, we grow and change a little bit, but we have that same feel of welcome back to campus,” said Ansley Abrams-Frederick, director of alumni programming in the Office of Alumni Relations. “We have some really dedicated wonderful people that we get to be involved with each year. It’s a labor of love. It’s a project that’s heavily supported by repeat business and by the community — especially the ones close at hand.”

Each booth will have artwork available for sale by cash or guests can pay with a credit card at a payment booth in the Student Union.

Additionally, artists’ works will be juried by critics from the Dayton Art Institute. Prizes will be granted to top artists and the highest award, UT’s Best of Show, will be granted to the best artist with an affiliation to the University — current students, faculty, staff, retirees, alumni or parents.

Food and beverages will be for sale all day from Karen Anne’s Kettle Corn, Opa! Gyros, Everhart SnoBiz, K & K Concessions, Asia Fusion Elite, Jeanie’s Weenies and Let’s Go Nuts — which will offer coffee and fruit smoothies for the first time in addition to German roasted nuts — and, new this year, Signature Spuds will provide baked potatoes with various toppings.

A beer garden also will be available for guests 21 and older with a valid ID.

Also new this year will be demonstrations by Wine & Canvas, a mobile art business that hosts group events teaching individuals how to paint while enjoying refreshments, which will take place throughout the day.

Guests can hear performances by talented students from the Toledo School for the Arts. Music will begin at 10 a.m. with The Urban Jazz Collective followed by Nervous Canyon, which is a Toledo School for the Arts alumni band. Next will be Afro-Caribbean Dance and Drum, and rounding out the show will be Glass City Steel. Musical entertainment is sponsored by Huntington.

Art on the Mall’s presenting sponsors are The Blade and Huntington. Other sponsors include Buckeye CableSystem, Toledo 5 The CW, Homewood Press, Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and Clear Channel Communications.

Free parking will be available in Lot 1 South, Lot 1 North, Lot 13 and Lot 10 with a shuttle to transport guests and their packages to and from Centennial Mall if needed.

Click here to download the Art on the Mall poster.

Media Coverage
The Blade (July 17, 2014)
The Blade (July 20, 2014)
The Blade (July 24, 2014)
The Blade (July 24, 2014)
WTOL 11 and 13 ABC (July 28, 2014)
13 ABC and NBC 24 (July 28, 2014)

Dr. Gary Insch has been selected dean of The University of Toledo College of Business and Innovation.

Insch joins UT from West Virginia University, where he served as associate dean for graduate programs and associate professor of management. His first day will be Monday, July 14.

Insch

“Dr. Insch brings a wealth of experience and will continue to accelerate the College of Business and Innovation’s upward trajectory,” said John Barrett, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “A dedicated teacher, he is committed to strong academics combined with experiential learning to provide the best opportunities for students. He will be an asset to this institution as well as the business community in the region.”

Insch has spent the past dozen years with West Virginia University, having joined the college as an assistant professor in 2002. He served as director of MBA programs and director of graduate programs before his promotion to associate dean in 2011. He also has served on the faculty of Boston University and Indiana University.

“I am thrilled at the opportunity to join The University of Toledo,” Insch said. “The College of Business and Innovation has a strong academic foundation and commitment to experiential learning opportunities and job placements. I look forward to joining a college that has such a strong connection to the community through relationships with alumni and area business leaders.”

Insch’s academic focus is on international entrepreneurship, small business planning, foreign direct investment and industrial purchasing. His industry experience includes eight years as assistant vice president and commercial loan officer for First Security Bank of Utah in Salt Lake City. He also served as general manager/business manager of Actors’ Repertory Theater Ensemble in Provo, Utah, and a financial consultant with the Small Business Development Center in Salt Lake City.

He is a member of the Academy of International Business, Academy of Management and Strategic Management Society.

Insch has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Brigham Young University, an MBA in international business and marketing from the University of Utah, a master’s degree in business administration from Indiana University, and a PhD in international business and strategy from Indiana University.

Media Coverage
The Blade (July 9, 2014)

The University of Toledo’s commitment to experiential learning will reach a national audience this summer when a senior official highlights UT student successes creating digital portfolios using Seelio, an online portfolio company out of Ann Arbor, at conferences across the country. PlattForm, a marketing and enrollment solutions provider for higher education institutions, recently acquired Seelio.

Lawrence J. Burns, UT vice president for external affairs, will speak July 9 at the 2014 Noel-Levitz National Conference on Student Recruitment, Marketing and Retention in Chicago.

“The Noel-Levitz Conference is a great opportunity to impart our experience and success with Seelio’s online portfolio solution as an integral career preparation tool within the student lifecycle,” Burns said.

Additionally, Burns will join Seelio CEO Moses Lee three more times this summer and early fall at conferences across the country talking about the ways UT is preparing its students for success after college graduation.

The two will attend a nation-wide PlattForm Webinar on July 17 on the “Using Career Preparation as a Differentiator for Your University.” On July 29, Burns and Lee will speak at The Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) in Boston and at the InnovateEDU Ignite Change Conference on Sept. 25 in Kansas City.

“It’s been clear since we started working with The University of Toledo that UT leadership, faculty, and students really understand the benefit of a digital portfolio,” Lee said. “We’re thrilled to hear from students about how their Seelio portfolios are helping them showcase their UT experience and stand out in their interviews and graduate school applications.”

“Experiential learning is something UT has embraced across our institution,” said Burns, pointing to UT’s sponsorship of Intern in Ohio, an internship-matching program designed to increase internship opportunities for Ohio students and employers.

“We want UT graduates to enter the workforce with professional experience already on their resumes and the digital platform Seelio provides is the perfect tool to demonstrate what sets UT graduates apart from their peers,” Burns said. “I’m grateful to PlattForm and Seelio for this opportunity to tell a powerful story about The University of Toledo to audiences across the country and I’m hopeful other colleges and universities can learn from our success.”

Explore downtown Toledo this summer with free, guided lunchtime tours.

The walking tour season runs from Thursday, July 10, through Thursday, Sept. 4.

The tours will be given from noon to 1 p.m. with the exception of the St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church tour July 17, which will begin at 1 p.m. Adventures include visits to the Casey Pomeroy House, Uptown neighborhood and Forest Cemetery.

“Discover Downtown Toledo Tours have been enlightening Toledoans and summer visitors for more than 30 years,” said Sue Wuest, assistant director of The University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center. “We try to update the tours and add new tours each year. Also, to add variety, we have added tours that go beyond the boundaries of downtown Toledo. The 2014 tour schedule has many brand new tours and new twists, and features have been added to some old favorites.”

Early birds previewed the 2014 season with a special tour of the newly renovated Waite High School as it celebrates its 100th anniversary.

Tours, which include a copy of the award-winning Discover Downtown Toledo Walking Tour Guidebook, will take place rain or shine and are sponsored by UT Urban Affairs Center and the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library.

The tour schedule is:

•  July 10 — “All Aboard! Amtrak Station and MLK Plaza.” Tour Martin Luther King Plaza, which houses Toledo’s train station. Meet in the upper level of the Toledo Central Union Plaza, 415 Emerald Ave. Parking available near Children’s Park.
•  July 17 — St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church. Built in 1850, it was the Toledo Catholic Dioceses’ Cathedral from 1910 to 1940. Meet at Cherry and Superior streets. Tour will begin at 1 p.m.
•  July 24 — “The View From the Rooftop.” What can you see from the rooftop of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library Main Branch? Meet at 325 N. Michigan St. in front of the library.
•  July 31 — “Inside the Gems of Madison Avenue.” Explore some of the magnificent lobbies of the Madison Avenue treasures. Meet at Huron Street and Madison Avenue at Huntington Bank.
•  Aug. 7 — Casey Pomeroy House. See what comes after an extreme makeover. Meet at 802 Huron St.
•  Aug. 14 — The Maritime Academy of Toledo. Check out the tuition-free school that uses high-tech equipment to prepare youth for maritime careers. Meet at 803 Water St. across from WTOL.
•  Aug. 21 — “What’s Making Uptown Even More Hip?” See the progress on the development of the cool Uptown neighborhood. Meet at Madison Avenue and 18th Street.
•  Aug. 28 — Oliver House. Discover the oldest commercial building in Toledo. Meet at 27 Broadway St. in the historic lobby of the building.
•  Sept. 4 — Forest Cemetery. Established in 1839, it is Toledo’s oldest municipally owned cemetery, which covers 145 acres and is the final resting place for many of Toledo’s historic figures. Meet at the main gate at 1704 Mulberry St. Park on the right side of the roadway.

Parking on downtown Toledo streets is free between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Visit the UT Urban Affairs Center website at http://UAC.utoledo.edu to find the full tour schedule and a link to a map of each starting location.

For more information about the Discover Downtown Toledo Walking Tours, contact Irene Martin, a librarian and preservationist at the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, at 419.259.5233 or irene.martin@toledolibrary.org.

Media Coverage
The Blade (July 18, 2014)

The University of Toledo will continue to promote its brand via the “Great Voice of the Great Lakes” through a renewed partnership with Detroit’s WJR-AM 760 that has helped grow enrollment from southeast Michigan.

The partnership includes a monthly radio program hosted by Lawrence J. Burns, UT vice president for external affairs, as well as special event promotions and advertisements to promote the University on the popular talk radio station. 

“WJR was one of the University’s first partners as we began a concentrated effort to raise awareness about UT in southeast Michigan and we are excited to continue this relationship for years to come,” Burns said. “More students from metro Detroit are attending UT and more people who live in the area know about the great work underway on our campuses because they heard about UT on WJR.”

The partnership with WJR, combined with relationships with the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings and just recently announced the Detroit Lions, have had a direct impact on student recruitment. The number of undergraduate students from metro Detroit has grown from just 860 in 2006 to nearly 1,600 southeastern Michigan students in fall 2013.

UT is seeing an increase in interest from Michigan students for the coming year, with more than 500 additional applicants and 225 more admissions of students from metro Detroit than this time last year.

Burns recently began his sixth season of radio shows on the station with the June 24 program focused on branding and partnerships.

“UT’s The Relevant University is among the best shows we have on WJR because it focuses on important topics people care about with leaders sharing the latest trends and news,” said Tom O’Brien, VP-Market Manager of WJR AM 760. “It goes far beyond promoting UT through advertising and instead injects the University in the national conversation about important issues.”

The WJR partnership began with the monthly Environmentally Sound radio program in June 2009 that provided an opportunity to highlight the University’s accomplishments in sustainability, the environment and alternative energy, while also inviting regional and national leaders to discuss the latest sustainability trends.

The radio show was rebranded The Relevant University in June 2011 to broaden the conversation beyond sustainability to all the ways higher education impacts our word. Guests interviewed on the program have included U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, Inside Higher Ed Editor Doug Lederman, former NFL linebacker and BowTie Cause President Dhani Jones, NCAA Director of Gender Initiatives Karen Morrison, former Ohio Chancellor Jim Petro, philanthropist and co-founder of Home Depot Ken Langone and University of Notre Dame President Father John Jenkins, among many others.

The renewed partnership adds UT mentions during the morning traffic mentions and University sponsorship of Detroit Red Wings Weekly. It also continues sponsorship of Paul W. Smith’s annual show from the Marathon Classic event that is a great way to promote Toledo and UT together.

“The University of Toledo and Larry Burns are great friends of WJR ,” said Paul W. Smith, WJR morning host. “It’s always a joy for me to interview Larry about the exciting things happening in Toledo on my show to share that with metro Detroiters who have become increasingly interested in what’s happening across the state line in recent years.”

John Luckoski, a second year medical student at The University of Toledo, won an academic contest sponsored by Khan Academy. The contest is part of an initiative to provide free, online resources to help students prepare for the revised Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) that will be administered in 2015.

To develop new the new educational content, Khan Academy, in collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, designed a competition to encourage medical students and residents to create tutorials about concepts that will be featured on the updated MCAT.

Luckoski

Luckoski, a tutor for UT’s Academic Enrichment Center (AEC), learned about the contest in the midst of working on an initiative to create a library of video tutorial clips for first year medical students.

“This year, I had begun making short videos covering our medical school lectures. When I got an email about the contest, it seemed right in line with what I had already been doing,” Luckoski said.q

As a winner, Luckoski will travel to California from July 13-20 to receive training from Khan Academy scholars. Along with other trainees, he will assist in producing the new collection of tutorials on pre-health competencies.

“Khan Academy is really on the forefront of revolutionizing education. I’m looking forward to meeting the other contest winners and collaborating with them, as well as the academy,” said Luckoski.

During his summer preceptorship with the AEC, he will continue to add to the library of videos including topics such as Cellular and Molecular Biology and Neuroscience.

“This summer, I am creating a more comprehensive library of YouTube videos,” Luckoski said. “The AEC has been great in providing all the technologies I’ve needed a new laptop, microphone and drawing tablet.”

He is interested in eventually becoming a trauma surgeon, but has other aspirations as well.

“Being a tutor has convinced me that I want to devote as much time as I can to being an educator as well as being a physician. There’s a limited number of lives I could save in my own lifespan, but if I get to teach students how to take care of people, I feel like that perpetuates my ability to help others far beyond what I could do with my own two hands,” said Luckoski.

In addition to his work with the AEC, Luckoski is president of Ethics Club, an active American Medical Association member, a volunteer for UT’s Community Care Clinic and a member of Docapella, a men’s a capella group on UT’s Health Science Campus. He is also involved with creating a new student organization looking to better involve pre-clinical medical students with UT’s Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center.

Media Coverage
The Blade (July 12, 2014)