Dr. Lila Abu-Lughod, the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science in Anthropology at Columbia University, will deliver the 14th annual Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail Memorial Lecture this weekend.

The free, public event will take place Sunday, Oct. 12, at 3:30 p.m. in the Driscoll Alumni Center Auditorium at The University of Toledo.

Abu-Lughod will reflect on the passionate and polarized response to her attempt to intervene in debates about the “Muslimwoman” and her rights through her recent book, Do Muslim Women Need Saving?

She is a leading voice in debates about gender, Islam and global policy. Abu-Lughod’s books and publications have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Her early work was on emotion, poetry and gender ideology in a Bedouin community in Egypt.

Interests in gender in the Arab world and in postcolonial theory led Abu-Lughod to some work on the history and contemporary politics of Middle Eastern feminisms. She returned to the study of popular culture in ethnographic work on Egyptian television soap operas as they relate to national pedagogy, class politics, religious and gender identity, and modern subjectivities.

The Mikhail Lecture is made possible through the Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail Endowment Fund, established in 2000 by the Mikhail family.

“The purpose of the Mikhail Fund is to support an annual lecture dealing with Arab culture, literature, history, politics, economics or other broadly defined aspects of life in the Middle East,” said Dr. Jamie Barlowe, dean of the UT College of Languages, Literature and Social Sciences. “The college is very excited about this year’s program as Dr. Abu-Lughod will address timely and important issues about human rights and the rights of Muslim women, as well as about anthropology’s role in political debates.”

Media Coverage
The Blade (Oct. 11, 2014)

“Crisis: Freshwater in Northwest Ohio” will be the topic of a forum Wednesday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. in the Dicke Forum at Ohio Northern University in Ada.

A three-member panel will discuss the latest crisis of freshwater that occurred this past summer in Toledo and dissect what occurred and the ramifications of the crisis. The water problem was a result of toxins contaminating the water supply to approximate 400,000 residents in northwest Ohio.

Members of the panel are:

• Dr. Isabel Escobar, professor of chemical and environmental engineering, associate dean of research development and outreach in The University of Toledo College of Engineering;

• Dr. Patrick Lawrence, professor and chair of UT Department of Geography and Planning in the College of Languages, Literature and Social Sciences, who led a restoration project of the Ottawa River; and

• Beth Seibert, the stormwater and watershed programs coordinator with the Allen County Soil and Water Conservation District in Lima, Ohio.

The free, public forum is sponsored by Ohio Northern University’s Phi Beta Delta honor society for international scholars and the ONU chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon, an international honor society in geography.

“Nature’s Trust: Environmental Law for a New Ecological Age” will be the topic of a lecture Thursday, Oct. 9, at noon in the Law Center McQuade Law Auditorium.

Mary Wood, the Philip H. Knight Professor of Law and faculty director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program at the University of Oregon School of Law, will be the speaker.

She will introduce her new book, Nature’s Trust, which provides a strategy to protect the Earth endowment as the just inheritance for all citizens, those living and those to come.

The Earth faces extraordinary damage, Wood posits in her book, as it enters a new ecological age brought about by climate change. Humanity needs to protect the remaining resources essential to its survival. Yet instead of using environmental law to protect nature, regulatory agencies around the world use the law to permit corporations and industries to inflict further damage to priceless resources. This imperils the future.

Wood will argue for a fiduciary obligation to safeguard ecology on the part of government. She describes an ancient yet enduring principle known as the public trust doctrine that designates government officials as trustees of public resources. Such officials remain charged with the legal obligation to protect and restore natural wealth belonging to citizens.

She has published extensively on climate crises, natural resources and native law issues. Wood originated the approach called atmospheric trust litigation to hold governments worldwide accountable for reducing carbon pollution within their jurisdictions, and her research is being used in cases and petitions brought on behalf of children and youth throughout the United States and in other countries.

For more information on the free, public talk, go to utoledo.edu/law.

As a long-time leader in the arena of digital media, The University of Toledo is bringing its expertise and the expertise of its partners together for the benefit of area business leaders, students and communications professionals.

UT is hosting its second annual uHeart Digital Media conference on Thursday, Oct. 9 and Friday, Oct. 10. The two-day event will be at the Radisson Hotel on UT’s Health Science Campus, located near Glendale Avenue.

uHeart Digital Media will feature emerging leaders, accomplished practitioners, innovators and experts in this critically important and quickly-growing field.

Attendees will learn how to leverage social media to build their digital brand; successfully develop and launch applications that will attract interest in a crowded marketplace; target niche markets to increase affinity and build communities around their brand and products; and embrace the “lighter side” of digital media to generate buzz and showcase their personal and professional assets.

Brian Kibby, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education, will deliver the keynote address.

Other presenters include Lacie Sandstrom, account executive for Google; Ashley Mirakian, marketing director of the Toledo Symphony; Bill Rossiter, principal and CEO of Interrupt; and Larry Burns, UT’s vice president for external affairs.

Pitch & Pour, a “Shark Tank”-style event, will take place on Thursday, Oct. 9 at the Tom and Elizabeth Brady Innovation Center, located inside the Nitschke Technology Commercialization Complex on UT’s Main Campus. Pitch & Pour allows entrepreneurs five minutes to give their best elevator pitch to a panel of start-up experts. The competition begins at 5:30 p.m. and is sponsored by LaunchPad Incubation at The University of Toledo.

The conference wraps up on Friday, Oct. 10 with a panel discussion featuring professionals from the Detroit Lions, MotorCity Casino, Shazam and UT.

For more information and to register for uHeart Digital Media, visit uheartdigitalmedia.com.

The University of Toledo is hosting its second annual uHeart Digital Media conference on Thursday, Oct. 9 and Friday, Oct. 10. The two-day event will be at the Radisson Hotel on UT’s Health Science Campus, located near Glendale Avenue.

As a long-time leader in the arena of digital media, UT is bringing its expertise and the expertise of its partners together for the benefit of area business leaders, students and communications professionals.

uHeart Digital Media will feature emerging leaders, accomplished practitioners, innovators and experts in this critically important and quickly-growing field.

Attendees will learn how to leverage social media to build their digital brand; successfully develop and launch applications that will attract interest in a crowded marketplace; target niche markets to increase affinity and build communities around their brand and products; and embrace the “lighter side” of digital media to generate buzz and showcase their personal and professional assets.

Brian Kibby, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education, will deliver the keynote address.

Other presenters include Kim Adams House, head of Jeep Brand Advertising, Chrysler Group LLC; Lacie Sandstrom, account executive for Google; Ashley Mirakian, marketing director of the Toledo Symphony; Bill Rossiter, principal and CEO of Interrupt; and Larry Burns, UT’s vice president for external affairs.q

Pitch and Pour, a “Shark Tank”-style event, will take place on Thursday, Oct. 9 at the Tom and Elizabeth Brady Innovation Center, located inside the Nitschke Technology Commercialization Complex on UT’s Main Campus. Pitch and Pour begins at 5:30 p.m. and is sponsored by LaunchPad Incubation at The University of Toledo.

For more information and to register for uHeart Digital Media, visit uheartdigitalmedia.com.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES’ MEETINGS

Monday, October 6, 2014

Radisson Hotel, Mahogany Ballroom, Salon A
2:00 p.m. Finance and Audit Committee Meeting

Monday, October 20, 2014

Radisson Hotel, Mahogany Ballroom, Salon A
10:30 a.m. Clinical Affairs Committee Meeting
1:00 p.m. Academic and Student Affairs Committee Meeting
2:00 p.m. Trusteeship and Governance Committee Meeting

Any questions may be directed to the University Communications Office by calling (419) 530-7832 or via email at jonathan.strunk@utoledo.edu.

Joan A. Stasa
Secretary, Board of Trustees

The University of Toledo is once again in the running to have its bow tie featured during the World Series.

Ken Rosenthal, MLB on FOX reporter, will wear the winning bow ties during the upcoming American League Championship Series and World Series games.

The UT bow tie has advanced past the first round of voting, and needs your help to qualify for the final round!

The second round of voting ends at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 8. Visit http://utole.do/worldseries to vote.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Oct. 2, 2014)

A seminar titled “Doing Business in China: A Legal and Commercial Review” will be held Friday, Oct. 3, from 8:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. in The University of Toledo Law Center McQuade Law Auditorium.

A full agenda and registration can be found here. Ohio CLE registration is also available here.

The UT College of Law, Regional Growth Partnership and the UT Confucius Institute are the lead sponsors for the first part of two programs.

The Confucius Institute spearheaded this seminar to educate local business people and attorneys by bringing together a distinguished panel of academics, attorneys and business leaders to discuss the realties, the myths and the risks of doing business in China.

In 2015, the focus will be on what are the issues of concern to Chinese attorneys, business leaders and their advisers relating to doing business or investing in the United States with a focus on concerns relating to northwest Ohio.

One of the goals of this year’s program is to refute myths regarding intellectual property protection in China and to provide information to begin the risk assessment of whether China represents a good strategic investment for a small- to mid-size business.
A highlight of the program will be a presentation on cross-cultural communication and negotiation for businesses and attorneys who will work with their Chinese counterparts with a discussion on how to avoid miscues and miscommunication. The panels are composed professionals with legal or commercial experience relating to business in China or academics who have taught at Chinese law schools and have scholarship related to the country.

“China is reaching major vitality as a destination for exports from the U.S. and as a location for operations covering all of Asia. It has become the third largest market for Ohio of exported manufactured goods, and exports from Ohio to China have increased by 20 percent to a current level of $3.4 billion in 2013. For the Toledo region, China is also the third largest export market with exports just in the automotive sector of some $40 million in the past year,” Paul Zito, vice president of international development at the Regional Growth Partnership, said. “Being the largest and fastest-growing market in Asia, China is also becoming very popular as a manufacturing and regional headquarters location for U.S. companies to service the Asian markets. The importance of China as a major export destination and as the center of Asia will continue to provide opportunities for Toledo region exporters and manufacturers.”

“We are very proud to have the opportunity to bring together almost all of the major players involved in doing business in China,” said Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons, UT professor of law and chair of the Board of Directors of the Confucius Institute. “Many of the previous programs in northwest Ohio discussing doing business in China resulted in lawyers talking to lawyers or business people talking to business people; however, there was little real communication between these two stakeholders, both of whom are instrumental to the success of any commercial activity.

“This seminar was designed to bring lawyers and business people in the same room to focus on their joint concerns regarding doing business in China,” Gibbons said. “The day closes with the perspectives of experienced business people who will discuss what they know now which they wished they had known before they started commercial activities in China.”

UT students are encouraged to participate.

“The University of Toledo prides itself in experiential learning. Sometimes experiential learning is getting our students out of the classroom and into the community or the workplace. Programs like this one that bring women and men from across the United States who have years of practical experience facing the issues of doing business in China allow our students who cannot experience China firsthand to learn from the experiences of others, and we hope inspire them to provide the next generation of business and legal leadership promoting the economic development of northwest Ohio,” Dr. Sammy Spann, UT assistant provost for student engagement, said. “The Center for International Studies and Programs is proud to facilitate an interdisciplinary program that brings together the College of Business and Innovation, and its centers, the College of Law, Regional Growth Partnership, and the practicing bar.”

For more information on the seminar, contact Gibbons at 419.530.4175 or llew.gibbons2@utoledo.edu.

The University of Toledo College of Law is cutting its in-state tuition from $20,579 to $17,900 for the academic year starting fall 2015. Tuition for out-of-state students next year also will drop – to $29,449.

The tuition reduction, approved unanimously by The University of Toledo Board of Trustees on Sept. 15, makes Toledo Law’s in-state tuition the lowest of any law school in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. Michigan residents pay Ohio in-state tuition rates by virtue of the College’s automatic Michigan Resident Scholarship Guarantee.

The tuition decrease benefits all students who are enrolled at Toledo Law in the 2015-16 academic year, whether they are new or continuing, full-time or part-time.

“We want to make legal education more affordable and accessible,” said Daniel J. Steinbock, dean of the College of Law. “Students are rightfully price-conscious, and lower tuition helps make law school a better investment. At Toledo Law, you can obtain a nationally-ranked legal education without incurring a mountain of debt.” Merit scholarships are also available for tuition, further reducing the cost of attendance.

Other recent initiatives at Toledo Law include enhanced opportunities for experiential learning during all three years and more emphasis on joint degree programs such as the JD/MBA and new JD/MD. Toledo Law last year enjoyed increases in its national rankings and its employment outcomes for recent graduates.

Total tuition and fees at Toledo Law for 2015-16 are expected to be $19,526 for Ohio and Michigan residents and $31,074 for out-of-state students. Applying to Toledo Law is free, and applications currently are being accepted online for fall 2015.

During the Cold War, the Berlin Wall was a symbol of oppression, tension and fear. Twenty-five years ago it was torn down and led to German reunification.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of this historic event, The University of Toledo German Club built its own wall on Main Campus.

“We wanted to express to the student population this kind of oppression happened in the past,” said German Club President Hannah Kissel. “It was unforeseeable; people didn’t know that the wall was going to come down any time soon. But it’s also a way to show the oppression that is still going on in the world today.”

The wall was put on Centennial Mall in front of the Student Union steps Sunday, Sept. 28, and will remain there until Friday, Oct. 3.

On Friday evening, there will be a tear-down ceremony, Kissel said. The club chose Oct. 3 for the ceremony because it’s the anniversary of the reunion of East and West Germany after the Cold War.

After the ceremony, the club will show “Friendship,” a 2010 film starring Matthias Schweighofer and Friedrich Mücke about a young man searching for his father who fled the German Democratic Republic.

Students built the nearly 40-foot wall with wood and drywall; there also will be chalkboard paint on the outside so that people can write on the wall. Quotes that are on the remnants of the actual wall in Berlin will be written each day to forge a connection between students and the significance the wall had in history, Kissel said.

For more information, contact Kissel at hannah.kissel@utoledo.edu.