Brandon Hasbrouck, a professor of criminal law and procedure, movement law and abolition at Washington and Lee School of Law, will argue how prisons have served as laboratories of antidemocracy to suppress labor and community organizing, free speech, access to information, protest and bodily autonomy as part of The University of Toledo College of Law’s Cannon Lecture series.

The Cannon Lecture Series, which was established in 1980 to honor former Toledo attorney Joseph A. Cannon, hosts nationally known individuals who explore both the humanistic dimensions and limitations of the legal system.

Hasbrouck’s free, public lecture titled “Prisons as Laboratories of Antidemocracy” is noon Thursday, Feb. 23, in the McQuade Law Auditorium at the Law Center.

Hasbrouck will discuss how prisons are ineffective as tools to prevent individuals from harming society, even as America’s prison population exploded in the 20th Century, devasting Black communities, Black opportunities, Black economic power and Black voting power.

In addition, Hasbrouck says prison administrators honed antidemocratic techniques for constraining and oppressing prisoners that would later be deployed against the free population.

“I am so pleased and excited that Professor Hasbrouck can join us to share his knowledge about this important issue,” said Rebecca Zietlow, associate dean for academic affairs and assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at the College of Law.

Hasbrouck’s research explores the legal and constitutional principles available to Congress and the courts to redress the ways law fails Black and other marginalized people and the structural possibilities for radical change in American society.

He has been published in numerous law reviews and media outlets such as the Washington Post, has authored or coauthored amicus briefs in federal court and has been cited or quoted in many other federal court opinions and other popular publications. He is a columnist for the Boston Globe’s “The Emancipator” and is frequently consulted on litigation strategies involving civil rights and racial justice.

Before teaching, Hasbrouck worked at two law firms, McGuireWoods LLP in Richmond, Virginia, and Debevoise and Plimpton LLP in New York, and clerked for two Black federal judges: Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and Judge Roger L. Gregory of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Hasbrouck is admitted to the bar of New York State, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

For more information, visit the lecture series’ website.

Music educator, composer and jazz pianist Dr. Alton Merrell is the guest artist for the 2023 Art Tatum Celebration Concert, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, in the UToledo Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall.

Merrell has performed with legendary artists including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Curtis Fuller, Roger Humphries and Delfeayo Marsalis, and regularly performs with Pittsburgh’s best jazz artists.

Part of UToledo’s celebration of Black History Month, the concert is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required. Visit utoledo.Tix.com to RSVP.

To support the Art Tatum Scholarship, which provides annual scholarships to UToledo music students, visit The University of Toledo Foundation website and type “Tatum” in the search tool.

Complimentary parking will be provided in parking Areas 12 and 12S, with the exception of metered spaces. Parking in other areas will require payment via the ParkMobile app or a parking meter. Visit the ParkUToledo website for more information.

Merrell also will present a master class 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, in the Recital Hall. Music faculty will accompany Merrell’s master class performance, including Norm Damschroder, a senior lecturer, Olman Piedra, an associate professor, and Jay Weik, an associate lecturer. RSVPs are not required for the master class, which also is open to the public.

A world-class pianist, composer and educator, Merrell has performed and taught throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and parts of the Caribbean. His musical artistry is a unique blend of lyrical melodies, rich harmonies and fluid technique that spans multiple music genres including jazz, gospel, classical, pop and rhythm and blues.

A current member of the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, Merrell also has performed multiple times with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland State Jazz Heritage Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale.

Merrell is a member of the group Firm Roots, a jazz sextet featuring some of the finest musicians in Pittsburgh, and leads his own instrumental jazz group, Illuminators, and his own gospel jazz vocal group, Dr. Alton Merrell & Impact.

From the University of Pittsburgh, Merrell received his Ph.D. in jazz studies with a research focus on jazz piano performance and pedagogy. He is a professor of jazz studies at West Virginia University, is the former director of jazz studies at Youngstown State University and previously taught at the University of Pittsburgh.

For more information on the 2023 Art Tatum Celebration Concert and other UToledo Department of Music events, visit the department’s website.

The Toledo Society of Professional Engineers in partnership with The University of Toledo and DiscoverE are celebrating Engineers Week from Monday, Feb. 20, through Friday, Feb. 24.

Engineers Week is dedicated to bringing honor and attention to the engineering profession in Toledo and northwest Ohio.

As part of Engineers Week, UToledo will provide exposure to the profession for local youth through two events: the Engineer for a Day Program and the Introduce a Girl to Engineering Program Series.

More than 600 girls from 15 school districts along with the 14 companies and organizations plan to take part in this year’s Introduce a Girl to Engineering Program.

Media are invited during the Introduce a Girl to Engineering program between 10:30 a.m. and noon Friday, Feb. 24, on the first floor of Nitschke Hall.

The Introduce a Girl to Engineering Program Series provides middle school-aged girls a greater understanding of STEM-career fields through interactive programming and presentations by women in the field of engineering throughout spring semester.

Studies have found that girls tend to lose confidence in math and science and lose interest in STEM fields in early adolescence. The award-winning program has been built to show girls in this age group that there are options for them along with people just like them who have made a career out of their interest in engineering and technology.

Throughout the five years of this program, more than 2,500 girls have taken part in this series from 32 school districts across northern Ohio, along with more than 30 companies, 10 student organizations and individuals from multiple professional leadership groups throughout Toledo and the northwest Ohio Area.

The Engineer for a Day Program, back after a two-year hiatus due to Covid-related delays, allows high school students throughout the area to see both the educational and professional side of various engineering disciplines.

Through lab demonstrations, presentations and a facility tour of the UToledo College of Engineering, roughly 180 high schoolers will see what the many faculty and staff within the college do on a daily basis to elevate the profession. Students also will take part in an afternoon job shadowing program that brings students into the workplaces of engineering firms throughout the area.

The University of Toledo is recruiting and training college students from across the country to provide quality child development and care at military bases around the world.

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded UToledo an $11.5 million grant to operate the Rocket Kids program for five years to help children of active-duty service members living overseas thrive and lead healthy lives.

Rocket Kids interns receive 15 UToledo credit hours while they participate in a fall, spring or summer term at one of the U.S. Army bases in Germany, Italy or Belgium.

The program pays for travel expenses and housing and provides a stipend of about $2,100 during the 12-week semester.

U.S. citizens enrolled at a U.S. college or university are eligible to apply on the UToledo website. All majors are welcome.

“We are proud to offer UToledo students and college students across the country the opportunity to participate in this unique international experience,” said Dr. Sammy Spann, vice president of student affairs and director of the Rocket Kids program. “Rocket Kids is a great way to travel to a fun and exciting location, build your resume and most importantly gain hands-on experience with children and youth.”

Rocket Kids is a recreational youth work program in the UToledo Judith Herb College of Education providing educational development and recreational programming to the U.S. Army’s children and youth in Europe. After the first year, Spann said the military is looking to increase to other branches of the military with bases in Asia and other parts of the world.

Marysa King, a first-year UToledo student studying middle childhood education, will be heading to Europe during summer semester in the first Rocket Kids cohort.

“This is such an exciting opportunity because not only do I get to do what I love and am most passionate about, which is working with children, but it is also an amazing way to give back to those serving our country and their families,” King said. “I also love to travel and see different cultures, so it is a great learning experience as well.”

Before heading overseas to be positioned in a child development center or summer camp program, Rocket Kids interns will receive more than 60 hours of training and certifications in CPR, First Aid and child development.

To participate in the program, students must obtain a passport.

“We have interviewed more than 130 students with the intent of retaining and sending out about 40 students this first year,” Spann said. “Our goal within the next 3 to 5 years will be to send over 1,200 Rockets a year to more than 36 locations around the world.”

Learn more about the program at the Rocket Kids website.

The University of Toledo Department of Theatre and Film hosts its second-annual Festival of New Student Work Thursday, Feb. 9, through Sunday, Feb. 12.

The festival will feature the work of student playwrights, directors, actors, stage managers and designers. The production team will include UToledo faculty as directors, designers and mentors.

Students interested in writing plays were invited to submit their scripts during fall semester. The only requirement was that the play features a couch in some way within the action of the script.

Out of 18 scripts submitted for the 2023 Festival of New Student Work, seven were chosen for production:

• “Two Sides of a Coin” by Hazel Penrose, a theatre major and music technology minor;
• “Cheater Feeder” by Emile Wheeler, an English major;
• “Garbage Thinking” by Jared Droesch, an adolescent and young adult education major and a stage and screen performance minor;
• “Never-ending Goodbye” by Jordyn Beery, a theatre major;
• “Knight’s Play” by Jeffery Enck, a theatre major;
• “Writing Partners” by Seth Camiscione, a communication studies and political science major; and
• “Detective Aside” by Karson Palmer, a theatre and English major.

Festival performances consist of two acts, each approximately an hour long, and begin at 7:30 p.m. in the UToledo Center for Performing Arts Center Theatre. A 2 p.m. matinee is scheduled Sunday, Feb. 12.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online through the Tix.com UToledo website or at the box office before the performance.

Visitor parking to the festival will require payment via the ParkMobile app, a parking meter or by purchasing a daily permit via ParkUToledo. Visit the ParkUToledo website for more information.

Volunteers and donations are needed for The University of Toledo’s annual hunger-relief, food-packing event Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10 and 11, in the Health Education Building on Main Campus.

The event is hosted by UToledo’s Klar Leadership Academy, a student organization led by the John B. and Lillian E. Neff College of Business and Innovation, in partnership with Feed My Starving Children, a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing nutritious meals to children in need around the world.

At least 500 volunteers are needed for UToledo’s annual hunger-relief, food-packing event Friday and Saturday in the Health Education Building on Main Campus.

The goal is for more than 500 volunteers to pack 100,000-plus meals for families in need worldwide — enough to provide a year’s worth of daily food for hundreds of children. Online donations also are needed to purchase meal ingredients.

There are a total of five volunteer shifts over the two days:

• Friday, Feb. 10, from noon to 2 p.m. and from 3 to 5 p.m.
• Saturday, Feb. 11, from 9 to 11 a.m., from noon to 2 p.m., and from 2 to 5 p.m.

To register for a shift, visit the Klar Leadership Academy’s event webpage, or to donate online, visit the Feed My Starving Children website.

“With the efforts of our Klar Leadership Academy students, volunteers and engaged community members and leaders, we aim to nourish the future by providing nutritious meals to children around the world, empowering them with the foundation they need to thrive and reach their full potential,” said Dr. Bob Yonker, an associate professor of management in the Neff College of Business and Innovation and director of the Klar Leadership Academy.

The Klar Leadership Academy was established in 2015 with the support of Steven Klar, a 1971 business alumnus, with the goal of preparing the next generation of exceptional leaders to carry on UToledo’s legacy of changing the world and improving the human condition.