MU seniors produce Freedom Summer film
Two Miami University seniors, Sarah Harden and Katie Stankiewicz, are producing a documentary about the Freedom Summer Project. Both students are history majors, and the documentary began as a class project.
The film is called "A National Event Through a Local Lens" and the two women have been working on it for a year. The students have interviewed Oxford community members, read documents and searched through film and 45-year-old photographs.
The film will debut Oct. 3 and 4 at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History national convention in Cincinnati.
The film will also be screened during the Freedom Summer national conference at Miami Oct. 9 to 11.
For more information, visit www.muohio.edu/freedomsummer2009.
Howe Center to host Bicentennial lecture
The Howe Center for Writing Excellence continues bicentennial celebrations with a special workshop. Two guest speakers will discuss writing at the higher education level Oct. 8 in the Shriver Multipurpose Room A.
At 12:30 p.m., Ron Kellog, professor of cognitive philosophy at St. Louis University, will present a lecture titled "Acquiring Advanced Writing Skills: Recent Insights from Cognitive Science."
At 2:30 p.m., Carolyn Miller, an SAS Institute distinguished professor of rhetoric and technical communication at North Carolina State University, will present "The Media Environment for Students' Experience of Genre."
The program is sponsored by the English and education departments, the Center for Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and University Assessment and the honors program.
Art Museum highlights work of Charles Darwin
Miami University's Art Museum will be running an exhibit of "Darwin's Firsts" through Dec. 12. The exhibit will include the earliest finding of Charles Darwin in print from 1828, the first edition of his book On the Origin of Species from 1859 and Darwin's first uses of "survival of the fittest" and "evolution," all from Cincinnati's Lloyd Library and Museum's Darwinian collection.
The exhibit opened Oct. 1, the 150th anniversary of Darwin's first completed corrections on proofs of Origin. For more information on the exhibit, contact the art museum at (513) 529-2232.
Geologists help prove evolution theory
Two Miami University geologists have helped uncover new human evolution evidence in Ethiopia as part of a scientific team Oct. 1. Brian Currie, associate professor of geology and Bill Hart, chair and professor of geology, assisted in the discovery of a human ancestor, which existed before the well-known "ape-man."
The skeleton discovered is 4.4 million years old and has been nicknamed "Ardi." It is now the oldest skeleton in existence from the human branch of the primate family tree.
