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FVCC Home >  Press Releases >  2008 - March

Flathead Valley Community College will introduce the fourth piece of the nine-part 2008 Honors Symposium lecture series with the opening of an art exhibit featuring the works of the college’s art faculty. The opening will take place April 3 at 6 p.m. in the college’s Arts and Technology Building and will be followed by the Honors Symposium’s presentation, “Common Thread,” a presentation and panel discussion moderated by FVCC Art Instructor John Rawlings, at 7 p.m. in the large community meeting room. The exhibit titled, “Faculty Show” will showcase various artworks from ceramics, paintings and drawings to jewelry, photography and sculptures by 15 faculty—Rawlings, Charles Davis, William Hayes, Sara Nelson, Karen Chesna-McNeil, Janet Fischer, Stephanie Pointer, Peter Hertlein, Karen Leigh, Karen Kolar, Wendy Orr, Rusti Warner, Susan Guthrie, Marita Combs and Souheir Rawlings. “It is such a pleasure to showcase the skills of our art faculty because they are truly a gifted group of people,” said Rawlings. One of the pieces featured in the exhibit will include one of Rawlings sculptures featured in the world-renowned 10th Cairo International Biennale in December 2006. The annual show takes place in Egypt and is the largest visual arts exhibition in the Arab world. Following the exhibit, Rawlings will moderate a presentation and panel discussion featuring architect Richard Smith, sculptor David Secrest, fashion designer Deb Newel and FVCC ceramics instructor Davis. Each panelist will deliver a brief audio-visual presentation on the aspects of their work before Rawlings brings them into a discussion addressing such questions as, “What is art? Where does it begin? Where does it end? And what is the common thread that binds these four different professionals who design and produce such dissimilar creations? Both events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Rawlings at 756-3896. For a complete schedule of the 2008 Honors Symposium, stop by the college to pick up a brochure, or call 756-3822.

If you are interested in updating the look of your sofa or easy chair, the Flathead Valley Community College Continuing Education Center is offering a non-credit “Basic Upholstery” class beginning April 2. Instructed by Susan Morris, the six-week class will cover basic terminology, selection of upholstery materials and various techniques including measuring, cutting, tearing down and finishing the project. The class will meet Wednesdays from 6:30-9 p.m. through May 7. The cost to enroll is $89. For information or to register, call 756-3832.

The Flathead Valley Community College Student Government will host its fourth annual “Battle of the Bands” April 4. The event will feature seven bands competing for a chance to win $250, $150 and $100 gift certificates to Jones Music of Kalispell. Performing bands will include Fatal Cure, Gnarwail, The Flip Wilsons, 30 Years Adrift, Delta 9, Bettreena Jaeger & Josh Harvey and Connoisseurs of Chaos (COC). The event will take place from 6-10 p.m. in the Arts and Technology Building Large Conference Room on the college’s Kalispell campus. Tickets are $5 for general admission and will be available for purchase at the door. For more information, call 756-3367.

Flathead Valley Community College is now accepting nominations for qualified individuals for the prestigious Eagle Award. Implemented in 1990, the award honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the college. There are no limitations on the nature of the contributions, which include monetary, physical, material, etc., donations. Anyone can nominate an individual for the award. Nominees can include members of the local, state or national community, or any member of the college, defined as student, part-time or full-time faculty, administrator, staff member, board member or alumni. Past recipients of the award include: 1990-91: Owen Sowerwine; 1991-92: Larry Blake; 1992-93: Roger Rettenmeier; 1993-94: Janice Hart; 1994-95: Janet Bierrum; 1995-96: Jeanette Oliver; 1996-97: Lil Laidlaw; 1997-98: Faith Hodges; 1998-99: Shirley Bowdish and Mel Ruder; 1999-2000: Pat LaTourelle; 2000-2001: Dr. Herman “Chet” Ross; 2001-2002: Kathy Hughes; 2002-2003: Annie Beall; 2003-2004: F. Charles “Chuck” Mercord; 2004-2005: Ivan Lorentzen; 2005-2006: George Shryock; and 2006-2007: Bill Roope. The perpetual award of the college symbol, a soaring bald eagle, is permanently displayed in the foyer of Blake Hall on the college’s Kalispell campus. Each year, the recipient’s name is engraved on a gold plate and placed under the eagle. The annual award is presented to the recipient at a special institutional function. Nominations must be received by the college by April 25. Nomination forms are available through the president’s office or by calling Monica Settles at 756-3801.

The Flathead Valley Community College Reading Group will meet April 23 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss, “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” by Susan Vreeland. Open to the public, the group meets monthly to discuss the selected book for each meeting. The only cost involved is the purchase of the book. For more information or to sign up, call Sharon Randolph at 756-3981.

Do the processes and procedures for county-related documents baffle you? Are you confused about which functions the county departments perform? If you want to learn how to navigate the system with a clearer understanding of each department’s role, attend the “Connect the Dots” training offered at Flathead Valley Community College in the Arts and Technology Building, Room 139. Free and open to the public, participants can choose to attend one of two sessions that will be held March 26 and March 27 from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Facilitated by Lesli Schreiner of FVCC and Cal Scott of HAL and ETHIC, the information will be presented from more than a dozen county departments including: Treasurer’s Office/Assessor/Appraiser; Plat Room, Planning and Zoning & GIS; Environmental Health & Sanitation; Roads & Public Works; Clerk of Court; Office of Emergency Services; Clerk & Recorder’s Office; and others involved in offering services to county residents. Sponsored by the Flathead Country Clerk and Recorder’s Office, Title Companies and Glacier Bank, these sessions will be particularly beneficial to contractors, engineers, surveyors, mortgage lenders, realtors, attorneys, housing organizations and property owners. For more information or to register to attend, contact the FVCC Continuing Education Center at 756-3832, or email to ceinfo@fvcc.edu.

The Flathead Valley Community College Multicultural Services program will host a presentation on Uganda April 1. Free and open to the public, the presentation will be delivered by FVCC Nursing Instructor Becky Dickman who will share her personal story of her ongoing relationship with the country and people of Uganda, Africa. After sponsoring midwifery student Mary Nulagguia through school, Dickman and her family visited the province of Mubende, Africa, for graduation day. With the help of a local Kalispell church community, Dickman was able to donate 46 stethoscopes to the Ugandan graduating class. The presentation will take place at 7 p.m. in the Board Room in Blake Hall on the FVCC Kalispell campus. For more information, call the FVCC Multicultural Office at 756-3945.

Montana’s Poet Laureate Greg Pape to Serve as One of Featured Presenters

Flathead Valley Community College will host its inaugural Poetry Festival Weekend April 10-12. Supported by Humanities Montana, the event will consist of workshops, panel discussions and readings featuring poets, faculty, authors and students from across the state of Montana including Montana’s Poet Laureate Greg Pape. The event will open the evening of April 10 with a presentation by FVCC English Instructor Lowell Jaeger in conjunction with the 2008 Honors Symposium. Jaeger has published two collections of poems—“War on War” and “Hope Against Hope”—and numerous chapbooks and recently edited “Poems Across The Big Sky,” an anthology of Montana poets that sold more than a thousand copies within five weeks after publication. He currently serves as editor of Many Voices Press and is working on his latest project, “New Poets of the American West,” an anthology of poets from western states. Free and open to the public, Jaeger’s presentation titled, “Losing Your Mind: How to Read Poetry, How to Write It,” will take place at 7 p.m. in the Arts and Technology Building large community meeting room on the college’s Kalispell campus. The event will continue April 11 with poetry workshops from 9-11 a.m. and from 1-3 p.m. Workshops presenters will include Roger Dunsmore, The University of Montana-Western instructor and author of “Tiger Hill,” a collection of poems along with many other poetry books and “Earth’s Mind,” a collection of essays; Melissa Kwasny, author of “The Archival Birds,” “Thistle,” and “Reading Novalis,” editor of “Toward the Open Field: Poets on the Art of Poetry 1800-1850,” and poetry teacher in Montana and San Francisco for over 20 years; and M. L. “Mandy” Smoker, of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation and author of “Another Attempt at Rescue,” a collection of poems. The cost to enroll in the workshops is $50, and pre-registration is required. The festival will conclude April 12 with another series of poetry workshops from 9-11 a.m. and from 1-3 p.m. Workshops presenters will include Dunsmore, Kwasny, Smoker and Pape. Appointed by Governor Schweitzer as Montana’s second Poet Laureate, an honorary position that was created by the state legislature in 2005, Pape is the author of the award-winning books “Sunflower Facing the Sun” and “American Flamingo,” as well as the books “Border Crossings,” “Black Branches,” and “Storm Pattern” and has taught creative writing and literature at eight universities across the country including The University of Montana where he has taught since 1987. The cost to enroll in the workshops is $100, and pre-registration is required. In addition to the workshops, the festival will offer a number of activities that are free and open to the public and will take place in the Arts and Technology Building, room 139, on the FVCC campus. On April 11, a panel discussion, “Can Poetry Matter?” will take place from noon-1 p.m. Student readings will take place from 3:30-4:30 p.m., and faculty readings featuring Dunsmore, Smoker and Jaeger will take place from 7-9 p.m. On April 12, a panel discussion, “The Role of Poetry in a Free Society,” will take place from noon-1 p.m. Student readings will take place from 3:30-4:30 p.m., and faculty readings featuring Pape and Kwasny will take place from 7-9 p.m. For more information, contact Jaeger at 756-3907. To register for the workshops, contact the FVCC Continuing Education Center at 406-756-3832.

The Flathead Valley Community College Art Department will offer its first semester abroad program in Venice, Italy, in the spring semester of 2009. Participants will be involved in a complete 18-credit semester program of study that will encompass language, cultural and art history and a special course on the theatre of Venice. FVCC is collaborating with the Istituto Venezia, an Italian language and cultural school in Venice, to deliver the language segment of the semester. The Istituto also will serve as the program’s home base, having full use of its classrooms and student center located in a restored 16th century palazzo in the university district.

FVCC Art Instructor John Rawlings will serve as program leader and will teach the art history and cultural segments of the semester. Most of these classes will take place in the streets of Venice where participants will visit museums and places of historical importance. London-born and Australian-raised Rawlings has been exposed to cultures all over the world. A graduate of the University of Guanajuato in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, he has taught art classes there in addition to Ogallala Community College on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in S.D., Northwest Community College in Powell, Wyo. and the University Alaska Southeast - Sitka Campus before moving to the Flathead Valley in 1989. He began teaching art classes at FVCC and was hired as a full-time art instructor in 1993. He has spent much time in Italy as he lived there twice and has led up to 15 study abroad trips to the country. In 2006, he received global recognition at the Cairo International Biennale in Egypt, the largest visual arts exhibition in the Arab world, where his ceramic sculpture pieces were displayed in the world-renowned show. "Venice has always been a special place for me, and I have been visiting it for over 25 years now,” said Rawlings. “It is unique in both its geography and history, and there is simply no place on earth like it.” According to Rawlings, Venice is a sophisticated city filled with magic and mystery, and the opportunity to spend a semester learning there offers adventure and wonder to people of all ages. “Here in the Flathead Valley, I can show you slides of Venice and the artworks of Bellini, and no matter how eloquent I am, nothing compares to learning in the real place,” he said. “This is the real thing.”

Students will be housed in private apartments equipped with full kitchens where they will prepare their own meals, and classes will be divided into month-long modules. The first month will be an intensive language program with classes meeting five days a week. Classes will then follow Monday through Thursday providing students with three months of three-day weekends to travel and explore other parts of Italy. The history of Venetian Theatre class will be taught by renowned actor David Ackroyd during the month of Carnivale. The class will involve Ackroyd taking students to Venice's famous La Fenice opera house for performances and visits to the backstage as well as trips to Vicenza and Milano to visit the Teatro Olympia and La Scala. Ackroyd serves as Artistic Development Director and was one of the founding artists of Alpine Theatre Project in Whitefish. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama and former charter member of the Yale Repertory Theatre, Ackroyd has performed in numerous Broadway and theatre productions, has appeared in many films and television series and has starred in more than 25 television films and miniseries. He has directed off-Broadway, in regional theatre and theatre productions at Flathead Valley Community College and taught acting at Yale University, the University of Nebraska and FVCC. He can currently be heard as narrator of the series “History’s Mysteries” on The History Channel. The semester will take place January 8 through May 8, 2009. The cost of the program will include a mid-semester eight-day coach trip to Urbino, Assisi, Sienna and Florence to explore the cities’ museums and galleries. “The Venice semester abroad program is an incredible opportunity for students to immerse themselves in the art, language and culture of Italy,” said FVCC Vice President of Instruction Kathy Hughes. “With the popular responses we have received from our Peru and Nepal cultural immersion programs, we feel confident this program will fill up quickly.” Space is limited to 20 students and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. A $500 deposit is required to secure a place in the program. Information packets and brochures are available in FVCC Educational Services Office or by calling Rawlings at 756-3896 or by visiting www.fvcc.edu. Financial assistance is available to qualifying students. For more information, contact the FVCC Financial Aid office at 756-3849. To learn about payment plan options, contact Colleen Unterreiner at 756-3362.

College Accepting Applicants

The Flathead Valley Community College Foundation is pleased to announce that Mark Sullivan has established the Robbie Sullivan Memorial Scholarship Fund at Flathead Valley Community College as a memorial honoring his wife Robbie Sullivan who served as disability services/assessment specialist at FVCC. This new scholarship will be awarded for the 2008-2009 academic year. Scholarship applicants need to be non-traditional age with a history of drug or alcohol dependency and who have been away from college for a period of time and are returning to pursue their dreams of earning a college education. Recipients must be enrolled in classes at the FVCC Kalispell campus. The amount awarded for 2008-2009 will be $500 for fall semester and $500 for spring semester for a total of $1,000. For more information, or to request an application, stop by the FVCC Financial Aid Office in Blake Hall on the college’s Kalispell campus, or call 406-756-3849. Contributions to the fund are being accepted by the FVCC Foundation. For more information or to make a donation, contact Sue Evans at 406-756-3963 or at sevans@fvcc.edu.

Flathead Valley Community College’s free “Artist to Artist” brown bag lunch presentation scheduled for March 12 has been rescheduled for March 26. The presentation titled, “Marketing Your Artwork,” by Steve Cawdrey of Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey Studios, will be the second of a three-part series aimed to deliver information while connecting artists with others in the local art community and presenting guests with the opportunity to find a mentor or share their experiences to benefit other artists. The series will conclude April 9 with “A Conversation with Local Artist Mark Ogle” facilitated by Linda Engh-Grady. Both presentations will take place from noon-1:30 p.m. in the Arts and Technology Building, room 144, on the college’s Kalispell campus. No reservations are required to attend. Guests are invited to bring their lunches, and the college will provide beverages. For more information, contact the FVCC Continuing Education Center at 756-3832.

The Flathead Valley Community College Reading Group will meet March 26 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss, “The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel,” by Diane Setterfield. Open to the public, the group meets monthly to discuss the selected book for each meeting. The only cost involved is the purchase of the book. For more information or to sign up, call Sharon Randolph at 756-3981.

Curtain Opens Friday

Flathead Valley Community College Theatre will introduce its spring season with the debut of “Addict” this Friday. “Addict” tells the true stories of 10 young adults, their experiences with drugs and the resulting ramifications. In an effort to answer the frequently asked question, “Why do so many teens get into so much trouble?” playwright Jerome McDonough set out to explore and answer this question through the medium of theatre. After interviewing countless teenagers, medical authorities, law enforcement officials and narcotics experts, McDonough decided to share the complete stories of 10 teens involving the beginnings of usage and the dreaded consequences that followed. The resulting script dispels many half-truths about drug use among young people and reveals the non-sugarcoated facts. “While some may disregard the importance of these stories by labeling them as rare or exaggerated, these are actual outcomes for 10 young adults and could be potential outcomes for anyone experimenting with drugs,” said Artistic Director Jesse Culp. “It is worthy of the attention of everyone from teens, parents and grandparents to friends and all adults alike.” Culp uses an avant-garde staging approach in an effort to combat the innate, but necessary, “preachiness” of the script while highlighting the importance of the script. The actors break the fourth wall and augment the script with choreographed gesture work, which in turn is complimented with minimalistic lighting, set, costume and prop elements. “Our goal with this production is to provoke dialogue to avoid the censoring of further discussion on the growing national problem of teen drug use,” said Culp. “Addict” has a running time of 70 minutes and will be performed in the FVCC Theatre located in the Arts and Technology Building on the college’s Kalispell campus March 7, 8, 14 and 15 at 7 p.m. and March 9 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 per person and can be purchased at the door or in advance at the FVCC Bookstore Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. and on Fridays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. or by calling 756-3814. Due to the subject matter, the show is recommended for those 13 years of age and older.

The Flathead Valley Community College Multicultural Services program will host a presentation on Spain March 12. Free and open to the public, the presentation will be given by FVCC Spanish Instructor Marla Sidney who will share her personal perspective of Spain. Sidney lived in Madrid, Spain, for two years where she taught English while studying Spanish. In her presentation, she will explore how the foundations of the Spanish language rooted in Latin and the Roman Empire evolved into historical the Spanish conquest across the globe. She will also discuss current Spanish arts and culture. The lecture will take place at 3 p.m. in the Board Room in Blake Hall on the FVCC Kalispell campus. For more information, call the FVCC Multicultural Office at 756-3945.