Veterans Fund gala funds Beck PRIDE Center scholarships
Injured combat veterans attending ASU will reap the benefits when Grammy-winning country and western recording artist Tracy Lawrence and TRICARE deputy director Major General Elder Granger, M.D., are honored at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock at 6 p.m. tonight. Both Lawrence and Major General Granger will be recognized at the second annual Sigma Pi Walter M. Schirra Gala Benefit. A significant portion of the evening’s proceeds will support the Mike Beebe Veterans Fund, an educational endowment for the injured combat veterans at ASU’s Beck PRIDE Center for America’s Wounded Veterans. The Mike Beebe Veterans Fund was established in honor of Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe by members of the Alpha Pi chapter of Sigma Pi at ASU. Founders of the Beck PRIDE Center, Buddy and Charlotte Beck of Fairfax Station, Va., will also be honored for their generosity and support of Arkansas’ combat injured veterans with a special presentation by Major General William Wofford, Adjutant General for the Arkansas National Guard. Buddy Beck is an alumnus of ASU and of the Alpha Pi chapter of Sigma Pi fraternity. More than $20,000 in scholarships has been awarded to student-veterans since the Mike Beebe Veterans Fund was created in the spring of 2008. For details, see the NewsPage release.

Education faculty awarded research organization honor
Three College of Education faculty were recently recognized by Mid-South Educational Research Association (MSERA), an educational research society. Dr. Mary Jane Bradley, director, Professional Education, Dr. Nola Christenberry, Psychology and Counseling, and Dr. Lynn Howerton, Psychology and Counseling, received the Harry L. Bowman Service Award from MSERA at the association's annual fall conference. MSERA executive director Dr. Clifford Hofwolt, George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, cited the three ASU faculty as co-editors of the journal The Researcher for the past ten years. Hofwolt noted the publication's consistent high level of quality, naming it the best of the regional publications of the American Educational Research Association. He also recognized ASU and the College of Education for supporting the publication. Several present and former College of Education faculty have been active members of MSERA since its founding in 1972.

ASU Museum presents new online exhibit
The ASU Museum is offering a new online exhibit, "Wearing What Cannot Be Spoken." This exhibition presents kanga--a type of cloth worn by women of Zanzibar, East Africa, to assert their claim to Swahili identity and express socially taboo opinions in an acceptable manner. In Swahili society today, women still find a voice in kanga to challenge social, religious, and political ideals--literally wearing what cannot be spoken. Although the physical exhibition was originally part of ASU's Black History Month celebrations in 2008, the online exhibition allows viewers to explore the culture of East Africa year-round. Visitors to the website see the colorful kangas collected by Rose Ong’oa during her Heritage Studies PhD research in Zanzibar. A short audio introduction in English and Swahili offers the opportunity to compare the two languages and listen to the poetic rhythm of Swahili. K-5 lesson plans assist teachers in bringing this rich cultural experience to the classroom. For details on the museum and its programs, contact Lenore Shoults, ext. 2074. For exhibit details, see the NewsPage release. 

David Davis, Warrior River Boys set for Bluegrass Monday
The bluegrass band David Davis and the Warrior River Boys will perform in concert Monday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m., at Atkins Celebration Hall, 101 South Pruett Street, Paragould. The concert is part of the Bluegrass Monday concert series sponsored by KASU 91.9 FM. Admission is free, but KASU will pass the hat to collect money to pay the group. The suggested donation is $5 per person. From Alabama, David Davis  continues a family tradition of performing bluegrass music. In the 1930s, his father and two uncles played and sang "brother duets," a forerunner of bluegrass music as it is known today. Following World War Two, David’s Uncle Cleo was in the first incarnation of the Bluegrass Boys, the backing band for Bill Monroe, the inventor of the bluegrass sound. Bluegrass Monday concerts are held on the fourth Monday night of each month. For more information, contact Marty Scarbrough, KASU program director, at ext. 2367.

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