Dorothy Bland is next Journalism Alumni Speaker
Dorothy Bland, a prominent journalism educator, will visit ASU today and Tuesday, March 16-17, as part of this year's Journalism Alumni Speakers Series. Bland, a 1980 graduate of Arkansas State, turned a professional career of more than 25 years in print and online into a promising future as a journalism administrator. She currently directs the Division of Journalism at Florida A&M University where she also is a professor. A native of Little Rock and a graduate of Parkview High School, she attended ASU where she was editor of The Herald. Following graduation, Bland worked for the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star as a reporter before joining USA Today in its first four years of publication. There she served as states editor, journal editor, newsmakers editor and special projects editor/reporter. In 1988, Bland earned a master’s of business administration degree from George Washington University. She was named a Gannett president’s ring winner — one of the top 10 Gannett publishers — three times based on outstanding performances in 1995, 1998 and 2000.Bland also has served as a Pulitzer Prize nominating juror for feature writing. In 1993, Presstime designated her as one of “20 under 40” leaders to watch in the newspaper industry. For details, see the NewsPage release.
  
National Symphony Orchestra to perform at Fowler Center
The Fowler Center presents the National Symphony Orchestra in concert as the opening event of the symphony’s 2009 American Residency in Arkansas. The concert will take place on Tuesday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m., in Riceland Hall, Fowler Center. The American Residency program is a one-of-a-kind outreach project of the National Symphony Orchestra of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 1992, the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) began the American Residency program as a project unique throughout the world. On behalf of the orchestra, the nation's center for the performing arts accepts one residency invitation each year, making a state or a region the focus of a host of activities. The National Symphony Orchestra has never been in Arkansas before, and it will not return to Arkansas for 50 years. For more information, call the Fowler Center at ext. 3471. Purchase tickets online, or by calling by calling (870) 972-2781 or 1-888-278-3267. For details, see the NewsPage release.

Science Flicks series to present 'Fat Man and Little Boy'
“Fat Man and Little Boy,” a 1989 movie about the Manhattan Project, is the 19th movie set for the 2009 “Science Flicks” film series presented by the Departments of Biological Sciences and Chemistry and Physics at Arkansas State University. The film will be shown Tuesday, March 17, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 219 of the Laboratory Sciences Center, East Wing. Admission is free to ASU students and the general public. Paul Newman and Dwight Schultz star. For details, see the NewsPage release.

University awarded military contract to develop sensor
ASU has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army to conduct research and ultimately, develop a laser-based multi-color, real-time remote sensor capable of detecting the presence of an explosive at a distance of 100 meters. Dr. Susan Allen, Distinguished Professor, Laser Application and Science, heads up the the research and development team, which includes Dr. Bruce Johnson, Physics; Dr. Scott Reeve, Chemistry; and Dr. William Burns, Chemistry, and a group of undergraduate and graduate students. ASU is one of three universities that will each receive $2.42 million over the next two years from the U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVSED) which is part of CECOM (Communications and Electronics Command) in Alexandria, Va.  Two other universities, Florida A&M University and the University of Hawaii, will work closely with ASU on the project. This project is part of a research effort initiated in 2005 and has been included in the Department of Defense appropriations bills for fiscal years 2008 and 2009. The current contract with NVSED represents a four-year, $6,032,115 investment by the Department of Defense. For details, see the NewsPage release.

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