Other universities awarded a grant include North Georgia College & State University, the University of Memphis, the University of Minnesota, the University of Missouri, and Wilbur Wright College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago.

Dominican’s $5,000 grant will support the “Stand up. Sit down. Speak out” campaign, to be held during First Amendment Week, March 12-16.  The campaign will feature events designed to highlight free expression in public life, including journalism, politics, religion, art, music, film, and comedy. The campaign is co-sponsored by Dominican’s Department of Communication and Media Studies and the Department of Political Science.

“This is a great opportunity for our students to continue Dominican’s tradition of engaged learning, as well as an opportunity for the local community to participate and witness that commitment,” said Brad Van Alstyne, chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies.

Events include a performance celebrating free speech through satire and humor at Mill Valley’s Throckmorton Theatre; a panel discussion with legal experts and journalists on the state of the First Amendment; a student team trivia contest; an exhibit of artwork by Dominican students and local fourth graders; and a month-long trivia contest on Facebook (facebook.com/standupsitdownspeakout).

 “The First Amendment is one of our most important rights in America, and yet, relatively few people actually know the freedoms protected and what they mean,” said Laurie Lattimore-Volkmann, a journalism professor at Dominican in charge of the event.

 Lattimore-Volkmann says education programs like this are important to remind students and citizens why the First Amendment is such a cornerstone to our democracy and something worth preserving.

 “We often support the First Amendment until it protects a viewpoint we don’t agree with, so this effort is to remind all of us that our Democracy promotes – and even requires – differing viewpoints for a more enriching life experience and a better government," Lattimore-Volkmann said.

For more information about the week of events at Dominican, please visit http://standupsitdownspeakout.com/.

Cost for the dinner and program are $30 for World Affair Council and UNA members, $35 for non-members and $30 Dominican students and staff. Deadline for pre-paid dinner reservations for guaranteed seating is Friday, February 24. Call (415) 293-4600 or visit www.worldaffairs.org to RSVP or for more information.

Cost of dessert at 7:30 p.m. followed by the program at 7:50 p.m. is $6 for Council, UNA members and Dominican staff, $9 for non-members and free for Dominican students.

Tsygankov, a Russian-born and educated author who has spoken at various forums at Cal Berkeley and Stanford, is a regular contributor to Russia Profiles’ weekly Russia experts’ panel.  At Dominican, he will discuss Russia’s presidential elections in March when Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is expected to become president once again with current president Dimitri Medvedev assigned to his former post as prime minister.

The event is part of Dominican’s Institute for Leadership Studies’ 2012 Spring Lecture Series, a cooperative effort between Dominican’s ILS and independent book store Book Passage. Tickets for “Eve Ensler In Conversation With Isabel Allende” are $35, which includes a copy of Ensler’s book, I Am An Emotional Creature.

To purchase tickets, call Book Passage at 415-927-0960 or visit www.bookpassage.com.

The lecture begins at 7 p.m. in Angelico Hall. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Ensler’s newest play, Emotional Creature, will make its world premiere at the Berkeley Rep this June. In her book, I Am an Emotional Creature, Ensler offers fictional monologues and stories inspired by girls around the globe -- a call to action for girls everywhere to become the women they are meant to be.

For more information about the Leadership Lecture Series, please visit www.dominican.edu/academics/businesslead/leadership/publiceventssymp.html

The 2011-12 Leadership Lecture Series is sponsored by Private Ocean, the Marin-based wealth management company.

Media Contact:  Sarah Gardner, Director, Communications and Research, 415-485-3239, sarah.gardner@Dominican.edu

The lecture, which begins at 7 p.m. is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6 p.m.

In his book Religion in Human Revolution, Bellah probes into the biological past, explaining the developed amazing cultural capacities in evolution: Ritual, great religious narratives of self understanding, and now science, where, as Einstein noted, "the universe is comprehensible." Bellah offers a forbidden theory of the origin of religion that goes deep into evolution, especially cultural evolution. He highlights the path taken and illuminates the way forward.

The 2011-12 Leadership Lecture Series is sponsored by Private Ocean, the Marin-based wealth management company.
 For more information about the Leadership Lecture Series, please visit www.dominican.edu/academics/businesslead/leadership/publiceventssymp.html

Media Contact:  Sarah Gardner, Director, Communications and Research, 415-485-3239, sarah.gardner@Dominican.edu

This year Dominican earned an impressive 81 percent acceptance rate at NCUR, with 47 abstracts accepted. Presenters will represent a variety of academic disciplines at Dominican, including biology, environmental sciences, nursing, education, psychology, biochemistry, English, philosophy and ethics, religion, and political science.

Overall, more than 2,000 abstracts by undergraduate students from 300 colleges and universities throughout the United States will be presented at NCUR, March 29 to 31.

The annual NCUR conference was created in 1986 to promote undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity in all fields of study. NCUR attracts student presenters from all corners of the academic curriculum. Attendance has grown from 260 presenters in 1986 to more than 2,000 in 2011.

Bellah, in cooperation with Dominican’s First Year Experience Big History program, will present Religion in Human Evolution in the next ILS Lecture Series event on Thursday, February 9. He is known as the greatest living sociologist of religion. His book examines our biological past to discover the kinds of lives that human beings have most

The lecture series is a cooperative effort between Dominican’s ILS and independent book store Book Passage. Each year, the Leadership Lecture Series features some of the country's leading figures from the world of business, politics, entertainment, academia, and literature.

All lectures are open to the public. With the exception of the Ensler/Isabel Allende event on Feburary 24, admission is free with preferred seating available with advance purchase of a book from Book Passage. Tickets for “A Conversation with Eve Ensler and Isabel Allende” are $35. Admission includes a copy of Ensler’s book,  I Am An Emotional Creature.

To purchase tickets, call Book Passage at 415-927-0960 or visit www.bookpassage.com.

Brokaw is a special correspondent for NBC News. He is known for his landmark work in American journalism and for the New York Times bestsellers The Greatest Generation and Boom! He now turns his attention to the challenges that face America in the new millennium in The Time of Our Lives: A conversation about America; Who We Are, Where We've Been, and Where We Need to Go Now, to Recapture the American Dream.

On February 24, Ensler will appear in conversation with award-winning author and journalist Allende. Ensler is the Tony award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues. Her newest play, Emotional Creature, will make its world premiere at the Berkeley Rep in June 2012. In her book, I Am an Emotional Creature, Ensler offers fictional monologues and stories inspired by girls around the globe.

On March 25, Granholm, who in January 2002 was the first woman ever to be sworn in as governor of Michigan, will appear with her husband, leadership expert Dan Mulhern, to present  A Governor’s Story: The Fight for Jobs and America’s Economic Future.

On April 11, novelist and non-fiction writer Anne Lamott, author of several New York Times bestsellers including Imperfect Birds, will appear with her son, Sam, to discuss Some Assembly Required. The book chronicles Sam’s first year as a father at 19 and Lamott’s own evolution from mother to grandmother.

On April 25, Bay Area native and Fulbright Scholar Michael David Lukas will talk with author and KQED host Michael Krasny about Lukas’ acclaimed debut novel, The Oracle of Stamboul.  The novel about a young girl who changes the course of the Ottoman Empire is this year’s One Book One Marin selection.

The 2011 Leadership Lecture Series is sponsored by Private Ocean, the Marin-based wealth management company. Circle Bank is platinum sponsor for the Brokaw and Granholm lectures.

 For more information about the Leadership Lecture Series, please visit www.dominican.edu/academics/businesslead/leadership/publiceventssymp.html

Media Contact:  Sarah Gardner, Director, Communications and Research, 415-485-3239, sarah.gardner@Dominican.edu

“Simply stated, these players are outstanding and of the highest caliber,” Dr. Craig Singleton of San Rafael, Chair and Professor of the Department of Music, Dance and Performing Arts said. “Their music is from the greats of `classical’ music history, and from new composers who aspire to follow in that tradition.  For those of you who are seasoned ‘classical’ concert attendees, you will find here performers with virtuosic musical skill.  They will surprise and delight you with their bravura and sublety. You will be inspired."

Subscription season tickets for the Guest Concert Series are $72 for general admission, $60 for seniors over 60. Single-event tickets, which are only available at the door 30 minutes prior to scheduled performances, are $18 for general admission and $15 for seniors over 60.

This season, students under the age of 18 will be admitted free if accompanied and supervised by an adult.  In addition, community college students with a valid I.D. and music teachers in grades K-12 will be admitted free of charge along with Dominican faculty, staff and students with a valid I.D.

 Free parking is available in the nearby Conlan Center lot off Grand Avenue in San Rafael.

Severance, who was educated at the Oberlin Conservatory and Northern Illinois University, has performed with many Bay area ensembles, including the Stanford Quartet, Composers Inc., Chamber Music West, the Midsummer Mozart Chamber Players, and the Parlante Chamber Orchestra, with whom she was principal violist. Her summer engagements have included the Scaneateles Festival, Eastern Music Festival and the Telluride Chamber Music Festival. She has performed with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players since 1986 and became a member in 2008.

The acclaimed violist joined fellow San Francisco Symphony members Carlson, Associate Principal Second Violin, and Wyrick, Associate Principal Cellist, along with pianist June Choi Oh for an afternoon of glorious chamber music making on Super Bowl Sunday. Oh, is a Dominican and San Francisco Conservatory faculty member.

The group will perform compositions by J.S. Bach, Beethoven and Dvorak.

Oh opened the 2011-12 Guest Concert Series with a piano recital on October 9. Beginning its 11th season of providing Marin County and the Bay Area with a unique opportunity to enjoy classical music, the Guest Concert Series featured a performance by the five-time Grammy-nominated Quartet San Francisco on November 13 at Angelico Hall.

The program is designed to help seniors maintain their health, live better with chronic conditions and assist in recovery from recent injuries or illnesses.

Under the supervision of faculty members Alison Virzi, MS, OTR/L, and Kitsum Li, OTD, OTR/L, from Dominican’s OT Department, senior citizens will learn to improve their range of motion, flexibility and endurance, recover from cumulative trauma and cope with chronic physical conditions. Other issues and topics that will be individualized are learning fall prevention and home safety techniques, better nutrition, exercise wellness habits and safe driving and community mobility.

To enroll or for more information, contact Kitsum Li in Dominican’s OT Department by calling 415-458-3753 or emailing healthyseniors@dominican.edu.

Erlich, a freelance foreign correspondent with 43 years of journalism experience, managed to travel to Syria last year despite the regime of President Bashar al-Assad having banned almost all foreign journalists from entering the country. Erlich met underground activists in Damascus and spoke with government supporters in Dara, which was the cradle of the uprising. He gained rare insight into the intentions of opposition leaders, the government they wanted to create and their attitudes toward Israel and the United States. He found leaders of Syria’s Kurdish community hostile toward the regime, but fearful of what might replace it.

Beginning as a staff writer with Ramparts Magazine in 1963, Erlich’s journalism career has featured reporting stints with National Public Radio, the Canadian and Australian broadcasting companies and Radio Deutsche Welle in Germany.

Panelists for "Developing Leaders To Improve Your Bottom Line" included Mike Cohill, President of Sutter Heath-West Bay; Russ Colombo, President and CEO of Bank of Marin; Matthew Hymel, County Administrator for the County of Marin; Pat Kendall, Medical Group Administrator for Kaiser Permanente; and Mark Wood, Vice President, HR and Corporate Affairs for BioMarin Pharmaceutical. They conducted a question-and-answer session following their discussion.

A podcast of the Business Edge Briefing will become available on the ILS website and on Penguin Radio at http://radio.dominican.edu

For more information about Breakfast Edge Briefings, call 415-485-3202 or email ILS@dominican.edu.

CMCM, a cablecast broadcast to more than 70,000 households in Marin County, is available on Comcast 26, 27, 30, AT&T U-verse 99 and online at http://cmcm.tv/.

Each broadcast is produced by students in Dominican’s Communication and Media Studies Department. This includes broadcasting, announcing the game, video, editing and then preparing the entire package to be TV-ready. The partnership aligns with Dominican’s emphasis on engaged learning within the community.

“This partnership represents a once-in-a lifetime learning opportunity for our students,” said Brad Van Alstyne, Chair of the Communications and Media Studies Department at Dominican “It’s an incredible opportunity for students to experience the engaged learning that we are so proud of at DU.  Now students will have experience in virtually every aspect of broadcasting sports for television, and through the help of CMCM, we can bring Dominican basketball at the Conlan Center into the living room of the Marin Community.”

When Van Alstyne became chair of the department last May, he sought to develop community partnerships that would give Dominican students engaged learning experiences as well as real-life experience that would better prepare them for employment.  Van Alstyne reached out to CMCM.

“The Community Media Center of Marin is thrilled to help bring Dominican sports and other campus events to Marin residents via Marin TV,” said Michael Eisenmenger, CMCM Executive Director. “Training students and residents in media production is a key aspect of the CMCM mission and we're excited to partner with Dominican University to provide their students with this learning opportunity. For viewers of Marin TV's Education channel, this partnership will yield vibrant local programming that both educates and entertains .Stay tuned!”

For more information on Dominican’s Communications and Media Studies Department, visit http://www.dominican.edu/academics/ahss/comm/mediastudies.

For a list of upcoming Penguins men’s and women’s basketball games, visit www.dominicanathletics.com.

To download a Venture Greenhouse application or for more information, log onto www.venturegreenhouse.org or email john@venturegreenhouse.org or call 415-234-0468.

Dominican President Mary B. Marcy and San Rafael Mayor Albert J. Boro formally opened Dominican’s VG during a ribbon-cutting ceremony October 5.  A keynote address by Lynelle Cameron, Director of Sustainability at Autodesk followed.

Inspired by Dominican University of California’s MBA in Sustainable Enterprise (the GreenMBA), the Venture Greenhouse is a business development accelerator for social and environmental entrepreneurs, a learning laboratory for the University’s business students, and a community resource for innovators and new ventures.

The Venture Greenhouse opened in February 2011 with four “beta” clients. An additional four clients joined the accelerator last summer and more clients moved in in early October. Clients remain in residence for a maximum of one year.

An accelerator is a form of business incubator with an intensive business development process that helps new ventures to achieve rapid growth and greater success in the marketplace.

Companies currently involved with the Venture Greenhouse focus on a wide variety of sustainable issues, including solar maintenance, biofuel, waste-to-energy, LED lighting, video production, employment coaching, and non-toxic lunchware.
Client companies pay a nominal monthly fee of $50 per person to help pay for utilities. Client companies can have a maximum of three people with offices in the facility. The Venture Greenhouse also may take equity stakes in client ventures. While some clients may continue to hold other jobs, their priority should be the creation of new employment for themselves and others with the launch of their enterprises. Selection criteria include companies focused on environmental and social impact and financial viability.

Venture Greenhouse was founded by John Stayton, Director of Venture Greenhouse, and Stuart Corvin, a local businessman who was formerly the owner of Cal Steam Supply.

In addition to being a year-long accelerator program, Venture Greenhouse’s mission is to help generate jobs for Marin County, provide a learning laboratory for the university’s business students, and serve as community resource for innovators and new ventures.

Venture Greenhouse has established working relationships with Keiretsu Forum, North Bay Angels, Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster, Marin Economic Forum and regional economic development offices.

Media Contact: Sarah Gardner, Director, Communications & Research, sarah.gardner@dominican.edu, 415-485-3239.

The series is a cooperative effort between Dominican’s Institute of Leadership Studies and independent book store Book Passage. Each year, the Leadership Lecture Series features some of the country's leading figures from the world of business, politics, entertainment, academia, and literature.

All lectures are open to the public. With the exception of the Ensler/Allende event, admission is free with preferred seating available with advance purchase of a book from Book Passage. Tickets for “A Conversation with Eve Ensler and Isabel Allende” are $35. Admission includes a copy of Ensler’s book,  I Am An Emotional Creature.

To purchase tickets, call Book Passage at 415-927-0960 or visit www.bookpassage.com.

Lectures begin at 7 p.m. in Angelico Hall. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Brokaw is a special correspondent for NBC News. He is known for his landmark work in American journalism and for the New York Times bestsellers The Greatest Generation and Boom! He now turns his attention to the challenges that face America in the new millennium in The Time of Our Lives: A conversation about America; Who We Are, Where We've Been, and Where We Need to Go Now, to Recapture the American Dream.

On February 12, Robert Bellah, in cooperation with Dominican’s First Year Experience Big History program, will present Religion in Human Evolution. The book examines our biological past to discover the kinds of lives that human beings have most often imagined were worth living.

On February 24, Ensler will appear in conversation with award-winning author and journalist Allende. Ensler is the Tony award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues. Her newest play, Emotional Creature, will make its world premiere at the Berkeley Rep in June 2012. In her book, I Am an Emotional Creature, Ensler offers fictional monologues and stories inspired by girls around the globe.

On March 25, Granholm, who in January 2002 was the first woman ever to be sworn in as governor of Michigan, will appear with her husband, leadership expert Dan Mulhern, to present  A Governor’s Story: The Fight for Jobs and America’s Economic Future.

On April 11, novelist and non-fiction writer Anne Lamott, author of several New York Times bestsellers including Imperfect Birds, will appear with her son, Sam, to discuss Some Assembly Required. The book chronicles Sam’s first year as a father at 19 and Lamott’s own evolution from mother to grandmother.

On April 25, Bay Area native and Fulbright Scholar Michael David Lukas will talk with author and KQED host Michael Krasny about Lukas’ acclaimed debut novel, The Oracle of Stamboul.  The novel about a young girl who changes the course of the Ottoman Empire is this year’s One Book One Marin selection.

The 2011 Leadership Lecture Series is sponsored by Private Ocean, the Marin-based wealth management company. Circle Bank is platinum sponsor for the Brokaw and Granholm lectures.

 For more information about the Leadership Lecture Series, please visit www.dominican.edu/academics/businesslead/leadership/publiceventssymp.html

Media Contact:  Sarah Gardner, Director, Communications and Research, 415-485-3239, sarah.gardner@Dominican.edu

Subscription season tickets for the Guest Concert Series are $72 for general admission, $60 for seniors over 60. Single event tickets, which are only available at the door 30 minutes prior to scheduled performances, are $18 for general admission and $15 for seniors over 60.

This season, students under the age of 18 will be admitted free if accompanied and supervised by an adult.  In addition, community college students with a valid I.D. and music teachers in grades K-12 will be admitted free of charge along with Dominican faculty, staff and students with a valid I.D. Free parking is available in the nearby Conlan Center lot off Grand Avenue in San Rafael.

Severance, who was educated at the Oberlin Conservatory and Northern Illinois University, has performed with many Bay Area ensembles, including the Stanford Quartet, Composers Inc., Chamber Music West, the Midsummer Mozart Chamber Players, and the Parlante Chamber Orchestra, with whom she was principal violist. Her summer engagements have included the Scaneateles Festival, Eastern Music Festival and the Telluride Chamber Music Festival. She has performed with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players since 1986 and became a member in 2008.

The acclaimed violist will join San Francisco Symphony collegues Dan Carlson, Associate Principal Second Violin, and Peter Wyrick, Associate Principal Cellist, along with acclaimed pianist June Choi Oh for an afternoon of glorious chamber music making on Super Bowl Sunday. Oh is a Dominican and San Francisco Conservatory faculty member.

Oh opened the 2011-12 Guest Concert Series with a piano recital on October 9. Beginning its 11th season of providing Marin County and the Bay Area with a unique opportunity to enjoy classical music, the Guest Concert Series featured a performance by the five-time Grammy-nominated Quartet San Francisco on November 13 at Angelico Hall.

On March 18, Bridge Chamber Virtuosi will perform in Angelico Hall. Viola Yun Jie Liu, violinist Wei He and cellist Amos Yang juxtaposes Western classical music and contemporary Asian music to present a cross-cultural, synergetic concert experience. All three performers are faculty members at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Liu is the Associate Principal Violist and Amos Yang is the Assistant Principal Cellist of the San Francisco Symphony.

On April 22, 32-year-old Jonathan Vinocour, regarded as one of the most exciting and thoughtful violinists of his generation, will perform at Angelico Hall for the first time. The principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony since 2009, he previously has served as principal violist of the Saint Louis Symphony and guest principal of the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig and the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. While principal of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, he performed as soloist with conductors Nicholas McGegan and Hans Graf.

The Guest Concert Series, which is supported by the Marin County Board of Supervisors, is led by June Choi Oh, who is artistic director, and Craig Singleton, chair of the Department of Music, Dance and Performing Arts at Dominican.

For more information on tickets and the 2011-12 Guest Concert Series schedule, call 415-257-0128, email concerts@dominican.edu or log onto http://www.dominican.edu/academics/ahss/performingarts/files/guest-concert-series-2011-12.pdf

Brown’s NCAA Division I student-athletes are listed among the Top 20 of the College Sports Honor Roll, according to U.S. News and World Report, while Dominican’s student-athletes are two-time defending winners of the NCAA Division II’s Pacific West Conference’s Academic Achievement Award.

All Brown and Dominican alumni will be admitted to the game at half price. Game time is 7 p.m.

“We are excited and delighted to have such a reputable Ivy League school and an NCAA Division I program coming to our gymnasium,” said Dominican Athletics Director Terry Tumey. “These are the type of opportunities that come with Dominican being NCAA Division II.”

The Bears had  not played since a 61-57 win over Vermont on Dec. 7. They are coached by Jan Marie Burr, who is in her 24th season at the helm of the Brown’s women’s basketball program. She is a national lecturer who recently was inducted into the University of New Hampshire Athletic Hall of Honor as well as the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
Brown’s leading scorer and rebounder this season is junior guard Sheila Dixon, a Political Science major. Two other key players for the Bears are senior Hannah Passafuime out of Soquel High School near Santa Cruz whose concentration is in Education and Public Policy and junior Lindsay Nickel from Pinewood High School in Los Altos. Her concentration is Community Health.

Among notable Brown University alumni are John D. Rockefeller Jr., John F. Kennedy Jr., CNN founder and media mogul Ted Turner and ESPN anchor/celebrity Chris Berman.

Dr. Bernard von Bothmer, a history instructor at Dominican, is a Brown alum. He is author of Framing The Sixties: The Use and Abuse of a Decade from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush.

Dominican’s women’s basketball team, coached by Brianna Chambers, is led by senior Taki Te Koi, a Biological Sciences major from New Zealand, sophomore Psychology major Kayla Valentine who leads the team in scoring and 6-foot-4 freshman Nursing major Sarah Nelson.

For more information about the Dominican women’s basketball, visit www.dominicanathletics.com.