The University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University have teamed up with the Regional Growth Partnership to host northwest Ohio’s VentureTech Week, three events focused on technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, commercialization and wealth creation.

All VentureTech Week events will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 6165 Levis Commons Blvd. in Perrysburg.

Listed by date, the events will be:

• Wednesday, Nov. 11 — Tech Connect, 5 to 8 p.m. With more than 300 people in attendance at recent sessions, this free event will feature casual networking, speakers that address entrepreneurial topics, and information exchanges.

• Thursday, Nov. 12 — Venture Fair, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. This event will include live investment pitches, extensive networking opportunities, and panels with venture capitalists and successful entrepreneurs from some of the nation’s leading solar, information technology and life science companies. In addition, Jim Haudan, co-founder and CEO of Root Learning, and Roger Newton, co-discoverer of Lipitor and founder, president and CEO of Esperion Therapeutics Inc., will deliver keynote speeches. Tickets for this event are $100 for college students and $295 for non-students.

• Friday, Nov. 13 — Entrepreneurial Boot Camp, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. This educational event is for individuals aiming to finance, establish and market a high-technology dependent business. This event also will include a keynote address by Jim DelVerne, a local entrepreneur who sold his software company, Gateway Defender, to MX Logic, which was recently acquired by McAfee Inc. Tickets for this event are $25 for college students and $100 for non-students.

The Regional Growth Partnership is extending special student pricing, and UT Innovation Enterprises is offering scholarships to UT students or faculty members to cover event admission. Eight scholarships will be given for the Entrepreneurial Boot Camp, and eight will be given for the Venture Fair.

To apply for a scholarship, contact Pamela Moore of UT Innovation Enterprises at 419.383.6966.

For more information or to register for these public events, visit www.rocketventures.biz/events/venturetech.

Hurd

Dr. Barbara Hurd, author and professor of creative writing at Frostburg State University, will read and discuss her works Thursday, Nov. 5, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Wolfe Hall Room 1205 on Main Campus.

Her free, public talk, “On the Fecundity of Limits: Readings and Remarks,” will showcase her personal essays and poetry as part of The University of Toledo’s Science and Sensibility Series.

Hurd’s award-winning essays are reflections inspired by her experiences in natural environments and have appeared in numerous journals, including Best American Essays, The Yale Review, The Georgia Review, Orion and Audubon, among others. She has written several books, including Objects in This Mirror, Entering the Stone, and Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs and Human Imagination.

“Her rich, pleasurable and thought-provoking essays lead us to reflect upon imagination, creativity, and our connections to the unbuilt environment,” said Dr. Charles Blatz, UT professor of philosophy. “These writings are invitations to investigate the creative process and its place in both our everyday life and our relationships within the environments where we are embedded.”

Blatz said Hurd’s title poem in a collection, The Singer’s Temple, makes reference to an ancient Greek practice of erecting temples at crossroads so those on a journey can stop and sort their direction. “She applies this to the various paths of our reflective journeys suggesting that there are no fixed and final means of directing this traffic of thought,” he said. “Intersection of divergent paths is inevitable. But then, thinking of the travelers’ rest, she suggests that these meetings give rise to conversations that mutually inform and enrich.

“The Science and Sensibility Series has aspired to such an idea. Bring together those whose disciplines place them in science, technology, medicine and mathematics to engage in reflection with those whose disciplines place them in the humanities, the arts and related areas of the social sciences. Provide an opportunity for intellectual engagement. Conversation, mutual challenge, understanding, intellectual community, personal integration of ideas can all rise out of such meetings.

“Barbara Hurd’s visit will create a perfect meeting place as we stop in our intellectual travels and sort our direction,” Blatz said.

Hurd was the recipient of a 2002 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction and winner of the Sierra Club’s National Nature Writing Award and Pushcart Prizes in 2004 and 2007.

Her talk for the Science and Sensibility Series is sponsored by the Office of the Main Campus Provost through a Program Academic Excellence Award.

The University of Toledo College of Business Administration will dedicate the new Savage & Associates Complex for Business Learning and Engagement Thursday, Nov. 5, at 1:30 p.m.

Construction continues on the Savage & Associates Complex for Business Learning and Engagement.

“This will be a remarkable day of achievement for The University of Toledo, the College of Business Administration, the students we serve, and our partners in the business community,” said UT President Lloyd Jacobs. “With more than 3,400 students currently preparing for their futures in the global business arena, this 54,000-square-foot facility is an essential expansion that will provide the sophisticated environment requisite of superior business schools such as ours.”

The Savage & Associates Complex for Business Learning and Engagement includes 10 state-of-the-art classrooms seating from 30 to 125 students; five breakout rooms with videoconferencing capabilities; eight conference rooms; the 40-seat FirstEnergy Boardroom, and a rooftop garden.

This view shows the Savage & Associates Complex for Business Learning and Engagement from West Bancroft Street.

The complex also includes five action-learning labs where students can sharpen their business skills through recordable training sessions, team projects and hands-on experience. They are the:
• Richard W. and Martha McEwen Information and Technology Management Lab;

• John B. & Lillian E. Neff Trading Room;

• PNC Entrepreneurship Lab;

• Huntington Professional Sales Lab; and

• Ernst & Young LLP Leadership Lab.

The Savage & Associates Complex also will serve as an enhanced portal to the regional business community. It has suites for the region’s largest MBA/EMBA programs, the Executive Center for Global Competitiveness, Center for Family & Privately Held Business, Center for Technological Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Ronald Langenderfer Office of Business Career Programs, the Edward H. Schmidt School of Professional Sales, and the Institute for Supply Chain Management and Information Assurance.

“Our positive relationship with the region’s business community enables us to provide real-world experience to our students,” said Dr. Thomas Gutteridge, dean of the UT College of Business Administration. “At the same time we want businesses to know that the knowledge and expertise within the college are here to help them, and that the Savage & Associates Complex will be a focal point for businesses to access these resources.”

Reflective of both the high technology within the complex and the global impact of business in the 21st century, former UT President Dan Johnson will speak at the dedication ceremony via videoconference from the United Arab Emirates, where he is provost at Zayed University.

“Dan Johnson was president of UT when this project started, and his participation in this dedication from the other side of the world is consistent with the global reach of the UT College of Business,” Gutteridge said.

Dan Steinberg, co-president and CEO of Savage & Associates, said, “This essential project was supported by talented professionals throughout Savage & Associates. We recognize the excellent educational programs provided at the UT College of Business Administration and how a remarkable building such as this complex truly facilitates learning. We thank all the businesses, donors and sponsors who made this complex a reality.”

Before the building dedication, the College of Business Administration will have a private ceremony to formally name the John B. and Lillian E. Neff Department of Finance, and the John B. and Lillian E. Neff Trading Room in the Savage & Associates Complex for Business Learning and Engagement.

“The Neffs have been outstanding and enduring patrons of our business students,” Gutteridge said. “The college’s trading room would not exist without their extremely generous gifts. We are honored to name the Department of Finance after John B. and Lillian E. Neff, whose leadership will impact and inspire thousands of business students for years to come.”

Gutteridge added, “The current global economic situation further crystallizes that a UT business degree can strengthen one’s future. As the college pursues its mission to develop lifelong leaders for the world of business, the new Savage & Associates Complex for Business Learning and Engagement will provide an enriched setting for their educational journey.”

Work will continue inside the building after the dedication to prepare the facility for classes beginning in January. A schedule of dates and times will be announced in January so UT faculty, staff and students can tour the Savage & Associates Complex.

David Roche, motivational speaker and author of The Church of 80% Sincerity, will visit UT to perform and read from his works.

Roche

Roche will perform excerpts from his signature one-man show, “The Church of 80% Sincerity,” Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 4 p.m. in Health Education Building Room 105 on Health Science Campus.

He also will read from his newest show called “Catholic Erotica” Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. in Memorial Field House Room 2040 on Main Campus.

Dr. Jim Ferris, Ability Center of Greater Toledo Endowed Chair in Disability Studies, director of the UT Disability Studies Program and associate professor of communication, said that he has known Roche for quite a few years and that his combination of wit and warmth is perfect for all audiences.

“There is a great deal of room for people to make their own connections with David,” Ferris said. “I really hope that people will find something moving and amusing in his performances, and that these performances push people to think about their judgments.”

Roche was born with a severe facial disfigurement, which put him through many trying experiences as a child.

It was not until a much older age that Roche was able to come to terms with his deformities. He now considers himself to be an inspirational humorist, motivational speaker and performer who has touched lives around the world.

He has been featured on CNN and in a number of award-winning films, including “Shameless: The Art of Disability” (2006), “The Perfect Flaw” (2005), “Face First” (1999) and “Able to Laugh” (1993).

In addition to his movies, he has performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and at the Sydney Olympics Arts Festival, as well as in Canada, England, New Zealand and Russia.

For more information on these free, public events, contact the UT Disability Studies Program at 419.530.7244.

Herman

Susan N. Herman, president of the American Civil Liberties Union and Brooklyn Law School professor, will speak at the UT College of Law Thursday, Oct. 29, at noon in the Law Center Auditorium

The title of her free, public talk is “Civil Liberties in the Age of Obama.”

Herman is the Centennial Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, where she teaches courses on Constitutional Law and Criminal Procedure, Law and Literature, and Terrorism and Civil Liberties.

Her recent publications include two books, Terrorism, Government and Law: National Authority and Local Autonomy in the War on Terror (editor and co-author with Paul Finkelman) and The Right to a Speedy and Public Trial.

Herman was elected president of the American Civil Liberties Union in 2008, after having served on the ACLU National Board of Directors for 20 years, as a member of the Executive Committee for 16 years, and as general counsel for 10 years.

“Professor Herman will address the measures taken thus far by the Obama administration in areas such as ending military commissions and extraordinary rendition, closing Guantanamo Bay, and restoring habeas corpus,” said Daniel J. Steinbock, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Law. “We look forward to her take on what the Obama administration has changed — and not changed — from the prior administration.”

The Cannon Lectures were established in 1980 in memory of former Toledo attorney Joseph A. Cannon through a generous gift from his family and friends. The lecture series is intended to provide an opportunity for the College of Law, the University and the greater Toledo community to host individuals of national prominence who, in discussing questions of law and society, will emphasize the humanistic dimensions as well as limitations of our legal system.

When classes start, O.A.R. heads back to campus.

O.A.R.

“Usually every fall and spring, we go out and [play] colleges, and that’s something that we really enjoy doing because that’s where we cut our teeth and that’s where we got our start,” said saxophonist Jerry DePizzo.

It was in Columbus, Ohio, where O.A.R. (Of A Revolution) started building its fan base and its reputation as a live band. Singer-guitarist Marc Roberge, guitarist Richard On, drummer Chris Culos and bass player Benj Gershman graduated from high school in Rockville, Md., and decided to go to Ohio State University, where DePizzo was taking classes.

“There was always a special spark about O.A.R.,” DePizzo said during a phone interview from his Columbus home. “I was O.A.R.’s biggest fan, then I got to be in the band.”

The sax man joined in 2000. Since then, the group that mixes rock and reggae has recorded five studio releases and three live discs.

With 2008’s “All Sides,” the quintet achieved mainstream success, thanks to the hits “Shattered (Turn the Car Around)” and “This Town.”

DePizzo talked about recording the disc with producer Mat Wallace, known for his work with Maroon 5 and The Replacements.

“Mat Wallace did a great job. He was a great fit for us. He brought a blue-collar work ethic to the table,” DePizzo said. “We just threw material at him, and he sifted through it to pick out the things that worked. That made the record better.

“We knew we were going to have some radio-friendly stuff, that’s where you have your ‘Shattered’ and your ‘One Day’ and ‘This Town,’” DePizzo continued. “We wanted to make stuff where people would debate which is the best song. We wanted to make album tracks that had no shot of being on the radio like ‘War Song’ or ‘Whatever Happened.’”

The band just finished mixing a live, four-disc set recorded over two nights in Chicago.

“It’s a great representation of where the band is right now,” DePizzo said of the forthcoming release. “It’s almost like a greatest hits album because it spans so much material. We’re really proud of it and really excited for people to hear it.”

O.A.R. will play at The University of Toledo Savage Arena Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. Elmwood will open the show. Tickets are $27.50 for the public and $17.50 for UT students with ID. All tickets will be $32.50 day of the show.

For more information, contact the UT Savage Arena Ticket Office at 419.530.4653.

In order to fill the Islamic obligation known as hajj, each year more than two million Muslim men and women from all over the world travel to the city of Mecca, the holiest meeting site of the Islamic religion, to demonstrate religious harmony and their submission to Allah.

Faced with a new life as a single mother, Asra Nomani, author and then Wall Street Journal correspondent, made the dangerous journey from America to the Middle East in efforts to investigate and rediscover her religion.

Inspired by her personal pilgrimage, Nomani returned to America to confront religious sexism and intolerance and to fight for the rights of modern Muslim women.

Nomani will discuss and sign her book, Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam, Thursday, Oct. 29, from 7 to 9 p.m. in The University of Toledo Law Center Auditorium on Main Campus.

In her book, Nomani explains that many religious freedoms enjoyed centuries ago have been replaced today by the conservative brand of Islam, which labels Muslim women as veiled and isolated from the world. Through personal narrative, Nomani compares the modern-day lives of Muslim women to the lives of those living centuries ago to show the changing face of women in Islam.

A graduate of West Virginia University and American University, Nomani serves as
a visiting journalism scholar at Georgetown University, where she leads the Pearl Project, a faculty-student investigation into the 2002 murder of her close friend and journalist, Daniel Pearl.

“As a child of West Virginia, I have looked to Toledo as a shining beacon in the American-Muslim community,” Nomani said. “For years, I have heard the stories of the courageous citizens of Toledo, who have been leaders and pioneers for an expression of Islam that is tolerant and just.”

A reception, including refreshments, will be held in the Law Center Auditorium from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. preceding the lecture.

This free, public event is sponsored by the Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women, the UT Program in Religious Studies, and the departments of Philosophy and Women’s and Gender Studies, and is part of the President’s Lecture Series on Diversity.

“The Eberly Center is extremely pleased to be a part of the effort to bring Asra Nomani to UT,” said Charlene Gilbert, director of the Eberly Center for Women. “She is a strong voice encouraging an important dialogue about the role of women in the Islamic faith. History has shown that one of the first steps on the road to change in any community is dialogue.”

For more information, contact the Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women at 419.530.8570.

Tune in “Environmentally Sound” Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. on WJR AM 760.

On the October edition, host Lawrence J. Burns, UT vice president for external affairs and interim vice president for equity and diversity, talks with leaders from various segments of the business and scientific community about the ever-changing face of the sustainability movement.

In this episode:

• Rich Housh, chairman of Plug-Smart, discusses how intelligent energy solutions make for intelligent business models.

• Dr. Connie Schall, UT associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering, describes the latest in research that aims to convert unused parts of plants into the fuel for vehicles.

• Tony Damon, chief executive officer for SSOE Group, describes how sustainable measures are being taken to heart by a major engineering and architecture firm.

• Carrie Majeske, manager of sustainable business strategies at Ford Motor Co., shares ways that one of the big three automakers is looking to increase fuel efficiency and shrink carbon footprints.

The University and Detroit’s WJR Radio have teamed up to produce the monthly, hour-long program that focuses on sustainability, the environment and alternative energy.

Listen on the Web at www.utoledo.edu/environmentallysound.

Have you ever noticed how words seem to divorce their original intended meanings?

The “R-word,” or “retard,” is one of many words that has undergone this change, a change that raises questions of ignorance in society today.

The University of Toledo Disability Studies Program will show the film “Tropic Thunder,” along with a follow-up documentary response about the issues of the “R-word.” The screening will take place in Memorial Field House Room 1910 Tuesday, Oct. 27, from 12:45 to 4 p.m.

“Not everyone is aware of this problem,” said Dr. Jim Ferris, Ability Center of Greater Toledo Endowed Chair in Disability Studies, director of the UT Disability Studies Program and associate professor of communication. “As a university, we can’t make people stop its negative usage, but we can try to make people think more carefully. If we can lift a veil and shine some light on this issue, then maybe people will think twice before they speak.”

“Tropic Thunder” is a 2008 comedy directed and produced by Ben Stiller. Containing large amounts of cruel and sexual humor, the movie itself has since sparked national controversy, especially when it comes to the use of the “R-word.”

Upon watching the film, viewers will decide if they think the use of the “R-word” is intended as hate speech, which is defined as speech that attacks or disparages a person or group of people based on their social or ethnic group, or if it is intended to be humorous.

For more information about this free, public event, contact Ferris at 419.530.7245 or e-mail Jim.Ferris@utoledo.edu.

Racing for 17 hours in weather conditions ranging from heavy winds to thick fog to thunder and lightning did not stop the UT club sport sailing team from qualifying for a national championship.

UT students Ryan Lashaway, Catherine Sopher, Mike Stark and Brian Goldberg will compete against nationally ranked teams for the 2009 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Sloop National Championship Friday through Sunday, Oct. 23-25, in Connecticut.

UT’s sailing team will compete at the varsity level against the U.S. Naval Academy, University of Wisconsin, Boston College, Brown University, Washington University and Charleston University, among others.

Due to three of the four members having more than 10 years of experience racing all over the country through various weather conditions, Lashaway feels they are ready for anything.

“I sailed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the high was 40 degrees and the wind was between 15 to 20 knots.” Lashaway said. “It became difficult to rig the boat when all the rope was frozen solid. Although it’s not always that cold, a majority of the time we are in shorts and T-shirts.”

Unpredictable weather conditions, varsity-level competition and staggered skill levels only fueled the team’s growth. Stark said the sailing team is looking for anyone who wants to learn how to sail, race or just have fun.

“Students need to know that it doesn’t matter what you have tried or not tried before; college is about experiencing new things, so sign up for a club sport that sounds fun or interesting to you,” Stark said.

UT club sports include badminton, basketball, crew, ultimate Frisbee, water polo, soccer, wrestling, sailing and a wilderness expedition.

For more information on UT sport clubs, visit www.hometeamsonline.com/utsportclubs.