Category: news

COLUMBUS, Ohio – March 23, 2011 – State Senator Chris Widener (R-Springfield) and the Glen Helen Ecology Institute announced today that the state transportation budget, House Bill 114, will include a provision allowing for the creation of a Glen Helen Nature Preserve specialty license plate.

The state offers over 200 specialty license plates that include a picture designed by the organization and the name of the organization. Specialty plates are only authorized through legislation and can be bought when renewing or changing license plates. The Glen Helen plate costs $25, which includes a $15 donation to the Glen Helen Ecology Institute.

“The Glen is a special place in Greene County. People of all walks of life visit the preserve to learn about the natural history of our community, to experience the beauty of nature, or to exercise along the hiking trails,” Widener stated. “The specialty license plate will be a great promotional tool as well as provide additional donations to keep educational and conservational programs alive.”

The Glen Helen Ecology Institute initiated a license plate design contest last year. The new design, pending approval from the State Comptroller, will feature a design by the late-Ohio nature artist Charley Harper, who is well known for his wildlife artwork.

According to Executive Director Nick Boutis, “We are grateful for Senator Widener’s ongoing support of this legislation. Ohioans purchasing a Glen Helen license plate can feel good knowing that they are directly supporting our land conservation and environmental education efforts.”

Glen Helen is a 1,000-acre nature preserve of woods, waterways, prairies and fields laced with 25 miles of trails in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The grounds are open daily from dawn to dusk. The Glen Helen Ecology Institute is owned by Antioch College and exists to protect the Glen for present and future generations by engaging in land stewardship, education, community outreach and service and research.

Contact: Bradley Ingraham
Office: (614) 466-3780

MEDIA CONTACT:
Gariot P. Louima ?
Director of Communications
Office: 937-319-6131
Mobile: 937-581-8201
glouima@antiochcollege.org

The Yellow Springs Community Foundation (YSCF) has announced the names of ten Yellow Springs nonprofit organizations that will be recipients of grants to pay the direct labor costs of Antioch College students to work as interns under its Miller Fellowship Program during the 2011-2012 academic calendar.

The organizations are: Yellow Springs Arts Council, Yellow Springs Community Access TV, Glen Helen Ecology Institute, Home Inc., Yellow Springs Senior Citizens, Tecumseh Land Trust, Yellow Springs Tree Committee, WYSO, Yellow Springs Exempted Village School District, and YS Kids Playhouse.

Nick Boutis, Glen Helen Ecology Institute Director, said in his winning grant proposal: “In 1929, Glen Helen became part of the enlarged campus of Antioch College, and thus began an 80-plus year relationship of formalized work and academic opportunities in the Glen. … As efforts to resurrect Antioch College moved forward, Glen Helen Ecology Institute staff began to detail the co-operative work positions, course possibilities, and research opportunities that the Glen was suited to offer. “

The Miller Fellowship Program is funded by the Nolan J. and Richard D. Miller Endowment Fund, whose purpose is to support Antioch College students who engage in service for the benefit of the Yellow Springs community. The basic premise of the endowment is that it is meant to foster mutual respect between Antioch College and the Yellow Springs community.

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio – March 21, 2011 – Antioch College President Mark Roosevelt announced the appointment of former Antioch professor and experienced administrator Hassan Rahmanian, Ph.D., as the College’s dean for curriculum, assessment, planning & interdisciplinary learning. Rahmanian will also teach political economy and public policy.

“As one of the College’s new academic leaders, Dr. Rahmanian will use his 25-year record of scholarship and leadership to help design curricular programs that deliver on our promise to prepare a new generation of Antiochians to make a positive contribution in our fast-changing world,” Roosevelt said.

“This appointment truly moves the College forward on its challenging and exciting path,” said Joe Foley, incoming president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors. “Hassan brings a depth of experience from his previous leadership at the College and at Nonstop that provides a solid foundation for continuing Antioch’s heritage of offering rigorous academic programs that encourage students to build lives that have both depth and commitment.”

Reporting to the president, Rahmanian will develop plans for faculty orientation and oversee the Global Seminars, a central component of Antioch’s new curricular offering that provides for community-wide examination of pressing world issues. Additionally, he will supervise financial aid and registration administration, refine and implement the institution’s assessment plan, contribute to searches for key positions at the College, and ensure that faculty and staff help students learn deeply across traditional academic disciplines.

Rahmanian arrived at Antioch College in 1986 as an assistant professor of business and management. He earned tenure in the fall of 1991 and was promoted to associate professor of business. His leadership service to the college included terms on the Faculty Senate Steering Committee, the Faculty Executive Committee, and membership on the Administrative Council (AdCil). He chaired the management program and coordinated the Department of Social & Global Studies for a four-year period beginning in 1998.

At the closing of the College, Rahmanian rose as a leader in the Nonstop movement, ultimately coordinating the development of the educational program of the Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute and serving as a member of its Executive Collective. From June 2009 to June 2010, he was senior director of institutional research & evaluation at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California.

Rahmanian earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics at the University of Tehran, and a Ph.D. in public policy research and analysis at the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

About Antioch College
A private, independent nonprofit liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Antioch College will offer a four-year, undergraduate residential experience to a new class of students beginning in the fall of 2011. The College curriculum puts equal emphasis on rigorous liberal arts learning, work (cooperative education), and community engagement. Students will complete individualized majors based on one of 11 concentrations, a language minor, and six full-time work experiences. The institution, originally founded in 1850, is now completely independent of Antioch University, the multi-campus system it founded.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Gariot P. Louima ?
Director of Communications
Office: 937-319-6131
Mobile: 937-581-8201
glouima@antiochcollege.org

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio – March 18, 2011 – Antioch College will welcome leading scholars from throughout the country on April 9 for “A Green Space for the Mind,” a daylong symposium that will explore initiatives to incorporate contemplative practice into academic and social settings in higher education. The symposium will be held in the Herndon Gallery, South Hall, One Morgan Place.

Presented with the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE), A Green Space for the Mind investigates the premise that conventional instruction based on critical scholarship and the scientific method can be strengthened by incorporating the reflective, contemplative and experiential methods.

The day will begin at 10:00 a.m. with a webinar given by Daniel Goleman, an internationally known psychologist and best-selling author who will discuss the topics within his latest book, Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything. Goleman is the author of Emotional Intelligence.

At 1:00 p.m., a panel of leading academics in contemplative education will present on the theory and practice of contemplation in higher education. The panelists are:

• Linda-Susan Beard, associate professor of literature at Bryn Mawr College and a monk in the Emmaus Community in Vestaburg, Michigan
• John Makransky, professor of Buddhism and comparative theology at Boston College and the founding teacher for the Foundation for Active Compassion
• Harold Roth, professor of religious studies and East Asian studies and the director of the Contemplative Studies Initiative at Brown University
• Clifford Saron, associate research scientist UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain and M.I.N.D. Institute

The panel will be moderated by Robert Pryor founder and director of Antioch Education Abroad’s Buddhist Studies Program in Bodh Gaya, India.

About Antioch College

A private, independent nonprofit liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Antioch College will offer a four-year, undergraduate residential experience to a new class of students beginning in the fall of 2011. The College curriculum puts equal emphasis on rigorous liberal arts learning, work (cooperative education), and community engagement. Students will complete individualized majors based on one of 11 concentrations, a language minor, and six full-time work experiences. The institution, originally founded in 1850, is now completely independent of Antioch University, the multi-campus system it founded.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Gariot P. Louima ?
Director of Communications
Office: 937-319-6131
Mobile: 937-581-8201
glouima@antiochcollege.org