Indiana State University Newsroom

Indiana State University's Community Semester has four events planned for the week of April 7 including a weeklong showcase of student research and creativity, a discussion on crime, and presentations by a professor teaching Shakespeare to prison inmates and a noted historian on the anti-Nazi resistance movement.

The 2014 Community Semester, which focuses on the theme "Crossroads," is a way for the College of Arts and Sciences to showcase what it does best and to encourage faculty and students to share with the community what they are learning. It is also a way to bring innovative ideas in the science, humanities, liberal and creative arts to the area.

Exposium: A Celebration of Student Research and Creativity will run April 7-11 from 10-3 p.m. daily in the Cunningham Memorial Library events area. This program celebrates the outstanding academic work of ISU undergraduate and graduate students. Research and/or creative projects may be based on a class project, major paper, collaborative research with a faculty member, community engagement activities, or any efforts highlighting research and creativity associated with the ISU student experience.

On April 7, Community Semester will partner with the CANDLES Holocaust Museum for a presentation "The White Rose Student Anti-Nazi Resistance: Heroes in the Ongoing Fight for Human Rights" beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Museum, located at 1532 S. Third Street.

Through a multimedia program, noted historian Jud Newborn will recount how university students Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans (a formerly fanatical Hitler Youth leader) became some of the most celebrated heroes of the German anti-Nazi resistance. In February 1943, the two students scattered hundreds of anti-war leaflets from a University of Munich atrium down upon the heads of astonished students in one of the few public protests against the Nazis. The presentation will also call attention to "White Rosers" today who continue to risk themselves for freedom and our shared humanity. Jud Newborn is a lecturer, curator and expert on anti-Semitism, extremism and the fight for human rights worldwide. He is the co-author of "Sophie Scholl and the White Rose" and was the founding historian of the New York Museum of Jewish Heritage from 1986 to 2000.This program is co-sponsored by the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and the department of history.

A discussion of crime and safety is the topic of a Community Semester program from 8-10 a.m. April 9 at the Meeting Grounds Coffee House, 1400 S. Sixth St.

Coffee with a Cop, a monthly program sponsored by Vigo County's Triad chapter, gives community members (particularly older adults) a chance to interact with law enforcement in a non-emergency situation, learn ways to protect themselves, and connect with other concerned citizens. Representatives from city, county and state law enforcement agencies, aging services providers, Indiana State criminology students, and ISU faculty will be on hand to discuss community members' concerns about crime and what can be done to make our town safer for everyone.

During the April 10 presentation "Shakespeare in Prison: Literature, Performance, Rehabilitation," Laura Bates of the department of English and Jack Heller of Huntington University will present a variety of approaches to the works of Shakespeare, literary and theatrical, that have been shown to lead to rehabilitation of incarcerated participants. Bates has taught Shakespeare in prisons for decades and is author of the book "Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard." Heller recently created a new Shakespeare program at the Pendleton Correctional Facility. The program will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall of the Landini Center for Performing and Fine Arts. This event is co-sponsored by the Richard Landini Lectures, the department of criminology, and the department of Theater.

These events are free and open to the public. A complete list and description of the Community Semester's activities may be found at: http://www.indstate.edu/communitysemester/  .

Media contact and writer: Paula Meyer, ISU Communications and Marketing, 812-237-3783 or paula.meyer@indstate.edu