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A national jazz dance conference created by Lindsay Guarino, assistant professor in the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance, will be held on campus July 31-Aug. 3. “Jazz Dance: Roots and Branches in Practice,” is being co-hosted by the National Dance Education Organization, the largest dance organization in the country.

The conference will look at jazz dance broadly through movement workshops and conversations, inviting dialogue that connects the past, present and future of jazz.

“The conference is unique in that it is the first national jazz dance conference of its type, and it is exciting for me personally because it was inspired by my textbook that was published in early 2014,” Guarino said. “The conference is possibly one of the most important things I’ve done for the Salve Regina dance program. It’s helping me to give the program a unique identity in jazz dance – something very different from other dance programs across the country.”

Jazz dance today is somewhat of an enigma, meaning different things to different people. Some are loyal to the authentic jazz of the Jazz Era, when dance and music were inseparable entities that stood firmly in West African roots while reflecting the American spirit. Others identify jazz dance as a theatrical style, heavily reliant on ballet-based movement and suited for Broadway and concert dance stages. Still others see jazz as a commercial form of dance that reflects popular culture while absorbing myriad global influences. The conference is designed to decipher the true meaning of jazz as it embodies so many seemingly contradictory personalities.

Special guest presenters will include Bob Boross, Danny Buraczeski, Thom Cobb, Moncell Durden, Melanie George, Karen Hubbard, Darwin Prioleau, Billy Siegenfeld and Sheron Wray.

For more information, or to register, visit the conference website.

Image courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries.

Salve Regina’s Noreen Stonor Drexel Cultural and Historic Preservation Program has received a $39,000 grant from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program to conduct site documentation for the Sadkeche Fight, a battle associated with the little-known Yamasee War (1715-1717) in South Carolina.

The grant will provide students in the CHP program an opportunity to substantially contribute to a real world, federally funded preservation project.

“No one has ever located a battlefield from the Yamasee War, and unlike the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, we do not have a great deal of historical records to rely upon,” said assistant professor Dr. Jon Marcoux, who applied for the grant. “There is a lot of work to do, and Salve students will play a central part in the project.”

Marcoux and his students will conduct research with a wide variety of historical documents in order to find contemporary accounts of the battle, and will also search for historical maps of the region where the battle was fought. They will then use Geographic Information System software to match historic maps with modern maps.

The goal is to identify the probable location of where the Sadkeche Fight occurred. “This sets up a future project where we actually go out and try to find physical evidence of the battle in the form of early 18th century military artifacts like musket balls, gun parts, buckles, etc.,” Marcoux said. “Once we find the actual battlefield location, we can begin to take steps to protect it through community outreach and engagement.”

The project highlights the important relationship between archaeology, history, geography and historic preservation. “The CHP program at Salve is unique in that we emphasize the poly-disciplinary nature of cultural and historic preservation,” Marcoux said. “Through this project, the students will see how these disciplines work together to gain a better understanding of our past, as well as to protect that past for future generations.”

The American Battlefield Protection Program funds projects conducted by federal, state, local and tribal governments, nonprofit organizations and educational institutions. The program’s mission is to safeguard and preserve significant American battlefield lands for present and future generations as symbols of individual sacrifice and national heritage.

Ten elementary and high school teachers from Chile are visiting Salve Regina this month as part of a professional development opportunity coordinated by the Office of International Programs and supported by the departments of Education and History.

During their two weeks on campus, the teachers are exploring new trends in teaching methodologies and learning about American history and literature through class sessions with history professor Dr. John Quinn, education professor Dr. Martha Rose and other Salve Regina faculty.

They are also visiting local public and private schools, attending cultural events and visiting off-island locations such as Battleship Cove in Fall River and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

The visiting teachers are affiliated with SEDUC, a Catholic educational organization that oversees nine K-12 private schools in Chile. “Interacting with other teachers in an international setting is an invaluable opportunity for our teachers to learn – from our friends here at Salve, but also from each other,” said Isabel Quiroz, SEDUC’s director of English language programs. “We hope to return to Chile with fresh ideas to use in our schools so that we can create powerful learning opportunities for our students.”

Salve Regina’s burgeoning partnerships with Chilean students and educators began in November 2015, when President Jane Gerety, RSM, and Erin FitzGerald, director of international programs, visited universities and high schools throughout Chile.

Their visit was coordinated by James Tencher, a Chilean native and Newport resident who lives near the University, and co-hosted by Fernando Valdivia, whose daughter Maria Paz hopes to become Salve Regina’s first exchange student from Chile this year.

In addition to this summer’s program, Salve Regina is currently pursuing student exchange agreements with several Chilean universities. “Forging strong ties with educational institutions in Chile, at the K-12 and university level, will lead to more movement of students and teachers in both directions in the coming years, which will be mutually beneficial to the educational communities involved,” FitzGerald said.

In celebration of the expressive and creative arts program’s 20th year, members of the University community and the general public are invited to “Arts With Heart,” a community gathering designed to honor the power of the arts, healing and transformation with the expressive and creative arts.

“Arts With Heart” will be held from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, July 23 in the Young Building. The event will feature group heart mandala creation and a ceremony honoring the arts and transformation towards creating a more peaceful, harmonious world.

As space is limited, RSVPs are required. To reserve space, visit the “Arts With Heart” Eventbrite page.

Salve Regina’s graduate program in expressive and creative arts seeks to empower individuals and groups towards positive transformation, through the arts and through creative expression. The program utilizes a multi-modal approach to integrate the visual arts with movement, sound, expressive theater arts and expressive writing. Courses blend hands-on experiential work with the theoretical applications of the expressive and creative arts to the fields of education, counseling, therapy, medical care-giving, community organizing, business or any other profession in which personal expression and creative development are essential.

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker Javier Manzano, whose career has taken him to Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Nigeria, received the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy’s fourth annual Prize for Story in the Public Square during a ceremony June 21.

Manzano won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his photo, distributed through Agence France-Presse, of Syrian rebel soldiers guarding their position as light streams through bullet holes in a wall. Among his 12 other awards are two World Press Photo Awards, in 2010 and 2013, and the 2013 Bayeux-Calvados Award for war correspondents.

A native of Mexico, Manzano holds a bachelor’s degree in international business from Loras College in Iowa and a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism and documentary film production from California’s Brooks Institute of Photography. After internships at several American newspapers, Manzano was hired by the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. When it folded in 2009, Manzano began his independent career. He is currently based in the Middle East.

While in Rhode Island, Manzano was interviewed for an episode of “Story in the Public Square,” a monthly feature of the national PBS show “White House Chronicle.” The show is taped at the Providence studios of Rhode Island PBS.

The Pell Center Prize for Story in the Public Square recognizes a contemporary storyteller whose work has had a significant impact on the public dialogue. Previous winners for the Pell Center Prize are Lisa Genova (2015), New York Times best-selling author of “Still Alice;” Danny Strong (2014), an Emmy-winning screenwriter, producer and actor; and Dana Priest (2013), two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning former Washington Post writer, now the John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland.

A partnership between the Pell Center and The Providence Journal, Story in the Public Square is an initiative to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.

As the end of the fund year approaches, Salve Regina is turning to the strength and generosity of alumni, parents and friends of the University to provide support across campus.

Gifts to The SALVEfund are a powerful opportunity to meet the immediate needs of the University. The philanthropic impact of gifts will be seen in the University’s thriving academic programs, in the success of its athletic teams, in the promotion of the arts, and in growth of student scholarships.

Every gift counts and makes a difference in the lives of Salve Regina students. Members of the University community are invited to make their year-end gift by Thursday, June 30. Gifts will be put to work right away to have a lasting impact on students.

Checks made payable to Salve Regina University may be mailed to 100 Ochre Point Ave., Newport, RI 02840, or call (877) SRU-GIFT to make a gift by phone. Click here to donate online.