In light of the tragedy that occurred on the campus of Virginia Tech yesterday, Columbia College Chicago is examining its current Emergency Preparedness Plan, its emergency response mechanisms, and its communications protocols and systems.
Columbia has an existing Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP) to protect the safety and welfare of its community. The EPP includes a Crisis Communication Plan. The college has security guards at the entrance to each of its buildings who are equipped with electronic communications and computer connections to enhance the flow of information among our buildings throughout the South Loop. The college works cooperatively with City of Chicago emergency responders to help ensure the safety of persons and property on campus.
The college has a number of communication protocols in place, including telephone messaging systems, e-mail systems, and website notification mechanisms. We have television monitors in the lobbies of our buildings that enable us to deliver messages quickly. We employ a variety of communication tools to close buildings, when necessary. We use commercial media to deliver messages to mass audiences.
Because of the events on the Virginia Tech campus, we are re-examining our preparedness policies and are engaged in evaluating new communication technologies that might be employed to more effective and efficiently deliver crisis communications to members of our campus community.
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Columbia College Chicago undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies will be held at 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 12 at Navy Pier. This year, the arts and media college will graduate a record 2,500 students, with more than 800 expected to attend each of the ceremonies. Three distinguished individuals whose lives and work embody the college’s ideals and spirit will deliver commencement remarks, announced Columbia’s president, Dr. Warrick L. Carter.
Morning ceremonies include the undergraduate and graduate divisions in the School of Fine and Performing Arts and the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences. During the morning ceremonies Columbia will award honorary doctoral degrees to Dionne Warwick, recording artist and Joe Adams, arts manager and producer.
Afternoon ceremonies include graduate and undergraduate divisions of the School of Media Arts. The college will award an honorary doctoral degree to Army Bernstein, screenwriter, producer and director.
Dionne Warwick has, over an illustrious four-decade career, established herself as an international musical legend. Her reputation as a hit maker has been firmly etched into public consciousness, thanks to nearly sixty charted hits since "Don't Make Me Over" began its climb up the charts in December 1962. Dionne Warwick received her first Grammy Award in 1968, and in so doing became the first African-American solo female artist of her generation to win the prestigious award for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance. In recent years, Ms. Warwick's pioneering efforts have focused on leading the music industry in the fight against AIDS. Her Grammy-winning, chart topping, single "That's What Friends Are For," led the way by raising millions of dollars for AIDS research. Ms. Warwick served as the U.S. Ambassador for Health throughout the eighties, and in 2002 she was named a global Ambassador for the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. She has spearheaded production of a history book that will detail African and African-American history for use in schools, libraries and bookstores. She continues her work as a socially conscious and concerned global citizen.
Joe Adams was the man behind music legend Ray Charles four over four decades, but was also a major network radio personality and film and Broadway stage actor long before he joined Charles. During the late forties, his daily radio show was the number one rated deejay show in Los Angeles, and Adams became the number one radio personality in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Mr. Adams was the first man of color to do on air coast network radio and appeared in more than 26 motion pictures. In 1958, he was the first man of color to receive the coveted Golden Globe Award as the Outstanding New Actor. Mr. Adams has received four doctorates, including one from Morehouse College where a special educational facility has been designated in the name of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Adams and a performing arts center is being built in memory of Ray Charles. Now, as Vice-President/CEO in charge of RPM International, Mr. Adams supervises the myriad activities of the parent company including its business holding and its publishing companies, including Ray Charles Enterprises.
Army Bernstein, has produced and executive produced such films as Air Force One starring Harrison Ford, The Hurricane (which he also co-wrote) starring Denzel Washington, Thirteen Days starring Kevin Costner, End of Days starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Family Man starring Nicolas Cage, Bring It On starring Kirsten Dunst, For the Love of the Game starring Kevin Costner, Spy Game starring Brad Pitt and Robert Redford, Open Range starring Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall and Annette Bening, Raising Helen starring Kate Hudson and John Corbett, Ladder 49 starring John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix, A Lot Like Love starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet, Firewall starring Harrison Ford, Virginia Madsen and Paul Bettany, The Guardian, starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, and directed by Andy Davis. Currently in production is Waterhorse, directed by Jay Russell. Bernstein founded Beacon Communications in 1990 and it has become one of the most successful independently financed film companies in the entertainment business.
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April 16-20 is Earth Week and the Columbia campus will be participating with activities aimed at educating students, faculty and staff about the importance of living a green life and establishing habits of recycling and other earth-friendly practices.
Sponsored by the Columbia Recycling Program, the Columbia Department of Science and Mathematics, with support from Recycling Services Inc. and Community Energy, Columbia Earth Week activities include free screenings of An Inconvenient Truth at 2 and 5 pm, Wednesday April 18 in the Hokin Theater; Vegetarian information and treats at the screening and during the afternoon of April 17; Recycling Information Forum at 2 pm on April 19. For a complete listing and more information on Columbia Recycling Program go to www.colum.edu/recycling
“Our Earth Week activities are just the latest in a growing list of institutional initiatives that support our commitment to greening the Columbia campus,” says Alicia Berg, vice president for campus environment.
Under Berg’s leadership, the school recently signed a two-year contract with Community Energy, Inc. to purchase 30% of the institution’s electricity energy through renewable wind resource credits. In addition to the energy purchase, the school has engaged in a proactive program of energy-saving retrofits as they maintain and develop their current properties in the city’s south loop. They have also committed to meeting the intent of LEED certification in any new construction projects. Historically, Columbia has purchased and rehabbed existing building stock for academic and administrative purposes, a practice that has been applauded by both environmentalists and preservationists. These initiatives and practices have earned Columbia membership in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partners [www.epa.gov/greenpower/partner].
For more details on how Columbia is working to build a green and sustainable campus, contact mleventhal@colum.edu.
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The Educational Studies Department of Columbia College Chicago, in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools and Summit School District 104, has received a $318,100.00 grant from the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) for their project “Extending Teacher Capacity to Increase English Language Learners (ELL) Success in Mathematics.” The grant represents the fourth year of support for the Columbia project and comes under the IBHE’s No Child Left Behind Improving Teacher Quality initiative.
The program funded by the grant will prepare teachers to adapt standards-based mathematics instruction to meet the linguistic needs and enhance the linguistic strengths of students enrolled in bilingual or English-as-a-new-language (ENL) programs. The project is unique in that it adds the dimension of the arts to lessons learned about effective mathematics and English-as-a-new-language instruction. The goal of the instructional model and professional development plan is to increase student learning in mathematics as well as build teaching capacity that can be sustained in a variety of school districts.
“The IBHE’s generous and continuing support for this project is an indication of their recognition of the need to expand access to education to all students,” says Dr. Ava Belisle-Chatterjee, chair of the Educational Studies department at Columbia. “It also demonstrates their recognition of the value of the arts in providing avenues to accessing learning in all subject areas.”
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