Date: 2/7/00
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Vince Gotera, UNI associate professor of English and coordinator of the Creative Writing Program, (319) 273-7061
Vicki Grimes, Office of Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
NOTE: A photo of Venise Berry is available at
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa— In celebration of Black History Month, the Northern Iowa Reading Series will host a fiction reading by novelist Venise Berry, at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 14, in the Thompson Commons (Baker Hall 161) at the University of Northern Iowa. This event is free and open to the public.
Venise Berry is the author of two novels: So Good (1996) — a Blackboard national bestseller — and All of Me: A Voluptuous Tale (2000). She also contributed a chapter to the 1998 serial novel, Time and Chance: An Iowa Murder Mystery, published by KUNI public radio at UNI.
"I first encountered Venise Berry's fiction in 'Time and Chance,'" said Vince Gotera, associate professor of English and coordinator of the Creative Writing program. I was impressed by her powers of observation and description and how these contributed to the believability of her characters."
A native of Des Moines, Berry is a professor of journalism and mass communications at the University of Iowa. She earned her Ph.D. in radio, TV, film, and ethnomusicology at the University of Texas, as well as her B.A. and M.A. degrees at the University of Iowa. She also taught at Texas Southern University and Hunter-Tillotson College. Before completing her Ph.D., she worked as a newscaster, outside news reporter, and news director for several radio stations in Texas.
An award-winning scholar, Berry focuses her research on media and black culture, rap music, masculinity and the media, war and television, as well as gender and music. In 1996, she co-edited "Mediated Messages and African-American Culture: Contemporary Issues," which won the Meyer Center award for the study of human rights in North America.
Venise Berry has a Web site at <http://www.veniseberry.com>.
The Northern Iowa Reading Series brings poets, fiction writers, translators, and other authors of repute to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. According to Gotera, "The Reading Series is a valuable addition to culture and the arts in the metro area, showcasing important contemporary literature from around the nation."
For more information on Venise Berry's reading, contact Vince Gotera at (319) 273-7061 or by e-mail at <Vince.Gotera@uni.edu>.
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Contact:
David Else, UNI Institute for Educational Leadership, (319) 273-2026
Vicki Grimes, Office of Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Iowa Superintendents Finance and Leadership Consortium (ISFLC) workshop will host a variety of fiscal management and leadership programs Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 9 and 10, in the University of Northern Iowa's Maucker Union.
Five session tracks, each providing 15 hours of hands-on experience, will be offered to the participants— 131 school superintendents or aspiring superintendents, and business managers and board secretaries invited by their superintendents.
The IFSLC is a professional development program for Iowa superintendents and those working closely with education in Iowa. A partnership between the Iowa Association of School Boards and UNI's Institute for Educational Leadership, the consortium has served over 74 percent of Iowa's superintendents in its first two years of existence, according to David Else, director of the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) and co-director of the ISFLC.
Five of the seven tracks offered by the consortium will be covered in this workshop, with sessions taught by 20 Iowa superintendents and friends of Iowa education. Sessions will deal with financial health analysis, presentation and preparation of the budget, preparing a School Budget Review Committee presentation, levies available to school districts, and preparing for professional negotiations and arbitration.
“The training offered by the consortium certainly helps meet the ever-growing need for new superintendents in Iowa's schools and helps participants stay attuned to the critical finance issues facing today's school districts,” said Else.
An earlier workshop held in Des Moines in December drew 190 participants taught by 22 faculty.
In addition to the conference sessions, participants also gain access to dialogue through the ISFLC home page. An ongoing support network, it allows them to share ideas, ask questions and explore evolving approaches to fiscal management. The ISFLC web page can be accessed at www.uni.edu/else/. One hour of UNI graduate credit is available to those wishing to register for it, as well as renewal credit through the Iowa Department of Education Bureau of Practitioner Preparation and Licensure.
For more information, contact ISFLC co-directors David Else at (319) 273-2026, or M.J. Dolan at the IASB at 1-800-795-4272.
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