Bluffton University will host the Ohio Music Educators Association Ribbon Festival from 8 a.m.-4:15 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 21.
The event is sponsored by the Middle West district of the Ohio Music Teachers Association and is free and open to the public. Nearly 300 students will be performing throughout the day.
The Ribbon Festival allows music students of all ages an opportunity to perform in a non-threatening environment and receive comments from a highly qualified judge.
Dr. Jeanne Lemkau, professor emeriti, Wright State University School of Medicine, will present "The Gifts of Empathic Activism: Advocating for Cuban-American families" as a part of Bluffton University's weekly Forum series on Tuesday, Nov. 24.
The forum will be held in Founders Hall at 11 a.m. and is free and open to the public.
Lemkau has traveled to Cuba eight times since 2000 for research as well as for educational and humanitarian trips. She also traveled to Nicaragua in the 1970s, serving in a rural part of the country through the Peace Corps.
Bluffton University's music department has announced the soloists for its 114th performance of Handel's Messiah to be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, in Founders Hall.
The soloists for this years' performance are Crystal Sellers, soprano; Julia Szabo, alto; David Sawatzky, tenor; and Calvin Griffin, bass. The event is free and open to the public. A free-will offering will be taken.
Dr. Lucia Unrau, professor of music and music department chair at Bluffton University, was awarded the Ohio Music Teachers Association Collegiate Teacher of the Year award during the annual state conference Nov. 5-7 in Van Wert.
"I am honored to receive this prestigious award," said Unrau. "Teaching is very important to me and it's great to be recognized in this manner." She was nominated by teachers in the Middle West district which ranges from the Findlay area to Bellefontaine and west to the Indiana border. Unrau is the first Bluffton music faculty member to receive the award.
Bluffton University hosted "Celebration of Peace: Beyond Borders" children's conference, Oct. 23-24 at The Lion and The Lamb Peace Arts Center. Thirty-two children from third through seventh grade participated in the conference. Bluffton students, faculty and staff and local community members served as volunteers.
Daniel Mast, a senior at Bluffton University didn't want to spend a typical summer at his home in Goshen, Ind. Instead, the middle childhood education major opted to get out of the Midwest, and volunteer in Albuquerque, N.M.
Mast volunteered at a program located in the Sandia Vista apartments in Albuquerque. The children enrolled in the program were pre-school age through sixth grade and lived in the apartment complex. During the school year, the program functions as an after-school program.
