Episode seven of Through the Gates: IU This Week airs at noon on Sunday, Mar. 6. The episode will be available through SoundCloud or iTunes on the Media School website.
In this week’s episode, Media School Dean Jim Shanahan interviews two legends in the world of Latin jazz: Jacobs School of Music’s Michael Spiro, associate professor of percussion, and Wayne Wallace, professor of practice. Spiro and Wallace are recipients of 16 Grammy nominations collectively. In fact, the latest release from the Wayne Wallace Jazz Quintet, “Intercambio”—which features Spiro—was nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album this year.
Shanahan will ask Spiro and Wallace about their recent collaboration “Canto América,” which features La Orquesta Sinfonietta (The Chamber Orchestra), a diverse group of Jacobs School students, faculty, alumni and professionals.
“‘Canto América’ is my dream CD in trying to announce to the world that we have an entire cross section of the Jacobs School of Music that can create bonds between departments and artistic styles,” said Spiro, who received a Collaborative Fellowship Award for the project from the IU Institute for Advanced Study.
Spiro and Wallace have known each other for more than 30 years, meeting in San Francisco and bonding over their shared interest in the music of Cuba. Shanahan will discuss the musicians’ rich history with Latin jazz, their many travels to Cuba and their recent collaborations at the Jacobs School of Music.
IU news highlights this week:
- An international team led by IU Bloomington scientist Daria Zieminska at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Laboratory has discovered a new elementary particle. The team discovered the “four-flavored” tetraquark. It is the first particle comprised of four different types of quarks, the building blocks of subatomic particles like protons and neutrons.
- Public health researchers have found that human hair, toenails and fingernails can be used to test for exposure to flame retardants—chemical compounds that have been linked to obesity, learning disabilities, endocrine disruption, and brain and reproductive toxicity. The study was conducted at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Bloomington and the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington.
- A new study co-authored by IU criminologist Akwasi Owusu-Bempah investigating the protests that followed the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., has revealed a clash of perceptions about race and crime. The majority of protesters stated they feel police target blacks more aggressively than whites due to their perception the first group are more likely to break the law. The study was based on over 80 interviews with people who participated in protests.
- An associate professor at IU Bloomington has been recognized with a major poetry award. Ross Gay has been named the 2016 winner of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, which includes a $100,000 prize. His works examine the joys and sorrows of the natural world and human experience. Gay is an associate professor in the IU Bloomington Department of English and associate director of its Creative Writing Program.
- “Light Totem,” the iconic tower and light display outside the IU Art Museum, is now solar powered. The installation of solar panels on the museum’s roof was made possible by a grant from the IU Student Sustainability Council. The panels offset the 4,700 kilowatt-hours per year of electricity consumed by the light display.
- And finally, new camera technology installed at IU Assembly Hall with support from the Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology debuted on CBS during the IU men’s basketball game on Mar. 6. IU is the first university in the country to employ “freeD” from Replay Technologies, which delivers a 360-degree, stop-and-freeze view of action on the court.
IU events highlights this week:
- The IU men’s basketball team, which recently clinched the Big Ten title outright, plays Maryland in Assembly Hall today, Sunday, Mar. 6, at 4:30 p.m. If you don’t have tickets, tune in to watch the game on CBS.
- At 6:30 p.m. this evening, Mar. 6, the IU Cinema will present Double Exposure, a program of original student film and composition work. The event is free, but ticketed.
- On Tuesday, Mar. 8, at 7:30 p.m., IU Auditorium presents Irish band The Chieftains. Find ticket information at www.iuauditorium.com.
- James Scott, a leading scholar of political anthropology, will present two Patten Lectures this week. His lectures are free and open to the public, and both will take place from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in Presidents Hall at Franklin Hall. On Tuesday, Mar. 8, Scott will speak on “The Domestication of Fire, Plants, Animals and … Us.” His next lecture, on Thursday, Mar. 10, is titled “A Brief History of Flight from the State.”
- Lastly, a couple of upcoming deadlines: Graduating seniors, the deadline to apply for student commencement speaker is Mar. 11. Also, scholarship applications for the 76th annual IU Writers’ Conference are due Mar. 31. The conference will be held June 4-8 on the IU Bloomington campus.
News and events for this episode will be read by Luqmann Ruth, of Chicago, a senior recording arts major in the Jacobs School of Music and composer of the music for this podcast, and Andy Acosta, a graduate student studying voice performance at the Jacobs School of Music.
Through the Gates: IU This Week is a collaboration of the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President, The Media School in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the IU Newsroom.