Now is the time to plan and apply for summer 2013 Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities (URSCA) Awards from Bloomsburg University, which supported 28 students with stipends last summer to conduct faculty-mentored projects.

Past URSCA students continue their incredible professional and personal growth as they extend projects into the academic year, attend professional meetings and present or publish their work in professional venues. The Undergraduate Research Center and Office of Research and Sponsored Programs will offer awards to conduct research, scholarly and creative projects this summer. Stipend support is prorated according to project up to a maximum of $6,000 per 12 weeks at 37.5 hours per week.

An afternoon of free entertainment, A Taste of the Arts, is planned for the Moose Exchange in downtown Bloomsburg, Saturday, Feb. 23, from 2 to 5 p.m. Sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts, the event is organized by BU’s Center for Visual and Performing Arts, which helps to promote the arts in the community.

Students and faculty in the art and art history, English, and music, theatre and dance departments will showcase their talents in the Moose Exchange. While art exhibitions, theatrical productions, dance performances, recitals and other musical events, all open to the public, are held throughout the academic year, most of these events take place on campus. A Taste of the Arts, now in its second year, brings students’ talents to a central venue for the community to enjoy, said James Brown, dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

Professor Fraser Brown of Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom will speak about the therapeutic benefits of play for young children and propose a career concentration in playwork for BU’s students when he visits the university next week. The presentation, “An Introduction to the Field of Playwork,” will be offered on Monday, March 4, and Tuesday, March 5, at 6:30 p.m. in Hartline Science Center G38 and is open to the public free of charge. Brown will discuss how the opportunity to play benefits the development of a child. The essence of play, he said, is that “we work to the child’s agenda. Most other adults who work with children bring an adult’s agenda.”

An Introduction to the Field of Playwork: Brown will introduce the audience to the field of playwork, a well-respected profession throughout the world with a strong presence in Europe, Scandinavia, and Japan. The playwork profession is rooted in the belief that play is of immense benefit, and that society has a responsibility to ensure children get the most out of their play. As modern society continues to restrict opportunities for children to play freely, the field of playwork resists this trend by advancing the right of children to experience play in a variety of forms. Brown will also discuss the proposed playwork career concentration via an international collaboration between Bloomsburg University and Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom. #SpeakerSeries

Dawn Edmiston will discuss “Developing POP! A Professional Online Presence” on Tuesday, March 5, at 10 a.m. in Sutliff Hall 102 and at 3 p.m. in Hartline Science Center's Kuster Auditorium. The “Developing POP!” approach leverages social media to build a personal brand and a powerful advantage in the current competitive market environment. After hearing from her students at Saint Vincent College that traditional career search methods no longer seemed to be effective, Edmiston sought to teach students how the social media networks that they used in their personal lives could also be powerful tools in their professional lives. The resulting ten-step process emphasizes how to establish a personal brand, develop compelling content, engage audiences and measure the impact of social media efforts.

Edmiston has 20-plus years of marketing experience in the consulting, education and media sectors. She has served in management roles with Discovery Channel, IBM and PricewaterhouseCoopers, and has also taught at Howard University, Johns Hopkins University, Trinity College and West Virginia University. Edmiston received the 2011 Marketing Management Association AxcessCapon Teaching Innovation Award and the 2012 MAACBA Innovation in Teaching Prize. #SpeakerSeries

BU's Rho Iota Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will be hosting "Delta Week" from Monday, Feb. 25, through Saturday, March 2. Learn about the DynaSTy that our illustrious 22 founders built on Jan. 13, 1913. Delta Sigma Theta is an African-American Sorority that was founded only two generations after slavery.

• Bridging the Gap 1913-2013 — Black History Jeopardy on Monday, Feb. 25, at 6:13 p.m., KUB Hideaway
• Dancing Back to 1913 — Hip-Hop Dancing on Tuesday, Feb. 26, at 7:13 p.m., KUB Multicultural Center
• Looking back at 1913 — Tribute to the Founders on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 7:13 p.m., KUB Multicultural Center
• Dedicating Our Mind, Body, Soul to 100 Years — Aerobics on Thursday, Feb. 28, at 9:13 p.m., KLARC Aerobics Studio
• The Souls of Black Girls — Movie screening on Friday, March 1, at 6:13 p.m., Bucknell University Forum ELC 272
• Krimson & Kream Ball — Semi-Formal on Saturday, March 2, at 9:13 p.m., Bucknell University Terrence Room

The great 22 founders of Delta Sigma Theta worked for civil rights and change throughout the world. A 100 years later Delta Sigma Theta is still serving our communities through Scholarship, Sisterhood and Service. #GreekLife

BU's Husky Ambassadors are holding their annual spring recruitment drive through Friday, March 1. If you are interested in an advanced student leadership and networking experience, Husky Ambassadors is for you!

What we do:

• Attend Alumni Events and network with BU Alumni
• Give open house tours and usher Celebrity Artist Series
• Develop leadership skills utilized in workplace
• Participate in community service events

Applications can be found online at www.bloomu.edu/ambassadors. Completed applications can be dropped off at the Alumni House, or they can be submitted via email to nconroy@bloomu.edu by Friday, March 1.

Sponsored by BU's Office of Academic Internships and The Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 5 to 7:30 p.m., KUB 345A. This is an opportunity for students from ALL majors! A group of panelists from several organizations will be discussing topics related to the internship experience from an organization's perspective.

Special topics will include: How To Communicate With Your Employers, Employer Expectations, Resumes, Interviewing Tips, and Appropriate Workplace Behavior. There will be "high top table" stations set up for students to mingle and ask questions in a more casual setting. Business attire is required for this event! We recommend students bring current resumes for available academic internship opportunities.

A BU alumna, now president of the ABC-Owned Television Group, will share her observations on “The Future of TV,” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, in BU’s Carver Hall, Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium. The lecture by Rebecca Campbell ’83 is open to the public free of charge.

“For decades, television could be watched only one way — through the television set — and audiences had a choice of three channels,” Campbell said. “Today, consumers have as many as 17 media platforms from which to choose, from video game consoles and MP3 players to smart phones and tablets. We will look at how networks are adapting to this fragmented and rapidly changing market.”

Campbell, appointed president of the ABC-Owned Television Stations Group in May 2010, is responsible for the company’s local TV stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Raleigh-Durham and Fresno. Based in Burbank, Calif., she also oversees other businesses within the group, including ABC National Television Sales, The Live Well Network and the syndicated series, “Live with Kelly and Michael.” #SpeakerSeries

Speaking Math in Spanish: A South American Roadtrip will be presented by Paul Loomis, associate professor of mathematics, computer science and statistics, on Monday, Feb. 25, at 4:30 p.m. in SSC 004. Loomis spent six months last year traveling in Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, visiting universities, giving colloquium talks, sitting in on classes, and talking with students, faculty, and administrators. In this ICS sponsored lecture, Loomis will use insights from his trip to discuss how cultural, economic, and political factors affect university life. Neither knowledge of mathematics nor Spanish are necessary to understand this talk. This is open free to the public. Light refreshments will be served. #SpeakerSeries

Ian Wendt, assistant professor of history, will speak on One God, Many Gods: Diverse Hindu Paths at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, in McCormick Center 1303. The lecture, part of BU’s Conversation on World Religions, is open to the public free of charge. Wendt researches and teaches about the history and cultures of India, Southeast Asia and the Muslim World in Asia. His research on the social and economic history of South India focuses on cotton textile industry and the communities it engendered. That research has taken him to archives in India and the Netherlands. He is currently teaching courses on the History of the Muslim World and Asian Civilizations. For more information, contact Nawal Bonomo, assistant to the dean, College of Liberal Arts, at nbonomo@bloomu.edu. #SpeakerSeries