LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The YWCA Greater Lafayette will showcase the achievements and contributions of nine local women at the annual YWCA Salute to Women Banquet on March 2nd at the Purdue Memorial Union Ballrooms, 101 N. Grant Street, West Lafayette.

Chicago Sky Assistant Coach Stephanie White will be the evening’s keynote speaker. White, who is also an analyst for the Big Ten Network, will talk about her journey, including her efforts to work for equality and respect for women in sports and sports entertainment.

The banquet also will include a reception, cash bar, and dinner. Doors will open and the banquet reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The 2010 Salute to Women honorees are:

• Woman of Innovation (woman under 40): Stephanie Knoth
• Women of Distinction:
  • Angie Ferguson
  • Kristel Kaye
  • Sharon Martin & Susan Woodson (nominated & honored as a team)
  • Toni Munguia
  • Anita Werling
• Women of Wisdom:
  • Anne-Marie Egan
  • Cicely Ward

Award recipients were selected based on outstanding and inspirational achievement in volunteer and/or professional roles, community involvement, and leadership/role modeling qualities.

The 2010 YWCA Salute to Women Banquet is presented by Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union. Honoree Sponsors include Lafayette Savings Bank and State Farm Insurance Companies. Westminster Village is a Table Sponsor. In-kind sponsors include the Journal & Courier, Lafayette Life Insurance, Rubia Flower Market, and The Muse.

About the Banquet

Tickets for the banquet are $50 each. Full tables of eight can be purchased for $400. The reservation deadline is February 23. Call 765-742-0075 or visit www.ywca.org/lafayette/salute for more information.

History of Salute to Women

The first Salute to Women awards dinner was held on March 15, 1974. During its first two and a half decades, the Salute to Women program was coordinated by several local women’s organizations – the Lafayette Women’s Political Caucus, the Purdue Women’s Caucus, the American Association of University Women, Lafayette Business and Professional Women, the Lafayette Altrusa Club, the Association for Women in Communications, the American Business Women’s Association, the Association of Women Business Owners, and the YWCA Greater Lafayette. The YWCA became the sole sponsoring organization in 2000.

After the 2010 awards are presented, 258 women will have received Salute to Women awards.

About the YWCA Greater Lafayette

The YWCA Greater Lafayette is a nonprofit social service agency and is a United Way partner. The local YWCA serves six area counties with a domestic violence program and women’s shelter and serves 23 counties with a women’s cancer program that provides free mammograms, Pap tests, and treatment for uninsured and under-insured women. The YWCA also offers youth enrichment, including an after-school program, youth basketball, and dance classes. Learn about the YWCA at www.ywca.org/lafayette.

About the Honorees

Stephanie Knoth

Business banker and vice president at Centier Bank, Stephanie Knoth helped establish the bank in this community several years ago. Formerly with Lafayette Community Bank and Lafayette Savings Bank, she has worked in the banking industry for the past 15 years. She has been involved with the Boys and Girls Club of Tippecanoe County as a board member for the past decade. She is currently board president and has served in that role several other times. Over the years she has chaired the organization’s golf, auction, and resource development committees and served as an executive committee member. For two months in 2009 she took on the role of interim executive director, in addition to her full-time bank job, while the board searched for a new director. Elsewhere in the community, she served on the Tippecanoe Arts Federation Board of Directors, was a member of the Greater Lafayette Commerce golf committee, chaired Hot Summer Nights and Octoberfest events, and coached girls’ basketball and volleyball. She also has coordinated in-house United Way campaigns, was a loaned campaign representative, and served on the allocations committee. Currently she is a member of the Faith Christian Preschool fund-raising committee. Knoth graduated from the Purdue University Krannert School of Management.

Angie Ferguson

Angie Ferguson was one of the first Hanna Community Center employees and was responsible for the creation of many successful programs. She has held two full-time jobs for more than 20 years. Her current role at Hanna is program director, and with the Lafayette Police Department she serves as the IDACS (Indiana Data and Communication System) coordinator. Ferguson got her start with local nonprofit agencies by working at the Southside Community Center (now known as the Community and Family Resource Center) and at the same time serving as a program aide at Hanna. She was part of early efforts to transition Hanna from two small, donated houses to today’s facility. She also was a community outreach director for the YWCA Greater Lafayette for several years. At Hanna she implemented after-school programs emphasizing literacy as well as cooking and hygiene, and under her direction a summer camp was developed. She was integral in the development of “Rainbow Families,” a network of multi-cultural and biracial families. She also has created senior programs emphasizing social activity and health. She has served on the boards of Hanna, the Lafayette Adult Reading Academy (now Lafayette Adult Resource Academy), the Lafayette Housing Authority, and Tippecanoe County Child Care.

Kristel Kaye

Kristel Kaye is a community volunteer, a farmer, a master gardener, a former trucking company president and CEO, and a breast cancer survivor. Starting at age 10, she helped build semi-trailers in her family’s business. She was active in the industry for more than 40 years and spent seven years at the helm of a subsidiary business, Continental Transit. She has farmed grain and livestock in Benton County since 1995 and has been a member and leader of many organizations with past and present roles including: White County United Way vice president, membership chair of the Tippecanoe County Master Gardener Association, board member and grounds committee chair for Thomas Duncan Community Hall, president of Happy Hollow Garden Club, Lafayette Symphony Guild member, co-chair of the Marquis Foundation’s Crystal Ball fund-raising event, Tippecanoe Arts Federation board member, Monon High School Alumni Association secretary/treasurer, member of the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette and the Art League, and a member of P.E.O. Chapter AY. She has continued her education over the years by teaching herself to use the computer and designing publications for many groups, enrolling at age 53 as a horticulture and astronomy student at Purdue, and graduating from Leadership Lafayette in 1998.

Sharon Martin and Susan Woodson

Sharon Martin and Susan Woodson launched HELEN, a bi-monthly local women’s magazine, in May 2006. As owners, publishers and the editorial/design team, Martin and Woodson work to showcase the talents, strengths and stories of women in Lafayette and surrounding counties. They named their magazine after Helen Gougar, a local attorney, writer and advocate for women’s suffrage and temperance. The HELEN team launched a nonprofit membership organization in 2009 to promote and raise funds for women’s issues, autism awareness, and domestic violence awareness. Martin and Woodson first worked together at the Purdue Alumni Association, where they served in editorial/communication and art/design roles, respectively. Martin graduated from Central Michigan University and first worked locally in public relations for St. Elizabeth Medical Center. She has been active with United Way, the Association for Women in Communications, and the local advertising club, now called AAF-North Central Indiana. Woodson graduated from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and did post-graduate studies at Purdue University. She started her local career as a design instructor at Purdue. She has served on the boards of the New Chauncey Neighborhood Association and Wabash Valley Trust for Historic Preservation. Both women have won multiple professional awards for HELEN as well as for prior achievements.

Toni Munguia

As director of technology diversity programs with the Purdue University College of Technology, Toni Munguia works to recruit more females and under-represented students to the college. She has developed and planned programs such as summer camps for students as early as 5th grade in order to foster interest in technology fields. In addition to recruiting, she works with women and students of color on a daily basis as a mentor, coach, mother figure, and teacher. She is a faculty fellow at Owen Hall and meets with the students weekly. She also is the advisor to the Minority Technology Association and Women in Technology, both student groups. For many years she has worked with young women ages 12-18 in her church to help them understand who they are and prepare for their future. In addition, she has taught and organized activities for younger children in the church, serves as a counselor in her church’s relief society for adult women, and for two years coordinated the O Holy Night celebration, which featured an exhibit of more than 200 Nativity scenes representing cultures from around the world. Munguia also volunteers as a bilingual translator in the state court system, assisting individuals dealing with difficult situations.

Anita Werling

After retiring several years ago, Anita Werling relocated to Delphi and quickly became a leader in the movement to revitalize the small town and return it to its days as a center of cultural and business activity. Currently chair of the Delphi Preservation Society’s Opera House Advisory Board, she has taken on the task of raising $4.1 million to restore the Opera House, which was once an architectural gem. The goal is to make it a performing arts venue and to include space for retail use, art exhibits, and community meetings. She works closely with other organizations, including the Carroll County Historical Society, the Wabash & Erie Canal Association, Delphi Main Street, and the Leadership Carroll County task force. With Bonnie Maxwell she co-edited the book “Carroll County, Indiana Legacy, 1824-2005.” Her previous professional career was spent in the library and information publishing world, with University Microfilms International in Michigan and with CineBooks Inc. in Illinois, where she served as president. She also was a consultant for library and archival service organizations and ran a business offering planning and marketing services. On the side Werling enjoys music and performs with the Carroll County Community Band, the Lafayette Flute Choir and a local saxophone quartet.

Anne Marie Egan

Anne-Marie Egan is a professor emeritus at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, having retired in 2008 after 46 years of teaching music and French there. At different times over the years she directed the general education (core) program, chaired the music department, coordinated the humanities division, and accompanied/directed the college choir. She served briefly as campus music minister. She completed her master’s and doctoral studies at Indiana University. Egan was the first woman at Saint Joseph’s in several roles: to chair faculty workshops, to be a core director, to be a division coordinator, and to head an all-college search committee, among others. She was the third woman to be promoted to full professor at the college. She has served as parade marshal for college and community parades, conducts two church choirs, and served on the Jasper County Library Board for 16 years. She has been active in the Rotary Club of Rensselaer, the Jasper County Art League, and the local Carnegie Players. She is an accomplished performer of the piano, organ, flute and cello. As a youngster, she and two siblings performed along the East Coast as the Summers Family Trio. On top of these achievements, Egan and her husband raised seven children.

Cicely Ward

Cicely Ward has lived on four continents and survived World War II bombings near her home and school in England and the 1989 earthquake in California. She was born in England, spent part of her childhood in India, and returned to England, where at age 17 she joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WREN). She went through basic training and served in a drafting office and a naval hospital during the war. She relocated to and worked in Australia for several years, after which she and her husband moved to the United States. In 2006 she became a U.S. citizen and is now an honorary member of the Indiana Women’s Veterans group. In that same year she celebrated her 80th birthday by hiking parts of the Appalachian Trail. Locally she volunteers at Friendship House and has been a board member and committee chair for the Wabash Area Lifetime Learning Association. She is on the editorial board of the senior newsletter Prime Times and belongs to the XYZs and Wabash Wordsmiths writing groups. She is on the Chancel Players of Lafayette board and has acted in four productions. As a lay minister at St. Lawrence, she visits the local jail to provide spiritual guidance and friendship to inmates.

Keynote speaker, Stephanie White

About the Keynote Speaker

Chicago Sky Assistant Coach Stephanie White will be the keynote speaker at the YWCA Salute to Women Banquet. White, who is also an analyst for the Big Ten Network, will talk about her journey, including her efforts to work for equality and respect for women in sports and sports entertainment. White played basketball for Seeger Memorial High School and Purdue University. She was honored as the Wade Trophy National Player of the Year after leading the Boilermakers to their first national title in 1999. She played for five years in the WNBA and went on to assistant coaching jobs for Ball State, Kansas State, and the University of Toledo.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Celebrating its 20th year, the Purdue Jazz Festival will offer a special Community Jazz Showcase Concert on Thursday (Jan. 21), featuring the U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors.

Master Sgt. Jeff Lopez plays bass during a concert with the Jazz Ambassadors - America's Big Band. Photo Credit: TUSAFB Stock Photo

The sold-out concert, co-sponsored by Purdue Bands & Orchestras and the Lafayette Journal and Courier, also features performances by Harrison, Jefferson, McCutcheon and West Lafayette High School Jazz bands with Chicago trumpeter Bob Lark. It begins at 7 p.m. at the Long Center, 111 N. Sixth St., Lafayette.

Other headliners for the Festival include the Dave Holland Quintet at 8 p.m. Friday (Jan. 22) in Loeb Playhouse; and groundbreaking clarinetist Eddie Daniels with the Purdue Jazz Band at the Festival Finale concert at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23, in Loeb Playhouse.

A special anniversary event, funded by a grant from the Indiana Arts Commission through its Regional Arts Partners program, is a day of jazz at Rossville High School on Tuesday (Jan. 19). Members of the Purdue Jazz Band, director Mo Trout and guest trumpeter Bob Lark from Chicago, will work with Rossville’s jazz students during the day then present an evening concert at the school.

For all 20 years, the heart of the festival has been the high school and middle school competition, which draws instrumental jazz ensembles from four states. On Jan. 23, 83 big bands and combos will compete throughout the day in seven locations in the Purdue Stewart Center, Purdue Memorial Union and Pao Hall on Purdue’s campus. The music starts at 8 a.m. and continues through 5 p.m. It’s all free. All the festival guest artists will give clinics that also are free and open to the public.

This year’s artist-in-residence, Bob Lark will be spotlighted with the DePaul University Jazz Band he directs at a noon concert on Jan. 23 in Loeb Playhouse that’s free and open the public. Saxophonist Mark Colby, also from Chicago’s jazz scene, will be featured on the same concert.

Related festival events include a jazz jam led by Purdue musicians at Vienna Espresso, Friday (Jan. 22), and a Midwinter Jazz & Swing Dance at Jefferson High School at 3 p.m. Jan. 24.

For complete details visit http://www.purdue.edu/bands/jazzfest. To purchase tickets for headliner concerts call 494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW. No tickets are available for the Jan. 21 show.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The holiday season at Purdue University will start Monday (Dec. 7) with the arrival of a 30-foot-tall Christmas tree at the Memorial Union’s Great Hall.

The 2008 PMU Christmas Tree (Photo by Po-Kai Huang)

The Colorado blue spruce tree, which is scheduled to arrive at the Union at noon, is a donation from Jean Haywood and John Ward of Lafayette. It’s one of the largest indoor Christmas trees in Indiana.

The Purdue Student Union Board will decorate the tree on Monday evening. Students and Purdue Memorial Union dining services also will be building a 12-foot-tall gingerbread house in the Great Hall through Friday (Dec. 4).

Purdue President France A. Córdova will light the tree at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday (Dec. 8).

“The holiday events at the Union bring the community together and help us become aware of other cultures and traditions,” said Margie Tucker, program manager at the Purdue Memorial Union. “While the Purdue Student Union Board represents Christmas with the tree, we also showcase Kwanza, Hanukah, Chinese New Year and holidays throughout the year in Russia and Italy as part of our Holidays Around the World celebration.

“At a university of the size and with the diversity of Purdue, it’s necessary for students to understand, appreciate and support other cultures that make up its population.”

The Purdue Student Union Board is arranging the 12th annual Holidays Around the World from 3-7 p.m. Wednesday (Dec. 9) in the Union’s South Ballroom. Various international student groups will set up booths with displays about their cultures and different holidays during the year. Students from around the world also will make presentations.

Participating groups include La Milonguera Argentinean Tango Club, the Chinese calligraphy club, Polish Student Organization, Purdue University Malaysian Student Association, German Culture Club, Pagan Academic Network, Sigma Delta Pi – Spanish Honor Society, Black Cultural Center, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the Hillel Foundation.

As part of the celebration, local musicians and schools will perform holiday songs in the Great Hall from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Dec. 8-11. Performing groups include Tippecanoe Christian School, Marla’s Music, West Lafayette High School Concert Choir, Lafayette Christian School Jr. High Choir, Purdue Brass Choir, Oakland and Murdock Elementary Choir, Western Varsity Choir & Western Jazz, Faith Christian School, and Mintonye Elementary.

Breakfast with Santa, an event where children can get their pictures taken with Santa, will take place from 8-10:30 a.m. Dec. 12 in the Great Hall. The breakfast is $2.50 for three pancakes, two sausage links and juice or milk. Coffee, tea and hot chocolate will be available for an additional dollar.

Holiday Crafts, a free craftmaking session, is from 9 a.m. to noon the same day in Room 118, next to the Great Hall.

For additional details on the events, visit http://www.union.purdue.edu/psub

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The NEXTRANS Center, with the assistance of the government of Canada (avec l’appui du gouvernement du Canada) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), will host a Nov. 16 conference on U.S.-Canada border trade, security and mobility challenges.

The daylong event — titled In Step, In Line, On Time: Regional Strategies for Trade, Security, and Mobility Challenges at the U.S.-Canada Border — will provide an opportunity for researchers and private-sector stakeholders in the Great Lakes region to engage in a dialogue with high-level officials of the U.S. and Canadian government.

The conference will run from 7:30a to 5:30p in the Purdue Memorial Union. Registration is $50, but students are admitted free. For a complete agenda, online registration, hotels, travel information and sponsorship information, go online to http://www.purdue.edu/dp/nextrans/tech/borderconference.php

Indiana, known as the Crossroads of America, has a vested interest in the efficiency of the U.S.-Canada border. U.S.-Canada merchandise trade totaled $535 billion in 2007, supporting nearly 150,000 Hoosier jobs. In addition to an immediate need for a more secure and trade-efficient border, there is a longer-term need for building a transportation infrastructure for 21st century trade and commerce.

Greg Nadeau, deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, will deliver the keynote address. Robert Noble, Canadian Consul General at Detroit, and Kevin Johnson, U.S. Consul General in Toronto, will speak on the significance of a seamless and secure border with regard to bilateral trade between the two countries.

Paul Haddow, director general of strategic policy and governance for the Canada Border Services Agency, will speak on security issues. Industry presenters will include David Bradley, chief executive officer of the Canadian Trucking Association. Additional border trade, security and mobility experts from the public, private and academic sectors will join them to discuss:

• Major challenges and opportunities to achieve the right balance between trade goals and security needs from the perspectives of the U.S. and Canadian governments.
• Regional strategies for developing major gateways and corridors with collaborations between transportation stakeholders at the federal and state-provincial levels.
• The “thickening” of the border from the perspective of manufacturers and carriers and the feasibility of short- and near-term measures by border agencies.
• How academia can fill the data and information gaps to facilitate integrated, coordinated and performance-based operation and governance of the border region.
• Short-, medium- and long-term opportunities for collaboration and joint actions among government, industry and academia in the region and between the two countries.

NEXTRANS is the U.S. Department of Transportation Region V Regional University Transportation Center, led by Purdue and administered by Purdue’s Discovery Park. The center was established in 2007 through the USDOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration to lead a multidisciplinary program of transportation research, education and technology transfer.

Organizations assisting in the conference development include the Federal Highway Administration; Transport Canada; Customs and Border Protection; General Services Administration; Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada; Detroit Regional Chamber; Indiana Department of Transportation; Michigan Department of Transportation; and Ministry of Transportation, Ontario.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University’s celebration of Constitution Day on Sept. 17 will feature videos, exhibits and quiz shows aimed at educating American citizens about the freedoms they enjoy.

Congress passed a provision in 2004 declaring Sept. 17 as Constitution Day. All federally funded schools are asked to develop educational programs to celebrate this foundational day in U.S. history.

Events will be in held in Purdue Memorial Union room 118 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The celebration is free and open to the public.

Local celebrities will take part in a Jeopardy-style quiz-off on the Constitution at 1:30 p.m. outside room 118.

Among other activities, most of which are continuous throughout the day, are:

• Showings of “A More Perfect Union,” a video by the National Constitution Center;
• A banned book exhibit, sponsored by Purdue University Libraries, displaying books that have been censored throughout history;
• Showings of Schoolhouse Rock’s “The Preamble,” a classic cartoon treatment of the events leading up to the signing of the Constitution;
• Quiz bowl competitions on the Constitution;
• A League of Women Voters display with voter information and registration;
• A video of Justice Learning’s “Conversations with Supreme Court Justices,” featuring Justice Stephen Breyer and former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Congress passed a provision in 2004 declaring Sept. 17 as Constitution Day. All federally funded schools are asked to develop educational programs to celebrate this foundational day in U.S. history.

“The point we want to make everyone aware of is that no matter who you are, the Constitution has an impact in nearly every part of your life,” said Phillip VanFossen, the Ackerman Professor of Social Studies Education and director of the James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship. “It’s something we all take for granted, and studies have shown that a vast majority of people don’t know much about the document. Constitution Day gives schools a brief, yet important, chance to change this.”

The College of Education’s Ackerman Center is coordinating the events, which are sponsored by the offices of the president and vice president for student services, Purdue Student Government and the Purdue Student Union Board.

More information on Constitution Day is available at http://www.purdue.edu/constitution-day/

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University’s Center for the Study of Violence will host a forum on Aug. 26 on the issue of international violence against women.

Purdue University's Center for the Study of Violence will host a forum on Aug. 26 from 4-6p on the issue of international violence against women. This event is free and open to the public.

Speakers will discuss violence against women and how ending the violence promotes economic opportunity, democratic governance and security. They also will discuss initiatives such as the International Violence Against Women Act, authored by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Vice President Joseph Biden, then a Democratic senator from Delaware.

The forum will be from 4-6 p.m. in the Anniversary Drawing Room of Purdue Memorial Union. It is free and open to the public.

Speakers will be:

• Farida Azizi, founding member of the Cooperative for Peace and Unity and member of the Afghan Women’s Network, who has promoted rights of Afghan women locally and internationally.
• Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, a Dutch military commander who served as a United Nations military adviser.
• Valentine Moghadam, a Purdue sociology professor and director of women’s studies, who is an expert on the financial impact of violence against women.
• Sarah Spencer, emergency gender-based violence coordinator for the International Rescue Committee, which provides rapid response to acute crises.

Carolyn Curiel, chief of staff to President France A. Córdova and clinical professor of communication, will give opening remarks.

Esta Soler, president of the Family Violence Prevention Fund, also will give opening remarks. Soler founded the fund nearly 30 years ago. It develops strategies to prevent domestic, dating and sexual violence, stalking and child abuse. Under Soler’s direction, the fund was a driving force behind passage of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.

The Family Violence Prevention Fund is sponsoring the forum along with the College of Liberal Arts and the Open Square Foundation.

Irwin “Bud” Weiser, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts, will give the welcome.

The forum will launch the Center for the Study of Violence, which is a part of the College of Liberal Arts. The interdisciplinary center is designed to generate and disseminate research on violence.