EKU alumni and friends are invited to visit the campus April 29-May 1 when EKU hosts its annual Alumni Weekend, highlighted this year by performances from former members of bands that played at Speck’s, the legendary nightspot previously in downtown Richmond.

When he graduated from high school in 2005, Miles Owen had “no idea” what direction to take in life.

Instead of immediately enrolling in a college or university Owen chose instead to spend 10 months with AmeriCorps, helping clear houses of debris in hurricane-ravaged St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans. The decision proved fortuitous.

George Terrizzi, a senior environmental studies major from Richmond, and Kira Krick, a junior dietetics major from West Chester, Ohio, get bonsai tree cuttings to take home during the Earth Days Kick-Off Celebration April 4. The bonsai trees were provided by the Eastern Committee for Responsible Environmental Stewardship. To see other events planned during the month-long celebration, visit www.green.eku.edu/earthdays2011Events.php.

EKU’s Quality Enhancement Plan, approved in February 2007 as part of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools reaffirmation process, calls for the University to develop students who are “informed, critical and creative thinkers who communicate effectively.”

This issue includes a Dean’s Report from the Division of Continuing Education and Outreach about what is being done to help meet that goal.

In 1996, geography professor Dr. David Zurick began a decade-long series of journeys throughout the American South, hoping to learn why the region is seen by outsiders as a land “apart from the rest of America” but by insiders as a place “losing its identity.”

A University-wide memorial service will be held Tuesday, April 19, to honor and celebrate the lives and contributions of members of the Eastern family – current and retired faculty and staff and students – who have died since April 2010.

Anyone desiring a career as a security professional within the intelligence community need look no further than EKU.

Tucked quietly away in a corner of the Business and Technology Center are several rather non-descript small offices.

But it’s home to four area entrepreneurs who are taking advantage of a smorgasbord of services available through the Center for Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Technology at EKU to grow their fledgling businesses.

Marc C. Whitt, associate vice president for public relations and chief communications officer, has been re-elected chair of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ Advisory Council for Communications and Public Affairs, a 13-member group for AASCU’s division of communications.

Dr. Joe Allison, director of bands, is one of four individuals hosting a new podcast devoted to the marching arts.

EKU will celebrate the First Amendment with a series of events April 11-14.

The EKU String Orchestra will present a concert at 8 p.m., Monday, April 18, in Brock Auditorium of the Coates Building.

The EKU Concert Band will present a concert on Tuesday, April 12, and the EKU Wind Symphony will perform on Thursday, April 14.

The Department of Music will host an opera workshop on April 15 and 16 in SSB’s O’Donnell Hall.

Lisa Markowitz, chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Louisville, will address “Forging Fresh Food Chains in the Americas” in an EKU speech Thursday, April 21.

The Dance Theatre's Spring Concert offered a wide variety of performances April 6-9, including an upbeat piece fusing modern dance with hip-hop.

Combine an insatiable wonder about how things work, a work ethic born of hard work on the family farm, and supportive professors who make learning both fun and meaningful, and what do you get?

At EKU, you get Ethan Kilgore, one of only 275 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship recipients nationwide. (Another EKU student, Avery Elizabeth Scherer, a junior aquatic biology major and Honors Program member from Jeffersonville, Ind., earned Honorable Mention recognition.)

Fifteen EKU Honors students presented the results of their undergraduate research at the 39th annual Southern Regional Honors Council Conference March 31-April 2 in Little Rock, Ark.

Jackie Collier, director of Alumni Relations, is featured in this ongoing series designed to allow EKU leaders and others in prominent positions to discuss their roles as well as campus issues. Collier, who joined the EKU staff in 2003, has lived in Madison County since 1976 and followed EKU sports and happenings during most of that time. She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Berea College, but a class in philanthropy while at Berea sparked her interest in that field of work. A charter member of the Student Alumni Ambassadors at Berea, she has had the opportunity for continuing education through the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), including state, district and international conferences and workshops as well as CASE Summer Institutes in Alumni Relations and Editorial/Magazine work.