The 2010 North American Open Pro Squash Tournament kicks off this Sunday, February 21 at University of Richmond’s Millhiser Gymnasium. Thirty-two of the world’s best squash players, including the top 12 in the world, return to Richmond to compete for a prize of nearly $100,000.  Tickets start at $10.

The schedule of events is as follows:

Sunday, February 21 12-9 PM First round matches

Monday, February 22 12-9 PM First round matches

Tuesday, February 23 5-9 PM Second round matches

Wednesday, February 24 5-9 PM Second round matches

Thursday, February 25 5-9 PM Quarterfinal matches

Friday, February 26 6-8 PM Semifinal matches

Saturday, February 27 3:30-4 PM  Boys Junior Exhibition

4-5 PM   Women’s Pro Exhibition 5-6 PM

I know this is short notice. So sorry.

My friend and neighbor, Kathleen Burden, is hosting a meet and greet at her home with 73rd district candidate Tom Shields, Thursday the 17th at 7 p.m. If you’d like to meet him and ask some questions, she welcomes you to come on by.  If you want to learn more about the candidates but can’t attend, take a look at our Q & A series with Tom Shields and John O’Bannon.

Here are the details from her invitation:

The November general election is in less than 2 months, and for the first time in several years, we have a choice. I recommend you come and find out a little more about Tom.

Further info about Tom and his campaign may be found at www.shieldsfordelegate.com

My address is 1815 Harvard Road, 23226.

A friend of mine who is a U of R  alumnus just forwarded this to me:

Today, we write to announce the Application Fee Waiver for alumni children for the Class of 2014. The University of Richmond encourages applications from sons and daughters of Richmond alumni. Through a new initiative, the Office of Admission is waiving the application fee for children and stepchildren of Spiders. Simply instruct your student to click on the fee waiver button of the Common Application prior to submission to receive the fee waiver.

We hope you will encourage your son or daughter to apply to the University of Richmond, and that you will share this news with your fellow Spiders. The University of Richmond provides a learning environment unlike any other in higher education, offering students an extraordinary combination of the liberal arts with law, business, leadership studies, and continuing education.

Somehow, I can’t help but think there is more to this than meets the eye. Will U of R be seen as more exclusive if they have more applicants and accept fewer? Are they trying to raise the number of students who can pay for the full ride, to offset all the generous scholarships they’ve been offering? Or, perhaps they just love their alumni….

At least 68 students at the University of Richmond have reported symptoms of the H1N1 flu virus since classes began Aug. 24, university officials confirmed today.

The Emergency Management Team at Richmond met this morning to confirm the number of students with influenza-like illness, said Brian Eckert, director of media and public relations.

Of the 68 students who have visited the University Health Center, 10 are still recovering, Eckert said.

The health center has been especially busy, Eckert said. Health center officials have reported about twice as many visitors at this time, compared to last year.

Richmond is in line to receive inoculations for the H1N1 virus by mid- to late-October, Eckert said. The inoculations will be available to all students, faculty and staff when they arrive.

H1N1 and other forms of influenza are droplet-borne illnesses, where droplets from a cough or sneeze end up on surrounding surfaces, Eckert said. University officials are recommending students, faculty and staff to frequently wash hands and use hand sanitizer.

“We want to make sure that people know this is not an air-borne disease,” Eckert said.

This story will be updated.

Contact staff writer Nick Mider at nick.mider@richmond.edu

University of Richmond officials have issued a letter to students detailing the school’s H1N1 flu response plan.

In an e-mail to Richmond students, Steve Bisese, vice president for student development, recommended — but didn’t require — that students sick with influenza-like illnesses return home if they live within five hours of Richmond and don’t require public transportation to get there. Otherwise, they should stay in their dorm rooms for at least 24 hours after their last fever and should wear a surgical mask when their roommates are present. Sick students can also call to have meals delivered to their rooms.

The university has developed a hotline that students, parents, faculty and staff can call if they have any questions or concerns about H1N1: the local phone number is 804-289-8847 and the toll-free number is 1-866-920-5461. It will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 11: p.m. through this Friday. A permanent schedule has not yet been determined.

Provost Steve Allered has asked the faculty to be more lenient in giving extensions on assignments for sick students, said Lynne P. Deane, medical director at the Student Health Center.

“It’s okay to go home if you can, and you want to,” Deane said.

Deane, who has worked at the university for 18 years, noted that seasonal influenza is typically prevalent from November to early April. “It appears that the students aren’t getting sicker, they’re just not used to getting sick around this time,” she said.

Pregnant women and people under 24 years old are considered “at-risk” for contracting H1N1 influenza, Deane said. Older people could have been exposed to components of the virus, so they have developed a greater immunity, she said.

The Virginia Department of Health tested segments of the Virginia population last spring to determine whether people had H1N1 — an effort to gauge where the virus was present in Virginia. Independent care providers, including the Student Health Center and Patient First, do not currently perform comprehensive diagnostic testing. The only out-patient test for influenza is the rapid influenza A test, which can determine whether someone has influenza, but cannot specify the strain, Deane said.

The students who confirmed that they had contracted H1N1 were reporting on clinical diagnosis by their physicians. A clinical diagnosis a “diagnosis of exclusion” and is not based on test results alone, but rather, the doctor’s deductive reasoning, Deane said.

Bisese recommended consulting the Student Health Center for continued updates about the virus. The Student Health Center has ordered surgical masks and is waiting for updates from the Centers for Disease Control on the H1N1 vaccine, which will be provided by the government free of charge, Deane said.

Until people can get vaccinated, Deane and Bisese urged everyone to take simple precautions including washing hands, covering coughs, refraining from sharing utensils and cups in addition to seeking medical attention in the event of flu-like symptoms such as fevers of more than 100 degrees, a sore throat and coughing. It can take up to a week to recover from an influenza-like illness, Deane said.

Bisese said more hand sanitizers had been ordered and would be dispersed around campus.

“We can’t stop influenza from spreading on our campus — it’s here and it’s going to be here — but we can do as much as we can to mitigate the circumstances,” Deane said.

Contact staff writers Avril Lighty at avril.lighty@richmond.edu and Jimmy Young at jimmy.young@richmond.edu

This Thursday,  Sept.  3rd, don’t miss the lecture  by Elizabeth Stevens, independent scholar and curator of the exhibition: It’s Only Natural:  The Art of Stanley Boxer.  It kicks off the show, Rememberingstanleyboxer:  A Retrospective 1946 – 2000, now through Oct. 4th.

Here are the details:
The 7p.m., Lecture, Cousins Studio Theatre,
Modlin Center for the Arts
8 to 9 p.m., Reception and preview of Rememberingstanleyboxer:  A Retrospective 1946 – 2000

Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art.
Plus, don’t miss:  Zap! Comix Prints by Robert Crumb
Now – December 13, 2009

Annual Student Exhibition
Now – September 20, 2009

American artist Stanley Boxer (1926-2000) was well known for the exuberant qualities of his thickly brushed abstract paintings, but he also created equally energetic works on paper and sculptures throughout his career.  The more than sixty works chosen for this retrospective, dating from 1946 to 2000, explore his manipulation of surfaces, textures, and colors in various media, and include both figurative and abstract compositions.

Highlights of the exhibition include paintings, sculpture, and works on paper. In the paintings, mostly mixed media on canvas, Boxer combined diverse materials such as strings and pebbles with thickly applied paint to create complex abstract compositions of pattern, texture, and color.  The 1985 painting Lacedplumeinabam shows his use of thick impasto of oil paint to create dramatic overall texture. He gave his paintings titles which were long, run-on sentences, inspired by the work of American poet e.e. cummings.

Here’s a worthy cause. Get together with your basketball buddies for the Hoop Up the Arts tournament at the University of Richmond — to benefit Church Hill’s Robinson Community Arts Center.

EVENT DATE: Friday, November 27, 2009
LOCATION: Weinstein Center at University of Richmond
REGISTRATION: $100 per team (3-4 players)
DIVISIONS: Ages 13-15, 16-18, 19 & up, 30+
SPONSORSHIPS: Contact bhart@robinsontheater.org or 804.562.9133
BENEFITING: Robinson Theater Community Arts Center, Richmond VA
If you need assistance, contact bhart@robinsontheater.org or 804.562.9133

The University of Richmond Museums presents Ansel Adams: The Man Who Captured the Earth’s Beauty, on display September 17 – December 6, 2009, in the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature. The exhibition consists of more than twenty black-and-white photographs taken by Ansel Adams (American, 1902-1984) from 1927 to 1960.

As a former professional photographer myself, I’m really looking forward to this exhibit. There is nothing quite like see a photo in person in large scale in a gallery to capture what the photographer wanted to convey.

The photographs serve as profound reminders of his reverence for the beauty of the earth and the healing force of nature in our lives. He is perhaps among the last of the romantic artists who saw the great spaces of wilderness as a metaphor for freedom and heroic aspirations.

Highlights of the exhibition include:

Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico; Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California; and Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, California.  All the photographs were printed under the artist’s supervision in 1980

Best of all, check out these free and open to the public events:

Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 7 to 9 p.m.
7 p.m., Lecture, Brown Alley Room, Weinstein Hall
Ansel Adams: An Intimate Look at the Photographer Behind the Lens

Andrea G. Stillman, Editor for the Ansel Adams Trust. 8 to 9 p.m., Reception and viewing of Ansel Adams: The Man Who Captured the Earth’s Beauty. Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University of Richmond Museums
Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Seminar and Walking Tour, Location TBD
“Tree Species in Ansel Adams’ Photographs”
This program is free and open to the public, registration is required
Register through the University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies online catalog at http://activenet8.active.com/thinkagain/ or call 804-289-8133 for more information

Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Workshop, Location TBD
“Planting a Tree for Longevity”
This program is free and open to the public, registration is required
Register through the University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies online catalog at http://activenet8.active.com/thinkagain/ or call 804-289-8133 for more information

Thursday, November 5, 2009, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Photography Seminar, Location TBD
“Photographing the Landscape”
This program is free and open to the public, registration is required
Register through the University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies online catalog or call 804-289-8133

OK, the fine print:
The Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature is located in a separate wing of the Boatwright Memorial Library with its entrance on Richmond Way. Museum hours: Tuesday through Friday, 11am to 5pm; Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 5 pm. Closed Fall Break (10/10-13/09), Thanksgiving Week (11/23-30/09), Semester Break (12/17/09-1/04/10), Spring Break (3/6-15/10), Easter Weekend (4/03-05/10).