The players rallied around the idea of “Don’t let us win this one” and declared that today would be forever known as “One day in May.” It started with an elimination game vs. Rochester College, the #3 seed in the World Series. The Golden Eagles would get a stellar performance from their Senior workhorse, Zach Stevenson, throwing 9 innings giving up only 3 runs on 6 hits. The team would find itself down 3-1 most of the game but found magic when third basemen Ira Land hit into what seemed a double play, but after beating it out and scoring a run, freshmen Dalton Brow, scored all the way from second base to tie the game, a play that would turn the game around. After loading the bases in the ninth inning, the Golden Eagles saw their first win of the day come on a game ending pass ball scoring Derek Ferch and advancing Spalding to the National Championship where they would have to beat Apprentice twice in a row.

“I think this team said the words, ‘Don’t let us win this one’ about 100 times during that game,” stated Coach Stawski. “It is something that we have said all year long. We watched that movie before our first game just to teach the guys about baseball and what it takes to win. It was kind of a running joke throughout the year but quickly became a part of this team. In the end, I believe the lesson was learned.”

The first game of the National Championship saw senior, Taylor Reilly take the mound for the second time in the championship, just one day after a 7 inning gem vs. Southern Virginia. Reilly would throw all 9 innings, giving up only 1 run ending his storied career at Spalding on the highest of notes with a 5-1 Spalding victory. “I just wanted the ball,” Reilly stated. “I felt great pitching on short rest and once the game got going, I wasn’t coming out. I just wanted to get us to the final game, I knew if I could do that we had it.” Coach Stawski’s confidence in his starter never wavered and just like his starter, didn’t see him ever coming out. “What can I say about that performance? He is an absolute bulldog. He threw the best game of his career and it was on the biggest stage on one day’s rest. It doesn’t get much better than that. The win would pull Spalding one game closer to the impossible, winning 3 games in one day to win a National Championship.

The final game saw, sophomore, Tyler Brown take the mound for the second time in the World Series, 2 days after his 9-3 defeat of Selma University. The team would keep up its hot play scoring 2 runs in the first and another 2 in the 4^th to take a 4-0 lead. It would tack another run on in the 5^th and would go into the final 3 innings with a 5-2 lead. After an easy 7^thand 8^th inning, Tyler Brown and the Golden Eagles would take the field in the 9^th trying to secure their first ever National Championship. After two quick outs and an infield hit, Tyler Brown threw an 0-0 FB to the Apprentice 7 hole hitter and saw a routine fly ball find the glove of senior outfielder, Eric Johnson, and the story book ending was written. The impossible was done. Just like the Red Sox in 2004, the Spalding Golden Eagles had a series of magical moments topped off by 27 innings of flawless baseball.

“Don’t let us win this one” was the motto from the beginning of the season all the way until that final out hit the glove. The confidence the team held in the most dire of moments was a result of hard work, dedication, and a passion to be something special. The team is made up of individuals from all over the country, all at Spalding for one goal. They come from different backgrounds, different beliefs, and different ideals but now they have one thing in common; One day in May, they are all National Champions.

WHO: Introduced by your president, Tori Murden McClure and hosted by Dr. Denise Cumberland, assistant professor and director of the Master in Business Communication program.

WHEN:  May 8, 2012

5:15 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.

WHERE: Spalding University

Egan Leadership Center

Second Floor Conference Room

WHY: With concentrations in organizational leadership, project management, healthcare management, and nonprofit administration, the Master in Business Communication provides opportunity for advancement in a variety of fields and organizations. Register in advance for the information session and you will have the opportunity to win prizes, including a Nook and copies of Tori’s book, A Pearl in the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean.

To register, please contact Dr. Denise Cumberland at dcumberland@spalding.edu or 502.873.4244.

Festival of Contemporary Writing events will be held at Spalding’s Egan Leadership Center Lectorium (901 S. Fourth St.), Spalding’s Auditorium (824 S. Fourth St.), and at the Brown Hotel (335 W. Broadway) as noted. Plenty of free parking is available for the campus readings. Authors may or may not read from the work listed below.

6:45 p.m. Saturday, May 19 (ELC Lectorium)

•             Roy Hoffman (fiction; nonfiction), Chicken Dreaming Corn; Alabama Afternoons: Profiles and Conversations

•             Dianne Aprile (nonfiction), The Eye Is Not Enough: On Seeing and Remembering

•             Larry Brenner (dramatic writing), Saving Throw Versus Love

•             Joyce McDonald (writing for children & young adults), Devil on My Heels

•             Kira Obolensky (playwriting; fiction), Raskol; The Anarchists Float to St. Louis

•             Greg Pape (poetry), Animal Time

•             Rachel Harper (fiction), Brass Ankle Blues

5 p.m. Sunday, May 20. Celebration of Recently Published Books by Faculty (Brown Hotel, 16th floor, Gallery)

•             Kathleen Driskell (poetry), Peck and Pock: A Graphic Poem

•             Richard Goodman (nonfiction), The Bicycle Diaries

•             Lesléa Newman (poetry), I Remember: Hachiko Speaks

•             Nancy McCabe (nonfiction), Crossing the Blue Willow Bridge: A Journey to My Daughter’s Birthplace in China

•             Silas House and Neela Vaswani (fiction), Same Sun Here

5 p.m. Tuesday, May 22 (ELC Lectorium)

•             K. L. Cook (fiction), Love Songs for the Quarantined

•             Molly Peacock (poetry, nonfiction) The Second Blush; The Paper Garden: An Artist Begins Her Life’s Work at 72

•             Robin Lippincott (fiction), In the Meantime

•             Sam Zalutsky (screenwriting), You Belong to Me

•             Eleanor Morse (fiction), An Unexpected Forest

•             Philip F. Deaver (fiction), Silent Retreats

•             Charlie Schulman (dramatic writing), The Fartiste

5 p.m. Wednesday, May 23 (Brown Hotel, 16th floor, Gallery)

•             Luke Wallin (nonfiction), The Everything Guide to Writing Children’s Books, 2nd edition

•             Helena Kriel (screenwriting), Skin

•             John Pipkin (fiction), Woodsburner

•             Debra Kang Dean (poetry), Precipitates

•             Jody Lisberger (fiction), Remember Love

•             Maureen Morehead (poetry), The Melancholy Teacher

•             Sena Jeter Naslund (fiction), Adam & Eve

6:15 p.m. Thursday, May 24.  The Diana M. Raab Distinguished Writer in Residence: Jacqueline Woodson, author of Hush (Spalding Auditorium) Book signing to follow in ballroom, 2nd floor. Books provided by Follett Bookstore.

4:30 p.m. Friday, May 25. Celebration of Recently Published Books by Alumni. (Brown Hotel, 1st floor, Citation Room)

•             Pamela Steele (fiction), Greasewood Creek: A Novel

•             Jill Kelly Koren (poetry), While the Water Rises Around Us: Poems

•             Albert DeGenova (poetry), Postcards to Jack

•             Chris Helvey (poetry), On the Boulevard

•             Julia Schuster (fiction), The Ingredients of Gumbo: Stories, Poems, Sassy Opinions, and Sketches

•             Adriena Dame (fiction), The MOO: Stories and a Novella

•             Daniel DiStasio (fiction), Facing the Furies: A Novel

•             Matt Ryan (fiction), Read This or You’re Dead to Me: Prose Poems, Flash Fiction, Words

•             Jonathan Weinert (poetry), Until Everything Is Continuous Again: American Poets on the Recent Work of W.S. Merwin

Book signing to follow. Books provided by Carmichael’s Bookstore.

The reading schedule may change without notice. Check the website for updated information: spalding.edu/mfa. For more information, call 502-873-4400 or 800-896-8941, ext. 4400, or email mfa@spalding.edu.

Spalding’s four-semester, brief-residency MFA in Writing combines superb instruction with unparalleled flexibility. The Program offers concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children and young adults, screenwriting, and playwriting. Students begin the semester in the spring, summer, or fall with a 10-day residency in Louisville or abroad, then return home for an independent study with a faculty mentor for the rest of the semester. Students may customize the location, season, and pace of their studies. See spalding.edu/mfa for more information.

Award-winning young-adult author Jacqueline Woodson will give a public presentation focusing on Hush at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, May 24, in Spalding’s University Center Auditorium, 824 S. Fourth Street. Woodson is the inaugural Diana M. Raab Distinguished Writer in Residence for Spalding University’s brief-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program. The evening with Woodson is free, ticketless, and open to the public.

Woodson is one of the premier writers for young adults working today. Her protagonists are often young African-Americans whose lives are touched by issues of race, social justice, and the struggle to overcome cultural inequality. Her awards include three Newbery Honors, a Coretta Scott King Award and three Coretta Scott King Honors, and a Margaret A. Edwards Award and an ALAN Award—both for Lifetime Achievement in YA Literature. Her books have twice been nominated for the National Book Award.  The author of more than two dozen books for children and young adults, she lives with her family in Brooklyn.

Woodson’s books include picture books as well as novels for middle-grade and young-adult audiences. Her titles include Miracle’s Boys, which won the Coretta Scott King Award in 2001, and Newbery Honor titles After Tupac & D Foster, Feathers and Show Way.

Woodson’s appearance serves as the headline event for Spalding’s Festival of Contemporary Writing, May 19-26. The festival is Kentucky’s largest and most prestigious spring-fall reading series.  Past guest authors include Ernest J. Gaines, Yusef Komunyakaa, Pico Iyer, Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket), Naomi Shihab Nye, Bobby Moresco, Heather Raffo, and many others.

The Festival of Contemporary Writing is part of Spalding’s brief-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program. Spalding’s brief-residency MFA Program is a four-semester program in creative writing, offering concentrations in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children and young adults, playwriting, and screenwriting. Fall and Spring semesters begin in Louisville in November and May, respectively, while a summer semester with residency abroad begins in June or July and is designed to fit teachers’ schedules. For more information, see www.spalding.edu/mfa.

The Diana M. Raab Distinguished Writer in Residence fund was established in 2011 through a gift from Diana M. Raab, a 2003 alumna of the Spalding MFA in Writing program. Raab, an award-winning memoirist, essayist, and poet, is the author of eight books.

Spalding’s emphasis on social justice is grounded in the tradition of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. In 2011, Spalding became the world’s first Compassionate University, as part of a movement of the International Institute for Compassionate Cities. Spalding President Tori Murden McClure said, “Our designation as the first confirmed and certified Compassionate University in the world means that we are not only being recognized for our history of compassion through service, but we pledge to work diligently to expand our capacity for compassion as individuals and as a community of learning—both in the classroom and out in the world.”

WHAT: Spalding University hosts its 40th Annual Running of the Rodents themed, “Viva Rat Vegas.” Currently eight rodents with names such as Lady Luck, Roulette, Burlesque and LibeRATce will compete for the coveted garland of fruit-flavored cereal-o’s as they speed around a miniature racetrack—.024 furlongs in length and created by Spalding alumna and former Rat Queen Madonna Wilson. Local news personality Dawn Gee of WAVE 3 will emcee the races. The rodents are trained by teams of Spalding students, staff, and faculty.

A public parade complete with floats and decorated vehicles will precede the Running of the Rodents. Parade participants will be dressed Vegas-themed costumes, and in Kentucky Derby tradition, racing fans will wear decorated hats as part of the annual Rat Hat contest. There will also be kid-friendly activities such as a balloon sculpting and bean bag toss.

Lunch (cash-only) will be provided following race day festivities in the University Center Ballroom, 824 South Fourth Street.

Special events taking place earlier during “Rat Week” include a penny war—of which the winner will donate funds to a local charity—and a cereal eating competition. The day of the race a King and Queen will be named from the student body and that evening the university will host a Rat Ball.

WHO: Rodents named for Vegas-themed singers, songs, and events and trained by teams from the Spalding community.

WHEN: April 12, 2012 Rat Parade at 10:15 a.m.; Rat Races to follow.

WHERE: Rat Parade- Route along 3rd &4th Streets in downtown Louisville, KY
Rat Races- Spalding University Center Building Ballroom a.k.a. “Spalding Downs,” 824 South Fourth Street
Parking is free in all Spalding University lots.

WHY: When Spalding University’s former professor Sister Julia Clare Fontaine overheard a senior complain about the “rat race” of finals week, she immediately had an idea for a stress reliever before spring session final exams. Since 1973, the Running of the Rodents has been a fun-filled Louisville tradition. Coined as “The Most Exciting Two Seconds in Sports” by Trivial Pursuit® after 1987’s Deep Throat won the Rodent Derby in 1.8 seconds, Spalding University’s annual rat race serves as both a stress reducer and a unique method of teaching students about animal care as well as behavior modification techniques.

To apply, simply complete the online Spalding University scholarship application. In addition to completing the online application, you must submit your portfolio for review by application deadline, April 9, 2012. (See application for further information.)

Please note: In order to be considered for this scholarship you must compete the 2012-2013 Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the FAFSA, prior to scholarship deadline of April 9, 2012.

Scholarship recipient will be notified by award letter sent via U.S. Mail by mid April, 2012. Non-awardees will be notified via email.

As always, if you have any questions regarding the application process, please feel free to contact the Scholarship Coordinator, at scholarship@spalding.edu or call 502-873-4332, toll free 1-800-896-8941 x4332.

Miller’s commitment to addressing issues related to child welfare, particularly the foster care system, are notable and newsworthy.  He was recently featured, along with MSW student Sharonda Seck, in a WAVE-3 television interview as an expert in this area of social work practice.

Miller, Seck and MSW student Belina Turner, have been instrumental in the effort to establish a Kentucky Chapter of the Foster Care Alumni of America (FCAA).  They received notification this week that their chapter application has been approved – a great first step in advancing support for Kentucky’s children aging out of the foster care system.

Organizer Dr. Linda Beattie, Chair of the Adult Accelerated Program (AAP) at Spalding University, has enlisted educators, professionals, adult students, and government officials from the area to initiate conversations related to educational attainment, college enrollment, and employment for adult learners. The Adult Accelerated Program at Spalding University is the oldest adult accelerated learning program in the state of Kentucky with more than thirty years of service to the community.

Speakers for the event include Tori Murden McClure, President of Spalding University; Mary Gwen Wheeler, Executive Director of 55,000 Degrees; Kathy Zandona, Greater Louisville, Inc. Vice President of Education; Michael Gritton, Executive Director of KentuckianaWorks; Tony Newberry, President & CEO of Jefferson Community and Technical College; Leisa Schulz, Archdiocese of Louisville Superintendent; Donna Hargens, Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent; Greg Bogart, AAP student; Debbie Carmony, AAP graduate; Patricia Ellis, President of the Commission for Accelerated Programs (CAP); Dawn Spaar, CAP President-Elect; Tony Peyton, Louisville Metro Government Policy Director; Barry Gary, Norton Healthcare System Director of Staff Development; and Rae Helton, Co-Owner & CEO of Spatial Data Integrations, Inc.
Bios available upon request.

March 31, 2012
8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Continental breakfast available. Lunch will be provided.

Egan Leadership Center
901 S. Fourth St.
Free parking available adjacent to building.

Join in a lively discussion about adult education and today’s workforce and how both are impacting the local economy. Registration required in order to reserve a lunch. To register please visit www.spalding.edu/events.

For more information contact Linda Beattie, AAP Chair, at 502-873-4190 or Katherine Walker, AAP Director of Student & Faculty Support Services, at 502-873-4192.

Related Events:

Sunday February 26^th:   Artists’ Reception 2-4 p.m.

The First Annual Knit Bomb Installation 12 – 4 p.m.

Concurrent opening at the Kentucky School of Art Gallery 2-4 p.m.

Monday, February 27^th:   “Quilts as Cultural Metaphors” panel discussion, 12:30-2:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 3^rd:   Gallery talk with DaRif and Weis, 12:15 p.m.

Visit the Huff Gallery page for details!

For an enjoyable activity with lifelong benefits, we recommend one of our eight different reading skills programs designed and taught by instructors from the Institute of Reading Development. Programs are offered as a community service by Spalding University, Academic Resource Center, a non-profit organization.

For information, or to enroll online, please select an age group below:

• 4-Year-Olds and Entering Kindergarteners
• Entering 1st Graders
• Entering 2nd Graders
• Entering 3rd Graders
• Entering 4th or 5th Graders
• Entering 6th, 7th, or 8th Graders
• Entering 9th, 10th, or 11th Graders
• Entering 12th Graders, College Students, or Adults

To speak with a program coordinator, or enroll by phone, call (800) 964-8888
8 AM-10 PM Mon.-Thurs., 8 AM-9 PM Fri., 10 AM-4 PM Sat.

For program locations and schedules in your area, select a program level above. The summer reading programs are available in Lexington, Louisville, and other locations throughout the area.

Programs are not offered, nor have they been evaluated or endorsed, by the Spalding University College of Education.