Outgoing President Sr. Margaret Stallmeyer to Deliver Commencement Address

Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Ky., will hold its 85^th Commencement Exercises Sat., May 11, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. in honor of approximately 341 graduates. The ceremony will be held on the front lawn near the bell tower. (In case of inclement weather, it will be held in Connor Convocation Center.) The preceding Baccalaureate Mass will take place at 10:30 a.m. in the newly completed Mary, Seat of Wisdom Chapel.

Thomas More College President Sr. Margaret Stallmeyer, C.D.P., will offer the commencement address.  Stallmeyer has served the College since June 1, 2004. She will retire as the 13th president June 30, 2013. She is a native of the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati area and received a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Secondary Education from Thomas More College, a Master of Education from Xavier University and a degree in canon law from The Catholic University of America in 1987. Thomas More College will award her with a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa.

Kyle Lyons will be awarded the Presidential Service Award, which is conferred upon a graduating senior who has made service to school and the community a priority in his or her life and who places commitment to others at the height of academic and personal pursuits. Assistant Professor of Business Administration Richard Shuey will receive the Outstanding Full-TimeTeacher Award, and Christopher Bryson will receive the Outstanding Part-Time Teacher Award.  Thomas More College will also award Ernest B. Hillenmeyer Jr., of Maysville, Ky., with a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa.

Chancellor of Thomas More College and Bishop of the Diocese of Covington The Most Reverend Roger J. Foys, D.D. will oversee the commencement ceremony. Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College Dr. Bradley A. Bielski will highlight faculty and student honors. Chair-Elect of Thomas More College Board of Trustees John F. Hodge III will offer congratulatory remarks.

For more information about Thomas More College, please visit www.thomasmore.edu or call (859) 341-5800.

Community of Creative Writers Retreat
Saturday, May 4, 2013
10:00 am – 4:00 pm 

TMC Biology Field Station Education Center & Lodge
8309 Mary Ingles Highway (KY Route 8)
California, KY 41007

Are you looking for new energy for your writing life?

Writers in any genre and with any experience level are invited write and share amidst natural beauty overlooking the Ohio River. Led by award-winning author Richard Hague and Thomas More College’s Writer-in-Residence Pauletta Hansel, the retreat will provide a balance of writing time, community sharing and writing instruction.

Information and registration: 859-344-3304 or the Furthermore website
Fee: $20; $15 TMC & FurtherMore students and alumni

Bring a brownbag lunch!

Supported by Thomas More College’s Creative Writing Vision Program, with help from a grant from the John A. Schroth Family Charitable Trust, PNC Bank, Trustee.

In observance of the upcoming Easter holiday, Thomas More College will close at 5:00pm today, March 28, and will re-open at 6:00pm on Monday, April 1.

We hope everyone has a great holiday!

The 22nd Annual Russell Athletic Ohio-Kentucky All-Star Basketball Game will be taking place on Saturday April 13th, 2013 at Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. This annual showcase of talent regularly produces many of the top names in college basketball and even boast several NBA alums.

Facebook: Ohio-Kentucky All-Star Basketball Game
Twitter: @oh-kyallstargame
Google+: oh-kyallstargame
Website:  www.oh-kyallstargame.com

Thomas More College’s Department of Biology will host a Spring Walk and Tree Planting on the morning of Saturday, April 20. The event will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a welcome and introduction in the Villa, located inside the Administration Building. Shortly following, students from TMC’s Field Biology course led by Professor of Biology Dr. Shannon Galbraith-Kent will guide participants on a walk across campus, highlighting characteristics of trees and the impact of spring weather on nature. The event will conclude with a tree planting in the William S. Bryant Arboretum. The weather-dependent event is free and open to the public.

Thomas More College’s Creative Writing Vision Program is scheduled to  host “Writing and Healing: A Residency with Jeanne Bryner,” a project funded by John A. Schroth Family Charitable Trust, PNC Bank, Trustee, and ArtsWave, in early April 2013.

Jeanne Bryner is a poet, nurse and creative writing teacher who has also written plays, stories, nonfiction and children’s literature. Her most recent book, Smoke, is winner of an American Journal of Nursing 2012 book award. No Matter How Many Windows is winner of Working Class Studies’ Tillie Olsen Award for Creative Writing. Jeanne was born in Appalachia and grew up in Newton Falls, Ohio, where she still resides.

Saturday, April 6, 10 am- 3 pm- Loveland, OH- Writing as Healing with Jeanne Bryner

This workshop at Grailville Retreat Center uses poetry, journaling and narrative to explore physical and spiritual healing and thriving. Jeanne Bryner is a registered nurse and award-winning writer whose poetry has been adapted for the stage and performed in the US and beyond. Developed through Jeanne’s work with cancer survivors, it is offered to any interested in writing and health, whether their own or others. Registration and info at 513-683-2340- or www.grailville.org.

Monday, April 8, Noon- Crestview Hills, KY -Staged Reading of Jeanne Bryner’s Foxglove Canyon

Held in Thomas More College’s theatre, Foxglove Canyon focuses on the lives of nursing home residents and a nurse near the end of her career. Honoring the physical and emotional struggles and courage of each character, the play is ultimately about hope and connection. Free and open to the public. Info at (859) 344-3309 or www.thomasmore.edu.

Tuesday April 9, 7 pm- Cincinnati, OH- Appalachian Poetry Reading at Cincinnati Public Library’s Poetry in The Garden Series

Award winning poet and nurse Jeanne Bryner and Thomas More College’s Sherry Cook Stanforth, poet, fiction writer, singer/songwriter and professor, read together at the Library’s annual celebration of Poetry Month. Followed by an open mic reading. Free and open to the public. Contact: David Siders in the Popular Library Department at 513-369-6919 or visit www.cincinnatilibrary.org/programs.

Wednesday, April 10, 7 pm – Crestview Hills, KY- Poetry reading and book signing by award-winning author Jeanne Bryner

Join us at Joseph Beth Booksellers for the final event in the Appalachian Writers Series. Jeanne Bryner is a poet, nurse and creative writing teacher who has also written plays, stories, nonfiction and children’s literature. Bryner will read from her most recent book, Smoke, winner of an American Journal of Nursing 2012 book award. Free and open to the public Contact (859) 912-7860 or visit www.josephbeth.com.

Thursday, April 11, 6:45 pm – Crestview Hills, KY—Steigerwald Hall (inside TMC Student Center), Thomas More College— Words Celebration
Award winning author and nurse Jeanne Bryner is the featured reader at this annual celebration of Words, Thomas More College’s official literary arts magazine of the College, is a collection of students’ original stories, poems, photographs and artwork. Free and open to the public. Contact Dr. Sherry Cook Stanforth at sherry.stanforth@thomasmore.edu.

Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Ky. is hosting an ecumenical prayer and music service Tuesday, March 19 at 7 p.m. in the new Mary, Seat of Wisdom Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.  Representatives from various Christian denominations will participate in this event, including those from Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant faiths. The service will include a selection of songs and prayers derived from the Taizé Community, which is an ecumenical monastic order in Burgundy, France. The Taizé Community includes more than a hundred brothers from Protestant and Catholic traditions who originate from nearly 30 countries.  More than 100,000 young people from around the world make pilgrimages to Taizé each year for prayer, Bible study, sharing and communal work.

Woven within the program, the Heritage Edition volume of The Saint John’s Bible, Gospels and Acts, will be unveiled.  The event proceeds the March 20 Hillemeyer Lecture, which features the director of The Saint John’s Bible, Tim Ternes who will speak at 7 p.m. on the making of the historic Bible.

Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Ky., presents a performance of Our Beloved Community: poetry, story and song by Richard Hague, Pauletta Hansel, Michael Henson, and Desirae Hosley created in collaboration with Over-the-Rhine residents. Join us on Monday, March 18 from noon to 12:50 p.m. in Thomas More College’s Theatre. This event is free and open to the public.

Commissioned by Over-the-Rhine Community Housing in 2011 Our Beloved Community was inspired by a series of conversations and writing workshops the four writers conducted with Over-the-Rhine residents. It offers a textured gaze at the changing culture/history of one of Cincinnati’s oldest and most controversial neighborhoods, Over-the-Rhine. Our Beloved Community is part of TMC Theater Department’s Bite Sized Theatre Series and TMC English Department’s Creative Writing Vision program, supported in part by the John A. Schroth Family Charitable Trust, PNC Bank, trustee.

Our Beloved Community is written and performed by:

• Richard Hague, facilitator of Thomas More College’s Community of Creative Writers series, most recent book is Recent Extinctions: New & Selected Poems.
• Pauletta Hansel, Writer-in-Residence at Thomas More College, an author of four books of poetry including The Lives We Live in Houses and What I Did There.
• Michael Henson, author of the novella Tommy Perdue, and six other books of poetry and prose, many set in Over-the-Rhine, where he lived and worked for many years.
• Desirae Hosley, a performance poet (“The Silent Poet”) who has led cultural programs at the Urban Appalachian Council and elsewhere.

Excerpts from Our Beloved Community:

“Seek out the forgotten that they shall be remembered. Seek out the hungry and the thirsty that they shall teach us to live.” from Our Beloved Community

“I have lived in Over-the-Rhine and I have had the richest experience.  There are stories of greatness.. Everyone I’ve crossed paths with has enriched my life.” from Our Beloved Community

“We are living in a mix, a clash, a confrontation, an encounter of cultures. There’s a lack of connection with the past. We’re living somebody else’s dream; we’re not living our own.” from  Our Beloved Community

“And, smiling next to you—someone with a pen and paper, this one, right here, and you are giving his words your brilliant street-lit courage.” from Our Beloved Community

Tickets go on sale to public Feb. 23

Thomas More College presents Love Letters by A. R. Gurney Friday and Saturday, March 22 and 23 at 7 p.m. Guest artists Gary Sandy and D. Lynn Meyers will perform this Pulitzer Prize-nominated play that details the charming, 50-year relationship between two friends, Andrew and Melissa.

Sandy is best known for his role as Andy Travis in the classic television series WKRP in Cincinnati. He has made countless TV guest and feature film appearances, and performed in over 100 theatrical productions. Of late, he has focused his talent on award-winning radio drama. Meyers is a graduate of Thomas More College and is in her 15^th season as artistic director of Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. She has directed over 50 world and regional premieres, Off-Broadway and dozens of audio books. She has cast for several networks and film companies and served as the location casting director for the Academy Award-winning Shawshank Redemption.

Performances will be held at the Thomas More College Theatre at 333 Thomas More Parkway in Crestview Hills, Ky. General admission tickets are $10 and will be available to the public Feb. 23. For more information, contact Jim Nelson at james.nelson@thomasmore.edu or (859) 344-3421 or Alana Ghent at alana.ghent@thomasmore.edu or (859) 344-3664.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.thomasmore.edu/theatre.

Send in Copies of Your Love Letters to Be Included in the Set!
Fresh off of Valentine’s Day, Thomas More College invites the public to send in copies of their treasured love letters to be included in the set of Love Letters.  The letters will be strung as a curtain backdrop during the weekend of March 22-23. Additionally, the letters will be incorporated into a visual display so attendees can read them. Send in your love letter by email to alana.ghent@thomasmore.edu or by mail: Thomas More Theatre Dept./LOVE LETTERS, 333 Thomas More Parkway, Crestview Hills, Ky., 41017 by March 15. (Submissions cannot be returned.)

Dr. Paul Tenkotte will give a free public talk, “More Than Beer, Brats, and Polka: German-Americans in Northern Kentucky after World War I,” at 7:00 on Sunday, February 24 in the Science Lecture Hall at Thomas More College, 333 Thomas More Parkway, Crestview Hills, KY. German-Americans have experienced a roller coaster ride from the anti-German hysteria of World War I to the resurrection of German pride in the 1970s. Join us to explore the myths and realities of their experience in Northern Kentucky regarding persecution, loss, reinvention, and Disneyfication.

Dr. Tenkotte is professor of History at Northern Kentucky University and coeditor of The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky (2009) and Cincinnati: The Queen City (2013). The presentation is sponsored by Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society and History Club. For further information, contact John Cimprich at (859)-344-3394.

Hosted at Thomas More College, the “Eat and Create” series invites the community to join TMC staff, faculty and students 12:00-12:50 p.m. the fourth Monday of the month this spring semester in the Chancellor’s Room (located in the Administration Building) for some creative fun. Bring pen and paper and an open mind. Brownbag lunch is optional!

Monday, February 25: Poetry Meets Art: Come for a little cross-pollination between writing and visual art in this session focused on “ekphrastic” poetry, a fancy term for poetry inspired by art—in this case, thought-provoking pieces by our TMC art students.

Monday, March 25: Praise Poetry: Poetry as gratitude. Poetry as prayer. Join us on the final Monday of Lent as we give thanks for the things of this world and beyond. Offered in partnership with Campus Ministry.

Monday, April 22: Writing for All Ages: Participants will include young writers from a local middle school! More information TBA.

Monthly Eat and Creates are led by TMC’s Writer in Residence Pauletta Hansel, a Kentucky-born writer whose most recent books of poetry include The Lives We Live in Houses (Wind Publications 2011) and What I Did There (Dos Madres Press 2011). She has led creative writing programs for Grailville in Loveland, Ohio, the Urban Appalachian Council and at schools and community settings regionally and beyond.

TMC’s Creative Writing Vision Program is supported by a grant from the John A. Schroth Family Charitable Trust, PNC Bank, Trustee. For more information about Thomas More College’ Creative Writing Vision Program, visit www.thomasmore.edu.