Events

The Clash’s London Calling
2019-03-05 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | The Great Hall Auditorium
It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss… there will be special guest moderators and panelists at each event! This event will feature The Clash’s London Calling.

Panel Discussion - Jobs, the Economy and Global Competition: New Jersey and the Macro Economy
2019-03-07 09:30 - 11:30 | The Great Hall Auditorium
Please Note: This event if free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Event Schedule
Registration & Coffee: 9:30 – 10:00 a.m.
Program: 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Program Participants
Moderator: Joseph M. Kyrillos, Former New Jersey State Senator (Ret.) and Monmouth University Public Servant-in-Residence 2018-19
PANELISTS:
Joseph Taylor, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Panasonic North America
Christopher Maher, President & Chief Executive Officer of OceanFirst Bank
Ryotaro Tashiro, Regional Economic Advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Improvedy
2019-03-08 21:00 - 22:00 | Pollak Theatre
Join us for a fun improv show! A cast of five will use: your suggestions, props, “Cards Against Humanity”, music, something you throw at them and miss, and actually YOU on stage! Their quick-wits and dangerous minds to keep you entertained for AT LEAST AN HOUR!

Lonesome Traveler with special guest Peter Yarrow
2019-03-09 20:00 - 23:00 | Pollak Theatre
LONESOME TRAVELER: THE CONCERT
The roots of American folk music with special guest star & folk legend Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary!
The story of folk music is truly the story of an ever-changing America.
Experience the enduring power and popularity of American folk music with Lonesome Traveler, the stirring concert version of the acclaimed Off-Broadway musical that the New York Times called “illuminating…revelatory…achingly beautiful.” The show celebrates the music of great folk artists including Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger and the Weavers, The Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Crosby Stills & Nash and more, plus a special tribute to Leonard Cohen.
Charismatic young singers and multi-instrumentalists return us to a time when music brought us together – when it changed us. This unforgettable concert event features patriotic songs, church hymns, union anthems and songs of protest, taking us from the 1920s to the 1970s– from the front porches of Appalachia to the nightclubs of San Francisco and New York – from the festival stages of Newport to the sound stages of Los Angeles. Songs like: “If I Had a Hammer,“ “Puff The Magic Dragon,” “This Land is Your Land,” “This Little Light of Mine,” “Blowin in the Wind”, “The Times They are a Changing”, “Turn, Turn Turn”, and “Hallelujah”.
Folk legend Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary has enthusiastically endorsed the show and will be appearing in this production of the show as a special guest star.
An inspiring evening of great music, Lonesome Traveler presents a revealing perspective of the roots of Americana Music forever embedded in our culture, bringing together audiences of all ages.

La Fille du Régiment (Encore)
2019-03-10 13:00 - 16:00 | Pollak Theatre
Bel canto stars Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena team up for a feast of vocal fireworks on the Met stage. Maurizio Muraro is Sergeant Sulplice, with Stephanie Blythe as the outlandish Marquise of Berkenfield. Enrique Mazzola conducts.
La Fille du Régiment is a co-production of the Metropolitan Opera; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; and the Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna.
Run Time: 2:55

RBG
2019-03-20 19:30 - 21:00 | Showroom Cinemas, 707 Cookman Ave, Asbury Park, 07712, United States
Join us for a screening of the film followed by a short presentation and Q&A hosted by a Monmouth University Professor at the Showroom Cinemas in Asbury Park
Celebrating WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
The exceptional life and career of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon.
With a post-film discussion hosted by Lisa Dinella, Ph.D.
Directors: Julie Cohen, Betsy West
Stars: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Bill Clinton, Sharron Frontiero

Words & Music: Todd Davis
2019-03-21 19:00 - 21:00 | LakeHouse Recording Studio, 619 Lake Ave, Asbury Park, NJ, 07712, United States
“Words & Music,” Monmouth University’s Grammy Affiliate program offers an intimate conversation with the musician and writers of our day. Hosted by Dean Kenneth Womack, the series will be convened at the University’s LakeHouse Studios space and attendees will enjoy the opportunity to interact with some of the most exciting and vibrant artists of our times.
Todd Davis is a celebrated poet of the natural world. The winner of the Gwendolyn Books Poetry Prize, he is the author of five poetry collections, including his latest book, Native Species.
This event is Free, but space is limited. Advance registration is required.

Asperger's Are Us
2019-03-23 19:00 - 21:00 | Pollak Theatre
An absurdist comedy troupe who happen to be the first troupe of people with Asperger’s Syndrome. They were featured in the Duplass Brothers Productions documentary “Asperger’s Are Us” now on Netflix. They have performed over 100 original absurdist sketch shows in nine countries since 2010.
“Audiences don’t usually know what to expect from Asperger’s Are Us, a Boston sketch comedy troupe made up solely of artists on the autism spectrum. Will they use self-deprecating humor about life with Asperger’s syndrome? Are they hoping to shed light on a serious condition? Will they be something like Sheldon, the socially inept character on CBS’s ‘The Big Bang Theory’?
The answer, it turns out, is none of the above.
Instead of focusing on the condition, the four men who make up the troupe perform skits and monologues that reflect their thoughts, perspectives and offbeat sensibilities, often characterized by deadpan and absurd humor… the guys are not looking for sympathy laughs or polite applause. Their show is not an autism awareness campaign, they say. They want people to laugh simply because they’re funny.” – New York Times
There will be a postshow Q&A with the cast.
Free and open to the public, but registration is recommended.

The Sleeping Beauty
2019-03-24 15:00 - 18:00 | Pollak Theatre
On her sixteenth birthday, Princess Aurora falls under the curse of the Evil Fairy Carabosse and into a deep slumber lasting one hundred years. Only the kiss of a prince can break the spell. A resplendent fairytale ballet, The Sleeping Beauty features scores of magical characters including fairies, the Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, and a beautiful young Princess Aurora performed by Olga Smirnova, a “truly extraordinary talent” (The Telegraph). This is classical ballet at its finest.
Run time: 170 minutes

Caravaggio: The Soul and the Blood
2019-03-25 19:30 - 21:00 | Pollak Theatre
Take an immersive journey through the life, works and struggles of the Italian master Michelangelo Merisi di Caravaggio. Roberto Longhi, a Caravaggio expert, explores in the artist’s masterpieces the echo of personal experiences and the expression of the human state, both physical and emotional. These evocative moments — thanks to the use of light and cinematic techniques — allow viewers to go deep inside the mind and soul of Caravaggio, empathizing with his impulses and fears.
Produced by Sky Italia and Nexo Digital.
Image Credit: Caravaggio, “Rotella con testa di Medusa”, Uffizi Gallery. Courtesy of Ministery for Culture, Heritage and Tourism.

Animal Welfare: The Higher Education Perspective
2019-03-26 18:00 - 19:30 | The Great Hall Auditorium
Animal Welfare: The Higher Education Perspective
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Wilson Auditorium
Monmouth University
West Long Branch, New Jersey
Use main entrance on Larchwood Avenue (lot 13)

What is animal research? How do federal and local laws protect animals? What is public opinion on wild animals in captivity? Monmouth University experts will discuss current issues in animal welfare, followed by audience Q&A.
PANEL
Randall Abate is the inaugural Rechnitz Family / Urban Coast Institute Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy, and a Professor in the Department of Political Science and Sociology. He teaches courses in domestic and international environmental law, constitutional law, and animal law. He has taught international and comparative law courses—and delivered invited lectures—on environmental and animal law topics in more than 20 countries. Professor Abate has published five books—and more than thirty law journal articles and book chapters—on environmental and animal law topics.
Lindsay Mehrkam is an applied animal behaviorist, animal welfare scientist, and doctoral-level Board-Certified Behavior Analyst. Her primary research interests focus on the benefits of human-animal interaction, enrichment, and training for improving the welfare of both animals and people in society. As both the director of the Human & Animal Welfare Collaboratory (HAWC) and Program Coordinator for the Six Flags Field Experience Affiliation, her teaching and research programs in applied animal behavior, learning, and well-being have led to grants, publications, workshops, internships, and service learning opportunities in animal shelters, zoos, aquariums, animal sanctuaries, among others.
Chris Hirschler is Chair & Associate Professor of the Department of Health and Physical Education at Monmouth University, has taught over 170 college courses, including a First Year Seminar he developed titled, “Anthrozoology, Ethics, and Health.” He is the author of “What Pushed Me over the Edge Was a Deer Hunter”: Being Vegan in North America” (Society and Animals, 2011).
Megan Phifer-Rixey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Monmouth University. Working in systems ranging from the marine intertidal to the Sonoran Desert, her research seeks to answer the question, “How do organisms adapt to their environment?” Supported by the Urban Coast Institute, she also applies a genetic perspective to understanding the dynamics of marine populations. Working in the community, she runs grant-funded workshops in local schools introducing concepts in genetics. In addition to teaching Introductory Biology and Evolution, Dr. Phifer-Rixey trains Monmouth students as scholars through her research courses.
Anastasia Wheeler is currently teaching Psychology of Animal Training and Field Experience in Animal Behavior at Monmouth University. She is a Supervisor of Safari and Animal Training at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ.
Moderator: Patrick Murray was named the founding director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute in 2005, which has established itself as one of the nation’s leading independent survey research centers. The institute has earned an A+ rating from FiveThirtyEight.com, one of only five polling organizations out of nearly 400 nationally to receive this top grade. Murray frequently appears as a commentator on national and regional TV and radio. During federal election years, he also serves as an exit poll analyst for the NBC News Decision Desk.

This free event is open to the public.
For more information: 732-263-5860 or polling@monmouth.edu
Sponsored by the Monmouth University Polling Institute

PostSecret LIVE with Frank Warren
2019-03-26 19:30 | Pollak Theatre
“We all carry a secret that would break your heart if you just knew what it was. And if we could remember that, there might be more understanding and peace in the world.” – Frank Warren
Frank Warren is the most trusted stranger in America. He is the creator of The PostSecret Project – a collection of 1,000,000+ artful secrets that have been mailed to his home on postcards, anonymously. The PostSecret website has become a phenomenon in itself, earning over 700 million views, and making it the world’s largest advertisement-free blog. For this event, Frank will join us for a lively lecture based on the topic of #MeToo. Hear the inspiring stories behind the secrets. Listen to some of Frank’s favorite secrets…and share your own.
RSVP to the event on our facebook page

Fred Astaire’s Dancing Lessons: Queer Mentors and Monsters: Multimedia Performance by Dustin B. Goltz
2019-03-27 18:00 - 20:00 | Lauren K. Woods Theatre
What does it mean to be “part” of the queer community in 2019? Who tells you your story? Your history? Your future? This solo performance is a 70-minute multimedia, performative examination of shifting perceptions of queer male mentorship, LGBT aging anxieties, and the lingering cultural threat assigned to queer sexuality. The piece is an avalanche of pop culture, flamboyance and monstrosity—an intertextual interrogation of queer generational tensions- reclaiming a story of the monsters who refuse to die (for long), refuse to hide the histories their bodies carry, and who keep surviving through wit, camp, irreverence, and an ongoing commitment to the queer community.
Dustin Bradley Goltz is an Associate Professor of Performance Studies and Communication at DePaul University in Chicago. He is a scholar and performing artist whose work examines gay aging, queer temporality, LGBTQ media representation, and personal narrative performance. His research has been published in over two dozen articles in journals, which include Text & Performance Quarterly, Critical Studies in Media Communication, and Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. His most recent book, Comic Performativities: Identity, Internet Outrage, and the Aesthetics of Communication was published by Routledge in 2017.

The Wave
2019-03-27 19:30 - 21:00 | Pollak Theatre
A high school teacher’s experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when he forms a social unit with a life of its own.
Director: Dennis Gansel
(2008)
Unrated
107 minutes

Women's Leadership Conference
2019-03-28 12:00 - 16:00 | Anacon Hall, 2nd Floor, Student Center

Black Maria Film Festival
2019-03-28 18:00 - 21:00 | Pollak Theatre
The Black Maria Film Festival was founded in 1981 as a tribute to Thomas Edison’s development of the motion picture at his laboratory, dubbed the “Black Maria” film studio, the first in the world, in West Orange, NJ. Now in its 38th year, the festival attracts and showcases the work of independent filmmakers internationally. The festival is a project of the Thomas A. Edison Media Arts Consortium, an independent non-profit organization in residence at New Jersey City University’s Department of Media Arts. Unlike other major film festivals, the Black Maria Festival is not presented in only one location. Instead, the winning films are presented at universities, museums, libraries and cultural centers across the country all year.
More information on this year’s festival at: www.blackmariafilmfestival.org/

Songs & Stories featuring James Dalton & Friends
2019-03-29 20:00 - 22:00 | Pollak Theatre
James Dalton gathers together a cast of wonderful singer songwriters and musicians, focusing heavily on local and independent, to take the “in the round” model up a notch. Audiences will not only get an intimate portrait of the artists and stories behind the songs themselves, but they will experience onstage collaboration and interplay as the whole cast supports, accompanies and jams with each other. Artists will include: James Dalton, Steven Delopoulos, Michael Ronstadt, Steve Reilly, April Centrone, Andy Keenan, Tara Dente, Karlee Bloom and more to be announced soon!!

Check out the great article about the concert HERE in NJ Stage Magazine!

Die Walküre (Richard Wagner)
2019-03-30 12:00 - 17:00 | Pollak Theatre
The second installment of Wagner’s Ring cycle, Die Walküre, stars heroic soprano Christine Goerke as the warrior goddess Brünnhilde, whose encounter with the mortal twins Siegmund and Sieglinde, sung by Stuart Skelton and Eva-Maria Westbroek, leads her on a journey from Valhalla to earthbound humanity. Philippe Jordan conducts.
Run Time: 5:20

Songwriters by the Sea
2019-03-30 20:00 - 23:00 | Lauren K. Woods Theatre
Distinguished NJ Songwriters Joe Rapolla and Joe D’Urso are back this year hosting the celebrated Songwriters by the Sea series at the Lauren K. Woods Theatre. What once started in a small coffee shop as an area for local songwriters has now grown into a series that features some of the top songwriters in the country. This year, the show features special guest artists Jeffrey Gaines and ERYN with an intro set by Mark Geary. The show will also feature Monmouth University student openers: Max Adolf and Kelli Misenheimer.
Throughout his two-and-a-half-decade recording career, Jeffrey Gaines has maintained an impressive standard for soul-searching, introspective lyrics and catchy, uplifting melodies. Since bursting on the scene with his self-titled 1992 debut album, the charismatic singer-songwriter-guitarist has built a beloved body of recordings that’s won him a large and deeply devoted international fan base. Now, after an extended absence from the recording studio, Gaines returns with Alright, his first Omnivore Recordings release and his first set of new studio material since 2003’s Toward the Sun. Street date is January 26, 2018. The new album features ten irresistible examples of the Philadelphia-based artist’s personally charged songcraft, performed with the same effortless exuberance that’s long been a hallmark of Gaines’ artful recordings and his dazzling live performances.
Eryn combines the old school sound that evokes the rhythms and recording techniques of the past with a modern pop mindset and powerhouse live performance. She is the youngest person to be inducted into the NJ/NY Blues Hall of Fame, a BELK southern musician showcase winner, and a multi Asbury Park Music award winner.
Sponsored by the Leon Hess Business School
All proceeds benefit the Music Industry Endowed Scholarship

Free Professional Headshot Photos for Graduate Students
2019-04-01 16:00 - 18:00 | The Great Hall -104
Graduate Student Appreciation Days are back! To kick off this month of events, the Office of Graduate Studies is pleased to offer free professional headshot photos for Monmouth University’s graduate students.

Graduate Assistant Appreciation Reception
2019-04-01 16:30 - 18:30 | The Great Hall – Versailles Room
The Office of Graduate Studies is pleased to hold a reception in honor of our 2018–2019 Graduate Assistants. All current graduate assistants, graduate research assistants, graduate teaching assistants, and their supervisors are welcome to attend. Refreshments and light fare will be served.
Please note that RSVP is required. Register via our Graduate Appreciation Days 2019 SurveyMonkey page.

Our Ocean and Beaches: A Record of Success and New Challenges to Face
2019-04-05 09:30 - 11:30 | The Great Hall Auditorium
Please Note: This event if free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Event Schedule
Registration & Coffee: 9:30 – 10:00 a.m.
Program: 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Program Participants

Moderator: Joseph M. Kyrillos, State Senator (Ret.) and Monmouth University Public Servant-in-Residence 2018-19

PANELISTS:

Chris Daggett, Former Regional Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Cindy Zipf, Executive Director of Clean Ocean Action
Tony MacDonald, Director of the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute

Grads Give Back
2019-04-06 09:30 - 12:30 | Coastal Habitat for Humanity, 1105 Memorial Dr, Asbury Park, NJ, 07712, United States
The Office of Graduate Studies will hold its second Grads Give Back event: a day of service for Monmouth’s graduate students to contribute to local organizations that provide aid to the community. This year, our students will team up with Coastal Habitat for Humanity. An optional lunch will follow at a nearby restaurant.
RSVP is required. Interested in volunteering? Register by April 3 via the Graduate Student Appreciation Days 2019 SurveyMonkey page.

Jacob Landau: Exploring the Colors
2019-04-08 - 2019-04-19 | Guggenheim Memorial Library, Room 101, 400 Cedar Ave, West Long Branch, NJ, 07764, United States
An exhibition of works exploring the world of colors created by the American artist, humanist, and teacher Jacob Landau. Born in Philadelphia in 1917, Jacob Landau launched his career as an illustrator, winning national prizes at age 16 and a scholarship to the Philadelphia College of Art. He had over sixty one-person shows and was the recipient of many awards, including Guggenheim and National Arts Council grants. Many of his works are featured in permanent collections, such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A master teacher, he retired as professor emeritus at New York’s Pratt Institute. In 1996, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by Monmouth University.
For Jacob Landau “art enables us to see the world whole and undivided.” As a humanist his art was devoted to the unity of the imagination. And at its center lies Landau’s desire for justice in the world. In the current exhibit his celebration of our love of color, shared across so many cultures, is inseparable from his humanist conviction. Color and drawing, Landau once declared, are the “twin fundaments of my style.” And he has been praised by fellow artists and critics as a colorist. His dazzling palette and expressive line exhilarate us. We find ourselves transported by their exuberant life, colors that rise up and sing for us in a work titled Flight. And yet his love affair with color does not blind him to the world of injustice.
On the one hand, his red and orange and yellow, and green and blue watercolors of gorgeous promise, so exquisitely handled in a radically imagined portrait of Isaiah dazzle us with life. But by the same token, Landau by these colors insists on the social justice that Isaiah declaimed. Justice, the artist makes clear in his beautiful and unsettling riot of forms, that he expects of us.
Uniquely, his canvass of many colors dazzles and disturbs. His understated colors in Apocalypsis fill us with foreboding, and he asks, “Whose apocalypse is it anyway ours or God’s?” Just like Landau to leave us with an uncomfortable question in the language of subtle colors. At the same time, we see a bold backdrop of brilliant yellow across the way in his Oracle 1, dramatizing the hope that resides in the human heart. A yellow we can’t shake as we walk away.
The exhibition features a selection of some twenty-one works. All are from Monmouth University’s extensive collection of Jacob Landau’s work, comprising over 300 prints, drawings and paintings. The collection was gifted to Monmouth University in 2008 by the Jacob Landau Institute of Roosevelt, NJ. This exhibit is co-sponsored by the Jewish Culture Studies Program and the Honors School of Monmouth University.
Docent tours are available (for times, contact Professor Noel Belinski 732-263-5425; email: nbelinsk@monmouth.edu).

Monmouth University Blood Drive
2019-04-08 11:30 - 17:00 | Edison Atrium – Room 201

Steely Dan’s Aja
2019-04-09 19:30 - 21:00 | Anacon Hall, 2nd Floor, Student Center
It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss… there will be special guest moderators and panelists at each event! This event will feature Steely Dan’s Aja.

The Inaugural Social Justice Symposium
2019-04-10 18:00 - 20:00 | The Great Hall Auditorium

Die Walküre (Encore)
2019-04-14 13:00 - 18:00 | Pollak Theatre

Classical Fun
2019-04-16 19:30 - 21:30 | The Great Hall Auditorium
A joyous program of music by some of the greatest composers of all time—Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Wagner, and others.
The MU Chamber Orchestra, comprising students, faculty, staff, and administrators, performs a variety of compositions from the classical repertory. This spring concert also features music for chamber ensembles from within the orchestra-solos, duos, trios, quintets.

Urban Coast Institute Marine & Environment Speaker Series
2019-04-17 12:00 - 13:00 | Edison Atrium – Room 201
Money, Mandate, and Water Management
with
Professor Keith Rizzardi, St. Thomas University School of Law

Professor Keith Rizzardi from St. Thomas University School of Law will speak about climate change, rising sea levels, and professional ethics. Discussions will also include insights into how the historic commitment to water management in South Florida has dramatically decreased and considerations on how water managers can best prepare before the next disaster strikes in the future.
For more information, contact Doris Meyer, Urban Coast Institute, at 732-263-5662 or dmeyer@monmouth.edu.
