As a teenager, Staci Orie Summers loved taking summer mission trips with her church youth group.

So in college, when a friend asked her to participate in Hut-A-Thon – an event where students build a hut on the Allegheny campus to raise awareness and funds for homelessness – Summers, a sophomore at the time, jumped at the opportunity to give back.

She never realized that this event would reignite her passion for helping others – and would eventually lead to her career in international development.

“As an art history major, I was unsure of what I wanted to do upon graduation,” Summers said. “This experience at Allegheny inspired me to pursue my passion for connecting with other cultures and partnering with people in need.”

Summers first acted upon that passion in 1994, when she traveled to India as a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), an organization dedicated to eradicating poverty housing. One year later, she officially turned her professional efforts to making the world a better place, serving Pittsburgh Habitat for Humanity as an AmeriCorps VISTA representative in fundraising and community leadership development. She then went on to earn her master’s degree in international training and education from American University in Washington, D.C.

Throughout the years, Summers’ desire to, in her words, “dive into unfamiliar worlds,” has been a driving force. In addition to being a wife to her husband, Jason, and a stay-at-home mother to their children, Caton and Ainsley, Summers now serves as a volunteer team leader with HFHI’s Global Village Program, which facilitates short-term international house-building trips.

Since 1994, Summers has traveled to 29 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala, France, Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Nepal, New Zealand, Turkey, and Zambia, and she has no plans of slowing down. In fact, she is planning her next trip to Malawi in September.

Summers says that when she arrives at a site, the homes can be in any stage of construction. She and the team typically work alongside the future homeowner and members of the community for one to two weeks performing a variety of tasks that range from making and laying bricks to constructing a home out of bamboo. In Nepal, Summers and her team worked alongside a woman named Sharmila Pariyar to construct a home for Pariyar and her son, Uttam.

“Our team, with help from the community and a few hired technicians, built Sharmila’s bamboo-style house in just eight days,” Summers said. “Working alongside the Nepalese was every bit as amazing as I had expected. And just like with all of my trips, the language barrier didn’t matter. The feelings of compassion and love translate to any language.”

Although she has participated in numerous trips, Nepal was the first where Summers served as the volunteer team leader. “The unknown is always the team, all or most of whom are traveling solo and are meeting for the first time in a strange place,” she said. “It’s like throwing a bunch of great ingredients into a hot pot to make soup – you don’t really know how it’s going to turn out until it’s been on the fire!

“I love the challenge of being a team leader because you have to come up with just the right mix of people,” she continued. “You live together, eat together, and work together on these trips, and along the way you hope the magic happens – the opening up, the bonding, the looking out and listening, the contagious laughter. I’ve never left a country with a dry eye. That is why I build; it doesn’t feel like work to me. I plan to do this as long as I’m breathing!”

In addition to serving as an HFHI volunteer, Summers donates her time and resources to her alma mater. Since graduation, Summers has served as a Gator Greetings volunteer, as co-chair of her 10^th Reunion Committee, and as an Alumni Council member. She also is a member of the Timothy Alden Council.

“Allegheny gave me the skills and confidence to do anything I wanted to do,” Summers said. “I give back because I know I wouldn’t have been able to attend Allegheny if it weren’t for the generosity of others. I want to give current students those same opportunities. I also know that Allegheny has been managed well and will put my funds to good use.”

To read more about Summers’ travels, work with HFHI’s Global Village Program, and her passion for hospitality, visit Globalstaci.com.

– Heather L. Grubbs

Painting/Drawing:

Andrew Shirley, Tied for 1^st Place,  “Untitled”

Charley Larkin, Tied for 1^st Place, “The Void”

Graphics:

Charley Larking, 1^st Place, “The Core”

Yishi Xie, Honorable Mention, “Food Symbols”

Sculpture/Ceramics:

Janos Cseh, 1^st Place, “Substance Abuse on the Edge of Teen Suicide”

Osasere Edebiri, Honorable Mention, “Walk In My Shoes”

Juror’s Prize:  (2 winners tied for best of show)

Marisol Moreno,  “One Last Breath”

Matthew Hayes,  “Nature of Progress”

Stephanie David (Art History ’13) spoke on “Abjection and Informe: Base Materialism and Subjectivity in the Works of Mike Kelley,” at the 7th Annual Symposium sponsored by the Art History Association of Bowling Green State University, March 23rd, 2013.  Working with material that is part of her senior comprehensive project research, David joined undergraduates from BGSU, St. Olaf’s College, University of Cincinnati, and Ursuline College.   In the picture above, David responds to questions in her session on “Materialism.”

Entries are due on March 11^th & 12^th from 11:30 to 4:30 p.m. If these times are not workable, special arrangements can be made to drop off the work at an earlier time. Works will not be accepted after due date!

Additional information is available in the Art Gallery, Doane Hall of Art, or from Art Department faculty.

Position Description:

Assistants will support the classroom instructors in weeklong studio arts camps forstudents ranging in age from 4 to 18. Camps begin on June 10 and continue until August 30. Weekend hours are also available. This is an unpaid opportunity with the possibility of college internship credits through participating colleges and universities.

Position Requirements:

Potential candidates will be able to effectively manage a classroom of up to 20 students, work as a team member, be reliable, and have excellent communication and customer service skills. Assistants are required to work at least one week (Monday-­‐Friday) but have the opportunity to work up to 12 weeks. Experience working with children is required and experience with non-­‐profit organizations or studio arts is recommended. Students pursuing a degree in education, arts management, studio arts or art history are encouraged to apply. Act 33/34 clearances required.

To apply for this position please send a cover letter and resume to:

Jena Robbins Schieb
Children’s Program Manager & Camp Supervisor Pittsburgh Center for the Arts
jschieb@pittsburgharts.org

RICHARD KLEEMAN RESEARCH FUND

ALLEGHENY COLLEGE ART DEPARTMENT

The Art Department is pleased to announce the availability of funds to support significant work in studio art and art history. Monies are available through The Richard Kleeman Research Fund, an endowed fund, created in 1992 in recognition of Professor Kleeman’s 39 years of dedicated teaching at Allegheny College.

All current Allegheny College students who are interested in applying for money from the Richard Kleeman Research Fund are required to submit a written proposal to the chairperson of the Art Department on the form designed for that purpose. Proposals should describe the nature and scope of the project and must include a budget reflecting how funds will be used. Funds will be awarded on a competitive basis to: (1) help defray the expenses of art-related travel and study, (2) help with the expenses of significant senior projects, and (3) help students meet studio or art historical research expenses for other ambitious work.

Further information and application forms may be obtained from department faculty or in the Art Department office. PROPOSALS ARE DUE BY NOON ON WEDNESDAY, January 30, 2013 FOR FUNDING DURING THE SPRING SEMESTER. Completed applications should be submitted to Rhonda Hershelman, Art Department Building Coordinator, Art Gallery, Doane Hall of Art. Funding requests should not exceed $300.00. Awards will be determined by the faculty of the Art Department. Award recipients will be notified by February 8, 2013.

The Faculty and Alumni Exhibit has been extended through Gator Day!  You are invited to a closing reception/Gator Day open house at the Art Department. The faculty will be available to answer questions about majoring in studio, art history, and art & technology. Students already majoring or minoring in the three tracks can learn about study abroad opportunities, internships, junior seminars and the senior project. If you know any first or second-year students interested in the visual arts, please invite them to come and see the galleries and studios. Studio and art history students will also be available to discuss their own research projects and to answer questions about opportunities in the department.

Designs must be:- Submitted in either eps or .jpeg format – Created to fit within a 12” wide x 13″ high area when printed- Accompanied by a complete official entry form (can be found on the below website)- Submitted online at www.bagdesigncontest.com by January 31, 2013

The person with the winning design will receive $2,500 and will have their design featured on reusable shopping bags beginning in May or June 2013 at ShopRite stores. First and second prize winners will receive checks for $1,500 and $1,000 respectively.

With the contest launching soon and the school year now underway, we wanted to provide you with all the details and assets, including a poster and official rules, in hopes you might weave it into your course plans, and encourage your students to participate. In the coming weeks, we will be following up to see if you have passed the contest information along to your students, or found a way to incorporate it into your course plans. Please find attached to this email, official rules, contest details, assets and posters for you to display in your classrooms, lecture halls or throughout the art department.

Do you think the ShopRite Reusable Shopping Bag Design Contest is something you’d be interested in weaving into your course plans for the fall semester, or encouraging your students to enter? I look forward to working with you, and please feel free to reach out with any questions (562) 546-6005

http://pittsburghfoundation.org/node/1718 

Deborah L. Turner
Scholarship Coordinator
The Pittsburgh Foundation
Five PPG Place, Suite 250
Pittsburgh PA  15222-5414
Direct:  412.394.2649
Fax:  412.391-5156
Email:  turnerd@pghfdn.org