CSU, Chico News

Troy A. Miles, a 2006 graduate in biological sciences, California State University, Chico, received the Ralph Ger Award for Outstanding Student of the Year in Clinical Anatomy at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

The prestigious award is given to just two medical students each year in recognition of exceptional work in the field of clinical anatomy.

University faculty select recipients based on exam scores, class ranking and nominations from classmates. Miles was presented the award by Dr. Ger, a renowned clinician and anatomist. Ger is the author of several medical textbooks, as well as a founding member of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists.

“Troy was an excellent student at CSU, Chico,” said Patricia Edelmann, chair of the Department of Biological Sciences. “His outstanding quality as a student and person was recognized with the invitation to deliver the ‘Reflections’ speech at Commencement.”

Miles is a 2002 Red Bluff Union High School graduate. He recently completed his first year of medical school, with plans to graduate in 2010.

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The Orion, California State University, Chico’s student newspaper, received the first-place award for general excellence Saturday, July 14, at the California Newspaper Publishers Association’s 2006 Better Newspapers Contest awards ceremony.

The presentation marked the ninth time The Orion has won the top award in CNPA’s University Division. No other university student newspaper has won the state’s highest award more than four times.

“The CNPA award, in my mind, is without question the most important college newspaper honor in the state,” said Orion adviser Dave Waddell. “It’s a different set of professional judges every year, so to win first place nine times shows consistent excellence over a long period.”

The awards were handed out at CNPA’s 119th annual convention at The Fairmont hotel in San Francisco. Second place in the University Division went to the student newspaper at Santa Clara University.

The CNPA contest period was from August 2006 to March 2007. The Orion’s contest submission was three consecutive issues from the spring 2007 semester, during which Greg Finley was managing editor, Tanya Roscorla was news editor and Chris Rose was art director.

Finley is currently a summer copy-editing intern at the Washington Post, and Roscorla is a summer reporting intern at the Redding Record Searchlight. Both graduated with degrees in journalism in May.

California publishers, editors and reporters, who selected finalists in each category of competition, initially judged all contest entries. From there, a panel of judges from newspapers outside California picked the first- and second-place finishers.

“News coverage is relevant, well reported and well written,” one judge wrote of The Orion. “Layout is imaginative, creative. Entertainment coverage is strong. Good police blotter. Opinion page gets you thinking.”

A second judge called The Orion “bright, clean, contemporary. … Great graphics and photos, especially in sports.”

CNPA is a trade organization representing hundreds of California newspapers, from the smallest weeklies to the largest dailies, as well as scores of college newspapers.

The Orion, a laboratory newspaper of CSU, Chico’s nationally accredited journalism department, has won dozens of national, regional and state awards. The Orion is again a finalist for the National Newspaper Association’s highest award for college newspapers, to be announced Sept. 29 in Norfolk, Va., at the NNA’s 121st annual convention.

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“Cabaret,” Court Theatre’s main musical production staged in Harlen Adams Theatre, will open on Friday, July 13. The award-winning musical was first made into a movie in 1972 starring Lisa Minelli and Joel Grey.

“Cabaret” is set in the Kit-Kat Club in 1929-1930 Germany on the eve of the Nazi uprising. The story follows the romance of an English cabaret performer and an American writer. Through the songs of the Cabaret’s Emcee—“Don’t Tell Mama,” “Mein Heir,” “Perfectly Marvelous,” “Cabaret” and many others—the audience witnesses the political changes taking place in Nazi Germany.

The musical will be performed on July 13, 14, 20 and 21 at 7:30 p.m., and July 21 and 22 at 2 p.m. Bill McCrary, a long-time director with Court Theatre, will direct the production.

“’Cabaret’ is a jazzy and powerful musical that asks some very difficult questions,” said McCrary. “You will be amazed at the high energy, fantastic singing and dancing, and the hard-hitting message of one of the best shows Court Theatre has ever produced!”

The Chico cast includes Sara St. Pierre as Sally Bowles, Teddy Spencer as Cliff Bradshaw and Allison F. Rich as the Emcee. Sarah Michelle Cuc plays Fraulein Schneider, and Sean Doughty brings a memorable Max to the stage. Kevin Muster takes on the role of Ludwig. They are supported by an ensemble of Kit Kat Girls and Kit Kat Boys.

“Cabaret” is the fourth show of the Court Theatre season. Tickets are available at the University Box Office, 530-898-6333. Advance single ticket prices are $20 for adults, $18 for senior citizens and $16 for students.

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For much of the campus at California State University, Chico, summer is marked by a pace that is a measure slower than the usual hectic pace of the academic semester. For the Archaeological Research Program, however, these are busy times. Program director Greg White, his colleagues and student staff are busy throughout the North State, helping state and federal agencies, communities and Native American tribes consider heritage values in everyday activity and long-term planning for land use and natural resources.

One of the research program’s summer projects is a field study at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (CalFire’s) Ishi Camp Forest Fire Station east of Red Bluff. Ishi Camp was named in honor of the region’s most famous Native American occupant, whose traditional homelands were located in nearby Antelope Creek, Mill Creek, and Deer Creek canyons.

While most Californians are acutely aware of CalFire’s fire-fighting efforts, many are unaware of the agency’s parallel efforts to protect archaeological resources threatened by fire. Ishi Camp Forest Fire Station, built in the early 1960s, has for years produced signs of prehistoric occupation, and these signs (artifacts such as arrowheads) have become well known to CalFire personnel and California Department of Corrections crews who share the camp.

The local district plans to use funds available to CalFire for capitol improvements to rebuild Ishi Camp. Aware that important archaeological resources might be impacted by this construction, CalFire asked White and the research program to conduct field and lab studies necessary to better understand the site and to minimize negative impacts to important cultural deposits.

In May and June, White assembled a team of seven graduate and undergraduate students and four Native American staff to conduct the study. White and his team members concentrated on proposed building sites and dug a combination of small, hand-excavated squares and deep exploratory trenches. With the trenches, the team will be able to establish the extent of impacts from previous construction, get a better understanding of the extent of the prehistoric site and search for buried soils and cultural deposits.

The team has found artifacts indicative of deer hunting and the collection and processing of plant foods, including spear and arrow points, small chipped-stone hand tools, stone flakes from tool making, grinding tools, and animal bone fragments representing food waste.

“While our studies are ongoing and dating results pending,” said White, “the prehistoric occupation appears to be between 1,000 to 2,500 years old, indicating no connection to Ishi, but perhaps to his ancestors.”

In the course of the project, said White, local author and tribal activist Beverly Ogle, a Yahi/Yana descendent, and James Hayward, Sr., Tribal Council Member and Cultural Liaison, visited the team for Redding Rancheria. Both Ogle and Hayward played a role in the repatriation of Ishi’s remains a few years back. The repatriation is described in Duke University anthropologist Orin Starn’s book “Ishi’s Brain.”

“Beverly and James monitored our progress and expressed their support for efforts to minimize impacts to the prehistoric site,” said White.

One of the Research Program’s primary goals is to supplement the Department of Anthropology’s classroom instruction by providing hands-on field and lab experience to undergraduate and graduate students seeking the skills necessary to build a career in professional archaeology. Seven CSU, Chico graduate and undergraduate students and four Native American staff participated in the dig and continue to be engaged in the project. The group is now sampling and studying materials suitable for special studies such as radiocarbon dating.

The project will conclude in winter 2007–2008 when White and his team produce a final report of findings, including an interpretation of the site and more detail on the boundaries of significant deposits that should be avoided during future construction activities.

For more information on CalFire’s archaeology program, visit NPR’s Capitol Public Radio (KXPR/KXJZ) Insight Web archives for an interview with CalFire archaeologist Garrett Fenenga and White at the web site.

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