Thru Robin's Eyes

The Catherine S. Eberly Center for Women is once again hosting it’s annual Celebrity Wait Night. I’d like to invite you to enjoy dinner for a good cause. This year it’s being held at The Toledo Club on Thursday, February 25th from 6-9 pm. A few of this year’s celebrity waiters include:  Toledo Mayor Mike Bell, Ohio State Senator Teresa Fedor, Provost Rosemary Haggett,  Vice President for External Affairs Larry Burns, and Director of the Center for Women Charlene Gilbert.

For more information or to make reservations, please call the Center for Women at 419.530.8570.

And lately I’ve been feeling pretty old. I have to admit that winter is my least favorite season. Yes, the snow is pretty (at least when it first comes down, before city traffic has driven through it for weeks on end), but there doesn’t seem to be a way to fit the snow into some nice, balmy, eighty degree temperatures.

This year the cold seems to have brought out every ache and pain in my weary body. I am in sad need of some chiropractic help. Couple that with the fact that I am surrounded by young college students, many who don’t seem to notice the cold. I’m sure you’ve all seen someone walking around campus in ten degree weather, who seems to be oblivious to the cold as they wear shorts or a skimpy skirt. As a mother of three, I want to look at them and ask, “Does your mother know you’re not dressed for the weather?” or hail non-sensical mother antedotes at them about catching their death of cold.

I am proud to announce that, as old as I feel, we celebrated my 92 year old grandfather’s birthday yesterday. He has been through two by-pass surgeries, carotid artery surgery, numerous back surgeries, a masectomy and the chemotherapy that followed, nearly life-long, insulin dependant diabetes and having a pacemaker installed, just to name a few. He has lived through many wars, many new inventions and technology, and the depression. Through it all, he and my grandmother are still living in their own residence and he still drives (God help us all!) them to the store and all of their appointments. I hope to make it to that age! It just goes to show, you’re only as old as you feel!

…and you can be too!

This last weekend I traveled downtown to watch the production of Betrayal by Harold Pinter. It is a funny and painful analysis of a marriage and a lifelong friendship gone horribly awry. The small but skilled cast features Glacity Theatre Collective members Pamela Tomassetti, Ben Pryor, Dave DeChristopher, and Dyrk Ashton.

You can still see it for yourself next weekend from Thursday, January 28th thru Saturday, January 30th at 8PM at the Valentine Theatre. Tickets are $20 and are available at the door or by visiting the Valentine Theatre website.

For more information go to Glacity Theatre Collective or the UT News.

The Glacity’s next production will be Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett and will be shown weekends in June.

The semester is heating up and students are stressing over trying to get every project done in time for the end of the semester. Sometimes, taking a little time to relax and enjoy some down time is a great refresher. I have the perfect “down time” solution for you! I would like to invite everyone to sit back and enjoy the music this Saturday evening in Doermann Theatre as the High School Honors Choir performs.  Before they begin, the UT Women’s Chorus (led by Mr. William Schwepe) and the UT Men’s Chorus (led by Dr. Stephen Hodge) will perform. Please join us – we hope to sing to a full house.  

 The performance begins at 8 PM on Saturday, November 7^th, and will be held in Doermann Theatre in University Hall. See you there!

As this Halloween weekend rapidly approaches, I have one thought in mind: I get an entire additional hour of time this weekend! That’s because this weekend is when we switch from Daylight Savings Time to Eastern Standard Time. Everyone gets an extra hour of sleep, hanging with friends, doing homework, or Trick-or-Treating. This is extremely appreciated seeing as how I am working both Saturday and Sunday this weekend and that means getting up at 4:30 AM each day. Sleeping an hour later Sunday will seem like heaven!    Don’t forget to set your clocks back before you go to sleep Saturday night.

Summer flew by and campus is abuzz with this fall’s record 23,064 new and returning students.  In an effort to unify our college community and celebrate the UT college experience, President Jacobs is encouraging everyone to participate in “Rocket Fridays.”

Getting involved is easy; just wear Midnight Blue & Gold every Friday to show your pride in your college. Everyone can get involved – students, staff, and faculty – young and old.

Join me and Rocky in showing your true colors, and display that Rocket Pride every Friday! 

 GO ROCKETS!!

Last November, I was challenged by Dr. Nicholas Kissoff, director of the Construction Engineering Technology program, to predict the next 70 degree day. I chose a March day earlier than he chose. Luckily, for those of us in Ohio who await spring from the first of January on, the 70 degree day came earlier in March than EITHER of us predicted! Naturally, it was short-lived, but still enough to take the prize, and thus, Dr. Kissoff treated me to tea at Starbucks earlier this summer.

During our conversation I found that Dr. Kissoff began as a student here at The University of Toledo in 1976 and his life has been entangled with the university ever since. After completing his bachelor’s degree here, he completed both masters and doctorate degrees here in 1983 and 1988. After working at SSOE, he has been a professor here at the university since 1999, and has been director of the Construction Engineering Technology program for the last nine years. A couple of interesting tidbits of information about Dr. Kissoff: He was a site engineer for the building of The Glass Bowl as well as being Rocky the Rocket! Click here for Dr. Kissoff’s Home Page: http://cset.sp.utoledo.edu/~nkissoff/ 

Talking with Dr. Kissoff, I found that there’s a lot going on in the Engineering College and specifically in the Engineering Technology programs. The big news right now is the move of the programs’ more than 1,000 students from Scott Park Campus to the Main Campus. Renovation is underway with students expected to begin classes here this upcoming fall semester. Click here for more information and photos of the renovation: http://www.et.utoledo.edu/newLocation.html

This last spring, the Construction Engineering Technology students participated in The Student Steel Bridge Competition. The Student Steel Bridge Competition is an annual competition sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). At the college level, students work together to design, fabricate, build and test a scale model steel bridge meeting the specifications set by the AISC/ASCE for that year’s competition.

This fall, please join me in welcoming our Engineering Technology faculty and students as they make the move to Main Campus!

A few weeks ago, the Tau Sigma National Honor Society participated in the March of Dime’s March for Babies as one of its annual service projects. It was a beautiful day for a walk!

I included pictures of some of our members prior to the start of the event.

Ashley Adams, T.C. Hops & Justin Brickner

Ashley Adams, Justin Brickner & Robin Utendorf

It’s not to late to donate:  https://www.marchofdimes.com/howtohelp/donate_online.asp

The amazingly nice weather has begun just as the semester is coming to a close. It’s hard to concentrate on all the studying and papers and projects that need completed when you’d rather be out enjoying the sunshine. Maybe I can try to figure out a way to combine them.

It looks to be a busy weekend for me. Besides the end of semester rush, my son has a track meet, my daughter has a band concert, and I am working nights Friday and Saturday both. On top of that, the Tau Sigma National Honor Society is participating in the March of Dimes March for Babies at the Lucas County Rec Center Sunday morning, so I am planning on walking three miles on no sleep.

Check back in with me next week when I post pictures from our March for Babies!

So far this semester has been crazy busy. In the admissions office we are travelling far and wide to promote the UT Guarantee program and I am visiting community college campuses several times a week. While we are still travelling, this week’s spring break has offered me a chance to catch up on a few things while I am not attending classes. One of the things I need to catch up on is writing here.

I would like to share with you an opportunity I had a couple of weeks ago. I attended a benefit dinner at Georgio’s Cafe for the Catherine S. Eberly Center for Women. It was their first annual event and it was very well attended. For those who attended and gave so generously, thank you. This fundraiser was a huge success! Seated at my table were:

• Larry Burns, Vice President for External Affairs
• Larry’s wife, Judy
• Kevin Kucera, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services
• Kathy Bielski, External Affairs Financial Director
• Kaye Patten Wallace, Vice President for Student Affairs
• Larry Sykes, Community Activist
• Chris Henderson, Associate Director for Adult Student Admissions
• Ardelia Schuler-Freeman, Admissions Recruiter

The food was delicious and the surrounding company was engaging. Music was performed by a University of Toledo Jazz Student Trio comprised of Jeff Hart, Johnathan Jelinger, and Mike Thurber.

The purpose of the Eberly Center is to serve women of The University of Toledo and the surrounding Toledo communities by advocating for women’s equity on education, work, and health. Their primary goal is to support women in their efforts to achieve their highest potential.

 For more information about the Catherine S. Eberly Center for Women.