Today's Stories:
Follett Higher Education Group New RU Bookstore Operator
Sun, Fun and Friends Highlight Weekend of Activity
IT Students Receive State Awards for Innovation
Music Professors Collaborate on Solo Recital
Interior Design and Fashion Lists Accomplishments
RU Groups Help Clean Up New River
RU Sustainability: "You Have the ABILITY!"
Athletics Update
My Research: by Karen Francl and Craig Bland
Alumni News: Alum President of National Federation of Press Women
Kudos: Senior Rafael Rodriguez-Santos
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Today's Top News

RU Announces New Affiliation with Follett Higher
Education Group as RU Bookstore Operator
Radford University has awarded the contract for management of its bookstore operations to Follett Higher Education Group. The six-year contract award is the result of competitive negotiations to replace the current contract that expires Saturday, Oct. 31. The contract between RU and Follett Higher Education Group will begin Nov. 1 and run through May 31, 2015.

"Follett has a very large footprint in this segment and we're looking forward to working with them here at Radford University," said Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Vice President for Finance and Administration Richard Alvarez. "We are also asking our faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends to plan for the one-week shutdown that will be required in order to support the transition."

To learn more, see the RU News Release.

Campus News

Sun, Fun and Friends Highlight Weekend
of Activity at RU and in Radford
Alumni, student families and guests joined the RU community of students, faculty and staff for a festive weekend that included the first-ever Welcome Back Reunion Weekend, the 14th annual Highlanders Festival and Family Weekend. An estimated 11,000 people visited campus and enjoyed activities ranging from a downtown parade and lacrosse reunions to ceremonial activities like the "Donning of the Ring," in which RU students donned their class rings for the first time.

See Story and Photos for more information and a photo slide show of the weekend's activities.

IT Students Receive State Awards for Innovation
Computer science majors Daniel Burgess and David Payne received $1,000 first runner up and $500 third-place prizes, respectively, in Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's "Learning Apps Development Challenge" this summer. The iPhone applications were designed under the mentorship of Matt Dunleavy in the College of Education and Human Development as a part of the Gaming, Animation, Modeling and Simulations Lab at Radford University. To learn more, see the RU News Release.

Music Professors Collaborate on Solo Recital; Event Provides Opportunity to Address Breast Cancer Awareness
Music professors Nitza Kats and David Otis Castonguay will present a solo voice recital on Monday, Oct. 12, at 8 p.m., in the Covington Performance Hall. This is the first time the two have collaborated on a solo recital. The recital features Schumann's song cycle Liederkreis, op. 39, a group of songs based on poems by the German Romantic poet Eichendorff. Written in 1840, most of the song reflects on love, courtship and marriage. To learn more, see the RU News Release.

Interior Design and Fashion Lists Accomplishments
The Radford University Department of Interior Design and Fashion's chair Lennie Scott-Webber with faculty member Julie Temple and Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning's Krista Terry and Charles Cosmato have received a $48,000 donation from Steelcase Inc.'s Education Solutions Group for the iLAB research facility at RU. This donation, channeled through the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning, will focus on understanding pedagogy in interactive learning environments. To read more about recent activities in the department, see the RU News Release.

RU Groups Help Clean Up New River
A number of volunteers from Radford University recently pitched in to clean out a stretch of the New River. The RU volunteers joined forces with other volunteer groups to form clean-up crews who paddled along the river in canoes and kayaks picking debris from shallow areas and along banks. The crews filled more than 50 bags with trash and picked up such items as tires, a mattress, a shopping cart, a stove top and various metal pipes. Radford City Tourism Director Deb Cooney helped coordinate the cleanup with the National Committee of the New River.

RU Sustainability: "You Have the ABILITY!"
This edition of "You Have the ABILITY!" focuses on saving energy and water.

• Take advantage of this weekend's Energy Star/Water Sense appliance Virginia sales-tax holiday from October 9-12 to purchase high-efficiency appliances and products.
• Buy only Energy Star certified appliances (refrigerators, computers, TVs, etc.) and lessen your carbon footprint.
• Buy only Water Sense certified items (showerheads, faucets, toilets, irrigation systems, etc.) and consume less water.
• Share appliances with your roommates or coworkers.

Last year, RU spent more than $140,000 in electricity, $35,000 in water and $7,000 in paper costs every month. Every kilowatt of electricity, gallon of water or sheet of paper saved is money that can be used for instructional and support services at RU. For more information on RU' s sustainability activities, visit www.radford.edu/rugreen.

"You Have the ABILITY!" is a weekly reminder from RU Green and RU's Sustainability Steering Committee about how each of us can help reduce RU's operating costs and contribute to global sustainability by saving electricity, water and supplies.

Radford Athletics Update
Radford scored three unanswered goals in the second half, breaking a scoreless streak of 594 minutes in the process, for a 3-1 win over Virginia Tech Tuesday night in non-conference men's soccer at Cupp Stadium. "This was a performance that I was very proud of," head coach Spencer Smith said. "I thought we fought from the first whistle to the very end." See RU Sports News for more.

Senior Justine Dugger knocked in a penalty kick in the 86th minute lifting Radford to a 1-0 win over Presbyterian in Big South women's soccer action on Sunday afternoon at Cupp Stadium.

Junior Kay Tufts scored in the 58th minute and Radford held off a furious rally to defeat UC Davis, 2-1, Sunday afternoon at Davidson's Belk Turf Field.

See RU Athletics for more on these and other RU Sports stories.

My Research

Biology Professor Karen Francl and Student Craig Bland
Observe Bats for White Nose Syndrome
My Research is a new periodic feature in RU Today that gives faculty and students a chance to share their research with the university community. Today, biology Professor Karen Francl and senior Craig Bland provide a first-person account of their summer studies of endangered bats in northern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Read more>>

If you would like to share your research with the campus community, contact RU Today.

Alumni News

Price Elected President of National Federation of Press Women
Cynthia Price '87 of Richmond was elected president of the 1,500-member National Federation of Press Women during its annual conference in September. Price will serve as president through 2011, and is only the second Virginia president of the organization in its 70-year history. Read More>>

Kudos

Accounting Student Awarded Virginia CPA Society Scholarship
Rafael Rodriguez-Santos, a senior accounting major from Logan, Ohio, was awarded a $500 scholarship at the recent "Student Night," hosted by the Roanoke Chapter of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA.) "Rafael had a very good background, internship portfolio, GPA and record of community involvement," said Tracy Spradlin, president of the VSCPA Roanoke chapter. "And is the kind of CPA candidate the VSCPA wants to encourage." To learn more, see the RU News Release.

The Back Page

In October 1997, the RU theatre is named in honor of Nancy Necessary Pridemore.

RU in the News

WDBJ 7
Scots-Irish traditions celebrated at Radford Highlanders Festival
The Highlanders Festival draws attention to Scots-Irish traditions, and this year it was a special celebration coinciding with Radford University's 100th Anniversary.

The Roanoke Times
Kilts, cabers, competition at the Radford Highlanders Festival
The Scottish games are a big draw at the Radford Highlanders Festival.

Recent Releases from University Relations

SHS Completes First Seasonal Flu Clinic >>Story

Variety of Arts Events Coming in October >>Story

Coming Up at RU

10/2-10, Lend Me a Tenor
10/10, MSOC vs. UNC Asheville
10/12, Faculty Recital
10/13, VB vs. N.C. Central
10/16, VB vs. Presbyterian
10/16, WSOC vs. Winthrop
10/16-18, Black Alumni Weekend
10/17, FH vs. Davidson
10/18, WSOC vs. Gardner-Webb
10/20, VB vs. Liberty
10/21, MSOC vs. VMI
10/21, Son of Ballyhoo II
(See RU Calendar for more information and listings)

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