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BU Theatre gets a summer makeover

This fall, the Boston University Theatre -- home of the Huntington Theatre Company -- will celebrate the Huntington's 20th anniversary in style. The entire interior is being painted with vibrant blues and highlighted with brilliant gold detail.

In addition to fresh paint, the men's room in the downstairs lobby is being renovated, custom-made bars are being installed in the lobbies, and the mainstage lighting and sound are being replaced with state-of-the-art systems. Externally, the theater will be adorned with attractive new banners.

"We want to thank Boston University for undertaking this ambitious project, and look forward to welcoming our patrons to see the transformation themselves in September," says Michael Maso, Huntington managing director. The Huntington season begins on September 7 with the Broadway musical James Joyce's The Dead (see Calendar).

The theater building was designed and constructed as America's first civic playhouse, and it opened to the public on November 10, 1925. Originally named the Repertory Theatre of Boston, it was built as a permanent home for the Henry Jewett Players, a Boston-based repertory company. Beset by financial difficulties and with the increasing popularity of movies, the theater was used mainly as a movie house in the '30s and '40s.

In October 1953, BU purchased the facility and resumed using it for theatrical productions. The theater was extensively restored and modernized in the early '70s, including a new stage lighting system, air conditioning, interior and exterior painting, and the replacement of all carpets and seats (which were again replaced in 1993).

The Huntington Theatre Company opened its first production, Tom Stoppard's Night and Day, on October 23, 1982. The company now presents a six-play season, five of which are performed at the BU Theatre.

BU astronomy department receives $500,000 grant

The Los Angeles-based W. K. Keck Foundation, one of the nation's largest philanthropic organizations interested in engineering, science, and medical advancement, recently awarded the CAS astronomy department a $500,000 grant to develop Mimir, a powerful state-of-the-art wide-field imaging spectrometer and polarimeter. BU's astronomy department grants the third-largest number of astronomy degrees in the country.

When completed in the spring of 2002, Mimir will enable BU researchers, under a partnership with the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, to conduct large infrared surveys of magnetic fields in space. These surveys will shed new light on the most important of all galactic events: the formation of stars.

Designed for use on the Lowell Observatory's 72-inch Perkins telescope, Mimir will be available to scientists at both BU and the observatory, with researchers from each location taking turns using the instrument every other night for the next five years. Together, the Perkins telescope and Mimir will form the world's newest and best system for conducting large surveys of magnetic fields in space and for collecting light.

"With the Keck Foundation award, the Mimir instrument on the Perkins telescope will be a superb combination for taking wide-field, panoramic infrared images," says Dan Clemens, a CAS associate professor of astronomy and the principal investigator on the Mimir project. "This wide-field capability will make Mimir uniquely suited to provide the large-scale context needed to understand how and where stars form in our Milky Way galaxy."

College Eating 101

The nation's leading Web-savvy nutritionist, Joan Salge-Blake -- a.k.a. "Ask Joan" at Thrive Online (www.thriveonline.com) -- offers the following tips to college students on how to eat healthy while juggling a hectic class schedule and sticking to a tight budget. Salge-Blake is an adjunct clinical assistant professor of nutrition at Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

• Set your alarm to rise and dine! Chow down at the campus cafeteria on an energy-packed morning meal that includes whole grain cereal, low-fat or skim milk, and fruit. Grab an extra piece of fruit on the way out for a quick-energy snack between classes.
• A lunch consisting of only a sandwich doesn't make the grade -- unless you include veggies with lean deli sandwich meat and wrap it all up in a whole grain pita pocket.
• Your nutrition score goes up whenever you add a salad on the side at lunch and dinner.
• No bones about it -- that calcium-filled skim milk is much better for you than soda. And ounce for ounce, sugar-sweetened sodas have more calories than skim milk.
• Stock your dorm fridge with only fruits and veggies. Make sweets and treats rewards for eating well.

SAR prof promotes backpack safety partnership

The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and the L. L. Bean Company have teamed up to raise awareness about safe and healthy ways for users to carry backpacks by producing a brochure with tips for properly selecting, loading, and wearing a backpack.

Karen Jacobs, a SAR clinical associate professor of occupational therapy and former AOTA president, pioneered the partnership with L. L. Bean and worked closely with the company through all stages of the project. Two years ago, Jacobs initiated a consumer fact sheet on proper backpack usage, and later decided to take the idea to L. L. Bean.

"L. L. Bean was very receptive regarding my idea to provide free education on backpack safety with its product," says Jacobs. "The partnership is a good match."

The brochures are being distributed in L. L. Bean stores and mailed to occupational therapists in schools across the country. The same information appears on hangtags attached directly to backpacks, in L. L. Bean catalogs, and at www.llbean.com and www.aota.org.

31 August 2001
Boston University
Office of University Relations