Date: 01/31/2005

Political science professor Terry Christensen and Phil Trounstine, director of SJSU’s Survey and Policy Research Institute, have been invited to serve on the statewide Steering Committee of the Voices of Reform, a Commonwealth Club of California project to improve California governance. According to Christensen, the committee is discussing political reforms ranging from redistricting to campaign finance, term limits, the initiative process and civic education. Contact Christensen at terrychr@email.sjsu.edu and Trounstine at phil.trounstine@sjsu.edu.

Ken Dowlin, associate director for the Southern Calif. program of the School of Library and Information Science, has been appointed to the jury to select the architects for the Cultural Center project in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city. According to Dowlin, the project is a special trust to meet the cultural needs of the University of Guadalajara, the inhabitants of Zapopan and Guadalajara and to serve more than 22 million people near Guadalajara. The Cultural Center complex will include a state public library. Contact Dowlin at kdowlin@slis.sjsu.edu.

Assistant Professor Amy Glazer is directing Rebecca Gilman's new play, "The Sweetest Swing in Baseball," which opens on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at the Magic Theatre, in San Francisco, where Glazer is an artistic associate. Gilman's show, which debuted last March at London's Royal Court Theatre with X FILES star Gillian Anderson in the lead, is about an artist who ends up in a mental hospital when her latest exhibition flops. This production is the U.S. premiere. Glazer, who has directed two previous works by Gilman, says, "Working on new plays in their early stages of development is as exciting and fulfilling as it gets." Tickets are available at http://www.magictheatre.org or call 415-441-8822.