Eugénia Hunsicker, assistant professor of mathematics, has received the Mathematical Association of America’s Trevor Evans Award, which recognizes authors of “exceptional articles that are accessible to undergraduates” and published in the association’s journal, Math Horizons. Hunsicker was honored for “Simplicity Is Not Simple,” which she co-wrote with Laura Taalman of James Madison University. The article, published in the September 2002 edition of Math Horizons, examines the mathematics behind modular architecture — from geodesic domes to modern space-efficient buildings — and speculates on how such architecture may someday help house the world.

Pianist Joseph Ross, ’06, and violinist Vincent Soler, ’07, were co-winners of the tenth annual Lawrence University Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and are performing as soloists in LSO concerts in January and May, respectively. Ross, from Appleton, and Soler, a native of Montbonnet, France, were chosen from nine finalists. Lawrence Conservatory faculty members serve as judges for the competition, in which each finalist is required to memorize a full concerto and then play from memory up to 15 minutes worth of any part or parts of the concerto chosen by the judges.

The former Alliance Church building, now the site of Appleton Classical Charter School, was dedicated in November as the Ken Sager Center, to honor Kenneth R. W. Sager, ’39, professor emeritus of education, who taught at Appleton High School for 21 years and at Lawrence for 38 before retiring in 2001. He also was the longest-serving member of the Appleton Board of Education, with a tenure of 39 years.

Lawrence Art Director Marsha Tuchscherer received an Award of Excellence from the University and College Designers Association (UCDA) for her logo design for the Lawrence Academy of Music. The logo was one of 201 award-winners selected from more than 1,500 entries in UCDA’s annual design competition.

President Richard Warch served as master of ceremonies for a community address by former Soviet president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mikhail Gorbachev to a sold-out audience at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in October. Gorbachev’s appearance at the PAC served as the keynote address for a three-day International Community Partnerships Conference that drew delegates from across the United States and from Russia. Organized by the Fox Cities-Kurgan Sister Cities Program, Inc., the conference focused on five grassroots community partnerships involving the American cities of Appleton and La Crosse, Wis., Oak Ridge (Blount County), Tenn., Livermore, Calif., and Los Alamos, N.M. Their Russian sister city partners — Kurgan/Shchuchye, Dubna, Zhelezneogorsk, Snezhinsk, and Sarov — are located near massive stockpiles of Cold War-era chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and/or were the site of Soviet weapons development programs. Days two and three of the conference, held on the Lawrence campus, concluded with the launching of a collaborative organization, Communities for International Development, aimed at better coordinating sister city efforts to help build economically and socially stable Russian communities where such weapons of mass destruction are housed.