MOUNT VERNON — Cornell College is one of the nation’s “best value” undergraduate institutions, The Princeton Review announced Monday, April 18. The New York-based education services company chose Cornell as one of 81 schools it recommends in the 2006 edition of its book, “ America’s Best Value Colleges,” which goes on sale today.

The book includes public and private colleges and universities in 35 states. Colleges were judged on over 30 factors. The Princeton Review’s ratings cover four categories: academics, tuition, financial aid and student borrowing.

“We want students to choose Cornell based on how well we can serve their interests and abilities. It is also important for families to appreciate the long-term investment as well as the short-term costs represented by a college choice,” said Jonathan Stroud, vice president for enrollment. “Through Cornell’s attractive merit scholarship and need-based financial assistance programs, we are confident that we can make it financially feasible for any qualified student to enroll.”

Recognized as one of the nation’s finest colleges, Cornell has enjoyed four consecutive years of record applications for admission. The college is distinctive in U.S. higher education in offering the combination of liberal arts and pre-professional study within the focus and flexibility provided by the One-Course-At-A-Time framework. Cornell was founded in 1853 and today is an active, diverse residential community of over 1,150 students.

Cornell also is featured in the Princeton Review’s “The Best 357 Colleges,” Loren Pope’s “Colleges That Change Lives,” Peterson’s “Competitive Colleges,” Kaplan’s “Guide to the 331 Most Interesting Colleges” and Student Horizons’ “Colleges of Distinction.”

MOUNT VERNON — Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich will help Cornell College launch an initiative in the health sciences when he lectures Friday, May 13, at 11 a.m. in King Chapel on “Saving Lives & Saving Money: Transforming Health Care in the 21st Century.”

The lecture is open to the public and will be followed by a book signing. Admission to the lecture is free. Gingrich’s books will be available for purchase at the lecture.

Gingrich’s 2003 book, “Saving Lives & Saving Money,” describes his vision of a 21st-century system of health and health care that is prevention-focused, knowledge-intense, innovation-rich and centered on the individual. Gingrich founded the Center for Health Transformation and serves with former Sen. Bob Kerrey, a Democrat from Nebraska, as co-chairman of the National Commission for Quality Long-term Care.

Cornell’s initiative in the health sciences, called Dimensions: The Center for the Science and Culture of Healthcare, is an innovative program for preparing students for successful careers in the health sciences or professions. It combines a strong foundation in the natural sciences with an uncommon infusion of high-relevance course work in the humanities and social sciences, an aggressive integration of experiential learning and professional sculpting resulting in graduates who will become practitioners who heal patients, not merely treat their disorders, and graduates who will play a role in investigating those disorders.

The program was proposed by Dr. Lawrence D. Dorr of Los Angeles, a world leader in hip and joint replacement surgery and a 1963 Cornell graduate who serves on the Cornell Board of Trustees. In March, Dorr took Cornell students Kent Lehr, a junior from West Des Moines, and Jamie Wallace, a senior from Mount Vernon, on a mission trip to El Salvador where Dorr’s Operation Walk team of physicians performed knee and hip replacements; two more students will travel with Operation Walk to China this summer.

Biology professor Barbara Christie-Pope is director of Dimensions.

Republican Gingrich was first elected to Congress in 1978 and represented Georgia for 20 years. In 1995, he was elected Speaker of the House, serving until 1999. Time magazine named him Man of the Year for 1995. Currently he is chairman of the Gingrich Group, a communications and consulting firm that specializes in transformational change, with offices in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

Gingrich received a bachelor’s degree from Emory University and master’s and doctorate degrees in modern European history from Tulane University. Before his election to Congress, he taught history and environmental studies at West Georgia College for eight years.

Besides “Saving Lives & Saving Money,” Gingrich has written 10 other books, including the best sellers “Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America,” “Contract with America” and “To Renew America.” He is also the author of “ Gettysburg” and “Grant Comes East,” active history studies in the lessons of warfare based on a fictional account of the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath. His latest book, “Never Call Retreat: Lee & Grant, the Final Victory,” is the third book in the series. It is due out in June.

MOUNT VERNON – The Cornell College department of music’s “Music in Italy” concert tour will perform a send-off concert Sunday, April 24, at 3 p.m. in King Chapel. The free concert is a featured part of Golden Alumni Weekend.

Under the direction of Martin Hearne and Lisa Hearne, Cornell Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Singers will tour Italy from May 3 through 18, visiting Rome, Florence and Venice and performing in as many as seven concert venues, including the Basilica of Saint Mark in Venice. The tour group features 46 current students and two alumni.

Sunday’s program will emphasize American musical genres, including works by Aaron Copland and Morton Gould, as well as spirituals and jazz. Works for gospel choir include “Shut de Do’” and “Ain’a that Good News.” Jazz band selections include “One More Time, Chick Corea” by Gene Puerling and “Skin Tone” by Les Hooper.

Along with choir, orchestra and jazz band, featured chamber ensembles include a saxophone quartet playing Lennon/McCartney’s “When I’m Sixty-Four,” and brass quintet, string quartet and string ensemble.

Music in Italy is a course during Cornell’s ninth term team-taught by Martin and Lisa Hearne. Their last European tour was in May 2001 and included Italy, Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic.

MOUNT VERNON — The Cornell College Chamber Singers and Concert Choir will perform their spring concert Sunday, April 17, at 3 p.m. in King Chapel. Admission is free.

The concert will feature as guest performers the Chamber Choir from Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, who will open the program.

The Chamber Singers’ program includes Robert Pearsall’s “Lay a Garland,” “You Are the New Day,” arranged by Peter Knight, and Eric Whitacre’s “Sleep,” performed with the Kennedy choir.

The Concert Choir’s program includes Benjamin Britten’s “Festival Te Deum,” featuring soprano solo by Kate Redfield; “Ain’t Got Time to Die,” arranged by Hall Johnson and featuring tenor solo by Joel Foreman; and Handel’s “Coronation Anthem No. 3: My Heart is Inditing,” featuring soprano Amber Swenson, alto Jennifer Kramer, tenor Joseph Okell and baritone Whitney Thiessen.

The Chamber Singers are led by guest director Storm Ziegler, a 1994 Cornell graduate who is director of choral activities and chairman of the performing arts department at Kennedy. The Concert Choir is led by guest director Anne Lyman, who is assistant conductor of the Kantorei at the University of Iowa, where she is pursuing a doctorate in choral conducting. She is also director of music at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Iowa City.

Accompanist on organ and piano is Lynda Hakken.

MOUNT VERNON — Three Cornell College jazz groups will perform Friday, April 22, at 8 p.m. in Ringer Recital Studio of Armstrong Hall. Admission is free.

The program will feature Experimental Jazz Nonet, the Jazz Combo and the Jazz Ensemble, all under the director of music professor Don Chamberlain. Selections will include works by John Coltrane (“Impressions”), Beto (“Sesos de Huesos”), George and Ira Gershwin (“Summertime”) and Thelonius Monk (“Well You Needn’t”), plus the premier of “One for the Road,” a tune composed and arranged by the Jazz Ensemble.

MOUNT VERNON — An expert on Middle East history who spent 10 months working with the Baghdad City Council to build a democracy after the U.S. invasion of Iraq will speak about his experiences on Monday, April 18, at Cornell College.

Lee Bowie will lecture on “Growing Democracy in Iraq” at 11 a.m. in Shaw Lounge of The Commons. Admission is free.

Bowie is a 1961 Cornell graduate who teaches early and modern Middle Eastern history at the Philadelphia area campus of Penn State University. From July 2003 through April 2004 he worked for the Research Triangle Institute, a private organization funded by the U.S. government and sent into Iraq to build democracy from the ground up. Bowie advised the Baghdad City Council on personnel issues; managed a training center offering courses in computing, management techniques, accounting, budgeting and anti-corruption practices; and trained Iraqis in democratic practices.

Bowie has spent most of his life studying, teaching or living in the Middle East. He taught at American University of Cairo, Egypt, on a Fulbright Scholarship before joining Arabian-American Oil Co. in Saudi Arabia in 1978. He worked in human resources, assisting 300 American employees “on loan” from U.S. companies. In 1987 he returned to the United States for a three-year stint as an executive recruiter. During the 1990s he rejoined the renamed Saudi Arabian-American Oil Co. He began teaching at Penn State’s Philadelphia area campus in 2000.

Bowie ’s visit to Cornell is sponsored by the Lecture, Artists and Cultural Events consortium (LACE) and the Cornell Alumni Student Association (CASA).

MOUNT VERNON — Saxophone ensemble Prism Quartet will perform “Music from the Americas,” featuring Latin American tangos and all-American tunes by Gershwin and Joplin, in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 14, in King Chapel at Cornell College.

This is the final concert in Cornell’s 2004-2005 Music Mondays series. General admission is $8 at the door. Cornell students, faculty and staff are admitted free with ID.

The concert opens with a focus on Latin America, including Astor Piazzolla’s “Four for Tango” and “Tango-Etude No. 4,” along with traditional Colombian songs. The concert closes in North America, featuring Vernon Duke’s “Autumn in New York,” George Gershwin’s “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child” and Scott Joplin’s “The Cascades.”

Prism Quartet presents the saxophone as a serious concert instrument while embracing its rich history in jazz and popular music. Two-time winner of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the ensemble has performed on “Entertainment Tonight,” National Public Radio and in Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Founded in 1984, Prism has served as artists-in-residence at Settlement Music School and the Free Library of Philadelphia since 1994. A Philadelphia Inquirer review described Prism as “four skilled performers with buoyant musical personalities. The performers moved effortlessly between styles. The music was lighthearted, pulsing and wittily colored.”

This tour of Prism Quartet is supported by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Arts Midwest in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

MOUNT VERNON — A record 95 students are scheduled to present research findings at the ninth annual Cornell College Student Symposium on Saturday, April 9, from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. in The Commons. Admission is free to the event, which is open to the public.

The symposium, which originated as a way to spark intellectual conversation and growth on campus, is one of the premier events at Cornell. This year there will be 75 presentations, either as lectures of about 20 minutes apiece summarizing projects and their findings, or as poster presentations offering visual displays of projects along with explanatory comments.

The lectures will take place at three sessions (9 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 1:15 p.m.) in Hedges Conference Room, Harlan Dining Room, Shaw Lounge and the Rathskeller; poster presentations will occur at two sessions (9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 2:45 p.m.) on the Orange Carpet.

Topics include the history and efficacy of the No Child Left Behind legislation; the communist-inspired work ethic of Soviet workers in the 1930s; a biological study that proposes a common species of flies in Iowa may actually be several distinct species, lumped together under one name; and a study that seeks to understand why Caravaggio’s depiction of St. John the Baptist is so different from images of St. John created by other artists.

Several students will present observations from off-campus experiences, including a mission trip to El Salvador to observe U.S. doctors performing knee and hip replacements; research on coral reefs along the coast of western Australia; and a study of the Jordan International Police Training Center in Amman, where prospective members of the Iraqi police force are trained in tactical policing skills and concepts of human rights, democracy and social equality.

After the symposium, Cornell’s Delta of Iowa chapter of Phi Beta Kappa will hold its annual induction ceremony at 3 p.m. in Harlan Dining Room, followed by a reception. Twelve students have been selected for membership based on academic potential, scholarship, creativity, professional attitude and character. Phi Beta Kappa considers members from the top 15 percent of the senior class and the top 5 percent of the junior class.

Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest and most widely respected academic honorary society in the United States. There are 270 Phi Beta Kappa chapters in the United States, including seven in Iowa. Cornell’s Delta of Iowa chapter was the fourth chartered in Iowa, in 1923.

MOUNT VERNON — Bill Morgan, a Holocaust survivor who fled Poland, immigrated to the United States and spent a year in Cedar Rapids under the sponsorship of Jewish community leaders, will speak at Cornell on Wednesday, April 13, at 11 a.m. in Hedges Conference Room of The Commons.

Morgan, a Texas businessman who helped establish the Holocaust Museum Houston, will speak on “Living Longer Than Hate: The Personal Reflections of a Holocaust Survivor.” Admission is free.

He is also scheduled to lecture in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, April 12, at 11 a.m. at Kirkwood Community College, 234 Cedar Hall, and at 1:30 p.m. at Jefferson High School; Wednesday, April 13, at 7:30 p.m. at Mount Mercy College, Cherry Heritage Hall; and Thursday, April 14, at 10 a.m. at Washington High School and at 1:15 p.m. at Coe College, Hickok Hall’s Kesler Room. Morgan will deliver the Yom Hashoah service Thursday night at Community of Christ Church in Hiawatha.

Morgan was one of seven children in a poor Jewish family in the Ukraine, part of Poland at the onset of World War II. All of the Jews in his village were sent to the Stanislawow ghetto. As a teen, he was forced to dig graves for Jews awaiting execution. One day he fled, leaving his family behind, and posed as a Christian under assumed names to find jobs. At war’s end, he left Poland, lived for four years in Germany and immigrated to the United States in 1949. He was brought to Cedar Rapids under the sponsorship of downtown shoe store owner Sam Cohen and other Jewish community leaders. He stayed a year, selling shoes and teaching himself English.

In 1950 he landed in Houston, and a decade later he founded a construction company. The Morgan Group Inc. became a multistate, multimillion-dollar housing construction company.

Morgan is intensely dedicated to keeping the remembrance message alive. He self-published a book in 1997, “Living Longer Than Hate,” and played a fundamental role in establishing the Holocaust Museum Houston. He raised funds for the museum and his company helped build the structure.

Morgan’s visit to eastern Iowa is sponsored by the Thaler Holocaust Memorial Fund, Cedar Rapids’ Jewish-Christian Dialogue Group and Cornell’s Chaplain’s Office, German Club and Cornell Hillel.

MOUNT VERNON — Mark Grey, a University of Northern Iowa anthropology professor who helps communities and businesses accommodate immigrants and refugees, will speak Wednesday, March 9, at Cornell College.

His lecture, “Welcoming Iowa’s Future and the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration,” is at 7 p.m. in Hedges Conference Room of The Commons. Admission is free.

Grey helped develop the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration at UNI. The center sponsors research, provides consultation to communities, conducts training programs and educates Iowans about challenges and opportunities of the state’s newest immigrants.

Grey also wrote a handbook, “Welcoming New Iowans — A Guide for Citizens and Communities.” The book discusses three issues most commonly associated with immigration – language, health and education – and advises community leaders on preparing for the change immigration brings. Success stories from Iowa communities are included in the book.

Grey’s lecture is part of Cornell’s ongoing series “Social Change in the New Century,” organized by the department of sociology and anthropology. Co-sponsors are the ethnic studies program, the Latin American studies program, the Office of Intercultural Life and the Lecutre, Artists and Cultural Events (LACE) consortium.