Brass faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi will partner with virtuoso trombonist Wycliffe Gordon to conduct a live streaming event on Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. USM will stream the panel discussion free on the School of Music’s Facebook page at facebook.com/USMSchoolofMusic.

Gordon is a former member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and has been a featured guest artist on Billy Taylor's "Jazz at the Kennedy Center" Series. He is a visiting artist in jazz studies at Arizona State University in Phoenix and is director of jazz studies at Augusta University in Augusta, Ga.

In 2015, Gordon received the Satchmo award from the Sarasota Jazz Club as well as the Louis Armstrong Memorial Prize from the Swing Jazz Culture Foundation. The Augusta Arts Council named him Artist of the Year in 2015. He received the International Trombone Association Award in 2017 and received the “Louie Award” for his commitment to the music of Louis Armstrong in 2018. He is also a past recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Vanguard Award.

For more information, email Ben McIlwain at [email protected].

USM Virtual 2020 National Sports Safety and Security Conference

The University of Southern Mississippi's National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security will host the 2020 National Sports Safety and Security Conference. The virtual conference will take place from Oct. 12 to Oct. 14 and will be available on-demand for 12 months after the event ends.

Keynote speakers include former U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Thomas P. Bossert and Don Garber, commissioner of Major League Soccer.

Conference presentations will include the realities of COVID-19 and its effects on the sport and entertainment industry as well as concerts and live events; solutions for safely reconvening sports and entertainment events; preparation for the NHL restart and NBA start; and the challenges that experts in health, safety, fan experience, law enforcement and venue operations have had to handle during the pandemic.

On day two of the conference, guests will choose from one of six breakout sessions covering topics such as leveraging data for safety and security to disinfecting large venues, risk management and leveraging technology.

The complete agenda is available on the conference website, including all topics, speaker bios and information on the presentations. Registration is $199 for NCS4 Connect members and $249 for non-members. Visit ncs4.usm.edu/conference to register or for additional information.

MSU Revises 2021 Spring Academic Calendar

Mississippi State University recently announced that it is modifying its spring 2021 academic calendar due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The university is starting the semester on time but ending it sooner as a health and safety measure.

Classes will begin on Jan. 6 and end on April 19. The university has cancelled spring break due to the pandemic, a release from MSU says. The revisions will allow the semester to end a week earlier than MSU originally planned.

In response to an MSU Student Association resolution requesting the Monday after Easter as a day to spend time with family, no classes will take place on April 5. MSU will also be closed to observe state holidays on Jan. 18 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the Friday before Easter, April 2. The MSU-Meridian commencement ceremony will take place on April 29 and the Starkville campus ceremony will take place on April 30.

April 19 will be the final day to apply for April 2021 graduation, and final exams will take place from April 22 to April 28.

For more information, visit this link.

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