29th Great Plains Regional Conference
March 27-28, 2010
Emporia State University
Emporia, Kansas
Emporia State University is a comprehensive Regents university providing leadership in quality instruction, related scholarship, and service. More than 6,000 students are enrolled in outstanding programs in education, business, arts and sciences, library science and information management.
ESU's Department of Music is housed in Beach Music Hall, a three-story building constructed in 1926.Beach Music Hall houses Heath Recital Hall, offices, classrooms, faculty studios, the Hendricks Music Computer Lab, piano lab, and individual and chamber practice rooms.
Renovations and additions to the structure were completed in 1999. The Shepherd Music Center addition houses both choral and instrumental rehearsal rooms, two sectional rehearsal rooms, percussion studio, recording center, music score libraries, and instrument storage.
Emporia, Kansas is located midway between Kansas City and Wichita on the Kansas Turnpike, the front door to the Flint Hills region of east-central Kansas. The nearby Tallgrass Prairie Preserve protects a nationally significant remnant of the once vast tallgrass prairie and its cultural resources. Emporia is the county seat of Lyon County, with a total county population of approximately 35,500.
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We are delighted to announce that the conference keynote will be delivered by Sherrie Tucker, Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Kansas. Dr. Tucker's address will be drawn from her current book project entitled Dance Floor Democracy: The Social Geography of Memory at the Hollywood Canteen. According to Dr. Tucker, "it is an oral history of people who danced at the USO-like night club in the 1940s, and how they connect their memories of dancing to swing music (sometimes across race--usual for the 1940s) with their ideas about American democracy. My own larger question about the dance floor has to do with the staying power of swing memory as national memory in the US, especially in times of recruiting public opinion for war."
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There is no official conference hotel for the Great Plains Regional Conference. Emporia, Kansas has a number of reasonably priced hotels that are conveniently located. The following list provides attendees with the contact information for accommodations with a variety of price-ranges. It is recommended that you make your reservations as early as possible .
Prices are subject to change and do not include taxes.
Candlewood Suites
2602 Candlewood Dr
(620) 343-7756
$79.99
Guesthouse Inn
2700 W. 18th Ave.
(620) 343-2200
$65.00
Comfort Inn
2836 W. 18th Ave.
(620) 342-9700
$84.95, aarp rate: $76.96
Econo Lodge
2511 W. 18th Ave.
(620) 343-7750
$54.99
Holiday Inn Express
2921 W. 18th
(620) 341-9393
$99.00
Fairfield Inn
2930 Eaglecrest Dr.
(620) 342-4445
$79.00
All of the above hotels have easy access to I-35 and a short trip east to the Hwy. 99 exit and the ESU Campus.
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Questions regarding this conference should be directed to Peggy A. Holloway, GP Program Chair.
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