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The International Writers Project at Brown University presents Under the Tongue: A Festival of Literature from Africa, on April 15 and 16, 2008. This series of readings and discussions will feature award-winning African novelists Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria), Nuruddin Farah (Somalia), and Chenjerai Hove (Zimbabwe); poet Jack Mapanje (Malawi); and playwrights Pierre Mumbere Mujomba (Congo) and Charles Mulekwa (Uganda). All events are free and open to the public.
Students at Brown University have organized a two-day conference to promote environmental sustainability. The conference brings together a wide range of environmental leaders, including Ira Magaziner, chairman of the Clinton Global Initiative; U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse; Gov. Donald Carcieri; and Adam Werbach, global CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi.
Author and former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw will speak on Monday, April 21, 2008. at 6 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. The lecture, sponsored by the Office of the President, is free and open to the public. At 5 p.m., prior to the lecture, Brokaw will sign copies of his books Boom! and The Greatest Generation in Sayles Hall.
Bolivian President Evo Morales will deliver a Stephen A. Ogden '60 Memorial Lecture on April 22, 2008, at 4 p.m. in Sayles Hall. Morales is the first indigenous head of state in Bolivia's history. His talk comes as part of a University-wide focus on Latin American issues.
Brown University engineering students have organized the campus's first Edible Car Competition, in which teams build and race vehicles made out of food – with materials ranging from bagels to butternut squash.
Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman will speak about the environment on April 22, 2008, at 6 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101.
The Brown University Graduate School has received a $571,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to continue a program that supports graduate students during the writing of their dissertations.
Writer Carlos Fuentes and former heads of state from Chile and Spain join dozens of historians, literary scholars, and writers from Europe and the Americas at Brown University April 9-12, 2008 for a conference to celebrate the bicentenary of Latin American independence.
Tommy Thompson, former U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services and former Wisconsin governor, delivers the Dr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Barnes Jr. Lecture in Public Health on Tuesday, April 8, 2008. The lecture begins at 4 p.m. in Andrews Hall and is free and open to the public.
Brown University for the first time hosts the 34th Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference on April 4-6, 2008. The gathering includes talks on the latest advances in bioengineering research and nanotechnology, such as the "printing" of human organs from ink jets and a new, injectable method for relieving lower back pain.
Researchers at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and at Rhode Island Hospital have discovered a gene that appears to be directly linked to the development of Parkinson's disease in people with a family history of the disease. The gene is one of only a handful linked to Parkinson's and one of just two genes known to be a common contributor to this degenerative disease, which has no known cause or cure.
Lebanese artist Walid Raad juxtaposes video and still images, truth and fiction in his solo show at Brown University's Bell Gallery. Raad, who focuses on the history of Beirut bombings and the post-9/11 political landscape, will give a presentation at the show's opening on April 9, 2008.
Brown University and six other academic research institutions today released a report that concludes that five years of flat funding for the National Institutes of Health puts a generation of science at risk. The report, released at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., also warns about the consequences of continued lack of action on the nation's biomedical budget.
Brown and the University of Cape Town have entered into a five-year partnership that will improve and deliver business education to entrepreneurs in Africa, particularly to women. The partnership is part of a larger international initiative led by Goldman Sachs to increase the number of underserved women receiving a business and management education.
High school students in seven states will bring their opinions on global issues from the classroom to the statehouse, directly to elected officials and civic leaders. These statehouse visits are part of the 10th annual Capitol Forum on America's Future, an initiative of the Choices Program at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.
Brown University applied mathematicians have found a new way to sift through mountains of data and draw reliable inferences from it – a Holy Grail in science and technology. Their pioneering work, the development of a new class of statistical estimators, could lead to better methods for analyzing the large data sets that are increasingly common in fields from biology to business. Results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Corporation of Brown University has endorsed a set of "Phase II" recommendations that extend the University's strategic Plan for Academic Enrichment. The Corporation also approved the proposed budget for fiscal 2009, set tuition and fees, and formally accepted a number of significant gifts.
The Corporation of Brown University has approved a new financial aid policy that eliminates loans for students whose family incomes are less than $100,000, reduces loans for all students who receive financial aid and no longer requires a parental contribution from most families with incomes of up to $60,000.
Brown's undergraduate tuition and fees for 2008-09 will rise 3.9 percent to $47,740. The Corporation has also authorized a higher endowment payout for fiscal 2009 to sustain momentum for the University's continuing investments in academic enrichment.
The Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women is celebrating Women's History Month 2008 with an exhibit highlighting the historical achievements of Brown and Rhode Island women. Disturbances: An Exhibit of Select Materials from the Christine Dunlap Farnham Archives is on view at the John Hay Library from Friday, March 14, through Wednesday, April 9, 2008. It is free and open to the public.
Ali A. Allawi, former senior minister in the post-Saddam government of Iraq and author of The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace, will deliver the inaugural Peter Green Lecture on the Modern Middle East. His talk, titled "The Iraq Crisis and the Future Middle East Order," will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008, at 5 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. Allawi will sign copies of his book at 4 p.m. in the lobby.
Writer Michael Pollan will discuss his new best seller, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, in a Feb. 21, 2008, lecture at 6 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. The Committee on Science and Technology Studies is sponsoring Pollan's talk, which is free and open to the public.
Michael S. Harper, University Professor and professor of English at Brown, will be awarded the prestigious 2008 Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America for lifetime achievement in American poetry.
Brown University's Forum for Enterprise is the host of a conference to showcase the latest in "green" technology at the Rhode Island Convention Center on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. The conference brings together the region's top business leaders to address cutting edge topics in this emerging field, from environmentally friendly building to "green ventures" in business.
Researchers at Brown University have found, in a statewide survey of 739 registered Rhode Island voters conducted Feb. 9-10, 2008, that Sen. Hillary Clinton holds a slim lead over Sen. Barack Obama among likely voters in the Rhode Island Democratic primary. The survey also gauges public opinion of national and state leaders, finds opposition to raising the state's general income or sales taxes and finds support for two-year time limits on welfare.
Brown University faculty will present at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the largest scientific gathering in the world, on topics ranging from global health to global warming. AAAS attracts thousands of researchers, policy-makers and journalists. AAAS will be held in Boston Feb. 14-18, 2008.
The John Carter Brown Library at Brown University presents the first of a series of international exhibitions celebrating the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec by Samuel de Champlain. On view in Providence through Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008, Hostile Intimacy: A Century and a Half of Conflict between New France and New England will also travel to Boston and Quebec this year. It is free and open to the public.
Former U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke and John Bolton will discuss the role of the United States within the United Nations on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008, at 3 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. The event is part of the Janus Forum Lecture Series, sponsored by Brown's Political Theory Project. It is free and open to the public.
Brown University has joined the Advancing Robotics Technology for Societal Impact (ARTSI) Alliance supported by the National Science Foundation, in an effort to boost the number of African-American students pursuing computer science and robotics.
David Mumford, a pioneering Brown University mathematician, has won the 2008 Wolf Foundation Prize in Mathematics, one of the world's top science prizes.
A new Brown University study shows that even small health insurance co-payments have a big effect on mammography rates. Rates for receiving these critical breast cancer screening exams were 8 percent lower in plans requiring co-payments compared with plans with full health insurance coverage. Researchers at Brown's Alpert Medical School and Harvard Medical School publish their results in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) will address the issue of global climate change in a speech to the Brown University community on Monday, Jan. 28, 2008, at noon. The speech will serve as a launch for the University's participation in Focus the Nation, a national event organized to create a dialogue on global warming solutions.
Brown University has confirmed that it is among the institutions that have been served with subpoenas by the attorney general of New York, inquiring about programs of international study.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present Cut Folded Dyed & Glued, an exhibition of paper and Mylar sculptures by artists Imi Hwangbo and Jae Ko, from Saturday, Jan. 26, through Wednesday, March 5, 2008. An opening reception will be held on Friday, Jan. 25, at 5:30 p.m. The exhibition and opening event are free and open to the public.
When NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its historic flyby of Mercury on Monday, Jan. 14, 2008, Brown University students, led by planetary geologist James Head, will be part of the action. At mission headquarters and at Brown, these planetary experts will help analyze images from Mercury, the smallest and densest planet in the solar system. Head leads the MESSENGER mission's geology group, overseeing analysis of Mercury's volcanic features and dating rocks on the planet's cratered surface.
A new report released by Brown University shows that requiring voters to present identification at the polls leads to lower levels of political participation. The research also suggests that voter I.D. policies discourage legal immigrants from becoming citizens. The authors conclude that voter I.D. requirements have a significant political impact – particularly on the Hispanic vote.
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University has been designated a Center of Excellence in Geriatric Medicine and Training by the John A. Hartford Foundation. The designation is accompanied by a major new grant for Rhode Island Hospital. The Hartford Centers of Excellence program is a $38-million initiative to help medical schools train geriatrics faculty, which are in critically short supply. By training teachers, the foundation aims to better prepare medical students to care for the growing "silver tsunami" of older Americans.
Matthew Gutmann, associate professor of anthropology, was awarded a 2007-08 Fulbright fellowship to document and analyze perceptions and opinions in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca regarding democracy, the armed forces, and masculinity. The program also brings three international scholars to Brown this year: Alfredo Edmundo Huespe of Argentina, Nam Gyun Kim of Korea, and Qing Liu of China.
From A.A. to Zouave: Collections at Brown, an exhibition featuring more than 150 materials from Brown University's libraries, museums, and galleries, is on view from Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007, through Friday, May 30, 2008, in the Annmary Brown Memorial, 21 Brown St. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
As voters in Iowa and New Hampshire prepare to head to the polls for the 2008 presidential primary season, new research by two Brown University economists shows just how much power these early voters hold. In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, Brian Knight and Nathan Schiff demonstrate that early voters have up to 20 times the influence of voters in later states when it comes to candidate selection.
The Museum Loan Network, an innovative program facilitating collection sharing among museums and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration with communities, will relocate to Brown University after 12 years at MIT. At Brown, the network will be based at the John Nicholas Brown Center's Public Humanities Program, where it will continue its work fostering partnerships among cultural organizations and launch new programs to connect museums with the next generation of museum professionals.
International AIDS activist Stephen Lewis will take part in a World AIDS Day symposium at Brown University on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007, from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 117 in Starr Auditorium at MacMillan Hall. The public event is free, but space is limited.
Fifty years ago, three physicists unveiled the BCS (Bardeen, Cooper, Schrieffer) theory of superconductivity, which explained how currents of electrons can flow perpetually if they join in pairs. Those physicists, including Leon Cooper at Brown University, won a Nobel Prize for their work. Now Brown physicists have shown something surprising: the formation of Cooper pairs can not only help electric current to flow but it can also block that current. Their research appears in Science.
The way objects appear to stream by us as we move through the world is a phenomenon called optic flow. Think of the street signs and storefronts that sail across the car windshield as we drive. That's optic flow in action. Brown University cognitive scientists have now shown, in research to be featured on the cover of Current Biology, that optic flow plays a critical role in continuously recalibrating our steps as we walk.
Brown University has announced a contribution of $50,000 to support the Rhode Island World War II Memorial. The memorial is to be dedicated Veterans Day, Sunday Nov.11, 2007.
Two Brown professors have garnered the highest honors given by the U.S. government to scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. Odest Chadwicke (Chad) Jenkins, assistant professor of computer science, and Pradeep Guduru, assistant professor of engineering, received Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) during a ceremony at the White House.
As part of a major new international genome sequencing project, Brown biologists assembled the complete mitochondrial DNA sequences of seven different species of fruit fly. Their work, published in Nature, provides scientists with an exciting new tool to understand the genetic differences within a species as well as the evolutionary relationships among different species.
For the first time, researchers have linked increased friction with early wear in the joints of animals. Work led by Brown University physician and engineer Gregory Jay, M.D., shows mice that do not produce the protein lubricin begin to show wear in their joints less than two weeks after birth. This finding not only points up the protective power of lubricin but also suggests that it could be used to prevent joint wear after an injury.
Renowned Palestinian-Israeli pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar will visit Brown University Nov. 9-11, 2007. In addition to presenting a piano recital and offering a workshop for Brown students, Abboud Ashkar will participate in a panel discussion focusing on the role of the humanities in bridging cultural differences on an international level.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has elected three Brown University professors – Mary Carskadon, Stephen McGarvey and Carle Pieters – fellows for their significant contributions to the life and physical sciences.
Brown ranks number three in the nation among colleges and universities producing the highest number of Fulbright students. Twenty-five undergraduate and graduate students were named Fulbright Fellows in 2007-2008, also giving Brown the top-ranked rate in the Ivy League.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present KIDS, an exhibition of photographs of children by Julie Blackmon, Jill Greenberg, and Ruud van Empel, from Saturday, Nov. 3 through Friday, Dec. 21, 2007. An opening reception and gallery talk will be held on Friday, Nov. 2, at 5:30 p.m. The exhibition and opening event are free and open to the public.
The Corporation of Brown University has appointed David Kennedy as the University's first vice president for international affairs. Brown's governing body also reviewed University leadership reports, faculty hiring, international education, and the state of undergraduate education. The Corporation formally accepted gifts, approved professorships, and received the first allocation to The Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence.
A new survey conducted by the Taubman Center for Public Policy finds that Providence residents favor a "living wage" and an increase in the minimum wage. The survey was undertaken in conjunction with the eighth annual Thomas J. Anton/Frederick Lippitt Urban Affairs Conference on "The Living Wage," scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007, at Brown.
Brown University Professor-at-Large Richard C. Holbrooke '62 will deliver a lecture titled "The World Crisis" on Monday, Oct. 15, 2007, at 4:30 p.m. in Salomon Center for Teaching. He will sign copies of his new book, To End a War, beginning at 3:45 p.m. in the lobby. The event is part of The Directors Lectures Series on Contemporary International Affairs sponsored by the Watson Institute for International Studies.
Engineers Alan Needleman and Arto Nurmikko, physicist J. Michael Kosterlitz, and ecologist Jerry M. Melillo have been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a distinction of excellence in science, scholarship, business, public affairs and the arts. Needleman, Nurmikko and Kosterlitz are professors at Brown; Melillo is a researcher at the Marine Biological Laboratory who holds a joint appointment at Brown through the Brown-MBL Graduate Program in Biological and Environmental Sciences.
Brown University Professors-at-Large Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, and Ricardo Lagos, former president of Chile, will deliver the inaugural Lecture on Globalization and Inequality, sponsored by the Watson Institute for International Studies, on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007. The event is a focal point in a year of University lectures, exhibitions, events, and film series with a focus on Latin American issues.
A multidisciplinary team of Brown faculty and students has won a first-place award in the International Science and Technology Visualization Challenge sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Science, the journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Their winning entry, on the balletic flight of bats, appears in Science.
At the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York City, Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons announced that Brown and Princeton University would extend and enhance their post-Katrina partnership with Dillard University in New Orleans.
Brown University has appointed 23 current faculty members to endowed and named professorships, including three new Royce Professors in Teaching Excellence. The appointments are part the University's ongoing commitment to recruit and retain the highest-caliber faculty for Brown, a key goal under the Plan for Academic Enrichment.
Brown University Library and the Department of Italian Studies are collaborating to bring one of the finest surviving examples of panoramic art, the Garibaldi Panorama, back to the public eye. Measuring 273 feet long, the double-sided watercolor is one of the longest paintings in the world and all of it will soon be available online to scholars and students.
Brown University researchers have published the one of the first longitudinal studies demonstrating that children of first-generation immigrants develop their ethnic identity at an earlier age than previous research has shown. Additionally, a child's positive sense of ethnic identity is associated with the desire to socialize with children of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. The research is published in The International Journal of Behavioral Development.
What killed the wooly mammoths? An international team of scientists, including Peter Schultz of Brown University, suggests that a comet or meteorite exploded over the planet roughly 12,900 years ago, causing the abrupt climate changes that led to the extinction of the wooly mammoth and other giant prehistoric beasts. Their theory is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey will deliver the 77th Stephen A. Ogden Jr. '60 Memorial Lecture on International Affairs on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007. His lecture, titled "After Iraq: How the World has Changed," begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. It is free and open to the public.
Fruit flies live significantly longer when the activity of the protein p53 is reduced in just 14 insulin-producing cells in their brains, new Brown University research shows. The results put scientists one step closer to understanding caloric restriction, a biochemical process proven to slow aging. Results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Brown University biomedical engineers have created a new method for growing cells in three dimensions rather than the traditional two. This 3-D Petri dish allows cells to self-assemble, creating cell clusters that can be transplanted in the body or used to test drugs in the lab. This simple new technique is part of a growing body of research that shows that 3-D culture techniques can create cells that behave more like cells in the body.
Bone-forming cells grow faster and produce more calcium on anodized titanium covered in carbon nanotubes compared with plain anodized titanium and the non-anodized version currently used in orthopaedic implants, new Brown University research shows. The work, published in Nanotechnology, uncovers a new material that can be used to make more successful implants. The research also shows tantalizing promise for an all-new device: a "smart" implant that can sense and report on bone growth.
Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) President Roger Mandle will sign a memorandum of understanding, formalizing the Brown-RISD dual degree program. The ceremony, including remarks from each president, begins at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21, 2007, in the University Club, 219 Benefit St. in Providence.
New research led by Vincent Mor at Brown University shows that blacks are more likely than whites to live in poor-quality nursing homes in cities across the United States. The research, published in the September/October issue of Health Affairs, is the first to document the relationship between racial segregation and quality disparities in U.S. nursing homes.
A statewide survey of 571 registered Rhode Island voters conducted Sept. 8-9, 2007, shows Sen. Hillary Clinton with a significant lead over Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. The survey also finds a drop in the approval rating of Gov. Don Carcieri and a decline – to 31 percent from 50 percent in January – in the number of voters who believe the state is headed in the right direction.
The Consortium for Advanced Studies in Barcelona, a collaborative initiative involving Brown, University of Chicago, Northwestern, Cornell, Harvard and Princeton, begins its inaugural year September 2007. As the first fully integrated higher education program in Barcelona, students will enroll directly in regular university classes at three distinguished Spanish universities.
Celebrating the accomplishments of artist, scholar, and teacher Walter Feldman, Brown University's John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library will host a special exhibition of Feldman's work, including paintings, collages, sculptures and books. Recent Works by Walter Feldman runs from Saturday, Sept. 8, through Friday, Oct. 5, 2007. It is free and open to the public.
Analyzing racial differences among legislators participating in select House committees in the 107th Congress (2001-2002), Brown University political scientist Katrina Gamble found that black representatives participate at a higher rate than their white counterparts on both black interest and nonracial bills. The findings are published in the current issue of Legislative Studies Quarterly.
A groundbreaking public health study, led by Brown University epidemiologist Edmond Shenassa, has found a connection between damp, moldy homes and depression. Results are published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Giant images of Mars – viewed through 3-D glasses – take center stage in a new exhibit at the Museum of Natural History and Planetarium. The exhibition runs from Sept. 12 to Oct. 28, 2007, and is sponsored by the Brown/NASA Planetary Data Center and the NASA Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium, both based at Brown University. The exhibit will be the only U.S. museum showing of these riveting Red Planet images. Grab your glasses!
Four members of the Brown University faculty and one graduate student have been awarded fellowships by the American Council of Learned Societies, a nonprofit organization advancing studies in the humanities and social sciences. Their projects range from an analysis of the cinematic close-up to an examination of the spatial transformation of post-apartheid South Africa.
John P. Donoghue, director of the Brain Science Program at Brown University, will receive the 2007 K.J. Zülch Prize for pioneering BrainGate, the mind-to-movement device that allows people with paralysis to control assistive devices using thoughts alone. The Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation – a science foundation administered by the Max Planck Society – bestows the Zülch Prize, Germany's highest honor for basic neurological research.
Soon, current faculty, students and staff at Brown will be able to swipe their University-issued identity cards and ride RIPTA for free, anytime, anywhere in the state. The new U-PASS program goes into effect Sept. 1, 2007. Brown University hopes to benefit employees and the community by reducing energy consumption, traffic and parking congestion on College Hill and statewide.
A team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc. (CALEA) will arrive on campus Aug. 18, 2007, to examine all aspects of the Department of Public Safety's (DPS) policies, procedures, management, operations and support services. Brown's DPS is the only accredited Rhode Island campus police department and was the first Ivy League police service to receive this honor. A public hearing is scheduled for Aug. 20.
The David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University presents Jukai, a site-specific architectural environment by Japanese artist Yumi Kori, from Saturday, Sept. 8, through Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007. Concurrently, Selections from the Permanent Collection will be on view in the List Art Center Lobby. The exhibitions and an opening reception on Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, are free and open to the public.
Brown University, with research partners at Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc. and the Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation Center, will develop new brain implants that record or stimulate neural activity – and help improve the lives of people with paralysis, epilepsy and other central nervous system injuries and disorders. The work is made possible with a $6.5-million grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
A class of proteins known as toll-like receptors are the guard dogs of the immune system, sniffing out bacteria or viruses then rousing the rest of the immune system for attack. Because of their ability to activate the body's defenses, toll-like receptors are a darling of drug developers. New research led by Brown University immunologist Wen-Ming Chu, M.D., identifies what protein alerts toll-like receptor 9, one of the most powerful guard dogs in the pack.
Brown University's eighth annual analysis of U.S. e-government finds Delaware and Michigan leading all states in effective governmental use of Web-based technology. 'USA.gov' and the Department of Agriculture lead federal offices.
Brown University's Peter Green House, currently located at 142 Angell St., will be moved in one piece beginning Tuesday, July 31, and land in its new home, 79 Brown St., by Friday, Aug. 3, 2007. The relocation marks the University's first step in implementing "The Walk" project, a series of linked green spaces and walkways that will provide a connection between the University's historic main campus and the Pembroke Campus.
Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) announce the establishment of a dual-degree program, a five-year program that offers students the opportunity to be awarded a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) from Brown and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree from RISD. The program will enable students to explore the integration of a wide range of disciplines by combining the rigorous degree requirements of both institutions.
Brown University announced a series of fund-raising results that set new records in numerous categories. Contributions to the Brown Annual Fund, Brown University Sports Foundation, and Brown Medical School Annual Fund, all reached historic highs. The Campaign for Academic Enrichment exceeded the $1-billion mark as it climbs within reach of the $1.4-billion goal, the largest in Brown's history.
The John Carter Brown Library at Brown University commemorates the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in North America – Jamestown, Va. – with the new exhibition Jamestown Matters. It will be on display through September 2007 and is free and open to the public.
Around the world, students learn about the wave nature of light through the interference patterns of "Young's double-slit experiment," first performed more than 200 years ago and still considered among the most beautiful physics experiments. Using an analogous experiment, researchers at Brown and Stanford have shown that a simple analytical model can describe the wave nature of surface plasmon polaritons. Their work suggests that plasmonic devices cannot easily circumvent the limitations of electromagnetic waves.
Following on a long history of informal collaboration and exchange, the math departments at Brown University and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI) are launching a formal academic affiliation. The new collaborative program will immerse graduate students in a different scientific culture as they travel from their home institution to complete three semesters of their graduate work at the host institution. Both institutions will be recognized on students' diplomas.
Brown University and Freedom-2, a New York City company developing inks to make safe, durable but removable tattoos, have reached a licensing agreement that gives Freedom-2 the rights to use the microencapsulation process perfected in the laboratory of Edith Mathiowitz for the purposes of making tattoo ink. But Mathiowitz's technique for coating particles in polymers has plenty of uses outside the tattoo parlor.
A 10-member Commission to Commemorate the History of Slavery in Rhode Island established by Brown University in cooperation with the City of Providence and State of Rhode Island, is charged with developing ideas for how best to acknowledge the University and community's historical relationship to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.
Teams of teachers and administrators from the Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Providence school systems will gather at Brown University this summer to learn how to effectively use classroom data and test scores to guide instructional policy and student achievement. Brown's Urban Education Policy Program will host the weeklong inaugural Institute on Data-Driven Decision Making in Urban School Systems.
Exploring the parallels between the war in Iraq and the Vietnam War, artist Mark Tribe will stage re-enactments of Vietnam-era protest speeches in Boston and Washington, D.C. in July. The events are part of Tribe's Port Huron Project, a series of re-enactments of protest speeches from the New Left movements of the 1960s and '70s.
The Brown University Library has acquired the library of the late David E. Pingree, an internationally renowned scholar of the history of mathematics. The collection, consisting of more than 22,000 materials, is a remarkable resource for the study of mathematics in the ancient world, in particular India, and the relationship of Eastern mathematics to the development of mathematics and related disciplines in the West.
An 11-million year sediment record from the Arabian Sea provides evidence that changing weather patterns – rather than declining carbon dioxide levels – drove grassland expansion in the tropics and subtropics over the last 10 million years. Brown University geologists based their findings on variations in carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios from specific leaf wax compounds.
Elderly men with even slightly abnormal red blood cell counts have a higher risk of dying or having a serious cardiac event after major surgery, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Results are published in JAMA.
Examining the phenomenon of suburbanization in America, Brown University economist Nathaniel Baum-Snow shows the extent to which the construction of new highways contributed to population declines in cities. He estimates that each new highway passing through a city reduces its population by about 18 percent, making the national road network a major impetus for suburbanization and sprawl of U.S. cities. His findings are published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Using pulses of high-intensity sound, two Brown University physicists have succeeded in making a movie showing the motion of a single electron. Humphrey Maris, a physics professor at Brown University, and Wei Guo, a Brown doctoral student, were able to film the electron as it moved through a container of superfluid helium.
The first study in the developing world of directly observed antiretroviral therapy for HIV-infected children shows this form of treatment is an inexpensive, effective way to ensure that children take life-saving medications. Researchers at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, together with Maryknoll, the international Catholic charity, conducted the study. Results are published in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
During Brown University's Commencement exercises Sunday, May 27, 2007, outgoing Chancellor Stephen Robert, a member of the Brown Class of 1962, received the Brown faculty's highest honor, the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal.
The Corporation of Brown University celebrates a milestone for Boldly Brown: The Campaign for Academic Enrichment; elects new trustees; votes to initiate planning and design for a new swimming and diving facility; establishes new research centers in science and international economics; establishes new professorships; improves the faculty sabbatical policy; and accepts more than $18 million in gifts, among other actions.
StoryCorps, a national oral history and storytelling project, will stop in Providence June 7–30, 2007, to record the voices and stories of Rhode Islanders. Their traveling studio – the StoryBooth – will be located in the park at Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence. The public is invited to make reservations.
Emily Underwood of Coloma, Calif., and Justin Fabrikant of Santa Cruz, Calif., will deliver senior orations to their classmates on Sunday, May 27, 2007, at 12:50 p.m. on The College Green. Underwood's address is titled "Holding Ground" and Fabrikant's is titled "The Evolution of the Brown Student."
Personalized medicine, which uses individual genetic information to prevent, diagnose or treat disease, will be the topic of a June 4, 2007, conference sponsored by the Division of Biology and Medicine at Brown University, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI), and Lifespan. The conference will feature a keynote address by genomics pioneer Francis S. Collins.
Ricardo Lagos Escobar, former President of Chile, has been appointed as professor-at-large at Brown University. His new position begins July 1, 2007.
The David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University will present Natured Anew: reflections of the natural world from Saturday, June 9, though Sunday, July 8, 2007, featuring five artists who produce works that are inspired by or comment on nature. The exhibition and an opening reception on Friday, June 8, are free and open to the public.
Thousands of prints, watercolors, and drawings from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection are now available online from the Brown University Library. The newly launched digital archive is part of an ambitious, multiyear endeavor that will digitize 15,000 individual works in the collection. The Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection is the foremost American collection devoted to the history and iconography of soldiers and soldiering, and one of the world's largest devoted to the study of military and naval uniforms.
Stanley M. Aronson, M.D., founding dean of Brown's medical school, will address the 33rd graduating class of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University on Sunday, May 27, 2007, in the First Unitarian Church. Surena Namdari, a candidate for the M.D. degree, will deliver the student address. Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Eli Y. Adashi, M.D., will preside.
Nerve cells grown in three-dimensional environments deploy hundreds of different genes compared with cells grown in standard two-dimensional petri dishes, according to a new Brown University study. The research, spearheaded by bioengineer Diane Hoffman-Kim, adds to a growing body of evidence that lab culture techniques dramatically affect the way these cells behave.
A simple and robust mathematical description of the movement of Listeria monocytogenes yields insights into the mechanisms that drive this pathogenic bacterium. Vivek Shenoy, associate professor of engineering at Brown University, and Julie Theriot, associate professor at Stanford University, published the equations in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Chief Marshal Richard Canfield Barker, a 1957 alumnus, will lead more than 6,000 people down College Hill on Sunday, May 27, 2007, in one of the nation's largest and most colorful academic pageants. The procession and academic exercises will cap a three-day Commencement/Reunion Weekend on the Brown campus. Brown University's 239th Commencement will follow a relatively new plan for the second time in its history. Due in part to the large sizes of recent classes, graduates will assemble on the grounds of the First Baptist Church in America, rather than inside.
A new educational partnership between Hope High School, Brown University, and Texas Instruments is bringing a fresh perspective to the study of lines, shapes, formulas, and trajectories that makes up high school algebra. The collaboration, which will provide access to graphing calculators for every ninth-grade algebra student at Hope High School, aims to improve student engagement and achievement in math.
The National Academy of Sciences has elected David Gottlieb, professor of applied mathematics at Brown University, to become a member of the society of distinguished scholars. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a scientist or engineer. Gottlieb's research focus is numerical analysis and methods of finding more accurate solutions for partial differential equations, with applications in aerodynamics and meteorology.
Engineers Alan Needleman and Arto Nurmikko, physicist J. Michael Kosterlitz, and ecologist Jerry M. Melillo have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a distinction of excellence in science, scholarship, business, public affairs and the arts. Needleman, Nurmikko and Kosterlitz are professors at Brown; Melillo is a researcher at the Marine Biological Laboratory who holds a joint appointment at Brown through the Brown-MBL Graduate Program in Biological and Environmental Sciences.
In the May 3 issue of Nature, James Head, a Brown University professor of geology and Lionel Wilson, a professor of volcanology at the University of Lancaster, propose an integrated and dramatic mechanism for the formation of kimberlites, the enigmatic structures bearing most of the world's diamonds. Their theory explains many puzzling features of the formations and also suggests that the location of kimberlites is not related to near-surface geology.
The Bracero History Project, led in part by Brown University's Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, has received a $350,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The funds will support the development of a collaborative, bilingual, online archive documenting the Bracero Program, which brought millions of Mexican guest workers to the United States between 1942 and 1964. The Bracero History Archive will be the largest, most comprehensive clearinghouse of its kind.
University officials and consultants have determined that the Smith Swim Center, closed since mid-February, will not be reopened due to serious and irreversible deterioration in the strength of the heavy timbers that support the roof structure. Russell C. Carey, interim vice president for campus life and student services, and Michael Goldberger, director of athletics, sent the following message to individuals and groups that have used the facility.
Morphine stops the synapse-strengthening process in the brain known as long-term potentiation at inhibitory synapses, according to new research conducted by Brown University brain scientist Julie Kauer. In Nature, Kauer explains this startlingly persistent effect, which could contribute to addiction and may provide a target for treatments of opioid addiction. The research also supports a provocative theory of addiction as a disease of learning and memory.
Brown will confer nine honorary degrees at Commencement: Stanley Aronson, M.D., founding dean of Brown's medical school; sportscaster Chris Berman '77; actress Kate Burton '79; blues legend B.B. King; Nobel laureate Craig Mello '82; human rights activist Samantha Power; and three university presidents who are leading their schools through Hurricane Katrina recovery: Scott Cowen of Tulane, Norman Francis of Xavier, and Marvalene Hughes of Dillard.
In photographs, speeches and scientific talks, the global impact of the AIDS pandemic on women will be explored in a weekend of events held at Brown University May 4-6, 2007. Speakers, including Pauline Muchina, senior women and AIDS advocacy officer with UNAIDS, will discuss prevention barriers and strategies. Events are free and open to the public.
Nobel Prize-winning biochemical researcher Craig Mello will deliver the baccalaureate address to Brown University's graduating seniors on Saturday, May 26, 2007, at 3 p.m. in the First Baptist Church in America. Mello, a 1982 Brown graduate, shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for the discovery of RNA interference, a powerful mechanism for controlling the expression of genetic information.
The Modernist Journals Project, a joint effort by Brown University and the University of Tulsa, has been awarded a $332,823 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to expand its digital archive of rare periodicals.
Senior administrators at Brown University distributed a campuswide e-mail today, describing the University's policies and preparedness for emergency situations. The text of that message follows here.
Brown University biologists have, for the first time, observed a critical step in membrane fusion, the process that allows for fertilization, viral infection and nerve cell communication. The research, reported in Developmental Cell, sheds new light on this essential biological process.
New productions by two M.F.A. candidate playwrights will be featured in part two of the 25th annual New Plays Festival, presented by the Brown University Literary Arts Program and the Brown/Trinity Repertory Consortium. The festival runs from Thursday, April 19, through Sunday, April 22, 2007, at the Pell Chafee Performance Center. All performances are free and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Maraniss will deliver the seventh annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture at Brown University on Tuesday, April 24, 2007. His talk, titled "The Mythology of Sport," will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. It is free and open to the public.
Texture turns out to be nearly as important as chemistry when designing materials for use in the human body. In two related experiments Brown University engineers Thomas Webster and Karen Haberstroh found that cells responded differently to materials with identical chemistry but different surface textures. On both titanium and polymer materials, nanoscale surface textures yielded a more natural, accepting response, while microscale patterns typical of engineered materials spurred a rejection response.
Jeffrey M. Drazen, M.D., editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, will deliver lectures at Rhode Island Hospital and at Brown University on Wednesday, April 18, 2007. The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical student honor society, are sponsoring the talks, which are free and open to the public.
In the first scholarly research examining the role of black bloggers, Brown University's Antoinette Pole found that bloggers of color are using this burgeoning medium to encourage political participation and activism. She also found that black bloggers do not feel discriminated against or excluded by other bloggers. Her findings appear in the International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society.
Experiments led by Brown University physician and engineer Gregory Jay, M.D., show a new role that the protein lubricin plays in synovial fluid – the slimy stuff jammed in joints. Lubricin, the team found, not only reduces friction but also boosts resiliency in joints. Results of the research, appearing on-line in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may lead to new treatments for arthritis.
Five Nobel Prize-winning physicists join the chief technology officer of American Superconductor and other researchers to discuss the nature of superconductivity, its broad scientific utility and current applications to energy transmission, transportation and computing. Public lectures and a panel discussion on Thursday, April 12, the first day of the symposium, will help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the BCS theory of superconductivity.
Student filmmakers and film industry professionals will come together for the 2007 Ivy Film Festival at Brown University April 11-15, 2007. The festival will showcase 36 student films and include advance screenings of four feature films. Director Doug Liman and writer Simon Kinberg will give the keynote address Saturday, April 14. All events are open to the public.
Ana Vilma Albanez de Escobar, the first female vice president of the Republic of El Salvador, will deliver a lecture at Brown University on Tuesday, April 10, 2007. Her address, titled "El Salvador: A Country of Opportunities," will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. It is free and open to the public.
This spring, the Bell Gallery presents a group exhibition Urban Landscapes ... emancipation and nostalgia ..., featuring works by British artist Catherine Yass, New York-based artist Sze Tsung Leong, and German artist Sabine Hornig. An opening reception and artist lecture will be held on Thursday, April 19, 2007. All events are free and open to the public.
Graphic depictions of the true-life stories of radical 1960s student activists will be on display at Brown University as the John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization presents The SDS Comic Show exhibition from Friday, April 13, through Friday, June 1, 2007. Author Harvey Pekar will deliver a keynote lecture preceding the opening reception. All events are free and open to the public.
By the end of the current school year, high school students in eight states will have visited their state capitols to present their opinions on global issues directly to elected officials and civic leaders. These state house visits are part of the ninth annual Capitol Forum on America's Future, an initiative of the Choices Program at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.
Troy Duster, a leading voice on the issues raised by genomic research and race, delivers the Dr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Barnes Jr. Lecture in Public Health on Wednesday, April 11, 2007. The free lecture begins at 4 .p.m in Andrews Hall and is open to the public.
When added to a medical workup after a breast cancer diagnosis, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans can significantly improve the chances of detecting cancer in the opposite breast, according to clinical trial results reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. The American College of Radiology Imaging Network, whose biostatistics center is based at Brown University, conducted the study, funded by The National Cancer Institute.
Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, Venezuela's ambassador to the United States, will visit Brown University to deliver a lecture on U.S.–Venezuelan diplomatic relations. His lecture will be held on Wednesday, April 4, 2007, at 7 p.m. in MacMillan Hall, Room 117. It is free and open to the public.
Plans are underway for the construction of Brown University's new Jonathan Nelson Fitness Center. A $45-million project, the 65,000-square-foot center will be designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and will transform the University's fitness and recreation offerings. The center is slated to open in 2010.
Chromium 6, the cancer-causing compound that sparked the legal crusade by Erin Brockovich, can be toxic in tiny doses. Brown University scientists have uncovered the unlikely culprit: vitamin C. In new research, the Brown team shows that when vitamin C reacts with even low doses of chromium 6 inside human cells, it creates high levels of cancer-causing DNA damage and mutations.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the former Brazilian president and Brown professor-at-large, will give a lecture titled "Brazil: A Latin American Nation?" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 14, 2007, in MacMillan Hall's Starr Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Brown University has received $3 million from the National Science Foundation to help enrich science programs in Providence schools. The grant will support fellowships for physics, geology and engineering graduate students to lead after-school activities in six area high schools and classroom activities in three elementary schools. The hands-on, inquiry-based lessons will supplement the existing curriculum.
All of human sensation – sight, sound, taste – begins in the brain when information moves from the thalamus to the neocortex. In Nature Neuroscience, Brown University researchers explain how cortical cells get activated during this critical transfer. The findings shed light on the inner workings of the cortex, the biggest part of the brain, and may help explain some forms of irregular electrical brain activity such as epileptic seizures.
Brown University's Public Humanities Program hosts Pulp Uncovered, a community festival celebrating the impact and legacy of pulp fiction magazines, from Thursday, March 15, through Sunday, March 18, 2007. The festival includes a film series, guest speakers, an exhibition at the John Nicholas Brown Center, and other community events. All events are open to the public.
Celebrated author Jamaica Kincaid will deliver the keynote address at Brown University's Caribbean Heritage Week Convocation Monday, March 5, 2007, at 6 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. A pre-convocation reception and book signing will be held at the Third World Center beginning at 5 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.
The Corporation of Brown University has approved a fiscal year 2008 consolidated budget of $704.8 million, an 6.4-percent increase over FY07. Total undergraduate fees will rise 5.0 percent to $45,948, including a 5-percent rise in tuition to $35,584. The undergraduate financial aid budget will increase 10 percent over the University's projected actual financial aid expenditures in the current year.
The Corporation of Brown University has appointed a new chancellor, endorsed President Ruth J. Simmons' response to the Committee on Slavery and Justice, and set tuition and budget for fiscal year 2008. The governing body of the University also discussed the future of The Warren Alpert Medical School, and the Division of Biology and Medicine. The Corporation established a new option for donors – the Social Choice Fund – and reported major progress in its Boldly Brown: Campaign for Academic Enrichment.
A $10-million gift from Brown alumnus and trustee emeritus William R. Rhodes will fund a new professorship and Center for International Economics to expand the University's teaching and research in international trade and finance.
Four exhibitions currently on display at three Brown University Libraries offer the community a chance to view some of the original documents, journals, cargo invoices, newspaper advertisements and engravings cited in the Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. The exhibitions, which document the history of African slavery and its impact on the Western Hemisphere, are free and open to the public.
Selected student artwork will be shown in the 27th annual student exhibition at the David Winton Bell Gallery from Saturday, March 17, through Sunday, April 1, 2007. An opening reception will be held Friday, March 16 at 7 p.m. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.
From the dorm-room experiment that started it all, to the 1960s FM revolution, to the students behind the stations today – Brown is celebrating 70 years of college radio. The exhibit From Gaspipes to Websites: Radio at Brown 1936-2006 will be on display at the John Hay Library Feb. 21 through March 9, 2007. An opening reception featuring the launch of an audio documentary is planned for Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007, along with a panel discussion titled "The Importance of College Radio." All events are free and open to the public.
Neurotechnology has restored hearing to the deaf and someday will help the blind to see and the paralyzed to move again. In a Feb. 15, 2007, press briefing at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Francisco, Brown University neuroscientist John Donoghue explains how brain-computer interfaces are propelling these major leaps in rehabilitative medicine.
South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of HIV infection. New research, led by Brown University professor Mark Lurie, shows that the movement of workers between urban and rural areas played a key role in the spread of the epidemic. Results are published in AIDS.
Brown University has closed Smith Swim Center as a precaution until the building's original architect completes his analysis its roof system.
Traditional approaches to bank supervision may not be in the best interest of society, according to new research by a Brown University economist. In the first empirical assessment of the impact of international banking policies, Ross Levine, professor of economics, found that for most countries, regulations such as Basel II could actually hurt bank development and lead to greater corruption. The results are published in the Journal of Monetary Economics.
Richard C. Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and chief architect of the 1995 Dayton Accords ending the war in Bosnia, has accepted a five-year appointment as professor-at-large at Brown University.
The transcription factor GABP – a member of a family of crucial gene-regulating proteins – is required to jump-start the process of cell division, according to research from The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital. The work, published in Nature Cell Biology, uncovers a new way to control cell growth and points up potential targets for cancer treatments.
Former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee will deliver the Stephen A. Ogden Jr. '60 Memorial Lecture on International Affairs during a Spring Forum on Monday, Feb. 12, 2007. His address, titled "Mideast Roadmaps: An Unkept Promise," will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Sayles Hall. It is free and open to the public.
New productions by three M.F.A. candidate playwrights will be featured in the 25th annual New Plays Festival, presented by the Brown University Literary Arts Program and the Brown/Trinity Repertory Consortium. The festival runs from Wednesday, Feb. 7, through Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, in the McCormack Family Theatre. All performances are free and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Author and activist Nonie Darwish will discuss women's rights in the Middle East and the threat of Islamic fundamentalism at a lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007. Her talk, titled "The Road to Peace: Women's Rights," begins at 7 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 001. It is free and open to the public.
Brown University biologists have made another major advance toward understanding the deadly work of prions, the culprits behind fatal brain diseases such as mad cow and their human counterparts. In new work published online in PLoS Biology, researchers show that the protein Hsp104 must be present and active for prions to multiply and cause disease.
Cornel West, among the nation's most provocative public intellectuals, will deliver Brown University's 11th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture on Friday, Feb. 2, 2007, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. His talk, titled "The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.," is free and open to the public.
The John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization presents the story and work of two of the most widely acclaimed artists in the history of American comics –Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez. Sex, Love, and Rockets: The Comix World of Los Bros Hernandez will be on display from Feb. 5 through March 2, 2007. Jaime Hernandez will visit Brown to discuss his work at the opening reception. All events are free and open to the public.
Giant images of the escalating crisis in Sudan will be on display at Brown University as the traveling photojournalism exhibition Darfur/Darfur comes to Providence Jan. 26-27, 2007. Speakers at the opening forum include Mia Farrow, UNICEF's goodwill ambassador; Frank Caprio, general treasurer of Rhode Island; Susannah Sirkin, deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights; and Eric Reeves, Sudan expert and researcher. The exhibition and forum are free and open to the public.
Hamas. Al-Qaeda. Lashkar-e-Taiba. Though bound by their Islamic identities, not all terrorist groups have the same agendas. The United States must improve its counterterrorism efforts by differentiating between the goals of ethnic and religious terrorist groups, according to global security analyst Justine A. Rosenthal, a visiting fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. Her analysis is published in the journal The National Interest.
The Brown University Women Writers Project has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support its work of bringing early women's writing out of the archives and into the electronic age.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present a multimedia showcase of artwork by members of the Brown faculty from Saturday, Jan, 27, through Sunday, March 4, 2007. Faculty Exhibition 2007 includes works in a wide range of media, from drawings and sculpture to computer animation and interactive web projects. A reception for the artists will be held Friday, Feb. 2, at 5:30 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.
Peter Quesenberry, M.D., has been appointed director of hematology and oncology at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital and the Paul Calabresi Professor in Oncology and Professor of Medicine at Brown Medical School.
New stricter European environmental policies may force even U.S.-based electronics makers to change their ways, say policy analysts at Brown University and Boston University. Stacy D. VanDeveer, a visiting fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, and Henrik Selin, an assistant professor of international relations at Boston University, analyzed the controversial new policies in the December issue of the journal Environment.
Computer scientists at the University of California–San Diego and Brown University have created a software system that more accurately detects "microinversions," mutations that consist of tiny sequences of reversed DNA. The software gives biologists a powerful new tool to study genomic variation between and within species. The system is explained in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Seventy-one student musicians, eight concerts, six cities, 14 days – those numbers sum up the Brown University Orchestra's China Tour 2006. The Brown ensemble will be the second American college orchestra to present a concert series in China. Its journey begins Sunday, Dec. 24, 2006.
U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) has accepted an appointment as distinguished visiting fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. Chafee will begin the fellowship in January 2007, serving initially for the spring semester.
Entrepreneurship education is about to get a boost at Brown. The University has been awarded a $2-million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to broaden entrepreneurship education, scholarship and activity across campus. The award is part of the Kauffman Campuses Initiative, which is providing a total of $35 million to colleges and universities across the country.
In a groundbreaking national study, Brown University researchers have traced the connections between state nursing home policies and resident hospitalizations rates. The team found that state policies unwittingly create financial incentives for nursing homes to hospitalize their frail elderly residents, even though hospital stays can be disorienting or dangerous. Results are published in Health Services Research.
How is motherhood different than it was a century ago? In the past, live-in grandmothers, relatives, and other women were frequently available to assist with childcare. But times have changed. New research by Brown University sociologist Susan E. Short shows that today's mothers with young children are getting substantially less help around the house. Even when other women are living in the household, they aren't necessarily on hand to help with the kids. This research appears in Demography.
Mobile DNA, which inserts foreign genes into target cells, is a powerful force in the march of evolution and the spread of disease. Working with the lambda virus and E. coli bacteria, Brown University biologists have solved the structure of a six-protein complex critical to performing this gene-grafting surgery. The technique they developed could be used to reveal the structure of other critical protein complexes, landing the work on the cover of Molecular Cell.
New chemical evidence sheds light on the physical constraints of "hotspots" – locations where upwellings of Earth's mantle material form seamounts and island chains. Although the existence of hotspots has been debated for the last 30 years, consistent data from uranium isotope decay series at eight island locations supports the idea that concentrated plumes of hot mantle material formed these islands.
Ecological disturbance drives many pressing global concerns but is often measured at the local scale. A newly established secretariat for the International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network will support long-term multiscale ecological data collection and analysis. The secretariat will be managed jointly by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies and the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) in San José, Costa Rica.
The fruit fly gene "doublesex" is responsible for ensuring that male flies look male and females look female. New Brown University research led by biologist Michael McKeown shows that doublesex not only helps shape bodies but also shapes behavior, acting with together with the gene "fruitless" to guide flies' courtship routines and responses. The finding, published in Nature Genetics, shows that sexual development in flies – and, perhaps, in humans – is a more complicated proposition than previously thought.
World-renowned conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and the young musicians of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra will visit Brown University from Thursday, Dec. 14, through Saturday, Dec. 16, 2006, for a series of conversations and workshops leading to a concert at VMA Arts and Cultural Center Saturday afternoon. All events are open to the public. A ticket is required for the concert, free of charge.
Geologist Donald Forsyth and students from Brown University on a routine ocean-floor mapping cruise jumped into action when they realized that many of the seafloor seismometers they were supposed to collect had been buried by a recent lava flow. Data from the remaining instruments yielded the first detailed record of seismic vibrations leading up to a seafloor spreading event, published this week in the journal Science.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science has elected Kenneth R. Miller, a Brown University professor of biology, a fellow for his leadership role in defending evolution and how it is taught in public schools as well as for his efforts to educate and encourage science teachers across the United States.
Keriann Backus, a member of Brown University's Class of 2007, has been chosen as a Rhodes Scholar. Backus will head to the University of Oxford next fall to pursue a doctorate in chemical biology.
Biotech entrepreneur J. Craig Venter will speak at the 37th Annual Computer Science Department Industrial Partners Program Symposium held Dec. 6-8, 2006, at Brown University. The symposium, titled "The Genome and the Computational Sciences: The New Paradigms," brings together experts from academia, business and government to discuss the biological challenges posed by genome sequencing and how those challenges can be met with computational techniques.
During sleep, freshly minted memories move from the hippocampus, part of the "old" brain, to the neocortex, or "new" brain, for long-term storage. This has been the reigning theory for decades. Brown University research provides the strongest proof yet of this interaction between the old and new brains – and offers surprising evidence that challenges critical details of this theory of learning and memory. Results appear in Nature Neuroscience.
Now that the entire DNA map of the sea urchin is complete, it's clear that these spiny sea creatures are even closer genetic cousins to humans than suspected. Brown University professors Gary Wessel and Sorin Istrail helped reveal the secrets of the urchin – from its powerful immune system to its formidable gene regulatory network – by identifying individual genes and creating the first high-resolution map of genes activated in its embryo. The work appears on the cover of Science.
A fresh look at Apollo-era images combined with recent spectral data leads researchers to re-examine conventional wisdom about the Earth's moon. Several lines of evidence suggest that the moon may have seen eruptions of interior gasses as recently as 1 million years ago, rather than 3 billion years ago – the date that had been most widely accepted.
Brown University's Vincent Mor and Edward Alan Miller have issued a report for the National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care outlining six key areas of concern as "the long-term care system in the United States is threatening to collapse under the massive weight of the aging Baby Boom generation." The commission, co-chaired by former Sen. Bob Kerry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, was established in 2004 to evaluate the country's quality of long-term care and to make recommendations about national efforts for sustainable improvement.
The International Writers Project at Brown University presents Strange Times, My Dear: A Freedom-to-Write Literary Festival, from Tuesday, Nov. 14, through Friday, Nov. 17, 2006. This series of readings and discussions, focused on freedom of expression, will feature internationally acclaimed authors, including Salman Rushdie, Iranian novelists Shahrnush Parsipur and Shahryar Mandanipour, and Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in literature. The festival is free and open to the public, but tickets are required for certain events.
Exactly two weeks after the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice released its report, Brown University will host a forum for the campus community and general public. The first forum will be held Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
Brown University will host an historic conference titled "The Jerusalem Perspective: 150 Years of Archeological Research" Nov. 12-14, 2006. Organized by Katharina Galor, the event will be the first time Israeli and Palestinian scholars have come together in an academic exchange and discussion of their archaeological research. All sessions are free and open to the public.
New computing tools have allowed Peter Richardson, professor of engineering and physiology at Brown University, to test ideas about blood flow and clotting that he first proposed more than 30 years ago. His collaboration with mathematics colleagues Igor Pivkin and George Karniadakis resulted in a model that integrates fluid dynamics with platelet biochemistry and could provide new insights into the treatment and prevention of strokes and heart attacks.
Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies launched the Global Security Matrix, a web-based analytical and educational tool that visually represents threats to security. The Matrix maps security threats and vulnerabilities around the world and includes interactive features. The Global Security Matrix can be accessed at http://www.globalsecuritymatrix.org.
Brown University physicist Humphrey Maris and colleagues Satoshi Sasaki and Sebastien Balibar of the l'Ecole Normale Supérieure have narrowed the field of possible explanations for the weird behavior of supersolid helium. Their simple but extremely revealing experiment suggests that movement along grain boundaries is a more plausible explanation than Bose-Einstein condensates.
Brown University signed an agreement yesterday to purchase seven buildings and other properties in Providence's Jewelry District. The purchase, one of the largest in University history, is a step forward in the University's efforts to plan for strategic growth beyond College Hill.
Blacks do not achieve the same health outcomes as whites in managed care plans under Medicare, the nation's largest health insurance program, according to a study conducted by Brown Medical School and Harvard Medical School researchers. Published in JAMA, the analysis surprisingly shows that significant racial disparities persist within Medicare plans – even high-performing ones – based on outcomes related to control of diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure.
A citywide survey of 403 Providence residents conducted Oct. 14-17, 2006, finds Providence Mayor David Cicilline leading Republican challenger Daniel Harrop by 66 to 13 percent. Sixty-two percent of respondents think Cicilline is doing a good job and 64 percent feel the city is headed in the right direction.
The David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University will present the first traveling museum exhibition of artist Amy Cutler's work from Saturday, Nov. 4, 2006 through Friday, Dec. 22, 2006. Cutler's highly detailed paintings have drawn associations with fables and fairy tales, dreams and surrealism, and folk art. An opening reception and gallery talk are planned. All events are free and open to the public.
Getting molecular cargo from the cell body to the synapse of nerve cells is crucial for learning and memory, even for survival of the cell itself. New research conducted at Brown University and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., shows that a single peptide can load and direct this biological material. This peptide "ZIP Code" comes from amyloid precursor protein, the principal player in the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons has released the report of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. The report, commissioned by Simmons in 2003, outlines the University's historical relationship to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade and makes recommendations about the ways that the University might fully and accurately acknowledge that past and move forward. The full report and related materials are available on the University's Web site at www.brown.edu/slaveryjustice.
Providence's First Baptist Church is the oldest Baptist church in America – but how was the area and its grounds used before The Meeting House was built in 1775? A group of Brown University students enrolled in Anthropology 160 is investigating that question while learning archaeological techniques, as they excavate the property surrounding this historical site.
Barack Obama, the Democratic junior senator from Illinois, will visit Brown University on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006, to deliver the Gov. Frank Licht Lecture. "An Evening with Barack Obama," sponsored by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, begins at 9 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 101. It is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Geologist James W. Head III, playwright Paula Vogel, and poet Rosmarie Waldrop have been inducted as fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a distinction of excellence in science, scholarship, business, public affairs and the arts. Head and Vogel are professors at Brown; Waldrop is a visiting scholar.
Artist Diane Samuels' two-story multilayered glass installation, Lines of Sight, adorns the elevated glass pedestrian bridge connecting sections of the new Sidney E. Frank Hall for Life Sciences. It is the first work commissioned under Brown University's Percent-for-Art program, which designates a percentage of construction budgets for public art displays. An opening reception is planned for Oct. 5, 2006.
"Whimsical," "fanciful," and "hobbit-like" have been used to describe world-renowned artist Patrick Dougherty's installation work. Commissioned by the Public Art Committee at Brown University, Dougherty will spend three weeks on campus in October creating an organic structure on the Front Campus, fashioned from locally harvested saplings. Volunteers are invited to participate.
MIT President Susan Hockfield will deliver the keynote address as Brown University dedicates the new Sidney E. Frank Hall for Life Sciences. Events begin at 9 a.m., Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, with the formal dedication ceremony beginning at 5:30 p.m.Brown University to Dedicate Sidney E. Frank Hall for Life Sciences
A statewide survey of 578 likely Rhode Island voters conducted Sept. 16-18, 2006, shows Sen. Lincoln Chafee and Sheldon Whitehouse in a dead heat in the U.S. Senate race and Gov. Donald Carcieri leading Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty in the gubernatorial race. The survey also finds a majority of voters opposed to amending the state constitution to build a gambling casino in West Warwick.
Using a high-powered electromagnet, Brown University physicists Karine Guevorkian and James Valles have created a topsy-turvy world for the single-celled paramecium. They have managed to increase, eliminate and even reverse the effects of gravity on the tiny protozoan, changing its swimming behavior and indirectly measuring its swimming force.
A stone block discovered in the Olmec heartland of Veracruz, Mexico, contains the oldest writing in the New World, says an international team of archaeologists, including Stephen D. Houston of Brown University. The team determined that the block dates to the early first millennium B.C.E. – at least 400 years earlier than scholars previously thought writing existed in the Western hemisphere. The findings are published in Science.
The Frederic N. Schwartz Trust has given $26.5 million to Brown University on behalf of the late Eleanor H. Schwartz, a member of the Pembroke College Class of 1929, and the late Frederic N. Schwartz. The gift will endow University scholarships for women.
It's thin, light, flexible – and plastic. Brown University engineers Hyun-Kon Song and Tayhas Palmore have created a prototype polymer-based battery that packs more power than a standard alkaline battery and more storage capacity than a double-layered capacitor. Their work, published in Advanced Materials, will be of interest to the energy, defense and aerospace industries, which are looking at more efficient ways to deliver electricity.
Is that Schwann cell real – or replica? A Brown University biomedical engineer had a tough time telling apart genuine cells from fakes after casting plastic reproductions of these nervous system support cells out of silicon. The rubbery replicas, described in the journal Langmuir, could be used for all sorts of cell types in laboratory research or medical treatments for repairing nerve damage.
Using data collected by the Japanese space probe Hayabusa in a rendezvous with the 550-meter asteroid Itokawa, researchers have demonstrated that space weathering occurs even on small asteroids. The new data, published in Nature, confirm that the mineral composition of such asteroids is consistent with meteorites fallen on Earth.
Results from the first large-scale, prospective study of prenatal methamphetamine use show that newborns exposed to the drug are more than three times as likely to be born underweight. Appearing in Pediatrics, the findings mirror those from studies of prenatal cocaine use, says Barry Lester, a professor and researcher at Brown Medical School and Women & Infants Hospital.
For the first time, a group of researchers has shown that a parasite can be eliminated through autophagy, a recycling process that normally occurs inside cells. The team, led by George Yap of Brown University, shows that the immune system destroys and disposes of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii by stripping it naked then gobbling it up.
Broadcast media now have quick and easy access to the expertise and informed critical commentary of Brown University faculty. The University has installed a remote broadcast interview facility that can connect faculty experts quickly with broadcast reporters and anchors anywhere in the world. Brown's Office of Media Relations operates the facility.
Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons will officially open the 2006-07 academic year at Opening Convocation, Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006. Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron will deliver this year's keynote address to the 2,061 students beginning undergraduate, graduate, and medical studies at Brown. The ceremony begins at noon on The College Green.
The David Winton Bell Gallery and Brown University's Department of Visual Art present in TRANSIT: from OBJECT to SITE, from Saturday, Sept. 9, through Sunday, Oct. 22, 2006, at Brown University. The collaborative exhibition features a series of installations displayed throughout List Art Center, transforming the modernist architecture of Philip Johnson's 1971 building into a lively space of diverse multimedia and site-based projects.
A new model of treatment for bipolar disorder, similar to care given to diabetics and others with chronic diseases, improved patient outcomes without adding costs, according to new research funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Results appear in Psychiatric Services.
Brown University physicists have identified a surprising force in pattern formation – physical force. Results of their work shed important light on how life takes shape inside cells and are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In their seventh annual study, researchers at Brown University's Taubman Center for Public Policy ranked Texas and New Jersey as the two states with the best online government services. On the federal level, FirstGov.com, a Web portal, was rated best, followed by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Volunteer hours add up. According to an annual study by Campus Compact, students at the coalition's nearly 1,000 member schools contributed an estimated $5.6 billion worth of service to their communities. Based at Brown University, Campus Compact is a national organization dedicated to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education.
For the first time, a team led by Brown University researchers is publishing detailed clinical trial results that show a tiny new brain sensor allowed a quadriplegic to open a prosthetic hand, control a robotic limb and move a computer cursor – using thoughts alone. The work, featured on the cover of Nature, offers important insights into the human brain and how to tap its power to improve the lives of people with spinal cord injury and other severe motor impairments.
A small but growing number of engineers are using nature's engineer – DNA – to create nanomaterials that can be used in everything from medical devices to computer circuits. A team from Brown University and Boston College is the first to use DNA to direct construction and growth of complex nanowires. Their work appears in Nanotechnology.
For the first time, engineers have created surfaces for orthopaedic implants that reduce the presence of bacteria. The research, led by Brown University engineer Thomas Webster, may lead to a new class of artificial joints. That is a big market: More than 750,000 Americans undergo knee, hip or shoulder replacement surgery each year.
Whether you're a free-loading virus or a meat-stealing monkey, selfishness pays. So how could cooperators survive in a cheater's world? Thomas Flatt, a postdoctoral research associate at Brown, was part of a group that created a theoretical model that neatly solves this dilemma, which has stumped evolutionary biologists and social scientists for decades. The trick: Keep the altruists in small groups, away from the swindling horde, where they multiply and migrate.
A statewide survey of 719 Rhode Island voters conducted June 24-26, 2006, shows Sen. Lincoln Chafee in a virtual tie with Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse. Whitehouse would have a strong lead if Steve Laffey were the Republican candidate. The survey also finds Gov. Don Carcieri with a 5-percentage point lead over Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty and finds voters opposed to amending the state constitution to build a gambling casino in West Warwick.
Brown University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have established a formal affiliation to support research and teaching with an emphasis in materials science, an area of strength at both institutions.
Katherine Bergeron, professor and chair of the Department of Music at Brown University, has been named dean of the College. Bergeron succeeds Paul Armstrong, who has served since October 2000.
The Corporation of Brown University elected five trustees at its regular spring meeting Friday, May 26, 2006. They will be formally engaged at the next Corporation meeting in October 2006.
For the first time, a group of scientists have an intimate look at a small asteroid, this one dubbed Itokawa. Using data from the Japanese space probe Hayabusa, the team has determined the mineral makeup and surface characteristics of Itokawa and published their findings in Science. Itokawa and other asteroids contain materials relatively unchanged since the birth of the solar system, offering clues to how the system has evolved over time.
This summer marks the 225th anniversary of the march to Yorktown, Va., where French and American forces won a decisive victory over British troops, thus bringing an end to the major battles of the American Revolutionary War. The Brown University campus, which was an encampment site for French soldiers in June 1781, will commemorate the anniversary on Saturday, June 17, 2006, with a symposium organized by the John Carter Brown Library and a procession from The College Green to the Rhode Island State House.
Brown President Ruth J. Simmons will preside at the University's 238th Commencement exercises Sunday, May 28, 2006, during which 2,245 degrees will be conferred.
Flagella, the wee whips that set some microorganisms in motion, also help colonies of green algae take in additional nutrients. This finding, made by a team of scientists from University of Arizona and Brown University, may help explain how some organisms make the evolutionary leap to multicellularity.
Brian J. Zink, M.D., is chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brown Medical School and emergency medicine physician-in-chief at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital.
The Brown University Class of 2006 will include its first teacher-engineer, who graduates this month with a bachelor's degree in engineering – and a certificate to teach physics in grades seven to 12. This one-of-a-kind teacher preparation program aims to train students to teach physics in an engaging, hands-on style. The program will also address a national shortage of physics teachers.
University of Texas–Brownsville President Juliet V. García will deliver the baccalaureate address to Brown University's graduating seniors on Saturday, May 27, 2006, at 3 p.m. in the First Baptist Church in America.
Economist and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, will deliver a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. '60 Memorial Lecture on International Relations on Saturday, May 27, 2006, in the Salomon Center for Teaching. His address titled "Is the U.N. Up to Its Job?" is part of the annual Commencement Forums, offered during Brown University's Commencement Weekend. The public is welcome.
Brown University has established an annual Commencement Forum to honor Sen. Claiborne Pell's 36 years of distinguished service to the United States Senate. The inaugural Pell Forum, on Saturday, May 27, 2006, will be a panel discussion covering areas of particular interest to the Senator during his political career – higher education, the arts, and foreign relations.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present a retrospective of Friedrich St.Florian's work, opening Friday, May 26, and running through Sunday, July 2, 2006. The exhibition honors the architect at the time of his retirement from teaching and on the occasion of being awarded an honorary degree during Brown University's 238th Commencement.
Greta Pemberton of Silver Spring, Md., and Ari Savitzky of Providence, R.I., will deliver senior orations to their classmates on Sunday, May 28, 2006, at 12:50 p.m. on The College Green. Pemberton's address is titled "Consider Play," and Savitzky's is titled "Save the Oration (for Tomorrow)."
Clyde L. Briant, dean of engineering and the Otis E. Randall University Professor at Brown, has been appointed vice president for research, effective July 1, 2006. Briant succeeds Andries van Dam, the inaugural vice president.
Brown University's Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology will open its second on-campus exhibition, Believing Africa, on Saturday, May 27, 2006, in its satellite gallery at Manning Hall. The exhibition, focusing on the diversity of African spiritual beliefs, was co-curated by Brown graduate and undergraduate students.
Members of the Brown and RISD communities recognized faculty and student colleagues for their outstanding commitments to teaching and mentoring at Awards Ceremony 2006.
Researchers from Brown Medical School and the Rhode Island Department of Health have found a strong association between mothers with symptoms of postpartum depression and those with colicky infants. The study, the first to show such a link using population-based data, will be presented May 2 at the Pediatric Academic Societies' 2006 Annual Meeting.
Attention from doctors, nurses and other health professionals, combined with either the drug naltrexone or specialized counseling, is the most effective way to treat alcohol dependence, according to results of the largest clinical trial ever conducted on drug and therapy interventions for alcoholism. Researchers at Brown Medical School ran the largest clinical site for the trial at Roger Williams Medical Center. Results appear in JAMA.
During Brown University Commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 28, 2006, former U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, Rhode Island's longest serving senator, will be presented with the University faculty's highest honor, the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal.
Outgoing Provost Robert J. Zimmer will deliver an address at Brown University's Graduate School Commencement on Sunday, May 29, 2006, on Lincoln Field. Shankar K. Prasad, a doctoral candidate in political science, will present the student address, titled "A Diverse Community of One: Lessons Learned and Experiences Shared."
Geoffrey Canada, acclaimed advocate for inner-city children, will address the 32nd Brown Medical School graduating class Sunday, May 28, 2006, in the First Unitarian Church. Colin Harrington, M.D., a clinical associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior, will deliver the faculty address, and Daniel Vázquez, a candidate for the M.D. degree, will deliver the student address. Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Eli Y. Adashi, M.D., will preside.
Brown University will confer eight honorary degrees during Commencement exercises Sunday, May 28, upon children's advocate Geoffrey Canada; Juliet V. García, president of the University of Texas at Brownsville; business executive Martin J. Granoff; mental health advocate Kay Redfield Jamison; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, finance minister of Nigeria; Rhode Island architect Friedrich St. Florian; HIV specialist Suniti Solomon; and economist Paul A. Volcker.
As the Big Easy heads into a mayoral runoff this month between incumbent Ray Nagin and Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landreiu, the city may elect a white mayor for the first time in nearly 30 years. A report released by Brown University sociologist John Logan says Hurricane Katrina has reshaped the political map of New Orleans. He found the voice of black neighborhoods has been diminished – a result, he says, that should have been foreseen.
Chief Marshal L. Roger Hale will lead more than 6,000 people down College Hill on Sunday, May 28, 2006, in one of the nation's largest and most colorful academic pageants. The procession and academic exercises will cap a three-day Commencement/Reunion Weekend on the Brown campus. Brown University's 238th Commencement will follow a new plan, for the first time in the history of the University. Due in part to the large size of the Class of 2006, graduates will assemble in front of the First Baptist Church in America, rather than inside.
Well-known sports figures Julie Foudy, Mary Carillo and Donna de Varona will take part in Brown University's inaugural Sports in Society Colloquium, "Changing the Landscape of Women's Athletics," on Friday, May 5, 2006. The night before the Colloquium, there will be special screening of Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team. Both events are open to the public.
Geologist James W. Head III, playwright Paula Vogel, and poet Rosmarie Waldrop have been elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a distinction of excellence in science, scholarship, business, public affairs and the arts. Head and Vogel are professors at Brown; Rosmarie Waldrop is a visiting scholar.
Herbert Needleman, M.D., one of the foremost experts on childhood lead poisoning, will deliver the Dr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Barnes Jr. Lecture in Public Health on Wednesday, April 26, 2006. The free lecture begins at 4 p.m. in Andrews Hall and is open to the public.
A "dead zone" that formed in 2001 in Narragansett Bay left a lethal legacy, Brown University research shows. In a study of nine mussel reefs, published in Ecology, researchers report that oxygen-depleted water killed one reef and nearly wiped out the rest. A year later, only one of the nine reefs was recovering. The result was a sharp reduction in the reefs' ability to filter phytoplankton, a process that helps control "dead zone" formation.
60 Minutes and CBS News Correspondent Ed Bradley will be presented with Brown University's Welles Hangen Award for Superior Achievement in Journalism on Friday, April 21, 2006, at 4 p.m. in Sayles Hall. The award honors the memory of Welles Hangen '49, a foreign correspondent and broadcast journalist, killed in 1970 while covering the war in Vietnam. Note: Because of schedule conficts, the award ceremony has been postponed to the fall semester. See update: 05-107p.
Brown University geologists have created the longest continuous record of ocean surface temperatures, dating back 5 million years. The record shows slow, steady cooling in the eastern equatorial Pacific, a finding that challenges the notion that the Ice Ages alone sparked a global cooling trend. Results are published in Science.
Award-winning author and children's advocate Marian Wright Edelman will address the Brown community in the sixth annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, April 11, 2006. Her speech, "Stand Up for Children Now, " will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. The event is free and open to the public.
Get molecules moving, atom bumping against atom, and friction is bound to follow. Or does it? Surprising Brown University and University of Southern California research shows that under certain conditions in liquids, molecular motion destroys – rather than creates – friction. The work, published in Science, may rewrite the rulebook for chemical reactions.
Images by seven American photographers will be shown in the Bell Gallery's latest exhibition, 7 Documentarians, from April 12 through May 10, 2006. The exhibition takes visitors through a history of 20th-century documentary photography, with subjects ranging from the Depression-era rural south to New York City street life to baseball stadiums of the 1980s.
Student filmmakers and film industry professionals will come together for the 2006 Ivy Film Festival at Brown University April 5-9, 2006. The festival will showcase 36 student films and include advance screenings of eight feature films. Michael Showalter, a 1992 Brown graduate, writer and director of The Baxter, will give the keynote address on Friday, April 7. All events are open to the public.
The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation is honoring Te-Ping Chen and Geoffrey Gusoff, both of the Class of 2007, for their exceptional leadership skills, demonstrated academic excellence, and commitment to public service. The Truman Scholarships enable college students to attend graduate school in preparation for careers in government or public service.
New poll data from the National Sleep Foundation shows that only one in five teen-agers gets a full night's sleep, negatively affecting school performance, driving and mood. Researchers at Brown Medical School and affiliates Bradley Hospital and Hasbro Children's Hospital are national experts in pediatric sleep and call the results a "wake-up call" for parents.
Two Brown University juniors, Kartik Pattabiraman and Brenda Rubenstein, have been selected as Barry M. Goldwater Scholars for the 2006-2007 academic year. The scholarship program is designed to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.
Brown University and Microsoft Research will hold a joint press conference at 1 p.m. Monday, March 20, 2006, at the Watson Center for Information Technology to announce the first academic research program in the nation dedicated to pen-centric computing innovation.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will visit Brown University to deliver the inaugural lecture of the Doherty-Granoff Forum on Women Leaders on Saturday, April 8, 2006. Her address begins at 7:45 p.m. in Meehan Auditorium. Tickets will be available to holders of active Brown IDs beginning Friday, March 17. The Office of Media Relations will issue press credentials for reporters covering the event.
This year's best student artwork will be shown in the 26th annual Student Exhibition at the David Winton Bell Gallery from Saturday, March 18, through Sunday, April 2, 2006. An opening reception for the artists will be held Saturday, March 18, from 7 to 9 p.m. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.
Raymond L. Orbach, director of the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, will visit Brown University on Friday, March 10, 2006, to see science demonstrations and discuss federal funding for basic research. Gov. Donald L. Carcieri will accompany Orbach during his visit.
The Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago has received a recommendation from its Presidential Search Committee that Robert J. Zimmer, currently provost of Brown University, be elected the University of Chicago's next president. Chicago's Board will act on the recommendation at a special meeting Friday, March 10, 2006. President Simmons' message to Brown's faculty, staff and students, sent Thursday morning, March 9, follows here.
Early childhood leaders will meet at Brown University on March 8 to discuss how to best prepare minority children for success at school. The conference, co-sponsored by Brown's Center for Human Development and Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, will feature remarks by Columbia University professor Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Providence Schools Superintendent Donnie Evans.
Brown University chemists have created a new class of compounds that promise to produce prescription drugs more cheaply as well as to provide models for hydrogen storage – a key feature for clean energy production and use. The work has landed in top journals, including a cover of Chemical Communications this month, and has prompted two patent filings.
The Corporation of Brown University has approved a fiscal year 2007 consolidated budget of $664.1 million, an 8.2-percent increase over FY06. Total undergraduate fees will rise 4.7 percent to $43,754, including a 5-percent rise in tuition to $33,888.
Brown University's governing board voted to divest the University from companies supporting and facilitating the Sudanese government in its continuing sponsorship of genocidal actions and human rights violations in Darfur.
Some of the nation's leading voices on class issues in America will gather at Brown University on March 6 and 7, 2006, for the 26th annual Providence Journal/Brown University Public Affairs Conference, titled "One Nation Indivisible? The Persistence of Class in American Culture." Author and The New York Times columnist David Brooks will deliver the keynote address, the Michael P. Metcalf–Howard R. Swearer Memorial Lecture. All events are free and open to the public.
Brown University will present a review of its Institutional Master Plan, including the University's role in the Thayer Street Improvement District, to all members of the Brown Community on Wednesday, March 1, 2006. The meeting will be held at Brown Hillel, the Glenn and Darcy Weiner Hillel Center for Jewish Life, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Two new research studies on progeria, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, detail the damage a mutant protein does to blood vessel cells of humans and mice. The discoveries offer increased hope for a cure for progeria, a genetic condition fatal in children, but may also provide key insight into the cause of adult heart disease.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) will visit Brown University to deliver a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture on International Affairs on Friday, March 3, 2006. His address, "President Bush and the Long War: Are Slogans Enough?" begins at 6 p.m. in the List Arts Center, 64 College St. It is free and open to the public. Reed will be available for press interviews.
Biologists at Brown University and the University of California–Berkeley have discovered that two proteins team up to turn on an assortment of ovarian genes critical to the production of healthy eggs. This finding, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds important light on the biochemical processes underpinning fertility.
For the first time, scientists have created a "spin triplet" supercurrent through a ferromagnet over a long distance. Achieved with a magnet developed at Brown University and the University of Alabama, the feat upends long-standing theories of quantum physics – and may be a boon to the budding field of "spintronics," where the spin of electrons, along with their charge, is harnessed to power computer chips and circuits. Results are published in Nature.
A statewide survey of 785 Rhode Island voters, conducted Feb. 4-6, 2006, finds Sen. Lincoln Chafee in a close race with his likely Democratic challengers and Gov. Donald Carcieri with an 11-point lead over Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty. A majority of Rhode Island voters say they are unprepared for a major hurricane. Questions and Answers are included.
When cells age and stop dividing, how much do they contribute to whole-body aging? Brown University research strengthens the case for a strong connection by providing evidence that non-dividing or "replicatively senescent" cells can be found in large numbers in old animals. The research, led by John Sedivy, is the first to quantify the presence of these cells in any species. Results are published by Science.
The Library Collections Annex at Brown University will officially open on Feb. 3, 2006, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by President Ruth Simmons. Planning for the high-density storage facility has been in the works for more than a decade and is one outcome of Brown's billion-dollar Plan for Academic Enrichment.
Brown University has undertaken a comprehensive study of its intercollegiate athletics program as required every 10 years by the NCAA. President Ruth J. Simmons has appointed a steering committee whose members will collect and review data, gain broad campus input, and produce a report for the NCAA. Brown received a status of certified, without conditions, after its last review in 1997.
The images were accurate: The Gulf Coast's poor, black residents were hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina, according to findings by a Brown University sociologist. Professor John Logan's new research is the first of its kind from the disaster zone and raises provocative questions about the future population of New Orleans.
The ArtsLiteracy Project, based in the Education Department at Brown University, was nationally recognized at the White House Jan. 25, 2006. The program received the 2005 Coming Up Taller Award, which recognizes outstanding community arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of America's youth.
A research team lead by Bharat Ramratnam, a Brown Medical School professor, has genetically modified bacteria found in yogurt so that the bugs produce a protein proven to block HIV infection in monkeys. The results offer hope for a microbicide that can prevent the spread of HIV, which now affects about 40 million people.
From bird flu to bioterrorism, epidemiology to environmental health, Rhode Island health leaders this year can learn about topics critical to improving public health, through a new training program planned by Brown Medical School and the Rhode Island Department of Health.
Edward L. Widmer has been appointed director and librarian of the John Carter Brown Library, marking the library's first change in leadership in 23 years. Prior to this, Widmer served as inaugural director of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and associate professor of history at Washington College in Chestertown, Md. He will begin his new post July 1, 2006.
Another View of Joseph Beuys: Multiples from New England Collections brings together more than 100 works by "one of the most significant figures in contemporary art" at Brown University's David Winton Bell Gallery. The exhibition, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the German artist's death, runs Saturday, Jan. 28, through March 8, 2005. An opening reception will be held Friday, Jan. 27.
Unlike their cousins, rods and cones, newly discovered retinal cells don't aid sight in a traditional sense. Instead, they constrict the eye's pupil and set the body's circadian clock. But new research from Brown University – where the photoreceptors were discovered by David Berson and colleagues – shows that these cells are sensitive to lighting conditions in a manner similar to rods and cones. Results appear in Neuron.
With the endorsement of philanthropist Sidney E. Frank, Brown University will use $1.1 million of Frank's $5-million hurricane relief gift to establish "recovery semester" scholarships next semester at Dillard University and Xavier University of Louisiana, both in New Orleans, and Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss. The scholarships will help students resume or continue their studies and will help provide the schools with sufficient numbers of students to begin the return to normal operations.
As students, faculty and staff prepare for holiday travel, senior administrators at Brown University sent an e-mail advisory to the campus community, offering health information and providing a list of information resources about avian flu. The text of that message follows here.
From South Carolina to Texas, salt marshes have experienced a massive die-off in recent years, threatening fisheries and leaving coastal areas vulnerable to flooding. The culprit, ecologists have long thought, is degraded soil. But new research, published in Science, points to the periwinkle – cordgrass consuming sea snails – as a major contributor to salt marsh loss.
Plasticity – the brain's ability to change based on experience and its own activity – is a key to critical functions such as making memories. Brown University scientists are the first to show that neural activity causes long-lasting changes in electrical synapses in the brains of mammals. Results are published in Science.
A study of all statutory rape cases brought before Rhode Island Superior Court from 1985 through 2002 finds evidence of significant leniency. The study, conducted at Brown's Taubman Center for Public Policy by Ross Cheit, Laura Braslow and Veena Srinivasa, makes recommendations to improve the performance of the criminal justice system in cases of statutory rape.
Brown University will host a colloquium, "Katrina: From Disaster to Renewal," on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2005, from 12:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. in Sayles Hall. The event is free and open to the public, featuring a conversation with Brown President Ruth J. Simmons and Marvalene Hughes, president of Dillard University; a reading by Brenda Osbey, poet laureate of Louisiana; and panel discussions from Rhode Islanders who were among the first to respond to the catastrophe on the Gulf Coast.
Brown will present a review of its Institutional Master Plan, including parking and traffic concerns, to all members of the Brown community, Tuesday December 13, 2005, in the Vartan Gregorian Lounge, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Silicon has made its way into everything from computers to cameras. But a silicon laser? Physically impossible – until now. A Brown University research team led by Jimmy Xu has engineered the first directly pumped silicon laser by changing the structure of the silicon crystal through a novel nanoscale technique. Results appear in an advanced online publication of Nature Materials.
Elementary and middle school students have more learning and attention problems when they sleep eight hours or less at night, according to Brown Medical School and Bradley Hospital researchers. Their study – the first to ask teachers to report on sleep restriction effects – points up the importance of sleep when assessing the causes of, and treatments for, learning difficulties in children. Study results appear in the December issue of the journal SLEEP.
The National Science Foundation has awarded Brown University $9.4 million to continue the work of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, a project aimed at creating new or more reliable materials for industries such electronics and aerospace. The center also provides materials science education and training to public school students and teachers as well as undergraduates.
Nanomaterials can be found in everything from cosmetics to concrete to car bumpers. But are these atomic-scale tubes, fibers, spheres, crystals and films safe? A multidisciplinary team of scientists at Brown University is testing nanomaterial toxicity with funding from the National Science Foundation.
Labyrinths, a group exhibition that explores the search for direction, for self, for discovery and for meaning, features work of Jan Mancuska, Domenic McGill, and Alyson Shotz. The exhibition opens Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005, and runs through Dec. 22. The exhibit and an opening reception (5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11,) are open to the public without charge.
The National Institutes of Health has awarded Brown University a five-year, $11-million Center of Biomedical Research Excellence grant. The funding will allow researchers to explore how healthy cells become cancerous – knowledge critical to finding cures for the second leading cause of death in the United States.
Brown University's Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice will offer a workshop and a speaker series as its on-campus program for the fall semester. The committee was charged to investigate the University's historical relationship to slavery and the slave trade and to organize public events about the historical, legal, political, and moral questions that this history raises. The committee is due to issue its report at the end of the year.
Brown University has licensed a portfolio of Internet security technology to a group of entrepreneurs that has established IAM Technology Inc. The technology, developed by Brown Computer Science Professor Roberto Tamassia and associates, provides a rapid way to validate identity on Internet domains. Brown will retain an equity stake in IAM Technology.
Roger Nozaki, executive director of the General Electric Foundation, has been named an associate dean of the College and director of the Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University. Nozaki, who earned a Master of Arts in Teaching at Brown in 1989, will begin his duties Nov. 1, 2005.
Results of one of the largest breast cancer screening trials show that digital mammography detects significantly more cancers than film mammography in younger women and in women with dense breasts. The American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) conducted the trial in conjunction with the Center for Statistical Sciences at Brown Medical School. The New England Journal of Medicine reports the results.
K. Natwar Singh, India's minister of external affairs, will deliver "The Argument for India," his only major public address while in the United States, at Brown University on Friday, Sept. 23, at 2:30 p.m. in Sayles Hall, located on The College Green. The lecture is open to the public without charge. [News Release 05-027 09/15/2005 Sweeney
A statewide survey of 449 Rhode Island voters conducted Sept. 10-11, 2005, finds that U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee leads Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey in the campaign for the Republican senatorial nomination, while former Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse is ahead of Secretary of State Matt Brown for the Democratic nomination. Only 25 percent of R.I. voters believe President Bush is doing an excellent or good job.
In the first joint interpretation of data from the landmark MELT study, a team of scientists including Donald Forsyth of Brown University has found unexpected changes in the patterns of seismic velocity and electrical conductivity near the East Pacific Rise, changes due to dehydration and cooling. Results are published in Nature.
Brown University and Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc. have signed a research and licensing agreement under which eligible neuroscience researchers at Brown will have access to human clinical data gathered during testing of the BrainGate™ Neural Interface System.
Kerry Stuart Coppin's images of the trans-Atlantic black experience will be on display at the Bell Gallery through October. Coppin, who joined the Brown faculty this fall, has gathered images since 1990 for the exhibit Kerry Stuart Coppin: Materia Oscura/Dark Matter.
After long hours on call, medical residents' performance on attention tests and on a driving simulator was comparable to, or worse than, their performance after consuming moderate amounts of alcohol, according to a study conducted by experts at Brown Medical School and the University of Michigan. Results of the first-ever research are published in JAMA.
Sidney E. Frank, a 1942 alumnus of Brown University, is providing $5 million in support of the University's efforts to provide relief for students and faculty at colleges and universities that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
In an e-mail message to the campus community, Brown President Ruth J. Simmons outlined steps the University is taking in response to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. The text of the President's message follows here.
Professor of Biology Kenneth R. Miller, known nationally for his support of evolution and the scientific method and for his opposition to creationism or intelligent design in public school science curricula, will deliver the keynote address at Brown University's 242nd Opening Convocation Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005. The ceremony, in which Brown President Ruth J. Simmons will officially open the 2005-06 academic year, begins at noon on The College Green.
The David Winton Bell Gallery, located on the first floor of List Art Center, 64 College St., will open its 2005-06 season with two installations by composer and artist Joe Diebes. Joe Diebes: Song of Transformation will run from Sept. 10 through Oct. 30, 2005. An opening reception with a lecture by the artist begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9, in the List Auditorium.
Brown University has agreed to purchase 121 South Main Street, the former Old Stone Square. The building, at the foot of College Hill and convenient to University units in the Jewelry District, has 11 floors of commercial space. The University will manage the facility as a fully taxable commercial property and will honor all leases for the foreseeable future.
Supported by a three-year, $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Mesa Community College (Mesa, Ariz.) and Brown University (Providence, R.I.) will develop pioneering curriculum modules for teaching digital visual literacy. As international culture and commerce become increasingly reliant on visual communications, visual literacy is becoming an essential skill for college graduates. Andries van Dam is co-principal investigator.
Brown University researchers have solved the structure of a critical piece of SAP97, a protein used to keep hearts beating and brains learning. Results, reported by Dale Mierke in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, put science a step closer to understanding how this protein aids in brain and heart function.
In a surprising study in Nature, a team led by a Brown University graduate student shows that a sharp boundary exists between the Earth's hard outermost shell and a more pliable layer beneath, a difference in geological strength underpinning plate tectonic theory. The findings are strong evidence that temperature alone can't account for differences between the regions, which allow plate tectonics to occur.
The assertion that the theory of evolution is inherently anti-God is simply wrong. A 2004 document approved by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, carries a ringing endorsement of the "widely accepted scientific account" of life's emergence and evolution, describes the descent of all forms of life from a common ancestor as "virtually certain," and echoes John Paul II's observation of the "mounting support" for evolution from many fields of study.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has given a five-year, $1.16-million grant to Brown University to establish postdoctoral fellowships in the humanities. In addition to offering professional development to recent Ph.D.s, the program will help establish ties between departments and the University's new Cogut Humanities Center, enrich the curriculum, and promote multidisciplinary research initiatives.
A statewide survey of 470 Rhode Island voters conducted June 25-27, 2005, finds that former Rhode Island Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse would give incumbent Lincoln Chafee a competitive run in a U.S. Senate race. Additionally, incumbent Gov. Donald Carcieri leads Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty in the governor's race. The poll also found less optimism about the direction in which the state is headed, compared to a February survey.
Mid-sized viruses, nanotubes and other bioparticles are more likely to get through receptors, or cellular gates, than smaller or bigger versions. L.B. Freund, professor of engineering at Brown University, and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research have published a model showing an optimal size for cell entry – an idea that can be exploited in drug design – in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Corporation of Brown University elected nine trustees at its regular spring meeting Friday, May 27, 2005: Richard A. Friedman, Frederic B. Garonzik, James B. Garvin, Cathy Frank Halstead, Karen M. Levy, Carmen Garcia Rodriguez, Hannelore Rodriguez-Farrar, Charles M. Rosenthal, and William H. Twaddell. The Corporation also accepted major gifts, established three endowed positions and formally approved and adopted the University's revised policy on intellectual property.
In a major new report in Pediatrics, doctors who care for young adults are warned that computer games and caffeine may not be the only sources of teen sleep deprivation. Sleep apnea, depression and other medical disorders could be to blame, according to the report by Richard Millman, M.D., and other researchers at Brown University. The report has been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"Intelligent design" is now the subject of constant debate in and around biological circles. Humanists would be happy to help sort things out, if only they could understand what the issues really are. Toward that end, Robert Scholes poses five not entirely rhetorical questions.
Six artists who live and work in New England are represented in the David Winton Bell Gallery's summer exhibition, in and around us, through July 10, 2005. The exhibition and an opening reception Friday, June 10, at 5:30 p.m. are open to the public without charge.
A 20-member search committee, chaired by Brown President Ruth J. Simmons, will help find the next superintendent of Providence schools. The committee is asking Providence residents for their best thinking, either through an online questionnaire or at two community forums.
Dr. Sima Samar, chair of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, delivered a Ste-phen A. Ogden Jr. 60 Memorial Lecture on International Relations Saturday, May 28, 2005, in Sayles Hall on the Brown University Campus. The lecture was part of the 35th annual Commencement Forums, offered during the Universitys 237th Commencement. The text of Samar's address follows here.
Brown President Ruth J. Simmons will preside at the University's 237th Commencement exercises Sunday, May 29, 2005, during which 2,094 degrees will be conferred.
Sage Xaxua Morgan-Hubbard of Hyattsville, Md., and Joshua Isaiah Wilson of Haleyville, Ala., will deliver senior orations to their classmates on Sunday, May 29, at 12:20 p.m. in the First Baptist Church in America. Morgan-Hubbard's address is titled "Story and Voice: Passing on Brown's Legacy," and Wilson's address is titled "Dreams, Diversity and Dixie."
Imagining America/Imaging America, an exhibition at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, features an eclectic sampling of images newly available to the public through the Archive of Early American Images, the library's online database of images found in books printed between 1493 and about 1825.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines for treating patients who have been exposed to HIV through sex or injection drug use are a powerful – but partial – weapon for fighting the spread of the virus, according to a commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Harriette Hemmasi, executive associate dean of libraries at Indiana University–Bloomington, will become the Joukowsky Family University Librarian at Brown University. Hemmasi will oversee the six libraries in the University library system and will provide leadership in supporting the University's Plan for Academic Enrichment.
Margaret Klawunn, who has been serving as interim dean for campus life during the 2004-05 academic year, has been appointed associate vice president and dean for student life. Her appointment is effective July 1, 2005.
On May 23, Brown University professor Kay Dickersin will join a group of international health policy experts in Portland, Ore., to create a blueprint for a global clinical trials registry. Controversy over the effects of antidepressants in children has sparked a move toward registration of drug trials, which could help ensure that research results are complete, accurate and publicly available.
A former lecture space in Manning Hall will become a permanent gallery showcasing treasures from the University's Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology in Bristol, R.I. The gallery opens to the public on May 28 with Warp Speeds.
Dileep Bal, M.D., former American Cancer Society president and chief of California's leading-edge tobacco control program, will address the 30th Brown Medical School graduating class Sunday, May 29, 2005, in the First Unitarian Church. Joseph Diaz, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, will deliver the faculty address, and Robert Gray, a candidate for the M.D. degree, will deliver the student address. Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Eli Adashi, M.D., will preside at his first Brown Medical School Commencement.
Award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad will deliver the baccalaureate address to Brown University's graduating seniors on Saturday, May 28, 2005, at 3:30 p.m. in the First Baptist Church in America.
Oskar Eustis, chair of the Brown University/Trinity Repertory Consortium, will deliver "In and of the World," the Graduate School Commencement address, at 11:15 a.m. Sunday, May 29, 2005, on Lincoln Field. Luk Chong Yeung, a doctoral candidate in physics, will present the student address titled "Our Miracle Year."
Brown University's 237th Commencement will follow a new schedule, with academic exercises taking place on Sunday rather than Monday of Memorial Day Weekend. Chief Marshal Artemis Joukowsky will lead more than 6,000 people down College Hill on Sunday, May 29, 2005, in one of the nation's largest and most colorful academic pageants. The procession and academic exercises will cap a three-day Commencement/Reunion Weekend on the Brown campus.
Mapping the interactions between thousands of genes is critical to understanding human development and disease. Leon Cooper and John Sedivy led a research team from Brown University with colleagues at Università di Bologna and Tel Aviv University to develop a sensitive, reliable tool for analyzing these connections, based on an innovative experiment using a notorious cancer protein. The result: potential treatment targets.
The Rio Tinto is a foul, oozing trickle of a river that muddles its way through southwestern Spain, has the pH of gastric juice, and is awash with pollution, heavy metals, and odd microscopic organisms called extremophiles. It's also where Associate Professor of Geological Sciences John Mustard seeks clues about how and where life might survive on Mars.
The Rio Tinto is a foul, oozing trickle of a river that muddles its way through southwestern Spain, has the pH of gastric juice, and is awash with pollution, heavy metals, and odd microscopic organisms called extremophiles. It's also where Associate Professor of Geological Sciences John Mustard seeks clues about how and where life might survive on Mars.
Pierre Mujomba, Brown's second International Writers Project Fellow, is a writer in exile. "In the Congo, writing is never one's first activity," says the Congolese playwright. "There are no publishers and you won't be published, so most people don't have the courage to write."
Environmentalists, in their zeal to promote ecological health, often alienate the very people who could be their best allies, says Brian Mayer. A doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology, Mayer studies how labor and environmental groups can form lasting alliances.
Counter-terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke will present his detailed threat analysis of LNG terminals and tanker traffic in Rhode Island waters during a public forum at 3:30 p.m., Monday, May 9, 2005, in the Salomon Center for Teaching. The event, sponsored by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and moderated by R.I. Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, is open to the public without charge.
Brown University will confer 10 honorary degrees during Commencement exercises Sunday, May 29, 2005. Candidates for honorary degrees include artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, writer David Eggers, philanthropist Sidney E. Frank '42, astrochemist Wesley Huntress '64, geneticist Mary-Claire King, actress Phylicia Rashad, financier William Rhodes '57, human rights activist Sima Samar, and the Rev. Philip Smith, president of Providence College.
Poet C.D. Wright, anthropologist David Kertzer, engineer Rodney Clifton and historian Omer Bartov have been elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a distinction of excellence in science, scholarship, business, public affairs and the arts.
As part of his visit to the Brown University campus, former President William J. Clinton will sign copies of his autobiography, My Life, on Friday, April 29, 2005, from 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at the Brown Bookstore, on Thayer Street north of Angell Street.
The George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation has announced recipients of 12 fellowships for the 2005-06 academic year. The 12 were awarded in literary criticism, film criticism and translation in English. Next year's fellowships will be awarded in anthropology, sociology and political science. Brown University administers the fellowships on behalf of the Howard Foundation.
Brown Summer High School, which runs from July 5-29 this year, offers students entering grades 9 through 12 the opportunity to explore a variety of topics. The program costs $100. Enrollment space is limited, and some financial aid is available.
An interdisciplinary exhibition presented by the David Winton Bell Gallery, the Multimedia and Electronic Music Experiments program, and the Brown Literary Arts program enables guests to stroll through a variety of virtual realities created by students at Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design. The exhibition, Works from the Cave II, runs on two weekends: April 30 and May 1, and May 7 and 8. Reservations are required.
Tickets to President William J. Clinton's address, "Embracing Our Common Humanity: Security and Prosperity in the 21st Century," at 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 29, 2005, in Meehan Auditorium, will be available to holders of active Brown IDs beginning Monday, April 25. The Brown News Service will issue press credentials for reporters who intend to cover Clinton's address.
Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons will lead a 90-minute briefing and host a Leadership Alliance Presidential Forum Tuesday afternoon, April 19, 2005, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. During forum sessions after the briefing, college and university presidents will resume structured discussions about diversity trends and challenges in higher education.
Biographer A. Scott Berg, winner of a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for his work, will give the fifth annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture. Berg will speak on "Telling Lives: Writing Biography" Thursday, April 21, 2005, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. The lecture is free and open to the public.
On Friday, April 22, 2005, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Brown University, together with state and city health officials, will conduct an exercise to test the community's ability to provide emergency medical information, screenings and treatment to large numbers of people. The exercise will take place inside the Pizzitola Memorial Sports Center at the athletic complex, Hope Street at Lloyd Avenue.
Brown University will host the 2005 Ivy Film Festival, featuring entries from student filmmakers throughout the United States and Europe, April 15-17, 2005. Writer/director John Hamburg – maker of such popular films as Meet the Parents and its recent sequel, Meet the Fockers – will give the festival's keynote address Saturday, April 17, at 7 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. The public is welcome.
Brown University will present its second Africana Film festival – featuring 15 films from a dozen countries and an international group of filmmakers, writers and critics – Wednesday through Sunday, April 13-17, 2005, at Cable Car Cinema.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present two photographic exhibitions – One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana and The Omega Suites – April 15 to May 29, 2005. Each exhibition depicts an aspect of U.S. prisons, Photographer Deborah Luster and poet C.D. Wright will discuss their work – One Big Self – during an opening reception Thursday, April 14. Photographer Lucinda Devlin will give a slide lecture on The Omega Suites April 21. Both events and the exhibition are free and open to the public.
Max Cleland, former U.S. senator and decorated Vietnam veteran, will visit Brown University Tuesday, April 5, to deliver the sixth annual Dr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Barnes Jr. Lecture in Public Health. Cleland will be available for press interviews.
Faculty colleagues Forrest Gander and C.D. Wright notified students in the Literary Arts Program today of the death of poet Robert Creeley. Creeley had joined the Brown faculty in 2003 as a Distinguished Professor of English.
Brown University's Osvaldo Sala, a leading authority on biodiversity and global change, says that the new Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report points up the need for policies that reduce demands on the earth's resources.
Brown University will present Queer Window: The LGBTQ Film and Video Festival April 7 to 10, 2005, at Cable Car Cinema. Headlining the festival will be Brown alumnus Rodney Evans '93, who will introduce and discuss his film Brother to Brother on Sunday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m.
Scholars, journalists and international experts will gather at Brown University April 3 and 4, 2005, for the 25th annual Providence Journal/Brown University Public Affairs Conference titled "Democracy in the Middle East: Is It Possible?" The keynote address, a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. '60 Memorial Lecture, will be delivered by Saad Eddin Ibrahim, former Egyptian political prisoner and advocate for democracy and human rights. All sessions are open to the public without charge.
An experiment using the red blood cells of skates – the flat, boneless fish of the sea – has netted a critical finding about how human cells work. Brown University scientist Leon Goldstein and University of Chicago researcher Mark Musch discovered how cellular "gates" are activated to disgorge excess water. The pair believes that the molecular mechanisms that trigger this "release valve" are common to many cells and may provide clues for diabetes and cancer treatment.
Mirra Levitt is one of 15 young Americans to receive the Luce Scholarship, an award that will give her the opportunity to live and work in Asia for a year. It is the second time in as many years that a Brown graduate has been selected to receive the prestigious award.
Brown University will host Becoming Uncomfortable, the 11th annual Performance Studies international (PSi) conference, March 30 to April 3, 2005. In addition to a full schedule of conference activities for registrants, there will be a wide array of theater, dance and other arts performances in various city venues for the public.
Mark J. Porter, currently director of public safety at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, will become Brown University's chief of police and director of the Department of Public Safety. Porter will begin his duties in April 2005.
The Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice will host a major academic conference, "Historical Injustices: Restitution and Reconciliation in International Perspective," Friday, March 18, through Sunday, March 20, 2005. The conference sessions, all free and open to the public, will be held in Smith-Buonanno Hall.
The David Winton Bell Gallery and the Department of Visual Art will present the 25th annual Student Exhibition March 19 through April 3, 2005. There will be an opening reception Saturday, March 19, from 8 to 10 p.m. at the gallery. Both the exhibition and the reception are free and open to the public.
The John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization is hosting its first exhibition in its new Carriage House Gallery through April 22, 2005. Intimacy and Isolation in Providence: An Installation is a collection of oral histories gathered by students from the city's artists and institution builders. An opening reception is planned for Thursday, March 10, 2005, from 7 to 9 p.m.
A gift from Brown graduates Susan P. and Richard A. Friedman, accepted by the Corporation at its meeting today, will allow the University to move forward with plans to create a 24-hour student study center in the first three levels of the Sciences Library.
The Corporation of Brown University has formally accepted a gift that will provide five new pro-fessorships for the Center for Computational Molecular Biology. The Corporation also established new named professorships and accepted other gifts in support of the Plan for Academic Enrichment.
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and author Seymour Hersh will give the 39th annual Meiklejohn Lecture Tuesday, March 8, 2005, at 7:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. Hersh will speak on "Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib." The lecture, sponsored by the Taubman Center, is free and open to the public.
Assistant Professor Jennifer Hughes and graduate student Melissa Lage have found that bacteria follow what ecologists call the "species-area relationship." Their groundbreaking work was published in Nature.
A Rhode Island couple will realize their vision of changing people's lives - one mouse click at a time - when a new online philanthropy site created by a handful of Brown students goes live this spring.
The Public Humanities Initiative, through Steven Lubar, pushes the boundaries of museum studies.
A Rhode Island couple will realize their vision of changing people's lives - one mouse click at a time - when a new online philanthropy site created by a handful of Brown students goes live this spring.
A statewide survey of 384 Rhode Island voters conducted Feb. 12-13, 2005, finds Rep. James Langevin would lead Sen. Lincoln Chafee in a U.S. Senate race, and Gov. Donald Carcieri leads all challengers for re-election. In sports, one-third of Rhode Islanders expect the Red Sox to repeat as World Series champions; Red Sox fans outnumber Yankees fans six to one; and a majority considers the Patriots a dynasty and expects another Super Bowl victory.
The John Carter Brown Library is presenting a new exhibition, Whence Came the Indians? Early European Theories on Native American Origins, through May 1, 2005. The exhibition, prepared by Richard Ring and Dennis Landis, features writings, publications and maps primarily from the 16th and 17th centuries. It is free and open to the public.
Former President Bill Clinton will visit the Brown University campus Friday, April 29, 2005, to deliver a policy address.
Brown University will present a performance by the award-winning dance company Urban Bush Women Saturday, Feb. 26, 2005, at 7:30 p.m. at the Providence Performing Arts Center. The troupe will also present a "Hair Party" Friday, Feb. 25, at 6:30 p.m. at the Providence Black Repertory Theatre Company. The public is welcome; tickets are required for both events.
Brown University is presenting a series of events, titled What is Black? Addressing Our Divisions, Embracing Our Identities, Unifying Our People, now through March 1, 2005, in observance of Black History Month. All events are open to the public; admission is free, except where a charge is noted.
Intermetallics could be the key to faster jets and more efficient car engines. But these heat-resistant, lightweight compounds have stumped scientists for decades. Why do so many break so easily? A team from Brown University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and UES Inc. used the world's most powerful electron microscope to see, for the first time, atomic details that may provide the answer for the most common class of intermetallics. Their results – which could open the door for new materials for commercial use – are published in the current issue of Science.
The Brown University Creative Arts Council is joining with the Hillel Project Gallery at the Glenn and Darcy Weiner Center to present Acts of Charity, Deeds of Kindness, an exhibition of photographs by Caryl Englander, Feb. 3 through March 7, 2005. Englander will give a gallery talk on Thursday, Feb. 3 at 5 p.m. at the center; her lecture will be followed by an opening reception at 6 p.m.
Students at Brown University and Tougaloo College have developed a Web-based archive of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and the four-decade cooperative exchange between their schools. The "Freedom Now!" project – and the exchange it represents – provides historical documents to help visitors understand and remember a complex history and to see the freedom struggle as ongoing.
The John Hay Library will present Black Lavender: An Exhibit of Writings by Black Gay Men Feb. 8 through March 11, 2005. This exhibition, free and open to the public, features an extensive array of books and periodicals dating from the late 19th century to today, along with photographs, posters and other ephemera. The opening reception, set for Feb. 8 at 5:30 p.m., will feature a lecture by Nigerian poet Julius Sokenu.
At the start of the spring semester, Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons urged students, faculty and staff to continue their support for humanitarian relief efforts in Southeast Asia. Brown's first day of classes was Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005, one month after the tsunami struck.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will host a new exhibition, "More Like a Dream Than a Scheme," featuring the sculptural works of Charles Long, beginning Jan. 29, 2005, and continuing through March 6, 2005. Long will speak at an opening reception that begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28. The reception and exhibition are free and open to the public.
Are we born to love the smell of our mother's skin or do we learn to? A Brown University team has shown that emotional association with scents comes through experience, not genes. The results, published in the International Journal of Comparative Psychology, bolster an increasingly accepted olfaction theory and could be a boon to companies that use scents in marketing.
Of course evolution is a theory – the biology textbook already said so. So why did the Cobb County Board of Education order stickers affixed inside the books cover, warning students that evolution is a theory? Kenneth Miller, co-author of the textbook and a witness at the trial in federal district court, has a theory ...
Widespread fears of gathering Shi'a political strength in Iraq may be unwarranted, writer William O. Beeman. Success for the Iraqi Shi'a could help moderate the more extreme political philosophies of the fundamentalist Iranian regime, contributing to the stability of the region.
Many nerve cells in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the brain's master circadian clock, communicate by electrical synapses, according to Brown University research published in the current issue of Nature Neuroscience. The team also found that, in rats and mice, electrical synapses synchronize this critical clock, which helps regulate the daily cycles of sleeping and waking.
India, home to one-sixth of the human race, has an AIDS epidemic, writes Kenneth Mayer. Five million Indians are living with HIV infection. The stakes are high; the government is racing against time.
End-of-life care in nursing homes often results in unnecessary suffering due mainly to a lack of staff time, training and communication, according to a new AARP study conducted at Brown Medical School. The report lists 15 recommendations to improve care, including more staffing, increased physician presence, additional training and better reimbursement rates.
The Department of Veteran's Affairs has awarded $7.2 million to the Providence VA Medical Center to establish a broad-based research program to restore natural function to amputees. The chief goal is to create "biohybrid" limbs that meld human tissue with a prosthesis controlled by an amputee's own muscles and brain signals. The Providence VA Medical Center is working with Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to improve the lives of amputees, particularly Iraq war veterans. (A fact sheet on individual research projects is attached.)
Sea urchin eggs, a common model for human fertility research, create a protein shield just minutes after fertilization. In Developmental Cell, Brown University biologists reveal their discovery of an enzyme that generates hydrogen peroxide, a free radical critical to this protective process. The finding illuminates a survival mechanism shared across species.
Pain management for nursing home residents can dramatically improve using a comprehensive, collaborative improvement process – one that quickly changes how staff assess and treat pain. This is the conclusion of a new study conducted by researchers at Brown Medical School and Quality Partners of Rhode Island and published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Dr. Eli Y. Adashi, currently chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, has been named dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown University. He will begin his work at Brown Jan. 18, 2005.
The Brown University Lecture Board will welcome the Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist and former presidential candidate, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2004, at 7 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. Jackson will speak on "The Future of the Democratic Party." Admission requires a Brown ID, but a limited number of seats will be reserved for the press.
Mark V. Pauly, professor of economics, health care systems, business and public policy, insurance and risk management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, will discuss "Shooting Ourselves in the Foot? Employers and Health Benefits for Workers and Retirees" Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2004, at 5 p.m. in MacMillan Hall. This event, free and open to the public, is the annual Paul Levinger Professorship Pro Tem in the Economics of Health Care Lecture.
A 25-year-old quadriplegic is switching on lights, changing television channels and reading e-mail using only his mind, thanks to a neuroprosthetic device called Braingate, developed in the laboratory of John Donoghue.
Scientists from Brown University and Case Western Reserve University have discovered a way to prevent brain cells from becoming infected by the JC virus, a common bug that can cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, a fatal nervous system disorder that strikes AIDS patients and others with suppressed immune systems. Their work, published in Science, reveals a surprising cellular defender: antipsychotic drugs.
Brown University has appointed Barrymore Bogues, professor of Africana studies; Sheila Bonde, professor of the history of art and architecture; and Karen Fischer, professor of geological sciences, as the inaugural Royce Family Professors of Teaching Excellence. They will serve three-year terms, through June 30, 2007.
Brown celebrates the appointment of 18 faculty to named chairs and welcomes 16 senior scholars to the faculty ranks. Faculty honored with named chairs include David M. Berson, Barrymore A. Bogues, Sheila Bonde, Stuart Burrows, Alfred E. Buxton, Thalia Field, Karen Fischer, Aaron Friedman, Timothy Harris, Jennifer Hughes, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Rene Nuenlist, Daniel J. Smith, David Sobel, Richard Stratt, Hui Wang, John Edgar Wideman, and George Yap.
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist David S. Broder, a national political correspondent for The Washington Post, will give the Gov. Frank Licht Lecture Monday, Nov. 29, 2004, at 7:30 p.m. in Starr Auditorium in MacMillan Hall. Broder will speak on "American Politics: 2004 and Beyond." The lecture is free and open to the public.
The Public Art Committee has arranged to bring Tripes, a sculpture by American artist Alexander Calder, to the Brown campus for public exhibit during the next two years. The sculpture will be installed near Carrie Tower on the University's Front Green Friday, Nov. 5, 2004, weather permitting.
Brown University will host the eighth biennial Lessons and Legacies international conference on the Holocaust, "From Generation to Generation," Nov. 4-7, 2004, at the Providence Marriott Hotel and on the Brown campus. The media is welcome to attend conference sessions.
The Sarah Doyle Women's Center will host a new exhibition of the work of artist Jessica E. Ritter, titled "Sugar Coated," in its gallery at 26 Benevolent St., beginning Nov. 1 and continuing through Nov. 30, 2004. There will be an artist's reception Thursday, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m. Both the exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.
Mara Liasson, national political correspondent for National Public Radio, will discuss "Election 2004: A Washington Insider's View," part of the John Hazen White Sr. Lecture Series, Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. This event is free and open to the public.
First Amendment expert and author Geoffrey Stone will speak on "Civil Liberties in Wartime" Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2004, at 6 p.m. in Starr Auditorium, MacMillan Hall. This lecture is free and open to the public.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the U.S., a traveling exhibition featuring the work of 26 artists, Nov. 6 through Dec. 23, 2004. A lecture and opening reception are scheduled for Nov. 11. A second lecture is set for Nov. 15. The exhibition, reception and lectures are free and open to the public.
Katherine G. Farley, senior managing director at Tishman Speyer Properties, was elected by the Corporation of Brown University to a six-year term as a trustee. Farley and five other new trustees were formally engaged as members of the Board of Trustees during the Corporation's regular fall meeting Saturday, Oct. 16, 2004.
The John Carter Brown Library is presenting a new exhibition, "A Matter of Taste: Discrimination in 19th-Century Book Collecting," now through Jan. 5, 2005, in the library on The College Green. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
P. Terrance Hopmann, professor of political science, and Susan Bernstein, associate professor of comparative literature, have been awarded Fulbright Scholar grants for the 2004-05 academic year. The program will also bring two visiting scholars to Brown this year: Talal Wehbe of Lebanon and Luis Nuno Valdez Faria Rodrigues of Portugal.
Herschel Grossman, professor of economics at Brown University, died suddenly Oct. 9, 2004, while attending an academic conference in France. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 24, at Brown Hillel, 80 Brown St. (corner of Brown and Angell). A reception will follow. Editors: A photograph is available through the News Service.
The Declaration of Independence was in part an outreach to nations of the world – an international explanation of actions the Americans were about to undertake. What might a strict constructionist reading of our nation's earliest document tell us about political life in the 21st century?
A 25-year-old quadriplegic is switching on lights, changing television channels and reading e-mail using only his mind, thanks to a neuroprosthetic device developed using Brown University research. These initial clinical trial results will be presented today at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Phoenix.
When memories are made and learning occurs, the connections between brain cells change. Scientists know that an influx of calcium is critical to this process. A theoretical model developed by a Brown University research team led by Luk Chong Yeung shows that cells' ability to fine-tune this calcium flow not only sparks changes in synapses but also allows cells to maintain a working state of equilibrium.
C.D. Wright, poet and professor of English at Brown University, has been named a MacArthur Fellow for 2004 by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Wright will receive $500,000 in "no strings attached support during the next five years.
A study of the 70 largest metropolitan government Web sites shows city governments vary enormously in the extent to which they are placing electronic information and services online and maintaining basic protections for privacy, security and disability access. A ranking urban government Web sites is included.
The Sarah Doyle Women's Center will host a new exhibition of work by photographer Deana Lawson, titled "Matters of Grace," in its gallery at 26 Benevolent St. The exhibition opens Monday, Oct. 4, and continues through Friday, Oct. 29, 2004. There will be an artist's reception Thursday, Oct. 7, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Both the exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.
It started with the apples, crisp Cortlands and Macs from a Massachusetts orchard. Then came the local peaches and peppers, basil and squash. Then the farmer's market arrived on Wriston Quad. Now, there is Roots & Shoots at the Ratty. Want to know about Brown's sustainable food efforts? Recent graduate Louella Hill's got the dirt.
A look at the Smoke summer interns. Each received funding to conduct research, advocacy and/or service related to a contemporary global problem. One intern spent his summer working with the UN in an Africal refugee camp; another worked in the Caribbean with young people.
Smoke intern Annemarie Guzy '05 spent three months volunteering for the Dominican Dream Project, a nonprofit organization that works to improve the education of poor children in the Dominican Republic by donating supplies, building new facilities and placing volunteers in classrooms. Guzy, a music and English concentrator, taught at the LaColonia School and a summer camp. She shares her experience in this first-person account.
When it comes to faculty hiring, the news is good, according to Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra. After a decade of steady-state hiring, where arrivals and departures were roughly equal, the faculty has grown nearly 9 percent in the last three years. The George Street Journal talked with Vohra about the progress.
Brain cells in the hippocampus make new long-term memories using a synapse-strengthening process called long-term potentiation, or LTP. In the current issue of Science, Brown University and Duke University Medical Center researchers shed new light on this critical brain function, describing where AMPA receptors are stored and how they are activated during LTP.
Chief NASA scientist James B. Garvin and Balzan Award-winning mathematician Wen-Hsiung Li, both Brown alumni, will be honored by the Brown Alumni Association and the Brown Graduate School with their most prestigious awards Saturday, Oct. 2, 2004. Garvin and Li will each give public lectures that day at 2:45 p.m. -- Garvin in the Salomon Center for Teaching and Li in the List Art Center auditorium.
A public opinion survey of 432 adults in Providence indicates that more than two-thirds of city residents are not worried about a terrorist attack harming them or a family member next year. Twenty-eight percent say they keep emergency supplies on hand, and 41 percent say they try to watch out for people who look or act like terrorists.
A study of digital government in the 50 states and major federal agencies ranks Tennessee and Maine first and second among the states and FirstGov (the U.S. portal) and the Social Security Administration first and second among federal sites. The rankings are based on data gathered by researchers at Brown University during summer 2004. Tables for states and federal agencies are included.
The Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice will sponsor a lecture, titled "An Open Letter to Jonathan Doe: Reflections on Racial Inequality in America," by distinguished historian John Hope Franklin Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2004, at 7:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching on The College Green. This event is free and open to the public.
A study of digital government finds that 198 nations around the world are making steady progress at putting services and information online, but movement forward has been slowed because of budget, bureaucratic and institutional factors. The United States and Canada rank third and fourth behind Taiwan and Singapore. A table ranking the governmental Web efforts of 198 countries follows below.
Thomas W. Berry, Brown Class of 1969, has been named chair of the Brown Annual Fund. The Brown Annual Fund, which has enjoyed record-setting growth in the last three years, is an important source of support for the University's Plan for Academic Enrichment.
The debate about prescribing antidepressants for children and adolescents has raised many good questions about how research is funded and how results are reported. It has also exposed a misplaced preference for a pharmacological "magic bullet" over a more comprehensive approach that includes "talk therapy." The real problem is not the pills but a system of mental health care that does not deliver the careful treatment and follow-up young patients need.
Lead gifts from three Brown alumni will allow the University to establish a campus fitness center. Brown President Ruth J. Simmons announced the gifts and the new center during her remarks at the University's 241st Opening Convocation on Tuesday.
The Watson Institute for International Studies will host a symposium, "The Power and Pathology of Networks," as part of its Information Technology, War and Peace Project, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 10-11, 2004. Public radio commentator Christopher Lydon will moderate the opening session on Sept. 10 at 1:30 p.m. The symposium is free and open to the public, except where an admission fee is noted.
Howard Dean, the former Democratic presidential contender and Vermont governor, will speak on "The Long-Term Implications of the 2004 Presidential Election" when he delivers the 2004 Noah Krieger Memorial Lecture Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Political Scientist Scott W. Allard found evidence of emerging mismatches between areas experiencing increasing rates of poverty and the locations of social services. Because social services are central to the current welfare system, proximity to providers has never been more critical.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present a new group exhibition titled InVisible Silence Sept. 11 through Oct. 26, 2004, featuring artists from Israel, Brazil, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Japan and the United States. An opening reception is set for Friday, Sept. 10; participating artist Yael Bartana will discuss her work on a date and time yet to be announced. Both events and the exhibition are free and open to the public.
Political anthropologist and Latin Americanist Kay Warren will deliver the Opening Convocation address Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2004, at noon on The College Green. Brown welcomes 1,434 first-year students, 420 graduate students, 77 medical students, 112 transfer students and eight Resumed Undergraduate Education students to the 241st academic year.
The text of Warren's address is now available online.
When America is waging its war on terrorism, citizens are more apt to vote for male candidates. A survey of 2,119 people completed a year after Sept. 11, 2001, found voters prefer men's perceived leadership traits and characteristics.
A common treatment for malaria shuts down two kinds of connexins, protein "tunnels" that transfer information between nerve cells, according to research conducted at Brown University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Published in this week's online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the finding will help scientists plumb the secrets of connexins – crucial electrical conduits found in the brain, heart and other organs.
A Brown-led research team has discovered a pair of universal switches in the brain that tell the body to stop eating and start burning calories. Tripped by leptin, these essential enzymes activate other chemical messengers that send metabolism-boosting signals from the brain to the body. The discovery, highlighted in the current issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, can be used to create new treatments for obesity, one of the nation's most pressing health problems.
Neil D. Steinberg, chairman and CEO of Fleet Bank--Rhode Island, has been named vice president for development and campaign director at Brown University. As the University's chief development officer, Steinberg will direct the University's next comprehensive campaign, which will support the University's Plan for Academic Enrichment. He will begin his work at Brown on Aug. 23, 2004.
A quick and potent peptide produced in the base of the brain is the key to revving up metabolism – helping people burn calories and lose weight, researchers at Brown and Harvard medical schools have discovered. Published in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of July 26, the research identifies a new target for drug makers hunting for an obesity pill.
Brown Medical School faculty members Francois Luks, a pediatric surgeon, and Stephen Carr, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, were the sole US participants in a groundbreaking international research trial aimed at testing the benefit of fetal surgery for a disease or defect.
The Leadership Alliance has landed a five-year $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support its National Symposium, an annual event where minority undergraduates from across the country present findings from scientific research projects.
Brown University's political scientists are studying the issues, the media, the money and the political process at the state and national levels during this election year. Faculty experts are available for interview on a wide variety of topics and research areas.
The National Labor Relations Board has upheld Brown University's argument on appeal that graduate teaching assistants are students -- not statutory employees -- and are therefore not an appropriate unit for collective bargaining. The NLRB reversed a November 2001 decision by its regional director to order an election and dismissed the original petition filed by the United Auto Workers Union.
The photoraphic mural that has been on the side of the Science Library will be removed a bit early to protect it from potential hurricane damage. The reaction to the mural far exceed Brown officials' expectations.
Aaron Friedman, M.D., is the new Sylvia Kay Hassenfeld Professor of Pediatrics and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical School and the new pediatrician-in-chief at Hasbro Children's.
After two years of study, Grace Macalino, assistant professor of community health, and her research team found that inmates entering Rhode Island prisons have high rates of HIV and hepatitis. Once in prison, male prisoners pass on the hepatitis B virus at alarming rates.
As a postdoctoral fellow at Brown's Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, Dicle Kogacioglu had the opportunity to further her exploration of the issue of honor crimes - the murder of a woman by members of her family who do not approve of her sexual behavior.
A 3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine has been installed at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island's Southeastern Medical Center in Pawtucket for use in osteoarthritis study. Later this year it will accommodate brain research.
In the first study to gauge the risks of contracting HIV and hepatitis in Rhode Island prisons, Brown University researchers found that a significant number of men get the hepatitis B virus behind bars Ð a finding that led the team to call for prison-wide vaccinations. Results are published in the current edition of the American Journal of Public Health.
The exhibition of artist Paola Pivi's untitled mural of a donkey riding in a rowboat, currently displayed on the exterior face of the Sciences Library at Brown University, will conclude July 15, 2004. Concerned for the painting's safety, the University decided to remove it prior to the late-summer hurricane season.
Aaron L. Friedman, M.D., is pediatrician-in-chief at Hasbro Children's Hospital and the Sylvia Kay Hassenfeld Professor of Pediatrics and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Brown Medical School.
Going public with quality and inspection data isn't a prescription for better nursing home care, write Vincent Mor and Jacqueline Zinn. Proactive public policy is required to improve the lives of the estimated 1.6 million elderly in nursing homes in the United States.
Ten Brown faculty members will present research and learn new ways to fight the pandemic, and new international guidelines for antiretroviral treatment, written in part by Charles Carpenter, a physician and professor of medicine, will be released.
One of the most coveted posts during Commencement Weekend is not on any stage. It's up in the First Baptist Church in America, where a crew of five rings the bell during Baccalaureate and Commencement processions.
This winter, Leon Cooper phoned Richard Fishman and said: "Let's make something elegant." The fruit of that phone call is a pulsing, painterly computer-generated collage used on the latest book by Cooper and colleagues. The image is testament to the connection between science and art - and the bond between two of Brown's best-known faculty members.
Providence-area artists explore the dynamics of fabric and light in an intriguing exhibition at the David Winton Bell Gallery through July 11. Titled "The Fabric of Light," the exhibit features the recent work of Searles, Nina Cinelli, Esther Solondz and Cynthia Treen.
The John Carter Brown Library is presenting a new exhibition, titled Haitian Revolution, 1789-1804, from mid-May through Sept. 15. The exhibition features pamphlets, maps and prints that illustrate the story narrated by participants and observers of the revolution.
Hollywood hit campus in "Ivy Idol," the University's true-life takeoff of "American Idol" held on Staff Development Day.
Brown University alumnus Mel B. Yoken has donated his collection of writings by hundreds of late-20th-century American, French, English and Quebecois authors and public figures. Comprising more than 25,000 books, letters, notes and personal papers, the collection is housed in the John Hay Library.
In the first comprehensive, national study to investigate race, income and nursing home quality, Brown University researchers found that African-Americans are four times as likely as whites to live in poorly-funded, understaffed nursing homes. The study appears in the current issue of the health policy journal "Milbank Quarterly."
A $20-million gift from New York businessman Sidney Frank -- the largest single gift for a building ever made to Brown University -- will allow Brown to proceed with planning and construction of a new academic building and a large, landscaped urban green space on Angell Street. At its meeting May 29, 2004, the Brown Corporation accepted the gift and authorized planning for the project to proceed.
Ricky A. Gresh, currently assistant dean/assistant director of student life programs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will begin his duties as director of student activities at Brown University in July. He succeeds David Inman.
The Corporation of Brown University has elected five new members to its Board of Trustees: Thomas W. Berry, of Chatham, N.J.; James J. Burke Jr., of New York City; Alison Ressler, of Los Angeles; Charles M. Royce, of Greenwich, Conn.; and Marta Tienda, of Princeton, N.J.
The life expectancy of fruit flies increases an average of 50 percent when signals within cells of fat tissue are blocked or altered, new Brown University research shows. Published in the current issue of Nature, results of the study suggest that reduced levels of insulin in one tissue regulates insulin throughout the body to slow aging -- a finding that brings science one step closer to cracking the longevity code.
Brown President Ruth J. Simmons will preside at the University's 236th Commencement exercises Monday, May 31, 2004, during which 2,104 degrees will be conferred.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will host a new exhibition titled "The Fabric of Light," featuring the work of local artists Nina Cinelli, Cristin Searles, Esther Solondz and Cynthia Treen, opening June 12 and continuing through July 11, 2004. An opening event Friday, June 11, at 5:30 p.m. will feature a performance of Cinelli's the dance. Both the performance and the exhibition are free and open to the public.
A look at the research done by three Ph.D. graduates: Sarah Alexander Chase, Brenda Foley and Brian Zugay
A 2001 study written by then-graduate students John Williams and Bryan Shuman, and Professor of Geological Sciences Thompson Webb III, has been awarded the 2004 William S. Cooper Award, the Ecological Society of America's highest honor for book- or paper-length research in plant ecology.
The CRISTALS project (for Context-Rich Interactive Student Teaching and Learning System) is an attempt to find better ways to visualize and explore the full sweep of Brown's curriculum in new ways.
Elmo, the tree outside of the Watson Institute that succumbed to Dutch elm disease, is living on through The Elm Tree Project, a collaborative effort between Brown and Rhode Island School of Design that will encompass a series of courses, exhibitions, performances and events - all inspired by Brown's elm and by the larger issues of nature, ecology and the environment.
The 2004-05 academic year will bring continued change to the Brown faculty, improving diversity, increasing the size of the faculty, and supporting the University's initiatives in new multidisciplinary centers. As of May 27, according to preliminary information from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, 40 candidates had accepted faculty appointments.
By identifying shelter and inoculation sites for Providence residents in case of an emergency, Brown junior Kerry Meath has helped the City of Providence create a Homeland Security plan.
Jonathan Doris, M.D., former resident in internal medicine at Brown and current technical consultant to the NBC sitcom "Scrubs," will address the medical graduating class at 8:45 a.m. Monday, May 31, 2004, in the First Unitarian Church. George Goslow Jr., professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, will deliver the faculty address, and Kerri Nottage, a candidate for the M.D. degree, will deliver the student address.
Brown University researchers have found that at least two molecular mechanisms trigger senescence, a cellular process associated with aging and a key to understanding cancer and age-related illnesses. Their research is reported in the current edition of the journal Molecular Cell.
Leaders from industrial research laboratories, academia and the government will gather at Brown University on Monday, May 24, to address the future of corporate research and the role of universities. This summit, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Department of Computer Science's Industrial Partners Program.
Smells do not wake people, according to Brown University researchers who studied responses to the scents peppermint and pyridine -- a common byproduct of fire. The findings indicate a significant alteration of perceptual processing as a function of sleep.
"Elmo," the majestic American elm tree that once defined the Thayer Street entrance to the Watson Institute, succumbed last year to an advanced case of Dutch elm disease and was taken down to prevent the disease from spreading. Now, in an innovative exercise in recycling and preservation, wood from the tree is providing inspiration for The Elm Tree Project and a series of courses at Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design.
Russell Baruffi of Vineland, N.J., and Marian Thorpe of Spokane, Wash., will deliver senior orations during Brown's 236th Commencement, Monday, May 31, 2004, at 10:30 a.m. in the First Baptist Church in America.
Four Brown professors have been honored by national organizations this spring for their work: Amy Greenwald of computer science and Ian Dell'Antonio of physics received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; Thomas Banchoff of mathematics is a recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award; Elliot Colla of comparative literature has been selected by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to receive a New Directions Fellowship.
Artists-in-residence will bring their cultural traditions and personal talent to the stage when the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance presents it popular annual Dance Ensemble Spring Concert May 6 to 8 at 8 p.m. and May 9 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. in Stuart Theatre.
"Homeland Insecurity: The Changing Face of Immigration," a recent public affairs conference at Brown University, focused on immigration in the United States after Sept. 11, 2001. At the University's invitation, several conference speakers prepared op-ed pieces on immigration issues. These are available through the Brown News Service.
In dual-earner couples, the probability of having a second child varies substantially according to the division of housework, says a new Brown University study in Population Development and Review. Researchers studied 265 dual-earner married couples in the United States.
Brown University will confer nine honorary degrees during Commencement exercises Monday, May 31, 2004. The recipients are Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil; philanthropist Malcolm G. Chace; Shirin Ebadi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize; Paul Farmer, M.D.; playwright Suzan-Lori Parks; journalist Jane Pauley; Brown University Chancellor Stephen Robert; Judith Rodin, president of the University of Pennsylvania; and cartoonist Garry Trudeau.
Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi will address graduating seniors at Brown's baccalaureate service on Sunday, May 30, 2004, at 1:30 p.m. in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America. Seating is limited to graduating seniors; the service will be simulcast to The College Green.
More than 6,000 people will march down College Hill on Memorial Day, May 31, 2004, in one of the nation's largest and most colorful academic pageants. The procession and academic exercises cap a four-day Commencement/Reunion Weekend on the Brown campus.
Richard Gaitskell, assistant professor of physics at Brown University and head of Brown's particle astrophysics group, is a leading member of a U.S. research collaboration that is trying to directly detect particle "ark matter." The collaboration's detectors, cooled to less than one-tenth of a degree above absolute zero, operate half a mile beneath the earth's surface in an historic iron mine in Northern Minnesota.
The memories of meeting the flamboyant artist Salvador Dali and the ensuing decade-long friendship are particularly fresh in geometer Thomas Banchoff's mind these days as Europe celebrates the centennial of Dali's birth with major retrospective exhibitions, symposiums and other events. Banchoff is working with a crew filming "The Dali Dimension," a documentary to air in Europe this fall.
For the past seven years, bilingual Brown students have volunteered in the adult and pediatric emergency rooms of Rhode Island Hospital providing translation at such critical moments.
Sixty members of the Brown community spent a recent Saturday refurbishing the Fox Point Boys/Girls Club and the Alfred Lima Sr. Elementary School in Providence as part of the national volunteer program Rebuilding Together, formerly known as Christmas in April.
David A. Greene, currently serving as interim vice president, has been named vice president for campus life and student services. His appointment is effective July 1, 2004.
Brown University's Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice will investigate and discuss an uncomfortable piece of the University's -- and our nation's -- history. The Committee's work is not about whether or how reparations should be paid, writes Brown President Ruth J. Simmons. Rather, it will do the difficult work of scholarship, debate and civil discourse, demonstrating how difficult, uncomfortable and valuable this process can be.
The Brown University Music Department will present the 2004 Sara and Robert A. Reichley Concert -- Viva Jazz! -- featuring the Brown Jazz Band on Friday, May 7, 2004, at 8 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. The program will also feature the Jazz Band and the Brown Wind Symphony performing with Grammy winning musician Joe Lovano and vocalist Judi Silvano. The concert is free and open to the public.
Nationwide, manufacturing jobs, once the mainstay of the middle income, have been shrinking. In 1969 more than 34 percent of working Rhode Islanders were employed in manufacturing. Today that number is 12 percent; low-income service jobs have increasingly replaced manufacturing jobs. If today's immigrants are to become the grandparents of tomorrow's professionals, education and language skills will be a major key, writes Jean Burritt Robertson. Robertson presented her ideas at the 2004 Brown University/Providence Journal Public Affairs Conference, "Homeland Insecurity: The Changing Face of Immigration."
Given that educating English language learners requires an investment in special programming -- in a time when resources are shrinking -- programs and services specifically designed for students who are learning English may suffer the deepest cuts. While investments in educating English language learners have a current cost, that cost is small when compared to the future cost of failing to do so, writes Virginia M.C. da Mota. Da Mota presented her ideas at the 2004 Brown University/Providence Journal Public Affairs Conference, "Homeland Insecurity: The Changing Face of Immigration."
No matter the weapon or delivery system -- hijacked airliners, shipping containers, suitcase nukes, anthrax spores -- terrorists are needed to carry out the attacks, and those terrorists have to enter and operate in the United States. In a very real sense, the primary weapons of our enemies are not the inanimate objects at all, but rather the terrorists themselves. Thus keeping the terrorists out or apprehending them after they get in is indispensable to victory, writes Mark Krikorian. Krikorian presented his ideas at the 2004 Brown University/Providence Journal Public Affairs Conference, "Homeland Insecurity: The Changing Face of Immigration."
History says that everyone coming here is a foreigner until proven otherwise. The U.S. immigration authorities have a long, flourishing tradition, beginning in the early 19th century, of treating every would-be immigrant like a criminal. Immigration personnel at Ellis Island changed names that sounded too "foreign" to sound more Amurrican, writes Andrei Codrescu. Codrescu presented his ideas at the 2004 Brown University/Providence Journal Public Affairs Conference, "Homeland Insecurity: The Changing Face of Immigration."
Immigrants and refugees and their advocates are as shaken by terrorism as the rest of us and want to ensure that terrorists are not given a free pass to enter America. We must enforce and strengthen existing laws and institute new procedures aimed at terrorists and criminals. But we must not let refugees become collateral damage in the process, writes Lavinia Limon. Limon presented her ideas at the 2004 Brown University/Providence Journal Public Affairs Conference, "Homeland Insecurity: The Changing Face of Immigration."
America still offers immigrant writers a shelter -- a place and a space to write -- and even the occasional rewards of the literary marketplace. For an immigrant writer, the welcoming anonymity of American life is both liberating and stifling, exhilarating and disheartening. America still promises, and gives, much of herself to immigrant writers. But once translated and published, immigrant stories start American lives of their own, write David Shrayer-Petrov and Maxim D. Shrayer. Shrayer-Petrov and Shrayer presented their ideas at the 2004 Brown University/Providence Journal Public Affairs Conference, "Homeland Insecurity: The Changing Face of Immigration."
Ninety-three percent of Rhode Island inmates studied said they would agree to receive the hepatitis B vaccine in prison if it were offered, according to new Brown University research. Although vaccination has been available for two decades, 1.2 million Americans have chronic hepatitis B, and the disease continues to spread. Few prison systems offer the vaccine to inmates.
The George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation has announced 12 creative-writing fellowships of $20,000 each for the 2004-05 academic year. Brown University, which administers the Howard Foundation for the foundation's Board of Administration, also announced that the 2005-06 fellowships will be given in the area of literary criticism.
In ancient maps of the world, expanses of unknown territory might hold a warning to would-be explorers: Here there be monsters. For today's explorers seeking to navigate and understand the world of science, the monsters are the untamed collections of data that inhabit a largely uncharted landscape, according to the National Science Foundation
At a press briefing held on campus April 5, the University expanded upon the Planfor Academic Enrichment's proposals to enhance the Medical School.
Six multidisciplinary research proposals will receive financial support totaling nearly $442,000 for projects that will explore the areas of cognitive computer applications, vaccine development, environmental issues along the Israeli-Palestinian watershed, the potential toxicity of nanomaterials, adolescent pregnancy, and neuroproteomics.
Now through June 2004, Brown will host a multifaceted project titled "Pandemic: Facing AIDS." Brown is the first U.S. university to host the international exhibition, "Pandemic: Imaging AIDS," which will be on display at Brown's Watson Institute through June 12. The University will also present "Provoking Hope: A Brown University HIV/AIDS Symposium" April 23-25, 2004, in Starr Auditorium in MacMillan Hall. All events in this project are free and open to the public.
Philanthropist and cable news pioneer Ted Turner will be honored May 1, 2004, at 5 p.m. at the conclusion of a two-day Entrepreneurial Extravaganza that invites aspiring entrepreneurs from East Coast colleges and universities to compete for cash. The event is a joint collaboration by Brown University and Bryant College.
Inhibitions about doctor visits was a main reason unmarried women said they did not seek routine cancer screening tests, according to initial findings from a five-year study of women ages 40 to 75. Change is needed to ensure the 20 million women in this population undergo tests that detect cancer in its early stages. Researchers are recruiting 600 women for the next phase of the project.
ESPN anchor and sportscaster Chris Berman, a member of the Brown class of 1977, will give the fourth annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture Thursday, April 15, 2004, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. Berman will speak on "Sports: America's Last Melting Pot." Following the lecture, Berman will conduct an ESPN-style interview with special guest Bill Belichick, head coach of the World Champion New England Patriots. This event is free and open to the public.
Brown University will host the third annual Ivy Film Festival April 8-11, 2004. The festival will feature student film entries from the United States and abroad, as well as lectures and panel discussions with Academy Award-winning actor Adrien Brody, directors Wes Craven and Brett Ratner, and others. The festival is open to the public; tickets are required for all events.
Jorge Castaneda, former Mexican secretary of foreign affairs and now a candidate for Mexico's 2006 presidential election, will give a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture on International Affairs titled "Mexico: Democracy in Progress." Castaneda will speak on Tuesday, April 13, 2004, at 6:30 p.m. in Sayles Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.
In many cases where strong national interests are at stake, a deliberate deception may be called for. But the decision to go to war is among the most fundamental questions the state faces, writes Corey Brettschneider. For this reason, Article I of the Constitution grants the power to declare war to Congress, our deliberative body, and an agent of the people's consent. Can people give their informed consent if they have been deceived?
U.S. immigration policy expert Doris Meissner will deliver the Michael P. Metcalf-Howard R. Swearer Memorial Lecture to open the 24th annual Brown University/-Providence Journal Public Affairs Conference. The conference, "Homeland Insecurity: The Changing Face of Immigration," runs April 25 through April 28, 2004. Meissner will give her address, titled "Immigration and Security: A Post-9/11 Report Card," on Sunday, April 25, at 5 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green.
As part of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, the Corporation of Brown University has approved proposals that will bring significant new investments to the Division of Biology and Medicine. New laboratories and an expanded faculty are already under way in the basic biological sciences. The University is committed to expanding its Program in Public Health and providing it a new home. The Medical School and its hospital partners will be working under new agreements.
As part of the national reaccreditation process for Brown University's Department of Public Safety to be conducted this summer, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies will conduct a special public meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, April 26, in MacMillan Hall, Room 117. Community members may also submit written comments. DPS received its initial accreditation in July 1998, and was reaccredited in July 2001.
Brown's Public Art Committee is bringing a 33-by-40-foot photographic mural by Italian artist Paola Pivi to campus. The untitled work, on loan to Brown, will be installed on the western exterior of Brown's Sciences Library on Thayer Street.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will host a new exhibition, titled "Unbuilt Providence: Architectural Visions, 1856 to 2000," April 14 through May 31, 2004. A reception and a lecture by guest curator Dietrich Neumann are set for Friday, April 23, at 5:30 p.m. in the List Art Center, 64 College St. Both events are free and open to the public.
Brown University will host the United States Cochrane Collaboration Meeting, titled "Building the Foundation: Creating Greater Awareness and Use of Evidence-based Health Care," April 1 and 2, 2004, in MacMillan Hall, 167 Thayer St.
After 16 years of research and more than a decade of following the development of children thought to have been at serious risk, medical experts have not identified a recognizable condition, syndrome or disorder that should merit the label "crack baby." With no basis in science, the term serves only to stigmatize and slander children and their mothers and should be eliminated from public discourse.
The Independent Review Committee, appointed by G. Carcieri to study the State Police raid on a tax-free smoke shop operated by the Narragansett tribe, is subject to Rhode Island's Open Meeting Act, according to an opinion released today by the Rhode Island attorney general.
Sheridan Center teaching awards; On the Road; research note on Milankovitch Theory
Brown volunteers will hoist paintbrushes, hammers and shovels to refurbish the Fox Point Boys and Girls Club on April 24
The new Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered and Questioning Resource Center in Faunce House "is a demonstration that diversity is respected and celebrated," said Angela Mazaris, who serves as LGBTQ Resource Center part-time coordinator.
Six undergraduate students participating in a Group Research Project (GRP) under the direction of Assistant Professor of Medical Science and Engineering Diane Hoffman-Kim are using sophisticated laser techniques to determine what makes nerves grow. The research eventually may help scientists develop treatments for people with spinal cord injuries, as well as developmental neurological disorders.
As Rebuilding Together, formerly called Christmas in April, marks its 10th anniversary rehabilitating homes and community buildings throughout the state, volunteers from Brown University will pitch in to refurbish one of the largest Boys and Girls Clubs in the city. The project is sponsored by Brown.
Each fluctuation in public opinion about candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore during the 2000 presidential election led to corresponding changes in equity prices of firms aligned with the two candidates, according to a new study by a Brown University economist Brian G. Knight. Bushs ultimate victory in the election resulted in a $100-billion shift in value from Gore-favored to Bush-favored firms.
Wilbur Johnson, lecturer and clinical professor of social studies and history in the Department of Education, recently received the Wriston Fellowship, one of the highest awards the University bestows upon its teaching faculty. Johnson will use the fellowship to create a new undergraduate seminar course that examines issues surrounding the concept of "white privilege."
Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design will jointly present "The Theater That Was Rome: 16th-18th Century Views and Maps," a simultaneous exhibition of objects from the collection of Vincent J. Buonanno, April 9 through July 11, 2004, at the RISD Museum of Art and Brown's John Hay Library. In conjunction with the exhibit, Brown will host a symposium, titled "Rome in Print," on Saturday, April 24, 2004, at the List Art Center.
Newsweek magazine chief political correspondent Howard Fineman will give the inaugural Governor Frank Licht Lecture on Tuesday, March 23, 2004, at 7:30 p.m. in Sayles Hall on The College Green. Fineman will fill in for the previously-announced Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David S. Broder, who has canceled due to illness.
The David Winton Bell Gallery and the Department of Visual Art will present the 24th annual "Student Exhibition" March 20 through April 4, 2004. An opening reception for the artists is scheduled for Saturday, March 27, 2004, from 6 to 9 p.m. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.
Brown President Ruth J. Simmons will host a reception to welcome Brown alumnus Donald C. Eversley back to Providence as president of the Providence Economic Development Partnership. Gov. Donald L. Carcieri and Mayor David N. Cicilline will also attend. The reception, by invitation only, begins at 5:30 p.m. in the John Carter Brown Library.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David S. Broder will give the inaugural Gov. Frank Licht Lecture when he speaks on "American Politics: 2004 and Beyond" on Tuesday, March 23, 2004, at 7:30 p.m. in Sayles Hall on The College Green. The lecture, sponsored by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, is free and open to the public.
Women make up 58 percent of those vying to walk through the Van Wickle Gates in the fall as members of the Class of 2008 - 8,854 applications compared to 6,414 applications from men. Letters to applicants accepted from the total applicant pool of 15,268 will be mailed April 1.
Each year, faculty are asked to nominate students for the Faculty Scholars Program, which was created by faculty in 1982 to provide scholarship and fellowship aid to undergraduate or graduate students, particularly those who have demonstrated academic excellence. Seven Brown students have been named Faculty Scholars for 2003-04. Here is a brief look at each.
Seldom is there a major exhibit of an archaeologist's work in his or her lifetime, but Brown's Professor Martha Sharp Joukowsky is now among the few who have been so honored. Since 1993, Joukowsky has led a team of Brown archaeologists and students in excavating the Great Temple of Petra. Now their work is on display in "Petra: Lost City of Stone," a special traveling exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City through July 6.
The work of a team of Brown archaeologists led by Martha Sharp Joukowsky, director of the Center for Old World Archaeology and Art, is being displayed in "Petra: Lost City of Stone," a traveling exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City through July 6, 2004. On Sunday, March 14, 2004, at the museum, Joukowsky will present a slide-illustrated lecture on her work at the Great Temple of Petra.
The John Carter Brown Library is hosting a new exhibition, "The Establishment Of Colleges In The English Colonies," through May 1, 2004. The collection features documents relating to the founding of Harvard University, the College of William and Mary, Yale University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Brown University and Dartmouth College.
Chinese democracy activist Wang Youcai, one of the leaders of the 1989 student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square will arrive in Providence, R.I., tonight (Thursday, March 4, 2004). Wang, who was first imprisoned in 1998, was given medical parole earlier today. Wang's stay in the United States will be sponsored by Chinese dissident Xu Wenli, visiting senior fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute.
A $5.5-million gift from Brown alumnus and trustee emeritus Charles M. Royce, will fund six professorships to honor Brown faculty for excellence in teaching. Royce's gift was one of seven major gifts presented to and accepted by the Brown Corporation at its regular winter meeting Saturday, Feb. 28, 2004.
The Plan for Academic Enrichment, approved by the Brown Corporation at its regular meeting Saturday, Feb. 28, 2004, outlines more than a decade of investments in Brown's faculty, academic programs, core academic facilities, environment for student living, and the physical campus -- a program that could transform the University.
Overall charges for undergraduates at Brown University will rise to $39,808 for the 2004-05 academic year, an increase of 4.9 percent. That figure includes tuition of $30,672, an increase of 5 percent.
In the past year, both April Shiflett and Justin Widener have followed Steven Hajduk, their doctoral advisor from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to the MBL in Woods Hole, where Hajduk is now director of the center's Global Infectious Diseases program. When Brown created an institutional affiliation with the MBL last July to foster cutting-edge research in biology, biomedicine and environmental sciences, the students saw a golden opportunity Ð and this semester they officially transferred to the Brown-MBL graduate program in pathobiology
Giardia lamblia is a protozoa that can cause severe cases of diarrhea known as giardiasis. To Mitchell L. Sogin, director of the Bay Paul Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Giardia is also a link to the past, providing insights into the evolution of life on earth. His lab works to sequence the entire Giardia lamblia genome. This data will be made available for medical use, as well as for the evolutionary research that fascinates Sogin. Thanks to the MBL partnership with Brown, he also looks forward to assisting with joint courses about genomics Ð the study of an organism's entire DNA sequence Ð and molecular evolution.
Brown University's Human Resources Department is introducing a new online employment system designed to make the employment process more efficient and accessible for job seekers and hiring managers.
Immigration is an experience shared by nearly all American families at some point in their history, and for many, Ellis Island plays a central role in that experience. On March 6 the Brown University Orchestra will celebrate the immigrant journey when it moves from College Hill to downtown Providence to perform Peter Boyer's multimedia composition "Ellis Island: The Dream of America" at Veterans Memorial Auditorium Arts and Cultural Center.
A grand opening celebration for the LGBTQ Resource Center will be held Tuesday, March 2, 2004, from 5 to 7 p.m., in Rooms 321 and 323 of Faunce House on The College Green. The center will serve as a meeting place for a variety of student groups and as a hub for academic activity and administrative programs.
The Brown University Chorus will perform Bach's "Passion According to St. John" on Friday, March 5, 2004, at 8 p.m. at Central Congregational Church, 296 Angell St. Proceeds from the performance will support the choir's concert tour of Russia and Finland in June.
The Brown University Orchestra, conducted by Paul Phillips, will perform "Ellis Island: The Dream of America," composer Peter Boyer's multimedia concert celebration of immigration, on Saturday, March 6, 2004, at the VMA Arts and Cultural Center. Noted actress Kate Burton, a member of the Brown Class of 1979, and violinist Juliana Pereira '04, a three-time Concerto Competition winner, will be among the featured performers.
Brown University and the Black Coaches Association will co-sponsor an annual Fritz Pollard Award, to be presented to the college or professional coach chosen by the BCA as coach of the year. The award honors Frederick Douglass Fritz Pollard of Browns Class of 1919, the first African American to play in a Rose Bowl Game (for Brown, in 1916), first to quarterback an NFL team, and first to coach in the NFL. (See also background on Fritz Pollard.)
Violations of privacy protections often occur in the most intensely publicized child abuse cases, says Ross E. Cheit, associate professor of political science and public policy. As a result, children can be further victimized by false reports about their testimony. Cheit presented his findings Sunday, Feb. 15, 2004, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting.
The bonus program announced by President Simmons last fall culminated during the last week of January with 225 staff members Ð 187 individuals and 13 teams totaling 38 members Ð receiving bonus checks.
The Office of the Vice President for Research has announced this year's recipients of Richard B. Salomon Faculty Research Awards. This program was established to support excellence inscholarly work by providing funding for faculty research projects deemed to be of exceptional merit.
For the most part, economists have left unexplored how political borders are formed and redrawn, assuming that national borders are fixed much like geographical features such as mountains or coasts, said Enrico Spolaore, Kutayba Alghanim Assistant Professor of Political Economy. However, when borders are viewed as human-made institutions, as Spoloare and Alberto Alesina of Harvard do in a new book "The Size of Nations," the importance of studying the economics of country size becomes apparent: Nations are some of the world's most powerful organizations.
A group of researchers led by Professor of Geological Sciences Terry Tullis has discovered a gel-like substance Ð forming when samples of quartz rock rub against each other Ð that may help explain the weakening of friction that occurs between geologic faults during certain earthquakes.
Women have as much success being elected as men but they are not as likely to consider running for office. A groundbreaking study to be published in the American Journal of Political Science found two major factors at work: Women are not as likely as men to view themselves as qualified to hold office, and women are not as likely to receive encouragement from party leaders to become candidates.
Stanley M. Aronson, professor emeritus of medical science, and co-author Renee Rose Shield, clinical associate professor of community health, set out to examine the complex issues facing the older person in today's society in their new book, "Aging in Today's World." Aronson, a physician, tackled the subject from a medical perspective. Shield, an anthropologist, provides the view of a careful observer.
A community-driven group research project investigates "functional disenfranchisement," which the student participants and faculty leader suspect prevents residents in underserved communities from getting the health care they need.
Office moves; new Corporation member; obituaries; awards and honors; more
For several decades, Professor of Geological Sciences James Head has played a significant role in both U.S. and international space missions. Head is involved in the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Express mission, both orbiting the planet, and worked in astronaut training, site selection and mission operations during the Apollo Lunar Exploration Program, among other efforts. He spoke recently about the current Mars missions and President Bush's recently announced new vision for NASA.
Three first-year MFA candidates will offer workshop productions of their new plays during part one of the festival Feb. 4-8 in the McCormack Family Theatre. Part two, scheduled for April 28 through May 2, will showcase the thesis projects of three second-year MFA playwriting students.
In a national study on end-of-life care, Brown researchers found that the physical and emotional needs of the dying continue to be unmet, particularly for those who die in institutions. According to the study, Americans who die in nursing homes and hospitals often receive inadequate pain control, too little emotional support, a lack of respect from staff, and poor communication with physicians.
The University has a new online calendar of events located at http://calendar.brown.edu. The new service, updated regularly and searchable by date, event category or keyword, makes information about lectures, concerts, athletic contests, club meetings, exhibitions and other events available throughout campus and to the extended Brown community of alumni, parents, campus neighbors and friends.
Even in an economy that has moved from an industrial to a technologically advanced base, basic skills matter. High school dropouts who scored higher on a standardized test earned more when they entered the labor market than high school dropouts with lower scores, according to a new Brown University study.
The University's new online calendar of events calendar.brown.edu offers a variety of user-friendly features and enables members of the Brown community to post events directly into the calendar database.
The University's new online calendar of events -- at calendar.brown.edu -- offers a variety of user-friendly features and enables members of the Brown community to post events directly into the calendar database.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present a multisensory interactive exhibition, "Bill Seaman: Exhange Fields," featuring the work of award-winning video artist and RISD Professor Bill Seaman, Jan. 24 through March 10, 2004. The exhibit is free and open to the public, as is the opening reception and artist's lecture on Friday, Jan. 23, at 5:30 p.m.
In a national study on end-of-life care in the United States, Brown University researchers find the physical and emotional needs of the dying continue to be unmet, particularly for those who die in institutions. With baby boomers about to reach retirement age, the need for reform becomes increasingly urgent, according to Joan Teno, lead author of a paper to be published Jan. 7, 2004 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
During the last several decades, geological scientists from Brown University have played significant roles in space science, participating in the design and implementation of voyages to Mars, the Earth's moon, Venus, Jupiter and its moons, and asteroids.
Providing Saddam with an open speaker's platform in court will undoubtedly be uncomfortable, but it is the right way to proceed. The world will then see the real Hussein, rather than the symbolic villain the United States has been fighting for the last two years.
A new study led by a Brown University biologist reveals that a species of marine snail uses a unique method of agriculture. According to the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the snail cultivates the growth of fungus, its preferred food, on live marsh grass, leading to a fungal infestation that suppresses marsh grass production. Fungal farming was previously thought to occur only in terrestrial insects.
Katharina Galor, visiting assistant professor at the Center for Old World Archaeology and Art, has organized a symposium that will bring together some 40 scholars from Israel, Jordan, Europe and North America to discuss their research on the Wadi Arabah.
Stephen Hajduk, a researcher at the Marine Biological Laboratory, has found a kindred spirit in the chromosomes of African Trypanosomes, single-celled parasites which use a mentoring process to fix typo-like errors in messenger molecules. Hajduk, who will be a guest lecturer in two Brown courses next semester, directs the Molecular Pathogenesis and Molecular Infectious Disease Program and is an active mentor to his students, firmly engaged in their development as researchers.
Daniel J. Smith, assistant professor of anthropology and a faculty member in the Population Studies and Training Center, is on the team of researchers from various universities who won a $1.5 million award from the National Institutes of Health for the three-year collaboration.
The offspring of mothers who smoke heavily during their pregnancy are far more likely to develop nicotine dependence once they themselves try cigarettes.
A group of research scientists from Brown and Yale, led by Arto Nurmikko, professor of engineering and physics, recently received $900,000 from the Department of Energy to develop advanced materials for energy-efficient lighting applications.
Allison Whitney's internship in Tanzania united her interest in development issues and biology with her interest in science writing.
Vice President for Research Andries van Dam talks about the direction of Brown's research efforts.
In the year since being named to lead the University's new Office of the Vice President of Research, Andries van Dam has hired a team of individuals to help him advocate for the University's research community on and off campus.
Engineering Professor L. Ben Freund has received one of applied mechanics' highest honors - the Stephen P. Timoshenko Medal.
Of the 38 men and women listed in Esquire magazine's "Genius Issue," two have ties to Brown: Assistant Professor Anne De Groot is recognized for her pioneering efforts to develop a vaccine for AIDS; Bobby Jindal '92, who narrowly missed becoming Louisiana's governor earlier this month, was presented as "the new face of southern politics."
It is no longer disease that poses the biggest threat to young lives, but behavioral misadventures of poorly understood origins, writes Lewis P. Lipsitt. We need an effort on the scale of a Manhattan Project to create a solution that would end the behavior that is killing our children. That we are so limited in our knowledge at this stage in human history about the origins and nature of human behavior is unacceptable.
Experts will explore the behaviors killing this country's youth -- including suicide, substance abuse, self-mutilation and bullying -- Nov. 21 and 22, 2003, in Starr Auditorium of MacMillan Hall at Brown University. The national symposium titled "What's Killing Our Kids?" is free and open to the public.
Investigating the transport mechanisms of the herpes simplex virus, researchers at Brown University and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., discovered, for the first time, a physical connection between the herpes virus and amyloid precursor protein (APP). A byproduct of APP -- beta-amyloid -- is a major component of the amyloid plaques that are found consistently in the brains of persons with Alzheimer's disease.
Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design have teamed up to offer the first annual RISD-Brown Performance Art Series through April 2004. The collaborative presentations -- all free and open to the public -- will include separate performances by playwright/actor Eric Bogosian and performance artist Julia Mandle on Nov. 13, 2003.
Audiences will be hiking College Hill on Nov. 13 when playwright/actor Eric Bogosian and performance artist Julia Mandle appear in separate venues as part of the first RISD-Brown Performance Art Series.
Students in ES126, "Public Perception of the Environment," have received the Rhode Island American Planning Association Journalism Award for their 2002 research project that examined the experiences and perspectives of a northern Rhode Island community in relation to a local water crisis.
Brown student athletes have been known to strike fear in the hearts of their formidable opponents on occasion, but this Halloween they turned those fear-provoking tactics elsewhere. The Brown students volunteered their time and talents to decorate, disguise, spook and haunt their way into the hearts of hundreds of young goblins and ghouls at the Fox Point Boys/Girls Club in Providence during the club's annual "Halloween Fun Night."
Her findings suggest childcare programs should be expanded beyond the historic focus of programs for preschool-age children to include older children who stand to gain considerably from greater adult supervision in the hours after school.
A team of scientists from Brown University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a new understanding of the phase transition in type-II superconductors. The development, reported in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters, confirms the work of a Nobel Prize-winning physics theorist and reveals behavior long thought to exist in these materials.
"Freedom to Write" is a two-day series of readings and panel discussions celebrating Brown's International Writers Project.
As part of Red Cross disaster teams since 1985, Suzanne Turcotte has provided aid to victims of Hurricanes Hugo, Andrew and Bob, as well as those of countless other national and local catastrophes. On her most recent assignment just this semester, she spent two weeks in Virginia with four other local Red Cross volunteers assisting the victims of Hurricane Isabel.
Group Research Projects (GRPs) are small teams of undergraduate students who work with a faculty member - in this case, community health Professor McGarvey, on a project that contributes to the faculty member's research.
"The Educational Software Seminar," a unique undergraduate course taught at Brown University for the last decade, produces software for use in elementary, secondary and post-secondary classrooms. Providence teachers are invited to submit proposals for software that would be developed by undergraduates during spring semester 2004 for use in the teachers' classrooms.
The University closed fiscal year 2003 with a 1 percent overall surplus, the endowment returned 6.5 percent, and significant progress has been made on the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment. Those were some of the facts shared by President Simmons, Provost Robert Zimmer and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Beppie Huidekoper at a forum sponsored Oct. 21 by the President's Staff Advisory Committee.
Three installations by the critically acclaimed contemporary artist Do-Ho Suh will be shown Nov. 8 through Dec. 21 at the Bell Gallery.
A team of researchers from Brown University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed a new phase diagram for type-II superconductors. The research, reported in a recent issue of "Physical Review Letters," confirms the seminal theory of type-II superconductors predicted by one of the winners of this year's Nobel Prize in physics, and unravels behavior long suspected to exist in these materials.
Brown will celebrate its new International Writers Project with a two-day event titled "Freedom to Write," on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7 and 8, 2003, in Starr Auditorium in MacMillan Hall. This series of readings and panel discussions will feature Iranian novelist Shahrnush Parsipur, the University's first International Writing Fellow, along with Nigerian Nobel Prize Laureate Wole Soyinka, poet Kamau Brathwaite and others. The events are open to the public without charge.
The John Carter Brown Library is presenting "In JCB: Acquisition Highlights of the 21st Century," an exhibition featuring some of the most recent additions to the library's unique collection, through Jan. 31, 2004. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
The American elm tree outside the Thayer Street entrance to the Watson Institute has been found to have Dutch elm disease. It will be removed in November.
Climate variations, sleep, grants
To accomplish their goal of photographing Tibetan Buddhist wall paintings, faculty members and avid hikers Philip and Marcia Lieberman received a grant of $65,000 from the Getty Foundation to capture on film the wall paintings in three monastery temples of Mustang, an ethnically and culturally Tibetan district in northwestern Nepal.
Faculty at Brown University and the University of Tulsa will join forces to work on the Modernist Journals Project. That project, which originated at Brown, seeks to produce digital editions of important modernist journals and to make its work available to scholars on the Web. Faculty at both institutions already have similar but complementary scholarly projects underway.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present a new exhibition of works by contemporary Korean artist Do-Ho Suh from Nov. 8 through Dec. 21, 2003, in conjunction with Brown's Korean centennial celebration. An opening reception and lecture by the artist are scheduled for Friday, Nov. 7, at 5:30 p.m. in the List Art Center Auditorium.
Career Week, a four-day series of programs for undergraduates about exploring employment options, will include discussion of such timely topics as searching for a job in a tough economy and while facing record-high cost of living.
The Corporation of Brown University has accepted a sweeping report and adopted its set of principles to guide the University's growth for the next half century. The "Strategic Framework for Physical Planning" offers three key recommendations: Develop a circulation infrastructure to unify and enhance the campus; consolidate the core; and move beyond College Hill.
As part of a strategic discussion of the University's future, members of the Brown Corporation were introduced to three co-chairs and two honorary co-chairs of the University's next comprehensive campaign. That campaign will provide crucial support for the long-range Initiatives for Academic Enrichment.
At its Saturday, Oct. 11, meeting, the Corporation of Brown University received a report from its Facilities and Design Committee which included an approved design for a new $95-million Life Sciences Building and information on the purchase of a building at 70 Ship St. in the Jewelry District of Providence, which the University will retrofit for use as a biomedical research laboratory. Taken together, the two facilities will increase the University's life sciences research space by 75 percent.
The Independent Review Committee which reviewed the July 14 State Police raid on the Narragansett Tribe's Smoke Shop has presented its final report to Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, with additional copies to the Chief Sachem of the Narragansett Tribe, the superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, and the Rhode Island attorney general. The executive summary of the report follows here.
Former President of Brazil and Professor-at-Large Fernando Henrique Cardoso will discuss "Brazil: The Awakening Giant" on Friday, Oct. 17, 2003, at 5 p.m. in Starr Auditorium in MacMillan Hall. This lecture is free and open to the public.
Brown University has received a $224,936 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to establish a program that will support graduate students during the intense and often isolating dissertation-writing experience.
Brown's graduate department got its start a century ago. Though the department expanded and in 1927 became the Graduate School, it has remained small. That characteristic now proves beneficial in fostering interdisciplinary work and independent thinking across departmental lines
Crib death; depression and smoking
Five Russian library managers will spend Oct. 5-12 examining the role of libraries in American communities with Brown counterparts.
Just a year after it began, the Brown/Trinity Theater Consortium is already "running on all cylinders." "We succeeded immediately out of the gate in establishing ourselves as one of the most attractive programs in the country," said Oskar Eustis. "We can tell by the number of applications, the yield and the quality of the students we're attracting.
Five Russian library managers will spend Oct. 5-12 with counterparts from Brown University to examine the role of libraries in American communities. Their visit is sponsored by the Open World Program.
Governments around the world are using Web sites and the Internet to provide information and services to their citizens. The third annual Global e-Government Survey suggests that actual online services are not as widespread as they could be and that governments have a long way to go toward realizing the promise of Internet communications. A table ranking the governmental Web efforts of 198 countries is included.
Since last spring the University has undertaken more than 40 building and renovation projects, at a price of about $26 million. One of the largest projects is the new Life Sciences Building.
The University's Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investing, which has recommended that Brown exclude tobacco manufacturers from the University's investment portfolio, is sponsoring a lecture series on socially responsible investing.
You rarely hear the words "pneumonic plague" and "enjoyment" in the course of the same conversation, but Terrie Wetle, associate dean of medicine and professor of community health, managed to combine them in her description of a bioterrorism exercise she participated in late last month.
Most Web sites maintained by the governments of America's 70 largest cities fail standard tests for access by users with vision and hearing impairments, according to a new study by researchers at Brown University. Most urban government Web sites are also written at a higher reading level than the average urban American user has achieved.
Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design have collaborated to provide shuttle service to faculty, staff and students through a program called safeRIDE.
Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves of the Republic of Cape Verde will give a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture on International Affairs on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2003, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. Neves will speak on "New Horizons for African Leadership in a Globalizing World." The lecture is free and open to the public.
A statewide survey of 367 voters conducted Sept. 13-15, 2003, finds that a majority of Rhode Island voters would support a gambling casino built by the Narragansett Tribe, but many worry about political and gaming industry corruption. The survey also finds a dead heat between Howard Dean, John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The fourth annual "e-government" survey, conducted at Brown University, finds that most state and federal government Web sites are written at too high a grade level for average American users. About one-third of sites examined satisfied recognized standards for accessibility by users with vision or hearing impairment. Tables ranking state and federal Web sites are included.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will give a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture on International Affairs, titled "Democracy's Impact on Globalization," on Monday, Sept. 29, 2003, at noon on Lincoln Field on the Brown University campus. Gorbachev will also receive an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from the University.
Corporate leaders, elected officials and management scholars will meet at Brown University Sept. 19 and 20, 2003, for a conference on corporate governance in the 21st century. The Friday evening keynote panel, featuring many of the conference presenters, is open to the public without charge. It begins at 6:30 p.m. in C.V. Starr Auditorium in MacMillan Hall, Thayer and George streets.
Brown will celebrate the 100th birthday of its Hutchings-Votey organ in a concert featuring University Organist Mark Steinbach and the Brown University Chorus on Friday, Sept. 19, 2003, at 8 p.m. in Sayles Hall. The centennial observance will continue on Sunday, Sept. 21, when noted British organist David Briggs will give a recital at 3 p.m. and a master class at 5 p.m. in Sayles Hall. All three events are free and open to the public.
Americans should not fool themselves into thinking that the $87 billion President Bush will request for Iraqi reconstruction is being spent for national defense, writes William O. Beeman. The only way to stop terrorism is for the United States to stop being a magnet for terrorist operations. That means, among other things, internationalizing military operations and treating Muslim people and Islamic culture with the respect accorded to other peoples and nations.
The fourth public interview session conducted by the Independent Review Committee will begin at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2003, in the main lounge of the Gregorian Quadrangle, 101 Thayer St. on the Brown University campus.
Brown University's newly revised system for non-academic discipline, which is in effect beginning with the 2003-04 academic year, provides additional options for disposition of cases. It is based on a new statement of principles that applies to all members of the University community -- faculty and staff as well as students.
New York's Harvey Milk School opened this fall to serve a student body consisting of gay students, writes Laura Szalacha. Over the long haul, separate is never equal, and separation does not necessarily serve the best interests of students, gay or straight. But for now, safety is the primary concern; a separate school can end the hazing and attacks many gay students face.
Former U.S. senator and current presidential candidate Carol Moseley Braun (D-Ill.) will give the 2003 Noah Krieger Memorial Lecture Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2003, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. This event is free and open to the public.
Following an unusually successful year of recruiting, the Brown University faculty will begin the 2003-04 academic year at its largest size ever -- 601 regular faculty members. (See also brief profiles of new faculty in 03-015a (humanities), 03-015b (social sciences) 03-015d (physical sciences) and 03-015c. (life sciences.)
A study of the 23 Rhode Island quasi-public agencies that were included in the governor's budget for fiscal year 2004 shows that more than one-third submitted incomplete minutes of their meetings during 2002 to the secretary of state and more than one-quarter submitted no minutes at all. The study, conducted by the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University, also found that no agency submitted all of its minutes within the statutory deadline.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present its tri-annual exhibition of works of art by members of the Brown faculty beginning Sept. 6 and continuing through Oct. 26, 2003. An opening reception for the artists is set for Friday, Sept. 5, at 5:30 p.m.; several of the artists will also discuss their work on Thursday, Oct. 17, from 5 to 7 p.m. All three events are free and open to the public.
Brown University is sending more than 50 members of its computing staff into dormitories in an effort to protect the University's network servers and maintain an acceptable level of service.
The Independent Review Committee studying the incident at the Narragansett Smoke Shop concluded its first round of public hearings today. Further interviews, if required, will likely be scheduled after Labor Day.
The Independent Review Committee will resume its public hearings at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20, in Room 120 of List Art Center, 64 College St. on the Brown campus.
Libya's agreement to take responsibility for the Lockerbie Pan Am bombing, to renounce terrorism and to set up a $2.7-billion fund for families of the victims did not receive the attention it deserved, writes Brent Stuart Goodwin. It was part of a successful campaign against state sponsored terrorism that produced measurable change in an individual and a nation's foreign policy.
Americans are more likely to obey laws they perceive to be morally right, laws they believe were enacted through an impartial legislative process, writes Marc Perlman. The Recording Industry Association of America, among the wealthiest and most influential of industry lobbyists, has a long way to go to convince Americans that laws governing file-sharing were enacted for the good of the general public. It's easier to sue.
The Independent Review Committee established by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri to review the incident at the Narragansett Smoke Shop and events that led up to it has scheduled a series of public meetings on the matter on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 19, 20 and 21, 2003, in the auditorium of Brown University's List Art Center, 64 College St., Providence, R.I.
Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons, who chairs the Independent Review Committee established by R.I. Gov. Donald L. Carcieri to review the incident at the Narragansett Smoke Shop, issued the following statement on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003.
Marisa Quinn to work for Simmons; awards and honors; off the shelf
Elissa Jelalian, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior, surveyed more than 1,000 pediatricians practicing in Southern New England. One-fourth reported that they were not at all or only slightly competent, and 20 percent reported feeling not at all or only slightly comfortable.
Money may be at the root of the common practice of inserting feeding tubes into nursing home residents with end-stage dementia, even though the treatment neither delays death nor improve quality of life in the patients. That was one of several chilling findings of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Four of the five authors of the study are based in Brown's Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research.
Brown University and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., today established a formal institutional affiliation that will support the joint programs of education and research in biology, biomedicine and environmental sciences.
Brown University's Pre-College Summer Program will present its 12th annual college fair Thursday, July 10, 2003, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Free and open to the public, the event is the largest summer college fair in New England and draws more than 100 colleges and 1,000 aspiring college students to campus each year.
When asked about possible means of dealing with the state budget deficit, a majority of 389 voters surveyed June 21-22, 2003, favor requiring state workers to pay a portion of their health care premiums and a larger share of their pension costs. They also favor ending subsidies to dog owners at Lincoln Park. The survey also finds strong support for the job performances of Gov. Don Carcieri and Providence Mayor David Cicilline.
Marisa A. Quinn, currently director of community and government relations, will become assistant to the President at Brown University on Aug. 1, 2003.
If in the coming months Americans begin to notice cutbacks in schools, libraries and public transportation, writes Elliott Cola, remember this: Our leaders decided to fund military occupation in Iraq rather than vital services here. And what's worse: If we fail to provide services in Iraq -- services that will be expensive -- we should expect nothing but chaos and violence from the occupation.
Sometimes dropping a tiny piece of information into position allows the larger picture to snap into sharper focus, writes Timothy Chambers. The hunt for that tiny piece of information and for the deeper understanding it makes possible is a major satisfaction of the academic life.
A San Diego barber and one of the world's most famous anthropologists both understand Americans' unspoken rules for the use of force and their strong preference for straight talk and a square deal. While they might follow different lines of reasoning, William O. Beeman writes, the barber and anthropologist would end up at the same conclusion: Bush is in trouble.
At its Commencement Weekend meeting May 24, 2003, the Corporation of Brown Uni-versity elected eight new members to its Board of Trustees: Alain J.P. Belda; Cornelia Dean; Galen V. Henderson, M.D.; Bobby Jindal; Samuel M. Mencoff; Kenneth J. O'Keefe; Eileen M. Rudden; and Laurinda Hope Spear.
On Thursday, June 5, 2003, Mayor David Cicilline and the presidents of Brown University, Johnson & Wales University, Providence College and Rhode Island School of Design announced an unprecedented financial agreement which will provide the City of Providence nearly $50 million in voluntary contributions over 20 years. The agreement includes a 15-year process whereby colleges can convert commercial properties to tax-exempt educational uses by making declining annual contributions based on the property tax. The text of President Ruth J. Simmons' announcement to the campus community follows here.
At its regular meeting May 24, 2003, the Corporation of Brown University approved a $512-million operating budget, authorized issuance of tax-exempt bonds, authorized several major campus planning initiatives, and adopted a proposal for restructuring the Corporation's own governance procedures.
For the first time, researchers report that nicotine exposure in the womb produces behavioral changes in babies similar to those found in newborns of women who use crack cocaine or heroin during pregnancy. The study by Brown Medical School researchers appears in the June issue of Pediatrics.
The Program in Creative Writing and the Watson Institute for International Studies have named Shahrnush Parsipur, an Iranian novelist, as the recipient of the inaugural International Writers Project Fellowship.
Brown University has joined with the City of Providence and property owners and merchants along Thayer Street to improve conditions in the area by establishing the Thayer Street Improvement District.
Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons will confer 2,123 degrees during the University's 235th Commencement Monday, May 26, 2003. (News advisory with degree counts by category.)
Brown University will confer seven honorary degrees during Commencement exercises Monday, May 26, 2003. The recipients are actress Laura Linney; RISD President Roger Mandle; former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn; Lowery Stokes Sims of the Studio Museum in Harlem; genetic researcher Joan Argetsinger Steitz; Brian Urquhart, former undersecretary-general of the U.N.; and Chinese dissident Xu Wenli.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present the work of Rhode Island artists Tayo Heuser, Jane Masters, Dean Snyder and Neal Walsh in a new group exhibition titled "Obsessive Patterns," opening June 7 and continuing through July 6, 2003. The artists will speak about their work during a 5:30 p.m. opening reception Friday, June 6. The reception and exhibition are free and open to the public.
Xu Wenli, who spent 16 years in Chinese prison for his pro-democracy activities, will address graduating seniors at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 25, 2003, in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America. He will speak about "My Journey to Brown: A Personal Odyssey."
In addition to reunion events and formal academic exercises, the University offers campus guests a variety of opportunities, from theater and music performances to forums and historical exhibitions, during Commencement/Reunion Weekend 2003. Most offer free admission and are open to the public.
Jose Amor y Vasquez, professor emeritus of Hispanic studies, has received the John Carter Brown Library medal for his service as an advisor, author, editor, translator and long-time supporter of the library. The medal was presented during a ceremony on Friday, May 9, 2003, at the library.
Seth Berkley, M.D., founder and president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, will speak at the Brown Medical School Commencement Convocation Monday, May 26, 2003, in the First Unitarian Church of Providence. Medical graduates will also hear talks by Angela Anderson, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, and Giridhar Mallya, a member of the graduating class. The convocation will begin at 8:45 a.m.
The Brown University Graduate School will begin the celebration of its centennial during the University's 235th Commencement, Friday, May 23, to Monday, May 26, 2003. Brown's original "Graduate Department"was established in 1903.
Scientists at Brown University have created a magnetic-sensing microscope that allows them to watch electricity flow through the world's tiniest components. They are using the device to find defects in integrated circuits and micromachinery. The design opens the door to wider application of magnetic-sensing technology for imaging electrical current flow. The microscope is described in the May 12, 2003, issue of Applied Physics Letters.
Although guidelines do not exist for the use of medication to treat pediatric sleep disorders, about 75 percent of pediatricians surveyed had recommended some type of medication for that purpose within the previous six months. Pediatric sleep disturbances are among the most common and challenging complaints, and a set of clinical experience-based guidelines needs to be developed, according to a study in the May Pediatrics.
Martha Lackritz of San Antonio, Texas, and Onyekachukwu Iloabachie of Queens, N.Y., will deliver orations during Brown's 235th Commencement, Monday, May 26, 2003, at 10:30 a.m. in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America.
In a driving simulation, fatigued pediatric residents performed equally or worse than they did when moderately intoxicated, according to a pilot study presented at the 2003 Pediatric Academic Societies' meeting by Brown Medical School researchers.
Medical residents have not had enough education or experience in sharing bad news with younger patients and their families, suggests a new study by researchers at Brown Medical School and Dartmouth Medical School. Their research appears in the May-June issue of Ambulatory Pediatrics.
"Perhaps self-esteem is a self-limiting commodity," writes Joachim Krueger, associate professor of psychology who served on a task force charged with determining the facts about self-esteem gleaned from more than two decades of scientific research. The task force reviewed 15,000 published papers, and reported its findings in this month's journal of the American Psychological Society.
Many of the positive outcomes attributed to high self-esteem are not substantiated by research, according to Brown psychologist Joachim I. Krueger. Krueger and faculty from three other universities formed that conclusion after reviewing more than two decades of objective research studies on self-esteem at the invitation of the American Psychological Society. Their report appears in this month's issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a supplement to Psychological Science.
Increased demand for forest products was a cause of increased forest cover in India during the last three decades, according to a joint study by researchers at Brown and Harvard University in the May 2003 Quarterly Journal of Economics. The finding contradicts the idea that economic development inevitably leads to deforestation.
Senators' own attempts to influence approval ratings have less effect than factors beyond their control, according to a new study. Researchers examined eight factors related to senatorial approval ratings over a 17-year period, from 1981 to 1997. Their findings are published in the May "Legislative Studies Quarterly."
The Newport Art Museum is hosting a new exhibit of books, maps and manuscripts from the holdings of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. Those materials -- all related to maritime history -- are on display as "The Boundless Deep ...: The European Conquest of the Oceans 1450 to 1840," through July 27, 2003.
The Brown University Library is lending a variety of historically significant items from its collection for display in "Rhode Island Treasures," a Smithsonian exhibition tracing more than 350 years of Rhode Island history. The exhibit will open May 10 and continue through June 15, 2003, at the Rhode Island Convention Center.
Wriston Fellowships; Faculty Teaching Awards; announcements from Human Resouces, Financial Services; Off the Shelf; more
In the culmination of a collaboration among Brown, Trinity Repertory Company and the New York-based Broadway Junior program, students from Asa Messer, Robert L. Bailey IV and Charles Fortes schools in Providence and the Gordon School in East Providence will each perform "Annie Junior," a one-hour version of the award-winning Broadway musical "Annie," on May 3 at Trinity Rep.
The University's newest art exhibition has a decidedly 21st century flavor: Its works are three-dimensional and interactive. "Works from the Cave" features artworks created within the University's virtual reality lab, called the Cave. When entering the Cave, visitors remove their shoes and don special shutter glasses to synchronize the vision with alternating stereo projections on the walls; special hardware and software keep track of visitors' positions and movements, changing the images in a way that allows them to feel immersed in the virtual space.
Deborah A. Cohen, assistant professor of history, recently answered questions from Kristen Cole about the reception of veterans returning home after war, and what the veterans of the war with Iraq may face. Cohen is author of the book "The War Come Home: Disabled Veterans in Britain and Germany, 1914-1939," in which she analyzed the different ways in which two nations cared for their disabled after World War I.
Brown University administrators and public health officials are monitoring a possible case of SARS involving a faculty member who recently traveled to Toronto. All members of the campus community are being notified about that case and are receiving information about SARS.
The Atlantic Philanthropies has awarded Brown University a two-year, $750,000 grant in support of academic innovation -- particularly pedagogical and curricular initiatives -- and to recognize President Ruth J. Simmons' distinguished campus leadership.
Award-winning journalist, author and sports commentator Frank Deford will speak on "Sports: The Hype and Hypocrisy" Wednesday, April 30, 2003, at 7 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. Deford's lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Brown Lecture Board.
New York Times columnist and award-winning author Thomas L. Friedman will deliver the third annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture Thursday, May 1, 2003, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. The evening's program, free and open to the public, will include presentation of the annual Casey Shearer Memorial Awards for Excellence in Creative Nonfiction.
The Board of Administration of the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation has announced recipients of fellowships for the 2003-04 academic year, all of them in history, history of science, or political science. Fellowships for the 2004-2005 academic year will be awarded in the field of creative writing. The Howard Foundation is administered by Brown University.
The Brown University Lecture Board will welcome former governor of Illinois George Ryan and Lawrence Marshall, the legal director for the Center on Wrongful Convictions, on Tuesday, April 15, 2003, at 7 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. The pair will speak on the death penalty.
The David Winton Bell Gallery and the Creative Arts Council will present "Works from the Cave" in limited exhibition on April 26 and May 3, 2003, in the University's virtual reality lab at the Technology Center for Advanced Scientific and Computing Visualization. This exhibit is free and open to the public, but advance reservations are required.
Psychologist Rachel S. Herz found that college students stymied by a computer game exhibited their frustration during a later word test when they were in a room with the same scent. Herz will present her study at the annual meeting of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS) April 13, 2003, at 8 a.m.
How might the Brown campus grow and change over the next several decades to accommodate its ambitious strategic and academic goals? That question was posed to the architectural firm of Kliment & Halsband, which was hired to develop a master plan for campus that would support the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment. Architect Frances Halsband led an analysis of existing buildings, land use, open space, campus history and zoning provisions, and arrived at some preliminary findings, which she shared with members of the Brown community during two meetings held April 8.
Brown University has established a new position with overall responsibility for all programs of institutional diversity. The new position -- associate provost and director of institutional diversity -- will be part of the president's cabinet and will work closely with the president, provost and other senior officers. President Ruth J. Simmons is chairing the 17-member selection committee.
What effect might the American military action in Iraq have next door in Iran? Iranians may be overly cautious, writes William O. Beeman, but the signs are everywhere that Iran is seriously concerned about a U.S. military threat.
Brooke Harrington, assistant professor of sociology and public policy, and David H. Laidlaw, assistant professor of computer science, recently received Wriston Fellowships, one of the highest awards the University bestows upon its teaching faculty.
In a 12-month study of an Internet weight loss program, overweight adults at risk for type 2 diabetes lost enough weight to reduce their chances of getting the disease. Those who received regular e-mail counseling from a therapist experienced the greatest success. The study, led by Deborah F. Tate of the Brown Medical School, is in the April 9, 2003, Journal of the American Medical Association.
Writer/director and Academy Award nominee Todd Haynes, a 1985 graduate of Brown University will speak about his work on Friday, April 11, 2003, at 3 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching and again on Saturday, April 12, 2003, at the Cable Car Cinema, following a 4:15 p.m. screening of his film "Far from Heaven."Both events are free and open to the public.
Although black and Hispanic women comprised 6 percent of Rhode Island's 1990 population, they represented more than 17 percent of victims in police reports documenting domestic violence and sexual assault, according to a Brown University study published in the journal Public Health Reports.
The University's Creative Arts Council will host a one-night gala performance of the Broadway musical hit "Grease" on Wednesday, April 30, 2003, at 7:30 p.m. in the Providence Performing Arts Center. Proceeds from this event will benefit the Creative Arts Council programs.
Noted historian and author Henry Louis Gates Jr. will give a keynote lecture in a series of events set for April 7 and 8 to celebrate the dedication of the new English Department.
Putting the brakes on the ever-increasing age of childbearing in Europe would greatly moderate the continent's trend toward population aging and decline. That's according to a policy paper in the March 28 issue of "Science" co-written by Brian O'Neill of the Watson Institute
The Vulnerable Infants Program of Rhode Island (VIP-RI) prevents potential problems for drug-exposed babies by intervening early in the infant's life Ð and it saves money. In this case it is actually cheaper to prevent problems than to wait for them to occur (by Barry Lester and Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr.).
Lundy Braun, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and Martha Sharp Joukowsky, professor of anthropology and Old World art and archaeology, have been selected to receive the Harriet W. Sheridan Award for Distinguished Contribution to Teaching and Learning.
Noted scholar and teacher of African and African-American history and culture Henry Louis Gates Jr. will speak on "W.E.B. Du Bois and the Encyclopedia Africana" Monday, April 7, 2003, at 5 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. This lecture is the keynote address in a series of events planned to celebrate the dedication of the English Department's new academic home.
Two new tiny fuel cells developed at Brown may make long-running medical implants more of a reality. The cells offer features sought by manufacturers hoping to provide long-term power for medical devices such as implants that monitor glucose levels in diabetics. The lead scientist on the project is Tayhas Palmore, associate professor of engineering, biology and medicine.
Critically acclaimed actor and director Tim Robbins will share his cinematic expertise with budding filmmakers when Brown hosts the second annual Ivy Film Festival April 4-6.
The Office of the Vice President for Research has announced this year's recipients of Richard B. Salomon Faculty Research Awards. This program was established to support excellence in scholarly work by providing funding for faculty research projects deemed to be of exceptional merit. From 1995-99, the program was funded by the bequest of the late Richard B. Salomon, chancellor of the University. Brown has funded the continuation of the program since 1999.
Audiences will get a preview of the future of stage performance when the University's arts departments present their seventh annual Festival of Art and Technology, "Video, Technology and Performance," April 4-6.
Julie Sedivy, a cognitive and linguistic researcher, says science holds the answers to ques-tions about the impact of advertising on society. Sedivy teaches some 150 undergraduates each spring about "Language, Truth, and Advertising."
With designs that hurdle several scientific barriers, two new fuel cells developed at Brown University are models for power sources that may one day energize medical implants or remote sensors. Brown engineers discussed the new cells Thursday March 27, 2003, in New Orleans at the 225th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will host a new exhibition, "Walter Feldman: The Work of Five Decades," April 12 to May 26, 2003, celebrating the artistic and educational endeavors of a long-time faculty member. An opening reception is scheduled for April 11, 2003, at 5:30 p.m. in the gallery. The reception and the exhibit are free and open to the public.
"Video, Technology and Performance," the seventh annual Festival of Art and Technology, April 4-6, 2003, brings together a multidisciplinary group of innovators exploring new concepts and interactive technologies for live performance. The festival begins with a free presentation of "Falling Up" and "Future of Memory" April 4 at 8 p.m. in Stuart Theatre.
Andrea Mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News, will receive Brown's Welles Hangen Award for Superior Achievement in Journalism on Sunday, March 30, 2003, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. Mitchell will also give the keynote lecture titled "Pax Americana." The public is welcome.
High school students from Connecticut, Illinois, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Utah, will travel to their state capitols March 21 through April 18 to debate the role of the U.S. in the world, the war with Iraq, and critical international concerns on the environment, immigration, trade, and conflict resolution. The students are participating in the Capitol Forum on America's Future, designed by Brown University's Choices for the 21st Century Education Program.
Valerie Petit Wilson, currently deputy director of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research and clinical associate professor of environmental health sciences at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, has been named executive director of the Leadership Alliance at Brown University. Wilson will begin her work at Brown July 1, 2003.
Brown will host the second annual Ivy Film Festival April 4-6, 2003. The festival features filmmaking and screenwriting competitions, as well as a keynote lecture by actor/director Tim Robbins and a series of film screenings, lectures and panel discussions. The Robbins lecture is reserved for students, but the remainder of the festival is open to the public.
Acclaimed foreign affairs reporter Andrea Mitchell will deliver the Michael P. Metcalf-Howard R. Swearer Memorial Lecture to open the 23rd annual Brown University/Providence Journal Public Affairs Conference. The conference, "A Time of Great Consequence: America and the World," runs March 30 through April 4, 2003. Mitchell will give her address, titled "Pax Americana," on Sunday, March 30, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green.
Brown University will host the annual meeting of the American Society for Environmental History, titled "Frontiers in Environmental History: Mainstreaming the ÔMarginal,'" March 26-30, 2003, at the Providence Biltmore Hotel. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond will open the conference when he speaks Wednesday, March 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green.
Brown University and Trinity Repertory Company are collaborating to launch a pilot program that will introduce students from four local schools to the theater arts. The students and their teachers will mount productions of "Annie Junior," a product of Music Theatre International's Broadway Junior program. The project is sponsored by Brown's Creative Arts Council.
Brown University's donation of 30 new desktop computers to Hope High School helps establish a new computer lab and bolster the high school's technology resources. Hope principal Nancy Mullen and Brown President Ruth J. Simmons celebrate the formal opening of the lab on March 11, 2003, at 9:30 a.m. at Hope High.
As part of his budget, presented Wednesday evening, March 5, 2003, Gov. Donald Carcieri proposed that cities and towns be allowed to tax nonprofit private colleges and universities, eliminating a tax-exempt status that dates to the 18th century. Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons has issued the following statement in response.
Abraham Verghese, M.D., author of "My Own Country--A Doctor's Story," will give the 11th annual Harriet W. Sheridan Literature and Medicine Lecture when he speaks on "The Search for Meaning in a Medical Life" on Wednesday, March 19, 2003, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. This event is free and open to the public.
Two Brown researchers and colleagues have found that many hospitals prescribe alcohol for medicinal purposes, yet clinical studies find alcohol uneffective for such uses.
CIS's new security officer, Connie Sadler, hopes to educate Brown community regarding the legality of downloading copyrighted material
The new automated external defibrillators that were installed recently in Brown athletic facilities come to the rescue at a recent women's basketball game after two Brown trainers notice a fan in trouble.
Education researcher Janine Bempechat is leading a two-year study in the United States, Great Britain and Russia, attempting to learn why some teens from low-income backgrounds are motivated to achieve academically and others are not. The project is an offshoot of Bempechat's study of achievement differences between Catholic and public school students in the United States.
The President's Medal, the highest award a Brown University president may bestow, will be presented to Maury A. Bromsen, March 12, 2003, at 5:30 p.m., during a ceremony in the John Carter Brown Library. The award recognizes Bromsen's lifetime dedication to collecting and preserving historic books and manuscripts.
Former senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart will speak on "Restoration of the Republic" Tuesday, March 18, 2003, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. This John Hazen White Sr. Lecture, sponsored by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, is free and open to the public.
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno will deliver a Meiklejohn Lecture Monday, March 17, 2003, at 7:30 p.m. in Sayles Hall. Reno will speak on "Freedom and Terrorism." This event is free and open to the public.
In America, the president stays in office for four years unless impeached, writes William O. Beeman. In a parliamentary system, the prime minister can be removed anytime on a vote of no confidence. If the United States is in the middle of an attack on Baghdad when an ally suddenly changes leadership, the war effort will revert, by default, to the unilateral action Americans fear.
Supported by a grant of more than $2 million from the National Science Foundation, Prof. Martha Joukowsky is receiving some unusual and innovative assistance from a team of engineers, mathematicians, computer scientists and artists. Together they are using technology to capture and restore aspects of the Great Temple of Petra for future generations. The multi-faceted project bridges research in the physical sciences and humanities.
Visual cues and hearing; gay and lesbian high school students
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, has been appointed to a five-year term as professor-at-large at Brown University. Cardoso's appointment, based in the University's Watson Institute for International Studies, will begin July 1, 2003, and continue through June 30, 2008.
At its winter meeting, Feb. 21-22, 2003, the Brown Corporation reviewed plans for the University's future. The plans and the strategic direction they represent grow out of the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment, approved by the Corporation last year.
In a statewide survey of 479 Rhode Island voters conducted Feb. 22-23, 2003, approximately two-thirds of respondents gave Mayor Cicilline and Gov. Carcieri high marks. Seventy-four percent of voters said the state is headed in the right direction. Voter responses varied widely on the advisability and timing of pursuing war in Iraq.
Noted Harvard Law School Professor Randall Kennedy will give the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture when he speaks on "Marriage and the Politics of Race in America" Monday, March 3, 2003, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching on The College Green. This lecture is free and open to the public.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday will speak on "Native American Oral Traditions: The Stories and Storytellers" on Thursday, March 6, 2003, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. This event is free and open to the public.
Brown University joined seven other academically selective universities in filing an amicus curiae brief today supporting the University of Michigan in cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief supports the right of colleges and universities to consider race and ethnicity as part of an individualized admission process.
Even before a speaker completes a sentence, a listener attempts to interpret what he or she is hearing by searching out visual cues, according to new research at Brown University. Julie Sedivy, assistant professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences, will discuss her findings Feb. 17, during the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Denver.
The John Carter Brown Library is hosting a new exhibition, "Plants and Publications from the New World: 1492-1825," through May 1, 2003, in the library's MacMillan Reading Room. The display features botanical observations made by some of the earliest European travelers to America. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
America's past crusades offer three great lessons about God and arms. First, remember humility. Second, wartime anxieties spill over to domestic suspects. Finally, fighting for our ideals abroad can remind us to take them more seriously at home.
Brown applied mathematicians George Karniadakis and Martin Maxey are creating the first first-principles computational models of microbubbles in action. "Most of the people involved in studying microbubbles, even today, are experimentalists. We're doing the only direct numerical simulations of microbubbles in turbulent flows," says Karniadakis. Their team includes Suchuan Dong, a visiting postdoctoral research associate, and Jin Xu, a graduate student.
The Center for Environmental Studies and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America will co-sponsor The Provost's Lecture Series on Race, Poverty and Environmental Justice, a semester-long program that will open Feb. 10 with a lecture by University of Michigan Professor Dorceta Taylor.
The Center for Environmental Studies and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America will co-sponsor The Provost's Lecture Series on Race, Poverty and Environmental Justice, a semester-long program that will open Feb. 10, 2003, with a lecture by University of Michigan Professor Dorceta Taylor. The lectures are free and open to the public.
New research by Brown University historian Omer Bartov calls into question actions of academics throughout the last century. At various times, scholars legitimized and supported acts of ethnic cleansing, genocide and terrorism, Bartov writes in the current International Social Science Journal.
Critics charge that the film "Barbershop" is disrespectful to civil rights leaders Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Defenders say the film carries an important message about freedom of speech. In either case, news that one of the film's stars will emcee the NAACP's Image Awards show suggests that the controversy might be at an end.
Supported by a grant from the EPA, a Brown team worked with children with asthma at Hasbro Hospital to develop a novel way to educate them about their disease and its triggers. The children have taken a series of photos portraying their environments.
Legislative Institute; calling all singers; three obituaries; more
In mid-December, the University announced both a nonfaculty hiring freeze and the immediate implementation of a policy for reviewing all vacant staff positions. These steps, together with ongoing savings from vacancies, are designed to help keep the budget in balance and avoid more dramatic steps. Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration, spoke recently with the GSJ about the University's financial affairs.
Professor Emeritus Peter Wegner beat the odds when he recovered from life-threatening injuries he suffered when he was struck by a bus. Now a new video,"Peter Wegner is Alive and Well and Living in Providence," is being used to teach students about the physical and emotional process of recovery.
The latest Bell Gallery exhibition, two video installations filmed in a Budapest bathhouse by noted Polish artist Katarzyna Kozyra, raises questions about privacy, voyeurism, narcissism, beauty and aging.
A new video about Brown computer scientist Peter Wegner's recovery from a 1999 bus accident will be used to spark discussion of ethical questions surrounding the treatment of patients with catastrophic injuries. Wegner was given a 5-percent chance of survival.
Xu Wenli, the Chinese pro-democracy activist whose Christmas Eve medical release from prison allowed him to emigrate to the United States, has been appointed a visiting senior fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.
With public opinion so crucial in shaping the actions of the Bush administration, it seems certain that Americans will get a war in Iraq unless they say emphatically that they don't want it. The militants in the White House are champing at the bit. Only their fear of the voters holds them in check.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present work by one of Poland's leading contemporary artists in a new exhibition titled "Katarzyna Kozyra: Bathhouses." The exhibit opens Jan. 25, 2003, and will continue through March 9, 2003. An opening reception and slide lecture on Kozyra's work are scheduled for Friday, Jan. 24, 2003, at 5:30 p.m. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.
Paula Vogel, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and professor of English, has been appointed the inaugural Adele Kellenberg Seaver '49 Professor of Creative Writing at Brown University.
Sasha Polakow-Suransky '01 has won a Rhodes Scholarship, and Eric Tucker '02 has won a Marshall Scholarship. Both will pursue advanced degrees at the University of Oxford next fall.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded $2.3 million to Brown University for the establishment of the U.S. Cochrane Center. It is part of the Cochrane Collaboration, a global network with centers in 13 countries that promotes evidence-based healthcare.
Award-winning writer and multimedia artist Talan Memmott has been named as the University's first graduate fellow in electronic writing. The fellowship, which provides tuition and a stipend for its recipient, includes teaching opportunities that will add new course offerings in the digital arts to the University curriculum.
Daily student diners increased 74 percent after a renovation to the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall at Brown University, one of two campus dining facilities for students on the meal plan. The $3-million project exchanged dark and dated decor for bright space with a skyroof where the chefs work in view of the students.
Library hours during break; EEP reminder; research note; more
The Brownbrokers will bring the classic Tolstoy epic "Anna Karenina" to the stage of Stuart Theatre Dec. 5-8, in a musical adaptation written by Jillian Tucker '04.
It took an evolutionary leap in the human species to help trigger the change from centuries of economic stagnation to a state of sustained economic growth, according to the first theory that integrates evolutionary biology and economics. This research by Brown economist Oded Galor and Omer Moav from the Hebrew University is the lead article in the current Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Proposals that would have the Medical School implement an across-the-board ban of gifts from the pharmaceutical industry go overboard and discount the integrity of those in the medical profession, writes Patrick Sweeney, M.D., associate dean of medicine for continuing medical education.
Dr. Irving A. Fradkin, founder of Citizens'Scholarship Foundation of America, will donate to the Brown University libraries his collection of papers, tapes and other artifacts documenting the founding and growth of the organization. The papers, which will be housed at the John Hay Library, will be donated during a ceremony at Fradkin's home in Fall River, Mass., on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2002, at noon.
The struggle for survival that characterized most of human existence stimulated a process of natural selection that conferred an evolutionary advantage on humans who had a higher genetic predisposition for a careful rearing of the next generation. This evolutionary change permitted the Industrial Revolution to trigger a change from an epoch of stagnation to an age of sustained economic growth, according to the first theory that integrates the fields of evolutionary biology and economic growth. This research by Brown University economist Oded Galor and Omer Moav from the Hebrew University is the lead article in the current Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Ehud Barak, former prime minister of Israel, will be the guest of the Brown Lecture Board on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2002, at 7 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
Interdisciplinary Scientific Visualization, taught by Brown Professor David Laidlaw and RISD Professor Fritz Drury, pairs artists and programmers. The two universities have named a joint faculty committee to explore further collaboration.
Rhode Island recently became the first state to create guidelines for treating non-healthcare workers exposed accidentally to the HIV virus. Principal author of the guidelines was research fellow Roland Merchant, M.D., of Rhode Island Hospital. Co-authors were professor Kenneth Mayer, M.D., of The Miriam Hospital and Carol Browning of the Rhode Island Department of Health. The voluntary procedures apply to people who come in contact with HIV-infected fluids, such as through sexual activity, sharing needles or by exposure to a needle or other object. The guidelines detail what antiretroviral drugs should be administered and under what circumstances.
Beta-blockers; hostility and heart disease; perimenopause
Brown anthropologist Nicholas Townsend's latest book, "The Package Deal: Marriage, Work and Fatherhood in Men's Lives," describes the conflicting pressures of work and home in the lives of a very familiar portion of the population: the all-American dad.
An NEH grant to Italian Studies powers the "Decameron" Web site, as successive generations of students add to a mini-library of resources related to this classic collection of stories of medieval life during the Great Plague.
Just in time for Thanksgiving, John Carter Brown Library Fellow Michael A. Lacombe is examing the ties between food and political authority in the American colonies.
Professor Karen Newman has received an NEH grant to offer a seminar on modern urban woes for teachers this summer Ð in Paris.
Metal bats consistently outperformed wooden bats in an analysis of 502 hits off 19 baseball players at the professional minor league, collegiate, and high school level. Researchers attributed the metal bats' greater batted ball speeds to faster swings and greater elastic performance.
Stephen R. Smith, M.D., associate dean for medical education, has devoted most of his current sabbatical to this project. He drafted a prototype for the virtual school's curriculum. He structured it around a virtual medical practice, based on the type of electronic medical charts used in the offices of real doctors.
Heavily recruited as a football player by MIT, Penn State, and Carnegie Mellon, Bill Brucker '04 makes most of his plays in the lab as a bio-chemistry major. In his freshman year, he became one of the youngest recipients ever to receive the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellowship, during which he isolated several new mycobacteriophages. (He even got to name one Ð "corndog" Ð for its shape.)
Although the average reader may not have seen Talan Memmott's work, it's attracting an impressive amount of attention. Last year he was awarded the trAce/Alt-X New Media Writing Award for his piece "Lexia to Perplexia," and he was one of five finalists for the most prestigious prize yet offered in the field, the Electronic Literature Organization's prize in fiction writing. Memmott is Brown's first graduate fellow in electronic writing.
To tweak a clich: Instant Messaging doesn't kill language, lack of engagement kills language, writes Brown lecturer Selma Moss-Ward. "I am delighted that Instant Messaging, e-mail and other bells and whistles of computer communication have captivated tomorrow's college students. A rising generation now views writing as a normal and enjoyable aspect of daily life, not merely as assignments to be periodically turned in," she says.
This semester, Brown introduced WebCT (Web Course Tools), a commercial product aimed at creating an online community in the classroom. Nearly 50 faculty are piloting the product, with plans to offer it to the entire faculty for the spring semester.
The Brown University Wind Symphony, directed by Matthew McGarrell, will present the 16th annual Eric Adam Brudner '84 Memorial Concert on Friday, Nov. 22, 2002, at 8 p.m. in Sayles Hall. The concert, which is free and open to the public, will feature the Brass Venture quintet and the music of guest composer Eric Ewazen of The Juilliard School.
Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt, who resigned his position on Nov. 5, will give a Noah Krieger '93 Memorial Lecture Monday, Nov. 18, 2002, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. This event is free and open to the public.
Throughout the next three years, Brown will collaborate with history teachers from nearly 50 secondary schools nationwide on a program aimed at bringing extensive consideration of foreign policy into the core American history curriculum.
Cheering fans are nothing new for Brown's athletes, but the cheers the athletes got at the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School at Fox Point may be the sweetest. One, chanted by the students in Mrs. Teixeira's resource class, goes like this: Water polo water polo/You're our team/You stay drug free/And so do we/Heroes, heroes come from Brown/The best school in all the town. The cheering took place Oct. 30 to kick off Brown Athletics'12th year of partnership with the elementary school.
Research has shown that accepting gifts and hospitality from pharmaceutical companies affects prescribing patterns to benefit drug companies, often to the detriment of the patient. To fourth-year medical student Jaya Agarwal, drug company marketing is "bribery" and " bad medicine." She would like to see the school adopt an across-the-board ban of industry gifts.
Christopher Bizzacco '03.5, a political science and public policy major, took a leave of absence last September to accept the position of campaign manager for David Cicilline '83, the Democratic candidate for mayor of Providence.
Student Security and Safewalk. Thanks to Bratton report, these student-run groups received money to implement changes that they came up with themselves. They're a dedicated bunch. What drives their interest in students safety? Why drive a van around?
Brown University Theatre will present Carlo Gozzi's "The Green Bird" Nov. 7-10 and 14-17 in Leeds Theatre. Translated by Albert Bermel and Ted Emery, "The Green Bird" is a comedy about the rites of passage; a fable in which the supernatural, the demonic and the Machiavellian harmoniously intertwine in a land where apples sing and statues speak.
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, voters will head to the polls. The George Street Journal's Kristen Cole spoke with Wendy J. Schiller, associate professor of political science and public policy, about what is at stake on Election Day.
Professor Jim Head presents research suggesting something new about Mars: The equally spaced bands of rocks and similar debris found across the Martian equator are signs of former "cold-based glaciers." On Earth, cold-based glaciers occur near the poles.
Brown's Center for Old World Archaeology and Art will host "Qumran: The Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls" on Nov. 17-19, 2002. This is the first international conference on the Qumran, and it will bring together some of the world's leading archaeological scholars to consider the many unanswered questions about the settlement.
U.S. Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) will speak on "Education as a Human Right" at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 11, 2002, in the Salomon Center for Teaching. This John Hazen White Lecture, sponsored by the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, is free and open to the public.
how sophomores go about declaring a major; the advising process that leads to this declaration; etc. Will interview three (or so) students and their advisors about how each approaches what can be a very hard decision
Last spring, the University hired The Bratton Group, an international security consulting firm, to gather information about campus safety and to make recommendations for improvements. The group made a number of recommendations. The George Street Journal recently asked Col. Paul Verrecchia, head of Brown's Department of Public Safety, about them.
As we head into mid-term elections, Professor of Political Science Darrell West examines how celebrities are influencing the American political process both as candidates and lobbyists.
Brown's Center for Old World Archaeology and Art will host a major conference next month when archaeologist Katharina Galor gathers her international colleagues to discuss the mysteries of Qumran Ð the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered a half-century ago.
The Bell Gallery will host "Toward Uncertainty," a new exhibition featuring some of the best established and emerging artists of Italy. The exhibit opens Nov. 9 and continues through Dec. 29.
Award-winning playwright Alfred Uhry '58, the author of "Driving Miss Daisy," premieres his newest play at the Hartford Stage this week. Titled "Edgardo Mine," the play is based on Professor David Kertzer's book, "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara."
A survey of 418 statewide voters conducted Oct. 19-21, 2002, finds a majority of voters want John Harwood to step down as speaker. The survey also finds Democrat Myrth York leading Republican Don Carcieri in the race for governor. A majority of voters feel the state is headed in the wrong direction.
If the historical John F. Kennedy had done in October 1962 what the Bush administration says he did -- asserting a doctrine of "preemptive defense" -- the likely outcome would have been a nuclear holocaust. The historical evidence, write James G. Blight and janet M. Lang, is now unambiguous.
Evelyn Hu-DeHart, director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, believes the program is on the verge of national distinction. "We want to work across disciplines as they re-examine and broaden their curriculum," she says. "My hope is to involve all departments and to build an excellent, credible ethnic studies concentration. I hope not to proceed as one lonely, separate unit, but to build bridges and alliances [across departments] so we can share and maximize our resources and energies."
Education reform by district; minorities in Providence; global e-government
Brown students who grew up in Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Syria are working with Brown graduate student Michael Burch to help educate high school seniors at Rocky Hill School about life in the Mideast and issues that have cost the lives of some of their friends.
A computer-controlled, anatomically correct rubberized mannequin is the centerpiece of the new Rhode Island Hospital Simulation Center. The state-of-the-art facility hopes to help medical professionals and those still in training learn to minimize the possibilities of medical error.
Witnessing violence between parents has the same detrimental effect on teen-age girls as being a victim of abuse themselves, according to a new study by Brown sociologists: The teen-agers are more likely to engage in risky sex.
A study by five Brown investigators shows that teens with at least two friends who smoke are six times more likely to become regular cigarette users compared to those whose circle of friends does not include smokers.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present works by two masters of modern Italian art, along with the prize-winning work of five emerging Italian artists, in the exhibition Toward Uncertainty, opening Nov. 9 and continuing through Dec. 29, 2002. An opening reception for the artists is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, 2002.
Teen-age girls are three times more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior if they live in a family afflicted by physical violence -- whether they are victims of abuse or witness it between parents, according to a new study by Brown sociologists.
Andries van Dam, the Thomas J. Watson Jr. University Professor of Technology and Education and professor of computer science at Brown and the new vice president for research, discusses the process that led to his taking the job, and the vision he has for research at Brown.
For the fifth year in a row, external funding rose significantly. When the books closed last June 30, grants awarded to campus faculty had topped $115 million, up 13 percent over the previous fiscal year and $49 million more than the $66 million in external funding received in fiscal year 1997-98. The majority of outside grants to Brown support research in the sciences, social sciences, and medicine.
Brown pays a price for financial support from private foundations and nonprofit agencies. In the last few years, such funds have arrived packaged in restrictive terms and conditions on patents, inventions and other intellectual property.
One of the more intensive investigational enterprises at Brown is the Sleep Research Lab's academic-research summer apprenticeship. This three-month program unites Brown students with others from universities around the world to receive instruction in human sleep and circadian rhythms and learn firsthand the techniques of behavioral sciences research.
The East Asian Studies Department received a four-year $1,995,775 grant from the Freeman Foundation. Much of the grant will be spent on the University's East Asian collection Ð mostly Chinese and Japanese vernacular material. The size of the grant is a rarity in the humanities.
After graduating from Brown nearly four years ago, Cedric Jennings, featured in the best-selling book "Hope in the Unseen," spent two years working in the private sector before returning to school. He also speaks around the country about his odyssey from a Washington, D.C., ghetto to Brown.
The Brown Alumni Association presented its highest honor, the William Rogers Award, to William H. Twaddell '63, U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 1997 to 2001, during the 19th annual Alumni Recognition Ceremony Saturday, Sept. 28, 2002.
"Insurgent Images: The Agitprop Murals of Mike Alewitz" is a new book co-written by the artist and American civilization Lecturer Paul Buhle. Alewitz has used his art to lobby for pro-labor causes. Buhle, who has had a long involvement with the labor movement, met Alewitz several years ago when both became active with Scholars, Artists and Writers for Social Justice. "I was charmed by his effusive character and sense of humor, and I was overwhelmed by the strength and nondidactic character of his work," said Buhle. "It teaches you, but it doesn't hit you over the head."
For the students of Brown's Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) racecar design team, a journey that begins each September ends, if only temporarily, in May at the annual FSAE design competition in Pontiac, Mich. This past May, Brown's FSAE team finished 10th among an international field of more than 130 collegiate teams, ahead of formidable engineering schools Rochester Institute of Technology, North Carolina State University, and University of Illinois Ð Urbana-Champaign.
"An independent woman is what I planned for me, to be as free and safe as I could be," says the character Madam Dessaline in "Hot Comb," a new musical drama which Rites and Reason Theatre presents Oct. 3-6 and 10-13 at Churchill House.
The University has embarked upon a selection of an enterprise system that has the potential to affect Brown's business practices in the coming decade. Oracle, Peoplesoft and SCT/Banner will demonstrate enterprise systems beginning Oct. 28.
In a noontime forum attended by hundreds of staff members, President Simmons outlined a variety of steps her administration is taking to ensure Brown's position among the top research institutions in the coming decade. Her remarks included information about campus expansion, safety, and diversity.
Immigrants arriving in the nation's cities are not changing the existing, somewhat segregated, neighborhoods in which people of different races and ethnicities reside, according to a new study by Brown sociologists.
Do voters blame stagnant wages, rising unemployment and accounting scandals on President Bush? Kristen Cole asked Paul Kellstedt, assistant professor of political science and public policy, how voters form conclusions about a president's ability to manage the economy and how much power a president has to influence those opinions.
An international group of researchers led by a Brown graduate student recently identified a substance in the brain similar in structure and function to the active ingredient in hot chili peppers. Although they do not yet know exactly what drives the body's production of the compound, researchers think its release in tissues would likely cause burning pain, much like the sensation caused by the chemical capsaicin in chili peppers.
Sunil Kapila '03 was pleased when he received an UTRA grant to travel to New Mexico to study the influence of white culture on Native American art this past summer, but not all of the lessons he learned were quite what he expected.
A new exhibition at the John Carter Brown Library and a newly published essay by Stanley Aronson, M.D., examine the history of smallpox in America Ð and the pain and controversy it generated.
As Brown Theatre gets ready to present Chekhov's "The Seagull," Professor Lowry Marshall teaches a new crop of young actors the basic skills they must bring to the stage.
A host of Brown faculty and staff are involved in a new national trial to evaluate the effectiveness of using diagnostic imaging to prevent lung cancer deaths. The researchers helped assemble the study, and they will help conduct it.
Harvard professor and prominent African-American attorney/ethics expert Derek Bell will speak on ethics and ambition Sept. 28 in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
A survey of 688 Providence voters conducted Sept. 14–22, 2002, finds a big margin for David Cicilline over his general election rivals. Minorities feel they have too little political power in Providence.
Brown University's second annual analysis of government agency Web sites in America's 70 largest cities shows that cities have made dramatic improvements over last year. De-spite improvements in online services, however, cities are relying to a greater extent on revenue-generating Web user fees and premium services.
U.S. interventions in Afghanistan and its contemplated interventions in Iraq will demand a depth of non-military historical, social and political expertise that the United States currently does not have. The author reports from an international conference in Tajikistan.
Robert Halsey was convicted in 1993 of sexually abusing two boys on his school van route in Lanesboro, Mass. There was a mountain of evidence against him, and he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms. Now a growing movement is trying to suggest that Halsey was unjustly convicted. A country that cherishes the presumption of innocence still needs to learn something about the presumption of guilt.
A few months after Jonathan Mooney collected his Brown diploma in 2000, he purchased a bus ticket to tour the country and talk to people. Mooney's book with classmate David Cole, "Learning Outside the Lines," had just been published. The book chronicled the friends' experiences as learning-disabled students. Now Mooney, 25, travels around the world speaking to students with disabilities about celebrating their differences, and students in medical school about caring for patients with disabilities.
"Making the community safe." "Working in partnership with the community." Capt. Emil Fioravanti uses such phrases repeatedly in describing his objectives as the new second-in-command of Brown's Department of Public Safety. Hired this past August, Fioravanti will be heavily involved in implementing the recommendations made by the Bratton Group.
David T. Cohen '03 and Spyridon Antonopoulos '03 won't get to dance with Cinderella at the ball, but they will add valuable experience to their resume by performing in a fully staged opera production of the beloved fairy tale this weekend.
The John Carter Brown Library will host the exhibition "Smallpox in the Americas, 1492 to 1815: Contagion and Controversy" through Jan. 15, 2003. The collection of books, pamphlets and broadsides has been developed in conjunction with the publication of an essay on the history of smallpox by Stanley Aronson, M.D., dean of medicine emeritus, and Lucile Newman, professor emerita of community health.
The third annual survey of state and federal "e-governments" conducted at Brown University shows that government Web sites have improved their security and privacy provisions over last year. However, there has been a proliferation of Internet services and Web sites that offer access only to registered users or in some cases only to users who pay fees. Top e-government states this year include Tennessee, New Jersey, California, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
Andries van Dam, a computer graphics pioneer and member of the Brown faculty since 1965, has been appointed the University's first vice president for research. He will begin his work Oct. 1, 2002.
A survey of 437 likely Rhode Island Democratic primary voters conducted Aug. 31-Sept. 2, 2002, finds voters favor Myrth York over Sheldon Whitehouse and Antonio Pires in the race for governor. In the race for secretary of state, voters favor Matt Brown over incumbent Ed Inman, with more than half the voters undecided.
The Brown University community will observe Sept. 11 with a variety of events commemorating the victims of last year's terrorist attacks and reflecting upon the lessons learned in the intervening months.
Brown introduces a slate of small seminars for freshmen to give incoming students an immediate opportunity for an intimate learning experience and to avoid the danger that they will be swallowed up by large courses. The seminars are part of President Simmons' Initiatives for Academic Enrichment.
Funds from a five-year $250,000 grant presented to Brown last year to examine and support the advising system have been directed at efforts surounding students' first two years at the University. The grant has made possible new written materials, a revamped Web site about advising, training and orientation sessions for all groups involved, and a new advising coordinator.
With a mixed bag of talks, skits and small group chats, eight medical students and one newly fledged physician from Brown recently carried out a 12-day HIV/AIDS education mission to high school and college students across the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Anthropology Professor Marida Hollos sees eery similarities between Providence Mayor Vincent Cianci and the disgraced Hungarian mayor she chronicled in her latest book, "Scandal in a Small Town."
Adjunct Professor Robert Coover and his writing students are collaborating with artists and computer programmers to explore the new frontiers of literature Ð in 3-D.
New faculty member Assistant Professor Rebecca Schneider brings her expertise in performance studies and feminist theater to Brown's graduate and undergraduate students this fall.
Brown researchers recently launched a seven-year project to help uncover the biological markers that predict who will develop the most common form of arthritis.
A total of 22,665 donors raised more than $17 million for the Brown Annual Fund (BAF) this past fiscal year. Notable, too, was the surge of fourth-quarter giving. While the stock market experienced its worst turmoil in years, the BAF raised $8 million between April and June, $3.3 million in June alone.
Andries van Dam, co-founder of Brown's Department of Computer Science, will deliver the Opening Convocation address Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2002, at 11 a.m. on The College Green. President Ruth J. Simmons will declare the 239th academic year officially open.
As the 20th century progressed, parents shouldered the care and financial burdens of raising children with less and less help, say Brown sociologists. Frances K. Goldscheider and colleagues analyzed census data from 1880 to 1990 and presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.
Palestinian Arabs often take the colonial experiences of Algeria and South Africa as models for their conflict with Zionism: As Europeans ultimately lost power in both Algeria and South Africa, perhaps Jewish settlers will not prove to be permanent, writes Herschel I. Grossman. But suppose that analogy is wrong. What if the situation is more like the example of Ireland, where a two-state solution has worked?
Over-harvesting of blue crabs may be triggering the colossal die-off of salt marshes across the southeastern United States, suggests a new study by two Brown University biologists who report their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will host a new exhibition, "Commitment to the Struggle: The Art of Sue Coe," Sept. 7 to Oct. 22, 2002, in the List Art Center. The show represents two decades of work by the political artist, who will discuss her work during an opening reception set for Friday, Sept. 13 at 5:30 p.m.
Women across the country were shocked earlier this summer when a national long-term study on hormone replacement therapy revealed the treatment -- long believed to help aging women maintain good health -- actually increases their risk for several life-threatening diseases. The findings are bittersweet for the women participating in the Brown-led arm of the Women's Health Initiative.
A new exhibition at the John Carter Brown Library recaptures in print the New England experience, body and spirit during the region's formative period. 'Errand into the Wilderness: The Early English Colonization of New England, 1602-1753' is on display in the library's MacMillan Reading Room through Aug. 31.
Begin to reduce greenhouse gas emissions soon or it might be too late to avoid dangerous climate change, say a Brown author and his Princeton colleague in a policy forum in the June 14 issue of Science. Their scientific analysis responds to calls for well-defined long-term objectives in dealing with climate change.
Study shows that dermatologists don't practice what they preach when it comes to using sunscreen; aging baboons provide insight into human lifespan; computerized calls fire up couch potatoes to exercise.
The Israeli military raid on Al-Quds University in Jerusalem is ironic in light of the recent claim by the Israeli military that Palestinian textbooks incite students against the Israeli government. That claim, repeatedly debunked by U.S. academics, misses the point, writes Lara Harb. The occupation -- not to mention the ongoing attack on primary schools and universities -- provides a far more provocative education than anything a textbook could ever convey.
Inquiring Minds: Michael Goldberger on the college admission process
When students arrive on campus for the start of the academic year, they will find new options both in living space and classroom study. Through a variety of measures, the University is adding nearly 200 beds to prepare for a larger-than-usual entering class (the yield for the class is 60 percent), and 87 courses or sections of courses to offer a wider range of academic choices for entering students.
In the Medical Students Outreach to Mothers-to-Be program, known as the MOM program, medical students attend sessions on postpartum depression, breastfeeding, nutrition in pregnancy and the effects of alcohol and cigarette use, among other topics, and are paired with expectant mothers in need of social support -- some faced language barriers, others were single moms and others just needed help navigating through the medical establishment.
Three Brown scientists have described a critical blood-clotting role for a seven-protein complex found in animal and plant cells. Understanding this dynamic of cell biology could lead to better treatments for abnormal clotting, which is the chief cause of stroke.
Rhode Island high school students may enroll at a reduced rate in "Culture and Mass Media," a course offered through Brown University's Office of Summer Studies. The course, created by political scientist Darrell West and taught by Katherine Stewart, meets weekdays from July 22 through August 2.
Use of feeding tubes in nursing home patients with severe dementia is more than 10 times higher in some states than others despite evidence that it may not delay death or improve quality of life, according to a study by Brown University researchers in the June 26, 2002, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The Dutch football coach Guus Hiddink, hired two years ago to coach Korea's national team, brought with him a different set of values, including meritocracy and individual accountability. The success of those values has not gone unnoticed off the field, writes Herschel Grossman. Whatever the outcome of the World Cup, changes to Korean society are not likely to fade with the euphoria of soccer fans.
Spring sports wrapup. Women's crew wins NCAA championship; men's tennis wins Ivy championship; more
A nationwide team of researchers led by Arto Nurmikko, professor of engineering and physics, recently received $8.4 million to create a compact warning system for airborne biological agents such as anthrax. The award comes from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Providence artists Yizhak Elyashiv, David Newton and Judyth van Amringe are showcased in an exhibition at the Bell Gallery through July 7.
Besdine is named interim dean of medicine and biological sciences; new trustees named; bone marrow donor found; more
J. Carter Brown, a former trustee of the University and board member of the John Carter Brown Library and the John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization, died Monday at age 67.
Decades ago, the Cold War and Vietnam came equipped with terms like "red" and "commie," words which drained enemies of their human complexity. Might the term "axis of evil" serve a similar purpose now? The author can't shake the feeling that we have passed this way before. This article was written originally for publication in the Friends Journal.
A survey of 482 statewide voters conducted June 8-10, 2002, finds 67 percent of voters believe Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. has provided strong leadership, 52 percent believe he is guilty of the federal charges he now faces and 15 percent believe the jury will convict him. The survey also finds Myrth York leading Sheldon Whitehouse and Antonio Pires in the race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
Professor Andries van Dam, the keynote speaker at Opening Convocation, presented his vision of what the future holds in a presentation titled "he Future Ain't What It Used to Be"
Dealing with the academic characteristics that make Brown unique were among the topics of an orientation attended by 37 new faculty members. The orientation was sponsored by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty and organized by the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning.
Andrew Nathanson, M.D., a clinical assistant professor of medicine, has led the largest study of surfing injuries to date. "I think that surfing is quite a bit safer than people believe," he says, although there is room to improve the safety of equipment.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will host an exhibition of new work by Providence artists Yizhak Elyashiv, David Newton and Judyth van Amringe, beginning June 8 and continuing through July 7, 2002, in the List Art Center. An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, June 7, 2002, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Building upon its reputation as a leader in its field, the Department of Modern Culture and Media will begin offering a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), a move that department faculty believe will lead to breakthrough work and innovation in their field.
Professor Omer Bartov will use his Guggenheim Fellowship to explore Buczacz, the hometown of the only Hebrew author who has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Shmuel Yosef Agnon; of the great Polish Jewish historian, Emanuel Ringelblum; of Sigmund Freud's parents; and of Bartov's own mother.
Brown awarded a total of 2,009 degrees during Commencement ceremonies held on Monday, May 27. Of those, 1,506 were undergraduate degrees, 280 were master's degrees, 75 were doctors of medicine, and 148 were doctors of philosophy. Commencement weekend offered a variety of speakers, from those who presented Commencement Forums May 25 to students addressing their classmates Memorial Day. Here are excerpts from many of those presentations.
On Commencement Day, George Kaufman took the triple crown: a bachelor of arts, a bachelor of science and a master of science.
The Board of Fellows of the Brown Corporation approved a graduate program in biomedical engineering. Recently, President Simmons approved a Center for Biomedical Engineering. In addition, six seniors are the first to graduate with degrees in the new undergraduate biomedical engineering program.
The sound that accompanies an onscreen image of feet sloshing through mud is an exaggeration of the true sound, but viewers don't mind. In fact, we may think it is more realistic that way. A new study by researcher Laurie Heller supports longtime claims by sound effect technicians, known as Foley artists, that exaggerating sounds in movies makes the sounds more believable to the audience.
A wealth of resources awaits youngsters who travel to the Haffenreffer Museum in Bristol from throughout Southeastern New England.
Research notes on psychiatric patients after Sept. 11, hepatitis research; more
Brown's Advanced Studies Fellowship Program recently selected 10 scholars to research federal and national strategies of school reform in the United States. The postdoctoral fellows will receive funds for a nine-month leave to pursue their research, and they will participate in a three-year program of seminars, mentoring and group discussions at Brown.
Five years ago, President Clinton called for an HIV/AIDS vaccine within 10 years. If that goal is to be reached it will be because of the joint efforts of clinicians, researchers, community advisers and the people who volunteer for vaccine trials. Here are five stories that look at those efforts.
High school students are concerned about the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; about damage to the global environment; and that more Americans will die at the hands of terrorists, according to a Brown University survey of 2,225 high school students. The survey of students involved with the University-sponsored Capitol Forum Program provides insight into what the next generation of voters believe is cause for concern on an international scale.
Richard W. Besdine, M.D., the David S. Greer Professor of Geriatric Medicine, has been named interim dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown University. Besdine will begin his new duties July 1, 2002.
80 freshmen and 30 upperclassmen participated in Building Understanding Across Differences, a collaboration offered by Student Life and the Dean of the College to increase understanding and dialogue among students of differing social identities related to race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ability and class.
Cristina Bonuso and Eric Mueller of the graduating Class of 2002
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Title IX, the law that prohibits gender discrimination at educational institutions, and a decade since a group of Brown athletes turned to the justice system to uphold the statute they believed the University had violated. Cohen, now a public school teacher in New York City, is returning for her 10-year reunion. She reflects on the lawsuit that carries her name.
As with other scientific discoveries, if you're the first to discover or map a volcanic ridge, you get to name it. That's how the Brown Ridge in the South Pacific recently acquired its name. Last winter, researchers affiliated with Brown were the first to map the approximately 200-kilometer-long ridge that they've since named after the University.
The Scholarly Technology Group is poised to help faculty members create an online literary journal, an electronic book to examine 1960s popular culture in West Germany and technology to allow more sophisticated research of South Asian manuscripts. These and other projects have been selected for the second annual round of STG's Faculty Grants Program.
Deborah Lapidus '05 and Bekah Rottenberg '03 both planned to conduct research this summer in Nepal with a Nepalese scholar who spent this past semester at Brown in the Watson Institute's International Scholars of the Environment Program. However, due to internal conflict in Nepal just weeks before they were set to travel, the undergraduates' trips are being postponed until next summer.
The year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of Sock and Buskin stages its grand finale during Commencement weekend with a full slate of events offered by the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance and its alumni.
New scientific evidence supports long-time claims by sound effect technicians, known as Foley artists, that exaggerating sounds in movies makes them more believable to the audience. Laurie Heller, assistant professor (research) of psychology, will present her findings June 3, 2002, at the 143rd meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Brown University presented eight honorary degrees during Commencement ceremonies today, Monday, May 27. The recipients were John Birkelund, Raymond G. Chambers, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Paul LeClerc, Emily Arnold McCully, Jessye Norman, Sadako Ogata and William Warner.
Findings from a post-Sept. 11, 2001, study by Brown University researchers support the idea that psychiatric patients are at increased risk for experiencing distressing symptoms following national terrorist attacks. The results will be presented May 20, 2002, during the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Philadelphia.
The George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation, administered by Brown University, has named 12 recipients of $20,000 fellowships for the 2002-2003 academic year in the areas of music, musicology, playwriting and theater arts.
Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, will speak at the Brown Medical School Commencement Convocation Monday, May 27, in the First Unitarian Church of Providence. Medical graduates will also hear talks by James McIlwain, M.D., the Fox Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, and Robert Wolf, a member of the graduating class. The convocation will begin at 8:45 a.m.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will address graduating seniors at Brown's baccalaureate service on Sunday, May 26, 2002, at 1:30 p.m. in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America.
During Commencement ceremonies on Monday, May 27, the University's Graduate School will present its Distinguished Graduate School Alumnus/a Award and the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Maithili Parekh of Bombay, India, and Edward Smith of Washington, D.C., will deliver orations during Brown's 234th Commencement, Monday, May 27, 2002, at 10:15 a.m. in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America.
As early as this fall, the Brown community will see changes in its computing environment. ACUP members heard about some of the changes from Ellen Waite-Franzen, vice president of Computing and Information Services. She outlined a plan that will begin to address many of Brown's urgent computing needs, particularly those that support the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment.
After nearly 10 years as Brown's chief medical education officer, Donald J. Marsh, M.D., will begin a year-long sabbatical July 1 after which he will retire as dean of medicine and biological sciences emeritus.
Police and Security is sponsoring a personal safety workshop for faculty and staff on May 6.
Thanks to a $1-million gift from an alumna, Brown's arts departments will have the means to bring distinguished visiting artists to campus beginning in September.
Lawton Wehle Fitt '74 has given $1 million to Brown University to establish and endow an artists-in-residence program. The endowment will help bring distinguished artists in the fields of creative writing, dance, digital media, film, fine art, music, theater and visual arts to the University each semester.
Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons has announced that Donald J. Marsh, M.D., will step down as dean of medicine and biological sciences. Marsh will begin a year-long sabbatical July 1, after which he will retire as dean emeritus, effective July 1, 2003.
Like a persistent tickle in your side, "Rush Hour" star Chris Tucker kept his audience of faculty, staff and students laughing throughout his brief visit to campus. Be true to yourself and treasure your education: Those were the themes Tucker expressed when he visited Professor Lowry Marshall's theater arts class.
The Brown men's tennis team dismissed Harvard 4-3 in a fight to the end as the two squads struggled to hold on to their undefeated Ivy League records. The April 21 win gave the Bears their first-ever Ivy League tennis title and snagged their first NCAA invite in the process.
Associate professor of engineering Gregory Crawford is poised to lead a research team seeking to develop ways to produce more cost-effective screen displays. The research team hopes to improve display technology developed by General Motors and Delphi, which have donated their patents for multi-color display technology to Brown.
Capital improvements, particularly those that support President Simmons' Initiatives for Academic Enrichment, were discussed by the Advisory Committee on University Planning at its April 22 meeting.
PBS Frontline's "Did Daddy Do It?" purports to be a documentary about an unjustly convicted child molester. Frontline, however, appears to have dismissed important evidence and credible arguments on its way to embracing a man convicted of horrendous sex crimes against numerous children, including his own son, writes Ross Cheit.
The "Empowering Your Future"conference at Brown University on Saturday, April 27, provides hands-on science and engineering experience for middle-school girls and their parents and teachers. The event is open to the media.
The Far Rights first-round success in French presidential elections and a recent conservative victory in Germany are indications of rising insecurity in Europe, writer Hilary Silver. Given the weakness of the European Parliament, national elections serve as the main outlets for sentiments of malaise, mistrust or misery.
Trombonist and Rhode Island native George Masso will perform with the Brown Jazz Band in the 15th annual Eric Adam Brudner '84 Memorial Concert Saturday, April 27, 2002, at 8 p.m. in the Richard and Edna Salomon Center for Teaching.
Sylvia Poggioli, senior European correspondent for National Public Radio, will receive the Welles Hangen Award for Superior Achievement in Journalism on Friday, May 3, 2002, at 4 p.m. in Sayles Hall on The College Green. Poggioli will speak on "Terrorism, Wars and the Trans-Atlantic Relationship."
Every dollar parents contributed toward law school expenses increased their offspring's lifetime consumption by $1.76, says an economist at Brown University.
Assistant Professor of Modern Culture and Media Wendy Hui Kyong Chun and Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature Elliott Colla have been awarded Wriston Fellowships, one of the highest awards Brown bestows upon its teaching faculty.
International scholars, authors, artists and diplomats will convene at Brown University April 25-28, 2002, for a literary symposium, ambassadors roundtable, social sciences conference, art exhibition and film series all devoted to the historical and contemporary relationship between Portugal and Africa.
The John Hay Library's latest exhibit, "POW: The Prisoner of War Experience," is a collection of sketches, watercolors, memoirs and diaries from soldiers captured and held by enemy forces from the Civil War to Operation Desert Storm.
A realization nearly a decade ago by Steven Hamburg about his climate-change research has led to an altered environmental education landscape in New England. His work has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He's one of about a dozen individuals who have won the EPA's Region I Environmental Merit Awards this year.
Theodore Johnson of Feinstein High School worked in the labs of Brown's Sharon Rounds for eight weeks last summer through Frontiers in Physiology, a program of the American Physiological Society (APS). This program provides fellowships to help teachers delve into laboratory science.
Visiting professors Vitali Skriptchenko and Anahit Azarian, who are affiliated with Brown's Center for the Study of Human Development, spent 11 days in New York City interviewing victims of the World Trade Center attack. They recently talked about their psychological observations as part of the center's colloquium series.
Parents of students in some schools in Pennsylvania and Florida received letters this year notifying them that their children are overweight and encouraging them to change their children's eating habits and help them get more exercise. Patricia Risica, assistant professor (research) of community health, comments.
Awards and honors for April 19
Evelyn Hu-DeHart, currently professor and chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of ColoradoÐBoulder, has been named professor of history and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University. Hu-DeHart will begin her duties July 1, 2002.
The only hope of breaking the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock lies in outside intervention. Whereas many nations may influence Palestinian actions, the United States is the only nation with any leverage over Israel. This makes some form of American intervention in the Palestinian conflict inevitable, despite substantial domestic political risk.
In the April 12 issue of Science, Brown University philosopher Dan W. Brock argues human cloning should not undermine our sense of self. Although genetically identical, clones would not have the same traits, character, decisions and life history.
Jarat Chopra, assistant professor (research) at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, will recount his recent experiences during the siege of Ramallah and make himself available for interviews at 11 a.m. Friday, April 12, 2002, in Maddock Alumni Center on the Brown campus.
Jarat Chopra, a Brown University assistant professor (research) who was among international observers trapped in Ramallah by Israeli forces, has made his way to Jerusalem. Chopra will be available by phone to reporters at 4:15 p.m. today (Monday, April 8) in the Watson Institute for International Studies on the Brown campus.
As long as the Israeli military closes off its military operations to news coverage, writes Elliott Colla in an op-ed, we have the moral duty to take seriously reports of atrocities that arrive via other media each day.
Brown Summer High School, which runs July 8-26 this year, offers students entering grades 9 through 12 the opportunity to work in small groups, participate in discussions, conduct laboratory experiments, and engage in numerous hands-on activities in the areas of social studies, biology, and English. The cost is $100; a limited amount of financial aid is available.
Educational Diversity and Excellence at Brown is the topic of a retreat April 12-13 sponsored by President Simmons.
The Initiatives for Academic Enrichment include replacing work-study money with grant money for first-year students in the hope that freshman-year experience will be the same for students on financial aid as it is for those who don't have to work 10-15 hours a week.
Professor of Africana Studies Lewis Gordon discusses the treatment of minorities in the film industry.
At Brown for April 5: Library Users Survey; awards and honors
ABC News chief congressional analyst Cokie Roberts, co-anchor of "This Week With Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts," will give the second annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture on Thursday, April 11, 2002, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. The lecture series honors the memory of Casey Shearer '00, who died just days before he was to graduate from Brown.
During Disability Awareness Day, organizers will announce a service that makes the Brown Web site more accessible for people with disabilities. Betsie, as the service is known, will be up and running on Brown's Web site by April 10. It transforms Web pages so their information is easier to access.
Brown students who hope to enlighten their peers, their professors and administrators about what they and others with disabilities face at Brown sponsor Disability Awareness Day April 10.
Inquiring Minds: University Chaplain Janet Cooper-Nelson discusses the controversy concerning recent revelations that church leaders sexually abused children.
Measuring the hormone cortisol, blood pressure and perceptions of events,researchers at Brown University found that third-grade girls who went to bedbefore 9 p.m. showed more adaptive responses to stress than those who stayed uplater. The study included 138 girls in New York City.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian minister of culture and information, and Yossi Beilin, the former Israeli minister of justice, have embarked on a new peace initiative that includes joint publications and a speaking tour in the United States. They will finish their U.S. speaking tour with a panel discussion at Brown University on April 11.
On Thursday, April 11, 2002, at 4 p.m. Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., will deliver a lecture titled "Bioterrorism: Ready or Not," in Sayles Hall, located on The College Green at Brown University. Her presentation, the third annual Dr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Barnes Jr. Lectureship in Public Health, will be free and open to the public.
Author Tom Wolfe will headline "The City: No Limits," the 22nd annual Brown University/Providence Journal Public Affairs Conference, April 14-19, 2002. He will deliver the keynote address, titled "Cities of Ambition," on Sunday, April 14, at 4 p.m. in the Richard and Edna Salomon Center for Teaching.
Civil rights attorney Floyd Abrams will give the 36th annual Alexander Meiklejohn Lecture on Tuesday, April 9, 2002, at 7:30 p.m. in Sayles Hall. He will speak on "The First Amendment and the War on Terrorism." The public is welcome.
Andrew Solomon, author of the award-winning The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, will give the 10th annual Harriet W. Sheridan Literature and Medicine Lecture on Wednesday, April 3, 2002, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching on The College Green. This event, which is dedicated to Drs. Stanley and Betty Aronson, is free and open to the public.
When tragic, unbelievable behaviors seem to emerge suddenly from nowhere, they are invariably preceded by a process that was under way for years, writes Lewis Lipsitt. If we could learn how human experiences work to erode an individual's stability, we could become sensitive to imminent disasters and intervene to prevent them. But if we go on believing that "crazy behaviors" are happenstances, we will never get to their roots.
A hard look at what Israeli military censors cut from news articles before their publication reveals a pattern, writes Elliott Colla. The censors sought to stifle the notion that the death of Palestinians might have a pattern. Incidents of violence against Palestinians could only be reported as isolated occurrences.
Twenty first-year medical students are exploring the intersections of art, science, health and medicine this semester in a new elective course, "Art and the Human Body," created by one of their peers.
Research grants awarded to Division of Biology and Medicine faculty topped $100 million recently for the first time during a fiscal year.
Campus Compact program trains RI teachers in K-12 how to incorporate service learning into curriculum.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present Malangatana: A 40-Year Survey of a Contem-porary Mozambican Artist April 13 through May 27, 2002. A reception for the artist is scheduled for Saturday, April 27 at 7 p.m. at the gallery in the List Art Center.
Brown University has commissioned a team of security consultants from the Bratton Group to study campus safety and security and to make recommendations for improve-ments. The work will begin March 11, with the final report due by the end of May.
Lifelong friends and seniors Eli Batalion and Jerome Saibil (that's Eli and Jerome in the photo; Jerome is wearing the garland) are producing a video for high school students about the study of philosophy and its relevance to their lives.
President Simmons outlines the short-term, intermediate and long-term steps for the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment; Dean of the Faculty Mary Fennell outlines the spring discussions regarding temporary teaching needs for fall 2002. These discussions will set the stage for the faculty expansion to come.
Using Providence as a case study, Marion E. Orr and Darrell M. West created a survey to determine factors that play into citizens' views about whether their urban domain is moving in the right direction. Police protection, street repairs, race relations and political leadership all weighed heavily on the way residents thought about life in the city, the survey showed.
"The City: No Limits" is the theme for this year's Brown University-Providence Journal Public Affairs Conference April 14-19. Keynote speaker is Tom Wolfe on April 14.
Newly published author Sameer Parekh finds medicine feeds creativity; Dean Marjorie Thompson's music "came out like a flood"
Professors Sheila Bonde, James T. McIlwain and Andy van Dam have won the the latest Harriet W. Sheridan Award for Distinguished Contribution to Teaching and Learning. (GSJ of March 8, 2002)
Studies establishing the effectiveness of antidepressants are based on highly selective samples of depressed patients. New research by Brown psychiatrists found as many as 85 percent of depressed patients treated in an outpatient setting would be excluded from the typical study to determine whether an antidepressant works.
A just-released study led by Joan Teno, M.D., finds that more than one in three seriously ill patients who express their desire for comfort instead receive life-extending treatment that often prolongs their pain and suffering.
A recent collaboration between Rhode Island's secretary of state Ð a Civil War buff Ð and Brown highlights the richness of archival materials that are available to the public.
A new study shows how frequently seriously ill people who crave comfort receive more aggressive care instead. The study also details the costs and survival rates associated with this contrary care. It will appear in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society and was led by Brown Medical School researchers.
Studies establishing the effectiveness of antidepressants are based on highly selective samples of depressed patients. New research by Brown University psychiatrists found as many as 85 percent of depressed patients treated in an outpatient setting would be ex-cluded from the typical study to determine whether an antidepressant works.
University staff will play a crucial role in bringing Brown's Proposal for Academic Enrichment to a successful conclusion, President Simmons told a packed audience in Alumnae Hall Feb. 26. She outlines some of the steps the plan takes to reward and retain staff.
Inquiring Minds with Elisabeth Bell, visiting professor, talks about turning a novel into a movie. Timed for Oscars
Should Brown arm its police officers? Two Brown students offer their opinions. Anne Barylick believes Brown officers should not be denied their tools. Dmitri Seals urges a broad discussion that includes a greater portion of the Providence community.
The Corporation of Brown University received and discussed a set of Initiatives for Academic Enrichment at its regular meeting Feb. 22-23, 2002. A summary of the document presented to the Corporation is reprinted in the March 1 edition of the George Street Journal.
The Corporation of Brown University has endorsed the multiyear Initiatives for Academic Enrichment under which Brown will institute need-blind undergraduate admission, expand its faculty by as many as 100 additional faculty members, improve support for graduate students and make substantial new investments in libraries, information technology and academic space. Increases to the University's annual budget will reach $36 million by fiscal year 2005.
Overall charges for undergraduates at Brown University will rise 4.6 percent to $36,356 for the 2002-03 academic year. That figure includes a 4.8-percent increase in tuition (to $27,856).
"The Re-Bordering of North America: Integration or Exclusion After September 11?" was the inaugural event in the Watson Institute's Joukowsky Forum in the institute's new building on Thayer Street.
The annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) draws approximately 4,000 attendees and 1,000 journalists. This year, six Brown professors -- James Anderson, Sheila Blumstein, Dan Brock, Xinsheng Sean Ling, Marc Tatar and Greg Tucker -- will be making presentations.
President Simmons is considering arming Brown's police force in the wake of a rash of robberies that have affected every segment of the campus community.
For the fifth year, the Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Research in Culture and Media Studies will join with nearly a dozen other University and community-based organizations in sponsoring an 11-day cavalcade of French cinema.
The University's only museum houses more than 10,000 artifacts from the native people of the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific -- all 18 miles from The College Green.
Put on by the Slavic languages department, the tea and coffee gatherings are one way students can fulfill class requirements to use the language they're studying outside the classroom. The Russian teas have been held regularly for the past six or seven years, and the Czech coffees began a little more than a year ago.
"America in the World: A Conversation with Foreign Policy Experts and Scholars" drew about 50 alumni, scholars and past employees as well as 50 students, community members and others.The gathering celebrated the 21st anniversary of the creation of Brown's Center for Foreign Policy Development. The center and the Institute for International Studies, in which the center was housed, were renamed in the early 1990s as the Watson Institute for International Studies.
Brown University will host a community meeting to discuss issues of crime and public safety at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002, in MacMillan Hall, Thayer and George streets.
New research has shown that type-II superconductors really superconduct - they transmit electricity without dissipating energy. Xinsheng Sean Ling, assistant professor of physics at Brown University, will discuss his team's research, which answered a longstanding question in physics. Engineers can use this latest discovery to seek ways to distribute electricity more efficiently.
Brown University is conducting detailed traffic studies and user group surveys and is gathering estimates for construction and operating costs of a new parking structure. In this statement, Laura Freid, executive vice president for University relations and public affairs, discusses the University's planning process.
Johnnetta B. Cole, president emerita of Spelman College, will present "The Life and Work of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Old Lessons for a New Day," this year's Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture, on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2002, at noon in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
Rods and cones are not the only photoreceptors in our eyes. Reporting in theFebruary 8 issue of "Science," researchers at Brown University describe a third photoreceptor and a parallel visual system. The newly discovered cells turn light energy directly into brain signals. The signals govern the body's 24-hour clock.
AOL Time Warner Vice Chairman Ted Turner will deliver the Stephen A Ogden Jr. '60 Memorial Lecture on International Affairs, titled "Our Common Future," on Monday, Feb. 11, 2002, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green.
Iran's strategic location and economic importance make it both inevitable and imperative that the United States reestablish relations with the Iranians, rather than lob intemperate and ill-considered invective at them. It is a sad commentary on American political life that the State of the Union address should be used for cheap political shots.
Two Brown seniors recently learned that they are the recipients of awards from two prestigious programs. Elena Lesley received a Luce Scholarship to live and work in Asia; Mikhail Shapiro received a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans to continue his studies.
Career services is hosting an "etiquette dinner" to teach students how to gracefully spit out the bones when they're having dinner with a prospective employer or big client. The project is part of Career Week events that will bring alumni in to mentor students.
As the University grows, maintaining and restoring its historic structures presents special challenges, from replacing period features to converting 18th century buildings to a 21st century use.
Faces of Brown: Daniel Nuey of Police and Security
Orchestra director Paul Phillips and Soterios C. Zoulas, communications director at the Annenberg Institute
INQUIRING MINDS: History professor Michael Vorenberg on "widow activism" -- women like Lisa Beamer who rally in the wake of tragedy to do something positive.
A survey of 461 statewide voters conducted Jan. 26-28, 2002, shows Myrth York leading Sheldon Whitehouse and Antonio Pires for the Rhode Island Democratic gubernatorial nomination and Rep. Patrick Kennedy leading all potential Republican challengers in the 1st District congressional race. The survey also finds a drop in the job approval rating for Gov. Lincoln Almond, but high numbers for President George W. Bush. Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.'s approval rating has risen since a survey in September.
The way to support Afghanistan's evolution to peaceful representative government is to bind the Afghan people to the government and the government to the people. Money and experts can help, but the majority of the work cannot be done without the people's support and cooperation.
Capt. Rick Ziccardi, a resident of Freetown, Mass., retires Jan. 31 from his position as second-in-command of Brown's Department of Police and Security Services.
Three dozen of the University's famous portraits will rest in storage while Sayles Hall is closed for renovations during the winter. The two large portraits above the stage at the front of the hall Ð those of Francis Wayland and Nicholas Brown Ð will be cleaned and restored. All should return by Commencement.
Rachel Pepper, who will graduate this June with a concentration in biophysics, will spend the next two years at the University of Cambridge pursuing her interest in physics, thanks to a Marshall scholarship. Pepper learned in early December she was one of 40 students across the country to receive the prestigious award.
Literature is more than entries on the best-seller list. According to Carol DeBoer-Langworthy, it includes letters, diaries Ð and the personal narratives of students in her life writing classes.
Cornish game hen, wild greens with cherry tomatoes, brownie royale and tips on dining etiquette are on the menu for a three-course mock interview dinner at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, in the Brown University Faculty Club. The dinner is part of Career Week 2002, Jan. 22-26, which features more than 100 alumni speakers.
Brown University will bring its development, alumni relations and international outreach efforts together under the direction of a senior vice president for University advancement. A national search is under way for this newly created position.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will host a new exhibition, "Mark Dion: New England Digs," at the List Art Center Jan. 26 to March 10, 2002. Dion will discuss his work during an opening reception on Friday, Jan. 15, 2002, at 5:30 p.m.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will host "Extreme Horticulture," a collection of landscape photographs by John Pfahl, Jan. 26 through March 10, 2002, in the lobby of the List Art Center. In conjunction with the exhibit, Pfahl will present a slide lecture Friday, March 1, at 5:30 p.m. in the List Auditorium.
Robert Scholes, professor emeritus of modern culture and media, has been elected second vice president of the Modern Language Association of America, designating him as the association's vice president in 2003 and president in 2004.
Professor Frances K. Goldscheider and visiting faculty members Saburo Haraguchi and Gustavo Florentino Vega-Canovas have been awarded Fulbright Scholar grants for 2001-2002.
After researching the asbestos-related health and economic problems of South African mine workers, Nancy Jacobs, Lundy Braun and their students brought the victims' voices to their country's Parliament.
Brown senior Rachel Pepper will use her Marshall Scholarship to pursue her interest in math and physics at the University of Cambridge. Pepper is one of 40 American students named this year as recipients of this prestigious award.
The sense of national unity that followed the World Trade Center attacks has allowed the United States to undertake a strong response to terrorism. But enemies also develop unity when they, in turn, are attacked. We should not let our sense of national unity erode the natural strength of our diversity. Listening to the voices of dissent is the best insurance for our continuing democratic values.
In selecting Brown University as a site for its Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance, Microsoft Corp. will give all students, faculty and staff access to a comprehensive package of programs -- products that are especially useful to those in the school's computer science and engineering departments.
History teaches us that extra-national terrorist organizations -- pirates, terrorists, barbarians -- must not be allowed to walk away from conflict once they lose the upper hand. Granting amnesty to such belligerents will only allow them to reappear and will embolden other groups which may share their ideology or methodology.
Off Hours: Mike Baron of the Education Department and Arts Literacy program is directing Trinity Rep's seasonal offering of "A Christmas Carol."
Associate Professor of Public Policy Ross Cheit moves each week to an off- campus classroom at the Adult Correctional Institution in Cranston, where he teaches ethics to prisoners in the Sex Offender Treatment Program.
Calvin Goldscheider, Ungerleider Professor of Judaic Studies and professor ofsociology at Brown, spoke with George Street Journal writer Kate Bramson recently about his latest book, "Cultures in Conflict: The Arab-Israeli Conflict," which was released at the end of October.
Students participating in the Swearer Center's service-learning program won't earn an A for ladling soup, but they can learn some valuable lessons and make a contribution to the community beyond College Hill.
Ellen J. Waite-Franzen, currently vice president for information services at the University of Richmond, has been named vice president for computing and information services at Brown University. Waite-Franzen will begin her duties at Brown Feb. 1, 2002.
Brown has established the Lt. Charles Margiotta Memorial Scholarship Fund to honor a New York City firefighter and 1976 alumnus who died in the World Trade Center attack.
Interview with new Hillel director Rabbi Richard Kirschen.
Kristy Pond and Yongsong Huang have developed an important new method for monitoring and managing land- and water-based oil spills.
Rites & Reason's current research-to-performance project involves students creating and then performing roles of people who have been profiled on basis of race, sex, age.
A 15-month project on pain assessment and management, led by the Brown University Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research and Rhode Island Quality Partners (RIQP), has enabled nursing home residents to enjoy life more and, in some case, use less medication.
A small change in the American edition of the first Harry Potter book -- from philosopher's stone to sorcerer's stone -- robs the British original of an important connection to the history of human thought. The magic of Harry Potter, writes Robert Scholes, was designed by author J.K. Rowling to exist alongside "muggle" science.
Noted writer and director Oliver Stone will be the guest of the Brown Lecture Board and the first Ivy Film Festival on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2001, when he will give a lecture at noon in the Salomon Center for Teaching. Stone will also participate in festival workshops.
Brown parent and trustee Martin Granoff and his wife Perry, of Saddle River, N.J., have given $1.4 million to the University to establish the Lt. Charles Margiotta Memorial Scholarship Fund. Margiotta, a member of the Brown Class of 1979, was among the firefighters who perished Sept. 11 in the World Trade Center. He was posthumously inducted into Brown's Hall of Fame along with all other members of the Ivy League champion football team of 1976.
In accordance the National Historic Preservation Act, the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission will host a public meeting to discuss Brown University's Life Sciences Building project. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2001, in the Saunders Inn Conference Room, 101 Thayer St.
As part of a consent agreement and final order announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Brown University will spend $285,596 on a Supplemental Environmental Project much of which will directly benefit Providence public high schools. The SEP will include microscaled chemistry labs in four high schools, a computerized chemical management system for Providence public high schools, and summer workshops for high school chemistry teachers. Brown will also pay $79,858 in penalties levied by the EPA.
Alcoholics treated with a combination of the drug naltrexone and coping skills training experienced fewer and less severe relapses, according to a newly published study led by Peter Monti.
The nature and cause of Gulf War Syndrome remain a mystery, but the veterans' experience in that conflict holds lessons for todays medical and miltary leaders, says Phil Brown.
Student leaders from The Multi-Faith Council will coordinate the creation of a memorial quilt to honor the six Brown alumn and other friends of the Brown community who perished in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
ACUP received reports Monday (Nov. 12) about investments the University must make in its libraries, computing infrastructure and IT training and development.
"The Great Game" Ð Kipling's term for great-power rivalry in Central Asia Ð is ongoing, with the United States, Russia, Pakistan, oil companies and other external forces competing to shape the Afghani future. The losers are likely to be the Afghani people.
People in alcoholism treatment benefit from medication and coping skills training, according to a new Brown-led study published in "Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research."
The addition of German and Japanese military resources to the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan raises Middle East suspicions and hatreds more than a century old and may create domestic problems for those two countries. But German and Japanese support is also proof that even the worst of enemies can eventually become friends.
On Monday, Nov. 12, the Brown Medical School will host a roundtable of experts to brief Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy on bioterrorism preparedness in Rhode Island. The briefing is by invitation only, but all participants will be available to speak with reporters afterward, at approximately 10:30 a.m. The briefing will take place in the main conference room, Saunders Inn, 101 Thayer St., on the Brown campus.
Physics professor Ian Dell'Antonio, who has been part of various efforts working toward trying to identify, weigh and measure everything in the universe, including dark matter. (GSJ of Nov. 9, 2001)
Patricia Rubertone doesn't want to knock Rhode Island's greatest colonial hero from his time-honored pedestal, but she would like us to know Roger Williams wasn't the ultimate authority on the area's Native Americans.
Inquiring Mind: Dr. Artenstein discusses issues of bioterrorism with the GSJ's Scott Turner.
Planetary geologists at Brown and in Russia have collaborated across some difficult historical and political terrain, and they're still at it.
"Langston, No Regrets," a new research to performance play at Rites & Reason, portrays Langston Hughes during 1923-24, a transformative point in the young writer's life.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present "Before Reflection Begins," a new group exhibition featuring the work of five international artists -- Jin Soo Kim, Wolfgang Laib, Ernesto Neto, Valeska Soares and Marisa Telleria-Diez -- from Nov. 10 to Dec. 30, 2001, in the List Art Center.
Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons has announced the appointment of Richard R. Spies as executive vice president for planning. Spies, who will begin his duties at Brown on Jan. 15, 2002, will also serve as the president's senior advisor.
Jim Blight's course about the Vietnam war is evolving into a course comparing Vietnam with the United States' new campaign against terrorism and current events in Afghanistan
Committee exploring how Brown's non-academic disciplinary procedures work holds community forum. The committee's report is due to be presented to president in January.
Inquiring Minds: Jeffrey Singer, whose research here at Brown stems from the work done by latest winners of Nobel Prize in medicine, comments on the winners' research.
The Brown Film Society seeks contributions to the Ivy Film Festival, which will be held on Brown campus Dec. 1. Winners will have their works posted at ifilm.com.
Christopher Reeve presents Parents Weekend keynote lecture
Brown Oxfam opens a coffee bar in Bear's Lair called The Hourglass Cafe. Proceeds will benefot Oxfam America
This year's crop of Faculty Scholars: Peter Lee, Marc Manseau, Joshua Farkas, Eric Stovkovich, Natasha Zaretsky
Inquiring Minds: James Head reflects on tenure of NASA chair Daniel Goldin, who just stepped down
To help insurance industry determine the probability of major hurricanes striking a certain region, Jeffrey Donnelly looks back hundreds of years by taking core samples from marsh sediment
Police and Security a leading example of how campus law enforcement has matured nationwide. The force is accredited, many are trained to carry firearms, and one member has trained in exclusive FBI program.
First-year students in the Brown Medical School will receive white coats during a campus ceremony at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct 27, 2001. Media are welcome to attend the event at Alumnae Hall, 194 Meeting St., between Brown and Thayer streets.
A survey of 509 voters in Providence, conducted Oct. 20-21, 2001, finds a majority of voters rank Providence police highly and 30 percent believe Providence police have gotten better over the last year. Voters are divided on whether people are treated the same regardless of race; many think there should be more training on race relations and a civilian review process to check on citizen complaints.
Actor, director and activist Christopher Reeve will deliver the keynote address during this year's Parents Weekend on Friday, Oct. 26, 2001, at 7:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. Because of space limitations, the event will be open only to Brown students and their parents. Limited space will be available to press by prior arrangement with the News Service.
The John Carter Brown Library is hosting a new public exhibition, Architectural Pattern Books in 18th Century America, an illustration of the influence of European styles on colonial construction now through Dec. 1 and again Dec. 16, 2001, to Feb. 15, 2002.
In her inaugural address, President Simmons paid ardent tribute to the enterprise of education.
NSF gives nearly $5 million to Brown faculty working on IT: trio collaborates on modeling brain cell behavior.
Study finds disparities across state in enforcing drunk driving laws
Classroom Visit Program introduces engineering to youngsters in local schools
Mary Carskadon will participate in study of shift workers and sleep; Barry Lester on meth use during pregnancy
Research issue: No stem cells used by Brown researchers are derived from human embryos
NSF gives nearly $5 million to Brown faculty working on IT: Van Hentenryck in the hunt for algorithm that takes uncertainty into account.
New findings link alcohol use and risky sex among injection drug users. The results appear in a Brown-led study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
The Brown Alumni Association presented its highest honor, the William Rogers Award, to Zachary Morfogen '50, the founding chairman emeritus of the National Hospice Foundation and the National Hospice Organization, during the 18th annual Alumni Recognition Ceremony Friday, Oct. 12, 2001.
Six Brown alumni who perished in New York City, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon will be remembered and honored during inaugural events this weekend.
The symbols of the office of President will be visible during Inauguration
In Rhode Island, second-offense drunk drivers are accuratelycharged only 60 percent of the time, according to a study recently released bythe Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University. Violators oftenreceive lighter penalties than the law prescribes. The study recommendsimprovements to data collection and data access across jurisdictions.
Most successful dieters regain the weight they lost. But new research shows that a daily weigh-in – and quick adjustments to diet and exercise – can significantly help dieters maintain weight loss. The clinical trial, conducted by researchers at The Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School, reports results of the first program designed specifically for weight loss maintenance. The study appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Because of international travel difficulties, soprano Jessye Norman has been forced to cancel her appearance at Brown University on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2001. The Brown University Orchestra will perform the concert, which will feature an appearance by the Tougaloo College Concert Choir, at 5 p.m. in Meehan Auditorium.
This past summer, 28 entering freshmen were able to master their periodic tables in any number of settings, thanks to Chem 10 Web, an interactive Web-based course developed by the chemistry department to prepare students for college-level chemistry
To meet educational and clinical obligations, most of the nation's 100,000 medical interns and residents work between 60 and 130 hours a week. Some now question the method. Brown Medical School and students hope to play a role in exploring the issue of sleep deprivation.
The country's oldest college theater organization directed by faculty, Sock and Buskin has mounted hundreds of theatrical productions involving thousands of students, serving as their laboratory and preparing many for successful careers in professional theater. This season is its 100th, which will be marked by a variety of special events.
In "The University As We Do Not Know It," moderator Frank Newman will engage former college and university presidents Johnnetta Cole, Vartan Gregorian, J. Jorge Klor de Alva and Frank Rhodes in an Inaugural Weekend discussion about the future of higher education. Jasmine Waddell, a 1999 Brown graduate who was a Truman Scholar, Rhodes Scholar and student body president, will provide a student and young alumni perspective.
In celebration of the inauguration of Brown's 18th president, Ruth J. Simmons, the faculty will offer "Voyages of Discovery," a series of 20 public forums on a wide variety of topics, to be presented Oct. 12 and 13, 2001.
The U.S. Post Office now located at 201 Meeting St. will move to 306 Thayer St. during the weekend of Oct. 6-8, 2001. Demolition of the former site will make way for construction of Brown University's new Life Sciences Building. Brown owns both buildings.
The way we interpret events, especially traumatic events like the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, will have an impact on the options we consider for responding. Rather than interpreting this tragedy as an "attack on America" Ð a war Ð it would be better to frame it as "a crime against humanity."
Faculty-staff session "Caring for yourself and loved ones after the trauma of Sept. 11" describes ways people can help themselves and loved ones if they are feeling traumatized by attacks.
In the next few months, ACUP members will hear presentations from administrators who at Simmons' request have been gathering and evaluating a variety of data since summer. Simmons said she has asked the presenters to bring budget requests as well as ideas for strategic program investments, and is asking ACUP to think big.
On July 4, 2005, a spacecraft is scheduled to crash into Tempel 1's nucleus, leaving a crater the size of a football field and giving scientists, including Peter Schultz, a chance to see material that is as old as the solar system itself.
Page Turners: Nadine Harris, David Konstan, Ruth Rosenberg
Memo from Police and Security; call for papers, and more
Funded by a grant from the Kirk Foundation, the Ancient Studies Program will sponsor the newly established Kirk Lecture Series for 2001-2002 titled Perceptions and Representations of the Past in Ancient Civilizations. The public is invited to attend the seven lectures free of charge. The series begins Oct. 1, 2001, and continues through March 11, 2002.
We must come to terms with the reality that we cannot utterly control the powers of all peoples, and we must begin to imagine a world without superpowers. [Kevin Lourie]
To dedicated opponents of evolution, the battle against Darwin is never-ending. Well-funded critics of evolution will fulminate against this week's NOVA series on evolution, but their charges of "false" statements about the genetic code show only the emptiness of their so-called "evidence" against Darwin. Kenneth R. Miller, professor of biology, is the author of Finding Darwin's God.
In Northern Ireland and Israel, history shows a pattern of escalation Ð that violence has only bred more violence. Similarly, previous U.S. retaliation against suspected terrorists has not brought an end to terrorism. [Neta Crawford]
In wake of terrorist attacks, Hillel anticipates larger gathering for High Holidays
Brunonians share their experiences in wake of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
Lewis P. Lipsitt, professor emeritus of psychology, medical science, and human development, offers advice to parents in the wake of the terrorist attacks on World Trade Center, Pentagon
Campus blood drive held in wake of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Response is overwhelming, with the goal exceeded in less than three hours
In May, the UAW petitioned the NLRB for exclusive right to represent certain teaching assistants and other graduate students at Brown. This summer, 28 Brown faculty and administrators provided testimony before the NLRB in Boston. Attorneys from Brown and the UAW will file final arguments in the case by Sept. 25. A talk with Peder Estrup, dean of the Graduate School and research
Little is known about polar bear cub development. Research conducted since last spring by senior Katy Greenwald will help change that.
Brown University's Choices for the 21st Century Education Project has created curricular materials to help high school teachers discuss policy direction in the aftermath of the WorldTrade Center and Pentagon attacks. The material is available free of charge on the Web.
In the Middle East, South and Central Asia, where the administration hopes to achieve the greatest cooperation, most governments sit very uneasily. If they don't cooperate, they risk military retribution by the U.S. If they do cooperate, they risk being overthrown, removed from office, or even assassinated by extreme elements in their own societies. William O. Beeman, professor of anthropology, has more than 30 years' experience in research throughout the Middle East and Central Asia.
In the wake of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, a survey of 413 Rhode Island voters conducted Sept. 15-16, 2001, finds 77 percent of Rhode Island voters worry about terrorist attacks. Sixty-eight percent think President Bush is doing a good job, up from 34 percent in June. The survey also finds sharply lower consumer confidence in the state economy and indications of a tight race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
Economists are used to thinking about policy choices as involving a comparison of perceived costs and benefits. Can this perspective help us to understand why we protected ourselves so poorly that suicidal terrorists were easily able to hijack four airplanes in one morning?
Piracy on the high seas, as terrorism today, plagued the international system with raids, hostages and slavery and in general dealt in the currency of fear. In the early 19th century as now in the wake of the World Trade Center attack, the United States faced important choices of war and peace in securing freedom from fear.
Searching for the proverbial "apple" in the adage "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" has resulted in a lot of varying Ð and contradictory Ð information. How can you weigh the merits of such studies?
As horrific attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., unfolded Sept. 11, members of the Brown community met in groups large and small, seeking information and struggling to cope with grief and disbelief.
Two faculty members in the Medical School unveiled a new diagnostic/assessment report to improve routine clinical practice for all patients. Based on the current diagnostic manual, the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire (PDSQ) is designed to assess the most common psychiatric disorders encountered in an outpatient setting.
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, Brown President Ruth J. Simmons addressed brief remarks to faculty, students and staff who had assembled in The Salomon Center for Teaching. More than 1,200 members of the campus community attended, hundreds listening to an overflow broadcast on The College Green and in nearby classrooms. The text of President Simmons' remarks follows.
The second annual "e-government" survey, conducted by researchers at Brown University's Taubman Center, finds significant improvement in state and federal Web sites. Analysis indicates that Indiana, Michigan, Texas, Tennessee and Washington have the top-ranking online services among the 50 states and that the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture, Federal Communications Commission, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Internal Revenue Service rank most highly among federal agencies.
Brown University has filed a report with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management describing levels of arsenic that exceed state limits in soil samples from The College Green. As the University works with the DEM to decide what remedial efforts may be appropriate, a geochemical consultant hired by Brown has reported that these concentrations of arsenic do not pose a health risk to the campus community, and that typical activities on the Green may continue.
Frances Goldscheider on fatherhood; Amy Greenwald on "shopbots"; students go weightless for science; meteorite's origin; more
Jin Li, assistant professor of education, does research about the cultural differences in the way American and Chinese children think about learning.
When Robert Mathiesen's Staff Development Day class on tarot reading and divination was among the first to be filled during registration, he wasn't surprised. Mathiesen believes such esoteric subjects pique our natural curiosity. "We're hard-wired for mystery, religion and spirituality," he explained.
In her Staff Development Day address July 31, President Simmons encouraged Brown to become a "community of leaders." During an Aug. 28 interview with the George Street Journal, Simmons elaborated upon that theme, and discussed her upcoming inauguration Oct. 14. Here are excerpts from that conversation.
Rising carbon dioxide levels tied to global warming may not directly determine the composition of plant communities. Localized climate shifts appear to play a larger role, according to a Brown-led research team's report in this week's Science.
Brown President Ruth J. Simmons will officially open the new academic year and welcome the Class of 2005 during the 238th Opening Convocation Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2001, at 11 a.m. on The College Green. Presiding at her first Opening Convocation as Brown's 18th president, Simmons also will deliver the keynote address.
Compared to statewide statistics, residents of Providence are more likely to be younger, live in rental housing, reside in single-parent families and be of mixed race, according to a study of census figures conducted by researchers at the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University. Their report also finds significant variations in median age and living conditions for whites, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Hispanics.
The well-preserved Tagish Lake meteorite has been identified as coming from a D-type asteroid, confirming that it contains the oldest raw materials among asteroids in the solar system. The study in the journal Science online by Brown geologists Takahiro Hiroi and Carle Pieters and a colleague from NASA shows that the meteorite fell from the mid-to-far end of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present Sean Scully: Walls, Windows, Horizons from Sept. 8 through Oct. 28, 2001. Scully, an internationally acclaimed artist known for his abstract paintings, will discuss his work during an opening reception Friday, Sept. 7, 2001, at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of the List Art Center.
There have been many extraordinary claims of life on Mars, writes John Mustard, professor of geological sciences, yet none has proffered extraordinary evidence. During the next 20 years the continued exploration will bring us closer to answering that question.
About 70 local students entering grades 2-6 learned about biodiversity from Brown MAT students this past July in a collaborative program with Wheeler and Community Prep schools and Roger Williams Park Zoo.
STG Faculty Grant Proposal Descriptions Ð Accepted Projects for 2002. Titon (who will do a multimedia project on the Rev. C.L. Franklin), Bonde, Massimo Riva, Steven Sloman; Shoggy Waryn and Annie Wiart, French Studies
Elderly nursing home residents who receive hospice care through Medicare are less likely to be hospitalized in their last days of life compared to peers who do not receive such care or reside in facilities where it is not present, say a trio of Brown researchers.
A Brown-led study has produced some good news for the treatment of depression in teens. The largest clinical trial, treating major depression in adolescents with antidepressants, suggests that paroxetine, sold under the brand name Paxil, may be successful.
A lifestyle intervention of diet and exercise helped people at high risk for type 2 diabetes lower their chances of developing the disease by 58 percent. Rena Wing, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, designed the intervention.
The ascension of Megawati Sukarnoputri was supported by one of the most brutal and unaccountable militaries in the world. Now, Janet Gunter writes, the United States and others must press her to become a force for change, reform and true, sustainable peace.
Evidence of water ice has been detected on Mars in a location that indicates the planet's climate has changed relatively recently Ð during the last 100,000 years, according to Brown University geologist John Mustard. The data was collected using NASA's Mars Orbiter Camera.
Diane Pelkus Balestri, currently vice president at Vassar College, has been named vice president for computing and information services at Brown University. She will begin her work at Brown in January 2002.
The presence of hospice care in a nursing home cuts cumbersome and costly hospital stays for elderly residents in the last days of life, says a new Brown study in the "American Journal of Medicine."
SAC is sponsoring a Bring a Book to Brown as a public service project during Staff Development Day
Seven scholars from various countries came to the Watson Institute for a semester of research on environmental issues in their home countries.
Do Rhode Island's public policies work? Research carried out by several public policy concentrators last May has been turned over to the state agencies that provided the data.
If some studies suggest that diabetics who lose weight die sooner, then what do you tell overweight diabetics who want to shed pounds? Rena Wing will try to answer that question over the next 12 years through a $180-million nationwide study of whether weight loss in people with type 2 diabetes decreases risk for heart disease, stroke and death.
Margaret A. Jablonski, interim associate vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Connecticut-Storrs, has been appointed dean for campus life at Brown University.
Rena Wing, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, is co-directing a new 12-year, $180-million nationwide study of how weight loss affects people with type 2 diabetes. Wing is also directing a study site at The Miriam Hospital in Providence, where she is based.
Inquiring Minds: Richard Besdine on living longer
Engineering Professor Greg Crawford is working with RI Training School, teaching a class on engineering and entrepreneurism.
Brown University's Afro-American Studies Program has been upgraded to department status and will be renamed the Department of Africana Studies, effective July 1. The name change reflects an already broad focus on research and teaching about the African diaspora.
A statewide survey of 400 Rhode Island voters conducted June 9-11, 2001, finds 81 percent believe corruption is a problem in Providence city government. Forty-one percent think Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. is guilty of corruption charges, 21 percent think he is not guilty, and 38 percent are unsure. In a possible race for the U.S. House, Rep. Patrick Kennedy leads Gov. Lincoln Almond.
Scientists from Brown University and other labs have created a new type of material known as a half-metallic ferromagnet, which may lead to improvements in computer memory. Brown physicist Gang Xiao, with help from IBM, developed the single crystal films of the new material.
Geologist John Mustard and others will brief Rep. Patrick Kennedy on the use of NASA's remote sensing technology in recording higher temperatures in Mount Hope Bay due to discharges from the Brayton Point power plant. The briefing will be held Tuesday, June 5, from 9:30 to 10:20 a.m. at the Lincoln Field Building, Room 105, located between George and Waterman streets. Press are welcome to attend.
No one Ð not the Liberians or any other immigrant or refugee group Ð should have to worry about returning to a country where they would fear for their lives, writes recent Brown graduate Melissa Bowman.
In money-making organizations, respectful disagreement among colleagues Ð not close friendships Ð is the ideal, according to a new study by Brown sociologist Brooke Harrington. Harrington's study appeared in the May issue of Research in the Sociology of Organizations
Brown University and Trinity Repertory Company have formed a consortium to offer new master's and doctoral programs in theater arts. The new consortium, approved by the Brown faculty and Trinity Rep's board of trustees earlier this month, was approved by the Brown Corporation Saturday, May 26. Discussions are underway to include Rhode Island College and the Rhode Island School of Design as future consortium partners.
In a recent letter e-mailed to faculty and graduate students, Provost Kathryn Spoehr and Dean of the Graduate School Peder Estrup discussed a petition filed by the United Auto Workers before the National Labor Relations Board in Boston. The UAW is asking the NLRB for the exclusive right to represent teaching assistants at Brown.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present "Ann Fessler: Close to Home" and "Recent Acquisitions by Yitzak Elyashiv, Richard Fleischner, Irene Lawrence, and Howard Ben Tre" June 9 through July 8, 2001, in the List Art Center.
During Commencement ceremonies May 28, Interim President Sheila E. Blumstein, the Albert D. Mead Professor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, received the highest honor Brown's faculty can bestow -- the Rosenberger Medal -- as well as an honorary Doctor of Science degree and an endowed undergraduate scholarship fund named in her honor. A portrait of Blumstein,which will hang in Sayles Hall, was unveiled Friday evening, May 25.
Faculty members, a former University chancellor, graduate students and undergraduate students have been selected to receive special honors during Commencement ceremonies on Monday, May 28, 2001.
A survey of 372 people who received a traffic citation, filed an accident report or contacted the State Police to report an incident or offense during calendar 2000 finds high public ratings of the professionalism, courtesy, fairness and service delivery of the Rhode Island State Police. The survey was conducted May 5-9, 2001, by researchers at Brown University.
The John Carter Brown Library is hosting a new exhibit, titled "The European Conquest of the Oceans, 1450 to 1830: A Selection of Original Sources on Maritime History from the John Carter Brown Library," now through Sept. 15, 2001.
Honorary degree recipients at Brown University's 233rd Commencement will be former Secretary of State Madeleine Korbel Albright; Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations; Professor Sheila E. Blumstein, interim president of Brown University; mathematician and physicist Demetrios Christodoulou; Oskar Eustis, artistic director of Trinity Repertory Company; Margaret H. Marshall, chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court; visual scientist Lorrin A. Riggs; author Philip Roth; and Lawrence M. Small '63, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
In China, corruption has provided incentives for local government officials in much the same way as methods of compensation in Western economies. There are increasingly good reasons, however, for the Chinese authorities to reconsider their policy of tolerating corruption.
Harold Cohen says it's never too late to start. He married at age 40. At a time when some people become grandparents, he became a father. In 1987, Cohen entered Brown as a 71-year-old student resuming an undergraduate education. He graduates this Memorial Day at age 84.
Nine will receive honorary degrees at Commencement: Madeleine Albright; Kofi Annan of the United Nations; Sheila E. Blumstein, interim president; mathematician and physicist Demetrios Christodoulou; Oskar Eustis of Trinity Repertory Company; Margaret H. Marshall of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court; author Philip Roth; visual scientist Lorrin A. Riggs; and Lawrence M. Small of the Smithsonian Institution.
Faculty meeting approves name change and department status for Afro-American studies. Department of Africana Studies awaits Corporation-level approval
REMEDY, a group run by medical students, collects unused medical supplies from hospitals and physicians and redistributes them to local and international charities. Most recent shipment went to Armenian hospital
The Office of Student Life will sponsor a ceremony on Friday, May 25, at 4 p.m. in room 101 of Salomon Center to honor recipients of the Joslin Awards and the Jin Prize.
Syringe prescriptions written by physicians are a feasible way to increase the access of injection drug users to sterile syringes for HIV prevention, according to a Brown-led pilot study.
As Professor Sheila E. Blumstein entered the final weeks of her interim presidency, she sat down with the George Street Journal to talk about the success, challenges and surprises she's experienced since being named interim president on Feb. 9, 2000.
Madeleine Albright, U.S. secretary of state during the second Clinton administration, will address graduating seniors during the Baccalaureate service on Sunday, May 27, 2001, at 1:30 p.m. in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America.
Medical anthropologist Dr. Paul Farmer will speak at the Brown Medical School Commencement Convocation Monday, May 28, in the First Unitarian Church of Providence. Eighty-one students will graduate. The medical graduates will also hear addresses from Edward Feller, M.D., of the Brown Medical School faculty, and Derrick Hamilton, a member of the graduating class. The two-hour convocation will begin at 8:45 a.m.
Ana Escrogima of New York City and Joshua Levine of North Hollywood, Calif., will deliver orations during Brown's 233rd Commencement Monday, May 28, 2001, at 10:15 a.m. in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America.
"Just in time teaching" is a method that combines materials on the Web witl a lively classroom environment. One Brown professor who uses the method in a physics course gives the method high marks
Selected use of eardrops may prevent overprescription of antibiotics for childhood ear infections while satisfying the desire of parents to treat the illness, says a new study by Medical School researchers.
A study of 308 Dominican, Cambodian and Portuguese parents found a low level of parental involvement in their childrens'education due to several factors, including discomfort with the English language, cultural conceptions of the role of teachers and parents, and lack of familiarity with the system.
James Mahoney and Marc Perlman receive Wriston Fellowships; Greg Landsberg and David Sheinberg receive research fellowships from Sloan Foundation
Ira Glass '82, host and producer of NPR's "This American Life" and a 1982 graduate of Brown, will speak on "Lies, Sissies and Fiascoes: Notes on Making a New Kind of Radio" at 8 p.m. Sunday, May 6, 2001, in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. The public and media are welcome, but seating is limited.
Selected use of eardrops may prevent overprescription of antibiotics for childhood ear infections while satisfying the desire of parents to treat the illness, says a new study by Brown Medical School researchers. They will present the findings April 30 at the 2001 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting.
Eight Brown employees are the recipients of the 2001 President's Achievement Awards, which recognize exceptional innovation, initiative and service. The awards were presented April 30 by Interim President Sheila E. Blumstein.
The George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation, administered by Brown University, has announced 13 fellowships of $20,000 each for the 2001-2002 academic year in the areas of painting, sculpture and art history. For 2002-03, the Foundation will provide fellowships in music, musicology, playwriting and theater arts.
A study of 308 Dominican, Cambodian and Portuguese parents found a low level of parental involvement in their children's education due to several factors, including discomfort with the English language, cultural conceptions of the role of teachers and parents, and lack of familiarity with the system.
Digging holes in dry sand, a frequent activity for children during a day at the beach, carries a risk of sudden death and other dangers, says a Brown University medical student whose study appears in the current Journal of the American Medical Association.
The Office of Campus Life and Student Services at Brown University has received results of a campuswide assessment it commissioned early this year. That study, prepared by Mcguire Associates Inc. of Boston, gathered information and opinions from 45 percent of undergraduates, 31 percent of graduate students and 39 percent of medical students via the Web during February.
Former ABC News correspondent Robert Zelnick will speak on "Open Government v. Privacy Concerns" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, 2001, in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. This lecture is free and open to the public.
The first national look at pain among the frailest nursing home residents uncovers "woefully inadequate pain management," say its Brown Medical School authors. Their study appears in the April 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Three associate professors on the Brown faculty -- Maggie Bickford, Amy Remensnyder and Joan L. Richards -- have received Guggenheim Fellowships for 2001. They are among 183 scholars and artists selected from more than 2,700 applicants for this honor.
With the release of Census 2000 data, Brown researchers in a variety of disciplines Ñ from economics to sociology Ñ are thinking about how they will tap the new information.
Inquiring Minds: James Patterson on legacy of Brown v. Board of Education
Participant in Flynn diet study records her experiences.
Originally headed to India to join hospital rotations for fourth-year electives, Amit Joshi, Anish Sheth and Jason Slosberg adjusted their schedules to spend a week helping patients in a makeshift international Red Cross center in the flattened city of Bhuj
During Lent, Frank Almeida places a box at the Brown Boathouse to collect change that heads to Haiti through Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral. This year, members of the crew teams placed more than $175 into the box. Sheila Walsh and Luke Cunningham, captains of crew teams, will present the box to the priest at the cathedral on Palm Sunday.
Digging holes in dry sand, a frequent activity for children during a day at the beach, carries a risk of sudden death and other dangers, says a Brown University medical student whose study appears in the current Journal of the American Medical Association.
Ellen M. O'Connor, an executive with more than 20 years experience in health care, economic development and state and municipal governments, has been named vice president for finance at Brown University. She will succeed Vice President and University Controller Judith Michalenka, who retires June 30.
Dean of College, Office of Campus Life and Student Services, UCS and other parties join forces to prepare diversity orientation pilot project, year-round community-building conversations
At its meeting April 9, the Advisory Committee on University Planning (ACUP) reviewed a proposal that in the course of five years would reduce to zero the amount graduate students would have to pay for health insurance.
Inquiring Minds: Terry Hopmann on actions since collision of Chinese, U.S. planes
It used to be that graduating seniors stopped by the Career Services office, did some interviews and got "placed." It hasn't worked that way for a while. Career Services now helps seniors and a growing number of alums find their way in a Web-fueled network-driven world.
Research Notes: engineered DNA; visual control of locomotion; space weathering on minerals
In their survey of 504 lesbians and bisexual women, Brown researchers Kate Morrow and Jenifer Allsworth found that the majority engaged in multiple episodes of unprotected sex monthly, yet few thought they were at risk for HIV or other STD infections
Survey of graduate student use of libraries
Washington Post sports columnist and best-selling author Thomas Boswell will deliver the first Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, April 25, 2001, at 6:30 p.m. in Starr Auditorium, MacMillan Hall. The evening's program will include the first presentation of the annual Casey Shearer Memorial Award for Excellence in Creative Nonfiction.
Brown Summer High School, which runs July 2-27 this year, offers students entering grades 9 through 12 the opportunity to build critical-thinking, reading, writing and problem-solving skills. The cost is $100; a limited amount of financial aid is available.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present a new exhibition, Selections from the Collection, opening April 14 and continuing through May 28, 2001, at the List Art Center. An opening reception and lecture by curator Vesela Sretenovic are set for Friday, April 13, at 6 p.m. at the Gallery.
Brown University's Office of Health Services has issued a health alert for students who visited Acapulco during spring break. An easily treated fungal infection has been identified in the air conditioning ducts of a hotel there.
CBS News anchor Dan Rather will be presented with Brown University's Welles Hangen Award for Superior Achievement in Journalism on Monday, April 16, 2001, at 11 a.m. in Sayles Hall on The College Green. This award honors the memory of Welles Hangen '49, a journalist captured and executed by Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge guerillas in Cambodia.
Inquiring Minds: Economist Ignacio Palacios-Huerta on the stock market
On Thursday, April 19, 2001, at 4 p.m. Dame Cicely Saunders, M.D., will deliver a lecture titled "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Reflections on End-of-Life Care," in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. Her lecture is free and open to the public.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will work with artist Mark Dion on his New England Digs Project, beginning with an April 2-6, 2001, dig of the Seekonk River near Brown's Marston Boat House. The project will culminate in an exhibition at the Bell Gallery next year.
Kim Campbell, elected in 1993 as the first woman Prime Minister of Canada, will deliver a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. '60 Memorial Lecture on "Culture, Trade and Globalization" at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 16, 2001, in the Salomon Center for Teaching. This event is free and open to the public.
Following a Brown student's receipt of threatening mail, the University reminded students of security services, especially those that will be available throughout spring break. Interim President Sheila Blumstein reinforced the University's opposition to all forms of racism andintolerance.
As the temperature begins to rise, construction workers on campus will shed the layers of clothing they've worn all winter for protection against the frigid air of their outdoor workplace. Through rain, snow and biting cold, as many as 140 people worked outside each winter day on two building projects: the Watson Institute for International Studies at the corner of Thayer and Charlesfield streets, and English department expansion on the corner of Brown and Angell streets.
Balancing a community's sensitivities against the constitutional right to free speech is a tricky feat, one that often makes decisions about whether and how to run controversial material difficult even for veteran editors and journalists. In the wake of protests over the Brown Daily Herald's May 13 publication of a paid advertisement, several journalists weighed in on the process of making the tough decisions.
At the faculty meeting held March 20, Interim President Blumstein reaffirms the University's defining values of free speech and expression. She also called upon the Brown community to support those who were offended by an advertisement published March 13 in the Brown Daily Herald. She issued a statement afterward reiterating these points.
Inquiring Minds: Steven Hamburg, Ittleson Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology, answered questions posed by Janet Kerlin about air pollution and the power industry. The Bush administration has reversed itself and said it won't restrict carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
Off Hours: For Scott Allen, M.D., life is about making people feel better. He does his healing through medicine and music. A full-time physician at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI), Allen also maintains a private practice. In the Medical School, he teaches residents at Miriam Hospital.
There will be a new book on the shelves next month at the John Carter Brown (JCB) Library. While that's certainly not an unusual event for any library, it's one that's been eagerly anticipated at this library, where Director Norman Fiering and his staff expect to take delivery on Barbara B. McCorkle's "New England in Early Printed Maps, 1513 to 1800: An Illustrated Carto-Bibliography."
Brown University engineers will conduct research in lightweight materials funded with $3 million from General Motors. The collaborative lab at Brown will develop computer models of how materials behave, culminating in the prediction of mechanical properties of finished parts in vehicles.
At the March faculty meeting, Interim President Sheila E. Blumstein reaffirmed the University's defining values of free speech and expression. She also called upon the Brown community to support those who were offended by the March 13 publication of an ad in the Brown Daily Herald, and to move forward with discussion, debate and dialogue.
Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, will deliver the 35th annual Alexander Meiklejohn Lecture on Thursday, April 5, 2001, at 7:30 p.m. in Sayles Hall on The College Green. The public is welcome.
On Thursday, April 5, 2001, at 4:30 p.m., David Kessler, M.D., will speak about "Tobacco Wars" in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. His lecture will be followed by a question and answer session. It is free and open to the public.
Novelist Samuel Shem (a pseudonym for Stephen J. Bergman, M.D.) will speak on "Fiction as Resistance: Healing in Hard Medical Times" at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, 2001, in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green. This ninth annual Harriet W. Sheridan Literature and Medicine Lecture is free and open to the public.
Celebration of Community at Brown April 10th. Speaker is Dr. Mildred Garcia, Associate Provost of Arizona State University West. She will speak at a noon and 4 p.m. Prez Office will give out her book in advance to inform eight campus wide discussion groups for staff concerning affirmative action, diversity. Faculty/staff will facilitate these groups.
Medical student and Miriam M.D. were so tender in their care of a patient that the patient's family endowed a lecture series aimed at promoting humane patient-doctor relationships
For the past year, the 20 members of the President's Staff Advisory Committee (SAC) have been hard at work exploring such issues as parking, service excellence, workplace relations, employee recognition, and outreach and communication. Their research culminated in the presentation of recommendations to Interim President Blumstein last November, and Blumstein responded to their recommendations in late February.
Hidetake Miyamoto, an exchange student at Brown for the year, is in the current play at Perishable Theater, "Exchange at Cafe Mimosa." He comes from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. He plays the Asian man who doesn't speak English.
Through Project HEALTH (Helping Empower, Advocate and Lead through Health), 75 student volunteers are working with underprivileged children suffering from asthma, sickle cell anemia and other health problems to educate them about their illnesses and foster good health habits.
Four panels will address questions raised by charting the human genome at a conference titled "Genetic Influences on Human Behavior and Development" April 5-6, 2001, in Leung Gallery at Faunce House. The event is free and open to the public.
By limiting U.S. troop deployments, the Bush administration sends encouragement to Albanian terrorists. To the people of the Balkans who so earnestly seek peace and stability it sends an insult that will only create disillusion and division.
Misha Glenny and Aleksa Djilas, historians and expert commentators on the Balkans, will deliver a joint presentation titled "The Downfall of the Milosevic Regime and Its Aftermath" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 14, 2001, in the Salomon Center for Teaching. Their presentation is part of the Watson Institute's Directors Lecture Series.
The Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life has scheduled a memorial service for Elizabeth J. Cronin at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 12, 2001, in Sayles Hall. In addition, the offices of Student Life and Psychological Services will host a discussion group at noon Friday, March 9, in North Wayland Lounge.
The Internet appears to be a viable method for delivery of structured behavioral weight loss programs, says Deborah F. Tate of the Brown Medical School. Tate's study in the March 7, 2001, Journal of the American Medical Association is the first to examine the use of in-formation technology to aid weight loss.
Undergrad charges to rise 3.6 percent; Blumstein changes 'early action' policy
Inquiring Minds: Thomas Lasater on faith-based delivery of health care
Pediatric sleep-disorders form developed
Today's black experience at Brown: fighting negative views, money troubles
Michael Harper on life as an African-American poet
Researchers to devise brain monitoring system for Mars exploration
Off Hours: Michael McKeown, biologist, activist for rigorous math education
A survey of 350 statewide voters conducted Feb. 24-25, 2001, find voters support phasing out the state tax on cars and strongly oppose President Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich. Nearly two-thirds of voters feel the state is headed in the right direction and believe education, unemployment and jobs are the most important problems facing the state.
Organist John Medesky of Medesky, Martin and Wood will perform with the Brown Jazz Band when the Music Department presents its 14th annual Eric Adam Brudner '84 Memorial Concert on Saturday, March 3, 2001, at 8 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
After discussions with the Brown Corporation Saturday (Saturday, Feb. 24, 2001), Interim President Sheila E. Blumstein announced her decision to change the University's non-binding "early action" admission option. Beginning with the Class of 2006, students who apply for early admission must agree to make a binding decision on Brown's offer of admission.
The Corporation of Brown University has approved an overall increase in undergraduate charges of 3.6 percent for the 2001-02 academic year, bringing the cost of a year at Brown to $34,750. That figure includes a 3.8-percent increase in tuition, to $26,568.
Inquiring mind: Enrico Spolaore, assistant professor of economics and political science, responds to questions about the California blackouts.
Applied mathematics professor George Karniadakis has demonstrated a method to make surfaces more slippery, which has potential applications for any flowing fluid, from water past a ship, oil in a pipeline, and air against an aircraft. He is working with Kenneth Breuer of engineering.
Even the ancients were slaves to fashion, classics scholar Jeri DeBrohun notes. She's writing a book on fashions from 600 B.C. to the fourth century A.D.
What it was like to be a black student at Brown during 1970s. Interviews with Rhett Jones and Karen McLauren-Chesson
High school students from Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina and Rhode Island will debate environment, immigration, trade and other U.S. foreign policy issues at their state capitols. The students are studying and debating these issues in classrooms as part of the Capitol Forum on America's Future sponsored by Brown University.
Brown researchers received a three-year, $638,000 grant from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute to develop a system to monitor astronauts' cognitive abilities, decision-making and language comprehension during prolonged space missions.
Since the 1950s the State Department has been a hard sell to Congress, and more than a few presidents have ignored the department's counsel. It may take a figure with the gravi-tas Ð and popularity Ð of Colin Powell to make the case to Congress for more funds and personnel and to help the State Department win back its influence with the president.
All black men are not drug addicts, pimps or gang members. Work such as that about to be published in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science demonstrates this. But that's not the way I think of black men anyway. I think of them as mostly being shrewd, supportive, sensible, hard-working men like Granddad and Dad.
The 21st annual Brown University/Providence Journal conference, "The Dignity of Children," will be presented March 4-10, 2001. Award-winning children's author Lois Lowry '58 ("The Giver") will deliver the keynote address for the conference on Sunday, March 4, at 4 p.m. in the Richard and Edna Salomon Center for Teaching.
Providence residents give public schools mixed marks but approve their general direction, according to a survey conducted Feb. 3-6, 2001, at Brown University. Sixty-one percent of residents rate Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.'s job performance excellent or good. Survey participants cite crime, ethics and corruption, violence and education as the most impor-tant problems facing the city.
Brown will offer its annual French Film Festival Feb. 22 through March 4, 2001, at the Cable Car Cinema, 204 South Main St. in Providence. More than 20 French language films and four roundtable discussions will be presented during the festival, which is open to the public.
Brown's Black History: Beatrice Minkins '36: 'Papa thought that education is the one thing no one could take from you'
Brown's Black History: Interview with Augustus White III '57: ÔThere was lots of give and take between individual students. People had friendships, but there was no institutional identity'
Domini, assistant professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences, investigates how velocity influences the way the human brain derives the three-dimensional structure of objects such as those moving past the train window.
Maria Goyanes is center stage, directing this year's offering in the theater department's Senior Director Showcase
Brown received some of the best microscope slides in existence for the teaching and evaluation of skin diseases. They are contained in a set of 2,000 original glass slides collected and catalogued painstakingly by two dermatologists over seven decades.
With heavy reliance on rewards and punishments, the Bush educational reform plan seems to imply that incentives alone will encourage schools to lift themselves out of failure. The plan pays scant attention to the one institution that can make sure there are good schools for all students: the urban school district.
In the unsteady state of American race relations today it would be all too easy to believe, as a small number of white jazz players and critics maintain, that the African American culture and African American musicians have not provided the major sources and shapes of the jazz art form. Ken Burns' documentary firmly represents the truth of African American creativity that we all need to acknowledge – and not rationalize away or forget.
Off hours: Cheng-Chieh Chuang, physician, watercolorist
A team of Brown researchers and colleagues at the Miriam Hospital reach out to help HIV-infected patients stick to their daily medical treatment. Their efforts are made possible through the National Institute on Drug Abuse to expand a program called directly observed therapy.
"Mentoring Program for Managers" is formally introduced.
Sixteen Brown employees will receive special honors for their 25 years of service to the University at a campus ceremony Feb. 14: Manuel Medeiros; Susan Danforth; Patricia Alves; Karen Hyman; Thomas Wunderlich; Richard Patenaude; Sandra Kunz; Genevieve Pari; Nicholas Golato; Gisela Belton; Karen Chapman; Donna Corcoran; Maria D'Onofrio; Debra Nelson; Maureen Byrne; and Donna Hustler.
Author Michael Ignatieff will speak on "Virtual War: Kosovo and Beyond" on Wednesday, Feb. 14, and historians Misha Glenny and Aleksa Djilas will discuss "The Downfall of Milosevic" on Wednesday, March 14. The lectures are part of the Watson Institute's Directors Series on Contemporary International Affairs.
Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan and Providence Schools Superintendent Diana Lam will participate in a conference titled "The Future of Urban Schools" on Feb. 15–16, 2001, in Sayles Hall on The College Green. The conference is free and open to the public.
Tony Caldemone, M.D. headed a six-member team of medical specialists, which spent nine days sharing their medical experience and techniques with Egyptian counterparts. The November trip was the latest in a series of missions by medical workers nationwide under the organization Physicians for Peace.
Inquiring Minds: Warren Simmons on student testing
Artist Aimee Pickett '01 links painful pasts of Vietnam and America in an exhibition on display at the Watson Institute.
Leon Cooper and three others will be teaching a physics class using the play "Copenhagen," about Bohr and Heisenberg. Trinity Rep actors will also participate.
Patricia Harrington of Naperville, Ill., has been named the winner in the photography contest sponsored by Brown University and The Providence Journal. Her photo best illustrated "The Dignity of Children," the theme of the 21st annual Brown University / Providence Journal Public Affairs Conference, scheduled for March 4-10, 2001.
A new exhibition at the David Winton Bell Gallery will leave viewers wonderingif they can believe their own eyes. "False Witness: Installations by JoanFontcuberta and Kahn/Selesnick" opens Jan. 27 and continues through March 11,2001.
Jane E. Smith, president and CEO of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc.,will speak on "Interchangeable Experiences: Building America in a NewCentury" on Monday, Jan. 29, 2001 at 7 p.m. in the Salomon Center forTeaching. This is Brown's sixth annual Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture, andit is free and open to the public.
The average marriage age for Iranian women before the 1979 Islamic revolution was 18; it is 21 today. Education for women is obligatory and universal. More than 75 percent of Iranians are under 25. For this population, literacy for men and women is well over 90 percent even in rural areas. University enrollment is nearly equal for men and women.
The United States still refuses to practice what it preaches. As supreme Cold War victor, its representatives lecture others about human rights without stopping to consider their own past crimes. For both moral and political reasons, the United States should create a commission to investigate its own involvement in Cold War misdeeds.
The John Carter Brown Library will host an exhibition spotlighting historic maps of New England to coincide with its publication of a new reference book, "New England in Early Printed Maps, 1513-1800: An Illustrated Carto-Bibliography."
Researchers at Brown University used census data to study patterns of computer and Internet usage. Among the conclusions: Rhode Island lags behind New England and the nation in computer usage. The study also showed wide variations in computer ownership by income, education, sex, age and race.
The family who volunteered to live in "The 1940 House" have found themselves changed by the experience, differently from their prior expectations. This sounds like the mark of education: that it produces positive changes in oneself to carry forward in life. Can immersion in history, even if vicariously shared, teach us effectively?
Nothing could prove the existence of American culture more clearly than the recent presidential controversy and its resolution with the concession speech of Al Gore, and the reconciliation speech of George W. Bush, writes William O. Beeman. With these two events, the United States has gone through a textbook cultural process that anthropologists call a "social drama." In this process, members of a culture deal with a crisis by reasserting social institutions and cultural values.
Ailene Kane, a senior environmental science concentrator, is writing a plan to protect and manage an increasingly rare wildflower called northern blazing star
A year-long project will investigate how patients and physicians have fared in the wake of the bankruptcy of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Juniors get an early start on securing next year's off-campus housing. They frequently have a sense of urgency that sends them knocking on doors of privately owned housing nearly a year before they'll be moving in
The Providence Journal and Brown University are sponsoring a contest to find a photo to illustrate "The Dignity of Children," the theme of this year's Providence Journal/Brown University Public Affairs Conference. The winner will receive a $500 cash award. All entries must be postmarked by Dec. 13, 2000.
Asteroid named for geosciences researcher Takahiro Hiroi in recognition of his contributions in linking asteroids and meteorites using reflectance spectroscopy.
Arab-Jewish Dialogue is a student group organized to help members of each group find common ground. It began with friendship building, which has sustained the group through some heated political discussions
Inquiring Minds -- Gordon Wood on the Electoral College
To collaborate on research and teaching related to improving care for seniors, the Medical School's Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research and Division of Geriatrics have signed a two-year association agreement with CareLink
Fall presentations prepare ACUP for budget discussions on Dec. 4 . Administrators' proposals total millions of dollars; members must begin to choose which will gain priority status
Former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader will be the guest of the Brown Lecture Board at 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3, 2000, when he will discuss Democracy, Big Business and the American Duopoly in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
The question of whether today's audiences would enjoy Spike Lee's fictional "New Millennium Minstrels" remains an open one. My research into a particularly shameful form of minstrelsy Ð shows presented by white amateurs Ð supports Lee's view that the racist stereotypes of minstrel shows have been an integral part of American culture up to the present day.
A one-year project led by Brown researchers will survey 1,200 patients and 500 physicians to document the health care consequences of the bankruptcy and closure of Harvard-Pilgrim Health Care of New England, the Rhode Island subsidiary of Boston-based Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
Award-winning poet Carolyn Forch, internationally recognized for her writings and work on behalf of human rights and for the preservation of memories from the darkest moments of the 20th century, will read and discuss her most recent collection of poetry. Her presentation, part of the President's Lecture Series, will begin at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 4, 2000, in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green.
A five-member panel of Brown political scientists will discuss the Florida recount during a forum at noon Monday, Nov. 20, 2000, in Wilson Hall, Room 102. The public is wel-come, and a microphone will be set up for audience questions.
Is University president a doable job anymore? In 1976, here is what presidents Keeney, Heffner, and Wriston had to say. A reprint from the GSJ.
Inquiring Minds: Stephen J. Nelson, research associate in the education department, on the moral voice of college presidents
Simmons appointment as the 18th president of Brown stunned some students at Smith, where she had served since 1995. Smith faculty members were aware that Simmons would be an attractive candidate for any of the three Ivy League universities - Brown, Harvard and Princeton - searching for a president.
It was an "exhausting and exhaustive" search that led to the Nov. 9 election of the 18th president of Brown. But that work paid off. In the selection of Ruth J. Simmons, "we're convinced we've found the right person," said Professor Mari Jo Buhle, who chaired the Campus Advisory Committee.
Since Mail Services began accepting United Parcel Service deliveries in January, it has been deluged by packages for students, a combination of the usual care packages from family and friends, and Internet orders. As a result, Mail Services is working on a proposal to address the stream of student package deliveries. The biggest need is space.
Rites and Reason theater program embraces a research-to-performance concept. Students in the "Research to Performance Method" course this year know author Ntozake Shange's novel, 'Liliane: Resurrection of the Daughter,' and its characters intimately after a semester spent living with both.
A $726,981 grant from the National Institute on Aging will support economist Robin L. Lumsdaine's study into a variety of non-economic factors influencing the decision to retire.
The acclaimed St. Luke's Trombone Quartet will join the Brown University Wind Symphony and conductor Matthew McGarrell in presenting a free public concert on Friday, Nov. 17, 2000, at 8 p.m. in Grant Recital Hall.
Couch potatoes looking for motivation to exercise may consider joining a new study that uses phone calls or letters, pamphlets and other written materials to prod them into adopting and maintaining a regimen of physical activity.
Student's exhibition explores the dark side of Victorian artificial flowers
Inquiring Minds: Mark Steinbach, University organist, comments on reported shortage of organists nationwide
Ruth J. Simmons, currently president of Smith College, has been named 18th president of Brown University. Her appointment was approved unanimously by the Corporation of Brown University during a special session at 1 p.m. today (Thursday, Nov. 9, 2000). Simmons will begin her duties July 1, 2001.
Richard W. Besdine, M.D., will hold the David S. Greer, M.D., Professorship in Geriatric Medicine. Besdine directs the Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research. Greer is dean of medicine emeritus. More than $1.5 million in gifts to the Brown Medical School and The Miriam Hospital endowed the professorship.
Brown's endowment grew by 22.3 percent last year. The $237-million increase brought the endowment to a record level of $1.44 billion on June 30. The hiring of Cynthia E. Frost, Brown's new vice president and chief investment officer, is the first step in creating an Investments Office focused on the endowment long-term.
Sociology students have taken on Computing and Information Services as a client this semester for the chance to survey one of CIS' consumer groups Ð graduate students. The new course is designed to teach survey research through hands-on experience.
Rodney Clifton has been selected by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers to receive the Timoshenko Medal, the society's top award in applied mechanics.
Inquiring Minds: Darrell West on presidential election.
When Pearl Woolf began working at Brown on St. Patrick's Day 1965, Barnaby Keeney was president and tuition and fees totaled $2,770 a year. The Rock had just opened; the Sci Li was yet to be built. Woolf, an assistant director in Facilities Management, retired from Brown on Oct. 31.
National Book Award winner Barry Lopez will present a President's Lecture titled The Writer and Social Responsibility on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
The West should add incentives for Yugoslavia's old guard to cede keyposts without fueling nationalist fears. It should offer economic, security andjudicial aid conditioned on pro-democracy leadership in key institutions,especially the police, the judiciary and the military. The West shouldtemporarily delay action on Milosevic's war crimes indictment, waitinguntil Kostunica's allies have consolidated power.
Inquiring Minds: Linda Miller of Watson Institute on violence in Middle East
How do Brown faculty members' discoveries get from "eureka!" to the people who need it? They work with the Brown University Research Foundation, a nonprofit corporation formed to hold and license patents and work with companies that could take inventions to market.
In fiscal year 2000, which ended June 30, the University received a record high of $92.7 million for sponsored research. That's close to $12 million more than Brown garnered during the previous fiscal year, continuing a multiyear trend of steady funding increases.
President Blumstein and 40 other university presidents and chancellors signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott asking for his support to prevent further reductions in reimbursements to America's teaching hospitals and medical schools.
Novelists, journalists, local residents and many others have forecast the Catskills' decline. But while the resort area is a fragment of its past glory, the Catskills are crawling with all sorts of developments, from casinos to old hotels converted into modest private homes.
The David Winton Bell Gallery at the List Art Center will present a new exhibition, "Kim Dingle and the Wild Girls," Nov. 11 through Dec. 31, 2000. Dingle will speak about her work during an exhibition preview Nov. 9.
A short film co-written by Stacia Owens, a candidate for a master's of fine arts in creative writing in May, recently received the 2000 Princess Grace Foundation Award in Film. Owens wrote the black comedy "Out of Habit" with Robin Larsen, a student in UCLA's master's of fine arts program. The award includes $10,000 in completion funds.
Inquiring Minds: Bob Coover on Stephen King, electronic publishing and what Coover and others have been doing for years.
In college, the responsibility of getting accommodations for a learning disability or handicap is on the student, unlike the K-12 years when parents often are the primary advocate for ensuring their LD child's needs are met. A look at how some Brown students fare.
Interest in the economy and culture of the Pacific Rim drew Sarah Olverson '01, left, to Vietnam, but it was her interaction with a group of young women that remains with her.
How can Brown contribute to the public discourse? One forum for sharing ideas and perspectives is the opinion and editorial pages of the nation's daily newspapers. Brown's Op-Ed Service provides a way for the thoughtful arguments of faculty, staff and students to reach those pages.
Brown computer science professors Franco Preparata and Eliezer Upfal are working on a method to sequence DNA that would be faster and more efficient than the current technique. They are attempting to improve on an alternative method known as sequencing by hybridization by inserting gaps that act as wildcards in DNA probes.
Original musical works by students, alumni, faculty and professional composers will be premired during the first Brown Festival of Contemporary Music Thursday, Oct. 26, through Sat., Oct. 28, 2000. Composers Julian Wachner and Thomas Goss will also con-duct master classes.
President Blumstein is taking the first steps toward creating Brown's vision for diversity by calling for reactions to a working paper she drafted in response to recommendations made last May by the Visiting Committee on Diversity. During the Oct. 3 faculty meeting, Blumstein discussed portions of the working paper, which she said she hopes "will be the impetus for campuswide discussion" about diversity.
A non-profit consortium called OSHEAN works to increase Rhode Island's access to high-speed networking has taken a page from discount stores: buy in bulk at wholesale prices, pass the savings to the members. Brown is a founding member of the consortium.
"I'm not a musician, and I thought you'd have to be a 200-pound tatooed male to be a roadie," says Emily Brochin '03, who was looking for a cool summer job. "But I knew I could ride my bike, so - even though it seemed very bizarre - I applied." She spent her summer as a bike roadie for the band Bicycle.
Donna Leveillee works in the Library, helping researchers locate and use electronic sources of demographic, historical and sociological data. But Leveillee has another career Ð as a nautical anthropologist. She obtained a doctorate from Brown because of her interest in diving and through a fortunate partnership with the anthropology department.
Inquiring Minds: Howard Chudacoff on summer Olympics
The work of the controversial and influential Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs will be the subject of a new exhibit at the John Hay Library.
The National Science Foundation has awarded $7 million to Brown to continue its Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich will deliver a Noah Krieger '93 Memorial Lecture titled "Who Cares about Politics?" on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2000, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
Jessica Casas and Heidi Hausman, both members of the class of 2002, have postpooned their studies to participate in Pole to Pole 2000, a project conceived as a way to initiate environmental and humanitarian projects worldwide.
Inquiring minds: Wendy Schiller on the women's vote
More young American women are using contraceptives than a decade ago, particularly those who attend church regularly and have college-educated parents, according to a new study that examines changes between 1985 and 1995
Brown has locked in the price it pays for heating oil, which may bode well for Brown's budget if oil prices soar this winter.
The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at Brown University has been awarded $7 million by the National Science Foundation. Current research at Brown explores the mechanics of materials used in electronic devices and the mechanics of materials with complex microstructures.
The work of the controversial and influential Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs will be on exhibit at Brown University's John Hay Library Oct. 10 through Dec. 29, 2000. Robert Jackson, an authority on Burroughs' work, will speak on the writer's legacy Oct. 21.
Since his arrival at Brown 15 years ago, Don Wolfe, vice president of computing and information services, has seen an evolution of computing on campus. The George Street Journal's Mark Nickel recently had an opportunity to discuss those changes with Wolfe, who will be retiring from Brown at the end of the academic year.
Professor Richard Fishman is promoting the sale of his students' artwork to University departments
George Washington may have never slept in Gardner House, but two first ladies have - and so have a host of other American and foreign dignitaries and VIPs.
Jill Edwardson '01 spent her junior year studying in Zimbabwe. "I was a white woman based in the black African experience," she says. "I gained more from talking to men and women about their experiences than all the scholarly research I had done at Brown."
Inquiring Minds: David Kertzer on the beatification of Pope Piux IX
Over the past decade, University Food Services has experienced a decline in student interest in its jobs. To combat the trend, UFS has instituted innovative recruiting tactics to attract students to its work force.
Brown computer science professors Franco Preparata (left) and Eliezer Upfal (right) believe they have found a faster and more efficient way to sequence DNA by improving on an alternate method known as sequencing by hybridization.
Beginning this semester, the obstetrician-gynecologist and two pediatric surgeons who performed the procedure, the first of its kind in the Northeast, will apply their multidisciplinary approach to medical education through the School of Medicine's new Program in Fetal Medicine.
Maria Pacheco, director of New England Equity Assistance Center, comments on recent news that two years after Californians voted to end bilingual education, standardized test scores show Spanish-speaking students improving in reading and other subjects.
Supported by a Royce Fellowship, Dai Shizuka '01 spent two months this summer categorizing the plants in a Costa Rican garden. Many of the plants are used for medicinal purposes.
poet-Prof. C.D. Wright won the Dorothea Lange/Paul Taylor prize for her book about inmates in La. prisons, written in collaboration with a documentary photographer.
FACES OF BROWN: Officer Spencer Haddow of Police and Security
Darrell West and students at the Taubman Center set out to answer that question last summer. They visited 1,813 Web sites operated by federal and state governments and governmental agencies, evaluated each for 27 distinct features features, summarized the best and worst features of each, then tabulated the results. Their conclusion: Government at all levels is not making full and effective use of commonly available information technology.
Professor Darrell M. West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown Uni-versity, will discuss his study of 1,813 state and federal "e-government" Web sites during a news conference at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, 2000, in the National Press Club.
Inquiring Minds: Q&A about AIDS with Ken Mayer
By converting some dorm space into triples and six Wriston libraries into rooms for four, the Office of Residential Life finds places for the growing number of students who want to live on campus.
Research findings presented by Brown faculty and students at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association
The history of Colonial Brazil, illustrated through a selection of significant printed works from the John Carter Brown Library's collection, will be on display Sept.11 through Dec. 15, 2000.
Thirty Ph.D. candidates considering careers outside academia enroll in three-week program offered through Career Services, Graduate School
Interview with senior tri-captain Drew Inser about the effect the Ivy League ruling prohibiting Brown from defending its football championshop, had on the Brown football team. Inser transferred to Brown when BU ended its football program.
The neighborhoods of Providence have become classrooms for the students of Deborah Pacini Hernandez. The associate professor of American civilization and 20 students spent the spring semester interviewing the city's Latino residents for Hernandez' course, "Urban Borderlands: Latino Interactions," and as part of an oral history project for the Rhode Island Historical Society. (GSJ of Sept. 1, 2000)
At the Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at The Miriam Hospital, researchers are recruiting participants for a study of whether regular exercise helps breast cancer survivors improve their well-being.
Inquiring Minds: Q&A with Steve Hamburg about wildfires raging in the west.
A survey of 1,724 people who used the Providence Superior Court, District Court, Family Court, and Workers' Compensation Court examined racial and gender differences in views about court performance, fairness, personnel and processes.
Famed trial lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. – known for his defense of such high-profile clients as O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson and Riddick Bowe – will deliver a John Hazen White Sr. Lecture Thursday, Sept. 7, 2000, in Sayles Hall.
Nine teachers from across the country participated in Brown University's Choices for the 21st Century Teaching Fellows Program, a summer institute that provides training in a curriculum designed to engage secondary school students in debate on international public policy issues.
Interim President Sheila E. Blumstein will officially open the new academic year during the 237th Opening Convocation Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2000, at 11 a.m. on The College Green. Associate Professor of Comparative Literature Meera S. Viswanathan will be the keynote speaker for the ceremony.
Brown faculty are available to offer perspectives on many issues in the 2000 presidential campaign: the role of television advertising, the influence of special interest groups, the history of American public opinion, and the perspectives of minority groups and young people.
On Tuesday, August 1, 2000, the Council of Ivy Group Presidents announced its final disposition of a case involving violations of Ivy League athletics rules on the part of Brown University. The final disposition increased the severity of Ivy- and NCAA-approved measures announced earlier and made Brown ineligible to defend its Ivy League Championship in the 2000 season. The following questions and answers address issues in the case.
Walter C. Hunter, a labor and employment law partner at Edwards & Angell, has been appointed vice president for administration at Brown. His responsibilities will include human resources, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, police and security, facilities management, the Brown Bookstore, graphic services, stores operations, construction, real estate and rental properties, and labor relations.
Brown professor of physics and engineering Humphrey Maris proposes that it is possible to split the electron. A paper describing the theory appears in the Aug. 1 Journal of Low Temperature Physics. Maris presented his research at the International Conference on Quantum Fluids and Solids, held in June at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Students from Brown's summer session will be joined by a West African drumming troupe for a July 18th performance of West African dance, music and storytelling at Brown's Ashamu Dance Studio.
A nationwide study of HIV-positive patients led by Michael D. Stein of Brown University found 14 percent of women and 8 percent of men delayed their own medical treatment because they were caring for others.
Researchers who need to recruit subjects with particular illnesses go to great lengths to find the right people, even placing ads in newspapers. (The sports section works best, they say.)
"It's amazing how the ridiculously mundane can infiltrate culture Ð and even become iconic," says comic book collector Richard Roe.
A team of scientists led by Elaine Bearer of Brown University is the first to observe and record the movement of the herpes simplex virus within a living a nerve cell. The research was performed at Brown and at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., using squid taken from local waters.
John Lucas -- hailed as a teacher, designer, mentor and friend -- will retire in September after 31 years in Brown's theater department and as longtime producer of Brown Summer Theatre.
The 25th anniversary of the Sarah Doyle Women's Center has become a time to clarify its mission and services in response to changes in the women's movement.
There is an urgent need for more research on psychotropic drug use in very young children, says Henrietta Leonard, M.D., a practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist and a professor of psychiatry and human behavior in the School of Medicine. In fact, no research results support psychotropic drug treatment in preschoolers, she says.
The West has maintained many myths about Hafez Assad, whose son is poised to take over the presidency of Syria after his recent death. Although in the west, Assad was generally seen as a hard-line enemy of Israel, he actually walked a very fine line, balancing support for Palestinians with restraint in attacking Israel. He was also seen as a repressive dictator, but his struggle to modernize the state was met by resistance from religious conservatives.
Visitors to the University spend upward of $3 million a year on lodging, meals, entertainment and other services, according to a new independent study detailing Brown's wide-ranging impact on the local economy. The study is titled "Partners for the 21st Century: Brown University's Economic Contributions to Providence and Rhode Island"
Physics professor J. Michael Kosterlitz received the 2000 Lars Onsager Prize of the American Physical Society for recognition of a controversial 1973 paper in which he and partner came up with a new definition of an ordered phase of matter.
A new study led by Damaris Rohsenow finds that low doses of alcohol may impair sailors who are unaware that their skills are diminished. In the study, two to three drinks significantly tarnished the performance of mariners who were adamant that they were not impaired.
Josiah Rich of Brown writes that Rhode Island must decriminalizing the sale and possession of syringes if it hopes to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. In Rhode Island, the majority of these infections are caused by the reuse of contaminated syringes.
The Brown University School of Medicine's $70-million campaign, entitled "Building the Bridge," is designed to build upon the uniqueness of one of the nation's youngest medical schools.
At its May meeting, the Corporation of Brown University elected four new trustees to six-year terms. Richard Barker, Robin Lenhardt, Jonathan Nelson and Daniel O'Connell will serve as members of the University's governing body through 2006.
Dean of Student Life Robin Rose will leave that position July 1, 2000, to become director of financial aid stewardship and dean on special assignment Jean Joyce-Brady, associate dean of student life, will serve as interim dean.
Ben Steinfeld, a junior concentrating in theater, has won the national Irene Ryan Acting Award from the American College Theater Festival.
Honorary degrees will be presented to Xerox scientist John Seely Brown, author and chef Julia Child, geneticist Francis S. Collins, violin teacher Dorothy DeLay, Providence artist Barnaby Evans, the Rev. Gustavo Gutierrez, abstract artist Brice Marden, author David McCullough, Israeli scholar Alice Shalvi and Louis Sullivan, former secretary of Health and Human Services and now president of the Morehouse School of Medicine.
The David Winton Bell Gallery will present a two-person exhibition, Sleight of Hand, featuring works by Holly Laws and Larimer Richards, from June 10 through July 9.
Honorary degree recipients at Brown University's 232nd Commencement include Xerox scientist John Seely Brown, author and chef Julia Child, geneticist Francis S. Collins, violin teacher Dorothy DeLay, Providence artist Barnaby Evans, the Rev. Gustavo Gutierrez, abstract artist Brice Marden, author David McCullough, Israeli scholar Alice Shalvi and Louis Sullivan, president of the Morehouse School of Medicine.
An independent study has measured Brown's economic impact on the R.I. economy at nearly $400 million in 1998 -- 1.4 percent of the gross state product. The study was released during a University ceremony Tuesday, May 23, 2000.
Christine Coletta of Warwick, R.I., has been named the 2000 Vincent A. Cianci Jr. Urban Scholar. Coletta will begin a training program about turning vacant lots into urban gardens.
An updated Community Partnership Directory describes more than 220 community service initiatives between the University and community.
In today's Science, researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Brown University describe machinery at the synapse for the synthesis of new proteins that de-press synaptic strength. Synaptic weakening is thought to be a key process in memory creation and storage.
Gustavo Gutierrez, best known for his work, "A Theology of Liberation," and his support for the poor in Latin America, will deliver an address to graduating seniors at Brown's baccalaureate service on Sunday, May 28, 2000, at 1:30 p.m. in the First Baptist Meeting House, simulcast to The College Green.
Noted scholar and feminist Alice Shalvi will speak on the effects of feminism on Judaic life in Israel and the world beyond as part of the Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lectureship on Saturday, May 27.
The prescription drug Serzone, combined with psychotherapy designed specifically for chronic depression, produced an 85-percent response rate among 681 patients under treatment for chronic forms of major depression. The study appears in the current New England Journal of Medicine.
WorldCom and Brown University have awarded grants to 20 community-campus partnerships in support of educational technology programs for youth in underserved communities. The $5-million Making a Civic Investment grant program will benefit thousands of K-12 schoolchildren nationwide during the next five years.
Dr. David Satcher will speak at the Brown University School of Medicine Commencement Convocation Monday, May 29, at 8:45 a.m. in the First Unitarian Church. Eighty-one students will graduate.
Included in ACUP's spring report to the president is its recommended distribution of an unallocated $450,000 in the FY01 budget, with $200,000 going toward the University's technology and information infrastructure, $100,000 for the library's acquisition budget, and $150,000 toward graduate student financial aid. During a portion of the meeting, a student group held a silent demonstration in support of a need-blind admissions policy.
WBRU was recently named News Station of the Year for Massachusetts and Rhode Island by the Associated Press. For the team of students from a university that doesn't offer a major in broadcast journalism, it's particularly sweet to beat competition from colleges that pride themselves on such programs.
Ben Steinfeld '01 has been named the winner of the Irene Ryan Winners' Circle best college actor award in the annual American College Theater Festival in Washington, D.C.
Low-skilled white high-school dropouts who pass the GED earn 10 to 19 percent more than those without the GED, according to a nationwide study of 80,000 people published in the spring Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Eirene Donohue of Barrington, R.I., and Joseph Edmonds Jr. of Baltimore, Md., will deliver speeches during Brown's 232nd Commencement, Monday, May 29, 2000, at 10:15 a.m. in the First Baptist Meeting House.
At their April 24 meeting, members of ACUP begin to determine their recommendations for budget priorities. Rising to the top of the committee's tentative list: information and technology infrastructure, library support and graduate financial aid.
Jon Witman and two doctoral candidates just returned from South Africa, where he completed sampling a biogeographic region of the world in his study of global patterns of marine species diversity.
ACUP members at their April 17 meeting hear about possible changes in faculty and staff benefit packages and an update on the Campus Life Task Force work.
Finding the Words, a Swearer Center program run in partnership with CCRI and Hospice, helps families mourn and illustrates the grieving process to participating students.
Off Hours: Richard Gould, chair of anthropology department who specializes in underwater archaeology, is an aerobatist, piloting gliders and power planes through aerobatic moves.
Thomas Kniesche of German Studies responds to an April 7 Last Word on elimination of three graduate programs. With reference to online letters to the editor.
Women & Infants' Day Hospital opened in February through the efforts of Karen Rosene-Montella, M.D., associate professor of medicine and obstetrics and gynecology in the School of Medicine. The facility treats postpartum or pregnant women suffering from a range of psychiatric illnesses including depression, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Brown Summer High School is a month-long program of provocative, question-based learning that offers students entering grades 9 through 12 the opportunity to build critical thinking, reading, writing and problem-solving skills. Partly funded by the Brown University Education Department, the program includes 50 educators working in teams to instruct 300 students.
The American West will be the featured topic April 27 when historian Ron Tyler discusses his work. Tyler's presentation, at 8 p.m. in the John Hay Library, marks the opening of an exhibition at the library drawn from the Ames Collection of Illustrated Books.
How did Brown cope with the season's rise in heating oil prices? The impact was minimal, because Brown locked in the price it paid last year. In addition, Brown can switch betweel oil-fueled burners or natural gas-fueled burners to take advantage of the cheapest fuel. (GSJ of April 14, 2000)
In the near future, Brown faculty members will need to determine what role they and the University will play in the rapidly expanding world of distance learning, a topic that was discussed at the April 4 faculty meeting.
Hostility may be hazardous to your health, judging from the results of two recent studies conducted by Brown-affiliated investigators. One study suggests that hostility contributes to heart disease. Another indicates that a hostile personality increases a person's susceptibility to depression.
Robert Hass, who as U.S. poet laureate championed the causes of literacy and environ-mentalism from 1995-97, will present a reading on Monday, May 8, at 7 p.m. in Salomon Center. His presentation is part of the President's Lecture Series.
Brown University will continue its membership in the FLA (Fair Labor Association) andthe WRC (Worker Rights Consortium) and will remain productively engaged in issuesrelated to sweatshop conditions in the apparel industry.
Coverage of April 3 ACUP meeting on new resources, associated program costs, and need-blind admissions.
On April 9, the Haffenreffer Museum opens its first major exhibition in many years. Called "Packrats for Posterity?," it examines the relevance of anthropology museums. It is being curated by graduate student Juliette Rogers.
William Monroe of the University Library writes in support of University cuts of three graduate-level programs: Slavic, German and Italian.
LAST WORD: Don't equate the closing of three graduate programs with dismissing three great cultures, writes William Monroe, head of the University Library's Collections Department.
An annual commitment of $4 million would enable Brown to offer each graduate student in a Ph.D. program five years of financial support, according to a report presented on March 13 to members of the Advisory Committee on University Planning. (In the April 7 paper edition of the GSJ, this article is combined with coverage of ACUP's April 3 meeting about need-blind admissions policies.)
New York Times Washington correspondent Adam Clymer will discuss his recently released biography of Sen. Edward Kennedy at noon Monday, April 10, 2000, in the Salomon Center for Teaching. His talk will be followed by a book-signing.
Henrietta Leonard, M.D., a practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist, is aprofessor of psychiatry and human behavior in the Brown University School ofMedicine. Leonard has talked and written extensively on scientific and ethicalissues in prescribing medications for preschoolers and otherchildren.
The Ninth Annual Brown University Summer College Fair will be held Friday, July 14, in Sayles Hall. Representatives of more than 50 colleges and universities will be on hand to talk with high school students and their parents from 1:30 until 4:30 p.m.
Brown Interim President Sheila E. Blumstein has announced the membership of the Campus Advisory Committee on the Presidential Selection. That committee, composed of faculty, students and staff, will assist the Brown Corporation in its selection of the University's 18th president.
After a hearing on March 22, the University Disciplinary Council found that three male students had violated the University's disciplinary code during a Feb. 21 incident in a residence hall. Dean of the College Nancy Dunbar has reviewed the UDC's findings and has affirmed the recommended penalties, which range from sanction to expulsion.
Linda Greenhouse, who covers the U.S. Supreme Court for The New York Times, will present "Telling the Court's Story: The Role of Courts as Communicators" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, in Sayles Hall. The presentation is this year's Meiklejohn Lecture.
Frances Mayes, poet and author of the best-selling memoirs Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy and Bella Tuscany, will present a lecture titled "Finding the Rhythm of a Memoir" April 20, 2000, at 7 p.m. Her lecture is part of the President's Lecture Series.
In Motherloss, Lynn Davidman analyzes the impact of losing a mother during childhood. Based on interviews with 60 adults, Davidman provides an understanding of the need to talk about the death of this loved one.
Scholars from Israeli and Palestinian backgrounds will take part in a workshop April 7 and 8 that will examine the relations between the two sides since the Oslo accord. The workshop, "Oslo and Beyond: Israeli-Palestinian Relations in a New Era," is sponsored by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown.
The University's graduate students rate as "very good" their academic experience at Brown, and rate their student life experience as "good." But there is room for improvement in a number of areas, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Office of Institutional Research.
Chancellor Stephen Robert has pledged a $5-million gift to the University and, in the course of three weeks, has secured verbal commitments from other friends of Brown that total $30 million. The announcement, made by President Sheila Blumstein at the March 7 faculty meeting, was met with prolonged applause and a unanimous vote of appreciation for Robert's efforts.
The adventure of international travel and the opportunity to teach - and be taught by - students and educators of another culture are the benefits of receiving a Fulbright scholar grant, say Brown recipients of the grants.
Ralph Reed, a presidential campaign advisor to Gov. George Bush, and Sen. Russell Fein-gold (D-Wis.) are among speakers during a three-day program entitled "Participatory Citi-zenship: First Steps into Politics." Reed will speak Thursday, March 16, and Feingold will speak Friday, March 17, both at 7 p.m. in Sayles Hall. All events of the three-day program, sponsored by the Robert Values Initiative, are free and open to the public.
Amiri Baraka, who gained prominence as an influential Beat poet and a leader in the black arts movement, will present a reading of his works on April 6 as part of the President's Lecture Series. He will be accompanied by Blue Ark, a six-person jazz ensemble.
Five U.S. college students will receive the Howard R. Swearer Student Humanitarian Award Thursday, March 16, 2000, in recognition of their commitment to public service and service learning.
Dissident poet Xue Di came to Brown in 1989 after the Tienanmen Square uprising in China. He has remained since then through the University's Freedom to Write program.
In an effort to draw attention to the rising costs of subscriptions for scientific journals, the Science Library has hung red tags from science and medical journals with annual subscription rates of $1,000 or more.
The Venezuelan ambassador to the United States will give an address March 12 to celebrate the unveiling of a collection of manuscripts and memorabilia pertaining to Latin American independence leader Simon Bolivar. The new Bromsen-Bolivar Room at the John Carter Brown Library holds the largest collection of Bolivar manuscripts, engravings, and paintings outside of Latin America.
Brown University, the Brown University School of Medicine and the ProvidenceJournal will convene a day-long symposium on the current health care crisisFriday, March 24, 2000, at 8:30 a.m. in Sayles Hall, located on The CollegeGreen.
Brown medical students will receive white coats, symbolic of their entry into the medical profession, during ceremonies at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 11. At noon on Thursday, March 16, fourth-year medical students will receive their residency placements. Both events are open to the press.
Faces of Brown: Drew Yerich, the chief chef at Faculty Club.
Three Brown professors of engineering and physics and researchers from three other institutions receive $4-million grant from the Department of Defense to conduct research into the action of atomic-level materials that may someday make using the Internet faster
Novelist William Styron will present "Darkness Visible: The Loss and Recovery of Self" at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 5, 2000, in the Salomon Center for Teaching. Styron's address is the 2000 Harriet W. Sheridan Literature and Medicine Lecture. The event is free and open to the public.
The high court has decided to hear a case that could determine how society views pregnant women who use drugs and their babies. The problem of drug use by pregnant women is real, but it is not a criminal problem, writes Barry Lester. It is a mental health problem that can be treated. Criminalizing these women's actions will only further the stigma they face.
The Defense Department has awarded a $4-million grant to researchers from Brown, who will collaborate with scientists from three other universities. The researchers in engineer-ing, physics, and materials science will explore the action of atomic-level materials that may someday make using the Internet faster.
Brown University Chancellor Stephen Robert has announced the membership of the Presidential Selection Committee, which will identify and hire the University's 18th president. That committee, composed of trustees and fellows, will be assisted by a 13-member Campus Advisory Committee of students, faculty and staff, to be appointed during March.
Nationally known attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld and journalist Jim Dwyer will talk about miscarriages of justice and their new book, "Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convicted," on March 23, part of the President's Lecture Series.
ACUP meeting Feb. 14 looks ahead to spring semester priorities, which may include the capital budget and capital projects, need-blind admissions and graduate financial aid, campus life initiatives, and new revenue sources.
International Adoption Clinic opened by Boris Skurkovich, M.D., at Hasbro Children's Hospital offers medical insight for parents pursuing international adoption.
Celebration of Community luncheon keynote speaker is civil rights leader Bernard Lafayette, who traced the history of harm toward African Americans and how he devoted his life toward working for justice using methods of nonviolence.
Sen. John McCain draws more support among Rhode Island voters than either Democratic presidential candidate, according to a new survey of 327 Rhode Island voters conducted Feb. 19-21, 2000. The survey also finds Sen. Lincoln Chafee ahead in his Senate race and Rep. Robert Weygand leading Richard Licht in the race for the Democratic Senate nomination. Many voters see racial tension as a big problem in Rhode Island and are less optimistic about the state's economy.
High school students from Illinois, Nebraska, Connecticut and Rhode Island will visit their state capitols this spring to debate environment, immigration, trade and other U.S. foreign policy issues. The students are studying and debating these issues in classrooms as part of the Capitol Forum on America's Future sponsored by Brown University.
Renowned trombonist Carl Fontana and the Joe Coccia Trombone Choir will join the Brown University Jazz Band for the 13th annual Eric Adam Brudner '84 Memorial Concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26, 2000, in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
Brown has historic ties to Presidents Lincoln and Washington through special collections and historic visits.
A higher-than-expected percentage of children may have sleep disorders, suggests a new study by Judith Owens, M.D., and other Brown University researchers. The findings are reported in the February 2000 issue of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
Sheila E. Blumstein, a former dean of the College and former interim provost, has been named interim president of Brown University. Blumstein will begin serving immediately and will continue until Brown's 18th president is sworn in.
E. Gordon Gee, 17th president of Brown University, has resigned as president and accepted an appointment as chancellor of Vanderbilt University. He will leave Brown April 15, 2000, and begin his work at Vanderbilt August 1.
Borts, Goodwillie and Waage receive Sheridan Teaching Awards
A new report shows that given the opportunity, physicians are willing and eager to play a role in helping the uninsured.The document summarizes Reach Out, a program directed by H. Denman Scott of the School of Medicine.
The Well Being is a newsletter written by students about health. Students facilitate focus groups to identify topics of interest and concern to community members. Past newsletters have focused on HIV/AIDS, alternative health, and cancer. Students work with community members to write, edt and design the newsletter.
The 20th annual Brown University/Providence JournalPublic Affairs Conference, "Sport: Is It Only a Game?", opens Sunday, Feb. 27, 2000, with a 4 p.m. keynote address by David Halberstam. The conference, which runs through Friday, March 3, features Lombardi biographer David Maraniss and sports commentators Frank Deford, Chris Berman and Dick Schaap.
Andrew Heyward, president of CBS News, will visit the Brown campus Thursday evening, February 17, 2000, for a "Conversation on College Hill" with Brown President E. Gordon Gee. Gee and Heyward will discuss issues in contemporary broadcast journalism and will respond to questions from the floor, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in Starr Auditorium (Room 117, MacMillan Hall).
Interview with Janina Montero. She comes to Brown to oversee campus life and student life. She will lead a task force that will examine campus life, and will report the task force recommendations to Gee in April
Brown's Y2K rollover went off with nary a hitch. Quotes from Ann Oribello praising teamwork of varied departments
Changes inspired by the red tape reduction committee have drawn praise from many; latest initiative streamlines independent contractor policy, puts forms on Web; spring semester will bring centralized room reservation system and a second town meeting
Brown engineering and physics Professor Jingming Xu has created the Y-junction carbon nanotube, a collection of carbon atoms that could change the course of electronics and computers and someday the repair of the human body.
An entrepreneurship course in engineering is an effort of two professors who wanted to create something to prepare students for real-world experience, such technical marketing and business decision-making, and that would bridge the gap between a truly academic background and industry.
About 50 girls will participate in science demonstrations during a Discovery Day at Brown University Jan. 29, 2000, sponsored by the University and the Girl Scouts of Rhode Island.
A 17-member international panel of AIDS/HIV experts has reviewed existing treatment guidelines for people infected with HIV and announced new guidelines. The new guide-lines focus on individualized therapy, a greater choice of treatment regimens, and en-hanced patient adherence to the prescribed treatment regimen. The new guidelines appear in the January 19, 2000, issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Russia has a new acting president, but only the barest biographical facts are known about him in the West. Vladimir Putin's writings, however, may offer a few hints to the type of policies he may try to pursue. To judge by a recent essay published under his name, change will be gradual: There are to be no more sharp breaks.
Sociologist William Julius Wilson will discuss "The Bridge over the Racial Divide" when he delivers Brown University's fifth annual Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26, in the Salomon Center for Teaching. The public is invited.
The David Winton Bell Gallery in the List Art Center will exhibit A Measured Quietude: Contemporary Irish Drawings beginning Jan. 29. The exhibition will feature nine artists from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The show continues through March 12.
Letters, notes and writings of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Dr. Robert H. Smith have been acquired by Brown University and will be made available to researchers interested in the origins of 12-step recovery programs. Among the items are Smith's "Big Book" and the coffee pot he used to help himself and others stay sober. Dr. David Lewis, director of Brown's Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, arranged the acquisition.
On Friday, Dec. 10, members of Brown University's Class of 2000 will present nearly 700 books to pupils at the E. W. Flynn Arts and Technology Academy in Providence and will read aloud in 12 of the classrooms. The senior class public service project is an extension of one begun by the Brown Alumni Association that distributes 2,000 new books to area schoolchildren every year.
The Visiting Committee on Diversity will be on campus in January to assess Brown's progress on this issue. This is a Q&A with Augustus White, M.D, who is chairing the committee. With sidebar on the committee members and mission.
Adam Fontecchio and Mike Escuti have created a device to capture comet dust. The payload will be aboard a Viper Rocket to be launched in Charlestown Nov. 18. RI schoolkids will be at the launch. The payload will deploy a capture device and fall back through the Leonid meteors trail, collecting dust and then closing up. After landing, the device will be recovered so that the grad students can analyze any particles.
Behind the scenes of "Artistic License," the latest Brownbrokers production, and interview with director Christopher Hayes
Lisa J. Raiola, currently director of the medical ethics program and director of strategic planning for southern New England at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, has been named vice president for alumni relations at Brown University. Raiola is a 1984 graduate of Brown (A.B., magna cum laude, biomedical ethics).
Teens counseled in the emergency room have fewer subsequent drinking and driving incidents, alcohol-related injuries and other alcohol-related problems than teens who received standard ER care, according to a new Brown study in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
Jane Brody, health columnist and science writer for "The New York Times," will bring her insights to Brown when she delivers the Rothman Forum, "Taking Charge of Your Health," Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. in Sayles Hall.
The Brown University Brownbrokers present the 64th annual original student musical "Artistic License" Thursday through Monday, Dec. 2-6, 1999, in the Stuart Theatre of the Catherine Bryan Dill Center for the Performing Arts. An action-packed drama, "Artistic License" is set in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Nina Tannenwald, assistant professor at the Watson Institute for International Studies, is studying why some weapons are banned and some aren't. She has been awarded a $73,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Adolescents with serious behavioral problems are seven times more likely to be dependent on alcohol or illicit drugs, writes Dr. David C. Lewis. But rather than provide them with needed treatment, our policy toward their misbehaviors, however egregious, has become more and more punitive (distributed November 1999).
A pregnant woman's substance abuse problem is not a criminal one. It is a mental health problem that needs to be treated and prevented like any other health problem such as hypertension, says Barry Lester, professor of psychiatry and human behavior. Dismissing the similarities between these two health problems is a symptom of the stigma associated with drug use (distributed November 1999).
Faces of Brown: Margaret Marisi
Lester Feder 01, a Royce Fellow, was an apprentice to Del Rey, a blues guitarist from Seattle. His project involved doing research on blues history, helping Rey's producer and agent create an album, and taking guitar lessons.
Interview with Sarah Wells '01, Royce Fellow who created literacy program for second-language learners using poetry as the curriculum.
The Brown-based Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy, an advocacy group for a public health approach to addiction treatment, received $1.35 million in grants to build coalitions with community groups and specialists in addiction medicine and primary care.
An oversight that left faculty out of the approval process for the new Brain Science Program will be rectified in December. Several faculty members raised the oversight with President Gee during the Nov. 2 faculty meeting. Gee and others apologize for the oversight.
During the past academic year, 478 Brown undergraduates studied abroad through the Office of International Programs.
Off Hours: Jill Lawlor, assistant director and opera singer who is sharing her passion for the art with others through her work with Beavertail Opera Productions.
Brown researchers receive a grant to pursue teachable moments in the emergency room with patients who arrive w/ heart problems who also smoke.
Center for the Study of American Civilization helps young scholars answer the question "What next?" With a look at the work and research being done by one research fellow in particular, Justin Wolff, whose fellowship was critical for his new publication on corporealism in antibellum visual culture.
Arundhati Roy, an award-winning Indian novelist, will speak as part of a South Asian Student Association conference at 7 p.m. Friday Nov. 19 at the First Baptist Church in America. She is the author of the best selling book, "The God of Small Things."
John O'Shea, executive chef at University Food Services, is starting a Visiting Chefs Program for students on meal plan. Periodically, John will have a renown chef in the industry come to Brown to prepare a meal for the entire student population. The first is John Conte of Raphael Bar Risto
The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center is introducing scientific principles to groups of area teen-agers
Interview with graduate playwriting student Sarah Ruhl, whose "Passion Play" will be performed in Leeds.
Gary Buttery, tubist, will perform with the Brown University Wind Symphony Friday, Nov. 19, at 8 p.m. in Grant Recital Hall. The concert will feature a mix of contemporary and 16th century compositions.
Brown University researchers have shown that some nerve cells in the cerebral cortex use electrical connections to communicate. Scientists had thought nerve cells in the cerebral cortex communicated only through connections that use chemical signals. The new findings appear in the Nov. 4 issue of Nature.
Kathryn T. Spoehr, currently dean of the faculty and interim provost at Brown University, has been named executive vice president and provost, succeeding William S. Simmons.
Research issue: In past year, Brown research funding has experienced a $14 million increase, $10 million of which comes from DHHS/NIH.
Researchers at the Watson Institute are working to improve the effectiveness of U.N. sanctions on countries that violate international norms.
The Providence Place Mall will be a living laboratory for an American Civilization course taught by Susan Smulyan.
Preparations for the Icelandic "Voyages Festival," at which the president of Iceland, who will be delivering an Ogden Lecture around the same time, will be the honored guest.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will discuss "The Supreme Court: A Place for Women" on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1999, at 4 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. Her presentation is the annual Noah Krieger '93 Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions.
Passion Play, a new work by Sarah Ruhl of Brown's Creative Writing Program, will receive its premire in Leeds Theatre of the Catherine Bryan Dill Center for the Performing Arts, with performances Nov. 11-21, 1999. The play takes a provocative look at the offstage lives of actors who are cast in a play about the crucifixion of Christ
In a recent study of 115 overweight women, participants with home exercise equipment lost twice as much weight as those without the equipment. The findings were published in the Oct. 27 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
VIRTUALY2K, a three-day conference sponsored by the Watson Institute, will bring more than a dozen economists, military officers, computer scientists, filmmakers, journalists and foreign affairs specialists to Brown Nov. 5-7, 1999. They will seek to understand the current and future impact of digitized and networked technologies on world affairs.
"Washington: The Man, the Facts, the Myth," an exhibition honoring the 200th anniversary of George Washington's death, is on display in the John Carter Brown Library through Jan. 15, 2000. The exhibition's 66 artifacts provide first-hand accounts of one of the most accomplished men of the 18th century.
Brown University President E. Gordon Gee today praised the late Sen. John Chafee as an American hero, Rhode Island legend and member of the Brown family, whose exemplary public life featured a "consistently measured approach to finding a solid middle ground on the most contentious of issues."
This academic year marks the 25th anniversary of the graduation of the first MD class from the School of Medicine. In that time, the medical school has had a profound impact on the University and the health of Rhode Islanders. With information about contributions made during the 25 years; several special lectures.
Several special collections and courses on campus take a scholarly look at the spooky, the mysterious and the occult.
Deepak Chopra, physician, best-selling author and leader in the field of mind-body medicine, will deliver a President's Lecture to open Asian American History Month at 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 1, 1999, in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, president of Iceland, will deliver a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture Thursday, Nov. 4, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching. The lecture is free and open to the public.
In honor of the 1000th anniversary of Viking exploration of North America, the Brown University Department of Music will host the "Voyages Festival" Nov. 4-6, 1999. The festival will showcase the premire of seven new compositions and a lecture by Olafur Ragnar Grimson, the president of Iceland.
President E. Gordon Gee announced today that Brown University will maintain its membership in the Fair Labor Association and will become a founding member of a new student-led alternative group, the Worker Rights Consortium. Both FLA and WRC work to end sweatshop exploitation of apparel industry workers and to assure consumers that the items they buy have been manufactured under conditions that respect worker rights.
International financier and philanthropist George Soros will deliver theinaugural Chong Wook Lee and Vartan Gregorian Distinguished Lecture at 4 p.m.Wednesday, Oct. 20, 1999, in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
The Brown University Orchestra will open its 1999-2000 season performing the works of Russian composers Rachmaninoff and Borodin. Concerts are planned for 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Oct. 22-23, in Sayles Hall.
Panel seeks campus reaction Brown is considering what policy to set regarding advertising on its web pages. What will be allowed? At what level? What are the problems that advertising on web raises?
Brown has acquired a spectacular set of musical instruments from Indonesia called a gamelan, an orchestra of tuned bronze gongs and metallophones. It takes up an entire classroom, and the be! autifully carved wooden cases, painted crimson and gold, make it visually as well as aurally stunning. Students will be able to learn how to play it for credit.
Q&A with Martha Minow of Harvard Law, who will be presenting three lectures and a symposium on campus Oct. 19, 26, Nov. 2 and Nov. 19, on "Breaking the Cycle of Hatred," which will examine hate crimes and the laws that focus on such crimes.
Folk tunes from around the world will be performed at a special Parents Weekend concert in the Solomon Center for Teaching at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16. The concert will feature compositions inspired by songs from Sweden, Korea, Great Britain and other countries.
David Mahoney, one of the world's foremost champions of brain research, will receive an honorary degree from Brown University on Oct. 8, during a ceremony that will feature research presentations by faculty from the University's new Brain Science Program.
Results of the Cycles Survey conducted by the Registrar's Office/Office of Institutional Research last May. Students report high levels of satisfaction with their overall experience and academic experience at Brown. Level of satisfaction with sense of community on campus is low, as are satisfaction with food services, advising, dorms
Interview with Anne Oribello re: Brown's Y2K work. She has some concerns re: lab equipment. To coincide with the one-hour Y2K training sessions on contingency planning being offered to academic and administrative departments.
Champions of brain research David Mahoney will receive an honorary degree at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, in Starr Auditorium in a ceremony that will also unveil Brown's new Brain Science Program.
The Brown Music Department will feature Joe McKenna, Irish bag piper, and other traditional Irish musicians in concert on Saturday, Oct. 9, at 8 p.m. in Grant Recital Hall.
A Brown University psychologist has developed an easy-to-use device thatmeasures levels of macular pigment in the human eye. Macular pigmentationcorrelates with macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in theworld. One of the primary goals of the macular pigmentation research will be todetermine the exact cause-and-effect relationship between the pigment anddisease.
A television in the bedroom is the most powerful predictor of overall sleepdisturbances in school-aged children, according to a new study by Dr. JudithOwens, assistant professor of pediatrics in the Brown University School ofMedicine.
A blue and gray triple-decker apartment house will be relocated from the East Side to its new location in South Providence beginning at daybreak Sunday, Sept. 26. Traveling at 2 miles per hour, the journey will take an estimated 12-14 hours to complete.
First faculty meeting of the academic year: $80 million to be borrowed to build the Life Sciences Building, a science/research center; series of faculty seminars slated to introduce faculty to new Brown way of doing things by setting priorities and funding only those, borrowing money for campus improvements, etc.
Frank Sears, parking manager -- latest in the FACES OF BROWN series.
Jokes, jugglers, cranks and crackpots will spread a little jocularity during the Brown Comedy Festival. Hosted by the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance, the festival opened Sept. 14 and continues through October.
Federal Judges Joseph Tauro and Bruce Selya and Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Rogeriee Thompson will share views on affirmative action during "Justice for All: Affirmative Action and the American Ideal," a panel discussion taking place at 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 27, 1999, in Starr Auditorium.
The Brown Bookstore is marking its 30th anniversary on Thayer Street with readings, book signings, a children's story hour, raffles, door prizes and more Oct. 1-5.
Brown's Choices for the 21st Century Education Project has received $250,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to expand a program of foreign policy discussion at local libraries.
Rites and Reason, with Lifespan and the Heart Association, are producing play about African American women and heart disease. The production will tour the state in September.
An exhibition featuring painted portraits of the Medici family will open at the David Winton Bell Gallery beginning Sept. 18. The free exhibition, "Crafting the Medici: Patrons and Artisans in Florence, 1537-1737," is made possible by the contributions of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, which loaned the paintings to the gallery.
Two rising stars of Indian classical music Ð Krishna Mohan Bhatt, sitar, and Sandip Burman, tabla Ð will be in concert at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, 1999, in the Salomon Center for Teaching.
Jokes, jugglers, cranks and crackpots will spread a little jocularity during the Brown Comedy Festival. Hosted by the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance, the festival will showcase silent clown Avner the Eccentric, a production of the French farce A Flea in Her Ear, theater critic John Lahr of the New Yorker, and others. The festival begins Sept. 14, 1999, and continues through October.
Lack of policies, threats to partnership status, and stigma are among the barriers to part-time work arrangements in radiology, according to a Brown sociologist. These hurdles mainly affect young women seeking to balance work and family.
"Higher education must shoulder some of the blame for the fact that young adults are increasingly disengaged from the democratic process," say Brown President E. Gordon Gee and University if Pennsylvania President Judith Rodin. "A group of college and university presidents recently recommitted their institutions to playing a vital role in rekindling the national democratic spirit."
Princeton dean Janina Montero has been named Brown's new vice president for campus life and student services. She will begin her duties Jan. 3, 2000.
OFF HOURSL Sgt. Tony Leite of Police and Security will be participating in a three-day Boston to New York City bike ride to raise funds for AIDS research. Ride is Sept. 16-18.
Riding the RIPTA trolley, which serves Brown area and connects downtown and the new mall to campus.
Results of SAC Town Fair "balloting" held during Staff Development Day.
Rhett Jones writes commentary about growing up black in the South and racism that still exists in Rhode Island.
Episode five of the CNN presentation Millennium will premire at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999, in the Starr Auditorium of the MacMillan Science Building. Millennium is a 10-hour documentary series that takes a sweeping look at events, culture and people that have sculpted the world during the past 1,000 years.
Internationally-known addiction expert Dr. David C. Lewis will deliver Brown's Opening Convocation address Sept. 7 at 11 a.m. on The College Green. In case of heavy rain, the ceremony will be held at Meehan Auditorium, 235 Hope St.
"Heart to Heart (Ain't Your Life Worth Saving?)," an original drama set in Providence, is designed to educate women of color to the warning signs and symptoms of cardiovascular disease. The free touring production will be staged at 11 sites throughout Rhode Island and will include free health screenings for audience members.
Janina Montero, dean of student life at Princeton University, has been appointed vice president for campus life and student services at Brown University.
Twelve teachers from across the country participated in Brown University's Choices Teaching Fellows Program, a summer institute that provides training in a curriculum designed to engage high school students in debate on international public policy issues.
Provost William S. Simmons will undertake a new assignment as senior vice president for academic outreach and affiliated programs, effective July 31, 1999. Dean of the Faculty Kathryn Spoehr will serve as interim provost.
Young people are not using inhalers prescribed to prevent asthma, and many children and parents know little about their asthma medications, say two studies.
The Brown University family joins all Americans and people around the world in mourning the untimely loss of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette.
Vanessa Jennings, who restores Native American cradles, comes to the Haffenreffer to refurbish some of the museum's collection before it heads out on a national tour. (GSJ of