Clark University - Clark News fall 2007
Newsbriefs (fall 2007)
President Bassett signs National Climate Commitment
On June 14, President John Bassett signed the
American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, placing Clark among
the vanguard of higher-education institutions pledging to tackle the challenges
of global climate change. Clark University joins more than 370 institutions
nationwide that pledge to work toward achieving net zero greenhouse gas
emissions on campus and promote innovation in scholarship and research.
“For many years, Clark has been fully committed to
having all economic development take place within environmentally sustainable
parameters,” says Bassett. “The Presidents Climate Commitment is very well
aligned with Clark’s values and signifies our concern that today’s global
climate change threatens life on our planet more seriously than ever before.”
The American College & University Presidents Climate
Commitment pledge reads, in part: “We, the undersigned presidents and
chancellors of colleges and universities, are deeply concerned about the
unprecedented scale and speed of global warming and its potential for
large-scale, adverse health, social, economic and ecological effects. We
recognize the scientific consensus that global warming is real and largely being
caused by humans. We further recognize the need to reduce the global emission of
greenhouse gases by 80 percent by mid-century at the latest, in order to avert
the worst impacts of global warming and to re-establish the more stable climatic
conditions that have made human progress over the last 10,000 years possible.”
The pledge commits institutions to complete an
emissions inventory within one year and set a target date and interim milestones
within two years for becoming climate-neutral. Immediate steps will be taken to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The institutions must also integrate
sustainability into the curriculum—already a long established hallmark of the
Clark educational experience. Campus administrations will also make their
commitment plans, inventories and progress reports available to the public.
Clark’s longstanding sustainability efforts include
“green design” building standards in new construction, the Campus Sustainability
Initiative, Clark Energy Awareness Program, the Choose Renewable Energy Program
and several recycling programs that educate, motivate and inspire the Clark
community to use resources wisely.
For more information about the Presidents Climate
Commitment, visit www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org
New Faculty at Clark
This fall the University welcomed the following tenure-track faculty for the 2007-08 academic year:
• Donald Crampton joins the Chemistry Department from his previous position as
lecturer at Harvard Medical School.
• Karen Frey joins the Geography Department from the Virginia Institute of Marine
Sciences, where she was a postdoctoral research associate.
• Liza Grandia joins the International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)
Department. Having completed her Ph.D. at the Univeristy of California at
Berkeley, she spent the past year as a postdoctoral fellow in the Agrarian
Studies Program at Yale University.
• Dominik Kulakowski joins the Geography Department from the University of Colorado
in Boulder, where he was a research associate and lecturer.
• Stéphanie Larrieux joins the Visual and Performing Arts Department (screen studies)
as she completes her doctoral degree at Brown University.
• Stephen Levin joins the English Department from Columbus State University in
Georgia, where he was assistant professor of English.
• Ken MacLean joins the IDCE Department from Emory University, where he
completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Comparative and
International Studies.
• Ousmane Power-Greene joins the History Department from the University of
Massachusetts-Amherst, where he recently completed his Ph.D. and was a teaching
assistant in the African American Studies Department.
• In addition, Jennie Stephens has
joined IDCE as a tenure-track faculty member. Stephens has been at Clark since
the fall of 2005, in a full-time non-tenure track appointment in IDCE. She is
also the coordinator of Clark’s graduate program in environmental science and
policy.
“These are nine wonderful young teacher-scholars,
individuals with a real commitment to students and to developing new knowledge
that will make a difference in our world. We are proud to have them here in
Worcester,” says President John Bassett.
President Bassett joins objection to U.K. Union
debate on proposed boycott of Israeli academics and institutions
President John Bassett has added his signature to
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger’s response to the troubling recent
decision of the U.K.’s University and College Union (UCU), which opens up for
debate a move to boycott Israeli academics and academic institutions.
Bollinger issued a statement explaining why the UCU
action is “antithetical to the fundamental values of the academy,” and insisting
that if it is “intent on pursuing its deeply misguided policy, then it should
add Columbia to its boycott list.”
Bassett agrees that leaders of universities have a
responsibility to counteract acts, such as the UCU’s, which threaten to
undermine the basic purposes and processes of scholarly inquiry.
“My support of President Bollinger’s statement does
not indicate support of the Israeli government, its opponents or any Palestinian
group,” says Bassett. “It simply signifies my strong feeling that any blanket
boycott of a whole nation’s academics and universities is contrary to my belief
in free intellectual inquiry and in the crucial importance of keeping lines of
communication open among universities around the world.”
Approximately 450 presidents and chancellors of
American universities and colleges also endorsed Bollinger’s statement. The
presidents of Brandeis University, University of California-Berkley, University
of Illinois, University of Miami, Northwestern University, Pennsylvania State
University, Tufts University and Willamette University are among those who
objected to the academic boycott against Israel.
The objection resonated loud and clear. On Sept. 28,
the UCU announced that it is abandoning any attempt to boycott Israeli
academics. It based its decision on the advice of its lawyers, who said that
advancing such a boycott would violate UK laws against discrimination. That
determination—to single out Israeli academics is discriminatory—was also at the
heart of Bollinger’s statement and those who endorsed it.
Addis elected president of APA society for study of men, masculinity
Psychology Department
Chair Michael Addis was recently elected president of the Society for the
Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity, Division 51 of the American
Psychological Association. The society advances knowledge in the psychology of
men through research, education, training, public policy and improved clinical
practice.
Addis’s work as president
will involve efforts to enhance awareness of men’s well-being and its effects on
men, women, children, families and communities. This will be a direct extension
of his research and teaching at Clark, which has focused on the role of
masculinity in the way men experience, express and respond to problems in
living. His current research funded by the National Institutes of Health, for
example, seeks to understand the barriers men face in seeking help for
behavioral health problems. The Men’s Coping Project, which Addis oversees at
Clark, was featured in the Feb. 26, 2007 Newsweek magazine cover story, “Men and
Depression.”
Addis has also conducted
research on the process and outcome of psychotherapies for mood and anxiety
disorders, and the relationships between clinical research and clinical practice
in psychology. In 2003, he received the David Shakow Early Career Award for
contributions to the science and practice of clinical psychology from the
American Psychological Association, and the Researcher of the Year award from
the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity.
To find out more about the Men’s Coping Project, visit http://menandcoping.net
Clark’s Hiatt Center recognized for contributions
in teacher education
The Jacob Hiatt Center
for Urban Education was recently recognized with the 2007 Richard Wisniewski
Award from the Society of Professors of Education (SPE). The award is given to
an institution that has made “singularly significant contributions to the theory
and practice of teacher education.”
The Hiatt Center has developed exemplary models of
urban schooling, teaching, and teacher education through local partnership. This
success honors former Clark trustee Jacob Hiatt’s M.A. ’46 hope in endowing the
center in 1991, which was to enhance educational opportunity and achievement
among the increasingly diverse students in the city of Worcester. All of the
center’s teacher education programs are conducted with partner schools in the
Main South area of Worcester. “This is an affirming recognition for all members
of our partnership community and the power of collaboration,” says Hiatt Center
Director Tom Del Prete.
The award, named in honor of past SPE president
Richard Wisniewski, has been awarded annually since 2000. Wisniewski also served
as past president of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education
and former dean of the College of Education at the University of Tennessee.
Founded in 1902 as the Society of College Teachers
of Education, the SPE is a professional and academic association for all persons
engaged in teacher preparation or related activities. An interdisciplinary
organization, the SPE’s primary goal is to provide a forum to consider major
issues, tasks and challenges confronting professional educators.
Grants & Awards:
Departments
BIOLOGY:
Kristina Gonzales, adviser Linda Kennedy, was awarded $40,500 in supplemental funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Matthew Wund, adviser Susan Foster, was awarded $48,796 in supplemental funding for his postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health for research on “The Genetic Basis of Boldness in Stickleback Fish.”
CHEMISTRY:
Fred Greenaway has entered a $29,800 agreement with Nuclea Biomarkers for research on “Inhibitors of Copper-Containing Quinoprotein Amine Oxidases.”
GEOGRAPHY:
Jacob Brenner and Lily Ray, adviser B.L. Turner II, were each awarded $40,500 in supplemental funds for their NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. Anna Cieslik, adviser Susan Hanson, was awarded a $12,000 NSF doctoral dissertation research improvement (DDRI) grant for her research on “Emigration of Young Professionals in Polish Cities.” Ziying Jiang, adviser Ron Eastman, was awarded a $10,290 NSF DDRI grant for research on “An Empirically Parameterized Road Extension Model for the Support of Land-Cover Change Modeling.” (Also see George Perkins Marsh Institute)
GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY AFFAIRS:
Jack Foley and Sima Kustanovich were awarded $10,000 grants from the Amelia Peabody Foundation and the Bank of America Foundation for the Neighborhood Music Program.
IDCE:
Jennie Stephens has entered a $10,000 subcontract agreement with Harvard University for research on “Carbon Management Technologies: Sociopolitical Dimensions of Innovation.” (Also see George Perkins Marsh Institute)
PHYSICS:
Chuck Agosta was awarded $105,000 in supplemental funding from the Department of Energy for his research on “Novel Superconducting States in Actinides and Other Anisotropic Superconductors.”
PSYCHOLOGY:
Eric Charles, adviser Nick Thompson, was awarded $49,826 in supplemental funding for his postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health for research on “Behavior of Looking, Its Developments and Consequences.” Stefanie Toise, adviser Jim Laird, was awarded a three-year National Research Service Award totaling $122,916 from the NIH for research on “The Efficacy of Adapted Yoga in Managing Psychosocial Risk in ICD (Internal Cardioveter Defibrillator) Patients.”
Research Centers
GEORGE PERKINS MARSH INSTITUTE:
Tim Downs and Co-PI’s Laurie Ross, Rob Goble, Halina Brown and Octavia Taylor were awarded $215,363 in continuing support from the National Institutes of Health for research on “Strengthening Vulnerable Communities in the Worcester Built Environment.” Deborah Martin was awarded a $100,000 grant from the NSF for research on “Legalizing Community: Lawyers and Citizens Activism in Neighborhood Disputes.” Octavia Taylor was awarded $6,500 from the Citizen’s Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund for “Web page modifications to the Jeanne X. Kasperson Library.”
JACOB HIATT CENTER FOR URBAN EDUCATION:
Tom Del Prete has been awarded $5,500 from the EMC Company in support of the
"Worcester Math Initiative."
Faculty honored for excellence
At Fall Convocation ceremonies each year, faculty
are recognized for excellence in teaching, research, scholarship and creative
work. The following faculty received awards this year:
• Psychology professor Michael Bamberg, Outstanding Academic Adviser
• Philosophy professor Scott Hendricks, Outstanding Teacher Award
• Sociology professor Patricia Ewick, Seymour N. Logan Faculty Fellowship
• Philosophy professor Patrick Derr, University Senior Faculty Fellowship Award
• Geography professor John Rogan, Oliver and Dorothy Hayden Junior Faculty Fellowship Award
• Psychology professor Abbie Goldbergand geography professor James Murphy, Hodgkins
Junior Faculty Awards.
• In addition, graduate student Sara Bothun received an Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award.
Fall Convocation was held on Aug. 29 in the Daniels Theater in Atwood Hall and featured the keynote address “Why Are We
Here,” by Walter Wright, associate provost and dean of the college.
Wright's address challenged the Clark community to
ask "real questions"—those that are necessary for genuine inquiry—to think large
and to dream. The following is an excerpt from his address, which can be found
in its entirety at www.clarku.edu/address:
"So as this year begins, I hope you will remember to ask questions—your own
questions, real questions. I hope you will ask them of one another and
yourselves, of the books you read and of the surrounding world. And when you
ask, be willing not to know the answer; be willing to wait in the place of
uncertainty and discomfort. Be willing to stay with your questions as long
as it takes. I invite you, when you hear opinions that challenge your own,
to take them in and see where they lead. Instead of holding to your own
certainties and meeting what is other with rejection and argument, try
opening yourself to listening and to dialogue. See what is “other,” see the
new, as a possibility that invites. Attend to the new and unfamiliar
meanings that approach you out of the unknown. Be willing to learn."
Falmagne re-elected president of psychology society
Psychology professor Rachel Joffe Falmagne was re-elected president
of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology (ISTP) for a second
term. The ISTP is an international forum for theoretical, meta-theoretical
and philosophical discussions in psychology, with a focus on contemporary
psychological debates. Founded in the early 1980s, its objective is to
stimulate theoretical arguments and innovations, foster integration across
areas and traditions of research, and promote interdisciplinary and
transdisciplinary approaches to psychological questions. It promotes
discussion of new theoretical ideas and conceptual frameworks, the critical
engagement of different theoretical approaches, and discussions concerning
the relation of theoretical psychology to other disciplines, the history of
psychology and the philosophy of knowledge.
Falmagne, who joined the Clark faculty in 1973,
draws from psychology, philosophy and feminist social theory to investigate how
modes of knowledge are developed in societies and individuals, particularly how
the discourse of rationalism has functioned in Western societies. She studies
how people appropriate, resist or transform societal discourses of knowledge and
how their reasoning about everyday situations and their personal conceptions of
knowledge can be understood in the context of their social location and cultural
history, with particular attention to gender, social class and ethnicity.
She is also past director of Clark’s women’s studies
program, and visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics Gender
Institute.
Reznik ’09 gains top-of-the-hill experience in U.S. Capitol
The many interns who populate the nation’s Capitol each summer can count on getting plenty of mental and physical exercise.
For Sam Reznik ’09, it was a kind of marathon. The government and international
relations major worked this summer for esteemed veteran lawmakers Sen. Dianne
Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA).
Beyond answering phones and leading the expected
Capitol Building tours, Reznik served offices in both the Rayburn House and the
Hart Senate Building—at opposite corners of Capitol Hill. Feinstein and Waxman
each chair powerful and busy committees. “It was an incredible experience,” Reznik says.
Reznik assisted the deputy scheduler in Feinstein’s
office, crafting the senator’s personal schedule and referring meeting requests
to her legislative staff. His responsibilities ranged from writing memos on
issues such as gang violence and immigration reform used to brief the Senator,
to running errands to the Democratic Cloak Room on the Senate Floor. For his
legislative assignment, Reznik worked in Feinstein’s Judiciary Committee office
on the subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, which she chairs.
“Sam continually excelled in the projects that he
was assigned,” notes Feinstein. “He stood out among a group of highly-qualified
individuals who interned in my office this summer. Sam is very professional and
has an enthusiastic attitude. I know he’ll succeed in the future.”
Reznik also interned with Waxman’s subcommittee on
Government Management, Organization and Procurement, which is part of the
committee Waxman chairs on Oversight and Government Reform. Reznik conducted
research for upcoming committee hearings and then summarized findings into a
memo to the staff director and chief counsel of the subcommittee. His work for
Waxman’s office ranged from Bechtel National, Inc.’s “fiasco” concerning the
cleanup of contaminated nuclear waste in Hanford, Wash., to the Department of
Homeland Security’s Credentialing Program.
“The exposure I received to the inner workings of
our government has helped me gain a more robust understanding of the American
government,” he says. “Overall, working for the very people who uphold justice
and the law is just a great feeling. Both Senator Feinstein and Representative
Waxman are true political heroes of mine and having the opportunity to work for
them has been a surreal experience.”
Anton and Steinbrecher fellowships support creative undergraduate research
Nine Clark undergraduates are following their intellectual curiosity this year with the
support of the Anton and Steinbrecher fellowship programs, which are directed by
professor Sharon Krefetz. The Anton Fellowship Program was established in 2001
by a gift from Barbara ’56 and Thomas ’56 Anton. The Steinbrecher Fellowship
Program was created in 2006 by Phyllis and Stephen ’55 Steinbrecher in memory of
their son David C. Steinbrecher ’81. Both fellowships are designed to spark
students’ excitement about the pursuit of intellectual ideas and public service
and to stimulate discussions within the Clark community.
These students conducted research this summer and
some will continue their work throughout the academic year. All of the students
will present their work at Fall Fest of Undergraduate Research and Creative
Activities or at Academic Spree Day.
2007-2008 Anton Fellow:
• Lauren Miller ’08 worked to expand to other college campuses Clark’s student-run
All Kinds of Girls (AKOG) program, which pairs 9- to 12-year-old neighborhood
girls with female undergraduate mentors. She prepared a handbook to assist new
chapters with the recruitment and training of mentors, obtaining funding and
designing activities.
2007-2008 Steinbrecher Fellows:
• Ishanti Gangopadhyay ’08 researched the obstacles confronting those with HIV/AIDS
in India and new ways to fight the stigma associated with the disease. She
helped the India Development Foundation distribute Health Smart Cards that help
those infected with HIV/AIDS to secure treatment and provide healthcare
personnel with essential information about their patients’ medication.
• Vesela Morova ’09 researched how the characteristics of the Native American
flute reflect the traditions, mythology and perspectives on life and nature of
the people who make and play it. A talented musician who plays the piano and
Bulgarian flute, Morova will give a concert and talk this fall to share what she
has learned about Native American music and culture.
• Cade Overton ’08 toured and photographed volcanoes, glaciers, historical
landmarks and national parks in Iceland to study the climate and culture. He
will create a portfolio and slide show to share his experience with others. A
selection of his photographs will be on display in Clark’s Schiltkamp Gallery
this fall.
• Jeffrey Saginor ’08 researched the changing demographics and dynamics of
homelessness. He examined national trends and conducted an in-depth case study
of Worcester’s homeless population.
• Jon Steenbeke ’08 spent nine weeks in Lilongwe, Malawi, researching how
HIV/AIDS has affected the lives of children there. He worked as an assistant
teacher at the Bambino School, a private secondary boarding school, and
volunteered at a local orphanage for children who lost parents to HIV/AIDS.
• Zohar Tobi ’08 worked with the Sierra Student Coalition Climate Summer project.
He traveled across New Hampshire, educating residents about global warming
through town meetings, community-based discussions and presentations.
• Hang Zhang ’08 researched Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in China,
where he examined businesses committed to sustainable economic development. He
interviewed workers at Microsoft and China Telecom, as well as Chinese college
students, to compare their degree of awareness and perceptions of CSR.
• Paula Kiviranta Zimmerman ’08 examined the environmental impacts of high-tech
gold mining in northern Finland, the historic home of reindeer-herding
Laplanders. She mapped data of gold deposits using geographic information
systems, conducted historical research on how the impacts of gold-mining have
changed over time, and assessed the effectiveness of legislation designed to
mitigate negative effects.
"The diversity of the fellows' projects is amazing, yet they have all been inspired by a similar passion
for learning and reflect a genuine commitment to working to improve conditions in the world," says Krefetz.
Clark graduate student receives prestigious Schweitzer Fellowship
Clark environmental science and policy graduate
student Danielle Adams has joined the ranks of new 2007-08 Schweitzer Fellows.
Honoring the legacy of Dr. Albert Schweitzer by committing to a year of service
with a community agency, Adams and 33 other Schweitzer Fellows will each devote
more than 200 hours of service to local communities lacking access to adequate
health services.
Adams, who is a research assistant for the
Neighborhood STRENGTH Environmental Justice Project, will use the fellowship to
help residents in Worcester’s Main South and Piedmont neighborhoods to better
assess and lessen indoor air pollutants. During her year of service, Adams will
collaborate with local residents and organizations to alleviate indoor pollution
problems and provide a model for other communities facing similar problems.
Schweitzer Fellows are chosen through a competitive
selection process from the nation’s top health and human-service schools,
including Clark University. Once fellows have completed their year of service,
they join a network of over 1,500 Schweitzer “Fellows for Life,” across the
United States and abroad. Virtually all continue their commitment to lives of
service in many cities and towns around the country and the world. Because the
work of the fellows is donated without charge to the communities served, each
city’s program is supported through charitable gifts.
Since its inception in 1991, the Schweitzer
Fellowship has provided more than 278,000 hours of service to the communities it
serves. To learn more, visit www.schweitzerfellowship.org
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