Clark University - Clarknews spring 2004
Newsbriefs (spring 2004)
Construction continues on the new biological sciences building. This spring, the structure began to take shape. Exterior walls were erected, underground plumbing was installed, and the slabs for the second and third floor, roof and penthouse were poured.
Approximately $5 million of the $14 million fundraising goal for the building has been raised. The project, which has an estimated cost of $22 million, includes the construction of a 50,000 square-foot building for the biological sciences and the renovation of the 32,000 square-foot biophysics building. The renovated building will house physics and mathematics and computer science. The adjacent Sackler Sciences Center will house chemistry. The construction and renovation of the facilities began in fall 2003 and is expected to be complete in December 2004.
To learn more about giving opportunities to support the biological sciences building, contact Leslie Godoff, 508-793-8858, lgodoff@clarku.edu. To view construction progress and learn more about faculty and students in the sciences at Clark, visit www.clarku.edu/sciences.
Why can’t the world agree to combat climate change through the Kyoto convention? How does cardboard production in the developed world lead to tropical deforestation in Borneo? Could satellite monitoring have prevented the recent forest fires in California?
Undergraduates are tackling these and other such questions in Clark’s new global environmental studies (GES) major, which was launched this semester. With an emphasis on social science and the biophysical sciences, the GES major capitalizes on the global view of Clark’s curriculum and the University’s long and distinguished tradition in human-environment studies. It provides students with a deeper understanding of the human forces that transform the earth and the consequences of that transformation for individuals, society and the well being of the planet.
GES is offered through Clark’s nationally respected School of Geography and incorporates the University’s outstanding programs and faculty in geography, environmental science and policy, international development and social change, and urban development and social change. Students have the opportunity to learn such technical skills as remote sensing and geographic information systems, and can take advantage of an array of internships, study abroad and special research programs. Among these is the Human Environment Regional Observatory (HERO), which awards summer fellowships to selected undergraduates who engage in research with faculty on local environmental change and take a year-long HERO seminar.
More information about the GES major is on the Clark Web site at, www.clarku.edu/ges, and in the academic catalog at www.clarku.edu/catalog.
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The organization Preservation Worcester included Clark in its 2004 Noontime Series this spring. For this annual program highlighting Worcester landmarks of architectural and historical significance, Preservation Worcester invited the public to five colleges and universities to enjoy hour-long, multimedia presentations prepared by a team of volunteer docents.
Clark was “a natural” for the program, according to Preservation Worcester Director Elizabeth Bacon. The April 13 event took place at the Traina Center for the Arts, in Razzo Hall, and included an overview of Clark history and a presentation about the University Park Partnership by executive assistant to the president Jack Foley. Tina Zlody, administrative assistant for the Visual and Performing Arts Department, led a postlecture tour of the new center, which is housed mainly in the renovated Downing Street School, built in 1891.
Besides Clark, the series included the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the College of the Holy Cross and Becker College.
Preservation Worcester is a nonprofit, private organization that strives “to preserve sites and structures that are significant to the culture, history, and architecture of the city and encourage excellence in design in the future. Walking tours and educational programs are available as well as resources for restoring historic properties.”
Two artists exhibited their work at Clark this spring. Danielle Krcmar’s “Someone You Know” was on display in the Schiltkamp Gallery in the Traina Center for the Arts from Feb. 10 through April 10. New York Artist Sharon Louden presented “Glow Room” in the University Gallery of the Goddard Library from Feb. 2 through April 2.
Krcmar, a Boston-based artist, has been teaching at Clark for the past two years. “Someone You Know” featured human figures composed of clay, hair, glass and other organic materials. Although much of her work is life size, Krcmar recently created a series of busts and figures that are one-third life size, which creates an unsettling relationship between viewer and sculpture.
In “Glow Room,” Louden used phosphorescent paint to create lines of light that animated the darkened gallery. Using an economy of mark and method, Louden strives to create installations that are subtly evocative and quiet, and yet still manage to surprise the viewer. Her installation at Clark was unique, but was built upon her previous work.
The following gallery interns worked with professor and Gallery Director Elli Crocker to coordinate these shows: Damon Ginandes ’04, Ashia Low ’04, Heather Mullen ’04, Adam Ryder ’05 and Matina Vidalis ’05.
Music professor John McGinn is director of the 2003-04 season of the Shakespeare Concerts, a series of performances and recordings focusing on the plays and poetry of William Shakespeare.
The concerts, which came to Razzo Hall in Clark’s Traina Center for the Arts on Jan. 24, feature music by Johannes Brahms, Sergei Prokofiev, Franz Schubert, British composers Roger Quilter and Martin Shaw and the contemporary American composer Joseph Summer. In addition to directing the concerts, McGinn accompanied the vocalists in several works. He is also featured on the upcoming Shakespeare Concerts CD, “To Be or Not to Be.” This fall, the Shakespeare Concerts will collaborate with London’s Opera Unlimited in a series of concerts at the Globe Theater as well as at Oxford and Cambridge universities.
McGinn, who joined Clark in 2001, is a composer, arranger and pianist. He earned a D.M.A. in composition from Stanford University in 1999. McGinn’s works have earned many honors and awards, including a fellowship from the Harvard Music Department, two Broadcast Music Incorporated awards and designation as a fellow in composition at the Tanglewood Music Center. His works have been performed at Merkin Hall in New York City, Davies Hall in San Francisco, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and at festivals and colleges nationwide.
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Geographer Stanley Herwitz expanded his work with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) this spring by using a small UAV for a search-and-rescue demonstration mission on Feb. 5. The demonstration took place at the NASA Ames Airfield over the southernmost section of South San Francisco Bay.
The mission involved a UAV equipped with a thermal sensor. The plane loitered over the South Bay to see if the thermal sensor could detect people or boats at a flight altitude of 200 to 1,000 feet. Three people were positioned in boats in the water and one on the shore. The locations of the people were transmitted from the UAV to a ground station, demonstrating how UAV sensor technology could provide critically important information for emergency-response teams.
This demonstration was also the first on-site test of a recently upgraded see-and-avoid portable radar system. Herwitz managed the system upgrade, insuring that the radar display would clearly show the flight paths of all aircraft over a georeferenced map.
“The upgraded system will provide the ground-based pilot with a means of fulfilling the Federal Aviation Administration requirement of seeing and avoiding other aircraft,” says Herwitz. “Our goal is to set a new precedent for conducting UAV missions in the National Airspace System.”
In August 2003, Herwitz managed a series of daytime UAV test flights over San Bernabe Vineyard in southern Monterey County in preparation for a nighttime UAV frost-monitoring campaign currently scheduled for April 2004. During the daytime test flights, a digital camera and a hyperspectral imaging system transmitted imagery to evaluate the wireless communications links between the UAV and the ground station. During the upcoming nighttime mission, imagery from a thermal sensor will be used with the vineyard’s irrigation maps in order to highlight those areas most threatened by frost. With this database, the grape growers will be able to respond to the frost threat with more efficient irrigation treatments.
Herwitz’s research is supported by a NASA grant totaling $3.76 million—the largest grant ever awarded to a Clark faculty member. He has prepared his UAV missions and has also taught Clark students at the new UAV Applications Center located in the NASA Research Park in California’s Silicon Valley. The center opened in August 2003. According to Herwitz, “Clark students have had a unique opportunity to connect with leading-edge technological developments” in the NASA Research Park.
To learn more about Herwitz’s research, visit www.clarku.edu/faculty/herwitz.shtml.
Branwen Cale ’04 was selected by the Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution (IIMCR) to participate in the International Student Symposium on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution in The Hague.
Cale will join a select group chosen to spend a month in The Netherlands this summer. She will earn six academic graduate course credits from Erasmus University Rotterdam and will complete a substantial, independently designed peace-building project.
In 2002, Cale was one of 10 Clark undergraduates to receive an Anton Fellowship, a program that offers undergraduates opportunities to explore their intellectual interests with grants ranging from $500 to $2,500. Her project involved traveling to the sites of the events of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks and creating a space of reconciliation in the form of original art, photography and written reflections. A government and international relations major, Cale was founder and chair of Clark Students for Pluralistic Political Discussion, a member of the Student Affairs Committee and a member of the Undergraduate Academic Board.
William Fisher, director of Clark’s International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE) program, and doctoral student Thomas Ponniah attended the World Social Forum, held Jan. 16 to 21 in Mumbai, India. Margaret Madigan ’06, Kara Pravdo ’04, Melanie Soter ’04 and Johanna Walczak ’06 also attended the Forum, with part of their expenses funded by IDCE (see page 28).
Fisher and Ponniah co-edited the first book in English on the Forum. The book, titled “Another World is Possible,” discusses popular alternatives to globalization. Fisher and Ponniah have been featured in interviews with media from across the country, including California, Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia and Massachusetts. Himal magazine, a major news journal in South Asia, will publish an article about the Forum written by Fisher.
The Traina Center for the Arts, designed by Ellenzweig Associates of Cambridge, Mass., was one of five local buildings selected for the 2003 Worcester Design Awards. Preservation Worcester and the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Institute of Architects selected the recipients after surveying new buildings in Central Massachusetts. The awards were open to all new or renovated buildings completed in the past five years. Other recipients this year include: the Princeton, Mass., Public Library, the Central Street Bridge, Carol and Park B. Smith Hall at the College of the Holy Cross, and the Southbridge, Mass., Hotel and Conference Center.
In addition, the Traina Center and the Dolan Field House received Silver Hammer Awards from the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. Silver Hammer Awards recognize projects that have had visual, aesthetic or economic impacts on the region.
Rebecca Chernin ’06 was honored as part of the Women Who Dared national program of the Jewish Women’s Archive this spring. Chernin, who was selected from 43 nominees for her work as a domestic and teen-dating violence activist, was one of four women honored by Women Who Dared, Boston, at a special event on March 2.
Chernin, a psychology major, became an activist against teen-dating and domestic violence after encountering an abusive relationship in high school. In her senior year of high school, she interned with REACH Beyond Domestic Violence, formerly known as the Support Committee for Battered Women. While participating in a training program, Chernin became concerned that there was no specific involvement with the Jewish community. As a result, she undertook an outreach effort, contacting synagogues, youth groups and schools. Although she first met with resistance and denial, Chernin persisted with letters, phone calls and visits and eventually initiated training programs and workshops in the Jewish community.
During her first year at Clark, Chernin expanded her advocacy work to include one-on-one counseling with victims of domestic violence, as well as work in the courts as a victim’s advocate. She is a 2002-03 recipient of a “Hero Among Us” award from the Boston Celtics and was honored at the 10th-annual Voice for Justice Awards at REACH in 2003.
Several alumni returned to Clark in January to participate in events commemorating the life of Martin Luther King Jr.
“Living the Dream: Traditions of Activism through the Years,” featured a panel discussion with the following alumni: Ronal Madnick ’59, executive director of the Worcester County Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union; John Corrigan ’73, public information officer at SEIU—New Hampshire; Dimitry Anselme ’93, an educational consultant with Facing History and Ourselves and president of the Clark University Alumni Association; and Leah Penniman ’02, science teacher at the University Park Campus School (UPCS). The panelists discussed how they became involved with activism and the impact it has had on their lives.
Another event incorporated Clark students and students from the nearby Goddard School and UPCS. Cynthia Williams ’06, president of the Black Student Union, opened the event and presented a talk titled “My Dream,” and Alex West ’05 presented “My Legacy of Activism.” Students from the Goddard School spoke about their hopes for the world, and the UPCS STOMP team performed.
Alumni Affairs Director Bill Bennett M.P.A. ’97 and Michelle Walmsley, assistant director of Alumni Affairs, were recently honored by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District I Awards Extravaganza, held on Jan. 24 at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston.
Bennett, who oversees Clark’s alumni programming, received the annual Carol and Stephen Hebert Award for distinguished service to CASE District I. Walmsley, who serves as adviser to Clark’s Student Alumni Relations Committee and the Pasticcio, received the Rising Star Award, which recognizes the accomplishments of new advancement professionals with three to five years of experience. Both awards recognize Bennett’s and Walmsley’s outstanding individual contributions to education through volunteer leadership and professional achievement.
Several students put their scholarly endeavors on film this spring.
- “The Invisible Fire Project,” is an independent documentary created by graduate students Kwesi Kwarteng and Karen Caiazzo, highlighting their trip to Ghana, West Africa, and focusing on the crisis of HIV/AIDS in the region. Caiazzo and Kwarteng traveled the country together for five weeks during December 2003 and January 2004, gathering testimonies from people about the AIDS crisis. They are currently editing the footage into a documentary, which they plan to finish by the end of the semester. Caiazzo and Kwarteng hope to screen their film in such venues as Ghana television stations, Worcester Public Access, Worcester’s Bijou Cinema and at Clark and community events. Kwarteng and Caiazzo funded their travel and filming expenses themselves and welcome donations to support the project.
- Ghana is also the subject of “Like Me, I am Here,” a documentary made by Jay Shapiro ’04 with the support of an Anton Fellowship. He gave a video camera to a 10-year-old Ghanaian boy, who filmed anything he wanted for a month. Shapiro also taped his own footage and interviews, while teaching English, math and geography in a small village in Ghana. He edited 15 hours of tape to make the documentary, which was screened at Clark on March 30. In the film, which will serve as part of his honors thesis, Shapiro aimed to capture the life of his young film partner and the growth of their relationship during the month of filming.
- “M.C. Richards: The Fire Within,” a one-hour documentary about creativity told through the life of artist, teacher and poet Mary Caroline Richards, included the work of Jacob Kane ’06. The film, which premiered in New York and Philadelphia in November 2003, made its Massachusetts debut at Clark on Feb. 20. The screening included a panel discussion with filmmakers Richard Kane and Melody Lewis-Kane, Jacob Kane’s parents.
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Clarknews Spring 2004
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| View of the new biological sciences building from the Kresge Quadrangle |
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| Traina Center for the Arts |
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| John Corrigan '73 (left), Leah Penniman '02, Ronal Madnick '59 and Dimitry Anselme '93 (Photo by Rob Carlin) |
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| Alumni and University Advancement staff at the CASE awards ceremony. |
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