What's New . . .
Check back for regular updates on subjects covered in the Academic Exchange and other matters of interest to Emory faculty.

August 8, 2001

Come hear and talk with Mel Levine
A professor of pediatrics and director of the Center for the Study of Development and Learning at the University of North Carolina, Dr. Mel Levine is noted for his work on learning disabilities. The following events are part of his upcoming visit to campus.
----Monday, September 10, 8:00:
How Learning Works When It's Working An evening lecture to be held in Tull Auditorium in the Law School.

----Tuesday, September 11, 8:30--1:30:
Dealing with the Universality of Diversity Among Learners in College and Beyond This faculty workshop with Mel Levine is sponsored by the University Advisory Council on Teaching, the Office of Faculty Resources for Inclusive Instruction, and the Center for Teaching and Curriculum. Workshop space is limited and includes a small stipend. Please contact Wendy Newby for more information (wnewby@learnlink.emory.edu).

Talkin' about (Globalization and) Revolution
----Saturday, September 22:
Globalization, Uneven Development, Inequality, and Revolution: A Symposium in Honor of Terry Boswell This conference, organized by Emory's John Boli and Frank Lechner and the University of Washington's Edgar Kiser, has two related purposes: first, to synthesize and further develop our understanding of globalization, uneven development, inequality, and revolution; and second, to bring together Terry Boswell's mentors, collaborators, and students to celebrate his contributions to the study of these problems and discuss ways in which his work can serve as a springboard for futher theorectical and empirical studies of the evolving world. For more information, please contact John Boli (jboli@emory.edu) or Frank Lechner (flechn@emory.edu).

July 27, 2001
Proulx-dent Recommendation
Still searching for an extraordinary summer "read"? Pulitzer winning author of The Shipping News, Annie Proulx, recommended a little known writer named J.F. Powers during her visit to campus this week. "I adore Powers," she said. "He tends to write about mundane, fumbling, middle-class priests in Minnesota. He's an equisite writer and unlike anyone else."

July 25, 2001
Online Archive Pilot Program Takes Off at Harvard

The Mellon Foundation is funding Harvard Library to work with Blackwell Publishing, John Wiley Publishing, and the University of Chicago Press, to design an experimental archive for electronic journals. Since rapid changes in digital technologies present a challenge to long-term storage and retrieval, this project will address how to design such archives for long-term storage. It will also tackle the issue of arranging for fair access to the journals. For views from Emory on the changing nature of research collections, read the recent Academic Exchange articles, "The Big Sqeeze: Crises in scholarly publishing and library acquistions put pressure on faculty" by philosophy professor Steve Strange and "The Library, the University, and Communities of Readers" by literary curator Steven Enniss.

July 12, 2001

Do the Humanities Suffer at Elite Research Universities?
No, according to a new study by researchers at Cornell University. Emory, along with Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, University of Chicago, and several other research universities participated in a salary survey that formed the basis of this study. From 1978 through 1998, the "proportion of faculty slots and of the faculty-salary pool going to professors in the humanities, arts, and social sciences at most of the institutions remained constant" or rose slightly, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education article on the study. The study, however, did not take into consideration growth within schools of engineering or medicine. Nor did it examine the allocation of resources other than salaries. The authors of the study discuss their findings in the July / August issue of Changemagazine.

Religion and Human Rights Program Receives $707,000 for
Work with Islam
"Implementation of human rights norms in any society requires a thoughtful and well-informed engagement of religion," says project director Abdullahi An-Na'im, head of the Religion and Human Rights Project at Emory's Law and Religion Program. The three-year fellowship project, funded by the Ford Foundation, will bring together young scholars and activists from around the world to develop human rights scholarship and practical strategies for advocacy from an Islamic perspective.

July 6, 2001

The Gene and I:
Mel Konner Reflects on the Human Genome Project
The discovery that humans only have about 30,000 genes--only one-third more than roundworms--makes it clear that understanding the interaction among genes will be essential if we are to know the "developmental sequence by which the genome becomes us." Emory Anthropolgist Mel Konner's article, "Human Genome Far From Solved", appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on July 1. In addition to the complexities of translating gene research into medical cures, Dr. Konner calls for greater attention to the ethical questions raised by new gene-related technologies.

June 27, 2001
"Not at all chimpocentric":
Frans de Waal on Conflict Resolution
Dr. de Waal discusses his new book, The Ape and the Sushi Master : Cultural Reflections by a Primatologist (Basic Books, 2001), with Claudia Dreifus in a recent interview in the New York Times. Dr. de Waal, director of the Living Links Center of the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory, describes the development of his interest in conflict resolution among chimpanzees. Click here to read the full interview.

"Berkeley-Novartis was the centerpiece of The Atlantic Monthly's March 2000 cover story on corporate intrusion in academe, 'The Kept University.' Two months later it was the focus of an extensive hearing in the California State Senate. It appeared as Exhibit A in a Nature editorial this year asking, 'Is the university-industry complex out of control?' The American Association of University Professors has weighed in as well, warning just last month that arrangements like Berkeley-Novartis could distort students' priorities and compromise scientific openness.

"Yet if those newly flush biologists and plant-genomics specialists at Berkeley could devise a scientific technique to test for corporate influence, their findings might surprise the critics.

"Berkeley-Novartis may not be an innocent -- even most of its supporters say the midpoint of the five-year relationship is far too early to declare that. But there's a powerful case to be made, based both on what the agreement says and on the day-to-day reality of the arrangement, that Berkeley-Novartis, although larger than most such deals, is no more nefarious than the countless other sponsored-research agreements that universities and companies sign every day."

Click here to read the full article from the June 22 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. For more on the conversation about corporate partnerships at Emory University, see the Academic Exchange articles, "Ideas for Sale" and "No Conflict, No Interest."

May 30, 2001
Psychology of Stress, Continuing Conversations
An interview with professor of psychology Sherryl Goodman on her work to measure the impact of maternal depression on children. For more on related research at Emory, see "The Significance of Stress" from the April / May issue of the Academic Exchange .

May 17, 2001
Scholar in the Mirror

You have probably already heard about the results of Lori Marino's study of dolphins. When Marino, a lecturer in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology, and co-investigator Diana Reiss of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Columbia University, announced their discovery that bottlenosed dolphins are capable of self-recognition when they see themselves in a mirror, their findings grabbed the attention of the popular press. From Nightline to Saturday Night Live and National Public Radio to Comedy Central's The Daily Show, Marino's dolphins were suddenly everywhere. The Academic Exchange recently asked Marino about her reaction to the treatment of her research in the popular press:

"We feel good about the fact that people find it interesting because, for one thing, that may encourage more research about these animals. And I don't mind the comedy that's been done, as long as its clear when it's a joke and when it's not. Some 'serious' news has distorted our findings, saying for instance that dolphins have souls or religion. Sometimes the media has reported our findings accurately but surrounded them with some pseudoscience that is misleading. And that's disturbing."

For more on scholarship and the media, see "The Public and the Intellectuals" in the October / November 1999 issue of the Academic Exchange.

May 2, 2001
Science and Religion, Continuing Conversations

--Read about the neurobiology of spiritual experience in Newsweek's cover story "Religion and the Brain." For Emory perspectives on this national conversation, see "A New Spirit of Inquiry," from the October / November 2000 issue of the Academic Exchange. Visit the Science and Society website for continuing information on the Science and Religion group at Emory.

--Explore the first work in a new series on Science and Religion from Columbia University Press. Biologist Robert Pollack, who directs Columbia's two-year-old Center for the Study of Science and Religion, is the author of The Faith of Biology and the Biology of Faith. According to Booklist: "Pollack lucidly explores the interface between science and religion, and thoughtfully discusses the bioethical issues that loom large as the twenty-first century begins. Drawing on his own faith and his work in molecular biology, he highlights striking parallels between the seemingly disparate practices of science and Torah study."

April 26, 2001
Psychology of Stress, Continuing Conversations

An Interview with Professor Robyn Fivush
For more from Dr. Fivush, see "The Significance of Stress" from the April / May issue of the Academic Exchange.