June 9, 1997
Volume 49, No. 33

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CAMPUS NEWS Department of Natural Resources gives green light to unrestricted use of Lullwater toxic site   Vaccine center seeks to eradicate many infectious diseases   Emory to host Sawyer Seminars on emerging health issues   'Queering the South' connects academics, activists and artists   Postal service shuts the door on business reply mail to 30322   Carter Center Update Carter Center/Emory collaboration continues to be mutually beneficial   Issues in Progress: Employee Council   Issues in Progress President's Commission on Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Concerns   Web Watch Your chance to help redesign Emory's home page awaits   Wellness Tips for making outside summer exercise bearable and safe

PERSPECTIVES First Person: Jane Treadwell Confessions of a packrat, or how to flunk 'Moving 101'   Profile: Flynn stands ready at beginning, middle and end for students SCHOLARSHIP & RESEARCH Levenduski's course explores cultural meaning in 'things'   Human ability to 'ape' behavior gives cognitive boost Former Emory dean and world Methodist leader William Cannon has died Bishop William R. Cannon Jr., 89, whose varied national and global activities on behalf of the United Methodist Church helped introduce the Candler School to a worldwide audience, died Sunday, May 11, of heart complications. Cannon served a year as pastor of Allen Memorial Methodist Church on the grounds of Oxford College after graduating from Yale Divinity School. He joined the faculty at Candler in 1944, where he was dean from 1953 to 1968, when he was elected bishop. Cannon Chapel was named in his honor. "He was a unique intellectual, passionately committed to higher education," Candler School Dean Kevin LaGree told the Atlanta Journal/Constitution. Cannon was one of the youngest faculty members to join the theology school, LaGree added. He served as professor of church history and historical theology. He was dean when the "God is Dead" controversy swirled around Emory in the mid 1960s. In a lengthy essay that appeared in The Mississippi Methodist Advocate, Cannon cleared up the misconception that Thomas Altizer taught at Candler-he taught in the religion department at Emory College. However, Cannon added, "From all I hear, Dr. Altizer is an interesting teacher, and the fact that his thought is now receiving national attention indicates his gifts as a philosopher and religious thinker. . . . [Emory is] big enough to absorb and use all forms of opinion," he wrote. "We exercise the privilege of discussion, dialogue and debate. We are strengthened and in turn we strengthen others by having to give a reasonable account of the faith that is in us against strong and intelligent opposition. We never progress by restriction and exclusion." Cannon helped create the World Methodist Evangelism Institute. He was later honored with the establishment of the Bishop William R. Cannon World Methodist Evangelism Fund, which reflected the global outreach that so characterized his career with the Methodist church. While dean, Cannon was appointed Protestant observer in 1965 to the historic Vatican II Council. He served as president of the World Methodist Conference and was twice a delegate to the World Council of Churches. He served on the governing body of the World Methodist Council, including a five-year term as chairman of the executive committee. He was only the fourth person from the United States and the first from the South appointed to the council. In addition, he is remembered for his efforts and ongoing conversations with Catholics and Lutherans worldwide. He had an audience with every Pope since Pius XII. While still at the Candler School, Cannon led an initiative to move away from voluntary local church support of theological education to the establishment of a ministerial education fund, comprised of 2 percent of each church's operating budget, to benefit students at Candler, Duke Divinity School and Atlanta University's Gammon Theological Seminary, according to the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, a weekly newspaper for Georgia Methodists. He served as bishop from 1968 to 1984 in Raleigh, N.C., (twice), Richmond, Va., and Atlanta. He delivered the invocation at President Jimmy Carter's 1977 inauguration and remained a friend to the former President and Rosalyn Carter. The author of 13 books, Cannon was reportedly working on a 14th at the time of his death.