the daily

Presidential Inauguration Series

The upcoming presidential inauguration has stirred the interest of millions of Americans, including some members of the Case Western Reserve University community, who are taking part in special ways. Case Daily continues sharing their stories this week.

Inauguration Will Be Ride of a Lifetime for Lecturer

Lisa Hazirjian has a train to catch this weekend. And even before she boards, the Case Western Reserve University lecturer knows she's about to embark on the ride of a lifetime.

Hazirjian is one of 16 "everyday Americans" invited to ride the pre-inauguration whistle stop tour of President-elect Barack Obama Saturday, January 17, on its way to Washington, D.C.

She says the group on the train ride represents the grassroots nature of the campaign, as well as the diversity of the coalition the next president has brought together. Read more.

Campus News

The university will be closed Monday, January 19, in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Join Provost W. A. "Bud" Baeslack III and fellow alumni and friends Saturday, January 17, for the 2009 Case Western Reserve Alumni Luncheon and North American International Auto Show at the COBO Center in Detroit. A catered lunch in the Hermes Room at the Atheneum Suite Hotel anchors the day as guests are invited to attend the auto show before or after lunch. Register online.

The American Red Cross is sponsoring two blood drives on campus. Drives will be held 2-7 p.m. on two dates: Thursday, January 22, in the Wade Fireside lounge, and Thursday, January 29, at the Fribley Fireside lounge. Donors can schedule an appointment online by entering sponsor code "CaseWestern."

CaseLearns is offering a free class on the basics of patent searching from 9-11 a.m., Wednesday, January 21, at the Kelvin Smith Library. Learn more.

For Faculty and Staff

The Employee Education, Training and Development Unit in the Department of Human Resources provides a variety of on-campus training and educational opportunities. Learn more.

For Students

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is seeking new members with diverse backgrounds as it continues its commitment to helping different countries find clean drinking water. The chapter will hold a meeting at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 20, in Thwing Center's Cleveland Room.

The Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable (WISER) will hold a general meeting at 8 p.m., Thursday, January 22, in Thwing Center's Spartan Lounge. Learn more about research opportunities from SOURCE, the co-op program and opportunities to serve on one of the WISER committees.

Events

Colin Drummond, director of the Coulter-Case Translational Research Partnership, will be speak about his own personal adventures in biomedical engineering and interdisciplinary work during "Navigating Among Silos: Adventures in Interdisciplinary Research," from
6-7:15 p.m., Wednesday, January 21, at the Cuyahoga County's Coroner's Office. Dinner will be provided. RSVP to Michelle Hamilton.
Learn more.

As part of the presidential inauguration festivities on campus Tuesday, January 20, Case Western Reserve will display the work of Cleveland airbrush artist Andre Holt in the Thwing Center ballroom. His three-panel piece, "Clouds of Witnesses," is a salute to Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama and other African-American historians. Holt shared what inspired him to create the piece with Maria Dimengo, a Web content developer in the Division of Student Affairs. Learn more.

The views and opinions of those invited to speak on campus do not necessarily reflect the views of the university administration or any other segment of the university community.

Data Center Renovations

As part of the renovations to the Case Western Reserve data centers, Information Technology Services will be migrating all of the university's servers from the current infrastructure to a new one. The final phases of the data center renovation project involves moving individual data servers, which may result in periodic planned outages for some information technology services. Server and application administrators will alert affected users.

Applications that may be affected by the server moves and planned outages during the next week include:

Wednesday, January 21:

Plant Services / offline
Ad Astra Room Scheduling / offline
MediaVision Streaming Media / limited functionality
E-mail (Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam) / should remain online
Novell File Server (Rhodes) / offline
Dept. of Development File Server / offline
Helpdesk Web Services / offline
Library Web Site Production / should remain online
Library Web Site Development / should remain online
ERP Financials and HCM / should remain online

Thursday, January 22:

Novell File Servers (Nobel and Pulitzer) / offline
Active Directory Services / should remain online
Voice over IP / should remain online
OSPA Web Server / offline
Domain Name Services / should remain online
Ad Astra Room Scheduling / offline

Friday, January 23:

Office of Investment Management / offline
LDAP / should remain online
Software Center / offline
IP Registration / offline
ERP Student / should remain online
E-mail (Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam) / should remain online
DHCP Services / should remain online
Oracle Database Services / should remain online

Read more for a complete schedule of planned outages.

Et al

Xiangwu (David) Zeng, professor of civil engineering, has assumed the chairmanship of the civil engineering department, effective January 1, it was announced by Norman Tien, dean of the Case School of Engineering. A portion of Zeng's extensive research includes working with NASA Glenn Research Center to design the next-generation rover and exploration tools to excavate lunar soil and rocks. Zeng has been on the faculty since August 2000.

Jonathan Entin, professor of law and political science, recently received the Distinguished Teacher Award from the School of Law's Alumni Association Board.

Small Business Trends named Scott Shane's Illusions of Entrepreneurship as one of its top small business books of 2008. The book also made the top 10 lists of Amazon.com, Inc. Magazine and the Toronto Globe and Mail. Shane is the A. Malachi Mixon III Professor of Entrepreneurship Studies.

Case Western Reserve was one of the winners in the Knovel University Challenge. As part of the contest, Stephen Leahy, an undergraduate student, won an iPod. Learn more on the Kelvin Smith Library Newsblog.

Brandon Bradford, a Case Western Reserve alumnus, recently participated in a panel discussion on WVIZ's Feagler & Friends about career prospects for newly-minted college graduates.

January 16, 2009

A daily newsletter published by the Office of Marketing & Communications, Case Western Reserve University. Submit items for inclusion to: case-daily@case.edu.

Martin Luther King Jr. Activities

The campus community is invited to an Inauguration Celebration and Lunch from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 20, in Thwing Center's ballroom. The event will feature a large-screen broadcast of the presidential swearing-in ceremony at noon. Sponsored by Case Democrats, Case College Republicans, Thwing Center, Instructional Technology and Academic Computing, and the Undergraduate Program Board. Learn more about the university's upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. activities.

Case in the News

More regional firms get venture capital despite decline in investing

The Plain Dealer, January 16, 2009
The region's flow of venture capital declined in 2008, but the number of new companies receiving cash infusions inched up, a new report shows. Scott Shane, professor of entrepreneurial studies at Case Western Reserve University, comments.

Liability concerns may harm public health emergency response

American Medical Association, January 16, 2009
Concerns about liability exposure and a lack of guidance on the scope of liability that medical emergency responders could face may make doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals wary of responding to emergencies, according to findings from a new study in the Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness journal. Sharona Hoffman, associate dean and co-director for the Law-Medicine Center at Case Western Reserve University, is the study's lead author.

No harm done to depressed adolescents by being part of placebo group in clinical trial, researchers find

Medical News Today, January 15, 2009
In a national clinical trial, adolescents with moderate to severe depression first given a placebo treatment and then an antidepressant medication alone or in combination with therapy responded just as well over the long term as participants who received active treatment throughout the study. Researchers from Case Western Reserve University participated in the study.

Cleveland MLK Day events

myFOXCleveland.com, January 15, 2009
Case Western Reserve University's Martin Luther King Jr. week activities are featured in a roundup of local events.

Higher Ed News

Students covering bigger share of costs of college

The New York Times, January 15, 2009
College students are covering more of what it costs to educate them, even as most colleges are spending less on students, according to a new study.

Athletes and colleges feel a recruiting pinch

The New York Times, January 13, 2009
The economy has affected college sports programs across the nation. Some smaller universities have scaled back on recruiting trips or found new ways to identify talent.