An aggregation of all of the recent Blog@Case postings.
This is an aggregation of all of the recent blog posts of the Case Blog system. The entries are in reverse chronological order according to each entry's last modified date. Persons with questions regarding Planet Case or the Blog system can check the FAQ or email us at blog-admin@case.edu.
Research. You've heard about it. You've probably done it sometime in your life (that 13 page paper for SAGES?). But lets face it, looking up things in Wikipedia don't quite make the cut. So what is it really and why do so many people think it's so important?
Quite frankly, I had no idea what it was. I didn't know how to access legitimate research articles (for one thing, Case has an extensive database of articles with amazing search engines). And most importantly, I didn't know how to do it.
Thankfully, one of the classes that I'm taking actually teaches you how to do research by making you do a research study on yourself. They term it as a "Personal Quality Improvement Project" which I have decided to lose 10 pounds within the span of a month. So far, I have gained a pound and a half despite going to the gym 3-4 times a week. After Superbowl Sunday, I had gained three pounds. But anyway, what's cool about this class is the non-conventional way of teaching. Sure the professors go over the concepts like most classes do, but their belief in experiential learning has really helped us realize the different parts of research (the formation of concepts, the hypothesis, the data collection, etc.) through the use of this creative assignment.
Another cool thing about this class are the professors themselves. Of the four that co-teach the class, mine is a prolific researcher of kangaroo care (http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/kangaroocare.asp), a technique that is now used throughout the healthcare field (on a side note: my professor is the head author of manly resource cited by wikipedia). The fact that I get to learn from a prominent researcher twice a week makes this class pretty amazing. The best thing about it was I didn't have to compete against my fellow classmates for this opportunity.What this class also made me realize was how a simple observation could lead to a revolutionary change in a body of knowledge.
For many, undergraduate research becomes the first stepping stone on the journey to make a difference in the world. The great thing about Case is that you're not only surrounded by these opportunities, but you also have the opportunities to learn from the best.
How do we talk about suicide? For those who have experienced a suicide loss of a friend or family member it can be difficult to find a support network to talk about what happened. Tanetta Andersson, a Ph.D. student at Case Western Reserve University's Department of Sociology, talks about her research on disenfranchised grief and the way her community service has expanded to social justice work.
Gladys Haddad, host of Regionally Speaking
Tanetta Andersson, a Ph.D. Candidate, CWRU Department of Sociology
Squire Valleevue Farm was left to Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University by Andrew and Eleanor Squire. Andrew was one of the founding partners of the law firm Squire, Sanders, and Dempsey. He was a trustee of Western Reserve University from 1900 until his death in 1934.
Though their residence was on Euclid Avenue, Andrew and Eleanor purchased their first plot of land, Valleevue Farm, in Hunting Valley in 1911, adding other parcels at various times. The University had access to the farm for picnics, outings, and research since 1930, and took full possession in 1937, after both Squires died.
Mather College used the farm for many purposes over the years. It was a working farm for a number of years and provided the campus with food for the dining rooms. The women often helped with farm chores. The Pink Pig was used as a weekend residence for the Mather women. The students enjoyed skiing, ice skating, hiking, putting on theater productions, and other activities.
Students enjoying the Pink Pig and getting ready to ski and ice skate
The May Squire House was used as a laboratory for the Home Economics students.
Several departments conducted research at the farm. Franklin J. Bacon, originally professor of pharmacognosy and later biology, lived at the farm, managing its operations, conducting classes and performing research. The School of Pharmacy grew a medicinal herb garden at Squire Valleevue for many years.
Andrew Squire in the medicinal herb garden
The Manor House has been used as a private residence, the university president’s home, and an event venue. Presidents Louis A. Toepfer (1970-1980) and David V. Ragone (1980-1987) called the Manor House home during their tenures.
In 1977 the University received a gift of 104 acres of the adjoining Valley Ridge Farm from the George Garretson Wade family.
You can view more images of the farm by visiting the University Archives Image Collection in Digital Case.
Bill Claspy, Research Services Librarian at Kelvin Smith Library, recently interviewed Ana Locci, director of the farm, and Christopher Bond, horticulturalist at the farm, about their book, Case Western Reserve University: Squire Valleevue and Valley Ridge Farms. Listen to the podcast.
With the publication of its first hardcopy edition in 1987, The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History opened a new era in the presentation of urban history. When it moved to the World Wide Web in 1998, it pioneered the concept of an on-line, vetted, urban history resource. Today the on-line ECH stands as one of the university’s most visible digital humanities projects. However, in the midst of the growing number of on-line wikis, blogs, and social networks, it is changing again to remain competitive as a popular, attractive, scholarly historical source. Editor John J. Grabowski will discuss the past, present, and future of the ECH at this Baker-Nord digital humanities program. The ECH is also archived on Digital Case.
Date: 02-09-2012
Time: 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm
Location: Clark Hall, Room 206 - 11130 Bellflower Road
Registration: Free and open to the public, registration recommended
Watch out for that Super Bowl pass—that is the chips, chili or other party food.
If you are a people-pleaser who strives to keep your social relationships smooth and comfortable, you might find yourself overeating in certain social situations like Super Bowl watch parties. A new study from Case Western Reserve University found that, hungry or not, some people eat in an attempt to keep others comfortable.
“They don’t want to rock the boat or upset the sense of social harmony,” says Julie Exline, a Case Western Reserve psychologist and lead author of the study.
Turning down cake or cookies when others are indulging is tough for everyone, but it poses a special problem for people-pleasers, Exline says. If people-pleasers feel a sense of social pressure to eat, they will often eat more in an attempt to match what others around them are eating.
But even if people-pleasers overeat in order to keep others comfortable, they may pay an emotional price.
“Those who overeat in order to please others tend to regret their choices later. It doesn’t feel good to give in to social pressures,” Exline says.
The research findings were reported in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology article, “People-Pleasing through Eating: Sociotropy Presents Greater Eating in Response to Perceived Social Pressure.”
This study looked at the eating habits, but, Exline says, the same behaviors that affect food consumption can surface in other areas of the individual’s life. For example, people-pleasers may feel anxious or guilty if they outperform others in areas such as academics, athletics or relationship success. People-pleasers have a strong desire to avoid posing a threat to others, so they often put a lot of energy into trying to keep others comfortable.
Exline led a two-part study of 101 college students (41 men and 60 women) who completed a questionnaire that assessed characteristics for people-pleasing, also known as “sociotropy.” Students high in people-pleasing were those who tended to put others’ needs before their own, worried about hurting others, and were sensitive to criticism, among other behaviors.
After answering these questions along with some other background measures, students were seated with a female actor who was posing as a second participant in the study. The experimenter handed a bowl of M&M candies to the actor, who took a small handful of candies (about 5) before offering the bowl to the participant. After taking the candies, participants reported how many they took and why. Researchers also assessed the number of candies taken.
High sociotropy (people-pleasing) scores were associated with taking more candy, both in this laboratory experiment and in a second study involving recall of real-life eating situations.
“People-pleasers feel more intense pressure to eat when they believe that their eating will help another person feel more comfortable,” Exline says. “Almost everyone has been in a situation in which they’ve felt this pressure, but people-pleasers seem especially sensitive to it.”
Also contributing to the study are Ellen Bratslavsky, Cuyahoga Community College; Michelle Hamilton, Case Western Reserve University; Anne Swenson, University of Washington; and Anne L. Zell, Augustana College.
Ernest John Bohn was always especially proud of two of his achievements: he wrote and obtained passage of the Ohio Public Housing Act, the first in the nation; and he was the first director of the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), the first housing authority organized in the United States. He was often referred to as "the father of public housing," a distinction based not only on his work in Cleveland and in Ohio, but also on his prominence on the national scene, his lobbying efforts, especially for the 1937 U.S. Housing Act, and his involvement in every housing advocacy group of consequence. At his retirement in 1968, he could claim credit for presiding over the building of 10,684 units of "decent, safe and sanitary housing...for low income and elderly families" and for planning for 1,885 more. He was clearly and proudly dedicated to the cause of housing.
Born in Sannicolau Mare, Romania, on May 12, 1901, Bohn immigrated to America with his widowed father in 1911. In 1919 he graduated from East Tech High School in Cleveland and went on to graduate from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University (WRU) in 1924 and the WRU Law School in 1926. He practiced law in Cleveland from 1926 to 1938.
Campaign button for Cleveland’s progressive (and Democratic) mayor Tom L. Johnson belonging to Bohn. Johnson died in 1911, the year young Ernest J. Bohn immigrated to America. “Tom L. Johnson & 3 cent Fare. circa 1907. 3.5 cm diameter” Johnson inspired reform candidates from both political parties
Before he found his life's work in the housing problems which confronted Cleveland in the great depression, Bohn was active in Cleveland and Ohio politics as a highly visible and often quoted Republican Party organizer and candidate. Among his papers is his usher’s pin and ribbon for the republican national convention, held in Cleveland in 1924. Early in his career he was elected to a term in the Ohio House of Representatives [1928], and from 1930 to 1940 he was elected to successive terms on the Cleveland City Council.
A cherished memento: Usher’s pin with ribbon: “Usher. Republican National Convention. Cleveland Ohio 1924. 12.5 cm (h) with white ribbon”
Bohn never lost sight of his goal to further the cause of public housing and though he remained devoted to the Republican Party he accepted the reality of politics which dictated that he work with politicians and government officials of all stripes in order to succeed.
As the Special Collections Research Center nears completion of an updated guide to The Ernest J. Bohn Housing and Planning Library we offer images of selected political memorabilia from the collection.
Campaign pins for Republican presidential candidates from left to right: “War in Europe. Peace in America. God Bless Wilson. circa. 1916. 2 cm. diameter”; “Keep Coolidge. circa. 1924. 1.5 cm. diameter”; “For President. Herbert Hoover. circa. 1928. 2 cm. diameter”; “Landon. Deeds Not Deficits. circa. 1936. 2 cm. diameter”
For additional information about the Ernest J. Bohn Housing & Planning Library contact the Special Collections Research Center in the Kelvin Smith Library at Case Western Reserve University.
Qualifications
Applicant shall be at least 17 years of age or older and be accepted to or attending a full-time engineering, construction, or architecture program at an accredited institution of learning.
Applicant must be attending the program within an accredited institution within the United States.
Applicant must be either a citizen of the United States or a foreign student with a valid United States Student Visa.
Applicant must have a minimum GPA of 3.0, based on the previous year's academic performance.
Graduate Students: A Kindle Fire could be yours! KSL knows you're busy, but we'd like to share an hour of your time & talk about what you use in library resources, spaces, and services. Register and participate in a session, and your immediate future might include a Kindle Fire!
We'll also talk about what the future@KSL might offer graduate students. We especially need Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Weatherhead graduate students to meet with library staff in informal discussions.
Share your knowledge & remarks on your research activities—we look forward to hearing from you. Registration is required, lunch is provided. Participants from all groups will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire, which could change your research, too!
The goal of the Inamori Center for Ethics and Excellence is to promote ethical leadership. Its signature event is the Inamori Ethics Prize, which brings internationally renowned leaders to the Case Western Reserve University campus. The Director of the Inamori Center is Shannon French, who joined CWRU faculty in 2008 after working as the associate chair of the United States Naval Academy's Department of Leadership, Ethics and Law. This week we learn more about Dr. French and her role at the Inamori Center.
Gladys Haddad, host of Regionally Speaking
Shannon French, Director of the Inamori Center for Ethics and Excellence
“The worst has been confirmed” said mom, as she came in holding my grandmother’s biopsy report. Her eyes were dark pools of sorrow as she narrated what the doctor had pronounced, “Colon cancer……..gone beyond the primary stage……..the usual procedures can be done”. I was already in my third year of medical school and I vociferously seconded the doctor’s opinion regarding radiation and chemotherapy. But mom said that grandma’s opinion mattered too. As expected, the old lady turned down the doctor’s suggestion, stoically stating that she would prefer to go through her ‘Karma’ than subject herself to torturous treatments that can hardly ensure longevity. “Anyway”, she said “I’m already past seventy, have seen enough of life, what more can one ask for, except a peaceful end”. Mom was not one to let go so easily. She said that there has to be some way out.
She took time off, from her teaching job, spent the next few days pouring into books and going through websites searching for information about cancers and their treatment. She even read Randy Pausch’s ‘The Last Lecture’, Lance Armstrong’s ‘It’s not about the Bike: My journey back to life’ and some medical journals in my collection. She told grandma inspiring stories of cancer survivors, insisting that grandma should get prepared to take cudgels against the ‘Big C’. But when she went to the extent of getting in touch with the local practitioners of Ayurveda, I thought I should stop her. I argued, “Mom, you never know with these alternative medicines, nothing like the conventional stuff”. By ‘conventional stuff’, I meant Western medicine. I had my own misgivings about the herbal concoctions, the ‘Bhasmas’ and the ‘Churnas’ (medicinal powders) doled out by the Ayurvedic doctors. There was always a kind of mystery wrapped up in them. The patients would not have any inkling about the contents or the combinations of the medicines prescribed. Then there was the question of efficacy. How could such treatment work against cancer of all diseases? But mom never gave in to my arguments. She said with some feeling in her voice, “If alternative therapies can work for Rhio, it can work for my mother too”. I gasped with disbelief. How did she know about James Rhio O’ Connor, the man who had defied Mesothelioma! Obviously she had done her homework. I remembered reading about how Rhio had waged a battle against Mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. He had chosen to look beyond chemotherapy and radiation towards alternative modes of coping with the disease. Given barely a year to live, he designed his own treatment that included diet regulation and a healthy control of mind and body. When Ernest Hemingway said-“A man can be bent but not broken”, he probably had someone like Rhio in his mind. Mesothelioma devoured the outer lining of his inner organs but could never break his indomitable spirit. Adding years to his life and life to his years; beating the prognosis and baffling the doctors; Rhio lived for more than seven and a half years after the diagnosis. He had chosen to traverse the path not taken by many, in quest of wellness.
My mind came back from thoughts of Rhio to what my mom was saying. She was trying to convince me that in India we have a tradition of falling back upon indigenous sources of medication. She gave innumerable examples drawn from the hoary past, emphasizing how the Sages and Rishis had kept illnesses at bay by practicing Ayurveda and Yoga. The renowned physicians of yore like Charaka and Shushrutha had discovered medicinal plants and herbs that could cure various diseases including “Arbudha (Malignant tumors)”. Mom stressed, “Remember, Ayurveda means the knowledge of life, and to learn the art of living you have to go back to nature. Even experts in Western medicine admit that the physician only treats but it is nature that heals.” I couldn’t cross swords with her on that issue. Hadn’t Thoreau who wrote ‘The Walden Pond’ said something similar?
Mom went on, “Ayurveda or any alternative therapy has always maintained that any illness is caused by an imbalance between the Mind and the Spirit; between the Body and the Soul; between the Individual and the Nature around. They all advocate a daily routine of rising early, exercises, bathing, regulated sleep and a wholesome intake of food in keeping with the changing seasons”. Mom not only changed my perception to some extent but also persuaded grandma to try the road not often taken. Both of them went to Kotakkal in Kerala, home to experts in Ayurveda and stayed there for over a month. I would have accompanied them to satisfy my curiosity but for my studies. When they returned, grandma looked as benign as ever, while mom waxed eloquent on the remarkable effect of the treatment. She unpacked a whole array of medicines including precious oils that were given by the Ayurvedic practitioner. My grandma took her medicines, did a few simple Yogasanas and Pranayama (breathing exercises) on my mom’s persistence. She lived a little longer than what was foretold and never complained of pain or fatigue. I was not sure whether it was due to the alternative therapy or her own stoicism. Ultimately her wish was fulfilled. She passed away peacefully in her sleep.
Much water has flown under the bridge since grandma passed away. Now, I am certain about one thing-alternative therapies can be and have been integrated with more popular treatment procedures to alleviate the trauma experienced by cancer patients. Be it Yoga, Tai Chi, Reiki, Diet or other Holistic therapies, they have played a supporting role in reducing stress and inducing certain positivity in the patients’ outlook. Along with adjunctive therapies, someone like my mom who can stand by the family in crisis would be an additional blessing. I realize that in today’s scenario, when cancer is taking a huge toll on the world population, like an epidemic (with an astronomical 18000 fatalities in the United States from Mesothelioma alone!), we surely need all possible therapies that can complement the main line of treatment. But more than that, we need beacons of light like Rhio who can-with their undaunting courage, unwavering faith and steely determination-do things differently showing the world that there is hope yet. As I keep thinking about Rhio, Pausch’s words ring in my ears-“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand”.
Natural calamities like floods and earthquakes are normally beyond human control but effort should be directed towards control of consequential afflictions that can affect the community at large. Deforestation has greatly contributed to cycles of flood and famine across the globe. In addition, environmental pollution and global warming have grossly altered climatic conditions with disastrous results.
Every year, the remote north-eastern parts of India, particularly Assam and Orissa bore the brunt of heavy rains followed by floods, inundating vast areas of agricultural land. We would hear or read in newspapers innumerable tales of suffering caused by loss of precious lives and land during such times. But of-late various other parts of India are bearing the brunt of such catastrophic happenings. Casualties that are reported in the newspapers are just the tip of the iceberg. This is invariably followed by the outbreak of infectious diseases such as cholera, typhoid and gastroenteritis and occasionally polio. Emergency medical aid is rushed to these places, aerial surveys are made by politicians, tall promises are made, meager aid is offered to a few and once disaster moves to some other part of the country, the promises are swept under the carpet. This gets repeated ad nauseum. What is alarming is that though these calamities occur invariably during the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, there always seems to be a lacuna in planning and the nature of ‘preparedness’ to address such natural adversities. The question that all right thinking individuals should pose in this context should be twofold; 1-how best to counter these calamities and 2- how to restrict the spread of infectious diseases that could assume epidemic proportions if left uncontrolled.
A major problem encountered by people after the floods is the scarcity of potable water. Cholera followed by Typhoid is normally reported from water-logged areas which soon become fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes. Sometimes it becomes so difficult that people have no choice but to use the same infected water for their daily needs. Hence efforts must be multiplied to improve the general resistance of the population towards water-borne diseases. Certain basic precautions can go a long way in containing intestinal infections. This can be implemented in at least two directions. One, to make the water good enough for human consumption and two, to take effective steps to increase the resistance of the populace. Hygiene, both public and private has to be emphasized. As infant mortality is very high in such situations preventive measures in the form of educating the populace about proper hygiene must be undertaken. The role of voluntary organizations backed by international agencies such as the WHO is crucial here. One can also enlist the help of non-governmental organizations and local self-help groups to educate and enlighten the masses regarding the precautions to be taken in such emergencies and also effectively deal with the outbreak of severe infections. The role of the media such as the radio and television is of great significance as the latter hold a magnetic sway over the rural populace. Tele-Serials and documentaries also can be used to educate target groups. Street plays can be organized to effectively communicate health restoring and health enhancing messages. For instance villagers can be advised to follow simple preventive measures like boiling the water before drinking.
Volunteer groups comprising of conscientious medical personnel can be drafted to work in far flung places, where regular medical assistance could be made available. In addition, incentives of various kinds can be envisaged to involve these groups at such moments of crisis. Last but not the least the medical personnel involved in such disaster management should be made to realize that the statistics that they collect and present to organizations such as the state and the WHO will go a long way in planning the future course of action. In a country like India where the rural people consider diseases and disasters as the curse of God, doctors are also required to dissipate the superstitions or myths related with the occurrences of illness. In case of an epidemic that breaks out as an aftermath of natural calamity the public health professionals should be willing to work in dreary conditions bringing hope and strength to those struck by unwarranted tragedy. There is a need to instill courage and optimism in the minds of the victims as much as providing them with medical aid. After all soothing words can heal the searing pains.
The haunting lines of Coleridge’s famous poem can suitably be modified to describe the plight of the victims of the earthquake in Haiti (or for that matter, in Japan) -“rubble, rubble everywhere, not a shelter to seek!” No words could describe the unprecedented human suffering and tragedy that ensued. No wonder the great Philosopher Wittgenstein asserted, “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent!”, but in this case there was nobody to listen, let alone help; stuck in a claustrophobic hole were people- men, women and children, who had lost all hopes of communicating to the world outside the depths of the devastation. As the world would spin to the ‘widow-making, unchilding, unfathering deeps’ of despair (from Hopkins’ The Wreck of the Deutschland), through the slit holes of rubble would emerge these voices- faceless, nameless- that would cry for help and assistance. It was a time when the people struck by the tragedy discovered that technology could come to their rescue.
The catastrophe that hit Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements on Jan 12th, 2010, killed in its wake 230,000 people, injured 300,000 and left more than 1,000,000 homeless. In a crisis like this, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter sprang to the aid of the Haitian populace with an amazing alacrity. The citizens turned into reporters, posted information and images on these websites minutes after the disaster took place. There was an element of immediacy and urgency in these reports which reached the rest of the world in no time bringing home the plight and helplessness of the Haitian people. These were posted by those whose lives were oscillating between the extremities of personal disaster and public devastation; it was also a time when Haiti saw the glass wall between humanity and technology quietly disappear, allowing the human warmth to flood in. The social media responded immediately! Facebook created a page to share information about the earthquake which received 150 messages per minute. The Global Disaster Relief page so created continued to operate effectively even after the Haitian crisis was addressed. The Twitter community did everything possible to provide extensive initial coverage on the Haitian tragedy. CNN used ‘iReport’ to gather vital news and early images of the quake affected region. Even micro volunteering sites like ‘The Extraordinaries’ gave people an opportunity to use their smartphones to upload pictures of missing family members and disaster images.
Organisations such as ‘Catholic Relief Services’ used Facebook status updates to communicate with relief workers and volunteers far and wide. Oxfam International used their Facebook page to create the first fund-raising campaign just a few hours after the quake- an effort that helped mobilize 250,000 dollars. The American Red Cross was able to raise 20 million dollars within no time, thanks to its texting campaign. Thousands of Red Cross volunteers and hundreds of Red Crescent staff from countries around the world worked together to heal Haiti. Shelters were created for more than 1.5 million people, food supplies were provided to more than 400,000 people and Healthcare Units monitored the wellbeing of over 100,000 victims. Rescue workers used mobile media not only to save lives but also to drive fund-raising. The social media did everything to reaffirm faith in humanity; however, a murkier side of social networking started spreading the rumour that a donation of 1 dollar would be given to every member who sent a message about Haiti. Millions became new members overnight to claim the dollar and Facebook had to post a warning to quell the rumour. There were also reports of unscrupulous people who appealed to the public to contribute to the Haitian relief but quietly disappeared after pocketing the humanitarian aid!
This raises disturbing questions on spamming and hacking which can be easily done by some individuals in such fan groups. Computer security experts express dismay over ‘promiscuous friending’, a habit indulged in by Facebook users by accepting friend requests from all and sundry. This only allows computer criminals to take advantage of gullible people.
The social media managers have to structure unstructured information to prevent such crimes. A close monitoring would weed out spams and dubious messages. Some type of control and leadership are imperative to put things in place. Only then will such online activity become trust-worthy and the social media will continue to serve humanity devastated by natural calamities.
On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, way back in 1963, when Dr. Martin Luther King uttered in his historic speech, “I have a dream that one day on the Red Hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood” (1), he was giving expression to the aspirations of millions of people singed and scarred by racial discrimination. The words of Dr. King assume greater significance in this post-modern scenario where “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned” (2), where narrow national prejudices, impoverished ideologies, disruptive ideas of caste, creed and color are unleashed, causing untold misery to the ‘lesser mortals’. His egalitarian views that were meant to transform the world into a better place was astonishingly similar to those expressed by the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, who in his celebrated ‘Gitanjali’ prays that mankind should be able to walk in a space “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high” and “the world is not broken up into narrow fragments.” (3)
The resilience, the strength of character that King possessed was something that he inherited from his father, who was the pastor of a church in Atlanta. Senior King had never accepted the segregation system and always spoke of the need to challenge it. His mother often spoke of the humiliation the Blacks were subjected to and encouraged him to stand bravely against the evils of discrimination. Being a harbinger of social change, the young King denounced racism for causing estrangement and separating “not only bodies but minds and spirits.” (4) He never gave up on his efforts to lift America from the quagmire of regional and racial prejudices, for he believed that “beyond the calling of race or nation or creed is the vocation of sonship and brotherhood.” (5)
Dr. King became deeply involved in the Civil Rights campaign treading the Gandhian path of ‘ahimsa’ or non-violence. He strongly felt that the fissiparous forces could be countered only by a humane approach and not by violence. He urged people to identify and locate the good, hidden in the darker domains of human personality; to discover the divine in the human persona that would elevate them from stilted sectarian preoccupations and absurd ideas of racial supremacy to a higher realm of spirituality. Moral centrality was the common thread that lined his thoughts on various issues, be it poverty, racism or militarism.
Today, as we celebrate his life and all the great things he stood for, let us revive the values that make life worth living- love, compassion, faith, fraternity, honesty and human bonding. Or else, we will be compelled to join Matthew Arnold who said-
“The world which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain.”(6)
References:
1. ‘I have a dream’ - speech by Martin Luther King, delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D. C.
2. W.B. Yeats, ‘The Second Coming’, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Norton, New York, 2006, PP.2036-37.
3. Rabindranath Tagore, ‘Gitanjali’, Song Offerings to God, Translated from the original Bengali by the poet, Shantiniketan, 1998.
4. Excerpted from Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community (New York: Harper & Brothers 1967).
5. Excerpted from "Loving Your Enemies," Nov. 17, 1957, a sermon given at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.
6. Matthew Arnold, ‘Dover Beach’, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Norton, New York, 2006, PP 1368-69.
This essay was one of the honorable mentions during Case Western Reserve University's annual MLK Essay contest (2012).
UCITE had an interesting discussion on grade inflation last week.
As some of you may know, beginning January 2003, the GPA cutoffs to achieve honors were raised to 3.56 (cum laude), 3.75 (magna cum laude), and 3.88 (summa cum laude) so that only 35% of students would be eligible for honors. (The earlier values were 3.20, 3.50, and 3.80 respectively.) This measure was taken because the number of people who were graduating with honors had risen steadily over the years.
Is this an example of grade inflation, by which it is meant that grades have risen without a corresponding increase in real learning? Or are there more benign causes, such as that we getting better prepared and more able students now, or our teaching methods have improved. Another important issue is whether Case's experience of rising grades is part of a national trend or an exception.
The question of what causes changes in average grades (both locally and nationally) is a topic that generates a great deal of passion, as do the various suggestions for what steps should be taken to deal with the issue. It is important to realize that although many faculty strongly feel that there is grade inflation and that it is a pernicious phenomenon that should be addressed, studies investigating this question give results that are decidedly mixed.
For example, a recent publication of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences asserts that grade inflation exists and should be dealt with by instituting measures such as mandatory 'curves', adding information such as class size and average grade for each course on the student's transcript, or reducing the number of gradations to three (honors, pass, fail), etc.
On the opposing side, Alfie Kohn argues that there is no evidence for grade inflation, that this is an issue that has been blown way out of proportion by those who have a very narrow concept of the role of grades in learning.
Striking the middle ground, an ERIC digest of the literature on this topic finds evidence that the situation is much more ambiguous, with evidence for and against the existence of inflation.
Those of you who are interested in how grades are distributued at Case according to gender or department, will be interested in this message I received recently from Dr. Julie Petek, who is Director of Degree Audit & Data Services in the Office of Undergraduate Studies.
She says:
In response to a recent UCITE discussion on grade inflation and a request for more information on current grade distributions here at Case, I've pulled together some undergraduate data from five recent semesters, and summary results are posted on our Undergraduate Studies web site here.
There are two links, and you will need to log in with your Case network ID to access the information. The first is a bar graph showing the percentage of grades by gender. The second is a large table breaking down the percentage of grades by term by course subject, and there is an overall grade distribution table at the end of the page. The overall percentage of As and Bs is 72.5% (n=91,836 grades). Descriptions of Subject Codes can be found on the Registrar's web site here. Cross-listed courses were not combined.
Each semester, UCITE joins with the Office of Greek Life to sponsor a faculty-student forum, where students and faculty get together to discuss an issue of common interest. This year's event focuses on the frequent miscommunication between faculty and students about what is expected from them in a course.
The forum will take place on Thursday, March 23 from 11:30-1:00pm in Clapp 108. (Clapp is the building opposite Rainbow Babies Hospital on Adelbert Road. You enter through the Hovorka Atrium and turn left.) The format will be interactive with questions posed to the panelists from members of the audience.
Faculty panel members :
Professor Bob Brown
Professor Dan Lacks
Professor Agata Exner
Student panel members
Laura Spratt
Sean Dee
Moderator: Jen Agnew
The forum is open to all. Lunch will be provided but you do NOT need to register. Simply turn up and enjoy the event!
Background to the topic:
Many students at Case report that the first time they get a good sense of what the professor expects from them in a course is when they take an exam, often with disastrous results. This leaves them feeling aggrieved and resentful.
Most professors will be aghast at this revelation. After all, they usually go to great lengths to create syllabuses that explain their expectations and give introductory overviews of the course outlining what the course will be all about. Instructors feel they repeatedly pepper their course with information about what is important and what is not. How can it be possible that students do not know what is expected of them?
What we have here is a failure to communicate. How can this state of affairs be overcome?
A closely related question is about responsibility for learning. Clearly both professors and students share the responsibility for this. But what is not so clear is how this responsibility should be distributed. What are reasonable expectations for the professor to have of the students and what are reasonable expectations for the students to have of the professor? And how can this division of responsibilities be clearly articulated so that each person is aware of what he or she must do to succeed and there is no confusion and misunderstanding.
At the faculty-student forum yesterday, the conversation got most animated when one faculty panel member said that it would not be a good thing if everyone got an A in a course because that would mean that the course was too easy and the grade would not mean much. Hence he had a policy that ensured that about 30-40% of students got As and another 30-40% got Bs. He said that if all the students at Case graduated with GPA 4.0, then employers might not think much of Case and this would hurt the students. He said that the standards should be such that everyone getting As would not occur.
Some students disagreed They felt that the benchmarks should be set in advance and if all students met the criteria, then they should get that grade, irrespective of how many others also achieved. They asked why should a student get a low grade just because he or she happened to enroll in a class with a high-achieving group of students. Or conversely, why should that same student get a high grade simply from being with a lower achieving group? After all, it was the same student who had learned the same things.
Everyone agreed that there should not be a fixed quota of grades or grading according to a strict curve so that some students would fail no matter what. The debate really centered on whether there should be at least some informal limits on the number of high grades (As and Bs) awarded.
The discussion on faculty-student expectation mismatches got me thinking.
I post these two question in order to get some responses from readers that I can use with UCITE's programs
1. If a teacher is giving 100% effort to teaching a course, what would that look like? In other words, what would that teacher's behavior be like that would make you (as a student) say "S/he is really committed to teaching this course."
2. If a student is giving 100% effort towards a course, what would that look like? In other words, what would a student's behavior be like that would make you (as a teacher or fellow student) say "S/he is really committed to learning in this course."
Obviously, students may have a sharper perspective on the first question and teachers on the second but don't feel restricted. We have all been teachers and students in some form, so feel free to answer either one or both.
The more concrete the suggestions, the more helpful they are. A suggestion like "The teacher grades and returns papers promptly" is more useful as a marker than "The teacher really cares". And "The student never misses class" is more helpful as a marker than "The student is enthusiastic."
One of the things that I have been struggling with as an instructor is how to avoid correcting students' writing and instead help them become better writers. In the former case, the instructor works on the written product, editing, polishing, making changes, etc., while in the latter case, the instructor tries to help students develop the skills to do all those things themselves.
The former mode is easier to do, which is why I have fallen into the trap of doing it in the past. The latter mode seems to me to be much more beneficial for the student in the long run but I am not sure how to do it. Here is one idea I am going to try in the fall with my SAGES university seminar course.
This idea stems from the fact that I feel that getting a good structure for a paper is key to good writing. In other words, how do the ideas in the paper "flow." If you ask people what each paragraph in an article or paper or essay is about, they will tend to tell you what each paragraph says. i.e., they will describe its contents.
But this time, I am going to number each paragraph in the essay and also ask students to say in one sentence what the paragraph does. i.e., what is its role in the essay. Students should be able to say things like "provides evidence for the author's first main reason", "summarizes an opposing view", "provides statistical data to support a point", "uses and analogy to clarify the idea in the previous paragraph", etc.
So if as a class we are going to read an essay and there are fifteen of us in a class, student 1 will be responsible for paragraphs 1,16,31,46, etc; student 2 for paragraphs 2,17,32,47, etc. and so on. Then at the beginning of the discussion of the paper, we will go around the class and each person will say what each paragraph says and what it does. At the end, we should all have a quick synopsis of the essay, both in terms of content and structure.
Students, when writing their own essays, will also have to provide a "what it does" sentence for each paragraph in their essay. I am hoping that this exercise will make students more self-conscious about the structure of their own writing and better able to critique the writing of others.
I got this idea from the book Engaging Ideas by John C. Bean (chapter 8, p. 138).
First let's have On This Mountain, the piece just done at the New Voices @ CUA Festival in D.C. (This isn't that performance, but the premiere). It's for soprano, flute, oboe and piano
And while we're on religion, here's a religious piece of quite a different bent: Ritual for the Mother, for women's voices with flute and harp. Not sure I should be spreading paganism, but it is what it is.
And Huntress for orchestra is also a bit Old time Religion too, I'm afraid.
A new collection has been loaded of Dr. Rolfe Petschek collected papers, from 1970-2010. This collection contains various publication authored or co-authored by Dr. Petschek. New publications will be added on an annual basis.
Do submit a separate ILLiad request form for each individual loan or copy you need. We cannot provide multiple items on a single transaction due to the unnecessary processing and searching difficulties this creates, and because of the reasonable expectations of potential lenders. Where copies of articles and book chapters are involved, this also raises copyright issues. Don't submit duplicate requests for the same loan or copy. If you have submitted a request and need to make a change, you can usually edit it if you catch it shortly afterwards. If ILL staff have already processed a request that you can no longer edit, please contact us by phone or e-mail to make any corrections or additions you think need to be included. Also, you may contact us regarding the status of an existing active request, rather than just submitting another transaction for the same material.
Do seek out bookstore copies of new, used, or rentable textbooks for your coursework. If they have run out of copies for your class, consider inquiring whether they have more on order. You can always check for the availability of such titles in OhioLINK as well, and you may be able to borrow a copy that way at least to hold you over for a good while. With extended renewals possible on these loans, you may even be set for a good portion of the academic term. Don't rely on interlibrary loan services to fill your textbook requirements for the entire semester period. We can help supplement your needs up to a reasonable point, but should not have to act as a substitute for obtaining your own personal copies. Unfortunately, indefinite numbers of copies of the same title and edition cannot be assumed to be available from the pool of potential lender libraries. Local users from other universities and colleges where equivalent courses are also taught may have the same idea, and will have secured all the copies held at their own academic libraries. Even if we are able to borrow a textbook from another location, there is always the possibility that a lender's local patron will request for it to be recalled at some point in the term for their own use.
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Hope these additional quick reminders will help you out with making better use of ILLiad and your interlibrary loan services.
On February 8, a researcher from Washington, D.C., will present her findings about the life of Elsa Leichter, an MSASS alum and Austrian refugee social worker whose American social work career started in Cleveland during WWII.
Researcher Barbara Reiterer, a Doctoral Fellow in Residence at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., will discuss how Leichter found refuge as a social worker. The lecture, entitled, Elsa Leichter's Second Chance: Interruptions and Continuities in a Refugee Social Worker's Transatlantic Career, will be held on February 8 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 320 at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. Reiterer's talk is free and open to the public.
During World War II, American social work provided a professional refuge for Leichter, a Jewish exile from Vienna who came to the United States on the eve of World War II. Reiterer's research provides a history of Austrian and American social work in the mid-twentieth century and the experiences of Jewish women exiles in the United States.
Even though a cursory glance at Leichter’s biography may yield a neat and smooth narrative, interruptions complicated her life. After serving 12 years as a social worker for the Vienna city municipality, she had to start over when she came to the U.S. It was in Cleveland where she received her "big second chance," as she repeatedly said. Reiterer's discussion of Leichter will trace her complex, often difficult career path, for which her time at the Mandel School played a central role.
Leichter received her degree in social work from Case Western Reserve University in 1942. She went on to work for the Jewish Family Service in New York City where she earned distinction in the field of family therapy. Starting in the 1970s, she traveled to Europe to give lectures and workshops, thus contributing to the transatlantic circulation of knowledge in the applied social sciences. She died in 1997 at the age of 92.
A spoonful of medicine goes down a lot easier if there is a dog or cat around. Having pets is helpful for women living with HIV/AIDS and managing their chronic illness, according to a new study from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.
“We think this finding about pets can apply to women managing other chronic illnesses,” said Allison R. Webel, instructor of nursing and lead author of the article, “The Relationship Between Social Roles and Self-Management Behavior in Women Living with HIV/AIDS,” which appears in the online journal Women’s Health Issues.
(To see a video, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl6XcIZT2wI.)
Webel set out to better understand how women manage their HIV/AIDS and stay on track to take their medications, follow doctors’ orders and live healthy lifestyles. She conducted 12 focus groups with 48 women to find out what they did to stay healthy. The women had an average age of 42, about 90 percent had children, and more than half were single.
During the focus groups, six predominant social roles emerged that helped and hindered these women in managing their illness: pet owner, mother/grandmother, faith believer, advocate, stigmatized patient, and employee. All roles had a positive impact except stigmatized patient, which prevented women from revealing their illness and seeking out appropriate supports.
“Much information is available about the impact of work and family roles, but little is known about other social roles that women assume,” Webel said.
Being a pet owner was an important surprise, added Webel, who collaborated with co-author Patricia Higgins, a professor of nursing at Case Western Reserve University.
“Pets—primarily dogs—gave these women a sense of support and pleasure,” Webel said.
When discussing the effect their pets have on their lives, the women weighed in. “She’s going to be right there when I’m hurting,” a cat owner said. Another said: “Dogs know when you’re in a bad mood…she knows that I’m sick, and everywhere I go, she goes. She wants to protect me.”
The human and animal bond in healing and therapy is being recognized, Webel said, as more animals are visiting nursing homes to connect to people with dementia or hospitals to visit children with long hospital stays.
Being a pet owner is just one social aspect of these women’s lives. “We found the social context in which this self-management happens is important,” Webel said.
Another strong role to emerge was advocate. Participants wanted to give back and help stop others from engaging in activities that might make them sick, the researchers report.
While roles as mothers and workers are well documented, “less-defined social roles also have a positive impact on self-management of their chronic illness,” Webel said.
For a broadcast-quality version of the video without graphics, contact Mary Gerity at mary.gerity@case.edu. To set up an interview, contact Susan Griffith at susan.griffith@case.edu.
Hi! Welcome to a new blog about using RefWorks 2.0 at Case Western Reserve University. Here I will post announcements, know issues with the software, training options, and more.
Remember to take a look at my guide for using RefWorks at Case.
All questions about RefWorks can be sent to me at refworks@case.edu.
Fuel Pressure
Airlines spent 37% more on jet fuel in 2011 than in 2010, but still turned a profit. This was due to the industry's success in passing along higher costs as surcharges and outright airfare increases. A recent Continental/United RT from Cleveland to London Heathrow via Newark is an example. The itinerary was advertised at $580, but when taxes, fees, and surcharges were added, the price tag reached $870. Airfares themselves were up 15-20% in 2011.
Low-Cost Destinations
Inexpensive destinations from Cleveland still include Baltimore-Washington (BWI) and Chicago-O'Hare (ORD). Roundtrips to these airports can be as low as $130 including tax. Florida destinations also are bargains. Pre-tax RT fares on Continental-United to Orlando (MCO)begin at $218. Fort Lauderdale (FLL), an alternate destination to the Miami airport, has some February-March flights starting at $228 plus taxes and fees.
Changing Changes
There was a time when airlines adjusted schedules and equipment once per quarter. Now changes occur more frequently. For example, the Cleveland-San Francisco (SFO) route on weekdays is adjusting from one 125-passenger 737-700 aircraft per day to two 124-passenger A319s to two larger 737s all in the span of just two months. Also, watch for daily frequency changes on the popular Cleveland - Chicago-O'Hare route. Frequency goes from a maximum of 11 weekday flights to as few as two per day on the weekends.
• Whittlesey, Charles W. Early history of Cleveland, Ohio, including papers and other matter relating to the adjacent country. AVAILABLE ON GOOGLE BOOKS
• The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: http://ech.cwru.edu/
• Whittlesey, Charles W. Early history of Cleveland, Ohio, including papers and other matter relating to the adjacent country. AVAILABLE ON GOOGLE BOOKS
Time to register for Spring 2012 CaseLearns New Media Workshops! CaseLearns returns with a full lineup of New Media workshops with offerings from Digital Images & Digital Video to Desktop Publishing & Presentation Design.
This semester many of the workshops will take place in the new ACR (Active Collaboration Room), the completely remodeled KSL 215 classroom with high-tech features and comfortable new furniture. Another new offering is a series of workshops, "Tell Me About Technology." Part demonstration and part discussion, these one-hour workshops take place each Thursday on a variety of different topics ranging from e-books to Facebook!
Faculty who are interested in having students incorporate New Media projects into their courses are encouraged to contact the library's Creative New Media Officer Jared Bendis (jared.bendis@case.edu) He'll consult on project parameters, arrange for training sessions, and help faculty learn how best to take advantage of resources such as the Freedman Center and the Software Center.
Registration is required for CaseLearns, where classes continue to be posted. Please check back for new classes, and read more about the program and the Attendance Policy. We'll see you in a class, soon!
People with mental illness have gotten a bad rap in past research studies, being labeled the group of people with the highest return rates to prison. But a researcher from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University counters those findings in a new study—demonstrating that inmates with severe mental illnesses alone actually have lower rates of recidivism than those with substance abuse issues or no mental or substance abuse issues.
Past studies compared inmates with severe mental illnesses, like schizophrenia and severe affective disorders, with a general population of released inmates and found that those with mental illnesses had higher recidivism rates.
The study’s principal investigator Amy B. Wilson, assistant professor of social work at Case Western Reserve, said the researchers took a novel approach to studying recidivism among released inmates from one of the country’s largest jail systems (Philadelphia) and separated inmates into four categories: those with severe mental illnesses, those with a substance abuse problem, those with dual problems of mental illness and substance abuse, and those with neither problem.
When looking at individual groups, those with mental illnesses alone fared better—even compared against those with no mental or substance abuse issues.
The findings from the study, “Examining the impact of mental illness and substance use on recidivism in a county jail,” were reported in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry.
The researchers looked at recidivism rates for 20,112 inmates admitted to the Philadelphia jail system in 2003 and then tracked their return rates over the next four years. Using data from Philadelphia’s behavioral health system on Medicaid records and from the Philadelphia Country’s jail system on admission, release and demographic information, the researchers were able to categorize the individuals into the four groups and follow their readmissions.
Of those readmitted to jail, 32 percent took place in the first year, increased to 45 percent by year two, 54 percent by year three, and 60 percent by year four.
At the end of four years, 54 percent of those with severe mental illness returned to jail, while 66 percent of those with substance abuse problems did, 68 percent of those with co-occurring issues, and 60 percent of those with no diagnosis did.
Each year of the study, those with severe mental illnesses had lower return rates than those in the other three groups.
Wilson says further study is needed, but she speculates that the services offered to those with mental illness alone upon release are more readily available than social services for individuals with dual problems or substance abuse. But much is yet to be learned about how mental illness can protect the inmates from further recidivism, Wilson said.
“These findings point to a possible need for more integrated services for mental and substance abuse, and more attention being paid generally to the ways that substance abuse involvement among people with serious mental illness complicates these individuals involvement with the criminal justice system” Wilson explains.
Other contributors are: Jeffrey Draine from Temple University, Trevor Hadley of University of Pennsylvania, Steve Metraux of University of the Sciences of Philadelphia, and Arthur Evans from the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health.
I have decided to take up the offer to move to Freethought Blogs. The change will take effect immediately and my new site is already up here. I reposted yesterday's Santorum post over there to get a feel of how to use the new platform. I will continue to maintain this site with all its archives and will monitor it to clear up the spam and respond to any questions and comments that warrant them but new posts will only appear over at the new site.
Thanks to all who responded to my request for comments on the move. It was gratifying to hear the messages of support and that most of you felt that you would go to the new site. I was surprised at the number of people who said that the present site had a sense of intimacy and coziness that they feared might get lost at FTB. One does not immediately think of the internet as an intimate place but I understand what they are saying. Over time, a community of people gets created and I feel that I 'know' many people who comment here though I have never met them and all that I know about them is the name and URL they choose to provide.
People have warned me about possible trolls at the new location. I think of internet trolls as commenters who deliberately try to deflect a discussion to irrelevant issues or start a flame war or otherwise disrupt a discussion. I have not had to deal with that problem here, mainly because the readers here seem to be able to keep things on track and ignore irrelevancies. It will be interesting to see what the new site will bring.
What I have had to spend a lot of time on is spam. Every day I get hundreds of spam comments, a few of which get past the system's filters and appear on the site. Several times I day I go in and clean them out, so that the real comments don't get lost in the clutter. More time consuming is going into the spam folder and rescuing and publishing real comments that the filter has mistakenly identified as spam. In the new system, you can freely post comments as here except that I have chosen the option that the first time someone posts a comment, I will need to authorize it but after that there is no restriction and your comments should appear immediately. Sorry about that inconvenience but that should reduce the spam problem.
I would like to express my special thanks to Norm Nason, editor of the excellent web magazine Machines Like Us, and a person of many artistic talents whose wide variety of work can be seen here, for designing the nifty new banner that graces my new site.
I must also give a lot of thanks to Jeremy Smith, the system administrator here, who has been immensely supportive in keeping the system going and helping me out when necessary when I have done something stupid, such as banning myself from my own site, if you can believe it. (I have never banned anyone but the system has filters that identify most spam and can ban the more egregious offenders and on occasion I have accidentally triggered it.) I must thank Jeremy, Heidi Cool, and Vincenzo who commented on my first few posts and encouraged me to keep going. But they should not be blamed for the quality of the roughly two million words that have subsequently emerged!
I also have to thank Case Western Reserve University for creating this blogging platform without which I might never have had the nerve to start blogging. This platform made it so easy that I took the plunge on January 26th, 2005 and I will mark the seventh anniversary of blogging this month. The university has never once interfered with anything that I have posted, although I have taken some pretty controversial positions on occasion. Colleagues have on occasion asked me if I received any push back from the university administration for things I said and have been surprised when I reply that no one has given even the remotest suggestion that I tone things down. Universities should be the most dedicated defenders of free speech but we know that in these days, with so much pressure from external sources such as alumni and funders, many are wary of stepping on toes. Hence it reflects great credit to CWRU that they have left me completely alone to write what I wish. It is not that they don't know this blog exists because I know that I am read quite widely on campus.
New book urges universities to address lack of women’s leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics leadership positions
News Release: Wednesday, January 11, 2012
CLEVELAND – The numbers of female students and PhD recipients in science, technology, engineering and math has grown in recent years, as the National Science Foundation has encouraged efforts to attract more women to enter the STEM fields. Still, the advancement of women faculty in these areas hasn’t increased at the same rate, especially in leadership positions.
Researchers Diana Bilimoria and Xiangfen Liang examine the phenomenon known as the “leaky pipeline” – and the outcomes of the recent steps that leading universities are taking to reduce the leaks – in their newly published book, Gender Equity in Science and Engineering: Advancing Change in Higher Education.
Bilimoria is a professor of Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. Her research focuses on gender and diversity in governance and leadership.
Liang is an independent researcher and consultant in higher education and organizational behavior. Previously, Liang was a senior research associate at the Weatherhead School.
“Universities are trying many different things, and this book is a compendium of the innovative practices that universities can undertake to increase inclusion and diversify their work forces,” Bilimoria said. “The ideal worker in science and engineering is someone who is perceived as being devoted to scientific work to the exclusion of other responsibilities, and that sometimes can be an added challenge for women.”
The book takes a detailed, fresh look at the pace of gender equity, particularly in science and engineering. Bilimoria and Liang explain a variety of diversity and inclusion initiatives and their institutional outcomes. They describe transformational actions undertaken at the level of the whole university (e.g., faculty policy changes), at the level of schools and departments (e.g., leadership development of deans and chairs), and at the level of individual faculty (e.g., providing mentors for pre-tenure faculty).
The researchers focused on 19 universities and colleges that received funding from the National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE Institutional Transformation program (nsf.gov/advance). The authors note that the ADVANCE initiative has generated significant improvements.
The most prominent improvements observed were consistent increases in the proportions of women faculty in science and engineering fields; more systemic attention to salary distributions and resource equity among faculty, some increases in the inclusion of women in senior leadership positions, and improvements in specific facets of the academic workplace culture and climate. The authors noted increased campus-wide awareness of gender issues, improved work-life integration, an increased faculty voice provided to women, and improved overall recognition of the factors leading to faculty success and retention at these universities.
However, their research finds that issues remain regarding gender equity and inclusion outcomes, particularly the challenge of unsupportive workplace climates and traditional career advancement systems at the nation’s research universities. According to 2011 NSF data, among science and engineering doctorate holders with academic faculty positions in four-year colleges and universities, females remain significantly less likely than males to be found in full professor positions.
Bilimoria and Liang recommend that gender equity data be more completely tracked and research findings shared regularly among decision makers, such as deans, department chairs, faculty search committees, and promotion and tenure committees.
“This book is a product of a 10-year professional journey” Bilimoria said. “It provides a comprehensive, stand-alone description of successful approaches to increase the recruitment, advancement and retention of women faculty throughout the academic career pipeline.”
Research for Gender Equity in Science and Engineering was supported by the NSF. The book, which debuts in January 2012, is published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Entrepreneurs and students benefit from collaboration
News Release: Tuesday, January 10, 2012
CLEVELAND – Case Western Reserve University law student Joel Simon has been working closely with some of Northeast Ohio’s most determined entrepreneurs. At Shaker LaunchHouse, a regional incubator, the people he meets have big ideas – and important legal questions.
Simon, who expects to graduate with a law degree in May, now as a 25-year-old student offers background information to startups of all kinds on patent, copyright and trademark issues. He’s learning first-hand the role intellectual property plays in the development and growth of startup companies. His recent work is part of an experiential learning opportunity that has served as a precursor to a intellectual property law clinic that is beginning in January.
“There’s a barrier to entry for any startup,” Simon said. “Not every good idea is going to work. If there is some way to make them have a better chance, I think that’s a wonderful thing.”
Simon is one of the two students participating this semester in the Intellectual Property Entrepreneurship Clinic at the school’s Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic Center. They’ll work under the supervision of new adjunct faculty member Todd Behrens, a partner with the law firm Medley, Behrens & Lewis LLC. With Behrens’ guidance, students will draft patent applications and render patentability opinions, among other services.
“We want to start with small successes,” Behrens said. “So the idea is to start with two students and develop the program, and in coming academic years, we can expand and have more students involved.”
The clinic will provide free legal work to LaunchHouse clients, and students, in turn, will gain valuable experience that may help them as they enter an increasingly competitive job market.
“That experience can become a key point of differentiation,” said Craig Nard, Tom J.E. and Bette Lou Walker Professor of Law and director of the Center for Law, Technology & the Arts at the law school. “In addition to the student experience, the clinic is engaging the community and offering an important service to local companies, which are at a stage in their development when they need capable legal counsel, particularly with respect to intellectual property.”
Among the benefits to LaunchHouse clients is substantial cost savings. Legal fees associated with drafting and filing a patent application, for example, often run between $10,000 and $20,000.
“Case Western Reserve University Law School involvement has been a great asset to LaunchHouse,” said Todd Goldstein, a founder and managing partner of LaunchHouse, which opened in June. “We’re very excited about this opportunity. The students and the young companies working together can learn a lot about entrepreneurship, education and innovation.”
Learn more about Case Western Reserve School of Law’s unique experiential learning initiatives at law.case.edu/Academics/ExperientialLearning.aspx.
Learn more about Shaker LaunchHouse at launchhouse.com.
(Editors and reporters note: A high resolution photo showing law student Joel Simon outside of Shaker LaunchHouse is available upon request.)
(My latest book God vs. Darwin: The War Between Evolution and Creationism in the Classroom has just been released and is now available through the usual outlets. You can order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the publishers Rowman & Littlefield, and also through your local bookstores. For more on the book, see here. You can also listen to the podcast of the interview on WCPN 90.3 about the book.)
So far I have been simply describing what the Big Bang theory says without giving much of the theoretical background. But Einstein's General Theory of Relativity (like Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection) has had such a profound effect on our relationship with the rest of the universe that I feel obliged to give readers, at least for cultural purposes, a glimpse of what the theory is and why it is so powerful, even if it remains obscure in its details. So for the sake of greater completeness and for the benefit of those who want to know more, in this post and the next I will give some of the theoretical background to what I have been saying so far, and hope that even those who are averse to algebra will stick with me through it and get some of the flavor of how the theory works.
A word of caution, though. This is not my field so I cannot guarantee that this is error-free or state-of-the-art knowledge. My goal here is to give a simplified understanding of how the important field of cosmology operates. In order to provide a narrative I will largely ignore the fact that this is a field in which there are spirited debates and disagreements over many of the details. I strongly recommend reading more authoritative works by real scholars in the field for a more complete understanding of all the alternative points of view.
The basic paradigm that the field of cosmology operates under is Einstein's General Theory of Relativity which generates the Einstein Field Equations:
Rij - (1/2)Rgij = (8πG/c4)Tij - Λgij
Without worrying too much about what each individual term means, the main idea is that the terms on the left of the equal sign (Rij and R) represent the curvature of space while the terms on the right (Tij and Λ) represent the mass and energy in the universe that causes this curvature. The quantity Tij is called the stress-energy tensor and in it is contained all the information about how all the mass and the 'normal' energy (i.e., excluding dark energy) is distributed throughout all space. Λ is what is called the cosmological constant and determining its value that has been the source of all the excitement within the last two decades. The quantity gij is called the 'space-time metric' and defines how space and time are related. So the above equation represents the fundamental relationship between the mass-energy of the universe and the curvature of space.
G is the universal gravitational constant and c is the speed of light and since these are such fundamental and important quantities, they have been measured with great precision and are found to have the values G=6.67x10-11Nm2/kg2 and c=3x108m/s. (For the most up-to-date and comprehensive compilation of data, see the work of the Particle Data Group at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, which has a section on astrophysics and cosmology that contains a very useful data table.)
If we treat the universe on a large enough scale as if all the mass and energy is homogeneously spread out (like a uniform gas or liquid) and ignore the clumping on small scales that make up the stars and planets, the equation above simplifies considerably by mathematics standards, although it is still difficult to solve. In that case, Λ is related to the density of the energy (ρΛ) of the 'vacuum' by Λ=(8πG/c2)ρΛ, and it is this vacuum energy that is referred to as dark energy and is driving the accelerating expansion of the universe. The vacuum of space used to be considered as inert 'empty' space, but that is no longer the case.
The total energy density of the universe ρ is thus made up of what we might call matter density ρM (comprising regular matter such as protons, electrons and the like, plus electromagnetic energy and dark matter), and the energy density associated with dark energy. i.e., ρ=ρM+ρ&Lambda.
The critical density ρc that we encountered earlier and that determines the curvature and ultimate fate of the universe is something that we can calculate theoretically and is given by the expression ρc=3H2/8πG, where H is the Hubble constant (more about this and how it is measured in the next post). So &Omega=ρ/ρc, where Ω>1 gives us a positive curvature and a universe that will eventually stop expanding and start contracting, Ω<1 gives us an open universe that will expand forever, and Ω=1 gives us a flat universe that will also expand forever.
The results obtained from the WMAP satellite say that the density of our universe is currently exactly equal to the critical density thus making Ω=1.0, and is made up of 4.6% 'ordinary' matter and energy, 23.3% dark matter, and 72.1% dark energy. This means that our current best estimates are that ΩM=0.28 and ΩΛ=0.72.
Note that since we know the values of G and H (more on this in the next post), the value of the critical density ρc=3H2/8πG can be calculated and it works out to be 1.0x10-26kg/m3. This is an extremely small number reflecting the fact that the universe is mostly empty space. This highly dilute distribution is one major reason why it is not easy to directly detect things like dark matter and dark energy.
When it comes to calculating the total energy density of the universe, the dark energy is added up with the other energies from ordinary matter and dark matter. But unlike those other forms of energy, its effect on cosmic expansion is to push outwards and increase the rate of expansion of the universe, and not pull on it and slow it down.
In those particular inflationary models that assert that Ω will always equal 1.0 for all time, since ΩM gets less as the universe expands and gets more dilute, the value of ΩΛ must increase with time to keep Ω=1, so that the outward pressure will ultimately win out over the gravitational attraction. In this model, we live in essentially a runaway expanding universe, with everything moving away from everything else with increasingly rapid speeds.
In fact, these theories suggest that the universe is expanding so rapidly that galaxies are disappearing from sight over the far horizon so we will see less and less of them as time goes by. So if we had happened to come along a hundred billion or so years later than we did, the only things we would see in the night sky would be the merged result of own Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy, which are predicted to collide in the future. The sky would be really boring because the rest of the sky would be dark and people would have thought that there was nothing else in the universe. We would not have had the vast amounts of observational data that we have now that enable us to learn so much by making all these great inferences.
Lucky us!
Next: Measuring the universe.
POST SCRIPT: Mr. Deity has a better equation than Einstein's one
Bingo may be a popular activity in nursing homes, but MSASS Dean Grover Gilmore is seeing a lot more benefits that extend well beyond socializing.
According to Gilmore and other psychology researchers, the high-contrast, large bingo cards boost thinking and playing skills for people with cognitive difficulties and visual perception problems produced by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). The findings were reported in the journal Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition. Learn more
The North Dakota Department of Human Services has been calling upon Ohio's expertise in the implementation of evidence-based practices for people with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders since 2006. Today, outcomes from the department's data analyses show that the use of Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment has been significantly reducing crisis services, psychiatric hospitalizations, incarcerations, and more. ... This story features Ric Kruszynski, MSSA ('93), LISW, LICDC, director of substance abuse and mental illness consulting and training initiatives at the Mandel School's Center for Evidence-Based Practices. Kruszynski is a 1993 graduate of the Mandel School.
I joined Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio) in Fall 2009. In October 2009, the university involuntarily withdrew me on medical grounds.
In December 2009, the university told me that I could apply with a psychiatric clearance after being symptom-free for at least 6 months. (So, the earliest I could reapply was Fall 2010.)
In June 2010, I applied for readmission to the university but was denied on the grounds that I met my psychiatrist "only" 6 times. Subsequently, I filed a complaint of discrimination with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Cleveland.
In June 2011, I again applied for readmission. This time I was readmitted subject to the conditions that I continue psychiatric counselling and sign a release. I told OCR that these conditions constitute discrimination.
In October 2011, the complaint was ruled in my favour and the university removed the treatment conditions.
In a change that will improve the quality of service for users, Kelvin Smith Library is integrating reference and circulation services at the KSL Main Service Desk on January 17, coinciding with beginning with the Spring 2012 semester. Enhanced training for the Main Service Desk staff means that library staff will be able to answer most common questions. Questions that cannot be answered by the Main Service Desk staff will be referred to the librarian subject specialists or transferred to the 24x7 online chat services that the library continues to maintain.
These changes in service are based upon an extensive analysis of transaction records that tracked the most frequently asked questions at the Reference Desk, and the times of day during which help was sought. Many (if not most) research libraries have seen the number of walk-up transactions falling over the past ten years, and have been modifying their services accordingly. By reassigning Research Services Librarians (formerly known as reference or collection management librarians) from wait-for-walk-up to a more active form of service, KSL is now able to tailor our services for the benefit of the entire University community. Therefore, beginning this semester the librarians will:
actively increase their availability for appointments not only in KSL but in academic departments and other places of need on campus.
receive referrals by Main Service Desk staff to handle questions that require specialized assistance.
be available "on call," with at least one librarian scheduled from 11:00 am-5:00 pm Monday through Friday to provide quick assistance within KSL.
increase the opportunities to collaborate in and assist with faculty and student research through regular consultation in academic departments and in a new first floor consultation room created in KSL to meet one-on-one or with small groups.
offer increased instruction opportunities, such as greater availability to teach classes, to assist in assignment/project creation with instructors, and to be available by appointment to assist students.
increase their ability to attend academic department programs, seminars, and other events to proactively support collection development and research needs of faculty.
In addition, KSL will continue to provide a 24x7 online chat service through OhioLINK and through other online systems, including:
As a further improvement in research services, also on January 17, the library will introduce “KSL Summon,” a service that allows simple searching across the library’s collections of books, journals, and electronic resources, as well as the resources of OhioLINK. The search interface can be used in a straightforward “Google-like” mode, but also provides enhanced features to enable more complex searching. In either case, the search will enable the user, with a single click, to search the CWRU catalog and most of our electronic resources. The KSL Summon index also makes suggestions of more specific databases that may assist the user with in-depth research. KSL Summon will continue to grow throughout the semester as additional resources are indexed.
As Kelvin Smith Library is implementing additional assessment and opportunities for user feedback as part of an ongoing effort to improve the library’s services, users are invited share questions and comments with Brian Gray, KSL Team Leader for Research Services, at bcg8@case.edu or 216-368-8685.
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The North Dakota Department of Human Services has been calling upon Ohio's expertise in the implementation of evidence-based practices for people with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders since 2006. Today, outcomes from the department's data analyses show that the use of Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment has been significantly reducing crisis services, psychiatric hospitalizations, incarcerations, and more. ... This story features Ric Kruszynski, MSSA ('93), LISW, LICDC, director of substance abuse and mental illness consulting and training initiatives at the Mandel School's Center for Evidence-Based Practices. Kruszynski is a 1993 graduate of the Mandel School.