Purdue News Roundup
Purdue News Roundup
The Oct. 20 edition of Business Week magazine lists Krannert's executive master's programs among the top 20 in the country. Business Week polled a combination of human resource managers and business school deans and administrators. The listing notes Krannert's use of the Internet and the inclusion of an international student trip as important features of the program.
A Krannert degree is also a value. At $33,000 for a two- to three-year advanced degree, the Krannert executive master's tuition was among the lowest of the top 20 business schools singled out in the survey. No other Indiana schools were listed among the top executive master's programs. But Indiana University was included among the global top 20 business schools in the nondegree study category.
Krannert also fared well in the ninth edition of "Which MBA?" The publication is a self-described student guide to the world's best graduate business school programs. The survey, completed by students and recent graduates of 115 business schools worldwide, is administered by The Economist magazine. In the guide, survey respondents rank Krannert ninth for career service offerings, 14th for administrative backup and facilities, 16th for the quality of the student body, 19th for support of women and minorities, and 25th for program content. Indiana University ranked 17th for career service offerings and tied with Purdue for program content.
"I am pleased that Krannert's executive master's program is recognized as one of the nation's premier programs for practicing managers," said Dennis J. Weidenaar, dean of the Krannert School of Management. "I also am delighted that the publishers of guide books for prospective master's students perceive Krannert as a high-quality business school."
There are 337 students enrolled in the traditional graduate programs at Krannert and 239 enrolled in the executive master's programs.
CONTACT: Weidenaar, (765) 494-4366; e-mail, weidend@mgmt.purdue.edu
The grant will help fund the "Faculty for the Future -- Engineering and Science" program. The program's goal is to increase the number of African-American, Hispanic, Native American and female students who pursue academic careers in computer science, engineering or physics, said Dwight E. Lewis, coordinator of minority programs for the Graduate School and program director.
The program will include aggressive recruiting through an undergraduate visitation program similar to Purdue's Historically Black Institution Visitation Program, and individual campus visits for prospective graduate students. The grant also will fund undergraduate research internships with a faculty mentor and fellowship awards for students beginning their doctoral studies.
A speaker series will offer a focal point for networking of graduate and undergraduate women and minority students on campus, and there will be a mentoring effort. In addition, the program will offer recruitment incentives for graduate students such as forgivable loans and developmental funds.
Lewis and Ron Steuterman of the University Development Office presented the proposal to the GE Fund Committee. "We highlighted Purdue's successful 10-year track record in minority graduate programs as well as the success in attracting undergraduate women and minority students to the Schools of Engineering," Lewis said. "We stressed the achievements of the Historically Black Institution Visitation Program, and they were a decisive factor in securing the grant. This record of accomplishments impressed the committee with the level of commitment by Purdue to increasing the opportunities for minority students to pursue both graduate and undergraduate studies."
The Historically Black Institution Visitation program provides an opportunity for outstanding minority undergraduate students to visit Purdue's campus, meet with faculty, administrators and graduate students, and to consider applying for graduate study at Purdue. Ninety-one students recruited through the program have completed graduate studies since it began in 1988, and eight have completed doctorates.
Purdue will contribute approximately $1.5 million toward the support of the GE Fund students in the form of tuition and fee remissions, guaranteed positions as teaching or research assistants, summer support and stipend supplements. Twelve graduate students and 30 undergraduates are expected to benefit directly during the three years.
Warren Stevenson, associate dean of the Schools of Engineering, said: "As U.S. society becomes more diverse, it is important that all of the professions, including engineering, reflect that diversity. It is also clear that the faculty in an engineering school such as Purdue must have women and minority members who can serve as role models and mentors if the diversity of the student body is to grow.
"The need is especially great in the case of minorities, since the number interested in pursuing a Ph.D. as the basis for an academic career is very low. For example, from 1977 to 1994 only 18 Ph.D.s were awarded to minorities in engineering at Purdue. Nevertheless, Purdue ranks second in the Big Ten in this category.
"With the availability of the GE Fund Faculty for the Future Fellowships, we hope to increase the total number of minority students who receive a Ph.D. and, most importantly, encourage many of these to choose a faculty position following graduation."
Marion Blalock, senior program manager of freshman engineering, Michael Forman, associate dean in the School of Science, and Stevenson will be members of the advisory committee for the grant.
CONTACTS: Lewis, (765) 494-0945; e-mail, delewis@grad.purdue.edu
Stevenson, (765) 494-5340; e-mail, stevensw@ecn.purdue.edu
The free science show features demonstrations for children and adults on various topics in physics. Four different 20-minute shows will run simultaneously in Rooms 112, 114, 203 and 223. Each show will be repeated four times, with a 10-minute break between each. Show titles are "Fire and Ice," "Lots of Lightning," "Magic Mechanics" and "Color Carnival."
Lafayette-area high school students and their physics teachers -- Roy Applegate from Harrison and Stan Polstra from Lafayette Jefferson -- will join Purdue physics students and faculty in giving the demonstrations.
"We are very excited about having their participation, both to increase our involvement with the community and to let kids see that it's not just us graybeards who have fun with physics," said Steve Durbin, associate professor of physics at Purdue and one of the organizers of the event.
Durbin said the audience members will be much closer to the action than they have been in past years, when the Physics FunFest was held on the stage in Purdue's Elliott Hall of Music.
CONTACT: Durbin, (765) 494-6426; e-mail, durbin@physics.purdue.edu
The display is the only one scheduled in Indiana during 1997, said Helen N. Wood, program services adviser for the union and display coordinator. "We are eager to play host to this poignant exhibit next month," Wood said. "The panels are a moving tribute to the tens of thousands of people who have died from AIDS."
Among the 904 panels from The Names Project Quilt that will be on display will be those commemorating Indiana AIDS victims Ryan White and Amy Sloan. The entire Quilt project includes more than 42,000 panels from all 50 states and 40 foreign countries. The display is being sponsored by the Purdue Quilt Coalition, a student organization.
The display will be open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 17 and 18.
The idea of bringing the quilt to campus was conceived by the Purdue Student Union Board. "We wanted to make people aware that no one is immune from the disease," said Cindy Harms, president of the Purdue Quilt Coalition. "The fastest-growing segment of newly infected people are 18- to-24 year-old females."
A series of lectures sponsored by the Purdue University School of Liberal Arts in conjunction with the quilt display is aimed at increasing awareness about the effects of AIDS and HIV on society.
The lunch-hour brown bag talks are free. Persons are invited to bring their own lunch; coffee and tea will be provided. The lectures are:
People interested in creating panels for the AIDS Memorial Quilt can attend workshops Nov. 1, 3 and 4 in Room 231, Matthews Hall. More information about the workshops is available from Jeannie Navarre, (765) 494-8356.
The quilt began in San Francisco when Cleve Jones, a longtime San Francisco gay rights activist, searched for a way to make people understand the overwhelming loss and frustration affecting him and so many of his friends.
In June 1987, Jones spray-painted his friend's name, Marvin Feldman, onto a piece of cloth approximately the size of a grave. Friends, acquaintances and strangers joined the effort by making panels of their own. Soon, thousands of people across the United States and around the world were adding names and expressing their emotions by creating hand-made memorials for the loved ones they had lost to AIDS.
The Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. In 1990, "Common Threads," a documentary film about the quilt, won an Academy Award.
More information about The Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is available at the foundation's web site: http://www.aidsquilt.org or by contacting the local display organizers at quilt@pmu.purdue.edu or (765) 494-8908.
CONTACTS: Wood, (765) 494-8907; e-mail, hnwood@pmu.purdue.edu
Jeffrey L. Sterrett, marketing coordinator, Purdue Memorial Union, (765) 494-8974,
e-mail, jlsterrett@pmu.purdue.edu
Joan Marshall, associate dean for administration, (765) 494-3663.
Drilling will not cause any permanent environmental damage, said Jon Harbor, associate professor in Purdue's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
In a joint venture between the parks department and Purdue, researchers will drill a core to the bottom of the bog. They then will use radiocarbon measurements to date preserved plant and animal remains found in the core. Celery Bog Fund money also will pay a doctoral student to help the researchers analyze the core.
"This core will provide us with fossil plant material from the recent past all the way back to the first days of the marsh, perhaps as early as 14,000 years ago," said Anthony Swinehart, project co-director and curator of the Arthur and Kriebel Herbaria at Purdue. "Students will sift through core sections, pulling out plant and animal remains preserved in the peat. The Purdue herbarium is the second largest plant collection in Indiana, and it will be an invaluable resource to help identify the fossils.
"Working on a project like this is a rare opportunity for students."
West Lafayette then can use the information unearthed by faculty and students as a blueprint for replanting the wetland areas that had been drained and farmed during the first part of this century. Emigrants from northern Holland grew celery, onions, carrots, tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, peas and cabbage for more than 80 area grocers, until farmers abandoned the bog area in the 1960s.
"We would like to restore the wetland to its historical condition," said Joe Payne, West Lafayette Parks and Recreation superintendent. "And this work also will provide important information that can be used in the planned Celery Bog Nature Center."
A preserved section of the core will be displayed at the nature center, along with exhibits describing the environmental history of the marsh.
"There is a popular misconception that Celery Bog has only been a wetland for about 30 years, since the end of agriculture at the site," said Harbor, who co-directs the project with Swinehart. "This project should provide new information on the environmental history of Tippecanoe County since the last glaciation and should enhance understanding that the wetland has been in place for many thousands of years."
When work starts Oct. 29, a small, all-terrain coring vehicle will roll to the center of the bog. The drilling crew will carefully poke a 4-inch diameter coring pipe nearly 40 feet down to the bottom of the marsh. The core they bring up will be turned over to Harbor and Swinehart, who will oversee the research.
The researchers expect to find a good record of past plant life because bog soils are generally oxygen-free and preserve plant material from bacterial breakdown, Swinehart said. Plant remains that sit long enough on bog soils are replaced by minerals and become true fossils. However, Swinehart expects to find plant material from Celery Bog in a state he classifies as "subfossil," plant or animal material that's on its way to becoming a fossil, but which isn't yet mineralized.
After each bit has been analyzed and cataloged, Swinehart will add it to a growing collection of subfossils in the Kriebel Herbarium. Then future Purdue students and scientists studying ancient flora and fauna can use the Celery Bog samples as they research other sites.
CONTACTS: Swinehart, (765) 494-4623; e-mail, swinehart@btny.purdue.edu; Harbor, (765) 494-9610; e-mail, jharbor@geo.purdue.edu; Payne, (765) 775-5110
"The week gives campuses an opportunity to showcase healthy lifestyles and combat negative stereotypes of collegiate drinking," said Sharon Hackl, coordinator of alcohol, tobacco and other drug education at the Purdue Student Health Center. "We need to do a better job of showing college students -- particularly new students -- that not everyone is abusing alcohol and making bad decisions. We have the responsibility to tell students that making healthy choices is the true norm. Then we can begin changing public perception."
The theme for the week is "The Writing's on the Wall: Majority Rules -- Most Students are Making Healthy Choices."
Activities will begin at 7 p.m. Monday (10/20) with Rebecca Browning presenting "Drinking and Driving: The Rest of the Story" in the North Ballroom of the Purdue Memorial Union. Browning is a former Marion County deputy prosecutor.
At 11:20 a.m. Thursday (10/23), Purdue police and fire departments will respond to an "accident" on the Memorial Mall. "Victims" will be treated and transported from the scene while the driver is subjected to field sobriety tests.
On Friday (10/24), a brick wall decorated by representatives of residence halls and other housing units will be on display on the Memorial Mall.
National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week started in 1983 with 25 participating institutions.
CONTACT: Hackl, (765) 496-3363.
The series will honor Professor Leonora Woodman, who taught in the department from 1976 to 1991. The lectures are free and open to the public.
Wayne C. Booth, the George M. Pullman Professor of English and Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, will give the first lecture at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29. The lecture is titled "Moralists in Disguise: The Ethical Rhetoric of Postmodernist Movements." It will be in the Krannert Auditorium, Krannert Building. A reception will follow in the Krannert Drawing Room.
Booth is author of works that include "The Rhetoric of Fiction," "The Rhetoric of Irony," and "The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction."
Deborah E. McDowell, professor of English at the University of Virginia, will give the second lecture at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, in the Krannert Auditorium. Her lecture will be titled "Viewing the Remains: Facing the Black Male Corpse."
McDowell received her doctorate from Purdue in 1979 and is author of "Changing the Same: Black Women's Literature, Criticism and Theory," and a memoir, "Leaving Pipe Shop: Memories of Kin."
CONTACT: Irwin Weiser, associate professor of English, (765) 496-2205.
-- The School of Veterinary Medicine recognized two faculty members recently:
-- Beacons of Hope, a water sculpture created by Dan Engelke, associate professor of art and design, is on display through Oct. 19 on Lake Michigan off of Chicago's Navy Pier. The exhibit is part of the International Art Exposition of Sculpture, Objects and Functional Art. Engelke's display consists of 12 lighted sculptures. Floating randomly, they are covered with translucent fabric bearing designs created by children from the Children's Memorial Hospital, Division of Special Infectious Disease. Engelke says the exhibit is symbolic of the children's suffering. "This is lighting the candles of hope," he says. "In a world laced with human suffering and disease, we are reminded that artworks which serve to heighten our awareness of these issues are necessary to provide an element of balance."
* * * * *
Compiled by J. Michael Willis, (765) 494-0371; e-mail, mike_willis@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
