Purdue News Roundup
Purdue News RoundupFebruary 20, 1998
The 1997 Faculty Early Career Development Program grants, administered by the National Science Foundation to junior-level university faculty, are designed to emphasize the importance of integrating research and educational activities in academic careers. The grants are awarded over four to five years and range from $200,000 to $500,000. The 1997 Purdue awardees are:
Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry is the headquarters for the competition. Events will range from a naked egg drop to a pentathlon.
All 43 events will be run in Olympic competition style. First-, second- and third-place individual winners will go on to Indiana University in Bloomington on March 28 to compete for the state title against winners from seven other regional contests. The school with the most points in the individual competitions will be crowned as the regional champion.
Eight high schools and seven middle schools will participate in the day's events at Purdue. The high schools are Attica, Carmel, LaPorte, Marian Mishawaka, McCutcheon, North Central Indianapolis, South Vermillion and Tri-County. The middle schools are Brownsburg, Carmel, Southwestern, Wainwright, Winamac, Zionsville and Attica.
The events begin at 8:30 a.m. All are open to the public. Among them are:
CONTACT: Isodore Julien, Department of Biological Sciences outreach coordinator, (765) 494-4983; e-mail, ijulien@bilbo.bio.purdue.edu
The project will create additional space for the alumni association in the Purdue Memorial Union and allow the record-keeping staff to move to the Union from the ground floor of Stewart Center.
"For years, we have talked about the benefits of having everyone in the same building and in the same general vicinity," said Lawrence S. Preo, executive director of the alumni association. "We started conversations with the university about changing our current office structure. We also investigated the possibility of building our own alumni house. In the end, we concluded that the Purdue Memorial Union was the perfect spot for the Purdue Alumni Association."
The entire renovation project is being funded by the alumni association from its reserve funds. The Purdue Alumni Association is not part of the university and pays rent for space in the Union.
The renovation will close the adjacent Union Gallery, one of four art galleries on campus, in May, said Union Director Robert L. Mindrum, but he and the Purdue Student Union Board are looking at other ways of presenting cultural and artistic works in the Union. "We would particularly like to see more student-oriented art displays in the lounges or other public areas," Mindrum said.
Mindrum said he is pleased that the alumni association will consolidate its operations in the Union. "I've been a firm believer that student unions and alumni associations should have a close working relationship," he said. "They belong together."
The renovation is scheduled to begin after commencement. The 3,701 square feet on the west side of the main floor of the Union will be completed by the Oct. 23-24 Homecoming Weekend. Alumni association staff members will be relocated during the renovation to the Union Browsing Library on the main floor and other locations in the Union. When this first phase is completed, the offices will house all alumni association operations except the records department.
The renovation on the east side of the hallway will begin in November. The records department will move into the 953-square-foot space when it is completed in January.
CONTACTS: Preo, (765) 494-5175; Mindrum, (765) 494-8901
Each half-hour program includes a campus news update, feature segments and a studio interview. The program is seen weekdays in Greater Lafayette and on Purdue's West Lafayette campus on The Purdue Channel (Insight Communications Channel 5; University Residences Television Antenna System Channel 15; and Purdue Cable Network Channel 4). Telecast times are noon Monday and Friday and 7 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Weekly broadcasts of the program are seen at 11:30 a.m. Sundays on WFYI-TV 20, the Indianapolis Public Broadcasting Service affiliate.
Several cable outlets around the state present the program as well (see listing below).
The Greater Lafayette telecast weeks, Indianapolis broadcast dates and topics for upcoming programs:
March 2-6 (Greater Lafayette); March 22 (Indianapolis) -- Technology's increasing role in teacher training; "sleuthing" Purdue history; alumnus astronaut Greg Harbaugh reaches for the stars.
No Greater Lafayette telecast during Purdue's spring-break week of March 9-13.
March 16-20 (Greater Lafayette); March 29 (Indianapolis)-- A report on the award-winning "Safe Food for the Hungry" initiative; opportunity knocks for today's technology graduates; a campus icon, the old Heavilon Hall clockworks, takes its place in Purdue history.
March 23-27 (Greater Lafayette); April 5 (Indianapolis) -- plans for a new aquatics center move ahead; a student-retention initiative aims to increase graduation rates; science and fun mix at the annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest.
"Purdue: A Closer Look" is produced by the Center for Instructional Services and the Office of University Relations. Program hosts are Beth Forbes, news coordinator at Purdue News Service, and Greg Zawisza, director of special projects at University Relations.
In addition to the Greater Lafayette and WFYI broadcasts, the program also is seen on the following cable outlets around the state (check local listings):
CONTACTS: Zawisza, (765) 494-2086; e-mail, greg_zawisza@purdue.edu; Forbes, (765) 494-9723; e-mail, beth_forbes@purdue.edu
The Tippecanoe County office of the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service is at 3150 Sagamore Parkway South.
Gerald Harrison, Extension economist and professor of agricultural economics, said his seminar is for farm families, small business owners, landowners and professionals assisting with estate and business transferring.
The first part features an explanation of the new federal gift, estate and income tax law, which may help farms and other closely held family businesses avoid the estate tax. The second part discusses special features, considerations and tools for transfer of a family business. Topics include living trusts, wills, health care directives, charitable gifts and conservation easements.
Preregistration is required by March 6 along with a $15 fee per individual and $5 per spouse. Registration forms are available at the Tippecanoe County Extension office.
CONTACT: Harrison, (765) 494-4216; e-mail, harrison@agecon.purude.edu.
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: There is a location change. The Honors High School Orchestra Concert at 2:30 p.m. originally was scheduled to be at the Long Center. Please check your calendars.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Two outstanding high school ensembles will visit the Purdue campus on Sunday, March 1, as Purdue University Bands present its annual Honors High School concerts.
At 2:30 p.m., at the First United Methodist Church, 102 N. Chauncey Ave, West Lafayette, Purdue's Symphony Orchestra will play host to the Floyd Central High School Orchestra from Floyds Knob, Ind. At 7 p.m., the Purdue Symphonic Band will perform with the North Central High School Symphonic Wind Ensemble in a concert at the Long Center, 111 N. Sixth St., Lafayette. Both concerts are free and open to the public.
The Honors High School Program was established in 1996 by Jay S. Gephart, assistant professor of bands who directs Purdue's two top symphonic groups. Gephart began these outreach concerts as a way to recognize exceptional high school musical programs throughout the state. The concerts give the visiting high school students the chance to experience playing at the university level, and also serve as an important recruiting tool for the bands department.
Both the Floyd Central and North Central high school music programs are recognized as being among the finest in the state. The Floyd Central Orchestra program is now in its 30th year. The orchestra has performed five times as part of the "Clowes Hall Honors Orchestra Program"; three times at the Warren Central/Butler University String Orchestra Festival; and eight times at the Indiana State School Music Association state finals for orchestra.
The Symphonic Wind Ensemble at North Central High School in Indianapolis has received consistent superior ratings at festivals throughout the state and placed in the top 16 in the Indiana State School Music Association band competition eight times, finishing second in 1995 and fourth in 1990 and 1991. The ensemble has performed as a guest of the Jordan College of Fine Arts at Clowes Memorial Hall on the campus of Butler University, and in 1994 it was selected to perform at the Indiana Music Educators Association state convention. The ensemble is directed by Michael Akers, who received his master's degree from Purdue in 1996.
CONTACT: Jennifer Tucker, bands publicist, (765) 496-2697; e-mail, pubands@omni.cc.purdue.edu
The competition is sponsored by the Department of English and the School of Liberal Arts.
Cash and bookstore gift-certificate prizes will be awarded to students in creative writing and expository prose categories. Creative writing categories are poetry; screenplay; drama; novel-in-progress; children's literature; and science fiction. Expository categories are: African, African-American or black literature; business writing; English as a second language; ethnographic essay; foreign language literature; journalism; literary criticism; Medieval studies; rhetoric and composition; technical writing; and women's literature.
Kneale Awards will be presented to the best undergraduate essays from each of the following categories: Bible as literature; cultural criticism; economics or government; film criticism; history; informal essay; journalism; literary criticism; philosophy; science; Shakespeare; third-world literature; women's studies; and the best set of three papers originally written for English 101 or 103.
This year will mark the introduction of Kneale Awards for graduate entries in the following categories: poetry; fiction; literary criticism; and pedagogy. Another new graduate award is the Virgil L. Lokke prize in literary theory.
All entries should be turned in to the English Department office, Room 324, Heavilon Hall. Except for novel-in-progress submissions, no entries will be returned. Students may submit up to three entries. A complete list of rules is available on posters in Heavilon Hall, Stewart Center, the Purdue Memorial Union and the libraries.
Winners will be announced at the Literary Awards Banquet on Tuesday, April 14. Speaker for the event will be novelist and short-story writer Richard Ford, whose most recent novel, "Independence Day," won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996.
Questions about the competition may be directed to Thomas Ohlgren, professor of English and chairman of the literary awards committee, (765) 494-3740.
CONTACT: Tom Andrews, associate professor of English, (765) 496-2804.
Among the poems in this issue is a "false translation" by David Cameron. "A false translation is a poem that is not a literal translation from the original language," says Kate Hinnant, joint poetry editor. "These poems use the original words as a point from which to bounce off new ideas."
The Winter/Spring 1998 edition also includes a sample of poetry by an imagined author. "Someone created a poet Araki Yasusada -- gave him biographical information -- and wrote poems supposedly authored by this fictional person," Hinnant says. "We're including some of these poems so that people can judge for themselves the validity of this type of work." Accompanying the poetry is an essay on hyperauthorship by Mikhail Epstein.
Other poets featured include Catherine Bowman, Campbell McGrath, Bill Knott and Charles Webb. There are also interviews with Bowman and McGrath. Works of fiction in this edition come from Laura Ruby, Bill Embly and Liza Wieland. A piece of creative nonfiction is written by Stephen S. Howie.
In 1997 the Sycamore Review was given an honorable mention in the O'Henry Awards Anthology "Prize Stories: The Best of 1997." In 1995, the journal was selected as being in the top 10 percent of United States literary magazines by the League of Canadian Poets.
The Sycamore Review is available for $7 and may be purchased in the English Department office in Room 442 Heavilon Hall, or at local bookstores including Von's, Stewart Center Service Desk, Buck Creek Books, Lafayette Museum of Art and Little Professor Book Center.
Sycamore Review is published twice a year by the English Department. It is a nonprofit journal for the arts, founded in 1988. It is maintained by the Ann Griffith Lindsey Memorial Fund with additional funding received from the Indiana Arts Commission, the English Department and the School of Liberal Arts in addition to private contributions.
Subscriptions are $10 per year, or $12 for foreign subscribers. Back issues are available.
CONTACTS: Hinnant, Sarah Griffiths, editor in chief, or Gabe Gudding, joint poetry editor, (765) 494-3783; e-mail, sycamore@expert.cc.purdue.edu; Web, http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/sycamore/
More women who know how to play the game, and who want to play at the college level, are coming to Purdue. In the past, most women who joined the team had never played the sport before.
"As little as three years ago, high school water polo teams didn't even exist," said team captain Renata Garlanger, a sophomore in construction engineering management from Chicago , "Several of our new team members played organized water polo while they were in high school, which is great for us."
The game is a mix of soccer and swimming and is very popular on both the East and West coasts. Like soccer, each team attempts to score goals past the other team's goalie. Like swimming, players are in the water and cannot touch the bottom of the pool. Garlanger said it is very competitive and demands physical fitness.
"It takes a lot of strength and endurance to be able to survive out there for all four quarters. If you are not in shape, you will die out there," she said.
Sarah Moss, a senior majoring in child development from Corydon, Ind., said she enjoys how aggressive the game is.
"The competition and aggression draws women to this sport," she said. "It gives us a chance to get some stress out, plus it's a lot more fun for me than doing aerobics or walking on the treadmill."
Purdue's team is a club sport, which means the players are not on athletic scholarship, are not funded through the university's athletic department and pay most of their own expenses.
Last year, the team placed sixth out of seven teams in the Big Ten. This was the best showing in the history of the 4-year-old squad, and Garlanger said she hopes the experienced newcomers and the university's commitment to a new aquatics center both will help bring the team out of the bottom of the standings.
The aquatics center will replace Purdue's crumbling pools in the Recreational Gymnasium and Lambert Fieldhouse with a new facility that would double Purdue's pool space. Fund-raising for the project is under way.
The facility will be used by varsity swimmers and divers, as well as for club sports, recreational and educational purposes. A movable bulkhead will allow the 50-meter pool to be used for multiple activities at the same time.
Moss said that even though a number of organizations will be competing for time in the pool, members of the water polo team are excited because they will be able to practice in a larger pool.
"Our pool is so small that when we travel to bigger pools, we don't know how to use the space," she said. "At the moment, we practice in a pool that is only five lanes wide and is shallow on one end. The pools we compete in are eight lanes wide and deep all the way across. This will be a great advantage for us."
CONTACTS: Garlanger, (765) 495-5332 or Moss, (765) 743-0300.
The featured event will be a talk by Michael Levine, professor of psychology at Kenyon College. "Building a Healthy Body Image in a Fat-Phobic World" will be presented at 7 p.m. Tuesday (2/24) in Fowler Hall, Stewart Center.
A slide presentation, "Aesthetics of Beauty: The Actual vs. the Abstract," will be shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday (2/25) at the Greater Lafayette Museum of Art, 101 S. Ninth St.
An eating and nutrition screening for people will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday (2/27) in Room 1183, Psychological Sciences Building. The free assessment will be confidential and will be available on a walk-in basis.
Other information displays and programs will be conducted throughout the week in Stewart Center, the Recreational Gymnasium, Residence Halls, Cooperative Houses, and fraternity and sorority chapter houses.
All activities are free and open to the public.
CONTACT: Health Promotion Programs, (765) 494-9355
-- The School of Civil Engineering honored five graduates with the Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Award at a dinner and ceremony Feb. 19. Honorees were William F. Daily, president, Hamilton Form Co., Fort Worth, Texas; Vasiliki Keramida, president and chief executive officer, Keramida Environmental Inc., Indianapolis ; Eugene A. Lamberson, midwest regional manager, The Reinforced Earth Co., Westmont, Ill.; Alex D. Oak, president and chief executive officer, Paul I. Cripe Inc., Indianapolis ; and Franklin E. Woodard, president, Woodard & Curran Inc., Portland, Maine. This is the fifth year of the award, which is given by the school to recognize individuals whose distinguished careers reflect highly on the value of a Purdue civil engineering education. The School of Civil Engineering faculty selects recipients from the school's 13,000 alumni.
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
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