October 2004

SLA UPDATE FOR FACULTY & STAFF

Toby Parcel

In just a few weeks, hundreds of Liberal Arts alumni will return to campus for our Homecoming celebration.

For some alums, this will be their first visit in many years to West Lafayette, and I expect they will be amazed at the addition of new campus buildings, especially our own Visual and Performing Arts Building.

Homecoming is not only a celebration for former students, but also an opportunity for Liberal Arts to showcase its creative endeavors and research.

As part of the universitywide celebration on Saturday, Oct. 16, faculty, staff and students from film studies, theater, anthropology, health and kinesiology, Jewish studies and SLA career services will be featured at the Liberal Arts' tent at the Purdue Mall. This is a great opportunity for you to bring your family and friends to learn about what's happening in other Liberal Arts departments, as well as other Purdue schools and colleges.

The day before Homecoming, Liberal Arts is celebrating the naming of the Visual and Performing Arts Building and the school's largest gift. Last spring, Patti and Rusty Rueff pledged $5 million to the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. They continue to be advocates and great friends of Liberal Arts. So if you see them, be sure to thank them for their ongoing support. Rusty, a 1986 alumnus, will be back on campus in November as part of the Old Masters program.

Toby L. Parcel

SPECIAL REPORTS

Purdue liberal arts offers MFA degree for art and design

Starting in fall 2005, the School of Liberal Arts will offer a master of fine arts (MFA) degree for students in its division of art and design in the Patti and Rusty Rueff Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

Student's charcoal drawing

"Our masters students in the division of art and design graduate after two intensive years of creating the quality of work that would certainly earn them an MFA elsewhere," said David Sigman, visual and performing arts professor and head of the department. "Many of our masters graduates go to MFA programs at other institutions outside of Indiana.

"For graduate students who seek an academic career, the MFA degree is a requirement of employment. Those who seek careers in the design fields find that professional advancement to managerial positions is often contingent upon possession of the MFA degree. The MFA will help to retain our students as well as to attract new applicants who seek a graduate program consistent with professional and market expectations." More

Prof: Local health campaigns not reaching adults with bad habits

Many Americans are not going to improve the way they eat or start exercising until Bart Simpson, the Monday Night Football announcers or the celebrities in People magazine tell them to, says a Purdue University expert in health communication.

Mohan Dutta-Bergman

"Often our health campaigns try to reach the growing number of unhealthy Americans with public service announcements or by planning activities to attract local media coverage," says Mohan Dutta-Bergman, an assistant professor in Purdue's Department of Communication who studies social marketing. "It isn't working. Yes, a story in the local newspaper or on the nighttime news reaches people, but that audience, for the most part, already engages in a healthy lifestyle.

"If we want to reach the at-risk American population, we need to target the sources of their information – soap operas, situation comedies and sports programs on television, as well as entertainment magazines." More

Sociology professor speaks at the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C.

Barnes at the Congressional
Black Caucus

Sandra Barnes, assistant professor of sociology and African-American studies, presented findings based on her research and teaching on health care, sexuality and AIDS in Afro-descendent communities.

Barnes made her presentation on Sept. 9 during the Sex, Sexuality, Taboos, Myths and Relationships panel at the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C.

Trustees approve name change for Liberal Arts department

Speech sciences research

The Purdue University Board of Trustees approved a name change for the Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences on Sept. 24.

The department will now be known as the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.

The department is ranked among the top 10 in the nation by U.S.News & World Report. The masters and doctoral degree program in speech-language pathology and audiology are ranked third and eighth, respectively. More

Professor seeking Indianapolis children for study

Indianapolis children are needed for a Purdue University study that evaluates how children process information as they grow.

Robert V. Kail, professor of psychological sciences, is looking for 275 children, ages 6-12, to participate in a 25-minute session every six months for three years. During the sessions, children will be asked to complete simple memory and reasoning tasks at the Purdue Institute of Behavioral Sciences, 8465 Keystone Crossing Blvd., Suite 150, Indianapolis.

"This study is really the first of its kind because it is evaluating how children process information as they grow," says Kail, director of the Purdue Study of Youth Development. "Previous studies show that children's reasoning skills become more powerful and efficient as they grow. By monitoring children for almost three years, we will learn how factors such as a child's memory capacity contribute to developmental improvements in reasoning and problem solving." More

Undergraduate volunteers needed for instructor training

The Oral English Proficiency Program is seeking undergraduate volunteers to help international graduate students hone their skills at Purdue University.

The program, which helps prepare about 80 teaching assistants each semester from all campus disciplines, is looking for undergraduate students to attend a 50-minute class session in which international teaching assistants practice their skills in classroom simulations. Volunteers view two or three simulations from different students during the sessions, said April Ginther, English professor and director of the Oral English Proficiency Program. After each simulation, volunteers evaluate the instructor. More

Radio series highlights expertise of political science faculty

Purdue University political science faculty this fall are presenting news commentaries on a wide range of political issues during the WBAA-AM920 radio series "Behind the News."

Targ at WBAA

The broadcasts, which began Sept. 3, will air shortly after the 2 p.m. news broadcast every other Friday through Dec. 17. Topics include "Sold on the Range? Recent Ironies in U.S. Grazing Policy" and "Forthcoming Presidential Elections in Ukraine."

Harry Targ, a Purdue political science professor and one of the organizers of the series, said the faculty hopes to add information to topical news stories. For example, on Oct. 1 the topic is "The Supreme Court's 2004 Term: What is on the Agenda?" On Nov. 12 the topic will be "And the Winners Are ..." More

German social and political philosopher to speak at Purdue

The contemporary social and political German philosopher Jürgen Habermas will speak on Oct. 15 at Purdue.

Habermas, professor emeritus of Johann-Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt Germany, will present "The Kantian Project of Cosmopolitan Law" from 4:30-7 p.m. in the Class of 1950 Lecture Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

"Jürgen Habermas is among the most important social and political theorists living today," said Martin Beck Matustik, a Purdue professor of philosophy who studied under Habermas from 1989-91 as a Fulbright doctoral student in Frankfurt. "It was an amazing time to be working with this master of democratic theory and international law – the Berlin Wall came down in Germany and the Velvet Revolution took place in what was then still Czechoslovakia." More

Institute offers experience in growth field of client surveys

Students from a wide range of disciplines such as pharmacy administration and consumer sciences and retailing can get experience doing client surveys at Purdue's Social Research Institute.

"Polling and data collection are part of a growing business trend," said John Stahura, professor of sociology and director of the Social Research Institute. "Research centers and industry alike are looking for these kinds of employees."

While working on a certificate in survey research, graduate and undergraduate students are hired to do all aspects of survey research. They learn to conduct telephone interviews and construct questionnaires, both using standard paper-and-pencil surveys and computer-assisted interviewing, in addition to Web surveys and e-mail surveys. More

Adolescent depression clinic ready for clients

Youths and their parents can get help for teen depression in the form of individual therapy at a new specialty clinic in Purdue's Psychology Treatment and Research Clinics.

The Adolescent Depression Clinic, which opened this fall, specializes in short-term treatment consisting of approximately 10-14 sessions.

"There's been a lot of information released recently about adolescent depression, so we're on the cutting edge of responding to that need," said Mia Smith Bynum, assistant professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences. "Our goal is to help families and teens manage the unique challenges they face." More

NEWS TIPS

Purdue communication prof: Few really 'enjoy' a good scare (Glenn Sparks, professor of communication)

Prof: 'Alexander' conquers silver screen like so many other classics (John T. Kirby, professor of classics and comparative literature)

Wireless technology boom means users need to think about security (Sorin Adam Matei, assistant professor in communication)

Teens more likely to hear the adults who are involved in their lives (Jack Spencer, associate professor of sociology)

FACULTY AND BOOKS

STUDENT HONORS

Purdue undergrads receive international scholarships

Derek Morris, Waldorf, Md., majoring in English, received a scholarship from the Japan Student Services Organization, formerly known as the Association of International Education, Japan.

Patrick Soboleski, South Bend, Ind., majoring in Japanese and mathematics, received a $4,000 Bridging Scholarship for a year's study at the University of Tsukuba.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Lectures, Speakers and Video Series

German expert to discuss future of American-European relationship

Retired German diplomat Hans Arnold will present the lecture "Europe and the U.S., Where Do We Go From Here? – A German Perspective" on Oct. 4 at Purdue.

Arnold, who is touring the United States in October, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Purdue Memorial Union's East Faculty Lounge. His lecture, which examines the future of American relations with Germany and the so-called "Old Europe," is free and open to the public. More

Philosophy department announces fall speaker series

The Department of Philosophy will continue its Fall 2004 Colloquium Series through Dec. 2.

All sessions, which are free and open to the public, are scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

– Oct. 29, "Second-Personal Reasons and the Dignity of Persons," by Stephen Darwall, professor of philosophy, University of Michigan, Beering Hall, Room 2290.

– Dec. 2, "Monism," by Jonathan Schaffer, assistant professor of philosophy, University of Massachusetts, Beering Hall, Room 1268. More

Communication department offers speaker series

The Department of Communication's Fall 2004 Colloquia Series continues through Nov. 29.

All sessions are free and open to the public.

– Oct. 15, 2:30-3:45 p.m. "Peer Social Support and the Management of Uncertainty for People living with HIV," by Dale Brashers, associate professor and graduate studies director in the Department of Speech Communication at the University of Illinois, Rawls Hall, Room 1071.

– Oct. 22, 2:30-3:45 p.m., "Preparing and Searching for a Non-Academic Job," by Leonard Cox, a 1995 Purdue alumnus. Cox is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and co-owner of River Films, Rawls Hall, Room 1071.

– Oct. 29, 2:30-3:45 p.m. "Telehealth Research: The Need to Merge Communication into an Interdisciplinary Approach," by Pamela Whitten, a professor from the Department of Telecommunication and Institute for Healthcare Studies at Michigan State University, Rawls Hall, Room 1071.

– Nov. 5, 2:30-3:45 p.m. "Flash Mobs, Globalization, and Risk: The Emerging Glocal Reflexivity of Risk in Grassroots Social Movements," Toby Arquette, assistant professor of communication at Purdue, Beering Hall, Room B260.

– Nov. 19, 2:30-3:45 p.m. "Framing, Five Dogs, and Constructing Justification for War: Research through Graduate Student Collaboration," by Susan Brockus and Kasie Roberson, doctoral students at Purdue.

– Nov. 29, 2:30-3:45 p.m. "How Can We Study the Interaction of Biology and Semiotics?" by Celeste Condit, professor from the Department of Speech Communication at the University of Georgia, Rawls Hall, Room 1071. More

Video series addresses war and foreign policy

The Committee on Peace Studies at Purdue is sponsoring a video series entitled On War and Foreign Policy.

The series, which takes place on Mondays at 7:30 p.m., is free and open to the public. All of the video showings will be in Beering Hall, Room 2290.

– Oct. 4, "Why War Against Iraq is Wrong."

– Oct. 18, "Hearts and Minds."

– Nov. 1, "Outfoxed."

– Nov. 8, "The Fog of War." More

Jewish studies announces speaker series

Purdue University's Jewish Studies Program announces its Fall 2004 Noon Lecture Series.

The series is free and open to the public.

– Oct. 20, 12:30 p.m., "The Biblical Attitude Towards Child Sacrifice," by David A. Sanders, associate professor of biological sciences, in Heine Pharmacy Building, Room 172.

– Nov. 10, 12:30 p.m., "The Medieval and Modern Fates of Susskind: Jew of Trimberg," by John D. Martin, visiting assistant professor of foreign languages and literatures, in Stewart Center, Room 320.

– Dec. 8, 12:30 p.m., "Archaeology and Politics in Israel," by Roni Binder, program assistant in Hillel Foundation, in Stewart Center, Room 202. More

EXPERTS IN THE NEWS

U.S.News & World Report (subscription) –
Shooting par in the workplace (Tom Templin, Department of Health and Kinesiology)

CBS Sportsline –
PGA Outreach Charities receive $3.7 million (Tom Templin, Department of Health and Kinesiology)

The Purdue Exponent –
Professor's debut film opens, features Italian background (Patricia Hart, Department of Foreing Languages and Literatures)

Lafayette Journal and Courier –
Read all about it: 175 years young, still evolving (Jane Natt, Department of Communication)

News-Leader (Springfield, Missouri) –
Most sweeteners proven to be safe (Susie Swithers and Terry Davidson, Department of Psychological Sciences)

Washington Times –
'Wounded' masks horror (Louis Rene Beres, Department of Political Science)

Any story ideas or news tips can be sent to Amy Patterson-Neubert at the Purdue News Service, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu