Purdue Notebook

October 14, 2005

Campus activities

– Todd Rokita, Indiana secretary of state, will speak to the Purdue College Republicans at 7 p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 18) in the Krannert Auditorium. At the age of 34, he is the second youngest secretary of state in the country. Rokita is Indiana's chief election official, and his job is to ensure that all state election procedures are fair, accurate and as accessible as possible.

– Purdue's third Chinese Speech and Performance Contest is 2-5 p.m. Nov. 12 in Stanley Coulter, Room 239. Students from all Chinese language classes and any other non-native speakers of Chinese are welcome to participate in the contest. Speeches, skits, Xiangsheng (comic dialogues), Xiaoping (mini comedies), poems or recitations in Chinese on any topic of Chinese language and culture are welcome. Participants can also perform Chinese songs, dances, martial arts or play instruments. Each performance should be no longer than five minutes. Students in the Chinese Language Program can register with their individual instructors. Others can register with Wei Hong, professor of Chinese, by e-mailing her at hongwei@purdue.edu. A registration form also is available on the web. Registration ends Oct. 29. Students from the Chinese Language Program will receive class credit, and winners will receive certificates and prizes. The event is sponsored by the Purdue China Center, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, and the Purdue University Chinese Student and Scholar Association.

– Hud Hudson, professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy at Western Washington University, will present "Extended Simples" at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at Beering Hall of Liberal Arts and Education. The lecture is part of Purdue's Department of Philosophy 2005 Fall Colloquium Series.

Faculty and staff honors

– Charalambos D. "Roko" Aliprantis, Krannert School of Management Distinguished Professor of Economics and professor of mathematics, will be honored at a two-day conference for him on campus Oct. 17-18. Edward C. Prescott, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics and an economics professor at Arizona State University, will chair a session of academic paper presentations. Prescott and Aliprantis are co-editors of Economic Theory, an academic journal based at the Krannert School. Aliprantis received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from the University of Athens and his master's and doctoral degrees from the California Institute of Technology. He has been at the Krannert School since 1998 and has published 10 books and book-length research studies and 70 articles for academic journals. Also planned to be in attendance are economists from the California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, the University of London, the University of Paris, Vanderbilt University, the University of Sydney, the National University of Singapore, Indiana University, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Kansas.

– Communication professors Howard Sypher, Mohan Dutta-Bergman, Glenn Sparks, Steve Wilson, Melanie Morgan and Erina MacGeorge, along with graduate students Beth Gill and Rebecca de Souza, visited Belgium's Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in September to facilitate partnering efforts between both universities' areas of communication research. In May 2004, Purdue's President Martin C. Jischke signed a memorandum of understanding that allows the two universities to work together on collaborative research, combined programs and curricula, and student and faculty exchanges. Purdue's Department of Communication has already begun development of joint research efforts and expects to begin supporting graduate student and faculty exchanges next year as part of the universities' partnership. During the group's visit, the Purdue representatives also participated with the Leuven faculty in formal opening ceremonies, said Sypher, who also is head of the Department of Communication.

Alumni honors

– Two Purdue alumnae are among 12 DaimlerChrysler women executives recently named to the list of 100 leading women in the North American auto industry as selected by Automotive News magazine. Karenann Terrell, who received a master's degree in electrical engineering in 1988, is vice president and chief information officer of Chrysler Group and Mercedes-Benz NAFTA at DaimlerChrysler Corp. This is Terrell's second time to make the list. Julie Roehm, who earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1993, is director of Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge communications. The award recognizes women who are leaders in the automotive field, make major decisions and have significant influence at their companies.

Student honors

– Suzanne Fournier, a graduate student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, won the Family Circle Magazine College Cook-Off. Fournier, originally from Redding, Calif., won $3,000 worth of prizes for her barbecue chicken wings recipe. Her recipe and others can be found on the web. Fourier is a first-year doctoral student, and she earned her master's degree from Purdue in December 2004.

– The Purdue University bowling teams opened their seasons at the Hammer Midwest Collegiate Bowling Tournament in Wauwatosa, Wis., Oct. 1-2. Out of a field of 39 teams, the men's Gold team placed third, led by Kyle Luckett, a junior in the College of Technology, who averaged 198.63. Kyle Wiedman, a freshman in the College of Liberal Arts, led the Black team to a 15th-place finish with an average of 193.67. Out of a field of 19 teams, the women's Gold team placed sixth and the women's Black team finished 10th. Holly Siefers, a freshman in the College of Education, led the Boiler women. Siefers' average of 193.33 earned her a spot on the All-Tournament Team.

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