McMickenm a g a z i n e

Summer 2008

McMicken Magazine is published by the University of Cincinnati’s McMicken College of Arts & Sciences for all alumni and friends of the college. Comments or questions: mcmicken.magazine@uc.edu

Editor: Jessica DonovanDesigner: Melanie CannonWriter: Britt Kennerly

Dear Alumni and Friends of McMicken College,

Greetings! As I conclude my first year as dean of McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, I am pleased to share with you the 2008 edition of McMicken Magazine. We are proud to bring you up to date on new and exciting developments in your college, to share updates on research with real-world, global impact, and to let you know of accolades received by former classmates, faculty and friends.

As McMicken College alumni, you are very important to us and play a central role in our mission of excellence in learning, discovery and outreach. We continue to look for new and better ways to reconnect and engage with our alumni – locally, nationally and globally. I encourage you to expand your lifelong relationship with your college, and to let us know how we can help you in doing so. Alumni, students, faculty and staff are all part of our legacy – one we can proclaim as “Proudly McMicken!”

I have enjoyed meeting many of you at events over the past few months and hope to establish fruitful relationships with you in the days to come. I thank you for your continued and much-appreciated interest and support.

Sincerely,

Valerie Gray Hardcastle Dean, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences

from the DeanA Message

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IN EVERY ISSUE

FEATURES

ON THE COVER 14 Neuroscience: The Final Frontier Groundbreaking research centered on the brain and nervous system lends an exciting look at what makes us who we are – and offers promise for tackling a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

2 Tales from the Cryptographers In a world where technology is inextricably a part of daily life, current cryptography research in the Department of Mathematics might be the key to a more secure future.

10 Here, There & Everywhere Recent graduate Andrea England hit the global highway for insight into international affairs and literally found a world of difference.

12 Above & Beyond Three families with A&S roots reflect on how and why they find special meaning in staying involved in the life of “their” college.

20 Alma ‘Matters’ When Hortense Barnett was a McMicken student in the 1920s, who could have guessed that the next three generations of her family would also call the college home?

22 Get a (Second) Life! Faculty and students spread their arms and fly in the virtual world of Second Life, where budding e-learning environments know no bounds and a new you is only a mouse click away.

28 Simply the Best McMicken honors faculty, staff and alumni whose noteworthy careers and level of caring exemplify excellence.

5 College News

25 Class Notes

29 On the Horizon

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Contents

2 Summer 2008 3McMicken Magazine

It’s a numbers game – and now,

perhaps, a series of quantum

leaps – for those who study the

ancient science of cryptography.

More than 2,000 years ago, Roman army commander Julius Caesar shifted a few letters of the alphabet to the left, using a secret-code system that became known as the “Caesar Cipher” to send messages to his troops and fool his enemies.

During World War II, the key to saving countless lives came through cracking the code of the German mechanical device known as “the Enigma,” a typewriter-sized machine used to encrypt radio messages.

Now, the looming possibility of quantum computers that could render all current encryption methods useless is a major factor, pun intended. That means those who study cryptography – the development of algorithms to ensure the secrecy, integrity and authenticity of information – must be as innovative as Caesar and as forward-minded as mathematics and imagination can take them.

Speaking in code

Just how deeply embedded are the fruits of cryptology in everyday, technology-driven life? It’s almost easier to find ways it’s not being used. And much of the time, you’re using encrypted information without giving it, or the attached security, a second thought.

Think about sharing messages through your PDA. Shopping online. Swiping your credit card at an ATM or in a grocery store. Then, think of the havoc that can be wreaked with these tools, without secure codes.

Keeping communications private, however, is “only one facet” of the global implications of this area of study, says Professor Timothy Hodges, head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences. Authentication, too, is crucial.

Image courtesy of NSA

2 Summer 2008 3McMicken Magazine

“If someone can pretend to be Microsoft, and you download their files thinking it’s OK, they could destroy huge quantities of information,” says Hodges. “Overnight, or in the space of a day, you can have an enormous impact on the world.”

That leaves a world of work for cryptographers, who craft the algorithms necessary to disguise and protect our personal information. Just as important, they analyze and protect data from every walk of life: banks. The stock market. The National Security Administration. In addition, government-mandated security measures are literally changing the face of travel. For example, since August 2006, the United States has issued only ePassports, equipped with electronic chips that store sensitive personal data, including a digital facial image. Between 15 million and 18 million ePassports are expected to be produced annually.

“They’re building absolutely unforgeable passports – people won’t be able to have fake IDs,” says Professor Jintai Ding, whose research has been centered on cryptography for almost 10 years.

They’re also building things smaller: “There’s a big demand for security solutions for small devices, and what we’re doing could be good for those,” says Ding. “There’s tremendous potential for the future.”

Figuring it out

At the heart of all this necessary secrecy is public key cryptography, through which the “public” key used to encrypt a message differs from the mathematically related “private” key used to decrypt it. Public key cryptography, says Ding, is “an indispensable part of our modern communication.”

The most commonly used public key cryptosystem in use today is RSA, the security of which depends on the difficulty of factoring very large numbers, Ding says.

For decades, Ding notes, the security of widely used public key cryptosystems was based on “hard” number theory problems – for example, the Integer Prime Factorization Problem. In 1994, Peter Shor, then of IBM, demonstrated that quantum computers could break all the systems based on those problems, and since then, alternative public key systems have been sought, Ding says: While today’s computers encode information via binaries, quantum computers would process millions simultaneously.

Ding’s main research area is in applying algebraic geometry theory and techniques to public key cryptography. He and others in the Department of Mathematical Sciences’ Applied Algebra and Cryptography group focus heavily on multivariate public key cryptography, where a set of multivariate polynomials is used as the public key. An interdisciplinary group of faculty and students from the Department of Mathematical Sciences and the Department of Computer Science in the College of Engineering, their interest centers on various problems in applied algebra, especially those with applications to coding theory, cryptology, and other topics in computer security.

The focus for Ding, his colleagues and students: devising a “post-quantum” or “quantum-immune” cryptographic system that could “resist even the most powerful quantum computer,” says Ding, one of the authors of the book “Multivariate Public Key Cryptosystems,” published in Springer’s 2006 Information Security Series.

How Does it Work?Exchanging data through public key encryption allows a sender and receiver to exchange public keys without giving out private keys. The sender uses the recipient’s public key to encrypt a message that will be decrypted by the recipient’s complementary private key.

Public Key Encryption

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Professors Timothy Hodges and Jintai Ding

Though it’s likely to be 20 years or more before the widespread arrival of quantum computers, Ding points to the work of researchers such as Isaac Chuang of MIT as a portent of what’s down the road. Chuang and his colleagues succeeded in recreating a workable quantum computer, though it was only able to solve problems like factoring 15, at a price tag of $15 million.

“At this point, we’re only dealing with a few bits. We need thousands of bits,” Ding says.

The future factor

Graduate student Daniel Cabarcas, who studies with Ding, says cryptology is “very dynamic, of critical importance in real life – and yet it requires deep mathematical tools.” He agrees that sometimes, keeping communications private is not as crucial as other cryptography issues, like identity verification.

“For instance, your operating system or your antivirus software checks every other day for critical updates, but how does the PC know that it is really Mac or Microsoft who posted these updates and not your neighbor?” he asks. “Or how does an airplane in the air verify the identity of a radar? This one really makes you wonder, right?”

For summer 2008, Ding and Chris Christensen from Northern Kentucky University organized a National Science Foundation-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates in Mathematical Cryptology.

In October 2008, the Department of Mathematical Sciences will host the second International Workshop on Post-Quantum Cryptography, a workshop centered on how to construct cryptographic systems that are immune from attacks by quantum computers. This series of workshops, organizers say, is necessary due to the growing interest from academic researchers, industries and governments in this area. Guests are expected from around the globe.

Wouldn’t the arrival of quantum computers knock a lot of people out of work? Actually, just the opposite, says Ding. “There’ll be even more work for more people in information security, as security becomes more and more important,” he says.

Quantum computers will happen on a large scale, Ding says. But “We’re still a long way off,” he adds.

“At this moment, whether we want them or not, or whether a quantum computer is being built or not, is speculation. What I do believe is that if the commercial world is interested, the chip will be developed … and chips are getting smaller and smaller. They’re at the nanolevel already … It’s all very exciting. And it’s moving along very quickly.”

“There’s a big demand for security solutions for small devices, and what we’re doing could be good for those.”

- Jintai Ding

Professor John K. Alexander, resident United States historian for the U.S. Mint’s Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, and other members of the CCAC made recommendations for the redesign of the “tails” side of the Lincoln penny. The redesign coincides with the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s 1809 birth and the 100th anniversary of the 1909 introduction of the Lincoln coin.

Steve Carlton-Ford, associate professor of sociology, co-authored a Baghdad-based study examining the impact of war on adolescents. The findings – from a 2004 survey of 1,000 Iraqi adolescents in 10 neighborhoods in Baghdad – were reported in the February 2008 Journal of Adolescence. The study was also authored by doctoral student Ahoo Tabatabai.

The Cincinnati Sophomore Initiative (CSI) was launched in fall 2007 by the Center for Exploratory Studies (CES). CSI’s mission is to minimize sophomore risk, getting students involved with advisors and alumni who can help define college career direction and offering support and education at a time when

students are most susceptible to giving up on college. Assistant Academic Director of CES Carol Tonge Mack and academic and exploratory advisors Beth Fisher, Greg Moeller and Yolanda Cooper worked with the first group of CSI sophomores.

“An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England,” the fourth book by associate professor of English Brock Clarke, was published by Algonquin Books and reviewed by publications including The New York Times. The book has been optioned for a movie. Clarke also received a 2008 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in prose. The $25,000 fellowship is designed to encourage the production of new work by affording fellowship winners the time and means to write.

Faculty from the Departments of Communication and Political Science participated in a May 2008

panel discussion panel titled “The Early Presidential Campaign of 2008: The Good, the Bad, and Maybe – the Ugly.” The panel featured Amber Erickson, adjunct instructor of communication; Joe Levi, graduate student of communication; Stephen Mockabee, assistant professor of political science; Judith Trent, professor

COLLEGENEWSstraight from the lion’s mouth

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Carol Tonge Mack

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of communication, and Al Tuchfarber, professor of political science. Their areas of expertise include women and minorities in politics, the history of American presidential elections and the sociology of politics. The panel also included Bob Hynes, a 1959 McMicken graduate whose career has included working more than 40 years directly and indirectly on Capitol Hill.

Communication Professor Gail Fairhurst’s “Discursive Leadership: In Conversation with Leadership Psychology” was named the Book of the Year by the National Communication Association’s organizational communication division.

The inaugural Benjamin and Dee Gettler Lecture on Zionism, Israel and the Jewish People featured keynote speaker Jehuda Reinharz, president of Brandeis University. Reinharz’s November 2007 presentation was titled “Some Thoughts on the 90th Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.” Benjamin and Dee Gettler are Circle of Honor members of the Charles McMicken Society and Herman Schneider Legacy Society.

Thirteen A&S faculty were among awardees in the University Research Council’s fall 2007 Interdisciplinary Grant competition. Seven grants, each for $25,000, bring faculty together universitywide to work on

interdisciplinary research projects and pursue applications to federal granting agencies. McMicken faculty are involved in three of those projects. The first project is titled “The Nature of Urban Sustainability: Understanding the Effects of Urbanization on Natural Ecosystem Function.” The team: Richard Beck, Geography; Guy Cameron, Biological Sciences; Theresa Culley, Biological Sciences; Robert Frohn, Geography; Ken Hinkel, Geography; David Lentz, Biological Sciences; Lin Liu, Geography;

Eric Maurer, Environmental Studies; Arnold Miller, Geology; Susan Tong, Geography; and George Uetz, Biological Sciences. Also named for this round of grants was Kristina Lisdahl Medina, Psychology, who will join two representatives from the College of Medicine on the project “Imaging

Genetics in Recovering Alcoholic Women and Men.”

Two of the three recipients of the 2008 University of Cincinnati Presidential Leadership Medal of Excellence honors were A&S students. Monique Jindal graduated in June 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish/pre-med and represented McMicken as a student

marshal at commencement. She will enter the UC College of Medicine through the UC Connections dual admissions program after taking a year off to volunteer at a medical clinic in Peru. Jerry Tsai, who graduated in June 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in business, also represented McMicken as a student marshal. As a 2007-2008 Presidential Fellow for the Center for the Study of the

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Presidency, Tsai was among 80 students to be selected nationally to travel to Washington, D.C., to study leadership, governance and future careers in public service.

The Journalism program hosted two major events prepping students for what’s ahead in the “real world.” The May 2008 Women in Journalism seminar featured free workshops and one-on-one meetings with journalists from a variety of mediums, including A&S graduates Kelly Leon, vice president of communications and community relations at 3CDC; blogger Rachel Richardson and Laurie Pike, style editor for Los Angeles magazine. Journalism also teamed with

the Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists for a February 2008 forum titled “The Politics of Race and Gender: Media Coverage of the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primaries.”

Wendy Kline, associate professor of history, discussed her study of eugenics history for an October 2007 “CBS Sunday Morning” segment on pre-natal testing. Kline is the author of the book “Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics from the Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom.”

Sir Harold “Harry” Kroto, a Nobel Laureate knighted in 1996 for his contributions to chemistry, was honored in April 2008 as Distinguished Speaker of the Year by the Department of Chemistry’s Graduate Student Association. A co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry, Kroto co-discovered buckminsterfullerene, a form of pure carbon better known as “buckyballs.” Now a Francis Eppes Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Florida State University, Kroto previously taught at the University of Sussex in England for 37 years.

Daniel Langmeyer, professor of psychology, received the 2008 Faculty Award for Exemplary Contribution in Service to the University of Cincinnati. Since 2005, this award, presented by the Faculty Senate, has recognized faculty who have served beyond their departments to the benefit of the entire university.

David Lentz, professor of biology and executive director of the Center for Field Studies, and researchers from Florida State University received worldwide press for their work to confirm evidence of domesticated sunflower in Mexico – 4,000 years before what had been previously believed. They documented archaeological, linguistic, ethnographic and ethnohistoric data demonstrating that the sunflower had entered the repertoire of Mexican domesticates by 2600 B.C.

The Department of Women’s Studies and its sister programs at academic institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico co-organized the North American Women’s Studies 2007 Summer Institute at the Universidad de Las Americas in Puebla, Mexico. The institute was part of a federally funded

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student and faculty exchange project. Representing Women’s Studies in Mexico were Associate Professor Amy Lind, the Mary Ellen Heintz Endowed Chair in Women’s Studies, and Professor Martha Rees, anthropology head.

The Paleontological Society awarded Arnie Miller, geology professor and department head, with the Centennial Fellow title in recognition of his contributions to the field of paleontology. The award was given at a luncheon and awards ceremony coinciding with the Geological Society of America meeting in Denver.

A new undergraduate major in Neuroscience was approved, with classes to begin in fall 2008. Majors will take core classes in biology, chemistry, psychology and neuroscience, then complete their upper division work in one of three tracks: Neurobiology, Neuropsychology, or Brain, Mind, and Behavior Studies.

The Department of Philosophy’s 44th annual Philosophy Colloquium in May 2008 featured keynote speakers Paul and Patricia Churchland of the University of California-San Diego. Topics included “On the Genesis of Conceptual Frameworks: The Hebbian Learning of Causal Processes,” “Testing the Limits of Neuroepistemology” and “Neurophilosophy: Early Days and New Directions.”

Fifteen Political Science and International Affairs majors, members

of the Cincinnati delegation to the 2007 American Model United Nations (AMUN) Conference, won a record number of prizes for a UC AMUN team. Prizes for the political science and international affairs students include top honors as Best Delegation – Venezuela. Real-world problems addressed at the event included nuclear proliferation, torture and other cruel and inhuman punishment and counter-terrorism strategies.

Professor Robert Richardson was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Richardson and Peter Stambrook, professor and chairman of the UC College of Medicine’s cell and cancer biology department, are among

471 AAAS members recognized in 2007 for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

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The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and its peer-reviewed journal, Cincinnati Romance Review, hosted the 28th annual Cincinnati Conference on Romance Languages and Literatures in May 2008.

Professor Mike Sitko and Associate Professor Margaret Hanson, Physics, joined scientists around the world in coordinating observations of a faint comet – 17P/ Holmes – brightened by a factor of over 400,000 times in less than 48 hours. The two observed the comet in early November 2007 with NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), a three-meter telescope, analyzing both gas molecules and dust, in tandem with a team of scientists from many organizations, including The Aerospace Corporation and the NASA Ames Research Center, both in California.

New funding will expand a Cincinnati initiative to recruit talented high-school students to become teachers in the STEM fields. The Southwest Center of Excellence STEM Teaching Academy – a proposal awarded $275,000 jointly to the University of Cincinnati and Miami University – will expand on efforts to recruit underrepresented and underserved students, primarily African-American and urban-Appalachian students, in becoming future math teachers.

The Charles Philip Taft Research Center’s annual research symposium featured 20 presentations by Center Fellows and Dissertation Fellows. Topics ranged from “Geometric Properties of Generalized Fractal Curves” to “The Most Evil of All Worlds? Fantasies of the Nuclear Apocalypse in German Writings.”

Assistant Professor Ken Tankersley, Anthropology, took a prominent role in The History Channel’s “A Global Warning?” documentary on climate change. Tankersley, who has completed several documentaries for National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, is an archaeologist who studies Ohio Valley pre-history.

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Andrea England has hobnobbed with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai. She’s shared home-cooked meals and life with a French family in Paris and lodged in an international student house in Nagoya, Japan.

Somewhere between the East and the West, this international affairs and Asian studies major also found time to earn a 3.9 GPA.

Travel abroad made all the difference as she studied at UC, says the Dublin, Va., native. England’s proved her mettle as a member of University Honors Association and Students for Study Abroad and as a UC International Programs Peer Advisor and international student mentor. And she’s sure her journeys will enhance her master’s work in foreign policy and international security at Georgetown University – a definite plus for someone who hopes to someday work abroad for the U.S. government in a diplomatic capacity.

“I consider international education an essential supplement to domestic international affairs coursework,” says England. “It has an exponential value, since with it you are significantly more attractive to prospective employers, in any field, and to graduate study programs. Without study abroad experience you are very unlikely to be able to work or continue studying in international affairs. So I anticipate it being central to my future.”

There’s wisdom behind England’s worldwide educational journey.

Q) What prompted you to take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad?

A) Study abroad was something that I had always wanted to do at the college level. Both my rather insular childhood in the mountains of Virginia and my fascination with linguistics and foreign language study primed my curiosity about “the rest of the world.” I initially entered UC as a French major, but quickly changed to international affairs with a French minor in order to gain a broader emphasis on political science, history, economics and language skills. My study abroad program participation followed a similar pattern: My first international experience was in France, but it led directly to my applications to programs in Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

Q) When did you realize that you wanted to expand your travel to a variety of settings?

A) It was sitting around the dinner table with my Parisian host family one night that everything sort of clicked for me. I thought it was the most amazing feeling in the world to be able to “connect” with my French friends in their language. What if I could do this elsewhere, in other languages? I was hooked. The only problem was that I had also spent all my allotted travel funds in Europe. If I wanted to go abroad again, I would have to find nearly full-scholarship opportunities. I decided I wanted to vary my experiences as much as possible and began searching for one East Asia and one Middle East program that would offer generous scholarship support. UC’s exchange program with Nagoya University of Foreign Studies and the Clinton Scholarship at the American University in Dubai stood out for their competitive scholarship opportunities.

Each of my experiences entailed language study, since that was my principal focus. However, in Nagoya and Dubai, I also enrolled in Japanese and Middle Eastern history, politics and culture courses. My housing arrangements also varied with location. In Paris, I had a homestay with a French family; in Nagoya, I lived in an international student house; in Dubai I lived in on-campus dormitories, and later rented a room from a British family, which I arranged through a local Craigslist-like Web site. I also tried to travel a bit throughout the country/region during my study-abroad experiences. While based in Paris, I took weekend trips to Ile-

International affairs major Andrea England’s global education took her from the desert of Dubai to a Parisian dinner table.

ere,There

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Andrea with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.

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“...living abroad will teach you the cultural nuances, the little-known legends, and the personal stories

of people who are fascinatingly different in some ways, but exactly

like you in the most important aspects of humanity.”

de-Groix, Nice, Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Strasbourg, Giverny and Reims, and also visited Northern Italy for two weeks; while based in Nagoya, I traveled to Tokyo, Hiroshima, Himeiji, Yokohama and Kyoto; while based in Dubai, I visited all six of the other emirates that together compose the UAE, and also took weekend trips to Muscat, Oman and Cairo, Egypt.

Q) How is such an experience beneficial for an undergraduate and specifically, for an international affairs major?

A) As its name might suggest, an international affairs degree really isn’t worth much without some international experience! That is not to say that I feel my classroom studies at UC have not been valuable; on the contrary, I feel that they can only be valuable in the context provided by studying abroad. It is very difficult to articulate to someone who has not lived abroad how such an experience changes your worldview. In my case, I realized once abroad that I really hadn’t had a “worldview” prior to departing the United States – my views were inherently “Americentric” simply because I had been exposed to no other perspective. America’s diverse heritage and its democratic political tradition indeed facilitate the cultivation of different opinions on foreign affairs and international issues, but they are no substitute for the soul-searching that you encounter when you leave your country and look back on it, literally, from the other side of the world.

Q) What tips can you offer the first-time or even the more-seasoned student traveler?

A) Living abroad is an adventure that will test your resourcefulness and personal values, and will help you grow in ways you had not

imagined you could. I find my experiences have provided me not only with a significant body of knowledge I did not formerly possess, but more importantly, with wisdom about life and about people that I’m convinced can come only with exposure to the world outside one’s comfort zone. This is the primary difference between traveling and living abroad: Travel can teach you facts about geography, history, and sometimes even a smidgeon of language, but living abroad will teach you the cultural nuances, the little-known legends, and the personal stories of people who are fascinatingly different in some ways, but exactly like you in the most important aspects of humanity. And learning that is something from which you’ll benefit your entire life.

Q) Last but of great importance: What prompted you to do cartwheels in the desert?

A) Ah, that most interesting of photographs was shot in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The cartwheel inspiration actually transpired when our Land Rover got a flat during a desert safari trip! I was with friends, fellow students at the American University in Dubai, on an evening duning-and-dinner outing and naturally ours was the only vehicle in the caravan to get a flat tire. While we were waiting for the driver to put on the spare (even setting up a jack in sand can be a lengthy process!), my friends and I decided to stage a photo shoot. It’s too bad we didn’t decide to stay put and take photos all evening – as soon as we got the tire changed and hopped into the Land Rover again, I started throwing up! Duning really isn’t much fun for people prone to motion-sickness.

& Everywhere

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Couple’s ‘long engagement’ starts, continues at McMickenChris and Judy Dalambakis grew up in Ohio, met at the University of Cincinnati and graduated from McMicken College of Arts and Sciences.

Their engagement – to each other and to life at the college they love – continues 24 years after their marriage.

The value of a solid relationship with one’s alma mater, they say, is life-changing, from lasting friendships to the networking inspired by collegial ties.

“Most of our best friends today are lifelong friends we met at UC,” Chris says. “Many of our friends now live across the USA and travel gives us a chance to renew friendships. While traveling on business, many of the design and architecture professionals I meet across North America are UC alums – and that common connection helps form an instant bond. And I must say that we love it when we run into Dr. Henry and Bea Winkler and Dr. Joe and Carol Steger around town and get to reminisce!”

Chris, a Centerville High School graduate, was UC student body president in 1981-’82. He earned a degree in biology in 1983 and is now national manager of sales strategy for Steelcase Inc., based in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Judy, nee Judy Schneider, is a Sycamore High School grad who received a degree in communication in 1980. An active community volunteer who sits on four boards and was a 2006 Cincinnati Enquirer Woman of the Year, she helps manage the care of her mother, who is battling frontal temporal dementia.

The two arrived at McMicken after being inspired by other alums – Chris’ high school biology teacher, Bob Sweeten, and Judy’s father, Erwin J. Schneider, a Pike from the class of ‘53. Yet another

12 Summer 2008

Ruth J. and Robert A. Conway Chair in Catholic StudiesThe concept of “gifts that keep on giving” keeps growing at McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, with presents that reach across the campus and across the years.

That was certainly the case when the Ruth J. and Robert A. Conway Chair in Catholic Studies was established in 2008, through the largest gift ever made by the Ruth J. and Robert A. Conway Foundation.

The Catholic Studies program will examine the role Catholicism has played in shaping literature, art, history, politics, ethics, philosophy, and other disciplines for more than 2,000 years, focusing on the secular impact of Catholicism rather than doctrine. The program will be part of the School for World Languages and Cultures.

Ruth Conway is a College of Education graduate, and the couple’s children are UC alums, too. The Conways would love to open a strong local and global dialogue with their gift, encouraging conversation ranging from historical, geographic and political influences to the spiritual and theological dimensions of faith. The Conways also hope the program will complement other humanities courses and programs that touch on religion and spirituality, including Judaic Studies, and enhance the future for students who will live and work in an ever-growing global community.

Those topics are all “very much a part of the church,” says Robert Conway, former chairman of The Bistro Group and, like his wife, a Cincinnati native.

“All of these things make for a fascinating curriculum, both for those who stay abreast of it and those who haven’t been educated in the faith,” he says. “We saw this as a good opportunity for our foundation. We wanted to look for something with significance … we can’t do it all, but it seems like an overall greater good can come from doing this.”

Front Row: Robert Conway and Dean Valerie Hardcastle. Middle Row: Student Brian Myers, Bill Sena, Sister Jean Patrice Harrington, Sheila Conway and student Emily Fox. Back Row: Tim Conway and Father Al Hirt.

Chris and Judy Dalambakis

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McMicken alumni Bill Blaylock’s six children – James, Dan, Jack, Stephen, David and Nancy – are all college graduates, a fact which made Blaylock and his late wife, Ruth, “very proud.”

Physics Alumni Fund: Bill BlaylockA McMicken alumnus who recently made a generous, targeted gift to the college says his desire to establish funding stems from his love and respect for education and the university he recalls with pride.

For donor William “Bill” F. Blaylock of Las Vegas, the recently established Physics Alumni Fund is a way to honor those who helped support his education. A World War II veteran, he earned his master’s degree in physics in 1942 and taught at UC from 1946-’47. After teaching at Florida State, he moved on to a successful, decades-long career in operations analysis with the United States Air Force in Colorado Springs.

Education is more than just a goal in the Blaylock family – it’s a way of life. Blaylock’s wife of 51 years, Lorraine, who died in 1995, was a graduate of Lake Erie College. In turn, the couple, whose marriage Blaylock calls “my most memorable and lasting milestone,” sent all six of their children to college. Blaylock’s gift to his alma mater will provide support for the department and help meet its most pressing needs, from scholarships to equipment to research support. He was never, he said, able to find out the sponsor of a fellowship he received while in Cincinnati – but he always appreciated the help.

“During my tenure at Colorado Springs, I wanted to return the $300 stipend I’d received, and asked how much that was in current-day funds,” said Blaylock. “It was about 30 times what I’d received, almost $9,000. So I sent them that … I felt obligated. Education, I’ve found, is very important in life.”

The benefits of Blaylock’s idea for an endowment are many, says Joseph Scanio, Department of Physics head.

“The permanent income from the endowment will allow us to offer supplements to our regular graduate assistant stipends so that the whole package becomes financially attractive to our best applicants,” he says. “The students are uniformly happy with their graduate experience here and with our ability to offer truly competitive stipends, our offers will be unbeatable and very much sought after by graduating seniors.”

A&S alum, former assistant dean Dick Friedman, helped the two “overcome administrative obstacles” and remains a very close friend.

“’Sir Richard’ was my academic advisor and we both found him to be an instant friend to all students in need and a savvy advisor,” Chris recalls. “To us, Dick is the ultimate ‘Mr. Bearcat.’”

Judy’s shyness, she said, melted away as a result of communications courses and her A&S education. “This helped give me the confidence to lead students and to go on to be president of Chi Omega and Cincinnatus, and later the 1,200-woman strong Junior League of Cincinnati,” she notes. “My education enabled me to have the fulfilling career of working with students during 11 years in the admissions office, where I was associate director.”

Judy’s skills also launched her into work as community relations director for UC alumnus Neil Van Uum, at his Joseph Beth Booksellers, and as the Our Town columnist for the Cincinnati Post. And, she adds, that confidence helped her step up for leadership roles in community organizations including the boards of the Cincinnati Ballet Board, Playhouse in the Park and the Cincinnati Parks Foundation.

For Chris, who started out with an eye toward medical school, a liberal arts education changed his outlook. “I’ll never forget my biology professor/advisor explaining to me that nothing could prepare me for life better than biology – the ‘study of life.’ He helped me realize that biology is the study of systems – where everything works together and when one part of the process isn’t fulfilling its role, the whole process fails. That process is the process of life and business.”

Looking back is only natural for a couple who still throw themselves into college-based activities and groups such as the Alumni Association. Judy, for example, was honored to receive the Alumni Distinguished Service Award last year at the UC Day Banquet.

She loved giving campus tours and talking to prospective students and parents, she says: “Mary Rowe Moore, who started Cincinnatus, also created the Neighborhood Hospitality Parties around the Cincinnati/Dayton areas for Cincinnatus students & alumni to welcome incoming freshmen.”

Chris gets a kick out of memories of playing Frisbee in “The Pit” (now Sigma Sigma Commons) and on the football field, and weekends at the Sigma Sigma House.

“My fondest memories, though, are of talking to students and friends through my large office window of the student body president’s office at Tangeman University Center,” he concludes.

“I had a great corner office and this huge window – I always kept cases of Tootsie Pops on my desk and on the window ledge to encourage people to drop by.”

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Above & Beyond

14 Summer 2008

15McMicken Magazine

It could be a little hard to swallow at times, but there’s good cause to hold your tongue. Those poorly thought-out, rash actions might truly be the product of a still-developing brain with a long way to grow.

Thanks to advances in neuroscience, a wildly exploding field centered on the study of the nervous system, many of the complex, life-altering secrets that have long remained burrowed in our brains – including those vexing teen-year woes – are unraveling.

The nervous system not only holds clues to understanding a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders, from addiction to anxiety to Alzheimer’s disease, it’s also a three-pound repository for fascinating evidence of what makes us human – our thoughts and behavior, our hopes and dreams, and so much more.

The limitless frontiers in this area of study are also spawning exciting new areas of concentration in research, from neurolaw to neuroethics.

Back to the future

In 1969, however, neuroscience “barely existed as a separate discipline,” according to the nonprofit Society for Neuroscience (SFN). The field really came into its own in the 1990s, the congressionally mandated “Decade of the Brain” that focused on advancing cutting-edge research and boosting public awareness of resultant ethical, philosophical and humanistic implications.

As of 2008, the SFN says, more than 300 training programs exist in neuroscience alone, and membership of the SFN stands at almost 40,000 scientists and physicians. That sea change in thinking is reflected, too, at the University of Cincinnati. Beginning in

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16 Summer 2008

2008, 20 years after the graduate program in neuroscience was established, an undergraduate degree in neuroscience will be offered in McMicken College of Arts and Sciences.

The interdisciplinary aspects of this field of study remind Psychology Professor Robert Frank of how a runner’s body parts – brain, lungs, circulatory system, liver and more – must work together.

What neuroscientists do is explore the functioning of the brain, some trying to understand the inter-workings of individual brain cells and others investigating how different brain regions with specialized functions interact, says Frank, associate dean for research.

Neuroscientists often study how the brain’s components work together in health, or how the brain adjusts when disease or injury makes some parts work poorly or not at all, he says.

“With many folks in psychology, philosophy and biology, the research is more systems-oriented – asking questions like, how do different areas of the brain contribute to the ability to find your car in the mall parking lot? Parts of the brain involved in perception, memory, attention, planning and movement must be coordinated to accomplish this task.”

That coordination, in turn, affects the quality of life at every age and stage – running the timeline from toddler to teen to middle-ager and beyond.

New research, for example, indicates that very young brains process memories of fear differently than do more mature ones, and that fear can be inhibited and even erased. In the Feb. 6, 2008, issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from the University of New South Wales in Sydney shared findings from their study of the amygdala, where fears can be dulled. Their research, they say, “significantly advances scientific understanding of when and how fear is stored and unlearned, and introduces new thinking on the implications of fear experience early in life.”

Learning processes in children, research shows, can be faulty from the beginning.

Heidi Kloos, assistant professor of psychology, is exploring how children form beliefs about the physical world through study at the Children’s Cognitive Research Lab. The lab “examines issues related to the perception and cognition of young children, the development of reasoning skills and the acquisition of knowledge.”

Kloos is pursuing her findings with the help of a $708,495 grant, through an NSF program called Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering (REESE).

“Most learning takes place without any explicit instruction, yet we know little about how such ‘naive’ learning happens. This is especially true when it comes to young children’s learning,” Kloos says.

“As soon as children can talk (and possibly even before), they already know something about physical regularities, they can distinguish between different concepts and categories and they constantly marvel at the cause of what they see. How did they

Above: Heidi Kloos conducts activities with a 4-year-old boy.

Right: Psychology senior Anna Silverman gauges a child’s reaction to a physics experiment.

Photos: UC Photographic Services

McMicken Magazine 17

learn about these things? And why do they fail to learn sometimes? Several developmental theories compete in addressing how knowledge emerges, but little progress has been made to resolve the conflict. I’m hoping to change this, together with colleagues who share my beliefs about how knowledge emerges.”

If recent research is right, however, don’t count on expensive tools such as “Baby Einstein” or “Brainy Baby” to boost your baby’s early learning – and later earning – potential. You might have just as much success, and more family time, sharing a storybook.

A 2007 study published by the Journal of Pediatrics compared baby video watchers between the ages of 8 and 16 months with non-video watchers in the same age group, surveying a total of 1,000 parents. Every hour a baby spent watching videos – “Baby Einstein” among them – resulted in the baby having six to eight fewer words in their vocabularies than in those who didn’t watch videos.

Dr. Dmitri Christakis, pediatric researcher at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, and his colleagues used common baby language – think “Mommy” and “choo-choo” – for the study. Christakis, who had noticed how TV fascinated one of his children as an infant, concluded that wee ones whose parents read to them or told them stories instead of showing them videos had bigger vocabularies.

He “would rather babies watch ‘American Idol’ than these videos,” Christakis told The Boston Globe, saying that there was “at least a chance that the parents would watch with them” and promote interaction with the children.

Adolescent angst: Who knew?

Parents of those hard-to-fathom teens can take heart in recent studies that help answer that time-tested question: “Why would you do something so stupid?”

Why indeed? It’s because in teenagers, the frontal lobes of the brain are still developing – and that’s the part of the brain responsible for skills including long-range planning, reasoning and problem-solving. That means that “risky business” your adolescents are up to could be caused by the fact that they simply don’t have the tools they need to make good decisions.

Contrary to long-held conventional thinking that crucial brain development stops between ages 12 and 16, a 2005 National

Institutes of Health (NIH) study suggested that the region of the brain that inhibits risky behavior – those lobes again – is not fully formed until age 25. By that time, researchers say, many crucial choices have already been made, from college and career to marriage and military service. Couple that with the fact that the risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than among any other age group, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

“We’d thought the highest levels of physical and brain maturity were reached by age 18, maybe earlier – so this threw us,”

Jay Giedd, a pediatric psychiatrist leading the NIH study, told The Washington Post. That makes adolescence “a dangerous time, when it should be the best … We have to find out what matters. Diet? Education, video games? Medicine, parenting, music? Is the biggest factor whether you’re a musician or a jock or the amount of sleep you get?”

Time changes everything

Later in life, the changes hidden within our brains might not be as noticeable as the outward signs of aging – but can have far more devastating and deadly consequences.

According to the Society for Neuroscience, two recent

studies focused on older adults “show that brains do change structurally and functionally in ways that may underlie the memory and thinking impairments that can limit independence and quality of life for senior citizens.”

In a 2006 fMRI study at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), researchers linked age-related changes in the brain’s memory storage area, the hippocampus, to the gene for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which protects and supports brain cell growth. The hippocampus “was less engaged in older people, particularly those who have a common variant of a particular gene.”

In another study, at Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, researchers examined 117 healthy people in their 50s and 60s with different levels of genetic risk for Alzheimer’s. Tests evaluated blood cholesterol levels based on whether the subject was or wasn’t a carrier of an Alzheimer’s susceptibility gene, APOE4.

“Our findings raise the possibility that higher cholesterol levels conspire with other risk factors to trigger Alzheimer’s,” said one of the researchers. “They support the possibility that cholesterol-

Behind the Brainwork Neuroanatomists study the structure and organization of the nervous system.

Developmental neuroscientists study how the brain grows and changes.

Cognitive neuroscientists study functions such as perception and memory in animals by using behavioral methods and other neuroscience techniques. In humans, they use non-invasive brain scans – such as positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging – to uncover routes of neural processing that occur during language, problem solving and other tasks.

Behavioral neuroscientists study the processes underlying behavior in humans and in animals. Their tools include microelectrodes, which measure electrical activity of neurons, and brain scans, which show parts of the brain active during activities such as seeing, speaking or remembering.

-- Society for Neuroscience Journal

18 Summer 2008

Student Melinda Brearton performs a sniff test.

Photo: UC Photographic Services

lowering treatments might promote brain health and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease as people grow older.”

One UC-based study could be useful not only in early detection of such debilitating diseases, but in the effects of olfactory function at all ages. Professor Robert Frank’s Sniff Magnitude Test (SMT), co-invented with Professor Emeritus Robert Gesteland of the UC Department of Cell Biology, is under development for marketing and manufacturing with the WR Medical Electronics Company in Stillwater, Minn.

Frank’s interest in how losing one’s sense of smell is linked to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, dates to his interest in “neophobia” – why some people are “pickier eaters” than others and how smell plays into that.

The SMT measures the size of a sniff – those with normal sense of smell takes smaller sniffs when odor is present; those with impaired olfactory function take the same-size sniff for odors or just to breathe. And while a bad sniffer doesn’t necessarily preface an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, it can be a sign more tests are needed.

“The SMT does not rely on memory, your familiarity with odor names or your culture of origin,” says Frank. “It is a straightforward test of olfactory ability that can be used to test children and adults from a variety of backgrounds and cognitive abilities.”

Eyes on innovation

Scientists throughout McMicken are venturing far outside their labs and into non-human habitats for more insight into very human conditions.

“When you are performing basic research, you just never quite know if, or what aspect may become particularly important,” says Elke Buschbeck, assistant professor of biology.

Buschbeck’s research focuses on insect eyes with bizarre eye organization – work with potential value in attacking human sight issues.

“Specifically, by studying eyes we are investigating how light or visual images are changed into nerve impulses,” Buschbeck says. “This includes a portion of the eye that works much like a complicated filter, and a portion of the eye that correspondently produces electrical signals. The latter are the basis for any visual perception.”

Most of the lab’s current work is devoted to the larval eyes of certain diving beetles, “which are organized completely differently from our eyes and even from any animal eyes that previously have been described,” Buschbeck says.

“It is clear to us that they work really well, because they are used very efficiently for hunting,” she says. “Since eyes are energetically costly, evolution presumably optimized them in a very specific way, most likely in a new way that has not been discovered yet. Basically, our task is to puzzle out how these eyes work. What are they optimized for? How are they used? What neural information results from them?”

Just how important could this work be? Buschbeck cites “a beautiful example” in the work of her post-doctorial advisor, Ron Hoy of Cornell University. Hoy devoted much of his life to studying a mysterious insect ear, the principles of which are today being used to develop highly directionally sensitive hearing aids.

“Similarly, I could imagine that our work on diving beetle larval eyes one day could lead us to practical applications,” Buschbeck says. “For example, we think that they may use a thus-far unknown monocular way to gauge the distance of prey. A similar mechanism could potentially be useful for visual sensors that need to instantly detect object distances. Another insect eye

Assistant Professor Elke Buschbeck

Photo: Melanie Cannon

19McMicken Magazine

I have studied samples a large visual field by breaking it into portions. This way these insects avoid some of the distortions that, for example, are caused by fish-eye lenses.

“Apart from, or in addition to, benefits related to engineering, our research could lead to novel insights into fundamental neural mechanisms of larger importance. For example, by looking at the nervous system in the framework of an unusual organization, we may find out more about certain limits that potentially could even apply to us … Meanwhile, we are excited about every little piece of the puzzle that ultimately will tell us how these eyes work.”

New ways of thinking

The new undergraduate neuroscience degree will be the perfect complement for the existing Graduate Program in Neuroscience, an interdisciplinary partnership between McMicken and the Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, says John Bickle, Department of Philosophy head and professor in the graduate program.

“The student who’ll do well in this major has both a background and a strong interest in science – some are pre-med types, but all really have an eye toward a career in scientific research, in

academics or industry,” says Bickle, who adds that UC has “a wealth of resources available for students to do state-of-the-art neuroscience while undergraduates.”

In the Department of Psychology alone, faculty and students at the undergraduate and graduate levels are collaborating on seven research projects with neuroscience implications – ranging from cochlear implants and cognitive neuropsychological development to the neuropsychology of intractable epilepsy, substance abuse, bipolar disorder, olfaction and ADHD.

Philosophy PhD student Aaron Kostko didn’t have the opportunity as an undergraduate to take the kind of courses to be offered through the UC neuroscience degree, “though I definitely would have welcomed the opportunity,” he says.

That makes the new A&S program – one of the few in the country at an established research institution – very attractive, he says.

“The program provides students with the experience of working in a research lab and the curriculum is flexible enough to be tailored to the particular interests of the student,” says Kostko. “Undergraduate students interested in the neurosciences and its interdisciplinary nature have limited options since few universities have an undergraduate degree in neuroscience.”

Department chair John Bickle’s research focuses on cellular and molecular explanations of cognition, with recent research on pathways of social recognition memory. Kostko’s dissertation research focuses on levels of explanation in psychiatry, particularly on the cellular and molecular pathways by which social/environmental variables exert influence so as to generate pathological behaviors.

As with any disease or pathological behavior, a better understanding of the biological basis of the causes and course of the disease/behavior provides promise for the development of better treatments, Kostko says.

“With regards to Alzheimer’s disease, a better understanding of the cellular and molecular processes underlying the degenerative progression of the disease allows for the opportunity to intervene into those processes to either slow/halt the progression or, more optimistically, to reverse/repair any loss of function,” he says. “Finding diagnostic markers that enable the detection of the disease before its onset or in its earliest stages is also a promising research goal.”

The new interdisciplinary major has already attracted new students to the college and university. John Bickle says he has talked to at least 20 students, both current UC students and incoming freshmen, who have expressed strong interest in the program.

“It will also have an effect on our psychology major, since the new major is but one of several forces prompting us to design our undergraduate course offerings to inject more neuroscience,” adds Steve Howe, Department of Psychology head. “And as we hire more faculty over the next few years, the neuroscience major is just one more reason why we will be looking to hire neuroscientists.”

20 Summer 2008

OK, so at least a few members of the group managed to slip through the cracks. There’s still monumental McMicken pride in the Altman family of Cincinnati – dating to the days when Warren G. Harding was president of the United States and college enrollment began to rise nationwide.

This activism-activated team counts among them four generations of A&S alums, the youngest three of whom earned undergraduate degrees in political science. The latest to toss a tassel is Michael Altman, who follows in the footsteps of his father, D. David Altman; his grandfather, Gerald G. Altman; and his paternal great-grandmother, Hortense Barnett Altman. While she didn’t graduate, Hortense’s choice of a place in the early 1920s to study definitely set a precedent for her family.

Hortense’s son, Gerald, earned his bachelor’s degree at McMicken in 1948. He moved on to the UC College of Law, settling later in Baltimore with his wife, Elizabeth, and children. A former judge advocate and full colonel in the United States Air Force, he worked for 32 years for the federal government in the general counsel’s office of what’s now the Department of Health and Human Services. Around Baltimore, he’s a well-known caller to local and nationally syndicated radio talk shows – better known as “Gerry in Pikesville.”

In turn, Gerald’s son David graduated from McMicken in 1968 and in 1974 from UC College of Law. David has dedicated the past 30 years to environmental concerns as a civic leader and as a nationally known environmental lawyer. Since 1975 David has served as executive secretary of the Murray and Agnes Seasongood Good Government

Foundation. He also is a founding member of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum and works on state and local governmental advisory councils and numerous non-profit boards, including the National Civic League and Family Services of Greater Cincinnati.

The latest McMicken product is David’s son, Michael, who earned his bachelor’s degree in December 2007. An assignment editor at News 5 in Cincinnati, Michael also freelances for local publications, generally covering local, national and state politics. Since 2003, he has directed an online journalism magazine, QueenCityForum.com, which uses interns from UC’s journalism program to cover local events and various topics. He has been a regular contributor in CityBeat and the Washington (DC) Examiner and has reported for The Cincinnati Post and Soapboxmedia.com.

The three men, all interested in politics and the future of the local and global community, agree that degrees in political science prepared them well for their career paths.

“My degree, four years of Latin at Hughes High School and three and a half years of military service in World War II splendidly equipped me for my career as a lawyer and for life in general, for the highlights and lowlights of life’s journey for me so far,” says Gerald – who confides that being a journalist would have been fun, too.

David, who served as The News Record’s editor in the politically and socially tumultuous late 1960s, finds a broad, liberal arts

education “prepared me for the variety of issues that a lawyer has to understand to practice on a national level in a

cutting-edge area of the law.”

There’s definitely no generation gap in the Altman family of Cincinnati, which since the 1920s has produced four McMicken alumni and a very special shared legacy.

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“For example, I frequently use the lessons I learned about administrative behavior from political science professor Edward R. Padgett in dealing with governmental institutions,” he says. “Also, there is a lot of Dickens or contemporary literature in a good opening statement at trial. Finally, I received a lot of faculty support for my efforts writing for the News Record, particularly my efforts (joined by many others) to explore the complexities of the racial issues in our city and on our campus.”

That love of journalism was passed on to Michael. He has found that “writing leads and tight sentence structure are extremely important to develop in college for anything you want to go into. However, to compete in news, you have to have a strong background in business or politics or something that allows you to develop your mind. I was motivated to really dive into political science for that reason. It was my chance to gain an edge in the news business.”

A&S backgrounds enhanced personal life for the Altmans, too.

“A liberal arts education and familiarity with the classics shapes and frames your interests – from the art you appreciate to the movies you enjoy to your politics,” says David, an avid art collector with a particular interest in American and Italian contemporary art.

“In my case, I used A&S as the launching pad to absorb and appreciate the rest of campus, especially CCM and DAA (now DAAP).”

Journalist Michael notes that editors have been complimentary of his curiosity in approaching a story. “That has everything to do with my development in A&S,” he explains. “The program challenged me to develop and train all of my mind. Without being pushed, I don’t know that I would ever have made the connection between ‘L’Étranger’ and ‘Seinfeld.’”

Each man’s years at McMicken laid the groundwork for lasting friendships. Gerald speaks fondly of Dr. Harold Vinacke’s political

science classes and his “reverence” for Vinacke, a former department head who passed away in 1981.

“I remember his informing me that I had been elected to Phi Beta Kappa and my subsequent election to Tau Kappa Alpha, the honorary forensic fraternity, for my services with John Lloyd, who became a well-known attorney in Cincinnati,” says Gerald. “We were both on the debate team and won a number of debate tournaments.”

Making good friends inspired great memories for David. His buddies included Joe diGenova, a former U.S. attorney who supervised the prosecution of John Hinckley, who shot Ronald Reagan, and Al Porkolab, now owner of Bogart’s. Almost all of David’s best recollections however, are tied to his time on The News Record. A proud moment: He and Porkolab flew to Atlanta in April 1968 to cover the funeral of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

“We wound up staying with future Cincinnati mayor (then student) Dwight Tillery and Dean Ron Temple, who were also official UC representatives. Dwight, Al and I talk about

those few days in Atlanta all the time. Al and I wrote some decent stories on that event for the paper.”

Favorite places stand out, too. David, for example, was fond of The Rhine Room at Mecklenburg Gardens and the old News Record office, saying that sometimes “it seemed like one was the extension of the other.”

Gerald treasures good times at Wilson Auditorium. In his first year of college, before enlisting in World War II, he and friends including Bob Portune (father of Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune) wrote and staged “Khaki Wacky.”

“As I recall, it was a great campus theatrical success,” he shares.

The rich McMicken family history is complemented by the experiences of other family UC alums. David’s brother, Larry, is a UC College of Law graduate and their sister, Susan, attended DAAP.

For Gerald, the McMicken years are “a gratifying and indelible memory” he has recalled time after time. “It is part of the glue that holds together the collective experience of my family, parts of which all of us can relate to together,” he notes.

David agrees, adding that “to share this urban education experience over four generations of our family means a lot, from both a heritage and a civic perspective … I hope we have all left the campus and the city a little better than the way we found it. I know UC and the city have made each of us better than we were before the experience.

Michael has always, he concludes, “been proud of my heritage and roots at the university” and the “very real shared experience” he and his family enjoy through McMicken.

“It means a lot to me to look at pictures of my father and his father and see the clock tower over Tangeman Center that has been a part of the development of at least four generations of my family,” he says. “I don’t think anything can touch that for me.”

David Altman and his son, Michael, the family’s latest A&S graduate.

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22 Summer 2008

A&S educators embrace new ways to teach and reach out

to students in a virtual world that in many ways seems

very close to home.

In the brick-and-mortar world, she’s Nancy Jennings, a petite, dark-haired woman who works as an assistant professor of communication.

In the 3D, digital world she’s frequented for the past two years, Jennings is better known as Sweetpea Sunnyside, a tall, coiffure-changing woman who, like Jennings, works as an educator.

Wherever she flies, “teleports” or lands, Jennings is among the first A&S faculty who’s found a new face, place and space to teach in Second Life (SL).

A “metaverse” of virtual communities built by individuals, businesses and organizations with a world of interests, SL is imagined and created by an estimated 7 million registered users. Via downloadable software, “residents” pursue life “in-world” in the form of self-tailored, motional personas called “avatars.” Residents shop and work in SL. They party. They buy and sell real estate; visit libraries and museums and foreign countries. Some SL “islands” are personalized by individual users; others, like those constructed by Coca-Cola and the National Basketball Association, represent real-life (RL) specific interests.

Most important for Jennings and colleagues, dozens of universities and educational outlets have established e-learning environments in SL. McMicken faculty who’ve made the leap say SL and the UC island, established in late 2006, are the perfect spots for interdisciplinary and other learning collaborations. And those partnerships continue to grow, from classes to campus tours to chats with professors outside the confines of an earthbound classroom.

Stepping out ‘in-world’

Along with information tech analyst Chris Collins of UCit and other faculty members, Jennings has taught other educators

about SL. She’s led in-world and in-person workshops for groups including the U.S. Distance Learning Association.

“I enjoy teaching with Second Life because it keeps me up to date with the latest technological trends and helps me feel closer to my students as we learn and experience new technology together,” says Jennings, who has twice taught Communication and Technology almost exclusively in SL.

“Learning, teaching, and research certainly have blossomed as a result of my involvement with Second Life. I have learned quite a bit about virtual worlds and media convergence as I have prepared my classes and workshops.”

During one recent class, Jennings’ students incorporated service learning into their SL experience. Working with community partners including the Disabled American Veterans, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the Museum of National History and Science, students built space and a presence for the organizations in Second Life.

“This is just the beginning for these builds, to give us all a chance to see what could be done in SL. I’m looking forward to teaching this class in fall 2008, with the service learning component again,” Jennings says. “I really enjoyed working with the community partners. It seemed to help give the class a greater mission than just exploring SL for their own curiosity.”

Since SL debuted in 2003, its value as more than a social outlet and its number of active residents have been debated from Madison Avenue to tech magazines. Its seedy side, too, has surfaced – just as in real life and on the World Wide Web, there are pros and cons, good and bad sides of town and people with far-less-than-noble intentions.

As in new ventures posed in RL, certain students blossom in SL, while others balk at the concept. Across the grid, however,

23McMicken Magazine

students’ avatars and SL experiences often mimic what transpires on terra firma.

“Gamers tend to blossom in Second Life. Those who really dedicate themselves to learning the interface and spend time in-world seem to do the best,” says Jennings. “We talk quite a bit about identity and their ‘real life’ personalities. Generally, what I’ve found is that as hard as you may try to be someone else, your true personality comes through your avatar.”

In general, Jennings adds, even initially skeptical students seem receptive to SL by the end of the quarter.

“Many indicate they would like to spend more time learning the mechanics of the software, navigating the world, and learning about the ins and outs of the virtual environment before plunging in with other assignments,” she says. “It seems like 10 weeks just isn’t long enough to learn the interface and do something with it.”

Variety brings bonuses

Eric Maurer, assistant professor of biology and director of environmental studies, has always used student group approaches in his typical classes. In SL, Maurer sees “almost real-life interaction between and among students and faculty in a learning environment – with a bonus.”

“In traditional real-life classes, there is predictably a small fraction of the class who can always be counted on to participate and interact, a large middle group who will if you intervene significantly, and the remaining fraction who will hardly ever interact – in many cases, due to a reluctance to speak out in public,” he explains.

“The perceived anonymity of online environments can often result in that reluctant fraction participating to a greater degree when online than in RL classes.”

The interdisciplinary aspects appeal to Maurer, too, as students can study connections between disciplines/approaches and reflect on how those same connections differ or are similar to real life. In a 2009 Honors course, Maurer and Wendy Eisner, associate professor with a joint appointment in geography and environmental studies, will explore with students the impacts of a changing climate across different cultures/states of economic development. They will also address the ethical issues involved.

“The international flavor of SL will allow students to explore these concepts by talking with folks who actually live in the different regions we will talk about,” he says.

“They can gain a perspective that we simply could not illustrate for them in the classroom, as two Caucasians in the affluent West.”

Eisner – aka Leslie Forager – first heard about Second Life while listening to the public radio series “The Infinite Mind,” which broadcast several shows from SL in 2006.

“I thought it was a brilliant idea, but when I joined SL and explored it, I became a bit bored with it, since I didn’t really want to use it as a social tool,” she recalls. “I saw it had potential as a teaching, communication, and research tool, but didn’t have the time to work with it.

Months later, UC’s IT services offered an introduction to Second Life, presented by Chris Collins.

Eisner says Collins was “so enthusiastic, energetic and creative in her approach that I was re-inspired to introduce it as a teaching tool for students in my ‘Women in Science’ seminar. SL became a communication tool for us, but also was an object of study, since we could explore how gender roles transferred to virtual reality.”

Exploration of Second Life is both an educational adventure and a flight of fancy for communication major Ashley Merianos and Nancy Jennings, assistant professor of communication.

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Untapped potential

The potential for interdisciplinary activities is exciting for Eisner, who’s also a Women’s Studies affiliate faculty member.

Any major social, political, economic issue can be studied in SL as an immersive activity, meaning the student is part of the process, she notes. Geography can be studied using the entire SL grid, which uses its own coordinate and mapping system.

“A student can attend an international conference on climate change and be talking to students from the Netherlands, discussing how that country deals with environmental issues. There are sites where your avatar can dress as an ancient Roman and walk through the rebuilt capital of the Roman Empire,” she says.

“We can also develop syllabi that send students to investigate changes in glaciers, look at examples of global climate change, then lecture about alternative energy sources at a site which allows you to manipulate wind-turbines and solar panels to see how much energy they can generate.”

Second Life has wonderful potential, but there are also barriers to entry for UC and educational institutions, Jennings notes.

First, she says, SL is owned by a privately-held company.

“Therefore, if Linden Labs ever decided to close its doors, all the work and energy that went into creating the learning environments would be lost,” she says. “Second, there are issues concerning management of the property and control over what is built on the island. Also, since the interface itself requires higher-end hardware and high-speed Internet connectivity, there are limitations in terms of access to computer labs on campus that will meet these needs for enough students.”

Challenges lie ahead, the educators agree, but they’re worth tackling.

“Academics may not be very flexible or may be antagonistic to such a revolutionary form of teaching or instruction. In some respects they are correct: Personal contact is always important and I hope it will always be important in the teacher/student relationship,” says Eisner.

In addition, Eisner says, SL has a “rather steep learning curve.”

“Students are generally very quick at learning SL, but profs and administrators may not be,” she notes.

Despite these limitations, Eisner says, “UC and other educational institutions have seen great potential for Second Life in terms of educational goals and marketing of the institutions.”

“The islands serve as a place for potential students to tour campus without the cost of physically traveling to the institutional campus, as well as interact with faculty who already have virtual offices,” she says. “Furthermore, as students become more immersed in technology, this provides an opportunity to make learning enjoyable and give the students a sense of control in their own learning.”

Communication Student Flies High, Sees World Via Second Life

Nancy Jennings’ Communication and Technology students have just as much work to do in the virtual world of Second Life as they do in an earthbound classroom.

In addition to end-of-term presentations students give about work they completed with community partners and on what they did in Second Life, they complete blogging assignments.

Sophomore Ashley Merianos took on the persona of “Koukla (“doll” in Greek) Miklos.” She admits that she felt intimidated before starting her Second Life project. Her fears faded quickly.

“My initial thoughts were that I was not too Internet-savvy, and what was SL anyway?” she wrote. “I thought to myself, ‘I know how to search Google for things for school or play on Facebook,’ but that was about it.”

The class turned out to be one of the most interesting she’s had, Merianos wrote.

“It definitely wasn’t one of those classes where you stare at your watch hoping it is almost time to go; instead, I was wishing there was more time for SL,” she said.

“Obviously, my impression has completely changed from the first day of class … The most useful aspect of SL was the ability to go see different things, like the NASA setup Chris showed us in class. It allows people who are less fortunate or very busy to go see things they normally couldn’t see. For example, going to school full-time throughout the year, students don’t have the ability to pick up and go on vacations due to time and/or money obstacles.”

25McMicken Magazine

1950s

John T. Bernstein (’51, BA, Political Science) is working part time as the editor and sole writer of the publication “Law and Legislation.” He is president of the Sun Lakes/Chandler Democratic Club, vice chair of his election district and a member of two other Arizona Democratic Party committees.

Thomas A. Gerrard (’56, BS, Geology) retired from Wittenberg University in 1993.

F.D. “Bud” Holland (’58, PhD, Geology) co-wrote a book titled “Bushels of Fossils” about legendary geologist Lowell R. Laudon. The book is available from the geology department at the University of Wisconsin.

Francis E. Lamore (’53, BS, ’54, MS, Geology) is retired and remains active in his church and community. He resides in the Houston area and feels very blessed that all of his grandchildren live nearby.

1960s

Frederick E. Simms (’66, PhD, Geology) is teaching geology and geography at Wayne State University.

1970s

Lynda (Lesoganich) Demidovich (’71, BA, Psychology) moved to San Antonio, Texas, in 1981 with her family. She went back to school to earn her elementary education certification and taught at Northside Independent School district until retirement in June 2001. Her husband, Michael, retired from the Air Force in January 2002 and works for the

San Antonio Department of Community Initiatives. Lynda is active in her sorority alumnae chapter and is serving her fourth term as president. The couple has one daughter, Jennifer.

David M. Douglass (’76, BA, Economics) is building a new office in Cleveland for his law firm, Douglass & Associates, LPA.

Robert M. Kadlec (’75, BA, ’78, MA, Political Science) will retire early and pursue his doctorate from the School of Policy, Planning and Development at University of Southern California.

Thomas F. Miller (’74, MA, Political Science) is the director of supply chain management for Corbus, LLC. He supports GE Aviation in Evendale, Ohio. He and his wife, Ann, have been happily married for 35 years and have four wonderful children and two grandchildren.

Jim Neggerman (’77, BA, Sociology; ’94, MPA, Public Administration) works with Walgreen’s as an assistant manager.

Dilip M. Nene (’76, PhD, Chemistry) retired at the end of 2007 after working for Rohm and Hass, a specialty chemical manufacturer, for 27 years.

Ann E. Rushing (’78, MS, Biology) is a professor and associate chair in the biology department at Baylor University, where she has taught for 18 years. She earned the university’s 2007 Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year Award.

John E. Schulenberg (’79, BA, Psychology) is a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. This year he celebrated his 50th birthday with his wife and two children.

Betty Ann (Buckner) Smiddy (’71, BS; ’74, MS, Biology) published her second book, titled “Cincinnati’s Great Disasters.” Her first book, “Cincinnati’s Golden Age,” is in its second printing. Both texts are published by Arcadia.

Marshall Tessnear (’74, PhD, Psychology) retired as the associate director of the Thomas E. Cook Counseling Center at Virginia Tech in 2002. He is a disaster mental health volunteer for the American Red Cross and a medical expert for Social Security disability appeals hearings.

Dana Vannoy (’71, PhD, Sociology) is a professor emerita of sociology. She has recently taken up photography and her work is displayed in Michigan galleries. She is an officer of the Photographic Society of America, an international association with more than 5,000 members.

Rosalee (Cockerill) Yeaworth (’70, PhD, Sociology) served six years on the AARF’s (Animal Adoption and Rescue Foundation) National Policy Council’s Health and Long Term Care Committee and six years at the Nebraska Center for Nursing. For 15 years she was dean of the University of Nebraska College of Nursing. She is also active in nursing organizations, the Alzheimer’s Association and a coalition to prevent elder abuse.

1980s

Janice M. (Kramer) Dyehouse (’89, PhD, Sociology) is the interim associate dean for research at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing.

Erwin F. Erhardt III (’81, MA; ’96, PhD, History) presented papers at

26 Summer 2008

European conferences at the University of Wolverhampton, DeMonfort University, University of Amsterdam and Rekjavik, Iceland, during summer 2007.

Patrick Farrell (’87, BA, Political Science) teaches 11th-grade American Government and Economics and seventh-grade World History at Dater High School in Cincinnati. He and his wife, Susan Matson Farrell (’87, BA, Communication), have three children: Carrie,14, and two 5-year-old girls, Caitrin and Christa, whom they adopted from China. Mr. Farrell is in the process of applying for his Irish citizenship.

Cathy (Bueter) Fitzgerald (’81, MA, Political Science) is the co-owner of Answers Research, LLC, a market research company located in Solana Beach, CA. She has two sons, ages 16 and 13.

Donata Glassmeyer (’80, BA; ’82, MA, English) returned “home” to Cincinnati in 2006 after 14 years in Tallahassee, Fla. She serves as director of communications for the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati.

John Hoholick (’80, MS, Geology) is president of ExxonMobil Kuwait Limited, Kuwait City, Kuwait.

Lisa Kreeger (’84, BA, Political Science) spent 12 years as a prosecutor in Miami, Fla., before moving to Washington, D.C. She is the former director of the Violence Against Women & the Forensic DNA Programs for the National District Attorneys Association. She now works for the Department of Defense as the attorney for their crime lab.

Sherwin D. Little (’83, BA, Classics) received the Chartered Statistician designation, England’s Royal Statistical Society’s highest award. The honor recognizes his statistical qualifications, professional training and experience. He holds three specialty psychology board certifications from the American Board of Professional Psychology in clinical, rehabilitation psychology, and clinical neuropsychology. He is a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Wayne State University.

Jana Morford Widmeyer (’83, BA; ’86, MA, History) was appointed to the board of trustees at Cincinnati’s Queen of Angels Montessori School.

1990s

Diann Ackard (’96, MA; ’98, PhD, Psychology) is the recipient of the 2007 Judy E. Hall Early Career Psychologist Award.

Ihsan Alkhatib (’95, MA, Communication; ’96, MA, Political Science) was invited by the U.S. State Department to participate in the Strategic Speaker program, where he spoke about American Muslims in Kuwait and Qatar.

Kevin Bower (’99, MA; ’03, PhD, History) is the director of historical studies and an assistant professor of history at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Neb. He is revising his dissertation for publication and teaching courses on 20th-century America.

Daniela Carvalho (’94, BA, Psychology) was married to Dr. Gregory Thomas

in March 2007 in Costa Rica. She is an attorney at Wilbraham, Lawler & Buba in Philadelphia.

Scott Chenault (’98, BA, History) earned a master’s of education at UC in 2006. He teaches eighth-grade social studies at Rapid Run Middle School in Cincinnati’s Oak Hills School District.

Lisa Ensfield (’95, MA; ’98, PhD, Psychology) is the mother of two sons, ages 1 and 3½. She works part time as a clinical psychologist at a multidisciplinary pain clinic.

Steven M. Ferris (’95, MS, Geology) is working with Nytis Exploration on natural gas development projects in the Illinois and Appalachian basins.

Robert J. Graham (’97, PhD, Sociology) is in his fourth year as chair of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn. He has taught sociology at Lee since 1997 and was recently promoted to full professor.

Brian E. Harry (’92, PhD, Geology) began his career as a geologist at Amoco working on international projects in exploration and production, commercial development and new country strategy. He completed an MBA at Rice University in finance and strategy and joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a management consultant. He became president of Tourism and Industrial Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago, an investment promotion business. After TIDCO, he returned to the US as a consultant with Evolve Partners and

27McMicken Magazine

remained there for two years before recently leaving to join Accenture.

David W. Jaberg (’90, BA; ’92, MA, Economics) is working at PEAKS in Algorithmic Trading and studying for his PhD in economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He and his wife are the proud parents of a 3-year-old son and a 1-year-old daughter.

Eric R. Jackson (’92, MA, History) was appointed assistant chair of the Department of History/Geography at Northern Kentucky University. He was also appointed director of the Institute for Freedom Studies.

Andrew Kersten (’93, MA; ’97, PhD, History) is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. He published two books in 2006: “Labor’s Home Front: The American Federation of Labor and World War II” (New York University Press); and “A. Philip Randolph: A Life in the Vanguard” (Rowman & Little). He serves as book review editor for the journal Labor History.

Heather (Anderson) Leonard (’97, BA, Communication) is the regional marketing director for Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, a multi-concept restaurant company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

James MacGregor (’97, MA; ’02, PhD, History) is an assistant professor of history at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, Mo. He published “The First Crusade in Late Medieval Exempla” in The Historian 68 (2006) and received the MWSU Board of Governors Distinguished Professor Award for his university and community service.

Mark Charles Matthews (’93, BA, German Studies) became a foreign service officer for the U.S. Department of State in 2005. Matthews and his wife live in San Salvador, El Salvador, where he works in the Consulate at the Embassy. Next year they will be moving to Mexico City.

Sudesh Mujumdar (’98, MA; ’00, PhD, Economics) was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor of economics at the University of Southern

Indiana. During summer 2007 he was a visiting scholar at the Reserve Bank of India.

Nicole M. (Menke) Oppenheim (’99, BA, English) and her husband, David, celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in August of 2007. The couple welcomed twins in February 2007 – Max Alexander and Eve Ilona.

Tamiki Sato (’98, MS, Geology) recently took a position as assistant professor at Tokyo Gakugei University in Japan.

Richard Schultz (’91, PhD, Geology) continues to teach at Elmhurst College in suburban Chicago. His areas of interest include online learning with GIS Education. He was recently nominated for the Excellence in Teaching faculty award given by the college.

Jon Williams (’92, BA, Psychology) was the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) Open Runner of the Year in 2006.

2000 and Beyond

Sanjam Ahluwalia (’00, PhD, History) was promoted to associate professor with tenure at Northern Arizona University. Her book “Reproductive Restraints: Birth

Control in India 1877-1947” was published in November 2007 by the University of Illinois Press.

Li-Hsueh Cheng (’00, MA, Sociology) was promoted to the position of assistant director in the Office of Institutional Research at the University of Cincinnati.

Jennifer (Gresham) Dozer (’00, BA, Anthropology) returned to school for a nursing degree and graduated in 2005. She

works as an ICU nurse at Miami Valley Hospital. She married in 2006 and

had her first child in May 2008.

Ryan Fitzsimmons (’01, BA, Business Economics) was

promoted to product manager at Great American Insurance Company,

overseeing the development and underwriting of multiple fiduciary

liability insurance products.

Morgan McFarland (’01, MA; ’05, PhD, History) is involved in the planning and development of a regional research center at Kansas State University. She is directing undergraduates and graduate students in the research and writing of a book about the history of a small Kansas river town, a project slated for completion in 2008. McFarland travels across Kansas leading a workshop titled “Put It On the Map: Geography in History.”

Shelby Smith (’00, MA, Women’s Studies) has recently started a new job with Emory School of Medicine. She is an admissions program coordinator and enjoys working with the students.

Lisa Udel (’01, PhD, English & Comparative Literature) was recently promoted to associate professor of English, Gender and Women’s Studies at Illinois College in Jacksonville, IL.

Susan Williams (’01, BA; ’03, MA, History) is a doctoral candidate at Indiana University, specializing in East European history. She spent 2007 in Bucharest, Romania, on an IIE Fulbright Fellowship, where she completed research for her dissertation titled “‘It’s the Gypsy in Me’: The Meaning of Romanian Romani Identity in the Interwar Years.” She teaches courses at Indiana University/Purdue University-Columbus.

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28 Summer 2008

A veteran investigative reporter-turned-author. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. A scientist dedicated to improving the quality of life.

All three are graduates of McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, and all earned honors at the annual College Awards dinner. The winners of Distinguished Alumni Awards joined five students, four faculty and a staff member in earning accolades and applause.

Proceeds from the 2008 event will fund scholarships for outstanding McMicken students in the year ahead. Many thanks go to the 2007-2008 sponsors who offered generous contributions to the educational achievements of those students.

This year, $10,650 was raised for scholarships to be awarded during the 2008-2009 academic year. This will include a full-tuition scholarship for senior Per DeVisé Jansen. Funds from the 2007 dinner provided two outstanding students with half-tuition scholarships for this year.

Distinguished alumni awards

Merrill Goozner (BA, ‘75, History) Merrill Goozner spent more than 25 years in the

news industry as a foreign correspondent, economics writer and investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune and other publications. He joined the Center for Science in the Public Interest in December 2003 as director of the Integrity in Science project. In 2004, the University of California Press published Goozner’s first book, “The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs,” an exposé of the pharmaceutical industry’s research

and development practices. Goozner also has found a home on the Web with gooznews.com.

Walt Handelsman (BGS, ‘79, General Studies) In 2007, Pulitzer Prize judges praised Walt Handelsman’s “stark, sophisticated cartoons and his

impressive use of zany animation” as they awarded him his second Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. Handelsman, the syndicated editorial cartoonist for Newsday since 2001, creates cartoons appearing in more than 200 newspapers around the country and internationally, and self-voiced, animated editorial cartoons for the Internet.He is the author of eight collections of his editorial cartoons.

Thomas Heckler (PhD, ‘81, Chemistry) Thomas Heckler’s technical and scientific expertise and dedication to improving the

quality of life have been the hallmark of his career. Heckler is the retired director of biotech development at Centocor Inc., a Johnson & Johnson Company. His industrial career began at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he was a “key driver” in development of industrial enzymes in antibiotic drug manufacture and established recombinant strategies for protein growth factor and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies production processes. Heckler continued his career at Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho Biotech. Among Heckler’s many honors are Johnson & Johnson Standard of Leadership Awards in 2000 and 2004.

Staff award

Distinguished Faculty McMicken Excellence Award Karen Eichelbrenner, Psychology

Faculty honors

Carl Mills Award for Outstanding Faculty & Student Relations Lisa Newman, Communication

McMicken Dean’s Award for Distinguished Adjunct Performance Linda Bates Parker, Organizational Leadership

Edith C. Alexander Award for Distinguished Teaching Bruce Ault, Chemistry

McMicken Dean’s Award for Distinguished Scholarship Nageswari Shanmugalingam, Mathematical Sciences

Student scholarship winners

McMicken College of Arts & Sciences Alumni Scholarship Per DeVisé Jansen, International Affairs & Political Science

The Eleanor Hicks Award for the Outstanding Undergraduate Female Senior Andrea England, International Affairs & Asian Studies

The Robert Patterson McKibbin Medal for the Outstanding Undergraduate Male Senior Michael Brothers, Chemistry & Biology

Outstanding Master’s Student Award Natalie Abell, Classics

Outstanding Doctoral Student Award Siva Muthukrishnan, Chemistry

29McMicken Magazine

Undergraduate requirements under review

The importance of experiential learning and real-world relevance are at the heart of a look at possible changes in undergraduate requirements for A&S students. About 200 faculty members and 860 students have completed a survey about what skills, knowledge, and traits each group sees as important outcomes of an A&S education, and what means each would like to use to achieve those outcomes (course content, course structure, course level, course groupings, co-curricular activities, etc). A faculty committee has been formed and input will be sought from advisors, students and alumni.

One theme that has emerged from the survey is a strong interest in “hands-on” or experiential learning (including internships, research projects, co-ops, service projects) and in real-world relevance. Advisors say there is strong student desire for and expectation of “practicum”-type experiences as part of their A&S education. Additionally, based on faculty response, one approach to revising requirements might be to focus on improving students’ critical analysis skills and ability to communicate ideas (orally or written). High percentages of both faculty and students selected “mastery of knowledge in one area (e.g., one major)” and “courses that address real-world challenges (global, economic, environmental, political, etc.)” as important means for achieving educational goals.

Center for Field Studies: a stepping stone for budding scientists and researchers

The University of Cincinnati and the Board of Park Commissioners of the Hamilton County Park District have signed a 35-year lease agreement to create the Cincinnati Center for Field Studies (CCFS), slated for a fall 2008 opening. A scientific field and research station, it will be located at the 17.6-acre Knollman complex (South Family Shaker Complex) located along Oxford Road in Miami Whitewater Forest.

The center’s faculty represent a truly interdisciplinary effort. The departments of biological sciences, geology, anthropology, geography and environmental sciences will conduct research at the new station.

David Lentz, professor of biological sciences and CCFS executive director, says the center will be used as a living lab for students, teachers and scientists to conduct hands-on research in archeology, geology and environmental studies — and more. The location will serve as a stepping stone for students wanting to become environmental researchers and scientists. Objectives cited for CCFS include conducting research on natural ecosystems in a changing landscape; providing field-oriented educational activities in the form of formal academic classes, informal workshops and training programs; communicating science to the public and engaging non-scientists in scientific study; and facilitating interaction between a variety of disciplines related to the environment and serving as a regional center for scientific exchange and informed discussion of environmental issues.

The property has several existing structures. One, originally a farmhouse built in the 19th century, was occupied into the 21st century but has been vacant recently. Improvements are therefore necessary to make the structures compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and appropriate to act as both a research lab and visitors’ center. Planners hope to have the South Family house ready by September 2008. An early fall open house is in the works.

This 19th-century farmhouse will serve as a research lab and visitors center at the new Cincinnati Center for Field Studies, slated for a fall 2008 opening. The station will be built along Oxford Road in Miami Whitewater Forest.

A preview of what’s in the works for the A&S community

McMicken College of Arts & SciencesUniversity of CincinnatiPO Box 210367Cincinnati, OH 45221-0367

Non-Profit Org.US Postage

PAIDCincinnati, OHPermit No. 133

What’s the Story Behind That? Page through your mental scrapbook and see if you can identify these vintage and current scenes. More on these sentimental snapshots is at www.artsci.edu/closeups.

ANSWERS: (1) One of McMicken’s 525 lockers. They were installed decades ago for use by commuting students, faculty and staff. (2) Stuffed elephant Old Chief, pictured in 1902, arrives to go on exhibit at the Old Tech geology building. Old Chief left the building long before Old Tech went down as part of the MainStreet project. (3) One of the “McMicken Bears,” in place on the original building and saved throughout remodelings. (4) The Tangeman University Center skylight, built when TUC was remodeled in 2004. (5) The telescope used by researchers in Braunstein Hall. (6) The smokestack from UC’s 1910 utility plant; it was demolished in April 2003.

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