News

60-Second Humanities

09 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Monday, November 9 – Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Michael Elliott (Professor of English and American Studies, Emory College) has one minute to explain the importance of the humanities. See link to YouTube video below.

And while you're at it, check out Professor Elliott talking about his book "Custerology" at www.youtube.com…

More info: www.youtube.com…

Poetry rides the shuttle

09 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Monday, November 9 – Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Poetry goes into motion across Emory thanks to the Emory Poetry Council presenting its second round of “Poetry on the Move,” a project that places poetry in various sites of motion throughout campus.

The goal of the semester-long project is to make poetry more visible, and allow the Emory community to have “informal interaction with poetry,” says Abby Horowitz, Campus Life program development coordinator. “It’s an opportunity for people who don’t run into poetry on a daily basis.”

Passersby can find poems on posters, adhesive strips and magnets in the Woodruff Library, parking deck elevators, and in high-traffic buildings such as Callaway and Candler. To ensure poetry is literally moving, the poem magnets are free for the taking.

“We hope that poetry is popping up in places that people don’t typically see it,” says Bruce Covey, lecturer in poetry. “We want to see exactly what people do with the poems.”

“Poetry on the Move” features works by poets who have appeared in Poetry Council’s “What’s New in Poetry?” series, such as Jennifer Knox, Sandra Beasley and P.F. Potvin. Made possible with a grant from the Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts, the project includes poetry by creative writing professors Covey and Natasha Trethewey. It also features artwork by Jason Francisco and Laura Noel of the Visual Arts Department and Emory College student Charlotte Watts.

For upcoming Poetry Council events, visit www.college.emory.edu/poetrycouncil.

Biology and Chemistry receive NIH grants for new faculty

10 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Tuesday, November 10 – Thursday, November 19, 2009

Emory’s biology and chemistry departments have each won highly competitive National Institutes of Health grants for new faculty. Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the grants total about $1 million each and will enable the two departments to expand key initiatives, despite the tough economy.

“It’s important to get the word out that good things are happening, even during a recession,” says David Lynn, chair of chemistry.

“Receiving even one of these grants would be significant. Getting two shows that the sciences at Emory College are continuing to build on a national reputation,” says Ron Calabrese, Samuel C. Dobbs Professor of Biology.

Each grant will fund the salary of a faculty appointment and the start-up costs for their labs for two years.

Biology will use its award to hire a computational neuroscientist. The department already has one of the strongest groups of computational neuroscientists in the country, focused on the study of living neural networks through an interface with computer generated models. Much of the current work involves motor networks, and the department is particularly interested in expanding into sensory networks.

“This is a good time to hire, and with the grant funding we will be competitive with the best institutions for top talent,” Calabrese says.

Chemistry will seek a researcher who bridges disciplines in macromolecular design. “We want to build things anew, and further strengthen the connections between our drug discovery research, the Renewable Energy Center and the Center for Fundamental and Applied Molecular Evolution,” Lynn says.

“The increase in the number of students in the sciences during the past two years is staggering,” says Victor Corces, chair of biology. “We’re working hard to try and bring in more money, despite the economic downturn.” An intensive grant-writing effort by biology has also yielded a Grand Opportunity (GO) and a Challenge Project Grant, and more proposals are still out.

[article by Carol Clark, Emory Report, Nov. 9, 2009]

Sharon Strocchia (History) talks about nuns and nunneries

10 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Tuesday, November 10 – Thursday, November 19, 2009

Check out this audio book report and reading from history professor Sharon Strocchia on her new book, “Nuns and Nunneries in Renaissance Florence” (John Hopkins University Press, 2009), at www.emory.edu…

PAIS building goes gold!

18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Ongoing through Friday, November 27, 2009

The new Psychology and Interdisciplinary Sciences Building has been certified LEED Gold by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Emory completed construction on the 118,000 square foot building in May 2009.

The academic and research facility is the third Emory building to receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification from USGBC in 2009. The University now has four LEED Gold-certified buildings in its collection of LEED buildings. LEED certification is a third-party verification system to assess a building's sustainability. Gold is the second highest certification, following platinum certification.

For this building to achieve LEED Gold certification many ‘green' features were integrated into the design, including a bioswale in the courtyard to reduce storm water run-off. Bioswales are landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface run-off water.

Additionally, more than 90 percent of construction waste was diverted from local landfills by recycling construction debris. The red clay roof tiles that differentiate Emory's campus from other universities can be found atop this building and were recycled from two residence halls on campus that were previously demolished. Ninety-two percent of the wood-based building materials were harvested from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified forests.

The new psychology facility was designed to foster more collaboration among psychologists and other scholars at the University, and is now a part of a campus "Science Commons" with nearby buildings including chemistry, physics and other natural sciences. The new space consolidates Emory's psychology department from seven buildings across campus into a single state-of-the-art facility for teaching and research. The new facility was designed to include a variety of specialized spaces. Some of the teaching methods used in psychology are moving toward inquiry-driven, instructive approaches which require different facilities than traditional learning spaces.

Emory holds the distinction of having one of the largest inventories by square footage of LEED certified building space among campuses in America.

"Hominid" play "presents an unusual but deeply-felt portrayal of the essentials of behavior"

19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Ongoing through Monday, November 23, 2009

Playing through Nov. 22, "Hominid" earned a good review in the recent "Creative Loafing" (see link below). Written by Out of Hand Theater and Ken Weitzman, and based on the research by Emory primatologist Frans de Waal, the play dramatizes the lives of primates in a zoo community.

More info: atlanta.creativeloafing.com…