August 2004

SLA UPDATE FOR FACULTY & STAFF

Toby Parcel

It's been a busy summer for Liberal Arts faculty.

Many faculty are hard at work pursuing discovery in their laboratories or libraries, as well as other creative endeavors in their studios. For example, professors Christine Weber-Fox and Anne Smith presented findings on their stuttering research at the American Speech-Language Hearing Association's conference on Fluency and Fluency Disorders on July 23 in Portland, Ore.

In addition, a number of faculty members spent their summers overseas teaching students about other cultures and different ways of life. Gordon Young, Alan McKenzie and Antonio Tillis are just a few of the faculty who led successful study abroad programs to Egypt, Scotland and Brazil, respectively.

Increasing the number of students in study abroad is a high priority goal as outlined in Purdue and Liberal Arts' strategic plans. Liberal Arts is working on increasing the number of students participating in study abroad every year to 300. Last academic year, 205 Liberal Arts students studied in other countries. Congratulations to all faculty and staff who are assisting with this initiative.

Closer to home, Don Mitchell, philosophy professor, welcomed 18 recent high school graduates from the Middle East to Purdue for the 2004 Summer Institute on American Life and Youth Leadership.These students are attending seminars about political, social and economic life, which are taught by a variety of Liberal Arts professors.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology's summer archaeological field school will wrap up in early August. Professor Deborah Rotman's dig at the old Wea View Schoolhouse here in Tippecanoe County attracted many members of the community who stopped to learn about our anthropology program. Visitors included students from education and Science Bound camps, and President Martin Jischke even stopped by one Friday morning to check out the dig and visit with students.

Also, the Department of Health and Kinesiology's National Youth Sports Program came to a close on July 23 after five weeks of keeping more than 300 children active, as well as teaching them about nutrition, writing, science and math.

As everyone begins to prepare for the start of the fall semester, please keep in mind activities and celebrations to look forward to this year. For example, a lecture series "Breathing in the Dust: Discovering Local Archives," will begin Aug. 26. This series is supported by the Department of English and the American Studies program. African American Studies is celebrating its 30th anniversary on Sept. 23-25.

Also, the English department is marking the 50th anniversary of its Modern Fiction Studies Journal with a symposium on Oct. 1. Later that month, the Department of Philosophy is organizing a lecture by Jürgen Habermas, one of the world's greatest philosophers in critical thinking. This special event takes place 4:30-7 p.m., Oct. 15, in the Class of 1950 Lecture Hall.

I also would like to announce the following appointments in our interdisciplinary programs:
- Victor Raskin, professor of English, interim director of Interdisciplinary Programs.
- Patrice Rankine, associate professor of classics, director of Classical Studies.
- Ronnie Wilbur, professor of speech sciences, director of Linguistics.
- Nancy Gabin, associate professor of history, interim director for American Studies.

I am grateful for these Liberal Arts colleagues' leadership in our interdisciplinary programs.

I look forward to another great year for the School of Liberal Arts!

Toby L. Parcel

SPECIAL REPORTS

Stuttering more than talk - research shows brain's role in disorder

New research from Purdue shows that even when people who stutter are not speaking, their brains process language differently.

Speech sciences research

"Traditionally, stuttering is thought of as a problem with how someone speaks, and little attention has been given to the complex interactions between neurological systems that underlie speaking," says Christine Weber-Fox, an assistant professor of speech sciences who is interested in the brain's involvement in language processing.

"We have found differences in adults who stutter, compared to those who don't, in how the brain processes information when people are thinking about language but not speaking."

Weber-Fox, a cognitive neuroscientist, teamed with Anne Smith, a professor of speech science who studies the neurophysiological bases of speech production, to study language and speech production systems. More

Middle East students learn about America in the Midwest

For one month, Indiana will be at the center of America's effort to build mutual understanding between the Middle East and the United States.

Jischke welcomes students

Recent high school graduates who are future leaders of the Middle East and North Africa will learn about American life firsthand at a first-of-its-kind institute based in the American heartland at Purdue through Aug. 22.

The summer institute is being sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Middle East Partnership Initiative. Donald W. Mitchell, professor of philosophy and director of the United States 2004 Summer Institute on American Life and Youth Leadership, said the center is dedicated to using the resources of its Indiana universities to foster better understanding and appreciation between the United States and the Middle East, and to develop the leadership skills of the region's future leaders. More

Prof: More spending, smaller classes not panacea for better schools

Pumping more money into public schools, including money needed to shrink class size, is not the way to improve American students' learning, says a Purdue education expert.

Martin Patchen

"While school spending has steadily increased over recent decades, students' test scores have shown little change in the same direction," says Martin Patchen, professor emeritus of sociology. "While more spending may help, especially when targeted to improve the quality of teaching, a school's level of spending is not a major determinant of its success."

Spending is just one of the many issues Patchen addresses in his new book "Making Our Schools More Effective: What Matters and What Works." The book (hardcover $69.95 and soft-cover $49.95) was published in June by Charles C. Thomas Ltd. of Springfield, Ill. The book also focuses on issues related to teaching, school organization and programs, evaluating students, charter schools, vouchers, bilingual education, standardized testing, and computers in the classroom. More

Purdue President Martin C. Jischke took a close look at Jenean Cox and Dynesha Harris' (white hat) excavation site at the Wea View Schoolhouse No. 8 dig in Tippecanoe County on July 16.

Jischke visits dig

Cox and Harris, both of Indianapolis' Broadripple High School, were two of the 17 Science Bound students who helped Purdue anthropologists excavate the site, located at Newman and Sharon Chapel roads in West Lafayette. The one-room schoolhouse, which dates to at least 1866, closed in 1916.

The dig is part of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology's summer archaeological field school, led by Deborah Rotman (standing), assistant professor of anthropology. The Science Bound students participated in the field school through the Learn and Earn program, which focuses on boosting skills in algebra, geometry and physics. More

NYSP keeps youth active, healthy

The National Youth Sports Program camp, which ran through July 22, focused on healthy living by encouraging children, ages 10-16, to eat right and engage in physical activity through sports. Math, science and writing also were added to the program's activities this year.

Ronald Banks

The program's 300 children, including Ronald Banks, 10, a student at Amelia Earhart Elementary in Lafayette, received a new pair of shoes as a gift from Jan and Ken Bootsma of Tippecanoe County. Jan is owner of A Storage Inns in Lafayette and Ken is a former principal of Lafayette Christian School.

Children are referred to the program by their Tippecanoe County schools. More

NEWS TIPS

Prof says teens' grammar shortcuts OK on blogs, e-mail (Samantha Blackmon, assistant professor of English)

UPCOMING EVENTS

On Sept. 1, 8 and 15, three Ph.D. students will share their research findings about the history of fashion, memoirs and political activism in Lafayette. These lectures are at 7 p.m. at the Tippecanoe County Historical Association Wetherill Research Library, 1001 South Street. The series is presented by the Department of English and the American Studies program.

-- African American Studies, "Meeting the Challenge Today, Learning from the Past, Evisioning the Future," on Sept. 23 -25. This program is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, the 30th anniversary of the Purdue Center and the 20th anniversary of the center's symposia series.

-- Modern Fiction Studies, 50th Anniversary Symposium "Modern Fictions and the Twenty-First Century," Oct. 1.

-- Jürgen Habermas, will present "The Kantian Project of Cosmopolitan Law" at 4:30-7 p.m. Oct. 15 in the Class of 1950 Lecture Hall. The Department of Philosphy is organizing this lecture.

EXPERTS IN THE NEWS

Los Angeles Times –
Dieters will have another option (Susan Swithers and Terry Davidson, Department of Psychological Sciences)

WebMD.com –
Artificial Sweeteners May Damage Diet Efforts: Sugar Substitutes May Distort the Body's Natural Calorie Counter (Susan Swithers and Terry Davidson, Department of Psychological Sciences)

Reuters –
Brain Waves Show Differences in Stutterers (Christine Weber-Fox and Anne Smith, Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences)

Journal and Courier –
Ground-level science (Deborah Rotman, Department of Sociology and Anthropology)

Journal and Courier –
Teens from other countries learn U.S. culture (Donald Mitchell, Department of Philosophy)

Journal and Courier –
The summer read: Putting a novel twist on a distressing trend (Samantha Blackmon, Department of English)

The Washington Times –
Israel's must-have (Louis Rene Beres, Department of Political Science)

Christian Science Monitor –
It's almost like being there (Glenn Sparks, Department of Communication)

The Scotsman –
Castro faces new US gauntlet (Harry Targ, Department of Political Science)

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

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