January 2008

John Contreni

Greetings and Happy New Year!

The 2008 "spring" (it's 15° F at the moment in West Lafayette!) semester is off to a great start.

First came news that DesignIntelligence's 2008 survey of the "best architecture and design schools" ranked the Interior Design Program in the Patti and Rusty Rueff Department of Visual and Performing Art as 14th in the nation among academic design programs. That's a 10-place jump from the 2005 survey. Interior Design's undergraduate program ranked 4th and the graduate program 3rd in the Midwest region.

Also, receiving regional recognition in the 2008 survey was the department's Industrial Design undergraduate program, ranked 13th and the graduate program 10th in the Midwest region.

Then, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced that Professor Chris Pincock in Philosophy has been awarded an NEH year-long fellowship to work on his project, "The Value of Mathematics for Scientific Representation." Chris's project will provide the first systematic overview of the philosophical options for accounting for the role of mathematics in science. His proposal was one of approximately 150 funded from among nearly 1,000 proposals submitted by college and university humanities faculty nationwide.

News like this takes the chill off the bitterest January day. And there's more to come. . . .

Sincerely,

John J. Contreni
Justin S. Morrill Dean

NEWS AND EVENTS

Purdue Galleries exhibits small prints, art of suburbia

Purdue Galleries is featuring a pair of exhibitions that present contemporary small printmaking from North American artists and examine the identity of modern American suburbia.

Richville

Galleries' biennial "Sixty Square Inches" competitive exhibition of small-scale contemporary printmaking is on display through Feb. 17 in the Stewart Center Gallery. This year's exhibit will provide the 16th review of North American graphic artists working in an intimate format. Works in the exhibit are limited to 60 square inches in image size.

"Insights into Suburbia" will also run through Feb. 17 in the Robert L. Ringel Gallery in Purdue Memorial Union. This exhibit features contemporary artworks by 27 women artists who live and work in all regions of the United States. The artworks convey physical, social, and cultural perceptions about modern American suburbia. More

Purdue exhibit to present evolution of fashion design

A new Purdue Galleries exhibition will show insight into the developments of fashion design and apparel technology from the 1850s through the present.

1865 dress ensemble

The exhibit, "Fashion Forward: Selections from the Purdue University Division of Theatre Special Collection of Historic Dress," will be on display from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1 in the Patti and Rusty Rueff East Gallery at the Yue-Kong Pao Hall of Visual and Performing Arts. It will feature examples of clothing and accessories drawn from the Division of Theatre Special Collection of Historic Dress.

"The collection is an evolving and growing educational archive chronicling the styles in fashion and adornment from the mid-19th century to the present through tangible garments and accessories," said Joel Ebarb, exhibit curator and associate professor of Theater. "Starting as a small collection of pieces from the Purdue Theatre costume stock considered too important or fragile for stage use, the Special Collection has grown over the years to include hundreds of items, ranging from clothing and accessories, to jewelry, shoes, hats, and more." More

Contestants can put their digital information literacy to the test

Internet users will put their ability to search for obscure information on the Internet to the test during a Jan. 23 contest at Purdue.

The Digital Information Literacy Contest, created by senior Philosophy major Daniel Poynter and supported by three Purdue entities and the West Lafayette Public Library, is free and open to the public to compete. It will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. in Stanley Coulter Hall, and competitors must register online.

"This competition is one of the first high-speed battles of minds using the Internet as a cognitive prosthetic to amplify intelligence. It has three main objectives," Poynter said. "To identify people who thrive on information overload; to disseminate their insights; and to create a discussion about Purdue's role in shaping the future American knowledge worker." More

Middle East expert to speak at Purdue Sears Lecture Series

A Middle East expert and author will speak on Jan. 24 as part of the Sears Lecture Series.

Shibley Telhami

Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, will present "America and the Middle East: Where Are We, and Where Do We Go From Here?" at 8 p.m. in Stewart Center's Fowler Hall. Telhami also is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy.

"Dr. Telhami will discuss the effects of American policy in the Middle East specific to 9/11 and the Iraq War," said Louis René Beres, a professor of political science and event organizer. "He is interested in how American policy has affected democracy, regional security, the prospects of settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the possibility of military confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program." More

Literary Reading Series brings Indiana author, Colts fan to Purdue

An author whose latest book parallels the obstacles in her love life with those of her favorite football team, the Indianapolis Colts, will speak Jan. 28 as part of Purdue's Literary Reading Series.

Cathy Day will read from and discuss her new memoir "Comeback Season: How I Learned to Play the Game of Love," at 7:30 p.m. in the Hicks Undergraduate Library Bookstall. The story, which will be published by Simon and Schuster's Free Press on Jan. 29, compares the obstacles of her love life with the wins and losses of the Indianapolis Colts.

Day, who earned her bachelor's degree from DePauw University and her master of fine arts degree from the University of Alabama, moved to Pittsburgh in 2005 to begin teaching in the University of Pittsburgh's graduate writing program. During that football season, the Colts' loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers sparked her real-life experiment "to get back in the game of love." The book chronicles the Colts' 2006 season that led to a Super Bowl championship, as well as her personal triumphs - getting in shape, quitting smoking, and beginning to date again. More

FACULTY & CLA HONORS

Faculty Honors

Professors Terry Davidson (PI), Terry Powley (Co-PI), and Susan Swithers (all the Department of Psychological Sciences) were recently honored at the University "Seeds for Success" luncheon, recognizing faculty who have had success attracting large sponsored programs to the University. The grant for $4,320,183 is to study "Energy Dysregulations: Behavioral and Biological Signals."

Seven CLA faculty members recently received Library Scholars Grants: