February 21, 2003

Media Coverage of Lafayette: Feb. 21, 2003

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The following is a selection of recent media coverage of Lafayette:

National/international media
The Jan. 28 issue of the Sidney Morning Herald cited research by Susan Basow, Charles A. Dana Professor of Psychology, in which most women in a study “who did not shave their legs identified as ‘very strong feminists and/or as not exclusively heterosexual,’ and the major reason they did not shave was for political reasons.” The article was an edited version of a piece that originally appeared in the British newspaper The Guardian. The Herald article as well as the Guardian original are available on-line.

Local/regional media
“My professors were dedicated to teaching and to the students. They were also excited about what they were teaching. My experience at Lafayette was very inspiring,” says Christopher Blechschmidt ‘97, a civil engineering graduate selected as Young Engineer of the Year in this week’s Eastern Business Journal. The student researched roof construction of large Inca structures for his senior honors thesis, the article reports, and accepted a position at Liberty Engineering, a civil and structural consulting engineering firm in Allentown, Pa. His projects have included St. Luke’s Hospital additions in Allentown and Cumberland Valley High School additions and renovations in Cumberland County in Central Pennsylvania.

Larry Stockton, professor and head of music, is quoted in a Feb. 8 Baltimore Sun article – available on-line — about the growing popularity of the shamisen, a three-stringed traditional Japanese instrument, in Japanese rock, jazz, blues, and even disco: “Japanese music expert Larry Stockton, chairman of the music department at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., said teens and twentysomethings in Japan have been inspired by hearing shamisen players like Agatsuma on the radio and television‘Twenty years ago, a young Japanese kid would be more likely to pick up a rock guitar than a shamisen,’ Stockton said. ‘But when he sees this performer doing music with an instrument that he understands already, and he might be able to dance to it, it’s doubly exciting.”

Several publications have covered talks by Edmond Seifried, professor of economics and business. Last month’s Tennessee Banker of Nashville, Tenn., reported that at the Tennessee Bankers Association’s 2003 Credit Conference Feb. 12-13, “noted economist Edmond J. Seifried will take a look at The Economic Nightmare of 2002-2003. He will focus on corporate ethics; the remnants of the March 2001 recession; the impact on the economy of September 11, 2001, and the threat of additional terrorist attacks; plus the latest economic indicators.” The Jan. 24 Northeast Mississippi Journal covered Seifried’s keynote speech at the annual Northeast Mississippi Economic Forecast Conference: “Rumblings of a war in Iraq point to a likely scenario of a brief battle and a protracted occupation. That won’t mar the financial landscape much, so long as the battle is brief, said Seifried, who scoffs at the saw that war boost the economy‘Oil shocks are the most painful economic evets we face as a nation.’” A Jan. 17 article in the York Daily Record of York, Pa., on the outlook for stock earnings this year mentioned Seifried’s assessment that President Bush’ proposal to eliminate taxes on dividends to shareholders “could pump $60 to $100 billion back into consumers’ hands.” He added later in the article, “If gasoline prices and heating prices rise, that drags down economic growth.”

The January issue of AFP Exchange, a bimonthly publication based in Bethesda, Md., published an article by Sheila Handy, assistant professor of economics and business, titled “Can You Protect Yourself From Financial Statement Misstatements?” Handy, a CPA, makes the case that management should document its objectives for internal control and state the procedures for meeting them.

The January-February edition of College & Research Libraries, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., outlines a workshop in which librarian Terese Heidenwolf will be among the presenters. “Best Practices in Information Literacy: Assessing Your Program” will cover criteria developed through the Institute for Information Literacy’s Best Practices Project to assess the effectiveness of information literacy programs for undergraduates.

Lehigh Valley Media
In addition to a Jan. 28 article in The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa., two area newspapers have printed articles about a group of 14 Lafayette civil engineering seniors devising plans for Lower Saucon Township to develop 48 acres into a park. The students are undertaking the project as part of their senior design course in civil and environmental engineering. “The superpark punchlist, based on township staff recommendations, includes three multi-purpose fields, two baseball/softball fields, a tee-ball field, the activity center and an area that might hold a bandshell, pavilion and picnic grove,” reports the Jan. 31 Valley Voice of Hellertown, Pa. “Township Manager Layne Turner estimates Lower Saucon could save $20,000 – money it would have paid Hanover Engineering – by having the college students design a park for their senior project.” According to the Jan. 30 Saucon News of Hellertown, Pa.: “The class will be divided into three teams who will present their plans for township consideration this spring.”

The Sunday edition of the Call published a full-length feature story with accompanying photo on Joshua Sanborn, assistant professor of history, focusing on his recently published book, Drafting the Russian Nation: Military Conscription, Total War, and Mass Politics 1905-1925. “Sanborn, 33, said the book’s goal is to show that such militaristic behavior is not limited to totalitarian regimes, but is essential to how nations and their societies have formed throughout history,” notes the article, which is available on-line. A press release about the book is available on Lafayette’s web site.

Although the event would be canceled by Monday’s snowstorm, last Saturday’s Express-Times of Easton, Pa., reported on the scheduled visit by Dave Leyrer for the CIRCLE Entrepreneurship series organized by Lafayette students.

The Wednesday Call included an editorial by Howard Marblestone, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures, about the views on possible war against Iraq of participants in a e-mail discussion forum conducted entirely in Latin. “Where, then, do the writers of the Grex stand on the impending war with Iraq?” writes Marblestone, who teaches Latin and Greek. “The quick answer is: vehemently anti-warMost writers dispute the danger that the United States says Iraq represents, even as they acknowledge the spread of global terrorism. The focus on Iraq, they claim, is not a defensive necessity, but a transparently aggressive move to control the world oil-supply.” The article is available on the newspaper’s web site.

Student Hometown Coverage
A.B. engineering major Nathan DeLong ‘04 (Lebanon, Pa.) was featured in the Jan. 28 Lebanon Daily News of Lebanon, Pa., which reported on his EXCEL Scholars research with Ricardo Bogaert-Alvarez, assistant professor of chemical engineering. The pair started work in January to investigate “whether polished steel would develop surface pits more slowly, and whether high concentrations of salt would pit more quickly.” An article on the project is available on Lafayette’s web site.

The Jan. 27 Greenwich Time of Greenwich, Conn., printed a photo and extended caption describing the independent study by art major Krista Catalano ’03 (Greenwich, Conn.), under the guidance of Curlee Holton, associate professor of art and founder and director of Lafayette’s Experimental Printmaking Institute. An article on the study is available on Lafayette’s web site.

The Jan. 30 Wilmette Life of Wilmette, Ill., reported that economics and business major Susan Floberg (Winnetka, Ill.) traveled to London and Dublin for the Lafayette course The London Theatre. “She attended and discussed a dozen plays at West End and fringe theaters, England’s National Theatre and Ireland’s Abbey Theatre.” It also noted that geology major Evan Laya ’05 (Wilmette, Ill.) traveled to Ireland to study The Land and Landscape of Ireland, delving “into ways the land in Ireland has figured into history and the Irish imagination. Visits included Boyne Valley, Galway, Donegal, Dublin, and Belfast.”

Neuroscience major and Marquis Scholar Danielle Charych ‘05 (East Setauket, N.Y.) was visiting South America with 23 other Lafayette students for a January interim session course, Exploring South America: Brazil, the River Platte, and the Andes, stated the Jan. 16 Village Times Herald of East Setauket, N.Y. The course would take her to “Quito, Cuzco, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Salvador (Bahia) to learn about the cultural development of South America from pre-Columbian through modern times.”

The Jan. 30 Community Journal of Wading River, N.Y., included an article about the externship conducted by Marquis Scholar Shannon Sullivan ‘04 (Wading River, N.Y.), a double major in Spanish and government & law, with attorney Saul H. Segan.

Other recent externship articles have included:

Categorized in: In the Media