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Steven Levitt
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Steven D. Levitt, author of Freakonomics: a Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, will be the featured speaker at a Question and Answer session on Thursday, September 17 at 3 p.m. on the Main floor of Milner Library. Levitt’s book instantly became a cultural phenomenon, selling more than 3 million copies around the world, in more than 30 languages. He is also the author of Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. “I hope that students, in particular, will attend this session,as it should provide some insight into how economists think about everyday life. Hopefully, by the end of his visit to ISU, everyone will have a greater appreciation of why economics is so important in understanding human condition,” said Dr. James Payne, Interim Dean.
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| David Cedeño with the Chemluminary Award |
Illinois State University’s Project SEED (Summer Experience for Economically Disadvantaged high school students) has been nationally recognized by the American Chemical Society (ACS) as the Outstanding Project SEED with the Chemluminary Award. The award was presented last month at the 238th national ACS meeting in Washington, D.C. Project Coordinator David Cedeño said the SEED has been occurring at Illinois State for the past seven years. The program provides paid summer research experiences with chemistry faculty who volunteer their time to mentor participants for eight weeks in the summer.
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Joan M. Brehm
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Dr. Joan M. Brehm, Associate Professor of Sociology, is the recipient of a $66,671 grant from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to conduct a social assessment of the Nippersink Creek Watershed. The Nippersink Creek Watershed is located in northeastern Illinois and southern Wisconsin and is the largest tributary to the Fox River, draining 137 square miles in Illinois and about 50 square miles in Wisconsin. Current municipal comprehensive land use plans indicate that there is a potential for significant development growth over the next twenty years. As a result of being situated on the edge of the Chicago metropolitan area, changes are rapidly occurring in the Nippersink Creek watershed. The water resources within the Nippersink Creek Watershed necessitate a proactive approach to protect this valuable resource from the potential negative impacts from current and future development.
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Several faculty, staff members, and students in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education will be participating in the Autism Society of McLean County’s 2009 Run-Walk on Saturday, September 19. In addition, the Autism Project ISU Affiliate Site will staff an information booth at the event. Autism is a pervasive developmental disability that may affect as many as one out of every 150 children, impacting children’s normal development of the brain in the areas of communication and social interaction. It is the second most common childhood disorder—only Down’s Syndrome affects more children. “We would be very grateful if members of the ISU community could assist us in our efforts to raise funds to support treatment and research of this disability,” said Dr. Karla Doepke, Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of The Autism Project ISU Affiliate Site. “We’re learning more every day about how to help children and families cope effectively with autism, but public support and encouragement is always incredibly helpful.”
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| Melissa Gassman |
An alumna of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Melissa (Fogarty) Gassman ’92, MS ’93 is the Latin America Product Operations Manager at Motorola Inc. in Libertyville, Illinois. Gassman manages a team that focuses on sales model creations, box and artwork generation, and prototype logistics of Motorola cellular phones in Latin America. In 1999, she earned her MBA from the University of Illinois through an executive MBA program. Prior to working for Motorola, Gassman worked in supply chain planning and managed a seven-physician medical practice in Normal, Illinois. Gassman is happily married to her husband Eric, and they have five children. She makes her home in McHenry, Illinois. She says that her degree in sociology has been a great asset in managing international teams. Her sister Melanie Henderson is also an ISU alumna.
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| Christopher Wellin |
Christopher R. Wellin begins his career at Illinois State University as an assistant professor of sociology. He earned a PhD in Sociology from Northwestern University and completed post-doctoral fellowships at both the University of California at San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley. He was previously an assistant professor of sociology and gerontology at Miami University. Some of Wellin’s research interests include aging and the life course, chronic illness and care-giving, qualitative methodology and social inequality. He is a member of the American Sociological Association, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, and the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP). He was elected to serve (from 2009-2011) as Chairman of the Division of Youth, Aging, and Life Course for the SSSP. A musician for most of his life, Wellin has been recording music (both original songs and adaptations of others’) in the pop/R&B tradition for release later this year.
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| Jonathan Myers |
Jonathan Myers, a graduate student in the Department of English, has been named a HASTAC Scholar for the 2009-2010 academic year. HASTAC (the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory) is a network of graduate and undergraduate students who are engaged in innovative work across the areas of technology, the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences. HASTAC Scholars explore the possibilities, limitations, and effects of intellectual dialogue through digital technology. As a HASTAC Scholar, Myers will receive a small stipend from his home institution, regular publicity on the HASTAC website, and be provided with the opportunity to network with leaders and innovators in the field.
“This is a big honor for Myers, for the English department, and for ISU,” Dr. Cheryl Ball, assistant Professor or English, commented. “This is the first year that HASTAC has opened up the Scholars program to more than just a small set of invited faculty and their students, and it gives us an opportunity to show other universities that Illinois State has some really cool digital media students and projects on campus. Digital media happens in all sorts of departments on campus, English being just one of them. In addition, it will give Jonathan an excellent opportunity to network with the top digital humanities scholars.”
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