The Great Debate Page 6 in This Issue: CLAS Welcomes New Faculty

November 2004 Volume 18 notes CLASThe University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

The Great Debate page 6 In this Issue: CLAS Welcomes New Faculty...... 3

The Great Debate...... 6

Around the College...... 8

Grants...... 10 Bookbeat...... 11 The Dean’s Junk Mail Be Gone!...... 12 Musings

The Fundamentals As important as our cross-disciplinary interactions are, E-mail [email protected] with your news and especially in the applied sciences and social sciences, events information for publication in CLAS- we need to remind ourselves of the critical importance notes. The deadline for submissions is the 15th of the month prior to the month you would of the fundamental academic disciplines—the essential like your information published. Don’t wait! units of mathematics, English, philosophy, history, the Send us your news and events today! languages, natural sciences, behavioral sciences and social studies. It is these core units that engage in the basic research that historically has led to some of the most far-reaching discoveries and the formation of new interdisciplinary programs. Inventions which have led to revolutionary technologies and analyses that College of Liberal Arts and Sciences News and Publications have changed our understanding of societies and their 2008 Turlington Hall behaviors have often had their as their origin the PO Box 117300 Gainesville FL 32611-7300 research of a challenging academic problem. [email protected] Our college has the responsibility of advancing http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu these basic areas of inquiry by energizing fundamental

CLASnotes is published by the College of Liberal research with support for promising interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences to inform faculty, staff and stu- programs. These new areas will bring experts together dents of current research and events. in an environment that is free to challenge traditional Dean: Neil Sullivan thought and encourages the exploration of new fron- Editor: Allyson A. Beutke Contributing Editor: Buffy Lockette tiers. To emerge as a leading international research Design: Jane Dominguez institution, we must succeed in this endeavor by select- Web Master: Jeff Stevens Copy Editor: Michal Meyer ing areas that are unique for UF and can attract the

Photography: world’s best scholars and students. Robert Muller, Case Western Reserve University: cover, p. 7 Neil Sullivan Courtesy William Baber: p. 3 (Baber) Jane Dominguez: p. 3 (Barr, Baudis, Bergmann, [email protected] Caes), p. 4 (Ceobanu, Ge, Hermer-Vazquez, Link, Mennel), p. 5, p. 8 (Dukes), p. 10, p. 11 Buffy Lockette: p. 4 (Liu) Jeremy Clark: p. 8 (Fugate) On the Cover: UF junior LaToya Edwards, a political science and public relations major, debates US domestic policy against Cedric Logan, a student at the University of Rochester, during the National Student Vice Presidential Debate held at Case Western Reserve University as part of the events surrounding the vice presidential debate between US Vice President Dick Cheney and opponent John Edwards on October 5. See page 6 for full story. page CLASnotes November 2004 Juliana Barr Peter Berg- is an assistant mann is an professor in associate pro- the Depart- fessor jointly ment of His- appointed tory. After between the earning her Center for CLAS PhD in 1999 European from the Studies and University of the Depart- Welcomes Wisconsin, ment of Madison, she held a one-year postdoctoral History. He received his PhD in 1983 from New fellowship at Southern Methodist University the University of California, Berkeley, and in Dallas, Texas before becoming an assistant his area of specialization is modern German professor at Rutgers University. intellectual history. Faculty Barr is currently revising a book Before coming to UF, Bergmann was a manuscript, “Peace Came in the Form of a professor at the University of Connecticut for Woman: the Power Relations of Spanish and 15 years. His present research project exam- More than 60 new faculty Indian Nations in the Early Southwestern ines German and American exceptionalism. members have joined Borderlands,” that explores the gendered He is teaching Modern European Intellectual CLAS this year. dynamics of European-Indian political and History, Nationalism and the Idea of Europe, economic interaction in 18th century Texas. and War and Society. She is teaching two courses this fall, Early America and Native American History I, and will teach Native American History II and a Chris Caes graduate course on American history in the is an assis- spring. tant professor, jointly appointed William Laura Baudis between the Baber is a is an assistant Center for professor in professor in European the Depart- the Depart- Studies and ment of ment of the Depart- Anthropology. Physics. She ment of Ger- He earned earned her manic and Slavic Studies. His specialty is Pol- his PhD from PhD in 1999 ish studies, and he received his PhD in 2004 Stanford from the from the University of California, Berkeley. University in University of Caes’ current research focuses on con- 1979 and has Heidelberg in ceptions of selfhood and agency in the lit- held positions at Tuskegee University, Purdue Germany, and completed a postdoctoral fel- erature and cinema of Polish Stalinism. This University and the University of North Caro- lowship at Stanford University in 2003. fall he is teaching Polish Culture and Society lina, Greensboro. Her main research interests are particle of the 20th Century. In the spring, he plans His most recent research is on African astrophysics and cosmology, in particular the to teach Modern Polish Cinema and The American masculinity and HIV risk behav- domain of particle dark matter. Her present Absurd in 20th Century Polish Literature and ior. He also is working on a book-length work is focused on the direct detection of Theater. manuscript, “The Social Ecology of Booker non-baryonic dark matter with the cryogenic T. Washington,” based on research funded dark matter search experiment and with by the Department of the Interior from liquid xenon. Baudis teaches Physics with 1997 to 1999 and research conducted at the Calculus and Mechanics 1. Booker T. Washington National Monument in Franklin County, Virginia. Baber is teaching an African American studies course, The Social Ecology of Booker T. Washington, and Introduction to Applied Anthropology. He is also developing a course for the spring 2005 semester on environment and disease. continued on page 4

CLASnotes November 2004 page New Faculty continued from page 3

Alin Ceo- Linda Xueli Liu is banu is an Hermer- an assistant assistant pro- Vazquez is an professor in fessor jointly assistant pro- the Depart- appointed fessor in the ment of between the Department Statistics. She Center for of Psychology. completed European She earned her PhD in Studies and her PhD 2002 at the the Depart- from Cornell University of ment of Soci- University California, ology. He earned his PhD in sociology from in 1997 in biopsychology with a minor in Davis, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham- cognitive studies. Before coming to UF she the University of California, Los Angeles for paign in May 2004, with a certificate of grad- was a research assistant professor in the lab of two years before coming to UF. uate specialization in Russian language and renowned neurophysiologist John Chapin at Liu’s current research focuses on bio- area studies. His dissertation was on the pub- the State University of New York at Brook- informatics, specifically on gene expression lic sentiment of immigrants and immigration lyn. data and tissue micro-array data. She also policies in Central and Eastern Europe. Her research includes studies of olfac- works on statistical genetics and functional Ceobanu’s current research focuses on tory-based perception, learning, deci- data analysis and has collaborations with the post-communist societies of East-Central sion-making and motor execution. She McKnight Brain Institute. Europe and enlargement of the European collaborates with her husband Raymond Union, cross-national aspects of national- Hermer-Vazquez, a new assistant scientist ism, inter-group relations, and collective in psychology, and the two are studying the Barbara action and social movements. He is teaching physiological basis for how different brain Mennel is an Nationalism and Ethnicity in Europe and regions involved in these behaviors commu- assistant pro- Culture and Identity in the New Europe. nicate with one another, in both frequency fessor in the and time. They also are teaching a graduate Department seminar, Current Controversies in Neurosci- of Germanic Jian Ge is a ence. and Slavic professor in Studies. She the Depart- received her ment of William Link PhD in Ger- Astronomy. is the man studies He received Milbauer from Cornell University in 1998 and has his PhD in Eminent held positions at Bates College and the Uni- astronomy Scholar in the versity of Maryland. from the Uni- Department She currently is completing a book proj- versity of Ari- of History. ect on masochistic aesthetics in 19th- and zona in 1998 He received 20th-century German language, literature and served his PhD in and film. Mennel’s next research project con- as an assistant professor at The Pennsylvania history from cerns the cinematic representation of cities. State University. He also has held research the University of Virginia in 1981, and his She is teaching a graduate course on modern positions at the Lawrence Livermore National specialization is the 19th- and 20th-century German literature, Gender and Sexuality at Laboratory, the Steward Observatory and the American South. Before coming to UF, he the Fin-de-Siecle, and an undergraduate film Beijing Astronomical Observatory. spent 23 years as a history professor at the seminar, From Berlin to Hollywood: Film Ge’s research involves extrasolar planet University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Emigration. searches, planetary disks, brown dwarf and Link has written four major books, most faint companion searches, quasar absorption recently, Roots of Secession: Slavery and Politics line systems and optical and infrared instru- in Antebellum Virginia, in 2003. He currently ment techniques. is working on a project on the life of Jesse Helms and teaches a graduate seminar, Race and Politics in the American South Since 1850. page CLASnotes November 2004 Conor Ray Russo is Martin O’Dwyer is an assistant Sorbille is an an assistant professor in assistant pro- profes- the Depart- fessor in the sor, jointly ment of Department appointed Geology. He of Romance between the received his Languages Center for PhD in geo- and Lit- European physics from eratures. He Studies and Northwestern received his the Depart- University in PhD in His- ment of Political Science. He recently earned 1990, where he served as an assistant profes- panic languages and literatures from the Uni- his PhD in political science from the Uni- sor until coming to UF in 2004. He also has versity of California, Los Angeles in spring versity of California, Berkeley, specializing held positions at Universite de Montpellier 2004. in comparative politics with a regional focus II in France, the Carnegie Institution of Sorbille specializes in 19th-century on European and East European politics. In Washington in Washington, DC and the Spanish American literature, Spanish Ameri- 2004, his dissertation paper won Best Dis- University of the West Indies in Trinidad and can film studies and psychoanalytic theory. sertation in the American Political Science Tobago. He is teaching an undergraduate seminar, Association’s European Politics and Society Russo’s research focuses on the flow of Poetry and Essay of 19th Century South Section. the Earth’s upper mantle and its effects on Cone Literature. O’Dwyer has held a postdoctoral fel- tectonics of the surface plates. Currently, he lowship position at Harvard University. His has ongoing projects in Southeast Asia and current research considers the connection China, Chile, Venezuela, Hawaii, Romania, Richard between democratization and state build- the Caribbean and the central US. This Wang is ing in post-communist Eastern Europe. He semester he is teaching Introduction to Geo- an assistant teaches The Politics of Post-Communist East- physics. professor in ern Europe and Introduction to Comparative the Depart- Politics. ment of Benjamin African and Smith is an Asian Lan- Mary Robison is a professor of creative assistant pro- guages and writing in the Department of English. She fessor in the Literatures, received her master’s degree from Johns Department specializing in Hopkins University, and was a professor at of Political Chinese. He received his PhD from the Uni- the University of Southern Mississippi before Science. He versity of Chicago in 1999. Wang has taught coming to UF. She also has held appoint- received his at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and ments at Harvard University, Oberlin Col- PhD from at Swarthmore College. lege, Ohio University, Bennington College, the Univer- His current research focuses on the reli- the University of Houston and the University sity of Washington in 2002 and served as an gious dimensions of traditional Chinese fic- of Southern California, Irvine. academy scholar at the Harvard Academy for tion, and his most recent book is The Roman- Robison has worked as a screenwriter International and Area Studies at Harvard tic Sentiment and the Religious Spirit: The Late and script doctor in Hollywood and is the University. Ming Literature and the Intellectual Currents, author of three novels and four collections Smith is working on a book manuscript published in 1999. He is teaching Chinese of stories. She also has published around two on the politics of oil and state building and is Culture and Third-Year Chinese. dozen stories in The New Yorker. At UF, she teaching Introduction to Comparative Poli- is teaching Introduction to Screenwriting and tics, Southeast Asian Politics, and Authori- a graduate writing workshop. tarianism in an Era of Democratization.

CLASnotes November 2004 page The Great Debate Gators get an inside look at politics

There may not have been a clear winner of the vice presidential debate between incumbent Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards on October 5, but Kellie Roberts, director of the UF Speech and Debate Team, says the University of Florida stole the show at the 2004 National Student Vice Presi- dential Debate, which took place at Case Western Reserve University on the days leading up to the Cheney-Edwards face-off.

As part of the festivities surround- the Case Western Reserve campus the on October 4, which was later televised on C-SPAN, ing the only vice presidential debate this first week of October to debate the Edwards and Miller represented their peers as two of election cycle, UF was one of 15 univer- issues central to the 2004 presidential eight debaters chosen to argue the views of their sub- sities asked to participate in the Race at campaign. UF was one of only a few committee during the actual debate. UF was the only Case—a program of activities organized public universities invited to partici- university to have more than one student take part in by Case Western Reserve University in pate. Other schools included Carnegie the live debate. Edwards debated for the Democrats on Cleveland, Ohio, the chosen venue of Mellon University, Cornell University, domestic issues and Miller for the same party on social the Cheney-Edwards debate. “When Duke University, Emory University, Fisk issues. CNN’s Judy Woodruff, in front of an audience we got the invitation to be part of this University, Johns Hopkins University, of 500, moderated the 90-minute event. event, I knew it was a big deal,” says University of Miami, Massachusetts “The most remarkable aspect of this experi- Roberts. “But I didn’t realize how big a Institute of Technology, Ohio State Uni- ence was being able to watch these students really get deal it really was until we arrived. We versity, University of Rochester, Stanford involved in the process,” says Roberts. “I doubt that had no concept of how unique and how University, Vanderbilt University, Wash- any of them had ever been to an event like this before, special it was that we were invited.” ington University in St. Louis, and Case so to watch them really dig deep into the issues and UF President Bernie Machen and Western Reserve University. the evidence, facts and opinions on the issues and then Michael Rollo, associate vice president Upon arriving in Cleveland, the develop a platform that represented them and that for student affairs, chose a delegation group of 73 delegates from across the would uphold the Constitution was very fulfilling. of five students to take part in the nation split into two political parties— And our Florida delegation was just shining.” event, including two members of the Democratic and Republican, depend- During the afternoon following the National Stu- UF Speech and Debate Team—politi- ing on personal preference. Each party dent Vice Presidential Debate, only a few hours prior cal science and public relations junior elected a chair, press secretary and party to Cheney and Edwards taking the stage, reporter Judy LaToya Edwards and economics junior secretary and formed four policy groups Woodruff interviewed UF’s own LaToya Edwards live Scott Stewart. The other three campus to prepare for debate on key issues— on CNN, along with three other debaters from the leaders chosen to join the group were domestic policy, the economy, national night before. “It was the most amazing moment of the history and English senior Max Miller, security and social issues. “When we trip for me,” Edwards says. “Only four participants a Truman Scholar; classics and finance arrived on campus, our Gators just took out of this sea of incredibly intelligent students were senior Bryson Ridgway, president of off,” Roberts says. “They sought out chosen. I was beside myself with excitement and pride. the Student Senate; and religion senior leadership positions immediately.” I remember sitting on the stage with Judy saying to Jamal Sowell, student body president. As Ridgway was elected chair of the me, ‘So, Miss Edwards, University of Florida, what are director of the UF Speech and Debate economic subcommittee for the Repub- your thoughts?’ and it suddenly hit me that I was not Team and interim director of the Dial lican Party. On the Democratic side, the just representing myself or my team, but the whole Center for Written and Oral Commu- delegates elected Edwards chair of the university. That is a huge responsibility, but exciting nication, Roberts was asked to lead the subcommittee on domestic issues and nonetheless!” delegation. Stewart secretary of the subcommittee Edwards and Miller—along with the six other In addition to UF, 14 other schools on the economy. debaters—were the only people involved in the stu- from across the nation converged on During the live student debate dent debate invited to attend the Cheney-Edwards page CLASnotes November 2004 Of the 73 college delegates at the National Student Vice Presidential Debate, only eight debate. Everyone else enjoyed a VIP reception where were chosen to argue the issues in the live debate on October 4. UF was the only uni- they watched the debate together on a big screen. “We versity to have more than one student serve as a live debator. Pictured here, from left probably had more fun than they did,” laughs Roberts. to right, are all eight students with the event’s moderator, CNN’s Judy Woodruff: Adam “We were able to eat and laugh and hoot and holler at Hosmer-Henner, Duke University; Max Miller, UF; Ken Nesmith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Cedric Logan, University of Rochester; Judy Woodruff, CNN anchor; the debate while those attending the actual event had Fitzgerald Heslop, Fisk University; Shaan Ghandi, Case Western Reserve University; to sit in their seats, stiff as a board, for the 90-minute LaToya Edwards, UF; and Sarah David, Johns Hopkins University. televised event.” Though the National Student Vice Presidential Debate is now history, the UF delegation says it will and Johnny Cochran. At UF, the Speech and Debate not soon forget the experience. “I will take away great Team has helped fine-tune the speaking skills of US memories and a better understanding of both sides of Senator Bob Graham and former US Senator George the political spectrum’s ideology,” says Ridgway. Miller Smathers. says he came back to Florida with an eye-opening view Housed under the Dial Center for Written and of American politics. “It was a good experience for Oral Communication in the College of Liberal Arts me in that I started to understand the rigidity of party and Sciences, the UF Speech and Debate Team is open dogma, and I found with my debate preparation that it to all undergraduates and competes nationally against does not come down to taking a stand on an issue, but other colleges and universities from September to spinning it correctly. For this reason, I highly doubt I April each year. It prepares students for three areas of will ever be involved with party politics, and instead debate—policy/team debate, parliamentary debate and will focus on issue advocacy.” individual speech and oral interpretation events. Travel For Edwards, the event was a great networking is funded entirely by UF Student Government, cover- opportunity. “I am convinced that I have now made ing all transportation, hotel and entrance fee costs for connections with the future movers and shakers of my the debaters. generation,” she says. “They were all so impressive, Roberts has coached the team for the past 17 years insightful and energized about politics. I know many and serves as its director, van driver, travel coordinator of them will run for office, and when they do, I will and bookkeeper. “I am frugal,” she says. “Some might gladly give them my vote.” even call me a tightwad when we travel. We certainly According to Roberts, many of today’s successful pack in those hotel rooms and minivans so that we are politicians, lawyers, journalists and entertainers first able to do this. Our travel budget is small in compari- learned how to make arguments and give speeches on son to our counterparts who are able to fly everywhere their college debate teams, including Janet Reno, Rich- when we cannot. I will drive 15 hours one-way, but ard Nixon, Tom Ridge, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Brokaw continued on page 10

CLASnotes November 2004 page Around the College

CLAS Assembly Meeting November 15 The college will hold an assembly meeting at 4 pm on Monday, November 15 in the Keene Faculty Center. The agenda, prepared by the CLAS Steering Commit- Cristina Beato, left, meets tee, is a panel discussion on faculty self-governance and rights with presentations with Carolyn Tucker, right, by Kim Tanzer, Department of Architecture; Kim Emory, Department of Eng- and her research group. lish; and Gary Ihas, Department of Physics. Questions and comments are wel- come after each short presentation. Visit www.clas.ufl.edu/governance/ minutes. html to review the minutes of the September 14 meeting. Tucker’s National Education Specialist Joins Health Care Solution Academic Advising Staff Cristina Beato, the Acting Assistant Secre- Kim Fugate is a new advisor for the Academic Advising tary of the US Department of Health and Center. She holds an education specialist degree from UF and is a PhD candidate in mental health counseling, special- Human Services, visited campus on October izing in crisis intervention. Before arriving at UF in 1998, 20 to award Psychology Professor Carolyn she served as a resident director for Semester at Sea, an M. Tucker an additional $286,539 exten- adjunct writing instructor at Santa Fe Community College, sion to a grant from the Agency for Health and an area coordinator for Appalachian State University and Murray State University. Care and Research Quality she first received At UF, Fugate has served in several graduate positions while attending school in 2000. Beato met with Tucker and the full-time, including hall director and leader/scholar program coordinator for graduate students on her behavioral medi- Trusler Hall, crisis intervention consultant for the Department of Housing, and cine research team to learn more about their teaching assistant for counselor education courses. She also has completed intern- ships with the UF Career Resource Center and the Student Mental Health Care work on cultural sensitivity in the health Center. care system. “I try to go around the country and find what I consider to be the best prac- tices and solutions for the nation,” Beato CLAS Dean’s Office told Tucker in the one-hour meeting. Welcomes New Support Staff The next phase of Tucker’s research Rebecca Dukes has joined the administrative staff of the involves implementing an intervention CLAS dean’s office. She comes to CLAS from the College plan to improve the cultural sensitivity of of Medicine, where she has held positions in the chairman’s office of the Department of Psychiatry and the chief’s office health care providers by altering the physi- in the Urology Division. cal environment of clinics, training health She will be handling various projects for the dean’s care professionals, and teaching patients to office, including teacher evaluations, scholarship processing, respectfully obtain culturally sensitive heath annual administrative evaluations, elections, data gathering and reporting, academic activity reports, instructor workload reports, non-aca- care. demic activity reports, class rolls, and Grade-a-Gator. She will also be assisting Associate Dean Jim Mueller on space assignments and physical plant projects.

CLASnotes encourages letters to the editor. E-mail [email protected] or send a letter to CLASnotes, PO Box 117300, Gainesville FL 32611. CLASnotes reserves the right to edit submissions for punctuation and length. page CLASnotes November 2004 DEPARTMENT NEWS Chemistry Mathematics Psychology Adam Veige has received a $50,000 New James K. Brooks recently received an award Lise Abrams was selected as one of the three Faculty Award from the Camille and Henry from the London Mathematical Society, recipients of the 2004 Women in Cognitive Dreyfus Foundation, Incorporated. He is which included support for a lecture tour Science Mentorship Award from Women one of nine professors nationwide to receive on his research on von Neumann algebras in Cognitive Science, an affiliate of the Psy- the honor. Established in 1946 by chemist, and abstract stochastic processes. He gave chonomic Society. The awards are designed inventor and businessman Camille Dreyfus lectures at the University of London, Christ to encourage established scientists, both as a memorial to his brother and fellow Church College, The Mathematics Institute male and female, to develop the research chemist, Henry, the foundation’s purpose is and Reading University. and publication skills of female students in to advance the science of chemistry, chemi- cognitive science. Up to three awards are cal engineering and related sciences. Veige A research workshop conducted in March given each year to scientists who have dem- was chosen based on his proposed research 2004 by students of the mathematics onstrated sustained, effective mentorship of program, which aims to exploit structural, department has been reported prominently female students and who also have served electronic and reactivity tenets to design in the October 2004 issue of the Society for as a research advisor or supervisor to one or reactive early transition metal complexes for Industrial and Applied Mathematics News. A more female students during the academic the purpose of small molecule activation special grant of $9,000 from the National year immediately preceding the nomination. and catalysis. Science Foundation enabled the UF chapter of the Society for Industrial and Applied Religion Criminology, Law and Society Mathematics (SIAM) to host student partic- Mario Poceski has received a Center for Paul Magnarella received the Distinguished ipants from as far away as Korea and India. East Asian Studies Fellowship in Chinese Service and Leadership Award from the Topics discussed at the conference included Studies at Stanford University for 2004– president of the Association of Third World optimization, imaging science, homogeniza- 2005. At Stanford, he will be working on Studies at its annual meeting in October. tion and finite element methods. The work- a book that explores the attitudes toward shop was organized by graduate students morality and monasticism within the Chan Germanic and Slavic Studies Jungha An, Beyza Aslan, Weihong Guo, school of late medieval Chinese Buddhism. Feng Huang, Shu Jen Huang, Sukanya Nora M. Alter He will return to UF in the fall of 2005. presented a paper, “Bring- Krishnaswamy, Arun Krishnaswamy, ing Back Aesthetics and its Implications,” Adnan Sabuwala, and Hongchao Zhang. Romance Languages and Literatures at the German Studies Association’s annual The faculty advisors were Yunmei Chen, Shifra Armon conference held in Washington, DC in early Jay Gopalakrishnan, William Hager and Professor of Spanish has Eric Kligerman October. also presented a Shari Moskow. The conference was the first received a grant for her project, “Fray paper at the conference titled, “Ethics is an organized by the UF SIAM chapter. Antonio de Guevara: A Wake-Up Call to Optics: Anxiety and the Gaze in Resnais and Courtiers,” from the Spanish Ministry of Celan.” During a chairs meeting at the con- Physics Education, Culture and Sport’s Program ference, Will Hasty made a presentation on for Cultural Cooperation. She will conduct UF’s nascent Institute for the Online Study Dwight Adams has received the 2005 research in Madrid at the National Library of German Language and Culture and its Keithley Award from the American Physi- of Spain. web-based German studies courses. cal Society. The award recognizes physicists who have played an important role in the Women’s Studies Franz Futterknecht recently made a presen- development of measurement techniques or and Gender Research equipment that has had an impact on the tation on UF’s web-based German studies Angel Kwolek-Folland has been selected as courses at the 7th International Colloquium physics community. Adams was recognized for his development of the capacitive pres- a J. William Fulbright Senior Specialist can- on International Engineering Education, didate, which will allow her to work with held in Rhode Island. sure transducer, and for its application to the helium melting pressure thermometry college and university departments outside and other scientific uses. He will receive the US on research and program develop- Christina Overstreet presented the paper, ment and curricular transformation. Senior “Effects of Question-Glossing in Online $5,000 and a certificate citing his contribu- tions, both of which will be presented at the specialists lead seminars, give lectures and Reading and Look-up Behavior” at the 2004 hold workshops at host institutions. University of Hawaii National Foreign Lan- 2005 APS meeting in March. guage Resource Center summer symposium.

Read CLASnotes online at http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu CLASnotes November 2004 page Grants Unraveling Leukemia “We would More than 33,000 people in the United treatment does not fully cure the leu- like to find out States are expected to be diagnosed with kemia, it begins again, and is then very what happens leukemia this year, and once stricken likely to be resistant against renewed to the [leuk- with the malignant cancer of the bone treatment.” emia] cell when marrow and blood, patients, on aver- Richards and fellow researchers it becomes drug age, have only about five years to live. Stephen Hunger, associate professor of resistant.” —Nigel Richards Chemistry Professor Nigel Richards pediatrics, and Michael Kilberg, profes- and his colleagues in the College of sor of biochemistry and molecular biol- Medicine have received a grant from the ogy, have been awarded $100,000 a year National Institutes of Health to lay the for two years to explore a hypothesis groundwork for the development of new they have developed for better treating called asparagine synthesize, which makes asparagine methods of diagnosing and treating the drug resistant leukemia. More specifi- inside the cells. It is unknown why this increase in the disease. cally, the researchers will examine an enzyme makes leukemia cells resistant to drugs, and “If you get leukemia, the treat- enzyme called asparagine synthetase and this is the question Richards hopes the team’s research ment has really been fairly standard the onset of drug resistance in leukemia will answer. “We would like to find out what happens over the last 40 years,” Richards says. cells. Using proteomics methods—a to the cell when it becomes drug resistant,” he says. “What physicians do is give you anti- new science of coding human proteins “How does that even work—how does increasing one leukemia drugs and inject an enzyme revealed through the Human Genome enzyme cause a cell to go from drug sensitive to drug into you that breaks down asparagine Project—they hope not only to develop resistant? That is an amazing thing—just one cellular in the blood. By removing asparagine new methods for diagnosis but also to event can result in a situation whereby we can no lon- in the blood, the leukemia cells appear unravel the biological processes that ger treat the disease.” to be more sensitive to treatment with cause human cells to become resistant to Richards, who has taught at UF since 1991, the drugs. The problem is that the the drugs oncologists use to treat leuke- received a PhD from Cambridge University in Eng- enzyme injected into the blood causes an mia. land in 1984. In addition to this new project, he has immune response—giving rise to severe Through his prior research, Kilberg long-term grant funding from the NIH for his studies side effects. In the event that the initial has discovered that patients become drug of enzymes that have potential clinical use in treating resistant because leukemia and preventing kidney stone formation and related dis- cells at some point start eases. Grants through the Division of producing an enzyme —Buffy Lockette Sponsored Research

August–September 2004 Read the full grants listing at http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu/news.shtml Total: $8,663,056 in this month’s issue of CLASnotes online.

Debate, continued from page 7 beyond that we fly. We try not to have the students miss class, but involved because they did it at the high school level and they are that does happen. Most of the other programs in the Southeast have addicted. But we have many students who seek us out because they major scholarships for the students that compete for them and very want to enhance their speech skills. Having a competitive speech pro- large budgets for travel. We are working with our alumni in hopes of gram at a major university is a very important characteristic, I believe, providing scholarships in the future.” because it demonstrates that our extracurricular activities can be aca- Typically 70–80 students get involved with the team each year, demic and skill building.” though not all travel and compete in events. Before Roberts will allow Students interested in joining the UF Speech and Debate Team a debater to compete in a national event involving air travel, he or are invited to attend one of its weekly meetings, held each Tuesday she must have a strong performance record at the regional level. Rob- at 6:15 pm in room 211 of Rolfs Hall. Visit http://grove.ufl.edu/ erts, however, takes as many students as she can pack in a minivan to ~debate/ for more information. regional competitions. —Buffy Lockette “Debate is an amazing activity,” she says. “A lot of students get page 10 CLASnotes November 2004 Bookbeat Recent publications from CLAS faculty Mourning a Father Lost: A Kibbutz Childhood Remembered Mourning a Father Lost is an account of or four typed pages. When I started writ- parents who never experienced parenting fiction it was frustrating to sit from hood and children who missed out on morning to evening and end up with a childhood. Along with other kibbutz chil- paragraph.” dren of his generation, the book’s author, But the writing brought its own sat- Avraham Balaban, grew up in this type isfactions. “I received so many letters from of Israeli community that included the people who thanked me for telling their collective ownership of property, com- own stories. So many are sure these stories munal living, and the rearing of children are about themselves.” Some, however, are by people assigned to the job by the kib- angry that he has ruined their idyllic view butz rather than by their parents alone. of kibbutz life. “I tried to say something Balaban, professor of modern Hebrew literature in the Department about the flaws of the second generation, Avraham Balaban, African of African and Asian Languages, stepped out of his academic role to about the psychological toll, and I think and Asian Languages and write this very personal memoir in the aftermath of his father’s death. this is what some people don’t like.” Literatures, author of Mourn- Published in Hebrew in 2000 and this year in English, the book The book is not the first to criticize ing a Father Lost (Translated by Yael Lotan, Rowman and has caused quite a stir with its vivid portrayal of the costs to children the kibbutz educational system, but its Littlefield Publishers) and parents of a kibbutz society that imposed an ideological straight- literary power has given it a far greater jacket on its members. It was a social experiment where everything impact in the public mind, as described was communally owned and children lived and slept together with by author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and Columbia Uni- little adult supervision in a building known as the children’s house. It versity Professor Dan Miron, who each provided an endorsement was a place where parents were allowed to see their children for only quote about the book, with Miron writing, “An important, sensitive, one hour a day and where Balaban’s mother, a teacher, could not even extremely well-written literary work.... This crystallized elegy is writ- leave her kindergarten group long enough to comfort her son once ten with restraint, wisdom, piercing insight, and impressive narrative when he had fallen and hurt himself. and skill.” A childhood memoir was not the sort of book Balaban originally Publishing his memoirs has turned Balaban into a semi-official thought he could write. The book is based on actual events during his expert on kibbutz life. He was interviewed by the BBC and has been childhood but also includes fictitious names and conversations to con- asked to write an introductory chapter for a book accompanying an vey certain aspects of kibbutz life. “I didn’t want to write a documen- exhibition on the children’s house to be held next year at the Tel Aviv tary, but fiction, and it was difficult to satisfy the literary critic in me,” Museum in Israel. he says. “It’s a very demanding process. When I write scholarly works, —Michal Meyer I know my pace. I know that at the end of the day I will have three

Making American Boys: Boyology and Environmental Politics and Policy, the Feral Tale, Kenneth B. Kidd (Eng- Walter A. Rosenbaum (Political Science), lish), University of Minnesota Press CQ Press Will boys be boys? What are little Coming to grips with today’s envi- boys made of? Kenneth B. Kidd responds ronmental policy challenges is no small to these familiar questions with a thor- feat. What are the major environmental ough review of boy culture in America policy changes under the George W. since the late nineteenth century. From Bush administration, and how do they the “boy work” promoted by character- compare with policies of previous admin- building organizations such as scouting istrations? What are the merits—and and 4-H to current therapeutic and pop limits—of recent market approaches to psychological obsessions with children’s environmental regulation and manage- self-esteem, Kidd presents the great variety of cultural influences on ment? How can students best understand the concept of “acceptable the changing notion of boyhood. Analyzing icons of boyhood and risk” and other scientifically-based decision making tools with regard maleness from Father Flanagan’s Boys Town and Max in Where the to the regulation of toxic substances? Rosenbaum’s classic, compre- Wild Things Are to Elián González and even Michael Jackson, Kidd hensive text—now in a totally revised sixth edition—offers definitive surveys films, psychoanalytic case studies, parenting manuals, historical coverage of environmental politics and policy, lively case material, and accounts of the discoveries of “wolf-boys,” and self-help books to pro- a balanced assessment of current environmental issues. vide a rigorous history of what it has meant to be an all-American boy. —Publisher —Amazon

CLASnotes November 2004 page 11 Junk Mail Be Gone! CLASnet Launches New Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus E-mail System

CLASnet has implemented a new anti- someone tried to send you a spam and anti-virus e-mail system for forbidden attachment, most everyone using the CLAS server for e- likely an executable one. If mail. These changes are designed to catch you were expecting an attach- more spam messages than the previous ment from the sender, contact system and result in fewer misclassified the sender and ask for the file messages. to be sent as a ZIP attachment. The anti-virus system errs on the At this time, about three percent side of caution, so you will see more of the total e-mail traffic is viruses informational notices than in the past. or banned attachments. However, rather than the cryptic “permis- The anti-spam system scores each the total sion denied” message used in the former message, using multiple criteria. If the num- ber of incoming system, the subject line of your e-mail score reaches a certain level, the message e-mail messages are blocked or tagged as message will read VIRUS ALERT, which subject is prefixed with SPAM. If the spam. Please visit www.clasnet.ufl. edu/ means someone tried to send you a virus, message score exceeds the criteria, it is howto/mail-filtering for more information or BANNED FILENAME, meaning blocked. At this time, about 72 percent of about these new e-mail features.

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