Spring 2004 the Theflame Magazine of Claremont Graduate University

Volume 5, Number 1 Spring 2004 the TheFlame Magazine of Claremont Graduate University Chance Encounters Wired and Ready Finding Peace in Vietnam Help nurture a theFlame The Magazine of Claremont Graduate University Spring 2004 Volume 5, No. 1 The Flame is published three times a year by Claremont Graduate University, 150 East Tenth Street, Claremont, CA 91711. ©2004 by Claremont Graduate University DREAMDREAM Send address changes to: Office of Alumni Affairs John Terrell worked as a California Youth Authority counselor for 13 years. In the early ‘90s Claremont Graduate University 165 East Tenth Street he began to witness a change in the system. Correctional facilities were spending less time Claremont, CA 91711 on rehabilitation and more time warehousing criminals. [email protected] Letters to the editor are Seeking to make a difference in the lives of youthful offenders, Terrell enrolled at CGU in a welcome and should be sent to: Marilyn Thomsen Ph.D. program in social psychology. He quickly discovered that his real-life experience with 165 East Tenth Street juvenile offenders differed significantly from popular theories in the field. Claremont, CA 91711 [email protected] Most studies showed that violent offenders lacked self-esteem and had poor perspective-taking Editor Marilyn Thomsen abilities. In contrast, Terrell’s doctoral research found that many have a surplus of self-esteem Managing Editor and acute perspective-taking skills. Antisocial behavior often results from the perception of being Carol Bliss disrespected. If young people could learn other options, aggressive reactions could change. Art Director Bridget Gailey “We have to do everything we can to intervene before these behaviors become life patterns,” News Editor says Terrell. His research demonstrates what innovative ideas and early intervention can do. Bryan Schneider Alumni Editor Joy Kliewer For John Terrell, pursuing this research at CGU Editorial Contributors Mandy Bennett is a dream of changing lives. Cathy Corder Jennifer Harden Michael Mahin Design Contributor Michael Satina Photographer Credits Cover: Doug McCulloh/L.A. Neighbor- hood Project/L.A. Public Library Page 2: Tommi Cahill Page 4: PhotoDisk Page 6: Bridget Gailey Page 7: Tom Zasadzinski Page 9: Tom Zasadzinski Page 10: Margaret Nilsson Page 12: Tommi Cahill Page 13: Artville Page 14: ImageBank/Pamela Hamilton Page 18-22: Doug McCulloh/L.A. Neighborhood Project/L.A. Public Library Page 23: Stone/Jerry Gay Page 24: Courtesy of Robert Delzell Page 25: Image Bank/Archive Page 26-29: Courtesy of Kay Brigham Page 31: Marilyn Thomsen Back cover: Courtesy of MBA Choir Claremont Graduate University, founded in 1925, focuses exclusively on graduate-level study. It is a member of The Claremont Colleges, a consortium of seven independent institutions. President Steadman Upham Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Philip Dreyer Senior Vice President for Business and Administration William L. Everhart Vice President for Advancement John W. Crowe Vice President for Student Services James Whitaker Your gift to support the CGU Annual Fund helps students Claremont Graduate University does not discriminate in its educational fulfill their dreams. Make your tax-deductible gift today programs on the basis of race, color, creed, place of national origin, gender, by calling (909) 621-8027 or click www.cgu.edu/giving. sexual orientation, age, or disability. contents 4 president’s notebook 5 letters 6 news from 10th and College 10 faculty spotlight / staff spotlight 12 booktalk 13 op/ed Features 14 Wired & Ready The CGU community weighs in on the debate over brick-and-mortar education versus e-learning. 18 Chance Encounters MFA graduate Douglas McCulloh combines street photography and surrealism to capture moments of systematic randomness. 23 Finding Peace in Vietnam Sowing seeds of peace, education alumnus Robert Delzell takes former vets back to Vietnam to find closure and healing. 26 “For Those Who Love, Time Is Not” A box of fragile, half-century-old letters in her attic helped history alumna Kay Brigham discover the character and love of the father she lost to war when she was only seven years old. 30 alumnotes 35 upcoming 36 parting shot the Flame Spring 2004 3 the president’s notebook CGU’s Six Degrees of Separation t has happened to everyone. There you are, social network of 500 acquaintances many individuals Ifar away from home, perhaps even on requires more than 100,000 separate con- who are citizens another continent. You board an airplane, and tacts to track who knows whom. If each of of other coun- before you can secure your headphones, the the acquaintances in this social network hap- tries. Further- passengers on either side introduce them- pens to know another 500 individuals, it is more, CGU selves. As the conversation progresses, you possible to have as many as 250,000 people employs nearly find that the traveler on your left is a col- at one “remove” from our original 500 300 individuals and has a current student league of someone you work with, while the acquaintances! population of 2,100. Without too much traveler on your right used to live in a neigh- These fascinating results arise from an imagination, one can begin to see that the boring community and knows many of the unusual experiment using email. This past potential size of CGU’s total global social net- same people you do. How can this happen? year,three sociologists at Columbia University work approaches 75 million people. With 6.4 billion people in the world, how can developed a search experiment to test the size This is the group of people that consti- these two randomly seated travelers on a jet- of global social networks. They sent email tutes Claremont Graduate University’s poten- liner far,far away have such a direct and messages to 60,000 people who were asked tial “sphere of influence.” I use the word unerring connection to you? to reach one of 18 target persons in 13 differ- potential purposefully, because at this point, In the late 1960s, Stanley Milgram won- ent countries. The protocol required that each the chains of connection that would create dered about this same phenomenon. Milgram person forward the original email message to this vast, global social network have yet to be was a psychologist interested in the size of an acquaintance until the target person had completed. Such chains exist only in principle social networks, and it is from his pioneering been contacted. By counting the number of as unrealized social capital. work that the now famous “six degrees of forwarded messages, the researchers could The greatest source of nurture, support, separation” arises. Through punditry and then determine the length of completed chains interest, and enthusiasm for any university clever publicists, the actor Kevin Bacon has and, hence, the approximate size of social net- arises directly from those who know what the also become irretrievably linked to the “small works across these 13 countries. institution stands for and what its graduates world” problem that Milgram first described. This new experiment shows that have accomplished. Such people constitute Subsequent research published in Science Milgram’s original research is surprisingly “culture brokers” because they can improve (Vol. 301, 8 August 2003) has shown how a robust. The average number of links between understanding, shape perceptions, and spread the original 60,000 email users and the 18 information about “their” institution. target persons for all completed chains was If you receive the Flame and are reading only 4.05 removes! (Statistical corrections these words, there is a high probability that and normalization for sampling errors show you are a culture broker for Claremont that the actual average for all chains is closer Graduate University. Because you have to six removes.) Thus, in our increasingly knowledge about CGU and are connected to interconnected world, we are on average never its history and mission, you can help others more than about six people away from our learn what you already know. own personal social network. Statistically As a culture broker,I ask a special favor speaking, this result explains why the two pas- of you. Within the next month, please tell five sengers on the airplane can be so easily con- people in your social network about the out- nected to you. standing contributions of Claremont Graduate This research has important implications University. Tell them about CGU’s people and for a global university like Claremont programs, its connections to the world of Graduate University. CGU has more than practice, and its preeminent reputation as a 18,000 alumni. Using the statistical results premier provider of graduate education. By from the Columbia University research, we helping CGU in this way, you can participate can posit that the potential social network of in the actualization of the university’s exten- these 18,000 alumni encompasses more than sive global social network—the very network 50 million people at six removes! Addition- that will sustain CGU in the years to come. ally, based on CGU’s enrollment patterns over the past 78 years, we can say with confidence that it is a global social network, extending into at least 50 different countries around the world. CGU also has connections to many friends and supporters beyond its alumni net- Steadman Upham work, and like our alumni, this group includes President 4 C LAREMONT G RADUATE U NIVERSITY particular across disciplines, is not a new idea. Only a century ago, many scholars tended toward generalization. Charles Darwin, a creationist who studied Scripture preparing for a career as a country parson, collected insects for a hobby. His nascent moment—that instant of clarity when one idea out of many seems right—was sparked by a stimulus, not from one discipline but from many.

Load more