The Trinity Reporter, Spring 2011
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ALONGTHEWALK 2 TRINITY REPORTER spring 11 BLOGS FROM CHINA Cheryl Greenberg, Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of History, spent the 2 0I0- 20II academic year at Nankai University, one of the top 10 institutions of higher education in China. She was joined by her husband, Dan Lloyd, Brownell Professor of Philosophy, and their daughters Rianna and Morgan. Greenberg's year in China was supported by a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer grant. Nankai University emphasizes both the sciences and liberal arts and has an enrollment of roughly 12,000 undergraduates and I O,OOO graduate students. D uring their year in China, both Greenberg and Lloyd blogged about their experiences. The photos here are a sample- you can see more at chinachronicles.wordpress.com (Greenberg) and tianjindiaries.wordpress.com (Lloyd) . The center of the Chinese empire, The city of Harbin is noted for its annual Greenberg's The Chinese New at least for the last 600 years, is ice festival held at "Ice World," several undergraduate lectures Year is celebrated with the Forbidden City at the heart of hundred acres of free-standing castles, were videotaped. It rituals, food activities, Beijing. The city is a sequence of pagodas, coliseums, and cathedrals. At is typical in China symbols, and customs. immense squares surrounded by sunset, the ice metropolis lights up from for students to walk Fireworks are used to imposing buildings. within from colored fluorescents and teachers back to their scare off demons and LEDs embedded in every block. While homes after class as a ghosts. Greenberg and Lloyd were there, the sign of appreciation. temperature hovered around minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Greenberg and Lloyd lived in the "Foreign Guesthouse," also known as The International Experts of Cultures and Education Residence. Because the apartments are small, they were given two, one for them and one for their daughters. TRIN ITY REPO RTER I spring 11 3 The generation of young adults born since 1981, dubbed FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS the Millennials- a group that now inhabits campuses across the country- are defined by seven core traits. Judy Dworin, professor the National Institutes Considered "special, protected, team-oriented, trusting of theater and dance ofHealth (NIH) to optimists, conventional, achieving. and pressured," the Hartford Courant's Tapestry help determine whether Millennials' personalities, values, and expectations have Award for The Judy adenosine is a critical been shaped by their parents: the Baby Boomers, who are Dworin Performance mechanism underlying a very child-centric generation. Project the success of ketogenic diet therapy in treating Teaching this latest generation of students presents a Professor of English epilepsy. unique set of challenges to institutions of higher learning. Sheila Fisher was invited Those challenges were addressed in a half-day seminar to speak in May at the Seth Sanders, assistant at Trinity called "Winter Institute on Teaching with 92nd Street Y in New professor of religion Technology: Teaching the Millennials." York City in connection Frank Moore Cross, with the publication of Jr. Award for his 2009 The gathering in Mather Hall, exceptionally well attended, her new book, The Selected volume, The Invention of was sponsored by The Center for Teaching and Learning, Canterbury Tales - A New Hebrew the Dean of Faculty's Office, the Office of Academic Verse Translation, published Computing, the Trinity library. the Social Science Center, by W W Norton. Promoted to full and the Blume Language and Culture Learning Center. professor: Susan Masino, Charles A. Sheila Fisher, English The consensus is that professors need to understand Dana Research Associate Thomas M itzel, and adapt to the fact that Millennials are adept at multi Professor of Psychology Chemistry tasking; highly dependent on technology; enjoy working and Neuroscience Sarah Raskin, Psychology on team projects; prefer to study together; don't have to Awarded a four-year, and Neuroscience occupy the same space to feel connected; and take their cell $1.8 million grant by Gail Woldu, Music phones everywhere, including to the bathroom and bed. TRINITY REPO RTER I spring 11 5 Tri nfo.Cafe's 10th anniversary present were patrons ofTrinfo.Cafe and representatives of many of the 135 community organizations who have Nearly roo city residents, many of whom have benefited benefited from the center's outreach programs. from Trinfo.Cafe's vast array of programs and services, attended a festive celebration last November for the roth Trinfo.Cafe is a multi-faceted neighborhood technology anniversary of the technology center's efforts to close center whose mission has been to close the digital Hartford's digital divide. divide and offer Hartford residents and community organizations, primarily those in the South End, a place Among the attendees were state Senator John > where they can learn about computer technology as it <.> Fonfara, co-chairman of the legislature's Energy and < has evolved and become ever more sophisticated and ..J Technology Committee. Fonfara presented Trinity ~ complex. The facility recorded more than 25,000 visits u with a proclamation from the State of Connecticut last year. z in recognition of the facility's outstanding work. Also 6 TRINITY REPORTER spring 11 EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI: TRINITY RESPONDS Spearheaded by the efforts of Panida Pollawit '12, a group of Trinity students raised more than $1,000 to aid the victims of the earthquake that wreaked havoc in Japan on March II. The money was sent to the consulate general of Japan in Boston and forwarded to the Red Cross in Japan. More than 15,000 people were killed and thousands more were injured or missing as a result of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Pollawit, a biochemistry major who spent the spring 2010 semester studying near Tokyo, said she decided to help after she exchanged e-mails with friends and saw videos posted on the Internet. SOUNDING BOARDS Each month since fall 2010, a group of five young faculty members from the language and Culture Studies Department has met to critique each others' writing. The work under discussion is intended for academic journals and conferences. Topics range from women in the public sphere in r8th-century Germany to religious practices of !6th-century Catholics. When Sara Kippur, Julie Goesser, Christopher van Ginhoven, Yipeng Sherr, and Kifah Hanna meet, one can sense how eager they are to discuss each others' work. Although they each represent a different language (French, German, Spanish, Chinese, and Pollawit enlisted the aid of students and Arabic, respectively) , there is a distinct sense of faculty in the Japanese Program in the community. Department of language and Culture Studies. Volunteers staffed tables outside Nearly all of them are in their first year at Trinity Mather Hall during meal times, and "It's very difficult to keep up with research as a Japanese candy purchased at a nearby new faculty member," explains Kippur, a founding Asian supermarket was available as an member. Hanna, the other founder, says they hope incentive for people to donate. About half to find inspiration in the work of the group. of the total amount collected was raised When Christopher van Ginhoven went over his in that manner, said Pollawit, who is the article, "Spiritual Exercises in their Planetary newly elected president of the Student Efficacy: The Case of the Jesuit Order" (which he Government Association (SGA). Faculty ultimately presented at the Renaissance Society and staff members also contributed, of America's annual conference in Montreal in and additional money was raised from a March), the group was quick with questions and calligraphy demonstration and from other suggestions. "What do you mean by this?" "Could events held during Spring Weekend. you say it this way instead?" Although these scholars are the first to admit they are not experts Pollawit said she's proud of the campus in each others' fields, Hanna sums up the benefit community. "People wanted to help," she of the critiques when she says, "It's lovely to read noted. ''And we gave them a venue and a platform so that they could do that." something I know nothing about and might never happen across if it weren't for this group." TRIN ITY RE PORTER J spring 11 7 Job satisfaction HARVARD SURVEY: TRINITY AMONG TOP INSTITUTIONS IN TENURE-TRACK FACULTY JOB SATISFACTION The results of a comprehensive three-year survey conducted by the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education show Trinity College as one of IO bachelor's degree-granting institutions with "exemplary" tenure-track faculty job satisfaction. The research confirms Trinity's commitment to attracting and retaining junior faculty as part of its overall focus on maintaining and building the academic profile ROCKET SCIENCE of the College. TRINITY STUDENTS WIN BRONZE MEDAL IN PHYSICS COMPETITION Of the 38 baccalaureate institutions whose "Aerobraking a Space Probe at Neptune." Those six words are enough to make most undergraduates run faculty participated in the survey, Trinity was for cover. But three Trinity students spent 48 hours on one of IO that achieved "exemplar" status. the weekend of November 6 and 7 tackling a problem with that daunting title. • Lorenzo R . Sewanan ' 12, Steve J. Petkovsek '12, and Brandon A. Clary ' 13 (left to Trinity finished in the top pairing in two right), physics majors and members of the Society of categories: climate, culture and collegiality, Physics Students, were awarded a bronze prize for their efforts. Their adviser was David Branning, assistant and global satisfaction. The former category professor of physics. • The students were tasked with includes such items as mentoring, peer sending a rocket ship into orbit around Neptune using aero breaking, the act of decelerating by passing through review of teaching andjor research, fairness a planetary atmosphere.