Lawrence University News

Lawrence University Jazz Composer’s Work Featured in Scottish National Jazz Orchestra Tour

APPLETON, WIS. — One of the latest compositions of Lawrence University Professor Fred Sturm’s most recent jazz writing project will be featured in a week-long concert tour of Scotland by legendary vibraphonist Gary Burton beginning Sept. 10.

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Sturm, director of jazz studies and improvisational music at Lawrence, was part of a team of internationally renowned jazz composers and arrangers, who worked on the music for the tour “The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra Presents the Music of Wayne Shorter featuring Gary Burton.” Through a commission by SNJO leader Tommy Smith, Sturm arranged the Shorter composition “Yes and No” for the concert program.

“Shorter is our greatest living jazz composer, and ‘Yes and No’ epitomizes his work from the 1960s,” said Sturm. “The SNJO granted me free rein to reconstitute the piece in my own voice.”

Burton, considered by many the world’s premier jazz vibraphonist, will perform arrangements of nine works by celebrated jazz composer/saxophonist Shorter during a five-city concert tour beginning in St. Andrews. Other performances are scheduled in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling and Gordonstoun.

This is Sturm’s third collaboration with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, which has previously performed the Sturm-arranged concert programs “Bodacious Cowboys: Three Decades of Steely Dan” in 2008 and “Tango Nuevo: The Music of Astor Piazzolla” this past May.

Voting Underway for Sustainable Lawrence Student Video Competition

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University students, faculty, staff and alumni are encouraged to cast their vote for their favorite video in the “Sustainable Lawrence Student Video Competition,” which highlights the unique and innovative ways that Lawrence is working toward environmental sustainability.Video%20comp.jpg

Several months ago, three teams of students earned a chance to compete for a $3,000 prize and the opportunity to see their video featured on the Documentary Channel. Voting runs though Wednesday, Sept. 16 and the winner of this popular vote contest will be announced at a public screening on Thursday, Sept. 17 in the Warch Campus Center.

Cast your vote today here.

Death Risk: Lawrence University Researcher Helps Develop Novel Tool To Calculate the Odds

APPLETON, WIS. — Whether by illness or accident, have you ever wondered what the odds are you could die within the next year?

David-Gerard.jpgA Lawrence University economist, working with the Center for the Study & Improvement of Regulation at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., has helped develop a website that allows users to easily access publicly-available data and compare mortality risks based on several different categories, such as age, gender and where you live.

The site, DeathRiskRankings, not only determines the risk of dying within the next year, but it also ranks more than 60 possible causes of death, providing quick side-by-side comparisons between groups.

“Most Americans don’t have a particularly good understanding of their own mortality risks, let alone a ranking of their relevant risks,” said David Gerard, who recently joined the Lawrence University faculty as an associate professor of economics. He spent six years as the executive director of the Center for the Study & Improvement of Regulation at Carnegie Mellon.

“A rule of thumb is that your risk of dying increases exponentially, doubling about every eight years,” Gerard said. “Approximately one1 in 500 people in my cohort – 40-something white males in Wisconsin — will die in the next year. When I turn 50, the risk will be closer to 1 in 250. And for those of us that see 65, it will be about 1 in 50. The risks are higher, but I still like my chances.”

As the national debate over health care policy and reform heats up, Gerard says one of the site’s most interesting features is its ability to provide comparisons between the U.S. and Europe.

“You can really see some systematic differences between the major causes of death between us and Europeans, which begs the question what role our respective health care systems play in those differences,” said Gerard.

“As an example, for 40-year olds, a European woman has a better chance of living another 30 years than an American woman. However, American women have slightly lower risks of dying from breast cancer, but considerably higher risks of dying from heart attacks and lung cancer. This presents some interesting research questions about whether these differences stem from diagnostics and treatment or from some other causes.”

Gerard thinks the website will prove to be an effective tool in the classroom as well.

“My colleague, Paul Fischbeck, has been using this concept for years to teach his decision analysis courses,” Gerard said. “The underlying concept of the MicroMort – a one-in-a-million chance of dying – is an effective way of teaching student how to quantify risks, how regulatory policies might affect these risks, and at what cost.”

The web site is a treasure trove of interesting statistics. When it comes to dying within the year, there are dramatic differences between men and women, blacks and whites, and Americans and Europeans. Consider the following:

• In the race to die first, men are the clear winners. For every age group, men have a much higher annual death risk than women. For 20-year olds, the risk is two-and-one-half to three times greater. Men are much more prone to accidents, homicides, and suicides, and the risk of dying from heart disease is always higher for men than women, peaking in the 50s when men are 2.5 times greater. However, men’s dominance is not as overwhelming with cancer deaths. Women’s cancer risks are actually higher than men’s in their 30s and 40s, but for all other ages, men are number one.

• The difference between blacks and whites in the U.S. is almost as pronounced as those for men and women. For both heart disease and cancer, blacks have much higher death risk. Overall, African American in their 30s and 40s are twice as likely to die within the year as their white counterparts. There is, however, one category of death in which whites consistently exceed blacks: suicide. Whites typically have a 2-3 times greater chance of dying by suicide than blacks.

• Not surprisingly, obesity-related death risks are much higher in the U.S. than in Europe. As one example, annual diabetes death risk for two 54-year females, one from Wisconsin and one from the U.K., is four times as high for the Wisconsinite than it is for the woman in England.

“There is an old saying that if you spend too much time watching for squirrels, you might just get trampled by an elephant,” says Gerard. “A lot of things can kill you. This website breaks risks into 66 different categories. But there are often dominant causes. For young people, for example, simple things like wearing a bike helmet and fastening up your seat belt can radically reduce your fatality risks.”

Lawrence University Conference Examines Assessment Methods in Tutorial Education

APPLETON, WIS. — Four Lawrence University faculty members will be among the presenters discussing findings from a year-long assessment of learning outcomes associated with tutorial education August 28-29 at a conference hosted by Lawrence.

Faculty representatives from Williams College and College of Wooster will join the Lawrence participants in making presentations in the “Researching Assessment Methods in Tutorial Education” conference in the Warch Campus Center beginning at 9 a.m. Friday (8/28). All faculty, staff and students are welcome to attend.

The conference, part of an ongoing two-year project scheduled for completion in fall 2010 and funded by a $95,000 grant from the Teagle Foundation in New York City, will examine the results of a shared assessment model (SAM) that was developed in a workshop last fall and discuss its usefulness as an assessment tool.

During the past winter and spring terms, eight instructors from across the disciplines at Lawrence, Williams and College of Wooster, used the SAM to score students on a 5-point scale for 20 different traits within three broad learning outcomes: independent thinking, intellectual maturity and creativity.

Charles Blaich, director of Wabash College’s Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, will deliver the conference’s keynote address at 9:15 Friday morning.

Beginning at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Lawrence faculty members Rob Neilson, associate professor of art, Ron Peck, assistant professor of biology, Jerald Podair, professor of history and Robert S. French Professor of American Studies and Claudena Skran, associate professor of government and Edwin and Ruth West Professor of Economics and Social Science, will make presentations based on their participation in the project.

Rob Beck, visiting professor of education, and William Skinner, director of research administration, co-principal investigators of the study, also will represent Lawrence as presenters during the conference.

This weekend’s conference is an outgrowth of the “Tutorial Education: History, Pedagogy, and Evolution” conference Lawrence hosted in the spring of 2007.

G.I. Jobs Magazine Cites Lawrence University as “Military Friendly” Institution

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University has been designated a “Military Friendly School” for 2010 by G.I. Jobs magazine and will be included in a September guide listing those colleges and universities that were cited for their support of veterans.

According to the magazine, the honor puts Lawrence in the top 15 percent of all U.S. colleges, universities and trade schools in the country that meet the criteria for a military-friendly designation.

Earlier this year, Lawrence agreed to participate in the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program, a provision of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 that was passed by Congress this summer.

The Yellow Ribbon program allows degree-granting institutions in the United States to enter into an agreement with the Veterans Administration to fund tuition expenses that exceed the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition rate. Lawrence will contribute up to 50 percent of the remaining expenses — approximately $7,300 per veteran — and the VA will match the same amount. The program is designed to help qualifying students avoid up to 100 percent of their out-of-pocket tuition and fees associated with education programs that may exceed the Post 9/11 GI Bill® tuition benefit.

“The Yellow Ribbon program offers military veterans an amazing — and financially viable — opportunity to earn a college degree,” said Sara Holman, director of financial aid at Lawrence. “As a university participating in the program, Lawrence has found a way to say thank you to the veterans who have done so much for our country.”

“In evaluating colleges and universities for our military friendly designation, the Yellow Ribbon Program was weighted heavily,” said Rich McCormack, publisher of G.I. Jobs. “Lawrence’s strong financial support for the program indicated to us a deep commitment to helping our veterans.”

Chris Schmidt, an incoming freshman from Menomonee Falls, will be Lawrence’s first Yellow Ribbon Program participant when new students arrive for the start of orientation Sept. 8. After graduating from high school in 2005, Schmidt spent four years in the U.S. Army, including a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq.

There are currently an estimated eight million veterans eligible for educational assistance under the GI Bill.

Lawrence University Tops in Wisconsin in U.S. News’ Annual College Guide

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University is Wisconsin’s top-ranked liberal arts institution and 59th overall among 249 national colleges and universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2010 “America’s Best Colleges” report released today (8/20). It was the 11th straight year Lawrence has been ranked among the top 25 percent of the nation’s best liberal arts colleges.

Among the factors used in determining the rankings, Lawrence had strong showings in the areas of full-time faculty (94 percent), incoming students ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class (41 percent), graduation rate (76 percent), acceptance rate (59 percent), alumni giving rate (43 percent) and percentage of classes with fewer than 20 students (73 percent).

“We’re certainly pleased that U.S. News, as well as all the other rankings, continue to recognize Lawrence as one of the premier institutions in the nation,” said Steve Syverson, vice president of enrollment at Lawrence, “but continue to remind students that the only ranking that should really matter to them is their personal ranking of colleges. Loren Pope, past editor of the New York Times Education Section, through his books “Beyond the Ivy League” and “Colleges That Change Lives,” spent his lifetime championing the notion that great, life-changing education occurs at all sorts of colleges across the nation, many of which are not household names.”

In its report, U.S. News also includes lists and rankings of a wide variety of other niche categories, without regard for size or type of institution. In a survey of guidance counselors from America’s best high schools who were asked which liberal arts colleges they think offer the best education to their students, Lawrence was ranked 42nd nationally. And in a reaffirmation of its status as a residential campus, Lawrence tied for 17th nationally in the percentage of students (98) who reside in university-provided housing.

“It’s particularly gratifying to see the confidence high school guidance counselors have placed in Lawrence,” said Syverson. “It’s their job to have expertise about colleges around the country and the quality of their programs.”

Williams College earned the magazine’s top spot in the national liberal arts college category for the sixth consecutive year while Harvard University repeated as the top-ranked institution in U.S. News’ national universities category, sharing this year’s top spot with Princeton University.

In compiling its annual “America’ s Best Colleges” guide, U.S. News & World Report evaluates nearly 1,500 of the nation’s public and private four-year schools, using data from 15 separate indicators of academic excellence such as peer assessment, selectivity, graduation rates, student retention, faculty resources and alumni satisfaction. Each factor is assigned a “weight” that reflects the magazine editor’s judgment as to how much that measure matters. Each school’s composite weighted score is then compared to peer institutions to determine final rankings.

Institutions are divided into several distinct categories. In addition to the best liberal arts college category that measures national institutions like Lawrence, other rankings are based on universities that grant master and doctorate degrees and colleges that are considered “regional” institutions.

Lawrence University Author on President Clinton’s Reading List

Uranium-Cover_web-II.jpgTom Zoellner ’91 has at least one high-profile fan of his latest book “Uranium”: former President Bill Clinton. Zoellner’s book, “a global yarn that is equal parts travelogue, history and adventure story, as well as a nonfiction portrait of the most powerful substance in the earth’s crust, one that will help define the shape of the world in the 21st century,” turned up in a letter Clinton sent to Carolyn Kellogg of the Los Angeles Times, who writes the blog, “Jacket Copy.” In a list of books Clinton indicated he was currently reading, Zoellner’s “Uranium” was listed second.

Forbes Names Lawrence University Wisconsin’s Top College

APPLETON, WIS. — Defining a good college as “one that meets student needs,” Forbes.com ranks Lawrence University the best undergraduate institution in Wisconsin and 41st nationally in its second annual report on America’s top colleges.

Compiled with the assistance of researchers at the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit think tank Center for College Affordability and Productivity, the magazine’s just-released 2009 “America’s Best Colleges” report ranks 600 of the country’s 1,600 four-year undergraduate institutions based on the quality of the education they provide, the experience of the students and how much they achieve. Schools were ranked without regard for size.Main-Hall-Forbes_web.jpg

Lawrence, which jumped 27 spots nationally from last year’s 68th ranking, was one of only two state institutions to crack the business publication’s top 100 (Ripon was 100th).

First published in 2008 as an alternative to the annual rankings done by U.S. News & World Report, Forbes’ rankings focus less on institutional reputation and more on aspects that directly concern students: Will courses be interesting and rewarding? How likely is the student to graduate in four years? Will the student get a good job after graduation? How much debt will the student incur in pursuit of a degree?

Data used in the rankings were drawn from numerous sources, including the opinions of four million student evaluations of courses and instructors recorded on the Web site RateMyProfessors.com and post-graduate success determined by enrollment-adjusted entries in “Who’s Who in America” and average salaries of graduates reported by Payscale.com.

Other ranking factors included an estimated average student debt after four years, four-year college graduation rates, and the number of students and faculty, adjusted for enrollment, who have won nationally competitive awards such as Rhodes Scholarships and Nobel Prizes.

“Forbes has once again gone beyond the usual metrics to assess quality in colleges and of course we’re happy that they’ve recognized us for being particularly good at providing a meaningful and powerful experience for our students,” said Ken Anselment, Lawrence’s director of admissions.

In addition to finishing top-ranked among 10 Wisconsin institutions included in Forbes.com’s list, Lawrence also was ranked higher than such traditional educational heavyweights as the University of California-Berkeley (73), Duke University (104) and Ivy League members Brown University (72), Dartmouth College (98) and Cornell University (207).

The U. S. Military Academy at West Point earned Forbes.com’s no. 1 ranking, supplanting last year’s no. 1 Princeton University, which was ranked second this year. California Institute of Technology, no. 2 in 2008, Williams College and Harvard University rounded out the top five.

Liberal arts colleges like Lawrence accounted for six of the top 15 ranked institutions nationally while many of the large state universities landed well down Forbes’ list, including UW-Madison (415), the University of Iowa (430) and the University of Nebraska (463).

Lawrence University Cited by The Princeton Review in its Latest “Best Colleges” Book

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University provides one of the nation’s best undergraduate educational experiences according to the 2010 edition of The Princeton Review’s annual book “The Best 371 Colleges” released today (7/28).

The book profiles 371 colleges — less than 15% of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges — along with rating scores in eight categories. The book also includes ranking lists of top 20 schools in more than 60 categories ranging from most politically active to best athletic facilities. Those rankings are based on more than 122,000 surveys, in which students were asked to rate their schools on dozens of topics and report on their campus experiences.Princeton-Rev.-Book-Cover_w.jpg

Lawrence ranked in the top 10 nationally in two of the student-survey categories: sixth in most accessible professors and 10th in best college theatre program, up from 12th in the same category last year. A college’s appearance on a ranking list is the result of a high consensus among its surveyed students about a topic compared with that of students at other schools answering the same survey question(s) on the ranking topic.

Using a scale of 60-99, with 99 the best, Lawrence earned rating scores of 96 in academics, up from 90 a year ago, a 95 in financial aid, 94 in admissions, 92 in campus life, which measures students’ satisfaction with their lives outside the classroom, including the location of the campus, the comfort of residence halls and the quality of food, among other factors. Lawrence also received an 83 in the “green” category, a rating based on a schools’ environmental commitments. The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book 1 to 371 in any single category.

“Our faculty do an extraordinary job of making themselves accessible to our students and in providing opportunities for individualized learning experiences. It’s great to have The Princeton Review affirm that level of faculty engagement,” said Steve Syverson, vice president for enrollment and dean of admission. “While the outstanding ratings for our academics and financial aid were not surprising, we are delighted at the improved rating of the ‘greenness’ of our campus community and expect it to rise even more next year. Many faculty and students have made significant commitments to enhancing our institutional commitment to environmental stewardship.”

In its profile of the college, The Princeton Review defined the Lawrence experience as “intense academics extreme, involvement in extracurricular activities, and a near-obsession with music.” Quoting students who were surveyed, the book describes Lawrence as a place where “professors are really willing to work one-on-one with students.” The student body is seen as having a wide variety of interests, producing “an intellectually stimulating– not academically cutthroat–environment” that fosters both academic and personal growth.

“Each of our ‘best’ colleges offers great academics,” says book author Robert Franek, vice president of publishing at The Princeton Review. “However, we don’t rank schools academically because our goal is to help students find and get into the best school for them. We tally ranking lists based how students at these schools rated their campus experiences, plus ratings based on institutional data we collect on issues important to applicants. It’s all about the fit.”

The book’s entire ranking lists can be found at www.PrincetonReview.com.

Parrish Rings NASDAQ’s Opening Bell

Lawrence trustee and alumnus O.B. Parrish ’55 recently presided over the opening bell to celebrate his company’s recent switch to NASDAQ. (Click here for video.) Female Health Co. (FHC), where Parrish was a founder, manufactures, markets and sells female condoms (FC1 and FC2) — the only products approved by FDA and cleared by the World Health Organization for purchase by UN agencies — that provide dual protection against unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (“STI’s”), including HIV/AIDS.

The company was also recognized by Fortune magazine, which ranked FHC eighth among the top 100 fastest-growing publicly traded small companies in America.

“We’re thrilled that Fortune has recognized the core strengths and growth potential of Female Health Company’s business model,” said Parrish. “We believe that we have built a strong private company dedicated to achieving an essential social mission – providing women with access to the female condom, the only safe and effective method of HIV prevention that women can initiate and control.”