Lawrence University News

Dark Energy: University of Chicago Physicist Unravels Mystery of the Universe’s Secret Force in Lawrence University Colloquium

University of Chicago cosmologist Sean Carroll discusses the mysterious “dark energy” that scientists believe accounts for 70% of what makes up the universe in a Lawrence University Science Hall Colloquium.

Carroll, assistant professor of physics at the University of Chicago, the Enrico Fermi Institute and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, presents “Our Preposterous Universe” Monday, May 2 at 4:15 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102. The event is free and open to the public.

According to Carroll, what people think of as ordinary matter — atoms and molecules, stars and planets — actually accounts for less than five percent of the known universe. In his talk, Carroll will address current theories, which are based on such observations as gravitational pull and galaxy dynamics, that suggest the presence of an unseen, unknown form known as dark energy that some scientists believe is the most abundant substance in the universe. Among the most widely held theories Carroll will discuss is the existence of “vacuum energy,” a minute amount of energy that is inherit in the very fabric of space-time itself.

Carroll, whose research interests focus on the fundamental laws of physics and how they are revealed in the evolution of the universe, joined the University of Chicago faculty in 1999 after spending three years in the physics department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his Ph.D. in physics at Harvard University.

Columbia University Political Scientist Discusses Status, Implications of New European Constitution in Lawrence University International Studies Series Lecture

The status of a new European Union constitution, the angst over France’s perceived reluctance to ratify it and the ramifications for its adoption on relations with the United States will be discussed in the final installment of Lawrence University’s international studies lecture series “U.S. and European Security: Challenges and Choices.”

John Huber, a 1984 Lawrence graduate, professor of political science at Columbia University and faculty fellow at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, the research arm of the social sciences at Columbia, presents “France, the European Constitution and its Implications for the Transatlantic Alliance” Monday, May 9 at 7 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102 on the Lawrence campus. The event is free and open to the public.

On May 29, France will hold a nation-wide referendum on the new European Union constitution (treaty), which all member countries must ratify for it to take effect. There is growing concern that France will not ratify the constitution because its citizens are against it, leading some experts to predict dire consequences if that happens, including those who argue France’s rejection could lead to the demise of the EU itself.

Huber will provide an overview of the key elements of the constitution, explain why it appears the French will reject the constitution when they have been such a driving force in creating it and discuss whether it will even matter if they do vote “no.”

In his address, Huber will argue that it is in the best interest of the French to adopt the EU constitution. Based on public opinion data, Huber says the French have a great deal of confidence in the EU, in fact they trust it more than their own government and are not worried it will diminish national autonomy or threaten French national identity. The concerns, according to Huber, are related to issues of unemployment, globalization and the fear that a new EU constitution will enable jobs to leave France for low-wage countries within the EU.

As for relations with the United States, Huber believes uncertainty in institution-building within the EU will further erode U.S.-EU relations. As it moves to address the concerns of its own citizens, the EU will become more protectionist, placing additional strain on EU-U.S. trade relations. Without a new constitution, the EU will have a difficult time forging common foreign and defense policies, which will make it easier for the United States to adopt foreign policy decisions that divide the member states of the EU and lead to increased contempt of many citizens in Europe towards the United States.

Huber is co-author of the book “Deliberate Discretion? Institutional Foundations of Bureaucratic Autonomy,” which develops a comparative theory of delegation in advanced democracies and wrote 1996’s “Rationalizing Parliament: Legislative Institutions and Party Politics in France,” which received honorable mention honors for the Gregory Luebbert Prize, which is awarded for the best book in comparative politics.

His writing also has been recognized with the Heinz Eulau Award by the American Political Science Association for his article “Restrictive Legislative Procedures in France and the U.S.” and the Georges Lavau Prize from the French Politics and Society Group of the APSA, which honors the best dissertation on French politics. Among his current research interests are individual turnover among cabinet ministers in parliamentary democracies and the impact of legal structure on policy-making venues.

Huber joined the Columbia political science department in 1998 and spent the 2002-03 academic year as a senior visiting research fellow at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Democratic Politics. He also taught at the University of Michigan for six years and spent the 1991-92 academic year in the political science department at Ohio State University.

The “U.S. and European Security: Challenges and Choices” lecture series is sponsored by the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship in International Studies. Named in honor of long-time Lawrence government professor Mojmir Povolny, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimensions.

Wisconsin Business Leader Discusses Manufacturing’s “Global Realignment” in Lawrence University Economic Address

Jim Kurtz, an advisor to the Chicago branch of the Federal Reserve Bank, shares his perspective on what he calls a world-wide “manufacturing evolution” in an address at Lawrence University.

Kurtz presents “Innovation, Creativity, Education and the Global Realignment of Manufacturing” Wednesday, May 4 at 4:15 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102. A question and-answer session will follow. The event is free and open to the public.

In his address, Kurtz will discuss the need for small- and medium-sized manufacturers to develop new business strategies, emphasize continuous education and form domestic and international partnerships in order to survive in the new global marketplace.

As an advisor to the FRB, Kurtz surveys manufacturers in Wisconsin on their business activity eight times a year. His findings are included in the “Beige Book,” which is reviewed by members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee. As part of his presentation, Kurtz will share his interpretation of the FOMC’s reaction to the state of the economy in general and manufacturing in particular. The FOMC next meets May 3, the day before Kurtz’ appearance.

During a recent visit to China, Kurtz says he found a country “very focused” on its economic future, with an emphasis on advanced technical training, the development of high skill sets and a rapid expansion of its infrastructure. According to Kurtz, China graduates approximately 400,000 new engineers every year, while the United States only produces around 60,000 new engineering graduates a year. He believes the next five to 10 years will be a critical time for American manufacturers as they try to adjust to increased international competition, perhaps shifting away from actual physical production to more distribution businesses.

Kurtz is involved in a wide range of business and economic activities on behalf of Wisconsin manufacturing interests, including serving as the president of The Group, Inc., an international organization of professionals from several fields who work together to assist small- and medium-sized manufacturers expand their potential.

He is a former member of the Governor’s Council for Manufacturing, serves as a member of Forward Wisconsin and the Independent Business Association and is active in the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. A small-business owner himself, Kurtz operates Screen Specialists, Ltd., an industrial screen-printing business in Waukesha.

His appearance is co-sponsored by the Lawrence economics department and UW Extension.

Lawrence University Political Scientist Awarded Fulbright Grant to Study Role of NGOs in Refugee Resettlement in War-Torn Sierra Leone

For more than 20 years, political scientist Claudena Skran has held an intense interest in refugee issues. This fall, she will embark on a research project in Africa that will put her in the middle of an ongoing struggle to rebuild lives and resettle refugees in a country ravaged by war.

An associate professor of government at Lawrence University, Skran has been awarded a $60,000 grant by the Fulbright Scholar Program to conduct a study on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in refugee resettlement in post-civil war Sierra Leone.

Arguably the poorest country in the world, Sierra Leone is dealing with the aftermath of a brutal 10-year-long civil war that left 50,000 citizens dead, destroyed 300,000 homes and 80% of the country’s schools and forced nearly three-quarters of a million people to flee their homes. Since the war’s end in 2001 and national elections in 2002, an estimated 245,000 refugees have returned to the war-torn country, while more than 200,000 others who were displaced have made their way back home.

Among the nearly one-half million returnees are thousands of people with special needs, including amputees, orphans, former child soldiers and women who were victims of rape and sexual abuse.

“Under any circumstances, the task of assisting so many returning people would be difficult, but for Sierra Leone, which had the lowest ranking among 177 countries on the 2004 Human Development Index, it is proving to be especially daunting,” said Skran. “These people are now trying to rebuild their lives in a country that has been shattered.”

According to Skran, the new Sierra Leone government is attempting to reconstruct a economic, political and social infrastructure in a country with a grim profile. The annual per capita income is $150, the literacy rate is just 36% and life expectancy is less than 35 years of age. Only two percent of the country’s population is 60 years of age or older and with 250 of 1,000 children dying before the age of five, it has the world’s worst infant mortality rate. Because of the sheer enormity of the situation, says Skran, NGOs will play a vital role in the process of refugee resettlement and reintegration in Sierra Leone.

“Local NGOs and the local affiliates of international NGOs are working hard to create important links to the major international agencies that are involved in Sierra Leone, including the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,” said Skran.

Using the capital city of Freetown as the base of her operation and working closely with the Sierra Leone Opportunities Industrialization Centre (SLOIC) Skran will turn her research project on the role of NGOs in world politics in Sierra Leone into a case study. She will focus her study on four major questions: organization, governance, goals and impact.

“I plan to investigate how NGOs in Sierra Leone are organized, how they are funded, how they are governed, how they interact with each other as well as with the local and national governments,” said Skran. “I am also interested in seeing what impact they are having on the resettlement and reintegration of refugees and how they are specifically addressing those victims with special needs, especially the former child soldiers and the female victims of sexual abuse.”

Skran has conducted extensive research on refugee interests in Europe and is the author of the book “Refugees in Interwar Europe: The Emergence of a Regime” in which she analyzed the major players in the early days of the international refugee arena, including private volunteer agencies, the forerunners to today’s NGOs.

She also has conducted field research in Central America, studying displaced people in El Salvador and refugee issues in Mexico and Belize. Most recently, while teaching at Lawrence’s London Centre, Skran met with asylum seekers and natives of Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and other former British colonies in Africa.

“Most of my earlier research has focused on the role of NGOs at the international level, but with this Fulbright grant, I’ll be able to shift my perspective a bit and consider how NGOs help or hinder refugee resettlement and development at the local and national levels,” Skran explained. “The people at the SLOIC and other organizations that I have discussed this project with are all excited it, especially since a lack of funding prevents them from conducting any kind of independent research themselves.”

Skran joined the Lawrence faculty in 1990. She earned a bachelor’s degree in social science from Michigan State University, where she was named a Rhodes Scholar in 1983. She earned her master’s and doctorate degrees in international relations at Oxford University.

Established in 1946, the Fulbright Scholar Program provides grants for teaching and research positions in more than 140 countries worldwide and is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES). Skran was selected from research proposals submitted in disciplines ranging from the sciences and humanities to the fine arts.

Lawrence University Physicist Discusses Electron Plasma Research in Science Hall Colloquium

Lawrence University physicist Matthew Stoneking discusses his current research with electron plasmas and their potential role in the future production of electric power Monday, April 25 in a Science Hall Colloquium.

Stoneking presents “Confining Electron Plasmas in a Toroidal Magnetic Field” at 4:15 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102. The event is free and open to the public.

In his presentation, Stoneking will outline some basic plasma physics experiments in which electrons are trapped in a toroidal (doughnut-shaped) magnetic field. He will explain how charged particles, which flow along magnetic field lines like beads on a wire, can be exploited in experiments that might lead to a nuclear fusion type of power source.

Pure electron plasmas are collections or “clouds” of electrons that are confined in a vacuum chamber using magnetic and electric fields. Stoneking’s research focuses on the criteria needed for confining a stable electron plasma in a toroidal magnetic field and the factors that limit the duration of the confinement in such systems.

Since joining the Lawrence physics department in 1997, Stoneking has received three grants in support of his research, including a $178,000 grant from the National Science Foundation in 2003. He earned his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Wisconsin.

Lawrence University Named One of Country’s “Best Values”

Lawrence University has been named one of the nation’s “best value” undergraduate institutions by The Princeton Review. The New York-based education services company chose Lawrence as one of 81 schools it recommends in the 2006 edition of its book “America’s Best Value Colleges,” which hits bookstores on Tuesday, April 19.

The book is a guide to colleges with outstanding academics, generous financial aid packages and relatively low costs. It includes public and private colleges and universities in 35 states. Lawrence’s recognition as a “best value” institution puts it among the top five percent of all four-year colleges and universities in the country.

The Princeton Review selected schools for the book based on data the company obtained from administrators at more than 350 colleges and surveys of students attending them. More than 30 factors were used in determining the ratings.

Poet Gillian Conoley Gives Reading at Lawrence University

Lawrence University will host a poetry reading for award-winning California poet Gillian Conoley Thursday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Science Hall 102. A reception and book signing will follow the reading, which is free and open to the public.

The author of six books of poetry, Conoley’s latest collection of poems, “Profane Halo,” was released earlier this month. Post-allegorical, post-apocalyptic and post-Christian, “Profane Halo” continues Conoley’s earlier exploration of questions of grace and redemption, language and being and death in life.

Other collections of Conoley’s work include 2001’s “Lovers in the Used World,” a finalist for the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award, “Tall Stranger,” which was nominated for the 1991 National Book Critics’ Circle Award, “Beckon” (1996) and “Some Gangster Pain,” which earned her co-winner honors of the 1987 Great Lakes Colleges New Writer Award. Her chapbook, “Fatherless Afternoon,” also was published earlier this year.

“Gillian Conoley’s work has something to offer every reader,” said Faith Barrett, assistant professor of English. “Her early poems are narrative in structure and form but in her two most recent collections, she has pushed in an increasingly innovative direction, drawing on the discourses of film, television, philosophy and politics.

“Her most recent collection, ‘Profane Halo,’ is a kind of meditation on American identity in the aftermath of  September 11th,” Barrett added. “In her syntactic and linguistic experiments, Conoley reaches for a language that can evoke the horrors of that event and the challenges of living with a burdened memory.”

The founder and editor of “Volt,” an influential poetry journal, Conoley was awarded the Jerome J. Shestack Poetry Prize from The American Poetry Review in 2000 and has been the recipient of several Pushcart Prizes, which honors distinguished short stories, essays and poetry that are first published by small press houses.

Conoley is a professor of English and poet-in-residence at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, Calif. She has also taught as a visiting poet at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the University of Denver, Vermont College and Tulane University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at Southern Methodist University and a master of fine arts degree in poetry at the University of Massachusetts.

Conoley’s appearance is supported by the Mia T. Paul Poetry Fund. Established in 1998, the endowed fund brings distinguished poets to campus for public readings and to work with students on writing poetry and verse.

From Me to We: Lawrence University International Relations Lecture Series Address Looks at Youth Attitudes About Politics

Harvard University political scientist David King says today’s young Americans are engaged in politics and their communities in a way unseen in years, indicating a definite shift from the “me” generation to the “we” generation.

King, the associate director of the Institute of Politics and lecturer in public policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, politically profiles today’s youth in the third installment of Lawrence University’s four-part international studies lecture series “U.S. and European Security: Challenges and Choices.”

A 1985 Lawrence graduate, King returns to campus Thursday, April 21 to deliver the address “The Activism and Optimism of American Youth: Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy” at 7 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102 on the Lawrence campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Based on the findings of a recent survey he conducted, King will provide a description of the complex political ideology of today’s youth, a profile that does not easily break along the lines of liberal or conservative but rather offers clear secular and religious divisions. He also will discuss young people’s attitudes toward U.S. foreign policy and the way they view the role of America as the chief architect of democracy around the world.

A government major at Lawrence, King joined the Kennedy School faculty in 1992 after earning his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan. His research interests include youth attitudes and political engagement, legislative institutions and U.S. political parties and interest groups.

He co-authored the 2003 book “The Generation of Trust: How the U.S. Military has Regained the Public’s Confidence since Vietnam” and wrote “Turf Wars: How Congressional Committees Claim Jurisdiction,” which was published in 1997. He oversees Harvard’s Program for Newly Elected Members of the U.S. Congress and served as chair of the Task Force on Election Administration on behalf of former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

The “U.S. and European Security: Challenges and Choices” lecture series is sponsored by the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship in International Studies. Named in honor of long-time Lawrence government professor Mojmir Povolny, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimensions.

Folk Concert by Greg Brown Highlights Annual Lawrence University Earth Day Festival

Acclaimed folk singer/songwriter Greg Brown, a two-time Grammy Award nominee, will perform Saturday, April 23 as part of Lawrence University’s seventh annual Earth Day Festival.

The day-long celebration of Mother Earth will feature live music, information booths on environmental issues and volunteer work on Lawrence’s new organic garden. Appleton singer/songwriter Susan Howe will open the concert portion of the Earth Day Festival at 2:45 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel with Brown scheduled to perform at 3:45 p.m.

Tickets for Brown’s concert are $15 in advance, $18 at the door. For more information, contact the Lawrence box office at 920-832-6749. Doors to the chapel will open at 2:15 p.m.

Known for a distinctive Midwestern sensibility that combines humor with empathy, Brown has penned songs that have been performed by musical legends Willie Nelson and Carlos Santana as well as Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter and others.
An Iowa native who still lives on his grandparents’ farm there, Brown is the offspring of a Pentecostal preacher father and an electric guitar playing mother. He has recorded more than two dozen albums, including 1985’s “In the Dark With You,” which has been hailed as an acoustic classic and “One Big Town,” which earned him the first of his two Indie Awards for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year in 1989.

Brown earned a Grammy nomination in 1993 for “Friend of Mine” with Bill Morrissey and four years later received a second Grammy nomination for “Slant 6 Mind.” Veering from his familiar territory of domestic concerns, Brown has also recorded an album of William Blake poems, “Songs Of Innocence And Experience” in 1986, and a collection of children’s music, “Bath Tub Blues” in 1993. His most recent album, “Honey in the Lion’s Head,” was released last year.

Earth Day Festival activities kick off at 9:30 a.m. with Lawrence students participating in the official ground-breaking of a new organic garden Lawrence will be planting later this spring at the bottom of Union Hill. The first of its kind on-campus garden will be used to grow organic produce that will be served in the dining halls as well as sold during the summer at local farmer’s markets and to area food subscribers.

From 11:30 a.m – 2:45 p.m., Main Hall green will be abuzz with a variety of activities, including live music performed by Lawrence students, a display of environmentally friendly hybrid vehicles and educational booths with information on environmental activism. In addition, the Lawrence geology department will sponsor a rock, mineral and fossil identification booth, along with a free “tour” of Wisconsin through geologic time, free samples from the department’s rock pile and an opportunity to “fish for fossils” from the Silurian seas that once covered the state.

Prior to Brown’s concert, John Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders will deliver the address “Putting the Culture Back into Agriculture: Defending Food Sovereignty From Corporate Globalization” in the chapel.

Based in Madison, Family Farmer Defenders is a national nonprofit grassroots organization that promotes sustainable agriculture, rural justice, workers rights, animal welfare, consumer safety, fair trade and food sovereignty. Founded in 1994, FFD works to empower farmers and consumers toward reclaiming their local food and farm systems from corporate agribusiness control.

Historic Civil Rights Pioneer Discusses Race, Discrimination Issues in Lawrence University Address

Minnijean Brown-Trickey, a key figure in one of the defining moments in the U.S. civil rights movement, draws upon her experiences as a member of the famed “Little Rock Nine” in a Lawrence University address that explores social change, diversity and the continuing battle against discrimination and racism.

Brown-Trickey presents “Return to Little Rock” Tuesday, April 19 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Wriston Art Center on the Lawrence campus. A question-and-answer session and a reception with the speaker will follow her address. The event is free and open to the public.

In September, 1957, three years after the U.S. Supreme Court had declared public school segregation unconstitutional in its landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, Little Rock teenager Brown-Trickey turned the court’s ruling into action, walking through the front doors of Central High School and into American history books.

Under the watch of 1,200 armed soldiers, Brown-Trickey and eight other students, who collectively became known as the “Little Rock Nine,” helped desegregate previously all-white Central High School, bringing the injustices of segregation to the forefront of the American psyche in the process.

Expelled from Central High six months later for retaliating to the physical and verbal abuse she was subjected to, Brown-Trickey moved to New York, eventually graduating from New Lincoln High School. In the early 1960s, she moved to Canada and later armed with a master’s degree in social work, focused her career on working to combat the plight of Canada’s native communities.

She returned to the United States in 1999 to serve in the Clinton administration as deputy assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior where she oversaw diversity issues.

Her work as a champion for civil rights has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal in 1999, the Wolf Award and the Spingarn Medal, the highest award given by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in recognition of outstanding achievement by a black American.

Now living back in Arkansas again, Brown-Trickey is still active in civil rights and social equality issues and is completing her autobiography, tentatively entitled “Mixed Blessing: Living Black in North America.”

Brown-Trickey’s appearance is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Multicultural Affairs Committee, the Alyssa Paul Maria Fund and the Lawrence history department.