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U.S. Jurist Shares his Perspective on American Justice in Lawrence Honors Convocation

Judge D. Michael Lynn of the United States Bankruptcy Court shares his insights on the state of justice in America, Thursday, May 25 in Lawrence University’s annual Honors Convocation. The address is the final installment in Lawrence’s 2005-06 convocation series.

Lynn presents “American Justice: Proud Promise or Oxymoron — How Does the Legal System Measure Up?” at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, 510 E. College Ave., Appleton. Lynn also will conduct a question-and-answer session at 2 p.m. in Riverview Lounge in the Memorial Union. Both events are free and open to the public.

While the Pledge of Allegiance promises “justice for all” and the preamble of U.S. Constitution expresses the establishment of justice as one of its goals, Lynn will address the definition of justice itself and the many different perspectives from which justice can be viewed. He also will examine the question of whether the US. system of democratic governance is as just as it can be and discuss the importance of non-violent methods for resolving disputes in a civilized society’s promise of justice.

A 1965 graduate of Lawrence, Lynn was appointed judge in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas in September, 2001 after a 29-year law career in which he specialized in corporate reorganization and bankruptcy in Dallas. In 2003, he presided over one of the nation’s largest-ever Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, the $11.4 billion debt filing by the energy company Mirant Corporation.

Lynn, 62, was a founding member of the John C. Ford American Inn of Court in Dallas, which received the AIC’s first Model of Excellence Award in 2004. He was individually cited by the Ford Inn of Court for his efforts in developing and implementing several programs sponsored by the Inn that were recognized with national awards. An American Inn of Court is an organization of judges, lawyers and occasionally law professors and law students who meet regularly to improve the skills, professionalism and ethics of the bench and bar.

A native of Chicago, Lynn also serves as a visiting law professor on the faculty of Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, where he teaches the course “Advanced Bankruptcy.” He has been honored by the State Bar of Texas for his faculty participation in numerous continuing legal education programs.

Lynn has written extensively on the field of law, including co-authoring 2005’s “Collier Handbook for Trustees and Debtors in Possession” and 1995’s “Creditors’ Rights Handbook.” In addition, he is a contributing author to the books “Collier on Bankruptcy,” and “Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide.”

After earning a degree in government at Lawrence, Lynn attended Columbia Law School, earning a J.D. degree in 1972.

Fifth Annual Lawrence University Shack-a-thon Event Eyes Goal of Building Local Habitat Home

Each May for the past four years, teams of Lawrence University students have done their best HGTV “Design on a Dime” impersonation on behalf of Habitat for Humanity.

This weekend, nearly 20 teams of LU students representing various campus organizations will once again combine creative engineering with scrap material acumen to transform the Main Hall Green into a temporary shantytown for the fifth annual “Shack-a-thon” celebration.

Since its debut in 2002, Shack-a-thon has raised nearly $18,000. Organizers hope this year’s event on May 20-21 will enable them to reach their goal of $25,000 — enough to partner with other area organizations to sponsor the construction of a Habitat for Humanity home in the Fox Cities.

“When you’re living in a warm, dry room on a residential college campus, it is incredibly easy to forget about other people who are not so fortunate,” said Lawrence senior Elizabeth Hermanson, who is heading up this year’s event. “Although it’s not completely realistic, Shack-a-Thon does provide students with a first-hand, one-night experience with homelessness. Not only are students forced to think about homelessness and affordable housing issues, but they are active participants in the fight against homelessness by fundraising for Habitat.

“There is a huge need in this country, Appleton included, for affordable housing, and many Lawrentians have taken it upon themselves to work toward reducing that need,” Hermanson added. “As we enter our fifth year, we are just $7,000 shy of reaching our goal and making a very tangible difference in the community in the form of a co-sponsored Habitat house. We hope this is the year that goal is finally realized.”

Habitat for Humanity homes in the Fox Cities typically costs about $75,000 to build. Locally, Habitat constructs on average 10-14 houses a year and this year’s allotment is already all accounted for. Should Shack-a-thon reach its goal this weekend, the LU campus chapter of Habitat would likely partner with two other area organizations to sponsor construction of a home in 2007.

Beginning early Saturday afternoon, students will construct makeshift houses out of donated and salvaged materials while competing for the title of “Best Shack.” Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna and retired Appleton physician Dr. John Mielke will serve as honorary guest judges for this year’s Best Shack competition. Cash “votes” can be cast in the form of donations to change jars located in front of each shack. The shacks will remain up until mid-morning Sunday and at least one member of each team will be required to remain overnight in the shack.

Shack-a-thon 2006 will operate on a “Shackopoly” theme, complete with Chance and Community Chest cards, a “jail” and even the famous GO square stocked with information on homelessness and affordable housing issues.

Thanks to the generous support of The Boldt Company, which has thrown its construction muscle behind this year’s event, all participants will be outfitted with Shack-a-thon tee shirts supplied by the construction firm.

Beginning at 5:30 p.m., guest speakers Pat Day and Yellena Kravic will share personal insights and experiences on homelessness and affordable housing issues.

Day, a 1960 Lawrence graduate, is one of the founding volunteers of the Fox Cities chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Actively involved with the organization on a wide variety of fronts since its inception in 1993, Day was honored as Habitat’s “Volunteer of the Year” in 2004. Kravic, a 17-year-old student, moved with her family in 2000 into the Fox Cities’ first all-women built Habitat home.

Storyhill, an acoustic guitar folk duo whose music has been called “a cross between the Indigo Girls and Simon and Garfunkel,” will perform an outdoor concert on Main Hall green beginning at 8 p.m. A suggested $10 donation, with proceeds going to Habitat, is being asked from those attending the concert.

For more information about Shack-a-thon, contact the Lawrence Volunteer and Community Service Center at 920-832-6644.

China’s Growing Influence in Latin American Examined in Lawrence University Address

With its ever-growing economic muscle and international political clout, China has quietly begun pitching itself to Latin and South American countries as an “alternative model to ending poverty,” threatening the United States’ long dominant influence in the region.

Gonzalo Sebastián Paz, lecturer in international affairs at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., tackles the increasingly important question of China’s role in the Western Hemisphere and its ramifications for American foreign policy Monday, May 22 in an address at Lawrence University.

Paz presents “Latin America and China: Dangerous Relations?” at 4:30 p.m. in Lawrence’s Main Hall, Room 201. A question-and-answer session will follow the talk. The event is free and open to the public.

Amid a backdrop that has seen China earmark billions of dollars for infrastructure, transport, energy and defense projects in Latin America, the United States dispatched Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, to Beijing early last month for discussions with Chinese authorities about their growing Latin American alliances. Shortly thereafter, Hu Jintao, China’s president, paid a visit to the White House to meet with President Bush.

In his address, Paz will put both trips into context by examining the expansion of China’s economic, political and strategic interests in the region. He will assess Chinese goals and discuss which Latin American countries are most receptive to China’s overtures. He also will discuss American interests and reactions to China’s new-found attention in Latin America and how that attention will impact future relations with the United States.

A recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, an OAS Fellowship and a Korea Foundation Fellowship, Paz has taught a course on the economic and political development of Argentina at The George Washington University since 2002. He previously taught graduate courses on the Southern Cone and Latin America at Argentina’s La Plata National University and the University of Salvador. He also has served as a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank.

He earned both a law and master’s degree from the National University of Córdoba in Argentina.

Paz’ appearance is sponsored by the Lawrence Spanish Department and the Center for Latin American Studies at UW-Milwaukee.

Latest Research on High Temperature Superconductors Focus of Two Lawrence University Lectures

Physicist Laura Greene, a leading experimentalist in the physics of novel materials, discusses her research on high temperature superconductors in a pair of lectures at Lawrence University.

Greene, the Swanlund Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois’ Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, presents “High Temperature Superconductors: From Broken Symmetries to Cell Phones” Monday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Youngchild Hall, Room 121. On Tuesday, May 23, Greene will deliver a more advanced follow-up talk entitled “High Temperature Superconductors: Playgrounds for Broken Symmetries,” at 11:10 a.m. in Youngchild Hall, Room 115. Both presentations are free and open to the public.

Superconductivity, the ability of certain materials to conduct electricity without any loss of energy, was first discovered in 1911. To obtain superconductivity, however, materials needed to be cooled to extremely low temperatures, as cold as four degrees above absolute zero. In the mid-1980s, a scientific breakthrough resulted in a new class of superconducting materials that, while still extremely cold, could operate in more accessible environments (produced by the use of more abundant liquid nitrogen rather than liquid helium) of approximately 25 degrees above absolute zero.

Greene will discuss her research on the “mechanisms” that allow superconductivity to occur at the relatively higher temperatures, specifically the way these new materials break certain fundamental symmetries of nature by enabling electrons to be paired or bound together rather than repelling each other as they typically do. She also will address the possibilities of practical applications for superconductors, from high-speed switching devices to computers based on superconducting junction technology.

Elected a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences last month, Greene began her career as a researcher for Bell Laboratories, where she studied thin-film growth and tunneling of metallic multilayers, superconductor-semiconductor hybrid structures and high-temperature superconductors. A Fellow of the Amerian Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Greene joined the faculty at the University of Illinois in 1992.

She earned a bachelor and master’s degree from Ohio State University and her Ph. D. in physics from Cornell University.

Senior Art Major Exhibition Opens May 26 at Wriston Art Center Galleries

Lawrence University senior art majors will showcase their work during an exhibition titled “The Fluid Self: 2006 Senior Art Major Exhibition.” The show will run from May 26 through August 6 in the Leech, Hoffmaster and Kohler galleries of the Wriston Art Center. An opening reception, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 6-8 p.m. May 26 in the Wriston Art Center.

Works in mixed media sculptures and installations, paintings, photography, and prints by Danielle Dahlke, J Forte, Dan Harvey, Maddy Kaudy, Arhia Kohlmoos, Veronica Krysiak, Emily Lambert, Victoria Miller, Randy Mitty, Shelby Peterson, Justine Reimnitz, Cora Schroeder, and Sandi Schwert will be featured.

The Wriston Art Center galleries are open Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday from noon – 4 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays. The galleries are free and open to the public. For more information on the exhibition, please visit www.lawrence.edu/news/wriston or call 920-832-6621.

Minister-Turned-Atheist Discusses Journey to Deconversion in Lawrence University Address

A former minister and Protestant missionary who publicly announced his atheism nine years after his ordination discusses his journey to deconversion and offers a critical analysis of Christianity in an address at Lawrence University.

Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, presents “Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist” Wednesday, May 17 at 8 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

The presentation is based on Barker’s 1992 autobiographical book of the same name. His began his ministry as a 15-year old evangelist and he was ordained in 1975. Barker went on to serve as an associate pastor at three different churches and later spent two years in Mexico as a Protestant missionary.

An accomplished pianist, arranger, songwriter and long-time record producer for popular Christian singer Manuel Bonilla, Barker maintained his own touring musical ministry for 17 years. But in 1984, after five years of soul-searching, Barker “lost faith in faith” and openly declared his atheism. He joined the staff of the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation in 1987 and was elected the organization’s co-president in 2004.

Barker has been a frequent talk-show guest, having appeared on “Good Morning, America,” “Oprah” and “Hannity and Colmes,” among others, and speaks regularly at Freethought concerts around the country. In additional to “Losing Faith in Faith,” he has written four other books, including “Just Pretend: A Freethought Book For Children” and “Maybe Yes, Maybe No: A Guide For Young Skeptics.”

Barker’s appearance is sponsored by the student organization LU Forum for Freethought, which promotes critical discussions of contemporary religion, superstition and pseudoscience and their place in and effects on society from scientific, philosophical, historical and governmental perspectives.

ISU Psychologist Explores Reactions to Stigmas in Lawrence University Sci Hall Colloquium

The origins of people’s psychological reactions to social stigmas, once defined by noted sociologist Erving Goffman as “a discrediting difference,” will be the focus of a Lawrence University Science Hall Colloquium.

John Pryor, professor of psychology at Illinois State University, shares the latest research on the topic in the address “A Social Cognition Perspective of Stigma” Thursday, May 18 at 4:15 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102. The event is free and open to the public.

While traditional social reactions to stigmas — drug abuse, cancer, HIV disease, mental illness, obesity and paraplegia, among others — have typically centered around avoidance of the “bearer of the mark,” research has shown people often hold ambivalent feelings about many stigmas, feeling both sympathy and repulsion. Pryor will discuss social cognition research methods that examine how both negative and positive psychological reactions to stigmas can unfold over a matter of just a few seconds. He also will examine implications for anti-stigma interventions.

A Fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society, Pryor spent six years on the faculty at the University of Notre Dame before joining the psychology department at Illinois State in 1985.

He has published numerous scientific studies regarding stigma in the last 20 years and his research related to HIV disease has been funded by the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Ford Foundation. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Texas, and a master’s and doctorate degree in psychology from Princeton University.

Nationally Recognized Astronomer Discusses the Big Bang, Dark Energy in Two Lawrence University Talks

Christopher Impey, a Harlow Shapley Visiting Lecturer with the American Astronomical Society, discusses the cosmos in pair of presentations at Lawrence University.

A University Distinguished Professor at the University of Arizona and the deputy head of UA’s astronomy department, Impey traces the journey from a small amount of ultra-dense mass and energy into a universe of 50 billion galaxies in “Cosmic Evolution: From Big Bang to Biology,” Monday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Youngchild Hall, Room 121. Featuring music and video, the presentation will include a dozen amazing facts about the universe.

In his second address, Impey will discuss the mysterious forces of “dark energy,” the most abundant substance in the universe — accounting for 70% of its makeup by some estimates — and how it can be studied by using supernovae as “light bulbs” to trace the universe’s changing rate of expansion. His talk “Probing Dark Energy with Quasars” will be held Tuesday, May 16 at 11:10 a.m. in Youngchild Hall, Room 115. Both presentations are free and open to the public.

A member of the UA Steward Observatory and astronomy department since 1986, Impey has written two astronomy textbooks, “The Universe Revealed” in 2000 and “Astronomy: The Cosmic Journey” in 1995. He also has authored more than 160 research papers on extragalactic astronomy and cosmology.

Impey served as the associate director of the NASA Arizona Space Grant Program for five years and has had 21 projects approved with the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2002, he was recognized by the National Science Foundation with its Director’s Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars, the organization’s highest honor for excellence in both teaching and research.

In addition, he has been the recipient of 10 UA teaching awards and grants and was the youngest faculty member there to be named University Distinguished Professor, the university’s highest teaching honor.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of London and holds a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Edinburgh.

Vegetarian Advocate Speaks at Lawrence University

Pamela Rice, founder and president of the New York City-based VivaVegie Society, discusses reasons for adopting a meatless diet in an address at Lawrence University.

Rice presents “101 Reasons I’m a Vegetarian” Saturday, May 13 at 4 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 202. The event is free and open to the public.

The address is based on Rice’s 2005 book of the same name, in which she details arguments against eating meat from a variety of human health, animal welfare, economic and environmental perspectives. The topics she covers range from animal conditions on factory farms to high incidences of colon cancer and other diseases.

Rice’s book is an expanded version of a self-published pamphlet she began producing and distributing on New York City streets in 1991. The pamphlet has been updated six times since its first printing, with estimates of nearly 200,000 copies in circulation. In addition to directing the VivaVegie Society, Rice is the editor of the organization’s newsletter, The VivaVine, and oversees the Vegetarian Center, a first-of its-kind clearinghouse for information on the vegetarian lifestyle.

Rice’s appearance is sponsored by the LU Vegetarians and Vegans, a student organization that promotes campus awareness and understanding of the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle for moral, environmental, ethical and health reasons.

LU Author Discusses Life of Missionary Doctor in Lawrence University Main Hall Forum

The life and work of Dr. Asahel Grant, among the first Americans to live in the Middle East, will be the focus of a Lawrence University Main Hall Forum.

Author Gordon Taylor, a 1965 Lawrence graduate, presents the slide-illustrated lecture “Dr. Grant and the Christian Tribes of Kurdistan, 1835-44” Wednesday, May 10 at 4:30 p.m. in Main Hall, Room 201. The event is free and open to the public.

Taylor will discuss the extraordinary life of Dr. Grant, his mountain milieu and the Kurds and Nestorian Christians among whom he labored. The presentation will include slides of period engravings, contemporary satellite images as well as Gordon’s own photographs of the area.

Grant, a country doctor from upstate New York, and his wife, Judith, set sail from Boston in 1835 to “heal the sick and save the world.” They wound up in Urmia, a town in northwest Iran, where they spent the next eight years among the Nestorian Christians who lived there and in the mountains of Hakkari, across the border in Turkish Kurdistan.

During his stay, Grant experienced a danger-filled life, traversing deserts and glaciers, tending the sick and breaking bread with thieves and murderers. On numerous occasions he narrowly escaped death from drowning, disease and assassination. Within five years he had lost his wife and two daughters to disease. When he died in 1844 at the age of 36, Grant had become a local legend among Muslims, Christians and Jews, who still spoke of him with reverence decades after his death. He is buried in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Taylor, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Lawrence, taught English in Turkey following his graduation. His experiences in Hakkari, the remotest province of southeast Turkey, eventually lead him to write a book about the life of Dr. Grant. The result, “Fever and Thirst: A Missionary Doctor Amid the Christian Tribes of Kurdistan” was published last November.

In the course of conducting research for the book, Taylor discovered Grant’s great-great granddaughter, Phoebe Grant, is a 1977 Lawrence graduate.