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Address on U.S.-European Security Issues Opens Lawrence University International Studies Lecture Series

On the heels of President Bush’s recent (Feb. 20) trip to Brussels to meet with European leaders, Esther Brimmer, a specialist in transatlantic political and security affairs, will discuss the strategic issues and challenges facing the United States and its European allies in the opening address of Lawrence University’s four-part international studies lecture series “U.S. and European Security: Challenges and Choices.”

Brimmer, deputy director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, presents “New Dimensions in U.S./European Security Relations” Monday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102 on the Lawrence campus. The event is free and open to the public.

With the end of the Cold War, today’s major transatlantic security issues have shifted from guarding European territory to addressing global issues such as democracy, human rights, economic globalization, terrorism, weapons proliferation and environmental degradation. Brimmer will share her perspective on how well the transatlantic community is prepared to address these “new” security questions. She also will speak on whether the Bush administration and the European Union have a shared strategic outlook and if it is in the United States’ best interest for the European Union to have a larger role in international security.

During her distinguished international career, Brimmer has worked in the Office of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State, focusing on the European Union, Western Europe, the United Nations and multilateral security issues and served on the U. S. delegation to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. She spent four years as a senior associate at the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict and worked on the U.N., peace-keeping, human rights and political-military issues as a special assistant to the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs from 1993-1995. Brimmer earned her master’s and Ph.D. degrees in international relations from the University of Oxford.

Other scheduled speakers in this year’s lecture series include:

• April 13 — David Swartz, former U.S. ambassador to Belarus and chief of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Moldova, “Unfinished Business in Eastern Europe: The Role of the OSCE.”

• April 21 — David King, associate director of the Institute of Politics and lecturer in public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, “The Activism and Optimism of American Youth: Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy.”

• May 9 — John Huber, professor of political science and director of graduate studies at Columbia University, “U.S. and French Perspectives on Foreign Policy Issues.”

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.

Organic Farming Legislation Lecture Closes Lawrence University Series on Sustainable Agriculture

The influence of the U.S. consumer market on federal legislation pertaining to organic agriculture will be examined in the final installment of Lawrence University’s four-part environmental studies lecture series on sustainable agriculture.

Amy Kremen, a former assistant at the U.S.Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, presents “Federal Legislation on Organic Farming and Food Labeling” Thursday, Feb. 24 at 4:45 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102 on the Lawrence campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The address will provide a historic look at organic farming legislation at the federal level and the affects of that legislation in light of the October, 2002 transition to federal oversight of state and private organic certification of farms and food processors.

Kremen will share the results of a recent national survey of farmer’s market managers about the participation and eco-labeling strategies by, and consumer appreciation of, organic farmers at their markets. She also will discuss the meaningfulness of the organic label as compared to other marketing terms such as “natural,” which have become widespread in recent years.

A former chef at an organic foods restaurant and one-time manager of a farmer’s market herself, Kremen has worked as an assistant for the USDA’s Economic Research Service, tracking adoption of U.S. organic farming systems by crop and state. She is currently pursuing a graduate degree in soil science at the University of Maryland, where her research is focused on nitrogen release from Brassica cover crops.

The sustainable agriculture lecture series is sponsored by the Spoerl Lectureship in Science in Society. Established in 1999 by Milwaukee-Downer College graduate Barbara Gray Spoerl, and her husband, Edward, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on the role of science and technology in societies worldwide.

Lawrence University Eliminates SAT/ACT Scores as Admissions Requirement

Less is more when it comes to the use of standardized tests in college admissions as far as Lawrence University officials are concerned.

For students enrolling for the start of the 2006-07 academic year Lawrence will no longer require students to submit SAT or ACT scores for admission consideration college officials announced Thursday.

With its decision Lawrence becomes the only liberal arts college in Wisconsin and the first member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest — a consortium of 14 academically excellent, independent liberal arts colleges located in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Colorado — to adopt a test-optional approach.

“We’ve basically decided to say ‘enough already,'” said Steve Syverson, dean of admissions and financial aid at Lawrence. “The recent introduction of the additional writing segments for both the SAT and ACT has further raised the level of confusion, angst and expense already associated with the admission process.”

The new version of the SAT, which will be administered for the first March 12, will feature three sections instead of two: a more difficult math section, critical reading replacing the verbal section and a new hand-written essay component. A perfect score on the test jumps from 1600 to 2400. The new ACT, with its optional writing exam, was administered for the first time Feb. 12.

While students will still have the option of submitting standardized tests scores, Syverson said Lawrence will continue to use its time-tested standard of “multiple intelligences” when reviewing a student’s application for admission.

“Lawrence has traditionally enrolled students that rank among the nation’s highest in standardized test scores, but we have found the quality of a student’s high school curriculum and the performance within that curriculum is really the best predictor of academic success here.

“We’re seeking intelligent, engaged, motivated students who have personal strengths in creativity and leadership or outstanding talent in areas like music, art, athletics, theater or specific academic disciplines. Those strengths and talents are not assessed well by standardized tests, but are usually discernible through a careful review of each applicant’s high school record, extracurricular involvement, writing sample and recommendations.”

A 20-year study conducted by Bates College and released last fall adds credence to the argument that standardized test scores are not necessary to be able to predict academic success in college. In its study on the effects of its own test-optional admission policy, in place since 1984, Bates found that there were no significant differences in academic performance or graduation rates between those who had submitted SAT scores and those that elected not to submit test results.

“A test score provides an additional piece of information about a student’s potential, but in our opinion, that added tidbit is not commensurate with the financial and emotional costs to students,” said Syverson, who has been directing admissions operations at Lawrence since 1983.

While it is hard to quantify the emotional toll standardized tests exact on 17- and 18-year-olds, it is much easier to quantify the monetary cost. Test preparation services and SAT/ACT tutors are becoming increasingly big business.

According to a February 2, 2005 Business Week article, the most intensive test-preparation programs can cost as much as $1,000, while personal tutors can charge $100 to $400 an hour. The addition of the new writing component, the magazine reported, has produced a major spike in new business for both the established test-preparation companies such as Kaplan and The Princeton Review as well as new players in the market.

In the Business Week article, Adam Newman, vice president for research and client services at Eduventures, a Boston-based company that tracks the education business, described the new writing components as a “pure marketing and expansion opportunity” for test-prep companies.

The growth of the test-preparation industry has helped fuel widespread criticism of standardized testing on the grounds that the tests put low-income minority and rural students at a disadvantage. Studies have shown that higher standardized test scores correlate strongly with higher family income, raising questions about their legitimacy in identifying academic potential.

“The increased emphasis on the tests further disenfranchises students from less-privileged backgrounds, which then interferes with higher education’s traditional mission to enhance socioeconomic mobility in America,” said Syverson.

In implementing a test-optional admission policy, Lawrence joins a number of other highly selective colleges across the nation that have made similar decisions. Among its peer nationally-ranked liberal arts colleges, Bates, Bowdoin, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Hampshire, Lewis & Clark, and Pitzer have all adopted test-optional admission policies.

“We strongly believe that our comprehensive review process allows us to identify the kind of great kids we want at Lawrence, regardless of whether or not they submit standardized test scores,” said Syverson.

“Students who feel their high school record is strong enough to merit admission without standardized test scores need not submit those scores. Ultimately, their choice of courses and record of achievement over four years of high school provides a much better indication of their ability to survive the academic rigors of Lawrence than do the results of a three-hour test taken on some Saturday morning.”

Lawrence University Hosts Town Hall Forum with Four Black Authors

Four distinguished writers will participate in a town hall style forum at Lawrence University Monday, Feb. 21 as part of the 2005 Black Author’s College Tour. The forum, focusing on issues that shape and impact the African-American community, will be held at 7 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102 on the Lawrence campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Participating in the forum will be authors Brandon Massey, Jamise Dames, Lois Benjamin and Yasmin Shiraz. Each will give a brief talk addressing a specific issue related to the African-American community and then take part in an open discussion with audience members.

A resident of Atlanta, Ga., Massey will address issues of the black man’s challenge in America. He self-published his first novel, “Thunderland,” in 1999 and a revised edition was republished in 2002 by Kensington Publishing. His second book, “Dark Corner,” a vampire novel set in rural Mississippi, was released in January, 2004, while “Dark Dreams: A Collection of Horror and Suspense by Black Writers,” was published last August. His latest work, the supernatural thriller “Within the Shadows,” is scheduled for release in June.

Dames, a published songwriter and former recording artist, will share her insights on the importance of sustaining self esteem in the black community. She is the author of the national best-seller “Momma’s Baby Daddy’s Maybe” (2003) and “Pushing Up Daisies” (2004). A graduate of the University of Connecticut with a degree in English and an emphasis in creative writing, Dames is currently pursuing graduate studies.

Benjamin, a professor of sociology at Virginia’s Hampton University, will speak on the secrets of the black elite. She is the author of “The Black Elite: Facing the Color Line in the Twilight of the Twentieth Century,” for which she interviewed 100 prominent African-Americans. She also served as editor of the 1997 book “Black Women in the Academy,” a collection of essays written by 33 black female academics and administrators from around the country who discuss their experiences of working in higher education in America. Benjamin earned a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley.

Shiraz, a journalist and empowerment speaker, will examine the impact of hip-hop culture on the African-American community. She is the author of the 2004 book “The Blueprint for My Girls” and is working on a sequel, “The Blueprint For My Girls In Love.”

As an entertainment reporter, Shiraz has written for a variety of publications, including Black Enterprise, Upscale, Impact and the Electronic Urban Report and has interviewed numerous celebrities, including Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, singers Jay-Z, Queen Latifah and Brandy, actors Jada Pinkett-Smith and Martin Lawrence and attorney Johnnie Cochran, among others.

The Black Authors Tour program is sponsored by Lawrence’s Office of Multicultural Affairs and is part of the college’s celebration of Black History Month.

Lawrence University Alumnus, Poet William Fuller Gives Reading

Poet William Fuller, a 1975 Lawrence University graduate, shares some of his work in a reading Thursday, Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Milwaukee Downer Room of the Seeley G. Mudd Library. A reception and book signing will follow the reading, which is free and open to the public.

Fuller, whose work leans toward the experimental, has produced an impressive body of work, including four books and five chapbooks. His first collection of poems, “byt,” was published in 1989, but it was 1993’s “The Sugar Borders” that earned him widespread recognition. “Aether” was released five years later and his fourth book, “Sadly,” was published in 2003. The chapbook “Avoid Activity” also was released in 2003. His newest collection of poems, “Watchword,” is slated for publication next year.

“William Fuller writes poems which stage collisions of different kinds of diction — literary, philosophical, corporate and colloquial,” said Lawrence Univesity assistant professor of English Faith Barrett, who helped arrange Fuller’s visit. “Responding to the project of the language poets, his work is at times playful, at times elegiac, but always committed to an exploration of the limits and the powers of lyric voice.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in English from Lawrence, Fuller attended the University of Virginia, earning his Ph.D. in English in 1983. In addition to writing poetry, Fuller is senior vice president and chief fiduciary officer in the Trust Department of Chicago’s Northern Trust Company.

Fuller’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.

What is a Life Worth? “Rational” Rationing of Health Care Examined in Lawrence University Biomedical Ethics Series Address

The notion of rationing health care may be a frightening concept, but is it necessarily wrong?

Northwestern University Professor David Dranove explores the question of what is a life worth and offers insights on why “rational” rationing of health care resources is becoming increasingly embraced in the third installment of a Lawrence University’s 2004-05 Edward F. Mielke Lecture Series in Biomedical Ethics.

Dranove, the Walter McNerney Distinguished Professor of Health Industry Management at Northwestern, presents “Putting a Price on Life” Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Drawing on Oregon’s 12-year old Medicaid initiative in which more than 700 medical interventions have been ranked from most cost effective to least and the British National Health System’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), which examines the cost-effectiveness of expensive treatments and recommends against paying for the least cost-ineffective technologies, Dranove will discuss the growing acceptance of rational rationing and outline the promises and pitfalls associated with a rationing approach to health care.

An essential element of rational rationing is attempting to quantify the seemingly unanswerable question: what is a life worth? When health care is rationed, a threshold for cost-effectiveness is established and coverage is denied for treatment that falls below that threshold. In England, NICE routinely denies coverage for interventions that cost more than $93,500 per year of life saved. Other systems use similar valuations.

Dranove argues that if the value of a life is based on the best available evidence, then the threshold used by NICE and others is much too low. Properly implemented, Dranove believes rational rationing could lead to more health spending, not less, but with the promise that the money is spent wisely on something of unsurpassed value.

A specialist in medical economics and cost-benefit analysis, Dranove joined the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1991 after spending eight years teaching at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He is the author of three books, including 2000’s “The Economic Evolution of American Health Care” and is in the process of completing a fourth, “Pricing Your Life.” Dranove earned a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.

Hitting a High Note: Lawrence Freshman Alisa Jordheim Wins National Arts Program Award

Missing an entire week of school left Lawrence University freshman Alisa Jordheim so far behind on her school work, she had precious little time to spend worrying about what the judges thought of her performance.

Jordheim spent a week in Miami, Fla., in mid-January as a national finalist in the Arts Recognition and Talent Search (ARTS) program, but rather than finding out the results at the end of the program, participants are notified how they did by mail. Snail mail. After a week of waiting, Jordheim learned she could add the title of 2005 ARTS winner to her growing list of achievements.

A soprano, Jordheim was named one of four “Level I” national winners in the ARTS voice category following a week-long program of master classes, interviews, performances and enrichment activities in nine different disciplines. She received a first-place prize of $3,000 for her winning efforts and becomes eligible for a $10,000 ARTS Gold Award, which will be announced later this year.

“I’ve learned if you dwell too much on the end results, you run the risk of being disappointed,” said Jordheim, a 2004 graduate of Appleton North High School. “You go in expecting nothing, and then if the results are good, that’s icing on the cake.”

Jordheim was one of 130 finalists selected from an initial pool of nearly 6,500 students from 33 states, Canada and The Netherlands who applied for the program. She was one of 10 voice students invited to Miami from 943 applicants in the category. Finalists in the ARTS Week program do not compete head-to-head, but are judged individually against a standard of excellence established for each discipline.

William Banchs, president of the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, which sponsors the ARTS Week program, called the students who are selected as finalists “the best of the best. They are our country’s artistic future.”

At the still tender age of 18, Jordheim, who has studied in the voice studio of Lawrence Associate Professor of Music Patrice Michaels the last eight years, has already compiled an impressive resume of musical accomplishments, including three consecutive first-place finishes in the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition. She said the ARTS Week program was unlike anything else she had ever experienced.

“We kept a very hectic schedule – 7 a.m. to at least midnight every night — and the entire week was filled with performances and activities. Each discipline had a showcase performance in which every artist performed as a soloist or displayed their works for all the participants, staff and the public,” said Jordheim, who along with Marcos Ortega, a senior at Wauwatosa East High School, were the only two students from Wisconsin to earn a finalist invitation to Florida. “As a vocalist, I sang in as many as four master classes and ‘coachings’ a day in addition to my showcase performance and audition, which were the two main factors of judging.

“I felt truly honored to be invited as a finalist to Miami and I am so thankful to have met all the genuinely talented artists who were there with me,” she added.

Among many highlights in her young career, Jordheim has performed with pianist Christopher O’Riley at the International Young Artists Music Festival, sang as a soloist at the Xian Conservatory of Music in China, performed on Public Radio International’s “From the Top,” singing duets with Bobby McFerrin and been featured in McGraw/Hill’s latest 8th-grade music textbook.

First conducted in 1981, the ARTS Week program is open to high school seniors and other 17- and 18-year old artists. Student vocalists, actors, dancers, filmmakers, classical and jazz musicians, photographers, writers and visual artists vie for individual cash awards ranging from $100 to $3,000, as well as the opportunity to share in a $3 million college scholarship package.

Organic Farming Focus of Lawrence University Address in Sustainable Agriculture Series

Jerry DeWitt, coordinator of the sustainable agriculture extension program at Iowa State University, discusses family farming operations of all sizes that have made significant changes in their operations and moved successfully towards sustainability in the third installment of Lawrence University’s environmental studies lecture series on sustainable agriculture.

DeWitt, professor of entomology in ISU’s agronomy department, presents “Organic Farming in the Midwest” Thursday, Feb. 17 at 4:45 p.m. in Science Hall, Room 102 on the Lawrence campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Focusing on diversification, entrepreneurial activities and creative production and management approaches, DeWitt will discuss ways farmers and ranchers have improved their operations through the use of specialty crops, organic agriculture, local networking and value-added strategies, among others.

A member of the ISU faculty since 1972, DeWitt grew up on a small family farm in Illinois and earned his Ph.D. in entomology at the University of Illinois-Champaign. In addition to his service with the ISU extension program, DeWitt works with the U.S.Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program in Washington, D.C. An avid photographer, he has chronicled the traditional American farm and farm families with pictures for the books “People Sustaining the Land” (2001) and “Renewing the Countryside: Iowa” (2003).

The lecture series is sponsored by the Spoerl Lectureship in Science in Society. Established in 1999 by Milwaukee-Downer College graduate Barbara Gray Spoerl, and her husband, Edward, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on the role of science and technology in societies worldwide.

Homelessness Issues Examined in Lawrence University Panel Presentation

Homelessness in America has been called “one of the most misunderstood and least documented social policy issues of our time” by Political Science Quarterly.

Today, an estimated 3.5 million people experience homelessness annually in this country and 1.35 million of those are children. More than half of all homeless families have been homeless for six months or longer. According to the Institute for Children and Poverty, the average age of a homeless person in the United States is nine. Across the nation, experts estimate that in any given community, one percent of the population is “at risk” of becoming homeless.

Lawrence University will examine the issue of homelessness and the ways people can make a difference toward solving the problem in the panel presentation “Homelessness Today, Housing Tomorrow” Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Underground Coffeehouse of the Lawrence Memorial Union. The program and is free and open to the public.

Sharing their perspectives on the issue will be Debra Cronmiller, director of the Fox Valley Emergency Shelter in Appleton, who will discuss the extent of the homelessness situation locally and the efforts being made to address the situation in the Fox Valley area; Ed Shurna, the executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, who will outline the coalition’s work and the importance of community efforts to combat homelessness; Larry Hamilton, a former homeless person himself who is now an activist in Chicago working on behalf of rights for the homeless; and Jeff Newton, a volunteer for the Chicago Coalition who is currently homeless and who will offer a first-person account of the challenges facing a homeless person and just how susceptible many people are to falling into that lifestyle.

The program is sponsored by the Lawrence University Volunteer and Community Service Center with support from the Class of 1965 Student Activity Fund.

Civil Rights Legend John Lewis Speaks at Lawrence University Convocation

U.S. Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, a leading figure on the front lines of this nation’s civil rights movement, speaks on the importance of student activism and involvement in the protection of human rights and civil liberties in America Tuesday, Feb. 8 in the third installment of Lawrence University’s 2004-05 convocation series.

Hailed as “a genuine American hero” for his courage in the face of discrimination and human injustice, Lewis delivers the address “Get in the Way” at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence University Memorial Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.

The son of Alabama sharecroppers, Lewis, 64, grew up in the segregated South of the 1940s and ’50s, a time when signs for “Whites” and “Colored” were commonplace. Inspired by radio news broadcasts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.and his message of peaceful reform, Lewis committed himself at an early age to human rights activism.

While attending Fisk University, Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville and participated in the famed “Freedom Rides” of the early 1960s, occupying bus seats reserved for whites only. At the age of 23, he became chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, helping organize student activism and earning recognition as one of the “Big Six” leaders of the civil rights movement, joining King, Whitney Young, A. Phillip Randolph, James Farmer and Roy Wilkins.

As SNCC chairman, Lewis was a principal architect of, and a keynote speaker at, the March on Washington in August, 1963, in which King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Two years later, Lewis led a march for voters’ rights in Alabama that ended in violence when marchers were attacked by state troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” News accounts of the event helped speed the passage of the Voting Rights Act later that same year.

Lewis entered public politics in 1981 with his election to the Atlanta City Council. He joined the U.S. Congress in 1986 and has represented Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District in Washington the past 19 years.

Profiled in a 1975 Time magazine article entitled “Saints Among Us,” Lewis’ efforts on behalf of human rights and civil liberties have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Non-Violent Peace Prize, the John F. Kennedy “Profile in Courage Award” for lifetime achievement, the NAACP Spingarn Medal for outstanding achievement and the National Education Association Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award.

Lewis earned a bachelor’s degree in religion and philosophy from Fisk University and is a graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition, he has been recognized with nearly a dozen honorary degrees from Duke, Harvard and Princeton universities, among others.

His biography, “Walking With The Wind: A Memoir of the Movement,” was published in 1998.