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DNR Water Chief Discusses State Groundwater Problems, Solutions in Lawrence University Address

One of the biggest environmental battlegrounds facing Wisconsin’s future is actually underground. Groundwater supplies, one of the state’s most precious and valuable resources, are under siege.

Todd Ambs, the administrator of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Water Division discusses some of the current battle fronts in the address “Fixing Wisconsin’s Groundwater Problems” Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at Lawrence University. The program, in Lawrence’s Science Hall, Room 102, is free and open to the public.

Ambs will outline several major new state policy initiatives designed to deal with a growing array of groundwater-related problems in Wisconsin, including Perrier’s quest to pump large quantities of spring water in Waushara and Adams counties for its international bottling operations, the rise in arsenic levels in private wells near Appleton and a precipitous drop in the groundwater table in the Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay areas as a result of increased consumer demand.

The former executive director for the River Alliance of Wisconsin, a nonprofit organization designed to protect the health of Wisconsin’s streams, Ambs was appointed the DNR’s Water Division chief last year by Governor Doyle. Earlier this year, he was named a “River Hero” by River Network, one of the nation’s premier river conservation organizations.

Ambs¹ appearance is sponsored by Lawrence’s environmental studies program and the Spoerl Lectureship in Science in Society.

UW-Oshkosh Historian Discusses Russian Economic Transition in Lawrence University Address

Historian Karl Loewenstein shares his first-hand accounts of the changes taking place in Russia, from the twilight of the Soviet Union until the present, in an address at Lawrence University.

Loewenstein, assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, presents “From Socialism to Capitalism: Russia in Transition 1990-2003” Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. In the Wriston Art Center auditorium. The program, sponsored by the Lawrence Russian and East European Club, is free and open to the public.

Loewenstein, who has made four trips to the former Soviet Union since 1990, including as recently as this past summer, will discuss the ways foreign influences and the development of new marketing strategies have affected the lives of ordinary Russian citizens. He believes capitalism has established moderate roots over the last 14 years, but it is capitalism with distinctly Russian characteristics and serious problems which have yet to be dealt with.

A specialist in modern Russia and East European history, Loewenstein joined the UW-Oshkosh faculty in 2002 after earning his Ph.D. in history at Duke University.

Lawrence University Pianist Claims State Competition Title

For the fourth consecutive year, a Lawrence piano performance major has won the Wisconsin state level Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Young Artist Piano Performance competition.

Michael Brody, a senior double-degree candidate, earned first-place honors at the state competition held Oct. 17 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Erin Grier, a senior from Woodside, Del., received honorable mention recognition. Brody and Grier are both students in the studio of associate professor of music Anthony Padilla.

By winning the state competition, Brody advances to the six-state East Central Division competition on Jan. 16-18, 2004 at Oberlin College in Ohio. Winners at the division level will compete at the MNTA national competition in Kansas City, Mo., next March.

The Wisconsin MTNA competition requires students to play a complete concerto from memory, as well as three shorter contrasting works. Brody performed Beethoven’s “Waldstein” Sonata, Brahms’ Sonata No. 3 and the Bach Organ Chorale Prelude “Ich ruf, zu dir” transcribed by Ferruccio Busoni.

Lawrence University Historian Examines Role of Stoic Virtue in Harry Potter Books

Best-selling author J.K. Rowling’s magical world of whiz kid Harry Potter and his adventurous confrontations with ethical dilemmas will be the focus of a Lawrence University Main Hall Forum.

Lawrence historian Edmund Kern, presents “Imagination at Work: Harry Potter and Stoic Virtue,” Monday, Oct. 27 at 4:10 p.m. in Main Hall, Room 201. The event is free and open to the public.

Kern¹s address will examine how Rowling’s creative blending of imaginative wit with serious contemplation of virtue offers readers the promise of triumph over evil and provides guidance on the importance of thoughtful attention to right and wrong. Kern argues in Rowling’s updated version of Stoicism, Harry’s resolve in the face of adversity is the result of conscious choice and attention to what is and is not within his control.

Kern, a specialist on early modern European history as well as the history of witchcraft and religious culture, is the author of the recently published book, “The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us About Moral Choices.”

Dedication Ceremonies Unveil Lawrence University’s $15 Million Residence Hall

Having already lived in Colman, Ormsby and Plantz halls, as well as Draheim, one of the college’s small residence houses, senior Carrie Ryan qualifies as an expert on campus housing at Lawrence University as nearly anyone. So when she raves about her current home in the new Hiett Hall, trust her.

“A lot of the other residence halls are great in their own way and each of them has its own individual strengths, but I think Hiett Hall is a pretty significant upgrade,” said Ryan, who is living in one of the building’s numerous four-person suites.

Hiett Hall, Lawrence’s new $15.3 million, 79,500-square-foot, attention-grabbing addition to student housing, receives its formal unveiling and dedication — complete with ribbon-cutting ceremonies — Thursday, Oct. 16 at 4 p.m.

Nearly 18 months in the making from ground-breaking to dedication, Hiett Hall is named in honor of Stanley and Clara Hiett, the parents of 1958 Lawrence graduate Kim Hiett Jordan, whose generous $8 million gift made the building’s construction possible.

“So much about this place is great,” Ryan said of Hiett Hall. “The rooms are incredible, the public spaces are unbelievably beautiful with great views of the Fox River. The kitchen areas are huge.”

When junior Jamie Marincic walked into Hiett for the first time this fall, she couldn’t help but think, “This is ridiculous.”

“I was convinced I had just entered an upscale hotel,” said Marincic, who previously lived in Sage and Ormsby halls. “The high ceilings make all the rooms seem huge and the amount of natural light throughout the building is incredible. If I don’t get back in here next year, I’ll have a hard time living anywhere else on campus.”

With 183 beds, Hiett Hall is the largest living space on the Lawrence campus. The L-shaped building’s 63 living quarters are divided among 10 single rooms (eight of which are occupied by residence life advisors), 33 four-person suites and 20 two-person suites, each with a shared bathroom and common living space.

“Hiett Hall is a wonderful, concrete example of Lawrence’s commitment to residential life and the importance of the student experience that extends beyond the classroom, lab or studio,” said Nancy Truesdell, Lawrence dean of students. “By all accounts, students have quickly settled in, made themselves comfortable and are enjoying the experience of sharing a suite with a small group of friends within a larger residence hall environment.”

Not only has the comfort level been raised considerably for those students lucky enough to own a Hiett Hall address, Truesdell says the building has helped non-Hiett residents by creating some much-needed breathing room in other halls.

“The additional beds Hiett provides enabled us to reclaim floor lounges in other residence halls and return them to their intended purposes,” Truesdell explained. “That’s been a benefit that all students are enjoying.”

In additional to all suite-style living quarters on the building’s two “wings,” three of Hiett’s four floors have a large central kitchen area, complete with refrigerator, stove, two microwave ovens, dishwasher and a sink. Each floor also boasts a large furnished lounge — the one on the fourth floor features a fire place — as well as a spacious room for quiet study.

As Ryan sees it, the privilege of being the first residents of Hiett Hall comes with a commensurate degree of obligation.

“This is like our house. We each can take a sense of ownership in being the first students to live here that you couldn’t necessarily take in the other halls where hundreds of students have lived before you. We’re the caretakers of Hiett Hall for the next group of residents and that is a big responsibility.

“We’ve all watched this building going up the past year,” Ryan added. “It’s very easy to be excited about going to Lawrence these days when you can live in a place as beautiful as Hiett Hall.”

The building was designed by VOA Associates, a Chicago architectural firm, and Oscar J. Boldt Construction of Appleton served as the project’s general contractor.

Humorist David Sedaris Shares his Witty Observations in Lawrence University Convocation

Award-winning humorist and National Public Radio commentator David Sedaris brings his collection of witty observances on life to Lawrence University Tuesday, Oct. 14 in the second installment of the college’s 2003 2004 convocation series. The program, “An Evening with David Sedaris” at 7:10 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, is free and open to the public.

Sedaris, who claims his idea of fun is “sociological problems and medical mishaps,” launched his career as one of America’s funniest social commentators in 1992 on NPR’s “Morning Edition.” He shared stories from his book “SantaLand Diaries” about his strange-but-true experiences as one of Santa’s elves at Macy’s in New York.

He has since written four more books: “Naked,” “Barrel Fever,” “Holidays on Ice” and his most recent, “Me Talk Pretty One Day.” The largely autobiographical collections of essays chronicle his life growing up in North Carolina with “voluble” parents and five siblings, his collection of part-time jobs, including an office worker, moving company employee and an apartment cleaner in New York, and taking French classes as an expatriate in Paris, where he currently resides.

Collaborating with his sister, Amy Sedaris, under the name The Talent Family, Sedaris also has written several plays that have been produced in New York, including “One Woman Shoe,” which was honored with an Obie award.

A one-time writing instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he had earned a degree in 1987, and frequent contributor to Esquire magazine, Sedaris was saluted as Time magazine’s “humorist of the year” in 2001. That same year he was named just the third recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Following his address, Sedaris will conduct a book signing in Lawrence’s Shattuck Hall, Room 163.

European Historian, English Literature Scholar Named to Endowed Chairs at Lawrence University

Lawrence University President Richard Warch announced the appointment of Paul Cohen and Timothy Spurgin to endowed professorships Thursday (9/25) at his annual matriculation convocation.

Cohen, professor of history, was named to the Patricia Hamar Boldt Professorship of Liberal Studies, and Spurgin, an associate professor of English, was named to the Bonnie Glidden Buchanan Professorship in English Literature.

Appointments to endowed professorships are made in recognition of academic distinction through teaching excellence and/or scholarly achievement. Lawrence currently has 47 endowed chairs.

A specialist in modern Europe, modern France and intellectual history, Cohen joined the Lawrence faculty in 1985 and was promoted to full professor in 1999.

He is the author of two books, “Freedom’s Moment: An Essay on the French Idea of Liberty from Rousseau to Foucault” and “Piety and Politics: Catholic Revival and the Generation of 1905-1914 in France” and a member of the editorial board of the journal Contemporary French Civilization. In 1999, Cohen was recognized with Lawrence’s Freshman Studies Teaching Award. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Clark University and earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago.

The Boldt Professorship was established in 1989 in honor of Patricia Hamar Boldt, a 1948 Lawrence graduate. She was awarded an honorary degree by Lawrence at the college’s 2003 commencement in recognition of her long-time community service and volunteerism efforts with the Infant Welfare Circle, the United Way, the Salvation Army, the Fox Valley Symphony, LEAVEN, Mosquito Hill Nature Center and the Girl Scouts, among others.

Holders of the Boldt Professorship exemplify her commitment to the ideals of liberal education in their teaching, scholarship and service to the community.

A member of the faculty since 1990, Spurgin’s scholarly interests focus on 19th century English literature, especially the novel and works of Charles Dickens, as well as literary criticism and theory. His scholarship has been published in the academic journals Dickens Quarterly, Dickens Studies Annual and the Minnesota Review.

He was cited with Lawrence’s Outstanding Young Teaching Award in 1993, the Freshman Studies Teaching Award in 1994 and has been the recipient of the college’s Babcock Award for “giving generously of his time and energy to assist students” on three occasions, the most recent in 2003. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Carleton College, Spurgin earned his doctorate in English at the University of Virginia.

The Buchanan Professorship was established in 1994 by Bonnie Glidden Buchanan and her husband, Robert Buchanan, in recognition of her love of and interest in English literature and in appreciation for the special brand of liberal arts education Lawrence provides. Both Bonnie and Robert Buchanan are 1962 graduates of Lawrence and have been active volunteers for the college, serving the alumni association and Board of Trustees, respectively.

Lawrence University Physicist Awarded $178,000 National Science Foundation Grant

A curious visitor peering through the glass of Room 044 in the basement of Lawrence University’s Science Hall and seeing the large, elevated, aluminum “drum,” its wide sides wrapped with thick, black bundles of wire amid an array of other attached tubes and hoses, might conclude they had just stumbled upon an industrial-strength, high-tech washing machine. Or perhaps a remnant of eccentric “Doc” Brown’s “Back to the Future” workshop.

Far from being a fancy Maytag or a mad scientist movie prop, the contraption is the cornerstone of Lawrence University associate professor of physics Matthew Stoneking’s scientific research. The drum, a “toroidal vacuum chamber” to be exact, which Stoneking brought with him to Lawrence from his research associate days at the University of Wisconsin, is at the heart of his work on pure electron plasmas.

Now, thanks to a three-year, $178,000 grant Stoneking has received from the National Science Foundation, he soon will begin constructing a new and greatly improved apparatus, permitting more sophisticated experimentation. Stoneking’s NSF grant will enable him, in conjuction with Lawrence physics students, to build a less imposing, but much more precisely designed and constructed vacuum chamber out of stainless steel and copper in his new laboratory in the recently renovated Youngchild Hall.

Pure electron plasmas are collections or “clouds” of electrons 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 — donut-shaped — magnetic field and the factors that limit the duration of the confinement in such systems.

A toroidal magnetic field can be visualized as a bundle of lines wrapped into a circular loop, allowing charged particles, such as electrons, to stream or “flow” along those lines like beads on a wire.

Plasma physics is the scientific foundation for the potential future production of electric power by nuclear fusion.

“Although they do not occur in nature, electron plasmas have proved to be excellent systems for testing our understanding of the behavior of ‘complex’ fluids,” said Stoneking. “They can serve as a kind of ‘wind tunnel’ for testing mathematical theories of fluid dynamics.”

In previous experiments, Stoneking successfully confined electron plasmas in a toroidal magnetic field for as long as 2 one-hundredths of a second (or 20 milliseconds). Stoneking estimates the new chamber he will build will improve the purity of the vacuum by approximately 100 times and strengthen the magnetic field by a factor of five, resulting in confinement times approaching one second. Durations of that length would provide a more refined comparison of experimental results with existing theoretical predictions.

The NFS grant will also provide both summer research and travel stipends for Stoneking and his students to attend national physics conferences. In addition, it provides Stoneking with funds to establish a collaboration with physics colleagues at the University of California-San Diego.

This is the third grant Stoneking has received in support of his research since joining the Lawrence physics department in 1997.

“This grant will enable us to extend our understanding of electron plasmas and offer excellent research opportunities for our students,” said Stoneking, who earned his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Wisconsin.

Lawrence University President Richard Warch Opens Academic year with Examination of Community Diversity in Annual Matriculation Convocation

Richard Warch begins his 25th, and final, year as Lawrence University president by officially opening the college’s 154th academic year Thursday, Sept. 25 with his annual matriculation convocation.

Warch, who will retire in June, 2004 as the second-longest serving president in Lawrence history, presents, “The Lawrence Difference: Difference at Lawrence” at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.

In his address, Warch will discuss the notion of community and the challenges posed by the diversity of that community, including an examination of the recent University of Michigan court cases and racial diversity.

Named Lawrence’s 14th president in 1979, Warch earned his bachelor of arts degree from Williams College and his doctorate in American Studies from Yale University.

An ordained minister in the United Presbyterian Church, Warch spent 10 years at Yale in a variety of positions, including associate dean of the college and director of the National Humanities Institute program. He came to Lawrence in 1977 as vice president of academic affairs before being named president two years later.

In the 1987 study, “The Effective College President,” a two-year project funded by the Exxon Education Foundation, Warch was named one of the nation’s top 100 college presidents. In June, 1999, Warch was appointed to the executive committee of the Annapolis Group, an association of more than 100 of America’s leading liberal arts colleges.

He is the author of the book “School of the Prophets: Yale College 1710-1740” and co-edited “John Brown” in the Great Lives Observed Series published by Prentice-Hall.

A Small World: Lawrence Grad in Pakistan Helps Steer Afghan Refugee to Appleton

Compared to fleeing the Taliban, Zubair Hakim figures Freshman Studies will be a piece of cake.

When Hakim speaks of his soon-to-be-official status as a member of Lawrence University’s 2003 freshmen class, the voice of the 21-year-old refugee from Afghanistan suggests appreciation more than excitement. Understandably so.

His journey to the Appleton campus, thanks in part to some gentle guidance by a Lawrence alumna, has meant overcoming obstacles far more difficult than posting a high ACT score or writing a compelling application essay.

A member of Afghanistan’s Farsi-speaking Tajik tribe, Hakim once called Kabul his hometown. But seven years ago this month, the life of the second-oldest son in a family of five, whose father served as dean of education at a medical institute and a mother who taught biology and chemistry at Kabul University, was suddenly and violently turned upside down when the fundamentalist Taliban came to power.

Within a day of the Taliban taking control of the government in Sept. 1996, his mother, Fatima Hakim Kamyar, lost her job, the victim of a decree which banned women from working or even leaving their homes without being accompanied by a male.

Soon after, the Taliban stripped Hakim’s father, Abdul Hakimzada, of his position at the university, forbidding Farsi-speaking people from holding any positions of power or authority in the country. As Tajiks, Hakim and his family had even more reason to be afraid of Afghanistan’s new Sunni Muslim leaders.

” There was always fear,” Hakim recalled of those early days of the Taliban regime. “We were told my father was being watched.”

Just two months after the Taliban assumed control, Hakim and his family, with little more than the clothes on their backs, left their home and boarded a bus headed to Pakistan. They eventually settled in the capital city of Islamabad, where his aunt had already moved.

His mother eventually landed a job teaching Farsi at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and Hakim learned of an opening for a translator. His fluency in four languages — English, Farsi, Urdo, the official language of Pakistan, and Pashtu, a language commonly used in both Pakistan and Afghanistan — eventually earned him a position in the visa/immigration department of the embassy.

During his eight months at the embassy, Hakim met Susan Raddant, a native of Shawano and a 1999 Lawrence graduate who turned her bachelor’s degree in government and international relations into a position with the U.S. State Department. Islamabad was one of Raddant’s first foreign assignments. Although she wasn’t on retainer for the Lawrence admissions office, Raddant began selling Hakim on the idea of attending college at her alma mater.

” My brother had attended Amherst and I really wanted to go to a college on the East Coast,” Hakim said. “But the more I talked to Susan, the more interested I became in Lawrence. I started checking out the website and saw they provided a high standard of education and they also had a high percentage of international students, both of which were appealing to me.”

Getting into Lawrence would prove easier for Hakim than getting into the United States. In Islamabad, he and his family began the complex process of applying for official refugee status to come to America. After living nearly five years in Pakistan, their application was officially approved on Sept. 9, 2001. But their joy was short-lived. They soon learned what a difference 48 hours can make.

” We were all set to come to the United States in October, but then the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks occurred and everything got delayed,” said Hakim. “The whole process was stopped. Every man that had applied to come to the United States, whether as a refugee or an immigrant or a non-immigrant who was above the age of 16 and under the age of 45 had to go through an extensive FBI background check.”

It would take another 13 months before Hakim and his family would know true freedom.

” He is incredibly fortunate to come to the United States from that region of the world at this time,” said Claudena Skran, associate professor of government at Lawrence and a specialist on refugee issues. “Refugees are already the most carefully screened class of immigrants, but one of the first things the U.S. government did after 9/11 was stop processing refugee applications.”

Refugees are admitted to the United States on a quota system. For many years, that quota stood at 70,000. But in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the number of refugees that entered the United States fell to 26,000 last year — the lowest total since 1979 — barely a third of the actual quota.

” The revised policy is based on the mistaken belief that refugees are likely to be terrorists, when it fact refugees are more likely to be the victims of terrorists, tyrants and torture,” said Skran, author of the book “Refugees in Interwar Europe: The Emergence of a Regime.”

“In the wake of 9/11, the government instituted new security procedures, but they haven’t allocated enough resources and personnel to implement those procedures.”

While the wheels of government slowly turned, Hakim had little choice but to ponder a future rife with doubt.

” Life in Pakistan was really a life of constant uncertainty,” said Hakim. “We felt we were looked down upon. We never really knew when the Pakistani authorities would drive all the Afghans out of the country.”

After more than a year of patience-testing, the Hakims finally were allowed to leave Pakistan for the United States, arriving first in New York on Nov. 14, 2002 before making their way to Southern California to live near relatives.

” When we landed in New York, it was a great feeling. At last, I knew I wouldn’t have to run anymore. I wouldn’t have to go back to our burned-out house in Kabul,” said Hakim, who calls La Mesa, a suburb of San Diego, home today.

” Ever since I was old enough to think about college, I knew the best place to pursue higher education would be in the United States,” says Hakim, who is leaning toward majoring in government at Lawrence. “Now that the time is here, I am looking forward to being a student again.”

Arriving on campus this week, Hakim is one of 405 new students — drawn from the second-largest applicant pool in school history — who will begin a week of orientation activities Thursday, Sept. 18 before Lawrence opens its 154th academic year Sept. 24 with the first day of classes.

This year’s new students, which include 359 freshmen, 30 transfer students and 16 non-degree-seeking visiting international students, matches last year’s mark as Lawrence’s highest number of new students since 1973, when 423 matriculated.

” We were able to enroll one of the largest classes of new students since the 1970s this fall, while at the same time improving upon our traditionally strong academic profile from the previous year,” said Steve Syverson, dean of admissions and financial aid.

Collectively, this year’s incoming freshmen achieved an average ACT score of 27.6, up from 26.9 a year ago and the number of students who ranked in the top 10% of their high school graduating class jumped from 34% a year ago to 42% this fall. The average high school grade point average among the incoming freshmen improved to 3.67.

” It’s gratifying that the college continues its commitment to meeting the full financial need of every student who qualifies for admission,” Syverson said. “That commitment enables us to recruit a diverse and interesting student body from a wide range of socio-economic, cultural and geographic backgrounds.”

For the 2003-2004 academic year, 87% of all Lawrence students will receive need or merit-based financial aid. The average need-based financial aid package for the 2003-2004 academic year totals more than $21,600.

In addition to Zubair Hakim, believed to be the first student from Afghanistan to attend Lawrence, a total of 54 first-year students hail from abroad, representing 29 countries, including Argentina, Latvia, Malawi, Nepal and the Republic of Korea.