Planet Case

Leslie M. Collins

heidi.cool@case.edu — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:43:33 -0500

Fisk University, M.A. '37
School of Graduate Studies '45, American Studies,
School of Information and Library Science '52
Current home: Nashville, Tennessee

Leslie M. Collins is a lifelong learner, educator, and lover of books both academic and popular. He was awarded a Ph.D. in 1945 by the Western Reserve University Department of American Culture. His thesis is entitled, "A Song, a Dance, and a Play: An Interpretative Study of Three American Artists."

In 1952, Dr. Collins returned to Western Reserve as a Ford Foundation fellow and received a master's in library science. He was later honored in 1985 by the university's American studies department at its 40th anniversary of conferring the doctorate in American culture.

With three advanced degrees plus postgraduate work at the University of Havana, the University of Oslo, the University of Florence, and the University of Madrid, Dr. Collins has studied the interrelationships of peoples of the world through literature. His work has taken him to Europe, the Far East, Russia, the Mediterranean including Egypt and Greece, and to Africa and Haiti.

Dr. Collins joined the Fisk University faculty in 1945 as a professor of English, teaching courses that have included Freshman Composition, Advanced Composition, Milton, and Black Literature. Dr. Collins taught the course, the Harlem Renaissance, and used as text his monograph, "The Harlem Renaissance Generation."

A longtime revered faculty member and mentor, he also developed bookmarks for undergraduates to teach them about Fisk writers and black authors, and produced a series of postcards relating to the history of Fisk through his Hines-Bontemps-Collins Memorial Project.

For 48 years, he reviewed books for the Nashville Tennessean. He produced several monographs for Fisk Library institutes and the text for his course on the Harlem Renaissance. He edited Listen Lord, a compilation of Jubilee Day prayers, meditations, tributes, and testaments of faith by Fisk students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends. In 1990, his One Hundred Years of Fisk Presidents was published; that same year, he received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Fisk.

His writings have extended beyond the university. His poem, Creole Girl, written in 1995, was set to music by Cleveland composer Leslie Adams and performed by Hilda Harris, a mezzo-soprano, and the Black Music Repertory Ensemble of Chicago, in a concert for national broadcast sponsored by the Manchester Craftsman's Guild of Pittsburgh.

Conversations in Tremont continued

jeffrey.verespej@case.edu — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:30:27 -0500

Join our moderator, Gladys Haddad, as she continues to speak with residents, business owners, and community experts in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland.

Held at the Pilgrim Congregational Church on West 14th Street, this session brings together the following speakers to discuss the how neighborhoods are vital to the livable city.

Chris Garland, Executive Director, Tremont West Development Corporation
Mitchell Schneider, President, First Interstate Properties Ltd.
Christine Murdoch, Owner of the Banyan Tree
Walter Wright, Senior Program Officer, Neighborhood Progress Inc.

Listen to Tremont Part Two

Photos courtesy of Tremont West Development Corporation

Conversations in Tremont

jeffrey.verespej@case.edu — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:18:03 -0500

Join our moderator, Gladys Haddad, in the first of six community dialogues with residents, business owners, and community experts in the Strategic Investment Initiative Neighborhoods. The first discussion takes place in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland.

Held at the Pilgrim Congregational Church on West 14th Street, this session brings together the following speakers to discuss the how neighborhoods are vital to the livable city.

Chris Garland, Executive Director, Tremont West Development Corporation
Walter Wright, Senior Program Officer, Neighborhood Progress Inc.
Heather Haviland, Owner of Lucky's Cafe and Sweet Mosaic Inc.

Photos courtesy of Tremont West Development Corporation

Ella Mae Johnson

heidi.cool@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:23:48 -0500

Fisk University, B.A. '25
School of Applied Social Sciences, '28
Birthplace: Dallas, Texas
Current home: Cleveland, Ohio

Good Samaritans gave Ella Mae Johnson the love and guidance she needed early in life. Their nurturing, in part, led to her career as a social worker. Now 102, Mrs. Johnson is one of the oldest living graduates of the School of Applied Social Sciences, now the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve.

Orphaned as a child, she was taken in and reared by a neighborhood couple. They were of modest means and had little schooling, yet they recognized that a college education was crucial to improving her life.

While she was a high school student in Dallas, Texas, a school administrator—an alumna of Fisk University—persuaded the Fisk Glee Club to contribute enough for a year's scholarship at Fisk. Mrs. Johnson enrolled in 1921.

At Fisk, she discovered she enjoyed studying French and considered teaching it after graduation. Teaching was one of the few professions open to African American women, she recalls. "But I didn't think there was any place that would hire a black woman to teach French."

She took several courses in sociology as a backup, and, in her senior year, lived and worked in the Bethlehem Center, a settlement house. The experience was so positive that she decided she preferred social work to teaching and set out to learn the necessary skills to be successful.

Among the highlights of her time at Fisk was hearing alumnus W.E.B. DuBois, a noted writer and inf luential civil rights and social justice advocate, speak during a commencement address in 1924. His speech, which criticized the Fisk administration for being too preoccupied with money, led to a student strike that extended into the following academic year. Mrs. Johnson participated in the strike by refusing to attend classes the first quarter of her senior year. The result meant she did not graduate until the following August.

Her first job after graduating was as a social worker for a church in Raleigh, North Carolina. She met a friend, also a Fisk alumna, who recommended the School of Applied Social Sciences. She came to Cleveland in fall 1926.

She cites the social work school's overall coursework as good training for fieldwork. Courses prepared students for issues they would encounter with clients, such as finances, unemployment, domestic problems, child rearing. The university did not provide housing for people of color, so Mrs. Johnson lived with a private family. She also joined the Mount Zion Congregational Church, United Church of Christ (U.C.C.), whose members served as a surrogate family and where she remains a member today.

After earning her master's degree, she began work with the Cuyahoga County Department of Welfare. One of her clients was a widow named Louise Stokes, who was struggling to raise two sons. The boys, Louis and Carl, grew up to become noted and respected politicians: Carl became mayor of Cleveland; and Louis became a 15-term U.S. congressman representing Ohio's 21st district. He is now a Senior Visiting Scholar at the Mandel School. Mrs. Johnson also worked for the county's Aid to Dependent Children and the Child Welfare Board. She took an early retirement in 1961.

She has two sons whom she raised on her own after the death of her first husband, Elmer Cheeks, in 1941. She remarried in 1957. She is a grandmother and great-grandmother.

Once retired, Mrs. Johnson hit the road. She has visited 30 countries on five continents. She has volunteered with her church and has served on all levels of the board of the U.C.C.

Although she did not know it at the time, Mrs. Johnson is one of the pioneers of what has become a long relationship between the two universities, now officially called the Case- Fisk Partnership.

"I believe I chose my career wisely for in settings not formally determined to be social work, much of my interest and activity throughout my life has centered around helping others financially and otherwise. My many tours have enabled and encouraged me to promote relief of the suffering." A recent example of this is rather than give gifts for her 100th birthday in January 2004, she asked family, friends, and well-wishers to support AIDS victims in Kenya. Her request generated $3,000. "My efforts were not to pay back, but to continue being a Good Samaritan."

Disparities in blood sugar control

david.porter@case.edu — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:34:32 -0500

From Reuters:

In general, the study found that black patients had a higher average blood sugar level than white patients did one year after starting drug therapy. They were also somewhat less likely to comply with their medication regimen, which was gauged by how often the patients refilled their prescriptions.

This did not, however, fully explain black patients' poorer blood sugar control, the researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care.

Exactly what does explain the racial gap remains an open question, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Alyce S. Adams.

One possibility, they suggest, is that African Americans tend to have more severe diabetes by the time they are diagnosed and treated. So they may need more intensive treatment off the bat, including higher medication doses.

The full study can be found at the journal Diabetes Care.

The end of god-12: The new apologetics, same as the old

mano.singham@case.edu — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:26:07 -0500

(For previous posts in this series, see here.)

Religion has always had its own defenders, called religious apologists, who have tried to find ways to make religious beliefs intellectually respectable and at least somewhat consistent with advances in knowledge in science and other areas. In response to the recent onslaughts on their faith by the new atheists, there has arisen in response what one might call the 'new apologetics', attempts to combat the arguments of the new atheists. But in examining these arguments one is startled to discover that there is really nothing new.

While this series of posts has demonstrated that developments in science over the last two centuries have resulted in powerful new evidence and arguments against religion and god emerging thick and fast, religious apologists are still appealing to the arguments of Saint Augustine of Hippo (4th century), Thomas Aquinas (13th century), and William Paley (19th century), and even Paley is just revamping the arguments of his predecessors.

As Sam Harris says in his book The End of Faith (2004):

Imagine that we could revive a well-educated Christian of the fourteenth century. The man would prove to be a total ignoramus, except on matters of faith. His beliefs about geography, astronomy, and medicine would embarrass even a child, but he would know more or less everything there is to know about God. Though he would be considered a fool to think that the earth is at the center of the cosmos, or that trepanning constitutes a wise medical intervention, his religious ideas would still be beyond reproach. (p. 21-22)

The only thing that is new about the new apologetics is that the new apologists have taken those very same old arguments and tried to redefine terms and adjust their meanings to respond to the genuinely new arguments and evidence of modern science and the new atheists.

Recall that there are still two major unanswered questions in science: the origin of the universe and the origin of life. The new apologetics, as I said earlier, has seized on these to create a God of the Ultimate Gaps as an 'explanation' for these questions.

But when we say these two questions are as yet unsolved by science, it has to be realized that it is not that scientists have no idea whatsoever about how the two major events occurred, but that the suggested solutions are as yet somewhat speculative. In the case of the origin of the universe, one suggestion is that our universe may not be unique but just one of many possible 'multiverses'. There has been more substantive progress in the area of the origin of life, suggesting that a credible model is not far off. (I have discussed some of the possible candidate models in an earlier post.) But in both cases, we do not have the level of evidentiary support and predictive capabilities that would elevate these speculations to the level of scientific theories and so scientists would likely label these two problems as yet unsolved.

Religious apologists, perhaps sensing that the origin of life is a problem that may be solved fairly soon and thus shying away from depending too much on that being inexplicable, have focused more on the origin of universe as an argument for god and even argued that big-bang cosmology suggests the existence of god. They argue that the anthropic principle (the idea that the properties of the universe seem to be fine-tuned in just the right way for life as we know it to exist) is evidence for god, although that argument makes no sense.

John Lennox (in his The God Delusion Debate with Richard Dawkins) even suggests that since the story of Genesis postulates that there was a beginning to the world, this means that the Bible predicted the big bang theory! Dinesh D'Souza in his debate with Daniel Dennett suggests something similar, that Saint Augustine anticipated the big-bang theory and thus this must somehow be seen as a 'win' for religion and evidence for god.

D'Souza is correct that Augustine's cosmology

"affirms that the world was created by God from nothing, through a free act of His will. With regard to the manner in which creation was effected by God, Augustine is inclined to admit that the creation of the world was instantaneous, but not entirely as it exists at present.

In the beginning there were created a few species of beings which, by virtue of intrinsic principles of reproduction, gave origin to the other species down to the present state of the existing world. Thus it seems that Augustine is not contrary to a moderate evolution, but that such a moderate evolution has nothing in common with modern materialistic evolutionist teaching.
. . .
For Augustine, God is immutable, eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, absolutely devoid of potentiality or composition, a pure spirit, a personal, intelligent being.

But Augustine provides no evidence in support of his belief. He is merely guessing, based on what the Bible says. As Dawkins points out in response to Lennox and which applies equally well to D'Souza, there are only two possible options: either the universe had a definite beginning or it did not and thus anyone has a fifty-fifty chance of guessing it right, which hardly makes it a daring prediction.

Furthermore this kind of retrospective elevation of people like Augustine is hardly proof of the validity of religion and clearly demonstrates how desperate religious apologists are. If the scientific evidence that emerged in the mid twentieth century had provided support for an alternative model of the origin of the universe as one that had no beginning (say a static universe or the steady state theory), then Augustine's guess would have been ignored and some other medieval cleric who happened to make the opposite guess would have been hailed as their champion prophet, and the Genesis story would have been reinterpreted in some way to be consistent with that model.

The chances are that one can always find some cleric from ancient times who has said something that could be vaguely interpreted as being in favor of some modern scientific theory. To argue that this should count as proof of prophecy and thus of evidence for the existence of god is a real stretch.

POST SCRIPT: Equal rights for gays gets a boost

The California Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that gay couples should have the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples. California thus joins Massachusetts in legalizing such marriages. But this decision has greater implications since opponents of gay marriages in Massachusetts were able to invoke an old law that restricted the practice only to residents. California has no such restriction which means that people from all over the country can go to California and get married.

Of course, anti-gay groups are angry and are planning to try and overturn this by putting a constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage on the November ballot. If this challenge can be beaten back and the amendment defeated, this might mark a sea change in attitudes towards gays.

I find the opposition to gay marriage really baffling. Why would anyone care if other people get married? It seems to based on nothing more than religion-based prejudice.

California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

judith.kaul@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:46:48 +0000

NY Times Article: California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban.

Text of the Opinion (In re MARRIAGE CASES (S. Ct. Cal. May 15, 2008 (S147999)) (pdf).

California Supreme Court’s Web Page with Related Links (Oral Arguments, Briefs and Other Useful Information).

Arthur H. Heuer: winner of the Hovorka Prize is a world leader in teaching and research

heidi.cool@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:50:10 -0500

University Professor and Kyocera Professor of Ceramics at the Case School of Engineering has long, distinguished career in materials science

With almost 500 publications to his credit, Case Western Reserve University's Arthur H. Heuer is a leading researcher in his field, having pioneered studies in transformation toughening of ceramics, the application of electron microscopy to engineering ceramics, biological ceramics, materials science of MEMS and paraequilibrium carburization of stainless steels. Heuer is known as "Dr. Zirconia" for his work on transformation toughening of zirconia-based ceramics. His research, conducted with Arnold Caplan, on the structure of eggshells and mollusk shells, has broken new ground in applying materials science to understanding biological structures. Both the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Louvre in Paris have called upon Heuer's expertise to characterize the Renaissance ceramics in their collections.

For those and many other scholarly reasons, Heuer, University Professor and Kyocera Professor of Ceramics in the department of materials science and engineering, was named recipient of the Frank and Dorothy Humel Hovorka Prize, one of the highest honors a university faculty member can receive. Heuer will receive the award at Case Western Reserve's Commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 18.

A Horseback Ride In The Brazilian Mountains And A Youth Clinic...

creg.jantz@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:05:36 -0500

By Senior Midfielder/Forward Matt Paglia (Pittsburgh, PA)

Zeyad [Schwen], Chris [Cservak], Nikola [Ivanovic], Jon [Milan] and myself were all riding on the backs of horses through the beautiful Brazilian mountains. This was the first time I have ever ridden a horse, and I could not have asked for a better experience. We walked, trotted and galloped up and down dirt roads. The scenery was unbelievable, nothing I have ever seen before. The mountains were so large and green and there were groups of banana trees and animals grazing all up the side of the mountains. Some of the cows were so high on the mountain I wondered how they even got up there. The five of us had a blast naming our horses and attempting to race. My horse was a little lazy I think. I would get him running, but when we came to the base of a hill he would stop running and decide to walk up the hill. I guess I don’t blame him.

Later that afternoon, our guide Pat took the team hiking through the Brazilian jungle. We hiked up a mountain stopping frequently to take pictures of the scenery. Bigart [Kevin], Milan and I fell way behind the rest of the group because we couldn’t stop taking pictures of everything around us. We finally forced ourselves to leave the area and found the path the rest of the team had taken into the jungle. The path was so narrow that plants and branches brushed against your legs and upper body the entire hike. At one point the path became muddy and slippery. Bigart, Milan and I slipped and slid down a small hill covering our legs in mud. We could do nothing but laugh and help each other back up onto the path. Finally, we caught up with everyone else and I was not ready for what I was saw. There were two huge beautiful waterfalls rushing down the mountain. The rest of team had already gotten into their bathing suits and were climbing the waterfalls and jumping off rocks into the water. The whole thing was so surreal. It took me a minute to soak everything in. Then I got into my bathing suit and joined the team. For over an hour we took pictures of us climbing, jumping, and swimming. When it was time to leave I was so disappointed. I could have spent the rest of the day at those two waterfalls in the jungle and I think everyone else felt the same way.

Tuesday night, we left our resort for town. We were to put on a soccer clinic for the younger children of the local town. I was very impressed with the amount of children that showed up to participate in the clinic. Coach Palmer lined them all up at half field and tried to get them to warm-up by form running. When he said go the kids scattered all over the field in total chaos - it was so funny. After Coach Palmer got the children warmed up, they were split into groups. Will, Kyle [Bednar] and I were assigned to work with the youngest of the children. I thought this was going to be a disaster because we cannot understand each other and they are so young. But I was wrong. It was a lot of fun and everything went very smoothly. We had them do a few soccer drills and juggle the ball as a group. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy it and they listened well.

As it got closer to game time the stands filled and the stadium got louder. The atmosphere was so awesome. During the clinic little girls would run around the field asking for every Case player’s autograph. There were also young girls on the other side of the fence screaming for us and shoving paper and pen through the holes in the fence asking for our autographs. Before the game, our team was in the locker room under the stands. The crowd was so loud at this point it rumbled the walls. We exited the locker room and went through a tunnel to enter the field. We stood facing the loud Brazilian fans as the Brazilian national anthem was played followed by the American national anthem. The whole atmosphere made me feel like a professional at a professional game - it was awesome. One of the best game experiences of my life. The game started after the two anthems. The game was very physical and competitive. The Brazilian style of play is so much different than the American style. The team we were playing was very skillful and fast just like the other teams we’ve played in Brazil. But this team was the best of them all. One thing that impressed me greatly was the Brazilians’ first touch on the ball - it was so soft and perfect. During the game, we were able to score two goals making the final score 2-0 in favor of Case. After the game both teams shook hands, took some group photos and exchanged shoes, shin guards, socks, and shirts with one another. This part of the game allowed us to meet and communicate with the other team which I enjoyed a lot. I personally exchanged my shin guards and a shirt for shin guards and a pair of soccer socks from players of the team we had just played. I also traded my long sleeve warm up jersey for a soccer jersey a younger fan was wearing who had been begging for my shirt.

Case Daily

kimyette.finley@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:24:35 -0500

Commencement 2008

Arthur H. Heuer, Winner of 2008 Hovorka Prize, Is a World Leader in Teaching and Research

For those and many other scholarly reasons, Heuer, University Professor and Kyocera Professor of Ceramics in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was named recipient of the Frank and Dorothy Humel Hovorka Prize, one of the highest honors a university faculty member can receive. Heuer will receive the award at Case Western Reserve's commencement ceremonies on May 18. Read more.

Clifford Harding Appointed Interim Chair of the Department of Pathology

The Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine recently announced the appointment of Clifford Harding as interim chair of the Department of Pathology at the university and Case Medical Center, a partnership between the School of Medicine and University Hospitals (UH).

Harding is well known to faculty and staff, having been part of the School of Medicine and UH community for 15 years. He has been director of the Medical Scientist Training Program since 2001. Read more.

Campus News

Campus Summer Barbecues on the Crawford Deck return for five weeks June 11 through July 19. The campus community is invited to purchase the new "Five for $35" barbecue card, good for five admissions to the summer barbecues, with a savings of $4.75. Cards can be purchased through June 11 at Pura Vida in Thwing Center, Tomlinson Marketplace, Access Services, and at the first barbecue. The card includes the main meal, beverage of the day and dessert. Bottled water and sodas are extra. The card is redeemable at Tomlinson Hall in the event of rain. Sponsored by Bon Appétit, Campus Services, the Office of Summer Programs, and the Office of Student Activities.

The online survey regarding the interest level for child care services on campus is open until May 16. Those who have not yet responded are being asked to take a few minutes to complete the online survey.

Campus community members who provide care at home for family members with Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia are invited to participate in the Caregiver Knowledge and Skills Project. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Case Medical Center -- a partnership between the School of Medicine and University Hospitals -- are conducting the research project with the goal of learning how best to help family members increase their caregiving knowledge and skills. The study involves participating in workshop sessions with other family caregivers and follow-up programs designed to extend and enhance the benefits of the workshop. Participants will be asked to answer questions periodically about their well being, their experiences with and attitudes toward caregiving, and their opinions about the project. There is no cost to participate. For complete details, contact Nancy Catalani via e-mail, or by phone at (216) 844-6357.

The Case Chinese Students and Scholars Association is collecting donations of cash and personal checks for people suffering from the May 12 earthquake disaster in China. The funds will be used to support shelter, food and medicine. Donations will be accepted from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., May 16 in the Nord Hall atrium. The group plans to transfer the contributions to a nonprofit organization that will then forward the funds on to the Chinese Red Cross Association.

For Faculty and Staff

Procurement and Distribution Services is reminding departments with blanket Purchase Orders (PO) to review the ones which are currently open, and to evaluate departmental needs for fiscal year 2008-09. If a department needs to cancel an existing blanket PO or regular PO, e-mail the customer care team. Requisitions for new blanket Purchase Orders for fiscal year 2008-09 should be entered into Peoplesoft beginning July 1. For questions, call the customer care team at 368-2560.

For Students

Mobile Discovery is offering a rebate on diploma frames and sweatshirts purchased at Case Western Reserve.

Students can collect up to $50 in mobile rebates by using their cell phones to scan 2D codes appearing in print media such as the student newspaper, campus posters and fliers. Read more.

Events

Those unable to attend the May 18 commencement ceremonies who would like to hear keynote speaker Craig Newmark in person have another opportunity. TechSync is hosting a talk with him at 5 p.m., May 17 at The Forum, One Cleveland Center, 1375 East 9th Street. Tickets are $40 for the general public. TechSync will reserve a handful of free tickets for students on a first come, first served basis. Students should send an e-mail to Nikki DiFilippo if interested.

Refer to the Web event calendar for a list of events and activities on campus and in the community today and in the days ahead.

The views and opinions of those invited to speak on campus do not necessarily reflect the views of the university administration or any other segment of the university community.

In Memoriam

Richard G. "Dick" Howe, who was part of the Case Western Reserve family for 48 years, recently died at the age of 77. His last position at the university was as a technical supervisor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, where he had worked since joining the university. In 1992, he was a recipient of the President's Award for Staff Excellence.

May 15, 2008

A daily newsletter published by the Office of Marketing & Communications, Case Western Reserve University. Submit items for inclusion to: case-daily@case.edu.

Case in the News

Students are getting a say in commencement speakers

USA TODAY, May 14, 2008
TV celebrities and public officials are popular speakers at commencement ceremonies this year as colleges increasingly cater to student interests. TV mogul and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey will speak at Stanford University, the University of Delaware has baseball star Cal Ripken Jr., and Case Western Reserve University will host Internet entrepreneur Craig Newmark.

McCain making repeat trips to swing state Ohio

Akron Beacon Journal, May 14, 2008
John McCain hasn't been afraid of touchy political topics on recent stops to Ohio, a crucial swing state. McCain, the Republican nominee for president, planned to make brief remarks about green technology in Columbus Wednesday before a fundraiser at a private club. Joe White, chair of the political science department at Case Western Reserve University, comments.

Cleveland Clinic's Medical School to offer tuition-free education

Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2008
The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University will announce today that beginning in July, all incoming students will be awarded full scholarships to cover their estimated $43,500 tuition. The school will reduce by half whatever portion of the tuition current students are paying, after accounting for financial aid. Related article.

Cashless colleges: Student IDs turn into payment systems

Creditcards.com, May 13, 2008
Student ID cards open doors to dorms and labs, earn discounts with local merchants, sub-in for loose change at vending and copy machines, and even help with the laundry. Several schools, including the University of Alabama, Case Western Reserve University and Duke University, are using kiosks that allow students to custom order food and pay with a swipe of their ID cards.

Higher Ed News

How states make use (or not) of community colleges

Inside Higher Ed, May 15, 2008
A study being released today by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government highlights vast differences in the way states make use of and support their community colleges.

Other Events

All Events >>

May 2008
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

Robot conductor in MI

jeffrey.quick@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:22:41 -0500

To highlight a gift it made to music education, Honda brought out a robot to conduct the Detroit Symphony. I'm going to eschew the cheap conductor and Detroit jokes, and simply note that the 'bot was programmed to a particular interpretation of a Broadway tune, and could not interact with the musicians. Artificial intelligence isn't there yet (and I'll skip the obvious joke there too.)

The next logical step is to program an orchestra of robots to do an authentic performance of Wellingtons Sieg.

U.S. withdrawal will aide cease-fires in Iraq

mckee.mcclendon@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:12:55 -0500

Iraqi government officials traveled to Iran in late March to seek help in establishing a cease-fire with Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Al-Mahdi Army. Iran convinced al-Sadr to order a cease-fire in the city of Basra, which has largely held to today. However, a cease-fire on May 11 for Baghdad's Al-Sadr City failed and fighting continues today, indicating that Iran's influence and al-Sadr's orders are unable to stop the fighting. The Shiite militias are divided into localized groups with their own interests and grievances that must be dealt with before cease-fires will hold.

Because government forces are unable to defeat the militias, the interests of these groups must be accommodated and compromises must be made to give them a share of power. The U.S. policy of treating all opposition groups as gangs that must be defeated by Iraqi and U.S. forces is not working. If the U.S. military, which is widely perceived as an occupying army, begins significant withdrawals, the current Iraqi government will gain legitimacy in the eyes of estranged Shiite groups. At the same time, the shrinking support of the U.S. army will weaken the military strength of the government to defeat the outsiders. Both of these factors will encourage the government to give opposition parties a legitimate share of power, thus reducing the fighting. Until a greater sharing of power is established, peace is unlikely. The presence of the U.S. military only encourages the Shiite militias to continue the fighting.

Fighting for crumbs

jeffrey.quick@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:54:47 -0500

As the Endarkenment continues apace, composers are getting desperate for attention. Tuesday the Cleveland Composers Guild put on a wonderful concert by the Cleveland Duo & James Umble. Not a word about it beforehand in any of the print media that we've seen, despite having been double-sent the press release, and we got the customary 50 or so bodies. My symphony is on Sunday, and there's nothing in the two weekly bourgeois-Marxist papers. Any publicity out there is hit-or-miss Internet stuff, or paid for (spots are running on WCLV). Meanwhile, funders want to measure RoI by audience size. I can't think of any other objective way to do it, but I've seen it lead to aesthetically wrongheaded decisions. There is too much happening, and too few interested, to make for big audiences. And new music is stylistically fragmented; there is no one new-music audience, but many. I'm even seeing beginning signs of an Uptown-Downtown split, as if Cleveland once again were a NYC wannabe.

We've got a local composer griping because not enough other composers show up to new music events (meaning in this case the new music events he shows up to, generally performances by recently-dead European males). He's retired, and he's got the time to go. But what are the rest of us supposed to do, who are balancing career, family, non-career composition and running an arts organization? Yes, we should support each other. But if I have the right to tell other people how to apportion their time, I'm their slavemaster.

We are the real indie/alternative music, and had might as well accept it and act accordingly. Rock clubs are for others; new music is for YOU.

Dr. Clifford Harding has been appointed as Interim Chair of the Department of Pathology

heidi.cool@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:43:26 -0500

The School of Medicine announced yesterday the appointment of Dr. Clifford Harding as Interim Chair of the Department of Pathology at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Case Medical Center. Dr. Harding will take over the responsibilities of Dr. John Lowe.

Dr. Harding is well known to faculty and staff, having been part of the School of Medicine and UH community for 15 years. He has been Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program since 2001.

Dr. Harding stated "I'm honored to accept the Interim Chair position, and I would like to thank Drs. Davis and Rothstein for their support of the Department of Pathology. I am deeply committed to the development of our research, teaching and clinical missions. There are exciting possibilities for future growth of our programs, and in the coming months I will be working with our faculty to establish the foundation for future initiatives."

Introduction to WebDAV

heidi.cool@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:22:31 -0500

Using WebDAV, I can view the files here on the Web Development Blog. Note: It's not a good idea to use this to edit actual entries, but you can use this to add static .html files such as your "About Us" page.

Here at Case Western Reserve University, we're about to upgrade our primary Web server. Part of this upgrade involves changing the way we upload content to the server. Where in the past we've been using FTP, beginning Monday, May 19, 2008, we'll be using WebDAV. WebDAV has been growing in popularity over the last few years and is now provided as an option by many Web hosting providers. Those of you using FTP on Case or other Web servers may wish to check with your network administrator or Web hosting provider to see if other protocols such as WebDAV are available.

What is WebDAV?

According to WebDAV Resources, "WebDAV stands for "Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning". It is a set of extensions to the HTTP protocol which allows users to collaboratively edit and manage files on remote web servers."

This sounds complicated, but for the typical user WebDAV simply provides a more efficient way of writing your content to a Web server. WebDAV is more secure than FTP, allows one to transfer multiple files in one connection, can lock files so that they can only be accessed by one person at a time and let's you view and access your files on your computer the way you would any regular drive.

If you've been using FTP, you've been editing local copies of your files on your computer then putting/uploading them to the server. If multiple users work on the site, you will get/download the latest version from the server before making additional edits and hope that you're not all editing the files at the same time. When you connect to your server using WebDAV you can look at your files the way you would look at any file directory. You can write to the server by dragging/copying from your local directory to the server directory, or you can edit the files on the server directly—just remember that you are editing live files; you may find it prudent to keep a prior version on your local computer in case you need to revert back to it.

How do I connect to a site using WebDAV?

Those of you using Macintosh or Linux computers have it easy. WebDAV is built into the operating system. To connect on a Macintosh simply:

Go to the "Go" menu in the Finder
Select "Connect to Server"
Type or paste the address of your server. On the new Case server that will be: https://www.case.edu:8000/<your network id>/<your group's Aurora account name>. (Don't type the angle brackets, you want an address that looks something like https://www.case.edu:8000/xyz67/departmentx)
Login at the prompt and save the password in your keychain

At this point your server directory will open up as a folder on your computer and you can work with it as you would any other directory. The video below shows the process in action.

Case users with accounts on http://filer.case.edu or http://blog.case.edu can also use WebDAV. To connect to filer using WebDAV use: https://filer.case.edu/dav/<your network id>/. To connect to the Blog server use: https://blog.case.edu/<your blog name>/.

View at full size on Vimeo.

Connecting with WebDrive or Dreamweaver on Macintosh and Windows

I will be adding additional information on using WebDAV throughout this week. The ITS Web group has also provided detailed instructions on the Case Wiki.

WebDAV resources for those who want more technical details

The Web server upgrade happens May 19, 2008. Are you ready?

heidi.cool@case.edu — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:57:45 -0500

The main Case Web server, Aurora, will be upgraded on May 19th. If you're an end user you shouldn't notice a thing, but if you maintain a Web site on this server there are a few things you should prepare for. If you maintain a Case site and have not read about the upgrade in Case Daily and received email notifications from the Aurora managers, please read the following.

Who should prepare for the server upgrade?

Only people who maintain sites on the main Case Web server will be affected by the upgrade. If you maintain a Web site on http://blog.case.edu, http://filer.case.edu, a departmental server or through a Web hosting service this upgrade won't affect you.

I'm not sure which server I use. How can I tell?

Sites on the main server have urls similar to http://www.case.edu/division/department/sitename/. If your site has an address such as http://sitename.case.edu it is probably not on the main server. Another way to check which server you are using is to check the host to which you upload your files. If you upload files to your site by FTP'ing to wwwftp.case.edu, your site is on the main server.

Check to see that you are registered as the maintainer of record

Authentication to the new server will be done using the Central Authentication Service instead of account specific usernames and passwords. To access your account you will need to ensure that you are listed as the primary maintainer so that your Case user ID will be attached to the account.

Visit the Aurora Maintainer Contact List to verify that you are listed as the primary maintainer of your account(s). If you are not listed as the maintainer, you should fill out an Aurora Project Inclusion Request form and Fax it to 216.368.3165.

Uploading files to the new server.

The new server will use WebDAV rather than FTP to upload files. If you are currently using Dreamweaver to upload files this will require only minor modifications to your current settings. I'll provide further information about WebDAV later this week. Upload instructions are also available on the Case Wiki.

Including server side includes (ssi) files

Due to tightened security, users who include .ssi files using code such as <#include file="../filename.ssi"> will need to change "file" to "virtual" as illustrated here: <#include virtual="../filename.ssi"> . If you don't make this change users will see [an error occurred while processing this directive] instead of your included content. Note, this only applies to paths beginning with ../ paths such as  will continue to work as usual. SSI instructions are also available on the Case Wiki.

Controlling Access to Your Site's Content (Password protecting files and directories)

If you have been using A.P.A.S. utilities to configure access control for your site, you shouldn't need to change anything now. Your current restrictions will be transferred over to the new server. When adding or modifying such restrictions in the future you will use access rules defined within .htaccess, .htpasswd and .htgroup files as appropriate. This will provide more flexibility and is in keeping with common Web practices. I will blog more about access rules in the coming weeks. Access instructions are also available on the Case Wiki.

Conclusion

If you have read the above, ensured that you are registered as your site's maintainer, and checked your server side includes files you should be in good shape for the change. If you would like to see a preview of your site on the new server you may do so by changing www to w07 in the url for your site. For instance the home page can be viewed at http://w07.case.edu/. Additional information is available on the www.case.edu page on the Case Wiki.

Web Server Upgrade Resources

You've Graduated & You're Still Looking for a Job? Don't Panic!

kelli.curtis@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:53:32 -0500

If you are graduating from law school this Sunday but still have not secured a permanent job, do not panic! You will find a job. Your legal (or post-law school) career is just starting, and when you look back to this time years from now you will hardly be able to remember why you were worried.

Many employers do not hire until law graduates have sat for or even passed the bar. These employers can include smaller firms and government and public interest employers. However, you want to keep applying for jobs so that your resume is in the mix when employers are ready to hire. If you are interested in small firms -- which is where the majority of practicing lawyers work -- you should also be open to the possibility of working as a law clerk until bar results come in; some firms will bring graduates in as law clerks and at a reduced pay rate so that everyone can test the waters, and they hire them for associate positions once they are licensed. Also, you should consider broadening your horizons as far as areas of practice and work settings.

Also, keep in mind that studying for the bar exam is a full-time endeavor. You don't need to abandon your job search altogether, but spend the vast majority of your time preparing for the bar so you only need to take it once!

The end of god-12: God and natural disasters

mano.singham@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:25:26 -0500

(For previous posts in this series, see here.)

In the previous post, we saw how religious believer try to absolve god for his failure to stop wars and genocide by arguing that god gives us free will and that it is therefore our fault when things like that happens. This is a weak argument at best but it does not address another problem of theodicy: how to explain away the massive suffering caused by natural disasters and disease, where no human agency is involved.

Just this week we have immense death and destruction due to the cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China. A few years ago we had the Asian tsunami. And we have had hundreds of millions of deaths over the centuries due to diseases like the plague, malaria, and typhoid. We have horrible diseases even now, afflicting all kinds of people down to the youngest children.

Why does an all-powerful and loving god allow such cruel things to happen? No convincing answer has ever been given for this, though some radical clerics like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are quick to say that these calamities are deliberate punishments by god for people's sins. Of course they mean the sins of people they disapprove of (like gays) and not their own.

But such weird attitudes do not come just from well-known crackpots like Robertson. Even high dignitaries of so-called mainstream liberal churches like the Church of England are not immune from this kind of childish thinking. Take for example the remarks of some Church of England bishops after floods devastated large parts of England a little over a year ago.

The floods that have devastated swathes of the country are God's judgment on the immorality and greed of modern society, according to senior Church of England bishops.

One diocesan bishop has even claimed that laws that have undermined marriage, including the introduction of pro-gay legislation, have provoked God to act by sending the storms that have left thousands of people homeless.
. . .
The bishop [of Carlisle], who is a leading evangelical, said that people should heed the stories of the Bible, which described the downfall of the Roman empire as a result of its immorality.

"We are in serious moral trouble because every type of lifestyle is now regarded as legitimate," he said.

"In the Bible, institutional power is referred to as 'the beast', which sets itself up to control people and their morals. Our government has been playing the role of God in saying that people are free to act as they want," he said, adding that the introduction of recent pro-gay laws highlighted its determination to undermine marriage.

"The sexual orientation regulations [which give greater rights to gays] are part of a general scene of permissiveness. We are in a situation where we are liable for God's judgment, which is intended to call us to repentance."

In some sense, radical clerics like Robertson and Falwell and the bishop of Carlisle are only following to their logical conclusion where a belief in an all-powerful god leads them. If god is omnipotent, then he can prevent any natural disaster and if he does not do so, he must have a reason. The only reason they can think of is that this must be an act of retributive justice. Of course, earthquake, tsunamis, and floods that kill vast numbers of people indiscriminately do not look like the acts of a loving god, but these people tend to favor 'tough love' doctrines, as long as that tough love is applied to other people and not to them. Jerry Falwell died suddenly while in his office last year but I did not hear his good buddy Robertson suggesting that god had killed him because he thought Falwell was a major sinner in addition to being an annoying pest.

While one can think of many possible social and economic reasons why god might get mad, for some reason radical clerics tend to get really worked up by the thought of sexual (particularly homosexual) activities, and this is usually the reason they bring forward to explain any natural disaster.

Those people for whom the god-is-love idea is more important than the god-is-just idea have a harder time explaining natural catastrophes. They tend to have to resort to saying that god must be having some plan that we mere mortals cannot comprehend. When confronted with the problem of explaining massive numbers of deaths of even infants, believers shrug their shoulders and say the equivalent of "Well, stuff happens, and we don't know why. We have to just assume god has a good reason for letting it happen even though he could prevent it."

Some resort to saying that god created the universe and its laws and has simply decided to allow events to unfold according to those laws whatever the consequences (i.e., they invoke the God of the Ultimate Gaps when it is convenient to do so), and that the reasons for his leave-alone policy are inscrutable. This is the infamous 'mysterious ways clause', the get-out-jail-free card that religious people play when they are faced with something they cannot explain away.

They do not seem to realize that such a statement of ignorance of god's intent is in direct contrast to their assured statements at other times: that they know that god is loving and just, cares for each one of us, wants us to be good and join him in heaven, and that it pains him when we stray from the path of righteousness. How could they know all that about the mind of god and yet not know why he allows droughts and floods and earthquakes?

In other words, popular religious apologists try to sidestep the theodicy problem by shifting between the contradictory beliefs of saying they know and understand the mind of god and god's intentions and nature, while at the same time saying that the reasons for his actions are utterly inscrutable.

One cannot avoid the conclusion that these are the justifications of people who desperately want to believe. Some people have a deep emotional need to believe that there is a mysterious, invisible, father figure looking out for just them, and they will make up any story that allows them to cling to that, however irrational it may be.

Although the model of god-as-loving-father may look superficially more sophisticated than the god-as-authoritarian-puppeteer believed by the woman in Kansas, they both ultimately spring from the same source. First you decide what you want or need to believe, and then you make up some story that allows you to believe just that.

The only way that such people will abandon their beliefs is if they realize for themselves that their beliefs are divorced from reality and that a reality-based belief structure can be far more satisfying.

Next: What the more sophisticated apologists are saying.

POST SCRIPT: Colbert and O'Reilly

Blog junkies have probably seen the clip of Bill O'Reilly (on his former show) letting loose a profanity-laced tirade at his off-camera show producers. Stephen Colbert comes to his defense and reveals a dark secret from his own past.

Thursday Photovoice - Photo 2

david.porter@case.edu — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:00:00 -0500

This is the second in a series of entries that will highlight photographs taken as part of the photovoice component of Project HYPE.

Abandoned houses are everywhere. There used to be stores and people living in there. Now everything has changed. (caption by the participant)

You can read more about Project HYPE and see other photographs at our photovoice page.

Check back next Thursday when we will highlight another photograph.

EXTRA: Ohio Health Policy Review is reporting on the disparity in death rates between different levels of education.

Democratic Party caught at their own lies

james.chang@case.edu — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:42:11 -0500

I remember when the Democrats promised fair voting tallies during votes on bills in the Congress. When they were in the minority, they always accused Republicans of keeping the vote open past the 15-minute window in order to ensure that the "proper" result has been made.

On August 2, 2007, Democrats were caught doing the same thing.

The Morning After the Stolen Vote