At Brown

Wriston Fellowship, Faculty Teaching Award winners

Brooke Harrington, assistant professor of sociology and public policy, and David H. Laidlaw, assistant professor of computer science, have been awarded Henry Merritt Wriston Fellowships for the 2003-04 academic year.

The Wriston Fellowship is one of the highest awards that Brown presents to its teaching faculty. Established in 1972 to encourage and reward excellence in teaching, the fellowship is awarded annually to a junior member of the faculty to recognize significant accomplishments in teaching and to allow for scholarly research and preparation of new contributions to the undergraduate curriculum. Candidates are nominated by faculty colleagues, and their credentials are reviewed by a committee of faculty members, which makes its final recommendations to the dean of the College.

Harrington teaches courses on organizational, economic and gender sociology. She has done extensive research on the dynamics of investment clubs -- voluntary organizations of 15 to 20 people who pool their money to invest in the stock market -- and will use the fellowship to complete her book on the subject. "Capital and Community: Investment Clubs and Stock Market Populism" is under contract with Cambridge University Press.

Since coming to Brown in 1998, Laidlaw has developed a unique course that combines art and computer graphics -- a partnership between Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The fellowship will allow him to further advance the interdisciplinary curriculum he is pioneering between RISD and the sciences at Brown.

The Dean of the Faculty has awarded four Faculty Teaching Awards for 2003-04:

Allan Bower, associate professor of engineering, the Philip J. Bray Award for Teaching Excellence in the Physical Sciences

Gary Wessel, professor of Biology (Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry), the Elizabeth H. LeDuc Award for Teaching Excellence in the Life Sciences

Barbara Tannenbaum, senior lecturer in theater, speech and dance, and Michael J. Putnam, professor of classics and comparative literature, the John Rowe Workman Award for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities.

A committee of deans selected the winners from among those nominated by department chairs. Each award winner receives $2,000 a year for two years.

Financial Services information sessions to prepare for end of fiscal year

The Controller’s Office, Purchasing, and the Cashier’s Office will hold joint year-end information sessions on:

April 29^th 2:30 – 4 p.m. Dining Rooms 7, 8, & 9, Sharpe Refectory

May 7^th 9:30 – 11 a.m. Chancellor’s Dining Room, Sharpe Refectory

Anyone responsible for the financial records of a department is urged to attend one of the sessions. Each will cover a number of important topics relating to:

• closing deadlines (including June 1^st list and 2^nd list)

• your role in the close

• how accruals work

• how to identify accruals on your ledger sheets

• accounting for prepaid items

• handling purchase orders at or around year end

• cash receipts timing

• which accounts “roll over”

• walk-through of Year End Memo

• other questions

Questions may be e-mailed to Meghan Kass, or sent to her attention at Box J, Controller’s Office.

New advocate for clinical faculty

Arthur Frazzano, M.D., is the new associate dean for clinical faculty in the Medical School. He replaces Faiza Fawaz Estrup, M.D., who is serving as co-principal investigator of a seven-year $8.96-million study of osteoarthritis.

As associate dean for clinical faculty, Frazzano will act as liaison between the Medical School and the hundreds of faculty who teach students and residents in clinics, hospitals and private practices.

Frazzano will continue the work begun by Estrup to improve communications and enhance relations between the clinical faculty and Medical School.

An associate professor of family medicine, Frazzano has served on the clinical faculty for 13 years. He is the first director of the new Division of Health Policy and Advocacy in the Department of Family Medicine.

In addition, Frazzano serves on the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Health and on the Health Care Quality Screening Committee. He is chairman of the RIMS Tobacco Task Force and of Tar Wars, a health awareness program that discourages tobacco use among children by pointing out the positive benefits of not smoking.

Frazzano was named Preceptor of the Year in 1993 and 1994 and Teacher of the Year in 1998.

“The clinical faculty is the life blood of the educational process” at the Medical School, Frazzano said. “We want to assure that these faculty are recognized for their contributions and encouraged to take advantage of the benefits the University offers.”

Frazzano plans to reduce his clinical responsibilities to half time, “so I can concentrate on this process and advocate for the clinical faculty as my prime focus.”

Charities Drive wrap-up

The 2003 Brown University Charities Drive raised approximately $141,000 to help support community organizations funded by the United Way of Rhode Island and The Fund for Community Progress.

The 2003 Charities Drive co-chairs, Roberta L. Gordon, assistant vice president for human resources, and William Rakowski, professor of medical science, give thanks to the many members of the Brown community who contributed so generously this year.

Golf Group seeks members

The Brown Golf Group, which plays Mondays at Firefly Golf Course in Seekonk, Mass., seeks new members.  Golf play begins in early May, and continues until the end of August. Tee time is from 4:20 until 5 p.m.  Interested people may send e-mail to Susan Thibault, Jeanne Carhart or Sandy Monty.

Awards and Honors

Mary Carskadon received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) March 31. Professor of psychiatry and human behavior and director of the E.P. Bradley Hospital Sleep Research Laboratory, Carskadon was honored for her “groundbreaking research on the sleep patterns and habits of adolescents, in addition to research on sleep and aging.” Carskadon’s findings have been cited thousands of times by parents, educators, school administrators and media, as school districts nationwide consider changing high school starting times to better match teen sleep biology.

Graduate student Kira Lawrence received a $3,000 award from the Evolving Earth Foundation for her project titled "Ocean surface temperature changes during the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation." Lawrence's project will help reconstruct how ocean temperatures and currents in the North Atlantic changed from 5 million to 2 million years ago, the time when large ice sheets first appeared in the northern hemisphere.

Bill Brucker ’04 is the recipient of the Rhode Island American Chemical Society's (ACS) Award for Excellence.

Each year the Rhode Island section of the ACS honors an outstanding major from each of the four-year chemistry and chemical engineering programs in the state. Brucker was Brown's nominee.

Undergraduates as well as graduate students present posters at the award ceremony. Brucker’s poster, which had been presented at last year’s national ACS conference, won the state chapter’s "best undergraduate" award.

On the Road

William S. Simmons, professor of anthropology, spoke at the Cross' Mills Public Library in Charlestown, R.I., on April 6 about the religious conversion of Native Americans during the latter half of the 1700s in that part of the state. Simmons described the "Great Awakening" conversion work of missionary Joseph Fish.

Off the Shelf

David E. Cane edited “Fighting Fascism in Europe,” published by Fordham University Press. The book chronicles World War II letters written by Cane’s father, Lawrence, a Bronx communist, Jew and patriot. Lawrence Cane was a proud veteran of the Spanish Civil War who went on to become a World War II hero. “Offering stunning eyewitness accounts of some of the most dramatic events in history, as well as poignant expressions of love and longing, Lawrence Cane’s letters are as close to perfection as they come,” said Andrew Carroll, editor of “War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars.” Cane is the Vernon K. Krieble Professor of Chemistry and professor of biochemistry.

People

Three one-act plays – “Speaker's Head,” “If Only We Knew” and “A Lady and A Tramp” – by Aishah Rahman, professor of English, are being performed through May 17 at Perishable Theatre, 95 Empire St. in Providence.

A Perishable Theatre news release describes the plays as “an exploration of today's urban landscape underscored by the ferocity of the blues.”

For more information, call 331-2695 x101, or visit the organization’s Web site.

Research Note

Brown undergraduate participation is being sought for a research study of sexual behavior. The study is coordinated by the University of Padua (Italy) and Brown's Population Studies and Training Center.

The study will compare the factors associated with risky sexual behavior among university students in different cultural settings. It already has been conducted in eight countries: Italy, Japan, Poland, France, United States (in South Carolina), Russia, Bulgaria and Australia.

The data collected could be used for international research and to inform policy makers and service providers about involuntary pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Participation is voluntary and unrelated to course requirements.

To access the on-line questionnaire, the following information must be entered: Login ["Brown student"] and password ["student"]. The Web site will be active until Wednesday, May 14.

Questions or comments about the survey can be e-mailed to Laura Bernardi or Sarah Waldman.

Brown in the News

Washington Post of April 12: Comments from Neta Crawford, associate professor at the Watson Institute, were included in an article by reporter Philip Kennicott about the current period in the conflict in Iraq.

“The U.S. government is very sensitive about what to call this new period,” Kennicott wrote. “Colonization is definitely not on the table. But the word has been percolating in foreign policy journals, and in debates between the right and the left.”

 “‘I think this vague interim period of not having a vision is why we're reaching back to other models of how occupation works,’” Crawford said. “Crawford believes the word colonialism is thrown around too loosely (‘It was harsh and brutal and we probably won't, one hopes, see that system again,’ she says).”

Brown faculty are often quoted in the media. For regular online updates, go to Brown in the News.