Brown University News Bureau

The Brown University News Bureau

1995-1996 index

Distributed May 16, 1996
Contact: Linda Mahdesian

Commencement 1996

1996 Forums to feature Sandra Day O'Connor, Mary Chapin Carpenter

This year's Commencement Forums will be presented Saturday, May 25, at various sites on campus and will feature U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter, R.I. Sen. John Chafee and other special guests, alumni, faculty and student presenters.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- From the academic to the political to the artistic, this year's Commencement Forums at Brown University offer something for every intellectual palette. Presented all day Saturday, May 25, the forums are an integral part of the University's Commencement/Reunion Weekend.

Drawing on the knowledge, talent and expertise of Brown faculty, alumni, students, parents and special guests, this year's forums will include presentations by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter, R.I. Sen. John Chafee, Nobel physics laureate Jack Steinberger, Dance Theatre of Harlem founder Arthur Mitchell, and University of Bologna President Fabio Roversi Monaco.

This year's forums will also include remembrances by veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the war in Vietnam, as part of a special commemoration of Brown alumni who died in the nation's service.

More than two dozen forums will take place during four time slots on Saturday: 9:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 2:15 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. at various locations on campus. Each session will be between 60 to 90 minutes, with substantial time devoted to questions from the audience. All forums are free and open to the public.

Editors: Times and locations of forums are subject to change. Contact the Office of Special Events for the latest information: 401/863-2474.

9:30 a.m.

Is There Journalism in the Information Age?: Whatever Happened to TV News?

Ralph Begleiter '71, CNN world affairs correspondent

Room 101, Salomon Center for Teaching, The College Green

This forum offers a chance to discuss changes in broadcast journalism wrought by the satellite age and by the "new media" of computers and cable television. What's the difference between news and the Internet? CNN's most widely traveled reporter, Begleiter will answer questions about CNN, international television, and your lane on the information superhighway.

Getting to the Top with Bottom, and Other Matter

David Cutts, Brown professor of physics

Room 102, Wilson Hall, The College Green

Using the world's highest energy particle accelerator at Fermi National Lab, Brown students and faculty examine proton-antiproton collisions for evidence of new components of matter. Tagging "bottom" quarks is a key to finding "top" quarks, but finding "stop squarks" is altogether another matter. Part of an international collaboration, the Brown team supplied key parts of the trigger system used to select the most promising collisions for detailed study and assumed leadership roles in the search for new particles. The group's discovery of the top quark last spring was a major step. Hints of a new family of particles, called "supersymmetric" (Susy), might lead to even more exciting discoveries. In this forum Cutts will describe these searches and the detector which Brown has helped build and operate.

Biology and Life

(The Inaugural Frank and Joan Rothman Lecture)

H. Robert Horvitz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of biology and investigator at the M.I.T.'s Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Laboratories

Room 001, Salomon Center for Teaching, The College Green

A member of the National Academy of Sciences and, in 1995, one of the two awardees of the Dana Foundation, Robert Horvitz has had a distinguished career as a behavioral and developmental geneticist. His work has focused on two important questions: 1) what mechanisms determine cell lineage and cell fate - i.e., as an organism develops, how do certain cells become nerve cells, skin cells, etc.? - and 2) what causes cell death (those which appear during normal development as well as in pathological cases such as Alzheimer's disease)? Horvitz will discuss his work for a lay audience.

This lecture is underwritten by a grant from President Gregorian to honor Professor Frank Rothman, former provost and dean of biology, and his wife, Joan, for their years of service to Brown. The annual Frank and Joan Rothman Lectureship brings to Brown a scholar to present work on basic genetic and molecular biological mechanisms (the area of Professor Frank Rothman's research) and, in alternate years, on contributions of biology to our understanding of human health (an area of particular interest to Joan Rothman).

The Female Athlete: You've Come a Long Way Baby?!

Doreen Wiggins, M.D., clinical assistant professor OB/GYN, and Michael Wiggins, M.D., director of the division of sports medicine, department of orthopedics, Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan of New England

Room 120, List Art Center, 64 College St.

Female participation in athletics has skyrocketed in the last 20 years. This has led to new, challenging medical concerns. Eating disorders, injuries specific to females, and physiologic issues as they relate to coed competition have all become important to understand. Yet numerous benefits from increased athletic participation among females include a decrease in teen pregnancy, drug use, and high school drop-out rates, as well as a reduction in deaths due to cancer and heart disease. The question then remains: Just how far have females come in the field of athletics, fitness, and sport? Is the benefit vs. risk ratio for female athletes different than for male athletes?

Get A Financial Life!

Beth Kobliner, author of the new book, Get A Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your 20s and 30s

Carmichael Auditorium, Hunter Laboratory, 89 Waterman St.

Beth Kobliner '86 will offer down-to-earth, practical advice to a financially challenged generation. She began her career as a staff research associate for Sylvia Porter, the pioneer of personal finance journalism, and for the last eight years, has been a writer for Money magazine.

A Challenge for Democracy: A Senior Oration Remembered

Nathaniel Davis '46, international statesman and World War II veteran, currently the Alexander and Adelaide Hixon Professor of Humanities at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif.

Sayles Hall, The College Green

Senior orations have been part of Brown since its first Commencement in 1769, when the University began the custom of having two graduating students, rather than an outside Commencement speaker, address their classmates. The orations have attracted media attention over the years, but none more than Nathaniel Davis' 1944 remarks called "A War Ideal." Said Davis at the end of his senior oration: "Not soon again will America's force be doubted. But some day those arms will grow rusty and we must have a force of ideals, not consumed, but strengthened. For we should not have a small objective for such a big war, and there is a big objective: to build a free world for free men." On July 16, 1944, Davis's oration appeared in the New York Times Magazine.

After graduation from Brown, the Fletcher School at Tufts and service in the U.S. Navy, Davis held foreign service posts in Czechoslovakia, Italy and Russia and was U.S. ambassador to Guatemala, Chile and Switzerland. He has received many civilian awards. Among his publications are two books: A Contemporary History of Russian Orthodoxy and The Last Two Years of Salvadore Allende.

10:45 a.m.

The United States and the Future of Nuclear Weapons

Jack Steinberger, Nobel laureate in physics, currently of the Center for Nuclear Physics in Geneva, and a member of "Pugwash," the group which was awarded the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize

Room 001, Salomon Center for Teaching, The College Green

Steinberger is one of today's most distinguished and respected physicists. His experiments have always been at the cutting edge and have often defined the new frontier of the field itself. They have embraced both precision measurements and entirely new discoveries, such as that for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1988: an experiment concerning the fundamental nature of the particle known as the neutrino. It is a particle now understood to play a major role in the dynamics of the universe, from radioactivity here on Earth to the death of stars called supernovae.

As evidenced by his membership in "Pugwash" - an organization of Western and Soviet academics who focused their efforts to stop the Cold War by building contacts and trust between Western and Soviet scientists - Steinberger has for a long time been concerned with the dangers of the nuclear arms race. He believes that human survival depends on a nuclear weapon-free world - an achievable goal in which the American public must play an essential role.

Theories in Action: A Discussion of Contemporary Issues, Academia and Activism

1996 Resource Scholars Joshua Steinfeld '96, Bancroft Wright '97, Alisa Algava '95.5, Joshua Bell '96, Lexi Rudnitsky '96, and Jana Lipman '96

Lower Manning Hall, The College Green

The Resource Scholars Program, sponsored by the Resource Center and Dean of the College, supports interdisciplinary studies by encouraging the integration of theoretical and practical approaches in the analysis of complex questions. Its intent is to foster academic discussion of contemporary issues and raise awareness of these issues by making the academic accessible to a public audience. This panel of six undergraduates will offer their outstanding work (thesis, independent research, senior projects, internships, etc.) as a basis for conversation and interaction with the audience.

Through his work with acute coronary syndrome patients, Joshua Steinfeld will compare the benefits and drawbacks of each care environment and the implications for health care research and reform. Bancroft Wright will present the summer youth education program he developed through his work with the Urban League in Providence. His model critiques the present educational system and advances a new way of conceptualizing such a vital tool. Alisa Algava will discuss issues of inclusion and exclusion in secondary education. She examines the issues facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered youth in high schools and proposes strategies that will help schools become safer and better for all students. Joshua Bell's work deals with interdisciplinary approaches to knowing and understanding history through comparative analysis of material culture. Lexi Rudnitsky will present her research on the Communities of Population in Resistance, a group which nonviolently resisted military offensives and established democratic communities in the mountains and jungles of Northern Guatemala. Jana Lipman conducted interviews with children of Vietnamese women and American soldiers and civilians. She will analyze how the history of Amerasians reflects American and Vietnamese attitudes toward one another after the Vietnam War.

American Families in the Age of "Family Values"

Martha Fraad Haffey and Leah Sprague

Room 120, List Art Center, 64 College St.

"Family values" is a phrase used by all parts of the political spectrum to bolster their own agenda. Seasoned professionals Martha Fraad Haffey '65 and Leah Sprague '66 will speak about "family value" issues of women, children and families that they face in their careers. Haffey is an associate professor at the Hunter College School of Social Work, a vice president and clinical director of a therapeutic service for women, and has published numerous articles in the field of social work. Sprague is a circuit justice in the Massachusetts Trial Court, and since 1993, has served as presiding justice in the Milford District Court.

Dancing Through Barriers: Arts, Education, and Arthur Mitchell

Arthur Mitchell, president and artistic director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem

Room 101, Salomon Center for Teaching, The College Green

In 1955, Arthur Mitchell made his debut with the New York City Ballet and made history as the first African-American male dancer to become a permanent member of a major American ballet company. In 1968, Mitchell founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem as his personal commitment to the people of Harlem following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Now, 27 years later, the Dance Theatre of Harlem is widely acclaimed as a premier dance institution with a solid commitment to enriching the lives of young people and adults around the world through dance. As a dancer, choreographer, educator, and artistic director, Mitchell has been a pivotal figure in the world of dance for over four decades. He has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Kennedy Center Honor, a MacArthur Fellowship, and the designation of "Ambassador for the Arts" by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Korea: The Coldest War

Sen. John Chafee (R-RI), veteran of WWII and the Korean War

Sayles Hall, The College Green

Sen. John Chafee left Yale to enlist in the Marine Corps. He served in the original invasion of Guadalcanal and in 1951 was recalled to duty, commanding a rifle company in Korea. James Brady's book, A Memoir of Korea: The Coldest War, is dedicated to those who fought in Korea, especially the First Marine Division and Dog Company, which Chafee commanded. Writes Brady: "If this book has a hero, it is Capt. John H. Chafee."

After Korea, Chafee was elected as a state legislator and three-time governor of Rhode Island, chosen for that office with the largest margin of votes in the state's history. He was appointed secretary of the Navy in 1969 and served for nearly four years. In 1976, he became the only Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island in 67 years and is now serving his fourth term.

Studying America/Teaching America: Celebrating 50 Years of Graduate Education in American Civilization at Brown

Susan Douglas '79 Ph.D., professor of media and American studies at Hampshire College, author of Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media; Gary Kulik '81 Ph.D., director of the library at Winterthur Library, Museum and Gardens; and Lois Rudnick '77 Ph.D., director of the American Studies Program and professor of English at University of Massachusetts - Boston; moderated by Susan Smulyan, chair of the Department of American Civilization at Brown

Carmichael Auditorium, Hunter Laboratory, 89 Waterman St.

From its Cold War beginnings through studies of class and gender to a multicultural present, Brown's graduate program in American civilization has shaped and reflected the field of American studies. In this forum, three eminent scholars who received their Ph.D.s from Brown will discuss the past, present, and future of interdisciplinary studies of the Americas.

Today's Universities and the Challenge of the Next Millennium

President of the University of Bologna, Fabio Roversi Monaco

Alumnae Hall, 194 Meeting St.

Fabio Roversi Monaco recently began an unprecedented fourth term as the elected rector (president) of the Europe's oldest university. During his first term in 1988, Bologna celebrated its 900th anniversary. This was, among other things, the occasion for the redaction of the pioneering document known as the Magna Charta Universitatum, the principles of which were agreed upon at a meeting in Bologna of representatives from 80 European universities in 1987 and subscribed to by the presidents of 450 leading world universities on September 18, 1988.

Roversi Monaco will review the principles of this important document, which embraces the idea of a common heritage and a future blueprint for the universities of Italy, Europe, and the United States. He will discuss the new role of the University in highly developed nations, the original significance of the term "Universitas," and the risks of fragmentation inherent in an over-specialized professional approach. He will also discuss the role of research in the university, the problems of public and private funding, and the economic self-sufficiency and "living spirit" of the university.

2:15 p.m.

Modern Magic and the Movies: (Digital) Sleight of Hand in Film

Scott E. Anderson '86, winner of the Academy Award this year for best visual effects for his work on Babe

Room 101, Salomon Center for Teaching, The College Green

The magic of the movies is one area in which the public has reaped the benefits of modern science. From pork-chop interlocutors to ultra-hip Terminators, filmgoers have been enjoying special visual effects enhanced by the computer-generated animation used to make super-sized imaginations come alive. Amazing progress has been made since the days of Godzilla v. Mothra, and Scott Anderson, a 1986 Brown University graduate with degrees in both computer science and semiotics, is a man behind the mixed media. His credits include Babe and Terminator II, plus Die Hard with a Vengeance, RoboCop, Star Trek VI, Backdraft, The Hunt for Red October, The Abyss, and scores of other feature films, television commercials, and various hi-tech projects, including most recently, the new hit film James and the Giant Peach, directed by Tim Burton. Anderson has won numerous Academy and Clio awards and nominations, and will bring some samples of his high-tech wizardry to illustrate his talk.

The Society of the Mind

(The Second Annual Maurice and Yetta Glicksman Lecture)

Marvin L. Minsky, Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at M.I.T.

Room 001, Salomon Center for Teaching, The College Green

Marvin Minsky believes that computer science could lead to a transformation of our culture because it provides humanity with its first body of insights about the nature of complex information processing. Working at M.I.T.'s Media Lab, Minsky pioneered the domain of practical technology and artificial intelligence. He has designed some of the first mechanical limbs, scanners and other robotic projects as well as inventing the Confocal Scanning Microscope, an optical instrument. A little more than a decade ago, Minsky and Seymour Papert formulated a theory called The Society of the Mind, which combined insights from developmental child psychology with attempts to build intelligent machines. The theory is based on the idea that intelligence is the product of managed interaction of a diverse array of agents, rather than the product of a singular mechanism.

This lecture is underwritten by a grant from President Vartan Gregorian to honor Maurice and Yetta Glicksman's 25 years of service to Brown. Maurice Glicksman has served as provost, dean of the Graduate School, and University Professor and professor of engineering and physics.

Armfuls of Time: The Extraordinary Resilience of Seriously Ill Children

(The Tenth Anniversary Irene B. Owens Memorial Lecture)

Barbara Sourkes
, and scores of other feature films, television commercials, and various hi-tech projects, including most recently, the new hit film James and the Giant Peach, directed by Tim Burton. Anderson has won numerous Academy and Clio awards and nominations, and will bring some samples of his high-tech wizardry to illustrate his talk.

The Society of the Mind

(The Second Annual Maurice and Yetta Glicksman Lecture)

Marvin L. Minsky, Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at M.I.T.

Room 001, Salomon Center for Teaching, The College Green

Marvin Minsky believes that computer science could lead to a transformation of our culture because it provides humanity with its first body of insights about the nature of complex information processing. Working at M.I.T.'s Media Lab, Minsky pioneered the domain of practical technology and artificial intelligence. He has designed some of the first mechanical limbs, scanners and other robotic projects as well as inventing the Confocal Scanning Microscope, an optical instrument. A little more than a decade ago, Minsky and Seymour Papert formulated a theory called The Society of the Mind, which combined insights from developmental child psychology with attempts to build intelligent machines. The theory is based on the idea that intelligence is the product of managed interaction of a diverse array of agents, rather than the product of a singular mechanism.

This lecture is underwritten by a grant from President Vartan Gregorian to honor Maurice and Yetta Glicksman's 25 years of service to Brown. Maurice Glicksman has served as provost, dean of the Graduate School, and University Professor and professor of engineering and physics.

Armfuls of Time: The Extraordinary Resilience of Seriously Ill Children

(The Tenth Anniversary Irene B. Owens Memorial Lecture)

Barbara Sourkes
, and scores of other feature films, television commercials, and various hi-tech projects, including most recently, the new hit film James and the Giant Peach, directed by Tim Burton. Anderson has won numerous Academy and Clio awards and nominations, and will bring some samples of his high-tech wizardry to illustrate his talk.

The Society of the Mind

(The Second Annual Maurice and Yetta Glicksman Lecture)

Marvin L. Minsky, Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at M.I.T.

Room 001, Salomon Center for Teaching, The College Green

Marvin Minsky believes that computer science could lead to a transformation of our culture because it provides humanity with its first body of insights about the nature of complex information processing. Working at M.I.T.'s Media Lab, Minsky pioneered the domain of practical technology and artificial intelligence. He has designed some of the first mechanical limbs, scanners and other robotic projects as well as inventing the Confocal Scanning Microscope, an optical instrument. A little more than a decade ago, Minsky and Seymour Papert formulated a theory called The Society of the Mind, which combined insights from developmental child psychology with attempts to build intelligent machines. The theory is based on the idea that intelligence is the product of managed interaction of a diverse array of agents, rather than the product of a singular mechanism.

This lecture is underwritten by a grant from President Vartan Gregorian to honor Maurice and Yetta Glicksman's 25 years of service to Brown. Maurice Glicksman has served as provost, dean of the Graduate School, and University Professor and professor of engineering and physics.

Armfuls of Time: The Extraordinary Resilience of Seriously Ill Children

(The Tenth Anniversary Irene B. Owens Memorial Lecture)

Barbara Sourkes