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Emory students named first all-female team to win national debate tournament
From a Emory University New Release, April 6, 2007, Read more >>
Emory students selected for the Bobby Jones Scholarship
By Beverly Clark
Widely known as the Bobby Jones Scholarship, the award was established in 1976 and recognizes individuals who will be excellent representatives of Emory at St. Andrews. Qualities required to fulfill this ambassadorship include intellectual excellence, a record of significant leadership, and academic interests that can be pursued through the offerings at St. Andrews. The scholars receive full tuition and a travel stipend for their year of study. In addition, four St. Andrews students are chosen to spend a year at Emory.
BROWN, a history and journalism major from Atlanta, is editor-in-chief of The Emory Wheel. He also founded The Hub, which was named one of the nation's best student-run magazines by Newsweek in its first year. He has served as a resident assistant, interned with the Center for Ethics' servant leadership program, and reported for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, Newsweek and The Cape Times in Capetown, South Africa. He will intern with the Boston Globe this summer.
HAAG is from Loveland, Ohio, and will graduate with a dual bachelor and master's degree in history and classical civilization. His master's thesis is a comparative study of Julius Caesar and Ulysses S. Grant, focusing on the role of clemency after civil wars. He was president of the National Senior Classical League, comprising 5,000 collegiate classicists, the Ohio Senior Classical League, the Emory Pre-Law Society and Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He also served as editor of the Emory Political Review. A Robert W. Woodruff Scholar -- the University's highest merit scholarship -- Haag is a representative at large in Emory's Student Government Association.
LYMAN, from Lake Forest, Ill., is a double major in biology and music, and is completing an honors thesis in piano performance this spring. She has participated in fellowships at Emory, including International Research Experience for Science and Problems and Research to Integrate Science & Math, and has served as a resident assistant and sophomore advisor. She studied fish ecology at the University of Konstanz, Germany, geochemistry at the Great Lakes Water Institute on an internship funded by the National Science Foundation, and served her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, as scholarship chair.
MCCRARY, from Valdosta, Ga., is a member of the Class of 2007 who received his bachelor of science in biology in December. He was president of his fraternity, Kappa Alpha, a leader in the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, and a research assistant at Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He also spent 10 weeks last summer in rural villages of Southeast Asia, distributing food, digging wells and supporting small churches.
Recipients are selected by a committee of faculty, administrators and trustees of the Robert T. Jones Committee as well as former Jones scholars. The late Bobby Jones, an internationally renowned golfer, was an Emory School of Law alumnus remembered by those who knew him as an extraordinary man of rare loyalty, compassion and integrity.
From Emory Report, February 19, 2007
Dalai Lama named Emory distinguished professor
By Nancy Seideman
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama has been named Presidential Distinguished Professor at Emory University, the first university appointment accepted by the 1989 Nobel Peace Laureate and leader of the Tibetan exile community.
The Dalai Lama will deliver his inaugural lecture during an Oct. 20-22 visit to Emory, during which he will participate in a conference on science and spirituality, and an interfaith session on religion as a source of conflict and a resource for peace building. His Holiness is scheduled to give a public talk, "Educating the Heart and Mind," at an Emory-sponsored event in Centennial Olympic Park Oct. 22. For information, go to www.dalailama.emory.edu.
"To have a colleague of the Dalai Lama's stature in our community will be a constant source of inspiration and encouragement to our faculty, staff and students as we strive to realize the vision of educating both the heart and mind for the greater good of humanity," Emory President Jim Wagner said. "His presence will contribute significantly to fulfilling the university's strategic goals, including bringing engaged scholars together in a strong and vital community to confront the human condition."
"I look forward to offering my services to the Emory students and community. I firmly believe that education is an indispensable tool for the flourishing of human well-being and the creation of a just and peaceful society, and I am delighted to make a small contribution in this regard through this appointment," the Dalai Lama said. "I have long believed in and advocated a dialogue and cross-fertilization between science and spirituality, as both are essential for enriching human life and alleviating suffering on both individual and global levels."
The Dalai Lama's appointment is the most recent outgrowth of the Emory-Tibet Partnership, which was founded in 1998 to bring together the best of Western and Tibetan Buddhist intellectual traditions.
Emory is recognized as one of the premier centers of study of Tibetan philosophy and religion in the West, primarily due to the university's extraordinary relationship with Tibetan Buddhist institutes of higher learning based in India, including the Drepung Loseling Monastery and the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile. One of the most ambitious projects of this partnership is an historic initiative to develop and implement a comprehensive science education curriculum for Tibetan monastics.
"I deeply appreciate that Emory University has made a commitment to fully collaborate with the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives to develop and implement a comprehensive and sustainable science education program for Tibetan monastics," the Dalai Lama said.
Many of Emory's university-wide strategic plan initiatives address the interface between religion and science. His Holiness has pioneered in promoting a genuine and substantive dialogue between science and spirituality. Emory's commitment to developing and implementing a science education program for Tibetan monks and nuns will help realize the Dalai Lama's vision of offering comprehensive science education within the monastic curriculum.
As Presidential Distinguished Professor, the Dalai Lama will continue to provide private teaching sessions with students and faculty during Emory study-abroad programs in Dharamsala, as well as to provide opportunities for University community members to attend his annual teachings. He also will make periodic visits to Emory to participate in programs. Emory will establish a fellowship in the Dalai Lama's name to fund annual scholarships for Tibetan students attending Emory undergraduate and graduate schools.
The Dalai Lama has devoted his life to the non-violent resolution of Tibetan-Chinese conflict and to the preservation of the Tibetan history, education, culture and traditions. The 1959 occupation of Tibet by China forced the Dalai Lama to flee his country and take exile in India, where he serves as the political and spiritual leader of 6 million Tibetans worldwide, including the Tibetan community and government-in-exile based in Dharamsala.
In September 2006, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to award the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor in the nation, for his advocacy of religious harmony, nonviolence and human rights throughout the world, and for his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Tibet issue through dialogue with Chinese leadership.
From Emory Report, February 5, 2007
Science Experience Abroad Program (SEA) recognized as a "Best Practice" in international education
Since its founding in 2005, SEA has already made a decisive impact on study abroad and enriched the student culture in the sciences at Emory. Now with this recognition, SEA will serve as a national model for internationalizing the undergraduate science curriculum. IIE will feature Emory's science abroad program in their publications and Dean Preetha Ram and Dr. Philip Wainwright have been invited to present the program at the Annual Best Practices Conference in New York. SEA is a joint effort of Ram's office in the College's Office for Undergraduate Education and the Center for International Programs Abroad, directed by Wainwright.
IIE has over 850 member institutions in over 35 countries and administers the Fulbright Program, the Humphrey mid-career fellowships, the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program, and many other programs.
Emory slashes debt burden for undergrads
By Elaine Justice
"These new programs will make it possible for any qualified student to obtain the advantages of an Emory education regardless of family background or circumstance," President Jim Wagner said. "We are especially concerned to address the particular needs of many middle-income families, who ironically make too much money to qualify for many types of financial aid, but who find themselves unable to afford four years of college education without incurring substantial levels of debt."
Under Emory's new Loan Replacement Grant, students whose families demonstrate financial need and have assessed income of $50,000 or less will graduate with no need-based loans from their four undergraduate years. Emory's new Loan Cap Program will assist students from families with assessed income between $50,001 to $100,000 by capping their total need-based loan amount over four years at $15,000.
"We believe that extending loan caps to families making up to $100,000 is rare, if not unique, among our peers," Provost Earl Lewis said. "Most other loan replacement or loan cap programs are aimed primarily at low-income students."
"We are committed to providing access to an Emory education for all students," Wagner said. "An important goal is to foster further excellence of our academic community with the inclusion of highly talented students who would not have felt able to seriously consider applying to Emory in the past."
The new Loan Replacement Grant will be available to students in all four of Emory's undergraduate divisions — the two-year Oxford College, the four-year Emory College, the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and Goizueta Business School. The Loan Cap Program will be available to students beginning enrollment in 2007.
In another initiative announced today, Emory is rolling out new Liberal Arts Scholarships for semi-finalists applying for the University's long-time Emory Scholars Program, recognizing outstanding academic achievement, talent, leadership and community service among high school students. The Emory Scholars program began in 1979 as a result of the $103 million gift from the Woodruff Foundation; each year the University awards some 70 scholarships to outstanding entering freshmen, including Woodruff Scholarships.
Emory also will enhance its Dean's Achievement Scholarships, rewarding academic achievement, leadership and community service among rising Emory sophomores, juniors and seniors who did not receive a merit scholarship coming from high school. "The opportunity to receive merit-based awards as a function of college performance is rare," said Robert Paul, dean of Emory College.
"We greatly value rewarding students for their ongoing excellent work in Emory College," said Thomas Lancaster, senior associate dean for undergraduate education and administrator of the program. The Dean's Achievement Scholars will be selected after the spring semester by a comprehensive selection committee comprised of faculty from across the university and alumni, Lancaster said. Those selected will become part of the Emory Scholars Program.
Once fully implemented, the University's investment in these initiatives will be about $7 million per year (in today's dollars). Emory's Strategic Plan funds will support the new programs for the first five years. They will be sustained by reallocating existing endowment streams of approximately $150 million and by raising at least an additional $75 million in endowment by the end of those five years, Wagner said.
From Emory Report, January 16, 2007
Fox-Genovese, Eleonore Raoul Professor of the Humanities, dies
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Eleonore Raoul Professor of the Humanities, died on January 2, 2007, at Emory University Hospital as a result of complications from surgery in October.
Professor Fox-Genovese, who earned her doctorate at Harvard, was a devoted teacher and a highly regarded scholar in the fields of southern history, French history, and women's studies. In 1986 she was the founding director of Emory's Institute for Women's Studies, which has become one of the leading centers of its kind in the U.S. and was the first to offer a doctoral program in the field.
Over the course of her academic career at Emory, she directed the dissertations of more than 32 doctoral candidates. In a 2004 interview, she said, "My students come first and they know it. Caring about teaching means that you care about clarity and meaning and significance: Why is this worth devoting your life to? What's it for? I feel pretty strongly about these things."
In 2003, President George W. Bush awarded her the National Humanities Medal. The medal citation recognized her "for illuminating women's history and bravely exploring the culture of America's past and present. A defender of reason and servant of faith, she has uncovered hidden truths and spoken with courage in every line and chapter of her life."
The funeral mass for Professor Fox-Genovese was held on Friday, January 5. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, National Council of the United States, 58 Progress Parkway, St. Louis, Missouri 63043-3706.
Emory undergraduates rank high in national survey of student engagement
An analysis of the NSSE data reveals:
- Emory College students spend an average of 6 to 10 hours a week participating in co-curricular activities on campus—peers average 1 to 5 hours a week;
- 90 percent of College seniors have taken foreign language coursework compared to 51 percent of peers;
- 49 percent of Emory College students have done study abroad programs compared to 17 percent of peers;
- 80 percent of seniors reported that they had participated in community service or volunteer work, compared to 64 percent of their peers (more than 50 percent of Emory freshman reported the same, compared to 37 percent nationally);
- By their senior year, almost 50 percent of Emory students report high levels of student-faculty interaction, compared to fewer than 40 percent of their peers at the Carnegie schools;
- By senior year, 47 percent of Emory students worked on a research project with a faculty member outside of course or program requirements compared to only 24 percent of their peers.
For more information on the NSSE study, "Engaged Learning: Fostering Success of All Students," see the December 11, 2006, issue of Emory Report.
Emory to Expand Reach of Holocaust Site
The College will seek to increase access to a Web site on Holocaust denial by translating its content into Farsi (the major language of Iran), Arabic and other languages. In this way, says Emory historian Deborah Lipstadt, "People in countries where Holocaust denial is widespread can have access to the historical facts."
"I'm convinced that there are people in predominantly Muslim countries, especially in the Middle East, who are being inundated with Holocaust deniers' claims and don't know that the deniers are fabricating and distorting," says Lipstadt.
"For those in countries were Holocaust denial is frequently in the press and who don't speak English, there is no way to access the truth."
The Holocaust Denial on Trial Web site presents the legal and historical documents from the British Holocaust denial libel trial, David Irving v. Penguin UK and Deborah Lipstadt (1996-2001). Lipstadt won a resounding victory in the trial in which a British judge ruled that Irving was a Holocaust denier and falsifier of history.
Emory plans to create subject-specific resource guides, which will include materials in Farsi, Arabic, Russian and other languages representing cultures where Holocaust denial is widespread.
Also included on the enhanced site will be lesson plans for educators and a new structure that will allow users to more easily navigate the site and locate information relevant to their needs. The Web site already is being used in college and law school classes to demonstrate Holocaust denial's inherent fallacy.
Emory recognized for community engagement by Carnegie
This classification recognizes Emory's contributions to the local community and follows closely on the announcement by the New England Board of Higher Education that named Emory as one of 25 "best-neighbor" urban colleges.
According to the Carnegie website (which includes a full listing of colleges), 88 institutions applied for classification in one of three categories: Curricular Engagement, Outreach and Partnerships, or substantial commitments in both. Emory was one of 62 institutions to meet the criteria for having deep engagement in both areas.
"Finding new and better ways to connect with their communities should be a high priority for higher education institutions today," says Lee S. Shulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation. "The campuses participating in this elective classification provide useful models of engagement around teaching and learning and around research agendas that benefit from collaborative relationships."
While Emory's classification as an "Engaged Institution" reflects on the entire University, a leader in this area is the College-based Office of University-Community Partnerships (OUCP). Since its inception in 2001, OUCP has connected Emory students, faculty, and staff with community-based groups, nonprofit organizations, private businesses, and government agencies to address important community concerns.
Over the next five years, the University plans to increase its investment in this area with a $12 million investment to enhance the university's engagement with the greater Atlanta community and beyond. As a recent Emory Report article points out, Emory plans to secure $10 million in gifts and grants over the next five years to help the OUCP to tap more fully the enormous potential for engaged scholarship and learning at Emory — particularly in its graduate and professional schools — and in the Atlanta community. This initiative builds on the five major themes of Emory's strategic plan.
In particular, the funding will help initiatives such as SHINE (Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders), the Emory Community Building Fellowship, faculty mini-grants, and the Community Partnership Faculty Fellows program — which helps faculty learn about the pedagogy of community-based learning and research.