News
Political Scientist Joins Foundation for Ethics in Public Service Board
The Foundation for Ethics in Public Service has appointed Andrew J. Taylor, Chair and Professor of Political Science at NC State's School of Public and International Affairs, to its advisory board.
In its efforts to bring "a new level of transparency, accountability and integrity to all levels of American government," the Foundation receives and independently investigates allegations of corruption in government; provides reports of corruption to investigative journalists; and educates government leaders and the general public on the true nature of ethics in government as well as the causes and remedies of public corruption.
Former State Auditor Les Merritt, Jr. is Executive Director of the Foundation; former FBI Special Agent and Manager Frank L. Perry is Director of Investigations and Public Affairs. Taylor joins Gene Boyce, David Levinson, Bob Luddy, Orage Quarles III, Denis Ventriglia, and John Werner on the board.
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History Professor Judy Kertész: Co-curates New Exhibit at Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
Judy Kertész is one of the co-curators of IndiVisible: African-Native Lives in the Americas, a new exhibit opening Friday, November 13, at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), in Washington DC. This exhibit will focus on the historical relationships between African and Native peoples in the Americas. Opening events include a symposium on Friday, November 13, and a book signing event on Saturday, November 14.
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Comm Grad is a CNN Hero
How do you go from pouring cosmos to providing clean water for people in impoverished countries? Ask Doc Hendley (Communication, '04), who has been named a CNN Hero for tapping into his bartending experience "to save thousands of lives on the other side of the world."
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The Secret HIstory of Science Fiction
The anthology, a collection of stories from 1973 to 2008, makies the case for a rapprochement between science fiction and literary fiction. It contains stories by well known contemporary writers like Don DeLillo, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Margaret Atwood and Steven Millhauser, along with others by writers generally associated with science fiction like Lucius Shepard, Kate Wilhelm, Thomas Disch, and Maureen McHugh.
Kessel also reports the publication of a new story, "Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance," in the original anthology The New Space Opera 2.
CHASS Forensics Expert Helps Solve Crimes
A front-page Raleigh News and Observer article focuses on CHASS faculty member and forensics expert Ann Ross. She was called in to help identify remains of a woman murdered in rural Edgecombe County. Her forensics expertise has helped identify victims from Bosnia to Chile, and across North Carolina.
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Ed Funkhouser: Voice of the Wolfpack
Ed Funkhouser really knows how to work a crowd.
He does it every Saturday in the fall when NC State plays a home football game at Carter-Finley Stadium.
On game days, the Communication professor--and the Voice of the Wolfpack--can get nearly 60,000 Wolfpack fans to yell "first down" in unison by simply inflecting his voice, measuring his tone and pacing his delivery.
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Chart Junk? How Pictures May Help Make Graphs Better
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Kevin Howell Named Interim Head of Alumni Relations
In addition to maintaining current alumni outreach and service initiatives and objectives, Howell will work with the Alumni Association Board of Directors and leadership of the university to consider long-term strategies, including the fiscal planning needed to support the growth of the association.
Howell currently serves as assistant to the chancellor for external affairs. He is a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and the North Carolina State Board of Education.
A former NC State student body president -- and member of the Board of Trustees -- Howell earned his B.A. in political science in 1988 and his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He and
his wife Aleta, also an NC State alumnus, live in Raleigh with their two daughters.
CSI in a Virtual World
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Post-Racial?
Psychology Professor Rupert Nacoste says we are not in a post-racial era, we are in the midst of a period of interracial transition.
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Speaking In Tongues: Language, Culture and the Future of the Military
In the first year, the project will focus on three critical languages: Arabic, Chinese, and Urdu, according to Department Head Ruth Gross. Persian and Russian will be added in the second year.
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Study: Parenthood Makes Moms More Liberal, Dads More Conservative
"Parenthood seems to heighten the political 'gender gap,' with women becoming more liberal and men more conservative when it comes to government spending on social welfare issues," Greene says.
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What Did You Learn to be in School Today?
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Study Offers Lessons for Obama Regarding Iraq
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Summer 2009 CHASS Newsletter
AAUP Names New Editor for Academe Magazine
Preserving Nom Poetry and Language
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Moonshine Movie
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Disney's Next Generation
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Grant Funds Program on Politics, Law and the Economy
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Think Memory Worsens With Age? Then Yours Probably Will
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Musicologist Shares the Sounds of Suriname
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Study Shows Long-Term Gay Couples Want Legal Rights, Regardless of Marriage
"Our study indicates that marriage is both more and less important to gay and lesbian couples in long-term relationships than was perhaps previously understood -- more important in terms of the legal rights it conveys, but less important as a symbol of commitment," says study co-author Dr. Sinikka Elliott, an assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at NC State. "This research underscores the need for legal protections and rights for all couples."
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CSI Raleigh: College Holds Forensic Science Workshop for Law Enforcement
"Discovery and Recovery: Death in Natural Environments," is being held June 1-5 to help law enforcement officers hone their investigative skills through a combination of classroom instruction and hands-on field exercises.
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Governor Announces Student Government Internships
Kerrie Brackett of Lincolnton, a sophomore criminology and bioarchaeology major, has accepted the Jump Starting Lives internship with the Department of Corrections' Lincoln Correctional Center in Lincolnton.
Aaron Cusick of Raleigh, a graduate student in public history, has accepted the Special Collections internship with the Department of Cultural Resources State Archives Division in Raleigh.
Paul Jones of Raleigh, a senior communication major, has accepted the N.C. State Fair Public Relations internship with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services State Fair Division in Raleigh.
Joanna McKnight of Greenville, a junior history major, has accepted the Architectural Field Studies and Restoration Services Source Book internship with the Department of Cultural Resources Historical Resources Division in Greenville.
Kathryn Pennington of Greensboro, a senior history and communications major, has accepted the Historic Site Interpreter and Researcher internship with the Department of Cultural Resources Duke Homestead Historic Site in Durham.
Mallory Richardson of Raleigh, a senior English and communications major, has accepted the Foster Care and Adoption Task Force internship with the Department of Administration's Commission of Indian Affairs in Raleigh.
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Religious Studies Professor Earns High Honor
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John Kessel Wins Nebula Award
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Three Foreign Language Fulbright Teaching Assistants Coming to CHASS
CHASS Studies Abroad this Summer
Vienna, Austria - Lutz Kube
Oxford, England - Wilton Barnhardt
Burgundy and Paris, France - Dudley Marchi
Lille and Paris, France - Diane Beckman
Guatemala - Linda Williams, Tim Wallace
Florence, Italy - Anne Schiller
Perugia, Italy - Anna Rita Bonaduce-Dresler
Dominican Republic - Mark Darhower
Lima and Cuzco, Peru - Kay and Leo Villa-Garcia
Segovia, Spain - James McConnell
Arusha, Tanzania - Craig Brookins
Thailand - Troy Case, William Wormsley
Here's where else CHASS will be involved around the globe:
Hangzhou, China - Clifford Griffin, Neil Schmid
Prague Institute - Rich Clerkin, Sandy Kessler, Devin and Marsha Orgeron
Maxine Atkinson Wins UNC System Teaching Excellence Award
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People Make Quick Judgments About Dialects
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Three CHASS Students Honored for Service and Leadership
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States That Vote Early — and Right — Can Reap Benefits
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Social Work Conference Focuses on Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
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The So and So Series
Integral to the So and So series is a new print journal, The Raleigh Quarterly that will print work from the visiting poets, from visual artists, and from other poets.
Salerno and Tonelli will run the series and edit the poetry element of Raleigh Quarterly. Readings began in February and are held on Saturdays, 8:00 pm, at The Morning Times Cafe on Hargett Street in Raleigh.
2009 So and So Schedule
February 21: Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Elisa Gabbert, and Tony Tost
May 16: Justin Marks, Kate Pringle, and Chris Vitiello
August 15: Emily Frey, Jim Goar, and Zach Schomburg
November 21: Farrah Field, John Gallaher, and Kate Greenstreet
More information: rqpoetry@gmail.com
CHASS Graduate Students Shine at Research Symposium
Two CHASS graduate students were recognized among their peers in the poster session competition: Erin Rasheedah Banks (Psychology in the Public Interest), for her investigation of health behavior among participants in a diabetes prevention and health promotion program; and Roxana Toma (Public Administration), whose research focused on perceptions of corruption in the Romanian civil service and the factors that facilitate such perceptions.
Among the other CHASS research topics were the variables affecting African-American women's decisions to earn undergraduate degrees in the sciences (Felysha Jenkins, Psychology); who looks at art, where, and why (Jon Burr and Karla Lyles, Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media); and explaining evangelicals' support for the war in Iraq (John Willingham, International Studies and Political Science).
'It was most gratifying to see the extent to which faculty, students, and administrators from across campus were engaged by the posters and research presentations of our CHASS graduate students,' says Vicki Gallagher, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies for the college. 'The projects presented by our students provided a strong indication of the breadth, depth, and significance of graduate education in CHASS. Congratulations to all participants for engaging the larger campus community in significant scholarly discussion.' See pictures from the graduate symposium.
Heidi Hobbs Heads CHASS International Programs
Interim Dean Jeff Braden has named Dr. Heidi Hobbs to serve as CHASS Director of International Programs. Hobbs will chair the college’s international programs committee, oversee CHASS participation in the Alexander Global Village project, develop and promote study abroad programs for the college, international programming, and exchanges. She will represent CHASS on NC State’s International Operations Council and promote CHASS involvement in internationalization opportunities across the campus and beyond. Hobbs will continue in her role as director of the Master of International Studies in the School of Public and International Affairs, a position she has held for the last seven years. Hobbs has brought together faculty from across the university to work with students on international issues. She has developed an international affairs summer study abroad program in Prague and initiated a dual degree program with the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK. She is also a member of the Committee on International Programs. In her new role, Hobbs will focus on expanding coordination among the college’s various units on international issues. This spring, she is establishing a network of international liaisons from each departments. She will use the information she gathers from this group regarding CHASS faculty and student international travel, research, and study abroad programs to create a CHASS international website that can serve as a resource to the college and the university. Hobbs earned her doctoral degree in international relations from the University of Southern California. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Georgia.
Wolfpack Speaks Public Speaking Contest
Hendricks' speech "urging his audience to get off the phone while driving" earned him a $150 scholarship. He beat out 38 competitors who were chosen from among the 800 students taking public speaking classes in CHASS. Students designed persuasive "call to action" speeches to motivate audiences to enact particular policies. After the qualifying rounds, six competitors remained. "The judges thought Cameron had a very personable delivery and a simple solution to a big problem," says Christie Moss, assistant professor of communication, who helped organize the Wolfpack Speaks contest. "The audience could easily relate to cell phone drivers and the potential for car accidents. I doubt anyone talked on their phone while driving home from the contest!"
Wolfpack Speaks winners were:
1st Cameron Hendricks (Sr. Mech. Engineering)
2nd Risa Chavez (So. Psychology)
3rd Sara Rowell (So. Microbiology)
4th Faeben Fulford (Fr. Communication)
5th Jake Sigler (So. Management)
6th Lance Jamison (Jr. Microbiology)
See pictures from the Wolfpack Speaks tournament.
Political Scientist Briefs Congressional Nanotechnology Committee
Prof. Michael Cobb joined Michael M. Crow, president of Arizona State University, and 12 other recognized scholars studying societal implications of nanotechnology to brief the U.S. Congressional Nanotechnology Caucus, with an estimated attendance of 40 congressional staff and other federal policymakers on March 9. Sen Richard Burr (R-NC) is a co-chair of the caucus. The briefing was organized by the NSF-funded Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University (CNS-ASU), in collaboration with the Congressional Nanotechnology Caucus and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Michael D. Cobb’s briefing presentation reported on data from both the National Citizens’ Technology Forum and the subsequent national public opinion poll about public values toward nanotechnology and human enhancement. These data suggest, among other findings, that the public remains hopeful about potential therapeutic advances but that upon deliberation they disfavor many particular potential enhancements. Cobb is associate professor of political science at North Carolina State University and a senior investigator with the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University (CNS-ASU), where he was a leader on the team that conducted the National Citizens’ Technology Forum in March 2008 and the subsequent national survey on nanotechnology and human enhancement. He is studying how public perceptions of emerging nanotechnologies are affected by learning, framing and deliberation.
Political Scientist's Book Explores Environmental Regulations
Assistant Professor of Political Science Lada V. Kochtcheeva explores how policy actors in the United States and Russia have developed flexible incentive-based instruments for environmental protection in her newly-published book, Comparative Environmental Regulation in the United States and Russia: Institutions, Flexible Instruments, and Governance (SUNY Press, 2009). Kochtcheeva analyzes the introduction of flexible laws and regulations in both air and water quality policies in the United States and Russian Federation from the 1960s to the present, highlighting the replacement of command and control systems with flexible instruments such as incentive programs, tradable permits, and pollution charges.
International Studies Professor Honored
A dissertation written by Seth Murray, a faculty member in International Studies, was recognized as the best of the year. The award was coordinated by Eusko Ikaskuntza (the Basque Studies Society in the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain) and the city of Bayonne, France.
McCall Receives Guggenheim Grant
Dr. Patty McCall, professor of sociology, has received a grant from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation that will fund an 18-month study examining violent crime in the European Union. The cross-national study will evaluate the influences of social and economic factors on homicide at the subnational level. The findings will provide policymakers with information on the relationship between welfare policies and violent crime.
American Psychology and Law Society
Ginnie Aldige presented with Brad Ray "Criminal Justice Outcomes of a Mental Health Court" at the American Psychology and Law Society meeting in San Antonio, March 6, 2009.
Written in Stone
Alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and students have all pitched in to pave the way for future students. Proceeds from the brick program support the donor's specified department.
There's room for more. To order your tax deductible, commemorative paver, visit www.chass.ncsu.edu/bricks. You walk the walk. Now you can help pave it.
Will U.S. policy toward Cuba finally change?
U.S. policy toward Cuba has been frozen since the 1960s. What are the prospects for change? Nicholas Robins, history, featured in Q section.
CHASS Dean’s Search Update
The Provost’s office has named four finalists for the CHASS dean position. As part of their campus interviews, the candidates will give public presentations about the future of CHASS. They will also meet with various groups of faculty, students, staff, and administrators. To learn more about the candidates and check the complete schedules, visit the Provost’s Web site.
First Year Writing Program Awarded Certificate of Excellence
The NC State First Year Writing Program (FYWP)has been awarded a Writing Program Certificate of Excellence by the Conference on College Composition and Communication. According to FYWP Director Susan Miller-Cochran, the selection committee cited many noteworthy aspects of the program, including small class sizes, renewable full-time contracts for faculty members, the TA training program, and professional development opportunities provided by the program.
More information about the award can be found at: http://www.ncte.org/cccc/awards/writingprogramcert
Tequila Boom Triggers Hangover in Mexico
Tequila Boom Triggers Social, Environmental Hangover in Mexico
The Fascinating Aging Mind
Distractibility and Your Aging Mind
Older but wiser? Maybe it's true. A recent study by Professor of Psychology Tom Hess and graduate student Cassandra Germain challenged the notion that older people are more distractible and struggle more than the young to focus on a given task.
Earlier research showed adults having a harder time on a test in which they were asked to ignore irrelevant text interspersed within the main text they were reading. Germain gave older adults a similar reading test using text related to topics like social security and continuing education–topics of particular interest to older adults.
The results? The older adults performed just as well as younger participants. "When the content was of great interest to them, they were not distracted," Hess says. "Older people may be more selective about how they expend their mental energy, so that when they are very motivated and engaged, they will often perform just as well as a younger person."
"We all become more selective about what we pay attention to, especially as we have less energy to do all that we want to do," he says.
Problem-Solving and Your Aging Mind
Dr. Jason Allaire wants to help older adults deal with everyday issues: How to understand the nutrition information on food labels. How to interpret complicated financial forms. How to keep up with taking life-saving medicines.
Allaire's research has shown that the ability to solve these daily challenges is associated with maintaining independence and even with mortality. He has found that older adults are not consistent in their ability to solve everyday problems and that such variability might be related to stress, negative emotions, and even high blood pressure.
And in collaboration with Dr. Keith Whitfield, his colleague at Duke University, Allaire is examining the links between cognition, health, and mild cognitive impairment in older urban African Americans. "Researchers are too often interested in finding differences between groups of people without first studying the people that make up those groups," he says. "Not enough research has been conducted specifically in minority populations."
Stress and Your Aging Mind
No matter our age, stress affects our daily moods and our physical well-being. But is age a factor in how we cope with the inevitable bumps of everyday life?
Dr. Shevaun Neupert says yes. She surveyed more than 1,000 older adults across the country and concluded that stress takes a toll on cognition.
Memory doesn't serve as well on days when more stressful things happen. "For older adults, that affects such important things as remembering to take critical medications," she says. "Over time, stress can lead to other life-diminishing problems such as depression. If we recognize this, we can build in some supports and buffers."
Neupert found that older adults are more deeply affected by stress involving their social networks – the illness of a loved one, for example, or the divorce of long-time friends. "It could be that older people have fewer stressors, so the ones they experience loom larger. Or as they see more of their friends become ill, the stress has a cumulative effect." She also noted that older adults may be better at regulating their reactions. The adults she studied tended to report fewer arguments and seemed less affected by interpersonal strife.
Research that Changes Minds
Psychology Department Head Doug Gillan says the research taking place at NC State has taken a different path in its approach to studying cognitive change with aging. "The dominant approach has focused on the use of relatively meaningless laboratory tasks to identify the nature and extent of cognitive decline in later life," Gillan says. "In contrast, Tom Hess, Jason Allaire, Shevaun Neupert, and other colleagues and their students are examining functioning in real world contexts and with complex, meaningful tasks."
As the CHASS researchers examine the interplay between negative and positive aspects of aging, they hope to learn how healthy older adults adapt to changes. Gillan says that by training a number of outstanding undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, "we hope to change the way researchers and scholars think about the psychological effects of aging for generations to come."
You Can Help:
Want to help further research around the aging mind? You may qualify for one of the Department of Psychology's many studies. Call 919.515.6141 or email adult_dev@ncsu.edu to learn more.
