 |
Newsbriefs
Otelia Cromwell Day will be celebrated
on Thursday, October 30, with an array of events that day -- and that
week -- addressing the themes of civil rights and living for change.
A highlight of the program will be an October 28 panel discussion featuring
prominent figures involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
The event will highlight students' roles in the Civil Rights Movement
of the 1960s and the possibilities inherent in coalition-building today.
Also planned are a film series, an exhibition of Civil Rights–era
photographs and a keynote address by pioneering activist
and writer Grace Lee Boggs, author of the recent and acclaimed autobiography
Living for
Change.
Construction for a new fitness
center, which will span the space between the Scott and Ainsworth
gymnasiums in the
athletic
complex, went into full swing this summer. Scheduled to open
in early 2004, the project will improve the fitness facility
of the athletic complex
by replacing the current weight room in the basement of Scott
Gym, transforming the old lounge into an open space exercise
room and redesigning the Scott
Gym entrance to make it handicap accessible. The 7,200-square-foot
center, funded by a $4 million gift from the Spencer T. and
Ann W. Olin Foundation,
will offer more than 120 pieces of new state-of-the-art fitness
equipment, including treadmills, cross trainers, bicycles,
free weights and select
drive weights. Expanded programming will include teaching
clinics, fitness assessments and prescribed exercise programs.
The
Committee on Sustainability, which will include four faculty
members as well as four staff members and four students,
has been established by vote of the Smith faculty. The committee
will be
concerned with the best long-term use of finite natural resources
and with Smith's affect on the local, regional and global environment.
It will examine such areas as construction, transportation, materials
and energy use, waste management, purchasing, investment and the curriculum. "Issues
of environmental protection and sustainability are so important to the
college and the community that they deserve the kind of attention that
comes from a committee completely dedicated to problems and solutions -- a
committee drawn from a wide campus community," said E. Jefferson
Hunter, professor of English language and literature and
former chair of the Faculty Council, which initiated the proposal for
this new standing
committee.
Since 1990, Smith's Summer
Science and Engineering program has
attracted hundreds of talented high school girls passionate about mathematics,
engineering and science. This year, the median age dipped slightly when
Linda Salisbury '78, a board member at The Young Women's
Leadership Charter School of Chicago, brought 17 seventh-graders to campus
in conjunction with the summer program, taking advantage of the science
classes to introduce the middle schoolers to the possibilities of a residential
liberal arts college. Known as the Summer Talent Exploration Program
Unleashing Potential or STEP UP, the pilot program was developed by Salisbury
and Gail Scordilis, Smith's director of educational outreach. The
girls packed many experiences into their weeklong stay, studying
medicinal plants in the botanic garden, developing their writing skills
with an
English professor and contemplating matters of money and
finance.
Representing a variety of disciplines
from American studies to social work, nine Smith professors were recently
awarded
chaired professorships. They are:
•
John Brady, Mary Elizabeth Moses Professor of Geology
•
Donna R. Divine, professor of government -- Morningstar Family Professor in
the field of Jewish Studies
•
Jay Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor of Philosophy
•
Daniel Horowitz, professor of American studies and associated member of history
departments; Mary Huggins Gamble Professor of American Studies
•
Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, professor of American studies; Sydenham Clark Parsons
Professor of History
•
Carolyn Jacobs, dean of the Smith College School for Social Work -- Elizabeth
Marting Treuhaft Professor
•
Monika Jakuc, Elsie Irwin Sweeney Professor of Music
•
Douglas Patey, Sophia Smith Professor of English Language and Literature
•
Paulette Peckol, Louise C. Harrington Professor of Biological Sciences
|
|
