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SMITH IN THE NEWS
PRESIDENT CHRIST REACHES OUT "Since her arrival on campus June
1, Smith's new president, Carol Christ, has made a concerted
effort to walk around campus and talk to as many people at Smith
as possible. What's been a departure from some of her predecessors
is the fact that she's already ventured off campus quite a bit." "I believe every college is part
of the community and has a responsibility to the local community."
SOCIAL WORK GRADUATES PREPARE TO MEET CHALLENGES "I have learned how to become
a clinical social worker, but I've also learned about myself
and the identity I hold." "I think [our graduating students]
are facing some different issues, with Sept. 11, the changes
in the economy, the ongoing experience of terrorism. They have
come to a place that students last year didn't have to face." "As a Smith grad, there's a lot
expected of you. I hope I can live up to that expectation."
SORTING OUT THE BUSINESS OF BASEBALL "What we're seeing here is pragmatism
more than ideology." "In the year 2002, unlike 1950,
baseball has a lot of competition. Baseball was alone on the
sports cultural pedestal in 1950. It didn't really have competition
from the NBA or the NFL or the NHL. In 2002, it has intense competition
from all of those." "In a strike, game-day employees
would find their jobs disappear and, given the status of the
economy right now, it might be difficult to find alternative
employment. When the game is happening, people spend money at
the ballparks, and when the game is not happening people spend
their money at restaurants or bowling alleys." "If you're a media conglomerate
that is both in the television business and the baseball business,
you don't mind at all if you're increasing your television audience
while decreasing your live audience." "[New stadiums] don't feed any
positive economic growth or impact. It won't produce a huge-per
capita increase or mean many more jobs. People don't travel great
distances to see these teams. It is revenue recirculated in the
community. They spend it at the minor league ballpark instead
of the Cineplex." "If you're hosting the Olympics,
you get tens of thousands of people coming from outside of town
spending money they normally wouldn't spend there." "The overriding experience has
been that building a stadium does not contribute either to raising
per capita income or increasing the level of employment in an
area. A new stadium can even have a negative impact, depending
on its location, how it's financed, and other factors." "The deficit has to have some
impact, but it's not going to be the decisive matter. The biggest
thing is going to be players realizing their careers could be
damaged-losing several months or more-and knowing the owners
are looking for a revolution in the players' market." "It went from naming the field
to naming the entrance to the field to naming sections of the
stadium. You can put your name on anything."
UNDERSTANDING BACK-TO-SCHOOL ANXIETY "[Children with social anxiety
disorder] begin to look a little standoffish or snobbish at times.
They appear uninterested in developing social relationships,
when in fact that's something they are quite concerned about." "In my experience, parents who
bring their children in for an assessment of social anxiety disorder
tend to be fairly accurate in their suspicion that there's something
amiss." "In my clinical work, I've encountered
children who would hide in the restroom instead of entering the
school cafeteria for lunch hour."
PROMOTING FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE FOR WOMEN "To prepare women to maximize
their savvy about personal finances, last fall Smith College
began offering noncredit evening and weekend courses on money
management for its female students, including a section on wage
negotiation. The classes are also available to students at the
University of Massachusetts and Mount Holyoke, Amherst and Hampshire
colleges. Future plans involve Smith students speaking at local
community centers and public schools about financial independence." "Getting a handle on your spending
habits can make you feel more in control. To learn how to master
your money, Smith College has created an on-line quiz that helps
women learn about a range of financial topics, including how
to invest in a 401(k) plan, how to select U.S. savings bonds
and stocks, the best way to pay off credit-card debt and how
to start saving now for your children's college education."
ENGINEERING PROGRAM CONTINUES TO MAKE NEWS "The idea is to get girls excited
about science and engineering. To get women into engineering,
they need calculus and physics. We're trying to get them excited
about that." "One of the main tenets of our
program is to show the social relevance of engineering. If you
ask engineers to define engineering, they say, almost exclusively,
that it is the application of math and science. At Smith, we've
taken that definition and expanded it: engineering is the application
of math and science in the service of humanity."
TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS WIN CRITICS' PRAISE "Available now at the Katonah
Museum of Art is a blockbuster without flourishes, but a blockbuster
nonetheless. "American Spectrum" is a compelling march
through American art history from Colonial times through 1989.
The 75 works are from the Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton,
Mass. It must be an excellent teaching museum, because most of
the works are exemplary." "Viewers can witness for themselves
why this holding [Smith College's collection] is considered one
of the finest collections in the country." "Among the painters are Thomas
Cole, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, John Singer
Sargent, Gilbert Stuart, James McNeill Whistler and Georgia O'Keeffe.
The sculptors include Alexander Calder and Louise Nevelson. They
and others are represented in 75 works spanning 250 years in
"American Spectrum: Painting and Sculpture from the Smith
College Museum of Art." "Here on the West Coast, it's
hard to imagine that a small women's college in Northampton,
Mass., could have a collection good enough to hit most of the
significant highlights of European modernist art. Certainly,
none of our small colleges do and few if any of our large universities,
no matter how well endowed. But Smith College has been collecting
with an avid eye to the new for 126 years." "When Smith College began assembling
its art collection on the early 20th century, the administration
wanted it to be an educational tool as well as a cultural treasure.
Now, with part of Smith's collection of European art on tour
in the show "Corot to Picasso," it turns out that the
artworks are still offering a learning experience-in unexpected
ways." "This month, art enthusiasts have
the rare opportunity to view pieces from the distinguished collection
of the Smith College Museum of Art-without having to travel to
Massachusetts to do it."
FACULTY AND STAFF VOICES "The question to ask is, 'Am I
afraid to leave my job?' Or, 'Am I enjoying victimhood?' Either
way, the response is to get help." "Their generation of elite blacks,
born into the thicket of Victorian expectations, had to contend
with claims, issued with scientific certainty, that however acculturated
they were, their color was a visible marker for an inherent and
prurient savagery." "How can the members of the world's
strongest nation, the home of the brave and the land of the free,
bend their most basic rules of conduct without breaking them
to respond to unprecedented behavior on the part of those determined
to destroy the heart and soul of this nation? The president,
the Cabinet, Congress, the courts-and [author Alan] Dershowitz-are
all still struggling for an answer." "We teach out students to figure
out where they'd really like to be working and learning, and
then offer themselves to that organization, rather than trying
to squeeze into one-size-fits-all internship programs." "I don't think there's any advantage
to keeping any community as a welfare hotbed. It leads to despair
and a feeling of being trapped. It leads to the demise of a city." "The Chinese have always been
sensitive about how their people are treated abroad. But it's
also clear that the sensitivity has become much more open, much
more confrontational. The pressure's increased." "The United States must take the
lead in reversing Khartoum's accelerating power of aid denial.
A good place to begin is in passing the Sudan Peace Act, now
languishing in the Senate because of Republican obstructionism
and lack of commitment on the part of Majority Leader Tom Daschle." "Smith shaped Betty Friedan in
a number of powerful ways."
STUDENT VOICES "My views have been fortified.
Being in this type of environment is very stimulating, just seeing
the approach of the problems and ideas. You get a lot of knowledge,
and it's an eye-opener. It was amazing the type of ideas people
had."
SMITH IN NORTHAMPTON "After you've wandered the main
drag [of Northampton], take a break from storefronts and walk
up to Smith College. Founded in 1871 by Sophia Smith, this women's
liberal arts college has a beautiful campus." |
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