5. Assessment of learning outcomes: Colleges must prove to students and employers that a liberal arts education imparts useful skills.
6. The student of the future must learn to think critically, communicate well, and understand science, technology, and global issues.
7. The curriculum of the future must make stronger connections between the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
8. The curriculum of the future must promote global citizenship and leadership.
The good news for liberal arts Colleges is that the existing curriculum--to the extent that it is possible to generalize--already teaches some essential skills: critical and creative thinking, analytical and quantitative reasoning, effective writing. But these skills are often developed within discipline-centric majors, which by design promote early specialization. Students have few opportunities to explore connections between disciplines, to understand "big issues" by examining multiple perspectives. For example, seldom is an English major--even someone who meets all requirements of a general education program--asked to think critically and creatively about solutions to a complex problem, such as climate change, by synthesizing concepts of economics, chemistry, political science, philosophy. Yet a student who faces and conquers such an intellectual challenge is prepared to articulate the value of a liberal arts education to a prospective employer. More importantly, this student will become an informed citizen with the potential to lead local and global communities.
As Professor Copenhaver stated in http://jdepaula1.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-is-value-of-liberal-arts-education.html, a liberal arts education 'makes a certain kind of good life possible – one that is embedded in relations that provide life with meaning: relations to the past, the world, and to other persons.’ Relations to the past, the world, and to other persons change over time because society, perspectives, and our collective body of knowledge change over time. Therefore, the liberal arts curriculum must change over time as well. So let us renew our commitment to reform by engaging actively in open conversation about the curriculum we want to create for our students. And let us broaden access to this curriculum by making a liberal arts education affordable to all students who want it. This curriculum will be our legacy.
At Lewis & Clark College the Student Academic Affairs Board (SAAB) makes research grants to students, enhancing the undergraduate research options discussed in earlier posts. For an example of a SAAB-funded project, please click here.
Incidentally, the student profiled in my opinion piece, Shelli Frey, went on to receive a doctorate from the University of Chicago and is now an assistant professor of Chemistry at Gettysburg College.
The following summer undergraduate research projects in Computer Science and Mathematics were funded by grants from the National Science Foundation:
Title: Computer Go: Enhancing Monte Carlo Tree Search Faculty mentors: Peter Drake, Yung-Pin Chen, Jens Mache Students: Walt Javins ‘11, Jessica Mullins ‘10, Seth Pellegrino ‘10, Bobby Dygert (University at Buffalo), Travis Mandel (Carnegie Mellon University), Drew Tillis (Hendrix College) Abstract: The Asian game of Go has simpler rules than Chess, but writing a Go-playing program that can compete with strong human players has proven exceedingly difficult. In fact, Go is considered one of the "grand challenges" of artificial intelligence. The Monte-Carlo approach has significantly strengthened the performance of computer Go programs. The team examined and improved the RAVE (Rapid Action Value Estimation) algorithm proposed by Gelly and Silver in 2008, and enhanced the Monte Carlo tree search with two revised RAVE algorithms. Click here for Lewis & Clark’s Orego page and here for more information about the NSF grant that supported this work.
Title: Towards Contour Tracking with Wireless Sensor Networks. Faculty mentor: Jens Mache Student: Samuel Bock '11 Abstract: An emerging class of small computers, outfitted with sensors and linked by radio transceivers, can form perceptive sensor networks that will connect more intimately the virtual and physical worlds. This work focuses on making these new technologies accessible to undergraduates through the use of activity based labs and a web accessible collaborative environment. The team explored communication, localization, power management, security, data aggregation and contour tracking. Click here for information about the NSF grant that supported this work.
Title: The Effect of Message Framing as a Function of Place Faculty mentor: Brian Detweiler-Bedell, Associate Professor of Psychology Students: Amanda Hamilton-Cave, Allison Sweeney Abstract: Attitudes and decisions are often shaped by context quite dramatically and in ways that violate the principles of rationality. One such contextual influence is how decisions are framed. Individuals think and act differently depending on whether they focus on the advantages of a course of action (i.e., a gain frame) versus the drawbacks of inaction (i.e., a loss frame). In this project, we will apply past research concerning psychological message framing to environmental attitudes and decisions. We hypothesize that the concreteness of place will influence the effectiveness of gain-framed versus loss-framed appeals. Title: Global/Local Food Networks: Wine & Foie Gras Faculty mentors: Daena Goldsmith, Professor of Communication; Deborah Heath, Associate Professor of Anthropology Student: Emily Nguyen Abstract: The interdisciplinary study of agrifood networks implicates nature and culture, local/global processes, rural and urban environments, production and consumption. The proposed project explores the production, distribution, and consumption of two luxury commodities—fois gras and wine—across Oregon, California, and France. We will study networks that link human and nonhuman actors as well as the competing discourses that construct claims about “quality,” “taste,” and “ethics.” Using actor-network theory and situated knowledge approaches, these two case studies will contribute to interdisciplinary scholarship on neo-artisanal agrifood networks that offer alternatives to large-scale agriculture, and to declining local industries like timber. Title: Building Web2.0 Environmental Research Resources Faculty mentor: Jim Proctor, Director/Professor of Environmental Studies Students: Sarah Bobertz, Dick Burnham-Fink Abstract: Capping off three years of development, Peter Vidito, Administrative Coordinator for the ENVS Program, worked with student research assistants Sarah Bobertz and Richard Burnham-Fink to finalize a set of online resources to support high-quality environmental research, a major objective of the Program's Andrew Mellon Foundation-sponsored initiative. Their work underscores the Program's Web2.0 approach in building a scholarly community around these resources and equipping it with cutting-edge research tools ranging from academic bookmarking to concept mapping to geographic information systems. The sheer number and diversity of relevant publications, organizations, data, and perspectives on contemporary environmental issues can overwhelm an individual researcher; only by intelligently collecting and sharing these resources and tools are we going to deliver on the potential this century's technologies offer us.
Nine faculty-student teams in the arts, humanities and social sciences were supported with internal research grants during the summer of 2009. The teams and their project titles are:
J.M. Fritzman, associate professor of philosophy, and student Kristin Thornburg ’11 – “Interpretive Problems Regarding Two Transitions in Hegel’s Philosophy.”
Daena Goldsmith, professor of communication, and student Greg Miller ’10 – “Couple Communication and Coping With Cancer.”
Oren Kosansky, assistant professor of anthropology, and student Kelly Aldinger ’10 – “Moroccan Jews in the French Colonial Archives.”
Robert Mandel, professor of international affairs, and student Sarah Patterson ’12 – “Dark Logic: Transnational Criminal Tactics and Global Security.”
Joel Martinez, assistant professor of philosophy, and student Hannah Tierney ’10 – “Understanding Moral Judgment: Does Empirical Psychology Reveal the Limits of Moral Philosophy?”
Arthur O’Sullivan, Dr. Robert B. Pamplin. Jr. Professor of Economics, and students James Elwell ’10 and Shelley Zhao ’10 – “Using Agent-Based Models to Replicate the Intra-Urban Distribution of Employment.”
G. Mitchell Reyes, assistant professor of communication, and student Mariana Aroxa ’10 – “The Obama Effect: Race and Representation in ‘A More Perfect Union’.”
Heather Smith, assistant professor of international affairs, and student Andrew Foote ’10 – “Evaluating Empirical Trends in Ratification of Human Rights Treaties.”
Cara Tomlinson, assistant professor of art, and student Nick Makanna ’10 – “Painting at the End of the World: Investigation of the Interactions Between Post-Apocalyptic B-Movies and French Historical Painting.”
The following teams participated in Lewis & Clark's CAUSE Program, which is funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Undergraduate Science Education Program.
Lewis & Clark Research Teams
Greta Binford, associate professor of biology, undergraduate intern Laura Bogar’11, and high school intern Juana Gaspar, a junior from Rosemary Anderson High School – “How did the brown recluse and their kin diversify in North America?”
Greg Hermann, associate professor of biology; undergraduate intern Travis Walton ’10, and high school intern Aaron Romero, a senior from Clackamas High School – “Investigating the biogenesis of lysosomes in a multi-cellular animal.”
Erik Nilsen, associate professor of psychology, undergraduate intern Richard LeDonne ’11, and high school intern Jessica Willis, a senior from Centennial Learning Center – “Cognitive Construal and Somatic Markers in Two Games of Risk.”
Stephen Tufte, associate professor of physics, undergraduate intern Dylan Stadler ’10, and high school intern Ines Llosa, a senior from Clackamas High School – “Observational Investigations of short-Period Eclipsing Binary Stars.”
Yueping Zhang, associate professor of psychology; undergraduate intern Hillary Galloway-Long ’09, and high school intern Sarah Ramos, a senior from Rosemary Anderson High School – “Understanding College Students’ Drinking Behavior: Prefrontal Lobe Functions, Physiological Arousal, and Personality Traits.”
Oregon Health & Science University / Lewis & Clark Research Teams
Principal Investigator Dr. Kevin Grove; collaborator Dr. Elinor Sullivan; undergraduate intern Martin Meyer; and high school intern:Mitchell Conti, sophomore from Beaverton Health and Sciences High School – “The Effects of Maternal Obesity on Offspring Behavior and Physiology.”
Principal Investigator Dr. Kathy Grant; collaborator Dr. Christa Helms; undergraduate intern Hilary Gray ’10; and high school intern Marrie Getman-Pierce, a sophomore from Beaverton Health and Sciences High School – “Ovarian hormones and ethanol-like discriminative stimulus effects in rats.”
Principal Investigator Dr. Ilhmen Messauodi; undergraduate intern Audrey Fulwiler ’09; high school intern Frances Palomar, a sophomore from Beaverton Health and Sciences High School – “Constructing recombinant Vaccinia virus vectors to measure T cell response to Simian Varicella Virus.”
The following teams of Lewis & Clark faculty members and students participated in summer research funded by the Rogers Summer Research Program, the Beckman Scholars Program, and the Sherman-Fairchild Foundation.Weekly brown-bag research presentations were held throughout the summer, and the program will culminate with a poster session on September 16, 2009.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Greg Hermann, associate professor of biology; and students Micah Depper ’10, Steven Levitte ’10, Becca Salesky ’10, and Hannah Somhegyi ’11 – “Investigating the biogenesis of lysosomes in a multi-cellular animal.”
Janis Lochner, Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Professor of Science; Bethe Scalettar, professor of physics; and students Lindsay Hilken ’10, Louis Prahl ’10, and Alex Simon’11 – “Neuromodulators and Memory.”
Nikolaus Loening, associate professor of chemistry and students Aaron Kim ’10 amd Zach Wilson’10 –“Structural Studies and Characterization of Neurotoxic Venom Peptides from Sicariidae Spiders.”
Deborah Lycan, professor of biology, and students James Chu ’10 and Rebecca Fitch ’10 – “Ribosome biogenesis and export.”
Biology
Greta Binford, associate professor of biology, and students Alec Kerins ’09 and Brendan Larsen ’10 – “Molecular evolution of the toxic enzymesphingomyelinase D in venoms of brown spiders (Loxosceles).”
Ken Clifton, associate professor of biology, and students Peggie Hannah ’11 and Dylan Smith ’11 – “Investigating the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 upon the structure and function of calcium carbonate accretion in tropical green algae of the genus Halimeda.”
Peter Kennedy, assistant professor of biology, and students Logan Higgins ’11 and Rachel Rogers ’11 – “Exploring the factors controlling microbial community structure: competition and host specificity.”
Gary Reiness, professor of biology, and students Alix Dixon ’11 and Kenneth McCullough ’10 – “Mechanism of Export of Chicken Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor.”
Chemistry
Anne Bentley, assistant professor of chemistry, and students Robin Osofsky ’11 and Eric Randall ’11 –“Formation of Nanoparticle / Solid State Thin Film Composite Materials via Electrochemical Co-Deposition.”
James Duncan, professor of chemistry; and students Irena Bierzynski ’11, Lila Forte ’09, and Marie Lafortune ’10 – “CASSCF calculations as a probe of the pseudopericyclicity of electrocyclic and [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangements.”
Louis Kuo, professor of chemistry, and student Curtis Smith ’10 – “Investigation of Molybdenum Complexes for Degrading Neurotoxin Analogues.”
Geological Science
Elizabeth Safran, associate professor of geological science; and students Kelsey Croall’11, Emily Jones’11, and Chris Scheffler’10 – “Impact of large landslides on river valley evolution, Central and Eastern Oregon.”
Physics
Stephen Tufte, associate professor of physics; JoAnn Wadkins, Wilson High School; and students , Eric Douglass ’10, Nathan Laws ’10, and Dylan Stadler ’10 – “Observational Investigations of Short-Period Eclipsing Binary Stars.”
Psychology
Erik Nilsen, associate professor of psychology; and students Rose Blackman ’10, Dylan Peden ’10, Jessaca Willis ’13, and Richard Ledonne ’11 – “Dispositional, Cognitive and Physiological Influences on Risky Decision Making in the Game of Dice Task."
Erik Nilsen, associate professor of psychology; and students Rose Blackman ’10, Dylan Peden ’10, and Richie Ledonne’11 – “Encouraging Interest, Increasing Empathy and Knowledge, and Shrinking Stereotypes With a ‘Serious’ Computer Game?”
Yueping Zhang, associate professor of psychology; and students Theresa Hennings ’10, Iris Kemp ’10, and Hillary Galloway-Long ’09 – “Understanding College Students’ Drinking Behavior: Prefrontal Lobe Functions, Physiological Arousal, and Personality Traits.”
Professor Rebecca Copenhaver is an associate professor of Philosophy and Director of Exploration and Discovery at Lewis & Clark College. Below is her answer to a long-standing (and ever more important) question: "What is the value of a liberal arts education?"
"The primary value of a liberal arts education is its effects on the lives of those who engage in it rather than its more practical uses.At the center of the liberal arts is the conviction that a broad and deep education makes a certain kind of good life possible – one that is embedded in relations that provide life with meaning: relations to the past, the world, and to other persons.In other words, the liberal arts are valuable in and of themselves and they are valuable because they transform those who practice them.How do the liberal arts do this?
In short, the liberal arts make one a bigger person, bigger than a person whose values are based on things that immediately satisfy her whims.Such a person understands that other people, and perhaps other creatures, have aims and interests that have as equal a claim as her own.Such a person understands that she lacks complete understanding of the universe and that her beliefs are always revisable in the light of new understanding.Such a person seeks out additional understanding – she wants to grow and change.Such a person knows that she cannot accomplish this by herself – she needs other people to help her see the world from a perspective other than her own.
And so the liberal arts are not valuable because they are useful, or productive, or beautiful, or lucrative, or fun, or pleasing, or prestigious, though they may be all those things too.A liberal arts education is valuable because, as Bertrand Russell put it, “through the greatness of the universe which [it] contemplates, the mind is also rendered great, and becomes capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest good.”
A person transformed by the liberal arts possesses a kind of flexibility, resilience and optimism.The ancients had a term for this – practical wisdom – and it such wisdom that makes it possible to make choices and with character and integrity. "
- Professor Rebecca Copenhaver, Lewis & Clark College.
Lewis & Clark's College of Arts & Sciences received a four-year grant of $800,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support curricular and scholarly initiatives in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. The flexible faculty development program described in the proposal addresses the needs of mid-career faculty members by providing: (i) enhanced support for research and sabbatical leaves, (ii) funds for student-faculty research collaborations and visiting lecturer fellowships, and (iii) a seminar series to foster interdisciplinary teaching and research, and the implementation of team-taught courses. When added to a recent grant of $450,000 (also from the A.W. Mellon Foundation) to support teaching post-doctoral fellows, this new grant provides a total of $1,250,000 of on-going external support for the humanities and humanistic social sciences in the College of Arts & Sciences.
Lewis & Clark received a grant of $10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the expansion of accessCeramics (see http://accessceramics.org), a "growing collection of contemporary ceramics images by recognized artists enhancing ceramics education worldwide." A collaboration between Lewis & Clark's Department of Art and the Aubrey Watzek Library, accessCeramics currently features 110 artists and holds 1,700 images.
Please see the NEA's announcement by clicking here:
The following Lewis & Clark students have received Scholarships for participation in our overseas programs:
Sophie Duba (ValparaÃso, Chile) Dante Perez (Strasbourg, France) Richard LeDonne (India)
The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program supplements Pell grants with awards of up to $5,000. Congratulations to Sophie, Dante, and Richard on receiving these competitive scholarships.
Chris Smith '09 won second place in the Pacific Northwest Regional American Academy of Religion undergraduate essay competition with his paper "Qadhf, Takfir, and Forbidding the Wrong: Contradictions in Islamic Legal Theory."
Jared Schy '11 was chosen to participate in the "30-30 program", a joint initiative between the US Department of State and China's Ministry of Education. Jared and 29 other US college Chinese language students will visit China in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the normalization of US-China diplomatic relations. These students will engage in many activities, including discussions of politics and government at Peking University, the most prestigious university in China. As part of the program, thirty Chinese students will also tour the US.
Excerpts from remarks delivered by Julio de Paula at the 137th Annual Commencement Ceremony of Lewis & Clark's College of Arts & Sciences Lewis & Clark College May 10, 2009
... from de Paula's welcome
I am Julio de Paula, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you to the 137th Annual Commencement Ceremony of Lewis & Clark’s College of Arts & Sciences.
Now let me take a few moments to talk to you, members of the Class of 2009.
Through this Commencement season, I have spoken to Trustees, students, parents, members of the faculty and staff at several venues, and many of you have been at most of them. I have seized the opportunity to explore a theme with you over some of the addresses I have delivered. I wish to speak to you again about the value of a liberal arts education.
We need look only at our own alumni to see how a liberal arts education – and especially a Lewis & Clark education – creates informed citizens and civic leaders.
Consider Mary Keir, a member of the Lewis & Clark class of 1995. Mary graduated with honors in Biochemistry. But, being a science student in a liberal arts college, she also studied subjects across our curriculum, along the way developing the ability to think critically about every dimension of a problem before articulating a solution. Mary also learned science by doing science, completing an ambitious research project over two summers and an academic year.
After leaving Lewis & Clark College, Mary received a doctorate in biomedical science at the University of California, San Francisco, one of the nation's premier research institutions. While working on HIV, Mary developed an interest in immunology that sustains her work to this day. Her career trajectory first led her to Harvard Medical School and then Genentech, a company that pioneered biotechnology in the United States. Now Mary is a respected research scientist who designs new therapies for such diseases as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. She states that “there is nothing better than a liberal arts degree to prepare a student for communicating about complex ideas with people of varied backgrounds.”
Mary's story reinforces what studies have already shown: liberal arts colleges are among the most efficient generators of top-quality scientists in our country. The reason is, in my opinion, obvious: at institutions like Lewis & Clark science is not presented in isolation, but rather in context. Context that only a liberal arts approach to education can provide.
Of course you will write your own story, chart your own course. But know that the education you received at Lewis & Clark will guide you because you are and always will be seekers of knowledge.
... from de Paula's charge to the Class of 2009
I end with another story. Erin McNamara Egan arrived from Hawai’i and graduated from Lewis & Clark in 1998 as an international affairs major. She took advantage of all the opportunities we offer for learning in and out of the classroom, making broad meaning of every course she took. While an undergraduate, she went to a United Nations Women’s Conference in Beijing. She went to Poland on one of our overseas programs, led by Professor Emeritus Klaus Englehardt. After the program ended, she remained to conduct research with an economist. The work eventually led to a senior thesis on Poland’s transitional economy.
After graduation, she spent two years in Germany and two years in France, working and learning new languages. She is convinced that her broad international experience increased her value to her employers back home in the United States. From her work in the aeronautical field, she went to the Fletcher School at Tufts University, from which she received a Masters degree in Law and Diplomacy. Then she went to Harvard University Business School, where she graduated a year ago with an MBA degree. She is now an executive at the Microsoft Corporation. I hope that the stories I have shared with you will give you a sense of what you are prepared to do. You are graduating at a time when the global economy is in crisis and unemployment is high. But graduates like you who are trained in the tradition of the liberal arts understand the socio-economic, political, and technological contexts of the problems we all face. You are more likely to find solutions that affirm human rights, protect the environment, raise — and then stabilize — standards of living across the globe. To capitalize on this opportunity you must waste no time – as Mary Keir and Erin Egan wasted no time – to think of ways in which to make a positive impact on the communities you will join.
In conclusion, my charge to you is: No matter what personal and professional choices you make, do put to good and constant use the intellectual tools you honed at Lewis & Clark. Making and helping others make informed decisions about the future of our country will be a tribute to your professors, your family, and—very importantly—to your hard work at Lewis & Clark over the last few years. In this task I wish you clarity of thought, patience, perseverance, and, above all, peace.
Graduates, you will now join your family and friends in celebration of your significant achievements. CONGRATULATIONS.
Remarks delivered by Julio de Paula at the 2009 Phi Beta Kappa Induction Ceremony Lewis & Clark College May 9, 2009
Proud parents, family, and friends, Esteemed Colleagues, and Honored Students, I am Julio de Paula, Dean of the College. Thank you for the opportunity to address this gathering on so festive an occasion.
Through this Commencement season I will speak at several venues, and many of you will be at most of them. I promise not to repeat myself, but at the same time see the opportunity to explore a theme with you over the speeches I will deliver. I wish to speak to you now and tomorrow about the value of a liberal arts education.
The seniors among you are graduating at a time when financial institutions and large companies are down-sizing, contemplating (or entering into) bankruptcy or liquidation, or being “bailed out” by the government. Unemployment is rising, and new jobs are not being created. The recession is not over and its effects will be felt across the board for many years. So the juniors among you will face the same challenges a year from now that your senior colleagues are about to face now. My sense is that even after the recession is over the country, indeed the world, will be different economically, politically, and socially. Going back to business as usual probably will not be an option in this changed world. Every sector of the economy and government, every non-profit organization, including Lewis & Clark, will have to change permanently.
Change will require creativity, agility, courage, patience, and—perhaps above all—compassion. Yet the need for comprehensive change will be a great opportunity for you. Citizens like you who are trained in the tradition of the liberal arts understand the socio-economic, political, and technological contexts of the problems we all face. You are more likely to find solutions that affirm human rights, protect the environment, raise—and then stabilize—standards of living across the globe. But to capitalize on this opportunity you must waste no time to think of ways in which to make a positive impact on the communities you will join.
Some of you will continue your education in graduate, law, business, and medical schools. This is a wise course of action, for adding specialized knowledge to your liberal arts foundation will enhance your ability to effect change. Some of you will join the workforce right away. And some among you are not yet certain about your short-term future.
No matter what your plans might be, the central question for you is: How can you contribute?
If Lewis & Clark succeeded in educating you properly, it taught you the distinction between amassing facts and making connections between them. You learned how to make intellectual connections on the stage, in the field, classroom, laboratory, and studio. But obviously you have not engaged all possible issues and have not made all possible connections. As an informed citizen, community leader, and scholar, you must continue to use your intellect to make connections, promoting and conducting the right conversations about the future of society.
Allow me to use a Lewis & Clark graduate as an example of what I mean by making connections.
Consider Beau Barnes, class of 2006, who majored in International Affairs and Foreign Languages and Literatures, with specialization in German and Spanish. While at Lewis & Clark he participated in Model United Nations and the Forensics Program. He was co-chair of the International Affairs Symposium and a member of the Portland Charter Review Commission. Beau also held internships at Mercy Corps and Swan Islands Networks, a software company.
After graduation, Beau worked on a congressional campaign. Then he received an International Parliamentary Fellowship to work for eight months in the German Bunsdestag.
For the last two years he has worked in Boston as a political advisor to a major Democratic donor, promoting the involvement of women in local, national, and international politics.
This coming fall Beau will enter a J.D./M.A. program in Law and Diplomacy, a joint venture between Boston University School of Law and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. In his own words, he wishes ultimately "to work in the legislative arena on issues of security and development."
Critics of the liberal arts approach to education often charge that it is not practical or relevant in today's world. But students like Beau Barnes prove that a liberal arts education produces broad thinkers with the knowledge and skills necessary to tackle complex problems on a global scale. Students educated in the tradition of the liberal arts are the change agents our world so desperately needs. They are--you are--the innovators who will re-invent the global economy, work to eradicate socio-political inequity, and create smart, sustainable, and broadly accessible technologies.
I have great confidence that you, Lewis & Clark students and members of Phi Beta Kappa, have the intellectual skills and motivation to engage any issue and lead any conversation, no matter how society evolves. I know that the seniors among you will make yourselves, your family, and the College proud as you begin your new lives beyond Palatine Hill. As for the juniors in the audience, Lewis & Clark’s faculty and staff look forward to continuing our work with you next year.
Associate Professor of History Elliott Young and Visiting Assistant Professor Reiko Hillyer received Oregon Council for the Humanities Conversations Project lectureships. Dr. Young's work is titled "Imagining New Communities: Immigrants, Globalization and Translocal Community." Dr. Hillyer, who is also 2009's Teacher of the Year, will speak on "The Power of Place: The Past and Future of Local Landscapes."
Brad Elkins '10 and his internship at the German Defense Ministry,
Ben Brysacz '09 and his internship at the Public Service Academy,
Marie Lafortune '10 and her Goldwater Scholarship,
Megan Mills-Novoa '09 and her Emerson Fellowship, and
Katie Walter '09 and her Fulbright Research Fellowship.
In addition to Katie, Nicholas D. Kaufmann '09 also received a Fulbright Research Fellowship to conduct work in Japan. Emma K. Smith '08 is an alternate fellow who hopes to travel to Colombia.
Adding to yet another year of great Fulbright success, Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Awards have been given to James B. Cotton '08 (Indonesia), Mary E. Davis '09 (Germany), Peter A. Seilheimer '09 (Austria). Stacy L. Brownhill '09(Indonesia) and Andrew M. Burke '09 (Argentina) are alternates.
Isaac Holeman '09 has been named a Compton Mentor Fellow. Issac will spend next year in Malawi. Prof. Eban Goodstein says that Isaac "will develop, test and apply software systems enabling rural health workers to enter medical records from remote locations via cell phones into a central database." According to the Compton Foundation website:
In selecting Compton Fellows, the Foundation seeks individuals who demonstrate imagination, intelligence, integrity, and leadership. Fellows are self-starters, who show promise of creative achievement, and a commitment to compassionate and effective participation in the world community. A candidate's academic record, while not of primary importance, is also considered, along with extracurricular activities that reflect both initiative and dedication. The Foundation seeks individuals who strive to be thoughtful agents of change, and find the task of charting their own learning paths exciting rather than confounding.
The Compton Fellowships provide $36,000 to fellows for a year's work of their own design. Again according to Prof. Goodstein, "Isaac's project is extremely innovative and will help launch him on what we all know will be an extraordinary career in public health."
Associate Professor of Chinese Keith Dede has received two research fellowships in support of his upcoming sabbatical leave. One is an award from the Fulbright Traditional Scholar program, which is supported by the U.S. Department of State and administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES). The other is an award from the Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad (FRA) program. This program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and provides fellowships for faculty members to conduct research overseas in the fields of modern language and area studies.
Dr. Dede's research project is "Contact and Change in the Chinese Dialects of Qinghai". Four months in China will allow Dr. Dede to gather naturalistic speech samples from native speakers of Qinghai Chinese dialects, train local researchers in language-gathering and documentation techniques, and work with local scholars on the social history of northeastern Qinghai. Generally, this research approach will allow for the testing of theories of language evolution.
Tamma Carleton '09, economics major and varsity cross-country athlete from the Class of 2009, has won a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Tamma competed for the award with student-athletes from Division I, II, and III institutions. Of the 29 scholarships awarded by the NCAA for fall sports, only three went to women cross-country athletes. Clearly Tamma is an exemplary student-athlete who embodies the spirit of Division III athletics. According to the NCAA, the “NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage postgraduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports. Athletics and academic achievements, as well as campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership, are evaluated. An equitable approach is employed in reviewing each applicant's nomination form to provide opportunity to all student-athlete nominees to receive the postgraduate award, regardless of sport, division, gender or race. In maintaining the highest broad-based standards in the selection process, the program aims to reward those individuals whose dedication and effort are reflective of those characteristics necessary to succeed and thrive through postgraduate study in an accredited graduate degree program.”
Maelia Dubois ’11 has won a scholarship from the German American Society of Portland. She took third place in the 2009 Society Scholarship contest, which rewards achievement in German by high school seniors and college freshman. Twenty-six students from throughout Oregon and southwest Washington participated in the program. They each wrote a two-page essay and took part in a short interview. Essay topics encourage students to examine the expectations Americans and Germans have of each other, while interviews gave committee members a chance to ask students about themselves.
Marie Lafortune ’11 received a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. Twenty-three Lewis & Clark students have received this honor since the program’s inception in 1993. The scholarships support “study in the fields of mathematics, engineering, and the natural sciences as preparation for careers in these areas.”
Kellar Autumn, professor of biology, was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation in support of his research project, “Comparative micromechanics of gecko setae: Effects of rate, substrate, and environment.” This award includes support for NSF’s Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) program.
Two portraits of youth by Debra Beers, senior lecturer in art, were unveiled at an event at the Donald E. Long Juvenile Justice Center. According to the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC), it has been collaborating with the staff of Multnomah County’s Juvenile Justice Center (JJC) to provide art programs that involve professional artists working with youth served by the JJC to effect change in their lives. Rather than making art, these youth became the subject of portraits by Ms. Beers.
Naiomi Cameron, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, received a Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The objective of the fellowship program is to aid the scholarly research and intellectual growth of junior faculty (men and women) and improve their chances for success as tenured university scholars by offering support for 12 months of research and writing. The award includes a stipend and funding to attend the Fall Research in October 2009.
David Campion, associate professor of history, received a grant from the Fulbright Scholar Program to work with Universities in Hong Kong on development of their general education curricula. Only five awards were made by Fulbright as part of the foundation’s Building General Education Curriculum in Hong Kong Universities program.
Todd Lochner, assistant professor of political science, along with Dorie Apollonio and Rhett Tatum, is the inaugural winner of the Regulation & Governance Prize for the best article published in the 2007-08 volumes of the journal. Their winning article is “Wheat from Chaff: Third Party Monitoring and FEC Enforcement Actions” (Regulation & Governance, Vol. 2, Issue 2, pp. 216-233).
Peter Kennedy, assistant professor of biology, and Stephen Tufte, associate professor of physics, each received Partners in Science program grants from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. Professor Kennedy will conduct research with Eileen Oppelt, a science teacher at West Linn High School, for the next two summers on their project, “Examining Biogeographic Patterns in the Frankia-Alnus rubra Symbiosis. Professor Kennedy will conduct research with Jo Ann Wadkins, a science teacher at Lincoln High School, for the next two summers on their project, “Observational Investigations of Short-Period Eclipsing Binary Stars.”
Mary Szybist, assistant professor of English, was selected by Poet Laureate Kay Ryan for one of two Witter Bynner Fellowships in Poetry from the Library of Congress. She will also receive $10,000 from the Library of Congress, made possible by a grant from the Witter Bynner Foundation The fellowships are awarded to two poets whose distinctive talents and craftsmanship merit wider recognition. In February, Professor Szybist travelled to Washington, D.C. to read her work at the Library as part of the fellowship.
On March, 10, 2009, the Center for Career and Community Engagement (3CE) hosted Dr. Phil Gardner from the Collegiate Economic Research Institute at Michigan State University. Dr. Gardner has over a decade of experience researching economic trends and the transition into the workforce from college. He presented to Lewis & Clark students, administrators, students, trustees, and faculty on current economic trends and their impact on the job market for College graduates over the next few years.
With a liberal arts background, Dr. Gardner helped our students understand the competencies they have developed at Lewis & Clark and the importance of these competencies in the job market. His message is summarized in the following abstract of his presentation to students, Make A Successful Transition Even in Troubling Economic Times:
"Unsure how the current economy is going to impact you? While the news looks grim, there are some bright spots in the job market and strategies for success. Dr. Phil Gardner will put the economic trends into context and provide tangible strategies for your success after graduation. He will show you how your liberal arts skills translate into workplace qualifications. All students will benefit from this presentation full of information and resources."
Additionally, Dr. Gardner provided tangible strategies for faculty and administrators to support students with the transition to the workforce.
We are in the second year of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellow Foundation to develop a postdoctoral program in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. The postdoctoral fellows teach a slate of courses and conduct research beyond their dissertation work. The main goals of the program are to infuse new ideas into our humanities curriculum and mentor members of the next generation of professors.
In 2008-09 the Latin American Studies Program at the College (with support from the Ethnic Studies and Gender Studies programs) conducted a search for a postdoctoral fellow. The top choice was Dr. Marie Sarita Gaytan, a recent Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dr. Gaytan taught one course in the fall of 2008, “Gender and Sexuality in Latin America,” and is currently teaching two courses “Food, Culture, and Power in the Americas” and a course “Introduction to Chicano and Latino Popular Culture.” The latter two courses were of her own design, in response to her own teaching areas, and areas of interest to others in the Latin American Studies program.
Midway through the first year of funding from a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Undergraduate Science Education Program grant, Lewis & Clark has already made significant progress toward the objectives outlined in our grant proposal. The following early accomplishments demonstrate the additional momentum this grant has given to our science program:
Laddered-research teams: An integral part of our HHMI grant proposal is the development of laddered research teams, which include a high-school student, an experienced undergraduate researcher, and a less experienced undergraduate. Since receiving our HHMI grant, this hierarchical training-model has also been funded by a National Science Foundation Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement Program grant to psychology faculty members Drs. Brian and Jerusha Detweiler-Bedell.
Five Lewis & Clark students have been named to our Student Outreach Leadership Team (SOLT) and are already visiting local high schools to mentor and recruit students for spots on the laddered-research teams. Three of the ten laddered-research teams will conduct research on the Oregon Health & Science University—Oregon National Primate Resource Center near Beaverton High School. SOLT recruiting at Beaverton High has already realized initial success; a diverse group of Beaverton students have displayed interest in joining research teams.
Science Without Limits Symposium: The faculty planning group for the 2009 Lewis & Clark Science Without Limits Symposium has received a verbal commitment to present from Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran, an internationally recognized Neuroscientist from the University of California San Diego. The mission of this series is to make innovative scientific research accessible and relevant to a wide audience, and increase participation in the physical and natural sciences among all groups, particularly those that have been historically underrepresented. Science course for non-science majors: Four senior faculty members from the departments of biology, chemistry, and physics are working together to develop the curriculum for a team-taught science course for non-science majors entitled “Origin of Life and the Universe.” The College Curriculum Committee will review plans for the course this spring, and then further development of the course will occur over the summer. We expect the class to be offered beginning in the spring semester of 2010.
Neuroscience curriculum development: An interdisciplinary group of faculty members have assembled to develop our planned neuroscience program. This group has expanded the aims of the curriculum development to include an introductory class followed by a one-semester laboratory course. Additionally, a new neurochemistry class is being developed by Professor Janis Lochner. We have already advertised for the hire of a Neuroscience Scholar-in-residence to assist in further curriculum development during 2009-2010.
In the areas of neuroscience and outreach, Lewis & Clark’s HHMI grant builds on the relationships developed through a generous grant from the Fischer Family Foundation, which provides funding for the development of a neuroscience program at Lewis & Clark with the assistance of faculty members from the Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU). The Fischer Family Foundation grant also will encourage a number of students to pursue careers in science and medicine.
As a direct result of funding from the Fischer Family Foundation, Drs. De-Ann Pillers (OHSU) and Gary Reiness (Lewis & Clark) have completed a strong collaborative research project, and their student researcher, Andrew Thomas, is pursuing medical studies at the University of Washington. Drs. Todd Watson and Yueping Zhang from Lewis & Clark and Dr. Alexander Stevens (OHSU) are developing and starting a promising collaborative project.
We are happy to welcome six new faculty members to Lewis & Clark’s College of Arts & Sciences:
Christopher Wendt as Assistant Professor of Political Science, with specialization in comparative politics and a focus on European Union countries.
Éric Tymoigne as Assistant Professor of Economics, with specialization in macroeconomics and international finance. Dr. Tymoigne will teach courses for the Management Concentration in the Economics Department.
Brian Sebok as Assistant Professor of Communication, with specialization in media studies. Dr. Sebok is also an accomplished filmmaker.
Bjørn Southard as Assistant Professor of Communication and Director of Forensics, with specialization in rhetoric and debate. Dr. Southard will replace Prof. Steven Hunt as Director of Forensics when he retires in 2010.
Paul Allen as Assistant Professor of Mathematics, with specialization in applied mathematics and mathematical physics.
Garrick Imatani as Assistant Professor of Art, with specialization in design and digital media.
Click here for a feature about our new professors on the College’s web site.
Our academic program is based on collaboration between students and faculty members, not only in the classroom but also in the studio, stage, laboratory, and the field. Much of the success described above is a direct result of our faculty, who are excellent teacher-scholars, training our students to become student-scholars. Much of this training happens during the academic year, but some of the most important teaching at the College happens during the summer, when students and faculty members collaborate on research projects. During the summer of 2008, 31 faculty members and 59 students participated in College-sponsored faculty-student collaborative research.
Examples of teams and projects include:
Franya Berkman, assistant professor of music, and student Austin Moore ’10 – “Charanga Chops: Flute Virtuosity in Latin Jazz.”
Andrew Cortell, associate professor of international affairs, and student Anne Swift ’09 – “Why Legalize International Trade? U.S. Support for Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization.”
John Fritzman, associate professor of philosophy and student Molly Gibson ’10 – “From Nature to Idea: Schelling’s Evolutionary Process of Hegel’s Conceptual Development.” Click here to download the pdf file of Professor Fritzman and Molly Gibson's article, featured in the Winter 2008 edition of Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), Volume 29(2).
Bethe Scalettar, professor of physics, and Janis Lochner, Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Professor of Science, and students Audrey Fulwiler ’09 and Conor Jacobs ’09 – “Synaptic Secretion of Neuromodulators Implicated in Long-Term Memory Formation.” In many instances collaborations between students and faculty lead to publication of the work in peer-reviewed academic outlets. For example, eighty undergraduates have published jointly with faculty members in national and international science, mathematics, and engineering journals since 2000.
For nearly 50 years Lewis & Clark College has distinguished itself as a liberal arts college committed to international education. Since 1962 over 10,000 students and 235 faculty and staff members have participated in more than 700 overseas and off-campus programs in 66 countries around the world, always maintaining a balance of at least 60 percent of the programs outside of western Europe. Annually, the college is recognized as a leader among elite institutions in the numbers of students studying abroad and in the diversity of offerings in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe.
To foster a stronger sense of global citizenship among its students, the College has introduced new programming in Russia, Vietnam, Greece, Cuba, New Zealand and the borderlands of the United States and Mexico. Future programs are being developed in Brazil and Morocco. For the first time in recent years we have also seen enhanced interest by the faculty to lead overseas programs.
Students return from their experience abroad with a new understanding of the world and an appreciation that their personal choices make a difference.
We are receiving national recognition for how our students make meaning of the international education they receive at Lewis & Clark. In 2008 Lewis & Clark ranked among the top 20 undergraduate colleges in the country in the production of Fulbright Award winners for 2008-09. Six Lewis & Clark students won Fulbright Scholarships last year and are now pursuing teaching and research opportunities abroad. Moreover, Lewis & Clark tied for ninth in the nation among small colleges and universities with the most Peace Corps Volunteers in 2007. Since the Peace Corps’ inception in 1961, 312 Lewis & Clark alumni have served in the organization’s ranks.
The College’s first-year core program, Exploration and Discovery, described recently in the Lewis & Clark Chronicle, is now halfway through its third year of implementation. By every measure the program has been a success, with strong faculty support from those teaching in E&D as well as from those not currently participating. Most every academic department is contributing faculty members to the program, and those that have not as yet contributed are slated to do so in the next year or two.
The faculty found their students to have significantly improved in their writing, critical thinking, careful reading, and speaking (discussion) skills, and to have found the course to be engaging. These impressions are clearly borne out by the course evaluations, which show a majority of students viewing their skills as having improved. The majority of students also expressly praise the fall course—quite an accomplishment for a required, first-year class. The fall semester was also invigorated by a special lecture by the renowned political columnist Katha Pollitt. The 2009 faculty will be convened next month to determine the fall slate of books, once again demonstrating the real vitality and evolutionary basis of E&D: they will stamp their own mark on the common slate, ensuring that those works are ones they find to be the most teachable and most valuable, and that this band of faculty is invested in those selected works and in the course as a whole.
Enthusiasm & Expertise...
The E&D faculty brings wonderful enthusiasm and expertise to their individual, and very individualized, sections for the spring (where every section is distinctive as well as being interdisciplinary and historically broad). The spring has proved the perfect complement to the fall and its common, “great books” paradigm, offering faculty a way of “moonlighting” in areas—and between disciplines—outside their departments. It has proved to be an exciting opportunity for faculty. One member says his spring course is what he was born to teach, and that he intends to teach it until he’s carried away (!). Students also find the spring to be a fresh and exciting next step, one that follows from the fall course, to be sure, but that opens up more specificity and many more choices. Students continue to find the options to be exciting, and seem almost to forget that these sections are still part of a required yearlong sequence. In short, E&D is strong. Students continue to find the course to be appropriate and effective—even ideally so—and the faculty continues to be enthusiastic. E&D is teaching what a core program should—writing, critical thinking, and other skills—and garnering very positive results. It is also providing first-year students with a valuable common experience, which includes a “micro-culture” of shared works in the fall—works students continue to refer to and to employ as touchstones in the spring semester and beyond. Given the levels of enthusiasm and the overall success of the program, Exploration and Discovery is likely to continue as the College’s “flagship” first-year program for many years to come. Its success is the result of faculty commitment, enthusiasm, and hard work.
Our programs in the arts, humanities and social sciences receive national recognition as well. Indeed, in one instance Lewis & Clark received the top national accolade. In November of 2008, Jerusha Detweiler-Bedell, associate professor of psychology, was named the U.S. Professor of the Year in the category of Baccalaureate Colleges by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The CASE/Carnegie prize is the only national award for excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring. Professor Detweiler-Bedell was recognized for a scholarly approach to teaching, as she integrates meaningful research experiences for students into her courses.
The story of success continues.
In 2008...
Karen Gross, assistant professor of English, received the Arnold L. and Lois S. Graves Award in the Humanities from the American Council of Learned Societies, one of the premier humanities teaching honors in the liberal arts colleges sector.
Four College of Arts & Sciences faculty members won the Graves Award between 1998 and 2006:
Alan Cole, professor of religious studies (1998) Nora Beck, professor of music (2000) Rebecca Copenhaver, associate professor of philosophy (2004) David Campion, assistant professor of history (2006)
Mary Szybist, assistant professor of English, was awarded a prestigious Creative Writing Fellowship in poetry by the National Endowment for the Arts. These highly competitive Fellowships are given to published creative writers of exceptional talent. Professor Szybist was also selected by Poet Laureate Kay Ryan for one of two Witter Bynner Fellowships in Poetry from the Library of Congress. In just the past few months, her poems have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Tin House, Poetry, and The Iowa Review.
David Campion, associate professor of history, received a grant from Fulbright Scholar Program to work with Universities in Hong Kong on development of their general education curricula. Only five awards were made by Fulbright as part of the foundation's Building General Education Curriculum in Hong Kong Universities Program.
The College also embarked on a process to train the professoriate of the future. With support from a grant of $450,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the College of Arts & Sciences has established a teaching post-doctoral program in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. The post-doctoral fellows are trained—and mentored—as teachers and scholars, enriching our curriculum and research enterprise with fresh ideas and new opportunities to pursue our interdisciplinary agenda. This year's Mellon Fellow is Marie Sarita Gaytan.
Our students also shine
Ian Feis ’12 received the 2008 Youth Activist Award from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington for his work as a founding member of his high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance.
Selena Jorgensen’08, currently at Harvard University Medical School, won the annual Rudolph Virchow Award from the Society for Medical Anthropology for best undergraduate paper. Her work was titled “The Little Clinic That Could: Neoliberalism, Structural Violence, and Community Resistance in Portland, Oregon.”
Dante Perez ’11, an international affairs major, received a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute summer internship. According to the Institute, “Every summer, 32 promising Latino undergraduates from across the country are selected for an eight-week program in the nation’s capital. While in D.C., interns work in the offices of U.S. representatives.
Rory Sullivan ’10, a history major, was Lewis & Clark’s first recipient of a Shear-Mellon Fellowship at the McNeil Center for Early American History at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ben Brysacz ‘09, a political science major, was named Truman Scholar, the College’s ninth in the past 16 years. Truman Scholars are selected for their intellectual ability, leadership potential and likelihood of “making a difference.” Recipients must have outstanding communication skills, be in the top quarter of their class and be committed to careers in government or the public sector. The 65 Scholars were selected from among 595 candidates nominated by 283 colleges and universities.
Early in 2008 the College of Arts and Sciences received a grant from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation to establish a Beckman Scholars Program in Chemistry and Biological Sciences. The Beckman Scholars Program “provides scholarships that contribute significantly in advancing the education, research training, and personal development of select students in chemistry, biochemistry, and the biological and medical sciences. The sustained, in-depth undergraduate research experiences and comprehensive faculty mentoring are unique in terms of program scope, content, and level of scholarship awards.”
Later in the year the College received a grant of $1.3 million from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Undergraduate Science Education Program. The HHMI grant funds the CAUSE (Collaborative Approaches to Undergraduate Science Education) program at Lewis & Clark, with focus on the following main areas:
Development of curricula and research initiatives in interdisciplinary science, with special attention to bioinformatics, biophysics, and neuroscience (in collaboration with faculty at Oregon Health & Science University);
Development of science courses for students not majoring in the mathematical and natural sciences;
A K-12 outreach program for science education, in collaboration with the Graduate School of Education and Counseling;
An international outreach program for science education, with special attention to collaboration with institutions in East Africa; and
A teaching post-doctoral fellows program in the sciences.
It is important to underscore that Lewis & Clark was the only liberal arts College in Oregon, and one of only six in the West, to receive this major recognition, reserved by HHMI to those institutions with excellent academic programs and the potential to implement innovative strategies that can become national models for the improvement of science education and research.
Indeed, our numbers on science education do tell a story of excellence and success. Over $8 million in grants have been awarded to science faculty members since 2001. And in the last seven years we have seen an increase by 514 percent in research grant dollars awarded to faculty members in mathematics and natural sciences. Current funding sources include the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Research Corporation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, American Chemical Society, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, The Geological Society of America, Merck Institute for Science Education, and the Mathematical Association of America. Very recently, Naiomi Cameron, assistant professor of mathematics, received a Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.
Eight of our last 12 National Science Foundation grant proposals have been funded, and all four National Institutes of Health proposals submitted in the last three years have been funded. These agencies fund on average fewer than 20 percent of proposals. In 2008 three faculty members received major awards from the National Science Foundation. Brian Detweiler-Bedell and Jerusha Detweiler-Bedell, both associate professors of psychology, received a $149,648 grant from the Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program for their work, “Using Laddered Teams to Promote a Research-Supportive Curriculum.” Anne Bentley, assistant professor of chemistry, received a $100,000 Discovery Corps Faculty Development Award to support her research and teaching. And Nikolaus Loening, assistant professor of chemistry, received a $191,764 Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) program grant from the National Institutes of Health to support his research program aimed at discovering interesting peptides and proteins from the venom of the brown recluse spider and its relatives. Our science students represent an essential part of our success story. Our student-scholars are well positioned to become leaders in science, and forty percent of recent graduates in biochemistry/molecular biology, biology, and chemistry are enrolled in graduate or M.D. programs.
Twenty-two Lewis & Clark students have received Goldwater Scholarships since the program’s inception in 1993. Allison Akagi, a senior majoring in chemistry and Claire Fassio and Conor Jacobs, both seniors majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology; each received Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships. The scholarships support “study in the fields of mathematics, engineering, and the natural sciences as preparation for careers in these areas.”
Eleven Lewis & Clark students have received National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships since 1984. Currie ’07 received a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Biochemistry. Melissa Callahan ’05, Sarah Collins ’07, Christopher ’05, and Shannon McGonagle ’04 all received honorable mention.
