inside

2 Physics Receives Fifth NSF Career Award

3 CLAS Welcomes New Faces to Development

4 Gordon Grosscup Donates Time–and Books

5 WSU Geology Department Leads Post-Katrina Delta Field Trip

6 College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Honor Roll

7 Endowed Scholarship at Wayne StateUniversity Honors Alumnus Representative John Conyers, Jr.

8 Neuroscience Day Draws a Crowd

9 Building Slavic Studies at WSU

10 English Professor Dr. Michael ScrivenerWins Guggenheim

11 New CLAS Faculty

CLAS Notes is published by the Wayne State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Wayne State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

S P R I N G 2 0 0 7w w w . c l a s . w a y n e . e d u

a publication of the WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

CLAS NotesCLAS Notes

Along with being a decorated warveteran, a former Detroit Police lieu-tenant, and at present, a successfulattorney with his own law practice,Amos Williams holds another distinc-

tion: Wayne State Criminal Justice alumnus. OnMarch 7 in the Bernath Auditorium, he spoke to anaudience consisting primarily of current CriminalJustice majors. His subject was the badge and the Billof Rights—that is, how police work and constitutionalprotections should ideally work in tandem and how,in practice, they occasionally conflict.

For a distinguished alumnus happy to return to hisalma mater, Williams began his talk with a strikingadmission. “I hated Wayne State,” he said of his firststint here as a student in the mid-1960s. He droppedout shortly after starting, joined the Army, andserved three years in Vietnam. “I saw things at 19and 20 that no one should ever see,” he said of theexperience. He left Vietnam in late 1968, and enteredthe Detroit Police Academy the following month.

What he discovered was that he had more poweras a new cop with a high school education than aSenator or Supreme Court justice. (Cop, he pointedout, is not a pejorative term but shorthand forConstable On Patrol.) “I had the power,” he said, “tocompel any citizen to submit to my commands. Icould lawfully kill you on the streets.” What can serveas an antidote to that power? The idea, Williams said,that one is a public servant. To an auditorium full ofmany future cops, Williams asked: “What do youwant to do with your badge?”

The answer that Williams found in his own case,one that he hoped his student audience would findin their own careers as cops, was “to protect citizenswithin the law. Crooks have it easy. But cops have toprotect citizens within the Bill of Rights”—whatWilliams called “the heart and soul of our republic.”

“Who’s the bigger threat?”Williams asked. “The guy whorobs a bank or a guy with abadge who abuses hispower?” Williams stressed thatit is the latter and that theFounding Fathers, realizingthis, sought to circumscribegovernmental powers in thefirst ten amendments to theConstitution. “The Bill ofRights exists,” he said, “toprotect citizens not againstcriminals, but against thepower of government”—and that includes, of course,the powers of law enforcement. It is imperative, hestressed, that law enforcement use its powers appro-priately. “The American Dream,” he said, “isincorporated in those first ten amendments.” If thecops don’t obey the laws, he warned, “we’re a third-world republic.”

Though well aware of the potential for policeabuse, Williams has nothing but the highest regardfor law enforcement. He said that he was “proud tohave worn the badge,” and that he “still carries it,”producing it from his coat pocket as proof. He retiredfrom the Detroit Police Department in 1985. Threeyears previous to that—and seventeen years after first

Amos Williams Visits Criminal Justicestarting at Wayne State—he earned his CriminalJustice degree. Over time, it was clear that he cameto hate the university a little less.

A lawyer for the last twenty years, Williams hasprosecuted primarily police misconduct cases in hissecond career. He views this as an act of loyalty to theoverwhelming majority of cops, who are good cops.“Good cops want bad cops punished,” he said, while

acknowledging that the so-called blue curtain—thatpropensity of officers to protect one another, toshield their own—can sometimes make it difficult todo so, even, in Williams’ words, “downright incon-venient and dangerous.” For the benefit of thestudents in the audience who plan on becomingpolice officers, he stressed that integrity counts aboveall. Cops volunteer for the job, and he hoped that thefuture law officers in the audience would “volunteerto do the job correctly.” Citing the motto of hisformer commander Rufus Anderson, who was in theaudience: Do it right. If you didn’t, fix it. Don’tcompound your initial mistake by making more ofthem. “It’s always hardest,” Williams said, “to dowhat’s right.”

Williams joked that he “used to be the nextAttorney General for the State of Michigan,” a refer-ence to his failed bid for that office in last fall’selection. “I wasn’t a politician,” he said of hiscampaign, “but I thought that was the best thing Ihad going for me. I didn’t have a burning desire tobe Attorney General. I wanted to serve.” He notedthat this was in keeping with his other public serviceover the years. He didn’t get drafted into the Army,he enlisted; he didn’t get drafted into the DetroitPolice Department, he volunteered. He said that hehad no intention of running again for AttorneyGeneral, but added with a wink that he “could beconvinced” to do so. ■

For the benefit of the students in the

audience who plan on becoming police officers,

he stressed that integrity counts above all.

Cops volunteer for the job, and he hoped that

the future law officers in the audience would

“volunteer to do the job correctly.”

Amos Williams and Criminal Justice Chair Joe Rankin

CLAS Notes2

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The Physics Department has had a tremen-dous run of success as of late, and AssistantProfessor Gavin Lawes, the department’slatest recipient of a National ScienceFoundation (NSF) Career Award, is quick toput his achievements into a broader depart-mental context. “It’s the fifth NSF CareerAward in as many years for Physics,” he says.“This is significant, because it makes ourdepartment one of only a few in the countryto hold this distinction. It speaks to the highquality of research being carried out byrecent additions to the department.” Amongthe other recent additions who’ve won NSFCareer Awards are Boris Nadgorny and PeterHoffmann—both of whom, like Lawes, workin Experimental Condensed Matter Physics—and Sean Gavin and Alexey Petrov, whowork in Theoretical High Energy/NuclearPhysics. In addition to his NSF Career Award, Sean Gavin was also recognized witha Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Lawes is the most recent of those additions. An Assistant Professor, he arrived atWayne State in the fall of 2004. He was born and raised in Canada, earning hisundergraduate degree at the University of Toronto. In a country where manyyoung boys dream of hockey glory, Lawes had other designs from the very begin-ning. “A lot of people drift into physics,” he says. “From the age of eight or nine, Iknew I wanted to be a research scientist.” He did his graduate work at Cornell,investigating superfluid Helium a few thousandths of a degree above absolutezero. From the time he completed his PhD, in 2001, until his hire at Wayne State in2004, Lawes held a position as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Los AlamosNational Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

At Los Alamos, Lawes continued to work at ultra-low temperatures, this time toinvestigate how the properties of magnets change when they are cooled close toabsolute zero. “Magnetic forces are often very weak and their effects can behidden by the motion of atoms,” Lawes says “Cooling down magnets slows downthe atoms and allows us to study these very weak magnetic forces.” The goal ofsuch research was to understand how magnets become magnetic in the first place.

After arriving at Wayne State, Lawes continued investigating novel magneticmaterials. Lawes first applied to the NSF in the summer of 2005, after his first yearat Wayne. Though he didn’t get the grant on his first try, this is standard: few do.And he did get “a lot of useful feedback,” he says. When he applied again in thesummer of 2006, his proposal succeeded. His winning NSF Career Grant was enti-tled “Magnetoelectric Coupling In Bulk And Thin Film Multiferroics.” The ideabehind the research, he says, is less complicated than it sounds. And unlike hissuperfluid research, it could have concrete applications—particularly withcomputers—somewhere down the line. “We know how magnets work in harddrive memory,” Lawes says. “Ferro-electric materials act like magnets, but they alsohave an electric charge. The thing that’s exciting—the reason why the NSF thoughtso, anyway—is that they have magnetic properties as well as a control over charge.This allows new types of materials to be made.” Some of these materials, he says,could eventually be patented. “The NSF wants to see outcomes,” he says.

Such research is by its nature interdisciplinary. Among those Lawes is workingwith on possible applications related to his NSF Career proposal are Prof. RobertCava, a chemist at Princeton University; Prof. A. Brooks Harris, a physicist at theUniversity of Pennsylvania; Dr. Tsuyoshi Kimura, a materials scientist at Bell Labs;

Physics Receives Fifth NSF Career Awardand Prof. Jan Musfeldt, a chemist atthe University of Tennessee. TheWayne State faculty he does collabo-rative research with on other projectsinclude Prof. Stephanie Brock of ourChemistry Department, Prof. SusilPutatunda of our ChemicalEngineering Department, and Prof.Ratna Naik, chair of our PhysicsDepartment.

His research, Lawes says, falls in thebroad category of “materialsscience,” which overlaps withphysics, chemistry, and engineering.There has been discussion of startinga Materials Science Program at WSU,with contributions from the depart-ments of Physics, Chemistry, andChemical Engineering. Prof. Charles

Manke of the Chemical Engineering Department is chairing the exploratorycommittee. Materials Science Programs at the University of California-SantaBarbara and at Princeton, Lawes says, have particularly well-regarded programsthat may serve as models for WSU’s program.

Lawes is also involved in research supported by gifts to the Physics Departmentfrom the Jane and Frank Warchol Foundation, whose generosity allowed WayneState to setup a cultural exchange program with the Université Paris-Sud at Orsayduring the summer of 2006. Two WSU graduate students spent last May in France,working closely with students and faculty at the Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie del’État Solide. In order to expand the benefits of this exchange, a graduate studentfrom the Université Paris-Sud also visited Wayne State. The exchange was overseenby Lawes and a French counterpart, Dr. Ramanathan Suryanarayanan, both ofwhom spoke highly of the scientific as well as cultural benefits of the exchange.

The educational component of Lawes’s NSF proposal includes both graduateand undergraduate students in the research activities. Significant pieces of the

preliminary data in his NSF proposal, he says, were acquired by graduate studentsin his laboratory, while undergraduate students have also been involved with theproject at various stages. Graduate and undergraduate students will continue toplay a pivotal role in the research activities, which Lawes hopes will provide impor-tant training for their future scientific and technical careers. He has also begunwork with a magnet school in Dearborn, where he’s helping to arrange a series oflectures to high school kids on nanotechnology, quantum mechanics, andastronomy. He hopes, he says, to “tap into their innate curiosity about the world,”a curiosity that he himself felt at an early age, and that led him to his current posi-tion—that of an NSF-grant winning professor who wants to help inspire the nextgeneration of physicists. ■

Gavin Lawes in his lab

Graduate and undergraduate students will continue to

play a pivotal role in the research activities, which Lawes

hopes will provide important training for their future

scientific and technical careers.

Dear Friends of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS):

One of the delights of being dean of a college aslarge as CLAS is that there is no end of pleasantnews forthcoming from one or another of thecollege’s many departments and centers, insti-tutes and programs. Even after working longhours for several years now presiding over thiscombined college, not a day passes when I’m notsurprised—and proud—to learn of yet another

outstanding achievement by a student or faculty member in CLAS. Large familiescan be fatiguing, but the rewards more than compensate. I wouldn’t have it anyother way.

In the following pages, you’ll read about only a small percentage of these

achievements and events of note. They range from Physics and English professorswho’ve won prestigious grants to Geology students who’ve traveled to NewOrleans to study the geological impact of Hurricane Katrina. You’ll also read aboutour many new faculty in the college (our family keeps growing!) and our newDevelopment team.

And now, having heard from us, we want to hear from you. Enclosed is a cardasking you to tell us what’s new and exciting in your life. We’ll trumpet youraccomplishments, along with our own, in upcoming newsletters.

With warm regards,

Robert L. ThomasProfessor of Physics and Dean

CLAS Notes 3

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T he College of Liberal Arts and Sciences waspleased to welcome some new faces to theirDevelopment Team in 2006. Senior Director

of Development for CLAS, Casandra Ulbrich, hasbeen with the university for over six years in variousroles within Development, most recently coming tous from the former College of Urban, Labor andMetropolitan Affairs. Casandra received an MA inCommunications from the College of Fine,Performing and Communication Arts in 2003 and isclose to completing work towards a PhD from WSUas well. An accomplished fundraiser, Casandra was

DEPARTMENT NAME SPONSOR

Physics Robert Harr FERMI NATIONAL ACCELERATOR LABORATORYBiology James Tucker FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATIONPhysics Thomas Cormier LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORYPhysics Thomas Cormier LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORYBiology Karen Myhr NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTEChemistry Dana Spence NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES DIGESTIVE & KIDNEY DIS.Nutrition and Food Science Ahmad Heydari NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES DIGESTIVE & KIDNEY DIS.Psychology Joseph Jacobson NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCESChemistry Andrew Feig NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCESChemistry Andrew Feig NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCESPsychology Paul Toro NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTHPsychology Lisa Rapport NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DISABILITY AND REHABILITATION RESEARCHChemistry Zhongwu Guo NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTHInterdisciplinary Studies Marsha Richmond NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATIONPhysics David Cinabro NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATIONMathematics Leonid Makar-Limanov NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCYAnthropology Allen Batteau NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEChemistry James Rigby NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEChemistry Jin Cha NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEChemistry Arthur Suits NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEComputer Science Monica Brockmeyer NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEComputer Science Hasan Jamil NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEEnglish Anthony Manuel Aristar NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEEnglish Anthony Manuel Aristar NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEMathematics Paoliu Chow NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEMathematics Zhimin Zhang NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEMathematics Gang Yin NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEMathematics Boris Mordukhovich NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEPhysics Alexey Petrov NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEPhysics Ashis Mukhopadhyay NUTRITION AND FOOD SCIENCEChemistry Charles Winter OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCHChemistry David Benson OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCHPhysics Boris Nadgorny OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCHChemistry Charles Winter U.S. ARMYPhysics Paul Karchin U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGYGeology Jeffrey Howard U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEYGeology Mark Baskaran U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEYAnthropology Tamara Bray SCHOOL OF AMERICAN RESEARCH

CLAS Welcomes New Faces to Development

recently elected to theState Board of Educationfor Michigan. We’redelighted to have herleading development inCLAS.

We also welcomedKathryn Clark andMichael Mirto to theCLAS DevelopmentTeam this past fall.Having served WSUDevelopment in variousroles over the last fouryears, Kathryn comes tous from the Departmentof Athletics at WSU. In

her free time Kathryn is close to finishing an MA inpublic administration from Wayne State’s ownDepartment of Political Science. Like his colleagues,Michael Mirto brings a solid background infundraising to WSU, most recently having served asthe Director of Development for AffirmationsLesbian and Gay Community Center, located inFerndale, MI, where he led an extraordinarilysuccessful $5.3 million capital endowmentcampaign. Not one to sit still, Michael is eager tobegin the Master of Urban Planning Program in thefall.

CLAS is also pleased to welcome MichelleFallscheer as our dedicated Planned Giving Officer.Prior to coming to WSU two years ago, Michellegained valuable experience in fundraising while atthe American Cancer Society, where she wasemployed for 2 years. Like her team members,Michelle is planning to obtain her Masters fromWSU in the near future. For anyone interested inmaking a planned gift, Michelle is the person tocontact.

All of the development work happening in CLASwould not be possible without the support of ourtwo administrative support staff, Bonita Watkins-Gamble and Tanya Wright. Prior to her rolesupporting development, Bonita spent time in FiscalOperations and has been with WSU for almost eightyears. Bonita also has eight years of experienceworking as a medical secretary. Tanya Wright comesto us from Special Events, but first began at WSU in1993 supporting the Computer ScienceDepartment’s word processing program as aPrograms Records Clerk. Very familiar with WSU,Tanya currently serves as Development TeamSecretary, providing excellent assistance to threedevelopment units.

The CLAS Development Team is excited to meetour alumni and friends and welcomes your callsregarding future giving opportunities. Pleasecontact us at (313) 577-9870. ■

(L-R) Bonita Watkins-Gamble, Casandra Ulbrich, Michael Mirto,

Tanya Wright, Michelle Fallscheer, Kathryn Clark

CLAS Faculty Grants and Awards

4

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CLAS Notes

Each Tuesday afternoon, Dr. GordonGrosscup, retired professor ofAnthropology, spends a few hours in thelibrary of the Anthropology Museum,cataloguing the library’s abundant

supply of books and articles, many of which hehimself donated. At present, his donations exist in acertain degree of disorder. The article clippings goback decades, the books longer than that, and thecatalogue he’s working on—“I’m about half-waydone with it,” he says—is an old-fashioned card cata-logue, with entries logged on 3x5 cards. “It’s all stuffthat should interest anthropology students,” he saysof the materials. “Articles on archaeology, linguistics,cultural practices, and so on.” Other current andretired Anthropology faculty have also donatedmaterials to the library over the years, making hispresent work part of a larger anthropological under-taking.

This donation of his time is matched, in Dr.Grosscup’s case, by monetary generosity as well. In2005, he donated $25,000 to support theAnthropology Museum and its exhibits, collections,library, and laboratory. In 2006, he added another$22,000 to his initial donation. And back in 2000, hemade a bequest of $150,000 to establish the Dr.Gordon L. Grosscup Endowed AnthropologyMuseum Graduate Fellowship. “Part of the motiva-tion for these gifts,” he says, which also include a$1,000 yearly donation, is “that the museum hasnever had its own budget. It’s important that it hasmonies earmarked just for the museum.” In toughbudgetary times, he said, graduate research assis-tants would sometimes be pulled from the museum

Friends of CLAS and alumni Peter and Grace Wang (Peter - PhD, Mathmatics,1966; MA, 1963; Grace - PhD, Chemistry, 1969) recently celebrated the fifthanniversary of their Wang Center at Pacific Lutheran University. Former VicePresident Walter Mondale attended the ceremony, at which Peter and Grace werepresented with the Peace Maker Award by the university, in honor of their effortsto improve relations between the United States and China.

The Summer Service Learning Program that the Wang Center sponsors waswritten up in the May 14th issue of Time. WSU Professor Haiyong Liu, along withMs. Claire Brender, led a group of ten from WSU who participated in the first suchprogram in rural China last summer, and will lead a group of 22 from WSU alongwith 80 or so students from other U.S. universities and 400 or so students fromTsinghua during this coming summer.

Gordon Grosscup Donates Time–and Books

to do work in the department perceived as morepressing. It is to eliminate the possibility of this in thefuture that Dr. Grosscup made his bequest. TheMusuem Graduate Fellow’s primary duties will becuration and research in the museum, with noteaching duties.

The Anthropology Museum’s other great need isspace. The museum library, Grosscup notes, doublesas a seminar room, meaning that students squeezeinto it alongside the burgeoning collection of books.The laboratory is also quite cozy. But space is hard tocome by all over campus, and in particular in OldMain, the museum’s home. The best one can do,then, is to make sure that the museum’s presentspace is well-preserved, and that its collections andexhibit space will have graduate students to tend tothem. Through his generous gifts, Dr. Grosscup hassecured the Anthropology Museum’s future. ■

Other current and retired

Anthropology faculty have

also donated materials to

the library over the years,

making Dr. Grosscup’s

present work part of a larger

anthropological undertaking.

Alumni & FriendsStanford Ovshinsky, recipient of a 2007 WSU Peace Maker Award at the April 19 awards ceremony,is Founder and Chief Scientist and Technologist ofEnergy Conversion Devices, Inc. of Rochester Hills,Michigan. He and his wife, the late Dr. Iris M.Ovshinsky, founded the company in 1960 to continuehis work in the field of amorphous and disorderedmaterials, which he originated in 1955. StanOvshinsky is a fellow of both the American PhysicalSociety “for his contributions to the understanding,applications and development of amorphous elec-tronic materials and devices” and of the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science. Dr.Ovshinsky was honored for the work that he and hiswife have done on energy conservation and on theglobal response to conflict over the environment. Stanford Ovshinsky

5

S P R I N G 2 0 0 7w w w . c l a s . w a y n e . e d u

CLAS Notes

E ighteen months after Hurricane Katrinadevastated the City of New Orleans, agroup of WSU undergraduate environ-mental science and geology studentstraveled to the Mississippi River Delta

during their 2007 spring break. The journey was thelatest in a series of annual field trips organized by theDepartment of Geology to explore environmental,ecological, and economic places of interest across theUnited States. Recent destinations have included theSan Andreas Fault (2003), the Mississippi River Delta(2004), the Grand Canyon (2005), and the WestTexas Permian Reef (2006). The objective of the 2007trip was to observe Katrina’s lingering impact ondeltaic landforms, ecosystems, and the engineeringstructures designed to protect the city from floodsand hurricanes.

The field trip was organized by WSU ProfessorLawrence D. Lemke, who holds a PhD inEnvironmental Engineering. Dr. Lemke lived in NewOrleans for three years during his twelve year careeras a petroleum geologist with Exxon and its world-wide affiliates. Drawing on his personal experience,Dr. Lemke arranged for the students to tour the cityin areas that were most affected by Hurricane Katrina.These included neighborhoods adjacent to leveebreaks in the Lower 9th Ward and along the LondonAvenue and 17th Street Canals. Students viewed thefoundations of houses that had been washed away bythe force of the flood waters; peered into homes thatwere buried in mud and sand; and examined repairsand improvements that subsequently have beencompleted along the levee breaks. “It was quite

WSU Geology Department Leads Post-Katrina Delta Field Trip

amazing to see what happened there with my owneyes. It is one thing to watch it on TV and quiteanother to see it in person,” said WSU EnvironmentalScience major Rebecca Jackson.

Dr. Stephen Nelson from Tulane University joinedthe group for a day to explain how the geology of theunderlying sediments contributed to the levee fail-ures. Dr. Nelson’s research suggests that themovement of water through permeable soil unitsbeneath the floodwalls and their underlying sheetpilings undermined portions of the levees and causedthem to give way. WSU environmental science majorTanya Martin observed, “The trip contributed to myunderstanding of the levee system because prior tothe trip I had only seen pictures. It also made methink that there is a constant struggle between manand nature when trying to live in a city that is belowsea level.”

The group then spent several days exploringmarine, brackish, and freshwater ecosystems (barrierislands, bays, and marshes) in southern Louisiana onboats provided by the Louisiana Universities MarineConsortium (LUMCON) and the U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers (USACE). According to Dr. Lemke, “Itreadily became apparent to all of us on the trip thatthe sustainable habitation of New Orleans is inti-mately linked to the preservation of the deltaicwetlands that fuel the economy and provide thecultural identity of the surrounding region.Unfortunately, subsidence and erosion are causingthese wetlands to disappear at an alarming rate.”Many in the region point to the levee system built toprotect residents from the floodwaters of theMississippi River as the culprit. With more than 960miles of continuous levees in the New Orleans Districtalone, the river and its distributaries can no longerreplenish the sediment needed to sustain thewetlands when the river rises to its natural floodstage. Consequently, modern delta managementpractices are beginning to include engineered breaksin the levees to allow fresh water and sediment backinto the coastal wetlands.

While in southern Louisiana, the WSU group wasable to tour three USACE facilities along the LowerMississippi River. These included the Old RiverControl Structure, the Davis Pond FreshwaterDiversion Project, and the Bonnet Carré Spillway.Many of the students read The Control of Nature byJohn McPhee to better understand USACE efforts toprevent the Atchafalaya River from capturing and

redirecting the Mississippi at Old River, 300 milesabove the present day Mississippi River mouth.Should the Atchafalaya win this battle, there will beenormous economic consequences for Baton Rouge,New Orleans, and the industrial complex along theMississippi River in between the two cities. The DavisPond Project is a recently completed opening in theMississippi River levee that diverts water into adjacentwetlands and is helping to restore valuable marshhabitat. The Bonnet Carré Spillway is another engi-neered break in the levee that was constructedshortly after the catastrophic floods of 1927 toprotect New Orleans from high Mississippi Riverwaters. It has been opened only eight times sincethen, allowing floodwaters to spill out into LakePontchartrain north of the city. Today, Bonnet Carré isbeing considered as a possible additional freshwaterdiversion project.

These stops gave the WSU Geology andEnvironmental Science students on the trip time toconsider how human activities and natural processescompete to shape the river, delta, and coastalwetlands of southern Louisiana. “I learned so muchabout how the amount of sediment that water carrieshas such an enormous effect on the ability of a

coastal region to be restored. I now understand whatactually happened with Hurricane Katrina and itseffects on the geology of that area, and the manysocial and political problems New Orleans still facestoday. I absolutely loved this trip,” said Karen VanTiem, a freshman geology major. Joe Bader, a juniormajoring in geology, added, “You cannot form orig-inal ideas and make interpretations without first handexperience. This was an excellent way to add to themental warehouse of information I will use to helpmake future decisions and interpretations.”

The trip also gave the student participants a chanceto reflect on possible career paths. ShannonMolaroni, a senior with a dual major in geology andenvironmental science, explained that the trip “defi-nitely added to my interest in graduate research, andhas further demonstrated the correlation betweengeology and ecology, which is where I would like tofind my niche.” Similarly, Rebecca Jackson remarked,“This trip has showed me that I really want to pursuea career in aquatic ecology/conservation. From therewe will see. I do know that I can definitely see myselfspending my days on a research boat.” One thingseems certain, however. Field trips such as theseprovide Wayne State University students with a valu-able opportunity to study environmental science andgeology in the real world. ■

“ It readily became apparent to all of us on

the trip that the sustainable habitation of

New Orleans is intimately linked to the

preservation of the deltaic wetlands that fuel

the economy and provide the cultural identity

of the surrounding region. Unfortunately,

subsidence and erosion are causing these

wetlands to disappear at an alarming rate.”

– Lawrence Lemke

Professor Lemke (second from left) with Geology students

CLAS Notes6

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1868 Society ($250,000+)New Urban Learning - U.P.A. Management

Heritage Society($100,000–$249,999)American Cancer SocietyMr. Richard J. BarberFord Motor Company FundMcGregor FundProfessor and Mrs. A. Paul Schaap

Cornerstone Society($50,000–$99,999)American Chemical SocietyEwing Marion Kauffman FoundationGerber Companies FoundationNational Multiple Sclerosis SocietyStanley Medical Research InstituteThompson FoundationMr. and Mrs. Joseph J. Yelda

Charter Society($25,000–$49,999)Association for Institutional ResearchMs. Enid BardenEstate of Lenore Coral DTE Energy FoundationInternational Business Machines CorporationLinguistic Society Of AmericaMax Kade Foundation, Inc.Dr. Gerald RosenbaumMr. & Mrs. Frederick J. Sievert

AWS Member($10,000–$24,999)American Heart AssociationBarth Syndrome FoundationBBK, Ltd.Mr. and Mrs. Mandell BermanConvergence Education FoundationDetroit Section, American Chemical Society, Inc.Professor and Mrs. Darrell EbbingFrank A. Campini FoundationGeneral Motors CorporationGordon L. Grosscup, Ph.D.Hudson-Webber FoundationMyron P. Leven FoundationAnonymousDr. & Mrs. Mel RavitzMs. Marianne RieglerDr. & Mrs. David B. RorabacherMs. Susan J. ThompsonVictory Foundation, Inc.World Institute for World Peace Foundation

2001 Wayne State Club($5,000–$9,999)Centrus International Inc.CH2M Hill FoundationComerica BankCompuware CorporationMr. Phillip M. FantleFrey FoundationThe Hamzavi FoundationMr. & Mrs. Robert P. IrvanJune and Cecil McDole Charitable FundLaSalle Bank Midwest N.A.Latinos de LivoniaMrs. Dolorais J. RiklinDr. and Mrs. Richard W. SbaschnigDean and Mrs. Robert L. Thomas

2001 Deans Club($1,000–$4,999)AFMS Scholarship Foundation, Inc.Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor SocietyMr. & Mrs. Norman B. AndersonMr. Lawrence AngelilliAntiochian Orthodox Christian ArchdioceseAsh Stevens, Inc.BASF CorporationMrs. Amy B. Bloom, J.D.Dr. Patricia R. Bush, M.D.Cargill, Inc.Mr. Gilbert Chapman, IIChildren's Hospital of MichiganCitizens Research Council of MichiganMr. Robert ClaarMs. Kathleen A. JasinaDaniel V. Covello, Jr.DaimlerChrysler Corporation FundWilliam B. De Lauder, Ph.D.Delta Dental Plan of MichiganMr. & Mrs. Frank S. DeShonMr. Howard R. DwelleyDr. Rita Richey and Professor Charles ElderMrs. Gargi B. FrenchGaussian, Inc.Daniel S. GellerGerman American Cultural CenterThe Honorable Mark and Judy GoldsmithMr. and Mrs. Paul GordonDr. and Mrs. Patrick J. GossmanMrs. Beverly E. HackerKimberly HarrisonMs. Rosemary K. HartungDr. & Mrs. Gary F. HawkinsMs. Pamela J. Hobbs

Mr. Frederick W. HoffmanMr. Richard J. HolmesEdward Joseph Jelonek, Jr.Mr. Alex JohnsonMr. Bernard W. JosephMs. Debra M. KellerKostal of America, Inc.Mr. and Mrs. G. Michael LoeweMs. Adrian LundCarol J. Markiewicz, D.O.Mr. and Mrs. Harold MarkoMcDonald Investments IncMs. Susan M. MetzgerMichigan Mineralogical SocietyMr. Drew MurphyProfessor Ratna NaikDr. Kazumi NakanoNational Society of the Colonial Dame

of America in MichiganMs. Betty J. NeitzelDr. and Mrs. John OliverOrganic Syntheses, Inc.Mr. & Mrs. James OshikaMr. Charles F. OtisMr. Stanford OvshinskyProf. & Mrs. James A. PapkeMr. Charles J. ParrishPearson EducationPfizer Foundation, Inc.Ms. Julie PollSubha RameshProfessor John R. ReedMr. Robert E. RichDr. and Mrs. James H. RigbyMr. and Mrs. Jerome RockMs. Joanne M. RuzzaDr. Anne and Mr. Michael SabourinProfessor Lawrence A. ScaffDr. Roslyn A. SchindlerMary C. Sengstock, Ph.D.Robert and Shirley ShirockMary Jane and George J. TothGeorge J. and Mary Jane TothU.S. Civilian Research & Development FoundationMr. Edmond Van HeesDr. and Mrs. Vollrad J. von BergMs. Joanne E. WagersonMs. Mary J. WalkerDr. Marilyn L. Williamson

Green and Gold Club($500–$999)AAUP-AFT Local 6075Paul G. Anderson, Ph.D.Mr. Rufus S. AndersonMr. Gregory ArutunianMr. Bissy Chandy BobyProfessor Henry V. BohmMr. Keith B. BraunMs. Susan B. BristolMr. Joseph M. BugajskiArthur W. Bull, Jr., Ph.D.David Burnstine, M.D.Bernard & Judith CantorMs. Frances D. CarnaghiMr. Wiaczeslaw A. CetenkoMrs. Joan E. CortrightCultural Society of Armenians from IstanbulMs. Kris Tina-Yurgin CummingsDaughters of Vartan Grand CouncilMr. & Mrs. Jeffrey DrazenMr. Seymour H. DussmanProf. Richard C. EllingJoan L. Exline, Ph.D.Dr. Susan P. FinoFire and Matrials Research Laboratory, LLCFisher ScientificMr. & Mrs. James E. FiskMr. & Mrs. Eric A. FornasieroDr. Bradley L. FowlerMs. Arlene FoxMr. & Mrs. Robert D. FrenchGeneral Motors FoundationJoella Gipson-Simpson, Ph.D.Brian GossMichael I. Green, Ph.D.Mrs. Anita HamadekMr. Herbert B. HandelsmanDr. and Mrs. George GalsterErika M. Herczeg, Ph.D.Heritage Place at MagnoliaMs. Elinore R. HerschkowitzHistoric Memorials Society In DetroitR. Thomas Hunter, Ph.D.Huron Capital PartnersMr. Mark A. JagerJK Group TrusteesMr. J. Whitfield JonesCatherine & William KaiserRoger & Elizabeth KempaMr Thomas KillionStanley KirschnerMr. & Mrs. Michael KobranProfessor Marc W. KrumanProfessor Bernice A. KaplanDr. Mark L. LifterXisuo L. Liu, Ph.D.Mr. David J. LowrieMs. Mary Lee MacDonaldRachel & Harry MaiselGilbert R. Malone, Ph.D.Mr. Charles R. MarbleMr. John McElroyVictoria Hughes MellerMr. Robert D. MeredithMetropolitan Psychological Associates, P.C.Valerie F. Mittl, Ph.D.Professor Wilson J. Moses

Lt. Colonel David J. NeukammMr. John A. NiedermillerMr. Jeremy D. NovakMrs. Karen S. O'LearyMr. Robert Allan OlenderMr. & Mrs. Irving J. PetrossDr. Norbert P. PsutyDr. Lisa J. RapportMs. Marion K. RingeDr. & Mrs. Peter E. RogersMr Edward RoseMr. James C. RoumellMrs. Anne Z. SanfordProf. & Mrs. Alvin SapersteinMr. Ronald F. SawyerSBC FoundationMs. Marjorie H. SchaferMs. Margaret M. SeeleySemantixStuart E. Sheill TrustDr. James L. SmithSouth Redford School DistrictProf. Melbourne & Mrs. Charlotte StewartMr. and Mrs. Charles W. ThompsonMr. John S. TroschinetzJames TuckerUPS FoundationLawrence J. Usher, D.O.John & Aldona ValicentiVarian, Inc.Ms. Ivana M. VettrainoVWR InternationalMr. Kenneth R. WaltersMr. Paul D. WardMr. Steven E. WoodDoreen A. Singer Wright

Century Club($250–$499)Dr. Philip R. AbbottAdult Learning InstituteDr. Steven Cameel Ajluni, M.D.Mr. James E. AllenMr. Peter R. AndreanaAnheuser-Busch FoundationArab Community Center for Economic

and Social ServicesPaul & Annamarie AshbaDr. & Mrs. Roger P. BakaleMr. Boris BaltesMark BaskaranMr. Allen W. BatteauMrs. Shirley A. BennettMr. Dale C. BeyerBlack United Fund of Michigan, Inc.Ms. Gisela BlevinsMr. John BoldenMr. David D. BoltzHeather BozimowskiMr. William W. Branford Jr.Brock Counseling & EvaluationMr. Ronald E. BrownMs. Marsha S. BruhnWilliam Busby, Ph.D and Rebecca Busby, Ph.D.Ms. Joanne M. CantoniMs. Rita J. CaseyJin-Kun ChaPhilip Chamberlain, Ph.D.Ms. Mary M. ChamesMr. and Mrs. John CharzynskiProfessor Juei-Teng ChenSuzanne & Adam CheslinChrist The KingMr. & Mrs. John D. CikoMs. Elizabeth C. ClarkeDr. Alfred L. CobbsDrs. Barry & Myra CoddensCommunity Foundation for Southeast MichiganMs. Delores CowanMr. Richard C. CrispinMs. Dominika CsurgoMr. Robert F. CzajaMs. Colette CzarneckiMr Adam DadaouMs. Maureen A. DarmaninTamara DefrainJergis Denno, M.D.Marcus W. DicksonMs. Sally K. DottererMr. and Mrs. Eugene DrikerDriker Family FoundationMs. Romana K. DyhdaloRick & Ann EdwardsDr. & Mrs. Donatus U. EkwuemeMr. George W. EllenwoodErnst & Young LLPMr. Richard P. EverhartMr. William A. FaberMr. Howard FinleySebastiano A. Fisicaro, Ph.D.Ms. Ruthie M. FlowersMr. Walter W. ForsiakFarshad FotouhiMr. David FoustRonald A. Garbin, Ph.D.General Electric FoundationMrs. Lucia M. GettierLiette Patricia GidlowMrs. Peggy M. GlickGlobal ImpactDr. David GreenMr. Errol GriffinMr. Larry B. GrimbleRichard Arthur GrusinMr. Albert Gutierrez, Jr.Dr. Adele and Mr. Mason HaberMs. Susan L. HalvorsenMr. Joseph J. Handly

Dr. Mary HerringDr. & Mrs. Allan HovlandMs. Marilyn J. HussMr. James I. HustonMs. Joan JasinaMr. Stephen Y. JensenDr. and Mrs. Rolf B. JohannesenJack L. Johnson, Ph.D.Mr. & Mrs. Donald J. JohnsonMajor Moses Jones, Jr.Ms. Janelle M. JonesMr. William E. JordanMr. Pieter M. JudsonMr. Norman D. KatzMr. David M. KaufmanWalter & Margaret T. KauppilaMs. Carole D. KellerMs. Janet KelmanDr. Rafail KhasminskiiMr. Joe KieleszewskiMs. Glenda L. King-HoaglandMrs. Teresa M. KlecknerDrs. John S. KlemanskiSoo Sung Ko, Ph.D.Mr. & Mrs. David M. KuziemkoMs. Katarzyna Monika KuzniakMr. Lawrence LemkeMr. Thomas M. LeskieLubrizol FoundationMs. Margaret M. MadayMs. Kathleen I. MaialeGail E. Makinen, Ph.D.Marick Press IncMr. William H. MatthewsMr. Curt S. MayesDr. Marlene J. MayoMayor's TimeNader S. Meri, M.D.Microsoft Matching Gifts ProgramMr. Richard A. MikulecMrs. Miriam MondryMonsanto FundMs. Celia M. MorseMurray and Ina Pitt Charitable TrustThomas W. Myers, Ph.D.Mr. & Mrs. John Nasea, Jr.New Cass EnterprisesRobert J. Newland, Ph.D.Denise NikcevichDavid & Deborah NjusMr. Stephen J. OlahMr. Arthur C. OttneyMr. Jeffrey D. PaddenRobert E. Palazzo, Ph.D.Rea PallanguriMr. Donald PedlerPfizer Foundation Matching Gifts ProgramsMary Kay Hamm PflumMr. Leland R. PhelpsMs. Mary E. PhilippsLaura Leavitt PierceMrs. Nancy L. PindurRonald G. Pirrallo, M.D.Mr. and Mrs. Murray PittPointes Plastic SurgeryMr. Joseph S. PriebeQiagen, Inc.Ms. Christina RadcliffeMs. Susan M. ReinholdRobert James Rhodes, Sr.Mr. Fred M. RichmanDr. and Mrs. James H. RigbyMr. Randy R. RogersMr. Brad R. RothMr. Larry M. RoyMrs. Diane L. RubyMrs. Martha M. SachsDr. & Mrs. Joseph SamuelsMrs. Phyllis Z. ScalesDavid W. Schoenow, M.D.Mrs. Sheila A. SchuetteMs. Mary B. ScottDr. & Mrs. James R. SharpMark W. Shatz, Ph.D.Ms. Therese ShawMr. & Mrs. Sidney I. SiegelMr. and Mrs. Harold T. SlabyDr. & Mrs. Thomas G. SmithMs. Margot C. SnyderDr. R. Scott StehouwerDr. Harry A. StenzelMr. James L. StewartMarcia & Roderick StewartMs. Elizabeth J. StoneMr. Arthur G. SuitsMs. Carole C. SuladMr. John N. ThomsonMr. Paul W. ThurmSteve S. Tsangalias, M.D.Ukrainian Selfreliance Federal Credit UnionMs. Charlotte K. VarziBetty VenierMrs. Kathleen J. ViethMr. Theodore von BibraWilliam H. Weihofen, Ph.D.Dr. & Mrs. Milton WeiserWellington Management Company, LLPDr. & Mrs. Dale A. WilliamsMr. Brian J. WillsMr. Leon C. WilsonLucy B. Wilson, Ph.D.Harold & Dianne WolmanMr. M. Wayne WoodliefMr. Philip F. WorkmanMr. Charles C. YetMr. Maurice H. ZakhemMs. Elizabeth A. ZatinaMr. and Mrs. Edward M. ZelenakProfessor Regina Zibuck

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Honor RollThe College of Liberal Arts and Sciences would like to thank the following CLAS donors for their generous gifts during the calendar year 2006:

CLAS Notes 7

S P R I N G 2 0 0 7w w w . c l a s . w a y n e . e d u

Susan Bristol comes from a long line of Wayne Stategraduates. “Wayne State University is a family tradi-tion,” Susan said. “In my immediate family, thereare nine Wayne State University degrees among myfather, mother, brother, two sisters and myself.Having two degrees from Wayne State has helpedmy career and my life. When I graduated, I felt veryknowledgeable in my field and well-equipped tohandle multiple tasks.”

Susan is now helping others to fulfill theirdreams. Through her estate plan, Susan will createthe Susan B. Bristol Endowed Scholarship in theCollege of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This fund willsupport Political Science students majoring inPublic Administration.

“The education Wayne State gave me wastough,” she noted. “The university doesn’t changethe rules to make education easier. This preparesstudents for life in the real world after graduation.We can’t change what life hands us, but we can

Supporters and friends of U.S. Rep. JohnConyers, Jr. have created theCongressman John Conyers, Jr.

Endowed Scholarship at Wayne State Universityto honor Conyers’ 42 years of service to metro-politan Detroit. The scholarship, created in theCollege of Liberal Arts and Sciences with giftstotaling $50,000, will support full-time under-graduate students from Wayne County andDetroit.

“We all long for the day when a lack offunding will not be a consideration for thoseseeking a college degree,” Conyers said duringa reception at Wayne State. “But until then wemust deal with the reality of the day. In thatspirit, I appreciate this special honor. My heartis overflowing.”

Irvin D. Reid, President of Wayne StateUniversity, pledged an additional $10,000 fromhis President’s Enhancement Fund to increasethe scholarship endowment.

John Conyers entered the U.S. House ofRepresentatives in 1964 and is the second mostsenior member of Congress. He recently was

Vahid Majidi Joins FBI

Endowed Scholarship at Wayne State UniversityHonors Alumnus Representative John Conyers, Jr.

Family Tradition Leads toGenerous Planned Gift to CLAS

The Wayne State Chemistry Department is proud tonote that Vahid Majidi, a 1987 PhD recipient inChemistry, has been named the director of a newFBI program dedicated to stopping the spread ofweapons of mass destruction. Born in Iran, Majidimoved to Illinois in 1979, during high school. Whenhe graduated, Majidi wasn’t sure what he wanted todo next. A friend happened to have an extra applica-tion to Eastern Michigan; he applied and wasaccepted. After attending Eastern, Vahid applied to

E nid Barden understands the importanceof community. When asked what moti-vated her to create the Zamarripa Family

Endowed Scholarship Ms. Barden replied, “It isimportant to support Wayne State Universityrather than larger universities elsewhere becauseit’s local, and this is my home town.”

By 2020, Michigan will be short 6,000 physi-cians, according to a SEMCOG report issued inApril 2007. This is a critical time in our state’shistory to educate tomorrow’s health careprofessionals.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences playsa critical role in training our future health careworkers, and the forward thinking of leaders inour community such as Enid Barden greatlyassist us in our role of meeting the health careneeds of tomorrow.

Opportunities in health care will soar as anaging population demands medical services. Thesector will add more than 100,000 jobs over thenext decade, dwarfing the number of manufac-turing jobs in 2017.

Enid Barden has generously established theZamarripa Family Endowed Scholarship. Thepurpose of this scholarship is to create educa-tional opportunities for pre-medical studentswith financial need, who, ultimately, will giveback to their community. The Zamarripa FamilyEndowed Scholarship will provide full tuition toa deserving student, and will assist our commu-nity’s need for additional physicians.

Seventy-five percent of WSU alumni remain inMichigan after graduation and contribute everyday to the region’s economic, social and culturallife. ■

Enid Barden Establishesthe Zamarripa FamilyEndowed Scholarship

elected Chairman of the House Committee onthe Judiciary and is a founding member of theCongressional Black Caucus. He received aBachelor of Arts from Wayne State University in1957 and a Juris Doctor from the Wayne StateLaw School in 1958. ■

change ourselves to meet challenges head on. Thatis one of the most important things I learned frommy experiences at Wayne State University.”

Susan attended several Anthony Wayne Societyfunctions and thought about joining the Old MainSociety as well. “Then I decided to just do it.Making a planned gift is not hard. I was brought up with the philosophy that you give to give back,”Susan said. “I was fortunate to get an education, so I feel it is important to pay that forward. Mypersonal mission statement speaks to inspiringothers to realize their dreams, and by giving toWayne State University, I am enabling that missionto take on a life of its own. I hope that the studentswho receive the scholarship will have a similarphilosophy.”

Susan Bristol has a Bachelors of Art with distinc-tion in Political Science, graduating as a member ofPhi Beta Kappa, and a Masters in PublicAdministration. ■

Wayne State for graduate school, eventuallystudying spectroscopy for his doctorate at WSU. Hecredits WSU for changing his life. “Wayne State, forme, will always be home,” he says. “It had a signifi-cant impact on my life.” He found the universityhospitable to advanced studies. “WSU caters tograduate students,” he says, “particularly in thescience and technology fields. If you want a grad-uate degree, I cannot imagine a better place toblossom.” ■

U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. (second from right)

presents check to President Reid

T he College of Liberal Arts and Sciencesbegan supporting a NeuroscienceInitiative in 2005. It began in theDepartments of Biological Sciencesand Psychology and now involves

faculty and students from departments throughoutCLAS, the Colleges of Engineering and Education,and the School of Medicine. The major activities arean annual Neuroscience Research Day, a monthlyNeuroscience Colloquium, and a graduate studentorganization that organizes outreach activities.

The second annual Neuroscience Day was held onFebruary 2, 2007 in the McGregor ConferenceCenter. Over one hundred neuroscientists from sixdepartments in CLAS and from six other divisions ofthe university participated, giving oral and posterpresentations on their neuroscience research.Neuroscience touches many disciplines, with partici-pation from Biology, Psychology, Chemistry andMath to Linguistics, German and Slavic languagesand English. Faculty presentations covered a widerange of neuroscience, from Dr. Ava Senkfor’s talk on“Neural Investigations of Memory and MultisensoryExperience” to Dr. Mark Greenwald’s talk on “TheNeuropsychopharmacology of Drug Abuse.” Three

Neuroscience Day Draws a Crowd

students were selected to present their work as talks,and Muhammad Ayaz Kahn won the award for beststudent poster presentation. His poster was titled “Isa Progressive Increase in the Number ofMicrohemorrhages in the Aged an Earlier Sign ofAlzheimer’s Disease?” The highlight of the day wasthe keynote address “How Time Flies: The MolecularArchitecture of Memory,” presented by Dr. ThomasCarew, Bren Professor and Chair of the Departmentof Neurobiology and Behavior at the University ofCalifornia-Irvine. During breaks and the postersession scientists got a chance to meet newcolleagues, and to reinforce collaborations withcolleagues they already know.

The first Neuroscience Day resulted in a newcollaboration between professors in Chemistry andAnatomy and Cell Biology in the School of Medicine.They have made great progress on their projectstudying ways to prevent retinal neurodegeneration;they have data in preparation for a manuscript, andhave submitted grant proposals for further collabora-tions.

Graduate students have organized the Wayne StateUniversity Graduate Student Neuroscience Society(GSNS), a social service and research organization.

By interacting with each other at journal clubs, wherethey talk about recent published findings, theybroaden their neuroscience education and enhancecollaborations among laboratories.

The graduate students serve the Detroit commu-nity by hosting an annual Brain Awareness Day inconjunction with the Brain Awareness Week, initiatedby the National Society for Neuroscience. DuringBrain Awareness Day, the graduate students show thepublic hands-on activities to explore the function ofthe nervous system. They allow visitors to touchpreserved human brains and live Aplysia, which aresea invertebrates with neurons that can be studiedeasily, enabling experiments that link neuron activityto behavior. This year, the Brain Awareness Day eventwas held at the New Detroit Science Center.Hundreds of visitors participated in the hands-onneuroscience activities. The day coincided with the“Our Bodies” exhibit, which allowed visitors toobserve plastinated human bodies in lifelike positionsthat were partially dissected to show the organsystems. Adults and children thoroughly enjoyedfinding out more about how their brains work, andespecially appreciated the hands-on nature of thebrain exhibits after only being able to look at theplastinated bodies. Having experts at the exhibitsallowed the visitors to ask questions.

Wayne State University faculty and graduatestudents also host the regional Brain Bee, like aspelling bee. High school students study a bookpublished by the Society for Neuroscience, and

compete by answering questions that test theirknowledge of neuroscience. Charlie Yan, of Troy highschool, went on to win fourth place in the interna-tional Brain Bee, held at the University of Maryland in2006. The International Brain Bee is an attempt tomotivate our youth to learn about the brain, capturetheir imaginations, and inspire them to pursuecareers in biomedical brain research. ■

CLAS Notes8

S P R I N G 2 0 0 7 w w w . c l a s . w a y n e . e d u

Let us hear from you!Our alumni and friends are important to us and we look forward to hearing from you. Please let us know what is happening with you.We’ll try to include you in the next issue of CLAS Notes. Photos are especially welcome!

Name(Please also include your name as it was during your time at WSU, if it has changed.)

Address

City State ZIP

E-mail Graduation Year(s) and Major(s)

Describe any career advancement, honors, publications, appointments, activities, etc.

Feel free to send additionalpages if you need morespace. Or, even better,respond entirely via e-mailto Bonita Watkins-Gambleat ah2361@wayne.edu.If responding via hard copy:Bonita Watkins-Gamble,CLAS Notes, College ofLiberal Arts and Sciences,Wayne State University, 4841 Cass, Suite 2155Detroit, MI 48201FAX: 313 577-9693.

Dr. William Greever of Pediatrics, a poster judge, with Catherine Spuz, a graduate student in Psychology

Dr. Alina Klin and Dr. Laura Kline, lecturers in theGerman and Slavic Studies Department, collectivelytake care of the second half of the departmentname—the Slavic portion. Within Slavic, the dutiesare further subdivided, with Klin handling the Polishside of things, Kline the Russian. They are assisted byProf. Ken Brostrom, who teaches Russian, andadjunct faculty member Dr. Svitlana Rogovyk, whoteaches Ukrainian. Formerly stand-alone majors,Polish and Russian became concentrations under thenew Slavic major in 2003.

The new name of the major, however, presentssomething of a problem. “Students don’t really knowwhat Slavic means,” Klin says. And it’s not juststudents. One of the ways she and Kline hope tobetter educate students and the surroundingcommunity alike on this issue is through “LivingCultures: Slavic Communities in Europe andAmerica,” a public educational series being held atWSU and in parts of the metropolitan area. The goal,they say, is to inform participants about the diversityof Slavic societies and increase the presence of SlavicStudies on the Wayne State campus and throughoutgreater Detroit.

This grant, Klin says, is “a small part of a largerundertaking.” It stems from two significant recentaccomplishments at Wayne State: the already notedredesign of Slavic Studies as a major, along with ahighly successful National Endowment of the

Humanities grant for Central and East Europeanstudies. These initiatives have brought togetherfaculty involved in East European and Slavic Studiesfrom across disciplines, building a newfound cohe-sion; a series of public events on Slavic culture hasfurthered the outreach to the large Slavic populationin the Detroit area.

For the public educational series, which ranthroughout the 2006-07 academic year, an effort wasmade to appeal to many populations and interests,and to create a wide base to build an understandingof Slavic cultures. There was a talk by Dr. Mark Yoffeof George Washington University on “The Myth ofVampirism,” in which he discussed the historicalevidence of vampires from remote Romania and thecultural manifestations of the vampire story. Dr. JeffHoldeman, of Indiana University, directly engagedthe Eastern Orthodox Church in a talk on Russiansectarian (Old Believer) culture and history inHamtramck, placing it in the context of immigrantsociety in the United States. During “Ukraine Week”in March, Vera Andrushkiw of the US-UkraineFoundation recounted the 2004 democratic “OrangeRevolution” in Ukraine and its ramifications in theregion. Dr. Piotr Westwalewicz, of the University ofMichigan, bridged culture and politics in a presenta-

The following are recipients of the 2007-2008 Career Development Chair Award.Professor Robert Aguirre, English Professor Eric Ash, History Professor Sean Gavin, Physics and AstronomyProfessor Peter Hoffman, Physics and Astonomy

The following are recipients of the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.Professor Thomas Abowd, AnthropologyProfessor Denver Brunsman, HistoryProfessor Heather Dillaway, Sociology

CLAS Notes 9

S P R I N G 2 0 0 7w w w . c l a s . w a y n e . e d u

Building Slavic Studies at WSU

tion on the role of rock music in undermining theCommunist regime of Poland. Along with the JewishStudies Center, Slavic Studies co-sponsored a talk onpost-World War II Jewish culture in Poland byProfessor Daniel Blatman of Hebrew University inJerusalem.

Though not everyone is aware of it, Detroit enjoysone of the largest and most vibrant Slavic and EastEuropean communities in the United States, withwell over 40,000 immigrants from Eastern Europeand the former Soviet Union. Prior to recent effortsby Slavic faculty, Wayne State was not able to tapinto this population fully. For this reason, the themesof the talks in this series were chosen to address themany Central and East European national popula-tions of the area—Russians, Ukrainians, Poles,Romanians—along with the Jewish and EasternOrthodox religious communities. This, in turn, hasled to contacts with several organizations, includingthe Polish-American Congress, the American PolishCultural Center, the Ukrainian Cultural Center, theUkrainian National Women’s League, Yad Ezra, andBromberg & Associates.

These events have also served as advertisementsfor the new study abroad summer programs inPoland, run by Klin, and in Russia, run by Kline. “It’samazing how much students retain,” Klin says of thelinguistic immersion such trips provide. These tripsare expensive for students, however, and both Klin

and Kline are trying to find ways to help studentswith the costs.

“Companies want these languages now,” Klinsays. In years past, she says, students took Polishclasses for other reasons. “ ‘I want to be able to talkto Grandma,’ ” she says, laughing, or “ ‘I want to beable to talk to my boyfriend’s family.’ ” As a result ofglobalization and American companies setting upshop overseas, learning a second language is asound career move.

Global events have helped the Russian concentra-tion as well. “The Cold War was good forenrollments in Russian classes,” Kline says, only half-jokingly. Though the Cold War ended with thecollapse of the Soviet Union, “there definitely hasbeen a cooling of US-Russian relations in the last fiveor six years,” Kline says, and this cooling has onceagain served to increase student interest in Russianlanguage and culture courses.

Both Klin and Kline would like to add a Ukrainianculture course to the Slavic curriculum in the nearfuture, and, further down the road, they’d like to addcourses in the languages and cultures of other Slaviccountries, Serbian, Bosnian, Czech, and Slovak amongthem. Eventually, they’d like to see a multi-depart-ment degree in European Studies offered. “Bordersare collapsing,” Klin says in reference to Europe, andsuggests that it might be time for academic degreesto reflect these historical changes. ■

Dr. Olena Palyvoda (WSU), Vera Andrushkiw (US-Ukraine Foundation), Former US Ambassador to Ukraine William Green Miller,

Dr. Alina Klin (WSU), Halyna Yalovenko (pianist), Olga Yalovenko (Ukrainian solo soprano), Prof. Aaron Retish (WSU),

Prof. Don Haase (WSU), Dr. Laura Kline (WSU), J. Peter King (WSU student)

Though not everyone is aware

of it, Detroit enjoys one of the

largest and most vibrant Slavic

and East European communities

in the United States, with well

over 40,000 immigrants

from Eastern Europe and the

former Soviet Union.

The following are recipients of the 2007 Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award.Professor Kevin Deegan-Krause, Political ScienceElected Affinities: Democracy and Party Competition in Slovakia and the Czech RepublicProfessor Hans Hummer, HistoryPolitics and Power in Early Medieval EuropeProfessor Boris Mordukhovich, MathematicsVariational Analysis and Generalized Differentiation Iand II, Basic Theory and ApplicationsProfessor Ljiljana Progovac, EnglishA Syntax of Serbian: Clausal Architecture

CLAS Faculty Receive University Honors

“I’ve been so unsuccessfulwith grants,” says Dr.Michael Scrivener,professor of English. “It’sdiscouraging.” He says thiswith something of a wink,since this discouraging lackof success has recentlyturned into an encour-aging bit of success forScrivener, who wasawarded a 2007 JohnSimon GuggenheimFellowship, among themost prestigious fellow-ships available to those inthe humanities. Scrivener is

the third current Wayne State English professor, afterJohn Reed and Arthur Marotti, to be so honored.

Scrivener found out that he’d won theGuggenheim in March, about a month before theawards were made public. It was on Friday, April 6,when a notice appeared in the New York Times listingthe winners—“on page 9A,” Scrivener notes, withproud specificity—that his success became publicknowledge. “I got e-mails from colleagues, fromother scholars. That was a lot of fun.” Because thenotice in the Times included a brief description ofScrivener’s area of research, he also got an e-mailfrom an editor at the University of Pennsylvania Press.“I was just thinking of a publisher for the book—thenthis!” Scrivener says. The editor is interested in thebook that Scrivener hopes to complete during thefellowship period, on representations of Jews inRomantic-era British literature.

“I’ve been a scholar of Romantic literature from theget-go,” Scrivener says. While much Romantic-era

Susanne has served Wayne State University for more than 25 years,currently as Associate Executive Director, Office of AlumniRelations. Stephen Williams received his BA in Political Science in1972 and his Masters in Education in 1974 at Wayne State. He hasserved his profession for more than 30 years, dedicating his career

to the Plymouth Canton Community School District, working with high schoolstudents.

Susanne and Steve have pledged to create the Susanne Spiegel and StephenS. Williams Endowed Scholarship in Political Science for the College of LiberalArts and Sciences from their joint estate.

“My undergraduate days at Wayne State were the most exciting time of mylife,” Steve said. “Part of it, of course, was the turbulent era of the late 60s andearly 70s. Being at the university challenged me to learn new things and lookat things in new ways. It really changed how I saw the world and myself.”

“Susanne and I decided to make a planned gift through our personal senseof responsibility,” he continued. “Working in education, one realizes that a‘free’ education is not really free. Others before us made considerable sacrificesof time, energy and money to make education available and we feel obligatedto contribute back as we can. At the last Anthony Wayne Society CharterNight, unexpectedly to me, one of my former students, Alex Marinica, who isnow an honors student at the university majoring in history and science, wasone of the student speakers whose topic was the importance of giving backand what it means to current students. When he saw Susanne and me there,being honored for our philanthropic intentions, he was very pleased, knowingwe live our philosophy.”

English Professor Dr. Michael Scrivener Wins Guggenheimwriting was, by today’s standards, deeply anti-Semitic, “hardly anyone was saying anything aboutit.” Or if they did, according to Scrivener, it was in theway of “This is anti-Semitic, but…” Such a responseseemed to him insufficient. “It had to be studied in aserious way,” he says.

The first journal article he wrote on the topicsought to investigate the reception to some of thepoems of Lord Byron, whom Scrivener calls “one ofthe good guys.” Despite Byron’s status as a liberal,“some of his statements in the poems about Jews arehair-raising.” Scrivener thought: “People must havesaid something.” And they did. But rather thancondemning the anti-Semitic passages, “peoplepraised those parts,” Scrivener says. How could thisbe?

Scrivener’s scholarly endeavor since then, he says,has been “to reconstruct the social context thatwould allow that to happen”—that is, allow Byron toinclude such anti-Semitic passages in his poetry“without contradicting his liberalism.” He’s also triedto illuminate the position of Jews in English literarylife by asking, “How did Anglo-Jewish writers dealwith this?” The answer, he says, was to rely on someform of cultural relativism. “Well,” he says, articu-lating the train of thought of Jewish writers inEngland at the time, “at least we’re not in Russia, orGermany.”

Before his article on Byron, Scrivener says, therewas next to nothing written on the status of Jews inRomantic literature, and Scrivener himself thoughtthat he’d said more or less all he had to say on thetopic. But he eventually came to realize that therewas more material there to mine—and so did otherscholars. In the last decade, he noted, a great deal hascome to be written on the subject, one that hehelped open to academic inquiry. Scrivener came to

think of his writing on the topic in terms of an even-tual book, and followed his article on Byron withchapters on Emma Lyon, an Anglo-Jewish poet, andDavid Levi, an Anglo-Jewish writer.

Scrivener hopes to finish the book—provisionallyentitled “Jewish Representations in Romantic-EraBritish Writing”—within the year. He will rework thepreviously published chapters on Byron, Lyon, andLevi, and incorporate newer research that he hopeswill establish a “frame” for the subject. “The arc ofthe book really goes into the early twentieth century,”he says. With the first publication, in 1903, of theProtocols of the Elders of Zion, and the passage, in1905, of the British Aliens Act, the “xenophobic tale”that Scrivener begins to follow in Romantic writingsachieves a sort of completion.

What Scrivener hopes to illuminate in his book isthe impossible position of Jews in England at thetime, and particularly in London, which in theRomantic era “had a higher population of Jews thanany European city except Amsterdam.” As Scrivenersays in his Guggenheim proposal, “British society [inthe early nineteenth century] perceives the Jew asrepresenting demonic avarice and the destruction oftradition, as well as the very opposite, a reassuringimage of continuity.” In the early twentieth century,as can be seen in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,such mutually exclusive but deep-seated stereotypesstill abounded, even strengthened. “According to theProtocols,” Scrivener says, “the Jew is both visible andinvisible, communist and capitalist, religious andatheist. The stereotypes represent the Jew with toomuch culture or not enough, with too much natureor not enough.” How English Jews, and Anglo-Jewishwriters in particular, sought to make sense of theirposition within this irrational cage, and give their livesmeaning, is the story Scrivener has set out to tell. ■

CLAS Notes10

S P R I N G 2 0 0 7 w w w . c l a s . w a y n e . e d u

Susanne Spiegel and Stephen Williams Are Committed to Education

Susanne and Steve are particularly thrilled at the prospect of helping firstgeneration students. “Among many efforts, Wayne State University has doneone thing particularly well. It has always given first generation collegestudents a great education,” Steve said. ”It is my hope that its Honors Programwill be expanded and its urban mission and research efforts supported so thatall students will have the opportunity to take part in the great conversationthat is the legacy of human society. Our scholarship will help to perpetuatethat conversation for future generations.” ■

Susanne Spiegel and Stephen Williams with WSU President Irvin Reid

Biology

Athar Ansari joined the Department of Biological

Sciences as Assistant Professor in the fall of 2006, after

teaching at the University of Regina, Canada. Dr. Ansari

received his PhD from the University of Delhi in 1993,

and the research in his laboratory is directed towards

understanding the regulation of transcription in

eukaryotes.

Choong-Min Kang joined the Department of

Biological Sciences as Assistant Professor in 2006, after

completing his Postdoctoral Research at Harvard

Medical School, 2002 – 2006. Dr. Kang received his

PhD in Microbiology from the University of California

at Davis, 1998. His research studies how eukaryotic-like

kinases and their substrates regulate cell division and

latency of a pathogenic bacterium Mycobacterium

tuberculosis.

Dan Kashian joined Wayne State University as

Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences in August

2006. A native of metro Detroit, he completed his PhD

at the University of Wisconsin in 2002, and his post-

doctoral work at Colorado State University from

2003-2006. His research interests are in temperate

plant and forest ecology, especially the effects of

disturbances such as wildfires, insect outbreaks, and

wind on forests. At WSU, he is initiating research that

will predict changes in Michigan forests following

attacks by the emerald ash borer.

Classics

Thomas Kohn came to the Classics Department in

fall of 2006 from the University of North Carolina,

Greensboro. He received his PhD from the University of

Minnesota, Minneapolis in 2001. Dr. Kohn’s research

interests are Latin poetry, ancient theater, and

mythology; and he is a member of the American

Philological Association and Classical Association of the

Middle West and South.

Chemistry

Andrew Feig came to Wayne State University as

Associate Professor of Biochemistry in 2006. He

received his PhD from MIT in 1995, and conducted his

Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Colorado,

Boulder, from 1995-1999. Dr. Feig’s research focuses

on biological molecules that structurally rearrange as

part of their normal activity.

Jeremy Kodanko came to Wayne State University as

Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry in 2006, after

serving as a NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT, from

2003-2006. Dr. Kodanko received his PhD from the

University of California-Irvine in 2003. Research in his

laboratory applies synthetic chemistry to problems in

medicine and catalysis.

Chicano-Boricua Studies/Sociology

Nicole Trujillo-Pagan joined the college as an

Assistant Professor, teaching in both the Center for

Chicano-Boricua Studies and the Department of

Sociology in 2006. She came to Wayne State

University from Brooklyn College (CUNY), and

received her PhD from the University of Michigan,

Ann Arbor, in 2003. Dr. Trujillo-Pagan’s areas of

specialization are comparative historical sociology

and medical sociology.

Computer Science

Hongwei Zhang joined the Department of

Computer Science as Assistant Professor after receiving

his PhD from The Ohio State University in August

2006. His research focuses on foundational and

systems issues in designing dependable services for

dynamic and large scale systems (such as wireless

sensor networks and the Internet). Dr. Zhang has

already published numerous journal articles and

conference papers.

Economics

Tatsuma Wada joined the Economics faculty in fall

2006 as Assistant Professor after receiving his PhD from

Boston University. He earned his BA and MA degrees

from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Wada’s

research interests include time series econometrics,

international finance, and macroeconomics. In his

spare time, he swims competitively.

English

Jeff Pruchnic joined the English Department as

Assistant Professor in Computers and Writing, and

received his PhD from Penn State in August 2006. His

dissertation, “The Transhuman Condition: Rhetoric and

Ethics in the Cybernetic Age,” marks him as someone

who will make an important contribution to the

teaching and research that informs our ongoing digital

literacy initiative. Dr. Pruchnic brings needed expertise

in the relations among composition studies, digital

literacy, and scientific and technical communication.

Lisa Ze Winters was appointed Assistant Professor in

African-American literary and cultural studies, with

25% of her assignment in the Department of Africana

Studies. Dr. Winters defended her dissertation, a study

of the tragic mulatto figure in Afro-diasporic literature

and culture, in May 2005. In order to accept a presti-

gious post-doctoral fellowship at University of

California, Berkeley during 2005-06, she joined us in

Fall 2006.

History

Liette Gidlow joined the History Department as an

Associate Professor in fall, 2006. A specialist in twen-

tieth century U.S. politics and culture, she is the author

of The Big Vote: Gender, Consumer Culture, and the

Politics of Exclusion, 1890s-1920s from the Johns

Hopkins University Press. She has won grants totaling

nearly $1 million from the U.S. Department of

Education, the Bunting Institute for the Study of

Women at Harvard University, and several presidential

libraries. She is currently working on a book on polit-

ical advertising in the U.S.

Kidada Williams received her Bachelor and Masters’

degrees from Central Michigan University and her PhD

from the University of Michigan. Professor Williams’

areas of research interest are 19th and early 20th

century African American history, mob and racial

violence, and trauma. She is working on a manuscript

project tentatively entitled, In the Space of Violence,

which examines Black Americans' experiences of and

responses to the continuum of violent racialization that

followed southern African Americans after slavery.

Mathematics

Fatih Celiker earned his PhD from the University of

Minnesota at Twin Cities in 2005. Dr. Celiker’s research

interests include numerical analysis and scientific

computing in general. He is particularly interested in

the design, development, implementation, and theo-

retical analysis of discontinuous Galerkin methods for

structural and solid mechanics.

Nutrition and Food Science

Smiti Gupta joined the Department of Nutrition and

Food Sciences as Assistant Professor in the fall of 2005

following six years of extensive biomedical research as

Principal Investigator of a series of NIH funded projects

at a biotechnology company. At Wayne, her research

focuses on combining metabolomics, a new and

exciting post genomic technology, with the power of

bioinformatics for investigating diet and disease

affected perturbations in metabolism. In one area of

her research, Dr. Gupta is evaluating biomarkers for

early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Peter Bodary joined the department of Nutrition

and Food Sciences as Assistant Professor in fall of 2006.

He received his PhD from the University of South

Carolina, then completed post-doctoral training and

became a research faculty member in the Division of

Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Michigan

Medical Center. His projects focus on understanding

the mechanisms which cause cardiovascular disease

complications such as heart attacks and strokes. His

studies utilize the mouse as a model to examine the

accelerated cardiovascular disease progression evident

in obese and diabetic populations.

CLAS Notes 11

S P R I N G 2 0 0 7w w w . c l a s . w a y n e . e d u

New CLAS Faculty

continued on page 12

S P R I N G 2 0 0 7 w w w . c l a s . w a y n e . e d u

CLAS Notes

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Philosophy

Eric Hiddleston received his PhD from Cornell

University, and spent one year as Visiting Assistant

Professor at Syracuse University, and another three as

the Allan and Anita Sutton Distinguished Faculty

Fellow at the same institution. He specializes in meta-

physics and epistemology, and already has articles in

several major journals, including the British Journal for

the Philosophy of Science and Nous. Eric shows promise

of a distinguished career in philosophy. He currently

serves as graduate advisor in the department.

Physics

Zhi-Feng Huang joined the Physics and Astronomy

Department as Assistant Professor of theoretical

condensed matter in 2006. He earned his PhD at

Tsinghua University, China, and is a member of the

American Physical Society. Dr. Huang’s current research

aims at theoretically modeling and understanding the

non-equilibrium, nonlinear phenomena in complex

dynamical systems.

Psychology

Emily Grekin received her PhD from Emory

University. Dr. Grekin’s research involves identifying

biological and dispositional factors which predict the

development of substance dependence; in particular,

whether different personality traits predict distinct

forms of substance dependence, and the degree to

which personality traits interact with environmental

factors to predict substance misuse.

Rusty McIntyre received his PhD from Texas

Christian University in 2004, and served as Visiting

Professor at Amherst College from 2004-2006. Dr.

McIntyre's research involves how characteristics, group

exemplars, and actions inform individuals of their atti-

tudes toward others and of their own abilities.

Romance Languages

Raffaele DeBenedictus received his Ph.D in Italian

Language from the University of Toronto in 1996. His

area of specialization is early Italian literature, especially

Dante. His book Ordine e struttura musicale nella Divina

commedia appeared in 2000 and has been followed by

other studies of The Divine Comedy. Before coming to

Wayne State as a Lecturer in 1992, he taught at the

University of Toronto and for the Windsor Public

School Board. He is the director of the Wayne in

Abruzzo study abroad program.

Elena Past joined the Romance Languages

Department as Assistant Professor in 2006, having

received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in

2005, with a dissertation on contemporary Italian

crime fiction and its roots in Italian criminological

thought. Her research and teaching interests include

contemporary Italian literature and cinema, crimi-

nology, food culture, the Italian Enlightenment, and

Italy’s participation in the Spanish Civil War. She is

currently working on a book that traces Italian episte-

mologies of crime in contemporary crime fiction.

Jose Rico-Ferrer received his PhD from Emory

University in 2001 in Spanish. He specializes in the liter-

ature of the Spanish Golden Age, including Cervantes,

and has published a scholarly edition of a Golden Age

text and several articles. Before coming to Wayne State,

he taught at Emory and Villanova and, most recently,

at Saint Mary’s College (Notre Dame, IN).

New CLAS Faculty continued