December 2008
Greg Smith awarded environmental education grant
Greg Smith, professor of teacher education:
Smith has received a $19,380 grant from the Gray Family Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation to train teachers in the West Linn School District on environmental issues. The Environmental Education Program seeks to encourage a strong local land ethic, sustainable communities, and stewardship of the natural environment by citizens throughout Oregon. The Fund is committed long term to institutionalizing a series of age-appropriate experiences that build a sense of place and responsibility towards Oregon and the region.
The Sustainability Education Initiative is a program of professional development coursework and activities for K-12 teachers in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District. During three courses offered in 2009, Smith will prepare 50-60 teachers to incorporate sustainability issues into their classrooms and help them implement school or community projects that will enhance local natural and social environments. Participants will be eligible for small seed grants to fund start-up projects. The grant aims to increase the number of teachers implementing sustainability projects in schools, and increase student and educator awareness of local natural systems, ecologies, and social needs.
Professor Proctor’s ‘ecopocalypse’ research featured in USA Today column
Jim Proctor, professor and chair of environmental studies, is featured in a USA Today column on environmentalist Americans’ fear of ecological collapse and the problems with end-times fixations. Religion and public life columnist Tom Krattenmaker questions the effectiveness of this dystopia concept and other fear-based strategies designed to motivate people to behave in a certain manner.
Proctor and a research team have been talking with Oregonians and surveying the general population about their experiences with nature and pursuit of perfecting the co-existence between humans and the environment.
“‘You find that people working for a utopian future have tremendous fear about things turning out differently,’” Proctor explains in the column. ‘Utopias are often framed against a dystopian nightmare,’ he adds, producing a kind of all-or-nothing fixation on perfection and its perfect opposite.”
Proctor’s project was also the focus of a recent article in The Oregonian, detailing the survey and citing some of its initial results.
USA Today ‘The End’ as a weapon
The Oregonian Shaping dreams—and nightmares—about natural world
Alum Phil Schiliro profiled in the New York Times
Lewis & Clark Law School alum Phil Schiliro is the subject of two recent profiles, in the New York Times and in Newsday, for his appointment to President-elect Barack Obama’s administration. Schiliro will serve as Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs. Before joining the Obama team, Schiliro was chief of staff to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and the House Oversight Committee and a policy director for former senator and Obama advisor Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).
“Allies and opponents describe him as having one of the sharpest legislative minds in Washington. Fresh out of law school in the early 1980s, he took his first job on Capitol Hill and never left,” writes Michael Falcone.
New York Times (New York, NY) The New Team: Phil Schiliro
Newsday (Melville, NY) Obama aide Schiliro honed his skills on Long Island
Student athlete recognized by ESPN magazine
Curtis Smith, offensive lineman for the Pioneer football team, has been named to the 2008 Academic All-District Football Team presented by ESPN The Magazine. Smith, a junior double majoring in chemistry and physics, earned a spot on the team with a 3.57 GPA. He is a native of Santa Margarita, California.
The awarded team is comprised of college football players from all levels and divisions who have maintained a 3.3 GPA or better. The winners are selected by College Sports Information Directors Association and placed on teams made up of scholars from their given divisions at either the college or university level.
Assistant Professor Jeffrey Jones argues for “New Economic Covenant”
While the federal government and economic experts focus their attention and resources on the corporate sector, Jeffrey Jones, assistant professor of law and author of The Unaffordable Nation: Searching for a Decent Life in America, argues in this opinion piece that U.S. workers should not be left out of economic stimulus plans.
“Much has been made about bailing out American corporations and whether government has done enough to help American workers,” Jones writes. “The interests are not opposed. Restoring our economy requires policies that promote good employment.”
The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) A New Economic Covenant
Poetry professor wins NEA grant for creative writing
Mary Szybist, assistant professor of English, received a prestigious National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Literature Fellowship in creative writing this month. The highly competitive fellowships of $25,000 each are given to published creative writers of exceptional talent, encouraging the production of new work and allowing writers the time and means to write. One of the foremost awards in the literary field, the NEA grant will support Szybist’s work on her second book of poems, tentatively titled Incarnadine.
“A grant like this is a boost of adrenaline to the writing process,” said Szybist. “As I’ve worked on my current manuscript for the last few years, I have cycled through periods of faith and doubt, both about the poems and the project as a whole. To have the NEA select my work for this distinction is a great gift of validation, and I am eager to return to my manuscript with a renewed sense of vigor and excitement.”
Szybist’s poetry has appeared in Virginia Quarterly Review, The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, Poetry, Tin House, and Best American Poetry 2008. Her first book, Granted, was named one of the top ten books of poetry in 2003 by Library Journal. Also that year, Szybist was a finalist for the National Book Circle Critic’s Award in Poetry.
Assistant Professor Andraé Brown contributes chapter to “The Black Male Handbook”
Andraé Brown, assistant professor of counseling psychology:
Brown recently appeared on a panel introducing “The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life,” a collection of essays about the political and social climate in the black community. This book tells the stories of black males from the hip-hop generation and tackles issues on surviving and living in today’s world. Brown’s chapter is titled “Moving Toward Mental Wellness,” and he will be hosting a seminar in February based on the work.
Brown’s “Moving Toward Mental Wellness” opens with a personal story about his father’s recovery from his fourth heart attack in ten years. Brown writes, “My father’s fight was not against flesh and blood but against the dark forces of the world. New combatants emerged daily, whether racism, sexism, corruption, police brutality[…]and he battled them all with great vigilance.”
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