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On Campus - Stories
November
12, 1999 - Vol.52, No. 24
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Top paleontologist
to visit Drake
Paleontologist
Paul C. Sereno, who this week announced the discovery of a new giant plant-eating
dinosaur species, will give the Hawley Foundation Lecture at Drake on Wednesday,
Nov. 17. His lecture, titled "Dinosaur Giants from the Sahara," will start
at 8 p.m. in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main. The event is free and open to the public.
Sereno's announcement came at a news conference Thursday at the National Geographic
Society in Washington, D.C. The new dinosaur, named Jobaria tiguidensis, lived about
135 million years ago and weighed an estimated 20 tons and grew to a length of 70
feet. At the news conference, Sereno unveiled full-size cast skeletons of a 60-foot-long
adult, rearing to a height of 30 feet, and a juvenile in mid-stride.
The new species was discovered in the Republic of Niger in 1997 by a team led by
Sereno, a professor at the University
of Chicago. "With
95 percent of its skeleton preserved, the new species stands as the most complete
long-necked dinosaur ever discovered from the Cretaceous period," Sereno said.
National Geographic "Explorer" will premiere an exclusive, shot-on-location
film about the dinosaur's discovery at 7 p.m. CST Sunday, Nov. 14, only on CNBC.
The documentary, titled "Dinosaur Fever," will be shown again at 9 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 15, in room 344 of Olin Hall. More information about Jobaria is available
at www.jobaria.org.
For the past decade Sereno has been discovering new species of dinosaur bones in
Africa, especially in the Sahara Desert. His discoveries include the 130-million-year
old Afrovenator, a 27-foot predator, the 110-million-year-old Suchomimus, a 36-foot,
fish-eating predator, and Deltadromeus, a 30-foot predator about 90 million years
old.
Sereno's overall aim is to map the dinosaur family tree by tracing the many evolutionary
changes recorded in their skeletons. He also has devoted himself to public education
through such foundations as Project Exploration, a not-for-profit educational outreach
organization.
In addition to giving the Hawley Lecture, which is sponsored by the Honors Program,
Sereno will visit Cattell Elementary School in Des Moines. He also will attend two
Drake classes. At 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, he will address students in Dennis O'Brien's
One Earth: Global Environmental Science class in room 115 of Harvey Ingham Hall.
At 9 a.m. Thursday he will speak to Charisse Buising's class on Comparative Anatomy
of Vertebrates in the Biodiversity Center in the Pioneer Hi-Bred International Greenhouse.
Sereno is a longtime friend of professor Daniel Spencer, president of the Faculty
Senate. They met on the New York subway when Spencer was a student at Union Theological
Seminary and Sereno was living there while earning his doctorate in geology at Columbia
University.
Professor
Coleman wins national screenwriting award
William S.E. Coleman, professor of theatre arts, recently received a first-place
award and $10,000 check from the American Cinema Foundation for his screenplay titled
"Out of the Night."
The screenplay, which deals with the 1943 rescue of the Danish Jews, will be sent
to Hollywood literary agents by the American Cinema Foundation. The foundation also
will tout the award-wining screenplay in a full-page advertisement in the Hollywood
Reporter.
"The advertisement will announce my screenplay to the entire film industry and
should help in getting notice for it," Coleman said. "This is an enormous
step for me as a screenwriter, and I hope will reflect well on Drake and my playwriting/screenwriting
program. I am particularly proud of the fact that I learned to write screenplays
in my mid-60s."
"Out of the Night" is a factually based screenplay that describes the Danish
Resistance's 1943 rescue of Danish Jews in the aftermath of Nazi Germany's takeover
of Denmark. "Ninety-four percent of the Danish Jews were smuggled to Sweden
in less than a month of intense activity after intricate diplomatic maneuvers and
much bravery," Coleman said. "My screenplay deals with the heroes of that
remarkable event. I did some of my research for this in Denmark several years ago."
Coleman's screenplay was selected from approximately 400 entries in a contest that
focused on the theme "E Pluribus Unum: From Many One."
The American
Cinema Foundation was
founded to nurture and reward television and feature film projects that address fundamental
social values, support and strengthen the concepts of the common good and common
culture, and promote democratic pluralism. In furtherance of these goals, the ACF
holds an annual Screenwriting Competition designed to elicit scripts that are suitable
for theatrical or television production and that tell a positive story about specific
fundamental values and their importance to society.
Gary McVey, executive director of the American Cinema Foundation, said "Out
of the Night" was selected for the top award because "it was well crafted
and stressed moral values such as the defense of human freedom."
Open House
set for Monday
Approximately 150 prospective students and their families are expected to attend
the Admission Open House on Monday, Nov. 15.
President Maxwell will welcome families as they arrive on campus at 8:30 a.m. in
Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main. The students and parents will then meet with faculty
and attend a student panel discussion. The open house also includes campus tours,
a Drake Curriculum overview and an admission and financial planning session. A highlight
of the day will be a special luncheon with faculty members representing every academic
area.
Forum to
explore impact of race in today's media coverage
Recent concerns about media coverage involving African-American subjects on the Drake
campus and in the Des Moines community will be examined and debated at a forum titled
"Apologies Necessary? Understanding the Impact of Race in Today's Media Coverage."
The forum, which is open to all Drake students and the public, will start at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 16, in room 101 of Olin Hall.
Tony Moton, a diversity fellow and journalism professor at Drake, will moderate this
event. Moton, who also is a reporter at The Des Moines Register, will be co-teaching
the Race, Ethnicity and Media course during the spring semester at Drake. Moton is
a former pop culture and entertainment columnist at The Omaha World-Herald.
Among the panelists are Janet Keefer, dean of Drake University's School of Journalism
and Mass Communication; Karen Mitchell, photography editor of The Des Moines Register;
Dana Cardin, assistant news director at KCCI-TV (Channel 8); Jennifer Vogt, editor
of the Times-Delphic, Drake's campus newspaper; and Ajenai Clemmons, a member of
Drake's Coalition of Black Students.
Some background: On the Drake campus recently, the Coalition of Black Students has
suggested race might have played a factor in the Times-Delphic's coverage of homecoming.
The organization's "Yell Like Hell" team won the event, but was not pictured
on the cover of the paper (the second place Kappa Kappa Gamma was). Members of the
coalition were upset and concerned about the "lack" of coverage in the
campus publication.
In Des Moines recently, KCCI-TV ran a story that basically offered an apology to
Des Moines' black community after the station seemingly gave more coverage to a dog
being slashed by a man than a black teenager being shot to death. Complaints to the
station prompted the follow-up piece.
At a time when diversity of media coverage is a concern for major news organizations,
minority readers and viewers often are more apt to recognize and complain about disparities
in coverage than those in the media, Moton said. This forum hopes to shed light on
numerous questions, including:
- Should college and university
publications be expected to consider diversity in news coverage?
- Are apologies warranted in situations
where coverage might have overlooked or underplayed a topic relating to minorities?
- Is the public really aware of
what decisions affect news coverage and how these decisions - some made under intense
deadline pressure - translate into a newscast or the next issue of a paper?
For more information about the
forum, call Moton at x1857.
Celebrate
International Night
The International Students Association will celebrate International Night on Saturday,
Nov. 13, with a variety show starting at 5:30 p.m. on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow
Auditorium in Old Main. Following the variety show, an international food fair will
be held in Hubbell North Buffet from 8 to 10 p.m. Capping the evening will be a semiformal
dance starting at 10 p.m. in Parents Hall.
Tickets are on sale today in Olmsted Center for $10. All tickets at the door will
be $15.
Italian
sculptor to visit Drake
Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, who is coming to Des Moines to supervise the installation
of one of his works at American Republic Insurance Co. in downtown Des Moines, will
give a presentation at Drake on Wednesday, Nov. 17.
Pomodoro will show a video about his life and work and answer questions. The presentation,
which is free and open to the public, will start at 7 p.m. in room 336 of the Harmon
Fine Arts Center.
Pomodoro, 73, lives and maintains a studio in Milan, Italy. He is an internationally
renowned artist with sculpture in major collections throughout the world and a leading
contributor to post-war abstract sculpture. He works primarily in bronze and has
investigated basic forms such as columns, spheres and rectangles throughout his career.
These forms have highly polished exterior surfaces that are broken open to reveal
an interior of intricate modular patterns.
Anthropologist
of women, China to speak at Drake next week
Professor Lisa Rofel of the University of California-Santa Cruz, who concentrates her work
on contemporary China, women, and sexuality/gender, will visit Drake on Tuesday,
Nov. 16, and Wednesday, Nov. 17. Anyone who wishes to meet with professor Rofel during
her visit should contact sociology professor Joe Schneider at x2158.
Rofel will give two lectures. The first, titled "Global Desires: Young Chinese
Women and the New Wave of Cosmopolitanism in China," will start at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday in the Medbury Honors Lounge.
On Wednesday, she will discuss "Qualities of Desire: Imagining Gay Identities
in China." This lecture, which will start at 3 p.m. in the Medbury Honors Lounge,
is based on a paper to be published in Gay & Lesbian Quarterly. Copies are available
in advance from Schneider.
Professor Rofel has written widely on women, popular culture and change in China.
Her new book, titled Other Modernities: Gendered Yearnings in China after Socialism,
draws on her fieldwork with three generations of silk workers in Hangzhou.
Cardboard
Campus set for Friday
The Drake University Department of Sociology invites students to camp out for a cause.
On Friday, Nov. 19, students will assemble on Hubbell Field to spend the evening
in reflection of the homeless situation in Des Moines and around the country. The
event is being organized by students in professor Dean Wright's first-year seminar
on the homeless with help from the Churches United Shelter.
The program will begin at 7 p.m. with speeches by Drake President David Maxwell,
Des Moines Mayor Preston Daniels and several formerly homeless individuals. Live
music and snacks will be provided. Non-perishable food items are welcomed and will
be donated to area food pantries.
All attending are encouraged to bring sleeping bags, pillows and blankets as well
as boxes. The event will end at 6 a.m. with breakfast provided by Krispy Kreme Donuts.
Publication
schedule changed
Due to Thanksgiving Break, the next printed issue of On Campus will be published
on Friday, Nov. 19, instead of Friday, Nov. 26.
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