State of the University: President Runte highlights both challenges and successes in annual address to faculty BY STEVE DANIEL In her State of the University address Aug. 22, President Roseann Runte spoke both of Old Dominion’s challenges and successes. She mentioned three challenges as being the most important issues the university faces today: rejecting the tendency to retain the status quo; choosing successful forms of delivery, as well as appropriate content, of education; and securing the funds necessary to achieve goals and dreams. Regarding the first challenge, Runte asked: “Morally, do we not have the obligation to improve – as examples, as mentors, as custodians of our students’, our nation’s future? We dedicate our work daily to the bright faces of the future who inhabit our classrooms. But our efforts are also directed to ourselves, for when we look in the mirror we see those who are inventing the future and those whom the future inspires.” Just as ethics is tied to the first challenge, the same is true of the second, she said. Faced with pressure from the private sector to focus more on applied knowledge and practical experience, as well as pressures from the government and the public to reduce the time to degree, while including everything from civic education and computing skills to foreign language education and volunteer experiences, achieving a responsible balance is a delicate matter. “How do we create good citizens, ethical people, knowledgeable and capable of working in a global environment, with the ability to perform in all the categories required in four short years?” she asked. Addressing the third challenge, Runte said the time has come “for our commonwealth to renew and expand its investment in innovation, in inspiration and in the intelligent designs of our faculty.” She added, “When one looks at the 300 percent return on investment the state has received from modeling and simulation, failure to invest further is to choose deliberately not to realize the potential of excellence.” Runte also cited the following as issues that will command the university’s attention in the coming year: meeting increasing demands from regulatory agencies and accrediting bodies for analysis, statistical reporting and evaluation; continuing the expansion of international exchange agreements and opportunities; placing increased emphasis both on public-private partnerships and meeting the needs of under-served populations; embracing the university’s role as a problem solver; and maintaining a strong emphasis on globalization. She added that ODU has made a request for funding for a systems research building to be included in the next biennial budget, and that it will ask the state to bring its base adequacy funding to 100 percent in order to support modeling and simulation and energy initiatives. On the subject of successes, Runte said, “This summer we moved to a higher ranked peer group and we received $21 million for construction of a new, arts classroom and studio building. In the last six years our endowment has grown from $77 million to $184 million. Research expenditures have grown from $24.7 million to $65.4 million. State funding has grown from $92 million to $121 million. We had five endowed chairs and now have 18. “These results are truly excellent and I congratulate all members of the team, especially our vice presidents for development, institutional advancement and research, for their fine work.” She called on the faculty to support a new university-wide marketing initiative that will soon be unveiled, whose goal is to have ODU’s image catch up with its reality. “We will focus externally on areas that truly make us distinct from other universities,” Runte said. “We will emphasize our nationally recognized faculty with real-world experience, innovative and engaging teaching, our profoundly multicultural community which values individuality, and our cutting-edge, collaborative research. “In the coming months you will see examples of how these identifiers can be incorporated into communications. This effort, like enrollment growth and student retention, is the responsibility of every one of us.” Runte concluded her address, literally and figuratively, on a hopeful note. “It is our very ability to conceive of the idea of perfection in this imperfect world which makes us idealists and which makes us hope,” she said. “Now we all know that hope never sank a ship. Unfortunately, it has not been known to float vessels either. Hope, combined with hard work, great ideas and teamwork, will, however, help us move one step closer to our goals. “Surrounded by youth, we are immersed in hope. We depend on you for your fine ideas and commitment to dedicated effort.” Back to top
The new Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries at Old Dominion University will have their public grand opening at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 9. The galleries comprise the Baron and Ellin Gordon Self-Taught Art Collection, whose inaugural exhibit, “Collective Wisdom,” features a portion of the Gordons’ collection, and the University Gallery, which will display works by members of the ODU art department faculty. Admission is free. “Collective Wisdom” will continue through the summer of 2008, and the faculty exhibition will be up through Oct. 21. Located at 4509 Monarch Way in the University Village, the Gordon Galleries are situated between the Stables Theatre and the ODU bookstore and café, currently under construction. The bookstore and café, as well as a nearby Marriott SpringHill Suites hotel, are expected to open in November. Pioneering folk art collectors Baron and Ellin Gordon, of Williamsburg, Va., announced last year their plans to donate a significant portion of their collection of 20th- and 21st-century American folk art to Old Dominion. Their private collection is counted among the handful of top collections in the world of recent American art by self-trained artists. The Gordons have previously donated pieces to the Museum of American Folk Art in New York and other prestigious institutions, including the Visionary Museum in Baltimore and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in Colonial Williamsburg, and have loaned pieces for many groundbreaking exhibitions. In 1997, works from the Gordon collection comprised the first exhibition of 20th-century folk art to be displayed at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller museum. The largest art donation ever received by the university, the Gordon collection consists of more than 300 pieces by over 70 artists, including paintings, sculptures, jugs, canes and carvings. Among these are works by artists Howard Finster, Geneva Beavers, Mose Tolliver, Leroy Archuleta, Thornton Dial, Inez Nathaniel Walker, Miles Carpenter, Israel Litwak and many others from across America. “Thanks to the generosity and vision of Ellin and Baron Gordon, Old Dominion University students and staff and the Hampton Roads community will have the opportunity to learn from and enjoy this unique and diverse genre of art,” said ODU President Roseann Runte. The Gordon Galleries offer an opportunity unique in Southeastern Virginia to see works by contemporary artists from the field variously referred to as self-taught, intuitive, visionary or outsider in regularly scheduled exhibitions. Old Dominion is one of very few academic institutions to feature and focus the identity of its permanent collection on this widely diverse and avidly debated style of contemporary art. The Gordons’ gift is complemented by an equally generous donation of $500,000 from long-time arts advocates and enthusiasts Susan and David Goode of Norfolk. They were recently honored by the Virginia Association of Museums with the Ann Brownson Award, given to those outside the field who best exemplify service to the museum community. Their gift was matched by funds from a university endowment from Landmark Communications founder Frank Batten. These resources will be used to develop academic programming, community outreach and exhibitions. Gordon Galleries director Katherine Huntoon enjoys the paradox of building academic study around a collection of works by self-taught artists. “This presents stimulating opportunities for pedagogical research and for recontextualizing contemporary art. Internal exploration, process and invention are at the heart of self-discovery,” she said. Huntoon underscores the potential for scholarly investigation of the Gordon collection from many perspectives: sociology, anthropology, psychology, African American studies, American history, Southern studies, religion, folklore and women’s studies, to name just a few. Essayist and gallery owner Randall Morris, of Cavin-Morris Gallery in New York City, has focused on self-taught artists for more than 20 years. According to Morris, the works in the Gordon collection “provide us with profound insights on the human condition. Each of these works convey to us the essence of the culture in which they were produced and the substance of the shared human experience. Within every narrative whimsy, there exists profound meaning, and within the narrowly personal, there are universalizing truths.” Morris adds, “Self-taught artists such as we see in the Gordon collection concentrate on a dizzying range of messages. There is genius here, albeit made by artists who are from nontraditional backgrounds and all walks of life with no connection to the academy, and who express themselves through these amazing objects. Often their work emerges in response to personal tragedies or arises from compelling visions in which they seek better worlds than they face daily. Most of this work would have disappeared had it not been for a cadre of avid collectors with understanding and vision. …” The Gordons’ generous gift to ODU University now joins the public collections of Herbert Waide Hemphill Jr., Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and Henry Francis Dupont, to be seen, studied and experienced for years to come. Barry Moss of Tymoff+Moss Architects designed ODU’s Gordon Galleries, guided by American Association Museum standards. The new temperature- and humidity-controlled facility includes a 2,500-square-foot gallery for the permanent exhibition of selections from the Gordon collection, a similar-size University Gallery for changing exhibitions of contemporary art, a reception area and a study area for scholarly research. For more information about the Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, visit www.odu.edu/al/art/gallery/calendar.htm or call 757-683-2355. Back to top Poet Nikki Giovanni is freshman convo speaker Nikki Giovanni, world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist and a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, will be the keynote speaker for Old Dominion’s Freshman Convocation Aug. 26. The program begins at 4 p.m. in the Ted Constant Convocation Center. One of the most widely read American poets, Giovanni also remains a committed advocate for civil rights and equality. She was the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Women of Courage Award. Giovanni’s literary career spans nearly 40 decades, beginning with the publication of her first book of poetry, “Black Feeling, Black Talk,” in 1968. Earlier this year she published her latest collection of poetry, “Acolytes,” and a short narrative titled, “On My Journey Now: Looking at African-American History Through the Spirituals.” For more information about convocation, call Nicole Kiger in the student activities and leadership office at 683-3446. Back to top
Estrada presents three works: “Love: Moderned,” “Bedtime Stories” and “It’s Our Song.” “Love: Moderned” examines the complex nature of love, marriage and partnership for a modern woman. The large-ensemble work “Bedtime Stories” is a dreamy and luxurious piece which fashions a world that is wild, sensual and alluring. “It’s Our Song,” an excerpt from a larger piece titled “Her,” is a tale of three women finding their way through the experience of love lost. Kinzer contributes “Passage,” a sinuous trio to music by Leonard Cohen, and “Origins,” a high-energy, large-group dance with a tribal flavor. A new duet co-choreographed and performed by Kinzer and Estrada explores the divergent life pathways of two women. Estrada recently received her master of fine arts degree in dance from Temple University and currently teaches at Christopher Newport University and ODU. She has performed with dance companies in New Orleans and Philadelphia. Kinzer, an associate professor, has taught in the ODU dance program for the past six years. She has presented her work in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Kentucky and New York City, and has performed with Second Wind Dance Company, Gravity Optional and CREO Multimedia Ensemble. Tickets are $12 for general admission and $10 for ODU students. Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance at the Arts and Letters Box Office in the lobby of the University Theatre or by calling 683-5305. For more information about the concert call 683-3002. Back to top
The committee provides the secretary of the Army and the Army’s senior leadership with expert advice on Army educational programs. It is the parent committee for the following subcommittees: Command and General Staff College, Distance Learning/Training Technology Applications, Army War College, Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. Earlier this year, Runte was selected chair of the ROTC Subcommittee, where she oversees a group of leaders from national educational associations, institutions of higher education and the private sector, in guiding 273 ROTC programs and more than 1,600 Junior ROTC programs from across the nation and from military installations abroad. Back to top Recycling initiative seeks used books, CDs and DVDs Old Dominion’s recycling program announces a new partnership with Virginia Social Ventures (VSV) to collect used books, CDs and DVDs from faculty. Starting this semester, clearly marked containers will be placed in each academic building on campus next to the university’s paper recycling containers. Adding books, movies and music will provide a further increase in pounds recycled at ODU, but it also assists VSV’s training program, which focuses on teaching computer skills needed to sell these products online. Items are sold on Amazon and similar Web sites to a worldwide market. The skills learned are transferable to numerous industries in today’s marketplace and prepare the trainees for employment upon graduation from the program. A new nonprofit organization, VSV is designed to use social entrepreneurship and supportive services to help people with significant employment barriers, specifically homeless and very low-income individuals, succeed in the world of work. “It’s a win/win situation,” said Kathy Taylor Gaubatz, VSV executive director, said of the initiative. “We’re thrilled that materials no longer in use at ODU can be donated through the university recycling program and then to our training program for sale online. If that’s not enough of a win/win gain, seeing people around the world put these items to use again at a used price is terrific. It’s recycling at its best.” Back to top
Sponsored by the ODU music department, the program will feature works by Fernando Obradors, Joaquin Rodrigo, Federico Mompou, Manuel de Falla, Eduardo Toldrá and Xavier Montsalvatge. Tintes-Schuermann and Muñoz will also give a master class at 12:30 p.m. Sept. 4. Both the concert and master class are free and open to the public. Tintes-Schuermann, assistant professor of voice at the University of South Carolina, is an experienced concert soloist and has sung works of Mozart, Haydn and Vivaldi at the Festival du Printemps in Monte Carlo, St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, the Salzburg Cathedral and the Festival of Religious Music in Cuenca, Spain. Specializing in German and Spanish/Latin American repertoire, she has given numerous song recitals in Europe and the United States. Muñoz is one of the outstanding pianists of the Spanish new generation of chamber musicians. He has performed throughout Europe, America, the Middle East and Japan. Back to top
Women’s rowing will become ODU’s 17th intercollegiate sport when it begins competing in the fall of 2008. Rowing has existed as a club program since 1979. Weisel has served as head coach for the men’s and women’s teams at The College of New Jersey, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Lafayette College. She was a member of the U.S. Rowing coaching staff that competed in Seville, Spain, and Milan, Italy, where her women’s double team finished ninth at the FISA World Rowing Championships in 2003. She served as the rowing coach for ODU’s men’s and women’s club team from 1988-94, guiding the club from six members to 60 during her tenure. She served as an adviser to the ODU club team this past year. Weisel competed three years at Purdue University, winning a gold medal at the 1986 Mid-West Championships. Back to top
During such events, those with the service will receive an ODU text message alert advising of the situation and directing them to additional information on www.odu.edu. To sign up, visit www.odu.edu/alerts (Midas ID and password required). Back to top
Located south of the Facilities Management Building on Powhatan Avenue, the $17 million center is expected to be completed next summer. The venue will feature a state-of-the-art, 1,500-seat field hockey and lacrosse stadium; two practice fields for football; and a 58,000-square-foot building that houses offices, locker rooms, athletic training and strength training areas, and video editing/projection suites. At the ground-breaking ceremony, President Roseann Runte said the center is a tribute to the success of the women’s athletic program and a milestone in the development of the football program. Back to top
Under the agreement, EVMS and ODU will establish a new Executive Committee to strengthen collaboration between the two institutions. President Roseann Runte and Harry T. Lester, president of EVMS, signed the memorandum in the Board of Visitors Conference Room at Webb Center. The document was also signed by the provosts of the two institutions, Thomas L. Isenhour of ODU, and Gerald J. Pepe of EVMS, who will head the new Executive Committee. “This is great news,” said Lester. “EVMS and ODU have worked together on various programs ever since EVMS was founded. But it was always on an ad hoc, program by program basis. By formally establishing joint goals and creating an ongoing Executive Committee, the new MOU provides the organizational framework for a true partnership.” “This is an umbrella agreement that establishes general goals,” Runte explained. “With our signatures today, our two distinct institutions pledge to be singularly committed to excellence in fields where our cooperation is possible. We pledge to share hopes and dreams and to realize programmatic cooperation to serve better Hampton Roads and the commonwealth.” Leadership at both institutions confirmed that the goal is partnership, not merger. The institutions already collaborate on joint programs and research in biomedical sciences, public health, clinical psychology, ophthalmic technology, and medical modeling and simulation. They also have an early acceptance program that guarantees admission to the EVMS M.D. program for high-performing students at ODU. The Executive Committee will meet at least once every two months to administer the goals set forth in the MOU. Back to top
He joined the ODU faculty in 1966 after earning a doctorate in economics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In academic year 1974-75, he was appointed visiting professor of economics at the University of Wales, Swansea. During his career, Blitch published several articles in professional journals, and a book. He retired from ODU in 1990 and returned to his childhood home. In 1995, he acquired and restored his grandfather’s (W.H. Blitch Sr.) plantation house, circa 1880, where he resided until his death. Survivors include a sister, Charlotte B. Minter, of Abiquiu, N.M.; four nieces; and a nephew. Memorial contributions may be made to the Boys and Girls Club of Bulloch County, 515 Denmark St., Suite 1200, Statesboro, GA 30458, or to the RIF Program at Statesboro Regional Library, 124 Main St., Statesboro, GA 30458. Friends may sign the online register book at www.joineranderson.com. Malvern “Mal” Miller Miller joined the Old Dominion faculty in 1971 and taught marketing education for 32 years. He was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Virginia Association of Vocational Special Needs Personnel. An avid outdoorsman who loved fishing, hunting and boating, Miller was also a wonderful cook. Survivors include his wife, Susan Saarver Miller of Hot Springs; a daughter, Anna Johnson Helmer of Chesapeake; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his two sons, Martin Lynn Miller and Malvern Bret Miller, and one brother, Kelly Lynn Miller. Memorial donations may be made to a charity of choice. Louis Searleman A veteran of World War II, Searleman worked in government service for 36 years before retiring in 1970 to teach accounting at Old Dominion. During his tenure at the university, he served a term as chair of the accounting department and was a member of the Faculty Senate. He retired after 13 years of teaching. Survivors include two daughters, Diana Milligan of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and Rebecca Sheftel of New York City; one son, Evan Searleman of Virginia Beach; and three granddaughters. He was predeceased by his wife of 55 years, Edythe V. Searleman. Memorial contributions may be made to the Salvation Army. Condolences may be offered to the family at www.hollomon-brown.com. Back to top
Kornblau, who served on the ODU board from 1997-99, will serve a four-year term. He succeeds Patricia Woolsey, whose second term expired June 30. Additionally, Gov. Kaine reappointed current board members David W. Faeder, managing member of Fountain Square Properties, Sunrise Foundation; Conrad M. Hall, president and chief executive officer of Dominion Enterprises; and Dr. Katherine A. Treherne, a private-practice dermatologist. The chairman and CEO of Summit Realty Group Inc., Kornblau is a former ODU Alumni Association president and is the namesake of the university’s alumni center. Earlier this year, he donated $500,000 to help his alma mater reach its $8 million goal in support of adding football and expanding women’s sports. A 1971 graduate with a bachelor's degree in political science, Kornblau has served on the university’s Intercollegiate Foundation and Educational Foundation boards. Back to top
The award will provide four months of research support for her project, “Globalizing Gender: Post-Fascist Masculinities in German Film.” She will conduct her research in late spring 2008 in conjunction with her host institution, The Free University in Berlin, Germany. “My project will focus on the representation of masculinity in post-war German film, a topic that has to date received little attention from German Studies scholars,” she said. “Whereas Nazi cinema and the Nazi propaganda machine had produced a seemingly whole male ideal, masculine identity after 1945 encounters a taboo in German cinema.” Schlipphacke, who joined the ODU faculty in 2000, teaches courses on modern German literature, language, culture and film. This year she will be on sabbatical to teach at Haverford College as a visiting associate professor.For more information call 683-3159. Back to top
The Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology has established a new research entity, the Laser and Plasma Engineering Institute (LPEI), with Mounir Laroussi, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, as its director. LPEI houses three laboratories run by three of Old Dominion’s leading researchers. Laroussi’s collaborators, also from the electrical and computer engineering department, are Hani Elsayed-Ali, professor and eminent scholar, and Amin Dharamsi, professor. Oktay Baysal, dean of the Batten College, said that with today’s high-tech products, such as in the biomedical field, “engineering lasers and plasmas have become a critical tool both for research as well as for educating the next generation’s engineers.” He said the three primary LPEI researchers “form a capable team of experts to help ODU respond to this need.” Just a few days after the LPEI labs were fully operational in May, a documentary crew from the Smithsonian Network, a new television enterprise affiliated with Showtime, visited the facility. The network shot video footage and interviewed Laroussi about his research in plasmas, the highly charged “soups” that have applications ranging from killing germs to creating shields that can allow aircraft to avoid radar detection. Laroussi will work at LPEI’s Applied Plasma Technology Laboratory, continuing some projects that he started during a three-year affiliation with the Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics, which is operated by ODU and Eastern Virginia Medical School. “With the institute, my mission is broader,” he explained. “My work is more than bioelectrics. It encompasses all aspects of plasma science and engineering.” More than five years ago, Business Week magazine named Laroussi as one of the nation’s leading experts in atmospheric – or cold – plasmas and he has been building research momentum ever since then, much of it supported by funding from the Air Force’s Office of Scientific Research. During the past several years, his development of a germ-killing cold plasma pencil – a handy device that looks like a small light saber – has been widely publicized in magazines such as National Geographic. His expertise with the use of plasmas in aviation has drawn the interest not only of the Smithsonian Network, but also the History Channel. In several video documentaries, he has described how plasmas can be used to shield aircraft from radar and how other futuristic uses in aviation are also possible. A project now in Laroussi’s laboratory involves a small device that uses cold plasma, and no moving parts, to create a stream of ion wind. A flag of paper taped to the edge of the device actually flaps in the wind. Plasma wind production is not new, especially in applications designed to work in outer space, but Laroussi is looking into applications within Earth’s atmosphere that could be a boon to aeronautics. For example, a “boundary layer” of ion wind on the skin of an aircraft might decrease friction and allow the plane to fly at higher speeds, he said. Elsayed-Ali heads up LPEI’s Surface Science Laboratory, which houses instruments that look like large metal octopuses and which can be used to lay ultra-thin surfaces on substrates or create the quantum dots and nanoparticles that are too small to imagine. As director of the Applied Research Center in Newport News, where ODU and other institutions promote commercial applications of nanotechnology, Elsayed-Ali has won respect for his multidisciplinary thinking. He specializes in physical electronics and is widely known for his proficiency with ultrafast electron diffraction and pulsed laser deposition, which allow researchers to probe nanoscale phenomena and fabricate quantum dots and nanoparticles. Dharamsi is in charge of the institute’s Laser Applications Laboratory, where he and his research assistants focus on the interaction of laser light with molecules, usually in gaseous form. Fascinating work in his lab involves laser-based sensing using wavelength modulation spectroscopy. This spectroscopy is a highly sensitive and nonintrusive process in which a laser probes a medium to identify its components and properties. By measuring wavelength absorption and other physical results of laser photons interacting with the medium, researchers can pinpoint the makeup of the medium and its properties. “This work involves measurements by nonintrusive methods, so that the target being measured is not disturbed, which would spoil the measurement,” Dharamsi explained. “This allows for remote measurements to be performed when the molecular species is not accessible either because of toxicity or because of remoteness.” He noted that any measurement requires some sort of interaction between the probe and the sample and, therefore, cannot be perfectly nonintrusive. “However, light provides the lightest touch and so my students and I use lasers to perform these measurements. These measurements and a particular technique involving modulation of diode lasers developed here at ODU provide extreme sensitivity.” As a Distinguished Lecturer of the Lasers and Electrooptic Society of the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Dharamsi has made lecture trips throughout the United States and Canada, and to Europe, Australia and Asia. Back to top
A portion of the course was conducted at the Hawaiian Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island, which was shown on television as the tropical setting of Gilligan’s shipwreck. Procise knew what to expect from the coursework and the Pacific isles because another ODU oceanography Ph.D. student, Pete Morton, was among only 12 students accepted for the initial microbial oceanography course at Agouron Institute last summer. “What a coup to have two in a row from ODU,” said Alicia Herr, department manager in chemistry and biochemistry, where Procise and Morton have done some of their research. “The course has been incredibly challenging thus far,” Procise wrote in an e-mail after the first week of the course, which was held June 25 to Aug. 3. “However, the professors are very good at giving us a steady stream of digestible information at a speed that does not bore the advanced or baffle the beginner.” He added, “Upon completion, I’m sure that I will be eagerly prepared for research at ODU.” The course explored the dynamic and fundamental role marine microbes play in shaping ocean ecology and biogeochemistry. The students represented research schools such as Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and MIT in the United States, as well as institutions in England, Chile, Lebanon and Canada. Students who apply for the course are judged according to their research experience. Those who are accepted have all of their expenses paid. Most of the classroom and laboratory sessions are at the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. Also included are 10 days of research cruises on the university’s 186-foot R/V Kilo Manoa. The final week is on Coconut Island. Morton said he was enthusiastic about the value of the course, but added that the schedule was grueling, with a routine of lectures, labs and colloquia from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. Back to top
According to Wu, there is an increasing trend in information systems to utilize large software packages that must be customized and redesigned to integrate them into other existing and evolving systems. The research project focuses on case-based design, a method for leveraging prior experiences to identify current problems or decisions and developing solutions for such problems or decisions based on those of the prior experiences. Wu believes better designs can be achieved at lower costs with lower risks by utilizing the collective power of a large group of people. Consequently, the project proposes to develop and evaluate an open-source tool to support case-based design in packaged software implementations. Before joining the ODU faculty in 2005, Wu had more than 10 years of industry experience in IT/business consulting, management, marketing, software development and entrepreneurship. Back to top
Paleoclimatologist Dennis Darby, who has made more research trips to the Arctic Circle than he can count on his frostbit fingers and toes, began an International Polar Year (IPY) expedition Aug. 12 that may be his most interesting visit ever to the frozen north. The expedition is of special import because of concerns about global warming. Paradoxically, another spur for the research is an international, undersea land grab – with oil, gas and mineral deposits at stake – that owes some of its momentum to the current warming trend that is melting polar ice and making some portions of the Arctic more accessible to ships. During the first few days of August, international news agencies reported Russia’s ceremonial placing of a flag on the ocean bottom nearly three miles below the North Pole ice cap. The country said it was dramatizing its claim to undersea land extending from its northern shelf all the way to the top of the Earth. Officials in Canada, which may compete with Russia for some undersea Arctic zones, denounced the ceremony as a show for the media. Darby will visit the North Pole in early September, and his expedition, too, will involve Russians. But in this case, the Russians will be mercenaries helping Denmark stake its own claim to valuable zones of the Arctic. A professor in the ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences department, Darby is participating in the LOMROG expedition, so called because it involves work along the submerged Lomonosov Ridge off Greenland. The 1,200-mile ridge runs from the central Siberian continental shelf, through the North Pole, and to just north of Greenland. He is aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden, which began the five-week research cruise from Tromso, Norway. The expedition is sponsored by Sweden, as well as Denmark. Some of the thickest ice in the Arctic is in the area where the Oden will focus its research. Winds and currents tend to jam up ice in this region between Greenland and the North Pole, creating ridges in the floes that are 60-100 feet thick. Darby and about 30 other researchers on the Oden expect to accomplish the first ever bottom mapping and coring at some locations. To break a path in and out of this ice-packed territory during the expedition, the Danish government is spending $2 million to hire the extraordinary new Russian icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Freedom), which will be making its maiden voyage into the Arctic. This icebreaker, the largest and most powerful ever, is 50 percent larger than the United States’ premier polar icebreaker, the Coast Guard cutter Healy, and sports a dual-nuclear-reactor propulsion system that generates 75,000 horsepower, more than twice that of the diesel/electric Healy. Construction of the 50 Let Pobedy and other icebreakers in her class is evidence of Russia’s focus on the Arctic. The vessels were designed to keep northern sea lanes open from Murmansk north of St. Peters-burg, through the Siberian and Bering seas, to Vladivostok near North Korea. In fact, all shipping between Europe and the Far East could benefit from dependable passage through the northerly route. The distance from Rotterdam to Yokohama, Japan, via the Suez Canal, is about 11,000 nautical miles. The distance between the same cities via the northerly route is 7,000 nautical miles. Russia needs the lanes open, too, in order to exploit vast deposits of oil and gas on the country’s Arctic shelf. Furthermore, as the North Pole flag planting shows, Russia is trying under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to stake claims to huge amounts of Arctic Ocean territories where it hopes someday to accomplish deep-sea oil drilling and mining. To stake these claims, Russia – as well as Canada, Denmark, Norway and the United States – must prove that portions of the Arctic Ocean bottom are continuations of each country’s landmass. Geological evidence must back up the claims and that is where scientists such as Darby come in. He said his LOMROG expedition was organized in part because of Denmark’s desire to lay claim to the ocean bottom off Greenland (which is a territory of Denmark). “Claiming undersea land is the main reason the Danish government is willing to spend $70,000 a day on the Russian icebreaker,” Darby said. As a climatologist, he was more than happy to tag along. He is interested in sediment from sea ice and the ocean bottom that holds secrets about weather patterns going back millions of years in the Arctic region. Weather trends in the Arctic have a major impact on weather elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, and scientists are eager to learn how much, if any, of the present global warming has been caused by predictable weather cycles rather than manmade pollution. Darby has perfected a unique fingerprinting technique for sand grains that guarantees him invitations to Arctic research expeditions. He can determine the landmasses where grains of sediment originated, which provides evidence about winds and currents – and therefore the overall weather patterns – that brought the grains to their resting place. Various techniques are used to date layers of sediment. Two years ago, Darby was a chief scientist on a first-of-its-type trans-Arctic expedition by the Healy and Oden. His analysis of some of the core samples from the 2005 expedition, as well as from another expedition in 2004, does show evidence of predictable temperature flip-flops. A story in the March 16 edition of Science magazine noted that Darby sees evidence in sediment of a 240-year freeze-thaw cycle. He told Science that he believes “this periodicity must be connected to some ocean-circulatory pattern that presumably still exists but has not yet been noted in modern times.” Darby has gotten one National Science Foundation grant to pay for his analysis of sediment samples and is awaiting word on a second grant. “There is much more to learn. We are having trouble dating some of the samples,” he explained. Researchers on the Oden are using sophisticated new seismic equipment to map the ocean bottom and will extract cores from the same bottom. Darby will help with the coring, and will be in charge of collecting “dirty” ice samples, which is sediment embedded in ice. For this he will fly by helicopter from the Oden and land at sites that look promising. The brief Arctic summer gives way to snow by late August, he said, and this can complicate the search for dirty ice. “My warm summer in Virginia is about to come to an abrupt halt,” he said a few days before his departure. Back to top
The summer program is designed to permit cadets joining ROTC after their freshman year to catch up with peers and become eligible for officer commissions. Runte and Balas joined 70 other educators from around the country July 9-12 to observe the robust physical training curriculum. Not to be outdone by the cadets, the ODU administrators jumped blindfolded off a 30-foot tower, rappelled down a 50-foot wall, swam in full military gear and participated in several other challenges. “The AROTC camp provided an impressive demonstration of education for leadership, team building and personal improvement,” Runte said. “The program builds character through exercises involving ethical standards, knowledge, strength and ability. “It was a great honor to participate in and witness the hard work and dedication of our students and their Army mentors. By understanding this program, I am better able to assist our students and appreciate the challenges they face as they strive for excellence in all their tasks as they study and prepare to serve our great nation.” Balas agreed, adding that he “learned to better appreciate the hard work and dedication of service men and women, including those who provide health care to the frontlines.” Maj. Gen. Montague Winfield, commanding general of the Army’s Cadet Command, commended the ODU leaders on their performance, and President Runte personally as the single university president in camp. Limited military familiarization opportunities are available annually for senior university administrators and faculty by contacting Dick Whalen, ODU director of military activities, at 683-3018 or dwhalen@odu.edu. Back to top
Most faculty and administrators agree that graduate students need to be trained in professional and scholarly standards and to report ethical and professional misconduct. On the other hand, potentially adverse consequences to whistle-blowing send a conflicting message to students, according to Philip Langlais, vice provost for graduate studies and research. Langlais led a responsible conduct of research (RCR) workshop at the Summer Workshop for Graduate Deans, which was held by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in mid-July. As part of the workshop, he engaged the participants in discussing a case study about six graduate students at a Midwestern university who suffered irreparable damage to their careers after they turned in their faculty adviser for falsifying research data. “This duplicity is clearly something that we don’t like to talk about, but which we have to talk about,” Langlais said. “We won’t change the underlying culture and causes in my lifetime, but we shouldn’t back off because we think a fix is impossible.” Ethics and RCR training for graduate students has been the focus of an ODU initiative led by Langlais for the past three years. On one hand, he said, we tell graduate students, “If you see serious misconduct or misbehavior, you must do something.” But on the other hand, potential whistle-blowers are thinking: “If I do, my chances of finishing my degree and maybe my hopes for a professional career will go right down the tubes.” In the case study from the Midwestern university, the adviser resigned and the university’s investigation found evidence that data were misrepresented. But, according to an article from the Sept. 1, 2006, issue of Science magazine that Langlais distributed at the seminar, the graduate students “caught in the middle have found that for all the talk about honesty’s place in science, little good has come to them.” Their overall research project was compromised and their research funding was cut off. Three of the students – who had invested a total of 16 years toward their Ph.D.s – quit school. Two started over at other universities. Langlais posed two questions to the 80 graduate school administrators in his seminar: What role, if any, should the graduate dean play in training graduate students about the risks and benefits of whistle-blowing? What policies and procedures should be in place to protect the careers and reputations of students who step forward with allegations of faculty misconduct or serious misbehavior? Discussion among the deans about RCR and whistle-blowing was lively, Langlais said. “It is revolutionary to say that we need to change the culture and criteria for academic advancement, to openly recognize that the current rewards system creates pressures to get research funding and attain tenure and promotion that, in turn, promote misconduct and misbehavior.” Debra Stewart, president of the CGS, sent Langlais a letter late in July thanking him for his presentation in San Juan. She called it “exceptionally effective and exactly what we had hoped for.” She asked permission, which Langlais gave, to post his PowerPoint outline on the CGS Web site, www.cgsnet.org. ODU was part of the CGS pilot program that began in 2004 to develop best practices for comprehensive ethics and RCR education in graduate programs. In 2006, ODU successfully applied for support in the second wave of the CGS program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and will expand upon the original work. Langlais has led ODU’s participation from the beginning. An ODU task force has done research on campus to gauge student and faculty perceptions and skills regarding ethical decision making and to frame a general plan for the ethics training that is needed. In his presentation to the deans, Langlais stressed the importance of assessing the RCR climate in a particular college or department. The ODU research shows, for example, that faculty members are much more likely than graduate students to believe that ethical standards and RCR are adequately covered in current programs. An initial assessment of perceptions and skills, Langlais told the deans, forms the basis for education and innovation in the areas of ethics and RCR. Specific remedies will take time to develop, but, in the meantime, open lines of discussion between administrators, faculty and graduate students will keep the RCR issues well defined and out in the open, Langlais added. In an interview, Langlais said the survey conducted by the ODU task force has been refined and is being used in RCR assessments at about a dozen other universities. He and the CGS plan to seek funding to expand the survey into a Web-based research tool that would build a national database about the RCR climate. The ODU vice provost has been invited to several major conferences to present components of the university’s ethics initiative. Many of these invitations sprang from a commentary he wrote for The Chronicle of Higher Education early last year advocating ethics training for graduate students. That article summed up the high incidences of plagiarism and falsification of data and other RCR lapses in academe that have been reported by popular media and research papers. It also described the work of the ODU RCR task force. In a recent article in ODU’s Quest magazine, Langlais described results from the campus survey, including data suggesting important effects of cultural background and gender in self-assessed knowledge and decision-making skills in RCR. A news article about research ethics in The Chronicle of Higher Education on Nov. 10, 2006, noted ODU’s role in the CGS initiative. Back to top
Isenhour, who holds a doctorate in chemistry, was invited based on his expertise in passive remote infrared sensing of airborne chemicals. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a member of a research team that developed various quantitative methodologies for identifying airborne chemicals and determining their concentrations. Among the major applications of the research team’s techniques was the development of passive sensors for detecting airborne nerve gases for the U.S. Army. Isenhour received the American Chemical Society Fisher Award in Analytical Chemistry in 1983 based on this and other research. As a member of the approximately 20-member U.S. delegation to China, Isenhour will represent his profession while advancing the ideals of People to People International, a nonpolitical, private-sector organization dedicated to promoting international understanding. It was founded in 1956 by President Eisenhower. The group includes professionals from academia, business, industry and law who specialize in global climate change and environmental science. They will participate in bilateral exchanges with their counterparts in China. “By engaging with China we should be able to communicate the lessons the Western world has learned about developing clean industry,” Isenhour said. “If we can do so, we will help prevent the potential global climate changes and disasters that could be caused by China’s rapid industrialization.” Leading the delegation will be Susan MacGregor, senior scientist at Battelle Memorial Institute. The group will attend professional meetings in Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai during the visit. Back to top
Faculty who have had this thought are invited to attend any of the Center for Learning Technologies’ (CLT) fall workshops, each designed to help integrate technology and teaching. For those who are new to Blackboard (Bb) and need to get started now, accelerated Bb Sprints are offered Aug. 28 and 29. In this quick overview workshop, participants can dash through the essentials of establishing course site(s). Faculty who have been using Bb for some time, as well as novices, can “run” in any or all of the hands-on Bb Relays, offered on alternate Wednesdays from mid-September through mid-November. On Tech Tuesday, held every other week, participants can learn more about online testing with Respondus and Questionmark, creating interactive activities with StudyMate, managing resources with EndNote, or using digital audio or video learning resources in classes. Faculty can learn to manage their own Web site by attending one of the hands-on ODUEdit workshops, offered Aug. 31 and Oct. 12. Exploring new technologies and concepts is the goal of the Third Thursday series. Participants are invited to bring a bag lunch; CLT will supply the drinks and cookies. The first Third Thursday, on Sept. 20, will address Fostering Collaboration with Web 2.0 Services. See the Courier Calendar for details about times and locations of upcoming workshops. To register for any CLT workshop, visit www.clt.odu.edu/facdev and enter your CLT ID and password. For more information contact Susan Boze at sboze@odu.edu or 683-3172. Back to top
– “Operation Smile supports comfort mission in Peru” “I must tell you: Thus far you show very strong heart. This is not about winning or losing. It’s all about what inspiration you can give to others.” (Hiroyuki Hamada, associate professor of exercise science, sport, physical education and recreation, speaking to the U.S. Honbu martial arts team) – “Precision, inspiration, peace all part of martial-arts fest” “With this practice facility, and once the renovations are done on Foreman Field, our facilities will be as good, if not better,” than any I-AA football program in the country. (Bobby Wilder, football coach) – “Ground broken on ODU’s $17 million Powhatan Sports Center” “If a company protects itself better, why should they not be rewarded on the market? As we have now standards for the environment, why not have standards for security?” (Adrian Gheorghe, Batten Endowed Chair of systems engineering) – “ODU professor’s study of disasters’ effects can be scary” In the first half of 2007, the number of single housing permits issued in Hampton Roads had dipped by about 20 percent from a year ago. (Vinod Agarwal, professor of economics) – “Housing downturn leaves behind a tattered furniture market” “It’s going to be like a mini-ODU campus here in Suffolk/Portsmouth. The program will have a home, and the students will have a center. It’s going to be really cutting-edge. It’s really going to be a forward-looking facility.” (Charles Turnitsa, project scientist and doctoral student at VMASC) – “VMASC gets new home” “We have a project where we’re growing algae on wastewater to provide the nutrients. Most oil is fossilized algae. There’s actually a lot of effort now in this whole search for alternative fuels. Algae has been being explored for quite some time. Right now the job is really to make it economical, and people are starting to get there.” (Margaret Mulholland, associate professor of ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences) – “Henrico man turns river ‘mystery foam’ into gasoline” To retrieve viable sperm or eggs “seems an even more remote chance.” (Alex Greenwood, assistant professor of biological sciences) – “Nope, that’s not a hairy elephant” “We’re getting at an American identity here. Jamestown is the birth of a nation and the start of the melting pot. It was the beginning of a multicultural democratic identity, and we are putting Jamestown into a national context.” (Amanda Williams, student) – “School allows students to learn archaeology”
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