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Upcoming Events
June 6
Lunch Colloquium
June 6
Lunch Colloquium
WEBCAST
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Contact Other Members
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find out about a travel destination or find other EUEC members who would like to travel with you, send an email to:
Find other members to get together for shared interests, whether it is forming a book club or a photography club, or getting together to take a hike. Send email to the following link to contact member who would like the same activity!
Courses
If you would like to find other EUEC members interested in taking a MOOC together, an OLLI course together, or possibly teaching together in an OLLI course, click on the following link to send an email:
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This issue of our newsletter is sent to members and friends of the Emory University Emeritus College (EUEC). I hope the newsletter will help keep you informed about our activities and help you feel connected with our members throughout the U.S. On the left are links to our website and links to contact either me or the EUEC office.
With best wishes, Gray Gray F. Crouse Director, EUEC
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 Message from the Director
Although Memorial Day may mark the unofficial start of the summer season, EUEC is not shutting down! We had a fascinating talk on May 16 by Jonathan Crane, which you can read about below. There is also a link to enable you to view the webcast of his talk. Next week, we will hear one of our own, as Jag Sheth talks about the rise of the roommate family. Thanks to our Mind Matters Committee for arranging such a wonderful and diverse series of talks! One of the many advantages of membership in EUEC is access to small research grants provided though the Bianchi Excellence Awards. The deadline for those is at the end of the month (see below for more information.) Al Padwa received one of the awards last year and in this issue he describes how that award was used to support undergraduate students working in his lab. The announcement about the AROHE Conference in Seattle is repeated; there are currently four of us planning to attend and we would welcome more of you to join us. We are closer to submitting a bid to host the next conference here in Atlanta in 2018 and members who have attended an AROHE conference would be a tremendous asset! Our retirement mentoring program is proceeding well. Without extensive advertising, there are already eleven faculty who have signed up to be mentored. Given this degree of interest, we will likely need more mentors willing to be trained. There are two additional members who have expressed interest in being trained as mentors. Please let me know if you would like to be added to this list. I am very grateful to John Bugge, Herb Benario, and Gretchen Schulz for help with proofing and editing.
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 Lunch Colloquium June 6
 New Consumption Culture and Changing Family Values: The Rise of the Roommate Family
The Luce Center Room 130 11:30-1:00
Jagdish Sheth, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing, Goizueta School of Business
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Lunch Colloquium May 16
Brutal Justice? Animals Accusing Humans of Abuse
Jonathan K. Crane, Raymond F. Schinazi Scholar in Bioethics and Jewish Thought, Emory University Center for Ethics
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Bianchi Excellence Award
All members have been sent information about applying for the Bianchi Excellence Award. Applications are due May 31 and information about applying can be seen by clicking here. The award provides members with financial support for ongoing intellectual activities by means of small, strategic grants to cover expenses incurred in pursuit of a broad range of activities. Last year Al Padwa received a Bianchi Award and he reports on its use below.
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New Members
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We note the passing of EUEC Member James McMahon and Carol Fox, widow of Bill Fox.
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 AROHE is the only national association for higher-education retirement organizations like EUEC. AROHE includes both faculty/staff retiree organizations and those organizations that consist primarily of faculty such as EUEC. EUEC has a long history with AROHE and John Bugge is currently a board member. You can find out much more about AROHE by going to their website: http://arohe.org/.
AROHE has a biennial annual conference. The conference in 2014 was at the University of Minnesota and was attended by Gray Crouse, John Bugge, and Gretchen Schulz. You can read a report of that conference in Issue 3 of volume 1 of the newsletter. The conference this year will be August 14-16 at the University of Washington in Seattle. The topic will be Transforming Retirement: Re-writing Life's Next Chapter. The brochure for the conference is available by clicking here. At this point, there are at least four of us attending: Gray Crouse, John Bugge, Gretchen Schulz, and Marilynne McKay. We would really like to see other EUEC members attend!
There is a particular reason we would like to have additional EUEC members attend this conference. There have been discussions in the EUEC Executive Committee about the possibility of EUEC proposing to host the next conference, which would be in 2018. Thanks to all of you and to the many ways you contribute, EUEC is a vital organization and has a lot to contribute to a conversation about retirement organizations; in addition, Atlanta and Emory would be a great location for the next conference. There is no doubt, however, that it would be a considerable effort on our part to host the conference and having more of our members who would know what an AROHE conference is like would be very valuable. Seattle is also a nice location if you would like to extend your visit. If you are interested in attending, please contact Gray Crouse. |
The next round of OLLI courses has been announced. You can get more information about OLLI and register for courses at olli.emory.edu. You can see the complete catalog of courses by clicking here. The summer term is July 11-August 18; EUEC member David Goldsmith is teaching a course on the History of Photography. Registration opens June 1.
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Paul Black, Brannon+Black LLC Goizueta Business School Room 201 June 15, 2016 12:00PM-1:30PM |
Walking the Campus with Dianne
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Lunch Colloquium June 6
New Consumption Culture and Changing Family Values: The Rise of the Roommate Family
Jagdish Sheth, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing, Goizueta School of Business Four major demographic shifts are changing the American social and economic landscape. They are (1) aging population, (2) working women households, (3) decline of the middle class, and (4) increasing ethnic diversity. Each demographic shift is impacting the way we live and the way we look at the future. Dr. Sheth's focus will be primarily on changing consumption culture and the rise of the roommate family. About Jag ShethAlmost every EUEC member knows something about Jag Sheth. He and his wife Madhu have made possible the Sheth Distinguished Lectures that have been one of our signature programs since 2004 and Jag is a member of the EUEC Executive Committee. There is much more to know, however:
News Flash: On May 14, Jag was awarded an honorary degree from the College of Business at Illinois. You can read about that under Faculty Activities.
He received a Bachelor of Communication (BCom) with Honors from the University of Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, and an MBA and a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh.
Prior to coming to Emory University, Dr. Sheth was the Robert E. Brooker Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern California and the Walter H. Stellner Distinguished Professor of Marketing at the University of Illinois. He was also on the faculty of Columbia University and MIT.
"Jag," as he is known, has published more than 300 research papers and books in various areas of marketing, including consumer behavior, multivariate methods, competitive strategy, relationship marketing, and more recently, marketing for emerging markets. His book The Theory of Buyer Behavior (1969) with John A. Howard is a marketing classic. Jag has published other scholarly books: Marketing Theory: Evolution and Evaluation (1988) and Consumption Values and Market Choices (1991). His bestselling works include publications that have altered how practitioners market, lead, and do business: Clients for Life with Andrew Sobel (2000), The Rule of Three, coauthored with Dr. Rajendra Sisodia (2002), Firms of Endearment, coauthored with Dr. Rajendra Sisodia and David Wolfe (2007), The Self-Destructive Habits of Good Companies...And How to Break Them (2007), Chindia Rising: How China and India Will Benefit Your Business (2008, updated 2011), Tectonic Shift (2006), and The 4 A's of Marketing with Rajendra Sisodia (2012).
Jag is an American Psychological Association Fellow and past President of the Association for Consumer Research (ACR). Among his past and present accolades, Jag was the recipient of the Viktor Mataja Medal from the Austrian Research Society in Vienna (1977) and the 1989 Outstanding Marketing Educator Award from the Academy of Marketing Science. In 1991 and again in 1999, Dr. Sheth was also recognized as the "Marketing Educator of the Year" by Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI). Dr. Sheth is the recipient of all top three academic awards bestowed by the American Marketing Association (AMA). These include the PD Converse Award for Marketing Theory (1998), the Charles Coolidge Parlin Award for Marketing Research (2004), and the Richard D. Irwin/McGraw Hill Marketing Educator Award (2004).
In 1996, he was elected to be the Distinguished Fellow of the Academy of Marketing Science. Subsequent honors include the Outstanding Leadership Award by the AMA Foundation in 2002, and the Global Innovation Award and Marion Creekmore Award, both from Emory University. Over the last three decades, Jag has amassed over 30 awards as a thought leader in marketing, consumer behavior, and emerging markets.
In addition to all of the above, Jag is also the subject of a Wikipedia page, which you can read by clicking here.
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Lunch Colloquium May 16
 Brutal Justice? Animals Accusing Humans of Abuse
Jonathan K. Crane, Raymond F. Schinazi Scholar in Bioethics and Jewish Thought, Emory University Center for Ethics
Today there is a lot of ethical debate about how humans have been and are still mistreating animals, no longer so much as beasts of burden, but still as the source of food, etc. and as subject to scientific research. It was thus very interesting to be informed about instances from the Judaic and Islamic traditions in which animals are allowed to talk back to humans and accuse them of abuse.
The first case study presented was biblical. It was briefly noted that in the Book of Genesis the serpent, the most "subtile" of animals, is given the voice to tempt Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge and defy God. The book of Numbers was used to relate the story of the prophet Balaam beating a donkey, his beast of burden, three times because she stopped for an angel standing in their way. Before Balaam's eyes were opened to see the angel himself, God "opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou has smitten me these three times?" (Numbers 22, 28). With these words "the dullest of beasts" is able to shame Balaam into agreeing to obey God. But the Rabbinic interpretation concludes by thanking God for shutting the mouths of the beasts, for otherwise it would become too painful to continue to put them in our service.
The second case study was not biblical but derived from the texts of a secular Islamic group, the Ikwhan al-Safa (Brethren of Purity), based in Basra, Iraq. One of their epistles imagines a case brought to the King of the Jinn in which animals protest being treated as slaves by human beings. They ask whether humans are really all that different from other animals, for humans too "can be eaters or eaten. Their fate is like ours." What is being questioned is anthropocentrism and its assumption that human civilizations are superior and that human religions are edifying. For their part, these talking brutes claim that they don't need institutions to cooperate and have no need of religious delusions. The differences that exist are not differences in kind but of degree. Less attention was given to human counterarguments, one of which could be that animals do not need religion because they have no sense of the future.
The conflicting arguments are resolved by a learned, insightful, and cosmopolitan sage who acknowledges that although humans are not radically superior to other animals, "even among depraved humans, there are some who quest after the highest goods." This human potential for reaching higher leads the King to rule that "animals shall remain subject to humans until a new age, at which time they will acquire a new fate."
 Much discussion ensued after this lively and beautifully illustrated talk, which included Rembrandt's portrayal of Balaam and the Angel. It was asked whether other earlier religious traditions had similar cautions about our use of animals. It was also indicated that many religions practiced animal sacrifice, which is repellant to us now. Given our current thinking, the conclusions of both case studies seem somewhat disappointing. They allowed the status quo to continue, with the implicit warning that humans should not be unnecessarily harsh. But those earlier thinkers probably could not have imagined current modes of animal cruelty practiced by the food industry that breeds animals in cramped spaces and otherwise causes them terrible suffering before killing them in ways that are all too "human" and too little "humane."
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New Members
New members are the lifeblood of any organization. If you know any of these faculty, please make a special effort to welcome them to EUEC! Aaron S. Fink, MD, Professor Emeritus of Surgery Kathryn Matthews, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, Assistant Professor Emerita of Nursing John S. Parks, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics Click here to return to top
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Bianchi Award Report--Al Padwa
One of the great joys of my academic career has been the mentoring of undergraduate students who have expressed an interest in chemistry. I had recently been granted a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Senior scientist mentor award that was specifically meant to cover the salary of two undergraduate students working with me in the laboratory of several of my colleagues this past academic year. However, funds to cover the necessary laboratory supplies, spectral and computer software costs, as well as travel to a chemistry conference for the presentation of their results were not available from the Dreyfus program. My outreach for a Bianchi award was done on behalf of the two undergrad students and for my own personal development as an interested and dedicated scholar in the field of Organic Chemistry. Nature has endowed our world with many small-molecule natural products with important functions and diverse structural skeletons. These molecules are indispensable to the discovery of life-saving drugs for various human diseases. In particular, monoterpene alkaloids such as mersicarpine (4) have attracted the attention of synthetic chemists due to their very important biological properties. Mersicarpine (4) is a structurally unique natural product that was isolated in exceedingly small amounts from the Kopsia species of plants in 2004.It contains a seven-membered cyclic imine and an intricately oxidized indole moiety centered in the tetracyclic ring system. The plan that we have put to practice to prepare mersicarpine involved the synthesis of a key intermediate starting with a Rh(II)-catalyzed reaction of bis-diazo amide 1 in the presence of4-methylene-hexan-1-amine (see Scheme below).
The two research students also focused on an investigation of the synthetic power of bis-diazo chemistry using compounds related to 1. The desired reaction proceeded in the expected manner based on earlier reports in the literature and compound 2 was formed. Treatment of a N-protected derivative of compound 2 with a Rh(II) catalyst gave cycloadduct 3. It should be possible to convert 3 to mersicarpine (4) thereby providing a rather short and efficient synthesis of this intriguing alkaloid. The two undergraduate students with generous support from the Bianchi grant received training in the general areas of reaction design and development, organic synthesis and complex structure elucidation and characterization using all modern instrumentation. I believe that the funds from the generous Bianchi award contributed significantly to the education and training of these undergraduate students.
--Al Padwa
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Faculty Activities
Donna Brogan Professor Emerita of Biostatistics
Rollins School of Public Health Donna Brogan recently taught two continuing education courses at CDCU (CDC University) in Atlanta on how to use the statistical software package SUDAAN to analyze health survey data. March 21-22, 2016. "Using SUDAAN for Complex Survey Data Analysis" May 9-10, 2016. "Health Indicator Time Trends: SUDAAN with Survey Data"
Jagdish Sheth
Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing
André J Nahmias, BA, MA, MPH, MD Richard W Blumberg Professor of Pediatrics Emeritus Professor of Public Health Emeritus This "Faculty Activities" section generally gives just a snippet of a member's activities. What would a longer-term profile of one's retirement look like? Andy gives us a view of what the 13 years of his retirement to date have included for him. You can read his report by clicking here. Other members who would like to submit their own reflections on their retirement are welcome to do so! It can be very encouraging for faculty contemplating their own retirement to see how active and stimulating retirement can be.
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In Memoriam
James McMahon
Professor of German Studies Emeritus
James McMahon, professor of German Studies Emeritus, died on February 14, 2016 at the age of 78 in Green Valley, AZ, where he had moved after retirement from Emory in 2000. Marianne Lancaster, a current faculty member in German Studies, writes:
Jim was a real gentleman and I enjoyed working with him from 1991 - 2000. He directed the first half of our summer study abroad in Vienna - even after his retirement - when asked to help us out. When I joined the department as a temporary in 1991, it consisted of Jim, Garland Richmond, Max Aue, Erdmann Waniek, and Tiny Westbrook.
On campus, he stood out as a tall, lanky man in his sunhat...he enjoyed learning...was calm, patient and spoke in a soft voice. He loved music and medieval times...and his door was always open for people with questions.
We were surprised when Jim and his wife left Atlanta almost immediately for their retirement community in Arizona, but they were looking forward to that new phase in their life and happily showed Tom and me their new house plans during a good-bye visit. Later I heard that they really liked their new lifestyle. May he rest in peace.
EUEC Member Viola Westbrook writes: Learning about the death of our dear colleague and long-time friend Jim McMahon has left many of us in the Emory community deeply saddened. For many years Jim and his family were a very involved and visible part of our Druid Hills neighborhood. We miss them and extend our sincere sympathy and prayers to Ann and all the family. On a personal note allow me to add that from the time Jim warmly welcomed me into the Emory German Department in 1967 until his generous words from afar some 40 years later at my retirement, he has been a genuine inspiration and friend to me. The marvelous richness of his knowledge - especially of course in the area of medieval scholarship - were a continuous gift to us all, colleagues and students alike. In difficult times he proved to be a very insightful and effective leader and peacemaker. His understanding and fairness always seemed to prevail in the end and accomplish the best results for all concerned. And yet, the characteristic that perhaps I cherished the most about Jim was his gentle humanity. It defined his being throughout his life. May you rest in peace, dear friend. Carol Fox
Carol Lewis Fox died unexpectedly May 12, 2016. She was born on May 14, 1944, in Little Rock, AR, and preceded in death by her husband, William "Bill" Fox Jr. The Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry at Emory University is named in honor of Carol and Bill Fox, in tribute to their long and devoted service.
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Walking the campus with Dianne
Those little, and sometimes big, details....the Emory campus is home to many. The photo from our last newsletter is one of the rather fancy eaves on the Callaway Memorial Center Building located on the Quad. Take a look next time you are in that area, it's quite beautiful. I've provided another view and one of the building itself for reference.
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Emory University Emeritus College The Luce Center
825 Houston Mill Road NE #206 Atlanta, GA 30329 |
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