I am pleased to announce that Stuart Zola will serve as interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, effective August 15, 2016. Dr. Zola was identified based on an extensive process that allowed for thoughtful input from a wide range of individuals who have a deep understanding of academic affairs at Emory.

Dr. Zola's appointment brings to the office a respected, well-known leader with a long history of service at Emory. The many roles he has held at the University include director of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, professor of psychiatry and behavioral science in the Emory School of Medicine (now emeritus), and co-director of the Emory Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Most recently, he has served as deputy associate chief of staff for research at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center, enhancing relationships between the VA and Emory and other institutions of higher education in the region. One of the nation's leading neuroscientists and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. Zola has contributed valuable insights into how the brain organizes memory and how this process relates to memory problems. In addition, he is co-founder of Neurotrack, a digital technology company that is developing a quick, web-based test that uses eye-tracking technology to diagnose mild cognitive impairment.

The search for Emory's next provost will launch in September 2016, with the expectation of identifying the final candidate in spring/summer 2017. Meanwhile, we are in good hands with Dr. Zola, an exemplary leader who brings deep understanding and a depth of experience to academic affairs. I know that you will join me in welcoming him to this new role.

Sincerely,

Claire E. Sterk

President-elect

Faculty are invited to participate in the 2016 Convocation (in full regalia).  Faculty turnout is generally low at this event, and so your participation is especially welcome:

Dear Emory Faculty Members,

Thank you,

Michael Kloss

Office of University Events

A Chance to Help

• Meet with their mentees for one hour each month (three times per semester) either individually or in small groups;
• Refer scholars to appropriate resources to support their transition to college;
• Attend one training session at the start of the semester;
• Attend the scholar welcome ice cream social if convenient;
• Attend additional monthly mentor group meetings to discuss mentoring activities when convenient.

Lunch Colloquium July 25

At the July 25 Lunch Colloquium, a capacity crowd filled the Luce Center meeting room to hear Alben W. Barkley Professor of Political Science Alan Abramowitz speak on the subject of "Voting in an Age of Polarization: The Outlook for November."

The U.S. is in a new era of national competition with its closely divided electorate and one-party domination in each state. 2012 saw few closely contested states; states tended to be deep red or deep blue with few swing states. In fact, 40 states, of which 18 vote Democratic and 22 vote Republican, have remained with the same party in the last four elections. There have been no landslides in the last four elections.

2016 is a high stakes election not only because of the vast differences between Clinton and Trump in personality, style, experience and ideology, but also because of the number of races to be decided nationally. This includes 435 House seats, 34 Senate seats of which 24 are currently held by Republicans, 12 state governors, and hundreds of state legislators. In addition, the choice of President and the makeup of Congress will determine the composition of the U.S. Supreme Court, which already has one vacancy and a number of Justices who may be nearing retirement.

In addition to major party candidates Clinton and Trump, the presidential choices in November will also include Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. While Johnson's and Stein's early poll numbers may have benefitted from the extreme unpopularity of Trump and Clinton, observation over time has shown that potential third-party voters often fall in line with one of the major candidates by election day.

There has been a high degree of consistency between the party of the successful presidential candidate and winners of the House and Senate races. This may be explained by the strongly partisan nature of the electorate, who tend to vote a straight ticket. Even those who like to pride themselves on being "independent" usually lean toward one party or the other, so one might refer to them as "closet partisans."

The sharp division of the political landscape reflects a number of deeper societal divisions, among them a growing racial divide. Nonwhites, who made up 28% of the electorate in 2012, will account for an even higher percentage in 2016.  In fact, with its rapid growth in racial diversity, Georgia may well become a swing state by 2024. A cultural divide that one might characterize as "Darwin vs. Jesus" mainly affects whites, for whom religiosity is now a more accurate predictor of voter preference than financial status. On the ideological front, whites have in general become much more conservative. In the news-media divide, the traditional television networks tend to skew Democratic, while Fox and some others lean Republican. Finally, there is the affective divide: the two sides truly dislike each other.

In a strongly divided electorate with few swing voters, the growing diversity of the population is advantageous to the Democrats. On the other hand, the fact that the Democrats have held the White House for eight years favors the Republicans. Some key indicators to watch are: Obama's approval rating, which at present is good; the state of the economy, also good in terms of consumer confidence and job creation, but bad in terms of median income, which is flat; and the fact that recent income gains have not been widely shared across socio-economic groups.

Of the two major party nominees, Clinton entered the convention season with a slight advantage in the polls. However, polls around convention time are less meaningful than others because of the convention "bump." Most signs indicate that 2016 will be a very closely contested election. In the unlikely event that neither candidate gets a majority of the electoral vote, the election would be decided by the House, as last happened in 1824, and the Senate would elect the Vice President.

--Holly York 

Click here to view the webcast.  (Note that sound is missing from the first 5 minutes)