Contact by email:
Director (or send email to emeriti@emory.edu) Letters to the Editor Click on the above link to let us know what you think (or send email to emeriti@emory.edu)! |
Upcoming Events
Lunch Colloquium Jagdish Sheth MONDAY September 23, 2019
WEBCAST ONLY Jagdish Sheth September 23, 2019
Lunch Colloquium
Maryn McKenna TUESDAY
October 8, 2019
|
|
|
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
|
 Message from the Director
As predicted, we had a fantastic start to our fall Lunch Colloquium series. Carol Anderson's talk was filled with facts and figures but also kept the audience thoroughly engaged throughout--truly the mark of a master teacher! Voter suppression is not a light topic, either intellectually or emotionally, but is definitely an important topic, particularly at this time and at this place in Georgia. Thanks to Pat Miller, if you were not able to attend Carol's talk, or if there are parts you don't remember, you can read a masterful summary of her talk below.
Next week's Lunch Colloquium will feature one of our own--Jag Sheth. His talk also promises to be fascinating, in a very different way. We did not grow up in the Internet Age, unlike our grandchildren or students entering Emory today, so we can more easily see the problematic side effects than those who have never known anything else (!). Jag is also a great speaker, so this will be another Lunch Colloquium not to miss.
There are also previews in this issue of two additional EUEC activities: a talk by Nanette Wenger on cardiovascular disease in women on Monday afternoon, October 28, and an excursion to see King Lear at the Shakespeare Tavern on Sunday afternoon, November 24.
There is also an encouraging update below on the Faculty Club. Thanks to Mike Kutner for pursuing the work on bringing a faculty club to fruition!
We are continuing to have new members join. Thanks to those who have written about their careers at Emory for inclusion here. Be sure to welcome these new members when you see them.
I am very grateful to Gretchen Schulz, Ann Hartle, and Marge Crouse for help with editing and proofing.
|
|
|
Lunch Colloquium--Monday, September 23
The Seven Side Effects of the Internet Age
The Luce Center
Room 130 11:30-1:00
|
Lunch Colloquium--Tuesday, September 10
Jim Crow 2.0: Voter Suppression
in the 21st Century
|
Faculty Activities
|
New Members
|
Save the Date--Monday, October 28, 2 pm
EUEC Member Nanette Wenger will give a talk on October 28 about cardiovascular disease in women. Most of you know that she is a world expert in this area. Those of you who have heard her give talks also know that she is a great speaker and that this seminar will be of interest to both men and women. The talk will be in 2 parts. The first will be "Understanding the Journey: The Past, Present, and Future of CVD in Women" -- and the second part will be "Show Your Heart You Care®," which presents guidelines for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in women. More information about the talk will be given closer to the seminar date.
|
Shakespeare Excursion--Sunday, November 24
|
| |
Chris Kayser as King Lear (photo by Daniel Parvis)
|
JOIN US FOR AN EMERITI EXCURSION TO THE SHAKESPEARE TAVERN This fall, we are scheduling our group visit to the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern for Sunday afternoon (afternoon, not evening), November 24, so we may together enjoy the final performance of the Company production of King Lear that begins its run on November 2 (with previews from October 31). And note that if you cannot join us on the 24th, you may want to make arrangements to attend one of the many performances planned before then. Click here for more information about this play and the Tavern. |
We continue to make progress on plans for a One Emory Club that will convene faculty from across Emory schools, departments, and areas of research and scholarship. While planning is still underway, we have begun hosting faculty "pop-up" events to provide a sampling of the type of activities that will be facilitated by an eventual One Emory Club. We will host our first Faculty Club Pop-Up on Monday, October 28, at Double Zero.
More information on the faculty club and registration for the first pop-up can be found by clicking here.
Most of you are aware of the important work that Mike Kutner and John Bugge did in pushing the idea of a faculty club, and Mike Kutner continues that work. We are fortunate to have a Provost who is supportive of those efforts!
|
Walking the Campus with Dianne
|
Lunch Colloquium--Monday, September 23
The Seven Side Effects of the Internet Age
Jagdish Sheth, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing, Emory University
The major technologies of the last two hundred years (railways, automobiles, telecommunications) were all transformative--in both good and bad ways. Like a potent drug, each has had great benefits, but also problematic side effects. Similarly, the digital technology of our internet age, so beneficial in so many ways, also has its dark side. Jag will discuss its side effects, including the rise of digital addiction (perhaps because so many find the virtual world more appealing than the real world), the emergence of a roommate lifestyle, the shift to a sharing economy (preferred over private ownership of property), and the challenge to existing jurisdictions organized around countries, markets, and currencies. As Jag will explain, the largest nation today isn't China or India. It's what he calls "The Facebook Nation"--a virtual place with more than two billion inhabitants and their own (also virtual) currency. Jag will help us consider whether we want to "live" there or not--if we have any choice in the matter at all.
About Jag Sheth
Much can be said about Jag Sheth, but he is certainly among our best-known members. Just this past spring, for example, he was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Award that "honors a member of the faculty or staff for significant service to Emory University through personal activities, influence, and leadership, usually over the course of many years." An article about that award can be read by clicking here. Jag is a member of our Executive Committee and he and his wife, Madhu, have endowed the Sheth Distinguished Lecture that we enjoy each year.
The following information is from Jag's 80th (!) birthday celebration last year:
Jagdish N. Sheth is Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Business in the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. He is globally known for his scholarly contributions in consumer behavior, relationship marketing, competitive strategy, and geopolitical analysis. He has over 50 years of combined experience in teaching and research at the University of Southern California, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Columbia University, MIT, and Emory University.
Professor Sheth is the recipient of all four top awards given by the American Marketing Association: the Richard D. Irwin Distinguished Marketing Educator Award, the Charles Coolidge Parlin Award for market research, the P.D. Converse Award for outstanding contributions to theory in marketing, and the William Wilkie Award for marketing for a better society.
Professor Sheth has authored or coauthored more than three hundred papers and many books: Firms of Endearment (2014), Breakout Strategies for Emerging Markets (2016), The Sustainability Edge (2016), and Genes, Climate and Consumption Culture: Connecting the Dots (2017). His autobiography, The Accidental Scholar (2014), has inspired others in the areas of education and academic entrepreneurship.
Professor Sheth has been on the boards of several listed companies both in India and the US: WIPRO Limited (1991-2015), Shasun Drugs and Chemicals, Safari Industries, Norstan, and Cryo-Cell International. He has been advisor to over a hundred companies including Aditya Birla Group, Tata & Sons, and WIPRO Consumer Care, as well as Whirlpool, General Motors, AT&T, and Bellsouth.
Professor Sheth is the Founder of the Center for Telecommunications Management (CTM) at the University of Southern California, which has now become an Institute. He is also Founder and Chairman of the India, China, and America Institute, which analyzes the trilateral relationship and its impact globally on geopolitics, security, trade, and investment.
Professor Sheth and his wife, Madhu, have established the Sheth Family Foundation to promote India and its culture in the US. They have also established the Madhu and Jagdish Sheth Foundation to support scholars and scholarship in the field of marketing.
Finally, he is the Founder and Chairman of the Academy of Indian Marketing, which supports research and scholarship among Indian scholars in marketing and management.
More about Jag can be read on his website, including references to his many books and articles.
Click here to return to top
|
Lunch Colloquium--Tuesday, September 10
Jim Crow 2.0: Voter Suppression in the 21st Century
On Tuesday, September 10th, a packed house awaited for the talk by Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies. Her 2016 book, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, was a New York Times Best Seller and won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism. Her very timely presentation, based on her newest book, One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy, detailed extensive, government-dictated, ongoing, and evermore precisely administered voter suppression.
"When we think of disfranchising black people, we think of stories like that of Maceo Snipes, an African American WWII veteran who dared to vote in his small Southern town. He paid for it when he was gunned down by four white men. While we often think of this kind of violence [in connection with voter suppression], there is a bureaucratic violence that is just as lethal to democracy," Professor Anderson began. In the talk that followed she presented evidence that voter suppression is not only alive and well, but has become much more effective through institutionalized systems that, while appearing harmless and reasonable, strategically target specific populations with the intent of reducing their political participation.
Starting in Mississippi in the 1890s, politicians began to seek ways to get around the 15th amendment to the Constitution: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." In this, the Jim Crow era, the would-be voter faced certain tests that must be passed to gain the right to vote. These were explained as reasonable (pay a poll tax, pass a literacy test, etc.) and were rationalized as necessary to meet the expense of an election or to show the potential voter was adequately prepared to vote. They were, in fact, designed to prevent black citizens from voting by presenting tasks nearly impossible for them to accomplish due to specific circumstances that were a part of the institutionalized poverty in which they lived.
By 1940, as a result of these measures, in the Southern states only 3% of the black population were eligible to vote. Through the control of voters, members of Congress from the South had been successful in obtaining ongoing re-election and, due to their longevity in Congress, held 60% of the congressional committee chairmanships.
The first attempt at legislation to address this inequity was the Civil Rights Act of 1957. It was ineffective because it required a person whose voting rights had been infringed to sue, build a case, and go through the trial to prove the offense while remaining in the geographic region where the suit was filed. This multi-year process was expensive, but more than that, it was very dangerous. Few were willing to risk violent retribution for taking such actions.
The 1965 Voting Act, according to Professor Anderson, was "the most significant legislation ever passed into law." As just one example of its effectiveness, she cited that in Mississippi in 1960, only 5% of potential black voters were registered to vote; by 1967, 57% were registered.
She fast forwarded to the presidential election of 2000, an election best remembered for hanging chads and the Florida recount, but perhaps more significant was the fact that it was during that election that the lie of "voter fraud" was inserted into our vernacular, soon yielding federal law in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2000, the state purged 50,000 names from voter rolls, including the names of those who had not voted recently, addresses listed as empty lots, etc. These names were dropped from the voter rolls without any attempt to notify the person listed. When those whose names had been removed appeared at their polling place to vote, they were told to go to the Board of Elections Office to appeal their right to vote. Long lines resulted. The Democratic Party sued to get the polls held open for an additional three hours, until the issue could be resolved. They did not succeed. The situation received the attention of the national press. The St. Louis Dispatch did a follow-up study and found that there had only been one case of improper voting, and that by a Peruvian man undergoing the naturalization process who did not understand that he could not vote until after the process had been completed. Otherwise the evidence of supposed fraud was due to voter rolls that were hopelessly out of date.
But, nationwide, the accusation of voter fraud became a rallying cry for those who wanted to control the ballot box and justify new ways to suppress votes. Building on the original Jim Crow suppression techniques, these new ways were presented as harmless and reasonable, but they were in fact cleverly designed means to limit participation by members of a specific group. Professor Anderson described several of these techniques and cited numerous examples of how effective the practice has been.
Requiring voter ID:
This seems reasonable, but when you specify that only certain kinds of government-issued ID are acceptable, there is room to control who will be allowed to vote. If a driver's license or another ID issued by the Department of Motor vehicles is required, and there is no public transportation to get to the DMV, you are limiting the number of poor who will vote. Minority populations are more heavily represented in poorer populations. In Alabama, although 71 % of those in state-funded public housing are African American, a government-issued public housing ID is not an acceptable ID to vote. In Texas, an ID from the University of Texas is not acceptable, while a state-issued permit for carrying a gun is.
Relocating or closing polling places:
Studies show that moving a polling place even 1/10 of a mile from black communities decreases black voter participation. Wisconsin used this data when Milwaukee moved the polling places outside of African-American neighborhoods and successfully reduced black voter participation.
Reducing early voting:
Considered a means of increasing voter participation by allowing people to vote at more convenient times, reducing early voting can be used in combination with other tactics to limit voting. North Carolina's Mecklenburg County reduced its early voting sites from 22 to 4, decreasing black votes by 8%.
Gerrymandering:
By controlling the geography of the voting districts, it is possible to control the outcome of an election regardless of the number of votes cast. Where there are gerrymandered districts, the elected officials effectively determine who will elect them, thereby insuring their re-election. In Wisconsin, with carefully carved districts, 49% of the voters were able to elect 72% of the seats.
Felony disfranchisement:
In 1901, Alabama passed a law stating that anyone convicted of a crime of moral turpitude permanently lost the right to vote, but the legislature refused to define "moral turpitude," allowing voting rights to be denied for any criminal conviction. By 1921, when "moral turpitude" was finally defined as "rape, murder or treason," 8% of the population had lost the right to vote based on this law.
In spite of these efforts, Obama's election was obtained not through changing the voting of previously registered voters, but through a coalition that registered 15 million new voters, comprised primarily of African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, the poor, and the young.
These are issues that will be at play in the upcoming elections. During the question and answer segment of the Colloquium program, Professor Anderson was asked what we could do to help rectify this problem. She recommended donating to organizations that target this issue, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Vote Riders, the League of Women Voters, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the NAACP, Indivisible, and Fair Fight for Action. These and other organizations listed in the back of the paperback edition of One Person, No Vote also train volunteers to act as poll observers and suggest ways we can assist others in voting like driving people to the polls on election days.
--Pat Miller
Note: The paperback version of One Person, No Vote is being issued tomorrow, September 17. If you decide to purchase this book, you will definitely want the paperback version, as it has updates not contained in the hardback version.
Click here to return to top
|
New Members
New members are the lifeblood of any organization. Please make a special effort to welcome them to EUEC!
Frans B. M. de Waal, PhD, Charles Howard Candler Professor Emeritus of Psychology Frans de Waal is a Dutch/American biologist and primatologist known for his work on the behavior and social intelligence of primates. In his first book, Chimpanzee Politics (1982), he compared the schmoozing and scheming of chimpanzees involved in power struggles with that of human politicians. His scientific work has been published in technical articles in professional journals. His popular books - translated into 20+ languages - have made him one of the world's most visible primatologists. His latest book is Mama's Last Hug (Norton, 2019), which reached the New York Times top ten. [He will be speaking about this book at our Lunch Colloquium on Monday, November 18.] De Waal is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. J. David Lambeth, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Gordon Darnell Newby, PhD, Goodrich C. White Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies Gregg M. Orloff, PhD, Senior Lecturer Emeritus of Biology
I came to Atlanta/Emory in 1984 as a graduate student in Microbiology & Immunology. My doctoral research in HIV/AIDS was performed in the Immunology Branch at the CDC. After graduating, I worked as a post-doc in a molecular epidemiology lab at the CDC and then joined the Biology Department in Emory College in 1993. I learned a tremendous amount from my students and relished my time in the classroom. I continue to run my cancer education website and outreach project - CancerQuest ( https://www.cancerquest.org), which was inspired, many years ago, by my wife's experience with breast cancer. She is fine now! Outside of my work life, I am quite the bio-geek. My hobbies include hiking, collecting mushrooms, gardening, and watching nature do its amazing thing.
|
Faculty Activities
David Cook
Professor of Film Studies, retired
EUEC Member David Cook, currently Professor of Media Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, was featured as a film expert in two episodes of CNN's 6-part series "The Movies," produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, that ran through July and August 2019. Cook appeared in Part Five: "The Sixties," speaking about late 1960s Hollywood, and in Part 6, "The Classics," speaking about Hitchcock's work in the studio era.
"The Movies" will soon be available On Demand and in multiple re-runs on CNN. You can read more about the series on Deadline.com.
Dave Lambeth
Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Dave retired from Emory Medical School early this year, moved to Steamboat Springs Colorado, and reports "I am busy enjoying my second career as an oil painter. To get my art out into the world, I am now offering on-line sales of not only some of my original oil paintings, but also very reasonably priced high-quality art prints. If you find yourself in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, please come see my work in person at Windfall Gallery, 1015 Lincoln Avenue; at the Depot Art Center 1001 13th Street; or contact me to visit my studio." You can visit his website by clicking here. Click here to return to top
|
Shakespeare Excursion--Sunday, November 24
Word is that this production of King Lear that so many name as the best ever written by anyone (as our resident Shakespearean, Gretchen, would agree) will be very powerful indeed. Certainly Atlantans who have followed the much-and-deservedly-lauded career of Chris Kayser, the actor playing Lear, can expect him to be up to the part, one of the most challenging in the world repertoire. And Gretchen can attest that the others in the cast are top-notch actors, too, well qualified to make the play as unbearable as it tends to be when it is well done. (Just sayin'.)
The good people at the Tavern have applied discounts available for educators and seniors and groups and also applied the value of some passes Gretchen receives for each production so as to set the cost of tickets for anyone who calls in to ask for "Emory Emeriti Tickets" at $27.50 for the excellent seats they will hold for us on the main floor of the theater. Those of you who would like to join the group (and note that family and friends are welcome to attend with you) should call the Tavern at 404-874-5299 and push 0 (when directed) for the Box Office. That should connect you with Becky, who's in charge there and who knows about our group reservation, so all you will need to do is identify yourself as one of the Emory Emeriti group, specify how many tickets you would like, and pay for them.
Becky will keep a master list of those who've called in, the number of our reserved tickets already claimed, and the number remaining unclaimed. If and when all our tickets (we've got them holding 24) are claimed, she will let Gretchen know, and if it's possible to up the number in our group at that point, Gretchen will do so and let you know (though you should note that you may need to pay more for your ticket(s) should you decide to add yourself to the group late in this process). We will need to release any unclaimed tickets by the Wednesday before the Sunday afternoon we're attending, that is, the 20th before the 24th.
If you have not attended a production at the Tavern before, do visit the website for information on location, parking, and the possibility of eating (or at least drinking) while you watch the show. (The food and drink available are good and reasonably priced though the menu for this afternoon performance will be less extensive than it is for evening performances.)
AGAIN, DO NOTE THAT THE SHOW ON THIS PARTICULAR SUNDAY BEGINS AT 2:30 (and will run to about 6:00). Plan to arrive in plenty of time to park and get into the Tavern (to pick up your tickets at the ticket counter) by 1:45 or 2:00 at the latest, especially if you do plan to eat and/or drink. The best bet for parking is the parking deck of Midtown Hospital, the entrance to which is directly across from the entrance to the Tavern (at 499 Peachtree Street). Park and exit the deck on Level D--the best exit for Peachtree Street and the Tavern. You'll pay the $5 charge on your way out of the deck. If you need parking closer to the Tavern, check the Tavern website for information on the accessible parking that's right behind the Tavern (off of Courtland).
Here's hoping you will choose to join us at the Tavern for the ASC production of this extraordinary play (or make arrangements to see it on your own sometime during its run). You'll "never, never, never, never, never" be sorry you did--however sad it may leave you feeling. (Again, just sayin'.)
Click here to return to top
|
Walking the Campus with Dianne
The building we looked at during our last walk can be found on the Clairmont Campus. It is now called Clairmont Tower. Before Clairmont Campus existed, the eighteen story building stood among other smaller apartments and houses in the area. When the Clairmont Campus was developed, the decision was made to leave the building, renovate it, and turn it into apartment dorm living for Emory undergraduate students. Each apartment is air conditioned and equipped with a living space, a full kitchen, and full bathrooms. Most one-bedroom apartments include a balcony; all two- and three-bedroom units have a balcony. I'd like to get a look inside at one of the dwellings....If I ever get the opportunity, I'll be sure to share my experience with you!
Let's head back to the main campus and take a look at a very interesting window situated over a door. If you're like me, you've probably passed through the doorway many times without paying much attention to the beautiful window above.
Where will you find this on the Emory Campus?
Click here to return to top
|
Emory University Emeritus College The Luce Center
825 Houston Mill Road NE #206 Atlanta, GA 30329 |
|
|
|
|
