The time has come to select the recipients of the Emory University Emeritus College (EUEC) awards for 2014 in two categories -- EUEC Faculty Awards of Distinction and Distinguished Service Award. Please submit your nominations to us no later than October 27, 2014. The selection committee, composed of a chair and four former recipients of the awards, cannot accept late nominations.

You may submit your nomination electronically to the EUEC office (emeriti@emory.edu) or mail or hand-deliver it to the EUEC office.

The eligibility requirements are as follows:

EUEC Faculty Award of Distinction (formerly Distinguished Emeritus/Emerita Award):

• All retired Emory faculty who have been members of EUEC for at least two years.
• Significant professional contributions since retirement to Emory University or its affiliated institutions as well as contributions to local, state, regional, national, or international communities or professional organizations that reflect the "spirit of Emory".
• A maximum of four awards given annually.
• This title may be conferred only once.

Distinguished Service Award Eligibility:

• All Members of the EUEC, including those who have received the Distinguished Emeritus Award.
• Membership in the EUEC for at least two years.
• Significant documented contributions of service to Emory University or its affiliated institutions as well as to local, state, regional, national or international communities or other organizations that reflect the "spirit of Emory."   These contributions must have been made since retirement and are beyond those used to support a previous DEA Award.
• Limited to one award annually - no requirement that an award be given.

When you make your nomination, please include the following:

• Name of nominee
  • Department or unit
  • Contact information
  • Name of nominator
    • Department or unit
    • Contact information
    • Description of why nominee should receive this honor, in no more than two pages. Please do not exceed this amount, but be certain to include enough information for the selection committee to make an informed decision. Please include curriculum vitae if possible.

Previous recipients of these awards are shown on our web site (http://www.emory.edu/emeritus/index.html) or in a more convenient form can be seen by clicking here. Please let us know if you have any questions about this process. Thank you in advance for your participation.

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Computer Security

Shellshocked!

Last spring we had the Heartbleed bug; this September everybody got upset by the Shellshock exploit. What's a person to do? Staying offline isn't an option for most people in the early 21st century (you wouldn't be reading this newsletter if you were offline).

What is Shellshock?

Shellshock (aka the Bash Bug) is what's called an "exploit," not a virus or a Trojan horse or other type of malware that primarily affects desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and phones.

Shellshock primarily affects server computers that use Linux, Unix, or a Unix-derived operating system, such as Apple's OS X (but not Windows). While no operating system is 100% secure, in practical terms, unless you are a developer or a very advanced user who spends a lot of time in what is called the "command line" user interface, you have little to worry about. If you never do things like use secure shell to connect to other computers, and if you don't use remote desktops, there is very, very little to worry about. iOS and Android devices (smartphones and tablets) also have operating systems that are based on a Linux foundation, but they are even less at risk. If you aren't running a server, and you don't customarily type things like env x='() { :;}; echo vulnerable' bash -c 'echo hello' on your computer, you have very little to worry about from Shellshock.

What can you do to protect yourself from Shellshock?

1. Ignore e-mails purporting to offer protection against Shellshock; often these e-mails will recommend that you download and run software to fix the Shellshock exploit. Scammers often take advantage of situations such as this to infect your device with spyware or trick you into revealing your personal details in order to commit fraud or identity theft. Watch for announcements of security updates for your Linux, Mac, iOS or Android device. If you are using a Windows computer or phone, do nothing.
2. If you haven't already done so, enable the firewall in your device's or router's security settings.
3. Turn off cable news - watching CNN or FNN stories about Shellshock will just raise your blood pressure without contributing very much useful information.
4. As the Brits said during WW II, "Keep calm and carry on."

If you really, really want to know the lowdown on Shellshock, in excruciating detail, this article provides a comprehensive overview: Everything you need to know about the Shellshock Bash bug.

Do you have a question about computer security?

Selden has agreed to answer user questions, to the extent that he can, in his column.  Send questions, with a subject of "Security," to emeriti@emory.edu.

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Women's Conversations

Women's Conversations on Mid- to Late-Life Transitions is one of the most venerable programs in the Emory University Emeritus College, having been established in 2002. For the past 12 years, Emory women have met regularly - four to six times a year - to discuss common issues surrounding the major changes which we all encounter in the latter half of our lives. The conversation can be lighthearted as well as serious as we look for common ground and offer support to each other in confronting the deaths of spouses, illnesses, downsizing, relationships with adult children, traveling alone, and, particularly, the anticipation and then management of retirement, which includes changing financial circumstances and the loss of professional identity. . . among dozens of other topics which have arisen over the years.

The focus of each meeting is determined by those in attendance, and there are no rules about how often or how seldom one attends. Everyone is welcomed at each gathering, the door is shut, and the only rule we have is that what is said in the room, stays in the room. We have found, through long experience, that a glass of wine with our conversation makes us wiser, though water and soft drinks are available as well.

Every time we come together the room holds women who have already retired, who are nearing retirement, who can't wait to retire, who are fearful of retiring, and who have a long way to go but are really looking forward to the day they can retire. Over the years one of the finest results of the program has been the peer mentoring and counseling that have helped so many navigate the uncertainties, both personal and procedural, which mark that major transition in all our lives. We take pride in having guided so many amazing women into the full flowering of their skills and talents and spirits in the wide world that awaits them outside of the organization.

On September 30, we held our first meeting of the 2014-2015 academic year and look forward to meeting again in November, January, March, May, and July on our newly- established bimonthly schedule. Most meetings consist of women who attend regularly, women who have been gone for a while and are dropping back in because they missed us, and women who are coming for the first time. All are equally welcome and equally vested in the proceedings. It is even OK to just sit and listen, though few of us find that easy to do.

We take our privacy seriously, so I won't say much more except to urge any woman in the Emeritus College to join us - we would be glad to have you in the room. If you have not been receiving notices of the meetings, please send a request, with your email address, to Gray Crouse, who will be happy to see that you are put on the list.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Brenda Bynum (bbynum@emory.edu) or Helen O'Shea (hoshea@emory.edu) and we will be happy to answer them.

And, we look forward to seeing you there.

--Brenda Bynum 

Emory Makes the Invisible Visible:  Our Latest Lunch Colloquium

On Monday, October 6, attendees at our latest Lunch Colloquium heard from not one, not two, not three, but four of the authors of an important new book from Oxford University Press, Religion as a Social Determinant of Public Health. We had invited the book's editor, Ellen Idler, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Sociology who also holds faculty appointments in the School of Public Health, the Graduate Department of Religion, and the Center for Ethics, to come discuss the book with us, and she not only agreed but arranged to bring three of the thirty-four other Emory and Emory-connected scholars who contributed chapters to the book to join her. And what a treat it was to hear not only from Ellen but also from Don Saliers, Professor of Theology and Worship, Candler School of Theology, Ken Hepburn, Professor, School of Nursing, and Ted Johnson, Paul W. Seavey Chair of Medicine and Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine. Ellen explained that she was brought to Emory in 2009 to direct a Strategic Initiative in Religion and Public Health, a project she began by organizing a year-long inter- disciplinary seminar involving faculty with interest and expertise in this area from many different departments and divisions of the University. She was, she explained, delighted to discover the extent to which Emory faculty already enjoyed productive relationships across many disciplines, a fact that enabled the faculty in the seminar to work together wonderfully well in pursuing the research and discussion that eventually yielded the plans for the book.

As the promotional materials for the book emphasize (and I confess to quoting from Amazon), it's a book that's been badly needed.

Frequently in partnership, but sometimes at odds, religious institutions and public health institutions work to improve the well-being of their communities. There is increasing awareness among public health professionals and the general public that the social conditions of poverty, lack of education, income inequality, poor working conditions, and experiences of discrimination play a dominant role in determining health status. But this broad view of the social determinants of health has largely ignored the role of religious practices and institutions in shaping the life conditions of billions around the globe. 

As noted above, Ellen, no scholarly slouch herself, brought three more of these "leading scholars" with her so each might share some of what he was able to develop in the chapter he contributed to the book. Don spoke about the ways the singing that's so often a significant part of religious practice has social, psychological, spiritual, and, indeed, physiological effects of great benefit to those singing, a topic he also addressed in the Sheth Lecture he offered members and guests of the Emeritus College last spring. Ken, who serves as Education Core Director of Emory's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, spoke of how the loss of connectedness (such as connectedness with one's religious community) is often a serious problem not just for those with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia but for their caregivers, who may suffer dreadfully from the increasing isolation they're apt to experience as the difficult years go by; he suggested that those in religious communities need to do much more to reach out to patients and their families. Ted, who's a specialist in gerontology and Director of Emory's Center for Health in Aging, began with a plug for the Senior Mentor Program with which he's involved (and with which an appreciable number of Emeritus College members are involved, as well). As he noted, many of the young people training in medicine and public health have little opportunity to interact with "the elderly" in their day-to-day lives. Giving them a chance to get to know people who are "elderly," people like us, can teach them a great deal they need to know in and of itself. And Ted spoke, as Ken did, about the need for those in religious communities to reach out to people whose problems with aging are affecting their behavior so they (and their caregivers) know they are welcome in services and other gatherings in spite of behavioral problems.

The appreciative response of those of us who were lucky enough to be there for this Lunch Colloquium suggested that many of us may indeed want to take up the invitation Ellen (and her co-presenters) issued--an invitation to attend the conference devoted to the subject of the book, which is scheduled to be held at Emory, November 5 to 7. As the poster for the conference Ellen distributed says, on those dates, The Religion and Public Health Collaborative at Emory University will present "Practices, Peoples, Partnerships, and Politics: A Conference on Religion as a Social Determinant of Public Health." Those who would like more information about the conference (for which registration is required) should go to www.rphcemory.org . All are welcome.

Submitted by Gretchen Schulz, Professor Emerita of English, Oxford College of Emory University   

EUEC Faculty Activities

James Larry Taulbee, Ann Kelleher, and Peter C. Grosvenor.  Norway's Peace Policy: Soft Power in a Turbulent World

Larry Taulbee writes about this book:

                Constructivism involves a "ground up" approach, rather than the "top down" perspective of traditional theories. Using the ideas of identity, agency and structure the book explores the interaction between the Norwegian domestic policy process, and Norway's choices for international engagement-- that is, with their position and resources, Norwegian perceptions of choices available given the dominant structure of international politics. The perspective provides a focus on the factors essential to understanding what drives Norway's commitment to peacemaking and peacebuilding because many commitments predate the end of the Cold War.

                We seek to answer a single question: why has Norway chosen to become actively and deeply engaged in sustained peacemaking and peacebuilding endeavors when it clearly had other options. The argument is that while lesser states may not play a role in structuring, determining or influencing important elements of international politics, they can play important roles in facilitating and influencing the processes associated with the operation, maintenance, and evolution of regimes, including those involved in conflict resolution. Their role involves undertaking or promoting activities best characterized as value added in particular circumstances. Many times, they can undertake initiatives that larger powers are unwilling to consider because of perceived impact on other more important interests. Perhaps the title of a book by a prominent Norwegian diplomat, Jan Egelund, captures the essence: Impotent Superpower - Potent Small Power: Potentials and Limitations of Human Rights Objectives in the Policies of the United States and Norway. Norway and other middle and small powers have been able to act and provide essential help when the United States and others have been stalled. As Egelund argues, great power sometimes obscures great weaknesses.

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