Newsletter Volume 10 Issue 13 - March 13, 2024 | |
Lunch Colloquium -- Monday, March 18, 2024 | |
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Cynthia Patterson
Professor Emerita of Greek History
Monday, March 18, 2024
11:30am-1:00pm
"Ambition Gone Awry? The Michael C. Carlos Museum
and the Antiquities Market"
In May of 2023 I was contacted by Stephanie Lee, a reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education who was writing a story of the collecting practices of University museums. Lee's story ended up focusing on the Michael C. Carlos Museum and, in particular, on the dramatic and ostentatious growth of its Greek and Roman collection through purchases, at galleries and auctions, that showed little concern for current professional ethical guidelines on the collecting of antiquities or for the museum's own stated principles of collecting.
The MCCM has now (since August 2022) an excellent new director who has initiated a new effort to acknowledge past mistakes and repatriate objects that can be shown to have been illegally exported from their country of origin. I think, however, that it is necessary to look carefully and openly at what happened in the past, acknowledging the pervasiveness of the problem, in order to restore trust as our museum, a wonderful campus resource, goes forward with its work.
I have often been told that the MCCM was only doing what all other museums, including University museums, were doing. Although I do not accept this as an ethical argument, I think that it is important to establish a context for the Carlos' enthusiastic embrace of the antiquities market. In the first part of my talk, I briefly provide some context and comparison by considering recent discussions (news stories and academic articles) about the antiquities collections at Princeton University, Fordham University, and Kenyon College (also Cornell University and Haverford College if time). In the second part of the talk, I turn to the Carlos' Greek and Roman collection, with a basic narrative of how it grew, illustrated by a number of case histories. Similar problems exist in the Egyptian and Near Eastern collections, as will be briefly noted [if time] in a few examples including the Ivory Inlay that was returned to Iraq in March 2023 after it had been shown to have been looted from the Baghdad Museum and was collected by the FBI.
My conclusion emphasizes the need for a University museum to uphold the highest ethical standards for collecting antiquities and also--this is important--for teaching with collected antiquities. That should be our ambition at Emory.
About Cynthia Patterson:
Cynthia Patterson is Professor Emerita in History and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Emory University. She is a native of Minnesota with academic degrees from Stanford University (BA 1971) and the University of Pennsylvania (PhD 1976). She and her husband (Richard Patterson, Professor Emeritus in Philosophy) moved from New York City to Atlanta and Emory in 1984. Professor Patterson's early published work focused on ancient Athens, particularly the laws on citizenship and on family status and relationships, and then moved to the structure of burial and commemoration in Athens. Her current research project, for which she won the 2019-2020 Elizabeth Whitehead distinguished scholar award at the American School of Classical Studies, is on "Plato and the Social Issues of his Time." Prof. Patterson's interests in the topic of university museums and the ethics of collecting come from her 38-year-long experience and engagement with Emory's own university museum, known since 1993 as the "Michael C. Carlos Museum".
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Lunch Colloquium -- Monday, March 18, 2024 | |
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Roxana Chicas
Assistant Professor, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
Monday, April 1, 2024
11:30am-1:00pm
"Climate Canaries: Farmworkers"
Heat can be deadly. But how does chronic heat exposure affect health? What are the long-term implications of chronic heat exposure? In this presentation, we will go on a research journey to understand the physiological response of chronic heat exposure in farmworkers and interventions to protect farmworkers from extreme heat health effects.
About Roxana Chicas:
Roxana Chicas is an Assistant Professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, where she researches occupational and environmental health disparities, investigating the physiological effects of chronic heat exposures among agricultural workers through community-engaged research. In collaboration with the Farmworker Association of Florida, she has led two intervention studies using real-time biomonitoring equipment among farmworkers. Dr. Chicas’s work is shaping the future of climate and occupational health science, two pressing fields of scientific inquiry. Her methodologies are unique and effective due to direct partnership with farmworker communities, who are now bearing the brunt of life-threatening and dehumanizing extreme heat health effects—which more communities will face as climate change worsens. As a bilingual bicultural nurse scientist, she is committed to conducting research that informs policy to advance environmental justice.
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Seeking Applications for the 2024 Heilbrun Distinguished Emeritus Fellows | |
Heilbrun Distinguished Emeritus Fellows: Applications Open
This marks the 24th year of competition for the Heilbrun Distinguished Emeritus Fellowship. The program will support two fellowships in the amount of $10,000 each for the 2024-2025 academic year. Any faculty from Emory College of Arts & Sciences who have not previously received this award and have achieved emeritus status on or before September 1, 2023 are eligible to apply.
The criteria for selection will include:
- The relationship of the proposed project to the candidate's previous research.
- The feasibility of completing the project within the term of the Fellowship.
- The pertinence of the research to resources available at Emory.
- The overall value of the research to the applicant's field or discipline.
Fellowship recipients will be asked to agree to the following conditions:
- Submission of a written report to the Committee upon completion of the Fellowship.
- Formal acknowledgment of Fellowship support in any published work that results
- Attendance at receptions and social gatherings sponsored by the Committee.
Application details:
- Detailed description of the planned research project to be undertaken during the term of the fellowship
- Budget detail of the research expenses
- Curriculum vita that includes activities undertaken since gaining emeritus status
Applications should be sent to the email account Dean_of_Faculty@emory.edu with “Heilbrun Fellowship” in the subject line and be received by April 1, 2024.
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University Faculty Council Chair Dr. Nitika Gupta began the February 2024 in-person meeting with a personal reflection on the importance of feedback in relationships with both students and colleagues. She then introduced Provost Ravi Bellamkonda, who gave his semi-annual address.
Provost Bellamkonda outlined his office’s ongoing areas of focus. Among these are compliance with the measures to implement the unionization voted in by graduate students and oversight of the Open Expression Policy, which has seen a tenfold increase in requests for observers in the past three years. He reviewed strategic initiatives of his office: Student flourishing, A.I. Humanity, arts and humanities inquiry, including arts programming and humanities forward, and the Center for Public Scholarship. Faculty eminence continues to be a priority with the targeted increase of endowed chairs and bringing faculty salaries into line with peer institutions to promote retention.
Dr. Pearl Dowe, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, reported on the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey. This survey, developed by Harvard University, is designed to examine satisfaction with every aspect of faculty members’ academic lives. As a result of the 2020 survey, a six-week parental leave policy has been established. Other topics such as mentorship, tenure, promotion, and recognition continue to be central concerns. The streamlining of titles university-wide is one of the results of findings on the survey.
Dr. Aryeh D. Stein, Chair of the Faculty Hearing Committee, outlined the charge of his committee, which is to make recommendations in the event that a tenured faculty member is under consideration for termination. Happily, no such hearings have been necessary in the past year.
Dr. Phillip Wolff and Dr. Roger Deal, Co-Chairs of the University Research Committee, reported on awards by their committee and particularly on efforts to increase participation among disciplines that have had fewer grants in the past. Grants from the URC often result in additional external funding for the disciplines and projects represented.
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Dr. Nitika Gupta opened the in-person meeting of the University Senate meeting with a personal reflection on the place of resilience in our daily lives. She then introduced University President
Gregory Fenves.
President Fenves began his address with an observation of the proliferation of criticism of higher education that appears in the news. Despite the fact that much of this targets programs of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Emory remains committed to these principles. He reviewed the six pillars underlying the One Emory campaign and the progress achieved toward their goals:
Faculty. The One Emory campaign resulted in a commitment to fund 73 endowed chairs, representing 90% of the goal for faculty eminence. Progress in diversity continues, with more success in some departments than in others,
Students: financial support has been raised in order to eliminate the need for loans. The challenge of maintaining diversity in light of the Supreme Court decision disallowing the consideration of race and ethnicity in admission decisions is being addressed. Continuing challenges are Emory College’s relatively low four-year graduation rate (81%) and policies related to the establishment of Workers United, the union voted in by Emory’s PhD students.
Innovation, the research pillar, continues to increase support for scholarship and creative expression. AI Humanity even preceded the widespread attention aroused by the sudden success of Chat GPT. Arts and Humanities initiatives continue, as do those on climate research.
An ongoing goal in health care is addressing challenges in employee access. In commitment to our people, improvement of childcare options is a key feature. The final pillar, Emory’s place in Atlanta, reaches toward a rich history and a shared future.
Dr. Kathryn Wood, Honorary Degrees Committee Chair, announced the slate for 2024, and the Senate unanimously approved it.
Student Government reports were presented by Neeti Patel, President of the Graduate Student Association, Khegan Meyers, President of Emory Student Government Association, Tolu Olaleye, Present of the Oxford Student Government Association, and Ian Krout, President of the Post-Doc Association.
Dr. Ilya Nemenman, Chair of the Committee for Open Expression, gave a detailed update on his committee’s report, which will be distributed to Senate members for further consideration with a vote on acceptance to take place on a later date.
For those wishing more detailed information on either meeting, minutes will be posted and can be accessed with Emory login credentials at:
https://facultycouncil.emory.edu
https://senate.emory.edu
-- Holly York, EUEC Representative to the Faculty Council and University Senate (2021-2024
Note: Election of a representative for 2024-2027 will take place soon. If you are interested in the position, please contact Ann Rogers.
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Sydney Perkowitz
Candler Professor of Physics Emeritus
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Sidney Perkowitz, Candler Professor of Physics Emeritus at Emory, won the American Institute of Physics 2023 Andrew Gemant Award for his “significant contributions to the cultural, artistic, or humanistic dimension of physics.”
Perkowitz was chosen for his “enduring commitment to bridge the physics community with the arts and humanities by using a variety of media—including books, essays, public lectures, and theatrical productions.” The award is made possible by the bequest of Andrew Gemant to the AIP. The awardee receives a $5,000 cash award, designates an academic institution to receive a grant of $3,000 to further the public communication of physics, and is invited to deliver a public lecture in a suitable forum.
Dr. Perkowitz has named Emory Physics to receive the $3,000 grant for its outreach programs. He received the award and presented his public lecture “Science and Art: Closer Than You Think” on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 in the Physics Department Planetarium.
Science and Art: Closer Than You Think
Sidney Perkowitz
In our specialized world we tend to separate these two areas, yet scientists and artists share the qualities of close observation; reliance on the visual; the use of varied tools, both scientific and artistic; and perhaps most important, passion and commitment. Illustrating my talk with works from classic and modem artists such as Caravaggio, Vincent van Gogh, Edward Hopper, James Turrell, and others, and from new AI sources, I’ll show that science and art are not in opposition but truly illuminate each other.
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Ali P. Crown
Goodrich C. White Professor Emeritus
The 2024 Women of Excellence Awards.
The Women of Excellence Awards honor those who have demonstrated extraordinary dedication to issues affecting women at Emory and in the broader community.
Award for Distinguished Leadership: Ali P. Crown* 85C
Berky Dolores Abreu Spirit Award: Lydia Smith
Award for Student Leadership: Shreya Ramanathan 25C
Award for Student Leadership: Layla Dhabaan 24C
Event of the Year: Lydia Washington, 42nd Annual Carter Town Hall
Award for Excellence in Collaboration: The Anti-Caste Initiative (Emory)
Award for Mentorship: Colleen Kraft, MD, MSc 09FM 10MR 13G
Award for Excellence in Teaching and Pedagogy: Harshita Kamath, PhD 04C 12PhD
Alumna of Promise: Brittney Cooper 07G 09PhD
Unsung Heroine: Kenya Casey
*posthumously awarded
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Nanette Winger
Professor Emerita of Medicine
Nanette was recently featured in the American Stroke Association (a division of the American Heart Association) online newsletter.
To read the article, please click here.
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Ron Gould
Goodrich C. White Professor Emeritus
Another lecture!
"Extending Some Pancyclicity Results"
Given at the 55th Southeastern Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL. March 4-8, 2024.
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New members are the lifeblood of any organization.
Please make a special effort to welcome them to the EUEC!
John Ammerman
Professor in the Department of Theater Studies
Judith Evans-Grubbs
Betty Gage Holland Professor Emerita of Roman History
Charles M. Epstein
Professor Emeritus of Neurology
Jay A. Shanken
Professor Emeritus of Finance
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Kaaren Andersen Nowicki
September 23, 1942-February 22, 2024
Whimsical. Incisive. Cheerful. Playful. Empathetic. Ready to help anyone in need. These words only begin to describe the inimitable and beloved Kaaren Nowicki, who died of colon cancer on February 22nd, at home, surrounded by loving family.
Kaaren, wife of Emeritus member Steve Nowicki, was a participant in many of our events, including our 2020 Zoom rendition of Shakespere's "Hamlet" during Covid.
To view an obituary please click here.
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Atlanta Master Chorale: Same Light, Different Lanterns - Sacred Music from Around the World
Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Emerson Concert Hall
1700 North Decatur Road
Friday, March 15, 2024, 8:00pm EST or Saturday, March 16, 2024, 8:00pm EST
2023-2024 Atlanta Master Chorale
$38 / All Students $10
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
Our March concert combines two especially exciting things: performing a piece of music we have not sung before and collaborating with other artists.
In past seasons, Atlanta Master Chorale has performed with a range of guest artists on a variety of instruments, including a guitar, a harp, a cello, a violin, percussionists, a jazz trio, large and small orchestras, many vocal soloists, and, most recently, a bluegrass band. Plus, we have the great pleasure of making music with Jon Easter on piano and organ on a regular basis. But we have never performed the featured work of the March concert, “This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity,” and we have never collaborated with anyone playing two of the instruments used in this work.
Created by young composer Reena Esmail, “This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity” was written for choir, chamber orchestra, sitar, and tabla. The sitar and tabla are commonly found in traditional Indian musical culture but rarely used in western classical music. Esmail, an Indian-American, deftly merges these musical traditions into a mesmerizing piece for our times.
The first half of the concert will feature Leonard Bernstein’s great “Chichester Psalms,” sung in Hebrew.
We hope you will join us for this evening of sacred choral music with a global flair.
Recommended parking: Fishburne Parking Deck or Lowergate South Parking Deck
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Concert: Carnatic Classical Music with Kiranavali Vidyasankar and Akshara Samskriti
Michael C. Carlos Museum
Ackerman Hall
Sunday, March, 17, 2024, 4-5:30pm EST
The language of love is common to all cultures and yet uniquely expressed across cultural contexts. The Carlos Museum and Asian Arts at Emory present a performance and discussion about the expression of love and associated emotions in the Carnatic or South Indian classical music tradition. The presentation will be led by vocalist Kiranavali Vidyasankar, and her daughter, Akshara Samskriti, who represent an illustrious musical lineage, trained by the some of the greatest exponents of this genre in the last century.
This program is made possible through the generous financial support of the Christian Humann Foundation and in partnership with Asian Arts at Emory. It is free and open to the public, and registration is required. To register click here.
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Healthy Emory Campus Tour
Woodruff Circle - Main Campus
Tuesday, March 19, 2024, 9:30-10:30am EST
Would you like to see more of Emory's beautiful campus and learn its history? Join us for the Healthy Emory Campus Tour! This is an opportunity for you to see the campus at a closer view. During this tour, we will pass by a few of Emory's historical sites, point out important locations that can be of use to you, and highlight the ease of walking on our beautiful campus. Walks are offered monthly and last for approximately one hour at a leisurely pace. Each will begin at Woodruff Circle in front of the Woodruff Memorial Research Building. Please bring comfortable walking shoes and dress for the weather.
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Candler Concert Series: Turtle Island Quartet-Island Prayers
Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Emerson Concert Hall
1700 North Decatur Road
Friday, March 22, 2024, 8:00pm EST
2023–2024 Candler Concert Series
$45 | Emory Students $10
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
Turtle Island Quartet: Island Prayers
"This unique, jazzy four piece continues to entertain with its distinctive brand of tight, impressive bow-etry in motion." —Billboard Magazine
Winners of the 2006 and 2008 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Crossover Album, Turtle Island has merged classical quartet instrumentation with contemporary American musical styles. In the past three years, the group — resident composer, artistic director, and violinist David Balakrishnan with violinist Gabriel Terracciano, violist Benjamin von Gutzeit, and cellist Naseem Alatrash — has transitioned from an ensemble that primarily features a variety of arranged works to one that commissions and creates original music.
A major statement in the realm of original work, Island Prayers is an ambitious, multi-composer extravaganza co-commissioned by the Schwartz Center at Emory University, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Meany Performing Arts Center, The Music Hall (Portsmouth NH), and Savannah Music Hall. The project features new works by jazz composer Terence Blanchard, MacArthur Genius Fellow Rhiannon Giddens, New Music USA Composer-in-Residence Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, and Turtle Island Quartet founder David Balakrishnan.
LISTEN TO TURTLE ISLAND
ON SPOTIFY!
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Composers featured in the concert: Rhiannon Giddens; Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, photo by Shevaun Williams; David Balakrishnan, photo by Sylvia Elzafon; Terence Blanchard
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Details and other information, as well as additional campus events, can be found on the Emory Events Calendar.
If you'd like to share an event/program of interest before the next newsletter
please contact Dianne Becht Dianne.becht@emory.edu
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Walking the Campus with Dianne | |
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The heart-shaped cloud from our last walk found a temporary home above the Boisfeuillet Jones Center (better known as B. Jones Building) on the main campus.
Boisfeuillet Jones Center
Campus: Druid Hills in Atlanta
Namesake: Boisfeuillet Jones 1934C 1937L 1982H
Date: Construction in 1985
Location: Quadrangle area | Atlanta: Druid Hills campus
The Boisfeuillet Jones Center, nicknamed "B. Jones," is named for an Emory alumnus and longtime trustee who developed plans for The Emory Clinic and what eventually became the Woodruff Health Sciences Center while serving as Emory vice president in 1952. Boisfeuillet Jones later served as president of the Woodruff Foundation, whose gift made the center possible.
The center is adjacent to the Anne Register Jones Courtyard, which is named for his wife. The courtyard is located between B. Jones and the Oxford Road Building.
As I mentioned, this building is one of two (that I'm aware of) on Emory property to have round windows.
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For our next walk, let's look at something that not only questions "where" it is on campus, but "who" it is. Of course, the "who" is someone from the past that was an important part of Emory history. And if you do figure out "who" it is, that may give you a clue to "where" it can be found on campus.
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Where will you find this on the Emory campus?
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