Newsbytes 10/25/04

NewsBytes
October 25, 2004
Fall 2004 Volume 10

A Weekly E-Newsletter for SSU Faculty and Staff

"Dead Man Walking: The Journey Continues"
With Sister Helen Prejean on Oct. 29

Sister Helen Prejean, the social justice advocate and outspoken opponent of capital punishment, will host a discussion at Sonoma State University entitled "Dead Man Walking: The Journey Continues" in the Cooperage at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 29. By sharing her personal account of working with death-row prisoners and witnessing state executions, Prejean hopes to educate the community about the condition of today's prisons, the practices concerning executions, and the injustice of America's court systems.

In 1996, the motion picture "Dead Man Walking," based on Prejean's bestselling book was released. Susan Sarandon portrayed Prejean and was awarded the Oscar for Best Actress.

Prejean's discussion is open to the public. A webcast of this discussion can be viewed at http://streaming.sonoma.edu. This event is part of SSU's InterCultural Center's Unity and Diversity Month: A Declaration of (Inter)Dependence. Tickets are free to SSU students, $10 for SSU faculty and staff. General admission is $15. To purchase them, call the Student Union, 4-2382.

Raise Your Awareness About
Disabilities, Oct. 27

Barrier Awareness Day, presented by the Students with Disabilities and Friends Club, will be held from noon-1 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27 in front of the library. The event is an opportunity for members of the campus community to experience the challenges of traversing the campus with a disability.

New Nursing Degree is
Subject of Nationwide Study

SSU's Direct Entry Master of Science in Nursing program is one of three California programs, among 94 nationwide, invited to participate in an ongoing national effort by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to develop, implement and evaluate the emerging Clinical Nurse Leader role.

The other schools are the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of San Francisco. SSU's Department of Nursing has developed this innovative adaptation of the current curriculum to address the nursing shortage in Northern and Central California, enhance the teaching capacity of the Department of Nursing, and meet the needs of baccalaureate graduates from other fields wishing to become nurses.

The program has been in development for three years and is targeted for implementation in the Spring 2005 semester.

Nominate an SSU Student for
USA Today's Best and Brightest

Nominations have begun for the nation's best and brightest students in order to be named to USA Today's "All-USA College Academic Team." Professors are encouraged to nominate students who excel in scholarship and in leadership.

This annual competition receives nominations from across the country, and selects the most outstanding students of the 2004-2005 academic year. Nominated students are ranked into the first, second, or third teams, and these students are then featured in a two-page spread in USA Today. The 20 members of the first team are awarded a $2,500 cash prize.

Nominations must be postmarked by Tuesday, Nov. 30. For information on how to nominate a Sonoma State University student and the requirements for nomination, contact Susan Kashack, 4-2122 or susan.kashack@sonoma.edu.

Anonymous Gift to Paleobiology Research

An anonymous donor has made a gift of $5,000 for the establishment of the Paleobiology Research Fund in the Biology Department in the School of Science and Technology. Paleobiology professor Nick Geist will be administrator of the fund. The donation will go to support Geist's research program which includes investigations of the evolution, physiology, and ecology of a variety of extinct Mesozoic reptilian groups. Geist's methodology is largely based upon the use of closely-related extant animals as biological analogs for extinct reptilians.

Professional Announcements

Arts and Humanities Professor Elizabeth Carothers Herron's essay "Ordinary Mysticism," appears in Face to Face, Women Writers on Faith, Mysticism, and Awakening (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Fall '04), along with essays by Diane Ackerman, Terry Tempest Williams, Linda Hogan, Jane Goodall and others.

Elizabeth C. Martinez, Modern Languages and Literatures/Chicano and Latino Studies, presented a paper at the International Latin American Studies Association meeting
in Las Vegas in October, on perspectives 50 years later about Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska's first novel "Lilus Kikus." Martinez was recently a guest on KRCB radio's literary program, "A Novel Idea," discussing Sandra Cisneros's work "A House on Mango Street."

What's the Buzz?

Do you have questions about
an issue on campus?
Send them to University Affairs.
We will research the topic and respond.

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Jean Wasp, Editor, 4-2057

Time Out

The annual Halloween Party is set for noon on Friday, Oct. 29 in the Commons. Check out the ghoulish action with faculty and staff competing for prizes in various categories. Tracy Goodman is the organizer again this year, 4-4248.

This Week

Blood Drive, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 26, parking lot C (south side of Schulz Information Center) - JUMP and Blood Bank of the Redwoods sponsor a mobile blood drive on campus. Donating blood only takes an hour. Walk-ins are encouraged. To schedule an appointment, call the Blood Bank, 545-1222.

Big Sites, But Whose? Setting Up an Archaeological Project in Peru, noon, Tuesday, Oct. 26, Stevenson 2011 - Lecture with Bruce Owen of the SSU anthropology department. Social Science Brown Bag Lecture Series. 4-2112.

Ask and Tell - Gay Veterans Speak on War, Peace and ' Don't Ask, Don't Tell," noon, Tuesday, Oct. 26, Stevenson 1002 - Lecture featuring Michael Job, Vietnam Combat Veteran and Veterans for Peace and Keith Kerr, Brigadier General (Ret.), U.S. Army and Army Reserves. Sponsored by the History Department. Steve Estes,
4-2424.

Graduate Fair, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 27 outside Salazar Hall - Career Services hosts the annual Graduate School Fair. This year more than 50 graduate and professional schools will be represented. Kaplan presents a workshop on "Applying to Graduate School" from 2:15-3:15 p.m. in Schulz 1121, followed by a Q&A drop-in until 4 p.m.

"Unprecedented," 3 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 27, Art 102 - Documentary follows reporter-sleuth Greg Palast on the trail of the Bush family, from the Florida election, to the Saudi connection, to the FBI investigation of the bin Laden family and the State Department's plans for post-war Iraq. Filmmakers Respond to War Film Series. 4-3040.

Making the Connection: War, Peace, the Election and Democracy, 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 28 - SSU professors Sascha von Meier, Steve Cuellar and David McCuan join the panel of this new public affairs show on KRCB television. Visit www.krcb.org for details.

Be an Informed Voter, noon, Monday, Oct. 25 and 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, Schulz 2050 - Workshop on finding and evaluating election-related information. 4-4240.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions, How Do We Decide?, noon, Wednesday, Oct. 27, Schulz 3001 - Panel discussion moderated by Catherine Nelson of the SSU Political Science Department, with panel guests David McCuan of the SSU Political Science Department and Robert Eyler of the SSU Economics Department.
4-4220.

For webcasts of recent lectures visit streaming.sonoma.edu.

DEAD OF NIGHT, 7 p.m., Sunday, October 31 - The complete uncut version of what for many viewers is the most effective film on the supernatural ever made. Michael Redgrave stars in the most famous of its six chilling episodes as a ventriloquist obsessed with jealously - for his dummy.

More SFI Films

"Dead Man Walking: The Journey Continues" With Sister Helen Prejean on Oct. 29

Raise Your Awareness About Disabilities, Oct. 27