LostLost and Found Reminder


"Lost & Found" is housed in Customer Services (1st floor Salazar). Please bring found items to Customer Services right away, or call 4-2308 as soon as possible, especially when wallets, keys or other important items are turned in. "That way, if someone calls Customer Services looking for an item, we can let them know that it's been found and is on it's way," says Karen Pennrich of Customer Services.

Annual Faculty Emeritus Dinner

The annual Faculty Emeritus Recognition Dinner is Sun., Nov. 15 at the French Garden Restaurant in Sebastopol from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. The following faculty will be honored at the dinner:

• Charles Earl, Kinesiology
• Jim Gray, American MultiCultural Studies
• Bryant Hichwa, Physics and Astronomy
• Leonard Kania, Nursing
• Susan McKillop, Art History
• Michael Scott, Hutchins
• Mary Anne Sobieraj, Mathematics and Statistics
• Joseph Tenn, Physics and Astronomy
• Eileen Thatcher, Biology
• Raye Lynn Thomas, Library

Four DollarsHalf-Priced Friday Lunch at Zinfandel Dining Room

The discounts continue at the Zinfandel Dining Room: each Friday throughout November features 1/2 priced lunch for faculty and staff—$4 for an all-you-can-eat buffet! Check out the upcoming menus at the Dining Services website.

Looking for a 2010 Commencement Speaker

Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) and Associated Students Productions (ASP) are in the process of searching for a potential Commencement speaker for SSU's graduation ceremony in May 2010. If you have suggestions that may be useful for this important day, send them to mayw@sonoma.edu.

Picture of the Week: SSU Students Have a Stinky, Hands-on Experience with Ft. Bragg Blue Whale

Blue Whale


On Tues., Oct. 20, a blue whale collided with a research vessel off the coast of Ft. Bragg, and washed up on the shore later that afternoon. The community decided to salvage the skeleton for eventual display, and recruited donations and volunteers, including students from SSU and Humboldt State, to salvage the skeleton. Karina Nielsen, Biology, recruited around 15 SSU students, mainly from the biology department and biology club, who then spent 2-3 days carving out bones and hauling them up a cliff. The community donated lodging and meals, and the students had a chance to see one of the largest animals on the planet. "It was a great hands-on, if stinky, learning experience," says Nielsen. (Photos courtesy of Kate Parrott)


Do you have an image that you think could be photo of the week? Send it to NewsBytes. Photos should be campus-relevant with a small caption. (Please do not send images to which you do not hold the copyright.)

First Impressions Count When Making Personality Judgments, Research Shows

First ImpressionsLaura Naumann, Psychology, and Sam Gosling of The University of Texas at Austin, have found that first impressions do matter when it comes to communicating personality through appearance. Their findings will be published in the December 2009 issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. "In an age dominated by social media where personal photographs are ubiquitous, it becomes important to understand the ways personality is communicated via our appearance," says Naumann.

In the study, observers viewed full-body photographs of 123 people they had never met before. The targets were viewed either in a controlled pose with a neutral facial expression or in a naturally expressed pose. Even when viewing the targets in the controlled pose, the observers could accurately judge some major personality traits including extraversion and self-esteem. However, when observers saw naturally expressive behavior (such as a smiling expression or energetic stance), their judgments were accurate for nine out of ten personality traits.

For a complete slide show portraying the subjects, including captions providing the meaning of their expressions and posture, visit this website. For more information, read the full press release.

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