‘Speaking of Science’ seminar series continues in D.C.

‘Speaking of Science’ seminar series continues in D.C.October 16, 2006Sara Millersemortim@syr.edu

On Oct. 19, The College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University will present another installment in its successful “Speaking of Science” series in Washington, D.C., for a panel discussion titled “Confronting the Crisis: Keeping the U.S. Ahead of the Curve in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education.” The event marks the culmination of a two-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant project, in which SU collaborated with institutions nationwide to explore K-20 issues in science, technology, engineering and mathematics–or the STEM disciplines, as they are collectively called. The results of the project are being published in an SU report titled “What It Means to Be Educated in the 21st Century” and distributed at the discussion.

New York Times columnist and author William Safire ’51, HON ’78 will moderate a panel discussion that features A. Lynn Bolles ’71, professor of women’s studies at the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park; George Campbell, Jr. G’77, HON ’03, physicist and president of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art; and Uri Treisman, professor of mathematics and executive director of the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The discussion is sponsored by The College and The Dana Foundation, which Safire chairs.

The invitation-only event will begin at 5:30 p.m. at The Dana Center in Washington, D.C., and will be web-streamed from the Dana Center website (http://www.dana.org), starting Oct. 25.

“In our rapidly evolving global community, where a vast share of economic growth stems from technological change, it’s clear that we need to improve the K-12 pipeline in the United States, especially in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields,” says SU Chancellor Nancy Cantor. “This NSF project will allow us to better understand the challenges we face and how we can tap our diverse talent pool and prepare students from every socio-economic background to become the problem solvers and innovators of the 21st century.”

Safire is a journalist, speechwriter, historian, novelist and lexicographer. He worked on the first Eisenhower presidential campaign and later became a senior speechwriter in the Nixon White House. He left there to write “Before The Fall,” (Transaction Publishers, 2005) a history of the pre-Watergate White House. As an historical novelist, he wrote “Freedom” (Harper Collins, 1988), about the Civil War, and his latest novel is “Scandalmonger” (Harcourt, 2001,) about the origins of America’s press freedom. His anthology of the world’s great speeches, “Lend Me Your Ears” (Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc., 2004), is recognized as a classic. Safire ended his op-ed column of three decades in The New York Times in 2005, but continues his weekly column “On Language” in The Times Magazine. He is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, and was for nine years a member of the Pulitzer Board.

Safire is chairman of the Dana Foundation, active in funding brain science, neuro-immunology research and arts education.

Bolles is professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Women’s Studies and an affiliate faculty member in Anthropology, African American Studies, Comparative Literature and American Studies at the University of Maryland-College Park. Her research focuses on the African Diaspora, the Caribbean and the political economy of women. Her work has appeared in American Anthropologist, Caribbean Studies and Transforming Anthropology, among other journals. She is currently working on her new book, “Crossing Borders: Globalization, Women of Color and Work” co-edited with Sharon Harley, which will appear in 2007. For nine years, Bolles was an editor of Feminist Studies and was also past president of the Association of Black Anthropologists, the Association for Feminist Anthropology and the Caribbean Studies Association, the oldest interdisciplinary academic organization in the region. She is a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology. In 1989, she was honored with Syracuse University’s Chancellor’s Citation for Distinguished Achievement in Education.

Campbell is president of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, an all-honors college and one of America’s most selective institutions of higher education. Perennially ranked among the nation’s top three specialized colleges, it offers degrees in architecture, engineering and fine arts and all admitted students receive full tuition scholarships. For eleven years, prior to his current appointment, Campbell was president and CEO of NACME, Inc., a non-profit corporation focused on engineering education and science and technology policy that offered the nation’s largest private engineering scholarship program for economically disadvantaged students, largely from underrepresented minority groups.

He has published papers on mathematical physics, high-energy physics, satellite systems, digital communications, science and technology policy and science education. He is co-editor of “Access Denied: Race, Ethnicity and the Scientific Enterprise” (Oxford University Press, 2000). Recently, Campbell was appointed by New York Gov. George Pataki to the Advisory Council of the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation.

Treisman is professor of mathematics and executive director of the Charles A Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He chairs the Chancellor’s Advisory Panel for Mathematics in New York City and the steering committee of the Urban Mathematics Leadership Network, a coalition of 13 large urban districts seeking to improve mathematics teaching and learning. Treisman is a member of the leadership team of the National Research Council’s Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP) and chairs its Design Working Group. He was a founding board member of AVID and of the National Center for Public Policy in Higher Education. From 1995 to 2004, he served as president of the board of the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (COMAP).

For his work on nurturing minority student high achievement in mathematics, Treisman received the Charles A Dana Award for Pioneering Achievement in Higher Education in 1987 and a MacArthur Fellowship in 1992. In February 2006, he was named “2006 Scientist of the Year” by the Harvard Foundation of Harvard University for his outstanding contributions to mathematics.