From the Dean 4

News 5Biology professor teaches in Macomb, Chicago & the Quad Cities; Fanfare; sociologists study area hurt by hurricanes; Women's StudiesChair continues CAS lecture series

Feature Stories

CAS students find themselves 10

Professor Ma dabbles in watercolors – and pollution, genetics and more 12

Generations: WIU has family ties 14

What ARE the Humanities? 16

Reflections

The Real Sequel: Gary Baise 17

Decades past 18

Remembering Physics faculty retiree, alum lost this year 21

Spring 07 3

In This Issue

Western Illinois UniversityCollege of Arts and Sciences

DeanInessa Levi

EditorBill Knight

Associate editorJeff Dodd

Graphics and layoutRobert Johnson

ContributorsBonnie Barker, Stacey Becker and John Simmons

Editorial boardBonnie L. Barker, Jeff Dodd, Sue Martinelli-

Fernandez, Pam Hoffman, James A. Schmidt, AmySpelman and Daniel L. Wise

AdministrationPresident Alvin GoldfarbProvost and Academic Vice President Joseph Rallo

Western’s CAS is made up of 15 departments whosedisciplines span the areas of the social sciences, thehumanities, mathematics and the natural sciences:African American Studies, Biological Sciences,Chemistry, English and Journalism, Foreign Languagesand Literatures, Geography, Geology, History,Mathematices, Philosophy and Religious Studies,Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology andAnthropology, and Women’s Studies.

Focus, Vol. 3, No. 1; Focus is published twice a year; c/o 114 Morgan Hall, WIU,1 University Circle, Macomb, IL 61455; e-mail BK-Knight@wiu.edu.

“Focus will inform college stakeholders aboutCollege of Arts and Sciences activities and encouragetheir involvement in the life of the college.”

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Cover photo by Scott Minor

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Professor Ma: active retirement

Andy and MarkKerr's family has along Western history.

A note to readers: A computer flaw in May resulted in incorrect names or addresses,so rather than miss you once, we risk sending Focus to you twice. This had nothingto do with contact information on WIU databases, which are correct. We hope youenjoy this corrected copy of the Spring issue of the magazine.

Focus4

I would like to take a moment tooffer you an invitation.

On Tuesday, September 25, theCollege of Arts and Sciences willpresent the Fourth Annual JohnHallwas Liberal Arts Lecture. It isour privilege this year to host Dr. AlGoldfarb, Western Illinois University’spresident, as the lecturer, presenting“The Liberal Arts Shape a Presidency.”

I hope you can join us for whatwill surely be one of the best lec-tures on campus this coming fall.

Of course, a liberal arts educa-tion shapes not only a fantasticallysuccessful presidency, but alsodevelops and expands our sense ofhumanity. It allows us to compre-hend, cope and respond to the victo-ries and tragedies that occur in ourlives. It helps us to develop ourlearning potential.

To function in our advancedsociety, we must learn how to learn.The value of a liberal arts educationin this endeavor cannot be overesti-mated. In our fast-paced, highlytechnological world, factual datamay become outdated very quickly.Students who graduate now will beexpected to be successful in boththeir personal and professional livesfor the next half-century and beyond.They will be expected to have anumber of different jobs over theirlifetimes — some of which have noteven been invented yet.

Albert Einstein perhaps put itbest, saying that the differencebetween what the most and leastlearned people know is inexplicablytrivial in relation to that which isunknown.

We all have a responsibility tolearn and understand that“unknown,” about the universe asreflected in our chosen fields ofstudy, about our society, aboutother societies, about what it meansto be a human.

From the DeanThe John Hallwas Liberal Arts

Lecture celebrates this endeavor, thisneed to know, this need to learn.Dr. Hallwas wrote, “In the face ofincreasing vocational emphasis inhigher education, pervasive shallow-ness in our culture, and excessiveindividualism (that overlooks socialcommitment), we believe that theliberal arts com-ponent of ourbachelor’s degreeprogram shoulddare to assert thatthere is inherentvalue in learning,that human pur-poses mustalways receivereflective recon-sideration, thatcoherence ofthought and clari-ty of expressionare essential val-ues, that breadthof outlook and cultural sensitivityare indispensable, and most impor-tantly, that transformation of the selfto prepare for civic responsibilityshould be central to the undergradu-ate experience.”

Hallwas, a well-known scholarand historian, and a beloved WIUEnglish professor, delivered theinaugural lecture in the fall of 2003.John’s lecture was a thoughtful andthought-provoking commentary onissues related to higher education.Hallwas served on Western’s facultyfor 34 years, teaching American lit-erature and nonfiction creative-writ-ing courses in the English andJournalism department and coursesin intellectual history for theCentennial Honors College. Also, heserved as an archivist at the MalpassLibrary from 1979 until his retire-ment in 2004. The most widely pub-lished professor in Western’s history,

he has written or edited more than20 books in history and literature,several of which have won awards.

In September 2004, in tribute tohis long and distinguished career, theCollege of Arts and Sciences desig-nated its annual lecture the JohnHallwas Liberal Arts Lecture.

It is through the generosity ofJohn and GarnetteHallwas that we areable to present thissignature event forthe College of Artsand Sciences. John’scontinued supportthrough an initialgift, plus his time andeffort, makes the lec-ture a wonderful cel-ebration of Western’scommitment to out-standing educationalexperiences for ourstudents. Past pre-senters include Dr.

Charles Helm (Political Science), Dr.Karen Mann (English andJournalism) and Dr. Tracy Knight(Psychology).

We work diligently to make thisevent an outstanding part of theWestern Illinois University experi-ence for our students, faculty andstaff. We hope to find a corporate orfoundation sponsorship to ensure thebright future of this celebration ofeducation.

Best always …

Retired Professor John Hallwas andDean Inessa Levi

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Spring 07 5

NEWSIn the water or on land, this professor has her prideBy Jeff Dodd

When Jeanette Thomas’ trainarrives in Chicago on Friday morn-ings, every minute is precious. Sowhen the Illinois Zephyr stops atUnion Station, the race is on to getto the Shedd Aquarium.

Dr. Thomas, a professor inWIU’s Department of BiologicalSciences, uses shortcuts through thedowntown train station that mostAmtrak employees may not know.With feline moves, she makes aright turn here, a couple of leftsthere, and she’s out a side entrance,into the sun and charging directlyfor cabs lined up at the curb.

Making the weekly trek withher are her graduate students, sotrailing her are students, backpacksand a multitude of papers.

She’s the “Mama Lion” – asher students call her – leading thepride.

However, this isn’t herdingcats. This is an organized attack onthe day ahead.

“The schedule is extremelytight for me to teach,” saysThomas, whose classroom experi-ence for 16 years has includedWestern’s Macomb and QuadCities campuses, the Niabi Zoo inCoal Valley, Ill., and the Shedd.

“Traffic and parking problems indowntown alone can put us offschedule,” she continues, smiling,“and then there’s the train that canbe late, sometimes very late.”

Unfazed by such issues, Thomasproceeds to get things done.

Once at the massive lakefrontaquarium, she’s met in classroomsby several more of her students, whoswarm around her, the great joy ontheir faces evident as she begins tounpack her bag and gets down towork immediately. She has to stay

focused to make use of everymoment.

“Students taking WIU graduatecourses through the Shedd Aquariumcan earn a post-baccalaureate certifi-cate in zoo and aquarium studies,”she adds. “We make use of class-rooms and labs at the facility as wellas video conferencing with col-leagues at the WIU-Quad Citiescampus.”

In fact, this program is highlysuccessful.

"Over the years of the program,three of the top people in the marinemammal department at theBrookfield Zoo have completed theprogram," she continues. "At theShedd Aquarium, over the years,WIU students have had positions asthe head of the conservation pro-gram, trainers in the marine mammaldepartment, and teachers in the edu-cation department.

“The program has a great reputa-

tion,” she continues. “Most of thestudents who joined its first year areworking successfully now.Veterinary schools are highly com-petitive to get accepted into. We hada student who came through ourpost-baccalaureate program and wasaccepted to two top schools on herfirst try as a result.”

Thomas’ face beams when shetalks about the success of her stu-

dents.Her research at the Shedd

Aquarium focuses on belugawhales and Pacific white-sideddolphins. She studies the effectof noise pollution on their senso-ry and echolocation abilities.

“Noise affects animals inmuch the same way as humans,”she explains. “We find noiseannoying, it increases our back-ground stress levels, temporarilydamages our hearing, and addsto our agitation and fatigue. In aworse-case scenario, noise cancause permanent hearing lossand bursting of tissues in theears. It is the same with marinemammals, except that it alsomay interfere with their abilityto hunt, maintain contact withtheir group, and find mates.

“Sound in water is everincreasing,” Thomas continues.“Noise in the oceans has increased10 decibels per decade for the last 40years. Noise comes from shipping,sonar, military and fishing vessels,jet skis and motorboats, geoseismicexploration, and oil drilling. Add tothis the fact that sound in water car-ries five times farther than in air, andyou have a large geographic impact.”

Tom Stalf, director of the NiabiZoo [see page 7], is enthusiasticwhen talking about Thomas.

Jeanette Thomas presides at her class at Niabi Zoo.

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Continued on next page

Fanfare

Fanfare

administrator Linda Ray Pratt in late Octoberspoke about “English Departments in the Ageof Accountability.”

Assistant Professor of Spanish SANDROBARROS this winter delivered “Textbook andSimulation: Knowledge, Cultural Bias, andthe Massive Reproduction of Spanish as aSecond Language” for the Foreign Languagesand Literatures Colloquium Series onWestern’s Macomb campus.

Five retiring CAS faculty were honoredthis semester: JAY BALDERSON of theDepartment of English and Journalism.DANIEL COLVIN of English and Journalism,JUTTA HELM of the Department of PoliticalScience, RAY MAJERES of the Departmentof Psychology, and AL RICHERT ofPsychology.

A collection of writing by the late RICKJOHNSON, who attended WIU in the 1970s,was published this winter, edited by BILLKNIGHT from English and Journalism anddesigned by BOB JOHNSON of the Geology

Focus6

WIU’s Board of Trustees in Marchapproved a new Bachelor of Liberal Artsand Sciences degree. Their action nowmoves the proposal to the Illinois Board ofHigher Education for consideration.

CAS Associate Dean SUSAN MAR-TINELLI-FERNANDEZ published“Abortion, Autonomy, and Quality of Life:Polyphonic Narratives and Kantianism” inTeaching Ethics: A Journal for Educators.

Also, following her publication of“Educating Honorable Warriors” in theJournal of Military Ethics and attendance ata summer institute on war and morality atthe U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.,Martinelli-Fernanadez this winter served asa judge for the Naval Academy’s annualVice Admiral William P. Lawrence EthicsEssay Award.

Retired English Professor MAURINEMAGLIOCCO this year made a substantialdonation to the English and Journalismdepartment to endow visiting lectures eachfall. University of Nebraska scholar and

“Because of her, we areable to further Niabi’s mis-sion of education in waysthat would not otherwise bepossible,” he says.

Thomas spends one ortwo days a week in theQuad Cities teaching cours-es both at WIU’s QuadCities campus and at thezoo.

Not only does Thomasteach graduate courses, butshe is also a prolificresearcher. Her work atthe Niabi Zoo currentlyfocuses on Babe, a 32-yearold Asian elephant.Curious and intelligent,Babe is participating inresearch with Emily Walter, a WIUbiological sciences graduate student,under Thomas’s supervision.

“We are testing elephant intelli-

gence,” Walter says. “Currently, weare using a flash card type of for-mat in which two identical cardsare placed left or right of the ele-

phant and two dif-ferent cards areplaced on the other.Babe has to try todistinguish betweenthe two and point tothe side on whichthe cards are thesame. It is verychallenging becauseelephants do nothave the best of eye-sight, and there is noother sensory inputfor the elephant.There is nothing tosmell, taste, or hearto help her discrimi-

nate between the setsof cards.”

Walter, who will have earnedher zoos and aquariums certificatefrom WIU in December, ravesabout Thomas.

Tom Stalf and Dr. Thomas with test subject Babe the elephant.

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Spring 07 7

Continued on page 22

Soon after graduation fromWestern Illinois University’s bio-logical sciences program, TomStalf answered an ad for azookeeper’s position at the NiabiZoo in Coal Valley, Ill. Little didhe know that this applicationwould lead him to eventuallybecome the youngest zoo directorin the country.

“At least I think I’m still theyoungest,” says Stalf, laughing.

A disciple of Dr. JeanetteThomas [see pp. 5-7], Stalf con-cedes that his career path tookunexpected turns.

“I had intended on findingwork that would put me on theriver,” says Stalf, who had severalseasons of hands-on research expe-rience at the College of Arts andSciences’ Alice Kibbe Life ScienceResearch Station on the MississippiRiver north of Warsaw, Ill.

Still, the bottom line for Stalfwas working as a researcher in anatural environment.

He certainly continues toresearch. Stalf explains that zooshave four primary missions: con-servation, education, recreationand research. Because of Niabi’sexcellence in these four areasunder his leadership, Stalf and thezoo staff were able to secureaccreditation by the Association ofZoos and Aquariums (AZA).

“There are more than 3,500zoos in the country,” Stalf says,“but only 214 have qualified forAZA accreditation. We actuallystarted preparing our case 10 yearsago, but were able to get accredit-ed on the first try.”

Stalf credits a lot of his suc-cess to the opportunities to getspecialized information in the fieldprovided by Thomas. His relation-

CAS alumgets wild

“I don’t know how she does it,”Walter says. “She has about 20graduate students, all working ontheses, and 20 certificate students.She cares about all of them verymuch and offers her personal atten-tion to each one of us.”

Caring about students is whatkeeps Thomas going, colleaguessay. To that end, she has been theeditor of The Journal of AquaticMammals for almost seven years.

“There is a need for publicationin this field,” Thomas says. “I’vealways had an interest in writing,plus this is a way for me to staycurrent on the literature in marinemammal biology so I can offer thelatest, cutting-edge information inmy classes.”

Thomas is also always lookingfor ways to promote and helpWestern. When she took over theeditorship of the journal, it was

department. Rick Johnson Reader isavailable at western Illinois retailoutlets and online via Amazon.com,Borders.com and similar sites.Proceeds from the project will bedonated to a journalism scholarshipfund.

The Department of History co-sponsored a February appearance bySheila Arnold in the one-womanpresentation “Ol’ Bess Speaks at aGathering: An 18th CenturyStorytelling Program” about the1700s and slavery.

WIU alumna PAM HUEY wason an April panel discussion on thenews media’s impact on shaping ourperceptions of culture and diversity,featuring acclaimed Washington cor-respondent Helen Thomas andPulitzer Prize-winning columnistClarence Page, in Western Hall.Huey, a 1972 graduate, has workedas a United Press International jour-

being printed in Europe.“At that time, it soon became

clear that we had financial prob-lems because of the exchange ratebetween the dollar and the Euro. Ibegan looking for solutions to printthe journal in the United States.When I asked WIU’s Documentand Publication Services for theiradvice, they told me it could all bedone on campus through them. Iwas delighted that we could takecare of everything in house. It wasa wonderful way to continue pro-moting the university.”

So the next time you visitWIU-Macomb, WIU-Quad Cities,the Shedd Aquarium, the NiabiZoo, or maybe just ride the trainbetween Chicago and Macomb,look for this “Mama Lion.” She’llprobably have at least part of herpride of students around her.

And she’ll be on the move.

nalist, a press aide to the late U.S.Sen. Paul Simon, and an editor atthe Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Thediscussion was part of WIU’s2006-07 University Theme“Global Challenges and PersonalResponsibility— CulturalDiversity” 2006-2007 SpeakerSeries.

The distinguished scientistand group leader at the RIKENBNL Research Center at theBrookhaven National Laboratory,Larry McLerran, visited thePhysics department April 12-13,giving a Currens Hall colloquiumon Glasma theory. McLerran isone of the pioneers who devel-oped the theory, the theoreticalframework that attempts toexplain the properties of thestrongly interacting matter pro-duced in heavy ion collisionsexperiments at BNL.

Focus8

By Bonnie BarkerA Summer 2006 trip to

Grand Isle on Louisiana’s coastwas an eye-opening experiencefor Western Illinois Universitysenior John Long (Earlville, Ill.),a sociology major and anthropol-ogy minor, as well as for histeacher and experienced socio-cultural researcher HeatherMcIlvaine-Newsad, an associateprofessor in Anthropology.

McIlvaine-Newsad had beenresearching the livelihood sys-tems of fishing communitiesthrough two grants from theNational Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration(NOAA), then the destructiveHurricane Katrina sweptthrough the Gulf Coast inAugust 2005.

“As an anthropologist,I am interested in whypeople do what they do,”McIlvaine-Newsad said.“This disaster-relatedresearch looks at how peo-ple’s relationship to theirphysical environment haschanged as a result of Katrina.More specifically, I am interestedin whether people are losing orgaining knowledge about theirenvironment and how they arechanging their livelihood strate-gies in order to adapt to hugeenvironmental changes, like hur-ricanes.

“For the NOAA studies, wewere looking at fishing communi-ties in general and how theyresponded culturally, economical-ly and socially to the changesNOAA regulations imposed on

them.” she added. “After Katrina allyou heard about was New Orleans.But a significant portion ofLouisiana’s economy is based onfishing and shrimping, which takesplace in rural areas. Just as variousregions of New Orleans are recover-ing at different rates, so too arediverse fishing communities recov-ering differently. It is difficult to seethe variation when you don’t see itfirsthand. That is one reason anthro-

pological field research is so impor-tant. You see firsthand how peopleare coping with change.”

Researcher and student inter-viewed people from the Grand Isle,the last barrier island at the mouth ofthe Mississippi River, an island thathelps protect New Orleans from hur-ricanes. McIlvaine-Newsad thencontinued her research with NOAAanthropologist Palma Ingles in thecommunities of Venice and Empire.All three communities sufferedtremendous damage from HurricaneKatrina, she said.

Residents of Grand Isle are pri-marily Cajun and have been shrimp-ing since the 1800s. Shrimpers inVenice and Empire are largely com-prised of Cambodians andVietnamese immigrants who havebeen shrimping in the area for thepast 20 to 30 years. The cultural dif-ferences among the communities,their social network systems andtheir familiarity with their physicalenvironment all influence how theyshrimp and how they rebuild afterthe storm, McIlvaine-Newsad

explained.“We were in

Louisiana, but in someareas it looked as if wehad stumbled into adeveloping countrywhere poverty is a cul-tural norm,” saidLong, who assisted inthe research by con-ducting and transcrib-ing field interviews,coding data and map-ping the area. “Thepoor are without avoice. They need

anthropologists to give them thatvoice.

“Participating in the researchwas amazing,” added Long, whoreceived grants from the College ofArts and Sciences ($300) and theSociology and Anthropology depart-ment ($75) to help defray his per-sonal expenses. “Not only was I ableto be involved in a project that wasunique as the post-Katrina fisheryresearch, but also to becomeentrenched in this fading way of life(shrimping) and possibly contributeto the greater body of knowledge

Sociologist studies fishing communities still suffering from effects of Katrina

Spring 07 9

By Stacey BeckerOppression can inadvertently

create leaders, according to theDistinguished Faculty Lecture thisspring. For the Irish in the 19th cen-tury, their leaders were women,notes Polly Radosh, chair of WesternIllinois University’s Women’sStudies department, whose presenta-tion is the latest in a prestigious seriesof lectures that CAS faculty havedelivered outside the classrooms.

Delivering her remarks on March29 in Macomb and April 9 in theQuad Cities, Radosh discussed howracial oppression in Ireland created radi-cally different attitudes toward gender.

“The earning power of womengave them some authority in Irishfamilies, which spawned greater tol-erance for women’s authority thanwould have been typical of otherEuropeans in the 19th century,”Radosh said. “These young women[sent to other countries to save theirfamilies] helped to develop new pro-fessions for women such as teach-ing, nursing and social work.”

Her special lecture, “MyMothers Before Me: Gender in theIrish Diaspora,” also addressed themisconception of race.

“Race is defined in the U.S. asskin color, but it’s not always skin

color,” Radosh said. “It’s oppression.”For the Irish, their political and

cultural oppression by the Britishhappened because of their socialdesignation of race.

“[It’s important to study aboutwomen] because it broadens a per-son’s appreciation of life and experi-ence,” Radosh said a few weeksbefore her talk.

Begun in 1969, the DistinguishedFaculty Lecture honors outstandingfaculty members whose professionaldevelopment in research or creativeactivity, teaching and service to theuniversity represent the highest stan-dards of the academic community.

Other similar presentations madeannually at WIU include the Gablerand Morrow lectures.

The Gabler Lecture is usuallyheld during Geography AwarenessWeek in the fall. Dr. John FraserHart of the University of Minnesotaspoke about the changing geographyof U.S. agriculture at the 2006-2007Gabler Lecture. The first lectureoccurred during the 2004-2005school year in honor of RobertGabler, who served as chairman ofthe Geography and Geology depart-ments and also director ofInternational Programs.

The Morrow Lecture occurseach school year sponsored by theCollege of Arts and Sciences. Dr.Herbert Needleman of the Universityof Pittsburgh Medical Center, thefounder of the Alliance for HealthyHomes, presented the 2007 MorrowLecture on April 4. The first MorrowLecture occurred in 1987 in honor ofRoger M. Morrow and Jean SmithMorrow. He was the first head of thePhysics department and she was oneof the first women faculty members.

Stacey Becker is a seniorJournalism major from EastDubuque, Ill.

Western’s Distinguished FacultyLecturer continues CAS lectures

which could, hopefully, help tosave it from virtual extinction.”

Although the hurricane creat-ed a surge in the natural shrimp-ing environment, Grand Isle,Venice and Empire were annihi-lated. Homes are gone and resi-dents still wait for temporary liv-ing trailers from FEMA morethan one year after Katrina.Fishing boats were destroyed andother vital resources were alsodepleted such as dock space andice machines. Shrimp processingplants have closed, and clients arerelying more heavily than ever onfarmed imported shrimp fromother countries, McIlvaine-Newsad said.

“I think it’s one of the bestexperiences for students to have,”McIlvaine-Newsad said. “Youcan learn in the classroom, but toactually go out and do theresearch is invaluable.”

Long agreed. “I learned not only the practi-

cal application techniques ofanthropological methods, but per-haps more importantly, I learnedthat anthropology can assist inpolicy formation that can saveentire economic and social sys-tems from destruction,” he said.

McIlvaine-Newsad, who isalso a research fellow for theIllinois Institute for Rural Affairsat Western, received her Ph.D.from the University of Florida(2000) in applied cultural anthro-pology with a focus on gender,agriculture and natural resourcemanagement strategies inEcuador. She earned an M.A. inInternational Development fromOhio University. She followedher B.A. in German fromDenison University serving as aPeace Corps Volunteer in theDominican Republic. She speaksfluent German and Spanish.

Polly Radosh is chair of the Women'sStudies Department

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Desiree BartgenGlen Ellyn, Ill.

Twenty-one-year-old DesireeBartgen plans on becoming an attor-ney, but her double major inWomen’s Studies and Spanish areopening so many doors, she’s stillunsure which field of law she’llpractice.

Still, she’s already benefitedfrom academics and activities atWIU.

“I decided my sophomore yearwhat I wanted to do after I took theIntro to Women’s Studies class,” shesays. “It really opened my eyes andhelped give me direction as to whereI would like to eventually end up.”

Regardless of where she endsup, her path is paved with involve-ment. Active in Pre-Law Club andCAS student government, Desiree’stypical day includes meetings, work-ing out and hanging out with friendsas well as attending classes.

“My majors are very interesting,and I enjoy the professors that teachthem,” she adds. “My majors haveallowed me the chance to studyabroad in Rome, Italy, and then thissummer in Barcelona, Spain.”

With free time devoted to run-ning, shopping, reading, watching

movies or traveling, Desiree enjoysthe setting WIU and Macomb haveoffered her.

“I chose Western because thecampus had a close, community feelto it and it felt like home,” she says.

Joseph J GorzkowskiChicago, Ill.

Journalism student JoeGorzkowski realized the challengeswhen he became a Resident Assistant

in Thompson Hall,and that improved hisapproach to his class-es and his future.

“When I was hiredas an RA I knew thatI would have a lotmore added on to myworkload,” he says.“I knew I would haveto work on my timemanagement skills.”

Gorzkowski, 21,deals with demandsby mixing work andplay, sleeping until

mid-morning, going to classes,watching television andpracticing his new bassguitar, studying, andgoing to meetings andworking at the dorminformation desk – alltypically until 2 a.m.

“I have always beenfocused on my educa-tion, but this hashelped me learn to bet-ter manage my time and get my workdone,” he says.

Joe – whose fatheris a captain in theChicago PoliceDepartment – wants to work there,too. But the skills he’s developing injournalism won’t be neglected.

“I really like writing,” he says.“I’d like to keep up my writingthroughout my life.”

Western’s environment andappearance were appealing to Joeafter visiting public universities inIllinois.

“I visited WIU, ISU and U of I,and loved this campus the best,” Joesays. “U of I was too big for me andISU was really dirty and was notvery welcoming. Western had abeautiful campus and really mademe feel at home.”

Daya SnappMomence, Ill.

Meteorology major Daya Snappcouldn’t wait to engage with herscholarly passion, she says.

“Starting off at a communitycollege helped me to stay focused,and during those two years I justwanted to break away from the geneds and jump into classes moreclosely related to my major,” saysDaya, 22.

Besides classes – her minor isrelated, Geographic Information

Systems – Snapp’s days are busythroughout the area, from TillmanHall to Lake Argyle.

CAS students find themselves at Western

Spanish and Women's Studies major Bartgen may go to lawschool.

Gorzkowski wants to be a cop – and to write.

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Spring 07 11

“I get up early (either 5 a.m. or6 a.m.),” she says. “I go to classalmost all day. In between classes, Itry to work on homework and thenwhen I am ‘done’ for the day I go tomy room and do more homeworkand studying. Some days I stay inTillman 201 to work on labs forclass.

“I am a student worker in theGeography department office dur-ing part of my days,” Daya contin-ues. “Free time: photography, fish-ing, hiking at Lake Argyle StatePark, spend time with my friends.”

Some of her friends areMeteorology or Geography col-leagues she’s met throughIndependent Study (a 3-D mappingproject), a senior thesis/surveyproject with a professor, the SevereWeather Club (she’s president) andthe Student Society of Geography(for which she’s vice president).All that participation will help hernetwork and find a career, she says.

“I love my major,” Daya says.“I’ve had an interest in weathersince the fourth grade. I have also,since attending WIU, found a lovefor geography and GIS.

“[I want to] try my hardest tofind a job related to my major and/orminor,” she adds. “I don’t want to

have worked hard for nothing.Daya found WIU to be wel-

coming, she says.“I visited another campus that

had the Meteorology program, butthey were very discouraging in meattending their school,” Snapp says.“When I came to visit Western I wasmet with open arms. Here at WIU,the Geography department saw meas a person coming into the programwho was passionate about weatherand had the drive to succeed. I feltlike the program had a lot to offerand being a senior, I can truly saythat it has done me a lot of good.”

Amanda Leah Zulas Crystal Lake, Ill.

Psychology major AmandaZulas found science more flexiblethan fine arts, and realized thatworking with people was reward-ing.

“I did attend a music schoolmy first semester of college, whichleft me broke and wondering whatto do next,” Amanda says.

“Playing and writing musicwas one thing, but studying it anddoing it how the school wanted meto was another. So I tried to comeup with the best thing that I likedto study in school and that’s how Istarted to follow my passion forpsychology.”

Minoring in neuroscience,Zulas, 22, enjoys a hectic pace.

“I’m up at 5 a.m. to train formy triathlon, then classes untilafternoon, then clubs, committees,meetings, and working as a ref forthe intramurals department andmaybe some studying,” she says. “Idon’t have much free time to speakof, but I watch some NetFlix withthe boyfriend, or I play video gamessometimes.”

Besides her academic pursuits,Amanda is active in the FeministAction Alliance, Computer ScienceAssociation, Campus Greens, the

Psychology department research com-mittee, and two ongoing research.

“One [is] on Internet gamingaddiction, and one on the effects ofModafinil on AcousticStartle response,” she says.

Although she’s certain she’llcompete in her first triathlon in May,and then the Chicago marathon (forthe third time), she’s unsure aboutcareer specifics.

“I thought I had it all figured out– I was going to become a clinicalpsychologist and study people whohad real problems,” Amanda says.“Now I’m starting to think IndustrialOrganizational Psychology andSocial Psych are more my thing.”

When considering her choicesfor school, Zulas also felt wanted,she says.

“When I was looking to transfer,they were incredibly nice to me andhelpful through the whole process,”she says “A lot of other schools fig-ure that transfer students mustunderstand the system so they don’tneed any help, but I really didn’tknow much about a large schoolatmosphere, and Western helped mewith that.”

Snapp's passion for weather found a focusat Western Illinois University.

Zulas blends psychology and neuroscience, aca-demics and athletics.

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Scientist. Author. Artist.Diplomat. Philanthropist. Dr. Te-Hsiu Ma, professor emeritus of theDepartment of Biological Sciences,is a true renaissance man.

But such words only begin tosum up Ma, who retired in 1996.Since then, he has done anything butlead a life of leisure.

Ma still leads a veryactive research laboratory inWaggoner Hall, where hisexpertise with methods todetect environmental muta-gens makes him one of theworld's best-known authoritieson the subject. Through hiswork in this area, Ma hasspread his knowledge of plantbioassays to thousands of peo-ple across the world.

Walking into his office,visitors immediately noticemaps of the United States andthe world, filled with tiny pinsnoting areas where Ma haspresented his research andtrained individuals and organi-zations on his methods.Through his work, he was ableto make Western IllinoisUniversity a conference sitefor the North Atlantic TreatyOrganization (NATO)Advanced Study Institute in2004, one of many achieve-ments Ma has had since hestarted his work here in 1969.

Another accomplishmentwas his developing and dis-seminating numerous tests todetect environmental muta-gens.

“In the long run, this monitoringprogram and genotoxicity researchcould contribute to homeland securi-ty in this area, as well as other coun-tries of the world,” he says.

The program uses a commonplant, the Spiderwort (Tradescantiaspecies) in three tests (Stamen-hair

mutation, Micronucleus, and Onionroot tip-Micronucleus). TheStamen–hair mutation (Trad-SHM)test, developed by the late Dr.Arnold Sparrow of BrookhavenNational Laboratory (N.Y.), detectsgene mutation. The micronucleus(Trad-MCN) test, developed in 1976by Ma during a six-month sabbatical

leave at Brookhaven, detects chro-mosome (DNA) damage from chem-ical and physical pollutants, includ-ing radiation in the air, water, andsoil.

Genetic materials in plant cellsare more sensitive to pollutants thanthose of animal cells because there

is less protection in plant tissuesfrom the impact of pollutants, Maexplained. These genetic tests –which are highly sensitive, simpleand economical – have been used inmore than 100 hands-on workshopsconducted in the United States and30 countries across five continentsfor more than 30 years. Test results

of the Trad-MCN testand Allium-micronucle-us test can be obtainedwithin 24 to 48 hours,while results of theTrad-SHM test requireat least seven days.

Ma feels so stronglyabout the importance ofhis work that he gener-ously gave an initialcontribution to theCollege of Arts andSciences to start a pro-posed InternationalCenter forEnvironmentalMutagens that will putWestern IllinoisUniversity at the centerof training andresearch.

“We are grateful toDr. Ma for his initialcontribution to establishan International Centerfor Detection ofEnvironmentalMutagens,” says InessaLevi, Dean of theCollege of Arts andSciences. “It is ourhope that this is thefirst step on our jour-

ney to raise enough private funds toensure the continued excellence ofDr. Ma’s legacy to Western IllinoisUniversity. The new center couldhave an enormous positive impactnot only on our immediate region,but on a global scale, as well.”

Many techniques could be

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Retired 10 years, Ma continues to work in art (painting) and science (biology),and now wants to help launch an International Center for EnvironmentalMutagens at WIU.

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taught to practitioners with a rela-tively limited scientific background,and the techniques could be imple-mented with limited instrumentationand equipment, Ma says. Examplesof use of these genetic tests include:epidemiology of respiratory patientsand on-site genetic toxicity monitor-ing, remote sensing of environmen-tal pollution, ecology and ecosystemchange as well as the variation ofbackground radiation around aradioactive pollution, genetic toxici-ty of common poisons, carcinogenscreening, effects of exhaust fumes,contaminated soil from ammunitiontesting grounds, analyses of drinkingwater in rural communities, live-stock confinement and agriculturalchemicals.

When operational, theInternational Center will focus on

disseminating currently known mon-itoring methods, developing newmethods and techniques, and collect-ing data on genetic cell damage dueto environmental pollution. The cen-ter will also contribute to the supportof genetics instruction and facultyand student research.

Learning to use simple environ-mental monitoring tests would be

very valuable to students in the bio-logical sciences, health sciences,nursing and environmental studies.The center will be housed in theDepartment of Biological Sciencesand will be directly affiliated withthe College of Arts and Sciences’Institute for Environmental Studies.

Some of Ma’s other researchefforts have led to more than$1 million of research grantsfrom sources including theState of Illinois, the U.S.Atomic Energy Commission,the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency, theNational Institutes of Health,the World HealthOrganization, the UnitedNations EnvironmentProgramme, NATO, theNational EnvironmentalMonitoring Conference, andthe United Nations

Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization.

Ma is a man of many talents,too. A well-known regional artist, hiswork includes Asian-inspired Sumipainting as well as mixed-mediawatercolors, oils and acrylics. Awalk through the home of Ma andhis wife Peggy reveals a man as pas-sionate about his art as he is abouthis science.

Every painting has its own histo-ry and a special story to tell, Masays. Soon, visitors to the College ofArts and Sciences will have a uniqueopportunity to view Ma’s work. Asampling of his paintings and hispoetry will adorn the walls of thecollege’s newly renovated conferenceroom in Morgan Hall this spring.

“The generosity of Dr. Ma insharing his work with the collegegives us our first opportunity to rec-ognize WIU faculty and staff whoseexpertise and talents extend wellbeyond academia,” says Jeff Dodd,marketing officer for the College ofArts and Sciences.

Art has not been a recent retire-ment activity for Ma. Pointing to avibrant pastel of a yawning cat, Masays, “Fifty years ago, we had ahouse, but bare walls. I couldn’tafford art paper at that time, so Idrew the cat on a piece of cardboardfrom a box.”

Pouncing tiger - Watercolor

Bamboo - Watercolor

Squoogle On Line - Watercolor

Panda x - Watercolor

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By Bill KnightJohn and Mary broke patterns

but still followed their families’footsteps by attending WIU.

John Knowles is no teacher,despite the teaching backgrounds ofhis parents, brother and sister.

Mary Kerr is no journalist,despite the newspapering heritage inher background.

“My dad, mom, brother and sis-ter all became teachers upon gradu-ating from WIU,” says Knowles,now an attorney in Portland, Ore.“My sister Nancy still teaches 6thgrade, in Monmouth. My momtaught at VIT for decadesand is now retired inMacomb. I never did teachbut would love to do sowhen I retire from being atrial lawyer.

“I do teach a highschool mock trial teamand love to teach thesekids,” he continues. “It isin my blood. I think thepathway to teaching is inMacomb’s water system—that town has been pro-ducing teachers for morethan a century.”

The Knowles clancame to Western for vari-ous reasons, Knowlessays.

“My brother went toWIU because he had abaseball scholarship and itwas in Macomb,” he says.“I don’t think that any ofmy siblings went there justbecause a relative had. Ofcourse, we knew our parents hadboth gone there, but I did not knowabout [our] great-great aunts untilrecently.”

Knowles found out that twogreat-great aunts, sisters Callie

Knowles and Etta (Emma) Knowles,were in the first classes at theWestern Illinois State Normal schoolin 1902.

Mary Kerr also traces her fami-ly’s connection to Western to earlyin the 20th century – but took moreof a role in the decisions by hersons, Mark and Andrew, to go toWestern.

“Both my husband Richard(Class of 1964) and I encouragedthem to attend WIU,” says Kerr,who traces her lineage to the Crabband Lewis farm families, circa 1910.“Mark and Andrew were always

aware of the family connectionswith Western. Their grandmother(Martha Crabb) and great grand-mother (Lida Crabb) lived inMacomb and we visited there oftenand took part in Western activities.

They were familiar and comfortablewith Western.

“My mother— a French and P.E.major at the Western Normalschool— was delighted that the boysattended Western,” Kerr continues.“Her living in Macomb was a factorfor both of the boys. They had greatrespect for her and on Fridays theywould take their friends to her housefor lunch. She loved discussing his-tory and literature with all the youngstudents.”

Mary’s grandparents, Carle andLida Crabb, were well known news-paper publishers of area weeklies,and Lida, a history major, alsotaught at area schools. Her parents,Martha and Carle Jr., graduated fromWestern Academy (the “lab school”)and attended Western until they took

over the newspapers, including theMcDonough Times.

Although a Macomb correspon-dent for daily newspapers in Quincyand Peoria, Mary was steered awayfrom newspapers, she says.

Generations

The Knowles know: Left to right, Steve ('72), Nancy ('75) and John ('77).

Family ties span a century at Western

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“My mother was very deter-mined that none of us would go intothe family business and encouragedall of us to become teachers,” shesays. “I became a social studiesteacher at Peru (Ill.) and then atRichwoods in Peoria.”

After becoming a reading spe-cialist, then an administrator, Maryretired from education in 2000, whenshe was a principal in Canton.

“As I moved through the educa-tion world I realized what great peo-ple I had been privileged to meet atthe Lab School and at WIU,” shesays.

Knowles agrees and sees hisfamily’s roots extend from currentstudents Nick and Liz Knowles(John’s nephew and his wife) backthrough his dad, Alred “Buck”Knowles – a 1986 recipient of aWIU Alumni Achievement Award—to his grandparents.

“I have traced the Knowles fam-ily in Macomb back to 1838, whenmy great-great-great grandfatherWilliam Knowles moved his familyhere by covered wagon from theWashington, D.C., area,” Knowlessays. “My grandmother WinifredLester Knowles and my grandfatherAlred Lee Knowles attended theTraining School in the pre-WorldWar I years,” Knowles says. “Mydad Buck, who still lives inMacomb, graduated from WIU in

1946 or so, after the war. He alsograduated from Western Academy,as the high school was then known,in 1940. My mom Shirley, who stilllives in Macomb, graduated fromWIU in 1962 (in English). Mybrother Steve, who is still inMacomb, and sister Nancy graduat-ed from WIU and my brother’sdaughter Amy attended WIU andwas a cheerleader.

“I am so proud to have gradu-ated from WIU with a degree insociology and psychology,” hecontinues. “Grant Bogue was oneof my favorite teachers in the soci-ology department. I stronglybelieve that my liberal arts studiesat WIU were instrumental in giv-ing me the skills I needed. I rec-ommend to aspiring law studentsthat they study sociology and psy-chology during their undergradyears so that they better understandthe world we live in.”

The world today is is consider-ably different than the one in the‘70s when John and Steve Knowleswent here – or a decade earlier whenMary Kerr majored in English andsocial studies. One of her sons,political science graduate Mark, isstationed in Afghanistan with theU.S. Army’s Judge AdvocateGeneral’s (JAG) Corps.

“In 2004 he quit his position asassociate in a Miami law firm and

joined the JAG Corps,” Mary says.“He has served in Korea, Bosnia,Iraq and Afghanistan.

“He was actually encouraged toattend Western by Helen Buckley,who had been one of my teachersat the Lab School,” she recalls.“She said he could get personalattention, good teachers and couldsave his borrowing power for grad-uate school. He followed thatadvice, completed his academics inthree years (with one year off cam-pus) and went on to graduate fromYale Law School. He felt he hadsome excellent teachers at Western,personal attention that friendsattending larger schools did notreceive, and he still maintains con-tact with several of his professors.”

Besides the changing world,Western is much different than earli-er decades, she notices.

“We visited there recently...Sherman Hall doesn’t have classesthere... the “new” library is a class-room building, the “new” fieldhouseis an old building and the lab-schoolgym is now a recital hall,” she says.

But some things never change.“Students are always friendly

when we visit on campus and it isgood to see another generationlaughing, talking and studying,”Mary says. “We know they are hav-ing an opportunity to obtain a greateducation.”

Mary Kerr's mother and grandmother, Martha Crabb and Lida Crabb, talking in the 1960s. Both women were active in Macomb civicaffairs and served on numerous boards, and each received the key to Macomb award.

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By John K. SimmonsThere is an apocryphal tale trav-

eling around higher education abouta scientist who is stopped in the hallby an angry humanist colleague andaccused of speaking against thehumanities at a recent faculty senatemeeting. The scientist assures hercolleague that she was doing nothingof the kind. She exclaims, withnoticeable frustration, “I love thehumanities! I would die for thehumanities! All I asked was – whatthe hell ARE the humanities!”

The scientist need look no fur-ther for her answer than the wis-dom expressed by Hall of Famerocker Bruce Springsteen, in oneof his most popular tunes,“Everybody has a hungry heart.”To be human is to yearn, to expe-rience life with a “hungry heart.”Regardless of time, place or cul-tural niche, human beings are borninto a world with a piece of theexistential puzzle missing. Toparaphrase philosopher RenéDescartes’ famous metaphysicalaxiom, “I yearn, therefore I amhuman.” We yearn for love, God,glory, knowledge, power, peace,beauty, enlightenment, fill-in-the-blank, and the irony of it all is thatonce found, we are dissatisfied or,tragically, lose the cherished exis-tential bobble. The journey starts allover again. The humanities com-prise an open-ended anthology, abible of sorts, chronicling the histor-ical roller-coaster ride of everythingthat has happened between subjectand object, I and thou, yearning andthe never-ending quest to find fulfill-ment.

Muriel Rukeyser, American poetand political activist, beautifully andsuccinctly describes the matrix ofthe humanities. “The universe ismade up of stories, not atoms.”

Most of all, human beings are storytellers. To yearn is to seek with hopesof finding, and, thus, the archetypaland paradigmatic story of the human-ities is the journey, including the cel-ebration of finding and the tragedyof losing. We are fascinated by sto-ries of the journey of life preciselybecause all of us have our own storyto create, our own journey to take.Indeed, every human being is a worthyco-author of The Humanities Bible.

Teaching in the humanitiestransforms yearning into learning.The story of human yearning hasspawned the variegated disciplinesoften simply listed as being withinthe indefinable rubric of “thehumanities.” Teachers share theirknowledge across a wide domain ofsubject areas, including literatureand language, art, music, history, theclassics, philosophy, and religion.However, much more is happening,pedagogically, than just passing oncontent. Like a genetic imprint hid-

OK, OK! But what are the Humanities?den within every student is theessence of this wondrous, magicaljourney that represents millennia ofhuman intellectual and creativeendeavor in response to existentialyearning. Life is not just lived; itmust be interpreted.

Down through history, humanbeings have sought to understandthemselves in relationship to thenatural world, the cosmos, divinity,other human beings and their cul-

tures, and their own dreams andinner fantasies. Though theanswers to the most profoundlife questions regarding identity,meaning, purpose and destinyhave been as diverse as the cul-tural expressions in which theyarose, the fact is that all humanbeings stand against the whirl-wind of joy and suffering, hopeand despair, life and death, andwonder and horror which is thestuff of human existence. Ifnothing else, our mortality is thecommonality that binds ustogether and sparks the interpre-tive flame. A humanities courseasks students to join this grandinterpretative journey.Springsteen’s “hungry heart”spawns an irresistible urge —

“lay down your money and youplay your part.” To be sure, the

most satisfying, if rare, classroomoccurrence for a teacher of thehumanities is to witness that leapof consciousness which propels astudent into full participation inour human story. That is why thehumanities will always be anessential part of any authentic edu-cational venture, especially highereducation.

Simmons is chair of WIU’sDepartment of Philosophy &Religious Studies.

Aristotle embodied the humanities.

Spring 07 17

By Bill KnightAttorney Gary Baise doesn’t

just see doors of opportunitiesbefore him, he helps build them,uses them and tries to fix themwhen he thinks they get a bit offplumb.

The 1963 WIU graduate, 65,helped set up the U.S.Environmental Protection Agencyin 1970, was a Nixon administra-tion lawyer there and for theDepartment of Justice and FBI,and now advocates for variousclients in litigation involving envi-ronmental regulations.

“At the moment, I am repre-senting a major pesticide manu-facturer who has a product that isvital to thousands of farmers whogrow corn, alfalfa, cotton, rice,melons and numerous other com-modities,” he says. “My role is toattempt to reverse an interim deci-sion made by EPA.

“The risk that EPA believes tobe associated with this pesticide isso incredibly small you would sayto yourself, ‘How can somethinglike this happen?’ ”

More remarkable than govern-ment bureaucracy is the pathBaise took from his childhood inrural Morgan County to WIU,Indiana and Washington, D.C.

A history major and politicalscience minor, Baise’s undergrad-uate experience at Western seemsto have been a classic example ofactivism. A member of the DeltaSigma Phi fraternity, an actor inseveral plays and chairman ofUnion Board, Baise led studentefforts to build the student unionbuilding. While working two part-time jobs off-campus, he met peo-ple from the campus radio station

and started there as an announcerand commentator with Art Fritchellfor Western football and basketballgames.

In class, he says he was men-tored by the likes of near-legendaryWIU faculty including John Raatjes,Victor Hicken, Don Marshall andMarcy Bodine.

“All these gentlemen apparentlyidentified me from the beginning andgave me opportunities, as a farm boyfrom Concord, Ill., that were amaz-ing and unique,” Baise recalls. “Forexample, I was chosen, along withfour others, to go to New York andmeet with [India’s] Prime MinisterNehru and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt atthe Collegiate Council of the UnitedNations. Later I was selected toattend a summer conference at SarahLawrence College with thisCollegiate Council. I was alsoselected by these gentlemen to leadtours into the Middle East throughthe university’s travel program.

“Mind you, I had never beeneast of Indianapolis, west of Kansas

TThhee RReeaall SSeeqquueell:: GGaarryy BBaaiisseeCity, south of St. Louis and Chicagowas the farthest point north I hadever traveled,” he adds.

After Baise graduated, heworked as Western’s director of stu-dent affairs for two years, afterwhich he took Raatjes’ advice andwent to law school at IndianaUniversity. There, he earned a FordFoundation grant to study the new18-year-old vote and met Jill andWilliam Ruckelshaus. Ruckelshauswas an Indiana state representativeand brought the new young attorneyBaise onboard when he ran for theU.S. Senate in 1968.

Defeated by Birch Bayh,Ruckelshaus was asked by newlyelected President Richard Nixon tojoin the Department of Justice – andso was Baise. In less than two years,Ruckelshaus and Baise were theadministrator and chief of staff ofthe newly formed EPA. In the nextfew years, Baise followedRuckelshaus to the FBI and laterbecame an Associate DeputyAttorney General back at Justice.

Since then, in business, govern-ment and private practice, Baise hasserved on the board of Ocean SprayCranberries and as an executive withBrowning-Ferris Industries; servedon the Virginia State Air PollutionControl Board, the Farm Foundationand the Illinois AgriculturalLeadership Foundation; and repre-sented the National Association ofWheat Growers, municipalities andhousing developers.

And he’s written for ProgressiveFarmer magazine and the conserva-tive Heartland Institute on environ-mental issues – particularly on agri-culture and environmentalism.

“As an advocate for those who

Gary Baise represents people resisting theagency he helped start: the EPA.

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the explosion of a primeval atomand has been expanding since.

Years later, Edwin Hubble foundexperimental evidence to help justifyLemaitre’s theory. He found that dis-tant galaxies in every direction aregoing away from us with speeds pro-portional to their distance. The BigBang also predicts the existence of acosmic background radiation (theglow left over from the explosionitself). This theory received itsstrongest confirmation when thisradiation was discovered in 1964 byArno Penzias and Robert Wilson,who later won the Nobel Prize forthis discovery.— Vivian Incera, Chair, Departmentof Physics

1937 - Amelia Earhart lost some-where in Pacific on round-the-world flight.

Aviator Amelia Earhart embarkedon the first around-the-world flightby a woman in 1937. Flying aLockheed Electra, Earhart and co-pilot Fred Noonan were lost some-where over the South Pacific onJune 27, 1937.

Public interest in aviation began inWorld War I and grew in the ‘20sand ‘30s, when newspapers andmovie newsreels heralded flying“firsts” almost weekly. This was theera of the celebrity aviator, frombarnstorming heroes like Capt. FrankHawks to explorer-aviators such asRoald Amundson. Fliers such asWiley Post and Jimmy Doolittle

1917 - First U.S. combat troops inFrance as U.S. declares war onGermany

In June 1917, Gen. John J.Pershing’s initial contingent of 190Americans arrived in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. The delegation washistorically significant, representing

the first appearance of U.S.combat troops in Europe.For the French, however,their first contact with theirnew associates was disap-pointing; the nation hadexpected a wave of troopsflooding across the Atlantic.Later in June and July,

however, tens of thousandsof U.S. troops disembarkedand paraded through Paris’sstreets.Perhaps the Parisians’ reac-

tion conveys the signifi-cance of the event best:boisterous cheering as manywomen kissed the

Americans and openly wept.—Walter E. Kretchik, assistant pro-fessor, Department of History

1927 - Georges Lemaitre proposesBig Bang Theory.

The dominant scientific theoryabout the origin of the universe, theBig Bang Theory holds that the uni-verse was created about 15 billionyears ago from a cosmic explosionthat was simultaneously creatingspace and hurling matter in all direc-tions.

The idea of a Big Bang was firstsuggested by a Belgian RomanCatholic priest, Monsignor Georges-Henri Lemaitre, a professor ofphysics and an astronomer.

Lemaitre’s Big Bang explainedwhy distant galaxies were observedto be red-shifted, which implied theywere moving away from us. He pro-posed that the universe began with

decades past1907 - Second Hague PeaceConference adopts 10 conventionson rules of war.

Held from June to October 1907,the Second Peace Conference builton the 1899 Hague Convention,changing parts and adding some,with increased attention to navalwarfare. TheHagueConventionswere treatiesthat were,along with theGenevaConventions,among thefirst formalstatements ofthe laws ofwar and warcrimes ininternationallaw.

Among themost signifi-cant humanitarian movements in his-tory, such pacts were the brainchildof Henry Dunant, a survivor of1859’s Battle of Solfernio whosought to end wartime atrocities.

There have been four GenevaConventions with many protocols, oramendments. The Third GenevaConvention of 1949 was arguablythe most far reaching. Enacted atthe end of World War II, it expandedthe role of the International RedCross and called for the humanetreatment of prisoners of war,wounded enemy combatants, civil-ians and women in combat zones.Furthermore, violators became sub-ject to prosecution by the interna-tional community. More than 190nation-states have signed the agree-ment.—Rick Hardy, Chair, Department ofPolitical Science

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became famous as they broke dis-tance and speed records. HowardHughes designed aircraft, mademovies, romanced Hollywood beau-ties and flew airplanes.

The most famous celebrity pilot,of course, was Charles Lindbergh,who made the first solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927, but Earhartwas the most famous woman aviator,achieving fame in 1926 by setting analtitude record and a few years laterbecoming the first woman to flyacross the Atlantic – as a passenger.(Earhart resented the fact that shereceived more acclaim than the twomen who did the flying.) Becauseshe vaguely resembled Lindbergh,some reporters dubbed her “LadyLindy,” to her displeasure. In 1932she demonstrated her own pilotingskills by flying transatlantic solo,thereby becoming the first person tofly across the Atlantic twice.

Earhart continued to set recordsand advance civil aviation, andbefore starting her around-the-worldflight in 1937, she said, “I have afeeling that there is just about onemore good flight left in my systemand I hope this trip is it. Anyway,when I have finished this job, I meanto give up long-distance ‘stunt’ fly-ing.”

Searches continued for about amonth after Earhart and Noonan’sloss. Even today, occasional effortsare made to find evidence of the fateof this celebrity aviator.— David L. Miller, Department ofSociology and Anthropology (retiredfaculty)

1947 - Jackie Robinson joins theBrooklyn Dodgers.

Robinson accepting baseball GMBranch Rickey’s offer – and chal-lenge – to integrate Major LeagueBaseball led to his remarkable on-field achievements as well as pro-found social effects. In Robinson’srookie season, the former UCLAfour-sport letterman and AllAmerican won the Sporting News’

Rookie of the Year Award and alsoMLB’s first Rookie of the YearAward.

Sixty years later, MLB’s racialmakeup has changed considerably,according to the most recent annualRacial and Gender Report Card fromthe Institute for Diversity and Ethicsin Sport at the University of CentralFlorida. They found 59.9 percent ofmajor-league players were white,28.7 percent were Hispanic (a per-centage that’s doubled since 1990)and 2.5 percent were Asian. Just 8.5percent were Black, a number thathas been in steady decline since anall-time high of 25 percent in 1975.

In fact, the Seattle Times newspa-per last summer reported that sixMLB teams had no African-American players on their activeroster: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston,Colorado, Houston and Seattle.— Bill Knight, associate professor,Department of English andJournalism

1957 - Russians launch Sputnik I,first Earth-orbiting satellite; theSpace Age begins.

Konstantin EduardovichTsiolkovsky was the first to write athesis proposing the use of rocketsto launch satellites in his “TheExploration of Cosmic Space byMeans of Reaction Devices” (1903).Before then, rockets were used as(mostly ineffective) weapons. RobertGoddard, Wernher von Braun andothers began looking for liquid fuelthat would effectively propel rock-

ets. While von Braun built V2 rock-ets for the Germans, he and hisresearch team faced execution by theNazis at the close of World War IIand fled to Allied forces. They con-tinued their rocket research with theU.S. Army.

With virtually every “famousname” in rocket research workingfor the United States, it was a sur-prise when the Soviet Unionlaunched the basketball-sizedSputnik I on October 4, 1957. Overthe next year the Soviet Union suc-cessfully launched two more Sputniksatellites with only one failure. Inthe same time period, the UnitedStates launched four satellites in 12attempts, making major scientificdiscoveries (mapping Van Allen radi-ation belts and finding out that ourEarth is pear-shaped).

Sputnik I scared many Americansinto believing the Soviets were agreater military threat than they actu-ally were. Sputnik I probably quick-ened the creation of NASA 361 dayslater. To reassert U.S. technologicalsuperiority,the U.S.govern-mentembarkedon majorand riskyspace mis-sions,resultingin 17astronautdeaths on space missions, 24 deathsoverall.

People wonder how many of the32 astronaut and cosmonaut deathswould have been avoided if national-istic goals had been secondary to sci-entific exploration.— Chuck Ehlschlaeger, associateprofessor, Department of Geography,and GIS Center Director

1967 - Israeli and Arab forces bat-tle; six-day war ends with Israeloccupying Sinai Peninsula, Golan

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Heights, Gaza Strip, and East Bankof Suez Canal.

I might be the only person in thedepartment alive in 1967 or at leastold enough to “remember” the SixDay War. I was about to graduatefrom high school, playing in a rock‘n’ roll band, and hiding from theheadmaster who was threatening todrag me to a barber to have my longhair cut. I vaguely remember beingimpressed with the heroism of theIsraeli army against such an over-whelming force mustered by theArab world, but I was also disturbedby the sense that this situation wasfar from resolved. The vague con-cerns of a 17-year-old mind other-wise preoccupied by all thingsAquarian and counter culture in therocking and rolling late spring of1967 has, tragically, turned out to beall too true. —John Simmons, Chair, Departmentof Philosophy and Religious Studies

1967 – Thurgood Marshall swornin as first black U.S. SupremeCourt justice.

The first African-Americanappointed to the U.S. SupremeCourt, Marshall’s claim to fame hadbeen his role as part of the NAACPlegal team during 1954’s Brown vs.Board of Education of Topeka case.Among legal scholars, Marshall’sdecision to use a social psycholo-gist’s “Colored Doll” test helpedoverturn the “separate but equal”doctrine established in 1896 with thePlessy vs. Ferguson case).

That test entailed giving 16 Blackchildrenbetweensix andnine yearsold variousdolls –white and“colored” –and askingthem whichdoll 1) theywanted to

play with, 2) “looked bad,” 3) had anice color, and 4) was the “nice”doll. Ten out of the 16 kids preferredto play with the white doll, 11 out of16 noted that the brown doll looked“bad,” and 9 out of 16 selected thewhite doll as the “nice” one. — Nancy Kwang Johnson, assistantprofessor, Department of AfricanAmerican Studies

1977 - Episcopal Church USA per-mits the ordination of women aspriests.

Women had been excluded fromspiritual leadership in theEpiscopal Church for cen-turies until the first day of1977, when a decision bythe General Convention ofthe Episcopal Church tookeffect permitting the ordi-nation of women. The gov-erning body of the churchpassed a resolution declar-ing that “no one shall bedenied access” to ordina-tion into the three orders ofministry — deacons, priests or bish-ops — on the basis of gender.

A few women had been ordainedpriests in Philadelphia before churchlaws were changed, and the applica-tion of the ruling has varied since thechurch’s 38 “provinces” have con-siderable independence, includingdeciding who is eligible for ordina-tion.

One of the first officially sanc-tioned women priests was African-American lawyer, professor, poet,activist and minister Pauli Murray,ordained a week after the changetook effect. Born in Baltimore, Md.,where she was orphaned at the ageof three, and raised in Durham, N.C.,by her grandparents and an aunt,Murray earned a law degree atHoward University after beingdenied admission to law schools in1938 at the University of NorthCarolina/ Chapel Hill and HarvardUniversity due to race and gender.

Before she was called to the min-

istry in 1972, Murray taught formany years at Brandeis University,where her commitment to workplaceequality led to a complaint that theschool violated the Civil Rights Act,which was upheld.

One of the founders of theNational Organization of Women(NOW), Murray also was a laborleader and Christian minister whoseordination represented a triumph forwomen who “knocked on heaven’sdoor,” according to MarkOppenheimer’s Knocking onHeaven’s Door: American Religion

in the Age of Counter Culture.That Murray, a woman of African-

American descent, attained recogni-tion and status as the first, Blackfemale Episcopal priest in a socialmilieu in which women, regardlessof ethnicity, were routinely over-looked, serves as a testimony to crit-ical paradigm shifts in U.S. cultureduring the latter half of the 20th cen-tury.

Today, the ordination of women iswidely — but not universally —accepted. And a generation ofEpiscopalians has known nothing buta church in which women can serveas priests. A church census a year agoshowed that the Episcopalian churchhad 16,523 clergy, 4,607 of themwomen. The leader of the EpiscopalChurch in the USA is now a woman:The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine JeffertsSchori, previously Bishop of Nevada.

— C. S’thembile West, associateprofessor, Department of Women’sStudies

Continued on page 22

Lwin's comments: “In his lifetime,Art Lathrop was such a cheerful andinvigorating presence that it waseasy to forget how hard he workedat teaching each and every class atWestern. He just wanted it to bedone right and went to astonishinglengths to be certain that he waswell prepared. His students willremember him as a warm and won-derful man.”

Joe Friichenicht didn’t teach, butafter earning his Bachelor’s degreein physics at Western in the early1950s, he worked as a physicist inthe military and in industry.

Friichenicht died in PalmDesert, Calif., at the age of 75 onJanuary 31.

Born in Matherville, Ill., to Fredand Thelma Friichtenicht, Joeattended Sherrard High School,where he was valedictorian. Aftergraduating at Western, he earned aMaster’s degree in nuclear physicsfrom the University of Iowa in1956.

Joe was commissioned as anensign in the U.S. Navy in 1955.After four years at the NuclearRegulatory Commission in

Washington, D. C., he left the Navywith the rank of Lt. J.G. He returnedto civilian life and started work atTRW in Redondo Beach, Calif., andretired after 31 years in 1990.

Survivors include his wife of 36years, Virginia; one son, JosephDean (Susan); three daughters, SueMazzarino (Joe), Julia Greenlea andJanice Stanley (Glen); five grand-children; two brothers, RichardFriichtenicht (Dixie) of Alexandria,Va. and Ronald Friichtenicht ofRock Island, Ill.; and friend DavidAnderson.

Services were held in Februaryin Cathedral City, Calif.

Two men closely tied to WIU’sPhysics department died this year,leaving legacies in their work in thefield and in the classroom, as well asthose they touched for decades.

Art Lathrop taught in Western’sPhysics department for 25 yearsbefore retiring in 1990.

“There are too many memories,too many anecdotes, too many sto-ries – 40 years is a long time,”remembers Yan L. Lwin, himselfretired from WIU’s Physics depart-ment.“I first knew Art Lathrop whenwe were both hired in 1965. Hiswarmth and modesty were immedi-ately appealing and he seemed toappreciate the relaxed way theBurmese appeared to go about theirbusiness.”

Lathrop was 87 when he diedat his Walla Walla, Wash., homeon October 7.

The son of Ralph LaVerneand Edith (Sherman) Lathrop, Artand Justina Wood married in1946 in Peoria. She died in 2003.

A 1936 graduate of WallaWalla High School, Art earned aBachelor’s degree in 1943 fromWashington State University, aMaster’s degree in 1946 from theUniversity of Illinois, and a doctor-ate in physics in 1952 from RiceUniversity.

From 1953 through 1965 he wasa research physicist at the Institute ofPaper Chemistry in Appleton, Wis.,after which he came to Macomb.

“Art was a generous soul, alwayswarm and welcoming, approach-able,” Lwin recalls. “He was a men-tor, a friend, a colleague, irreplace-able, unique. His ethical and profes-sional standards were always thehighest – we still hear him say, whenconfronted with a sloppy or shady labreport: ‘You cannot do that’.”

Lathrop published severalresearch articles in his area of spe-cialization, radiative transfer theory.Also, from 1983 to 1988 he taughtphysics in summer sessions at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“He had insight that enabled himto appreciate the value of his profes-sion, to value the many contributionsof his colleagues, to see the good inthe mundane, to be supportive, tolaugh at his own foibles, to acknowl-edge his own mistakes,” Lwin con-tinues. “Art’s warmth, good-humor,sensitivity, infectious enthusiasm forscience, and concern for others werealways manifest to me. I know hewas cherished for these qualities bymany others as well.”

Lathrop is survived by nieces,nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews in Oregon and Washington.In addition to his wife, he was pre-ceded in death by his brother RobertLathrop and his sister, BerylHatchitt. He was buried in WallaWalla.

“He had the capacity to cherishothers,” Lwin adds. “His was themost treasured friendship of my life.I consider myself a lucky person tohave known him.”

Another colleague hired withLwin and Lathrop in 1965, retiredphysics professor John Noble, echoes

Physics department loses retiree, alum

Justina and Art Lathrop

Pho

to b

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an L

win

21Spring 07

are challenging environmental regula-tions, I have no problem in represent-ing the defendants,” says the one-timeEPA employee. “What I have found isthat the former agency I was associat-ed with has become bloated, arrogantand without a real sense of commonsense. It is what you expect when anagency or individual is given toomuch power. I have seen up close thecorruption of power by individuals inthe agency and in fact, I enjoy repre-senting entities and farm groups whoare abused by individuals who haveno understanding of agriculture.”

Baise last year told theWashington Post that he consideredhimself a “conservative, center-rightkind of person” and supporter ofPresident Bush— and at press timehad just filed papers to run as aRepublican candidate for the FairfaxCounty Board of Supervisors in sub-urban Washington. So he’s stillinvolved with public affairs.

“The problem with EPA, in myhumble opinion, is that it has losttouch with reality and is spendingmillions on minor risks where weshould be spending our money ondealing with real health risks to oursociety,” he says. “As a result, I haveno qualms about attacking the agencyI helped create at its onset.”

Some may say the cases help pol-luters. Others say he’s helping repairwhat he sees as broken.

In court or on the campaign trail,Baise sees doors of opportunity.

ship with Thomas extends to the late1980s, when he studied with her asan undergraduate. The bondbetween the two remains strong.

“The sad fact is, as well aswe care for our animals andas with all living things, theyget old and we lose them,”Stalf says. “Through ourclose relationship with Dr.Thomas, we can donate theremains to WIU for furtherstudy by students and, thus,extend our education andresearch mission.”

In addition to running asuccessful zoo, Stalf can beseen with animal expert Jack

Hanna in appearances during ABC-TV’s Good Morning America, CBS’sLate Show with David Letterman,and other programs. Animals shownduring Hanna’s presentations comeexclusively from the Niabi Zoo.Stalf acts as the animal handler forthese appearances.

“Jack is great to work with,”Stalf says. “Together, we will drive3,000 miles over the course of sixdays. We get rooms, and the animalsstay in the hotel with us.”

Both Stalf and Hanna can soonbe seen in a syndicated show, Introto the Wild, he says.

Riding with Stalf through thezoo’s property, it becomes apparentthat he is living his dream. Hequickly points out his home, adja-cent to the 214-acre nature preservethat contains the zoo. As he drivesaround the grounds, animals lazingin the noon sun raise their heads, asif to acknowledge a trusted friend’spresence.

“You have a lot of unique oppor-tunities working at a small zoo likeNiabi,” Stalf says. “There are morechances to get hands-on with the ani-mals. We will even frequently takeanimals home with us when they aresick.”

Asked what is his newest chal-lenge for the zoo, Stalf lights up:“Giraffes!”— Jeff Dodd

1987 - Severe earthquake strikesLos Angeles, leaving 100 injuredand six dead.

The 1987 Los Angeles Earthquakewas unexpected in two ways. It

occurred on an unknown fault, witha significant amount of verticalmotion. The occurrence of the verti-cal motion was a surprise to structur-al engineers who had designed theskyscrapers in Los Angeles to with-stand horizontal motion.

— Kyle Mayborn, associate profes-sor in the Department of Geology

1997 - The Pulitzer Prize for Poetryis awarded to Lisel Mueller forAlive Together: New and SelectedPoems, and the Pulitzer Prize forBiography or Autobiography isawarded to Frank McCourt forAngela’s Ashes: A Memoir.

Both Mueller and McCourt hap-pened to be immigrants. Mueller fledNazi persecution and McCourtescaped Irish poverty. They sharedrefuge not only in this country butin language. However, this is a tale oftwo genres and their disparate publicreceptions. Alive Together wasMueller’s eighth book of poetry, theaward an affirmation of a quiet life’swork. Angela’s Ashes was McCourt’sfirst book, written after retiring as ateacher in the New York City publicschools. McCourt’s memoir became abestseller, was turned into a movie,and made millions.— David Stevenson, Professor,Department of English andJournalism

from “CAS Alum,” page 7from “Decades,” page 20 from “Real Sequel,” page 17

22 Focus

Donors for 2006

$50,000 and aboveDrs. Norman & Carmelita Teeter

$10,000 to $49,999Jeff & Mary HickenTe-Hsiu and Peggy MaMaurine MaglioccoMary Olive Woods TrustRAM Inc./Resources & Ag Management

$5,000 to $9,999AnonymousOrpha DeckerJohn MahoneyJoan & Nicholas PanoRael Slavensky & Jeanette ThomasMrs. Patricia WardLynn J. Wolfmeyer

$1,000 to $4,999Richard & Donna AhlgrenAnonymousInessa Levi & George BarnesMichael J. BernsteinDr. Charles Bill, IIWilliam & Doris BurtonDana & Liz ChristiansenLarry Balsamo & Charlene CallisonWilliam & Colleen CombsLawrence A. ConradCooney & Conway

John C. De YongFrederick & Marlene DeanRobert F. & Betty DruienDerek & Kirsten DykstraKathryn DykstraVirginia DykstraEli Lilly & Company FoundationDr. & Mrs. Robert FryzekSusan & Clifford HakaKent & Mardell HarrisDaniel J. HickenIBM CorporationGary & Debbie JuhlJoyce JuhlDonald & Dorothy KellisLionel & Vilma KinneyMr. Maung S. KyinTodd & Ann LesterDr. Steven C. PoplawskiStanley C. RobinsonJohn & Theresa RollinsDr. Essie M. RutledgeSouthwestern Bell FoundationMary J. WhiteSirena White

$500 to $999Bem & Paula AllenDr. Virginia BoyntonLois C. BradshawD.B. and Barbara J. BuchananJeff & Melissa CalhounCaterpillar Foundation

Ernest & Pamela CodilisBrian J. DykstraWesley C. DykstraDavid & Sally Egler James E. EllefsonGeorge Engeln, Jr.Jack & Virginia Leonard EwingHugh K. Funderburg, IIAl & Elaine GoldfarbJohn & Deborah HauptmanRobert Felsenthal & Roxanne HoriMs. Linda JanusGordon W. Kirk, Jr.Scott KozaSusan Martinelli-FernandezRichard & Blanche J. MathersMario & Roberta MorelliDr. & Mrs. Norman V. Palm James W. PhillipsSpencer S. QuamPolly & Jeff RadoshCharles & Karen RomaniGary W. Craig & Karen RoneyDaniel E. SnyderChad Sperry & Lori Baker-SperryHerb & Nancy StrongMr. Nobuyuki TsuchiyaJohn & Linda UbingerRobert A. VittYudong Wang & Xueqin Zhang James & Diana WhiteDean C. & Angela WilliamsDan & Paula Wise

23Spring 07

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