December 14, 2007

Edward L. Kain, professor of sociology and University Scholar, presented a lecture and co-led a workshop at Rutgers University Dec. 10. His presentation was titled “Fruitful Partnerships between Faculty and Librarians - the Integration of Information Literacy into the Sociology Curriculum.” It was part of a half-day workshop for the Rutgers University Libraries titled “Information Literacy in the Disciplines: The Sociology Experience.” Participants included subject librarians from the libraries at Rutgers, selected faculty in sociology, and several administrators involved with undergraduate education and teaching excellence. The workshop was co-presented with Triveni Kuchi, Social Sciences/Instructional Services and South Asia Librarian. This workshop is one result of a two-year collaboration with the American Library Association/ ACRL / Anthropology and Sociology Section Instruction and Information Literacy Committee. Near the beginning of the collaboration, Kain worked with Joan Parks, head of Reference Services in the Smith Library Center, to develop a set of materials about collaboration between faculty and librarians on issues of information literacy.

Max Taub, associate professor of biology, is the co-author of a paper that will be published in a forthcoming issue of Global Change Biology. In the paper, he and co-authors Brian Miller and Holly Allen analyze data on the effects of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide on the protein content of food crops. They conclude that the protein content of many crops (paticularly wheat, rice, barley and potatoes) is likely to decline given the increase in CO2 over the 21st century. The paper can be found online at
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01511.x

December 7, 2007

Melissa Johnson, associate professor of anthropology, presented "Cleaning the Yard: Trash and Bush in Rural Belize" in the panel "Rubbish, or Not" at the American Anthropological Association's Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., Nov. 28-Dec. 2. She also was a discussant for the panel "Landscape Interrupted: Reflections on Experiences of Place and Displacement."

Elizabeth Green Musselman, associate professor of history, appeared in a half-hour interview about her South Africa research on the "Exploring Environmental History" podcast. The interview focuses on the relationship between environmental history and the history of science, the extent to which South Africa has a unique environmental history and how Africans' own environmental knowledge made its way into colonial science. The audio file is available online here. The program can be listened to directly from the computer or downloaded to an mp3 player.

Tim O'Neill, professor of political science and holder of the Tower-Hester Chair in Political Science, published his review of Barbara Perry's “The Michigan Affirmative Action Cases” (Kansas, 2007) in the November issue of the Law and Politics Book Review.