[InFocus] In Focus Nov. 2

[su-infocus at southwestern.edu]

 IN FOCUS: November 2, 2007
 
* TOP NEWS *
	  	*CALENDAR*
SOUTHWESTERN PROFESSOR FORMS NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
TO KEEP TIBETAN LANGUAGE ALIVE
	  	*CAMPUS CALENDAR *

To view upcoming events at Southwestern by day, week or month, click 
here <http://www.southwestern.edu/sucalendar/main.php>.

As a graduate student working on her Ph.D. in Chinese literature, 
Patricia Schiaffini made several trips to Tibet to learn more about 
Tibetan authors. During these visits to Tibet, she also learned 
something else: that many Tibetans were becoming less and less fluent in 
their own language because they tended to speak more Chinese in 
day-to-day life. She also learned that there were very few children's 
books written in Tibetan.

"Tibetan children are losing their own language and their own culture 
because they don't have resources in their own language," says 
Schiaffini, who now teaches Chinese as a part-time assistant professor 
in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Southwestern.

When she returned to the United States after completing her dissertation 
research in 1999, Schiaffini started to brainstorm ways that she could 
help the people of Tibet, but it was not until she had her own children 
that she realized exactly how important children's books really are.

Read the rest of the story here 
<http://www.southwestern.edu/cgi-bin/newsroom/article.cgi?id=46>.
To see pages from some of the books Schiaffini has published, click here 
<http://www.southwestern.edu/newsroom/tibet/tibet.html>.

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SOUTHWESTERN TO FIELD THREE TEAMS AT PROGRAMMING CONTEST
Three teams of students from Southwestern have been preparing for the 
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) South Central Regional 
Programming Contest. The regional round of competition will move on to 
the 32nd annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, 
sponsored by IBM.

The regional round of competition is on Saturday, Nov. 3, at Texas A&M 
University, and teams from nine other Texas universities will be 
competing. Teams of three students will be challenged to use their 
programming skills and rely on their mental endurance to solve complex 
problems under a five-hour deadline. The team that answers the most 
problems correctly in the least amount of time will advance to the world 
finals in Banff Springs, Alberta, Canada, next April.

In preparation for the contest, the students have been practicing every 
Friday afternoon for weeks. Richard Denman, associate professor of math 
and computer science, is coaching the three student teams from 
Southwestern. On team "su root," Stephen Foster, Tommy Rogers and Bob 
Potter will compete. Students Carl West, Nathan Lindzey and Michael 
Party will compete for team "su equipo." The last team, "su pirata 
informatico," is made up of Sarah Doty, Lane Hill and Nick Ashford.

EVENTS
HOMECOMING 2007

Southwestern will celebrate Homecoming & Reunion Weekend this weekend, 
November 2-4. Visit http://www.southwestern.edu/homecoming/ for more 
information.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISABILITY PROJECT STARTING NOV. 7
The Theatre Department and the Theatre for Social Justice Student 
Organization presents "The Disability Project: A Mystical Quest to Slay 
Normalcy," created, written, directed and performed by a collective of 
Southwestern students and faculty. The show will be performed through a 
walking tour of the campus on a quest to question and "slay" ideas of 
normalcy.

The tour will be performed Wednesday, Nov. 7, to Sunday, Nov. 11, 
starting in the lobby of the Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Hones Theatre. The 
tours will begin on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, at 7 p.m. and on 
Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public.

For more information about this project, click here 
<http://www.southwestern.edu/cgi-bin/newsroom/article.cgi?id=47>.

MEDIA COVERAGE

. The /Williamson County Sun /ran a story about Southwestern's new grant 
from the Mellon Foundation for faculty enrichment.

. The /United Methodist Reporter /ran President Jake B. Schrum's column 
about students and the environment.

. The /Williamson County Sun /ran a feature story on the career of 
Drusilla Huffmaster Anderson, who served as a professor of piano at 
Southwestern from 1961 to 1988.

NOTABLES

*Edward L. Kain*, professor of sociology, served on the site review team 
for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Gettysburg College 
Oct. 22-24. Other members of the review team were from Bowdoin College, 
Hamilton College and North Carolina State University.

*Mary Grace Neville*, assistant professor of business and Paideia® 
professor, presented a paper titled "No Student Left Behind: Rethinking 
Our Approach to Management Education" at the 15th annual Institute of 
Behavioral and Applied Management conference. At the same conference, 
Neville was awarded the organization's "Best
Reviewer" commendation for pre-conference participation in the blind, 
peer review process leading to the selection and development of 
conference papers.

*Suzy Pukys*, coordinator of civic engagement, received an award for 
education at the 5th annual Hope Alliance Leadership Luncheon. In 
addition, student *Kathryn Haskin *received an award for the Hope 
Alliance Volunteer of the Year. The Hope Alliance of Williamson County 
is a program dedicated to preventing and raising awareness about 
domestic violence.

*Michael Wolfe*, part-time assistant professor of English, has written a 
story that will be featured in the current issue of Menda City Review. 
His story is titled "I'll Pay You Back When I Get Home." Read the story 
at http://www.mendacitypress.com/11.2007Wolfe.html.

This October issue of Teaching Sociology includes an article co-authored 
by a Southwestern faculty member and three alumni from the Department of 
Sociology and Anthropology. The article is titled "Sociology in Two-Year 
Institutions." The article reports on analyses of college catalog 
listings at over 100 two-year institutions across the United States. It 
is co-authored by *Edward L. Kain*, professor of sociology, *Alexandra 
O. Hendley* '06, who is in the Ph.D. program in sociology at UC-Santa 
Barbara, *Lauren R. Contreras* '07, who is an Americorps member at 
College Forward in Austin, and *Krystal K. Wyatt-Baxter* '06, who is in 
the Ph.D. program in sociology at The University of Texas at Austin.

  	  	 

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