Cornell University News Service Releases

May, 1999

Index to all months

For the full text of any story, click on the filename at the end of the description. These stories are also available via anonymous FTP at cunews.cornell.edu. Electronic queries may be made to cunews@cornell.edu.

Saturday garden tours at Cornell Plantations
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Now through September, Cornell Plantations is offering free guided tours through the botanical garden area Saturday afternoons. Led by Plantations volunteers and student interns, the tours include the following specialty gardens: Plantations_tours.hrs.html (May 27, 1999)

French treatment of Nazi-era Jewish refugees
ITHACA, N.Y. -- When the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933, some 25,000 German Jews fled to France. Now a new book by a Cornell University history professor offers the first major appraisal of French responses to the Jewish refugee crisis in the 1930s. Vicki Caron, the author of Uneasy Asylum, France and the Jewish Refugee Crisis, 1933-1942, is the Thomas and Diann Mann Professor of Modern Jewish Studies at Cornell and the winner of the 1997 Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History, awarded by the Wiener Library in London. Caron.French.Jews.html (May 26, 1999)

President emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes is elected president of the American Philosophical Society
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Frank H.T. Rhodes, professor of geological sciences and president emeritus at Cornell University, has been elected president of the American Philosophical Society (APS) for a three-year term. Membership in the society signifies extraordinary accomplishments. The 700 current members from around the world are distinguished scientists and scholars in the mathematical and physical sciences, biological sciences, social sciences and humanities and eminent figures in the professions, arts and public affairs. During the 20th century, more than 200 members were awarded the Nobel Prize. rhodes.philosophical.html (May 26, 1999)

Free list of undervalued stocks on the web
ITHACA, N.Y. -- There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but now there is free, high-quality information for investors, thanks to the savvy MBA students in accounting Associate Professor Rob Bloomfield's equity research course at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. On May 20 the students posted on the World Wide Web a semester's worth of carefully researched stock information on companies they have identified as good investments largely ignored by professional analysts at investment firms. Many of the students will join such firms when they graduate this May 30 and will command high fees for their equity-research skills gained by taking courses like Bloomfield's. equity.rsrch.html (May 24, 1999)

Teachers of top Cornell students to be honored at May 26 ceremony
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University will honor 35 secondary school teachers, some from as far away as Russia, Singapore and India, May 26. The teachers will be brought to campus and recognized for their inspirational teaching with a $4,000 scholarship in their names for future Cornell students from their schools or regions. The teachers were selected by Cornell's Merrill Presidential Scholars, students who represent the top 5 percent of Cornell's 1999 graduating class. The students are chosen by deans of each of the seven undergraduate colleges for outstanding academic achievement, strong leadership ability and potential for contributing to society. Merrill.scholars.1999.lgk.html (May 24, 1999)

Tcat prepares for transit fare change
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (Tcat) has been abuzz with activity lately -- briefing drivers, employees and outlets and putting up signs and posters -- all in an effort to prepare itself, as well as its riders, for a systemwide fare change that will go into effect Monday, June 7. Gone will be the three separate fare structures formerly used by Cornell, Ithaca Transit and TomTran. In their place will be a greatly simplified fare structure that applies to all Tcat routes and services. These changes are part of the service and fare consolidation study that Tcat recently completed with the help of Weslin Consulting Services, a national public transportation consulting firm. Throughout the study, public input on how to improve the current transit system was gathered in more than 50 meetings and a rider survey. This past winter, Tcat unveiled to the community the fare structure proposal that's now being put into effect. Riders can expect to see bus service improvements, such as more frequent times and Sunday and evening service come this August. TCAT.fare.change.html (May 24, 1999)

How society views body size and weight
ITHACA, N.Y. -- How do brides prepare for their weddings when it comes to their weight? What do overweight women do to resist the social stigma of being fat? How does society dictate what the "ideal" woman should weigh? Are vegetarians too skinny, or vibrant and healthy? These are just a few of the issues that two Cornell University sociologists explore in two new books about social issues relating to weight, fatness and thinness. weight.society.ssl.html (May 24, 1999)

Three undergraduates awarded 1999-2000 Udall Scholarships
ITHACA, N.Y. -- In its second year of participation in the Morris K. Udall Scholarship competition, Cornell University has produced three undergraduate winners of the prestigious awards for the 1999-2000 academic year. The three winners from Cornell are: Heather T. Clark, a junior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; William K. Cornwell, also a junior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; and Peter Velez, a sophomore in the College of Engineering. Udall.Scholars.99.sfm.html (May 21, 1999)

Rare Wordsworth volumes acquired
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University Library will announce the acquisition of a rare set of William Wordsworth's Poetical Works (1827), annotated with the poet's largely unpublished handwritten revisions, during a public reception on campus in the Kroch Library's Rare and Manuscript Collections, Wednesday, May 26, at 4 p.m. Members of the media are invited to attend the event, meet with Cornell's Wordsworth scholars and view the Poetical Works books and other material from Cornell Library's Wordsworth collection. Wordsworth.fc.html (May 21, 1999)

Engineered corn can kill monarch butterflies
ITHACA, N.Y. -- An increasingly popular commercial corn, genetically engineered to produce a bacterial toxin to protect against corn pests, has an unwanted side effect: Its pollen kills monarch butterfly larvae in laboratory tests, according to a report by Cornell University researchers. Writing in the latest issue (May 20) of the journal Nature, the Cornell researchers note that this hybrid crop, known as Bt-corn, has genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) spliced into the plant genes. These hybrids are very effective against the ravenous European corn borer, a major corn pest that is destroyed by the plant's toxic tissue. The engineered corn is safe for human consumption. Butterflies.bpf.html (May 13, 1999)

Colossal cyclone near Martian north pole
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have discovered an enormous cyclonic storm system raging in the northern polar regions of the planet Mars. Nearly four times the size of the state of Texas, the storm is composed of water-ice clouds like storm systems on Earth, rather than dust typically found in Martian storms. The system is similar to so-called "spiral" storms observed more than 20 years ago by NASA's Viking Orbiter spacecraft, but it is nearly three times as large as the largest previously detected Martian spiral storm system. The storm is nearly 1,100 miles across from east to west and 900 miles from north to south. The eye of the storm is nearly 200 miles in diameter. The system is larger than the planet's residual north polar ice cap, and is comparable in size to similarly shaped terrestrial hurricanes. mars.cyclone.deb.html (May 19, 1999)

Bruce Lewenstein named director of NY science education improvement program
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Bruce Lewenstein, associate professor of science communication at Cornell University, has been named director of what has been known since 1988 as the New York State Pew Program in Undergraduate Science Education. The organization comprises seven institutions in New York state, including Cornell, working together to improve undergraduate education in science and mathematics. On July 1, the original funding organization, Pew Charitable Trusts, is withdrawing from the program in the belief that its success permits it to become self-supporting in the future. It will be renamed the New York Science Education Program. Bruce.pew.deb.html (May 18, 1999)

Carlos Castillo-Chavez named 'distinguished alumnus' by University of Wisconsin
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Honoring efforts to increase numbers of minorities and women in science and mathematics, the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point has named Cornell University mathematician Carlos Castillo-Chavez as one of three Distinguished Alumni for 1999. Castillo-Chavez is a professor of biomathematics and director of the Cornell Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute. He was cited by the University of Wisconsin, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1976, for fostering minority student involvement in research at Cornell and in Mexico, where he was a visiting professor at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in 1998-99. Chavez_award.hrs.html (May 18, 1999)

Law and Society cites Martha Fineman for lifetime achievement
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Martha Fineman, the Dorothea S. Clarke Professor of Feminist Jurisprudence at Cornell Law School, has been awarded the Harry Kalven Prize by the Law and Society Association (LSA). The prestigious prize, which is awarded every other year by the pre-eminent professional group, is a lifetime achievement award. It honors a substantive body of empirical scholarship that has contributed to the advancement of research in law and society. Fineman shares the award with Joel Handler, a former colleague of hers, and will receive it at the LSA's annual meeting in Chicago at the end of May. Fineman.law.Kalven.awd.html (May 17, 1999)

ILR's Karin Ash is new director of Cornell Career Services
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Karin Ash, director of career services at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations since 1985, has been named the new director of Cornell Career Services. She will start this June. In her new position Ash will direct the office that offers career counseling and job-search assistance to Cornell students, campuswide, and will focus on coordinating programs and service with Cornell's schools and colleges, including the ILR School. She replaces Jane Levy, who has been interim executive director since 1997, and Tom Devlin, who preceded Levy. Karin.Ash.CCS.drctr.html (May 17, 1999)

Law School's Anne Lukingbeal receives two awards for contributions to women's advancement
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Anne Lukingbeal, associate dean and dean of students at Cornell Law School, has been a mentor to women since she first came to campus 21 years ago and a role model for collegial supportiveness among women at the school and elsewhere on campus. Now she is being doubly recognized for her efforts. She is the first winner of a Law School award named in her honor. The Anne Lukingbeal Award was established this year by the Women's Law Coalition (WLC), a student group at the Law School, to recognize those who contribute to the positive experience of women at the school. It will be given yearly. Lukingbeal.awd.law.html (May 17, 1999)

We're only in it for the honey: Cornell offers public course on practical beekeeping
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A new Cornell University course will create quite a buzz if you have ever considered becoming a beekeeper for fun and profit. Cornell Cooperative Extension, in collaboration with the university's Dyce Laboratory for Honey Bee Research, Apiary Extension Program, is offering an apprentice-level spring course as part of its Master Beekeeping Program. BeeClass.bpf.html (May 13, 1999)

Rhododendrons are about to bloom at Cornell Plantations
ITHACA, N. Y -- When early azaleas are blooming, opulent rhododendrons can't be far behind at Cornell Plantations. Sumptuous reds and pinks of dozens of varieties of "rhodies" are about to blanket Comstock Knoll, the wooded hilltop near the Plantations headquarters building on the Cornell University campus. "The best time to visit to catch the peak bloom is around the end of May," says horticultural curator Mary Hirshfeld. "Plan to visit soon to see the collection at its finest." rhodies99.hrs.html (May 13, 1999)

Protect children the way we protect alligators and spotted owls
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Wildlife preservationists have been successful enough in rescuing species from the brink of extinction that some of their methods should be applied to protecting children, says a Cornell University expert. "The wildlife model doesn't focus on individuals but on protecting the habitat or environment from which each species raises its young. Wildlife preservationists assume correctly that the species will survive and thrive if the environment is healthy," says Frank Barry, a Cornell child abuse and community development expert who served for four years on the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect. He recently presented his wildlife proposal for reducing child abuse and neglect at the fourth annual Child Abuse Prevention Conference in Albany, N.Y. wildlife.child.abuse.ssl.html (May 13, 1999)

Garbarino tells White House summit on youth violence of need to improve child mental health care
ITHACA, N.Y. -- After opening the White House strategy session on youth violence on Monday, President Bill Clinton called on Cornell University's James Garbarino to provide an introductory overview of the issue to the 60 invited participants. Garbarino, co-director of Cornell's Family Life Development Center (FLDC) and author of the new book Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them, spoke about the importance of recognizing that children are raised in increasingly toxic social environments and highlighted the need for increased child mental health services. The number of children needing such services, he said, has doubled in the past 25 years. garbarino.whitehouse.2ssl.html (May 12, 1999)

Boyce Thompson Institute celebrates silver anniversary at Cornell
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research Inc. (BTI) this month celebrates 25 years of affiliation with Cornell University. To mark the occasion, BTI will hold an openhouse reception May 19 at 3:30 p.m. in the atrium of the BTI building on the Cornell campus. The open house will be followed by short lectures about the history and science of the institute. BTI-25th.bpf.html (May 11, 1999)

Eva Tardos wins prestigious Guggenheim fellowship
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Eva Tardos, Cornell University professor of computer science, has been awarded a 1999 fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Winners of the prestigious Guggenheim fellowships for 1999 include 179 artists, scholars and scientists selected from nearly 2800 applicants on the basis of "distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment." tardos.guggenheim.bs.html (May 11, 1999)

Fourth annual 'Africa in Ithaca' festival May 15 features Namu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The fourth annual 'Africa in Ithaca' cultural festival, featuring Namu, a noted female singer and performer from East Africa, will be Saturday, May 15, in the Ithaca High School gymnasium. The festival, which in the past has attracted more than 500 people, begins at 7 p.m. and also includes dinner and a dance. Tickets, which are $8 per person ($4 for children 12 and under), can be purchased at Toko Imports in the Dewitt Mall, at Cornell University at the Institute for African Development, 170 Uris Hall, and the Africana Studies and Research Center, 310 Triphammer Road, and at the door. Africa.in.Ithaca.sfm.html (May 11, 1999)

Cornell senior receives Samuel Huntington Public Service Award
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Jamila Cutliff, of Saginaw, Mich., a senior in Cornell University's College of Engineering, has been awarded a 1999 Samuel Huntington Public Service Award. Cutliff, who is an employee of the Cornell Public Service Center, will use the grant to continue work with Encourage Youth Educate Society (EYES), a nonprofit organization she founded in the fall of 1996. Cutliff.Huntington.html (May 11, 1999)

Cornell staff member and alumna wins service-project fellowship
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell Public Service Center has announced that 1997 Cornell alumna and staff member Darael Mahoney, of Erin, N.Y., has been awarded a 1999 echoing green Fellowship, from the nonprofit echoing green Foundation based in New York City. In one of 19 projects chosen by the foundation from a pool of 300 applications, Mahoney and her partner in the grant, German Lopez Gil, will participate in a grass-roots community project in the Dominican Republic, working to foster sustainable access to basic resources for a small, rural community. Echoing.green.html (May 11, 1999)

Performance in Union Square celebrates Labor History Month
ITHACA, N.Y. -- In celebration of Labor History Month, the public is invited to take part in a special performance Saturday, May 15, from 11 a.m. to noon in New York City's Union Square that will evoke the square's central role in the American trade union movement. The performance is sponsored by a unique coalition of academic, labor, business and arts organizations, among them Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. It also features some of the city's most accomplished actors and musicians, who have donated their time and talents to recreate historical events that took place in and near the square in the late 19th century. Union.square.ILR.show.html (May 11, 1999)

Male moth's sperm protects females
ITHACA, N.Y. -- An enduring nuptial gift is included in every sperm package from a male rattlebox moth (Utetheisa ornatrix) to his freshly mated female: a potent, plant-derived chemical that protects her for life against predatory spiders, biologists at Cornell University have discovered. The first (but almost certainly, not the only) example of a sexually transmitted chemical defense to benefit a female animal is reported in the current (May 11, 1999) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Cornell biologists AndrŽs Gonz‡lez, Carmen Rossini, Maria Eisner and Thomas Eisner. The protective chemical, pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) that the adult male obtains by eating rattlebox plants (Crotalaria mucronata) while in the larval stage, reaches every part of the female's body within minutes after mating, the biologists say. It also protects her eggs. ornatrix_tricks.hrs.html (May 5, 1999)

Communications union leader and GTE corporate executive join forces to compete globally
ITHACA, N.Y. -- With his large build and streetwise New York accent, Mort Bahr looks and sounds like the tough-talking, old-style unionist you'd expect him to be. But when he starts talking about how to command more market share in a global economy, you realize that the president of the New York City-based Communication Workers of America represents a new kind of labor leader, one savvy enough to seek to align his union's best interests with those of management. In contrast Bahr's speaking partner, Randy MacDonald, executive vice president for human resources and administrationat GTE, the telecommunications firm headquartered in Irving, Texas, is the image of the buttoned-down corporate "suit" -- until he begins to talk about management openly sharing strategic information with union members at the beginning of bargaining sessions. Bahr and MacDonald, who might easily claim the title of the Oscar and Felix "odd couple" of labor and management, delivered their message in tandem Thursday, April 29, at Cornell University to students in Assistant Professor Rose Batt's section of Semester in Manufacturing, a course at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Associate Professor Lowell Turner's class Collective Bargaining, an undergraduate course at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Labor.mngmt.ldrs.teamup.html (May 7, 1999)

Hubble telescope director to speak May 15 at event to honor Terzian
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Steven Beckwith, former Cornell University professor of astronomy and now director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the astronomical research center responsible for operating the Hubble Space Telescope as an international observatory, will be among the speakers at a daylong symposium May 15 at Cornell University. He will speak on "The Future of Astronomy from Space: The Next Generation Space Telescope." The symposium, "Observing the Universe," is being held to honor Yervant Terzian on his 60th birthday. Terzian, the James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences at Cornell, is stepping down July 1 after 20 years as chair of the Cornell Department of Astronomy. terzian.symp.deb.html (May 7, 1999)

Combined police operation results in three drug arrests
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell University Police Department and the New York State Police Southern Tier Community Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET) have completed a one-month investigation into narcotics sales on campus that resulted in the arrests Wednesday (May 5, 1999) of three employees. The arrested employees worked in a dining facility in Willard Straight Hall. drug.arrests.lgk.html (May 6, 1999)

Three students arrested at protest over use of animals in biology courses
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Three students were arrested today (May 4, 1999) during a protest related to the use of animals in biology courses at Cornell University. Two students were removed from the roof of Day Hall this morning after they chained themselves to the building's flagpoles. The students were taken to the offices of the Cornell University Police Department, where they were questioned prior to the filing of charges. The students, Timothy F. Slate, 20, and Hollace Poole-Kavana, 20, were charged with criminal trespass, a misdemeanor. Other charges are pending. Both reside on campus. biology.protest.arrests.html (May 5, 1999)

University to celebrate Commencement May 29-30
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings will preside over the university's 131st Commencement on Sunday, May 30, at 11 a.m. in Schoellkopf Field. Rawlings will confer degrees on more than 6,000 eligible candidates, capping two days of celebratory activities that include Senior Convocation on Saturday, May 29, with an address by National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger, a 1967 Cornell graduate. Distinguished Yale humanities scholar Harold Bloom, a 1951 graduate of Cornell, will present the Baccalaureate Service address Sunday, May 30. commencement.99.adv.html (May 3, 1999)

UNITE textile labor leader Bruce Raynor wins 1999 Groat award
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Bruce S. Raynor, secretary-treasurer of UNITE, the pre-eminent textile and apparel union in North America, is the recipient of the 1999 Judge William B. Groat Alumni Award from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR). The Groat award is given annually by the ILR school to honor graduates who are exceptional professionals in the field of industrial and labor relations as well as outstanding supporters of the school. Raynor earned a B.S. degree at the ILR school in 1972. Raynor.UNITE.html (May 3, 1999)

Suppression of natural fires harms squirrels
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University biologists who study dwindling populations of one of the rarest mammals in North America have found another reason to let "natural" fires burn. Without lightning-sparked fires every 10 to 12 years, they say, pine trees are isolating Northern Idaho ground squirrels into shrinking groups where non-native plants that do not supply adequate food for the rodents have overwhelmed natural, fire-resistant, seed-laden grasses. "Animals can run from fire, but they can't escape the disastrous effects of habitat fragmentation and starvation. Unless these squirrels can link up with neighboring populations and obtain sufficient fatty seeds to carry them through hibernation, I'm afraid they will die off altogether in our lifetime," says Paul Sherman, one of four biologists authoring a genetic study of the Northern Idaho ground squirrel (Spermophilus brunneus brunneus) in the current Journal of Mammalogy (Vol. 80, No. 1, pp 156-168). squirrel.fire.hrs.web.html (May 3, 1999)