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Exploring
the 'physicist's kitchen' Pilipenko is a strong believer in broad liberal arts education. He encourages students to take advantage of all learning opportunities since they must prepare to compete in a global marketplace of highly-qualified scientists. Impressive to him about Augsburg's physics program are the frequent contact between faculty and students, the experience students can receive in data analysis and programming, and the opportunities to participate in professional conferences. "At Augsburg," says Pilipenko, "students are being taught the most important skill—how to learn—because everyone will need this skill most during their lifetime." Pilipenko and Engebretson's
research, funded by the National Science Foundation, has supported regular visits
by Pilipenko to Augsburg since 1997 to jointly study the Earth's space environment.
Their research focuses on wave aspects of the physics of the northern lights
(aurora borealis) as well as on recent efforts to understand geomagnetic storms,
which can disrupt electronic communications and navigation systems and even
damage orbiting satellites. Pilipenko
returns to Augsburg next fall. Rodenborg
testifies for children The hearing was arranged by the Children's Defense Fund, seeking to bring public attention to the high proportion of African American children in Minnesota's child protection system. In fact, says Rodenborg, the proportion of these children to their population is the highest of any state in the nation. Based on research for her dissertation, Rodenborg testified that poverty influences the child protection outcomes such that poor children remain longer in the system. Even while considering the effects of poverty and other variables, by just being African American, children remain longer in the public protection system. "I stated [to the committee] that this suggested large-scale indirect discrimination," says Rodenborg, "which is very controversial." She explains that the child protection issues appear to be similar to those faced in the criminal justice system, where African American men are also disproportionately represented. The Judiciary Committee
hopes to draw public attention to the problems in the child protection system
as they prepare to present a report to the Legislature. Seeing
more in statistics The seminar was taught by two UCLA professors: Judea Pearl, professor of computer science and statistics, and Sander Greenland, professor of epidemiology. Pearl showed how some simple statistical tools can be used to better evaluate statistical associations as evidence for causality (e.g., smoking and lung cancer, second-hand smoke and asthma). This can be applied to various fields—business, epidemiology, social sciences, and economics. Sander presented his experience in teaching this material. The 40 conference attendees included statisticians, epidemiologists, medical doctors, and computer scientists interested in artificial intelligence. Most were from Southern California, but others came from across the country and five foreign countries. Augsburg's statistical literacy grant is a three-year interdisciplinary project to help bridge the gap between formal mathematical statistics and informal critical thinking, between experimental studies and observational studies in the physical sciences, and between the social sciences and the humanities. Schield is project director
for the Keck Foundation grant to Augsburg. Julie Naylor, adjunct instructor,
is assistant project director and teaches statistics in the business department.
Connecting
across boundaries It began when Norwegian education professor Brit Hauger, from S¯r Trondelag College in Trondheim, came to Augsburg to teach during spring semester. O'Connor traveled to Trondheim to teach in her place. While there, she had the opportunity to meet Karl-Johan Johansen, a teacher at the college and a consultant to PROFF, an organization serving people with disabilities. With others from PROFF, she had the opportunity to travel to Hadamar, Germany, to visit the site of a hospital where 15,000 people with disabilities were killed during the Holocaust. As a result of this connection with PROFF, Augsburg became one of the two places in the U.S. to host a memorial photographic exhibit from Hadamar last November, its first showing in this country. Johansen came to Minneapolis with the exhibit, along with Per Frederiksen, from PROFF. While they were in Minneapolis, O'Connor introduced them to the Interact Center for Visual and Performing Arts, an organization providing artistic creative opportunities for people with a variety of disabilities. Some of OíConnorís education students and visiting Norwegian students have fulfilled practica requirements at Interact. Now, in March, Johansen
and Frederiksen have secured funding in Norway for a group from Interact to
travel to Norway and Denmark to give performances. New
and in print
The editorial work involved not only original research and writing, but coordinating and editing the work of 50 scholars from around the world who contributed approximately 150 major articles. The entries are grouped into three chronological periods, each introduced by a general essay. Interpreting "women's movements" broadly, the work focuses on Russian women's struggles and activities on their behalf for education, suffrage, equal opportunities, and social programs. Much of the material on recent movements and groups is not available elsewhere in Western publications. For those studying women's roles in the West, it provides good bases for comparison across time, says Noonan. In addition, the book contains a glossary, special terminology, chronology, and suggested readings. "Although new women's
movements are constantly cropping up, the book should stand the test of time
in terms of existing groups and historical groups," says Noonan. "I
think we tried to identify the major individuals, concepts, and groups in the
Russian context, and that should provide a work of lasting value in the field
of Russian and women's studies." Death and the Statesman:
The Culture and Psychology of U.S. Leaders during War
Through their writings, memoirs, biographies, and foreign policy speeches, Underhill-Cady studied the "foreign policy elite"—presidents, State and Defense Department officials, and members of Congress—who led the country over the past century. He especially focused on their views toward American deaths in these conflicts. His findings show that decision-makers are not simply concerned with strategy and security but formulate policy that deals as well with their own fears of death and desires for immortality. Their policies reflect the desire to project these fears into actions aimed at defeating death itself. When this becomes institutionalized, opposition to this policy (and thus to the war) becomes difficult. For the U.S., war is increasingly being waged using sophisticated technology, thus decreasing the number of deaths in war and allowing American forces to fight overseas with minimal risks to their own lives. Underhill-Cady's conclusion is that the discourse on war should avoid abstract, dehumanizing language, and that the national dialogue about foreign policy should include introspective reflection to guard against jingoism and the unnecessary use of force.
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| Copyright 2007.
Augsburg College all rights reserved. |
Prof.
Viacheslav (Slava) Pilipenko believes that learning is more than facts and figures.
He is head of the Wave Geomagnetic Fields Laboratory of the Institute of the
Physics of the Earth in Moscow and returned to Augsburg last fall for collaborative
research with Prof. Mark Engebretson. 
Prof.
Nancy Rodenborg, social work, testified in December at the State Capitol before
the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held a hearing about disproportional representation
of African American children in child protection. The session was introduced
by Augsburg social work professor Glenda Dewberry Rooney.
As
part of a half-million-dollar grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to Augsburg,
business administration professor Milo Schield organized a two-day seminar in
January at the University of California-Los Angeles on "Statistical Association
and Causal Connections." The seminar studied ways to use statistical observations
to test causal theories. 
Last
year Augsburg education professor Susan O'Connor traveled to Norway. This year,
another group of Minnesotans is visiting Norway as an indirect result of that
visit. 
Norma
Noonan's task as primary editor in creating this compendium was enormous. Over
five years, she and her co-editor compiled a comprehensive resource about Russian
women, organizations, and movements supporting women's issues from the early
19th century through the end of the Soviet era. 
At
a time when American citizens are becoming increasingly engaged in fighting
an "axis of evil," Joe Underhill-Cadyís book penetrates the pysches
of national leaders and decision-makers to explore their motivations about how
and when they made decisions about war.