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IN THIS ISSUE:

Foundations and
Corporations: Worth a Look............ 3

A Study Abroad That
Won't Break the Bank ................... 4

A Subtropical Creation .................. 5

Childhood & Literacy ..................... 6

Reaching Out to
the Community ............................ 7

Around the College ....................... 8

G rants............................ ........... 10

Bookbeat ...................................... 11

UNIVERSITY OF

F LORIDA
The Foundation for The Gator Nation.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
News and Publications
2008 Turlington Hall
PO Box 117300
Gainesville FL 32611-7300
editor@clas.ufl.edu
http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu
CLASnotes is published by the College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences to inform faculty, staff and stu-
dents of current research, news and events.

The Dean's

Musings

Competing for Future Economies

The effect of globalization in evening out the field of competition between
emerging nations and the economic giants has been faster than many of our
"experts" had predicted. The high technology sectors are now aggressively
expanding in many growth areas around the world, including India, Finland,
Ireland, Indonesia and Australia. These areas are focusing on scientific and tech-
nical building blocks that have been the foundation for US economies in areas
of electronics, pharmacology and space technologies.
Unfortunately, today's top candidates for graduate study in science and
math are electing to stay home and train in their own countries. The effects
of losing students and graduates in advanced technology will keenly be felt in
Florida. The future of the state depends on our ability to develop new industrial
technologies (e.g. the space sciences, biomedical applications, new agriculture)
that will underpin the state's future. The training of advanced students, especial-
ly those in the critical areas of technology, who also are well prepared in writing,
languages and inter-personal skills is vital.
The training of future teachers in the core areas of science and mathemat-
ics is also critical for building the scientific workforce. Without skilled teachers
in middle and high schools, students turn too easily away from the difficult
subjects and develop a lack of appreciation or understanding of the career
opportunities they will later be denied. Early experiences and exposure to the
technical world is important if we are to turn the current trend around. A first
step will be to find the means necessary to address the critical shortage of sci-
ence and math teachers. We need to encourage bright students to enter this
field and provide the support to make their careers meaningful, so that in turn
they can help us build the next generation of technology leaders.
Neil Sullivan
sullivan@phys. ufl. edu

Dean:
Editor:
Contributing Editor:
Design:
Web Master:
Copy Editor:
Intern:

@ Printed on
recycled paper

Neil Sullivan
Allyson A. Beutke
Buffy Lockette
Jane Dominguez
Jeff Stevens
Michal Meyer
Tiffany Iwankiw

On the Cover:
Thanks to a new language and literacy test designed by Communication Sciences and Disorders
Professor Linda Lombardino, specialists can now predict reading problems in children as young as
age 4-allowing time for remediation before a child falls behind in school. See page 6.

CLASnotes March 2005

page 2

Foundations

and Corporations:

Worth a Look

Kim Taylor is the new Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations for the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In this newly created position, Taylor will
work with faculty members to find corporate and foundation sources of fund-
ing and assist with the grant writing process. Her office is located in the UF
Foundation Building with other members of the CLAS Development Office.
Taylor earned her master's degree in mass communication from UF in
August 2005 and also holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Smith Col-
lege. She has worked as a biological scientist with UF's College of Medicine
and also served as associate director of corporate and foundation relations at
the UF Foundation.

Y you've probably heard about private
foundations funding academic
research. You might have a colleague
who received a grant from a heavy-hitter
like the Ford Foundation. Maybe you've
thought about looking into this whole
"foundations thing" yourself but keep
getting tied up with other obligations.
No longer must faculty fly solo in their
pursuit of foundation funding. In Febru-
ary, the college created a new position
designed to help faculty find and secure
funds from foundations and corpora-
tions.
Although fundraising efforts often
revolve around soliciting individuals,
foundations and corporations should not
be overlooked. Last year, foundations
and corporations gave $11.4 billion to
higher education-4.5 percent of over-
all giving-according to the Council for
Aid to Education's "Voluntary Support
of Education" survey.
Corporate and foundation fund-
ing can appeal to faculty for a number
of reasons. One advantage is that their

applications usually require less time
than those of government funding agen-
cies. For example, most foundations rely
on pre-proposals to gauge whether an
applicant fits with their interests, invit-
ing only those applicants who fit the bill
to submit full proposals. This process
helps ensure that faculty members aren't
investing time creating lengthy propos-
als, which are then doomed to a founda-
tion's circular file.
Another perk of foundations is they
often step in to fill gaps left by tradi-
tional funders like the National Science
Foundation or the National Endowment
for the Humanities. Many foundations
pride themselves on supporting "big
idea" projects that have been labeled too
novel, risky or cutting-edge for govern-
ment funders, including large-scale
interdisciplinary collaborations. Others
will support meat-and-potatoes efforts
like fieldwork, library research, mentor-
ing graduate students, or putting on a
conference.
These examples illustrate the one

constant with foundations-their interests run the
gamut. Some foundations prefer to fund established
scholars while others prefer rising stars. Some prefer to
support a faculty member's existing research while oth-
ers want to help launch faculty in new directions. Some
foundations make gifts as modest as $15,000 while
others offer support in excess of $1.5 million. The one
thing foundations usually don't fund is endowments.
Corporations, on the other hand, may be more
inclined to make endowment gifts, though having the
right relationship is key. Corporations typically expect
existing ties to the university in at least two of three
areas-faculty research, recruitment and partnership
opportunities (e.g. technology transfer)-before they
will consider a major endowment gift.
It's nearly impossible for faculty members to find
the time to learn all these nuances, and now they won't
have to. Faculty interested in exploring foundations and
corporations for support of their work should contact
me, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations
(ktaylor@uff.ufl.edu). I stay up-to-date on funding
trends among key, well-known foundations and corpo-
rations, and can help you pull together an application
for any founder that fits with your research. I look for-
ward to working with you.
-Kim Taylor

CLAS Successes
Ford Foundation
Following a grant renewal com-
ing in 2006, Political Science
Professor Philip Williams and
his team will have received more
than $1 million to study Latino
immigrants in the South.

W.M. Keck Foundation
Astronomy Professor Jian Ge
recently received $875,000 to
develop an instrument that has
the capability of observing stars
at 10 times the depth of current
surveys, in hopes of discovering
thousands of new planets.

David and Lucile
Packard Foundation
An interdisciplinary group led
by Chemistry Professor Wei-
hong Tan received a $1 million
Packard Science and Technology
Award in 2002 to use nanotech-
nology to capture snapshots of
activity within single neurons.

Volkswagen Foundation
History Professor Fred Gregory
is collaborating with German
scholars on a $175,000 project
from the Volkswagen Founda-
tion focused on "Mysticism and
Modernity."

CLASnotes March 2005

page 3

A Study Abroad That Won't Break the Bank

CLAS students travel internationally over spring vacation

Like many students, political science senior Matt Williams had never traveled
outside the US until a spring break trip in college. But his first international
experience was not on a beach in Cancun, but rather a visit to the remnants
of the Berlin Wall guided by one of his favorite professors.

As one of 15 students to participate in
Political Science Associate Professor Ido
Oren's Berlin Study Tour during spring
break last year, Williams had the chance
to visit the German parliament building,
as well as the Red Army victory memo-
rial, the Checkpoint Charlie Museum,
Hitler's bunker, and the site of the 1942
Wannsee Conference. He also enjoyed a
performance of the German Symphony
Orchestra in Berlin's spectacular phil-
harmonic concert hall-all while other
American college students were working
on their suntans.
Due to their affordability and short-
er time commitments involved, spring
break study abroad programs are growing
in popularity at UF "They are great ways
to visit new places, spend less money
and make for an atypical but fun spring
break," says Williams. There are currently
five university-sponsored study abroad
opportunities held over the break, three
of which are led by faculty in the College

of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
"These are popular for many rea-
sons," says CLAS Associate Dean for
Centers, Institutes and International
Affairs Angel Kwolek-Folland. "They do
not require such a huge investment of
time, money, and preparation for stu-
dents-who are often short on time and
money. And sometimes the thought of
that first trip outside the US is frighten-
ing and intimidating for both students
and their parents. A shorter trip with a
group seems more manageable and safe.
Once over the initial hurdle, the next trip
is easier."
In Oren's Berlin tour, the visit is
paired with his INR 4083 course, War
and Peace in World Politics, and is aimed
at bringing to life the places, events and
names covered by the material studied
in class. "It introduces students to alter-
native interpretations of the origins of
World Wars I, II and the Cold War,"
Oren says. "And Berlin was at the epicen-

ter of all these great conflicts of the 20th century."
Center for Latin American Studies professors Eliza-
beth Lowe and Bernadette Cesar-Lee, as director and
assistant director of the center's translation studies pro-
gram, take a group of students to Brussels, Luxembourg,
Paris and Strasbourg each spring break on a multilin-
gual, multicultural tour of Europe. To participate, stu-
dents must be fluent in at least one language other than
English and come ready to observe the intersections
of languages and cultures in the immerging European
Union (EU). The experience includes not only visits to
cultural sites, but also formal meetings with EU officials
and representatives from Brussels University.
"Our students understand that experiencing how
other societies function and how multilingual and mul-
ticultural societies develop mutual respect prepares them
to become better competent leaders in our current geo-
political world structures," says Cesar-Lee.
Another exciting study abroad opportunity offered
in CLAS is the Paris Research Center's "Intensive
Weeklong Study Over Spring Break" program, which
provides an in-depth international experience at the uni-
versity's own classroom site at Reid Hall in Paris' Mont-
parnasse Quarter. UF students travel to Paris where
they take part in courses offered by UF faculty. This
year, Associate Professor of English Andrew Gordon
taught Americans in Paris, while English Professor Brian
McCrea taught Frances Burney in Paris: Revolutionary
Women, Imperial Men and the Invention of Ideology.
In addition to spring break, students also have
the option of studying abroad during the intersession
between the spring and summer semesters. The Paris
Research Center is offering a program May 7-13, 2006,
before the Summer A term begins on May 15, with
the course HUM 4956/WST 3930, Seeing the Other:
French Representations of Non-Western Culture. There
are also a few two-week trips being organized this sum-
mer, including the Center for African Studies' "UF in
Senegal" experience.
For Matt Williams-who, after his spring break
trip to Berlin in 2005 immediately participated in a
summer-long study abroad to Fez, Morocco-shorter
excursions give students a taste of international travel
and usually ignite a desire for more world experiences.
"It was great preparation for hopefully a life of travel to
come.
-Buffy Lockette

UF students huddle together for warmth in Berlin's Pots-
damer Platz next to a small remnant of the Berlin Wall.
Political Science Associate Professor Ido Oren takes students
in his War and Peace in World Politics course to Germany
each spring break to enhance the material covered in class.

CLASnotes March 2005

page 4

Kent Annan Chris Bachelder John Barth Harold Bloom
Anne Carson Ariel Dorfman Carol Frost Bob Hicok Lawrence Joseph
David Kirby David Lehman Randall Mann Judith H. Montgomery
Les Murray Lucia Perlllo Elleen Pollack Paisley Rekdal Joanna Scott
Ben Sonnenberg Manil Suri Abigail Thomas Guven Turan

i I Iso ISUE WIsNTERSPRING 200 Si-s

A Subtropical

Creation

Publishing a national literary magazine is more than seek-
ing out and showcasing the pennings of talented writers.
It also involves all the burdensome little details: bar codes,
ISSN numbers, printer bids. For the English professors who
have created UF's new literary magazine subtropics, the
business of creating a magazine meant taking nothing for
granted and relying on the kindness of the literary world.

"We were a little naive, as none of us
had done it before," says David Leavitt,
subtropics founder and a creative writing
professor in the English department. "It
was like building a bridge while cross-
ing it, though I don't think there is any
other way to start a magazine."
There was an especial sense of
urgency in producing the first issue and
getting it off on the right track, so that
what followed would not be trapped by
initial mistakes.
UF's former literary magazine,
The Florida Quarterly, faded out so
long ago that no one remembers the
exact date of the final issue. When
Leavitt arrived at the university five
years ago, he thought it was time for
a replacement. A couple of years later,
department chair John Leavey gave the
go-ahead and fundraising began. Dona-
tions from UF's Research Foundation,
the CLAS Dean's Office, Storter-Childs
Printing and individual supporters
finally allowed Leavitt, poetry editor
Sidney Wade and managing editor
Mark Mitchell to begin working on the
magazine itself last year.
On January 26, Manhattan book-
store Rizzoli's hosted the magazine's
launch party. A year's worth of reading,

editing and bureaucratic finessing was
embodied in the 146-page magazine
being celebrated with cocktails and
sushi.
"Our goal was to put out a knock-
out first issue," says Leavitt. He solic-
ited work from literary agents, while
creative writing professor Wade relied
on her knowledge of the poetry world.
A letter was sent to famed poet Les
Murray in Australia, who replied imme-
diately with two poems. Then Wade
received a postcard from him. The New
Yorker had unexpectedly published one
of the two poems, but he would write
another. "I was so thrilled that he was
writing one especially for me," says
Wade. "And he did!"
Meanwhile, Leavitt searched for
the kind of stories-fiction and non-
fiction-that, if read elsewhere, would
be described to friends as a must-read.
For Wade: "The poems that I enjoy
catch me physically, either in a laugh or
an intake of breath."
Submissions are now surging in,
about 20 a week, while the extra work-
load means creative writing graduate
students will do more of the initial
reading of unsolicited manuscripts.
Student Dave Reidy says he appreciated

the opportunity to dig into pieces by writers like Har-
old Bloom and John Barth. "For someone of my age
and station that is a rare opportunity."
Though distinctly a local project, subtropics is
a national magazine with the ambition of featur-
ing some of the best work being written today. In
addition to paying its writers at the top of the spec-
trum-$1,000 for prose, $500 for short pieces, $100
for poetry-the magazine also stands apart from com-
petitors by providing its writers with a true rarity in
the literary world: constructive feedback.
While a large plastic bin sits in Mitchell's office
to catch rejected submissions, Mitchell says they take
the time to coax and encourage those with potential.
"My job is to say 'Don't be afraid; keep at it. Write
without fear."'
Kent Annan, whose non-fiction sketches on liv-
ing in Haiti are in the first issue, had his first and
second pieces rejected but was so encouraged by the
honesty and promise in the critiques that he contin-
ued to push himself until he wrote a piece subtropics
was willing to publish. "Some weeks later I sent a
third," he says. "I said 'I promise not to bug you any-
more but I think this one is perfect'." Mitchell agreed.
"It was always close, and finally he nailed it."
The second issue of subtropics, due out in May,
will include works by poet laureate Billy Collins and
poems by a forgotten Florida poet laureate, Vivian
Laramore Rader. The inaugural issue can be pur-
chased at Goerings Book Store or from Amazon.com.
Michal Meyer

CLASnotes March 2005

page 5

Childhood & Literacy

Identifying reading problems before they begin

Parents no longer have to wait until their children are in ele-
mentary school to find out if they are going to struggle with a
reading disability. Communication Sciences and Disorders Pro-
fessor Linda Lombardino has developed a language and literacy
test for children ages 4-7 that is able to diagnose pre-illiteracy.

"Our goal is to identify
children as early as we can
who are having difficulties
so we can do interven-
tions immediately rather
than waiting until they
are failing in reading,"
Lombardino says. The
Assessment of Literacy
and Language exam-
designed for speech and
language pathologists,
reading specialists and
special educators-can
predict in about an hour
whether a child is going
to have trouble reading.
"We know from

studies that have been
done that early interven-
tion makes a very big
difference," says Lom-
bardino. "Children can
learn the concepts they
need and not fall as far
behind as they would
have had they not had the
treatment."
Available since
November, the test focus-
es on early identification
and prevention of severe
reading problems by look-
ing at three dimensions
of language-spoken lan-
guage (vocabulary, word

meaning and syntax),
phonological processing
(the ability to manipu-
late sounds and words
through rhyming and
letter deletion), and basic
literacy tasks (alphabet
knowledge, book han-
dling).
The test is unique
in that it is the first in
the field of speech and
language pathology to
examine both spoken and
written language exten-
sively in young children.
Lombardino's Assessment
of Literacy and Language
test, appropriately nick-
named "ALL" for short,
provides the nation's first
standardized method of
evaluating both areas of
communication simulta-
neously.

"Speech patholo-
gists have not been
working in the realm of
reading for very long,"
says Lombardino. "Usu-
ally, when children have
reading problems they
go to learning disability
specialists, so the role of
the speech pathologist
in reading is a relatively
new one for us, though it
shouldn't have been-we
should have been doing it
for years.
In response to The
American Speech and
Language Association's
recently published posi-
tion paper on the role of
speech language patholo-
gists in written language
development, the field
is now recognizing its
integral role in reading.
CLASnotes March 2005

page 6

"In order to be a good
reader you must have
good semantics and
syntax and a mastery of
the sound system," says
Lombardino. "These are
things speech pathologists
know well, we just haven't
applied our knowledge to
written language up until
now.
Lom-
bardino
has

with reading disabili
Parents from all over
South bring their ch
to the clinic to deter
the extent of their re
problems.
The clinic is esp
ly known for its thoi
diagnosis of dyslexia
Susan Barton, found
of Bright Solutions f
Dyslexia in San
Califor
oft

"There are many reasons

kids have trouble. One tends

to be a learning disability thai

has a neurobiological basis and

often inherited, and the other

environmental. Our goal is to

pick these kids up, regard-

less of the reason."

been
ahead of the
game in this regard for
quite some time. More
than a decade ago she
established the UF Read-
ing Clinic within the
department's Speech and
Hearing Clinic so gradu-
ate students in speech-
language pathology can
learn how to test, diag-
nose and treat children
CLASnotes March 2005

pa
to the
ic. "Many par
who followed my rec
mendation and had
children tested at Dr
Lombardino's clinic
called back and than
me," she says. "Not
did they get an excel
report within a short
od of time, but the s
was professional, treat
the parents with resp

ties. and answered their many
Sthe questions."
ildren Lombardino says
mine while dyslexia is one of
ading the most common learn-
ing disabilities in the US,
ecial- she estimates only 8-15
rough percent of children with
reading problems suffer
er from a biologically based
or reading disability. The far
Jose, more common culprit is a
nia, lack of exposure to read-
en ing and language skills
refers in the home and/or poor
instruction in school.
"There are many rea-
sons kids have trouble,"
she says. "One tends to
be a learning disability
iS that has a neurobiological
basis and is often inher-
iS ited, and the other is
environmental. Our goal
is to pick these kids up,
regardless of the reason."
Lombardino says
parents should be reading
tients to their children daily for
din- at least a half-hour, tak-
ents ing time to point out the
com- words as they read them.
their She is in the process of
extending the test to
have encompass children from
ked ages 3 up to the third
only grade. Visit www.csd.ufl.
lent edu/speech.html for more
Speri- information on the UF
taff Reading Clinic.
ated -Buffy Lockette
ect

Reaching Out

to the Community
The UF Speech and Hearing Clinic recently
received a $50,000 grant from The Blue Foun-
dation for a Healthy Florida to increase clinic
services to adults who live in Alachua County
and surrounding areas. Currently, adults on
Medicaid or those without health insurance
have no access to speech-language p trl-.. ..',
services. The UF clinic expects to serve at least
40 to 50 individuals, ages 21 to 64, during the
year of grant funding.
"Our ability to communicate using the
spoken word has a significant impact on our
ability to participate in the workforce and in
social interaction," says Judith Wingate, a clini-
cal assistant professor in the communication
sciences and disorders department, who also
directs the speech services division of the clinic.
"This generous grant from The Blue Founda-
tion will increase our clinical services to adults
with speech deficits who otherwise have no
access to speech-language therapy services."
Wingate says the grant will also benefit
speech-language p arl.. .. ,' and audiology
students by providing them access to a greater
variety of clients for their clinical training.
Additionally, the funding will enable clinical
researchers to document the need for speech-
language p rl. .1...;, services in the Gainesville
area.
"Without rehabilitative therapy, individuals
suffering speech and language impairment due
to stroke or head injury or those with voice and
stuttering problems often experience barriers to
independent living-such as employment and
social interaction," explains Wingate. The pro-
gram also will provide guidance for caregivers to
reinforce therapy in the home.
The clinic submitted its first application
to the Blue Foundation this year, and is one of
nine organizations to receive funding during this
cycle. The foundation is Blue Cross and Blue
Shield of Florida's philanthropic affiliate.

page 7

Gene Usner (far left) and Diana
Mackoul (far right) of the Blue
Foundation present Judith
Wingate, Betsy Partin Vinson
and Christine Sapienza with a
check for $50,000.

Geography Student
Cambridge Bound
UF senior Justin Bangs has
received a full scholarship to the
University of Cambridge as one
of 40 Gates Cambridge Scholars
from the US. He will pursue a
master's degree in environment,
society and development in the
department of geography. An Orlando native, Bangs
graduates in May with a double major in political sci-
ence and history and a minor in women's studies.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation estab-
lished the Gates Cambridge scholarship in 2000 to
enable outstanding young men and women from out-
side the United Kingdom to study as graduate students
at the University of Cambridge. The trustees award
scholarships on the basis of leadership, intellectual abil-
ity and desire to use knowledge to contribute to the
well-being of society.

A Second Fulbright for Scher
Political Science Professor Richard Scher has received a
Fulbright Senior Scholar award for the 2006-2007 aca-
demic year. Scher, who previously received the honor
for the 2002-2003 academic year, plans to use his new
award in conjunction with his current sabbatical from
UE "The senior specialist program is for scholars who
want to visit or teach in a foreign country but for a
limited time," says Scher, who plans to be in Hungary
in the fall.
The senior award is for a maximum of six weeks
per semester, and it is typical for the senior scholar to
reside at a host institution and give three or four lec-
tures at universities in the country.

Mark Your Calendars
The UF Debate Team, housed in the Dial Center for
Written and Oral Communication, is hosting the 29th
Annual American Forensics Association National Indi-
vidual Events Tournament for the first time since 1996
on March 31-April 3. An estimated 2,000 students
and faculty members from all 50 states are expected to
attend this prestigious event. The debates are free and
open to the public. For a schedule of events visit www.
cwoc.ufl.edu/debate/afaniet/index.htm

CLASnotes encourages letters to the editor. E-mail
editor@clas.ufl.edu or send a letter to CLASnotes, PO
Box 117300, Gainesville FL 32611. CLASnotes reserves
the right to edit submissions for punctuation and length.

page 8

Around

the College

Physicist to Lead World's
Largest High Energy Project
UF physicist Jacobo Konigsberg has been invited to head the Collider Detector
at Fermilab (CDF) collaboration for the next two years. The CDF international
experimental collaboration is committed to studying high energy particle colli-
sions at the world's highest energy particle
accelerator, near Chicago. Physicists use the
accelerator to uncover the identities and
properties of the particles that make up the
universe and to understand the forces and
interactions between those particles.
Konigsberg's formal title is spokesper
son, which is a title "commonly used in
particle physics experiments to denote the
leader of the experiment," says Konigsberg,
who has worked on the CDF for 16 years.
Konigsberg will lead the scientific and
managerial team, and his duties include monitoring scientific results, including
research publications. He also is charged with ensuring the smooth running of
the technology underpinning the experiments. His other roles include overseeing
all other high-level management positions, setting the lab's priorities and ensuring
the CDF gets the money and support it needs to carry out its mandate.

In Memory
Professor Emeritus of Geology James Lynwood Eades died January 21 at Harbor
Chase Assisted Living Facility in Gainesville. He was 84. Eades joined UF as an
associate professor in geology in 1970, and served as chair
from 1973 to 1980. He retired in 2001.
He was internationally known for his work on lime
stabilization of soils. In his teaching role, he chaired and
served on many graduate committees. An adjunct faculty
member in the Department of Civil Engineering, Eades o
also served on many engineering society committees.
A memorial service will be held April 11 at Highlands
Presbyterian Church in Gainesville.

Submit Your Accolades Online
Have you recently published a journal article or presented your research at a con-
ference? We'd like to know about it and include this information on a new Web
page dedicated to listing faculty and graduate student journal publications and
conference presentations. You can submit your information online at
http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu/news/clasnotes/papersform, and the listing will appear
at http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu/news/clasnotes/papers.html

Read CLASnotes online at http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu
CLASnotes March 2005

CLAS Staff Sweep
Superior Accomplishment Awards
Six CLAS employees have received a divisional UF Superior Accomplish-
ment Award in recognition of their outstanding and meritorious service
to the university. They are: Debbie Butler, communication sciences and
disorders office manager; Barbara Dyer, France-Florida Research Insti-
tute and Paris Research Center program assistant; Jolee Gibbs, linguistics
office assistant; Kimberly Holloway, botany program assistant; Melvin
Horton, physics senior engineering technician; Sue Lawless-Yanchisin,
political science program assistant.
Each of the awardees received $200, a certificate of appreciation and
a memento coffee mug. They also are under consideration for the univer-
sity-wide awards, which will be announced on April 25.

Colburn Selected as Senior Adviser
State University System of Florida Chancellor Mark Rosenberg has
appointed History Professor David Colburn to serve as his senior adviser,
a newly created position in the State University System. Colburn, who
served as UF's provost and senior vice president for
academic affairs from 1999 to 2004, will advise the
chancellor and the Florida Board of Governors on
higher education issues related to access and diversity.
"Mark has asked me to examine the process by
which students apply to the state universities and
how they are admitted," says Colburn. "I also will
work on strengthening the global competitiveness of
the state university system. With a new chancellor in
place, this is an opportune time to be involved in higher education in the
state of Florida. It's hard to build strong universities if they all are com-
peting against each other, so we need to find ways to improve the entire
system."
The new position was announced at the end of January, and Colburn
expects to serve two to four years in this capacity. He will remain a faculty
member at UF, maintaining a campus office and teaching courses. Col-
burn currently directs the Reubin O'D. Askew Institute on Politics and
Society at UF, which provides public programs to civic leaders and citizens
of Florida on critical issues confronting the state. Former Governor Reu-
bin Askew and Colburn have collaborated in this effort since 1994.
"David Colburn is a historian of high regard, and as provost of the
University of Florida he provided distinguished leadership and earned
respect throughout the state as a gifted administrator," says Chancellor
Rosenberg. "As senior adviser, he will bring his wisdom and experience
to bear on some of the leading challenges we face as the State University
System-including developing broad issues of strategy and building part-
nerships throughout the state of Florida."
As chancellor, Rosenberg leads a system of 11 public universities with
more than 280,000 students and helps the Florida Board of Governors
provide guidance and set statewide policies on higher education. Previ-
ously, Rosenberg was provost and executive vice president for academic
affairs at Florida International University. The Florida Board of Governors
is the constitutional body created by voters in 2002 to provide leadership
and coordination of Florida's public universities.
CLASnotes March 2005

DEPARTMENT NEWS
Anthropology
The January 2006 issue of A.-.'. ..:... '.. News profiled
UF's anthropology department as one of four exemplary
"integrative departments in pursuit of holism" in the article
"Models for the Future ofAnril- ..p. .1. .,-." The article
addresses the issue of whether departments should divide
along subdisciplinary lines. The other exemplars for inte-
gration were Emory University, the University of Pennsyl-
vania and Arizona State University.

Communication
Sciences and Disorders
Laura B. Demetree, a Doctor of A.li..i1.._,, student,
recently received the 2005-2006 Outstanding Second-Year
Au.D. Student Scholarship from the Au.il.. ., Founda-
tion of America (AFA). She is one of two students nation-
wide to receive the $4,500 award in recognition of her
academic achievement and professional potential. The AFA
is committed to fostering the education and training of
audiologists and to promoting the autonomous practice of
audiology for the benefit of the general public.

Geography
Several students swept statewide awards during the Florida
Society of Geographers Meeting held in St. Petersburg in
February. In addition, five faculty members, four under-
graduates and 12 graduate students made presentations at
the meeting. The winning topics range from physical sci-
ence to political geography.
Phillip Morris, Ashish Patel and Matthew Graham
won the Best Poster Award for "Physical Geography on
the Net: Interactive Laboratory Learning." The award for
Best Undergraduate Presentation went to Joshua Berger
and Jordan Wright for "Estimation of Spatial Variability
of Monthly Precipitation Within the Tiribi Basin, Costa
Rica." Each student received a $100 prize. Cerian Gibbes
received $200 and the Best Graduate Presentation award
for "Assessment of Land Cover Change and Conservation
Effectiveness in Trinidad." Samuel (Saemi) Lederman
received an Honorable Mention for Best Graduate Presen-
tation for "The World Trade Organization's Doha Round:
An Historical Breakthrough for Africa's Cotton Farmers?"

Physics
The UF chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS)
has received an Outstanding Chapter Award from the
national office for the third time in the past four years. The
honor is due, in large part, to the strong leadership of Presi-
dent Catherine Yeh and Vice President Layla Booshehri,
who each were awarded national SPS leadership scholar-
ships in Spring 2005. The club is advised by Yoonseok Lee
and membership is open to all UF undergraduates with an
interest in physics. For more information, go to
www.phys.ufl.edu/-sps.

page 9

Grants

NSF Insures a Great Start to Their CAREERs

This summer, deep in an underground
laboratory in Italy's Abbruzzese Moun-
tains, Assistant Physics Professor Laura
Baudis will attempt to solve one of the most
challenging puzzles in cosmology today.
The National Science Foundation has
awarded Baudis a CAREER grant, allowing
her to continue her research, which uses liq-
uid xenon to detect non-baryonic dark mat-
ter, a material that holds galaxies and clus-
ters together but emits no electromagnetic
radiation. According to the very successful
concordance model of cosmology, non-
baryonic dark matter constitutes 23 percent
of the universe,
however the
composition
of dark mat-
ter and its
distribution
in the galaxy
remain unclear.
Baudis hopes
D her research
will help unveil
a some of the
mysteries of
dark matter,
leading to a greater understanding of how
our galaxy and the larger structures in the
universe formed.
Baudis, who joined the physics depart-
ment in 2004, and is the department's third
female faculty member, never planned to
have a career in physics. In high school, she
enjoyed literature, math and science classes,
but not until she took modern physics in
her final year did she realize she wanted to
become a physicist. "If I wouldn't have been
forced to take it, I probably wouldn't have
realized how much I liked it, and it's pretty
fun," she says.

Baudis plans to use part of her
CAREER grant to help continue her men-
toring program for female physics students.
The program pairs a graduate student men-
tor with an undergraduate student, aiming
to increase the number of women who
obtain advanced degrees in physics, and also
invites guest speakers to talk to the students
about the challenges facing women in the
field of science. She says these role models
are important because they show female
students it is possible for them to have suc-
cessful, rewarding careers in science.
The NSF also awarded a CAREER
grant to Assistant Chemistry Professor Ron-
ald Castellano, who came to UF in 2002
after receiving his PhD in chemistry from
MIT and training as a postdoctoral fellow
at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in
Switzerland. Castellano's research focuses
on self-assembly, which is the spontaneous
association of molecules into larger aggre-
gates.
In nature, multiple copies of a mono-
mer or functional unit come together to
create a new entity with properties and
functions distinct from those of the mono-
mers that formed it. Castellano and his
team of students will use self-assembly as
a tool to create new devices and materials,
focusing on sigma-coupled donor-acceptor
molecules as the aggregating species. Until
recently, such systems have been studied
only at the molecular level.
"The more we learn about how nature
creates large complex machinery from rela-
tively small building blocks, the better we
can understand biological function, design
new therapeutics to interfere with biological
function (drugs), and apply related strate-
gies to other problems and disciplines in
science," Castellano says. "Our ability to
exercise control in how small molecules

organize in solution and on surfaces has a
dramatic consequence on their properties.
The more strategies at our disposal to con-
trol such behavior, the better."
Castellano's CAREER grant integrates
an outreach
project called
Partnerships in
the Chemical
and Materials
Sciences (PIT-
CAMS), which
aims to enhance
chemical and
material science
knowledge of
local 8-12th
grade science tella
teachers through
workshops and symposia. Castellano, who
will dedicate about $40,000 to PITCAMS,
was thrilled to receive financial support for
his research, but he finds NSF's willingness
to also invest in research and education
endeavors an equally exciting aspect of
receiving the CAREER award.
"It will become increasingly impor-
tant that our profession, academia at large
research institutions, acknowledges the

educational role that faculty play," Castel-
lano says. "From undergraduate and gradu-
ate mentoring to outreach and innovative
instructional activities, our most vital role is
in education and mentoring."
The NSF's most prestigious award
program for junior faculty, the CAREER
program, receives about 2,500 proposals a
year. CAREER awards support early career-
development activities of junior faculty who
show successful integration of research and
education and provide a minimum grant of
$400,000 during a five-year period.
-Tiffany Iwankiw

Grants Through the Division of Sponsored Research

December 2005 January 2006 Total: $5,739,411
Read the full grants listing at http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu/news.html in this month's issue of CLASnotes online.

page 10

CLASnotes March 2005

Bookbeat Recent publications from CLAS faculty

San Jacinto 1: A Historical Ecological Approach to an Archaic Site in Colombia
Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo (Anthropology) and Ren&e M. Bonzani, University of Alabama Press

The inhabitants of San Jacinto could not
understand why Augusto Oyuela-Cay-
cedo and his fellow researchers were spend-
ing money to "dig a hole in the ground" in
violence-ridden Colombia. But San Jacinto
1, and its ceramics, hooked Oyuela-Caycedo
from the moment he saw it. Five years later,
the UF inrl-..p. .1. ., professor began exca-
vating the site, located close to the Caribbean
Sea in northern Colombia.
But obstacles
constantly sur-
faced: the small
town where the
excavation took
place suffered a
lengthy drought
that dramati-
cally raised water
prices; unemploy-
u mment and vio-
lence continued
to grow; and Oyuela-Caycedo's neighbor was
kidnapped. Residents, puzzled by the activity,
called the excavation site "la piscina," or the
swimming pool.
Despite these challenges, the dig at San

Jacinto 1 revealed the oldest-known pottery
in the New World and clues to the lifestyles
of people who lived in the area more than
7,000 years ago. The publication of San
Jacinto 1: A Historical EcologicalApproach to
an Archaic Site in Colombia is the culmina-
tion of two decades of research and analysis
in San Jacinto for Oyuela-Caycedo. "It's like
closing a mental door," he says. "I started this
project in 1986, the minute I saw the site and
fell in love with it."The book focuses on
both the processes and the conclusions of the
archaeological excavation. The fiber-tempered
pottery found at the site, used for collecting
plants and cooking, points to a reduction
in mobility and an increase in territorial
control. "The people who made the pottery
were already collecting plants that became
domesticated, including maize," says Oyuela-
Caycedo. Evidence also shows that the people
who occupied the site were hunter-gatherers,
whose movements from base camps to spe-
cial-purpose camps were determined by the
changing, highly seasonal environment. These
people visited San Jacinto during the dry
season, cooking in earthen ovens and collect-
ing and processing plants to make fermented

beverages. A Historical Ecological
Although six Approach to an Archaic
SSite in Colombia
researchers con- ,A.,,... .,.
tinue to analyze
evidence from
the site to create
a sequel to the
book, Oyuela-
Caycedo views
the publication of San Jacinto 1 as the closing
of one chapter in his life and the start of a
new one. Current efforts focus on the site of
Quistococha in the more peaceful country
of Peru. The site, located near the city of
Iquitos, is the first in the Upper Amazon to
be associated with dark soil, or soil modified
by human activity to increase productivity.
Oyuela-Caycedo plans to travel to Quisto-
cocha with 15 undergraduate students this
summer in an effort to learn the cultural
characteristics of the people who lived there
more than 2,000 years ago.
"Curiosity is what drives me," Oyuela-
Caycedo says. "Who were these people, what
were they like, and what challenges did they
face?"
-Tiffany Iwankiw

International Change
and the Stability of
MultiEthnic States,
Badredine Arfi (Political

Science), Indiana Uni-
versity Press
This book proposes
a new way of viewing
and dealing with the
problems of ethnic conflict and coopera-
tion in multiethnic states destabilized by the
changing environment of the post-Cold War
era. Analyzing important moments in the his-
tory of Lebanon and the former Yugoslavia,
Arfi theorizes that the governance of these
societies is transformed under changing inter-
national conditions, providing new insights
on how policy making can be improved
to respond to the challenges posed by the
creation, maintenance, transformation and
collapse of state governance in multiethnic
societies.

Living with AIDS. Ill-
ness, Death r Social
Relationships in Africa.
An Ethnography,
Hansjoerg Dilger (Afri-
can Studies/Anthropol-
ogy), Campus Verlag
More than 2 mil-

lion people died of AIDS
in Africa in 2003. Drawing on longtime field-
work in Tanzania, Hansjoerg Dilger describes
the re-negotiation of social and cultural rela-
tionships in the context of rural-urban migra-
tion and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Ongoing
confrontation with illness and death leads to
ruptures in kinship relations, and to stigmati-
zation of HIV/AIDS victims. Yet individuals,
families and communities have reordered
social and cultural relationships in the context
of crisis to counter the effects that HIV/AIDS
has on the social fabric, and to re-establish
control over the inseparable unity of life and
death. -Author Summary

Conspiracy Narratives
in Roman History, .
Victoria Pagan (Clas-
sics), University of Texas
Press
From the earliest
days of the Republic
to the waning of the
Empire, conspiracies
and intrigues created shadow worlds that
undermined the openness of Rome's represen-
tational government. Victoria Pagan examines
the narrative strategies that five prominent his-
torians used to disclose events that had been
deliberately shrouded in secrecy and silence.
She compares how Sallust, Livy and Tacitus
constructed their accounts of betrayed con-
spiracies, revealing how a historical account of
a secret event depends upon the transmittal
of sensitive information from a private setting
to the public sphere-and why women and
slaves often proved to be ideal transmitters of

secrets.

CLASnotes March 2005

-Publisher
page 11

and the

I

I

Everybody Has One:

Faculty Make Their Opinions Known

In today's information age, opportunities abound for news junkies to opine on topics of interest-from trendy online blogs to the
traditional newspaper opinions/editorial page. Amid all this noise, the college professor can often serve as a voice of reason-
intelligently offering an "expert opinion" or broadening the discussion with insights from their own research.

Linguistics Associate Professor Diana Boxer
read a commentary on National Public
Radio's "All Things
Considered" on
January 30. Titled
"The Etymol-
ogy of Schmooze,"
the commentary
referred to the
scandal involv-
ing lobbyist Jack
Abramoff who
a pled guilty in Janu-
B ary to fraud and
tax evasion charg-
es. Boxer, who is working on a book, "The
Lost Art of the Good Schmooze," discussed
how Washington scandals such as Abramoff's
have redefined the meaning of "schmooze"

into a word with negative connotations. Her
entire commentary can be accessed online
at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.
php?storyld=5179188.
Meanwhile, The Chronicle ofHigher
Education recently published an essay writ-
ten by Women's Studies Assistant Professor
Trysh Travis in its commentary section,
"The Chronicle Review," in February. Titled
"James Frey: Feelings as Facts," the essay dis-
cussed the controversy surrounding Oprah's
Bookclub best seller A Million Little Pieces,
a memoir written by James Frey about his
battle with drug and alcohol addiction, which
was recently discovered to be, in many parts,
fabricated. Her entire article can be read
online at http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/
i22/22b00501.htm
Do you have an opinion you would like

to share? The University of Florida Op-Ed
Service, coordinated by UF News Bureau
writer Aaron
Hoover, assists
UF faculty and
staff with author-
ing opinion pieces
on timely issues.
Hoover will assist
with editing your
piece for length,
tone, style and
readability. He
also handles the
pitching of the
idea to media outlets around the country. For
more information, contact Hoover at 392-
0186 or ahoover@ufl.edu.
-Buffy Lockette

UNIVERSITY OF

FLORIDA
The Foundation for The Gator Nation.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
News and Publications
2008 Turlington Hall
PO Box 117300
Gainesville FL 32611-7300
editor@clas.ufl.edu
http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu

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