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Ted Turner Receives 2008 Allen Prize Ted Turner—media visionary and mogul, business entrepreneur, champion sportsman, and legendary philanthropist—has been selected by Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts (IAC) as the recipient of the 2008 Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service. Turner will receive his award and offer an address, Our Common Future, at the annual IAC Founder's Day Luncheon on Monday, March 31. Turner's address, which is open to the public, will take place at 1:30 pm at the Ballroom of the GT Hotel. |
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Nobel Laureate Keynotes Sam Nunn Bank of America Policy Forum Celebrating its 10th Anniversary, The Sam Nunn Bank of America Policy Forum presents Nonproliferation and the Global Nuclear Renaissance: Bridging the Gap on March 31, 2008. The keynote address will be presented by Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an intergovernmental organization that is part of the United Nations system. He was appointed to office December 1, 1997, and reappointed to a third term in September 2005. During his career as diplomat, international civil servant and scholar, ElBaradei has become closely familiar with the work and processes of international organizations, particularly in the fields of international peace and security and international development. In October 2005, Dr. ElBaradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way." |
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Family Gifts Complete Kranzberg Professorship Recent gift pledges by family members of the late Mel Kranzberg, Professor in the School of History, Technology, and Society (HTS), complete the funding required to establish a permanent professorship named in his honor. In November, 2007, Kenneth Kranzberg, Chairman of the Board for Kranson Industries of St. Louis and nephew of the deceased, offered a challenge gift of $125,000 if Tech could match or find a match for his gift dollar-for-dollar. |
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Pearce Proclaims Videogame Makers Should Market to Women Recent research conducted by Celia Pearce, Assistant Professor, School of Literature, Communication, and Culture (LCC), along with the women's game collective, Ludica, found that board game covers featuring intergenerational groups playing together, or portraying girls and women as actively involved as males, had the effect of bringing whole families together to play: male and female, parents, children and grandparents. This finding impacted how Parker Brothers developed and marketed their games.
Researchers also found that when game designers like George Parker employed women to manufacture their products, they were often recruited to playtest his new games. This approach not only led to games that young and old, male and female enjoyed playing together, it also realized tremendous success for Parker Brothers. Nevertheless, during the recent holiday season, consumers -mostly male- spent millions of dollars on videogames that are largely designed by and for men. Not surprisingly, a recent study revealed that 88.5 percent of game developers are male, and that games are tested by young men and marketed to young men. While their commercial success is unquestionable, it's amazing to think that videogames have become so successful while almost willfully excluding a sizable chunk of the population – women. |
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Boston Appears on the Nightly Business Report In observance of the Martin Luther King holiday, Nightly Business Report teamed up with "Black Enterprise" magazine to present a special edition, American Dreamers, (January 21). Focusing on the minority entrepreneurial experience, the program featured Thomas "Danny" Boston, Professor, School of Economics. "The key to growing minority businesses," Boston states, "is innovation and creativity, particularly in the current market. You have to be able to create a market space in a product and a service that's different from other competitors. And so those who are able to be creative and have the discipline and stick-to-it-ness are those who are successful." |
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Goodman Addresses Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy Seymour Goodman, Professor, joint appointment in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and College of Computing, chair of the National Research Council’s Committee on Improving Cybersecurity Research in the U.S., addressed the American Association for the Advancement of Science Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy at the Cannon House Office Building on February 14th.
Goodman’s presentation focused on international and domestic defenses against cyber attacks, particularly in relationship to dependence on the internet and other internet-like networks. He highlighted trends and deficiencies and provided examples of interventions. |
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Tone Receives 2008 Distinguished Book Award The Society for Military History has selected John Tone, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and Professor, School of History, Technology, and Society, for the 2008 Distinguished Book award in non-American history reflecting original research and an outstanding contribution to military history for his book War and Genocide in Cuba. Tone will be honored with an engraved plaque, a check for $500, and recognition at the annual Society for Military History Awards Luncheon to be held at the Eccles Center in Ogden, Utah, on April 18, 2008. |
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Digital Technology is Changing the Liberal Arts In an essay published on the Academic Commons website (January 18), Janet Murray, Director of Graduate Studies and Professor, LCC, writes about the various technologies affecting research in the liberal arts, including access to huge digital repositories of text and images as well as a growth in the ability to connect people around the world using video along with the discovery of new ways of operating on the material. "Apart from being able to do things more efficiently, the ability to analyze material and put different kinds of material together probably will transform many of the disciplines," said Murray. "There is also a large community of practice growing up among lay users of electronic resources who are creating and navigating vast archives of media." While current strategies for navigating these mega-data sources have had limited success to date, "they point to the kinds of strategies that, over time, hold promise for creating a richer shared representation," she concludes. |
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TPAC Study Shows China as World Technology Leader China may soon rival the United States as the principal driver of the world's economy – a position the U.S. has held since the end of World War II. If that happens, it will mark the first time in nearly a century that two nations have competed for leadership as equals, which is the finding of a new research study of worldwide technological competitiveness by the Technology Policy and Assessment Center (TPAC), based in the School of Public Policy.
"China has really changed the world economic landscape in technology," said study co-author Alan Porter, Emeritus Professor, School of Public Policy and co-director of TPAC. "When you take China's low-cost manufacturing and focus on technology, then combine them with the increasing emphasis on research and development, the result ultimately won't leave much room for other countries." |
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Japanese Film Series Begins in March The Consulate General of Japan, LCC and the School of Modern Languages (ML), presents the Japanese Film Series, Ghosts, Legends, and Technology in Japanese Cinema, which begins with Ugetsu (1954) on March 25th. Other films include Kwaidan and Ghost Story (1964), March 27; Hoichi, The Earless and Weird Tales (1964), March 28; and, Kairo (Pulse) (2001), March 31. All films will be shown in the Student Success Center, Clary Theatre at 7:00pm, and are open to the public and free of charge. |
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Fatworld Published on Independent Lens Fatworld, a new online video game about the politics of nutrition, created by Atlanta-based independent game studio Persuasive Games and owner, Ian Bogost, Assistant Professor, LCC, has been published by Independent Television Service Interactive (ITVS) and Public Broadcasting System's Emmy® Award-winning weekly series "Independent Lens."
Fatworld explores the relationships between obesity, nutrition, and socioeconomics in the United States. "Existing approaches to nutrition advocacy fail to communicate the collective effect of everyday health practices," said Bogost. "In a video game, we can simulate the passage of time and give players a view of their future selves based on their current habits." |
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Sam Nunn School of International Affairs Hosts French Consul General Vicki Birchfield, Assistant Professor, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs (INTA) and Nora Cottille-Foley, Associate Professor, School of Modern Languages (ML), presently offering a course in the Language–Across-the-Curriculum program on the politics of globalization in France and the role of France in the European Union, are honored to host Mr. Philippe Ardanaz, Consul General of the French Consulate of Atlanta, as an esteemed guest lecturer in the context of this interdisciplinary seminar administered by INTA and ML.
The seminar, entitled, Europe on the Eve of the French Presidency of the European Union, will be held on Tuesday, February 26th, from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. in the Wardlaw Center, Gordy Room, 177 North Avenue, Georgia Tech campus. The lecture will be delivered in French and followed by an open discussion in English. This event is open to all students and faculty as well as the general public. |
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| Announcing Spring 2008 PURA Award Recipients Five Ivan Allen College students won President's Undergraduate Research Awards (PURA) for Spring 2008. Representing four schools within the College, the award winner's research topics ranged from the Venezuela tertiary education reform and state formation of Latin America to capturing wild animality and the impact of new media on science fiction. For a complete listing, please visit the Undergraduate Research website. |
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Faculty Profile - Aaron Levine Aaron Levine, a newly appointed Assistant Professor in the School of Public Policy, received his BA in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, M.Phil in Biological Sciences from the University of Cambridge, and Ph.D. in Public Affairs from Princeton University. His research focuses on the intersection of biomedical research, bioethics, and public policy. Within this broad area, he is particularly interested in the development of ethically-contentious new biotechnologies and understanding how public policy shapes this development.
Currently in the early stages of a project designed to help resolve an ongoing debate over whether ethical controversy and the policy environments that result from this controversy increase or decrease collaboration among scientists, Levine aims to quantify the impact of ethical controversy on the frequency and types of domestic and international collaborations undertaken by life scientists. This work will combine the analysis of publication data with qualitative interviews and quantitative survey data. Working with other Public Policy faculty and across the Institute, Levine hopes to elevate the awareness of the policy issues raised by ongoing advances in the life sciences through the development of new courses and the forging of closer links between the School of Public Policy, School of Biology and The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. In his spare time, he enjoys both photography and participating in triathlons. |
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| Student Profile - Zach Aten Zach Aten, Junior, School of Economics and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, completed an internship with the Georgia Office of Economic Development, Global Commerce and International Trade Division in December. Aten is now heading off to Beijing, China, for a new internship position with the same office. Scheduled to graduate in 2010, Aten has a lot to pack into the next two years. He will be assisting in establishing a foreign office for the Georgia Office of Economic Development and preparing for the Governor's mission to Beijing. In March, Governor Perdue will be taking the inaugural flight from Atlanta to Shanghai. He will then travel to Beijing to meet with Chinese business leaders. Aten will be instrumental in all of the logistical work for the Governor's trip. |
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