What Does Georgia Tech Think?
Selected Press for Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
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EU Center Ambassadors Dialog in Atlanta Business Chronicle
The Atlanta InterBiz Blog featured commentary by the French and German Ambassadors to the U.S. during their campus visit presented by the EU Center in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.
STAC Graduate's Lottery Commercial Hits the Airwaves
CBS Atlanta and the AJC featured 2007 STAC graduate Ben Callner who won a contest for his commercial promoting the Georgia Lottery's Powerball game. The lottery-funded HOPE scholarship helped put Callner through the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture.
A tough line is essential for the communist leadership that places a premium on being deemed by the deeply nationalist public to be "tough enough to defend China in a dangerous world," said John Garver, Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, who commented on rising US-China tensions over plans for President Obama to meet with the Dalai Lama for an Associated Press article.
Garver in Associated Press
"How can Beijing expect the U.S. to respect China's interests, when Beijing violates U.S. vital interests?" said Garver in an article focusing on China's refusal to sign on to new sanctions against Iran.
The ABC announced that the College has named Bill Todd, president and CEO of the Georgia Cancer Coalition as the recipient of this year’s Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service.
Porter Study in World Focus
World Focus featured a 2009 study co-authored by Alan Porter, Professor Emeritus in the School of Public Policy and co-director of the Georgia Tech Technology Policy and Assessment Center, which concluded that China would surpass the United States in technology and science by using demand for clean energy as a catalyst for economic growth.
Nunn in AJC
Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, co-chairman and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and namesake of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, was interviewed about the new documentary Nuclear Tipping Point. "As I view the threat, we have a perfect storm. We have weapons of mass destruction-type material spread in at least 40 countries around the globe. We have technological know-how that is spread very wide now. It was formerly thought that only a state could make a bomb; nobody that’s informed on the subject believes that any more. We’ve got an increasing number of terrorists who would not hesitate to use a nuclear weapon if they were able to get one."
"There is a lot of power that is going unexploited in the (Tennessee) Valley, and I am interested in pursuing every bit of waste heat and power... But I am pro-nuclear and I do think it needs to be part of the solution, and I look forward to bringing another unit at Watts Bar on very quickly," said TVA board nominee and School of Public Policy Professor Marilyn Brown during her Senate confirmation hearing.
February 16, 2010
3:30 PM
February 16, 2010
4:00 PM
February 18, 2010
4:00 PM
February 19, 2010 - February 27, 2010
8:00 PM
February 24, 2010
8:30 AM
February 25, 2010
12:30 PM
February 25, 2010
4:00 PM
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2010 Founder's Day Honors William J. Todd and Heralds Institute-Wide Expansion of Allen Legacy
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Atlanta (February 11, 2010) — The 2010 Founder’s Day celebration on Monday, March 15th will be a landmark event for Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Tech, and the Atlanta community. William J. Todd, president and CEO of the Georgia Cancer Coalition, will be honored as the final recipient of the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service. This 10th anniversary Founder’s Day also begins a new phase of the legacy of Ivan Allen, Jr. Georgia Tech President G. P. “Bud” Peterson will join Interim Dean Kenneth J. Knoespel in announcing plans to expand the Allen legacy across the entire Institute.
William J. Todd
William J. Todd Named 2010 Recipient of the Ivan Allen, Jr. Prize for Progress & Service
William J. “Bill” Todd, president and CEO of the Georgia Cancer Coalition, will be the tenth recipient of the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service.
A Georgia Tech alumnus, Todd has devoted thirty-eight years to healthcare and technology management in Atlanta and currently leads the Georgia Cancer Coalition in efforts to make the state a national leader in cancer care and reduce cancer deaths among Georgians. Ivan Allen College Interim Dean Kenneth J. Knoespel highlighted Todd’s embodiment of the values and principles of former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr.
“Bill Todd is an extraordinary humanitarian and community leader. His accomplishments and steadfast commitment embody Mayor Allen’s advocacy and compassion. It is our privilege to recognize his contributions to our community, state, and the world,” said Knoespel.
Todd founded Encina Technology Ventures and was founding president of the Georgia Research Alliance. He has held administrative posts with Emory University, Grady Memorial Hospital, Wesley Woods, Emory Clinic, and Emory’s School of Medicine and Woodruff Health Sciences Center. Throughout his career, Todd has served on the boards of some of Atlanta’s most influential civic and business entities and in organizations that have provided strategic guidance for Georgia Tech. He has been honored in Northern Ireland for his work to further peace in that region.
Todd will be the tenth leader to receive the Ivan Allen Jr. Award for Progress and Service. The prize has been awarded annually to individuals associated with Georgia who have contributed to the progress and service of society through fields relevant to the curriculum of Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. Previous recipients have included former President Jimmy Carter, former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, Ted Turner, and CARE President and CEO Helene Gayle. A complete list of recipients, their biographies, and speeches may be viewed at the Founder's Day website.
Ivan Allen Jr. Prize
The 2010 Founder’s Day Program
This year’s Founder’s Day program will begin with a symposium 8:00-11:30am highlighting Georgia Tech’s stewardship of the Allen legacy. As Mayor of Atlanta during the turbulent 1960s, Ivan Allen Jr. took a stand for racial integration. His advocacy made him a pariah among many of his social and political peers, but Allen courageously forged ahead and led Atlanta peacefully to racial integration. Humanitarian Leadership on a Global Level: Georgia Tech Responds to The Challenge of the Allen Legacy will feature four panels of distinguished faculty from across the College. Moderated by Susan Cozzens, Associate Dean of Research, the discussion will trace a decade of human centered teaching, research, and initiatives centering on Climate Change, Atlanta, Africa, and Security. The symposium is open to all Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and students.
The luncheon presenting the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress & Service to William J. Todd will begin at noon. President G. P. "Bud" Peterson and Dean Knoespel will announce plans to expand the Allen legacy across the entire Institute and the establishment of a new prize honoring Ivan Allen Jr.
Both the symposium and the luncheon will be held at The Biltmore. The luncheon is by invitation. Todd’s acceptance speech, scheduled to begin a little before 1:00pm, is free and open to the public as space permits.
To learn more about Founder's Day, the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize, William J. Todd or program details, please visit the Founder's Day website.
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Leading Visualization Scholar Barbara Stafford Is Visiting Professor
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Atlanta (February 11, 2010) — Barbara Maria Stafford, an internationally recognized scholar of visualization at the forefront of dialog on the relation between cultural uses of images and medical, scientific, and technological research, will be Visiting Professor at Georgia Tech.
Barbara Stafford
Stafford’s two years on campus will be supported in part by the H. Bruce McEver Program for Engineering and the Liberal Arts. She will focus on interdisciplinary work spanning bioengineering and the cognitive and neurosciences in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture’s Digital Media (DM) program, the College of Engineering’s Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering schools (ME, BME), and the College of Computing.
Ivan Allen College Interim Dean Kenneth J. Knoespel said, “Barbara Stafford's visit affirms the purpose of the McEver Program which encourages work at the intersection of technology and society. It will serve as a catalyst for the multiple Georgia Tech communities working on integrated design in the curriculum and problem-based learning.”
Stafford is recognized for her extraordinary ability to think outside the disciplinary boundaries of the arts and neuroscience and the implications for the future of education: “The idea being that we bring much-needed new data to one another's research agendas.” Her most recent book Echo Objects (University of Chicago Press, 2007) demonstrates the importance of the arts and humanities and their critical role in understanding neurophysiology and cognition for rapidly expanded work in all disciplines with technologies of visualization.
Stafford is the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor Emerita in the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago. She holds an MA degree from Northwestern University and a PhD from the University of Chicago. She has written extensively on visual culture and is the author of numerous books published by MIT Press. Stafford is co-curator of the exhibition Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen, at the Getty Museum. She has received awards and fellowships from numerous institutions including the Smithsonian Institute, Guggenheim Foundation, and the Getty Research Institute. She has served on advisory committees on neurophysiology for the American Academy of Sciences. In 2006, Stafford delivered an invited lecture at the High Museum in conjunction with the Louvre-Atlanta Exhibition that focused attention on the relation between digital technology and the future of the museum.
Stafford will teach a McEver Seminar for undergraduate students focusing attention on the design practices in different disciplines and the problems posed by the rapid expansion of visualization technologies. She will give a graduate seminar (open to undergraduates with permission) on Neural-Aesthetics and Design. Stafford will offer workshops for faculty involved in building courses in senior design in ME and BME. Stafford will also work with senior faculty to further develop initiatives and curriculum under the NSF Directorates of Design and Education.
Her appointment at Georgia Tech begins in August, 2010.
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Can Swiss Rail Solve Atlanta’s Traffic Problems?
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Atlanta (February 11, 2010) — Switzerland claims the best transportation system in the world. In the Sustainable Transportation Policy Forum held on campus January 20-21, the Swiss light rail system was presented as a model of best practices that could help resolve the southeast’s growing traffic congestion.
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Co-organized by the European Union Center of Excellence (EUCE) in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the Consulate General of Switzerland, the forum brought together a distinguished roster of business and political leaders, regional planners, advocates, and policy makers from Georgia and the southeast to evaluate the challenges and choices facing Georgia.
Georgia Tech President G. P. “Bud” Peterson offered welcoming remarks and a toast to the Swiss Ambassador at the forum’s reception.
The Swiss offered lessons from their long history of building and operating public transportation. They’ve invested heavily in transit system sciences and technologies including tunnel and bridge construction (through the Alps), clean-energy transportation vehicles, and long lasting infrastructures. Their technologies are exported around the world.
Remarks were also made by Urs Ziswiler, Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States, and Steve McLaughlin, Vice Provost for International Initiatives at Georgia Tech. Panelists and moderators included EUCE Director Vicki Birchfield, Associate Professor, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs; Michael Meyer, Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Catherine Ross, Professor, College of Architecture; mayors from Athens and Charlotte, NC; Georgia state senators Doug Stoner and Jeff Mullis; as well as regional, national and Swiss experts in transportation planning and policy.
The Forum is part of the U.S.-wide outreach program ThinkSwiss — Brainstorm the Future which promotes exchanges and the sharing of know-how related to "sustainable transportation" between the United States and Switzerland.
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Public Policy Strengthens Focus on Sustainability
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Atlanta (February 12, 2010) — Three leading climate scholars joined the School of Public Policy this year. These new faculty further strengthen the College’s research and teaching in sustainability - a key research area for Georgia Tech.
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The enhanced focus on sustainability, energy, and environmental policy fulfills strategic direction from the University System of Georgia Board of Board of Regents. School of Public Policy Chair Diana Hicks said, “It is especially gratifying that we have been able to move forward that vision during this tough economic climate. This expands opportunities, not only within the school and college, but for synergies with units across Georgia Tech. ”
Assistant Professors Paul Baer and Janelle Knox-Hayes joined the faculty in Fall 2009. Paul Baer is an internationally recognized expert on issues of equity and climate change, with interdisciplinary training including ecological economics, ethics, philosophy of science, risk analysis, and simulation modeling. Janelle Knox-Hayes focuses on the institutional development of carbon emissions markets in the United States and Europe, with particular emphasis on the economic and policy drivers that develop these markets as well as their impact on social and economic systems.
Baer and Knox-Hayes attended the COP15 UN Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen in December. Visit the Climate Policy Blog to see their insightful commentary begun during the COP15.
Daniel Matisoff, assistant professor, arrived in January 2010. He has studied with the Nobel prize winning economist Eleanor Ostrum (sustainable management of common resources). Matisoff evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of climate change policy at the state, national and international levels.
These new faculty members join climate policy professors Marilyn Brown and Bryan Norton and associate professors Douglas Noonan and Robert Kirkman. Brown is nationally recognized for her work on the development and deployment of sustainable energy technologies, the design of policy options to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and the evaluation of energy programs and policies. Norton writes on inter-generational equity, sustainability theory, bio-diversity policy, and on valuation methods. His specialty is the integration of spatio-temporal scaling considerations into sustainability criteria. Noonan's research is at the intersection of environmental, urban, and cultural economics, emphasizing the provision of and adaptation to urban amenities. Kirkman’s research extends environmental philosophy to the built environment, especially to the process of suburbanization and metropolitan growth.
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Modern Languages’ Comfort Chosen for BP/CETL Award
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Atlanta (February 12, 2010) — Kelly Comfort, Assistant Professor of Spanish in the School of Modern Languages has been named recipient of Georgia Tech’s 2010 BP/CETL Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award. Her creativity in teaching has been highlighted by her highly successful service learning and internship courses that require students to work and speak Spanish in Atlanta’s Hispanic communities.
Dr. Kelly Comfort
The CETL/BP Teaching Excellent Awards are institute-wide awards symbolizing Georgia Tech’s commitment to promoting exemplary teaching. Comfort will be honored on Georgia Tech’s Student Honor’s Day in April. She and other awardees will be honored at a luncheon hosted by CETL in March.
Comfort earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Davis. In addition to designing and teaching the Spanish service-learning and internship courses, she has taught classes at Georgia Tech on Spanish conversation and Latin American literature. She also co-taught the Intercultural Seminar Capstone Course. Comfort is faculty advisor of the GT student organization "Gringos y Latinos: Atlanta's Spanish Service Society" (G.L.A.S.S.S.).
Comfort's research and teaching interests include the figure of the artist in modernist fiction, the topic of nation-building in Latin American literature, the literary and philosophic movement of aestheticism, and the Latin American short story. She has lived and studied in Spain, Ecuador, Germany, and Australia. Comfort has published a number of papers. Her most recent is “The Clash of the Foreign and the Local in Martí and Carpentier: From ‘Misplaced Ideas’ to ‘Transculturation’ in Hipertexto.” Her book European Aestheticism and Spanish American Modernismo: Artist Protagonists and the Philosophy of Art for Art’s Sake is under contract with Palgrave Macmillan.
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Boston at DC Black Enterprise Economic Forum
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Atlanta (February 12, 2010) — School of Economics Professor Thomas D. Boston was a key presenter during the Black Enterprise Economic Forum held at The Liaison Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. January 28th.
Dr. Thomas D. Boston
The invitation only conference 20/20 Vision: A Look Ahead At Black America In The Next Economic Boom brought together politicians, economists, policy makers, financial and corporate leadership, entrepreneurs, and other experts to discuss issues “vital to the future of African Americans and the nation as a whole” and inform development of a series of policy recommendations to the Obama administration and business, non-profit, and civic organizations.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis attended the conference’s opening reception. U.S. Trade Representative Ronald Kirk and Commerce Department Chief of Staff Rick C. Wade opened the conference with a message from the Obama administration.
The conference focused on job and education workforce readiness, small business and innovation, and wealth building and financial reform. Presentations included sessions with Melody Barnes, the White House Director of Domestic Policy Council; Jared Bernstein, Deputy Assistant to the President on Economic Policy and Chief Economic Advisor for the Vice President; Bernard Anderson of the Black Enterprise Board of Economists; Michael Lomax, President & CEO of the United Negro College Fund; Michael Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia; David Hinson, National Director, Minority Business Development Agency; Bill Mays, Chairman & CEO of Mays Chemical Company; Rosalind Brewer, President, Southeast Operations for Walmart; and leadership of the Black Enterprise multimedia company. Boston, who is CEO of EuQuant presented during the roundtable session on small business and innovation.
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NROTC Hosts International Naval Officers
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Atlanta (February 12, 2010) — Georgia Tech’s naval ROTC unit hosted a remarkable class of senior international naval officers from the U.S. Naval War College's Naval Command College. The class is comprised of 50 officers from 47 countries around the world including Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Poland, and Yemen.
Naval War College Int'l Officers at Tech
Their visit to Georgia Tech was part of the War College’s introduction to top-flight U.S. government and business entities which includes only two other educational organizations: the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and Rice University ROTC.
The class is convened annually at the invitation of the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations. The 11-month long curriculum focuses on Joint Military Operations, Strategy and Policy, and National Security Decision Making.
Initiated in 1956, the program is designed “to give these leaders a balanced understanding of the economic, political, and social aspects of life in the United States and to increase awareness of the basic issues of international [sic] recognized human rights.” The Naval War College viewed the visit to Georgia Tech NROTC as an opportunity to demonstrate how America educates and trains its best military leaders. More than 55 percent of the officers who attend the program attain the rank of admiral or general in their own countries.
Presentations were made by Captain Stephen Kirby, head of NROTC at Georgia Tech, midshipmen MIDN 1/C David Pham, and MIDN 1/C Kyle Davis.
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HTS PhD Zander Wins 20th Century British History Prize
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Atlanta (February 12, 2010) — Patrick Zander, who earned his PhD in 2009 from the School of History, Technology, and Society, has been awarded the 20th Century British History Prize for his paper about the first air flights over Mt. Everest.
Mt. Everest in the Himalayas
The prize is awarded annually by the leading British journal Twentieth Century British History (Oxford University Press). It is intended to encourage a high standard of scholarship by postgraduate research students in Britain and abroad.
Zander’s paper entitled (Right) Wings Over Everest: High Adventure, High Technology, and High Nationalism on the Roof of the World, 1932-34, will be published in the Twentieth Century British History Journal. This paper investigates the first air flights over Mount Everest in 1933, conducted by a British expedition. Beyond the contributions to science and aviation technology, the flights were also rich with political and imperial significance. In particular, the paper discusses the expedition's close connection to Britain's extreme right wing community and that group's wish to use the Everest flights as a sensational display which would discourage the Indian independence movement.
Zander earned his PhD in History and Sociology of Technology and Science in 2009 under Professor Jonathan Schneer in the School of History, Technology, and Society. He is currently teaching at Kennesaw State University and at Reinhardt College.
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Telotte’s "Mouse Machine" Published in Japanese
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Atlanta (February 12, 2010) — The Mouse Machine (University of Illinois Press, 2008), Jay Telotte’s book on Disney and technology, has been published in Japanese. Japan, (and southeast Asia), is a hot market for Disney and a center for animation work and technology.
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Telotte is Interim Chair and Professor in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture. In The Mouse Machine, he focuses on how Disney’s use of cutting-edge film and media technologies have proven fundamental to the company's identity and its growth in to an entertainment powerhouse.
Telotte has a new book expected to publish in April. Animating Space will focus on animation.
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Check out the new School of Public Policy website!
The reorganized site was designed by Ziyo Wang, a graduate of the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture.
Read more
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Watch General Petraeus Dialog
The Center for International Strategy, Technology and Policy in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs welcomed U.S. CENTCOM Commander and Army General David H. Petraeus to campus January 19.
The 90 minute Q&A may be viewed at the link provided at the bottom of this news page.
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Watch Marilyn Brown's TVA Board Confirmation Hearing
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Atlanta (February 12, 2010) — School of Public Policy Professor Marilyn Brown’s confirmation hearing for the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors occurred February 9, in the midst of the snow event that shut down the Federal government.
President Obama announced his intent to nomiate Brown for a position on the TVA board. (Read more in the December Ivan Allen College Newsletter - link below).
Brown’s statement begins about two thirds of the way through the video which also includes statements and discussion of climate change and air quality issues by U.S. Senators Boxer, Alexander, Barrasso, and Whitehouse and by Brown’s co-nominees Bill Sansom--a businessman, Neil McBride--public rights lawyer, and Barbara Haskew--an economist and past-Provost of Middle Tennessee State University.
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EU Center Hosted German & French Ambassadors
German Ambassador to the U.S.Klaus Scharioth, EU Center Director Vicki Birchfield, and French Ambassador to the U.S. Pierre Vimont spoke on campus before a packed Tennenbaum Auditorium January 28th. An overarching theme of the dialog was the changing global power structure. Read highlights in the Atlanta Business Chronicle article in the press section of this newsletter (above left).
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