Despite cutting back on virtually all other expenses, the university has decided to increase the financial aid budget by 12 percent for next year.
The Gantcher Center indoor track turned into an source of emotion and hope on Friday night during the Relay For Life benefit for the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Tufts is playing host to a number of conferences this weekend, ranging in focus from microfinance to energy. "Microfinance from Below: The Power of Savings and Savings Groups in Frontier Economies" Details: Speakers from many different sectors have come to the Hill for a conference on the role of savings groups in microfinance. The conference began yesterday and will continue today, with an optional third day for practitioners. For more information, see front page. When and Where: Friday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; Cabot Auditorium Sponsors: The Center for Emerging Market Enterprises at the Fletcher School, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Oxfam America and the Feinstein International Center at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy "US-China Relations Symposium" Details: In this three-part symposium, speakers will address the future relations between the United States and China, focusing on China's current economic and environmental issues. Following opening remarks at 1:30 p.m., economic experts will spend the first part of the day discussing China's role in the global recession. In the second panel that begins at 3:30 p.m. and ends at 5:30 p.m., policy writers and researchers will switch the focus to environmental issues, including China's pressing energy concerns. Retired Navy Adm. Eric McVadon will conclude the symposium with a keynote address at 5:30 p.m., which will be followed by a question-and-answer session. When and Where: Friday, 1:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Cabot Intercultural Center Sponsors: The Institute for Global Leadership's Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services and the International Relations program "New Strategies for the Obama Era" Details: Noam Chomsky, author and linguist, and political activist Bill Fletcher, Jr, will kick off the opening session of the "New Strategies for the Obama Era" conference today at 6 p.m. in Pearson Hall. They will be joined by several other notable speakers. The event will focus on grassroots initiatives and opportunities for the Obama administration and Congress to deal with challenges while staying centered on peace, justice and environmental sustainability. Students can register at www.afsc.org/newstrategies2009. When and Where: 5 p.m. Friday to 9 p.m. Sunday; Pearson Chemical Laboratory and Cabot Intercultural Center Sponsors: The American Friends Service Committee and Peace and Justice Studies "Global Green Infrastructure: Powering the 21st Century" Details: The fourth annual Tufts Energy Conference will tackle the challenge of creating a sustainable energy network. The conference will examine sustainable energy infrastructures in the United States and developing countries. Three panel discussions will look at new technologies, revitalizing the national infrastructure and powering the developing world. When and Where: Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room Sponsors: The Institute for Global Leadership's Tufts Energy Forum (TEF) and the Tufts Climate Solutions Coalition
An unprecedented number of people have submitted proposals for Experimental College courses for the fall semester, and the ExCollege staff is struggling to keep up.
Every year, a slew of soon-to-be freshmen, eager to settle in and meet their future classmates, arrive on campus early to participate in pre-orientation programs. Whether they choose Fitness and Individual Development at Tufts (FIT), International Orientation (IO), Freshman Orientation Community Service (FOCUS) or Tufts Wilderness Orientation, the experience is commonly described as an unforgettable one.
Students are now able to grant faculty members temporary access to their academic transcripts using a new feature of WebCenter, Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser announced on Wednesday in an e-mail.
Refined cuisine is often overlooked in typical college life. Sometimes the evolution from consuming meals named "wake-up", "dinner" and "Pizza Days" to eating ones called "breakfast," "lunch" and "dinner" comes only with age. But some students are looking to the Tufts Culinary Society, founded by freshman Manuel Guzman and sophomore Alix Boulud this past fall, for an alternative.
Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's "Hardball," will headline this year's Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism, which will grapple with the implications of the media's pattern of prying into the lives of politicians.
Gregory Maguire (LA ‘90), the author whose novel inspired the musical "Wicked," spoke yesterday evening in Sophia Gordon Hall as part of the panel "Opting In: Balancing Career and Family," sponsored by the Women's Center, the Women's Studies program and the Office of Development. Maguire was joined by Professor of Education Kathleen Weiler; Amy West, the administrator of the art and art history department; law student Anne Stevenson (LA '07); and Michelle Botus (LA ‘07), a state social worker. Assistant Professor of Anthropology Sarah Pinto moderated the discussion.
A new honor society called Honos Civicus will spotlight graduating seniors who have accomplishments in both the academic and active citizenship arenas.
A design for paint that can peel from surfaces took top honors yesterday in one of two competitions run by the Entrepreneurial Leadership program, and the three Tufts students who designed the product won a $50,000 grant from the School of Engineering's Gordon Institute. The award came as part of the fifth annual Classic Business Plan Competition, held at the Gordon Institute. A group that wants to create business workshops for Uganda youth won an equivalent grant in the other contest, the Social Entrepreneurship Competition. The competitions, sponsored by a number of firms, were open to students from across the university, as well as those outside Tufts, provided their teams had at least one Tufts student on them. The two winning groups each received grants, legal services, storage space and capital network mentoring. The paint design group beat out four other finalists who presented their business plans yesterday to a panel of judges. In the other contest, four finalists vied for the top prize. Michael Mintz, Kunal Gupta, and Matthew Hnatio, three students at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, presented their plans for Peelable Paint. Peelable Paint — and its companion product, Peelable Primer — both "look and act like regular paint except that they can be peeled off of a wall by hand in one giant sheet," according to competition literature. In the Social Entrepren-eurship Competition, a team of students from several universities, including Tufts graduate biomedical engineering student Jeremy Fryer-Biggs, won with their plan to teach young Ugandans business. Through their group, The Strivers Foundation, they plan to develop business workshops for students in Uganda who have completed their high school education but who do not have the opportunity to attend college. "Uganda is a country that is locked in poverty," Fryer-Biggs said. "People can't afford to get higher education. But without getting higher education, you can't get a job that pays enough for you to afford higher education." Strivers hopes to change this by offering high school graduates a business education that costs one tenth of college tuition, but which provides them with the same job prospects as a college graduate. Other finalists' plans ranged from a Web site entitled "eClinic," on which physicians answer users' questions on health and wellness, to Alera LLC, which plans to cultivate seaweed that would be used to make biofuel. While many finalist teams were made up of graduate students, or even alumni, undergraduates were represented as well. Junior Adam Wueger and sophomores Ben Walkley, Ian Goldberg and Alex Ross presented "EcoTexts," an online-textbook supplier targeting college students. Walkley is also an editorialist for the Daily. "We want EcoTexts to be, in a sense, the iTunes of textbooks," a group member said. Senior Julia Torgovitskaya won second place in the Social Entrepreneurship Competition. Along with a student from the University of California, Los Angeles, she created Cadenza, which aims to help performing arts organizations reach out to the college-age demographic, one which they have been struggling to attract in recent years. "Young people don't feel like they fit in when they go to see the performing arts," Torgovitskaya said. "But Cadenza will revolutionize their experience. We'll use a Facebook application to increase awareness, we'll organize group seating for young audience members and we'll plan after-party events so young people have places to go." The company also plans to create a "Cadenza User Interface," similar to Facebook.com, where students make their own accounts, create a calendar of performing arts events and even see what events their friends are attending. Cummings Properties, Deloitte, Skadden Arps, Lowenstein Sandler, Web.com and The Capital Network (TCN) sponsored yesterday's competitions. The Gordon Institute, which coordinates both competitions, is a center housed within the School of Engineering that guides students in management and business-related activities. It also runs the entrepreneurial leadership program. More than 150 students have taken part in the program since it began in 2002. The institute's programs include a Master of Science in engineering management for graduate students and a minor in engineering management for undergraduate engineers.
The leadership studies program in June will receive a $250,000 grant to bolster the program's minor, which was established along with the program last semester.
Lesley Stahl's much-anticipated interview of Alice Waters that aired on March 15 on "60 Minutes" highlighted points that are commonly discussed in association with the mother of the slow foods movement -- the advantages of seasonal produce, the benefits of eating hormone and antibiotic free meat, and the importance of eating locally-grown products. The segment, however, delved deeper into the impact of Waters' movement outside of the kitchen.
This is the second article in a two-part series examining teaching techniques in college-level physics courses. The first part, which was printed in yesterday's paper, examined some of the bold leaps that other universities have taken to improve instruction and understanding. This installment will focus on efforts being made at Tufts to demystify physics. Engineers, pre-med students and other science majors on campus are intimately familiar with Robinson 253, the introductory physics classroom at Tufts, home to Physics 1 and 2. As students sleepwalk into their 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. classes, many are unaware of the research and work that has been put into the lectures they sit through. Universities across the country have been actively examining and redesigning their science lectures and curriculums, and Tufts is no exception. Professor Roger Tobin has been teaching physics courses at Tufts since 1995, experimenting and tinkering with different ways to teach lecture classes. He began teaching traditional lectures but soon came across research that found that large lectures were ineffective for teaching students. "For most of the physicists I knew, the goal was to give clear, well-organized, transparent, logical lectures — preferably with some elegant demonstrations," Tobin said. "But all of the literature shows that even if you do that … only about 30 percent of the class gets it — what you need to do is engage the students." Tobin explained that much of the research behind involving students in lectures suggests that students work in small groups on projects. But practicality is another issue. "It was all wonderful, but when I have a class of 200 students, how do I do [that]?" he remembers asking himself. Tobin did not have to look far to find techniques to improve traditional lectures. Former Tufts Physics Professor Ron Thornton had been researching students' conceptual physics understanding and developed Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs). Thornton recognized that large lectures are a reality at many universities and designed ILDs as a teaching method to maximize the effectiveness of large lectures. Now the director of the Tufts Center for Science and Mathematics Teaching, Thornton has been conducting research on Tufts' physics lectures since the late 1980s. In line with other educational research at the time, he found that post-tests of conceptual physics understanding given at the completion of physics courses often showed little more than a 10 percent gain over pre-tests given to students before the lecture course began. Thornton was shocked by his results. "It just showed that students didn't know what was going on," Thornton said. "[They] were getting through just on knowing algebra and calculus." Thornton spent the next few years developing ILDs as a way to create a more active learning environment in large classes. In these demonstrations, the lecturer describes a brief experiment that he or she will perform in front of the class, such as two different-sized blocks colliding to demonstrate Newton's Third Law of Motion. Before conducting the experiment, however, the lecturer asks students to predict the results as a way to actively engage them and to get them thinking conceptually about the lesson. Using this pedagogy actively engages students in the lecture, while getting them to think conceptually about the tested principle. Once the experiment is run, students are able to compare their hypotheses to the actual results, further solidifying the concept and challenging their expectations. Thornton tested these lecture demonstrations at Tufts with new conceptual pre- and post-tests and noticed substantial improvement. "Students in Physics 1 were going from 10 percent to 90 percent [conceptual improvement]," he said. "We thought our results were too good, but when we tested it again [at the University of] Oregon, we got the same results." As Tobin was looking for ways to improve his lectures, he studied Thornton's research along with findings of other professors. Harvard University Professor of Physics Eric Mazur, profiled in yesterday's article, has also sent out a book on peer instruction techniques for lectures to physics faculty; Tobin borrowed some of Mazur's methodology for his courses. In current physics lectures on campus, professors use a variety of teaching methodologies. "All instructors are different, I don't know if everyone can or should use these techniques … I don't advocate making it mandatory for every professor," Tobin said. "Some might be more effective using traditional methods, but things I found effective have been working." Tobin personally employs techniques from a number of sources. He has incorporated experiments into his lectures — following Thornton's ILD practices — and has students discuss problems posed in lecture in conjunction with Mazur's Peer Instruction method. To employ these techniques, Tobin has used electronic clickers in his lectures. While students may have a love-hate relationship with their clickers, Tobin feels that the questions posed to the class really engage students, encouraging them to think and talk among themselves about concepts, rather than passively listen to their professor. The polling results from the clickers also show professors how many students understand a concept. Still, both Thornton and Tobin agree that it is not the clickers or any technology that makes the pedagogy work. "There's a tendency to fixate on the technology," Tobin said. "I was doing this type of teaching [with flashcards] 10 years before clickers … The important part is what is going on between students. I'm a bit old-fashioned, I guess, but most of learning goes on between human beings. Technology may in some ways facilitate that, but it does not fulfill it." Thornton agrees. He explained that while Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL), the physics lecture program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a useful and successful program, it is not practical because of its cost. "[TEAL] was a very good program to develop, but it took a lot of money," Thornton said. He argues that similar results can be accomplished in regular classrooms without spending millions of dollars. In regard to more interactive lecture formats, Tobin is optimistic. "Students aren't doing worse … than traditional [lectures]," he said. "Worst case is [that] they're learning as much and enjoying it more, and I think they're actually learning more." In the meantime, Thornton spends much of his time training professors and teachers in workshops and promoting ILDs in national and international educational conferences. "Ordinary physics teachers aren't trained to be teachers, they're trained to be researchers," he said. "Will they do everything we teach? No, but this helps."
One is a redhead from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The other is a lanky Seattleite with a propensity for Arizona Iced Tea. Sophomores Ian Hainline and Daniel Heller may have their differences, but their tastes fuse together in cozy 311 Miller Hall to form a blast of style.
A lecture earlier this month has jumpstarted a few initiatives led by the Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF), including a book reading and special focus group — all fitting within the group's theme this semester of social justice.
MIT Chancellor Phillip Clay last night delivered a lecture and participated in a loosely structured, conversational question-and-answer session about the importance of forming personal relationships through racial dialogue, in a lecture in an almost-full Terrace Room in Paige Hall.
Since U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton selected Stephen Bosworth, the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, to oversee Washington's North Korea policy, on Feb. 20, the Korean peninsula has seen a flurry of diplomatic activity and escalating rhetoric.
They've helped push major legislation through the Massachusetts state legislature, organized conventions and rallies attended by hundreds of people, hosted famous speakers like 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry, and raised tens of thousands of dollars for their cause — and they've managed to achieve good grades in college while doing it. The majority of the members of Massachusetts Power Shift (MAPS), a recently founded network of activists advocating for immediate and bold efforts to alleviate the effects of climate change, may be young, but their enthusiastic efforts have proven to be effective. "There are incredible benefits to having the youth voice," MAPS co-coordinator Craig Altemose said. "Most of our members are college students or young professionals, and that gives us some advantages. Firstly, young people have the moral authority on this issue. Climate change will affect their generation. Also, it takes imagination … to change the status quo, to demand change. Young people truly have that imagination and that power." Altemose, a current law student at Harvard University, is one of the three initial founders of MAPS. Since its inception in the fall of 2007, MAPS has grown into a well-known organization with branches at 30 different Massachusetts schools and several successful campaigns under its belt. MAPS has created an Adopt-a-Congressperson campaign in order to pressure legislators to support climate initiatives, organized well-attended rallies for goals like clean electricity and wind power, and is currently working to create a summer grassroots program. "We have basically put ourselves out there to be one of the nation's most aggressive state networks," said co-coordinator Katie MacDonald, a freshman at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. "Massachusetts is one of the most progressive states, so it's really important for us to be a leader on the issue of climate change. We should be representing the boldest initiatives out there." MacDonald, who participated in eco-friendly campaigns at her high school and has been a longtime activist, said that she was nevertheless overwhelmed by the immediate and prominent opportunities MAPS offered her. She was invited to speak at a wind-power rally last year that, she said, helped result in the passage of the Global Warming Solutions Act, a state bill aimed at reducing emissions by 10 percent by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050. "It was amazing because it was my first public speaking opportunity, and the crowd was huge, and I was in the company of other incredible speakers like … John Kerry," she said. "I felt at first like I was out of my league, but you know … This is our issue. Climate change will affect our future, and no one is going to stand up for our future except us." This year, MAPS organized a rally on March 14 to demonstrate citizen support for the We Campaign, an initiative supported by environmentalist and former Vice President Al Gore that aims for 100 percent clean electricity in 10 years. According to Altemose, MAPS expected a turnout of 100 people at the State House and twice as many attended. "People care about this," Altemose said. "We're calling on the state to call on the federal government to implement Gore's goal. It's a non-binding resolution, but it puts pressure on the right people … and is a definite step in the right direction." The Massachusetts General Court passed the resolution last week, and copies of the resolution will be forwarded to President Barack Obama, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and the Massachusetts congressional delegation for further approval, according to a recent MAPS press release. "Passing the resolution is a show of commitment," MAPS Boston Regional Coordinator and Tufts freshman Daniel Richards said. "We want to harness the energy that we have now … and connect various different environmental groups to push for this goal." Richards said that cooperation with other groups and within the group itself is vital to success. "Bridging the gap between activist groups is important," he said. "Bridging the gap between young and old is important. Youth-based groups have many advantages, but one disadvantage is that we do get a high turnover rate every four years when students graduate. But we have good leadership training to combat that … People are trained for their roles one year ahead of time, so they can get acclimated." And, since MAPS is a new organization, there are plenty of open roles. MacDonald said that new member recruitment is a main MAPS mission. MAPS members, according to Altemose, come from all over the state and from different backgrounds, bringing valuable and diverse opinions to the group. But they all agree that climate change is an important issue that deserves widespread public attention. "Climate change is basically the single most important issue in the history of our species," Altemose said. To Richards, caring about the climate is simply common sense. "It almost feels intuitive to me," he said. "The more I learned about the issues facing our planet, the more obvious it seemed to me that our planet needs our help. Curbing climate change is what I want to put my efforts into." MacDonald emphasized that climate change is an ongoing threat that must be combated as quickly and effectively as possible. "Now is our time — while we still have time — to fight to curb climate change."
With Michael Pollan coming to campus today to give the Richard E. Snyder lecture, I decided it was time to address a glaring gap in knowledge that many Tufts people seem to have. It's about food. Organic food. Michael Pollan will almost certainly shed some light on this issue, and more intelligently than I ever could, but since the Daily comes out before the lecture, I get first dibs. Lots of people assume that organic food is healthier, more ethical, better for the environment and, in nearly every way, superior to food without that organic label. But what does organic really mean? If you're walking through Shaw's or any other grocery store, how do you make a decision between the bananas with the organic sticker and those without? They look the same and taste the same to me; to most consumers, the only noticeable difference is the price and that sticker. Organic food, according to the USDA, is free of chemical fertilizers and insecticides, does not contain genetically modified ingredients and is free of hormones and antibiotics. Well, mostly. In fact, food that carries the USDA organic label is only required to be 95 percent organic; that is, a product can display the label if everything in it is organic except a small amount. Products with between 70 and 95 percent organic ingredients can display an alternate label that promises "made with organic ingredients." This still sounds good, right? Organic food is good for a number of purposes — if you want your food to be friendlier to the environment, for example, organic seems like the way to go. No pesticides or insecticides means organic food must be great for the environment, right? Sort of. If you really hope to reduce the carbon footprint from your diet, experts agree that locally grown food is the best way to go. Likewise, a vegetarian or vegan diet would have a significantly lower impact on the environment than even an organic, locally grown omnivore diet. Perhaps you eat organic food because you're concerned about the way animals are treated before they are slaughtered. I'm not a vegetarian, but it occurs to me that if you are concerned about cruelty to animals, you probably shouldn't be eating steak at all — even if the beef is organic. But organic meat isn't necessarily raised in a more humane way than other types of meat. Animals must be given time outdoors; how much time is left up to the farmers. And, interestingly enough, much controversy has arisen over the organic labeling process itself. Inspections are contracted out by the USDA, and oversight is minimal at best. This begs the question: Is organic food safer or better for you? This is the third and arguably final potential reason for selecting organic products. Around the beginning of February, there was an outbreak of salmonella in peanut products. The contamination was traced back to factories in Texas and Georgia that were found to be totally unsanitary but, according to the USDA, organic. Some of your favorite organic companies like Clif Bar and Cascadian Farm had items that were contaminated with salmonella and pulled from shelves. So should you buy organic? Sure, if you can afford it. Organic food is generally safer, though not always, and the label does require all-natural fertilizers and pesticides, which is good. But if you have the choice, buy local AND organic. Try to limit the meat you eat in order to improve health and reduce your carbon footprint. And lastly, as Michael Pollan will surely explain, stop eating processed food-like substances and stick to fresh produce as much as possible.
