Campus Connections

Issue Date: February 16, 2004

News and Notices

Open enrollment set for Feb. 23–March 12

The annual open enrollment period for benefits runs Feb. 23 through March 12. Employees will receive their packet of information via campus mail on Feb. 23.

During open enrollment, employees may change medical and dental plans, enroll dependents onto their coverage, and apply for a 90-day waiting period on long-term disability benefits (hourly employees only). Changes made during open enrollment to medical or dental enrollments are effective April 1.

Employees may also enroll, or reenroll, in Personal Choice for the Healthcare and Dependent Care pretax spending accounts for the upcoming plan year, April 1, 2004, through March 31, 2005. Reenrollment is required for continued participation.

The Personal Choice account allows employees to set aside pretax earnings for out-of-pocket healthcare expenses pertaining to medical, dental, vision, and alternative care. Copays for office visits and prescriptions, deductibles, the cost of over-the-counter medication, expenses for chiropractic or other alternative care, and smoking cessation programs are examples of eligible expenses. Pretax earnings can also be used for dependent care for children up to age 13.

There will be several opportunities for employees to learn more about the College’s benefit plans during open enrollment.

The annual Benefits Fair brings representatives from all of the College’s benefit plans to campus on Wednesday, March 3, 10:30–11:30 a.m. and 12:30–3 p.m., in Stamm West.

TIAA-CREF representatives will remain on campus after the Benefits Fair through March 5 for individual sessions.

Greg Walters, director of human resources, will give a brief presentation on the healthcare market and the College's plan design changes at the next Provost's Forum on benefits on Thursday, Feb. 26, 3:30-5 p.m. in the Council Chamber. Bring your questions!

Associated Administrators will be on campus Friday, Feb. 27, noon-1:30 p.m. for a brown bag presentation in Stamm West to talk about Personal Choice accounts. Watch for mailings and reminders in your campus mailbox throughout open enrollment for upcoming events and enrollment opportunities.

College book brings home the gold and silver

The College's book "The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Bibliography and Essays" received two prestigious regional awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, known as CASE. According to Judy McNally, associate vice president for public affairs and communications, CASE cited the volume for excellence in overall design, writing, photography, typography, and production oversight.

The book received a gold award for overall special-interest publication and a silver award for design.

The book team included Stephen Dow Beckham, Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Professor of History (historical essays); Doug Erickson, archivist and head of special collections (bibliography); Jeremy Skinner, archives coordinator (bibliography); and Paul Merchant, bibliographic specialist (bibliography). Additional credit go to designers Robert Reynolds and Letha Gibbs Wulf.

McNally managed the project. The book was published in January 2003. Beckham will accept the award at the CASE regional conference in Portland on Monday, March 1.

Keep up to date on the presidential search

The College's presidential search committee is conducting a comprehensive search to identify and attract top candidates and to select a new president to lead the institution. Learn the latest.

People News

Scott Staff leaves College Relations

Scott Staff, vice president for college relations for the past six years, is stepping down from his post to spend time with family and to pursue other opportunities.

Staff will serve in an advisory capacity as special assistant to the president. Jane Atkinson, provost, will serve as acting vice president for college relations during the interim.

Staff is a double alumnus of Lewis & Clark. He earned his bachelor's degree here in 1987 and his J.D. in 1991. Following graduation, he worked in the law school's external relations department before he became head of the college relations division.

Hunter and Osipovich honored with Fulbright scholar grants

Jane Hunter, professor of history, and Tatiana Osipovich, associate professor of Russian language and literature, have been spending this academic year in exciting surroundings. Each received a Fulbright scholar grant for 2003-04.

Osipovich returned from St. Petersburg, Russia, in January. She taught seminars titled “Women in Russian Literature and Culture” and “Russians in America: The Immigrant Experience” at the Nevsky Institute of Languages and Cultures. Hunter returns in July from Shanghai, where she has been lecturing on American social and cultural history at the East China Normal University.

Published, presented, honors and achievements

Faculty and staff serve as ambassadors for the College through their publications, presentations, awards, grants and other accomplishments. Recent highlights include:

Jens Mache, assistant professor of computer science, recently published a paper titled “Modifying the Overlay Network of Freenet-style Peer-to-Peer Systems after Successful Request Queries.” The paper was presented by coauthor Thierry Lopez ’03 to the 37th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences Jan. 5-8, 2004.

Stepan Simek, associate professor of theatre, published the first part of an article titled “Theatre as a Temple of the Mind and the Remarkable Moralist Karel Steigerwald” in the winter 2004 issue of the Slavic and East European Performance Journal. The article’s second part will appear in the spring 2004 issue

In March 2004, Annie Dawid, professor of English, will be a writer in residence at the University of North Dakota’s annual writers’ conference.

More listings can be found in our online pressroom.

L&C in the news

College faculty and staff are in the news on a regular basis. Recent mentions include:

The Advertiser (Lafayette, La.): John Callahan, Morgan S.Odell Professor of Humanities, reacts to author Ernest Gaines' nomination for a Pulitzer prize. Callahan called Gaines’ prose “an African American adaptation of Faulkner’s Mississippi.” February 12, 2004.

The Daily Herald (Williston, N.D.): Article profiles Clay Jenkinson, humanities scholar in residence, upon the publication of his new book "A Vast and Open Plain." The volume describes the sojourn of Lewis and Clark through North Dakota 200 years ago. February 11, 2004

Columbia Daily Spectator (Columbia University): Article marks the 20th anniversary of the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium and the history of women's sports. Among those honored as key contributors is Nora Beck, associate professor and music department chair, who was Columbia's first All-American basketball player. February 9, 2004.

The Morning Call (Allentown, Penn.): Stephen Dow Beckham, Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Professor of History, comments on the documentation needed by the Delaware Nation of Anadarko, Okla., to prove a property claim. The Delaware Nation has filed suit in Philadelphia to reclaim land in Forks Township. February 8, 2004.

The Oregonian: Robert Eisinger, associate professor and political science department chair, says most primary voters don't track details such size or source of campaign contributions. February 4, 2004.

For a sampling of how and where Lewis & Clark is mentioned by media outlets across the nation and around the globe, visit the online press room.

Events

Educator explores the anatomy of prejudice

Jane Elliott believes racism is all about behavior and that behavior can be changed. Elliot, a lecturer, diversity trainer, author and educator, will explore “The Anatomy of Prejudice” in a presentation on Monday, Feb. 16, at 7:30 p.m. The talk in Agnes Flanagan Chapel is free and open to the public.

Elliott’s drive to examine and end prejudice started in 1968 when she taught elementary school in Iowa. Upon hearing news of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, she looked for a way to teach children about racism. Elliott told her students that for one day, brown-eyed people were better than blue-eyed people. The “blue eyes-brown eyes” experiment was later chronicled in the documentary film “Eye of the Storm.” Learn more.

Auction helps fund summer public interest law projects

Over the summer, Ethan Huff learned the difference between the theory and practice of law. Huff, a second-year law student at Lewis & Clark Law School, worked with victims of domestic violence through Legal Aid Services of Multnomah County. His experience was made possible with funding from the Public Interest Law Project.

The 14th annual PILP auction takes place on Friday, Feb. 20, at the law school. The benefit event, titled “Realizing the Ideal,” raises funds to help support public interest work each summer by law students. The event begins with a silent auction at 6 p.m. followed by a live auction at 8 p.m. The benefit takes place in the law school’s student lounge. Admission is $15 and includes snacks, beer and wine. Learn more.

Music with a Hungarian connection

Three centuries of music with a Hungarian connection are featured in a concert by the Three Centuries Ensemble. The program includes works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Bela Bartok and Robert Schumann. The concert on Sunday, Feb. 22, at 3 p.m. is in Evans Auditorium. Tickets are free to Lewis & Clark students, employees and alumni.

Haydn’s Piano Trio in G major, Hob. XV:25, includes a rondo in the Hungarian style and Bartok’s 44 Duets for Two Violins include Hungarian, Slovakian and Wallachian songs. The ensemble is led by violinist Jonathan Dubay, an adjunct instructor of violin and viola in the music department. Learn more.

Exhibit focuses on Oregon poetry books

Oregon poetry has a distinctive, conversational style that creates a range of images, from the local landscape and culture to historical perspectives on Oregon’s pioneer days. A survey of books by Oregon poets, from the collection of Portland attorney Brian Booth, is on view through May 15 at Lewis & Clark College’s Aubrey R. Watzek Library. The exhibition is titled “110 Years of Oregon Poetry, 1850s–1960s.” Learn more.

Upcoming

Visit the campus Web calendar for events coming up in February.