Campus Connections

Issue Date: April 10, 2006

News and Notices

Law school’s environmental law program ranked #1

The law school’s environmental law program is ranked first in the nation, according to the just-released U.S. News & World Report annual survey of graduate programs. The school’s environmental law program was established in 1970—the same year the first Earth Day was held and the year the Clean Air Act was passed.

Dean Jim Huffman noted that the program’s success is due to a combination of factors, including a diverse and engaging environmental faculty; one of the most extensive environmental law curricula in the country; the first environmental law journal in the country; and clinics that serve public interest clients worldwide. The school’s environmental law program has received the top ranking seven times in the past decade. Overall, the law school tied for 77th among the 190 accredited law schools in the nation.

Celebrate Earth Day

The graduate school, in cooperation with SOLV, is sponsoring a community action day to celebrate Earth Day 2006. The all-day event takes place on Saturday, April 22, at Binnsmead Middle School in southeast Portland. Graduate school community members will work side-by-side with Binnsmead students, parents, faculty and staff, to clean up the school grounds. For more information, call ext. 6107.

Read the Chronicle online!

Read feature articles and department news in the online version of the Winter/Spring 2006 Chronicle. The online version offers all 52 pages of the Chronicle. The issue’s main features focus on Greg Hermann, assistant professor of biology; Paul Barker ’71, M.A.T. ’81, country director for CARE in Afghanistan; brothers Bill, Brad, Bob, and David Sack, a family of distinguished medical researchers; and noteworthy Oregon authors with Lewis & Clark connections.

Forensics team is sixth in nation

The Lewis & Clark forensics team wrapped up the debate season in sixth place among 400 participating colleges and universities at the National Parliamentary Debate Association National Championship. The team placed first in the 2005-06 Northwest Forensics Association year-long sweepstakes for overall forensics performance, which encompasses debate, competitive speaking, and oral interpretation.

Face to face: Re-comission and dedication, meet the authors, religious studies and physics colloquiums

Re-comission and Room Dedication:

Meet the Authors:

Law Faculty Resources web site.

Religious Studies Colloquium:

Physics Colloquia:

Every building tells a story: South Campus

In May 2000, the Lewis & Clark campus was enlarged to include 18 acres located immediately to the south of the College. The former Hamilton F. Corbett estate had been owned and used as a retreat center by the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia since 1943—one year after the College moved to the Fir Acres estate.

The mansion on the Corbett estate, finished in 1929, was the first solo commission for architect Pietro Belluschi, who during the following three decades went on to design and inspire some of this nation’s most impressive and stately buildings. Frederick Olmsted, son of the architect who laid out Central Park in New York City, designed the gardens. The Franciscans later added other building and facilities to accommodate the needs of their retreat and conference center.

Rogers Hall, completely remodeled in 2001 to accommodate graduate programs in education and counseling, is named for Mary Stuart Rogers, educator and philanthropist.

Planning Task Force work continues

Lewis & Clark’s planning task force, a coalition of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and trustees, is charged with identifying ways to achieve and maintain the highest quality in the College’s programs and community life. A final report will be delivered in mid-April. Follow the task force's progress online.

Historical snapshot

In 2004, the law school establishes The Kitzhaber Center, a natural resources policy institute, named in honor of and headed by John Kitzhaber, Oregon’s former governor. View more College milestones online.

People News

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:

The graduate school’s Future Leaders program, coordinated by Tom Ruhl, assistant professor of education, and Carol Smith, instructor in education, was selected for an Exemplary Program Award from the Conferences and Professional Programs Award Committee of the University Counsel Educational Administration.

Shannon Smith, public relations assistant, received the 2006 Shirley J. Gold Scholarship Award from the American Federation of Teachers.

More listings of faculty and staff achievements 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 Oregonian: Report about U.S. News & World Report’s annual list of the nation’s best graduate schools lists Lewis & Clark Law School as No. 1 in the specialty area of environmental law. April 3, 2006.

Men’s Journal magazine: Lewis & Clark College is mentioned as an institution that feeds “young minds into a burgeoning economy” in Portland. The article is titled “50 Best Places to Live.” April 2006.

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Mike Sexton, dean of undergraduate admissions, comments on the increasing number of applications to Lewis & Clark. The College waives its application fee for students who submit applications online; the admissions office receives 90 percent of its applications that way, says Sexton. March 31, 2006.

The Oregonian: Peter Cookson, graduate school dean, comments on the working relationship between the Portland Schools Foundation and the Portland Public Schools. Cookson serves as secretary to the foundation’s board. March 24, 2006.

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

Events

44th annual International Affairs Symposium

Scholars and international experts debate the role of identity in international affairs during the 44th annual International Affairs Symposium. The three-day conference, Monday through Wednesday, April 10-12, is titled “Pledges of Allegiance? Identity in a Changing World.”

Through six debate-style sessions, the symposium explores the multiple and evolving roles of identity, whose allegiances serve as a catalyst for change in world affairs. A primary theme for each of 12 presenters is the challenge of alternative identities to the traditional idea of national identity.

The symposium is planned and presented by students. All events will be in Templeton Student Center, Council Chamber. The symposium schedule is subject to change. For more information, call ext. 7630.

Spring dance concert

Works by choreographers Minh Tran and Tahni Holt are showcased during the spring dance concert, Thursday through Friday, April 13-15, in Fir Acres Theatre.

Tran is a 2005 recipient of the Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship Award. Founded in 1997, Minh Tran & Company performs a body of dance works celebrated for their fusion of traditional and contemporary techniques. Spanning architectural, cultural and social contexts, the company’s repertory reflects Tran’s fascination with personal identity, popular culture, geography, and the compelling interplay of eastern and western traditions. Lewis & Clark dance students will be integrated with Tran’s company members for the performance of “Nocturnal Path,” a dance piece which draws from the spiritual world of Southeast Asia.

Holt, a Portland-based dance artist and educator, has produced works in New York and has taught dance and composition at Reed College and the Oregon Ballet Theater. She has performed extensively throughout the Pacific Northwest. Holt describes her part of the concert titled “The Snow Dance” as “a love story in disguise of an anthropological study in disguise of a game show.” An additional untitled work by Holt featured on the program examines human relationships. For more information, contact ext. 7491.

Jazz Night with Dan Balmer

Dan Balmer ’80 has long been hailed the finest jazz guitarist in Oregon. His recent induction into Oregon's Jazz Society Hall of Fame, as youngest member and first guitarist, is the latest acclaim of Balmer’s talent as a performer, composer, and educator. Balmer performs a free concert on Friday, April 14 at 8 p.m. in Evans Music Center.

In 1993, Balmer was named Lewis & Clark’s Outstanding Young Alumnus, recognizing his contributions to the field of jazz. He leads the Dan Balmer Trio, as well as a new cooperative band, Go By Train. He is also a member of the Mel Brown B-3 Organ Quartet, the Mel Brown Quartet, and the David Friesen Quintet. Also a composer, Balmer’s works have been popular on radio and have been used in films, television, and commercials. He teaches master classes up and down the west coast, and in Spain and Canada.

Joining Balmer and Lewis & Clark students for this concert is New York jazz virtuoso Gary Versace. For more information, call ext. 7461.

Civility in Politics lecture examines religion

Political scientist George F. Bishop examines “Evolution, Religion, and Public Opinion: Religious Beliefs and Illusions in America” during a lecture on Thursday, April 20, at 6:30 p.m. The event is part of the Civility in Politics lecture series.

Bishop is a professor of political science at the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati, where he directs the graduate certificate program in public opinion and survey research. His areas of interest include public opinion and survey research, religion and American politics, and the controversy over creationism versus evolution. Bishop’s research explores presidential popularity and American public opinion, and religious beliefs and illusions in the United States.

His talk is in Templeton Student Center, Council Chamber. The college’s political science department presents the lecture series with support from the Arkay Foundation. For more information, call ext. 7642.

World music concert

The music department hosts an afternoon of works from around the world on Sunday, April 23, at 2 p.m. in Evans Auditorium. The free concert includes African drumming and dance from Ghana; Javanese gamelan; Indian raga and tala including sitar performances; Zimbabwe African marimba; and Celtic music. For more information, call ext. 7461.

Spring concert features Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9

George Skipworth believes that every student—at least once in his or her lifetime—should play or sing in a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Skipworth, assistant professor of music, gives Lewis & Clark students that opportunity when he directs the college's symphony orchestra in Beethoven’s masterwork on Sunday, April 23, at 8 p.m. in Agnes Flanagan Chapel. The concert is free and open to the public.

“It is my feeling that every student should, once in his or her life, play or sing this work if at all possible," says Skipworth, assistant professor of music and college orchestra director. "It should be a memory that remains vivid for one’s whole life.”

Featured soloists include soprano Barbara Wester Skipworth, alto Sherry Olson, tenor Lance Ferguson, and bass Peter Graham. The 130-member Western Oregon University Choir, directed by Solveig Holmquist, joins the Lewis & Clark symphony for the performance. The program also includes Johannes Brahms’ “Alto Rhapsody,” with soloist Sherry Olson and the Western Oregon University Male Choir. For more information, call ext. 7461.

Tussing and Barot Reading

Two authors of national repute will read from their work on Monday, April 10, at 7 p.m. in Frank Manor House, Armstrong Lounge. The reading is free and open to the public.

Justin Tussing, a Lewis & Clark visiting assistant professor of English, will read from his recently published novel, “The Best People in the World” (Harper Collins, 2006). Set in rural Vermont in the early 1970s, the novel tells a coming-of-age story about a teenager who falls in love with his history teacher. Tussing is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he was also a Teaching/Writing Fellow.

Rick Barot, a Jones Lecturer in Poetry at Stanford University, was born in the Philippines and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He attended Wesleyan University, the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, and Stanford, where he was a Wallace E. Stegner Fellow in Poetry. His poems have appeared in numerous publications, including the Yale Review, Threepenny Review, New England Review, Grand Street, and Ploughshares. For more information, call ext. 7414.

Upcoming

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

About Campus Connections

Campus Connections is published every other week on the Web for the faculty and staff of Lewis & Clark College during the academic year. Campus Connections is published monthly during the summer.

Next issue publishes on:
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News items should be sent to the Office of Public Affairs and Communications by noon each Wednesday prior to publication.

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For more information, contact Tania Thompson, senior communications officer, at 503-768-7961 or taniat@lclark.edu,
or
Vanessa Fawbush, communications officer, at 503-768-7992 or fawbush@lclark.edu.