Life News

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Despite fears that President Clinton's personal scandal would demoralize Democratic voters in the upcoming mid-term elections, the 1998 Heartland Poll from the University of Iowa shows that Democratic voters in the Midwest are more highly energized than their Republican counterparts. The Heartland Poll, is conducted in election years at the Iowa Social Science Institute at the UI.

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Wells College has reconfigured its long established Henry Wells Scholarship program now guaranteeing eligible students a paid internship of $3,000 during their college career.

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Students from disadvantaged backgrounds may earn lower scores on standardized tests because they fear that academic success will alienate them from friends or family members and arouse suspicion among teachers, a University of Iowa study has found.

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Halloween traditionally depicts witches as ugly old cronies, capable of evil, magical deeds. But a Lawrence University historian says that model is an inaccurate stereotype and that "real" witches were a much more diverse lot.

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The nation's first "cheerleader" was a University of Minnesota medical student who offered to lead "yells and songs" at the Nov. 12, 1898 football game against Northwestern. The Gophers won, and a new tradition was born.

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"In studying influential people, researchers are seeing that persons who enjoy thinking have added impact," says a psychology professor at Purdue University.

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University of Kansas communications researcher says John Glenn's space flight at age 77 pushes the stereotype envelope for older adults. "One stereotype of older people is that they can't learn new things. Glenn is saying it is not as easy as it was at age 30, but 'I can do it and I'm enjoying it."

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A.R. Ammons, Cornell professor emeritus, is the winner of the 1998 Tanning Prize for poetry. Ammons is the fifth person to receive the $100,000 award, granted through the American Academy of Poets. The award is named after Dorothea Tanning, a painter.

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Choosing the right MBA program can be a lot like looking for a soul mate: there are a lot of attractive candidates, but it's critical for individuals to find the right match, says a University of Illinois at Chicago business school official.

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America can ill-afford to have a substantial segment of its population alienated from earth science, and science in general, according to Vassar College Associate Professor of Geology Jill S. Schneiderman. She will address the Geological Society of America on Wednesday, October 27, in Toronto, Canada.

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Grandparents are primary caregivers for more than 5 percent of U.S. children. A CWRU nursing professor examined health, stress, coping, and social support for grandmothers who are their grandchildren's primary caregiver, versus grandmothers who live with grandchildren but are not responsible for raising them.

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Cleveland is the first major city to publish a city encyclopedia online. The Web resource updates the 1987 "Encyclopedia of Cleveland History," the first encyclopedia produced about a major U.S. city.

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Artist Edwina Sandys, the granddaughter of Winston Churchill who used sections of the Berlin Wall to create a sculpture at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., will now have a second sculpture on a Missouri campus: the University of Missouri-Rolla.

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Uneven progress of African Americans identified in a new report on race in America.

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Approximately 10 research projects aimed at reducing barriers that prevent people with disabilities from full participation in mathematics and science education will be on display Tuesday, October 20, at the National Science Foundation's Exhibit Center in Arlington, Va.

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A series of lectures, colloquia, performances and film screenings, all focused on the black West, will be sponsored this year by University of California, San Diego's African and African-American Studies Research Project, culminating in a two-day symposium to be held in April.

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The new book, "The Grand Resort Hotels of the White Mountains, A Vanishing Architectural Legacy," is the first to fully explore the architectural, economic and cultural history of these resorts, once situated in one of the nation's most popular locales.

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Five highly accomplished graduates of the sculpture program in the University of Delaware's Department of Art will return to their alma mater Oct. 20 to participate in an exhibition that honors the sculpture program and Joe Moss, UD professor of art and the program's director for the last 29 years.

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National Disability Employment Month -- Jorian Clair is a writer, editor and graphic designer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She's also almost completely blind, and has been for the 14 years that she has held this position at Cedars-Sinai.

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School discipline problems not only affect students' safety and security, they have a clear and substantial negative impact on their academic achievement, says a new study from Educational Testing Service.

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Top faculty experts and scholars will address the issue of how to make the undergraduate classroom more friendly for women students in science, mathematics, engineering and technology as part of a Project Kaleidoscope Workshop at DePauw University from Oct. 30-Nov. 1.

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If you want to scare yourself silly this Halloween, a Purdue University researcher has seven sure-fire suggestions on how to do it. However, he suggests that parents not make watching scary movies a family event.

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When a woman has a baby she doesn't want, the child's self-esteem is likely to suffer more than two decades later.

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Students at Michigan State University refer to the communication professors as the "Love Doctors." This husband and wife pair team-teach Interpersonal Relationships in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. The class tackles infidelity, jealousy, deception, romance, and sex.

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Television star joins prominent health experts to address the changing landscape of the ""top smoking" environment and announce her plans to "commit to quit" for the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout

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Technology education must become more "female-friendly," says a Ball State University educator. His research focuses on identifying obstacles to women in selecting technology education as a career.

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Students at Susquehanna University are learning about Jewish culture in a new course, "From Borscht to Bagels" while prison inmates are coming to campus to relate their experiences with white-collar crime to business majors. Roanoke College seniors grabble with the meaning of success in a course by the same name.

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With less than 30 days until election day, the time is ripe to ponder, once again, the arguably sorry state of American Citizenship. In 1996, less than half of all eligible Americans bothered to vote. Each year, fewer and fewer Americans take the time to stay abreast of governmental and public affairs issues.

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Richard Pillsbury's No Foreign Food is part historical cookbook, part foodwise travelogue, and arguably the most clear-eyed, in-depth view of the American diet available in academia or anywhere else -- Pillsbury also offers a fresh take on Thanksgiving.

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The University of Arizona Foundation will receive a gift from the estate of Naomi Riddle, the wife of the late arranger and composer Nelson Riddle, to benefit the College of Fine Art's School of Music and Dance.

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Acclaimed writer Pete Hamill, distinguished novelist Howard Fast respected historian Kenneth T. Jackson, will be among the speakers at "Brooklyn USA: A City Apart," a three-day conference and cultural event extravaganza taking place at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus, October 21- 23.

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As recently as 10 years ago, teachers were able to aim their instruction at the average child in a classroom with a reasonable assurance that the other students would not suffer. But there is no 'average' student anymore, says a Purdue University education expert.

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A campaign for a new stadium for the Minnesota Twins failed because it lacked central organization and was not effectively coordinated, says University of Minnesota speech communication professor.

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Trade in high-quality cacao may explain the longevity of an Olmec village in Puerto Escondido, Honduras, which survived from 2000 B.C. to A.D. 1000, according to Cornell and Berkeley archaeologists.

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Did William Shakespeare write "King Lear" as an object lesson for England's King James? A Shakespeare expert at the University of Missouri-Rolla thinks so, and also believes the play was first performed before King James' court, rather than at the Globe Theater.

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The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has named its 1998-1999 U.S. Professors of the Year, in recognition of their extraordinary dedication to teaching, commitment to students, and innovative teaching methods. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) created the U.S. Professors of the Year program in 1981.

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Although women dominate in terms of sheer numbers of wedding coordinators, the men who enter the field are the ones at the top of the hierarchy says a Texas Christian University professor and author of the study, "The Phenomenon of the Male Wedding Coordinator."

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University of Georgia researcher's book suggests that differences in communication styles may be a cause of many problems that exist between African American males and females. Professor Veronica Duncan suggests that the effects of slavery and racism may also play a part in the communication dynamics.

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Four teachers have returned from the Arctic, and ten more are preparing to go to the Antarctic as part of the Teachers Experiencing the Arctic/Antarctic (TEA) program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

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A rare and early how-to book straight from and for the horseís mouth is the 9 millionth volume for the University of Illinois Library. The book, published in 1616, is an original German Baroque treatise on the breaking and training of royal cavalry horses.

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A $2,245,997 grant from the National Science Foundation's IGERT program will provide fellowships for 12 Cornell graduate students each year over the next five years in a new interdisciplinary program on nonlinear systems, embracing fields as diverse as manufacturing, neuroscience, epidemiology and even finance, where similar mathematics applies.

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The Navajo Nation and West Texas A&M University each were named this week to receive a five-year, $10-million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to initiate system-wide reform of K-12 mathematics, science and technology education for rural school children.

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While America's universities are turning out a record number of Ph.D.'s, the job market in higher education has become increasingly competitive--especially for those with degrees in the humanities. The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in Princeton, N.J., will assemble a group of experts October 22-24 to examine the job crisis in the humanities, and to obtain an overview of career alternatives.

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Evidence shows that certain family characteristics can put children at risk for developing aggressive behavior problems. But, according to a study in the October issue of the American Psychological Association's Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, strengthening parenting skills early can be a good step toward preventing problem behaviors in children at risk.

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Forget "Melrose Place," "Dawson's Creek" and "Beverly Hills, 90210." The buzz at Northwestern these days is about "University Place," a soap opera about college life created by Northwestern University undergraduates. The show premieres Oct. 23 at the Ryan Auditorium of the Technological Institute, 2145 Sheridan Road, on the Evanston campus.

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Residents of a Central Illinois watershed responded so well to a crisis of atrazine-contaminated water that their cooperative effort, which was studied by the University of Illinois, is being turned into a national model for local conservation planning.

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An unprecedented study released today by Educational Testing Service links computer use to higher student test scores. The key is how students use the computers, not how often, the analysis shows.

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A famed scientist who left Iowa State University more than a century ago is still inspiring students today. George Washington Carver, Iowa State's first African American student, graduate and faculty member, died in 1943. Fifty-five years later, the man who was born into slavery is the focus of a university-wide celebration at Iowa State.

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A Purdue University expert on ethics offers a "report card" grading the conduct of president Bill Clinton and those who oppose him.

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A Centre College professor has surprising news for church congregations suffering a decline in membership: get strict.