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Wake Forest University in the News
From “That’s Impossible: Eternal Life,” on the History Channel:
“It absolutely is not science fiction,” David Carroll, director of Wake Forest University’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials, said regarding the use of nanorobots to locate and kill tumors, a process he has already used successfully in mice. “It involves nanosilver particles. We are using them today. We’ve developed a machine, which we can release into the body, and that machine can target the cancer, even when we can’t see that cancer on an MRI or on some other imaging modality. You can actually watch the tumors go away. It’s that rapid. They don’t come back, and the animals are completely healthy.” (7/28/09)
From AOL News
The video made “Neda” an instant symbol of the Iranian protests. But what if Neda had been ugly? Or overweight? Would she still have become the heroine of a movement? And will the grainy images of her death, taken from crude amateur video, earn a place in the pantheon of news iconography? “Icons work because they tap into our worries, our anxieties. They are something we can form our fears around,” said David Lubin, Charlotte C. Weber Professor of Art at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. And the image doesn’t have to be sad or scary. Lubin cites the famous Alfred Eisenstaedt photo of an exuberant soldier kissing a nurse in New York’s Time Square to celebrate the end of World War II. (6/24/09)
From USA Today
Today’s fathers may well take parenting as seriously as their mates, but unlike many moms, dads don’t view it as a competitive sport. Instead, the new attitude of 21st-century fatherhood is hands-on and involved, but with a hint of playfulness. … This is rooted in a male identity that teaches “boys to be in charge and make decisions and not admit weakness,” says Andrew Smiler, visiting assistant professor psychology at Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, N.C., who studies masculinity. “Then we get this generation of guys who say they want to be more involved with their children’s upbringing than their parents were, but they don’t know how to do it,” he says. (6/17/09)
From the Winston-Salem Journal
Decades of painful conservative-moderate fights. Stagnant baptism rates. Membership malaise. Surveying the state of the Southern Baptist Convention, seminary president Danny Akin can sum it all up in just six words. “Business as usual,” he said, “is not working.” … “I think in many ways, the Southern Baptist Convention mirrors the Republican Party in that they have cultivated such a narrow base,” said the Rev. Bill Leonard, the dean of Wake Forest University School of Divinity in Winston-Salem. “They have to keep defining themselves to say to a new generation, ‘Here’s what we delivered you from’ because this new generation doesn’t remember.” (6/13/09)
From the Business Journal of the Triad
“Two issues are clear regarding the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation process facing federal judge Sonia Sotomayor. First, the likelihood of her being confirmed is extraordinarily high, barring some revelation that has not managed to surface over her long and distinguished career. Second, despite these odds, the likelihood of highly mobilized opposition to her nomination is also extraordinarily high. Politics is driving both of these likely outcomes.” (6/11/09) Guest column by Katy Harriger, professor and chair of political science at Wake Forest University.
From The New York Times
…bad advice is so ubiquitous that almost everyone, even experts themselves, has been foiled. … Take pedal speed in cycling, said Michael J. Berry, a serious road cyclist and chairman of the department of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University. The studies, such as they are, say the best pedal speed is 60 to 80 revolutions a minute But that is based on experiments with untrained subjects riding stationary bikes in an exercise lab. Those results may have no relevance for experienced cyclists riding on roads.” (5/28/09)
From The New York Times
In the hit comedy “I Love You, Man,” Paul Rudd plays Peter, a sunflower of a guy: cheerful, welcoming and reassuring, if a little squeamish. Peter blushes over references to pubic hair, winces at flatulence and refuses to kiss and tell, even when the girls do. … “We are now in an age of nice,” said Eric G. Wilson, an English professor at Wake Forest University, who, as the author of “Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy,” qualifies as a professional curmudgeon. But even Mr. Wilson sees no end of smiley faces. He cites as avatars of a new niceness the Obama administration, which has been criticized for being too friendly to some repressive world leaders; advocates of political correctness who still hold sway in many public forums; and the director-writer-producer Mr. Apatow, whose era-defining comedies feature “nice guys who finish first – a great hope for non-threatening puerile males,” Mr. Wilson says. (5/24/09)
From the Business Journal of the Triad
It started as a spark of an idea that led to a class project that evolved into a new company – Biobotz. Jed Macosko, a physics professor Wake Forest University, thought there must be a better way to teach children about the parts of a molecule. “I thought this would be great as a video game, where rather than mindless machines just walking around inside a cell, we could give each of the parts a personality,” he says. By creating characters for children to relate to and not just structures to be memorized from a text book, a whole new view of science might be open to children, Macosko remembers thinking. (5/22/09)
From NBCnewyork.com
Obama held a press conference in Chicago to announce that Carter-era economic guru Paul Volker would head the panel and that it would help President-elect Obama create jobs and bring stability to the ailing financial system. Now, five months into his administration, President Obama will convene with his economic panel for the first time. This meeting begs this question: what has the Economic Recovery Advisory Board been doing for the past six months, while the country has been struggling through the worst recession since the depression? … “If the president wants to talk to his advisory committee, it seems to me he ought to do that in the open,” Sidney Shapiro, a law professor at Wake Forest University told Politico. “There ought to be accountability for private people who address the government. It seems to me it becomes even more important, not less important, when you have a presidential advisory committee.” (5/20/09)
From the Chicago Tribune
The clearing of trades on financial markets is one topic that puts everyone to sleep—at least until it causes us to bolt upright in bed because the financial markets are melting down. … Those players now have lost their ability to gum the works. “If there is resistance, it’s going to come from the big banks,” said Robert R. Bliss, a professor at Wake Forest University who is an authority on clearing systems. “But the big banks have no political capital left. The creation of a centralized clearing system could happen fast.” (5/15/09)
From The New York Times
Ever since the 1940s, when she was a girl in a small Southern town, Martha Mason dreamed of being a writer. But it was not till nearly half a century later, with the aid of a voice-activated computer, that she could begin setting a memoir down on paper. … Ms. Mason died on Monday at her home in Lattimore, N.C. She was 71 and had lived for more than 60 years in an iron lung. Her death was confirmed by a friend, Mary Dalton, who said Ms. Mason had died in her sleep. … Ms. Mason is the subject of a documentary film, “Martha in Lattimore,” released in 2005 and directed by Ms. Dalton. She also appeared in “The Final Inch,” a documentary about polio that was nominated for a Academy Award this year. … “She’s an intellectual, yet the local video store was not going to have ‘Wild Strawberries’ for her to rent,” Ms. Dalton, an associate professor of communication at Wake Forest, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “She could talk to anybody, but she needed that kind of intellectual stimulation, too. And there were years when I imagine that was a little hard to come by.” (5/10/09)
From The Chronicle of Higher Education
The admissions process is awash in numbers. Students accumulate grade-point averages and test scores. Colleges use statistical models to predict enrollment outcomes, and they tout their place in commercial rankings. In many ways, numbers simplify this complex enterprise. But they have come to carry undue weight, says Martha Blevins Allman, director of admissions here at Wake Forest University. That’s why she pushed her institution to revamp its admissions process. Last spring, Wake Forest announced that it would no longer require applicants to submit standardized-test scores. That decision brought national attention to the university, arguably the most prominent institution yet to go “test optional.” (5/01/09)
From USA Today
A profit squeeze in the $90 billion North America beverage business pushed Pepsi to offer $6 billion to retake ownership of its two biggest bottlers. Pepsi wants the revenue generated by Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas, from which it spun off majority stakes 10 years ago, to offset the decline in consumption and rising costs. Volume for the biggest brands is down, and its plants are designed for a few big-volume brands. … Former PepsiCo chairman Steve Reinemund, currently a dean of business management at Wake Forest University and still a Pepsi shareholder, says the move “makes a ton of sense, and strategically, it’s a bold and very insightful way to address the marketplace challenges. … In a slower-growth environment in an industry that needs to be revitalized, using the same business model won’t get you results.” (4/21/09)
From The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
Recession? Bailout? Stimulus? Deficit? Not at the U.S. Capitol. The sunlight Foundation, a Washington watchdog group that tracks the language used in congressional debate, found that none of those words has cracked the top 30 most frequently uttered terms so far in this year of economic agony. … “Congress is protecting itself and creating more cynicism at the same time,” said Allan Louden, a political communication expert at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. (4/18/09)
From “The FOX Report with Shepard Smith” on FOX News Channel
When Kathryn Waggoner interviewed with Wake Forest University, the prospective student didn’t have to travel to North Carolina. In fact, she didn’t even have to leave her parents’ home in Memphis, Tennessee. Waggoner is among 200 Wake Forest applicants who have used webcams to conduct their interviews with admissions officials. “It allowed them to get a better feel of who I am, without me having to come all the way to Wake Forest,” Waggoner said. Based in Winston-Salem, the private university began offering webcam interviews in September. Wake Forest, which recently dropped its SAT requirement, now places more emphasis on student interviews. “It’s always good to have information about the student that goes beyond the numbers,” said Martha Allman, Wake Forest’s director of admissions. “It enables us to ask them questions about parts of their application, about their intellectual activities, their academic passions, their extracurriculars.” (3/19/09)
From CNNhealth.com
“Metabolism” is the name of the bodily system that converts food calories to energy needed to perform various tasks, like pumping oxygen to muscles during a long walk. Many variables contribute to your metabolism, including heredity, gender and age. But you can quicken yours, here’s how: Exercise more. When you walk, run, or lift weights, you increase the energy required of your body, which raises your metabolism then, and for hours afterward. “It’s not a huge spike, but it makes a difference,” says Gary Miller, PhD, associate professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (3/16/09)
From “North Carolina Now” on UNC-TV
“We need a creative mind and a fearless creative actor on the world stage to really be able to attack (today’s) problems and bring fresh solutions to them, so creativity in that regard is absolutely essential at this time,” Lynn Book responded when asked why she organized “Creativity: Worlds in the Making.” Book is a visiting associate professor of theatre and dance and director of the Program for Creativity and Innovation with the Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts at Wake Forest. (3/12/09)
From Campus Technology magazine
Applicants at Wake Forest University (NC) may now elect to take their “face-to-face” interviews with WFU admissions counselors using a medium most are familiar and very comfortable with: the webcam. … “While a personal visit is the first choice, the virtual interview is an innovative way to use technology to connect individually with those who, because of financial or other reasons, cannot come to campus,” says Martha Allman, director of admissions at Wake Forest. (3/1/2009)
From The Charlotte Observer
Three years after casting the tie-breaking vote for an education lottery, N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue has said she may use up to $88 million in lottery money to shore up the state’s general coffers – a move that has some N.C. lawmakers steaming. “This is exactly what the opponents to the lottery said would happen,” said Rep. Ruth Samuelson, R-Mecklenburg. “And if they continue to bill it as an ‘education lottery,’ it’s a farce.” When it passed 2005, lottery supporters pledged that proceeds would only go to education. … Other states have used lottery money for other than its intended purpose or to replace, not supplement, money for education. John Dinan, a Wake Forest University political scientist and a lottery expert, warned in 2005 that could happen in North Carolina. “A step such as (Perdue’s) would give renewed momentum to those who would support a constitutional prohibition on the use of lottery funds for non-education purposes,” he said Friday. (2/28/09)
From The Los Angeles Times
James Dobson is stepping down as chairman of Focus on the Family, the conservative religious group announced Friday – a change that comes as the political movement Dobson has long embodied has been torn by questions over its directions and priorities. … “I think, if anything, it’s less enticing for him to be continuing to do this because the Republicans are out of power and because of the identity crisis” in the movement, said Bill Leonard, dean of the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. “His voice is less central, certainly, to the religious political issues and a new generation of evangelicals. “There really has been a shift and in some ways, a fragmenting of American evangelism,” Leonard said. “A new generation of evangelists is blogging their way around the old power structures and challenging many dogmatic ideas that people like Dobson set forth.” (2/28/09)
From The Charlotte Observer
Tonight, Barack Obama will likely attempt to balance grim economic reality with the hopeful outlook Americans desire. Should he do so by reaching for rhetorical inspiration? No, says Allan Louden, a professor political communications at Wake Forest. “A breakthrough speech usually assumes the need to refresh public response; a megaphone calling out a dormant citizenry,” says Louden. “Currently we have a media-saturated political culture, a public already at full attention to economic crisis, and a president who seemingly speaks daily to the people. The risk for tonight’s speech is one of overexposure.” (2/24/09)
From The Orlando Sentinel
First things first: We have nothing against Abe Lincoln. Not a thing. But the coin bearing his likeness ought to go. The government and U.S. Mint no doubt found the idea irresistible to issue four new versions of the penny this year to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the 16th president’s birth, and the 100 years since Lincoln’s image first graced the 1-cent piece in 1909. But the government next should look to retire it, and the sooner the better. … If the government eliminates the penny, according to research at Wake Forest University, the Treasury Department will save about $1 billion a year on penny production and handling. … Defenders of the coin argue that if it goes away, merchants will round their prices up, costing consumers more money. But their fears don’t stack up. Wake Forest economist Robert Whaples found that if the penny were eliminated, rounding prices to the nearest nickel wouldn’t cost consumers more. In fact, his research on transactions at gas stations and convenience stores found customers would gain about a cent for every 40 transactions they make. (2/20/09)
From Science Daily
Millions of American teenagers participate in Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, and other programs designed to develop responsibility in young people. A new study suggests that it’s not the fun and games of these programs, but the tough tasks—those that ask young people to make sacrifices and to difficult things for the good of the group—that are most likely to foster responsibility and self-discipline. The study was conducted by researchers at Wake Forest University and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The researchers surveyed more than 100 high schoolers who took part in 11 different summer and after-school programs. … “Although the teenagers we interviewed generally enjoyed their program experiences overall, it is the programs in which young people are called to perform tasks that are boring, difficult, or obligatory that are most likely to help them develop characteristics like responsibility and self-discipline,” according to Dustin Wood, assistant professor psychology at Wake Forest University, who led the study. (2/15/09)
From The Sunday Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, Wisc.)
New Orleans is 8,870 miles from Mumbai, India, as the crow flies. The Academy Award nominees for best picture set in those cities – “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Slumdog Millionaire” – are a world apart as well. … “Slumdog” is very reminiscent of other Hollywood movies that tend to show India as a poor and violent country “in need of help,” said Ananda Mitra, a professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., and author of “India Through the Western Lens.” Too, Mitra said, the film recycles melodramatic conventions from Bollywood films popular in the region. A scene where a train pulls away and a little girl is left behind “has been done over and over again. As I was watching it, I thought, ‘How much more Bollywood can you get?’” Mitra acknowledged that “Slumdog” “does do some positive things” for an American audience “ignorant of world affairs and how the world outside the U.S. looks. In this sense, it is good.” (2/15/09)
From the Winston-Salem Journal
The Triad ended 2008 at an unemployment rate nearing a 25-year high. The unemployment rate for the combined statistical area of Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point was 8.5 percent in December, up from 8 percent in November, the N.C. Employment Security Commission reported yesterday. … “My guess is that the economy will begin to grow again by the end of the year and the unemployment rate will get up toward 9 percent nationally and a bit higher around here,” said Robert Whaples, an economics professor Wake Forest University. (1/31/09)
From the Business Journal of the Triad
“We live in difficult economic and uncertain political times,” wrote David Coates, Worrell Professor of Anglo-American Studies at Wake Forest University. “Bank failures are with us again, as in the 1930s. Credit is elusive. Retail sales are down. The housing market is stalled. Stock prices are in free fall, as are pensions and savings. Firms are closing, or staying afloat by shedding labor and cutting wages. Unemployment and home foreclosures stalk the land. A new administration is finding its feet in Washington. What then to ask and to expect of the newcomers? Certainly not miracles: even with one party in control of both Congress and the White House, policy-making is bound to be messy – it always is in Washington. It is also likely to be inconsistent. We are, after, all, in uncharted waters. No one really knows how to stop the rot. Trial and error is going to be the order of the day. The impact of policy will also be slow. Recovery from a recession of this severity will inevitably take time.” (1/29/09)
From The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.)
LaFaithia White’s memorable trip to Washington for the Inauguration of President Barack Obama did more than fulfill her personal goal of seeing the candidate she supported take the oath of office. It left her feeling better about an issue that’s nagged the nation since its founding – race. … The election of Obama opens an opportunity for America to engage in a more honest dialogue about racial issues, said Matthew DeSantis, assistant professor of political science at High Point University. “Now that we have overcome a barrier, it’s going to allow people to talk more constructively,” he said. But DeSantis and James Bryant, visiting professor of American ethnic studies at Wake Forest University, agree it’s too early to tell how the election of a black president will affect future race relations. “It’s very difficult to determine at this point how it’s going to change the perception of people of color – blacks in particular – in the minds of mainstream culture. I don’t know how or if this is going to change widely held views of who black people are,” Bryant said. (1/26/09)
From Gannett News Service
In more than 30 years as a Baptist pastor, Johnny Hunt has gained a reputation for turning around struggling churches. Now the Atlanta-area megachurch pastor faces his biggest challenge – turning around the fortunes of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention. … Bill Leonard, a Baptist historian at Wake Forest University, believes that conservatives underestimated the power of demographics. For years, Southern Baptist churches grew because their people had more children than mainliners did. When that changed, fewer Baptist babies meant fewer Baptists, Leonard said. (1/26/09)
From Reuters Online
Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis’ hold on his job may be more in the hands of others than his own. … “Ken Lewis is in a very difficult spot,” said Sherry Jarrell, a business professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “He cannot please the political interest that the government role entails and the market interest in maximizing the value for shareholders.” (1/23/09)
From Science Daily
When more than 20 coastal barrier island researchers arrived on Galveston Island in early January, many had never seen the level of destruction wrought by Hurricane Ike. They came from New England, the Pacific coast and all points between where ocean meets U.S. soil. From a common interest in coastal barrier islands and their multitude of questions that emerged from the rubble that still litters Galveston and neighboring Bolivar Peninsula has emerged a goal. … "Barrier islands do so many things and are of tremendous value," said Dr. William Smith, Wake Forest botanist and project leader. "And scientists today realize that the issues facing barrier islands are complex problems that have to be addressed by a multi-disciplinary team. There is no answer yet, but for the first time we are addressing it in this manner." (1/22/09)
From The Associated Press
For her college interview, Avery Cullinan put on her best outfit but didn’t bother with shoes. She sat in her living room, smiled into her computer’s webcam and told an admissions officer more than 800 miles away that Wake Forest University was right for her. … After a successful round of Web-based interviews in the early admission process, Wake Forest offered the program to its entire undergraduate applicant pool – a decision that doubled the number of requests for such interviews. “We decided this would be a wonderful alternative to the face-to-face interviews,” Allman said. “We have to stay attuned to how students receive information and how they communicate.” (1/18/09)
From the Virginian-Pilot
To hear Jean Patterson Cushman tell it, President Bush’s faith-based initiative has been critical for her Baltimore organization that helps former prisoners find jobs. Infused with $2.3 million in grant money from a Department of Labor initiative, Cushman’s group, Episcopal Community Services of Maryland, has moved from helping 50 men and women a year to 200. … Melissa Rogers, who directs the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity, applauded the Bush White House for codifying rules that say the clients of social service groups may not be discriminated against on the basis of religion. She also praised the initiative’s international efforts to fight AIDS and malaria, which she said were “warmly and widely embraced.” … “It’s not fair to the providers,” Rogers said. “It’s not fair to the people that they serve and it’s not fair to taxpayers who have to shell out money for a bunch of changes that are not durable.” (1/17/09)
From The Denver Post
Our expectations are astronomical and implausible. The Nov. 4 election gave us a top executive and family whose way of living and working will represent and influence the world; who will be expected to hold up the mantle of race and transcend it; whose parenting skills and fashion sense will be evaluated as closely as their wielding of power. … Be careful what you wish for, noted Wake Forest University sociologist Angela Hattery. A spouse gets laid off or comes home from service in Iraq, and suddenly it’s “since when do the kids watch TV at dinner?” Those “well, you haven’t been around for a while” moments could be touchstones for the nation. Michelle gave up a big career and may want it back before 2012 or 2016. Those household discussions could reinforce the Obamas’ aura, broadcasting that the kind of people “you actually know, are president,” Hattery said. (1/16/09)
From Counseling Today
Most of us find it difficult to dedicate time to reflecting on the events and influences that have helped us become who we are. Samuel Gladding’s “Becoming a Counselor: The Light, the Bright and the Serious” includes a broad range of stories that illustrate some of the influences that have helped shape him as a counseling professional. … “I hope it has value for both experienced counselors and counseling and counseling students. It is a series of vignettes that covers a lifetime but focuses on 35 years of development as a counselor. As the subtitle indicates, the book contains stories about all aspects of counseling – the light, the bright and the serious. For individuals just getting into the profession, this book will provide insight. For people already in the field, it will provide prompts for memories they have of their interactions with clients and their own growth as counselors.” (1/1/09)
From the Asheville Citizen-Times
Federal state regulators sharply reprimanded Blue Ridge Savings Bank, saying it has been poorly led and managed, and has been operating “with a large volume of poor-quality loans.” … The FDIC order amounts to “a fairly serious critique” that covers a number of areas of the bank’s operations, said Robert Bliss, F.M. Kirby Chair in Business Excellence at the Schools of Business at Wake Forest University. Banks in Blue Ridge’s situation frequently are either bought by another bank or go out of business, said Bliss, who formerly worked at the Federal Reserve and read the order before commenting. (1/1/09)
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