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SMITH IN THE NEWS
ANTICIPATION BUILDS FOR MUSEUM REOPENING "We wanted to include some examples
of functional art. There's nothing more functional than a bathroom." "With the help of a dedicated
alumnae base, which provides both financial support and gifts
of art, the Smith collection has grown exponentially. It currently
numbers close to 25,000 objects and is particularly strong in
19th-century European painting and sculpture." "It feels like we've exponentially
expanded rather than incrementally expanded."
SMITH COMMUNITY RESPONDS TO WAR "We all want peace. We do not
blame the soldiers for the decisions of government and we grieve
for all affected by the war." "I steer clear of political demonstrations,
not just for my safety but because hearing people insult my country,
rather than make intelligent arguments against the war, makes
me extremely uncomfortable." "It's not like we're just a few
hundred people in one part of the nation protesting. This is
happening all over the world. Bush has to listen to us, and so
does the rest of the world." "We are taking a very close look
at the Patriot Act and what we would do if a request for records
came in. Our basic policy is that all circulation records are
confidential."
BOTANIC GARDEN MAKING NEWS "The systematics garden is a very
important garden for teaching, because biology students who are
taking courses like evolution and taxonomy can actually look
at the floral morphology of plants within each family and see
the relationship those plants have with each other. While the
garden is pretty, its main function is to show the development
of each specific plant family." "One would think it would be possible
to have random arrangements of leaves on a stem. But we don't
see that. We systematically see the beautiful spirals forming,
and we can even predict where the next leaf will appear." "We've had bulb shows in the snow,
but I don't know if we've had bulb shows at zero degrees." "Through trial and error over
the years, we know how many days plants need to flower, so we
count backwards from the date of the bulb show and bring them
out on a staggered schedule. We usually start them at 45 to 50
degrees." "It's winter. It's all white and
gray and dark and brown. You can come in here and things are
green. It's nice to know things are still living."
A LEADING VOICE IN THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS "'May the Best Team Win' should
be required reading for all politicians and business boosters
supporting the Washington and Virginia bids for a Major League
Baseball franchise. Smith College economist Andrew Zimbalist
lays out how and why its effective monopoly status has rendered
the national pastime so economically dysfunctional." " ... the book should be required
reading for close followers of [baseball]." "Fundamentally, what's happening
is a transfer of income from taxpayers to wealthy owners and
wealthy ballplayers." "Baseball is going to be on the
hot seat if they turn down a financially viable African American.
Other things being equal, baseball would, I believe, feel pressured
to give the nod to an African-American owner."
KUDOS FOR ADA COMSTOCK PROGRAM "There are days when I ask myself
what the heck I'm doing here. And times when I couldn't imagine
where I'd be if I didn't come."
COLLEGES CONFRONT A TIGHT ECONOMY "To put it in the starkest terms:
Do you do layoffs to preserve financial aid? It's a trade-off." "For most institutions, this year
is just the beginning. '04, '05 and '06 will be worse."
STUDY QUESTIONS DRIVE FOR DIVERSITY "Diversity is like free speech
- almost everyone approves in the abstract, but its application
in concrete situations can produce great controversy." "Surveys are always questionable,
including ours. But it shows that those who argue diversity will
improve the education of everybody haven't made their case. The
data does not support them." "We do not say diversity failed.
All we say is we haven't proved that it succeeds."
SMITH ENGINEERS GO WEIGHTLESS WITH NASA "This is what I want to do with
the rest of my life. I have the schematic for a new deep space
propulsion engine plastered to my ceiling where most people would
put a poster of their favorite celebrity." "We never thought we'd get to
do something cool like this."
ENGINEERING STUDENTS LAUD PROGRAM "The idea of technology for the
sake of technology that I see flaunted in many areas of society
is foreign to our program. We understand that the goal of engineering
and technology is to help people." "I've completed projects about
pollution in a local stream, created a solar-powered laptop battery
charger, developed an entertaining game to teach children about
engineering and designed a bridge - among other assignments." |
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