Informal forum planned on global warming, climate change

The second in a three-part series of informal lunchtime gatherings to discuss global warming and climate change will take place from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, in Levering's Arellano Theater, Homewood campus.

This week's topic is "What Must Happen to Make a Difference?" and William Blair, a research professor in Physics and Astronomy, will moderate the open forum. The series is sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Sustainability Initiative and is open to the community as well as faculty, staff and students.

 

Berkeley to inaugurate Finance Industry Leader Lecture

The Carey Business School Finance Club and the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School will this week present the inaugural Finance Industry Leader Lecture.

The speaker will be Alfred R. Berkeley III, chairman of Pipeline Trading Systems, former president and chairman of NASDAQ and former managing director of Alex. Brown & Sons. He will address the question "How Are Technological, Market and Data Advances Affecting Job Opportunties in the Investment Industry?"

The talk will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, in Washington in SAIS' Rome Building Auditorium. To reserve a place, send an e-mail to financeclub@jhu.edu. For more information, go to: web.jhu.edu/financeclub/events.html.

 

Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, GHCC receive award

The Greater Homewood Community Corp. and Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health were honored last week in Washington with the Bridge Builders Award for their collaborative work in perfecting Baltimore's unique model of the national Experience Corps program.

The prestigious award was presented by Partners for Livable Communities at its annual dinner and awards program on April 10 at the Willard Hotel.

The award honors exemplary individuals and institutions that build bridges of understanding and cooperation across divides — social, economic, regional and racial — to create beneficial partnerships for the betterment of their communities.

In describing the efforts of the two groups, Partners President Bob McNulty said, "This creative partnership does not involve the most 'natural' of partners, with a local community group collaborating with researchers from one of the world's most renowned universities. But Baltimore's 'town-gown' alliance has provided a new model for how committed groups can come together to improve the quality of life for all citizens, both young and old."

The Experience Corps program places older adult volunteers into schools around the country as mentors. But Linda Fried of the Center on Aging and Health, who was bringing the program to Baltimore, wanted the version here to have a strong research and evaluation component — something that could turn it into the "gold standard" of the national initiative. She was joined in this endeavor by Sylvia McGill of GHCC, who was looking for ways to improve the academic performance of six neighborhood schools.

Once Experience Corps was implemented, these six schools were evaluated in a five-year pilot program that found many positive outcomes, such as higher test scores for students and improved health and self-esteem for older adults. The Baltimore model has now grown to 20 schools and more than 375 volunteers.

 

New Orleans medical director to discuss government service

Jullette Saussy, medical director of New Orleans and its Fire Department, and chief medical officer of Homeland Security and Public Safety, will talk this week about the critical role government workers played in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and will reflect on her motivation for pursuing a career in the public sector.

Saussy's talk is part of the Revitalizing Government Service Discussion Series and is co-hosted by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies and the Bloomberg School's Department of Health Policy and Management and Center for Public Health Preparedness. It begins at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, in 210 Hodson Hall, Homewood campus.

 

Volunteers needed for festival benefiting Enoch Pratt Library

The Office of Faculty, Staff and Retiree Programs, as part its effort to link Johns Hopkins University students, faculty and staff with community service projects through United Way-funded agencies, is recruiting volunteers to assist at the Sixth Annual Enoch Pratt Fairy Tale Extravaganza on Saturday, April 26, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, April 27, from 12:30 to 4 p.m., at the Central Library Branch, located at 400 Cathedral St.

This family event benefits the library and offers crafts, music and activities designed to open children's eyes to the magic of fairy tales and reading. Johns Hopkins affiliates are needed to set up, welcome visitors, assist with crafts, direct pedestrian traffic, clean up and other duties. Lunch will be provided on Saturday.

To participate, contact Matt Smith in Faculty, Staff and Retiree Programs at mattsmith@jhu.edu or 410-516-0345. For more event information, go to www.prattlibrary.org or call 410-396-5430.

 

Voting, judging begin today for WSE student videos

All you need is a computer to vote for your favorite video in the School of Engineering's first WSE Video Competition. Voting for the People's Choice Award will take place today through Friday, April 18.

Students from the schools of Engineering and Arts & Sciences submitted a total of 12 qualifying videos, which can be viewed at: engineering.jhu.edu/videocompetition08/ peopleschoice.html.

Each video is two to three minutes long, and students choose from one of four themes: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, A Day in the Life, A New Discovery and How It Works.

The videos, which highlight various aspects of engineering at Johns Hopkins, range from humorous depictions of life as an engineering student and a mock wildlife documentary on the search and capture of the elusive mechanical engineering student to animated depictions of research and documentaries on specific projects. Some groups of students created videos as part of an intersession course offered for the competition by the Digital Media Center, which also assisted others by providing instruction, workshops and equipment.

The competition is being judged by Paula Burger, dean of undergraduate education; Richard Chisolm, Emmy Award-winning director of photography for the ABC series Hopkins 24/7; Sal Gentile, editor in chief of The News-Letter; Kristina Johnson, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs; and John Latting, director of Undergraduate Admissions. Judges will award first, second and third place.

Next year, the competition will be expanded to include videos about both Engineering and Arts & Sciences.

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