Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 9, 2001

Volume 29, Number 18

British empire expert to speak at imperial history conference

Andrew Porter, the Rhodes Professor of Imperial History at King's College of the University of London, will comment on papers at the conference "Empire and Metropole: A Return to Imperial History."

This free public event is sponsored by International Security Studies and will take place 11:45 a.m.5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 9, and 9 a.m.1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10, in Rm. 203, Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. Porter's panel will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

A historian of the British empire and commonwealth, Porter's areas of research expertise include the history of southern Africa, especially the South African War; government, business and shipping in the age of African partition; comparative European imperialisms in the 19th century; and British government policy and decolonization in the 20th century. He is currently focusing on the subject of religion and empire since 1760.

Porter is the head of the Department of History at King's College. His books include "The Origins of the South African War"; "Victorian Shipping, Business and Imperial Policy"; "British Imperial Policy and Decolonization, 1938-64" (with A.J. Stockwell); and"European Imperialism 1860-1914." Most recently, Porter edited "Volume III: The Nineteenth Century" of the new "Oxford History of the British Empire."

Renowned vascular biologist is first speaker in VBT series

Dr. Peter Libby, chief of cardiovascular medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, will be the first speaker in the Vascular Biology and Transplantation Endowed Seminar series.

He will discuss "Molecular Mechanisms of the Acute Coronary Syndromes" on Monday, Feb. 12, 4-5 p.m., in Rm. 206 of the Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine, 295 Congress Ave. The talk is free and open to the public.

Libby is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has written extensively on cardiovascular medicine and atherosclerosis, and has published numerous research articles in the medical journals Circulation, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, The New England Journal of Medicine and Nature. He is co-editor of Braunwald's "Heart Disease, Edition 6," and contributed chapters to the 15th edition of Harrison's "Principles of Internal Medicine."

A member of the Association of American Physicians and the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Libby has served the American Heart Association in various capacities, including chair of several research committees. He received a merit award from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, an organization to which he frequently served as a consultant. He has held numerous visiting professorships and delivered named lectures throughout the world.

Yale's Interdepartmental Program in Vascular Biology and Transplantation (VBT) was created in 2000 to effectively translate Yale-based research advances into the clinical transplant arena.

Transforming landfill to natural habitat is topic of FES talk

Steven N. Handel, professor of ecology and evolution at Rutgers University, will present a lecture titled "Can Urban Landfill be Transformed to Natural Habitat?" on Thursday, Feb. 15.

The sixth session in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Distinguished Lecturer series, "The Restoration Agenda: Urban Issues," the talk will take place 11:30 a.m.1 p.m. in Bowers Auditorium of Sage Hall, 205 Prospect St. Brownbag lunches are welcome and refreshments will be served.

Handel studies the population biology of native plants in many habitats. He has explored pollination, seed dispersal, growth patterns and, most recently, procedures for restoring native habitats to degraded lands. Previous to his Rutgers appointment, he was a biology professor and director of the botanic garden at Yale.

The author of many scientific articles in his field, Handel has received several scientific honors for his work, including being elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, fellow of the Australian Institute of Biology, president of the Torrey Botanical Society and editor of the journals Evolution and Restoration Ecology. He is currently director of the Center of Urban Restoration Ecology, a joint initiative of Rutgers and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, dedicated to teaching graduate students and professionals and conducting research.

Members of the Yale and New Haven community are welcome to attend. For more information, contact Aimlee Laderman at (203) 432-3335 or aimlee.laderman@yale.edu.

Child advocate to speak in Bush Center lecture series

Elaine Zimmerman, executive director of the Connecticut Commission on Children, will speak in the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy lecture series on Friday, Feb. 16.

Her talk, titled "Changing Our Ways to Make Change for Children: Policy Trends in Connecticut and Strategies to Address Them," will take place at noon in Rm. 211 of Mason Laboratory, 9 Hillhouse Ave. The event is free and open to the public.

In her work at the Commission on Children, Zimmerman reviews children's policy and programs, and reports to the executive, legislative and judicial branches regarding recommendations in children's legislation. She also manages the Parent Leadership Training Institute, now established in 13 Connecticut communities, to help parents become active leaders for children.

Zimmerman co-designed Connecticut's School Readiness Campaign, which involves business, parents, the legislature and early childhood educators. She was a key consultant to the Speaker of the House on Connecticut's preschool legislation. She also served as chief consultant to the Early Reading Success legislation, which reduced class size and created full-day kindergarten, after-school and summer programs, and resources for teacher training in early literacy and language acquisition.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Center seeks to change views about intelligence

Yale chooses architects for arts projects

Yale Club and Dwight Hall team up to boost volunteerism in city

International Health Program to be expanded

Confessions of an artistic (and choc-oholic) alumna

Program recalls contributions of late art historian

Philip Long named as director of Information Technology Services

Historian Kennedy describes how WWII altered the U.S.

Famed actor Stephen Rea tells of his loyalty to Irish identity

Exhibit explores how artists approach use of color

There are dinosaurs galore at the Peabody this month

Museum enjoys record-setting year

Future of former Yugoslavia is focus of international event

Event to explore novel approaches to legal issues

Theater in the 18th century will be the focus of international . . .

'Space Odyssey' is topic of next Tetelman Lecture

Conference will explore the impact of spirituality on health

Professor Barry Saltzman, a pioneer in the study of the atmosphere . . .

Campus Notes