Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 24, 2006|Volume 34, Number 23

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Ruddle Lecture will examine craniofacial development

Jill Helms, an associate professor in the Department of Surgery at Stanford University, will give the 2006 Frank H. Ruddle Lecture on Wednesday, March 29.

Helms' lecture, titled "It's All in Your Head: Recent Insights Into Craniofacial Development, Deformity and Species-Specific Diversity," will begin at 4 p.m. in Rm. 202, Osborn Memorial Laboratory, 165 Prospect St. Sponsored by the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, the talk is free and open to the public.

Helms recently joined the Stanford faculty after eight years at the University of California at San Francisco, where she was the director of the Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Helms' research interests center around the molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating craniofacial morphogenesis, and the etiological basis for genetic and teratogen-induced craniofacial defects.

An adviser for master's and doctoral candidates, Helms reviews manuscripts for leading journals such as Nature, Science, and Development. She is a member of the research advisory boards for the Shriners Hospitals and for the Orthopeadic Research and Education Foundation.

Helms reviews grants for the NIH, NASA, March of Dimes and a number of other non-profit organizations. She divides her time between research, teaching and mentoring students in the medical and dental sciences related to craniofacial biology.

The Frank H. Ruddle Fund is an endowment established in honor of Ruddle, a member of the Yale faculty since 1961. Ruddle's earlier work involved the use of somatic cell genetics to gain an early understanding of the broad organization of mammalian genomes that were extremely difficult to study by more conventional genetic methods. In 1980, he and his collaborators demonstrated that it was possible to inject genes into the nucleus of mouse eggs and subsequently have these genes incorporated into the genome of the mouse. This paved the way for the now routine construction of transgenic mice. In addition to his research pursuits, Ruddle has been an active participant in the establishment of the biotechnology industry in the New Haven area through his active involvement in the development of Science Park and the Route 34 Biomedical Park.

Author and historian to give Walker Lecture

Author and historian John Lukacs will be the speaker for the George Herbert Walker Jr. Lecture in International Studies on Thursday, March 30.

Lukacs' talk, titled "Popular Tides and the Ship of State," will be held at 4 p.m. in Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. It is sponsored by the Yale Center for International and Area Studies and is free and open to the public.

A recipient of the Ingersoll Prize, Lukacs is the author of more than 20 books, including "The Hitler of History," "The Great Powers and Eastern Europe," "A History of the Cold War," "Outgrowing Democracy: A Historical Interpretation of the U.S. in the 20th Century" and "The Duel (Hitler vs. Churchill, 10 May-31 August 1940)." His most recent book, "Democracy and Populism," was published by the Yale University Press, as will be his next book, "June 1941: Hitler and Stalin," due out this month.

Lukacs served from 1947-1994 as professor of history at Chestnut Hill College, and as its department chair from 1947-1974. He also served as a visiting professor at many universities, including Columbia, Princeton, Johns Hopkins University, and at the University of Budapest in his native Hungary.

The Hon. George Herbert Walker III, currently the United States ambassador to Hungary, established this lecture series in 1986 in memory of his father, a distinguished graduate of the Yale Class of 1927.

Talk to examine policy for victims of child maltreatment

Robin Fretwell Wilson, associate professor of law at the University of Maryland School of Law, will speak as part of the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy Lecture Series on Friday, March 31.

Wilson's talk, titled "Remove the Threat, Not the Child: A Test Case for Using Social Science to Guide Child and Family Policy," will be held at 11:30 a.m. in Rm. 116, William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St. The event is free and open to the public. For further information, e-mail sandra.bishop@yale.edu or call (203) 432-9935.

Wilson's research focuses on the risk of abuse to children. She is the co-editor of the "Handbook of Children, Culture & Violence" with Dorothy G. Singer of Yale and Nancy Dowd, and has published articles on child maltreatment in the Cornell Law Review, the Emory Law Journal, the San Diego Law Review, the Journal of Child and Family Studies, and the Child and Family Law Quarterly, among others.

Wilson is also the editor of a forthcoming volume on proposed reforms for family and child policy titled "Reconceiving the Family: Critical Reflections on the American Law Institute's Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution." She has made presentations to the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Hearings on Health Care and Competition Law and Policy, the IXth Regional European Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect in Poland, and the 3rd International Conference on Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Australia.

Renowned historian to receive Bouchet Award

John Hope Franklin, renowned historian of the African-American experience and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, will deliver a public lecture on Saturday, April 1.

The talk, which is free and open to the Yale community, will take place at 11:30 a.m. in Rm. 120 of the Law School, 127 Wall St.

Franklin's talk is the keynote address of the third annual Bouchet Conference on Diversity in Graduate Education, titled "Working Towards a New Vision of the 21st-Century University: Promoting Diversity and Excellence in Research, Teaching and Learning Within the Academy." This national conference, held March 31-April 1, is sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Science's Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity.

Franklin will receive Yale's Bouchet Leadership Award Medal. The conference and award are named for Edward A. Bouchet, the Yale College and Graduate School alumnus who was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from an American university as well as the sixth American to earn a doctorate in physics.

Franklin is the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University. He taught for more than 50 years at some of the nation's most prestigious universities, including Fisk, Howard, Brooklyn College and the University of Chicago.

A prolific author, he is best-known for his "From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans." His most recent book is "Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin." Other publications include "The Emancipation Proclamation," "The Militant South" and "A Southern Odyssey: Travelers in the Ante-bellum North."

The Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian award -- was given to Franklin in recognition of his contribution to civil rights.

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Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes

Correction