In advance of advising, we have assigned a number of students new advisors. Mostly we have switched students from Dr. Ryan to me, since Dr. Ryan is now keeping busy as chair of the biology department. A few of you may have been assigned to Dr. Reeves in English, Dr Edwards in anthropology, or Dr. Novak or Dr. Cline in sociology. You can check My.Butler to see who your current advisor is.
Advising starts a couple of weeks from now. We’ll be in touch with more news.
This posts introduces our new system for tracking co-curricular events. We have enrolled all STS majors and minors in a Moodle Organization called “STS_students”. You can access it from the “My Moodle menu” at the top left of your Moodle window. Inside that organization you will find something that looks a lot like a course. You will see listed “Cocurricular Activity reports”. There are 6 links, one for each required activity. After you go to an event, click on one of the links (start at the top); you will be asked for the name, date and topic of the event, as well as to write a brief summary and reflection on the topic. That summary need not be more than a paragraph or two. I will review your entries and mark them as complete. When you’ve got all 6 (or the first 3 if you are a minor) you are done.
NOTE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY HANDED IN EVENT REPORTS: We would ask that you find copies of the reports you submitted for past events, and that you cut and paste the material into the online report. I’m sorry — but we can’t do that for you. If you have handed in reports and don’t have lost your originals, you can contact Mary Proffitt to track them down.
Please let Mary or me know if you are having difficulties, and please get any events from this or previous years onto Moodle before advising starts in a couple of weeks. Especially if you are a senior, please get everything in.
If you are looking for an event, National Geographic Explorer Sylvia Earle is here next week.
From Anna Vierse:
My experience working with Barbara and the Indiana CAFO Watch organization during Spring, 2013 truly enlightened me, not only to the extent of environmental and food-source degradation occurring on American farms, but also to the shocking level of politics contributing to such malpractices. Having lived in a city or suburb my entire life, I had seen documentaries and read several journalistic exposés concerning the mistreatment of animals on farms the resulting negatively affect on our food quality, but interning at CAFO Watch made these conditions real for me—some of this was occurring mere miles away on farms in Indiana. However, change is not easy, and I witnessed politicians fight against sanitation and a safe environment merely for the benefit of their own pocketbooks.
Even if at times the research work I completed to support proposed bills or to provide hard data grew tedious, Barbara was inspiring with her passion and firm belief in her cause. I learned about the arduous and seemingly insignificant role of a grassroots or whistleblower organization, but also saw the invigorating effects of spreading such news with dedication. I experienced politics, the bill-making process, environmental activism, and now better understood the role of farms in America. But most of all, I witnessed the amazingly strong influence the common people can have in making a difference in our country.
Come meet the Director of CAFO-Watch Indiana. Learn about internship opportunities! Learn about what CAFO-Watch is doing to protect our air and water quality.
Come to JH 340 at 11:00 on Tuesday, Oct. 3 to hear Barbara Sha Cox, Director of Indiana CAFO-Watch talk about her organization. Barbara is a lively grandmother and farmer who has been fighting the good fight against the loosening of regulations over industrial animal operations in the state. Come hear her speak! Come learn about how you can help and get internship credit.
There are some fun events coming up in the community. Check them out! (And remember that you need to attend community events like these!) ~ Dr. Reeves
1. The Ain’t Too Late Show: A climate change game show
The world’s first entertainment show about our profound ecological challenges combines the talents of ecotainer Jim Poyser with the theatrical acumen of Sean Baker, Travis DiNicola and Karen Irwin. Designer Will McCarty and Producer William Fisher add their voices to the performance, which features an opening monologue by Poyser highlighting the month’s positive news, followed by a quiz show format where contestants can win valuable prizes from local merchants.
The Ain’t Too Late Show is performed at the IndyFringe Theatre Building, 719 East St Clair Street, on the third Tuesday of each month. Doors open at 6; show runs from 6:30-7:30. Cost: $5.
2. Join the Eco Student Summit II at IUPUI on Oct. 19.
See their website for details:
One of the distinctive features of the STS major and minor is its co-curricular event requirement. The co-curricular event requirement is very much like the Butler Cultural Requirement (BCR) in the core curriculum, in that it is a requirement to attend an enriching event outside of your normal course work. In fact most events that count for the BCR also count for the STS requirement. To satisfy the requirement STS majors must attend and report upon 6 events; minors must do 3 events.
The most typical way STS students fulfill this requirement is by attending our amazing Woods Lecture Series. We will also post other events we see that could fulfill the requirement. If you see something you’d like to go to and you think would count, please just send us an e-mail so we can confirm and share the event.
If you are a senior, please note that this is a very real requirement, and you should take steps to make sure you complete it.
While the co-curricular event is a fun requirement, it has been confusing for students, faculty and advisors to keep track of. To make things easier for all of us, we’re going to roll out a new Moodle-based tracking system that will allow you to report events and see your progress on the requirement. Look for another post later this week!
Woods Lecture Series Presents Nina Tandon
On September 24, 2013
Tissue engineer Nina Tandon will open the 2013-2014 J. James Woods Lectures in the Sciences and Mathematics with a talk called “Body 3.0″ at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24 in the Atherton Union Reilly Room.
All lectures in the series are free and open to the public without tickets. For more information, call (317) 940-9269 .
Tandon believes that the era of engineered tissues—like, for example, a replacement kidney grown in the lab—is just beginning. In this talk, Tandon shows us how we (and our bodies) have lived through most of history (Body 1.0), and then how we evolved into “cyborgs” with implants (such as pacemakers and artificial joints, Body 2.0).
Now, Body 3.0 is all about growing our OWN body parts. For her doctoral thesis, Tandon grew cardiac cells that beat like tiny hearts. In this thrilling and eye-opening talk, she explains the process of growing tissue and transplants, and the future of medical science. With the help of manufacturing and information technology, we are on the verge of being able to grow human tissue—and Tandon is here to walk us through this unbelievably exciting era.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Cooper Union, Tandon spent her early career in telecom (Avaya Labs) and transitioned into biomedical engineering via her Fulbright scholarship in Italy, where she worked on an electronic nose used to “smell” lung cancer. Tandon studied electrical stimulation for cardiac tissue engineering at MIT and Columbia, and now continues her research on electrical stimulation for broader tissue-engineering applications.
Butler Brown Bag Series for Research, Scholarship and Creative Work presents:
“DNA @ 60: What is in Store for You is Mind-Blowing” by Alex Erkine, Pharmaceutical Sciences on Tuesday, September 24, noon-1 p.m., UClub (AU111).
After 60 years of the discovery of the DNA structure, it is now possible to read the entire content of your own DNA for just $5000 in a few weeks. In a year or two, the price is predicted to drop to $1000 and will be routinely done – similar to a blood test, with data stored on a computer. Since this information holds the keys to potential life-threatening medical conditions, as well as to your personal traits (psychological character, mental abilities, ethnic origins, etc.), the question is: do you want to gain this information about yourself, your relatives, or your future spouse? Do you think the insurance companies, your roommate, or the NSA will want it? And if they do get it, what do you think they will do with it?
Join us for a lunchtime conversation on this topic with Alex Erkine, Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Students, staff and faculty are all welcome. No RSVP required. Light refreshments will be provided – feel free to bring your lunch.
1. Learn about Environmental policy and the legislative process. This internship is for a state-wide organization, CAFO-Watch, which is invested in ensuring that large-scale, intensive animal operations, such as hog and dairy operations, are being monitored to protect the surrounding community’s water and air quality. For this internship, you will work with CAFO-Watch director Barbara Sha Cox. The internship is mainly focused on the upcoming state legislative session in the spring. Her contact info: barbarasha1@msn.com
2. Learn about environmental management and leadership. This internship is with the Earth Charter. You will be working with director, Jim Poyser, the former editor of NUVO news weekly. His contact info: jimpoyser@earthcharterindiana.org
3. Learn how to work on environmental campaigns in a local context. This internship is with the Sierra Club. You will be working with Butler alumnus, Jodi Perras. Her contact info: jodi.perras@sierraclub.org
Hello students, faculty and friends of STS. Welcome to our new Blog! The STS program committee will be using this Blog to keep you posted on a variety of issues, for instance:
Going forward we will be using Blog posts in place of listserv messages, so it important that you subscribe to the Blog to be notified of new postings. Please sign up using the link on this page!