Emeritus Faculty Association #109 September 2005

Next Meeting:
First meeting of the new academic year: Friday, September 9, Javits Seminar Room, Melville Library E2340, 10.30 am.
After an informal half-hour of coffee, pastries, and fruit, Director Alan Inkles will take us "Behind the Scenes in the Staller Center." Some of the issues he will address are: how he and his staff put together a year of performances; how performers, productions, and films are selected; how his budget is financed; what constraints, if any, there are on his operations; what audience(s) is he trying to reach and how successful he has been in reaching them; how the Center's activities are coordinated with those of the most closely associated academic departments (Music, Art, and Theatre Arts); and what plans he has for the future. Come with your own questions for Alan, and bring a brown bag lunch to continue the conversation after his talk.
Bio: A Long Island native, Alan Inkles earned his BA Summa Cum Lauda and MA in Theatre Arts (acting and directing) from USB. He has been Director of the Staller Center for the Arts for the past eight years and Founder/ Director of the Stony Brook Film Festival for the past decade. He also created the award-winning International Theatre Festival, bringing dozens of foreign companies to America. He is credited with "putting Staller Center on the map," introducing family programming and popular cultural entertainment while strengthening classical music, dance, theatre, and fine art, annually presenting over 450 live and film programs in Staller's five performance spaces and adjoining art gallery. The recent 2005 Film Festival had over 15,000 attendees and received national press coverage and high accolades. Alan's honors include election to Phi Beta Kappa, the USB President's and SUNY Chancellor's Excellence in Service Awards, The Village Times Herald Man of the Year in the Arts (in 1987 and again in 1997), and the Long Island Television and Film Foundation's Honor for Excellence and Contribution to Film.

Last Meeting: Friday May 13
Our members were treated to an excellent lunch in the SAC ballroom B, courtesy of the Provost's Office. The speaker was Professor Perry Goldstein, Music Department, and Director of one of the six residential colleges -- the College of Arts, Culture, and Humanities, which make up the new residential college program for freshmen. The program was initiated as a way to enhance the student's first year campus experience. Studies had shown that many freshmen, disappointed with campus life, transferred to other colleges after the first year. All freshmen, including commuters, now have to enroll in one of the six theme-centered colleges. The most popular has been Science and Society. In addition to Perry's own college, the other colleges are Global Studies, Leadership and Service, Human Development, and Information and Technology., Each college has its own faculty director, as well as academic and residential advisors, and thus offers a personal setting for students to get to know one another, to receive academic guidance, and to be introduced to the many activities and opportunities offered on campus. Perry recalled his own experience as a freshman at the University of Illinois, and how until that year he had never before heard a string quartet or seen a foreign film. He believes that the new college system, with its various sponsored activities, e.g., field trips, visits to New York City (e.g. U.N., museums), can provide students with similar eye-opening experiences.
Many professors are members of the colleges, attending events sponsored by the colleges throughout the year. The most important role of professors, however, is to present a one-credit seminar on a subject of their choice. The seminars are given during the second semester, meeting for an hour once a week or two-hour sessions for seven weeks. The past spring seminars included a wide variety of topics, including Music at Stony Brook, Film and War, Fairy Tales, Global Warming, Wonder and Inquiry, Gene Dreams, Perspectives on Art, King Lear, Understanding War in Iraq, Ant Colonies, Language and Technology. Stem Cells, Political Leadership Skills. Beginning next spring freshmen one of these will be required.
Perry concluded his talk by listing three challenges facing the college program: (1) how to get students to become involved in college and campus events when they are not compelled to do so; (2) better inter-facing between college directors and dormitory/quad staff; and (3)being able to sustain a program that requires 120 faculty to volunteer their time.
Note that faculty volunteering for the one credit seminars often take the opportunity to cover a subject which may not be their primary field of expertize but for which they hold a particular enthusiasm that they can convey to the students. The college directors would be particularly interested to hear of any of our emeritus members who might like to partake in this. The Colleges and their faculty directors are:
Arts, Culture & Humanities (Perry Goldstein, Music, pgoldstein@ms.cc.sunysb.edu)
Global Studies (Michael Schwartz, Sociology)
Human Development (Paul Bingham, Biochemistry and Cell Biology)
Information & Technology Studies (Gary Halada, Materials Science)
Leadership & Service (Manny London, Harriman)
Science & Society (Jeff Levinton, Ecology and Evolution)

A Home away from Home for Emeriti
Over the summer, space in the Melville Library has been renovated to serve as an office/lounge for emeriti. Hopefully it will eventually contain a computer terminal, coffee maker, etc. Further details will be announced at the September meeting, or keep an eye on this space.

A Milestone:
Karl Harzell, Stony Brook's Chief Academic Officer during the interregnum of the early sixties, recently celebrated his 100th Birthday. He and his second wife divide the year between Shelter Island and Florida. Although he has given up tennis, he still plays golf!

Senior Citizen Law Day - Saturday, October 8th, 2005 Free Educational Seminars designed to assist families in senior life planning.
Assemblyman Steve Englebright, the Long Island State Veterans Home and the Suffolk County Bar Association are pleased to present Senior Citizen Law Day on Saturday, October 8th, 2005 from 9 AM to 3 PM. This special community event will take place at the Student Activities Center of Stony Brook University. Throughout the day, elder law attorneys and health care professionals will provide objective and reliable informational sessions on important topics such as: Asset Protection, Medicare Part D, Identity Theft, Wills/Trust, Selecting a Nursing Home, and many more. this special event is being offered to the public free of charge. Space for this special event is limited, therefore registration is recommended. To register, please call 751-3094.

Housing market:
This is the time of year when some of our members will be selling their houses and moving to other climes. Right now the housing market is in a bubble which may not last, so it is a good time. But be aware that some title search companies have added a required "Patriot Search" to their repetoire. Although this will add between $70 and $400 to your obligations at closing, surely you will be able to sleep more soundly knowing of the diligence of our title companies and that any bad guy contemplating a suicide bombing will now be limited to rentals for his (presumably temporary) accommodations.

Absent friends:
Some of you perhaps, like us, had good friends in the area ravaged by Katrina and have not been able to make contact with them since. Our hearts and hopes go out to them. For those who would like to contribute to the recovery note that there are many swindler sites on the internet including some that are fake lookalikes of legitimate charities like the Red Cross (see for example the article in the NY Times on Thurs Sept 8:
www.nytimes.com/2005/09/08/technology/08fraud.ready.html
The following two sites which monitor legitimate charities and provide correct links to them are highly recommended by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC):
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/content.view/catid/68/cpid/310.htm
http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes/