THE COLOR
OF DISCIPLINE.
Why are African
Americans referred to the office, suspended, and expelled at higher rates
than white students? Russell Skiba,
associate professor in the IU School of Education, says the disproportionate
representation of African Americans among students disciplined at school is
evidence of pervasive and systematic bias. Skiba’s study, involving 11,000
middle school students in the Midwest, strongly suggests that disparities
in school suspension are due to differences in the rate of initial referrals
to the office. African American males were much more likely to be referred
from the classroom to the office than other students, even for minor infractions,
and they were subject to higher rates of more severe punishments. Skiba also
found that African American students were referred for more subjective reasons,
such as excessive noise or disrespect. See the report at www.indiana.edu/~iepc
under “On-line Publications.”
NEW DEANS.
D. Craig Brater has been named the ninth dean of the IU
School of Medicine. A member of the Medical School faculty since 1986,
Brater succeeds Robert W. Holden, who retired on June 30. Brater will oversee
an annual budget that includes more than $135 million in research funding.
Gerardo M. Gonzalez has been named university dean of the IU
School of Education. Gonzalez is known for founding Boost Alcohol Consciousness
Concerning the Health of University Students (BACCHUS), the nation’s
largest collegiate organization for the prevention of alcohol abuse. He replaces
Donald Warren, who has retired after ten years as dean. Kumble R. Subbaswamy
is the new dean of the IU Bloomington
College of Arts & Sciences. A physicist, Subbaswamy had been dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami in Coral Gables,
Fla. He succeeds Morton Lowengrub.
ON THE VERGE.
More than one quarter of American adults today say they have experienced an
impending nervous breakdown. In a study published in the American Psychologist,
IU researchers found that in 1996, 26 percent of Americans felt they were
on the verge of a breakdown. In 1957, only 19 percent felt the same. Ralph
Swindle Jr., of the IU Department of Medicine, and his IU co-authors conclude
that the current generation is more accepting of mental and emotional problems.
The researchers say the study suggests the expansion of policies that emphasize
informal support and nonmedical treatments rather than the role of the primary
care physician.
THE LANGUAGE GAP.
The gap in language skills between hearing children and children who are deaf
may be substantially narrowed if the child with hearing loss receives a cochlear
implant at an early age. Mario
Svirsky, associate professor of otolaryngology at the IU School of Medicine,
and other IU researchers have found that the earlier a child who is deaf receives
a cochlear implant, the more likely he or she is to develop speech and language
skills at about the same rate as a peer with normal hearing. A cochlear implant
is an electronic device surgically implanted into the inner ear.
KILLER DIRT.
Microbes in the soil around a parent tree may kill that tree’s seedlings
by design, say IUB doctoral student Alissa Packer and Professor Keith
Clay. In a March issue of Nature,
the biology department researchers published new evidence that native pathogens
in the soil influence tree distribution. The fungus Pythium spp. prevented
black cherry seedlings from growing near their parent tree, but different
species could take root without a problem, creating a diversity of tree species.
The hypothesis that natural pathogens kill seedlings around parent trees has
been tested with tropical forests, but Packer and Clay’s study shows
for the first time that the same process occurs in temperate forests.
GUILT HURTS.
When women serve as caregivers to others, their own health may suffer. That’s
the finding of a study conducted by Eliza
Pavalko, associate professor of sociology at IUB, and graduate student
Shari Woodbury and published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
Using a sample of nearly 3,000 women in late midlife, the researchers found
that psychological distress increases as a woman moves into and continues
caring for an ill or disabled person in her household. The work of caring
affected women’s physical health as well—women in the study developed
physical limitations, experiencing difficulty in climbing stairs, for instance,
or lifting heavy objects.
A MOVING
BRONZE.E.
Neil Goodman,
IU Northwest professor of fine arts, has created his largest freestanding
sculpture, “Centennial Passage.” The bronze entrance gateway made
of 100 kinetic hexagonal units is in place at the Dow Centennial Sculpture
Garden in Midland, Michigan.
HIGHEST
HONORS.
IUB Distinguished Professor of biology Jeffrey
Palmer is a new member of the National Academy of Sciences. A leader in
evolutionary genomics, Palmer and his lab team have revealed new understandings
of the origins of land plants and chloroplasts. Martina
Arroyo, Menahem
Pressler, and Rudolf
Raff have been elected to the 220-year-old American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. Arroyo and Pressler are Distinguished Professors at the IU School
of Music in Bloomington. Raff is IUB professor of biology and director of
the Indiana Molecular Biology Institute.
Return to Table of Contents