Notices

Halberstam to give Tenney lecture March 19

Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam will visit the University Tuesday, March 19, to talk about the dramatic changes that have taken place in America over the last 100 years.

His free lecture, "America: Then and Now," is part of the Charles D. Tenney 2002 lecture series and begins at 8 p.m. in the Student Center Auditorium. A public reception follows the speech.

War correspondent, historian, sports writer and pundit, Halberstam has been called journalism's jack-of-all-trades. A native of New York City and a Harvard graduate, his first job out of college was on a one-reporter paper in Mississippi.

Halberstam is perhaps best known for work related to the Vietnam war. In 1964, when he was a 30-year-old reporter for The New York Times, he won a Pulitzer for his coverage of that conflict. His 1972 study of the war's origins, the 688-page book, "The Best and the Brightest," has been hailed as a classic.

Halberstam's talk is sponsored by the University Honors Program, which administers the Tenney lectureships. Tenney served as the University's provost and vice president from 1952 to 1971.

WSIU-TV co-sponsors kids' writing contest

"Reading Rainbow" and WSIU-TV are kicking off the eighth annual Young Writers and Illustrators Contest. Children from kindergarten to third grade are encouraged to write and illustrate their own stories.

Entries are judged locally with those winners advancing to the national competition. Each child who participates receives a special Certificate of Achievement signed by LeVar Burton, host of "Reading Rainbow." Local winners will receive Reading Rainbow books and videos.

The program airs at 3 p.m. weekdays on WSIU-TV (Channels 8 and 16).

Call 453-3372 or visit www.wsiu.org for entry forms. Deadline is March 25.

Gerontologist's lecture links eating, longevity

Gerontologist George S. Roth, a senior guest scientist at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, will talk about how eating less could prolong life during his visit Thursday, March 7. His free, public lecture, sponsored by the campus chapter of Sigma Xi, begins at 4 p.m. in French Auditorium in Lindegren Hall.

Scientists have been studying the effects of a restricted diet on aging since the 1930s. Cornell University researchers found that when they fed lab rats and mice 30 percent to 40 percent less than they would normally eat, those rodents lived 30 percent to 40 percent longer than those that ate what they wanted. Not only that, but they were healthier and more mentally and physically fit.

In 1987, Roth and a team of NIA researchers began similar caloric-restriction experiments with monkeys, which share about 95 percent of their DNA with humans. He and his colleagues have found that, as with the rodents, monkeys on restricted diets are more active and suffer fewer health problems than their better-fed counterparts.

These results have led Roth to investigate mimetics -- compounds that mimic the effects of caloric restriction on genes. Because of this mimicry, such compounds might someday be used to develop drugs that could slow or stop age-related disease.

Sigma Xi, an international honor society for science and engineering researchers, sponsors Roth's visit. The University established its chapter in 1966.

Amateur photographers wanted for contest

Amateur shutterbugs can shoot for prizes in the Saluki Snapshot Photo Contest, sponsored by Photo Finish in the Student Center. The competition is open to all University students, faculty and staff. Participants can enter their work in two categories: life and nature. The first-place winner in each category receives a $100 Student Center gift card.

A panel of students, faculty and staff will judge entries based on creativity, composition and quality. Deadline for entries is 5 p.m. March 29 at Photo Finish, located at the Information Station on the first floor of the Student Center. Winners will be announced April 9.

Each entry must include a 5-by-7 color print, completed entry form and a signed release form. Participants can enter only one photo per category. All entries must be developed at Photo Finish.

For a complete list of rules, stop by Photo Finish or click on the Student Center Web site at www.siu.edu/~stuctr/photocontest.

Workshop focuses on service-learning courses

Student Development and the University Core Curriculum are sponsoring a faculty luncheon workshop, "Connecting Service to the Curriculum," Thursday, March 21. The workshop will be 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Mississippi Room in the Student Center.

The workshop will feature faculty who have designed service-learning courses.

The workshop is free, but interested faculty are encouraged to register by contacting James S. Allen at 453-3468 or jsallen@siu.edu; or Mythili Rundblad at 453-5714 or rundblad@siu.edu.

Former governor Wilder to deliver Lesar lecture

L. Douglas Wilder, the first elected African-American governor in U.S. history, will deliver the annual Hiram H. Lesar Lecture at 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, at the Hiram H. Lesar Law Building Auditorium.

Wilder, who served as Virginia's governor from 1990 until 1994, will share his experiences and unique perspective on the impact of civil rights laws in the United States.

The grandson of slaves, Wilder graduated from Virginia Union University in 1951. Shortly after graduation, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and was sent to Korea where he won the Bronze star for heroism. However, when he decided to take advantage of the GI Bill to study law, he had to leave his home state because Virginia banned African-Americans from its law schools at the time.

Wilder went on to earn a law degree from Howard University Law School and returned to Richmond to establish a private practice. Elected to the Virginia State Senate in 1970, Wilder became lieutenant governor in 1985 and was sworn in as Virginia's governor in 1990.

Since leaving office in 1994, Wilder has played an important role in the development of The National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg, Va. He also writes a column, lectures to audiences nationwide and is associated with Virginia Commonwealth University, where he serves as a distinguished professor at the Center for Public Policy and the department of political science.

March 6, 2002