Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) yesterday offered his vision of the future for the United States as he announced his bid to become the first African-American president. Standing on the footsteps of the old Illinois State Capitol where Abraham Lincoln gave his famous speech before the Civil War, Obama promised to address the "failure of leadership" in Washington and fix the nation's most pressing problems such as the failing school system and oil dependence. "We can build a more hopeful America. And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a house divided to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America," said Obama. Obama is among the favorites in the upcoming race, which includes heavy-weights Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.
ON CAMPUS Pollock painting to make first ever apperance at McMullen The McMullen Museum of Art has announced that beginning in September, it will showcase a groundbreaking exhibition that explains, for the first time, the personal and artistic relationship between American Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock and Swiss-born photographer and graphic designer Herbert Matter. Entitled "Pollock Matters," the exhibition will be open until December 9th. The exhibition will also be host to 25 recently discovered "experimental" works that were found in 2002 by Matter's son in a storage facility. This will be the first time these works, identified as "Jackson's experimental works" by an inscription in Matter's hand, are available to viewing by the public.
Universities move toward hiring more part-time faculty A recent report in Nature magazine highlighted the growing trend of short-term faculty appointments among faculty members in universities around the United States. The report showed that in 1975, part-time and non-tenure-track full-time staff comprised 43 percent of the total faculty workforce, a number that had jumped to 63 percent in 2003. The United Sates isn't the only nation experiencing this phenomenon, says Philip Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College. Altbach said that this trend is also evident in countries in Latin America, where more than 80 percent of faculty are part-time staff. Many experts fear that the move towards part time faculty may discourage some to become professors.
UNIVERSITIES Harvard to appoint first woman in its history as pres. Yesterday Harvard announced that its search for a president is over, naming Drew Gilpin Faust as its 28th president. Faust, who will be president of the richest university in the world with nearly $26 billion in endowment, is set to be Harvard's first female president. The announcement came after a year of searching, as Harvard decided to remain in-house by hiring Faust, who has been the dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study since 2001. With the appointment of Faust, half of the Ivy League schools will have woman presidents.
INTERNATIONAL U.S. accuses Iran of killing American troops The threat of conflict between the United States and Iran continued to intensify yesterday as defense officials presented a "growing body" of evidence of Iranian weapons being used to kill U.S. soldiers. A senior official stated that nearly 200 U.S. troops had been killed by Iranian-made roadside bombs that were smuggled into Iraq. The evidence comes after long-standing accusations that Iran has been fanning violence in Iraq by giving bombs, money, and training to Shia militant groups in their fight against Sunnis. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a speech the same day, warning the United States that Iran will not back down from its nuclear program.
UNDER REPORTED Princeton closes 'X-Men'-like labratory after 28 years At the end of this month, the extrasensory perception (ESP) lab at Princeton University will close after 28 years of studying ESP and telekinesis, research that both embarrassed university officials and outraged the scientific community, according to a USAToday.com article. While Princeton made no official comment on closing the lab, the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) lab founder Robert G. Jahn said that the lab, with its aging equipment and scant finances, has done what it needed to do. "If people don't believe us after all the results we've produced, then they never will," said Jahn to The New York Times for Saturday's edition.
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