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March 20th, 2019
Visiting Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the University of the Pacific Elham (Ellie) Sayyad Abdi will present “Immigrants: An Information Literacy Framework” at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 23 in Stewart Center, room 320, during her visit to Purdue University. The talk is open free to the public and is sponsored by the Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies.
Abdi’s research focuses on uncovering the ways in which different populations conceptualize and engage with information. Her presentation will cover her Australian Research Council-funded study, which explores immigrants’ experiences with information and information literacy to enable them to learn the structure of the new environment, make informed choices, and become active and empowered participants of a new society.
Currently, Abdi is the Australian Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the University of the Pacific, California. She is an information researcher and working to pioneer the concept of information experience design (IXD), which is about designing and developing interventions for everyday life based on how people engage with information. Her research specifically examines the information experience among immigrant communities.
From 2014–18, Abdi served as an assistant professor in the School of Information Systems at Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
Abdi is a member of the Research Advisory Committee of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), chairs the LIS Education in Developing Countries Special Interest Group at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), regularly serves as a reviewer for various information journals, and serves on the program committees of various information conferences.
For more information about this event, contact Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies Associate Professor Clarence Maybee at cmaybee@purdue.edu.
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, press_releaseMarch 18th, 2019
Courtesy of Purdue News Service
The public will have a chance to get a closer glimpse into Purdue alumnus Neil Armstrong’s life through an exhibit presented by Purdue Archives and Special Collections.
The free, public exhibition, “Apollo in the Archives: Selections from the Neil A. Armstrong Papers,” runs through Saturday, Oct. 12 in the Purdue Archives and Special Collections. It is located in Stewart Center inside the Humanities, Social Sciences and Education (HSSE) Library on the fourth floor of the library. The general exhibit hours are 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. On Saturday, Oct. 12, in celebration of Purdue University’s 2019 Homecoming, the exhibit will be open 8-11 a.m.
The exhibit commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight that landed on the moon – where Armstrong took those famed first steps – and coincides with Purdue University’s July celebration of the moon landing, as well as the University’s sesquicentennial celebration, 150 Years of Giant Leaps.
“Neil wanted his collections to be used for both scholarship and research at his alma mater,” said Tracy Grimm, associate head of Purdue Archives and Special Collections and the Barron Hilton Archivist for Flight and Space Exploration, and curator of the exhibition. “Students and researchers have the unique opportunity to have a behind-the-scenes look at Neil’s life and legacy when they conduct research using Neil’s personal papers. This exhibition offers the public an opportunity to get to know Armstrong and the steps leading up to the Apollo 11 mission through access to Armstrong’s papers.”
The exhibition charts Armstrong’s experiences leading up to Apollo 11 mission, including training and coursework, planning for how and where to land on the moon, the success of the mission itself, and the impact it had on society. The following 11 items represent a portion of the items the public can expect to see on display at “Apollo in the Archives”:
In addition to the “Apollo in the Archives,” Purdue’s Ringel Gallery, in partnership with Archives and Special Collections, will present the exhibition “Return to Entry,” which will feature artwork inspired by Armstrong’s archival collection, March 25 to May 11, in the Ringel Gallery, Stewart Center. A reception and a panel discussion will be held at 5:30 on April 4.
For this exhibition, the artists’ challenge was to bring art, engineering, and science together to imagine new horizons informed by archival documents and artifacts contained in the Armstrong Papers and the papers of other astronauts and engineers. This exhibition will feature work by Frances Gallardo, Michael Oatman, and Jennifer Scheuer, who will be part of the panel discussion on April 4.
These exhibitions are one of many events celebrating Purdue’s Sesquicentennial, 150 Years of Giant Leaps. The yearlong celebration is highlighting Purdue’s remarkable history of giant leaps, while focusing on what giant leaps Purdue can take to address the world’s problems. The celebration concludes in October with an astronaut reunion.
Filed under: general, SPECMarch 15th, 2019
The Marshall and Susan Larsen Leaders Academy in the Krannert School of Management provides an ideal place for Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies Associate Professor Ilana Stonebraker to teach Purdue students.
The Academy, according to its website, “provides high-achieving students with enhanced academic opportunities and learning experiences to help them become top performers in the world of business.” The program creates “a culture of achievement”—a phenomenon that Stonebraker, as an instructor of the Management 110 course offered to students in the Academy, not only fosters and sustains in her teaching, but also one she takes to heart in the pursuit of top performance in her own chosen field.
In Fall 2018, Stonebraker was among 12 faculty members inducted into the Purdue University Teaching Academy as a new Teaching Academy Fellow. She is the first ever Libraries and School of Information Studies faculty member to be inducted into the elite program, which recognizes Purdue faculty for their outstanding and scholarly teaching in graduate, undergraduate, or engagement programs. This recognition is just one among many honors Stonebraker has racked up over the last couple of years. In June 2018, she was one of 10 individuals selected by the Tippy Connect Young Professionals (TCYP) in the organization’s annual Top 10 Young Professionals Under 40 Award program. Last summer, she was recognized by the American Library Association (ALA) Library Instruction Roundtable as an author of one of the Top Twenty Library Instruction Articles of 2017. (She was recognized for the same thing in 2016 for a different article.) In early 2017, she was named a “Mover & Shaker” in Library Journal’s annual roundup that honors individuals making significant impacts in libraries and in education around the world. Last fall, too, she was elected to the Tippecanoe County Council (representing District 1).
While the accolades are rewarding, she noted, it is her work—like teaching the highly motivated students in the Larsen Leaders Academy—that really inspires her.
“I like to figure out where students are and help them build bridges to achieve their dreams, to help them imagine and then try things they never would have imagined themselves doing before,” she explained. “One of the ways I do this is through encouraging them to explore the ways they use information in their decision-making processes.”
Stonebraker has been at Purdue since 2012, and she has been teaching in Krannert since 2013. In addition to her teaching course load, she serves as one of Purdue Libraries’ business information specialists in the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics. She also researches how individuals use information in their studies and in their work and applies the knowledge she gains from that in her teaching.
“That is how I introduce myself to my students. I tell them, ‘I teach information literacy, and I research how people use information. Based on that, I can teach you skills that others cannot teach you here at Purdue,'” she explained. “Knowing how to use and apply information is increasingly important in a 21st-century economy. People in business, particularly, need to know how to use and apply information quickly. That is basically data analytics.”
Stonebraker is among several Libraries faculty who either teach or co-teach credit courses at Purdue in a variety of departments. She proudly points out that librarians tend to be highly engaged instructors who have been developing and practicing effective active-learning techniques and approaches to instruction for many years (perhaps even before “active learning” became an important practice in education).
“Librarians make interesting teachers because we think systematically about problems. Our brains are set up for inputs and outputs,” she added. “Our default is active learning. You can’t really teach students how to research and use information without actively engaging students in research and information use activities.”
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, HSSEBMarch 14th, 2019
Much of history would be forgotten if we did not have those committed to recording it.
“When I started, much of the historical information wasn’t available.” recalls Purdue professor Fred Whitford.
Now, after authoring more than 250 research, extension, and regulatory publications, delivering over 5,800 presentations to a wide array of audiences, and writing several books about the history of Indiana agriculture, Whitford is responsible for a great deal of what is known about the history of agriculture and extension in Indiana.
Whitford’s books include Enriching the Hoosier Farm Family: A Photo History of Indiana’s Early County Extension Agents; Scattering the Seeds of Knowledge: The Words and Works of Indiana’s Pioneer County Extension Agents; For the Good of the Farmer: A Biography of John Harrison Skinner, Dean of Purdue Agriculture; The Grand Old Man of Purdue University and Indiana Agriculture: The Biography of William Carroll Latta; and The Queen of American Agriculture: A Biography of Virginia Claypool Meredith. These books study the history of agriculture and extension agents at Purdue and in Indiana, often through concentrating on important figures throughout our history. (Find a flyer for the series of books here)
John Calvin Allen, professionally known as J.C., is one of those figures. He worked as a photographer for Purdue University from 1909-1952, and operated his own photography business until his death in 1976. Allen’s photos are the source for Whitford’s upcoming book Memories of Life on the Farm: Through the Lens of Pioneer Photographer J. C. Allen (September 2019), co-authored by Neal Harmeyer an archivist at the Purdue University Archives and Special Collections. The book uses Allen’s photographs, which were taken on glass slides, to get a unique look at Indiana’s agricultural history.
“People love old pictures,” says Whitford, “it brings people back.”
This volume contains over 900 images, most never-before-seen, of men, women, and children working on the farm, which remain powerful reminders of life in rural America at the turn of the twentieth century. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the collection of photographs is the importance of the the time period they cover. They act as a historical account of a major transitional period for agriculture. “He told the story of change” says Whitford, he explains that it was a time when tractors replaced horses, and superior crops and animals were being introduced.
Why research the history of agriculture and extension in Indiana in such an expansive way? Whitford believes that the past repeats itself, and that learning from it will always have value.
“We take so many things for granted, and all of these things we take for granted had to start somewhere.” says Whitford.
Just as important, it’s a reminder of culture and mission.
“It shows what the culture of extension is, we’ve always been here to help.” says Whitford. “We are here to serve growers.”
Memories of Life on the Farm: Through the Lens of Pioneer Photographer J.C. Allen will be available in September 2019. Get 30% off when you order directly from the Purdue University Press website and enter the code “PURDUE30” at checkout.
Filed under: UncategorizedMarch 7th, 2019
That Sheep May Safely Graze (March 2019, Purdue University Press), by David Sherman, brings light to the human story of Afghanistan, the disruptive impact that decades long conflict has had on rural Afghans, their culture, and the timeless relationship they share with their land and their animals.
The book describes the story of one of the most successful and lasting U.S.-funded development programs in Afghanistan since the start of American nation-building efforts there in 2001. It is a story of bringing essential veterinary services to a society that depends day in and day out on the well-being and productivity of its animals, but also a society that had no reliable access to even the most basic animal health care.
The author of the book, David Sherman, has worked all over the world to provide essential veterinary services such as animal health service delivery, veterinary infrastructure development, transboundary animal disease control, goat health and production, and veterinary and veterinary para-professional education. His work has brought him to over 40 countries, working for a variety of international agencies including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Bank, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), Heifer International, and Farm Africa.
Prior to the book’s publication, we asked David Sherman about his personal experiences in Afghanistan, the way the world views the country, and more.
Q: What made you want to write about your experiences?
David Sherman: Several things. The United States has been involved militarily in Afghanistan indirectly or directly since 1979 and yet Americans remain largely unaware of the country, its history and its people. Having been involved in relief and development activities in Afghanistan since 1991, I have been able to gain a long-term experience with the country and its culture and I wanted to share that experience with a wider public. Also, for those who have followed events in Afghanistan, the prevailing view has been that billions of dollars have been spent on nation building with little to show for it. Therefore, I wanted to tell the story of our successful effort to provide sustainable animal health care in the country to a wider audience to illustrate that indeed, effective development in Afghanistan is possible. Finally, I wanted to invite readers to get to know some of the fine and decent Afghans with whom I worked, so that they can better appreciate the warmth, grace and resilience of these people in the face of the tremendous hardships and losses they have suffered.
Q: What is the best story that didn’t make it into the book?
Sherman: Oh, so many it is hard to choose. But there was one that epitomized the challenges of doing development work in Afghanistan. I was able to organize a collaborative effort between my employer, the Dutch Committee for Afghanistan, US Army Civil Affairs officers, a British NGO and several volunteer veterinary practitioners from the US to refurbish the teaching clinic at the Kabul University Veterinary Faculty and restore their desperately needed clinical teaching program for veterinary students. Unfortunately, after we had it up and running and farmers were bringing their livestock and expats were bringing their dogs and cats for treatment, the clinic was bulldozed to make way for the newly created American University of Afghanistan!
Q: How do you feel the world’s perception of what is going on in Afghanistan lines up with your own experiences there?
Sherman: Sadly, what the world hears about Afghanistan – widespread corruption, ineffective governance, the opium trade, instability, poverty, insurgency and violence are all true, but the tragedy is that the world hears only about these things. Afghanistan is a country of 35 million people, the vast majority of whom get on with their lives, demonstrating a remarkable inner strength. Every day, they go to work, to market, to school, to the mosque to pray, to the fields to tend their crops, to the pastures to tend their animals, to funerals to mourn their dead and to weddings as an affirmation of their hopefulness for a better future. What the world does not hear about is the dignity and humanity of these Afghan people and their desire for peace and a better life for their children.
Q: How would you explain the importance of the work you did to a layperson?
Sherman: Through our work, we were able to establish reliable access to clinical veterinary services throughout Afghanistan. This was a vitally important achievement. Afghanistan is mainly a rural society whose people still depends largely on agriculture. It is estimated that the livelihoods of up to eighty percent of the population depend directly or indirectly on livestock. Nomadic herders, of which there are millions in the country, depend almost completely on their livestock to survive. Since the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the prolonged fighting that followed to this day, what little veterinary service that had been available to farmers and herders through government had essentially disappeared. As a result, the nation’s livestock had succumbed to a wide range of preventable and treatable diseases due to lack of vaccines and medicines and personnel trained in their use. The livelihoods and well-being of livestock owners as well as the national economy suffered as a result.
While there were numerous relief efforts over the years to provide veterinary services through various donor projects, these interventions were not sustainable because the service was provided for free and the personnel were paid salaries. When the projects ended and the free medicines and salaries disappeared, so did the veterinary services. We took a different approach, recruiting and training young men and later women from their home districts, providing them with a six-month training along with the necessary equipment and supplies required to provide good quality clinical services to their home districts once they returned after training. We made it clear from the beginning that we would pay no salaries and that these trained paraveterinarians would have to charge for their services so that they could earn enough money to provide their own income and to purchase their resupply of additional medicines and vaccines to continue working. This private sector, fee for service model worked very well. Since the first paraveterinarians were trained in 2004, almost 90% of them continue to provide animal health care services to the farmers and herders in their districts, some now for almost 15 years. As a result, hundreds of jobs were created for paraveterinarians, the health, welfare and productivity of Afghanistan livestock have been improved and the livelihoods of rural Afghans enhanced throughout the country.
Q: What are the most important ways your work affects the general public?
Sherman: Throughout the developing world and even in some parts of the developed world, tens of millions of animal owners do not have access to reliable animal health care. There are many reasons – remoteness, lack of roads, telecommunication and other infrastructure, war, civil unrest, misguided policies, insufficient numbers of veterinarians, lack of economic incentive for veterinarians to serve small holder farmers and nomads, poverty and inadequate knowledge of the benefits of veterinary services. The fee for service, private sector, community-based veterinary paraprofessional model for sustainable animal health care delivery that we refined in Afghanistan can serve as a model to improve access to veterinary services around the world.
The benefits of regular access to reliable animal health care are many, particularly in developing countries. Healthy, vaccinated animals offer protection against the disaster of unexpected loss of flocks and herds to disease, improved food security, better nutrition, increased income, expanded opportunities for value chain development in the livestock sector and even social stability for communities that depend on animals for their survival.
Q: If you could have readers take one thing away from this book, what would that be?
Sherman: If I may, I would like to quote a passage from the book to sum up what I would like readers to take away from it. “Sadly, despite so many years of American involvement, the Afghan people remain largely invisible to most Americans, and their hopes and aspirations, so similar to our own, remain unknown. My life has been enormously enriched by the many years spent in their midst and I have grown to love some individual Afghans as if they were my own family. The Afghan people are not faceless ciphers, conniving thieves, ruthless terrorists, and rabid fundamentalists. All societies are complex and contain undesirable elements. It is true of Afghan society as it is true of our own. The Afghans I worked with and came to know well are decent, hardworking people. They are generous, hospitable, good-humored, trustworthy, and devoted to family and community. They have deep and abiding religious faith. Afghans are proud of their country’s beauty, its varied cultures, and its long, rich history. Most of all, Afghans are resilient. They have suffered in ways over the past thirty years that most of us cannot even imagine. They want and deserve better. They want and deserve peace, security, prosperity, and a hopeful future.”
As I write this, the American government is engaged in peace talks with the Taliban. I pray that respect for the quality of life and the basic human rights of ordinary Afghans, especially Afghan women, is on the agenda.
That Sheep May Safely Graze: Rebuilding Animal Health Care in War-Torn Afghanistan is available now. Check out a free preview of the book.
Get 30% off when you order directly from the Purdue University Press website and enter the code “PURDUE30” at checkout.
Filed under: Uncategorized
March 6th, 2019
There are more than 150 ways to love Purdue University Libraries, and, to help celebrate Purdue University’s Sesquicentennial, we’re asking you to share your stories about some of the ways via the “Why I Love Purdue Libraries” annual video contest! Supported by the Purdue Federal Credit Union, the contest is open to all students on the West Lafayette campus. The deadline to enter is 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 15.
Each academic year since 2013, Purdue Libraries has opened the contest to Purdue University students on the West Lafayette campus and has awarded first, second, and third place prizes to the winning entrants.
First-place prize is $1,000; second-place prize is $750; and third-place prize is $500. Each submission must be from 1-3 minutes in length. Submissions will be evaluated by a team of student and full-time staff in Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies. Winning videos will be shared April 24, Purdue University’s 2019 Day of Giving.
For submission information and complete contest rules and guidelines, visit www.lib.purdue.edu/videocontest, or download the 2019 contest guidelines at https://bit.ly/2IV9rAo.
Below are the winning entries (first, second, third) for the 2017-18 academic year (the contest in 2017-18 focused on the Wilmeth Active Learning Center the first year it opened):
First Place: Cole Griffin and Anna Magner
Second Place: Jake Heidecker
Third Place (Tie): Matt Schnelker
Third Place (Tie): Jason Kelly
March 5th, 2019
Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor Pete Pascuzzi helps researchers dig deeper into their research data. A biochemistry and bioinformatics expert, Pascuzzi is making an impact in Purdue University’s contributions to biological and biochemical research by teaching faculty and students how to use web-based and open-source tools—tools they can use to better analyze and understand their data.
“Pete’s unique perspective and skill set bridge the traditional roles of the library, i.e., information management and analysis, with an important area of modern biology, bioinformatics, and big data analysis,” explained James Fleet, Distinguished Professor, Purdue University Department of Nutrition Science.
Fleet came to know Pascuzzi through a National Institutes of Health-funded research project, “Big Data Training for Translational Omic Research,” a collaboration with Min Zhang (Department of Statistics) and Wanqing Liu (Wayne State University).
“I had heard about Pete’s skills as a bioinformatician and an educator, and I knew he was the piece we needed to round out our team,” Fleet said. “His contribution to our course was necessary for its success. In addition, he has been instrumental in establishing core bioinformatics and data management/analysis courses for the biochemistry department.”
In the recent past, Pascuzzi developed the CellMiner Companion application, one of the open-source tools he teaches researchers to use. “CellMiner Companion is a web application that facilitates the exploration and visualization of output from CellMiner, further increasing the accessibility of NCI-60 data,” states the abstract of the article on pubmed.gov.
CellMiner is a database and web application developed by the National Cancer Institute. Researchers can query the database for gene expression and drug sensitivity data for cancer cells; however, a single query can generate more than 100 files. Many researchers lack the skills to integrate this data, Pascuzzi noted.
“Generating a plot, from publicly available data on cancer cells, isn’t revolutionary. What is revolutionary is that I was able to do it myself—and I am able to teach just about anybody how to do something like that,” he explained. “The technology and data access have moved so quickly that projects like that have become trivial. A decade ago, that would have been a major project. Now it is just all out there.”
Pascuzzi also teaches 400-600 level courses in both biochemistry (BCHM) and information and library studies (ILS), including the ILS 595 course, “Data Management at the Bench” (which he co-teaches with Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies faculty Megan Sapp Nelson and Chao Cai).
“With the work I do here at Purdue, I really want to make an impact on the science, but more importantly, having been a graduate student, I have a lot of empathy with people who get stuck in a place because they don’t have the data skills they need,” Pascuzzi said. “So I have always made a lot of effort to understand what the graduate students need, and that is what motivates a lot of the teaching I do.”
Pascuzzi studied biology and chemistry as an undergraduate, and he earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry at Cornell. As a Libraries and School of Information Studies faculty member in life sciences, Pascuzzi’s subject areas at Purdue include biochemistry, bioinformatics, medicinal chemistry, molecular biosciences, and molecular pharmacology.
Article by Teresa Koltzenburg, Director of Strategic Communication, Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, LIFEMarch 5th, 2019
Parrish Library’s Featured Database will give you a very brief introduction to the basic features of one of our specialized subscription databases. This time we’re featuring GoinGlobal, founded by Mary Anne Thompson.
Link: http://guides.lib.purdue.edu/az.php?s=71213 is the alphabetical list of the databases specially selected for those in a business program of study. Access the databases off-campus with your Purdue login and password.
Focus: GoinGlobal provides access to country-specific career information such as advice for finding employment opportunities, including business and networking groups, job search resources, cost of living data, and city career guides.
Tutorial: Click here see the basics of using GoinGlobal.
Start with this hint: Access career guides by country, global city, and US city from the homepage; including hiring opportunities, resume and interview help, and networking information.
Why you should know this database: Going Global also has H1B employer petitions from the US Department of Labor by location in the USA/Canada, and additional searches by job title, occupation, employer, wage, and other fields, and country-specific company profiles.
Related Resources
Some other databases you might want to explore, are:
You can access many more career search resources on the Career Research Portal homepage.
This Featured Database comes to you from the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management & Economics. If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact parrlib@purdue.edu. Also let us know if you know of a colleague who would benefit from this, or future Featured Databases.
Since usage statistics are an important barometer when databases are up for renewal, tell us your favorite database, and we will gladly promote it. Send an email to parrlib@purdue.edu.
Filed under: database, general, MGMTFebruary 28th, 2019
Born on this day 125 years ago, Ben Hecht is one of American history’s most complicated and compelling figures. Here’s what you need to know to become familiar with the prolific screenwriter and activist.
In 1967 The New Yorker critic Pauline Kael credited Hecht with writing half of the entertaining movies that Hollywood had ever produced. To this date, he has sixty-five screen credits and more than 140 other film contributions. Some of the most iconic films on his resume include Scarface (1932), Gone with the Wind (1939), and Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (1946).
Due to his abilities to quickly and effectively produce excellent work, Hecht was the writer that studios looked to when they were in a jam. He was known to do many of these jobs under the table and with no credit, making it difficult to understand the comprehensive impact that Hecht had on Hollywood.
“He was certainly influenced by the hard-boiled attitude of other newshounds in his early days chasing stories” notes Julien Gorbach, author of The Notorious Ben Hecht, “Like many others who lived through the carnage of those years, Hecht developed a grim view of human nature and he looked back at the liberal Enlightenment-era optimism about mankind as naive.”
Hecht was very intrigued by gangsters. His 1927 movie Underworld launched the gangster movie craze, and by the time his legendary thriller Scarface (1932) was released, he was the king of the genre.
In many of these stories, especially Scarface, Hecht’s affinity for these gangsters showed up in his writing. Gorbach notes that the censors at the time were wary of the way it could make people feel about these unlawful figures.
“Hecht creates this horrifying figure and makes him sexy to us. If you see the remake with Al Pacino, it really hits home the way we can be fascinated by someone who is bad, repulsive or even evil. We like him anyway. The movie studios, on the other hand, wanted a “crime does not pay” message to pass to the censors.”
Hecht won this award, now referred to as Best Original Screenplay, for the 1927 movie Underworld, and went on to win the same award for the 1935 film The Scoundrel, which he shared with Charles MacArthur.
Hecht also received nominations for Viva Villa! (1934), Wuthering Heights (1939), Angels Over Broadway (1940), and Notorious (1946).
As Kristallnacht erupted in 1938 Nazi-controlled Germany, Hecht wrote a short story titled The Little Candle, which turned out to be a horrifyingly prescient account of the horrors that would follow in the years to come.
Hecht wrote late in his career that he “turned into a Jew” in 1939. The Holocaust and the rise of Adolf Hitler prompted Hecht to action. He called out his Jewish movie studio bosses for not fighting the American censorship and for their keeping criticism of the Nazis off-screen in the 1930s. He also launched a massive publicity campaign, including newspaper campaigns and theatrical spectaculars, to bring awareness to the horrors being committed overseas. He viewed the Roosevelt administration as complicit in the horrors of the Holocaust and leveraged his talent and celebrity connections to build pressure on the US government.
Hecht did not care if this would hurt his career as a screenwriter or if it would affect his image. He earned admiration as a humanitarian and vilification as an extremist. He became notorious.
The information in this post has come from The Notorious Ben Hecht: Iconoclastic Writer and Militant Zionist (March 15. 2019, Purdue University Press) and an interview with the book’s author, Julien Gorbach.
Filed under: Uncategorized
February 26th, 2019
For decades, psychedelic drugs have been associated with “turning on, tuning in, dropping out” and the countercultural baggage of the 1960s. But what if they hold the key to treating a series of health afflictions? Are they safe? Are they effective?
Six-time New York Times best-selling author Michael Pollan will explore these ideas March 20 in a Q&A session led by Rhonda Phillips, interim dean of Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies. “What If Psychedelics Could Heal?” is set to start at 6 p.m. in Stewart Center’s Fowler Hall. The lecture/presentation is open free to the public. The presentation will be followed by a book signing outside Fowler Hall at 7:15 p.m.
Pollan is author of the recent “How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence,” as well as other books including “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.”
This Ideas Festival presentation is among many events celebrating Purdue’s sesquicentennial celebration, 150 Years of Giant Leaps, which acknowledges the university’s global advancements made in a variety of fields. This event aligns with one of the celebration’s Giant Leaps themes, Health, Longevity and Quality of Life.
Pollan has dedicated the last 30 years to exploring and writing about the many ways in which the human and natural worlds intersect. He is the author of eight books, six of which have been New York Times best-sellers, including “Cooked,” which served as the basis for the 2016 Netflix miniseries of the same name; and “The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World” and “In Defense of Food,” both of which have inspired PBS documentaries. Pollan also appeared in the Oscar-nominated documentary “Food Inc.,” which was partially based on another of his books, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.” His work has led him to be chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and has earned him many accolades within his field.
“How to Change Your Mind,” an immediate No. 1 New York Times best-seller, explores the revolutionary potential psychedelics hold in relieving depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction — afflictions that have been characteristically difficult to treat. Today, as scientists and researchers worldwide reevaluate hallucinogens and their potential healing powers, Pollan strives to provide some clarity on the safety and effectiveness of these substances.
“As the world of medicine continues to evolve, psychedelics and their role in treating mental illness have become a huge area of research interest,” Phillips said. “Given Purdue’s longstanding dedication to seeking out innovative solutions to improve the quality of life, we are very excited to hear Pollan’s take on an unconventional method of healing, as well as the medical and societal implications it may have.”
This event is sponsored by Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies and Purdue Archives and Special Collections – which is home of the Betsy Gordon Psychoactive Substances Research Collection – and is co-sponsored by the Department of Chemistry, the Honors College, the College of Pharmacy, the College of Science, Purdue Graduate Student Government, and the Ideas Festival Committee.
Writer: Jaclyn Lawmaster, jlawmast@purdue.edu
Media Contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Filed under: collections, events, general