AUSTRALIAN VISITING PROFESSORSHIP

Professor Shares His Cultural Experiences in Class

Undergraduates who were shopping for something different this fall may have happened upon a colorful poster of Australia's famous Ayers Rock -- an unusual advertisement for a new course, The Last Frontier: Australian Cultural History. This fall offering, and a spring conference course on Biography and History, will be taught by historian John Rickard from Monash University in Australia, who is in residence this year as Visiting Professor of Australian Studies. The professorship was established in 1976 as a gift from the Australian people to commemorate the American bicentennial. Former chairholders have included anthropologists, economists, sociologists, artists, poets, and a former Australian prime minister.

Rickard's broad interest in cultural history has led to work in diverse areas, ranging from the role of Shakespeare in Australian culture to the cultural hierarchy of music and the history of popular culture. From 1989 to 1994, he served as editor of Australian Historical Studies, Australia's leading journal of Australian history. Addison Wesley Longman has just published a second edition of his book, Australia: A Cultural History. "Interpreting Australian history to American students will clearly be very different from teaching it to students who are already immersed in Australian culture," says Rickard. "For me, I expect it to be a learning experience, encouraging me to see Australia from a foreign perspective."

As a young man, Rickard worked for some 10 years as an actor and singer. "It was stimulating, rewarding (though not financially!) and ultimately frustrating; however, it contributed to my fascination with the experience of culture, whether 'high' or popular. And it has left me with an interest in theater history, which I hope to pursue here at Harvard." Based in the History Department, Rickard will spend some time during the year traveling to various Australian studies centers at other universities in the States.

HONORS AND INDUCTIONS

American Academy of Arts and Sciences Inducts Harvard Faculty

In a ceremony held in Cambridge last week, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences inducted fellows and foreign honorary members, including Harvard's Alan Altshuler, Arthur Dempster, Rose Frisch, Michael Herzfeld, Harold Howe II, Bill Kovach, Eva Julia Neer, Chester Pierce, and Naomi Schor. The new fellows joined 4,000 peers, including 140 Nobel laureates and 64 Pulitzer Prize winners who are distinguished in science, scholarship, public affairs, and the arts. The Academy also honored newly elected president Daniel C. Tosteson, Dean Emeritus of the Medical School, and Dudley Herschbach, a Nobel Prize-winning professor of chemistry who is the newly elected secretary.

Tosteson addressed the membership on the future of the academy, which was founded in 1780 by Harvard graduate John Adams. Poet Galway Kinnell of New York University, a newly inducted fellow, also spoke at the ceremony.

The Academy, known for its academic journal Daedalus, its scholars-in-residence program, and public projects like the Committee on International Security Studies, is dedicated to addressing issues of intellectual consequence to the nation.

Student Earns 1997 Latinas of Promise Award

Moderna Magazine has honored senior Leticia Marie Sanchez and five other college women for academic achievement, leadership, and service to their community. The 1997 Latinas of Promise award ceremony was held this week in Washington, D.C. Sanchez, a resident of Lowell House who has participated in the Women's Leadership Project at Harvard, is currently a candidate for honors in the English and American Literature and Language concentration.

DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC

Music Colloquia and Lectures

The Department of Music will present Professor Lewis Lockwood speaking on "Beethoven's 'Florestan' in 1805 and 1814: The Transformation of an Operatic Vision," on Thursday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m.

The Department's Colloquium Series takes place at 4:15 p.m. on Mondays, in the Davison Room, beginning with Brown University's Rose Rosengard Subotnik on "Rodgers and Me: Reading American Identity Between the Lines of Hart and Hammerstein," on Oct. 20; Benjamin Brinner of the University of California, Berkeley, will speak (topic to be announced) on Oct. 27; and Michel Huglo will speak about medieval manuscripts of chant on Nov. 10. All events take place in the Music Building, just behind the Science Center. Free parking is available at 28 Oxford St.

Later in the fall the Department of Music will present the Charles Eliot Norton Lecture Series with Joseph Kerman of the University of California, Berkeley. The lectures will be held at 5 p.m. on Wednesdays in Paine Concert Hall. The series, called "Concerto Conversations," is as follows: "Getting Started" on Nov. 5, "Particularity and Polarity" on Nov. 19, and "Reciprocity, Roles, and Relationships" on Dec. 3.

PHYSICS PROFESSOR GIVES TALK

Professor Featured in Author Series

Peter Galison, Mallinckrodt Professor of the History of Science and professor of physics, will give a talk about his book Image and Logic: The Material Culture of Microphysics. The event, part of the Authors@MIT series, will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16, at the M.I.T. Humanities Library, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge.

HEALTH MATTERS

Harvard Physician and Researcher Honored As Women's Health Hero

The improved care for and awareness of women's health issues such as breast cancer, weight loss, substance abuse, and heart disease is due to the efforts of 10 trailblazers, according to American Health for Women magazine. Among those profiled in the October issue is JoAnn Manson, endocrinologist and co-director of women's health at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Manson has been a top researcher on the Women's Health Initiative and the Nurses' Health Study. In her research, she showed that antioxidant vitamins could lower the risk of heart disease and that smoking increases the risk of strokes. American Health for Women honored Manson for having the "brains, courage, and creativity to make an impact on the health care landscape." The magazine is already accepting nominations for its 1998 Heroes. Send information to: American Health for Women, Health Heroes, 28 West 23rd St., New York, NY 10010; or e-mail to heroes@americanhealth.com.

Eating Disorders Public Forum

The Harvard Eating Disorders Center (HEDC) will present "Eating Disorders: What You, Your Family and Friends Need to Know" at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 6. Executive Director David Herzog welcomes the public to this free event, which features several speakers. Catherine Steiner-Adair, director of education, prevention and outreach (HEDC), will talk about children's development and eating disorders; Maxine Weinstein will present a parent's view; Anne E. Becker, director of research and training (HEDC), will explain treatment approaches; Lisa Pearl, nutritionist, will talk about "feeding ourselves and our children"; and Dale W. Sokoloff, family therapist, will suggest strategies for families and loved ones. Discussion and refreshments will follow. The event will be held at the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, 356 Boylston St., Boston. For reservations, call 236-7766.

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

Standardized Test Alternatives Put to the Test

Gender, socioeconomic, and racial inequities may persist even with alternative assessment methods that attempt to improve on standardized tests. Researchers Jonathan Supovitz and Robert Brennan have found that portfolio assessments, which are better at judging higher-order and real-world skills, show a smaller gap between blacks and whites than standardized tests, but a larger gap between males and females. Their study is reported in the fall 1997 issue of the Harvard Educational Review.

Increased Need for Educator-Lawyer Cooperation

The increasing number of legal issues facing educators have made law a powerful tool for advancing aims in areas like school governance, equal opportunity, and allocation of resources, says Jay Heubert, assistant professor of education at the Graduate School of Education. In an article titled "The More We Get Together: Improving Collaboration between Educators and Their Lawyers," published in the Harvard Educational Review, he demonstrates ways in which collaboration can reduce the need for litigation and misunderstanding.