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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 2000)
Summer months keep professors operating ■ While summer usually implies time off, these instructors make the most of the extra season By Brooke Ross Oregon Daily Emerald While most college students en joy their summers relaxing with friends and family while holding a fun part-time job or an internship, professors often work on projects ranging from book-writing to lab research. During these summer months, professors commonly use their free time to advance their ca reers in creative — and usually time-consuming — ways. Biology professor Judith Eisen said she uses extra time in the summer months for ongoing re search projects. Eisen, whose focus is cell and developmental biology, spent her summer at the University conduct ing complicated lab research. The purpose behind these labs was to learn more about embryonic devel opment of the nervous system. Eisen said she likes continuing her work during the summer months because she has more available time than during the academic year. While some University profes sors spent the summer break close to campus, others left town to pur sue projects. Ellen Campbell, an associate professor as well as horn player at the University’s School of'Music, spent her summer months in Michigan performing in the Fontana Music Festival, a chamber ensemble group that meets annual ly at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Campbell said she feels that her personal time spent performing helps her in teaching throughout the academic year. “Any time you perform it’s a learning situation,” she said. Jane Dawson, an assistant pro fessor in the political science de partment, used the summer to launch a book project after win ning a University research award. Dawson said she hopes the fin ished project will show how envi ronmentalism and certain ethnic, racial and religious identities go together. “Everyone has their own identi ty,” Dawson said. She said her work shows that people do not have to have the same ideas in order to create a bet ter global environment. Dawson, who is the author of “Eco-Nationalism,” finished her research during the summer and is currently writing about her find ings. She is taking this fall term off to write the first three chapters of what will eventually be a six-chap ter book, and plans to complete the project during the summer and fall of 2001. Meeting maps out region’s future ■icity leaders trom around the Northwest visit Eugene fortheCascadia Project conference By Andrew Adams Oregon Daily Emerald City planners, mayors, business leaders and transportation experts from Oregon, Washington and British Columbia came together Tuesday afternoon for the annual Cascadia conference and discussed the major economic and planning issues for the two states and province and how to best deal with them. The Discovery Institute, a non profit and non-partisan think tank based in Seattle, started the Casca dia Project in 1993 to coordinate ef forts for the mutual benefit of the entire region. The conference will continue through today at the Eugene Hilton and is open to the public for a regis tration fee of $35. Mayor Jim Torrey participated in a panel discussion on the state of the Cascadia Project region. Torrey said Eugene owes much of its pros perity to being at the terminus of the vital Interstate 5 and rail corridors that link the Cascadia region. “I’m a manager of a city that prides itself on retaining the quality of life,” he said. “The Cascadia group is one of the major reasons why we’ll retain the quality in the future.” While acknowledging the bene fits of being linked to the region by rail, Torrey said area leaders need to ensure that younger generations begin to look at railroads as a travel option. “Young people do not have the connection to the heritage of rail roads,” he said. “Think about my grandchildren, all four of them. Only one has been on a train.” Not only did Torrey remark on the vital connection between north and south, he added that Oregon needs to ensure that its eastern and southern counties receive the bene fits of the region as well. He said the best option for this would be to ini tiate stronger relations with Idaho. it No one wakes up in the morning and says ‘we have a growth problem we need to solve. Mike Burton Metro executive officer j t “We should make an initial con nection between Salem and Boise,” he said. Railroads are an issue for the re gion. During the conference, many leaders said it’s hard for civic lead ers to convince the region’s envi ronmentally conscious voters of the need for new multi-lane highways. Jim RePass, president of the Na tional Corridor Initiative, a Wash ington, D.C., railroad lobbying group, said cities need to realize “highways may be a wonderful thing, but they’re not the only thing.” He said the Cascadia areas have “helped pull together the greatest regional railroad success” he had seen in the nation, but,needed to press harder for more railroad funds. University President Dave Frohnmayer will give a talk about the High Speed Rail Act during the morning session of the conference Wednesday, which runs from 8:30 to 10:15 a.m. The act, currently be fore the U.S. House of Representa tives, would give tax credits for the expansion of rail service. Mike Burton, Metro executive of ficer for Portland, talked about transportation issues for major cities. He said that city planners and elected officials need to talk to residents like they were “sitting down to breakfast,” so the complex issues of city transportation models could be clearly conveyed to them. He used how city residents view traffic as an example. “No one wakes up in the morn ing and says ‘we have a growth problem, we need to solve the growth problem,’ they say ‘How much time do I need to take the kids to soccer practice,’” Burton said. He said that cities need to focus on “non-road improvements” like streetcars and light-rail systems to avoid congestion and auto pollu tion. Participants spoke at length about environmental issues that af fect the region. On Tuesday after noon, speakers held a discussion on the “greening” of Eugene and Lane County that was moderated by John Baldwin of the University Institute for Sustainable Environ ment. Karyn Kaplan, recycling pro gram manager for the University, gave a speech on adding sustain ability to recycling efforts. Welcome back! Ullr Sport Shop Performance Matters! Saturday & Sunday ONLY ! COOlmnm gear - HOTsummer savings 207 Coburg Road 687 - ULLR WILLAMETTE PASS 5KIG0RP. Student Season Pass* Sale Starts Saturday *(Limited time offer) The Oregon Duck has a Pulse Do you have one? Pulse > Check your Pulse, the Oregon Daily Emerald's entertainment section, every Thursday.
