Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, September 04, 1996, Page 9, Image 9

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I hi P ori land O bserver • S eptember 4, 1996
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Young Mathematicians Emerge in Community
"W hen fifty African American stu­
dents from our community are ex­
posed to the highest level o f mathe­
matics anywhere, you can bet some­
thing good is happening in educa­
tion.” So says Michael “Chappie"
Grice who has directed the Saturday
Academy Outreach effort since 1984,
and who oversees the Contemporary
Applied M athematics summer insti­
tute.
The program is designed primari­
ly to boost students “confidence and
com petence" through exploration o f
real-life problem solving and con­
ceptual models. Such sophisticated
topics as Information Theory, Queue
Theory, O ptim ization techniques,
Dynamic Programming, and M edi­
cal Data and Statistics Analysis are
some o f the selected subjects.
Renee A nderson, former director
o f the Portland Schools’ MESA pro­
gram taught this year’s Information
Theory course. She said she was not
surprised by what the public would
find an anomaly: Black children get­
ting up everyday, paying tuition,
studying “ industrial strength" math-
ematics till early afternoon on hot
summer days. “These young people
are not the exception, they are the
rule,” she said. “We just have to give
them the opportunity and the tools to
explore.”
One o f those tools is the Black
Literature and Black H¡story compo­
nent o f the institute. Mr. G eoff
Minority Ph.D. project takes off
Presently, African-, Hispanic-, and
Native Americans make up less than
5% o f all business school faculties.
Academic research has demon­
strated that minority students are dis­
couraged by the scarcity o f minority
business school professors serving
as role models and mentors.
The results o f virtually a mono­
ethnic doctoral community are seen
clearly in the accou nting field where,
as a result, minorities are grossly
underrepresented.
In support o f its continuing effort
to diversity the ranks o f our nations
business schools and eventually the
greater business com m unity, the
KPMG Peat Marwick Foundation
has, to date, earmarked a total o f
$1,829,000 in scholarships to mi­
nority accounting doctoral candi­
dates.
It awarded 15 new scholarships
renewable for the next 5 years to 15
A frican-, H ispanic-, and N ative
American accounting doctoral can­
didates beginning the 1996-97 aca­
demic year.
They will study at various univer­
sities, including University o f Wash­
in g to n , N ew Y ork U n iv e rsity ,
R utgers U niversity and G eorge
Washington University.
Bernard Milano, Executive Di-
rector o f the KPMG Peat Marwick
Foundation, says the program “is one
more substantial way that we can
help get more minority professors in
the classroom. We believe that more
minority professors will yield more
minority students, which, in turn, will
yield more minority business profes­
sionals, something all o f corporate
America will benefit from.”
The scholarship program comple­
ments The PhD Project, a ground
breaking $1.3 million program cre­
ated by KPMG Peat Marwick that
recruits minority professionals from
all business fields into doctoral pro­
grams in all business disciplines.
Northwest history rewritten
Carlos Arnaldo Schwantes didn’t
grow up studying Pacific Northwest
history, but the study o f this region
has become his passion and his voca­
tion today. Now the director o f the
Institute for Pacific Northwest Study
at the University o f Idaho, the former
Indiana school-boy has written a
number o f books on Nort hwest his­
tory and recently revised and ex­
panded his well-received 1989 book.
The Pacific Northwest: An Interpre­
tive History.
“ I cannot go back in tim e ,”
Schwantes writes, “but I can seek
inspiration by going to places o f his­
torical significance. This grass-roots
approach to history is all a bit crazy,
perhaps, but it is certainly worth the
effort."
In the new edition o f The Pacific
Northwest, published this summer
by the University o f Nebraska Press,
Schwantes describes his own jour­
ney o f discovery in the region, wres­
tling with old questions o f the histor­
ical record as well as asking new
ones. He traces the steps o f early
explorers near the Bitterroot divide
between Idaho and Montana, exam­
ines the ruts o f the Oregon Trail in
eastern Wyoming, and returns to re­
mote canyon in northern Idaho where
metal miners battled mine owners a
century ago.
This book contains significant ad­
ditional material on the first sea routes
to Oregon, early mining as wel I as the
impact o f the Klondike gold rush, the
experiences o f women and ethnic
minorities in the region, and politics
since 1945. In it, Schwantes also
examines the history o f more recent
concerns, including the economic ef­
fects o f the Cold War and the envi­
ronmental controversies over endan­
gered salmon runs and lost spotted
owl habitats.
“After having lived in Eugene,
Seattle, Victoria, and now Moscow,
Idaho, I find myselfstill immersed in
study o f the region’s past,” Schwantes
admits. “ But also I am increasingly
draw to pondering its future in terms
o f the profound economic and social
changes that have recently overtaken
the region. Thus the new edition o f
The Pacific Northwest seeks to look
both ways, past and future, as it ap­
praises life in the Far C om er ofNorth
America.”
ICEBERG LETTUCE
Will children who don’t have
access to technology in schools be
prohibited from entering first-rate
colleges and getting good jobs?
Can technology serve as an equal
izer in society? How can technolo­
gy improve educational opportuni­
ties in America?
These are some o f the issues
raised in the first report o f the As
pen Institute Forum on Commun!
cations and Society (FO CA S),
“Creating a Learning Society: Ini­
tiatives for Education and Tech­
nology.” FOCAS isagroupof chief
executive officers from the commu
nicationsand information industries,
government, and nonprofit sector
who meet annually to suggest inno­
vative ways the public and private
sectors can collaborate to use com­
munications and information servic­
es for the betterment o f society.
“Skills and knowledge acquired
through the use o f technology in
the classroom will be instrumental
in building habits o f lifelong learn­
ing that individuals will need for
the technology rich society o f the
future,” said Charles Firestone, di­
rector o f The Aspen Institute’s
Communications and Society Pro­
gram and report co-author. “Creat­
ing a Learning Society” outlines
several new initiatives for over­
coming two key obstacles — fund­
ing technology and training teach­
ers — to acquiring new technolo­
gies and to improving incentives
for learning.
*11
V a rie tie s
According to the American Express Retail Index on back-to-school
shopping, parent* plan to spend $363 per child for back-to-school items
this year. Accounting for more than half of the budget (58%): clothing.
9%
POUND
BAO
supplies
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3 8 5 5 S.W. Hall Blvd.
P.O. Box 567
Beaverton, OR 9 7 0 7 5
Insurance-Funded
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*1 69
■
■
SO
ith this in
| mind, yon
can prevent
electrical accidents
this summer by
following these
important safety
tips:
❖ Don't let
children climb,
build treehouses
or play in trees
near power lines.
❖ Don't let
children fly kites
near power lines,
or in rainy weather (never use any string
containing metal or foil).
❖ Teach children to stay out of electrical substations
and other areas marked "Danger: High Voltage."
Exercise caution and use common sense around
electricity, and teach your children to do the same.
When it comes to kids and power lines, safety is no
accident.
Z U C C H IN I SQ UASH
local grown mini pooled
ready
to use
T he sam e energy that
M
1 2 t o 1 3 e i.
JAR
TUTMOKS
Gary Washington
LITEHOUSE
CARROTS
high school career, graduated Benson
High in 1995, and because she mas­
tered the curriculum, was hired to
teach right along with the seasoned
professional team. “This in no gift,”
insists Grice. “ She’s got it down.
She’s a great role model, and the kids
love her.” Miss Bennett teaches Op-
tim ization/Q uickest R oute tech­
niques, and will return to Hampton
University this fall as a sophomore
The Lorenzen Education and Con­
ference Center on the campus of
Emanuel Hospital played host re­
cently for the closing ceremony and
public demonstration o f this very
exciting program.
African American students are
selected from the Portland Public
Schools and local private schools to
participate.
The project is sponsored by Satur­
day Academy and is in its fourth year
offunding from the National Science
Foundation.
More information about the pro­
gram is available at Saturday Acad­
emy (690-1175).
Getting FOCUS
SALA D D R ESSING S
crisp a n d sweet
THE BACK-TO-SCHOOL BUDGET
Brooks, Port land schoo Is'only teach­
er o f Black History and Gwendolyn
G rice, lib ra ry /m e d ia sp e c ia list
teamed up to present the “General
Assembly” - a daily dose o f heritage
and culture which is designed to add
“purpose” and pride to the Institute.
Dr. Chuks Ogbuobiri, visiting pro­
fessor from Clark Atlanta Universi­
ty, rounded out the teaching staff.
A most exciting part o f the pro­
gram was the use o f former students,
who are now in the 10th grade, to
come back and work as teacher assis­
tants.
These ten “graduates” are given
responsibility for three or four stu­
dents each. “ In this way, we are rein­
forcing mathematics achievement,
and helping shape a few African
American candidates for the teach­
ing careers,” says director Grice.
“ When you see this level o f perfor­
mance, it gives you hope and satis­
faction.”
The greatest success story o f all,
however, is Elisa Bennett. She par­
ticipated in the Institute her entire
EACH
DRINKS
NO
DEPOSIT
Abdul M. Hasan
Advance Planning
Counsler
#
PA CIFIC P O W E R
THf RIGHT KIND O f ENERGY
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