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1. Live from DC: Witnessing History and the "Miracle of Democracy" |
by Dennis Walikainen, senior editor
"Fabulous. By far the largest turnout I've seen," says Dale Tahtinen, the excitement still evident in his voice over the cell phone. "And this is my eighth inauguration."
Tech's vice president for governmental relations and secretary of the Board of Control was particularly struck by a couple of things at the inauguration of President Barack Obama, in addition to the incredible size of the crowd.
"The first was the overall mood of the people: that they feel from good to fantastic about the country," he says. There were also more of the people from the "other party present, which you get from these events when the White House changes parties."
And then there is the "miracle of democracy."
"It's that moment of change, the changing of the party in power," he says. "When all the security there was for everyone's protection, not part of a military coup."
In the midst of a couple of days of events and soirees, Tahtinen noticed something else about the huge throngs of people.
"There was a huge percentage of young people, junior high and high school, and busloads of kids, from eight to 12 years old,” he says.
A veteran of the Reagan administration, Tahtinen saw some similarities to the beginnings of the Reagan and Clinton eras, in terms of optimism and a honeymoon period.
"The other party wants to work with the president because he is wildly popular," he says. "But this was even more so, and you could sense it in the sheer size and incredible diversity of people and in the higher percentage of Republicans celebrating, too."
Tahtinen considers himself fortunate to get tickets to the events all these years, and his seat this time was pretty nice: about 200 feet back in the section just behind the elected officials.
"We could see the faces up high and hear everything," he says. "We were very fortunate."
And, during the address, they didn't applaud much. At times, he says, the crowd was "reverential." Tahtinen said the speech went over very well. "He's a great orator."
He guessed the overall crowd would total more than 1.5 million, and even those "on the periphery, protesting" numbered much fewer, hence the overall positive outlook.
"You got the feeling that they said, 'People voted this way, we have good cause for optimism, and we'll be there supporting him.'"
Tahtinen had one more ball to attend Tuesday night before returning to the snow banks on the red eye late Wednesday. |
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2. NASA Langley Research Center Offering Summer Internships |
Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars (LARSS) Program provides three paid research experiences for qualified undergraduate and graduate students (rising juniors and above) on site at NASA Langley Research Center.
The summer session is a 10-week internship, and the spring and fall are 15-week internships. The deadline for applying for a summer internship is Feb. 1.
To be considered, applicants must be US citizens, full-time college students (rising junior or above by the start of the program), be pursuing a discipline of interest to NASA, and have a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale.
Grad students receive a stipend of $5,000; undergrads receive $4,500.
If you know any students who would benefit from this program, please encourage them to apply.
To apply and for more information on this and other programs for college students, go to http://research.nianet.org/larss . |
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3. Student Activities Collecting Electronics for Recycling |
submitted by Student Activities
Did you know that computers contains plastic, glass, wire, connectors, fire retardants and heavy metals such as chromium, lead and cadmium?
The Student Activities Office's Semester Collection--Community Service Campaign will collect electronics for recycling from Tuesday, Jan. 27, through April 24. Items can be dropped off at the Student Activities Office (MUB 112). The office will gather items for weekly pick up on Tuesdays. This program is available only for Tech students and registered student organizations.
Student Activities, along with Star Industries in Marquette, will provide safe, confidential and complete destruction and recycling of computers and other electronics. One-hundred percent of a computer--including the monitor, CPU, keyboard, cables and mouse--will be recycled. No part will go to a landfill anywhere. For more information about Star Industries' electronics recycling, visit www.infodestruction.com/recycle-details.html .
The following items will be accepted for collection:
* computers
* game systems
* accessories
* calculators
* printers
* wire/cables
* scanners
* VCR/DVD players
* telephones
Questions can be directed to Student Activities at 487-1963 or communityservice@mtu.edu . |
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4. IPC Guest Lecturer Molly Kleinman at the Rozsa Jan. 24 |
The Rozsa Center will present guest lecturer Molly Kleinman, special projects librarian and copyright specialist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, on Saturday, Jan. 24, at 7:30 p.m.
Kleinman's lecture, "Borrow This Book: How Libraries Ended Up on the Front Lines of the Copyright Wars," is the final installment of four lectures in the Intellectual Property Controversies lecture series.
On Friday, Jan. 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the Rozsa Center, Kleinman will join fellow panelists Kembrew McLeod, Danny O'Brien, Assistant Professor David Orozco (SBE) and moderator Michael G. Bennett for a spirited, four-person panel discussion that is sure to be both informative and entertaining. Come prepared with questions.
Kleinman's love for theater played a leading role in steering her to her career at Hatcher Graduate Library, at the University of Michigan.
"It's like working in the future," Kleinman says, as new technology continues to revolutionize information gathering.
Growing up in Philadelphia, Kleinman and her family shared a love for theater and musicals. After earning an English degree in 2001 from Bryn Mawr College, she found publishing work with the Wendy Weil Agency in Manhattan.
She assisted with contract negotiations, managed permission requests and reprint rights, developed new contracts for digital and audio permissions, and evaluated manuscript submissions. She also met well-known authors, including Alice Walker and Rita Mae Brown.
Kleinman began looking around at graduate programs in library science and chose U-M.
"It's a really good program. And they gave me a scholarship," she says.
Since assuming her position in 2006, Kleinman has coordinated copyright education and outreach for faculty members, staff and students and redesigned the copyright website, which she manages. She also works on author advocacy initiatives.
The typical copyright queries she receives include questions from faculty members asking how they can share materials with students.
"People are surprised that everything's copyrighted," Kleinman says. "They find some snapshot on the Internet and they're surprised to learn that it's copyrighted. Then, on the other side, there are people who have been trained by the record industry or the publishing industry to think that any use of a copyrighted work is illegal, and that's not true. There are fair uses of copyrighted work."
People are also surprised to learn that a creation actually becomes copyrighted the moment it is created, or fixed.
As for professional goals, "Long term, I would love to be a library director," Kleinman says. "In the short term, I love what I'm doing."
For more information about Kleinman, visit http://mollykleinman.com .
The events are free and open to the public.
For more information, call the Rozsa Center at 487-2844, or visit www.rozsa.mtu.edu .
The Intellectual Property Controversies lecture series is sponsored by the Van Evera Distinguished Lecture Series Endowment along with the School of Business and Economics, the Department of Humanities, the Department of Social Sciences and the J. Robert Van Pelt and Opie Library. |
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5. CEE Graduate Seminar Tomorrow |
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Associate Professor Stan Vitton (CEE) will give a civil and environmental engineering graduate seminar, "Analysis of the Former Underground Michigamme Iron Mine (1872-1901): Ground Stability and the Relocation of US 41," tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 4-5 p.m. in Dow 642. |
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6. In Print |
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Vice President for Student Affairs Les Cook is a contributing author of "In Search of Safer Communities: Emerging Practices for Student Affairs in Addressing Campus Violence," published in 2008 as a supplement to "New Directions for Student Services," a publication of NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. |
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