Boston University Arts & Sciences

In a move that Andrew West likens to “going from reading by candlelight to reading by electric light,” BU astronomers will soon be able to view the heavens through the powerful Discovery Channel Telescope, now nearing completion at the Lowell Observatory, near Flagstaff, Ariz.

West, a College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of astronomy, studies the very faint stars that make up most of the universe, and the new apparatus, he says, will allow him to eye 14 times more of these stars than he did on the much-smaller Perkins Telescope, also at the Lowell Observatory, that BU has used since 1998.

Boston University has contributed $10 million of the $53 million cost of the seven-story project in exchange for an agreement that grants BU astronomers use of the telescope for 45 nights each year. Read the full BU Today article here.

After spending their entire careers picking at the ground, many archaeologists have no big find to show for it. Not Associate Professor of Archaeology Kathryn Bard, who in 2004 discovered eight caves at Wadi Gawasis in Egypt, each stashed with ancient Egyptian nautical supplies, among them coiled ropes, ship timbers, and limestone anchors, from roughly 4,000 years ago. On October 12, Bard described her find in this year’s University Lecture. Read the full BU Today article.

A team of Computer Science students from the BUILDS program placed in the top ten out of 74 teams in the first round of the CSAW cybersecurity competition Capture the Flag Application Security Challenge. BUILDS is a student-run research lab and workshop that provides BU students with tools and resources for conducting collaborative student-led tech projects. Read more.

Online daily deal sites like Groupon are great for consumers, offering deep discounts on everything from restaurants to sporting events. But are they good for business?

CAS Associate Professor of Computer Science John Byers and his colleagues collected a massive amount of Groupon data over six months. The team found that for merchants, Groupon cuts both ways: the deals lead to a surge in Yelp reviews from new customers, but they also lead to a higher percentage of negative reviews. Read the full BU Today article.

On Saturday, October 1, doctoral student Seth Blumenthal and Professor Bruce Schulman led a group of CAS freshmen on a historic walking tour of Boston. Boston is more than the Freedom Trail, so Blumenthal and Schulman led students through Boston’s diverse neighborhoods and explored the many layers of history they have accumulated over 400 years. Read more.

Alumni Weekend is Almost Here

Go “back to school” with BU and CAS alumni, faculty, and friends for a series of thought-provoking lectures and other events. Be sure to see former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert as he delivers the third annual Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture on Friday, October 28, at 7 p.m. in the GSU. Read more about the Alumni Weekend schedule here.

Academic Enhancement Fund

A reminder to faculty teaching undergraduate courses that the Academic Enhancement Fund (AEF) is now being administered by Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Susan Jackson (sjackson@bu.edu) with the able assistance of Tess Varney (tvarney@bu.edu). Read more.

Study Abroad Assistantships for Spring 2012

BU Study Abroad is offering spring 2012 assistantships in Padova, Italy and Burgos, Spain to qualified PhD students. Learn more: Padova assistantship, Burgos assistantship.

OCTOBER 19
Diasporas
Presented by American & New England Studies Program
Two lectures on postcolonial responses to American exceptionalism
5:30 p.m., 226 Bay State Road, Room 110
Read more

OCTOBER 21
Inside the College Gates: How Class and Culture Matter within Higher Education
Lecture by Jenny Stuber, University of North Florida
Noon, 96 Cummington Street, Room 241
Part of Sociology Seminar Series.
More info.

OCTOBER 25
Guest Lecture: “Bringing Out the Image of the Black in Western Art”
Dr. David Bindman, Professor Emeritus of History of Art at University College London
5–7 p.m., CAS 326
Presented by the Department of History of Art & Architecture and supported by the Boston University Center for the Humanities.

OCTOBER 26
Open Access, Copyright, and University Faculty
A conversation with Peter Suber of Harvard University
4 p.m., STONE B50, 675 Comm. Ave.
Learn more

World-Denial and World Redemption:
Franz Rosenzweig's Early Marcionism
Speaker: Benjamin Pollock (Michigan State University)
5-6:30 p.m., The Photonics Center, 8 Saint Mary's St.,
Room 206
More info

OCTOBER 27
Concert in tribute to Manos Hadjidakis and Mikis Theodorakis
7:30 p.m., Tsai Performance Center, 685 Comm. Ave.
Organized by the Department of Classical Studies
Learn more

OCTOBER 28
Former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert delivers the third annual Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture
7 p.m., GSU, 775 Comm. Ave.
Read more

OCTOBER 29
Sustainable Neighborhood Showcase: Alumni Weekend
1-3 p.m., 1st floor, Photonics Building
Learn More

NOVEMBER 7
Wampanoag Cultures— Presented by American & New England Studies Program
Film screening and discussion on Wampanoag cultural revival
6:30 p.m., CAS 313

DECEMBER 1
Chinese Exclusion and Photographic Arts of Contact and Evasion
Presented by American & New England Studies Program
5:30 p.m., CAS 200

DECEMBER 1
Plato and Knowing and Not Knowing
Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy Seminar
Gail Fine, Cornell University and Oxford University
Commentator: Ravi Sharma, Clark University
7:30 pm, BU Philosophy Department
Sponsored by the Boston University Center for the Humanities

DECEMBER 2
“Varieties of Innatism: Plato and the Stoics”
Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy Seminar
Gail Fine, Cornell University and Oxford University
1 p.m., BU Philosophy Department
Sponsored by the Boston University Center for the Humanities

For full list of meetings and deadlines, visit Chairs’ Calendar

OCTOBER 19
Faculty Meeting
4 p.m., STO B50
Followed by a Sherry Hour in CAS 106

OCTOBER 24
Open meeting of the CAS International Council, Monday, October 24 in CAS 132, 4–5 p.m. All CAS chairs and directors are welcome to attend. The agenda will be devoted to a discussion with Willis Wang, Vice President and Associate Provost for Global Programs.

OCTOBER 26
Social Sciences CCD
TBD

Academic Policy Committee
TBD

BU All-Faculty Assembly
3:30–5 p.m., Tsai Performance Center, 685 Comm. Ave.

NOVEMBER 2
CCD Meeting
4 p.m., CAS 211

NOVEMBER 9
Faculty Meeting
4 p.m., STO B50
Followed by a Sherry Hour in CAS 106

NOVEMBER 14
Natural Sciences CCD
4 p.m., CAS 132

NOVEMBER 15
BU Center for the Humanities—First deadline for Project Award Applications for projects in academic year 2012/13
Contact Christine Loken-Kim, ex 8-6251 or lokenkim@bu.edu

NOVEMBER 16
Humanities CCD
4 p.m., CAS 132

Academic Policy Committee
4 p.m., CAS 200

NOVEMBER 30
Academic Policy Committee
4 p.m., CAS 200

Faculty Accolades

As the home for the liberal arts at BU, the College of Arts & Sciences provides a solid grounding in critical thinking to every BU student. Our faculty are engaged in the world of ideas, from chemistry to art history, and they pull students into this world through encouragement, instruction, and leading by example. Faculty members push forward the bounds of our knowledge in a wide range of disciplines. Below are some recent highlights of faculty achievements:

As part of the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001, Professor of English Robert Pinsky spoke at the dedication of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, along with former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Read More.

University Professor Rosanna Warren of the departments of English and Romance Studies published a new book of poems in March, Ghost in a Red Hat, from W. W. Norton. In June, she won the Sara Teasdale Prize for Poetry. Read More.

Assistant Professor of Astronomy Andrew West received a three-year NSF award in the amount of $429,710 for a project entitled, “Using White Dwarf-M Dwarf Pairs to Probe the Magnetic Activity and Angular Momentum Evolution of Low-Mass Stars.” His results could yield new insight into the evolution of the Milky Way. Read More.

Associate Professor of History Jonathan Zatlin is this year’s winner of the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in German and European Studies in the field of Economics. Read More.