Heidi Hochstetler
Staff Writer
May 6, 2004, Page 3
Doane College is likely to receive a second Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN) grant to fund student biomedical and bioinformatics research. If fully funded, the grant would provide Doane with $150,000 per year for the next five years.
“Our grant application got positive reviews,” said Biology professor Dr. Kate Marley. “There is a good chance we will be funded.”
The BRIN grant provides money for equipment and supplies, something that all students can benefit from, Marley said.
Additionally, BRIN provides grants for students to conduct biomedical research.
Doane students are selected to participate as sophomores, and Marley said the application process is competitive.
This year’s BRIN scholars are Jessica Hutter, Chad Fickes and Will Packard. They will spend the summer doing research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Creighton Medical Center or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In the fall they will return to Doane to work with a faculty member on their project for the next two years.
Showing posts with label Heidi Hochstetler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heidi Hochstetler. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Column: Nebraska should eliminate death penalty
Heidi Hochstetler
Staff Writer
April 29, 2004, Page 6
Earlier this year, the Nebraska State Legislature voted to put off a decision about whether to switch Nebraska’s method of execution from the electric chair to lethal injection.
They were asking the wrong question.
The real question is whether the state should allow capital punishment at all.The United States is the only industrialized western nation that still uses capital punishment.
In 2000, according to Amnesty International, “88 percent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the USA.” Iran is not usually a nation with which we group ourselves, ideologically speaking.
In the 1976 case Gregg V. Georgia, the Supreme Court upheld the revised death statute in Georgia.
Since then, 38 states, including Nebraska, have remodeled their death statutes based on Georgia’s. Twelve states and the District of Columbia do not have active death penalty statutes.
However, several factors still render capital punishment unfair, impractical and problematic.
Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell, coauthors of “Who Owns Death?” describe the process of deciding who receives the death penalty as “highly random.” Conviction and application of the death penalty is often influenced by the defendant’s race, class and the quality of defense lawyers.
A law that discriminates against racial minorities and the poor cannot be constitutional.
According to Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, in 82 percent of studies reviewed nationwide, the race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty. Nationwide, about 90 percent of death row inmates could not afford to hire a lawyer when they were tried.
Another popular theory about the death penalty is that it acts as a deterrent for potential criminals. Real life, however, seems to work differently from theory.
One study on Texas executions between 1984 and 1997 concluded that the number of executions was unrelated to either murder rates or felony crimes, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Finally, capital punishment is a sentence that cannot be righted if a mistake is made. In the last 200 years, Nebraska has executed 43 men.
Of those men, one was certainly innocent, since his “victim” was discovered to be alive four years later, according to NADP. Evidence exists that another executed man may have also been innocent.
Lethal injection, while becoming the preferred method, is a particularly disturbing form of execution. Our society is already numbed to violence.
We shouldn’t further anesthetize ourselves by allowing government-sanctioned killing.
Staff Writer
April 29, 2004, Page 6
Earlier this year, the Nebraska State Legislature voted to put off a decision about whether to switch Nebraska’s method of execution from the electric chair to lethal injection.
They were asking the wrong question.
The real question is whether the state should allow capital punishment at all.The United States is the only industrialized western nation that still uses capital punishment.
In 2000, according to Amnesty International, “88 percent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the USA.” Iran is not usually a nation with which we group ourselves, ideologically speaking.
In the 1976 case Gregg V. Georgia, the Supreme Court upheld the revised death statute in Georgia.
Since then, 38 states, including Nebraska, have remodeled their death statutes based on Georgia’s. Twelve states and the District of Columbia do not have active death penalty statutes.
However, several factors still render capital punishment unfair, impractical and problematic.
Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell, coauthors of “Who Owns Death?” describe the process of deciding who receives the death penalty as “highly random.” Conviction and application of the death penalty is often influenced by the defendant’s race, class and the quality of defense lawyers.
A law that discriminates against racial minorities and the poor cannot be constitutional.
According to Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, in 82 percent of studies reviewed nationwide, the race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty. Nationwide, about 90 percent of death row inmates could not afford to hire a lawyer when they were tried.
Another popular theory about the death penalty is that it acts as a deterrent for potential criminals. Real life, however, seems to work differently from theory.
One study on Texas executions between 1984 and 1997 concluded that the number of executions was unrelated to either murder rates or felony crimes, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Finally, capital punishment is a sentence that cannot be righted if a mistake is made. In the last 200 years, Nebraska has executed 43 men.
Of those men, one was certainly innocent, since his “victim” was discovered to be alive four years later, according to NADP. Evidence exists that another executed man may have also been innocent.
Lethal injection, while becoming the preferred method, is a particularly disturbing form of execution. Our society is already numbed to violence.
We shouldn’t further anesthetize ourselves by allowing government-sanctioned killing.
Morsell masters acting as Douglass
Heidi Hochstetler
Staff Writer
April 29, 2004, Page 7
He is electrifying on stage. His lyrical voice resonates through the auditorium and holds the audience in rapt attention. In period costume and the trademark lion’s-mane hair, Fred Morsell is Frederick Douglass.
Morsell performed his one-person play, “Presenting Mr. Frederick Douglass,” in Heckman Auditorium on Friday and Saturday as part of Doane’s 10th annual Multicultural Fair.
Backstage, the Douglass illusion fades as Morsell packs the pocket watch and eye glasses into meticulously organized plastic storage containers. The wig comes off, too, revealing Morsell’s own shock of gray hair.
“It’s the wig that seals the character,” Morsell said. For the last 20 years, Morsell has been immersed in the life of Douglass, an experience he said has changed his life.
“I have learned a great deal about myself, Douglass and human nature,” he said.
Morsell said he hopes the audience learns a lot, too. He describes his job as an actor as similar to that of a teacher. In Morsell’s interpretation, the message of Frederick Douglass is learning how to take accountability for ourselves.
“It is very important that people understand the civil rights movement, the truth of history and recognize the importance of fighting for what we have today,” Morsell said.
Over the years, Morsell said that his performance has changed and matured as he learned more of the details of Douglass’ life. He said he keeps the material fresh by paying close attention to the audience and making split-second decisions about which parts to include or leave out.
Staff Writer
April 29, 2004, Page 7
He is electrifying on stage. His lyrical voice resonates through the auditorium and holds the audience in rapt attention. In period costume and the trademark lion’s-mane hair, Fred Morsell is Frederick Douglass.
Morsell performed his one-person play, “Presenting Mr. Frederick Douglass,” in Heckman Auditorium on Friday and Saturday as part of Doane’s 10th annual Multicultural Fair.
Backstage, the Douglass illusion fades as Morsell packs the pocket watch and eye glasses into meticulously organized plastic storage containers. The wig comes off, too, revealing Morsell’s own shock of gray hair.
“It’s the wig that seals the character,” Morsell said. For the last 20 years, Morsell has been immersed in the life of Douglass, an experience he said has changed his life.
“I have learned a great deal about myself, Douglass and human nature,” he said.
Morsell said he hopes the audience learns a lot, too. He describes his job as an actor as similar to that of a teacher. In Morsell’s interpretation, the message of Frederick Douglass is learning how to take accountability for ourselves.
“It is very important that people understand the civil rights movement, the truth of history and recognize the importance of fighting for what we have today,” Morsell said.
Over the years, Morsell said that his performance has changed and matured as he learned more of the details of Douglass’ life. He said he keeps the material fresh by paying close attention to the audience and making split-second decisions about which parts to include or leave out.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Review: ‘Pieces of April’ proves captivating
Heidi Hochstetler
Staff Writer
April 15, 2004, Page 5
Even though “Pieces of April” chronicles one family’s Thanksgiving holiday, it is entertaining at any time of year.
Filmed in just 16 days, with a budget of less than $7 million, “Pieces of April” relies on acting ability and an interesting script rather than on big-budget gimmicks. Katie Holmes stars as April Burns, a young woman who tries to bridge a family rift by cooking Thanksgiving dinner.
After a struggle to prepare the turkey, April and her boyfriend Bobby, played by Derek Luke, discover their oven is broken.
April is forced to knock on doors in her dilapidated apartment building, looking for a neighbor willing to cook the turkey for a few hours.
Patricia Clarkson delivers an Oscar-nominated performance as April’s ailing mother, Joy. During the long car ride to April’s New York apartment, Joy becomes increasingly acerbic and despondent as she realizes that her only good memory of her oldest daughter was actually about April’s younger sister, Beth, played by Alison Pill.
April’s father, played by Oliver Platt, is the mediator who tries to hold the family together. From the know-it-all Beth to April’s brother Timmy, played by John Gallagher Jr., who rolls his mother’s joints, the Burns family seems more likely to self-destruct than to mend fences.
This honest portrayal of the characters in “Pieces of April” is one of the movie’s strengths. Each member of the Burns family is multifaceted; they are, in a word, human.
“Pieces of April” writer and director Peter Hedges said that the movie is a tribute to, though not a biography of, his mother who died of cancer in 2000.If you missed “Pieces of April” on the big screen, it should be your next rental.
Staff Writer
April 15, 2004, Page 5
Even though “Pieces of April” chronicles one family’s Thanksgiving holiday, it is entertaining at any time of year.
Filmed in just 16 days, with a budget of less than $7 million, “Pieces of April” relies on acting ability and an interesting script rather than on big-budget gimmicks. Katie Holmes stars as April Burns, a young woman who tries to bridge a family rift by cooking Thanksgiving dinner.
After a struggle to prepare the turkey, April and her boyfriend Bobby, played by Derek Luke, discover their oven is broken.
April is forced to knock on doors in her dilapidated apartment building, looking for a neighbor willing to cook the turkey for a few hours.
Patricia Clarkson delivers an Oscar-nominated performance as April’s ailing mother, Joy. During the long car ride to April’s New York apartment, Joy becomes increasingly acerbic and despondent as she realizes that her only good memory of her oldest daughter was actually about April’s younger sister, Beth, played by Alison Pill.
April’s father, played by Oliver Platt, is the mediator who tries to hold the family together. From the know-it-all Beth to April’s brother Timmy, played by John Gallagher Jr., who rolls his mother’s joints, the Burns family seems more likely to self-destruct than to mend fences.
This honest portrayal of the characters in “Pieces of April” is one of the movie’s strengths. Each member of the Burns family is multifaceted; they are, in a word, human.
“Pieces of April” writer and director Peter Hedges said that the movie is a tribute to, though not a biography of, his mother who died of cancer in 2000.If you missed “Pieces of April” on the big screen, it should be your next rental.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Boswell Observatory Doane’s house of history
Heidi Hochstetler
Staff Writer
April 8, 2004, Page 3
This school year marks 120th anniversary of Boswell Observatory, the oldest observatory in Nebraska and the oldest existing building on Doane's campus.
Part of the Doane College Historic District, Boswell Observatory is home to many pieces of astronomical and other scientific equipment.
Janet Jeffries, director of Foundation and Corporate Giving, came to Doane in 1995 during the renovation of the observatory. The building had been used for faculty offices since the 1960s, but after the renovation Jeffries scoured the campus for antique equipment.
"I went on a hunt to the Goodall Science Building and looked in closets," Jeffries said.
"I think it's wonderful that so much of the equipment has survived," Jeffries said. "The faculty and staff were very careful with [the equipment]."
Jeffries calls the observatory a "little vignette of the past," a place to learn about Doane's history. Thomas Doane's surveying equipment, as well as antique meteorological instruments dating back to the late 1800s when Boswell Observatory was home to the Nebraska Weather Service station, offer a glimpse into the past.
The artifacts are also an indication of the college's high standards, even in the early days. When completed in 1883, the observatory was equipped with the latest astronomical apparatus, according to the Doane College Historic District pamphlet.
The equatorial refractor telescope, mounted on an isolated brick pier to keep the telescope stationary as the building settles, was installed in 1884. At the time, the ten-foot telescope was the largest of its kind in the Trans-Mississippi West.
"He produced some of the best telescopes in the world at that time," said Doane Physics Professor Mark Plano Clark. "It's a remarkable telescope and it still works remarkably well."
Current astronomy classes use the original telescope for star gazing several times a semester. A smaller transit telescope is no longer in use.
Originally used by Thomas Doane in drilling a tunnel through the Hoosac Mountains in the 1860s, the meridian transit telescope was used to tell time by the stars.
The observatory is also the home of several Doane artifacts unrelated to science. Several Doane Family memorabilia can be viewed, such as Thomas Doane's diploma from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.
Money for the observatory was donated by Charles Boswell, a private donor.
Staff Writer
April 8, 2004, Page 3
This school year marks 120th anniversary of Boswell Observatory, the oldest observatory in Nebraska and the oldest existing building on Doane's campus.
Part of the Doane College Historic District, Boswell Observatory is home to many pieces of astronomical and other scientific equipment.
Janet Jeffries, director of Foundation and Corporate Giving, came to Doane in 1995 during the renovation of the observatory. The building had been used for faculty offices since the 1960s, but after the renovation Jeffries scoured the campus for antique equipment.
"I went on a hunt to the Goodall Science Building and looked in closets," Jeffries said.
"I think it's wonderful that so much of the equipment has survived," Jeffries said. "The faculty and staff were very careful with [the equipment]."
Jeffries calls the observatory a "little vignette of the past," a place to learn about Doane's history. Thomas Doane's surveying equipment, as well as antique meteorological instruments dating back to the late 1800s when Boswell Observatory was home to the Nebraska Weather Service station, offer a glimpse into the past.
The artifacts are also an indication of the college's high standards, even in the early days. When completed in 1883, the observatory was equipped with the latest astronomical apparatus, according to the Doane College Historic District pamphlet.
The equatorial refractor telescope, mounted on an isolated brick pier to keep the telescope stationary as the building settles, was installed in 1884. At the time, the ten-foot telescope was the largest of its kind in the Trans-Mississippi West.
"He produced some of the best telescopes in the world at that time," said Doane Physics Professor Mark Plano Clark. "It's a remarkable telescope and it still works remarkably well."
Current astronomy classes use the original telescope for star gazing several times a semester. A smaller transit telescope is no longer in use.
Originally used by Thomas Doane in drilling a tunnel through the Hoosac Mountains in the 1860s, the meridian transit telescope was used to tell time by the stars.
The observatory is also the home of several Doane artifacts unrelated to science. Several Doane Family memorabilia can be viewed, such as Thomas Doane's diploma from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.
Money for the observatory was donated by Charles Boswell, a private donor.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Spring Break kits for your health
Heidi Hochstetler
Staff Writer
Mar. 11, 2004, Page 3
Where your health is concerned, the old adage stands: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
For that reason, the Doane College Student Health and Wellness Center has created a spring break survival kit that offers advice on how avoid potential spring break disasters and have a safe and healthy vacation.
The kits include free sunscreen and Blistex samples, as well as a Spring Break Survival Manual. According to the manual, planning ahead can make the difference between a fun spring break and one that ends up being a disappointment.
“We’ve never had any serious problems before,” college nurse Kelly Jirovec said. “The survival kits are a preventative measure.”
The spring break survival manual offers tips on many different things including travel, skin care and food and water safety.
Free spring break survival kits will be available in Tiger Inn next week.
Staff Writer
Mar. 11, 2004, Page 3
Where your health is concerned, the old adage stands: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
For that reason, the Doane College Student Health and Wellness Center has created a spring break survival kit that offers advice on how avoid potential spring break disasters and have a safe and healthy vacation.
The kits include free sunscreen and Blistex samples, as well as a Spring Break Survival Manual. According to the manual, planning ahead can make the difference between a fun spring break and one that ends up being a disappointment.
“We’ve never had any serious problems before,” college nurse Kelly Jirovec said. “The survival kits are a preventative measure.”
The spring break survival manual offers tips on many different things including travel, skin care and food and water safety.
Free spring break survival kits will be available in Tiger Inn next week.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Elder’s expertise is in the field
Heidi Hochstetler
Staff Writer
Mar. 4, 2004, Page 3
The man is grinning from ear to ear. With his bare hands he clutches a live crocodile against his chest, its tender white belly exposed to the air.
Brad Elder began to make connections with Doane biology majors during a visit Feb. 20 in preparation for next fall, when he will begin teaching at Doane.
"I've worked with almost everything larger than a test tube, except for insects," Elder said.
Elder's field research experience is extensive, and it reads more like an adventure story than a resume. Elder is a hands-on person, whether performing sea lion autopsies in the Bering Sea or being kidnapped by poachers while studying the national parks in Africa.
Elder said he liked biology initially because it was one of the classes he could pass, because his first biology teachers didn't deduct points for spelling. Spelling, reading and math are difficult for Elder because he has dyslexia.
As an undergraduate, Elder researched reptiles, amphibians and birds of prey. By the time he was a junior at Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan, he testified in court as an expert witness on the behavior of the eastern foxsnake.
When talking to a student also interested in herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles, Elder used broad gestures to explain how snakes can be trapped. The design is surprisingly simple: snakes enter a V-shaped trap and are caught, unaware that they can turn around.
"Snakes aren't real bright, as it turns out," Elder said.
His work tracking radio transmitters implanted in snakes prepared him for his first doctoral research project at Kansas State University. Elder was asked to apply to the doctoral program and was accepted in 1992 to study pocket gophers. After the colony drowned in a flood, Elder began a new project, which was aborted when his adviser changed jobs.
His final research study centered on how fire affects the regrowth of forbs - herbs - in the tallgrass prairie.
"I used to see plants as just the things that animals ate," he said.
Elder, a visiting professor at the University of Oklahoma, said he is excited to come to Doane because, in the small school atmosphere, students don't get lost. Elder also said that Doane is similar to Adrian College, but the campus is prettier.
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