Tamoxifen Found to Increase Risk of Endometrial Cancer

Transcription

Chronicle
USC: Time Magazine’s College of the Year 2000
Published for the USC Faculty & Staff
Tamoxifen Found to Increase
Risk of Endometrial Cancer
October 11, 1999
by Alicia Di Rado
WOMEN WHOSE breast cancer
is treated with tamoxifen face a
heightened risk for endometrial
cancer, with that risk compounded in women who also have
received estrogen replacement
therapy or who are obese, according to a study led by USC
researchers.
Leslie Bernstein, professor
of preventive medicine at the
Keck School of Medicine of USC
and USC/Norris Comprehensive
Cancer Center, and colleagues
presented these findings in the
Oct. 6 issue of the Journal of the
National Cancer Institute.
Doctors prescribe tamoxifen,
a synthetic hormone, to women
as a breast cancer treatment
because of its proven benefits for
blocking a recurrence of the disease, reducing the likelihood of a
second breast cancer developing
in the opposite breast and
extending patients’ survival. It is
also under study as a preventive
agent against breast cancer in
women at high risk for the disease. However, this study indicates the same drug increases the
The Academy salutes USC’s
cinema-television school
5
75 years ago,
International Relations
began tracking the world
6
USC’S SIXTH ANNUAL Good Neighbors Campaign
is gearing up for another record-setting year.
The goal for this year’s campaign, which runs
from Monday, Oct. 18, through Friday, Nov. 12, is
Inside
3
CALENDAR
8
“ L I E O F T H E M I N D” OP E N S
12
Q UI C K TA K E S
12
VOLUME 19
NUMBER 7
THE FOUR-YEAR dispute be–
tween USC and union officials representing food service workers
was settled last week.
Under the agreement reached
on Monday, Oct. 4, USC retained
the right to subcontract jobs. The
agreement also continued USC’s
policy of offering the same package of benefits to all employees.
In a letter to faculty and staff
(see text on page 11), Thomas
FACTORS ALREADY known to Moran, vice president for business
either increase or decrease affairs, said: “The contract we
women’s risk of endometrial can- have signed is one we would have
cer include: birth control pills, readily signed four years ago, had
which reduce risk; estrogen ther- Local 11 officials been willing to
apy, which can increase risk negotiate.”
unless taken in combination with
Officers of the union, Local 11
progestin therapy; and obesity, of the Hotel Employees and
which increases risk. These fac- Restaurant Employees union,
continued on page 10 joined with USC officials in releasing the following joint statement:
“The University of Southern
C
a
l
i
fornia and HERE Local 11 have
“Because tamoxifen is a critical
reached a new five-year collective
bargaining agreement. The contherapeutic option for breast cancer
tract is a result of compromise by
the parties on the issue of outpatients, we need to understand its
sourcing. The new agreement
maintains the University’s ability
other effects on the body.”
to contract out as it determines
n
ecessary, while at the same time
– L E SL I E BE RN S T EI N
strengthening the job security
continued on page 11
risk of endometrial cancer, the
most frequent gynecologic cancer
in women.
“Because tamoxifen is a critical therapeutic option for breast
cancer patients, we need to
understand its other effects on
the body,” Bernstein said.
“Although we have known that
endometrial or uterine cancer
develops in a tiny proportion of
women taking tamoxifen, we
have not known which particular
groups of women are at greatest
risk of this disease.”
Overall, the authors report
that tamoxifen therapy for breast
cancer increased the risk of
endometrial cancer by about 50
percent. The longer women are
on tamoxifen therapy, the greater
their risk: Women with more than
five years of exposure to tamoxifen were four times more likely
to develop endometrial cancer
than women who did not use
tamoxifen. But a woman’s risk of
endometrial cancer also varies
according to other characteristics.
Good Neighbors Campaign
Gears Up for 1999-2000
US C IN THE N EWS
USC, Local 11
Settle Dispute
Students at St. Vincent Catholic School participate in the
Neighborhood Outreach-funded New Stories/New
Cultures after-school enrichment program, which teaches
children to examine media messages.
$600,000.
The Good Neighbors Campaign lets university
employees contribute directly to USC Neighborhood Outreach programs that enhance the
health, safety, education and cultural offerings in the
neighborhoods near USC’s two campuses. Last
year, employee donations plus reserves totaled
$550,000, which funded 21 programs through
Neighborhood Outreach grants.
Employees will receive information on how to
contribute through their department campaign
leaders. Campaign leaders will also have a new 12minute videotape about Neighborhood Outreach
efforts available for viewing.
Since the first Good Neighbors fund-raising
drive in 1994, faculty and staff have pledged more
than $2.1 million toward nonprofit organizations.
Employees may also contribute to United Way and
other nonprofit organizations, using United Way as a
processing agent. ■
$3.5M Clinical
Trial Begins on
USC MS Vaccine
by Lori Oliwenstein
A USC-INVENTED vaccine for
multiple sclerosis is about to
enter Phase II clinical trials,
backed by a combined $3.5 million in funding: a $1.1 million
award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society that is one
of its largest in recent memory, as
well as $2.4 million from the
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
While the vaccine is unlikely
to rid patients of their current MS
symptoms, said Keck School of
Medicine professor Leslie
Weiner, results from the Phase I
continued on page 11
Taiwan Couple Gives $500,000 to Engineering
Gift will support the mission
of school’s Asia Pacific Institute.
support the school’s Asia Pacific
Institute for Global Industrial
RAYMOND SOONG, chairman Leadership, founded in 1995 to
of the Lite-on Group, one of foster international technology
Taiwan’s largest electronics con- cooperation and development,
educational initiatives
and industrial partner“This gift will boost the institute’
s ships.
“With its multidisciefforts to link North American plinary resources that
integrate
business
and Asian industry and enable methods, technology
know-how and internathe Pacific Rim region to assume tional perspectives, the
Asia Pacific Institute
an industrial leadership role in will help Chinese companies achieve global
the 21st centur
y.”
industrial leadership,”
Raymond Soong said.
– S TE VE N B. S A M P L E
“API serves an important role as a collaborative bridge between
glomerates, and his wife, Feng- interested Asia-Pacific compaIng Soong, have given $500,000 nies, universities and R&D instito the USC School of Engineer- tutions and their U.S. countering.
parts.”
The Soongs’ gift will help
Soong, an engineer, estab-
“I’m delighted that Raymond
and Feng-Ing Soong have chosen
to support the Asia Pacific
Institute,” said Steven B.
Sample, president of USC and
chairman of the Association of
Pacific Rim Universities. “This
gift will boost the institute’s
efforts to link North American
and Asian industry and enable
the Pacific Rim region to assume
an industrial leadership role in
the 21st century.”
by Bob Calverley
With their gift, Raymond Soong and his wife, Feng-Ing Soong, above, are
supporting the Asia Pacific Institute for Global Industrial Leadership. Soong is
chairman of the Lite-on electronic conglomerate of Taiwan.
lished the Lite-on Group in 1975.
The conglomerate is composed
of companies with interests in
computer peripherals, semiconductors, telecommunications and
financial investment. It operates
more than three dozen factories
and almost 30 branch offices in
more than 20 countries.
TWO DECADES AGO, Soong
decentralized his company by
breaking it into subsidiaries, each
of which focused on just two or
three product lines. He expanded
manufacturing operations from
Taiwan to other locations, and the
firm became a world leader in
several areas of electronics manufacturing, including PC switching
power supplies, monitors and
other PC peripherals.
Paramount TV’s Richard Lindheim to Head
New USC Institute for Creative Technologies
• James Korris takes permanent post as creative director.
by Bob Calverley
RICHARD D. LINDHEIM,
executive vice president of
the Paramount Television
Group, will become executive director of the newly
established Institute for
Creative Technologies at
USC. His appointment was
announced Monday, Oct. 4,
by Cornelius Sullivan, USC
vice provost for research.
“Dick Lindheim has an
impressive portfolio of technical and leadership skills
that will bond this exciting
program to the entertainment industry,” Sullivan
Executive Director Richard D. Lindheim.
said.
The institute recently
received a $45 million contract from the U.S. Army to develop advanced modeling and simulation technologies for military and educational purposes.
Researchers from USC’s School of Cinema-Television, School of
Engineering and Annenberg School for Communication will collaborate with creative talents from the entertainment industry to combine concepts of story and character with immersive virtual reality
technologies.
A L S OO NO C T. 4, LINDHEIM ANNOUNCED THAT JAMES KORISS, acting
creative director, has agreed to be the ICT’s permanent creative director. Korris also directs the Entertainment Technology Center, a School
of Cinema-Television research and development project working to
accelerate the development of entertainment technologies.
2
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Chronicle
Editor
Christine E. Shade
Since 1992, Lindheim has been executive vice president of the
Paramount Television Group, where he established Paramount
Digital Entertainment, the studio’s Internet technology group. He
created the simulation architecture for the Paramount StoryDrive
Engine, a technology for automating the development of realistic
interactive characters and story situations at a level of complexity
currently available only in movies or videos. Lindheim also developed other technology applications, expanded Paramount
Television brands globally through co-production ventures, and
developed strategic and operational plans for the television group.
His professional experience includes work for Universal
Studios, NBC and CBS in programming, creative affairs, research,
strategy and production. He received a B.S. degree in electronic
engineering from the University of Redlands and was a graduate
student in telecommunications and engineering at USC.
“I’m excited about this opportunity to meld the expertise of
Hollywood with the worlds of simulation and virtual reality,”
Lindheim said. “The same advanced technologies that we will develop to train Army personnel and prepare them for crisis situations also
promise to help a researcher who is
going to the Antarctic or a student
learning about a new culture. There
are wonderful opportunities for
entertainment, as well.”
THE ICT WAS UNVEILED to
widespread media attention Aug.
18 at USC. Army Secretary Louis
Caldera traveled to Los Angeles to
make the announcement, proclaiming that the Army has found in its
partnership with USC a high-tech
way to enhance the realism and
quality of training simulations and
leader development exercise. ■
L E O N A R D M . S I LV E R M A N,
dean of the school, concurred.
“The School of Engineering
deeply appreciates the Soongs’
generous, far-sighted gift, which
will be used to implement the
vision of the Asia Pacific
Institute,” said Silverman.
“Raymond Soong is a true global
leader in the electronics industry
and a great friend of the school.”
Raymond Soong is a member
of the School of Engineering’s
Board of Councilors. The
Soongs’ son, Tom, attended the
School of Engineering, and their
daughter, Katy, attended the
USC Marshall School of
Business. ■
James Koriss,creative director.
Associate Editor
Melissa Payton
Writers
Matt Blakeslee Bob Calverley
Paul Dingsdale Alicia Di Rado
Zsa Zsa Gershick Inga Kiderra James Lytle
Brenda Maceo Eric Mankin Jon Nalick
Lori Oliwenstein Sharon Stewart
Mary Ellen Stumpfl Meg Sullivan
Staff Photographer
Irene Fertik
Technical Support
Glenn K. Seki
Business Manager
Wanda Hicks
Executive Director, USC NewsvSer
ice
Alfred G. Kildow
Vice President, University Public Relations
Martha Harris
University of Southern California Chronicle
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A C H R O N I C L E October 11, 1999
USC IN THE NEWS
Better Nuclear-Safe Than Sorry
❑ Nuclear safety expert Najmedin Meshkati wasted no time
weighing in with his opinion on the serious accident Sept. 30
at the Tokaimura nuclear processing plant in Japan. His oped about the need for better organizational communications
appeared in the Oct. 1 Los Angeles Times and the Houston
Chronicle. “To improve the safety problems of nuclear power,
we need to improve the safety culture of this industry and
address human and organization-related factors,” he wrote.
“We can and should be able to utilize our vital resources to
operate nuclear power plants safely; we do not have a choice
in the short run.” Meshkati was also interviewd by KPFK and
KFWB in Los Angeles, KVOR (Colorado), Radio Liberty
(Prague) and Voice of America. Meshkati was also on
KCRW’s “Which Way L.A.” live panel discussion on Oct. 5.
❑ Managed care expert Glenn
Melnick commented in an Aug.
9 front-page Wall Street Journal
article on health insurance rate
increases, which are shooting up
again after having moderated in
recent years. “Managed care has
failed so far in delivering on its
promise of how to spend money
more effectively,” he said.
Melnick also commented in a
July 6 USA Today article about the
growing trend among doctors to
seek union representation in the
wake of declining incomes.
❑ “The acts that repeal the death
tax go beyond principle to cut
taxes for all of the rich, giving a
further break to the most fortunate at a time of the greatest
wealth disparities in our nation’s
history,” estate tax expert Ed
McCaffery wrote in an Aug. 23
Los Angeles Times op-ed about a
bill that would eliminate estate
taxes.
❑ The front page of the Sept. 1
Los Angeles Times Southern
California Living section featured a profile of novelist John
Rechy, who teaches in USC’s
Master of Professional Writing
Program. Referring to his recently published “The Coming of
the Night” – in which Rechy
returns to the sexual underground of “City of Night,” his
1963 international best-seller –
the author said, “I wanted to recreate the time when AIDS was
creeping up on us as whispers. I
wanted to generate that same
heat and mounting terror. In this
pre-millennium era, people are
rather ignorantly thinking this
[AIDS threat] is over. It is not.
And while this book still champions rich desire, it is also admonitory.”
❑ “Arithmetic in almost every
culture in civilization has been
based on the number 10, which
has no decent mathematical rea-
son,” mathematician Solomon
W. Golomb said in a Sept. 9 Los
Angeles Times article about the
concept of zero in light of the
millennium. “It’s just that we
have 10 fingers. Every language
has special words for tens, hundreds or thousands.”
❑ Over the summer, oft-quoted
telecommunications expert A.
Michael Noll was busy communicating. He appeared on the
BBC, NPR and CNN and wrote
several op-ed articles for the
nation’s newspapers. On Sept.
10, he was in Newsday with a
piece headlined “Media Mergers
Make No Sense.” On July 29,
he wrote a piece for the Denver
Post about AT&T’s efforts to
acquire cable systems. And in
the Newark Star-Ledger, he
argued that the Y2K computer
problem was much ado about
(nearly) nothing. “If you discover that you have a real millennium bug in your software, save
the program – it could well
become a collectible in a few
years,” he said. “The only
effect of Y2K may be that your
VCR will finally stop flashing
12:00!”
❑ A Sept. 20 Pasadena Star-News
article
entitled
“Cancer
Hunters” focused on the work of
USC/Norris doctors Richard
Cote, Yuri Parisky and Peter
Conti. “Cancer has a voracious
appetite and unique abilities to
draw on the body’s resources to
grow faster-than-normal cells,”
the article noted. “But those
same unique traits may also be its
Achilles’ heel. Southern California cancer hunters like Cote
are refining methods to spot
these differences.”
❑ Modern Germany expert Paul
Lerner sounded alarms in a Sept.
22 CNN “Inside Politics” piece
on Pat Buchanan’s new book, “A
Republic, Not An Empire.” In
the book, Buchanan argues that
the U.S. shouldn’t have intervened in World War II because
Germany and Russia would have
gone on to annihilate each other.
“This is a very revisionist, very
specious rewriting of the narrative of 20th-century U.S. history
to serve policy goals, which I
think have no basis in morality or
U.S. interests,” said Lerner.
❑ The Sept. 22 KCET “Life &
Times” featured a lengthy interview with education graduate
student Janine Jellander, a
Manhattan Beach high school
teacher who has been selected as
the state’s best first-year teacher.
“We’re stressed out, we get very
little sleep – new teachers face
serious challenges,” Jellander
said. “Even with teacher training
and a credential … it’s a shock.”
❑ Vibeke Sorensen – who leads
the division of animation and
digital arts in USC’s School of
Cinema-Television – was fea-
tured, along with other artists collaborating with scientists, in the
Sept. 10 issue of The Chronicle of
Higher Education. Art and science
“are two areas that have a lot
more in common than they often
admit,” Sorensen said. “A pioneer in interactive computer artwork, Sorensen is still pushing
the multimedia envelope; her
“Morocco Memory II,” developed in conjunction with computer engineers from San
Diego’s Neurosciences Institute,
is multisensory. “I want to bring
the whole body back into the
technology,” she said. The article
also noted Sorensen’s skills as a
programmer and her upcoming
collaborative projects, including
one with chemistry professor
Mark Thompson on the development of new display technology.
❑ On a Sept. 22 KCAL report on
the LAPD corruption scandal,
police reform expert Bryce
Nelson called for increased
accountability among law enforcement. “We give police and
prosecutors enormous power in
this society … and it goes to people’s heads,” he said. Nelson,
who served as press director for
the Christopher Commission –
the investigative body that
examined the LAPD following
the Rodney King case – was also
Linemen Take Studies and Team Seriously
A Sept. 25 front-page Los Angeles Times feature story about offensive linemen focused on USC linemen, their coaches and their
families. “To equate the size of offensive linemen – as a rule, they
are the largest men on a team – with lack of intelligence is a mistake. At USC, and most other colleges, they typically have the
highest academic grade point averages of any position-group,” said
the story. Among linemen singled out in the article were Travis
Claridge, Donta Kendrick, Jason Grain, Matt McShane, Matt
Welch, Eric Denmon, Brent McCaffrey and Norm Katnick.
USC coaches Paul Hackett and Steve Greatwood, the offensive
line coach, were also mentioned. About his players, Greatwood
said, “You don’t have to
worry about discipline
problems. You don’t
have to worry about
grades. They’re very
low maintenance.”
U N I V E R S I TY O F S O U T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A C H R O N I C L E October 11, 1999
interviewed by KPFK radio Aug.
12 on the media’s coverage of the
Granada Hills Jewish Community Center shooting. He discussed Tina Brown’s new Talk
magazine in the Aug. 4 issue of
the Los Angeles Times and
expressed skepticism in the June
7 Los Angeles Business Journal
about the claims of Times’ executives who said they would boost
the daily’s circulation by more
than a half-million. “The only
way they can do that is by giving
papers away, which will greatly
reduce its [the newspaper’s] value
to advertisers,” Nelson said.
❑ In a Sept. 24 Los Angeles Times
op-ed, charter reform activist
Erwin Chemerinsky pressed for
the police commission to assert
its authority as a watchdog. “The
Los Angeles Police Department
is seriously diseased and a cure
requires recognizing the extent
of the illness and implementing
systemic reforms,” he said.
“Nothing is more inimical to the
rule of law than police officers
shooting and permanently paralyzing an innocent man, framing
him and causing his conviction
for a crime he did not commit.”
❑ A major article in the Sept. 29
Le Monde about artificial intelligence technology and education
highlighted Lewis Johnson and
his softbots (software robots),
Steve and Adele. Johnson was
identified as “le pere
,” or the
father of the virtual teachers.
❑ In an October Scientific
American article about “the false
crisis in science education,” science education expert William F.
McComas said that cries of
doom and gloom mask the sad
truth that the vast majority of students are taught science that is
utterly irrelevant to their lives –
and that “scientists are a major
part of the problem.” “Many
think that the system is a good
system because it produced
them,” he said. ■
3
4
Motion Picture Academy Salutes
Cinema-Television’s 70 Years
by Inga Kiderra
“Anyone who attends movies or
watches television in America is
quite familiar with the work of
USC’s ever-growing legion of
graduates,” said Robert Rehme,
president of the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
at the academy’s Sept. 30 salute to
the USC School of CinemaTelevision’s first 70 years.
Referring to the members of
the Trojan Familia – known in the
biz as the “USC Mafia” – Rehme
said: “There are many times when
I can’t get through my day without running into dozens of them.
And they always travel in packs.”
Dean Elizabeth M. Daley, welcomed to the stage as the “current
custodian of the [school’s] legacy”
who “does a terrific job of running the place,” expressed similar
System assures access to materials
during Doheny Library closure.
by Joyce Toscan (Courtesy Networker Magazine)
Left to right: special effects supervisor Richard Edlund and directors Randal
Kleiser and George Lucas.The alumni discussed filmmaking at USC in the 1960s.
The screenings were followed
by discussion panels of illustrious
alumni. Among the participants
were: Oscar-winning cinematographer Conrad Hall (“Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”),
whose most recent film is
“American Beauty”; Oscar“There are many times when I winning special effects
supervisor Richard Edlund,
who has worked on the
can’t get through my day without
“Star Wars” films and
“Raiders of the Lost Ark”;
running into dozens of
director Randal Kleiser,
whose feature directorial
[Trojans].”
– R O B E R T R EH M E
debut was “Grease,” one
of the most successful
movie musicals in history;
sentiments: “I’ve often said that
producer and Fox 2000 President
the entertainment industry would
Laura Ziskin (“Pretty Woman,” “As
come to a screeching halt if all the
Good as It Gets”); writing team
USC alumni decided not to show
Scott Alexander and Larry
up one day to work.”
Karaszewski (“Ed Wood,” “The
In her introductory remarks,
People vs. Larry Flynt”); Mechanic,
Daley thanked the academy for
during whose tenure the studio
Cinema-TV’s “auspicious birth.”
has produced such box-office hits
(The school was the 1929 brainas “Something About Mary,”
child of then-USC President Rufus
“Titanic” and “The Full Monty”;
B. von KleinSmid and the fledgand the alumnus who needs no
ling academy’s first president,
introduction, George Lucas.
Douglas Fairbanks Sr.)
The film clips included footage
While strongly rooted in
from Kleiser’s animated “Foot
Hollywood history, the school is
Fetish” (1972); “The Resurrection
on the entertainment industry’s
of Broncho Billy” (1969), winner of
cutting edge, she said.
an Academy Award for Live
“Not only are we celebrating
Action Short Film, directed by
the school’s 70th anniversary,
James Rokos; “A Field of Honor”
we’re also celebrating the 21st
(1972), written and directed by
anniversary of the Peter Stark
Robert Zemeckis, a film that’s still
Producing Program. And in the
used in teaching the art of the
fall, we will open the new Robert
short; and “Electronic Labyrinth:
Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts,
THX 1138 4EB” (1966), written and
as well as bring on line new programs in digital effects and interactive media. We’re moving
ahead fast,” said Daley.
COMEDIAN TIM ALLEN and
alumnus Bill Mechanic, chairman
and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, were hosts for the celebration, held at the academy’s
Samuel Goldwyn Theater in
Beverly Hills.
Taking a decade-by-decade
look at the film school’s history,
the evening featured clips from 15
films by, in Allen’s words, “some
of those students who were clearly destined for major success.”
Paging for Pages
USC School of Cinema-Television
Dean Elizabeth M. Daley.
directed by Lucas. As Mechanic
put it, the Lucas film is “perhaps
the most famous student film
ever to emerge from a film school
anywhere.”
Discussions ranged from reminiscing about classes held in surplus Quonset huts to predicting a
renaissance of good films.
Lucas talked about the filmmaking process as “a cross-country race – in the desert. ... Film
never gets finished, it just gets
abandoned,” he said. “Given
enough time and money, anybody can make a great movie. It’s
just that nobody has enough time
and nobody has enough money,
and it’s really always a matter of:
What can you do under the circumstances?”
Giving advice to aspiring filmmakers, Kleiser said that “anybody who’s persistent can get a
chance to do what they want, but
you have to be persistent.”
Lucas echoed with “persistence is the big word. ... Don’t let
anybody screw around with your
vision,” he said. “Just do it.”
Edlund emphasized the importance of learning the basics. “The
digital stuff,” he said, “is really a
means to the end.”
Ziskin, paraphrasing instructor
Mel Sloan, said that it isn’t
enough to master the craft. “You
may have all the technical skill in
the world, but you have to have
something to say.”
Ziskin sees the recent past
as a boring time for film.
Comparing the gamut of feckless films to Chinese food, she
said: “I can’t even remember
what I saw.”
Yet Ziskin spoke optimistically
about the art form’s future, noting
that audience literacy is “forcing
and pushing the way stories are
told, the way the medium is
used.... We’re about to be in a
more exciting time.”
Mechanic concurred. Speaking
of Fox’s recent projects, he said
the studio is not afraid to try pictures that aren’t so “easy.” Now,
he said, “it’s back to: How good is
your script? How good is your
idea?” ■
THOUGH THE EDWARD L. DOHENY JR. Memorial Library will
close at the end of this semester for major renovations, access to
hundreds of thousands of its books and papers stored on and off
campus will be assured, thanks to a new paging system.
The structure, which serves as the linchpin of the USC library
system, will shut its doors in late December and remain closed to
the public until the spring semester of 2001 to undergo a seismic
retrofit and historic preservation work.
To make sure students, faculty and staff can obtain the materials they need, the Information Services Division has perfected a
computer-based paging system for patrons to request materials
from Doheny’s collection.
“The paging system is the foundation of making this retrofit
conversion successful. We’re investing a lot of time to make sure
“The paging system is the foundation of making
this retrofit conversion successful. We’re investing a
lot of time to make sure it will be as robust as it
possibly can be.” – K AY F E RD IN A ND S E N
it will be as robust as it possibly can be,” said Kay Ferdinandsen,
head of the project’s service team.
Removal work commenced this summer. Of the 800,000
books and journal volumes located in Doheny’s main stacks,
600,000 were sent to the university book depository on Grand
Street just off campus.
The remaining 200,000 journals and serials were relocated to
the first two stack levels of Doheny. Theses and dissertations as
well as books with the call numbers Z-ZA will also remain in the
building.
UNTIL THE END OF DECEMBER, the books and serial and journal collections remaining in Doheny will be available on a walkin basis. Relocated items will be easily retrievable by using the
online request form and following these instructions:
• Retrieve the record for the desired item in HOMER
(library.usc.edu), the USC library online database.
• Click on “view” to see the location and call number.
• Click on the call number.
• Complete the form following screen prompts. (You’ll need
your USC library card number.)
Materials ordered online will be brought to the Doheny circulation desk and will be held under the requester’s name for five
working days (including Saturday).
Waiting periods are as follows:
• Orders placed between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. will be available
by noon the next day (Monday through Friday). If unavailable, a
report will be e-mailed by 11 a.m.
• Orders placed between 6 p.m. and 10 a.m. will be available
by 4 p.m. the same day (Monday through Friday). If unavailable,
a report will be e-mailed by 3 p.m.
• Orders placed between 10 a.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday
will be available by noon Monday. If unavailable, a report will be
e-mailed by 11 a.m. Monday.
• Orders placed between 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Monday
will be available by 4 p.m. Monday. If unavailable, a report will be
e-mailed by 3 p.m. Monday.
More in-depth information about the process may be found by
entering the retrofit Web site (www.usc.edu/isd/dml) and clicking
on “Progress and Timeline.” A handout is also available at the
major public service desks.
After Doheny closes in December and its services are relocated, the pickup point for all materials will switch to the Leavey
library. These items will be held under the requesters’ names and
will be available all hours that Leavey is open. ■
5
75 Years Later, School Still Tracks a Changing World
“The 75th anniversary of the School of
International Relations gives us
occasion to reflect on the moment in world history when
we, the University of Wales at Aberystwyth and
Georgetown University had the prescience to develop
new educational and research institutions dedicated to
avoiding, where possible, the horrors of the Great War
of 1914-1918.”
– Hayward Alker, the John A. McCone
Professor of International Relations
by Paul Dingsdale
AT A RECENT GALA celebration, USC’s School of International Relations marked its
75th anniversary. The school, the
oldest of its kind in the Western
United States and the third oldest
in the world, is looking back at its
storied past while taking on the
challenges of the new millennium.
As global realities have
changed, the school’s original
focus on studying international
conflict has broadened.
“We have added to that stillrelevant agenda the challenge of
sustaining and distributing more
widely the benefits of the economic expansion,” Alker said.
Rufus von KleinSmid, USC’s
fifth president, chartered the
school’s predecessor in 1924, a
mere five years after the end of
World War I. The war took a
heavy toll on America’s fighting
men and was followed by a
severe economic downturn.
America developed a distaste for
foreign affairs, which took the
form of isolationism and the
refusal to participate in the
League of Nations.
Von KleinSmid recognized this
as a dangerous turn of affairs and
dedicated the independent Los
Angeles University of International Relations to “serious
study of the problems involved in
international relations, in the
hope that an acquaintanceship
with such problems will promote
world peace.”
In those early years, the main
purpose of the LAUIR was to
stage the Institute of World
Affairs, an annual event that
allowed academics to exchange
views with foreign dignitaries
and business leaders. (The institute continued in various forms
until the early 1980s.)
Four years after its founding,
LAUIR merged with USC to offer
undergraduate courses in international relations, with the first
bachelor’s degree awarded in
1931 and first Ph.D. in 1938. It
was the first such school in the
West. At the time, only
Georgetown
University
in
Washington, D.C., had a similar
school.
In 1967, the school, which is
part of the College of Letters,
Arts and Sciences, moved into its
current home, the Von KleinSmid
Although the Los Angeles University of International Relations – the predecessor of USC’s School of International
Relations – was chartered in 1924, dedicatory ceremonies were not held until Dec. 14,1928, at the Mission Inn in Riverside.
At the ceremonies were, from left, Rufus von KleinSmid,president,USC; Congressman F.M.Davenport; Dean George H.
Huntington, Robert College, Constantinople; C.K. Edmonds, president of Pomona College; Bishop Bertrand Stevens;
President Aurelia Rhinehardt,Mills College, Oakland; Director C.E. Moore, UCLA;Harry Thomas Collings,professor
of economics, University of Pennsylvania; Susan M. Dorsey, superintendent of public schools, Los Angeles; President Tully
Knoles,College of the Pacific;K.C.L. Leebrick; and President H.L. Shantz,University of Arizona.
Center, with its instantly recognizable globe perched on top of
a belfry visible from most parts
of campus.
The theme of new directions
for the school – and for the world
at large – surfaced frequently at
a Sept. 16 lecture and discussion
and an anniversary dinner held
at Town and Gown.
Along
with
Jonathan
Aronson, director of the school,
the featured speakers at the
event represented the two other
earliest schools of international
relations. Steve Smith, one of
Europe’s leading IR theorists, is
Attending the Sept. 16 International Relations anniversary dinner at Town and Gown were, from left,Richard L. Drobnick,
USC vice provost for international affairs; Robert Gallucci, dean of Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service; Jonathan
Aronson, director, School of International Relations; Morton Owen Schapiro, dean of the College of Letters, Arts and
Sciences; and Steve Smith,pro vice chancellor, academic affairs, University of Wales,Aberystwyth.
6
pro vice chancellor, academic
affairs, and professor of international politics at the University of
Wales, Aberystwyth. He was
joined by Robert Gallucci, former
plines that did not exist when
von KleinSmid launched the
school’s original incarnation.
Economics, the environment,
new definitions of political entities and gender issues
are becoming increasingly important in the
The school was quick to anticipate
discipline that for many
people still conjures
the expanded definition that
visions only of studies in
diplomacy and security.
international relations was to
The school was quick
embrace in the post-Cold War era.to anticipate the
expanded
definition
that international relations was to embrace in
assistant secretary of state and
the post-Cold War era. In 1976,
now dean of Georgetown’s
Aronson joined the faculty. John
School of Foreign Service, who
Odell, a former editor of the jourdelivered a keynote address on
nal International Organization,
challenges to U.S. foreign policy
was recruited a few years later,
at the start of the next century.
and Peter Rosendorff, an econo“The world is going through
mist, joined the school recently to
something of a transitional peribroaden its expertise in internaod, and by the same token, so are
tional political economy.
we,” said Steven Lamy, the USC
International political econoschool’s deputy director, who
my is concerned with such issues
also directs the Teaching Interas international investment
national Relations Program.
flows, the role of international
To that end, the school is
institutions and non-government
developing courses that will help
organizations, the rise of a world
its students understand and
information economy and even
interpret new forms of nationalinternational intellectual properism, particularly in former
ty rights. Over the years, the field
Eastern Bloc countries, and prehas blossomed into one of the
pare them for a globalized, netschool’s strengths.
worked economy.
“Twenty years ago, economics
The school also places increaswas considered low politics,”
ing emphasis on developing
Aronson recalled. “Security was
countries and new security conhigh politics. But when you’re
cerns in a world no longer domiless concerned about being
nated by two superpowers. And
destroyed by nuclear bombs, you
it is continuing a long-term trend
start to worry about your pockettoward embracing new discicontinued on page 10
New Institute Hosts a Meeting of Minds at USC
Twice-monthly luncheon draws
writers, academics and artists to debate
and promote ‘intellectual life in L.A.’
by Meg Sullivan
here do you stage a
trial run of your
nationwide book
tour if you’re a celebrated author living in Los
Angeles?
If you’re Susan Faludi, whose
latest effort, “Stiffed: The
Betrayal of the American Man,”
was featured on the cover of the
Sept. 13 Newsweek, you head
over to the USC Faculty Center
for the season’s first meeting of
the Los Angeles Institute for the
Humanities.
“If this ends up a disaster, I’ll
cancel the book tour,” joked the
Pulitzer Prize-winning author at a
Sept. 17 gathering of 36 institute
members.
Her appearance came only
four days after the release of the
Newsweek article and four days
W
The USC-sponsored institute
hosts a twice-monthly luncheon
that attracts celebrated authors,
academics, artists, museum curators and filmmakers to the Pub at
the Faculty Club. Fellows
schmooze for half an hour before
sitting down to a modest lunch
and a 20- to 30-minute presentation by a fellow or an invited
guest. A lengthy question-andanswer period follows.
“L.A. is a major cultural center – we’ve got the Getty, MOCA
[Museum of Contemporary Art],
the Huntington, LACMA [Los
Angeles County Museum of Art],
USC, UCLA and Caltech – but
the problem is, all these institutions lead isolated lives,” said
Steven Ross, the institute’s other
co-founder and a USC professor
of history. “We’re trying to create
a climate that brings together
an eclectic mix of people.”
THIS IS THE PLACE
to
hear UCLA theater
“We say, ‘You have 20 minutes –
professor Robert Israel
what are the ideas you’re wrestlingdescribe the sets he’s
designing for upcoming productions of
with?’ ”
– ST EV E N R O SS
“Fidelio” at New
York’s Metropolitan
Opera and the Music
before the launch of a 15- to 20- Center’s “I Capuleti e I
city book tour.
Montecchi.”
Such is the rarefied fare that
Or to get the inside scoop
typifies the 1-year-old intellectu- from Ronald Steel, a USC profesal meeting ground designed, sor of international relations and
according to co-founder and Los a frequent New York Times conAngeles Times Book Review tributor, about his much-awaited
Editor Steve Wasserman, “to pro- biography of Bobby Kennedy.
mote the cross-fertilization of
Or to attend the debut book
intellectual life in L.A.”
reading for Russ Rymer’s
Author Susan Faludi addresses the season’s first meeting of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities as cofounders Steve Wasserman, left, Los Angeles Times Book Review editor, and Steven Ross, history professor, listen.
“American Beach: A Saga of
Race, Wealth and Memory.”
“We say, ‘You have 20 minutes – what are the ideas you’re
wrestling with?’” said Ross, the
author of “Working Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the
Shaping of Class in America.”
A
nybody who wandered
into the Sept. 17 invitation-only
gathering
would quickly realize
she was in select company.
Syndicated columnist and author
Arianna Huffington (“Picasso:
Creator and Destroyer”) kibitzed
in the Pub courtyard with author,
filmmaker and USC cinema-TV
associate professor Todd Boyd
(“Am I Black Enough for You?
Popular Culture From the ‘Hood
and Beyond”).
Novelist Mona Simpson
(“Anywhere but Here”) fretted
over the fate of the American
magazine with USC English professor Carol Muske Dukes (“An
Octave Above Thunder: New
and Selected Poems”) and writerperformer Sandra Tsing Loh
(“Depth Takes a Holiday: Essays
From Lesser Los Angeles.”)
Stephanie Barron, LACMA’s
senior curator of modern and
contemporary art, whispered at a
table with Kenneth S. Brecher,
the executive director of the
Sundance Institute.
The institute fellows, mostly
authors, say they appreciate the
opportunity to meet people they
might not otherwise.
“If you’re a free-lance writer
sitting in your house reporting
[over the phone] in your pj’s …
Fun With the Folks at Fisher Gallery
you don’t feel connected to a
larger structure of people with
the same interests,” Faludi said.
The group, which meets the
first and third Friday of the
month, is modeled on New York’s
Institute of the Humanities,
which was founded roughly 25
years ago by a group of East Coast
intellectuals, including Susan
Sontag. The New York group also
meets at a large, respected and
centrally located urban campus –
New York University.
“It’s the glamorous gathering
place for academics and non-academic intellectuals,” said Jocelyn
Baltzell, who served as associate
director of the New York institution for a decade before agreeing
to serve in the same capacity for
the USC-based group. “We’re
the upstart competitor.” ■
C O U R T E S Y F I S H E R G A L L E RY
Every time there’s an exhibit at the Fisher Gallery, there’s also at
least one weekend afternoon set aside for family fun.
On Saturday, Oct. 16, from noon to 3 p.m., the gallery throws
its regular “Families at Fisher” party – with open invitations to all
in USC’s neighborhood and campus community.
The festivities include guided tours of “Treasures of USC: The
Collecting Continues,” hands-on art workshops, multicultural
tales by storyteller Michael D. McCarty, face-painting and musical performances by the Foshay Learning Center Jazz Combo.
There will be door prizes courtesy of Food 4 Less, USC
women’s basketball, and USC football, plus refreshments provided by USC Hospitality Services and Ralphs.
Parking is available at Gate 1 for the reduced rate of $3.
Mention “Families at Fisher” when entering.
Admission is, as always, free. For reservations or more information, call 740-5537.
– Inga Kiderra
Neighborhood children regularly take part in artistic activities at the
Fisher Gallery. Above, a child with a festively painted face works on a
project; right, a boy proudly shows off his art construction.
U N I V E R S I TY O F S O U T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A C H R O N I C L E October 11, 1999
7
SPECIAL EVENTS
Calendar
Monday, Oct. 11, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.:
Morton Kesten Summit on Home
Modification. This second annual con-
for Oct. 11 to 18
For these events and more, visit http://www.usc.edu/calendar
Little Jack Horner Sat in a
Corner, Eating His Dino-Pie?
Honorary doctor Jack Horner has
more discoveries and “firsts” to his
name than most of his peers with
formal degrees.
John “Jack” Horner – recipient of a 1986
MacArthur Fellowship (or “genius
grant”) and curator of paleontology at the
Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman,
Mont. – does not have a formal degree,
but what he does have is an uncanny
knack for dinosauria. Horner discovered
the first dinosaur eggs in the Western
Hemisphere, the first evidence of
dinosaur colonial nesting, the first evidence of parental
care among dinosaurs and the first dinosaur embryos. He
was technical adviser on Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic
Park” – he is said to be the inspiration for the movie’s scientist – as well as its sequel, “The Lost World.” When
the latter film was released, however, he publicly criticized it for depicting dinosaurs as malevolent monsters.
On Tuesday, Oct. 12, Horner discusses new theories
about dinosaurs and how these prehistoric creatures differ
from what we’ve been led to believe. Horner’s appearance – the second lecture in a three-part series on issues
of truth in our society – is co-produced by USC Spectrum
and the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. The talk
begins at 7 p.m. in Bovard Auditorium. Admission is $15
general, $7 seniors and USC faculty/staff, free to USC
students. Call 740-2167 for more information and the USC
ticket office, at 740-7111, for tickets.
D’Argenio Details Direction
of the Mann Institute
David Z. D’Argenio, interim director
of the Mann Institute.
8
In May 1997, USC President Steven B. Sample and
Alfred E. Mann, president and CEO of MiniMed Corp.,
began discussions aimed at realizing Mann’s vision of a
university-based research institute that would develop
and commercialize biomedical technologies to improve
human health and well-being. In September of the following year, Mann’s $100 million gift established the
Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at
USC. The year-old institute, though still in temporary
headquarters, is already conducting innovative research –
as a result of the collaborative efforts of engineering, natural sciences and health sciences faculties. On Thursday,
Oct. 14, David D’Argenio, professor and chair of biomedical engineering and the institute’s interim director, discusses what’s in the works at AMI-USC. The cost of the
noon lunch in the Faculty Center Banquet Room is $12;
admission to the talk, beginning at about 1 p.m., is free.
Call the Emeriti College at 740-8169 to make reservations.
ference focuses on strategies to increase
the availability and awareness of home
modification for older and disabled persons in California. An interactive exhibition/resources room lets participants try
out home modification products.
Andrus Gerontology Center researchers
Jon Pynoos, Phoebe Liebig and Julie
Overton offer an overview of home
modifications and national and state
policies. Davis Auditorium, Andrus
Gerontology Center. Admission: $30.
Discounts available. (740-1364)
of USC: The Collecting Continues.”
RSVP required. USC Fisher Gallery,
Harris Hall. Free. (740-4561)
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 6 p.m. and Friday
,
Oct. 15, 1:30 p.m.:Doheny Retrofit
Survival Skills Workshop. The majority of the collection housed in Doheny
Memorial Library has been moved to
an off-campus facility in preparation for
the library’s closure this winter for
preservation and earthquake retrofitting. This workshop helps you cope
with the changes and shows you how to
successfully complete your projects.
Presented by ISD’s Adventures in
Information. Leavey Library, Learning
Room B. Free. (740-5040)
Saturday, Oct. 16, and Sunday, Oct. 17:
Saturday, Oct. 16, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.:
Los Angeles Times Festival of Health.
College Teacher Training. Led by
Former Los Angeles Laker Earvin
“Magic” Johnson, Children’s Defense
Fund founder and president Marian
Wright Edelman, and actor and community activist Edward James Olmos
headline the first Los Angeles Times
Festival of Health. The two-day festival
includes sports and exercise workshops,
cooking demonstrations, and teen and
children’s activities. More than 45 panel
discussions focus on a variety of related
topics, including navigating the health
care system; how to eat smart; exercise
and fitness habits that fit you and your
family; exploring alternative therapies;
living with diabetes and other chronic
diseases; how to talk to your doctor; and
how to age wisely. The official program
will be published in a special health section of the Oct. 11 Times. Sponsored by
USC and the Doctors of USC. Various
locations. Free. (800-350-3211)
Steve Lamy, associate professor, USC
School of International Relations.
Sponsored by the Center for
International Studies, Teaching
International Relations Program and the
USC School of International Relations.
Social Sciences Building, Rm. B-40.
Free. (740-0800)
Monday, Oct. 18, noon - 2 p.m.:
Using
USC Letterhead and Logo Templates.
This USC Graphic Identity Program
workshop shows you step by step how
to use the new USC letterhead templates (for Microsoft Word). Also covered: the EPS logo templates (for
Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia
FreeHand). Leavey Library Auditorium.
Sponsored by the Information Services
Division. Free. (740-5555)
LECTURES & SEMINARS
Saturday, Oct. 16, noon - 2 p.m.:
Families at Fisher. See box page 7.
Beginning Sunday, Oct. 17:
Wrigley
Marine Science Center Elderhostel.
“Catalina by the Sea: An Island
Ecological Excursion.” Explore Catalina
Island by land and sea in this five-day
program. Investigate natural history on
the “island of romance” with USC naturalists and biologists. Study the island’s
flora, fauna, geology, archeology and history. The program includes a coastal
cruise into the seaside resort town of
Avalon. Singles and couples welcome.
Participants – or one person in a couple –
must be at least 55. USC Wrigley Marine
Science Center, Catalina Island. Admission: $395 per person. (310-510-4021)
WORKSHOPS
Monday, Oct. 11, noon - 2 p.m.:
Introduction to the USC Graphic
Identity Program. Consistent use of
USC’s identifying marks, colors and
typefaces is important in projecting a
coherent image of the university. This
class covers the basics to get you started.
Sponsored by the Information Services
Division. Leavey Library Auditorium.
Free. (740-5555)
Monday, Oct. 11, noon:
School of Fine
Arts Lecture. Roger Shimomura’s work
– in painting, printmaking, performance
and installation – concerns the cross-cultural American/Japanese experience.
His most recent exhibit, “An American
Diary,” opens in October at the
Japanese National Museum and then
travels to 11 museums across the
United States. Watt Hall, Rm. 105.
Free. (740-ARTS)
Monday, Oct. 11, 4:30 p.m.:
@Annenberg. A bipartisan House
committee headed by U.S. Rep.
Christopher Cox, R-Calif., sparked a
political firestorm when it issued a
provocative report alleging Chinese possession of American nuclear missile
secrets. Cox asks “After the Cox
Report: What Now for U.S.-China
Relations?” A reception follows. The
talk is co-sponsored by USC’s School of
International Relations, Center for
International Studies and Henry
Salvatori Forum for Public Affairs.
Annenberg Auditorium. Free. (740-5658)
Tuesday, Oct. 12, noon:
Tuesdays at
Fisher. Conservator Doug Wichert
Tuesday, Oct. 12, noon:
Population
Research Laboratory Seminar. “Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth of
Diverse Pacific Rim Cultures” by Carl
Andrew Johnson, director of USC’s
Institute for Preventive Research.
Lewis Hall, Rm. 304. Free. (740-6265)
explains how to best care for and conserve photographs and works on paper.
“Collections Care Workshop” is presented in conjunction with “Treasures
Tuesday, Oct 12, noon:
Cancer Center
Grand Rounds. Howard Liebman,
associate professor of medicine and
pathology, presents “Thromoembolic
Complications in the Cancer Patient.”
Norris Topping Tower, Rm. 7410,
Health Sciences Campus. Free. (323865-0800)
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1 p.m.:
Lakewood
Discussion Series. Joseph L.
Internal Models in the Cerebellum and
Communication” by Mitsuo Kawato,
ATR Human Information Processing
Research Labs and ERATO/Japanese
Science and Technology Corp.
Reception follows. Hedco Neuroscience Auditorium. Free. (740-9176)
Nyomarkay, associate professor of political science, presents “Update on the
Balkans.” Sponsored by USC’s Emeriti
College and Lakewood OASIS. 5100
Lakewood Blvd., Lakewood. Free.
(562-601-5041)
Thursday, Oct. 14, noon:
USC Emeriti
College Lecture. See “D’Argenio
Details ...”
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 7 p.m.:USC Spectrum
Pylori Lives and Prospers in an Acid
Environment” by John Walsh, director
of CURE Medicine/Digestive Diseases,
VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care
System. Ambulatory Health Center
Auditorium, Rm. 102, Health Sciences
Campus. Free. (323-442-3231)
Performing Arts and Lecture Series.
See “Little Jack Horner …”
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 12:15 p.m.:
Faculty Women’s Club Luncheon
Series. Monica Lozano, member of the
USC Board of Trustees, associate publisher of La Opinion and recent
appointee to the State Board of
Education, discusses “Characteristics of
Successful Leaders.” Reservations
required. Faculty Center Banquet
Room. Admission: $20 lunch; free presentation. (562-421-6615)
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 10 a.m.:
Pasadena
Discussion Series. “The Berlin Wall Is
Down, the Soviet Union Is Gone, but
the Japanese Communist Party Is Alive
and Well” by Peter A. Berton, professor
emeritus of international relations, USC.
Sponsored by USC’s Emeriti College
and the Pasadena Senior Center.
Pasadena Senior Center, 85 E. Holly
Street, Pasadena. Free. (626-795-4331)
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 12:30 p.m.:
Center
for International Studies Seminar.
Patricia Goff, Center for International
Studies visiting scholar, discusses
“Invisible Borders: Economic
Liberalization, Identity and the
Postmodern Polity.” Social Sciences
Building, Rm. B-40. Free. (740-0800)
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1 p.m.:
Unruh
Institute of Politics Lecture. District
Attorney Gil Garcetti on “Leadership.”
Taper Hall of Humanities, Rm. 201.
Free. (740-8964)
Birnkrant
Development Seminar. “From the
Grabbing Hand to the Helping Hand”
by Jiahua Che, Stanford University and
University of Notre Dame. Kaprielian
Hall, Rm. 319. Free. (740-2107)
Neuroscience Seminar. “Multiple
USC Chronicle welcomes calendar listings from all areas of the university. Items
should be submitted in writing to:
Inga Kiderra
Calendar Editor
KAP 246, mc 2538, 740-6156
University Park Campus
FAX: 0-7600
e-mail:[email protected]
To submit calendar items on-line, go
to: http://www.usc.edu/info/
calendar/cal_input.html
All listings should include date, time,
place and descriptions of events, along
with telephone number for information.
The deadline for the Oct. 25 issue is
noon Wednesday, Oct. 13.
Thursday, Oct. 14, noon:
USC
Research Center for Liver Diseases
Research Seminar. “How Helicobacter
Thursday, Oct. 14, 4 p.m.:
Center for
International Studies and East Asian
Studies Center Seminar. “Japan’s
Strategic Relationship With China Since
the End of the Cold War: Rivalry,
Challenge or Threat?” by Reinhard
Drifte, chair of Japanese studies,
University of Newcastle Upon Tyne,
England. Social Sciences Building, Rm.
B-40. Free. (740-0800)
Saturday, Oct. 16, 1:30 p.m.:Park
LaBrea Discussion Series. “Japan,
Asia and the International Monetary
Fund.” Robert Dekle, assistant professor of economics, USC, assesses the
prospects for economic recovery in
AsiaReservations required. Sponsored
by USC’s Emeriti College and Park
LaBrea Residents Association. Park
LaBrea Community Center, 351 S.
Fuller. Free. (323-934-1177)
Monday, Oct. 18, noon:
Friends of the
Norris Medical Library Lecture. See
photo above right.
Monday, Oct. 18, 1:30 p.m.:
Peninsula
Discussion Series. Alan Rowe, USC
Exposition Park, next to CAAM at 600
State Drive. Admission: $5. (744-7432)
Through Oct. 31:
24th Street Theatre
1999-2000 Season. “Poe: Out of His
Mind,” written by Erick Melton and
the Glorious Rep, with Edward Mast’s
adaptations of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale
Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado”
and “The Raven.” Show times are
Saturdays at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sundays
at 3 p.m. 24th Street Theatre, 1117 W.
24th St., North University Park.
Admission: $15 general, $9 seniors and
students. Not recommended for ages
under 10. (745-6516)
Daily through Dec. 31:
IMAX Theater.
Four films play. “Grand Canyon: The
Hidden Secrets,” “Feel the Heat,”
“Island of the Sharks” and “Encounter
in the Third Dimension.” Call for show
times. California Science Center, 700
State Drive, Exposition Park.
Admission: $3.75 - $7.50. (744-2014)
MUSIC
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 8 p.m.:USC Thornton
Contemporary Music Ensemble.
Vicki Ray on piano and Laura
Stevenson on clarinet in “Gnarly
Buttons” by John Adams, “Circle With
Four Trios, Conductor and Audience”
by Tan Dun, “Le Théâtre du Soliel” by
Veronika Krausas and “Bad Times
Coming” by Shaun Naidoo. Frank
Ticheli directs. Newman Recital Hall.
Admission: $7 general, $4 students.
(740-7111 for tickets, 740-3233 for information)
Wednesday, Oct. 13, noon:
Music at
Noon. Weekly recital series, featuring
the best students from the USC
Thornton School of Music. Free lunch
is provided. United University Church
Sanctuary. Free. (740-7917)
USC
Thornton Early Music Ensemble.
professor emeritus of management and
organization, discusses “How Your
Personality Determines Your Behavior.”
Sponsored by Peninsula Seniors and
USC’s Emeriti College. Hesse Park,
29301 Hawthorne Blvd., Rancho Palos
Verdes. Free. (310-541-8114)
James Tyler directs “All’ Italiana:
Baroque Music in the Italian Style,”
featuring sopranos Phoebe Alexander
and Claire Fedoruk, mezzo-sopranos
Carol Lisek and Anne Desler, tenor
Andrew Pelletier, bass-baritone Bruce
Bales and a 12-piece instrumental
ensemble of Baroque strings, winds,
lutes and harpsichord. Included on the
FILM & PERFORMING
program are excerpts from operas by
A RT S
Monteverdi, Cavalli, Pergolesi, Hasse
and Vivaldi and sonatas and concertos
Thursday, Oct. 14, through Sunday, Oct. by Castello, Vivaldi and Scarlatti.
17: School of Theatre 1999-2000
Newman Recital Hall. Admission: $7
Season. See story page 12.
general, $4 students. (740-7111 for tickets, 740-3233 for information)
Friday, Oct. 15, 7 p.m., 9:45 p.m. and
midnight:DKA Film. Directed by
USC
Daniel Meyrick and Eduardo Sanchez,
Thornton Jazz Special Event. A trib“The Blair Witch Project” stars Heather
ute to Harry James, featuring the USC
Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C.
Thornton Studio Jazz Band and direcWilliams and Sandra Sanchez. Norris
tor/soloist John Thomas, the concert
Theater. Admission: $3. (740-1945)
coincides with the release of a new
biography of James by jazz publicist
Saturday, Oct. 16, 2 - 4 p.m.:Ballet
Peter Levinson. Newman Recital Hall.
Folclórico Do Brazil. Feel the group’s
Call for admission. (740-3233)
Afro-Brazilian rhythms on the day the
“Rhythms of the Soul” exhibit opens.
The Upbeat
Amen Santo’s production features acroGoes On. Spend Thursday evenings
batic capoeira, mystical candomble and
with USC Thornton Jazz combos and
classic samba. For more on the exhibit,
ensembles. Ground Zero Coffee
see the listing. Kinsey Auditorium,
House, next to Pardee Tower. Free.
Lai on Hep C
Nearly 3 million Americans are currently
infected with Hepatitis C virus. Many of
them will develop liver failure and liver cancer in the next few decades. On Monday,
Oct. 18, Michael M.C. Lai, professor of molecular microbiology and immunology, USC,
asks, What is this virus? And what can we do
about it? Lai’s talk – entitled “Hepatitis C: The
Next Scourge After AIDS?” – is sponsored by
Friends of the Norris Medical Library. It
begins at noon in Doheny Auditorium,
Ambulatory Health Center, Health Sciences
Campus. Admission is free. For more information, call 323-442-1134.
(740-3233)
EXHIBITS
Through Wednesday, Oct. USC
13:
School of Fine Arts Faculty Show.
Come see what the faculty do when
they’re not teaching. Each instructor,
tenured and adjunct, has been invited
to include one piece. Helen Lindhurst
Fine Arts Gallery, ground level of Watt
Hall. Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday
through Friday. Free (740-ARTS)
Through Friday, Oct. 15:
USC Hillel
Gallery. When members of the
Pomegranate Guild of Judaic
Needlework sit down to stitch, they are
making more than just table linens and
wall hangings – they are reviving Jewish
traditions. USC Hillel Jewish Center,
3300 S. Hoover, North University Park.
Hours: Monday through Thursday, 9
a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Free. (747-9135)
Opening Saturday, Oct. 16:
California
African American Museum.
“Rhythms of the Soul: African
Instruments in the Diaspora.” African
music has given birth to American
gospel, blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and
rap. “Rhythms” traces the heritage of
music created by people of African
descent. The show is organized by
Rick Moss and Redell Hearn. Hours:
Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5
p.m. CAAM, 600 State Drive,
Exposition Park. Free. (744-7432)
Opening Sunday, Oct. 17:
California
Science Center. “Special Effects” – an
interactive exhibit, featuring the science
used in special effects for television and
movie productions – is divided into six
mini-studios. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
daily. Disney Science Court, California
Science Center, 700 State Drive,
Exposition Park. Free. (323-SCI-ENCE)
graphic, mixed-media exhibit, “City of
the Angels,” captures the remnants of a
once-thriving family neighborhood in
Los Angeles. Viewing hours are before
the theater’s show times or by appointment. 24th Street Theatre, 1117 W.
24th St., North University Park. Free.
(745-6516 or 323-939-2541)
Through December:
Planners and
Developers Archive Gallery. The
new home of USC’s School of Policy,
Planning, and Development, Lewis
Hall, presents an exhibition featuring
the lives and work of the people who
made its construction possible: Ralph
and Goldy Lewis. Hours: Monday
through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Lewis Hall. Free. (740-5728)
Through December:
Doheny Memorial
Library Treasure Room. Take a close
look at USC’s “Grand Dame,” aka
Doheny Memorial Library, before she
closes her bronze doors at the end of
1999 for preservation and earthquake
retrofitting. The exhibit chronicles the
library’s nearly 70-year history and takes
a peek at her future, with regular
updates on the preservation project.
Stephanie Davis is curator. Open regular library hours. Group tours can be
arranged. Doheny Memorial Library
Treasure Room. Free. (740-3183)
Through Jan. 2:Natural History
Museum. “Bears: Imagination and
Reality,” produced by The Science
Museum of Minnesota, takes a look at
bears in their natural, mythical as well as
plush incarnations. The Natural History
Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd.,
Exposition Park. Hours: weekdays, 9:30
a.m. to 5 p.m.; weekends, 10 a.m. to 5
p.m. Admission: $8 general, $5.50 students and seniors, $2 children 5 to 12,
free the first Tuesday of every month
and for children under 5. (763-DINO)
SPORTS
Through Saturday, Oct. 23:
USC Fisher
Gallery. “Treasures of USC: The
Collecting Continues” is the second
half of Fisher Gallery’s 60th anniversary celebration. Included in the
exhibit are works from the permanent collection and selections from
the Museum Studies Program acquisitions exercise. Jennifer Jaskowiak is
curator. Hours: Tuesday through
Friday, noon to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 11
a.m. to 3 p.m. Fisher Gallery, Harris
Hall. Free. (740-4561)
Through Sunday, Oct. 31:
24th Street
Gallery. Victoria Taylor Alvarez’s photo-
Women’s
Volleyball. USC vs. UCLA. Pacific-10
Conference match. Played at UCLA.
Admission: $5 general, $3 students and
children, free to USC students with ID
and free on Fridays to USC faculty/staff
with ID. (740-GOSC)
Friday, Oct. 15, 3 p.m.:Women’s
Soccer. USC vs. Washington. Sunday,
Oct. 17, 1 p.m.
: USC vs. Washington
State. Both are Pacific-10 games. L.A.
Coliseum. Admission: $5 general, $3
students and children, free to USC students with ID. (740-GOSC) ■
9
Tamoxifen
continued from page 1
tors affected the endometrial
cancer risk of breast cancer
patients in this study.
Tamoxifen increased endometrial cancer risk, primarily
among women who had previously used estrogens. The risk of
endometrial cancer was more
than three times higher among
women who had taken both
estrogen replacement therapy
and tamoxifen than among
women who had not taken either
drug. And among women who
had previously been on estrogen
replacement therapy, those who
took tamoxifen for more than five
years were five and a half times as
likely to develop endometrial
cancer as women who had not
been prescribed tamoxifen.
The risk associated with
tamoxifen use was stronger
among heavier women than
among thinner women, with risk
the highest for women who both
were overweight and had a history of taking estrogen replacement therapy.
Tamoxifen has been found to
have estrogen-like effects on the
uterus, which may account for
women’s increased endometrial
cancer risk. Researchers believe
obesity may cause greater exposure to estrogen in the uterus, as
well.
Endometrial cancer occurs far
less frequently than breast cancer, and decisions about whether
to prescribe tamoxifen should be
considered in light of this differential in risk, Bernstein said. In
the United States, recent population statistics show that 110 of
every 100,000 women develop
breast cancer annually. This is
five times greater than the rate of
endometrial cancer, which is 21
cases in every 100,000 women.
Women also are more likely
to die from breast cancer than
from endometrial cancer. The
chances that a woman will die of
breast cancer each year are 26 per
every 100,000 women in the
United States, far higher than the
three per every 100,000 women
who die each year of endometrial
cancer.
“We have confirmed the findings of other studies showing that
tamoxifen increases the risk of
uterine cancer; and most importantly, we have found that
women who have used estrogens
and who are overweight have the
greatest risk when using tamoxifen,” Bernstein said. “Our
results suggest that physicians
should be particularly vigilant in
monitoring tamoxifen-treated
patients with these additional
risk factors.”
Bernstein noted that the risk
of endometrial cancer must be
balanced against tamoxifen’s
proven benefits in breast cancer
treatment and its effectiveness in
reducing the incidence of breast
cancer among women at high risk
for that cancer.
The researchers conducted
the study with 324 patients with
endometrial cancer who had previously been treated for breast
cancer and 671 similar patients
with breast cancer who did not
develop endometrial cancer. ■
Leslie Bernstein, Dennis
Deapen, James R. Cerhan,
Stephen M. Schwartz,
Jonathan Liff, Erin McGannMaloney, Jeffrey A. Perlman
and Leslie Ford, “Tamoxifen
Therapy for Breast Cancer and
Endometrial Cancer Risk,”
Journal of the National Cancer
Institute, Vol. 91, No. 19, pp.
1654-1662.
USC Dedicates Keck School of Medicine
MORE THAN 300 PEOPLE CELEBRATED the newly named Keck School of Medicine of the
University of Southern California at a luncheon “under the tent” on Friday, Sept. 17. The event honored the W. M. Keck Foundation for its $110 million gift – the largest ever to a medical school.
The event was held in the Eastlake parking lot,
the future site of the Neurogenetics Institute being
funded by a large portion of the Keck gift.
SPEAKERS INCLUDED President Steven B. Sample;
Keck School Dean Stephen J. Ryan; Brian
Henderson, director of the Neurogenetics Institute;
Robert Day, president and chairman of the W.M.
Keck Foundation; and Simon Ramo, co-chair of the
Keck School Board of Overseers along with his wife,
Virginia Ramo, a longtime university trustee.
Actress Shelley Fabares was the event’s featured
speaker. She shared her personal experience with her
mother’s suffering and eventual death from
Alzheimer’s disease and the importance of finding
answers to such neurodegenerative conditions.
The luncheon also served as the kick-off for raising $330 million in matching funds. At the event, it
was announced that James Chinn, a 1952 graduate of
the Keck School, had endowed the first of 10 new Guests view scientific posters.
chairs in neurogenetics funded by the Keck
Foundation. Chinn and his wife, Helen, are parents of three Keck School graduates. ■
Attending the celebration are, from left: W.M. Keck Foundation President Robert Day, actress Shelley Fabares,
USC President Steven B. Sample, Board of Overseers Co-chair Simon Ramo and Keck School Dean Stephen J. Ryan.
IR Celebrates 75th
At a Sept. 16 seminar at USC, leaders of the three oldest schools of international relations discuss current challenges to
U.S. foreign policy. From left are Steve Smith, University of Wales, Aberystwyth; Jonathan Aronson, USC School of
International Relations; and Robert Gallucci,Georgetown School of Foreign Service.
10
book more.”
Employment opportunities
for graduates have also changed
over the years. While IR students
once expected to find jobs either
in academia or in diplomacy,
nowadays they more frequently
work outside the foreign service,
Lamy said. “Now our students
find jobs in every sector,” he said.
“They work for international
banks. They work in think tanks.
They work in consulting.”
To meet the varied interests
and employment prospects of its
students, the school is becoming
truly interdisciplinary, embracing
more faculty from history, economics, sociology, anthropology,
geography and communications
as well as international politics.
Indeed, the school maintains dual
or joint degree programs with
the Law School and political science and economics depart-
ments, and is in the process of
establishing new programs with
journalism, communications and
the School of Policy, Planning,
and Development.
“In addition, to reflect today’s
realities, the School of IR, in
cooperation with the Marshall
School of Business, has just
launched new minor concentrations for undergraduates,” said
Aronson. “IR majors will be able
to earn a concentration in business, and business majors will be
able to earn an IR concentration.”
Alker, who is an expert in the
development of computer systems for analyzing new sources
of conflict around the world, said
the school is shaping an academic and research program that will
meet the challenges of an
“increasingly highly interconnected, still highly gendered and
increasingly multicultural world.”
“I look forward to a bright
future for our school,” he said. ■
MS Vaccine Trials
Henderson Trust Creates
Journalism Scholarship
study on four patients indicate
that it may well be able to halt
the disease in its tracks. Weiner is
chair of the department of neurology and the vaccine’s coinventor.
Weiner and former faculty
member Jorge Correale, now
head of neurology at FLENI, a
foundation and neurologic institute in Buenos Aires, came up
with the idea for the vaccine six
years ago. A patent is pending,
and the Food and Drug
Administration has approved the
Phase II trial.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic
and often progressive and debilitating condition that affects
250,000 to 350,000 Americans.
According to the NINDS, physicians diagnose 200 new cases of
MS each week. It seems to be an
autoimmune condition, a disease
in which certain white blood cells
turn on the body that produces
them.
The best current hypotheses
say that MS is caused by the
body’s T-cells attacking the
myelin sheaths that serve as the
insulation for the conduction of
Leslie Weiner, chair of the department of neurology and vaccine co-inventor.
it’s worth it because of the potential benefits of this vaccine.” In
addition, he noted, most of the
patients in this trial will likely not
have been helped by the limited
number of treatments available
for MS, so abandoning those
treatments should not be detrimental.
Patients accepted for the trial
will have a baseline MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to measure the MS lesions in
their brains, and then
“We don’t anticipate that [the will undergo a process
called leukapheresis, in
vaccine] will get anyone out of a which their white blood
cells are removed from
wheelchair. But we think we cantheir body. (Since the
body is continually proprevent the progression of the ducing white cells, this
does not have any longdisease” and make patients’
term effect.)
To create an individimmune systems normal again. ualized vaccine, the
research team will then
– L E SL I E WE I N E R
expose those cells to
myelin from a cow brain,
which should prompt
electricity and that coat and pro- the characteristic MS response
tect the long, delicate axons of from the misguided, autoimthe brain’s neurons.
mune T-cells.
“This vaccine allows the
The T-cells are then exposed
patient’s immune system to take to 12,000 rads of radiation, killing
control of the disease,” said them and at the same time alterWeiner. “At the end of two years ing them subtly so that when
of vaccinations, we hope they will they are reintroduced into the
never need treatment again.”
body they will be seen as foreign.
Weiner and his USC col- That reintroduction – or vaccinaleagues are recruiting patients for tion – should prompt the imthe three-year-long trial, in which mune system to create antibodies
40 people with MS will receive and reactive T-cells against the
the active vaccine and another 40 MS-causing T-cells.
will receive a placebo.
Weiner is optimistic about the
Patients are eligible for the vaccine’s chances. “We vaccinate
trial if they have what is known as them against their own bad Tsecondary progressive multiple cells, their own bad lymphosclerosis: They have had periods cytes,” he said. “After that, they
of both remission and relapse for should be immune to the cells
some time, and now are experi- they produce that attack their
encing a significant progression white matter at any time in the
of the disease (though they may future, because they have a
still be symptom-free at times). memory for the bad T-cells.”
They also must be between 12
How will this help the
and 65 years of age and be able to patient? Simply put, if the body
walk at least 50 feet, though use destroys the autoimmune T-cells
of a cane or walker is acceptable.
before they can get to the myelin,
“It’s a very hard task to take this sometimes-devastating dissick patients and ask 40 to get a ease should be stalled in its
placebo and go off everything tracks.
else,” Weiner said. “But we think
“We don’t anticipate that it
will get anyone out of a wheelchair,” said Weiner. “But we
think we can prevent the progression of the disease. We will
have made their immune systems ‘normal’ again, leaving the
future repair of their nervous system an easier task.”
Vaccines will be created for
both the vaccine and placebo
groups. If the trial shows that the
vaccine is useful, it may be possible to then vaccinate the placebo
group as well.
The patients will receive vaccinations every month for three
months and then every three
months for two years at the
General Clinical Research
Center, an NIH-supported facility at LAC+USC Medical Center.
The third year of the study will
be follow-up, to see whether the
effects of the vaccination persist
over time.
THE VACCINE will be deemed
successful if it can halt the progression of existing lesions and
the appearance of new MS
lesions, as measured by an MRI.
Weiner and his colleagues will
also look at any changes in neurologic function and will monitor
any side effects of the vaccine.
The study will most likely
put a lid on the scientific debate
over whether myelin is indeed
the immune system target in MS;
scientists have long assumed that
to be the case, but have not had
proof.
An even more interesting
question that the trial will
address, Weiner noted, is just
how the immune system is able
to get quite so out of control,
spewing out the literally selfdestructive T-cells at an everincreasing rate.
“The implications of this trial
are really quite interesting,” he
said. “Overall, I think this trial is
very exciting for USC, especially
since the vaccine was invented,
developed and manufactured
here.”
To be considered for inclusion in the vaccine trial, call the
MS Comprehensive Care Center
at 323-442-6870. ■
A $300,000 GIFT from the Willie A. Henderson Trust will create the Willie A. Henderson Endowed Fund to provide scholarships for broadcast journalism students who demonstrate an
interest in the issues and experiences of African Americans,
according to Annenberg School for Communication Dean
Geoffrey Cowan.
The first recipient of a Henderson Scholarship is Iman
Hobbs, a second-year graduate student. She is a teaching assistant in the School of Journalism and an intern with KABC-TV.
Henderson was the first African American member of the
Trojan Debate Squad. After graduating in 1954 with a B.A. from
the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, he received a master’s
degree in public administration from Cal State L.A. Armed with
his advanced degree, Henderson accepted a position with Los
Angeles County. His tenure with the county lasted 35 years.
Henderson died in February of this year.
“The Willie A. Henderson Endowed Fund is a powerful
reminder of this gentle man’s commitment to his heritage, his
love of the spoken word, and his faith in young people,” said
Cowan. ■
USC, Union Settle
afforded the employees. Both the
University and the Union are
pleased to have a contract that
will promote a positive working
relationship well into the new
millennium.”
THE TEXT of Moran’s message to
USC faculty and staff follows:
“We are happy to report that
we have reached an agreement
with Local 11, the union that represents our 360 food services
workers. We have preserved the
two principles that we feel are
most important to the long-term
viability of USC: economic flexibility and fairness to all our
employees.
“The contract we have signed
is one we would have readily
signed four years ago, had Local
11 officials been willing to negotiate.
“Under the terms of the new
five-year contract, USC has the
right to subcontract as it determines necessary, for example to
respond to economic or market
conditions. USC will continue to
offer wage and benefits packages
for its food services workers that
far exceed comparable industry
standards and that are consistent
with those offered to our other
employees.
“We are looking forward to
putting this bitter dispute behind
us. It was the uncompromising
position of the union that forced
us into impasse. Once the union
was willing to return to serious
bargaining, our differences were
readily resolved.
“We believe that the best job
security comes from preparing
for the jobs of the future. To that
end, we will continue to provide
opportunities for all our employees, including our food services
workers, to get the training and
experience they need to move
up the economic ladder. “ ■
Hispanic Business
Ranks Two USC
Schools in Top 10
by Matthew Blakeslee
HISPANIC BUSINESS magazine’s
September issue ranked USC’s
Marshall School of Business and
the Law School among the
n a t i o n ’s
top
10
business
and law
schools.
T h e
magazine’s
annual
ranking of
accredited
U.S. schools is intended to indicate which are the best for
Hispanic students in particular.
Reasoning that the quality of
education is more complex than
raw academic wattage alone, the
editors ranked the schools according to the percentages of Hispanics among graduate students,
the percentages of Hispanics
among full-time faculty members, retention rates among
Hispanics after the first year of
study, and services and support
organizations specifically designed for Hispanic students.
The Law School was noted
for a retention rate of 100 percent
and for its mentorship programs
for Hispanic law students,
including Judges/Lawyers Night
and the USC Mexican-American
mentorship program.
The Marshall School of
Business was cited for its commitment to attracting a diverse student body. It was also praised for
its recruitment of Hispanics
through the Consortium for
Graduate Study in Management
and a special Marshall Minority
Weekend.
Both USC schools placed sixth
in their categories. ■
11
Is ‘Home’ a Four-Letter Word?
Sam Shepard’s ‘Lie of the Mind,’ opening at the Bing
Theater, takes a disturbing look at bloodlines.
by Inga Kiderra
I
t could’ve been a soap opera
or an earnest and flat-footed
movie of the week – what
with its dysfunctional family
and domestic battery subject
matter – but in playwright Sam
Shepard’s hands, “Lie of the
Mind” is an edgy drama and a
darkly funny one at that.
“Here is a work,” wrote
Frank Rich in The New York
Times when the play premiered
in 1985, “as wide, long, deep,
mysterious and unruly as the
Mississippi River – a variously
rending and hilarious reverie
about parents and sons and husbands and wives, all bleeding
into a mythic wilderness.”
The USC production opens
Thursday, Oct. 14.
Combining pop culture with
elements of ancient tragedies
(the Oedipus and Cain and Abel
stories come to mind), the play
centers on two families joined by
marriage and violence. Before
the stage action begins, the son of
one family, Jake, has beaten the
daughter of the other, Beth, to a
point awfully close to – and perhaps worse than – death.
In the words of USC School
of Theatre Dean Robert Scales,
Shepard’s work examines “the
raw, contemporary Western
America that we live in.”
It poses difficult questions,
Scales said: Are we the result of
our heritage? Can we do anything
to change the course of events?
And, he added, “It makes us
aware that most lives have no
easy explanation.”
Opening scene: a frantic Jake,
at a phone booth somewhere on a
highway, calls his brother
Frankie. He thinks he has killed
his wife. Cut to Beth, bandaged
and aphasic, in a hospital bed
somewhere. She thinks she is in
fact dead. From there on out, the
play hardly takes a breath, spinning through a bizarre story with
all the linguistic velocity that
Shepard can muster.
are not confined to literal geography. Sometimes they wander
through the set as though they
were “wandering through a
mind.” The production, Tietsort
said, centers on “trying to communicate over vast distances. It’s
about men and women and their
differences – about both trying to
overcome the divide and to
become more human.”
The title’s “lie,” he said,
refers to “our lies, our self-created, self-deluding lies that drive
THE STAGE IS subdivided into us to extreme acts.”
several platforms – one of which
Shepard, quoted in the New
is 11 feet off the ground – repre- York Review of Books’ Reader’s
senting the play’s California and Catalog, seems to agree with
Montana locales as well as some Tietsort’s take: “It’s a real thing,
unspecified but lonely place. The double nature. I think we’re
action takes place under the eye split in a much more devastating
of a changing moon.
way than psychology can ever
reveal.”
Tietsort, who is
“It’s a a real thing, double nature.familiar with Shepard’s
material both as a direcI think we’re split in a much moretor and as an actor, sees
“Lie” as the writer’s
devastating way than psychology most fully realized play,
a logical progression
can ever reveal.”
and a synthesis of the
author’s “Fool for
– S A M S H EPA R D
Love” and his Pulitzer
Prize-winning “Buried
Child.”
Steve Tietsort, guest director
The script suggests using live
of the USC production, charac- music – “music with an American
terizes the set (scenic design by backbone” – but the specific
theater student Susan Brandt) as musical selection is left up to the
a dreamscape. “There are no director.
walls,” he said. “In addition to
Tietsort has called on the talthe platforms, we are using lights, ents of USC Thornton School of
costumes and acting itself to dif- Music students. Brian Clark on
ferentiate the space.”
guitar, Miguel Ferguson on viola
But, he added, the characters and Ben Levine on bass play
QUICK TAKES
Larue Receives Honor
❑ Gerald A. Larue, emeritus professor of religion
and adjunct professor of gerontology, received the
1999 Award for Humanist Scholarship from the
Boulder International Humanist Institute at its second annual symposium in Boulder, Colo. Larue
received the award for “his continuing emphasis on
humanistic values, for his role as the first president of
the National Hemlock Association, for his service as a
board member of the World Federation of Right-toDie Societies and for his numerous books and articles.” Recognized as “Humanist of the Year” in 1989,
he is a Humanist laureate and a member of the
International Academy of Humanism.
❑ A team from the USC Robotics Lab in the School of
Engineering won two awards at the robotics competition at the American Association for Artificial
Intelligence Conference in Orlando, Fla. The team
12
Theater students Max Ciano as Jake, Robin Miller as Beth and Ben
Messmer (in background) as Frankie in a scene from “Lie of the Mind,”
which opens Thursday, Oct. 14.
original music by Clark. The
sound? Light rock ‘n’ roll.
Progressive country. A waltz.
“Ninety percent of the time
when I direct, I use live musicians,” Tietsort said. “This fits
right into how I like to work.
Live musicians help get the audience emotionally committed to
the material – instantly.”
The cast includes theater students Max Ciano as Jake, Robin
Miller as Beth and Ben Messmer
as Frankie. ■
Dates and Times:
The production opens in the Bing Theater on Thursday, Oct. 14. It
runs through Sunday, Oct. 17. Show times are 7 p.m. Thursday and
Friday; 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Admission is $7 general, $5 students. For tickets, call 740-7111.
For information on a School of Theatre season subscription, call
743-1967.
received third place in the “Hors d’Oeuvres, Anyone?”
event and a special award for innovative robot-human
interface in the “challenge” event. Both events
involved interactions between USC’s robots and conference attendees and judges. The team consisted of
Ph.D. students Brian Gerkey, Dani Goldberg,
Monica Nicolescu, Stergios Roumeliotis, Barry
Werger and Stefan Webbed, and postdoctoral
researcher Paolo Pirjanian. Details and photos can be
found at: http://www-robotics.usc.edu/~agents/awards.
html.
❑ The USC School of Engineering won the research
prize at the RoboCup ’99 International Robotic Soccer
World Cup and Conferences held in Stockholm,
Sweden, during the summer. The prize was awarded
for USC’s intelligent automated agent called ISAAC,
which stands for ISI (Information Sciences Institute)
soccer automated assistant coach. ISAAC provided
brief multimedia summaries of RoboCup soccer
games, detailed analyses of team performance and predictions of the outcomes of games. The program was
developed by Taylor Raines, a computer science graduate student, along with research computer scientist
Stacy Marsella and Milind Tambe, research assistant
professor of computer science, who was the project
leader.
❑ Frank Cruz, a USC alumnus and award-winning
broadcaster, has been elected chairman of the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Cruz, who was
an Emmy Award-winning reporter and anchor at
KNBC-TV and KABC-TV, went on to help found
Telemundo, the nation’s second Spanish-language
network, and KVEA-TV in Los Angeles. He is the
guest of honor at President Steven B. Sample’s annual Media Dinner on Thursday, Nov. 4. The nonprofit
CPB is the largest source of funding for the nation’s
public broadcasting.
❑ Weemes Elementary School, a member of the Family
of Five Schools affiliated with USC, will celebrate its
centennial at a ceremony Friday, Oct. 15, at the school.
Weemes, which opened in 1899, is one of the oldest
schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The
ceremony starts at 8:30 a.m. on the school playground,
with a reception afterward in the auditorium. Weemes is
at 1260 W. 36th Place.

Tamoxifen Found to Increase Risk of Endometrial Cancer

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