College of Arts and Sciences

To regain balance from an unexpected slip on the ice can require an abundance of rapid movement, but conscious thought isn’t part of the equation. Or when eating or talking over dinner, no one thinks about altering his breathing even if the food is hotter than expected. Life is full of unexpected interruptions to rhythmic behaviors that require the flexibility to make subtle to dramatic adjustments, says Hillel Chiel, professor of biology at Case Western Reserve University. And we just do them.

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Not all soldiers can leave the battlefields behind, and when back home, some relive horrific memories through bouts of post traumatic stress syndrome. Ed Tick, PhD, the author of War and the Soul, will discuss his advocacy campaign to have this mental illness recognized as a diagnosis during his keynote address for the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence’s International Peace and War Summit, Oct. 25-30.

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In newsrooms, obituary writing often falls to the cub reporter or the veteran approaching retirement. At the Colorado weekly newspaper Boulder Planet, the assignment landed on the desk of relative newbie Jim Sheeler. “This assignment came with an intense responsibility,” he said, because often an obituary is the last time a person’s story is told. Telling stories of “ordinary people with extraordinary lives” eventually earned Sheeler the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for his 24-page piece, “Final Salute,” which honored fallen soldiers from the Iraq War.

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Man met nature last week as fly-fishing lines and rods whipped through the air at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s lagoon and bluegills nipped at the lines. For 15 students in Case Western Reserve University English professor John Orlock’s SAGES seminar–Fly Fishing: The Sport, the Metaphysics, & the Literature–it was the moment to connect with nature. Lining the pathway along the lagoon, the first-year students got some step-by-step instructions from a master of the sport, George Vosmik.

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How has globalism changed from the time when camel caravans moved goods and cultures from one continent to another? That’s the question Case Western Reserve University Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities hopes to answer during its yearlong discussion on “Globalism and Its Origins.” The discussion launches with Arjun Appadurai, the Goddard Professor of Media, Culture and Communications at New York University, as he delivers the keynote address during the 2010 Humanities Week celebration.

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The Case Western Reserve University J. Bruce Jackson, M.D., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring for 2006 has been awarded to Beverly Saylor, associate professor of geological sciences, and Ignacio Ocasio, the Teagle Professor of Chemistry better known to the campus community as the beloved “Doc Oc.” Doc Oc died suddenly in May 2005 at the age of 53. He will be awarded the Jackson honor posthumously at Case’s undergraduate diploma ceremony at University Commencement Sunday, May 21.

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