Statistics and Social Sciences Disciplines Collaborate
Revelling in a Long-Awaited Stench
An Enduring Gift for Pressly's 80th Birthday
New Program for Population Leadership
Arabic Goes the Distance
On the Web: WTO Explained

Statistics and Social Sciences Disciplines Collaborate
Many research projects in the social sciences can benefit from the participation of skilled statisticians. But there are few statisticians working in the social sciences and those who are interested may not be aware of opportunities for collaboration. Recognizing this, the UW has established a new Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences, providing $728,000 a year in permanent funds through its University Initiative Fund.

The goal of the Center is to bring together faculty with expertise in cutting-edge statistical methods and faculty skilled in social science methodology to tackle complex societal questions.

"Social science research now embraces problems in many areas including sociology, business, child development, economics, education, government, health, international affairs, journalism, law, and politics," says Adrian Raftery, professor of statistics and sociology and director of the new Center. "The questions raised can range from the effects of community violence on women and children to the factors influencing the decline in fertility in developing countries. The statistical challenges raised by these questions go well beyond standard social science statistics training. They demand novel methodology and creative analytical insights."

Faculty in the Department of Statistics, which is ranked in the top ten nationally, will play a key role in the Center. Yet the Center is a campus-wide initiative, involving at least three dozen investigators from 16 units in 7 colleges at the UW. In addition, five new faculty will be hired to help create the Center.

Raftery notes that by fostering collaboration among many of the University's most talented social scientists and statisticans, the Center is likely to "significantly improve the University's strategic position in competing for funding of large-scale social science projects of national importance."

There are benefits to students as well: the Center is currently developing a suite of courses for graduate students in the social sciences, as well as a new, innovative statistics course for undergraduates based on the study of real-life cases. Two Ph.D. programs are also in the works-one for students in the social sciences, the other for students in statistics.

Revelling in a Long-Awaited Stench
It stood six-feet tall and smelled like rotting flesh, but Doug Ewing, manager of the UW greenhouse, adored it like a proud papa.

This six-foot corpse flower bloomed in July, with an unforgettable stench.

"It" was a plant named Amorpho-phallus titanum--also called Devil's Tongue or Titan Arum--that took center stage in the greenhouse this summer. The giant "corpse flower" (a translation of the name by which it is known in its native Sumatra) blooms so rarely that nearly 3,000 people waited patiently in long lines in early July to view it.

Why all the attention? This was only the tenth time during this century that an exotic A. titanum has flowered in the United States, the first time west of St. Louis. Ewing started the plant from seed six years ago and has patiently watched it mature.

As corpse plants are becoming more scarce in the wild, botanical gardens and greenhouses are attempting to establish them, but Ewing says that they will continue to be rare because they "take so much room and so much warm space. And a plant that reeks of carrion probably isn't going to be big with the home gardener."

Carrion? Can the aroma really be that bad? Yes indeed, assures Ewing, who likens the odor to decaying flesh. The plant bloomed at about 3 p.m. on July 7, filling the greenhouse with a memorable stench that lived up to its reputation. (Ewing admits to escaping the greenhouse for a while when the odor became too overpowering.) The flower's foul aroma lasts only about a day but attracts a variety of insects, primarily carrion beetles, that pollinate the plant.

Ewing believes that Seattle's sudden low humidity the day after blooming started might have contributed to the slightly early demise of the phallic-looking central stalk, or spadix, which had grown to more than six feet. But he's philosophical about the plant's short life.

"Perhaps, in retrospect, this tuber just knew how much excitement I could tolerate and took pity on me," he says. "I hope to continue to bloom this species, and we will no doubt use future blooms more for research," says Ewing. "But I will never forget the way people at this university, in this city, and from distances far away dropped what they were doing to come and see a plant.

"It has been a real privilege to have such a stinking, six-foot soapbox for telling people about how fascinating plants are--and how valuable University resources like this greenhouse are for exploring such a subject."

An Enduring Gift for Pressly's 80th Birthday
Some people celebrate with a party when they turn 80. Thomas Pressly's friends and family took that idea a step further, creating an endowment in honor of his 80th birthday. The Thomas and Cameron Pressly Endowment for Faculty Development in History seems a fitting honor for the new octagenarian, whose distinguished career as a UW professor in the Department of History spanned nearly 40 years.

	Thomas and Cameron Pressly

The idea was first suggested by Pressly's long-time friend and former student Robert Skotheim, president of the Huntington Library. Skotheim contacted UW History Professor Richard Johnson, and the idea took shape. A letter to Pressly's family, friends, colleagues, and former students quickly raised more than $30,000.

"Obviously I felt very honored and pleased," says Pressly, who asked that the endowment be used to support faculty development. "The goal is to provide assistance to faculty when they most need it--when they are still trying to get tenure and are juggling the need to do research and quite a bit of teaching while raising a family," explains Pressly. "I was fortunate to get a fellowship at that point in my career, and it was a godsend to me."

Pressly joined the UW faculty in 1949 and retired in 1986 (although he continued teaching for two more years). Through the years, he has taught approximately 15,000 to 20,000 students. Instead of assigning textbooks in his history classes, he assigned diaries and letters of people who lived at the time. Former students comment that they still remember those diaries and letters-often many years later. "That's rewarding," says Pressley.

Skotheim offers another reason why students remember Pressly. "Tom was unusually interested in the students, giving of his time in counseling them and helping them with their papers," he says. Adds Johnson, "When he taught the American history survey course, he used primary sources to encourage students to come face to face with the raw materials of the period and develop their analytical skills. He has inspired students for two generations."

One such student is Jeffrey Brotman, now Chairman of the Board of Costco. "There are very few people in my life who have had a huge impact on me," he says. "Professor Pressly is one of them. He used inquiry-based learning long before it was common on campus. He was completely devoted to the idea that students were there to learn and that he would be our guide."

Other fans of Thomas Pressly can still contribute to the endowment. Just call Richard Silverstein at (206) 616-3506 for more information.

New Program for Population Leadership
Thanks to a $2.3 million grant from the William H. Gates Foundation, the UW will soon be offering training to professionals from around the world working on population and related women's health issues.

The grant will fund a new program, "Population Leadership for the 21st Century," that will bring 40 fellows from developing countries-10 each year starting in the fall of 2000-to the UW for a year-long seminar in family planning, reproductive health, and related issues. Participating UW units include the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology (based in the College of Arts and Sciences), the Daniel Evans School of Public Affairs, and the School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Also participating will be the Seattle nonprofit PATH, the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health.

"This program will provide a year of intensive leadership training to young professionals who are committed to women's health and related policy areas," says Robert Plotnick, director of the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology and director of the new program. "Fellows will return home with a much stronger understanding of these areas and significantly enhanced leadership, analytical, and management skills. We think it will offer them an express lane to leadership in their home countries."

In addition to their coursework, fellows will be matched with UW faculty mentors and work part-time in an agency to gain practical experience.

Plotnick says that this grant comes at a critical time, because the commitment to training population leaders has declined in the last 10 or 15 years with cuts in federal and international spending.

Arabic Goes the Distance
Missoula, Montana and Pocatello, Idaho have taken a giant step closer to Morocco thanks to an innovative Arabic Distance Learning Program being offered collaboratively by the University of Washington and Montana State University (MSU) at Bozeman.

The project was initiated in 1997 by MSU, which operates a large distance learning center and wanted to offer distance learning in Arabic. MSU contacted the UW as a potential provider of instructional material, leading to coordinated Arabic instruction on six campuses in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Funding has come from the National Security Education Program.

This year Washington State University has joined the consortium. "We're delighted by WSU's decision," says Terri DeYoung, associate professor of Arabic in the UW's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization and the project's supervisor of Arabic instruction. "Not only does it allow us to meet a real need on the WSU campus, but it will pave the way for closer collaboration with our colleagues there in the future."

First-year students in the two-year program attend interactive video lectures, broadcast from the UW twice a week. These are supplemented by two additional drill ses-sions at each campus conducted by Arabic-speaking teaching assistants (TAs). Ahmed Souaiai, UW senior lecturer in Arabic, conducts the video classroom sessions and helps coordinate the on-site classes.

Although the TAs have local faculty supervisors, their chief support system is with UW faculty through email. The teaching staff and students communicate with each other through a sophisticated password-protected web site where they can access syllabi, share class assignments, conduct on-line chats, and link to web materials. The public portions of the site can be found at http://www.arabicstudies.edu.

Second-year students may continue their studies in special intensive Arabic classes at Al Akhawayn University, the only English language university in Morocco. This year, 15 students from the original cohort have elected this option.

So far, the Arabic distance learning program has proven immensely popular and successful, with levels of student satisfaction and progress--as measured by standardized proficiency tests--comparable to those of students in traditional programs. "Distance learning is challenging," says DeYoung. "When done properly, it requires a high degree of organization and commitment on the part of all involved, but this program has provided us at the UW with a rewarding opportunity to extend our mission, to enlarge our horizons, and to offer students at other institutions a unique educational experience."

On the Web: WTO Explained
For the past year, UW Economics Professor Kar-yiu Wong has been planning a major workshop about the World Trade Organization (WTO), to be held on the UW's Seattle campus December 4. In conjunction with the event, Wong has developed a web site with information about the WTO. The site includes a quiz on trade wars and links to recent news coverage of the WTO and trade issues.

Although the site has had a worldwide audience, it also has its share of local visitors--including Wong's students. Wong has used the site in his teaching and encourages students to use it as a resource as they prepare their papers.

[Autumn 1999 - Table of Contents]