Professor Jack Diggins writes “intellectual portraits” that get
people talking.
Jack Diggins, Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate Center, is
the author of two books published in 2007 – one about Ronald Reagan and
the other about Eugene O’Neill. Many people would label these books “biographies.” However,
Diggins says, “With most of the people I write about, the biography has
already been done and there’s nothing more I can say about the person’s
daily life. I do a profile of what this person was concerned about – his
or her theories and perspectives on America.” The Reagan book took about
five years to write; the O’Neill book was formed over the course of decades
and was a much more difficult process. Find out why. More >
A space that invites diversity, says Professor Setha Low.
“I’m arguing that if you want a democratic city with the greatest
tolerance, then the parks must be kept culturally diverse, especially when
our plazas and the showcase centers of our cities are becoming more controlled,” says
Setha Low, Professor of Psychology and Anthropology at the Graduate Center.
She compares her work with a study of the natural landscape of a park. “Why
study a park ecologically?” she asks. “Because if you don’t,
the trees will die. You’ll have a barren park. Why isn’t it the
same for the social environment?” Low is the new President of the American
Anthropological Association and the co-author of Rethinking
Urban Parks. Find
out more about the measures that she believes will help keep public parks and
beaches vibrant and at the heart of city life. More >
Professor Shlomo Silman combines modern science with old-fashioned ingenuity
to find treatments for auditory impairment.
One auditory problem that has captured the attention of Shlomo Silman, a Professor
in the Graduate Center’s Audiology Program and Speech—Language—Hearing
Sciences Program, is OME (otitis media with effusion). OME is a build-up of
excess fluid in the middle ear, which causes a feeling of pressure or pain
similar to what many experience during the descent of an airplane. People of
all ages suffer from the ailment though, in children, the resulting hearing
deficit can inhibit the acquisition of speech and language, and cause serious
learning difficulties. Find out how Silman, a Presidential Professor at Brooklyn
College, worked with Dr. Daniel Arick to devise a safe, easy-to-use solution
to this common problem, which is the cause of 700,000 surgeries, $10 million
in antibiotic prescriptions, and $4 billion in medical costs each year.
More >
