NEWSLETTER
of
THE AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION
VOLUME 16, NUMBER I February 1974
ATTEND THE 1974 AAAS MEETING IN SAN FRANCISCO, FEB. 24 - MAR.
l...
...
and the American Scientific Affiliation OPEN HOUSE, Tuesday, February 26,
8 to 10 p.m. ASA members and friends residing in the Bay Area are also invited to
this informal get-together with Christians in science from across the country. At
762 Arlington Ave., Berkeley 94707. Take Albany exit from 1-80, or F bus from
San Francisco ' See Dec. 1973 ASA ,News, p. 2, for more information. Or call the
Hearns at 527-3056.
YEAR OF THE TIGER!
Gung Hay Fat Choy! That's the way the Chinese greet each other as February 1974
begins the Asian year 4672, "The Year of the Tiger."
Tom Howard took the title for his fine autobiography, Christ the Tiger (Lippincott,
1967), from these lines,of T. S. Eliot's poem, "Gerontion":
The word within a word, unable to speak a word,
Swaddled with darkness. In the juvescence of the year
Came Christ the tiger...
We sense that this year "Christ the Tiger" may break loose among His people, in
particular among us in the American Scientific Affiliation. There are signs that
we are ready to serve Him wisely and courageously, drawing wisdom and courage from
Christ Himself.
No wonder there's an air of expectancy in the ASA!
Holding the hoop for us to jump through are our new officers for 1974: President
Gary E.
Collins, professor and chairman, Division of Pastoral Psychology and Counseling, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois; Vice-President
-and president-elect David
L. Willis, professor of biology and chairman of the
Department of General Science, Oregon State University,' Corvallis;
Secretary-Treasurer
John W. Haas, Jr., Professor and chairman of the Department of
Chemistry, Gordon College, Wenham., Massachusetts.
Also on the five-member ASA Executive Council is Claude E. Stipe, associate
professor of' anthropology at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The
newly elected member is Dewey K. Carpenter, associate professor of chemistry,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Dewey replaces Jack McIntyre, professor
of physics at Texas A & M University, College Station, who was ASA president in
1973, the last year of his five-year term on the Council.
Executive secretary William D. Sisterson presides over the ASA national office in
Elgin, Illinois, assisted by our new office secretary, Doris Parker. Richard
Bube, professor of materials science at Stanford University, Stanford, California, edits
ASA's quarterly Journal, and Walt Hearn of Berkeley, California, edits the bimonthly
ASA News.
FOURTH DOWN, AND GOAL
Completing our fourth year of editing ASA News, we've been thinking of how to do a
better job. Several ideas came up at the luncheon for local section representatives at the Geneva College meeting. For example: Could we switch to more frequent
publication? A monthly newsletter would be more useful to local sections in publicizing their activities. It would also better serve members in the job market. If
each issue were half the present size and self-mailing without an envelope, mailing
costs would not double. Or we could spread the same number of pages annually over
eight issues instead -of six and mail them in the months in which the Journal does
not Appear. What do you think of these ideas?
One scheme sounded like a bribe some "Committee to Reinstate a Precedent" might
offer: To get members to read each issue all the way through, announce that a
$10 bill will be taped somewhere inside one copy! Actually, many readers tell us
they already find enough "surprises" inside to keep them reading. Several have
noted with approval that we're not on a "credentials trip": ASA News treats people
as people, with little emphasis on the degrees they hold.
The economics of printing and mailing may eventually bring changes in our format as
ASA membership grows. In fact, a printed format was considered for this issue.
But the economics aren't yet compelling. "Homestyle" mimeographing gives ASA News
a "family" feel that might be lost if we went "slick." One of our goals i7-to keep
reminding us that ASA really is a family: brothers and sisters serving the Father
through our science.
FREDERICK H. GILES, JR., DIES
Frederick H. Giles, Jr., associate professor of physics at the University of South
Carolina, Columbia, died of cancer of the bone marrow on December 19, 1973. He
was a Fellow of ASA and a member of the Corporation of IVCF. He was also a Fellow
of AAAS and a member of the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American,
Physical Society, the Biophysical Society, the Electrochemical Society, and the
American Institute of Physics. In addition to papers in biophysics and chemical
physics, he had published articles on the teaching of physics and on the interaction of-science and religion.
Fred was born in Chicago. He graduated with honors from Wheaton College and
received his PhD at the University of Illinois. He joined the University of South
Carolina faculty in 1957, but bad taken leave in 1965-67 to serve as Fulbright
lecturer and.-visiting professor of physics at the University of Baghdad, in Iraq.
Devoted to teaching, he was director of undergraduate studies in his department
and also directed the Annual 'South Carolina Junior Science Symposium. He is survived by his wife, Margit, a daughter and two sons; and by his mother and a sister
in Wheaton.
ASA News extends our sympathy to the Giles family. (The editor particularly remembers Fred's keen sense of humor as
well as his clear-cut Christian testimony when
we were both graduate students at the U. of 1. in the 19509.)
"(Professor Giles)...at U. of South Carolina, was faculty advisor to IVCF and had a
strong witness among fellow faculty and students. This was especially true in recent months after word got around that he was-afflicted with terminal cancer. This
gave un6sual opportunity for him to witness to the sustaining power of Jesus Christ,
and Fred took advantage of these opportunities in unusual manner, utilizing the
great gift God had given him for relating to college faculty and students on their
own wavelengths." --John W. Alexander, in the IVCF newsletter, This Week.
SOUND DOCTRINE
F. Alton Everest of Whittier, California, is a registered consulting acoustical
engineer with many years of experience in equipping sound studios. To make his
experience available to operators of Christian radio and recording studios around
the world, he wrote Acoustic Techniques for Home & Studio, published this fall by
TAB Books, Blue Ridge Summit, Penna. 17214 (paper $4.95; cloth $7.95). The
."home"
part of the title stems from the fact that there are many more Hi-Fi buffs than
Christian radio stations. Alton deliberately expanded the book's coverage to broaden the market and justify publication financially (which shows that the children of
light are sometimes as bright as the children of this world).
Now that his "do it yourself" acoustic design handbook is in print, Alton is working on instrumentation for a new scheme of his for long-distance acoustical analysis
of sound studios. Alton would send test tapes to be played into the room-in question
picked up on a microphone, and recorded. This recording of the room's response
would
then
be sent back to Alton
for analysis, and he would return a prescription
for "do it yourself correction."
He
hopes, to provide a service that will encourage
quality in doing the Lord's work at a price the Lord's people-can afford. He is .
currently working on a studio complex for Christchurch Recording Center, just beginning construction in New Zealand.
Newcomers to ASA may not recognize Alton Everest's name.
He
was one of the founders
of our Affiliation, its first president, and the first editor of ASA News'. He
1'retired" once from the Moody Institute of Science to go to Hong long to teach in a
Baptist College. He "retired" from Hong Kong last year after setting up a communications department and seeing it staffed by Asians. Now, after all that, he is
still showing us how to serve God and serve the people--using our technical skills
in a highly professional but never "elitist" manner.
AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS CONE
Charles R. Taber of Milligan College, Tennessee: writes: "I want to respond
positively to Mike Chambers' comments in the December 1973 ASA News. I really dig his
suggestion that linguists and exegetes, working together or responding to each other,
They could do some exciting things at an ASA meeting. I'd love to get into
.something like that myself... I volunteer to participate in a team to explore the contributions
of linguistics and cultural anthropology to the understanding of the Scriptures.
Since I've not yet been able to attend an Annual Meeting (I've been overseas since
becoming a member until late in 1973), 1 don't know whom to address this to. But
if the idea has merit, could you pass it on to the right person?"
O.K., all you right persons, we're passing it on. Charles Taber is a
linguist-anthropologist, former United Bible Societies translation consultant, former editor
of Practical Anthropology, and co-author with Eugene A. Nida of Theory And Practice
of Translation. Write to .him at 1606 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee 37601,
and let's get cracking on this.
A TIM FOR IDEAS HAS ALSO COME
In resp6nse'to an inquiry to International Book Project, Inci, 17 Mentelle Park,
Lexington, Kentucky 40502, we received a sheet of very helpful "Tips for Mailing
Books and Printed Matter Overseas." We also got a warm personal letter from Mrs.
J. F. Van Meter, Executive Director of IBP:
would be delighted to have some Protestant contacts. Four or five years ago
some of the Catholic publications offered us advertising space, and this resulted
in possibly, 75% of our program being with Catholic institutions and in our having
many Catholic Volunteers. But we are not a religious agency. We accept anyone on
their own grounds, although I myself am an active Presbyterian. We do send quite
a.few books to mission schools and to missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant,
and involve many church groups. I suppose these will always be the best source of
help for worthy causes.
"We work in two ways: We tell Volunteers through this country and several others
where and how to send the kinds of reading material they say they will send directly
abroad. And we accumulate material here and as we get shipping money (which is
difficult) we pack and ship the materials ourselves. The number of items sent is
usually about half from our office. Last year we sent 107,000 items, books and
journals (of all kinds, not just technical ones). We made books available to over
300,000 people in about 60 countries.
"Our biggest problem is always money. At 'the moment I don't have a typist in the
office, and I am.a three-fingered one. On the other hand we do have many people
helping., For this we are always grateful. But more requests come every day. Any
way we can cooperate will be most acceptable. And I will be very pleased for any
publicity you can arrange."
ASA News has been plugging for a technical book recycling project. We already
have requests from libraries in several Christian schools, here and abroad. We
thought an ASA local section should take this over, but that hasn't happened yet.
O.K., maybe this is a better scheme: How about a few members at some Christian
school in the U.S.,handling the project, especially where one of them is a librarian?
Scientific and technical books could be sent to that school's library, which
could also receive funds for shipping books overseas. As an incentive for taking
on the extra work, that school might be permitted to skim off the cream, keeping
whatever they needed and sending the duplicates to needy Christian schools overseas.
Does that sound practical? Is there a school that would like to volunteer? Or do
you have a better proposal?
Meanwhile, we can do two things: (1) Help support IBP. ' Send your (tax deductible)
contributions to the address above. A contribution (or a report that you have sent
books abroad) puts you on the mailing list for IBP's monthly newsletter, What's New?
(2) Imitate IBP's "you mail them" scheme. ASA News will make available the same
kind of helpful shipping information IBP does, updated with the new postal increases
(March), along with addresses of places for you to recycle your own surplus scientific and technical publications. We can also work up a questionnaire for you to
report the kinds of books and journals you wish to recycle, and somehow help you
contact people in -need of what you have. This will take some doing or, as the Bible says, some works along with our faith.
Please share with ASA News any advice, encouragement, or wisdom born of experience
as we take on this-t-as-k.-
AND WHILE WERE AT IT...
Here's an idea for helping overseas institutions or Christian groups, from Peter
R.
Childs, lecturer in chemistry, Makere University, Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
He would like to see our own Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation made
more widely available to Christian and non-Christian students overseas. Unfortunately, the cost is prohibitive to students in developing countries.
Peter suggests that ASA get a list of university "Christian Unions" in developing
countries from IFEs (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) as a start,
with the goal of making JASA available to those university libraries (or the C.U.
libraries) and to evangelical seminaries and Bible schools. Suppose, says Peter,
that each ASA member gave directly (or provided funds for) one gift subscription
to a C.U. or other organization in the third world. What an .effective use of the
Lord's money that w6uld be!'
Peter gives an example of the kind of key person who could benefit many others by
this scheme. A Mr. Famum is finishing his PhD in chemistry at Makere and may go
back to the Cameroons as a lecturer. He has been greatly used as a speaker and
evangelist among his people and has found Peter's ASA Journal stimulating and useful. It would be a great help if he could have a personal subscription. If not,
then the Journal should at least be available where he will be teaching.
While we work on sending technical journals and books to the third world, shouldn't
we be exporting our own Journal, too? What do you think of this idea?
ANOTHER CONCRETE SUGGESTION
John E. Mariner (administrator, Nancy Fulwood Hospital, Sahival, Pakistan) has
;7r-itt-en to ask about the possibility of technical assistance for overseas projects
coming directly from qualified ASA members. Here is a specific example waiting for
one of you readers with appropriate experience:
"One small design project that would help us would be the design of a concrete
compressive strength testing machine to be built out of wood, angle iron, and other
small members which could be purchased locally in a country like Pakistan. There
is a lot of concrete construction being done with no easily available machine to
check compressive strength. If a machine was built that was within 15% accuracy
limits for testing concrete cylinders, it would be a great help. Other projects
desirable throughout the tropics are design of solar water heaters, etc.11
John is aware of VITA (Volunteers In Technical Assistance), set up to provide this
kind of assistance, but he thinks compiling a detailed list of the specialties of
ASA members might also be useful. For one thing, the list could be made available
to U.S. AID, VITA, and VISTA. That would give ASA more visibility than when individual members volunteer. Or we might work out a service of our own, providing
some kind of help, or helping in some special way, that other agencies couldn't.
What do you think?
Meanwhile, until ASA does something as an organization, why not volunteer your
technical skills through VITA, now at 3706 Rhode Island Ave., Mt. Ranier, Maryland
20822. They do an outstanding job of matching volunteers and technical projects.
You generally get a chance to make friends with the people you help, so your consultation can clearly be given in the Lord's name.
"IN A CAVERN, IN A CANYON..."
Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Hinds (Star Route, Parker, Arizona 85344) ask Christians to influence the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to permit development of a geological
field station for Pepperdine University on the site of their Copper Basin Mine in
the Whipple Mountains of Southern California. The Hindses have held this property
for 20 years and would like to see it become something like the Black Hills Science
Station operated by Ruth Hinds' alma mater, Wheaton College. The BIM is now formulating a land-use plan for the federal lands along the Colorado River. The Hindses
consider this a providential opportunity. Write to them for more information, or
write a letter of approval and request to: Mr. H. M. Bruce, District Manager United States Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management 2450 Fourth Ave., Yuma, Arizona 85364
If this plan works out, Pepperdine University will also need a Bible-honoring staff
for their science station, according to the Hindses: "Some of you may be ready for
active retirement in an inspiring natural environment where you can pursue your
scientific interests at first hand and help young people in their appreciation of
God's handiwork, finding answers that sustain and encourage faith in these perplexing times."
PLEASE DON'T EAT THE P(OC 2)39-Et
Two unrelated stories caught our attention recently because both featured ASA members concerned about chemical toxicity. The Dec. 1973
Oregon Stater had a story
on the Environmental Health Sciences Center at Oregon State University in Corvallis.
The Center, directed by chemist Virgil H. Freed, recently received two grant extensions totaling ~1,100,000 from the National Institute of Environmental Sciences,
part of the National Institutes.6f Health. One of the studies supported by the
grants is in its fourth year, the other its 10th year. Virgil is quoted as saying
that the studies on toxicology of a variety of chemical agents are leading to
better regulation of chemicals. "Some studies have enabled us to know more about
chemicals in the Oregon environment and be more comfortable about the quality of
our environment."
Iowa State University chemistry professor John G. Verkade doesn't sound so comfortable in a story in the Jan. 7 issue of
Che_-micj1 & Engineering News. John was the
first person to synthesize bicyclic ("caged") phosphorus esters and has been working with them for over 20 years. He estimates that over 100 laboratories may now
be using this class of compounds in spectroscopic studies and in the synthesis of
organo-metallic compounds. But investigators at U.C. Berkeley have recently found
that several of the caged phosphate and phosphite esters are at least 30 times more
toxic than either parathion or diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP), whose anticholinesterase activities make them a potent insecticide and a nerve gas. The
caged phosphorus compounds do not inhibit cholinesterase, but they produce convulsions and death in mice at an LD50
of about 0.2 mg/kg. The compound P(OCH2)3CEt1
which is commercially available and.widely used as a ligand in coordination compounds, has LD50 Of 1.1 mg/kg, about five times the toxicity of the dangerous nerve
gas DFP.
John is quoted as saying he is very concerned about the health hazard to research
workers who aren't aware of this high toxicity. A letter from the Berkeley group
in the same issue suggests that phenobarbital may be a useful antidote in combating
the acute convulsions. Sublethal doses are apparently not cumulative--a fact that
may account for John's good health after so many years of working with these compounds.
CREATION, CONTINUED
ASA News appreciates the communications we've been receiving to keep us up to date
on creationist/evolutionist controversies. W. R. Shope of Scottdale, Pennsylvania,
wisely asked "Why does it have to be controversial?" and sent a kind of time chart
he's worked out on "The Earth Through the Ages," using a 10-cycle logarithmic scale.
Since he had to bend it around to get it on one page, he wonders if going backward
in time far enough brings us to "eternity" forward or backward? Could time be
cyclic?
John S. Setchell, Jr., of Rochester, New York, sent us a much appreciated clipping
from The-Rochester7-Democrat and Chronicle, headlined "New Monkey Trial? Conditions
Now Ripe For It." The story consisted largely of the thoughts of citizens of Dayton,
Tennessee, interviewed by Simon Winchester for the British Manchester Guardian.
J. P. Roberts of Grand Rapids, Michigan, sent us a copy of The Michigan Voice, a
Newsletter he edits for the Michigan State Committee of National Association for
Political Action. The Voice issue he sent contained an editorial by him, "Should
'Public' Schools Teach Creation?" He argued that the usual form of the controversy
'%rings down the Word of God to a man-made debate. God is not theorizing about
life to man, and I do not think that he meant for Christians to pose creation as a
theory. God reveals creation..."
From Acts & Facts of the Creation Research Society in San Diego, California, we
learned that Henry Morris, ICR director, spoke on "The Twilight of Evolution" to
2,200 delegates and visitors to the International Congress of Fundamental Baptist
Churches on November 6,1973, in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England.
"About 20 creationist scientists in the London area laid tentative plans for a
British society to oppose evolution in the United Kingdom. Under the temporary
chairmanship of geographer/geologist Edgar C. Powell, the society will probably be
called the Newton Scientific Association and will stress scientific, rather than
religious, difficulties with evolution, hoping to make significant contributions to
the subject in British scientific journals."
From the Creation-Science Research Center in San Diego (not to be confused with the
Institute for Creation Research in the same city), we received an appeal for funds
to "continue in our fight to reach the 63 million school-age children in America
with the Biblical truth of creation." Kelly L. Segraves is director of CSRC.
HOW TO RECYCLE SOMETHING. No. 7
This series lets you share ingenious (not necessarily original) ways you've found
to recycle materials for ecology's sake, or economy's. "The earth belongs to God,"
says Psalm 24, and "everything in all the world is His." Let's take good care of
it.
Paper. Mack Goldsmith, who teaches psychology at Stanislaus State College in
Turlock, California, wrote to us on some of the beautiful waste paper he collects
from the college extension service. They regularly send out announcements of
courses printed on one side of high quality (stiff) 8~ x 11 paper in six or eight
bright colors. They regularly print more than they mail out, probably for people
to pick up at the office. They seem happy to unload the outdated ones on Mack,
who first started taking them home for his own kids. He soon had far more than
his three little girls could use for all the art projects they could dream up, so
he began distributing the surplus to Sunday schools, hospital handcraft therapy
rooms, etc. Makes him feel like Santa Claus to deliver such multi-colored and
eagerly received gifts, he says.
Calendars. The only kind we buy are the ones printed on linen. After they've
hung on the wall for a year, they're usable as dish towels that last for years.
(Some of ours from the early 60s are now getting pretty faded). For other wall
or desk calendars, Ginny finds the local businesses that put out the nicest ones
for their customers and asks for one. I've just found a way to stretch a flipover daily reminder calendar (Success No. 19, for example) one extra year. One,
cut with scissors across the top removes the day of the week, letting the date
match the day showing through from the next page. Having to cut it every day may
seem a silly waste of time to save a buck, but that little ritual seems to fix the
correct day and date in my mind.
PEOPLE LOOKING FOR POSITIONS
John D. Yordy (Chemistry Dept., Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824)
seeks a college teaching position in organic or general chemistry. He expects to
receive his PhD in organic from MSU by August 1974. Besides his strong education
in chemistry, his background includes experience as a community developer in Mexico
and teaching in Nigeria. He has an interest in developing student participation in
chemical research. John is a friend of Art Smucker of Goshen College.
Robert A. Witter (3246 Evergreen Drive, Murrysville, Pennsylvania 15668) is a member of the local Bible-Science Association chapter that sent a warm letter of
Christian greeting to our Annual Meeting at Geneva College. Bob is also a senior
chemistry and philosophy major at Carnegie-Mellon University. He is looking for a
graduate school in geochemistry, hoping that he might work with a Christian geochemistry professor. He sounds like a serious scholar, since the graduate schools
he's considering so far include Caltech, Chicago, and Yale. Any of you geochemists
have an opening for a sharp new grad student?
POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE
Edwin Yamauchi, professor of history at Miami University, oxford, Ohio 45056,
writes that Miami University has taken over a small private college in Oxford, The Western College,
and is beginning a new liberal arts program there. The new
college will stress interdisciplinary programs: 1) American Studies, and 2)
Environmental Studies. If you know of any ASA members with interdisciplinary
interests, you might call their attention to this
opening." (5
Jan. 1974)
William Jewell College has a teaching position in its Biology Department available
for 1974-75. Applicants should have an interest in teaching microbiology and be
prepared to teach courses in genetics, invertebrate zoology and . environmental
biology for non-majors. Additional responsibilities include directing seminars
and advising students in independent research projects. Applicants should be willing to support the goals and objectives of a Christian liberal arts college.
Applications, including all pertinent materials, should be sent to Dr. Burdette L.
Wagenknecht, Biology Department, William Jewell College, Liberty, Misso-uri64068(24 Jan. 1974)
Spring Arbor College will need a Clinical Psychologist beginning September, 1974.
The following qualifications were stated: "PhD with teaching experience preferred.
'Teach Abnormal personality, child development, small seminars, and organize field
experiences for undergraduates at an evangelical Christian college." Contact Dr.
John M. Newby, Acting Dean of Academic Affairs, Spring Arbor College, Spring Arbor,
Michigan 49238 (10 Jan. 1974)
Dr. Edward Groesbeck, Academic Dean of Grove City College, Grove City, Pennsylvania
telephoned the Elgin office on the first of February about a position open there.
They want an evangelical Christian with a CPA and/or a PhD to teach accounting,
finance, and quantatative business. Grove City College is a debt-free institution
of Presbyterian background. If you know someone who might be interested have them
contact Dr. Groesbeck at the college or call him at (412) 458-6600.
LOCAL SECTION ACTIVITIES
John Frederickson, physicist at Cal State Long Beach, was scheduled to introduce
ASA to the audience after 9:30 a.m. registration. The initial paper on "Recent
Research in Genetic Engineering" by Everett Hrubant, geneticist at Cal State Long
Beach, was to draw response by a panel consisting of biologist Mark Biedebach, chemist
Robert Fischer, and anthropologist/linguist Harold Key. Legal and medical
ethical aspects were to be covered in the afternoon, followed by theologian Bernard
Ramm's "Outline of Theological Implications in Ethics for Human Genetic Engineering.'
We wis~ the section well in this ambitious program. Lunch was included in (prepaid)
registration fees of $3 for students, $10 for others. ASA News was fascinated by
the mailing address for pre-registration: P. 0. Box 160-,Placentia, CA 92670. (We
read it "placenta" and wondered if they did that on purpose. The only other appropriate address in Southern California we could think of was "Pt. Conception" west
of Santa Barbara.)
SAN FRANCISCO BAY
Scheduled events: February 16-18: Weekend Family Conference with IVCF alumni. Gene Thomas
on "Contemporary Christian Lifestyles"; Walt Hearn and Jim Berney on
"New Forms of Ministry"; John Amoore on "Genetic Engineering."
February 26: Open Douse, 8-10 p.m. 762 Arlington Ave., Berkeley, for local section
members and friends, and ASA'ers attending the AAAS national meeting in San Francisco. (For details of both events, see
ASA News, Dec. 1973.)
OREGON
A note from Hendrik Oorthuys of Oregon State University, Corvallis, says the section had planned a January 29 meeting at George Fox College in Newburg. Elver Voth.
biology professor at the college, made the local arrangements, including ; a ham dinner" in the Commons. After dinner,
Jim Morris, OSU chemistry professor, was
scheduled to speak on "How Do You Interpret Scripture?"
NOTES FROM THE NATIONAL OFFICE
PERSONALS
Carol Bibighaus of Haddon Heights, New Jersey, has completed two years of shortterm missionary service, teaching at Faith Academy in Manila, Philippines. in
August she was appointed a full-time missionary by the Association of Baptists for
World Evangelism, Inc., in Hong Kong. She expects to teach Bible in seminary classes and Bible clubs.
Rodger K. Bufford, psychologist at The American University, Washington, D.C., gave
a lecture at Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California, on January 14. The lecture was entitled "God and Behavior Mod." (Moderation? Modulation? Modification?
That's it!)
Tim Davidson is at Central Wesleyan College in Central, South Carolina. Tim has
been working on a project under Dr. Robert R. Nash of the Department of Science,
investigating the medical usefulness of a particular kind of heating pad in accelerating healing.
Russell De Young just passed his preliminary exam for the PhD in nuclear engineering at the U. of Illinois'in Urbana. He is actively involved in the Graduate
Christian Fellowship there.,
Boris Peter Dotsenko is an assistant professor of mathematics at Waterloo Lutheran
University, Waterloo, Ontario. He must be the only ASA member with a PhD from
Moscow State University! Peter recently lectured at Texas A&M University and says
he was deeply impressed by the hospitality of Jack McIntyre and others there. He
gave technical lectures on "Structure-Correlated Potential and Hypothesis of Relative S-Interaction in Nuclear Physics," and other lectures on "The Evolution of a
Scientist from Marxism and Materialism to Christian Belief in God."
Odyard Egil Dvrli, associate professor of science education at the U. of Connecticut
has recently been appointed curriculum editor of ' Learning magazine, published in
Palo Alto, California. Learning is a relatively new magazine discussing educational
issues for creative classroom teachers, with a circulation of 200,000 copies monthly
through the academic year (9 issues).
Lester C. Eddington of Hacienda Heights, California, has a C. Phil. degree in
biology from UCLA. He has made several innovations in the biology teaching program
at Biola College in La Mirada, including a neurobiology and electrophysiology course
The American Biology Teacher published a paper of Lester's in 1972 on his cell biology model course.
James A. Green wasn't lost after all! (Dec. 1973 ASA News, p. 9) He's still at
the same address, the last "life-science type" left among Rockwell International's
80,000,employees. Jim says he is still making a contribution to the Space Shuttle
program, but is exploring employment opportunities elsewhere since bio-medicine
has definitely been phased out at Rockwell.
H. Harold Hartzler was busy in the fall arranging for a program dedicating the new
science hall at Mankato State College, Mankato, Minnesota, where Harold teaches
math/physics/astronomy. His Christmas letter urged everybody to eyeball "one of
the brightest comets of the century" in January. (Could he have meant "Kohoutek
the Dull"? After several nights of searching, we finally saw it, looking like a
scratch on the lens of our binoculars.) Well, you tried to get 1974 off to an
auspicious start, Harold. Actually, 1973 was quite a year for the Hartzlers,
marking their 40th wedding anniversary.
Richard A. Hendry is on the chemistry faculty at Westminster College, New Wilmington
Pennsylvania. Dick's department moved into new facilities in December. The first
phase of the Hoyt Science Resources Center to be completed at Westminster cost
about $3,000,000 (with no federal funding!)
David Kay was promoted in September to a staff position as assistant immunologist
and virologist a M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston, Texas.
Oscar M. Lund Jr., an economist, has moved from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Pierre,
To-uth Bak~ota. -Focar is employed by the South Dakota State Goverment in its
Planning Bureau.
David A. Rogers has taken a position on the Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade
Estadjal e Campinas in Brazil. Campinas is a suburb of Sao Paulo. David is an
electrical engineer who took a B.D. at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in
Illinois after receiving his M.S. at I.I.T. Then he went back to his alma mater,
the U. of Washington in Seattle, for a PhD in E.E., completed in 1971. After considerable anticipation of "culture shock," Dave and Darlene and 4-year-old Stephen
have found a very friendly reception in Campinas.
Evans Roth was able to combine summer research at the Stazione Zoologica in Naples
under a NATO grant with a vacation for the whole family traveling through Europe.
Before returning to hamburgers, ice water, and other things they had missed, Evans
Attended the International Protozoology Congress in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Evans is chairman of the Division of Biology at Kansas State University in Manhattan.
Bruce Rowat, pursuing training in internal medicine in Montreal, writes that he
and McGill biologist Geoffrey Manley and U. of Montreal electric&I engineer Carel
van Vliet have all been involved in starting a Graduate Christian Fellowship in
Ro-nir-eal. Geoff is currently president of the group.
Calvin G. Seerveld of Trinity Christian College, Worth, Illinois, lectured on
"Christian Involvement in the Arts" at the January inter-term session at Regent
College in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Jack S. Swenson, chairman of the Chemistry Department at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, was promoted to full professor in the spring of 1973. Jack says
his paper on the Lossen rearrangement in the November issue of J. Organic Chem.
may be his swan song in research, but he enjoys his heavy administration duties.
Jack has given much thought to "indigenous witness" on campuses by the thousands
of evangelical faculty members identified with groups like IVCF, Campus Crusade,
and Navigators. Some of Jack's comments to faculty sessions at "Urbana 70" were
quoted by president John W. Alexander in a recent IVCF newsletter.
James Weir was honored by the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Monroe, Wisconsin, as
the year's outstanding senior citizen of Monroe. In spite of a kidney illness
that keeps him dependent on a hemodialysis machine, Jim has remained active in
medical practice, civic enterprises, and Christian service. He is a graduate of
Wheaton College and the U. of Illinois Medical School, and an active member of the
Christian Medical Society. He recently had an article in the national Dialysis
and Tranplant journal. Jim has done much writing on hemodialysis for the benefit
of both patients and physicians, based on his own experience.
The ASA is an organization of Christian men and women of science. It is not an organization of Christians who are interested in science. Nor is it an organization of scientists who happen to be Christians. Its existence assumes the significance of a whole world perspective to which menand women who are Christians and scientists can make a meaningful contribution. If the ASA were to function only as a particular arm of the Church, it would fail its opportunities in the scientific community. If the ASA were to function only as a sounding board for scientific theories and ideas, it would fail its opportunities in the Christian community. To fulfill the unique potentialities possible in its existence, therefore the ASA must be intimately related to both the Christian and scientific communities.
Respectfully yours,
Gary R. Collins
President