NEWSLETTER

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION - CANADIAN SCIENTIFIC & CHRISTIAN AFFILIATION

Volume 28 Number 6                                                                                December 1986/January 1987



WHAT A YEAR!

What? A year? Another year gone by? It's a good thing we gave ourselves til the* end of the 1980's to get organized. Years seem to be getting shorter. Only a few issues ago we were writing our Christmas greeting.

The Year we were then wishing you a Happy New Year has grown old, taking us with it to some extent-taking some beloved ASA members all the way, to be with the Lord. It was a good year to recall that our salvation is rooted in Jesus Christ, not in science or technology. Yes, 1986 was a year of breakdown as well as breakthrough, the year of Challenger and Chernobyl-and our seventeenth as Newsletter editor.

At the end of 1986 it's still too early to know if the ASA booklet for teachers will help cool the so-called crea tion-evolution controversy, or if our TV series will fly. That makes 1987 a great year to look forward to. So we wish you a thoughtful Christmas and a hopeful New Year, in Christ's name.  -Walt and Ginny Hearn

ARE WE READY FOR THIS?

Before ASA's booklet, TEACHING SCIENCE IN A CLIMATE OF CONTROVERSY, was off the press, it was already hot news. Jim Hefley's story on the ASA Annual Meeting in the September 19 Christianity Today mentioned it. Religion writers for major newspapers evidently read CT. In a story on "Science & Religion Tomorrow" in the September 28 Chicago Tribune, Bruce Buursma reported that ASA's booklet was forthcoming. From Denver, Terry Mattingly called to ask for a copy of the text; he was writing a story for the October 5 Rocky Mountain News, in advance of Owen Gingerich's ASA lecture at the U. of Colorado on October 11.

One thing leads to another. The Letters page of the September 30 New York Times carried a thoughtful comment by Irving Kristol, Professor of social thought at NYU's graduate school of business, entitled "Room for Darwin and the Bible." It did not mention ASA or our booklet, but it led Christian radio producer Mike Maggard to call George Marsden (at Calvin College), seeking someone to balance a "scientific creationist" set to appear on "The Richard Hogue Show" show that very day. Maggard's day was saved by a ninth-inning double play: Marsden-to-Hearn-to-Wiester.

That's how John Wiester happened to be on that twohour call-in show (via telephone) on October 6, with Kenneth Cummings of the Institute for Creation Research. John did some bridge-building to ICR folk while plugging ASA's effort to help teachers cope with the teaching of origins. The Richard Hogue Show originates in Texas, is broadcast on many Christian stations throughout the South and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, back in Berkeley, the final "blue line" of the booklet had been shipped to Penn sylvan ia-af ter designer Ginny Hearn had caught one illustration upside down, another flipped over so its caption didn't fit. Gulp. The Committee for Integrity in Science Education prayed that all would go well at Science Press, after sensing God's leading all along the way. On October 15, when TEACHING SCIENCE IN A CLIMATE OF CONTROVERSY came off the press, their nervous prayer turned to joyful praise.

Foundation funds for the printing are coming in two portions. The first paid for a press run of 30,000 and for mailing a free copy to each ASA/CSCA member and to half the high school biology teachers in the U.S. Another gift in January will complete the mailing to the other half of the 40,000 biology teachers on the National Association of Science Teachers list. (The October mailing covered the southern and western states.)

Responses so far indicate that TEACHING SCIENCE IN A CLIMATE OF CONTROVERSY rates an "A" from the first recipients. ASA/CSCA members are encouraged to order additional copies to have on hand for teachers, parents, students, pastors, church and school libraries, reporters-for anyone who needs to know that a broad middle position exists in the controversy over teaching evolution. (Members who send a contribution to ASA in addition to the price quoted in the booklet will help pay postage costs for mailing what ASA hopes will be thousands more of these booklets.-Ed.)

Meanwhile, the controversy goes on. The Louisiana "Balanced Treatment" case goes before the U.S. Supreme Court on December 10. The Newsletter editor just got a call from Betty Scorda, assistant producer of "60 Minutes" for CBS television. Evidently "60 Minutes" plans to do a segment focusing on ICR. We tried to explain that ASA isn't exactly on "the other side," but has a broader view of creation than our ICR brothers and sisters. Where could she get a handle on that broader view? You guessed it: from ASA's TEACHING SCIENCE IN A CLIMATE OF CONTROVERSY.

TELLING THE KEN OLSEN STORY

We've wanted to do a story about ASA member Kenneth H. Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, ever since the offer of a good deal on the DEC Rainbow computer propelled this Newsletter into the 20th century two years ago. The time seemed right this fall when DECUS (the DEC Users Society) held a symposium in nearby San Francisco in conjunction with DEXPO West, a big show of the wares of some 300 companies catering to DEC users. A special DEXPO edition of Computerworld magazine spotlighted "The Year of DEC," with Ken's picture on its front cover.

We learned a lot about DEC's history from that issue and more than we'd known before about Ken Olsen (for instance, that we were born on the same day, 2/20/ 1926, and that he, too, had been in Navy electronics Ed.) After WWII, Ken studied electrical engineering at MIT, was fascinated by the early computing machines, and stayed on at MIT's Lincoln Labs to work on the SAGE air defense computer system.

In 1957, with the transistor revolution in full swing, Ken and a few colleagues foresaw the need to bridge the gap between huge "mainframe" computers (which put IBM in B) and the individual scientist and engineer in need of computing power. With $70,000 of borrowed capital, DEC was founded and began turning out printed-circuit logic modules in an old woolen mill in Maynard, Massachusetts. Now DEC is a $7.6 billion manufacturer of engineer-friendly minicomputers, with Ken Olsen still at the helm.

The Computerworld profile dropped a few hints about Ken's Christian commitment, such as the fact that he had been president of IVCF at MIT. It quoted him as saying that "the scientist and the Christian must believe in searching for the truth and being humble." Mostly it told the corporate story of DEC, giving Ken and former chief engineer Gordon Bell credit for sticking to the VAX architecture for all its machines, making DEC computers far easier to tie together than IBM's. That's particularly important in huge information system networks, with hundreds of users in a single company. DEC's entry into PC's (personal computers) was less auspicious; a new IBM-PC-compatible "Vaxmate" has just been unveiled to replace the ill-fated Rainbow. (VAX, by the way, is short for a high-powered design feature called "virtual address extension.")

Before we could contact Ken for more details of his personal story, we spotted the cover of Fortune magazine (27 October 1986). There was his picture, as "America's Most Successful Entrepreneur," with a nine-page story inside. Appropriately, the Fortune profile focused on DEC's fortunes and the Olsen management style, but it also spoke of Ken's life as a Christian. As a boy his faith was nurtured by a "fundamentalist" upbringing, It is sustained now partly by his participation in a monthly prayer group organized by Raytheon's CEO, Thomas Phillips.

Ken owes his first "management experience" to the late Harold Ockenga, pastor of Boston's Park Street Church, who turned supervision of the church's then ailing Sunday school over to the young engineer. He met his Finnish wife Aulikki when she was in the U.S., went to Finland to court her. Their children are now grown.

While we were "inputting" all that, Ken's picture showed up again, this time in Newsweek for 27 October 1986. With Boston's Red Sox already in the World Series, the story was entitled "DEC Belts a Home Run." Evidently DEC has had to go through several painful reorganizations that caused analysts to wonder, sometimes in print, whether Olsen could hack it any longer. He has been quoted as saying that success scares him as much as failure, and that DEC got into trouble when too many good years made the company complacent. But DEC's ability to adapt, stemming from Ken's own stubborn but teachable spirit, led to the comeback now challenging "Big Blue" in major multiuser markets.

All this makes us want to shout "Hooray for our guy!" Ken Olsen has been a long-time member and supporter of ASA. It's not by accident that the computer that keeps ASA's Ipswich office humming, hooked for some uses to the VAX 785 biggie at Gordon College, is a product of Digital Equipment Corporation. It's obvious that Ken Olsen works very hard. But as one of his prayer-group friends says, "The Lord's good hand is on this guy." We rejoice in that.


DIE HOUGHTON ANEKDOTEN

It looks as if we'll be reporting the 1986 ASA Annual Meeting well into 1987. But if a picture is truly worth a thousand words, the photographs from Houghton in the last issue and this one should put us quite a few pages ahead, leaving more room for timely items to crowd their way in.

The pictures are from two of the first rolls of film ever shot by the Weary Old Editor himself, a kamera-clutz who can barely operate properly a fully automatic, idiot-proof Nikon. (Comment from our wedded editor: "You must like the backs of people's heads; you take so many of them." WOE is me. Why not use good pictures from photo-pros like Ed Olson or Don DeGraaf? Because they use only color film, and we need B&W. See? There's madness in our method.-Ed.)

It's really managing editor Ann Woodworth who keeps raising the Newsletter's visual quality. She cropped and laid out the best of our prints and had them "screened" to produce printable half-tones. She has an artist's eye. Houghton was Ann's first ASA Annual Meeting but, alas, it was officer manager Caryl Proctor's last one no doubt. Her husband Jim graduates from Gordon-Conwell Seminary this year and expects to be assigned to a United Methodist parish in Vermont. Jim enjoyed interacting with ASAers at Houghton and even heard a few papers, when he wasn't helping Caryl take care of registrants or daughter Hannah. (Hannah generously loaned the Weary Old Editor her teddy bear when she found out he'd left his own back in Berkeley-Ed. For the incredulous, we have provided a photo proof [not one of the Editor's!]-ASA staff.)

Many of the papers from Houghton will eventually be published in JASA. Keynoter David Myers did a superb job of drawing the audience into his three presentations, the first providing an overview of current psychological research, the second outlining significant parallels between psychological and biblical insights into "The Nature of Humanity," the third suggesting ways for Christians to benefit from the results of psychological research.

One of the speaker's best aud ience-g rabbi ng gimmicks probably won't appear when those talks are published. After the first lecture, avid Skeptical Inquirer reader Ed Olson asked Myers his opinion of parapsychology. Myers said he was aware that some ASA members are "psi" enthusiasts, so he hadn't intended to treat it critically, "but since you asked . . ." He proceeded to give a lucid analysis of his basis for skepticism about psychic claims.

That exchange produced a spontaneous get-together of other readers of the sassy quarterly published by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, CSICOP or "Psi-Cop" (The Skeptical Inquirer, Box 229, Buffalo, NY 14215-0229; $18/yr). One of them was David Himeirick of Silver Creek, New York, a Ph.D. in horticulture who works as a regional extension specialist for Cornell University. Since his college days he has been an amateur magician. Now a full-fledged member of the Society of American Magicians and the International Brotherhood of Magicians, he specializes in "mental magic."

At the beginning of the second keynote address, David Myers introduced Himelrick as a member of the Psychic Entertainers Association and had him do a few stunts. The "mentalist" demonstrated "psychokinesis" by having the audience "move" a wooden block by concentrating on it. Sure enough, it moved. His demonstration of "precognition" was so slick that even the Newsletter editor (whose brother was once a professional magician) missed the "switch." Dave Himelrick had "foreseen" eight numbers randomly punched into a handheld calculator by volunteers from the audience and had written the eight-digit number on the blackboard even before it was punched into the calculator. That's amazing (if your brother isn't a magician).

Of course the keynote speaker's purpose had been to show how easy it is for a roomful of scientists to be fooled by a clever "psychic." But the outcome surprised even the speaker. Some people prefer to believe they've witnessed a genuine psychic phenomenon even when they're told the effect was staged. At the beginning of his third lecture, David Myers said that several people were convinced on the basis of his performance that Himelrick was "genuinely psychic." They thought Myers should apologize for putting Himelrick down by "implying" that he was "merely a magician!"

NOTES FOR ASA-WATCHERS

1. At Houghton, ASA's first president, F. Alton Everest, presented his monumental "insider's history," The American Scientific Affiliation: Its Growth and Early Development to the Executive Council. At 150 pages plus 80 more of appendices, it was too long to read all the way through between sessions, but it's full of memories for old-timers and full of history younger members ought to be aware of.

Alton (and wife Elva, who probably put in just as much time on it) did some "data analysis" as well as data collecting. For example, they studied the distribution of papers in each volume of JASA according to topic. The data do not support the argument that !'in the old days" our Journal dealt more with "origins" and less with social sciences than it does now. In fact the proportional coverage of each of those topics has remained rather steady over the years.

President Ann Hunt presides over the annual ASA Business Meeting at Houghton.

In another fascinating study, the Everests checked membership rolls to see if establishment of the Creation Research Society in 1963 had a noticeable effect on ASA membership. The Everests concluded that any attrition due to members "switching" from ASA to CRS at that time was extremely low, on the order of a handful or less. A few members did leave, others joined CRS without leaving ASA. But ASA membership was showing steady growth at that time.

2. After digging through all that history, the Everests have deposited several filing cabinets of ASA archival material as a Special Collection at the Buswell Memorial Library at Wheaton College in Illinois. In March 1986 Bob Herrmann visited the Wheaton Library to discuss the "archiving" of ASA historical materials with Mary Dorsett, the library's head of Special Services. She said the college and Buswell Library would be delighted to house our archives, processing and maintaining them and making them available to scholars. She and the other Buswell librarians were exceedingly cordial and accommodating.

There will always be something of a gap in ASA history because of records lost in 1979 when the building housing the ASA office (then in Elgin, Illinois) burned. But what we have left will now be safely housed along with several important collections of Christian writers (C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, Dorothy Sayers, Malcolm Muggeridge, etc.) and Wheaton College's own archives. It is highly appropriate for ASA's archives to belong to a library named for a former ASA member, the late J. Oliver Buswell, Jr., a former president of Wheaton and father of James 0. Buswell, ///, of William Carey University.

NOTES FOR CHINA-WATCHERS

1. There may still be time to get in on Ken Touryan's January 10-11 ASA China Venture orientation conference in Denver. If you sense a call to serve God in China through your technical skills, the conference will help you decide and help you prepare. Contact: Dr. K. J. Touryan, Moriah Research, 7795 E. Arapahoe Ct., Englewood, CO 80112. Or call Mrs. Vera Thomas, 1-800682-5585.

2. There is definitely time to get in on the August 1987 ASA Tour of China. Twenty-one days of traveling with ASA friends, some of whom will give lectures in their fields of expertise at institutes and universities in the eight cities to be visited, at a bargain price. Families welcome. A deposit of $50 per person (checks made o,ut to ASA, marked "China tour") will reserve your place. Contact: Dr. Chi-Hang Lee, 120 Brandywine Way, Walnut Creek, CA 94598.

3. An organization helping Chi-Hang Lee organize the ASA China tour is called Educational Resources and Referrals-China. Since its founding in 1982, ERRC has helped 50 qualified teachers obtain direct contracts with Chinese universities and referred over 100 teachers to other suitable organizations in the U.S. with contracts to fill teaching positions in China. EFIRC also recommends study programs to Western Christians desiring to study Chinese language in the PRC (People's Republic of China).

Martha Chan, ERRC's director, has sent us a list of over two dozen technological openings which Chinese government officials are now trying to fill with qualified people. These tend to be very specific problem-solving situations for consultants in industrial fields. For example, "Electrical engineer specialized in steam turbine production ... .. Food chemist specialized in corn starch technology," and "Textile engineer specialized in nonshrinking hosiery" are some of the listings. The openings are flexible both for beginning dates and length of stay-generally until the problem is solved.

If you feel called to serve God by helping the Chinese modernize their industry, or know others with the skills to do so, you should check ERRC's current listings. Write to: Martha Chan, Director, ERRC, 2600 Dwight Way, Berkeley, CA 94704.

GORDON HONORS ITS SCIENCE STAFF

This year marks the 25th anniversary of majors in science and math at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. Several ASA members on the Gordon science faculty were featured in the Summer 1986 issue of Stillpoint, a new alumni magazine of that highly respected Christian college. Stillpoint was born in 1985 as a replacement for two older alumni magazines when Gordon merged with Barrington College of Rhode Island to become "The United College of Gordon and Barrington."

Chair of Gordon's Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics is John W. Haas, Jr., known as "Jack" to his ASA colleagues (and probably to everybody else). In a short Stillpoint article, Jack looked back to those who first offered courses in the physical and life sciences at Gordon, including T. Harry Leith, now at York University in Ontario. Jack also outlined the growth in science faculty and facilities since then, pointing out that now nearly one Gordon student in six is a major in science, math, or computer science. Gordon science alumni continue to do well in graduate schools and medical schools, and are in great demand in industry.

ASA members were mentioned in several other articles. One student paid tribute to the personal guidance offered by Professor Thomas Dent. (At Houghton, Tom gave a paper on "Missionaries as Conservationists and Agricultural Subsistence Participants in the Societies Where They Live," based on his participation at an Au Sable Institute conference on "Missionaries at Earthkeepers" and his recent travels in Central America.) Biology professor Russell Camp was cited, not only for his summer research at New England Biolabs but also for drawing undergraduate students into that research. (Russ described both in his Houghton paper, "Screening for and Cloning Restriction Enzymes: The Benefits of Cooperative Research between College and Industry.")

The lead article in Stilipoint showed how several Gordon faculty members see science through their eyes. Physicist Dale Pleticha stressed the mysteries that lie "beyond the Big Bang" Robert Herrmann, adjunct professor of chemistry and ASA's executive director, spoke of the need for ethical guidelines in biology and medicine that can come only from beyond science. Chemist Kenneth Martin described his tensions about pure vs. applied research, and how his Christian convictions about stewardship, informed by his technical knowledge, have brought changes in his own family's patterns of using resources.

The writer of that piece, free-lance writer John Cox (Gordon '78), was impressed that for Pleticha, Herrmann, and Martin, at least, "science and faith have already embraced at the deepest level, and they share a childlike wonder at the sheer 'factness' of the world. They are not shackled by what G. K. Chesterton referred to as modernity's one utterly false assumption: that the repetition we see everywhere in nature is a piece of clockwork, a machine, deadness." Rather, Chesterton wrote, the repetition is like that of children who, on discovering some game or joke they especially enjoy, shout "Do it again!"

DO MEN LISTEN TO WOMEN?

"Does God Listen to Girls?" That's the title of an article by psychologist Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen in The Reformed Journal (June 1986), subtitled "Women in Society and the Church." A condensed version appeared in Christianity Today (17 Jan 1986). Mary, professor of interdisciplinary studies at Calvin College, took the title from the question of a three-year-old observer of the male-centered focus of her parents' church. Mary analyzes the social and sex-role fragmentation brought on by the industrial revolution, quotes statistics on the movement of women back into paid employment, and gives advice to the evangelical church on serving a society in which men and women share more equally both domestic and wage-earning tasks.

Speaking of wage-earning women, Ann Hunt is a research chemist at Eli Lilly & Co. in Indianapolis. We're sure Ann wouldn't want us to make much of the fact that she's the first woman to be president of the American Scientific Affiliation, and indeed the first woman elected to the ASA Council. Still, it was good to see her presiding with confidence at the Annual Business Meeting at Houghton, and in general to see more and more women finding a place of service and fellowship in ASA.

Two women gave papers at Houghton. Lucille Wolgemuth of Messiah College, whose background is social work (and whose husband is biologist Mark Wolgemuth, echoed the 1986 conference theme with her paper on "The Nature of Humanity in Scripture and Psychology." Comparing the writings of personality theorists in psychology with a biblical understanding of human personality, she also echoed 1985 keynoter Walter Thorson's concern for "listening to what God has to say about reality."

Helen Martin, science teacher at Unionville High School in Unionville, Pennsylvania, gave a profusely illustrated talk on "Using the Direct Readout of Weather Satellites to Teach Values in the Classroom." It was a version of the NSTA/ASE Exchange Lecture Helen will give at the meeting of the Association for Science Education at University College, Cardiff, Wales, 2-5 January 1987. Teachers in the audience wondered how Helen's innovative program fit into her school's regular curriculum, how she handled grades, and so on. But everybody was amazed at what her "ordinary kids" accomplished on a shoestring (building a satellite tracking station)-and at the role such "intermediate technology" may yet play in Third World countries.

(NEWS FLASH: Helen Martin has just been appointed to a 33-member Planning Group to establish a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The Board was proposed in the May 1986 report of the Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century. More on the Planning Group and Helen's participation in a later issue.Ed.)

More women are going into scientific careers and more are gaining recognition for their accomplishments. But it also seemed to us that more spouses of scientists were actively participating in this year's Annual Meeting. That could have been due in part to the general (and inclusive) quality of the conference theme, "The Nature of Humanity." (Only a few years ago, it might have been "The Nature of Man."-Ed.)

Another factor occurs to us, after noting how many people of both sexes turned out for the showing of slides from last year's Oxford meeting and the two ASA tours of Europe. Taking that trip together introduced wives and families to other ASA members and perhaps gave them a greater sense of participation in ASA. (Any families for China in 1987?-Ed.)

It's one thing to arrange "something for the wives" as many groups do while husbands are busy at a meeting; it's another to think of ways to draw the whole "ASA family" together. But the latter seems a more appropriate goal for members of the Lord's family. We'll probably even learn something from each other.

BULLETIN BOARD

1. V. Elving Anderson, professor of genetics at the U. of Minnesota, reminds us that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. A former president of both ASA and Sigma Xi, Elving is currently chairing the society's Centennial Planning Committee. His article in the special Centennial Edition of American Scientist (Sept/ Oct 1986) invites all readers of that journal to "Plan a Celebration, Plant a New Tradition." All 500 chapters and clubs of Sigma Xi were urged to plan their own celebrations in addition to two major national convocations: in April at Cornell University (where the society was founded in 1886), and in October in Washington, D.C., on "A New Agenda for Science." (Sigma Xi gets its name from spoudon xynones, Greek for "companions in zealous research," more or less. An honor society patterned after fraternities, it nevertheless elected women to full membership as early at 1888.-Ed.)

2. Jeffrey Greenberg, associate professor of geology at Wheaton College in Illinois, calls attention to Wheaton's Black Hills Science Station as a superb facility for field studies. With enrollment drops in its summer geology and biology courses in recent years, the South Dakota station now has room for more outside students. Jeff invites faculty from Christian colleges without their own field camps to send students who can benefit from the intellectual and social environment of Wheaton's camp. Courses are also offered in such subjects as astronomy and Bible. Course credit transfers and tuition discounts (or sharing) are easily arranged. In addition, Jeff thinks faculty at other schools might want to serve as visiting summer faculty themselves. The station is located nine miles west of Rapid City. Contact: Dr. Jeffrey Greenberg, Science Station Coordinator, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL 60187.

3. Leendert Pieter Mos, acting director of the Centre for Advanced Study in Theoretical Psychology at the U. of Alberta, is one of the organizers of the 2nd International Conference of Theoretical Psychology, to take place on 20-25 April 1987 in the Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada. The conference is under the auspices of the International Society of Theoretical Psychology, founded in 1985 by members of the U. of Alberta (Canada), Free University of Amsterdam (Holland), and Plymouth Polytechnic (U.K.). Piet Mos, who is also an editor of Annals of Theoretical Psychology, has issued a call for papers for the April conference. Abstracts to, and information from: Dr. Wm. J. Baker, Centre for Advanced Study in Theoretical Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E9.

4. A major academic conference, "A New Agenda for Evangelical Thought," will take place on 3-6 June 1987 at the Billy Graham Center of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. The conference is cosponsored by the Center's Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals (ISAE) and by the Institute for Advanced Christian Studies (IFACS) to celebrate the 20th anniversary of IFACS. It will assess the presuppositions of the various academic disciplines, identify strategic intellectual and ethical issues, and propose an agenda for Christian scholars in those areas. Philosopher Arthur Holmes of Wheaton College will chair the conference. Speakers will include philosopher Alvin Plantinga, theologian Carl Henry, historian George Marsden, political scientist James Skillen, sociologist Robert Wuthnow (of Princeton; former ASA member), science historian David Livingstone (of Queen's University, Belfast; participant in the 1985 ASA/RSCF Oxford conference), psychologist Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen (of Calvin College), and geneticist Eiving Anderson (of the U. of Minnesota). Evangelical scholars are urged to attend. Contact: Joel A. Carpenter, Administrator, ISAE, Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL 60187.

5. The International Christian Studies Association (10SA) invites proposals for papers and interdisciplinary panels or roundtables for its 2nd World Congress, to be held at Brighton, England, on 21-27 August 1988 in conjunction with the 18th World Congress of Philosophy. Theme of the ICSA congress will be "The Second Reformation: the Christian Challenge in Knowledge, Ethics, and Faith." The congress is cosponsored by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research; fully developed papers will be published in J. Interdisciplinary Studies. Submit one-page abstracts by 15 April 1987 to: Dr. Oskar Gruenwald, ICSA President, 2828 Third St., Suite 11, Santa Monica, CA 90405. Aim of ICSA (founded by Gruenwald in 1983) is to "further the exploration of knowledge and its integration with JudeoChristian ethical and spiritual values within an open forum of international, interdisciplinary, and interfaith dialogue, seeking to expand our understanding of God, man, and the universe to the greater glory of God and the dignity of man."

6. Ray Brand of Wheaton College, chair of ASA's Commission on Global Resources and the Environment, sent us a newsletter from a new organization called the Eleventh Commandment Fellowship (P.O. Box 14667, San Francisco, CA 94114). The group calls believers to an environmental ethic based on this commandment: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; thou shalt not despoil the earth nor destroy the life thereon." Copies of the first four issues of the Newsletter are available for $1 each but ECF offers a free brochure about its program of encouraging ecologically appropriate actions as a form of stewardship. Ray says much of what he reads in ECF publications is directly related to the theme of the 1987 ASA ANNUAL MEETING, to be held in COLORADO SPRINGS, AUGUST 2-6.

7. Stan Moore would like to hear from anyone interested in joining the Arms Control Commission. He would like to convene a meeting in January of February. Please contact him at 1756 Campbell Ave., Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 (805-495-2044).

PERSONALS

Wayne U. Ault surprised us at Houghton with news that he's now teaching geology at Memphis State University in Tennessee. Wife Ruth said Wayne is "semi-retired." meaning that as of June 1986 he retired from The King's College in New York and they moved to Memphis. Wayne is a former president of ASA. The fact that he'll be teaching only a few courses each year at MSU may mean that he'll have time to start a new ASA local section down yonder. ASAers in the Memphis area should get in touch with Wayne (address: 595 Watson, Memphis TN 38111; OR Dept. of Geology, Memphis State University, Memphis, TN 35152. Tel. 901-324-1599.)

David L, Bourell is associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering Dept. of the University of Texas at Austin. On October 8 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metals in Orlando, Florida, David received ASM's Bradley Stoughton Award for Young Teachers of Metallurgy. The award was established in 1952 in honor of a former ASM president who was an outstanding teacher of metallurgy and dean of engineering. David has a B.S. in M.E. from Texas A&M, and M.S. and a Ph.D. in materials science & engineering from Stanford. Besides being an outstanding teacher at both undergraduate and graduate levels (with an "enthusiasm for materials science and engineering education which is contagious to students"), David does research on pulsed power material processing and strengthening mechanisms of warm-rolled ferrous materials. He also finds time to serve as vice-chair of the UT Austin Faculty Senate and minority recruiter and minority liaison officer in engineering at UT.

W. Mack Goldsmith of Modesto, California, is a professor of psychology at Stanislaus State University in Turlock. In Modesto he has begun a private practice in clinical psychology in addition to his work in a Christian counseling center there. At the meeting of Christian Association for Psychological Studies International (CAPS) in Oakland in June, Mack gave a paper on "Comparative Values and Religious Orientations of Students from Christian and Secular Colleges." One of the two co-authors was Mack's daughter Gail, a student at Gordon College in Massachusetts. Mack has been elected president-elect of CAPS-West, the largest division of CAPS. Other ASAers whose names we spotted on the CAPS preliminary program included Ralph Blair, Newton Malony, John Stoll, and John Vayhinger.

Ann H. Hunt, research chemist at Eli Lily & Co. in Indianapolis, Indiana, and current ASA president, had three other meetings to attend soon after presiding at Houghton. At two of them she interacted with former officers of ASA. At an August meeting on nuclear magnetic resonance in Montreal she talked to Harry Lubansky, Jr., now doing research at the U. of Arkansas medical school in Little Rock. (Harry served as ASA executive secretary in the interim between Bill Siterson and Bob Herrmann.) At the September meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim she talked to former ASA president Chi-Hang Lee, food chemist at Del Monte's laboratories in Walnut Creek, California. Ann was pleased to hear that several people have already signed up for ASA's 1987 China tour being arranged by Chi.

PEOPLE LOOKING FOR POSITIONS: Douglas B. Kennard (2201 Riverside Dr., Apt. #213, Columbus, OH 43221) is completing his Ph.D. in rural sociology at Ohio State and searching for a position in sociology in a liberal arts college for fall 1987. Doug already has academic experience, having spent two years chairing the Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology at Warner Southern College in Florida. He has a strong interest in international development and social change in the Third World, with practical experience in West Africa and in training Christians for development work and cross-cultural communication. He presented his Christian critique of development perspectives in JASA 36 (Sept 1984). Doug would prefer a Christian college environment, but will also consider any liberal arts college open to his Christian outlook.

POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE: Calvin College in Michigan will have tenure-track and possibly also temporary openings for the 1987-88 academic year for individuals trained in mathematics, computer science, and mathematical statistics. The department has 18 full-time faculty, nearly 100 majors at the junior-senior level. "A Reformed and Christian perspective is to be demonstrated in all teaching and other professional activities." Contact: Prof. Thomas L. Jager, Chair, Dept. of Mathematics & Computer Science, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI 49506. (Received Oct 1986.) Calvin will also have a one to two year replacement position in physics, Ph.D. preferred. Contact: Dr. Jobn Van Zytveld, Chair, Physics Dept., Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI 49506. (Rec'd Oct 1986.) ... Hope College in Michigan has a number of positions open, with consideration of applications beginning 1 Dec 1986. In geology, one-year sabbatical replacement, Ph.D., preferably with undergraduate research interests, to teach invertebrate paleo, historical geology, stratigraphy, plus part of intro course. Others are tenure-track: biology,, Ph.D. in micro or molecular biology interested in developing a grant-supported research program; chemistry, Ph.D. in experimental physical chemistry with research interests; mathematics, able to teach advanced undergrad courses; nursing, M.S. with 2 years clinical practice or Ph.D. Christian college affiliated with Reformed Church in America, with 2,400 students, over 160 faculty. Curriculum vitae, transcripts, three letters of reference to: Dr. Irwin J. Brink, Dean for the Natural Sciences, Hope College, Holland, MI 49423. (Received Oct 1986.) ... Wheaton College in Illinois also has a tenure-track opening in mathematics for August 1987. Requires Ph.D. in math and ability to teach effectively. Specialty in discrete mathematics or algebra preferred, along with interest in remaining active in research. Department has 7 faculty and 100 majors. Contact: Dr. Robert Brabenec, Chair, Dept. of Mathematics & Computer Science, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL 60187. (Received Oct 1986.) ... Pepperdine University in California has a tenure track position in American government/ public administration, teaching advanced courses plus the introductory course called the American political process. Load: three courses/term. Faculty are evaluated in each of four areas: teaching; scholarship; service; and Pepperdine's Christian Mission statement. "Independent Christian university directed by a self-perpetuating board of regents, related to the Churches of Christ." Minorities and women especially encouraged to apply. Vita and letter of application to: Dr. Michael Gose, Chair, Social Science/Teacher Education Division, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA 90265. (Received Oct 1986.) Grove City College in Pennsylvania has an (immediate?) opening in mechanical engineering for someone with strong background in engineering design including CAD/CAM, and/or thermal engineering. M.S. required, Ph.D. preferred, to teach upper-level undergraduate courses in engineering design, and/or thermodynamics, heat transfer, and thermal power systems. This independent Christian college of liberal arts & sciences (enrollment 2,200), affiliated with the United Presbyterian Church USA, seeks faculty "clearly evangelical in theology and committed to the distinctives of Christian liberal arts education." Letter of application, c.v., and names of three references to: Dr. Vonnie L. Veltri, Executive Assistant to the President, Grove City College, Grove City, PA 16127. Tel. (412) 458-6600 X226. (Received Oct 1986.) ... Houghton College is seeking applicants and nominees for the position of Academic VicePresident and Dean of the College. Responsibilities: chief academic officer under the President, direct coordination for academic functions of the college. Requirements: earned doctorate; Wesleyan (by time of hiring); experience in teaching, academic leadership, communication. Application information: contact Mrs. R. McMaster, Houghton College, Houghton, NY 14744. Tel. (716) 5 67-2211.