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| Columns::March 24, 2003 Second in charge: Interim senior vice president named permanent provost Men’s basketball coach, two players suspended; team forgoes postseason $1.1 million NSF grant funds three-year study of interaction of algebra learning, teaching Cabinet adopts policy requiring first-year students to live on campus Famed scientist will discuss biodiversity preservation at spring Charter Lecture Symposium marks microbiology’s 50th year ‘Advocates in action’ Professor teaches students how to make beautiful music together Retirees Forum essay: What make the world so round After school specials Campus News Newsmakers Bankruptcy filing at Conseco The Washington Post quoted UGA insurance professor Robert Hoyt in its reporting of the bankruptcy filing by Conseco. The filing did not include Conseco’s insurance operations, and some analysts argued that those operations would be unaffected by the move. Hoyt found that position insupportable. “It’s perplexing to hear people say that the insurance subsidiaries are not going to be affected by any of this,” he said. “I understand there are various protective shells. But it’s still all one company. I would be very cautious in assuming it’s a non-issue.” Black History Month’s ongoing value UGA historian James Cobb appeared on the National Public Radio program Talk of the Nation as part of a panel discussing whether Black History Month still serves a purpose. “The more history the better,” he said. “I think Black History Month is important for black Americans, in terms of affirming identity, but it has great potential in terms of educating white Americans about the interrelationships between black history and the larger themes of American history. Contextualizing black history within the larger setting of American history and world history could be a very good thing. I also think we might move Black History Month away from the realm of celebration into the realm of examination, and look at the complexity of black history.” Jumping to improvement UPI carried a story on botanist Susan Wessler’s identification of “jumping genes” in the rice genome, as reported in the journal Nature. New varieties of canola Canola oil research by UGA agronomist Paul Raymer was reported in an Associated Press story carried on ABC News, in the Boston Globe, Austin (Texas) American-Statesman and elsewhere. Raymer, who has spent about 12 years developing Southern canola, has already introduced a variety known as “Flint” that resists the disease that hurt earlier efforts to market Georgia-grown canola. Other varieties are on the way. “We know we can grow the crop,” Raymer said. “The biggest problem is that there’s no local market for it. There’s a huge world market.” Revenue or profit? Marketing professor Chris Plouffe was quoted in Fortune magazine, commenting on the current trend for salespeople to rely on heavy discounts to close deals, an approach which obviously has a significant impact on a firm’s profit margins. Plouffe argued that this behavior is a function of how salespeople are typically paid--with commissions on revenue generated rather than on the profitability of those revenues. Playing catch-up at the bank In a lengthy story analyzing the banking behavior of Latino immigrants to the United States, the Oregonian quoted UGA’s Jeffrey Humphreys, director of economic forecasting. The newspaper had reported that banks had developed a sudden interest in the Latino population with a variety of new programs and projects. The programs and projects are “really the result of the inattention paid to this population,” said Humphreys. Tellers who speak Spanish, classes and seminars about how to make bank transactions, more accessible identification documents--banks expect to begin by offering basic account services, then expand to more sophisticated, and profitable, services. |
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