LehighNow Volume 02, Issue 13

              LEHIGHNOW
April 3, 2002
Volume 2, Issue 13
Feminist icon lectures overflow crowd
IN BRIEF
COMING UP
Princeton
scholar to visit
What Makes a Brain So
Effective?
John J. Hopfield will
probe that riddle when he
delivers the William E.
Schiesser Lecture in
Computational Approaches to Interdisciplinary Problems in Science
and Engineering on
Thursday, April 11.
The talk will begin at
2 p.m. in the Oberkotter
Auditorium, Room 270,
of Lewis Lab (the Physics
Building).
Hopfield, professor of
molecular biology at
Princeton University, will
ponder how to account
for the brain's extraordinary ability to perform
'computational' tasks
such as understanding
speech in a noisy
environment, or recognizing the face of a friend.
In a research career
that has spanned half a
century and a handful of
disciplines, Hopfield has
studied condensed
matter physics, biological
molecules, chemical
dynamics, and information
processing in the brain.
In 1969, Hopfield was a
co-recipient of the
Buckley Prize from the
American Physical
Society. He is also a
former MacArthur Prize
Fellow, and a member of
the National Academy of
Science.
Gloria Steinem's reputation
as a feminist icon with
wide appeal was reinforced
when more than 600 people
jammed into Lehigh's
Packard Lab on Tuesday,
March 26 to hear her
deliver the first in a series
of talks commemorating
the 30lh anniversary of
women at Lehigh.
The activist, writer, and
co-founder of Ms. Magazine was welcomed by the
overflow crowd with a
standing ovation before
launching into a lengthy,
wide-ranging and witty
talk that touched on issues
ranging from the historical
hierarchy of women to
George W. Bush's performance as president.
Regarding the subjugation of women, Steinem
remarked, "Let's look at
the last few thousand
years as an experiment
that failed."
On the notion of women
Feminist activist Gloria Steinem addressed a packed house in
Packard Lab last week as part of a series of lectures marking the
30th anniversary of women at Lehigh.
having no identity without a
man, she mused, "I wonder
if men realize it didn't matter
(to women) which man was
standing next to them."
And on the progress of
the feminist movement,
Steinem explained that "it
took centuries just for
women to be viewed as
human beings. Certainly it
could take more than 30
years for women to finish
their fight for equality."
Her two-hour talk and
question and answer session
was occasionally punctuated
with laughter and, at one
point, gasps of surprise after
the youthful-looking Steinem
announced that she had
celebrated her 68th birthday
the day before.
While conceding that the
feminist movement has far to
Please see ICON, Page 4
Whitman to
address
Class of 2002
Christie Whitman, EPA
administrator and former
governor of New Jersey, .
will address the 1,200
graduates of Lehigh
University's Class of 2002
at the 134th Commence
ment at 9 a.m. Sunday, June
2. During the ceremony at
Lehigh's Goodman Stadium,
Whitman will receive an
honorary Doctor of Humane
Letters degree.
Lehigh Senior Class
President Peter Auerbach of
Bronxville, N.Y., said, "We
believe former Governor
Whitman is the kind of
speaker who will inspire our
class because of her record of
achievement in balancing
environmental and economic
goals. Her accomplishments
demonstrate that you can be
personally successful while
also making a difference in
other people's lives."
Lehigh President Gregory
C. Farrington added that, as
head of the EPA, "Christie
Whitman is continuing her
record of forging strong
partnerships among citizens,
government and business to
produce measurable
environmental results of
cleaner air, water and land.
"At Lehigh, our students
learn that such partnerships
are key to success in work
and life. So I am confident
that former Governor
Whitman's message to the
Class of 2002 will resonate
strongly with graduates,
parents, families and friends."
Whitman was sworn in as
EPA Administrator on
January 31, 2001. Prior to
that, she served as the 50th
Governor of New Jersey. As
governor of New Jersey,
Whitman developed a strong
environmental record,
providing cleaner air, water
and land than when she was
first elected in November 1993.