Stories this week at Wake Forest

STUDY EXPLORES EFFECTS OF EXERCISE, DIET ON ARTHRITIS

According to a Wake Forest University study, exercise and diet may improve physical function and the quality of life for senior citizens afflicted with osteoarthritis of the knee. The study, funded by a grant from the National Institute of Aging, targets overweight men and women ages 60 and older who have mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis. Stephen Messier, the lead researcher on the project, is currently recruiting additional subjects to continue the study. To arrange an interview with Messier, call the News Service.

LEGACY OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS FOCUS OF TALK

Luis Roniger, a senior lecturer of sociology and anthropology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, will discuss human rights violation in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 26, in the Scales Fine Arts Center, Room 102. His lecture will focus on how the new democracies of these countries are dealing with the legacy of human rights violations committed under previous authoritarian rule. The public event is free. Roniger is currently serving as a visiting professor with Wake Forest’s anthropology and sociology departments.

FORMER YUGOSLAVIAN MINISTER OF JUSTICE TO SPEAK

Tibor Varady, a law professor from Central European University in Budapest, will discuss law and ethnicity in the former Yugoslavia on Wednesday, Jan. 27. The free and public lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Scales Fine Arts Center, Room 102. In addition to his teaching career, Varady was elected to the Serbian Parliament in 1990 and the Yugoslav Parliament in 1992. He served as Yugoslavia’s minister of justice from 1992 – 1993.

FOUNDERS’ DAY ADDRESS BY ACTIVIST WOLE SOYINKA

Wole Soyinka, a Nigerian author and political activist, will deliver the Founders’ Day Convocation address during the 11 a.m. ceremony on Tuesday, Feb. 2, in Wait Chapel. Soyinka, a poet, playwright and novelist, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1986. He is currently the Woodruff Professor of the Arts at Emory University. Through his writing and protest activities, Soyinka spoke out against the Nigerian government concerning human rights issues. Eventually, he had to flee the country and live in self-imposed exile for numerous years. He returned for the first time in 1998.

Categories: Events, Research, Speakers