Stories this week at WFU

AUTUMN LEAVES COLOR FORECAST – If this year’s plentiful rain combines with frosty nights in the next few weeks, the North Carolina autumn color display may be tremendous, says William K. Smith, Babcock Professor of Botany. But, he cautions that no studies have proven that these factors definitely create more spectacular fall leaves. In a good growth year like this, trees are healthier and produce more leaves, he says. That will potentially make this year’s display better than last year’s. He can explain how cold nights and clear days of fall can also affect the leaf pigments that create the beautiful purples, oranges, yellows and reds this time of year. Smith studies leaf structure and has done extensive research on how plants respond to harsh environments. To arrange an interview, contact Cheryl Walker at walkercv@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.

SENIOR ONE OF GLAMOUR MAGAZINE’S TOP TEN COLLEGE WOMEN – Rosita Najmi, a Wake Forest senior, has been named one of Glamour magazine’s “Top Ten College Women” for 2003. Najmi, who co-founded a nonprofit organization to provide medical supplies to Benin, West Africa, is featured in the October issue. She is an economics major from Knoxville, Tenn. She and a fellow student started the outreach project after a 2001 study abroad trip to Benin led by Sylvain Boko, associate professor of economics. In addition to a profile in the magazine, winners receive $1,500, a trip to New York City and opportunities to meet with top women professionals in publishing, medicine, music, education and government. To arrange an interview with Najmi, contact Sarah Mansell at manselss@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.

POLITICAL ANALYST, GAME THEORIST TO SPEAK AT WFU – Steven Brams, author of “The Win-Win Solution” and professor of politics at New York University, will give the lecture “Is There a Better Way to Elect a President?” at 7 p.m. tonight in Wake Forest’s Brendle Recital Hall. The free, public lecture is the first in a series of events planned for the 2003-2004 academic year as part of the celebration of the theme “Fostering Dialogue: Civil Discourse in an Academic Community.” Brams, who has done extensive research in the areas of dispute resolution and alternative voting methods, says elections can be viewed as games by many participants. He suggests an alternative method of voting called approval voting that allows voters to vote for as many candidates as they find acceptable. To arrange an interview with Brams, contact Jacob McConnico at mcconnjn@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.

WFU STUDENTS TURN UNWANTED ITEMS INTO CHARITABLE GIFTS – Items collected during Wake Forest’s annual Stop, Drop & Go, a program that collects discarded dorm room items from students in the spring and sells them to the public in the fall, will be on sale from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 13. The sale will be held near the intersection of Polo Road and Long Drive, across from First Assembly of God. The Stop, Drop & Go program was started two years ago by four enterprising Wake Forest students, and last year the group raised more than $1,000 for Samaritan Inn. All money from the sale goes to charity and this year the proceeds will go to Crisis Control Ministries. Items available at the sale include clothes, room accessories and decorations, textbooks, school supplies and space-saving devices. To arrange interviews with the organizers, contact Jacob McConnico at mcconnjn@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.

SPEAKER TO UNVEIL LOCAL AFRICAN-AMERICAN LABOR HEROES – Robert Korstad, author of “Civil Rights Unionism: Tobacco Workers and the Struggle for Democracy in the Mid-Twentieth-Century South,” will present a lecture at Wake Forest based on his book Sept 22 at 6 p.m. in Scales Fine Arts Center, Room A102. In his lecture, titled “Like Being Reconstructed: The Legacy of Labor and Civil Rights Activism in 1940s Winston-Salem,” Korstad contends that the defeat of civil rights unionism continues to limit civil rights efforts for economic equality today. To arrange an interview with Korstad, contact the News Service at336- 758-5237.

UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS SHADOW STUDENTS, SHARE EXPERIENCES – The official kick-off event for Wake Forest’s 2003-2004 theme year, “Fostering Dialogue,”will be a university agora on Magnolia Court from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 18. The Greek agora was a marketplace where people met to discuss their daily lives, to talk about culture and politics of the day, and to exchange ideas in common dialogue. In that spirit, members of the Wake Forest community will come together in an outdoor setting to listen to senior university administrators and students discuss the ways that dialogue occurs on campus. Four senior administrators plan to spend Sept. 17 shadowing students, going to classes, eating with students and attending student events on campus. The administrators and the students they interact with will report on their experience at the agora. For more information or to schedule coverage of the event, contact Jacob McConnico at mcconnjn@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.