SAS Journal

Felonious Thoughts?
Better Not!
SAS Adds Criminology Department

Penn has become first among the Ivies to have a department of criminology,
Dean Preston announced in June (see Dean’s Column, p. 6). The new department will be affiliated with the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology, which currently offers master’s and doctoral degrees in criminology. Pending approval of the SAS faculty, the new department will add an undergraduate major to the College’s tally of 51. Several positions will be added to the faculty ranks, including the two assistant professorships already established through a $2 million endowment from Jerry Lee (right), who has contributed more than $7 million for criminology research. Lee is the president of Philadelphia’s B-101 radio.

Criminologist Larry Sherman (left), the Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations and director of the Fels Institute of Government, will be the department chair. Sherman is president of the International Society in Criminology and known throughout the world—in universities and in governments—for his research on the scientific study of crime. “The School’s decision is a giant step for criminology,” he said. “Criminology at Penn will create a unique arts-and-sciences mix of social science, life science, and law. These tools should produce fundamental discoveries about the causes and prevention of crime, helping to create a safer and more democratic world.”

Education for All

History professor Rick Beeman, a scholar of early American history, saw the fruition of a long-held dream when the National Constitution Center (NCC) opened in Philadelphia on July 4. He was involved with the center from its beginning in 1987, working with a panel of scholars to design engaging programs and exhibits, and he was the NCC’s first visiting fellow. “We have an opportunity through our influence on the NCC’s programs to extend our reach as an institution,” Beeman explained, “influencing the way people think about citizenship well beyond our traditional clientele.”

Honorable Fellows

Biologist Tony Cashmore, the Robert I. Williams Term Professor, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors accorded U.S. scientists. Cashmore is director of the Plant Science Institute and studies the mechanisms by which plants respond to light. The Royal Society of London, the world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, named Nobel laureate Alan MacDiarmid and Michael Klein as members. Both are members of the chemistry department. MacDiarmid is the Blanchard Professor of Chemistry, and Klein is the Hepburn Professor of Physical Science. The society’s fellowship includes such luminaries as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking. David Cass, the Paul F. Miller, Jr., and E. Warren Shafer Miller Professor of Social Sciences, and Michael Klein were elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

New Top Faculty

Thirty-eight professors have been recruited to the SAS faculty over the past year, among them some superb scholar-teachers. A well-known scholar and poet of 22 volumes, Charles Bernstein has come to our English department from SUNY Buffalo. Three senior recruits for history are the Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History, Steven Hahn, a scholar of the 19th century American South. Stephanie McCurry, who will hold a Merriam Term Chair, is a specialist in 19th century American women’s and gender history. Margo Todd, an expert in early modern Britain, will be the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History. Diana Mutz, a scholar of political behavior and the role of media in political communication, has come to political science. Hers was a joint recruitment with the Annenberg School, where she will direct the Institute on Democratic Institutions. She will be the Annenberg Professor of Political Science and Communication.

Rebuilding Iraqi Marshes

For thousands of years the Iraqi marsh Arabs made their living by fishing, growing rice, and tending water buffalo in the fertile wetlands where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet. Their way of life ended when Saddam Hussein drained the marshes to create large agricultural tracts. Geologist Bob Giegengack, the Davidson Kennedy Professor in the College, and Thomas Naff, emeritus professor of Asian and Middle Eastern studies, believe the wetlands can be revived. “You can build a marshland from scratch, if you have the resources and the time,” said Giegengack, but it’s less expensive to re-flood the land while the vegetation can still reseed. The two SAS professors and others have created the University of Pennsylvania Iraq Consortium, which has submitted a proposal to the U.S. Agency for International Development for funding to do the analysis and modeling needed to resuscitate the marsh.