Pitt String Quartet Will Perform New Composition April 16

The University of Pittsburgh String Quartet will give a performance titled “…And Stars Will Appear” as part of the Heinz Chapel Pittsburgh Artists Series at 8:30 p.m. April 16 in Heinz Memorial Chapel. Admission is $12.

“…And Stars Will Appear” is an original composition by violin instructor Roger Zahab, director of Pitt’s symphony orchestra. The concert also includes works by Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, and Tison Street.

“...And Stars Will Appear” is the series-culminating performance of the Heinz Chapel Artists Series, which featured performances by Jessica Lee, the Ferla-Marcinizyn Guitar Duo, Yee-ha Chiu and Barbara O’Brien, and Daphne Alderson.

For more information, call 412-624-4157 or visit www.discover.pitt.edu/chapel.

—Audra Sorman

Bayer Lectureship to Feature DuPont Exec Linda J. Fisher

Linda J. Fisher, vice president and chief sustainability officer of DuPont, will deliver two free public lectures at Pitt’s two-day 2005 Bayer Distinguished Lectureship. The first lecture, titled “Successful Innovation—More Than Just Good Technology Development,” will be held at 5 p.m. April 13 in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium. A reception will follow. Fisher’s second lecture, “Digging into the Details—Why Stakeholder Engagement Is Becoming Essential for Successful Innovation,” will be held at 9:30 a.m. April 14 in Room 1175, Kresge Conference Center, in the Benedum Engineering Hall.

Fisher earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in business at Miami University, the Master of Business Administration degree at George Washington University, and the J.D. degree at Ohio State University. She served as assistant administrator in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances and has been chief of staff to the EPA Administrator.

In 2004, Fisher joined DuPont, where she works to advance progress in achieving sustainable growth in environmental and health programs, stewardship programs, and global regulatory affairs.

Bayer Material Science, one of the world’s largest producers of polymers and high-performance plastics, is hosting the event in conjunction with Pitt’s Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. For more information, call the department at 412-624-9630.

—Audra Sorman

Cosby Receives GSPH Porter Prize for 2005

Entertainer, comic, actor, educator, and social commentator Bill Cosby received the Pitt Graduate School of Public Health’s (GSPH) Porter Prize for 2005 in recognition of exemplary performance in health promotion. The prize was announced during an April 5 “community conversation” between Cosby and students from Pittsburgh’s Reizenstein Middle School and their parents.

Among the audience members were some of the seventh-grade students and their families who are participating in the GSPH and Pittsburgh Public Schools collaborative program, “Healthy Class of 2010.” More than 3,000 middle school children are part of this multiyear effort to eliminate disparities in minority children’s health and academic achievement.

Cosby was selected to receive the 2005 Porter Prize in recognition of health promotion messages he has shared through his writings, television programs, and standup comedy routines, as well as through community conversations in other cities across the nation.

The Porter Prize presentation was part of GSPH’s commemoration of National Public Health Week, April 4-10. Established in 1983 by the Health Education Center, Inc., to heighten awareness of health promotion and disease prevention, the Porter Prize is named in honor of the center’s founding chair, Milton Porter (1910-1996), who also served as a director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and The Carnegie Institute. Since 1999, the prize has been administered by GSPH, with support from The Adrienne and Milton Porter Charitable Foundation.

—Alan Aldinger

Alumnae Council to Hold Annual Spring Event April 14

The Alumnae Council of the University of Pittsburgh Alumni Association (PAA) will hold its annual spring event, “Roots and Branches: Nurturing Women at Pitt Since 1920,” from 6 to 8:30 p.m. April 14 in the William Pitt Union Lower Lounge.

Carole Krick Walsh (EDU ’75), cofounder of Urban Farming Initiative, will give the featured presentation on permaculture—self-sustaining productive landscapes which, once established, require minimum care.

The event also will include readings by four Pitt poets from their works on themes concerning women and growth. Attendees will have the chance to meet Nancy Welfer (LAW ’49), the Alumnae Council’s 2005 Distinguished Alumna, and Alicia Bergbigler, its 2004 scholarship winner. The Alumnae Council also will announce the 2005 scholarship recipient.

There will be a silent auction, 50-50 raffle, hors d’oeuvres, beverages, and desserts. Tickets are $30 for PAA members and $35 for others. All proceeds benefit the council’s Endowed Scholarship and Lantern Night funds. For more information, call 1-800-258-7488.

—Patricia Lomando White

Pitt Nationality Council To Hold Cabaret Ball

The Nationality Council of the University of Pittsburgh will hold the 39th Annual International Cabaret Ball at 5 p.m. April 16 in the Kurtzman Room and Ballroom of the William Pitt Union.

The ball will highlight the Women’s International Club, Quo Vadis Alumni, and Quo Vadis. Cabaret and dance performances by the MacFarlane-McIntosh School of Highland Dance and the Olympic Dancers of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh will follow a social and buffet dinner. Ethnic dress is encouraged.

The Nationality Council, which sponsors the event, is the governing body of the Nationality Rooms committees and raises funds to provide scholarships for Pitt students to study around the world.

Tickets, which include the social, dinner, and dancing, are $30 for nonstudents and $15 for students. To make a reservation, mail a check payable to the University of Pittsburgh to the attention of Susan Langer, Nationality Rooms Program, 1209 Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.

For more information, call 412-624-6150.

—Audra Sorman

Nobel Laureate in Physics Glaser to Speak Here April 15

Pitt’s Department of Mathematics will present Nobel Laureate in Physics Donald A. Glaser, who will deliver a lecture titled “What Can We See, How Do We See It, and Why Do We See Things that Aren’t There?” at 4 p.m. April 15 in Room 343, Alumni Hall.

Born in 1926 in Cleveland, Ohio, Glaser earned the Bachelor of Science degree in physics and mathematics at Case Institute of Technology in 1946. In 1950, he earned the Ph.D. degree in physics and mathematics at the California Institute of Technology. Glaser received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1960 for inventing the bubble chamber, used in high-energy nuclear physics.

A professor of physics and neurobiology in the Graduate School of the University of California, Berkeley, Glaser is currently investigating the human visual system and creating computational models to explain its performance.

This event, presented in association with Pitt’s Office of the Provost, School of Arts and Sciences, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.math.pitt.edu.

—Audra Sorman