Briefly Noted

Honors College to Present Panel of Experts on “America’s Looming Fiscal Crisis”

The University of Pittsburgh Honors College will present a panel discussion titled “America’s Looming Fiscal Crisis: An Election Year Wake-Up Call” at 8 p.m. March 25 in the Twentieth Century Club, Oakland.
The presentation, part of the Honors College’s American Experience Lecture Series, will be held in collaboration with The Concord Coalition, a nationwide, nonpartisan grassroots organization that advocates responsible fiscal policy.

The panel will be moderated by Paul H. O’Neill, former U.S. treasury secretary and the former chair and chief executive officer of Alcoa. The panel will feature David M. Walker, U.S. comptroller general from 1998 until his resignation earlier this month; Robert L. Bixby, executive director of The Concord Coalition; Alice M. Rivlin, senior fellow at The Brookings Institution; and Brian M. Riedl, senior policy analyst of The Heritage Foundation.

The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Those interested in attending must RSVP by noon March 25 with name, phone number, and the names of additional attendees to uhcevent@pitt.edu or 412-624-6880. —Anthony M. Moore

Pitt Wellness Fair Set For March 25

Pitt will host its 2008 Wellness Fair from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. March 25 in the William Pitt Union.

More than 35 booths will be on display to promote good health and fitness. Fred Goss, codirector of Pitt’s Wellness Program, said the fair is a great opportunity to raise awareness of health issues within the University community.

Many interactive activities will be available, including health screenings for body composition, blood pressure, cholesterol, hand strength, nutrition, and hearing. There also will be professional demonstrations of pilates, yoga, aerobics, and kickboxing, among others.

The Wellness Fair is part of the Wellness Program’s education outreach activities. Pitt’s Benefits Department and UPMC Health Plan are sponsoring the event.

More information is available at www.pitt.edu/~wellpgm. —Anthony M. Moore

Pitt School of Law Lecture To Feature Death Penalty Opponent

Bryan Stevenson, known as one of the nation’s most powerful speakers against the death penalty, will deliver a lecture titled “Race, Death, and Psychic Harm: The Continuing History of No Truth and No Reconciliation.”

Stevenson, a New York University School of Law professor and founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama, will deliver the talk at noon March 27 in the Barco Law Building’s Teplitz Moot Court Room. The event—a University of Pittsburgh School of Law Lawyering for Social Change Lecture—is free and open to the public.

Stevenson graduated from Harvard University in 1985 with a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government and a J.D. degree from the School of Law. He became a staff attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, where he represented capital punishment defendants and death row prisoners. In 1989, he began his work with the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit organization that defends the rights of the poor and people of color. Stevenson and his colleagues have successfully reduced or overturned death sentences in more than 65 cases in Alabama. —Patricia Lomando White

Hollingsworth to Discuss Variation in Discovery Rates at Research Institutions

J. Rogers Hollingsworth, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an active researcher and lecturer, will present a lecture at the University of Pittsburgh analyzing why the biomedical research institutions vary widely in their capacity to produce major discoveries.

Hollingsworth, whose talk is titled “Evaluating Performance of Biomedical Research Organizations,” will speak at noon March 27 in Scaife Hall’s Auditorium Six. His presentation is a Senior Vice Chancellor’s Special Lecture.

“I find (Hollingsworth’s) research fascinating and thought-provoking, particularly in light of his insights about successful biomedical research,” said Arthur S. Levine, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean of Pitt’s School of Medicine.

Hollingsworth has identified several key factors that influence the rate at which major discoveries in biomedical science occur.

Institutions that are structured to adapt quickly to the fast pace of scientific and technological changes have an advantage, he said. Institutions making numerous major discoveries also have visionary leaders who foster a high degree of interdisciplinary activity across diverse fields of science. —Megan Grote Quatrini