| Summary: | The Reporter is a publication produced by Western Carolina University featuring news, events, and campus community updates for faculty and staff. The publication began in August of 1970 and continues digitally today. Click on the link in the “Related Materials” field to access recent issues. m EH Reporter November 7, 1986 A Weekly Newsletter for the Faculty and Staff of Western Carolina University / Cullowhee, North Carolina CHINESE GET TASTE OF WNC-FROM INDUSTRY TO STEAK SAUCE When seven Chinese university and government officials discovered exercise bicycles at the Highlands Civic Center, they chuckled. In China, they use bicycles daily for transportation. Here, they hopped on and pedaled furiously in suits, ties and dress shoes, snapping pictures of each other on the bikes and weight machines. "One thing they're definitely very familiar with is bicycles," said Ellerd Hulbert, director of international instructional programs, who arranged the visitors' two-week schedule and accompanied them everywhere. The delegation from Yunnan Province arrived Oct. 19 and departed Monday. They were returning a visit made to Y unnan last October by Chancellor and Mrs. Myron Coulter and Hulbert. On that visit, Yunnan University and Western declared themselves "sister universities" and added an economic development dimension to what has been a cultural and academic exchange between the universities for the last five years. "Now Yunnan Province is interested in pursuing relations on an economic front," Coulter said. "The people are interested in exchange of personnel, technology, and information that can enhance North Carolina and Yunnan." Because the province hopes to establish a Center for Economic Development at Y unnan University, the delegation spent a week here observing the activities of WCU's Center for Improving Mountain Living, the possible model for Yunnan's project. Their activities included seminars on CIML history, its purposes, administration, funding and projects. The group made field visits to projects that CIML helped establish or obtain funding for, such as AgeLink programs at Estes School in Buncombe County and Fairview School in 3ackson County, Liu Shusheng and Yang Guangjun examine material used in making coverings for assembly line robots at Peachtree Industries of Andrews, with LeRoy 3. Ripper, president, while Mary Ruth Jordan sews. where older adults care for children after school. "AgeLink is an idea we borrowed from the Chinese," said Marsha Crites, who directs the program. AgeLink was born after Dorothy Tatum (Elementary Education and Reading) visited China and observed the "children's palaces", where older Chinese teach children traditional crafts and music after school, Crites said. "We felt this was an opportunity to share with the Chinese an idea of theirs that we borrowed." CIML field visits also took the delegation to Peachtree Industries of Andrews, a manu facturer of surgical supplies, robotics covers and other goods, which expanded this year with the help of CIML's Small Business Development and Technology Center; the Smoky Mountain Development Corp.'s small business incubator in Waynesville, where the Chinese interviewed a cabinetmaker; a nursery in Jackson County; and Bryson City's Singer furniture plant, where an employee committee is working to help restart the business. "We have been most impressed with the way CI ML helps the people in the surrounding community of Western North Carolina," said Liu Shusheng, a high ranking Yunnan government official and adviser to the delegation. The delegation's visit began with a tour of Highlands, arranged by Diana Henshaw (director, Continuing Education and Summer School). It included stops at the biological station, school, civic center, and Louise Bascom Barratt Gallery, where discussions focused on the possibility of an exhibit of Y unnan Province handicrafts this summer. "We'd like to have an outlet for Yunnan Province artists in this country, and an exhibit would be a helpful first step," Hulbert said. "It could lead to their selling Yunnan artists' work here." The delegation met with William A.V. Cecil, president and treasurer of the Biltmore Co., who had visited China recently himself. They discussed tourism development opportunities in China, and were Cecil's guests on a tour of the Biltmore House and winery and at lunch at Deerpark Restaurant. "One problem you have is that there are two or more rates of prices in China, the internal price for Chinese residents and the external prices for visitors and tourists," Cecil told the delegation. "For example, a very good dinner in Beijing if ordered by you costs 10 yuan, and if ordered by me, it costs 60 yuan." Cecil pointed out how at Biltmore House it is possible to have the visitors pay for upkeep of the property. "We can keep the visitors happy and pay for the preservation of what is part of the history of our country." He emphasized that tourism should be developed without spoiling the Chinese villages. Two banquets were held in honor of the delegation, one specially arranged for the Chinese leaders to meet WNC business people. At that meeting, Yang Guangjun, president of Yunnan University and head of the delegation, told some 50 people, "The government of Yunnan Province pursues an open-door policy toward trade, so it will ensure that conditions for foreign investment are improved." Possible areas where trade relationships might be established include arts and crafts, tourism, marble, building materials, non-ferrous metals, food processing, forestry products, electronics and light industry. Several WNC people expressed interest in pursuing trade in these areas, specifically marble production. During the banquets, the Yunnan delegation gave Western two vases, and Chancellor Coulter presented the Chinese vistors with Cherokee carvings and a pewter tray. The delegation traveled outside the region to establish business interests, taking a one-day trip to Raleigh for a meeting with Lt. Gov. Robert Jordan and a two-day trip to Charlotte for meetings arranged by the Chamber of Commerce that involved possibly setting up textile, mattress, and grain silo manufacturing plants in Yunnan, as well as oil exploration there. The delegation did not include industrial specialists ready to sign contracts, rather high-ranking provincial government officials who can see that things get done when they return home, Hulbert said. "Projects that result from these conversations are to be mutually beneficial. Our relationships should enhance the economies of both countries." While in Charlotte, they watched their first rodeo and were guests at a barbecue. The novelties for the Chinese group—all but one of whom had never been outside the People's Republic of China—were continuous, from deciphering menus at steakhouses to learning about American customs like Halloween. They were guests at a CIML Halloween Party, and they watched their first football game on Homecoming weekend, when they ate their first American hotdogs. Commonplaces like steak sauce were delightful discoveries. Before leaving Monday, the delegation met with Chancellor Coulter to sign a continuing exchange agreement between WCU and Yunnan University. "We have been very impressed with the beauty of the landscape here and with the friendliness of the people," said translator Li Xiwen. —Karen Anderson MARSHA CRITES (director, AgeLink, C1ML) made a presentation on "programming to reduce intergenerational conflict" as a part of a panel for the Forum on Policies Affecting the Aging Oct. 14 in Asheville. The forum, which was sponsored by the N.C. Center on Public Policy Research, was designed to bring elected officials together with service providers to discuss policies affecting older North Carolinians. MARY ANN BEARDSLEY (assistant director for student activities, University Center) attended the NACA Southeast Regional Conference in Raleigh Oct. 9-12. She presented three educational sessions: "NACA Summer Workshops," "New Professionals: Starting Out and Staying In," and "Outdoor Programs: Dealing with an Agent." She will also be presenting an educational session at the upcoming ACUI regional conference at the University of Virginia. DAN PITTILLO (Biology) was the surprise recipient of the 1985 Individual Award given by the N.C. Trails Committee for his work with the William Bartram Trail. He was presented the award on Oct. 11 at the meeting of the Bartram Trail Society in Highlands. Dr. Pittillo was president of the society for six years, until 1985, and worked on trail location and construction. PAULINE RICE (Administrative Services) is the president of the N.C. Business Education Association and attended the association's meeting in High Point Oct. 2-4 with JEAN DENNEE. Mrs. Rice represented the state group at the Southern Business Education Association which met at Biloxi, Miss., Oct. 22-25 and will do so again at the National Business Education Association in Boston next April. Four Medical Technology faculty were involved in fall seminars of the N.C. Society for Medical Technology (NCSMT) held Oct. 15-17 in Hickory. NORMA COOK presided over the seminars as NCSMT president. BARRY STREET was seminar chairman. DAN SOUTHERN was program chairman and GREG BENNETT chaired the sessions of the Education Scientific Assembly. Twelve seniors and five juniors in Western's program attended the seminars. ZOA ROCKENSTEIN (Human Services) presented a session on "The Evolution of Intelligence: Implications for Gifted Education" at the annual meeting of the National Association for Gifted Children in Las Vegas, Nev., held Nov. 2-6. FACULTY PUBLICATIONS Bruce, R.C. "Larval Period and Metamorphosis in the Salamander Eurycea bislineata." Herpetologica, 41 (1985), 19-28. . "Larval Periods, Population Structure, and the Effects of Stream Drift in Larvae of the Salamanders Desmognathus quadramaculatus and Leurognathus marmoratus in a Southern Appalachian Stream." Copeia (1985), 847-854. . "Upstream and Downstream Movements of Eurycea bislineata and Other Salamanders in a Southern Appalachian Stream." Herpetologica, 42 (1986), 149-155. Dennee, Jean. "Selecting a Computer Gradebook Program." Business Education Forum, 41, 1 (1986), 24-28. Hally, M.K., E.M. Rasch, H.R. Mainwaring, and R.C. Bruce. "Cytophotometric Evidence of Variation in Genome Size of Desmogna-thine Salamanders." Histochemistry, 85 (1986), 185-192. Joyner, Nancy. "Toni Morrison," in Postmodern Fiction, ed. Larry McCaffery. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986. Kilpatrick, Retha L. "Suggestions for Constructing a Validation Examination." Journal of Education for Business, 62, 1 (1986), 13-16. Meyer, Donald O., and Heydar Pourian. "Legal Risk and Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America," in Selected Papers of the American Business Law Association (District One Proceedings), 1986, DD. 218-227. DEATHS Helene Davis Powner Mann of Hendersonville and Rosemary Lewis Maturo of Cullowhee, both 87 years old, died last Wednesday, Oct. 29. Both were married to former faculty members of the university. Mrs. Mann was the wife of Cecil Mann, former head of the psychology department, who survives her. A native of Greensburg, Ind., she had lived in Henderson County since 1974. She received a B.A. degree from the University of California. A retired psychologist, she had served as reading specialist at Tulane University and as psychology consultant at the Cherokee Indian Reservation. She was a member of the American Psychological Association and Pi Beta Phi Fraternity. She was a charter member and first president of the WNC Alumnae Panhellenic. Surviving, besides her husband, are a daughter, Jennifer Evans of Jefferson, Ga., four grandchildren, and a great-grandchild. Graveside services were held last week. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 15 in Carolina Village Hall, Hendersonville. Memorials may be made to Carolina Village Endowment Fund, Hendersonville. Mrs. Maturo was the wife of Frank J.S. Maturo, Sr., who formerly taught Spanish at Western and was responsible for establishing the fraternity system to enhance student life here. Mrs. Maturo herself was a Chi Omega and a charter member of the WNC Alumnae Panhellenic as well as the Cullowhee Garden Club and the Madeline Reid Book Club. She enjoyed playing bridge. A native of Kentucky and a graduate of the University of Arizona, she had lived in Jackson County for the past 30 years. Surviving are her husband; two sons, Frank J.S. Maturo, Jr., of Gainesville, Fla., and Jimmy L. Maturo of Honolulu, Hawaii; a brother, Carroll Lewis of Lyndhurst, Ohio; three sisters, Dorothy Scherer of Louisville, Ky., Hazel Field and Evelyn Wolfe of Georgetown, Ky.; four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Services were held last Saturday in the chapel of Moody Funeral Home. Memorials may be made to the Maturo Scholarship Fund, in care of the WCU Development Foundation, Box WCU, Cullowhee, N.C. 28723. CAMPUS EVENTS Theatre - Two nights are almost sold out already, so better be getting your reservations for The Foreigner, which opens Nov. 13 and has additional performances Nov. 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, and 22. Steve Ayers, its director, says this very funny play by Larry Shue is already becoming a classic. "It sweeps audiences from joy to euphoria," he says. "It's a play about human potential, but the message comes across in a delightful way." Set in Georgia, the award-winning play is about a Britisher seeking peace in a Georgia mountain lodge where he inadvertently learns the dirty secrets of the community, including the plans of the KKK. Call ext. 7365 for reservations. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students and senior citizens. ANNOUNCEMENTS At their last meeting, WCU trustees approved the appointment of Bruce Henderson as acting head of the Department of Psychology and the promotion of Jim Rowell from assistant to associate director of the Office of Public Information. A number of faculty members have been guest speakers in Bill Herbert's "Topics in Journalism" class, illuminating some aspect of current news. Among those who have spoken are JOHN WADE (Economics and Finance), on tax reform; ELLERD HULBERT (International Educational Programs), on the Russians; GERRY SCHWARTZ (History), on terrorism; HEYDAR POURIAN (Finance), on the trade balance and the stock market; BILL HYATT (Criminal Justice), on the drug war; JACK LEGGETT (Athletics), on the World Series playoffs; GORDON MERCER (Political Science), on pre-summit diplomacy; and DON REED (Philosophy), on the alleged "disinformation" campaign of the administration. The English Department hosted the second annual WNC Scholastic Press Association fall workshop Tuesday, Oct. 28. In attendance were 157 students and 14 faculty advisers from 13 area high schools. W SH Reporter November 14, 1986 A Weekly Newsletter for the Faculty and Staff of Western Carolina University / Cullowhee, North Carolina GEOGRAPHERS KNOW WHERE IT'S AT-AND THEN SOME Do you know what country lies between Panama and Nicaragua? Do you know where the Indus River flows? Geographic illiteracy has swept the nation, if not the world. In 1950, 40 percent of college students nationally could name all of the Great Lakes. In 1984, only 12 percent of North Carolina students could do so. According to a test in 1983, about 20 percent of American 12 year olds could not find the U.S. on a world map. Last year a freshman at Western, asked to locate Saudi Arabia on a world map, circled India. He circled Cuba for Jamaica and part of China for Yugoslavia. He placed Ecuador not on the equator but on the Tropic of Cancer—in West Africa, not South America. "It's alarming," says WCU geography professor Jeff Neff. "If you don't know where Nicaragua is, how are you going to know why it's important to us or why we are involved there?" North Carolina has good guidelines for the study of geography as a part of social studies, he says. Beginning in fourth grade, when they study North Carolina and begin to learn map skills, students are supposed to be taught geography. The horizon expands through eighth grade to include first the U.S., then the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. "I've got the kids who are supposed to be the product of this," Dr. Neff says. He teaches geography as a general education course as well as upper-level courses. "It's not the state guidelines that are at fault. It's the teachers not following the guidelines. Something didn't happen when they were in college." Not all North Carolina colleges require their middle-grades education majors to study geography. At Western, these students have to take three hours; some other UNC institutions have geography as an elective. Smaller colleges often don't even have geographers on the faculty. "'How do you ask someone to teach geography if they haven't had a course?" he asks. "Or if they had it, it wasn't taught by a professional geographer?" He had been at Western for some time before he got involved in the problem. "I've been deep into it the past three years," he says. "I'd never paid too much attention to it before. But in 13 years of teaching at Western, I had noticed the ignorance of incoming freshmen in my classes. I decided to try to do something about it." Dr. Neff says that in the last year there has been a resurgence of interest in geography and in the social studies generally. The National Geographic Society has gotten involved and has the prestige to make an impact. The North Carolina Geographical Society has made it a mission to be involved in providing workshops, presentations, and materials to help people do a good job in geography. Dr. Neff has given several workshops on campus and others elsewhere to help close the gap between what teachers need and what they have been taught previously. Next year he will teach a geography course to honors students at Sylva-Webster "in an effort to expose them to exactly what geography is all about," he says. Contrary to popular belief, it's not about being able to name all the state capitals. "Memorizing state capitals is not geography," he says. "Memorizing dates is not history, either. Geography is a science. It isn't description. It isn't trivia. But knowing place names is a useful beginning, like knowing the multiplication tables." After the geographer asks where, he or she has to ask why there, Dr. Neff says. Cultures, landscapes, and economics are all geographical considerations. Geography is a method of looking through space, looking at patterns and distributions over space. He himself is an economic geographer, interested in such questions as economic patterns over the earth's surface. He shows a map of per capita income in which Jackson, Swain, Clay, Graham, and Cherokee counties are several shades lighter—that is, lower in income—than neighboring Haywood and Transylvania counties. His specialty is the tourist and recreation industry. The first step is to find the patterns of its spatial distribution (the where) and then to ask other questions: Why is the industry concentrated there? What is its impact on the culture and the landscape? Next May, for the first time, geography is one of the subjects for study during the Spring in England tour. Students will study the regions of Britain and patterns of its terrain and climate, as well as its peoples and the evolution of the rural landscapes and cities. One week will be devoted to economic geography and one to the geographical background of British literature. The trip, which also includes a theatre course taught by Don Loeffler, was originally scheduled for last year but had to be postponed because too few students could go. Those interested in the tour should contact one of the professors soon. "Geography as a discipline is not very well understood outside the profession, or outside the social sciences," Dr. Neff says. Considering the efforts he and others are making, that may not be true much longer. Several faculty members of the School of Business gave papers during the annual meeting of the Southeastern Chapter of the Institute of Management Sciences Oct. 9-10. CARROLL ABY (head, Economics and Finance) and HEYDAR POURIAN (Finance) wrote "Performance of ARIMA Based Models in Forecasting Hourly Stock Prices." MAX SCHRE1BER (Economics) and Dr. Pourian gave "Earnings Potential of the Air Transportation Companies." Dr. Pourian, JIM CARLAND (Accounting), and JOANN CARLAND (CIS) wrote "The Packwood Tax Bill: Impact on Capital Formation, Stock Market and Capital Budgeting." PATRICK HAYS (Finance) and Dr. Pourian gave "The Risk Premiums and the Yield Curve." WILBURN HAYDEN (Social Work) convened the fall program and meeting of the N.C. Council on Social Work Education at Wrightsville Beach Oct. 17-19. Hayden is chair of the council. He and six social work majors also attended the fall program meeting of the North Carolina chapter of the National Association of Social Workers there. Hayden presented a paper, "The Black Family Structure: Implications for Macro Practice," and moderated a panel on "Women and Minorities in Management." JOHN R. SLATE (Psychology), along with two WCU graduate students, recently presented a paper and poster at the N.C. School Psychology Association's annual convention on Topsail Island. Richard Avery, a student in school psychology, and Dr. Slate presented a poster entitled "A Comparison of WISC-R and WAIS-R Scores for an Educable Mentally Handicapped Sample." David Chick, a student in clinical psychology, and Dr. Slate presented a paper, "Examiner Errors on the Wechsler Scales: Suggestions for Remediation." JERRY COOK (head, Industrial Education and Technology) presented a paper, "Educators in Industry: A Viable Industry Education Partnership," at the Southeastern Industrial Arts Conference in Charlotte Oct. 10. DON WOOD and ANDREW LaTORRE (Industrial Education and Technology) attended the annual conference of the National Association of Industrial Technology in Normal, 111., Oct. 9. Professor Wood presented a paper, "Computer Aided Design Education Utilizing the Macintosh," and LaTorre served as a session host. RICHARD GAINEY, PAUL GOLD, and ALFRED WIGGINS (Speech and Theatre Arts) attended the N.C. Association of Broadcasters annual convention in Charlotte Oct. 11-14. They participated in seminars and news reporting, broadcast sales, and management. KEITH T. STEPHENS (head, Management and Marketing) was one of 30 professors in the Southeast invited to attend a special marketing seminar by the Direct Selling Foundation, which represents such firms as Tupper-ware, Mary Kay, Lady Love Cosmetics, and Consumer Marketing Services. The invitation-only seminar on direct selling will be held in Atlanta Nov. 12. Dr. Stephens participated in a larger two-day meeting of 150 invited professors last December. DONALD L. LOEFFLER (head, Speech and Theatre Arts) attended the Association for Theatre in Higher Education in Kansas City Oct. 9-12. Dr. Loeffler is a founding board member of the AT HE. He recently attended the N.C. Theatre Conference held at Boone. He heads the committee on North Carolina theatre attendance. He auditioned 32 high school students for the theatre scholarship and served as special adjudicator for the summer theatre auditionees. Nine WCU students underwent preliminary auditions for further auditions at the Southeastern Theatre Conference to be held in Richmond, Va., next March. Six were selected to be auditionees and two were selected as alternates. WILLIAM R. LATIMER (Political Science and Public Affairs) took part in a debate on aid to Third World nations with U.S. Ambassador Francis T. Underhill, Jr. in Hendersonville. It was sponsored by the International Community of the Cross of Nails. Underhill is a retired Foreign Service officer and former ambassador to Malaysia, and Latimer was formerly U.S. Economic Attache in Mexico. CLARENCE DelFORGE (Elementary Education and Reading) presented a "A Potpourri of Successful Science Lessons" at the annual meeting of the N.C. Science Teachers Association in Winston-Salem Nov. 7-8. DIANE HOFFBAUER and ARLENE STEWART (Special Services) presented a workshop, "Choosing College," at the N.C. Association of Learning Disabilities' state conference at ASU Oct. 11. A WCU student participated on a panel of learning disabled college students discussing the problems they have had to overcome in postsecondary education. STEPHEN MICHAEL AYERS (Speech and Theatre Arts) was invited as guest director for Dark of the Moon at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, Tenn. In the Bijou Company are former WCU students Peter Phillips, Kate Marshall, and Roger Bright. JAMES B. WOOD (Speech and Theatre Arts) served as adjudicator for the Western Regional Secondary School Play Competition held at UNC-A Oct. 31-Nov. 1. PERRY KELLY (Art) presented a slide lecture on China to students and faculty at Sylva-Webster High and spoke on China at Kennesaw College in Marietta, Ga. During the annual conference of social studies teachers from this region, he spoke on Maya and Inca weaving as well as his travel in Guatemala and Peru. In addition, he recently attended meetings of the board of directors and the corporate board of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown. JEFF NEFF (Geography) presided as chairman over the 17th annual meeting of the N.C. Geographical Society at Elon College Sept. 19-20. The meeting included a presentation on geographic education in the N.C. school curriculum. On Oct. 27, Dr. Neff presented two workshops on "Teaching Geography" at the fall conference of the N.C. Council for the Social Studies, Western Region, held at Haywood Tech. DEANNE WINIARSKI (Accounting) coordinated and accompanied students to Career Day sponsored by the N.C. Association of Certified Public Accountants at Guilford College Oct. 16. It was an opportunity for students Sherry Shepard, Allison Booker, and Van Sowerby to interview with large firms that do not visit Western's campus. HEYDAR POURIAN (Finance) presented a paper-poster, "Multinational Corporation and the Transnational Risk: Lessons from and Exercises in the Modern Financial Theory," at the annual meeting of the Financial Management Association held in New York City. STALLIONS COMING The world-celebrated Royal Lipizzan Stallions will bring their colorful history and spectacular leaps to the Ramsey Center Saturday, Nov. 22, for a single 8 p.m. performance in the main arena. The two-hour show, which features more than 20 horses, is an exciting blend of costumes, lighting effects, music and world-class horsemanship that draws on the more than 400-year Lipizzan history. The show will feature the true art form of dressage first set down by Xenophon in 400 B.C. and include the famous battle tactic called "Airs above the ground"—a spectacular leap into the air with a violent kicking out of the hind legs seldom seen in any other breed. The aerialists of the equestrian world, the elegant white Lipizzans were the horses of aristocrats and royalty, carefully bred and trained since the 16th century to carry on the classical tradition of dressage and the unique Lipizzan art form. Their ancestors carried Genghis Khan out of Asia to conquer much of the known world, and other ancestors in an Arabian strain protected the treasures of the Sahara. The Lipizzans were first bred by Spanish Moors from Andalusian and Arabian stock, and the line remained essentially stable for the 700 years of the Moorish occupation. Much of the history of the Lipizzans is the history of Europe and its dominant rulers. Accounts of their breeding and development are intertwined with the golden years of Spain and Austria and their emperors, archdukes, and kings. While nobles serving with the Austrian army were given Lipiz-zaners to ride, no commoner could own one. The Lipizzaner is a long-lived horse, having a life-span of 30 to 35 years. The foals are usually born black and change slowly over the next six to 10 years to their pure white color. The rare colts born white were chosen, in the days of the Hapsburgs, to draw the royal equipages. Tickets for the Nov. 22 performance are available at the Ramsey Center ticket office in Cullowhee (ext. 7722) and at Stage Door locations in Asheville, Waynesville, Pisgah Forest, Sylva, and Franklin, and WWIT Radio Station in Canton. All seating is general admission. Ticket prices are $8 for adults and $6 for children. ANNOUNCEMENTS The 3azz Ensemble will perform Friday, Nov. 21, at 8 p.m. in the recital hall. Hunter Library will be open part of the Thanksgiving holidays, although it will close at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26, and remain closed Thanksgiving Day. On Friday, Nov. 28, it will be open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. On Saturday, normal hours resume. "Gallery 250" is the new display space for art students in the Graduate School, 250 Robinson Building. A new show of nine works opens with a reception Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 4 p.m. A free showing of the Ingmar Bergman film The Magic Flute by Mozart is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, in Forsyth Auditorium. The screening is sponsored by the NCCAT. It is open to WCU students, faculty, and staff, but rental agreement precludes admission to the general public. m IH Reporter November 21, 1986 A Weekly Newsletter for the Faculty and Staff of Western Carolina University / Cullowhee, North Carolina ADLER AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE When Mary Wheeler took off across the country on an 800-cc BMW touring motorcycle last spring, she wasn't just another -year-old divorcee making a break for freedom. She was performing a living experiment in Adlerian psychology. The guinea pig? Herself. Dr. Wheeler had been codirecting a conference center in Highlands from the time she got her Ph.D. at Georgia State University in 1980. She and her husband were co-directors of "The Mountain," another name for Highlands Camp and Conference Center. When she came to a crossroads in her life last year, she bucked her childhood fears and her parents' warnings and set out to prove that "women can travel alone and be alone if they can find ways to feel safe." She had discovered the pleasures of motorcycle riding on a Honda 90 some years earlier. "People who have never ridden don't realize what a graceful and exciting means of travel it is," she says. "You steer a motorcycle with the body, not the handlebars. The whole body and bike move as one entity, swaying to one side or the other as the shape of the curve demands." She thinks it's a natural sport for a woman. So when she decided to take off a few months and tour the country, a touring bike was a natural choice. To protect herself, she prepared with five weeks of karate lessons ("That helped me sleep better," she says), a motorcycle safety course in Knoxville, and plenty of practice on her new BMW R80RT, with its three-year unlimited mileage warranty. She had to have it lowered slightly so her feet could reach the ground—she's only five feet, two inches tall. She established certain rules of the road for herself. "I did everything I knew how to do to be safe," she says. She wore her protective leather outfit even in 100 degree desert weather. She didn't ride after dark or more than 300 miles per day (later she increased this to 350), she avoided cities except in the middle of the day, she avoided left turns whenever possible, and she stopped every hour and camped by 4 p.m. "Statistics show that most motorcycle accidents occur between k and 7 p.m.," she says. Her closest call involved a deer in the Grand Tetons National Park. It was headed straight for her, trying to cross the road. For a few seconds "which seemed like forever," she and the deer were running side by side; finally, when she realized what the deer was trying to do, she turned up the throttle and pulled ahead so he could cross behind her. People were less of a problem. What she discovered was that everywhere she went, people were fascinated with what she was doing and wanted to help. She had a BMW Owners Anonymous directory, full of phone numbers coded to tell what one owner was willing to do for another. Some would come in an emergency, some would provide storage space, some were mechanics, some welcomed visitors for coffee and conversation. The weather was not a problem, most of the time. Near Albuquerque she encountered her first rough weather, a 60 mph wind blowing the sand around like fog. She stopped at a motel as soon as she could, and by morning there was a light dusting of snow but the wind was gone. The "fairing" or windshield on her bike creates protection from the rain except at slow speeds, but she didn't encounter rain until she was .8,500 miles into her 13,500-mile trek. It was a downpour in which she couldn't even stop under an overpass because so many cars had to pull off the road. So she went slowly until she could exit and get a motel room. Most of the time she camped, using a small tent and a one-burner backpacking stove. She spent three weeks in Wyoming at a National Outdoor Leadership School, backpacking into the wilderness and trying, with 20 others, to make no impact at all. She visited most of the major national parks out West—Zion and Bryce Canyon in Utah, Yosemite and Kings Canyon in California, the Cascades and Mount Ranier in the Pacific Northwest, and many others. She was not alone all the time. She visited her sister in San Diego and other friends in the Northwest. By prearrange-ment, a friend traveling from Atlanta by car met her in Glacier National Park and the two went into Canada to see Banff and Jasper. They hiked in a blizzard on July 3. "The nice thing was not to have to throw the food into a tree at night," she says. "We could put it in her car." Her peak experience came on an earlier trip into Canada, from Washington to Vancouver. She was sitting in a restaurant overlooking the ocean at Pacific Rim National Park, having a shrimp salad sandwich. She said to herself, "It's all going home from here." "I'd really done what I wanted to do," she says now. And she'd learned what she wanted to learn, in her Adlerian experiment. Everywhere she went, she found people could be trusted to help her. One went out of his way to check out an oil leak in Oregon before she went back into the mountains. A storekeeper in Canada gave her a special deal on a half-dozen eggs because he had a bike like hers. "I found good people everywhere," she says. "What I really wanted to prove was that people were good. I felt like I was discovering social interest." Social interest is the mark of a healthy personality in Adlerian psychology, she says. Alfred Adler called it Gemein-schaftsgefuehl, a feeling for the community. It means the ability to empathize with others and meet the needs of the situation rather than oneself, the willingness to contribute without thought of reward, the readiness to cooperate rather than compete. Dr. Wheeler's own work is in the area of Adlerian life styles—the beliefs we have about what we need to do to be accepted and what we need to be to belong in the world. "These are our biased perceptions, our individual rose-colored glasses that we wear," she says. They include untested ideas about ourselves, other people, and the world—for instance, that the world is dangerous or that others expect us to be perfect. Life styles in the Adlerian sense are formed at an unconscious level by the age of 5 or 6, she says, when the child has no verbal skills to analyze what is happening and when the social world is the family. A whole system of parenting has been developed on the basis of Adlerian psychology, she says. One of its tenets is that all behavior has a purpose, even misbehavior. Children; The Challenge by R. Dreikurs is one book following this system. "Adlerians believe each person is unique," she says. Her research is working on the idea that there also are similarities between people, identifying certain categories or themes. In 1982 she published an exercise designed to raise parental awareness of family values and see ways the values might get in their way—especially when there is more than one child in the family. She was asked to serve on the editorial board of Individual Psychology after that article came out. Her latest article, which will appear next June, suggests a way to use early memories to identify people's strengths. Dr. Wheeler was in Oregon when she was offered, by telephone, her new position at Western. It is her first college teaching job. She is qualified as a counseling and clinical psychologist and has done assessments and family therapy in Atlanta; in 1982, she was featured in a Newsweek cover story on "The Parent Gap." She is a graduate of Smith College. Someone asked her if it didn't take guts to go so far and travel in such an independent style. Her answer: "It took a lot of guts to decide to do it. Doing it is pure joy. I'm 45. This is my halftime show." — Elizabeth Addison PAUL HABERLAND (head, Modern Foreign Languages) recently addressed the Council of Independent Colleges at its annual meeting in Lake Geneva, Wis. His topic was "Faculty Development and Student Recruitment through Academic Alliances." Academic Alliances is a national network of faculty collaborative groups involving high school and college teachers in similar disciplines. JAMES W. WALLACE (Biology) assumed his new duties as chairperson of the Phyto-chemical Society of America during the annual meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences August 11-14. E. DUANE DAVIS, FINN-AAGE ESBENSEN, and WILLIAM D. HYATT (Criminal Justice) participated in the professional meetings of the Southern Association of Criminal Justice Educators in Atlanta Oct. 15-17. Davis convened and participated in a round-table discussion on "The Deadly Force Controversy: Its Use by Police and Private Citizens." He also was selected to serve on the association's long-range planning committee. In the roundtable, Esbensen presented information on gun control and Hyatt presented information on "Legal Issues and the Use of Deadly Force." Esbensen also presented a paper, "Thoughts on Deterrence: A Review of the Literature," co-authored with Stephen E. Brown of East Tennessee State University, and was a discussant in the session on "The Moral Imperative: Issues Surrounding the Death Penalty." In addition, Esbensen was appointed book review editor of the American Journal of Criminal Justice and elected second vice-president of the Southern Association of Criminal Justice Educators. DIANE HOFFBAUER (Special Services) served on a panel at a state conference of the N.C. Association of Developmental Studies in Greensboro Oct. 30. She represented WCU's various developmental programs. SCOTT HIGGINS (Health Services Management) presented three workshops as part of the Supervision and Management Update cospon-sored this fall in Cherokee by our School of Nursing and Health Sciences Continuing Education, WCU, and the Mountain Area Health Education Center in Asheville. He gave a talk Nov. 13 to the department heads of Towns County Hospital, Ga., addressing their responsibilities in employee selection and evaluation and the use of progressive disciplinary procedure to coach, discipline, and terminate employees. On Nov. 20, he presented a talk on "Organizational Behavior: Staffing and Motivational Issues" for human services managers at MAHEC during a conference co-sponsored by Western's Social Work Department and the N.C. Network for Social Work Managers. FACULTY PUBLICATIONS Jennie Hunter. "Pull Yourself Out of a Slump," Business Education Forum (November 1986). Allen Moore. "Temperature and Moisture Dependence of Decomposition Rates of Hardwood and Coniferous Leaf Litter," Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 18 (1986), 427-435. Keith R. Stetson. Book Reviews in the Core Journals of Library and Information Science: A Bibliometric Analysis. 1986. (ERIC/IR ED 269 016) Mary S. Wheeler, Roy M. Kern, and William L. Curlette. "Factor Analytic Scales Designed to Measure Adlerian Life Style Themes," Individual Psychology: The Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research & Practice, 42, 1 (March 1986), 1-16. WATERS IS RECOGNIZED NEWS BRIEFS It's been a month of honors for Coach Bob Waters, Western's head football coach for many years. This week he was named "University Educator of the Year" by the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, and Thanksgiving Day has been declared "Bob Waters Day" at Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C. In making that declaration, President Kenneth B. Orr told Waters, "We are proud to claim you as a distinguished alumnus of Presbyterian College. As one of America's fine football coaches, you are a splendid example of the values of excellence and integrity that we hold dear at PC." Presbyterian and Newberry College traditionally play in the Bronze Derby football game on Thanksgiving Day. At half time Nov. 27, Presbyterian will announce its new Bob Waters Award. President Orr told Waters the award will go to "those former players who are providing outstanding athletic leadership as coaches, thereby personifying the qualities that you represent." The game begins at 2 p.m. Waters and his family and special friends will be honored at a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal at the college before the game. In addition, last week a production unit from the national Muscular Dystrophy Association in New York was in Cullowhee to film Waters for the 1987 Jerry Lewis Telethon. Waters has been diagnosed as having amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The eight-man crew filmed at the Waters home Friday and Sunday, and covered Waters during the Catamounts' 33-20 win over Marshall University on Saturday. "There have been things written and telecast nationally about Bob Waters," said consulting producer Jerry Auerbach. "We are planning a more intimate story. Many of the things you see and read don't look at what the disease really is like and how important it is to find a cure for it." The November issue of Western's university magazine, Western Horizon, reprinted a feature on Waters and his handling of the illness from The Los Angeles Times. Recital - Alex Lesueur will perform on the flute in a faculty recital Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 8 p.m. in the Recital Hall. Women's Network - Women interested in exploring issues relating to women at Western are invited to meet each Wednesday at 12 noon in the Cardinal Room of Hinds University Center. Bring a lunch. Hunter Library will be open part of the Thanksgiving holidays, although it will close at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26, and remain closed Thanksgiving Day. On Friday, Nov. 28, it will be open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. On Saturday, normal hours resume. O'CONNOR TO DO OPI RADIO William E. O'Connor, county director of mental health for Jackson County under Smoky Mountain Area Mental Health and director for the mental health center on campus since 1978, will be doing radio interviews for the Office of Public Information. Perry Eury has been producing and distributing the radio news briefs for OPI for the past few years as a way to disseminate faculty and staff expertise. O'Connor does counseling and psychotherapy, including marital therapy. For some time he has been doing the Monday morning "Anything Goes" program on WRGC-AM, at first on his own and now with other staff from the center. He enjoys his radio work as a change from the intensity of therapy. He looks forward to his new work with the WCU interviews because, he says, "they might help me understand better what's going on on campus" and help add more balance to his life. "That's one thing I pursue with my clients—balance in their lives," he says. A former Peace Corps regional director, O'Connor grows apples on Green's Creek. He and his wife, Barbara, a nurse at the WCU Infirmary, have three daughters who are married and live in Charlotte. The O'Connors also have seven grandchildren.
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