Faculty

World attention was focused last month on the Green Revolution when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, an American agronomist working in Mexico, who developed a hybrid form of wheat. It is enabling developing nations to use land more productively and, thereby, abolish hunger and promote economic stability.

The College's own Robert E. Huke '4B, Professor of Geography, is contributing to this quiet scientific and social revolution. He recently returned from a year's study at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines where, under support of the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, a new variety. of rice was developed.

He brought a geographer's concern for the social, economic, and political implications of the Green Revolution as he viewed first hand the impact "miracle rice" had upon a Far Eastern nation. Professor Huke was especially interested in the Philippine national election held during his year of observation. Vice President Fernando Lopez, standing for reelection, used miracle rice as his major campaign plank.

"He was reelected by a landslide," Professor Huke reported. "And President Ferdinand Edarlin Marcos, the first president of the Philippines to be reelected, also won by a large margin."

The hybrid rice gains its high yield by being more sturdy, enabling it to receive more fertilizer and support more rice grains. It also has a shorter growing season and, most importantly, it has both an excellent grain shape and taste.

Professor Huke reported, "The Philippine farmers who have adopted the new seed and new agricultural technology are achieving double to quadruple the yield over the yield gained with the old seed and old methods."

Those farmers who are reaping double yield are also more than doubling their income since the improved quality of the crop has commanded higher unit prices. This efficiency has also been translated into national economic terms.

Although thousands of miles away from the front lines of the Green Revolution, Professor Huke says he will continue to monitor these dramatic developments, filled with portent for the developing nations of the world.

Prof. John A. Rassias of the Romance Languages and Literatures Department was one of ten college teachers in the nation to receive a 1970-71 E. Harris Harbison Award for Gifted Teaching from the Danforth Foundation at a New York City dinner. Recipients receive a $10,000 grant to underwrite research and travel.

The award, one of the most coveted in the academic world, seeks to recognize college professors who are "outstanding in the art of teaching, in the significance of their scholarly work, in their concern for the student as an individual, and in their commitment to ethical and spiritual values."

Professor Rassias, who joined the College faculty in 1965, has gained an international reputation for developing new methodology in the teaching of languages. He recently co-authored a manual adapting his methods to teaching modern Greek to beginners, representing an entirely new approach to that language.

The two hallmarks of his philosophy about teaching are involvement and vitality. Involvement is, he says, "a full awareness of self and reality and a commitment to understanding and genuine communication." Vitality, in his view, is one of the many signs of a teacher's commitment.

A consultant and director in Peace Corps language training programs since 1964, Professor Rassias transferred to the College some of the techniques he created in the Peace Corps for language instruction courses. Conversely, some of the training methods he developed at the College he has recommended for Peace Corps use.

He is the fifth member of the College faculty to be so honored by the Danforth Foundation since the Harbison Award was established in 1962. Others are Profs. James M. Cox and Peter A. Bien, both of the English Department; Prof. Fred Berthold Jr. '45 of the Religion Department; and Prof. Joseph D. Harris of the Physics Department.

Dartmouth now tops the list of Harbison awards, followed by the University of California with four (one each from four of its different campuses) and Stanford University with three. Among the Ivy League colleges, two awards each have been presented to faculty from Brown, Columbia and Pennsylvania, and one each from Cornell, Princeton and Yale.

Provost Leonard M. Rieser '44, a member of the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has been named by the board to chair a committee to reassess the functions of the Association and propose appropriate revisions in its constitution.... Dr. Robert J. Chapman Jr., Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical School, writing in Bell Magazine, published by AT&T, reported on the two-way closed circuit television link between the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Claremont General Hospital, initiated in 1967 for psychiatric consultation and since expanded to other medical services.... Prof. Roy P. Forster of the Biological Sciences Department spoke on "Excretion of Foreign Nitrogenous Compounds" at a symposium on nitrogen metabolism and the environment held in conjunction with fall meetings of the American Institute of Biological Science and the American Physiological Society in Bloomington, Ind.... Richard T. Holms, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, delivered a paper on "Comparative Behavior and Taxonomic Relationships of Arctic Sandpipers" at the annual meeting of the American Ornithologists Union in Buffalo, N. Y.

William E. Slesnick, Associate Professor of Mathematics, devoted part of the past summer to one of his major extracurricular interests, working with secondary school teachers. First, he lectured on "The Purpose and Content of the Objective Examination" at an Advanced Placement Mathematics Conference at San Diego State College. Later, as an examiner for the Advanced Placement Examinations he lectured for a week on differential equations at the NSF-sponsored Summer Institute for High School Teachers of Advanced Placement Mathematics at Hope College, Holland, Mich.

Richard Eberhart '26, Professor of English Emeritus, was selected as one of "America's 85 greatest living authors" whose work is included in This Is My Best, an anthology of poetry and prose edited by Whit Burnett. Each author appearing in the volume was selected by balloting of his peers. Once elected, an author was then asked to choose his best work and write a brief explanation of his choice.

A biography of Professor Eberhart by Joel Roache, Richard Eberhart: TheProgress of an American Poet, was published in November by the Oxford University Press. Last month also saw the New York premiere of a color film of him reading his poetry and in conversation. It was produced by Tri-Pix, Inc., of New York City and directed by Samuel Mandelbaum.

Sculptures by Leroy Lamis, Artist in-Residence at the College for the fall term, were exhibited in the Jaffe-Friede Gallery, the Hopkins Center. Executed in sheet plastics, his 24 works are remarkable for their luminosity, color, and shimmering perspectives. A number of pieces completed by Mr. Lamis in the resident artist's studio were seen for the first time.

The sculptor came on leave from Indiana State University where he is Professor of Art. He received his education in art at New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, N. M., and Columbia. He has taught at several colleges and universities and worked in stone, wood, and metal before turning to sheet plastics.

Dr. Richard H. Rech, Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the Medical School, was a panelist on a program entitled "Drugs: The Children Are Choosing" televised by the New Hampshire Educational Network. . . . James M. Cox, Professor of English and Avalon Professor in the Humanities, delivered a paper on "Franklin, Thoreau, Whitman, and Henry Adams: Autobiography and America" at the annual meeting of the English Institute in New York City. . . . lames A. W. Heffernan, Associate Professor of English, is the author of a book, Word-sworth's Theory of Poetry: The Transforming Imagination which was chosen as a selection of the Scholar's Library of the Modem Language Association Book Club. . . . Frank Smallwood '51, the Orvil E. Dryfoos Professor of Public Affairs and Professor of Government, was chairman of the New England Public Service Education Conference in Kennebunkport, Me. . . . Churchill P. Lathrop, Professor of Art Emeritus, and Hannes Beckman, Professor of Art, participated in a panel on "Competing in a New Visual World" at the annual meeting of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen in Concord. . . . Mrs. Ethel Rahaim, Staff Nurse at Dick's House, participated in a six-week workshop at the University of Colorado Medical Center on the health problems of college students.

Prof. Charles B. McLane '41 of the Government Department, a specialist in Soviet foreign policy, had barely returned from a year's study in London when President Nasser of Egypt died suddenly.

"With Nasser gone, it's an uneasy time for the Russians, too. They depended upon President Nasser to keep some sort of moderation in the Arab world," he said in answer to a newsman's query.

"The question is whether Nasser's successor can keep the Arab community in some sort of posture so that the commandos do not win out. The Russians do not want the commandos to win out, for they are an unstable element in Soviet terms. The commandos are more oriented to China than they are to Russia. If they take theory from anyone, they take it from Mao."

In London, Professor McLane studied at the Central Asian Research Center. He also attended seminars and studied at the Institute of Strategic Studies, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and the London School of Economics. He is completing a study of Soviet policies in Asia and Africa since Stalin.

Prof. John A. Rassias (r). receives theE. Harris Harbison Award for GiftedTeaching at a New York dinner, October18, from Dr. William H. Danforth, chairman of the Danforth Foundation trustees.

President Kemeny (left) meeting in his office with a group of 15 Russian engineers and students who visited Dartmouth last month as part of a three-weektour of the U. S. to study academic and cultural developments in this country.