Newsmakers for February 7, 2000
First Monday
Newsmakers

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February 7, 2000

Activist honored Matching genes
Not as wooden as his false teeth Performance is the true test
SFSU in SOMA? DNA tracking takes flight


Activist honored

The November 20 edition of the San Francisco Examiner reported on SF StateÕs decision to name a room in the Cesar Chavez Student Center the Richard Oakes Multiculural Student Center. Oakes was a leader and spokesman for the American Indians who occupied Alcatraz from 1969 until 1971, an act of protest that brought attention to the plight of Indians who had been relocated to urban communities by the federal government in an attempt to force assimilation. Oakes also served as temporary chair of the American Indian Studies Department at SFSU.

Matching genes

U.S. Forest Service ecologist Bill Zielinski claims to have found a group of Humboldt martens living in the Siskiyou Wilderness. It is up to Frank Bayliss, professor of biology at SF State, and the University's Conservation Genetics Laboratory to prove that the animals Zielinski found are indeed Humboldt martens, a species that scientists thought had been hunted to extinction. Bayliss has been comparing frozen scat samples provided by Zielinski with genetic material taken from the preserved skins of known specimens. "I know what I'd like to see and I have a lot of data starting to gel . . . but I haven't anything that I can say that would be definitive," said Bayliss in an article that appeared in the November 25 edition of The Seattle Times. He expects an answer by June.

Not as wooden as his teeth

According to an article in the November 29 edition of The Boston Globe, scholars are rejoicing at the recent authentication of a letter written by George Washington to his brother-in-law because it shows a more humorous side to the nation's first president. Paul Longmore, professor of history at SF State, said, "After the Revolutionary War is over, and more and more as time goes on, Washington finds himself imprisoned in his own image. There aren't enough letters that show his charm and his wit."

Performance is the true test

John Sullivan, head of the Human Resource Management Program at SF State, explained in an article for the December 15 Los Angeles Times why some companies have abandoned their policy of testing newly hired employees for drugs: "If you're recruiting good people who are already working, they're holding down full-time jobs. If you're the star quarterback for one team, I really don't need to do that much checking if I want you to be the star quarterback for my team."

SFSU in SOMA?

On December 16 the San Francisco Examiner reported that Peter Dewees, dean of the College of Extended Learn-ing, will retire from his position as dean to serve as senior project manager on SF State's new downtown campus plan. In addition to CEL's extension programs, the article reports that the new campus would house several of the graduate professional degree and certificate programs currently located at the main campus and could include faculty and staff housing and a day care center.

DNA tracking takes flight

On October 19, the San Francisco Examiner reported on SF State researchers' use of genetic markers to help establish the northern breeding and southern wintering grounds of migratory songbirds, whose population declines have long baffled researchers. Dr. Thomas B. Smith, associate professor of biology and director of SF State's Center for Tropical Research, explained the importance of this technique: "What's novel is using molecular genetic techniques to relate breeding and wintering populations. We can then say this population is OK and this one is declining. Other scientists then can tell us the land-use changes such as crop clearing or grazing that might explain the declines. There's limited money out there, and it would sure help to know if we should focus on the breeding ground or the wintering ground."

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