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November, 2000

Contaminated history of artifacts	Online wine
A day for discovery	Filling the learning gap
Translating to gold

Contaminated history of artifacts

A conference held at SFSU in late September examining the chemical contamination of Native American artifacts received nationwide attention from the media, including the Associated Press, KQED and a front-page story in The San Jose Mercury News. The conference gathered various researchers, professors, and representatives from 110 tribes throughout California to discuss chemical contamination of artifacts returned to Native American tribes from museums under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Research by Peter Palmer, associate professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, found that many of the artifacts contain arsenic, mercury and DDT. California Studies Program Director Lee Davis, who acts as a consultant for the Hoopa tribe, said:" For people who are hearing about this for the first time, it's only human to be scared and angry."

A story in the Sept. 15Ð21 issue of the San Francisco Business Times explored the wine industry's attempt to reach additional customers through marketing and selling on the Internet. SFSU Management Professor Rick Castaldi was quoted in the article, saying:"The Internet could provide a little more diversity to the marketplace."In terms of wine Web sites reaching a broader geographical and demographical customer base, including the global market, Castaldi said:"Online wine sites will certainly be a drivi ng force, though not the driving force for globalization. But domestically, small and specialized vintners will more easily get their name out to people via the Web."

The Oct. 8 Sunday edition of the San Jose Mercury News included an advance story about"Discovery Day,"the annual science exhibition and open house held by SF State's Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies (RTC). The article highlighted the family-oriented event and offered a detailed history of RTC and its focus on marine-based research."Our goal for this day is to get kids excited about science,"said RTC Director Alissa Arp. Research technician Sean Avent, an expert on copepods, said he was l ooking forward to sharing his enthusiasm about microscopic sea creatures with children."There's a massive amount of little bugs out there,"he said.

On Sept. 24, the Sacramento Bee ran a story about a forum titled"Leave No Child Behind,"held by the Sacramento City Unified School District, the Urban League, and The Observer newspaper. The event included an open discussion for its 2,000 participants on how to minimize the academic disparity between African-American children and their classmates."If we want to educate African-American students, we have to put something in the process that is unique and special to them,"said Black Studies Professor Wade Nobles."Education is a cultural phenomenon."

A Sept. 5 article in the Twin Cities Times featured French Professor Pierrette Jeanmonod and her experiences translating French and English at the Olympics. Jeanmonod has been a translator for rhythmic gymnastics judges and coaches since 1984 after helping Andrea Schmid, then an SFSU kinesiology professor, translate for her position as a member of the rhythmic gymnastics technical committee for the International Gymnastic Federation. In Sydney this year, Jeanmonod also helped translate for artistic men' s gymnastics, artistic women's gymnastics and trampoline gymnastics."The best thing is to meet all those people from all over the world that I only have a chance to meet at the Olympics or events like that,"she said."It's diversity, real diversity! It's so wonderful, all the people, all over the world."

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