Individuals and teams to receive MIT Excellence Awards
MIT will hold its third annual MIT Excellence Awards ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at noon in Wong Auditorium (Building E51). Vice President for Human Resources Laura Avakian and President Charles M. Vest will give opening remarks. Refreshments will be served at 11:30 a.m. and a luncheon reception will follow. All members of the MIT community are invited to attend.
The Excellence Awards are among the highest honors given to MIT staff for exceptional contributions to the Institute. Thirteen individuals and six teams from campus and Lincoln Lab were chosen from more than 100 nominations. For more information, visit the Reward and Recognition web site at http://web.mit.edu/hr/rewards/excellence or call program administrator Kande Culver at 253-5986.
401(k) Investment Fair on Oct. 9
The Benefits Office will present its second annual 401(k) Investment Fair on Oct. 9. The all-day event in the Stratton Student Center will feature seminars including "Investment Fundamentals," "Selecting Your Investments" and "Positioning Your 401(k) in a Changing Market." The keynote address, "The Market Goes Up! The Market Goes Down! Are You Prepared For Both?" will be delivered by Ren Chang, Fidelity's investments portfolio manager. There will also be raffles, a cybercafe with refreshments, and individual consultations for MIT employees. For more information, see http://web.mit.edu/hr/benefits/supp401k_sessions.html or call 258-8872.
Post IAP course ideas
Members of the MIT community planning to offer a course in the 2004 Independent Activities Period (IAP) can post it online now. Activities posted by Oct. 31 will be printed in the IAP 2004 Guide, which will be distributed beginning Dec. 3. Any MIT affiliate can create an activity independently or with a department or group. To post a course, go to http://web.mit.edu/iap. An MIT personal certificate is required. Questions about IAP should be directed to the Academic Resource Center at 253-1668 oriap-www@mit.edu.
Doherty chair nominations open
Nominations are open for the Doherty Professorship in Ocean Utilization. Nontenured MIT faculty members from any department are eligible. Endowed by the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation, the chair assists in marine-related research that will encourage innovative uses of the ocean's resources. Any aspect of marine use and/or management may be addressed, whether social, political, environmental, economic or technical. The 2003 chair holder, Associate Professor Charles Harvey of civil and environmental engineering, studied the dynamics of coastal groundwater in Cape Cod's Waquoit Bay.
Appointees receive $25,000 a year for two years beginning July 1, 2004. Winners cannot hold another MIT-funded chair. The deadline for applications is Oct. 31, with the winner announced in early 2004. Those interested in being nominated should contact their department heads. For more information, contact ReRe Quinn in Room E38-300, 253-9305, rere@mit.edu.
Bilingual/bicultural center hosts symposium on multiculturalism
The Center for Bilingual/Bicultural Studies and the foreign languages and literatures section will host "Beyond U.S. Multiculturalism? Asian Diasporas and New Transnational Cultures," a symposium on Oct. 23-25. The event will feature writers, filmmakers and scholars whose work deals with aspects of the different Asian diasporas. Highlights include a screening of "Monsoon Wedding" and a presentation by filmmaker Mira Nair, introduced by Professor Shigeru Miyagawa, on Oct. 25 starting at 7 p.m. in Room 10-250.
The moderator for the symposium will be Professor Isabel de Courtivron, CBBS director. The schedule and other information is online at http://web.mit.edu/cbbs/about.htm.
Funds are available for ideas on graduate student life
Dean Isaac Colbert is soliciting proposals for use of the student life fee to create a more balanced and fulfilling graduate experience. Everyone in the MIT community is eligible to apply. Colbert has allocated $100,000 for this effort. Proposals may focus within a discipline, across departments, within residence halls, across a variety of groups and elsewhere. They may be of broad scope or for one-time events.
For more information, see http://web.mit.edu/gso/community/community.html, attend a walk-in session today (Oct. 8) from 4-5 p.m. in the Student Center lobby, or e-mail Heather Fry at heatherf@mit.edu. Proposals are due on Oct. 15.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on October 8, 2003.
