C L A R E M O N T
the
G R A D U A T E
U N I V E R S I T Y
Pedant
A newsletter for CGU students, and one made from paper
glossy enough to work as a sun reflector.
May 2009
Volume 1, Number 4
3,500 animals representing 260 species in the
most natural-seeming “enclosures” you’ll see
this side of the Serengeti.
I know what
you’ll do this
summer
The minute our last class adjourns, many
of us will make beelines for the bars –
then spend the next week couched on a
lawn chair marinating in sunscreen.
When (or if) this gets old, remember we
live beside one of the most dynamic
regions on earth, full of thousands of
stimulating things-to-do and cultural
events-of-interest. (This is easy to forget
when we spend the year cloistered in the
library). To help you plan your summer,
we’ve provided a (baking) grad-student’s
dozen – in no particular order – of some
of our favorite places and events; think of
them as a primer for what could be your
most exciting summer ever – or at least
since you ran over the guy in the yellow
slicker:
The Huntington Library:
(www.huntington.org, Pasadena) This
incredible collection of historic documents
and art is surrounded by an immense
botanical garden with plant species from
around the world. Along with your high
sensibilities, bring a good pair of walking
shoes.
The Hollywood Bowl:
(www.hollywoodbowl.com, Hollywood)
Since 1922, the Hollywood Bowl has staged
the world’s greatest performers, and this
summer is no exception. Musical acts as
diverse as Depeche Mode to the Mariachi
USA Festival will be there. Bring your
favorite takeout – perhaps a Philly cheesesteak burrito from Hagelbarger’s – and picnic
under the stars.
The Museum of Tolerance:
(www.musuemoftolerance.com, Los Angeles)
A powerful and provocative museum
experience that challenges us to become
witnesses to history as well as confronting the
intolerance that is embedded in society today.
You may get bowled over visiting this famous LA
landmark.
The Getty and the Getty Villa:
(www.getty.edu, Los Angeles and Malibu,
respectively) The Getty and accompanying
Getty Villa constitute one of the most
impressive art collections in the world. Throw
in the incredible gardens and architecture
placed on two of the most prime real estate
sites in Southern California, and you’ve got
yourself a nice way to spend a couple days; or
to see it all: a couple weeks.
Comic-Con International:
(www.comic-con.org, San Diego) If you like
people watching, Comic-Con is an absolute
spectacle of eclecticism. This event has grown
from humble origins to become one of the
most outrageous bazaars of contemporarycreative commerce in the world. (July 23 to
26)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
( LACMA):
(www.lacma.org, Los Angeles) With over
100,000 works of art from antiquity to the
present, LACMA is the largest art museum in
the western United States. (Like many of
these museums, remember to bring your
student ID for a discount.)
The San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park:
(www.sandiegozoo.org, San Diego and
Escondido, respectively) The San Diego Zoo
is pretty much the biggest, baddest, wildest
zoo in the world (also next door to museumrich Balboa Park); and the Wild Animal Park
is an 1,800-acre gem, which houses over
The Griffith Park Observatory:
(www.griffithobs.org, Griffith Park) The
observatory is an icon of Los Angeles, a
national leader in public astronomy, and one
of Southern California's most popular
attractions. Travel the galaxy and beyond by
catching a show at the planetarium.
Taste of the Nation:
(http://taste.strength.org, Culver City) Are you
hungry for a sundry five-star meal that funds a
good cause? Put on by the Share Our Strength
Foundation, the 20th annual Taste of the
Nation will features cuisine from more than
30 top Los Angeles Restaurants, with
proceeds funding an end to child hunger –
gluttony you can feel good about. (June 14)
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
County:
(www.nhm.org, Los Angeles) This is one of
the world’s most extensive and valuable
collections of natural and cultural history. It is
the largest natural and historical museum in
the western United States, and an active
research center, safeguarding more than 35
million diverse specimens and artifacts
covering 4.5 billion years of history.
(Continued on page 4)
CGU factoid
Who is the mysterious person behind
the name “Hagelbarger’s,” and why
does he or she sound so delicious?
!
!
Find out on page 4
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editor’s note:
Whether you’re limping to the end of the
semester or sprinting through your finals, I
think everyone’s keeping one eye (or both)
on summer. Not only summer as some
amorphous oasis in the distance, but the
activities that time off allows. In that spirit,
we’ve put together a list of some of the
great attractions and events in Southern
California that should be of interest to
graduate students.
Also, don’t forget to use the summer to
brush up your c.v. Without classes and
assignments weighing you down, this is a
great opportunity to take on an internship,
plan out your own research project, or do
some writing. If you’re not sure what you
can/should be doing, talk to your
professors; they’ve been where you are,
and probably know how to make best use
of unstructured time.
If you have any ideas for summer activities
or opportunities you think your fellow
students might be interested in, don’t
forget to add them to the discussion board
on the CGU Facebook “Group” page.
awards:
MMF scholarship
The Millennium Momentum Foundation, Inc.
(MMF) will be awarding academic scholarships in
the amount of $3,000 for the 2009-2010 academic
school year to students pursuing careers in public
service related fields (i.e. public administration,
public policy, political science, social welfare,
education administration, etc.).
The deadline for application submissions is Friday,
May 15, 2009. Interested students can access the
application and find out scholarship eligibility and
requirements in the Best and the Brightest
Scholarship Program section of the MMF website at
http://www.millennium-momentum.org/programs/.
To learn more about MMF visit its website at
www.millennium-momentum.org. If you have any
questions, contact the MMF office at (323)
939-9549 or email scholarships@millenniummomentum.org.
2 Otium cum dignitate!
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cgu news:
Celebrating a century
of Drucker
Since last fall, CGU’s
Peter F. Drucker and
Masatoshi Ito
Graduate School of
Management and the
Drucker Institute have
been celebrating the
100th birthday of their
namesake, Peter F.
Drucker. The Drucker
Centennial will span
over a year, with
various events ongoing
throughout 2009, to be
punctuated in
November by a week
of special
commemoration.
Drucker is considered the father of modern
business management. He was the author of
39 books on organizational behavior,
innovation, economy, and society; and
recipient of the Presidential Medal of
Freedom. He came to CGU in 1971 and
taught his last class in the spring of 2002 at
the age of 93. To learn more about the life of
Drucker, and the school’s centennial plans,
visit www.drucker100.com.
Calling all papers:
superhero
conference
Ever wonder what makes Batman tick, what
Wonder Woman’s hiding from in her
invisible airplane, or how they squirm those
shoulders into unitards? Have any theories?
Why not submit them to Understanding
Superheroes, an interdisciplinary
conference to be held at the University of
Oregon, October 23 and 24.
One to two page proposals for 20 to 30
minute conference presentations are being
considered that explore the implications of
superhero fantasies for our understanding of
such diverse topics as gender identity,
queerness, theological yearning, and
nationalist politics. They also welcome
appreciative discussions of superhero
comics as significant aesthetic
achievements – particularly insofar as those
discussions contribute to the ongoing
project within contemporary Comics
Studies, to map the unique conventions of
the comic art form. Above all, they are
interested in sophisticated, lucidly written
analyses that utilize the conceptual tools
and hermeneutic lenses of contemporary
literary and cultural theory.
Testing the markets
Going green doesn’t just mean riding a bike.
The shipping of non-local foods significantly
contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Earn
some extra carbon credit and support local
agribusiness by shopping at Claremont’s two
farmers markets.
Every Wednesday from five to eight p.m. at
the Claremont Packing House, the Green
Market offers fresh, local, and organic
produce – accompanied by live music and
information on green living. The Claremont
Packing House is on 586 West First Street,
just a short walk from Indian Hill Boulevard
and Second Street, where on Sundays you’ll
find the Farmers and Artisans Market. From
eight a.m. to one p.m. browse a block’s worth
of stands selling fresh fruits and veggies,
plants and flowers, and local arts and crafts.
To learn more go to
www.claremontforum.org.
Let your superhero infatuation soar.
Submissions are due by Monday, June 30th.
Send any proposals or questions to Ben
Saunders (Associate Professor, Department
of English) at ben@uoregon.edu.
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President Obama to take a baton to the old financial aid regime.
If your financial life
has given you lemons,
Obama helps you
make lemon(aid)
President Obama knows our financial pain.
According to his campaign, he borrowed
$42,753 to get through Harvard Law
School, and much more to pay for his
undergraduate years at Columbia
University. It wasn’t until his two books
began to sell that he was able to pay off
these debts.
Throughout his campaign, Obama pledged
to improve the role of government in
making college affordable. Sure enough,
included in his budget proposals for this
year and next are expansions of work study,
tax credits, and other student financing
programs – first steps in making good on
his bandstand promises.
Moreover, entrenched in the
administration’s 2010 federal budget is a
possible restructuring of the Stafford Loan
program. The move would terminate the
Federal Family Education Loan Program
(FFELP) and provide loans exclusively
through Direct Lending. FFELP is a
decades-old program that subsidizes private
companies (i.e. Sallie Mae, Bank of
America) that award and finance Federal
Stafford Loans, giving college students
competitive options between the
marketplace and the Department of
Education. However, FFELP has come
under fire from critics who charge it
misallocates taxpayer money – which
should directly finance students – to expand
profit margins for banks.
campaign trail – is by reforming a wasteful
system of student loans that benefits private
banks at the cost of taxpayers,” said
President Obama in a conference call to
Yale Daily News reporters. “Private lenders
are costing America’s taxpayers more than
15 million dollars every day and provide no
additional value except to the banks
themselves. I think the system needs to be
fixed.”
Still, some contend this money is
benefitting students by making loans
available that might better suit their needs.
So what does this mean for us?
Probably nothing. Our CGU Office of
Student Financing has used FFELP lenders
because it wanted to expand students’
options, and there is an agreement in place
to transition to Direct Lending if needed.
It’s likely, however, that this restructuring
won’t effect current students and present
loan agreements will remain in place.
Loan consolidation is another option
students have. You may wish to consolidate
all your loans with the Department of
Education (private lenders have gotten out
of the consolidation business for reasons of
profitability). While this might be a good
choice for one student, it might not for
another; though something to keep in mind
when making this decision: Stafford loans
have a fixed interest rate whereas
consolidated loans have a variable one.
If you have more questions, our Office of
Student Financing is a wellspring of
information, empathy, and guidance.
Contact them at finaid@cgu.edu or go to
their website at http://www.cgu.edu/pages/
1161.asp. Also, www.finaid.org is a good
resource for general information.
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Madame President, Shamini Dias, bundled up
and ready for summer.
GSC election results:
new administration
for 2009-10 school
year
Congratulations to our new Graduate
Student Council (GSC) Executive Board:
President Shamini Dias (School of
Educational Studies), Vice President Rachel
Tie (School of Arts & Humanities),
Secretary Shanna Livermore (School of
Behavioral and Organizational Sciences),
and Treasurer Natalie Dymchenko (School
of Behavioral and Organizational
Sciences).
This new administrations will hold office in
the academic year 2009-10, officially
transitioning on July 1, 2009.
Says Dias: “I am honored to accept the
leadership of the GSC, and very excited
about the strong team we have of committed
school representatives. We have a clear
mission – creating opportunities for
students to connect, collaborate, and grow
as graduate students. We’re still cooking up
plans, but if you have ideas for the pot,
please get in touch with us.”
The names of each school's representatives
and delegates will be announced when all
schools have finalized selecting their
representatives. If you would like to serve
on the council and be a part of the exciting
work in the year ahead, contact your
school's student association, or e-mail
gsc@cgu.edu.
“One way we can make college more
affordable – because a lot of young people
have been asking me about this on the
Leisure with dignity 3
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cgu summer events calendar
May 15 – Spring semester
ends and summer break
begins. Woo-hoo!
CGU Commencement
Forum: “Light and Dark:
Religion in the Heart of
the Conflict,” Albrecht
Auditorium, 2:30 - 5:00
p.m. To learn more e-mail
donna.standlea@cgu.edu.
May 16 – CGU’s 82nd
Commencement
Ceremony: Mudd
Quadrangle 10:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m. And a hardy
congratulations to all
graduate graduates!
May 18 – Classes get
underway and registration
ends for all summer
semester courses so get on
it.
May 21-23 – The Society
for Mormon Philosophy
and Theology’s 6th annual
meeting, Albrecht
Auditorium. Contact the
School of Religion at
religion@cgu.edu for
more information.
May 29 – Gulp! Spring
semester grades are due
from faculty.
(Continued from page 1)
The Museum of Jurassic Technology:
(www.mjt.org, Culver City) This compellingly
eccentric museum hosts a collection of materials
and artifacts that confront the evolution of human
technology. A museum not for the faint of mind.
The Paley Center for Media:
(www.paleycenter.org, Beverly Hills) Formerly
known as the Los Angeles Museum of Radio and
Television, this collection of artifacts and
memorabilia is supplemented by screening rooms,
theatres, and interactive exhibits.
Los Angeles Film Festival: (www.lafilmfest.com,
Westwood Village) The Los Angeles Film Festival
will showcase more than 100 feature films,
alongside gala premieres, panels and seminars,
short film programs, free outdoor screenings, live
musical performances, and unique signature events.
Not to mention, this is a good chance to do some
celebrity watching (don’t pretend that just because
you’re a grad student this doesn’t excite you). (June
18 to 28)
As we said, this is only the start of a possible
summertime checklist. If you would like to
comment on this list, or create your own, visit our
Claremont Graduate University Facebook “Group”
page. From there, feel free to tell us (and fellow
students) which destinations you loved or hated,
would add or subtract. Either way, get out there and
have some fun!
4 Otium cum dignitate
Drucker School Golf
Tournament to be
followed by the Drucker
Centennial Silent Auction
and Social, 5:30 p.m. at
the Eagle Glen Clubhouse:
1800 Eagle Glen Parkway
in Corona. The auction is
free and open to the
public. Come socialize
and support the Drucker
School! For more
information e-mail
druckeralumni@cgu.edu.
June 5 and 12 – Back by
popular demand, the
School of Behavioral and
Organizational Sciences is
the
offering a second section
of its online training
session: “Introduction to
Practical Program
Evaluation: A TheoryDriven Approach,” 10:00
a.m. - 1:00 p.m., both
Fridays. Contact Paul
Thomas at
paul.thomas@cgu.edu or
call (909) 607-9016 to
find out more or sign up
(space will fill up quick).
August 31 – Time to pack
up the beach chair and
show-off on your back-toschool outfits: first day of
fall classes.
For the latest on upcoming
and future CGU events
and important dates visit:
www.cgu.edu/pages/
2059.asp or
www.collegescalendar.org.
August 29 – Summer
semester ends. Time to
show-off your back-toschool clothes.
Pedant is . . .
Brendan Babish — Managing editor
Kevin Riel — Head writer
Liz Nurenberg –– Senior Colorist
CGU factoid
The namesake of our beloved dining hall, lounge, pizzeria, coffee shop, bar, sushi bar,
and grill is none other than Betty Hagelbarger, a long-time and well-liked employee of
CGU. She served our Pedant community from 1977 through 2001 by filling positions
including registrar and dean of students. Even today, she occasionally works with the
provost where she still keeps an office. During her time, staff and students joked about
how tasty the “Hagelburger” they had for lunch was. A christening ceremony was
arranged upon her retirement and the rest is CGU/culinary history.
Graduate tips
CGU Professors Paul Gray and David E. Drew, authors of What They Didn’t Teach You
in Graduate School: 199 Helpful Hints for Success in Your Academic Career, have been
kind enough to allow us to publish one helpful hint from their book in each issue. This
is so that one day you don’t raise your fist in the air and curse CGU for not teaching you
to . . .
77. WORKING IN THE SUMMER. The three months “vacation” you receive can, in
theory, be spent by you in any way you please. Go to the seashore or abroad, write a
book, or work on papers needed for tenure. In practice, young faculty work during the
summer for money to supplement the low salary they accepted. Teaching summer
school, if offered to you, usually is paid miserably.