January 31, 2009 | Christian Science Monitor
Many Japanese are daring to ask what has been unspeakable for centuries: Does the country really need an emperor? The royals have no private money, no private phones, and essentially no private lives. Even relationships within the family are managed by the 1,200-person Imperial Household Agency, which has not been diffident in sharing its views. "The values of the imperial family are not part of the equation," says Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University, Japan Campus.
January 30, 2009 | WHYY-FM's "Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane"
In a weekly conversation on national politics, Temple's Kevin Arceneaux, an assistant professor of political science, weighed in on President Obama's first ten days in office. "It's been a tour de force," he said. "Obama has shown that he can be an effective executive, push his agenda forward and do so in a way where he reaches out to the opposition party."
January 30, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
Mike Armstrong's PhillyIn¢ blog explored how the economic downturn has spurred innovation. "A $255,442 grant awarded to Temple University will be used to develop an electric hybrid/fuel cell vehicle that has an extended range and load," he wrote. "We can only hope if Temple researchers are successful, they'll one day be able to license their innovations to the private-sector. The world gets a new vehicle, Temple gets some licensing income and Pennsylvania officials get bragging rights."
January 30, 2009 | WHYY-FM
Coatesville residents are on high alert after a string of arsons. Experts say living with this kind of threat can cause anxiety and stress. Psychiatrist David Baron of Temple's School of Medicine likens the threat of arson to the threat of terrorism. "People don't know, could I be next — it's the unknown that creates the anxiety and stress for people," he said.
January 30, 2009 | Chronicle of Higher Education
Although low sales, high numbers of returns and budget cuts have hit many university presses hard, some are adapting. "I strongly believe that you can't panic in hard times," said Alex Holzman, director of Temple University Press and president of the Association of American University Presses. "You still have to spend money. You just have to spend it wisely." Temple, for instance, now sends out more electronic catalogs, which are cheaper than the paper-and-ink kind.
January 30, 2009 | Philadelphia Tribune
After 38 years in academia, Thaddeus Mathis, professor of social administration, known for his work in promoting cultural identity, is retiring from Temple. In 1991, he created the Institute for Africana Social Work. "The primary focus was to develop a much more culturally centered paradigm for working with our own community," said Mathis. And in 2007, Mathis helped create the Center for African-American Research and Public Policy.
January 29, 2009 | Australian Broadcasting Corporation
For the first time, juries are playing a central role in Japan's courts. Until this year, judges had been in complete control, delivering a conviction rate of more than 99 per cent. "They decided to shake everything up, turn it upside down and see if they could reconstruct a system putting Japan in a position to go forward and become even stronger over the coming decades," said Matthew Wilson of Temple University, Japan Campus. "How can you have a system well 99.9 per cent conviction rate? That tells you that maybe there is a need for fresh look."
January 28, 2009 | New York Times, International Herald Tribune
Starbucks announced that it would close 300 stores, lay off 700 employees who don't work in stores and reduce the number of new company-owned stores it plans to open this year. Some Starbucks watchers say the chain's problems started well before the economic crisis caused consumer spending to shrivel. "Starbucks lost its cultural cache, its value, before everyone became conscious of the economic fallout," said Bryant Simon, a professor of history and American studies at Temple who is publishing a book about Starbucks this fall.
January 28, 2009 | Wall Street Journal's "Health Blog"
Tough economic times have made it harder for customers to get a generic drug used to treat high blood pressure. Two major suppliers, Novartis & KV Pharmaceutical, ran into financial trouble, leading to the shortage of Toprol XL. That has forced patients to switch to similar drugs, causing insurance headaches, according to Alfred Bove, a cardiologist at Temple's School of Medicine and president-elect of the American College of Cardiology. "There are a lot of people complaining that insurers won't pay," said Bove.
January 28, 2009 | San Diego Union-Tribune
A new report finds that doctors who prescribe statins to prevent stroke or heart attack may be downplaying their side effects. But that may be because many — including Alfred Bove, chief cardiologist at Temple University Hospital — believe the benefits outweigh the risks. “If I were to list all of these things, nobody would want to take a statin.”
January 27, 2009 | NBC10
The threat of arson creates stress. Temple psychologist Frank Farley spoke to NBC10’s "All That And More" about ways that frightened Coatesville residents may alleviate some of their anxiety. "We are social animals. Things hurt us more if we keep them to ourselves," he said. "It's important to share this sort of thing."
January 27, 2009 | WHYY-FM
With the passing of Pulitzer Prize winning author John Updike, Pennsylvania's literary world lost one of its own. In his well-known Rabbit series of novels, the Pennsylvania native exported the state to the rest of the country. "Pennsylvania's been known, but I think Updike did it better than anyone else," said Philip Yanella, professor of English and American studies at Temple.
January 27, 2009 | Fox News Channel
Is it contradictory for Rep. John Conyers to have supported President Clinton against charges of perjury and not to support President Bush against charges of war crimes? Not at all, said Temple American studies Professor Marc Lamont Hill on FNC's "The O'Reilly Factor." "When you are talking about war crimes, you are talking about violations of humanity, violations of the Geneva Convention and of International Law."
January 27, 2009 | KMBC-TV (Kansas City)
The cost to fill prescriptions can turn into a financial burden when budgets are tight. If a generic equivalent is not available, ask your doctor if there’s a generic available for a comparable drug, says Albert Wertheimer, professor of pharmacy administration at Temple. “In almost no cases do you do any harm by switching to the first cousin of a medication,” says Wertheimer.
January 27, 2009 | New York Times
The mega-merger between Pfizer and Wyeth also means big layoffs. Magid Abou-Gharbia, director of Temple's Center for Drug Discovery Research, who recently left Wyeth after 26 years, offers this advice to anxious researchers in big pharma. "I'm trying to be a calming factor…Remind them that I went through three mergers at Wyeth, and after each one, the organization emerged stronger."
January 27, 2009 | NBC10
Police don’t know who or how many are responsible for the string of arsons in Coatesville, but Temple psychologist Frank Farley has analyzed many arson fires and says that arsonists tend to fall into different groups, those looking for revenge, profit or thrills. "It's exciting, it’s thrilling, there's intensity. There is also some argument that it shows up early in life."
January 27, 2009 | 6ABC
Genuardi's became the latest area supermarket to offer antiobiotics for free, with a doctor’s prescription. While cutting drug costs in tough times is a good thing, public health experts say there may be a downside. "The more drug that you use, whatever it is, the more resistance you're going to see," says Thomas Fekete, an section chief of infectious diseases at Temple's School of Medicine.
January 27, 2009 | KOAM-TV (Kan.), Lex18 (Ken.), KTNV-TV (Nev.), more
Four leading physicians were asked to share the best health advice they ever received. Take the stairs, recommends Paul Lyons, professor of family and community medicine at Temple University. "The average American puts on 25 pounds between the ages of 25 and 45. Little things like taking the stairs, if done consistently, can prevent this."
January 27, 2009 | WHYY-FM
Temple School of Pharmacy researcher Ellen Walker is adding to the scant literature on "chemofog," a common side effect of chemotherapy. Walker found that animals who learn something on day one forget that material after receiving chemotherapy drugs. "What we found with a couple of the chemotherapeutic agents is that on day two, the animals have a difficult time recalling what they learned. It's as if they didn’t really learn it."
January 26, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
Plantar fasciitis — an irritation or swelling of the tough ligament that runs from the heel to the toes on the bottom of the foot — affects an estimated 10 percent of American adults. But many low-cost, low-risk treatments are available and effective for about 90 percent of sufferers. For example, a corticosteroid injection can be used "to break the pain cycle," said Howard Palamarchuk, sports medicine director at Temple's School of Podiatric Medicine.
January 25, 2009 | NPR's "Weekend Edition"
The Bitter Road to Freedom — a new book by Temple historian William Hitchcock, an expert on the history of 20th-century Europe and Franco-U.S. relations — challenges what many have come to believe about the end of World War II in Europe. Along with the cheering crowds, there was also brutality, injustice and violence. "I don't think we realize just what it was like to be on the receiving end of that storm of violence that came ashore [on D-Day]," Hitchcock said. "In fact, we now know that about 3,000 French civilians were killed on June 6, 1944, alone."
January 25, 2009 | New York Times
In today's tough economy, many employees are working harder than ever — if only to look busy, and thus perhaps avoid the axe. Experts on workplace behavior say that mustering a token show for the boss can backfire. If a worker isn't already regarded as diligent, "This is a bad time to manage the impression that you're a hard worker," said Robert Giacalone of Temple's Fox School of Business. "There's fear out there, and that fear generates suspicion among people in power that workers are trying to manipulate their images because they're afraid."
January 25, 2009 | KYW News Radio
Ellen Walker, an associate professor at Temple's School of Pharmacy, is searching for the causes of "chemofog," a common but unpleasant cognitive side effect of chemotherapy, a cancer treatment. "It's not like Alzheimer's; you don't forget who your family members are," Walker said. "It's more like short term memory or working memory [loss], you forget what happened yesterday in this task and how fast you process information it seems to be slower in the worst cases."
January 24, 2009 | 6ABC, CBS3, NBC10, Fox29, more
Former Temple men's basketball coach John Chaney was inducted into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame along with long-time team doctor Ray Moyer. "All here agree John Cheney is the stuff legends are made of," said 6ABC's Lauren Wilson, "and that's why so many of his former players came to see him honored." Chaney's "priceless life lessons were taught more off-the-court than on," said former Temple star Eddie Jones.
January 23, 2009 | New York Daily News
The term "penile fracture" has entered the public vocabulary after a much-discussed episode of television’s "Grey's Anatomy." And while the term may elicit laughs, the condition can be quite painful — not only physically, but mentally. So says Jack Mydlo, professor and chair of the Department of Urology at Temple's School of Medicine. "When the penis is in the wrong position and it bends too much, it ruptures, so to speak."
January 22, 2009 | 6ABC
Spectacular ice formations have appeared on hillsides along the Schuylkill Expressway and Lincoln Drive. The icicles aren't formed by melted snow that has refrozen; they're formed when relatively warm groundwater gets pushed to the surface and frozen into dramatic shapes by frigid air. "You have to have a couple weeks of cold to build up this big set of icicles," said Temple geologist Laura Toran, who joined Action News' Tamala Edwards in East Falls to observe the phenomenon.
January 22, 2009 | CNN
When US Airways 1549 went down, ordinary citizens quickly one of the primary sources of reporting on the event. Their stories and pictures were quickly circulated on social networking sites. Often such citizen journalism happens almost accidentally, said Susan Jacobson of Temple's School of Communications and Theater. "Most people are just sending this information off to their friends," she said. "The main thing to take from sites like Twitter and Facebook is that they are informal modes of news dissemination."
January 22, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
A new estimate indicates that about 1.6 million people jammed the capital to see Barack Obama sworn in as president, making it the largest event ever held in the District of Columbia. "I think that's a very realistic number," said Ira Rosen of Temple's School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, who studies crowds. "It's relatively easy to calculate some of that, because if you look at the National Mall, a lot of it is unobstructed. There are no trees, no buildings."
January 21-22, 2009 | WHYY-FM
Philadelphia Police shot and killed two people, bringing the total of civilians shot by officers in the first weeks of 2009 to five. Until investigations are completed, finding an explanation for the sudden increase in shootings will be challenging. "These rare events have tremendous unpredictability and irregularity to them," said Ralph Taylor of the Criminal Justice Department during NPR's "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition." "It makes it very difficult to draw inferences about broader trends and patterns."
January 21, 2009 | CBS Radio Network
Assistant Professor Craig Green of Temple's Beasley School of Law, an expert on wartime detention and the federal court system's role in overseeing the executive branch, offered his analysis of President Obama's decision to close the detention center at Guantanomo Bay.
January 21, 2009 | Philadelphia Daily News
Columnist Jenice Armstrong explored how Michelle Obama's new role as first lady is a "public validation" for African American women. "A black first lady is an even more revolutionary development than a black president," said Paul C. Taylor, associate professor and chair of Temple's Philosophy Department. "The first lady is, as her title suggests, a national icon for femininity, for good or for ill. But the American public's ideas about black women are much more likely to be shaped by Beyonce than by California Congresswoman Barbara Lee. The ascension of Michelle Obama to the role of America's first lady is a real cultural shift."
January 21, 2009 | WHYY-FM
A new urban policy will be prominent among the many policy shifts that the Obama administration is likely to bring about in the coming years. Obama's urban policy is likely to include "a focus on infrastructure, a focus on education and a focus on how to address, in some way, the foreclosure crisis," said Temple's David Bartelt, a professor of geography and urban studies in news reports aired during "Morning Edition" and "Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane."
January 21, 2009 | Philadelphia Tribune
With official recognition of Martin Luther King's legacy and Barack Obama's presidency coming back-to-back this week, Tribune reporter Melanie Holmes asked three Temple scholars — Molefi Kete Asante of African American Studies, Thaddeus Mathis of the Center for African American Research and Public Policy and Marc Lamont Hill of the College of Education — to explore how the two leaders were able to motivate young Americans.
January 21, 2009 | KYW News Radio
As the economy continues to slump, more workers are turning to freelance work. Pam Kokkalis of the Graduate Career Management Center at the Fox School of Business said, "I've seen personally a lot of people do better off on their own because they are able to get the word of mouth going for them and because they are on short contracts, it's easy for a company to say 'yeah, I'll hire you for the next three, four six months.'"
January 21, 2009 | Bloomberg
Irving Picard, the lawyer seeking to recover money invested with Bernard Madoff, may take more than five years to pay all customers of the man accused of a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. In his quest for Madoff clients' money, Picard may sue companies that provided the firm with directors' and officers' insurance if the brokerage is named as a beneficiary, said Professor Jonathan Lipson of Temple's Beasley School of Law.
January 20-21, 2009 | BBC News (U.K.), United Press International, Asian News International, Ivanhoe, many more
Abuse leaves a distinct pattern on a woman's face — so much so that facial injuries may tip off doctors when a woman has been beaten. That's according to research by Oneida Arosarena of Temple's School of Medicine, who reviewed more than 300 medical and dental records of women treated for facial injuries. Breaks around the eyes and cheeks and brain injuries were the tell-tale signs of abuse."While our study was limited to facial trauma victims, it demonstrates that universal screening and examination of the patterns of presentation, including patterns of injury, can assist medical professionals in identifying these patients and initiating appropriate medical and social intervention," she said.
January 20, 2009 | WURD-AM
Three Temple faculty members provided expert commentary during WURD's Inauguration Day coverage: Sonja Peterson-Lewis of African American Studies, Thaddeus Mathis of the School of Social Administration and Linn Washington of the School of Communications and Theater.
January 20, 2009 | NBC10
A Steve Highsmith column explored the challenges facing the Obama Presidency. "Temple [School of Social Administration] Professor Thaddeus Mathis, himself an observer and participant in the civil rights movement, told me whether Barack Obama will be successful will depend on his ability to maintain and enlarge and keep energized and direct the folks who put him in the White House," wrote Highsmith. "It is a mobilization that no President in modern times has been able to maintain."
January 20, 2009 | WKRG (Ala., Fla.)
An innovative program at Temple is encouraging people with disabilities to get to the gym. Temple's Recreational Services offers the "workout buddy" program for people with disabilities. "We bring in students with disabilities, any kind of disability, learning disability, physical disability any kind of disability. We match them up with a, a student worker, which is our workout buddy and have them assist during their workouts," said Fitness Coordinator Tricia DePoe.
January 20, 2009 | CBS3
Many Americans experienced the presidential inauguration via other people's hand-held devices and shared their feelings using new social media. "If you looked at the crowds, people were text-messaging and talking on their cell phones and videotaping," said Temple psychologist Frank Farley. "It allows the populace to express themselves. How can we argue against that?"
January 20, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, 6ABC, CBS3, NBC10, Fox29, WHYY-FM, WRTI-FM, many more
Temple University hosted the largest Martin Luther King Day of Service event in the nation. At the Liacouras Center, about 3,000 people participated in 150 projects. "We are so proud to be the host of the Martin Luther King Day of Service project, which is an annual event that is now turning into a 365-day event — to inspire service in honor of Dr. King, but also, we hope, to set a pattern of community service in our university and in our city," said Temple President Ann Weaver Hart, who mentioned that King once delivered an address at the university's historic Baptist Temple. The centerpiece of the event was the construction of a playground set that will be installed at the Winchester Playground near Temple.
January 20, 2009 | Scientific American
Women who are victims of intimate partner violence tend to have a distinct pattern of facial injuries, according to a report published in Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Study co-author Oneida Arosarena, associate professor of otolaryngology at Temple’s School of Medicine, said that the researchers "expected the injuries to be distributed the way they are for other facial traumas, such as motor vehicle accidents, and they weren't."
January 20, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
The Inquirer published a gallery of pictures of Alter Hall, the new home of Temple's Fox School of Tourism and School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. Alter Hall opened today for classes.
January 19, 2009 | Washington Times
"This promises to be the largest, most enthusiastic and most publicly celebrated inaugural since Andrew Jackson's in 1829," said Temple's Jim Hilty, a political historian. Our troubled times could call for some drama, he said. "Obama's inaugural speech must do more than provide an overview or set a theme for his administration. It must also inspire to action and offer hopes of better days. No small task," Hilty said.
January 19, 2009 | 6ABC
When Barack Obama is sworn-in as president on Tuesday, it will mark one of the great ironies in our country's history. As the first African American occupants of the White House, Barack and Michelle will be moving into a house that slaves helped to build. Historian Charles Blockson, curator emeritus of Temple Libraries' Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, put it this way: "It's an exciting change to witness, to be able to see, to walk the same earth that Obama's walking. I'm honored to be alive."
January 19, 2009 | NBC10, MSNBC
When the rundown Penrose Recreation Center saw record voter turnout last November, it meant things there could never be the same. Now, through a Martin Luther King Day of Service makeover bringing new paint and new optimism, the Center will host a presidential inauguration watch party. The center is working with Temple’s University Community Collaborative Project and the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Program to organize the watch event.
January 19, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
When rush-hour traffic slows along the stretch of the Schuylkill Expressway between Conshohocken and Belmont Avenue, Laura Toran, a Temple geology professor, suggests that motorists savor the view. Toran is a connoisseur of what she calls "groundwater outcrops.” According to geologists, the ice along the expressway is the result of the collision of modern life and 1.1 billion-year-old rocks.
January 19, 2009 | Chemical & Engineering News
More universities are pushing further into the drug development process, and big pharma is responding. "In the old days, pharma used to have the 'NIH' or 'not invented here' syndrome," rejecting anything that wasn't discovered within its walls, says Magid Abou-Gharbia, director of the Center for Drug Discovery Research at Temple's School of Pharmacy. Now, the financial burden and dry pipeline have companies changing their tune and seeking agreements with academia.
January 18, 2009 | WHYY-FM
Barack Obama's choice of religious figures to deliver prayers on Inauguration Day — a conservative evangelical and an openly gay Episcopalian — have left some people confused. It's hard to pinpoint what kind of impact religion will have on the Obama administration. "He's clearly interested in developing working coalitions among mainstream Protestants, Protestants on the left, people in the black church and people who are part of evangelical Christianity," said David Watt of Temple's Religion Department in a "Weekend Edition" report.
January 18, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
The Inquirer's Business section toured Alter Hall, the new home of Temple's Fox School of Business and the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. "I love the openness of the building," said Fox Associate Dean Diana Breslin-Knudsen. Dean M. Moshe Porat said Alter Hall was designed to embody the school’s educational philosophy and to address issues related to space, faculty recruitment and the nature of business education. "It's much more global, more about entrepreneurship, much more experiential," he explained. The online version of the story includes a four-picture photo gallery.
January 18, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
Although many have been scared away by the prospect of cold weather and long lines, some people would put with almost any suffering for an opportunity to witness Tuesday's presidential inauguration. "After working so much on the campaign, you want to be there. You want to witness it," said Temple undergraduate Elizabeth Hanson, a political science major. "I feel like I've been along for the journey, and I want to see it end and tell my grandkids I had a chance to witness this historic day."
January 17-18, 2009 | Fox News Channel, Toronto Globe & Mail
The heroism of Chesley Sullenberger, the US Airways pilot who skillfully landed a passenger jet in the Hudson River without any loss of life, is welcome news in a time of stress. "You look around, you hear about greed, selfishness, the absence of even the faintest touch of generosity coming out of Wall Street. Where are the heroes?" said Temple psychologist Frank Farley. "And so along comes this accident, and suddenly, there's selflessness. It couldn't happen at a better time."
January 17, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
When Barack Hussein Obama takes the oath of office on Tuesday, it will not only prove that an African-American can be elected president. It also signals a change in Americans' attitudes about ethnic names. "This African American bears an African name, which should forever put in the margins the idea that a person with an African name is at some disadvantage in American society," said Molefi Kete Asante, an African-American studies professor at Temple who wrote The Book of African Names.
January 16, 2009 | CBS3
CBS3 technology reporter Stephanie Abrams took viewers on a high-tech tour of Alter Hall, the new home of the Fox School of Business and the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. Among the highlights: "class capture" technology that will stream every lecture, wireless tablet laptops for instructors and a large video wall. "We have infused every space in the building with technology, and we've made it transparent," said John DeAngelo, associate dean of information technology.
January 16, 2009 | Philadelphia Daily News
Temple will host the region's signature Martin Luther King Day of Service events on Monday, Jan. 19 — a day that will take on even greater significance with Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Obama. About 3,000 volunteers will gather at Temple's Liacouras Center to work on 150 service projects, including the preparation and distribution of meals to those in need and the refurbishing of computers for residents of underserved communities .
January 15, 2009 | Reuters
Political chaos in Japan may stifle the global ambitions that inspired it to send troops to Iraq and the Indian Ocean, potentially damaging the nation's diplomatic clout. "Japan, because of a combination of its constitution and the political turmoil that it's going through, can't do anything," said Phil Deans, a professor of international affairs and Asian studies at Temple University, Japan Campus. "It's often been described as an economic giant and a political pygmy. It's looking even more like that these days."
January 15, 2009 | Fox News
In his farewell address to the nation, President Bush said that he had the country's best interests at heart even when he made his most controversial decisions. "One of the things I came away with is someone who despite everything else truly loves America," said Temple faculty member Marc Lamont Hill. "We can debate about whether he made America better, but for sure he made America different."
January 15, 2009 | Bloomberg
Because so few African-American women have held any kind of high office, Michelle Obama's move into the White House may be even more revolutionary than her husband's. "For some people, it will be kind of a culture shock," said Paul Taylor, chair of Temple's Philosophy Department. The family's lives will be dissected. Even the Obama girls' hair may become a public fascination. "Hair has always been a vexed issue for African-American women," he said. Will Michelle continue to allow Malia to wear cornrows? "It'll be interesting to see how they deal with that."
January 15, 2009 | Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
Increasing diversity among collegiate sports administrators was the subject of a seminar at the NCAA's annual convention. To promote hiring a more diverse athletics staff, Bill Bradshaw, director of athletics at Temple, recommends that senior athletics administrators use targeted national advertising campaigns, utilize a diverse search committee, involve minority faculty and staff throughout the institution in the search and solicit honest feedback from persons of color who went through the process.
January 14, 2009 | Metro
Eustace Kangaju, director of the Small Business Development Center at Temple's Fox School of Business, offered advice for current and future entrepreneurs. "Anytime is a good time to start a new venture, but you need to be very selective to ensure you choose a business based on the economic cycle we're in," he said. "I would advise anyone looking to start a business to start a recession-resistant business."
January 13, 2009 | United Press International
Good foot care is essential in winter, Temple podiatrists advise. James McGuire and Howard Palamarchuk of the School of Podiatric Medicine say falling temperatures, drier air, and icy, wet conditions contribute to foot problems. McGuire advises avoiding cotton socks, which "make for a soggy environment…and set [feet] up for frostbite," he said. McGuire and Palamarchuk also recommend using lotion, cutting toe nails and avoiding icy surfaces.
January 13, 2009 | Smart Money
Filling prescriptions can become a burden when budgets are squeezed. One effective strategy: Ask for generics. But bear in mind that not all medications have a generic equivalent. If that's the case, ask your doctor if there's a generic available for a comparable drug, says Albert Wertheimer of Temple's School of Pharmacy. "In almost no cases do you do any harm by switching to the first cousin of a medication," he said.
January 13, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
U.S. intelligence agents are using Viagra to gain favor in Afghanistan. "This is absolutely nothing new," said psychiatrist David Baron of Temple's School of Medicine. "When they were dealing with the Indians to get Manhattan Island, this is how they did it." Some 35 million men have taken Viagra to improve their performance in the bedroom. "As long as people are careful, it's a pretty safe drug, considering the side effects of some other drugs," said Jack Mydlo, chair of Urology.
January 12, 2009 | WHYY-FM
When the Pennsylvania legislature begins its new session in Harrisburg next week, lawmakers will be meeting without one of Philadelphia's most powerful advocates, former State Sen. Vincent Fumo. But Philadelphia still has a strong voice in State Rep. Dwight Evans, says Joe McLaughlin, director of Temple's Institute of Public Affairs. "He's an experienced majority chairman who has been very effective in dealing with issues on behalf of the city," McLaughlin says. "He doesn't have the same style as Senator Fumo, but…he is going to be regarded as one of the most effective Appropriations chairmen the city has ever had."
January 12, 2009 | WHYY-FM
As the Phillies' World Series triumph proved, big sports victories can bridge economic and cultural divides. Now the Eagles have a chance to make lightning strike twice for the city. "These kinds of victories go into a subtle mix [that defines] our enthusiasm for living in Philadelphia and contributes to a more positive outlook," said Temple psychologist Frank Farley in a local "Morning Edition" report.
January 12, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
Temple undergraduate Matthew King, a journalism and Spanish major, wrote an op-ed piece advocating the decriminalization of drugs, a move that would free up jail space to house the most violent criminals — and perhaps change the city's climate of violence.
January 12, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
Four long-hidden banners by artist Alexander Calder that once were displayed in a Philadelphia building are making their first appearance since the mid-1980s. The banners were commissioned by art lover and collector Jack Wolgin, who recently donated $3.7 million to the Tyler School of Art to endow an annual $150,000 juried art prize. Wolgin was delighted the banners had been found and will be on display.
January 11, 2009 | Time
How does one explain the scale of a trillion dollar deficit? To the average person, a number that big doesn't mean very much. Unfortunately, our brains aren't up to the task. Go back thousands of years and think about the simpler times of human existence. "We had a few friends, we had to be scared of a few animals. A trillion didn't come up very often," says Temple mathematician John Allen Paulos, whose book Innumeracy addresses the topic.
January 11, 2009 | Washington Times
When President-elect Obama gets to the White House, does it mean that America has entered a post-racial era? "If all of the assumptions that you had grown up with and the information on which they're based disappears, your system of privilege disappears as well. Once this post-racial world comes — if it does — there are going to be lots of people, including poor whites, who will have to adjust," observes Thaddeus Mathis of Temple's School of Social Administration. Other scholars say first lady-in-waiting Michelle Obama is key. "A black first lady is an even more revolutionary development than a black president," says Paul C. Taylor of Temple's Philosophy Department. "The first lady is, as her title suggests, a national icon for femininity, for good or for ill. But the American public's ideas about black women are much more likely to be shaped by Beyonce than by California congresswoman Barbara Lee," Mr. Taylor says. Temple historian David Farber has another take. "We're all wondering if we are living through another Camelot and we can only hope that this era turns out better. Our problems are not those of the '60s; the solutions will be harder to find," he notes.
January 11, 2009 | National Public Radio
The Justice Department has ruled that immigrants who wish to stay in the U.S. don't have the right to a new hearing if their turns out to be a fraud. For 20 years, courts have ruled that the clients of such a lawyer could ask for a new trial. But some courts have disagreed — with good reason, says Jan Ting of Temple's Beasley School of Law. "If you allow that argument, everyone who hires a lawyer is going to be able to argue that their lawyer didn't do a good enough job for them and they need to start all over again," Ting said on NPR's "Weekend Edition."
January 10, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
The unemployment rate rose to a staggering 7.2 percent in December, the Labor Department reported last week, and job cuts came in nearly every category. Presently, 21 million Americans — 13.5 percent of the labor force — are unemployed or underemployed, and the number of people out of work for more than six months has doubled in 2008, to 2.6 million. "Right now the numbers are grim," said Bruce Rader, associate professor of finance at Temple’s Fox School of Business.
January 10, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
Many squalid revelations are emerging from the Fumo corruption trial. "How is this different from anything that happened in Godfather I?" asks Edward Ohlbaum of Temple's Beasley School of Law. Philadelphia, says Temple Law's Anthony Bocchino, is "an old city with old-city mores." Almost monthly, a former student phones him with a problem concerning the murky overlap of law and politics. More troubling is whether the shadowy backroom deals continue. "Why would it stop," Ohlbaum asks, "since it seems there's an incentive to keep doing business like this?"
January 10, 2009 | Philadelphia Daily News
When a New Jersey man fell into a river and drowned last fall, was it because he was being pursued? Prosecutors may not have the evidence to prove that the pursuer recklessly caused the death, said Edward D. Ohlbaum of Temple's Beasley School of Law. "It was certainly a reckless act, but did it directly result in this man's death?" Ohlbaum asked. "What if the victim didn't know he was being chased? At any point, the causal relationship could have been interrupted."
January 10, 2009 | Edmonton Sun, Winnipeg Sun
Thrill seekers take to the slopes, the skies, the mountains and the lakes looking for an adrenaline fix. Temple psychologist Frank Farley's research indicates that risk-takers tend to be self-confident, innovative, high energy types who believe they control their own destiny, and are motivated by novelty, variety and intensity. "They thrive in uncertainty, push the boundaries, push the rules…for an adrenaline rush mixed in with fear," says Farley. "They have no death wish, they have a life wish."
January 10, 2009 | Indo-Asian News Service
New research explores how our brains overcome confusion when we become disoriented or lost. Temple psychologist Nora S. Newcombe and a colleague from the University of Chicago conducted a set of experiments probing if adults prefer geometric cues (lengths, distances, angles) or feature cues (color, texture, landmarks) to become reoriented. The findings indicate that the brain takes into account a number of factors, including the environment and our past experiences, while determining the best way to reorient us to our surroundings.
January 9, 2009 | Montgomery Newspapers
Coming to Temple's Fort Washington Campus on Jan. 28 is a noncredit introduction to voice acting class called "Getting paid to talk: Making money with your voice," led by professional voice actor Leslie Maiello. Those who attend the class will get the chance to record a mock commercial and have it played back to them so they can get an idea of how they sound, and even receive a critique of their voice from a professional voice actor.
January 9, 2009 | New York Times
The new television series "The United States of Tara" explores the life of a woman coping with dissociative identity disorder, commonly known as multiple personality disorder. The series' producers have done their research. Richard Kluft, a professor at the Temple's School of Medicine who is an expert on the disorder, reviews scripts and steers the show away from inaccuracies.
January 9, 2009 | San Jose Mercury News
The San Francisco 49ers acknowledged that the battered economy likely will slow down their plans to build a new stadium and now has them willing to discuss sharing a new home with their cross-bay rival, the Raiders. Temple sports economist Michael Leeds said the downturn is hitting wealthy individuals and corporations who form the core market for premium seating, stadium advertising and naming rights, which are central to financing the 49ers stadium.
January 8, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Fox 29
Temple University will be the focal point for Martin Luther King Day of Service events in Philadelphia. Thousands of people will gather at the Liacouras Center on Jan. 19 to participate in hundreds of service projects, including the assembly of an environmentally friendly playground at Winchester Recreation Center near Temple's Main Campus. The Liacouras Center also will host a Kid's Carnival, a health and wellness fair and a 48-foot mural painted by local schoolchildren. "Community engagement is one of the fundamental principles for Temple," said President Ann Weaver Hart at a press conference on Wednesday. "We are proud and honored to host the service project."
January 7, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
During economic hard times, low-level lawlessness increases. "It may well go back to when we were roaming the savannah," said Peter Huang of Temple's Beasley School of Law. "If you are a caveman, you can't be a doormat, or you won't survive. If you can't show you are above the law in some way, you show you are weak." Sometimes, it's the attitude of law enforcement that determines what's acceptable, said Jerry Ratcliffe of Temple's Criminal Justice Department. "For instance, why is there so much double-parking in South Philadelphia?" he said. "That wouldn't be tolerated in the suburbs. It wouldn't even be tolerated a couple of miles away in Center City."
January 7, 2009 | Christian Science Monitor
In an op-ed essay co-written by Robert Dujarric, director of the Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies at Temple University, Japan Campus, the authors argue that America is still valued around the world — a foundation upon which Barack Obama can build. "Barack Obama's presidency could usher in an era of renewed American global leadership," they write. "Even as the U.S. appeared to be digging its own grave by recklessly invading Iraq and grossly mismanaging its own economy, few countries tried to exploit the opportunity to further weaken America."
January/February 2009 | The Atlantic
The cover story of the current issue explores whether the Obama presidency signals the end of "whiteness as a touchstone of what it means to be an American." Temple sociologist Matt Wray, author of Not Quite White, says that many white students are plagued by a racial-identity crisis. "The classic thing white students say when you ask them to talk about who they are is, 'I don't have a culture.' They might be privileged, they might be loaded socioeconomically, but they feel bankrupt when it comes to culture," Wray said. "They feel disadvantaged, and they feel marginalized. They don't have a culture that's cool or oppositional."
January 6, 2009 | Japan Times
The Japan Times, one of the few independent English-language newspapers in Japan, interviewed Bruce Stronach, dean of Temple University, Japan Campus, about his unique experiences as an academic administrator on both sides of the Pacific. "What I like about being here is that I can blend all of the years of experience I have in American universities and Japanese universities," said Stronach.
January 5, 2009 | Fox29
Temple psychologist Frank Farley joined "Good Day Philadelphia" to discuss New Year's resolutions. Farley's advice for tough economic times: "Do some planning, do some goal-setting in terms of budgeting."
January 5, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
Molecular biologist Antonio Giordano of Temple's College of Science and Technology, president of the Sbarro Health Research Organization, shared his thoughts on cancer research and Italian-American scientific collaboration in an interview with Miriam Hill.
January 4, 2009 | ABC News
Are there faster, more rational ways to board planes? In a "Who's Counting" commentary, Temple mathematician John Allen Paulos explores an astrophysicist's new theories that challenge airlines' established methods. Maybe, Paulos says, random boarding is more efficient.
January 4, 2009 | Japan Times
In a country notorious for its exclusive immigration policy, the question of whether to allow Japanese to hold dual citizenship has become a hot policy topic. More than 90 countries now back dual nationality by default. "A clear majority of countries now accepts dual citizenship," said Peter Spiro, an expert on international law at Temple's Beasley School of Law. "Plural citizenship has quietly become a defining feature of globalization.
January 4, 2009 | The Guardian (U.K.)
With the country in the grip of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, greed is no longer good and frugality is cool. Many experts see the cultural rejection of luxury and excess as a watershed moment. "This is about a rethinking of the fundamentals that comes about because society is suddenly under a large amount of stress," said Temple's Miles Orvell, a professor of American studies.
January 2, 2009 | Wall Street Journal
The financial crisis finally rattled the art market in late 2008. Jack Wolgin, a developer and longtime art collector in Philadelphia, says he worries about the artists who will suffer in lean times. Wolgin says he plans to help artists by continuing to collect. His gift of $3.7 million created an annual $150,000 Wolgin Prize for artists at Temple's Tyler School of Art. "I would rather have art than money," he said.
January 1, 2009 | Philadelphia Inquirer
According to a nationwide poll, about 100 million Americans see the new year as a time to resolve, to change, to address the many things they don't like about themselves. But why? "It's the beginning. We're telling ourselves, metaphorically, it's going to be a better year," said David Baron, chair of the psychiatry department at Temple's School of Medicine.
January 1, 2009 | Boston Globe
Photographer Scout Tufankijan's images of Barack Obama on the campaign trail have been published in a new book, Yes We Can. Her iconic photos played an important role because they helped shape perceptions of Obama. Photographs are usually the closest most people will ever get to meeting a president, says Andrew Mendelson, chair of Temple's Department of Journalism. Photos "are clues to who they are — if they're like us and, ultimately, would we like them to lead us," he said.
December In the Media ... |
