News Briefs

Pakistani Students Association holds Ramzan dinner

The Pakistani Students Association (PSA) sponsored their first Ramzan Dinner last Saturday at the Interfaith Center to commemorate the month of Ramadan, a time of prayer and fasting in the Muslim faith.

According to co-founder Maryam Khan, this was the largest event yet for the PSA, which was just approved by the Student Activities Commission (SAC) this September. Khan reported that 60 to 70 students attended the dinner, which began at 5:15 p.m., the approximate time at which the day's fast is officially over. Various traditional Pakistani foods were served, including vegetable biryani, seekh kabobs, and chicken tikka.

The PSA has planned plans to hold two more dinners during the month of Ramadan, on Nov. 23 and Nov. 26. Khan hopes that the events will help promote awareness of the new group on campus.

"It puts our name out there," said Kahn, "and shows [students] what we are and why we came into existence."

---- By Julianna Finelli

JHU profs elected into National Academy of Engineering

The Whiting School of Engineering will hold a "Celebration of Excellence" on Nov. 15 to honor M. Gordon "Reds" Wolman and Murray B. Sachs, two Hopkins professors who were elected into the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

The event, which is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Shriver Hall Auditorium, will feature Michael Merzenich, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who will give a speech entitled, "The Auditory Neuroscience of Murray B. Sachs." Sachs' research has focused on the neural processing of speech, including neural encoding in the inner ear and neural code processing in the central nervous system.

Also featured at the event will be John C. Schmidt, associate professor of Geography and Earth Resources at Utah State University, who will deliver a speech entitled "Rivers and People: Sustaining the Relationship." Wolman's work has focused on the interactions between humans and natural processes, specifically the processes of streamflow and river behavior.

A reception will follow in the Clipper Room.

According to the NAE's Web site, election into the academy is granted to professionals in the field who have made "important contributions to engineering theory and practice, including significant contributions to the literature of engineering theory and practice," and who have demonstrated "unusual accomplishment in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology."

---- News-Letter Staff

JHU freshmen to host Baltimore area high-school students

Johns Hopkins freshmen will host 30 seniors from area high schools as part of College Awareness Month, an initiative by Baltimore City Public Schools to expose high-school students to college life. The Hopkins freshmen will give tours and share their experiences with the students, who attend Patterson, Southwestern, Southern and Douglass high schools.

The students will spend the night in the Alumni Memorial Residence Halls (AMR's).

The event was planned by both the Johns Hopkins Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Future Quest, a program devoted to promoting collegiate opportunities for Baltimore-area students.

-- News-Letter Staff

Danceathon raises money for abuse shelter

Last Friday night, 25 participants danced the night away to raise funds for Baltimore's domestic abuse shelter, House of Ruth, at Hopkins' Rockin' Dance-a-Thon.

Hopkins was one of 553 college campuses worldwide that chose to participate in the V-day initiative, conceived of by Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues. This international initiative raises funds to combat violence against women.

Starting at 10 p.m. in Levering's Great Hall, five teams from the Resident Assistants, PhiMu, Sigma Epsilon and the freshman class danced for over two hours. An RA team eventually outdanced the Phi Mu team and won $100 in gift certificates.

Co-chairs Kelsey Brodsho and J.R. Williams said, "We felt that for its first year, the dance-a-thon was a success. We always would like to raise more money for The House of Ruth, but everyone that participated in the dance-a-thon had a good time. We are looking forward to the spring when we have a lot of great events planned to raise awareness to the many violent problems affecting women around the world."

-- By Shayna Bailey