NEWSLETTER

of the

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION - CANADIAN SCIENTIFIC & CHRISTIAN AFFILIATION

VOLUME 29 NUMBER 3                                                                                                     JUNE/JULY 1987

IT'S HAPPENING IN 'HIPSWICH'

The ASA national office recently received a piece of mail addressed to "Hipswich, MA." Ipswich hip? Check out these items:

- The Newsletter's new look comes from a state-of-the-(last-month's)-art desktop publishing computer, plus whiz-banger Nancy Hanger, smart enough to run it. Nancy, ASA's managing editor, needs no introduction; for an introduction to "desktop publishing " see WELCOME TO THE 20TH CENTURY in this issue.

-Our national office also has a new "operations manager," Ruth Hardy. Despite her title s1ke's not a surgeon (nor a hip specialist). A 1983 graduate of The King's College, Ruth was introduced to ASA by geology prof Wayne Ault. Her husband Alan is finishing his first year at Gordon/Conwell Seminary. Ruth is learning the sinews from super person Caryl Proctor, who moves to Vermont in June when husband Jim graduates from Gordon/Conwell to become pastor of the United Church of South Royalton, Federated.

-Before Caryl skips, Ipswich hopes to find the right person to be trained as "financial/list manager". S/he need not be hip, but must dig digits, compute?

The more we hear about the 1987 ASA ANNUAL  MEETING the more excited we get. It will be held AUGUST 2-6 at COLORADO COLLEGE in COLORADO SPRINGS. (Guess which state. --Ed.)

From program chair Ray Brand we hear of some two dozen papers on their way to the final program. The extra day in this year's schedule should mean fewer parallel sessions, giving us all a chance to hear more of the papers presented. Papers on "GLOBAL RESOURCES & THE ENVIRONMENT" will be grouped in five sessions, addressing (1) Global, (2) Environmental, (3) Economical, (4) Theological, and (5) Educational aspects of the theme.

Papers unrelated to the theme will be grouped in one or two other sessions, which might be called (6) Exceptional (or Extracanonical?). Our keynoter, Michigan State Senator Vemon Ehlers, will address Christian stewardship and civic responsibility.

(1) Dave Moberg offers to lead a group on Christianity and the social sciences. (2) George Murphy feels led to discuss the theological treatment of scientific disputes, such as the creation/evolution question. (3) Shetm Kanag asks "Is scientific evidence ever relevant to judging religious claims?" (4) StanLindquist has ideas on "tentmaking" and how scientists can help missionaries. (5) Ken Olson of the Science Education Commission or somebody from the Committee for Integrity in Science Education will mull over new ways to aid science teachers. (6) (Your interest?)

Local-arrangements chair Eldon Hitchcock is lining up optional field trips to points of interest as diverse as Pike's Peak and the Air Force Academy. NOTE: One of those trips (Monday, 1-3 p.m.), to NORAD (North American Air Defense Command), is limited to 40 persons (minimum age: 12). To be eligible for the NORAD trip, each individual must send full name AND Social Security No. (for U.S. citizens), Social Insurance No. (for Canadians), or Passport No. (for others) in advance, to reach the Ipswich office by July 15. Address: ASA National Office, P.O. Box 668, Ipswich, MA 01938.

Eldon also warns that because another conference leaves Colorado College the day ours begins, ASAers cannot stay in the dorms before Sunday night, August 2. ASA registration is Sunday afternoon, our first meal that evening. In place of the evening worship service at nearby First Presbyterian Church, the program begins with an ASA panel on "Science and Christian Faith", and then moves back to the college for Senator Ehlers's first address. (On Sunday morning, Bob Herrmann and Ray Brand will be "interviewed" in the First Pres. pulpit to alert the congregation to the ASA program and invite their participation. As early arrivals, the Herrmanns and Brands will stay in motels Saturday night.)

One more warning: A Grand and Glorious Geological/Ecological Field Trip into the Colorado mountains, led by professionals in both fields, has been arranged for Thursday, August 6, by Air Force Academy biology prof J. Frank Cassel. The "papers and other stuff' end on Wednesday evening; to Frank they're merely preliminaries. You could leave Thursday morning, supposedly, before that field trip (lunch included) -- but we wouldn't advise it. (Frank Cassel, veteran bird-watcher, will have his eye on you if you try to "worm out" on him. Besides, that trip really is planned as part of the program -- Ed.)

Theme for the meeting was "Science for All: A Capital Investment." All included the American Scientific Affiliation, though not without some nervous apprehension. An editorial highly critical of ASA's booklet, TEACHING SCIENCE IN A CLIMATE OF CONTROVERSY, appeared in the February issue of The Science Teacher, NSTA's magazine for high school teachers. Walt Hearn of ASA's Committee for Integrity in Science Education had barely gotten a response in the mail when ASA received a call from William Aldridge, NSTA's executive director. Aldridge said he had been called by "an official of the National Academy of Sciences," alerting him that the "the interests of ASA might not match those of NSTA." Aldridge told ASA executive director Bob Herrmann that he was considering revoking ASA's exhibit privilege.

Bob Herrmann responded with incredulity to charges that the ASA booklet calls for "the teaching of both evolution and creation models," and that ASA members are obviously "creation scientists" funded by "a fundamentalist group." Bob denied the allegations, calling them merely the assumptions of reviewers who read into TEACHING SCIENCE IN A CLIMATE OF CONTROVERSY what they want to find there. Aldridge did not sound entirely convinced, but offered to compromise by giving NAS a booth next to ours.

NSTA could locate late-comer NAS next door only by moving us from the booth we had been scheduled to occupy. Arriving early to set up, David Pfice and Walt Hearn found that booth no. 570 (to which our paid ad still invited registrants) now belonged to another late-comer, Hawaii Preparatory Academy. ASA had been moved to booth no. 800-D, which at first seemed to be in the nether regions of an exhibit hall annex, facing a big ugly blank space. Soon, though, that space was transformed into the "Curriculum Materials Center," where teachers bring their innovative ideas to share with others -- a high-traffic area indeed. At Walt's request, Bill Aldridge graciously had a sign lettered to tell visitors to booth 570 where they could find ASA.

Sure enough, booth 800-E contained National Academy Press. The pleasant young women from the Press setting up their exhibit initially seemed a bit stand-offish, no doubt having been warned to expect weirdos as neighbors. After we apologized for causing them to get stuck with "convention duty," they warmed up a bit. More significantly, Alvin G. Lazen, executive director of the Commission on Life Sciences for the National Research Council of NAS, and his assistant, Andy Pope, later showed up to take their turns at staffing the NAS booth.

Thus to NAS officials we had a chance to express our general appreciation for Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences (their booklet), plus our regret that our criticism of two sentences in it had been read by some reviewers of TEACHING SCIENCE as a general denunciation. We showed Al Lazen how we had modified our criticism in the second printing of the ASA booklet, being given away at our booth.

Last year Ipswich purchased a portable "triptych" for displaying ASA literature at conventions. Mounted above it at the back of our booth was a photographic enlargement of the attractive cover of TEACHING SCIENCE IN A CLIMATE OF CONTROVERSY. Piles of the booklets were spread invitingly on a table on one side and on some of the 20 big boxes (each containing 100 copies of the booklet) on the other side of the booth.

Visitors to the ASA booth picked up all 2,000 copies by the end of the convention, plus several hundred copies of colorful handout sheets about the booklet. One showed a bargraph of grades from the GRADE US postcards returned by readers (69% A and A +; 14% F and F-) with some sample comments. Another reproduced George Cornell's A.P. wire story. The other three each described a negative review (in Creation/Evolution Newsletter, The Science Teacher, and Science), with our full response on the back.

Besides Bob Herrmann, Dave Price, and Walt Hearn, chemist LeRov Kroll of Taylor University was on hand to unpack boxes and talk to teachers about ASA's interest in helping them. (The Apr/May Newsletter rewarded LeRoy by promoting him to "biologist" by mistake. -- Ed.) We can't begin to describe all the exciting conversations that took place in that booth. We were too busy to jot down names, even of ASA members who dropped by to tell us how glad they were to see us there. We remember Helen Martin, winner of the 1986 NNSTA International Exchange Lectureship Competition, as one of the first, with tales of Wales and her Januarv lecture there to the Association for Science Education (ASE).

Lois Harbaugh, secretary of the affiliated National Science Supervisors Association (NSSA), told of security hassles complicating the presence of William J. Bennett, Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Education, as NSSA luncheon speaker. She was delighted to see ASA at NSTA. (Incidentally, things got pretty hot between Bennett and NSTA director Aldridge. At the NSSA luncheon Bennett responded to Aldridge's accusation that Bennett is using science education funds to promote "the theology of the far right." From an elementary political science textbook:

"See two boys named Bill. See Bill swing at Bill. See Bill swing back. Duck, Bill!" --Ed.)

Visitors to ASA's booth expressed a wide variety of views on the "climate of controversy" in public education. One teacher brightened our day by saying that TEACHING SCIENCE "brightened her classroom" when it arrived unexpected from an organization she'd never heard of. A professor of science education identifying herself as an atheist and former liaison of a state Committee of Correspondence said she was glad to see ASA trying to steer a middle course in the controversy. Professor Gerald Skoog of Texas Tech, 1985-86 president of NSTA and a Lutheran layman, dropped in to check us out and stayed for a cordial chat.

Over 120 individuals wrote down their NSTA badge number to request further information about ASA. NSTA has translated those numbers into the names and addresses of the wearers. Some other visitors wrote out comments or requests on cards. A few may join ASA. Many have at least learned of our existence.

At the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) meeting, Committee chair David Price had a chance to speak to Juliana Texley, editor of 77ie Science Teacher, about her February editorial trouncing TEACHING SCIENCE IN A CLIMATE OF CONTROVERSY. It seems likely that 7YT will publish a Letter to the Editor responding to that editorial, which said our ASA booklet challenges "the integrity of teaching." The reviewer proceeded to review "what's between the lines" because "the implications are far worse than the text."

In the "climate of controversy" over public education, everybody seems to be "reading between the lines." Polemically minded people, convinced that no middle ground exists, tend to sort everything into just two categories--one labeled ffiend, the other, enemy. Each "side" is at war against the other and suspcious of those unwilling to take sides--or rather, to take their side. Peacemakers operate "between the (battle) lines."

Mistakes and misunderstandings (including our own) are more easily dealt with than suspicion and distrust (especially our own). ASA's journey "down the middle" may be a long one, but we can practice goodwill along the way. We should remember to "be of good cheer" whenever we see signs of hope. One sign of hope is that people sometimes do learn from each other.

For example, at NSTA the Newsletter editor took in an NCSE-sponsored panel entitled "Creationism is Alive and Well -- Unfortunately," featuring NCSE president Jack Friedman and anthropologist John Cole. Friedman and Cole both went out of their way to distinguish the "scientific creationism" they were opposing from a broader religious perspective of "creationism." Cole spoke primarily about "the politics of scientific creationism" and both described NCSE's efforts to defeat attacks on the teaching of evolution. Afterwards we were able to chat with both panel members, and with incoming NCSE president Wayne Moyer.

The panelists mentioned having several pieces of NCSE literature with them. Picking up samples, we also spotted a few copies of a pamphlet entitled "A Question of Integrity." It turned out to be a reprint from the spring 1987 issue of California Science Teacher's Journal, basically the same review in which William Bermetta railed against TEACHING SCIENCE IN A CLIMATE OF CONTROVERSY in Creation/Evolution Newsletter. (Evidently the CSTJ article was reprinted at private expense, not by either NCSE or NSTA.) A paragraph on its two-color cover proclaimed that ASA "has joined the creationists' attack on science education by producing an unusually slick tract" (TEACHING SCIENCE), "filled with distortions, misrepresentations, and creationist pseudoscience."

Ho hum. What's hopeful about that? For one thing, the NCSE panelists weren't energetically pushing Bennetta's own "unusually slick tract." Also, they were doing their best to argue for the teaching of evolutionary science without ideological %isms." An ASA-sponsored panel would have argued in much the same way, but would have explicitly added scientisms other than "scientific creationism" to the culprits culpable for messing up science education.

An ASA panel might also have come across as more friendly to those inclined toward "creation science." The first comments from the audience came from two teachers obviously influenced by "young-earth" publications. The same two teachers also visited our ASA booth, where we tried to help them distinguish between evolution and "evolutionism." We said ASA supports the former as a reasonable scientific inference while disclaiming the latter as an anti-theistic ideology.

We may not have convinced those particular teachers that a young-earth position creates more problems than it solves. We did try to offer an alternative Christian view of creation without making them feel like enemies or idiots for holding a different position. One teacher said he felt "put down"by the NCSE panelists.

We hope he's put ASA in his friend category--or at least taken us out of the enemy category.

1. LAST CALL (617-356-5656) to sign up for: (a) Gene-Splicing Conference at St. Davids (PA), June 27-30. (b) China Tour via San Francisco, August 7-21. (c) Colorado River Raft Trip through Grand Canyon, August 7-14.

2. ADDENDA to items from last issue: (a) Pacific Division of AAAS at San Diego State University, June 1418: creation/evolution symposium has been dropped. (b) CAPS-West convention in Seattle, June 18-21, at the Doubletree Plaza Hotel, chaired by Grant L. Martin (19303 Fremont Ave., No., Seattle, WA 98133; tel. 206-546-7215). (c) New College Berkeley course on "Science, Ethics, & Belief' in September will be taught by Lany Lagerstrom, Ph.D. candidate in the history of science at U.C., with an assist from biochemist Walt Hearn, possibly others. (A death in his department at Otago, New Zealand, will keep Gareth Jones from taking a full sabbatical to the U.S.; he will take a shorter trip to England).

3. The Templeton Prize for 1987 has been awarded to Stanley L. Jaki, Hungarian-born Catholic priest, Distinguished Professor of Physics at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, and Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton. The prize, worth $330,000, is awarded by the Templeton Foundation (set up by ASA member and financier John Templeton of Nassau, Bahamas) for pioneering efforts advancing knowledge of God. It was awarded May 12 by Prince Philip at Windsor Castle in England. The now 62-year-old Jaki spoke at the 1970 ASA Annual Meeting at Bethel College and more recently to the Metropolitan New York local section. Jaki has written 21 books, including ne Relevance of Physics (1966); Brain, Mind, and Computers (1969, winner of the 1970 Lecomte du Nouy Prize); 7he Road of Science and the Way to God (1978, from his Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh); and Chesterton: A Seer of Science (1986).

WELCOME TO THE 20TH CENTURY. PART 7

[NOTE: Installment No. 7 of WELCOME TO THE 20TH CENTURY was written a year ago but has been crowded out of the last five issues by more timely news items. Meanwhile, ASA's national office has acquired, for less than $10,000, the complete desktop-publishing outfit used to "typeset" and lay out this issue. Managing editor Nancy Hanger now presides over (1) a Wyse computer (low-price IBM-PC clone), using (2) WordPerfect software (capable of translating our WordStar copy) and (3) Ventura Publishing page-makeup software, feeding into (4) a JLaser (sort of a "generic" laser printer), out of which comes camera-ready copy. Topping off the package is (5) a Canon optical scanner able to turn "hard copy," including drawings and photographs, into electronic signals which the Ventura program can combine with text, borders, etc., to produce a printed, fully illustrated page.

We're already mailing the Newsletter on a diskette her computer can read directly, saving a couple of time-consuming steps. ASA's switch to desktop publishing underlines the frantic pace of microcomputer development we were pondering a year ago. We're printing this installment just as we wrote it -- even though it now seems "quaint." What hurts is the realization that our still-new CP/M word processors are almost as antiquated as our once-beloved typewriter, Ol' Underwood. -- Ed.]

BY NOW WE'VE TOLD YOU most of what we've learned in our shift to word processing, cheered on by readers who've taken the same plunge, or who hover on the brink. Quite a few seem to have benefited from our experiences.

We depend on our word processors (yes, two of them in the editor's household) but the whole microcomputer revolution still makes us uneasy. Perhaps any revolution brings great benefits at great costs, with those who pay the costs not always getting the benefits. A few months ago, while we were praising WordStar's ingenuity, a badtempered computer in Ipswich was "disappearing" much of the copy for the March [1986] JASA. Like the curly little girl in the nursery rhyme, when computers are good, they are very, very good. But when they "crash," we tend to recall the good ol' days.

On our personal balance-sheet, the minuses have been minor indeed compared to some of the adjustments computers are forcing on society. Beyond petty annoyances, one reads about new waves of "computer crimes," of invasions of privacy, of disputes over new forms of intellectual property that didn't exist when the patent and copyright laws were written. ASA members are generally sensitive to the ethical dimensions of drastic change: new technologies making life easier for some individuals may make continued survival a more desperate matter for others.

The Seven Deadly Sins lurking in our computer tempt us on a relatively small scale. Sloth reveals itself, for instance, in lax proofreading "onscreen" (where studies show it to be harder) and then not bothering to make "hard copies" for correction. Word processing seems to put one in the fast lane. Yet Anger can flare on finding even one typo in the final printout. Perfection is now possible, hence expected. Pride pollutes our pleasure in things we do now that couldn't be done on Ol' Underwood.

Desktop publishing came in with a program to give editors fingertip control of the whole publishing process. On a single computer screen one can write the text, combine it with graphics, specify type sizes and styles, do the final layout, then print it on a laser printer whose internal computer can generate the type fonts and even reproduce photographs.

A 16-page newsletter that took three people (including a typesetter and layout artist) 26 hours and cost about $1,000 before can be turned out by one person in 8 hours for less than $200. (That doesn't count the hard part, writing the copy. -- Ed.) (Your think that's hard?... Try understanding the computer system! - Man.Ed.) Apple scored a triumph with its integrated system: Macintosh computer, PageMaker software, and LaserWriter printer, but the state of the art is changing rapidly. IBM will soon have its own total system, and is expected to develop a new generation of faster computers.

A lot has happened since 1984, when we were lured into the 20th century by a cut-rate offer of a DEC Rainbow. Neither that computer nor the Morrow on which we learned WordStar is still being manufactured. Kaypro has given in to the industry trend away from our 8-bit CP/M system to produce "IBM-compatibles" with the 16-bit MS-DOS system that seems to set the standard -- at least until 32-bit silicon chips change everything.

Asian "clones" successfully challenge IBM's high prices. A flood of lightweight "laptop" portables is reaching the market. Typeset-quality laser printers, far faster than even dot-matrix printers, may soon make letter-quality daisywheels obsolete.

Meanwhile, reviews of new software abound in publications that didn't exist when we first started groping in the trippy dark of floppy diskdom. Through "users groups" and "electronic bulletin boards," owners of a particular brand of microcomputer can make free copies of "public domain" software designed for their systems. A software revolution is beginning while the hardware revolution is still underway.

That makes a dizzying world, when seen from the outside or even from the inside. Our modest set-up can't run Nota Bene, a powerful word processing program "designed for academics and other serious writers" by Dragonfly Software. It lists for $495 and was officially endorsed by the Modern Language Association of America (annoying many MLA members who were fans of other word processing programs). We don't have the DOS system or the 256K of memory required, but nota bene (Latin for 11note well"): here we are in the 20th century, writing about Nota Bene on our good ol' 64K Kaypro, using good ol' WordStar.

Maybe we do have a few more things to say about being part of the computer age. Ergo, ipso, facto: (To be continued.)

Kurt's death will leave a big hole in many people's lives. He was a big man, both physically and spiritually, but a modest man who expressed his love for Jesus Christ by sharing his faith with others and serving them in practical ways. An active witness for Christ among students and colleagues, he was one of the founders of the Federation Christian Fellowship, which for almost thirty years has met at the annual meeting of FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology).

Kurt Weiss learned of ASA in 1956 from biochemist Walt Hearn when they met on an airport bus in Brussels, Belgium, at the 20th International Congress of Physiology. Elected to the ASA Executive Council in 1977, Kurt became president of ASA in 1979 -- the year the building containing our national office (in Elgin, Illinois) burned down, destroying most ASA records. The ASA found itself deeply in debt. Kurt not only saw us through that troubled year but accepted a second term as president to get ASA on its feet again. (Hany Lubansky, Jr. stepped in as interim executive officer, preceding Bob Herrmann.)

Who could forget Kurt's moving presidential message at one Annual Meeting, and a reprise of it at another one, telling of his personal spiritual history? Born a Jew in the Catholic city of Graz, Austria, Kurt barely escaped the Nazi terror by immigrating to the U.S. as a teenager. A labored, often simplistic witness of fellow students at Oklahoma Baptist University introduced him to Jesus Christ, whom Kurt took as his own Lord and Savior during a stint in the U.S. Army. His B.S. from O.B.U. was followed by an M.S. from the U. of Tennessee in 1950 and a Ph.D. from Rochester in 1953.

Kurt's areas of specialization were gerontology and endocrinology. He was the author of many technical papers and a chapter on "The Physiology of Aging" in Greenfield's Surgery in the Aged (1975). He served on the councils of the Society for Experimental Biology & Medicine and the Gerontological Society and had been vicepresident of the latter and president of the Southwestern Section of the American Physiological Society. He served the University of Oklahoma and its medical school in many ways and was on the Governor's Advisory Committee on Aging.

Kurt's colleagues all admired his teaching and his concern for students. On learning of his serious illness, President Horton notified the Dean of the medical school that Dr. Weiss had been awarded the David Ross Boyd Professorship for outstanding teaching and guidance of students. Professor Roger Thies, when informing ASA of his colleague's death, called that a fitting tribute to such a caring teacher, adding, "I will remember him for how much he loved other people."

The Weiss's son Tom and Kurt's brother from Virginia flew to Oklahoma City before Kurt died. Many of us had also come to love Mary Weiss, at her husband's side at ASA Annual Meetings. We prayed with them for the recovery from cancer of their daughter- in-law and rejoiced in the birth of their "miracle grandchild." We share Mary's grief, but also her comfort in knowing that Kurt is with the Lord. Her address is 2224 NW 432rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK 7311-2.

(In March, leaving Washington after the NSTA meeting, I had a strong sense of Kurt's witness living on. Thousands of medical scientists were arriving for the annual FASEB meetings. I borrowed a program and turned to Special Events. The Federation Christian Fellowship breakfast was listed, with Dr. Hsiao Kun Chu as speaker. Regrettably, I couldn't stay for what must have been a tribute to Kurt. We will all miss him. - Ed.)

On April 6, at Hart House on the U.T. campus, 22 people heard Mary VanderVennen of Christian Counseling Services speak on "The One and the Many: The Challenge of Multiple Personality Disorder." Mary discussed the disorder in the light of personality theory but drew on her own counseling experience as well. Listeners saw in the two case histories presented not only the symptoms but also Mary's caring attitude toward such clients. She tries to avoid moving too quickly to integrate the various parts of the personality into an integrated "whole" to keep from destroying any part, which in a way is "a person." Promoting communication and cooperation within the multiple personality, she feels, should lead the person toward a unified self. Many such patients are women who have suffered disrupted childhoods, commonly including sexual abuse, but Mary stressed that "life is stronger than death." Christian faith gives her strength to keep working with difficult patients whose conditions might otherwise seem hopeless.

The first meeting planned for 1987-88 will also take place at Hart House, on the evening of Monday, September 21, when Ted M. Beverly will speak on 'War and Peace Since 1895."

Ghillean Prance, a native of Britain, received his doctorate from Oxford University in 1963. He is an internationally known authority on the plant life of Amazonian Brazil, having collected over 28,000 different plant specimens himself. His writings on tropical plants and on endangered species are widely read. In 1983 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Goteborg in Sweden for his work on conservation of the Amazonian ecosystem.

Westminster Discount Book Service of Scarsdale, New York, again made possible a greatly expanded (and discounted) book table selection at the meeting, according to executive secretary Bob Voss. Other local officers are Wayne Frair, president; Linda Wanase1ja, vice-president; RichardRommer, secretary; and Darrell Singer, treasurer. Also on the council are Carl Gustafson, Robert Hsu, Randy Isaac, and Ernst Monse.

NORTH CAROLINA

On Tuesday, March 24, a 3:45 p.m. meeting on science teaching was held at Jordan High School in Durham. ASA executive director Bob Herrmann spoke on "Teaching Science in a Climate of Controversy," outlining the moderating message of the ASA booklet of that title and offering copies to those in attendance.

The invitation to the meeting went out over the signatures of Leland Williams, president of Triangle Universities Computation Center; Frederick Brooks, professor of computer science at U.N.C.; Lany Martin, physics grad student at U.N.C.; John Laird, visiting assistant professor of physics at U.N.C.; and J. Mailen Kootsey, associate professor of physiology & computer science at Duke.

Executive director Bob Herrmann was also on hand, describing the ASA booklet for teachers and some reactions to it from teachers and scientists. Two speakers scheduled to appear at the forthcoming ASA conference on "Gene-Splicing," Elving Anderson of the U. of Minnesota and Weldon Jones of Bethel College, previewed some technical and ethical questions to be dealt with at that conference. The conference is being held at Eastern College, St. Davids, Pennsylvania, June 27-30.

Earlier that afternoon, Professor Gingerich presented a seminar in the Mechanical Engineering building on the U. of Minnesota campus. His title there was "Let There Be Light: The Origin of the Universe and the Creation Controversy." That seminar was organized by Bill Monsma and cosponsored by ASA, the Maclaurin Institute, the Graduate Student Christian Fellowship, and the Cultural Activities Fund.

Norm was one of the founders of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI), established to "define, defend, and apply the inerrant Bible for our day." ICBI's ten-year mission will culminate in a "Congress on the Bible 11" to be held September 23-27 at the Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Quest Ministries, one of many sponsoring organizations, will have a booth at the Congress, and Norm will give a plenary address on "Building a World and Life View." Another ASAer on the program is J. Kerby Anderson of Probe Ministries, leading a workshop on "Genetic Engineering and Artificial Reproduction: A Christian Response." Geisler and Anderson are co-authors of Origin Science: A Proposal for the Creation-Evolution Controversy (Baker, 1987).

Grahain D. Gutsche has become chair of the Physics Dept. at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Graham hopes that administering a faculty of 38 and a full-fledged physics-major program will leave time to continue his observational studies of eclipsing binary star systems. He and his wife have been active with Bethany Christian Services, providing maternity homes for young women with "problem pregnancies," first in their own home, now in a newly built home designed for that purpose. Graham also helped found Chesapeake Theological Seminary to extend theological education to part-time students; he remains on the seminary board and occasionally teaches a course there.

H. Harold Hartzler of Glendale, Arizona, retired physics professor and former ASA executive secretary, has been soliciting attitudes toward evolutionism and creationism from several hundred members of ASA and the Creation Research Society. Harold continues his studies of another kind of "origins" -- those of Amish, Mennonite, and Brethren families now in the U.S. He expects to direct a trip to Europe this summer of such folks interested in tracing their roots -- but to return in time to attend the ASA ANNUAL MEETING in COLORADO SPRINGS, 2-6 AUGUST.

R. Mark Henkehnan is a professor in the Dept. of Medical Biophysics at the U. of Toronto. On March 3-5 he presented an academic lecture series at the Ontario Bible College and Ontario Theological Seminary. The series, on "Christianity and Science," was supplemented by Mark's evening public lecture on "Wonder and Worship."

RussellMdatinan is professor of chemistry at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa. Russ's book, 774e Bible, Natural Science, and Evolution, has been translated by Evangel Bible Translators & Ministries of Toronto into both Russian and Ukrainian. The book will be useful in witnessing to Russians and Ukrainians who have immigrated to Israel as well as to Canada. In 1979 the same book was translated into Korean by the Korea Society for Reformed Faith & Action. Has any of this improved Russ's own language ability? Nyet, not yet.

John D. Madsen is a postdoctoral research associate at the Fresh Water Institute, a center of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. John is studying submerged aquatic vascular plant communities in the Hudson River and Lake George.

Russell L. Mixter has firlally done it -- retire, that is. After a full career of teaching biology at Wheaton College, Russ "retired" the first time by continuing to teach at Judson College in Elgin, Illinois. He taught his last class at Judson in June 1984 and now, at age 80, lives in Windsor Park Manor, a retirement home in Carol Stream, near Wheaton. In June 1986 Russ celebrated his retirement with a trip to Britain. (Russ made a lasting impact on generations of Wheaton science students and ASA members. He edited ASA's 1959 "Darwin Centennial volume," Evolution and Christian Thiought Today. --Ed.)

W. Jim Neidhardt is associate professor of physics at New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark. In 1985-86 Jim spent the fall term on sabbatical leave as visiting scholar at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Kentucky. A paper resulting from that time of study and reflection appeared in the fall 1986 issue of The Asbury 7heological Journal of Asbury Seminary (Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 59-83, 1986). In "The Creative Dialogue Between Human Intelligibility and Reality -- Relational Aspects of Natural Science and Theology," Jim points to similarities in the work of physicist Niels Bohr (b. 1885) and theologian Karl Barth (b. 1886), each evidently unaware of the other but both probably influenced by the writings of Soren Kierkegaard. Jim expands discussions of wave-particle complementarity by C. F. von Weiszaecker and by H. P. Nebelsick (Theology and Science in Mutual Modification, Oxford, 1981) into a general consideration of "differential integrative relationships" in science and theology (with Neidhardtian diagrams familiar to JASA readers -- Ed.).

Allene J. Scott is an M.D. now in residency in occupational medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

Douglas W. Soderdahl, M.D., F.A.C.S., has completed his tour of duty as a colonel in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army but has remained in Hawaii. He is now staff urologist at Straub Clinic and Hospital in Honolulu.

ATTENTION MEMBERS! The new Membership Directory will be printed soon. Please carefully check this Newsletter mailing label for correct address and phone number. Please send all corrections to the ASA national office..

POSITIONS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE. U.S. Naval Academy-. physics. Contact: Dr. Graham D. Gutsche, Chair, Physics Dept., U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD 21402 ... Whtitworth College: half-time instructor (Master's required) in speech communication; director (Master's plus experience required), career/life advising (psychology/guidance/counseling). Contact personnel office (tel. 509466-3202) to see if filled in May ... I long Kong Baptist College: principal/senior lecturer (Ph.D. preferred) in biology, to teach animal physiology, environmental toxicology, basic zoology courses; other positions in English, business, and communication or journalism. Contact: Personnel Office, Hong Kong Baptist College, 224 Waterloo Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong (Received from Fred J. Hickernell of HKBC Mathematics Dept.) ... John Brown University- electrical engineering, Ph.D. preferred, industrial experience desirable, to teach undergrad courses in circuit theory, digital systems, signal processing, communication theory, with labs, beginning Aug 15. Contact: Dr. J. V. Pearson, Chair, Division of Engineering, John Brown University, Siloam Springs, AR 72761.