Community Briefs

Monday, February 8, 1999

Community Briefs

UC San Diego professor publishes biography

A new biography on the life and times of Mary Ann Shadd Cary,
the first black woman to edit and publish a newspaper in North
America, tells the remarkable story of how a courageous, outspoken
19th century black woman used the press and public speaking to
fight slavery and oppression in the U.S. and Canada.

"Mary Ann Shadd Cary: The Black Press and Protest in the 19th
Century," (Indiana University Press) by Jane Rhodes, a professor of
ethnic studies at the University of California, San Diego follows
the bold trajectory of Shadd Cary, who was a leader and active
participant in many of the social and political movements that
shaped the 19th century, including abolition, black emigration and
nationalism, women’s rights, and temperance.

Generally considered to be the first black woman journalist in
U.S. history, Shadd Cary was inducted into the National Women’s
Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y., last summer.

According to Rhodes, a former journalist who teaches about race,
gender and media history, Shadd Cary was part of the small black
elite who used their education and limited freedoms to fight for
the end of slavery and racial oppression. She was also an ambitious
adventurer who emigrated to Canada in the 1850s where she taught
the children of fugitive slaves and founded her newspaper, the
Provincial Freeman.

Study may help cure lung inflammation

Scientists have uncovered crucial steps in a grim molecular
dance that asphyxiates more than 5,000 people a year in the United
States. The research pinpoints a pivotal protein involved in a
multi-step process leading to pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung
inflammation that eventually robs the lungs of their ability to
supply oxygen to the blood.

The protein’s specific and localized role makes it a prime
target for developing a drug to block the severe lung scarring
caused by the condition, the scientists conclude.

The research, reported in the Feb. 5 issue of the journal Cell,
was led by Dean Sheppard, professor of medicine at the University
of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and director of the UCSF Lung
Biology Center at the San Francisco General Hospital Medical
Center.

Former UC Berkeley professor passes away

John Lysmer, professor emeritus of geotechnical engineering at
the University of California, Berkeley collapsed and died of a
heart attack at his home in Berkeley on Jan. 25. He was 67 years
old. A native of Denmark, he came in 1965 to UC Berkeley where he
joined forces with the late professor Harry Seed to develop the
computational underpinnings of modern geotechnical earthquake
engineering.

His pioneering work with a number of his Ph.D. students brought
him lasting international recognition through the computer programs
he developed to predict the ground motion and acceleration at a
site due to specific earthquake ground motions. These programs –
SHAKE, QUAD-4, FLUSH and SASSI – take into account the soil and
other geologic conditions at the site.

He took early retirement from the university in 1991 and
continued a very active consulting and teaching life.

"Those of us who knew him remember his joy of life," said
Nicholas Sitar, professor of civil and environmental engineering at
UC Berkeley. "He was a great storyteller and, in particular, his
lectures based on his stamp collection will be remembered by all
who were fortunate to enjoy them. His death is a tragic loss of a
great and valued colleague and friend."

Compiled from Daily Bruin staff reports.

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