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"alumni"

Reedies explain threat from Japan's radiation release

By Kevin Myers on March 24, 2011 09:51 AM

The alarming news coming out of Japan about potential nuclear reactor meltdowns has sparked considerable interest in Reed's research reactor. The March 17 Oregonian did a nice job of assessing the minimal risk associated with Oregon's two research reactors (Reed and OSU) in its story, "State research reactors can't melt down."

The reactor is used for experiments such as measuring the amount of specific elements in samples. A recent experiment searched shards from an ancient ceramic pot to find impurities in the clay that could help pinpoint the location where the pot was made. Using the reactor allowed researchers to identify the elements while leaving the artifact intact.

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March Madness Results

By Chris Lydgate '90 on March 17, 2011 10:13 AM

The senior Griffins clinched the 2011 March Madness championship with a decisive victory over Right Bank in the final round of Reed's madcap elimination basketball tournament.

The tournament, now in its 23rd year, features teams composed of students, alumni, staff, faculty, and other life forms in various combinations. In past years, departments, dorms, and even teams from other sports have competed for the title.

This year, the alumni were represented by two teams: the House Husbands, captained by Erik Brakstad '89, mainly composed of alumni of--shall we say--antique vintage, and Right Bank, most of whom graduated in the last decade or so. In their first-round match-up, Right Bank notched a 27-17 victory over HH thanks to skillful play by Imran Ahmad '04 and generally superior conditioning...

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March Madness Preview

By Chris Lydgate '90 on March 11, 2011 11:55 AM

Game on.

Reed's annual one-of-a-kind basketball tournament is happening tonight. Started over 20 years ago by Erik Brakstad '89, the event features students, alumni, staff, and various other life forms in a bouncy, spherical celebration of America's tallest sport.

Here is the bracket as of press time:

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"Redwood College" a new kind of academic fraud

By Chris Lydgate '90 on February 28, 2011 03:38 PM

Like most Americans, I am concerned about internet scoundrels who might try to steal my identity. But it never occurred to me that entire institutions could be vulnerable to identity theft.

In the last few days, however, the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Wall Street Journal have reported on a disturbing development: an unidentified scam artist copied Reed's website to create a fictitious "University of Redwood," taking the concept of academic fraud to a whole new low.

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Does College Work?

By Chris Lydgate '90 on February 11, 2011 03:25 PM

Considering the enormous quantities of time, energy, money, and anguish that are invested in higher education in this country, you might imagine that we'd have more hard data about how well it works. Yet research on the true purpose of a college education--whether it produces an educated person--is surprisingly sparse.

A major new book on the subject--Academically Adrift, by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa--presents plenty of data, and the conclusions aren't pretty. Approximately 45% of the undergraduates surveyed showed no improvement in their overall analytical competence after two years of college, and 36% showed no improvement after four years of college.

"Large numbers of U.S. college students can be accurately described as academically adrift. They might graduate, but they are failing to develop the higher-order cognitive skills that it is widely assumed college students should master," the authors write.

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Hello, World

By Chris Lydgate '90 on February 11, 2011 11:52 AM

When I was a freshman at Reed, professor Jean Delord [physics 1950-88] taught me some elementary computer programming. I can still remember the thrill of compiling my first snippet of code, which simply printed the immortal words "Hello, World!"

Now, many years later, the same words leap to mind as we introduce Sallyportal, a new blog hosted by Reed magazine.

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