Ford Foundation sparks progress in social work

Support for research at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work's Center for Social Development is a prime example of the Ford Foundation's commitment to "incubating ideas" with long-term sustainability. The center is conducting groundbreaking work in asset building, helping the poor break the cycle of poverty by making personal savings possible.

Michael W. Sherraden, Ph.D., the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development and director of the Center for Social Development, credits the leadership of Ford Foundation President Susan V. Berresford and University alumnus Melvin L. Oliver, a foundation vice president, for major in-roads in policies that assist the poor in accumulating savings and assets. Under their leadership, community development and asset building have become key areas of the foundation's focus.

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Social work school's spring lecture series

George Warren Brown School of Social Work's spring lecture series spans social issues from the plight of refugees to the role of philanthropy to the latest developments in gene therapy.

The series kicked off Jan. 10 with a lecture by St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Cleveland Hammonds on the history and future of the city school system. It will continue Thursday with a lecture by Susan V. Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation, on "Philanthropy in the 21st Century," at 4 p.m. in Brown Hall Room 100.

Other lectures in the series, which is free and open to the public, are at:

¥ 1:10 p.m. Thursday --Beverlee Bruce, program director for the Social Science Research Council in New York, on "Forced Migration and Human Rights: United Nations' Response to the Plight of Refugee Women and Children," Brown Lounge.

¥ 1:10 p.m. April 19 --University alumnus Michael E. Willis, FAIA, of Michael Willis Architects, on "Architecture and Its Role in the Transfiguration of Social Institutions," Brown Lounge.

¥ 1:10 p.m. April 26 --George B. Johnson, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, on "Gene Therapy on Trial," Brown Lounge.

For more information, call 935-4909.

Renowned journalists to address how the Internet is changing sports coverage

By Jessica N. Roberts

Over the past decade, the face of sports journalism has changed with the addition of the Internet. No longer do people look solely to print publications or television for sports scores, features or athlete information.

Sports Web sites now offer an alternative, providing up-to-the-minute coverage. Today, major sports magazines like Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine have teamed with television networks to create high-profile Web sites. Other sports periodicals have followed, creating elaborate Web sites to complement their publications.

As these magazines pioneer this new brand of time-sensitive sports journalism, what constitutes good reporting is being tested.

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Super day for advertising (and football) buffs Analyzing advertisements during the Olin School of Business' first "Super Advertising Bowl" on Sunday, are (from left) Ambar Rao, Fossett Distinguished Professor of Marketing; Adam Schrier, MBA '02, event chairperson; Anna Maria Sebastian, MBA '02, event planning committee; and Ron Crooks, managing director and chief creative officer of St. Louis-based ad agency D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. Crooks and Arlo Oviatt, senior vice president and group creative director for the agency, led some 100 attendees --MBA students and staff from the Olin School and their guests --in pre-game and halftime discussions of Super Bowl advertising. Crooks stressed that, to be great, Super Bowl ads had to be memorable and must indivisibly link the product and the ad. Attendees used "score cards" to choose their personal favorites and rate ads' business effectiveness. Ads for Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi and E*Trade were winners, and ones for Accenture and monster.com were losers. Students also enjoyed the game, shown on several big-screen televisions; super party food and drink; and attractive prizes from local merchants. The event was presented by the Olin Marketing Association and held in a classroom and adjoining lounge in Simon Hall.