John Duffy, associate professor of English at the University of Notre Dame, is the recipient of the 2009 Outstanding Book Award of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) for"Writing from These Roots:Literacy in a Hmong-American Community."

Published by the University of Hawaii Press, the book traces the development of literacy in a midwestern American community of Laotian Hmong who came to the United States as refugees from the Vietnam War.

The CCCC Outstanding Book Award is presented annually for work in the field of composition and rhetoric.Duffy will be presented with the award at the organization’s annual conference in San Francisco in March.

A Notre Dame faculty member since 1998, Duffy also serves as the Francis O’Malley Director of the University Writing Program.He specializes in literacy, rhetoric and literature.

Established in 1949, the CCCC is the world’s largest professional organization for researching and teaching composition, from writing to new media.

_ Contact: John Duffy, 574-631-9796,_ " jduffy@nd.edu ":mailto:jduffy@nd.edu

TopicID: 31506

The economic stimulus package winding its way through Congress includes $20 billion for health information technology, or health IT. The funding would boost the movement toward establishing an interoperable national system for exchanging electronic health records (EHRs) and is expected to increase the number of physicians who use electronic record systems in their practices. Currently, less than 20 percent do.

Corey Angst, a University of Notre Dame management professor and expert on health IT, says such a move will save money, promote wellness, and most importantly, save lives.

“Electronic health records provide the means for all of your information to be available to you and every physician or health care provider whom you wish to see it,”Angst said."This will not only reduce the likelihood of duplicate tests ñ which increase health-care costs needlessly ñ but also make medical error less likely.

“If a doctor can review your entire history of drug allergies or treatments by calling up your electronic record, there is less chance that a wrong prescription or some other error is made.”

Angst says that according to a 1999 study by the Institute of Medicine,“To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System,”between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year due to avoidable medical errors.

Angst also points out the network effects of having an interoperable system.

“EHRs are somewhat like fax machines in that the true value comes from lots of people adopting the technology ñ a fax machine is of no value if only you own one,”he said.

“While there is some value in a single doctor having an EHR, the public or societal value is exponentially more when the vast majority has them.

“If all of this rich medical data is residing in databases that can be analyzed, it isn’t a stretch to think that researchers could be using the data to develop new drugs, identify outbreaks, search for geographic pockets of certain diseases, and even identify the best means of countering obesity or even the common cold.”

Many people are concerned that digitizing health records could result in loss of privacy,but Angst said that through education, most consumers will become more comfortable with electronic records.

“Digitizing scares almost everybody, but nothing is really changing in terms of information becoming less private or secure,”he said.“Paper records are potentially more of a security risk.”

• Media advisory: * Angst’s comments may be used in whole or in part.He is available for interviews at 574-631-4772 or " cangst@nd.edu ":mailto:cangst@nd.edu .

TopicID: 31346

Mark Berends, director of the National Center on 91��Ƶ Choice (NCSC), has joined the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiative (IEI) as the new director of its Center for Research on Educational Opportunity (CREO).

Berends, who most recently served as associate professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, succeeds Maureen Hallinan, who has directed CREO for ten years.

Berends has done extensive research on school organization and classroom instruction as they relate to student achievement, paying special attention to disadvantaged students.He has participated in numerous U.S. Department of Education national evaluations and has conducted studies investigating the causes and sources of black-white and Latino-white achievement gaps.

In the 1990s, Berends led the summative evaluation of New American 91��Ƶs, at the time the largest privately funded reform movement in the nation.His latest books are"Examining Gaps in Mathematics Achievement Among Racial-Ethnic Groups, 1972-1992,""Charter 91��Ƶ Outcomes,""Leading with Data:Pathways to Improve Your 91��Ƶ"and the"Handbook of Research on 91��Ƶ Choice."He will teach sociology courses at Notre Dame.

“Professor Berends will make a singularly important contribution to the mission of the IEI,” says Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C, director of the IEI.“The wealth of expertise and intellectual leadership he brings to CREO, particularly in the area of school choice, will enable us to make great strides in our work to give children and families greater access to excellent schools ñ especially faith-based schools.He will build ably upon the work of Maureen Hallinan, whose inspired leadership has built a wonderful foundation in the world of high impact educational research.”

Berends will continue in his role as director of the NCSC, established in 2004 through a $13.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.The mission of the NCSC is to lead research across multiple disciplines on"how school choice affects individuals, communities and systems."

“I’m excited about integrating the work of CREO and NCSC.In fact, CREO provides a broader umbrella for NCSC because of its emphasis on research on educational opportunity,”Berends said of his transition to Notre Dame.“Together the studies that NCSC and Maureen Hallinan have undertaken position CREO to make significant contributions to educational policy and the field of sociology. What’s more, they provide a foundation for CREO to bring in additional funding so we can continue this line of research ñ research that’s essential, since issues of educational equity and excellence will be critical for years to come.”

Hallinan served as the first director of CREO and was the first director of the IEI upon its founding in 1996.She also is the William P. and Hazel B. White Professor of Sociology, whose research has focused primarily on the sociology of education.Her most recent studies compare students’ learning opportunities in Catholic and public schools in Chicago.

“We have established CREO as a center of excellence for the study of educational inequality, the organization of schools, and the effects of school sector on student outcomes. Mark Berends brings a faith vision and commitment to his work that will enhance and strengthen the context in which members of CREO conduct their research and teaching,”she says.

TopicID: 31228

Ushering in a new era of openness, President Obama instituted some new rules onlobbyists’ relationships with government representatives ñ a good first step in establishing a foundation of ethics for his new administration, according to Patrick Murphy,C.R. Smith co-director of the Institute for Ethical Business Worldwide at the University of Notre Dame.

“In my study of corporations, leaders of highly ethical firms have the following practices: They set out and clarify ethical rules, they communicate them widely and they hold all members of the company accountable for following them,”says Murphy.

“Obama’s use of the words ‘honest,’ ‘transparent’ and ‘trustworthy’ ñ as they relate to government ñ clearly communicates a message of ethical values.And the fact that these rules were promulgated on his first full day in office signals the priority Obama gives to ethical behavior in his administration.

“Ultimately, though, like any other CEO, Obama’s success in breaking from ‘business as usual’ mold will be judged by whether these rules are practiced by his ‘employees.’”

It is not only important for him to set the tone at the top, but also that mechanisms are in place so that ethical behavior is reinforced and unethical actions are punished. If this occurs, his administration should be able to avoid some of the ethical pitfalls that have occurred in the past."

A professor of marketing, Murphy is the author of a book titled “Eighty Exemplary Ethics Statements,” in which he presents and comments on the codes of conduct at some of the world’s leading corporations and institutions. He is a fellow of the Ethics Resource Center in Washington, D.C.

_ Contact: Murphy’s comments may be used in whole or in part.He can be reached at 574-631-9092 or_ " Murphy.72@nd.edu ":mailto:Murphy.72@nd.edu

TopicID: 31187

President-elect Obama’s newly appointed team of foreign policy advisors will be immediately faced with several international issues requiring their attention, but their approaches to dealing with these crises will differ.

“They are a team of rivals in the sense that you’ve got the secretary of defense Bob Gates, who is a hold-over from the previous administration, and then you’ve got his national security advisor, retired marine general Jim Jones, who is very close to Gen. (Brent) Scowcroft on the one side,”says University of Notre Dame political scientist Michael Desch, who specializes in foreign affairs, defense policy and international security.

“Then on the other side you’ve got Hilary Clinton as the secretary of state, so you really have pretty much the entire spectrum of the foreign policy establishment range of opinion there. I think, in fact, that there are going to be a lot of tensions, particularly over issues like Israel-Palestine.”

According to Desch, this broad range of advice and opinion on policy matters could be beneficial,“especially compared to the last eight years where it was more singing to the choir than anything else.”

_ Media Advisory: Desch’s comments may be used in whole or in part.He can be reached for interviews at 574-631-2792_ " mdesch@nd.edu ":mailto:mdesch@nd.edu

TopicID: 31066

With civilians bearing the brunt of the current conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, both sides ñ as well as the international community ñ need to focus on how to end the violence, according to University of Notre Dame historian Asher Kaufman, whose areas of specialty include the Arab-Israeli conflict.

“The question that needs to preoccupy Israelis, Palestinians and the international community is not who started this round, but how it could be stopped,”says Kaufman.

“Israel is not interested in re-occupying the Gaza strip, nor is it capable of destroying Hamas.And Israel cannot be eliminated by Hamas.”

The best the two parties can hope to achieve is a return to a ceasefire agreement that would involve an end of Palestinian rocket firing at Israel, and an end of Israeli closure of the Gaza Strip.

But a commitment by the international community to help enforce the agreement is needed to help bring an end to the current conflict.

“This is one of the first and most important foreign challenges of the Obama administration, and the president-elect needs to address it sooner rather than later, even if there is ‘only one American president at a time,’”Kaufman says.

A member of the Notre Dame faculty since 2005, Kaufman specializes in the modern history of Lebanon and Syria, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.He currently is working on a project focusing on boundaries, territoriality, conflict, and identities in Lebanon, Syria and Israel.

_ Media advisory: Kaufman’s comments may be used in whole or in part.He is available for interviews and can be contacted at_ " Asher.Kaufman.15@nd.edu ":mailto:Asher.Kaufman.15@nd.edu .

TopicID: 30947

It’s been nearly 150 years since Charles Darwin’s"Origin of Species"was introduced, and we humans continue to grapple with issues about what it means to be, well, one of us.

University of Notre Dame anthropologist Agustin Fuentes, who specializes in biological anthropology, primatology and evolution of social organization and behavioramong other areasexamines human evolution from several perspectives. He recently has published two books:“Evolution of Human Behavior,”which examines how and why humans evolved behaviorally, and"Health, Risk and Adversity,"which provides a unique perspectivea comparative approach to the analysis of health disparities and human adaptabilityand specifically focuses on the pathways that lead to unequal health outcomes.

Among the complexities of human behavior are several broad misconceptions that continue to dominate discourse about human nature. The big ones: Race, sex and aggression. So what are the myths and what are the realities? Fuentes sheds his anthropological and biological light on some of the most common misconceptions of our innate humanness.

Race and racism

Myth: Humans are divided into races that differ in some biological and behavioral patterns.
Fuentes: “There is no separate gene for black or white. Our concept of race is not biological, it is social.While there is only one biological race in humans ( Homo sapiens) it still matters whether you are black or white in the U.S. Differences between ‘races’ in this country are the outcomes of social, historical, economic, and experiential contexts, not biological entities . . . so what do we do about it?”

Sex, gender, and monogamywho does what?

Myth: Humans are more or less monogamous, or more specifically, men want a lot of sex and women want a little. Males want many partners, and women search for one mate. As the William James’ poem reads:“Higamous, hogimous women are monogamous . . . Hogimous, higamous men are polygamous.”
Fuentes: “Humans are not biologically monogamous, but we can be socially so. Humans are attracted to many individuals throughout their lifetime, with whom they may or may not have sex.As a species, humans have lots of sex. . . . sometimes leading to some very big problems.”

Relationships and sexdoes anyone live happily ever after?

Myth: If we search long enough or try hard enough, we fall in love with that one special person and live happily ever after.
Fuentes: “There is no guarantee that any of us will have a single lasting bond that is social, sexual and successful with another person. However, humans can and do form amazingly powerful pair-bonds that are both biological and social. These bonds can be long or short, involve sex or not, and be heterosexual or homosexual. So, is there ever a Mr./Ms. right?”

Aggression and violencecan’t we all just get along?

Myth: Humans, especially testosterone-laden males, are aggressive by nature.
Fuentes: “There is no ‘beast within.’ Humans are neither naturally aggressive nor naturally peaceful, but we are really good at working things out. Humans are the most successful large animal on this planet . . . but we have few, if any, ‘natural’ defenses (no horns, claws, fangs, etc . . .).All we have are big brains and other people. It is our history of working together that got us to where we are (6+ billion strong in 2008). But more people means more conflict . . . can we continue to work things out?”

Morality and ethicsis there a natural state of right and wrong?

Myth: There is a natural law of right and wrong for humans, and we know what it is.
Fuentes: “There is no consistent pattern of morality across human societies or human history. There is no hard-wiring in the human brain that tells us how to be a ‘moral’ person . . . but our biology and our society work together to produce a species capable of amazing compassion and judgment. Just because we are capable of it does not necessarily mean we’ll use it.”

_ Contact: Agustin Fuentes,_ " afuentes@nd.edu ":mailto:afuentes@nd.edu _
_

TopicID: 30908

Three members of the University of Notre Dame faculty have completed a national research study titled"Faith, Finances and the Future: The Notre Dame Study of U.S. Pastors,"to be published by Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) Press.

Authored by Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, director of the ACE Leadership Program, and ACE faculty members James Frabutt and Anthony Holter, the report presents findings from a 2008 nationwide study of pastors with responsibility for Catholic schools, as well as recommendations for addressing the most pressing issues those pastors identified. Only the third such study in the history of American Catholic education, and the first in nearly 10 years, the Notre Dame Study of U.S. Pastors is a systematic analysis of pastors’ needs and perceptions regarding Catholic schools and Catholic education.

More than 2,000 pastors from nearly every diocese in the country were contacted to participate in the study, the findings of which indicate that"regardless of location of the parish school, pastors consistently identify Catholic identity and finances as the two most important needs facing their schools."

Findings also show that pastors who believe the mission of their parish school is valued and supported by Catholic institutions of higher education tend to value the school more significantly than those pastors who do not perceive such external support for their schools.

The authors of the study offer several recommendations to address the needs illuminated by their findings. In the area of finances, they propose that Catholic school systems decrease expenses by establishing regional or national cooperatives to cut health care and energy costs, as a few dioceses have already successfully accomplished. At the same time, the authors suggest, Catholic schools can increase revenues by better accessing federal and state funds available to them, becoming more active in the school choice arena, and taking a more sophisticated approach to pooled investments.

In regard to the Catholic identity needs the pastors expressed, the research team recommends that the school community be more consciously integrated into the overall life of the parish, so that schools might be seen"as an integral part of the parish’s larger pastoral services framework."Increasing efforts to sustain and strengthen the spiritual growth of faculty and staff also is proposed as a means of enhancing the Catholicity of schools.

Workshops about the study, its findings, and subsequent recommendations are available to diocesan leaders and Catholic school system administrators upon request.

The Notre Dame Study of U.S. Pastors is just one of many recent undertakings of the ACE program in response to the final report of the 2005-06 Notre Dame Task Force on Catholic Education, titled"Making God Known, Loved, and Served."The task force, convened by Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., was composed of 50 leaders from throughout the country, including Catholic educators, diocesan representatives, philanthropists, investment specialists and Notre Dame faculty and staff, and was chaired by Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C., co-founder of the ACE program.

The task force’s report outlined 12 strategic objectives for Notre Dame to address the most pressing needs of U.S. elementary and secondary Catholic schools; to date more than 10,000 copies have been distributed to dioceses and Catholic school systems across the nation. Among many recommendations and action steps for the renewal of Catholic education, the report recognized the uniquely important role of pastors and that no effort to serve Catholic schools can succeed without them.

“Identifying and then responding to the needs of pastors with schools is an important step in the ongoing revitalization of Catholic education and continues the ACE mission to sustain, strengthen, and transform our Catholic schools,”Father Nuzzi said.

_ Contact: Father Nuzzi, 574-631-7730,_ " rnuzzi@nd.edu ":mailto:rnuzzi@nd.edu

TopicID: 30388

University of Notre Dame anthropologist Agustin Fuentes examines how and why humans evolved behaviorally in a new book titled"Evolution of Human Behavior,"published by Oxford University Press.

Incorporating recent innovations in evolutionary theory with emerging perspectives from the current fossil record, ethnographic studies and genomic approaches, Fuentes’ book is the first text to synthesize and compare the major proposals for human behavior evolution from an anthropological perspective.

Examining basic assumptions about why humans behave as they do, the facts of human evolution, patterns of evolutionary change in global-temporal context, and the interconnected roles of cooperation and conflict in human history, Fuentes offers a holistic and integrated perspective on the evolution of human behavior.

A member of the Notre Dame faculty since 2002, Fuentes is a professor of anthropology and director of the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts.His areas of specialty include biological anthropology, primatology, evolution of social organization and behavior, human-nonhuman primate interactions, disease and pathogen transfer, Southeast Asia, and Gibraltar.

_ Contact: Agustin Fuentes, 574-631-5421 or_ " afuentes@nd.edu ":mailto:afuentes@nd.edu

TopicID: 30368

The longest political campaign in history is almost over, which means time is running out for that elusive group – the undecided voter.

University of Notre Dame political scientist Darren Davis believes that many of the voters who identify themselves asundecidedactually know for whom they will vote, but for a number of reasons, will not reveal their decisions.

Many national and statewide polls continue to report a moderate number of people, anywhere from 5 to 9 percent depending on the poll, who are not willing to say for whom they will vote,says Davis, an expert in voter behavior and racial politics.

Given that we have long ago reached a saturation point in information about the candidates, meaning that there is nothing new that can be learned about Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain, I doubt very seriously that people who say they are undecided truly are undecided,says Davis.

According to Davis, pollsters can elicit the kinds of responses they want, depending on how the questions are worded and how the poll is structured.

So why would some voters still refuse to reveal their choices?

Two reasons,says Davis.First, it depends on how the polling questions are asked. Some pollsters will offer ‘Dont Know,‘Unsure,or ‘Undecidedas an explicit choice, which makes it easier for a person to select it as a viable choice.

Secondly,undecidedsmay be driven by theBradley Effect- people who care about what others think want to avoid appearing racist or anti-egalitarian, so they will say one thing in public poll, but in the privacy of the voting booth they will vote according to their true feelings.

This type of avoidance behavior does not occur only in the voting booth, but it also occurs in normal conversation and throughout other questions asked by pollsters,Davis says.

To the extent this is true, Obamas lead in many statewide and national polls could be pretty thin, if at all real.

_ Contact: Daviscomments may be used in whole or in part.He can be reached for interviews at 574-485-8766 (cell) or_ " ddavis7@nd.edu ":mailto:ddavis7@nd.edu _.
_

TopicID: 30227

When immigrants send small sums of money back to their families in their underdeveloped home countries, many economists believe it makes a significant impact on the global economy. Currently, 150 million such migrants, sending home $300 billion in what economists callremittances,are attempting to help lift one billion people in the developing world out of poverty.

Income in the form of remittances fuels economic innovation and gives rise to new market demands. However, the human costs of immigration can be high. Home countries lose many of their most enterprising and skilled citizens. Family bonds are weakened. Lives are lost as migrants attempt dangerous journeys to new countries.

Immigration and Remittances: Global Trends and Challenges,a roundtable organized by Jeffrey Bergstrand, professor of finance at the University of Notre Dame, will explore the growing phenomena around the world. The discussion will take place at 4:15 p.m. Nov. 6 (Thursday) in the auditorium of Notre Dames Hesburgh Center for International 91��Ƶ. A reception will follow the event, which is open to the public.

Participants in the roundtable include:Ralph Chami, director of the Middle East division of the IMF Institute, International Monetary Fund; B. Lindsay Lowell, director of policy studies at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University; and Donald Terry, former manager of the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank. Luis Cosenza, the Hewlett Visiting Fellow for public policy at Notre Dames Kellogg Institute for International 91��Ƶ and former minister of the presidency in Honduras, will serve as moderator.

The discussion will explore questions such as: What impact do remittances have on the economies of developing countries, at both the household and national levels? What are the policy implications of immigration and remittances to governments around the world? And what are the costs for the individuals and countries involved in this global flow of people and funds?

Growing immigration coupled with remittances is of keen interest to policymakers and scholars investigating the consequences of this largely unexplored financial activity between developed and underdeveloped nations.

The event is cosponsored by the Kellogg Institute and Notre Dames Mendoza College of Business and Latin American 91��Ƶ Program.

_ Contacts: Elizabeth Rankin, writer/editor, Kellogg Institute, 574-631-9184,_ " erankin3@nd.edu ":mailto:erankin3@nd.edu ;or Therese Hanlon, events coordinator, Kellogg Institute, 574-631-4150, " Therese.Hanlon@nd.edu ":mailto:Therese.Hanlon@nd.edu

TopicID: 30206

The attempt by Congress to shore up port security by setting a deadline of 2012 for all U.S. – bound cargo to be scanned will not be met, according to the Homeland Security Department.

Passed in 2006, the mandate requires 100 percent of the cargo containers headed to U.S. ports to be examined – a costly, inefficient and unrealistic goal, according to University of Notre Dame anthropologist Carolyn Nordstrom.

Ive walked throughout entire port locations and all their facilities, going in and out of containers with no authorization or anyone knowing who I was – and not a soul stopped me,Nordstrom said. There is no security.

Author of the bookGlobal Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World,Nordstrom has direct and personal experience with port security in Africa, Europe, Asia and the U.S.

Millions of containers come into the U.S. through largely unmonitored ports,she said. Anyone can basically route a container anywhere with anything in it.

The number of cargo containers shipped every day to the United States makes the 100 percent scanning goal nearly impossible.

Most freighters carry 3,000 to 9,000 containers per ship, and the largest container ships can carry more,according to Nordstrom.Given the number of personnel, the amount of money we have, and the port facilities, there is no way we can scan all of these, or even a small percentage of these – ever.

Another obstacle is determining what country actually owns which vessel and from what country the goods originated.

It often is impossible to figure out what country owns or runs a freighter, with registration in one country, ownership spread across others, sub-leasing across a number of others, and who has legal jurisdiction. Its a cinch to run a container from a country seen as dangerous in the U.S. through eight ports,Nordstrom said.

A product of three years of intensive research in the field, Nordstroms book examines the illegal means by which weaponry, drugs, diamonds, oil, food and more exotic merchandise are internationally traded.  Her research included travel to dangerous and often violent areas of the U.S., Africa, Europe and Asia, as well as numerous interviews with a wide variety of authorities ranging from war orphans to war profiteering capitalists.

_ Media advisory: Professor Nordstroms comments may be used in whole or in part and she can be reached for interviews at_ " cnordstr@nd.edu ":mailto:cnordstr@nd.edu or 574-274-1984 (cell).

TopicID: 30067

Though voters are forced to wade through the half-truths, distortions and accusations that are flung across party lines every election season, negative political ads can be effective and impact voters, according to Joe Urbany, a University of Notre Dame marketing professor.

What we know is that negative advertising has been observed to work over time because on the whole it stands out, it gets attention and people tend to process the information more deeply. Even if they dont like it, it still can have an impact on shifting attitudes overall,says Urbany, the co-author of a paper titledConfirmation and the Effects of Positive and Negative Political Advertising.

In that study, Urbany and his colleagues found that negative ads caused 14 percent of viewers to change their minds about their favored candidate.

In our studies we find that even though people believe that negative advertising is less influential, that its going to be less persuasive, they counter argue it more, they give fewer support arguments to it, yet it has a stronger impact on migrating or changing voter tendency,Urbany said.

_ Media advisory: Dr. Urbany is available for interviews and can be reached at 574-631-2687 or_ " Urbany.1@nd.edu ":mailto:Urbany.1@nd.edu

TopicID: 29826

In past periods of great political turmoil in this country, widely admired leaders – think of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson in the Progressive era and Franklin Roosevelt in the New Deal era – created broad support for new initiatives. The ideal model of leadership was widely shared within the American political culture.

Today, however, the very idea of what constitutes appropriate qualifications for leadership is contested across various divides,says University of Notre Dame political scientist Peri Arnold, who specializes in the American presidency.

There is difficulty envisioning a political leader who could draw strong support and manifest authority across the multiple divides of our society,Arnold says.

Race, gender issues and previous experience also play into this complicated debate and add more dividing lines.

Just listen to the shouts back and forth across the huge divide between those Americans who think of Sarah Palin as an inspiration and those who think shes a terrifying joke,Arnold says.

Also, recent polls suggest there is a minority of Americans who seem unable to envision a leader who is not white.

But, Arnold points out,We should not overlook evidence that it is as much or more the qualities of skill and leadership style that have produced effective presidents than it has been a particular kind of pre-presidential experience.

_ Media advisory: Professor Arnolds comments may be used in whole or in part.He can be reached for interviews at 574-631-7430 or_ " Arnold.1@nd.edu ":mailto:Arnold.1@nd.edu .

TopicID: 29768

Sen. Richard G. Lugar, R-Ind., will speak onEnergy Security and U.S. Foreign Policyat 3 p.m. Wednesday (Oct. 8) at the University of Notre Dames Washington Hall.

While on campus, Lugar will meet with Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., and tour the Energy Center.

The longest serving U.S. senator in Indianas history, Lugar is a ranking memeber of the Foreign Relations Committee and member and former chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. He also is co-author of the Nunn-Lugar Act, which has led to the deactivation of more than 7,200 strategic nuclear warheads.

Energy security is one of Lugars top priorities, and he has proposed a variety of bills to encourage the use of alternative fuels, to promote energy efficiency, and to strengthen the bonds of energy cooperation between the United States and other countries.

Lugar received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Notre Dame and delivered the commencement address in 2003.

Established in 2005, the Notre Dame Energy Center works to develop new technologies to meet the global energy challenge. Housed in the College of Engineering, the center focuses on five areas of expertise: energy efficiency, safe nuclear waste storage, clean coal utilization, renewable resources and carbon dioxide separation and storage. The center plays a key role in energy education and literacy, the development of energy policy and the exploration of the ethical implications associated with energy.

For more information on energy research at Notre Dame, visit .

_ Media advisory: Sen. Lugar will be available for interviews from 4:00 to 4:15 p.m. after his presentation._

TopicID: 29749

Ignoring warnings from President Bush and congressional leaders, the House rejected proposed legislation that would bail out failing financial institutions and help bolster the sluggish economy.

So what can Americans expect if political leaders dont pass a plan?

If there is no bailout, look for the credit markets to freeze up and a nasty recession. World loss of confidence in the U.S. economy, foreigners selling their holdings of U.S. assets, high real interest rates and a further sinking of the dollar,says University of Notre Dame economist Nelson Mark.

If you want analogies, look at the Argentinian crisis of 2001, and the Asian financial crisis. Both episodes were big setbacks for the countries involved, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans probably helped speed up the recoveries. Maybe we should ask the IMF for assistance,says Mark, who specializes in international asset pricing and exchange rate economics.

Look at things like the LIBOR rate — which is an interest rate for interbank loans. The one-month LIBOR is 3.71 percent, up from 2.47 percent a month ago, while the fed funds rate is 2 percent. This is an indication of pretty tight credit conditions. What we dont see in the rate is if banks are unwilling to lend even at the stated rate.

_ Media advisory: Professor Marks comments can be used in whole or in part.He is available for interviews and can be reached at 574-631-0518 or_ " nmark@nd.edu ":mailto:nmark@nd.edu

TopicID: 29667

This weeks Washington Post-ABC News poll showed Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain 52 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, when last weeks polls showed them essentially even.

But this recent swing in polling numbers is not due to a skewed sampling pool or response effects – both of which can influence polling numbers and inflate actual results, says Darren Davis, a University of Notre Dame political scientist and nationally known expert on public opinion and political behavior. For instance, polling taken the day before the New Hampshire primary indicated a 10-point lead for Obama that turned into a 3-point deficit once results were tabulated.

This time, there is enough evidence to suggest that Barack Obamas recent surge may not be a data artifact, but a real increase in support,says Davis, who specializes in political polling.

So what happened to give Obama the recent lead?

The economy happened,says Davis,particularly problems in the financial markets and the proposed government bailout of financial institutions.I think this surge for Obama is probably real because he has been perceived in previous polls as the candidate better able to deal with economic issues, while McCain has received higher ratings in international security.

The recent poll validates this perception, with Obama getting 54 percent support from those people most anxious about the economy.

Another reason to think that this poll is correct is that most voters have made up their minds.While Republican voters are not switching to Obama – even over the economy – the surge is probably a response from reticent independents and Democrats,Davis says.

_ Media advisory: Professor Daviscomments may be used in whole or in part.He is available for interviews and can be reached at 574-631-5654 (office), 574-485-8766 (cell) or_ " ddavis7@nd.edu ":mailto:ddavis7@nd.edu .

TopicID: 29649

A new book edited by Rev. Oliver F. Williams, C.S.C., associate professor of management and director of the Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business at the University of Notre Dame, addresses the global corporate role in promoting more peaceful societies.

Peace through Commerce: Responsible Corporate Citizenship and the Ideals of the United Nations Global Compactincludes essays by major business leaders and scholars who discuss the issues presented by the United Nations Global Compact, including the impact of commerce in promoting peace and the benefits of global economic development through voluntary corporate policies and actions.

Launched in 2000 with more than 5,000 worldwide businesses participating, the United Nations Global Compact serves as a forum in which multinational businesses work to promote human rights, prevent violent conflict and contribute to peace, and is the worlds largest voluntary corporate citizenship organization.

Published by Notre Dame Press, the book contains case studies documenting the efforts of individual businesses – including IBM, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, General Electric, Nestle and Ford – to successfully serve societys interests as well as their own.

Though the relationship between economic development and peace has been explored before, the books practical look at specific corporate strategies designed to foster peace is new.

Specializing in the areas of business ethics, corporate governance and Catholic social teaching, Williams is the editor or author of 14 books as well as numerous journal articles on business ethics. He has been a member of the board of directors of the United
Nations Global Compact Foundation since 2006.

More information about Notre Dames Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business is available at .

_ Contact: Oliver Williams, C.S.C., 574-631-5761 or_ " Williams.80@nd.edu ":mailto:Williams.80@nd.edu __

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The University of Notre Dame will observe its second annual Energy Week Sept. 17 to 24 (Wednesday to Wednesday) with the themeBe Enlightened,in conjunction withSustainable Energy: A Notre Dame Forum,to be held on campus Sept. 24.

Organized by members of the Student Advisory Board of the Notre Dame Energy Center, each day of Energy Week will feature energy education and awareness activities, including participation from major energy companies, a display of hybrid vehicles, carbon dioxide footprint calculators that students can use to measure their impact on climate change, information on renewable energy sources, tours of the Notre Dame power plant, and screenings of documentaries and energy-focused movies, such asWho Killed the Electric Car?andAn Inconvenient Truth.

Students also can participate in a career luncheon featuring representatives from major energy companies, attend agreenprayer service and participate in the second annualLights Out,during which students, faculty and staff across campus will power down and turn the lights off for three hours on Sept. 24. Last years one-hourLights Outresulted in a 2.7 percent reduction in electricity as measured by the Notre Dame power plant.

In addition, students will be able to select from locally grown and sustainable food items in the dining halls during Energy Week.

Were very proud of what the students have done and how committed they are to the issue of energy,said Joan F. Brennecke, Keating-Crawford Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and director of the Notre Dame Energy Center.Theyve expanded this years Energy Week activities while focusing even more on the impact that a single person can have, whether or not that person has engineering or scientific expertise. The more we know about energy, the more we can all play a part in finding solutions.

More information about energy and energy research at Notre Dame is available at on the Web.

Sustainable Energy: A Notre Dame Forumwill take place Sept. 24 from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Joyce Center on the Notre Dame campus and will explore how charting pathways to a sustainable energy future is emerging as one of the worlds great challenges. It also will examine underlying concerns, including technological, environmental, economic, political and geopolitical issues, as well as social justice and ethical considerations.

Forum panelists include Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado, General Electric Co. chairman and chief executive officer Jeff Immelt, Sustainable South Bronx founder Majora Carter and Ernest Moniz, Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The discussion will be moderated by Anne Thompson, chief environmental affairs correspondent for NBC News and a 1979 Notre Dame graduate.

For more information about the forum, visit on the Web.

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The recent presidential polling news showing Sen. John McCain ahead of Sen. Barack Obama by 4 percentage points wont last, according to Darren Davis, a University of Notre Dame political scientist and nationally recognized expert in public opinion, elections and voting behavior.

John McCains seeming rise in the polls following the convention is to be expected, but such a bounce (3-6 percent increase) in the polls is usually artificial,said Davis, who specializes in political psychology, political behavior, public opinion, research methods and racial politics.

Once the focused media attention from the Republican National Conventionsubsides and other issues and candidates compete for media coverage, polls will readjust.

Obama may have had a bounce but it was displaced by the hurricane and the (GOP) convention.So if one supports Obama, there is no cause for alarm, and if one supports McCain, there is no cause for celebration.

* Media advisory: * Professor Daviscomments may be used in whole or in part.He can be reached for further comment at 574-485-8766 (cell), or " ddavis7@nd.edu ":mailto:ddavis7@nd.edu .

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