2015

Framing the Future of STEM Education by Giving Voice to the Past

Portrait of Kelly J. Conn. Portrait of Mya M. Mangawang.

Guest Post by Kelly J. Conn, Ph.D. and Mya M. Mangawang, Ph.D.

Lowell Institute School seal.I will never forget the thrill I felt as I worked my way carefully through the meticulously organized folders and boxes of the Lowell Institute School archive collection housed in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department of Snell Library. What would be in the next folder? A poem? A work of art? A legal document? A handwritten letter? How were all these items connected? What story did these archives have to tell of the rich history of the 112-year-old Lowell Institute School, which was embraced by Northeastern University in 1996?

Lowell Institute School Alumni Association seal.

While many aspects of the School’s early history had previously been shared in different ways by various authors, an account that combined these stories into a comprehensive narrative that spanned the period from the arrival of the Lowell family in New England through today had not yet been published. My co-author, Dr. Mya M. Mangawang, and I set out to tell that story, not only to celebrate and honor the Lowell family, their Institute, and the School they began, but also to help frame the most recent vision for the future of the School in meeting the needs of the critical areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Lowell Institute School at Northeastern University history.This history is meant both to document the past and point to the future in order to highlight the ways in which the Lowell Institute School has met, and is well-positioned to continue to meet the needs of our STEM industries for years to come. We hope that you, as our readers, will appreciate the well-defined and distinguished legacy of the Lowell Institute and Northeastern University, and will join us in our optimism about the powerful impact that the Lowell Institute School at Northeastern University will have on future generations.

The full text of The Lowell Institute School at Northeastern University is available in the Digital Repository Service.

New Resource: Science Translational Medicine

You requested – we listened! Science Translational Medicine Cover Science Translational Medicine Cover Science Translational Medicine Cover We’ve subscribed to Science Translational Medicine due in part to the large number of interlibrary loan requests we’ve received for articles from this journal. Our interlibrary loan service is fast, but now your access to Science Translational Medicine will be even faster – just follow this link to start reading. Science Translational Medicine focuses on bringing the latest scientific advances from the bench to the bedside. Despite a growing understanding of human biology, utilizing these discoveries to close gaps in medical knowledge has progressed slowly. Science Translational Medicine aims to publish discoveries capable of generating innovative ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease. Coverage includes:
  • Studies in humans or human tissue that provide new information about therapies or disease
  • Results from animal models that are likely to apply to patients
  • Innovative reports of drug discovery and development
Formats:
  • Full-length original Research Articles
  • State-of-the-art Reviews identifying the challenges blocking translation and propose innovative solutions
  • Focus articles and Perspectives presenting topical opinions from science and policy thought leaders
  • Podcasts with scientists explaining their translational results
 

Celebrating 25 Years

25th banner-23 Saturday, November 7, 2015 marked Snell Library’s 25th Birthday Celebration, and the library transformed into a veritable bazaar with projects, resources, collections, and artifacts from Northeastern’s history on display, along with interactive activities for all ages. From recording memories in the audio visual studios and watching 3D printers in action, to browsing Cauldron yearbooks and digital research projects, members across the entire Northeastern community joined to reflect on the library’s history and experience what today’s modern facility has to offer. Linda Leahy and featured speaker William FowlerLibrary Co-op Zach Smith, DMSB’17 scans a student to 3D print their bust.Dean Wakeling with Jim Smith, E’88 and Amie Smith, AS’87Helen Sharma SSH'17 reads a book from the Favat collection to a young guest.

(Clockwise: Linda Leahy and featured speaker William Fowler; Library Co-op Zach Smith, DMSB’17 scans a student to 3D print their bust; Helen Sharma, SSH’17, reads a book from the Favat collection to a young guest; Dean Wakeling with Jim Smith, E’88 and Amie Smith, AS’87 .)

Dean Will Wakeling and Distinguished Professor of History, William Fowler kicked off the celebration with a special reception to recognize the generosity of library supporters whose contributions have improved library space and collections through the years. As the Chairman of the Campus Campaign to build Snell Library in 1987-1988, Dr. Fowler honored the efforts of fellow leaders including former Senior Vice President for Development, Eugene Reppucci, and the campus campaign co-chairs, committee, and volunteers. Their campus wide effort to build a library raised $1.4 million from over 900 faculty and staff, and is recognized with a quilt on the second floor of Snell Library.

Bill Fowler speaking at 25th“A quarter of a century ago we, the fabric of the university, came together and through our efforts helped build this library. It changed our world and gave an example of what Northeastern was on the road to be – one of this nation’s great universities. In a very real sense that journey began the day this library opened.”

— William M. Fowler, Jr., SSH’67

Distinguished Professor of History

 

Keeper of the Flame: Boston Phoenix owner gifts archives to Northeastern

BostonPhoenix1-740x493

Boston Phoenix owner Stephen Mindich decided in September to donate the paper’s archives to Snell Library. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Originally Published in News@Northeastern on November 24, 2015

By Noelle Shough

For nearly 50 years, The Boston Phoenix was Boston’s alter­na­tive newspaper of record, the first word on social jus­tice, pol­i­tics, as well as the arts and music scene. Its intrepid jour­nal­ists tackled issues from safe sex and AIDS aware­ness to gay rights, mar­riage equality, and the legal­iza­tion of mar­i­juana. Ads for room­mates, romantic mates, and band mates—one could find all these and more in the newspaper’s probing, irreverent, enter­taining pages.

It ceased pub­li­ca­tion in March 2013, but the Phoenix will be pre­served for posterity—thanks to owner Stephen Mindich’s deci­sion in Sep­tember to donate the paper’s archives to Northeastern’s Snell Library.

Snell’s Archives and Spe­cial Col­lec­tions already houses an impres­sive array of his­tor­ical records of Boston’s social move­ments, including civil and polit­ical rights, immi­grant rights, home­less­ness, and envi­ron­mental justice.

“The Phoenix never shied away from cov­ering topics of neigh­bor­hood interest, sup­porting the rights of indi­vid­uals and groups,” says Will Wakeling, dean of Uni­ver­sity Libraries. “So it will form a per­fect complement to this growing collection.”

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The Boston Phoenix will be preserved in Snell Library’s Archives and Special Collections. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

The Boston Phoenix will be pre­served in Snell Library’s Archives and Spe­cial Col­lec­tions. Photo by Matthew Modoono/​Northeastern University

LOCAL HISTORY WRIT LARGE

Mindich’s gift encom­passes much more than The Boston Phoenix. The archives include sister pub­li­ca­tions in Worcester, Mass­a­chu­setts, Port­land, Maine, and Prov­i­dence; Boston After Dark; The Real Paper; the alter­na­tive pro­gram­ming of WFNX FM; and Stuff and Stuff at Night mag­a­zines. These sources, including a full Web archive of mate­rial not included in the print edi­tions, pro­vide a richly nuanced per­spec­tive on how people thought and put ideas into action when it came to social issues and social jus­tice from the 1960s to the near-​​present day. They are doc­u­men­ta­tion of the ways social change happens.

“Our vision for the archives is dig­i­tizing all the print and making it fully text-​​searchable, so all that his­tory lives on,” says Dan Kennedy, asso­ciate pro­fessor at Northeastern’s School of Jour­nalism and a former Phoenix media colum­nist and nationally-​​known media commentator.

Adds Wakeling, “As the library works on the com­plex dig­i­tizing strategy, the archives will be made avail­able to the public.”

The Boston Phoenix not only reported on the news, it made the news. In 1987, during the height of the AIDS crisis, it dis­trib­uted 150,000 con­doms to readers. In 2001, Phoenix reporter Kristen Lom­bardi described trou­bling pat­terns in how Catholic Church leaders were trans­fer­ring priests accused of sex­u­ally abusing chil­dren to new parishes. The alter­na­tive weekly also fol­lowed the evolving rights of the LGBTQ community.

“A great strength of the paper was also its arts cov­erage, which is also Stephen’s pas­sion,” notes Kennedy. In 1994, writer Lloyd Schwartz won the Pulitzer Prize for Crit­i­cism for his cov­erage of clas­sical music. Many former Phoenix writers—Susan Orlean, David Denby, Mark Lei­bovich, and Michael Rezendes among them—went on to illus­trious careers at top U.S. news­pa­pers and magazines.

Though Boston’s anti-​​establishment spirit has faded some­what over the years, Mindich’s dona­tion ensures that its his­tory never will. “Scholars and researchers in this area will be licking their lips in antic­i­pa­tion,” says Wakeling.

This database is far out! The Sixties now at Snell Library

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Chances are that you, your parents, or your grandparents experienced the 60s. Whether you did or didn’t, The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives: 1960-1974 is a fascinating glimpse into the cultural, political, and social upheavals that shook the nation and the world during that tumultuous period. You’ll enjoy exploring the database’s primary source materials, which include oral histories, diaries, letters, and alternative or underground publications. It’s groovy, man!