Wellesley Wire 03/13/02

Wellesley Faculty Member On NPR's "Talk of the Nation," Wednesday, March 13 -- Alexandra Johnson of Wellesley's Writing Program will be a featured guest on National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" this afternoon. The topic of the show is diaries, journals, and "unlocking the inner writer in everyone." The segment is scheduled for the second half of today's show. To find your local NPR station and its schedule for "Talk of the Nation," visit http://www.npr.org/program/totn/ You also can listen on-line or to an archived version of the show, available after 6 PM EST.

Johnson is the author of "Leaving A Trace: On Keeping a Journal: The Art of Transforming a Life into Stories" (Back Bay Books, 2002) and "The Hidden Writer: Diaries and the Creative Life" (Doubleday, 1997) "I wrote 'Leaving a Trace' for all those people who always wanted to start a journal and for those who've kept them for years and don't know what to do with them," explains Johnson, who teaches a memoir course in the Writing Program. "I'm trying to explode the notion of what a journal is. It's less a physical object than an intention of something you want to remind yourself, and your future self, of."

The book is divided into three sections. The first explains how to get started and keep going. "It's good to get rid of the rules of what a journal should be and just start creating," Johnson explains. The second step is how to begin to find the patterns and to link the stories that begin to emerge. Finally, there is advice on transforming the material into other projects, such as a family chronicle or personal memoirs.

Wellesley Receives $1.5 Million Grant For Asian Studies -- Wellesley's Asian Studies curriculum has received a major boost in the form of a $1.5 million grant from the Freeman Foundation. The four-year grant will broaden and deepen the Asian Studies curriculum through a coordinated program of faculty appointments, postdoctoral fellows, faculty professional and curriculum development, course-related library resources, and student financial aid for programs in Asia. These initiatives are part of the College's global education agenda and are among the priorities supported by The Wellesley Campaign, a five-year effort to raise $400 million. To date, more than $255 million has been raised toward the goal.

More information on the grant can be found at www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Releases/2002/030802.html

Researchers' Olympic Picks are Golden -- Here's a follow-up to a faculty-student research story from the 2/11 issue of WellesleyWire. Noting that U.S. Olympic athletes surpassed all expectations in their performances, the faculty-student research team that used economic analyses to predict medal counts found their predictions to be remarkably strong. After the final results were tallied, Daniel Johnson, economics, and former Wellesley student Ayfer Ali found a 94 percent correlation between their predicted medals and actual medals among the 86 nations for which they had data. They correctly predicted the top 10 countries in overall medal counts but in a different order than the actual outcome.

"Canada and the U.S. vastly outperformed our expectations and those of pretty much the entire sports world," said Johnson. "Clearly the athletic prowess of individual athletes or teams is vitally important. Nonetheless, as our study shows, a country's economic make-up -- as measured in variables like per capita income -- has an effect on both participation in and victory at the Games."

Johnson and Ali's research caught the interest of journalists and economics colleagues around the globe. They have participated in nearly two dozens media interviews in the past month for outlets as diverse as National Public Radio; the national press agents of Norway, France and Switzerland; the National Post, Canada's national newspaper; and BBC on-line news.





	~Wellesley Wire - 2002~

	Wellesley Wire March 13, 2002 Wellesley Faculty Member On NPR's "Talk of the Nation," Wednesday, March 13 Wellesley Receives $1.5 Million Grant For Asian Studies Researchers' Olympic Picks are Golden Wellesley Faculty Member On NPR's "Talk of the Nation," Wednesday, March 13 -- Alexandra Johnson of Wellesley's Writing Program will be a featured guest on National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" this afternoon. The topic of the show is diaries, journals, and "unlocking the inner writer in everyone." The segment is scheduled for the second half of today's show. To find your local NPR station and its schedule for "Talk of the Nation," visit http://www.npr.org/program/totn/ You also can listen on-line or to an archived version of the show, available after 6 PM EST. Johnson is the author of "Leaving A Trace: On Keeping a Journal: The Art of Transforming a Life into Stories" (Back Bay Books, 2002) and "The Hidden Writer: Diaries and the Creative Life" (Doubleday, 1997) "I wrote 'Leaving a Trace' for all those people who always wanted to start a journal and for those who've kept them for years and don't know what to do with them," explains Johnson, who teaches a memoir course in the Writing Program. "I'm trying to explode the notion of what a journal is. It's less a physical object than an intention of something you want to remind yourself, and your future self, of." The book is divided into three sections. The first explains how to get started and keep going. "It's good to get rid of the rules of what a journal should be and just start creating," Johnson explains. The second step is how to begin to find the patterns and to link the stories that begin to emerge. Finally, there is advice on transforming the material into other projects, such as a family chronicle or personal memoirs. Wellesley Receives $1.5 Million Grant For Asian Studies -- Wellesley's Asian Studies curriculum has received a major boost in the form of a $1.5 million grant from the Freeman Foundation. The four-year grant will broaden and deepen the Asian Studies curriculum through a coordinated program of faculty appointments, postdoctoral fellows, faculty professional and curriculum development, course-related library resources, and student financial aid for programs in Asia. These initiatives are part of the College's global education agenda and are among the priorities supported by The Wellesley Campaign, a five-year effort to raise $400 million. To date, more than $255 million has been raised toward the goal. More information on the grant can be found at www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Releases/2002/030802.html Researchers' Olympic Picks are Golden -- Here's a follow-up to a faculty-student research story from the 2/11 issue of WellesleyWire. Noting that U.S. Olympic athletes surpassed all expectations in their performances, the faculty-student research team that used economic analyses to predict medal counts found their predictions to be remarkably strong. After the final results were tallied, Daniel Johnson, economics, and former Wellesley student Ayfer Ali found a 94 percent correlation between their predicted medals and actual medals among the 86 nations for which they had data. They correctly predicted the top 10 countries in overall medal counts but in a different order than the actual outcome. "Canada and the U.S. vastly outperformed our expectations and those of pretty much the entire sports world," said Johnson. "Clearly the athletic prowess of individual athletes or teams is vitally important. Nonetheless, as our study shows, a country's economic make-up -- as measured in variables like per capita income -- has an effect on both participation in and victory at the Games." Johnson and Ali's research caught the interest of journalists and economics colleagues around the globe. They have participated in nearly two dozens media interviews in the past month for outlets as diverse as National Public Radio; the national press agents of Norway, France and Switzerland; the National Post, Canada's national newspaper; and BBC on-line news. Back to top Back to the Wellesley Wire Archives Back to the Wellesley Wire Homepage

	Office for Public Information Date Last Modified: July 11, 2003

March 13, 2002