Former Dean of the Faculty Michael Gazzaniga '61 was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, which recognizes scientists and engineers for "distinguished and continuing achievements in original research" on May 3, according to a College press release. Gazzaniga currently serves as a psychological and brain sciences professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he concentrates on split-brain research, cognitive neuroscience and "how the brain enables the mind," the press release stated. Before serving as dean from 2002 to 2004, Gazzaniga directed the cognitive neuroscience program at Dartmouth Medical School from 1988 to 1992. He was named the David T. McLaughlin Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and directed the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience in 1996. A total of 72 new American members and 18 international members were elected to the NAS this year. They will be honored in an induction ceremony next April in Washington, D.C., according to the press release.
Four former Cornell University students were charged in connection with the death of Cornell sophomore George Desdunes, who was a member of the university's Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, The Cornell Daily Sun reported. Three of the students freshmen Max Haskin, Ben Mann and Edward Williams pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child and first-degree hazing last Thursday. The fourth student's records are sealed because the student is under the age of 19. All four individuals, at least three of which were SAE pledges, were released without bail, according to The Daily Sun. Williams also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of second-degree criminal nuisance. Desdunes was forced to partake in a "mock kidnapping" during which he and another SAE member were tied up and forced to consume alcohol when they were unable to respond to questions, The Daily Sun reported. Desdunes died at a local hospital after he was found unresponsive in SAE's physical plant the morning of Feb. 25, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Pitzer College, a small liberal arts institution in Southern California, will become the first higher education institution to introduce a secular studies department this fall, The New York Times reported. Phil Zuckerman, a sociology professor at Pitzer who studies the sociology of religion, proposed the department after becoming increasingly interested in the growing number of people who identify as "nonreligious," he said in an interview with The Times. The Pitzer College Council voted unanimously to approve the major which will be evaluated in four years on April 28. The major will include courses including Bible as Literature, Anxiety in the Age of Reason and God, Darwin and Design in America, which will be taught by professors from a variety of academic departments, The Times reported.
