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University Relations Tip Sheet - September 21, 2004

Pensions pose problem for taxpayers
The recent failure of two major airlines, US Airways and United Airlines, to make payments on their pension plans has sparked talk of legislation that would make it harder for companies to shift their financial burdens to taxpayers. Georgia State University finance professor Stephen Smith is available to discuss how big companies in bankruptcy threaten the solvency of Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the government agency established in 1974 to pay benefits when pensions go bust. Taxpayers eventually might have to bail out the system if failing companies overwhelm it, Smith says. United Airlines is currently in bankruptcy and US Airways recently filed for the second time. Contact Smith at 404/651-1236 or sdsmith@gsu.edu.

American oil dependence costly, says professor
Drastic changes in oil prices can send the U.S. economy into a tailspin – and send policy makers scrambling to secure future supplies. Yet despite the flux of the global oil market, Americans are still filling up at the pump and buying gas-guzzling vehicles at record rates. “The irony is that the United States is the third-largest oil producer in the world, but it’s still, by far, the largest oil importer,” says John Duffield, an associate professor of political science at Georgia State University who researches foreign oil dependence. While some nations reduced their oil consumption through conservation or the development of alternative power sources following the energy crisis of the 1970s, the United States has relied instead on its foreign and military policies to ensure access to oil, Duffield says. “The United States imports more than 50 percent of its oil, and my sense is that we have not fully appreciated the consequences – or the costs – of this dependence.” Contact him at 404/651-3152 or duffield@gsu.edu.

Archivists offer disaster-recovery tips
As this year’s destructive hurricane season is showing us, disaster can strike at any time. Bad weather or even broken pipes can threaten valuable photos, books and other documents. From reminders to take pictures of any damage for insurance purposes before trying to make repairs, to advice never to store any important books or papers near windows or on low shelves, Pamela Hackbart-Dean and Laura Botts, archivists at the Georgia State University Library, can offer tips to help you keep your treasures safe – or to try and recover damaged items if the worst should happen. Contact Hackbart-Dean, head of special collections, at 404/651-3896 or phackbartdean@gsu.edu. Contact Botts at 404/651-3902 or lbotts@gsu.edu.

Lewis and Clark slip through climatic window to the West
They didn’t know it, but Meriwether Lewis and William Clark picked a fine time for a road trip when they set out to find a water route across the American Northwest two centuries ago. Leading a small group of explorers known as the Corps of Discovery, Lewis and Clark experienced favorable climatic conditions from 1804 to 1806 in their search for an inland “Northwest Passage,” according to a Georgia State University professor. The timing of the trip was crucial because, had the pair embarked just a few years earlier or later, the results of the journey – and subsequent U.S. expansion into the West – might have altered history. “Although the Corps of Discovery did have a few weather setbacks, such as a wet winter at Ft. Clatsop and some deep snow pack on their return trip, overall they traveled across the new frontier at an opportunistic time – four years after and two years before a major drought,” says geography professor Paul A. Knapp. Knapp’s research on the climatic conditions of the Lewis and Clark expedition is featured in the September issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Contact Knapp at gegpak@langate.gsu.edu.

Professor: New law could lead to check fraud
The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, a new federal law scheduled to go into effect Oct. 28, could lead to more checking-account fraud and bank errors, warns law professor Mark Budnitz. Under the law, commonly referred to as “Check 21,” banks can transmit electronic images of checks instead of paper versions. Check 21 allows banks to create substitute checks when receiving banks can’t accept an image or when consumers want their cancelled checks back, but the law doesn’t tell banks what to do with the original checks. Budnitz worries that there’s increased risk of the same check being cashed more than once with original and substitute checks floating around. People should check their bank statements often so that they can quickly bring any instance of checking-account fraud to their bank’s attention, says Budnitz, a noted consumer-protection expert. Contact him at 404/651-2135 or mbudnitz@gsu.edu.

Happening at Georgia State University:

Atlanta Chamber Players in concert
The Atlanta Chamber Players, in affiliation with the Georgia State University School of Music, perform at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 at Kopleff Recital Hall (corner of Gilmer St. and Peachtree Center Ave.). The concert features Haydn's Piano Trio in C Major, Harbison's November 19, 1828 (an Atlanta Chamber Players commission), Schumann's Fairy Tales, Op. 132, and the world premiere of Beach Music, also an Atlanta Chamber Players commission, by Nickitas J. Demos, coordinator of composition at Georgia State. Tickets, available at the door, are $10 general admission, $5 for students with ID. For information, call 404/651-INFO.

Performance artist gets political
Brooklyn-based Sheryl Oring brings performances of her public project "I Wish to Say" to downtown Atlanta Sept. 30. In "I Wish to Say," Oring sets up a portable office, complete with vintage manual typewriter, and engages visitors in political discussion. She types participants’ comments onto postcards that are later sent to the president of the United States. From noon to 2 p.m., Oring will be in Woodruff Park, near the corner of Peachtree and Luckie streets. From 6 to 8 p.m., she will perform and lecture in the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design Gallery at Georgia State University. A voter-registration opportunity will accompany the evening appearance. For more information, contact Cathy Byrd, gallery director, at 404/651-0489 or cathybyrd@gsu.edu.

Learn how to preserve your treasures at open house
In celebration of Georgia Archives Week 2004, Georgia State University Library presents "Preserving Your Treasures," a special-collections open house, from 2 to 4 p.m. Oct. 5 on the eighth floor of Library South (100 Decatur St.). Professional archivists will demonstrate how to care for photographs, paper documents, personal artifacts and more. Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Jake Houle at 404/651-2477 or jhoule@gsu.edu.

Library exhibit honors archives
The celebration of Georgia Archives Week continues with an exhibit presented by the Georgia State University Library’s Special Collections Department, "Archives 101: An Introduction to the World of Archives," which opens Oct. 1 and remains on display through Nov. 15 on the first floor of Library North. The exhibit showcases the tools and techniques archivists have developed to preserve artifacts and records of the past. For more information, contact Jake Houle at 404/651-2477 or jhoule@gsu.edu.

 

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