Flu season coming
Every year in the United States, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from influenza viruses. As many as one in five Americans will suffer from the flu in a given year, and about 35,000 will die. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the best way to prevent the flu is by getting a flu vaccination annually. Barbara Browning, a clinical assistant professor at the Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing, said the flu vaccine is especially important for people over 50 and children between 6 months and 4 years old. Also, those who suffer from chronic diseases, have a weak immune system, work in health care, are pregnant or work as caregivers are recommended to receive the vaccine. Browning can advise on how best to prevent influenza. For more information, contact Van Jensen at 404-413-1357 or vjensen@gsu.edu.

Dilemmas of democracy
With the world in the midst of a month-long media event focused on contemporary democracy (www.whydemocracy.net), questions arise such as what exactly does democracy mean, and how is it applied across the world? In particular, how does it work in the volatile and seemingly democracy-resistant Middle East? Michael Herb, associate professor of political science at Georgia State, is a researcher of democracy in the Arab world, especially in the Gulf monarchies. Herb notes that if true democracy existed in the United Arab Emirates - which has a parliament and holds elections - "Dubai's economic growth would end, because there is still little room for participation by its conservative Islamist citizens." Herb's research projects include a study of transitions to democracy in Muslim majority countries and relations between the parliament and the government in Kuwait. To speak with him, contact William Inman at 404-413-1355 or winman@gsu.edu.

Study: Most post-Katrina evacuees were 'working poor,' not government-dependent
Some commentators have argued those who didn't flee Hurricane Katrina as it bore down on the Gulf Coast suffered from a "mentality of helplessness" thanks to a lifetime of government assistance. But Timothy Brezina, an associate professor of criminal justice at Georgia State, says most New Orleanians who rode out the storm and were trapped in the flooded city were employed full time before the disaster "and most displayed initiative after the storm." Using data from a survey of post-storm evacuees compiled two weeks after Katrina by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, Brezina's research runs counter to the notion that those who did not escape before the storm were largely dependent on government handouts. "It appears that the evacuation was, in part, a story about the working poor in New Orleans," Brezina says. His paper "What Went Wrong in New Orleans?" is expected to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Social Problems. He is currently completing a study of the perceived level of violent crime in the days after the storm, which he says may not have been as rampant as portrayed. To speak with Brezina, contact Michael Davis at 404- 413-1361 or mdavis6@gsu.edu.

HAPPENINGS AT GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY

Youth fitness and obesity focus of 19th Mays Lecture
Mark Alexander, director of Youth Movement for the 100 Black Men of the Bay Area, will speak at the 19th annual Benjamin E. Mays Lecture at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 in the Student Center Speaker's Auditorium. Youth Movement is a San Francisco Bay Area effort that harnesses the talent and resources of diverse community organizations and focuses on the health and fitness of at-risk youth. The annual lecture series, sponsored by Georgia State's College of Education and Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence, began in 1989 to encourage the discussion of issues facing urban educational leaders through a series of lectures. The event honors the memory of Mays, an Atlanta educator, and promotes his philosophy of excellence in the education of those typically least served by society. For more information, call 404-413-8100.

Dutch economist to speak on insurance risk
The Experimental Economics Center will host Peter P. Wakker, of the Econometric Institute at Erasmus University and the Department of Quantitative Economics at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands, as it kicks off the ExCEN Distinguished Lecture Series. Wakker will speak on "Improving Rational Insurance Decisions by Providing Clients with Risk Information." The free event will be held at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 17 in the seventh-floor seminar room at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, 14 Marietta St.

Mental Health: DeKalb judge to discuss Diversion Treatment Court
DeKalb County Chief Magistrate Judge Winston Bethel will discuss his work establishing the DeKalb Diversion Treatment Court (formerly the DeKalb Mental Health Court) at 11:45 a.m. Nov. 6 at the Georgia State College of Law. The court aims to address mental disorders that are sometimes the root cause of criminal acts by providing offenders access to mental health programs. The discussion, which will be held in Room 170 of the Urban Life Building, 140 Decatur St., is free and open to the public.

AARP lecture
The CEO of AARP, William Novelli, will speak at the J. Rhodes Haverty Lecture, held by the College of Health and Human Sciences, at 7 p.m. Oct. 25 in the Student Center Speaker's Auditorium. Novelli wrote the recently published book, 50+: Igniting a Revolution to Reinvent America. The AARP is the largest organization for people age 50 and older. To RSVP for this free event, contact the College of Health and Human Sciences at 404-413-1083 or e-mail chhs@gsu.edu. For more information, contact Van Jensen at 404-413-1357 or vjensen@gsu.edu.

Georgia State Leads is a publication from the Department of University Relations. For more information about the publication or to sign up to receive Georgia State Leads, contact Andria Simmons at 404/651-3579 or asimmons2@gsu.edu.

©2005 Georgia State University