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University Relations Tip Sheet - July 22, 2009

A new approach to early education

Georgia State University’s Child Development Center is piloting a new educational approach to early learning for children, ages 3 to 6 who need extra support. It’s called the Pyramid Approach and it’s an American adaptation to a Netherland-based method of educating the whole child through sequential levels of thinking and learning. “It’s an approach that promotes higher level of thinking in young children, moving them from what is known about experiences to what can be experienced on an abstract level,” said Ruth Saxton, GSU professor of early childhood education. The research project at the GSU child care center will study the experiences of teachers using the Pyramid Approach. Georgia State faculty will also guide a larger study of Pyramid’s effects at two non-profit community-based pre-schools in other states. Students in Georgia State’s new birth through five year old degree program are also learning how to use this international approach in their classes.  Pyramid developer Jef J. Van Kuyk will be at Georgia State on Tuesday (July 21) to see how the pilot study is going. For more information, contact Liz Babiarz at lbabiarz@gsu.edu or 404-413-1356.

Retailers to feel Christmas Pinch

As retailers ramp up for the holiday season, the financially troubled CIT Group Inc. is hovering like the Grinch who might steal Christmas. CIT is seeking bailout assistance in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy. Any bailout of the 101-year old commercial finance company will help retailers, but just how much? CIT covers about 60 percent of all short-term U.S. financing for retailers, including inventory cycles. Most retailers ring up the most sales during the holidays. “The national economy is driven by retail sales and if CIT goes down, we’ll see a spike in retail bankruptcies,” said Jack Williams, professor of law and a bankruptcy expert with Georgia State University. “Inventories and Christmas sales will be affected.” To speak with Williams, contact Renee DeGross Valdes at rvaldes@gsu.edu or 404-664-7416.

Religious sacrifice goes beyond violence, GSU professor says in award-winning book

When religious sacrifice is mentioned, the concept can conjure images of blood and death in the minds of people living in Western cultures. But religious sacrifice is far more complex in world religious traditions, as Georgia State University’s Kathryn McClymond explains in a new award-winning book. In Beyond Sacred Violence: A Comparative Study of Sacrifice, McClymond, associate professor and chair of the Georgia State Department of Religious Studies, explores religious sacrifice in both the Jewish tradition and the Vedic tradition, which was the predecessor of Hinduism. In her book, which this month won the 2009 Georgia Author of the Year Award for the best creative nonfiction essay, McClymond explains that sacrifice rituals can involve the ordinary and have different meanings. “There's much activity that involves plant and liquid substances, and not the animals we think about” McClymond explained. “It’s not nearly as dramatic. But when you get past this, it becomes much more interesting, because these are much more complicated ritual activities than just killing.” To speak with McClymond, contact Jeremy Craig at 404-413-1357 or jcraig@gsu.edu.

 

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