![[Currents headergraphic]](/homeart/currents_header.gif)
May 25, 1998
Astronomer Stan Woosley has been all over the news lately, most recently commenting on a spectacular gamma-ray burst detected in an extremely distant galaxy; as a leading theoretical astrophysicist, Woosley was on a panel of experts assembled by NASA to discuss the findings, and was quoted in Time and Newsweek magazines, the New York Times, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, San Jose Mercury News, and other newspapers, and appeared on all of the major TV networks. In April, Woosley was also featured in an article on supernovas in New Scientist magazine.
Lobbing their way to the top of the heap yet again, the UCSC men's tennis team recaptured the NCAA Division III title (their third in four years). The story was covered in several articles in the Santa Cruz County Sentinel, including one which described a dramatic end-of-the-game exchange between coach Bob Hansen and team member Thomas Oechel.
Composer and lecturer in music Laura Elise Schwendinger's Songs of Heaven and Earth, which premiered at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in February, received a glowing review from the Washington Post. The reviewer described the work as having "an impressive luster and transparency." The song cycle of the work is set to four poems by the Chinese poet Ts'ai Yen, which tell her own heart breaking life story of being forced to choose between exile with her children or life without them in her native land.
A press conference announcing the opening of UCSC's videoconferencing classroom caught the attention of TV and print media from around the area. Covering the story were KRON-TV, KSBW-TV, KION-TV, KSMS-TV, the Santa Cruz County Sentinel, and the San Francisco Chronicle. People who were interviewed for the story included Chancellor Greenwood, Student Affairs' Francisco Hernandez, Michael Tanner, computer engineering student Deondra Wilson, and computer science graduate student Albion Baucom.
Director Danny Scheie's latest project, Up Jumped Springtime, was praised by a San Francisco Examiner theater critic who said Scheie's "crisp directorial hand is evident throughout." Scheie was also in the news for receiving the Bay Area Theater Critics' Best Actor award. The story was covered in the Santa Cruz County Sentinel and the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian.
Psychologist Nameera Akhtar's research was profiled in Science News as part of a story on contrasting theories of how young children learn new words.
A story by the Associated Press on tax reform featured comments by economist David Kaun.
The sport of ultimate frisbee is known for its emphasis on athleticism and good sportsmanship. But as the game has become more popular and the competitive stakes higher, it has changed. A Wall Street Journal article on the subject featured a quote from OPERS's Kevin Givens. . . . Frisbee was also the story of the day locally, when the Sentinel covered the Western Regional Ultimate Frisbee Championship, hosted by UCSC. Remarkable action photos featured UCSC's Maria Biber-Ferro in a horizontal dive and Alden Kremer in mid-toss.