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Microsoft introduces the 4Afrika Scholarship program

By Guest PostAugust 12, 2013Education, Technology4afrika scholarship program, africa, african students, botswana, clinton global initiative, english, international youth day, Microsoft, microsoft 4afrika, microsoft innovation centers, new york university, patrick onwumere, people, Tanzania, tunisia, uganda, united nations, university, young african minds

Part of the 4Afrika Initiative, the program will offer mentorship, training, university-level education and employment opportunities to aspiring African youth.

LAGOS, Nigeria — Aug. 12, 2013 — In recognition of International Youth Day, Microsoft Corp. Monday introduced the 4Afrika Scholarship program, as part of its 4Afrika Initiative, through which it will provide mentorship, leadership and technical training, certification, university-level education, and employment opportunities for promising African students. Mentorship will be provided by Microsoft employees from around the world, and employment opportunities will include internships and both part-time and full-time jobs within Microsoft, as well as with the company’s more than 10,000 partners across Africa.

Through the company’s 4Afrika Initiative and YouthSpark program, Microsoft has committed to helping millions of Africans get critical skills for entrepreneurship and employability. The 4Afrika Scholarship program is one way the company intends to meet that goal, by helping ensure that promising youth have access to the education, resources and skills they need to succeed, regardless of their financial situations. To help redress gender disparity in higher education in Africa, the company is actively encouraging young women to apply. (more…)

Nettles — it’s what’s for dinner!

By Guest PostOctober 27, 2012Culture, Generalada de santis, american cooks, ancient egypt, arugula, bay leaf liquor, blackberry semifreddo, blackberry shoot, california, capers, chamomile, chicory, culinary history, dean, deluca, edible plants, english, escarole, Europe, fats domino, fennel, fennel field, gianpiero doebler, god apollo, greek mythology, greek word, italian, italian cuisine, italian gastronomy, john evelyn, los angeles, luigi ballerini, mallow, marathon, medical science, milan, myrtle berries, new york, nymph, point mugu, rosemary, salad, southern california, swiss chard, topanga canyon, united states, university, viagra, wild, wild asparagus, wild mint

UCLA scholar, culinary historian champions foraged foods in new book

Today, delicacies like capers, arugula and fennel are at home at Dean & Deluca, Whole Foods and fancy restaurants, but they haven’t always lived the high life.

These and other darlings of the foodie set started out as peasants’ fodder, foraged from rocky outcroppings, empty fields and roadsides, according to a new book by a UCLA professor.

Luigi Ballerini revisits this distant past in “A Feast of Weeds: A Literary Guide to Foraging and Cooking Wild Edible Plants” (University of California Press), which celebrates the foraged foods that are currently enjoying a renaissance in Italy and elsewhere. (more…)

Reading the Classics: It’s More than Just for Fun

By Guest PostSeptember 16, 2012Health, Scienceblood flow, brain, classic novel, cognitive complexity, critical way, english, Environment, executive function, jane austen, michigan, mri machine, natalie phillips, prejudice, pride, reading, scanner, state university, total cacophony

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Reading a classic novel such as “Pride and Prejudice” can be entertaining, but, according to new research by a Michigan State University professor, it also can provide many other benefits beyond that.

Natalie Phillips, an MSU assistant professor of English, and her team placed study participants in an MRI machine and monitored their brain flow while reading the works of Jane Austen. (more…)

That’s entertainment

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2012Entertainmentabc family, american teenager, beach boys, bobby baccalieri, brooklyn, casino, celebrity fit club, christopher, ellen degeneres, english, Entertainment, episode, fbi agent, film, goomba, jennifer kessman, king of queens, las vegas, law and order, leo boykewich, literature, martin scorsese, mitchell hall, new york actor, nicky deuce, peter x feng, secret life, steve schirripa, the sopranos, ugly betty, wayans brothers

*Actor Steve Schirripa discusses experience in entertainment industry*

Steve Schirripa, best known for his television roles on The Sopranos and The Secret Life of the American Teenager, spoke Monday, Feb. 13, in Mitchell Hall about his experience in the entertainment industry.

Peter X. Feng, an associate professor of English with an expertise in film and literature, conducted the on-stage interview in an Inside the Actors Studio-type format. (more…)

A Piece of History Rediscovered

By Guest PostFebruary 9, 2012Culture, General1961 visit, african american icon, assignment, brown, brown daily herald, brown history, deborah baum, elizabeth taylor, english, historical moment, john hay library, katherine pierce, malcolm burnley, malcolm x, nation of islam, pembroke student, providence, richard holbrooke, sayles hall, serendipitous

What began as an assignment for an English course has now captured international attention. Senior Malcolm Burnley shares details about a little known piece of Brown history: a 1961 visit to campus by African American icon Malcolm X.

Brown senior Malcolm Burnley calls the experience “serendipitous.”

Enrolled in Elizabeth Taylor’s narrative writing course last semester, Burnley had an assignment: Write a historical narrative based on something that really happened. The students were instructed to use the University Archives at the John Hay Library. (more…)

Global IBM CIO Study reveals today’s CEOs and CIOs strongly aligned on future challenges and complexity

By Guest PostMay 18, 2011Technologyanz cios, australian economy, bi, business intelligence, c suite study series, ceos, chief executive officers, chief information officers, cios, client intimacy, english, global cio, global study, ibm, ibm institute for business value, matt english

*Significant increase in the focus CIOs place on Cloud Computing since 2009*

Sydney, Australia – 18 May 2011: Results from a global study of more than 3,000 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) released by IBM today, reveal that for the first time, CEOs and CIOs are strategically aligned in their thinking around future challenges and complexity, with both groups focusing on insight and intelligence, client intimacy and people skills to drive organisational strategy.

The CIO Study shows that 57 per cent of CIOs anticipate more change and complexity in the next five years while 55 per cent of CEOs anticipate the same, according to the IBM’s 2010 Global CEO study. (more…)

‘Was Doing’ Versus ‘Did’: Verbs Matter When Judging Other People’s Intentions

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2011Cultureaction, communication, courtroom, criminal law, defense attorney, did, doing, dolores albarracín, english, grammar, gun, imagine, imperfective, innocent or guilty verdict, people, perceptions, perfective, prosecutor, report of a crime, shot, subtle variations, university of alabama, verb form, was shooting, william hart

Your English teacher wasn’t kidding: Grammar really does matter. The verb form used to describe an action can affect how the action is perceived—and these subtle variations could mean the difference between an innocent or guilty verdict in criminal law, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

William Hart, of the University of Alabama, was inspired to conduct the study by research on how people think about narratives. “Research was showing that when you describe somebody’s actions in terms of what they’re ‘doing,’ that action is way more vivid in [a reader’s] mind” than if the action is described in terms of what the person ‘did.’ At the same time, other researchers had found that when people imagine action vividly, they were more likely to think the person performing the action was doing it intentionally. (more…)

‘Music and Caroling an Important Part of Holiday Celebrations’

By Guest PostDecember 14, 20101 commentCultureamerican music research center, americans, beliefs, carol, caroling, celebrate, celebration, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, community activity, country life, dance song, english, frosty the snowman, germans, holiday songs, holidays, jingle bells, joy to the world, midnight clear, music, musicologist, natural, rudolph the red nosed reindeer, secular, silent night, singing, the christmas song, thomas riis

During the holidays, no matter how you celebrate or what your beliefs, music is almost always an important part of the celebration, according to Thomas Riis, a musicologist and director of the American Music Research Center in the University of Colorado at Boulder’s College of Music.

“Singing brings people together and is a natural and comfortable community activity,” Riis said. (more…)

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