Steroids: Appearances may be deceiving
The suspected abuse of steroids by professional athletes has caused many fans to speculate which players may be “on the juice” based upon physical appearances. Alan Rogol, a U.Va. pediatrics professor and steroid expert, cautions against playing the guessing game. Though boys often finish growing by their late teens, “it could take 10 more years to get peak bone mass and muscle mass. Part of that is training and part is the maturation process,” he said. “On the other hand, if you’ve been playing 10 or 12 years, and you’re 35 and put on 40 pounds and are ripped and totally different, that’s harder to deal with. Then I’d have to think twice.”
— New York Times, June 14

Liberal arts: where’s the payoff?
In 1968, nearly half of all bachelor’s degrees were awarded in the arts and sciences. By 1983, that number had dropped to 25 percent, and has never been above 30 percent since. “In the 1960s, the dominant thing kids wanted to develop was a philosophy of life,” said Curry School dean David W. Breneman. “They were going to college for idealistic reasons. Then making money just shot to the front.” In response, some schools have now offered liberal arts students greater access to business and vocational training.
— New York Times, June 19

A ‘gripping’ government report?
The 17 reports recently issued by the federal 9/11 commission are drawing praise for something unusual in government circles: readability. They “offer a gripping story,” according to the New York Times, “… richly detailed and colorful, peppered with actual dialogue, gleaned from audiotapes, that provides an intimate view of that day’s events.” U.Va. history professor and Miller Center of Public Affairs director Philip D. Zelikow, the commission’s executive director, managed the writing process. “You’re both writing by committee and trying to avoid all of the vices of writing by committee,” he said. He spread the credit for the reports’ rave reviews. “There is no single, literary giant lurking behind our shoulders,” he said.
— New York Times, June 20

Go west, Sabato suggests
Politics professor Larry J. Sabato recently proposed at a conference of Western governors that the Western states ought to hold a joint presidential primary — and schedule it sometime before the traditional first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. “Why shouldn’t the fastest-growing, dynamic, ethically diverse states of the West have a much greater voice in the election of a president than the lily-white states of Iowa and New Hampshire?” he asked. The governors endorsed the idea.
— Associated Press, June 21

U.Va. Patent Foundation lends W&M a hand
The College of William & Mary, trailing in the field of technology transfer, has enlisted a new partner in its efforts: the U.Va. Patent Foundation. Under a three-year agreement signed in February, the foundation will receive an hourly fee to “do market research, identify companies that might be interested in W&M technology and make the initial contact for W&M faculty,” said a recent newspaper account. “If a company expresses interest, the organization then contacts W&M’s tech transfer director, who then expands the relationship.”
— Hampton Roads Daily Press, June 24