Calendar highlights

Character-education expert to speak to education alumni
“Why Morals Are Back: The Return of Character Education” will be the topic of the School of Education’s Alumni Weekend program Saturday, May 12, at 9:30 a.m. in 204 Educational Sciences Building.

The free public event’s featured speaker will be James Leming, Carl A. Gerstacker Professor of Education, Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan.

A School of Education alumnus (Ph.D. ’73), Leming is considered one of the nation’s leading experts in the field of character education. In his address, Leming will compare current public demands that schools develop “moral behavior” to similar discussions that took place in the 1920s and ’30s. He’ll explain the cultural roots of both movements and their underlying ideology. Information: 262-0054.

Professor cites ‘ignorance’ in radiation protections
A university medical physics professor is scheduled Monday, May 7, to discuss his contention that low-dose radiation stimulates the immune system.

Emeritus professor John Cameron dismisses the popular view that low-dose radiation may have harmful biological effects. His free public lecture is planned 4-5 p.m., 140 Bardeen Medical Laboratories.

Citing data from a British radiologist’s study and a study of nuclear shipyard workers, among others, Cameron supports a hypothesis that low-dose radiation stimulates the immune system. He proposes a human radiation study to test the idea, to see if study participants subjected to increased background radiation live longer than other participants.

If the results show a benefit, Cameron says further human studies would be needed to determine the recommended annual dose. He goes as far as to suggest that nuclear waste could be incorporated into foundations of buildings to increase background radiation to a healthier level.

Cameron acknowledges that his ideas are politically volatile because of what he calls “the present ignorance of radiation risk.”

Cameron wrote the textbook “Medical Physics” and established the Department of Medical Physics. He founded Radiation Measurements Inc., and started the Medical Physics Publishing Company.

His lecture is part of the Annual Cameron Symposium, a lecture series named for him and funded by friends and colleagues.