Monday, September 30, 2013

Page 1

Daily

Herald

THE BROWN

vol. cxlviii, no. 79

since 1891

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Faculty members reflect on Coursera Visiting student Students from about 150 participated in arrested for murder countries online courses offered by Yongfei Ci allegedly drove from Providence to Illinois and killed his exgirlfriend in her home By SARAH PERELMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Yongfei Ci, a visitor-in-residence graduate student at the University, was arrested for allegedly stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in her Urbana, Ill., home Friday, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday. He is currently being held on a $10

million bond and is expected to face formal charges Monday, reported the News-Gazette, a local newspaper. Ci — a PhD student in mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — is one of several graduate students visiting from University of Illinois for the fall semester with Brown’s Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, wrote Marisa Quinn, vice president for public affairs and University relations, in an email to The Herald. The victim, Mengchen Huang, was » See MURDER, page 3

Center Kathy Takayama. The town hall meetings were hosted by the Sheridan Center in Petteruti Lounge and the Sheridan Center. About 20 faculty members and graduate students attended each meeting. Both panels included Arnold Weinstein, professor of comparative literature, and Sue Alcock, professor of archaeology and classics, along with three of her teaching assistants. Phillip Klein, professor of computer science, also participated in Wednesday’s panel.

University professors

By MOLLY SCHULSON SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Faculty members who taught the University’s first three massive open online courses on Coursera this summer shared their experiences in two town hall meetings held Sept. 25 and Sept. 27. “We recognized that there was a lot of curiosity around the courses,” said John Melson, instructional designer at the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, who organized the event with Executive Director of the Sheridan

Student stats While 193,577 students registered for Brown’s three courses, only 101,639 were active students — students who logged in at least once and performed an action such as watching a video,

submitting a quiz or completing an assignment, Melson said. “We had kids from 8 years old to 80 doing it and people from all continents. That diversity and richness — you can’t do that in a classroom,” Alcock said. The active students were from about 150 countries, with a majority of them from the United States, Brazil, India and Russia, Melson said. The largest age category represented was 25 to 35 years old, he said. Coursera gave statements of accomplishment, reports signed by the instructors indicating successful completion, to 6,662 students total, about 3 to 13 percent of the active students, depending on the course, Melson said. The professors on the panel noted » See COURSERA, page 3

Cross ’12 makes Broadway debut in ‘Snow Geese’ CareerLAB Brian Cross ’12 took bit parts in New York until he got the call to play MaryLouise Parker’s son By EMILY WOOLDRIDGE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Brian Cross ’12 will make his Broadway debut alongside Mary-Louise Parker in “The Snow Geese” Oct. 24, but only a few years ago, Cross was deeply entrenched in the theater community on campus and taking a range of roles — once even playing a pig for course credit. “While directing and acting in ‘Pig Farm,’ Brian got down on his hands and knees. He was wearing something, maybe a diaper,” said Professor of Theater Arts and Performance Studies Lowry Marshall. Talented and lovable as Marshall may have found him, substantive roles

ARTS & CULTURE

in the Big Apple are hard to come by. Since graduation, Cross has been pursuing theater in New York City while working at Squishable, a stuffed-animal company. He has landed small parts — including a line on the TV show “Unforgettable” — but nothing substantial enough to cover rent and ramen. “It’s easy to get discouraged by the random nature of the profession,” Cross said. “You can go to one hundred auditions and not land a single role. I thought it was a reflection on me, but most things are totally out of your control. You could have an awesome audition, but you’re too short or don’t have black hair.” After six weeks of auditions, he received the phone call he had been waiting for, he said, when he learned he would soon earn a living wage doing what he loves most, while brushing shoulders with Tony Award-winning director Daniel Sullivan and actress Mary-Louise Parker, who received an » See CROSS, page 2

appoints new consulting coordinator Tarbox brings tech industry experience to new advising role for business, finance and consulting By GABRIELLE DEE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

HERALD FILE PHOTO

Brian Cross ’12, who played a range of roles while at Brown, will next appear alongside “Weeds” star Mary-Louise Parker on Broadway.

The extra mile: Undergrads consider long-distance love

By SARAH SACHS STAFF WRITER

Though activities such as SexPowerGod may make Brown infamous for activities conducive to a hookup culture, a subset of students maintain love from afar.

FEATURE

inside

So close, yet so far Anastasia Gorodilova ’16 said she didn’t expect to leave Barcelona with an Australian boyfriend this summer.

“It’s a cute story until you get to the whole we live continents away part,” she said. Gorodilova, a Herald contributing writer, was spending a week in a hostel with a friend when she met her boyfriend, Patrick Cordwell, who was visiting Spain on his gap year, she said. After spending three weeks in different parts of Europe together, including her home in London, the two decided to date long-distance. “We stumbled into it,” Gorodilova said. “We honestly just didn’t see another option.” Gorodilova said she plans to visit Cordwell in Australia over winter break, and Cordwell is considering spending a semester abroad at Brown. Gorodilova hugged herself tightly as she spoke about getting to see him

again. “Physical proximity can be quite affirming,” she said, explaining that phone conversations lacking body language make communication difficult. “You have to be careful there’s no difference between your behavior and your words,” explained Catie Straut ’11, who similarly described possible hazards in phone communication during her long-distance relationship in college. Without being physically near each other, she added, honesty was key to maintaining her relationship. Distance with benefits It is easier to be in a long-distance relationship at Brown than at other schools, said David O’Connell ’16.

“There is less of a culture of being rewarded or praised for meaningless one-night stands,” he said, explaining that he never felt left out on weekends because he had a long-distance girlfriend. Straut said her life at Brown had more structure while she was dating her boyfriend, who attended Bowdoin College. “It helped me clarify what was important to me at Brown and what I wanted to spend my time on,” she said. “I was able to experiment more into my style and really get into my work.” She added that there is a lot of time management that accompanies being able to frequently visit a longdistance boyfriend. » See LOVE, page 2

F-empower

Picture perfect

Fatal flaws

The Pembroke Center has launched a $3.5 million fundraiser for its archives

Thirteen portraits of past Providence mayors have been restored for City Hall

Enriquez ’16 argues shootings are caused by a flawed system

UNIVERSITY NEWS, 3

ARTS & CULTURE, 4

COMMENTARY, 7

weather

Communication can be difficult without the affirmation of physical proximity, students say

The Center for Careers and Life After Brown has appointed Amy Tarbox, previously the manager of the Department of Computer Science’s Industrial Partners Program, as the University’s new coordinator for career fields in business, finance and consulting. In her new role, Tarbox has transitioned from connecting computer science students with employment and internship opportunities in the tech industry to helping students explore finance and consulting — two of the other top employment sectors for Brown graduates. Tarbox said her work with the computer science department allowed her to understand what Brown students have to offer to prospective employers and what their “strengths and needs” are. CareerLAB advisors can all provide general advice to students outside their assigned fields of expertise, Tarbox said, linking her work in finding tech opportunities to her new role. “We’re all generalists” who help “navigate the overwhelming path of finding jobs or internships,” she said. “Searches (for career advisors) are conducted with great care. We have expertise across a number of broad career fields,” said CareerLAB » See CAREERLAB, page 2 t o d ay

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