Some University of Oregon faculty help the words of poets reach across the years and into the minds and hearts of our students, while others teach them to appreciate the beauty and power of science. Our faculty are innovators and creators in their own right. In nearly every corner of campus—whether in environmentally friendly green chemistry or in ground-breaking neuroscience, in Mandarin Chinese language courses or backstage at the theatre—CAS researchers extend our knowledge and challenge our ideas about the world.

Because our teaching and research mission comes alive everyday through the efforts and accomplishments of our faculty, we take the time to honor a few exceptional faculty in this issue. In addition, I’d like to highlight a few other awards that reflect the world-class caliber of our faculty:

• Karen Ford, professor of English, received a yearlong fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies to work on a book about race and form in American poetry;

• Wendy Larson, professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures, received a Stanford humanities research fellowship for a book on sexuality and revolutionary identity in Chinese fiction and film;

• Karen Guillemin, assistant professor of biology at the Institute of Molecular Biology, received one of the American Society of Microbiology’s (ASM) highest awards for young researchers in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the study of “beneficial microbes”;

• and Jeff Ostler, head of the history department, received the Western History Association’s Caughey award for the best book of the year in his field.

And this national recognition is not limited to our faculty:

• Ph.D. student George Slavich was honored as the nation’s best graduate researcher in psychology by the American Psychological Society.

For good reason, I often think of the fall issue of Cascade as the “awards” issue because the season presents an opportune time for us to honor the accomplishments of our alumni and students as well.

However, we do allow some room for a more retrospective gaze—particularly through the influences of the 20th century giant of science, Albert Einstein, on the development of UO physics. This September, thousands of students, faculty and community members gathered to convene the new school year and celebrate the World Year of Physics with a lecture by string theorist Jim Gates.

Though it was an active summer—with the UO hosting high school and university teachers at its national green chemistry conference, entertaining crowds of local children on the lawns of “Mad Duckling Theatre,” and analyzing the increase in Oregon’s sunshine from its rooftops—I find that the campus only gains momentum as the temperature drops and the leaves begin to fall.

This fall, the College of Arts and Sciences welcomed forty new faculty and more than 3,300 new students to campus. Thirty-two of these are students who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina and are receiving tuition waivers from the UO to continue their educations.

I continue to be proud not only of the achievements, but also of the compassion and dedication of our academic community. As alumni, you can be proud, too. Your support helps us enliven the learning experience for students in the arts and sciences year after year.