• Adult Learners' Week

Don't miss any of the activities or events taking place next week, which include the return of the LSE Street Fayre on Thursday 20 May.

• The link between divorce and men who do housework

Divorce rates are lower in families where husbands help more with housework, shopping and childcare, according to a new report.

• Jon Adams

ERD research video producer, Jon Adams, is the proud owner of a Californian King snake, which goes by the name of 'Arnold'.

• London to Brighton 2010

On Sunday 20 June, a team of ten cyclists - which includes Ian Harvey, Martin Slade and Randolph Watson from LSE's IT Services - are taking part in the London to Brighton Bike Ride 2010 in aid of The British Heart Foundation.

The team, who have named themselves 'The Cyclots', will join the 27,000 riders taking on the 54 mile bike ride this year.

The British Heart Foundation owns, organises and is the sole benefiting charity from the ride. Committed to preventing people's lives being devastated by heart disease, every penny raised will go towards fighting the UK's biggest killer - heart and circulatory disease.

• Professor Richard Steinberg receives 2009 M&SOM Meritorious Service Award

Professor Richard Steinberg, chair in operations research at LSE, has received a meritorious service award from the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management journal - widely regarded as the top academic journal in the field of operations management.

The award recognises the outstanding service Professor Steinberg has provided to the M&SOM journal over the past year.
 

• Time for a re-run

Seven years ago, the School entered a team for the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge - a three mile run in Battersea Park, with all proceeds going to support the Save the Children Charity.

We want to repeat the success of our last outing, when 18 runners unfurled the School banner and represented the School at the challenge, and we are hoping to see a larger presence this time around.

• Goodbye from LSE

We are very sad to announce the death of former LSE staff member, Professor Anthony Hopwood.

Anthony Hopwood was Ernst and Young Professor of International Accounting and Financial Management at LSE from 1985 to 1995. On leaving the School, he went to Oxford as Professor of Management Studies, and in 1999 was appointed dean of the Saïd Business School, a position which he held until October 2006.

Anthony transformed the discipline of accounting by suggesting that it be examined not as a neutral technical phenomenon, but as an organisational and social practice that itself had an impact on the world. He wrote many of the seminal papers and books of the discipline, and was always ahead of his time.

• LSE Perspectives

The May gallery is now online and can be seen here. Selected photographs include this image, submitted by Guo Xianguang, an undergraduate student in the Economics Department. The image, simply entitled 'Air France Counter', captures some of the frenetic airport activity resulting from the volcanic ash cloud.

• Introducing Feel Good Food Day.... good for you, good for the planet

As part of the Adult Learners' Week, LSE Catering will be promoting its Feel Good Food Day on Thursday 20 May.

On Feel Good Food Day, the Fourth Floor Restaurant and the Staff Dining Room will be offering a menu using ingredients that are good for you and the environment.

By serving a Feel Good Food Day menu we aim to demonstrate that using healthier ingredients, seasonal vegetables, sustainably sourced fish, limited dairy or egg-based dishes and no meat, can benefit your health, the environment and the animals.

• Summer evenings on campus

Hungry and on a tight budget? Then come to the Fourth Floor Restaurant between 4-7pm where you can enjoy a hot home cooked supper dish from as little as £2.90.

After a long day, why not take time to relax and unwind in the Fourth Floor Café Bar. Whether you want to enjoy one of our hand made speciality sandwiches or simply chill out with a glass of wine or cappuccino, it's the perfect place to meet with friends and take it easy. Spend £5 or more on drinks between 6-9pm and receive free tortilla chips and dips.

The Plaza Café is now open until 10pm so why not take a break to recharge your batteries. Grab a drink and snack or sit on the plaza and relax with coffee and cake.

• Internal staff and student vacancies - reminder to staff

All internal staff and student vacancies are now advertised on the online recruitment system. You will only see the internal vacancies if you log onto the system using your LSE network username and password.

To log on, visit the 'Jobs' page and click on 'Internal Vacancies'. Enter your LSE network username and password. Once you have logged on, you will be able to search all internal vacancies, as well all vacancies that are advertised externally.

• Single Equality Scheme road shows - get involved and have your say

LSE is preparing its first Single Equality Scheme (SES), which will set out how the School intends to tackle discrimination and harassment and promote equality for its staff, students and service users. It will also explain how the School will meet its statutory duties to promote equality across all areas.

Ahead of the scheme, Carolyn Solomon-Pryce, LSE’s diversity adviser, needs your help to fully understand the equality and diversity needs within the School. Your input will help to shape the SES and set out clear equality and diversity priorities for the next three years.

Carolyn has already held road shows for academic staff and students, and would now like to give support staff an opportunity to share their views and comments, and ask any questions relating to the development of the scheme.

The road shows will be held on:

• Wednesday 19 May at 12-1.30pm in room A316, Old Building

• Thursday 20 May at 12-1.30pm in room H208, Connaught House

• Monday 24 May at 12-1.30pm in room A316, Old Building

A light lunch will be provided for all participants. If you would like to attend any of the above road shows, please contact Carolyn at c.solomon-pryce@lse.ac.uk to reserve your place and to specify any special dietary requirements.

• Divorce rates lower in couples where husbands help more with housework and childcare

Divorce rates are lower in families where husbands help more with housework, shopping and childcare, according to new research from LSE.

A study of 3,500 British married couples after the birth of their first child found that the more husbands helped, the lower the incidence of divorce.

• Hasty changes to the machinery of government can disrupt departments for two years

A new study by Anne White and Professor Patrick Dunleavy finds that reorganisations of civil service departments in the UK are often announced at short notice, usually poorly managed and are always costly.

• Research opportunities

• RPDD Research e-Briefing

• Latest opportunities from LSE Enterprise

LSE Enterprise offers you the opportunity to undertake private teaching and consultancy work under the LSE brand. We help with bidding, contracts and other project administration, enabling you to focus on the work itself. To see the latest opportunities click here.

If you would like us to look out for consulting opportunities in your field, email your CV and summary of interests to Rebecca Limer at r.limer@lse.ac.uk

• Libya: past, present, and future

On: Tuesday 25 May at 6.30-8pm. The venue will be announced to ticket holders.
Speaker: Saif al-Islam Alqadhafi

Saif al-Islam Alqadhafi is chairman of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity and Development based in Tripoli, Libya. He received his PhD from LSE in 2009.

This event is open to LSE staff and students only, and a ticket is required. One ticket per person can be requested from this web page from 10am on Monday 17 May.

• Other upcoming events include....

Full Globalisation as a Positive-Sum Game
On: Tuesday 18 May at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor Carlota Perez

We Don't Know How to Solve Global Poverty and That's a Good Thing
On: Wednesday 19 May at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Professor William Easterly

• Podcasts of public lectures and events

Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: assessing the economic rise of China and India
Tuesday 4 May, 6.30pm, Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Professor Pranab Bardhan
Click here to listen

Victims or Survivors? The Emerging Economies and the Economic Crisis
Wednesday 5 May, 6.30pm, Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speaker: Thomas Mirow
Click here to listen

Do No Harm: international support for statebuilding in fragile situations
Thursday 6 May, 6.30pm, Old Theatre, Old Building
Speakers: Jon Lomoy, Dr Funmi Olonisakin, and Professor James Putzel
Click here to listen
 

• Teaching Skills through Substance

Tuesday 18 May, 10-11am, Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Nicola Lacey (pictured), Professor of Criminal Law and Legal Theory

Across the education system, the question of how best to impart study and learning skills seems to assume ever greater importance. Yet at every level, the skills-teaching agenda can be counterproductive, not least in undermining students’ motivation by diverting attention from the things they are really interested in learning about.

At LSE, where many students are attracted by our ambition to engage in research-led teaching, the questions raised by the current pressure to teach skills as such are particularly challenging.

At this talk, Professor Lacey will reflect on these challenges, and on the experience of appending - with support from the Teaching and Learning Centre - a legal writing skills module to a substantive course in the first year of the undergraduate law curriculum.

• Screening of Hard Rain

Tuesday 18 May, 12.30-1.30pm, New Theatre, East Building

On 20 July 1969, lost in the Sahara desert, Mark Edwards was rescued by a Tuareg nomad who took him to his people and sat him down outside a tiny hut. He turned an old radio cassette player on and Bob Dylan sang A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.

Armstrong and Aldrin have just landed on the moon. Dylan is piling image upon image and Mark gets the idea to illustrate each line of the song. Hard Rain is the result. Photographs from around the world illustrate Bob Dylan’s prophetic song, setting the scene for a moving and unforgettable exploration of the state of our world at this critical time.

• Feedback on the Feedback Academy

Tuesday 18 May, 4-4.45pm, Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speakers: Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang, LSE Students’ Union; Dr Liz Barnett, TLC director; Dr Yasmin Chahed, LSE Fellow; Professor David Lewis, Social Policy and chair of GSSC; Dr Andrea Mennicken, LSE lecturer; and Mark Thomson, head of the Teaching Quality Assurance and Review Office.

In February, a team of LSE staff attended a feedback academy organised by the Assessment Standards Knowledge Exchange, a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning based at Oxford Brookes University.

They spent two days focused on reviewing and developing ideas to improve feedback to students on their work. At this event, they will share with colleagues ideas arising from the feedback academy.

• Spectrum launch

Wednesday 19 May, 6-8.30pm, Shaw Library, 6th floor, Old Building

The Spectrum Committee is delighted to invite all LSE staff to a celebratory reception to mark the launch of Spectrum, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) staff network at LSE. The reception will include a welcome from Howard Davies, LSE Director, and talks from external speakers.

The launch of Spectrum coincides with the 40 year anniversary of the establishment of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in London, which held its first meetings in October 1970 at LSE. As part of this event, there will be a small GLF exhibition and a talk from one of the original members of the GLF.

All members of staff are welcome. To attend, please RSVP to spectrum@lse.ac.uk by Friday 7 May.

• Green Impact Awards and Celebration of Sustainability at LSE: residences sustainability champions and sustainable future consulting

Friday 21 May, 12.30-1.30pm, Shaw Library, Old Building

Teams of staff across the School have been taking part in the Green Impact environmental accreditation scheme, greening work practices and creating positive changes in behaviour. This award ceremony acknowledges their achievements in year one of the project.

The event also acknowledges LSE students who have contributed their time and initiatives to sustainability projects as members of the Residences Sustainability Champions network and of the Sustainable Future Consulting Group.

• LSE Global Governance book launch

Wednesday 26 May, 6.30-8pm, Old Theatre, Old Building
Speakers: Lieutenant Colonel Shannon D Beebe, Professor Mary Kaldor, Clare Short MP and Rory Stewart MP

To celebrate the launch of The Ultimate Weapon is No Weapon (Shannon D Beebe and Professor Mary Kaldor, 2010), this panel will explore opportunities for stabilising the dangerous neighbourhoods of the world through the implementation of human security ideas.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. The book will be available to purchase on the night.

• The Lottery of Birth: an international exhibition of art by young people

Until Friday 28 May, Atrium Gallery, Old Building
Open Monday - Friday, 10am - 8pm

Showing now in the Atrium Gallery, the United Youth Development Organisation, the Development Studies Institute at LSE and LSE Arts are hosting an exhibition of art and photography to celebrate the work of young artists and photographers from across the world.

Nicole wants to hear from you!

Do you have some news, an achievement, or an aspect of LSE life that you would like to share? If so, then I would love to hear from you, contact me at n.gallivan@lse.ac.uk or on ext 7582.

The next edition of Staff News is on Thursday 20 May. Articles for this should be emailed to me by Tuesday 18 May. Staff News is emailed every Thursday during term time and fortnightly during the holidays.