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Past Issues | About
the Report
The Times they are a' Changin'
Program Director Departs
After 15 years at AAAS as the Director of the Science and Human Rights Program,
Audrey Chapman left the Science and Human Rights Program in June to accept
a position at the University of Connecticut Health Center. She is now the first
holder of the Healey Memorial Chair in the Medical Humanities and Bioethics.
While the search for a new director continues, Mark S. Frankel has graciously
agreed to act as Program Director for the near future. For two decades, Mark
has been the AAAS Director of the Program on Scientific Freedom, Responsibility,
and Law (SFRL). Upon joining AAAS in 1986, Dr. Frankel also directed the science
and human rights activities of the Association for four years. Dr. Frankel is
Editor of AAAS’ quarterly publication, Professional Ethics Report, as well as
a Fellow of the Association. Currently, Mark serves on the editorial boards
of Science and Engineering Ethics, Ethics & Behavior, Professional Ethics, and
The Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics. Dr. Frankel holds
a Ph.D. in Political Science.
Other Staff Changes
Both Victoria Baxter and Sarah Olmstead have also vacated full-time staff positions.
Victoria Baxter, Senior Program Associate (2000-2006), joined the United
Nations Foundation in July of 2006 after five years as a SHR staff member. While
at AAAS, she directed the SHR Program's casework activities on behalf of persecuted
scientists, engineers, and health professionals through the AAAS Human Rights
Action Network (AAASHRAN). Victoria was also the primary staff member on several
SHR transitional justice projects. Victoria was particularly interested in the
issue of memorialization or how societies choose to remember and interpret past
violence, and served as the first SHR-AAAS representative on the steering committee
of the African Transitional Justice Research Network. Victoria's position on
the steering committee of that network has been taken over by Jana Asher, an
incoming staff member. AAASRAN alerts and other activities that Victoria has
so ably organized will be assigned to different staff members.
Sarah Olmstead, Project Coordinator (2004-2006), is leaving the Science
and Human Rights Program to return to graduate school in September. She will
be a graduate fellow at the Pardee RAND Graduate School (PRGS) located in Santa
Monica, California. A slight departure from her masters work in physics, Sarah
will be studying for a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis. PRGS was founded in 1970 and
was, at the time, one of only eight public policy graduate programs in the country,
and the only one based at a think tank (The RAND Corporation). The program combines
advanced study in economics, statistics, political science, and the social sciences
with on-the-job training as a member of RAND's interdisciplinary research teams.
PRGS focuses on the quantitative side of policy analysis, making it a logical
place to go after the Science and Human Rights Program. Sarah hopes to continue
working on issues close to SHR's heart, such as the fulfillment of economic,
social, and cultural rights and developing tools for quantitative policy analysis.
We wish Sarah and Victoria the best of luck in their future endeavors.
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