New book examines near-death experiences

"I want to help physicians understand what is happening to patients during and after the near-death experience," says Yates. "We include essays from the fields of religion, psychology, and philosophy. It is important for people in the contemporary scientific world who are encountering this phenomenon in hospitals and elsewhere to learn that there are other ways of knowing and seeing."

Research on near-death experiences (NDEs) has increased and become more sophisticated over the last 20 years. A remarkable consistency has emerged as numerous accounts have been studied and analyzed. (A Gallup Poll in the early 1980s revealed that 15% of adult Americans reported an unusual experience around death.) Some of the most common NDEs involve traveling through a dark tunnel, out of the body travel, the appearance of beings made of light, and a rapid review of one's life.

The perspectives represented in the book are panoramic. The anthology includes an essay by Raymond Moody, a physician and philosopher who brought NDEs to a mass audience in 1975 with his bestseller Life After Death. An article by psychiatrist Karl Jansen focuses on the drug Ketamine which induces similar images of tunnels, lights, and out of the body travel in subjects. Jansen believes a sudden release of brain chemicals, similar to the effects of Ketamine, might be responsible for NDEs. A piece by researcher and NDE skeptic Susan Blackmore is included. Along with these discussions is an essay by Tibetan Buddhist Sogyal Rinpoche about death and rebirth images in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Judith Cressey's work is represented which locates parallels between mystical experiences and NDEs. Lee Bailey's contribution recounts the NDEs of Peter Sellers, Eddie Rickenbacker, Plato, and Black Elk. These and other selections provide the reader with a thorough understanding of the phenomenon.

The idea to assemble The Near-Death Experience began with a conference at Cornell University in 1994 where Yates and Bailey presented papers. Editors at Routledge were interested in publishing new scholarship on NDEs and invited them to submit book manuscripts separately, but Yates and Bailey decided collaboration would be a better way to approach the task of sifting through the vast amount of literature on the subject. "We spent the first summer doing computer searches on everything that had been published, particularly looking at the recent offerings. We ordered prints of all of that material and read hundreds of articles in addition to working with people we already knew," she says.

In her Cornell lecture, Yates talked about how mystical traditions across world religions report the appearance of a being of light which she interprets as a universal symbol of spiritual consciousness or enlightenment. "It is a phenomenon that is consistent and not in conflict with any religion, which seems to me where we have to move in the future in terms of understanding multi-cultures and multi-religions." These views are reflected in her contribution to the volume entitled, "Being of Light:

Dreaming the Vision Onward," which presents a mixture of personal analysis and applied theory.

Yates believes that helping people cope with their near-death experiences and subsequent life changes is important. She dismisses discussion of the validity of NDEs with the simple statement that we cannot deny the needs of the millions of people who have shared the experience. "Whatever culture you are in, discipline, or religion, people are reporting the same phenomenon in the near-death experience," she says.

September, 1996

Wells biology professor joins network to transform teaching

Project Kaleidoscope is an informal alliance of individuals, institutions, and organizations dedicated to strengthening the nation's undergraduate science and mathematics community. Collmer was nominated for this honor by Ellen W. Hall, Wells' vice president for academic affairs.

Members of the F21 network serve as catalysts for reform in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education, at both the local and national level. A central objective of the program is to build local learning environments that attract all students to science and math and encourage their persistence in the study of these fields.

Collmer will have the opportunity to attend the PKAL National Assembly, join regional networks of faculty to stimulate dialogue, lead on-campus discussions of innovations in teaching, apply for PKAL Visiting scholar grants, and serve in a consulting role at other institutions.

Project Kaleidoscope provides persistent opportunities for faculty and their administrative colleagues to exchange ideas and share their enthusiasm and vision for building better learning environments.

Collmer received her B.S. from Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia and her M.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University and has been a member of the Wells faculty since 1990.

The Faculty for the 21st Century project is supported by the Exxon Education Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

September, 1996

New pathways to chemistry taught at Wells College

The program encourages students to investigate chemical questions about everyday items, and construct experiments to find the answers. The participants developed four experiment modules, each with an average of six parts; one at the elementary, middle, high school, and advanced placement levels.

The modules teach chemical concepts in an inquiry-based, hands-on format, and are organized in a mystery story context, which also emphasizes reading comprehension and logic skills. Three of the four mysteries involved forensic science; one was a true story about the mystery involved in the discovery of sulfa drugs. The experiment modules will be introduced during the 1996-97 school year in the Southern Cayuga and Groton Central Schools.

Jim Overhiser, science coordinator and eighth grade teacher at Groton Central School, worked on the middle school module. "This was a fantastic opportunity. Wells supplied us with the time and resources to develop this unit, and try out a variety of things." In January, Overhiser's students will solve the "Who Killed Professor Rig R. Mortis" mystery.

Overhiser explains that he made a few modifications to the project. "In the Professor Rig R. Mortis story, there are eight characters who provide essential information. Our drama department is going to perform the story, based on the script that was created at Wells, for videotape. This way, students will be able to review the video to look for clues."

This experiment was developed as part of the New Pathways to Chemistry project comprising college and high school teams. The workshop at Wells was one of four sites in three states. The project is administered through the College-University Resource Institute, Inc., in Washington D.C., under the direction of Julia Jacobsen of CURI, Inc., and Wells College Professor of Chemistry Linda S. Schwab.

The curriculum began 10 years ago when women faculty from four colleges decided that more effective ways of teaching chemistry to freshman and sophomore college students were needed. Wells College joined the group five years ago when the program was expanded to include seven colleges.

Schwab says the easiest place to introduce changes is in the laboratory, where there is room for freer exchange among students. "When students establish their own questions, and find the answers, they are imitating real work more closely," Schwab explains. "The students learn to observe actions in the lab, keep careful records, ask questions, then try to find the answers - just as they would if working professionally in related fields."

Participants in the workshop were Margaret Flowers, professor of biology at Wells; Stephanie Walker, a graduate of Groton Central School and Wells College; James Overhiser, science coordinator and Jennifer Evener, student Groton Central School; Sonja Sorochinsky, science coordinator, and Stephen Bechtold, Nathan Krause, students at Southern Cayuga Central School. Grant Dietert, a student at Southern Cayuga provided technical assistance and Matthew Dietert, student at the Montessori School of Ithaca, participated in procedural checking.

New Pathways is made possible by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, TRW, Inc. and Wells College.

September, 1996

Two from Wells attend White House policy summit

"Wells wanted to give an outstanding student with a special interest in government a chance to be involved in this important event," said the college's Dean of Students Susan H. Ryan. Ehrlich, a public policy major, is part of the college's mentor program that connects leaders from the junior and senior classes with first-year students to teach leadership development.

Ryerson and Ehrlich went to Washington along with other college presidents and students from the nation's 83 women's colleges for a two-day policy summit. Women's education and leadership issues were the subject of panels, roundtable discussions, and plenary addresses.

"We not only got to speak our minds, but I really felt like we were being listened to," said Ehrlich in a press interview. "It was an absolutely wonderful experience to have your voice heard."

The summit began with a keynote address by Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala. The roundtable discussions at the White House were led by senior administration officials such as Theresa Loar, Director of the President's Interagency Council on Women, and Judith Winston, General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Education.

Betsey Myers, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach, addressed the participants and led a panel discussion which included senior White House advisors Carolyn Curiel, Senior Speech Writer to the President, and Elaine Kamarck, Director of the Vice-President's Reinventing Government Initiative.

They gave their unique perspective on the various policies and initiatives likely to affect women in the 21st century and answered questions from the floor. Evelyn S. Lieberman, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, accepted the resulting action agenda on behalf of President Clinton.

The policy summit was a collaborative effort of the Women's College Coalition (of which Wells College is a member), the White House Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach, and Mount Vernon College.

September, 1996

Other Articles in Wells College News:

September, 2002	September, 2000. - May.,2001	May,1998	May - June,1997
August, 2002	September, 1999 - August, 2000	April,1998	March - April,1997
September, 2001. - May.,2002	August,1999	March,1998	February,1997
	May,1999	February,1998	November - December,1996
	April,1999	January,1998	October,1996
	February -March, 1999	December,1997	September,1996
	January,1999	November,1997	June - Aug.,1996
	Fall,1998	October,1997	May,1996
	August,1998	September,1997	April,1996
	June -July, 1998	July - August, 1997	February - March, 1996