PSU Magazine Winter 2005

IJ Making accounting accountable ln the wake of recent corruption– driven corporate collapses such as Enron and WorldCom, the School of Business Administration has launched the Center for Professional Integrity and Accountability. Funding Lo launch the center was provided by Phil Bogue, retired managing partner of Arthur Ander– sen, the accounting firm that gained infamy for its handling of Enron accounting files. "The center will be a place to study what happened ," says Bogue, "and what will prevent it from hap– pening again in the future , as well as a place where regulatory issues can be debated and worked on." The initial focus of the center is on accounling, says Director Jesse Dillard. Lt will link knowledge of the rules and conventions of prac– Lice with accounting's responsibili– ties to organizations, society, and the environment. PSUs accounting program is the largest in the state. Looking for racial differences in our genes Last summer, investigators called an early end Lo a study of African Ameri– can men and women who were being treated for heart failure with the drug BiDil. They found the drug so effective they felt iL would be unethical to slow its approval for Af1ican Americans. BiDil was rejected five years ago by the FDA because it was found to be inef– fective for the general public. Now it is up for re-approval and will probably become one of the countrys first race– based medicines. Meanwhile, police crime labs are using a new tool for finding suspects. They can scan D A evidence to deter- mine a suspects long-ago continent of origin, which leads them to a suspects likely race. Improving health and catching crim– inals are serious reasons for pursuing the genetics of race, but exploring the ways that blacks, whites, Asians, and Native Americans are biologically differ– ent has many scientists and policy mak– ers worried. Could genetic inforn1ation on race inadvertently be used to stigma- tize, isolate, or categorize the races7 The issues surrounding racial genet– ics will be debated at a free public sym– posium, Genetic Testing, Privacy and Race, March 31, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in 75 Lincoln Hall. Panelists will examine two types of cases: genetic testing in the criminal justice system and in the medicalization of race. Lead panelist for the symposium is Troy Duster, professor of sociology at University of California, Berkeley, and at New York University As a sociologist he argues that race is a cultural construct; it may have biological dimensions but nothing significant enough to over– shadow the social context. Other pan– elists include medical genetic and anthropology faculty from Oregon Health & Science University and a Portland public defense attorney. A moral philosophy professor from Pacific University will serve as moderator. For more information about the Genetic Testing, Privacy and Race sym– posium, contact the PSU Department of Philosophy at 503-725-3524. Portland State trains truckers for homeland security Long distance truckers with their CBs close at hand can always be counted on to report accidents on the nations highways. Their resourcefulness has not gone unnoticed. The federal govern– ment is now providing funding, includ– ing at PSU, to train truckers to look for potential terrorists on our roads. Portland State Extended Studies and the Oregon Trucking Association have joined forces to offer a Highway Watch training program as a way of strengthen– ing homeland security efforts. A $150,000 grant from the U.S. Trans– portation Security Administration will support the program, which will serve more ilian 4,500 Oregon trucking personnel and will be offered throughout Oregon. 2 P U MAGAZJNE WINTER 2005 The transportation industry has more than 3 million professionals who could potentially monitor for security threats at pons, airports, malls, bridges, and tunnels-thus giving greater range to homeland security observation efforts, says Bob Russell, president of the Oregon Trucking Association. Truckers can also report on broken-down vehicles, hazardous road and weather conditions, and other traffic safety issues. "Highway Watch is a common– sense approach to expanding our state of readiness to guard against future terrorist attacks and to make our highways generally a safer place," says Russell.