UW Law Professor Alta Charo has been named a 2005 Fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, in recognition of extraordinary lifetime accomplishment. Charo and the five other men and women chosen will be formally inducted into the Academy in a ceremony at Madison's Overture Center for the Arts on Sunday, July 24 from 2 to 5 p.m.
In announcing the Fellows, the Academy stated, ?Fellows are so named for their qualities of judgment, perceptiveness, and knowledge of how literature, art and science contribute to the cultural life and welfare of the state.?
About Charo, the Academy statement continues, ?Alta Charo is on the faculty of both the University of Wisconsin law school and medical school and served on President Clinton's National Bioethics Advisory Commission. Pioneering stem cell researcher Jamie Thomson says he's grateful she was on campus during his initial breakthroughs to provide an ethical context to his work. Throughout her career, bioethicist Alta Charo has been in the forefront of national and global debate about the most controversial ? and promising ? advances in biomedical research. Her 75-plus articles, book chapters, and government reports ? several of which were published in French ? track her fearlessness in taking on hot-button issues, including such titles as ?Playing God?or Playing Human,? ?Abortion Politics v. Science,? and ?Commercializing Surrogate Motherhood.?
For the general public, the best news is that Charo can distill and impart this crucial information in ways we can all understand. She serves as a bridge not only between science and the law, but between the outer reaches of knowledge and average citizens who are trying to comprehend complex information. This ability makes Charo a favorite with the news media and explains why her current pet project is ?Bioethics Trek,? an in-class exploration of bioethics topics through the narrative lens of episodes of ?Star Trek.?
The five other new Fellows are: jazz musician John Harmon, geologist Joanne Kluessendorf, art professor Truman Lowe, musician and artistic director Warren Nelson, and chemistry professor Bassam Shakhashiri.
At the July 24 induction ceremony, the new Fellows will each speak about their work, and jazz musician and Wisconsin Academy Fellow Ben Sidran will play the piano and share thoughts in a performance titled ?Wisconsin Ideal: If You?re Not Having Fun, You?re Doing It Wrong.? Admission price is $35 ($30 for Academy members; everyone is welcome to become a member). For reservations, contact Gail Kohl at 608/263-1692 ext. 14, gkohl@wisconsinacademy.org.
Submitted by on June 7, 2005
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