WEDNESDAY
DAILY EGYPTIAN SEPTEMBER 25, 2013
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
SINCE 1916
VOLUME 99, ISSUE 24
Renovated gallery hosts faculty member installation SETH RICHARDSON Daily Egyptian Quigley Hall’s architecture gallery is housing its first art installation since being renovated during the summer. The installation, “Running Rampant,” will be on public display in Quigley Hall Room 119 today until Oct. 5. The show features abstract woodworking pieces from Stewart Wessel, a professor of architecture and interior design, and serves as the first faculty member art installation in the gallery’s history. Walter Wendler, director of the School of Architecture, said he wants the gallery to host such shows once a semester to give students an opportunity to see faculty members’ work. “Stewart Wessel is as much an artist as he is an architect and carpenter,” he said. “It’s gratifying to have the faculty put their intellectual work before the students because the students don’t get to see this much.” Wessel’s oldest work in the installation dates back to 1994 with his most recent being completed just three weeks ago. Gathering his work into an installation brought his artwork into perspective, he said. “You do a number of pieces and you have to take a point and see what they look like as a group and individually,” Wessel said. “They exist in your mind for so long, and then we work at them closely. Then after you’re finished, sometimes you don’t take time to stop and see what you’ve done.” Wessel’s carpentry work began at age 5, when he started working with his father. He said his formal training is in furniture design, which he incorporates into his artwork. “I still think of this stuff as furniture,” he said. “It’s not functional furniture, but it’s got the scale of furniture and most of these pieces have four legs or a stand or cabinetry. It’s carpentry, and I’m proud of that.” The gallery is a multipurpose place for architecture students to study class material
MATT DARAY Daily Egyptian Future men and women of the armed services may thank SIU for the prevention of hearing loss in active duty. The university’s School of Medicine in Springfield developed a drug called D-methionine, which will prevent and possibly reverse noise-induced hearing loss. The drug has progressed far enough that the U.S. Department of Defense Army Research and Material Command Branch provided a $2.5 million grant to support a Phase 3 clinical trial at the Fort Jackson, S.C., military base to test the drug’s effectiveness. Kathleen Campbell, a professor of otolaryngology, director of audiology research and the drug’s creator, said she is excited to have it nearing Federal Drug Administration approval. “It is a great joy to finally be reaching the stage where I can actually start to help the patient
SARAH GARDNER | DAILY EGYPTIAN
Stewart Wessel, professor of architectural studies and interior design, poses for a portrait Tuesday with his work “Running Rampant” in the architecture gallery in Quigley Hall. Wessel’s show includes 11 pieces ranging from 1994 to as recent as three weeks ago. The show is the first to be held in the newly renovated space, which will house student work throughout the year. and present their work to their peers and the public. Summer renovations modernized the space with a sleek look and new technology, but it has been active the past two years as a spot for students to congregate. Peter Smith, associate professor of architecture and gallery curator, said it serves as the public forum for the School of Architecture. “It really becomes the heart of the program,” Smith said. “There are
populations that started me down this path so many years ago,” she said. “Very few drugs discovered on the bench get this far.” D-methionine is a component of protein mainly found in fermented proteins such as cheese and yogurt. It provides materials for the human body to form antioxidants. She said this process helps the body produce glutathione, which helps increase cellular defense. That defense, she said, is what would prevent the hearing loss. Campbell said she got the idea during her several years as a clinical audiologist. She got frustrated at her inability to help patients get their normal hearing back. She said she used research and her own knowledge to find an oral medication that could prevent or even reverse hearing loss, and she found D-methionine to be the most effective. D-methionine is slated for military use, Campbell said, but the drug may one day be available to the public as well.
presentations, there are exhibits (and) just a range of activities. Kids can come in and study. It’s going to be the location where we hope to have everybody gather.” Wendler said the gallery is like a centerpiece for the university’s architecture students. “The gallery is right here at the front door of our program,” he said. “This is the place where students show their work. We’re proud of it and it gives students an opportunity to share what they do with people coming in
and out of the building.” There is an informal opening reception for “Running Rampant” and the architecture gallery from 5 to 6 p.m. today, when the public may view the artwork and meet Wessel. The Southern Illinois Culinary Club RSO plans to cater the event.
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hile I am first developing it to protect our troops with support from the U.S. Department of Defense, the goal is to have it available to prevent or reverse noise-induced hearing loss within a day or so of noise exposure in multiple populations worldwide. — Kathleen Campbell professor of otolaryngology
“While I am first developing it to protect our troops with support from the U.S. Department of Defense, the goal is to have it available to prevent or reverse noise-induced hearing loss within a day or so of noise exposure in multiple populations worldwide,“ she said. Chancellor Rita Cheng said the drug is important for Campbell as well as the university because it will bring attention to the university’s medical school. “(Kathleen has) been engaged in this project for a long time. … Getting to Phase 3 is a very significant accomplishment for her, and it brings so much positive attention for
her, her hearing research colleagues and to SIU.” Cheng said the drug also shows the university’s dedication to veterans and the armed forces as a whole. Hearing loss is a complicated science and can be caused by numerous different sources, said Sandie Bass-Ringdahl, coordinator of the Communication Disorders and Sciences program in the university’s rehabilitation institute in Rehn Hall. “You can be born with it, it could be something that is due to a medication you take (or) you can have a virus that causes hearing impairment,” she said. “There are just many things and, of course,
Seth Richardson can be reached at srichardson@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 257.
there is noise exposure.” Bass-Ringdahl said the ear’s hair cells that pick up vibrations can be damaged or destroyed from noise or consistent noise at a certain level. She said the dead hair cells remain inoperative, but it is possible scientists will find a way to regenerate them in our lifetime. Only a hearing aid or a cochlear implant, which is a surgically implanted device that provides a sense of sound for individuals who are severely deaf or hard of hearing, can help individuals with hearing loss at this time, Bass-Ringdahl said. The potential for D-methionine is astounding and is thrilling for the field, she said. “It’s really exciting that Dr. Campbell has a potential medication that might be able to produce noiseinduced hearing impairment,” she said. “That’d be really exciting.” Matt Daray can be reached at mdaray@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 254.