PUBLISHER

For immediate release: 17th August, 2007.

Paula Cleggett joins the editorial advisory board of
Science, People & Politics.

The editors of Science, People & Politics ISSN:1751-598X (online) welcome
Paula Cleggett to the title's editorial advisory board.

Paula is associate director for policy at the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University in Washington DC. She is a researcher, teacher and writer.

"The Nature of Discovery from America to Mars" and a talk on cultural policy and civic engagement to a seminar at Vanderbilt about Civic Engagement are among her recent engagements. She is currently working on an exploration of how artists navigate legal and regulatory requirements, gain professional standing and acquire financial support to sustain themselves and develop their craft.

Paula's essay examining an aspect of the relationship between government and the people raised important issues about how they communicate with one another and the limits of the effectiveness and legitimacy of such communication Science, People & Politics, Volume 1, 29.7.06. First posting, 00.00 g.m.t. Second and final Posting, 21.37 g.m.t.). She drew on her experience to delineate the roles of executive and appointed advisor. Her essay helped to establish the title's claim to an ISSN from the British Library.

Paula wrote from the perspective of a long-time public affairs official who had worked at the highest level communicating the implementation of government decisions to different groups via public relations. She chose as the primary vehicle and way into her exploration a hot story she had noted being play out in the high end US news market about right of access to the collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Though a veteran in the cut-throat world of Federal government public affairs Paula's masters in journalism was apparent in the structure of her work and in the substantial supporting material submitted to Science, People & Politics at the same time as her essay.

Paula joined Vanderbilt in 2003 after six year as Deputy Associate Administrator for Public Affairs of the multi-billion dollar agency. Based in Washington DC Paula was responsible for advising on communication strategy. The executives she worked with were senior NASA administrators at Headquarters and at the 10 field centres around the US. It was the highest ranking civil service position for Public Affairs in NASA and the second highest in the agency. When in the early days of the Bush administration her post was politicised she retained her role as the Agency's highest ranking civil servant, but began a personal transition from government service to academia and Vanderbilt.

From "return to flight", the mission after the Challenger accident, up to the launch of Columbia in Februry 2003 Paula attended countless expendable launch vehicle and shuttle launches. As DAA she would sit in Mission Control at the Kennedy Space Center, ready to act for Public Affairs in the event of an anomoly. She has worked with her counterparts in the European Space Agency' Paris headquarters, at the European Space and Research Centre in Holland and in the International Space Station working group in Moscow.

Between 1994 and 1997 she directed staff in executing Public Service programmes: Fine Arts; Exhibits; Administrator appearances; Artifacts management; Astronaut appearances; Graphic arts; Guest operations; Outreach, speakers bureau and special events.

Paula's capacity to give generous praise and encouragement and space for the individual to walk their own human path, whilst insisting on clarity, organisational competence and efficiency is welcomed.

Paula replaces Dr Phillips Salman of Columbia University. Dr Salman's insight, experience, committment and clearly expressed views, and the essay he wrote with John Heath-Stubbs, one of the most significant and gifted poets of the twentieth Century, as an introduction to "Poems of Science" published by Penguin, has helped me to refine my thoughts about the title's intent.

Dr Salman will be standing down as one of the title's four founding editorial advisors at the end of September 2007.

When he does so he will be leaving a title committed to its initially stated aims and beliefs. Those of which he was aware when he joined the title, and those which led his co-author - Mr Heath-Stubbs - before his death to be at that time willing for Science, People & Politics to publish the essay they had co-authored for Penguin. A view conveyed from Mr Heath-Stubbs to the editor by Dr Salman and endorsed by the authors' agents when they stated to the editor of Science, People & Politics the price at that time for publishing the essay, the Rights of which had reverted to the authors and thus now to Dr Salman.

The initial purpose for the title can be read on line at this site, and it is expressed on the title"s contents page. But it can also be restated in the following words:

Science, People & Politics ISSN:1751-598X (online) seeks to situate science as one discipline only among the humanities and so to dethrone science from a central place in western cultural discourse whilst simultaneously giving science a stronger voice as a part of culture in different geographic, historical, economic and political settings. The title will have succeeded if it helps to show science as part of culture and scientist as only one group of exponents of culture competing for a place in their different political settings: ranging from world societies in which scientists an others are denied the right to make informed choices all the way through to those that are humanely enlightened and respect the concepts of informed consent and freedom of choice.

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