@ Brown is a wrapup of news of note to the Brown University community

Aug. 3

Awards and Honors

Jaya Agrawal, a fourth-year student in the Medical School, was elected national president of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) for 2001-2002. She will devote the next year to AMSA and the medical student community. This past year, Agrawal completed training in public health at Harvard. After her term as AMSA president ends next June, she will return for her final year of medical school at Brown. Agrawal plans to graduate from both Brown, with a medical degree, and Harvard, with a master’s in public health, in 2003. Actively involved in issues of social justice, community organizing, primary care and fair access to quality health care, Agrawal is working with medical students, physicians, policymakers, patients and others on AMSA initiatives in universal health care, diversity in medicine and the well-being of medical students and residents. She is the third Brown medical student to serve as national AMSA president. Dedicated to improving medical training and the nation's health, AMSA is the nation’s oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training; it has more than 30,000 members.

Sidney S. Braman, M.D., professor of medicine, is president-elect of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Andrew G. Campbell recently received a $72,000 grant from the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). The funds will support a research project to construct and test mutant HIV proteins and to screen the mutants to identify genetic changes that allow the virus to remain active. His project is also designed to test mutant viral proteins to determine their susceptibility or resistance to new compounds that show promise as anti-HIV therapeutics; and to develop a laboratory-based system to rapidly and safely screen for new compounds effective in blocking HIV replication and disease progression. Viral proteins play essential roles in the replication of HIV, but have not as yet been studied as potential targets for new drugs. Campbell is an associate professor of molecular biology, microbiology and immunology. AmfAR is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, AIDS prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy.

On July 13 Brown University Dining Services received the Loyal E. Horton Dining Award Grand Prize during the national conference of the National Association of College and University Food Services, held in Cincinnati. The department was recognized for its celebration of the Sharpe Refectory’s 50^th birthday during a special dinner last Jan. 31, earning first place in the residence hall special event category, as well as the Horton award. Director of Dining Services Gretchen Willis, food production manager Elizabeth Mersereau and facilities manager of Dining Services Joseph Barboza accepted the awards for the University.

People

Sharon Rounds, M.D., a faculty member in pathology and laboratory medicine, is serving as a research mentor to Theodore Johnson, a biology, physiology and physical science teacher at Mount Pleasant High School in Providence. Johnson will work in Rounds' laboratory as a participant in the American Physiological Society's Frontiers in Physiology program. Rounds' current research focuses on the mechanism of endothelial cell apoptosis. While working with Rounds, Johnson's responsibilities in the lab will include taking part in experiments, recording and analyzing data from these experiments, participating in laboratory meetings and seminars, and presenting his findings for the department. Johnson also will participate in a one-week retreat in Warrenton, Va., in which he and other participants in the program explore ways to integrate inquiry-based learning, equity strategies and technology into middle and high school science education.

July 20

TO: Brown Community

FROM: Michele Wise, training specialist, Office of Training and Development

DATE: July 16, 2001

RE: Enhancements to the Employee Education Program (EEP)

In a continued effort to meet the changing needs of the Brown community and those interested in participating in the Employee Education Program, the Office of Training and Development is pleased to announce two policy enhancements to the EEP.

When the EEP policy was enhanced to include all degree-related courses as of July of 1999, an additional six-month waiting period and a repayment clause were instituted to ensure that there were sufficient resources to cover the enhancements. At that time, a commitment was made to review the costs of the enhanced policy and revisit the waiting period and repayment clause after one full year of participation. The Office of Training and Development has now completed that review and is happy to announce the reduction of the waiting period to six months and the elimination of the repayment clause as of July 1, 2001.

Reduction of the waiting period

Staff employees who work on the regular payroll at least 67% time (excluding faculty), and are in good standing will now need to complete at least six months of employment in order to be eligible for the EEP. The waiting period of one year is no longer in effect.

In July of 1999, a repayment clause was instituted as part of the revised Employee Education Program. This clause states that if an employee voluntarily terminates from Brown University prior to six months from the last day of a course, the EEP participant would be required to return the full or partial tuition payment to Brown. This repayment clause is no longer in effect.

Eligible employees will continue to be able to take courses in a degree program and other job-related courses at Brown, accredited institutions and the Brown Learning Community.

Employees who are members of the SEIU Local 134 Library Bargaining Unit will continue to receive education benefits as described in their applicable collective bargaining agreement.

By offering these changes to the EEP policy, it is the hope of Brown University that EEP participants and departments will be able to better meet personal and professional educational goals.

For a complete overview of the EEP policy please refer to the Human Resources Policies and Practices Manual Policy # 30.006 (7/1/01), or you may contact Michele Wise in the Office of Training and Development at 863-2459 should you have specific questions or need further information.

On any given day, more than 300 Brown medical students circulate through campus and among seven affiliated hospitals. To paint a picture of what those days are like, the students are shooting and editing a 10-minute video for President Simmons.

Simmons has planned two chats with medical students. The video will comprise one of those meetings.

So far medical students are the only campus constituency planning to introduce itself via videotape. From the labs of the Bio-Med Building to the corridors of Rhode Island Hospital, the production will feature an amalgam of student perspectives.

Four biotech startups with ties to the Medical School recently received Commercial Innovation Awards from Rhode Island’s Slater Center for Biomedical Technology.

They are:

• Cyberkinetics, Inc., which received a $75,000 loan. The firm will design and implant devices to restore motor function in patients suffering from injuries and neurological disorders that result in paralysis. Company founders are John Donoghue, professor of neuroscience; Nicholas Hatsopoulous, assistant professor of neuroscience; and Gerhard Friehs, M.D., assistant professor of clinical neuroscience.

• Medical Monitoring Technologies, Inc., which received a $75,000 loan. The company will design portable monitors that diagnose respiratory conditions related to asthma. Company founders are Nathan Intrator, associate professor, Institute for Brain and Neural Systems; Nicola Neretti, also of the institute; and John Zwetchkenbaum, M.D., clinical instructor of medicine.

• ProThera Biologics, which will develop and commercialize protein-based products for human diseases. Company founders are Yow-Pin Lim, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, and Douglas C. Hixson, professor of medicine. A $100,000 grant went to Rhode Island Hospital, where Lim and Hixson are based.

• Chemosynergy, which plans to develop biological anti-tumor factors as anti-cancer drugs. Founders are Harold Wanebo, M.D., adjunct professor of surgery; and Shashikant Mehta, adjunct assistant professor of surgery. Both are based at Roger Williams Medical Center, which received a $100,000 grant.

Yuko Toyonaga, a graduate student in biology and medicine, recently received a $900 research grant from Sigma Xi for his study titled "The control of flowering time in response to nutrient availability in Arabidopsis thaliana." Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, provided the grant through its 75-year-old Grants-in-Aid of Research Program.

The Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown recently won a distinguished achievement award in the category of technology-supported professional development for a Web site directed at educators. Given by the Association of Educational Publishers, the award recognizes knowledgeloom.org, a site for educators to review research about best practices at work in schools and learn to replicate the practices.

The launch of AIDScience.com featured Brown’s Anne DeGroot, M.D., who discussed the use of computer power to analyze genetic sequence information to support a universal or "cross-clade" HIV vaccine. To create a broadly effective vaccine, De Groot said, researchers must identify regions of HIV-1’s genetic sequence that stimulate immune response universally — or across all versions of the virus.

She noted that several computer-based algorithms are available to help researchers pinpoint important bits of genetic sequence common to various HIV-1 strains. An assistant professor of medicine and director of Brown’s TB/HIV Research Lab, DeGroot is also president of the vaccine design firm, EpiVax.

On June 30 Monica Bond-Lamberty, who received a master's in teaching from Brown in 1998, received accolades from the World History Association, the professional organization for professors and teachers of world history, for teaching the best lesson incorporating recent scholarship. A teacher at the James Madison Memorial High School in Madison, Wisc., she was recognized for her lesson addressing why Europe colonized the Americas. Bond-Lamberty is the fourth student from the master's program in recent years to receive recognition for teaching, said Cynthia Garcia Coll, professor of education.

Kerry Smith, assistant professor of history, looks at Japan's transformation by the economic crises of the 1930s in his new book "A Time of Crisis: Japan, the Great Depression, and Rural Revitalization."

Smith focuses on efforts to overcome the effects of the Great Depression in rural areas, particularly the activities of local activists and policymakers in Tokyo. Those efforts changed the nation's thinking about the countryside, as well as Japan's conception of its economic and cultural relationship to the nation, in ways that have important implications for our understanding of both the war years and the postwar reconstruction, said Smith. The reactions of inhabitants of rural areas to the depression shed light on how average Japanese responded to the problems of modernization and re-created the countryside.

Elmer Cornwell, professor of political science, is the co-author of a new book about politics and government in the Ocean State with Maureen Moakley, professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island. "Rhode Island Politics and Government" introduces readers to the history, structure and characteristics of politics in the state. With a political culture that until recently has resembled the old-style patronage politics of a city-state, Rhode Island politics have been highly individualized, contentious and distinct from those of surrounding states, according to the authors.

Terrie Wetle presented the keynote address June 17 in Washington, D.C. to reporters attending a three-day seminar on aging, sponsored by the National Press Foundation. Her talk was titled "An Overview of Our Aging Society." Associate dean of medicine for public health and public policy, Wetle is former deputy director of the National Institute on Aging. The National Press Foundation provides professional development opportunities for print, broadcast and online journalists.

July 6

July 17 is the deadline to register for Staff Development Day events to be held on Tuesday, July 31. For event and registration details, refer to the Staff Development Day insert published in the June 22 George Street Journal, or visit the event's Web site.

The University’s Corporation elected three term trustees and five alumni/ae trustees at its May 26 meeting. The new trustees will be sworn in at the next regular meeting of the Corporation in October and will serve six-year terms, from 2001 to 2007.

New term trustees include Craig M. Cogut, investor; Paul R. Dupee, holding company executive; and Jeffrey W. Greenberg, insurance broker. The new alumni/ae trustees are Bernicestine McLeod Bailey, technology consulting firm president; John Seely Brown, Xerox scientist; Kenneth R. Fitzsimmons Jr., international investment banker; Laura Geller, senior rabbi of a major metropolitan synagogue; and Javette Pickney Laremont, marketing leader.

The Corporation is composed of a 12-member Board of Fellows and a 42-member Board of Trustees, all elected by the Corporation. Fourteen members of the Board of Trustees are alumni/ae trustees, nominated by the Brown Alumni Association and elected to office by the Corporation.

The President's Staff Advisory Committee has completed its selection of new members for 2001-2003. They are: James Adams, Annenberg Institute; Albert Anderson, food services; Kevin Andrews, police and security services; Claudia Cockerill, Bio Med-Affinity program; Blanca DelCid, student life; Gail Goodness, controller's office; Dann Gwann, facilities management; Lora Rossi, registrar’s office; Joan White, CIS; Bill Wood, library; David Cardoza, police and security services (to serve one year vacancy).

People

Anne DeGroot, M.D., has announced formation of the nonprofit GAIA Vaccine Foundation to support work on a globally effective HIV vaccine and to distribute it at little or no cost.

"Most vaccine designers focus on making HIV vaccines for strains found in the United States and Europe," said DeGroot. "Unfortunately, 90 percent of the world’s AIDS victims live in developing countries, and the strains affecting them are different."

An assistant professor of medicine and director of Brown’s TB/HIV Research Lab, DeGroot is also president of EpiVax, a vaccine design firm.

Under DeGroot’s direction, Brown’s TB/HIV Research Lab developed a bioinformatics tool called EpiMatrix to identify epitopes, the minimum amount of information necessary to turn on the immune system. EpiMatrix identifies viral epitopes present across the many strains of HIV. This effort is a vital link to building a globally relevant vaccine, DeGroot said.

EpiVax and TB/HIV lab scientists hope to bring both an HIV vaccine and a vaccine for tuberculosis to clinical trials within the next four to five years, she said.

The first funds for GAIA (Global Alliance to Immunize against AIDS) will be provided by EpiVax. The company will then disassociate from the foundation. DeGroot, however, will continue as the foundation’s interim director until a permanent director is chosen.

Gail E. Cohee, a member of the Governing Council of the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) and a long-time activist on national and local women’s issues, has been named director of the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center.

Cohee, a visiting professor in the Department of English at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., is a former tenured assistant professor of English at Emporia State University in Kansas. She has also served as a lecturer in English and women’s studies programs at Skidmore College and the College of St. Rose in Albany, N.Y.

For the last five years, Cohee has chaired the Elections Committee and has served as a member of the Governing Council for the NWSA. She is the co-chair of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association’s Women’s Studies Section and has been executive co-editor of book reviews for the journal Feminist Teacher since 1987. She has been a frequent panelist, presenter and discussion leader for conferences and workshops on feminist, gender and education issues.

Cohee will replace former director Margaret Klawunn, who left the center last year to become associate dean of the college. Janice Okoomian has directed the center during the intervening search process.

Robert S. Crausman, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, was recently named a managing editor of eMedicine’s Pulmonary Medicine Journal. eMedicine.com is a medical education network and developer of the first online, peer-reviewed medical reference library. Crausman directs the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Memorial Hospital, where he is also acting chief of medicine.

Josiah D. Rich, M.D., associate professor of medicine and community health, was recently named a medical editor of eMedicine’s Infectious Diseases Journal. Rich is an attending physician at Miriam Hospital.

Awards and Honors

Don B. Wilmeth, chairman of the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance, recently received the Anthony Denning Award from Britain’s Society for Theatre Research in recognition of his work with the American Society for Theatre Research. Wilmeth will also be given a "Career Achievement in Education" award during the annual meeting of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education in Chicago on Aug. 2.

Katherine Wallace '03 of Harvard, Mass., is the recipient of a Morris K. Udall Scholarship from the Udall Foundation. She is one of 80 students who will receive the scholarship for the 2001-02 academic year. The foundation designed the scholarship program to provide opportunities for outstanding U.S. students who demonstrate a commitment to fields related to the environment, and to Native American and Alaska Native students in fields related to health care and tribal public policy.

Lillian Zhao '03 is among 50 college students from around the world to receive top honors in the Global Leaders Program of the Goldman Sachs Foundation. Each receives a laptop computer, $3,000 and an invitation to participate in the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Institute held in New York City in July, which gives the students an opportunity to examine collaboratively important issues such as global leadership, the new world economy, e-commerce and international development. The sessions are led by world-renowned faculty from leading U.S. business schools and by experienced senior Goldman Sachs executives.

The NASA Rhode Island Space Grant has announced its scholars and fellows for the 2001-02 academic year. The mission of the scholarship and fellowship program is to support NASA-related research by graduates and undergraduates, and to link fellows and scholars with elementary- and secondary-school teachers through science education outreach.

Summer Scholars ('01): Alison Barnstable, Sheryl Bigler, Miguel Daal, Heather Goldsmith, Ellen Syracuse, Brian Vigorito, Georgina Villanueva, Rachel L. Weinstein

Outreach Scholars: Erez Biala, Matthew Heaney, Dylan Spaulding, Ellen Syracuse

Science En Español Scholars: Coral Arias, Gloria Gutierrez

Research Scholars: Lauren Brodsky, Helen Burbank-Schmitt, Emily Gaulker

Fellows : Judith Chapman, Kathryn Fishbaugh, Meaghan Richmond, Bradley Thomson

Barry Lester, professor of psychiatry and human behavior, was honored by the Rhode Island Chapter of Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies at its annual May Breakfast. Lester received the Silver Rattle Award for "his commitment to the health and well-being of mothers and their infants."

Obituaries

Frederick Walter Barnes Jr., M.D., professor emeritus of medical science, died May 11. He was 92.

In 1962, Barnes moved from Baltimore, where he was on the medical faculty of Johns Hopkins University in the departments of medicine and biological chemistry, to Providence, where he joined Dr. Glidden Brooks on the original staff of the Brown University School of Medicine. For 13 years he also taught such popular undergraduate courses as "The Informative Way of Life," an inquiry into the nature of existence.

Barnes, who retired in 1974, was also an author. His book "The Cellular Cloud," published in 1994, was a compilation of his 40 years of research in the field of immunology.

Among the honors Barnes received from Brown was an honorary doctorate in 1984.

One of his students, James S. Zisson, recently honored Barnes and his wife by establishing the Dr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Barnes Jr. Lectureship in Public Health, at the Medical School. The lectureship is dedicated to Dr. Barnes's lifelong goals of combining social advancements and research with the best of medical values and practices.

In the May 15 Providence Journal, Dean of Medicine emeritus Stanley Aronson recalled that Barnes "took the unusual step of bringing such elements as theater into medical education, as a way of giving students insight into human behavior. On his own time, and without school funds, Barnes organized productions . . . with professional actors . . . on such topics as dysfunctional families."

Arthur W. "Doc" O'Connell Jr., the director of the Brown Bookstore for 18 years before retiring in 1988, died May 11. He was 80.

O'Connell was highly regarded by the college store industry. He was a member of the National Association of College Stores and a past president of the College Stores of New England. At one point during O'Connell's tenure, the Brown Bookstore had the nation's second-highest sales per square foot on the trade (non-textbook) floor.

O'Connell served in the Navy for 24 years, retiring with the rank of captain.

Off the Shelf

Kerry Smith, assistant professor of history, looks at Japan's transformation by the economic crises of the 1930s in her new book "A Time of Crisis: Japan, the Great Depression, and Rural Revitalization."

Smith focuses on efforts to overcome the effects of the Great Depression in rural areas, particularly the activities of local activists and policymakers in Tokyo. Those efforts changed the nation's thinking about the countryside, as well as Japan's conception of its economic and cultural relationship to the nation, in ways that have important implications for our understanding of both the war years and the postwar reconstruction, said Smith. The reactions of inhabitants of rural areas to the depression shed light on how average Japanese responded to the problems of modernization and how they re-created the countryside.

Elmer Cornwell, professor of political science, is the co-author of a new book about politics and government in the Ocean State with Maureen Moakley, professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island. "Rhode Island Politics and Government" introduces readers to the history, structure and characteristics of politics in the state. With a political culture that until recently has resembled the old-style patronage politics of a city-state, Rhode Island politics have been highly individualized, contentious and distinct from those of surrounding states, according to the authors.

On the Road

Terrie Wetle presented the keynote address June 17 in Washington, D.C., to reporters attending a three-day seminar on aging, sponsored by the National Press Foundation. Her talk was titled "An Overview of Our Aging Society." Associate dean of medicine for public health and public policy, Wetle is former deputy director of the National Institute on Aging. The National Press Foundation provides professional development opportunities for print, broadcast and online journalists.

May 24

Rhode Island College presented honorary degrees to Michael Harper, University Professor and professor of English, and Thomas Banchoff, professor of mathematics, at its commencement ceremony held May 17. Harper received an honorary doctor of humane letters. Banchoff received an honorary doctor of science.

Elizabeth L. Hollander, executive director of Campus Compact, based at Brown, received an honorary doctor of humane letters from Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., on May 20.

The Brown University Orchestra has been selected to received the 2001 ASCAP Award for adventurous programming. This marks the fourth time that the Brown Orchestra has received this honor in the past eight years. The award will be presented on June 22 in Seattle at the National Conference of the American Symphony Orchestra League.

Peter Lockett ’01 is the recipient of the Marion Huber Learning Through Listening (LTL) award, which was presented to him April 30 in New York City. The award recognizes outstanding scholarship, leadership and service to others by students with dyslexia or other serious learning disabilities, and is given at the Recording for the Blind & Dyslexics (RFB&D) National Achievement Awards gala. It was presented to Lockett by actor Danny Glover.

Lockett, one of three top winners of a $6,000 national LTL award, was diagnosed with dyslexia in the second grade. Despite his disability, he was an outstanding student, baseball player and photographer during his high school years. He has mentored children with learning disabilities and has served as a community outreach program spokesperson for RFB&D, leading teacher and parent/student workshops.

The Association of Educational Publishers recently named the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory (LAB) at Brown as one of four finalists in a national competition of technology resources for K-12 professional development. The winner of the 2001 Distinguished Achievement Award for Educational Resources will be named June 8 during a banquet at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The LAB, which is under the Education Alliance's umbrella, was nominated for its knowledgeloom.org Web site. The site was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and is designed as a professional development tool for educators. The Education Alliance's Mary Anne Mather, project manager, and Philip Chen, senior programmer, plan to represent the LAB at the awards banquet. On a related note, another finalist in the same category was also developed by the LAB and is hosted on its site. That finalist is www.lab.brown.edu/investigations, a Web site conceptualized by Northeastern University.

Two publications produced during the past year by the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology won awards in the annual design competition sponsored by the American Association of Museums.

In the exhibition catalogues category, "Gifts of Pride and Love: Kiowa and Comanche Cradles," the catalogue for a nationwide traveling exhibit of the same name, won first prize for museums with annual budgets less than $500,000. The catalogue was edited by Barbara Hail, deputy director and curator of the museum ad curator of the cradle exhibit. Gilbert Design Associates of Providence designed the catalogue.

Receiving honorable mention in the invitation to events category was an invitation to the museums exhibition "Illustrating the Arctic: James Houston and the Inuit." The invitation was designed by Bruce Crooks, the Haffenreffer's public information coordinator.

Both the catalogue and the invitation recently won similar awards in the annual design competition sponsored by the New England Museum Association.

The women’s water polo team defeated Princeton to take first place in the Eastern Championship on Sunday, April 29. Keira Heggie ’04 was named MVP of the tournament and coach Todd Clapper was named coach of the year. The win gave the Bears an automatic bid to the final four of the inaugural NCAA tournament held at Stanford University this month.

Brian Casey, executive officer in the Office of the Provost, won the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter breaststroke at the New England Masters Championships held April 27-29 at Harvard University. Casey set a new New England record for his age group (Mens 30-39) in the 200 breaststroke.

The women’s track team took the 2001 Outdoor Heptagonal Championship title in Princeton, N.J., beating second-place Yale by five points. The team managed the victory after winning five out of the 22 events at the meet. Amber Knighten ’02 set a new record in the shot put with a throw of 16.10 meters, breaking the previous record of 15.81 held by Debbie St. Phard (Princeton ’87).

Michael Vorenberg, assistant professor of history, examines what happened following the Emancipation Proclamation in his new book "Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment." The book looks at the struggle among legal thinkers, politicians, and ordinary Americans in the North and the border states to find a way to abolish slavery that would overcome the inadequacies of the Emancipation Proclamation. Vorenberg tells the story of the creation of a constitutional amendment and argues that the crucial consideration of emancipation happened after, not before, the Emancipation Proclamation; that the debate over final freedom was shaped by a level of volatility in party politics underestimated by previous historians; and that the abolition of slavery by constitutional amendment represented a novel method of reform that transformed attitudes toward the Constitution.

Patricia Rubertone, associate professor of anthropology, is the author of the new book "Grave Undertakings: An Archaeology of Roger Williams and the Narragansett Indians." The book focuses on seventeenth century Narragansett Indians, whose languages and lifeways were described by Roger Williams in that century's book "A Key into the Language of America," long considered an objective, through and authoritative account. By weaving textual and archaeological evidence with community memory, Rubertone challenges the canonical status of "A Key," imagining a more complicated and dynamic history of Native cultural survival and persistence in New England.

Bess Marcus, professor of psychiatry and human behavior, is co-author of "Active Living Every Day." It features a 20-step program to motivate adults to become more active. The book’s self-paced schedule uses charts, checklists, illustrations and photos to explain how moderately intensive activities such as brisk walks, dancing, yard work or other typical activities can improve health and fitness.

Members of the Watson Institute for International Studies traveled to Havana in March to attend a conference on the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The conference was sponsored by the National Security Archives, a nongovernmental research institute at George Washington University. Director Thomas Biersteker, professors P. Terrence Hopmann and James Blight and adjunct associate professor janet Lang presented a seminar of their observations on May 7 at the Watson Institute.

Julio Ortega, professor of Hispanic studies, returned to Lima, his hometown in Peru, to offer a seminar May 14-18 on "Cultural Theory and the Post-colonial Subject" at the Department of Communication of the Universidad de Lima. He will be in Mérida, Venezuela, June 12-19 to present the keynote speech at the V Bienal Mariano Picón Salas at the Universidad de Mérida; there he will receive the title of honorary professor, a distinction presented by the faculty. Ortega will be part of the seminar on Inter-American cultural dialogues July 10-17 at the Universidad de Extremadura, Trujillo, Spain. He will present a paper on Transatlantic studies and the construction of a new area of cultural debate.

April 27

Brown, teaching hospitals launch academic medicine coalition

Brown Medical School is helping spearhead a new group to educate lawmakers, business leaders and the general public about the teaching, research and clinical-care missions of Rhode Island’s teaching hospitals and the funding troubles facing those institutions.

Called the Rhode Island Academic Medicine Coalition, the group plans to raise awareness that the state’s teaching hospitals are at risk, as well as work with several business organizations and other groups to strengthen the health and economy of Rhode Island, said Dean of Medicine Donald J. Marsh, M.D.

Marsh spoke at an April 12 briefing at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, where the group announced its formation. Because Brown is the only medical school in Rhode Island, the dean will serve as coalition co-chair. The other co-chair will rotate among local hospitals; Robert Urciuoli, president of Roger Williams Medical Center, will serve first.

According to Urciuoli, teaching hospitals in Rhode Island are especially at risk, with pencil-thin operating margins and the lowest reimbursement rates in the country. Urciuoli and Marsh made their comments after Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island announced that he had introduced legislation to provide about $17 billion a year to the nation’s teaching hospitals. The legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, would double federal funding for medical education.

The other coalition members include Bradley Hospital, Butler Hospital, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, The Miriam Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital (and its Hasbro Children’s Hospital ) and Women & Infants Hospital. All but Roger Williams are affiliated with Brown Medical School.

Herlihy is recognized for the many efforts she has made to encourage a supportive environment for the seamless integration of teaching and research in both the Department of History and the Program in International Relations. Faculty colleagues and graduate students cited her ability to motivate them to develop methods of bringing history alive for their students. Carefully constructed assignments foster, in the words of one former student, "two steadfast beliefs resonant in her own teaching — first that real critical thinking derives from practicing the way to formulate one's own questions, and second, that one's own intellectual curiosity about a topic motivates (and energizes) one's own research." The recognition accorded to her by her colleagues has extended beyond Brown and she was invited by the Erasmus Institute at Notre Dame to lead a workshop on dissertation preparation for graduate students.

Tullis was nominated by her colleagues in geological sciences in recognition of her outstanding and long-term efforts to ensure that effective teaching is an integral part of the work of the department by both faculty and graduate students. She was cited for her mentoring of graduate teaching assistants and junior colleagues. For many years she and colleagues have developed and run a workshop for graduate students on pedagogy within the discipline. As a result, many go on to complete a Sheridan Center Teaching Certificate, at both the introductory and advanced level. Her junior colleagues acknowledge her powerful example as a reflective and innovative teacher and her patient encouragement of their own development as instructors. Furthermore, her active support of academic advising was cited as an inspiration to her colleagues.

The awards will be given at the annual Teaching Forum and Awards Reception on Wednesday May 2, in room 106 of Smith-Buonanno Hall at 4 p.m. The Teaching Forum will feature a presentation on the "Futures Project for Policy for Higher Education in a Changing World," (www.futuresproject.org), based at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions. Teaching certificates will be awarded to those members of the Brown and RISD community who have completed the requirements of the Sheridan Teaching Seminar Certificate Program and the Professional Development Seminar for Advanced Graduate Students.

Awards and Honors

The Rhode Island Medical Women’s Association (RIMWA) has chosen two Brown medical faculty as co-recipients of the Rhode Island Women Physician of the Year award. Jane Carter, M.D., and Rochelle Strenger, M.D., were selected for demonstrating "an exceptional level of commitment to medicine, family and the community," according to the RIMWA press release.

Carter, assistant clinical professor of medicine, is being recognized for her work with the Daniel Moi University and Hospital in Kenya through an exchange program affiliated with the Medical School and a consortium of medical schools. Strenger, assistant professor of medicine, is honored for the creation of the medical supply recycling program REMEDY. The program takes supplies deemed "unusable" by U.S. hospital standards and sends them to places in need of them.

Both will be honored at RIMWA’s annual meeting and will be the guest speakers on May 14 at the Faculty Club.

The Association of Educational Publishers recently named the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory (LAB) at Brown as one of four finalists in a national competition of technology resources for K-12 professional development. The winner of the 2001 Distinguished Achievement Award for Educational Resources will be named June 8 during a banquet at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The LAB, which is under the Education Alliance's umbrella, was nominated for its knowledgeloom.org Web site. The site was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and is designed as a professional development tool for educators. The Education Alliance's Mary Anne Mather, project manager, and Philip Chen, senior programmer, plan to represent the LAB at the awards banquet. On a related note, another finalist in the same category was also developed by the LAB and is hosted on its site. That finalist is www.lab.brown.edu/investigations, a Web site conceptualized by Northeastern University.

Sports

The women’s and men’s track teams earned first place victories at the Brown Invitational Track Meet on April 14. The women’s team took first place in twelve events scoring a total of 251 points, well ahead of URI and U Mass. The men’s team ended ahead of URI and Wheaton with a total of 168 points.

April 20

This summer, the Office of Summer Studies is offering a pilot project to benefit Brown students who seek support in English as a second language. The English Language Program for Non-native Speakers offers reduced rates for course fees in both summer program sessions.

For the May 20-June 30 session, the Brown student fee is $750 (standard fee: $2,350). The session July 1-28 is $500 for Brown students (standard fee: $1,875). The Brown student fee to attend both sessions is $1,000 (standard fee: $4225).

Summer courses in English language are content-based and focus on high-interest issues. Site visits, interviews with native-English speakers and class projects are some of the ways students develop English language skills, experience American culture, and prepare for their continuing studies.

For additional information, contact Summer Studies, Box T; visit the office at 133 Waterman St.; telephone 863-7900; send e-mail to summer@brown.edu; or visit the office’s Web site.

In accordance with HR Policy 20.051, listed below is the 2002 holiday schedule for the administrative offices of the University. Please post this information so that all of your employees will be aware of these dates.

Jan. 1 - Tuesday - New Year's Day

Jan. 21 - Monday - Martin Luther King Jr. Day (obs.)

May 27 - Monday - Memorial Day

July 4 - Thursday - Independence Day

Aug. 12 - Monday - Victory Day (obs.)

Sept. 2 - Monday - Labor Day (obs.)

Oct. 14 - Monday - Columbus Day (obs.)

Nov. 28 - Thursday - Thanksgiving Day

Nov. 29 - Friday - Day after Thanksgiving

Dec. 24 - Tuesday - Christmas Eve

Dec. 25 - Wednesday - Christmas Day

Individual departments may be required to remain open on some or all of the above dates. The holiday schedule of employees covered by SEIU collective bargaining agreements is governed by applicable contract. Police and Security employees are covered by the above schedule.

A holiday may not be counted as the first or last day of employment. Employees may not begin or end employment or an unpaid leave of absence on a holiday. Employees are not paid for holidays occurring during an unpaid leave. The holiday schedule is subject to change with or without notice.

For further information, please contact the Benefits Office at 863-2141.

Awards and Honors

Christine Evans, who is attending Brown’s Graduate Playwriting Program through a Fulbright Scholarship in the Visual and Performing Arts, is a winner in the ninth annual International Women’s Playwriting Festival held by Perishable Theatre for her play, "MotherGun."

In addition, Nehassaiu deGannes, who received her MFA in creative writing from Brown, won for her play, "The Frangipani Door."

The one-act plays will be produced at Perishable Theater from May 19-June 17. For more information, call Perishable at 331-2695.

Seniors Yolanda Covington, Manuella Meyer and Ryan Overbey are among this year’s recipients of the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships in Humanistic Studies. The fellowship, a competitive merit award, is designed to help students "prepare for careers of teaching and scholarship in humanistic disciplines" and covers graduate tuition and fees for the first academic year. A total of 85 fellows were named for 2001. Covington is concentrating in cultural anthropology; Meyer is concentrating in history; Overbey is concentrating in religious studies.

Seniors Jennifer Cartwright and Timothy Perry are the recipients of the 2001 Office of International Programs Scholars Awards, presented to outstanding students who have integrated their overseas study-abroad experiences and their senior theses.

Cartwright, who is concentrating in economics and development studies, studied in New Delhi at Lady Shri Ram College during academic year 1999-2000. Her thesis is "Credit Program Participation and Women's Empowerment in Bangladesh."

Perry, who is concentrating in linguistic anthropology, studied at the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa, during spring semester 2000. His thesis is "The (New) South African Languages Bill: Language as a Right and a Resource."

Snigdha Vallabhaneni and Grismaldy Laboy are the recipients of the Office of International Programs Service Award, presented to study-abroad students who have participated successfully in a service project while studying abroad. Vallabhaneni, who is concentrating in development studies, studied in Khon Kaen, Thailand, during fall semester 1999. Her service project entailed working with a small community of people who live next to a landfill in Khon Kaen and who sell recyclables they find in the trash.

Laboy, who is concentrating in education and Hispanic studies, studied at the Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, Mexico, during academic year 1999-2000. She taught English and worked with bilingual education in both Puebla and Providence.

People

Three mathematics department professors hosted an international conference on "Cryptography and Lattices."

The conference, hosted by Jeffrey Hoffstein, Jill Pipher and Joseph Silverman, attracted world leaders in cryptography, the encoding and decoding of messages such as happens when someone enters and sends a credit card number to make a purchase over the Internet.

"The conference was important because it brought together people in industry, academia, mathematics and computer science," said Pipher.

The encoding and decoding of messages on the Internet has used the same technology for about 20 years, Pipher said, but "there's a lot of room for improvement in existing technology."

The three mathematicians have invented a new public key encryption system which can fit into hand-held devices like cell phones. The professors have formed a company, NTRU Cryptosystems, which has received a patent for an algorithm, a mathematical method of encrypting and decrypting messages. NTRU sponsored the conference on March 29 and 30.

Several faculty members spoke at the National Society for Research in Child Development April 19-22 in Minneapolis. Among them were Cynthia Garcia Coll, professor of education, psychology, and pediatrics; John Modell, professor of education and sociology; and Jin Li, assistant professor of education. Dais Akiba, research associate in the Center for the Study of Human Development, also participated in discussions. Research assistants Lisa DiMartino and Rebecca Silver attended the conference.

Julio Ortega, professor of Hispanic studies, has been named an honorary professor of the Universidad de los Andes in Merida, Venezuela, one of the oldest universities in Latin America. The title recognizes Ortega’s dedication to Venezuelan and Latin American literature and will be granted during the "Bienal of Literature" June 14-16, where he will deliver the keynote speech.

Eleven Brown Medical School faculty will present lectures at a May 5th campus conference called "The Smallest Patient: Foundations in Fetal Medicine." Faculty presenters include Anthony A. Caldamone, M.D., Jacob Canick, Stephen R. Carr, M.D., Donald R. Coustan, M.D., John Duncan III, M.D., Lloyd R. Feit, M.D., Arlet G. Kurkchubasche, M.D., Francois I. Luks, M.D., Michael Plevyak, M.D., Lewis P. Rubin, M.D., and Thomas F. Tracy Jr., M.D.

Designed to integrate the disciplines that represent fetal medicine, the conference will also highlight the expertise and collaboration that marks the Medical School’s Program in Fetal Medicine.

April 13

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) will conduct an accreditation survey of Brown University Health Services on Monday, April 30; Tuesday, May 1; and Wednesday, May 2, 2001. The purpose of the survey will be to evaluate the organization's compliance with nationally established Joint Commission standards. The survey results will be used to determine whether, and the conditions under which accreditation should be awarded to Health Services.

Joint Commission standards deal with organizational quality of care issues and the safety of the environment in which care is provided. Anyone believing that he or she has pertinent and valid information about such matters may request a public information interview with the Joint Commission's field representatives at the time of the survey. Information presented at the interview will be carefully evaluated for relevance to the accreditation process. Requests for a public information interview must be made in writing and should be sent to the Joint Commission no later than five working days before the survey begins. The request must also indicate the nature of the information to be provided at the interview. Such requests should be addressed to:

Division of Accreditation Operations
Organization Liaison
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

The Joint Commission will acknowledge such requests in writing or by telephone and will inform Brown University Health Services of the request for any interview. Health Services will, in turn, notify the interviewee of the date, time and place of the meeting.

This notice is posted in accordance with the Joint Commission's requirements. For questions regarding this notice, please contact Lynn Dupont, RNC, assistant director of Health Services at 863-7872.

Numerous faculty, staff and students from the Population Studies and Training Center (PSTC) and the departments of anthropology, economics and sociology attended the annual meeting of the Population Association of America March 28-31 in Washington, D.C.

Those who presented papers, and the titles of their presentations, included:

• Daniel Smith, Mellon postdoctoral fellow, PSTC, "Rural-urban migration, kinship networks and reproductive behavior among the Igbo in Nigeria" and "Patronage, per diems and ‘the workshop mentality’: Public and private family planning projects in Nigeria."

• Marida Hollos, associate professor of anthropology, "Marriage, migration and fertility among the Pare of northern Tanzania."

• Vu Thanh Huyen, sociology graduate student, "Maternal education and the incidence of early breastfeeding in Vietnam."

• David Lindstrom, assistant professor of sociology, "The impact of infant and child death in subsequent fertility in Ethiopia."

• Yu-Hua Chen, sociology postdoctoral research associate, "Does gender matter? The trends and determinants of informal employment in Taiwan."

• Adazu Kubaje, sociology graduate student, "Impact of migration on infant and child mortality in rural Ghanaian society."

• Susan Short, assistant professor of sociology, and Zhanlian Feng, sociology graduate student, "Second births under China’s one-child policy."

• Stephen C. Lubkemann, adjunct assistant professor of anthropology, "Where are all the men? Determinants of the gendered population distribution of south-central Mozambicans in wartime."

• Julie C. Lima, sociology graduate student, "Trends in living arrangements of the non-married elderly population: 1950-1990."

• Jennifer M. Park, sociology graduate student, "Gender, work, and disability: Social roles and the effect of physical and mental limitations on social participation."

• Michelle L. Rogers, sociology graduate student, "Gender differences in the effects of disability on the psychological well-being of pre-retirement aged couples in the United States."

• Michael J. White, professor of sociology, "Urban migration and occupational change in four countries undergoing transitions."

Other Brown community members who presented posters included Jan M. Brunson, anthropology graduate student; Angela R. Fertig, economics graduate student; Jose Itzigsohn, assistant professor of sociology; Silvia E. Giorguli Saucedo, sociology graduate student; Susi Krehbiel, anthropology graduate student; Dennis Hogan, professor of sociology and population studies; Lin Tan, visiting scholar of sociology; Audrey E. Mouser, anthropology graduate student; Thomas Wells, assistant professor of population studies; Yoo-Jean Song, sociology graduate student.

Other faculty and graduate students who chaired or participated in discussions included Calvin Goldscheider, professor of sociology; Frances Goldscheider, professor of sociology; David I. Kertzer, professor of anthropology; Mara Leichtman, anthropology graduate student; Maria Mulcahy, sociology graduate student. Those who also attended: Anne Ilacqua, head librarian in the demography library; Mark Pitt, professor of economics and PSTC director; Paul Koussa, UNIX network administrator; B. Lacey Andrews, anthropology graduate student; Roger Avery, adjunct associate professor of sociology; Brian O’Neill, assistant professor of research in international studies; and Adina Batnitzky, Elisa Munoz-Franco, Eileen Phoshoke, and Belay Biratu, all sociology graduate students.

Population policies could have substantial climate-related benefits, conclude the authors of "Population and Climate Change," a new book that examines the role that population growth, aging and urbanization play in the production of greenhouse gas emissions, and the resilience of societies to climate stresses on agriculture, human health, and migration.

One of the co-authors is Brian O’Neill, assistant professor (research) at the Watson Institute for International Studies. He and co-authors Landis MacKellar and Wolfgang Lutz, both of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), discussed their conclusions during a panel discussion held at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. March 30.

IIASA is an independent, non-governmental, interdisciplinary research institution specializing in natural and social scientific research for use by policy makers, the scientific community and the public worldwide, with member organizations in 15 countries. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is the U.S. national member organization.

Bess Marcus, professor of psychiatry and human behavior, is co-author of the new book, "Active Living Every Day." It features a 20-step program to motivate adults to become more active. The book’s self-paced schedule uses charts, checklists, illustrations and photos to explain how moderately intensive activities, such as brisk walks, dancing, yard work, or other typical activities, can improve health and fitness. The book also allows people to customize their exercise choices. Marcus and colleagues based the text on their clinical research into ways to become more active without engaging in long, vigorous workouts. "It is never too late to start to be more active," Marcus said.

Professor of Pediatrics Robert Klein has been named director of the Asthma and Allergy Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

According to Klein, the center will treat asthma, allergies and related respiratory illnesses and will focus on asthma education and research into asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

Keith Waldrop, professor of English, comparative literature and creative writing, and Rosmarie Waldrop, both editors of Burning Deck, a small press, are recipients of the Crossed Stars Medal from the John Barton Wolgamot Society. The award, presented March 21, was presented for the Waldrops’ "extraordinary contributions to the preservation of the ideals" of Wolgamot as outlined in his work "In Sarah, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven, There Were Men and Women." These ideals include a commitment to a "rigorous investigation of the human condition through words," according to the society, which has five chapters in North America. The presentation was made at Brown at the conclusion of a three-day festival celebrating the 40th anniversary of Burning Deck.

The women’s gymnastics team finished the season at 6-7-1 and a school record score of 189.575 at the ECAC Championships at Cornell. In addition to setting a record team score, the Bears broke the school record for team score on the Bars with a total of 47.775 points.

The fencing teams competed at the NCAA Championships at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside March 24-25. Both teams finished with Brown’s best-ever individual and team performances. The men’s team finished 12th overall, and the women finished in 21st place. Both are the best-ever national finishes for the Bears.

April 6

About 175 staff members have registered to attend "Strategies for a New Era," the theme of the fifth annual Celebration of Community Tuesday, April 10.

This year’s Celebration of Community is sponsored by the Office of Training and Development, the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action, the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services, the Office of the President, the Staff Advisory Committee, and the Mittlemann Family Directorship at the Center for the Study of Human Development.

Mildred Garcia, associate provost of academic affairs at Arizona State University West, a noted speaker on diversity and pluralism, and editor of "Affirmative Action’s Testament of Hope: Strategies for a New Era in Higher Education," will deliver the keynote address at a noontime luncheon for registered participants.

Before the luncheon, the registered participants will break into 11 discussion groups, each led by two facilitators — members of the faculty, deans or other administrators — to examine diversity issues as well as Garcia’s book. A Staff Advisory Committee member assigned to each group will take notes throughout the discussions. These notes will be compiled into a report for the Office of the President, which helped purchase copies of Garcia’s book for participants in advance of the event.

Garcia will speak again at 4 p.m. in Salomon Center in a lecture open to the public. A reception and book signing will follow this event.

This year, for the first time, the Celebration of Community also involves students. On the evening of April 9, Garcia will be the guest at a Third World Center dessert/study break for students. They will discuss her book and the role of affirmative action in higher education. On the evening of April 10, Garcia will speak with other students about the themes contained within her public lecture and how those themes relate to Brown.

"This is the first time that our Celebration of Community is designed for both students and staff," said Cynthia Garcia Coll, professor of education, psychology and pediatrics and the Mittleman Family Director of the Center for the Study of Human Development. "The distribution of 200 copies of Dr. Garcia's book, organized staff and students discussion groups, and two presentations by the speaker, represents the culmination of many departments' efforts and contributions. This is a real University-wide effort involving all constituents of our community, a real example of true collaboration across many departments in bringing insights into a very important and relevant topic."

Christina Korkontzelou, who will receive her master’s degree in biostatistics from Brown this May, received a student scholarship prize from the Society for Clinical Trials for her paper "Using Weighted Estimating Equations to Account for Informative Dropout in Longitudinal Smoking Cessation Trials." Her paper was one of three selected from more than 30 submissions. It will be presented at the society’s annual meeting in Denver in May.

Korkontzelou’s advisor is Joseph Hogan, assistant professor of biostatistics at the Center for Statistical Sciences in the Department of Community Health.

Lewis P. Lipsitt, professor emeritus of psychology, medical science and human devleopment, was named this year's recipient of the distinguished scientist award by the New England Psychological Association (NEPA). The award honors Lipsitt's career in psychology and will be presented at the annual meeting of NEPA Oct. 19-20, 2001. Lipsitt was also recently appointed to the editorial board of a new journal, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, published by the American Psychological Society. The journal deals with critically important areas of psychological science, particularly those having considerable consequences for the public good.

March 23

Brown’s Institute for Elementary and Secondary Education (IESE) recently launched a Web site for youth incarcerated at the state’s juvenile correctional facility.

The IESE collaborated with the Rhode Island Training School on the creation of the site, which informs the school’s students and provides a creative outlet for them.

Included on the site are the text of the Training School student handbook and its information about basic rights, the daily schedule, visitors, and the discipline system; a list of services available to youths upon their release; student art projects; and student poetry and essays.

"It is not cool to be in here because you are away from your family. You cannot spend time with your brothers or hang out with your friends," reads an essay by a youth named David on a Web page titled "Voices from Within."

"I was trying to stay out of trouble, but at that time of my arrest I was not thinking. The drugs were doing the thinking for me. That is why I came back for the second time."

The site also includes photos of the facility and an overview of the student body.

The project is the most recent milestone in a partnership between IESE and the Training School. The partnership, designed to increase the use of educational technology at the training school, began three years ago with support from the AT&T Foundation.

Lee E. Edstrom, M.D., professor of surgery, is chairing a national conference of plastic surgery senior residents being held March 28-April 1 in Providence. The co-chair is Jeffrey Weinzweig, M.D., assistant professor of surgery. The Medical School’s Department of Plastic Surgery is hosting the meeting, which will feature scientific presentations, lectures and educational sessions.

Russell Church, professor of psychology, will co-chair a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) workshop on data archiving for animal cognition research in Washington D.C., July 19-20. Participants will include leading investigators in animal cognition, journal editors and publishers, scientific society officials, archivists, informatics specialists, government science agency officials, and intellectual property legal experts. Church will lead the workshop with Howard Kurtzman, chief of the cognitive science program in the behavioral sciences research branch of the NIMH. The workshop will produce a report describing the conclusions of participants regarding the content, format, organization and sponsorship of data archives for the animal cognition field.

Stephen R. Smith, associate dean for medical education and professor of family medicine, was a guest speaker at the Brown Club in New York. His lecture, "Preparing Tomorrow’s Doctors," was presented Feb. 22.

Barbara Hail, deputy director and curator of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, was a guest speaker at the Brown Club in New York on March 8. She presented a talk titled "Gifts of Pride and Love: The Cultural Significance of Kiowa and Comanche Lattice Cradles." Hail is the project director and principal investigator for a traveling exhibition of the same name.

Barbara Tannenbaum, senior lecturer in the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance, was a guest speaker at the Brown Club in New York on May 15. Her presentation was titled "Powerful Communication."

Brown served as the site of the March 20-24 seminar of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) Committee on Anthropology and Demography. The seminar focused on the production and circulation of population knowledge, and was hosted by the Population Studies and Training Center (PSTC) with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It concluded with a session led by Susan Short, assistant professor of sociology, about "Representing China’s Fertility: Local, National, and International Dimensions."

Other Brown participants included Mark M. Pitt, PSTC director and professor of economics; David I. Kertzer, Dupee University Professor of Social Science, professor of anthropology and history; Marida C. Hollos, associate professor of anthropology; Stephen Lubkemann, adjunct assistant professor of anthropology; Nicholas Townsend, assistant professor of anthropology; Daniel J. Smith, PSTC postdoctoral research fellow; Paula J. Davis, visiting assistant professor of Afro-American studies program; and Oka Obono, visiting lecturer in anthropology. In all, some 30 academics from as far away as Nairobi and Cairo participated in the seminar.

The men’s basketball team completed their season in second place, tied with Penn in the Ivy League standings. The bears finished with a 9-5 Ivy League record and a 15-12 overall mark, the most wins for the team since 1986.

Two team members were recognized with All-Ivy honors. Sophomore guard Earl Hunt was selected unanimously to the All-Ivy first team, and sophomore center Alai Nuualiitia earned a second team selection. Hunt, the two-time Ivy League Player of the week, is the highest scoring sophomore in Ivy League basketball history with a total of 993 career points.

March 16

People

The Rev. Sakena de Young-Scaggs was installed as associate Protestant University chaplain at a service held on campus March 4. She comes to Brown from Boston University’s School of Theology where she was director of community life.

Tommy G. Thompson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, visited Brown on March 9 to promote President Bush’s request for a $2.75 billion increase in funds for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In the past fiscal year, researchers on campus received almost $28 million in NIH funding, with tens of millions of more NIH dollars going to faculty at affiliated hospitals. Thompson met briefly with President Blumstein, then toured several brain science research projects. While Thompson met with reporters in Maddock Alumni Center, about two dozen students protested outside the building. Their messages ranged from supporting a woman’s right to reproductive choice to opposing President Bush’s proposed tax cut.

Awards and Honors

Women’s track and field coach Robert Johnson was named the Northeast Region Women’s Coach of the Year by the United States Track Association. Johnson, one of only 18 coaches in the country to be so honored, received his award at a banquet in Springdale, Ark., March 8.

Two University programs will receive grants this year from the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, according to RICH officials. The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology will receive $1,000 for the Barbara Greenwold Memorial Art Program and a Northwest Coast Art demonstration and narrative presentation. Brown's student radio station, Inside Out Radio, has been awarded $2,000 for the program "Inside Out: Audio Images of Rhode Island." RICH, established in 1973, is an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities; nearly $80,000 was distributed to local arts programs in this grant round.

The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology recently received a collection of 43 Ghanian terra cotta sculptures in memory of Alfred L. Scheinberg, a respected African-art scholar, dealer and appraiser who was a consultant and friend to the museum until his death in 1992. The sculptures, to be known as the Alfred L. Scheinberg Study Collection, were donated by William C. Mithoefer and Renee-Paule Moyencourt.

The Office of International Programs announces the winners of this year’s photo contest. They are:

• First place: Mark Dembitz ’02, who studied in Harbin, China, during the fall 2000 semester. The title of his photo is "Times Don't Change."

• Second place: Jennifer Cartwright ’01, who studied in Delhi, India, for the 1999-2000 academic year. The title of her photo is "Sadhus (holy men) at the Source of the Yamuna River."

• Third place: Pauline Lauterbach ’02, who studied in Paris during the fall 2000 semester. The title of her photo is "Les Toils de Paris: A Rooftop Collage."

• Director's Choice: Jessica Wurwarg ’01, who studied in Barcelona during the spring 2000 semester. The title of her photo is "Spanish Reflections."

• Honorable Mention: Adam Kuruvilla Lelyveld ’02, who studied in Rio de Janeiro during the fall 2000 semester. The title of his photo is "Beto."

• Honorable Mention: Timothy Perry ’01, who studied in Capetown, South Africa, during the spring 2000 semester. The title of his photo is "Celestial Skies."

• Honorable Mention in Other Category: Camille Higonnet ’01, who studied in Berlin during the spring 2000 semester. The title of her photo is "Berlin, 2000."

The photos will be on display in the Office of International Programs Resource Library, Rhode Island Hall, room 106, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m, Monday through Friday until April 13.

The scientific research society Sigma Xi has given a grant to medical student Peter Lee to support a research project titled "The Effect of Spaceflight on the Expression of a Foreign Protein by Genetically- and Tissue-engineered Skeletal Muscle." His research will be supervised by Herman Vandenburgh, professor of pathology (research). Lee, a sixth-year M.D-Ph.D. student, was one of 1,000 applicants; fewer than 35 percent of the applicants receive full or partial funding.

Sports

Track and Field

The women’s indoor track and field team took first place at the Indoor Heptagonal Championship at Harvard University Feb. 24. With a total of 120 points, the Bears came in first beating Harvard’s 110 points and Yale’s 88.

Five team members were chosen to compete in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships March 9-10. Players who earned All-Ivy status are Lindsay Taylor ’01, Sara Tindall ’01, Kim Thalmann ’02, Lauren Contursi ’03 and Amber Knighten ’02.

March 9

A cluster of 20 Dell computers and a printer, all located on the top floor of Prince Lab in Barus and Holley, is now available for graduate student use.

To get to the cluster, graduate students may enter through the automatic exterior doors of Prince Lab (on Brook Street between Waterman and George streets), and go straight up to the end of the ramped corridor. Make a left, go to the end of this corridor, and walk left. Go through both sets of double doors at the Prince Lab foyer, and go up the stairs to your left. At the top of the stairs is the entry door to the new cluster.

The cluster is open 7 days a week from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. During these times, a graduate student ID card will open the cluster entry door. (Access to Prince Lab requires no ID card from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. From 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., graduate student ID cards will operate the building doors equipped with card access.) Graduate students must leave by 11 p.m.: From 11 p.m. to 8 a.m., the space is protected by silent alarms to which campus police will respond.

Last fall, the University identified the Rockefeller Library as the best site for a computing cluster for graduate students. Because construction there could not be completed during the winter break, Prince Lab is this semester’s alternative site. Work on the Rockefeller Library cluster is planned for early summer.

Beverly Ledbetter, vice president and general counsel, received the Thomas S. Biggs Jr. Award at the Stetson College of Law’s 22nd National Conference on Law and Higher Education, held Feb. 18-20. The honor recognizes "the leadership and integrity [Ledbetter] brings to her profession and the University community."

Martin Keller, M.D. has received the Award for Research in Mood Disorders, presented annually by The American College of Psychiatrists. He was chosen for his contributions to understanding major depressive disorder and for bringing attention to the public health problem of its under-treatment.

The award — a $5,000 grant and certificate — was presented to Keller on Feb. 24 in Tucson, Ariz., during the annual meeting of The American College of Psychiatrists. As part of the ceremony, he presented a 30-minute lecture about treatment of long-term depression. The award is sponsored by a grant from Pfizer Inc.

Keller is the Mary E. Zucker professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior in the Brown Medical School. He is also executive psychiatrist-in-chief at the seven Brown-affiliated hospitals.

Women’s ice hockey coach Margaret Degidio "Digit" Murphy became the first women’s collegiate ice hockey coach to reach the 200-win mark, in an ECAC contest against Boston College Feb. 18. Murphy, who has coached at Brown for the last 12 years, has led the Bears to three Ivy League Championships and four ECAC regular season titles.

On Feb. 24, Brown medical students hosted a conference of peers from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New York. The gathering of about 75 focused on patient advocacy and was sponsored by the Brown American Medical Association-Medical Student Section.

The program, held on the Brown campus, featured a group discussion about patient advocacy, as well as eight workshops with topics ranging from advocating for pediatric patients to building the ideal health-care system.

U.S. Assistant Surgeon General Donald L. Weaver, M.D., director of the National Health Service Corps, was the keynote speaker.

March 2

Awards and Honors

Edward A. Iannuccili, M.D., a clinical professor of medicine at Brown Medical School, has been appointed chairman of the Rhode Island Hospital board of trustees.

Fourth-year medical student Anish Sheth is a winner of the National Student Clinical Vignette Competition sponsored by the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Internal Medicine. Sheth will receive his award at the National Meeting in Atlanta, where he will present his clinical research on gastrointestinal bleeding due to splenic vein thrombosis complicating pancreatic disease. Edward Feller, Sheth’s faculty sponsor and a clinical professor of medicine, is a co-author.

Two Brown faculty members are the recipients of 2000-01 Fulbright grants.

Paul Austerlitz, assistant professor of music, will lecture and perform research on ethnomusicology and jazz in transnational perspective at the University of Tampere in Finland.

Eric Michael Suubert, professor in the Division of Engineering, will lecture on thermodynamics at the Tallinn Technical University in Estonia.

Also, four scholars are the recipients of 2000-01 Fulbright grants that will bring them to Brown for teaching and research.

Anders Fagerjord, a research fellow in the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo in Norway, will work with Brown’s Scholarly Technology Group to research the convergence of digital media rhetoric.

Gernot Krammer, professor in the Department of Chemical Apparatus Design, Particle Technology, and Combustion at the University of Technology in Graz, Austria, will lecture about and perform research on chemical reaction engineering and the formation of carbon nanostructures with Brown’s Division of Engineering.

David Arie Mayer-Foulkes, research professor at the Center for Research and Teaching Economics in Mexico City, will be working with Brown’s economics department to research economic growth by income strata, comparing the United States and Mexico.

Lin Tan, a professor at the Population and Development Research Institute at Nankai University in Tianjin, China, will be working with Brown’s sociology department to research gender equality in the workplace in the United States, and what China could learn to continue its market economy.

The Fulbright Scholar Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, with additional funding from participating governments and host institutions in the United States and abroad. The grants enable approximately 800 U.S. faculty and other professions to lecture or conduct research in 140 countries around the world. A similar number of foreign visiting scholars receive awards to come to the United States, primarily as researchers. Some 72,000 U.S. and foreign scholars have participated in the program since its inception in 1946.

Feb. 24

Eight people have been selected by the Office of the Dean of the College as recipients of the 2001 Academic Advisor Awards. They are:

Michelle Bach-Coulibaly, senior lecturer in the Department of Theater, Speech and Dance

Elmer Cornwell, professor in the Department of Political Science

Edelgard Morse, senior lecturer in the Department of Chemistry

Suzanne Oboler, associate professor in the Department of American Civilization

Joseph Pucci, associate professor in the Department of Classics

William Rakowski, associate professor in the Department of Biology and Medicine, Community Health

Amy Remensnyder, associate professor in the Department of History

Dev Sinha, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Mathematics.

The recipients of these awards were chosen from nominations by their current advisees. The nominations were assessed in combination with three to four years of student evaluations.

In announcing the awards, Joyce Reed, associate dean of the College, said: "These advisors have been praised by their advisees because they make themselves available to students both during registration periods and at other times; they know a great deal about the University and refer students to appropriate resources for information they do not know; and they show their care about the education of their advisees by both challenging and supporting them dynamically.

Paul Armstrong, who began his new duties as dean of the College in January, addressed his first faculty meeting on Feb. 6.

He told his faculty colleagues that "although I’m an outsider, I feel like I’ve come home" to a campus where undergraduate teaching and research are "synergistic" and "interdisciplinarity thrives."

He told the faculty that his near-term priorities are:

• responding to the challenges of the Visiting Committee on Diversity;

• improvements in the advising system, particularly for first-year and second-year students;

• working with the Office of Campus Life and Student Services to bridge the gap between classroom and dormitory life.

Before Armstrong spoke, Interim President Sheila Blumstein presented her regular report to the faculty. In it, she thanked the faculty for their thoughtful comments and criticism regarding "A Shared Vision for Diversity and Community: A Working Paper," and said she hoped to present a revision that incorporates many of the suggestions and concerns in the spring.

She also noted that her meetings with President-elect Ruth Simmons have been "smooth and productive."

"Productive" was also the word Luiz Valente used to characterize a recent meeting Simmons had with the Faculty Executive Committee, which Valente chairs. He said Simmons told the committee that she "categorically believes" that University initiatives must serve Brown’s academic mission.

Valente also remarked on a proposal to revamp the Athletic Council, efforts to abate red tape, and a future meeting with officers in the Development Office to discuss the minimum amount donors may contribute to certain endowed funds.

Janina Montero, vice president of campus life and student services, also spoke. She said that as of Feb. 6, 1,624 students had completed the Web-based "campus climate assessment" being sponsored by her office and the Office of the President. The sponsors seek a response rate of 4,000 students – or 60 percent of the student body. She said the results of the survey will be shared with the Brown community

If you contributed to a Flexible Spending Account (Medical Reimbursement Plan or Dependent Care Assistance Plan) during calendar year 2000, you have until March 10, 2001, to submit your claims for reimbursement. Claims must be for eligible expenses incurred during 2000.

Claim forms are available at the Benefits Office, third floor, Brown Office Building, 164 Angell St., and may be photocopied. You may also download the claim forms from the Human Resources web site at www.brown.edu/Administration/Human_Resources/hrweb/forms.htm. Send your completed forms to the Payroll Office, Box 1873. Reimbursement checks will be mailed to your campus address.

Under IRS rules, Brown cannot refund the amount that remains in a Flexible Spending Account at the end of the reimbursement period; Year 2000 funds unclaimed by March 10 will be forfeited.

A dinner to benefit victims of the earthquake in India raised $4,200 on Feb. 8, which organizer Anuja Khemka called "simply remarkable and moving." She said 400 people turned out.

Tom Skidmore, Cespedes Professor of History and of Portuguese and Brazilian studies, recently delivered papers at the International Conference of Americanistas in Warsaw and at the University of Marilia in Brazil. The latter was a keynote address on the thought of Gilberto Freyre.

Skidmore also attended a recent planning meeting at the University of Paris for a research project on Brazilian foreign policy, and conducted an on-site evaluation of the Latin American Studies program at Vanderbilt University.

In addition, Skidmore is serving on the Council on Foreign Relations Task force on Brazil.

Brown faculty members Mark F. Bear and Mark Johnson spoke at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Feb. 15-20 in San Francisco. More than 5,000 scientists, engineers, educators, policymakers and students gathered for the meeting. Bear, professor of neuroscience and associate investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, presented a talk titled "The Synaptic Basis of Learning and Memory in the Cerebral Cortex." Johnson, professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences, participated in two panels and spoke about "Probabilistic Interpretations of Optimality-Theoretic Grammars" and "Optimization in Language Acquisition and Comprehension."

The work of two members of the visual arts department will be featured in a photography show at Wheeler Gallery through March 9.

Adjunct Lecturer Mary Beth Heffernan, who has shown her work at galleries across the country, will exhibit her "Replete" series, featuring elaborate configurations of meat and skin. Visiting Adjunct Professor Steven Smith will show his photographs of landscapes of newly developed areas of the United States.

The Wheeler Gallery, 228 Angell St., is open noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 421-9230.

Brown’s annual Years of Service Awards ceremony was held on campus Feb. 14.

Employees who have worked 25 years at Brown received an engraved Brown University chair in appreciation of his or her years of dedicated service. The employees who have served 25 years, their titles, and departments in which they work are:

Patricia Alves, accounting assistant, Controller’s Office

Gisela Belton, office manager, Department of Slavic Languages

Maureen Byrne, senior administrative secretary, Division of Athletics and Physical Education

Karen Chapman, computer operator II, Computing and Information Services

Donna Corcoran, administrative assistant, Controller’s Office

Susan Danforth, assistant librarian, John Carter Brown Library

Maria D’Onofrio, manager, University Library-Circulation

Nicholas Golato, lead carpenter, Facilities Management

Donna Hustler, financial assistant, Student Activities

Karen Hyman, administrative coordinator, Food Services

Sandra Kunz, electron microscopist, Biology and Medicine-Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry

Manuel Medeiros, coordinator, Controller’s Office

Debra Nelson, senior library associate specialist, University Library-Reference

Genevieve Pari, coordinating technical secretary, Division of Engineering

Richard Patenaude, painter, Facilities Management

Thomas Wunderlich, associate dean, Graduate School

Tom Skidmore, Cespedes Professor of History and of Portuguese and Brazilian studies, is the co-author of the fifth edition of "Modern Latin America," written with Peter H. Smith.

Ferdinand Jones, professor emeritus of psychology, is co-editor with his brother Arthur C. Jones of a volume of essays, "The Triumph of the Soul: Cultural and Psychological Aspects of African-American Music." The Joneses invited scholars of the blues, New Orleans brass bands, gospel, rap music and jazz to join them in exploring what they believe is the continuous constructive force these various genres represent in black American culture.

Edward A. Iannuccili, M.D., a clinical professor of medicine at Brown Medical School, has been appointed chairman of the Rhode Island Hospital board of trustees.

Fourth-year medical student Anish Sheth is a winner of the National Student Clinical Vignette Competition sponsored by the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Internal Medicine. Sheth will receive his award at the National Meeting in Atlanta, where he will present his clinical research on gastrointestinal bleeding due to splenic vein thrombosis complicating pancreatic disease. Edward Feller, Sheth’s faculty sponsor and a clinical professor of medicine, is a co-author.

Three men’s soccer players were selected in the annual Major League Soccer draft on Feb. 5. Cory Gibbs ’01 was chosen in the fourth round by the Miami Fusion as the 40^th overall pick. Scott Powers ’01 was selected by the Columbus Crew as the third pick of the fifth round. The Kansas City Wizards picked goalie Matthew Cross ’01 in the sixth round. The players were three of only four New Englanders chosen in the draft.

Feb. 9

Letter from Charities Drive co-chairs

Dore J. Levy, professor of East Asian studies and comparative literature, and Roberta L. Gordon, assistant vice president for human resources, have issued the following letter:

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce the results of this year’s Brown University Charities Drive. Not only have we reached our annual pledge goal amount of $150,000 for 2001, we have surpassed it by 6.2%! Your support has been overwhelming and your collective generosity merits a heart-felt thank you.

Your contributions will make a difference in the lives of individuals served by the United Way of Southeastern New England and The Fund for Community Progress. We are proud of the commitment to our community that your unprecedented support represents.

If you are among the Brown employees who gave so generously this year, we sincerely thank you. If not, we hope that you will consider contributing during the next Charities Drive; it is never too late to decide to participate!

We wish you and your families a healthy and prosperous new year.

At the annual Holiday Bazaar held in Sayles Hall last December, the President’s Staff Advisory Committee conducted an informal survey that asked three open-ended questions: "What is your favorite thing about Brown University?" "What is your favorite spot to spend time in during lunchtime or on breaks?" and "What are your favorite University-sponsored events during the year?"

More than 100 people responded. Here are the answers that drew five or more responses:

• Summer Hours 35

• People 33

• Environment/Programs 14

• Flexibility 11

• Benefits (including vacation) 11

• Community 9

• Campus 8

• Job/Work Environment/Autonomy on job 6

• Interest in diversity 5

• The College Green 28

• Thayer St. restaurants/Louie’s 11

• Ivy Room 7

• Lincoln Field 6

• Walking around campus 6

• Athletic Center 5

• Staff Development Day 43

• Holiday Bazaar 36

• University Holiday Party 20

• Thank you Breakfast 10

• Lectures/President’s Lecture Series 8

• Athletic Events 7

Off the Shelf

"Brown vs. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy" is the newest book by James Patterson, the Ford Foundation Professor of History.

Patterson takes readers through the dramatic 1954 case and its aftermath, exploring a range of questions: Could the Supreme Court or President Eisenhower have done more to ensure compliance with the decision? How useful are court-ordered busing and affirmative action against racial segregation? To what extent has racial mixing affected the academic achievement of black children in the North as well as the South?

Patterson won the Bancroft Prize in History for "Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974."

Karl Jacoby, assistant professor of history, is the author of the new book that takes a look at how class has influenced environmental history. In "Crimes against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History of American Conservation," Jacoby examines the unexplored history behind three of the nation’s first parklands: the Adirondacks, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, and traces the effect of criminalizing such traditional practices as hunting and fishing, foraging, and timber cutting in these newly created parks. Jacoby reassesses the nature of these actions, providing what the publisher, University of California Press, is "a rich portrait of rural people and their relationship with the natural world in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries."

Darrell West's latest book "The Rise and Fall of the Media Establishment" charts the changing status of the American mass media as an influential political player. West, professor of political science and director of the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, contends the media has lost its privileged position in politics. The book spans the years from the partisan press and commercial presses of the 19th century to the objective, interpretive, and fragmented media of the last century.

James Schevill has selected the best and most representative poems of his career spanning more than half a century for "New and Selected Poems." The collection also contains new poems written since his landmark "Complete American Fantasies," about which critic M.L. Rosenthal wrote: "The book is filled with the sounds of American speech, piercing lyrics, telling satire, surprising insights into every aspect of our lives, and sheer human understanding." Schevill is emeritus professor of English.

In its news release about the 2001 recipients of Rhodes Scholarships, the Rhodes Scholarship Trust identified Courtney Voelker as a 1999 Brown graduate who is in her second year at Dartmouth Medical School. (See the article in the Jan. 26 George Street Journal.) Edward Beiser, associate dean of medicine, has pointed out that while Voelker is in fact at Dartmouth, she is enrolled in the Brown-Dartmouth Program and will return to Brown to complete her medical studies and receive her M.D. Beiser also noted that Voelker has been admitted to Brown's M.D./Ph.D. program, which will eventually make her an alumna three times over: Sc.B., M.D., and Ph.D.

The work of two members of the visual arts department will be featured in a photography show at Wheeler Gallery Feb. 15 through March 9.

Adjunct Lecturer Mary Beth Heffernan, who has shown her work at galleries across the country, will exhibit her "Replete" series, featuring elaborate configurations of meat and skin. Visiting Adjunct Professor Steven Smith will show his photographs of landscapes of newly developed areas of the United States.

A public opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 15, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Wheeler Gallery, 228 Angell St. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 421-9230.

Brown’s annual Years of Service Awards ceremony, which recognizes employees who have served 10, 20 and 25 years, will be held on campus Feb. 14.

Employees who have worked 25 years at Brown will receive an engraved Brown University chair in appreciation of his or her years of dedicated service. The employees who have served 25 years, their titles, and departments in which they work are:

Patricia Alves, accounting assistant, Controller’s Office

Gisela Belton, office manager, Department of Slavic Languages

Maureen Byrne, senior administrative secretary, Division of Athletics and Physical Education

Karen Chapman, computer operator II, Computing and Information Services

Donna Corcoran, administrative assistant, Controller’s Office

Susan Danforth, assistant librarian, John Carter Brown Library

Maria D’Onofrio, manager, University Library-Circulation

Nicholas Golato, lead carpenter, Facilities Management

Donna Hustler, financial assistant, Student Activities

Karen Hyman, administrative coordinator, Food Services

Sandra Kunz, electron microscopist, Biology and Medicine-Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry

Manuel Medeiros, coordinator, Controller’s Office

Debra Nelson, senior library associate specialist, University Library-Reference

Genevieve Pari, coordinating technical secretary, Division of Engineering

Richard Patenaude, painter, Facilities Management

Thomas Wunderlich, associate dean, Graduate School

Feb. 2

The Office of Campus Life and Student Services, with the assistance of the Office of the President, is surveying Brown's student body to fully assess their experiences on campus regarding diversity, pluralism and community. Maguire Associates, a Bedford, Mass., research and consulting firm specializing in higher education, worked last semester with students, faculty and staff to develop the survey.

To ensure respondents' anonymity, the Web-based survey is located on a Maguire-owned server.

The survey was activated on Feb. 2 and will be accessible for two weeks.

Data collected through the survey will "foster informed and productive campus discourse on diversity," will "inform our planning efforts" and will "provide an invaluable 'snapshot' of perceptions regarding campus climate and the range of issues of concern among student communities for President Simmons as she joins the University," according to a statement from the Office of Campus Life and Student Services.

Awards and Honors

Kimberly Edge, a graphic designer in the donor relations department of the Development Office, won two medals in the publication award program sponsored by District One of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Her poster for the 2000 senior class concert received a gold medal; a women's crew poster she created for the Sports Foundation received a silver medal.

In the same competition, the Brown alumni Web site won a silver medal. Judges cited the site as an "excellent example of combining design, marketing and Internet technology."

Two books edited by Don Wilmeth, Asa Messer Professor and professor of theater and English, are among seven theater and dance titles selected as Choice Magazine's "Outstanding Academic Titles for 2000."

They are vols. 2 and 3 of "The Cambridge History of American Theatre." Volume two covers 1870-1945, and volume three covers Post-World II to the 1990s.

According to Choice, these selections represent "the most significant print and electronic works reviewed" in the magazine during the previous calendar year. The criteria are overall excellence in presentation and scholarship; importance relative to other literature in the field; distinction as a first treatment of a given subject in book or electronic form; originality or uniqueness of treatment; value to undergraduate students; and importance in building undergraduate library collections.

Wilmeth also edited volume one of the series, which was similarly recognized by Choice in 1998.

Blake Cady, professor of surgery, is the recipient of the American Cancer Society Distinguished Service Award. The award recognizes major achievements in the field of cancer control.

Cady, who directs the Breast Health Center at Women & Infants Hospital, has been a volunteer at the American Cancer Society since 1974. As president of the Massachusetts division, Cady founded and chaired the Massachusetts Coalition, which won passage of the ballot question that raised the state's tobacco excise tax by 25 cents per pack, and led to the funding of a comprehensive tobacco control program.

The award was presented in November at the American Cancer Society's 2000 annual Board of Directors meeting in Chicago.

People

The John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization has announced the recipients its winter/spring 2001 fellowships. The seven visiting scholars will participate in the intellectual life of the center and Brown.

The program supports research in history, the history of art and architecture, literature, religion, material culture studies, music, historic preservation, and urban planning. Fellowships are awarded to advanced-stage doctoral candidates, junior and senior faculty, independent scholars and humanities professionals.

The recipients and their institutional affiliations are:

Monika Bolino (Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Buffalo), "A Social History of Professional Archaeology in New England."

Afua Cooper (independent scholar), "History and Black Women in North America: The Case of Mary Miles Bibb, Rhode Island-Born Abolitionist, 1842-1877."

James B. Jeffries (Department of Religious Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara), "Converting Guns, Blankets, and Crucifixes: The Circulation of Beliefs, Customs, and Crafts of Seventeenth Century New France."

Kate Clifford Larson (Department of History, University of New Hampshire), "Asante Daughter of Zion: The Life and Memory of Harriet Tubman."

Stephen A. Mrozowski (Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts at Boston), "Images of the Working Class: Archaeological Explorations of Urban Space and Culture."

Cynthia Watkins Richardson (Department of History, University of Maine at Orono), "Coming of Age in Nineteenth Century Providence: The Education of Cordelia Stanwood, 1879-1890."

Edward B. Rugemer (Department of History, Boston College), "The Problem of Emancipation: West Indian Freedom in American Religious Thought, 1833-1863."

An extensive resource for teaching Czech at several levels of proficiency, the anthology is being developed as the core for a Czech cultural and literary Web site. The funds will allow the addition of several Czech texts to the anthology and the enhancement of exercises. Fidler and Kanig will continue their collaboration on the project with Professor Petr Bilek of Charles University in Prague.

The Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning seeks to enhance the quality of language instruction and learning on its member campuses through monetary grants and through publication of its materials.

Sports

The women's ice hockey team defeated the Providence College Lady Friars in a 2-0 match to win the Mayor's Cup on Jan. 12. The Bears shared the title with the Friars last year when the teams played to a 0-0 stalemate.

Jan. 26

Each year the Benefits Office undertakes its Maximum Exclusion Allowance (MEA) calculation project to notify you how many voluntary dollars you are eligible to contribute on a tax-deferred basis to the Brown University Retirement Plan or to a Tax-Deferred Annuity. While the MEA is an individual calculation for each employee, in general, the maximum annual voluntary contribution is the lesser of 20 percent of your of your eligible salary or a specified dollar limit.

For 2001, the Internal Revenue Service has published the following limits, which are applicable to the Brown University Retirement Plan:

-- Annual limit on compensation eligible for retirement contributions: $170,000

-- Limit on University, basic and voluntary contributions combined: $35,000

-- Maximum voluntary contributions: $10,500

As noted above, for calendar year 2001, the maximum dollar limit for voluntary contributions is $10,500. Please keep in mind that your prior contributions, employment status, percent time, salary and leaves of absence may affect the amount you can defer. Additionally, the $10,500 limit applies to all retirement plans with elective deferrals in which you may be participating, such as another employer's 401(k) or 403(b) plans. If you are or will be saving for retirement through another employer's plan, or if you are planning a sabbatical or other leave of absence during 2001, please call the Benefits Office at 863-2141 to let us know so that we can include the appropriate information in your 2001 MEA calculation.

Snow Line for information about inclement weather

When you wake up and look out the window and find blustery, snowy weather, remember that you can call Brown's Snow/Storm Line recorded message at 401-863-3111 to see if normal operations are in effect.

You can also tune to the following radio and television stations for the same information:

Channel 10 WJAR
630 WPRO-AM
92.3 WPRO-FM
105.1 WWLI-FM
1400 WHTB-AM
1480 WSAR-AM

In Memoriam

University police security officers will wear mourning ribbons through mid February in honor of officer Domingo Altomari, who died Jan. 14 after a three-year battle with cancer. He leaves his wife, Virginia, a member of the Division of Biology and Medicine business affairs staff, and their 3-year-old daughter, Kristina. A service was held Jan. 17 in the Armenian Euphrates Evangelical Church; burial was private.

Awards and Honors

In an all-membership election, Sheila E. Blumstein, interim president of Brown and the Albert D. Mead Professor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, was elected to a three-year term as chair-elect, chair and retiring chair of the Section of Linguistics and Language Science (section Z) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Matthew C. Gutmann was recently awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for ethnographic research in 2001-2002 on the topic "Fixing Men: Negotiating Men's Reproductive Health and Sexuality in Oaxaca City, Mexico." Gutmann's study will focus on negotiations in couples over contraception, HIV and STDs, and sexuality in general.

Geoffrey Ribbans, professor emeritus of Hispanic studies, is the recipient of the Josep Maria Batista I Roca Prize for his lifelong contributions to developing awareness and academic study of the language, literature and culture of Catalonia in Europe and North America. The award was presented Nov. 10 in Barcelona by the Institute of Overseas Projection of Catalan Culture. Ribbans vigorously supported Catalan studies at his previous post at the University of Liverpool in England. He also established a Catalan program at Brown, which continues today under Professor Enric Bou.

Mark Johnson, professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences, was recently named to head the Association for Computational Linguistics. The association is the primary scientific and professional society for natural language processing and research applications. Johnson, who researches computational linguistics, will serve as vice president-elect of the organization in 2001, vice president in 2002 and president in 2003. The announcement was made at the organization's annual meeting in Hong Kong.

The Rites & Reason Theatre was recently honored with a Special Service Award from the American Heart Association for its work in last year's "Heart to Heart: Ain't Your Life Worth Saving?," an original production designed to promote heart health education for women of color.

The play, written by Professor Elmo Terry-Morgan and directed by Marsha Z. West, is a funny yet poignant drama that reveals the myths and other barriers that keep many minorities from seeking proper cardiovascular care. It was produced in collaboration with LifeSpan Hospitals, the Rhode Island Chapter of the AHA and the Minority Task Force on Heart Disease.

Off the Shelf

"Collecting Native America, 1870-1960," edited by Shepard Krech III, professor of anthropology and director of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, and Barbara Hail, deputy director and curator of the Haffenreffer Museum, has been nominated for the American Book Award.

Sponsored by the Before Columbus Foundation, the American Book Award recognizes a book that makes a significant contribution to the field of American cultural diversity.

According to their publisher, Smithsonian Institution Press, Krech and Hail have in their book examined "the motivations, intentions and actions of 11 collectors who devoted substantial parts of their lives and fortunes to acquiring American Indian objects and founding museums... (They) assert that despite biases and questionable tactics, collectors of American Indian objects have left a valuable legacy that goes beyond the founding of public and private institutions. Their collections today have the potential to help Native Americans to not only unlock their past, but also revitalize their traditions."

Matthew C. Gutmann, assistant professor of anthropology, has recently published "Ser hombre de verdad en la ciudad de México: Ni macho ni mandilón," the Spanish translation of his ethnography on changing gender relations in a squatter settlement of Mexico City. He also recently co-authored with Sylvia Chant "Mainstreaming Men in Gender and Development: Debates, Reflections, and Experiences," which explores how men should be incorporated in gender and development interventions at the grassroots level.

In his latest book, "Dollars and Change: Economics in Context," Louis Putterman places the economy and the study of economics in a broad historical and social perspective. The professor of economics explores the history of the discipline, the history of the modern economy, different perspectives on the market economy, and the relations between economic matters and questions of human nature, social aspiration and justice.

Dwight B. Heath has traveled the world to study attitudes about drinking and define what is a drinking occasion.

At the end of that road is "Drinking Occasions: Comparative Perspectives on Alcohol and Culture," a book written by the professor emeritus of anthropology.

"It is the who drinks what, when, where, how and why of drinking around the world," said Heath, who performed the work with the support of a grant from the Washington-based International Center for Alcohol Policies.

Attitudes about alcohol differ enormously, Heath said. Some cultures view it as medicinal, while others use it as a religious sacrament. Some simply use it to mark celebrations. For most people, alcohol is not a problem and does not create problems, Heath said.

Sports

Football

Stephen Campbell '01 received the Gold Helmet of the Year Award from the New England Football Writers at the Annual All-New England Football banquet Dec. 7. The award honors the outstanding collegiate football player in New England.

In addition, the American Football Coaches Association selected the wide receiver for a spot on the 2000 I-AA Coaches' All-American Team. Campbell earned First Team All-American honors.

Having finished the season with 120 receptions, Campbell broke the NCAA I-AA single season record of 115 set by URI's Brian Forster in 1985. He ended his career with an Ivy-League record of 305 receptions.

Soccer

Defender Cory Gibbs '01 was one of the 11 players selected as First Team All-Americans by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America on Dec. 10. Gibbs was the 2000 Ivy League Player of the Year.

Four women's soccer players were named Northeast Regional All-Americans. Co-captains Michaela Rooney '01 and Bekah Splaine '01 were named to the First Team Northeast Regional All-Americans, Kim Lanzire '02 and Mary Jo Markle '02 earned Third Team honors.

Track

James Brown'02 broke the Brown record in the 55-meter hurdles at the Alden Invitational track meet on Dec. 2, with a time of 7.66. Brown was named MVP of the invitational for his performance.