At Brown

Awards and Honors

Earl Hunt ’03, the most prolific scorer in Brown basketball history, is the recipient of this year’s Fritz Pollard Trophy, presented to the outstanding male varsity athlete of the year. Hunt finished his career as only the second player in Brown basketball history and 23rd Ivy League player to be named a three-time first-team All-Ivy selection. Hunt established a new Brown scoring record with 2,030 career points, fourth best in Ivy League basketball history. He is the first Ivy player since 1989 to score 2,000 or more career points. Hunt led the Ivy League in scoring for the third straight season, averaging 19.4 points per game. A three-time Ivy League Player of the Week, Hunt completed his career by scoring 30 or more points 11 times. His 18.9-points-per-game career scoring average is second in the Brown record book, and he finished second in Brown history with 499 career free throws. He also set a new Brown record with 687 career field goals.

Elizabeth Daniels ’04, is the recipient of the Marjorie Brown Smith Award, presented to the outstanding female varsity athlete of the year. Daniels was the 2003 Ivy League Champion in three events: the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke. She holds the Brown varsity record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.11. Daniels was also a member of two winning relays at the Ivy League Championships, the 200 free, which was an Ivy League and a Brown University record, posting a time of 1:32.27, and the 400 free. She earned an automatic NCAA qualification in the 50 free, recording the 11th fastest time in the nation at 22.75. Daniels placed 17th in the 50 free and 14th in the 100 free at NCAAs. earning her Honorable Mention All-American status. Elizabeth was the only female Ivy League swimmer to score at NCAAs.

David Mandelbaum, M.D., has joined Brown as professor of clinical neurosciences and pediatrics at the Medical School and chief of the division of child neurology at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. He comes to Providence from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Mandelbaum specializes in childhood epilepsy and related neuro-developmental disorders.

Research Notes

Raymond Niaura has been named principal investigator of the Medicare Stop Smoking Program. This seven-state study is designed to find the best combination of smoking-cessation strategies to help older Medicare beneficiaries quit smoking. More than 2,000 people have enrolled in the program since last fall. The study is taking place in Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wyoming, which were selected for the prevalence of older smokers, among other reasons. Niaura is a professor of psychiatry and human behavior. He is based in the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine. Study results will become available in 2005.

Following a mid-May meeting on the Brown campus, leaders from 27 addiction treatment and prevention groups announced plans for public awareness campaigns about the effectiveness of drug and alcohol treatment and the ability of those in recovery from addiction to lead productive and happy lives. The groups joined for the inaugural Providence Summit on Addiction, organized by Manisses Communications Group, a behavioral healthcare publishing company, in cooperation with the Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies.

The leaders will focus their education and awareness efforts on the general public and the medical community. Their campaign will focus on the personal nature of addiction and how it affects millions of Americans and their families. Summit participants hope to change public perception about addiction and build public support for expanding treatment capacity to meet the needs of the 12 million to 16 million Americans who suffer from drug or alcohol addiction but who do not receive treatment.

Off the Shelf

David R. Meyer, professor of sociology and urban studies, wrote "The Roots of American Industrialization." The book, published in May by Johns Hopkins University Press, examines how the eastern United States of the antebellum era made the successful transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy. Contrary to previous studies that have identified declining soil fertility and increased competition from the Midwest as incentives for Easterners to abandon farms for factories, agriculture and industry both grew and transformed during that time period, constituting mutually reinforcing processes. Rising farm productivity permitted surplus labor to enter factories and provided swelling food supplies for growing rural and urban populations, according to Meyer.