At Brown

Save the date: Benefits/Wellness Fair Oct. 27

The annual Benefits/Wellness Fair sponsored by the Staff Advisory Committee and the Benefits Office will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 27, from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. in Sayles Hall.

The title of this year's fair, "Keep It Moving!," builds on the popular health initiatives offered at fairs past. In addition to the flu shot clinic, this year's fair will include information about the University's new Stepping Out walking program, commuting to Brown by bike, and physical education programs on campus. Healthy refreshments will be offered in an area of Sayles that the organizers are calling the EastSide Cafe.

Blood pressure checks and body fat, sun exposure and bone density analyses also will be available. Representatives of the University's benefit carriers and program partners will be in attendance, and there will be giveaways, raffles and prizes.

The fair is held during the University's open enrollment period, which runs from Oct. 12 through Nov. 12. This year, employees will be able to use a new Web-based enrollment system to make their benefit selections online. Web enrollment assistance will be available throughout the day. Appointments are unnecessary.

Facilities Management launches online service request form

The Brown community can now log on to the Department of Facilities Management's home page and submit a service request using a new Web-based interface that sends electronic requests and enables a user to see the status of his or her request at any point of the project.

The change has been made available with the department's installation of FAMIS (for Facility Asset Management Information System), a commercial software package that integrates such operations as space and utility management, building maintenance, inventory control, service requests, and capital projects. A number of universities across the country use FAMIS.

To reach the online service request form, go to this page and click the menu bar button marked "Service Requests." Requests by telephone are still possible. Emergencies should be telephoned in so that crews can be dispatched immediately, according to Facilities Management.

Five appointed to named chairs

Five faculty members have been appointed to named chairs, including three inaugural Royce professors. They are:

• Barrymore Bogues, professor of Africana studies, to Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence and professor of Africana studies, effective through June 30, 2007;
• Sheila Bonde, professor of the history of art and architecture, to Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence and professor of the history of art and architecture, effective through June 30, 2007;
• Karen Fischer, professor of geological sciences to Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence and professor of geological sciences, effective through June 30, 2007;
• Timothy J. G. Harris, professor of history, to the Munroe-Goodwin-Wilkinson Professor in European History and professor of history, effective July 1, 2004;
• Richard M. Stratt, professor of chemistry, to the Newport Rogers Professor in Chemistry and professor of chemistry, effective July 1, 2004.

Awards and honors

David Cane, professor of chemistry, is the recipient of the American Chemical Society's Repligen Award in recognition of "his seminal contributions to our understanding of how polyketides, terpenes and vitamin B6 are synthesized in microorganisms." A press release from the society described Cane as "the most accomplished and respected scientist in natural product biosynthesis in North America."

Medical student Peter Vezeridis has been awarded a Fulbright grant to study medicine in the Netherlands, the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board announced recently.

Vezeridis is one of approximately 2,000 U.S. grantees who will travel abroad for the 2004-2005 academic year through the Fulbright Program. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program's purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the rest of the world.

The following members of the Brown community are recipients of fellowships and grants awarded by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS):

• Corey Brettschneider, assistant professor of political philosophy, has been designated an ACLS/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Junior Faculty Fellow. His fellowship provides for a project titled "Democratic Rights: The Substance of Self-Government."
• Naoko Shibusawa, assistant professor of history (an assistant professor of history at the University of Hawaii at the time of the award), has been designed an ACLS/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Junior Faculty Fellow. Her fellowship provides for a project titled "America's Geisha Ally: Re-Imagining the Japanese Enemy through Race, Gender and Maturity, 1945-1964."
• Erica Jordan Haskell, a graduate student in music, has received a fellowship to study Bosnian (Serbo-Croatian) at the Soros Foreign Language School in Sarajevo.

L. B. Freund, Henry Ledyard Goddard University Professor and professor of engineering, has been elected to a four-year term as president of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM). This international scientific organization includes representatives from 50 countries and 15 international scientific societies serving as delegates to the IUTAM General Assembly, governing body of the organization. The IUTAM aims to foster international cooperation in the general area of mechanical sciences, to facilitate scholarly interactions at a technical level, and to encourage the participation of younger researchers and researchers in developing countries in the pursuit of mechanical sciences.

Peter H. Schultz, professor of geological sciences, is the recipient of the Barringer Medal, presented by the Meteoritical Society " in recognition of his outstanding theoretical and experimental studies of impact craters, which have helped to elucidate cratering processes in the Earth, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars." The presentation was made during the society's annual meeting, held in August in Rio de Janeiro.

Ann Harleman, a visiting scholar at Brown, is the recipient of a 2004 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Foundation Awards. The awards, given annually to women writers in the early stages of their careers, will be presented in New York City Sept. 30.

Richard R. Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to President Simmons, has been named chair of the board of directors of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, an organization representing chief administrative and financial officers at more than 2,500 colleges, universities and higher education service providers "through a collaboration of knowledge and professional development, advocacy and community."

Sangeeta Tripathi, who graduated from Brown in May, was selected to participate in the world's second Oxfam International Youth Parliament 2004 (IYP2004), which was held in Sydney Australia, July 5-12.

Hosted by Oxfam Community Aid Abroad Australia, IYP 2004 brought together 250 young leaders from around the world to develop dynamic solutions to key local, national, and global issues.

Lewis P. Lipsitt, professor emeritus of psychology, medical science and human development, was cited at the July meeting of the American Psychological Association for his work. He received the Bronfenbrenner Award for "lifetime contributions to developmental psychology in the service of science and society," and the Hilgard Award "honoring a career of contributions to general psychology."

On the road

Michael T. Hamerly, a rare book cataloguer at the John Carter Brown Library, was the keynote speaker at the Fifth Ecuadorian Congress of History, held in Cuenca, Ecuador, July 6-10. He spoke about "Recent Advances in Ecuadorian Historiography: The Colonial Period." He was also a featured speaker this summer at a meeting of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) in Quito, during which he discussed "Grammars and Vocabularies of Quichua/Quechua, Aymara, Mochica, and Puquina Published during the Colonial Period."

People

Neil D. Steinberg, chairman and CEO of Fleet BankÐRhode Island, has been appointed vice president for development and campaign director at the University. Steinberg began his duties at Brown on Aug. 23.

President Simmons made the announcement in July.

As the University's chief development officer, Steinberg will be responsible for planning, managing and operating all fund-raising programs, including the Brown Annual Fund, planned giving and major gifts. As director of the University's next comprehensive campaign, he will provide day-to-day leadership for a broad-based effort to ensure a higher level of sustained financial support for the University's Plan for Academic Enrichment, a far-reaching strategic effort to expand the faculty, build new academic infrastructure and strengthen its research programs.

Joan Taylor, a member of the Brown athletic staff since 1969, has been named interim athletic director at Brown.

Taylor has been senior associate athletic director for the past nine years. A national search for the director of Athletics and Physical Education will begin this fall.

The announcement was made Aug. 25 by David Greene, vice president for Campus Life and Student Services.