The Rochester Review, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
And look where they are now! Kristen Hansen is in Moscow for a year, working with the Central and East European Law Initiative, a public-service project of the American Bar Association. She's a graduate of Georgetown Law. . . . Megan Hanushek plays for the Rochester Ravens, part of the U.S. Women's Inter-Regional Soccer League, after playing for two years in the German Bundesglia League. She and her brother, Eric, have opened a soccer specialty store in Rochester called the "Soccer Shack." . . . Ann Barron Laughlin is on tour with the musical Grease, a national production of the Troika Organization. . . . And in New York City, Zita Sidas continues her work at ABC as a systems engineer. During the 1996 primaries and election, ABC received election data via the SANDBOX (Sports And News Database) that Sidas helped build.
Tidor
Edward Miller '68M (MD) has been named to the newly created post of CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine--which combines the school's medical-research, clinical, teaching, and business enterprises--and dean of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. A letter announcing the appointment cited Miller's "outstanding performance" as acting dean of the medical school. . . . Richard Koch '51M (MD) was featured in the Los Angeles Times for his work to improve the lives of women who as babies in the 1960s were treated for phenylketonuria (PKU). Hoch and his team at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles are trying to notify these women, now in their child-bearing years, that their offspring may be at risk for mental retardation if they do not follow a special diet during pregnancy.
Last November, Joan Ewing '73 (PhD)--the first woman to complete a doctorate in Rochester's electrical-engineering program--celebrated 40 years at Xerox . Now a researcher of electrical properties and materials, she recalls the early years at Haloid, which became Xerox, as "small, family-oriented, and personal. Joe Wilson went around shaking hands with everybody." (Joe Wilson '31 founded Xerox.) . . . Genesee Country Museum--a 19th-century "living-history" village in Mumford, N.Y.--marked its 20th anniversary in September. In a newspaper story on that milestone, co-founder and architectural historian Stuart Bolger '43 reported that the bell on the museum's town hall "came from a fraternity house at the University of Rochester. I stole it with another fellow 45 years ago as a prank, then came back and dug it up when we needed it."
It's not often that two artists--let alone a professor and his former art student--get together for a series of shows, but that's just what landscape painter Ryan Russell '82 and sculptor Arch Miller, professor emeritus of art and art history in the College, are doing this year. At this writing, the two will be showing at the Dematteis Gallery in Annapolis, Md., from April 26 through May 26; at the Staunton-Augusta Art Center in Staunton, Va., from May 30 through June 28; and at the Hodges-Taylor Gallery in Charlotte, N.C., for the month of July. For information, contact Russell at (540) 463-4420. Regional Alumni Council leaders hope to sponsor events in conjunction with the shows in Annapolis and Charlotte; call the Alumni Association at (800) 281-2055.
When the final tally is in, more than 9,000 men and women will seek admission to the Class of 2001--this fall's freshman class in the College. Over the past year, toward that end, more than 800 prospective students were interviewed by alumni volunteers across the country through VAN, the Volunteer Admissions Network.
These volunteers, more than 800 of them nationwide, have also participated in college fairs and hosted receptions for prospective students and their families. With all that they do, they're indispensable to the admissions process, says Jane Tibbitts-Ludlum, assistant director of admissions and VAN coordinator.
"Statistics show us that the more personal contact an applicant has with the University, the more likely that person is to enroll," she says. "VAN volunteers give potential students a more personal connection with the University. They're spreading the word, so to speak. And they really are a huge force: Last year, for instance, they attended 50 percent of the college fairs the University took part in. In some cases, they're the only representatives from the University that a student has met. So they're getting to places we can't get to."
Alumni have been active throughout the University's history, of course, in helping to recruit students. VAN itself was established more than a decade ago, giving a structure to those ongoing efforts. Among the alumni who are currently taking a lead role in recruiting students: Andrew Miller '89 in the New York City region, Eileen Nachtwey '92 in Boston, Norman Gross '45, '48 (Mas), '75W (PhD) in Florida, and, in California, Leonard Lanzi '84 in San Francisco, Charles Wadhams '50 in Fresno, and James Schloss '65 in Oakland. While some volunteers make an extraordinary commitment, others contribute in less demanding but equally important ways, according to Tibbitts-Ludlum. Just recently, a number of alumni have hosted receptions for applicants and their families across the country. Trustee Jerry Gardner '58, '65 (Mas) and Trustees' Council member Kathy Waller '80, '80S (MBA) hosted a reception at the Gardner home in Atlanta. John Iovieno '90 hosted a reception in Boston. Jim Mayer '82, convention services manager for the Marriott World Trade Center, was instrumental in securing space for a reception in New York City hosted by Trustee Nancy Lieberman '77 and Lynn Rosen '69 (Mas), '72W (EdD).
At this writing, the Office of Admissions plans to hold VAN training sessions in Buffalo, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Boston as well as on Long Island, to prepare volunteers for the upcoming admissions cycle to recruit the Class of 2002. In addition, receptions are being planned for this summer in cities across the country to welcome incoming students of the Class of 2001. For more information, contact Jane Tibbitts-Ludlum in the Office of Admissions at (716) 275-8635. The e-mail address is jtludlum@macmail.cc.rochester.edu.
More applause for soprano Renée Fleming '83E (Mas): In a review under the heading "Critic's Choice" in The New York Times last October, Anthony Tommasini praised her latest recording of Mozart arias on London Records, writing, in part, "Her singing is lush, supple, poignant, and uncommonly intelligent." . . . Composer Michael Torke '84E has a new CD, Javelin, released by Argo Records. The title piece was commissioned by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and premiered during the 1994 95 season--the 50th season--of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. . . . Last July in Seattle at its national conference, the American Harp Society honored Eileen Malone '28E, professor emeritus of harp at Eastman, for her distinguished career and her contributions to the society. Malone's first graduate, Dorothy Spencer Remsen '41E, announced the award at the conference and later presented it to Malone in Rochester during the kickoff weekend for the Eastman School's 75th anniversary celebration.
How many Eastman alumni know that one of their own--Inez Harvuot '34E, who now goes by Irene Manning Hunter --recorded four songs with Glenn Miller just before his death in 1944? Under the stage name of Irene Manning, she recorded All the Things You Are, Mary's a Grand Old Name, Long Ago and Far Away, and Begin the Beguine--in German, for the Office of War Information, in a session at Abbey Road Studios in London. (Prior to this, she had toured with her own four-woman USO unit, performing for the 8th Air Force and various hospitals throughout England. Hunter is perhaps best known for performing the role of Fay Templeton in the film Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney in 1942--during which she also sang Mary's a Grand Old Name. She also appeared opposite Humphrey Bogart in The Big Shot.) She was, it's reported, the last guest soloist under Miller's direction: Less than a month afterward, the band leader died in a plane crash on a flight across the English Channel. "It was a great honor and privilege to do all I could in the war effort," Hunter says. "Providing music and laughter and just talking with those brave guys did as much for my soul as it did theirs!"
Last September in Philadelphia, Harrington ("Kit") Crissey, Jr. '66 hosted his annual Eastman-alumni concert--this one in honor of the Eastman School's 75th anniversary and Howard Hanson's 100th birthday. As always, he brought together an impressive number and variety of musicians with Eastman affiliations--so we'll give them to you straight, in alphabetical order: Cynthia Carr '81E, John Davison '59E (PhD), Cedric Elmer, Louis Gordon '48E, '62E (DMA), Howard Hanson, Esther Jane Kulp '81E, '83E (Mas), Annetta Lockhart, Emily Trefz Newbold '65E, Selim Palmgren, Paul Goldin Rothman '67E, P. Peter Sacco '59E (PhD), Christian Sinding, Charles Strouse '47E, and Carol Dawn Moyer Winkelman '58E, '59E (Mas).
As chief of the trauma center at San Diego's Mercy Hospital, vascular surgeon Michael Sise '76M (MD) has seen the number of gunshot victims rise alarmingly in recent years. In response, he's begun to speak out publicly on the issue.
Sise advocates a public-health approach, using strategies that have helped reduce behaviors like smoking and drunk driving. "If we had unlimited money and wanted to cure lung cancer, for example, we could X-ray everyone and find, say, 10,000 lung cancers and cut them all out. Five years later, maybe 10 percent of those people would still be alive," he explains.
"Let's say we have spent $500 million, and that's what we have to show for it. Instead, we could spend a tenth of that money to convince people to stop smoking. Or a thousandth of it and go to the elementary schools and teach kids the dangers of smoking.
"With violence, we could do what amounts to all three: Put the bad guys in jail, find mentors for the older kids, and go to the schools, to get to the younger kids and teach them that violence is unacceptable."
Based on his experience, Sise believes that there are three overall causes of youth violence: the availability of guns, the breakup of families (especially the absence of fathers), and violent programs on television. Parents should police their own kids, but many in reality do not.
Sise has begun to receive funding in support of his work--and, in this case, it's a family affair: His wife, attorney Beth McDonald Sise '74N, helps out in administering grants that come from a variety of organizations.
"The whole idea of this center touches a chord in many health-care professionals, former patients, and students in nursing, medicine, and social work," says Josephine Kelly Craytor '46, '60W (Mas), a professor emeritus at the School of Nursing. She's talking about the three-year-old Interfaith Center for Spirituality in Health Care. Based at the School of Nursing and originally supported by a grant from the Teagle Foundation, the center provides programs, courses, and resources for students and faculty throughout the Medical Center. Its mission: to address the spiritual dimension of health care and promote critical reflection on existential, psychosocial, ethical, religious, and philosophical issues.
Mary Dombeck '78N (Mas), '89 (PhD), associate professor of nursing, helped found the center and serves on its advisory committee. To give an example of the center's activities, she notes that Director James Evinger, a clinical instructor in nursing, takes part in the anatomy lab for first-year medical students. "These are very young students and it's their first course," Dombeck says. "They're asked to dissect a human body and it's hard for them to do that. They find it helpful to have Jim there so that they can talk about it." She adds that "Reverend Evinger also teaches a course on spiritual issues in health care and a course in the School of Nursing on ethics for the practitioner. And he serves as a resource in student and faculty life."
HIGHEST HONORS
At the White House last December, Richard Cairncross '89 received a Presidential Early Career Award from Jack Gibbons, director of the U.S. Office of Science and Technology and science advisor to President Clinton. Cairncross, a visiting assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Delaware, was one of 60 researchers to receive the honor, which recognizes scientists and engineers who show exceptional potential for leadership in the 21st century. . . . Spotted in the December 23, 1996, issue of The New York Times: Denis O'Leary '78 was named "Chief of the Year" by Information Week magazine. The selection is made yearly by polling the 350,000 information-technology managers who subscribe to the trade publication. O'Leary oversaw the information-technology portion of the merger of Chase Manhattan and Chemical Bank, and now leads the combined bank's efforts in electronic commerce. . . . Another success story in the financial industry is Laurie Tidor '80, who was recently appointed chief financial officer for Meditrust, the nation's largest health-care real-estate-investment trust. Tidor had been a partner in the accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand.
SPEAKING OF HEALTH CARE . . .
ANNIVERSARIES
TWO FOR THE ROAD
ALUMNI HELP RECRUIT STUDENTS THROUGH 'VAN'
'CRITIC'S CHOICE'
MAKING MUSIC WITH GLENN MILLER
A CONCERT CELEBRATING EASTMAN'S 75TH
FINDING SOLUTIONS TO YOUTH VIOLENCE
A PLACE FOR SPIRITUALITY IN HEALTH CARE
Maintained by University Public Relations
Last updated 3-24-1997