Tulane Talk May 21, 2009
TULANE TALK
May 21, 2009
Good Morning:
I know it’s rare for me to send two Special Tulane Talks in one week but it is also rare to have two such high-profile appointments made in one week. Steven M. Sheffrin, professor of economics at the University of California, Davis and the director of its Center for State and Local Taxation, will become the new director of the Murphy Institute effective January 1, 2010. Pending completion of the normal process of academic review, Steve will also become a faculty member in Tulane’s economics department.
Many of you know the Murphy Institute for the conferences, seminars and lectures it hosts each year. Students know the Institute for its academic programs including one in political economy that is Tulane’s most popular interdisciplinary major. These and other efforts carry forth the Institute’s mission to further understanding of the economic, moral and political issues of our times.
Steve’s experience, including a recently completed 10-year term as dean of the division of social sciences at UC Davis, uniquely qualifies him to lead the Murphy Institute, one of Tulane’s most visible and productive academic centers. For in addition to earning a PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Steve received a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University, through an interdisciplinary program similar in philosophy to the Murphy Institute’s program in political economy.
Steve has remained engaged with this program over the years and dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach in his own research, which has evolved from macroeconomic theory and policy to public policy and public finance. Currently, he is pursuing an interdisciplinary project on tax fairness and has authored Rational Expectations and co-authored Property Taxes and Tax Revolts: The Legacy of Proposition 13, and Economics: Principles, Applications and Tools, an introductory economics textbook.
With the arrival of a new director and plans for a new home in the Richardson Building, this is an exciting time for the Murphy Institute. But it is also a bittersweet time as we say farewell to Rick Teichgraeber, who has been the director and tireless advocate for the Murphy Institute since 1984. The good news is that after a well-earned sabbatical Rick will return full time to the faculty.
Please join me in thanking Rick for his years of dedicated service and in welcoming Steve to Tulane.
I also want to thank Provost Michael Bernstein and the Search Committee, led by Tony Pereira, professor and chair of the political science department, for attracting such a high-quality candidate to Tulane.
Tulane Talk May 19, 2009
TULANE TALK
May 19, 2009
Good Morning:
I am still recuperating from this weekend’s events surrounding our historic Commencement. Our graduates, parents, friends, speakers, honored guests, volunteers and the media all conspired to make this year’s graduation one of the most memorable ever.
But, as you know, Commencement, despite Ellen’s hilarious wordplay regarding its etymology, actually means to begin. And, indeed, today marks a beginning as we proudly announce Sally Kenney as the new and first permanent executive director of the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Institute, effective January 1, 2010. Sally will also hold the Newcomb College Endowed Chair and will be a faculty member in Tulane’s Department of Political Science.
Sally comes to us from the University of Minnesota, where she is an award-winning, tenured professor and director of the Center on Women and Public Policy at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, one of the country’s premiere institutions for the study of women and public policy.
Sally joined the Humphrey Institute faculty in 1995 after holding joint appointments in political science, women’s studies and law at the University of Iowa. Her areas of expertise include gender and the judiciary, judicial selection, feminist social movements, the European Court of Justice, exclusionary employment policies and pregnancy discrimination. She has also served as a consultant to the Congressional House Education and Labor Committee on discrimination resulting from fetal protection policies.
Sally also created a six-month leadership program for the executive directors of women’s organizations led by University of Minnesota faculty in 2008 called the Feminist Leadership Fellows Program. In addition, she planned and led a series of retreats for women legislators.
Sally earned her master’s and PhD in politics from Princeton University, a bachelor’s and master’s in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University’s Magdalen College, and a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Iowa. She is the recipient of the Mullen/Spector/Truax Women’s Leadership Award given annually by the University of Minnesota to the faculty or staff member who has made outstanding contributions to women’s leadership development. She was also voted “Teacher of the Year,” by the Public Affairs Student Association and recently won the University of Minnesota’s Graduate Teaching Award.
I want to thank Provost Michael Bernstein and the Search Committee chaired by Adrienne Colella, professor of management in the A. B. Freeman School of Business, for recruiting such a remarkable candidate. Sally’s education, research interests, expertise, achievements and passion make her the perfect fit to lead the Newcomb Memorial College Institute as it continues to enhance the education, leadership and research opportunities for undergraduate women at Tulane University.
Tulane Talk May 15, 2009
TULANE TALK
May 15, 2009
Good Morning:
The academic year officially comes to a glorious end with tomorrow’s historic 2009 Commencement.
You don’t need a ticket or have to know someone graduating to enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime celebration featuring our “Katrina Class” graduates, keynote speaker Ellen DeGeneres (who will highlight Tulane again on her show next week) Harry Connick Jr., HIV co-discoverer and Nobel Prize winner FranÁoise BarrÈ-Sinoussi, healthcare advocate Jessie Gruman, architect William McDonough and some of the best jazz performances you will ever hear from Dr. Michael White’s Original Liberty Jazz Band and Wanda Rouzan.
I could sum up in one word my feelings as we approach another milestone in Tulane’s history: grateful. I can never thank you, our wonderful students, faculty and staff, enough for all that you have done for and meant to me these many years.
We have been through a lot together, including the Y2K scare, 9/11, Katrina, the Great Recession, H1N1, and come out stronger for it. I see many challenges ahead for us, along with lots of good times and countless triumphs. I am glad to be on this journey with you. Hope to see you tomorrow.
Have a great Commencement weekend,
Tulane Talk May 08, 2009
TULANE TALK
May 8, 2009
Good Morning:
NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, CBS News, CBS Radio, Nightline, the BBC, the Associated Press, C-SPAN and many more of the world’s top media are converging to cover Commencement 2009.
This remarkable national and international media interest is obviously due to the stars who will be present at this year’s Commencement – all 2,200 of them.
It seems the public cannot get enough of the “Katrina Class” who returned to the center of the country’s worst natural disaster to help rebuild a city, renew a university and receive the education of a lifetime. They want to know why such bright young people, who could have attended school anywhere, chose to return to a city and university many had given up for dead.
I suppose every graduate has his or her own answer for this but when asked the question myself I am tempted to fall back on the answer Louis Armstrong gave when pressed to describe his music, “If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.”
If you’ve never toiled in the stifling heat to gut a stranger’s home, you’ll never know. If you’ve never tutored a child whose family was still dispersed around the country, you’ll never know. If you’ve never helped a struggling family business find its way again, you’ll never know. If you’ve never watched everything you love disappear under dark flood waters and then rise again to new life, you’ll never know. If you’ve never experienced the sweet strains of jazz, the spice of gumbo or the scintillating conversation of a true New Orleans character, you’ll never know. If you’ve never known what it means to miss New Orleans, you’ll never know. If you’ve never been to Tulane, you’ll never know.
I am glad you and I know. I can’t wait to celebrate with our graduates on May 16 for what promises to be another historic moment at Tulane.
Have a great weekend,
Tulane Talk May 01, 2009
TULANE TALK
May 1, 2009
Good Morning:
I am writing this on my way to Harvard University to speak at “Poverty, Justice and Jobs,” a three-day conference in which elected officials, entrepreneurs, experts, activists, academicians and advocates will promote solutions to economic injustice and inequality.
I will speak at two forums during the conference, “Transforming Communities: Smarter Solutions” and “From Disaster to Transformation: Hurricane Katrina and the Reinvention of Communities in Louisiana.” As you know, both of these topics are close to the heart and mission of Tulane.
This conference comes on the heels of the American Association of Universities (AAU) biannual meeting I attended last week in Washington, D.C. The AAU is comprised of 62 leading private and public research universities in the United States and Canada. Tulane is the only university in Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas or Mississippi that belongs to this prestigious organization.
The meeting’s topic was the current economic downturn and its short and long-term impact on higher education and the country as a whole. Speakers included Larry Summers, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget and Secretary of Energy and Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu. I also spoke on the topic of how organizations should think about coping with economic challenges.
The experts agreed that we will begin to see a slow economic recovery in 2010. However, it remains to be seen how long it will take to fully reshape and recover from the systemic problems created in the last few decades. This reality raises many interesting questions for those of us in higher education – questions that I will continue to write and speak about on campus and in the wider community in the weeks and months ahead.
Fortunately, Tulane is well-positioned and nimble enough to respond to any challenge. As always, we will continue to focus on opportunities, be prudent in the management of our resources and stay focused on building a high-quality, competitive and truly distinguished university.
We are also well-positioned to respond to the international outbreak of H1N1 influenza. Please see the article in today’s New Wave for more information on the steps we are taking to address this challenge.
Have a great weekend,
Tulane Talk April 24, 2009
TULANE TALK
April 24, 2009
Good Morning:
As we approach the end of the semester, excitement is growing for Commencement. Those of you who follow Ellen DeGeneres on Twitter know that a representative from her show made a surprise appearance on campus this week and gave away some great prizes, including free tickets and airfare to her show in L.A. The winners also appeared on the show, via the Internet, as they claimed their prizes.
If you didn’t get Ellen’s “tweet” about the giveaway, you can still see her live when she delivers the keynote address at http. Ellen has promoted Tulane’s Commencement on numerous occasions on her show. This publicity, along with honorary degree recipients Harry Connick Jr., HIV co-discoverer and Nobel Prize recipient FranÁoise BarrÈ-Sinoussi, health care advocate Jessie Gruman and architect William McDonough, plus some special surprises, will make this Commencement one of the most memorable ever.
But the real stars will be our graduates, represented this year by student speaker Helen Jaksch. A double major in theater and English, Helen is a recipient of merit scholarships and has worked as a performer, playwright, set painter and assistant in numerous campus productions and received the Cynthia B. Taffaro Memorial Award for contributions to the arts and community. She also worked as an RA and was active in various student organizations, including the Mortar Board Honor Society, Tulane Undergraduate Theatre Society and Residence Hall Government. It will not surprise you that volunteering in the community played a big role in her life at Tulane as it did for so many of her fellow graduates.
While I am talking about outstanding students I want to also recognize our triumphant Women’s Golf Team. In their first season of play since Hurricane Katrina this young team has won the 2009 Conference USA Championship and swept the 2009 Conference USA Awards. All five Green Wave players were named to all-conference teams, while sophomore Linn Gustafsson won C-USA Player of the Year, Daniela Holmqvist was selected as the conference’s Freshman of the Year and head coach John Thomas Horton was named the league’s Coach of the Year.
I will end with a “tweet,” of sorts, of my own. On April 28 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” will be the guest lecturer in James Carville’s class “The 2008 Presidential Election.” The class is full but you are invited to a simulcast across the hall in Norman Mayer Room 101. At the end of the class, both George Stephanopoulos and James Carville will visit the simulcast room.
Have a great weekend,
Tulane Talk April 17, 2009
TULANE TALK
April 17, 2009
Good Morning:
This spring has brought us some beautiful weather and the addition of two wonderful new Board of Tulane members — Jill Henkin Glazer, a Palm Beach, Fla. civic leader, and Andrew Wisdom, an investment management consultant and co-founder of a New Orleans-based start-up technology company.
Jill, who graduated from Tulane’s Newcomb College in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, has been heavily involved with Tulane since her days as a student when she served as an orientation leader and an officer in Tulane’s chapter of Sigma Delta Tau. She is currently a member of Tulane’s President’s Council and former chair of the Alumni Admissions Committee. Always ready to support her alma mater, she has organized numerous alumni events for Tulane in both Palm Beach and Tampa.
In addition to her efforts on behalf of Tulane, Jill has also worked with many religious and educational organizations. She is a former executive board member and vice president of the Fund-raising Committee for the Hillel Community Day School in Rochester, N.Y. She is also a member of the Development and Corporate Sponsor Committees and is the Live Auction Chair of the Palm Beach Day Academy. In addition, she is a past board member of Temple Beth El in Rochester and a current board member of Temple Emanu-El in Palm Beach. Jill lives with her husband Avie and their children in Palm Beach.
Andy is an investment management consultant for Equitas Capital Advisors and board chairman of Turbo Squid Inc., a start-up technology company he co-founded with his brother in 2000. Prior to joining Equitas Capital Advisors, Andy was managing director for Battenkill Capital Inc. in New Orleans, where he supervised the firm’s brokerage and research activities.
Andy earned a law degree and a certificate in sports law from Tulane in 1994. He and his family have long ties to Tulane. Both of his parents attended Tulane and the A.B. Freeman School of Business is named after his great-grandfather, Alfred B. Freeman. The family foundation Alfred Freeman established, The RosaMary Foundation, has been inducted into the Paul Tulane Society for its longtime support of the university.
Among numerous other university-related efforts, Andy has supported the Bill Wisdom Memorial Scholarship for Intercollegiate Football Fund. He also sits on numerous nonprofit boards including Ochsner Health Systems, Dillard University, The RosaMary Foundation, Teach for America, Lusher Charter School and the Bureau of Governmental Research.
The vision and passion of these new board members will be vital as we guide Tulane through these challenging economic times. I look forward to serving beside both of them for years to come.
Have a great weekend,
Tulane Talk April 09, 2009
TULANE TALK
April 9, 2009
Good Morning:
I hope you, your family and friends have a wonderful holiday weekend.
Tulane Talk April 03, 2009
TULANE TALK
April 3, 2009
Good Morning:
This Tulane Talk is a follow-up to one I wrote last semester, which focused on the subject of crime. Let me begin by stating that the physical safety and well-being of Tulane students, faculty and staff are our highest priorities as an institution.
This academic year, some of our female students have been victims of stranger rape while others have experienced acquaintance rape. These and any other crimes against members of the Tulane community weigh very heavily on my mind and heart. Crime, especially sexual assault of any kind, is an issue for all colleges and universities — rural or urban. And, even though Tulane’s crime statistics are comparable to other urban universities of similar size, we take no comfort in this fact.
This is why Tulane continues to take a proactive stance in crime prevention. Over the last year we have partnered with the New Orleans Police Department to increase the number of perimeter patrols on the streets surrounding campus, especially in areas frequented by students. We have increased the operating hours of our free shuttle services and continued our practice of making Tulane Police available 24 hours a day to escort any Tulane community member who feels unsafe. We have opened a police substation on Broadway and continue to improve lighting on and around campus.
We have also added 18 crime cameras around the uptown campus and by late April will begin installing 25 more around the perimeter of campus. Whenever the campus is threatened by a violent crime, the university sends out Crime Alerts via e-mail to the entire community. These alerts are also posted in residence halls and in other key locations throughout the campus. There are also a variety of educational programs offered each year to the campus community. These programs range from TUPD’s Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) courses to programs targeting high-risk behaviors, date rape and overall personal safety. To learn more about these programs and how you can participate visit http://tulane.edu/publicsafety/crime-prevention.cfm.
In addition to the university’s on-going crime prevention efforts, there is more we can do as individuals. As a member of the Tulane family, each of us is not only responsible for our own actions, but for the safety of other members of our community. Do not allow a friend to walk home alone or leave anyone behind in a bar. If you are going to drink, do so responsibly and make sure you always remain aware of your surroundings and circumstances. The most common theme in crimes against students is that they are alone and intoxicated when the crime occurs. This is why I implore you to make use of the resources at Tulane such as Safe Rides and TUPD escorts. Participation in these programs has greatly increased recently but should increase even more.
Unfortunately, crime is a challenge for all universities. But by taking advantage of the resources available to you and by making a commitment to take care of yourself and each other, we can overcome this challenge as we have so many others before it.
Have a great weekend,
Tulane Talk March 27, 2009
TULANE TALK
March 27, 2009
Good Morning:
I am sure the rainy weather has not dampened the spirits of our students as their Spring Break comes to a close this weekend. While many of our students headed home or to the beach for the break, a good many spent their off time volunteering throughout the city and beyond.
This is an alternative to the traditional Spring Break that did not exist when I was young, and I am so proud of our students who participated in these efforts.
If you haven’t done so already you can catch some Tulane volunteers in action by visiting the latest installment of “Tulane on Track: A Special Campaign for Spring 2009.”
Have a great weekend,