TULANE TALK

February 4, 2005

Good Morning:

I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Lewis this week. No, not the Saints player. The Michael Lewis Iím referring to is the author of several best-selling books, including Liar’s Poker, a fascinating memoir of his time as a Wall Street trader; Moneyball, an insiderís look into how a major league baseball franchise built a winning team, and The New, New Thing, a profile of Jim Clark, the co-founder of Netscape who recently gave Tulane University $30 million.

In addition to these and other books, Michael is currently a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Bloomberg. His writing often appears in The New Yorker, Slate and Foreign Affairs. He has also served as editor and columnist for the British weekly The Spectator and as senior editor and campaign correspondent for The New Republic. He has also filmed and narrated pieces for ABC-TV’s “Nightline” and hosted a series on presidential politics for National Public Radio.

Through this and other works Michael has proven himself to be one of the most astute observers of our times. This is why I asked him to serve as our 2005 commencement speaker. I know we will all enjoy his stories and benefit from his observations and insights into our culture.

Speaking of our culture, I hope you all have a happy Mardi Gras. Please be safe and sensible and have a wonderful time. Iíll see you Wednesday.

Have a great Mardi Gras weekend,

TULANE TALK

January 21, 2005

Good Morning:

The arrival of 2005 brought with it the realization that I have had the honor of being president of Tulane University for almost seven years now. Where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday I was being introduced to the Tulane community, meeting faculty members and students and eating my first crawfish. From mudbugs to the Y2K bug (remember that?), weíve been through a lot together.

What has always struck me about Tulane is how it feels more like a family than an institution, how it combines the best of a small liberal arts college with the resources of a major research university, how its students, faculty and staff approach their roles within this learning community with a sense of passion, how its distinguished past has given rise to the promise of it becoming one of the greatest universities in the world.

In the next issue of the Tulanian, I will share more of my reflections on my seven years at Tulane as well as the exciting plans for the launch of the largest fundraising effort in Tulaneís history, ìPromise and Distinction: The Campaign for Tulane University.î This issue will be available the first week of March at http://www2.tulane.edu/tulanian.cfm

Youíll notice, too, that the Tulanian, a publication that dates back to 1928, has been completely revamped with a bold new look reflecting the universityís enduring distinction and boundless promise.

Have a great weekend,

TULANE TALK

January 7, 2005

Good morning:

Thanks to all of you for the many thoughtful, creative and forward-looking ideas you sent in response to my request for suggestions on how we, as a university community, can help alleviate the human suffering caused by last week’s tsunami. From your suggestions, members of the senior administration and I have outlined several steps Tulane University will undertake to assist in the relief and recovery efforts now underway in the tsunami-ravaged areas.

• First, we will continue to identify and encourage existing relief initiatives by many of our school and colleges. I was gratified to learn from your e-mails and my colleagues how much Tulane-sponsored relief work is already underway. For example, the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is dispatching disaster relief experts to the tsunami-hit areas for collaboration with the relief agency World Vision. Tulaneís Payson Center for International Development, which operates a summer program in Sri Lanka, is also heavily involved in relief efforts and more than 300 Tulane-trained health professionals are assisting in the region. These are just a few of the many relief efforts employing Tulane expertise currently underway. Our goal now is to identify all such sources throughout the university and make certain they have the utmost support to coordinate and maximize the effectiveness of their efforts.
• Upon the return of our students to campus next week we will work through the Office of Student Affairs to encourage students to sponsor events in support of the relief effort. In addition to fund drives these activities might include alternative Spring Breaks, in which students volunteer to work on relief efforts either in the region or at home. We also plan to sponsor lectures and discussions to educate our students on the history and culture of the affected regions so they can better understand the physical, emotional and psychological issues related to disasters such as this.
• Knowing the generosity of the Tulane community, we also want to encourage our administration, faculty, staff, students and alumni to offer any financial help within their means. A great site listing qualified and reputable relief agencies is: http://tinyurl.com/7y6yz
• We also plan to create our own web site that will serve as a compendium of all Tulane-sponsored relief operations and keep the community informed of our efforts.
• Finally, we will continue to monitor events, convening within 30 days a meeting of faculty and senior administration knowledgeable about disaster recovery who can help establish a university response plan for relief in this current tragedy as well as ones in the future.

The above is a broad framework of the efforts we will undertake. Much more will be done on both an institutional and individual level. Letís hope that these endeavors help mitigate a measure of the epic suffering that has been visited upon this region of our world, an area that many members of the Tulane community call home, an area in all of our thoughts and prayers.

TULANE TALK

December 10, 2004

Good Morning:

I never cease to marvel at the Tulane connections I encounter in my travels. At an alumni gathering in Cleveland this week I had the pleasure of meeting two daughters of Baby Briscoe, a jazz singer who performed in the 1920s and 30s in cabarets in New Orleans and New York.

The singerís daughters told me that they were so impressed by the holdings of our renowned Hogan Jazz Archive, including the information it contains on their mother, that they have begun to raise money to fund a Tulane scholarship in honor of her. I was impressed by these two women, neither of whom are alumni of our institution, but both of whom want to pay tribute to their mother while enabling others to receive a Tulane education.

Meeting Baby Briscoeís daughters reminded me of the importance of our cultural heritage, the vital role institutions such as the Hogan Jazz Archive play in preserving that heritage and just how many friends Tulane has throughout the country.

Have a great weekend,