TULANE TALK

September 13, 2001

Dear Colleagues:

As many of you have heard by now, President Bush has declared tomorrow a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.

I invite staff, students and faculty to join me in honoring President Bush’s request to pray for our country by attending one of two interfaith memorial services at noon tomorrow. These services will be held in the Kendall Cram Room of the University Center and at the Tulane Medical School auditorium.

Later in the afternoon at 3:30 p.m., we will hold an open forum in the Kendall Cram Room co-hosted by Provost Lester Lefton and Senior Vice President for the Health Sciences Paul Whelton to discuss the week’s events and to help us in “Making Sense of the Senseless.” I have invited a number of the leading members of our faculty to this forum to share with us their expertise in foreign policy, international law, the Middle East and other related topics.

In order to allow our students to participate in the memorial services and the forum that follows them, I am suspending classes as of noon on Friday. University offices will remain open and I request that all supervisors be as accommodating as possible in allowing their employees to participate in this important occasion.

Our program is designed as a dialogue and all who attend will have the chance to ask questions and volunteer their thoughts and feelings. I feel very strongly that this event is important to all of us and will, hopefully, be the start of a deeper understanding of what has transpired in the last few days. I also believe it will be a cathartic opportunity to discuss how America is forever changed.

For those unable to attend these events, both will be streamed on the University’s web site and will be shown on the University’s cable TV system. Both programs will also be shown in the Tulane Medical School auditorium.

TULANE TALK

September 7, 2001

Tulane Talk Is Back!

Last weekend’s Freshmen Orientation was terrific. I wish you all could have been with me as I formally greeted the first year undergraduates and their parents. This class is the most academically qualified group in the university’s history and they seem to have a level of enthusiasm, optimism and energy to match their impressive academic credentials. The weekend was so successful because of an incredible effort by volunteer students, staff and many faculty. Thank you all for making it such a great beginning for our new students and parents.

Last Saturday I was also able to join some of these freshmen, as well as returning students, as we painted the basketball court, playground equipment, benches and other outdoor areas of Audubon Montessori School on Broadway. This was just one of the many sites visited during this year’s annual “Outreach Tulane,” a day in which students volunteer at hospitals, shelters and community centers throughout the city. This day hopefully begins a lifetime of service for students.

Along with our incoming freshmen we also have had many new staff members join us recently. I’d like to point out two such individuals in particular. First, I want to give a warm welcome to Ian Taylor who officially began his tenure as dean of our School of Medicine this week. Prior to joining us Dr. Taylor held faculty and administrative appointments at Duke and UCLA. I know he will now lead our medical school to new heights of learning and service.

I would also like to welcome Donna Murphy who began her job as senior associate vice president for Health Sciences Advancement this week. Donna comes to us from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, where she was responsible for strategic development, management and solicitation of major donors, foundations, and corporations. We’re looking for Donna to continue her successful health care fundraising.

And while I’m on the subject of health, I was delighted to learn that Leena Ala-Kokko, of Tulane’s Center for Gene Therapy, will be awarded the Anders Jahren Prize for her work in discovering the genetic factors underlying lumbar disc disease and osteoarthritis. The Anders Jahren Prize is one of the world’s most prestigious scientific awards and is often referred to as the “mini-Nobel” since several of its recipients have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. Congratulations to Leena and all her colleagues at the Center for Gene Therapy.

Finally, you may be aware that the latest college undergraduate rankings by U.S. News and World Report have been released. Since these rankings have captured the public’s imagination like few issues in higher education, I am pleased to see that once again we are ranked among the top 50 universities in the country. However I, like many educators and journalists alike, question the methodology and validity of such rankings…but I am learning to live with them.

Well, there’s so much more I could write but I will have to save it for next week. It will be good to communicate with you all on a weekly basis again. I trust you had a pleasant summer and are as enthusiastic as I am as we embark on a new academic year together.

P.S. FOG (Friends of Gibson), can http a recent picture that shows how a small dog can grow into a very large one in just a few months. Gibson had both a good and bad summer. She loved the freedom of our beach house for most of the summer but also got diagnosed with hip dysplasia which will require surgery in a few weeks. She also had a very bad case of “hot spots” that laid her up for two weeks. It is amazing how attached we have gotten to her. Our children think we have “lost it” and they may be right.

TULANE TALK

July 13, 2001

Good Morning:

I thought it was time for a midsummer Tulane Talk. So far, the summer has been productive but also relaxing. Margie and Gibson are currently at our cottage in East Hampton, N.Y. Gibson is having the time of her life playing outdoors, frolicking in the ocean waves (she is really afraid of the water) and explaining to everyone in town that she is a New Orleanian. She has also developed a terrific golden tan. She now weighs 70 lbs. (Remember when it was 8 lbs?). I, of course, will join them off and on in the next few weeks.

I truly hope your summer is going well. I just wanted to drop you a line and update you on some of the exciting things that have happened since the end of the semester. Here are the highlights in no particular order:

Professor Chao-Jun Li Wins Presidential EPA Award: This is fantastic recognition for one of our outstanding faculty members. C.J.’s development of a process in which water, instead of dangerous toxins like benzene, is used to create pharmaceutical, petrochemical and other consumer and industrial products could have a profound and lasting impact on our environment.

Tulane Study Links Potassium to Lower Blood Pressure: Tulane epidemiologist Jiang He and Senior Vice President for Health Sciences Paul Whelton recently published a major study suggesting that an increase in potassium intake may lower blood pressure and reduce the chances of stroke. Just another example of the vital research taking place at Tulane.

Tulane Library Receives $1.9 Million Bequest From Miceli Estate: We learned recently that Howard-Tilton Memorial Library will receive a bequest of approximately $1.9 million from the estate of Virginia Brown Miceli. Mrs. Miceli, who died last year at the age of 90, and her late husband, Augusto, were major donors to the library’s collections. In 1987, the Augusto and Virginia B. Miceli Humanities Collection was established in their honor.

Speaking of Giving: For the third consecutive year we set a record in total private giving to the university. I’m not sure we can establish a new record every single year but we are definitely headed in the right direction. We also exceeded our annual fund goal of $4.8 million by $300,000 and for the second straight year saw double digit increases in the number of donors giving to the university. All and all, it was a very good year especially given the softening of the economy and the decline in the stock market.

Tulane Baseball Excels: By now you have all heard of the tremendous success of our baseball team. It was a magical season topped off by a dramatic win over LSU (the defending national champions), a trip to the World Series and the decision by Coach Rick Jones to stay at Tulane so he could build a national championship program at an academically elite, private university. Rick shares our high academic values and wants to have a program consistent with our mission and aspirations. I am pleased he will be with us for many more years.

Reading and Writing: The summer gives me some quiet time to catch up on my reading and writing, and I am really enjoying the opportunity. I am just about finished with David McCullough’s biography of John Adams and will next delve into Louis Menard’s new book “The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America.” On the lighter side I read some Grisham and a novel, “The Best Golfer Who Never Lived,” by a Tulane alum, Mike Veron. In my next life, I want to own and operate an independent book store with a great coffee bar! I am also beginning to draft versions of a number of talks and speeches I have to give this fall, starting with the Convocation, and I continue to add to my notes about what it is like to be a university president at the beginning of the 21st century. These notes will hopefully become the core of a book I plan to write. The working title is “Winnebagos on Wednesday.” Some day I will share with you the story behind the title.

There’s a lot more I could tell you but I’ll save some for another Tulane Talk later in the summer. I hope you’ll have a chance to relax and maybe get away sometime this summer. The coming academic year promises to be be another exciting one!

TULANE TALK

May 30, 2001

Good Morning:

I’m pleased to report that we have named Dr. Andrew Lackner, Associate Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Chairman of the Division of Comparative Pathology at the New England Regional Primate Research Center, as the new Director of Tulane’s Regional Primate Research Center.

Andrew holds a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Colorado State University and a Ph.D in comparative pathology from the University of California, Davis. He has held several academic appointments at primate centers throughout the country, including the California Regional Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis and the New Mexico Regional Primate Research Laboratory at New Mexico State University.

Andrew’s academic and administrative experiences are ideal for this position. His scholarly record and accomplishments are very impressive as is his academic administrative experience at the New Regional England Primate Center, one of the premier centers of its kind in the U.S.

Andrew will replace Dr. Peter Gerone who has headed our primate research center, the largest federally funded primate center in the country, since 1971. Under Pete’s leadership the center has achieved many research “firsts” in the field of AIDS, leprosy, Lyme disease, kidney disease and other ailments. He has also bravely weathered more than a little controversy from those who oppose animal research. Although he has been trying to “retire” since the summer of 1998, Pete graciously agreed to continue in his position until a successor was named. This is typical of Pete’s dedication. His enthusiasm, amiability, visionary leadership and research contributions in the service of humanity have long been admired and will always be remembered by everyone at Tulane.

Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Paul Whelton, Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, Dr. Donald Krogstad, Chair of the Primate Center search committee and the entire search committee for their dedication in making such a stellar selection.