NEWS SPLASH

Friday, March 28, 2008

Law, Neurosurgery Lectures

Distinguished speakers are presenting lectures on capital punishment and neurosurgery on Monday (March 31).

Paul Marcus, Haynes Professor of Law at the College of William and Mary, will deliver the Dreyfous Lecture on Monday at 5 p.m. on the topic, “Capital Punishment, a Comparative Perspective.” He will speak in room 110 of Weinmann Hall and a reception will follow.

The Tulane Law School’s lecture series on civil liberties originally was established in 1965 in the memory of George Abel Dreyfous, founder of the Louisiana Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2003 the title of the lectureship series was changed to honor both George and Mathilde Dreyfous.

Also on Monday, the Tulane University Neuroscience Association is hosting a two-part lecture series at the Freeman Auditorium of the Woldenbert Art Center, featuring two faculty members from the University of Arkansas Medical Center.

At 5 p.m., Dr. Emad Aboud will speak on new surgical techniques, and at 6:30 p.m., Dr. Gazi Yasargil will lecture on “Training the Brain’s Eye.” Yasargil is known globally as the father of micro-neurosurgery.

Stone Center Programs

Applications are due on Monday (March 31) for summer programs by the Stone Center for Latin American Studies.

The international study programs are being held in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Guatemala, as well as a border justice service learning program on the U.S.-Mexican border. More information is available by calling Natalia Porto in the Stone Center’s summer program coordination office at 504-862-8269.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Ballet on Campus

The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet will perform at Dixon Hall on the Tulane uptown campus on Friday and Saturday (March 28 and 29).

Sponsored by the New Orleans Ballet Association, the performances will be at 8 p.m. For ticket information, call 504-522-0996.

The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet performs a fresh and innovative style of classical and contemporary ballet. Led by Artistic Director Tom Mossbrucker, a former celebrated star of the Joffrey Ballet, the chamber-sized ensemble will present a lively program by such choreographers as Twyla Tharp, Nicolo Fonte, Trey McIntyre, Jorma Elo and David Parsons.

Open House in the Woods

Blooming irises, tours, presentations and music will be part of the spring open house at A Studio in the Woods on Sunday (March 30).

The open house will be from 1 until 5 p.m. at A Studio in the Woods located on nearly eight forested acres on the west bank of the Mississippi River in New Orleans.

Native irises are in bloom, says Ama Rogan, managing director, and forest tours will be led by Dave Baker, environmental curator. Filmmaker Giana Chachere will show a short film she developed while in residence at the studio and composer Brigham Hall will perform new compositions.

The event, which is free and open to the public, also will feature kids' art activities as well as presentations from sustainable building experts. The studio is dedicated to preserving the endangered hardwood forest and providing a peaceful retreat where artists can work uninterrupted. It is a program of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Newcomb Dance Rocks

Accompanied by music of the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin and Pink Floyd, the Newcomb Dance Co. performs its "Road Album" starting on Thursday (March 27).

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday (March 27–29) and April 3–5 in Lupin Theater. In a departure from traditional dance, the company has created experimental works with choreography by faculty members Barbara Hayley, Beverly Trask, Jeffrey Gunshol and Michaela Cannon. Tickets range from $7.50 to $12. For information, call 504-865-5106.

Research Days

Lectures and poster sessions on research projects highlight Research Days at the Tulane Health Sciences Center today and Thursday (March 26–27).

The J. Bennett Johnston Building, 1430 Tulane Ave., hosts the poster sessions in the atrium and room 111A at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. today. At noon today, Dr. Snorri S. Thorgeirsson will speak in the auditorium at 1440 Canal St. on "Genomics of Human Liver Cancer." He is chief of the Laboratory of Experimental Carcinogenesis at the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute.

Thursday's Research Days events include the third poster session at 9 a.m., followed by a lecture featuring Andrew Lackner, director of the Tulane National Primate Research Center. He will speak on "The Intestinal Immune System and the Pathogenesis of AIDS." An awards ceremony and reception follows.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Cultural Discussion

As part of its community lecture series, the Tulane Jewish Studies Program is presenting a talk today (March 25) by historian David Biale on "Culture of the Jews."

Focusing on how artifacts reflect Jewish life through the ages, the talk will be given in the Stone Auditorium in the Woldenberg Art Center at 7 p.m.

A professor of Jewish history at the University of California–Davis, Biale edited the landmark, 1,200-page volume, Cultures of the Jews: A New History, in 2002. One reviewer called Cultures of the Jews “a milestone of scholarship, the new foundation upon which all future research into Jewish history will be based.”

In his talk at Tulane, which is sponsored by the Levin family and the Center for Cultural Judaism, Biale will share visual and documentary evidence of Jewish culture through the ages. For further information, contact Brian Horowitz, director of the Jewish Studies Program.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Faculty Travels

The Tulane Alumni Association is initiating a program to connect traveling faculty members with its 60-plus active alumni clubs throughout the world.

Tulane faculty often attend professional conferences in large cities and there’s a better-than-average chance of finding an active alumni group wherever they are traveling. Faculty members will find a willing audience for a discussion of their academic interests or for their observations of the post-Katrina rebuilding of the city and the university.

Provost Michael Bernstein has offered his enthusiastic support for the program. Interested faculty members may contact Charlotte Travieso, director of alumni affairs, at 504-865-5901.

Tennessee Williams Fest

The annual Tennessee Williams Festival opens on Wednesday (March 26) for five days of literary, theater and music events in the French Quarter.

The festival celebrates the life and cultural legacy of Williams with two days of master classes, a roster of panel discussions and celebrity interviews, food and wine tastings, a scholars’ conference, literary and other French Quarter walking tours and a book fair.

While regular attendees will be waiting to watch the Stanley and Stella Shouting Contest, others will enjoy the New York City theater troupe Brooklyn on Foot in its production of Camino Real. At Le Petit Theater, actress Stephanie Zimbalist and film critic/columnist Rex Reed will read together from Williams’ work.

Tickets can be purchased for one day only or for special events. An all-access pass also is available.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

All-America Runner

The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association recognized Tulane University senior sprinter Gloria Asumnu with All-America honors in the 60-meter dash.

This is the fourth time in her career that Asumnu has received All-America recognition. She finished seventh in the finals of the 60-meter run with a time of 7.29 seconds at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. She received All-America honors in the 60 meters in 2007, as well as the outdoor 100 meters and 200 meters.

She holds a total of six school records and one Conference USA record. Asumnu also won eight conference championships in both the indoor and outdoor venues, and is the only student-athlete in C-USA history to win four conference championships in a single event. She will compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials held in Eugene, Ore., June 27–July 6.

Mellon Honor

English graduate student Kellie Warren has received a highly competitive Mellon dissertation fellowship.

Warren received the CLIR Mellon Dissertation Fellowship for Research in Original Studies, the first Tulanian to receive the honor. The Council on Library and Information Resources awarded 11 of the nine-month-long fellowships, which begin this September.

The award will support travel and other expenses so that Warren can visit various archives, collections and visual sources for her dissertation on Pan Americanism and early 20th-century American literature.

 

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Double Pledge

During the Clinton Global Initiative University proceedings, Tulane President Scott Cowen signed commitments to improve neighborhood health care in New Orleans and expand public-service education.

Tulane hosted the CGI U summit on March 14–16 as 700 college students joined more than 30 university and college presidents, celebrities and guests from around the world. The agenda, organized by President Bill Clinton and the William J. Clinton Foundation, called for the participants to make commitments to specific solutions for global problems.

A video of the CGI U events is now available for viewing.

At the meeting, Cowen signed a pledge to open several community health centers in New Orleans neighborhoods. Designed to provide high-quality health care for citizens who cannot afford health insurance, the centers also will help revitalize hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods.

Tulane also committed to help expand to other schools its public-service requirement for graduation. Cowen pledged to hold annual summits and other efforts to encourage other colleges and universities to implement the public-service stipulation for undergraduates. 

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Fleur-de-lis Ambassadors

After a successful first year of the Fleur-de-lis Ambassador Program, co-founders Scott Cowen, president of Tulane University, and Arnie Fielkow, president of the New Orleans City Council, announced the 2008 team members who will serve as messengers of New Orleans’ recovery.

The group of 18 who will serve as ambassadors this year includes Tulane alumni Cheryl A. Gray, a Louisiana state senator; Sandra Gunner, president and chief executive officer, New Orleans Chamber of Commerce; Byron Harrell, president and chief executive officer, Baptist Community Ministries; Timothy P. Ryan, chancellor, University of New Orleans; and Tim Williamson, president, Idea Village.

Cowen and Fielkow, joined by Tulane alumnus Rod West, president and chief executive officer of Entergy New Orleans, and Kim Boyle, partner with Phelps Dunbar, created the program in 2007 to convey the importance of New Orleans’ economic and cultural revitalization to media markets around the country, while combating misperceptions about the city’s recovery.

“2007 was an amazing first year for the Fleur-de-lis Ambassadors Program,” Cowen said. “Ambassadors traveled to seven cities and produced great media coverage. They met with some of the largest philanthropies in the nation and sat face-to-face with many of our policymakers. We began relationships with many people and organizations who now want to help New Orleans become an even greater city than it was before.”

Monday, March 17, 2008

Receptionist on Hit Show

The final five contestants along with host Niki Taylor of the Bravo television reality competition, "Make Me a Supermodel," visited New Orleans last week and helped make over the home of Cherie LeBlanc, a receptionist in the Tulane admission office.

LeBlanc's home is being built by Habitat for Humanity and won't be complete until the summer, but she says having the help of the cast and crew was a "wonderful experience."

"You would think all these beautiful people wouldn't want to get dirty," says LeBlanc. "But they really got into it and a lot of work was done."

After putting up the home's frame, the cast members autographed the wooden beams of the house.

The segment with LeBlanc was taped on Sunday (March 9) and aired for the first time on Thursday (March 13).

Dancers in National Spotlight

Two dancers of the Newcomb Dance Program of Tulane's Department of Theatre and Dance were selected to perform their choreography for the National American College Dance Festival in New York City.

The 2008 American College Dance Festival South Central Conference selected a dance piece choreographed by Amanda Burr and Donna Crump, titled "Ana-Alicia," from approximately 52 pieces that were performed at the South Central Gala concert on March 1.

Burr is a senior majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology with a minor in dance, and Crump is a junior dance major. They also were nominated to the National Festival for Outstanding Undergraduate Choreography.

The National Festival showcases dances selected by adjudicators from each of the national regional conferences based on their outstanding artistic excellence and merit. The primary objective of the National Festival is to highlight the outstanding quality of choreography and performance that is being created on American college and university campuses.  The National Festival provides this venue in three gala performances, presenting works from approximately 30 colleges and universities.  This year, the National Festival will be held in June at Barnard College in New York.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Online Dating Study

Did you meet your current significant other through an online dating service? If so, a Tulane professor is interested in your story.

Michele Adams, an assistant professor of sociology at Tulane, is researching online relationships that have evolved into “regular” face-to-face dating relationships of six months or longer. Volunteers will spend about an hour talking with Adams about their relationships and experiences with online dating. All interviews are confidential. Names will not be used in any research reports.

For more information or to volunteer for the study, e-mail Adams.

Gomez Honored

Tulane University senior David Gomez has been selected to the 2008 Conference USA Second Team in basketball.

A forward from Baton Rouge, La., Gomez is a repeat performer to the conference’s postseason team, as he garnered third-team accolades a year ago.

In addition, Gomez recently was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 8 First Team. He leads the Green Wave in scoring (14.5), rebounding (6.1), blocks (45), field goals (150), field goals attempted (282), free throws (126) and free throws attempted (172).  

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Opera at McAlister

McAlister Auditorium will be the site of three performances of the opera Rigoletto starting on Friday (March 14).

Presented by the New Orleans Opera Association, the performances will be at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday (March 14–15) and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday (March 16).

The opera, by Guiseppe Verdi, will be performed in Italian with English supertitles. Henry Akina is the director and Robert Lyall will conduct the orchestra. For ticket information, call 504-529-3000 or 800-881-4459.

Safety Tour

The Underwriters Laboratories Safety Tour mobile exhibit will be at the Tulane downtown campus today (March 13).

The exhibit will be on view from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. in front of the J. Bennett Johnston Health and Environmental Research Building, 1324 Tulane Ave.

The Safety Tour is a mobile exhibit of high-tech demonstrations and challenges designed to help consumers live safer lives by increasing awareness of hidden household dangers and the value of the Underwriters Laboratories mark.

The educational exhibit includes interactive elements such as safety test simulations, safety-themed video games, a family fire escape plan obstacle course and free giveaways. Underwriters Laboratories is a nonprofit, independent, product safety certification organization that has been testing products and writing standards for safety for more than a century.



 

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Clinton on Campus

The New Orleans community is invited to hear President Bill Clinton speak on Saturday (March 15) at Fogelman Arena on the Tulane uptown campus.

Clinton's speech, at 5:30 p.m., is free and open to the public. For tickets, visit http://www.cgiu.com/fogelman. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. The theme of his talk will be the ability of young people to address major global challenges and make lasting, positive change.

The speech is part of CGI U, a new project of the Clinton Global Initiative that will take place at Tulane on Friday through Sunday (March 14–16). CGI U will bring more than 600 college students, university presidents, administrators, leading nonprofit organizations and social entrepreneurs together to make commitments and tackle global issues with practical, innovative solutions.

Other participants at CGI U include New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Brad Pitt, Lance Armstrong, Laurie David, James Carville, Lauren Bush, Dave Eggers and New Orleans recovery chief Ed Blakely.

Crisis Intervention

The School of Continuing Studies is sponsoring a two-day workshop on disaster and crisis intervention.

The professional development training session is entitled "Disaster and Crisis Intervention: Facilitating Psycho-Social Reconstruction." It is scheduled on Friday (March 14) and Saturday (March 15) from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the School of Continuing Studies' Elmwood Campus, 800 E. Commerce Road, Ste. 100, in Harahan, La.

The sessions are designed especially for professionals who play front-line roles in disaster/crisis situations, including representatives from government agencies, law enforcement, homeland security, military, public health, hospitals, social services and education.

The workshop, cosponsored by the Global Facilitators Service Corps, is free but seating is limited. Persons interested in attending must e-mail a reservation request by today (March 12) to Paul Forbes. For additional information, call 504-865-5333.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Medicine Talk

Health care in New Orleans will be the topic when Dr. Ben Sachs, dean of the School of Medicine, speaks at a program today (March 11).

Sachs, who also is senior vice president, will speak from noon until 1 p.m. in the first floor Bowers Auditorium at 1555 Poydras St. Joining him to speak will be Dr. Karen DeSalvo, chief of general internal medicine and geriatrics and vice dean for community affairs and healthcare policy.

Free lunch will be provided by Health Policy ACTION group, the MD/MPH Executive Committee and Physicians for Human Rights.

Honor for Perdew

The achievements of physics professor John Perdew were in the spotlight on Sunday (March 9) at a special symposium.

The symposium honoring Perdew’s work in Density Functional Theory (DFT) was held as part of the annual March meeting of the American Physical Society, held on the Tulane uptown campus. International scientists who are leaders in their field attended the DFT Fest.

Perdew’s colleague Ulrike Diebold, physics professor who holds the Yahoo! Founder Chair in Science and Engineering, said that Perdew “is arguably one of the world’s most influential physicists.” Starting in the 1970s, Perdew, together with coworkers such as Mel Levy, Tulane chemistry professor emeritus, devised a major improvement to DFT that helped promote the theory, which is now used in a large variety of fields such as solid-state physics, physical chemistry, surfaces, catalysis and biomolecules.



 

Monday, March 10, 2008

Nominations Needed

Do you know a Tulane senior who is deserving of an award for public-service contributions? Nominations are open now.

Thursday, March 13, is the deadline for nominations for the Jim Runsdorf Excellence in Public Service Student Award. The Tulane Center for Public Service wants to identify and recognize students who demonstrate social responsibility and awareness of the needs of the community through significant contributions during their undergraduate tenure at Tulane.

Student nominations may originate from a Tulane faculty or staff member or community-site supervisor. The award is only open to graduating seniors who have completed a minimum of 75 hours of public service throughout their undergraduate studies.

The recipient will be honored during a special event, receiving a plaque and a $500 award.

C-USA Honor

Ashley Langford of the Tulane women's basketball team was named Third Team All-Conference USA in a vote of coaches, media and sports information directors.

The 5-foot-5-inch junior point guard is the Green Wave's all-time career assists leader. She led Tulane with 11.6 points per game and is third in C-USA with 5.35 assists per contest.

She also ranks 28th in the NCAA in free-throw percentage. At .846, she is in the top 10 in the C-USA record book. The Harrisburg, Pa., native scored in double figures in 19 of 29 games this season.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Benefit Concert

A benefit concert on Sunday (March 9) at Hard Rock Café in New Orleans will raise funds to support music programs for Tulane Medical Center patients.

The concert by the American-Australian rock band MINK will be held at 7 p.m. on Sunday at the café, 418 N. Peters St.

Hard Rock Café is donating proceeds from its March on Stage events at its locations across North America to Musicians on Call, an organization that brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities to enhance the healing process.

HardRock.com will be offering a limited-edition Musicians On Call commemorative pin, with proceeds benefiting the musicians’ organization. A $5 suggested donation will be charged for admission to the concert.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Bald for a Cause

More than 85 Tulane medical students are shaving their heads to raise money — and awareness — to fight childhood cancer.

The med school class of 2010 has signed up more than 100 people to “go bald” on Wednesday, March 12, as part of an afternoon of fund-raising and activities to support the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a national organization. The students also are selling T-shirts for $10 each to raise money solely for playground equipment for the Tulane Hospital for Children.

Since 2005, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation has funded 13 fellowships, helping launch brilliant new careers in childhood cancer research, and awarded more than $16 million to support research at more than 230 institutions, including Tulane.

So far, the Tulane students have raised $26,000, far surpassing their initial goal for the fund-raiser. “We started with $5,000 as our goal, and it’s just blown up from there,” says student organizer Alan Hathcock, who hopes to raise as much as $35,000 for the cause.

To meet their goal, students are asking for donations and support for the shearing.

The St. Baldrick's festivities, which will also feature a silent auction, bake sale and head painting with kids from the pediatric oncology unit, will take place from 2 until 6 p.m. on March 12 in the first floor atrium of Tulane Medical Center, 1415 Tulane Ave. For T-shirt orders or more information, e-mail baldtulane@yahoo.com.

Callaloo Retreat

“Literature, Culture and Critique” is the theme of the Callaloo retreat now under way at Tulane for scholars and authors.

Callaloo is the premier African-American and African literary journal based at Texas A&M University. The Tulane events began on Wednesday (March 5) and continue today (March 6) and Friday (March 7).

Thursday’s session, which is free of charge and open to the public, will feature talks and a panel discussion on “Why We Do What We Do: Literary Criticism, Literary Theory, and Literary and Cultural Studies” at 3 p.m. in the Race Conference Room of the Lavin-Bernick Center.

On Friday at 1:30 p.m. in the LBC’s Rechler Conference Room, five fiction writers will read from their works. Poets attending the events will give readings at two New Orleans jazz clubs on Friday and Saturday.

The retreat is hosted by Tulane organizations including the African and African Diaspora studies program, the English department’s Creative Writing Fund and the Honors Program.



 

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Grad Fest

A comprehensive planning event for Tulane students graduating in May will be held Thursday and Friday (March 6 and 7) at the Lavin-Bernick Center.

Grad Fest is from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Thursday and from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Friday in the LBC Ballroom.

Members of the Class of 2008 will be able to meet with accounts receivable and career services staff and purchase their caps and gowns, Tulane ring, diploma frame and personalized graduation announcements, as well as take a free formal photo in a cap and gown.

Mexican History

Author and historian Eric Van Young will speak on Mexico's political history at a lecture on Thursday (March 6).

Van Young will speak at 4 p.m. in the Stibbs Conference Room of the Lavin-Bernick Center. His lecture, sponsored by the Murphy Institute, is entitled, "Was Mexico's Greatest 19th-Century Conservative a Trimmer: Lucas Alamán and the Law."

A professor of history at the University of California–San Diego, Van Young has published extensively on the agrarian history of colonial Mexico, the Wars of Independence, and the cultural, social and political history of the 19th century.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Running Champ

Tulane senior Gloria Asumnu won three events and set a Conference USA record at the C-USA Championships on Saturday (March 1).

Leading the Tulane team to an overall sixth-place finish at the championships, she was named co-performer of the meet, held at the University of Houston.

Asumnu won the 60-meter dash in a C-USA record time of 7.22 seconds, tying the mark she set at the same meet in 2007. With that win, she became the first student-athlete in C-USA history to win four championships in a single event.

She also won the 200-meter championship in 23.78 seconds and ran the first leg for the Green Wave 4x400-meter relay team, which finished first with a time of 3:46.39. Other relay team members were sophomore Valencia Wilson, freshman Aieshia Brooks and junior Vanessa Kienast.

Asumnu will complete her Tulane career at the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 14–15.

Shabbat 1,000

Organizers of Shabbat 1,000 NOLA hope to bring 1,000 Jewish students, faculty and staff from area universities to Tulane for a dinner on Friday (March 7).

The Shabbat dinner will be held from 5:30 until 7 p.m. in the gymnasium at the Reily Student Recreation Center. The New Orleans event is presented by the Chabad Jewish Student Center and cosponsored by the New Orleans Hillel Center and the Jewish Endowment Foundation.

Students from Tulane and Loyola universities, the University of New Orleans and Louisiana State University are expected to attend. For additional information, e-mail Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin or phone 504-289-8516.


 

Monday, March 3, 2008

Honoring Pisano

A Tulane University School of Medicine student group recently honored Joseph C. Pisano, the school’s former dean of admission.

The medical student organization Tulane Outreach to Romania honored Pisano at an event for his 36 years of dedication to education and the medical student body.

In honor of Pisano’s continuing legacy, the outreach group plans to financially support the Dean J. C. Pisano Scholarship initiated by the Daniel Murariu Foundation.

This annual scholarship will provide housing, food and school supplies for a student in need in rural Romania. The foundation was started by fourth-year medical student Daniel Murariu during his year away for research working for Harvard Medical School in Bucharest, Romania.

Israel in the Media

A leading authority on U.S.–Middle East policy will speak at Tulane on Monday (March 3), sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program.

Mitchell Bard will speak on “How the Media Shapes Opinion on Israel” at 4 p.m. in the Race Conference Room of the Lavin-Bernick Center. Bard is executive director of the nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise and director of the Jewish Virtual Library, the world’s most comprehensive online encyclopedia of Jewish history and culture.

His talk is cosponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Bard has written and edited 18 books, including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict and 1001 Facts Everyone Should Know About Israel. His latest book is Will Israel Survive?