NEWS SPLASH

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Grant Aids Engineering

Tulane University will receive a $280,000 award package from the HP Innovations in Education program for the Department of Biomedical Engineering to use in its high-tech design studio and teaching laboratory.

Tulane was selected as one of 10 two- and four-year colleges and universities in the United States to receive the highly competitive grant from HP, a global technology company that wants to encourage students to pursue undergraduate degree programs in engineering and other technology fields.

With the funds, the department will use technologies such as wireless HP Tablet PCs and wide-format HP DesignJet printers, as well as remote access to high-power HP Blade Workstations, to assist students in the design and testing of biomedical devices.

“This will greatly improve our educational facilities and will allow our students to explore the relationship between theoretical modeling and design,” said professor Donald Gaver, department chair. “As such, this will greatly improve our students’ training for work in biomedical engineering industry and government.”

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Golfers Tops in State

The Louisiana Sports Writers Association has chosen Tulane women’s golf coach John Thomas Horton the Louisiana Women’s Golf Coach of the Year. Several Green Wave players also took top honors.

Tulane sophomore Linn Gustafsson was named the Louisiana Player and Newcomer of the Year, while teammate Daniela Holmqvist was the state’s co-Freshman of the Year.

The Green Wave team just completed a Cinderella season that saw the team win two tournaments, including the Conference USA Championship, and advance to the NCAA Championships, where Tulane finished among the top 20 teams in the country.

Gustafsson and Holmqvist were each tabbed to the All-Louisiana First Team, a group that consists of five combined players from both Tulane and Louisiana State University, which were the only two schools from the state to reach the national championships.

The duo of sophomore Janine Fellows and freshman Samantha Troyanovich received All-Louisiana Second Team merits.

In his first season at the helm of the Green Wave program, Horton re-established Tulane women’s golf as the top team in Conference USA as well as a national contender.

Talk on ‘Modern Medicine’

Dr. Cyril Chantler from England will speak on “Modern Medicine” for the John E. Lewy Memorial Lecture on Thursday (May 28) at the downtown health sciences campus.

The lecture is at 7:30 a.m. in the first-floor auditorium at the Tulane School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave.

Chantler is chair of the Kings Fund and University College London Partners. He is former dean of the Guy’s, King’s College and St. Thomas’ Hospitals’ Medical and Dental Schools.

A member of the editorial board of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Chantler was awarded the James Spence Medal of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health for 2005 and the Ira Greifer Award of the International Pediatric Nephrology Association in 2007. He was awarded knighthood for services to medicine in 1996.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Tops in C-USA Baseball

After putting up impressive numbers during the regular baseball season, Tulane senior Sam Honeck and freshman Jeremy Schaffer were named First Team All-Conference USA.

Schaffer also was named to the All-Freshman team, and junior shortstop Josh Prince received second-team recognition.

Honeck, a first-team infielder recipient, leads the Green Wave in multiple batting categories, including home runs (16), slugging percentage (.668) and RBI (69). He has been a reliable first baseman with a .981 fielding percentage in 515 chances.

Schaffer posted a .322 (62-195) average with 54 RBI and recording a .590 slugging percentage, tacking on seven doubles and two triples in addition to his 14 home runs at the conclusion of the regular season.

Second-teamer Prince made the difference in Thursday’s (May 21) 7-3 victory over the University of Central Florida in the C-USA Tournament, getting five hits and stealing five bases. He is batting a team-high .342 on the strength of 13 doubles, four triples and six home runs.

Hurricane Materials Sought

A New Orleans filmmaker is seeking audiovisual material of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath from individuals, including home videos, radio broadcasts, ham radio, police chatter, 911 calls, security camera footage, telephone calls, podcasts and webcam footage.

Rebecca Snedeker, who produced the documentary By Invitation Only that was funded in part by the Newcomb College Center for Research on Women, is working with Siskel/Jacobs Productions on a documentary about Katrina to air on the National Geographic Channel.

The documentary is slated to coincide with the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in August 2010. The two-hour special, tentatively titled Witness: Katrina, seeks to create a lasting historical record by documenting what transpired during the week of Hurricane Katrina, with a rough timeline beginning with the mandatory evacuation call on August 28, 2005 and possibly ending with the evacuation of the Superdome on Sept. 4, 2005.

The format of the documentary is modeled after Siskel/Jacobs Productions’ 102 Minutes that Changed America, which uses a mix of raw news footage, radio broadcasts and amateur home video to stitch together a real-time account of what unfolded on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

“My passion for this project stems from the fact that it offers a great opportunity to move beyond the packaging of Katrina that happened in live time via major networks, and bring many more New Orleanians’ perspectives to the screen,” Snedeker says.

Anyone who has materials that might be shared with the documentary team may contact Rebecca Snedeker, producer, at 504-905-4866.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Follow Golfers at NCAAs

Today (May 22) is the final round of the 2009 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships, and the Tulane golf team is one of 18 nationally ranked squads competing. Fans interested in following the team can view live video streams, Twitter updates and video clips.

Through the second of four rounds of competition, Tulane was ranked in 16th place in the tournament, being played at the Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md.

Members of the Tulane athletics staff traveling with the team will maintain a daily blog featuring live Twitter updates, as well as audio and video clips accessible by clicking the "Tulane Blog" bar on the athletics website.

Live scoring and results will be available each day on Golfstat.com, while live streaming of the final round of the golf championships also will be available online at NCAA.com.

In its first season of competition since Hurricane Katrina, Tulane punched its ticket to the national championship rounds with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA East Regionals in Gainesville, Fla.

H1N1 Flu Update

The Tulane Emergency Flu Task Force will remain vigilant and monitor how the H1N1 virus will behave as the fall flu season approaches, says Dr. Maureen Lichtveld, taskforce chair.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently modified the travel guidelines for Mexico. After reviewing the new CDC guidance and, in consultation with the Tulane Flu Task Force, Tulane on May 15 lifted its restrictions on travel to Mexico effective immediately for students and faculty planning to study and conduct research with Mexican colleagues. The university does recommend several precautions for these travelers.

Lichtveld says that the increasing number of H1N1 flu cases is both a function of an improved reporting system domestically and globally, and truly new cases.

“To date, most H1N1 cases in the U.S. have been mild and only a few deaths have occurred,” says Lichtveld, who holds the Freeport McMoRan Chair of Environmental Policy in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

“As we approach the fall, we must take proactive actions to protect our Tulane community both for the seasonal flu as well as H1N1.”

For more information about H1N1 flu and the task force go to the task force’s website.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Vote for City Park

New Orleans City Park is one of five national finalists vying for $50,000 in a contest presented by Redwood Creek Wines. Online voting is under way now but concludes on May 31.

If chosen, City Park plans to use the funds for tree planting and improvements to Couturie Forest. The winner will also be featured in a national advertising campaign.

In order to win, residents have to vote for City Park. Anyone can vote twice each day: once online at the Great Outdoors website and once by texting PARK to 39668.

City Park currently is in second place, says John Hopper, the park’s chief development officer and director of public affairs. “Three weeks ago we trailed the first place contestant by 2,500 votes. Two weeks ago we were behind by 2,000 votes. Today we have narrowed the gap to only 800 votes. We can win this, folks!”

Sports Camps Offered

Children of Tulane faculty and staff are invited to join Green Wave coaches and student-athletes for 2009 summer camps in volleyball, football, baseball, golf, basketball and tennis.

Details and registration information are available online.

Volleyball camps begin July 6. For information, e-mail Marley Lanson or call 504-314-7660. A series of satellite football camps for high school students will start on June 17. For details, e-mail Liz Devlin Ziegler or call 504-314-2425.

A variety of baseball camps is planned and registration is under way.

Golf camps begin on July 7 and prices are discounted for Tulane employees. Registration is under way now. Men’s Basketball camps begin on June 13; for information, call the Tulane Men’s Basketball Office, 504-865-5505.

Women’s Basketball camps begin on June 19. For details, e-mail Shanna Cook or call 504-314-7249. Tennis camps begin June 8. More information is available by calling Terri Sisk at 504-865-5507.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Baseball Starts C-USA Tourney

The Tulane baseball team will take on the University of Southern Mississippi at 7:30 p.m. today (May 20) as the Conference USA Tournament gets under way in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Tulane has a 32-23 record on the season and a 13-11 mark in conference play. The winner of the C-USA tournament will receive an automatic bid to NCAA postseason play.

Other teams in the tournament are the University of Alabama–Birmingham, the University of Houston, the University of Central Florida and Marshall, Rice and East Carolina universities.

Discussing Business Degrees

The A. B. Freeman School of Business is holding information sessions today (May 20) in Houston and Thursday (May 21) on the uptown campus about its graduate business programs.

At the meetings, attendees can learn about the Freeman School’s executive MBA, professional MBA and master of finance programs, as well as meet current students, faculty, alumni and staff.

The information session at the Freeman campus in Houston will take place today at 8:30 p.m. at 1700 West Loop South.

On the uptown campus in New Orleans, the session is planned for 7:30p.m. on Thursday in Goldring/Woldenberg Hall II.

Additional information sessions are scheduled on June 25 at both locations.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Golfers Tee Up at NCAAs

The Tulane Green Wave women’s golf team tees up today (May 19) for the opening round of the 2009 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships at the Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md.

There are several ways to follow Tulane through its four-day jaunt in the national title race. Members of the Tulane athletics staff traveling with the team will maintain a daily blog featuring live Twitter updates, as well as audio and video clips on www.tulanegreenwave.com.

Live scoring and results will be available each day on Golfstat.com, while live streaming of the final two rounds of the golf championships will also be available online at NCAA.com. Holes 16, 17 and 18 will be streamed on Thursday and Friday (May 21 and 22).

In its first season of competition since Hurricane Katrina, Tulane punched its ticket to the national championship rounds with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA East Regionals last week in Gainesville, Fla.

The field for the 2009 NCAA Championships features 18 nationally ranked squads.

Alumni Honors

The Tulane Alumni Association celebrated the accomplishments of Tulane alumni by bestowing honors at its annual celebration on May 3 at the Audubon Tea Room.

Tulane President Scott Cowen presented the Dermot McGlinchey Lifetime Achievement Award to Hunter Pierson, chair of the President’s Council who co-chaired “Promise and Distinction: the Campaign for Tulane.” He heads Pierson Investments. The award recognizes those who demonstrate service and volunteer involvement and commitment to Tulane and to their hometown communities. It honors the memory of alumnus Dermot McGlinchey.

The Distinguished Alumnus Award went to C. Berdon Lawrence, who received business degrees from Tulane in 1964 and 1965. Lawrence serves as chair of the board of the Kirby Corp. of Houston.

Robert Joseph Boudreau II received the Alumni Volunteer of the Year Award. Boudreau, who has practiced law for more than 55 years in Lake Charles, La., received a business degree in 1951 and a law degree in 1953 from Tulane. The Young Alumna Volunteer of the Year Award went to Shivonne L. Laird, who earned a master of public health in international health and development from Tulane in 2001. She is a policy analyst in the Office of Policy and Planning at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

The School of Science and Engineering presented its alumni awards at the same event. The school’s Outstanding Alumnus Award went to Joseph Boston; John McGaha was recognized as Outstanding Service Alumnus; and Blake A. Simmons was named the Outstanding Young Alumnus.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Amistad Hosts Readings

The Amistad Research Center at Tulane will host a double reading by authors Orissa Arend and Robert Hillary King on Tuesday (May 19), at 4 p.m. at the center in Tilton Hall.

Orissa Arend will read from and discuss the newly expanded edition of her book, Showdown in Desire: The Black Panthers Take a Stand in New Orleans. The book portrays the Black Panther Party in New Orleans in 1970, a year that included a shoot-out with police on Piety Street, the creation of survival programs and a daylong standoff between the Panthers and the police in the Desire housing project.

Robert Hillary King will read from his autobiography, From the Bottom of the Heap, and discuss his life, the Black Panther Party, and his 29 years as one of the Angola 3. King was one of three men who became civil rights activists while incarcerated at Angola Prison starting in the late 1960s.

Both books may be purchased following the reading at Amistad, and the authors will be available to sign copies. Refreshments will be served. For more information, please contact the center at 504-862-3222.

Free ‘Virtual World’ Seminar

The Tulane University School of Continuing Studies will present a free professional development seminar on “Your Business and 3-D Virtual World Platforms” on Friday (May 22).

The session will be held from 9 a.m. until noon at the Elmwood Campus, 800 E. Commerce Road, Suite 100, in Harahan, La.

This seminar is a nontechnical introduction to the use of 3-D virtual world platforms in various business applications. Participants will gain a better understanding of how businesses can use 3-D virtual world platforms like Second Life to collaborate, train, stage team-building activities, hold virtual events, market products and services, and provide customer support.

It is designed for senior and mid-level executives in the business community, government agencies and nonprofit organizations, as well as chief information officers and technology managers.

The guest speaker will be Kay McLennan, a professor of practice in the School of Continuing Studies’ Business Studies Program who teaches marketing, economics and business ethics courses in a completely online format. She developed the school’s “Tulane SCS” island simulation in Second Life to use in her online teaching.

Seating is limited and reservations should be e-mailed to Paul Forbes. Additional information is available by calling 504-865-5333.

Friday, May 15, 2009

PBK Inducts 58

Fifty-eight graduating students were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in a ceremony on Thursday (May 14) as the Tulane chapter celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Brian Brox, chapter president, led the ceremony. Brox is assistant professor of political science. The ceremony was held in the ballroom of the Lavin-Bernick Center.

Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest and most prestigious undergraduate honor society in the United States, having been founded in 1776. Each year, the Alpha of Louisiana chapter elects undergraduate members from Tulane University to the Phi Beta Kappa organization.

Ceremony for Graduate Programs

Nearly 150 students who are completing master’s and PhD programs will participate in the Graduate Programs Recognition and Hooding Ceremony today (May 15) at Dixon Hall on the uptown campus.

The ceremony begins at 9 a.m. Participating will be degree recipients for graduate programs from the School of Continuing Studies, School of Liberal Arts, School of Medicine–Biomedical Sciences and School of Science and Engineering.

Students receiving PhDs will be hooded by their dissertation advisors. Provost Michael Bernstein will give an address.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

McAlister Project Starting

Starting on Monday (May 18), the McAlister Place Project will get under way, which means the closing of McAlister Drive from Freret Street to Drill Road on the uptown campus for creation of a pedestrian mall.

Construction work beginning Monday will transform the heart of campus into landscaped green space.

Starting on Monday, traffic on Drill Road will be permanently reversed to accommodate the flow of traffic from Willow Street to Newcomb Place to Drill Road to McAlister Place to Willow Street.

Shuttle service is being initiated from the Rosen Lot at Ben Weiner Drive and South Claiborne Avenue, with shuttle stops at Ben Weiner at Diboll Garage; Newcomb Place at Newcomb Art; McAlister Drive at Irby House; McAlister Extension at Reily Center; and the Rosen Lot.

Additional information online provides details on parking and architectural plans, as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

Studio’s Open House

A Studio in the Woods will have its spring open house on Sunday (May 17) from 1–5 p.m. with tours, poetry readings, music, art projects for kids and other activities that are free of charge and open to the public.

Located at 13401 Patterson Road on the West Bank of Orleans Parish, the studio is dedicated to preserving the endangered bottomland hardwood forest and providing within it a peaceful retreat where visual, literary and performing artists can work uninterrupted.

Sunday’s events will include music by pianist Beth Turner; touring springtime woods with environmental curator David Baker; unveiling of the latest Clay Diaries, an ongoing work by Lucianne Carmichael; works by recent Changing Landscape artists; and poetry by Moose Jackson, former Restoration Resident.

In addition, the studio plans a presentation by master carpenter John Busch who, under the direction of wood artist Tom Dunne, will be constructing the main door to the Steward’s Cottage as a piece of artwork.

For directions to the studio, call 504-392-5359. A Studio in the Woods is a program of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

All About Brass Bands

Matt Sakakeeny, an assistant professor of music at Tulane, will give a free lecture on brass bands as a part of New Orleans’ musical culture at 6 p.m. on Thursday (May 14) at the Cabildo museum on Jackson Square.

The event is part of the Louisiana State Museum’s monthly “History Ya-Ya” series. On July 9, Richard Campanella of Tulane will speak on his book, Bienville’s Dilemma: A Historic Geography of New Orleans. A geographer, he is associate director of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research and a research professor with the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Seminars on Teaching

Two different presentations related to teaching will take place today and Thursday (May 13 and 14) at the downtown health sciences campus.

Today’s presentation on evidence-based medicine by the Office of Medical Education will be on the topic, “Just-in-Time Learning: Teaching the Use of Point-of-Care Resources.” It will take place at 4 p.m. at the School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave., room 1558.

Guest speakers will be Dr. Pamela Wiseman, assistant professor and family/community medicine clerkship director, and Neville Prendergast, director of the Rudolph Matas Library of the Health Sciences. For more information, call 504-988-6600.

Thursday’s seminar will be on “Instant Questions, Instant Results: the Pedagogy of Classroom Response,” presented by Derek Toten and Mike Griffith of the Innovative Learning Center at Tulane.

They will speak at noon also in the School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave., room 4001. The presenters will demonstrate the new tools available for integrating live student polling and testing into the classroom. For more information, call 504-988-5319.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Golf Team on a Roll

The 31st-ranked Tulane women’s golf team has advanced to the NCAA Championships in the program’s first season of competition since 2005.

The Green Wave saved its best effort for the final round with an 8-over-par 288 total on Saturday (May 9) on the Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla.

Members of the Tulane squad of two sophomores and four freshmen will continue their journey and cast their eye on the national title when they join the nation’s elite field of 24 teams at the Caves Valley Golf Club in Owing Mills, Md., May 19–22.

The Green Wave team made believers out of the nation’s collegiate golfing community by coming in fifth in the regionals with its ninth top-10 performance, including its sixth finish in the top-5, out of 11 tournaments this season.

“It’s a true honor for the Tulane golf program to play for a national championship. This is a special achievement and unbelievable opportunity for our first-year team,” Tulane head coach John Thomas Horton said. Hurricane Katrina forced the program to be suspended in January 2006.

Goodbye to Bikes

Each year after commencement, police officers on the uptown campus remove bicycles locked to fixed objects such as bicycle racks, handrails and trees. This year, the removal will take place on May 19 and 20.

The bicycle removal will occur over a two-night period between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. According to the Tulane Police Department, abandoned bicycles take up valuable space on campus bicycle racks, and they tend to attract an unsavory element to campus.

Faculty, staff and students commuting to campus by bicycle should not allow their bicycles to remain on campus during the dates and times designated for removal, police officials said.

Students residing in uptown residence halls will be allowed to secure their bicycles in their residence hall rooms during the dates and times noted for removal.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Rating High in Academics

Tulane student-athletes have once again proven to be one of the best groups in the country with their performance in the classroom. The NCAA reports that all eight of Tulane’s varsity sports teams for the 2007-08 campaign scored well above national averages for the fourth straight year.

The results are part of the most recent multi-year Academic Performance Rates (APR) released by the NCAA.

“This is another indicator of the rock solid performance of our student-athletes and staff in their commitment to our mission,” Tulane athletics director Rick Dickson said.

Now in its fifth year, the APR measures the eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes competing on every Division I sports team. It also serves as a predictor of graduation success. The most recent APR scores are based on a multi-year rate that averages scores from the 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years.

The Division I Board of Directors set cut scores of 925 and 900 (out of 1,000) as a threshold for teams to meet or otherwise face immediate and historical sanctions. An APR of 925 translates to approximately a 60 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and an APR of 900 translates to approximately a 45 percent GSR.

Tulane’s varsity teams once again exceeded the national average with all five women’s squads (basketball, cross country, indoor track, outdoor track and volleyball) receiving scores of 975 or higher, while the baseball (977), men’s basketball (977) and football (963) teams each finished in the top percentile of NCAA men’s programs.

Tulane’s complete APR report, as well as the scores of all NCAA schools, is available on-line at www.ncaa.org.

New Humanities Fellow

Gaurav Desai, associate professor and chair of the Tulane English department, has been named a 2009-10 fellow of the National Humanities Center.

Desai is one of 33 leading scholars who will come to the center from the faculties of 23 colleges and universities in 14 states and also from 4 institutions in other nations—Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

The scholars represent the fields of history, literature, philosophy, art history, anthropology, environmental studies, musicology and religion. Each fellow will work individually on a substantial research project and will have the opportunity to share ideas in seminars, lectures and conferences at the center, which opened in Research Triangle Park, N.C., in 1978.

Desai’s research project during this upcoming academic year will be on “Post-Manichean Aesthetics: Africa and the South Asian Imagination.”

Friday, May 8, 2009

Last Chance for Baseball

The semester has come to a close but the Green Wave baseball team is battling for postseason play this weekend (May 8–10) as Tulane plays host to the University of Alabama–Birmingham in the home finale.

Friday’s game begins at 6 p.m., Saturday’s is at 2 p.m. and Sunday’s is at 1 p.m., all at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium on the Tulane uptown campus.

In honor of Mother’s Day, all mothers will be admitted free of charge. Mother’s Day vouchers must be picked up at the Wilson Center Ticket Office. The senior class will be honored during a pre-game ceremony on Sunday, which also will be Kid’s Day at the Ballpark —kids are invited to take the field with their favorite player for the singing of the National Anthem, and they can run the bases at the conclusion of the game.

Time to Tango

The Kiss of Fire New Orleans Tango Festival will take place on the Tulane uptown campus on Saturday and Sunday (May 9–10) with a performance at Dixon Hall and classes at the Reily Student Recreation Center.

The Kiss of Fire tango show will be at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday in Dixon Hall, featuring music by the Milonguita Tango Quartet and Argentine singer Jorge Ahualli. Dancers will include Murat and Michelle Erdemsel, Ney Melo and Jennifer Bratt, and Ector Gutierrez and Carrie Whipple. Tickets are $35 and are available by calling 504-872-9623 or 504-957-7675.

Tango classes and workshops will be held at the Reily Student Recreation Center from noon until 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and noon until 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Brumfield’s Photos Go Global

Tulane professor William Brumfield’s photographs and descriptions of Russia’s cathedrals and pastoral scenes are among the items that can be accessed through the World Digital Library, launched recently in Paris.

The multilingual World Digital Library is an effort of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the U.S. Library of Congress and 32 partner institutions throughout the world. The collection includes books, maps, sound recordings, prints and photographs.

The purpose of the free, unrestricted public access website is to “promote international and intercultural understanding,” said James H. Billington, the U.S. librarian of Congress.

Brumfield, a professor of Slavic studies at Tulane, is the author of numerous books including A History of Russian Architecture, a New York Times notable book. Brumfield is the only American to have been elected to two state Russian academies: the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences (2002) and the Russian Academy of the Arts (2006).

Tops in Essay Contest

Two Tulane School of Medicine students, Claire Fung and Jessica Schumer, teamed up to win the top award in a Mayo Clinic essay contest about changing medical education.

They are among six graduating medical students who were involved with the JumpStart Pierre Part program in Pierre Part, La., a community-based project designed to inspire and support a culture of health and wellness. They used their JumpStart experience to make points about curricular changes in medical education.

Their essay was one of three finalists in a competition sponsored by MD Connector in partnership with the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center. They received the award at the 2009 National Competition on Medical and Health Care Education Reform.

Dr. Richard H. Streiffer, professor and chair of family and community medicine at Tulane, called the essay award “another wonderful achievement from this ‘gang of six’ (students) who created and have sustained this partnership with Pierre Part and have really left their mark on Tulane, Pierre Part and all of us.”

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Talking About Aging

Estela Medrano from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston will be guest speaker for the Aging Seminar Series at noon on Thursday (May 7) in room 403 of the J. Bennett Johnston Building on the downtown health sciences campus.

Medrano will discuss “Epigenetic Regulation of Senescence and Aging.” She is an associate professor in the molecular and cellular biology and dermatology departments at Baylor and an associate faculty member at the Huffington Center on Aging.

The seminar is sponsored by the Tulane Center for Aging. For additional information, call 504-988-8835.

Athletes on Honor Roll

Seventeen student-athletes from Tulane have earned academic medals from Conference USA. They are among 107 student-athletes from the university named to the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll.

The number of C-USA honor roll members from Tulane is up from last year’s 84. To be named to the list, athletes must have at least a 3.0 GPA.

Commissioner’s Academic Medalists must achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.75 or better. Tulane student-athletes who received medals are Jeremy Schaffer (baseball); Nicholas Scott (men’s basketball); Michael Mainguy (men’s cross country); Jessica Barker (women’s cross country); John Genova (football); Stephanie Wagstaff (women’s golf); Corrie Gurucharri and Samantha Holt (women’s soccer); Jessica Lange (women’s tennis); Kevin Lynch and Kevin Mitchell (men’s track and field); Cassady Adams, Julie Cupka, Whitney Hampton and Nicolette Taku (women’s track and field); and Ashley Bernards and Lindsey Shepard (volleyball).

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Student-Athletes Honored

Tulane student-athletes Sam Honeck and Sara Radosevic were named the Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year at the annual athletics banquet held at the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life.

Scholar Athletes of the Year awards for highest cumulative grade point average went to volleyball athlete Ashley Bernards and baseball player Rob Segedin.

Bernards is a senior in graduate school from McMinnville, Ore., who is completing her master’s degree in accounting with a GPA of 4.0. She already has received a bachelor of science in finance with a final undergraduate GPA of 3.97.

Segedin, a sophomore is majoring in finance and management, is a native of Old Tappan, N.J. He has a GPA of 3.599.

As top female athlete, Radosevic played in all 34 volleyball matches and 126 sets as a senior and was named Conference USA and Louisiana Player of the Year. She is a senior business and management major from Zagreb, Croatia.

Honeck is a senior mathematics major from Austin, Texas, who is leading the baseball team, as well as Conference USA, in multiple categories. He has a Conference USA-best 16 home runs and 65 runs batted in.

The athletics awards banquet was a joint effort between Tulane athletics staff and the department’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council.

Awards for Teaching

The Office of Medical Education at the Tulane School of Medicine will hold its Teaching Scholars Education Day on Thursday (May 7) with awards, a lecture and a poster session.

At the award ceremony at noon, Dr. Benjamin Sachs, senior vice president and dean of the School of Medicine, will present the Teaching Scholar Award to Dr. Norman E. McSwain Jr., professor of surgery. Dr. Elma I. LeDoux also will receive an award as the finalist. She is associate professor of clinical medicine.

The ceremony will be held in the conference room 111A at the J. Bennett Johnston Building, 1324 Tulane Ave. on the downtown health sciences campus.

Keynote speaker for the event will be Patricia O’Sullivan, professor in the Department of Medicine and associate director for educational research at the University of California–San Francisco.

Other presentations are scheduled from 2–3:30 p.m. and posters will be on display from 12:30–4 p.m. in the JBJ Building atrium.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Five-year Retrospective

The Murphy Institute’s Center for Ethics and Public Affairs is hosting a five-year retrospective conference on Friday (May 8) featuring eight presentations from its former faculty fellows.

The conference will be held in the Stibbs room at the Lavin-Bernick Center.

Gregory Cooper of Washington and Lee University will moderate the morning presentations, including “A Farewell to Deweyan Democracy” by Robert Talisse, Vanderbilt University; “Individualism and the Claims of Community” by Richard Dagger, Rhodes College; and “The Value of Rights” by Leif Wenar, King’s College, London.

During the first afternoon session, presentations will include “The Insignificance of Personal Identity for Bioethics” by David Shoemaker, Bowling Green State University; “'The Argument from Autonomy” by Jonathan Quong, University of Manchester; and “Explaining Reasons: Where Does the Buck Stop?” by Ulrike Heuer, University of Leeds.

Presentations later that day will be“Incentives and Reflective Equilibrium in Distributive Justice Debates” by Julian Lamont, University of Queensland; and “Self-Ownership and Paternalism” by Steven Wall, University of Connecticut.

For details, call the Murphy Institute at 504-865-5317.

Open House for Teachers

The Teacher Preparation and Certification Program at Tulane will host an open house on Wednesday (May 6) to recruit prospective teachers and give an overview on the university’s program.

The event will be held from 5 until 7 p.m. in Cudd Hall on the uptown campus. Advisers will be available, and students will have an opportunity to meet faculty members who are involved in the program.

The program prepares teachers and prospective teachers for long-term careers in education, through extensive faculty advising, tutoring, field training and community service. Students in the program are a blend of undergraduate and post-baccalaureates students who provide more than 1,300 hours of service to schools in surrounding parishes and earn a Tulane degree or certification in a content field, not in education.

The program offers certification in early childhood education (pre-kindergarten through grade 3), secondary education (grades 6–12) and dance (kindergarten through grade 12). Classes are held once week and special discounts are provided to Louisiana educators and city of New Orleans and Jefferson Parish employees.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Player Makes First Team

After posting a 19-5 record in singles competition as a freshman, Tulane women’s tennis standout Mariam Kurdadze was named first-team All-Conference USA, the league announced.

The first-team players were chosen by a vote of C-USA coaches.

A native of Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, Kurdadze is just the third Green Wave freshman to earn the distinction.

“We are absolutely thrilled for Mariam and all of her accomplishments this year,” Tulane head women’s tennis coach Terri Sisk said. “Bringing home first-team all-conference honors as a freshman is quite an impressive feat.”

Kurdadze posted a 6-1 mark in C-USA matches. Her record of 19 wins is tied for fourth-most in C-USA this spring. In addition to her performance in singles action, Kurdadze went a combined 14-9 in doubles play.

President Cowen Honored

Tulane President Scott Cowen received a Weiss Award from the New Orleans Council for Community and Justice for exceptional civic and humanitarian contributions in the Greater New Orleans area.

He was honored along with three other recipients at the 52nd annual Weiss Awards Event on Tuesday (April 28). Other honorees were Dorothy “Dottie” Reese, civic leader; George Shinn, owner of the New Orleans Hornets; and Seletha A. Nagin, community activist.

The council, formerly known as the National Conference of Christians and Jews, is a nonprofit human relations organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry and racism and promoting understanding and respect among all races, religions and cultures through advocacy, conflict resolution and education.