NEWS SPLASH

Friday, November 20, 2009

Safety for Kids

Is your child’s car seat installed properly in your car? You can have it checked for free on Saturday (Nov. 21) at University Square, located at 200 Broadway.

The session will be held from 9 a.m. until noon, and no appointment is necessary. Another checkup event will be held on Dec. 12 at Tulane-Lakeside Hospital, 4700 South I-10 Service Road in Metairie, La., also from 9 a.m. until noon.

Tulane Hospital for Children is sponsoring the free safety seat checkups along with New Orleans EMS. The child seats will be installed by a nationally certified child passenger safety technician.

Discussing Latin America

The Stone Center for Latin American Studies will hold its seventh annual Tulane Undergraduate Conference on Latin America on Saturday (Nov. 21) on the uptown campus.

An interdisciplinary undergraduate symposium, the event allows seniors from the Latin American studies core seminar to present their individual research projects in the style and atmosphere of an academic conference. It will be held from 9 am. until 3 p.m. in Jones Hall and is open to the public, free of charge.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Victories on the Water

The Tulane women’s varsity eight rowing team ended its season with a series of victories, including first place at the Marathon Rowing Championship in Natchitoches, La.

The final win came on Nov. 14 on the Cane River in a 26.2 mile-long regatta. Tulane beat the University of Texas team, which consistently has won the championship since 1999, and finished an hour and a half in front of in-state rival, Louisiana State University.

On Nov. 7, the Tulane women’s team took the top spot at the Head of the Chattahoochee (Hooch) Regatta, the second-biggest regatta in the U.S., defeating teams from Ohio State University, the University of Texas, the University of Georgia, the University of Florida and several other Division 1 schools.

The Tulane varsity women also won the Louisiana State Championship in October. Tulane rowing is a club sport team that regularly races against and beats Division 1 competition. It is coached by Robert Jaugstetter. Now off the water for the semester and training indoors, the team will face its next race in March.

Benefit Helps Artists’ Healthcare

A benefit art auction today (Nov. 19) at the Hefler Warehouse, 851 Magazine St., will raise money for medical care for artists and writers.

The charitable organization ARTDOCS (Artists Receiving Treatment Doctors Offering Crucial Services) is sponsoring the event. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the live auction begins at 7:30 p.m., featuring works by more than 50 locally and nationally renowned artists.

Auctioneer Adam B. Marcus will lead the sale, which also includes food and music by DJ Soul Sista and the Camel Toe Lady Steppers. Tickets, which will be available at the door, are $15 for individuals and $25 for couples.

Dr. Sarat Raman, assistant professor of family and community medicine at Tulane, is one of the group of physicians involved with ARTDOCS, which was founded in 1999 by artist and gallery owner Jonathan Ferrara and Dr. Vincent Morelli. The organization has provided medical care to more than 2,500 visual artists, writers and performing artists in New Orleans who lack health coverage.

All of the artworks in the auction can be viewed online prior to the live auction so that absentee bids can be placed.

Events Target Smoking

A free barbecue at the Student Health Center and a presentation called “Smoke and Mirrors” are two anti-smoking events taking place today (Nov. 19) on the uptown campus.

Free hamburgers and hot dogs will be offered at the “Great American Smokout BBQ” on the Student Health Center lawn from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. The smokeout is a national event in which tobacco users are encouraged to quit.

“Smoke and Mirrors” will take a closer look at the tobacco industry’s marketing strategies for women and children. Sponsored by the Student Health Center’s Wellness and Health Promotion program and Newcomb Student Programs, it will be held from 9 until 11 p.m. in the Diboll Conference Center.

Attendees will experience a revealing glimpse at how “big tobacco” markets products that kill 178,000 women every year. Participants will receive beauty services and complimentary goodie bags. For more information, contact La’ Tesha Hinton.

Both events hope to build awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke, as well as the importance of passing stronger policies to eliminate tobacco.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009  

EPA Leader to Give Talk  

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa P. Jackson, a Tulane alumnus, will speak on the uptown campus today (Nov. 18.) 

She is the featured speaker for the John J. Witmeyer III Dean's Colloquium at 2:30 p.m. in Freeman Auditorium in the Woldenberg Art Center. Her talk, cosponsored by Newcomb-Tulane College Cocurricular Programs, is free of charge and open to the public.  

Jackson, a New Orleans native and a 1983 summa cum laude graduate of the Tulane chemical engineering program, was named head of the EPA by President Barack Obama. She formerly was chief of staff to New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine and commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. 
 

Discussion on Congo Conflict  

Colin Thomas-Jensen of the Enough Project will speak today (Nov. 18) at Tulane Law School on the prolonged conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.  

The Payson Graduate Students Association is hosting the lecture, which is free of charge and open to the public, in room 110 of Weinmann Hall starting at 6 p.m.  

The Enough Project, conceived in 2006 by a small group of concerned policymakers and activists, is helping to build a permanent constituency to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity. The project currently is focusing on challenges in Sudan, Somalia, Chad, Zimbabwe, eastern DRC and northern Uganda.  

The conflict in the eastern DRC is the deadliest since World War II. At least 5.4 million Congolese have lost their lives. Thomas-Jensen will discuss both the terrible human costs of this conflict, and how the United States government and ordinary citizens can help bring it to an end.    

Tea Project Places First  

Tulane University's "WET Tea" student team won the "Movers & Changers" competition, a nationwide search for young social entrepreneurs conducted by NYSE Euronext and mtvU.  

The "Wet Tea" team consisted of Tulane public health major Shea Kathryne Shelton and business majors Jay Zhao and Nic LaGatta. Their business plan envisions buying tea grown in China at fair trade prices. The tea will be prepared in a traditional, organic and environmentally friendly way and then sold at Tulane and throughout the city.  

The team will use part of its profits to plant cypress trees in the wetlands and raise awareness of Louisiana's diminishing coast. As winners, "WET Tea" received a check for $25,000 in start-up funds.  

One of two runner-ups was the Tulane team of medical student William Kethman and law student Stephanie Roberts, who proposed to produce SafeSnip, a small, disposable plastic clamp that cuts, seals and disinfects an umbilical cord in one step. Kethman and Roberts invented the device along with Tulane science and engineering graduates Bryan Molter, Mark Young and Professor David Rice.  

Roberts and Kethman, along with the other runner-up team from the University of California–Berkeley, initially were to receive $5,000 in start-up money. The judges, however, were so impressed with both teams they provided them with an additional $15,000 in start-up money from their own pockets. All competing teams had a chance to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.  

More information is posted online, as is the first four-minute episode from the new mtvU mini-series "Movers and Changers."

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Lecture on First Amendment

The Phelps Lecture Series at Tulane Law School today (Nov. 17) will feature a discussion on “Freedom, Fairness and the F-Word: Reflections on the Yin and Yang of the First Amendment.”

The lecture, at 5 p.m. in room 110 of Weinmann Hall on the uptown campus, will feature Lillian R. BeVier, who is the David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School.

A member of the Virginia faculty since 1973, she has written about such issues as the political speech principle, the right to know, the public forum, the journalist’s privilege, and the intersection of free speech and copyright law. Recently BeVier has focused on the First Amendment implications of campaign-finance regulations.

The Phelps Lecture Series was inaugurated in 1992 to honor Ashton Phelps Sr., a 1937 alumnus who practiced law at Phelps, Dunbar, Marks, Claverie and Sims and served as publisher of the Times-Picayune and vice chair of the Tulane Board of Administrators.

Open House for Teachers

The Tulane Teacher Preparation and Certification Program will host an open house today (Nov. 17) on the uptown campus to recruit prospective teachers and give an overview on the program.

The open house will be from 4 until 7 p.m. at the Newcomb Art Gallery in the Woldenberg Art Center.

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

Monday, November 16, 2009  

Architecture Video on 'Making'  

The process involved with model building is featured in Making, a documentary that will be shown today (Nov. 16) at the Tulane School of Architecture.  

The looped sequence of photos and films will be shown from 5 until 6 p.m. in the main lobby space at the Richardson Memorial building on the uptown campus. It is a documentary of a one-week workshop at the school in the summer of 2009. The workshop gave glimpses into a course that introduces incoming students to the wood shop, demonstrates the tools and equipment, and teaches model-building skills.  

The workshop was conducted by Michael Gruber, an architect with Richard Meier and Partners in Los Angeles, and the video was filmed and produced by Irene Keil, a professor of practice at the school. The showing is free of charge and open to the public.  

Film Features Resistance Fighter  

The Jewish Studies Sushi Series in partnership with Tulane Hillel will present the film Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh on Tuesday (Nov. 17).  

The screening will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Kendall Cram Lecture Hall at the Lavin-Bernick Center on the uptown campus. A discussion with the filmmaker, Roberta Grossman, will follow the screening.  

Blessed Is the Match is the first documentary feature about Hannah Senesh, a World War II–era poet and diarist who became a paratrooper, resistance fighter and modern-day Joan of Arc. She joined a mission to rescue Jews in her native Hungary, parachuting behind enemy lines, and was captured, tortured and ultimately executed by the Nazis.  

Friday, November 13, 2009  

Stepping Out Against Diabetes  

The Tulane team that will be walking to fight diabetes on Saturday (Nov. 14) in Audubon Park welcomes other members of the Tulane community to join them.  

The American Diabetes Association's Step Out/Walk to Fight Diabetes begins at 9 a.m. To join the Tulane Team, register online or e-mail Dr. Tina Theti.  

"Our goal is to raise $5,000," says Theti, team captain and assistant professor of endocrinology at Tulane University School of Medicine.  

This nationwide event annually raises much-needed funds to support research on diabetes, a disease that afflicts 23.6 million Americans, both children and adults. Each team member who raises $100 receives a Step Out T-shirt.  

Forum on Building Trust  

"Building Trust by Talking About the Right Things" will be the topic for the Tulane Family Business Forum today (Nov. 13) on the uptown campus.  

The forum, which is open to the public, will be held from 8 until 11 a.m. in the Kendall Cram Lecture Hall of the Lavin-Bernick Center. It is sponsored by the A. B. Freeman School of Business as well as the Tulane University Family Business Center.  

Guest speaker will be Chris Eckrich, principal with Family Business Consulting Group, who will talk on family communications and conflict.  

For more information e-mail Rosalind Butler or call 504-862-8482.  

Hip-Hop Fund Raising  

The annual Hip-Hop for Hope concert, which raises funds for educational programs, will be held on Saturday (Nov. 14) at Tipitina's, 501 Napoleon Ave.  

The event is organized by Tulane alumnus Ben Brubaker. This year, Hip-Hop for Hope is partnering with Soundclash and Grassroots! to host the benefit concert, which has raised more than $19,000 in the past three years.  

The concert will benefit the Roots of Music program, 2-Cent Entertainment's "Change We Can Create" summer program and the Benjamin Foundation. It begins at 9 p.m. and will feature more than 18 guest artists. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door.  

"This year, the fund raising aims directly at the role of music in education," Brubaker said.  

The Roots of Music program provides music education in history, theory, instrumental instruction and ensemble performance, as well as academic tutoring. 2-Cent Entertainment's "Change We Can Create" summer program empowers students through a 7-week mentorship. The Benjamin Foundation supports a nonprofit summer camp.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Sharing for Thanksgiving

Tulane faculty and staff members can nominate a family in the Tulane community to receive one of five Thanksgiving turkeys with all the trimmings. Nominations are due on Friday (Nov. 13), and a food drive also is under way.

The project is sponsored by the Black Faculty and Staff Association at Tulane. Nomination forms are available online. All nominations and selections will be kept strictly confidential.

Boxes for collection of donated food items are available now through Nov. 20 on the uptown campus on the first floor of Goldring/Woldenberg Hall I, the main floor of the Lavin-Bernick Center, the Law School and the second floor of the facilities services building.

Other food collection boxes are stationed in Suite 105A at University Square, at the materials management office at 8333 Maple St. and in Suite 1730 at the School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave., near the cafeteria and the Office of Medical Education.

Anyone wishing to donate grocery store gift cards for purchase of perishable items can do so in person at either the Office of Institutional Equity, Suite 105A at University Square, Suite 411 in Goldring/Woldenberg Hall I, or Suite 1730 at the medical school.

Honors for Faculty, Alumni

Tulane faculty members and alumni are being recognized for their achievements by New Orleans publications.

The Nov. 9 special issue of New Orleans CityBusiness has its annual list of the newspaper’s “50 Women of the Year,” with two Tulane faculty members and several Tulane affiliates on the list. The prestigious list acknowledges the achievement and leadership of local women in various fields.

Susan Krinsky, associate dean and lecturer in law, and Dr. Eboni Price-Haywood, assistant professor of clinical medicine and chief medical officer for the Tulane Community Health Center, are on the list. Kim Boyle, a member of the Board of Tulane, also is honored, along with Tulane alumnae Carol Asher and Mignon Faget. A luncheon on Nov. 3 at the Sheraton Hotel was held for the honorees.

Dr. Arwen Podesta, a psychiatrist and medical director of Odyssey House Louisiana, was one of Gambit's "40 Under 40," which recognizes those New Orleans area residents under the age of 40 who are making a difference in the city. She just finished a forensic psychiatry fellowship at Tulane and is now on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology.

After completing her psychiatry residency, Podesta stayed in New Orleans, and after Hurricane Katrina, she initiated mental health outreach to homeless people. Working with Unity for the Homeless, she evaluated people and referred them to appropriate treatment and providers. She also became the medical director of Odyssey House Louisiana, where she treats patients, particularly those with substance-abuse issues.  

Delving into themes of gender politics and religious issues, a new book by Adeline Masquelier, professor of anthropology and director of the religious studies program at Tulane, provides a candid look at Muslim women living in Africa today.  

The Indiana University Press published the critically acclaimed Women and Islamic Revival in a West African Town. Masquelier is a West African specialist, focusing on issues of religion and concepts of illness and healing.  

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Talk on Healthcare Reform

“How National Reform Will Affect Health Care in New Orleans” is the topic for Healthcare Forum 2009 on Thursday (Nov. 12) at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal St.

Presented by the Healthcare Management Student Leadership Association, the forum in Diboll Auditorium begins at 7 p.m. but doors open at 6:30 p.m.

The presentation will feature New Orleans healthcare leaders. Panelists will include Dr. Roxanne Townsend, CEO, Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division and Interim LSU Public Hospital; Nancy Cassagne, CEO, West Jefferson Medical Center; Dr. Ben Sachs, senior vice president and dean, Tulane School of Medicine; Dr. Karen DeSalvo, vice dean, community affairs and health policy, Tulane School of Medicine; W. Ob Soonthornsima, CIO, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana; and Tony Keck, deputy secretary, Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

Moderating the forum will be Julia Hughes, clinical associate professor, Tulane Department of Health Systems Management.

For more information, e-mail Lisa Ward, president of the Healthcare Management Student Leadership Association.

Healthy Holiday Eating

A seminar on “Healthy Holiday Eating,” sponsored by the Workforce Management Organization and TUWellness, will be held on Thursday (Nov. 12) at the downtown health sciences campus.

The seminar will take place from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. in room 1201 at 1440 Canal St. It will include topics such as discovering different holiday food traditions; learning strategies to avoid over-indulging; learning how to “lighten-up” favorite holiday recipes; and testing knowledge about holiday food safety.

Presenting the session will be Kristin Hooper, clinical social worker at the Maple Street Center for Counseling and Psychotherapy.  

The seminar is open to all, but an RSVP is encouraged.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009  

Fundraiser for Farmers  

A class of first-year Tulane students has organized a fundraiser that takes place today (Nov. 10) at Fresco Café and Pizzeria, 7625 Maple St., for the Latino Farmers Cooperative of Louisiana.  

The students are raising funds for the cooperative as part of a leadership TIDES — Tulane InterDisciplinary Experience Seminars — activity. All day today, Fresco will donate 20 percent of any food order when any customer mentions TIDES or the cooperative.  

"This is a great opportunity to help an organization doing very important work in our community," said Ana Lopez, who is teaching the course. She is associate provost at Tulane.  

Vote for Tulane School  

Online voting ends on Sunday (Nov. 15) in a drive that could promote the Tulane School of Continuing Studies as one of the state's "Best Places to Learn Something New" for citizens age 50 and older.  

The voting in various categories is part of a new program called Encore Louisiana — the Official Guide to Louisiana Living for Boomers and Beyond, and a related website.  

People age 50 and above can go online through Nov. 15 and vote for their favorite organizations in 10 categories, including top destination and attractions, favorite festivals, best places to work and more. The winners known as the "Top 50 for 50+" will be announced in December.

Monday, November 9, 2009

HIV/AIDS Awareness Takes Stage at Voodoo Fest

Two Tulane physicians used the Voodoo Experience 2009 festival to stage a demonstration of the oral HIV/AIDS test, with the help of a musician.

On Halloween night (Oct. 31) at the music festival in City Park, Dr. Ritchie Witzig and Dr. MarkAlain Dery of the Tulane infectious diseases faculty worked with musician Jello Biafra and his group, the Guantanamo School of Medicine, to demonstrate the oral HIV test between songs during their live set.

“This collaboration between ‘medical schools’ appears to be the first oral HIV/AIDS testing demonstration ever done live on stage by a well-known artist,” Witzig said.

After the live oral HIV testing demonstration with Witzig and Dery, Biafra and his band launched into a song from their just-released Audacity of Hype album called “Cells That Would Not Die.” The song chronicles how the immortal HeLa research cell line was discovered, perpetuated and ubiquitously used in biomedical research, Witzig said.

Biafra’s new song will be included on the Tulane University-generated World HIV/AIDS Music Project website, scheduled to go online on World AIDS Day, Dec 1. The website will be the first of its kind to document and translate world music that mentions HIV/AIDS.

The project team welcomes suggestions of any song in any language that mentions HIV and/or AIDS. This project is spearheaded on the medical campus by Witzig and Dery, and on the uptown campus by Nghana Lewis, associate professor of English and director of African and African Diaspora Studies.

Poetry Reading Scheduled

C. D. Wright, the 11th Florie Gale Arons Poet at Tulane, will give a reading at 7:30 p.m. today (Nov. 9) in the Freeman Auditorium at the Woldenberg Art Center on the uptown campus.

She has published a dozen collections, most recently, Rising, Falling, Hovering (2008). In 2007 Like Something Flying Backwards, New and Selected Poems was published in England.

Her collaboration with photographer Deborah Luster in One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana received the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize; a text edition also was released in 2007. Steal Away was on the international shortlist of the Griffin Trust Award. String Light won the 1992 Poetry Center book Award.

Wright is the Israel J. Kapstein Professor at Brown University and lives outside of Providence with her husband, poet Forrest Gander.

Florie Gale Arons graduated from Newcomb College in 1950. Her daughters established the poetry program in 1999 in honor of her 70th birthday.

Friday, November 6, 2009

News on Faculty, Staff Members

Accolades from Gambit Weekly’s “40 Under Forty,” a piano recital and new track and field coaching staff members lead recent news highlights for Tulane faculty and staff members.

Shannon Jones, executive director of the Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, and Dr. Christy Valentine, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics, are among the honorees in the latest issue of Gambit Weekly’s “40 Under Forty” which recognizes those New Orleans area residents under the age of 40 who are making a difference in the city.

Valentine established Valentine Medical Center in November 2005 to help bring affordable, quality health care to the New Orleans area. She is organizing a citywide food drive to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank using the theme “Strive for Five,” urging citizens to select food from the five basic food groups.

Jones helped secure more than $10 million in funding for the Cowen Institute, launched a college readiness program for public high school students and assembled two reports on the state of public education in New Orleans.

Faina Lushtak, distinguished artist and professor of piano at Tulane, presented a recital on Nov. 2 on “Musical Treasures: A Program of Favorite Encores” at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The recital included works by Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev and others.

Eric Peterson, Tulane director of cross country and track and field, finalized his coaching staff by adding Hasani Roseby as sprint coach, Justin Johnson as multi/jumps coach, and 2008 Olympian Leigh Smith as throws coach. All three were standouts in collegiate track and field, as each earned top 10 status in the U.S. Track & Field rankings in their respective events during their careers.

Roseby makes her first foray into collegiate coaching after retiring this summer as a standout sprinter. A three-time All-American, Roseby was a member of the NCAA Division I national championship team at the University of California–Los Angeles in 2004.

Johnson was the 2009 runner-up in the heptathlon at the USATF Indoor Championships and comes from a strong jumping program at California State University–Northridge.

In 2008, Smith represented the United States at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he placed 18th in the qualifying round of the javelin competition.

Art From Undergraduates

The Carroll Gallery in the Woldenberg Art Center is presenting its 2009–2010 Undergraduate Juried Exhibition through Nov. 24.

Dale Newkirk, gallery director and professor of fine arts at Southeastern Louisiana University, was juror for the exhibition. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Thursday, November 5, 2009  

Communications Work Wins Honors  

In the Public Relations Society of America competition in New Orleans, the Tulane communications staff won three Anvil Awards — the society's highest honor — and four excellence awards.  

The Tulane office, which includes public relations, web communications and publications staff members, received Anvil Awards for:  

• The May 2009 University Commencement ceremony that featured Ellen DeGeneres as guest speaker. Received in the category of brief special events and observances, Tulane was jointly honored with Mouton Media and Robinson et al Marketing & Public Relations, two New Orleans consulting groups who worked with Tulane on the ceremony.  
  
  
• Crisis communications work during Hurricane Gustav. The award was given as the top honor in crisis communication for nonprofit organizations.  
  
  
• The Tulane on Track fundraising campaign, a joint project with the Tulane development office and Mouton Media in the internal relations category. The successful project used an Internet- and e-mail-based campaign featuring videos to reach alumni, with 15,132 donor responses, a 7 percent increase from the previous year.  

Excellence awards went to New Wave, the university's web-based news portal, and to three projects jointly submitted by Tulane and Mouton Media — the "Getting Ellen" submission in the online video category; the 2009 Commencement "Thank you" video for CD/DVD/video/film productions; and the Tulane admission magazine in the external publications category.  

Special Events for Wave Football  

For its final home football game this season on Saturday (Nov. 7), Tulane will admit schoolchildren free of charge if they bring proof of receiving an "A" on a report card or graded assignment.  

"Bring Your 'A' Game — Celebrating Education in New Orleans" is the theme for the game, with a 2:30 p.m. kickoff against the University of Texas–El Paso in the Louisiana Superdome. Parents and families of "A" students are given a special price of $5 for end zone tickets and $10 for sideline tickets.  

In addition, five schools under Tulane Athletics' Devlin S-AFE Center's "Wave Days" program also will attend the game free-of-charge. Tulane will honor 500 outstanding students chosen from Martin Behrman Charter Elementary, Pierre A. Capdau-UNO Charter Elementary, Dr. Martin Luther King Charter School, James Johnson Elementary and Sophie B. Wright Elementary.  

Chosen students from those schools will receive a tour of the Superdome, pre-game interactive events with the Green Wave student-athletes, game tickets and the opportunity to form the tunnel for the Tulane football team as the players run out onto the field. Tailgating activities for students include bounce houses, face painting and music from members of the U.S. Navy Band, as Tulane has collaborated with the Navy to celebrate "New Orleans Navy Week 2009." 

WJS Enterprises is sponsoring "Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day" so that Tulane University employees will receive free admission. Family and friends who accompany a Tulane employee may purchase tickets for only $5. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 861-9283, visiting the ticket office in the Wilson Center on campus, or on game day at the Superdome.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Conference for Architects

The Tulane School of Architecture will host a continuing education conference on “Issues and Case Studies in Sustainable Design” on Nov. 14 on the uptown campus.

Designed for alumni of the school as well as the New Orleans area architecture community, the conference will be held from 8 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. in the Stibbs Room of the Lavin-Bernick Center.

John P. Klingman, Favrot Professor in the Tulane School of Architecture, will discuss “Green Building: Precedents from New Orleans and Tulane University.” Topics of other speakers will include “Preservation is Sustainable: Case Studies,” “Pleasure and Performance and Case Studies” and “Cradle-to-Cradle Design for the Built Environment.”

Seating is limited, so early registration is recommended. For more details, contact Louise Saenz, conference coordinator, at 504-309-6771.

Learn About Jazz Funerals

A new video about New Orleans’ jazz funeral tradition features historic photos from the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University.

Produced by the Times-Picayune and NOLA.com, the video, “When Is a Jazz Funeral not a Jazz Funeral?” also includes contemporary video footage and explores the history of this unique cultural practice. It features the music of a variety of local brass bands as they play for funerals and parades on city streets.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009  

Memorial Service Planned for Dr. Ed Newsome  

A memorial service will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday (Nov. 4) for Dr. Ed Newsome, chief of the Tulane Division of Plastic Surgery, who was found dead in his home on Saturday (Oct. 31).  

The service to celebrate Newsome's life and legacy will be held in the School of Medicine auditorium at 1430 Tulane Ave.  

Newsome, who also was assistant dean for graduate medical education, joined the Tulane faculty in 1998 in the Department of Surgery. He held the William Henderson Chair in surgery and had a special interest in reconstructive surgery, complex wounds, lower extremity salvage, skin cancer and melanoma.  

Newsome's colleague, Dr. Douglas Slakey, Regents Professor and chair of surgery, said in an announcement of the memorial service that Newsome "had an unequaled commitment to the academic mission of Tulane University School of Medicine. He worked tirelessly to establish a unified plastic surgery residency in southern Louisiana. In realizing his vision, he created one of the premier plastic surgery training programs in the country."  

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Newsome worked both to provide patient care and to ensure that the Tulane residents and students continued to receive their education and training, Slakey said.  

Writers Talk About Writing  

Short-story writer Deborah Eisenberg, a recent recipient of a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation, will visit Tulane on Wednesday (Nov. 4) to launch a new Writer's Writer Series.  

She will speak at 6:30 p.m. in the Cudd Hall Common Room on the uptown campus. Described by The New York Times as "one of the most important fiction writers now at work," Eisenberg is an influential figure in contemporary American fiction.  

She is the author of four collections: Transactions in a Foreign Currency (1986), Under the 82nd Airborne (1992), All Around Atlantis (1997) and Twilight of the Superheroes (2006). She lives in New York City, and teaches creative writing at the University of Virginia.  

In awarding Eisenberg the "genus grant," the MacArthur Foundation characterized her work as "an unusually distinctive portrait of contemporary American life." The prestigious MacArthur fellowship awards a five-year, $500,000 prize to a select group of "genius" creative artists.  

The Writer's Writer Series is sponsored by the Department of English Creative Writing Fund. The second visitor in the Writer's Writer Series this academic year will be essayist Edmund White on February 1, 2010. For more information contact the Department of English at 504-865-5160.  

Monday, November 2, 2009
 

Walk to Wellness

TUWellness is rolling out the third walking program in 2009, WalkWELL, beginning on Monday, Nov. 9, and ending on Sunday, Dec. 20.
 
WalkWELL is a six-week walking fitness program for Tulane employees with a three-tiered approach to walking, each tier led by a goal: improved health, weight loss or fitness.
 
“You will follow a walking plan, depending upon the goal you choose, in order to earn points to receive incentives at the end,” says Erica Taylor, wellness coordinator.
 
Interested Tulane employees can attend an informational session from 12:15–1 p.m. at these locations: today (Nov. 2) at 1440 Canal St., Room 105; Tuesday (Nov. 3) at the Lavin-Bernick Center, Stibbs Room (203), and Friday (Nov. 6) at the Tulane National Primate Research Center Auditorium.
 
For more information, contact Erica Taylor.
 

Artists Explore Work at Studio

A Studio in the Woods has begun a new series of residencies, choosing four artists for “Changing Landscapes: A Dialogue Between Art and the Environment.” An event featuring the first artist will be held on Saturday (Nov. 7).
 
The studio, a program of Tulane University, is located on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish and is dedicated to preserving the endangered bottomland hardwood forest, providing within it a peaceful retreat where visual, literary and performing artists can work uninterrupted.

On Saturday starting at 10 a.m., installation artist Tory Tepp will kick off “The Spirit Ferry Project,” a public art piece conceived during his studio residency. He will be “art-scaping” at a site in the Bywater neighborhood at 3429 Burgundy St., at the corner of Gallier Street. The art-scaping will take place from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., followed by festivities from 2–4 p.m.
 
“The Spirit Ferry Project” is a mobile installation Tepp has fabricated in the form of a boat from a 10-foot flatbed trailer that he is calling a portable “art-scaping” unit. Its cargo will include two cubic yards of soil, seeds and the tools and equipment to build and plant living installations in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes.  The project will involve volunteers from both areas and will include physical earth-shaping and structural fabrication. Tepp is from Los Angeles, Calif.
 
Changing Landscapes are six-week residencies funded in part by the Ford Foundation, the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. The upcoming artists are David Sullivan of New Orleans (November–December 2009), Karen Rich Beall of Lebanon, Pa., (January–February 2010), and Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts of New York (February–April 2010).
 
For additional information, call 504-392-5359.