laurels

HIGHER EDUCATION CHAIR
Tufts President LAWRENCE S. BACOW has been elected chair of the executive committee of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM), a statewide organization of 56 institutions. His term runs through May 2008. Bacow has served as vice chair and as an executive committee member of the organization. Richard J. Doherty, AICUM president, termed Bacow “a highly regarded national higher education leader and a creative, visionary leader here in the Commonwealth.”

FLETCHER CENTER DIRECTOR
CHARLES BRALVER, F75, F76, has been appointed executive director of the International Business Center at the Fletcher School, directing the school’s new master of international business degree and the Center for Emerging Market Enterprises. A member of Fletcher’s Board of Overseers, he most recently led the strategic finance practice at Mercer Oliver Wyman.

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
SEAN CARROLL, who received his Ph.D. in immunology from the Sackler School in 1983, is among the 72 new fellows admitted to the National Academy of Sciences. He is a professor of molecular biology and genetics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Carroll, an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, studies how genes and genetic regulation drive the development of diverse animal forms.

AAAS FELLOWS
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has inducted three new fellows from Tufts: MADELINE H. CAVINESS, the Mary Richardson Professor of Art and Art History emerita; Tufts trustee and School of Engineering overseer BERNARD GORDON, H92; and MARTIN J. SHERWIN, the Walter S. Dickson Professor of English and American History emeritus. Caviness is a renowned scholar of medieval art, particularly medieval stained glass. Gordon is cofounder and CEO of NeuroLogica Corporation, a medical imaging company based in Danvers, Massachusetts. American Prometheus, Sherwin’s co-authored biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project physicist, won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

UMASS VP
University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson has appointed MICHAEL F. COLLINS, M81, senior vice president for health sciences and interim chancellor of UMass Medical School. Collins became the seventh chancellor of UMass Boston in June 2005. A fellow of the American College of Physicians, he has been an administrator and faculty member at Tufts School of Medicine and president and CEO of Caritas Christi Health Care, a teaching affiliate of Tufts Medical School.

YAHOO! PROMOTION
SUSAN DECKER, J84, is the new president of Yahoo! She leads the company’s business operations, which include the advertiser and publisher group, along with the Yahoo! Network, Connected Life, and international operations. A seven-year employee of the company, she most recently served as chief financial officer.

FOGARTY FELLOWS
Two health sciences students have received the Fogarty Fellowship, considered the Rhodes scholarship for students interested in world health. ELLIOTT GARBER, V09, is shipping off to India to examine infections that are communicable from animals to humans. AARON HARRIS, M09, will study cholera in Bangladesh.

BEST TEACHER
“I never thought a teacher could have such a large impact on my life. When I sat in his office, he made me feel like the world was mine to conquer.” So wrote a student about DAVID GARMAN, associate professor of economics and the 2007 recipient of the Lillian and Joseph Leibner Award for Distinguished Teaching and Advising. Garman joined the faculty in 1984, and his classes in econometrics, while challenging, have been widely praised by his students.

FLETCHER OVERSEER
NIHAL W. GOONEWARDENE, F73, F74, F75, has been appointed to the Board of Overseers to the Fletcher School. He was the first Sri Lankan to attend Fletcher, and is president and CEO of International Science and Technology Institute Inc. in Arlington, Virginia.

AGRICULTURE POST
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has appointed KATE HOUSTON, N99, deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services. She is responsible for developing dietary guidance and administering the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s nutrition assistance programs. Houston had been deputy administrator for special nutrition programs for the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. In 2005, she received the Food Research and Action Center’s Distinguished Service to Congress award.

SCREENWRITING AWARD
Hollywood writer and producer BRIAN KOPPELMAN, A88, won the Sarasota Film Festival’s 2007 Excellence in Screenwriting Award. He wrote the screenplays for Rounders and Knockaround Guys and produced The Illusionist. His latest screenwriting project, Ocean’s Thirteen, hit theaters in June. Koppelman began his professional career in the music business. At Tufts, he befriended aspiring musician TRACY CHAPMAN, J86, H04, and helped produce her first album.

COLLEGE PRESIDENTS
KAREN LAWRENCE, G73, became the tenth president of Sarah Lawrence College on August 1. She had been the dean of the School of Humanities and professor of English at the University of California at Irvine since 1998. “In her position at UC Irvine, Dr. Lawrence was a champion of the liberal arts, pioneering the establishment of interdisciplinary programs among the humanities, the arts, and the sciences,” said Robert Riggs, chair of Sarah Lawrence College’s Board of Trustees. “We know that as our president, she will be an effective and articulate ambassador.” A widely respected English literature scholar and teacher (her master’s from Tufts is in English), Lawrence has a special interest in James Joyce, travel writing, and feminist theory. WILLIAM F. OWEN JR., M80, has been appointed president of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), the nation’s largest public health-sciences university. Owen, who most recently served as chancellor of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, is the fifth president and first African-American chief executive of UMDNJ.

TENNIS ACE
JENNIFER LUTEN, A07, tri-captain of the Tufts women’s tennis team, became the program’s all-time leader in singles victories on April 10 with an impressive 6–4, 6–2 win over Amherst College’s Alicia Menezes. It was the 59th victory of her Jumbo career. Luten surpassed the record of 58 victories held by IFFY SAEED, A03.

BRANDEIS DEAN
BRUCE MAGID, F74, F75, F77, is the new dean of the Brandeis International Business School at Brandeis University. He had served as dean of the College of Business at San Jose State University since July 2005.

COMMUNITY SERVICE
LONNIE H. NORRIS, DG80, dean of the School of Dental Medicine, was honored by the Mattapan Community Health Center with its 2007 Community Health Pinnacle Award for “exemplifying strong leadership in community health care” and for his “outstanding work in community-focused oral health.” The Mattapan center is a comprehensive health-delivery organization that serves individuals from the Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury, and Hyde Park neighborhoods of Boston as well as Brockton, Randolph, and Stoughton. The center, established in 1972, serves more than 7,000 people each year.

NBC TV HEAD
BEN SILVERMAN, A92, has landed what he calls his “dream job”: cochair of NBC’s television and entertainment business. Described by the New York Times as “one of the hottest young production talents in television,” Silverman is the creative force behind ABC’s Ugly Betty and NBC’s The Office. He also helped bring reality hits like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Big Brother, and The Biggest Loser to the small screen. He will head NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio, along with longtime NBC executive Marc Graboff.

TOP SKIPPER
KAITY STORCK, A08, the A skipper for the Tufts women’s sailing team, was rewarded for her strong performances this year as one of nine Intercollegiate Sailing Association All-Americans for the 2006–07 season. She is the only member of the All-American team from New England, confirming her status as the top collegiate skipper in the area.

HEBREW COLLEGE HONOR
Rabbi JEFFREY SUMMIT, G88, G95, executive director of Tufts Hillel and associate university chaplain, received Hebrew College’s highest academic honor, the Dr. Benjamin J. Shevach Memorial Award for distinguished achievement in Jewish educational leadership, during commencement ceremonies June 3 at the school in Newton, Massachusetts. Hebrew College President David Gordis presented the award. Summit teaches in Tufts’ Judaic Studies program and in the Department of Music.