The Tufts Daily
Commencement 2012
5
News
Professor of Chemistry Robert Dewald retires after 47 years on the Hill by
Patrick McGrath
Daily Editorial Board
Professor of Chemistry Robert Dewald has retired after spending 47 years at Tufts. Dewald first came to Tufts in 1965 and is particularly well-known for his role as an instructor for introductory chemistry, which he began teaching in 1972. “He’s been teaching our introductor y chemistr y courses for years, and I think that he has pushed students to work hard and succeed, but he’s also been willing to spend the time with them and help them be successful as well,” Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Chemistry Department Arthur Utz said. Dewald received his bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan College and received his Ph.D in chemistry from Michigan State University, where he also accompanied a professor on a sabbatical trip to Germany. Dewald did his Ph.D research in Germany at the Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry as a guest of Manfred Eigen, who several years later won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. After earning his Ph.D, Dewald served in the army before coming to Tufts. Dewald said the chemistry department has improved significantly during his time on the Hill.
“The chemistry department in my opinion has become a much stronger department in the last 20 years especially,” Dewald said. Although the school has changed, colleagues commended Dewald for his steadfast attention to his work and to his students. “I think he’s continued to have high expectations and he’s continued to be supportive of students,” Utz said. “I think that students have changed over the years, and so in some ways that’s been the bigger change, but he’s continued to try to work closer with students, get to know them well and help them out.” In recognition of Dewald’s service at Tufts, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Tufts Medical Center Mark Latina (LA ’76), who took a number of Dewald’s classes, started the Robert R. Dewald Scholarship Fund to support student research over the summer. “He helped students understand how to communicate with the rest of the scientific community, even outside the university, so that was a very important learning point,” Latina said. “So I thought that we should try to give him some recognition for all the students and all the work that he’s done for us, and the best way, in my opinion, was to start this student summer fellowship in his name.”
Tufts Chemistry Department
Professor of Chemistry Robert Dewald has retired after teaching at Tufts for 47 years. Students compete for the Professor of Chemistry Albert scholarship through an appli- Robbat Jr.. cation process. Two under- Latina said that $50,000 has graduates were selected to already been donated to the receive the award at Dewald’s scholarship fund, but he is retirement event earlier this week, according to Associate see DEWALD, page 6
School of Dental Medicine launches new combined-degree program
Daily Editorial Board Tufts’ School of Dental Medicine earlier this year launched a Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) and Master of Public Health (MPH) dualby Stephanie
Haven
degree program in an effort to create a course of study for dentists interested in community-based oral health, according to Mark Nehring, professor and chair of the Department of Public Health and Community Service.
“The goal of the proposed combined DMD/MPH program is to recruit and retain a diverse and competent dental public health workforce,” Nehring told the Daily in an see DENTIST, page 7
Ashley Seenauth / The Tufts Daily
Tufts’ School of Dental Medicine has launched a dual-degree program to support dentists interested in community-based oral health.
Tufts posts perfect pass rate on AICP exam by
Melissa Wang
Daily Editorial Board
Tufts graduate students in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) who elected to take the annual American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) exam from 2004 to 2011 have accrued a 100 percent pass rate, according to recently released data by the American Planning Association (APA). As a result, all of the students have been inducted into AICP, the APA’s institute that certifies professionals in urban and regional planning. “After two years of graduation [from a school with an accredited degree for urban planning], students can sit for the AICP exam, which is the professional accreditation,” UEP Professor and Chair Julian Agyeman said. “It’s based around planning processes and ethics and is basically what certifies you to become a professional planner.” Ann Urosevich, a UEP department administrator, said that 18 Tufts students have taken the exam over the past eight years. “[In the statistics] we were lumped together with universities that had between 18 and 42 attempts, and we were the only university among that group that had a 100 percent pass rate,” she said. According to an April 27 press release from the Department of see UEP, page 6
Umbrella program still under discussion C2D
continued from page 3
ary field of growing interest and importance, the establishment of a Minor in Asian American Studies would reinforce Tufts’ leadership role among institutions of higher education, and it would strengthen Tufts’ mission and reputation as an incubation of active citizens and global leaders addressing social problems in the wider world,” the proposal said. The proposal also noted that the 1997 report of the Tufts University Task Force on Race recognized the need for more programs that acknowledge the importance of race and ethnicity issues and meet the academic interests and demands of a diverse student body. “A more extensive examination of Tufts history, however, reveals that students and faculty have advocated for curricular offerings relevant to Africana Studies and an appropriate major since the early 1970s after the 1969 founding of the African American Cultural Center at Tufts (later renamed the Africana Center),” the proposal said. The student body’s desire for these programs is clearly demonstrated, according to Regalado. “The demand is there. For example, Race in America is one of the most popular classes that is offered on campus, and there will be a lot of courses like that within this program for all those different settings, for all those different majors,” she said. “With that one course, you can see there’s really high demand for dissecting race, dissecting gender, sex, power, social justice, and that’s definitely something I hope to see happen and students take on for the future.”
The C2D program was initially suggested as a secondary major or co-major, similar to the structure of the Community Health program, Regalado said. “From the faculty’s point of view, they were talking about how that could help really concentrate on a subject matter and really help them become well rounded academically if it was a co-major,” she said. Since the program is still in its initial planning stages, the “Critical Studies in Disparities and Diasporas” title has not been confirmed and is still under discussion within the LA&J Committee on Curricula, according to Regalado. “The faculty are debating what would students want to take because Race in America has the word ‘race’ in it as a course, and that’s really appealing,” she said. “So a lot of the faculty agree maybe we should say it right out — specifically race, specifically society. One of the titles that came up for the critical studies major was Critical Studies: Race, Sex, Social Justice and Power.” The proposed C2D program would allow students to take existing courses, as well as to select from new ones specifically designed for the major. “I really hope the students, when this is offered, consider taking a course or two, even if they’re not majoring in it, just to take something to open their eyes and look at the world differently and in a more positive light,” Regalado said. Faculty on the LA&J Committee on Curricula declined to comment on the Program in Critical Studies in Disparities and Diasporas, which is pending discussion at the May 22 School of Arts and Sciences faculty retreat.