Tulane University: This Is BIG: Report of the President 2012

We helped discover big things such as a 1,300 yearold Maya text that turned out to be only the second known reference to the so-called “end date” of the Maya calendar.

We created big things like the Donna and Paul Flower Hall for Research and Innovation that will be a catalyst for Tulane’s emergence as a science and engineering powerhouse.

We helped heal some big men, becoming one of only seven institutions nationwide to join the NFL’s Neurological Care Program for retired players.

We made big plans, too, for projects like Yulman Stadium that will bring Tulane football back to campus where it was born and where it belongs.

We made big news by researching more effective ways to combat future oil spills.

We moved in big-hearted ways, working with Tibetan refugees in India and empowering others to build a better world.

One of our students even won “Big Brother.”

So, yes, it was a big year and inside this report we tell you a little bit more about the people and events that made it so big…

Scott S. Cowen President

r eport of the pr esident 2012

below: pr esident scott cowen, richar d and janet yulman, gayle and tom benson, jill and avie glazer, and athletic dir ector rick dick son at the stadium announcement pr ess confer ence.

CREATING BIG PLANS

“ Y o u’l l l ove it ”. It was a thrilling announcement on Nov. 1—Richard and Janet Yulman donated the lead gift toward construction of Yulman Stadium, which will open in time for the 2014 football season and give Tulane a true “home field advantage.” Other lead gifts came from New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson and his wife, Gayle, and Jill and Avram Glazer. “It is a testament to Tulane’s place in New Orleans and nationally when the members of your board and one of the city’s greatest business and civic leaders join together to make this dream a reality,” President Scott Cowen said proudly. “The entire Tulane family thanks them, as well as the hundreds of other donors, for their commitment to our athletics department, university and community.”

With fundraising closing in on the goal for the project, Tulane is looking forward to the stadium’s groundbreaking in 2013. As Richard Yulman said, “Tulane football has a storied history and belongs on this campus. We are glad to help bring it back home.”

clockwise from below: dev lin fieldhouse gives a nod to the past, using the old gym floor as art in the lobby; benenson plaza; an interior view of the r enovated dev lin fieldhouse; flower hall is flank ed by a majestic old oak; r endering of futur e zimple house.

New home, historic setting. Work began in November on Zimple House, the newest residential college on the uptown campus. It’s another step in our big plans to add more residential options for Tulane students. When it opens in 2014, 256 students will call it home. Zimple House will fulfill a dream of campus architect James Gamble Rogers, who in 1912 envisioned a building that would flank Newcomb Hall on the Zimple Quad, as Josephine Louise Hall does on the opposite corner.

Rest o r i n g t h e Wav e . It’s a big, new day for Green Wave athletics. A year ago we dedicated the Hertz Center, our new practice facility for basketball and volleyball teams.

Soon we will break ground on our new stadium and bring football back to campus. And this year we revamped the building where basketball and volleyball games are played and renamed it Devlin Fieldhouse. We’re proud to restore many historic elements in this 1939 facility, the ninth-oldest basketball venue in the nation, while giving our fans and players a top-notch game-day experience.

Big moment for r esearch. We proudly dedicated the Donna and Paul Flower Hall for Research and Innovation in December, a facility that will create opportunities for collaboration by both faculty, students and the area’s growing biotechnology industry. Located in the heart of the uptown campus, Flower Hall provides a contemporary space for studies that bridge academia and industry; we expect it to spur an increase in discoveries, technology licenses, patents and startup businesses.

A new v i e w . The green quads on the uptown campus form the perfect setting for outdoor classes and events. Now Benenson Plaza gives us a new viewpoint outside Newcomb Hall, with benches, tables and lighting for both studying and relaxation.

It’s the vision of the Benenson family, who also made possible the McAlister Place Pedestrian Way, to beautify the green expanse in the middle of campus.

MAK ING GLOBAL DISCOVERIES

B ig D ig . Far from the uptown campus a team led by Tulane archaeologist Marcello Canuto, director of the Middle American Research Institute, made an astounding discovery. At a remote site in Guatemala the team found a 1,300-year-old Maya text with only the second known reference to the so-called “end date” of the Maya calendar, Dec. 21, 2012. The text carved on an ancient staircase referred to political history and was not a prediction of apocalypse, Canuto found. And so it turned out!

Focus on r esilience. It was a huge year for the Tulane Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy, which joined the School of Social Work in July and celebrated its second year of offering an interdisciplinary master’s program. In January DRLA received a $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help universities in disaster-prone regions in Africa and Asia establish a network of programs in disaster resilience and leadership. Then, in November, DRLA became part of Resilient Africa, a consortium that also includes Stanford University. This group has a $25 million federal grant to work with 20 African universities in 16 countries in strengthening the resilience of their communities. it tak es a village and a student.

Kupikia Tanzania! is a small cookbook with a big heart that was the brainchild of Tulane senior Angela Czesak. She spent time volunteering in East Africa, thanks to funding from the Newcomb College Institute and the Gordon Summer Fellowship.

Working with women in her adopted village of Arusha, Tanzania, Czesak self-published the cookbook to spread the word about their traditional dishes and raise funds to support higher education opportunities for young women in that country.

clockwise from left: the mayan calendar; cook book to benefit tanzanian women; k y lu, head of the disaster r esilence leadership academy; Angela czesak.

Think ing

small:

a

b ig

i d e a . Neigh-

borhood-based health care is a growing trend in medicine, and Tulane is on the forefront. In June we dedicated the Ruth U. Fertel/Tulane Community Health Center and Brinton Family Health & Healing Center, built within the former home of the iconic Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Mid-City New Orleans. The renovated, 11,000-square-foot center offers high-quality, costeffective health care to residents, whether they have insurance or not. It is more than triple the size of the clinic’s former location at Covenant House, with a capacity of 1,500 patient visits per month.

F oo d f o r t h o ug h t . Tulane is leading another healthcare innovation in developing a program in culinary medicine as a way to prevent and manage obesity. Our School of Medicine is collaborating with Johnson & Wales University, a major culinary institution, to implement a curriculum for doctors, medical students, chefs and the community. Watch for more news on this health front in 2013.

Public h e alt h af t e r t h e o i l s p i l l.

Environmental health concerns hit our region after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, but our School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is leading a major effort to help the Gulf Coast.

Two grants totaling $18.7 million came to Tulane this year, including a $15 million, five-year program to develop a network of environmental health experts to work with Gulf Coast physicians.

That work includes training health workers in disaster preparedness and establishing an emerging scholars program at area high schools. An additional $3.7 million grant is for studying environmental health risks to seafood and Gulf Coast communities. Both projects are coordinated by Dr. Maureen Lichtveld, who holds the Freeport McMoRan Chair of Environmental Policy.

clockwise from left: the ruth u. fertel/tulane community health center and brinton family health and healing center; dr, gr egory stewart with tulane center for sport; a satellite photo of the bp oil spill; a chef demonstrates food pr eparation through the new culinary medicine program.

POWERFUL HEALING B r a i n ex pe rt s. The National Football League has

Young

selected Tulane as one of only seven institutions in the country to

The Tulane Center for Aging is working to develop the careers of

be part of its Neurological Care Program for retired players. The

promising young biomedical scientists involved in aging research.

program gives former players special access to the nation’s leading

A $10.4 million grant this year from the National Institutes of

neurological hospitals for comprehensive evaluation of brain and

Health will help the careers of five junior faculty from three

spinal function. Our chair of neurology, Dr. Roger Kelley, and Dr.

different schools within our university. Directing the grant is

Gregory Stewart, medical director of Tulane Centers for Physical

S. Michal Jazwinski, director of the center who holds the John

Medicine and Rehabilitation, will lead the program on our cam-

W. Deming, MD Regents Chair in Aging.

pus. This is just part of the success story for our sports medicine area. We are also developing the Tulane Center for Sport, a multidisciplinary program for athletes and sports institutions. You’ll be hearing more about this initiative in 2013.

scientists

study

aging.

BIG STUDENT-POWERED INNOVATIONS

Better birth control. While still at Tulane, 2010 biomedical engineering major Ben Cappiello designed a product that makes it easier to insert an intrauterine device (IUD). Now his company, Bioceptive, is planning to market it around the globe. The biotech business this fall won $5,000 in a contest sponsored by the New Orleans Bioinnovation Center, a business incubator for bioscience entrepreneurship.

Cle a n an d gr een. Ingenuity from a group of Tulane engineers spawned the biotech startup company NanoFex, now working out of the New Orleans Bioinnovation Center. The Tulane spinout uses nanotechnology derived from Louisiana cane sugar and crab and crawfish shells to capture and break down groundwater contaminants such as solvents, arsenic and heavy metals. The scientific adviser for NanoFex is Vijay John, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and an expert in chemical remediation. John’s doctoral students did critical work on the technology that made NanoFex possible. The innovative company won a $50,000 Tulane Challenge prize during New Orleans Entrepreneur Week in July.

S y n t h e t ic f u e l . When Brandon Iglesias was a student at the A. B. Freeman School of Business, he founded ReactWell, a venture with a plan to turn waste and biomass into clean, synthetic crude oil. He graduated last year and continues to make Tulane proud, earning the $20,000 grand prize at the Domain Companies New Orleans Entrepreneur Challenge. ReactWell also is housed at the Bioinnovation Center.

clockwise from top left: Ben capiello of Bioceptive; nanofex technology illustration; Taylor Gilbert, (left), and Brandon Iglesias, won the 2012 Domain Companies New Or leans entr epr eneur challange; professor vijay john demonstrates the effects of nanofex.

M o v i n g u p . The announcement came in late November

C e n t e n n i a l c e l e b r a t i o n . It was quite a

at a press conference packed with news media: Tulane accepted

big birthday year for the School of Public Health and Tropical

an invitation to join the BIG EAST Conference in all sports, be-

Medicine, which celebrated 100 years of global health during a

ginning in the 2014-15 season. Making the announcement were

series of events in November. With its roots in the study of

President Scott Cowen and BIG EAST Conference Commissioner

malaria, cholera and yellow fever, the school got its formal start in

Mike Aresco. “This is yet another step forward for our athletics

1912 when a gift from businessman Samuel Zemurray instituted

program and Tulane University,” Tulane Director of Athletics

the country’s first School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at

Rick Dickson said.

Tulane. Now in the top tier of accredited schools of public health, it enrolls students from more than 40 countries who study in areas

ou t . Combine business and international

such as biostatistics, community health, environmental health

studies and what do you have? A dual degree program that’s

and tropical medicine, then spread out across the globe to help

sure to prepare students for the global business environment.

communities large and small. Its distinguished faculty members

That’s the plan behind the new Jeffery A. Altman Program in

are at work searching for cures for malaria and HIV/AIDS, investi-

International Studies and Business, funded by an $8.3 million

gating the impact of environmental disasters and leading the fight

pledge from the Altman Foundation. Students began enrolling

against obesity, to name just a few of their global concerns.

M o v in g

in the program this fall, pursuing a rigorous curriculum that includes courses in business, foreign language and culture, along

S e v e n - y e a r h i t c h . A dozen Newcomb College

with a year of study abroad.

graduates took a vacation to New Orleans in late November to swing hammers and pound nails, their seventh year to return and help build a Habitat for Humanity house here. Traveling from California, Illinois, New York, Washington and other states, they reunite to pitch in and help folks in their adopted city. “I keep coming back because the story keeps getting better,” says alumna Rachelle Galanti Parker.

Clockwise from top right: Newcomb grads return to help Habitat for Humanity in New Or leans; A. B. Freeman students benefit from the new Altman Program in International Studies and Business; the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine celebrates its centennial year with a 1912 birthday cak e.

all about empowerment

ONE BIG FAMILY M u s ic i s t h e k e y . At Commencement 2012, jazz musician Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews received the Tulane President’s Medal for his work in the New Orleans community. Not to blow our own horn, but now the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South at Tulane is collaborating with him to launch the Trombone Shorty Academy. Promising high school musicians will come to our campus for music lessons, with Tulane students in our service-learning program assisting as mentors to help guide a new generation of musical artists toward college and greatness.

clockwise from left: dean k enneth schwartz accompanies Seaside Heights Borough Administrator John Camera along the jersey shor e; center for public service volunteers build a playground; trombone shorty entertains the crowd during commencement 2012.

R e a c h i n g o u t . Our Center for Public Service continues to be a national model for service-learning programs. This team of service-minded students, faculty and administrators is making a big difference wherever they go, from schools around the block to villages across the world.

The numbers tell the story—in this past academic year CPS offered 263 service-learning course sections in which students work on projects with community partner agencies and link that experience to classroom studies. All told, CPS students performed a total of 180,675 hours of service to the community valued at more than $3 million.

Being

n e ig h b o r ly . The damage wrought

by Hurricane Sandy looked all too familiar. Reaching out to help was partly repaying the generous assistance that came Tulane’s way after Hurricane Katrina. Two of our School of Social Work graduate students left class to join their Red Cross Disaster Action Team in the Northeast, delivering food and blankets to storm-ravaged communities. A delegation led by John Clements, professor and chair of microbiology and immunology and our senior health sciences investigator on the ground after Katrina, met with colleagues at New York University School of Medicine in November to share lessons Tulane learned in storm recovery. Then, in December, School of Architecture Dean Kenneth Schwartz traveled to storm-damaged Seaside Heights, N.J., to work with colleagues at the New Jersey Institute of Technology on recovery and rebuilding plans for the Jersey Shore resort town.

BIG NEWS ON CAMPUS We’r e bringing the Dalai Lama to

H o w b ig i s t h i s ? Meet Ian Terry, the 21-year-old

NOLA! On Nov. 19, Tulane announced that His Holiness the

Tulane engineering student who won the 14th season of CBS’s

14th Dalai Lama would deliver the keynote address at the Tulane

“Big Brother” and took home $500,000. He frequently wore his

Commencement Ceremony on May 18, 2013, in the Mercedes-

Tulane T-shirt on camera for the reality series, outplaying 15

Benz Superdome. He also will participate in “Resilience: Strength

other contestants as his campus friends cheered him on each

Through Compassion and Connection,” a conference sponsored

week. What are his plans now? “I’m going to take it in stride and

by the Tulane School of Social Work on May 16–18. Social Work

be smart with the money.” He is also going to finish his degree

dean Ron Marks played a key role in the arrangements. For years

at Tulane.

Marks and his students have made trips to Tibet and India to work with refugees there.

If they named a “big tweeter on campus,” it would be Gabe Feldman, professor of law and director of the

I n t h a t n u m b e r . Tulane welcomed its largest

Sports Law Program. For the second year in a row, he was named

student body ever in the fall—13,500 students from 50 states

to the Sports Illustrated Twitter 100, a list of the top social media

and more than 100 countries. The class of 2016 is one of the most

sites for sports news and opinions. More than 28,000 Twitter

academically qualified and service-minded in Tulane history.

users follow Feldman’s Twitter handle @SportsLawGuy. Feldman

Joining them on campus are 110 new faculty members whose

is often tapped for interviews by top national media outlets.

academic specialties include accounting, gene therapy, physics, tropical medicine and more. Their faculty colleagues continue

When it comes to physics, no one seems

to gather prestigious honors. A prime example is art historian

to have bigger renown than Tulane professor John P. Perdew.

Elizabeth Boone. She was doubly honored in 2012 as a new

His newest award—and there have been many—came from the

member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the

international Materials Research Society, which presented Perdew

Mexican Academy of History. Innovations from our faculty also

with the Materials Theory Award for his “pioneering contributions

resulted in 53 invention disclosures, the filing of 22 new patents

to the fundamental development and nonempirical approxima-

and licensing income of $10.6 million. Once again, Tulane reached

tions in density functional theory.” He has been a member of

a historic level in research funding for projects sponsored by

our physics faculty since 1977.

government agencies, foundations and industry partners. The 2012 Endowment Report can be found online at http://tulane. edu/tef/annual_reports.cfm. View the 2012 Financial Report at http://www.tulane.edu/~acctoff/.