Tulane december 2015 by Tulane University

TUlane Adventures Abroad

THE MAGAZINE OF TULANE UNIVERSITY

Study around the world expands horizons, opens minds

Sports Network

Athletic pros behind the scenes and on the field

December 2015

Global Reach

Stages of Arrival

Thomas Beller settles into New Orleans

ryan rivet

NIGHT SKY The Lavin-Bernick Center Quad is lit up with fireworks at the Homecoming party on Friday, Nov. 6, 2015. Carnival rides, food trucks and music by Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen were part of the festivities that night. The weekend rolled on, dampened by rain but full of high spirits, with class reunions, another concert, tailgating— and the football game versus Connecticut in Yulman Stadium the next day.

Rain Dance On the back cover: Ashley Waggoner (NC ’94, B ’98) dances on the shoulders of her husband, Ian Waggoner (UC ’97), at the pregame concert on the LBC Quad.

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L E T T E R

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P R E S I D E N T ’ S

Global Learning by Mike Fitts Few experiences are more enlightening than immersing yourself in different cultures and viewing the world in other ways. Just ask Tulane senior Kasey Smith, who is back on campus after spending her junior year in Argentina and Spain. In fall 2014, Smith worked for a nonprofit in Buenos Aires that helps people recover their ability to communicate after suffering strokes. In spring 2015, she went to Madrid and worked in sales and marketing for an animation studio. She took classes at partner universities in both places. She is majoring in marketing and political economy as a dual-degree scholar in the Altman Program in International Studies and Business. “I have a better understanding of where other people are coming from and a broader picture,” Smith said. “How I think isn’t the only way of thinking.” She is articulating one of the guiding principles at Tulane as we chart our vision for a vibrant future. I describe it as “Crossing Boundaries” between backgrounds, perspectives, fields, ideas and, yes, countries. This is how we’ll create great leaders and change the world. It’s the essential skill of the 21st century. When I convened a team to define how Tulane can truly distinguish itself with creative research collaborations between different schools and people, the resulting Academic Collaborations Task Force identified global studies as one of the fundamental strengths for Tulane to accentuate. The task force members found Tulane excelling with its work in Africa, Latin America and across the Gulf region of the United States. They cited the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, the Murphy Institute on political economy, the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South and other programs. Tulane has about 70 faculty members with Latin American expertise across the university. It has 40 major academic programs running in 20 countries. Faculty members work in multiple fields in 30 countries in Africa. Tulane has more than 1,000 international students from more

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Broader picture Global studies offer other ways to view the world.

than 85 countries. It has graduates living in 177 countries. Global education and research provide a double-edged benefit. They enrich Tulane internally by offering our students and professors mindset-expanding, idea-inspiring experiences abroad. They also establish Tulane as a positive force externally when Tulanians tackle some of the biggest problems of our time. The ultimate measure of a great university, after all, is the good it does for society at large and the world. Tulane’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is global at its core and always confronting urgent needs. Its faculty members continually fight disease outbreaks worldwide. A recent example was Tulane joining a consortium to eliminate malaria in Haiti, with Tulane’s role funded by a $2.9 million grant from the CDC Foundation. Another example comes from the work of Mark VanLandingham, Thomas C. Keller Professor at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, who has taken insights from his extensive research on cultures in Asia to understand how the Vietnamese community in eastern New Orleans proved to be impressively resilient after Hurricane Katrina. Despite suffering devastation as severe as any place and lacking any particular advantage in wealth, the enclave soon thrived. Professor VanLandingham attributes that to a strong sense of belonging and a cohesive, hierarchical culture emanating from Vietnam. The community cultivates leaders and then works in harmony behind them toward a common goal. Studying one culture, he said, gives you tools for understanding what strategies would—or would not—apply in helping other communities. He argues Tulane is among the best at this. The School of Public Health provides students extraordinary international experiences through the Peace Corps Master’s International Program and the Minority Health International Research Training Program. “You have to be out there in the field before you really get an understanding of what’s making this place work,” he said. Then, he said, “These lessons are going to stay with you for the rest of your life.” At Tulane, we want to make studying abroad one of our hallmarks. We want to make our ability to attract international students and faculty a major appeal. With the world as our classroom, there are no boundaries on what we can achieve.

TUlane C O N T E N T S Service Learning Social work graduate students Candace Valteau, left, and Abby Levenson are on their way to a service project in Dharamsala, India, in September 2015. (See page 19)

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2 PRESIDENT’S LETTER International reach

Adventures Abroad Studying abroad during your college years can stretch your education far and wide, across continents and oceans. The memories can stick with you well after you graduate. It can take you out of your comfort zone, show you your place in the universe and change your mind when you least expect it. By Faith Dawson

Sports Network Preparation, team spirit and hard work are keys to success in big-time athletics on— and off—the field of play. By Allison Hjortsberg

Stages of Arrival

6 NEWs No. 41 in U.S. News rankings • Yulman Stadium and Barbara Greenbaum House win awards • In That Number • Who Dat? Bill Goldring • Discovery of new human relative • Malaria reduction • Newcomb Art Museum • Suttkus’ fish • Masonic Temple • Richard Matasar 13 SPORTS Dominik Koepfer • Water polo 30 TULANIANS Justin Alsterberg • Visiting faculty • Rachel Levine • Rigel Pirrone • Dan Hurley 31 WHERE Y'AT! Class notes

A member of the Post-Kat generation, a creative writing professor tells a tale of furnishing and finding a home—an office and a house—in New Orleans, where the vanished old-growth forest provides the old bones of the place. By Thomas Beller

35 FAREWELL Tribute: Norman McSwain 38 WAVEMAKERS Yulman Challenge • Latin reunion • Internship opportunity 40 NEW ORLEANS Crescent City ceremony

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TUlane Storm of Change

Katrina’s 10th anniversary

THE MAGAZINE OF TULANE UNIVERSITY

Changed LandSCape

New, repaired and renewed buildings

Water, Water, everyWhere

Protecting the coast

the Long Way home

Chronicler of music Gwen Thompkins

onCe and future KatrinaS

Geographer Campanella

September 2015

Beyond Katrina

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SUPERB SEPTEMBER The September [2015] issue of the Tulane magazine is superb! It captures in pictures and text the progress, change and accomplishments of the citizens of New Orleans and the faculty and students of Tulane. The University is now much more engaged with the city in so many ways. Incidentally, the article on Michael DeBakey, one of our most famous medical school alumni, mentions Dr. Rudolph Matas as the first surgeon to use spinal anesthesia in the U.S. More importantly, Dr. Matas, a professor of surgery at Tulane Medical School, was the first surgeon in the world to successfully repair an arterial injury and is considered the true father of vascular surgery. As he gradually lost his eyesight he spent some of his last months living in the Nu Sigma Nu medical fraternity house on St. Charles Avenue. Phillip Marks, A&S ’64, M ’68 Sanibel, Florida KATRINA COVERAGE Loved this issue [Tulane, September 2015]. Read the paper version, thanks for keeping the printed piece around. … We receive alumni magazines from several other universities (no need to mention names), and Tulane’s is consistently the most interesting and of the highest quality, from the writing to the story selection to the layout and especially the photography. We plan to continue reading it even after our son graduates. And regarding this specific issue: You could fill a year’s worth of issues with articles about the 10th anniversary of Katrina. This was an especially well-edited selection, and balanced well with the national press coverage. Janis Daemmrich, Parent Austin, Texas correct pronunciation In the June 2015 edition of Tulane magazine, the editor’s note on one of the letters to the editor asked what we readers think the proper pronunciation of Tulane is. …

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My wife and I insist that the proper way to pronounce Tulane is with the emphasis on the first syllable: “TOOlane.” J. Martelino, L ’91 Richmond, Virginia

October and try again. Will walk the campus again. That said, keep the information flowing. Bill Capps, B ’60 Charlotte, North Carolina

HOW DO YOU SAY THAT, AGAIN? The correct pronunciation during the ’60s was Tu’ lane, never Tu LANE. If the latter was used, you were from out of town and didn’t know any better. Probably said New Or Leens’ as well. We often explained it as Tu’ lane —like four-lane. Nancy Faubion, NC ’68 Terlingua, Texas

ALTERNATE VIEWPOINT Professor Tornqvist [“Water, Water Everywhere,” Tulane, September 2015] sees coastal salvation in atmospheric trace gasses. In 1897, the locals knew better. “It is a fact well known to people living in the delta of the Mississippi that large tracks of land were long ago abandoned in consequence of overflow by gulf waters due to the sinking of the

CITY STROLL Class of ’60, BBA and grew up in Jefferson Parish and last on Hillary Street six blocks down river on St. Charles—walked to TU. Thank you for your output. As a 78-year-old man, still vertical, I love to touch and read. The magazine is very portable. Thanks for that. My wife and I recently visited the city again to celebrate our 50th year together. We stayed in the Quarter; we were tourists, visited St. Charles Presbyterian Church where we agreed to agree no matter what. We ate our way through the city. We preferred the traditional restaurants in the Quarter and were disappointed with one of the old restaurant’s new food. I am spoiled, as the food in the area was part of my life since the early to mid-’40s. We did not go hungry. Will be back for my 60th high school reunion in

lands”—National Geographic, 1897, vol. 8, No. 12, Corthell, (p. 353). Also, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (J. Boon, 2010): “About 53% of the relative sea level rise measured at bay water level stations is … due to local subsidence,” and “… along the U.S. Atlantic coast, there is … no evidence of a statistically significant increase marking an acceleration in RSL rise.” Apparent coastal sea-level rise is secondary to local geological mechanics. Climate research centers acknowledge 18 years of no change in atmospheric temperature, even as CO2 has increased 10 percent. Average sea-level rise remains at 7–12 inches per hundred years, and may decrease if global temperatures decrease as some climatologists are predicting. CO2 storage projects have been failures in the U.S. and in Norway. Charles G. Battig, E ’55, G ’57, M ’61 Charlottesville, Virginia

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PRAISE AND CRITICISM Charlotte Schrader (G ’59) of Yorktown, Virginia, says the September Tulane is “a treasure and a keepsake for all of us who love New Orleans and Tulane. The message of resilience, renewal, faith and hope and charity comes through loudly and clearly.” BUT, she asks, “Would you stop using header tags that try to be cute, folksy or whatever?” She finds Who Dat? Where Y’At! and Yeah, You Write, “tacky and low-brow slang.”

TASTY AND HEALTHY I enjoyed reading “Taste for Health,” [Tulane, September 2015] about Tulane’s leadership in teaching “food as medicine” to medical students. I wanted to let the Tulane community know that the innovative community program at the Arnot Health system in Elmira, New York, mentioned in the article is one of many cutting-edge initiatives founded by my brilliant sister-inlaw Rosemary Anthony, the aunt of a current Tulane junior (Julia Greenberg, a double major in psychology and cognitive studies). Rosemary, Arnot’s Senior Director of Population Health, brought Tulane chef Leah Sarris to Elmira to train the chefs working with the med students, got all the food donated by Wegmans markets, piloted the program with Arnot employees and is now spreading it to a local soup kitchen. This is a great example of a Tulane/community partnership that’s having a huge impact now and will help create an enlightened new generation of doctors who truly appreciate food’s impact on health. Gail Greenberg, Parent Melrose Park, Pennsylvania Tribute to Rob Tessaro Thanks again for the wonderful tribute to Rob in the Tulane magazine [June 2015]. Every time I look at it, I cry and smile. I’m so grateful to have this and can’t wait until Zoe [the Tessaros’ daughter] can understand how special this is (she’s only 3). … Zoe just got her first magazine subscription (the little kids’ version of Highlights) so she’s really into magazines right now. It is very exciting for her to have her own magazine and a magazine with daddy in it. They’re both on her bookshelf and we read them at bedtime. … Rob LOVED Tulane. Stacey Frank Tessaro, NC ’98 San Diego, California ——————— Drop us a line! Email us at: tulanemag@tulane.edu or U.S. mail: Tulane, Office of Editorial & Creative Services, 200 Broadway, Suite 219, New Orleans, LA 70118

Letter From The Editor

TUlane M

Editor Mary Ann Travis

creative Director Melinda Whatley Viles EDITORIAL Director Faith Dawson

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“Tulanians” Editor Fran Simon

NEW WORLD VIEW “I think it’s the best view on campus,” says David Banush, new dean of libraries at Tulane. He proudly shows off the floor-toceiling windows on the newly added fifth and sixth floors of Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. From here, the campus—from Yulman Stadium to Newcomb Hall—and the city—from downtown buildings to Mississippi River bridges—can be seen from a new perspective. (The view above is from the roof of HTML.) The new floors are build-back of square footage from Hurricane Katrina damage to the library’s basement and auxiliary facility Jones Hall, across Newcomb Place. FEMA funded most of the cost of the addition of the floors—and new shelving and furnishings—to the venerable library. After much planning, the buildback started in fall 2013, with finishing touches being completed this fall. After the noise and disruption of the construction—and 10 years with no heat in the building—students will return to campus in January 2016 after winter break to be welcomed at the library with more study space and more comfortable seating for solo reading and group projects. The storm wiped out the library’s music collections, which were housed in the basement. “We lost so much [music] material in the flooding, but through an exceptional number of donations, we

actually have a larger collection today than we did in August 2005,” says Banush. Along with the new Music and Media Center, Special Collections’ Rare Books will have spiffy, climate-controlled, secure space on the new sixth floor. Libraries are “cultural memory institutions,” says Banush. But the traditional emphasis on acquiring print books is becoming more nuanced. Print materials remain most important to humanities scholars; scientists rely much more on online academic journals made available to them through expensive subscriptions paid for by the library. All disciplines face a need for better management of data and for spaces that can bring information, technology and people together in new ways. Cross-disciplinary pairings and partnerships can happen at the library, says Banush. “I’d love for us to be a place where we could bring things like data visualization projects together and assist faculty and students in making connections across disciplines.” With all the new technology, “the potential is quite breathtaking. And I think that’s where the library should focus its efforts going forward,” he says. And, still, if a student wants to do some serious, quiet studying, the library is the place to do it, as it has been since HTML first opened in 1968. “Students will always tell you the same thing: When they want to do serious work, they come to the library.” —MARY ANN TRAVIS

Contributors Keith Brannon Barri Bronston Melissa Felcher Catherine Freshley, ’09 Alicia Duplessis Jasmin Angus Lind, A&S ’66 Kirby Messinger Ryan Rivet, UC ’02 Mary Sparacello Mike Strecker, G ’03 senior University Photographer Paula Burch-Celentano senior Production Coordinator Sharon Freeman Graphic DesignerS Tracey Bellina-Milazzo Marian Herbert-Bruno

ipad and Android versions of tulane are available.

President of the University Michael A. Fitts Vice President FOR University Communications Deborah L. Grant, PHTM ’86 Executive Director of editorial and Creative services Carol J. Schlueter, B ’99 Tulane (ISSN 21619255) is a quarterly magazine published by the Tulane Office of Editorial and Creative Services, 31 McAlister Drive, Drawer 1, New Orleans, LA 70118-5624. Periodical postage at New Orleans, LA 70113 and additional mailing offices. Send editorial correspondence to the above address or email tulanemag@tulane.edu. Opinions expressed in Tulane are not necessarily those of Tulane representatives and do not necessarily reflect university policies. Material may be reprinted only with permission. Tulane University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Tulane, Tulane Office of Editorial and Creative Services, 31 McAlister Drive, Drawer 1, New Orleans, LA 70118-5624. DECember 2015/Vol. 87, No. 2

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FIRST CLASS More than 1,700 first-year students entered Tulane in fall 2015. It’s the largest class ever.

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Tulane Rises in National Rankings Tulane University shot up 13 points to No. 41 in the 2016 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings released in September. Tulane ranked No. 41 among the best national universities while the undergraduate program of the A. B. Freeman School of Business was ranked No. 43. Tulane also was ranked the 38th best university by high school counselors and No. 33 among best colleges for veterans. “This is a testament to the hard work and determination of everyone at Tulane,” Tulane President Mike Fitts said. “While rankings such as this should always be taken with a grain of salt, it is certainly a clear sign that we are a top university and recognized as such.” Fitts said that the good news about the rankings simply adds to exciting momentum already building at Tulane. “This is obviously a tremendous achievement in which we are all delighted. In addition to this, our efforts to enhance the student experience, increase our academic collaborations, improve our financial efficiency and implement our campus master plan position us to provide a leading model in higher education,” Fitts said. The full rankings can be viewed at www.usnews.com/colleges and in the Best Colleges 2016 guidebook, which is available for sale through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retail outlets. —Mike Strecker

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Upward Bound Tulane University moves up in rank by 13 points to reach No. 41 among national universities on U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges list.

WELL BUILT Barbara Greenbaum House (right) and Yulman Stadium are architectural and environmental design honorees in 2015.

Two major construction projects completed on the Tulane University uptown campus in 2014 —Barbara Greenbaum House at Newcomb Lawn and Yulman Stadium—have won statewide merit awards from the American Institute of Architects’ Louisiana chapter. Only seven of the 62 entries were honored in the organization’s 2015 awards program. That two went to Tulane projects “exemplifies the university’s continued commitment to design excellence,” said Richard G. Fullerton, director of design services for Tulane. “Both Barbara Greenbaum House and the Yulman Stadium have significant impacts on the Tulane and New Orleans communities, enhancing major aspects of campus life,” he said. “The selection of extremely talented regional and national design teams, combined with committed planning, design, construction and sustainability efforts, bring these projects to successful fruition and enrich the campus and city environment.” Greenbaum House and Yulman Stadium also received LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold and silver certification, respectively, from the U.S. Green Building Council for their environmentally efficient design. “LEED is basically a list of about 60 things that we can do to reduce the environmental impact, and to make the building more healthy and comfortable for the people who are occupants. The more of those actions you do, the higher the certification,” said Liz Davey, director of the Tulane Office of Sustainability. “Our approach to LEED has been very practical, emphasizing energy efficiency, water conservation and indoor air quality.” —Carol J. Schlueter and Fran Simon

elizabeth felicella

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Architectural Honors

In That Number Costume Cache The Costume Shop at Tulane is more than just a theater wardrobe. The shop is also a professional and academic space that supports the university’s stage productions and theater students. Located in McWilliams Hall on the uptown campus, the Costume Shop is used as a classroom for courses such as Costume Crafts and Costume Construction as well as for practicums in beginning sewing and advanced costume and wardrobe skills in the Theatrical Design and Technical Production program. Shop manager Hope Bennett says, “Our graduate students design and help construct costumes for our productions. If they are designing a production, they either shop for the costumes or design them for our students and staff.”

703

A cowboy costume is not complete without a 10-gallon hat, and a royal princess can’t reign without a fascinator. No problem, as the shop has, at last count, 703 hats in its collection.

130

The costume shop has 130 costume items from the 1950s.

Vital to the shop are 15 student employees who help prepare for productions and ready the shop for its use as a classroom.

1937

Tulane sets up its first costume shop in 1937. The current shop has been open since 1996.

300

With so many costumes comes the need for many pairs of shoes—300 pairs, to be exact.

21 infographic by tracey bellina-Milazzo and alicia Duplessis jasmin; photos by paula burch-celentano

To aid in designing a perfect fit, the costume shop uses 21 dress forms in women’s sizes 2-16.

From classic stiff tulle skirts to fluffy, romantic-style tutus, the costume shop has 32 tutus in many shapes and fabrics.

Each year the shop costumes 12 productions of the Department of Theatre and Dance and the Shakespeare Festival at Tulane.

So many costumes, so little space. The shop’s inventory is spread across four separate storage locations, including two that are off-site from the uptown campus.

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Who Dat? Bill Goldring

INfluential leader Tennis enthusiast, alumnus and longtime Tulane University supporter Bill Goldring (top row, third from right) is pictured among a group of tennis players. Goldring (B ’64), chairman of Sazerac Co. and Crescent Crown Co., is among the “100 Influential Leaders” recognized by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International) in September. AACSB International honored Goldring and other university supporters nationwide. Tulane nominated Goldring for the award, which recognizes alumni from AACSB-accredited schools who are making a difference in the world through their business acumen, initiative or entrepreneurial success. This is the inaugural class of Influential Leaders. According to the organization, Goldring “has demonstrated great vision, superb leadership, and high impact. He has had a transformative impact on New Orleans and surrounding regions in education, the arts, health care, and public open space.” “I’m so honored by this recognition,” Goldring said. “On my 21st birthday my father told me to use any success I achieved to help others. He told me that was the key to happiness, and he was right.” Goldring is active and generous within the Tulane community. “The Goldring family has been central to our identity and success as one of the country’s top business schools,” said Ira Solomon, dean of A. B. Freeman School of Business. “Every business dean, every city wishes they knew a Bill Goldring, not only for his philanthropy

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but for the generosity of his time, advice and humanity.” Goldring has provided funding for A. B. Freeman School of Business buildings and was named Freeman’s Outstanding Alumnus in 1989. He is a member of the Tulane University Business School Council, a past member of the President’s Council at Tulane, president of the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library Association, and a recipient of the Tulane University Paul Tulane Society Award, the A. B. Freeman School of Business Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the Dermot McGlinchey Lifetime Achievement Award. He helped establish the Goldring Tennis Center at Tulane and more recently, the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University, the nation’s first medical school teaching kitchen. Outside Tulane, Goldring’s philanthropies have provided leadership for a number of academic, cultural and other institutions. He has provided funding for the Goldring-Woldenberg Jewish Community Center in Metairie; the Holocaust Memorial in New Orleans; the Goldring/ Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, Mississippi; and the restoration of Temple Sinai. Goldring was instrumental in developing Woldenberg Park, a Mississippi River-front park in downtown New Orleans, as well as New Orleans City Park’s Great Lawn. Established in 1916, AACSB International is a worldwide nonprofit organization that accredits business schools and advances and improves management education.—Mike Strecker

Eat spicy, live longer? People who regularly eat spicy foods may live longer. Dr. Lu Qi of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine conducted a study of more than 500,000 Chinese adults that suggested eating foods flavored with chili peppers is good for you.

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New Human Relative A Tulane University anthropology professor, Trenton Holliday, is among a team of international researchers involved in the discovery of a new species of human relative in a South African cave. The discovery was announced in September by the National Geographic Society, Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the National Research Foundation’s South African Department of Science and Technology. The findings are described in two papers published in the scientific journal eLife and reported in the cover story of the October issue of National Geographic. Holliday was among the team of 40 scientists led by professor Lee Berger of Wits University. The new species is called Homo naledi, which according to National Geographic appears to have intentionally deposited bodies of its dead —infants, children, adults and the elderly—in a remote cave chamber, a behavior previously believed to be limited to humans. The findings were discovered and recovered during two expeditions in November 2013 and March 2014 in a narrow cave northwest of Johannesburg. Consisting of more than 1,500 numbered fossil elements representing at least 15 individuals, the discovery is considered the single largest find of fossil hominin—an extinct relative of humans—ever made in Africa. Research shows that on average H. naledi stood about 5 feet tall, weighed almost 100 pounds and had a small brain. Holliday led a team that analyzed the body size and proportions of the fossils. While it is too early to determine the age of the bones, Holliday said they could easily be 2 million years old. “That would be interesting,” Holliday said, “as it could be the ancestral root of our own genus, the genus Homo. If it is 100,000 years old or later, it is a late-surviving relic species of Homo.”—Barri Bronston

Fossil Find Homo naledi, whose fossil remains were recently discovered in a South African cave, is related to modern humans. Tulane anthropology professor Trenton Holliday led a team that analyzed the fossils’ size.

Efforts to fight malaria across Africa have cut the rate of infections in half since 2000, according to a new study published in the journal Nature and co-authored by Tulane University researchers. The research, led by the Malaria Atlas Project, a multinational team of scientists based at the University of Oxford, found dramatic and widespread declines, with the overall rate of malaria infections falling by 50 percent between 2000 and 2015. Malaria control efforts prevented an estimated 663 million cases of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, the most deadly form of the disease, with insecticidetreated bed nets responsible for two-thirds of the reduction. “This analysis demonstrates that current malaria interventions have been highly effective,” says professor Thom Eisele, study co-author and director of the Center for Applied Malaria Research and Evaluation at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. “Large regions of Africa are now in a position to consider elimination strategies,” Eisele says. The study, funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, provides the first continentwide data on the role that malaria control has played in this decline. Joshua Yukich, associate professor of tropical medicine, was a study co-author.—Keith Brannon

secure sleeping Bed nets treated with insecticide have helped cut the malaria rate in half across Africa since 2000, according to research by the Malaria Atlas Project. Malaria control efforts prevented about 663 million malaria cases. thinkstock

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Malaria Rate Cut in Half

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NIH funds Caribbean study The National Institutes of Health awarded a

$3 million grant to Tulane University and the Academic Hospital Paramaribo in the Caribbean nation of Suriname. The grant will establish a center to study how pollutants from mining and agricultural development affect the health of children and pregnant women.

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Fish Notes

Museum Mission The principal art space at Tulane University changed its name from Newcomb Art Gallery to the Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University earlier this year. “The institutional rebranding will help to distinguish us from commercial art galleries and, more importantly, indicate our status as a collections-holding institution,” museum director Mónica RamírezMontagut said. “It also signals a renewed sense of purpose, relevance and vision.” Since being named director last summer, Ramírez-Montagut has led the way in recasting the institution’s mission to focus increasingly on interdisciplinary exhibitions that explore contemporary social issues. Tulane officials believe the name change, along with a new logo, will highlight the museum’s new mission while paying homage to the legacy of Newcomb College, renowned for its innovative art program and pottery studio. The new aqua blue and gray logo draws on the look of Newcomb Pottery. Newcomb Art Museum’s first exhibition under its new name presented works by the artist KAWS alongside pieces from his own collection by artists Karl Wirsum and Tomoo Gokita. Also known as Brian Donnelly, KAWS works within the pop art tradition and is considered one of the foremost artists of his generation. COMPANION (PASSING THROUGH), a 16-foottall sculpture, was installed in the Newcomb Pottery Garden in front of the Newcomb Art Museum as part of the show. COMPANION (PASSING THROUGH) employs several of the artist’s signature motifs, such as allusion to animated cartoon figures. “At first when I made ‘Companion,’ I didn’t think it would have longevity,” said KAWS. “I didn’t picture something I would redo over and over. But it’s become a family member.”—Barri Bronston

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KAWS’ Effect The sculpture COMPANION (PASSING THROUGH) by the artist KAWS is on display in the Newcomb Pottery Garden in front of the Newcomb Art Museum, whose new logo is visible on the blue banners above.

not ‘jaws’ The tiny, rare pocket shark is a new addition to the Suttkus Fish Collection at Tulane, a multimillion-specimen collection that was amassed over 60 years. Efforts are underway to restore the field notes of Royal D. Suttkus, which were lost in Hurricane Katrina.

The Tulane University Biodiversity Research Institute (TUBRI) in September received a $300,310 National Science Foundation grant to restore the field notes of late biologist Royal D. Suttkus, which were lost in Hurricane Katrina. And now the institute wants to rebuild the notes by finding Suttkus’ former students, who may have field notes of their own. Suttkus grew the institute’s fish collection from two specimens to more than 6 million at the time of his retirement in 1990. He had intended to eventually donate his field notes to the university, said TUBRI director and fish collection curator Henry L. Bart Jr., who is also a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. The grant will fund a document technician for three years, Bart said. The technician will contact former students and others who worked with Suttkus and gather their notes. “There’s information that is recorded in a collector’s field notes”—such as habitat conditions and temperature—“that is not part of the information that we normally keep with the specimens. It’s important to have that ancillary material to support the information that’s (stored) with the specimen,” Bart said. People who collected with Suttkus between 1950 and 2005 are encouraged to contact TUBRI (tubri.org/contacts/) to help re-create the lost notes. Suttkus may have been pleased with a late addition to the collection, which has since become a star: An outside researcher found a rare “pocket” shark in early 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. Only the second known specimen of its kind, the tiny shark enjoyed some national press and found a permanent home at Tulane. While the shark, a newly born male, is tiny, the “pocket” refers to the cavity behind its fin.—Faith Dawson

Gallery Masonic Temple by James Freret

the Southeastern Architectural Archive in Room 300 of Jones Hall on the Tulane uptown campus. Rylance and archivist Kevin Williams are co-curators of the exhibit. Call 504-865-5699 for more information. The exhibit is open 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday–Friday. Admission is free.—Alicia Duplessis Jasmin

courtesy southeastern architectural archives

MEDIEVAL REVIVAL STYLE The façade of an old Masonic Temple (pictured here) is a “cross between a medieval castle and a cathedral,” writes Tulane geographer Richard Campanella in his book Lost New Orleans. Completed in 1892—and demolished in 1922—the building is an example of the medieval revival style, popular in Louisiana architecture during the mid- to late 1800s. The influence of the medieval revival style is evident throughout the state’s architecture of that era in the design of residences, businesses and religious structures. “Like much of the country, this region adopted many different historic revival styles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,” says Keli Rylance, head of Southeastern Architectural Archive. “The medieval styles that were part of the mix include Byzantine, Moresque, Romanesque and Gothic.” This Masonic temple, sharing a resemblance with several New Orleans churches, was designed by architect James Freret and located at 333 St. Charles Ave., at the corner of Perdido Street. Its roof contained several peaks consistent with medieval style, large Gothic windows and a five-story corner turret. It had intricate friezes and tracery, as well as trefoil and quatrefoil ornamental designs. These features distinguish Gothic revival structures around New Orleans today. The upper floors contained meeting rooms, libraries, the grand lodge and office space for businesses to rent. The commercial space on the ground floor provided rental income for use in the upkeep of the highmaintenance structure. After 30 years, the fraternal organization demolished the structure, replacing it with a new, more modern Masonic lodge, which today houses a bustling Hilton hotel. The corner retail space is now home to chef John Besh’s Lüke restaurant. To highlight the medieval revival period—and the architects who referenced medieval culture for their Louisiana clients—an exhibit, “Medieval Louisiana,” is on display through May 20, 2016, at

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Interview Richard Matasar deans to develop new programming for Tulane, think of ways of marketing old things that we’re doing and rethink the way we’re delivering services so we can be more effective and expand what we’re able to do as a university. Why did you decide to take the job at Tulane? Jobs find you, you don’t find jobs. I’ve known President Mike Fitts for a long time, and we’ve been sharing conversations for 20 years about the state of higher education. As he took on this position at Tulane, we were speaking about what we could do in our roles at our respective institutions, and through a lot of conversation it became very clear that it would be much more fun to do them together than at separate places. So having President Fitts here and sharing in his vision for the university is exciting. On a personal level, I love the city and I have kids that live here, so how can you beat having a professional and personal life together in one great location? What are the realities for a private university in the digital age? The question of the effect of the digital age on higher education is actually almost a false question. There has always been some new technology. And the truth is, they’re all about the same thing: how we capture knowledge, how we transmit knowledge and how we share knowledge. We’re in the greatest age in the history of education because it’s so much easier to find and share information. We should be excited about these technologies and embrace them in our role as educators.

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How well-positioned is the university to deal with the impending changes in the higher education landscape? Tulane is an institution that has taken some hits on the chin and bounced back strong. Tulane is not a place that has been complacent. It’s not a place that has rested on its laurels. When students arrive here, they are asked to actively participate in their own education and in the development of the city. Tulane is very well-positioned as an institution that understands its place in the lives and minds of its students and its place in the lives and minds of the people of the community.

richard “Rick” Matasar is the new senior vice president for strategic initiatives and institutional effectiveness at Tulane. Most recently, he served as vice president for university enterprise initiatives and professor of management at New York University. (Adam Matasar (TC ’05, L ’12) is his son.) What will you do as senior vice president for strategic initiatives and institutional effectiveness? My assignment is to work with the president, the provost and the

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What role does the New Orleans renaissance play in the way you will approach your job? Tulane is essentially a New Orleans–based institution, and that means it has a funkiness that doesn’t exist other places. The students that come here don’t come because it’s some generic place that has a good U.S. News & World Report ranking; they come because there’s a taste of the life New Orleans offers. It’s a place that students are attracted to because it has art, music, food, fun, and it’s got a grittiness that doesn’t exist in other places in the world. So Tulane and New Orleans are inseparable. It’s a unique and special environment that is not for everyone. Nothing is generic about Tulane, and that makes a big difference.—Ryan Rivet

Hall of Famer Former Tulane baseball head coach Rick Jones was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in September. Jones coached Green Wave baseball for 21 years, including two College World Series berths and 12 NCAA appearances. He was also named National Coach of the Year in 2005.

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In water polo, what goes on above the surface only tells half the story. It’s a fast-paced game that requires stamina. During regulation play—four 8-minute quarters—the six players tread water the whole time. And that’s the sanctioned part. Rough and boisterous behavior is common. “Underwater, people will try and drown you,” says sophomore Rachel Budd, club vice president. “They show you no mercy, but that’s the fun of it. We love the challenge.” The sport even requires regulation fingernail checks before every game, to make sure no scratching—accidental or otherwise— takes place in the pool. “It can be really intimidating,” Budd adds. Still, the demands of the sport, along with the club’s regular training and intensive competition, mean water polo requires mental as well as physical toughness. The Tulane club, which is coed, practices year-round and is already preparing to host its annual Mardi Gras tournament for 10 teams. Meantime, the club scrimmages a team from Louisiana State University once a month. The water polo club is composed mainly of graduate students but welcomes new members, including undergraduates, regardless of skill level or prior experience. The club practices three times a week at the Reily Center on the university’s uptown campus.—Melissa Felcher

National Champ Courting Success Senior Dominik Koepfer won the National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship in November, right after becoming the first Tulane player to reach the final round at the All-American Championships.

rough waters The Tulane water polo club is known for spirited play—but it’s all in good fun, say the team members.

Green Wave men’s tennis standout Dominik Koepfer won the National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship in Flushing, New York, on Nov. 15, becoming the first Tulane player to win that title, as well as the first player since 1955 to win a national tournament singles championship. Ranked No. 10 preseason, Koepfer defeated No. 22 Andre Goransson of California 6-1, 7-5. Previously, Koepfer, who hails from Furtwangen, Germany, became the first player in Tulane tennis program history to reach the final round at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships in October. He lost that match to preseason No. 1ranked Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Virginia. “In the last final I was in, at Tulsa [for All-Americans], I had a lot of negative self-talking, and this time I just kept it together, played my game and remained focused on every point,” Koepfer said. The senior ultimately defeated all five of his tournament opponents in straight sets. “Words cannot express how proud I am of Dominik and how happy I am for him,” Tulane men’s tennis head coach Mark Booras said after the win. “He has worked relentlessly since he got here to develop more and more each year. He has seen some ups and downs, been with our team through some tough times, and helped lead us to where we are now.” The National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship wraps up fall intercollegiate play; spring play resumes in January. Meantime, ITA will release new singles and team rankings on Jan. 5.—Ryan Rivet

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Adventures

Abroad S tudyin g abr o ad durin g y o ur c o lle g e years can stretc h y o ur educati o n far and wide , acr o ss c o ntinents and o ceans . T h e mem o ries can stic k wit h y o u well after y o u g raduate . I t can ta k e y o u o ut o f y o ur c o mf o rt z o ne , s h o w y o u y o ur place in t h e uni v erse and c h an g e y o ur mind w h en y o u least e x pect it . By Faith Dawson

Currin Wallis is at ease with international travel, especially when it comes to striking out on her own in Latin American countries. What qualifies as “brave” for a lot of travelers—veering well off the tourist track—is her way of finding the locals, the hidden communities, the spirit of her destination. While in Argentina last year, Wallis—now a Tulane senior—and a friend made a camping trip to Patagonia in the Andes Mountains, trekking all the way down to El Calafate. “The entire time that we were hiking, it was cloudy, overcast. We were like, this is beautiful, but we can’t see the peaks. As soon as we got up, the clouds broke and [we could] see Fitz Roy peak, which is just incredible.” The next day, they continued hiking at 3 a.m. to watch the sun rise over the mountains on New Year’s Day. It was a study abroad program that made Argentina a reality for Wallis, whose hometown is Concord, Massachusetts. During her adventures (she spent her junior year at Universidad de Buenos Aires), she attended an asado, an Argentine barbecue, was welcomed by a salsa-dancing community made up of many nationalities and even found her way to Brazil. “It was hard for me to come back,” Wallis admits.

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“Students benefit from study abroad, and the whole campus community benefits when they bring an international perspective back to what we do at Tulane.” Monique Kooijmans

—Scott Pentzer, associate dean for global education

Previous pages: Mount Fitz Roy, Patagonia, Argentina, presents thrilling challenges—and amazing vistas. Students’ snapshots document their trips, left to right: Bailey Monsour rests after hiking to Padmasambhava cave in Tso Pema, India. In Amsterdam, Brielle Blatt, second from right, is visited by her family. With Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius monastery in the background, Ian Rohr poses in Sergiev Posad, Russia. Monsour and others dance at a hostel in Dharamsala, India. This page, top: Artis Bibliotheek is part of the University of Amsterdam. Bottom: A building in Christchurch, New Zealand, reveals earthquake damage.

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going global At Tulane, about a third of students take their studies to another country during their undergraduate years. They travel to destinations as close as Costa Rica and as far away as India or China. They might stay as little as four weeks or as long as a year. They go to learn and perfect language skills, to help communities in need and to have good oldfashioned adventures. And they might find themselves surprised, enlightened and emboldened by the experience. “Most of my time in New Zealand was spent out of my comfort zone. … Still, I met some of the most interesting and remarkable people,” says Abigail Sawers of Westfield, New Jersey. The Tulane senior attended a semester at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, and stayed abroad another month after the official program ended. New Zealand’s lush terrain and active lifestyle first attracted Sawers. “I was told that New Zealand was one of the few places in the world that you can surf and ski in the same day,” she says.

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Tulane University runs some of its own programs—some summer courses and a semester in Havana, Cuba. Many more of the programs ’Round the World come through university partnerships with Clockwise from top third-party nonprofits or even overseas univerleft: The Church of the sities. Students can choose from more than 80 Nativity of Our Lady university-approved courses of study in about gleams in Nizhny 30 countries. Novgorod, Russia. They also remain enrolled at Tulane while Tulane students trek they’re studying abroad; their Tulane tuition through the Himalaya and financial aid arrangements cover the eduMountains in India. cational costs of the overseas program. Students The downtown center pay their own travel expenses, housing fees and of Nairobi, Kenya, other living or recreation expenses, just like they bustles with activity. would if they were in New Orleans. Study abroad students can also apply for grants, such as the Ann and John Rossi Award, Judith and Morris Henkin Memorial Travel Scholarship, or the Robert I. Grossman M.D. Award, and many others, to cover some of those expenses. “It’s not a semester off,” Pentzer adds. “[Students] want programs where they can make progress towards their academic goals. … They want to take classes that will enhance their major, that will count when they get back.”

But something larger made her choose Christchurch: the city’s recent earthquakes. Sawers, an international development major with an interest in disaster relief and recovery, also wanted to participate in a university program called Rebuilding Christchurch. The participants spent time in classrooms as well as at service projects around the city, which is undergoing a multibillion-dollar rebuilding effort. “It was the best six months of my life,” she says. COST BENEFITS Even though students are the essence of a vibrant campus, Tulane University gains from having them go abroad, too. “Students benefit [from study abroad], and the whole campus community benefits when they bring an international perspective back to what we do at Tulane,” says Scott Pentzer, associate dean for global education.

Jump-starting careers The study abroad experience can serve as a springboard to new oppor tunities, too. Ian Rohr of New Orleans, a junior studying international relations and Russian, brought a lifelong love of Russian culture to his semester studying foreign relations and policy at Moscow State Institute of International Relations. The program is offered through one of Tulane’s partners, the Council on International Educational Exchange. The academic experience itself was rewarding, but while in Moscow Rohr joined a choir, drawing on his past musical background. The choir was open to anyone, not just students. “I got to meet pharmacists, engineers, people working for financial corporations, and they were all together,” he says. “We were the only Americans there, my roommate and I.” And as they rehearsed Sergei Prokofiev’s “Alexander Nevsky” entirely in that language, Rohr’s Russian language skills improved. Rohr’s semester paid off again later. His experience in Moscow and refined Russian helped him land a Critical Language Scholarship from the

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U.S. Department of State for a language and cultural immersion program in Nizhny Novgorod. That program is highly competitive—only about 10 percent of applicants are accepted. Brielle Blatt, a public health senior from Huntington, New York, also created new opportunities through her study abroad experience. Blatt spent a year in the Netherlands, studying social sciences at the University of Amsterdam, which helps her career goal of working in maternal and children’s health. Blatt says she hoped to find an internship in Amsterdam to satisfy her service-learning requirement, but her advisers warned her that international students do not often secure internships like the one she wanted. Nonetheless, on a class site visit, she introduced herself to an official from the leading Dutch public health municipality. “I ended up having several interviews with various world-renowned public health professionals,” she reports. “I was fortunate enough to land an internship at the Academic Medical Center” in Amsterdam, where she worked on a diabetes and obesity research project. Lasting impressions The old “Junior Year Abroad” model for college students once meant spending the whole academic year overseas, perhaps in a Western European country, becoming fluent in a Romance language. According to Pentzer, less than 10 percent of Tulane’s study abroad participants stay a full year, which is in keeping with national trends. Yearlong programs are available, but students are much more likely to spend a semester abroad, or maybe a month in the summertime. Currin Wallis was excited to spend a whole year in Argentina. “I think one of the great parts about staying for the whole year—for me, that second semester was being able to take advantage of all of the energy I put into that first semester,” she says, “getting to know the culture and learning how to navigate the city and meeting people.” Junior Year Abroad alumnus Herbert Larson (A&S ’74), senior professor of practice and executive director of international legal studies and graduate programs at Tulane Law School, praises the opportunity for students to study abroad. “If I could take every law student and say, ‘You have to go study legal systems in other countries. You have to have that breadth of experience,’ I would do it. I would make it mandatory if I could.” In the 1972-73 academic year, Larson “blundered” into a chance to study in France. A friend encouraged him to sign up, and it was a fateful decision: redirecting his career from medicine, cementing several friendships, setting the stage for a lifetime love of travel and opening a path of self-discovery.

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• Copenhagen • Prague • Buenos Aires • Amsterdam • Cape Town

• Public Health • Political Science • Psychology • Communication • English • Neuroscience

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Going Global

“By realizing that you’re an American, it’s easier to be more inter national in your perspective. You have a better sense of who you are,” says Larson, who still regularly travels almost every year for business and personal reasons. That realization, he says, took about 30 years to sink in. “It took a long time to understand just how fortunate I was. That year was just this amazing gift,” he adds. Doing good Study abroad allows students to help others, too. The Center for Public Service offers a few popular programs including a conservation program in Ecuador and social work in Dharamsala, India. “I chose India and this program because it was different—far from my typical classroom, far from my realm of understanding,” says Bailey Monsour, a junior from Shreveport, Louisiana, who participated in the Social Engagement in India program. In and around Dharamsala, Monsour and her group worked with Tibetan refugees, visited with the Delhi Human Rights Law Network and conducted a session with children who live in the slums. “My abroad experience was transformative—a wakeup call of sorts,” Monsour continues. “It helped me get a glimpse of the big picture, my place in it and the ways in which my life connects to everyone else’s, even across the globe.” Folding students into a service-oriented situation is not as easy as recognizing a need and finding students to fill it. Newcomb College Institute, in the process of launching a new servicelearning course in Nairobi, Kenya, sent executive director Sally Kenney and assistant director of student leadership and engagement Malliron Hodge there this past summer to conduct pilot sessions on gender and leadership at a camp that provides education to AIDS orphans. Kenney also holds the Newcomb College Endowed Chair and is a professor of political science. “We were trying to figure out a way that we could take Tulane students where they would add value,” Kenney says, “to find something that really makes a contribution with undergraduates in a short period of time.” If the program is approved, interested students may take a classroom component in spring 2016 and travel to Kenya to work at the camp for four weeks next summer. Seeing poverty up close, especially for the first time, can be unsettling. So can living like the locals. But adjunct lecturer Michael Smith, who has taught students Social Engagement in India several times, says they mostly are adventurous and “willing to be uncomfortable to have an interesting experience.”

Paula Burch-Celentano

Life lessons Even in First World countries, students may find themselves tested— and not in the classroom. This past spring, senior Elizabeth Berganza of Los Angeles traveled to Paris to study French. Besides English, she spoke Spanish at home, but getting by in French, every day, was a struggle. Another student mentored her, and eventually Berganza was able to pay it forward. “I became aware of how useful language was when I met a Hispanic woman who was learning French,” she says. Berganza was in a bakery one morning when the woman came in and attempted to order in Spanish. Berganza stepped in to translate between Spanish and French. “The cook was so surprised, and I could tell his impression of my American background changed. He was surprised that I knew more than one language, and in that moment I felt so proud to have

Paula Burch-Celentano, right, and a new friend smile for a selfie during a second meeting on the street in Dharamsala, India.

Trip of a Lifetime A 16-year veteran university photographer branches out to travel to India as part of her pursuit of a master of social work degree. My journey to India began as a dare. “We should do this!” insisted Ginette Arguillo, the instigator, as she leaned toward me with a mischievous stare during a photography presentation by Ron Marks, dean of the Tulane School of Social Work. For the past 15 years, Marks and adjunct professor Carolyn Weaver have been leading graduate students on a pilgrimage to northern India as part of India Abroad, a graduate-level course. In India, the students experience daily life in a Tibetan community in exile, while providing social services to Buddhist monks and nuns. The dean, a talented photographer, has documented the adventures over the years, and he was inspiring students to enroll in the course. “It would be good for us, and look at the photos,” Ginette persisted. She made a strong argument. With both of us in midlife,

defied his expectations. Maybe it was all in my head, but nonetheless, I helped someone that day.” Evan Kopf, a senior from Closter, New Jersey, in the A. B. Freeman School of Business, got off to a rocky start in Madrid. As soon as he was comfortably settled with a host family, everyone was forced out of the apartment when it was overrun by vermin. He ended up living in four different places within a couple months, finally finding an apartment with two Spanish students. The friendship they created helped Kopf feel at home when November rolled around. The roommates cooked a Thanksgiving turkey according to Kopf’s grandmother’s recipe and served it to his Universidad Pontificia Comillas ICADE classmates at a potluck dinner. “I couldn’t have been happier with how my living situation turned out,” he says. “My roommates ended up becoming my closest friends in Madrid.”

married with teenage sons, and working full time at Tulane while pursuing a master’s degree in the part-time social work program, we had become close confidantes. For us, traveling anywhere for a month would be a challenge … but India? The idea was so foreign to my daily routine that it was almost unimaginable, which also made it intriguing. Could we get away with it? Naturally, I thought of reasons not to go: lack of funds, fear of flying, disruption of my comfort zone, concern about my husband and 13-year-old son’s survival in my absence. To appease Ginette, I told her that I would think about it. Later that evening, I told my husband about Marks’ beautiful photographs and shared Ginette’s crazy proposition. Without hesitation he responded, “You should do it. Why not? It sounds like the trip of a lifetime.” And so this fall, I enrolled in the course. It turns out our journey to India was the trip of a lifetime and good for us. We visited the Gandhi Museum and Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying and Destitute. We attended a teaching by the 14th Dalai Lama in his home temple in Dharamsala and conversed with monks in a monastery in Bir. We hung Tibetan prayer flags on a mountaintop and ate a meal prepared by cave-dwelling Buddhist nuns, yogis and yoginis. We hiked to over 9,000 feet, visited the Golden Temple and toured the Taj Mahal. Each of these experiences was educational and enlightened me to other faiths, beliefs and cultures. I was challenged physically, emotionally and spiritually. The memories of personal encounters are what resonate most with me, such as the elderly man in a sea of people sharing his cushion with us during the Dalai Lama’s teaching. And there was the young boy propping a broken chair leg with a piece of brick so that I could sit while we visited his home in the slums. I recall these acts of generosity with awe and humility. They speak volumes, more than anything I learned from museums and monuments. On my journey to India I spent money I didn’t have, traveled three times farther than I ever have, had experiences I never could have imagined—and my husband and son survived my absence to hear all about it. We are all better for it. —Paula Burch-Celentano

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Sports Network 2015

tulane university • position: college

Preparation, team spirit and hard work are keys to success in big-time athletics on—and off—the field of play. By Allison Hjortsberg

founded 1834 new orleans, louisiana • uptown campus:110 acres current enrollment :13,449 • Undergraduate: 8,339 • Graduate & Professional: 5,110

Tulane has a long-standing reputation for turning out high-quality athletes who go on to succeed in professional sports. Lesser-known are the accomplishments of Tulane alumni off the field of play. Across the WNBA, NFL and NBA, into the world of sports law and beyond, Tulane is making a splash behind the scenes in major sports organizations.

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The Student-Athlete Barbara Farris (UC ’98) has made the most of her career as a player and a coach. The 6-foot, 3-inch former Tulane women’s basketball standout and 2003 WNBA champion currently splits her time between her duties as head coach of the New Orleans powerhouse John Curtis Christian High School women’s basketball team and as an assistant coach for the WNBA’s New York Liberty. Discussing the differences between coaching at the secondary and professional levels, Farris says the WNBA operates as a business model. Coaching (and mentoring) high school athletes is different: Coaches encourage personal growth and skill development during one of the most important phases of a young person’s life. “I preach the importance of being a student-athlete first because for the majority of them, they’ll be done with basketball when they graduate. I want them to have good memories here, and go on to prosper in college,” Farris says. As the star of the Tulane women’s basketball team from 1994–98, Farris knows about the significance of being a student-athlete—she always emphasizes “student.” Even though Tulane heavily recruited her for her basketball skills, her academic future was a priority. “I always tell my students that basketball was my Plan B—the WNBA didn’t even come into existence until my junior year. Plan A was to get my degree,” Farris says. She says her professors emphasized making her experience relevant to the real world. “Every professor and every coach I ever had at Tulane was always asking, ‘How are you going to be better as a result of this experience?’ If you’re going to be at practice, how are you going to be a better basketball player? If you’re in the classroom, how are you going to learn as much as you can?” It’s those life lessons that Farris says turned her into the woman and leader she is today. Being surrounded by people who constantly motivated her was critical to the young student-athlete, and she is now able to provide that same motivation to the students and professional athletes she coaches.

“I always tell my students that basketball was my Plan B— the WNBA didn’t even come into existence until my junior year. Plan A was to get my degree.” —Barbara Farris, former WNBA player, Detroit Shock, and current basketball coach, John Curtis High School and WNBA’s New York Liberty T UL A N E MAGA Z I N E d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 5

—Andrew Loomis, director of basketball operations, Detroit Pistons

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The English Major Andrew Loomis (TC ’02) planned on attending Tulane to major in sports management. But when he arrived on campus, the program had been discontinued. So he decided the next best option was to major in English and become a lawyer. Still, Loomis wanted to learn more about sports management. He loved basketball and decided to explore opportunities with Tulane Athletics. During his first semester at Tulane, Loomis began a four-year stint as a student manager for the Green Wave men’s basketball team. He got off to a rocky start when he and other managers were fired— and rehired—on their first day for showing up a few minutes late to a 5 a.m. practice. But he learned the lesson that it’s always better to be early—and he appreciates his experience as a student manager. “From our coaches, to our players, to our support staff, I learned early on that it was important for us to all come together in order to be successful,” Loomis says. Today, he still applies those valuable lessons in his current job as director of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons. His responsibilities involve player development off the court with some of the NBA’s biggest stars. The summer after he graduated from Tulane, Loomis interned with the NBA’s Orlando Magic. In Orlando, he met two executives from the Charlotte Hornets who were in the process of moving the team to New Orleans. Being in the right place at the right time brought Loomis back to his old stomping grounds as an administrative assistant for the Hornets just a few months after graduation. “My time with the Hornets taught me the values of hard work and being in this business for the right reasons. It isn’t always glamorous,” Loomis says. Being prepared—a skill he embraced at Tulane—is one of Loomis’ keys to success. When he was traveling with the basketball team, he learned quickly that getting enough rest, balancing his schedule and taking care of himself are necessary to continue being an asset to the team. “Even today, practice is more important for us (the Pistons) than games,” Loomis says. “Preparing. You’re only going to play as hard as you practice.” After 12 years in New Orleans, Loomis reluctantly left to pursue other opportunities. Following a stint with the Golden State Warriors, he landed in Detroit to reunite with Jeff Bower—the mentor who gave him his first opportunity with the New Orleans Hornets. Because of his transformative experience at Tulane, Loomis says he will always consider New Orleans home.

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“Practice is more important for us than games. Preparing. You’re only going to play as hard as you practice.”

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The Law Student Mike Tannenbaum (L ’95) long dreamed that one day he would work in the NFL. His decision to attend Tulane Law School was an easy one—it allowed him to get a law degree while pursuing his passion for professional football. “The only way I was going to get into the NFL was through the front office,” Tannenbaum jests. “Tulane gave me a credible foundation for my success. It allowed me to take the next steps in my career, and I wouldn’t be in this position without it.” Now the executive vice president of football operations for the Miami Dolphins, Tannenbaum also has served in other high-profile positions, including general manager of the New York Jets and president of the coaching, front office and broadcasting division for Priority Sports Entertainment. Tannenbaum started his career with the New Orleans Saints. “I owe so much to the Saints. I got to file, drive people to the airport, shred papers—I started at the bottom,” he says. Between the influence of the Saints and Tulane, it’s clear that Tannenbaum has a special connection to New Orleans. “Tulane Law is a world-class program. My professors were always stimulating and allowed me to learn and think critically,” Tannenbaum says. “It taught me discipline, and the importance of taking the time to be prepared.” Even though he spends his days in a high-stress environment, Tannenbaum truly believes he’s never worked a day in his life. Now, he also has the privilege of helping others achieve their dreams. He says, without question, the most rewarding part of the industry is helping people who don’t have any connections get in the door. “I think there are four keys to success,” Tannenbaum says. “Be the first one in, the last to leave, the answer is always yes, and the answer is always yes with a smile. When you rise beyond expectations, it makes you more valuable.”

Jonathan Willey/Miami Dolphins

Mike Tannenbaum

“Be the first one in, the last to leave, the answer is always yes, and the answer is always yes with a smile.” —Mike Tannenbaum, executive vice president of football operations, Miami Dolphins

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“Find out what you’re interested in, what you’re good at and then attack it.” —Gabe Feldman, Barron Associate Professor of Law and director of the Sports Law program at Tulane Law School

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The Professor To Gabe Feldman, the director of the Sports Law program at Tulane Law School, there is no true definition of sports law. If someone is a “sports lawyer,” they are providing many different services across the spectrum of professional or collegiate athletics. “When I was in law school, it was the Jerry Maguire era—meaning more law students wanted to be agents,” Feldman explains. “Now, it’s the Mike Tannenbaum era (see page 23). More of my students strive to be general managers or high-level team executives.” Feldman began his career at a premier law firm in Washington, D.C. During that time, he began teaching sports law classes at a nearby law school. Soon he realized that he enjoyed teaching more than practicing. After deciding to leave what many would consider a “dream job” to teach full time, he says that Tulane was an obvious choice. “It is rare to see such a strong emphasis in sports grounded in such a strong law school,” Feldman says. “It provided me with an opportunity that I couldn’t get anywhere else, which I believe is also the case for the students that come here.” This fall, Feldman was invested as the inaugural Paul and Abram B. Barron Associate Professor of Law at Tulane Law School. He also serves the university as associate provost for NCAA compliance. Under Feldman’s guidance, Tulane has become one of the most well-respected sports law programs in the country. In the little free time that he had, Feldman began writing about the booming sports industry for major publications, including Huffington Post and Grantland.com. In 2011, the NFL Network came calling. The NFL was about to lock out its players, and the broadcast network needed someone to help translate labor and antitrust laws for millions of devoted NFL fans. “I think people panicked when they realized games might be canceled,” Feldman explains. “There was a tremendous interest in how the law would apply in this situation.” Feldman stayed with the NFL Network through the entire lockout and was tasked with providing continuous information on when (or if) the players would be back on the field. Today, you can find Feldman doing interviews with the network almost weekly. The NFL’s continuing stream of legal issues has turned Feldman into one of its most trusted analysts. It’s no easy task to make such complex matters understandable to the average fan. “At this point, I think it’s fair to say that you can’t truly understand how the sports industry works until you understand how the law applies to it,” Feldman says. Feldman’s advice to his students is simple: Take advantage of the opportunities you have during your time at Tulane and gain an expertise. “Find out what you’re interested in, what you’re good at and then attack it,” he says. “Put yourself in a position that you will know more about that area than the people who hire you.” However, his advice to professional athletes is a bit simpler. “Listen to your lawyer.”

On the Field of Play

Here’s a roundup of outstanding Green Wave student-athletes who have gone on to impressive professional careers in the 2000s. Gloria Asumnu, Track & Field, 2004–08 Asumnu remains the gold standard for sprinters at Tulane following a standout career from 2004–08. Since graduating from Tulane, she has competed professionally on the track and field circuit, culminating with an Olympic appearance with Nigeria in the London games of 2012. Brian Bogusevic, Baseball, 2003–05 Bogusevic put together a stellar three-year run with the Green Wave from 2003–05. Selected in the first round of the 2005 Major League Baseball draft, he played with the Houston Astros from 2010–12. He joined the Chicago Cubs in 2013 and is currently with the Philadelphia Phillies. Matt Forte, Football, 2004–07 Forte starred in the Tulane backfield from 2004–07 and completed his collegiate career among the school’s greatest players. In 2007, he etched his name in the NCAA single-season history books with 2,127 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns. Forte was selected by the Chicago Bears in the second round of the 2008 NFL draft and has played eight seasons with the Bears, earning Pro Bowl recognition in 2011 and 2013. Cairo Santos, Football, 2010–13 One of the most prolific place-kickers in the history of the college Football Bowl Subdivision, Santos won the Lou Groza National Collegiate Place-Kicker Award and owns the second-longest streak for made field goals in NCAA history with 26. The Kansas City Chiefs signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2014. After earning the starting spot, he became the first Brazilian-born player ever to play in a NFL regular-season game. Alison Walshe, Golf, 2004–05 Walshe produced the best single season in Tulane women’s golf history and might have left the school with her name plastered in the record books had it not been for Hurricane Katrina. When the Tulane women’s golf program was suspended, she transferred to the University of Arizona, where she completed her collegiate career. Walshe turned professional in 2009 and qualified for the LPGA on her first attempt in 2010. She currently has five career Top-10 finishes.

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PHOTOS BY PAULA BURCH-CELENTANO

Stages of Arrival A member of the Post-Kat generation, a creative writing professor tells a tale of furnishing and finding a home— an office and a house—in New Orleans, where the vanished old - growth forest provides the old bones of the place. By Thomas Beller

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1. The Office A young adjunct professor teaching creative writing at Tulane, whom I had met for the first time just a week earlier, poked her head into my office the other day to say hello. She had a shoulder bag, a cup of coffee, a skateboard, and hanging from her necklace was a small jigsawlike piece of wood carved into the shape of Louisiana. She wore gray suede shoes with green laces. In other words, a youth. “I love how you don’t have a real desk!” she said, surveying the book-lined cave in which I sat. “The desk was too big,” I said. “It took up too much space.” “Look at all these books!” she said. “It’s only half. The other half are at home,” I said. “Invariably, wherever I am, the book I absolutely need is in the other place. I take books back and forth between my house, my office, the library. I never read any of them. I just ferry them around.” “So many books, I love it,” she said. “You can really tell which people have been here a long time by their offices.” “Really?” I said. “How long do you think I have been here?” “Ohh ... I dunno.” “I got here in 2008,” I said. “Yeah, I was going to say five or 10 years.” As though five years and 10 years were the same thing! Though maybe they are, from the point of view of someone who has been at Tulane six weeks. Eventually she shoved off. She had a class to teach. I never used to go to my office when I was an assistant professor. For my first years at Tulane I avoided my office at all costs. Now I am an associate professor with tenure, and I like being in the office. It is a narrow cave of books at the end of which is a single window looking out onto an oak tree in the quad. Then there is the brown furniture—a large leather desk chair, a low, two-seat couch, a faintly Scandinavian coffee table—which has a heaviness, as though it had been here for years. Also, an old modernist-looking standing lamp, and a painting, by a third-generation German Expressionist painter named Bruno Krauskopf, that depicts a winter scene of the rooftops of Harlem as seen from Morningside Heights. Secreted among the books are small antiquities, such as a small 4-inch seated figure, female, made in Greece in the fifth century. These are all things that once belonged to my grandfather. My grandfather was a psychoanalyst. He saw his patients in his study, which was part of his apartment on Park Avenue. The place was hushed, carpeted, forbidding. After he died, the possessions were dispersed. Some of the furniture ended up in a storage closet in Connecticut. I dragged it all down to New Orleans. Perhaps this is why my office feels lived in: It is filled with the mid-20th-century furnishings of a New York psychoanalyst. Also, its walls are entirely covered in books. I built the bookshelves, or I adapted the bookshelves from bookshelves that I had previously built or bought. There are, for example, two planks of shelving that were once part of the Shakespeare & Company bookstore on 81st Street and Broadway. It closed in 1998. The one modern touch is the thing that now serves as my desk—a couple of boxes over which I have draped an old white baby blanket. A plush white plinth on which I try and rest only one thing at a time—a laptop, a manuscript, a phone, a book.

Backyard Retreat Thomas Beller is happy to hang out in his spacious garden in uptown New Orleans. He tends the plants, while thinking about writing projects. He built the table and chair himself.

2. Among the Post-Kats I arrived in August 2008 to teach at Tulane. I was told most of the population still suffered from some form of PTSD in the wake of Katrina. An architect took me on a tour of the Lower Ninth Ward. We got out of the car near the houses that Brad Pitt had built. “You could spit on the ground here and someone would write about it or give you money,” he said. He raised his arm up, palm out, as though to say, “behold.” “New Orleans is hot,” he said.

Beckett’s Waiting for Godot had been staged in the Lower Ninth Ward that August and placards advertising the performance were stuck in the ground at intersections around the city. The performance had already taken place but no one had removed the placards. They lingered like political signage for a past election. Over the course of a few days and then weeks they began to fall forward, as though they were inebriated and had passed out. During those first weeks of roaming around I often found myself thinking about two movies that had nothing to do with New Orleans: The Sting and Blazing Saddles. What they have in common is a stage set masquerading as reality—a fake gambling den in the former, an old West town in the latter. The implication was that New Orleans was either a con or a joke. I simply couldn’t bring myself to believe it. The streetcar intrigued me. When dusk fell, the headlamp turned on and the inside glowed with a warm, amber light reflecting off the old wooden seats on which sat actual citizens on their way to or from work. In the late 1980s, when the Coen brothers had to shoot on location for their 1920s gangster picture, Miller’s Crossing, they came to New Orleans. “New Orleans is sort of a depressed city; it hasn’t been gentrified,” remarked Ethan Coen to a journalist at the time. It was unclear if the remark was rueful or admiring, or both. The movie was about police corruption. They got all the permits that were required but nevertheless had to bribe the police. “They are acting precisely like the cops that we’re depicting in the movie,” Joel Coen said. We had been living in a studio apartment in the West Village in New York. We had held onto it through my stint as a visiting professor in Virginia. When I got the Tulane job, we let it go. I came down alone in late August and found a place to rent uptown for about the same price as the studio. It was 10 times the size. Though maybe I exaggerate. It may have been nine times the size. There were rooms leading into rooms. A couple of years later I wrote about it and there were pictures in the newspaper. A friend wrote me: “The dining room photo—a portion of the dining room—was just as I imagined it, even the glimpse of chandelier. The room beyond has a sense of the scale of the house, old Havana.” So take it from him, it felt very big. This was especially true at first because the movers had yet to arrive. There was nothing, just empty rooms and bare wood floors. I bought a lamp—glass crystals and a little cherub. There was one room with plush wall-to-wall carpeting. I bought a towel and a pillow. I laid them on the carpeting beside the lamp. That was where I slept. My wife and baby stayed in New York for the first weeks of that first semester. There were several reasons for this. There was the issue of the heat. Also, we didn’t yet have any furniture. Also on the list— not at the top, but also not at the bottom—was the matter of crime. I had tried to diffuse my wife’s concern by logging onto The TimesPicayune’s website so she could get the lay of the land. I had not prepared in advance, though, and therefore we learned together that the paper was in the middle of a 10-part series on homicide. I flew back and forth to New York every week. The flight down on Tuesday had a smattering of businessmen. On the flight back on Thursday, I was more or less alone. Then one Thursday it was like the fall of Saigon at the New Orleans airport. A sense of panic, crowds. The flight was packed. I sat in New York and watched television footage of water overtopping levees caused by Hurricane Gustav. After an unexpected week up in New York, I flew down to my towel, my pillow. The moving company used the hurricane as a pretext for taking three more weeks to deliver our stuff. I called, and called again, and again. I said, “What do you call a person who spends their time alone in an empty room with white walls?” I said, “You know why I am calling? Because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” I had done a lot of reading about New Orleans before I arrived, but the line that stayed with me was a pithy remark by Michael Lewis, of State Street, in The New York Times Magazine, Oct. 5, 2005: “There’s a fine line between stability and stagnation, and by the time I was born,

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There was once an old-growth forest that covered much of Louisiana. It’s gone now. And yet the old timber lives on— transmogrified into the “old bones” that comprise so many of the old houses here. New Orleans had already crossed it.” This was followed by the equally piquant: “The difference between growing up in New Orleans, starting in 1960, and growing up most other places in America was how easy it was to believe, in New Orleans, that nothing meaningful occurred outside it.” Another New Orleans writer who provided me with early orienting guidance was Nicholas Lemann, also of State Street. Lewis and Lemann sounds like a law firm, I joked. Their grandfathers, Lemann told me, had in fact been partners in the same firm. The city felt full of secrets nesting within secrets, of dense interconnections, which were visible in the trees, the foliage, the way the streets ducked into one another, and invisible, but felt, in the society of New Orleans, so friendly at the street level and yet closed off, insular, with roots going back generations. This did not antagonize me but rather made it easier to play a role I enjoy—the Martian. The Martian takes the condition of traveler to the extreme—everything encountered is a novelty, fascinating, strange. To be a Martian is stressful, because you are far from home, but it’s also comforting, because it makes all experience into a sample to be collected and transported back home. But where was home? We went back to New York for holidays and summers. When I wrote about New Orleans, as I began to do, I would invariably preface it with date of my arrival. Like the stamp on a passport. Over time I came to realize that I was, by chance, a fairly early member of the Post-Kat generation—the newbies who have saved the city or ruined it, or both. Post-Kats were citizens of New Orleans who did not live through the storm, the levee failures, and the highly distorted coverage that followed. We were not there, then, but we are here, now. 3. The Old Forest of New Orleans There was once an old-growth forest that covered much of Louisiana. It’s gone now. And yet the old timber lives on—transmogrified into the “old bones” that comprise so many of the old houses here. It was the

D E C E M B E R 2015 TULANE MAGA ZINE

fabric and texture of its trees and houses that hypnotized me. Together they create a kind of nest-like atmosphere that feels protected—not from the elements, obviously, though a rite of passage for any New Orleans transplant is understanding that Katrina was as much a manmade disaster as a natural one—but from the brutality of sameness that afflicts so much of everywhere else. The neighborhoods of New Orleans are a dense patchwork of gorgeous oak trees and creeping vines within which, in glorious rows that stretch on for blocks and blocks and miles and miles, are the old houses. Mansions, shotgun shacks, ruins, museum pieces, lining the streets pell-mell for as far as the eye can see. These houses in New Orleans, often modest-looking from the outside, make a visitor from the coasts stop in their tracks and stare open-mouthed at the dimension of the rooms. It’s the height of the ceilings and the length of the windows, and the feeling of grandeur and complication. Of course they had also once been painted entirely with lead-based paint, and local contractors are blithe about sanding it off, sending plumes of toxic dust into the neighborhood for little children to ingest. The city can’t keep up with remediating local playgrounds of the lead scourge. Over 40 percent of the city’s children are estimated to be at risk for lead poisoning. The old houses are the town’s ace in the hole, or its doom. We fell for a house, my wife and I. It was like in a romantic comedy. In the meet-cute, we walk into the house together. My wife walks in one direction. I walk in the other, each of us in charge of a kid. We reconvene a few minutes later in the living room. The pleasant chatter of an open house filled the air as we looked at each other with a mixture of elation and alarm. These are usual symptoms of an infatuation. But was it love? I learned about the old forest of New Orleans from a carpenter I was thinking of hiring to work on a house I was thinking of buying. The carpenter was a dead ringer for a young Orson Welles. His looks, his sonorous voice and most of all his propensity for operatic disquisitions and dramatic monologues. There was no way I was going to hire a young Orson Welles as a carpenter, but I could have listened to this

guy for hours. And I did! I asked if he thought we should buy it. He advised against it. I brought in the character from a book whom I had gotten to know a bit—Zeitoun, the house painter. We had a mutual friend. I asked him to look at the house, give me his opinion. He advised against it. And yet we made an offer; we were under contract. It all happened so fast. I had never before bought a house. We asked for advice from friends. Clichés rained down upon us. “The one thing you can’t change about a house is its location!” And: “It could be a money pit.” And, “You are buying the worst house on the best block!” Just as the lyrics of pop songs, however trite, always seem profound when you are in love or breaking up, these clichés about real estate each held a profound wisdom as we contemplated taking the plunge. Inspectors came to give the place a once-over. The good news was that there was a roof, walls, and no serious termite damage. Otherwise it was held together with duct tape. I began having anxiety dreams about leaking pipes and a sinking house. I got very upset about it until I read that John Cheever, when he bought a similarly oversized house, walked around worrying about it all the time, too. We tried to think clearly about the dollars, the house, but we were also thinking about the city. Was New Orleans for real? My wife voiced her concerns about crime. “There is a gang of wild parrots nesting on Jefferson and Magazine,” I told my wife, quoting a recent news story. “But a renegade gang has decamped to a cellphone tower on Tchoupitoulas. So if your phone started sounding funny. …” My wife looked at me, narrowed her eyes. “You are emotionally attached to the house!” she said. “I am not emotionally attached to the house!” “You are emotionally attached!” One day, while we were contemplating, she suggested we make a pit stop in front of the house on our way home. We had done this before with other houses—it’s a form of house stalking, where we loiter around a property that has caught our interest. Our daughter had fallen asleep in her seat; the baby boy needed to be fed. We pulled up to the vacant house with the “for sale” sign in front even though it was under contract—to us. It could be ours. Or we could walk away. To buy or to keep renting? That was the question. The back gate was hanging open. We had been there in the morning with contractors and our real estate agent, Kay. “I have to call Kay,” said Elizabeth, “and tell her it’s open.” “Fine, but it’s not like it’s our house,” I said. “She should know it’s open.” While she called the Realtor, I went through the gate. We can’t be there without the Realtor—I had been told this very directly. And yet there I was. It was lovely back there. I stared at the sliver of earth by the wall where I wanted to plant bamboo. I felt emotionally attached. I shivered with pleasure: the kind of pleasure that arises when a fantasy starts to seem like it might come true. The word “fantasy” suggests sex, or at least a happy scenario, but a fantasy can apply to all sorts of scenarios. My fantasy was that, through some misunderstanding, the police would come and arrest me for trespassing in the yard of the house I was about to buy. I watched the sun glint on the peeling paint, the moss-covered concrete. I closed the gate and latched it, locking myself into the side yard. I checked the doors to the house itself, peered in through the window. I wanted to be in there. Whether I wanted to be in there as its owner,

or if I preferred the trespasser mode, was unclear to me. The doors were locked. I went back to the fence I had just latched, vaulted over. Upon landing on the sidewalk I checked left and right. Like a criminal. The car was idling at the curb. The wife was in the front seat breastfeeding the baby. Stepping back into the car I felt like I was entering a protected zone. We sat in the car idling in front of a house that was held together with duct tape in New Orleans. The sun was still hitting its side. My wife and I had been at Jazzfest. My Vespa had stalled on the way back. We were depleted. The air conditioner hummed. We relished the containment and silence, the baby making little breastfeeding sounds, which are the best sounds. I looked at the house. It’s a hundred years old, I thought, how can it last much longer? On the other hand, it has come this far without falling over. We bought the house. While we negotiated on the final price I went by at night and day to stare at it. If there was one problem it was that the street was one of the few in New Orleans that was not shaded by those huge gnarled, prehistoric oaks. Soniat Street. Truman Capote, I was told, grew up on this block. “New Orleans streets have long, lonesome perspectives; in empty hours their atmosphere is like Chirico,” he wrote in a 1946 homage to the city’s weirdness. I looked up and down the street and I decided to value it for its vanishing perspectives, North to the lake and South to the river. There was something else, too, that moved me about the house and the city. There was a vanished forest in Louisiana. Not the vast acreage of pine that makes up the northern part of the state. This was more local to New Orleans in

We tried to think clearly about the dollars, the house, but we were also thinking about the city. Was New Orleans for real? the south. Old cedars. It was gone now. Cut down to build the houses that now populate New Orleans. Which means the city itself is a kind of man-made forest. That my house—as I already thought of it then—was built with this old wood pleased me, for some reason. Another way the city smuggles its complicated past into the future. I sit in it now, early in the morning, pausing from my work to walk to the window and see the earliest wedge of light coloring the sky, the richness of the dusk’s blue autumnal light having its corollary in the brightening colors of dawn. Thomas Beller is an associate professor of English at Tulane. He is the author of Seduction Theory, a collection of stories; The Sleep-Over Artist, a novel that was a New York Times Notable Book and Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2000; How To Be a Man: Scenes From a Protracted Boyhood, an essay collection; and J.D. Salinger: The Escape Artist, a biography that won the New York City Book Award for Biography/ Memoir. He is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker’s Culture Desk, The New York Times, and Travel + Leisure magazine.

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SAIL ON Margaret Bonds Podlich (NC ’86) is president of the Boat Owners Association of the United States. She finished fourth in the 2015 Rolex Women’s International Keelboat Regatta. And she’s scheduled as the keynote speaker at the 27th annual Women’s Sailing Convention of the Southern California Yachting Association on Feb. 6, 2016, at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club.

T U L A N I A N S

CHERYL GERBER

Road Scholars

Evacuspotting

D ECEMB ER 2015 TU LANE MAGA ZINE

Leave No One Behind Justin Alsterberg serves on the board of Evacuteer, a nonprofit organization to help citizens evacuate New Orleans during the threat of a dangerous hurricane.

Dr. Gourmet Dr. Tim Harlan presents practical advice for eating healthy and feeling good. He spoke to the Chicago alumni club in June.

PAULA BURCH-CELENTANO

While the next Atlantic hurricane season doesn’t begin until June 1, 2016, Justin Alsterberg (L ’07) thinks about hurricanes year-round. He provides pro bono legal services and assists in special fundraising projects for Evacuteer, a nonprofit organization that has erected distinctive sculptures at 17 Evacuspots around New Orleans where people can gather for free transportation during a hurricane evacuation. When the Detroit native decided to head to law school, he thought it would be fun to study in New Orleans. Less than a month after moving to the Crescent City, he had his first hurricane evacuation experience, loading his car with several law school friends who did not have transportation of their own. They drove through the night to Houston to avoid Hurricane Ivan. “I’m a New Orleanian,” says Alsterberg, now a partner at his law firm in New Orleans, a city he wouldn’t think of leaving. Since 2011, Alsterberg has served on the executive committee of Evacuteer.org. “There’s a sense of community here, regardless of what part of the city you’re from. No one should be left behind,” says Alsterberg. He has agreed to stay in New Orleans to work up until 12 hours before a hurricane’s landfall. “It’s all about the people, making sure there’s not a single person who cannot evacuate when they want to, with as little discomfort as possible, along with their pets,” says Alsterberg. To raise funds to light the city’s Evacuspots, former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason (B ’11), who battles amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), contributed a “Dear New Orleans” short film in collaboration with Dear World, Team Gleason and Evacuteer.org. —Fran Simon

Tulane geographer Rich Campanella addressed the San Francisco alumni club in May. Dr. Tim Harlan spoke about healthy eating in Chicago in June. Also in June, the Palm Beach club in Boca Raton, Florida, learned about regional stocks from business professor Peter Ricchiuti. And in August, Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, director of the Newcomb Art Museum, spoke at a brunch in Miami Beach, Florida, in conjunction with an exhibit on Newcomb Pottery at the Wolfsonian–Florida International University museum. That event was co-hosted by the Newcomb Alumnae Association. The presentations were part of the Alumni Scholars Series, a Tulane Alumni Association program that reaches out to alumni by sending Tulane faculty members to cities around the country to talk about their work. The faculty talks meet strategic goals of the TAA and the Office of Alumni Relations, says James Stofan, vice president for alumni relations. “As our office worked on a strategic plan to meet the needs of our graduates, our alumni voiced an interest in enhancing opportunities to engage in lifelong learning programs. Our Alumni Scholars program and traveling faculty speakers provide that opportunity for Tulane alumni across the country,” he says. There are over 60 active TAA clubs worldwide and each year over 15,000 Tulane alumni participate in alumni events. To find your alumni club, go to www.alumni.tulane.edu. —Carol J. Schlueter

Dispatch Dr. Rachel Levine W H E R E

Y ’ A T !

1950s JULIUS LEVY JR. (A&S ’54, M ’57) received the Anne Goldsmith Hanaw and J. Jerome Hanaw Tikkun Olam Award for Campaign Excellence from the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans and the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana at the organizations’ annual meeting. EDWARD SOLL (M ’69) was installed as president of the Jewish Federation. JOSHUA RUBENSTEIN (L ’97) received the Herbert J. and Margot Garon Young Leadership Award. GEORGE CARY (M ’55) co-authored “Biomarkers of Traumatic Head Injuries: The Case for Glutamate Receptors,” a paper that was presented this summer in Russia at the Baikal Conference.

1960s SAMIR NICOLAS SALIBA (A&S ’60, G ’63, ’66) was honored by Emory and Henry College, Emory, Virginia, in April with “Samir Saliba Day.” Saliba was instrumental in developing and funding a celebrated curriculum that was used for four decades. Additionally, he was a beloved professor for 52 years, making him the longest continually serving, full-time faculty member in the college’s history.

BRENDA SEABROOKE (NC ’63) announces the publication of her first mystery story for adults in Destination: Mystery in August. “Murder in the Middle of a Battlefield” is set in 1868 in the Afton Hotel in Front Royal, Virginia. HARDY JONES (A&S ’66) is one of 13 artists featured in the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation’s 2015 Creativity and Parkinson’s Calendar. He has spent nearly 40 years as a producer and filmmaker of ocean life across the world. Shortly after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012, he began to paint and says it helped “lift my mood.” Jones resides in St. Augustine, Florida. JUDITH-ANN SAKS ROSENTHAL (NC ’66) announces publication of The Little Dreidel That Ran Away, co-authored with her husband, Haskell Rosenthal, and Celebrate America: An Activity Book for the Texas State Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Saks received the National Women in the Arts Recognition Award for significant artistic achievements at the community level and for outstanding achievements beyond mastery of technique. She is in Who’s Who of America, Who’s Who of American Art and the World’s Who’s Who of Women. Among several historical organization involvements, she is chaplain for Lady Washington, National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution. Her work can be seen at www.SaksArt.com. MICHAEL G. GOLDSTEIN (A&S ’68), executive vice president of the Cleveland-based wealth strategy organization The Gottlieb Organization, is a fellow of the American College of Employee

Daniel Shanken, Reuters

HENRY SHANE (A ’60) and his wife, Pat, donated 20 pieces of public art in Kenner, Louisiana.

PHYSICIAN GENERAL Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf appointed Rachel Levine (M ’83) physician general of Pennsylvania on Jan. 20, 2015, and the state senate approved the appointment in June 2015. Levine was appointed for her impressive background but is a pioneer as well: She is the first transgender individual named to a gubernatorial cabinet post in Pennsylvania. As physician general, Levine advises the state’s governor and secretary of health on medical and public health matters. This is her first role in public service. “The biggest public health issue that we have in Pennsylvania is opioids. That includes prescription drug abuse as well as heroin use,” Levine says, addressing her immediate goals. In 2014, overdoses killed about seven Pennsylvanians a day—and that’s a conservative estimate, Levine adds. She is helping to guide efforts to prevent and treat opioid abuse, such as writing prescription guidelines and continuing medical education for healthcare providers, implementing a prescription drug–monitoring program, and planning for the distribution of naloxone, a drug that can counteract overdoses. Other health issues that Levine will tackle include improving immunization rates and preventing and treating Lyme disease. Levine, who attended Tulane School of Medicine as Richard Levine, worked as a pediatrician, adolescent medicine specialist, and professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center for many years before her appointment. She specialized in treating young people with psychological issues like eating disorders. “My interest has always been where medical issues intersect with behavioral health issues,” Levine says. As a transgender woman, Levine adds that she is pleased to serve as a mentor and role model for the LGBT community, especially young people. “I think that’s an important role that I serve, but it’s not the only role that I serve— and not really the primary role. My role is to help the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with public health issues.”—FAITH DAWSON

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NIGHTSCAPES Photographer Kerri McCaffety (NC ’89) announces publication of her 16th book, New Orleans at Night: The Magic of the Crescent City After Dark, by Pelican Publishing Co. She also published her first work of fiction, A Killer, a Cocktail & A Splash of Tango: A Martini Mystery.

W H E R E

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Benefits Counsel. Goldstein has more than 40 years’ experience and is a national authority on executive compensation, taxation, estate planning and corporate law. He is the co-author and editor of Taxation and Funding of Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation: A Complete Guide to Design and Implementation. BILL BINNINGS (A&S ’69) has created many sculptures that can be seen throughout the New Orleans area. His sculpture Random Acts of Heroism was dedicated at the Chalmette, Louisiana, courthouse. He created it in honor of the good people of St. Bernard Parish, where he and his wife, Janice, lived before moving to the Northshore, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans.

1970s KENNETH DUCOTE (A&S ’71) is executive director of the Greater New Orleans Collaborative of Charter Schools, which promotes public charter schools as a permanent and viable option. Ducote, an educator and urban planner, has worked as an independent planning and management consultant to several charter schools and school districts. He spent 34 years with New Orleans Public Schools as a teacher, administrator and facility planning director. RONA SIMMONS (NC ’72) announces the publication of her novel Postcards From Wonderland this year. Previous works include The Quiet Room, released in January 2014, a ghostwritten biography of a prominent Atlanta businessman, as well as a collection of short stories, articles for a local magazine and a horticultural journal and flash fiction broadcast on Internet radio. KATIE MATISON (NC ’74, L ’77, ’92) is the author of The Slip, a novel that is part legal thriller and part fantasy. The book has been reviewed and featured by Kirkus. Matison is a shareholder in the firm Lane Powell in Seattle. She is a member of the advisory editorial board of the Tulane Maritime Law Journal. PATRICIA A. KREBS (G ’76, ’80, L ’83) received the New Orleans chapter of the Federal Bar Association’s President’s Award for 2015. She also was selected by her peers for inclusion in the 22nd edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of admiralty and maritime law and commercial litigation. Krebs is a member at King, Krebs & Jurgens in New Orleans. JENNIFER BRUSH (NC ’78) resigned from her position as deputy special representative of the United Nations Secretary General in the U.N. Mission to Kosovo in August. EDWARD A. COHEN (A&S ’79) was named The Best Lawyers in America’s 2015 Lawyer of the Year for St. Louis in the area of litigation-environmental. Cohen is co-chair of the environmental practice group at Thompson Coburn. He represents businesses around the country on a variety of complex environmental lawsuits, federal enforcement actions and citizens’ suits.

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1980s STACY DEMARTINI BRUTON (L ’81) was elected to serve on the grand council of Alpha Delta Pi as international president for the next biennium. Bruton resides in Harahan, Louisiana. JEFFREY SHEAR (B ’84) joined the Tampa, Florida, office of national law firm Quarles & Brady as a partner in its real estate practice group. Shear represents developers, lenders and institutional investors in the acquisition, development, financing and disposition of commercial and residential real estate. DOUGLAS PITKIN (A&S ’85) was named director of the Bureau of Budget and Planning at the U.S. Department of State in June. He is responsible for management and oversight of more than $20 billion in annual operating resources. He had served as the bureau’s principal deputy director since 2008. KEVIN BROWN (A ’88) announces the publication of his humorous book, Stupid Sh*t We Did in College … (and Stuff). Brown is a designer, writer and traveler who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the American Institute of Graphic Arts. ELIZABETH PEKIN (NC ’88) is a licensed Florida attorney and co-founder and president of Momentum Funding, headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. She is a leading personal injury and workers’ compensation attorney with more than a dozen years’ experience as a top-performing executive in the legal funding industry. She is a published author and speaks at national workers’ compensation conferences. DAVID DUBIN (A&S ’89), a three-time cancer survivor, and his wife, ROBIN BETH DUBIN (NC ’89), started the AliveAndKickn Foundation in 2012. AliveAndKickn has been selected to partner with the Genetic Alliance to develop a national Lynch Syndrome genetic registry to aggregate data for research. AliveAndKickn is working with hospitals, genetic testing companies, insurance companies and individuals on the effort. David Dubin is a director in the genetics and genomics department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. Their website is www.AliveAndKickn.org. NANCYKAY SULLIVAN WESSMAN (PHTM ’89) announces the publication of Katrina, Mississippi: Voices From Ground Zero, by Triton Press. Wessman conducted interviews with four dozen “champions of the storm” and used numerous other sources for the creative nonfiction book. The book was influenced by Wessman’s 25 years as communications and public relations director of Mississippi’s public health agency.

1990s JENNIFER BARKER (NC ’90) is a Fulbright scholar in Kyoto, Japan, for the 2015–16 year. She is teaching classes in American studies

and researching early animation. Barker is an associate professor at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. CELESTE COCO-EWING (NC ’90, L ’97) is president and CEO of BGR, a private, nonprofit, independent research organization dedicated to informed public policy-making and the effective use of public resources in the greater New Orleans area. ERIC McNEIL (L ’90) and his wife, Melissa, moved to Mandeville, Louisiana, where he is the senior pastor of Mandeville Bible Church. In 2013, McNeil graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a master of theology degree. KEITH D. WASHINGTON (SW ’90, PHTM ’93) is stationed at U.S. Army Medical Command headquarters in San Antonio as the deputy social work program manager in charge of all active duty and civilian social workers in the Army. Washington, a lieutenant colonel, has served in both the Army and the Navy; he will retire next year after 20 years of service. JAY WEINBERG (A&S ’91) married Alicia Lynn Heintz in Las Vegas on July 25, 2015. The couple lives in San Antonio. Weinberg was Boy Scout assistant base camp medical director in 2010 for Texas, the base camp medical director for the International and the Varsity/Venturing Scouts in 2013 and will be one of the chief medical directors of activities for the Boy Scout Jamboree in July 2017. SHANNON LATKIN ANDERSON (NC ’94) announces the publication of her book, Immigration, Assimilation and the Cultural Construction of American National Identity, by Routledge. Anderson is an assistant professor of sociology at Roanoke College. DARRELL A. CLAY (L ’94) was sworn in as vice president of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association. After serving one year as vice president and another year as president-elect, Clay will be president in 2017–18. Clay is a litigation partner with Walter Haverfield in Cleveland, practicing in the areas of white-collar criminal defense, complex civil litigation and aviation law. DHIRAJ SINGH (B ’95) announces the launch of Point Ten Zeros Six Nine, the first book in the series “Fables of Fatal Fate.” TY HOLCOMB (A ’96) was named partner and chief operating officer of RHA Architects in Dallas. His firm serves corporate retail clients throughout the United States. JILL HUTCHINSON COLLINS (UC ’97) announces the release of her first novel, Surrender. It’s the first book in “The Morgan Jane Winters Murder Mystery Series.” Nestled in the beauty, charm and dysfunction of New Orleans, Surrender looks at the complexities of human nature, life, loss and the desire to escape pain. It’s been reviewed as a smart and captivatingly fast-paced

Dispatch Rigel Pirrone novel that will leave you guessing “whodunit” until the very end. Collins' website is www. jillcollins.net. PREETHI SEKHARAN (PHTM ’97) received the “Women of Distinction” award in the business/professional category at the 25th annual Soroptimist International of Stuart Gala in April 2015. This event recognizes women in Martin County, Florida, who have made outstanding contributions to the community. Sekharan is an attorney at Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart, focusing on commercial litigation. ALEXANDRA DEASEY (A ’98) joined the interiors leadership team of Page, a multidisciplinary architecture and engineering firm, in its Washington, D.C, office. Deasey’s portfolio spans nearly two decades of interior environments for many sectors, including commercial, federal government and higher education. Deasey is responsible for leading and growing Page’s corporate/commercial interiors work for the Middle Atlantic region.

MATT SCHWARTZ (B’ 99) received Tulane Hillel’s second annual Big Pastrami Award, given to leaders impacting New Orleans’ resurgence and recovery. Schwartz co-founded The Domain Companies, now one of the nation’s preeminent real estate investment and development firms that focuses on community development. Domain ignited the redevelopment of MidCity’s Tulane Avenue corridor and created the South Market District in New Orleans. Schwartz is active in the community.

2000s On the island of Borneo this past summer, ERIN BRACK (NC ’00) studied model community-based efforts to preserve Bornean species along the Kinabatangan River in Sabah (East Malaysia). Brack, a science teacher at Breakfast Point Academy in Panama City Beach, Florida, took the graduate course in pursuit of her master’s degree from Miami University’s Global Field Program. BRIAN J. WINTERFELDT (G ’01) joined Mayer Brown in Washington, D.C., as a partner in the intellectual property practice. He is co-leader of the firm’s global brand management and Internet practice. Winterfeldt advises clients on the creation of global trademark and branding strategies and develops programs to enforce clients’ Internet Protocol rights. JORDAN WEINREICH (TC ’02) and his wife, Kathryn, celebrated the birth of their second son, Eli Max, on Aug. 6, 2015, in New York. ERIN HOUCK-TOLL (L ’04), a stockholder in the business and tax division of Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, has become board-certified in health law by the Florida Bar. Houck-Toll has

ryan rivet

KRISTOPHER KEST (TC ’99) opened Kest Family Law in Orlando, Florida. Kest practices marital and family law.

HIGH FLIER New Orleans, a city long on traditions, plays host to the last U.S. Navy Reserve Strike Fighter Squadron in the nation. VFA-204, the “River Rattlers,” are a group of pilots and personnel based out of the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. Rigel Pirrone (E ’99) took over the unit in July 2015. A Buffalo, New York, native, Pirrone had previously served as the unit’s executive officer. As commander, he oversees 14 combat jet fighters and 225 personnel, including the “Ready Room,” the nickname for the unit’s pilots, who have logged thousands of hours of flight time and earned awards for their collective safety record. The Ready Room may go into active duty if and when called up for service, so they are prepared to mobilize at any moment. Another mission is to provide opposition support—in other words, play the bad guy—for other units that are training before deployment. “Fifteen months from now, I’d like to be able to say that I did some things to make life better for the people that work there and to ensure mission success in supporting the Constitution,” Pirrone says. For VFA-204’s personnel, that means “knowing how your role ties into the bigger picture in the overall mission of the command.” It’s enough of a challenge to practice on both sides of an imagined conflict. But the squadron regularly flies F/A-18 Hornet aircraft, which are outdated by some standards, because the Navy has since moved on to flying the Super Hornet. Even though VFA-204 has outlasted similar squadrons, “We’re just happy that we have,” Pirrone says, “and it’s because we have the finest group of sailors anywhere in the Navy.” His wife, Annie Pirrone (UC ’99), earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports science. She went on to get a BSN from Louisiana State Health Sciences Center–New Orleans, and she currently is the clinical coordinator of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Ochsner Health System’s main campus in New Orleans.—FAITH DAWSON

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Bobby Boudreau Award Dan Hurley

TIM RINALDI (’11) announces the publication of his book, Mission From the Depths, on Amazon’s CreateSpace independent publishing platform. The novel is loosely based on Rinaldi’s experiences on mission trips to Honduras while he was a Tulane student. Rinaldi says he plans to donate 10 percent of book sales to the communities featured in the novel. The intended recipients have decided that proceeds will be used to build a school in the mountain villages. Visit Rinaldi’s blog at www.timrinaldi.com.

PAULA BURCH-CELENTANO

CATHERINE ENRIGHT (PHTM ’12) was named ChildServ’s director of early childhood. ChildServ is one of Chicagoland’s oldest child and family services nonprofit organizations. ChildServ serves children and families, helping children build, achieve and sustain better lives. Enright previously spent two years in the U.S. Peace Corps in Malawi, Africa.

Dan Hurley (A&S ’51, L ’54), right, stands on the sidelines in Yulman Stadium prior to being presented the Bobby Boudreau Spirit Award by the Tulane Alumni Association during the rainy Homecoming game on Nov. 7, 2015. Hurley received the award for exemplifying the “Roll Wave” spirit. Tulane President Mike Fitts is second from left.

been board-certified in tax law since 2010 and is one of three attorneys in the state with the dual certification. Houck-Toll has been named one of Gulfshore Business Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 and has been recognized by Florida Super Lawyers magazine multiple times for her work in business and corporate law. C.W. LEMOINE (B ’05) announces the publication of Archangel Fallen, his third military thriller in the “Spectre” series. Lemoine has spent more than 1,500 hours flying F-16 and F/A-18 fighter jets, including during a combat tour in Iraq. The first book in the series, Spectre Rising, has been a best-seller in four different Amazon categories: military thrillers, espionage thrillers, political thrillers and terrorism thrillers. Lemoine lives in New Orleans with his two rescue dogs and is an active supporter of Paws for Veterans. KIMBERLY TERRELL (NC ’05) is director of research and conservation at the Memphis Zoo, where she leads programming related to the zoo’s mission of advancing research, conservation and education for threatened wildlife and wild places. Terrell brings research experience in wildlife physiology and has led several zoobased conservation programs. Her research has been published in national media outlets such as PBS and National Geographic. JANE JACKSON (NC ’06, L ’10) was the 2015 recipient of the prestigious Pro Bono Century Award from the Louisiana State Bar Association. Jackson, an attorney with the New Orleans Kelly Hart office, was recognized for donating more than 200 hours of pro bono work in 2014,

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serving Louisiana’s indigent. Jackson practices in the areas of oil and gas litigation, construction contracts and commercial litigation. ELLIOT PINSLEY (SW ’07) and his wife, Jessica, announce the birth of Matthew Parker. He joins his brother, Aidan Bailey, 3. Pinsley was promoted to director of marketing and business development with Centerstone in Nashville, Tennessee, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit behavioral healthcare organizations. Pinsley is president and chair of the Davidson County Community Advisory Board, which provides advocacy and resource support for the Department of Children’s Services. AMANDA REILLEY HEWITT (’09) is a software engineer at Triad Interactive.

New Orleans author BRETT SCHWANER (’09, G ’11) announces the debut of an all-new graphic novel series for adults. Obscurity Publishing released the first edition of Guignol: A Tale of Escalating Horror in September. Guignol is the story of a children’s Halloween play gone horribly wrong. The book features more than 300 pages of writing and 50 original illustrations by Keith Hogan. For more information, visit www.readguignol.com. 2010s R. THOMAS McAFEE (’10) was named to Engine Advocacy and Research Foundation’s board of advisors. Engine supports the growth of technology entrepreneurship through economic research, policy analysis and advocacy on local and national issues.

NICK SOMERVILLE (M ’12, PHTM ’12) is in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new class of approximately 60 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers—or “disease detectives.” Officers in this highly competitive program work around the globe to keep Americans safe from health threats. Somerville has completed his initial training in Atlanta and now is serving at the Massachusetts Department of Health. MEGAN BAUMGARTNER (B ’14) earned the American Institute of CPAs’ Elijah Watt Sells Award, which recognizes the year’s top performances on the Uniform CPA Examination. Only 60 individuals of the more than 90,000 that took the exam achieved the criteria. Baumgartner serves on the financial services assurance staff with EY in McLean, Virginia. CASEY DONAHUE (’14) received a placement in the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program to teach English at Necmettin Erbakan University in Konya, Turkey. Previously, Donahue worked in Washington, D.C., as a Syria analyst at GardaWorld International Protective Services and as a counterterrorism researcher at the Institute for the Study of War. ROBIN GOODE (’14) is pursuing a master’s degree in international education policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She and a student from the Kennedy School of Government are planning a research trip to New Orleans to evaluate implications of post-Katrina public policies with the aim of influencing future policy moves. MOLLY JUBAS (B ’14, ’15) is employed in analytics and sales with Bloomberg in San Francisco. CAROLINE WICK (L ’15) has moved to Baltimore to clerk for Maryland State Magistrate THERESA FURNARI (L ’88), who specializes in family law. Wick received Tulane Law School’s 2015 Brian McSherry Community Service Award. Among her many pro bono assignments, Wick volunteered for 225 hours with the Northern Virginia capital defender’s office in Arlington, Virginia, in summer 2014.

F A R E W E L L Charles E. Corso (A&S ’35, G ’51) of New Orleans on Aug. 25, 2015.

Betty Baucum Jackson (NC ’47) of Monroe, Louisiana, on Aug. 12, 2015.

Eugenia Jackson (NC ’51) of Clarkston, Washington, on July 24, 2015.

Marguerite Tinker Grundmann (A&S ’37) of Metairie, Louisiana, on July 9, 2015.

Alvin H. Lassen (A&S ’47, M ’49) of Picayune, Mississippi, on Aug. 11, 2015.

Emil E. Krafft (E ’51) of Tullahoma, Tennessee, on July 3, 2015.

Edwin B. Raskin (B ’40) of Brentwood, Tennessee, on July 1, 2015.

Mary Gonia Fitzpatrick (NC ’48, G ’69) of Lafayette, Louisiana, on Aug. 15, 2015.

Richard M. Mills Sr. (B ’51) of Houston on Sept. 18, 2015.

Jeanne Finke Bernard (NC ’41) of Metairie, Louisiana, on Aug. 5, 2015.

Lawrence J. Fritz (A&S ’48) of Kenner, Louisiana, on Aug. 20, 2015.

Rayford A. Smith Jr. (M ’51) of Monroeville, Alabama, on Sept. 18, 2015.

Marion Cuccia Duda (UC ’41) of Kenner, Louisiana, on July 12, 2015.

Eleanor Gould Irvine (G ’48, M ’51) of Charlottesville, Virginia, on June 17, 2015.

John B. Ebey Jr. (E ’52) of Metairie, Louisiana, on Aug. 1, 2015.

Ramsay Crebbin Owens (NC ’41) of Helena, Arkansas, on Dec. 27, 2014.

Albert Mintz (B ’48, L ’51) of New Orleans on Aug. 12, 2015.

Carroll E. Mace (G ’52, G ’66) of San Antonio on Sept. 23, 2015.

LaReine Gladden Gilbert (NC ’42) of Dallas on July 15, 2015.

Leonard J. Rolfes (A&S ’48, M ’51) of Lafayette, Louisiana, on Sept. 16, 2015.

Nathan C. Galloway Jr. (A&S ’53, M ’57) of Odessa, Texas, on July 18, 2015.

George H. Harpster (B ’42) of Ponca City, Oklahoma, on Sept. 15, 2015.

Charles Rosen II (A&S ’48, L ’51) of Metairie, Louisiana, on July 20, 2015.

Helen House Loeb (UC ’53, G ’62) of New Orleans on Sept. 23, 2015.

Malcolm B. Burris (M ’43, ’49) of Lakeland, Florida, on Aug. 22, 2015.

Clarence R. Caster Jr. (E ’49) of New Orleans on July 31, 2015.

Nadia St. Paul Moise (L ’53) of New Orleans on Aug. 6, 2015.

Alma Young Carter (NC ’43) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Aug. 1, 2015.

Louis E. DeMoll Jr. (SW ’49) of Austin, Texas, on Aug. 29, 2015.

Annabel Stanford Nickel (SW ’53) of Decatur, Georgia, on June 9, 2015.

Jack Dabdoub Jr. (E ’44, B ’49) of New York on Dec. 11, 2014.

Shirley Cunningham Foster (NC ’49) of Luling, Louisiana, on Aug. 25, 2015.

Paul R. Tennis (A&S ’53, M ’56) of Monroe, Louisiana, on Sept. 20, 2015.

James E. Hassinger Jr. (E ’44, ’45) of New Orleans on July 24, 2015.

Norwood F. Hymel (E ’49, E ’52) of New Orleans on Sept. 19, 2015.

Chris N. Anton (E ’54) of Maple Valley, Washington, on Feb. 17, 2015.

August B. Turner (M ’44) of Suches, Georgia, on Aug. 7, 2015.

William J. Leahey (A&S ’49) of Jupiter, Florida, on Sept. 3, 2015.

JoAnn Pincus Wigodsky (NC ’44) of San Antonio on July 31, 2015.

Norman W. McLeod (B ’49) of Houston on Aug. 15, 2015.

Gilbert E. Adami (M ’45) of Denton, Texas, on June 24, 2015.

Lottie Lee Smith (NC ’49) of Jackson, Mississippi, on July 6, 2015.

Collett E. Frost (B ’45) of Winter Park, Florida, on Feb. 23, 2014.

Jules C. Bernard (E ’50) of Metairie, Louisiana, on July 22, 2015.

Donald E. Nestler (E ’45) of Havertown, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 29, 2015.

Leslie L. Inman (A&S ’50, L ’52) of Mandeville, Louisiana, on July 18, 2015.

Walter P. Harris Jr. (B ’55) of Metairie, Louisiana, on Sept. 23, 2015.

Howard F. Bell (E ’46) of Arlington, Texas, on June 27, 2015.

Richard M. Nunnally (A&S ’50, M ’53) of Greenwell Springs, Louisiana, on Sept. 1, 2015.

Rebecca Johnson (SW ’55) of Charleston, South Carolina, on June 23, 2015.

Elvin B. Noxon (A&S ’46, M ’50) of Silver Spring, Maryland, on Sept. 9, 2015.

Carl C. Perry (B ’50) of New Orleans on July 20, 2015.

Ben J. Kitchings (M ’55) of Long Beach, Mississippi, on Sept. 21, 2015.

Alvin R. Yapalater (M ’46) of White Plains, New York, on June 18, 2015.

Sidney L. Reynaud Jr. (B ’50) of Houston on July 11, 2015.

Frank J. Klonoski III (A&S ’55) of Tucson, Arizona, on July 19, 2015.

James S. Boren Sr. (M ’47) of Katy, Texas, on March 18, 2014.

Rosemary Yarborough Rice (SW ’50) of Muskogee, Oklahoma, on Aug. 8, 2015.

Charles H. Magee (A&S ’55, M ’59) of Metairie, Louisiana, on July 25, 2015.

Robert F. Gonsoulin Jr. (A&S ’47) of Houston on Sept. 13, 2015.

Rene A. Angus (B ’51) of Redmond, Oregon, on July 17, 2015.

Mark E. McCoy (A&S ’55) of Tallahassee, Florida, on July 23, 2015.

Joanne Bockel Carroll (SW ’54) of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on July 29, 2015. Walter T. Herrmann (E ’54) of Metairie, Louisiana, on July 20, 2015. T.E. Ross III (A&S ’54, M ’57) of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on Sept. 12, 2015. Armando de la Paz (E ’55, G ’56) of El Paso, Texas, on Aug. 28, 2015.

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COMPARATIVE LAW SCHOLAR Claire Moore Dickerson, the Sen. John B. Breaux Chair of Business Law Emerita at Tulane Law School, died on Sept. 2, 2015, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. A distinguished scholar of business and comparative law, she was a leading authority on the development of business law in Africa.

F A R E W E L L Alfred Livingston Bowen (UC ’56) of Jacksonville, Florida, on July 27, 2015.

Patricia Orner Felger (NC ’61) of Austin, Texas, on Aug. 28, 2015.

Kenneth R. Burns (B ’66, B ’74) of Yountville, California, on Feb. 19, 2014.

Suzanne Ashby Learn (NC ’56, G ’62) of Radford, Virginia, on July 15, 2015.

Donald J. McArthur (A&S ’61) of Gretna, Louisiana, on Sept. 6, 2015.

James B. Gardner Sr. (A&S ’66, L ’69) of Shreveport, Louisiana, on Aug. 30, 2015.

J.K. McDonald (A ’56) of Memphis, Tennessee, on Sept. 11, 2015.

Stephen A. Schmedtje Jr. (B ’61) of New Orleans on July 4, 2015.

Mary Devine Berry (G ’67) of New Orleans on Aug. 21, 2015.

Andrew H. Orth Jr. (B ’56) of Metairie, Louisiana, on July 30, 2015.

Robert T. Sellars Jr. (G ’61, ’66) of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, on July 22, 2015.

Muriel Strauss Burnstein (G ’68, SW ’71) of Bellevue, Washington, on Sept. 18, 2015.

Joseph Y. Bordelon (A&S ’57) of New Orleans on Sept. 27, 2015.

Laurie Schneider Adams (NC ’62) of New York on June 19, 2015.

Joseph M. Davis (UC ’68) of Madison, Mississippi, on July 10, 2015.

Patricia Fleming Elliott (NC ’57, SW ’77) of Bronxville, New York, on Sept. 18, 2015.

Catherine Arnold (A&S ’62) of New Orleans on July 4, 2015.

Durell Peaden Jr. (A&S ’68) of Crestview, Florida, on June 23, 2015.

Barbara Levsky Rosenblum (NC ’57) of Coral Springs, Florida, on Aug. 16, 2015.

Robert L. Arrington (G ’62, G ’66) of Atlanta on June 20, 2015.

Joseph J. Jackson (A&S ’69) of Dallas on Aug. 4, 2015.

Robert L. Rueb (M ’57) of Longmont, Colorado, on July 11, 2015.

William D. Bringier (E ’62) of San Antonio on Dec. 9, 2014.

Julia Burdett (SW ’70) of Smyrna, Georgia, on Aug. 28, 2015.

Joan Sanders Whitney (NC ’57) of Lakemont, Georgia, on Aug. 5, 2015.

Philip E. Fielding (UC ’62) of New Orleans on Sept. 8, 2015.

Henry C. Davis (UC ’70) of Metairie, Louisiana, on July 2, 2015.

Honore G. Bourgeois Jr. (A&S ’58) of Thibodaux, Louisiana, on Aug. 5, 2015.

Patricia Balch Harville (SW ’62) of Maryville, Tennessee, on Aug. 5, 2015.

Philip L. Findling (A&S ’70) of Madison, Wisconsin, on Aug. 11, 2015.

Douglas W. Greve (A&S ’58, M ’62) of New Orleans on Sept. 22, 2015.

Patricia McGehee Lewis (G ’62) of Evergreen, Alabama, on Sept. 21, 2015.

Ronald E. Gardner (PHTM ’70) of New Orleans on Sept. 22, 2015.

C.E. Henican Jr. (L ’58) of New Orleans on July 6, 2015.

Philip F. Monte Jr. (L ’62) of Atlanta on July 1, 2015.

Jane Deener Shea (NC ’70) of Elberton, Georgia, on Aug. 27, 2015.

Harvard E. Larson (PHTM ’58) of Greeley, Colorado, on Sept. 14, 2015.

Loyd P. Rhiddlehoover Jr. (G ’62) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Aug. 7, 2015.

E. Crista Stern (PHTM ’70, ’75) of Billings, Montana, on June 17, 2015.

Martin Treistman (UC ’58) of Humble, Texas, on July 25, 2015.

Daniel L. Hannon (G ’63, ’70) of San Marcos, Texas, on July 22, 2015.

John N. Wiles (L ’70) of West Plains, Missouri, on Sept. 3, 2015.

Dale H. Treusdell (PHTM ’58) of Yakima, Washington, on June 21, 2015.

Errol R. Pransky (A&S ’63) of Galveston, Texas, on June 23, 2015.

Mervin Kontrovitz (G ’71) of Monroe, Louisiana, on Sept. 4, 2015.

Benny R. Tyler (A&S ’58) of Memphis, Tennessee, on Aug. 17, 2015.

Roger L. Spark (M ’63) of Goshen, New York, on April 21, 2015.

Maurice J. Picheloup IV (E ’71) of Houston on July 16, 2015.

Adam C. White (E ’58) of Culpeper, Virginia, on July 12, 2015.

Anne Suthon Laird (G ’64) of New Orleans on Sept. 23, 2015.

Jewell J. Turner Jr. (SW ’71) of Warthen, Georgia, on Sept. 14, 2015.

John W. Calhoun Jr. (E ’59) of New Orleans on July 21, 2015.

Richard R. Adicks (G ’65) of Lakeland, Florida, on Aug. 15, 2015.

Gary T. Breedlove (L ’72) of Carriere, Mississippi, on Sept. 6, 2015.

John H. Dame (PHTM ’59) of Lake Alfred, Florida, on April 5, 2015.

William P. Kerwin (A&S ’65) of Long Branch, New Jersey, on July 10, 2015.

Jerry G. Stephenson (A ’72) of Jasper, Georgia, on May 22, 2015.

Robert C. Mipro (A&S ’59) of New Orleans on June 29, 2015.

R.H. Sarpy Jr. (L ’65) of New Orleans on July 22, 2015.

Donald A. Cox Jr. (A&S ’73, L ’76) of Nashville, Tennessee, on Aug. 21, 2015.

Shelby W. Mitchell Sr. (PHTM ’59) of Clinton, Mississippi, on July 1, 2014.

Jay C. Zieman Jr. (A&S ’65) of Schuyler, Virginia, on March 29, 2015.

Paul E. Archinard (A&S ’74, G ’76) of Murphy, North Carolina, on Sept. 6, 2015.

Stanley S. Davidow (A&S ’61) of Dallas on July 31, 2015.

L. Bacarisse (SW ’66) of Miami on July 11, 2015.

Joseph A. Gabriele (B ’74) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Aug. 17, 2015.

D ECEMB ER 2015 TU LANE MAGA ZINE

Tribute Norman McSwain Mildred George (G ’74) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on June 14, 2015. Jeffrey D. Renault (E ’74) of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on July 11, 2015. Barbara Guillory Thompson (G ’74) of McComb, Mississippi, on Aug. 2, 2015. Charles David Van Eaton (G ’74) of Hixson, Tennessee, on July 20, 2015.

Roger B. Stix (A&S ’75) of Atlanta on March 13, 2015. Stephen A. Flynn (L ’76) of Phoenix on June 22, 2015. Berry P. Becnel (G ’77) of New Orleans on Aug. 9, 2015. S.S. Bentivegna (A&S ’77) of Morristown, New Jersey, on July 25, 2015. Kathleen McGrady (M ’77) of Westminster, Colorado, on Jan. 9, 2015. Abel A. Lopez-Llorens (B ’78) of Mandeville, Louisiana, on June 24, 2015. Gregory A. Dupuy (A&S ’79) of New Orleans on June 24, 2015. Frank V. Zaccaria Jr. (L ’81) of Haughton, Louisiana, on July 15, 2015. Katherine Talluto (G ’82) of New Orleans on Aug. 26, 2015. Lori Zastrow (NC ’85) of New Orleans on Aug. 4, 2015.

RICK OLIVIER

David I. Bienn (A&S ’75, A ’80) of Mandeville, Louisiana, on June 15, 2015.

trauma SURGEON Dr. Norman McSwain died in New Orleans on July 28, 2015. When the average person met him, they recognized a kind soul, a friendly smile, and the special eccentricity that defines a true French Quarter resident. Would the uninitiated have suspected that Norman McSwain was a world-famous trauma surgeon, one of a select few who conceived and implemented the 911 emergency response system we all take for granted, the founder of the worldwide standard for training first responders and military medics, the New Orleans Police Department surgeon and physician, the medical director of Jazz Fest, a designer of the healthcare system for NASA flights to Mars, and an adviser to the president of the United States on how to respond to mass-casualty events? Could this man adorned with a bear claw necklace, who wore red turtleneck sweaters on 90-degree New Orleans summer days, really do all that? Well, he did, and more. I do not think the average person would have recognized Norman as a famous surgeon. They would have recognized him as a kind, humble soul, a fun person, someone with whom you would want to share a glass of Scotch and a story. Norman had his rules of surgery: They were written down for residents and faculty alike. But he also had unwritten rules—those that dictated the way he treated others, the regard he held for Charity Hospital, the Department of Surgery and Tulane. First among Norman’s rules: Where you are going is more important than where you are or where you have been. Norman inspired me to listen. He could be soft spoken, but his willingness to take the time to share ideas and thoughts made me realize that listening is an art—and a necessary one. Norman came to Tulane in 1977. He could have taken many offers over the years to leave for more money, a bigger office, a bigger department. But that was not Norman. He dedicated himself to making care of the injured patient better—at Tulane, at Charity, in New Orleans, across the United States and the world. He only saw need and by seeing need discovered ways to improve upon what was. Norman was never satisfied with the status quo, but to the very end was striving to somehow make each and every day one of achievement. As we reflect on Norman’s legacy, we are challenged to answer the question: What have you done for mankind today?—Dr. Douglas P. Slakey Slakey holds the Robert and Viola Lobrano Chair of Surgery and is chair of the Department of Surgery at Tulane School of Medicine.

Vernon C. Williams (L ’87) of Robeline, Louisiana, on Aug. 3, 2015.

Kimberly Brecher Richman (E ’93) of Rye Brook, New York, on Sept. 15, 2014.

Marlene Mcleod Adams (PHTM ’01) of Seguin, Texas, on June 26, 2015.

Thomas Branson (B ’90) of Fresno, California, on July 19, 2015.

Eugene E. McNaughton III (A ’94) of Independence, Missouri, on July 23, 2015.

Robert J. Lindell (B ’01) of Lake Bluff, Illinois, on Aug. 12, 2015.

Eric W. Gould (A&S ’90) of Chatham, New Jersey, on July 6, 2015.

William D. Pananos (B ’95) of Kenner, Louisiana, on June 13, 2015.

Sean P. Samuel (G ’02, PHTM ’03) of Kenner, Louisiana, on Aug. 18, 2015.

Dan Rosenbluth (B ’91) of Denver on July 16, 2015.

Lisa Houlihan Johnson (L ’96) of Moraga, California, on March 14, 2014.

Anthony R. Owens (L ’03) of Bellevue, Washington, on Dec. 18, 2014.

Therese Summers Curtis (B ’92) of Littleton, Colorado, on Jan. 3, 2015.

Sarah Johnson (UC ’97, ’99) of New Orleans on May 17, 2015.

Jordan G. McFaull (’11) of New Orleans on Aug. 10, 2015.

Lawrence D. Taffaro III (A&S ’92) of New Orleans on May 2, 2015.

Robert C. Fraser Jr. (TC ’98) of St. Charles, Illinois, on July 6, 2015.

Cameron B. Greenhill (B ’13) of Winnetka, Illinois, on Sept. 4, 2015.

T UL A N E MAGA Z I N E DE C E M B E R 20 1 5

NEW CATHOLIC STUDENT CENTER The Fr. Val A. McInnes O.P. Center for Catholic Life opened in August. Located on Audubon Street, the new 8,400-square-foot, three-story center serves students with daily Masses and spaces for student activities. The $2.6 million building features a social gathering hall, a 140-seat chapel, classroom space, conference room, library and office space.

Latin Bond About 40 Tulane alumni from numerous Latin American countries traveled to New Orleans Oct. 2–4, 2015, to celebrate the deep ties between Tulane and Latin America. Included in the festivities was brunch with Tulane President Mike Fitts. “Tulane research is continually crossing boundaries between disciplines,” said Fitts. “Now, thanks to an extraordinary alumni group in Latin America and around the world, it is crossing global boundaries, too.” Diego Herrera (L ’93) traveled to the reunion from Panama. He said, “The impact Tulane students have made in the Latin American region and especially in Panama, in terms of job creation and economic development, is immeasurable.” Herrera noted that the university’s historical relationship with Latin America is reflected in organizations such as his law firm, Galindo, Arias & López, where eight of 13 partners attended Tulane. The idea for the weekend originated after Tulane leaders visited alumni clubs in Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico City, said James Stofan, vice president for alumni relations. “This region boasts such a historically strong connection with Tulane that we’re eager to increase our engagement going forward,” said Stofan. There are close to 3,000 Tulane alumni from Latin America.—Mary Sparacello

d e c E M B E R 2015 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

Internship Boosts Career Thanks to a summer internship, finance major Desmond Graves entered his senior year at Tulane confident in his plans after graduation. Graves spent the summer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine shadowing cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Joseph Bavaria (E ’79, M ’83). In addition to giving students internship opportunities, Bavaria is a dedicated supporter of scholarships at the Tulane School of Medicine, and he recently endowed a fund that aids students who study abroad. Graves, who is from Geismar, Louisiana, said, “I had my doubts about going into medicine, but having this opportunity with Dr. Bavaria opened up my eyes and cemented my interest in the field. I enjoyed every second, from inputting data to watching surgeries.” Graves worked as part of Bavaria’s research team, collecting and analyzing data. The team is working on several studies, including looking at the layers of the aorta to determine why blood might seep in between layers. But Graves says it was shadowing Bavaria in the operating room that was the “highlight of the experience.” “Dr. Bavaria embodies what a doctor should be,” said Graves. “He was always so helpful, engaged and excited about having me there. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.” Graves is now in the process of applying to medical schools. And he knows his internship experience will only help him. “I’m so motivated,” he said. “It’s great to know that I have a mentor as I begin my career in the medical field.”—Kirby Messinger

Inspired by a Mentor

Senior Desmond Graves looks forward to medical school after having the opportunity for a summer internship with Tulane alumnus Dr. Joseph Bavaria.

CONNECTIONS

Stanley Motta (B ’67) (left) tours the Middle American Research Institute at Tulane during the Latin American alumni reunion in October 2015. Motta is chair of Copa Holdings, the parent company of Panama’s Copa Airlines and Colombia’s Copa Colombia Airlines. He also is president of Motta Internacional.

paula burch-celentano

bradley charlesworth

W A V E M A K E R S

class gifts Alumni celebrating their reunions make a huge impact on Tulane every year. Last year, 1,467 reunion celebrants gave almost $16 million to the university. If you received your undergraduate degree in 2014, 2010, 2005, 2000, 1995, 1990, 1985, 1975 or 1970, there is still a chance to participate in your class gift and celebrate the power of collective giving. Visit giving.tulane.edu/reunions before Dec. 31, 2015, to be counted in the final total.

W A V E M A K E R S

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Dream Come True

Yulman Challenge By late summer, devoted Tulane fans met the Yulman Challenge, just in time for the start of the 2015 Green Wave gridiron season. Richard Yulman issued the challenge a year ago at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Yulman Stadium, which bears his family’s name. At that time, Yulman had already given $15 million for the new football stadium, but the $73 million facility was $20 million short of being completely funded. Yulman pledged another $5 million that day, bringing his total contribution to the stadium to $20 million. He then challenged loyal Green Wave fans to raise the remaining $15 million. “Some people thought that was audacious, but I knew when I laid down the challenge that Tulane fans, alumni, parents and friends would rise up,” Yulman said. “They sent the message that our student-athletes deserve a home like this to defend.” Jill and Avie Glazer, longtime Tulane

“The best thing about Yulman Stadium is how it enhances student life at Tulane and strengthens the connection alumni have to the university.” —Jill Glazer

Yulman Stadium, the new football stadium on the Tulane uptown campus, is fully funded after the success of the Yulman Challenge.

supporters, who were among the stadium’s founding donors with a $5 million gift, helped launch the Yulman Challenge with a new pledge. The Glazers made a challenge of their own, announcing that they would match a gift from anyone who purchased a personally engraved brick for the Yulman Stadium plaza through the Glazer Family Brick Drive. More than 1,000 fans responded, memorializing their passion for the Green Wave. “The best thing about Yulman Stadium is how it enhances student life at Tulane and strengthens the connection alumni have to the university,” said Jill Glazer (NC ’85), a Tulane parent. “An on-campus stadium is a dream come true for Tulanians of every generation.” The challenge was met by dedicated fans who contributed whatever they could. There were 1,072 donors to the Yulman Challenge in addition to the numerous individuals who donated to the overall stadium project. —Mike Strecker

T UL A N E MAGA Z I NE d e c E M B E R 2 0 1 5

ANGUS LIND A 1966 graduate of Tulane, Angus Lind spent more than three decades as a columnist for The Times-Picayune.

O R L E A N S

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Wedding Destination by Angus Lind No doubt when Edwin Ford in 1921 designed the Crescent Lid for the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans, he could not have envisioned that the logo would one day be a big part of the New Orleans tourism industry and the resurgence of the city post-Katrina. The founder of Ford Meter Box Co. in Wabash, Indiana, Ford invented and patented the meter box concept in 1898. His Crescent Lid design is now owned by the S&WB and has been reproduced on hundreds of different types of collectibles including doormats and paperweights. On July 11, 2015, that crescent moon with the stars and moonbeams appeared on second-line hankies that were handed to wedding guests as they exited the St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square to begin a secondline procession with a brass band to Latrobe’s at Conti and Royal streets. Added to the design was the date of the wedding, the names Allison and Eric (the bride and groom) and “Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler” (Let the good times roll). The couple lives in Dallas, where they met. She went to SMU after graduating from St. Scholastica Academy in Covington, Louisiana. The groom is from the Midwest, and many of his friends and family came here for a big destination wedding, as did North Shore guests. The omnipresence of that S&WB symbol is, well, dumbfounding. A city that self-identifies with the symbol of the agency that strives to keep the sewers flowing and attempts to keep the water drinkable has to have a sense of humor and more than a tad of confidence. It’s no secret Orleanians have both. Let’s hear it for the crumbling sewers, which give my friend, “Action Reporter” Bill Capo of WWL-TV, many opportunities to wear fishing boots or waders on the air. Earl Higgins (A&S ’63, L ’70) attended the wedding of his grandniece that night. The author of the humorously irreverent The Joy of Y’at Catholicism recalled when he first went to Rome and saw “S.P.Q.R” embossed on the manhole covers. A onetime Latin scholar, he remembered that “Senatus Populusque Romanus” (Senate and the Roman People) was the slogan of the Roman Republic. Which led him to conclude: “Y’ats are less lofty in their sense of identity.” The comment of The Times-Picayune’s droll art critic, Doug MacCash, was whimsical artspeak: “Considering the crescent moon and the sprinkling

d e c e m b e r 2015 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL From SW&B motifs to brass bands, New Orleanians know how to put on nuptials.

of stars amidst the lunar beams, the Art Deco design on the cast steel discs found underfoot on the streets of New Orleans always seems a bit dreamier than one might expect of a S&WB utility hatch.” Katrina shocked everybody into their consciousness as Orleanians, as they embraced everything from city of New Orleans flags to fleur de lis to… yep, sewer covers. Which is a backdoor segue to this: Destination weddings here are a significant part of the tourism industry these days. “It’s tremendously huge,” said retired New Orleans Police Department Lieutenant Eddie Selby, whose company, Selby Second Line Services, in some years has handled about a hundred second-lines for weddings and bachelor and bachelorette celebrations. “The great majority of all second-line weddings are destination weddings,” he said. The trickle-down revenue effect sees wedding planners, brass bands, bike taxis and pedicabs, not to mention police motorcycle escorts, the NOPD’s Special Events Division and the city’s permits department, all benefiting. Then there are the obvious beneficiaries: hotels, restaurants and bars. In 2006, statistics show 3.72 million people visited the city (a 74 percent drop-off) and spent $2.89 billion, a 42 percent decline from pre-Katrina numbers. In 2014, 9.52 million people visited the city and left $6.81 billion here. It doesn’t hurt when a respected publication such as Travel + Leisure names New Orleans the second-most charming city in the United States —which it did this year—with no mention of sewer covers but an enchanting comment: “Between the graceful architecture, inviting shops along Magazine Street, and cultural quirks like the Voodoo Museum, the Crescent City downright intoxicated readers with charm—and that was even before they hit the bars, which ranked at No. 1 in the survey. New Orleans also ranked at the top for its notable restaurants—like the ‘haute Creole’ at the Garden District’s Commander’s Palace, where the bread pudding soufflé with whiskey sauce reminds you of why the city also won the survey for brunch. For a more local perspective—with skyline and views—walk along the levee in Algiers Point (the city’s second-oldest neighborhood), a short ferry boat ride from Canal Street. New Orleans also offers proof that charm need not be pristine: The city ranked near the bottom of the survey for being tidy, and near the top for lovably noisy.” That we are.

Celebrate today. Plan for tomorrow. Your charitable plans can be counted as gifts today. Celebrate your impact now, while knowing

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Wish you were here. Rainy day fans, Homecoming 2015.