Tulane june 2013

TUlane RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME Commencement 2013.

JOURNEY OF THE heart School of Social Work’s Tibetan connection.

THE MAGAZINE OF TULANE UNIVERSITY

june 2013

Passage to India

Gut Instinct Scott Greenstein has the ear of 45 million SiriusXM radio listeners.

an independent woman Chronicle of Sherrell Hoffman’s ’60s N.Y. TV career.

paula burch-celentano

EVERY GRAIN OF SAND Monks from India’s Drepung Loseling Monastery carefully apply grains of sand to a mandala they created in the Morial Convention Center in downtown New Orleans. The monks were in town in May as part of a conference hosted by the Tulane School of Social Work and in conjunction with the Dalai Lama’s visit to the city. (See page 14.)

The sand mandala is part of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and has been called a “roadmap to enlightenment,” as every color, dot and line represents a part of Buddhist philosophy.

Each component must be placed in exactly the same place every time the mandala is constructed.

Tea Time On the cover: A young monk serves butter tea in the early morning.

The photograph was taken at the Palyul Chökhorling Monastery in the village of Bir, located in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains.

Photo by Ron Marks.

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P R E S I D E N T ’ S

L E T T E R

My Hope

mark andresen

by Scott S. Cowen

The following is an excerpt from President Scott Cowen’s 2013 commencement address to graduates.

Though your origins are diverse, you gather here today as Tulanians, New Orleanians and proud members of the Class of 2013.

By most accounts 2013 has not been the best of years. Our leaders in Washington, from both parties, often seem so divided that we wonder whether our country can move forward to address the pressing issues it faces. We continue to witness increasing economic pressure on the poor and the middle class as well as senseless, horrific and far-too-commonplace violence—from Newtown, Conn., to Boston, to right here in New Orleans. All of this can sometimes shake the faith and hope we hold for our country and its future.

However, I am an optimist by nature and always see the glass as half full. In these challenging times, people often ask me to explain why I can be so hopeful.

The answer is “you,” because you are my hope.

My hope in you rests on the knowledge that you entered Tulane as one of the country’s most academically qualified classes and are leaving it as one of the most accomplished group of graduates in the university’s history.

You are also my hope because I have seen the utter commitment and passion you have to use the skills and knowledge acquired at Tulane to make life better for yourself and for those in your community and world.

The one thing we learned from the Newtown shooting, the Boston

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J UNE 2 0 1 3 TU LANE MAGA ZINE

HALF FULL An optimist sees the glass half full, even in challenging times.

bombings and other acts of violence and tragedy is that hope can always be found even in the midst of unspeakable horror. This hope can be found in those who run toward the disaster in order to come to the aid of others. That is what hope does. It finds its way to wherever it is needed most.

In a sense, this is what a Tulane education is all about, whether you are an undergraduate, graduate or professional student. When you arrived at Tulane just a few years after Hurricane Katrina had left our campus and our city in tatters, you were striving toward something greater than yourself and bringing hope with you. This hope manifested itself in a desire to help others that is embedded in Tulane’s ethos and curriculum. You jumped at the chance to prepare for your career while living out your passion for service. And what a difference you made.

During your time at Tulane you not only read Aristotle, you taught students in public schools how to debate using rhetorical methods; you didn’t just learn engineering in the classroom, you met people with special needs and designed devices that gave them more independence; you didn’t just study public health issues, you created an innovative way to provide sanitation and electricity to those in extreme poverty; you didn’t just study architecture in books and studio, you helped to design and rebuild the neighborhoods of New Orleans; you not only studied copyright law cases, you helped New Orleans’ famous Mardi Gras Indians protect their oneof-a-kind creations; you didn’t just get good grades in medical school, you partnered with a local homeless shelter to provide health care to an underserved community; and you not only studied social work, you worked with Tibetan refugees and forged a relationship that has today brought us our wonderful keynote speaker, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, a man universally recognized and beloved for his message of compassion and hope.

Along with the many achievements that brought you here today, remember that you, together with your fellow students, contributed an incredible 485,000 hours of service in community outreach projects last year alone.

Best of all, you kept hope alive. Hope did not die in Boston, at Newtown or during Super Storm Sandy or Hurricane Katrina. I know it will continue to flourish as you take your rightful place as tomorrow’s engaged citizens and leaders in whatever path you follow.

TUlane C O N T E N T S Wind Horses Tibetan prayer flags flutter in the wind in the mountain village of Tso Pema, India, overlooking Lotus Lake.

2 PRESIDENT’S LETTER Hope is alive

ron marks

6 NEWS BP explosion trial • Promising treatments for depression • Crawfest • Who dat?

Christian Leblanc • Stopping defoliation by ants • Partner in Pakistan • Melgar papers• Tulane City Center in the ’hood • La Belle Augustine • Vincent Illustre

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13 SPORTS Table tennis • Van Meter vaults

Right Place, Right Time

30 TULANIANS Cory Squire’s comfort levels • Dinner with 12 Tulanians • Dr. Andrew Corwin • Jonathan Mayers • Alumni Awards

Commencement 2013 offered the improbable, spectacular mix of the music of New Orleans and the wisdom of the Dalai Lama. By Nick Marinello

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Journey of the Heart The School of Social Work’s engagement with the Tibetan Buddhist community in India shapes students’—and a dean’s—worldview. By Ron Marks

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Gut Instinct With 24 million subscribers to answer to, SiriusXM’s Scott Greenstein (A&S ’81) listens to a little voice that has rarely let him down. By Nick Marinello

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An Independent Woman A brother recalls the adventures of his sister Sherrell Hoffman (NC ’60) in New York City, breaking barriers in the world of televison. By Roy Hoffman (A&S ’75)

31 WHERE Y'AT! Class notes 35 FAREWELL Tribute: Robert L. Turchin Sr. 38 TULANE EMPOWERS Paul Tulane Society • Trombone Shorty • Learning aid • Social entrepreneurship 40 NEW ORLEANS WWII Museum

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ART HISTORY A sculpture among the masterpieces of Indian art at the temples of Khajuraho depicts a variation on the long-standing theme of pulling a thorn from a foot.

(Photo by Robert Hamburger.)

y e a h,

y o u

w r i t e

ANOTHER VIEWPOINT I just read the article [“Charting a New Course,” winter 2013] about the so-called “reinvention of public schools in New Orleans.” I am very disappointed in the article and the one-sided viewpoint presented. The current state of RSD [Recovery School District] and the charter school takeover of the neighborhood public schools in NOLA is deplorable and in no way represents the fictional rebirth many would have the public believe. The majority of these schools are rated D or F by our state standard. … The worst part of this is that many of these school corporations are resegregating by class and under serving students with special needs.

Instead of using public tax dollars to dismantle public education, we should be supporting the rebuilding of strong neighborhood public schools.

As a fully certified teacher with a Master’s degree, I feel that TFA [Teach for America] is an organization that puts unqualified and uncertified individuals in classrooms where our most at-risk students most need professional teachers who are committed to more than a two-year feel-good visit. …

Everyone would agree that the city’s public schools needed to be reformed, but I believe The Cowen Institute has taken the wrong path by supporting a reform movement that removes the public from public education. Privatization and forprofit charter schools are not the answer. Strong neighborhood public schools committed to quality education for ALL students are the answer.

Bridget Bergeron, Parent ’13 New Iberia, La.

I have one of him on the legislature dais with Allen Ellender, which was taken a few minutes before he was shot.

I also have quite a few more original photographs of him.

I am guessing about 100 of them but I have never actually counted them.

Hal Scott, L ’72 Alexandria, La.

by Sartre. Too many Dixie beers will do that to you.

Robert C. Feuer, G ’58 Clover, Va.

The photo, above, taken 15 minutes before Huey Long was assassinated in the Louisiana State Capitol in 1935 shows Long (center) turning toward Allen Ellender, Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives. According to an AP Newsfeatures photo caption provided by Hal Scott, Long was “watching the state legislature pass in record time bills to strengthen his power and eliminate his enemies. He had moved from the governorship to the role of U.S. senator, but he still dictated policy in Louisiana.”

Long continues to fascinate political aficionados.

you might find it of interest that in the Khajuraho Group of Monuments in India (Chandella period), there is a carving of a female removing an object (thorn?) from the foot, circa 900–1000 AD. [Image above.]

Just a note in case you were not aware of this. It is a wonderful group of monuments.

Dr. Robert J. Hamburger, M ’67 Wellesley, Mass.

LONg’s LAsT PHOTO The statement in the article [“The Skinny on Long,” winter 2013] that the image of Huey Long on the podium in Oklahoma City is the last one made of him in public prior to his being shot is in error.

sARTRE, NOT NIETZsCHE Let me join the long line of people pointing out to Doug Gauld (A&S ’77) [“Yeah, You Write,” winter 2013] that he never “discussed the implications of Nietzsche’s ‘Being and Nothingness.’” That book was written

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J UNE 2013 TULANE MAGA ZINE

THORN PULLERs I read with interest your article in the Tulane University magazine, Winter of 2013, page 11 re Atala and Chactas. Regarding the topic of removing a thorn,

LINDY AND BARBARA The article by Tania Tetlow about Lindy Boggs [‘Lindy and Me,” fall 2012] was most interesting, and I learned a lot from it. Also, I remembered, and still remember, what Lindy Boggs was like as a Congresswoman. She did a splendid job in answering contacts and maintained good contact with her constituents. On page 26, she is shown with President Gerald Ford and a group of

other ladies. Who is the black woman pictured? By any chance, is it the late Barbara Jordan from Houston, Texas?

Tom Hofer, UC ’76 Morgan City, La. [Editor’s note: Yes, it is.]

RAIsINg THE gRADE I got your email request to take a survey intended to identify strengths and weaknesses of the journal from the perspective of a long-time Tulane graduate (BS, MS, PhD). My responses were generally positive, if not enthusiastic. Let’s say, a grade of B, overall.

By a happy coincidence, your current issue [winter 2013] was in my mailbox this morning and I looked at it with renewed interest, prompted by the survey.

I was impressed! This latest issue struck me as being significantly, obviously improved over those of the past. If this represents the beginning of a new era with the Tulane Magazine and had I taken the survey today, I would have assigned it an A. Keep up the good work.

Murray S. Work, A&S ’57, G ’60, 64 Carmichael, Calif.

IpAd And AndROId veRSIOnS Of TulAne mAgAzIne ARe AvAIlAble fOR fRee dOwnlOAd. CHeCk IT OuT!

Drop Us a Line E-mail us at: tulanemag@tulane.edu or U.S. mail: Tulane, University Publications, 200 Broadway, Suite 219, New Orleans, LA 70118

Letter From The Editor

TUlane M

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G

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Z

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Editor Mary Ann Travis

Art dirEctor Melinda Whatley Viles FEAturEs Editor Nick Marinello “tulAniAns” Editor Fran Simon

paula burch-celentano

contributors Barri Bronston Christina Carr Catherine Freshley, ’09 Johanna Gretschel, ’12 Erika Herran Alicia Duplessis Jasmin Michael Joe Angus Lind, A&S ’66 Arthur Nead Ryan Rivet, UC ’02 Mary Sparacello Madeline Vann, PHTM ’98

Wave Goodbye party on Tulane uptown campus, May 2012

readers sound off

We want to thank Tulane magazine readers who filled out our readership survey. (We sent emails in March and April directing readers to the web survey.

If you didn’t reply, there’s still time at http://tinyurl.com/actn2tu.) It is fun, for a change, hearing what you have to say.

Among the results, you say that the recovery from Hurricane Katrina still interests you. This is what happens whenever New Orleanians get together—talk turns to “The Storm” and its aftermath.

In reply to “What do you like most about the publication?” one reader said, “I love the information about how the University has recovered and thrived, and helped New Orleans recover since Katrina.”

Another said, “I especially like stories that situate Tulane within New Orleans and stories that explore New Orleans culture. Tulane magazine has done a fantastic job with such stories, particularly since Katrina, or at least that’s my impression.”

Some of you, though, are not happy with the New Orleans stories. One reader said, “The magazine makes me feel sadnostalgic. Many of the articles seem to be written to make us feel homesick.”

There are other criticisms. Some of

you’d like more stories about faculty research. Others would like more “diversity of thought” or more about “actual student life.” Some of you suggested topics such as “Tulane’s connection to and faculty perspective on current global/national news and events.” Another reader, however, said, “The tone is too erudite.” (It’s hard to please everyone!)

Some of you also expressed your displeasure with the magazine’s name change from Tulanian to Tulane two years ago.

All in all, the good news to us is that 83 percent of you rate the content of the magazine as “excellent” or “good.”

If you’re looking for additional content, we have more on the magazine’s website and iPad and new Android versions. There’s video of the prayer flags that flew around New Orleans and the Tulane campus in anticipation of the Dalai Lama’s visit and an interview with Ron Marks, dean of the School of Social Work, about their significance.

We have created a slide show with audio narration and more photos of 1960 Newcomb graduate Sherrell Hoffman.

Also, you might want to view the video of Tulane commencement 2013.

—Mary ann Travis

sEnior univErsity PhotogrAPhEr Paula Burch-Celentano sEnior Production coordinAtor Sharon Freeman grAPhic dEsignEr Tracey Bellina

PrEsidEnt oF thE univErsity Scott S. Cowen vicE PrEsidEnt oF univErsity communicAtions Deborah L. Grant, PHTM ’86 ExEcutivE dirEctor oF PublicAtions Carol J. Schlueter, B ’99 Tulane (USPS 017-145) is a quarterly magazine published by the Tulane Office of University Publications, 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 University Publications, 31 McAlister Drive, Drawer 1, New Orleans, LA 70118-5624.

JunE 2013/vol. 84, no. 4

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engineering educaTion Nicholas J. Altiero, dean of the Tulane University School

of Science and Engineering, is president-elect of the American Society for Engineering Education. ASEE works to enhance professional opportunities for engineering faculty members and promotes activities aimed at increasing student enrollment in engineering and engineering technology.

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courtesy of the u.s. coast guard

Hope for Depression

BP on Trial After eight weeks of testimony, the first phase of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill trial ended in New Orleans in late April, almost three years after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig caught fire and exploded off the coast of Louisiana. It may take a year for a ruling to come down on this initial phase of the trial to determine the liability of the BP oil company and its drilling partners for the explosion and subsequent oil spill.

It’s a case that Ed Sherman, a Tulane law professor specializing in complex litigation, continues to closely monitor. Sherman says the stakes are high for BP, which spent the lion’s share of the first phase of the trial trying to deflect part of the blame for the disaster onto Transocean, which leased the drilling rig to BP, and Haliburton, which laid the cement to cap the well. BP also is fighting the plaintiffs’ assertion that it was gross negligence that led to the blowout rather than simple negligence.

A determination of gross negligence could result in a four-fold increase in fines for BP. “That is a very critical factor because billions of dollars rests on that determination,” Sherman says. “The government is seeking civil penalties under the Clean Water Act, which sets out damages for every barrel of oil spilled. If it is gross negligence, it would be about $17 billion, and if it’s mere negligence, it would only be a few billion.”

Sherman says he thinks that BP put on a good case, but in the end the facts are “pretty strong against them.” Despite “pretty clear” evidence that BP was calling the shots on the drilling platform, Sherman says U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier will more than likely take a long time to make a ruling on this phase of the trial.

Regardless of the outcome, Sherman sees such a multifaceted case as a tremendous teaching opportunity for his students. His class followed the case closely, had an opportunity to observe the trial and even met with Barbier, who took questions and explained aspects of the case.

“The class is on complex litigations, which are big multiparty cases,” Sherman says. “This is the perfect example of it so it was a nice paradigm for the students to study.”—Ryan Rivet

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Blow Up The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico after the massive explosion on April 20, 2010.

Benjamin Hall, an assistant professor of cell and molecular biology and neuroscience at Tulane University, has won a $1.8 million grant that will enable him and his research team to explore questions that could eventually lead to new treatments for chronic depression.

The five-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health means Hall can purchase new lab equipment and employ additional researchers to study the role of the NMDA receptor in the treatment of depression.

The NMDA receptor plays a critical role in the transmission of information between neurons.

The drug ketamine, which interferes with the NMDA receptor, produces rapid antidepressant actions in treatment-resistant patients. However, because of its hallucinatory side effects, ketamine has not been approved for treatment of depression.

Typical antidepressant therapies, such as the SSRIs (compounds that increase serotonin levels in the brain), can take several weeks to work, placing patients with the most severe cases at risk for suicide or attempted suicide, Hall said.

“Our ability to treat chronic depression has been limited by the fact that standard therapies have long delay, or are completely ineffective, in providing antidepressant action,” he said.

Ketamine’s ability to cause rapid antidepressant actions by inhibiting the NMDA receptor is exciting, Hall said. But knowing the exact mechanisms underlying the drug’s effects could aid in the development of antidepressants that do not produce its adverse side effects.

Hall’s experiments will test a hypothesis that points to the GluN2B gene, an NMDA receptor subunit. The experiments will better define the role of GluN2B-containing NMDA receptors in regulating excitatory synapse function and despair behavior, while clarifying how inhibiting NMDA produces its rapid antidepressant effects.

“Understanding these cellular mechanisms is critical for guiding future pharmaceutical intervention while minimizing side effects,” Hall said.—Barri Bronston

In That Number Crawfest MudBuG MAdnEss This year was the seventh installment of Crawfest. Staged annually in April on the uptown campus, Crawfest remains one of the largest student-run free music festivals in the nation. Here’s how it all adds up.

10,000

+

20,000 More than ten thousand students and community members attended this year’s Crawfest.

1,000 Pounds

of potatoes cooked in the boil.

Pounds of MudBuGs sErvEd

3,500 Number ears of corn consumed.

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infographic by tracey bellina

Number of recycling bins stationed throughout the festival grounds.

10 hours

The duration of the event.

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12 Bands performed.

Number of food vendors (four food trucks and eight restaurants were represented).

51

Total number of musicians who took the stage.

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photo courtesy university archives

Who Dat? Soap Star

“Acting is an art, and I ap-

proach it with passion,” says CHRISTIAN LE BLANC (A&S ’80). For 20 years, Le Blanc has played Michael Baldwin on “The Young and the Restless,” winning the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series three times. The popular soap opera—the highest-rated daytime TV drama— has garnered seven Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series and celebrated its 40th anniversary this spring.

“It’s been an amazing run,” says Le Blanc. Playing a

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J UNE 2 0 1 3 TU LANE MAGA ZINE

nefarious lawyer has held his interest because “the writers have given me a character who is extremely different from me.”

Likening the daily drama to live theater, he says, “We’re responsible for a show a day, 12 months of the year. The difficulty of this is like being shot out of a cannon every day, and I work with some of the most talented actors.”

Le Blanc, shown above with the Tulanians singing group in 1980, was a premed and ancient history major. He landed his first professional acting gig— appearing in a Barq’s Root Beer

commercial—after he was “discovered” by a photographer at the University Center swimming pool. Soon after this first job, he got a role in a small PBS series and moved to New York.

“It wasn’t until after I got a part on ‘As the World Turns,’— the stars in those days were Meg Ryan, Marisa Tomei and Julianne Moore—that I knew that I couldn’t go back to medicine,” says Le Blanc.

Also a visual artist, Le Blanc exhibits his work at Jean Bragg Gallery in New Orleans. He has donated prints of his whimsical

paintings to benefit various causes. He’s served as co-chair of Dining Out for Life, a fundraiser for AIDS service organizations, and appeared as the celebrity Mad Hatter at the annual Mad Hatters Fashion Competition and Fundraiser for the Louisiana Center for Women and Government, which provides scholarships for nursing students.

He owns a house in New Orleans and visits frequently.

“My parents are proud because I’m famous in my own hometown—New Orleans is our No. 1 market.”—FRAN SImoN

american routes The weekly nationally syndicated public radio program founded and hosted by Nick

Spitzer, professor of anthropology and American studies at Tulane, celebrated its 15th anniversary with a concert and dance at Rock ’n’ Bowl in New Orleans in April. “American Routes” is devoted to music and musicians from New Orleans, the Gulf South and beyond. Broadcast and produced from studios on the Tulane campus, the radio show reaches half a million listeners each week on 270 radio stations as well as the Internet.

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Photo by Catalina Estrada

ants, Fungi & Leaves Leaf-cutting ants are major defoliators, inflicting billions of dollars of damage to agriculture in the southern United States and Central America. The ants harvest chunks of leaves, bring them to their nests and pile them to create compost heaps that host a special fungus.

“They grow this fungus to feed themselves,” says Sunshine Van Bael, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Tulane. The fungus devours the compost, producing fruiting bodies that the ants eat and feed to their larvae.

Ants are selective when they forage. “They need to bring plants that don’t interact badly with their own fungus,” Van Bael says.

In the February issue of New Phytologist, Van Bael and other Tulane biologists examine why leaf-cutting ants target some plants and avoid others, concluding that high levels of certain fungi in the leaves of some plants protect them from destruction by ants.

Earlier studies focused on plant chemistry to explain why ants are repelled from some plants. Van Bael teamed up with postdoctoral associate Catalina Estrada to look at another factor in plant/ant interactions—cryptic endophytes, or fungi living symbiotically inside the leaves of plants.

The researchers manipulated cucumber plant leaves to have high and low levels of fungi. Ants consistently preferred to cut leaves with low levels. To explain this preference, the research team extracted all the chemicals from leaves with high and low endophytes, added them to small filter paper discs and let the ants choose.

“The ants preferred the discs with low endophyte loads,” says Van Bael. “We basically show that plants with a low level of endophytes taste different to the ants than plants with high levels.”

Researchers hope to use endophytes as tools for biological control against insects and pathogens that affect crops and restoration efforts.

—Arthur Nead

Leaf Attack Leaf-cutting ants will choose the leaves of one plant over another.

But why?

Pakistani Connection

A three-member delegation from Fatima Jinnah Women University in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, was on the Tulane campus for four days in March to learn how to make public service a part of the university experience for their 4,000 students.

The representatives from the Pakistani university had come to New Orleans to look at the Tulane model that incorporates service learning in the academic curriculum.

“They happen to have a graduation requirement for service like we do,” says Vincent Ilustre, executive director of the Tulane Center for Public Service. “Unlike ours, however, theirs is a community service requirement, so they’re particularly interested in finding opportunities to engage and perhaps to rethink their requirement to become a curricular requirement similar to ours.”

The visit is just the beginning of the relationship, says Ilustre. Tulane students and faculty will continue to interact with their Pakistani counterparts via social media and video conferencing, and a group from Tulane will head to Pakistan this summer to hold workshops about empowering women to become more visible and active in their communities.

The pairing of Tulane and Fatima Jinna universities is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department through the organization Innovations in Civic Participation.

The Tulane Center for Public Service receives inquiries and visits from more than 50 national and international programs a year, says Ilustre. “It’s gratifying and speaks volumes about the effort our faculty, students, administration and staff have made in collaboration with our community.”—R.R.

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STUDENT POWER A Quarter Century of Student Life at Tulane by John

H. Stibbs is an account of his tenure as dean of students from 1949–75.

Written by Stibbs shortly before his death in 1975 and just published this spring, the book recounts the turbulent times of student unrest from an administrator’s point of view.

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Photo from the Gen. rafael e. melGar ColleCtion, tulane latin ameriCan library

Central City Home

Mexican Papers

The Latin American Library at Tulane University has acquired the Gen. Rafael E. Melgar Collection, which includes a plethora of rare materials, including thousands of letters, reports, official documents and photographs that paint a picture of four decades in the extraordinary life of a man who used his political influence to improve the lives of his poorest constituents.

Orphaned as a child, Melgar’s formal education stopped at primary school. But after rising to the rank of general in the Mexican Revolution, he became a political powerhouse who helped elect three Mexican presidents and implemented key reforms inspired by the revolution such as redistributing land to peasants and championing labor unions.

Melgar died in 1959. “He was a pivotal figure during one of the most tumultuous and important periods in Mexican history,” says Hortensia Calvo, director of the Latin American Library.

Meticulously recorded are the details of Melgar’s nationalist campaign that helped lift Mexico out of the Great Depression. This patriotism touched every sector of Mexican society: labor, commerce, military, arts and media.

The acquisition of the Melgar collection strengthens the university’s Latin American studies program, says Ludovico Feoli, director of the Center for Inter-American Policy and Research at Tulane.

“These documents reach out from the past,” Feoli says. “They present a great opportunity to understand part of the origins of modern-day Mexico.” —Mary Sparacello

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General for the People Rare materials in the Latin American Library portray Gen. Rafael Melgar, who used his political influence to improve the lives of his poorest constituents.

Long gone are the hair dryers, manicure stands and barbering stalls that once occupied much of the building at 2100 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans. The one-time home of Katie’s School of Beauty Culture is now the satellite office of Tulane City Center, the applied urban research and outreach program of Tulane University School of Architecture.

“A lot of our work is already in this part of town,” says Maurice Cox, Tulane City Center director. “Now our core mission—to serve New Orleans neighborhoods and nonprofit organizations—is perfectly aligned with our community-based location. We hope our presence will signal just how committed Tulane is to neighborhood revitalization.”

Located at the corner of Oretha Castle Haley and Josephine Street, the satellite office occupies the front portion of a 3,000-square-foot building renovated by Redmellon Restoration & Development in partnership with the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, a statechartered agency formed to help revitalize blighted neighborhoods.

The building includes two second-floor apartments as well as office space for Redmellon, whose owner is Neal Morris (TC ’95, B ’98, L ’99). Morris also is an adjunct professor in the architecture school.

“We were looking for a neighborhoodbuilding use for the space,“ Morris says. “I can’t imagine a better fit than City Center.”

Working with community partners, Tulane City Center has been involved in the designing and building of dozens of neighborhood revitalization projects over the past several years including playgrounds, healthcare facilities, arts centers, urban farms and more.

Associate director Dan Etheridge says the new space allows City Center to hire four to six summer interns, particularly those with an interest in the rapidly growing field of public interest design.

“So many of our students choose the Tulane School of Architecture because of the opportunity to do this sort of work,” Etheridge says.—B.B.

LA BELLE AUGUSTINE Her name was Augustine. She wore her hair in five neat plaits and her face showed so few wrinkles that her age was difficult to guess.

Her features were distinct.

Thick lips. Thin frame. Dark skin.

As a housekeeper for the Gregory family in New Orleans, Augustine spent her days preparing meals and cleaning.

She was a commoner who became inspiration for a delicate bronze sculpture created by the family’s daughter, artist Angela Gregory (1903–1990).

Gregory was a sculptor who received her degree in design from Newcomb College in 1925.

Her studies and career took her around the globe, including a stint at the New York School of Fine Arts and the Parsons School of Fine and Applied Arts in Paris.

By the early 1930s, Gregory returned to New Orleans. While missing the culture of Paris, she quickly gained a reputation for her work resulting in several commissions around the city including the Tulane campus.

In 1940 she earned a master’s degree from the Tulane School of Architecture.

The first commission upon Gregory’s return to New Orleans was an architectural sculpture on the façade of the Orleans Parish Criminal Courts Building. Her work there inspired a New York Sun article

by Helen Schertz headlined, “Prison Walls Made Less Grim

by Girl Sculptor, Who at 25 Executes Many Commissions.”

Some 85 years after Gregory cast it, the bust of Augustine titled, La Belle Augustine (circa 1928), sits on display in the Southeastern Architectural Archives on the uptown campus.

Augustine’s expression and age remain frozen in time.

owen murphy

Gallery Angela Gregory

The craftsmanship is impressive. But the fact that the sculpture was created at the hands of a female artist using a then male-dominated technique adds to its significance.

“Bronze casting was not a new method during this time,” says Keli Rylance, head of the

archives, where at least two of Gregory’s works are housed.

“But the reality is that women were not learning the same things as men, and it was unusual for a woman to acquire the skill necessary to create this type of casting.”

Gregory’s parents also had

ties to the university. Her father, William B. Gregory, was an engineering professor at Tulane and her mother, Selina Bres Gregory, was a Newcomb potter and later worked as a teacher at the Katherine Bres School.

—ALIcIA DUpLESSIS JASmIN

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Interview Vincent Illustre, Center for Public Service Vincent Ilustre (TC ’98, B ’04) is the founding executive director of the Tulane University Center for Public Service.

Was public service always something you were passionate about?

My grandparents held service in high regard, but it wasn’t until high school that I really began to be passionate about service. I did the usual volunteer activities such as tutoring, visiting senior centers and helping at the local hospital. When I arrived at Tulane, I joined the Community Action Council of Tulane Students (CACTUS). It was exciting to find so many fellow students who were devoted to public service.

Why does service matter for universities?

Service is important for our society. At a time when government is reducing services, we will all be asked to do more. Universities are in a unique position to bring the intellectual and human capital to address issues plaguing our city, nation and the world. But service also is important for our students and faculty.

It allows them to apply their theories to the complexities of the real world.

When people ask you about your job, what’s the most important thing you tell them?

When people think about the public service graduation requirement, they usually associate it with the university’s efforts to collaborate with the larger community. I appreciate that because New Orleans is my home, and I am extremely proud of my alma mater for instituting the requirement. But I also remind them that the requirement is part of our institutional mission to educate our students.

As New Orleans continues to transition away from Katrina recovery, how do you think the Center for Public Service will evolve?

After Katrina, our immediate needs were to ensure that we had enough public service academic opportunities for students to complete the public service graduation requirement, but our new, 10-year strategic plan is even more ambitious and will keep Tulane at the forefront of universities committed to public service.—RYAN RIVET

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paula burch-celentano

Since Katrina, the university and the students seem more engaged with the community. Do you attribute that solely to the storm?

Katrina galvanized a new generation of students to service, but I think this shift began long before the storm. This generation of students wants to be actively involved in the wider community and they care about issues of social justice.

famous names The Green Wave football team roster this fall will

include Nick Montana, son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, and Nico Marley, grandson of reggae icon Bob Marley.

S P O R T S

ryan rivet

Gravity Buster When teams are first formed, expectations for accomplishment are usually tempered due, simply, to the nascent status of the squad.

Such was the case with the newly formed Tulane table tennis team, which was organized in October 2012. Despite modest expectations, the team performed better than anyone expected, making it to the national tournament in April.

The team’s success is due, in part, to the strength of play of two players, Kangkang Huang and Dian Li. After the national tournament, Huang is ranked eighth in the women’s rankings and 31st in the coed rankings, and Li is ranked 51st in the nation in the men’s rankings.

The team’s fast success surprised junior Connor Dolan, the team’s manager and cofounder, who says Tulane is the first team in the history of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association to make it to the championship tournament in their first year.

“When we first started the team I just saw it as a fun opportunity to get people to play competitively,” Dolan says. “Nationals was never in the picture for me.”—R.R.

larry miller

Side Spins At Tulane press time, pole vaulter Merritt Van Meter had qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., in June. She punched her ticket to nationals by clearing 4.10 meters (13 ft., 5 in.) at the East Regionals in Greensboro, N.C., on May 24. Two weeks earlier, she had won the event title at the Conference USA Championships.

Those facts are even more impressive when taking into account that Van Meter, a redshirt sophomore on the Tulane team, has come back from three knee operations and 10 knee drains to set multiple school records in pole vault this year. While in high school at Metairie (La.) Park Country Day School, Van Meter was the nation’s top-ranked pole vaulter. She enrolled at the University of North Carolina, but an aggressive case of seronegative arthritis in her knees derailed her first year of competition in college.

After daily physical therapy sessions and a transfer to Tulane, Van Meter was shocked when she set a personal record of 4.23 meters (13 ft., 10 in.) during the indoor season with only three months of training under her belt.

“Where I am now, I never complain about my knees hurting,” she says. “One of the biggest things I’ve learned is you have to take things day by day.”

Van Meter is a third-generation Green Wave student-athlete. Her grandfather, Cliff Van Meter (A&S ’50), played football at Tulane and was later drafted by the NFL San Francisco 49ers. And her father, the late Dr. Cliff Van Meter Jr. (A&S ’77, M ’81), also played on the Green Wave gridiron.

“Both of them just seemed larger than life,” Van Meter says.

“I’m extremely humbled and proud to be a part of their legacy.”

—Johanna Gretschel

Tip-top Form Merritt Van Meter has broken school records in the pole vault this year, overcoming injuries while inspired by examples set by her grandfather and father, both former Green Wave football players.

national contenders With skill and finesse, Dian Li led the newly formed Tulane table tennis team to the national championship tournament this spring.

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SALLY ASHER

Right Place, Right Time COMMENCEMENT

2013

OffERED

THE

IMPROBABLE ,

SPECTACUL AR MIx Of THE MUSIC Of NEW ORLEANS AND THE WISD OM Of THE DAL AI L AMA .

By Nick Marinello To the casual rhythm of traditional jazz and under the sharp glare of roaming searchlights, the 2,800 members of the Tulane University class of 2013 walked across the floor of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to take their seats on Saturday morning, May 18. With their ears in many cases glued to cell phones, they looked up, smiling and waving to the audience composed of 36,000 family members and friends.

At the same moment, a small group of Buddhist monks with shaved heads and saffron-colored robes was escorted across the floor to seats reserved for them in the stands.

So began this year’s Commencement Ceremony, one that cleaved to its tradition of celebrating both Tulane University graduates and the city that has been their home, but also was indelibly marked by the presence of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, who received an honorary degree and gave the morning’s keynote address.

Referring to the graduating class as “my young brothers and sisters,” the Dalai Lama lauded them for their public service work during their time at Tulane, and suggested that education was most purposeful when it was combined with a sense of “warm-heartedness.”

“I think the very purpose of education is to have meaningful life. In order to have meaningful life, you should take care of others’ well-being.

Then you feel, ‘Oh, my life is something meaningful.’”

On several occasions he encouraged the graduates to think globally.

“In order to create a sense of global responsibility, it is extremely important to develop the concept of the oneness of humanity. There are seven billion human beings. We are part of that.”

Noting that most of the graduates had “been taken care of” by others for most of their lives, the Dalai Lama said, “Now you start your real life. It could be more complicated. With difficulties. You should not become demoralized. Despite difficulties, you must keep optimism and self-confidence.

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“Our existence,” he said, “is very much based on hope. Hope means something good, something better. There’s no guarantee of future, something good. But we simply exist on hope.”

Earlier in the ceremony, Tulane President Scott Cowen also spoke of hope, as well as his optimism for the future. [See an excerpt of President Cowen’s speech on page 2].

“In these challenging times,” President Cowen told the graduates, “people often ask me to explain how I can be so hopeful. The answer is because you are my hope.”

The two men shared a number of moments on stage. Among the most humorous and endearing was when the Dalai Lama, who was wearing Tulane academic regalia, returned to President Cowen the cap that the Tulane president had earlier loaned to him.

“This is not mine!” the Dalai Lama laughed as he handed the cap to President Cowen.

And while it is difficult to upstage the Dalai Lama, two of this year’s honorary degree recipients, iconic New Orleans musicians Allen Toussaint and Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack, tried their best, performing a short set of music accompanied by Dr. Michael White’s Original Liberty Jazz Band. It’s said that piano players rarely play together, but the two did just that as they turned out rousing renditions of Dr. John’s “Right Place Wrong Time” and “Such A Night,” as well as Allen Toussaint’s “Yes We Can Can.” In another notable moment, the Dalai Lama left his seat on the platform to closely watch Dr. John’s hands on the keyboard.

Returning to his seat, His Holiness wiggled his fingers as if he were playing piano.

Joining the Dalai Lama, Allen Toussaint and Mac Rebennack in receiving an honorary degree from Tulane University was Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey, the 19th U.S. Poet Laureate.

SallY aSher

SallY aSher

Top, left to right: Tulane President Scott Cowen instructs the Dalai Lama on second lining. Graduates celebrate at the end of the ceremony.

Middle: Allen Toussaint and Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack sit down at a pair of pianos to perform.

Bottom: Class of 2013 speaker Jonathan Santoro delivers his remarks.

Santoro, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tulane, graduated from the School of Medicine.

paula burch-celentano

paula burch-celentano

Moment by Moment

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Journey of the

Heart It’s been saId that learnIng Is a journey; and lIke a true journey, If you know what the fInal destInatIon looks lIke before you arrIve, then It’s not really a journey, Is It? there would be no adventure, no s u r p r I s e s a n d, e s p e c I a l ly, n o h I d d e n t r e a s u r e s .

Marcel proust put It thIs way: “the real voyage of dIscovery consIsts not In seekIng new landscapes, but In havIng new eyes.” I certaInly never expected t o h a n d d e l I v e r a n I n v I tat I o n t o h I s h o l I n e s s the 14th dal aI l aMa In hIs hoMe In the fo othIlls of the hIMalayas, askIng hIM to speak at tulane coMMenceMent. but that Is precIsely what happened.

Text and Photographs by Ron Marks, Dean of the School of Social Work

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Devotion This page, top: these candles are offered as part of rituals by monks in the small community of tso pema.

Opposite page: tibetan monk tsering phuntsok, a guide on student trips to India, performs a “lama dance” to dispel spiritual obstacles.

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India’s heart is big. I’m sure that’s what drew me to it. During years of returning to India, my own heart has been opened, filled with joy, incensed, made ecstatic and turned upside down. As a setting to offer our graduate social work students lessons on the complex fabric of the human condition, there has been no better place than India.

More than a decade ago, the Tulane School of Social Work began collaborating with the Louisiana Himalaya Association (LHA), a grassroots social service program that provides social and health services to Tibetans and others living in Dharamsala, India, the home of the Dalai Lama and the seat of the Tibetan Government in Exile. Neil Guidry (SW ’90), president of the LHA board of directors, has been instrumental in enabling our students to immerse themselves in the Tibetan community.

“Dailiness” In India, it is not possible to escape the drama that is the human condition. At every turn, one’s senses are drenched with exotic fragrances, brilliant and confusing sights, a cacophony of sound and the intimacy of the crowded streets. From the moment we stepped off the plane at midnight in the Delhi airport 12 years ago, fatigued after 30 hours of air travel, we discovered in India a story too complex to comprehend from pictures and too human to gather from the pages of books. We began to immerse ourselves in the “dailiness” of life in India. We began to know with every sense, the traumas, crises and weaknesses as well as the strengths, virtues and inner resources that evolve out of the Tibetan community’s struggles with adversity.

Embarking on journeys can be daunting. During years traveling with our students I’ve learned that the more foreign the experience, the better the opportunity for real personal growth. Through these travels and my work with the Tibetan people and slum dwellers of Delhi, Mumbai and Dharamsala, I’ve observed that adversity doesn’t so much build character as reveal it.

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I remember Greer, a young student who accompanied me on our first trip. At the Morning Line airport, waiting to board the plane for the Monks from the Palyul first leg of the long flight, Greer said, “When Chökhorling Monastery you come to the edge of all you know and in the foothills of the are about to step off into the darkness of the Himalaya Mountains unknown, faith is knowing one of two things enter to conduct an early will happen: there will be something solid to morning ceremony. stand on, or you will be taught to fly.”

My own wings have grown through working in India. There have been countless lessons on the meaning of being human and navigating the complexity of the modern world.

Most importantly, relationships have been formed and friendships made that repeatedly show me the character of the human spirit. lotus Born For any journey, there are preparations at the outset: required immunizations, packing lists and countless other essentials including an understanding of health and safety precautions as well as study of the varied landscapes and cultures in which one will be immersed.

Immersion into something, anything, is a funny thing, however, and attempting to prepare for it by talking about it in the confines of our familiar classrooms is, at best, an incomplete undertaking. My students are wide-eyed with excitement, open to hearing my descriptions of the places we plan to go and what we might encounter. I tell them about a side trip we take to a sacred village deep in the Himalayas. From our headquarters in Dharamsala, we board Jeeps and make a trek along the ridges of the mountains. A distance of 25 miles, if one were a crow, is 75 miles along hairpin turns and switchbacks at the breakneck speed of 10 miles per hour. We head to Rewalsar, as it is called on the Indian map, but to the Tibetan people, it is called Tso Pema, or Lotus Born.

Young Monks Above: Novices gather at a day school in the village of Tso Pema.

Left: A group of boys play Frisbee on the courtyard of the Palpung Sherab Ling Monastery in Bhattu.

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Tso Pema is a tiny village. After driving several hours along twolane dirt roads on high mountain passes with sheer cliffs of several thousands of feet, past shepherds whose families have made this their home for a thousand years, one comes to a small lake, surrounded by high, jagged-peaked mountains. Tso Pema is sacred to three religions: Sikh, Hindu and Tibetan Buddhism. The village contains numerous religious buildings including a Sikh gurdwara, Hindu temples and monuments and several Tibetan Buddhist temples of the Nyingma Buddhist lineage, the oldest lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

High above the village overlooking Lotus Lake, there is a community of 60 Buddhists who live in lifetime retreat in caves. It is here that Michael, who participated in my class several years ago, struggled with the conflict between his prevailing Western paradigm of action and that of a more Eastern one in which the emphasis is on being. Observing the lamas, monks and nuns, Michael questioned whether a life spent in “retreat” meditating for peace and the welfare of all sentient beings was in fact accomplishing anything. The contrast between the Western view of doing more and more and measuring success by a laundry list of accomplishments and the Lotus Lake community’s emphasis on enlightenment and prayer for world peace challenged Michael to examine his prevailing paradigm—the lens through which he made sense of the world—and his own interactions with others.

Our work in India with students like Michael has at its core a transformational quality. And central to transformation is often a disorienting dilemma, a dilemma that challenges the paradigm with which we are comfortable.

Within Earshot Two Tibetan Buddhist nuns peer out of a door to observe a teaching on compassion that students received in the community of Tso Pema. The woman sitting is a local Tibetan also listening in.

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To MarkeT Sometimes shifting one’s paradigm comes in the subtlest ways.

Mandi is a city in northern India. It appears suddenly as we descend from the high Himalayan peaks and is nestled at the crossroads on the way to Manali and Chandigarh. Mandi is the jumping-off place for expeditions to Ladakh in the north: a home to many nomadic peoples.

The word “mandi” is Hindi for market, and every town and village in India has a mandi. In this case, being on a major crossroad, the town of Mandi became hundreds of years ago a major setting for the exchange of goods by farmers and merchants from surrounding villages. It is an ancient town. Stories abound about Alexander the Great’s travels through this region.

Mandi was the capital of the province ruled for more than 700 years by the ancestors of Ashoka, whose father was the last of the Maharajas who lost his power in 1949 when India became independent of British rule.

Ashoka is my good friend, whom we affectionately refer to as “the king.”

Our students stay at his palacelike hotel, the Raj Mahal, which is a resting point upon leaving Tso Pema. Amidst the Raj Mahal’s lavish gardens and comfortable rooms, we relax for a few days before making our way back to Dharamsala. We also visit tailors who line busy market streets, offering students the opportunity to have traditional Indian clothes made for Saturday night dinner with the “king” in his opulent dining room.

On one occasion, relishing the fun of “dressing up,” I had a tailor fashion an elegant traditional Indian suit with gold embroidery and intricate lacing. I needed only the proper headwear to complete my outfit.

I went out early to the market and came across a small shop that looked like it would provide exactly what was needed. It was a dusty place; dark and cluttered, and empty save for the owner.

Preetamjot Singh is a short and very thin man, no taller than 5 feet.

His grey and white beard must have been at least 2-feet long. He wore the traditional white turban of Sikh merchants and white cotton gurkha pajama. Serenity emanated from his every pore, and if there had been any element of hurry when I went in, it dissipated immediately.

I found the perfect hat at the right price and asked to pay for it.

Before Preetamjot Singh would accept my money, he asked that I have a cup of chai and wait while he recited a most important prayer said in honor of the first customer of the day. This small action penetrated

my Western core. Simply stated, there does not seem to be a place for such reverence in our sprawling malls and the hurried rushed manner of Western mercantilism.

Like me, my students have been changed by such encounters as mine with Preetamjot Singh. They identify the change in their relationship to materialism and the extent to which it informs or supports their happiness as salient shifts in their view of the world.

Interdependence The long-standing and deep relationship of the Tulane School of Social Work, the Louisiana Himalaya Association and the Tibetan communities in India has been a mutually rewarding one. It is a valuable partnership that benefits the Tibetan community and presents our students with opportunities for transformative personal and professional growth.

To invite the Dalai Lama to come to New Orleans and speak at the Tulane commencement ceremony was a natural extension of our decadelong relationship. The Dalai Lama’s acceptance of our invitation is evidence of the significance of the relationship and our mutual commitment to engage deeply with the Tibetan community in north India.

As I write this now, eight days before the Dalai Lama’s arrival in New Orleans amid the myriad big decisions and small nuanced planning activities still needing to be accomplished, I’m moved to pause and recall one of His Holiness’ statements. When asked what surprised him most about humanity, he answered, “Man surprises me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.

Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if

he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

Sitting with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in his home temple in Dharamsala, along with a sea of monks and nuns in saffron and maroon robes, my students and I heard him speak of interdependence: how we are all intimately connected, part of the same fabric and how one’s behavior has immense impact on those around us. Surrounded by colorful and ancient thangka murals covering the walls, we heard the long horns and the monks’ deep-throat chanting.

Back on the Tulane campus, yet another reporter asks me what the Dalai Lama’s essential message will be to Tulane graduates and what do I expect the people of New Orleans to take away from his visit.

My answer: We do very well here in the West in developing the mind. I believe the Dalai Lama will tell us that we must work on developing the heart. That, after all, is the essence of his message of compassion and connection. This is at the core of His Holiness’ teachings on ethical behavior, nonviolence and emphasis on placing others before self.

The Dalai Lama has said, “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

Group Photo Tulane social work students pose for a picture in the home of Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, a highly venerated teacher. Bottom row, from left: co-teacher Carolyn Weaver, guide Tsering Phuntsok, guide Karma Lhundhup, dean of the School of Social Work Ron Marks, students Anne Doussan, Brittany Link, Lauren Duffy. Middle row: yoga teacher Amanda Anderson, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche.

Top row: students Patricia Hawley, Laura Glazer, Sharon Krick, Mary Elizabeth Wilks; guide Michael Smith; students Karah Adams, Veronica Gonzalez, Diana Winingder.

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larry busacca

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Gut

Instinct With 24 million sub s cribers to ansWer to, s i r i u s X m’ s s c o t t G r e e n s t e i n l i s t e n s t o a little voice that has rarely let him doWn.

by Nick Marinello

Name Recognition scott Greenstein stands in front of a wall of autographs in the bustling lobby of siriusXm.

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There are thousands of them—maybe millions, billions, who knows?

A sprawling, cohering mass of signatures flows along walls of the SiriusXM offices, lining the hallways, accompanied sometimes by promotional stickers or hand-drawn figures, and every name a testament, a boast, a proclamation of being.

Just now, in the satellite radio juggernaut’s lobby, 36 floors above Midtown Manhattan, actress Laura Dern is contributing her own autograph to the ever-expanding community of names.

She is approached by Taylor Hill, an authorized Getty photographer who, with Dern’s permission, snaps a photo and then posts it to the Internet. “I’ve uploaded as many as 125 posts in a single day,” says Hill.

One hundred and twenty-five posts. That’s a lot of celebrity, a lot of personality.

And it doesn’t take more than a quick tour of the company’s two floors to know that personality is the core energy source of SiriusXM. We’re not talking merely of the exclusive company of A-list movie stars, rockers, politicos, sports heroes and authors who regularly make their way up here for on-air appearances, but also the cadre of characters who populate the radio station’s regular programming, beginning with the inimitable Howard Stern and including such less widely known but as avidly followed persons as Cousin Brucie and Father Dave, Covino and Rich, B. Smith, Andrew Wilkow and Michael Smerconish.

With its warren of glass-girdled, technology-loaded studios and expanse of open-air offices teeming with programming and marketing folks and festooned with a kaleidoscopic array of poster art and programming lists, bobble-headed figures and leaning towers of CDs, musical instruments, Chinese lanterns, autographed photos and tchotchkes of innumerable variety, SiriusXM presents itself as a whirlwind of personality.

And at the center of this urgent and creative vortex is Scott Greenstein (A&S ’81), SiriusXM’s president and chief content officer, who oversees the music, sports and talk programming that goes out to more than 24 million subscribers on more than 140 commercial-free channels to a total listening audience of more than 45 million. He has served in this capacity since he started with the company in 2003, following a stint at Viacom and then a successful stint as an independent-film executive at Miramax and USA Films, a tour of duty in which he helped bring to screen such critically acclaimed movies as The Apostle and Being John Malkovich, as well as Academy Award-winners The English Patient (of which he was an executive producer), Traffic and Last Days.

Sitting down to talk in his corner office way above the Greatest City in the World, Greenstein, it would seem, has travelled far and well since his days chowing down at Camellia Grill and making late-night runs to The Boot and Popeyes. Yet, ask him to connect the series of dots that describe the arc of his career and he demurs from offering any strategic plan for success.

“I don’t believe there are any formulas for the entertainment business,” he says in a measured, clipped cadence. “I just don’t believe that.”

BIGGER THAN LIFE What Greenstein does believe in is gut-level intuition and surrounding himself with a great team. “I go by as best I can with an informed instinct of what I believe, and I stick by it. And I work with a team that is steeped in the vital research, facts and other issues that allow me to make the best decision possible.”

That informed instinct was put to the test in a very, very public way back in 2004, when Greenstein became what The New York Times described as the “alpha guy of the entertainment business” by brokering a $500 million deal to lure Howard Stern from commercial broadcast radio to Sirius Satellite Radio.

This was in the day when Sirius was only two years beyond its launch and still but a faint and distant competitor to the more established XM Satellite Radio (the two companies would merge in 2008), and some observers predicted that the half-billion dollar hit would

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bankrupt the upstart. But it didn’t. In 2004, upon hiring Stern, the company estimated it could recoup the agreement’s costs if it acquired more than one million new subscribers. There has never been an official count of which subscribers signed up because of Stern, but his bigger-than-life presence helped the company market satellite radio to a national audience that hadn’t heretofore paid for radio. Millions of subscribers would come for Stern, and much more of the satellite radio programming.

Greenstein followed the Stern deal with other high-profile contracts with Eminem, Jamie Foxx, Jimmy Buffet and Tony Hawk. According to Adweek, in one year Sirius tripled both its subscription list and its brand awareness.

Greenstein says it was “very important” to him to sign Stern—“the single most dominant and creative person in radio history.” It’s against Greenstein’s policy to talk in detail about the negotiation, but, “I can tell you this,” he offers, “we spent a lot of time on the creative and less time on the business. Once you know you have an agreement with someone creatively, the economics become relatively easy. Whether they work or don’t, it’s a more factual discussion.”

In Greenstein’s world, success in the entertainment industry may not have a formula, but it does have a philosophy: “If it’s just about money—well, that’s not the business we are in and, generally speaking, you don’t even know what you are buying. Creativity and true control in its earliest creative phase can’t always be assessed like some form of widget.”

TWO PLUS TWO And knowing what he’s buying may be Greenstein’s ultimate gift. It could even be what he was born to do. A political science degree from Tulane and law degree from George Washington Law School, along with stays at the London School of Economics and The Hague Academy of International Law, may have given him the key to how the world works and how to work the world, but Greenstein seems to possess an untutored and even artistic sensibility that makes him not good, but really good at what he does.

“Creativity is not something that is 2+2 = 4 or 4x3 = 12. You just can’t have that,” says Greenstein. “You have to ultimately feel it and believe it and be willing to stake your job and reputation on it.”

This goes back to what he calls his “gut,” a little voice deep inside

nick marinello larry busacca

nick marinello

larry busacca

The offices of SiriusXM abound with all manner of swag, tchotchkes and memorabilia.

Greenstein’s office includes a Camellia Grill menu, a memento from his time in New Orleans. The place also swarms with all manner of personalities, such as the rock band KISS and Jennifer Lopez, pictured here with Greenstein.

myrna suarez

rahav segev

Personality Rules

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that he learned to trust early in his career. Greenstein got into the entertainment business as a transactional lawyer (after stints at New York’s venerable Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP and Los Angeles’ Loeb & Loeb LLP) negotiating deals first at Viacom and then Miramax, where he transitioned into acquisitions and became more involved in choosing which films actually got aquired and made.

“When I look back on my days in the movie business, one of the things that helped was not being saturated by movie history,” says Greenstein, who as a kid watched a lot of sports and listened to a lot of radio, but was at best an average filmgoer. “I was a pretty blank

“Program like a fan,” says Greenstein.

“Whatever you are programming, program as a fan of that genre.

Do not program as if you are bigger than that or more important than the music or the content.” canvas,” he says. “And if it hit me that something might work, I was willing to bet on it.”

So he gambled on films like The Apostle, a muscular, painfully honest story about a defrocked Pentecostal minister trying to start a new life— not exactly the kind of material most studios would take a chance on.

“I just went by gut, and asked myself, ‘will the American public like this or relate to it?’ In the case of The Apostle, I thought for sure that was a relatable movie to a lot of people.”

Ask Greenstein where that gut instinct comes from or what informs it, and he’ll flat out say he doesn’t know. Fair enough. Our instincts, perhaps, ought to be mysterious, even to us.

In the trenches Back at SiriusXM, just down the hall from Greenstein’s office, Jose Mangin is cradling a guitar, listening to music that is pouring out of the open door of his small studio space. Mangin built Sirius’ hard rock channel Octane from the ground up and is now doing the same for Liquid Metal, which offers “the heaviest metal music on the planet” and Ozzy’s Boneyard, the hard rock channel that he programs for Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.

“I worship at the altar of Ozzy,” says the ebullient Mangin, who, with his spiked hair and tattoos that travel down his arms to his wrists, looks as if he actually might.

Just now, he’s going on about the new Black Sabbath album— the first in three decades—that won’t be officially released for a

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couple of months.

“The label, Universal Records, came in and played it for us,” says Mangin. “It was a Friday evening, and we went into one of our big studios and turned the lights down and turned it up. …”

Ask Greenstein the key to programming at SiriusXM, and he doesn’t hesitate.

“Program like a fan,” he says. “Whatever you are programming, program as a fan of that genre. Do not program as if you are bigger than that or more important than the music or the content. You’re equal to the artist? No. You’re a fan of the genre and therefore program it that way.”

In other words, don’t ask the person in Nashville who is programming the Prime Country channel to build you a new hip-hop channel.

“When you are listening to one of our channels, we want you to feel that somebody who knows their stuff and cares about being there is curating that channel by hand,” says Greenstein. “Not a computer algorithm or some other way we’ve invented since we used to do it by hand.”

And in terms of on-air personalities, there is no substitute for human beings who have real-world experience.

“If you have to choose between a professional voice and somebody who has walked the walk, I’d rather hear from the guy or woman who walked the walk,” Greenstein says, meaning he believes his subscribers would rather hear Bill Walton or John Madden talk basketball or football over even the most seasoned commentator.

“They were in the trenches,” says Greenstein. “I think the American public gets enough general journalism; they don’t get quite enough of people who actually did what they are talking about.”

Why else would subscribers pay for content they can otherwise get for free on commercial radio?

“They must feel that this is something that is a little deeper or maybe more produced and more unique than what they are getting for free,” says Greenstein. “I don’t need ratings. I need subscribers. So if subscribers are happy, I can keep elevating the bar.” cheMIstrY In 2011, SiriusXM introduced its Town Hall series that brings a diversity of public personalities to talk about themselves and their careers —and sometimes even perform—in an intimate setting in front of a studio audience. The format is casual, loose and most typically features both a guest and moderator. Over the last few years, participants have included Al Gore, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Quentin Tarantino, Oliver Stone, Bruce Springsteen, Kiss, Roger Waters and Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, to name just a few.

Greenstein specifically mentions the Town Halls in which Russell Brand hosted a session with Ringo Starr, and Alec Baldwin interviewed Tony Bennett.

“I’m interested in the chemistry created when you bring two special people together,” he says. “It stems from being a fan of Andy Warhol’s early days at Interview magazine—interesting people interviewing interesting people.”

So we arrive once again back to personality, that strange, elusive and most human of forces. And it’s interesting to think that in the visual age of the 21st century, with all its touchscreens and 3-D multiplexes, that an audio signal zapped down from somewhere in the exosphere can engage an audience on that human level.

“It’s still theater of the mind,” says Greenstein. “Some think it’s a dying art, but people do like to think.”

And maybe that’s where the gut instinct originates, with a basic trust in and respect for his audience. Or maybe it’s just good business sense to have that respect.

“They are paying for radio and they can choose not to at any moment,” says Greenstein. “So I never—for one minute of one day of one week of one month of one year—ever lose sight that if we take our eye off the ball, they won’t be there. Never take the listener for granted.”

larry busacca

Walk the Walk Greenstein’s clear-eyed vision has guided the satellite radio service’s content since 2003.

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Photo courtesy: hoffman family

An

Independent Woman A BROTHER RECAllS HIS SISTER’S ADvENTURES IN NEW YORk CITY, BREAkING BARRIERS IN THE WORlD OF TElEvISION.

By Roy Hoffman (A&S ’75) For all the delights of my first trip to New York in 1964, the summer I turned 11, none was greater than having my big sister, Sherrell Hoffman (NC ’60), show me the town. Fifteen years older than me, my Alabama sister was already a savvy New Yorker, on the first rung of a television career that would eventually lead to being a director. As she walked me down colorful avenues, got us tickets to a Yankees game, and took me to the ’64 World’s Fair, at age 26 she was, to me, already a star.

She had a romantic aura, to my mind. As the eldest of four, Sherrell had departed for Sophie Newcomb College at Tulane University when I was still in preschool. On visits home to Mobile she was the mysterious sibling whose bedroom was at the top of the stairs. While she enjoyed activities I understood, like fishing from a Mobile Bay dock and riding horses, she also was enamored of the stage. She was a drama major, student president of Tulane University Theater, and loved to sing, filling our house with Rodgers and Hammerstein.

For many girls graduating from college with her, Sherrell later explained to me, a BA meant an “MRS” was not far behind. She had suitors, but her heart was drawn to Manhattan. With AEPhi sorority sisters Dianne Orkin (NC ’60), from Jackson, Miss., and Marilyn Meyer (NC ’60),

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from New Orleans, she headed north. They found a one bedroom on the Upper East Side, set up three beds, and found jobs as receptionists and clerks. They explored the city, went on dates, discovered performers—Sherrell wrote home about a wonderful new singer, Barbra Streisand—and became, in the parlance of the day, “career girls.”

While she gloried in theater—letters home were filled with the excitement of seeing new shows like West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof— she did not aspire to the footlights.

Her ambition, a heady one then, was to be an independent woman.

She went to Broadway’s Gypsy and heard Ethel Merman belt out a song that struck a chord with her: “Some people can get a thrill/knitting sweaters and sitting still./That’s OK for some people/who don’t know they’re alive.”

It was free-flowing big city life—not the world of “some hum-drum people” as Merman sang—that brimmed with promise.

Sherrell found a job answering fan mail for the “Garry Moore Show” on CBS. Moore also moderated a quiz show, “I’ve Got a Secret.”

In 1962, the “Garry Moore Show” won an Emmy for best variety show—his young comedienne Carol Burnett received the Emmy for best entertainer—and Moore invited each crew member to walk

by the camera and offer a salute. In Mobile we watched in amazement and cheered as Sherrell, in heels and dress, dark hair cut short, crossed our black-and-white TV screen and gave a big wave.

On my 1964 visit, she took me backstage at “I’ve Got a Secret.” I was fascinated by the TV cameras, the control-room monitors, and Garry Moore himself: a man only a few inches taller than me, with flattop and bow tie, who greeted Sherrell warmly and shook my hand.

As we headed back into the New York night, Sherrell was more than a big sister singing at the top of the stairs. She had opened the door to an exotic new world.

From the Deep South in the 1960s, New York City seemed a far cry away. We knew it was avant-garde from the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, dangerous from the TV cop show, “Naked City,” and offbeat from the sitcom, “The Honeymooners.”

Our dad, a prominent attorney, was worried about his daughter’s well-being in the vast and menacing “sidewalk jungle.”

Although she was 1,200 miles from home, Sherrell stayed close, writing often.

I have a box of letters to our family in the mid-1960s, telling of entertainers she met, the opera, Central Park, snow and life in an apartment. She and her Newcomb friends had branched out in different directions, and her new roommate was a TWA stewardess, which intrigued my adolescent imagination to no end.

She gave us behind-the-scenes peeks at TV productions, her career unfolding at variety shows, a popular format of the era.

“Dear Family,” she wrote on Sept. 25, 1964, after Garry Moore was canceled and she signed on with Carol Burnett’s “The Entertainers,” “Today is the big day in our office … we air our first show tonight and you can’t help but feel the excitement and tension in the air.”

When Carol Burnett started a new show on the West Coast, Sherrell got on with a TV country-Western variety hour in New York: “The Jimmy Dean Show.”

“Dear Family,” she wrote on March 28, 1965, “Jimmy Dean walks around, even on Fifth Avenue, in boots and a cowboy hat and jeans. He is very personable and friendly. … There are more southerners working here than any other place I’ve worked. Maybe I’ll be able to get back some of my accent.”

At “Jimmy Dean” she was secretary to the director, Hal Gurnee, who became her mentor. She also became friends with the show’s music coordinator, a stand-up bass player and former RCA Victor executive, Charles Randolph Grean.

Sherrell and Charlie began dating, and she helped him out at Dot Records between TV gigs.

“Dear Family,” she wrote on Feb. 9, 1967, “I’ve really been having fun, adding my two cents worth to some album ideas that Charlie’s been working on. Roy, perhaps you’ve seen a TV show called ‘Star Trek’ which is on Thursday night. There’s a man on there, Leonard Nimoy, who plays a character called Mr. Spock. Well, the album will be “Mr. Spock Presents Music From Outer Space.”

The next year, Sherrell became assistant director at “The David Frost Show,” with Gurnee as director. She took me to see a David Frost interview when I visited while I was in high school. In the TV world, there were still few women behind the scenes.

In a photo of the 26-person “David Frost” crew she kept on her wall, she was the only woman.

At “Jack Paar Tonight” in 1972, a return to prime time for the famous talk show host, Sherrell graduated to associate director under Trailblazer Gurnee. She got to work with Charlie again, Sherrell Hoffman is not too—the show’s bandleader—now as hushard to spot among all band and wife. the men in the crew of In the 1970s a new soap opera captivated the “The David Frost the American scene, “All My Children,” and Show” in 1970.

by the mid-1970s Sherrell became one of its directors, and in rotation with three others, she took her turn in charge of the daily drama, a fastpaced schedule with demanding hours. She admired the actors who gave life to the passions and travails of fictional Pine Valley, including Susan Lucci whose character Erica Kane became a pop culture icon.

When I graduated from Tulane in 1975, I moved to New York, at first bunking with Sherrell, Charlie, and their newborn, Aaron. I watched Sherrell work up close.

She would sit for hours on end with her “All My Children” scripts, making notes, readying scenes in order to work with the crew, the performers. A day at the studio exhilarated her.

“Being a television director,” said Gurnee, who went on to direct “Late Show With David Letterman,” “is like being a fighter pilot: You have so little time to get so much done. Sherrell was always the calm center of things, and she had strength. She had a sense of humor, too, to get through days of tension and complexity.”

Also recalling her “delightful sense of humor,” Lucci described Sherrell as “a spectacular combination of talent, capability, warmth and a dose of Southern charm!”

Sherrell received six Daytime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Direction for a Drama Series for “All My Children,” and one for “Guiding Light.”

For the “All My Children” nominations of 1981, ’82 and ’83, she was the only woman on the directing team.

Moving among the glamorous, she was still a Gulf Coast girl, humble, down-to-earth, letting her hair go silver, most at home in old jeans and sweater.

If Sherrell was in an early wave of women behind the scenes in television, she also was a pioneer in our family.

With Sherrell’s inspiration, our sister Robbie (NC ’68) hit the stage in Manhattan for awhile as a dancer; our sister Becky (NC ’63) eventually became a New York City tour guide. When the next generation struck out for the big city, Sherrell’s pullout sofa was the first stop.

My mother always enjoyed visits to Manhattan, and my dad finally became a fan of the city, too. When Sherrell incorporated them in an “All My Children” scene with nonspeaking, walk-on roles—Phoebe, using my mom’s real name, said, “Hello, Evelyn”—they became instantly famous in Mobile.

After retiring from television, Sherrell became licensed as a therapeutic riding instructor. With a zeal for helping special needs students, including her son who dealt with autism, she taught adaptive horseback riding. The process in part, I learned from her, helps those with physical and developmental challenges improve focus, self-confidence and strength, and know the joys of befriending a big, gentle animal.

She had weathered breast cancer at age 50, hardly skipping a beat at work. When cancer impacted her in other ways nearly 20 years later, she could not hold on.

We lost her in 2008, at age 70.

Whenever I’m visiting New York and pass the former studio of “All My Children” on the Upper West Side, I remember a particular day in the 1980s. I was waiting for Sherrell to exit the studio—we had a dinner date—and as soap stars headed out the door, fans came swarming.

Sherrell appeared, buoyant, smiling, her silver hair flowing, and gave me a hug. As we set off down the street, looking for just the right restaurant to share a meal and catch up, I realized that 15 years difference between us was nothing now. We had started our New York years as little brother and big sister. Now we were closest of friends.

Roy Hoffman (A&S ’75) is a journalist and novelist based in Fairhope, Ala. He’s the author of five books, including Alabama Afternoons: Profiles and Conversations, and the novels Chicken Dreaming Corn and forthcoming Come Landfall. His email: rhoff179@aol.com.

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HONORED ARCHITECTS Three alumni were elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. They are H. Mortimer “Tim” Favrot Jr. (A ’53) of Favrot & Shane Architects of Metairie, La.; Tom Brutting (A ’77) of HKIT Architects of San Francisco; and Angela O’Byrne (A ’83) of Perez Architects of New Orleans.

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Green Audits Since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has had an opportunity to rebuild with an emphasis on energy-efficient homes. But the question out there is, how “green” are the new buildings?

Corey Squire (A ’12) is working to find some answers to questions about energy efficiency by conducting surveys of area homes to gather data on energy usage and comfort.

Squire is a research fellow with Eskew+Dumez+Ripple architecture firm in New Orleans. He collaborated with Z Smith, director of building performance and sustainability for the firm and an adjunct architecture professor, who teaches the course Building, Climate and Comfort.

This spring, Squire led Smith’s students to measure relative humidity, temperature and light inside homes and commercial buildings. They also surveyed the buildings’ occupants to create energy assessments.

A $13,000 grant from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards provided the students with data-logging equipment. The results of the research are “surprising and interesting,” says Squire.

“There is a huge amount of variation in energy usage depending upon how the occupants use the space. It can amount to a two to three times difference in houses that are identical.”

Thus, for houses to be the most sustainable, Squire says, occupant education is key. “A whole roof of solar panels alone is not enough.”

Because New Orleans has a notoriously hot and humid climate, the research results may guide design of structures in areas around the world with a similar climate, where a building boom is taking place.

Squire says that the goal of architects committed to sustainability is to provide occupants, “the most comfort with the least use of resources.”

—Fran Simon

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Energy Efficiency Corey Squire (A ’12) (left) directs students in an evaluation of the uptown home of architecture professor John Klingman to see how “green” it is.

BON APPETIT Students partake of home cooking at a dinner hosted this spring by Arman Sadeghpour (TC ’96, G ’07) and his parents, Dr. Bahram Sadeghpour (PHTM ’78) and Dr. Malektaj Yazdani.

The Tulane Office of Alumni Relations has implemented a new program offering networking opportunities for students at dinners hosted by alumni.

Dinner With 12 Tulanians is a Tulane Lifelong Learning program that’s a natural for New Orleans because “we know how to do food right,” says Ken Tedesco, director of lifecycle programs for alumni relations.

Students receive special invitations to the dinners based on recommendations from staff members in the student affairs and admission offices and by responses to ads in The Tulane Hullabaloo.

“The student might be a bit homesick, might be having a tough time in school and maybe needs some nourishing,” Tedesco says.

“The students receive the message that everyone is doing this for you. Alumni share what they’ve learned, the mistakes they’ve made ... it’s making a difference in the students’ lives.”

Meredith Beers (’07, PHTM ’11) opened her St. Charles Avenue home to a student group for a dinner this spring. Beers is still a student herself—she is pursuing a PhD in the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

The dinner she hosted “was a great way to meet students and to hear about all the things going on,” Beers says.

Tulane alumni who are interested in hosting or joining dinners are encouraged to contact Tedesco, ktedesco@tulane.edu.—F.S.

TYLER KAUFMAN

RYAN RIVET

Dinner Dates

Dispatch Andrew Corwin W H E R E

Y ’ A T !

1950s SAM B. LAINE (E ’54), a preacher, world traveler and storyteller, published a book of meditations titled Hope Realized. Laine has been in the ministry for more than half a century, serving in churches across the South. He lives in Collierville, Tenn., where he enjoys spending time with his grandchildren.

1960s JACK KUSHNER (A&S ’60) was appointed an honorary director general of the International Biographical Centre. The organization has published 34 major Who’s Who titles in more than 150 separate editions and organized 32 international congresses of biographies around the world.

THOMAS MICHAEL CORWIN (A&S ’64) has retired after spending 38 years as an astronomer and professor of physics at the University of North Carolina–Charlotte. Corwin says he is now seriously pursuing a career of yard work, fishing and writing. He recently completed a short story called “A New Orleans Life” as well as a piece of flash fiction.

RAUL J. VALDES-FAULI (B ’65), a partner at Fox Rothschild, is leading the opening of the firm’s new Coral Gables, Fla., office. Valdes-Fauli is a former mayor of Coral Gables and a long-time leader in the South Florida business community.

Among numerous other appointments, ValdesFauli serves as treasurer of the Spain-Florida 500 Years Foundation.

In retirement, MARGARET WARD (NC ’65) published Double Crossed Roads, which is her second work of fiction and the sequel to Crossed Roads.

Both books are set in the New Orleans area and the main characters are Tulane graduates.

New eco-adventure novels by BOB BOESE (A&S ’69), based on real-life issues from his 40 years of environmental work, are available on Kindle and Nook. Visit www.caseycookadventures.com to preview and order these suspense-filled action adventures.

1970s CRAIG DUNCAN (A&S ’70) has published Emberoks, a young adult fantasy novel. For information, visit www.emberoks.com.

NANCY C. HARRIS (NC ’71, G ’74) announces the publication of Beauty Eating Beauty, a book of poems, by Portals Press. Harris, a former employee of The Times-Picayune, has hosted the weekly poetry reading series at the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans for more than 20 years.

PHOTO FROM AndRew cORwin

DAVID H. BERG (A&S ’64) announces the publication of Run, Brother, Run: A Memoir of a Murder in My Family by Scribner. The book is an account of the mysterious 1968 death of his brother at the hand of notorious hit man Charles Harrelson.

The book also details Berg’s legal career—he is a Houston attorney who has tried lawsuits from civil rights to complex commercial cases.

ON THE FRONT LINES FIGHTING FLU Infectious disease specialist Dr. Andrew Corwin (A&S ’78, PHTM ’80) (pictured here with a Papuan woman and her child while investigating a flu outbreak in Indonesia) serves on the front lines combatting emerging strains of influenza such as swine flu from the H1N1 virus and the recent headliner virus H792 linked to bird flu in China.

Corwin has been country director in Lao People’s Democratic Republic in Southeast Asia for the influenza division of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 2006.

His collaborative work to build influenza surveillance and response in Lao led to the nation receiving a designation as a World Health Organization National Influenza Center in 2010 and to the donation of more than 300,000 influenza vaccines to the country by Walgreens, the retail pharmacy chain.

Corwin has published articles in journals such as PLoS One, The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses.

He credits his years at Tulane with exposing him to an international milieu quite different from his New Hampshire home. After he graduated, he pursued a global military career hunting infectious disease in war-torn and distant locales. His Navy career took him to Egypt, Somalia, Japan, Korea, Panama and Bethesda, Md. Now a retired Navy captain, he spent the last 15 years of his military career at the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 in Jakarta, Indonesia. While there he founded and directed the WHO-SEARO Collaborating Center for Emerging and Reemerging Diseases, building up outbreak response capabilities throughout Southeast Asia.

He has worked on shifting the focus from the initial response to the bird flu caused by the H5N1 virus to building a surveillance and outbreak response system that not only documents seasonal influenza patterns but also provides the foundation for vaccine initiatives and prevention. The model created in Lao has led to influenza vaccine programs for low- and middle-income countries.—MADELINE VANN

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WINE COUNTRY Abacela, the winery owned by Earl Jones (M ’65) and his wife, Hilda, was named the 2013 Oregon Winery of the Year by Wine Press Northwest.

The Joneses established Abacela 18 years ago in southern Oregon’s Umpqua Valley as they pursued their dream of producing fine wine in America from the Spanish grape Tempranillo. Earl Jones’ medical career was as a research dermatologist.

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Y ’ A T !

RONALD EDWARD ROGERS (A&S ’73) is the founder of WaterCats, which produces his sport boat/tender, Bluewater Baby. He and his wife of 37 years, Karen, have moved aboard the 46-foot catamaran he built and will head south from their Florida home to cruise Central America for a year.

JOHN L. LONG (A&S ’74, L ’77) retired in April 2013 after more than 35 years of federal service. Long served 29 years on active duty in the U.S. Army, retiring as a colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He then served as a civilian in Germany. He and his wife, Patricia (NC ’76), plan to walk the Camino Santiago in Spain this year. They will make their retirement homes in Annandale, Va., and Green Valley, Ariz.

ANDREW M. SMITH (A&S ’74) joined Cohen Brothers Realty in New York as senior vice president, legal. The company is a real estate owner, redeveloper and operator with a portfolio of class A properties in New York, Louisiana, Houston and southeast Florida.

WILLIAM F. CARROLL JR. (G ’75), a vice president at Occidental Chemical in Dallas, has been reelected chair of the board of directors of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. Carroll also serves as a director-at-large of the board. In addition to his position at Occidental, Carroll is an adjunct industrial professor of chemistry at Indiana University–Bloomington. He resides in Dallas with his wife, Mary.

EMILY CLARK (NC ’76, SW ’84, G ’95, ’98) announces the publication of The Strange History of the American Quadroon: Free Women of Color in the Revolutionary Atlantic World by the University of North Carolina Press this spring. Clark is the Clement Chambers Benenson Professor in American Colonial History at Tulane University.

ROBERT HINCKLEY (L ’76) was appointed chair of the board of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. Hinckley has held senior executive positions at several technology companies based in California’s Silicon Valley and was on the board of the Silicon Valley Art Museum.

MARY LUPO (NC ’76, M ’80), owner of the Lupo Center for Aesthetic and General Dermatology in New Orleans, joined TopMD Skin Care’s medical advisory board, working on continued development of the CLn product line, reviewing clinical trial protocols and evaluating applications of the products.

SHERRY KARVER (A&S ’78) exhibited at Kim Foster Gallery in New York this spring in a solo show of her photo-based oil painting with narrative text. She’ll have another solo exhibit at Rarity Gallery in Mykonos, Greece, July 1–15. To view her artwork, visit www.sherrykarver.com.

Crimestoppers honored JIM LETTEN (L ’79), former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, at its annual awards luncheon in

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March. Letten received the Sheriff Harry Lee Crimestoppers Criminal Justice Award for his work in abating and fighting corruption and violent crime. Letten is now an assistant dean for experiential learning at the Tulane Law School.

1980s EMILY VERGES REYNOLDS (E ’80) joined the board of directors for Working Wardrobes, a nonprofit organization based in Costa Mesa, Calif. Working Wardrobes helps men, women, veterans and young adults overcome challenges and confidently enter the workforce by providing career development, resume writing, job placement assistance, and wardrobe and grooming services. Since its inception in 1991, Working Wardrobes has helped almost 60,000 adults.

LAURA “JODY” PRAMUK (NC ’81) is now the public affairs officer of Mount Hood National Forest outside of Portland, Ore. She previously held the same position for the Payette National Forest in McCall, Idaho.

In the fall, NATHAN BENNETT (A&S ’83, G ’84) is publishing Shannon’s Gift, a memoir about his late wife, SHANNON WILLIAMS BENNETT (NC ’85), who died of complications from a routine outpatient procedure. Her death is attributed to mitochondrial disease. Thousands of people, including LAURA STANLEY (NC ’90), read Nathan Bennett’s blog about his wife’s illness and sudden death in 2011. Stanley, whose son was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease four years ago, is executive director of the Foundation for Mitochondrial Medicine in Atlanta. Nathan Bennett and Stanley are working together to raise awareness about the disease.

JOHN GEORGES (B ’83) announced that he bought The Advocate, the largest daily newspaper in Louisiana, at a news conference on May 1, 2013, attended by Gov. Bobby Jindal, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden. In addition to the newspaper, Georges’ purchase includes The Advocate’s growing digital operations, including theadvocate.com, the leading news website in Baton Rouge, La. Georges also recently bought the 108-year-old Galatoire’s restaurant in New Orleans and reopened Galatoire’s Baton Rouge Bistro. He is CEO of Imperial Trading and was a candidate for governor in 2007 and for mayor of New Orleans in 2010. Georges, a lifelong Louisiana resident, is married to Dathel Coleman Georges and they have three children.

LAURA LANE McNEAL (B ’85) announces that her first novel, Dollbaby, was bought by Pamela Dorman Books at Viking/Penguin and will be published in early 2014. The novel is set in New Orleans in 1964 and tells of a young girl left at her estranged grandmother’s mansion. There, she meets Dollbaby, the grandmother’s maid, who guides her through the ghosts of her grandmother's past and the secrets they share.

LARRY JAMES (G ’86) announces the publication of The Wealth of the Poor in May by ACU Press.

The book tells the story of CitySquare, which has helped bring thousands of inner-city Dallas residents out of poverty. James has provided executive leadership for CitySquare (formerly Central Dallas Ministries) since 1994. James is married to the former Brenda Erwin and they have two grown daughters and four grandchildren. The couple has lived in inner-city Dallas since 1999.

GREGORY K. DAVIS (L ’87) was sworn in as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in January. Davis is the top federal prosecutor for 45 counties in his district. He was previously in private practice and was a founding partner in the Davis, Goss & Williams law firm.

MICHAEL FLOWERS (A&S ’87) was named New York City’s first chief analytics officer in February, by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He is tasked with overseeing and enabling data analytics for operations, infrastructure, civil and criminal enforcement, disaster response and preparedness, human services and economic development.

ELIZABETH ARGUS (NC ’89, G ’91) won a Big Easy Entertainment Award, presented by Gambit in New Orleans, for best actress in a musical for her role as Norma Desmond in the Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre production Sunset Boulevard.

1990s In April, BENGT HOKANSON (A&S ’91) attended the 31st annual Smithsonian Craft Show. The juried show and sale of fine American crafts is produced by the Smithsonian Women’s Committee to support education, outreach, conservation and research at the Smithsonian. To view his work, visit bengthokanson.carbonmade.com or www.boarglass.com.

MICHAEL CORB (A&S ’93, ’98) has been named leader of Stantec’s education practice, encompassing both K–12 and higher education in the western Pennsylvania region. Corb, a senior associate based in the architecture firm’s Butler, Pa., office, started at the firm in 1998.

SANDRA GASS (PHTM ’94) joined DKT International, which provides family planning and HIV/AIDs prevention in 18 countries around the world. Gass began her DKT International career in Ethiopia, where she was the first female country director. She currently spends her days training healthcare providers, educating women about family planning and making contraception affordable and available.

PATRICIA E. LIEVELD (PHTM ’94), professor of pharmacy practice at Feik School of Pharmacy in San Antonio, was awarded a sabbatical leave for the 2014 spring semester. During that time, Lieveld will continue her research into improving access to safe water in Bukoba, Tanzania.

She is the first faculty member at the Feik School of Pharmacy to be awarded a sabbatical.

SAMANTHA MYERS (NC ’94) married Jason Quitne on Sept. 22, 2012, in New York, where she

Dispatch Jonathan Mayers has lived since graduation. Jennifer Mitchell Mannion (NC ’94) was a bridesmaid and her daughters were the flower girls. Myers continues to work in finance and her husband is a small business owner. They live on the Upper East Side.

Diane lala (G ’95) won a Big Easy Entertainment Award from Gambit in New Orleans for best choreography for the Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre production Anything Goes. alYSSa DaUSMan (NC ’96) is a hydrologist at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and is the science adviser for the southeastern region of the U.S. Geological Survey. Dausman’s work is focused on Gulf of Mexico restoration efforts following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. She currently is training to become a registered yoga teacher at Transform NOLA. Dausman lives in Bay Saint Louis, Miss., but spends a lot of time in New Orleans.

ian c. BarraS (E ’99, ’02) was named a partner of the firm Carver, Darden, Koretzky, Tessier, Finn, Blossman & Areaux in New Orleans. Barras is a registered patent attorney and his practice at the firm focuses on obtaining, licensing and enforcing intellectual property rights. ronnie clifton (G ’99), of Cliftunes Production Co., has directed and produced Songs of Souls, a documentary based on the legend of how Louisiana bluesman Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter sang his way out of prison twice.

The film highlights the Angola Prison’s gospel inmate band and sheds light on Louisiana’s criminal justice system. The film was screened at the Cinema on the Bayou film festival in Vermilionville, La., in January.

2000s aaron Deter-Wolf (G ’00) is senior editor of a forthcoming volume on ancient and historic Native American tattooing. The volume, Drawing With Great Needles: Ancient Tattoo Traditions of North America, which will be published by the University of Texas Press this fall, is the first book-length scholarly work on the subject.

Deter-Wolf also has contributed chapters on the archaeology of tattooing to another volume that will be published later this year through the University of Zurich.

DereK D. BarDell (G ’01, ’02) was elected vice chair of the French and Montessori Education (FAME) board of directors, which governs Audubon Charter School in New Orleans.

Gia fonte colUnGa (NC ’01) has been elected to partnership at Freeborn & Peters, where she focuses her practice on complex commercial disputes and employment litigation. Freeborn & Peters is a full-service law firm with national and global capabilities, headquartered in Chicago. Colunga lives in Chicago with her

PHOTO FROM JOnaTHan MayeRs

cliff Merrell (A&S ’97) was elected shareholder at Greenberg Traurig in Atlanta, where he focuses on product liability defense.

BRAINS BEHIND BONNAROO Most people who attend the country’s biggest music festivals, like Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn., or Outside Lands in San Francisco, don’t notice every little detail. But Jonathan Mayers (B ’95) does.

Mayers is co-founder of Superfly Presents, a company that, among other ventures, conceives, plans and produces festivals—big ones, like the two mentioned here.

“I think all the senses need to be thought of,” Mayers says. “These are like great big art projects, and we’re in the detail business.”

Of course, whether you’re conscious of it or not, it’s all those little details—“the mood, how it looks, how people treat you”—that help create what Mayers is after: an emotional connection between the attendee and the festival.

“We’re building properties that are ongoing platforms to promote artists and be a filter for audiences,” Mayers explains.

After working for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, which produces Jazz Fest, while in school and Tipitina’s after graduation, Mayers and a couple of friends founded Superfly.

After putting on events in New Orleans for a while, “we wanted a bigger footprint,” Mayers says, “both creatively and financially.” So they started Bonnaroo, which has been a smashing success, and then Outside Lands and most recently, Googa Mooga.

But it’s not only about the music and the little details. Mayers says he and his partners pursue things they are interested in, like food.

Several years ago, SuperFly introduced gourmet food and wine to a receptive audience at Outside Lands. Fast forward to today and at Tulane magazine press time they were busy planning the second year of food-focused Googa Mooga at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, N.Y. Yes, Mayers has ambitious plans for the culinary festival brand (he wants to take it global). Like the other projects he and his partners have done, they’ll go after it because it’s “interesting.”—CATHERINE FRESHLEY

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Recognition Awards W H E R E

Y ’ A T !

husband, ISAAC COLUNGA (TC ’00), and daughter Maria, 2.

The Tulane Alumni Association celebrated the accomplishments of alumni at the annual awards celebration on April 21, 2013, at the Audubon Tea Room in New Orleans.

RAND ALFORD (B ’02) and his wife, Andrea, welcomed their first child, Parks Santiago, on Nov. 12, 2012. Alford is currently the GM dealer at Alford Motors in Leesville, La. Among other appointments, he serves on the board of directors for the Vernon Parish Chamber of Commerce.

Michael J. SackS (A&S ’84) was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Through the Sacks Family Foundation, Sacks established the Michael Sacks Fund for Social Entrepreneurship and the Sacks Endowed Chair in Civic Engagement and Social Entrepreneurship at Tulane. He supported the Tulane Rebuilding Fund for the university’s recovery after Hurricane Katrina and served on the Provost’s Council. He was inducted into the Paul Tulane Society in 2008. Sacks earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a JD from Northwestern University School of Law. He is chair and CEO of Chicago-based Grosvenor Capital Management. Sacks is active in numerous civic and community activities and serves as vice chair of the World Business Chicago Board of Directors, which focuses on attracting businesses and jobs while promoting the city’s economic agenda.

MARY HAZLEWOOD BARKLEY (B ’02) was elected equity partner at the law firm of Cantey Hanger in Fort Worth, Texas, where she practices commercial litigation with an emphasis on real estate disputes and eminent domain.

ANDREW GEIGER (L ’02) and JAMIE BERGER (L ’03) welcomed their first child, Dylan Jack, on Jan. 9, 2013. Berger was promoted to partner at the New Orleans law firm of Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, where she works as a litigation attorney.

DANIEL MURARIU (TC ’03, M ’08, PHTM ’08) received a State of Hawaii Proclamation and the 2012 Rotary Club of Honolulu Jerry Chang Peacemaker Award for local and international volunteer work. Murariu is in residency in general surgery at the University of Hawaii.

LINCOLN SCHNEIDER (TC ’03), a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, was named one of the Navy’s 2012 Recruiters of the Year. Schneider has served as a recruiting officer at the University of Florida since 2011. He received his JD from the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida in 2010 and is currently pursuing a master of public health degree from the university. He plans to serve as a healthcare administrator in the Navy’s Medical Corps.

MEGAN STACK (NC ’03), family assistance and community employment director for Catholic Charities of Tennessee, was named one of Nashville’s “best and brightest rising rock stars in business” by the Nashville Business Journal.

Stack originally came to Catholic Charities of Tennessee as an intern in 2005, while earning her master of social work degree from the University of Tennessee College of Social Work.

She has worked there full time since 2006.

MARGARET FROHN SWETMAN (L ’04) is a partner of Leake & Andersson in New Orleans. She practices primarily in commercial and financial lines litigation, international trade and business, and employment-related litigation. Swetman has represented broker-dealers and registered representatives in multiple Financial Integrity Regulatory Authority arbitration proceedings and regulatory matters.

JENNIFER OUTLAW COULSON (G ’06) co-authored The Harris’s Hawk Revolution, a 661-page book, with her husband, Tom Coulson. Released in September 2012, the book focuses on the sport of falconry, captive breeding of birds of prey and the natural history of the Harris’s Hawk, as well as medical issues and sources of mortality in

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J UNE 2013 TULANE MAGA ZINE

Siblings MaDiSon Murphy and Martha W. Murphy received the Dermot McGlinchey Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of their remarkable philanthropy and commitment to Tulane.

Their father, the late Charles H. Murphy Jr., established the Murphy Institute at Tulane University in 1980, to honor their grandfather’s memory. They both are passionate about education and were inducted into the Paul Tulane Society in 2005. Martha Murphy chairs the board of the Murphy Institute and is a member of the President’s Council. She is chair of the Trombone Shorty Foundation, which in partnership with Tulane University and the New Orleans Center for the Gulf, established the Trombone Shorty Academy for high school musicians. She also is president and treasurer of the M.W. Murphy Foundation, which supports human services in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. carter D. FleMMing (NC ’70) accepted the Volunteer Award on behalf of the Newcomb College of Tulane University Alumnae Board, for which she served as president just after Hurricane Katrina. Fleming was a representative of the Newcomb Alumnae Association and served on the task force for Tulane University Alumni Development Integration. A native of Alexandria, Va., Fleming is devoted to humanitarian causes. She has served on the board and as chair of the Campagna Center for 30 years.

Her volunteer roles include aiding the Alexandria Red Cross, the Alexandria United Way, Economic Opportunities Commission and Senior Services of Alexandria. Flemming is a commissioner for the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority and is a member of Alexandria’s Affordable Housing Master Plan committee. She serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children.

The Young Alumna Volunteer Award was presented to kathryn Spruill roMan (NC ’04, B ’07). While a student, Kathryn was president of the Spanish and Portuguese Student Association and served as a Student Alumni Ambassador and on Mortar Board. Active in her sorority Pi Beta Phi, she was on the Panhellenic Council.

She joined the Tulane Office of Undergraduate Admission full time after graduation. After Hurricane Katrina, Roman coordinated showcases for college counselors around the nation. Her career in higher education ranges from a marketing agency specializing in design to an educational software company, Jenzabar. She served as co-president of the Tulane Club of Atlanta for three years and currently chairs the Clubs Committee for the Tulane Alumni Association. She chaired her five-year reunion and continues to represent Tulane at admission events.

HISTORY OF SCIENTOLOGY Lawrence Wright (A&S ’69), who has built a career exploring the intersection of religion and modern life, published Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief. His new book is a harrowing history of the Church of Scientology and a biography of the two men who have run it with increasingly iron-fisted control— L. Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986, and his successor, David Miscavige.

F A R E W E L L captive raptors. Harris’s Hawks are one of the few predatory birds that hunt cooperatively in groups of three to seven hawks. The Coulsons pioneered the art of using a cooperative group in falconry. The book is available at www. harrishawkrevolution.com. Translations into Italian and Spanish are under way.

JASON DRESNER (B ’08) and LISA GOLD (B ’09) were married on Nov. 17, 2012, at the Grand Floridian Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Both of Lisa Dresner’s parents and four members of the wedding party are Tulane alumni. Lisa Dresner is a senior tax associate at PwC and Jason Dresner is an associate at private equity firm Gryphon Investors. The couple lives in San Francisco.

MEGAN BOUDREAUX (’08) married Josh Anderson on Jan. 22, 2013, on Bellevue Mountain in Gressier, Haiti. The couple continues its work with Respire Haiti, which has announced completion of a secondary school building.

After two years of attending classes outside under a tarp, the Andersons say both the teachers and students are elated to be inside beautiful classrooms. For more information, visit respirehaiti.org.

2010s SEAN HIGGINS (’11) received a Fulbright award to conduct research in Mexico during the 2013–14 academic year. Higgins is in the doctoral program in economics at Tulane, working on several papers studying income inequality and poverty.

JUSTINE M. VON RUMPF (’11) earned the title of U. S. Marine after graduating from recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C. For 13 weeks, Von Rumpf committed to some of the world’s most demanding entry-level military training. One week prior to graduation, Von Rumpf endured The Crucible, a 54-hour final test of recruits’ minds and bodies.

JACOB GINSBERG (’12) installed a historical marker at the site of the old Pelican Stadium in New Orleans before heading to basic training in the U.S. Army.

ZACHARY ROSENBERG (L ’12) joined the New Orleans law firm of Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver as an associate last September.

JAY SALUS (’12) plans to be in Namibia for 27 months as a Peace Corps volunteer. He will serve as a health advocacy volunteer focusing on HIV/ AIDS Awareness. For more information, read Salus’ blog, “Abita to Africa,” at http://jaypcblog. blogspot.com/.

FLYNN ZAIGER (B ’12) is CEO of Online Optimism, a digital marketing agency he founded last November. In April, Zaiger collaborated with MARK STRELLA (’12), project coordinator with Stay Local!, for a lunch-and-learn presentation on best online marketing practices for representatives from more than 20 New Orleans–area organizations.

Sandy Chism, associate professor of painting and

John A. McLellan (A&S ’44) of New Orleans on

Billups P. Percy, law professor, of Covington, La.,

Katherine Simmons Nelson (NC ’44) of Birming-

Buzz Podewell, associate professor of theater, of New Orleans on March 29, 2013.

on Dec. 25, 2012.

drawing, of New Orleans on Jan. 2, 2013. on Jan. 23, 2013.

March 22, 2013.

ham, Ala., on March 21, 2013.

Helen Marschall Thompson (NC ’44) of Tyler, Texas,

Daniel C. Riordan, emeritus clinical professor of surgery, of Shreveport, La., on Oct. 27, 2012.

James R. Dykes (B ’45) of Dallas on Jan. 7, 2013.

Karen Sullivan, research professor of medicine,

Feb. 16, 2013.

of New Orleans on Dec. 28, 2012.

Pat Trivigno, professor emeritus of art, of New Orleans, on Jan. 30, 2013.

Alvin S. Caplan (E ’36) of New Orleans on Dec.

29, 2012.

Robert E. Low (A&S ’45, M ’46) of Brewton, Ala., on Alan J. Robinson (E ’45) of Metairie, La., on Feb. 6, 2013.

Rebecca Gilbert Alkire (NC ’46) of Montgomery, Ala., on Jan. 7, 2013.

Sally Rae Moss Jellin (NC ’46) of Baton Rouge, La.,

Helen Brown Cook (NC ’40, SW ’42) of Marietta,

on Feb. 8, 2013.

Fernando J. Cuquet Jr. (L ’40) of Tuscaloosa, Ala.,

11, 2013.

F. Leo Faust (M ’40) of New Orleans on Feb. 10, 2013.

on Feb. 9, 2013.

Adele Kohlman Siegel (NC ’40) of Sugar Land,

Gayle Baldinger Cahal (NC ’47) of Jasper, Texas,

Charles L. Williams Jr. (M ’40) of Chevy Chase, Md.,

Louise Schwartz Jacobs (NC ’47) of Houston on

Sylvia Maceo Bowes (E ’41) of Metairie, La., on Jan.

Saul F. Landry Jr. (A&S ’47, M ’50) of Houma, La.,

Dora Thatcher Fratelli (NC ’41) of Ithaca, N.Y., on

Julia Ferguson Ledner (NC ’47) of New Orleans on

Leah I. Levy Shindler (B ’41) of Little Rock, Ark., on

Everett C. Sutter (M ’47) of Princess Anne, Md.,

Bertha Paglin Ferman (B ’42) of Littleton, Colo., on

Samuel C. Taylor (M ’47) of Pocatello, Idaho, on

Melba Loubat Grimm (NC ’42) of New Orleans on

Ethelyn T. Lenfant (NC ’48, SW ’56) of Mandeville, La., on Dec. 22, 2012.

Ga., on Dec. 26, 2012. on Jan. 12, 2013.

Texas, on Feb. 2, 2013. on Jan. 5, 2013.

18, 2013.

Jan. 10, 2013.

Jan. 28, 2013.

Jan. 19, 2013.

March 17, 2013.

T. Maxwell Killgore (A&S ’42) of Covington, La., on

Jan. 27, 2013.

Fred A. Skellie Jr. (A&S ’42) of Decatur, Ga., on

March 3, 2013.

Dorothy Dowling Wolbrette (NC ’42, L ’45) of New Orleans on Jan. 10, 2013.

Thomas C. Creagan (E ’43, B ’50) of Stone Mountain, Ga., on March 1, 2013.

Dorothy Eversmeyer Schuber (B ’43) of New Orleans on Jan. 2, 2013.

Andre V. Wogan (B ’43, L ’49) of Covington, La., on

March 24, 2013.

Norvin L. Pellerin (E ’46) of New Orleans on Feb. William W. Rumans (E ’46) of Bettendorf, Iowa,

on Dec. 21, 2012.

Nov. 18, 2012.

on March 16, 2013.

Feb. 22, 2013.

on Feb. 13, 2013.

March 24, 2013.

Mary Ramsey Levey (SW ’48) of Mandeville, La.,

on Jan. 9, 2013.

Milton H. Van Manen Jr. (E ’48) of Victoria, Texas,

on March 5, 2013.

Faye H. Wallis (SW ’48) of Memphis, Tenn., on

Jan. 23, 2013.

Anne Turner Warren (NC ’48) of Cornwall, N.Y.,

on Feb. 25, 2013.

Clinton W. Effinger III (A&S ’49) of Savannah, Ga.,

on Feb. 23, 2013.

John A. Gordon (A&S ’49, L ’51) of New Orleans on

Jan. 16, 2013.

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DEAN OF THE BARBERSHOP Tom Davis of New Orleans, barber in the student center on the Tulane uptown campus from 1959 until this year, died on March 31, 2013. At a party for his 83rd birthday, the Tulane Alumni Association bestowed honorary alumnus status on Davis in recognition of his decades of service.

F A R E W E L L Emile Clark Hattier Sr. (E ’49) of Rydal, Pa., on Dec.

Rita Dreisin (SW ’55) of Fort Worth, Texas, on Jan.

George S. Farnsworth Jr. (E ’61) of Slidell, La., on

20, 2012.

31, 2013.

March 10, 2013.

Edward M. Heller (L ’49) of New Orleans on Feb.

Donald A. Galbraith (B ’55) of Medford, N.J., on

Edmond C. Salassi (L ’61) of Metairie, La., on Jan.

Salem F. Sayegh (M ’55) of River Ridge, La., on

Sallye Lewis Hammett (NC ’62) of The Hills, Texas,

12, 2013.

Alfred W. Waller (A&S ’49) of Slidell, La., on Feb.

Jan. 15, 2013.

24, 2013.

March 17, 2013.

George S. Foerster (E ’50) of Trenton, N.J., on Jan.

Donald I-Chung Sun (M ’55) of Rochester, N.Y., on

Gerard H. Schonekas Jr. (E ’50) of Gretna, La., on

Marjorie R. Wingerter (UC ’55) of Slidell, La., on

Ted F. Haller Jr. (B ’51) of Hockessin, Del., on Dec.

Woody N. York (A&S ’55, M ’58) of Tampa, Fla., on

Elizabeth Garrison Kimbrell (NC ’51) of Westwego,

Leon A. Flettrich Jr. (E ’56) of New Orleans on

24, 2013.

Feb. 26, 2013.

28, 2012.

La., on March 9, 2013.

J. Frederick Klein (E ’51) of New Orleans on Jan.

9, 2012.

Jane Luft Rey (NC ’51) of Meridian, Miss., on March

Jan. 14, 2013.

Jan. 20, 2013.

Jan. 2, 2013.

Effie Perkins Stewart (NC ’52) of Windsor, Conn., on March 5, 2013.

Porter H. Warren Jr. (M ’52) of Cornwall, N.Y., on

Jan. 12, 2013.

George W. McCarthy (SW ’53) of Madison, Miss.,

on Jan. 20, 2013.

Edward Roddy (B ’53) of New Orleans on Feb. 10, 2013.

Manuel A. Sirgo Jr. (A&S ’53) of Midland, Texas, on

Jan. 19, 2013.

Nicholas R. Stallworth (A&S ’53, M ’57) of Roswell,

David W. Jung (A&S ’56) of Conroe, Texas, on Feb.

Jan. 1, 2013.

Humberto A. Arriaga (M ’57) of Baton Rouge, La., on March 19, 2013.

21, 2013.

Frank C. Buckley Jr. (B ’54) of Newport Beach, Calif., on Dec. 11, 2012.

John L. Hooper (A&S ’54) of Palm Desert, Calif., on

on March 19, 2012.

Charles R. Waguespack (E ’57) of Marietta, Ga., on July 25, 2012.

Luther V. Bullock (A ’58) of Sequim, Wash., on Dec. 29, 2012.

Victor E. Della-Giustina (PHTM ’58) of Augusta,

Ga., on March 9, 2013.

William R. Klein (A&S ’58, L ’60) of Mill Valley, Calif., on March 1, 2013.

Harrison C. Mondy (E ’58) of El Segundo, Calif., on Feb. 16, 2013.

Thomas W. Staed (L ’58) of Daytona Beach, Fla.,

on Feb. 26, 2013.

David G. Baker (B ’59) of Shalimar, Fla., on March

Leah Caire Luther (NC ’59) of New Orleans on

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J UNE 2013 TULANE MAGA ZINE

Dennis K. Mann (PHTM ’63) of Centralia, Ill., on Dec. 26, 2012.

Marlis Wicker Perlis (NC ’63) of New Orleans on Feb. 11, 2013.

Fred M. West (M ’63) of Evergreen, Ala., on Jan.

March 12, 2013.

David R. Smith (A&S ’54) of Kenner, La., on March

March 7, 2013.

Wirt A. Jones Jr. (M ’63) of Marietta, Ga., on March

5, 2013.

John B. Vaughn Jr. (PHTM ’57) of Decatur, Ala.,

rie, La., on Jan. 28, 2013.

10, 2013.

Robert L. Tappan (G ’54) of El Paso, Texas, on

March 17, 2013.

3, 2013.

Feb. 19, 2013.

7, 2013.

Jacob C. Emmer (B ’63) of Metairie, La., on Jan.

Elizabeth Luehrmann Buchanan (NC ’57) of Metai-

Ga., on Jan. 8, 2013.

John H. Welsh Jr. (L ’53) of Kerrville, Texas, on Feb.

Henry J. Eichfeld Jr. (B ’63) of Appling, Ga., on

Jan. 15, 2013.

Harley B. Howcott Jr. (L ’63) of New Orleans on

Ronald J. Larkin (B ’56, ’59) of Tallahassee, Fla., on

on Dec. 25, 2012.

Robert E. Alexander III (A&S ’63) of Dallas on Dec.

25, 2012.

Billy M. Graham (M ’56) of Brandon, Miss., on Jan.

14, 2013.

Karl Ezkovich (B ’52) of New Orleans on Feb. 4, 2013.

Prentiss E. Parker Jr. (M ’52) of Jacksonville, Fla.,

Charles R. Short Jr. (E ’62) of Gretna, La., on Feb.

7, 2013.

22, 2013.

1, 2013.

Jan. 1, 2013.

on Jan. 24, 2013.

March 7, 2013.

10, 2013.

Edward D. Hudgens (M ’52) of Oberlin, Ohio, on

23, 2013.

Edward L. Best (UC ’64) of Spring, Texas, on Richard E. Johnson (G ’64, ’69) of New Orleans on Feb. 28, 2013.

William L. Chapman (UC ’65) of Covington, La., on Jan. 17, 2013.

Lillian Wright Levin (NC ’65) of New Orleans on

March 17, 2013.

Ronald Warner (A&S ’65) of New Orleans on Jan. 17, 2013.

Henry J. Jumonville III (A&S ’66, L ’71) of New Orleans on Dec. 31, 2012.

Donald J. Juneau (L ’66) of Hammond, La., on

Feb. 8, 2013.

James A. Zischke (G ’66) of Minneapolis on Dec.

6, 2012.

John Garcia-Nokonechna (A&S ’67) of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, on March 21, 2012.

John D. McConnell II (A&S ’67) of Bogata, Texas,

Dec. 30, 2012.

on Dec. 17, 2012.

Ramon L. Snyder (M ’60) of Lincoln, Calif., on

Norman T. Shuert (G ’67) of Springfield, Mo., on

Feb. 13, 2013.

March 10, 2013.

Tribute Robert L. Turchin Sr. = Ned Callihan (A ’68) of Big Sur, Calif., on June

28, 2012.

Elizabeth M. Earley (G ’68, ’71) of West Chester, Pa.,

on March 9, 2013.

Michael Hudson Ellis Sr. (L ’68) of Kenner, La., on

Dec. 20, 2012.

Simonne Cholin Fischer (G ’69) of New Orleans on

March 4, 2013.

Anne Hansen Rogers (PHTM ’69) of Metairie, La., on March 12, 2013.

James C. Groves (A&S ’70) of Houston on Jan. 28, 2013.

John F. McLaren (E ’70) of Destrehan, La., on Feb.

1, 2013.

Maurice R. Monie Jr. (UC ’70) of West Columbia, Texas, on Jan. 31, 2013.

Theodore V. Crosley Sr. (PHTM ’71) of Gretna, La.,

on Jan. 11, 2013.

Judith Zatarain Greer (NC ’71) of New Orleans on March 25, 2013.

Johnny A. Poindexter (L ’71) of Walnut, Calif., on

Feb. 27, 2013.

John T. Mahoney Jr. (E ’72, B ’75) of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., on Jan. 13, 2013.

James M. Walley Sr. (L ’72) of Dallas on Dec. 8, 2012.

June Irving White (SW ’72) of Mandeville, La., on Jan. 29, 2013.

PHOTO FROM TULANE ATHLETICS

Charles A. Stewart (A&S ’69, M ’73) of Palm Springs, Calif., on Jan. 17, 2013.

BASEBALL FAN Robert “Bob” L. Turchin Sr. (B ’43) (left) died in Miami on Feb. 14, 2013. He was 90. A former Green Wave football and track student-athlete, Bob was the namesake for our baseball stadium—Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

Along with being a close friend of mine, Bob was the major impact donor for Tulane baseball. Before my third year here at Tulane, I flew to North Carolina and met with Bob to give him a game plan for major stadium improvements. He looked at the plan for about 15 seconds or so and said, “Let’s do it.” This was a big plus for us at the time.

Bob was always very supportive. He took a lot of pride in our program and helping us financially. I remember Bob being here for the first pitch, and we used to sit in my office and talk and also go to dinner when he was in town. Sometimes after a tough loss, I would hear from him. We had some good phone conversations. On two different occasions, I visited him in his summer home in the mountains of North Carolina. Those were special times for me.

I have a picture (above) in my office of him and me standing at home plate on a night when we honored him. I remember when he walked off the field, he said, “Thank you for doing that.” I know it meant a lot to him, but it meant a lot to me as well.—RICK JONES Rick Jones has been head coach of the Green Wave baseball team for 20 years.

Charlton Jones (A ’73) of Covington, La., on Feb.

23, 2013.

Betsy W. Mehl (UC ’74) of Thibodaux, La., on April 6, 2013.

Thurman Lee Phemister (G ’74, M ’75) of Duluth, Minn., on Feb. 6, 2013.

Stacey March Johnson (M ’75) of Gretna, La., on March 5, 2013.

Virginia M. Mahady (PHTM ’75) of Derry, N.H., on

Dec. 13, 2012.

John C. Cross Jr. (UC ’76) of Gretna, La., on March 19, 2013.

Marilyn Kay Josephs (NC ’76) of Encino, Calif., on

Donna Williams Ward (NC ’78) of Stockbridge, Ga.,

on Jan. 16, 2013.

Madeleine L. Diab (NC ’79) of Summit, N.J., on Dec.

Roy James Ussery (UC ’88) of Pass Christian, Miss., on Dec. 27, 2012.

23, 2012.

Mary Veronica Miceli (G ’79) of New Orleans on

March 12, 2013.

Andrew J. Robinson (A&S ’79) of New York on Jan. 19, 2013.

Paul J. Mirabile (L ’80) of New Orleans on March 15, 2013.

Kevin P. Connell (B ’82) of Broussard, La., on March

Tywanda Williamson Price (SW ’89) of Bossier

City, La., on Dec. 31, 2012.

James S. Buchanan (UC ’90) of Metairie, La., on

Jan. 28, 2013.

Michelle L. Bolyea (NC ’92) of Sarasota, Fla., on

Jan. 13, 2013.

Brian J. Caraker (TC ’94) of Fayatteville, Ga., on

11, 2013.

Jan. 26, 2013.

Douglas W. Brown (L ’86) of Halesite, N.Y., on

Jose A. Claros (UC ’04) of Kenner, La., on March

Feb. 17, 2013.

Dec. 7, 2012.

Edward J. Callan (A&S ’78) of Mill Valley, Calif., on

Rene B. deLaup (L ’87) of New Orleans on Jan.

Jan. 9, 2013.

Simon I. Theriot III (A&S ’87) of Annapolis, Md.,

on Aug. 20, 2012.

25, 2013.

5, 2013.

Sarah Lockwood Mohl (NC ’07) of Bloomington, Ill., on March 25, 2013.

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98% of Goal

T U L A N E

eMpOWers Campaign gifts to Tulane Empowers help connect Tulane students with community outreach projects that make a difference in people’s lives. As of March 31, 2013, the campaign had raised $98 million towards its $100 million goal.

E M P O W E R S

As recipients of Tulane scholarships three decades ago, alumni Rick Rees (A&S ’75, B ’75) and Debra Darnell Rees (NC ’76, B ’77) say giving back to the university has special meaning for them.

“It’s the least we can do because Tulane did so much for us,” said Rick Rees, a member of the Tulane Board. The Reeses have supported numerous university initiatives and are major benefactors of the A. B. Freeman School of Business.

They were honored as new members of the Paul Tulane Society, the university’s premier donor recognition group, on March 20, 2013, at the Audubon Tea Room in New Orleans.

Joseph Andrews Davenport III, Dr. Everett L. Drewes (A&S ’38), Peggy Burkenroad Selber (NC ’53) and Aaron Selber (B ’50) are other extraordinary philanthropists inducted into the society at the March ceremony.

“Members of the Paul Tulane Society are the pillars of Tulane University and without each one of them our university would not be where it is,” said Tulane President Scott Cowen.

“My parents are thrilled with this honor,” said Penny Selber Autenreith, who accepted the Paul Tulane Society medallion on behalf of her parents.

Darla Martin Kemp said that her greatuncle, Dr. Drewes, created a scholarship fund through his bequest because a scholarship allowed him to attend Tulane. “He wanted to pay it forward,” she said.—Michael Joe

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Orleans Avenue in NYC Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and his band Orleans Avenue rocked the house with “SupaFunkRock,” Andrews’ unique style of New Orleans music, at Beads on Broadway in New York City on April 22, 2013.

More than 650 alumni and friends of Tulane attended the gala held at Chelsea Piers, raising $116,000 for the Tulane Empowers campaign.

Now in its fifth year, Beads on Broadway is an evening of festivities and fundraising, bringing New Orleans to New York City.

In his introductory remarks, Tulane President Scott Cowen praised a new partnership between the university and the Trombone Shorty Foundation that encourages New Orleans public school students to carry on the rich musical traditions of the city.

Cowen also individually lauded Andrews, a Tulane President’s Medal recipient in 2012. “He exemplifies everything Tulane stands for: a passion to preserve the culture of New Orleans, a commitment to community and the dedication to turning ideas into action.”

With the New York Alumni Club one of the largest in the country and the Tulane New York Regional Office, located in Midtown Manhattan, the only Tulane office of its kind in the United States, New York is central to the university’s national outreach efforts. More freshmen come to Tulane from New York than any other state outside Louisiana.

Altogether, the New York region has 10,000 Tulane alumni, parents and friends.—Erika Herran

Beads on Broadway Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews performs with his band, Orleans Avenue, at the Beads on Broadway fundraising gala held at Chelsea Piers in New York City in April.

pillArs Of tulANe Rick and Debbie Rees are among the latest inductees into the Paul Tulane Society, whose members have contributed exceptional support to the university.

michael jurick

sabree hill

Highest Honors

GREENLEAF GIFT The Latin American Library and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies received a bequest totaling $225,000 from the estate of Richard E. Greenleaf, a noted scholar of Latin American colonial history, former chair of the Tulane history department and director of the Stone Center. The gift will help the library obtain special acquisitions and fund research support for postdoctoral fellows.

T U L A N E

E M P O W E R S

In the mid 1990s, Peter Goldman (A&S ’66) advocated for his daughter, Karen Goldman (NC ’97), for the services she needed as a student with learning disabilities at Tulane University. At the time, a leading publication listed more than a thousand colleges that offered programs for people with learning disabilities. Tulane wasn’t on the list.

In the ensuing years, the Goldman family has supported the growth of services for students with disabilities at Tulane. And, in 2008, the Goldman Office of Disability Services was dedicated.

The Goldman Office provides peer notetakers, technology to convert text to audio for students who have difficulty reading and a quiet space to administer tests, among other services.

The office assists 500 to 600 students each semester, says director Patrick Randolph.

Some people have a misconception that accommodations such as special exam testing give the learning disabled an advantage. Not so, Randolph says. “We’re just trying to level the playing field so they’re not at a disadvantage relative to their nondisabled peers.”

Requiring a learning-disabled person to take a test without accommodations is “like not allowing someone to wear glasses,” says Karen Goldman. She studied education and psychology as an undergraduate at Tulane and later earned a master’s degree in early childhood education.

“I think there’s been great progress made at Tulane,” she says, adding that she is thrilled more services are offered on campus than she had.

Peter Goldman says, “We saw a void that needed to be filled. Advocating for the disabled is extremely important, and I’m proud there’s more of a focus on this now.”—Mary Sparacello

ryan rivet

Level Active Learning Playing Field Dance professor Barbara Hayley uses the arts as a tool for social change in New Orleans public schools. Jordan Karubian, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, involves indigenous communities in Ecuadorean rain forests in ways to preserve their ecosystem. And Elizabeth Townsend Gard, associate professor of law, gives students the legal context to understand how, in the age of the Internet, local copyright problems can quickly accelerate into global intellectual property issues.

Hayley and Karubian hold Kylene and Brad Beers Professorships in Social Entrepreneurship, and Townsend Gard is the Glazer Professor in Social Entrepreneurship. They are contributing to and enhancing the new interdisciplinary minor in social innovation and social entrepreneurship.

By getting students in the field—and mentoring and supporting their ideas—social entrepreneurship faculty are helping students develop the sense of purpose and direction they need to take full advantage of a Tulane education, says Rick Aubry, assistant provost for civic engagement and social entrepreneurship in the Office of Academic Affairs.

“These professors have created something much more powerful than any of us could have imagined,” says Aubry.

Each professor’s work deepens Tulane’s ability to reach students uncertain about how to make their mark—and to support those ready to make a difference.

Freshman Ethan Levy of Lutherville, Md., is a case in point. When it came time to choose a college, Levy found Tulane to be a natural fit, filled with passionate students with fresh ideas on how to make the world a better place.

“I knew there was a real entrepreneurial ecosystem here,” says Levy.

Tulane’s social entrepreneurship program depends on the generosity of many individuals, families and corporations whose gifts have endowed professorships, fellowships and programs such as annual prize competitions during the past five years.—Christina Carr

Social Good Barbara Hayley, professor of dance, and her Tulane students collaborate with community partners on arts-based projects for children and adults from New Orleans neighborhoods.

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

mark andresen

N E W

O R L E A N S

The Man Who Won the War

by Angus Lind These days I do a lot of things just because.

So the other day, just because I hadn’t been there in some time and a new pavilion had opened, I headed to the National World War II Museum.

On leisurely days, St. Charles Avenue is my route of choice. That picturesque thoroughfare takes me past avenues named Jefferson, Washington and Jackson and then on to Gen. Lee’s Circle, where I take a right and find myself on Andrew Higgins Drive, the gateway to the museum and stories about generals named Eisenhower, Patton and MacArthur.

Even lesser students of U.S. history will recognize most of those names—save that of Andrew Higgins, who turns out to be a key player in the strategy of the war.

Al Mipro, a museum docent, tells the story almost every day he is on duty, which he has been since two months before the museum opened in 2000. A World War II buff, Mipro (who received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Tulane in 1958) can rattle off facts about Higgins, the founder and owner of the New Orleans–based Higgins Industries who is credited with designing and manufacturing the “Higgins boats” that carried troops from ships to shore most famously at Normandy on D-Day. On that fateful day, June 6, 1944, 500 ships carrying 150,000 Allied troops crossed the English Channel. They came ashore on thousands of Higgins boats on an invasion front that stretched some 90 kilometers and was arguably the most daring, determined and heroic moment in the history of democracy.

“Ike said that Higgins ‘is the man who won the war for us,’” says Mipro, talking about Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower, who further noted that without the boats, his troops could never have been able to land on an open beach, and without which the entire strategy of the war would have been different. The Higgins story is a big part of why the museum is located here.

“Higgins had seven plants in and around New Orleans,” Mipro

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all ashore New Orleanian Andrew Higgins manufactured the landing crafts that were used in the Normandy invasion during World War II.

continues. “He built over 20,000 landing craft and employed 25,000 men and women. The women got paid the same as the men—equal pay, which was unheard of at the time.”

Even as a limited world traveler, I would rank Normandy and the American cemetery there as a must-see for any American who can afford it. When I paused in front of a white marble cross that read, “Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Brigadier General U.S. Army, July 12, 1944, Medal of Honor,” I was overwhelmed, as were fellow travelers. Roosevelt was the only general to land by sea. He was in the first wave of troops and, at 56, was the oldest participant in the invasion. He survived D-Day only to succumb to a heart attack.

The D-Day count was high: Some 5,000 perished, another 4,000 were wounded. But the march to Berlin and victory had begun.

The ever-expanding museum is a wonderful (and cheaper) alternative to a Normandy excursion. On this particular visit, I was checking out the new U.S. Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center, which features interactive touch screens and six major wartime aircraft hanging from the ceiling.

“When I am down there, I enjoy seeing the artifacts but what I really enjoy is meeting the people from all over the world who had something to do with the war,” says Mipro, who has given a private tour to Gen. George S. Patton’s staff and his grandsons.

“I was very careful, no mistakes.”

He also gave a tour to a Japanese bomber pilot who flew in the Pearl Harbor raid that began this country’s involvement in the war in December 1941.

Mipro studied World War II at Tulane and in high school at Warren Easton. He has built 125 model planes and 25 ships. “I try to keep myself current, I read a good bit,” he says. He served eight years in the Louisiana National Guard. “Let’s just say my military career was not exactly like Gen. Patton’s,” he jokes.

Twenty veterans of World War II are volunteers at the museum. Mipro will take a veteran with him when he travels south Louisiana and Mississippi to speak to civic clubs and veterans organizations about the museum.

When all the expansion is completed in 2015, the museum will be a world class sixacre campus of exhibition pavilions. “I’m very enthusiastic and honored to be part of it,” says Mipro. “I love talking to people, and I brag about Tulane every chance I get. I’m very proud of that.”

homecoming/Re homecoming/R e U nion 2013 october 4–5 Helluva Hullabaloo premier auction and party supporting tulane empoWers and tulane student-atHletes Friday, october 4 6–8:30 P.M. Lavin-Bernick Center, First Floor

reunion class receptions Friday, october 4 5:30–7 P.M. McAlister Place

Wave ’13 all-alumni reunion party Friday, october 4

Homecoming game tulane vs nortH texas saturday, october 5 Mercedes-Benz Superdome Kickoff at 2:30 P.M. Tailgating begins at 11 A.M.

7–9 P.M. Lavin-Bernick Center, Second Floor Great food, music, fireworks and pep rally Concert on the Quad featuring Deacon John Celebrating reunions of the Classes of ’63, ’68, ’73, ’78, ’83, ’88, ’93, ’98, ’03, ’08, ’13

reunion class parties saturday, october 5 6 P.M.

Updates and more events: http://tulane.edu/homecoming

TUlane M A G A Z I N E

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Wish You Were Here Uptown prayer flags.