Tulane Magazine Spring 2011

TUlane WALKING THE WALK

THE MAGAZINE OF TULANE UNIVERSITY

Four girls change the course of history by going to school

LIGHTS, CAMERA, TULANE

The campus collaborates with the New Orleans film industry

LAST LEG

Seniors observe the bittersweet emotions of graduation

SPRING 2011

N.O. Biz Like Show Biz The film industry in New Orleans and at Tulane

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A Wonderful Day The 2011 commencement ceremony, which took place May 12, was highlighted by two impromptu musical performances by legendary performer Stevie Wonder, who was in attendance to receive an honorary doctor of fine arts degree. Wonder sat down to a piano to perform an unhurried, ardent version of his hit song, “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and also lent his harmonica to “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans,” a song that has become a standard at Tulane commencements.

The graduates and their families also received a motivational message from keynote speaker Thomas Friedman, a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter and columnist for The New York Times, who imparted lessons he has learned while covering the Egyptian revolution in Cairo’s Tahrir Square this spring.

“Those Egyptian kids who first dared to go into Tahrir Square and call for their dictator’s ouster, their only strategy was hope,” said Friedman. “They had no idea what would follow. … But they were propelled by a powerful hope and optimism that trumped every other concern.”

After receiving so much in the way of advice and entertainment during the ceremony, the class of 2011 was called upon to return the favor. With a prompt from Tulane President Scott Cowen, the audience joined in singing “Happy Birthday” to Stevie Wonder, who celebrated a birthday the following day.

Hailing from 48 states and 57 countries, the class of 2011 included graduates from Tulane’s 10 schools and colleges and numbered 2,300 strong. Roughly 47 percent received undergraduate degrees, with the balance receiving advanced graduate and professional degrees.

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P R E S I D E N T ’ S

L E T T E R

To the Class of 2011

by Scott S. Cowen The following is an excerpt from the Tulane president’s address at the 2011 commencement ceremony: As president of Tulane, I travel the country speaking about our university. I am often asked what I am most proud of at Tulane.

My answer is always the same—the academic quality, character and values of our students.

This is what I tell others, but recently, on a plane ride back from a speech, I thought, “How often do I tell that to the students themselves?”

So as you are about to graduate, I thought it was high time to tell you how proud I am of you and why.

I am proud of you because you enrolled at Tulane as the most accomplished and sought-after students in the country. While at Tulane you grew intellectually and personally as your Tulane education empowered you with the skills, knowledge and desire to build a better world. You could have gone to school anywhere, but you chose Tulane despite the fact that the university and New Orleans were still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

March on Tulane graduates make a difference wherever they go.

I am proud of you for giving of yourself while you were a Tulane student, helping to transform New Orleans and, indeed, the world.

I have looked on with pride as you got involved in the community and made a difference in the lives of so many.

I saw you tutor local schoolchildren, teaching them not only how to read better but to dream bigger. I saw you design and build safer, stronger and smarter homes to replace those destroyed by Katrina.

I smiled with joy when I learned how many of you are joining the Peace Corps, Teach for America, the military and are pursuing careers focused on making the world a better place.

Our graduates are engaged citizens who will remain agents of change and forces for good for the rest of their lives.

When you came to Tulane we knew you were intelligent. But what I have seen develop during your time here is your emotional IQ. This IQ, which comprises compassion, understanding, respect and empathy, cannot be taught in a classroom. These qualities evolve over time through the depth and quality of one’s experience and through one’s capacity for caring.

It is this emotional intelligence that accounts for the successes in lives that Tulane graduates experience.

I am proud that you are our hope for the future. The lessons you learned and the experiences you had at Tulane and in New Orleans will have an impact on communities where you live and work in the future.

Our graduates are engaged citizens who will remain agents of change and forces for good for the rest of their lives.

Jack Unruh

You have been empowered to positively change the world. As you continue your life’s journey, I look forward to applauding and celebrating your achievements.

This is why I can always state with pride that there is no other student body in the world with whom I would rather be associated.

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TUlane C O N T E N T S First Steps Tessie Prevost and her father are escorted to McDonogh No. 19 Elementary School in 1960.

2 PRESIDENT’S LETTER Scott Cowen praises the class of 2011 6 NEWS Mardi Gras Indians’ works of art • Malaria bites • Tree census • Katrina index • Who dat? Robert Harling • Eyewitnesses in Egypt • N.Y. stories • Peace Corps connection • Brass band formation • At-risk youth turn into celebrity chefs • BioInnovation Center opens • Maya secrets in a bottle

AP IMAGES

12 SPORTS Janine Fellows, golf star • New playbook for Tulane football • Rick Jones’ and Lisa Stockton’s wins

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Walking the Walk

30 TULANIANS Berthe Amoss • Herschel Abbott Jr.• George Bey, Tomás Gallareta and William Ringle • Facts on crawfish boils

Fifty years ago, four New Orleans girls woke up to go to school and changed the course of history. By Ryan Rivet

32 WHERE Y'AT! Recognitions

Lights, Camera, Tulane

35 FAREWELL Tributes • M.L. Lagarde • Bill Monroe

With its oak-embellished lawns and striking architecture, the university plays an increasingly larger role in the burgeoning New Orleans film industry. By Michael Strecker

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Last Leg Members from the class of 2011 share their thoughts and bittersweet emotions as their time at Tulane comes to an end. By Mary Ann Travis

38 TULANE EMPOWERS Dean Jean Danielson Memorial Scholarship • Jeffrey Altman’s gift • Campaign goals and progress 40 NEW ORLEANS Angus Lind, blessed to be here

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va saves houses Houses originally on Cleveland Street await their renovation and repurposing into the new Veterans Administration Hospital footprint in New Orleans.The structures eventually will be used as physical therapy space for the “wounded warriors” served by the Veterans Administration.

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New LOOk Have you noticed? We have a new design and a new name: Tulanian has changed to Tulane. While we look different, our mission remains the same—to connect readers to Tulane University. We love to hear from you!

More on the Footprint I was surprised and happy to see that the recent issue [winter 2011] of the Tulanian covered the amazing story of the large house relocation effort to clear the site for the new VA Hospital in Mid City. I think one important piece of the story that the articles seemed to miss is the great lengths the Veterans Administration went to keep four properties (originally located at 2336, 2328, 2400, 2402 Cleveland Street) and how they are slated to remain as part of the new VA Hospital footprint. We were contracted by the VA to move and secure these properties to one end of the current site until they can be moved to their final spot once the foundation for the new hospital is laid.

These four houses are currently planned to be historically renovated and will likely see service as physical therapy space to help teach recovering veterans with significant injuries on how to take care of themselves and live in adapted homes that are fully ADA compliant.

It was great to see so many alumni involved with the larger relocation effort and I am proud to say that my two Project Managers leading the work on these four properties were also Tulane Grads.

Michael Johnson (BS ’07, MBA ’08) and Pat Davis (BSM ’10).

I have attached a picture [above] of the

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four properties that will eventually stand as the only original structures from the neighborhood that will remain in the original footprint, and will serve a worthy mission in helping our Wounded Warriors rehabilitate and learn to live in adapted homes.

Alex Hernandez, TC ’98, B ’03 New Orleans Connected to Hospital I received the copy of the Winter 2011 issue of the Tulanian online today, which I immediately read in that version. The feature on the replacement of the Veterans’ Hospital was of particular interest for me because I had participated in patient care and medical education in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, and as an advisor on the direction of the previous hospital while I was with Tulane School of Medicine from 1958 to 1972. I was pleased to read about the progress on construction of the replacement hospital and the articles about management of homes that have been on the expanded grounds for the new hospital. The online version is as easy to read for me as the printed version. Surely this version of the Tulanian must reduce both the amount of paper used for the Tulanian and the postage costs for sending the printed version while making it even more readily available. I am quite supportive of this direction of the Tulanian and greatly

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pleased with the content of this issue.

Dr. Robert D. Sparks, Medical Residency ’58 El Dorado Hills, Calif.

Getting Better All the Time After reading the Winter 2011 edition of the Tulanian, I had to comment on the upbeat movement that continues at Tulane and in New Orleans.

You can’t discuss them separately.

There’s a contagious energy in all of those articles, particularly those about the literal relocation of entire neighborhoods. I grew up in New Orleans, lived in the St. Thomas Housing Project, had great fun at Kingsley House, attended McDonough 10, Sophie Wright, graduated from Fortier H.S. and UNO (the name was changed from LSU in New Orleans to UNO before I graduated), then to TUSSW. I left in 1981, but always came back every few years, including right after Katrina. Last month I had the opportunity to walk the campus on a beautiful Saturday to stand once again in front of the School of Social Work. Great restorative progress and growth have taken place, since the storm and my days as a student. But, the old buildings and the remarkable live oak in front of the School of Social Work are just as they were in 1975. What a fantastic merging of the old, the new and what will yet come.

Now when Tulane engineers develop a time machine, please transport Shayne Lee back to fall 1975. He would fit in perfectly.

Henry A. Smith, SW ’75 Abingdon, Va. Insightful Professor Lee Thank you for your article about Shayne Lee (Tulanian Winter 2011),

which arrived in my in-box yesterday. Our daughter received her BA in Sociology from Tulane in May 2010 and she has told me that Lee’s class on “The Wire” was among her favorites throughout her years at Tulane—and the most helpful. She has spent her first year out of college working as a math teacher in a public high school in St. John Parish. While plenty of other experiences at Tulane and in New Orleans helped to prepare her for her first job out of college, somehow Shayne Lee was able to bring the real world into the classroom like no other.

And, as you revealed to your readers, he’s also downright entertaining.

Krista Seely, Parent ’10 Bainbridge Island, Wash.

Be Like Beyonce Having read “Deconstructing Shayne” [Tulanian, winter 2011], I am glad to say my psychology degree from Newcomb gave me the answers to religious questions that sociology did not give him, and that it has me working to be ever closer to being like Beyonce.

It was experimental psychology that provided scientific evidence that prayer is good. When participants in an experiment had galvanic skin response meters attached to their fingers, the measure of electrical current coming from them went down with negative thoughts, up with happy thoughts, and consistently highest responding to the word God. This made Reiki healing understandable, as well as massage therapy and yoga.

When faced with New Orleans’ dance culture, “jock-imofin-an-day,” I could move into high gear pursuing my longdenied dreams of

being a dancer. Black New Orleans’ sacred dance traditions provided a praywhile-dancing experience that linked the storytelling ballets of Russia with a personal experience of dance mysticism.

Tchaikovsky might have dancers performing resurrections on stage, but it was removed, like a Bible story. Only by feeling the difference of praying or not praying when you are dancing, do you actually get it. And through the effect of prayer, everything works out, which is what “jock-imo-fin-anday,” a New Orleans folk song from Africa, means when it says everything works out through dance. The body-mind integration taking place is part of the healing effect.

So, Mr. Lee, enjoy your athletics and religion all at once.

I may never be a ballerina, but every time I dance a Beyonce belly dance or walk like her, I gain more strength and beauty. I wrote a rock opera about sacred dance, have performed dance in church, am working on teacher-training and further music studies.

There is no need to feel the pain of being a benched athlete.

Not playing Division I basketball or being a prima ballerina hurts, but sometimes we have other gifts that prayer can only enhance.

I now love salsa rhythms, curving movements and bridging cultures.

Lydia Dorosh, NC ’75 Lynn Haven, Fla. Eye-opening Wise Thank you for broadcasting Tim Wise’s message of Antiracism [Tulanian, winter 2009]. Amazed by his accomplishments, I am proud to be a fellow Tulanian (Class of 2000). Your piece on

Wise opened me up to a transformation away from White Denial of which I am guilty and an un-learning, which began in Tulane’s classrooms many years ago.

Maya Czulewicz, NC ’00 Philadelphia Are you from here?

I absolutely loved your article “Where you from?” [Tulanian, winter 2011]. I’m always fascinated by the way people define themselves here by where in the city they spend their time, and I think you captured that in an inspiring and poetic way. I wasn’t born here, and neither were most of my friends, but it is really easy to get involved in the “local pride” debate … and I can definitely tell you where the best eateries are.

Mihnea Dobre, A ’09 New Orleans Story IdeA I enjoy reading Tulane magazine. How about an article on my now deceased sculpture professor Jules Struppeck? He was such a huge influence on so many Tulane art students over the years! I, for one, would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you.

Fred Marchman, G ’65 Fairhope, Ala. Mignon Faget, NC ’55, also credits Jules Struppeck with inspiring her.

(See “Toughness and Grace,” Tulanian, fall 2010.) We’ll have to look more into professor Struppeck. He’s No. 66 in our list of “175 Ways Tulane Has Rocked the World,” (Tulanian, fall 2009).

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

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Editor Mary Ann Travis

Art Director Melinda Whatley Viles DeSIGN CONSULTANTS DJ Stout and Barrett Fry Pentagram Design Features Editor Nick Marinello m a r i o ta m a /g e t t y im a g e s

“where y’at!” Editor Fran Simon

talk about your revolution The news rippled through Twitter accounts and on Facebook pages.

Osama bin Laden was dead, killed

by U.S. forces. On May 1, students at Tulane, well-connected as they are to social media, learned of the biggest international story of the decade before any television network broadcast a blip about it.

And the joy erupted. Like the crowds of young people in New York (above) and Washington, D.C., students on the Tulane uptown campus draped themselves in American flags. In shades of post–9/11, they hung a gigantic Stars and Stripes from the balcony of Irby Residence Hall. They cheered and cried on the Bruff Commons quad. They shot off fireworks. (How quickly they found fireworks!) They congregated at The Boot watering hole, singing “The Star Spangled Banner” and chanting, “U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.” They collectively celebrated the death of Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and a figure that this year’s commencement speaker, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, described as “a psychopath and false messiah.”

For the Tulane students, it was an existential release (and maybe a release of anxiety and tension during exam week).They saw it as closure for the friends and family of 9/11 victims and as a victory against an enemy

of America. When President Barack Obama went on TV to make the official announcement, “Justice has been done,” they applauded.

It was like the “Hitler of our generation had died,” said one Tulane student.

For half their lives, this young American generation has had the shadow of terrorism always in the back of their minds. “I can’t remember a time when the threat of terrorism wasn’t out there,” said Andrew Leach, a sophomore from St. Louis.

The complex, amorphous war continues and elusive enemies are at large, but the students feel more optimistic.

But Bin Laden’s death, they are well aware, isn’t the end of terrorism.

“It’s hard to fight an idea,” said Leach.

“The only way to end the war on terror is to end hatred of other people.”

On 9/11, the students lost their innocence. By 5/1, they had grown up.

On another note, you may have noticed our new look—and new name.

In a revolution of our own, we have changed Tulanian to Tulane to more strongly reflect the magazine’s connection to the university. Under the direction of the magazine’s art director Melinda Viles, working with outside consultant D.J. Stout of Pentagram/ Texas, we’ve redesigned the magazine incorporating bold graphics, simple headlines and striking photographs.

Let us know what you think.

—Mary Ann Travis

Contributors Catherine Freshley, ’09 Alicia Duplessis Jasmin Kimberly Krupa Angus Lind, A&S ’66 R.M. Morris Arthur Nead Ryan Rivet, UC ’02 Michael Strecker, G ’03 Cody Wild University Photographer Paula Burch-Celentano senior Production Coordinator Sharon Freeman Graphic Designer Tracey O’Donnell

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. Periodical postage at New Orleans, LA 70113 and additional mailing offices. Send editorial correspondence to: Tulane, Tulane Office of University Publications, 31 McAlister Drive, Drawer 1, New Orleans, LA 70118-5624, 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.

Spring 2011/Vol. 82, No. 4­­­­

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OAK TREE Of the roughly 750 trees estimated to live on Tulane’s uptown campus, more than 200 are live oaks. A survey is under way to get an exact count of the trees. “The goal is to be able to recognize and treat our trees as individuals,” says Tom Armitage, superintendent of grounds. There were 185 trees planted on campus between spring 2006 and spring 2009.

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Buzz Kill

NativeSpirit The colorful suits of Mardi Gras Indians are more than costumes, says Ashlye Keaton, an entertainment attorney and adjunct professor of law at Tulane.

“It’s a visual art and it’s a sculpture that happens to be displayed on a person,” she says.

Black New Orleanians pay homage to Native Americans in the astoundingly beautiful costumes that feature original designs of intricate beadwork and feathers in bold colors. The construction of the suits often requires a full year of painstaking sewing. It’s a tradition that dates back to the 19th century.

Various Mardi Gras Indian tribes take to the streets of New Orleans in their suits a few times a year, trying to outdance and outshine each other in exuberant rivalries.

Keaton is the force behind an effort to assist Mardi Gras Indians in filing for copyright protection for their suits. Costumes and other apparel cannot be registered for such protection under law, but Keaton argues that the suits should be classified as works of art.

Up until now, Mardi Gras Indians photographed by commercial photographers often have been unable to receive compensation for the use of the images.

“Registering a Mardi Gras Indian suit affords the owner remedies and solidifies a presumption of ownership,” says Keaton.

Keaton is the supervising attorney for the Entertainment Law Legal Assistance (ELLA) program at Tulane Law School. Through ELLA, Tulane law students have provided more than 10,000 hours of legal assistance to artists since 2005, serving more than 650 clients.

ELLA is a partnership between Tulane Law School, the Arts Council of New Orleans and Tipitina’s Foundation.—Alicia Duplessis Jasmin

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New Suit

The suits of Mardi Gras Indians are works of art and should be protected under copyright law. That’s the contention of Tulane law students who are assisting individual Indians file for copyright protection.

The same menace that spreads malaria—the mosquito bite—could help wipe out the deadly disease, according to Tulane researchers working on a new vaccine.

Malaria kills nearly 800,000 people worldwide every year. It is caused by a microscopic parasite that alternates between human and mosquito hosts at various stages of its life cycle.

The new vaccine works by triggering an immune response in people so that they produce antibodies to target a protein that the malaria parasite needs to reproduce within a mosquito.

Once a mosquito bites a vaccinated person, the antibodies neutralize the protein essential for the malaria parasite’s reproduction, effectively blocking the parasite’s—and the mosquito’s—ability to infect others.

Tulane is collaborating with Gennova Biopharmaceuticals in India through the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) to produce and test the vaccine. The vaccine relies on a protein—Pfs48/45—which is difficult to produce synthetically, says Nirbhay Kumar, professor and chair of the Department of Tropical Medicine of the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

“With MVI’s support we can now work with Gennova to produce sufficient quantity of the protein and develop a variety of vaccine formulations that can be tested in animals to determine which one gives us the strongest immune response,” Kumar says.

Transmission-blocking vaccines, though not yet widely tested in humans, are attracting widespread interest due to their potential to be used in conjunction with more traditional

malaria vaccines and other interventions— such asmalaria drugs and bed nets—to make gradual elimination and even eradication of the disease a reality.

Dr. Christian Loucq, director of MVI, says they hope to introduce “an 80 percent efficacious malaria vaccine by the year 2025.” A grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation established MVI in 1999. —Arthur Nead

In That Number Katrina Index B E F ORE ( 2 0 0 0 )

A F TER ( 2 0 1 0 )

484,674 343,829 POPULATION OF ORLEANS PARISH

POPULATION OF ORLEANS PARISH

39% 45%

POPULATION OF ORLEANS PARISH LIVING ABOVE SEA LEVEL 190,061 of Orleans Parish’s 484,674 people lived on blocks that were above sea level.

POPULATION OF ORLEANS PARISH LIVING ABOVE SEA LEVEL 153,511 of Orleans Parish’s 343,829 people lived on blocks that were above sea level.

CHILDREN UNDER 18 IN ORLEANS PARISH In 2000, Orleans Parish had 129,408 children. That’s 26.7% of the population

CHILDREN UNDER 18 IN ORLEANS PARISH In 2010, Orleans Parish had 73,215 children. That’s 21.3% of the population

26.7%

NUMBER OF BOOKS ON AMAZON.COM WITH KEYWORDS “KATRINA” + “NEW ORLEANS”

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21.3%

NUMBER OF BOOKS ON AMAZON.COM WITH KEYWORDS “KATRINA” + “NEW ORLEANS”

662

THE POLL DO YOU LIVE IN A SMALL TOWN OR A BIG CITY? Now that the data is in on the U.S. Census for 2010, and we’re learning the long-term impact of Hurricane

Katrina on the population of New Orleans, we wonder, where do Tulane alumni live? Are you in a small town, defined by the Census Bureau, as an “urban cluster” with at least 2,500 and less than 50,000 population? Or do you reside in a big city—an “urbanized area” with a population of more than 50,000? Or maybe you live in rural territory, which is anywhere not defined as urban. Let us know by emailing us at: tulanemag@tulane.edu. We’ll report on the results in the summer issue of Tulane.

DATA COURTE SY O F TULANE G EO G RAPHER R I CHAR D CA M PANELLA , BA S E D ON AN ANALYS I S O F 2 0 1 0 CEN S U S DATA .

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Who Dat ? The Tulanians

ROBERT HARLING Before he wrote the hit off-Broadway play Steel Magnolias, Robert Harling was a law student at Tulane.

During his time on campus (1974–77), Harling was a member of the Tulanians singing group.

Finding law a little dry for his taste (and noting that there are “not many laughs in Brown v. the

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Board of Education”), Harling passed on taking the bar exam after graduation and instead headed to New York to become an actor. It was the death of his younger sister that inspired him to write Steel Magnolias, which debuted on stage in 1987 and then was made into a blockbuster film in 1989. Harling has gone on to

be a successful screenwriter and director, and Steel Magnolias remains a durable production on stages across the globe.

Uniformed in paisley, the 1976 edition of the Tulanians is an unabashed expression of its time. Out front is soloist Judi Lapinsohn. Along with Harling, among the visible supporting

vocalists behind her are (from the left) Kenneth Raphael, Scott Dunitz, Bruce Campbell, Richard Ferayoni and Robert Casanova. Campbell would go on to star in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway. The Tulanians performed at countless university functions from the 1960s through the ’90s.—Nick Marinello

HELPING HAND Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is ranked among the nation’s top 25 medium-sized schools for number of graduates serving in the Peace Corps. Currently, 29 Tulane students are overseas in the Peace Corps. More than 180 returned Peace Corps volunteers have graduated from the master’s international program at Tulane.

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Eye on Egypt

Tales of New York

J UL I E D ER M AN S KY

Word hits streets In Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, the crowd reacts jubilantly moments after Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman announced that president Hosni Mubarak had “decided to waive the office of the presidency of the republic,” on Feb. 11, 2011.

Multimedia reporter and artist Julie Dermansky (NC ’87) witnessed the celebration and reported on “the mood of national unity and joy” in Egypt after 18 consecutive days of protests. Dermanksy shot this image with a flip camera after her professional camera gear was confiscated at the airport.

For Alicia Ochsner, her sojourn in Cairo during the month of January was a front-row seat to the revolution. “I wanted to stay,” she said.

Ochsner was studying at the American University in Cairo as part of her junior semester abroad until she and three other Tulane students were safely evacuated from Egypt on Jan. 31.

“I did not meet a single person who supported [Hosni] Mubarak [the president of Egypt],” said Ochsner, in a Skype interview from London, where she stayed for a few days with Tulane friends until her return to the United States.

“People told me, ‘We would like to pick our own president,’” said Ochsner.

Ochsner, a political science major, naturally talked politics with Egyptian students during lunch and coffee breaks from her intensive studies in the Arabic language and the politics of the Middle East.

The Tunisian revolution, or Dignity Revolution, in December filled the Egyptians with hope that the political situation in their country could change, said Ochsner. “They saw what people can do, and they were inspired.”

When the peaceful protests in the streets began on Jan. 25, Ochsner was on a bus tour of old Cairo. Later, when back at the university, Ochsner, like millions of people around the world, followed the events on television. She and other students switched back and forth from the Al-Jazeera network broadcasting in Arabic and CNN International in English.

The Internet shutdown by the Egyptian government on Jan. 27 was a turning point in the decision by Tulane officials to arrange for the evacuation of Ochsner and the other students from Cairo to Paris.

Her experience in Egypt has not dampened Ochsner’s fascination with the region. “I love the Middle East and the Arabic language,” she said.

Her ultimate goal is a career with the U.S. State Department. “I told my mom, this is practice for my career.” —Mary Ann Travis

One woman recounts a subway ride across the Upper East Side of Manhattan, sitting next to a homeless fellow who is unabashedly engaged in singing Disney tunes. Another woman tells about the time she rushed to the aid of a man lying smack in the middle of Amsterdam Avenue after being clipped by a taxi. Both are denizens of Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, an online compendium of stories written about the Big Apple.

Created in 2000 by Thomas Beller, assistant professor of English, Mr. Beller’s Neigborhood (mrbellersneighborhood.com), has over the years attracted more than a thousand stories about New York City. Contributors range from professional writers to unknown voices —all compelled to share urban sketches that render what Beller calls “an eye-level view” of the city.

“The stories are a combination of personal writing and witnessing,” says Beller, who was raised and lived most of his life in New York.

“I’m living in the Big Easy now, but I grew up in the Big Difficult,” says Beller, explaining that it’s the difficulties of life there that provide the fodder for stories.

“Because your apartment is so small and everyone uses public transportation, so much of your life takes place in public. You are constantly seeing people, and the street becomes sort of a theater. You naturally become curious about what the hell is going on.”

After two years functioning as the sole editor for the site, Beller now enlists the help of managing editors so he no longer flies as the “manic guy in the cockpit” selecting and editing stories.

In 2009, Beller published his second collection of stories culled from the site: Lost and Found: Stories From New York.

Why are stories important?

“Can you imagine life if there were never any?” answers Beller. “Ask how someone is doing and the answer would always be, ‘OK, fine, or good.’

One-word answers.”

He adds, “Stories are like the air we breathe.” Beller’s own short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Southwest Review, Ploughshares, Elle and Best American Short Stories.—N.M.

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BIO BIZ The 66,000-square-foot New Orleans BioInnovation Center opens on the 1400 block of Canal Street in mid June.

Tulane is a partner in the center that will house labs, offices and conference space in the expanded biomedical corridor of New Orleans.

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TRACIE MORRIS SCHAEFER

Comfort Food

BrassBand The Tulane University Marching Band program has debuted a seersucker-wearing brass ensemble—the Green Wave Brass Band. And the band is making a name for itself on and off campus by playing at parties and other events.

“I hadn’t experienced brass bands before I came to New Orleans,” says Brian Geiger, a Tulane junior from Charlotte, N.C. “I’d say we’re a work in progress, but our repertoire is growing and the locals seem to like us.”

Forming a brass band was the idea of assistant band director Mark Lighthiser. He first organized the troupe in fall 2009. Lighthiser works with band members on arrangements for songs but he hopes that they will soon learn to improvise without that structure.

“Brass bands in this town do not work from written music because the music is in their heads,” says Lighthiser. “The musicians create an organic sound by playing off one another, and audiences can feel it in the music.”

Most Green Wave Brass Band members come from music education models in which each instrument is assigned a part from which the musicians do not stray. The tradition of brass band music is far more lenient.

The brass band has been gaining notice. They’ve performed at Tulane home football games in the Louisiana Superdome and undergraduate admission events, and, for the second year in a row, they played at the Rock ’n’ Mardi Gras Marathon & 1/2 benefiting the American Cancer Society.

The band also secured a gig at a New Orleans restaurant—Wow Café and Wingery on Magazine Street—after the restaurant’s owner saw the group perform during a Tulane football game. On New Orleans Saints game days, the band played at the restaurant during halftime. —a.d.j.

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Organic Sound

The Green Wave Brass

One Sunday morning, as the midday sun danced across the floor of a historic structure near Bayou St. John, an unconventional community prepared for a day of sharing and empathy, celebrating savory delights and enjoying sweet success. The Comfort Food Program, begun in fall 2009, is a community outreach opportunity founded by Tulane medical students Jamie Elson and Daniella Miller to offer counseling to at-risk and troubled youth in the context of cooking lessons by guest chefs.

On this particular Sunday in February, the pride and excitement that surrounded the guest chef were palpable, since, mere months ago, he had been sitting on the other side of this very table.

Warren Speed, an 18-year-old New Orleanian, was a participant in the Comfort Food Program last year when local restaurateur John Besh, the initial financial backer of the Comfort Food endeavor, was center stage as guest chef.

Speed, who had no previous experience in the culinary arts, expressed to Besh an interest in working with food. Besh offered to let Speed try his hand at Besh’s Dominica restaurant for a few days, and, when Speed displayed both talent and enthusiasm for the world of cooking, offered Speed a job working as a souschef. Speed has been working under Besh at Dominica ever since.

Band belts out a tune at a homecoming event in October. The newly formed band is expanding its repertoire in New Orleans–style brass band music.

Dr. Arwen Podesta, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Tulane School of Medicine, says that the program’s purpose, along with giving counseling, is for the medical students to mentor the young people so that they can learn how to “move forward in their lives and achieve whatever they want.”

For the organizers and volunteers, seeing a student come full circle, with a steady job in a field for which he or she is passionate, is the ultimate success story.—Cody Wild

Gallery Maya Bottle, Dinwiddie Hall Maya for decorative and ritual purposes. “We know that they used this substance to decorate carved, incised and stamped pottery vessels by rubbing the red powder into the design,” says Christine Hernandez, a research fellow at MARI. The color red symbolizes life-giving forces, says Hernandez.

“It was associated with the east direction and the rising sun, and it invoked the creation mythology and ideology surrounding the practice of bloodletting and human sacrifice as humanity’s responsibility to nourish the sun and keep the universe in motion.”

The outside of the bottle also has tested positive for traces of vermillion, another bright red pigment consisting of mercuric sulfide, and hematite, a reddishbrown-to-black mineral consisting of ferric oxide, an iron ore.

This bottle and other similar Maya miniature vessels have been called “poison bottles.”

Because the ancient vessels have the shape of a head, people have likened them to 19th- and 20th-century skull-shaped apothecary poison bottles.

But “poison bottle” is a misnomer for the Maya vessels, says Hernandez. “The neat thing about the recent analyses of

residues on the vessels and advancements with translating the hieroglyphics is that it appears that these containers were widely used to contain tobacco and, perhaps in some cases, the ground pigments.

Storing poisons was not what they were used for.”

Instead, the Maya elite, including priests, scribes and artisans, used the vessels to carry potent tobacco preparations for personal consumption and medicinal and ritual use, or they stored ground pigments in these vessels for decorating objects or other ritual use.

—alicia duplessis jasmin

pa u l a b u r c h - c e l e n ta n o

MAYA MINIATURE Housed in the pre-Columbian collection of the Middle American Research Institute in Dinwiddie Hall, a ceramic vessel dating between 250 and 850 A.D. offers clues to the lives of elite Maya.

The bottle or flask, whose dimensions are 7.2 by 7 centimeters, has a narrow neck that can be sealed with a stopper. The bottle is embellished on both sides by hieroglyphics flanked by likenesses of Maya gods.

A 1970 analysis of residue on the bottle suggests that the vessel likely contained mercury in a form—ground cinnabar— known to have been used by the

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Interview Janine Fellows, Women’s Golf Senior captain of the women’s golf team, Janine Fellows, is ranked among the top 50 golfers in the nation and qualified for the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open.

How did you get involved in the sport?

I was a freshman in high school when I started playing golf. I would spend all day after school and on the weekends at the golf course competing with all the guys. The course was my second home.

When did you know you wanted to play competitively?

I knew as soon as I started. I dream big and I set goals to achieve those dreams.

There is nothing better than seeing your dreams turn into reality.

What is your best memory on the course?

My best memory is when we qualified for the NCAA Championship the first year the golf program was brought back after Katrina.

What’s next for you in terms of your golf career?

I’m turning professional after I graduate. I knew after the U.S. Open this is what I was born to do.

—ryan rivet

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r ya n r i v e t

How did it feel to play in the U.S. Open?

Stepping on the first tee and having my name announced was an honor. I dreamt growing up that I would be inside those ropes one day and now that I have, it is something that I don’t want to let go.

WINNING STOCK This season, Lisa Stockton claimed her 400th win as a collegiate head coach. She led the women’s basketball team to its first back-to-back, 20-win seasons in 2000 and 2001.

S P O R T S

This spring, athletics director Rick Dickson and President Scott Cowen recommitted the university to making the Green Wave football program competitive, rolling out “The Playbook,” their vision for gridiron success.

Fans, former Wave lettermen and media gathered in the lobby of the Wilson Center on March 14 to hear how Tulane would achieve the goal of winning conference championships and participating in postseason play.

“We aspire to build a football program that wins consistently,” Dickson said.

The first step, Dickson said, is to increase funding for athletics and for the football program, specifically. Since 2007, Tulane has increased the budget for athletics by 30 percent and the budget for the football program by 45 percent.

Cowen said that following Hurricane Katrina other aspects of the university took precedence, but now it is time to focus on athletics.

“We are now in the stage of our renewal as a university that we can and should focus on the development and success of Tulane athletics,” Cowen said. “Our next challenge is to build a consistently successful program in football.

A clear vision, strategy and plan will guide us as we move toward the success we anticipate in the months and years ahead,” Cowen said Cowen added the only measure of success for the team is games in the win column and said he expects the team to be competitive for conference championships every season.

Copies of the playbook are available for downloading on the athletics website at http:// www.tulanegreenwave.com/playbook.—R.R.

Batting1,000 In 37 seasons as a baseball coach, Rick Jones has seen his fair share of games. On April 8, 2011, he celebrated a major milestone, winning his 1,000th career game as a head coach in a come-from-behind, 10-8 victory over the University of Central Florida.

“This is my 26th year in college baseball, so I have just been doing it a long time,” said Jones, who joined the Green Wave team in 1994.

“But this is all about the kids. I don’t really think about my win total, I just wanted to get a win tonight.”

During his tenure at Tulane, Jones has guided the Green Wave to four regular season Conference USA Championships and a Conference USA–record five tournament titles. Jones averaged 42 wins during his first 16 full seasons, including a pair of 56-win seasons. The Bennett, N.C., native has won 40 or more games in 10 seasons and has advanced to the postseason in 12 of those campaigns. Under Jones’ guidance, the Green Wave marched to the NCAA Super Regional during the 2001, 2004 and 2005 seasons, advancing to the College World Series in 2001 and 2005.

Another Notch After a flurry of festivity, the Green Wave went on to win their first game on Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. The 2008 victory was another notch in the belt of Coach Rick Jones.

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New Playbook

Walking the Walk F I F T Y Y E A R S A G O, F O U R N E W O R L E A N S GIRLS WOKE UP TO GO TO SCHOOL AND C H A N G E D T H E C O U R S E O F H I S T O R Y.

by Ryan Rivet

STARCHED DRESSES AND BOWS The seeds of the struggle were sown six years earlier when the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 issued the Brown v. Board of Education decision, stating that “separate but equal” schools were unconstitutional and mandating the integration of public schools. New Orleans was not the first battleground in the desegregation fight. Three years earlier, in 1957, the U.S. Army deployed more than 1,000 paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Ark., to uphold the federal mandate and escort nine black teenagers into Central High School.

“Little Rock was like Appomatox,” says associate history professor Rachel Devlin, who is currently writing a book, Girls on the Frontline: Gender and the Battle to Desegregate Public Schools in the United States. “I think the two big events were Little Rock and then New Orleans. These school desegregation battles as a group are some of our most important moments, politically.”

In New Orleans on that first morning, the parents of Ruby Bridges, Gail Etienne, Tessie Prevost and Leona Tate dressed their children for school. Wearing the de rigueur uniform of the day—starched dresses and bows in their hair—the girls, escorted by U.S. marshals, Ride to School marched to class. They were the leading edge Federal Marshal Wallace of the struggle for civil rights.

Downs rides with Gail Waiting for the girls were throngs of Etienne to McDonogh 19 pro-segregation activists at Frantz Elemenschool in New Orleans, tary on North Galvez Street in the Ninth Ward Nov. 14, 1960. The firstand at McDonogh No. 19, two miles away. The grader was one of four protestors’ goal: to bully the children and entered in two previously all-white schools. their families into backing down. A thousand

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COURTESY THE TIMES-PICAYUNE ARCHIVES

It was a fight steeped in the rhetoric and traditions of Old South vitriol, fear and inequity. Under the guise of honoring “states rights,” many New Orleanians took to the streets to fight what then-Gov. Jimmy Davis called “the most critical and trying struggle in our state history.” That struggle revolved around the forced integration of the city’s public schools.

This type of conflict was not unique in the South at that time. What made the situation in New Orleans different were those who were on the frontlines—small children. Four little girls, 6 years old, rocked the community when they arrived at school to attend first grade on Nov. 14, 1960. For the first time in New Orleans history, the Jim Crow policy of public school segregation would be challenged, albeit not without a fight, at two schools: William Frantz Elementary and McDonogh No. 19.

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people lined the streets, whipped up into a near frenzy by demagogues like St. Bernard Parish political boss Leander Perez, who exhorted the crowd not to let “little burr-heads” into white schools.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of integration in New Orleans, the Amistad Research Center, housed on Tulane’s uptown

campus in Tilton Hall, last year hosted several events supporting its exhibition, “Through Vocal Majority a Crowd, Bravely.” Christopher Harter, director Parents and students at of the center’s library and reference services, William Frantz Elemenrecounts a particular recollection that would tary School yell at police remain in the minds of two of the girls. officers during a protest “When the girls arrived at the schools against desegregation at and saw the crowd, they thought it was the school. The boy to Mardi Gras,” Harter says. “They’d never seen the right is holding a sign that large of a crowd outside of Mardi Gras. that reads: “All I Want For But then when they got out of the car, once the Christmas is a Clean White sound set in, they realized that, no, this was School.” Opposite page: not a Mardi Gras parade.”

Ruby Bridges enters Witnesses that day confirm the venom of William Frantz School. the crowd.

“One U.S. marshal told me, ‘I’ve never heard language like that, before or after,’” Devlin says.

Sugar and spice In post-Ike, pre-hippie America, little girls were protected and sheltered and regarded in a particular way—sugar and spice and everything nice.

But these four little girls were chosen to bear the weight of a very adult struggle, and in the process were subjected to hate and ignorance that would have shaken the resolve of much older and more mature individuals. Instead of folding, though, the girls stuck. They persevered, attending classes that were empty for that first year, cleared out by white parents who pulled their children out of school rather than have them share space with black children. Although she appears stoic in photographs and illustrations, newspaper reports from that time describe Ruby Bridges as crying as she walked up the steps to her school.

The Civil Rights Movement was propelled by charismatic men willing to risk their lives for what they believed—men like Martin Luther King and Medgar Evers. Our image of these men is in stark contrast to that of the small children who showed up to school with

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ribbons in their hair and black patent leather shoes, frightened to tears by protestors. The innocent figure cut by the children seems to amplify the anger and irrational nature of the adults who gathered to stop them from going to school.

The question arises, was the selection of the innocent young girls for their iconic roles in the civil rights struggle a calculated move by the NAACP? Devlin states that the decision to choose only girls was not a strategy on the part of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Instead, Devlin says, “they were chosen because they applied.” She agrees that girls made for a more sympathetic narrative, but warns against simplistic answers to complex questions.

“The sense that girls would be less threatening is definitely true, but I think there were other factors involved that had to do with the willingness of the girls and their families,” says Devlin, who suggests that the question can be approached from another angle.

“If little girls are so helpless and meant to be protected, why put them out there like that? I do think there are a lot of contradictions.”

It seems unlikely that the application pool contained no boys, but Devlin says that that was not unique.

“What you see in New Orleans, with having girls desegregate the schools, does fit a larger pattern you see in Delaware, Kansas, Virginia, South Carolina and Washington, D.C. [other states complying with Brown v. Board of Education]. In most of those cases the plaintiffs were girls,” Devlin says.

Devlin concedes the stereotype of little girls being better behaved could have played a part in their selection, but insists that those opposed to integration would not find females more palatable.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that white people would be more accepting of black girls just because they were girls. Any black person, just by being black, was seen as a profound threat to the segregationists.”

Harter speculates that the answer may lie in a particular spin sponsored by segregationists in the lead-up to 1960, and that choosing little girls may have sidestepped one of the major arguments against desegregation.

“Even with the little kids there’s always this note of the sexuality of it,” says Harter. “The White Citizens Council has one picture in their propaganda material of a little white girl and black boy dancing, then it goes through a series of images that leads to a black man kissing a white woman.”

Lasting impression The photographs that emerged from those first tumultuous days of school desegregation in New Orleans would serve as a wake-up call for many Americans living north of the Mason-Dixon Line who didn’t see the effects of segregation in their everyday lives. Even today, a half-century later, the images evoke a visceral response.

“The ones that stick with me are the images of the girls going into the schools,” Harter says. “I think because they seem so small in those pictures. They’re surrounded by these comparatively huge grown men who were there to protect them. I’ve always, as I’ve looked at those photos, wondered ‘what’s going on in their heads?’”

The images proved to be a black eye for the city of New Orleans, which considered itself more cosmopolitan than places like Little Rock.

The images of the segregationist “cheerleaders,” women who were picketing the schools regularly, are particularly troubling, the hatred apparent on their faces overriding any maternal sense of compassion.

Harter sees the animosity in the images but says he prefers to look at the “yin and the yang of it,” embracing the light as opposed to the dark.

“You get a sense of the strength of the girls and their parents, and the individuals who are supporting integration and fighting to keep the schools open,” Harter says. “You see the courage those individuals have. I hope that would be the lasting impression.”

The press photos ultimately inspired artist Norman Rockwell to create The Problem We All Live With, which shows Ruby Bridges being

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walked to school by marshals, racial epithets scrawled across a wall behind her.

Flash Point “What’s so touching about that Norman Angry protestors gather Rockwell image is that she looks so vulneron the city’s streets as able,” Devlin says. “That’s an image that’s police attempt to contain meant to speak to the conscience of a nation. the crowd.

It tries to get the white viewer to question what kind of country would do this to children. Essentially, it plays on notions of innocence and childhood.”

And it may be that the country rallied around that innocence, says Devlin.

“I think the impact the girls had was huge,” she says. “Partly because of that white resistance, the girls helped galvanize the huge protest movements of the ’60s, including voter registration drives in Mississippi, which ultimately led to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. I don’t think any of that is imaginable had we not had the school desegregation struggles.

“I think that helps us to understand why—even though they were these defenseless girls—their parents may have chosen to do what they did.”

Through their actions, the girls helped change the course of American history, but at what personal cost? Devlin believes that rather than being a trauma to be overcome, the girls’ experiences have shaped their lives in positive ways.

“What they did for the city, most people would consider an act of sacrifice,” Devlin says. “But that act of sacrifice ended up giving them a sense of connection to something larger than themselves.”

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Lights, Camera,

Tulane

W I T H I T S O A K- E M B E L L I S H E D L AW N S A N D S T R I K I N G A R C H I T E C T U R E , T H E U N I V E R S I T Y P L A Y S A N I N C R E A S I N G L Y L A R G E R R O L E I N T H E B U R G E O N I N G N E W O R L E A N S F I L M I N D U S T R Y.

by Michael Strecker Julia Roberts, Dustin Hoffmann, John Cusack, Sylvester Stallone, Harry Connick Jr., Jessica Simpson, Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, James Gandolfini, Jude Law, Patricia Clarkson, John Goodman and Miley Cyrus.

These A-list celebrities might be spotted on the red carpet at any number of Hollywood awards ceremonies or, in recent years, on Tulane’s campus, where a raft of major motion pictures, television series and commercials have been shot or are in the planning to be shot. Lucrative tax breaks for films made on location in the Bayou State have made Louisiana “Hollywood South,” and Tulane is fast becoming one of it most popular backlots.

Tulane-based productions have ranged from feature films such as Runaway Jury to episodes of the hit HBO series “Treme” to Nike commercials. In January, So Undercover, starring Miley Cyrus as an FBI agent who poses as a college student to protect the potential target of a mob hit, finished a month of shooting on the Gibson Quad, at the School of Architecture, the Lavin-Bernick Center and other uptown campus locations. Meanwhile, the film version of Seth Grahame-Smith’s farcical Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was negotiating to film on campus this spring. For the latter, producers hoped to use Newcomb Hall as a double for the Illinois statehouse while Dixon Hall would provide the backdrop for the Lincoln-Douglas debate.

With so much film activity around, everyone, it seems, from President Scott Cowen to students to faculty to staff has a stardust memory. Some Tulane staff still talk about getting to hang out with Julia Roberts when The Pelican Brief filmed on campus in 1992.

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HOLLYWOOD MOMENTS “Yo, Rocky!” students playfully shouted to Sylvester Stallone as he scouted the Lavin-Bernick Center as a possible setting for a scene in his 2010 action-thriller The Expendables.

Then there was the time Dustin Hoffman and John Cusack worked a scene for Runaway Jury at No. 2 Audubon, home of Scott and Marjorie Cowen. Students attending freshman orientation got star treatment when Harry Connick Jr. visited with them between takes of Lifetime’s Living Proof, which used the labs of the Merryl and Sam Israel Jr. Environmental Sciences Building, as well as meeting rooms at the Lavin-Bernick Center for scenes.

Brent Koplitz, chair of Tulane’s Department of Chemistry, advised set designers for Green Lantern as they built a lab for the film at an off-campus studio. Senior Tricia Travis got even closer to the action when she showed up for a campus casting call for So Undercover and ended up in a scene opposite Miley Cyrus. And hundreds of students, now alumni, lined McAlister Drive or crowded onto the balcony of Irby Hall to get a peek of the stars entering McAlister Auditorium for a special screening of All the King’s Men in 2006.

Such Hollywood moments are likely to continue to be a part of Tulane life, accordTake Five ing to Katie Gunnell, director of Film New Miley Cyrus gets a breather Orleans, the city’s official liaison with the between scenes during movie industry. Thirty-five film projects, filming of So Undercover on the Tulane uptown campus. including feature films, television series and

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commercials, were shot in New Orleans last year, pumping more than $360 million into the local economy and eclipsing the previous year’s record of 24 projects. Gunnell sees no letup for the city or campus.

“It continues to climb. This year we are on par to break another record,” Gunnell says, saluting Tulane for its assistance in helping to establish an increasingly important industry for the Crescent City.

“I just want to say how thankful we are for our partnership with Tulane. You guys are so film friendly. They [filmmakers] know they can depend on Tulane. They can come back time and time again.”

A MILLION DETAILS

PHOTOS THIS SPREAD: PAULA BURCH-CELENTANO

Friendliness helps, but diversity and adaptability of architecture seem to be the main features that bring so many movie projects the Green Wave’s way.

“Tulane offers you a lot of different looks in a relatively small space,” says Les Arceneaux, location manager for So Undercover.

“The script called for an upscale college, and that’s what Tulane offers—nice buildings, open grounds that say ‘college.’”

In fact, So Undercover was custom-made for Tulane. Though the production considered film locations in several other cities, and the movie is actually set at a fictitious Southern college, Tulane Reel Life was always the setting in the mind of screenThe beaded tree is not writer and co-producer Steven Pearl, who a prop, but rather, a natural graduated with a BA in political science from occurrence during Carnival.

Tulane in 1985. One scene shot in Richardson The cast and crew of Memorial Hall was the exact space Pearl had So Undercover occupy a envisioned when he wrote the script. number of campus loca“To be sitting in that classroom, watching tions during a shoot that took place over winter. the scene be filmed, when seven years ago

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SINEBOT.COM

RUNAWAY JURY As was The Pelican Brief, the film Runaway Jury is based on a novel by John Grisham. In this one, the widow of a man killed in a shooting incident sues the manufacturer of the murder weapon. The case goes to trial and, well, Netflix the movie to find out the rest. When you do, watch for the scene that takes place inside Judge Harkins chambers; it was filmed in the library of No. 2 Audubon, the traditional home of the Tulane president. This is the film that brought Dustin Hoffman and John Cusak to campus in 2002.

THE PELICAN BRIEF Julia Roberts plays Darby Hall, a Tulane Law student who thinks she knows who has murdered a couple of Supreme Court justices in this taut drama that was partially shot on campus in 1992.

Look for the scene in which Roberts is studying in “the Submarine,” the claustrophobic library of the law school, that was in those days housed in Jones Hall.

MOVIEPOSTERS.COM

MARDI GRAS A travesty if they had shot this on a Hollywood backlot, no? Starring that grande dame of American cinema, Carmen Electra, this film follows three college friends who travel to New Orleans to blah, blah, blah. You get the picture.

The Woldenberg Art Center’s Freeman Auditorium was one of the locations for the shoot. The film has as yet to be released.

2009 PETER STONE / SONY PICTURES

this is exactly where I imagined the scene happening was surreal, to say the least,” Pearl Faux Blossoms told the Times-Picayune. (left) A row of bald But So Undercover still required Arceneaux cypress trees are turned and his crew to perform some Hollywood into cherry trees through trickery, including bedecking a row of cypress the meticulous applicasaplings between Dinwiddie and Gibson tion of plastic flowers. halls with hundreds of authentic-looking Elsewhere, indoor and but physically and seasonally impossible outdoor campus venues pink blossoms. provide backdrops for Location managers such as Arceneaux are So Undercover’s action. the first and primary contacts the university has with visiting movie projects. They are also the last to leave when wrap day finally arrives, months after they first ventured onto campus, cameras in hand, trying to secure the real-life version of what’s in the director’s imagination. Throughout filming, they troubleshoot a million disparate details and complications that only a make-believe world can provide, such as the time during the shooting of Faith of My Fathers, the John McCain biopic, a fabricated rain scene in Gibson Quad had to be cancelled because it actually started to rain.

“Okay, we’ll have to remove these light posts and all these signs and probably those door handles, too, ” says Elston Howard, location manager for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter as he faces Newcomb Hall. “They didn’t have those in 1860. And do you think we can cut or remove those palm trees?”

But after numerous site visits, planning and a confab with the grounds crew, the scenes are ultimately dropped from the script proving once again that fame is indeed fleeting. But the Green Wave’s star only dims for a moment. Soon another location scout is calling in search of a setting for a remake of the Flemish thriller Loft.

“There’s an art opening in it and…”

HURRICANE SEASON Forest Whitaker stars as a New Orleans high school basketball coach who in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina assembles a basketball team from players who had attended five separate (and now defunct) schools before the storm. The film’s tennis shoes-squeaking-on-the-court action was shot in 2008 in Fogelman Arena.

TWYNKLE.COM

ALL THE KING’S MEN Robert Penn Warren’s tale of the rise of Gov. Willie Stark was brought to the screen in 2006, with Sean Penn in the leading role. The movie was largely shot in southeast Louisiana, with filming wrapped up in summer 2005, shortly before the arrival of Hurricane Katrina. The filmmakers premiered the film at McAlister Hall on Tulane’s campus the following year as a show of solidarity with the still-recovering city.

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THE EXPENDABLES In this case, the university was just that—expendable. Writer and director Sly Stallone toured the grounds, nodding approvingly at what he saw, but ultimately chose not to use Tulane in his film.

Come on, Rocky …

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Last Leg The homestretch, the final stage or the last leg of the race—however you want to put it—the last semester of the college years can be a time of turmoil and trepidation. It also can be a moment when the possibilities

for the future seem unlimited. • You can wonder, how

did I get to this point? And where do I go from here?

We caught up with seven graduating seniors, asking them to tell us what are they are thinking and feeling as they finish their undergraduate years at Tulane.

•

As you can see, they are pretty much brimming with confidence. The only thing slightly bringing them down at this point is leaving the friends they’ve made at Tulane and, for some of them, moving away from New Orleans, a city they love. They are in the class that began the upward trajectory in numbers of students coming to the university after Hurricane Katrina.

They jumped on the bandwagon of community service—and were changed forever because of their experiences. They recall the euphoria when the Saints won the Super Bowl in 2010. • “I think that was the most

fun I have ever had,” Matthew Peters told us. “Everyone

was hugging each other. There was so much excitement and happiness in the air.” • Matthew says that he can’t categorize that night of collective joy as a Tulane moment or a New Orleans one. Whatever, we hope it is an auspicious omen for the future of these graduates.

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TIM RINALDI, Lafayette, La.

I always wanted to be a doctor. And when I become a doctor, I plan to do medical mission trips to other countries. I got started with Mission Honduras my freshman year at Tulane, having never done a similar trip. They announced it at Mass at the Catholic Center, and I thought it sounded cool, so I went … it ended up changing my life. I have now gone five times and the last few times I have been the leader of the trip. I will fly out again the day after graduation and lead the mission for my last time. We take a group of around 30 students to Honduras. We go up to the isolated mountain villages to do work projects—we built a health clinic last May. I learned from Mission Honduras what’s important in life and how blessed we are to go to college when there are a lot of people in the world that cannot even go to primary school. There are kids in Honduras who walk for an hour to get to school because that’s the only way they can do it, whereas there are days when I don’t feel like waking up for my 8 a.m. class. It reminds me of how privileged I am and inspires me to make the most of it.

MAGGIE WINDLER, St. Louis

I love performing. I never had a problem getting up in front of people. I like it. Because you can’t see anybody when the lights are on you. It’s like being alone on stage. You want to show off a little bit.

In my last semester, I’m nervous, excited and sad that I’m leaving a bunch of friends. I love this city so it’s going to be hard to leave. But it’s a new step. I’m going to stay in New Orleans through the summer and do Summer Lyric Theatre. I’m going to be Cinderella in Into the Woods.

After this summer, I’m going to move up to New York with my friends. Just do auditions and waitress. We had a New York agent come down last semester, looking for talent for touring shows and stuff on Broadway. He did a master class with us and saw our performance that we do at the end of each semester. I got good reviews.

I feel ready to go to New York. I’ve been in the musical theater workshop class all four years, doing all the shows and all the revues, so I have a lot of audition material. First impressions matter most in auditions. I’ve had that drilled into me. My long-range plans are to be in the theater on Broadway. Singing is the only thing I’ve been consistently good at my whole life, and I would like to keep doing it.

CHARLES GASPARD, New Orleans

I like finance because it is a numbers game. It’s fast-paced. I like the negotiation part of it. I’m interested in stocks. It’s fun to follow. My main concern this last semester is basically the job world and finding a career I can settle into. I’ve got an internship with a financial company on Poydras Street in downtown New Orleans, and I’ve been going on a lot of interviews with investment banks and stock traders.

I love the game of football. I am a receiver. I was a walk-on on the football team my freshman and sophomore years. Coach Bob Toledo gave me a scholarship after that. This last semester different emotions are running through. Definitely leaving the football team and all the things I belong to will be kind of sad. The football team is filled with a bunch of characters. Technically I am what they call a civilian now.

I’m president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council. I honestly think I logged in maybe a hundred different community service projects. Most of the community service that I’ve done has been tailored to kids. I enjoy that. It comes natural, without me even trying.

SARAH GUTMAN, Northville, Mich.

In high school, I loved English. I thought that was what I was going to major in. But I took an intro to diversity of life biology class my freshman year at Tulane. Then I wondered what other classes I could take that studied ecosystems, plants and animals.

I fell in love with science. I did a semester in South Africa, doing research on savannah ecology. That’s what sealed the deal. It made me say this is definitely what I like the most.

When I came back to Tulane, I started working with a graduate student who is comparing insect populations in the salt marshes.

I get to go out in the field and ride around in a boat and be out on the marsh, which is phenomenal. Working with grad students made me realize that I could conduct a project, produce quality work and be in charge of something like that. They talk about being a graduate student like they are having the time of their lives. I’ve been accepted into the graduate program of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. I’m excited.

But I’m really sad about leaving New Orleans. This was my last Mardi Gras, and I can’t believe that next year will be so different.

MATTHEW PETERS, Avon, Conn.

I enjoy science. Ever since I was little, watching Bill Nye, the science guy, and NOVA programs. I loved that stuff and I ate it up.

When I first came to Tulane, I was set on getting my undergraduate degree in engineering physics and then going on to graduate school. But we have the service-learning requirement. I was a teacher’s assistant at a high school, and I had a great time in the classroom. And then a friend and I started a science club at an elementary school. I found out that I enjoyed teaching other people, especially science. I love getting other people excited about science. So that was the launching pad for me.

It’s incredibly exciting now that I know what I’ll be doing: I’m going to be teaching science next year in the Greater New Orleans area for Teach for America. I’ll be at a ReNEW charter school. The only thing I’m worried about is that friends I’ve had the last four years are going off to different places, so it’s a little sad in that way.

JULIE SCHWARTZWALD, San Diego

I’m excited to be done. At the same time, it’s scary. I got involved in The Hullabaloo before I even came to Tulane. I emailed the editor -in-chief, and he asked me to do a piece about what I was looking forward to. By the time the second semester started, I was the news editor. I’ve been editor-in-chief for the past two years. Now I’m handing over the reins. It’s bittersweet and a little sad.

The Hullabaloo office is like my second home. News editor definitely felt like the hardest job on the newspaper. You’re in a perpetual state of panic because you’re writing three to four stories a week. It’s a lot of stress that you’re under but you also don’t have the time to cave under or stop and think about it too much or dwell too much.

I thought I wanted to do political journalism but I found other things in communication that appealed to me. I’d like to do media studies in graduate school. I think it’s important the way community and alternative journalism can mobilize and unite people.

I am ready to move back to California to be closer to my family.

But I know I’ll be back visiting New Orleans at least once a year.

People at Tulane in general are so relaxed, open, friendly and welcoming. I’ve never felt like there was a sector of campus life that I couldn’t involve myself in if I wanted to.

R. DUNCAN BROWN, Covington, La.

I joined ROTC at the end of my sophomore year. My grandfather was in Naval ROTC here. I’m a fourth-generation Tulanian. The military was always something in the back of my mind that I knew I wanted to do. It’s been fun. I’ve had a great time, and I learned a lot.

I go to more training in July in South Carolina. I’ll be deploying in October with a National Guard unit to Afghanistan. I’ll be going over as an officer—a second lieutenant. I’m confident I’ll be prepared to go. I’m looking forward to serving my country. A sense of duty makes me want to go and yearning for a new experience.

In ROTC, they teach you about leadership and, of course, you do physical training. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you’re up at 5:30 a.m. to exercise. I’m always going to remember those mornings, being out there in front of the Reily Center. As miserable as you are, you’re there with some of your closest friends— everybody moseying up to each other, yawning. Half the time we’re not even speaking to one another. We were talking about that the other day, how we’re actually going to miss this in some ways, hanging out there in the dark.

MUDBUGS This spring, Tulane alumni clubs boiled up more than 4.76 tons (nearly 10,000 pounds!) of crawfish at more than 20 crawfish boil parties across the country and in Puerto Rico. The largest Tulane alumni crawfish boil was in New York. More than 800 people attended a boil at the Boat Basin on the Hudson River.

T U L A N I A N S

PAULA BURCH-CLEENTANO

Hail to the King

ReadAloud Literacy begins with picture books, says Berthe Amoss (NC ’46, G ’86), the author and illustrator of more than 24 books for children and young adults. Amoss participated in a Mortar Board event in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans in February. The event was designed to encourage literacy among children.

“An interest in reading starts with the parents because children have to learn that there’s something good between the covers of the book,” says Amoss. “If they get to a place where textbooks are all they know, they’ll resist.”

During the weekly Sankofa Farmers’ Market, Amoss sat at a table covered with more than 125 books and activities. The books were distributed for free as part of a grant awarded to the Tulane chapter of Mortar Board, a national honor society of college seniors.

Lifting from the table a copy of The Cajun Gingerbread Boy, which she wrote and illustrated, Amoss removed a cardboard cutout of a gingerbread boy from the cover to demonstrate how the book is designed to be interactive. “See, you can move him from page to page so the child can feel they are part of the story.”

Lindsey Peller, a senior majoring in cell and molecular biology, is president of the Tulane chapter of Mortar Board. Peller organized the literacy event, which brought Amoss and Tulane students out into the community.

“Our organization is big on literacy so we wanted to host an event that promoted literacy while targeting the Lower Ninth Ward community,” says Peller. “When I found out that Mrs. Amoss was a Newcomb graduate and an author who still lives in New Orleans, I knew right away that she would be great.”—Alicia Duplessis Jasmin

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Page Turner

Berthe Amoss participates in a neighborhood literacy project in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

Mortar Board sponsored the event.

Carnival Time Herschel Abbott Jr. rules the streets of New Orleans as king for the day during Mardi Gras 2011.

Wearing a blond wig and tights, Herschel L. Abbott Jr. (A&S ’63, L ’66) reigned as Rex, king of Carnival, in New Orleans on March 8, 2011. Abbott is a history buff and Anglophile, so the 2011 parade theme—“This Sceptred Isle,” a Shakespearean reference to England —was apropos. Abbott is special counsel at Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere and Denegre in New Orleans. He and his wife, Anne, live in the Garden District. Abbott received the Times-Picayune Loving Cup in 1999, which is awarded to those who have worked unselfishly for the community without expectation of public recognition or reward.

Abbott will chair the board of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans beginning July 1. He has served numerous organizations from the Boy Scouts of America to Baptist Community Ministries, and chairs or sits on the boards of many of them, including the Bureau of Governmental Research and the President’s Council of Tulane University.

—Fran Simon

Dispatch George Bey, Tomás Gallareta and William Ringle

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN As busy as archeologists (left to right) George Bey (G ’86), Tomás Gallareta (G ’90) and William Ringle (G ’85) are attempting to unearth an explanation for what appears to be the planned and rapid abandonment of ancient Maya communities in Yucatan, Mexico, they are equally consumed with pioneering what they call “sustainable archeology.”

Here, the three rest against a tree in the jungles of Chiapas, where the ancient Maya city of Yaxchilan once stood. Known for its architecture, sculpture and hieroglyphs, Yaxchilan was a major

Maya center in A.D. 300–900.

The colleagues have come up the Usamacinta River to see the ruins and to evaluate the management and development of the site based on their model of sustainability.

“The site is still in a really good ecological context,” Bey says. “The Mexican government is developing it [for research] but still preserving it.” And that is exactly what these three are trying to do on the 4,000acre Helen Moyers Biocultural Reserve that Bey and Gallareta established, with the help of Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., where Bey is a professor of anthropology and associate

dean of international education.

Gallareta is a Millsaps Scholar of Maya Studies and a research associate at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Ringle is a professor at Davidson College in North Carolina.

Bey, Ringle and Gallareta all met while taking classes at Tulane—Bey and Ringle completing their PhDs and Gallareta working on a master’s degree. In 1984, the three began working together at Ek Balam in Yucatan. Now, more than two decades later, they are still working together and soon, all three will have a PhD from Tulane, as Gallareta is completing his currently.

While each has a different

area of specialization, the archeologists are connected not only by their interest in “the origins of social complexity and state-level societies,” but by their discontent with the traditional “archeology in a vacuum” approach. Their endeavor to, as Bey says, “practice a new kind of archeology where we could be interested in both the biological and the archeological,” started nearly as soon as they began working together. Now, Bey says, “We’re really cornering the market on the concept of associating cultural management with biological management.”

—catherine freshley

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FINAL FRONTIER Douglas G. Hurley (E ’88), a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, is piloting the last Space Shuttle flight, slated for this summer. He plans to carry with him into space a CD listing the names of Tulane civil engineering graduates in 1900–2007.

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1940s DAVID R. LINCICOME (G ’41) was recognized by the governor of Connecticut as honorary chair of the 2010 Festival of Trees. The governor commended Lincicome for his dedication to improving the lives of senior citizens in Roxbury, Conn.

ANDREW WHITMAN (E ’45), a Jesuit priest, received the distinguished Holy Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice—the highest honor for the laity of the Catholic Church—in recognition of his 28 years of service to the Vatican Observatory. A special representative of the pope presented the award.

1950s JOAN SEIDENBACH BERENSON (NC ’53) received the 2011 Hannah G. Solomon Award from the National Council of Jewish Women, Greater New Orleans Section. The award is given for leadership in a volunteer capacity and for promoting social change. Berenson currently serves on the boards of the Jewish Children’s Regional Service and the New Orleans Jewish Day School.

FREDERICK MINER (B ’57) received the 2010 member of the year award at Baron Hirsch Synagogue in Memphis, Tenn.

1960s RON HOLMBERG (A&S ’60) was selected to the Southern Tennis Association Hall of Fame for his achievements and contributions to tennis. He lives in New Orleans.

Lawyer” for the fifth consecutive year in 2010. She was recognized for her work in family law.

GENEEN ROTH (NC ’73) is author of the best-seller Women, Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything. Her newest book, Lost and Found: Unexpected Revelations About Food and Money, was released in March.

A new suspense story, “Lost in a Strange Neighborhood,” by ELAINE MENGE UNLAND (NC ’73) appeared in the April 2011 issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

ROY HOFFMAN (A&S ’75) is the author of Alabama Afternoons: Profiles and Conversations, published by the University of Alabama Press. He is a staff writer for the Mobile Press-Register.

NINA J. CRIMM (B ’79, L ’79) co-authored Politics, Taxes and the Pulpit: Provocative First Amendment Conflicts. Crimm is a professor of law at St. John’s University School of Law in New York.

CHIP WAGAR (L ’79) announces that his debut novel, An American in Vienna, released by iUniverse, received Editor’s Choice and Rising Star awards.

Wagar is an attorney in New Orleans, where he lives with his two children.

1980s STEVEN B. GIDWITZ (B ’80) was promoted from vice president of administration at NCAComp to chief operating officer. Gidwitz lives in Hamburg, N.Y.

JACK KUSHNER (A&S ’60) announces the publication of his fourth book, Courageous Judicial Decisions in Alabama, by iUniverse.com. It is available on amazon.com.

R. HAROLD SCHROEDER (B ’80) is on the Financial Accounting Standards Board of the Financial Accounting Foundation. He is a partner in the Greenwich, Conn., office of Carlson Capital.

EARL HIGGINS (A&S ’63, L ’70) announces the publication of his second book, Metairie, Ames, High: The Streets of Jefferson Parish, by Pelican Press. The book was inspired by, and serves as a companion to, John Chase’s classic, Frenchmen, Desire, Goodchildren: And Other Streets of New Orleans.

KEVIN DONAHOE (A&S ’82, ’83) continues a project he started in 1994 in honor of his father, Jim. The Four O’Clocks Around the World Memorial Cancer Project, which gives flower seeds as a symbol of hope for a cancer cure, has spanned all 50 states and more than 100 countries. For more information, visit www.symbolofhope.com.

JOSEPH G. SPRACHER (M ’64) was honored for his contributions to the field of medicine and sports science with the naming of the sports medicine facility at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif.

FRANK S. MANCUSO (M ’63) retired from Lakeview Medical Center in Suffolk, Va., in 2009. For more than 40 years, he practiced general pediatrics in the western Hampton Roads, Va., area.

JOSEPH W. DAVENPORT (UC ’66) is reinventing himself again. After almost 30 years with IBM, Davenport received his JD from Georgia State University. Now, after nearly two decades as a mediator, Davenport has enrolled in a culinary arts program. He still practices law and recently successfully mediated four employment cases for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

RICK LUKASH (A&S ’69, M ’73) announces the publication of his book, The Safe and Sane Guide to Teenage Plastic Surgery, by BenBella Books.

MICHAEL DEPAUL (B ’84) is chief operating officer of LUBA Workers’ Comp. DePaul, a certified public accountant, is on the board of directors for the Tulane Association of Business School Alumni, the Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing Foundation and the Young Leaders Academy.

BLAKE BRITTON JACKSON (A&S ’84) teaches television and film production at California State University–Los Angeles. Among various other positions in the motion picture industry, Jackson served as director of photography for the 2002 Academy Award-winning film The Accountant.

MARILYN E. PELIAS (NC ’84, M ’88) married Jeffrey Pipes Guice on May 1, 2010, in New Orleans; both were married previously and they have seven children. Pelias and Guice opened Dr. Pelias Cosmetic Surgery and Lifestyle Center in New Orleans, where Guice is managing director.

1970s LAWRENCE E. ABBOTT (L ’72) of Cotten Schmidt & Abbott has been selected to “The 2011 Louisiana Super Lawyers.”

JURA C. ZIBAS (NC ’84) is a partner in the intellectual property practice group of the national law firm Wilson Elser. Zibas works in the New York office where she assists both rights holders and defendants with all aspects of IP-related representation.

MARLENE ESKIND MOSES (NC ’72, SW ’73), founder and partner with the Nashville law firm Moses Townsend & Russ, was named a “Mid-South Super

LESLIE CASTAY (NC ’85), a New Orleans-born Broadway veteran, returned home to make her cabaret debut at Le Chat Noir in January.

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KEITH JARRETT (L ’85) is a managing partner and firm president at Liskow & Lewis, where he focuses on maritime and oilfield torts and contracts. Jarrett is on the Liskow & Lewis team defending BP in the multidistrict litigation pending in federal court in New Orleans.

DOUGLAS W. WALKER (E ’85) and his wife, Brendalie Acosta, recently acquired Altair Instruments, a leading innovator in the skin beauty and aesthetics market for nearly 30 years. With the purchase, Acosta will be installed as the new president.

Walker is chief aesthetics officer.

MITCH GERVIS (B ’86) is president and CEO of the Dallas-based Web-hosting company NeoSpire. He was profiled in the Dallas Business Journal in February.

U.S. Magistrate Judge L. FELIPE RESTREPO (L ’86) received a 2010 Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Distinguished Jurist Award from the Philadelphia Bar. He was recognized for his work with the Supervision to Aid Reentry Program, one of the first prisoner reentry court initiatives in the federal system.

LATRENDA KNIGHTEN (NC ’87), an elementary mathematics coach in Baton Rouge, La., was elected to the board of directors of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

DANIEL L. SEGAL (A&S ’87) announces the publication of his fifth book on clinical psychology and geropsychology, Aging and Mental Health (Wiley-Blackwell), with colleagues Sara Qualls and Mick Smyer. Segal has been a professor in the psychology department at the University of Colorado–Colorado Springs since 1995.

KALAM A MOMIN (B ’89) is a senior project manager for Critchfield Mechanical, a leading design-build mechanical contractor. He lives in Dublin, Calif., with his wife, Sufia; son, Harun, 6; and daughter, Hafsa, 4.

1990s ADAM RABIN (A&S ’90), a partner with McCabe Rabin in West Palm Beach, Fla., is president-elect of the Palm Beach County Bar Association.

ALAN KOHLL (B ’90) recently founded a nonprofit event planning company that works to promote active lifestyles in Nebraska. Kohll also founded and developed a Web-based appointment scheduling system and a corporate health management company, of which he is president. He and his wife, Brigitte Mimran, and daughter, Abby, live in Omaha, Neb., and New York.

KAREN B. DESALVO (M ’92, PHTM ’92) is vice dean for community affairs and health policy at Tulane University School of Medicine. She is on a one-year leave to serve an appointment by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu as the city’s first health commissioner and senior adviser to the mayor for health policy. She also oversees public health initiatives and coordinates a citywide healthcare master plan.

NICK DeTURE (A&S ’92) launched AskADentist.com, a website that connects patients with local dental experts who provide free information about oral health.

DeTure has a periodontics practice in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he lives with his wife and two children.

SARAH DOERRIES (NC ’92) is co-editor of Furnishing Louisiana: Creole and Acadian Furniture, 1735–1835. The book was published by the Historic New Orleans Collection last year.

Recognition Awards STEPHEN DOVE (A&S ’92) is chief digital officer with Sogecable/PRISA TV, Spain’s leading pay TV company, where he leads strategy for digital distribution and monetization. Before moving from New York to Madrid with his wife, Mary, and son, Walker, Dove was a product manager at Google.

WILLIAM GERSTEIN (A&S ’92) was board-certified in immigration and nationality law by the Florida Bar. He is a founding partner of Gerstein and Baret in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. JENIFER KELLY-STRAUSS (NC ’92) and DAVID STRAUSS (L ’95) announce the birth of Zoe Annabella on Jan., 17, 2011. The baby joins her brother, Sebastian, 6. The family lives in New Orleans.

BRIAN MEYER (E ’92) and his wife, Faye, announce the birth of Jake Nicholas on Dec. 7, 2010. They live in Doylestown, Pa. BRETT REGGIO (A&S ’92) is the in vitro fertilization laboratory director at the Reproductive Care Center in Sandy, Utah. While pursuing his master’s and doctoral degrees at Louisiana State University, Reggio worked on developing ATryn, the first biological product produced by genetically engineered animals to be granted approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

DAVID W. VORDICK (E ’92) is the first chief information officer of CAN, a not-for-profit research and analysis organization based in Alexandria, Va. ERIN ECKERT (PHTM ’93, ’97) is a senior monitoring and evaluation adviser for the Global Health Initiative Launch Team of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Global Health.

Eckert coordinates and positions USAID efforts to fulfill the GHI core principle of “improved metrics, monitoring and evaluation.”

KEITH POWELL (A&S ’93) and his wife, Kelly, announce the birth of Isabel Nina on Jan. 20, 2011.

Isabel joins her sister, Annalise, 3. Powell is a shareholder in the law firm Childs and Halligan in Columbia, S.C. ANGELA MARIE JORDAN (L ’94), assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Georgia, will serve as the resident legal adviser at the embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. Her yearlong appointment begins in June.

BEN KLEINMAN (E ’96) has joined the Palo Alto, Calif., office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips as a patent attorney, where his practice focuses on litigation and intellectual property law. Kleinman has lived in San Francisco for the past three years.

CLIFF McDERMENT (E ’96) and BROOKE WINDSOR MCDERMENT (NC ’96) welcomed Celia Spring on Dec. 23, 2010. She joins her brothers, Gabriel, 8, and Curran, 5. The family lives in Bradenton, Fla. ELYSE SEIDEN (NC ’96) is an executive producer of Red State, Kevin Smith’s latest film. In 2009, Seiden wrote, directed, produced and starred in her first short film, The Record.

A book by ROBERT LANE GREENE (TC ’97), You Are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws and the Politics of Identity, was published by Random House this spring. Greene is a journalist for The Economist and writes “Johnson,” the magazine’s blog on language.

He also is a professor at New York University.

He and his wife, Eva Hoier Greene, have one son, Jack Henry.

The Tulane Alumni Association celebrated the accomplishments of alumni at the annual awards celebration on April 3, 2011, at the Audubon Tea Room in New Orleans.

NEWT GINGRICH (G ’68, ’71) A political commentator and former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (1995– 99), Gingrich received the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Gingrich was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1978 and served the 6th District of Georgia for 20 years. He is the architect of the “Contract With America” that led the Republican Party to victory in 1994 by capturing the majority in the U.S. House for the first time in 40 years. Gingrich declared his candiacy for U.S. president on May 11, 2011.

PHYLLIS M. TAYLOR (L ’66) Taylor received the Dermot S. McGlinchey Lifetime Achievement Award. She served as law clerk for the Supreme Court of Louisiana and Orleans Parish Civil District Court and was in-house counsel for John W. Mecom Sr., beginning her career in the oil industry in 1972. She assumed leadership of Taylor Energy Co. following the death of her husband, Patrick F. Taylor, in 2004. She serves as chair and president of the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation and for more than 25 years, she has devoted herself to issues concerning women, children, health, education and the arts.

CAROL SQUARCY SHOWLEY (NC ’74, A ’77) Recipient of a volunteer award, Showley was project manager and architect for HomeFed Bank in San Diego. From 2005 to 2010, she served as a director on the Tulane Alumni Association board, chairing the TAA communications and marketing committee for two years and serving as student outreach committee chair for two years.

As co-president and president of the Tulane Alumni Club of San Diego, Showley hosted club events for visiting deans, garden parties for incoming students and holiday parties for alumni.

JAMES K. ORDENEAUX (TC ’99) Ordeneaux, a partner in the law firm Plauché Maselli Parkerson, also received a volunteer award.

Since 2009, he has been a sideline reporter for Tulane football and he is color commentator for Tulane men’s basketball home games. He has served as a T Club president and TAA board member. He inspired the mayor and the New Orleans City Council to issue a proclamation of gratitude in honor of the Tulane football team’s commitment to New Orleans in February 2006 and 2007.

MELISSA ROSS ROSE (NC ’97) announces the birth of Hudson Ross on Dec. 22, 2010. He joins his sisters, Lindsey and Ryan, at home in Delray Beach, Fla. WENDY SCHWARTZ DONOHUE (NC ’98) and her husband, Mark, announce the birth of their second child, Michael, on Dec. 10, 2010. They live in Andover, Mass.

TIMOTHY J. SMITH (TC ’98) announces the publication of After the Coup: An Ethnographic Reframing of Guatemala 1954. Smith co-edited and contributed to the book, which was published by the University of Illinois Press. Smith is an assistant professor of anthropology at Appalachian State University.

DAVID P. ELDRIDGE (L ’98) was promoted from chief of staff at the Illinois Department of Corrections to deputy director of the Bureau of Strategic Sourcing at the Illinois Department of Central Management Services.

NICOLE GELINAS (NC ’99) announces that her 2010 book, After The Fall: Saving Capitalism From Wall Street and Washington, is now out in paperback from Encounter Books. Gelinas is a financial analyst charterholder and a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal magazine in New York.

ERIK SCHMITZ (B ’98, ’99) and his wife, Sarah, celebrated the birth of a son, Hagan, on Jan. 9, 2011.

Schmitz is an assistant controller with Turner Entertainment Group in Atlanta.

W. FORD GRAHAM (TC ’99) is director of special projects for the South Carolina Department of Commerce where he serves as the state’s chief business recruiter. He is also president of the Returned

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Recognition Honorary Alumni WH E R E

Y ’ A T !

Peace Corps Volunteers of South Carolina. Graham resides in downtown Columbia, S.C., with his wife, Paulina, and son, Paulo.

The Tulane Alumni Association granted honorary membership to three Tulane faculty and staff members who have served Tulane for 25 years or more and who have exhibited exemplary service to the university.

WIL RICHARDSON (B ’99) is owner of Wil’s Apps and producer of Pling Plong 2, a game app for the Apple iPhone.

PETER J. COOLEY a professor of English and director of the creative writing program, has taught at Tulane for 36 years. He has published seven books of poetry and written poems appearing in The New Yorker, The Nation and The New Republic magazines. He received the inspirational professor award in 2001 and the Newcomb Professor of the Year award in 2003. (LEFT)

JAMIE METZ SWEENEY (B ’99) and her husband, Daniel Robert Sweeney, announce the birth of Liam Matthieu on Nov. 20, 2010. The family resides in Little Rock, Ark. 2000s AUBREY CHARPENTIER (TC ’00) and his wife, Kristen, welcomed Emily Ruth on May 28, 2010.

Charpentier served in the Navy for eight years and after graduating from Wake Forest University School of Law this spring, he will reenter the Navy as a JAG in the fall.

JASON HAMILTON (B ’00) was promoted to senior vice president of Citizens Bank in Providence, R.I. He manages a consolidated investment portfolio and lives in Boston.

JUNIUS L. KAUFMAN has been with Tulane since 1970 and currently serves as the director of student employment. He has been the director of communitybased initiatives, acting director of human resources, director of employee relations and director of training. (RIGHT)

NICHOLAS T. STANDER (B ’00, ’07) is general manager for Legacy Support Houston, a BBA Aviation company. He resides in Houston with his wife, Emily, and their children, Caroline, 5, and Samuel, 2.

R. BENN VINCENT JR. (A&S ’00) was elected to partnership at the Baton Rouge, La., law firm Kean Miller Hawthorne D’Armond McCowan & Jarman, where he practices in the litigation group.

JAMES T. ROGERS, a professor of mathematics, has been at Tulane for 42 years. He teaches dynamical systems and continuum theory. He has chaired the Tulane Department of Mathematics and served as the U.S. National Academy of Sciences exchange scientist to the Polish Academy of Sciences. In July he becomes a professor emeritus of mathematics. (CENTER)

YAEL EZRA FOSTER (NC ’01) and EVAN FOSTER (TC ’01) announce the birth of Micah David on Jan. 14, 2011. Micah joins his sister, Leah, born in August 2009. Evan Foster is an attorney in the intellectual property and technology practice at Saul Ewing LLP. The family lives in Bryn Mawr, Pa. WILLIAM LLOYD (TC ’02) and ELLEN OVERMYER LLOYD (NC ’02), who were married in 2007, welcomed their first child, Rhys Jeffrey, on Aug. 27, 2010. The family resides in New Orleans, where Will Lloyd is the sommelier and general manager at Tommy’s Cuisine and Wine Bar, and Ellen Lloyd is an attorney at Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann.

SARAH M. JOLLY (B ’03), a transactional attorney at Zator Law Offices in Allentown, Pa., is the 2011 chair of the Bar Association of Lehigh County’s Young Lawyers Division. Jolly volunteers with the Miracle League of Lehigh Valley and the Internal Revenue Service Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, and is a member of the Lehigh County Paralegal Association’s steering committee.

PAULA BURCH-CLEENTANO

DEREK D. BARDELL (G ’01,’02) was named to the French and Montessori Education board of directors, which oversees Audubon Charter School in New Orleans.

“These individuals have each proved their dedication and loyalty to Tulane University and are admired for their longstanding devotion to their fields, so TAA recognizes them for their many years of guidance, wisdom and service and confers on each of them the title of honorary Tulane alumnus,” says Charlotte Travieso, executive director of TAA. TAA also conferred honorary alumni designation to six Board of Tulane members who are not alumni: Kim Boyle, Philip Greer, Walter Isaacson, Betsy Nalty, Hunter Pierson and Richard Yulman.

with North Sails in Milford, Conn., and Stivrins is an attorney with Kissel, Hirsch and Wilmer of Tarrytown, N.Y. The family lives in Wilton, Conn.

JENNIFER CONNOR (’07) is director of the Miss New Orleans Pageant Organization. Connor was crowned Miss Louisiana United States in 2010.

WILLIAM F. CONNELL (G ’03), an associate professor of history at Christopher Newport University, announces the publication of After Moctezuma: Indigenous Politics and Self-Government in Mexico City, 1524–1730 by the University of Oklahoma Press. Connell’s articles have appeared in the Colonial Latin American Historical Review and the Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History.

DEMETRIA CHRISTO (NC ’06) co-founded the landscaping company EcoUrban to reconstruct a sustainable urban environment in New Orleans.

JOSEPH “J.R.” CROWEL (B ’07) married Lindsay Helberg on Nov. 5, 2010, in Austin, Texas. Crowel is divisional vice president for AXA Advisors and his wife is a marketing director for Camp Gladiator.

JENNIFER STIVRINS (NC ’03) and MICHAEL MURIN (TC ’03) announce the birth of Olivia Lee on Oct. 16, 2010, in Norwalk, Conn. Murin is a sail designer

WILLIAM CLARKSON (’07) married Victoria Jaclyn Hill on Dec. 30, 2010. Clarkson is a doctoral student in computer science at Princeton University.

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LORI WERDERITCH (L ’06) is an associate on the litigation team of Los Angeles–based law firm Rutter Hobbs and Davidoff. Her appellate practice includes the California Courts of Appeal and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

DANIEL LATHAM (’07) is an assistant baseball coach at Virginia Military Institute, where his primary responsibilities include developing and mentoring the pitchers. Latham played one year in the Minnesota Twins organization.

NAKINA EUGENE (PHTM ’09) was crowned Miss Black Louisiana 2011.

BUILDING HISTORY James R. Lamantia Jr. (A ’43) of New Orleans, emeritus professor of architecture, died on Feb. 20, 2011. Among the design projects he directed was the renovation of the historic Presbytere on Jackson Square in New Orleans.

F A R E W E L L Walter A. Lurie (A&S ’31, G ’32) of New York on Jan. 16, 2010.

Frederick E. Guedry Jr. (A&S ’43, G ’48, ’53) of Pensacola, Fla., on Feb. 5, 2011.

Walter D. Kingston Jr. (A&S ’48) of Naples, Fla., on Feb. 20, 2011.

Lamar L. Lambert (A&S ’35) of Baton Rouge, La., on Oct. 25, 2010.

Moonyeen Marion Johnston (NC ’43) of New Orleans on Dec. 25, 2010.

Patricia Cronin Deshotels O’Neill (A&S ’48) of New Orleans on Dec. 31, 2010.

Lawrence L. Zarrilli (A&S ’35) of Akron, Ohio, on Jan. 3, 2011.

Hilda Ziifle Jung (NC ’43) of Gretna, La., on Jan. 18, 2011.

George W. Pigman Jr. (B ’48, L ’52) of New Orleans on Feb. 16, 2011.

Ivy Case Hosch (NC ’36, G ’37) of Tupelo, Miss., on Jan. 1, 2011.

Jennie Ross Parsons (NC ’43) of Helotes, Texas, on Dec. 13, 2010.

James D. Rives Jr. (A&S ’48, L ’50) of Covington, La., on Nov. 18, 2010.

Virginia Barr Conover Belden (NC ’37) of Birmingham, Ala., on Jan. 9, 2011.

Dorothy Klimm Speaser (UC ’43) of Metairie, La., on Dec. 4, 2010.

Merle Fischer Shoughrue (NC ’48) of Memphis, Tenn., on Feb. 12, 2011.

Dorothy Toppino Bacher (A&S ’38, G ’76) of Jacksonville, Fla., on Dec. 18, 2010.

George E. Welch (A&S ’43, M ’45) of New Orleans on Feb. 16, 2011.

Robert E. Shroder Sr. (B ’48) of Jacksonville, Fla., on Dec. 5, 2010.

Ione Mayer Howard (NC ’38) of New Orleans on Feb. 4, 2011.

Shirley Liddell Winn (NC ’43) of Newberg, Ore., on Nov. 18, 2010.

Clyde R. Stanley Sr. (A&S ’48) of Metairie, La., on Jan. 12, 2011.

Raymond F. Mayer (M ’38) of Little Rock, Ark., on Feb. 21, 2010.

John F. Caraway (L ’44) of New Orleans on Jan. 25, 2011.

Bernard S. Borie Jr. (G ’49) of Oak Ridge, Tenn., on Nov. 30, 2010.

Mary Wells McLellan (NC ’38) of New Orleans on Jan. 4, 2011.

Muriel Smith Cook (NC ’44) of New Orleans on Dec. 6, 2010.

George M. Cramond Jr. (B ’49) of Gonzales, La., on Jan. 3, 2011.

Peggy Price Noell (NC ’38) of Memphis, Tenn., on Dec. 12, 2010.

Edwin R. Cousins (E ’44) of Virginia Beach, Va., on Feb. 20, 2011.

Gayle Stocker Denegre (NC ’49) of New Orleans on Feb. 7, 2011.

Horace A. Thompson Jr. (E ’38) of New Orleans on Nov. 5, 2010.

Nelson Manowitz (A&S ’44, M ’46) of Short Hills, N.J., on Jan. 6, 2011.

Robert Z. Hirsch (B ’49, G ’59) of New Orleans on Nov. 15, 2010.

Woodley C. Campbell (A&S ’40) of Montgomery, Ala., on Jan. 29, 2011.

Jesse P. McNeil Jr. (B ’44) of Alpharetta, Ga., on Dec. 18, 2010.

Phanor L. Perot Jr. (A&S ’49, M ’52) of Charleston, S.C., on Feb. 1, 2011.

Merle Smith Lewis (NC ’40) of Houma, La., on Feb. 20, 2011.

George I. Wagenheim (B ’44) of Pensacola, Fla., on Aug. 17, 2010.

Albert J. Saputo (A ’49) of New Orleans on Jan. 24, 2011.

Norman J. Marmillion (A&S ’40) of Houma, La., on Jan. 3, 2011.

Seymour Cambias Jr. (E ’45) of Covington, La., on Feb. 9, 2011.

Robert F. Schaff (A&S ’49) of Metairie, La., on Nov. 19, 2010.

Martha Harper Coulter (NC ’41, SW ’71) of Houston on Dec. 4, 2010.

Clara Louise Bernard Debardeleben (NC ’45) of New Iberia, La., on Nov. 16, 2010.

Benjamin R. Slater Jr. (A&S ’49, L ’53) of New Orleans on Jan. 20, 2011.

Geraldine Trochesset Ebeling (UC ’41) of Covington, La., on Jan. 13, 2011.

James H. Gentry Sr. (A&S ’45, M ’49) of Aliceville, Ala., on Nov. 2, 2010.

Leo A. Stubbs (E ’49) of New Orleans on Oct. 30, 2010.

Walter L. Frazer Jr. (A&S ’41, B ’43) of Baton Rouge, La., on Nov. 7, 2010.

Arthur F. Hoge Jr. (A&S ’45, M ’49) of Tulsa, Okla., on Nov. 3, 2010.

Kate Hodge Lane (NC ’41) of Greensboro, N.C., on Dec. 10, 2010.

Marion F. H. Le Blanc Jr. (E ’45) of New Orleans on Jan. 22, 2010.

Albert C. Martin Jr. (B ’41) of Austin, Texas, on Nov. 26, 2010.

Edgar K. Corey (L ’46) of Tulsa, Okla., on Nov. 27, 2010.

Edwin B. Angel (B ’50) of Metairie, La., on Feb. 2, 2011.

Sidney K. Pate (A&S ’46, L ’47) of Jackson, Miss., on Dec. 28, 2010.

John B. Blalock Sr. (M ’50) of Birmingham, Ala., on Jan. 30, 2011.

Irwin Frankel (E ’42) of Fairfax, Va., on Nov. 2, 2010.

Arnold J. Rosenthal (L ’46) of Alexandria, La., on Dec. 22, 2010.

Kenneth E. Bullock (B ’50) of Jackson, Miss., on Aug. 30, 2010.

Jeannette M. Kyame (NC ’42) of New Orleans on Feb. 17, 2011.

Donald E. Ryder (B ’46) of Sun Lakes, Ariz., on Sept. 26, 2010.

Phares A. Frantz (A ’50) of New Orleans on Dec. 7, 2010.

S. Kenan Manson Jr. (E ’42) of Metairie, La., on Nov. 24, 2010.

James M. Brock (M ’47) of McComb, Miss., on Feb. 4, 2011.

Harold B. Judell (L ’50) of Atlanta on Feb. 12, 2011.

Janice Ginsberg Rubin (NC ’42) of Baton Rouge, La., on Nov. 6, 2010.

Betty Brock Ellis (NC ’47) of Metairie, La., on Nov. 9, 2010.

Gladys Nolan Smith (A ’42) of Jacksonville, Fla., on Jan. 1, 2011.

William C. Menge (A&S ’47, L ’48) of New Orleans on Jan. 4, 2011.

Charles A. Burleson Jr. (A&S ’43) of Damariscotta, Maine, on Dec. 6, 2010.

Henry N. Stall (E ’47) of Denver on Feb. 6, 2011.

Gayle Mackenroth Batt (NC ’51) of Metairie, La., on Dec. 21, 2010.

Leo F. Ingram (A&S ’48) of Vicksburg, Miss., on Jan. 30, 2011.

Lloyd E. Ducote (E ’51) of Etowah, N.C., on Jan. 16, 2011.

Stanley G. Dinkel (E ’42) of Birmingham, Ala., on Feb. 12, 2011.

John Dane Jr. (B ’43) of New Orleans on Jan. 24, 2011.

Harry S. H. Verlander Jr. (A&S ’49, L ’52) of Slidell, La., on Jan. 24, 2011.

Thomas L. Wright (A&S ’49, G ’51, ’60) of Opelika, Ala., on Dec. 2, 2010.

James H. Kimbell (M ’50) of Vacaville, Calif., on Dec. 11, 2010.

James L. Stulb Jr. (B ’50) of Metairie, La., on Jan. 2, 2011.

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Tribute M.L. Lagarde F A R E W E L L MVP M.L. Lagarde (A&S ’52),(left) a New Orleans native, student-athlete, administrator and fervent supporter of Tulane athletics, died Jan. 22, 2011, at age 82.

Lagarde was an accomplished athlete—it took him just one short season on the tennis team to be named to the U.S. Junior Davis Cup team. But he is more commonly known for the way he dedicated himself to Green Wave athletics after graduation.

Lagarde spent 31 years in the Tulane athletics department, first as sports information director and then as the assistant and, later, associate athletics director. Colleagues and students alike remember him for his kindness and his commitment, and for acting as a mentor to many studentathletes. Lagarde was also an advocate for athletics across the city. Among other notable recognitions, he was inducted into the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame and The Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame.

Richard R. Hart (A&S ’51) of Sarasota, Fla., on Dec. 19, 2010.

Keith C. Hotard (B ’51) of Kenner, La., on Dec. 31, 2010.

Robert D. Irving (A&S ’51) of Gautier, Miss., on Jan. 8, 2011.

Raoul P. Sere (B ’51) of New Orleans on Nov. 26, 2010.

Joyce Appel Verdi-Capeling (B ’51) of Houston on July 13, 2010.

Arthur Morgan (A&S ’50) of Baton Rouge, La., on Feb. 1, 2011.

Frederick R. Braden (M ’52) of Gulf Breeze, Fla., on July 20, 2010.

Delio D. Delgado (M ’52) of San Antonio on Feb. 11, 2011.

M. Anne McIntosh (NC ’52) of New Orleans on Feb. 14, 2011.

George G. Newburn (A&S ’52) of Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2010.

Lamar M. C. Smith Jr. (M ’52) of Mountain Brook, Ala., on Nov. 26, 2010.

William C. Carraway (B ’53) of Gulfport, Miss., on Dec. 14, 2010.

Elton T. Jordan (B ’53) of Riverchase, Ala., on Jan. 30, 2011.

Louis P. Orth Jr. (E ’53, ’60) of New Orleans on Jan. 16, 2011.

Gene H. Rogas (A&S ’53) of New Orleans on Nov. 17, 2010.

Maynard H. Alstet (M ’54) of Coral Gables, Fla., on Jan. 11, 2011.

Marion E. Curry (UC ’54) of Jacksonville, Ala., on Jan. 9, 2011.

Barbara Greenfield Fasterling (NC ’54, SW ’89) of Mandeville, La., on Jan. 9, 2011.

William E. Mendez Jr. (E ’54) of Mount Pleasant, S.C., on Nov. 15, 2010.

George L. Prince Jr. (A&S ’54) of Jefferson, La., on Dec. 21, 2010 Billy L. Brown Sr. (A&S ’55) of New Orleans on Jan. 21, 2011.

Elizabeth Roberts English (SW ’55, G ’72) of New Orleans on Dec. 20, 2010.

Richard L. Glatzer (A&S ’55) of Miami on Nov. 21, 2010.

Frank T. McPherson (M ’56) of Vicksburg, Miss., on July 3, 2010.

Kenneth C. Friend (A&S ’59) of New Orleans on Feb. 3, 2011.

Jerome H. Alciatore (A ’57) of Metairie, La., on Dec. 2, 2010.

Wafford H. Merrell Jr. (M ’60) of Jackson, Miss., on Oct. 29, 2010.

William A. Bootle Jr. (M ’57) of Bonaire, Ga., on Dec. 17, 2010.

Sally Anne Smith (SW ’60) of Kernersville, N.C., on Jan. 31, 2010.

Ronald J. Isaac (UC ’57) of Birmingham, Ala., on Feb. 5, 2011.

Willem Willemstyn (UC ’60) of Dallas on Jan. 15, 2011.

Ernest J. Jones (B ’57) of Scottsdale, Ariz., on May 4, 2010.

Barbara Farris Cunningham (NC ’61) of Wichita, Kan., on Nov. 12, 2010.

Paul F. Wilson (A&S ’57) of Daphne, Ala., on Oct. 5, 2010.

David R. Davis II (M ’61) of Lancaster, Pa., on Dec. 6, 2010.

Jane Headley Morgan (NC ’58) of Birmingham, Ala., on Dec. 1, 2010.

Gervice Pierce Hall (UC ’61) of New Orleans on Dec. 21, 2010.

Olton R. Riley (A&S ’58) of Dallas on Dec. 6, 2010.

Carlos R. Zervigon (A&S ’61) of New Orleans on Dec. 12, 2010.

Willis M. Russell (M ’58) of Las Vegas on June 5, 2010.

Cleveland J. Guillot (UC ’55) of New Orleans on Dec. 11, 2010.

Ronald J. Schadler Sr. (B ’58) of Metairie, La., on Nov. 14, 2010.

Marilyn Milliken Potter (NC ’55) of Bowling Green, Ky., on Jan. 25, 2011.

John P. Volz (A&S ’58, L ’59) of New Orleans on Feb. 12, 2011.

Carolyn I. Robertson (NC ’55) of New Orleans on Jan. 4, 2011.

George A. Bertsch (B ’59) of Baton Rouge, La., on Jan. 15, 2011.

Lowry L. Sheely (M ’55) of Columbia, S.C., on Nov. 29, 2010.

Jane Pope Christovich (NC ’59) of New Orleans on Dec. 1, 2010.

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James W. Cabaniss (E ’62) of College Station, Texas, on Dec. 29, 2010.

G. Robert Boasberg (B ’63) of New Orleans on Jan. 10, 2011.

Helen A. Dunn (PHTM ’63, ’74) of Grand Junction, Colo., on Jan. 10, 2011.

Robert O. Lynch (G ’63) of San Antonio on Jan. 3, 2011.

Tribute Bill Monroe Robert M. Quinnelly (SW ’63) of Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Nov. 11, 2010.

Robert O. Lynch (G ’63) of San Antonio on Jan. 3, 2011.

David W. Davis Jr. (M ’64) of Bay Minette, Ala., on April 4, 2010.

Elizabeth Spencer Goldman (NC ’64) of Franklin, Tenn., on Dec. 18, 2010.

Enola M. Fee (UC ’65) of New Orleans on Nov. 2, 2010.

Sheri Jacobs Portwood (SW ’65) of Dallas on Jan. 12, 2011.

Jane Hirshleifer Turner (NC ’65) of Fremont, Calif., on Jan. 14, 2011.

Cecilia Gedoria Nadeau (UC ’66) of New Orleans on Jan. 24, 2011.

Rugel F. Sowell Jr. (PHTM ’67) of Austin, Texas, on Dec. 13, 2010.

Michael A. Starks (L ’68) of Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 8, 2011.

Edward M. Elmer (M ’70) of Pittsburgh on Oct. 9, 2010.

Deborah Walther Fischer (NC ’70) of Fox Point, Wis., on Feb. 7, 2011.

Leo W. Rotan (SW ’70) of Tallahassee, Fla., on Jan. 21, 2011.

Joseph D. Wright Jr. (B ’70) of Metairie, La., on Feb. 2, 2011.

Marjorie B. Wallis (UC ’71, SW ’72) of Plaquemine, La., on Dec. 19, 2010.

AP IMAGES

Sue Anna Moss Cellini (NC ’66, G ’69) of Washington, D.C., on Nov. 13, 2010.

MEET THE PRESS Bill Monroe (A&S ’42) died Feb. 17, 2011, in Potomac, Md. He was perhaps best known for the decade he spent as executive producer and moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press” in the mid 1970s and ’80s. He also is lauded for his courageous and pioneering work as one of New Orleans’ first TV reporters.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Tulane, Monroe served in the Army Air Corps for three years during World War II. Shortly after his return to his hometown of New Orleans, he began working at the city’s NBC affiliate, WDSU. While under his lead as news director, the station aired footage of the legislature in session, for the first time, and broadcast Monroe’s controversial editorials about civil rights. Among other awards, Monroe won two Peabody Awards during his career.

In 1985, Monroe, shown in center, above, came back to the Tulane campus to moderate a discussion concerning morality and the press with former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.

James F. Atkinson Jr. (G ’72) of New Orleans on Dec. 31, 2010.

Andryetta Wells Yarbrough (PHTM ’74) of Baton Rouge, La., on Nov. 16, 2010.

Laura Clare Rumble O’Connell (NC ’88) of Cheswick, Pa., on Jan. 1, 2011.

Susan Forsyth Bauman (NC ’72) of Little Rock, Ark., on Nov. 6, 2010.

Steven C. Powell (UC ’75) of Bossier City, La., on Nov. 3, 2010.

Remmurd L. Carter (L ’89) of Los Angeles on Feb. 3, 2011.

Robert A. Levy (A&S ’72) of New Orleans on Nov. 27, 2010.

Sharon Conyer Gallagher (NC ’78) of Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 16, 2010.

Gabrielle Huber Sisbarro (UC ’90) of Las Cruces, N.M., on Dec. 30, 2010.

Frederick Martin Schattman (A&S ’72) of Fort Worth, Texas, on Dec. 30, 2010.

Eric H. Laakso (A&S ’78) of Pompano Beach, Fla., on Dec. 25, 2010.

Karen R. Anderson (G ’91) of Jackson, Miss., on Dec. 1, 2010.

Randall K. Brooks (L ’73) of San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2011.

David R. Richardson (L ’78) of New Orleans on Dec. 3, 2010.

Joseph A. Lucia III (A&S ’91) of Charleston, S.C., on Nov. 20, 2010.

Michael P. Casey (UC ’73) of Metairie, La., on Dec. 19, 2010.

Glenn J. Gex Sr. (E ’79) of Ellenwood, Ga., on Jan. 9, 2011.

Timothy A. McGowan (B ’91) of New Orleans on Dec. 25, 2010.

Sybil A. Dupre (SW ’73) of New Orleans on Feb. 3, 2011.

Sancy Hawkins McCool (NC ’82) of Baton Rouge, La., on Feb. 13, 2011.

Tracey K. Watts (UC ’95) of Gulfport, Miss., on Dec. 25, 2010.

Raul H. Lopez-Correa (PHTM ’73) of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on April 6, 2010.

Marjorie Nieset Neufeld (L ’84) of Los Angeles on Dec. 10, 2010.

Mario Torres-Marin (L ’02) of Dorado, Puerto Rico, on Dec. 20, 2010.

Audrey Alexander Sommer (UC ’73) of Montmorenci, S.C., on Oct. 25, 2010.

Ron J. Richmond (B ’86) of Concord, Mass., on April 20, 2010.

Frank J. Letellier (B ’07, ’09) of Waveland, Miss., on Dec. 13, 2010.

Camille Favaloro Hatty (UC ’74) of Lafitte, La., on Feb. 5, 2011.

Caryl Louise Boies (L ’87) of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., on Dec. 26, 2010.

Joseph P. Reynolds (’08) of Sherman Oaks, Calif., on Dec. 18, 2010.

James R. Nielsen (A&S ’74, SW ’88) of New Orleans on Nov. 24, 2010.

Mary K. Fleming (NC ’88) of Weston, Fla., on June 28, 2010.

Clement M. Dugal (L ’09) of North Adams, Mass., on Oct. 24, 2010.

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AS THE WORLD TULANES “Tulane Empowers” calls for global initiatives such as the Piper Fellows, connecting medical experts to impoverished communities.

Piper Fellows have treated thousands of women and children in India, Uganda and Haiti since 2007.

E M P O W E R S

Dean Jean Whether holding court on the quad or dispensing wisdom over her ubiquitous cigarette, the late dean Jean Danielson inspired fierce loyalty among Tulane students whose lives she touched during four decades of directing the honors program and serving as associate professor of political science.

In November, fundraising efforts were launched for the Jean Danielson Memorial Scholarship, which will reward outstanding honors students in financial need with the kind of off-campus enrichment opportunities that Dean Jean spent so much of her time championing: research projects, travel abroad, internships and participation in conferences.

Through gifts ranging from $25 to $25,000, nearly $100,000 has been raised for the scholarship so far. Many of the gifts have been accompanied by handwritten remembrances of Dean Jean as a one-of-a-kind mentor, tireless cheerleader and unforgettable friend.

Danielson had a profound impact on generations of Tulane students, says Yvette Jones, executive vice president for university relations and development. “She rolled her sleeves up and worked with students side-byside. They learned about life from her.”

Adam Hawf, a 2007 Tulane graduate, was among the first to respond to the scholarship campaign. After graduation, Hawf went to work for a hedge fund in New York but Danielson’s passion for giving back to the community made a lasting impression on him. In January, Hawf returned to New Orleans for a finance position at The NET Charter High School, a startup that will serve some of the city’s hardest-toreach 16- to 21-year-olds when it opens in August, and he credits Danielson for inspiring this move.—R.M. Morris

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PowerUp Tulane Empowers is an exciting approach to learning that creates endless possibilities for our university and our students. It broadens our horizons as an academic institution as we are challenged to help others here and across the globe.

“Tulane has a duty and a responsibility to harness its tremendous human capital and institutional resources to serve, to partner and to empower,” says Tulane President Scott Cowen.

Through Tulane Empowers, we are helping communities and establishing partnerships with our neighbors to make the world a better place. We are focusing on the fields of public education, public service, urban revitalization, disaster response and community health.

We are constantly challenged to find new ways to apply our knowledge to help others. From funding ideas that serve society to awarding scholarships to students passionate about leadership and citizenship, Tulane Empowers is more than a fundraising campaign. It will define the future of Tulane University.

We are expanding the learning experience beyond the classroom and research laboratories to help those most in need:

• Medical equipment at a crowded hospital in Tanzania receives badly needed repairs thanks to Bob Lathrop, a biomedical engineering student.

• Armed with a business plan crafted by Tulane business and architecture students, the owner of the iconic Circle Foods store in New Orleans’ historic Seventh Ward has the information he needs to reopen the Katrinaravaged grocery.

• Blighted neighborhoods are being revitalized by the architecture school’s URBANbuild program in partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services.

< Student researchers

are learning more about

JACKSON HILL

T U L A N E

Mississippi River sediments in the quest for better coastal protection. (LEFT)

The Ledger $100 million goal WHAT IS TULANE EMPOWERS? Tulane Empowers is a philosophy of learning that will define Tulane University for generations. After Hurricane Katrina we learned the true value of community engagement—that it benefits the giver as much, if not more, than the recipient. That is why we are committed to helping people build a better world, which is the goal of Tulane Empowers.

THE TALLY Money raised so far

20% of Goal

money raised

TO THE PEOPLE A total of $50 million is the fundraising goal for endowed scholarships, fellowships, chairs and professorships. = $5 million

15

$

25

$

MILLION

MILLION

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SCHOLARSHIPS To support talented and engaged undergraduate students

10

$

The Big Spender Turmoil sweeping the Middle East has dominated America’s political attention, but the implications are just as relevant to business leaders, argues Jeffrey A. Altman (B ’88), founder and managing partner of Owl Creek Asset Management in New York.

Altman’s belief that a global perspective is essential to tomorrow’s business leaders led to his December 2010 gift of $8.3 million for a dual-degree program in business and international studies at Tulane.

“To understand how things are going to play out financially, you have to understand the cultural influences,” Altman recently told the Wall Street Journal.

Altman scholars—up to 120 when the program is fully enrolled—will be required to master management and international studies, become proficient in a foreign language and study abroad for a year, taking their Tulane experiences to a global level.—Kim Krupa

MILLION

SOCIAL INNOVATION FELLOWSHIPS To support graduate school students selected by their respective schools or programs

15

$

MILLION

SOCIAL INNOVATION CHAIRS To attract and support the most distinguished faculty working in social innovation today

10

$

MILLION

SOCIAL INNOVATION PROFESSORSHIPS To fund junior professors and emerging scholars committed to innovation

TO BUILDING COMMUNITIES An investment of $5 million is needed in each area to secure an endowed fund providing $250,000 of annual operating support for community health, public education, urban development and community engagement.

20

$

MILLION

TO THE NEW IDEA FUND The New Idea Fund will support emerging ideas and innovative community programs on a competitive basis in the areas of sustainable development and community-based research. These restricted funds will be awarded to seed new ideas from faculty, students and staff.

TO THE TULANE FUND Provides current operating support for our emerging campaign initiatives across all schools and disciplines, ensuring that all aspects of student, faculty and staff engagement in our community flourish.

$5

MILLION

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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, writing nearly 5,800 essays about life in New Orleans. We are delighted that he has agreed to continue in that vein as a contributor to Tulane magazine.

O R L E A N S

Jack Unruh

N E W

Green Spaces and Gargoyles

by Angus Lind Picturesque Jackson Square and the St. Louis Cathedral in the heart of the heart of the city, the French Quarter, is easily the most recognized and photographed scene in New Orleans. From postcards to paintings to Kodak family moments, it’s clearly the winner.

But I’d like to make a case for a setting upriver on historic St. Charles Avenue that captured my heart a long time ago. It’s located Uptown, where Tulane University’s storied Gibson Hall and similarly handsome stone edifices stand guard on the lake side of St. Charles. On the river side, directly across from it, is the gorgeous entrance to the 19th-century tranquility of Audubon Park and its sprawling ancient oak trees.

From either side, the view is incredible.

They’re not blooming now, but in the spring when Tulane’s magenta azaleas are flush with blossoms and Audubon’s gateway also is wearing its resurging palate of floral colors, and one of the historic St. Charles streetcars clangs by, it’s a treasured scene.

And it also can be a humorous scene when the water nymph statue in the Gumbel Memorial Fountain at the park entrance gets adorned with a brassiere, usually courtesy of a fraternity prank by Tulane or neighboring Loyola University.

Of course, I’m prejudiced. I grew up in the shadow of Audubon Park. As a youngster, I stood next to a ticket booth at Tulane Stadium where my dad sold tickets before home football games, and

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S P R I NG 2 0 1 1 TULANE MAGA ZINE

Hand in hand Just across St. Charles Avenue, Audubon Park provides denizens of the uptown campus with all manner of diversions and delights.

I later sold programs. I attended Tulane Day Camp as an older youth, and went to and graduated from Tulane. I’ve never stopped attending games, I still live within walking distance, still get haircuts on campus from the same barber, Tom Davis, who was there when the predecessor to the LavinBernick Center for University Life opened way back in 1959 when I was in high school.

Please don’t do the math, both for Tom’s sake and mine.

Tulane has a campus rife with oak trees and green spaces, but Green Wave students couldn’t be luckier than to have a peaceful 150-acre playground like Audubon directly across the avenue. From a tree-shrouded jogging and biking track of 1.9 miles, to an award-winning golf course and zoo, it’s a place to stroll, rendezvous, meditate by the lagoons and soak up sunshine.

Not surprisingly, I spent a lot of time in the park growing up. It’s where I learned to play golf, where I jogged until knees and back revolted, and where I still ride my bike and occasionally walk. It’s where I go to sort things out when that need arises. It’s my oasis for calming down or getting inspired.

It would be fair to say that Audubon Park owns me spiritually. And it also would be fair to say that Tulane has me hooked emotionally. When college memories and sports highlights are replayed regularly with old classmates, it means the experience was and continues to be special.

I recall the first time I walked in Gibson and Dinwiddie Halls, huge castle-like buildings fronting St. Charles. Even though neither building has them, I always envisioned grotesque gargoyles atop them. I looked up to the top regularly, thinking they might have suddenly appeared. That bit of wishful thinking may have had something to do with an English and journalism student having considerable difficulties comprehending geology, which was taught in Dinwiddie.

I also can’t forget how lucky I’ve been.

I often thank the Good Lord and my parents for blessing me with the opportunity to live my life in New Orleans and attend Tulane. My wife and I raised our family here and we’re thankful they all feel as passionate about the city as we do.

And now I feel blessed to have been asked to fill this space four times a year. We’ll try to make it fun, interesting and informative. See ya in the summer.

homecoming 2011 o c to b er 2 1 – 2 3

Helluva Hullabaloo premier auction and party supporting tulane student-athletes Friday, October 21 6:30–9:30 P.M. Lavin-Bernick Center, First Floor Tulane Empowers fund-raiser for student-athlete scholarships

vaoo lua l e H lab l Hul

WAVE ’11

Homecoming Game

Friday, October 21 6:00–9:00 P.M. Lavin-Bernick Center, Second Floor Great food, music, fireworks and pep rally Concert by Big Sam’s Funky Nation Celebrating reunions of the Classes of ’61, ’66, ’71, ’76, ’81, ’86, ’91, ’96, ’01, ’06, ’11

Saturday, October 22 Louisiana Superdome Kickoff at 2:30 P.M. Tailgating begins at 11 A.M. Discount game tickets available through online registration

All-Alumni Reunion Party

Memphis vs Tulane

Shuttle bus service from Downtown

Updates and more events: http://tulane.edu/homecoming • Registration opens August 1, 2011

TUlane M A G A Z I N E

Office of University Publications 31 McAlister Drive, Drawer 1 New Orleans, LA 70118-5624

JACKSON HILL

Wish You Were Here Blue Plate, A Mid-City Landmark