Tulane Magazine Summer 2012 Issue by Tulane University

TUlane THE MAGAZINE OF TULANE UNIVERSITY

Tinted paradise Errol Barron draws a love letter to the city.

inner circle Doug Ellin and his entourage take on Hollywood.

eat to live Dr. Gourmet, aka Dr. Timothy Harlan, campaigns for healthy eating.

summer 2012

Colorful Character

Drawings of New Orleans architecture

DAN PROUD

S H AY LY N N PA C K

FOREST FRAGMENT A nest of eggs of a Tawny-crested Tanager (Tachyphonus delatrii) is a rare find this summer in a tropical forest in Costa Rica, where bird populations are declining. Tulane ecology and evolutionary biology graduate students under the direction of professor Thomas Sherry are trying to figure out why tropical forest bird populations are dwindling in Central America and globally. They mainly are studying insect-feeding birds such as the Chestnut-backed Antbird (Myrmeciza exsul) (above), looking at the phenomenon from different angles. “Tropical forest loss and fragmentation— the breaking up of once continuous forest into small fragments—are having devastating effects on tropical birds,” says Sherry. He and his students have identified predators such as ocelots at the nests, and they have undertaken genetics evaluations to show that these tropical birds can hardly fly to and from forest fragments, causing them to be isolated. The researchers also are exploring how peccaries or wild pigs have altered vegetation that the birds need for nesting and feeding.

Park View On the cover: Houses on Exposition Boulevard line an Audubon Park sidewalk. Illustration by Errol Barron.

T UL A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 2

P R E S I D E N T ’ S

L E T T E R

Bye-bye, BCS by Scott S. Cowen

mark andresen

It scarcely seems like it’s been 14 years, but it has. I can clearly remember my first fall semester here on the uptown campus. It was 1998, and everything was new to me. I was happily unaware of the differences between a tropical storm and a hurricane, and football was something my new university excelled at. Many of you will recall that 1998 was the year the Green Wave went undefeated. Twelve wins, zero losses. It was a spectacular season, one tainted only by the fact that despite the impressive achievement of our student-athletes (we were ranked No. 7 in the nation), the team was not invited to an elite bowl game. You see, 1998 also was the first year that the Bowl Championship Series was put into place. Only schools who were members of the so-called “power conferences” were allowed into the BCS and thereby eligible to play in one of the elite bowls. All other schools were essentially branded as second class and not allowed to compete, regardless of their records. I don’t believe many of us at the time really understood the BCS system and the pernicious effect that it would have on those excluded from the BCS across the country. It wasn’t long, however, before I began to view it as an incredibly unfair and discriminatory system, one that not only denied players the opportunity to perform on the biggest stages but also one that tightly constrained the distribution of revenues while denying non-BCS programs from participating in elite bowls. This certainly didn’t seem to be consistent with the values of higher education. In fact, it struck many as illegal.

SUMMER 2 0 1 2 TULANE MAGA ZINE

Seeded playoffs on the way The Bowl Championship Series system was unfair and discriminatory to non-BCS schools.

Over the next few years I became involved in reforming intercollegiate football postseason play and helped create the Presidential Coalition for Athletics Reform. In 2004, through the work of that coalition, the framework of the BCS was changed to increase the opportunities for Division I colleges to participate in BCS bowl games as well as broaden how revenues were dispersed among Division I institutions. It was an important first step toward reform, but it was only the beginning, and in the eight years since then the BCS has remained mired in controversy. Fans clearly were not happy with how the postseason was operated and how a national champion was determined. This spring, a committee of commissioners began working on a plan to replace the BCS with a four-team seeded playoff. In June, the plan was approved by the Presidential Oversight Committee, comprised of 12 university presidents, including me. The reign of the BCS closes at the end of the 2013 season. This is a huge step in the evolution of intercollegiate football and will create a more equitable system than we had in the past. Unfortunately, the cumulative adverse impact of the BCS cannot be undone and it will forever shape in indiscernible ways the future of intercollegiate athletics. For me personally, it’s been gratifying to see the evolution toward this, having played a small role in that evolution. The work is not over, however. The devil, as they say, is in the details. The specifics of postseason selection, access to elite bowls and revenue sharing need to be hashed out, and our committee will take these issues up in the fall. For Tulane, the new model will minimize the branding issues inherent in the BCS, and there will be more opportunities for high-performance teams to play in an elite bowl, regardless of conference affiliation. Now, that of course doesn’t mean that the Green Wave will go 12 and 0 this season, but if we do we will not be left at the proverbial altar. Honestly, I would not be surprised to find our Green Wave increasingly competitive in the years ahead. Those of you who follow the team are as likely impressed as I have been with Curtis Johnson, our new head coach. And if we keep to schedule, his team will be playing home games on campus, in a new stadium in 2014. All in all, it’s a time of change for intercollegiate football, particularly at Tulane. I look forward to seeing you soon in the stands, rooting for our favorite team, just a few yards from the location of the old, historic Tulane Stadium.

TUlane C O N T E N T S Gibson Hall View Dinwiddie Hall on the right frames Gibson Hall from a St. Charles Avenue vantage point. See more illustrations by Errol Barron on page 14.

2 PRESIDENT’S LETTER Reign of BCS over, after years of negotiations 6 NEWs Times-Picayune cutback • Better way to insert IUD • Natural history • Who dat? Charles Hall • Walking paths get people moving • Greener polymer manufacturing • Mummies intrigue • Lead linked to violence • Will Henry Stevens painting • Archivist Ann Case errol barron

12 SPORTS Boxer Lydia Hand • New football coach Curtis Johnson 30 TULANIANS Robert Whitman in the community • Softball champs 50 years ago • Stanley Motta • Richard Snyder

14 Tinted Paradise In New Orleans Observed, architecture professor Errol Barron (A ’64) drafts an affectionate homage to ‘America’s most foreign city.’ By Nick Marinello

32 WHERE Y'AT! Class notes

20 Inner Circle Before he created the HBO hit ‘Entourage,’ Doug Ellin (A&S ’90) was another writer struggling to make it big in the bare-knuckled environs of Hollywood. Now he’s the guy everyone wants to get to know. By David McKay Wilson

24 Eat to Live Dr. Gourmet, aka Dr. Timothy Harlan, has cooked up a way to make you healthier. By Keith Brannon

37 FAREWELL Tribute: Joseph E. Gordon 38 TULANE EMPOWERS Diboll gifts • Water innovations research • Hullabaloo auction • Campaign progress 40 NEW ORLEANS Angus Lind laments newspaper losses

T UL A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 2

classic dish Gumbo is a one-pot Louisiana dish whose lineage traces to African, French, Creole and Cajun cooking traditions. It’s often the first truly indigenous New Orleans food that Tulane students eat.

y e a h,

y o u

ETOUFEE, ANYONE? “Table Talk” from the Spring 2012 issue does an excellent job of summing up a sentiment I’ve long had difficulty putting into words. My wife and I travel to New Orleans fairly regularly, and we always make it a point to treat ourselves to a great dinner and some live music. I constantly relate to her stories of my Tulane experience (she’s a University of Illinois grad), but always have a tough time justifying how I spent so little time in any of the hundreds of magnificent restaurants and music venues of the city. As I look back I realize that it wasn’t until a few years after graduation that I really became deeply interested in (read: obsessed with) the culture of New Orleans, its history, its neighborhoods, etc. I suppose I always thought my excuse for spending four years a bit oblivious to it all was that I was completely broke and somehow less mature than I had been in high school. Now, more than ten years after leaving New Orleans, “Table Talk” has helped me realize that, in addition to my financial position and level of sophistication vastly improving, I can finally appreciate the city so much more because I have left the “Tulane Bubble.” A decade ago it was very tough to rationalize passing up the “free” food at Bruff and the virtually free beer at the fraternity house. Campus life was understandably just about everything to me back then. While Tulane is still immensely important in my life, New Orleans has definitely moved up to at least equal position in my heart. Don’t get me wrong; a big part of me really misses drinking terrible keg beer and scarfing down delivery pizza. And I definitely still do so on occasion. I’m just much more inclined to savor a Hopitoulas and an etouffee these days. Conor Grace, E ’01 Gulf Breeze, Fla. STADIUM NOSTALGIA “The Once and Future Stadium” caused me to wax nostalgic about my own wonderful memories of Tulane Stadium and the profound impact it had on my college experience. Early in my freshman year in 1970, I attended “Soul Bowl” at the stadium, an all-day concert featuring James Brown, Ike & Tina Turner (before they broke up), Isaac Hayes and others. As my friend and I lost ourselves in the pulsating rhythms, we quickly overcame any self-consciousness about standing out like sore thumbs in the largely African American crowd. Later that semester, I was in

SUMMER 2 0 1 2 TULANE MAGA ZINE

w r i t e my 6th floor room in Monroe Hall listening to the Saints game, when the radio signal suddenly went dead. A few seconds later the building seemed to pulsate as a huge roar rose from the stadium. Fans who had left the game early looked up at the dorm room windows, but I could not answer their inquisitive stares. It turned out that a bee had gotten in the radio station transmitter just as Tom Dempsey kicked his recordbreaking 63-yard field goal to win the game for the Saints. In an attempt to experience some of what Dempsey must have felt, I occasionally sneaked into the stadium in the dead of night and ran mock touchdowns as I imagined 80,000 fans cheering me on. During my sophomore year, I stood outside the stadium before Super Bowl VI, finally convincing myself that I should fork over $15 for a ticket. I don’t remember much about Dallas’ 24-3 victory over Miami, but I do remember that it was about the coldest I have ever felt. A couple of months later, Tulane Stadium was turned into an emergency shelter for Mardi Gras visitors who had no place to stay. My job was to walk around with a flashlight and make sure that no one tried to sleep on the field. The founder of the Tulane Mardi Gras Coalition, Robert Thompson—who had persuaded the school’s administration to open the stadium to the “homeless”—was later elected student body president and became my lifelong friend. My fondest memory of Tulane Stadium occurred during my senior year when Tulane ended 24 years of domination and beat LSU 14-0 before 80,000 delirious fans. [Editor’s note: Read more about that game on page 8.] I attended the game with the closest thing I knew to a hippie. He had filled a canteen with a Manhattan concoction, and by the end of the game we were both totally wasted. That did not keep us from rushing onto the field in celebration and sawing off pieces of the goalpost for souvenirs. A few weeks later, I attended the Sugar Bowl game for the national championship between two undefeated teams. Some say that Notre Dame’s 24-23 victory over Alabama was the greatest college game ever played. What I remember most is sitting among a sea of crimson (I must have purchased my ticket from an Alabama fan) as Bear Bryant’s quest for the national championship fell just short. I was not wearing red, and, as with Soul Bowl, I again felt what it was like to be in the minority. These memories are just one aspect of my life at Tulane, but that experience would have been vastly

more shallow if Tulane Stadium had not existed. I can only hope that the new stadium will provide many new life-long memories for future Tulanians. Stephen Samuels, A&S ’74 Washington, D.C. LATIN LESSON Unfortunately, the skill of the 1910 Newcomb potters did not extend to Latin spelling. The tyg (threehandled drinking vessel) they made, pictured on page 11 of the Spring 2012 Tulane Magazine with an article about it, is said to bear the Latin motto of the Kappa Alpha fraternity, which is Fratres Usque ad Aram Fideles. However, Fratres is missing an r on the mug, on which it appears misspelled as “FRATES.” The article provides the translation of the motto as Brothers Faithful unto Death, which is almost OK for the motto but not for what is on the mug, which leaves out the word Fideles (“faithful ones”), perhaps for lack of enough space, although that excuse is not available for leaving out the second “r” of Fratres. The article might better have included the word “even,” to give Usque its due, as in Brothers Faithful Even unto Death. Another problem is with the word Aram, the accusative case of ara, which means altar, not death. But that too is all right, as ara was often understood as short for ara sepulchri, the funeral heap (literally, “altar of the sepulcher”). Another misspelling occurs in Angus Lind’s “21 Tons of History” on page 40 of the same issue, in which he refers to Tujague’s Restaurant, but he called it “Tujaque’s.” Joseph B. Stahl, A&S ’59, Law ’62 New Orleans MISIDENTIFICATION The caption for the photo on the first pages of the spring issue of Tulane magazine incorrectly labels architecture graduates as law school graduates. (I was there, but not in the photo. I received a Master of Architecture degree. In the picture are both Master of Architecture and Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development graduates.) The color of the academic hood for Architecture is light purple and Law is a darker purple. Alexandra David, A ’12 Los Angeles DIFFUSE THE PROBLEM The most recent issue [spring 2012] of Tulane arrived and provided me with the usual pleasure. Many thanks. I am a retired teacher, and the saying is “once a teacher, always a teacher.”

With that comment, may I give a message concerning the interesting article “Nerves of Steel” by Keith Brannon. The second paragraph begins, “To ameliorate potential problems...,” which suggests that potential problems will be improved. I suggest that it might be preferable to diffuse or prevent potential problems. Keep up the good work, and Roll, Wave. Gary J. Mannina, A&S ’63, G ’72 New Orleans PURSUING A DEGREE In the Spring 2012 edition of Tulane magazine the excerpt of President Scott S. Cowen’s 2012 commencement address includes the statement “...pursuing your undergraduate degree when Katrina hit.” I respectfully submit that there is no such degree. A degree is conferred upon graduation. An undergraduate, by definition, has not graduated. Simply “pursuing your degree” would have been more accurate. John F. Webb, A&S ’57 Miami QUESTIONS WITH A PURPOSE Thank you for the very kind and totally unexpected blurb about my blog, This Day in Jewish History, that appeared in the spring issue of Tulane magazine [on page 30]. I owe an awful lot to some marvelous history and philosophy teachers at Tulane. It wasn’t so much what they taught, as how they taught and the virtue they placed on inquiry, i.e. not just asking questions, but asking questions with a purpose and then doing the heavy lifting in the search for answers that led to more questions. I did not take advantage of all that Tulane offered me. There are those who doubt the value of a liberal arts education. I can assure them that it is an invaluable asset if it is of the quality offered between St. Charles Avenue and Willow. Mitchell A. Levin, A&S ’67 Cedar Rapids, Iowa

ipad version of tulane magazine available for free download from the app store. Check it out!

Drop Us a Line

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

Letter from The Editor

TUlane M

Editor Mary Ann Travis

Art Director Melinda Whatley Viles Features Editor Nick Marinello “Tulanians” Editor Fran Simon

paula burch-celentano

Contributors Keith Brannon Catherine Freshley, ’09 Alicia Duplessis Jasmin Kimberly Krupa Angus Lind, A&S ’66 Michael Ramos Arthur Nead Ryan Rivet, UC ’02 senior University Photographer Paula Burch-Celentano senior Production Coordinator Sharon Freeman

science and entrepreneurship

The innovative spirit of New Orleans is showing up in new and surprising ways. The city is on the verge of becoming a hub of bioinnovation. Its bioscience is poised to be as inspired as its food, music and architecture. This optimistic view belongs to, among others, biomedical engineering professor Donald Gaver (pictured above, right, with graduate student Will Glindmeyer). Gaver’s vision is that medically related biological innovations will be discovered, developed, designed and commercialized right here at Tulane and in New Orleans. “We aren’t the top when it comes to technology development. I don’t think anybody talks about New Orleans that way yet,” says Gaver. But since Hurricane Katrina, an entrepreneurial ethos has taken hold. “We have a lot of promise in New Orleans for this,” says Gaver. New advances, technologies, devices, products and procedures—anything that can positively affect human health—are the desired outcome, says Gaver. The goal is help clinicians diagnose and treat disease, improve quality of life and reduce the cost of medical care.

Take, for example, regenerative medicine or tissue engineering. It’s an area filled with possibilities in the medical marketplace to aid in procedures such as lung transplants. Also, there’s a crying need for breakthroughs in low-cost drug delivery systems. There’s a demand for the invention of more sensitive and accurate biosensors to monitor and gather information about the body. Gaver sees barriers to progress in that there is often a lack of understanding by scientists about what it takes to get something to the marketplace. The ideal candidate for the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship, a new PhD program in bioinnovation directed by Gaver and funded by the National Science Foundation, is a top-notch scientist as well as a driven entrepreneur. “I would very much like to change New Orleans through this,” says Gaver. “I want for there to be a better environment for scientists and engineers here.” Right here, at the intersection of science and entrepreneurship. Why not? The climate and timing may be right. —Mary Ann Travis

Graphic Designer Tracey Bellina

President of the University Scott S. Cowen Vice President of University Communications Deborah L. Grant, PHTM ’86 Executive Director of Publications Carol J. Schlueter, B ’99 Tulane (USPS 017-145) is a quarterly magazine published by the Tulane Office of University Publications, 31 McAlister Drive, Drawer 1, New Orleans, LA 70118-5624. Periodical postage at New Orleans, LA 70113 and additional mailing offices. Send editorial correspondence to the above address or email tulanemag@tulane.edu. Opinions expressed in Tulane are not necessarily those of Tulane representatives and do not necessarily reflect university policies. Material may be reprinted only with permission. Tulane University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Tulane, Tulane Office of University Publications, 31 McAlister Drive, Drawer 1, New Orleans, LA 70118-5624. summer 2012/Vol. 84, No. 1

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 2

MODERN DESIGN Architecture professor John P. Klingman documents 80 examples of contemporary architecture from the past 15 years in New in New Orleans Architecture (Pelican Publishing Co., 2012). The book contains more than 300 color photographs and illustrations of commercial buildings, dwellings, university facilities and institutions.

N E W S

paula burch-celentano

Easier Birth Control

Paper Cuts

For many New Orleanians, the announcement in late May that The Times-Picayune would reduce its printing schedule to three days a week came as a gut punch. “New Orleans is something of a throwback culture,” says Paul Greenberg, director of the media arts department in the Tulane School of Continuing Studies. “We are emotionally invested in iconic cultural pieces and one of those is the newspaper.” No doubt, the 175-year-old paper bolstered its iconic status in the weeks and months after Hurricane Katrina, when its reporting provided continuity through uncertain times. But advertising and subscription dollars have dramatically fallen off since the storm. “It’s a socioeconomic issue,” says Greenberg. “Sociologically, people are still emotionally attached to the paper. Economically, they are not.” Along with cutting back its print schedule and staff, the paper announced that it would “increase online news-gathering.” Greenberg, who was employed by The Times-Picayune for nine years, now works to ensure that journalism students in his department are being adequately trained for the industry’s digital future. “Digital news and information are happening, and we are not going to turn back from that,” says Greenberg. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, he says. “Over time, I don’t think we are going to lose good reporting, but it’s going to come in different delivery methods,” says Greenberg. Greenberg says the paper’s owners made a pragmatic decision. “The paper is doing this because they are still profitable. They can survive if they take this proactive approach.” Only time will tell how journalistically and commercially effective the hybrid approach will be. “I think people should sit back and take a measured approach to this,” says Greenberg. “Right now, it’s been an emotional reaction. Let’s see what kind of product they come up with.”—Nick Marinello (Editor’s note: See page 40, for more about The Times-Picayune.)

SUMMER 2 0 1 2 TULANE MAGA ZINE

Rally Time At a rally in the Rock ’n’ Bowl parking lot in June, loyal Times-Picayune readers demonstrate their support for keeping the newspaper a daily publication.

As a foolproof method of birth control, intrauterine devices are unsurpassed. In fact, IUDs are 20 times more effective than oral contraceptive pills, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. However, there’s a catch: IUDs are difficult to put in and the procedure can lead to complications. But Tulane alumnus Ben Cappiello has invented a solution to the problem. While still in school, Cappiello, a Tulane biomedical engineering major, designed a device that makes it easier to insert an IUD. After graduating in 2010, he co-founded Bioceptive, a company that is developing and testing the insertion device before marketing it around the world. In May, Bioceptive, headquartered in the New Orleans BioInnovation Center, announced that it had raised $385,000 in startup money from investors, including Tamara Kreinin, former executive director of women and population with the United Nations Foundation in Washington, D.C. The current IUD insertion procedure requires a skilled healthcare practitioner, usually a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, and employs up to five surgical instruments. Because of the multistep nature of the procedure, the IUD can end up being expelled or the uterus can be perforated, says Cappiello. Also, patients often experience pain during the insertion. The device that Cappiello has invented allows for a gentler IUD insertion procedure. The Bioceptive device has an automatic sensing mechanism that replaces the current surgical tool used in measuring the depth of the uterus, while also incorporating a force-limiting mechanism. “It’s impossible to perforate a uterus with this device,” says Cappiello. Cappiello and his Bioceptive associates, including co-founder S.K. Khurana and Stewart Davis, see a market for the device both in industrialized countries as well as developing nations. “We want to make this so easy to do that any healthcare worker anywhere in the world can put in an IUD,” he says.—Mary Ann Travis

In That Number Fish Tales

1885

The original facility was an exhibitoriented museum established in 1885 by a special grant from Paul Tulane.

1976

Tucked away on a wooded site on the west bank of the Mississippi River, the Tulane University Biodiversity Research Institute is a research facility that comprises the largest collection of postlarval fishes in the world, and is a leading producer of technology for scientific study of natural history specimens.

The year that Tulane University Museum of Natural History (TUMNH) was established as a private zoological research museum comprising collections of invertebrates, fishes, amphibians and reptiles, birds, mammals and vertebrate fossils, housed in subterranean bunkers on the grounds of the F. Edward Hébert Riverside Research Center, a former U.S. Navy munitions depot in Belle Chasse, La.

2012

TUMNH is transformed into Tulane University Biodiversity Research Institute (TUBRI).

7,000,000 Number of fish specimens in the Royal D. Suttkus Fish Collection, housed in two 10,000-square-foot bunkers at the Hébert Research Center.

5,500,000

infographic by tracey bellina

Number of herp specimens (amphibians and reptiles) represented by data in the HerpNet2 global network, also managed by TUBRI.

300

Number of institutions using the GEOLocate software platform— developed and hosted at TUBRI—to translate textual descriptions of collection localities into geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude).

29,000,000 Number of fish specimens globally, represented by data in the FishNet2 network of fish collection databases, which is managed by TUBRI.

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 2

matt anderson

Who Dat ? Hall of Fame

charles hall Stylishly dressed members of the 1973 Green Wave football team led by All-American defensive tackle Charles Hall (UC ’75), center, prepare to board a plane for an away game. It was customary for the players to dress in dapper suits before games, recalls Hall. For home games, the young men would walk together across the uptown campus to Sugar Bowl stadium, fans cheering them on. “The fans showed their enthusiasm to us,” he says. “Back then, everybody went to the games.” Football News and the

SUMMER 2 0 1 2 TULANE MAGA ZINE

Associated Press, among other sports news organizations, named Hall an All-American. Coached by Bennie Ellender in his most successful season, the ’73 team had a 9-2 regular season record. It was a year to remember because at the time only the 1931 and ’34 teams had won more games in one season. “The No. 1 thing the team accomplished was to beat LSU for the first time in 25 years,” says Hall. “That got the fans going crazy.” The Green Wave beat the Louisiana State University Tigers, 14-0, before a crowd of 86,598 in Tulane Stadium

on Dec. 1, 1973. The ’73 team also went to the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, losing 47-7 to the University of Houston in the Astrodome. It was the fifth time in Tulane football history that the Green Wave went to a bowl game. Hall, however, did not play in the bowl game because he had injured his knee. Hall advanced to the pros and was chosen in the fourth round by the New Orleans Saints in the NFL draft of 1975. When his knee injury did not respond, Hall moved to the World Football League and

played a year with Jacksonville. He came back to Tulane as an assistant coach from 1977–82. In 1981, Hall was inducted into the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame. For 28 years, he’s been a teacher at East Jefferson High School in Metairie, La. Hall’s teammates on the illustrious ’73 Green Wave team, pictured here, left to right, are John Washington (UC ’75), Cameron Gaston (A&S ’76), Martin Mitchell, Hall, Nathan Bell, Wyatt Washington (A&S ’76) and Robert Brown.

—mary ann travis

NOT JUST FOR CARS AND TRUCKS The New Orleans City Council passed a “complete streets” policy in December 2011, thanks to the advocacy of KidsWalk Coalition and the Tulane Prevention Research Center. The policy requires that improvements to New Orleans streets include bike, pedestrian and public transportation amenities. KidsWalk is a Tulane-affiliated group of public health, transportation and advocacy agencies dedicated to reducing childhood obesity.

N E W S

paula burch-celentano

Made for Walking

A public walking path is enough to inspire an entire neighborhood to become more physically active, according to a new Tulane University study. “Minor changes to the built environment, like walking paths, can make a difference to physical activity levels and health of residents,” says lead author Jeanette Gustat, whose study is in the August issue of Preventing Chronic Disease. The Prevention Research Center at Tulane measured residents’ activity levels throughout New Orleans’ St. Roch neighborhood in 2006 and 2008, before and after the center helped build a six-block walking path along the median on St. Roch Avenue. Observed outdoor activity increased by nearly 12 percent in the neighborhood after the path was installed. The increase included activity around the path, as well as other parts of the neighborhood. “What we saw was a significant increase in outdoor activity compared to two other neighborhoods that did not have a walking path,” says Gustat, associate professor of clinical epidemiology at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. The project, called Partnership for an Active Community Environment (PACE), collected data in St. Roch and two comparison neighborhoods through observations taken of people being active outside on streets, sidewalks and public areas. The study found that physical activity levels in St. Roch increased compared to the other two neighborhoods without walking paths or other public recreation spaces. The two comparison neighborhoods had similar demographic compositions, neighborhood characteristics and percentage of residents who participated in physical activity before the path was built. PACE worked with local community organizations and the city of New Orleans to build an 8-foot-wide walking path on the tree-covered neutral ground of St. Roch Avenue in 2007.—Keith Brannon

Public Path According to a Tulane study, installing walking paths in neighborhoods spurs people to become more physically active.

Polymer Monitor Wayne Reed’s desire to better understand basic science issues has led to the development of a technology that could fundamentally change manufacturing. The technology, “automated continuous online monitoring of polymerization” or ACOMP, allows real-time monitoring of polymer reactions. “Polymer manufacturing is currently wasting huge amounts of energy and nonrenewable resources. We hope to establish a much more advanced paradigm for 21st-century polymer manufacturing,” says Reed, a professor of physics. Reed and his colleagues in the Tulane Center for Polymer Reaction Monitoring and Characterization, a School of Science and Engineering laboratory, have spent years on basic research. They have published more than 40 scientific articles, obtained millions of dollars in government and private sector research funding, and applied for seven patents that are issued or pending. Now they have founded a spin-off company, Advanced Polymer Monitoring Technologies, to transfer the technology to the industrial sector and commercialization. Reed sees a multibillion-dollar opportunity with ACOMP in the $1.2 trillion polymer industry. The ACOMP process of monitoring and reaction control makes better use of energy, nonrenewable feedstocks and industrial plant and labor time, says Reed. It should increase competitiveness and hence job retention and creation in one of America’s few remaining large manufacturing sectors. It will reduce the amount of green house gas emissions, thus having a positive effect on the ecological footprint of the polymer sector. It also can help prevent product failure and enhance the safety of plant personnel. Polymerization—a chemical reaction in which molecules combine to form larger molecules that contain repeating structural units—is an essential step in the production of materials that are used in everything from planes and cars to paint, adhesives, coatings, fertilizers, electronics, pharmaceuticals and more.—Michael Ramos

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 2

SCHOOL IN INDIA A school in Dayakaur, Rajasthan, India, has been named for John Elstrott, professor of practice and executive director of the LevyRosenblum Institute for Entrepreneurship at the A. B. Freeman School of Business. Traditional Medicinals, a U.S.–based maker of herbal medicinal teas and dietary supplements, built the elementary school.

N E W S

paula burch-celentano

Lead and Violence

Show Me the Mummies They have their own darkened room now, specially outfitted for them and near their custodian, John Verano, in Dinwiddie Hall. The 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummies who have been Tulane residents since 1852 are back in the limelight, with new research under way to try and uncover the mysteries that surround them. Exactly where are they from? Do their mummy cases and other artifacts in the Tulane collection really belong with them? And will anthropologist Verano and visiting Egyptologist Melinda NelsonHurst be able to find out who they really were? Undoubtedly it’s a new chapter in the long existence of the mummies —a male thought to be in his 50s and a teenage girl around 14, who were donated along with their cases to Tulane by antiquities collector George Gliddon some 160 years ago. Gliddon staged elaborate unwrapping shows that fascinated the public at that time. The female mummy was unwrapped at what is now Gallier Hall in New Orleans before she made her way to Tulane, says Verano, a physical anthropologist and professor whose specialty is South American bioarcheology. Verano is an expert in human skeletal and mummified remains but not an Egyptologist, which is why he welcomed an unexpected contact from Nelson-Hurst. A new resident of the Crescent City from the University of Pennsylvania, she was “blown away” to discover Tulane’s small but mysterious collection. She is carefully studying hieroglyphs on the coffins for clues as to their origin and is especially interested in a sheet of papyrus discovered wrapped with the male mummy. She thinks he had the title “overseer of artisans” at the Temple of Amun in Thebes, and was named DjedThoth-ef-ankh, meaning, “Thoth says that he will live.” Less is known about the female mummy. “She is better preserved but the biggest mystery,” Nelson-Hurst says. She and Verano hope to produce a scholarly article about the mummies.—Carol J. Schlueter

SUMMER 2 0 1 2 TULANE MAGA ZINE

Mummies’ Home The Tulane mummies, in the university collection since 1852, have a permanent home in renovated Dinwiddie Hall.

Childhood exposure to lead dust has been linked to lasting physical and behavioral effects, and now lead dust from vehicles using leaded gasoline has been linked to instances of aggravated assault two decades after exposure, says Howard W. Mielke, research professor in pharmacology at the Tulane School of Medicine. The new findings were published in the journal Environment International by Mielke and Sammy Zahran, a demographer at Colorado State University’s Center for Disaster and Risk Analysis. The researchers compared the amount of lead released in six cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, New Orleans and San Diego, during the years 1950–1985. This period saw an increase in airborne lead dust exposure due to the use of leaded gasoline. There were correlating spikes in the rates of aggravated assault approximately two decades later, after the exposed children grew up. After controlling for other possible causes such as community and household income, education, policing effort and incarceration rates, Mielke and Zahran found that for every 1 percent increase in tonnages of environmental lead released 22 years earlier, the present rate of aggravated assault was raised by 0.46 percent. “Children are extremely sensitive to lead dust, and lead exposure has latent neuroanatomical effects that severely impact future societal behavior and welfare,” says Mielke. “Up to 90 percent of the variation in aggravated assault across the cities is explained by the amount of lead dust released 22 years earlier.” Tons of lead dust were released in urban areas by vehicles using leaded gasoline between 1950 and 1985. Improper handling of lead-based paint also has contributed to contamination. “Robust programs to reduce lead exposure of children in the present will have health and social benefits decades into the future, including reduced crime,” the researchers say. —Arthur Nead

owen murphy

Gallery Will Henry Stevens

ABSTRACT AND LANDSCAPE FUSION Newcomb College art professor Jessie Poesch (1923– 2011) wrote in a 2011 American Art Review article that artist Will Henry Stevens was inspired by the idea that spiritual truths cannot be expressed by the direct rendering of objects. This belief led to Stevens’ practice of creating semiabstract

art by juxtaposing landscape representation with abstract images as seen in his 1940s oilon-canvas Untitled Landscape (pictured here). Before his death in 1949, Stevens was a member of the Newcomb Art Department faculty from 1921–48. Early on, he gained recognition for his mastery of colors and enthusiasm

for nature and the environment. Many of Stevens’ paintings still grace the halls of buildings around the Tulane University campus, including Gibson Hall, the Newcomb College Institute and the Alumni House. The maturation of Stevens as an artist is chronicled by a few defining events in his life, many of them connected

to times shared with his family. Time spent with his father, a pharmaceutical chemist, sparked in Stevens an interest in creating colors. “He worked with his father, learning to grind materials and prepare emulsions,” wrote Poesch, who extensively researched the life and career of Stevens. “As an artist he used this knowledge to grind his own pigments.” Critics familiar with Stevens’ paintings often comment first on his exhaustive use of the color spectrum. Equally profound are his nostalgic depictions of nature, often evoking the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he, his wife and daughter vacationed. Once Stevens joined the faculty of the Newcomb Art Department, his artwork would take a noticeable turn. He had spent much of his younger days in the Midwest in and near his native town of Vevay, Ind., but the move to the South began to be reflected in his paintings. Mountainous landscapes gave way to likenesses of flattened topographies. In place of the mountains and the Ohio River Valley, were bayous and the Mississippi River. Toward the end of his tenure on Tulane’s faculty, Stevens viewed a New York exhibit of paintings by abstract artists Wassily Kandinsky, Rudolf Bauer and Paul Klee. It was at this point that Stevens’ style took yet another turn. He did not give up his love for landscapes, but he found a way to make his work even more alluring. His late-career signature fusion of abstract and landscape painting was born. —alicia duplessis jasmin

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 2

paula burch-celentano

Interview Ann Case, University Archivist

If you want to know something odd, old or obscure about Tulane, your best bet would be to talk to university archivist Ann Case (G ’92). For nearly 25 years, she has researched and cataloged all things Tulane—documents, images, video and film. Was being an archivist always your career goal? I came to Tulane for graduate studies in anthropology. My subfield was historical archaeology—digging in the ground— but the historical archaeology

SUMMER 2 0 1 2 TULANE MAGA ZINE

component has the written record to go along with it. I started working in the Louisiana Collection and finally ended up here. How do you feel about your role as “institutional memory”? I like digging through the records. It’s the above-ground version of archaeology. Once you help your first person find something that they don’t think you’ll be able to find, it hooks you—that ability to help make someone’s day happy.

What makes a successful archivist? We have mounds of information in our holdings. I won’t be happy to walk away until most of that is in some sort of discoverable order. I would rather leave after having done more than is still waiting to be done. I think that would be the mark of success. What do you know now about archiving that you didn’t when you started out? History is important. Archaeology is one way to know history,

but preserving history is another way of doing it. Why not be in on it from the beginning and preserve it for someone else down the road? Is there anything surprising about the archives? The aspect of college life that is least represented in University Archives is student life. It’s the one part that nobody documents. We don’t have that viewpoint other than what’s in student newspapers. —ryan rivet

Stadium forums Three community forums were held this summer to present plans for the new on-campus football stadium and gather input from neighbors. More than 500 people attended the three events. The stadium will be completed in time for the 2014 season.

S P O R T S

fox sports

Hand in Glove Tulane’s Curtis Johnson has taken the New Orleans sports scene by storm since his introduction as the Green Wave’s 39th head football coach on Dec. 5, 2011, and the first-year coach has his sights set on making TU into a winner in 2012. Johnson’s transformation of the Green Wave began when the team reported to campus for fall camp on Aug. 5 and three days later the local, state and national media got a taste of Johnson’s philosophies and goals during the Tulane football media day. “First of all, I don’t just want to build a team for this year. I want to build a program. I want to raise the bar. When you build a program, what you start off doing is putting one foot in front of the other. When we run onto the field, I want people to be able to identify Tulane football with this brand,” Johnson said. Among Tulane’s returners is senior quarterback Ryan Griffin, who is the most experienced quarterback returning among Conference USA’s signal callers. “I like what I’ve seen in Ryan. He’s a good leader for us both on and off the field and he is a hard worker. I expect him to have a great season,” Johnson said.—Roger Dunaway

Defining moments often happen when you least expect them. Turn right instead of left, accept an invitation or don’t. Any one choice could make a lifelong difference for someone. For senior Lydia Hand, one of those decisions came in her first semester of her freshman year. She went to the Reily Recreation Center looking for something that would keep her active. What she found was kickboxing, something that would ultimately take her beyond the recreational level. In fact, in less than three years she became the International Chinese Martial Arts World Champion. An otherwise “mediocre athlete,” Hand says knew she had found her sport by the time she completed the kickboxing class. She immediately joined a dojo not far from the uptown campus, and she continued to “fall in love” with the sport. “Initially, I was just looking for that physical challenge,” Hand says. “But the mental aspect of it is what really kept me coming back. It’s kind of like playing chess, but if you make a wrong move, you’re going to get punched in the face. “ She was already in the gym training regularly by the time she decided to fight competitively. Hand competed in and won the amateur championship held at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., last November. Her victory steeled her resolve to take her participation in the sport to the next level. Hand says she wants to do justice to women in the sport and her focus now is on fighting professionally. Not only is she training to fight, she also bought into the gym and manages the business. “This is what I want to do with my life,” Hand says. “I have a goal in mind, and I’m going towards it.”—R.R.

Boxing Champ Lydia Hand finds her focus in the physically challenging sport of boxing.

positive press Coach Curtis Johnson and quarterback Ryan Griffin are interviewed in Dallas during Conference USA media day in July.

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 2

ryan rivet

Raise the Bar

Tinted

Paradise In New Orleans Observed, architecture professor Errol Barron drafts an affectionate homage to “America’s most foreign city.” by Nick Marinello

“We shape our buildings, and afterward our buildings shape us,” said Winston Churchill long ago and far away, in the middle of a war that had pummeled much of his nation’s built environment. Churchill understood the ongoing relationship of humans and the structures they create, how buildings not only shelter us, but lend to us identity, industry, purpose. Errol Barron (A ’64), who has practiced and taught the art and science of architecture in New Orleans for nearly five decades, knows a thing or two about the kinship between people and place. “I think there is a reciprocal relationship between the way a city looks and is made and the way people behave,” he says, adding that older buildings in particular have “a powerful effect on us.” Last December, Barron published New Orleans Observed: Drawings and Observations of America’s Most Foreign City, a book that contemplates the city’s idiosyncratic architecture as well as its “contrarian embracing of the modern world.” Drafted in pencil and tinted with washes of watercolor, the images comprise a singular excursion through the city, one marked not so much by breathtaking views of iconic structures as intimate, amiable perusals along the city’s streets. “I started downriver and worked my way up,” says Barron, who is the Favrot Professor of Architecture. “And every time I saw something that interested me I started drawing.” On sabbatical from his teaching duties, Barron worked on the

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

drawings during a four-month period, canvassing neighborhoods by bike or, more often, in his convertible. “I’d push the seat back, tilt the steering wheel to give myself a surface to work on, sit there listening to the radio and draw. It was heaven.” All along his route, Barron observed a city in decaying splendor. Part of the charm of New Orleans, he says, is the pretension for grandeur (revealed through classical architectural elements such as columns, entablatures and ornate decoration) that is undermined by “a propensity for ruin.” “Everything looks seedy after a while,” says Barron, who adds that the working title for the book was “The Tainted Paradise.” “There’s a peculiar kind of attitude, which is a combination of celebration and pessimism. With all its problems, New Orleans is a city of enormous richness—visual richness and psychic richness.” Asked what he hopes others will take away from his book, Barron pauses, then laughs as he says, “An affection for abnormality.” Monumental In that spirit, New Orleans Observed is Built with granite in a more of a homage to the city than a guideproject begun in 1848, book to its physicality. “It’s not really about the Customs House the architecture so much as the experioccupies an entire city ence of being near the architecture or in block along the edge of its presence.” the French Quarter.

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

Through the Doors to the Courtyard Built as a private residence in the early 19th century, the Napoleon House has over the years been a grocery store, a retreat for local intelligentsia and now a must-see stop for tourists.

Portrait of the Artist Errol Barron is an architect, a painter and the Favrot Professor of Architecture at Tulane, where he teaches design and drawing. A founding partner of Errol Barron/ Michael Toups Architects, he was the winner of the 1995 Gabriel Prize, presented each year for the study of architecture in France, and was made a Fellow in the American Institute of Architecture in 1994. In 2012, he was awarded the Medal of Honor of the Louisiana AIA.

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

Form and Function A centrally located pumping station is one of many in a complex network of structures that keeps the city dry (most of the time).

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

Bywater and by Tulane Above: As Barron notes on his drawing, an â&#x20AC;&#x153;odd jangle of buildingsâ&#x20AC;? sits in the Bywater neighborhood. Left: Directly across from Gibson Hall, handsome pylons provide a civic entrance to Audubon Park.

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

Claudette Barrius

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

Inner

Circle

b e f ore he c reated the hb o hit “ent our age ,” d oug e l l in wa s ano th er wr iter strug gling t o m a ke it b ig in th e bar e-knuckled environs of hol ly wo od. n ow he ’s the guy everyone want s t o g e t t o k now. by David McKay Wilson A year after writing the final episode of HBO’s hit comedy “Entourage,” the show’s creator, Doug Ellin (A&S ’90) has just sat down to write the script for Entourage, the movie. “I literally started this morning¸ and all I have so far is ‘fade in,’” says Ellin one evening in May, noting the directions at the beginning of a movie. “I don’t know how I wrote ‘Entourage’ for eight years. So you sit around. You think. You hope for some magic. You hope something shows up out of thin air. It seems like it should be easier to come up with one movie than a season worth of stories. I know the characters, I could write dialogue for these guys all day.” So it goes for Ellin, 44, one of television’s leading writers, whose fast-paced serial about a Hollywood actor, his agent, and three childhood friends from Queens, N.Y., ran for eight seasons, providing Sunday night viewers with a glimpse inside the high-flying world in which Ellin has thrived for the past two decades. Ellin has a sizable Tulane entourage within his “Entourage.” The show’s executive producer, Steve Levinson (B ’87), approached him to write the show in 2000; Levinson will co-produce the Entourage movie. Three of Ellin’s friends from the Tulane class of 1991 have lent their names to characters in the show: Scott Lavin (A&S ’91), an attorney, of Demarest, N.J.; Alison Brod (NC ’91), who owns a Manhattan public relations agency; and Andrew Klein (A&S ’91), a marketing exPen Pals ecutive, of Chappaqua, N.Y. Loyalty to friends, The character named after Scott Lavin is an whether real-life or ornery studio executive who makes life tough fictional, is a guiding principle for Doug Ellin. for “E,” one of the star’s business partners.

The real Scott Lavin appeared in two episodes, including one in which he delivered a line. “Doug is dynamic, funny, smart and tortured, a really great guy,” says Lavin. “He was always clever and funny, and very optimistic about getting things accomplished. It was kind of like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off—Doug would think of something, and he would make it happen.” Levinson says Ellin is a masterful collaborator who can take an idea, and run with it. “It all starts with ideas, then Doug will go off and bang out a script,” says Levinson. “With the Entourage movie, we want to stay true to the show. And Doug always had a great feel for what’s right for the show.” Ellin, who usually looks like he needs a shave, keeps in shape playing basketball and boxing in the gym. He lives in Beverly Hills, Calif., with his wife, Melissa; son, Lucas, 10; and daughter, Maya, 8. Lucas played the son of an “Entourage” character, and Maya appeared in the show’s final season. Ellin is a loyal friend, not unlike one of the guys in “Entourage.” This spring, he was in New Orleans for Jazz Fest with Brod and 40 others to listen to music and eat seafood po’boys, shrimp and softshell crabs. They stayed up to the wee hours one morning for a show that began at 2 a.m. featuring The Meters, one of their crowd’s favorite bands from their college years. “The loyalty of the group on ‘Entourage’ is parallel with how Doug lives his own life,” says Brod, who hosted a party for him at her Hamptons’ beach house to celebrate the show’s final season. “He’s one of the rare celebrities who has equal power in New York and LA. When he comes to New York, it’ s a big deal. Everybody wants to come to his table.”

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

B.F.F.s

Claudette Barrius

Doug Ellin (second from left) poses with cast members from “Entourage,” the hit HBO show he created. Facing page: Ellin is the guest of honor at a party hosted by Alison Brod. Brod is among several Tulane alumni after whom “Entourage” characters are named.

If they do, there’s a good chance the dishes will be piled high. Doug Ellin loves to eat. On a recent trip to New Orleans, he dined large at The American Sector, a chef John Besh restaurant located in the National World War II Museum on Magazine Street. That day, Ellin ordered four appetizers, three entrees, two side dishes, a milkshake and dessert. “The waiters kept telling me to stop, but I wanted to try everything,” he recalls. “It was very high-end comfort food: meatloaf with mashed potatoes, chicken and dumplings, chicken pot pie, crab pies, a bananas Foster milkshake and incredible tomato soup.” When Ellin visits New York, Lavin often joins him for a bite. “I swear Doug has tapeworms,” says Lavin. “No one eats more, or enjoys it more, than he does. We’ll drive 15 miles to Brooklyn for that perfect slice of pizza. He freaks on good food.” Creating shows for HBO Since the “Entourage” run ended in June 2011, Ellin has remained in high demand in Hollywood. His two-year contract with HBO calls for him to create and produce new shows. He has shot two pilots and two more are in development. Hollywood can be unforgiving, even for its best talent. Neither of the completed pilots was tapped for production. One pilot, “Da Brick,” directed by Spike Lee, is a drama that explores the life of a young black man in postracial America, loosely based on the experiences of boxer Mike Tyson. The second, a comedy called “40,” is an autobiographical look at four lifelong friends who help each other navigate life at the age of 40. Ellin says that “40” is on hold. “It’s still alive, and I’d be surprised if it didn’t get produced,” says Ellin. “But who knows.” He’s working with Lee on another pilot, “Dead-end Boys,” which creates a drama/comedy inside the world of Division I college basketball. Ellin came up with the idea, and Lee was working on a second draft of the script in May. “If it goes, Spike will be the director,” says Ellin. “It could be fun.” Studio executives often call in Ellin to buff up a promising script that needs work. This spring, he reworked the script for Grudge

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

Match, which pits two 50-year-olds against each other in the ring, decades after their title bout. Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro were in conversations to play the aging pugilists. “I quietly help them make the movie better,” Ellin says. “You are in and out in four weeks or so, and not married to it for a long time, like it is when you write and direct your own film.” Ellin figures the Entourage movie will take at least 18 months to complete—from the writing through production. It’s a different rhythm than writing a hit comedy series. During the eight seasons of “Entourage,” with 12 to 20 episodes per season, Ellin would write from September through April. He also was involved in directing the halfhour episodes, which would get filmed from April through August. Tough work Writing is not a happy experience for Ellin. “It’s a tortured business,” he says. “I’m a social, outgoing guy. But writing is a solitary thing, in a room all by yourself. Sometimes it feels like an al-Qaida interrogation. It’s just not fun.” The idea for “Entourage” developed in the late 1990s when Levinson, who at the time was Ellin’s manager, approached him with the idea for a show based on actor and rapper Mark Wahlberg’s early days in Hollywood. Launching a hit show doesn’t happen overnight. Ellin says he wrote at least 20 versions of the pilot over two years, creating different versions of the characters, widening the cast to include bodyguards and chefs, then finally shrinking it to the core group: an agent, a fledgling star and his three buddies from Queens. “HBO had its thoughts, I had my thoughts, you go back and forth, and you land somewhere that everybody is happy,” says Ellin. “It was a process. I had not done a television show yet, so it gave them time to know me.” While the concept was based on Wahlberg’s experience, the background of his entourage shifted south of Wahlberg’s turf in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. The guys on “Entourage” come from Queens, a short ride on the Long Island Expressway from Ellin’s home in suburban Long Island. The son of an accountant, Ellin grew up a New York

“It’s a tortured business. I’m a social, outgoing guy. But writing is a solitary thing, in a room all by yourself.” —Doug Ellin Islanders fan in Merrick, on Nassau County’s south shore, about 30 miles from downtown Manhattan. When he was a high school freshman, he visited his brother, Rob Ellin (A&S ’87) at Tulane. On his visits he found a liking to the city, and discovered that he wouldn’t be the only Jewish kid from Long Island to come of age there in the late 1980s. “It was such a vibrant city, and I fell in love with the food and the music,” Ellin recalls. “There was a sense of lawlessness, too. Everything about it appealed to me.” Funny man At Tulane, he majored in English and prepared for law school, a pathway that met with his parents’ approval. He applied to several schools to find

his way in the legal world. But he’d also taken an acting class at Tulane. At a comedy club one night, he complained to a friend that the performers just weren’t that funny. A friend challenged him to try it himself. Doug Ellin was funny. He was so funny that he declared after graduation that he was moving to Los Angeles to become a stand-up comedian. And that was no joke. “My parents weren’t happy,” he recalls. “Their big-time investment in Tulane didn’t seem like it was paying off.” But Ellin was serious about comedy. He worked the comedy-club scene, doing monologues at The Improv and The Comedy Store. But Hollywood beckoned. He took a job in the mailroom of New Line Cinema. He was working on a short film, and needed money to produce it. He did a stand-up show to raise money. New Line’s production head Michael DeLuca saw the show, and gave Ellin $5,000 for The Pitch, which explores the reasons why so many movie projects never get funded. It stars David Schwimmer, of “Friends” fame, and includes a scene featuring a fresh-shaven Ellin, who pitches a movie in which he hopes to cast De Niro or Sir Laurence Olivier in starring roles, only to learn in the pitch meeting that Olivier is dead. The short revealed Ellin’s ear for dialogue, his fascination with the entertainment industry, and his irrepressible wit. “What do you, mean, dead?” Ellin asks when told of Olivier’s passing. “I just saw him on TV.” That film aired on the premium cable channel Showtime. It led to Ellin’s matriculation in the directing program at the American Film Institute. He left after a year, impatient to begin his rise up the Hollywood ladder, which he did, in large part, by turning a mirror on the industry itself. His 29-minute film, The Waiter, is another Hollywood tale about a young man who heads to Los Angeles to become a waiter. Schwimmer plays the aspiring waiter’s nemesis, the “evil waiter” in a dog-eat-dog world, in which an agent takes a 60 percent fee for landing the young waiter a job as apprentice to a water boy. The film recasts the age-old tale of the aspiring actor who never progresses beyond waiting tables. Then came the low-budget film, Phat Beach, which celebrates a guy who borrows his Dad’s Mercedes for a hip-hop vacation at the ocean. (Twenty years later, the film, shot with a budget of $100,000, is still playing on cable television.) On a roll Ellin was on a roll now. By 1998, he wrote and directed his first major film, Kissing a Fool, again starring Schwimmer. Eight years after heading to LA to make stand-up comedy, he had directed a romantic comedy with a $1.9 million budget. “I was somewhat fortunate,” he says. “It went well, fairly quickly. But then after the film came out in 1998, I had some struggles. I got a little cocky. It tends to happen in Hollywood, and you find yourself with no money.” So he worked on a few television shows, kept his hand in the game, until receiving a call from Levinson, who was good friends at Tulane with Ellin’s brother, Rob. “I’d seen him do some other stuff,” recalls Levinson, who was at Dixon Hall on the Tulane campus in January 2012 to shoot scenes for the upcoming film, Broken City, starring Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg. “I believed in Doug’s talent.” That talent developed significantly over the ensuing decade, as he and Levinson turned “Entourage” into one of HBO’s top shows. Ellin often gives talks on college campuses to those considering a career in television and film. He was back at Tulane this spring to give advice to students considering a career in Tinseltown. “I told them if they were smart, they’d focus on some other business,” says Ellin. “But for those who really love it more than anything, I told them they needed to move to LA to pursue it. If you want to be in television, you need to be in LA.”

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

daymon gardner

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

Eat to

LIVE Dr. Gourmet has cooked up a way to make you healthier. by Keith Brannon

All ’choked up The inescapable link between food and health is the central tenet that integrates Dr. Timothy Harlan’s various roles as physician, writer and online personality.

Dr. Timothy Harlan has a simple message: To be well, you’ve got to eat well. That’s what the assistant professor of medicine tells his patients if they want to lose weight, manage their diabetes or keep their blood pressure in check. It’s also advice he shares online every month with about a quarter million people he’ll likely never meet. In the virtual world, Harlan, who by day is also medical director for Tulane’s outpatient clinics, becomes Dr. Gourmet—a friendly physician, chef and lifestyle guru who dispenses practical advice about how to eat and prepare nutritious foods and lead a healthier life. His site, DrGourmet.com, attracts 250,000 unique visitors a month and sends out more than 125,000 email newsletters a week. It’s packed with easily digestible health news, tips and very specific information about how to adapt eating habits for diabetes, acid reflux, lactose intolerance or a blood-thinner regimen. He also regularly answers readers’ questions. And, as with Dr. Oz, nothing’s off-limits. Do low-carb diets really work? Will a glass of wine at night wreck a diet? Do peach pits contain cyanide? Is it OK to put starchy peas on salad? (His answers: “usually,” “quite the opposite,” “harmless trace amounts” and “of course!”) “The mission of Dr. Gourmet is to deliver evidence-based diet and nutrition information for the lay public—in a way that tastes really great,” says Harlan, who was a chef before becoming a doctor.

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

“People don’t know how to cook for themselves anymore,” Harlan says. “The No. 1 food enemy is that people don’t know how to read recipes, plan meals ahead and create shopping lists.”

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

His advice, while rooted in sound medical science, isn’t highbrow or preachy. In fact, Dr. Gourmet loves food just as much as his readers. But he also knows that most people get so much conflicting diet information that they’re not sure what they should be eating. And with statistics showing that 65 percent of Americans are overweight and a growing 33 percent are obese, something has to change. Harlan thinks the best strategy is to help people kick prepackaged convenience meals and fast-food habits by teaching them to reclaim their kitchens. “People don’t know how to cook for themselves anymore,” Harlan says. “The No. 1 food enemy is that people have lost the understanding and ability to read recipes, plan meals ahead and create shopping lists so they can go home and cook for themselves.” He’s also learned that many don’t put health information into context. For example, calorie postings don’t mean anything if someone doesn’t know how many calories they should be eating. How much salt is too much? Most of us have no idea. “I am stunned every day by how much people don’t know,” Harlan says. “That’s why we first talk about food and ingredients—things people understand and relate to—and not calories, carbs, protein and fat. I do talk about those things because I want them to know what they eat, but first and foremost, I want to talk about recipes and ingredients.” The formula seems to work. Harlan has written four cookbooks and diet guides, including last year’s Just Tell Me What to Eat! Dr. Gourmet has been featured on CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Food Network and the DIY channel. There’s even a Dr. Gourmet iPhone and iPad app for dieters on the go. Healthy—and delicious Harlan wasn’t always Dr. Gourmet. In fact, he never planned to be a doctor. He grew up in the restaurant business and opened his own French bistro in Athens, Ga., at age 22. He eventually closed shop to pursue a degree in hotel and restaurant management. When a family member was diagnosed with diabetes, Harlan learned firsthand how diet could have a huge impact on health. The experience inspired him to become a doctor. He even published his first cookbook, It’s Heartly Fare, as a student at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. The book, a patient manual about salt, fat and cholesterol, is in its eighth printing. It’s still used by hospitals today. After finishing his residency and joining a family medicine practice outside of Washington, D.C., he and his brother put together a healthy cooking show with Harlan as the on-camera chef. “The Dr. Gourmet Show” ran on public television and won an Emmy for excellence in medical broadcasting in 2002. It eventually landed him a stint as a health expert on the Food Network and DIY cable channels. Soon he began writing about the clear link between food and health in books and on DrGourmet.com, blending his extensive knowledge of food and nutrition with his medical expertise. The site is run by Harlan’s wife, Morgan, a former webmaster for the Association of American Medical Colleges. They moved to New Orleans in 2006, when Harlan joined the Tulane faculty. In six years, they have grown the site to more than 6,000 pages of content including 2,000-plus recipes. Harlan’s challenge is convincing readers that healthy food also can be delicious. “If people think it’s healthy, then they think it can’t taste good,” he says. Dr. Gourmet’s advice boils down to three tenets: • Eat the highest-quality calories you can. • Follow the nine principles of the Mediterranean diet, which focuses on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, plant-based proteins, seafood and lean meats. • Whenever possible, prepare your own meals. He tempts readers with recipes for foods they already know. Take fettuccine Alfredo. The traditional version may be delicious, but it’s usually a high-fat, salt-laden carb festival. The dish at Olive Garden weighs

Labor of love Hicks’ experience constitutes a rare overlap of the worlds of Dr. Harlan and Dr. Gourmet. “A lot of my patients have no idea what Dr. Gourmet is,” Harlan admits. “I don’t spend a lot of time saying, ‘Hey, buy my book,’ or ‘Go to my website.’” But that doesn’t mean he checks his online persona at the door when he’s with patients. When he starts an intake history for a physical, one of his first questions is “What did you have for breakfast?” “I do a dietary history. It’s not comprehensive, but a 24-hour recall. I’ll ask what they snack on. I ask people a lot of lifestyle questions. I ask people things like, ‘What time do you get up in the morning?’ Because I want to know, what are your barriers (to health)?” he says. “We all have barriers. Is it, ‘Well, I have to get the kids off to school,’ or ‘I’ve got to get to work on time?’ So I am thinking lifestyle on all my patients. Why do you go to Chili’s every day for lunch? You’re going there because you haven’t planned.” Harlan wants his patients to understand that diet and exercise should be a planned part of their lifestyle. “They plan everything else,” he says. “I try to find any opening that I can shove my foot in the door to get them to see that.” For example, one of his patients said he

daymon gardner

in at 1,220 calories with 75 grams of fat and 1,350 milligrams of salt. Dr. Gourmet’s version adds shrimp and broccoli and uses wholewheat pasta. Instead of butter and cream, the sauce is made with 2 percent milk thickened with a little flour and flavored with an ounce each of goat and Parmesan cheeses. The difference? It’s only 539 calories per serving, with 547 mg of salt and only 14 grams of fat. Those who stick to the plan will lose weight gradually, Harlan says. Elaine Hicks, a colleague and health science librarian at the Rudolph Matas Library at Tulane, went to see Harlan as a patient last year after trying in vain to shed extra pounds. She took Lipitor and hydrochlorothiazide to control high cholesterol and high blood pressure. She started Dr. Gourmet’s meal plans and blogged about her journey on Harlan’s website. In five months, she lost 15 pounds by exercising more and changing the way she and her husband approached food. “I feel so much better. I feel like myself again,” she said. “I had a biophysical change. My blood pressure and high cholesterol both went down so I don’t take those drugs any more.” She’s also noticed that her taste buds changed. She’s so used to low-salt meals that processed foods and other indulgences are now way too salty. “They don’t taste good to me any more,” she says.

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

daymon gardner

Harlan wants his patients to understand that diet and exercise should be a planned part of their lifestyle. “They plan everything else,” he says.

didn’t have extra time in the day to work out, but did attend his son’s little league games each week. Harlan’s suggestion? Try walking the track near the field while watching the game. He counseled another patient with similar issues to try to catch the bus on his way to work a few blocks from his normal stop and to get off a few blocks early. Harlan takes it hard if he can’t inspire his patients to make a change. “If I have to write them a prescription, it is a personal failure. If I have to pull out a prescription pad and write a prescription for glipizide or nifedipine, I have failed,” Harlan says. Habits are hard to change for both patients and their doctors. Harlan says that many physicians aren’t comfortable going into great detail with their patients about diet because they haven’t had the training, and many just don’t have the time. It’s simpler to send them to a dietitian or write a prescription. “It is really challenging for us right now, especially in a world where physicians’ time is so precious and being squeezed in so many different directions. I don’t think that we have created great programs to help (doctors) with that skill set of how to talk to their patients about those things in a very short period of time,” he says.

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

He advises colleagues who want to engage their patients about diet to first learn everything they can about the Mediterranean diet and its benefits. Then they should focus on helping patients make small, incremental changes that align with it. Studies show that adopting just a couple of Mediterranean diet principles, like eating more whole grains and legumes, can reduce risk for heart attacks from vascular disease. The tough part is staying motivated to keep your patients motivated, Harlan says. Dr. Gourmet has never been a terribly remunerative avocation, Harlan says, particularly for the amount of time and effort that he Morgan put into it. “Along about the time that our energy begins to wane and Morgan and I are just ready to throw in the towel, we get an email or someone posts on our Facebook page, saying, ‘I’ve been on the program for two or three months and me and my husband have lost 12 pounds!’ “And we always look at each other and go, damn! Why did you have to say that because it means that we have to keep going! I love Dr. Gourmet. And responses like that just crank us back up.”

tracie morris schaeffer

Kerri Dotson, right, an intern with Johnson & Wales University, coaches community clinic patient Janice Ford in healthy cooking techniques at the Brinton Family Health and Healing Center, as part of the new culinary medicine collaboration with Tulane University.

Kitchen to accommodate stovetop lessons The Tulane School of Medicine is partnering with the College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University to launch a new center for culinary medicine to teach students, residents and physicians the tenets of healthy cooking and nutrition. The cornerstone of the program will be a teaching kitchen—the first of its kind for a medical school. The off-campus, custom-designed classroom and research space will be outfitted with professional cooking stations, stoves and ovens. In this environment, medical students will learn about healthy cooking so that they can, in turn, bring these skills into the community. “There is clear evidence that when physicians, including medical students, follow a healthy lifestyle, they are better able to empower their patients to follow their lead and make healthier choices,” says Dr. Timothy Harlan, executive director of the new program. The goal is to help students understand the impact of cooking on medicine, nutrition, health and disease. Since so many of the leading causes of disease in America can be traced back to diet and lifestyle, physicians need more practical training in food and health, says Dr. Benjamin Sachs, dean of the School of Medicine, senior vice president of the university and James R. Doty Distinguished Professor and Chair. “Obesity is the most important public health problem facing this country,” Sachs says. “To understand nutrition has become critical and to teach it in conjunction with culinary science is a new way to reinforce the education of physicians.” Program director is chef Leah Sarris, a former professor at Johnson & Wales, a university based in Providence, R.I., that is renowned for its education in culinary and hospitality areas. Sarris, Harlan, Dr. David Franklin, associate professor of biochemistry, and Dr. Chayan Chakraborti, assistant professor of medicine, are working to integrate cooking and nutrition into the first- and second-year Tulane medical curricula.—K.B.

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

ETHICS IN MEDICINE The Prim Smith Essay Award in Medical Ethics is given each year to a graduating medical student at Tulane University, in memory of the Rev. Prim Smith (B ’49, L ’51), who advanced the study of medical ethics and created a full chaplaincy at the medical school.

T U L A N I A N S

PAULA BURCH-CELENTANO

Stage of Dreams

Team Works

—Fran Simon

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

On the Street Robert Whitman Jr. gives back to the community through numerous initiatives, including leading youth rebuilding efforts.

theater triumph

A softball championship won by theater majors a half century ago is commemorated in a trophy.

BRUCE JOHNSON

Robert F. Whitman Jr. (A&S ’73) of New Orleans was watching a local news program when he became interested in a story about a high school French teacher, Lydia Onimo (PHTM ’10), who was having trouble raising funds to take her students on a trip to France. Moved by the account, Whitman donated $9,600 so that the students could take the trip. “It’s what we do,” says Whitman, who habitually talks in first person plural when discussing his own philanthropy and community service. A senior counselor and former director of guidance at Archbishop Rummel High School, Whitman has spent untold hours during the past 30 years mentoring and coaching youth. Like his father, the late Robert F. Whitman Sr. (A&S ’50), and his son, Robert J. Whitman (’07, SSE ’08), Whitman was a Green Wave baseball player. The concept of teamwork instilled in him as a Tulane student-athlete has spilled over into his community service. His passion is to teach business skills to youth (Whitman is also a certified financial planner) by guiding them in volunteer efforts that the teens select themselves. “Our classroom is on the streets,” Whitman says. “We visit, identify the needs, lend a hand, and change the social fabric of how we relate.” Since Hurricane Katrina, Whitman’s focus has been working with teens to rebuild houses. For a week this summer, he led 80 volunteers from youth groups around the country, including “Presbyterians, Baptists and Catholics,” he says, working alongside New Orleans young people. By summer’s end, he will have worked with 1,500 volunteers. “We don’t just build houses, we build people.” Whitman says.

A small troupe of former Tulane University theater students went to the Big Apple on April 16, 2012, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the undefeated 1962 season of their softball team, the TUT (Tulane University Theatre) Tigers. Coached by theater department chair Monroe “Doc” Lippman, the team’s final game was a 4-2 victory over the champions of the Fraternity League, Sigma Alpha Mu. Though the players all have enjoyed prominent careers in theater, their fondest memories are the comradeship, laughter and silliness of their undefeated season, says Tom Markus (G ’62) of Salt Lake City. “Tulane should take pride in the nationally recognized accomplishments and contributions of this group—and not least for the unlikely and whimsical truth of our prowess in softball,” says Markus, who has retired from academic life and is a freelance actor and director. He will be seen this winter in the Hallmark Channel’s “Doorway.” Among their many career highlights, collectively they have taught at many universities and schools across the country (including Tulane), acted on stage (including Broadway) and screen, directed theater companies in the U.S. and internationally, founded professional theater training programs and an arts school, and written numerous books and a musical theater score. Other members of the team who pitched in for the reunion were former second baseman Michael Birtwistle (G ’62, ’67), of Amherst, Mass.; former left fielder Jack Cowles (A&S ’62) of Los Angeles, and his wife, Carolyn Cowles, who used to fill in as a right fielder; former shortstop J. Michael Miller (G ’62, ’63) of New York; and former center fielder Barry J. Stein (A&S ’61) of Greenwich, Conn.—F.S.

Dispatch Stanley Motta W H E R E

Y ’ A T !

1930s KATHERINE KAMMER BERGERET (NC ’32) celebrated her 102nd birthday on July 4, 2012, at the Poydras Home in New Orleans, where she is the oldest resident. 1950s After celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., FRANK COSTLEY (B ’51) and EDWINA SAUNDERS COSTLEY (NC ’53) picked up their newly restored 1897 Punnett Companion double bike, which has been in the family for more than 100 years. As a boy, Frank Costley rode it behind the Rex parade during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. 1960s JACK KUSHER (A&S ’60) was appointed honorary director general of the International Biographical Centre, which has published 34 major Who’s Who titles in more than 150 separate editions.

JERRY GREENBAUM (B ’62) was named the Tulane Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year this spring. He is chairman of CentraArchy Affiliates, a family business that owns upscale restaurants, retail alcohol outlets and industrial real estate companies throughout the Southeast. Among other gifts to the A. B. Freeman School of Business, Greenbaum played a pivotal role in the construction of Goldring/ Woldenberg Hall II, and in 2011, he joined the Board of Tulane. DANIEL LUND (L ’63), a partner with Montgomery Barnett in New Orleans, received the Louisiana Bar Foundation 2012 Curtis R. Boisfontaine Trial Advocacy Award. Lund was selected for his long-standing devotion to excellence in trial practice and for upholding the standards of ethics and consideration for the courts, litigants and all counsel in his practice of law. MARK LICHTENSTEIN (A&S ’64) received the American Jewish Committee Atlanta regional office’s Selig Distinguished Service Award this spring. The award is given for dedication, commitment and generosity to the enhancement of the Atlanta community. Lichtenstein is the CEO of Industrial Packaging, one of the largest packaging and equipment companies in the Southeastern United States. HARRY ESKEW (G ’66) recently traveled with the Georgia Baptist men’s chorus (the 143-member Sons of Jubal) to China and North

courtesy of stanley motta

JOHN J. BARCELÓ III (A&S ’62, L ’66) was named to the French Legion of Honor by former French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Barceló was instrumental in launching Cornell Law School’s study abroad partnership with the Sorbonne Law School in Paris—one of only two such partnerships between the countries. Barceló is the Elizabeth and Arthur Reich Director of the Berger International Legal Studies Program at Cornell.

WALK THE TALK If you ask Stanley Motta (B ’67) about a magical elixir for success, he’ll feign ignorance, saying, “If anyone knows what it is, I’d like to know it.” But then he’ll pause, and say, “Walk the talk. You have to be the example in everything.” Secret sauce? Maybe not, but sound guiding words that have led Motta to his position as one of Panama’s leaders in business. Motta, who was born in Panama, returned home to join the family business after attending prep school in New England and graduating from Tulane. Today, he is the president of what is now Motta Internacional, a wholesale distributor and operator of duty-free stores in Latin America. Among other top positions in finance and real estate, Motta also is chairman of Copa Holdings, the parent company of Panama’s Copa Airlines and Colombia’s Copa Colombia Airlines. According to Motta, successfully growing a company is not just about “having a strategy and implementing it.” There are two things that matter a lot, he says: “Purpose and culture.” The mission—or purpose—of Copa Airlines is to connect Latin America with Latin America. Over the past five years, Copa’s growth has enabled it to increase by 138 percent the number of passengers connecting through its Panama City “Hub of the Americas.” Motta attributes this increase to a growing middle class as well as the expansion of trade between Latin American countries. As a leading airline in Latin America, Copa has both benefited from as well as contributed to this growth. What’s next for Motta? It’s hard to say. “New ventures are never substantial,” he says. “We start out small and let it grow. Very seldom in our history have we done anything big from scratch.” —Catherine Freshley

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

GLASS ART To celebrate the reopening of the Bea Field Alumni House, the Tulane University Women’s Association presented a handcrafted bowl made by Gene Koss, Tulane University’s premier glass worker and an honorary alumnus.

W H E R E

Y ’ A T !

Korea. The group was recognized as the best large performing group at the annual spring arts festival in Pyongyang. In Beijing, the Sons of Jubal sang two joint concerts with music students at the Central Conservatory of Music. CONRAD MEYER IV (A&S ’66, L ’69, ’81), a partner at Adams and Reese law firm, was elected to serve on the board of directors of Hibernia Bancorp and its subsidiary, Hibernia Bank. JOHN H. MUSSER IV (A&S ’66, L ’69), a sole practitioner with offices in New Orleans and Covington, La., was installed as the 72nd president of the Louisiana State Bar Association in June. Musser is counsel to the Covington law office of Leon A. Aucoin and the law office of Toledano & Herrin. Musser and his wife, Stephanie, have been married for 22 years and have a combined family of six children and 11 grandchildren. ILMARS BIRZNIEKS (G ’68) published two books in 2011: Incident at Cape San Blas and Arrows Never Flew. DANIEL COLLEY (G ’68) was named a fellow of the American Academy for Microbiology. Colley is director of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases and director of the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation. He also is a professor of microbiology at the University of Georgia. MICHAEL G. GOLDSTEIN (A&S ’68), in conjunction with the American Bar Association, released the second edition of Taxation and Funding of Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation: A Complete Guide to Design and Implementation. Goldstein, president and CEO for Summit Alliance Executive Benefits, is a national authority on executive compensation, taxation, estate planning and corporate law. 1970s MARIAN LEVY (NC ’72) is assistant dean of students and public health practice at the University of Memphis School of Public Health, where she has been director of the master of public health program since 2007. She also is president of the Tennessee Public Health Association. Levy earned a doctorate in public health from the University of California–Los Angeles. MARLENE ESKIND MOSES (NC ’72, SW ’73) received the Distinguished Alumna Award from the Newcomb Alumnae Association in May. She is managing partner and founder of the matrimonial and family law firm Moses Townsend & Russ, based in Nashville, Tenn. DAVID WILENSKY (M ’72) is a pediatrician specializing in children who have attention deficit disorder or pervasive developmental disorder. He has a private practice in Israel. Caravan of Thieves, the first novel written by former screenwriter DAVID RICH (A&S ’73), was published by Dutton in August.

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

RICHARD DUCOTE (A&S ’74) was awarded the 2012 Sol Gothard Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Organization of Forensic Social Work. The award recognized the 34 years he has spent as an attorney representing victims of domestic violence and child abuse across the country. Ducote moved to Pittsburgh after Hurricane Katrina.

The second book by JAY MAZZA (A&S ’83, G ’85), Up Front and Center: New Orleans Music at the End of the 20th Century, was published by Threadhead Cultural Foundation. Mazza is the chair of the Big Easy Entertainment Awards committee and blogs at TheVinylDistrict.com.

W. BENJAMIN JOHNSON (A&S ’75), an attorney in the Birmingham, Ala., office of Burr and Forman, is on the “2012 Alabama Super Lawyers” list in the practice area of real estate.

SUZY GUICHARD McDANIEL (NC ’83) received the 2012 Community Service Award from the Newcomb Alumnae Association in May for forming three nonprofit organizations: The Quality of Life Foundation, which maintains orphanages for HIV-positive children in Honduras; Support Our War Heroes, which assists military members who sustained life-altering injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan; and the Dr. Kelvin McDaniel ALS Foundation, in memory of her husband.

Former Tulane football punter HOWARD McNEILL (UC ’76) received the Bobby Cadenhead Award of Merit from the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame’s Mississippi Gulf Coast chapter for exemplifying leadership, dedication and enthusiasm, and for setting the standard for excellence in a life of service to the community.

WILLIAM DORE BINDER (M ’84, PHTM ’04) was appointed to the board of trustees of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care Institute. Binder practices at Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge, La., where he serves on the board of trustees, and was previously chairman of the board. He is a member of the American College of Physician Executives.

DAVID A. BEYER (A&S ’78, B ’79) was named a Legal Eagle for 2012 by Franchise Times magazine. Beyer practices in the Tampa, Fla., office of Quarles & Brady as a member of the firm’s franchise and distribution group.

VICTOR MALONE (E ’85) retired from the U.S. Navy in June after 27 years of service. ROBERT “CHAN” SWALLOW (E ’85), a captain in the U.S. Navy, officiated. Malone plans to continue working and living in Colorado Springs, Colo.

PAUL GAISER (A ’78) is an architect and team leader with Landis Architects and Builders, a top remodeling contractor firm in Washington, D.C. He has responsibilities for residential design and sales, primarily in Maryland and Virginia.

JOHN M. EDWARDS (A&S ’86) is an awardwinning freelance writer who has traveled worldwide and encountered such adventures as surviving a shipwreck off the coast of Thailand and getting caught in a military coup in Fiji. He is currently working on Dubya Dubya Deux, about a time traveler. He welcomes submissions for his upcoming literary annual, Rotten Vacations.

NANCY LANGMAN (PHTM ’74) received a doctorate in nursing practice in public health leadership from the University of Massachusetts– Amherst in May.

BRIAN ZERINGER (L ’78), formerly of Lane Powell, joined Sedgwick’s complex litigation division in the international firm’s Seattle office. Zeringer’s experience includes commercial, real estate and products liability litigation. For the past 15 years, he has focused on toxic tort litigation. 1980s LORNA DONATONE (B ’80) was elected chair of the board of the Women’s Foodservice Forum. She is chief operating officer and education president of Sodexo.

MICHAEL PRICE (G ’86) and his wife, Monica Holloway, were interviewed about their service to families affected by autism on the online program “Autism Live.” Their son Wills, 15, has inspired their dedication to Autism Speaks and Special Needs Network. Price, writer and co-executive producer of “The Simpsons,” credits Wills with giving him the inspiration for the 500th episode of the show, demonstrating anything is possible for those with autism.

LINO GARCÍA (G ’81), a professor emeritus at the University of Texas–Pan American, published “The Spanish Language and How It Came to Be,” in the Rio Grande Guardian. García laments the death of former Tulane Spanish and Portuguese professor Gilberto Paolini.

GREGORY K. DAVIS (L ’87) was appointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi by President Barack Obama. Davis is the first African American to head the office. He was previously a member of the law firm he founded in 1989, Davis, Goss & Williams of Jackson, Miss.

Last December, SEAN BAILEY (A&S ’83, M ’87) and his son, Sean Bailey Jr., climbed to Mt. Everest’s base camp, and then to surrounding peaks in Nepal, where they reached elevations as high as 18,200 feet. Sean Bailey Jr. initiated the trip as a charity drive, sponsored by Hope Worldwide, for a Nepalese orphanage.

LANIER SCOTT ISOM (NC ’87) wrote Grace and Grit: My Fight for Equal Pay and Fairness at Goodyear and Beyond with Lilly Ledbetter, whose historic discrimination case inspired the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. Isom lives in Birmingham, Ala., with her husband and two children.

Dispatch Richard Snyder A People’s History of Baseball, by MITCHELL NATHANSON (A&S ’88), was published by the University of Illinois Press. Nathanson is a professor of legal writing at Villanova University School of Law. In May, KERRI McCAFFETY (NC ’89) launched her new book, New Orleans New Elegance, which features her photos of more than 40 houses and apartments from around the city. CHRISTINA BEACH THIELST (B ’89) joined Tower, a patient experience consulting group, as vice president. The American College of Healthcare Executives recognized Thielst for her contributions to healthcare management excellence. She is a frequent speaker and author on the topic of applying emerging information technologies in healthcare environments.

WHIT KELLAM (A&S ’90), president of Diesel Specialists, traveled to Washington, D.C., to receive the 2012 President’s “E” Award for Excellence in Exporting. Diesel Specialists is a leading distributor of diesel parts and engines to heavy-duty diesel engine markets. LISA P. SEGAL (NC ’90) has joined Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman’s real estate transactional department as counsel in the firm’s New York office, where she focuses primarily on commercial leasing. Segal was previously an attorney at Citigroup in New York. The eldest son of LAURA STANLEY VAN DE PLANQUE (NC ’90) was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease, an “energy production” disease, a few years ago. Fortunately, his condition has stabilized. Van de Planque has put her passion and energy into the Foundation for Mitochondrial Medicine. Several of Van de Planque’s classmates attended the foundation’s second annual Hope Flies, Catch the Cure party in Atlanta, where Van de Planque lives. For more information, visit www.mitochondrialdiseases.org. DAVID J. GARDNER (B ’91) left New York Life as a corporate vice president after seven years to become senior director, operations and systems at Chartis Far East Holdings/AIG—Japan. Among other duties, Gardner is responsible for the complete transformation and restructuring of the Japan HR organization. Gardner and his wife, Olcay, who transferred within Thomson Reuters to Japan, and their son, Nicholas, live in Tokyo.

courtesy of RICHARD SNYDER

1990s IAN CARNEY (A&S ’90) appeared with Lightwire, the high-tech dance troupe he co-created, in the semifinals of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” this summer. The company, which uses illuminated, full-body puppetry, tours extensively, including performing “Darwin the Dinosaur” in Russia and “Ugly Duckling” in Hong Kong. Carney’s wife, Eleanor, and Michael Quintana (’09) are also in the troupe.

STRATEGIC THINKING In the late 1970s, Richard Snyder (B ’83) was just a longhaired kid looking for a ticket out of Baltimore. His exit strategy? Get that hair “in regs” and get down to New Orleans to start four years as a midshipman in Tulane’s Naval ROTC program. Now, almost three decades after graduating and commissioning as an officer in the Navy, Snyder is still thinking strategically—just on a slightly larger scale. In February, Snyder was promoted to rear admiral (lower half); with the promotion, he became deputy director for Joint Strategic Planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Determining how we should posture our forces across the world,” as Snyder describes his job, is not just about deciding who goes where, when. It’s also about continually evaluating and transforming the force to be effective today and for the future. Since the Cold War, Snyder says, “We have transformed ourselves into a force that is lighter, more agile, and we have adapted to new ways of fighting.” Snyder’s career has taken him around the world—he says he has stepped foot in more than 40 countries—and it also brought him back to New Orleans. In 2005, Snyder was executive officer on the USS Bataan, the first ship to arrive in response to Hurricane Katrina. “I distinctly remember sitting around with the pilots, explaining the geography of New Orleans to these guys, and then…,” he says, trailing off, “seeing the pictures that came back.” Rear admiral is one of the Navy’s highest ranks and one known to be attained by only 10 other Tulane graduates.—C.F.

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

BRONZE STAR James E. Zumwalt (TC ’05), a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, was pinned with a Bronze Star on June 18, 2012, for “exceptionally meritorious service” while he was serving in Iraq in 2010. Zumwalt served two tours of duty in Iraq. He represents the fourth generation of his family to receive the Bronze Star. His grandfather was Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., the former chief of U.S. Naval Operations.

W H E R E

Y ’ A T !

MAYSEY CRADDOCK (NC ’93) and GINA PHILLIPS (G ’97) were named to Oxford American’s list of “New Superstars of Southern Art.”

TOBIAS SMITH (TC ’98), a partner with Strasburger & Price in Dallas, was elected a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.

JENNIFER GAINES DREZ (NC’94) and ROBIN BEAL BUMSTEAD (B ’04) wrote Goodnight Cowtown, a children’s book about Fort Worth, Texas.

JUSTIN NICHOMOFF (E ’99) and SARAH HEFFRON NICHOMOFF (E ’99) announce the birth of David Jay on May 14, 2012. David joins his big sister, Rebecca Marie. The family lives in New York.

PETE POWER (B ’94) is CEO of Angkor Mikroheranhvatho (Kampuchea), which, in terms of borrower numbers, is the largest microfinance institution in Cambodia.

2000s MELISSA J. DAVEY (NC ’00) joined Stites & Harbison in Atlanta as an associate in the creditors’ rights and bankruptcy service group. Davey is co-chair of the Atlanta chapter of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation’s community service committee. She also is secretary of the Metro Atlanta Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney Group.

LAURA MALEK GRUNWALD (NC ’95) was promoted to director of human resources at Ted’s Montana Grill. Grunwald has worked in the company’s HR department since it was founded in 2002. She previously served as HR manager and HR assistant. She lives in midtown Atlanta. MARK C. COOKE (TC ’97) has started a fund for the Professor Judith M. Maxwell Scholarship in American Indian Languages through the American Indian Scholarship Fund. Cooke is vice president of special projects for Tax Management Associates in Charlotte, N.C. JOHN WATERMAN (B ’97) won a Honolulu Film Awards Silver Lei for his documentary My Glass Odyssey. He was asked to participate in the Sandwich Historical Society’s 50thanniversary celebration of the studio glass movement. For more information, visit www.MyGlassOdyssey.com. In March, ELIZABETH C. BELLINO (NC ’98, PHTM ’99, M ’09) received the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Service Award from St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Va. Bellino is clinical instructor of pediatric infectious diseases at the Tulane School of Medicine. She developed a sustainable children’s division of the hospital in Kisoro, Uganda, and helped heal victims of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

SONIA GARCIA (NC ’00) and MICHAEL DJAJICH (A ’01) were married in New Orleans on April 28, 2012. Garcia is an attorney with a labor organization and Djajich is an architect with HKS. The couple resides in Los Angeles. SARAH EVA KRANCIC MONROE (NC ’00) is a senior advertising strategist for President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection effort. She is working as a member of the campaign’s digital team at the headquarters in Chicago. ERIC MOOS (TC ’00) and KIMBERLY BRIDGES MOOS (E ’01) announce the birth of Dominic Weston on Feb. 8, 2012. Dominic joins his older brother, Lincoln. The family lives in St. Louis. JAMES SIMMONS (TC ’00) and SHANNON L. WAGNER (NC ’02, M ’07) were married in New Orleans on April 21, 2012. The wedding party included ADAM PRICE (TC ’02), DANIEL SINGER (TC ’01) and JEN BERUMEN (NC ’03, M ’07). The couple resides in Chicago where Shannon Simmons is completing a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Illinois–Chicago, and Jim Simmons is a commodity trader and member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Read Tulane on the go TulaneMags is available from the Apple App Store. The free app includes Tulane and Tulane Medicine magazines for downloading to an iPad and iPhone. The graphics are stunning! The app gives you all the text of the magazines plus extra content including video and website links.

Check out the TulaneMags app today!

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

KAROUN BAGAMIAN (NC ’01) received the 2012 Young Alumna Award from the Newcomb Alumnae Association in May. Bagamian recently completed her doctoral work at Emory University. Her dissertation on an emerging infectious disease received the 2012 Wildlife Disease Association Graduate Student Research Recognition Award. DEREK D. BARDELL (G ’01, ’02) was inducted into the University of New Orleans chapter of Sigma Iota Epsilon National Management Honor Society. MARCUS BERG (B ’01, L ’05) opened a law firm, Moss Berg Injury Lawyers in Las Vegas. The firm focuses on personal injury law. JESSIE SCHOTT HAYNES (NC ’01) left her private law practice at Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr and Smith in New Orleans to be the program director of Louisiana Appleseed. The nonprofit organization recruits professionals to donate time to solving problems at their root cause. She and her husband, Beau Haynes, are the parents of a son, David Miller. GARY HUNTLEY (B ’01) has been named vice president of regulatory and governmental affairs for Entergy New Orleans; he has been with the company since 2001. Huntley is an active community volunteer and has served in the core program for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southeast Louisiana for almost 20 years. JAMES CORNBLATT (TC ’02) and Reanna Jacobs announce the birth of a son, Jack Elliott, this year. In addition to his endeavors in commercial real estate in both Maryland and the Virgin Islands, Cornblatt is a part-time amateur competitive eater, using the stage name Jumbo Lump Johnson. JENNIFER E. FOX (G ’02) is interim director of Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute, an organization dedicated to broadbased bioscience research with an emphasis on industry growth and job creation in Oregon. Fox trained in molecular and cellular biology and has 20 years of laboratory research experience, which includes award-winning research on the problem of drug resistance in breast cancer. CHRISTOPHER MAY (TC ’02), an associate professor of psychology at Carroll University, received the Benjamin F. Richason Jr. Faculty Award at the university’s Celebrating Success event in April. May has authored or co-authored 12 articles and is working on two books. He served as a mentor to two Pioneer Scholars research students in 2009, and served in that capacity again this summer. DAVID SHAPIRO (B ’02) announces the launch of his firm, Vanshap Capital, with his business partner, Evan Vanderveer. Vanshap Capital is based in Arlington, Va., where Shapiro and his wife, AMANDA JOHNSON SHAPIRO (B ’02), live with their son, Jackson.

F A R E W E L L RYAN C. WALLIS (L ’02) was elected a partner of Cotten Schmidt & Abbott in New Orleans.

Helen Hiller Vath (NC ’29, G’ 39) of Birmingham, Ala., on Oct. 7, 2011.

Marlou Schminke Miller (A&S ’45) of Tampa, Fla., on Dec. 11, 2011.

ALBERTO G. ARAIZA (E ’04) graduated from Duke University School of Law in May. He resides in Falls Church, Va., with his fiancée, Rachel Zaring. Araiza will begin working as a patent associate at Morrison & Foerster in the fall.

Robert W. Ziifle Sr. (A&S ’33, E ’33) of New Orleans on May 3, 2012.

Ruth Power Wartelle (NC ’45) of Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2012.

Thomas Sancton (A&S ’35) of New Orleans on May 6, 2012.

Albert C. Buxton (E ’46, G ’51) of Fairlawn, Ohio, on Nov. 27, 2011.

Edward F. Stauss Jr. (L ’37) of New Orleans on April 12, 2012.

Conrad A. Bourgeois (B ’47, ’55) of Kenner, La., on April 7, 2012.

John H. Woodbridge (A&S ’37, M ’40) of Reno, Nev., on April 5, 2012.

Robert H. Buck (M ’47) of Medford, Ore., on Nov. 13, 2011.

Audrey Derenbecker Yates (NC ’37) of Chicago on March 1, 2012.

Bob M. Jordan (B ’47) of Tyler, Texas, on March 26, 2012.

Catherine Cornay Wolf (NC ’38, SW ’43) of Littleton, Colo., on May 27, 2012.

James J. Maricelli (E ’47) of Houston on May 30, 2012.

Jesselyn Benson Zurik (NC ’38) of New Orleans on June 20, 2012.

William S. Marshall Jr. (A&S ’47, M ’53) of Davis, Calif., on April 9, 2012.

Ben Avis Orcutt (G ’39, SW ’42) of Andalusia, Ala., on June 1, 2012.

Isabel Lewis Scott (NC ’47) of Covington, La., on Nov. 5, 2011.

Daniel H. Rowe (A&S ’39) of Lantana, Fla., on April 22, 2012.

Craig G. Cantrell (A&S ’48, M ’51) of Gadsden, Ala., on March 11, 2012.

Dorothy Brock Forristall (NC ’40) of Oakland, Iowa, on March 21, 2011.

David Glover (B ’48) of Lacombe, La., on April 1, 2012.

John F. Latham (A&S ’42, L ’47) of New Orleans on May 9, 2012.

Pat Evans Knobles (NC ’48) of Baton Rouge, La., on June 11, 2012.

Gordon O. Ewin (A&S ’43, L ’48) of Cheneyville, La., on June 16, 2012.

Jack W. Little (A&S ’48) of Houston on April 21, 2012.

Warren L. Garfunkel (B ’43, L ’49) of Shreveport, La., on April 18, 2012.

Leopold Loeb (G ’48) of Louisville, Ky., on May 15, 2012.

Melvin H. Levin (A&S ’43, M ’45) of Chestnut Hill, Mass., on April 10, 2012.

E. Ronald Riggall (M ’48) of Lafayette, Calif., on Feb. 4, 2011.

Walter V. McDonald (A&S ’43) of Flagstaff, Ariz., on April 16, 2012.

Trudy Weil Smith (NC ’48) of Kenner, La., on Aug. 31, 2011.

John H. Waters (M ’43) of Salt Lake City on May 27, 2012.

Barbara Blum Armstrong (NC ’49) of Shreveport, La., on April 12, 2012.

Meredith Mallory Jr. (M ’44) of San Antonio on June 6, 2012.

Bonnie Eugene Johnson Jr. (E ’49) of Issaquah, Wash., on April 8, 2012.

Janet Neuhauser Zeringer (NC ’44) of Metairie, La., on April 12, 2012.

Milam B. Pharo (M ’49) of Dallas on June 10, 2012.

BRANDT QUICK (UC ’04) is president and CEO of BQuick Nutrition. CHARLES E. ALLEN IV (UC ’92) is partner and chief financial officer of the company, which has a new line of supplements. The company also encompasses BQuick Athletic Development and a USA Triathlon Club called BQuick Tri-Dat. Quick, who played Green Wave football, is sports performance director and speed and strength specialist at Franco’s Athletic Club in Mandeville, La. JOHN KILPER (TC ’05) was featured in St. Louis Business Journal’s “30 under 30 for 2012.” He is an attorney with Hazelwood & Weber. After a yearlong deployment to East Africa, DAVID A. MELSON (L ’05) returned to Washington, D.C., to serve in the Office of the Judge Advocate General in the Administrative Law Division. He also was promoted to lieutenant commander in the Navy and is moving to Japan in the fall. ELLIOT PINSLY (TC ’05, SW ’07) and his wife, Jessica Pinsly, announce the birth of a son, Aidan Bailey, on April 23, 2012. Pinsley is referral and outreach coordinator for intensive in-home treatment at Centerstone in Nashville, Tenn. JOSH FRIEDMANN (’07) is president and marketing director of Calliope Consulting Group in New Orleans, a full-service consulting company specializing in web development and marketing for nonprofit organizations and small businesses. MARY MUSTALLER (B ’08, L ’11) and JAMES McMILLAN (B ’09) were married on March 31, 2012, in New Orleans City Park. Mustaller is the law clerk for Bernadette D’Souza at Orleans Parish Civil District Court. McMillan is an accountant in the New Orleans office of Ernst and Young. RICHARD NERE (’08) was admitted to the public policy and management master’s program at Carnegie Mellon University. After completing the program in 2014, he plans to pursue a career in public sector consulting. 2010s KRISTYN CONNER (’11) is an administrative assistant with the Reid Park Zoological Society in Tucson, Ariz., where she focuses on development and fundraising. After graduation, Conner served four months as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in rural northern Arizona and spent four months living and volunteering on a 300acre ranch owned by The Nature Conservancy.

Paul T. Boston (B ’45) of Belton, Texas, on Aug. 27, 2011. Robert J. Cales (A&S ’45, M ’48) of Tulsa, Okla., on May 7, 2012. Albert J. Ehlert (M ’45) of Coral Gables, Fla., on Jan. 20, 2012. Philip J. Krupp Jr. (A&S ’45, M ’47) of New Orleans on June 15, 2012.

Patty Paterson Richards (NC ’49) of Mandeville, La., on May 25, 2012. E. Sue Stiles (NC ’49) of Knoxville, Tenn., on June 17, 2012. John F. Sullivan (A&S ’49) of New Orleans on April 12, 2012. Walter P. Von Hoven Jr. (B ’49) of Indianapolis on March 26, 2012.

Catherine R. Lema (UC ’45) of Lacombe, La., on Feb. 20, 2012.

Albert L. Voss (B ’49) of Greenville, S.C., on June 8, 2012.

Edwin M. Mayo (A&S ’45) of New Orleans on June 2, 2012.

William W. Walker Jr. (A&S ’49, M ’53) of Memphis, Tenn., on June 11, 2012.

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

RECORD-KEEPER James Mackin, emeritus associate professor of communication, died on Aug. 28, 2011, in Butte, Mont. The author of Community Over Chaos,Mackin taught at Tulane for more than 20 years. After Hurricane Katrina, he played a major role in rebuilding the governance structure at Tulane and served as university secretary in 2006–10.

F A R E W E L L William K. Christovich (L ’50) of New Orleans on April 10, 2012.

Janice Vizzini Pixberg (NC ’54) of Metairie, La., on April 29, 2012.

Jean Marie Louviere Cambre (G ’61) of Norco, La., on June 10, 2012.

Howard D. Hardgrave (E ’50) of Hornsby, Tenn., on Feb. 25, 2012.

Yvonne Delawder Skrainka (A&S ’54) of Ballwin, Mo., on April 21, 2012.

Robert D. Hansard (E ’61) of San Antonio on Dec. 21, 2011.

Ben J. Joiner Jr. (B ’50) of Mesquite, Texas, on Jan. 9, 2012.

Louis C. Vargas (A&S ’54) of Mobile, Ala., on April 21, 2012.

Peter H. Gott (M ’62) of Lakeville, Conn., on June 13, 2012.

John Moossy (M ’50) of Shepherdstown, W. Va., on June 12, 2012.

J. Paul Pratt (M ’55, L ’97) of Madisonville, La., on May 22, 2012.

Joseph J. McKernan (L ’62) of Baton Rouge, La., on April 12, 2012.

Joan Essig Rouse (NC ’50) of Lexington, Ky., on May 18, 2012.

Arnold H. Kassanoff (M ’56) of Dallas on Feb. 29, 2012.

Daniel T. Murchison Sr. (L ’62) of Natchitoches, La., on Jan. 7, 2012.

Joseph N. Acierno (A&S ’51) of Hopatcong, N.J., on April 18, 2012.

Joe K. Stephens (M ’56) of Oxford, Miss., on March 2, 2012.

Katherine Rose Ktsanes Roberts (UC ’62) of Boise, Idaho, on May 1, 2012.

Sara French Brown (NC ’51) of Fort Worth, Texas, on March 26, 2012.

Ben E. Watson (G ’56, M ’59) of Lexington, Ky., on May 4, 2012.

Bill Jack Bell (A&S ’63) of Huntsville, Texas, on April 23, 2012.

William P. Burnett (A&S ’51) of Millbrook, Ala., on Sept. 3, 2011.

Hubert J. Berryman Jr. (A&S ’57) of Metairie, La., on March 23, 2012.

Lowell Landry (G ’63, ’70) of Hammond, La., on June 3, 2012.

Natalie Gessner Cambon (NC ’51) of New Orleans on June 7, 2012.

Sandra Sharp Clark (NC ’57) of Pass Christian, Miss., on April 17, 2012.

Wayne W. Burslie (SW ’64) of Bismarck, N.D., on May 15, 2012.

David M. Carlton (M ’51) of Alexandria, La., on June 3, 2012.

Hal C. Douglass Jr. (M ’57) of Dallas on May 12, 2012.

Stephen G. Sherman (B ’64) of Alexandria, La., on April 30, 2012.

Ellis E. Dear (A&S ’51) of Collierville, Tenn., on March 13, 2012.

Abraham M. Attrep (G ’58) of Ruston, La., on April 29, 2012.

Yvonne Baum Silverman (NC ’64) of New York on May 17, 2012.

Frederick J. Hoffman Jr. (B ’51) of Baton Rouge, La., on March 29, 2012.

Marcelle de Buys Ellis (NC ’58) of New Orleans on April 8, 2012.

Alfred Dyer Jr. (UC ’65) of New Orleans on June 17, 2012.

Neal S. Flowers (M ’52) of Pensacola, Fla., on Jan. 12, 2012.

Cecil G. Smith Jr. (L ’58) of Natchez, Miss., on May 23, 2012.

Thomas Y. Pearson (A&S ’65) of Springfield, Ill., on May 4, 2012.

Paul R. Gilbert (A&S ’52, L ’54) of Chevy Chase, Md., on May 23, 2012.

James J. Walker (A&S ’58) of Houma, La., on May 24, 2011.

Anthony M. Eccles (A&S ’66, SW ’82) of Pass Christian, Miss., on May 10, 2012.

Donna Reese Godwin (NC ’52) of Jackson, Miss., on June 8, 2012.

John G. Blackburn (A&S ’59, G ’65) of Charleston, S.C., on March 19, 2011.

Harry League Jr. (B ’66) of Arlington Heights, Ill., on April 23, 2012.

Nancy Lee Robinson Reeves (SW ’52) of Kosclusko, Miss., on April 20, 2012.

Virginia Blair Quinn Evans (NC ’59) of Chapel Hill, N.C., on Feb. 4, 2012.

John J. Fishman (M ’67) of Boynton Beach, Fla., on Feb. 29, 2012.

David G. Zimmerman (E ’52) of Port Allen, La., on April 29, 2012.

J. Nathan Stansbury (L ’59) of Lafayette, La., on April 14, 2012.

Lionel A. Rickerfor (UC ’67, G ’74) of Metairie, La., on April 11, 2012.

Charles J. Arceneaux Sr. (B ’53, L ’53) of Slidell, La., on April 15, 2012.

James M. Whitehead (L ’59) of Williamsburg, Va., on May 4, 2012.

Edward D. Campbell Jr. (M ’68) of Phoenix on April 21, 2012.

Robert N. Eddy Jr. (A&S ’53) of Slidell, La., on March 9, 2012.

George N. Byram Jr. (M ’60) of New Orleans on June 20, 2012.

Michael Stuart Liles (G ’69) of Kennesaw, Ga., on March 30, 2012.

Mabel B. Palmer (SW ’53) of New Orleans on June 14, 2012.

Arthur W. Edwards (A&S ’60) of Annapolis, Md., on May 23, 2012.

Herbert L. Parsons (M ’69) of Bellefontaine, Ohio, on May 11, 2012.

Ivan L. Perla (A&S ’53) of Murfreesboro, Tenn., on Feb. 23, 2012.

Odom B. Heebe (B’ 60, L ’62) of Metairie, La., on May 5, 2012.

Gilbert J. Pitisci (M ’69) of Tampa, Fla., on June 4, 2012.

Liz Fontaine Reynolds (NC ’53) of Metairie, La., on Sept. 5, 2011.

Alvin J. Lapuyade Jr. (A&S ’60) of Metairie, La., on April 17, 2012.

Kathleen Triche (SW ’69) of New York on June 1, 2011.

Malcolm J. Thomas Jr. (A&S ’53, M ’56) of Lubbock, Texas, on Feb. 12, 2012.

Robert E. Lee Sr. (L ’60) of Marrero, La., on May 17, 2012.

Cecily Legg (SW ’70) of Ann Arbor, Mich., on April 30, 2012.

Philip R. Alker (A&S ’54) of Prattville, Ala., on June 12, 2012.

Edward R. Sherwood II (E ’60) of New Orleans on April 12, 2012.

Juanita F. Stucker (PHTM ’70) of Clinton, Okla., on May 20, 2012.

W. Steve Fox (UC ’54) of Tallahassee, Fla., on May 1, 2012.

A. Lee Allee (B ’61) of Baton Rouge, La., on June 19, 2012.

Thomas J. Higgins (SW ’71) of New Orleans on June 3, 2012.

SUMMER 201 2 T ULANE MAGA ZINE

Tribute Joseph E. Gordon Amber Williams Klekamp (UC ’71, G ’77) of Mandeville, La., on April 7, 2012. Clement F. Perschall Jr. (B ’71) of New Orleans on March 31, 2012. Jim San Martin (E ’72) of Violet, La., on May 16, 2012. James V. Scarlata (L ’72) of Newark, N.J., on May 31, 2012. Jack K. Weil (A&S ’72) of Nashville, Tenn., on June 5, 2012. Ronald Eugene Pedro (G ’73) of Hammond, La., on June 25, 2012. Kent H. Smith (A&S ’73) of Houston on May 27, 2012.

Gloria Cox Jacobs (G ’74) of Springhill, La., on March 23, 2012. Thomas N. Carr (E ’75) of College Station, Texas, on March 22, 2012. Jeffrey C. Collins (A&S ’79, L ’82) of Metairie, La., on April 13, 2012. Lauren Cavallo-Runzel (NC ’79) of Evanston, Ill., on May 26, 2012. Libby Greenwald Downes (SW ’79) of North Bend, Wash., on May 29, 2011. Robert P. Gowing (PHTM ’79) of Sequim, Wash., on Feb. 5, 2012. Marc M. Derrickson (A&S ’81) of Bethesda, Md., on Jan. 25, 2012. Jeffrey L. Rasmussen (G ’81, ’83) of Indianapolis on April 22, 2012. Anne Muth Rogers (NC ’82) of Metairie, La., on June 13, 2012. Douglas G. Miller (L ’85) of Portland, Ore., on March 22, 2012. Michael F. Bollman (L ’86, G ’87) of New Orleans on June 1, 2012. Veronique C. Gipson (NC ’87) of Gonzales, La., on May 6, 2012. Richard E. Hartenstein (B ’88) of Gonzales, La., on May 30, 2012.

DAVE STUEBER

M. Craig Ferrell (M ’74) of Franklin, Tenn., on May 28, 2012.

A SCHOLAR AND A GENTLEMAN Joseph E. Gordon died in New Orleans on June 8, 2012. An administrator at Tulane for more than 40 years, including two decades as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1964–86, Joe was a great personal adviser to me from the beginning of my time at Tulane when he agreed to chair my inaugural committee to the end of my tenure as president when he agreed to co-author with Clarence Mohr a history of the university. The book, Tulane: The Emergence of a Modern University, 1945–1980, is “essential reading for all who would understand the complexities of Tulane’s evolution and its important place in the New Orleans community,” said Susan Larson of The Times-Picayune. Throughout all the years that I knew Joe, he was always the same: a rock of stability and good judgment. From my vantage point he was what all of us should aspire to be: a combination of a thoroughgoing professional who was at the same time, an ethical and nice person. All the members of the university community are deeply in his debt. I toast a glass of Guinness in his honor. He was a great professional, a grand person and a good friend. —Eamon Kelly. Kelly is professor and president emeritus of Tulane University and on the faculty of the Payson Center for International Development at Tulane Law School. Paul E. Engstrom Jr. (B ’92) of Worcester, Mass., on April 8, 2011.

Adrian J. Coleman (M ’00) of Kenner, La., on Nov. 20, 2011.

John E. H. Ryan (A&S ’88) of Arlington, Va., on May 16, 2012.

Phillip E. Williams III (M ’01) of Dallas on June 16, 2012.

Robert I. Bloch (A ’92) of Denville, N.J., on June 21, 2012.

Courtney Harrington LeBoeuf (L ’03) of San Francisco on April 15, 2012.

Elizabeth Johnson Boatner (L ’93) of Knoxville, Tenn., on May 5, 2012.

Suzanne Monaco (A ’10) of San Francisco on May 6, 2012.

Janace P. Gennusa (SW ’89) of Metairie, La., on April 14, 2012.

Frank L. Wills Jr. (UC ’93) of New Orleans on May 11, 2012.

Dianne Claypool Snyder (G ’89, ’92) of North Augusta, S.C., on April 9, 2012.

Tina M. Mboyamba (PHTM ’96) of Silver Spring, Md., on Jan. 8, 2011.

Guy C. Bergeret (UC ’91) of Reno, Nev., on June 7, 2012.

Melissa Cary Houston (B ’97) of San Diego on May 17, 2012.

Harris B. Evans (M ’91) of Gulfport, Miss., on June 10, 2012.

Johanna King Myers (L ’99) of Houston on May 7, 2012.

CORRECTION The hometown of Orlando Aldrich “Jack” Easterling, who died on Aug. 8, 2011, was incorrectly listed in the spring 2012 Tulane magazine. Easterling, formerly of Monroe, La., died in Denton, Texas. We apologize for the error.

T U L A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 20 1 2

campaign progress Tulane has raised $43 million toward the Home Field Advantage campaign to build an on-campus football stadium and increase support for the Tulane Athletics Fund. Look for a major announcement in the fall about more gifts for the stadium project.

T U L A N E

E M P O W E R S

Across southeast Louisiana the legacy of Collins C. Diboll (A ’26) has left few places untouched. But nowhere is the late philanthropist’s influence more felt than at Tulane University, where the trustees of Diboll’s private foundation recently pledged $1 million to support a trio of causes in medicine, public health and women’s education. While staying true to Diboll’s vision of honoring his family, each of these initiatives extends the foundation’s impact in areas benefitting students and faculty. That is a credit to trustees Donald Diboll, David Edwards (A&S ’71, L ’72) and Herschel Abbott (A&S ’63, L ’66), said Yvette Jones, executive vice president for university relations and development. “Tulane is lucky and grateful to have such wonderful trustees to follow through with Collins’ vision,” said Jones. “They understand how he felt about the university.” The gift creates three endowments to support students pursuing joint degrees in medicine and public health; students pursuing graduate public health degrees; and undergraduate women selected as Newcomb Scholars, a four-year honors program. The final portion of the gift will help seed the new Interdisciplinary Innovative Programs Hub (I2PH) in public health, an incubator for collaborative research. The Newcomb Scholars gift is in honor of Diboll’s sister, the late Frances Louise Diboll Chesworth (NC ’20), and extends the foundation’s tradition of supporting programs that had personal meaning to Diboll, said Edwards, who serves on the Board of Tulane. Twenty-five years ago, one of the foundation’s first grants endowed the Joseph S. Copes Chair in Epidemiology in memory of Diboll’s paternal great-grandfather, Dr. Copes, who devoted his medical career to eradicating diseases such as yellow fever. “Collins was proud of his ancestors and happy to honor them,” said Edwards. “It’s given the foundation a great deal of pleasure to carry out his vision of making New Orleans a better place and doing so in memory of people close to him.” —Kimberly Krupa and Mary Mouton

SUMMER 2 0 1 2 TULANE MAGA ZINE

jackson hill

Diboll Factor

Water Prize Philanthropist and businesswoman Phyllis M. Taylor (L ’66) has established an unprecedented $1 million prize at Tulane University to find a solution to one of the world’s most pressing concerns—access to clean, fresh water. The Tulane Prize for Water Innovations is the first in a series of competitions designed to stimulate the interest of researchers and inventors to tap into their genius and solve systemic health, environmental and social problems in New Orleans and around the world. Globally, one in six people lack access to fresh water, while in Louisiana drought and saltwater intrusion are among the most pervasive current and prospective threats to water sources. Taylor hopes partnering with Tulane by offering a $1 million incentive will entice innovators with big ideas to develop technologies that revolutionize the approach to water scarcity. “When I brought the idea of a challenge grant to President Cowen, he wasted no time putting together a team to explore the possibilities,” Taylor said. “While there are many problems we face daily, in the end it was an easy decision to focus on water sustainability. Knowing of Tulane’s amazing results in engaging its students and faculty in entrepreneurship, I felt it was a perfect match.” The prize also will be the cornerstone of the university’s social innovation programming, said Rick Aubry, assistant provost for civic engagement and social entrepreneurship. “It places us front and center as a university, combining academic rigor with engaging the larger community of social innovators to have an impact on issues facing the world now,” he said. Guidelines and criteria for the competition will be available in September at tulane.edu/tulaneprize.—Maureen King

Sea to Sea Saltwater relentlessly intrudes on the Louisiana coast. Lack of fresh water worldwide is a problem that recipients of the Tulane Prize for Water Innovations will address.

Chesworth memorialized Frances Louise Diboll Chesworth (NC ’20) is remembered through an endowment created by the Collins C.Diboll Foundation for the Newcomb Scholars honors program. Frances was Collins’ sister.

The Ledger

THE CAMPAIGN Tulane Empowers is about providing Tulane students with experiences that lead to their development as compassionate citizens and thoughtful leaders. Campaign gifts to Tulane Empowers connect Tulane students with community outreach projects that make a difference in people’s lives. THE TALLY As of June 30, 2012, the campaign had received $93 million toward a $100 million goal.

93% of Goal

money raised

Overheard “I believe the Brinton Family Health & Healing Center is the perfect capstone to my mother’s lifelong philanthropy. She would be so proud and happy to be here today and see what it and the Fertel clinic are accomplishing.” —Bill Brinton Brinton spoke on behalf of his family at the June 7 dedication of the Brinton Center, the newest addition to the community health landscape of New Orleans. The center is located on the second floor of the Ruth U. Fertel/Tulane University Community Health Center on Broad Street in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans. His mother, Mary Jane Deere Wiman Brinton, established the center one month before she died in 2010.

Helluva Hullabaloo Now in its 11th year, Tulane University’s Helluva Hullabaloo Auction and Party has become a record-breaker. In 2010, the popular fall fundraising event raised $250,000 in support of the Tulane athletics program. Last year’s goals were surpassed even before opening night, and ultimately doubled expectations by bringing in more than $600,000. And this year, on Friday, Nov. 2, auction volunteers and organizers are putting their bids on raising up to $1 million, an amount unheard of when the auction first started in 2001. “The success and growth of Hullabaloo over the past decade is a credit to the 24-hour dedication and unbelievably hard work of our current auction chairs,” says Yvette Jones, executive vice president for university relations and development. “Hullabaloo has become one of our region’s signature events because of our chairs and the alumni, parents and volunteers who have stepped up to help us meet our goals.” Auction co-chair Jill Henkin Glazer (NC ’85) has been tireless in her efforts for the Hullabaloo Auction. An experienced auction leader, Glazer’s vision and expertise are responsible for making the auction the premier event it is today, says Jones. Glazer not only has engaged parents and alumni and attracted new sponsorships, but also helped secure Hullabaloo’s most coveted auction items, including one-of-a-kind sports memorabilia, vacation packages and tickets and trips to championship sports events. Proceeds from both the live auction and the Charitybuzz.com online auction support the Tulane Empowers campaign. Through Tulane Empowers, Tulane students are connecting to and learning about some of society’s biggest issues—public education, community health, disaster response, and urban and cultural renewal. Tulane student-athletes participated in more than 20 communityservice events, from sport clinics to mentoring youths, during the past year. “Student-athletes are leaders and the public face of the Empowers campaign. The Hullabaloo auction celebrates them,” says Jones. For more information on attending the event, donating items to the auction and sponsorship opportunities, visit tulane.edu/ HullabalooAuction or call 504-314-7639.—Kimberly Krupa

Power Auction The Helluva Hullabaloo Auction offers one-of-a-kind sports memorabilia along with amazing cruises and trips to championship sports events.

T UL A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 2

The Ledger

93% of Goal

money raised

Power Auction The Helluva Hullabaloo Auction offers one-of-a-kind sports memorabilia along with amazing cruises and trips to championship sports events.

T UL A N E MAGA Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 2

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

O R L E A N S

mark andresen

N E W

Daily Trouble by Angus Lind The biggest technology news of 1877 was the invention of the phonograph —the predecessor to iTunes, iPods and the vast industry built around recorded music. That historic event was reported in New Orleans by its five daily newspapers. Since 1877, aside from those existing five dailies, an amazing 27 newspapers were launched in the next 100 years, including one that was hatched in a Gravier Street barroom. Not surprisingly, the competition was cutthroat—the survival of the fittest. Many publications were located on what was known as “Newspaper Row” on Camp Street, the Crescent City version of London’s Fleet Street. Included in the aforementioned quintet was the Daily Picayune, located at 326 Camp St. The Picayune, which began in 1837, merged with the TimesDemocrat in 1914 to become The Times-Picayune, eventually the city’s last remaining daily newspaper. In May, New Orleanians learned the woefully sad news that The TimesPicayune—a multiple Pulitzer Prize winner—would this fall begin publishing a print edition only three days a week and concentrate on its nola.com website, making New Orleans the largest city in the country without a daily. A great newspaper was further emasculated on June 12, when its owner, Advance Publications, announced that the news staff would be cut by a shocking 50 percent, its photo staff reduced to six. Many excellent writers and photographers would be walking out the door. The spin offered was that online news was the way of the future. The buzzwords from the command post were that the website and reduced paper were going to be “enhanced” and made “robust,” and we could look for continuing journalistic excellence. If you think you can do more with less, I want you at my poker table. A cynical observer might say the company has no more idea where this

SUMMER 2 0 1 2 TULANE MAGA ZINE

signs of the times

The announced decimation of the 175-year-old print Times-Picayune leaves a newspaper man reeling, but unbowed.

so-called new model is headed than Columbus did when he set out for the New World. At best, this decision is completely premature at this time. At worst, it is a tremendous loss and black eye for New Orleans. All this has left readers stunned, angry and disappointed. Among them is a guy who gave almost 40 years of his life to that newspaper—me. Sure, there have been severances and departures in recent years as readership and advertising declined, but that was reflected by nationwide industry trends. At this writing, no other large city daily has sent half its news staff to the gallows and cut out four days of delivery. It’s no secret that New Orleans thrives on customs that have been passed down for generations. The Times-Picayune, which this year observed its 175th anniversary, is older than the city’s most celebrated event, Mardi Gras. New Orleans has always been run by a different set of priorities and one of those priorities is a reverence for tradition. So-called progress often proves contradictory to what makes this city tick. We mourned when such icons as D.H. Holmes, Maison Blanche, K&B and Schwegmann’s left the scene, and the grief and disbelief were hardly surprising given the locals’ affection and dedication to these revered institutions. We fought back when there was a serious and misguided movement to build a riverfront expressway through the French Quarter that would have decimated one of the nation’s historical gems—and we won. As a city, we collectively always knew that the Mississippi was going to flow south, that red beans and rice would be the tour de force on Mondays, that the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday was a normal day elsewhere but not here, and that The Times-Picayune would be on your doorstep every morning. Which brings me to some words I’ve always lived by: Never say never. It’s been said that people have a limited capacity for change. And when that capacity is overwhelmed, people are capable of achieving things they could never have envisioned. No doubt the owners of The Times-Picayune anticipated a backlash. But instead of a wave of protest, they got a tsunami. I believe the last chapter of this story is yet to be written. With the never-say-die attitude of this city, anything is possible. Never say never.

homecoming 2012 Helluva Hullabaloo premier auction and party supporting tulane student-athletes Friday, november 2 6–8:30 P.M. Lavin-Bernick Center, First Floor TulaneHullabalooAuction.com

november 2–3 WAVE ’12

Homecoming Game

All-Alumni Reunion Party Friday, november 2

rice vs. tulane Saturday, november 3

6–9 P.M. Lavin-Bernick Center, Second Floor Great food, music, fireworks and pep rally Concert on the Quad featuring 2012 Grammy Award Winner the Rebirth Brass Band Celebrating reunions of the Classes of ’62, ’67, ’72, ’77, ’82, ’87, ’92, ’97, ’02, ’07, ’12

Mercedes-Benz Superdome Kickoff at 2:30 P.M. Tailgating begins at 11 A.M.

Tulane University alumni and friends are invited to stay at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans (special offer code 63471 for 15% off current rates – for reservations, call 1-888-591-1234 or visit neworleans.hyatt.com) Updates and more events: http://tulane.edu/homecoming

TUlane M A G A Z I N E

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

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

Wish You Were Here Summertime, and the fish are jumping.