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News for Summer 2006
Headlines
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Asteroid Williamon named after physics professor
By Kate Bennett
When you wish upon a star this summer, check to see if instead it's Asteroid Williamon.
Adam Block, who is now a professional astronomer in Arizona, discovered the orbiting body one evening in 2000 and refined the orbit to the point of naming the object by late 2005. Block made the announcement and gave a certificate to Williamon at a meeting of the Atlanta Astronomy Club—much to Williamon's surprise.
Block said he followed the time-honored custom of naming an asteroid "not after the person who discovered it but after another deserving person." For Block, that person is Williamon—someone who influenced him strongly as a young man at Fernbank and who nurtured his passion for astronomy.
"The naming of Asteroid Williamon is the second wonderful gift given to me by Adam," said Williamon, who was an astronomer at Fernbank before joining Emory's physics department as a full-time faculty member in 2002. "The first was the joy and inspiration that can be given to a teacher only by a dedicated, superlative student such as Adam. I feel fortunate to have played a very small part in Adam's success—who's one of the best astrophotographers on the entire planet.
"The second great gift of the asteroid name is simply awesome," he said. "I have not yet found the words to articulate how deeply honored and moved I am. As ephemeral as everything on our planet has proven to be, Asteroid Williamon will be a long-lived testament to the mutual respect and admiration shared by a student and his very proud teacher."
To find out more about Minor Planet Williamon 45298 (2000 AE42) visit www.physics.emory.edu.
From Emory Report, July 24, 2006
Student athletes win records, scholarships
By Steve Feit
The 2006 NCAA Division III National Champion in both the 500-yard freestyle and 1650-yard freestyle, White won four career national championship titles and earned 13 All-America team honors. She was named the 2006 University Athletic Association (UAA) Female Swimmer of the Year after winning three individual events at the conference championships. She graduated with school records in the 500-yard freestyle, 1650-yard freestyle and 800-yard freestyle relay. In addition, she swam on the UAA record-breaking 800-yard freestyle relay, and led Emory to its first two NCAA national team championships. The neuroscience and behavioral biology major graduated with a 3.97 grade point average (GPA). In addition to the scholarship, White also was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Team.
Hake won the 2006 NCAA Division III national championship in the 100-yard butterfly. During his swimming career, he won two national championships and an Emory record 17 All-America honors. He is the Emory record holder in the 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard medley relay. An English major, Hake graduated with a 3.50 GPA.
Ferlianto was co-captain of the NCAA Division III National Champion men's tennis team. He was perfect both on the court and in the classroom, posting an 18-0 record at No. 5 singles and a 4.0 GPA as a business administration and economics major. He was named to the All-UAA First Team for both singles and doubles. He ended his Emory career as the school's all-time leader in singles winning percentage at .877. Ferlianto also earned CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team honors.
Gordon held down second base duties for the UAA champion Emory baseball team. A speedy team catalyst, Gordon hit .350 while racking up 14 extra base hits and 12 stolen bases. As co-captain, he helped the Eagles advance to the postseason in the NCAA South Region Tournament. Gordon earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry, graduating with a 3.91 GPA. He was also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District first team.
Since 2000, Emory has amassed the most NCAA Postgraduate Scholars of any college in the United States.
In the history of the award, a total of 53 Emory student-athletes have earned the distinction.
From Emory Report, July 10, 2006
Class of 2006 takes its place in Emory history
By Michael Terrazas
"For most of your time at Emory, our nation has been at war," President Jim Wagner told the graduates filling much of the Quadrangle. "For us and for our country, Americans your age have fought and died in faraway places. In our own land, some of our fellow citizens have suffered devastating losses of homes and livelihoods from natural disasters. Both at home and abroad, the principles on which our nation was founded have been put to severe and controversial tests."
The president added that Emory's graduation exercises were no place "to debate the politics of our day," but the keynote speaker chose to be provocative. Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund and one of the day's honorary degree recipients, wasted little time before touching on politics.
"Something is out of balance and out of kilter in the world that we live in when just 691 billionaires have wealth that is equivalent to 3 billion people living in our 89 poorest developing countries. About 347 are in the United States," Wright Edelman said in her address. "They didn't need tax cuts in 2001, 2003, 2004 and again this year."
But the keynote speaker kept her political barbs—mostly—in check, delivering instead a tough-love message of inspiration to the day's graduates, hearkening back to the values imbued upon her in childhood by a generation of African American parents, friends and neighbors who viewed children "as community property" and treated all as their own. "Our elders had grit," she said.
"I'm very grateful for these childhood legacies of a living faith reflected in daily service, the discipline of hard work, a capacity to struggle in the face of adversity," Wright Edelman said. "Giving up was not a part of my childhood lexicon; you got up every morning, and you did what you had to do, and you got up when you fell down, and you tried as many times as you had to until you got it right."
Joining her onstage as an honorary degree recipient was Stephen Bright, president and senior counsel for the Southern Center for Human Rights, an organization dedicated to social justice, especially among prisoners and people facing the death penalty. Bright, a sometimes teacher in Emory's School of Law, was presented by interim law Dean Frank Alexander.
A third honorary degree recipient, Dietrich von Bothmer, distinguished research curator at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, was unable to attend the ceremony due to sudden illness, Wagner announced. Jasper Gaunt, curator of Greek and Roman art at the Carlos Museum and a former student of von Bothmer's, accepted the award in his place.
With the honorary degrees awarded—along with the Thomas Jefferson and University Scholar/Teacher awards, which went to Alexander and to Frances Smith Foster, respectively—it was time for Wagner to award degrees, and he called forth each dean to present her or his class as each was officially bestowed the reward for their years of study—along with "all the rights, honors, privileges and responsibilities" thereto.
There were, as every year, cheers from each group of graduates. But diplomas were not the only things causing excitement that day; moving inconspicuously about the Quad, here on the Administration Building steps, there behind the glass doors of Pitts Library, was a small camera crew led by a gruff, no-nonsense-looking man in a brown leather jacket.
That man was Hollywood actor Sean Penn, who was on location shooting scenes for an upcoming film based on Jon Krakauer's book Into the Wild. The story is that of Christopher McCandless, a 1990 Emory College graduate who, after receiving his degree, promptly donated a sizable savings account entirely to charity and moved west. After some time traveling, McCandless was found dead in the Alaskan wilderness, along with a journal and photographs that helped Krakauer piece the tale together.
The film, which is untitled but tentatively starring Emile Hirsch, Debra Winger and William Hurt, has not yet set a release date. Penn is directing from the screenplay he wrote.
Meanwhile, in the morning's main attraction, Wagner announced that the University would revive a dormant tradition by singing the alma mater to conclude the main Commencement ceremony. So, after a multifaith benediction delivered in turn by representatives of the Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish faiths, 2006 master's of music recipient Jeremy Wirths led an a cappella rendition as yet another class of graduates hailed the gold and blue.
From Emory Report, May 30, 2006
English's Foster receives award surrounded by love of family
By Michael Terrazas
As a young scholar confronted with a wide world full of history to study, Frances Smith Foster said she made her choices by keeping her nieces and nephews in mind.
"What kind of things would be helpful to them, to help them do what it is they were setting out to do," said Foster, Charles Howard Candler Profesor of English and Women's Studies, and chair of the English department. "I'm trying to give information to people that I think might help them make better use of their lives and come closer to getting their dreams without the hindrance of wrong or inadequate information."
In other words, to Foster, scholarship is teaching, and that's one reason she was honored at Emory's 161st Commencement with the University Scholar/Teacher Award, awarded each year and supported by the United Methodist Church Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
In fact, the inverse—that teaching is scholarship—is also true for Foster, or at least it is now. She admits that with greater tenure has come the freedom to pursue academically what interests her, and experiences in the classroom often lead to those interests.
"At one point I didn't have permission [to study what I wanted]," Foster said. "I'm a much better teacher and scholar now that I'm grown up."
Concentrating on feminist sexual ethics and antebellum African American families and religion, Foster has written or edited some 10 books, including Written By Herself: Literary Production by African American Women, 1746–1892. The titles of her seminars include "Becoming a Woman" and "(W)right Things Wrong in 19th Century African American Literature."
Lately Foster has taken another project: Along with anthropology's George Armelagos, she is co-leading Emory's "Race and Human Difference" strategic initiative. And though she admits she accepted the duty at the behest of Provost Earl Lewis, she added that the University has a real opportunity.
"I think Emory can and already is a laboratory to work out its own theories," Foster said. "In the old days, doctors used their bodies to test their vaccines, and had they not done that I'm not sure we would have had those vaccines. I'm not suggesting we put ourselves in harm's way to test our theories, but if we've got good theories we ought to show that."
As for the validation of her own "theories" that came in the form of the Scholar/Teacher Award, Foster said the occasion in which she received it meant just as much if not more than the award itself—and perhaps more than any previous award she'd received. Joining her at Commencement was a gaggle of family, including her 84-year-old mother who made the trip from Ohio.
"When she found out about the award, first she said, 'That's nice, dear,'" Foster said of her mother. "Then my sister said, 'That's a big deal,' and [my mother] said, 'If I can get there, I'm going to be there.'
"There's nothing they could have done to make me happier," she said of her family. "That was the most fun; that was what I loved. I don't think I've ever had an award that gave me more personal satisfaction."
From Emory Report, May 30, 2006
Akbik quietly assembled sterling service, leadership record
By Beverly Clark
First as vice president, then as president of the College Council this past year, Akbik represented the concerns of more than 6,000 undergraduates to Emory's administration and oversaw the distribution of more than $300,000 in grants to fund student-run events. During his tenure, he helped create new campus traditions, including the Great Debate lecture series, Battle of the Dorms and Screen on the Green. Behind the scenes, he led an overhaul of College Council's internal structure so it would run more efficiently, remain fiscally responsible and better serve the Emory community now and in the future.
"Feras is a person who cares deeply about the college experience for students here, and is truly unsung for his work and dedication," said Karen Salisbury, director of student activities in Campus Life. "He is someone who dove in to work on the inside for positive change instead of standing on the outside and pointing out what is wrong."
Akbik's achievements earned him Emory's highest student honor, the Marion Luther Brittain Award, given to a member of the graduating class in recognition of his or her service to the University. Akbik received the award (which carries a $5,000 gift) during Commencement, May 15.
The Atlanta native said he was surprised to receive the honor, and grateful for his Emory experience. "College is as much about developing as a person as it is about academics. By getting involved, you learn a lot of different life lessons that you wouldn't learn in the classroom," he said.
In addition to his leadership on College Council, Akbik worked closely with the Muslim Student Association (MSA). He helped to plan and oversee events that furthered campus education on Islam, including the first MSA Art Gala. His work with the association helped it achieve recognition as a three-time Organization of the Year on campus. He also represented Emory's Muslim community on the Inter-Religious Council and at interfaith services.
Akbik planned the sixth annual "State of Race Debate," which this year tackled an international topic for the first time. He also helped found the Kappa Sigma fraternity chapter at Emory. A double major in biology and philosophy, he has maintained a near-perfect GPA as a Goodrich C. White Scholar.
Akbik's work to make a difference extended beyond campus—he helped teach science classes last year at an Atlanta public school as an undergraduate fellow in the PRISM (Problems and Research to Integrate Math and Science) program, an initiative to improve science education by pairing teachers with Emory students in the sciences to develop problem-based, hands-on science lessons.
He spent a summer as a volunteer with the Emory Scholars and Service program, working with at-risk youth and leading bicycle tours around Atlanta. This semester, Akbik also worked as a tutor with local public high school seniors to help prepare them for the Georgia High School Exit Exam in science. Next year, he plans to attend Washington University in St. Louis to pursue a career in medical research.
From Emory Report, May 30, 2006
Emory's 'yin and yang' take unprecedented double honors
By Beverly Clark
They are the first to admit they rarely agree on much. They do, however, have a lot in common. Outstanding scholars, campus leaders and devoted volunteers, each received one of the University's top student honors, the 2006 Lucius Lamar McMullan Award—which includes $20,000 each, no strings attached. Described as "joined at the hip" in their dedication to work together for the common good during their college careers, the pair is being honored for their collective and individual service with the unprecedented decision to award both a fully funded McMullan Award.
"Interdependency remains a word that many people embrace, but do not enact. J.B. and Devin acted interdependently—in the Emory Scholars Program, the Student Government Association and a number of Emory organizations," said Bobbi Patterson, outgoing director of the Emory Scholars Program and faculty member in religion.
"Part of the beauty of how they worked and lived interdependently involved their willingness to be different, to approach an issue or a problem from alternate perspectives, to use different theories and methods, to argue—and then work their way into a shared and innovative next step," Patterson said. "These two men, with their high levels of maturity, lived interdependency at its best at Emory."
The two, both Robert W. Woodruff Scholars (the University's most prestigious academic scholarship), are described as natural leaders who assume leadership positions in almost every group they join. They first got to know each other when they were paired together their freshman year as partners in Emory's nationally ranked debate program, the Barkley Forum.
Nearly four years after they met, Tarter and Murphy say they both started laughing when they found themselves summoned together to the dean's office. "It had to be either really good—or really bad. We had no idea what to expect," Murphy said.
Both say they are humbled to have received the award and happy, as well. The money will be used to help fund their graduate careers: Murphy is headed to New York University to study for a Ph.D., while Tarter will go to Harvard Law School.
A nationally ranked debater in high school, Murphy used his verbal skills to lead the campus through many sensitive debates on race relations and sexual orientation, demonstrating, as one letter of support said, "the character to resist the subtle seduction that comes with power, by employing responsible advocacy (rather than) self-centered advocacy."
Similarly, Tarter also stood out in his four years at Emory as a mature and politically conservative voice on campus. Through his involvement with the College Republicans, student government and his writings in student publications at Emory, he led the campus in openly and candidly debating the important issues of the day in a way that built community instead of dividing people more, his nominators noted.
Through Emory's Student Government Association (SGA), Murphy and Tarter worked together closely on many issues. Together, they addressed what they described as "common sense" issues that affected students and the University as a whole, whether it was student government election reform, chartering new student groups, discussing controversial changes to student meal plans, or working with DeKalb County on a sound ordinance that resulted in a reasonable compromise on outdoor events with the surrounding community.
"We both love Emory and want what's best for the community. So when we come together on an issue, we bring different strengths and constituencies," Tarter said.
"Often we'll agree on the same course of action for totally different reasons," Murphy said. "We essentially strived to bring people together in dialogue to work on positive change."
Individually, Murphy is graduating with a bachelor's degree, with highest honors, in interdisciplinary studies in society and culture. Besides receiving the McMullan Award, he also served as the 2006 Class Orator. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, Murphy has received two national scholarships: the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship in 2003 and the Beinecke Scholarship in 2005.
Though he spent most of his life wanting to be a lawyer, Murphy now hopes to join the academy to examine race, gender and sex from a philosophical and cultural perspective; at Emory, he served on the president's commissions on both Race and Ethnicity and LGBT Concerns. At NYU, Murphy plans to pursue an interdisciplinary doctorate in American studies.
Tarter will receive both a bachelor's degree, with highest honors, with a triple major in political science, economics and history (with a math minor), and a master's degree in political science. He has received many accolades, including induction into Phi Beta Kappa and the Levitas Award for most outstanding political science graduate.
He also was deeply involved in the Emory Scholars Program. He revamped and oversaw an advising and mentoring program for freshman scholars, and coordinated events for the program's annual recruitment weekend. He also served on the Center for Ethics advisory board as a student representative.
After law school, Tarter said he hopes to enter the national political arena as an adviser and policy maker.
This past year, he served as the Sen. Sam Nunn Presidential Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency in Washington. In addition to internships at the Heritage Foundation and two Senate offices, Tarter served on the Georgia Secretary of State's student advisory committee, developing ways to decrease voter apathy and increase civic participation by college students. He also has done interviews and commentary on politics with CNN International, BBC Radio, NBC, the Chicago Tribune and National Public Radio.
From Emory Report, May 30, 2006
Emory announces new science exchange with Imperial College
News release from Beverly Clark
Imperial College London is an independent constituent part of the University of London, and is consistently rated in the top three of universities in the United Kingdom. The agreement will allow undergraduates in chemistry, biological science and other disciplines from each institution to learn abroad as part of a student exchange program. The program is open to highly qualified students and will be initially available to two students a year from each institution.
The program will benefit both the education and the research mission of Emory, and adds to university's strategic efforts to internationalize research and learning, especially in the sciences, says Preetha Ram, assistant dean for the sciences at Emory.
"Internationalization plays an important and critical role in engaging young scholars at Emory. Our students will benefit from an early exposure to the high calibre science education that is offered at Imperial, and our faculty will also gain from research collaborations and joint projects. Several faculty have research collaborations with Imperial already, and are looking forward to engaging undergraduates in these efforts," Ram says.
The new agreement adds to Emory's expanding Science Experience Abroad program (http://www.college.emory.edu/current/courses/special_programs/sea/index.html), a joint effort of the Office for Undergraduate Education and the Center for International Programs Abroad. "This new agreement adds to Emory's diverse growth in offerings for science students, ranging from summer research opportunities, internships and community involvement to study abroad programs around the world," says Philip Wainwright, director of CIPA.
Emory's chemistry department played an active role in the development of the program, which has its roots in the long-time research collaborations between Emory chemistry professor Dennis Liotta and professor Tony Barrett at Imperial.
"Both Imperial and Emory are leaders in the fields of science and medicine, and this agreement will allow students to learn with top academics on both sides of the Atlantic. This is an excellent basis from which to explore further opportunities for collaboration with Emory," says Barrett, head of the Synthetic Chemistry Research Group at Imperial who led the effort to develop the agreement at his school.
The first student exchange will take place in 2007. Students interested in taking part should contact Dean Ram ( ) at Emory. y"s greatest works of "plebian prose."
"Cervantes is no hero in the epic sense of the word," Vargas Llosa said, "but only in the modest sense of normal people who face setbacks and do not give up."
Of Ortega y Gasset, Vargas Llosa said the Madrid-born writer-philosopher was vilified following the Spanish Civil War for not explicitly denouncing the Franco regime, and that vilification—along with a Western bias against Latino intelligentsia—has kept him from being mentioned in the same breath as such 20th century thinkers as Jean-Paul Sartre and Bertrand Russell.
Focusing on Ortega y Gasset"s best-known work, 1929"s The Revolt of the Masses, Vargas Llosa said the novel was more than 50 years" prescient in its call for a unified Europe, though its author was noticeably off on one prediction: that the United States was incapable of carrying on the European tradition of "developing science" due to its focus on technology and "deification of consumer products manufacturing."
"It was a flawed prediction in a book replete with fulfilled prophecies," Vargas Llosa said.
During the April 4 evening reading that culminated his Emory appearance, Vargas Llosa read three selections, first from his 2000 novel The Feast of the Goat, about the days of Dominican dictator Rafael Molino Trujillo. Next, he read from a short story, "The Fish in the Water," which he called the "raw material" for his 1977 comedic novel, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. Finally, he read in Spanish from an unpublished work whose title is loosely translated to "Antics of the Naughty Girl."
After the standing ovation that followed his reading, Vice Provost for International Affairs Holli Semetko took the stage to present Vargas Llosa with an official pronouncement from Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox, proclaiming the Peruvian an "Honorary Citizen of the State of Georgia."
"I was very pleased with how it went, and it was wonderful to have the Hispanic audience—that"s the first time we"ve had something like that at Emory," Schuchard said of the three days. "Mario Vargas Llosa had a wonderful time. He"d never seen anything like it, and who knows, maybe we"ll get him to come back and teach here sometime."
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