Clark University - Clark News Summer 2004
News Briefs (summer 2004)
Chris Gabrieli, Ross Gillman ’81, Lawrence Hershoff ’71 and Cathy Cohen Lasry ’83 have been appointed to the University’s Board of Trustees, each for a six-year term. In addition, Chandler Bailey ’72 was elected to the board this spring, also for a six-year term. Lasry’s term began in February. Bailey, Gabrieli, Gillman and Hershoff began their terms on July 1.
"Clark is fortunate to be adding several new trustees to its board this year," says President John Bassett. "The University will certainly benefit from the broad experience they bring to Clark from the business world, education and public sector."
Bailey is an insurance broker for AON Risk Services, a fast-growing insurance brokerage firm dealing in accident, health specialty and professional insurance, reinsurance and risk-management consulting services. Bailey has participated in the Alumni Career Resources Network and the Southeastern Florida Regional Alumni Community, served as a class agent, sponsored internships in economics and geography, and hosted regional alumni events. He is also a member of the Jonas Clark Fellows, the University’s leading group of annual donors.
"It’s important that each of us give something back to our community and society in whatever way we can. Clark has always been a priority for me," says Bailey.
Gabrieli is well-known in Massa-chusetts for his work to promote and improve public education and economic development in the state. Gabrieli is co-founder and current chairman of Massachusetts 2020, a nonprofit initiative aimed at expanding educational and economic opportunities for children and families across the state. Gabrieli also leads the statewide advocacy campaign Keeping Kids on Track, aimed at increasing public and private funding for after-school programming and ensuring every child has quality out-of-school learning opportunities. Gabrieli is involved in many civic, community and philanthropic organizations. He is also chairman of the Board of Directors of EPIX Medical and on the Board of Directors of Isis Pharmaceuticals. Clark’s work to make meaningful contributions to Worcester, the Main South neighborhood and the University Park Campus School attracted Gabrieli to the University.
"As a trustee, I hope to make more people across the state recognize that Clark is a model for this kind of community engagement and to help create new connections for the University based on its work with the Worcester community," he says.
Gillman is a partner in the New York office of Goodwin Procter LLP, a Boston-based law firm. At Clark, Gillman has served on the former Alumni Council, participated in law career panels and has hosted alumni events at his firm’s Boston office.
Gillman has also been an Alumni Admissions representative and has served on his reunion committee and the National Committee on Clark’s Future. He is a member of the Jonas Clark Fellows. As a trustee, Gillman hopes to be involved in strategic planning that will continue to improve quality in all areas of the University.
"I believe Clark has an unbelievable amount to offer its students, faculty and community," Gillman says. "Now, we need to be vigilant about making sure everyone at Clark can maximize the value of their education."
Hershoff is senior vice president of Citizens Leasing Corporation, the equipment financing arm of Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I. Hershoff is a past president of the Clark Alumni Association and is actively involved with the Southeastern Mass./Rhode Island Regional Alumni Community. He and his wife Eleanor Mulford have also hosted alumni events in their home. Hershoff often returns to campus to help new students on move-in day and attends many other campus events. He is a member of the Jonas Clark Fellows.
"I am one of many alumni who became a different person and achieved different goals as a result of my Clark education. I’ve always believed I had a responsibility to future Clarkies to ensure that Clark will be here for them," Hershoff says.
After graduating from Clark, Lasry edited children’s books and wrote teenage novels. A long-time supporter of the University, she has hosted alumni events at her home and is also a member of the Jonas Clark Fellows. Lasry has also been involved with Clark’s Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. In 1997, she and her husband Marc Lasry ’81 established Cohen Lasry House, the permanent home for the center. In 1994, the Lasrys established the Marc ’81 and Cathy Cohen ’83 Lasry Endowed Scholarship Fund for undergraduates.
Professor Robert Baker remembered at Clark
Psychology Professor Robert Baker Ph.D. ’53, longtime faculty member, administrator and mentor to many graduate students, died March 28, 2004, after a long illness.
Professor Baker, who served in World War II and was a longtime member of the ACLU, joined the Clark faculty in 1954. During his tenure at the University, he served as director of Clark’s Psychological Services Center for many years and held many elected and appointed offices. He served as chair of the faculty, dean of students and assistant provost for student affairs. During his term as dean of students, Professor Baker introduced practices that changed the University’s relationship to students. Specifically, Professor Baker believed students should be given more personal responsibilities in order to help them develop into adults. Under Professor Baker’s direction, grades were sent directly to students for the first time, instead of to parents. These views are expressed in a monograph titled "In Loco Parentis: Definition, Present Status and Alternatives," which outlined what he believed colleges were doing wrong by not allowing students to be treated as adults.
Professor Baker’s work in this area was grounded in his staunch belief in individual liberty. At a memorial service for Professor Baker held at Clark on June 15, many of his friends and colleagues spoke about this belief.
"Bob freed many students to be responsible adults, and not children to be superintended," said Len Cirillo M.A. ’62, Ph.D. ’65, retired Clark psychology professor and former department chair. "Through Bob’s leadership, we all came to protect the individual’s right not to be intruded upon."
Clark Psychology Professor Roger Bibace described Professor Baker as "passionately devoted to civil liberties." Clark Chemistry Professor Edward Trachtenberg added that Professor Baker’s belief in civil liberties was paired with an equally strong belief in academic excellence.
In addition to helping thousands of clients at the Clark Psychological Services Center and training hundreds of clinical psychologists, Professor Baker pursued groundbreaking research in his development of the Student’s Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ). His life’s academic work, the SACQ is considered the most widely used instrument of its kind with credits in 150 dissertations and hundreds of theses and articles worldwide. Throughout his career, Professor Baker tirelessly refined this tool and corresponded with scholars around the world who used the SACQ in their research.
A beloved teacher at Clark, undergraduates voted Professor Baker Scarlet Man of the Year in 1966 and dedicated the Pasticcio yearbook to him in 1975.
Many other colleagues, friends and former students spoke about Professor Baker at the memorial service, recalling his wry sense of humor, outstanding professional ethics, remarkable dedication to his work, generous spirit and his unyielding devotion to Big Band swing orchestras. Many also described Professor Baker’s devoted relationship with his wife Rita Knox Baker and their warm and welcoming family. He is survived by his wife Rita; their three children Cheryl, Jeffrey and Susan; and five grandchildren.
One of Professor Baker’s former students, Thomas Madell ’64, wrote to Clarknews to add, "So influential was he that even today, 40 years after working directly with Dr. Baker, I still find myself doing the same kinds of activities, and trying to do them in the same way that I learned from him. His imprint will always be on me."
On Campus: |
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| Doug Little |
History professor Douglas Little was reappointed as associate provost and dean of the college. Little will serve a three-year term through May 31, 2007.
Little, who joined the Clark faculty in 1978, specializes in 20th-century American foreign relations with the Middle East and teaches American diplomatic history. His most recent book, "American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East since 1945," has received considerable acclaim and public attention during the past year.
Throughout his tenure at Clark, Little has worked to support the University’s mission to provide exceptional undergraduate education. He has been involved with the development of some of the University’s most innovative undergraduate programs, such as the International Studies Stream and the accelerated degree program with the fifth year free for eligible students.
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| Edward Ottensmeyer |
Edward Ottensmeyer has been reappointed to a second five-year term as dean of Clark’s Graduate School of Management (GSOM).
"Under Ed’s leadership, the faculty and staff of the Graduate School of Management have achieved significant progress," says Provost David Angel.
During his first term as dean, Ottensmeyer led GSOM through re-accreditation, through revisions to the graduate and undergraduate curriculum, through a strengthening of admissions and financial performance and to a significant increase in alumni and donor support. In the coming months, GSOM will present a revised five-year plan, which will outline steps for the school’s next phase of development.
Ottensmeyer, who joined Clark in 1986, is an associate professor of management with research interests in strategic management, ethics, aesthetics, business and global business. He is the author of several articles and books, including "Ethics in the Workplace" and "Strategic Management: Concepts and Applications." He is involved in the Academy of Management, the Strategic Management Society and the International Association for Business and Society. |
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Academic Spree Day, Clark’s annual showcase of undergraduate research and creative activities, was held on April 28 and featured more than 100 posters and more than 20 presentations and performances. Nearly all academic departments and programs were represented at the event, which was dedicated to the memory of psychology professor and Academic Spree Day founder Seymour Wapner. A full list of Academic Spree Day projects and participating students is available on the Clark Web site at www.clarku.edu/research/present/asd/ASD2004.shtml.
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Senior Vice President Tom Dolan ’62 retired on May 31. Known to many alumni and friends as "Mr. Clark," Dolan served the University with distinction in several capacities for 41 years.
Dolan started his Clark career as assistant director of Admissions and director of Financial Aid. He subsequently served as director of Admissions, director of Alumni Affairs, director of the Clark Fund, vice president for development, vice president of Alumni Affairs and Planned Giving and, finally, senior vice president. During his tenure, he worked closely with six of Clark’s eight presidents: Howard Jefferson, Fred Jackson, Glenn Ferguson, Mort Appley, Dick Traina and current president John Bassett. In addition to his work on campus, he and his wife Joan Dolan ’60 have traveled the country and the world for four decades, visiting alumni and friends of Clark and serving as good-will ambassadors for the University.
Known to hundreds, if not thousands, of Clark alumni and friends, Dolan has seen the University grow substantially in all areas. As he leaves the University, Clark enjoys a larger student body and faculty, a greatly expanded campus, several new buildings and an endowment now approaching $200 million.
Throughout his career, Dolan has been recognized for his service to Clark many times. He is most proud of being made an honorary member of the faculty in 1993 and an honorary member of the Kappa Phi Fraternity in 1990, receiving the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award, and the naming of the new Dolan Field House in honor of him and Joan in 2003.
"For four years, I had the distinct pleasure to work with Tom Dolan," says President Bassett. "Tom represents the best of Clark University and has served Clark’s alumni and friends splendidly as an administrator and friend. We will keenly miss this irreplaceable man, and I am especially grateful that he has agreed to work with me in the coming year as a valued senior adviser. It is with deep appreciation and gratitude that we sincerely thank Tom and Joan for all of their extraordinary efforts on behalf of the University."
Lawrence Landry B.S.B.A. ’71, M.B.A. ’75, has been named to Clark University’s Board of Trustees and appointed chair of the board.
Landry brings to Clark’s board a wealth of experience in finance and management in higher education. He has served as the assistant treasurer and vice president/treasurer at Clark, vice president, chief financial officer at Swarthmore College and vice president and chief investment officer at Southern Methodist University where he received the Distinguished Administrator Award given by the University’s student body. From 1989 to 1998, Landry served as the chief financial officer and chief investment officer at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He is currently president and chief executive officer of Westport Advisors, an investment management firm that concentrates in private markets. He also serves on the Board of Directors of WCI, a publicly traded home-building company, and of Greystone Communities, a private company in the senior-living industry.
"Clark University is fortunate to have Larry Landry as the next chair of its Board of Trustees," says President John Bassett. "He is nearly unique in having been not only an excellent vice president at three fine colleges, but also a successful businessman."
Landry credits much of his professional success to Clark.
"I certainly owe my start to Clark," says Landry, adding that he particularly valued the opportunity to work closely with his fellow students and with faculty members.
A Worcester native, Landry has been a longtime, avid supporter of the University. In addition to serving two previous terms on Clark’s Board of Trustees, Landry was a member of the former Board of Visitors and former President’s Council. He and his wife Jan have also hosted alumni events at their home in Florida. The Landrys are members of the Jonas Clark Fellows, Clark’s leading group of annual donors, and they established the Jan and Larry Landry University Professorship at Clark in 1997. In recognition of his service and commitment to the University, Landry received the Distinguished Service Award, the highest commendation given by the Clark Alumni Association. Landry looks forward to contributing to Clark in his new role on the Board of Trustees.
"It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to serve as the board’s next chairman," says Landry, who aims to help the University remain competitive in a highly competitive market. Citing the improving quality of the undergraduate and graduate students and faculty coming to Clark, Landry plans to support efforts that continue these improvements and that tell the Clark story to wider audiences.
"We can never sit back and take anything for granted," he says. "I look forward to helping the University build greater momentum on the strong foundation that has been established."
Jennifer Keahey and Daniel Putnam, both graduate students in Clark’s International Development, Community and Environment Department (IDCE), were awarded Fulbright fellowships to support their scholarly pursuits in different regions of the world. Putnam and IDCE graduate students Brian Atkinson and Stephanie Daniels also received David L. Boren fellowships.
Keahey will study the organic farming movement in Latvia. She will examine how three major social sectors in Latvia are influencing the organic farming movement and farmers’ decisions: the Ministry of Agriculture, agricultural universities and agricultural nongovernmental organizations. Keahey will also explore how joining the European Union affects Latvia’s agricultural decisions. She will be based in Zemgale, Latvia’s biggest agricultural producing region.
Putnam will be in Nepal researching ways in which decentralization policies for development programming have shaped the character of local-level institutions. Specifically, he will assess the degree to which decentralization has been successful in promoting autonomy, sustainability and self-reliance within these institutions at the district level. This research is significant for postconflict development planning in Nepal, where zones will be influenced either by His Majesty’s Government of Nepal or Maoists.
In addition, Putnam received a David L. Boren Fellowship to conduct research in Nepal on "The Maoist ‘Peoples War’ in Nepal: Implications for Development Programming in the Himalayan Kingdom." Atkinson received a Boren Fellowship for field research in Colombia on the success or failure of alternative agricultural development programs to provide feasible alternatives to coca cash crops for rural subsistence farmers in the Putumayo region. Daniels received a Boren Fellowship for field research in northern Ecuador to work with two organizations of small-scale coca farmers to assess strategies to identify needs, foster participatory decision making and leverage local collective power in international trade.
Boren fellowships are part of the National Security Education Program and enable U.S. graduate students to specialize in area and language studies in regions where the United States is committed to economic growth, security and the promotion of democracy.
IDCE graduate students receive many awards and fellowships each year. For a full list of this year’s IDCE student awards, visit www.clarku.edu/departments/idce.
Sara Connarley ’04 was awarded a $35,000 Compton Mentor Fellowship this spring. Connarley will spend a year working with Tinah Rajaal, the regional director of Catholic AIDS Action in Katutura, Namibia, to develop outreach programs for HIV/AIDS prevention and education, in partnership with Christina Lombardo of AIDS Project Worcester.
Connarley’s Compton Fellowship project is an outgrowth of her study-abroad experience in Namibia in spring 2003. She worked at the Genade Kindergarten, a daycare center in Katutura for children who are HIV positive and whose parents have died of AIDS or can no longer support their children. At the kindergarten, Connarley became involved with documenting the impact of AIDS on orphans.
Her Compton Fellowship will focus on encouraging open dialog about HIV/AIDS and facilitating an exchange of information between Catholic AIDS Action Namibia and AIDS Project Worcester. Connarley, who is a trained mediator and a volunteer at AIDS Project Worcester, will be based at the Bernhard Nordkamp Centre, the headquarters for Catholic AIDS Action in Katutura.
"I will spend my year as a mentor fellow learning and working with people in Namibia who are not afraid to face HIV/AIDS head on. Together, we will explore the possibility of creating safe places for people who are HIV positive to talk about their experiences and discover strategies to meet their needs."
Connarley is the fourth Clark student to receive a fellowship from the Compton Mentor Fellowship Program, which provides one year of support to graduating seniors who want to apply their creativity and commitment to real-world problems and enrich their formal learning through action.
Geographer Roger Kasperson ’59, University Professor at Clark and executive director of the Stockholm Environment Institute, was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this spring.
Founded in 1780 the AAAS conducts interdisciplinary studies on international security, social policy, education and the humanities that draw on the range of academic and intellectual disciplines of its members. The current membership of more than 4,500 includes more than 150 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners.
Kasperson, who joined the Clark faculty in 1968, is an authority in hazards and risk analysis. He has served on many boards and committees concerned with issues of technological hazards, risk communication, environmental sustainability, radioactive waste and global environmental change. He is currently president of the Society for Risk Analysis and a member of the executive committee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board and the U.S. National Research Council’s Board of Radioactive Management.
At Clark, Kasperson has served as provost, director of the Center for Technology, Environment and Development and director of the George Perkins Marsh Institute. He became executive director at the Stockholm Environment Institute in September 2000 and plans to return to Clark this fall.
Cardemil receives research awardPsychology professor Esteban Cardemil received the ECPN Early Career Award for 2004. Cardemil was honored for outstanding contributions in research, policy or practice at the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) and Early Career Preventionist Network’s (ECPN) annual meeting, held May 26-28 in Quebec.
Cardemil’s professional focus is depression, treatment and prevention of depression, cognitive therapy and minority mental health. His current and recent research at Clark focuses on the effects of race, ethnicity and social class on psychopathology, with a particular emphasis on applicability of cognitive and family models to depression. He is currently working on several nationally funded research projects including a National Institute of Mental Health-sponsored study investigating depression prevention for low-income Latina mothers and a National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression study of low-income children from diverse and ethnic backgrounds.
Cardemil is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, the American Psychological Association and the National Latino Psychological Association. He received a B.A. with honors in psychology from Swarthmore College and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship and clinical internship at Brown University.
President John Bassett was recently named chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM) and of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium. Bassett was also named to the board of the Fellows of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
AICUM represents the 53 independent colleges and universities in Massachusetts. Established in 1967 by college and university presidents, AICUM plays a leading role as an advocate for need-based federal and state student financial aid and as a defender of the American system of nonprofit tax-exempt organizations. AICUM is the only organization in Massachusetts devoted to constant advocacy for student-aid funding.
The Colleges of Worcester Consortium is a nonprofit association of public and private colleges and universities in Central Massachusetts. The consortium allows member institutions to share resources and cooperate for the benefit of students, faculty and the greater community; provides a forum to explore ideas and concerns affecting higher education; promotes the role of higher education in the region’s economic and cultural vitality; and promotes communication and cooperation among its members and local, state and federal governments.
The Fellows of the Phi Beta Kappa Society support the society’s national programs, such as the Fellows Lectureship, which provides eminent speakers to Phi Beta Kappa’s associations and chapters. The Fellows also recognize annually distinguished persons who exemplify the society’s highest ideals in the sciences, arts, social sciences and humanities. The Board of Directors has 18 members, all fellows.
Departments
BIOLOGY: Deb Robertson was awarded $107,058 in supplemental funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her continuing research on "Nitrogen Assimilation in Marine Algae: Evolution, Physiology, and Educational Opportunities." Denis Larochelle received $9,667 in supplemental support from the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates fund for students to do research this summer on "Characterization of a Novel Regulatory Protein Required for Cytokinesis." David Hibbett was awarded $94,391 in additional support from the NSF for his research on "Phylogenetic Relationships of Cyphelloid and Aquatic Homobasidiomycetes."
CHEMISTRY: Karen Erickson has entered a $10,000 subcontract agreement with Worcester Polytechnic Institute, funded by the National Institutes of Health, for research on "Biosynthetic Studies on Artemisinin, an anti-malarial compound."
GEOGRAPHY: Deborah Woodcock, new to the department last fall, was awarded a two-year NSF grant totaling $146,338 for research on the "Peruvian Fossil Forest Piedra Chamana: A Record of Continental Conditions During the Middle Eocene." Graduate student Sonja Pieck, adviser Dianne Rocheleau, was awarded a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement grant of $11,360 from the NSF for research on "Non-governmental Organizational Conflicts over Amazonian Nature."
MATH AND COMPUTER SCIENCE: Fred Green received $34,152 in additional support from a subcontract agreement from Boston University, funded by the Army Research Office, for his research on "Complexity Bounds for Quantum Computation."
PHYSICS: Ranjan Mukhopadhyay, new to Clark last fall, was awarded a one-year subcontract of $32,480 from ALPHA Tech Incorporated, funded by the Army Corps of Engineers, to help develop software on "Enhanced EM Modeling of More Complex Targets." Arshad Kudrolli continues his grant success with the NSF with a recent three-year grant totaling $299,551 for research on "Particle Diffusion and Mixing during Silo Drainage." Kudrolli also received $15,000 in supplemental funds from Ames Laboratory, funded by the Department of Energy, to support a research assistant for research on "Avalanching of Wet Granular Materials."
PSYCHOLOGY: Lee Rudolph of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department and co-principal investigators Jaan Valsiner, James Laird, Nicholas Thompson and Nancy Budwig, all of the Psychology Department, were awarded a $99,921 grant from the NSF for research on "Mathematical Psychology: Geometry, Mapping and Dynamics in Emotion Space."
GEORGE PERKINS MARSH INSTITUTE: Yuko Aoyama and Sam Ratick were awarded a three-year grant totaling $189,999 from the NSF for research on "Organizational Dynamics of U.S. Logistics Industry: The Impacts of Inter-Firm Networks, Technologies, and Globalization." Ron Eastman has entered a $227,037 agreement with Conservation International to conduct research on "Land-Use Modeling and Prediction for Biodiversity Conservation in the Andes." B.L. Turner II was awarded $7,000 in supplemental funds from Montana State University, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to provide student support for research on "Land Use—Land Change Around Protected Areas in LCLUC Sites."
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