Jul - Aug 2008 Issue

Whether you are a Mac person or a PC person, even the briefest exposure to the Apple logo may make you behave more creatively, according to recent research from Duke's Fuqua School of Business and the University of Waterloo in Canada.

In about a year, I will have learned all I can from this job and plan to leave for a higher-level position. My boss is very well regarded in the community. How can I leave while still maintaining our excellent relationship? Your question is timely, since to leave a job well requires significant planning. You'll want to do everything possible not to burn bridges—both within and outside the organization.

  Ten years ago, on the thirtieth anniversary of Duke's momentous 1968 Silent Vigil, Duke Magazine invited alumni and former administrators who had played impor

Duke University Archives

  Flying high: Conner in championship form, above, and posing in Duke Hall of Fame room.   Photos courtesy of John Conner  

Megan Morr

In mid-May, an employee in the Facilities Management Department (FMD) died in an accident that occurred when a steam line ruptured in the basement of the Levine Science Research Center. Rayford Cofer, sixty-three, a master steamfitter, was working in the basement when the accident occurred in the building's mechanical room. There were no other reports of injuries. Several investigations are under way to determine the cause of the incident.

Becoming buoyant: Gonzalez teaches Jhanea Wilcher the tricky skill of staying afloat, while Quaniesha Mack relies on a kickboard. Megan Morr

Benelux Press

A review of three-and-a-half decades of clinical cardiology trials shows that while an increasing number of women are being included in clinical trials, their numbers are still so low in some areas of research that it's questionable whether study conclusions can be legitimately applied to women.Investigators from the Duke Clinical Research Institute, led by Chiara Melloni M.H.S. '07, a research associate and cardiologist, reported the finding at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology this past spring.

Many hands: A black-and-white drawing of the Virgin of Guadalupe becomes a vibrant mural. Peter Paul Geoffrion

In my many dealings with students and former students, I haven't received many e-mail updates like this: "Still in Delhi, supposed to arrive tomorrow although a bomb went off at the Kabul airport yesterday."

White: from Fighting Irish to Blue Devils. Jon Gardiner

Jianghai HoOn the Money

Douglas Sonders Photography

Styron: Author's unparalleled repository expands. Bernard Gotfryd / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Jenn KennedyHas your book group bogged down in the complexities of A Thousand Splendid Suns? Are you missing the references in The Jane Austen Book Club? Is the plot of Orhan Pamuk's Snow eluding you? If you live in Los Angeles, help is at hand.

Two decades ago, Charles Clotfelter, a Duke public policy professor, came out with a book called Buying the Best. The book's subtitle promised a look at "Cost Escalation in Elite Higher Education"—an exercise that Clotfelter embarked on by probing the inner workings of selective colleges and universities, including Duke.

On the third floor of Duke North in Operating Room 4, neurosurgeon John Sampson is using what looks like a blunt, two-pronged fork to probe sections of a patient's exposed brain. Weeks earlier, an MRI had revealed a shadow near the front of the man's skull, an ominous intruder whose appearance on the black-and-white scan resembled a satellite view of an advancing hurricane. Sampson suspects a high-grade tumor, possibly a glioblastoma multiforme—the most common and deadliest form of brain cancer.

 Kabul, AfghanistanAfghans have strange ways of memorializing their wars. They weave rugs with crudely rendered illustrations of tanks and the twin towers and other hieroglyphs depicting invasions and withdrawals; they put Soviet fighter jets high up on stilts like big tin gargoyles to ornament their airports.

The parking lot at Durham's Lincoln Community Health Center fills quickly on a weekday morning, as cars, taxis, and shuttle buses jockey for space. Boarded-up houses and junked cars pockmark the surrounding neighborhood, where the poverty rate is clearly much higher than the 15 percent countywide. But inside the center, the mood is upbeat, and the lobby and halls teem with activity. Elderly women talk with young mothers, men swap jokes, and children watch videos and play games as they wait to be seen.

Labaton covered McCain controversy York Wilson Photography

Jerry Agee

Mexican reflections: detail from Black Mirror #4: Hypnotism & Necromancy, part of the Lasch installation. Courtesy Nasher Museum of Art

Up Close: Untitled (surfboard)

Three Duke students have been selected for Goldwater Scholarships in science, mathematics, and engineering for the 2008-09 academic year.They were among 321 sophomores and juniors chosen on the basis of academic merit. The award provides up to $7,500 toward annual tuition and expenses.Duke's scholars are Mark Hallen, Nicholas Patrick, and Daniel Roberts, all rising seniors. Stephen Devience, also a rising senior, received an honorable mention.

No fair: Parental punishment varies by birth order. Liquorice

Megan Morr

Schwarcz: elucidating the hazards of herd behavior. Jim Wallace

The Duke Endowment has pledged $50 million to Duke Medical Center to help construct a medical-education building and to develop a state-of-the-art inpatient facility for pediatric patients. The gift is the largest single gift the medical center has ever received.Plans call for $35 million to go toward the construction of a new Duke School of Medicine Education Center, which will enhance opportunities for medical students to learn and interact with one another, instructors, and clinical and basic-research faculty members in one location.

Dave Eggers' What is the What

This spring, eleven undergraduates, four graduate students, and Duke Marine Lab director Cindy Van Dover set sail in the Florida Keys aboard the brigantine research vessel Corwith Cramer. Over three days, they planned to net zooplankton—which serves as a building block of the ocean food chain and helps balance water chemistry—in several locations of the broad channel between the Dry Tortugas and the Marquesas, studying the composition of each haul. Stormy seas ultimately limited the amount of data they could collect.

Shelter from the storm: A father hands his graduating daughter an umbrella Megan Morr

True blue: Returning alumni and their families converged in Cameron for an all-ages lunch during spring reunions. Megan Morr

More than a third of people over age seventy have some form of memory loss, according to a new study by a team of researchers from Duke and four other institutions.While an estimated 3.4 million Americans have dementia, defined as a loss of the ability to function independently, the researchers estimate that another 5.4 million over age seventy have memory loss that disrupts their regular routine but is not severe enough to affect their ability to complete daily activities.

Art + Music + Politics: Anderson takes the stage. Photo courtesy of Laurie Anderson

Conservative Protestants tend to save less and accumulate fewer assets than other Americans, and their religious beliefs contribute to their relatively lower wealth, according to a new study by a Duke sociologist.

Oxygen By Carol Cassella '78. Simon & Schuster, 2008. 288 pages. $25.

Sporting potential: Women's soccer team, shown at last fall's Carolina Classic at UNC-CH, will see improved facilities and additional scholarships. Jon Gardiner

Gavin: lauded for his wit and enthusiasm. Les Todd

Pelham: New DAA president encourages personal connections. Megan Morr

Making memories: husbands from the Class of 1958 focus on their wives (off-camera) Chris Hildreth

Johnny Dawkins '86, associate head coach of the men's basketball team, has been named head men's basketball coach at Stanford University. A star player during his undergraduate years at Duke, he has served on Duke's coaching staff for eleven years, the last nine as second-in-command. Assistant coaches Chris Collins '96 and Steve Wojciechowski '98 have been promoted to associate head coaching positions.