May - Jun 2004 Issue

If you have ever found yourself floundering between "lie" and "lay" or fumbling through a sentence to avoid the wrong choice of "who" or "whom," you can appreciate the magnitude of Margaret Wischmeyer Tay

Science is really funny, observed a boy in Liane Carahasen's fourth-grade class at Hillandale Elementary School in Durham. He giggled at the "oops" moment when he accidentally tore the adding-machine tape he was to scroll out for the experiments. With considerable laughing and excited chatter, he and his fellow students were spreading out a dozen or so tapes across the floor of the school cafeteria. Their stated scientific objective: to predict how far rubber-band-powered toy cars would travel along the tape with a given number of winds of the rubber band.

Ralph Snyderman, chancellor for health affairs, was named the inaugural recipient of the Bravewell Leadership Award in November by the Minneapolis-based Philanthropic Collaborative for Integrative Medicine, which "recognizes innovators of integrative medicine for their efforts to transform the culture of health care by establishing better methods of treating the whole person--mind, body, and spirit." He announced in February that he would donate the $100,000 cash prize from the award

I'm a lawyer who's never "taken" to the legal profession. Can I look forward to other career options?

Who is sorry now? Just about everyone, it seems.Illustration by Philippe Lechien/ Morgan Gaynin Inc.

Reading List We asked professors from the English department: What are some of the most underrated works of literature?

While making the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola watched as his lead actor suffered cardiac arrest, the cost of his sets skyrocketed over budget, and his financial backers threatened to leave him all wet in the Philippine monsoons. Coppola laughed all the way to the Oscars once the movie was finished. But his experience cautioned anyone planning to make a movie in the tropics to think more than twice.

The following is excerpted from an interview on WUNC radio's news/talk program The State of Things, which aired February 11. Frank Stasio was the host.Do the big networks, the cable television channels, and the newspapers have a moral obligation to present the news that is impartial and comprehensive? And if so, how do economic factors affect that mission?

Nearly a decade ago, Grant Hill '94 had already done it all--three-time All-American at Duke, two national titles, and, as a Detroit Piston, N.B.A. Rookie of the Year--and yet he'd hardly begun. Still ahead were six N.B.A. All-Star awards and an Olympic gold medal.

The board of trustees, meeting in February, adopted guidelines for investing the university's resources in a socially responsible manner. Trustees agreed to a process for responding to requests for Duke to take financial actions as a means of expressing its concern about issues ranging from the conflict in the Middle East to slavery in Sudan.

Counter culture: from the early Forties, top, to the late Seventies

DukePass, a Web portal aimed at keeping students informed and organized online, was launched in February as a pilot program. Developed collaboratively with undergraduates, DukePass features customizable navigation that provides access to e-mail, university announcements, course websites, drop/add information, academic schedules, and other student-focused services and information.

When it comes to the "Word of God," is a typo really a typo?

Robert S. Shepard, director of development, will succeed retiring Duke senior vice president John J. Piva as Duke's chief alumni and development officer, effective July 1. Together, Piva and Shepard led the Campaign for Duke, which raised $2.36 billion between January 1, 1996, and December 31, 2003, the largest fund-raising campaign in Duke history and the fifth-largest in the history of American higher education.

 Photo: Jim Wallace

Duke athletics has established a new scholarship endowment honoring outgoing university president Nan Keohane with an endowment fund to provide scholarships for female athletes.

 Leadership lineup: President Keohane, center, surrounded by DAA presidents, from left, front row, Michele Clause Farquhar '79, 

In early February, reverends, pastors, deacons, and other members of the clergy across the nation heard a call. Not from God, but from Kristin Clark and A.J. Thomas, M.Div. students, and a few of their classmates who volunteered to participate in the Annual Fund Phonathon, which is basically half-phonathon, half-party when you factor in the Maggiano's dinner and the free candy.

The more children a person has, the greater the risk he or she will become obese, according to a new study at Duke Medical Center. The research appears in the January-February issue of the Journal of Women's Health.

Jack ChanceTraffic controller and member of the parking detail sometimes referred to as the "Quad Squad," which polices parking in front of the Chapel; amateur artist and animal lover

Many Duke female undergraduates and alumnae say their self-confidence suffered in college, according to the Women's Initiative Steering Committee report released last fall. Graduates of the Woman's College at Duke, which merged with Trinity College in 1972, tell a different story.

Voice of America: A History By Alan L. Heil Jr. '57. Columbia University Press, 2003. 544 pages. $37.50

 

The Duke Endowment has awarded more than $20 million to the university to support a number of priorities, including an expansion of the School of Nursing and its programs, the growth of interdisciplinary science initiatives, and improvements to Perkins Library.

Zygfryd and Helene Wolloch of New York commissioned a Passover Haggadah in 1981 in memory of their parents, who died in the Holocaust. What began as a personal tribute was soon recognized as an unparalleled contribution to Jewish art and history. The Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke owns an original portfolio of the limited published edition of the Wollochs' Pessach Haggadah in Memory of the Holocaust.

As a youngster, I liked to build things. When we went to the beach, I built highway interchanges in the sand." Little did John R.

 

 Panel on politics: from left, Lange, Van Alstyn

Stepping down: alumni director Funderburk. Photo: Jim Wallace

Duke has suspended renewal of its trademark license contract with Lands' End, citing complaints about labor practices at an apparel factory in El Salvador that produces clothing bearing Duke trademarks.

Madam Secretary: speaking at graduation

Hi, great to see you. Hello. Nice to see you. Is that the Red Sox on your hat there? Great. Tell me, what is it you'd really like to get out of this, like to learn?"

Peter Jensen doesn't pretend to be a biotech expert. Although he works for a major pharmaceutical firm, Merck & Co., Inc., in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, Jensen is an electrical engineer by training. So, when he became a procurement manager in charge of buying lab supplies and drug materials for Merck in early 2003, he knew he was in trouble. "I was a fish out of water," he says.

Harbor of SevilleSamuel Colman1865Oil on canvas

Exactly twenty years ago, Duke Magazine made its debut. In that first issue, the editors said they would strive to produce a publication that would remain "compelling in its content, striking in its visual impression."

On a late summer's afternoon, Harry Davidson gets a call in his office. A prospective student is visiting Duke with his family. He's interested in music. Does the conductor of the Duke Symphony have time to talk? Sure, Davidson says. Send them down.

 Space-place model: footprint, in white, of expanded p