September People Notes

Dr. John Berg has been promoted to professor of clinical sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Greg Colati, university archivist, has been named director of the new University Office of Digital Collections and Archives (DCA), an all-university resource located. Working with school libraries and others, DCA will set standards and create procedures needed to acquire, manage and provide access to valuable digital material. ÒThe DCA will be a wonderful resource for individual faculty and other content creators throughout the university and should be your first point of contact for help to incorporate and manage digital material in your own specific work, perhaps to digitally publish your own scholarship,Ó said Senior Vice President and Provost Sol Gittleman. In addition to having responsibility for development of digital library collections, the DCA will continue the functions of University Archives, serving as the depository of archival and historical materials.

John Conklin, professor of sociology, contributed a chapter on ÒArt TheftÓ to the Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior and is working on a new book that compares different explanations for falling crime rates over the 1990s.

Benjamin Dane, professor of biology, is this yearÕs recipient of the Seymour O. Simches Award for Distinguished Teaching and Advising. The award is presented to senior members of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences and Engineering to acknowledge a lifetime of outstanding teaching and advising.

Norman Daniels, Goldthwaite Professor in the Department of Philosophy, has received a two-year Rockefeller Foundation award for $333,000 to pursue a project adapting the Òbenchmarks of fairness,Ó a policy tool for evaluating health sector reforms, for use in developing countries. A first phase of this project was completed last year with collaborators in Pakistan, Thailand, Colombia and Mexico. The new funding allows for further adaptation and application in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Daniels completed a three-year Robert Wood Johnson Investigator Award this summer. That award, together with funding from a position as senior fellow at the NIH Clinical Bioethics Center, have enabled him to complete (with Dr. James Sabin) Setting Limits Fairly: Can We Learn to Share Medical Resources?, which will be published next year by Oxford University Press.

Gary Duehr, marketing specialist for Graduate and Professional Studies, has been awarded a $20,000 poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Each year, the NEA sponsors the fellowship program, which aims to give poets an opportunity to enhance their writing skills through time off, travel and research. He was one of 34 chosen from more than 1,200 applicants. Duehr received the award based on selections from his manuscript-in-progress, Beautiful Bullets, which looks at the turbulent 1960s and the legacy it left on the generations that followed. Duehr began composing poetry seriously in the early 1980s while he was attending the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, where he later earned an MFA. The author of two poetry collections, Winter Light (Four Way Books, 1999) and Where Everyone Is Going To (St. Andrews College Press, 1999), Duehr hopes to complete Beautiful Bullets this fall.

Doug Eng of the Athletics Department was one of the first seven coaches in the nation to complete the U.S. Squash Association Level II Coaching Course. Also as assistant menÕs and womenÕs tennis coach, Eng was named National Tester of the Year by the Professional Tennis Registry, the largest international tennis professional coaches organization. The award recognizes his contribution in training professional teachers and coaches and is one of the most prestigious education awards in tennis. Eng was also the first Division III coach to be accepted into the U.S. Tennis AssociationÕs High Performance Coaching Program, an elite training program run by Player Development in Key Biscayne, Fla.

Sergio Fantini, assistant professor in electrical engineering, has been awarded a five-year, $375,000 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to continue his research on ÒOptical Spectroscopy and Imaging of Tissues.Ó

Michael Forgac, professor of physiology, had his National Institutes of Health grant project, ÒStructure, Mechanism and Regulation of the V-ATPases,Ó selected for a NIH MERIT award. The MERIT award provides continuous funding for 10 years. Grants that receive a MERIT award are selected from among those grants ranked in the top 10 percent for three consecutive funding cycles (12 to 15 years) and that are deemed to be in an area of Òspecial importance or promise.Ó ForgacÕs grant is focused on understanding how the vacuolar ATPases (or V-ATPases) control the pH within internal compartments in cells. This family of proton pumps plays an important role in many cellular processes, including membrane traffic, bone resorption and tumor metastasis. The grant will bring to Tufts approximately $5 million in total research support over 10 years.

Dr. Ivan Frantz, professor and acting chairman of pediatrics, has been appointed pediatrician-in-chief at the New England Medical CenterÕs Floating Hospital for Children and chairman of pediatrics at Tufts School of Medicine.

Catherine Freudenreich, assistant professor of biology, was awarded a five-year National Institutes of Health R01 grant for $1.14 million for the study of ÒStability and Fragility of Trinucleotide Repeats in Yeast.Ó

Dr. Andrew S. Greenberg, director of the Program in Obesity/Metabolism at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, gave the Ray A. and Robert L. Kroc Visiting Lecture in Advancement of Diabetes Research and was the Kroc Visiting Professor in the Department of Medicine /Division of Endocrinology at Stanford School of Medicine last spring.

David Guss, associate professor of anthropology, has published The Festive State: Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism as Cultural Performance (University of California Press). He presented a paper, ÒTwenty-Five Years After The Invention of Culture: A Critical Retrospective,Ó at a meeting of the American Anthropological Association. With students, he is tracing the community significance of the Òlost movie theatersÓ of Somerville, while his current field work is exploring the meaning of urban festivals in Bolivia.

Jonathan Harris, director of the theory and education program at the Global Development and Environment Institute (G-DAE), was a featured lecturer at Brown UniversityÕs Watson Institute International Scholars of the Environment Program. This program, jointly administered by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), brings together environmental management leaders of developing nations so that they may mutually enhance their professional capabilities to promote environmental sustainability in their home countries. Harris based his presentation on G-DAEÕs new book, A Survey of Sustainable Development.

Soha Hassoun, assistant professor of electrical engineering, has been awarded a three-year, $310,000 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to continue her research on ÒTools for Designing and Integrating Configurable Components.Ó

Deborah Pacini Hernandez has joined the Department of Sociology and Anthropology as a new faculty member. She is collecting a new series of essays under the title, RockinÕ Las Americas: The Globalization of Rock in Latin America, while conducting new research on migration and the diffusion of music in Latino communities in the United States. She presented a paper, ÒNationalizing Rock: Rock and Roll in Cuba, 1960-1980,Ó at a meeting of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, and is offering a new course this fall, ÒIntroduction to Latino Cultures.Ó

Elizabeth Kline, senior researcher at G-DAE, has received a contract from the Watershed Institute at Boston College to write a manual for teachers and administrators about including developmentally delayed students from Boston area high schools in urban field ecology/watershed classes.

Carsten Kowalczyk, associate professor of international economics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, gave a seminar at the Graduate School of International Economics and Finance and the Department of Economics at Brandeis University.

Dr. Stuart B. Levy, director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance and professor of molecular biology and microbiology and of medicine, delivered the commencement address and received an honorary degree from Des Moines University on June 1.

Sara Lewis, associate professor of biology, and Christopher Cratsley, a recent biology Ph.D. graduate, presented a paper, ÒFemale Preference for Male Courtship Flashes in Photinus ignitus Fireflies,Ó at the Animal Behavior Society meeting in July in Corvallis, Ore.

Bob Lindquist has joined the Office of Publications as campaign communications manager. He comes to Tufts from Southern New Hampshire University, formerly New Hampshire College, where he had been director of public relations since 1988. New Hampshire College became Southern New Hampshire University on July 1, and Lindquist played a major role in that transition over the past two years. He oversaw the collegeÕs public relations and publications efforts, was editor of the alumni magazine and other publications and was instrumental in developing the collegeÕs web presence. He holds a B.A. in history from the University of New Hampshire and an M.A. in public relations from Ball State University.

Kathleen Merrigan has joined the School of Nutrition Science and Policy as faculty member and director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program. She earned a Ph.D. in urban and environmental planning from MIT and a masterÕs degree in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. She comes to Tufts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where most recently she served as administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service. She has worked on a wide range of agricultural and food policy issues, including the development of the federal standard for organic food and on issues related to biotechnology, sustainable agriculture, agricultural research and extension, pesticides, animal and plant health and agricultural appropriations. She currently serves on the advisory board for the Pew Initiative on Biotechnology. Prior to her appointment at USDA, she was a policy analyst at the Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture. MerriganÕs international experience includes work with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on organic agriculture; with the Water Policy Institute of the Polytechnic University of Krakow on pesticides; and with the Netherlands Ministry of the Environment. She has written extensively on sustainable agriculture policy in the United States and is frequently invited to give congressional testimony on agriculture and environmental issues.

Roger A. Milici Jr. is the new director of development and alumni relations for the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Before coming to Tufts, he was chief development officer for the Congregation of the Holy Cross, a Roman Catholic order based in the eastern United States and Peru known for its sponsorship of Stonehill College and KingÕs College. He also worked for seven years for the United Way of the Central Naugatuck Valley Inc. in Waterbury, Conn., the last five years of which he served as executive director and chief professional officer. He holds a B.A. in international relations and an M.A. in social and public policy, both from Duquesne University, and pursued a Master of Divinity degree from Notre Dame.

Priscilla ÒPiperÓ Morris has joined the Development Division as senior director of development and alumni relations for the School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences. Morris comes to Tufts from the Lahey Clinic, where she was assistant director of philanthropy for three years. Before that, she served for 15 years as dean for institutional advancement and director of development at the Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Mass. She is a graduate of Harvard University.

Susan Ostrander, professor of sociology, will contribute a chapter, ÒDoing Scholar-Activism: Money for Change/Research as Action,Ó for a new collection of essays that describes how the research activities of prominent scholars help shape their own lives. Over the past year, she has attended the annual conferences of the WomenÕs Funding Network, Women and Philanthropy, the Council for the Advancement of Studies in Education and the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action.

Jeanne Marie Penvenne, associate professor of history, is the 2001 recipient of the Lillian and Joseph Leibner Award for distinguished teaching and advising. The Leibner Award was established by the late Max Tishler, professor of chemistry at Wesleyan University and an emeritus trustee of Tufts.

Marisel Perez has been appointed associate dean of students for the liberal arts and engineering schools. Most recently, she was associate director of AHANA Student Programs at Boston College. Before that, Perez was director of student affairs at HarvardÕs Graduate School of Education and director of counseling and student services at Boston UniversityÕs Metropolitan College. In addition to helping provide leadership and direction for the Dean of Students division, Perez coordinates the Tufts after-hours response teams for students and families, serves as a member of the Graduate School Advising Team and oversees the Re-Entry/Medical Accommodations Committee.

Dr. Mark Pokras, director of TuftsÕ Wildlife Clinic, has been promoted to associate professor of environmental and population health at the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Matthew Rand, D03, has been awarded a Student Research Fellowship from the American Association for Dental Research (AADR). The fellowship will support RandÕs project, ÒModulation of Stem Cell Factor Expression in Human Gingival Fibroblasts.Ó He is working with Dr. Eleni Gagari, assistant professor of oral and maxillofacial pathology. The fellowship is a $2,700 award for two years, and Rand will be invited to present his work at a future AADR meeting. Five other Tufts dental students made poster presentations at the AADR meeting: Mark Jefferies, D03; Ancy Verdier, D03; Nii Norte Lokko, D03; Minna Kim, D03, and Bruce Nghiem, D01.

Fred Rothbaum, professor of child development, and Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development colleagues David Elkind and Richard Lerner, in partnership with the Society for Research in Child Development, a leading organization of child development scholars in the world, have created the Child & Family WebGuide, a resource for finding research about children and families on the web. You can visit the WebGuide at www.cfw.tufts.edu

Dawn G. Terkla, director of institutional research had a chapter published in ÒMeasuring What Matters: Competency-Based Learning Models in Higher EducationÓ as part of the New Directions for Institutional Research series, published by Jossey-Bass. The title of her chapter is ÒCompetencies, Regional Accreditation and Distance Education: An Evolving Role?Ó In June, she became president of the Association for Institutional Research, a national professional organization.

Caroline Wandle, assistant professor of education and program director for the education departmentÕs school psychology program, and Missy Carpenter, a masterÕs degree student in education, presented a poster on ÒGender Equity Education: Implications for Risk Prevention for All KidsÓ at the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) in Washington, D.C., last spring. The poster, the result of a national survey of NASP-approved school psychology programs, examined the degree to which programs provide preparation in gender equity education to their graduate students.

Jim Watson, womenÕs tennis coach and lecturer in Spanish, was named the New England Small College Athletic ConferenceÕs (NESCAC) womenÕs Coach of the Year for the 2000-01 season. In his 20th season as head coach of the Tufts women, Watson has led the team back to the top tier of the regional and national rankings. According to the WingspanBank.com rankings, after the fall season, Tufts was third in the East and 11th in the nation. Tufts played a fall-spring womenÕs tennis schedule for the first time last year and posted a 10-2 record. The only losses were to NESCAC powerhouses Williams and Amherst. Watson has a 135-90 record with the Tufts women. The Intercollegiate Tennis AssociationÕs Coach of the Year in 1994, he is a 1962 graduate of Pan American University in Texas and received his masterÕs and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Missouri. He is one of New EnglandÕs top players in the 55 and over age group.

Brett Yellen, a political science major who graduated in May, has won an award from Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society, in its annual undergraduate paper competition. YellenÕs paper, ÒDivided Government, Congress and Balkan Policy,Ó was one of the three papers recognized by the organization.