Dreams Awake (Sueña Despierto) won a bronze in the documentary category in the 2010 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Student Academy Awards. The film, about an immigrant janitor who develops as an artist and an activist, is the work of Stanford graduate students KEVIN GORDON and REBEKAH MEREDITH in the Department of Art and Art History. The awards ceremony took place in Beverly Hills Saturday evening. To see the full list of winners or to watch a clip of Dreams Awake, visit the academy’s website.
Archive for June, 2010
NCAA report shows Stanford athletes exceed academic progress standards
Stanford Athletics has announced that all 35 Stanford athletic programs exceeded the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) standards. Six Cardinal teams earned perfect scores in the fifth annual set of APR numbers released by the NCAA this week.
The APR is a term-by-term metric used to monitor team academic performance. NCAA overall data show that a majority of sports teams at Division I colleges and universities are meeting the mark in the classroom. The overall multi-year Division I APR is 967, up 3 points from last year. In the high-profile sports, football’s average four-year APR is 944, up 5 points over last year; men’s basketball is 940, up 7 points; and baseball is 954, up 8 points.
At Stanford, men’s golf, men’s water polo, women’s cross country, women’s gymnastics, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball programs received perfect 1,000 scores. Near-perfect scores came in lacrosse, women’s water polo, men’s volleyball, women’s golf, women’s indoor and outdoor track and women’s swimming.
Read the press release from Stanford Athletics and the extensive coverage of the APR data on the NCAA website.
Walsh and other Cardinal players taken in MLB draft
Colin Walsh
Several members of the men’s baseball team, including star second baseman COLIN WALSH, were selected in the Major League Baseball draft this week. Walsh was drafted in the 13th round by the St. Louis Cardinals.
In addition, KELLEN KIILSGAARD was drafted in the 30th round by the Houston Astros. ADAM GAYLORD was taken by the Baltimore Orioles and JAKE SCHLANDER by the Seattle Mariners in the 31st round. JONATHAN KASKOW went to the Cincinnati Reds in the 41st round.
The Cardinals said this about Walsh on the team’s website: “A .319 career hitter, Walsh developed some power in his junior season, leading the team in homers and slugging percentage.”
According to Stanford Athletics, there are currently eight former Cardinal players in the major leagues. Among them is pitcher DREW STOREN, who was taken in the first round last year and is already pitching for the Washington Nationals.
Read the press release from Stanford Athletics.
Four Stanford students win Boren Awards for International Study
Four Stanford students are recipients of 2010 Boren Awards for International Study. The David L. Boren Scholarships and Fellowships are sponsored by the National Security Education Program, a federal initiative designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign language and international skills. The Boren Scholarship provides undergraduates with up to $20,000; the Boren Fellowships provide graduate students up to $30,000.
The awards make it possible for U.S. students to develop language skills and experience in countries deemed critical to the future security and stability of the United States. In exchange for funding, Boren Award recipients agree to work in the federal government for a period of at least one year.
ELIZABETH Z. HARMON, a member of the Stanford Class of 2012 who is majoring in international relations and Arabic, has been awarded a Boren Scholarship to study Arabic at the University of Damascus in Syria during the next academic year.
In addition, three Stanford graduate students have received Boren Fellowships, which support graduate study and research in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East. The fellowship recipients are:
SUSAN GARNETT RUSSELL, doctoral candidate in education, who will study the language of Kinyarwanda in Rwanda while examining the role of education in promoting social reconstruction and reconciliation in that country;
WILSON VELASCO, a master’s student who will pursue intensive Japanese language study at the Inter-University Center in Yokohama, Japan; and
SHANE MORRISON, a student in the School of Medicine, who will study Albanian in Albania and Kosovo.
Students interested in Boren Awards and other international study opportunities can find out more at the Bechtel International Center.
Thomas Südhof wins 2010 Kavli Prize
THOMAS SÜDHOF, a Stanford neuroscientist renowned for his investigations into how nerve cells in the brain communicate, has been named a recipient of the 2010 Kavli Prize. He will share one of three $1 million awards given for achievements in neuroscience, nanoscience and astrophysics funded by the Oxnard, Calif.-based Kavli Foundation, established in 2000 by Fred Kavli, a Norwegian-born physicist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Winners are picked by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and Norway’s Ministry of Education and Research in partnership with the Kavli Foundation, after consultation with leading scientists in each field.
Südhof, a professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, will split the $1 million proceeds with two other neuroscientists: RICHARD SCHELLER, who held Stanford faculty positions in the 1980s and is now a research executive at the biotechnology company Genentech, and JAMES ROTHMAN of Yale University.
For the full story, visit the Medical School’s news website.
—Bruce Goldman
Tom Haynie, men’s swimming coach from 1947 to 1960, dies at 94
TOM HAYNIE, Stanford’s successful and popular swim coach throughout the 1950s, has died. He was 94 and had lived until recently in Morro Bay. He and his wife, Sherrye, were married for more than six decades.
“There have only been four [men's swim] coaches in Stanford history and he was great to me,” said Stanford’s third swim coach, JIM GAUGHRAN, who swam for Stanford in the 1950s. “He was the kind of coach who cared for his swimmers, and we all remain friends today. He was a great influence on all of us and we will miss him.”
Haynie coached 100 freestyle world record holder ROBIN MOORE and Olympians GEORGE HARRISON and PAUL HAIT during his time on the Farm, compiling a 84-9 (.903) dual record. In seven seasons Stanford finished sixth or better at the NCAA meet.
Haynie coached at Stanford from 1947 to 1960, then moved with his family to Hawaii, where he coached at the Punahou School until 1981.
“He never asked for anything for himself – no glamour, no notoriety,” said his daughter, Julie Cline-Maurer. “But he is greatly loved all over the world by those who either swam for him at Stanford or were his students and swimmers at Punahou.”
Friends, family and colleagues honor Pat Jones
Pat Jones
Friends, family and colleagues gathered this week to celebrate the accomplishments of PAT JONES, outgoing vice provost for faculty development. Jones, the Dr. Nancy Chang Professor in the Department of Biology, is returning to teaching and research after 11 years as a vice provost.
Jones joined the faculty in 1978. During her career at Stanford, she has served as chair of her department and founded an interdisciplinary doctoral program in immunology. In 1993, she chaired the Faculty Senate. From 1998 to 2000, she also served as associate dean of research. Among her many awards at Stanford is the Hoagland Prize, given for outstanding undergraduate teaching.
Provost JOHN ETCHEMENDY praised Jones for her “remarkable achievements, extraordinary university citizenship and commitment to making our university better in every way.”
As vice provost, Jones “has been a determined champion for the concerns of women faculty, faculty of color, junior faculty, faculty with childcare needs and those caring for elder parents,” he said. “Under Pat, these issues have become Stanford priorities. Benchmarking our progress on each has become integrated into the framework of our institution. She championed those causes with immense energy, extraordinary empathy and deep insight into what resources are crucial for a successful academic career.”
Etchemendy also praised Jones’ optimism and upbeat perspective, even in the face of daunting challenges.
“Year after year, Pat has come before the Faculty Senate to assure us that progress is being made, albeit much slower than we might have hoped,” he said. “With each report, she highlighted the progress, outlined the continued challenges and nudged us all to recommit to finding new ways to attract and retain a diverse faculty. When she found impediments as daunting as the so-called ‘pipeline problem,’ she eschewed discouragement and took on the pipeline itself with efforts like the Distinguished Alumni Scholars program, which encourages our own students to consider academic careers.”
Etchemendy noted that Jones is a fervent fan of the Cardinal and especially of women’s basketball. Among the gifts Jones was given at a reception in her honor was a Stanford basketball, autographed by Coach TARA VANDERVEER and members of the women’s basketball team.
- Kate Chesley
Trish Del Pozzo feted by the Senate
Members of the Faculty Senate recently recognized TRISH DEL POZZO, assistant academic secretary, for her 30 years of service to Stanford with the following resolution, read by Senate Chair ANDREA GOLDSMITH, professor of electrical engineering:
“Where, during the period that Trish has served as assistant academic secretary, there have been 25 chairs of the Faculty Senate, seven academic secretaries but only one assistant academic secretary—herself,
“Whereas, she is the institutional memory of the of the Faculty Senate and the Academic Council,
“Whereas, she has an encyclopedic knowledge of the faculty and a keen ability to understand the needs and quirks of individual members of the senate, its committees and especially the senate chair,
“Whereas, she is a patient teacher of academic secretaries, and staff members on the committees of the Academic Council have found her to be incredibly helpful and supportive,
“Whereas, while the chairs of the senate may have held the gavel, she guided them, brightening their path with grace, good humor and remarkable attention to detail,
“Whereas, she has created a wonderful legacy of dedication and service to the Academic Secretary’s Office, the Faculty Senate, the Academic Council and to all of us bound up with the university,
“Recognizing that she is irreplaceable, we therefore declare Trish Del Pozzo Honorary Assistant Academic Secretary and Friend of the Senate in perpetuo, with all the rights and privileges thereunto.”
Del Pozzo was also presented with her 30-year service pin and a turquoise Native American necklace and feted with reception she had arranged, not knowing that the gathering was in her honor.
‘I’m moving to Knight’
As the Knight Management Center at the Graduate School of Business takes shape along Serra Street, GSB staff members celebrated with “I’m moving to Knight” T-shirts at the school’s communications meeting May 26. Partial move-in will take place in December, with completion in March 2011. The collection of eight buildings around three quads will provide a state-of-the-art infrastructure to accommodate the Business School’s new MBA curriculum. The complex includes varied classrooms for more seminars, small group leadership development classes and cross-disciplinary work. It is designed to draw faculty, students and staff from across campus with a new 600-seat auditorium for university-wide programming, a new dining facility, a cafe and instructional space to accommodate collaborative offerings, such as the design-engineering-business course Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability and the business-medical-engineering course Biodesign Innovation.
