March | 2012 | The Dish

Archive for March, 2012

Shao appointed to Library of Congress post; Haven joins SULAIR staff

March 16th, 2012

Dongfang Shao (Photo by Corrie Goldman)

DONGFANG SHAO, director of Stanford’s East Asia Library since 2003, has been appointed chief of the Asian Division of the Library of Congress. Shao will assume his new role in Washington in late April.

“With his broad knowledge of scholarly research on East Asia and his familiarity with both analog and digital academic resources housed in East Asian libraries throughout North America, Dr. Shao will continue to build and refine the collections and services of the Asian Division to serve the information needs of Congress, scholars and researchers,” Roberta Shaffer, associate librarian for library services at the Library of Congress, said in a press release earlier this week.

“Dongfang’s nine years of leadership here have been characterized by tremendous growth in numerous dimensions – of collections, of staff, of services, of engagement with the scholars and students in East Asian studies at Stanford,” said Stanford University Librarian Michael Keller. “Of particular note are the growth of the East Asia Library’s special collections and the birth from nothing of a respectable Korean collection at Stanford.”

Born in China, Shao received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from Beijing Normal University and a doctorate in history from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. He taught in the Chinese Studies Department of the National University of Singapore for five years before joining the faculty of Stanford as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Asian Languages in 1999.

Four years later, Shao was appointed head of Stanford’s East Asia Library, the university’s primary East Asian language collection in the social sciences and humanities for all historical periods. During his tenure, he has increased the library’s international stature and reorganized and doubled its staff.

Shao, who holds a master’s degree in library science from San Jose State University, currently serves as executive director of the Society for Chinese Studies Librarians and is an academic consultant to universities in China. Shao has agreed to join the SULAIR Advisory Council beginning in September 2012.

Cynthia Haven

And in other Stanford University Libraries news, CYNTHIA HAVEN, former arts and humanities writer at the Stanford News Service, and creator of the internationally prominent blog The Book Haven, joined SULAIR March 12 as associate director of communications, a newly created position to increase the visibility of the libraries. Her time is shared with the Department of English and Creative Writing Program.
Haven currently is a visiting writer in the Division of Literatures, Cultures and Languages, where she is working on a book about the life and work of RENÉ GIRARD, the Andrew B. Hammond Professor of French Language, Literature and Civilization, Emeritus, and professor emeritus of comparative literature, and member of the Académie Française. Her most recent book, An Invisible Rope: Portraits of Czesław Miłosz, was published last year by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press.

Russ Feingold will be a guest at a live taping of Philosphy Talk; Stanford community invited to come join the fun

March 15th, 2012

Russ Feingold

Does the growing power of corporations threaten our democracy?

Former U.S. Sen. RUSS FEINGOLD, a Democrat from Wisconsin, will address that question tonight, Thursday, March 15, at 7 p.m. during a live recording of Stanford’s nationally syndicated radio program, Philosophy Talk. Free and open to the public, the taping will take place in Cubberley Auditorium. Audience members will be encouraged to participate in the discussion. The recorded show will air on stations nationwide in April.

Feingold, author of the recently released book While America Sleeps: A Wake-up Call for the Post-9/11 Era, is currently a distinguished visitor at the Haas Center for Public Service.

Philosophy Talk co-hosts JOHN PERRY and KENNETH TAYLOR will press Feingold on the influence of corporations on democratic institutions and explore the philosophical tensions resulting from the mixture of money and politics. They also will discuss the effect of corporate power on government, and consider whether global capitalism and democratic self-governance can be reconciled or are destined to remain fundamentally at odds.

The trio also will examine the Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that granted corporations free speech rights “on the grounds that corporations are people and hence covered by the Bill of Rights,” said Perry, the Henry Waldgrave Stuart Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus.

Taylor, the current Henry Waldgrave Stuart Professor of Philosophy, says he wants to discuss the obligations corporations have in society, particularly in the context of the Supreme Court decision.

Philosophy Talk, “the program that questions everything, except your intelligence,” is in its ninth season. Heard in nearly 300 regions nationally, the program celebrates the value of the examined life.

Ken Taylor and John Perry of Philosophy Talk

Fear Gabriel, the mini Tree

March 14th, 2012

GABRIEL (no last name given) wants to be a tree when he grows up. Not just any tree, the Stanford Tree. The 6-year-old started preparing a few years ago, sporting a green sleeping bag, but he soon wanted something that looked more like the real thing, his mother says. Now Gabriel has a tree costume of his own.
CBS 5 captured him in action recently wearing a mini tree costume his parents made him for his birthday. In the footage, Gabriel is seen with several of his larger counterparts, and bustin’ a move with JONATHAN STRANGE, whose day job is as an intern for the office of Government and Community Relations.
“The person inside the costume doesn’t have to smile because on the outside of the costume there’s always a smile,” says Gabriel, poking his torso out of the costume to reveal a “Fear the Tree” T-shirt.

Obama to nominate Bienenstock to National Science Board

March 13th, 2012

Arthur Bienenstock Photo by L.A. Cicero

ARTHUR BIENENSTOCK, special assistant to President John Hennessy for federal research policy, will be nominated by PRESIDENT OBAMA to be a member of the National Science Board, the White House announced March 9.

Bienenstock, professor emeritus of photon science at Stanford, also is director of Stanford’s Wallenberg Research Link, which facilitates and coordinates visits to Stanford by Swedish individuals and groups from academia, industry and government. During his career at Stanford, Bienenstock also has served as vice provost and dean of research and graduate policy, a position he held from 2003-06, and directed the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory from 1978-97. His research focuses in the general areas of solid-state physics, amorphous materials and synchrotron radiation. He has published more than 100 scientific papers in these areas.

From 1997 to 2001, while on leave from Stanford, Bienenstock served as associate director for science of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), during the Clinton administration.

He has served as president of the American Physical Society and chair of The Council of Scientific Society Presidents. The National Science Board serves as the governing board of the National Science Foundation, and its members serve as advisers to the president of the United States and to Congress. School of Education Dean CLAUDE STEELE currently serves as a member of the National Science Board.

Scientists honored with ‘GLAM’ portraits

March 12th, 2012

Clockwise from the top: Malcolm Beasley, Alexander Fetter and Arthur Bienenstock. A portrait of Theodore Geballe hangs along with the others in the McCullough Building.

Art and science melded seamlessly at the end of the day Friday, March 9, as ARTHUR BIENENSTOCK, THEODORE GEBALLE, MALCOLM BEASLEY and ALEXANDER FETTER, all former directors of the Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, were honored by their own.

Amid strains of Beethoven’s String Quartet Opus 59 Number 1 F Major offered by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, faculty, staff and students celebrated the unveiling of GLAM (as in the lab’s acronym) Portraits, painted by PAMELA DAVIS KIVELSON.

Geballe, emeritus professor of applied physics and of materials science and engineering, founded the Geballe Laboratory, an independent laboratory that supports and fosters interdisciplinary education and research on advanced materials in science and engineering, in 1999. At Stanford since 1968, Geballe has focused much of his attention on materials with extreme properties. He held the Theodore and Sydney Rosenberg Professorship in Applied Physics, served as chair of the Department of applied physics and directed the Center for Materials Research.

Beasley, the Theodore & Sydney Rosenberg Professor of Applied Physics, emeritus, also was one of the Geballe Lab’s founders. The former dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences is best known for his research in superconductivity and superconducting materials.

Bienenstock, professor emeritus of photon science, is special assistant to President John Hennessy for federal research policy, and director of the Wallenberg Research Link at Stanford. Bienenstock’s other roles at Stanford have included serving as vice provost and dean of research and graduate policy, director of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and vice provost for faculty affairs.

Fetter is professor emeritus of physics and applied physics. His research interests include theoretical condensed matter and superconductivity. Fetter joined the Stanford faculty in 1968. In addition to serving as director of the Geballe Laboratory, he also directed the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory.

You can view the Kivelson’s portraits on the third floor of the McCullough Building.

- ELAINE RAY

Jenny Bilfield to be honored

March 9th, 2012

JENNY BILFIELD, artistic and executive director of Stanford Lively Arts, will be recognized by Cantabile Youth Singers of Silicon Valley with a 2012 Champion of the Arts award later this month.

Cantabile Youth Singers of Silicon Valley, headed by internationally recognized conductor Elena Sharkova, offers an award-winning music education program to local children and teens.

The Champion of the Arts award honors a Silicon Valley individual who has made a significant impact on the performing arts in the region.

Since joining Stanford Lively Arts in 2006, Bilfield has led the organization’s transformation from university presenter to a campus-based arts producer. Bilfield has collaborated extensively with faculty and program partners to develop new pathways for high-impact arts experiences for students and arts-goers in Silicon Valley and the wider Bay Area.

The award will be given at a gala on March 24 at the Stanford Faculty Club. Titled “A Jazz Gala,” the evening will feature a concert by the Cantabile singers, accompanied by the Larry Dunlap Jazz Trio.

For more information on the event, visit the Cantabile website.

It’s like your mom said: ‘Turn off that light!’

March 8th, 2012

More than half of faculty, staff and students on campus say that it is “very important” to them to follow environmentally sustainable practices at Stanford.

But does that mean we are all willing to turn off the lights in our offices or rooms when it is bright outside or we leave?

FAHMIDA AHMED, associate director of the Office of Sustainability, sure hopes so. That’s because if Ahmed can convince everyone on campus to follow the simple step of turning off unneeded lights, the university could save about 6 million kilowatt hours per year, or $660,000.

That’s one of the lessons learned from a recent small, random behavioral survey Ahmed and her colleagues conducted among Stanford faculty, staff and students. Their objectives in surveying the campus included understanding current practices, establishing baselines and identifying incentives.

The survey findings suggest that 90 percent of us recycle and turn off unneeded lights. We’re also not bad when it comes to recycling electronic waste (86 percent), using sleep settings and power management on computers and printers (86 percent), drinking tap water (74 percent) and buying reusable utensils, dishware and beverage containers (74 percent).

Those results are pretty good. But what excites Ahmed more is the rewards of convincing everyone on campus to act sustainably.

For instance, if all of us used sleep settings or power management on our computers or printers, the university could save nearly $300,000 per year. Other big estimated savings could result from:

• Elimination of personal refrigerators holding our private stashes of Diet Coke: $171,651

• Discontinuing use of personal air conditioners or heaters: $163,985

• Always printing double sided: $137,727

• Increased efforts at recycling: $100,104

Changing cultural norms is challenging, but Ahmed said the survey results suggest that faculty, staff and students will adopt new habits if they see the savings and environmentally responsible behavior as a priority, it is easy for them to comply, and they have the opportunity.

Visit the Office of Sustainability website for more information.

The Cardinal’s winning weekend

March 7th, 2012

The Cardinal men’s swimming and diving team won its 31st consecutive conference championship last weekend in a 131 point landslide victory in East Los Angeles.

But that’s not all.

Stanford’s synchronized swimming team captured the Western Regional this past weekend, and will advance to the US Collegiate Nationals on March 15-17.

Men’s tennis duo of BRADLEY KLAHN and RYAN THACHER defended their title to become Pacific Coast Doubles Champions again.

Meanwhile, in women’s basketball, the Pac-12 announced its regular-season awards Tuesday, as voted by the conference’s head coaches. Stanford headlined the list with NNEMKADI OGWUMIKE, who was named Pac-12 Player of the Year. CHINEY OGWUMIKE was named Defensive Player of the Year, and TARA VANDERVEER took home her 12th Pac-12 Coach of the Year award.

Video pays tribute to Mark Marquess

March 6th, 2012

MARK MARQUESS, who recently began his 36th season as director of baseball at Stanford, says what attracted him to coaching was the desire to have an impact on people’s lives. Indeed, a Stanford alumnus and former baseball player himself, Marquess has earned the respect of both players and colleagues. The video below was produced by the Buck/Cardinal Club, which has supported student athletes at Stanford since 1934. In it, current and former players and other members of Marquess’ coaching staff pay tribute to the man referred to as “Nine.”

British political strategist to spend time on the Farm

March 5th, 2012

STEVE HILTON, senior adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, will join Stanford as a visiting scholar at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and as a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. He will arrive in May and spend a year on campus teaching, researching and writing.

“We look forward to having Steve Hilton in residence at FSI starting later this spring,” said FSI Director COIT BLACKER. “Steve is certain to bring a fresh perspective to many of the issues and challenges that are of ongoing concern to our faculty, fellows and students.”

As Cameron’s top adviser, Hilton’s primary responsibility is the development and implementation of domestic policy. He specializes in the promotion of enterprise and economic growth, public service reform, family policy, decentralization and government transparency and accountability.

Hilton will focus on innovation in government, public services and communities around the world while at Stanford. He will work with a wide range of centers and organizations across the university, including FSI’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and The Europe Center; the Graduate School of Business’ Center for Social Innovation; the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society; and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design.

“I’m delighted to be joining the academic community at Stanford and greatly look forward to an exhilarating and productive year,” Hilton said.

Read the full announcement on FSI’s website.

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