Duke University News Briefs, March 26, 2004

Richard Brodhead still is getting used to his new title.

"I'm glad to be here, but it's a curious feeling. I hear people say to me, 'President Brodhead,' and I wonder who that is," said Brodhead, who takes over as Duke's ninth president July 1. He spoke to the Academic Council March 18 in his first public appearance before the university faculty.

"I find it curious that you extended such an offer to a total stranger," he said. It's very bold on your part."

Brodhead told the faculty that he came to Duke with no personal agenda.

 

"However, I have things that I'll bring to this place," he said. "I have ideas, but just not projects. I need to learn more before I make a diagnosis and start issuing prescriptions for the patient."

In a relaxed, informal talk that brought lots of laughter, Brodhead had some serious points to make to the faculty. One was to emphasize his support for Duke's traditions of faculty governance.

Brodhead said that it will make his job as president easier if he knows he can rely on a faculty that takes its consultative role seriously. "I will think about that contract that holds us together and what it is that makes it work," he said. "I will consult you and take your advice because I know you will enter into the serious work of making difficult decisions."

Since his appointment, Brodhead has been making regular visits to Duke from Yale University. One thing that has already struck him is the level of cooperation between disciplines that stands out in comparison to most other universities.

"I was visiting the Divinity School, and the first thing I heard about was the Center for the Care at the End of Life and how it was involving faculty from medicine, law, ethics and other disciplines. ' I can tell you the names of many other universities who claim that their sciences are interwoven but whose buildings appear to make them separate. Here, I notice in the new CIEMAS building is consciously designed to link engineering to medicine."

He added that he thought the university was heading in the right direction, and his mission was "don't mess that up."

"It's a school on the move. The present is opening into its future. There are institutions that are weighted down by what I call the inertia of excellence. But here, I see a lot of excellence, but very little inertia."

Wyngaarden fellows at IGSP

A gift by Duke alumni Patricia and Michael Fitzpatrick to the School of Arts & Sciences has created an endowed fellowship in the Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy.

The endowment will support The James B. Wyngaarden Fellowship in IGSP's Center for Genome Ethics, Law & Policy. The $1 million fellowship was created in honor of Patricia Wyngaarden Fitzpatrick's father, former Duke vice chancellor and chair of the Department of Medicine Dr. James B. Wyngaarden, through the Nicholas Faculty Leadership Initiative.

Wyngaarden Fellowships will be awarded to candidates whose interests and accomplishments in biomedical research, genetics, the genome sciences, public policy and service match those of Dr. Wyngaarden. His career included a 15-year association with Duke as chairman of medicine and vice chancellor of health affairs from 1967 to 1982. He was then appointed director of the National Institutes of Health, a position he held from 1982 to 1989, during which time he initiated the Human Genome Program at NIH.

"The James B. Wyngaarden Fellowship exemplifies just what Duke hoped to encourage by creating the IGSP," said GELP Director Bob Cook-Deegan. "This is a spectacular opportunity to take advantage of Duke's comparative advantage in university-wide interdisciplinary research."

CROP Walk

Hundreds of walkers will be starting from Duke Chapel Sunday, March 28 and moving through Durham to raise money to fight hunger. The annual Durham CROP Walk will leave from the front of Duke Chapel at 2:30 p.m. Registration begins at 1:30 p.m.

Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane is encouraging members of the Duke community to participate either through walking or sponsoring a walker.

"Half the people on this planet suffer from malnutrition, and CROP Walk provides desperately needed funds to relieve worldwide hunger. In the 30 years since Duke students organized the first Durham CROP Walk, $500,000 has remained right here in our local community to fund the hunger relief efforts of such groups as Durham Urban Ministries and the Society of St. Andrews," she said.

For more information, call 416-3366.

London Lecture

Myriam P. Sarachick, Distinguished Professor of Physics at the City College of New York, will present the 43rd Fritz London endowed lecture, given annually by the departments of physics and chemistry in honor of London, a former Duke faculty member who made many pathbreaking contributions to these fields.

Sarachick will speak on "Metal-Insulator Transitions" at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, in the Gross Chemistry Auditorium. She is an experimental physicist who made numerous contributions to the physics of solids at low temperatures.

Keohane talk to AWN

Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane will mark the first-year anniversary of the Women's Initiative at an Administrative Women's Network luncheon Wednesday, April 14, from noon to 2 p.m. in the Searle Center.

Keohane launched the initiative at the AWN luncheon in 2003. Last September, a steering committee presented a list of recommendations, many of which have already been implemented.

Keohane will speak on: "The Women's Initiative: One Year Along the Road." Seating is limited, and people are encouraged to register by Friday, April 2. Registration can be sent to the AWN, Box 90008. Tickets are $10 for AWN members and $15 for non-members.

For more information, contact Susan Booth at 668-0790.

Walk, be a superhero

The Fuqua School MBA Games is sponsoring a Superhero Shuffle 5K Run/Walk/Shuffle to raise money for the Special Olympics of North Carolina.

The event will be held at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, March 27, at Wallace Wade Stadium. The entry fee is $12 in advance or $15 on the day of the race. For more information, visit www.mbagames.org or e-mail christine.hale@duke.edu.

History of African-American spoken word

A multimedia presentation exploring African-American history through spirituals, spoken-word performances and photographs will be shown next week at the Hayti Heritage Center, 804 Fayetteville Road, in Durham.

"How I Got Over: A Celebration of Spoken Word, Sacred Music and Photographic Imagery" will be presented at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 2, and Friday, April 3, and at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 4.

The show focuses on the historical context for the social conditions of Africans in America, covering Middle Passage, slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, Black Power and other contemporary issues. It was produced by Maurice Wallace, associate professor of English and interim director of African and African American Studies at Duke, and Johari Jabir, artist-in-residence at the John Hope Franklin Center.

For more information, call 684-2830. For ticket information, visit www.hayti.org.

Obituary

Former Duke hospital administrator Louis E Swanson Sr. died Feb. 28 after a period of declining health. He was a resident of The Forest at Duke. He was 83.

Swanson became assistant superintendent of Duke University Hospital in 1949 and co-superintendent in 1952. After serving as assistant administrative director for five years he became the Medical Center's Director of Planning in 1960. His participation in planning helped bring about the Duke South Main Entrance in 1967, the Pickens Building, the Morris Building, the Eye Center and Parking Garage #1. In 1978, he became director of facilities programming, responsible for supervising long-range planning for the hospital, clinics and patient care. He retired in 1984.

He also was an associate professor emeritus in the Department of Health Administration. He taught classes in hospital administration for 35 years.

Survivors include his wife, Geraldine Sandon Swanson; son Louis E Swanson Jr. and David Swanson; daughter Karen Swanson Humeniuk; and six grandsons.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Building Fund at Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church, 927 W. Trinity Avenue, Durham, 27701.