Author Tom Wolfe CAMPUS TALK STAFF Q&A SCRAPBOOK joined Stern to discuss ’s Robert A. M. Stern’s Moss Cooper on CU’s No rest for urban fabric. New York | 3 film triumphs | 7 the wise | 8

VOL. 32, NO. 8 NEWS AND IDEAS FOR THE COLUMBIA COMMUNITY FEBRUARY 5, 2007

FACULTY HONORS RESEARCH Ten Arts and 10 REASONS TO LOVE Second Sciences Alzheimer’s Faculty THE LIBRARIES... Gene AND THE LIBRARIANS Uncovered Honored By Carolyn M. Whelan PROFILES OF 10 By Record Staff n a breakthrough offering LIBRARIANS hope to millions of aging en professors from the Pages 4–5 Americans, a Columbia-led University’s Arts and research team has uncovered a Sciences faculty have won Isecond gene, known as SORL1, this year’s Distinguished implicated in late-onset Alzheimer’s. FacultyT Awards, an annual honor Late-onset Alzheimer’s is the that recognizes faculty members most common form of the disease, who demonstrate extraordinary afflicting people over 65 with merit across a range of professional memory loss, dementia and even- activities—particularly in instruct- tual death. Today, there is no cure. ing and mentoring their students. Although much work remains The 2006–2007 honorees, to identify gene mutations linked selected by a committee of six sen- to Alzheimer’s, the discovery, if ior Columbia faculty led by Nicholas verified, offers more clues as to Dirks, vice president of Arts and what causes the illness and how to Sciences, will receive an annual treat it. The first gene known to stipend of $25,000 for three years. increase the risk of Alzheimer’s, “This year’s honorees, from fields APOE, was discovered in 1993. as various as art history, English, More than a dozen genes are , history, physics and thought to play a role in this psychology, exemplifies the com- disease. mitment of Columbia’s faculty to “We’re approaching crisis levels extraordinary teaching,” said Dirks. in the number of individuals devel- The awards were established in oping this disease,” said Richard 2005 through a $12 million dona- Mayeux, the Gertrude H. Sergievsky tion from Columbia trustee Gerry professor of neurology, psychiatry Lenfest (LAW’58), one of the and at ’s most generous benefac- University Medical Center and the tors. This fall, he continued his com- mitment to building Columbia’s Study has roots in faculty with a pledge of up to $48 million to create matching funds for Washington Heights & endowed faculty chairs. Inwood aging project

study’s lead researcher. “Identifying genes helps. But we still must pin- Michael Ryan, keeper of point pathways and potential tar- the University’s cunabula and gets that lead to the disease, to other rarities, holds a file of come up with a treatment.” 25 letters and clippings from Key study findings, published in artists Rockwell Kent and Dale Nature Genetics, span over five MICHAEL DAMES Nichols—one of the Rare Book years of research among four uni- Gerry Lenfest congratulates and Manuscript Library’s versities, several continents and winner Wei Shang. recent acquisitions. 6,000 volunteers from four differ- 2006–2007 Distinguished Faculty EILEEN BARROSO ent ethnic groups. Awardees: But if the research is internation- he best antidote for the winter doldrums is to 4) Extraordinary collections attract extraordinary al, its roots lie in work Mayeux began think of all the things you appreciate about your people. Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan • VIRGINIA CORNISH, associate profes- in 1989 known as the Washington immediate environment. Topping the list for Pamuk, now a visiting professor at Columbia, sor of chemistry, is well known in Heights and Inwood Community many Columbians would be the University’s wrote his most dazzling work, , in a the field for her imaginative use The Black Book Aging Project. After collecting data libraries.T How do we love these information-rich reposi- room in Butler. of genetic to create on elderly African Americans, tories? Let us count the ways: 5) The libraries reflect global concerns. They are now new enzymes. She mentors stu- Caribbean Hispanics and whites the largest repository of human rights archives in dents from all over the world. who reside in these northern 1) Twenty-five libraries; 174 miles of books and other the world. • GERALDINE DOWNEY, professor of neighborhoods, Mayeux items; 3 million visitors and 140,000 acquisitions 6) They have one of the world’s greatest collections psychology and department chair, and his team found that Dominicans each year; 45,000 items checked out per month; 135 on African American history—Harlem in particular. is highly regarded for her ground- were afflicted with late-onset librarians (several are profiled on pp. 4–5). 7) They connect us with the concerns of greater breaking research on the psycho- Alzheimer’s at a rate nearly three 2) With so many rare items you’re bound to find one NYC—e.g., through the September 11, 2001 Oral logical aspects of rejection. Her times that of their non-Hispanic that excites you—whether it’s a Buddhist sutra History Narrative and Memory Project tapes. students stress the importance of peers—a discovery that spurred dating from the year 1162 C.E., a Rococo engrav- 8) They have cool digital projects, such as putting her “Children at Risk” course. Alzheimer’s experts to come togeth- ing, or the papers of Harlem writer and activist Harlem’s multimedia assets online. • ROBERT HARRIST, the Jane and er to find the common gene among Hubert Henry Harrison (1883–1927). 9) Who else on campus hosts talks with titles like Leopold Swergold professor of sufferers of all ethnicities. 3) The libraries have done us the favor of displaying “Bookworms, Red-Rot, and Leather Dressing”? Chinese art history and depart- Peter St. George-Hyslop of the 250 of their rarest objects online at 10) Last but not least, the stacks and wood paneling of ment chair, is renowned for his www. University of Toronto contributed are reminiscent of Harry Potter and work on issues of authorship, columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/exhibitions/ genetic data from Europeans treasures/. Hogwarts—thoroughly enchanting. continued on page 8 continued on page 8

www.columbia.edu/news 2 FEBRUARY 5, 2007 TheRecord

RECENT SIGHTINGS MILESTONES

The Columbia College Alumni Association presented the Alexander Hamilton Medal to its outgoing presi- dent, ROBERT BERNE, CC’60, BUS’62, at its annual fundraising dinner in October 2006. Berne has long worked in ’s real estate industry and cur- rently serves as a board member of the Settlement Housing Fund, Inc., which creates affordable housing for ethnically diverse city residents.

ANNE BOGART, professor of theatre arts in the School of the Arts, was among the first group of artists to receive an unrestricted grant of $50,000 from Artists.

The 2006 Crafoord Prize in Geosciences from Sweden’s Royal Academy of Sciences went to WALLACE S. BROECKER, Newberry professor at the Lamont- Doherty Earth Observatory, for his “innovative and pio- neering research” in explaining how the ocean, atmos- phere and biosphere interact with the climate.

BARRY HONIG, an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and director of the center for compu- tational biology and bioinformatics at Columbia, has won the Alexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics from the National Academy of Sciences.

GUY LONGOBARDO, B.S.’49, M.S.’50, Eng.Sc.D.’62, a gradu- ate of Columbia’s Department of Mechanical Engineer- ing and a former professor in that department, received the Engineering School Alumni Association’s highest honor, the Egleston Medal, on Nov. 15, 2006, for his work JO LIN in the field of biotechnology. COFFEE WITH A CONSCIENCE Is your Blue Java looking a little green nowadays? Carmen Alegria (above), who works at Blue Java in Butler Library, knows why.Alegria explained that beginning in January 2007, the campus changed over to selling fair trade, organic coffee supplied by Dallis Coffee, which is headquartered in Ozone Park, Queens. Using beans imported from Central America, East Africa and Indonesia, Dallis customized a blend for Columbia that is “well-balanced, roasty, with a hint of spice and dark berry,”according to company spokesperson Jim Munson. Fair trade roasters and distributors such as Dallis Coffee purchase directly from coffee farmers rather than buying from a commodity exchange.As Munson puts it: “The difference Columbia University is mak- ing by buying this coffee is tremendous to farmers: a 30 to 40 percent premium over the commodity market price, which means revenue for edu- cation and in these developing countries.”

Is the “sundial” on Low Chester Lee (EN’70 BUS’74), SEAS Dean Zvi Galil, Eric A. Schon (EN’68), Guy Longobardo and Ronald P. Mangione (EN’69).

USPS 090-710 ISSN 0747-4504 Plaza functional? PETER OZSVÁTH, professor of mathematics, is one of four Vol. 32, No. 8, February 5, 2007 recipients of the 2007 Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry.

MICHAEL WOODFORD, the John Bates Clark professor Published by the Dear Alma’s Owl, Office of Communications I don’t understand why everyone of political economy, has won the 2007 Deutsche Bank and Public Affairs refers to the stone pedestal on Low Prize in Financial Economics for his contributions to Plaza as the sundial. Does it work? the theory and practical analysis of monetary policy. — Time Sensitive t: 212-854-5573 f: 212-678-4817 Dear Lost-in-Time, GRANTS & GIFTS

Columbia Record Staff Your puzzlement is understandable. New Business Journalism Grants Editor: Mary-Lea Cox Today’s sundial consists of a nine-foot- Graphic Designer: Scott Hug long circular pink pedestal. The gno- WHO GAVE IT: Hearst Corporation Staff Writer: Dan Rivero mon, the object that casts the shadow, HOW MUCH: $1.25 million University Photographer: Eileen Barroso has gone missing. WHO GOT IT: Graduate School of Journalism Contact The Record: I wish you could have seen the sun- WHAT FOR: To establish a Hearst Fellowship Fund for t: 212-854-3283 dial before the disappearance of the ASK ALMA’S OWL students seeking M.A.s in business journalism who could f: 212-678-4817 gnomon—such a magnificent sight! not otherwise afford to attend the program. e: [email protected] Sitting atop the base was a green gran- where its shadow was pointing on the HOW IT WILL BE USED: Beginning in 2008, three fellow- The Record is published twice a month during ite ball measuring seven feet and weigh- platform. That way I could tell the date. ships will be awarded annually. the academic year, except for holiday and ing 16 tons. vacation periods. Permission is given to use I was as disappointed as everyone Record material in other media. I was there, peering out from behind else on that fateful day in 1946 when The War for Muslim Minds Alma’s cloak, on the day in 1914 when the ball was removed because of cracks the sundial was placed on the south side WHO GAVE IT: Joint Warfare Analysis Center David M. Stone in the granite. And like others, I HOW MUCH: $300,000 Executive Vice President of 116th St., now College Walk. The class believed report that for Communications WHO GOT IT: Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies the ball was broken into pieces and WHAT FOR: Probing the causes of anti-Americanism in taken to a stone yard in the Bronx. Correspondence/Subscriptions the Muslim world. There the story might have ended Anyone may subscribe to The Record for $27 HOW IT WILL BE USED: To conduct a pilot study using per year. The amount is payable in advance to had it not been for the efforts of Steve public opinion research in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Columbia University, at the address below. Pulimood (CC’03), who for several years Allow 6 to 8 weeks for address changes. Pakistan. has been campaigning to have the ball returned to campus. A few months ago, Postmaster/Address Changes Tackling the Problem from Hell Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and he learned that the ball is still intact—in additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send an Ann Arbor, Michigan, field. WHO GAVE IT: Humanity United, Bridgeway and Ford address changes to The Record, 535 W. Just as the Times mistakenly report- 116th St., 402 Low Library, Mail Code 4321, Foundations New York, NY 10027. View from an early 20th century postcard. ed the destruction of the gnomon, my HOW MUCH: $150,000 Jan. 18 column contained a couple of WHO GOT IT: SIPA’s Center for International Conflict of 1885 had donated it to the University please recycle errors, spotted by Prof. Robert Resolution, led by senior research scholar Andrea Bartoli. on the occasion of its 25th reunion. McCaughey. Columbia was of course WHAT FOR: Educating emerging leaders on the warning Class member Harold Jacoby (by then a founded in 1754, not 1756, and it signs of genocide as well as strategies for prevention. Columbia astronomer) masterminded would be madness to think that it was HOW IT WILL BE USED: To host a one-week session. the gift. Architects McKim, Mead, and George III who founded Kings College; The Record welcomes your input for news White designed the structure, but it was it was George II. I hope this clears up items, calendar entries and staff profiles. Jacoby who conceived of perching a any confusion. (Try typing with wings!) EDITOR’S NOTE You can submit your suggestions at: large ball, made from Vermont’s famed The Jan. 18 article “University in the City” misstated the www.columbia.edu/cu/news/ green granite, atop the base. Send your questions for Alma’s Owl to rank of Sudhir Venkatesh, a member of Columbia’s newcontent.html In those days, I was in the habit of [email protected]. Authors of letters sociology department. He is a professor, not an assis- flying over to the ball at noon to see we publish receive a Record mug. tant professor. TheRecord FEBRUARY 5, 2007 3

TALK OF THE CAMPUS Compiled by Mary-Lea Cox & Dan Rivero Sundance Kudos When this year’s Sundance Film Festival wrapped in icy Park City, Utah, Columbia University danced away with a sunny smile on its face. The Grand Jury Prize for best dramatic film went to Padre Nuestro, written and directed by Christopher Zalla (SoA’04) and produced by Ben Odell (SoA’04). Grace Is Gone, written and directed by James C. Strouse, M.F.A.can- didate in fiction writing, and co-produced by Jessica Levin (SoA’02), won the Audience Award for favorite dramatic film; Strouse also won the Waldo Salt Award for best screenplay. Last but not least, the Audience Award for favorite documentary went to Hear and Now, directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky, a 1999 jour- nalism school graduate. STERN’S

NEW YORK JOHN SMOCK

n the never-ending debate about Bicentennial to the Millennium, Stern The history of Columbia is inextricably New York City’s identity, some now returned to the Graduate School of linked to Stern, too. The acclaimed archi- maintain that the city has become a Architecture, Planning and Preservation tect, who was a professor at Columbia kind of Disneyland catering largely on Jan. 25 for a victory lap, consisting of a from 1970 to 1998, helped found the Ito the tastes of tourists, while others say it presentation on his book followed by a University’s Temple Hoyne Buell Center Still from Padre Nuestro, about a Mexican boy in Brooklyn. is holding its own—even thriving— panel discussion among Suzanne for the Study of American Architecture thanks to the contributions of immi- Stephens, deputy editor of Architectural and designed the University’s grants, artists and intellectual visionaries Record; Robert Beauregard, professor of Residence Hall on 113th St., which that shape each neighborhood. urban planning at Columbia; and Tom includes a New York Public Library According to architect Robert A. M. Wolfe, author of the bestselling Bonfire of branch. Many of Stern’s co-authors in the Stern, it helps to take the long view. That New York series are Columbia alums. way, you can see that the city has always Architecture professor Discussing Stern’s last work, which at been in flux and that many of today’s 1,300 pages is the heftiest of the lot, the problems, such as congestion and over- releases fifth and final panelists said it was objective and insight- building, are nothing new. ful on topics such as the rise and fall of Stern should know. Since 1983, this volume in series the city’s real estate market, the impact of Columbia College graduate and long-time the designation of historic districts, and architecture professor (he left Columbia in the Vanities, a satire of 1980s New York. the emergence of new commercial and 1998 to become dean of the Yale School of “I miss Columbia,” Stern told the residential centers. Architecture) has been engaged in writing crowd that had assembled in Avery Wolfe, by contrast, railed against those a history of New York City’s architecture Auditorium, including many of his former who would like to see New York become and urban fabric. His first four volumes architecture school colleagues as well as a full-fledged theme park. covered New York 1880 (1865–1890), architecture graduate students. “The New “I propose that the city create a green New York 1900 (1890–1915), New York York book series grew out of an essay I space for artists to live for free,” he said, 1930 (the interwar years) and New York wrote many years ago celebrating the adding that it should also “go into neigh- 1960 (World War II to the bicentennial). centennial of the architecture school. The borhoods and develop them into some- With the publication of the fifth and history of Columbia is linked inextricably thing that people from all backgrounds final volume, New York 2000: From the to the history of the city.” can enjoy and afford.” CITY OFFICIALS EILEEN BARROSO BLACK ROCK FOREST/CLAIRE JOUSEAU, ECOLOGY PH.D.CANDIDATE Cutting the ribbon: Provost Alan Brinkley, chemistry and biology professor Ann E. McDermott, and department chair Shahid Naeem. REVIEW No Place IMMIGRATION

Like Home CHALLENGES EILEEN BARROSO Charles Darwin would be proud. After five years of faculty Before the Jan. 18 forum: President Lee C. Bollinger with UN Commissioner Marjorie B. Tivens, and students being spread out in temporary labs across cam- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and former Mayor David Dinkins. pus, the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental mmigrants remain the “lifeblood” of Department of Youth and Community bers of her staff speak more than 50 Biology (E3B for short) now has a headquarters on the 10th New York City, said Mayor Michael R. Development, pointed out that young languages. floor of Schermerhorn Extension. Bloomberg at Columbia University’s people in immigrant communities face Thomas R. Frieden, commissioner of the Construction on the new space—which created offices, Jan. 18 World Leaders Forum, going special challenges. For instance, many New York City Department of Health and onI to note the efforts his administration must assume the adult role as the “family Mental Hygiene, said it is crucial to devise a conference rooms, two labs and an equipment room—cost close to $3 million and took nearly a year to complete, has made to improve immigrants’ access navigator,” she said. targeted response to a community’s health according to project manager Anthony Botti. to health and education services. In a second panel focusing on health needs and to ensure that information At the grand opening of the new space on Jan. 23, depart- In a panel moderated by Columbia pro- care and social services, Verna Eggleston, about services is available. For example, an ment chair Shahid Naeem could hardly conceal his joy that fessor Ester Fuchs, Joel I. Klein (CC’67), commissioner of New York’s Human advertising campaign about the city’s from now on E3B faculty and staff will be able to store sam- chancellor of the New York City Resources Administration, pointed out tuberculosis program was printed in nine Department of Education, continued this that her department has adopted a multi- languages, because two-thirds of all TB ples, build computer models and conduct experiments all in theme, listing the specialized services his lingual, multicultural approach to sensi- cases are among immigrant groups in the one place. Since joining Columbia in 2003 as a professor of department offers to immigrants, such as tive issues such as domestic violence and city, Frieden explained. ecology, Naeem has been conducting his lab experiments, on programs to encourage them to learn AIDS awareness. “Understanding culture the consequences of declining biodiversity, in space bor- English. Another panelist, Jeanne Mullgrav, is the most complicated thing we do,” To watch the Webcast of the forum, go to: rowed from the physics department. commissioner of the New York City Eggleston explained, noting that mem- www.worldleaders.columbia.edu. 4 FEBRUARY 5, 2007 COLUMBIA LIBR THIS UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN IS TRANSFORMING BUTLER—NOT ONLY ITS FAÇADE BUT THE WAY INFORMATION IS HANDLED, STORED, PROTECTED AND DISTRIBUTED.

IN CONVERSATION WITH... JAMES NEAL Interviewed by Fred A. Bernstein

ntering Butler Library—with its wall murals, ornate ceilings, paneled rooms and walls of books—you may feel as if you have passed into another, more anti- quated era. Does an august space like this belong to theE 21st century? Venturing up to the 5th floor of Butler, however, will dispel this impression. Here you can meet James Neal, University Librarian and Vice President for Information Services, and, come June, chair of the National Information Standards Organization and a member of the board of the Association of Research Libraries. Though he occupies a space that looks like Hogwarts in Harry Potter, Neal is no Albus Dumbledore. He spends his day overseeing a network of 25 libraries as well as the academic computing services, more than 600 employees, and an annual budget of more than $50 million. His alchemy is to convert print materials into electronic resources. Perhaps more remarkably, Neal has accomplished a trans- formation within Butler itself. He points out that back in the day when he attended Columbia (he earned two degrees and a certificate here between 1969 and 1976), “Butler was a run- down facility, which deteriorated further into the mid-1990s.” Now, after a $100 million investment, it’s a showcase, he claims, “the intellectual center of the Morningside campus.”

How has Butler changed? EILEEN BARROSO Q. “Libraries and librarians are more necessary than ever. It’s become a classy place. Students have voted with A.their feet. Since 1995, we’ve had almost a 100 percent increase in the number of people entering Butler. We have entered the golden age of the research library.”

What other changes have you made to Columbia’s Q.library system? Databases developed at Columbia include the Advanced strategy exists. Some publishers are phasing out print versions, We opened a Social Work library, renovated sections of Papyrological Information System, or APIS, for scholars who and new journals are often available only in electronic form. A.the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, launched work with documents on papyrus, and the Digital Scriptorium major improvements in the Lehman Social Sciences Library, for medieval manuscripts. Now, thousands of such documents Are you buying fewer books? obtained the Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, are available online; the user can click from text, translation, Q. and moved nearly 2.5 million volumes to an offsite shelving bibliography, description and image. Unlike other research and academic libraries, we have facility near Princeton. We deliver books and electronic pho- A.maintained a very aggressive book acquisitions program tocopies from storage, thus allowing collections to grow at Are some materials too delicate to be scanned? at Columbia. During 2004–2005, Columbia ranked number Morningside and user space to be maintained. Q. one among the 123 North American research libraries in funds Mishandled items may be vulnerable, but digitization spent on electronic content, while at the same time we added What are some of your tasks as Vice President for A.technologies are becoming more sophisticated. Indeed, 220,000 print volumes to the collections. We are committed to Q.Information Services? we digitize items to protect the original by enabling distinctive collections of great depth and breadth. We just I am responsible for the academic computing services researchers to use a digital facsimile. hired a full-time Tibetan studies librarian, and are compiling A.of the University. This includes the Columbia Center for the world’s most important human rights collection. Unique New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL), the Electronic Do you also do scholarly publishing? special collections are a priority focus. Publishing Initiative at Columbia (EPIC), a new Copyright Q. Advisory Office, a forthcoming Center for Digital Scholarship, Yes, the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia has What’s in your crystal ball? the Electronic Text Service, and the Electronic Data Service. A.created works like Columbia International Affairs Online Q. (CIAO); Earthscape, for earth and environmental resources; and The libraries of the future will be a kind of trompe Who benefits from CCNMTL’s work? Gutenberg-e, a database of digital history monographs. A.l’oeil. They may still be grand buildings with stately Q. reading rooms and helpful staff, but the collections, services Part of what we do is to provide students with depend- Is electronic publishing a positive development? and study environments inside the library and over the net- A.able access to course materials anywhere, anytime—on Q. work will be dramatically different. computers, cellphones and other hand-held devices—and In many ways. There’s a desire in scholarly circles to give faculty expert support. We are also creating powerful A.provide open access to academic publications. In addi- So libraries aren’t on the way out? additions to the learning experience. It’s one thing to talk tion to sending a manuscript to a publisher, more and more Q. about poverty in Africa but another to illustrate it with videos scholars choose also to distribute their materials online. Far from it. In the 1990s we were not confident in our and Internet connections with African resources. A.future relevance and impact. But now, thanks to the Does the University still buy print journals? extraordinary complexity of the information environment What will the Center for Digital Scholarship do? Q. and the availability of powerful new tools, libraries and Q. When a journal is available electronically, the use of the librarians are more necessary than ever. We have entered the It will focus on creating scholarly databases and an A.print version often stops. We are moving to e-only for golden age of the research library. A.institutional repository, and on capturing research data. many of our journals, particularly when a dependable archiving RARIES SPECIAL Compiled and edited by Mary-Lea Cox FEBRUARY 5, 2007 5

SEVERAL OF COLUMBIA’S LEADING LIBRARIANS SHARE JOHN SMOCK GERALD BEASLEY ELIZABETH DAVIS SUSAN HAMSON AMY HEINRICH INFORMATION AVERY ARCHITECTURAL & FINE ARTS LIBRARY GABE M.WIENER MUSIC & ARTS LIBRARY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES C.V. STARR EAST ASIAN LIBRARY ON THEIR Established in 1890 as a memorial to Established in 1934 and named for The Columbia University Archives (for- Begun more than a century ago, the COLLECTIONS Henry Ogden Avery, a promising New Gabe M. Wiener (CC’92) in 1997, the merly known as University Archives- library is one of the foremost East York architect who died at age 38,Avery library has more than 60,000 printed Columbiana Library) preserves the Asian collections in North America, AND REVEAL is today regarded as the world’s pre- items and some 20,000 sound and institutional memory of Columbia with some 805,000 volumes of THEIR eminent architectural library, with over video recordings. Strengths include University from its founding in 1754 Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, five centuries of printed books. Avery early printed works on music theory to the present. In 2005–2006, CU Mongol, Manchu and Western-lan- PERSONAL contains more than 400,000 volumes and vocal scores of 18th- and 19th- Archives served more than 1,300 guage materials. It was named in and receives approximately 1,900 peri- century operas. Also collected are patrons, referenced more than 130 col- honor of an endowment from the Starr FAVORITES. odicals. Its Drawings and Archives col- scores and recordings by more than lections some 2,000 times, and netted Foundation in 1983. lection holds some 1,000,000 original 350 contemporary composers. over $10,000 in reproduction fees. LATEST ACQUISITION: The Tibetan documents, the vast majority docu- LATEST ACQUISITION: A recording of LATEST ACQUISITION: Administrative Buddhist Resource Center’s Core Text menting the work of American archi- “Time After Time” by Fred Lerdahl records from the Office of the Provost. collection, a major electronic resource tects.An estimated 10,000 people visit (Columbia’s Fritz Reiner professor of “Such routine records are at the core for hard-to-obtain Tibetan texts. Avery each month. musical composition), performed by of what we do here.” OLDEST: Oracle bones, dating from LATEST ACQUISITION: Three oil paint- the Columbia Sinfonietta and conduct- OLDEST (AND MOST VALUABLE): King’s about 1300 to 1050 B.C.E. ings: a portrait of Henry Ogden Avery as ed by music professor Jeffrey Milarsky. College Charter, 1754. MOST VALUABLE: Two volumes of the a young boy, a twin portrait of his sister NYC-RELATED: Music composed and NYC-RELATED: Records from 1947 to earliest printed book using han’gul Emma, and a portrait of his mother, recorded with the support of 1993 for the Morningside Area [the Korean syllabary]; and four frag- Mary Ogden Avery, the co-founder of Columbia’s Alice M. Ditson Fund. Alliance, a group of 15 religious, edu- ments of a Buddhist sutra from Japan’s Avery Library. “Many of the composers had strong cational and medical institutions in Heian period (794–1185). OLDEST: De re aedificatoria (1485), ties to New York: Samuel Barber, Morningside Heights that seek to PERSONAL FAVORITE: A collection of by Leone Battista Alberti. Douglas Moore, Virgil Thomson. The engage government officials on issues poetry by 20th-century Japanese novel- NYC-RELATED: Archives of the Wood- music was also performed in the city.” of property development. ist Jun’ichiro Tanizaki. “Professor emeri- lawn Cemetery, final resting place in the DIGITAL PROJECT: “With a grant from PERSONAL FAVORITES: “I have a soft tus Donald Keene donated the book in Bronx for many New York City notables. the GRAMMY Foundation, we are pre- spot for a travel diary kept by Margaret 1953, and I am currently translating it.” NOW ONLINE: The Avery Index to serving the Ditson Fund music by re- Kimmel, who worked in Butler Library NOW ONLINE: A Web site dedicated to Architectural Periodicals, produced by formatting it onto CDs.” for many years. In the midst of her the Chinese women’s magazine Ling Avery staff since 1933 and today PERSONAL FAVORITES: An engraved European travels in August 1939, long. “Starr Library owns one of the considered the single most important score of Haydn’s “Ten Commandments Germany invaded Poland. Kimmel longest runs of the magazine, and it bibliographical resource in the field of Composed as a Canon” and the archival recorded her (and others’) trevails in was so heavily requested, and so brit- architectural history. copy of John Kander’s M.A. thesis. trying to return to the United States.” tle, we created an online version.” MALCOLM LINTON ALYSSE JORDAN KENT McKEEVER ALENA PTAK-DANCHAK JILL PARCHUCK MICHAEL RYAN SOCIAL WORK LIBRARY ARTHUR W. DIAMOND LAW LIBRARY AUGUSTUS C. LONG HEALTH SCIENCES LIBRARY THOMAS J.WATSON LIBRARY OF BUSINESS RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY & ECONOMICS Begun in 1949 as a resource for what Opened in 1859 and now America’s Created in 1912, the library serves the is now the Columbia School of Social second largest academic law library,the colleges of medicine and dental medi- Begun in the early 20th century, the The library houses treasures spanning Work, the library today offers one of the library has a comprehensive collection cine, the schools of nursing and public library is one of the largest collections in more than 4,000 years, beginning with world’s premier collections in social of federal and state primary law along health and New York-Presbyterian the United States for the study of man- a collection of cuneiform tablets from work and social services, with particu- with extensive holdings of secondary Hospital. More than 450,000 users agement, finance, economics, industry the 2nd and 3rd millennia B.C.E. Every lar strengths in child welfare, gerontol- materials. It has historically deep col- come every year to use its extensive and related fields. Each year, the library year, RBML adds around 2,500 linear ogy,health care,social policy and relat- lections in foreign and international printed and electronic resources. adds approximately 5,000 print vol- feet of archives and manuscripts to its ed areas.About 1,500 items are added law. The collection is increasingly aug- LATEST ACQUISITIONS: “With major umes to its collections, around 500,000 collections and welcomes about 3,000 each year, and the library hosts around mented by a wide range of legal data- renovation imminent, the library has people visit, and 38,000 items are visitors. 5,000 visitors each month. bases, both domestic and foreign. just purchased extensive electronic checked out. LATEST ACQUISITIONS: 1) The papers LATEST ACQUISITION: “I just bought a LATEST ACQUISITION: Patriots and backfiles dating back to the 1950s in LATEST ACQUISITION: Anatomy of the of Samuel Roth, the writer-publisher copy of Spike Lee’s When the Levees Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of the fields of medicine and dentistry, Bear by Russell Napier.“An alumnus of whose career began in the 1920s Broke for our film collection, which American Law by Columbia law and immunology and microbiology, nursing donated the when he published a selection from gets heavy use in social work courses. history professor John Fabian Witt. and health professions, pharmacology, book to us. It’s a practical guide to Wall Joyce’s Ulysses that got him thrown in Many social work students and faculty MOST VALUABLE: De legibus et conseu- toxicology and pharmaceutics.A major Street’s bear markets.” jail because of the obscene material. have been very involved in post- tudinibus Angliae, by Henry de Bracton. historic electronic purchase is the MOST VALUABLE: “The 70 databases “His specialty was erotica, a pursuit Katrina relief efforts.” “Bracton’s treatise was the first attempt complete run of the prominent med- to which we subscribe. They provide that frequently landed him in prison.” MOST VALUABLE: “Our 35,000-volume to present a comprehensive account of ical journal Lancet, dating back to the decades of granular financial data that 2) A group of 25 letters from Rockwell Agency Collection—one of the few to the early common law of England.” 19th century.” can be analyzed in all kinds of ways. Kent to fellow artist Dale Nichols. document the history of the social wel- NYC-RELATED: The Commonplace Book MOST VALUABLE: The 50-page manu- They are invaluable to students and “Columbia holds a large cache of Kent fare profession and of social reform by John Chambers,a New York City lawyer script of part of Sigmund Freud’s Totem faculty.” materials, and this substantial batch movements in the late 19th and 20th in the colonial period. “It provides a und Tabu. NYC-RELATED: The Marvyn Scudder of letters captures the more pensive, centuries. Dozens of historians and record of how English law was practiced NYC-RELATED: The papers of New York Financial Record Collection. “Scudder philosophical side of the artist.” social scientists travel from around the in this expanding commercial colony.” City psychiatrist Viola W. Bernard, “an was once known as the country’s most MOST VALUABLE: Audubon’s Birds of world to use the collection each year.” PERSONAL FAVORITE: A 1983 book on incredibly rich record of mid-20th cen- famous ’stock detective.’His collection America. “Columbia was one of the NYC-RELATED: Papers from New York the Peruvian constitution, written for tury New York liberal activism.” includes the historical records of many original subscribers to the project, and City agencies (e.g., Children’s Aid the neglected indigenous peoples. NOW ONLINE: “In cooperation with the NYC-based companies, banks and our set is quite a nice one.” Society and Community Service “This was the first item I bought for the medical center’s academic depart- financial firms.” NYC-RELATED: The diaries of William Society), as well as the city’s settle- collections outside the usual bounds. ments, the library participates in ONLINE SERVICE: “Our reference librar- Barclay Parsons, the Columbia engi- ment houses. It combines a clear and simple text preservation and digitization of histor- ians, Jim Coen and Kathleen Dreyer, neer who planned the first subways. PERSONAL FAVORITES: “Our film col- with comic-book-style illustrations.” ical documents and objects. Recently have collaborated to build a database PERSONAL FAVORITE: The cuneiform lection contains many interesting doc- NOW ONLINE: Reference librarian more than 2,200 medical eye draw- of answers to questions on hundreds of tablet known as Plimpton 322. “It pre- umentaries. My personal favorites are Charles Cronin’s multimedia Web site ings were digitized and will be made business and economics topics.We call dates Pythagoras yet solves his maths.” An American Love Story, Southern documenting music plagiarism lawsuits available to scholars all over the world the service ’24/7 Help,’ and it can be NOW ONLINE: The set designs of

ALL OTHER PHOTOS: EILEEN BARROSO ALL OTHER PHOTOS: EILEEN Comfort and Losing Layla.” in the United States since 1845. via the Web.” accessed from our Web page.” Joseph Urban. “Check it out!” 6 FEBRUARY 5, 2007 TheRecord

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS FEBRUARY 5–16 ARTS TALKS CAMPUS SPORTS SCIENCES

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY February 5 February 6 February 7 February 8 February 9 February 10 February 11

Linguistics Music at St. Book Talk Manhattanville Epidemiology Heyman Center Photography Lecture Paul’s Elizabeth Kolbert Expansion Open Seminar Conference Exhibition Noam Chomsky With Arash Amini of the New Yorker House Danella Hafeman Literary scholars A display of pho- discusses “The Mysteries of (cello), Eveline Kuhn (flute) discusses her book Field A chance to ask questions presents her dissertation and psychologists—including tos by J-school student John Nature: How Deeply Hidden?” and Melissa Marse (piano). Notes from a Catastrophe: about Columbia’s proposed proposal: “Mediation: The George Ainslie, Maria DiBatista, Wendle showing Azerbaijan’s 4:00 p.m. , 6:00–7:00 p.m. St. Paul’s Man, Nature and Climate expansion into West Harlem. Cinderella of Methodological John Doris and Ruth Yeazell— failed revolution. Sponsored Teatro. 212-854-2306. Chapel. Free and open to the Change. Introduction by 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. Lerner Epidemiology.” 1:00–2:30 explore the “concept of charac- by the . public; children especially Sarah Murdock of the Nature Auditorium. 212-854-5573. p.m. Hammer Health ter” at this two-day event. International Affairs Bldg., Harold welcome. 212-854-6242. Conservancy. 6:00–8:00 p.m. Sciences Center (701 W. Heyman Center Common Room 1219. ar2052@colum- Pinter/Noam Faculty House, President’s Media Reform 168th St.), Room 301. Room. 212-854-8443. bia.edu. (Closes Feb. 17.) Chomsky Barnard Forum Room. Open to the public. Panel 212-305-9412. A screening of Harold Pinter’s on Migration 212-854-9896. Walter Cronkite is Wrestling vs. Penn Virtuoso Organ 2005 Nobel Prize acceptance Claudio Lomnitz, the keynote speaker for a Women’s Final home match speech, with response by director of Columbia’s Center ISERP Workshop panel on U.S. media owner- Swimming & of the season. teams up with St. Noam Chomsky. 6:15 p.m. for the Study of Ethnicity and Timothy Ross of ship rules. 1:00–4:00 p.m. Diving vs. University (Blue) Gymnasium, Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. Miller Theatre. Tickets: $5. Race, discusses “Orientalist” the Vera Institute Journalism Building, Princeton Dodge Fitness Center. 7:00 p.m. Kevin Bowyer opens the con- 212-854-7799. representations of Mexico of Justice on “Are You Telling Lecture Hall. RSVP required: Uris Swim Center. 6:00 p.m. cert. 5:15 p.m. St.Thomas with reference to the Mexican Me That I Wasted Four Years [email protected]. Men’s Basketball Church (5th Ave. at 53rd St.). “Breaking the Revolution. 7:00–9:00 p.m. of My Life?: The Perils and Wrestling vs. vs. Brown Free and open to the public. Bamboo Ceiling” Sulzberger Parlor (3rd Floor Joys of Evaluating New Raku-go Princeton . 212-854-7799. With executive Barnard Hall). Programs.” 6:30–8:30 p.m. Performance University (Blue) 7:00 p.m. coach Jane Hyun. 6:30–8:00 212-854-6146. International Affairs Bldg., The Donald Gymnasium, Dodge Fitness p.m. International Affairs Bldg. Lindsay Rogers Room. Keene Center hosts Katsura Center. 7:00 p.m. [email protected]. Casa Italiana 212-854-3081. Koharudanji, a master of Go online! Concert Series traditional Japanese comic Men’s Basketball Episcopal Annual Pianist Stefano Annual storytelling. In Japanese with vs. Yale Complete event listings: Lecture Bollani explores the history of Spring Lecture English subtitles. 6:00–7:30 Levien www.calendar.columbia.edu Gene Robinson, jazz and beyond. Casa Poet and play- p.m. 403 Kent Hall. Gymnasium. 7:00 p.m. the first openly gay bishop in Italiana, Teatro. 8:00–10:00 wright Sonia Sanchez helps 212-854-5036. the Anglican Communion, con- p.m. $10 for students; $20 Columbia celebrate Black verses with American studies for others. Heritage Month. Earl Hall professor Casey Blake on 212-854-1623. Auditorium. 7:00–9:00 p.m. morality in a time of war. [email protected]. 7:00–8:30 p.m. St. Paul’s Chapel. 212-854-1515.

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY February 12 February 13 February 14 February 15 February 16

ISERP Workshop Law Lecture Colloquium Chemistry Medical School Christian Muench Former police Series Colloquium Fair of the University of detective William Ronald Bayer of Xiaoyang Zhu of An opportunity to Frankfurt on “Language and D. Oldham III on “The the Mailman School on “The the Univ. of Minn. delivers learn about leading medical Social Integration in New York Influence of the U.S. Criminal Ethics and Politics of HIV the Brian Bent Memorial schools and their programs. City Hispanic Churches.” Justice System on the Testing.” 12:00–1:30 p.m. Lecture on molecules at con- 1:00–5:00 p.m. Alfred Lerner 4:00–6:00 p.m. International Acculturation of Recently , Case fined interfaces. 4:30 p.m. Hall, Roone Arledge Affairs Bldg., Room 801. Arrived Ethnic Groups in the Lounge. 212-854-2624. 209 Havemeyer. Auditorium. 212-854-2881. 212-854-3081. United States.” 12:15 p.m. 212-854-2202. Jerome Green Hall, Room Geochemisty Women’s Café Science 107. 212-854-2640. Seminar Barnard Reading Basketball vs. With math depart- Mark Siddall of Series Penn ment chair John W. Family LDEO on “Links between the Featuring poets Levien Gymnasium. 7:00 p.m. Morgan and Sylvia Nasar, John Atlantic Overturning Frances Richard, Karen S. and James L. Knight profes- Center Seminar Circulation and Sediment Swenson (Barnard ’59) and Columbia/ sor of business journalism and With Larry Aber of NYU, an Pa/Th in a 3-D Ocean.” Karen Weiser. 7:00–8:30 Harlem Jazz author of A Beautiful Mind. expert in child development 1:30–2:30 p.m. 61 Route p.m. Barnard Hall, Sulzberger Project 5:30–7:00 p.m. PicNic Café, and social policy. 1:00–2:15 9W, Geochemistry Building, Parlor (3rd Floor). shamil- With Latin jazz artist Eddie Editor’s Pick 2665 Broadway. Limited p.m. School of Social Work, Seminar Room, Palisades, NY. [email protected]. Palmieri. Music professor LAUGHING IS GOOD FOR YOU space; $10 cover. Room 1109. 212-851-2300. [email protected]. Chris Washburne interviews Delacorte him beforehand. 7:30 p.m. The taste for Japanese food has spread to the West. Book Talk Textile Workshop NYC Premiere: Magazine Lecture Museo del Barrio, Teatro Can a love of Japanese traditional art forms be far Philosophy profes- Learn to weave on “Fêtes de la With Thomas J. Heckscher (1230 5th Ave. at behind? See for yourself by sampling a performance sor Philip Kitcher a Mediterranean Nuit” Wallace, editorial director of E. 104th St.). Tickets: $15. of Japanese comic storytelling, known as raku-go, discusses his new book, Living loom and gain a better M.F.A. candidate Kim Weild Condé Nast Publications. 212-660-7130. on Feb. 8 at Columbia’s Donald Keene Center. The with Darwin. 6:00–8:00 understanding of a common directs this play by Charles L. 7:00–9:00 p.m. Journalism teller is Katsura Koharudanji, who has been touring p.m. ancient Greek and Roman Mee, consisting of 38 skits Building, Lecture Hall. the West with his comic renditions of classical tales Bookstore. metaphor. 5:00–7:00 p.m. on love. 8:00 p.m. Theatre of [email protected]. such as “boy meets girl meets cow.” Subtitles for his [email protected]. 954 Schermerhorn Extension. the . jokes are projected onto a giant screen. Enjoy! 212-854-1390. [email protected]. AROUND TOWN Valentine’s Day is coming. Where do you go for target practice?

I’m a retired police officer so I can use the ranges at the police academy, but for target practice that’s open to the public I would suggest Alpione Gun Range in Bayside Brooklyn. — Rocco Osso, Public Safety Manager, Morningside

My favorite indoor range for practicing archery is Pro Line Archery Lanes in Ozone Park, Queens. For outdoors, it’s Brookdale Park in Bloomfield, NJ. — Derek M. Davis, Head Coach, Women’s Varsity Archery Team

I play darts at 1020, a bar at Amsterdam and 110th St. You’re welcome to join— but be careful. The dartboard is right by the entrance. — Kristy Crowley, Assistant Strength Coach, Athletics

GENE BOYARS I cruise the paperback romance aisle at drugstores. Women approach. I drop Sara Goshorn, CC’10, the leading scorer for the 2006–2007 Columbia archery team, change. I go from there. Failing that, I hasten to the Great Lakes Bar in Brooklyn. lines up her shot at Barnard’s newly renovated LeFrak Gymnasium. — Kip Conlon, Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid TheRecord FEBRUARY 5, 2007 7

COMMUNITY COLUMBIA AND HARLEM RESET THE JAZZ STANDARD By Adam Piore

hen she’s not singing, San Francisco-based vocalist Paula West would rather be discussing art or architecture. That’s what Wshe told a packed house at Miller Theatre on Jan. 26 before performing with her quartet—a performance that marked the debut of a two- year concert series jointly sponsored by Columbia’s Center for Jazz Studies and a num- ber of Harlem-based arts organizations. The evening began with an onstage inter- view with West conducted by Columbia lit- erature professor Farah Jasmine Griffin.

During the conversation, West was self-effac- BARROSO EILEEN ing about her achievements, the most recent Moss Cooper and the Kara Walker wall in the School of the Arts dean’s office, 305 Dodge Hall. being the 2007 Nightlife Award for out- standing female jazz vocalist. Instead she STAFF Q&A love with the University, and, fortunately, the deals with the stereotypes facing black talked to Griffin about trawling through Foul feeling was mutual. So impressed were vari- men. Tze Chun’s (CC’02) con- record stores for hidden treasures with sassy Windowbreaker ous Columbia administrators with Cooper’s textualizes fears found within an immigrant titles and recalled her years as a waitress MOSS international experience and , they community in a Boston suburb after a spate of before she found singing in college. tried to lure him back to campus with the break-ins to their shops and homes. It won “I didn’t know what to do with my life,” offer of a position where he could use these the New York City Shorts audience award. West said. “I thought it would be fun to sing considerable talents to spread the word about once or twice a year and invite friends and COOPER the University’s arts scene. Last month, Moss family. It turned into something else.” What’s the biggest challenge you face Interviewed by Dan Rivero joined President Bollinger on a trip to in your job? The Miller Theatre audience—which includ- Q. Tanzania, and he recently returned from the One of my biggest concerns is that ed many members of the Columbia and POSITION: Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, students from economically chal- Harlem arts communities—seemed grateful for A. Associate Dean, School of the Arts, and Director of where films by Columbia students and alumni lenged backgrounds won’t even consider that, as did program organizer Robert O’Meally, Development for the Arts swept four major awards, including the Grand applying to Columbia. Along with Jamal Jury Prize for best dramatic feature film. Joseph, I’m actively trying to raise funds so LENGTH OF SERVICE: that the school can offer more financial aid. 6 months Sundance showcased films that were Q.made not only by School of the Arts You were in Tanzania a few weeks ago COLUMBIA HISTORY: graduates but also by graduates from other Q.with President Bollinger. In April and May of 2005, Cooper came to Columbia on Columbia schools. Was that just coincidence? We were in Tanzania, primarily Dar es a paid sabbatical from the Arts Council England. One of the things I’m passionate A.Salaam, with Lord David Sainsbury and A.about is that the arts school is not an , director of . exclusive little club. We have international With the recent appointment of Mamadou s you walk along the third floor of affairs and journalism graduate students tak- Diouf to head the Institute of African Affairs,

JOHN SMOCK Dodge Hall, the sight of your shad- ing courses in the School of the Arts and pro- Columbia is developing greater expertise on ow mingling with the life-like sil- ducing films like Autism Every Day by Lauren the region. The visit was to look at what is director of the Center for Jazz Studies and Zora houettes in Kara Walker’s The Policy Thierry (SIPA’84) and by Irene being done by a number of agencies to raise Neale Hurston professor of English and Hear and Now A is the first sign that you’ve of Admissions Taylor Brodsky (JRN’97), which were agricultural productivity 3 to 4 percent, and comparative literature. O’Meally had chosen entered a creative space. Walker, the artist screened at Sundance, too. I’d like to see the in doing so make a huge stride to alleviate West to kick off the center’s new jazz project. and MacArthur Foundation “genius” whose entire University branded with the term “cre- poverty. This is a highly complex set of issues, “Our series is about flying over bound- work explores race, gender and sexuality, is a ative,” not just the arts school. on which both Jeff Sachs and Lord aries between Morningside Heights and professor of visual arts at Columbia. Sainsbury’s Gatsby Charitable Foundation Harlem,” O’Meally said, “and here’s a singer The second sign is that you feel caught up bring much to bear. beyond categories. She’s a cabaret singer The rumor at this year’s Sundance was in a sudden tornado of energy and enthusi- who wins jazz awards. She sings show tunes Q.reportedly that there must be some- asm for Columbia’s art scene emanating from that make people want to dance.” thing in Columbia’s if they’re producing Which films will you be rooting for at Room 305. At Miller, West’s repertoire ranged from a so many good films. In your view, what sets Q.this year’s Oscars? It turns out you’re on the turf of Moss It has to be , deep, soulful rendition of Oscar Brown Jr.’s the Film Division apart from other schools? Little Miss Sunshine Cooper, whose job is to promote the brand of Many things, but perhaps the most because one of the producers is a “The Snake”—a fan favorite—to an airy and A. “Creative Columbia,” both on campus and off. important is the emphasis on story- Columbia alum, and , because at ebullient interpretation of Bob Dylan’s “Like A. The Queen A native Australian with a larger-than-life telling, which informs every course in the cur- the time of Princess Diana’s death I was in an a Rolling Stone.” In between those two personality, Cooper first came to Columbia in riculum. Our goal is to help students create office that oversaw Buckingham Palace, and extremes, she threw in a little Cole Porter, 2005 on sabbatical from his job as director of the strongest personal and social narratives like all great films really captured Rodgers and Hart—even a song written for a The Queen capital for Arts Council England. He fell in they can. M.F.A. candidate Moon Molson’s the cultural mood of the time. musical produced by the legendary gangster Pop Dutch Schultz. It was a fitting start to a program organiz- ers hope will strengthen collaborations VIEWS ON THE NEWS between Columbia and its neighbors. When the University established the Center for Jazz Studies in 1999, “it did so with great aware- Vengeance Masquerading as Justice ness of the deep roots of jazz in Harlem,” O’Meally explained. Jeffrey A. Fagan, professor of law and , Columbia Law School: Capital pun- But the Columbia/Harlem Jazz Project— ishment in Iraq and America has the common thread of vengeance masquerading as jus- funded with a $300,000 state grant—repre- tice. It’s an unholy mix. Saddam Hussein was hanged before the ink was dry on the sents the first official collaborative series tribunal’s refusal to consider his pro forma criminal appeal. Shown across the world on a between the University and community- fugitive video, it resembled a necktie party in the Wild West, not the “sanitized” executions based arts organizations in the area. “It’s the in the U.S. where witnesses are shielded from the gaze of the condemned, and the execu- culmination of seven years of discussions,” tioners stand behind a barrier while antiseptically administering death. Two weeks later, O’Meally said. Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam’s hated half-brother and former intelligence chief, was decapitat- Over the next two years, concerts will be ed during his hanging. But it’s not just Iraqis who botch executions. In 1990, flames and held in partnership with the Harlem Arts smoke rose from beneath the black mask covering the face of Jesse Tafero during his elec- Alliance, New Heritage Theatre Group, trocution in Florida’s infamous “Old Sparky.” His ghoulish death hastened the demise of the Community Works, the Harbor Latin Youth electric chair and its replacement with lethal injection. Yet only last December, Florida bun- Ensemble and others. In addition to pro- gled the execution of Angel Díaz when the needles carrying the lethal cocktail of chemicals grams paying tribute to Thelonious Monk were pushed through the 55-year-old man’s veins instead of into them, causing chemical and August Wilson, there will be concerts of burns on both his arms. It took him 34 minutes to die, prompting a federal judge to sus- New Orleans and Caribbean music.

pend executions while the state continues its search for a “civilized” way to kill people. J. MILLAEUS,“The Estrapade, or Question Extraordinary”(detail), 1541 TheRecord SCRAPBOOK FEBRUARY 5, 2007 8

Honoring Dr. King

11: President Bollinger celebrated the 78th birthday of America’s “trumpet of conscience” by addressing the Baptist Ministers Conference of Greater New York and Vicinity at the Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem. Referring to Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic accomplishments in ending legal segregation,Bollinger said: “Having taken such long strides toward the free- dom Dr. King could only imagine from his Birmingham jail cell, we find ourselves struggling merely to keep from sliding backwards from the diversity that makes our universities, our businesses, our military and our society so much stronger.” 11 2 1 BARROSO EILEEN

How did you spend winter break? k

For some of us, winter break means putting up our feet and catching up on sleep, while for others there is no letup in productivity. Whether traveling overseas or working on projects closer to home, a number of Columbians (in some cases, even their parents) were out and about in late December and early January, carrying the torch for the University. 3 10 SAMANTHA KELLY

9

8 ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE, Grace Jones, 1984 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used with permission. Courtesy: Sean Kelly Gallery,Yor New 4 5 PEDRO LASCH, Naturalizations Masks, 2003 (installation view) Volunteering Overseas Forwarding the Arts 7: Columbia Magazine sponsored an exhibition 1–3: Samantha Kelly, CC’09, volunteered with of photos by Jack Eisenberg (CC’62) and the Global Action Foundation in a mobile clinic Edward Keating (attended General Studies) at serving an amputee village in Sierra Leone. the Leica Gallery on 670 Broadway, at Bond St. 4: Earth Institute director Jeffrey Sachs went Here, editor in chief Michael Shavelson (right) to Tanzania. Here, he plants a eucalyptus tree. converses with Eisenberg at the Jan. 11 open- 5: Vice President of Arts and Sciences Nick ing reception. 8–10: Eighteen of art professor Dirks kicked off a new event series in Susan Vogel’s graduate students curated the Mumbai with a Jan. 9 panel on . first significant exhibition in over 20 years to 6: Adi Godrej (far right), parent to a Columbia DIANE BONDAREFF re-examine the idea of Primitivism, at the Sean student, was a panelist at the Mumbai event. 6 7 Kelly Gallery in Chelsea.

Faculty Awards New Alzheimer’s Gene continued from page 1 continued from page 1

replication and copying, and for his team-taught afflicted with the disease in 2000. Lindsay Farrer, the courses. genetics program chief at Boston University, offered • RASHID KHALIDI, the Edward Said professor of modern findings from research on African Americans and Arab- Arab studies and literature and director of the Middle Israelis in 2002. Closing the circle was Steven Younkin of East Institute, is an influential historian of the modern the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, who in 2006 came Middle East. His lectures draw overflow crowds. up with corresponding data for the white . • PHILIP KIM, associate professor of physics, is a leader The findings of the various teams suggested a SORL1 in the field of nanoscience and an inspiring teacher. link with Alzheimer’s, Mayeux said. The gene is thought • SAMUEL MOYN, associate professor of history, is an to play a role in re-routing a protein called Amyloid expert on modern European intellectual history. Precursor Protein (APP), which, in turn, triggers higher Students rate his courses very highly, including one production of toxic amyloid beta peptides, a substance on the historical origins of human rights. believed from earlier studies to form dense plaques • ROBERT O’MEALLY, the Zora Neale Hurston professor within the brain of Alzheimer’s-afflicted patients. of English and comparative literature, reconceived Researchers will next seek to narrow down the jazz studies at Columbia as a multidisciplinary field. percentage of late-stage Alzheimer’s cases linked to the • ELIZABETH POVINELLI, professor of anthropology, is a SORL1 gene by continuing to test among other specialist in the aboriginal cultures of northwestern . Australia. She directs undergraduate studies at the Mayeux, who has been awarded this year’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender. Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of • XAVIER SALA-I-MARTIN, professor of economics, is Neurology for his research breakthroughs on renowned for his research on the economics of social Alzheimer’s, stressed that such advances would not be security and the effects of globalization. He has twice possible without the kind of multidisciplinary collabo- won Columbia’s graduate teaching award. ration found at Columbia’s Taub Institute for Research • WEI SHANG, associate professor of East Asian lan- on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, where he guages and cultures, is an expert on the fiction of WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? is co-director. Another critical player is Columbia’s imperial . He is a mainstay of the Major Genome Center, which is now sequencing the SORL1 Cultures component of the Core Curriculum. HINT: Lord Voldemort would not find divine inspiration in this. Can you guess gene to locate a genetic defect. what it is? Send answers to [email protected]. First to e-mail us the right “For studies like these, being at Columbia really pays For more on this year’s Distinguished Faculty awardees, answer receives a RECORD mug. off,” Mayeux said. “It’s wonderful to have all these out- go to: www.columbia.edu/cu/news/index.html. ANSWER TO LAST CHALLENGE: Plastic pipette tips. Winner: Nada Kaonga (CC’10) standing scientists in the same place.”