Issue 2 n Volume 8 n Winter 2009

Members of the inaugural cohort of Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellows gather with Vice Provost for Graduate Education Patricia Gumport, MA ’82, MA ’86, PhD ’87 (center). Their doctoral research connects fields like marine ecology to engineering, neuroscience to education, and law to sociology. Full story, “Empowering Unbounded Inquiry,” on page 11. Photo: Rod Searcey

The Stanford Challenge: Preserving Excellence

The past months have brought dramatic changes to the time securing funding. We seek additional graduate fellowships economy, affecting institutions and people around the globe. to continue supporting the best young minds who will shape our Stanford has not been spared the impact of the downturn, and tomorrow. I would like to share with you how we are responding to the Those of you who attended Reunion Homecoming this fall shifting economic climate. witnessed firsthand that Stanford is in the midst of a significant The university began this challenging period in a relatively capital revitalization. The building projects under way will not healthy position, after several years of remarkable endowment only bring our laboratories and research and teaching equipment growth resulting from expert investment management and up to the leading edge of technology, but they also will offer robust support from the Stanford community. In the last few myriad spaces for the sort of cross-disciplinary interactions that Want to learn more about the months, the value of the endowment has declined significantly, are integral to our efforts to seek solutions and educate leaders exciting multidisciplinary work and we must be prepared for that trend to continue. In for the 21st century. The economic downturn requires us to going on at Stanford? addition, with increased pressure on the federal budget, we delay future planned projects, but facilities currently under anticipate further reductions in government funding for construction will go forward. Come to a Leading Matters event in a city near you. research. In the face of these realities, our priority as we enter Even as we look toward what we must accomplish in the months The four-year, round-the-world tour showcases the the second half of The Stanford Challenge will be to focus and years ahead, we also celebrate what your generosity has university’s efforts to address the challenges facing on our most precious resource: the people that define our enabled us to achieve to date. As the following pages exemplify, society and educate tomorrow’s leaders. excellence. we have fostered an environment that encourages risk taking In each location, alumni, parents, and friends are Every day here at Stanford, more than 16,000 outstanding and supports collaboration. We are underwriting world- treated to innovative media and thought-provoking faculty and students ask vital questions and seek solutions to changing research in human health, environmental sustainability, discussions with President Hennessy, distinguished the pressing issues of our time. Many, including our inaugural international affairs, K–12 education, and the arts and creativity. faculty, deans, and students. More than 2,100 Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship (SIGF) And we continue to advance basic discovery, which underlies people attended Leading Matters in 2008; see recipients, tackle problems at the intersection of fields. Like all innovation. of our students and faculty, these doctoral researchers aspire to “Stanford Gatherings” on pages 14 and 15 for I am particularly excited about a new research venture we have make a difference in the world. In so doing, they not only drive photos from the event held recently in Dallas. just launched: the Precourt Institute for Energy, a comprehensive our core mission but also embody the promise of the future. attack on the challenge of generating sustainable solutions to In 2009 Leading Matters will visit: In these uncertain times, we will redouble our efforts to protect escalating global demand for energy. This is exactly the sort of London...... March 14 the strength of our faculty and maintain our commitment to problem to which Stanford scholars and students can contribute San Francisco...... May 9 undergraduate and graduate students. Over the past decades, innovative answers. Stanford has built an extraordinary community of scholars and Denver...... October 1 The Stanford Challenge positions the university to be a leader teachers throughout the university. To ensure enduring support New York...... November 14 in important new areas and helps to ensure that we attract and for this critical resource, we must increase the number of retain the best minds. We remain committed In upcoming years, the tour will stop in: endowed professorships that honor and sustain our outstanding to these long-term goals and focused on faculty. When we announced dramatic enhancements to our 2010: Singapore; Taipei; Washington, D.C.; supporting the people who drive learning undergraduate financial aid program in February 2008, we Peninsula; Chicago; and Orange County and discovery. We hope we can count on knew that they would be expensive to implement but also your continued support in this endeavor. 2011: Mexico City, Houston, Boston, and Portland that our foundational commitment to need-blind admissions required the change. As you can imagine, demand for financial Visit leadingmatters.stanford.edu aid is only increasing as the economic situation evolves, putting for more information. an even greater burden on our limited scholarship funds. Adding to our scholarship endowment is absolutely necessary to meet our obligations. Graduate students are doubly affected by the financial downturn since they bear the brunt of declining John L. Hennessy federal research dollars. Young scholars in the humanities and social sciences and those whose work cuts across multiple President fields—like our SIGF recipients—have a particularly difficult

thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu Seeking Solutions: Progress Highlights:

The Initiative on • Naming gift for the Lorry I. Lokey Stem Cell Research Building Human Health • Initial seed funding to support Bio-X NeuroVentures and the Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiative Program • Graduate fellowships, including Bio-X Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships in Human Health and fellowships in bioengineering • Launch of the Jill and John Freidenrich Center for Translational Research, the Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine, and the Canary Center for Cancer Early Detection

Selected Remaining Priorities:

• Naming and key gifts for the bioengineering/chemical engineering building in the new Science and Engineering Quad • Endowed faculty support, including provostial chairs for Bio-X, the Bio-X directorship, and professorships in bioengineering • Additional graduate fellowships, including Bio-X Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships in Human Health and fellowships in bioengineering • Additional support for the Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiatives Program and other sources of venture funding to allow for rapid response to new opportunities, including Bio-X NeuroVentures

ABOVE: Associate Professor Karl Deisseroth uses light to stimulate neural circuits because it is precise and fast enough to keep up with the millisecond timing of the brain. PHOTO: Lee Abel RIGHT: This nerve cell is primed with a light-sensitive protein (shown as green). IMAGE: Courtesy of Kim Thompson, Viviana Gradinaru, Karl Deisseroth

Novel Approaches to Neurological and Psychiatric Disease

Slender beams of blue and yellow light in Karl Deisseroth’s lab “We’re using light and genetics as an incredibly fine tool to pull make worms stop in their tracks and mice turn in circles. One apart the complexity of the brain and direct brain circuits very day, such flashes of light may reverse the debilitating effects of precisely,” says Deisseroth. Parkinson’s disease and stroke, or counteract psychiatric illness. Firing neurons in a specific circuit more frequently and steadily Deisseroth’s expertise spans the fields of bioengineering, could alleviate the loss of fine motor control experienced by psychiatry, and behavioral sciences, giving him a distinctive set Parkinson’s patients or restore a depressed person’s positive of skills. He keenly sees the need for better tools to understand outlook. Extensions of the technology might also apply to cells in and fix the brain circuitry of distressed patients—and he the heart, muscles, and pancreas. possesses the engineering ability to do something about it. To rapidly incubate innovative technologies and ideas, The associate professor and his team have invented a method Bio-X NeuroVentures brings together researchers, engineers, for exciting or silencing specific brain cells in freely moving computational scientists, and clinicians from multiple disciplines. animals using light. The exceptionally promising field known This approach has proved vital to the overall Bio-X program as optogenetics is a key facet of Bio-X NeuroVentures, a new directed by Carla Shatz, professor of biological sciences and undertaking within Stanford’s interdisciplinary biosciences neurobiology. program led by Professor of Neurobiology Bill Newsome. The program’s goals—and its means for accomplishing them— Researchers aim to demystify the most complex organ in the greatly appealed to members of the Rosenberg family and the body and pave the way for treatments yet to be imagined. A foundation. $500,000 gift from the Louise and Claude Rosenberg, Jr. Family Foundation helped launch the project. Claude Rosenberg, ’50, MBA ’52, died in 2008 of Alzheimer’s disease. Other neurodegenerative diseases have afflicted the family To zero in on particular brain circuits—nerve cells grouped as well. Rosenberg won the Gold Spike, Stanford’s highest annual together to galvanize tasks such as holding a pen, reading a honor for alumni volunteers, as well as the Arbuckle Award from book, and making plans for the future—researchers must target the Graduate School of Business for lifetime service. After 40 years individual nerve cells among the 100 billion that fill the brain. in the investment business, including starting Rosenberg Capital The trick is to add light-sensitive genes only to the cells in the Management, he went on to cofound the NewTithing Group desired circuit. A flicker of light through a fiber optic filament is to promote increased charitable giving in the United States. His enough to turn those nerve cells on or off, allowing researchers to widow, Louise, ’55, has also been a longtime Stanford donor learn what the circuit does. and volunteer. “All the work Bio-X is doing across disciplines is very exciting,” says Linda Rosenberg Ach (Parent ’12). “My father believed LEFT: Claude Rosenberg, ’50, MBA ’52, and his wife, wholeheartedly in research and the importance of new ideas and exploration. NeuroVentures is a research leader for diseases that Louise, ’55, backed their volunteer commitments to devastate so many families.” n the university with gifts in various areas, including neurodegenerative disease research. PHOTO: Courtesy of the Rosenbergs

2 seeking solutions thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu Seeking Solutions: Progress Highlights:

• Naming and other key gifts for the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building (Y2E2) in the new Science The Initiative on and Engineering Quad the Environment • Establishment of the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Institute for the Environment, the Precourt Institute for Energy, and the Center for Ocean Solutions and Sustainability • Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Environment and Resources (IPER) fellowships • Endowed provostial professorships to support cross-disciplinary faculty in the environment • Gifts for the Experimental Green Dorm • Establishment of the Environmental Innovation Fund at the GSB to support the school’s multidisciplinary environmental activities

Selected Remaining Priorities:

• Complete the funding for Y2E2 in the new Science and Engineering Quad • Additional endowed faculty support, including provostial chairs, senior fellows, and the IPER directorship • Additional graduate fellowships, including IPER fellowships and Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships • Program support for the Woods Institute, including funding for the Environmental Ventures Program • Gifts for the Experimental Green Dorm • Program endowment for the Environmental Law Clinic

ABOVE: Jay Precourt, ’59, MS ’60, speaks with Barton “Buzz” Thompson, Jr., ’73, JD/MBA ’76 (Parent ’10), the Perry L. McCarty Director of the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law, after the press conference announcing the Precourt Institute for Energy. RIGHT: Kat Taylor, JD/MBA ’85, and Thomas Steyer, MBA ’83, talk with Lynn Orr, the inaugural director of the institute and the Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor of Petroleum Engineering. PHOTOS: L. A. Cicero/Stanford News Service

Stanford Launches $100 Million Institute to Tackle Energy Issues

Energy: It fuels our transportation, heats and cools our homes, “Empowering Unbounded Inquiry,” on page 11), and establish a powers manufacturing, and provides for many of society’s basic competitive set of postdoctoral fellowships. The new funding will needs. Meeting the surging global demand for energy, however, also fuel work with departments throughout the university, provide poses significant threats to both our planet and humankind itself. seed funding for breakthrough ideas, and expand the university’s energy-related curriculum. The institute will be housed in the Jerry Recognizing that energy is at the heart of many of the world’s Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building, a tribulations—economic, environmental, and political—Stanford structure that showcases green construction. Who Gives to Stanford and Why? announced in mid-January that it is establishing a $100 million research institute to focus intently on energy issues. Precourt was drawn to the project for a number of reasons, Visit honorrolls.stanford.edu to view lists of donors including the chance to help reduce carbon emissions and their and read their inspiring stories. The new Precourt Institute for Energy will draw on deep scientific negative effects on global climate. But he is interested in energy expertise from across the campus and around the world. From The online Stanford Challenge honor roll lists alumni, security as well. “I’m quite concerned, having been in the energy the miniscule—material scientists prying loose more electricity parents, friends, corporations, and foundations business my whole life, with the fact that we are importing energy from sunshine through more efficient photovoltaic cells—to the whose campaign gifts totaled $50,000 or more from insecure, unreliable sources who are, in many cases, not national effort to develop sustainable energy and the global search through October 10, 2008—the second anniversary friends of the United States,” he says. He is convinced that Stanford of the campaign launch. The secure, password- for ways to reduce atmospheric levels of carbon, the new institute research can influence national energy policy for the better. protected site is updated annually. will be at the forefront. A wide range of issues will be addressed, from energy efficiency to development and deployment of The global financial meltdown profoundly shaped Steyer’s renewable sources, to reducing the effect of fossil fuels. views on the need for sustainable energy, Taylor says. “He does not believe we will transform our economy and also address The institute is being brought to life through the generosity of serious foreign policy and national security issues, as well as alumni, led by founding donors Jay Precourt, ’59, MS ’60, who Some people feel it is better to give to local obvious environmental concerns, unless we address energy. organizations instead of Stanford. I believe has committed $50 million, and the husband-and-wife team of We really need a new paradigm about energy. it’s important to give to both: While a soup Thomas Steyer, MBA ’83, and Kat Taylor, JD/MBA ’85, who kitchen will feed those who are hungry this week, have invested $40 million. Precourt is an energy executive; Steyer “If the real cost of gas were included in our market—for Stanford graduates will lead the way in identifying is a Stanford trustee and managing partner of Farallon Capital example environmental damage, foreign policy implications, solutions to the world’s most pressing issues such Management, and Taylor is active in a variety of public benefit foreign wars—if all of those things were fully included into as poverty and hunger. I give to Stanfords leaders. because and philanthropic ventures. the price of a gallon of gas, it would have already made today’s students will be tomorrow’ alternative fuels more attractive,” she says. 98 Other donors include Douglas Kimmelman, ’82, senior partner, –Meghvi Maheta Roig, ’97, MA ’ Energy Capital Partners; Michael Ruffatto, ’68, president, The gift from Steyer and Taylor will be used to create a North American Power Group, Ltd.; and the Schmidt Family major new research center as part of the institute, the Foundation. TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy. A primary focus will be to advance technologies that will make renewable energy In addition to augmenting the more than $30 million per year both economically competitive and environmentally friendly, so currently dedicated to energy research at Stanford, these gifts will that it becomes the energy source of choice. It will also investigate enable institute leaders to create up to eight new faculty positions in critical areas of research and teaching, fund 20 Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships in Energy (see related story, CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 seeking solutions thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu 3 Seeking Solutions: Progress Highlights:

The International • Naming gift for the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) Initiative • Naming gift for the Ford Dorsey International Policy Studies Program • Senior fellow endowments at FSI • Endowed provostial professorships to support cross-disciplinary faculty in international studies • Naming gift for the Draper Hills Summer Fellows on Democracy and Development Program

Above: The 2008 Draper Hills Summer Fellows on Democracy and Development gathered with Stanford faculty and program donors Ingrid Von Mangoldt Hills (front row, second from left) and William Draper III (front row, center). The fellows hailed from 23 countries around the globe, including Nepal, Azerbaijan, Syria, and Uganda. PHOTO: Steve Castillo

In the Name of Change

For three weeks each summer, Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Based in Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Development, and the Rule of Law welcomes more than Studies, the program was recently named in recognition of two dozen of the world’s quiet heroes. Last July, the visitors leadership gifts from Ingrid von Mangoldt Hills and William included an Iranian journalist formerly jailed for making Draper III. political statements online, an Afghani community leader whose Von Mangoldt Hills funded the program in honor of her late nongovernmental organization provides education and health husband, Reuben W. Hills, chairman of the board of Hills Bros. services to 350,000 women and children, an attorney from Coffee. Although he was a leader in Bay Area philanthropy and China’s only public interest law firm, and an economic advisor to served on the boards of several local institutions, says Hills, “my Russia’s president who resigned citing political repression. husband was a global thinker. This program’s appeal is that it The Draper Hills Summer Fellows on Democracy and invites fellows from all over the world.” Development come to Stanford to study the complex process And many of them, Hills adds, face personal danger as they push of advancing stability, prosperity, and freedom in their home for reforms. “Some of them are putting their well-being on the countries. Among the 800-plus applicants each year are ministers line to introduce concepts of freedom,” she says. “I think my and legislators, lawyers and attorneys general, journalists and husband would have been inspired.” scholars, civic activists, and professionals in international development. The selected fellows relish the access to Stanford Draper decided to support the program in honor of his father, faculty in fields such as economics, political science, law, Maj. Gen. William H. Draper, Jr., who served as undersecretary of sociology, and education, as well as the rare opportunity to war, chief administrator of the Marshall Plan in Europe, and the compare notes with each other, presenting case studies of nations first U.S. ambassador to NATO. in transition. “My father always encouraged interaction among different Even for those admitted, reaching Stanford can be a challenge: countries,” says Bill Draper. “The summer fellows program would Last year, Singapore authorities denied permission to a summer have suited him to a tee. I think he would also say that, while you fellow to leave that country, where she had spoken out against can describe what the fellows get out of this, you have no idea of the regime. the broader impact. All it takes is one important move by one of these people to change his country for the better.” n

Draper Hills Summer Fellows Andrei Illarionov of Russia (left) and Sakena Yacoobi of Afghanistan shared insights on how reform has progressed— or failed to progress— in their home countries. PHOTOS: Steve Castillo

4 seeking solutions thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu Seeking Solutions: Selected Remaining Priorities:

• Funding for the renovation of Encina Commons • Additional endowed faculty positions, including school-based and provostial chairs for international studies, directorships of FSI’s centers, and additional endowed senior fellow positions at FSI • Additional graduate fellowships, including Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships • Program support for the Division of International Comparative and Area Studies • Funding for undergraduate scholarships for international students

ABOVE: The Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) in Cape Town, South Africa, gives Stanford students a chance to combine coursework with service-learning and community-based research in Western Cape townships. The program was developed in collaboration with the Center for African Studies. PHOTO: Courtesy of BOSP

For Africa, a Surge of Students and Support

With a vast, tumultuous continent to study and a new and students are developing new technologies like foot-driven generation of students eager to learn, Stanford’s Center for water pumps for farmers or solar electricity in rural villages. The African Studies will waste no time deploying a recent gift work we do can have a real impact. of $3 million from longtime Stanford supporter Susan Ford Dorsey. Her commitment, coupled with matching funds from Q. What does the Center for African Studies do? a William and Flora Hewlett Foundation grant, provides an A. First, we offer more than 80 courses, about half of them infusion of $5.5 million for the center, which is based in the in African languages. Second, we foster intellectual exchange School of Humanities and Sciences, within the division of through seminars that bring together faculty from different International Comparative and Area Studies. As the center disciplines: The center has 34 affiliated faculty, and there are strives to keep pace with interest in the region, Jeremy 60 or 70 around campus with interests in Africa. Third, we Weinstein, assistant professor of political science and one of the connect Stanford to Africa through the Overseas Seminars we leaders of the program, explains what the funds will accomplish. lead there, and we’re helping develop the new Bing Overseas Studies Program in South Africa. We also bring African students Q. Where is Africa on Stanford’s radar? and professors to Stanford. Finally, we help students engage in A. We’re seeing an explosion of student interest in Africa. And research, public service, and social entrepreneurship in Africa. it’s no longer just students interested in politics; today we have About 100 Stanford students go to Africa every summer. They students from engineering, medicine, and law. They are moved do fieldwork and intern with governments and nongovernmental by the enormous challenges, from the conflict in Darfur to the organizations (NGOs). Several students have even started NGOs spread of HIV to the fact that most African countries are as poor of their own. today as they were when colonization ended in the 1960s. But they are also inspired by the possibilities. For example, faculty Q. How does the new gift help? A. This is the first endowed support dedicated to the center, and that’s crucial when you’re trying to build relationships overseas “There is so much potential in Africa for the long term. Part of Susan’s gift endows the center’s and many ways Stanford can contribute. directorship and gives us the resources to launch new initiatives. This is a critical time for the Center for For instance, one thing we want to do Scholars and policy makers African Studies, and I am excited to is develop a three-quarter course sequence that gives students a solid alike hailed Jeremy Weinstein’s invest in the School of Humanities foundation on Africa. This gift also Inside Rebellion: The Politics of and Sciences’ efforts to enhance provides two graduate fellowships. Insurgent Violence as essential the program. But my gift will And it creates endowed program funds to help sustain our work. reading on ethnic conflict and only go so far; there is a lot Again, endowed support is civil war. His fieldwork in Africa more that needs to be done.” essential for us. Africa is not also encompasses the AIDS —Susan Ford Dorsey going away. Stanford is in this epidemic and the transition to for the long haul. n Member, Humanities and Sciences democracy. In 2008, he was Council and The Stanford Challenge honored as one of Stanford’s Leadership Council most outstanding teachers.

PHOTO: Steve Castillo PHOTO: L. A. Cicero/Stanford News Service seeking solutions thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu 5 Seeking Solutions: Progress Highlights:

Multidisciplinary • Naming and key gifts for the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Building for the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Research Across • Launch of the Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality • Endowment for the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) the University • Creation of the Annenberg Strategic Initiative at the Hoover Institution

ABOVE: (Left to right) KIPAC Director Roger Blandford; SLAC Director Persis Drell; and Department of Physics Chair Patricia Burchat, PhD ’86, the Gabilan Professor and Sapp Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, participated in a panel discussion and reception honoring Fred Kavli. PHOTO: Steve Castillo LEFT: Physics graduate student Chihway Chang, PhD ’13, tests materials for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. PHOTO: Brad Plummer

Funding for Young Scholars Out of This World

Fred Kavli grew up in a Norwegian valley beneath tall “Private philanthropy has played an important role in scientific mountains, glowing stars, and the northern lights. Still progress in the United States, and it is doubly important today,” enamored with the wonders of nature and the night sky, Kavli says Kavli. has taken a philanthropic lead in furthering 21st-century A new infusion of up to $7.5 million from Kavli for the five-year- research. Following the example of Alfred Nobel, he awarded old institute will endow fellowships for promising researchers the first set of million-dollar Kavli Prizes last September in exploring amazing phenomena, especially the dark matter and astrophysics, neuroscience, and nanoscience. The prizes, dark energy saturating the universe. The funding will help however, are just one manifestation of his dedication to provide the steady support doctoral students and postdoctoral supporting new frontiers. fellows need to complete their training, which is especially critical Kavli’s desire to enrich scientific knowledge began in high during a time of declining federal funding for science research. school. “I wanted to do something of long-range benefit to With a goal of building a $20 million endowment that secures humanity. I was very idealistic then,” he says, chuckling. During KIPAC’s future, Stanford will match the Kavli gift and additional World War II, Kavli and his brother made and sold wood new gifts with funds from a William and Flora Hewlett briquettes that truck, bus, and auto drivers burned to fire their Foundation grant. engines during a time of gasoline scarcity. He used his earnings “We are so grateful to Fred Kavli for his ongoing generosity,” says to study physics at the Norwegian Institute of Technology Roger Blandford, the Luke Blossom Professor and Pehong and before settling in Southern California. There he started Kavlico, Adele Chen Director of KIPAC. “The Kavli Fellowships will help which evolved into one of the world’s largest suppliers of sensors us recruit the best young scientists in the field as they are starting for aeronautic, automotive, and industrial applications. their careers and will give them the freedom to explore their own His foundation, created after he sold the company ideas. Who knows where this will take us?” in 2000, has established 15 research Kavli Fellows will contribute to a number of pioneering projects institutes at leading universities such as designing the world’s largest digital camera for the around the world. Among ground-based Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which will map them is the young but the dark matter swirling through the universe, and running an already distinguished operations and analysis center for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Kavli Institute for Telescope. Launched by NASA last June, the latter searches for Particle Astrophysics highly energetic gamma rays originating near black holes, pulsars, and Cosmology (KIPAC), and other exotic objects. an independent Stanford laboratory affiliated with “Stanford, of course, is one of the powerhouses of science in the “We owe our standard the School of Humanities world,” Kavli says, gesturing out the window of his namesake of living and longevity and Sciences that brings building at SLAC toward the university campus just down the hill. “I’m certainly very pleased to have this building, which puts to progress in science,” together scientists from campus and the everybody together where they can rub shoulders with each other said philanthropist Fred Stanford-run SLAC and exchange new ideas.” n Kavli during a recent National Accelerator visit to the Fred Kavli Laboratory. Building at SLAC.

PHOTO: Steve Castillo

6 seeking solutions thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu Seeking Solutions: Selected Remaining Priorities:

• Naming and key gifts for the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology in the new Science and Engineering Quad • Naming and key gifts for the new Hoover Institution building • Program support for the Center on Longevity • Program and faculty support for the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS)

ABOVE: On the eve of the 2008 presidential election, an IRiSS panel discussion offered insights from leading political scientists, including (left to right) Professor Jon Krosnick; Gary Segura, chair of Chicana/o Studies; and Paul Sniderman, the Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. Professor of Public Policy and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and the Hoover Institution. PHOTO: Steve Castillo RIGHT: Yphtach Lelkes, a doctoral student in the Department of Communication, is the inaugural March Fong Eu Graduate Fellow. PHOTO: Courtesy of Y. Lelkes

A Scientific Approach to Social Problems

Can we fight poverty during an economic downturn? How methodology. In a recent project, Krosnick and his team should world leaders prepare for a global epidemic? Is private analyzed data from the presidential primaries, showing that philanthropy driving public school reform? The Institute the order of names on a ballot can influence the outcome of an for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS) is grappling with election by as much as 2 percentage points. these and other urgent and intriguing questions confronting In addition, IRiSS researchers worked closely with the contemporary society. Associated Press and Yahoo! News in 2008 to design and Finding answers demands innovative inquiry at the implement a survey of voter positions and behavior. The intersection of disciplines, from political science and study tracked 2,000 adults throughout the year, gauging their psychology to economics and anthropology. Founded in 2004 sensitivity to factors including race and experience. Initial “The best investment we in the School of Humanities and Sciences, IRiSS facilitates findings, released in September, triggered 1,800 news stories can make is in the people collaboration among at least 200 social scientists of all stripes around the world. Several undergraduate and graduate students, and connects them with powerful computing tools and including Yphtach Lelkes, PhD ’13, the inaugural March Fong who will be the leaders of massive data sets, opening new frontiers of thought. Eu Graduate Fellow, contributed to this work. the next revolution in new, Graduate students play an integral role in IRiSS’s research, Donna Schweers, ’75, and Thomas Geiser have also endowed transformative knowledge— as they do in departments, centers, and institutes across the an IRiSS graduate fellowship (see related story on page 11). our graduate students.” university. To support their work and the university’s goal The couple supported IRiSS in its infancy; their new gift will of creating more than 400 new fellowships through The help take the institute to a new level. Combined with matching –Richard Saller, Stanford Challenge, March Fong Eu, EdD, ’54, has endowed funds from a William and Flora Hewlett Foundation grant, The Vernon and Lysbeth Warren IRiSS’s first graduate fellowship by establishing a charitable the Eu and Schweers/Geiser gifts push IRiSS $2 million closer Anderson Dean of the School of gift annuity—adding yet another “first” to her record of to its $14 million endowment goal—helping faculty and Humanities and Sciences accomplishments. student researchers establish a long-term scientific approach to fundamental social problems. n A third-generation Californian born in the Central Valley, Eu was the first Asian-American woman to serve in the California State Assembly, the first female California secretary of state, and the first Asian-American to hold statewide office. During her nearly 20-year tenure as the top elections official, she introduced the widely popular process of voter registration by mail and inaugurated reporting of election results on the Internet. It is understandable then that she is keenly interested in IRiSS’s pioneering work on American elections. March Fong Eu, EdD ’54, “It is my hope that IRiSS will continue to be a leader in the and Karen Cook, ’68, field of elections and government policy,” says Eu. MA ’70, PhD ’73, the Jon Krosnick, the Frederic O. Glover Professor of Humanities Ray Lyman Wilbur and Social Sciences and a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, spearheads research exploring the Professor of Sociology formation of voter attitudes, political psychology, and survey and director of the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences

PHOTO: Carolyn Swanson seeking solutions thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu 7 Educating Leaders: Progress Highlights:

Improving • Launch of the Barnum Family Center for School and Community Partnerships K–12 Education • Endowment for the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities • Establishment of the Dorothy Durfee Avery Loan Forgiveness Program for students in the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) • Creation of the Stanford Principal Fellows Program • Endowment for improving science teaching through STEP • Support for joint-degree programs between the School of Education and the Graduate School of Business • Endowed professorships, including one to support a joint chair between the School of Education and the Woods Institute for the Environment

Selected Remaining Priorities:

• Funding for the Center for the Support of Excellence in Teaching, the Center for Education Policy Analysis, and the Stanford Center for Leadership in Education • Venture funding for the centers as well as other new K–12 programs, including Stanford’s charter school, East Palo Alto Academy • Endowed faculty support, including professorships in the School of Education • Endowed fellowships, including within the School of Education as well as to support the work of the centers

ABOVE: Pascal Forgione, MA ’73, PhD ’77, superintendent of the Austin Independent School District in Texas, guides reform with the support of Stanford education and business faculty. University Leaders Invest PHOTO: Barbara McKenna RIGHT: Center for Education Policy Analysis co-directors Eric Hanushek (left) and Susanna Loeb, ’88, (center) present an in-depth study of the California school system to state policy makers, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell (right). PHOTO: Amy Yuen in K–12 Initiative Tory, ’66, and Dick Agnich, ’65 Backing Reform with Research Judy Avery, ’59* Louise, MA ’69, MBA ’79,** On the Stanford campus, seasoned K–12 teachers converge each The initiative springs to life in three centers, each targeting key and John Bryson, ’65 summer to deepen their subject knowledge and expand their objectives: Katherine* and T. Robert Burke, ’64, range of effective classroom strategies. In Sacramento, a landmark JD ’67* • Providing high-quality teacher professional development study on California’s troubled education system, prepared for the programs through the Center for the Support of Excellence in Diana Chang, ’77, MBA ’81 governor’s Committee on Education Excellence and led by a team Teaching, led by education professor Pam Grossman Frances and Professor Emeritus of Stanford education policy researchers, serves as a road map Theodore Geballe for reform. And across the country from Miami to Albuquerque, • Preparing entrepreneurial K–12 leaders through the Stanford Maurine, ’84, MA ’84, MA ’85,** superintendents and school leaders from urban districts—serving Center for Leadership in Education, overseen by School and Philip Halperin, ’85* more than 750,000 students—collaborate with business and of Education Dean Deborah Stipek and executive director Terry Albert Levin, ’74, MA ’81, education faculty to create organizational and instructional Gay Hoagland and John Levin, MA ’70, JD, ’73** frameworks in which teaching and learning can excel. • Developing rigorous scientific research to advance effective Angela Nomellini, ’75,*/** and Kenneth Olivier, ’74 On the local, state, and national level, Stanford is engaged in education policy through the Center for Education Policy Analysis, co-directed by economist and education professor Stephen Bechtel Fund improving K–12 education. The School of Education, a national leader in the field, has spearheaded much of the work for many Susanna Loeb, ’88, and Eric Hanushek, the Paul and Jean decades. But for the first time, scholars and students throughout Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution * Member of K–12 Initiative Advisory Council the university are joining the endeavor in a new and distinctive T. Robert Burke, ’64, JD ’67, has stepped up to chair the multidisciplinary effort known as the K–12 Initiative. The aim is initiative’s advisory council, on which his wife, Katherine, also ** Member of School of Education to apply rigorous research to the real problems facing schools and Advisory Council serves. The couple has also made a financial commitment to the forge innovative, pragmatic solutions. endeavor, along with several other prominent members of the The initiative focuses on ground zero: classroom teaching and Stanford community (see sidebar). “Kathy and I believe this is a learning, explain faculty co-chairs Helen Quinn and Kenji vital issue that demands urgent attention. By leveraging the wide Hakuta. But in order to make measurable progress, it also range of expertise on campus, the K–12 Initiative maximizes the addresses the broader context in which that takes place. contribution Stanford can make,” he says. With early stage funding for the initiative Helen Quinn, ’63, MS ’64, PhD ’67, a theoretical in place and the brightest minds around the table, the university is poised to physicist and professor at SLAC National help transform the landscape of public Accelerator Laboratory, and Kenji Hakuta, education. “We want to figure out the Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education what works best for kids, teachers, and schools and put that knowledge (left), co-chair the K–12 Initiative in quickly into the hands of leaders on partnership with Deborah Stipek, the the front lines of K–12 education,” I. James Quillen Dean of the School of says Dean Stipek. “And we are excited about the possibilities.” n Education (right), and a 12-member faculty steering committee.

PHOTO: Lee Abel PHOTO: Steve Castillo

8 Educating Leaders thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu Educating Leaders: ProgrEss HIgHlIgHts:

• Naming gifts for the Peter and Helen Bing Concert Hall and the Burton and Deedee McMurtry Art Building Engaging the Arts • Naming gift for the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and Creativity • Endowed provostial and departmental professorships to support faculty in the arts • MFA and PhD graduate fellowships in the arts

sElECtED rEMAININg PrIorItIEs:

• Complete funding for the Bing Concert Hall and the McMurtry Art Building NEW PROFESSORSHIPS • Endowed faculty support, including provostial and departmental professorships in the arts The following endowed professorships • Program support for the stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts including visiting artists, partnerships with arts were established by the Board of Trustees organizations, and endeavors that infuse the arts into student life between June and November 2008 through new gifts to the university. The Norman S. Coplon/Satellite Healthcare Professorship in Medicine was established in the School of Medicine with a gift from Satellite Healthcare in honor of its founder, Dr. Norman S. Coplon. The chair is designated for the chief of the Division of Nephrology in the Department of Medicine. The Thomas C. and Joan M. Merigan Professorship was established in the School of Medicine with a gift from Drs. Thomas C. and Joan M. Merigan. The chair is designated for a faculty member in the Department of Medicine whose research is in the field of infectious diseases. The George G. C. Parker Professorship was established in the Graduate School of Business in recognition of the outstanding contributions and leadership of George G. C. Parker, MBA ’62, PhD ’67, the Dean Witter The Peter and Helen Bing Concert Hall, now in the design phase, is one of many arts offerings emerging on campus. Located alongside Frost Amphitheater, the hall will showcase Distinguished Professor of Finance, both Stanford performers and visiting artists and help to integrate performance with academic study of the arts and creativity. RENDERING: Courtesy of Polshek Partnership Architects Emeritus, with gifts from Katherine August-deWilde, MBA ’75, and David deWilde, MS ’84; Denise and Stephen Adams, MBA ’62; Penny and James Arts Initiative Inspires, and Begins to Meet, Demand Coulter, MBA ’86; and Professor Parker’s colleagues, friends, and former students. In October, the university reported that donors had pledged more “Music really helped me develop a more creative mind,” says Jim The Jacob Haimson Professorship was than $200 million to the arts at Stanford since the launch of the Sandling, a former Stanford Band trumpeter, and that in turn established in the School of Medicine Arts Initiative in 2005. That commitment has fueled a growing contributed to his success in business. with a gift from Drs. Sarah S. Donaldson, variety of offerings on campus, which are inspiring even greater CRT ’72, and Jacob Haimson. The chair Jennifer Sandling played the bassoon in the Stanford Wind is designated for the Department of student demand for creative opportunities. Ensemble. “The benefits of the arts can be hard to quantify,” she Radiation Oncology. says. “But the excitement of a new building like this will draw More Visiting Artists The Craig Reynolds Professorship attention. It inspires more people to get involved.” in Sleep Medicine was established in One trend is an influx of professional artists, not only as the School of Medicine with a gift from performers but also as visiting teachers and mentors. Thanks to Rising Demand the Respironics Sleep and Respiratory a gift from Wendy Munger, ’72, and Leonard Gumport (Parents Foundation, in honor of the executive vice Student interest is already growing. After a campus simulcast president and chief operating officer of ’04, ’11), students this year will encounter Karin Coonrod, a of the San Francisco Opera’s Rigoletto, for example, dozens Respironics, Inc. The chair is designated leading director of Shakespeare from The Public Theater in New of students applied to the new “Off the Farm” ticket subsidy for a faculty member who is a leader in York; Jan Estep, an artist and scholar of philosophy whose visual basic research and clinical care in sleep program to attend live opera in the city. Last year, Off the art explores the ideas of Ludwig Wittgenstein; Rocco Di Pietro, a medicine. Farm enabled 1,700 students to see regional performances and composer developing a new orchestral work; and the innovative The James B. McClatchy Professorship exhibitions. dance/theater/music collaborative Chicago-based Goat Island was established jointly in the Law School Performance Group. That’s perfect, says Leslie Hume, MA ’71, PhD ’79, who chairs and the School of Humanities and Sciences the university’s Board of Trustees. with support from the McClatchy family, “You can learn a lot in a lecture, but introducing students to the the McClatchy Company Foundation, creative process is even more important,” says Munger, a member “We want to involve a wider range of students, whether they are the Central Valley Foundation, the Carlos being introduced to the arts as audience members or developing Kelly McClatchy Memorial Lectureship of the university’s Board of Trustees and the Arts Initiative Council. Fund, and generous matching funds their own creative powers.” from the School of Humanities and New Concert Hall She and her husband, George, JD/MBA ’75, who has also served Sciences. The chair is designated for a faculty member who will instruct students on the university’s board, are funding programs including Off the What will eventually become one of the most visible contributions about the Constitution and its role in to the arts on campus is taking shape on the architect’s drawing Farm and visiting artists, as well as fellowships for graduate study democracy with particular emphasis on board: a 900-seat, acoustically superb concert hall, launched with in the arts and humanities. Part of their gift provides endowed the First Amendment, with a preference a lead gift from Helen and Peter Bing, ’55. When it opens near funding for the new Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts, for a scholar in the Department of Communication. Frost Amphitheater, the Bing Concert Hall will make Stanford a which fosters new courses, research, and artwork campus wide. The Robert C. and Jeannette C. destination for world-class performers and allow audiences to feel The Humes are also helping to pilot an “Arts Intensive,” more connected with performers than they do in current facilities. Powell Neurosciences Professorship making its debut in fall 2009, which will bring participating was established with a gift from Robert C. Jennifer Jong Sandling, ’83, and Jim Sandling, MS ’82, are undergraduates back to campus early for three-week courses in and Jeannette C. Powell in honor of Dr. among the earliest supporters of the concert hall project. Both dance, drama, creative writing, music, and studio art. Steven Chang. The chair is designated for a faculty member in the neurosciences and are lifelong musicians for whom the arts complemented studies Like many of the opportunities made possible through the Arts noninvasive neurosurgery. n in economics and engineering, respectively. Their Arts Initiative Initiative, the program is expected to be a hot ticket. n gift comes alongside their gift toward the new Yang and Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building.

Educating Leaders thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu 9 Educating Leaders: Progress Highlights: Reinventing • Naming and key gifts for several facilities that will enhance graduate education: the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge in the School of Medicine, the Jen-Hsun Huang School of Engineering Center, the Graduate School of Business Knight Management Graduate Center, the Munger Graduate Residence, and the new Law School academic building Education • Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships (including Bio-X Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships in Human Health) and matching funds for the program

The Jen-Hsun Huang School of Engineering Center, like all Science and Engineering Quad buildings, will incorporate stringent energy- and water-saving features in keeping with Stanford’s commitment to environmentally sustainable design and construction. RENDERING: Courtesy of BOORA Architects Ideas and Ingenuity to Converge at Huang Center Jen-Hsun Huang, MS ’92, knows the power of a great idea. The workshops and visualization labs will provide diverse spaces for year after graduating from Stanford’s School of Engineering, he students to imagine, design, prototype, and share their ideas. turned a great idea into NVIDIA, a company whose leading-edge By immersing themselves in the creative and team-based aspects visual computing technologies are transforming industries—from of engineering, they will accrue the experience to become 21st- film production and video games to energy exploration and century leaders in their fields. medical imaging. Today, Huang continues to invest in the “As we’ve strived to build a culture of collaboration and potential of inventive ideas. innovation, we’ve realized the need for a physical center to He and his wife, Lori, have committed $30 million to help focus that aspiration,” says James Plummer, the Frederick Stanford construct a modern and environmentally sustainable Emmons Terman Dean and John M. Fluke Professor in Electrical campus engineering center. Given the university’s record of Engineering. “We’re grateful to Jen-Hsun for making this a reality.” translating discoveries into breakthrough applications, Huang is The Huang Center will serve as a focal point of Stanford’s confident that their gift will benefit not only students and faculty, Lori and Jen-Hsun Huang, MS ’92, nascent Science and Engineering Quad (SEQ), just west of the but also society at large. and their children, Spencer (left) university’s Main Quad, and will adjoin the Jerry Yang and Akiko “The School of Engineering is a major source of intellectual Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building. Future centers for and Madison (right). Huang energy for Silicon Valley and beyond,” he says. “I am proud to nanoscale science and technology and for bioengineering and is a member of the School of help the school build a headquarters that embodies its plans for chemical engineering education and research will complete Engineering’s Advisory Council. the future—a place that encourages people to come together the SEQ configuration. Shared laboratory space will connect to create the next generation of knowledge and technology.” the buildings, accelerating knowledge flow and facilitating PHOTO: John Todd interdisciplinary projects. The Jen-Hsun Huang School of Engineering Center is designed as a cross-disciplinary hub where researchers will SEQ promises to enhance the collaborative landscape, creating tap engineering, technology, and entrepreneurship even more opportunities for partnerships like the one between resources to solve complex problems in Stanford and Huang’s company. NVIDIA is a founding member energy, environmental sustainability, of the university’s pioneering parallel computing project, the and human health. With Pervasive Parallelism Lab. It also contributes to the Folding@home construction well under way on the distributed computing project, which leverages the horsepower of 130,000-square-foot building, the graphics processing units and more than two million computers center will be the place to turn worldwide to simulate the biological process of protein folding, ideas into reality when more than 140 times faster than traditional computing. Through it opens in 2010. this complex exercise, investigators hope to uncover cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It’s the very type of The building’s signature venture the Huang Center will inevitably spawn. four-story rotunda will house a large conference “The Huang Engineering Center will be a nexus for problem-solving center, a café, and a nearly work on campus and a gathering place for students, thought leaders, “bookless” library—a vital and industry partners from all over the world,” says Plummer. n digital resource for the entire Stanford community. On This story is adapted from an article that originally the ground floor, research appeared in Stanford Report.

10 Educating Leaders thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu Educating Leaders: Selected Remaining Priorities:

• Complete the funding for the Jen-Hsun Huang School of Engineering Center, the Knight Management Center, and the new Law School academic building • Additional Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships, plus more matching for the program • Program endowment for the recently created Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education • Program endowment for Stanford Legal Clinics • Support for leadership development programs, including the Stanford Graduate Summer Institute • Diversity fellowships

ABOVE: Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellows Viviana Gradinaru, Katharine Mach, and Jonathan Shemwell pursue research questions that, as Mach says, “no discipline in isolation can tackle.” PHOTOS: Courtesy of V. Gradinaru and K. Mach, and by Rod Searcey Empowering Unbounded Inquiry Stanford graduate students—scholars in training and future “Many scientists realize that areas ripe for discovery reside leaders—push the boundaries of academic research and teaching. between traditional academic fields,” explains Mach. “Despite Building on the strength of traditional disciplinary work, the increasing prevalence of interdisciplinary research, it can still they venture across departments and schools in search of new be difficult to find financial support or journals for publication, knowledge and innovative solutions to today’s complex problems. because our work doesn’t fit neatly into established categories. The SIGF has been crucial for me.” Take Katharine Mach, PhD ’10, for example. The fourth-year doctoral student integrates engineering theory with marine SIGF is part of a university-wide strategy to seed fund scholars ecology and public policy to evaluate the impact of shifting and students who tackle the most pressing, multidimensional oceanic patterns on seaweeds—and ultimately predict the problems facing society—including challenges in human health, sustainability of marine habitats in future oceans. Or Jonathan environmental sustainability, international affairs, the arts, Shemwell, PhD ’11, who merges research on the cognitive and K–12 education. More broadly, Stanford views graduate functions of perception and memory with an investigation of fellowships as a high priority. They attract the best and the how people learn and think about mathematics and science brightest and help shield junior researchers from the uncertainties in hopes of affecting student achievement. Or Viviana of government funding. Gradinaru, PhD ’11, who is working to better understand the neurobiological mechanisms underlying effective deep brain Inspired by the interdisciplinary focus of The Stanford Challenge, stimulation (DBS) treatment. Her research, developed in Donna Schweers, ’75, and her husband, Thomas Geiser, have collaboration with faculty in bioengineering, psychiatry, and pledged $1 million to the effort. “Education is very important neurosurgery, could help improve the application of DBS as a to us,” says Geiser, “but it is clear in this day and age that study therapy for disorders like Parkinson’s disease and depression. cannot be constrained by a particular discipline.” Matching funds double the impact of their gift, enabling them To empower such unbounded inquiry, the university launched the to fund both an SIGF and a fellowship in the Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships (SIGF) program. multidisciplinary Institute for Research in the The awards, backed by three years of financial support, fuel the Social Sciences (see “A Scientific work of young scholars as they explore more than one field of Approach to Social Problems” expertise. Mach, Shemwell, and Gradinaru are among the first 12 on page 7). recipients named last spring (see photo, page 1). Competition was A $1 million pledge from Donna stiff; more than 175 students applied. Ultimately, Stanford aims to “We are confident our Schweers, ’75, and Thomas fund as many as 100 SIGF fellowships. fellowship support Geiser, members of The Stanford will go to very worthy Unlike traditional fellowships, which are awarded by academic students,” says Challenge Leadership Council, departments, SIGF funding frees doctoral researchers to Schweers, “and we expands the couple’s philanthropic connect with faculty throughout campus, to follow promising hope it allows them commitment to education from ideas wherever they lead. This flexibility ensures that their to pursue their work is motivated by the deep curiosity and highly personal dreams.” n early literacy programs to investment that always inspire the best research. undergraduate scholarships to graduate fellowships.

PHOTO: Courtesy of D. Schweers and T. Geiser

Educating Leaders thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu 11 Educating Leaders: Sustaining a Foundation of Excellence: PRoGRESS HIGHLIGHTS:

Extending the • Need-based endowed undergraduate scholarships, including international scholarships Renaissance in • Support for the Bing overseas Studies Program • Gifts to support the athletics program, including Stanford Stadium and coaches’ housing Undergraduate • Support for the renovation of old Union Education

SELECTED REMAINING PRIoRITIES:

• Additional need-based endowed undergraduate scholarships, including international scholarships • Gifts to help establish a new Stanford in Cape Town through the Bing overseas Studies Program • Support for leadership, community, and international public service programs through the Haas Center for Public Service • Endowment for athletic teams and coaches as well as additional support for coaches’ housing

ABOVE: Marissa McGee, ’08, MA ’09, hopes to land a teaching job in the Washington, D.C., public school system when she completes her master’s degree through the Stanford Teacher Education Program. As an undergraduate, she was the first recipient of a Karr Family Scholarship. PHOTO: Courtesy of M. McGee

An Uplifting Gift Tonia Gladney Karr, ’92, and Marissa McGee, ’08, MA ’09, “Those who teach lift everyone up,” says Tonia Gladney Karr. each dreamed of coming to Stanford, one from Louisiana and “Giving the scholarship to someone who will help someone else the other from Union City, California. Each turned vision is the best way to support education broadly.” into reality with a lot of hard work and a generous scholarship McGee always knew she wanted to work with kids and settled offer from the university. Although they have yet to meet, the on becoming a teacher in her first two years at Stanford. In her two women share a bond as sisters in Alpha Kappa Alpha and, junior year, she was accepted into the School of Education’s through the sorority, served as mentors to youth in the East Palo Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP), which enables Alto community. They are also both the daughters of teachers. her to earn a master’s degree in elementary education and a Today, Karr serves on the advisory council for Stanford’s K–12 teaching credential at the end of her fifth year on campus. Last Initiative, a multidisciplinary effort to break new ground on year, as she completed her undergraduate studies and prepared some of the most important problems in public education to enter STEP, she became the first to benefit from the Karr (see “Backing Reform with Research” on page 8). She and Family Scholarship Fund. her husband, Adam, who also relied on financial aid to “I am so grateful,” she says, “especially when I take into attend college, recently established a scholarship fund to help account the salary I expect to earn as a teacher. Not having to financially needy Stanford undergraduates—with a preference worry about paying back loans takes a load off my shoulders.” for African-American students, particularly those who aspire to become teachers. Their gift was shaped by twin objectives: Given the intense demands of STEP, stress relief is important. opening up for others the educational opportunities they In addition to a full complement of courses, McGee devotes enjoyed and encouraging talented young students to work half of each week to building hands-on teaching experience in inner-city schools, where they can inspire generations of alongside a veteran teacher-mentor. During the fall semester, dreamers. One-to-one matching funds double the impact of she worked in a combined second- and third-grade classroom their support. at East Palo Alto Academy, a charter school operated by Stanford. She later shifted to a sixth-grade classroom down the road at her alma mater, Eastside College Preparatory School. The smiles and successes of the kids keep her going, and helping them learn gives her life meaning, she explains. McGee envisions a long career in urban classrooms where students (Left) Tonia Gladney Karr, ’92, and Adam need the most help. Karr’s gift to establish an undergraduate “There is a ripple effect to teaching,” she says. “If I help 20 students, they will go out into the world, and there is no telling scholarship fund helps the university how many people they will influence. It’s a great feeling.” reach a $200 million goal for new That exponential effect sounds very much like what the Karrs endowed scholarships and meet its bold had hoped to trigger. n commitment to need-blind admission.

PHOTO: Saul Bromberger and Sandra Hoover

12 Educating Leaders thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu Educating Leaders: Sustaining a Foundation of Excellence: Progress Highlights:

• Key gifts for the new biology building Core Support • School-based graduate fellowships and Annual • School-based professorships • $215.6 million in annual giving (as of 12/31/08) Giving Across • $896,273 earned through the Atwell matching gift program for young alumni making annual gifts across the university (as of 8/31/08) • Establishment of the Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Center the University

Selected Remaining Priorities:

• Complete the funding for the new biology building Stanford Launches • Additional school-based graduate fellowships $100 Million Institute • Program endowment for the Law School’s Rubin Loan Repayment Assistance Program to Tackle Energy Issues • Additional school-based endowed faculty support, including professorships, directorships, and faculty fellows and scholars Continued from page 3 • Annual gifts across the university, including those to school-based annual funds and The Stanford Fund for Undergraduate Education • Support for school-based programs and centers better ways to help people understand how their own choices and energy use can contribute to a sustainable energy future. “The biggest renewable resource is the sun,” says Lynn Orr, ’69, the inaugural director of the Precourt Institute and the Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor of Petroleum Engineering. “The new center will allow us to expand significantly our effort to develop nanostructured materials for solar energy and energy storage, and to work on the host of social, market, and policy issues involved in the needed transition to energy systems with significant fractions of renewables.” Orr has been the director of Stanford’s Global Climate and Energy Project ABOVE: Stephen Lebovitz, ’83, and his wife, Lisa, and their children—from left, ABOVE: Reunion campaign co-chairs Elizabeth Dugan, Beth Singer, Fred Wang, and Ginger (GCEP), where researchers are involved Matthew, Abby, Julia, and Andrew—came west last fall to celebrate Steve’s 25th Salazar reconnected with the Class of ’88 the old-fashioned way: by phone. Their dialing in more than 40 projects to find ways reunion. PHOTO: Steve Castillo blitz brought a record 621 20th-reunion alumni to campus. PHOTO: Rod Searcey to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy. GCEP’s portfolio includes the science of materials used to Committed to Students Connected to Stanford convert solar energy to electricity, biomass energy conversions, advanced batteries, For Stephen Lebovitz, ’83, and his wife, Lisa, supporting education is When Fred Wang, ’88, MS ’89, first arrived at Stanford in 1984, fuel cells, advanced combustion, and a philanthropic priority. With their second gift to Stanford—a major he made himself a promise: to meet a new person every day. “I carbon capture and storage. commitment in honor of his 25th reunion—the couple established was generally successful,” he says. a new graduate fellowship in the School of Humanities and Sciences Launched in 2002, GCEP will become His networking prowess made him an obvious choice to help (H&S). They also added to their five-year-old scholarship fund and a part of the new institute, as will the lead the 20th reunion campaign for the Class of ’88. Wang provided support for the Environmental Venture Projects program, Precourt Center for Energy Efficiency, and his wife, Tracy, began their commitment by establishing a The Stanford Fund, the Buck/Cardinal Club, and Hillel at Stanford. a two-year-old organization dedicated scholarship. “Financial aid basically saved my bacon,” he says, to finding ways to wring more energy The Lebovitzes are raising their four children in Weston, “and I think it’s only fair to give someone else that chance.” savings out of buildings, cars, the Massachusetts, a dozen or so miles from the place where they He then joined Beth Singer, Elizabeth Dugan, and Ginger electricity grid, and basic human met: Harvard Business School. Lisa Lebovitz’s volunteer work Salazar in encouraging their classmates to give back and get behavior. with Reach Out and Read, a national nonprofit organization that involved. The co-chairs strived to convey that class giving promotes early literacy, and The Meadowbrook School illustrates “We believe that Stanford is uniquely benefits undergraduates—a group to which everyone can relate, her desire to support education at all levels. Stephen Lebovitz, positioned to change our nation’s says Dugan. president of the shopping center owner CBL & Associates attitudes and capability as it concerns Properties and chair of The Stanford Challenge Regional Major Their message clearly resonated: The class contributed nearly energy. What our university did for the Gifts committee in Boston, shares both his wife’s interest and $7 million, which provided $1 million in annual gifts to The information revolution, it must now do Stanford’s vision for sustaining excellence. Stanford Fund for Undergraduate Education and funded 6 new for the energy revolution,” says Steyer. n endowed scholarships totaling $1.5 million. “I appreciate the university’s leadership in creating integrated learning environments through The Stanford Challenge initiatives,” he says. During their four years at Stanford, U2 and the Cure blasted This story is adapted from an article that from dorm windows. Stanford hosted the Super Bowl. Students Throwing open doors for students, the couple believes, means originally appeared in Stanford Report. watched the Reagan versus Mondale presidential debates and trusting Richard P. Saller, the Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren snapped up Apple’s latest innovation, the Macintosh 128K. Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, to direct Everyone wanted to take a class with economist Michael Boskin the fellowship—one of 76 toward the school’s campaign goal of or Stanford President Donald Kennedy, recalls Singer. There 125—where he sees fit. “Dean Saller is such an asset to Stanford,” were also some sobering moments: The anti-apartheid movement says Stephen Lebovitz. “I feel comfortable putting the choice of prompted campus activism and the Challenger disaster became which department within H&S our gift helps in his hands.” etched in everyone’s minds. That confidence also stems from seeing the Lebovitz Family Still, optimism and class spirit came shining through. “There was Undergraduate Scholarship Fund in action. The couple talks excitedly nothing we couldn’t do,” says Singer. “We’ve had a really successful about the stellar recipients from whom they have received letters and, class. They wanted to come back and show their gratitude.” in the case of Lucas Berla, ’08, a published paper. “The students are so impressive,” says Lisa Lebovitz, “and the letters we receive show And, for Dugan, there was a second motive for returning to the how appreciative they are for our financial assistance.” Such letters, Farm: “I have no recollection of ever interacting with Fred as an along with news of research discoveries and family high-fives after a undergrad,” she says. “I’ve come to find out that I may be the Cardinal win on the field or the court, remind the Lebovitzes that only person at Stanford who didn’t.” n their generosity touches many corners of the university. n

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Mary Lanigar, ’38: Hard Work Accounts for Success

It wasn’t until 1930 that electricity came to Frank and May Francisco she would continue for decades. She soon passed the Lanigar’s dairy ranch in northeastern California—the same CPA exam, then studied law at night while working full time, year their daughter Mary completed eighth grade in the local earning a JD from Golden Gate University in 1954. By the time one-room schoolhouse. Neither parent had much formal Herrick merged with Arthur Young & Company (now Ernst education, but they were determined to see Mary and her & Young) in 1959, Lanigar was a partner in the firm’s taxation younger sister go to college. Lanigar rode the bus 20 miles department. Though it’s often noted that she was the first each way to the nearest high school in Susanville, graduating woman partner in a “Big Eight” firm, the quality and integrity at age 15 in 1934, one of the worst years of the Great of her work always mattered more to her than such distinctions. Depression. Lanigar’s staunch ethics and hard work earned her tremendous Times were tough and money was respect in the business world. She served as director of Wells scarce, but Lanigar’s grades won Fargo from 1973 to 1993, and retired from Ernst & Young her a scholarship to Mills College. in 1976 to accept several other corporate directorships. Her She enrolled as a mathematics service as a director included the boards of Transamerica, Castle major, only to find that Mills and Cooke, Lucky Stores, the Pacific Lumber Company, and had just one math professor and the Pacific Stock Exchange. In 1973, the dean of the Stanford no advanced courses. An advisor Graduate School of Business invited Lanigar to join the suggested she transfer to Stanford, school’s advisory council. She also served as a trustee for many which she did in 1936, once she nonprofits, including Mills College, the Palo Alto Medical had secured another scholarship Foundation, the Walter S. Johnson Foundation, and the Palo ABOVE: Mary Lanigar on the and a job waiting tables in the Alto Children’s Health Council. dining halls. family ranch, circa 1927. Though she was a leader in her field, Lanigar retained the When Lanigar graduated Phi Beta modest, studious nature she’d had since childhood. And she RIGHT: Lanigar and her sister, Kappa in 1938, she took an entry- never forgot that scholarships and higher education fueled her Dorothy Lanigar Anderson, level bookkeeping position with journey from the family ranch to the corporate boardroom. She on board the Delta Queen Stanford’s athletic department. One gave generously to each institution she attended and included of the highlights of her time there all three of them in her estate plans. When she passed away in for a 1995 travel/study trip on was Stanford’s 21-13 win over Nebraska in the 1941 Rose 2007 at age 88, she left Stanford $5 million to expand the Mary the Mississippi River. The sisters Bowl. When World War II siphoned scores of young men E. Lanigar Undergraduate Scholarship fund, established in 2003 remembered the steamboat from from the athletic fields and from the workforce, Lanigar found in honor of her 65th reunion. Thanks to her generosity, current their childhood, when it cruised the a new opportunity in public accounting. and future Stanford students will have the opportunity to work hard and find success. n Sacramento River. She joined Lester Herrick and Herrick, a reputable firm, and began the daily train commute from Palo Alto to San PHOTOS: Courtesy of D. Lanigar Anderson