SPRING 2009 INSIDE: Do magnets repel sharks? arts&sciences Revered Dean Elsbeth Melville remembered Notorious traveling French sisters BU (extreme) South Geomorphologist David Marchant and his team of students discover Antarctica’s secret past C ONTENTS from the dean SPRING 2009 10 Open a newspaper or turn on a TV and it’s hard As all of us at BU come together to withstand this period of to avoid being bombarded by stories about economic uncertainty, Arts & Sciences remains strong. I am very “I felt that all the hours failed financial institutions, corporate layoffs, pleased to say that our ambitious program of faculty recruitment 12 and stock market tumbles. Indeed, these are is not affected by the freeze, and we are moving ahead with plans to they were in neither the troubling economic times. strengthen CAS, not only replacing faculty who retire or leave, but also classroom nor the library, This past fall, President Robert Brown expanding the faculty by as many as 100 new positions within the I was responsible for them.” faced the situation head-on. Rather than taking decade. The newest members of our faculty are impressive indeed. To a wait-and-see approach to the ongoing finan- get a sense of what they mean for the future of the College, I invite you Dean Elsbeth Melville (CAS’25) cial turmoil, he was one of the first university to take a look at the brief biographies in the roster of new appointments Photo courtesy of Craig O’Connell presidents to take serious proactive measures in the crisis. He ordered found at www.bu.edu/cas/forms/new-faculty-booklet08.pdf. an immediate freeze on hiring for positions not already authorized, This new cohort of teachers and scholars only adds to the luster as well as on capital projects that did not have contracts in place. of the superb professors we already have here. Consider the awards As President Brown stated in his October letter to the University some of them received last fall. Associate Professor of Chemistry profiles features community, “Foremost, we must protect the financial integrity of Mark Grinstaff was a co-winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Award the University through this turbulent time and provide the most stable for Healthcare Innovation presented by the Center for Integration 8 TOTAL IMMERSION 10 environment possible for our students, faculty, and staff.” His fore- of Medicine & Innovative Technology, and his colleague in Chemistry, Alice Gomez (CAS’10) believes in taking full advantage of her student years at BU, SHARK DEFENDER thought and prudent planning will help ensure that the University Professor John Porco, received the 2009 Cope Scholar Award from studying at CAS and SED and playing lots Craig O’Connell (CAS’06) researches how sharks react to magnets weathers the economic storm and remains on solid financial ground. the American Chemical Society. International Relations Professor of clarinet with BU bands. in hopes of saving these storied fish from extinction. Vivien Schmidt received an honorary degree from the Free University 24 ON THE RIGHT TRACK of Brussels. CAS swept the field of winners of the African Studies 12 David Mundy (CAS’96) knows the best Association Herskovits Award honoring the most important scholarly routes to good management and A PARAGON OF HER TIME VISIT THE NEW COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES WEBSITE work in African studies published in English during the preceding year. winning car races. The College Club of Boston commemorates Dean Elsbeth Melville (CAS’25), at www.bu.edu/cas. The top entries were so good that the prize was awarded to two books, who imbued four decades of BU’s women students with self-confidence WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? Read about and see videos of representing three CAS professors: Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, 32 PUNCH LINE and leadership skills. BU’s successes in 2008—in and out of the classroom and lab, in the My Boys’ Jamie Kaler (CAS’87) continued on page 9 City of Boston, and around the globe—in BU’s Annual Report online leaves ’em laughing with his TV roles 16 at www.bu.edu/ar. and stand-up routines. EXTREME DIG In treks to Antarctica, geomorphologist David Marchant and his team a&s insider of Arts & Sciences students have unearthed ancient secrets of a more 2 >> Heralding the Humanities temperate clime. 4 >> What’s Worth Reading 22 5 >> Professors to the World FRENCH SISTERS arts&sciences 6 >> East Asian Explorations Professor Elizabeth Goldsmith writes about the 7 >> Darwinian Selections SPRING 2009 | NUMBER 21 adventurous Mancini sisters of 17th-century France who abandoned their families for life on the road. about alumni Published by Development & Alumni Relations EDITOR Jean Hennelly Keith 26 Reunion Highlights: Distinguished WRITE TO US—WRITE FOR US! at Boston University’s College and Graduate School CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Alumni, New Arts & Sciences THE COVER: of Arts & Sciences. arts&sciences has a fresh new design! Rachel Johnson, Corinne Kator (COM’06), Patrick L. Trustees and Overseers A sparse camp provides the Let us know what you think. DEAN OF ARTS & SCIENCES Kennedy (COM’04), Natalie Jacobson McCracken only shelter for Arts & Virginia Sapiro 27 Class Notes Sciences geomorphologist We welcome all responses and we’ll consider EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Lorna Karaj (CAS’11) David Marchant and his 28 Message from Alumni any contributions for publication. Please write ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT team of students conducting ART DIRECTOR Virginia Belich Association President to the Editor, arts&sciences, Boston University, FOR DEVELOPMENT C. J. Menard research in the harsh PHOTOGRAPHY Boston University environment of Antarctica’s 985 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 145, 30 Thank You, Donors! DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS Photo Services, unless otherwise noted McMurdo Dry Valleys. Boston, MA 02215, or e-mail [email protected]. Amy J. Biderman Please include your name, address, Produced by Boston University Creative Services COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST and class year. Photo courtesy of David Marchant Jeremy Schwab E Printed on paper containing post-consumer recycled material. 0309 966301 a&s INSIDER a&s INSIDER News from the College and Graduate School proposed for the upcoming academic year: Heralding the Humanities Judgments of Value. Posing such challenging questions as what determines aesthetic taste historically, how emotions, reasoning, and English Professor James Winn speaks the senses affect those judgments, and what ardently of the lifelong value of a grounding criteria are used in judging different art in the humanities. “Exposure to drama, forms, the committee has called for faculty opera, art, philosophy, religion—great ideas— proposals on this interdisciplinary topic. will continue to feed your soul,” he says. He notes that Arts & Sciences Dean “We should not be about training students Virginia Sapiro defines the humanities for their first jobs, but preparing them for broadly, and vigorously advocates for collabo- full and meaningful lives. Today’s students ration among the disciplines. “A college of probably will live to be 110. When they arts and sciences cannot be first rate without retire, it would be nice for them to enjoy tremendous strength in the humanities,” cultural riches and broad intellectual life.” she says. “As James Winn takes the helm, the His multiple academic pursuits reflect Humanities Foundation will continue to chart his conviction. A poetry scholar, he has a course that stimulates scholarly creativity written books on Alexander Pope and John through individual work and collaboration Dryden, and last year published his com- “If you’ve been laboring and teaching full-time, across the breadth of the arts and humani- pelling study The Poetry of War. He is also an extra six months could buy you the time ties.” They both hope to attract increased a prize-winning concert flutist, often per- you need, and we can provide the funding.” funding to further the foundation’s impact. forming with colleagues from the College Prizes also are awarded to students who have In some ways, his new directorship is of Fine Arts. Moreover, Winn is interested distinguished themselves in humanities fields. quite familiar to Winn, who has succeeded in the connections among fields of study. Professor Katherine His book The Pale of Words: Reflections O’Connor, associate on the Humanities and Performance explores With images of every book published in England chair of modern the relationship between literature and the from 1475 to 1700, the Early English Books Online languages and compa- performing arts. database was recently added to Mugar Library rative literature and “The reward system in the academy professor of Russian. with funds from the BU Humanities Foundation. is skewed pretty much to specialists,” he says, As founding director “and they often burrow deeply. I’ve spent all of the University of of my adult life pursuing more than one field; In particular, the foundation fosters Michigan’s Institute for the Humanities as a student, I was advised not to let myself interdisciplinary work with financial support from 1988 to 1996, Winn built a $13 million be pigeonholed.” for guest presenters and programs. To enrich endowment and helped nurture a number In September, he was appointed the new research in the humanities, the foundation of vital programs. That success and his expe- director of the Boston University Humanities funds library acquisitions such as the recent rience as chair of BU’s English department Foundation. Established in 1981, the foun- addition to Mugar Library of the Early English from 1998 to 2007 prepared him well for his dation supports the work of humanities Books Online database, with images of every current post. scholars at the University—junior and senior book published in England from 1475 to 1700. Leading a foundation with such wide faculty, undergraduate and graduate students. Since becoming director, Winn has scope enables Winn to significantly boost It grants fellowships to faculty, enabling them, introduced a new approach to running the the resources available to BU students for example, to extend sabbaticals to write foundation.