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Columbia College Fall 2013 TODAY MAKING A DIFFERENCE Sheena Wright ’90, ’94L Breaks Ground as First Woman CEO of United Way of New York City NETWORK WITH COLUMBIA ALUMNI BILL CAMPBELL, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, INTUIT MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, APPLE MEMBER OF THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CLUB OF NEW YORK The perfect midtown location to network, dine with a client, hold events or business meetings, house guests in town for the weekend, and much more. To become a member, visit columbiaclub.org or call 212-719-0380. in residence at The Princeton Club of New York 15 WEST 43 STREET NEW YORK, NY 10036 Columbia Ad_famous alumni.indd 6 11/8/12 12:48 PM Contents FEATURES 14 Trail Blazer 20 Loyal to His Core Sheena Wright ’90, ’94L is breaking As a Columbia teacher, scholar and ground as the first female CEO of alumnus, Wm. Theodore de Bary ’41, ’53 United Way of New York City. GSAS has long exemplified the highest BY YELENA SHUSTER ’09 standards of character and service. BY JAMIE KATZ ’72, ’80 BUSINEss 26 New Orleans’ Music Man 34 Passport to India After 25 years in NOLA, Scott Aiges ’86 Students intern in Mumbai, among is dedicated to preserving and other global sites, via Columbia promoting its musical traditions. Experience Overseas. BY ALEXIS TONTI ’11 ARTS BY SHIRA BOss ’93, ’97J, ’98 SIPA Front cover: After participating in a United Way of New York City read-aloud program at the Mott Haven Public Library in the Bronx, Sheena Wright ’90, ’94L takes time out to visit a community garden in the neighborhood. PHOTO: NATALIE KEYSSAR BACK COVER: PHOTO: ARNOLD BROWNE ’78 DEPARTMENTS ALUMNI NEWS 3 Message from the 45 Message from the 49 Obituaries Dean CCAA President Celebrating the achievements Fund volunteers link 52 Class Notes of current and former alumni to the College. 79 Alumni Sons and students. Daughters 46 Bookshelf Alumni Profiles 4 Letters to the Featured: Hothouse: The Art 68 Frank Snepp ’65, of Survival and the Survival Editor ’68 SIPA of Art at America’s Most 90 Melinka Thompson- Celebrated Publishing House, 5 Within the Family Godoy ’98 12 Roar, Lion, Roar Farrar Straus & Giroux by Boris Kachka ’97, ’98J. 94 Jeffrey Lee ’01 6 Around the Quads Football heads into new sea- Joel I. Klein ’67 will be son with a new look. presented the 2013 Alexander Hamilton Medal. 38 Columbia Forum: The Universe Within Exploring the common history of rocks, planets and people. BY NEIL SHUBIN ’82 Boris Kachka ’97, ’98J Ana Núñez ’11 104 Alumni Corner Ana Núñez ’11 describes Joel I. Klein ’67 PHOTO: JAEGERSLOAN building bridges between cultures in East Hampton schools. Like Columbia College Alumni on Facebook: facebook.com/alumnicc WEB EXTRAS Thank you to our Fiscal Year 2013 donors. Follow @Columbia_CCAA View a photo album from Convocation. on Twitter Watch a concert by the ensemble L’Arpeggiata featuring music by Claudio Monteverdi Join the Columbia Alumni and his contemporaries. Association Network on LinkedIn: alumni. college.columbia.edu/cct columbia.edu/linkedin MESSAGE FROM DEAN JAMES J. VALENTINI Celebrating the Achievements Of Current and Former Students ast year, I traveled around the Aap Women’s Collective, AZB & Partners, world to meet alumni, parents, Infosys Limited, Kotak Mahindra Bank, students and friends of Colum- the Marg Foundation, Mumbai Mobile bia College and to introduce Creches and Spencer Stuart. Several of myself formally as dean. I at- these students had the opportunity to at- Ltended College alumni receptions in Lon- tend a U.S. State Department event with don, Los Angeles and San Francisco; met Secretary of State John Kerry in June and newly admitted early decision students in one of these students, Doreen Moham- Boston; visited current students studying med ’15, a human rights major and pre- at Reid Hall in Paris; and attended “Co- med student, was featured on a segment lumbia 101” summer advising events in about the Passport to India effort on BBC Beijing, Hong Kong and Seoul. And dur- Hindi in early August (bbc.co.uk/hindi/ ing my travels, I became more and more multimedia/2013/08/130802_passport_ impressed by the passion, intelligence and sr_ak.shtml). achievements of our current and former My goal for the College this year, start- students — all 51,803 of you. ing with this issue of CCT, is for us to cel- I met two alumni in Beijing who were ebrate the outstanding achievements of so inspired by their study abroad experi- all our students, current and former. We ence in Asia that they returned to China to are building a new feature on the Col- start a college advising company. I spoke lege website that will be populated with to one in Paris who started out as a waiter stories, photos and videos by students and now owns a film company. And I vis- that showcase the creativity, talents and ited another in San Francisco who began PHOTO: EILEEN BARROSO accomplishments of our student body, his career as an assistant football coach and we are enhancing the alumni section and has been the CEO of several major software companies. of our website to better feature and connect College alumni. That’s what this issue of Columbia College Today is about: (Stay tuned for details on both.) We are also busy updating our the amazing accomplishments of our outstanding former stu- Columbia College and Columbia College Alumni Facebook dents. This issue includes three features about College alumni: pages and Twitter feeds with photos, news items and posts Wm. Theodore “Ted” de Bary ’41, ’53 GSAS, related to members of our unique and distinc- an East Asian studies pioneer, longtime profes- Find the College tive community, so please “Like” and follow sor and all-around distinguished Columbian; us if you have not done so already (see box Sheena Wright ’90, ’94L, the first female CEO on Social Media at left), and continue to share news about your of United Way of New York City; and Scott FACEBOOK own successes with us via email at ccalumni@ Aiges ’86, director of programs, communica- columbia.edu. tions and marketing for The New Orleans Jazz Columbia College You may have heard me say that Columbia & Heritage Foundation. facebook.com/ College is the greatest college in the greatest uni- This issue also features an article about how columbiacollege1754 versity in the greatest city in the world. I want we are preparing our current students to be- Columbia College Alumni us all to celebrate what makes us the best — the come the alumni that a future issue of CCT facebook.com/alumnicc best students, current and former, in the world. may highlight — through one of our ongoing Roar, Lion(s), Roar! internship programs, Columbia Experience TWITTER Overseas. Sixty-four students worked abroad Columbia College in eight cities this past summer, including 11 in @CC_Columbia CEO’s new destinations of Mumbai and Ban- galore, India. With support from Citi and the Columbia College Alumni State Department’s Passport to India program, @Columbia_CCAA students were provided internships at Apne FALL 2013 3 Letters to the Editor ni have followed, including, by happen- Volume 41 Number 1 stance, Vogelzang. “My heart leapt” at the Fall 2013 chance to race again at the Head of the EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Charles Regatta, she said. Alex Sachare ’71 Thanks in part to Darrow’s inspiration, the Columbia women’s varsity has a new EXECUTIVE EDITOR boat to race in Boston this year — another Lisa Palladino fruit of Darrow’s knack for inducing oth- MANAGING EDITOR ers to give back to the sport and the school Alexis Tonti ’11 Arts they love. As many as four alumni boats EDITORIAL ASSISTANT will be used by Columbia crews. Elena Hecht ’09 Barnard The moment will be joyful but bitter- sweet, laden with the memory of our friend. FORUM EDITOR Rose Kernochan ’82 Barnard John E. Mulligan III ’72 MCLEAN, VA. CONTRIBUTING WRITER Shira Boss ’93, ’97J, ’98 SIPA Help Out the Band EDITORIAL INTERN The Pony Ballet The Columbia University Band Alumni Karl Daum ’15 What a pleasant surprise to turn to page 57 Association has launched a drive to help DESIGN CONSULTANT [Summer 2013] and come face to face with the CU Marching Band beef up its store of Jean-Claude Suarès that bunch of bums from the 1940 Varsity instruments for student musicians. Show! We look better than I remember — I If you’re ready to admit that you won’t ART DIRECTOR am second from the left. be playing the old horn any more, or if you Gates Sisters Studio The Pony Ballet ruled in those days … have a spare, CUBAA would love to have CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS nobody bigger than we were. And when it for the band. We’re also hoping to fund Eileen Barroso we threw them a bump, the whole audi- repairs for some of the band’s limping in- Gene Boyars ence would cave in. strument inventory and buy some needed Natalie Keyssar Thank you for the reminder, and for instruments as well as band supplies such your great magazine! as drumsticks, reeds, mouthpieces and Published quarterly by the C. Ogden Beresford ’43 music folders. CUBAA recently received its Columbia College Office of ALLENDALE, N.J. 501(c)(3) charitable organization status and Alumni Affairs and Development for alumni, students, faculty, parents and can provide a tax letter for all donations. friends of Columbia College. Remembering Peter Darrow ’72 For more information or to donate, go SENIOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, I recently had a flashback to Columbia, to columbiabandalumni.org.