-44 THE MAGAZINE OF RICE UNIVERSITY WINTER 2002 Owls are erudite. No one quite knows when this became almost universally accepted. Perhaps the whole thing began with the owls of Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom. In more contemporary times, owls can be found in the Winnie the Pooh stories, Walt Kelly's famous Pogo cartoons, and those ubiquitous Harry Potter books. The list goes on and on. Owls also have played a significant role at Rice since the beginning. A trio of Athenian owls graces our academic seal, which was created by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose in 1912. Rice athletes were dubbed the Owls in their very first season of play. Depictions of owls can be found everywhere on campus. And owl statues in various media often serve as thank-you gifts for visiting dignitaries. The variety of owls on campus doesn't usually include Arctic snowy owls (although check out Yesteryear), so we thought we'd import one by wildlife photographer Eric Dresser as a properly seasonal cover for this winter's Salt.iport.
To order prints of the snowy owl on the cover, contact the photographer at 315-765-9772 or visit his website at http://ecdphoto.tripod.com. THE MAGAZINE OF RICE UNIVERSITY • WINTER 2002 yport
FE AT UR ES
18 UNLIKE ANY IN EUROPE Nearly a century after Edgar Odell Lovett adopted European ideals of education to lay the foundation of Rice University,Rice has returned the favor by helping mold Europe's first private research university. BY JOHN B. BOLES
28 OUT OF THE MAELSTROM It was a day like any other for Bill Forney—until a terrorist-piloted jet crashed into the World Trade Center, just two floors above him. BY DAVID D. MEDINA
32 FAIRY GODMOTHER What would you do if a 16-year-old wayward nephew showed up at your door? Marsha Recknagel followed her heart. BY DAVID D. MEDINA
38 TAKING THE HONORS Students in the Rice University Scholarship Program investigate options in academia. BY DAVID THEIS
43 ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL Epic fantasy may define The Lord ofthe Rings, but Jane Chance finds it illustrates many very real truths. BY CHRISTOPHER DOW
DEPARTMENTS
RETURN ADDRESSED
5 THROUGH THE SALLYPORT
16 ON THE BOOKSHELF
46 WHO'S WHO
49 SES & ACADEMS
51 SCOREBOARD
53 YESTERYEAR
WINTER '021 FOREWORD THINKING
llyport Our last issue was just going to press when the events ofSeptember II shocked the world. Much has happened in the intervening months, though the complex WINTER 2002, VOL. 58, NO. 2 and volatile crisis triggered by the terrorist attacks has yet to be fully resolved. Published by the Division of Public Affairs Whatever the outcome,clearly the situation is not Rice's story. It is not really even Terry Shepard, vice president just America's story. It is an international story being played out on a global stage.
EDITOR It definitely concerns Bill Forney'96. Forney was working on the 85th floor Christopher Dow of One World Trade Center on that fateful morning. "Out of the Maelstrom," by David Medina, relates Forney's harrowing escape as the twin towers were hit CREATIVE DIRECTOR then crumbled to dust,debris, and memory around him. Forney was lucky as well Jeff Cox as resourceful, and we can be thankful that, as ofthis writing, we have no reports ofany Rice alumni losing their lives in the attacks on the World Trade Center or ART DIRECTOR the Pentagon. Virginia Barach Ifthe attacks on September II are evidence that moments ofaberration can cause catastrophic change, we have the official opening ofInternational Univer- EDITORIAL STAFF David D. Medina '83, senior editor sity Bremen just nine days later to demonstrate that measured and rational M. Yvonne Taylor, associate editor development also are at work in the world. International University Bremen, Tanine Allison, assistant editor Lorrie Lampson, production coordinator which its founders modeled in large part on Rice,is Europe's first private research university, and John Boles, professor of history and a leading chronicler of all things Rice, details its founding in "Unlike Any in Europe." DESIGN STAFF Christine Jackson, designer Back at home,Rice continues to help its own students grow and evolve with Tommy LaVergne, photographer unique and ongoing programs aimed at challenging our excellent undergradu- Jeff Fitlow, assistant photographer ates. Witness the Rice Undergraduate Scholars Program, which involves juniors and seniors in the kinds of sophisticated research projects that a generation ago THE RICE UNIVERSITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES were restricted to professors and graduate students. Even better, it brings E. William Barnett, chair; J. 1). Bucky Allshouse; together students from practically every academic area to encourage basic D. Kent Anderson; James A. Baker, III; Teveia Rose Barnes; Raymond D. Brochstein; Albert Y. comprehension ofa wide range of disciplines. Writer David Theis talked to some Chao; James W. Crownover; James A. Elkins, ofthe program's students and faculty to sketch a portrait ofthis innovative effort. III; Lee Hage Jamail; K. Terry Koonce;Cindy J. Sometimes,though, the most important faculty—student interactions do Lindsay; Frederick R. Lummis, Jr.; Michael R. not Lynch; Robert It. Maxfield; Burton J. McMurtry; take place within the hedges or within the confines ofestablished programs. They Robert C. McNair; Steven L. Miller; William can come right out ofleft field and wind up becoming a personal mission. That's Robert Parks; W. Bernard Pieper; Harry M. Reasoner; Karen Hess Rogers; William N. Sick. what English professor Marsha Recknagel discovered when she answered her door one day to find her troubled teenage nephew standing there,asking for help. David Recknagel's ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS Medina's "Fairy Godmother" highlights genesis as a writer, Malcolm Gillis, president-, Zenaido Camacho, how she abandoned her writing to care for and raise her nephew, and the way in vice presidentfor Student Affairs,Dean W.Currie, which her efforts story that runs as deep vice president for Finance and Administration; unfolded in a true-life as her family Charles Henry, vice president and chiefinforma- history. Recknagel's revealing memoir of her five-year struggle to rescue her tion officer, Eric Johnson, vice presidentfor Re- nephew,If Nights Could Talk, has been highly praised by critics nationwide as a source Development; Eugene Levy, provost; Terry Shepard, vice presidentfor Public Affairs, Scott compelling portrait of the search for identity, trust, and forgiveness. W. Wise, vice presidentfor Investments and trea- And finally, we wind up with a bit of fantastic history and fun. English surer, Ann Wright, vice presidentfor Enrollment:, Richard A. Zansitis,general counsel. professor Jane Chance has long studied and taught the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially The Lord of the Rings. Her recently rereleased books on the subject Sallyport is published by the Division of Public provide Affairs ofRice University and is sent to university insight into the reasons the story continues to resonate with successive alumni,faculty, staff, graduate students, parents generations ofreaders and why many are calling Tolkien's masterwork one ofthe of undergraduates, and friends ofthe university. greatest books of the 20th century. EDITORIAL OFFICER:Office ofPublications,5620 So,whether you are interested in real-life events, personal drama,or fantasy, Greenbriar, Suite 200, Houston, Texas 77005. we hope this issue has something to catch your eye. We also hope that the year Fax:713-348-6751. E-mail:sallyporterice.edu to come brings greater peace and security to the world and that people POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rice everywhere find happiness, growth, and prosperity. University, Development Services—MS 80, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892.
©20132 RICE UNIVERSITY
2 SALLYPORT RETURN ADDRESSED
And now the Owls stand at 5- the MOB and other Rice students 1, undefeated in conference play, was particularly rich and memorable with 6 games to play. And four or in light of their propensity for such five of those are very winnable. questionable delicacies as "veal bird." Could we possibly be headed to our Outside of this unfortunate error, I first bowl in 40 years? We can only thought the article was a worthy hope! tribute. ERIC FOSTER '85 SARAH TUBA '76 Lewisville, Texas Beaumont, Texas
Ijust couldn'tstand the thought that I recently received the fall 2001 issue UH bested us in thatlast SWCgame, of Sallyport and recounted my own so I decided to tinker a bit with his- memories ofBert Roth and the MOB tory. Actually, the error resultedfrom half-time show for the Rice-Texas a misreading ofthe 2001 Rice Foot- A&M game of 1973. I was a mem- ball Guide. The chart on page 97 ber of the MOB as a freshman in listing the Bayou Bucket wins has 1972, and I recall that the MOB "(Last SWC game ever)" indented planned the same half-time show for SWC FUMBLE beneath the linefor Rice's 1994 vic- the 1972 Texas A&M game, which tory, making that information look was played at College Station. The The last SWC football game ever like it is appended to the 1994 line MOB's guardian angel was certainly was not "notable win" or "1994 rather than being a precursor to the looking out for the MOB on the 31-13 victory" as stated in the fall 1995 line. My apologies. This year, morning ofthat game. As the MOB 2001 Sallyport. The last SWC foot- the Owls ended up 8-4 but unfortu- gathered outside the RMC for the ball game ever was in 1995, and nately did notget invited to a bowl bus trip to College Station, a severe Rice lost the game in the last minute, game. thunderstorm was rolling through after leading UH the whole game. EDITOR College Station, and heavy rain was Doesn't anyone check our own ar- predicted for game time.Fortunately, chives? Bert Roth had the good sense to JEN COOPER '90 hand each ofus our box lunch for the Office ofStudent Media day and send us back to our college Rice University rooms. I doubt the College Station riot squad would have been sympa- Sorry to have to correct you again thetic to the postgame plight of the (MOBsters just won't let up, will MOB. they?), but your brief article on the RON LEINFELDER '77 Bayou Bucket on page 49 ofthe fall Damson, Texas 2001 Sallyporthas its history slightly twisted. Rice did indeed beat Hous- MOB REDUX I enjoyed reminiscing with the let- ton in 1994 by a 31-13 margin to ters about the infamous 1973 Rice- take home the bucket. . . but that I received the summer 2001 issue of A&M football game. However, all was notthe final Southwest Confer- Sallyport yesterday. I was particu- the writers left out what I think is the ence game. That occurred at the larly interested in David Theis's ar- best part of the story—what hap- end of the following year, on De- ticle on Bert Roth and the beloved pened the next year. cember 2,1995, when Rice lost to MOB. I found a disturbing error, In 1974, the alternating sched- Houston 18-17. I think the defeat however, which needs to be cor- ule had Rice playing A&M in Col- may have been due to a last-minute rected. The infamous game against lege Station. Because it's so close, field goal. I know it was rather the Aggies in 1973 did not take the MOB always made the trip and disheartening,since we almost won place in College Station. It was a performed at the half-time. The big that SWC finale at Rice Stadium. home game for Rice,and I attended question on the minds of everyone Then the MOB "turned off the many home games. My roommate behind the hedges: What kind of switch" in a ceremonious closure was in the MOB. I remember this show will the MOB do? A show before we moved onto the WAC in fact distinctly because the inflamed again poking fun at A&M would be 1996—the first oftwo 7-4 seasons Aggies and Corp surrounded the suicide. A show ignoring the 1973 in a row (the first such seasons since Rice Stadium, and the food service brouhaha would be, well, chicken. 1960-61). trucks came to the rescue.The irony The Rice community expected more of having the food service rescue than that from their MOB.
WINTER '02 3 RETURN ADDRESSED
The plans for the show were a While that was the first MOB Rice had a better record in the four well-guarded secret. Even those ofus controversy,a more politically dam- years prior to the 1973 season than with close friends in the MOB knew aging one occurred in the next year A&M (16-24-2 vs. 13-29). Rob nothing. When the big day finally or so at the Astrodome. Judge Roy Sisk recalled that,in part,the Aggies' came,Bert Roth and the MOB didn't Hotheinz ran the private organiza- ire that day stemmed from the dashed let us down. Their half-time show tion that ran theAstrodome, having hope of a Cotton Bowl-deciding poked fun at—Rice! first convinced the county govern- game against Texas. Again,not true. Hey, guys, we can take a joke! ment to build it. (Have I said "if A&M had already lost two confer- NANCY TAGUE '76 memory serves" enough times for ence games going in to the Rice Idleyld Park, Oregon you to gather that I'm not positive game and would finish sixth, as of any of this, except the "not in mentioned above. Rice was A&M's Thank you for Sallyport. I consis- College Station" part, which I'd last game before the Texas game, tently enjoy reading it. I was sorry to swear to?) At the time ofthe game, and with two losses already; Texas hear of the death of Bert Roth. I was the judge was embroiled in a con- was 5-0 at that point in the confer- not in the band, but I attended Rice troversy with the county over who ence. UT did win their sixth straight while the ROB was transforming into had to pay for maintenance. Mean- conference championship that year, the MOB, so I remember his work while, no one was, and the roof going undefeated in conference. Rob well. There was one glaring error in leaked, notably. The MOB came also recalled that the Horns had your story that I'm sure many others out and,for its first number,played dognapped Reveille that year. Right have already pointed out. The leg- a tribute to the Astrodome by per- culprit, right crime, wrong decade. endary satire of the Aggies did not forming "Raindrops Keep Falling Reveille was the only mascot in the take place in College Station. As the on My Head." The judge stormed SWC to have never been kidnapped saying goes, "We're stupid, but we into the announcer's booth and took (animalnapped?). UT ultimately aren't that stupid." It took place at away the microphone. Because a pulled it off before the 1997 Cotton Rice Stadium. However, if memory MOB routine consisted of the an- Bowl game between A&M and serves, it was a Corps trip, and even if nouncer setting up a series ofjokes UCLA. it wasn't, the relative number of Rice for which the titles of the songs Bottom line, neither football versus Aggie fans in the crowd made were the punch lines, this left the prowess of either school, nor A8r_M's it almost as bad as if it had been in band performing the rest of a half- dashed hopes, contributed much to College Station. A key point was that, time show that now consisted of the events that day. after the "disrespectful" half-time jokes with punch lines but no set- MARK KLEMM show, Rice won the game with a ups, which,to say the least, did not Director of Corporate Relations second-half comeback. The Aggies work well. There was quite a bit of Rice University might have forgiven one, but not public controversy over whether or both, and vented their frustration on not the band was out of line. MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS the band. The "rioters," I was told, My only other complaint, and were mostly not Corps members or this is a quibble, would be whether I strongly question your choice offea- even A&M students but high school Mr. Roth was a cancer survivor or,as turing Judge Keller on the cover of supporters ofA&M—which probably you decided, not. It's true that it Sallyport and even more on the omis- made them more dangerous,not less. killed him in the end,but he survived sion of her opinion in her infamous The Rice food service vans were backed it for 15 years. That counts as quite a interview with 60Minutes. In this inter- up into the tunnel to transport the bit of survival, in my judgment. view, she gained nationwide notoriety band away from the stadium. MICHAEL SHERRY '74 by maintaining that a prisoner had to The next home band perfor- Ft. Worth, Texas "prove his/her innocence beyond a rea- mance (again,if memory serves) was a sonable doubt" in order to get a new classic—the band came out covered by Wow, lots of letters about that trial. This astonishing upending of a a huge sheet, huddled together, and infamous game against A&M in basic American right certainly deserved shuffling out onto the field as the 1973. Although those who mention. announcer introduced them as the pointed out that the game was at It is embarrassing enough to Secret Owl Band, or SOB. Then the Rice and not in College Station know that her Rice education was announcer called for a drum roll, and got that fact right, they missed unable to instill a modicum of de- someone in the band rolled a drum out several others. Charles Starnes re- cency in her, but it shames Rice to from under the sheet. After that they called that A&M at the time was a have her on the cover of Sallyport, did a "normal" MOB show; I can't football powerhouse. Untrue! "The Magazine of Rice University." remember ifthe songs were all on the A&M finished sixth that year in JEAN-CLAUDE DE BREMAECKER theme of apology or not, but just the the conference and had only one Professor emeritus way it began qualified it as a triumph. winning season since 1957! In fact, Rice University
4 SALLYPORT THROUGH THE SALLYPORT
I want to compliment you on the recent issues of Sallyport. I read them Looks for Stronger through. The article about the judges Putin was particularly interesting. I would like to make one small suggestion. U.S.—Russia Ties The captions under pictures are some- times so small I cannot read them easily. An example is page 43 about At the height ofthe Cold War,few Americans imagined the woman who rescues dogs. I think there is room to make it at least one that Russia would have a democratically elected presi- font larger. Thanks again for doing a dent. Or that he would tell a United States audience good job. Trade EMILY OSBORN '47 that Russia seeks membership in the World Lake Jackson, Texas Organization, wishes to forge stronger relationships with United States businesses,and welcomes increased I take pride in Rice University, stu- dents, faculty, and outstanding foreign investment. alumni. Thank you for publishing an outstanding magazine, Sallyport, to But that is what Russian Federation represent the reasons for that pride. president Vladimir Putin told a ca- The fall '01 edition, page 15, gives a pacity crowd of 770 Rice students brief book review titled "Expecting?" and faculty,corporate executives,and Perhaps I should read the book NASA officials on November 14. [1000QuestionsaboutrourPregnancy Putin's speech, given in Stude Con- by Jeffrey Thurston] before com- cert Hall,was hosted by the James A. menting; however, the quote, "It is Baker III Institute for Public Policy. indeed a miracle that a woman can Following his visit to Rice, Putin build another human being inside of traveled to President Bush's ranch in herself," seems false. Besides the egg Crawford, Texas, to continue the and externally supplied seed,the new leaders' three-day summit meetings. human being builds itself. The RUSSIAN FEDERATION PRESIDENT VLADIMIR James A. Baker, III, 61st secre- woman,without her choice, RUTIN SPEAKS AT A PACKED 5TUDE tary ofstate and honorary chair ofthe supplies all the nutrients CONCERT HALL. Baker Institute,welcomed Putin,who and the protected hous- was then introduced by former presi- ing up to the time of dent George H. W. Bush. Bush commented on the "strong working and birth. The woman personal relationship" between Putin and George W.Bush and said,"I can tell doesn't"build"; she sup- you our president respects your broad vision ofwhere our two countries can go plies most of the building in the future." Also onstage were Rice president Malcolm Gillis and Edward materials. Am I right? Perhaps I Djerejian, director of the Baker Institute. am merely"hung up"on the author's In his speech, Putin highlighted common interests of Russia and the choice of words. United States, particularly the energy and space industries. "The scope for E. KING FREY '47 possible cooperation in the exploitation of Russian oil and gas could keep us North Bend, Oregon busy for decades," he said,speaking through a translator."A lot has been done already to make sure that relations between Russia and the United States are As a Rice alumnus, I greatly enjoyed built, taking into account each other's interests." the excellentjob you did on the spring Forging the new relationship entails cooperation in several areas,including issue. I especially enjoyed the article science, education, and business. "Today in Russia, we have all the necessary by President Gillis titled "Rice in the conditions for effective investments in various fields," Putin said. He pointed Universe of Universities." to the high rate ofeconomic growth Russia has maintained in recent years. He a. C. KARKALITB 938 said the country has made a substantial improvement in the legal conditions for Dean, College ofEngineering conducting business. The number of business activities requiring licensing—a McNeese State University practice inherited from the former plan-based economy—has been reduced Lake Charles, Louisiana from 2,000 to 104."Even that is too high a figure," Putin said,"but we intend to continue to liberalize our economy. "Perhaps the most important thing is that Russia has reduced the tax burden" Putin said, referring to an issue that has been discussed for almost 10 years in Russia with almost no action. "As of January 2002,the profit tax rate will go down from 35 to 24 percent, and all types ofpreferential treatment will
WINTER '02 5 THROUGH THE BALLYPORT
Fondren's Ranking Makes Big Jump
It's no secret that information is the name of the game, and while that's probably always been the case, it's never been more true than now.
According to Nielsen/NetRatings, the strongest support for teaching and Internet usage in America's 20 most- research at Rice. It also doubled the size wired cities ranges from about 40 percent of the staff and the library's operational to about 60 percent. The point isn't to budget. marvel at how fast the Internet has grown The merger—and Fondren's recent butto realize how much sheer information increase in its holdings—has had a positive power we now literally have at our effect on the library's national rankings. fingertips. In essence,the average desktop In just five years, Fondren's ranking computer with an Internet connection has become a among university research libraries in the United States personal library with vastly more information capacity and Canada moved to 63 from 104, according to the than world-class libraries of even 20 years ago. Association ofResearch Libraries(ARL). "This dramatic But that doesn't mean the concept ofthe library is jump in statistics represents a strategic change at Rice defunct. The old paper-storage facility of the past is University," Henry affirms. being transformed thanks to an infusion ofnew life from The ranking is based on an index developed by information technology,creating a whole that is greater ARL to measure the relative size of university libraries. than the sum of its parts. Certainly, this is what's For the most recent ranking, 1999-2000, Rice is listed happening at Rice. Just this past year, Charles Henry, as having 2,116,862 volumes and 15,508 current serials formerly vice provost and chieflibrarian, was appointed in its library, with 62,684 volumes added during the vice president and chief information officer, with previous fiscal year. Total expenditures amounted to jurisdiction over both Fondren Library and Rice's Office $19,134,032—an increase of109.8 percent since 1994- ofInformation Technology. "Information Technology 95, which is the largest increase in total expenditures and the library have responsibility for information during that five-year span. Fondren's permanent staff management and delivery," says Henry, "and both numbers 213. entities rely on technology for their fundamental services The ARL rankings are used mostly by libraries for and programs." comparison and analysis of annual budgets. Harvard Henry says that merging information technology University's library ranked No. 1, with 14,437,361 with Fondren was a "logical and tactically sound move," volumes(289,322 volumes added during the previous because it allows for greater coherency when developing fiscal year), 109,528 current serials, total expenditures new services and programs and bringing the respective of $80,862,137, and a staff of 1,088. strengths ofboth professional units to bear when building -CHRISTOPHER DOW WI-11-1 REPORTING BY B. J. ALMOND
CONTINUED FROM PUTIN, PAGE 5. resources." He named the Caspian Sea oil pipeline, which be revoked," he said. "In other words, we are strengthening involved U.S. investment, as a success story. the principle of transparency in our business activities." He Yet barriers still remain in the trade and economic fields added that Russia has the lowest personal income tax rate in that"should be removed definitively," Putin said. In particu- Europe-13 percent. lar, he mentioned the Jackson—Vanik trade sanctions, im- One of Russia's priorities is entering the World Trade posed on Russia due to past oppression of ethnic and Organization,Putin said."We deliberately synchronized this religious minorities. "[The sanctions] are just a symbol, no process with our domestic reforms, although we are fully one knows of what," he said. "For our part, we have already aware that this step is associated not only with benefits, but taken steps to overcome the obstacles ofthe past,and now we also with additional obligations." expect constructive steps to be taken not just by the U.S. Putin noted that the United States, in terms of direct administration but also by the American business commu- investment to Russia, has fallen behind the Netherlands, nity." Putin concluded by saying that in the Russian market, Cyprus, and Germany. Pointing especially to Germany as an "your risks are much lower than a couple ofyears ago. I think indicator of Europe's interest, Putin said he hopes that this is absolutely obvious." Americans will accept this as a challenge. "There are many Putin's visit was co-sponsored by the Shell Oil Company stable sectors in Russia that are becoming an element of Foundation, the Russian—American Business Council, and sustaining the overall security system," he said,referring to its the U.S.—Russia Business Council. A video clip ofthe speech energy resources. "Russia continues to be a reliable and is available from the Rice Webcast Archive at http:// predictable partner as a supplier ofworld oil and other natural www.rice.edu/projects/baker/index.html. UNRAU
6 SALLYPORT THR OUGH THE ALL TPOR T
ing to Rice, he was the founding dean of music for the new arts campus ofthe State University of New York at Purchase and Music Dean Tapped to later served as president of the college. Before going to New York, he had been director ofthe Wisconsin Conservatory of Lead NEA Music in Milwaukee. He also has served as our deans. While that the founding rector ofthe Prague Mozart President Bush has taken one of Academy in the Czech Republic, now the may not be good newsfor Rice,it certainly is wonderful European Mozart Academy. news for the country. On September 19,the president Hammond grew up in Wisconsin and to nominate Michael attended Lawrence University and Delhi announced his intention University(India) and studied as a Rhodes Hammond,dean ofRice's Shepherd School ofMusic, Scholar at Oxford University, where he to chair the National Endowmentfor the Arts(NEA), was president of the Junior Common nomination was unanimously Room at Oriel College. He earned his and Hammond's degrees at Oxford in philosophy,psychol- confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 20. ogy, and physiology and has taught neu- roanatomy and physiology at Marquette Medical College and the University of "America will gain an eloquent, dedi- states. Examples include grants to win- Wisconsin. cated spokesman for the arts in the ap- ners ofthe National Book Award and the As a composer and conductor, pointment of Michael Hammond as the Pulitzer Prize in fiction and poetry,fund- Hammond has written numerous scores eighth chair ofthe National Endowment ing for the Public Broadcasting series for theater in the United States and for the Arts,"said Rice president Malcolm Great Performances, and the design of abroad. His special interests include the Gillis. "For 15 years, Michael Hammond the Vietnam Vet- music of South- has been to the Shepherd School of Mu- erans Memorial in east Asia,Western sic what Edgar Odell Lovett was to Rice Washington, D.C. medieval and Re- as a whole. Both are examples of leaders Hammond has naissance music, of great vision and integrity." served as dean of and the relation- Hammond succeeds Bill Ivey, a folk- the music school at ships between lorist and musician. "I am honored by Rice since 1986, music and the the Senate's confirmation of President leading it to its brain. Hammond Bush's nomination of me as the chair- standing as one of gave the keynote man ofthe National Endowment for the the finest univer- address at the In- Arts," Hammond said. "As Americans, sity-based music ternational Sym- we are all heirs to an incredibly rich and schools in the na- posium on the diverse artistic and cultural heritage. It is tion. He wrote the Neuroscience of essential, particularly at this difficult pe- architectural pro- Music in Niigata, riod in our history, to draw support and gram for Rice's new Japan, in 1999. inspiration from that heritage and to music building, Hammond has DEAN MICHAEL HAMM ONO encourage and support the finest work Alice Pratt Brown held positions as as- of our own time. The Endowment for Hall,and has served sociate conductor the Arts is committed to these tasks. I on the university's strategic planning com- ofthe American Symphony with Leopold shall work to increase its role in making mittee, library planning committee, and Stokowski,conductor ofthe Bergen Phil- the arts an ever-more valuable part of numerous search committees. In 1999, harmonic, and musical director and con- our lives, connecting us to the past, the Rice alumni association awarded him ductor ofthe DessoffChoirs in New York illuminating the present, and inspiring its Gold Medal for distinguished service to City, and he was composer in residence our future. I will advocate especially for the university. for the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. He policies and practices that enhance the "Over a decade and a half, Michael worked with Donald Kendall of PepsiCo experience of our young people by giv- Hammond guided the Shepherd School and Brooks Jones at the Purchase Center ing them the insights and skills that lead of Music to international prominence," for the Performing Arts in founding to understanding and participation in said Bill Barnett,chair ofRice's Board of PepsiCo Summerfare. He currently is di- the arts." Trustees."In Michael, we had someone rector of Canticum, an ensemble for the The NEA was created in 1965 and, who fit Rice in ways that those outside performance ofmedieval and Renaissance with a budget of almost $105 million, is mightfind difficult to understand. Presi- vocal music, and is a vice chairman ofthe the largest single fimder ofthe nonprofit dent Bush has chosen very well; Rice's board of Interlochen Center for the Arts arts sector. The NEA offers educational great loss is the nation's great gain." in Michigan. programs, preservation, and fellowships It is easy to understand why -INARBOT DIMOND and has awarded 115,000 grants in all 50 Hammond was nominated. Before com-
WINTER '02 7 THROUGH THE SALL:1, 1.0R T
The Ethics of Biotechnology
Before the last half of the 20th century, few people paid attention to the ethics of technological advancement. Technology was thought to be good, and the only real consideration was its effectiveness. And by and large, technology has proved to be of great benefit.
Modern society has more ef- unclear how those labels in ficient tools, greater access to and of themselves influence widespread communications, moral judgment about par- and a broader range of ways ticular issues." to take advantage ofpersonal The researchers are in- potentials. We've even eradi- terested in ethical concerns cated, or nearly so, many dis- involved in five areas of eases. Just a century ago, biotechnology: assisted re- Houston was periodically rav- p roducti on, human en- aged by smallpox epidemics, hancement, hybridization, polio was prevalent, cancer biodiversity, and agricul- was a sure killer,and you could tural/human husbandry. To forget it if you needed any address these issues,the Pro- but the most rudimentary gram on Biotechnology,Re- surgery. ligion,and Ethics has teamed However, technology with the Center for Medical has had its unforeseen re- Ethics and Health Policy at sults—pollution, for ex- Baylor College of Medicine ample—not to mention out- to produce a study titled "Al- right technological failures tering Nature: How Reli- such as Chernobyl. These gious Traditions Assess the have caused people to voice New Biotechnologies." questions about the moralim- The new study recently plications ofnew technologies. Lately, Biotechnology, Religion, and Ethics, received its first funding award—a $1 the debate has taken a more profound which is sponsored by the Departments million grant from the Ford Founda- tack with the advent of genetic en- of History, Philosophy, and Religious tion. "The national debate about bio- hancement of agricultural products, Studies and directed by Andrew Lustig, technology research and policy is pro- cloning, stem cell research, and the an assistant professor in Baylor's De- foundly influenced by Western distinct possibility of artificially en- partments of Medicine and Commu- religious and cultural understandings hancing humans through genetics, nity Medicine; a research fellow at the of nature," says Constance H. computerized implants, or both. Institute ofReligion in the Texas Medi- Buchanan, senior program officer for Certainly Rice University is at the cal Center; and an assistant professor religion, society, and culture at the forefront of research that promises to in Rice's Center for Ethics, Medicine, Ford Foundation. "Until now, these profoundly alter human life. And just and Public Issues. have not been the subject ofrigorous, as researchers here are interested in The program provides a forum to comparative study. This undertaking the capabilities and promises of tech- examine and discuss the historical and promises to produce important new nology,they also are concerned about contemporary significance of religious insights into the moral implications of its less-reassuring aspects. Naturally, and ethical thought for emerging is- biotechnology." some of the questions about those sues in biotechnology. One strong cur- The grant will be used to convene center on the ways in which religious rent ofresearch in the program focuses groups of scholars at annual confer- convictions affect moral judgments on religious and ethical appeals to na- ences, publish three books summariz- about biological advances and the ways ture or the natural as a norm in public ing the research,provide briefing docu- those judgments influence public debates over biotechnology. "People ments for the media, and develop a policy. often describe biotechnological ad- we bsite. To seek answers to these ques- vances as natural or unnatural interven- —CHRISTOPHER Dow tions, Rice has formed the Program on tions," Lustig says. "Nevertheless, it is
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cer cells, for instance, currently are being tested as a cancer therapy. A Nano Meets H20 likely environmental application of nanomaterials is wastewater treat- Water. It's the most abundant solvent on the planet and the ment—nanostructured materials medium should make efficient filtration systems. of life. And it may provide scientists the means to The center has attracted a breadth move nanotechnology beyond molecular-scale electronics of expertise in all three of the areas and science-fiction nanobots and to develop new medical under its research umbrella. "Rice is proud to therapies environmental be the home of nearly 40 and solve persistent problems in scientists and engineers working in engineering. nanoscale teaching and research and the new Center for Biological and At least that is the aspiration of re- requires nanoscientists to look outside Environmental Nanotechnology," searchers at Rice's recently launched their own fields, but for research lead- Gillis says. In addition to Colvin, Ri- Center for Biological and Environmen- ers in other fields to look for ways to chard E. Smalley, the Gene and tal Nanotechnology. The center, one apply nanoscience to their own prob- Norman Hackerman Professor of of six major nanoscale science Chemistry and professor of and engineering centersfunded physics at Rice, will direct the by the National Science Foun- center's long-range vision. dation, is the first to focus on Smalley was a joint recipient of applications of nanoscience to the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chem- biology and the environment. istry for the discovery of A $10.5 million grant will fullerenes. Mark Wiesner, pro- enable educational and indus- fessor of civil and environmen- trial outreach activities in tal engineering and director of addition to research. The Rice's Environmental and En- other grant recipients are ergy Systems Institute,will lead Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, the new center's environmen- Northwestern, and Rensselaer tal research arm, and Jennifer Polytechnic. West, associate professor of There can be no doubt bioengineering and chemical about the importance of this engineering, will lead its bio- kind of nanoscale research. logical component. "The pages of Science maga- In a three-pronged ap- zine, Scientific American, as proach, educational and indus- well as highly regarded trial outreach programs will nonscience journals such as the complement the center's re- Economist, continue to be full search activities. The educa- of news on nanoscale science tional centerpiece is an initia- and nanotechnology," points tive to train ninth-grade out Rice president Malcolm Houston Independent School Gillis. "In recent weeks alone, District teachers in the chal- numerous nanotechnology ar- lenging discovery-based teach- ticles have appeared citing su- ing style so important to perconductivity of buckyballs, science education. The educa- single-molecule computer tional programs also include switches, golden nanoshells in curriculum and textbook de- treating cancer, and the growing list lems. Our center will serve as a hub for velopment and funds to support sum- of useful properties of carbon nano- such collaboration and as a resource for mer undergraduate research. tubes in computing, biomedicine, and educating the public about nanotech- The industrialcomponent includes materials." nology." a partnership with the Jesse H. Jones Vicki Colvin, associate professor Research activities at the center Graduate School ofManagement. This ofchemistry at Rice and co-director of will emphasize the interface between program will encourage the transfer of the center (see page 48), says, "Our nanomaterials and water-based systems center technology to start-up ventures goal is to shape nanoscience into a that range in size from biomolecules by bringing together scientists, stu- discipline with the relevance,triumphs, and cells to whole organisms and the dents, and business experts interested and vitality of a modern-day polymer surrounding environment. This"wet/ in nanoscience applications. science—into something that people dry" interface is key to applications in -MARGOT DimOND use every day." It will take an interdis- medicine and environmental engineer- ciplinary effort, she says. "It not only ing. Gold nanoshells injected into can-
WINTER '02 9 THROUGH THE SALLYPORT
Bio-Cartographers Unite!
like to brag about how sophisticated our computer forefronts of different fields, with We different backgrounds and strengths. systems have become, but we have a long way to go "We are fortunate at Rice to have to match the amount of information nature has researchers in many departments do- managed to pack into even simple living organisms. ing work in this area," Vardi says."The new group will serve both as a means of coordinating existing activities,such as We may have mapped the human ge- Ostrum George Professor in Com- the various seminar series on campus nome, but as a sage once pointed out, putational Engineering,chair ofcom- that are pertinent to this area, and a map is not the territory, and we have puter science, and director of CITI. providing access to new opportunities: only begun to decode research collabora- what the images on this tions,curricular devel- map actually mean. The opment, and funding amount of information proposals." is so great and the data The Rice Bioinfor- so diverse, in fact, that matics Group will op- a whole new field— erate under the um- bioinformatics—has brella of both CITI arisen to make sense of and IBB, and its edu- it all. cational activities will Bioinformatics is an be integrated with the integration of math- training activities of ematical, statistical, and the W.M. Keck Cen- computer methods to ter for Computational analyze biological, bio- Biology. "This coor- chemical, and biophysi- dination serves both cal data. Bioinformatics an internal and an ties together two of external purpose," Rice's key strategic says McIntire. "We thrusts—biological sci- strengthen existing ence and engineering programs by relating and information technol- them to each other, ogy—leading Rice's and we expose this Computer and Infor- strength to those look- mation Technology In- ing to Rice from the stitute(CITI) and Insti- outside for leadership tute of Biosciences and in this area." Bioengineering (IBB) The Rice Bio- to form a new research informatics Group will effort, the Rice Bio- be led by Marek informatics Group. Kimmel, professor of The purpose ofthe statistics, with Ross Rice Bioinformatics Reedstrom as execu- Group is to act as a tive director.The team nexus for various ac- now is forming work tivities at Rice in the groups to explore fu- field of bioinformatics, BRIAN WHITE ture research options explain Larry McIntire, and opportunities.For the E.D. Butcher Professor ofChemi- As is the case with any newly emerg- more information,see the CITI website cal and Biomedical Engineering, ing cross-disciplinary research area, at http://wvvw.citi.rice.edu/. chair of bioengineering, and chair of most researchers in the Rice Bio- IBB, and Moshe Vardi, the Karen informatics Group come from the
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program with companies involved in cellular engineering. Graduate students Bioresearch Focus of New in biochemistry and cell biology and bioengineering are eligible for nomi- nation to the program. Training Program The IGERT program also will es- A new tablish a visiting scientist position and graduate student training program at Rice al a seminar series that will focus on dif- give researchers the skills necessary to work in an integrative ferent themes each year. Continued environment and produce innovative and cost-effective expansion of Rice's successful under- graduate recruitment program for biotechnological products in the 1st century. underrepresented minorities to pursue graduate education in cellular engi- neering is another key component of It's the Integrative Graduate Educa- investigator Larry McIntire, the E.D. the effort. tion and Research Traineeship(IGERT) Butcher Professor of Chemical and "These kinds of grants are very program in cellular engineering at Rice, Biomedical Engineering and chair of nice," McIntire says, "because they funded by a $2.45 million National Rice's Institute of Biosciences and provide the basis of support for cross- Science Foundation grant. The five- Bioengineering, is that students will disciplinary research programs,and they year research training pro- provide stipends for gradu- gram, with its emphasis on ate students to work in these the interdisciplinary aspect "THESE KINDS OF GRANTS ARE VERY NICE BECAUSE emerging areas." of research, will support 10 THEY PROVIDE THE BASIS OF SUPPORT FOR CROSS- In its fourth year, Ph.D. students each year. It DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IGERT is an NSF-wide focuses on PROGRAMS, AND THEY metabolic and tis- program intended to meet sue PROVIDE STIPENDS FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS TO engineering and provides the challenges of educat- science WORK IN THESE EMERGING AREAS." and engineering stu- ing Ph.D. scientists and dents with rigorous educa- —LARRY MCINTIRE engineers with the multi- tional and research training disciplinary backgrounds in the fields of bioengineering, bio- have advisers from both the Depart- and the technical, professional, and chemistry, and cell biology. Scientific ment of Bioengineering and the De- personal skills needed for the career ethics, advanced laboratory skills, basic partment ofBiochemistry and Cell Bi- demands of the future. Other 2001 biosciences such as biochemistry and ology. "This new kind of training will IGERT grant recipients include cell biology, and engineering systems bring about new kinds ofthinking," he Northwestern University, University analysis are included in the fundamen- says. of California—Los Angeles, Univer- tal curriculum. Student trainees will form teams sity of Texas—Austin, and Georgia One of the most important as- to work on design projects and will Institute of Technology. pects of this program, says principal participate in an industrial internship -LIA UNRALI
http://www.rutrice.edui—giving/
Rice: The Next Century Campaign, the most significant online or contact the Office of Development via the site to fundraising effort in the university's history, is working to request additional information about the campaign. Many of make Rice University stronger than the pages include lists oftelephone ever.To keep you up-to-date about numbers and links to e-mail ad- the campaign's progress and to dresses ofindividuals most knowl- build momentum toward fulfilling edgeable about particular its goals, the Office of Develop- LENTURY fundraising projects. The site will ment RICE CENTURY has launched a comprehen- be updated monthly to reflect new sive campaign website that can be gifts and progress toward the $500 accessed through the university's CAMPAIGN million goal and will expand to homepage or by visiting http:// include profiles of campaign do- Www.ruf.rice.edu/_giving/. nors,scholarship and research grant The website describes the various categories ofgifts and recipients,and users ofnew or newly renovated buildings and specific opportunities for giving. Visitors can make gifts other "success stories."
WINTER '02 1 1 THROUGH THE BALLYPORT
ersby,caused the visual components to alter the tunnel's apparent perspective Rice Gallery and the audio to emit various elec- tronic tones. Many visitors seemed to delight in getting to know the work's One saw; tht other san idiosyncratic ways of responding to their movements and locations. The fluidity of art, design, and music realized in On view simultaneously in the small gallery, an earlier work by Rice Gallery's recent installation, Onesaw; the other Steinkamp, Flutter Flutter (1997), saw., exemplifies the gallery's interest in brought into focus her central con- commissioning original works that challenge cerns and interests. A small, faintly quivering grid of white light was pro- conventional conceptions of the boundaries of jected in the corner of the room. The visual art. On display from September 21 to grid seemed to shift between one-point and two-point perspectives so that view- October 28, the site-specific piece was created by ers walking around the piece would Los Angeles-based artist Jennifer Steinkamp and perceive the transformation ofthe grid electronic music composer Jimmy Johnson. as if, Steinkamp explained, "the non- physical projection had physical sub- stance." Toying with the conceptual Heralded as a "digital diva" in the possibility of the ground shifting and divide between the virtual and the real, heady domain of the techno-savvy, falling away beneath one's feet. It is the physical and the immaterial, Steinkamp employs the latest in ad- not surprising that Steinkamp characterizes vanced technology to harness light Steinkamp cherishes it her creative process as and motion to dazzling and often when visitors sometimes "using light to demate- disturbing effect. She frequently col- experience seasickness rialize architecture." laborates with Johnson to create en- and vertigo while view- The deadpan narra- grossing environments that thwart the ing her work. The tive title ofSteinkamp and distinction between the virtual and installation's curious con- Johnson's installation, the real. junction of menace and One saw; the other saw., One saw; the other saw. consisted caprice was amplified by announced the work's ofa tunnel structure that bisected the Johnson's soundtrack in probing ofthe dynamics gallery, leading visitors from the rear which eerie, cavernously ofperceptual experience. of the space to a translucent screen low tones were punctu- "The piece is aboutlook- fitted to the center panel ofthe gallery's ated by perky bursts of ing and about shifting front glass wall. A stream of colorful, sound reminiscent of perspectives,"Steinkamp three-dimensional abstract animated video games. "The noted. "The work is in- images was projected onto the screen soundtrack creates a sonic tentionally playful;it cre- by a high-resolution, ultrabright pro- dimension to the space," ates an experience where jector perched in the back of the tun- Steinkamp observed. complex ideas about per- nel. Steinkamp designed the anima- "The physical space is ception can be enjoyed tion with high-end software more transformed by the on a playful level." typically used to create special effects audio." While Steinkamp's in the movie industry. Interactivity was an work is included in the The continually transforming important aspect of the TOP: ONE SAW, THE OTHER permanent collections of geometrical forms, projected floor- piece, and visitors in the SAW. PHOTO BY ROBERT such major museums as to-ceiling,suggested an unstable,sur- tunnel became integral WEDEMEYER the Museum ofContem- ABOVE: FLUTTER FLUTTER. real continuation of the physical tun- parts ofthe visual move- PHOTO BY THOMAS DUBROCK porary Art,Los Angeles, nel built in the gallery. Rendered in ment as their shadows and the Corcoran Gal- cheerful, candy-store pinks, oranges, were cast on the screen. lery ofArt,Washington, blues, and greens, the bouncing ab- Outside the gallery, visitors and pass- D.C., she also has been tremendously stract forms promised escape into a ersby could see the crisp silhouettes successful in the commercial field, hav- delectable realm offimhouse whimsy. interrupting the otherwise intensely ing created large-scale works for U2 But this playfulness was apposed with luminous plane of shifting shapes and concert tours and the Fremont Street disconcerting undercurrents—a mes- colors, drawing them in as unwitting Experience in Las Vegas.Jimmy Johnson merizing swirl of white bars on the voyeurs. High-tech interactivity also performs with the electronic music picture plane could be interpreted as played a role. Steinkamp and Johnson group Grain, which has released nu- threatening barriers to passage or out- placed motion detectors in the tunnel merous recordings on the labels Fra- let, and the jarring transformations of and in the busy foyer outside that, grant, Moonshine, and Astralwerks. the images intimated the distressing when activated by visitors and pass- -MARIA STALFORD
12 SALLYPORT THIqIILJGH -IIIF I VrP17,7 DOUBLE Sloan Professional Master's Programs New for 2002 YOUR
People in today's workforce often need disciplinary and practical scientific training that goes beyond a bachelor's degree. And modern industry also DOLLARS demands enhanced management and communication skills ofits employees. One increasingly effective solution is the professional master's degree, which provides a greater level of career-specific education than a For bachelor's degree and imparts valuable expertise in fall 2002, the other areas that employers emphasize. Wiess School of For fall 2002, the Wiess School of Natural Sciences Natural is developing three new professional master's degree programs: Nanoscale Physics,Energy Exploration,and Sciences is Environmental Analysis and Decision Making. The developing three degree programs are part of an initiative sponsored by the Sloan Foundation, which has helped institute new professional TO IHE RICE UNIVLIISITY numerous such programs nationwide. ANNUAL GIFTS CAMPAIGN, AND Prospective students for the Sloan Professional master's degree YOUR SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS Master's Degrees will be new B.S. graduates in technical programs: disciplines and personnel working in the industrial GOES TWICE AS FAR! Nanoscale sector who want to expand or enhance their career Physics, Energy opportunities. Each program will require 21 months for completion and will combine detailed scientific Just follow these simple steps: Exploration, and instruction and practical training with teaching of Environmental business practices and communication skills. This • Make a gift to the Annual Gifts Campaign. combination will allow students to move more easily • Find out if your employer (or your spouse's Analysis and into management careers in the research and Decision Making. development, design, and marketing of new science- employer)matches gifts to universities. If you are based products or into consulting in fields where their retired, check to see if your previous employer technical training is valued. The programs will include will match your gifts to universities. courses in leading-edge science and technology; management, in cooperation •Get a corporate matching-gift form from your with the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School ofManagement; and science policy and ethics, in conjunction with the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. human resources office and send it to the Rice Other elements of the program will include exposure to careers, disciplines, and University Annual Gifts Campaign.Some com- Speakers in each focus area; an extended internship to gain practical experience in panies require just a phone call. Yours may be an industrial setting; writing and presentation coaching by Rice's Cain Project in one; check with your human resources office. Engineering and Professional Communications; and exposure to entrepreneurial development and the business investment communities via the Rice Alliance for You've just doubled your dollars to the Technology and Entrepreneurship. Rice University "Individuals with an educational background in these interdisciplinary areas Annual Gifts Campaign. are very few in number," says Ken Smith, a distinguished faculty fellow at Rice, executive director of Nanoscale Science and Technology and Rice's Center for the SUPPORTING YOUR FAVORITE Rice Quantum Institute, and co-founder of Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc. INSTITUTION OF HIGHER "Rice University's idea of combining a rare and highly demanding technical EDUCATION education with a modest exposure to training in business will produce students IS THAT EASY! who are truly unique, and these students will be highly recruited by industry." For details on the Sloan Professional Master's Degree programs, check out QUESTIONS? http://sloan-pmp.rice.edu. Call 713-348-4991 to obtain more informa- tion about doubling your dollars to the Rice University Annual Gifts Campaign through Thresher Honored the corporate matching-gifts program. The Rice Thresher won first place in the Four-Year Newspaper (weekly or less frequent) category at the 2001 Associated Collegiate Press Rice University journalism conference, held in Washington, D.C.,in August. A full list Annual Gifts Office—MS 81 ofthe winners can be found at http://studentpress.org/acp/wi P.O. Box 1892 cOlbs.html. Houston, TX 77251-1892 713-348-4991 A>' [email protected]
WINTER ,132 13 THROUGH THE SALLYPORT
The Eyes Have It
When a new window or webpage pops of a user with a designed device like a found that his predictions averaged up on your computer screen, what do computer requires a clear understand- within 15 percent of participants' ac- you look at first? Michael Byrne, assis- ing ofthree components," Byrne says. tual response times—"close enough tant professor of psychology at Rice, "The user's cognitive, perceptual,and to be useful to designers," he says. might be able to tell you. He has devel- motor capabilities; the task; and the Engineers who design air-traffic- oped a model of human thinking and device used to accomplish the task can control monitors, for example, could performance that can predict how well impact the result." use the theory and model to position people locate and select various op- Byrne showed each ofthe 11 par- critical information on a screen where tions on a computer screen. The model ticipants in his study more than 100 the user is most likely to see it first. has implications for designing air-traf- questions that involved identifying a "Keeping up with the volume ofinfor- fic-control monitors,in -car navigation particular number or letter in lists of mation on a computer display is often systems, webpages, and other com- random numbers and letters on a com- a problem," Byrne said. "A designer puter displays to present on-screen in- puter screen. He timed how long it can optimize the rate at which people formation most effectively to the viewer. took the participants to spot the se- can process information on the screen "Our theory and model allow sci- lected symbols. A camera mounted on by using the theory and model we entists to make predictions about hu- a headband worn by the participants studied. A strategic placement ofmenu man performance on tasks that involve tracked their eye movements. items can make it possible for people computer displays," says Byrne. "We Using a theory of cognition to read the most important informa- can tell, for example, where to posi- known as ACT-R/PM and an eye- tion fast enough to keep up with their tion information on a computer screen tracking model, Byrne predicted how work so they don't end up in a situa- so that the user is more likely to see it long it would take the participants to tion where they're likely to make er- quickly." Byrne conducted the research click on the targeted items. He also rors." at Carnegie Mellon University before predicted the other items they would Byme's research was supported joining the faculty at Rice, where he look at en route to the targeted items, by the National Science Foundation, analyzed the results that are published based on the characters or numbers the Office of Naval Research, the Na- in the July issue of the International they were likely to fixate on and the tional Institute ofMental Health, and Journal ofHuman Computer Studies. order in which they were likely to read NASA. "Understanding the interaction information on the display. Byrne -B. J. ALMOND
Language Learning Receives Boost It is often said that immersion is the only real way to learn director of Rice's Center for the Study of Languages, another language. In 1999, Rice's Language Resource notes,"The gift will allow us to maintain and expand our Center(LRC) took that philosophy to heart, developing digital collection while enabling our instructors to further ExTemplate, Internet-based language-learning software increase the integration oftechnology into their language that incorporates audio, video, and Web links as well as curriculum." The LRC is part ofthe Center for the Study text to immerse students as fully as possible in the of Languages, which was created four years ago to im- language they are studying. The LRC has not only made prove foreign language instruction and cross-cultural Rice a national leader in language instruction, it recently learning. attracted a $1 million endowment from Suderman & The center is housed in Rayzor Hall, Rice's new focal Young Towing Co. to help keep its technological needs point for classes in foreign languages and literature. The updated. 1962 building recently underwent renovations and was "This magnificent gift will make it possible for the reoccupied in December. J. Newton Rayzor, for whom Language Resource Center to maintain the cutting-edge Rayzor Hall is named,was the former president ofSuderman technology that already has made it nationally known as a & Young Towing Co. The company is co-owned by his creative innovator in the delivery oflanguage instruction," daughters,June Rayzor Elliott and Evelyn Rayzor Nienhuis, says humanities dean Gale Stokes. "Over the past few and it also included his nephew, the late N. Claxton years, the Language Resource Center has pushed the use Rayzor. of technology in the classroom to entirely new levels." For more information about the center, go to Claire Bartlett, director of the LRC and associate www.ruf.rice.edu/-Arc/. -ELLEN CHAIVG
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Rice Named a "Best Buy"
Rice University has been named a "best buy" in the 2002 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges for offering "remark- able educational opportunities at a relatively modest cost." Edited by former New York Times education editor Ted Fiske, the guide lists best buys among 22 private and 21 public institutions. The rating is based on the quality of the academic offerings in relation to the cost of attendance. For more information about the Fiske Guide to Colleges, visit http:// wvklv.fiskeguide.com.
It was an intriguing title for a lecture. But why would a distinguished professor give a lecture about his sabbatical "I Am in Debt" travels in Europe announcing that the trip had placed him in debt? Did he plan to take a collection?
Shortly into the address, his meaning became clear. Instead you" and acknowledge those at Rice who helped them of talking about the sights and expenses of his trip, he told along on their journeys. And they know that their gifts are of the kindnesses people had offered along the way. And needed and valued. his sense of indebtedness. William Marsh Rice expressed his gratitude to the city When he was lost in Paris, a young man took time to that he loved by establishing Rice University through the personally lead him to his destination. In a village, an generous gift of his estate. Many alumni and friends of the elderly couple invited him to their home for university have followed in Mr. Rice's dinner. He told about the patience and footsteps. In fact, the Captain James helpfulness of a store clerk, a waitress, a Addison Baker Society has been created policeman, and others. One kind deed to recognize the generosity of those who after another. have named Rice University as a benefi- He said he returned home with an ciary of a will, trust, retirement plan, or overflowing sense of gratitude. And with a other deferred gift arrangement. No gift desire to repay his debt by expressing is too small. Membership in the society is kindness to others—especially strangers. free and may be anonymous. For those The professor continued, speaking of who choose to be recognized, their mem- the journey of life and the debt we all owe bership serves as an inspiration to others to parents and loved ones, to teachers and who may be considering the inclusion of doctors and other professionals, to friends and kindly Rice in their long-term plans. strangers, to organizations and institutions and other posi- Rice's Office of Planned Giving would be happy to tive influences. "In fact," he said,"we are all terribly in debt. assist you with any questions you have regarding the Baker Our only reasonable response is to invest in individuals and Society, bequests, life income gifts, and gifts of stock. We organizations that need our help." are honored to be of service and hope that you will call on This is the greatest reason why people support Rice us whenever we might be a confidential resource to you and University. Alumni and friends want to express their grati- your professional advisers in your philanthropic and estate tude for all that they have received. They give to say "thank planning...... http://www.ruf.rice.edu/-giving/ Rice University • The Office of Planned Giving-MS 81 • P.O. Box 1892 • Houston, TX 77251-1892 713-348-4610 or [email protected]
WINTER '02 15 ON THE BOOKSHELF
recent standing-room-only reading of her novel, if she found it challenging Of Bugs and Men to write about a man,an older man at that? She gave a knowing look,smiled, and said that male interviewers in par- Occasionally, a gender-equity conundrum stirs up the ticular seem to be fond of asking her literary community. It goes something like this: Why is it that question, surprised that a woman would be writing about a man's life that so many men are able to create believable female from a man's perspective. She, how- protagonists—think Wally Lamb's Delores Price in She's ever, doesn't find the circumstance so Come Undone, a much-ballyhooed Oprah pick— baffling. At 37, she is already begin- ning to feel a more intense conscious- while supposedly so few women seem to be able to ness of her mortality, and, she says, get inside the heads of men and tell their stories as that when she "turned that feeling up several notches," she could imagine convincingly? what it felt like to be older,like Tristan. She added,"Most of us, when we are Well,former Rice Ph.D. ate student,Elida Hernandez. But one at our best, try to imagine what it feels student Mylene Dressler day he wanders into Cora Lowenstein's like to be in another's shoes." And she '93 has entered the de- antiques shop and not only comes face imagined that an older man might feel bate with a compel- to face with a woman he begins to a little uncomfortable in his skin, con- ling story told from hope will be in his future but also finds cerned about his appearance, espe- the point of view of a tangible piece offamily history that cially if he wants to appear attractive to Tristan Martens. he thought was a long-buried part of someone. She likened that feeling to Notonly is the main his past. those that many women experience character in her novel, All of which is somewhat over- throughout their entire lives. At that The Deadwood Beetle, male, but whelming for a man who has spent his moment, a woman in the audience the retired entomologist finds himself entire life absorbed in the minutia ofthe nudged her elderly male companion. late in life facing both emotional de- habits ofinsects, beetles in particular. He chuckled and nodded, perhaps in mons and hope for love—circum- Likewise, Dressler's novel is in- recognition of his own behavior and stances Dressler, a 30-something undated with little details—about feelings reflected in Dressler's com- former dancer and past literature pro- beetles, about families, about the ments and in the character she has fessor,can onlyimagine . And she imag- Holocaust. It's filled with the concept created, Tristan. ines well—which is good news for the of how small things—acts, gestures, Reactions like his may settle the reading public. words, intent—can have large, un- debate once and for all. In the past few years Dressler has foreseen, and long-lasting conse- -M. YVONNE TAYLOR created some acclaimed original sto- quences. For example, it's the words ries, and her first novel, The Medusa written in a child's handwriting on a Tree, was published in 1997. It is a sewing table,"When the Jews are gone, multigenerational yarn about a former we will be the next ones," that have dancer and her grandmothers. Al- far-reaching consequences and mean- though her focus is again on family in ing for Tristan. And the mystery be- 1300I 16 SALLYPORT ON THE BOOK SHELF (Jack Johnson,Babe Diclrikson),just Texas Tidbits to name a few.Sure, Texas has had its share of outlaws (John Wesley The mystique of Texas is unmistakable. Hardin, Sam Bass, Clyde Barrow), but it also has that stalwart cham- pion ofgood,Popeye, who was cre- In fact, when you get right down to events are gunfighters,soldiers, ated in Elzie it, some countries aren't as interest- politicians, artists, entrepre- Crisler Segar's ing as Texas. Maybe that's because neurs, adventurers, musi- Thimble The- Texas has it all—martyrdom and tri- cians, inventors, and a few ater comic strip, umph, colorful characters and rug- oddballs. The collection is published in the ged pioneers, huge cities and ghost not exhaustive, though, Victoria Advocate. towns, admirable deeds and shady so while Scott Joplin That may seem dealings—all ofit happening across a makes an appearance, like an unusual vast and incredibly varied terrain. Janis Joplin doesn't. crowd, but Texans Oh, have I mentioned cowboys, Writing Texas often have been quite deadly gunfights, lost mines and history this way al- good at concocting sunken treasure, political shenani- lows Jent to high- strange brews. Con- gans,feuds, rodeos, natural and man- light various categories of sumers thought Gail made disasters, and multiple revolu- Texas people and their achievements. Borden's"meat biscuits" tions? For example,it's amazing how many were disgusting, but the No matter, because Steven A. "firsts" there have been in Texas. entrepreneur hit gold with Borden's Jent '73 does that quite well in A The 21-story Milam Building in San Condensed Milk. Waco pharmacist Browser's Book of Texas History(Re- Antonio was the first air-conditioned Charles C. Alderton kicked off the public of Texas Press, 2000). This office building in the U.S. The first bottled soft drink industry with Dr collection of verbal snapshots may oil well gusher was Spindletop, near Pepper.And Ferris obstetrician Rob- not be the final word in Texas Beaumont. Army Airplane Number ert Ernest House,looking for a seda- chronicles, but it certainly is defini- 1 accomplished America's first mili- tive, discovered scopolamine tive in its own way,delighting in the tary air flight on March 2, 1910, at hydrobromide, more commonly pivotal exploits,fateful extremes,and Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio. known as truth serum. savory tidbits that make Texas his- KUHT,Channel 8 in Houston,was So, whether you want the real tory so entertaining. Jent's inviting the first noncommercial TV station truth about Texas or just need a few and fun style is perfect for this sort of in the nation. And Denton Cooley nifty stories to tell your friends, pick anecdotal history. He knows when performed the first artificial heart up Jent's book and open it to any and where the punch lines should go transplant at St. Luke's Episcopal page. It's one ofthe liveliest looks at to highlight the state's humors and Hospital in Houston on April 4, Texas assembled in one place—the ironies, and he hits just the right 1969. Texas State Fair excepted—and you tone when tragedy calls for it. The list goes on, and if it turns can make it last a whole year. Jent's history begins with the out to be the longest list of firsts For those of us who can't get earliest explorers to set foot in Texas there is, that would only be appro- enough ofTexas trivia, Jent also has and runs well into the 1990s,but the priate because size has always been compiled A Browser's Book of Texas book is not arranged by historical important to Texas. Upstart Alaska Quotations(Republic ofTexas Press, sequence.Instead, it starts with Janu- may have usurped the title ofbiggest 2001), a collection of about 700 ary 1 and finishes on December 31, state in the union, but Texas still noteworthy quotationsfrom or about and each date features one or more boasts the tallest monument (San Texas. entries describing Texas events or Jacinto Monument) and the largest people significant to that day. This is capitol dome in the U.S. -CHRISTOPHER DOW no-brainer browsing at its best—you Texas has made its mark with start at the beginning and go to the quality as well as quantity, and a lot end. In between, you'll find a capti- of that comes from its fair share of vating mishmash of Texas history, famous people. There have been with the modern alongside the Wild heroes (Chester W. Nimitz, Audie West, rousing adventure next to di- Murphy), musicians (Ernest Tubb, saster, and the sublime hand in hand Bob Wills, Lightnin' Hopkins, Roy with the ridiculous. Peopling these Orbison,Buddy Holly),and athletes WINTER '02 17 Rice University and the Creation of International University Bremen THE DAY OF SEPTEMBER 20 SHOULD HAVE BEEN A JOYOUS ONE FOR ALL-WE HAD FLOWN ACROSS THE ATLANTIC TO BREMEN, GERMANY, TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CELEBRATION OF THE BIRTH OF A NEW UNIVERSITY, ONE MIDWIFED INTO EXISTENCE BY RICE OFFICIALS. BUT OUTSIDE IT WAS COLD AND RAINY, AND EVERYONE-ESPECIALLY THE DELEGATION FROM RICE-HAD BEGUN THE DAY STILL SOMBER FROM THE SHOCKING EVENTS OF SEPTEMBER 11. AS WE ENTERED THE HUGE TENTS ERECTED FOR THE OCCASION, WE COULD HEAR THE RAIN PELTING THE ROOF, BUT THE OPTIMISM AND JOY ON THE FACES OF THE FIRST STUDENTS AND FACULTY AND THE EXHILARATION OF THE PLANNERS AND STAFFERS WHO HAD CREATED THE VISION AND TRANSFORMED IT INTO REALITY LIFTED THE SPIRITS AND BRIGHTENED THE MOOD OF EVERYONE PRESENT. THE AIR WAS FILLED WITH A SENSE OF PRIDE, OF ACCOMPLISHMENT, OF EXCITEMENT ABOUT THE FUTURE. HOPE AND CONFIDENCE EVAPORATED THE GLOOM AND MADE ALL OF US APPRECIATE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MOMENT. WHEN WE LEFT THE TENT IUB AFTER THE CEREMONY TO TOUR THE CAMPUS, THE CLOUDS BROKE AND THE SUN APPEARED. IT SEEMS HOKEY TO RELATE, BUT NO ONE COULD MISS THE SYMBOLISM OR FAIL TO SEE THE PROMISE OF INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY BREMEN. >>>> WINTER '02 19 my, WHAT MAKES IUB OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO THE RICE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY IS THE FACT THAT IT IS MODELED ON RICE. >> As with many other universities, Hanseatic League. For at least the academic year was already seven centuries, it has had an in- under way—"orientation week" ternationalist outlook and, via its had begun on September 3 and connection to the North Sea by classes started one week later. the Weser River, has long been a But International University major port. In the post—World Bremen (IUB), with an opening War II occupation of Germany class of 140 students, 30 faculty, by the former Allies, Bremen be- and a campus of about 80 acres, came the entrepot for American is a university unlike any other in forces, and relations with the Germany or, for that matter, all United States have long been fa- of Europe. It is unique because it vorable. is Europe's first fully autono- In the past couple of decades, mous, private, residential re- though, Bremen's port and ship- search university that emphasizes building employment began to instruction in a number of disci- drop, and the city sought other plines at both the undergraduate ways to develop its economy. and graduate level. Thus, IUB's Not surprisingly, it decided that goals are not only to offer a su- education and research that lead perior education to a select num- to high-tech jobs is the way of ber of carefully chosen students the future. The possibility of fol- but to serve as an academic lowing up on that idea came in model for introducing far-reach- the 1990s with the closing of an ing reforms to the moribund old army base. Talk began of uti- university system of Germany lizing the property—which con- and much of Europe. sisted of numerous handsome What makes IUB of special in- brick buildings on an attractively terest to the Rice University wooded "campus"—in some ci- community is the fact that it is vilian manner. modeled on Rice, from its em- Initially it was proposed that phasis on small classes, close fac- the Hochschule Bremen, an al- ulty—student interaction, and in- ready existing technical institute, terdisciplinary programs to its relocate to the site, but this residential college system. All in- proved more expensive than struction is in English, the aca- originally imagined. And several demic schedule is based on the political leaders and academicians semester system, and the degrees questioned how such a lateral offered begin with the bachelor's move could improve the local and will, in a few years, include economy, though they really had the M.A. and the Ph.D. How did no better alternative proposal. such an institution emerge in Bringfriede Kahrs, the Bremen Bremen, and what has been senator for education, science, Rice's role it its creation? and the arts, and her deputy minister, Rainer Kottgen, actively sought alternative ideas for use BEGINNINGS of the property, and they were Bremen,in northern Germany, joined in this quest by Jurgen was founded more than a thou- Timm, the rector (president) of sand years ago, and in the 14th the local state institution, the century, it became a leading trad- University of Bremen. Kahrs was ing center as a member of the primarily interested in jump- starting the region's ailing economy, and Timm primarily wanted to improve his university and, by extension, the national system of education. Out of their attempt to come up with a more creative project, both Kahrs and Timm asked various faculty at the University of Bremen to brainstorm the possibilities. After several meet- ings, there were proposals that leading American universities be asked to consider establishing branch campuses on the old military base, with unspecified relationships to the University of Bremen. Visions of something like Silicon Valley emerging in Vegesack, the area of Bremen where the former army base was located, arose in their minds, and words like "international" and "research" and "science and industry" were repeatedly men- tioned. Finally, the small, infor- mal task force compiled a list of the top 50 or 60 American uni- versities. They then queried their colleagues to see if any had a good working relationship with individual faculty members at any of these institutions who might be approached concern- ing their universities' possible in- terest in such a project. Six or eight faculty members agreed to contact colleagues in the United States. OVERTURES University of Bremen mathema- tician Hans-Otto Peitgen knew Rice mathematics professor Top: Vegesack: five minutes from the campus of IUB. Raymond 0.("Ronny") Wells— Above: City by the river: Nestling against the River Weser, both Bremen's historic center is encircled by the "Wallanlagen," a shared an interest in trans- green belt that was once the site of the city fortifications. In the ferring the newest ideas in math- foreground, the "Teerhof" island can be seen with the New ematics to the secondary-school Weserburg Museum of Modern Art and residential buildings. 0 teachers and thereby improving Bremer Touristik Zen trale. math education. Right: The market place, full of life: Walking across the market Peitgen also place is like taking a trip back through the centuries. People in had lectured at Rice University, Bremen refer to it affectionately as their "front parlour." The where he had been so impressed most important features are the town hall and St. Peter's by the students, the campus, the Cathedral, which dates back almost 1,000 years. © Bremer college system, and the general Touristik Zentrale. atmosphere Far Left: Rice students in front of IUB's administration building that he had tried to in May, 2001. persuade his own daughter to at- WINTER '02 21 SHORTLY BEFORE 11:00 A.M. ON OCTOBER 22, 1997, THE TELEPHONE RANG IN WELLS'S RICE OFFICE. PEITGEN WAS ON THE LINE AND TOLD HIM, DRAMATICALLY, "I'M MAKING ONLY ONE PHONE CALL, AND IT IS TO YOU BECAUSE I THINK YOU'RE CRAZY ENOUGH TO TAKE THE IDEA SERIOUSLY." tend Rice. Subsequently he had proximately $100 million from invited Wells in 1995-96 to the state to begin the program! serve as a visiting professor of Wells was both stunned and mathematics at the University of thrilled. He immediately called Bremen. And there were a Rice president Malcolm Gillis's couple of other pertinent things office, and as luck would have it, Peitgen knew about Wells. Not Gillis had a cancellation and only was Wells fluent in German, hence an opening at 4:30 that af- but his wife, Rena, was both a ternoon. native of Bremen and a member Wells could hardly wait the five of one of the city's most famous hours, and as soon as he began families: her great-great-great- talking, Gillis became equally ex- grandfather had been perhaps cited. Gillis had long believed the city's greatest mayor. that Germany would once again Peitgen, then, had good reason emerge as the cultural, eco- to believe that Wells would see nomic, and political center of the potential of the situation and Europe—he had even tried to be instantly interested in pursu- get Duke University to establish ing the matter. a German presence 10 years be- Shortly before 11:00 A.M. on fore—and he knew that the local October 22, 1997, the telephone political and academic environ- rang in Wells's Rice office. ment in Bremen was propitious Peitgen was on the line and told for such a project. Within 15 him, dramatically, "I'm making minutes, Gillis had called in Pro- only one phone call, and it is to vost David Auston, telephoned you because I think you're crazy chairman of the board E. William enough to take the idea seri- Barnett, and decided to send a Top: The IUB Campus Center. ously." Then Peitgen briefly out- high-level Rice delegation to Middle: Rice president Malcolm Gillis lined the project: some kind of Bremen to investigate the pros- meets with officials from IUB, the University of Bremen, and Bremen in branch campus in partnership pects. Gillis asked Dean of Natu- the Bremen Town Hall, February 11, with the University of Bremen, ral Sciences James L. Kinsey and 1999. with ready-built facilities and ap- Professor Sidney Burrus, director Sides: Views of the IUB campus. of the Computer and Informa- tion Technology Institute, to join Auston and Wells in the re- connaissance to Bremen. ENVOYS When Wells called Peitgen Mayor Henning Scherf of the back the next morning to report Free Hanseatic City of Bremen the turn of events, it was sent Rice a formal invitation and Peitgen's turn to be stunned. regretted that a previously Telephone calls to other universi- planned trip to India would pre- ties had turned up some interest vent him from participating. but nothing like this. The When the Rice delegation arrived Bremen officials put everyone on November 17, they found else on hold and made prepara- that Alexander Zeiger-Jons of tions for the arrival of the Rice Senator Kahrs's office had imme- delegation. They never invited diately recognized the prestige of another university. the delegation and had helped 22 SALLYPORT AEI - - - • AIL ill! 111111111111 1111 1111 1111 H11111111111111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 arrange a whirlwind VIP tour of The idea, introduced after detail. This text was e-mailed to all the academic and cultural as- breakfast to the Bremen officials, Germany and, after minor tinker- sets of Bremen. The tour culmi- took them by storm. There had ing and energetic lobbying of the nated in a trip to the proposed been much previous discussion Bremen Senate by Kahrs, Timm, campus that, to the American about the failures and limitations Kottgen, and Zeigler-Jons, was visitors, looked like a small liberal of the existing German university formally accepted on December arts college. system, including a much-noted 17, 1997. But the Rice delegation had al- article in Die Ziet by Reimar Plans instantly got under way ready realized that Rice was in Lust, perhaps the nation's lead- to send a Bremen delegation to no position to establish a branch ing scientific administrator, and Rice to see what an exemplary campus, no matter how attractive more recently, a prominent American private university a setting Bremen offered. Sadly, speech by German president Ro- looked like, and this trip, on there seemed to be no way Rice man Herzog, both of which had February 6-11, 1998, was a re- could be integrally involved. The called for following the example sounding success. An influential night before the last full day, of American universities. During senator from the other major po- though, Auston had a break- their flight back to the United litical party, Josef Hattig, came, through idea: Why not propose States, Auston and the delega- and he instantly developed a that the leaders in Bremen create tion capitalized on the enthusi- bond with President Gillis and an entirely new and autonomous asm Auston's bare-bones pro- other Rice officials and was tre- institution—an American-style posal elicited by drafting a mendously impressed by what he private, residential university. "white paper" outlining such a saw. The entire delegation was Rice could help them do that. private university in slightly more literally wowed by the campus, WINTER 932 23 the residential college system, LEADERS and Rice's whole academic enter- Despite these concerns, Bremen prise. On February 10, 1998, an leaders were almost unanimously official memorandum of under- enthusiastic. The vision of a bold standing was signed by Gillis and new academic enterprise had Kahrs, spelling out in detail the seized their imaginations, and cooperative project, with Rice support welled up across the en- providing planning assistance in tire political spectrum and the form of two loaned profes- throughout the community. A sors and in a variety of other first step was to put together a ways. The memorandum called board of governors who had for the setting up of a planning both academic prestige and po- committee with Rice and litical and business clout. One of Bremen membership, described the first new members was the general nature of the result- Dietrich Zeyfang, widely known ing institution, and outlined a and respected in Bremen for his timetable for opening the univer- role in building the giant sity. A momentous decision had Mercedes-Benz plant there that is been reached, and everyone the state's largest employer. present understood the potential Zeyfang fully understood the im- both for Bremen's economy and, portance of the new university as broader-ranging, for the future a generator of new jobs and new of higher education in Ger- ideas about higher education. many—if successful, the new uni- Then the board gained an abso- versity could herald significant lutely critical new member who change for German universities. was the obvious choice for chair- But the whole endeavor was man: Reimar Lust, former head still a gamble. Would the requi- of all the Max Planck Institutes, site monetary gifts occur in a na- head of the European Space tion that didn't even have a word Agency, and president of the that meant philanthropy and Alexander von Humboldt Foun- considered education solely the dation. No one in the entire na- responsibility of the state? Would tion had more academic cachet students who were accustomed than did Lust, who strongly sup- to free higher education be will- ported the introduction into Ger- ing to pay tuition? Could faculty many of many characteristics of be attracted to such a novel edu- the American university system. cational experiment in Europe? Lust's appointment to the chair- manship of the board of the new university instantly gave it cred- ibility throughout the nation. And by this time, the new institu- tion had an official name: Inter- national University Bremen. The small planning committee was busy drawing up position pa- pers on every imaginable aspect of the new university: curricu- lum, the number of faculty needed and in what disciplines, student selection and services, fundraising proposals. Everything that we take for granted on a campus had to be planned and Top left: Registration at IUB. Left: The IUB staff. MANY PROSAIC DECISIONS HAD TO BE MADE: ESTABLISH- ING A BOOKSTORE, HIRING JANITORIAL STAFF, STARTING A FOOD SERVICE-ALL THE NITTY-GRITTY OF A WORKING UNIVERSITY. prepared for. Clearly, the pres- mense political skills and the ence of Rice advisers—soon power and prestige of his offices Ronny Wells and Thomas as both mayor of the city and Hochstettler, who had been asso- president of the senate of the ciate provost at Rice, were work- state of Bremen, along with ing in Bremen full time—meant Ltist, already had a candidate in that Rice precedents played a mind: Fritz Schaumann. huge role in planning IUB. Even Schaumann was presently deputy the committee structure carries secretary of the Federal Ministry the imprint of Rice. President for Education, Science, Research, Gillis and his wife, Elizabeth, vis- and Technology, and he knew Above: The voice ited Bremen of a new university— in July 1998 and and was respected by everyone the inaugural issue of IUB's university were shown the many academic within the German world of magazine. and cultural highlights of the higher education. Lust ap- city; as with the original Rice proached him on behalf of IUB, many there, IUB was officially delegation, the Gillises were im- and Schaumann admitted it was founded, its charter accepted, pressed with the prospects for an important and very interest- Lust appointed chairman of the very significant success at IUB. ing position, but he insisted that board, Schaumann named presi- Meanwhile, Bremen's govern- he intended to stay in his current dent, and an elaborate mission ment leaders were pushing ahead office. However, in the fall elec- statement accepted that had to make the proposed university tions Schaumann's party was been finalized at a major meet- a living reality. On September turned out. IUB officials per- ing ofIUB and Rice officials in 29, 1998, the Senate of Bremen sisted, and Schaumann talked Houston the month before. M- authorized the expenditure of further and even came to Rice to ter more than a year of work, 230 million deutsche marks meet with Gillis and be assured IUB was now official. (more than $100 million) for of the level of Rice's support. IUB and formal acquisition of Shortly thereafter he accepted the former military base for that the offer. CAMPUS FACULTY, purpose. Skilled negotiation re- Since IUB had not yet had its AND STUDENTS duced the purchase price of the official founding, Schaumann be- Yet a huge amount of work re- base to only 16.7 million came president of the Interna- mained to be done. Schaumann deutsche marks—this for an 80- tional University Bremen Plan- immediately began to persuade acre campus with many usable ning Corporation, but now with the Senate to grant the entire buildings, playing fields, and its board of trustees and presi- sum of 230 million deutsche landscaped lawns. dent in place, campus purchased, marks immediately and up front, One essential matter still de- and planning far advanced, the with no requirement of regular manded attention, however: the time was ripe for IUB's official accounting but rather the simple choice of a capable president to founding. The date for the an- pledge to meet certain bench- lead the endeavor. The position nouncement was set for February mark achievements by certain was to be similar to that of an 11, 1999, the day before dates. These benchmarks in- American university president, Bremen's most famous social oc- cluded the opening of classes by with far more authority and re- casion, the 500-year-old the fall of 2001, with the num- sponsibility than wielded by the Schaffermahl, a grand charity ber of students and faculty grow- rector of a traditional German dinner originally intended to ing steadily until, after five years, university, and the first president raise money to support impecu- there would be a total of 1,200 would need to possess extraordi- nious families of sailors lost at students and 100 faculty. It was nary skill in order to launch IUB sea. On this occasion, with all a mark of the prestige of the successfully. the IUB officials present, board of governors and the stat- Scherf, who had wholeheart- Malcolm Gillis in attendance, ure and skill of Schaumann that edly backed IUB with his im- and the U.S. ambassador to Ger- the Senate accepted this unprec- WINTER '02 25 NO ONE COULD HAVE IMAGINED, A SCANT TWO YEARS After a summer of feverish ac- tivity on every front, IUB began BEFORE, THAT A STUDENT BODY AND FACULTY OF THIS classes on Monday, September CALIBER COULD HAVE BEEN ASSEMBLED IN SUCH A SHORT 10, 2001, with an initial student body of 140 (more than antici- TIME, AND THE CAMPUS, ALREADY ATTRACTIVE AS pated) and approximately 30 IT WAS, LOOKED IDYLLIC. faculty. The students came from 48 nations—a truly international student body—and had SAT edented grant of fiscal autonomy. schools literally around the scores that averaged more than Later in 1999, a formal part- globe, spreading the word about 1200, probably the highest of nership was signed between IUB IUB and seeking students. any university outside the and the neighboring state institu- Would it pay off? No one knew. United States requiring the test. tion, the University of Bremen. Of course, a university requires The campus looked fresh, with An architectural firm was en- faculty as well as students and a renovated classrooms and offices gaged to begin considering alter- campus, and in December 2001, and the first residential college— ations to the buildings, a land- ads for a total of 27 initial faculty Alfred Krupp College—occupied scape architect began planning appointments appeared in all the except for the commons area ways to open up the campus and major venues. Would faculty of and the master's house, which soften the rigid edges and sight the highest quality come to a will be completed in early 2002. lines of the former military base, university that was still little No one could have imagined, a and concerted thought was ap- more than an idea? Those fears scant two years before, that a plied to such issues as planning vanished under a flood of more student body and faculty of this for a library with significant elec- than 1,600 applications for the caliber could have been as- tronic resources and the general 27 positions. No one had ex- sembled in such a short time, networking capabilities of the pected either the quantity or the and the campus, already attrac- campus. Many prosaic decisions quality of the applicants, but tive as it was, looked idyllic. had to be made: establishing a what was even more surprising bookstore, hiring janitorial staff, was the extraordinary number of starting a food service—all the extremely qualified applicants OPENING nitty-gritty of a working univer- with German backgrounds. To complete the symmetry of sity. Many of them had either been the parallel with Rice, IUB Much thought also went into trained or currently held ap- planned a major academic cel- preliminary academic planning, pointments in the United States ebration of its opening on Sep- leading in summer 2000, after a or Great Britain. Clearly they tember 20-21, 2001, as Rice careful search, to the selection of wanted to return to Germany, had done on October 10-12, two deans: a dean of engineering but not to one of the rigid state 1912. Before an audience of and science and a dean of hu- universities with huge numbers 1,400 on September 20, Presi- manities and social sciences. Al- of often unhappy students. IUB dent Schaumann welcomed the ready the university had evolved offered them an opportunity to visitors; President Gillis offered away from almost exclusive em- return home to a different kind remarks; former German chan- phasis on technical subjects to of institution—one that they be- cellor Helmut Schmidt gave the practically equal emphasis, in lieved held out the promise of major address; Neal Lane, Rice terms of number of students if helping to revolutionize German professor and former head of the not faculty, on the humanities, higher education—and the National Science Foundation, fine arts, and social sciences. By power of that idea attracted fac- and Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, fall 2000, two distinguished ulty of a prominence that no who headed the equivalent Ger- deans were appointed: Gerhard fledgling university could have man foundation, discussed sci- Haerendel for engineering and normally expected. IUB was the ence and education in their re- sciences and Max Kaase for hu- beneficiary of that compelling vi- spective nations; and IUB board manities and social sciences. Ex- sion, and many faculty came with chairman Reimar Liist provided tremely aggressive efforts were a pronounced sense of mission. words of farewell. After a lun- already under way to attract tal- IUB quickly filled its entire cheon and campus tours, there ented, creative, adventurous stu- complement of faculty slots for was a concert that evening in dents from around the world, the first academic year and hired downtown Bremen and, the fol- and Hans Giesecke and his ad- several others to begin the fol- lowing day, a scholarly seminar mission associates visited high lowing year. featuring academic luminaries 26 SALLYPORT _Am Right: Members of IUB's first class during the opening ceremony,September 2001. Below: During the opening ceremony (left to right) presenter Theo Semmes, IUB student Tuhina Chugh,IUB student Paul Avenati, Rice president Malcolm Gillis. from around the world, includ- ing Nobel laureate Christiane Niisslein-Volhard of the Max Planck Institute of Developmen- tal Biology and mathematician Sir Roger Penrose of Oxford. Michael Hammond, dean of Rice's Shepherd School of Mu- sic, was scheduled to attend but had to cancel his appearance at the last moment when President George W. Bush nominated him to lead the National Endowment for the Arts. IUB had joined the ranks of the world's private re- search universities. At the beginning of the 20th century, Rice leaders had bor- BOLD EXPERIMENT WITH GREAT POTENTIAL, AND IT IS BOTH rowed ideas from Europe, espe- IUB IS A cially the Humboldtian idea from PROPER AND GRATIFYING THAT RICE UNIVERSITY HAS PLAYED SUCH AN Germany that the university INDISPENSABLE ROLE IN ITS CREATION. should be a generator of new ideas as well as a transmitter of accepted wisdom. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, ideas from Rice were being ex- ported back to Europe to help revitalize education on that con- tinent. IUB is a bold experiment with great potential, and it is both proper and gratifying that Rice University has played such an indispensable role in its cre- ation. Edgar Odell Lovett would have expected no less from this university. And in a world so re- cently horrified by an act of ter- rorism arising from cultural mis- understanding and fear of change, nothing could be more appropriate than the establish- ment of a truly international uni- versity devoted to the freedom of inquiry and the advancement of intercultural understanding. By David D. Medina Bill Forney '96 can't get the nightmarish images out of his head. They remind him of a catastrophe movie in which a war-torn landscape is littered with soot, debris, and dangling wires and clouds of smoke choke the atmosphere. But what was happening was all too real, and before the morning was gone, Forney would twice elude death as he descended from the towering inferno of the World Trade Center. Two months after the September 11 terrorist attack, Forney continues to mentally replay his escape. "I am always going through the scenarios and how we got down," Forney says. "I go through the whole thing every day, all day long. It is always going through my mind." On the day of terror, Forney was at work at 8:15 A.M. on the 85th floor of One World Trade Center. An employee of SMW Trading Company, he had just begun preparing reports for another day of trading at the New York Mercantile Ex- change, which is five minutes away from his office. Forney is usually there by 9:15 A.M. At 8:48 A.m., Forney was sitting in the center of the office with his back to the windows. He was stretching and sighing after having completed his re- ports, when suddenly a horrific explosion rumbled through the building. The air pressure dropped, and a high-pitch noise pierced the office. A ghostly wind shot into the room, whipping up papers and slamming doors shut. Then the building started to yaw. The structure moved back and forth about 10 times, throwing Forney to the floor. "It scared me to the point that I thought I was going to die," he recalls. "I remember looking up and asking myself,'When are the floors above us coming down?" After the swaying stopped, silence ensued. The workers began speculating that it was a bomb, but Forney's boss spoke up and said he had seen a com- mercial jetliner crash into the building just two stories above them. The 17 employees of SMW stood in shock. They didn't know what to do, and many wanted to remain in the building. But Forney and his friend Rob decided it was time to leave, and the rest followed. Forney took his trading jacket and a bottle of water in case of fires and smoke. As he was leaving, he went to look for a missing co-worker named Marvin. Deciding to look for Marvin in the restroom, Forney entered a dark hallway where he saw three smoldering fires and debris. Marvin was nowhere in sight, which led Forney to believe that he had left the building before the attack. Forney returned to his office and joined his co-workers as they walked down the stairwell. Several stories below, Forney and Rob each picked up a fire extinguisher and lugged them along as they kept up a slow, steady pace. On the 72th floor, the stairwell came to halt, people began coming back up the stairs, and they had to go into a hall to get to another exit. As they moved down the hallway, they had to step over debris, duck wires hanging from the ceiling, and skirt fires that had broken out in the wall. "Outside was a war zone," Forney says. "It was a Forney covered his face and tried not to look. "I monochromatic landscape. It was like lint. Every- thought all it would take is one little spark and it would thing meshed into one color, gray. You could make blow up in my face," he says. out trees, but they were gray. You could make out the When they reached the 50th floor, they heard some- grounds, but they were covered with several inches of one yell, "Move to the right!" A man with a bloody soot. The air was full of dust and ash." face and bandage on his head walked by followed by As they crossed a street, a photographer yelled, a woman who was hyperventilating. "Look for bodies under the cars!" Forney took a "Everyone was calm, orderly, and supportive," quick glance at the cars but could not see anything. Forney says. "No one took advantage of the path they The three continued trampling through the wreck- cleared. We felt there was no immediate danger. We age, and about three blocks from the point they ex- didn't know the severity of the situation." ited the tunnels, a storeowner invited them into his By the 49th floor, Forney was sweating profusely. He place to rest. Juliette had lost her purse and wanted unbuttoned his shirt and left the fire extinguisher be- to return to retrieve it, but Rob and Forney con- hind. He tried repeatedly to use his cellular phone, but vinced her otherwise. "I told her she should be happy to no avail. A few floors further down, Forney began to to be alive," Forney says. The two men each gave her see firefighters heading up the stairs, and at the 30th $10, kissed her on the forehead, and proceeded floor, the firefighters had set up camp to tend to the in- home. jured. After walking for about 10 minutes, Forney heard At the 20th floor, Forney and Rob saw a middle-aged a "horrifying gasp" from people on the sidewalks. woman named Juliette, who was out of breath and He turned around and saw One World Trade Center, struggling with the stairs. The two offered to help her. his building, go down,floor by floor. "It was surreal, Rob, carrying her purse, led the way while Forney es- unbelievable," he says. corted her from behind. They proceeded at a snail's Forney continued walking and found a corner store pace, letting others who were moving more quickly with a pay phone. He called his father's office in pass them by. Houston, and his father in turn called Bill's wife, After about an hour of maneuvering the stairwells, Tobey '93, who was in London for business. Tobey Forney and his group reached the lobby, but the un- is chief operating officer and general counsel of nerving sight of the outside world brought no reassur- TransactTools, a financial software company. ance. "On the ground you saw black, some metal ob- When Tobey heard the news of the terrorist attack, jects, but a lot of stuff was smoldering," Forney says. she says, she tried to remain hopeful that her husband "I remember seeing a leg, but I didn't see the body." was alive. Firefighters led the group to the escalators, which "I told myself a lot of lies to make myself believe were broken, and down into the underground system that he was okay," she explains. "It's amazing what of the World Trade Center. The normally active tunnels your mind can do. I became a zombie, and I don't were abandoned, and the automatic sprinlders had cre- remember what I did between the time of the attack ated deep puddles of water. An eerie sense of danger, and the time I got the message. When I got the mes- Forney recalls, permeated the place. sage, I collapsed and made a scene at the hotel. But They continued walking slowly through the under- everyone was happy for me." ground, turning a corner before stopping momentarily Now, months after the September attack, Forney because Juliette wanted a drink. Suddenly, Forney heard says he is not suffering too terribly from posttrau- a rumbling and thought it was water rushing through matic stress disorder. He says that he doesn't suffer the tunnel. "It grew louder and I realized it was people from nightmares, and he can sleep at night. But the running and screaming, yelling "Everybody run!" memories of the tragedy refuse to leave him. His Forney took a few steps and heard someone else yell senses, he says, are more heightened, and loud noises "Everybody dive!" Forney dove for a cubbyhole, curled startle him. The burning smell also brings back the up, closed his eyes, and prayed to God that he wouldn't horror. "When I get out of the subway and I smell die. Two World Trade Center, the second building hit the burned buildings, my blood pressure goes up," by a plane, was collapsing, only minutes after Forney he admits. "My heart starts to beat faster. I have a had left the lobby. little anxiety." "The blast was like a hurricane," says Forney. "For But not enough to make him want to leave New the second time in an hour, I thought I was going to York. Forney is intent on learning how to trade secu- die. I figured something from above might fall down rities on the floor of the New York Mercantile Ex- and severe me in two." change, and New York is one of the few cities that When Forney opened his eyes, he couldn't see offers that opportunity. He continues to work with through the darkness. He closed his eyes and opened SMW,though instead of going to his office at the them and still couldn't see a thing. He called out for World Trade Center, he now goes directly to the Juliette and Rob. She responded, but Rob had to clear Mercantile Exchange building. His wife is equally his throat before he could utter a sound. determined to stay. They saw a glimmer of light. It was a fireman with a "We want to get back to normal as quickly as pos- floodlight. They formed a human chain and followed sible," Tobey says. "This is a great city, and we want the firefighter for about 80 yards to a broken escalator to be here as long as we can." that led them back up one level to the street. The world was falling apart. 30 SALLYPORT Campus Reacts to National Tragedy On September 14, the day President Bush declared a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance, students, fac- ulty, and staff alike came from all over campus to gather quietly in front of Fond ren Library. They were there to join Americans across the country in memorializing the victims of the terrorist attacks against the United States just four short days earlier and to comfort and support one another. President Malcolm Gillis; Bill Martin, the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Professor of Religion and Public Policy; and leaders of the Student Association and Graduate Stu- dent Association spoke at the event. "Those lost we can no longer help," Gillis said. "But we can hope that by conveying—silently and aloud—our innermost thoughts of condolence and support, that their friends and families may draw solace from our humble gathering." Martin talked about the many emotions caused by the terrorist attack. He pointed out that many people prob- ably wondered how the tragedy might alter everyday life. "That you probably had some of these thoughts does not mean you are a bad or a terribly shallow person," Martin said. "It means that you are human with some self-regarding tendencies, an almost ineradicable charac- teristic of humans. That it may have bothered you to have such thoughts is also human. Take comfort in the fact that many people also acted altruistically, even heroically, and that you would have too had you been there." Student Association president Gavin Parks said that on the day of the attack he and co-president Jamie Lisagor visited college commons, where students were gathered around watching the television in disbelief. "I also saw students, associates, RAs, and masters coming together and comforting each other in this time that needs much reflection and thought," Parks said. "This is a part of the healing process. This is part of the magic of Rice. This is part of why we are a community." Lisagor called on Rice to "create another series of im- ages, just as powerful and just as memorable as those seen on television: images of a community that refuses to turn against itself, but rather looks deep inside and strengthens its resolve to work together for a better tomor- row." As an international student, Graduate Student Asso- ciation president Miles Scotcher said that he believes non-Americans are equally shocked by the attack. "The fear and pain caused by the attack has hurt a multitude of nations, and this is reflected in the graduate commu- nity at Rice, both in the American citizens and also in the 500-some international students from over 50 countries who study here." All of the speakers urged Americans not to retaliate against Arabs or Muslims living in America. Gillis re- minded those in the audience that "while there are evil people, there are no evil peoples." Remarks made at the campuswide observance, includ- ing Martin's reflections on the tragedy, can be found at http://www.ruffice.edu/-opa/crisis/observance.html. —DANA BENSON Photos by Tommy LaVerfine and Jeff Fition, ight years ago, Jamie appeared like a dark, ominous figure asking to be taken in. His aunt, Marsha Recknagel, who teaches creative writing at Rice University, knew that by letting this 16-year-old into her house, he would destroy the bright life she had worked so hard to build. She wanted to be a writer, and she enjoyed her solitary hours as a single woman. But Jamie was her brother's son, and Recknagel could not let her nephew walk away to become a street kid. Besides, deep down in her heart, she always knew that someday it would be her turn to try to save this wayward child. Jamie had a painful history: his half-crazy parents had physically and mentally abused him to an almost catatonic stage. Over a 10-year period, they had put him in 26 schools, a boarding school, two mental hospitals, and a group home. Recknagel opened the door and let him in. Photography by Tommy La Vergne WINTER '02 33 CC thought that Jamie had ruined my writing career. In fact, he gave me my first book. That's the paradox." 34 SALLYPORT Jamie stayed for six years while Recknagel cared off to a strong start. Recknagel has given readings for him like a son. She made arrangements to cure in New York; Washington, D.C.; Williamstown, his severe sleep apnea, and she hired lawyers to free Massachusetts; Memphis; Nashville; Houston; Dal- Jamie from his parents. Over a long difficult time, las; Galveston; New Orleans; and other cities. Jamie managed to peel away the layers of damage In writing her book, Marsha had to venture into that had been inflicted upon him, and he grew into her past to make sense of Jamie's situation. She re- a young man who learned to value himself and oth- counts how her wildcatter father made millions, left ers. Now in college, Jamie is working and living on the family a trust fund, and then died a mysterious his own. The story of this amazing transformation death; she talks about her alcoholic sister who had became the focus of Recknagel's first book, If adopted Jamie but then lost him in a nasty custody Nights Could Talk, published in September 2001 by suit; she writes about her niece who drank herself to St. Martin's Press. an early death; and she tells about her weak-minded "And here I thought that Jamie had ruined my brother who never lived up to his father's expecta- writing career," says Recknagel. "In fact, he gave tions. me my first book. That's the paradox." This Southern gothic family story had been The memoir, with its elegant prose and sophisti- locked up in Recknagel for years and was seeking to cated structure, has been receiving rave reviews. The be put on paper. "My former analyst," Recknagel Washington Post wrote that "Recknagel is to be ad- explains, "told me that I had been trying to tell this mired not just for the quality of her prose but for story since I was nine." her relentless self-scrutiny." Her book was ex- Recknagel, in fact, aspired to be a writer since she cerpted in the September issues of Vogue, listed as was in the third grade. Growing up in Shreveport, recommended reading in Elle magazine, praised in Louisiana, she one day announced to her parents Oprah magazine, and cited in Publisher's Weekly as that she was going to write a novel about her family. WINTER '02 35 .. CC n some ways, I wrote the book because I wanted to get to the bottom of why one boy would end up being such a magnet for a whole family's energy." Her father bought her an Olivetti typewriter, and After completing her dissertation on Lillian she began chronicling the family's tragic and bizarre Hellman's memoir in 1988, Recknagel graduated events as told to her by her mother, a natural story- and began studying psychoanalysis at the Houston— teller with a sense of humor. Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute. She was only the She wrote 12 pages and called her miniature second layperson to be admitted into the institute, novel The House Behind Yellow Doors. Then she fell where she studied for two years. She didn't plan to from a tree while playing Tarzan and Jane and be a psychoanalyst; rather, she wanted to use her broke her right arm, putting a crimp in her nascent training to help her with her writing. "I was still writing career. Years later, she continued with her trying to figure out my family," she says. dream to become a writer. She received a B.A. in When Jamie entered her life, Recknagel had been English from Louisiana State University, where a teaching creative writing at Rice and editing Gulf professor told her that women don't make good Coast magazine. Recknagel gave up writing for al- poets. "Who knows why I believed him," she won- most six years until Jamie was responsible enough ders. to live on his own."And then I thought'Oh, my. So Recknagel, instead, became a journalist. She What am I going to do with myself?" she says. "I moved to Houston and did freelance work for a had empty nest syndrome." golf newspaper, a real estate magazine, and a travel So, she says, she thought about what she used to brochure. She eventually got a job with the now- do before Jamie showed up. And then she remem- defunct feminist magazine Breakthrough. One of bered that she wanted to write. "I really missed put- her first assignments was to interview a female nude ting sentences together," she explains. She applied model who had posed for a tool calendar. to Bennington College Writing Seminars in Ver- Eventually she took a job in the public relations mont, where students spend two weeks a semester department of the Texas Research Institute of Men- on campus and the rest of the time in correspon- tal Sciences, where she worked for four years. Her dence with their instructors. desire to be a writer continued to grow stronger, At Bennington, her instructor, Susan Cheever, and one day, she walked the few blocks from her dissuaded Recknagel from writing a book about job and applied for the Ph.D. program in English at women friendship, saying it wasn't very interesting. Rice. Recknagel then told her about Jamie, and Cheever "I wanted to read all the classics, get a mastery of said yes, that was her book. literature, and learn how to proceed in my writing "I had to tell the story for Jamie. He was so career," she says. "I'm rather compulsive." voiceless and so helpless that he could have easily 36 SALLYPORT been another person who got washed under and to Dante to signify the start of a new life. "I have never heard from again," says Recknagel. "It was been to hell and back," he explains. The towering my gift to him." nephew—he stands six feet four inches—radiates Recknagel wrote her memoir in two and half happiness as he talks about the book. "It is eco- years and received an M.F.A. from Bennington in nomically beautiful. It is pure poetry," he says. 1999. "I couldn't stop writing once I started," says Asked what he thinks about his aunt, he replies: Recknagel. The sentences poured out of her, some- "She saved my life. I probably would have been times 15 hours at a stretch. She rewrote the com- dead by now if it weren't for her. Or worse, I would plete manuscript several times until each sentence be institutionalized." As Recknagel listens, tears was almost perfect. Her writing instructor, Bob stream down her face. Then Dante turns to her and Shacochis, would always remind her to avoid flabby says, "You were a cast iron bitch, and that's what sentences. "He would tell me:'Every sentence has saved me." to have the same vitality, the same punch, the same Recknagel laughs with agreement. "I was hell on life blood as the first sentence.' wheels at times."• Here's Recknagel describing Jamie when he ap- peared at her doorsteps: "He reminded me of a Matisse sculpture in which the human figure is barely emerging from the black stone, still at war with the inert mass that holds it back." The memoir's structure presented another prob- lem for Recknagel. One of her writing instructors was in favor of a linear story line, but Recknagel preferred a circular structure in which the narrator draws vignettes of the main characters and occasion- ally goes off into tangents. "The timing has to be just right to pull this off," she explains. "You have to see how far readers will go before you have to reel them into the main story." Recknagel says she made a diagram that she kept at her desk to remind her that the Jamie story was a refrain she needed to return to often. In writing the memoir, Recknagel used all the ele- ments of fiction: scenes, dialogue, character devel- opment, and setting. But she also learned that in nonfiction the author can reflect upon the narrative. She used her psychoanalytical background to exam- ine her family and their actions so that she could come to terms with them. "In some ways," she says, "I wrote the book because I wanted to get to the bottom of why one boy would end up being such a magnet for a whole family's energy." When the book was being considered for publica- tion, Recknagel was concerned that the memoir might be too intrusive on Jamie's privacy. One night as they walked around the Menil Collection in Houston, she asked Jamie if he would be all right with the book."He put his arms on my shoulders and said 'I want you to have the recognition." At that time, Recknagel says she did not realize that gratitude can be a huge burden and had not understood how much that had weighed on Jamie. "Once the book came out," she says, "he realized that he had given me so much, that he had given me a sense of myself, and that he had trusted me to come up to the plate to help him." Sitting inside a French bakery, Jamie is drinking a cappuccino with his aunt. He has changed his name WINTER '02 37 Taking the onors by David Theis 4 When the 16 undergraduate students who are gathered in Duncan Hall, room 1049, begin a class session by reintroducing them- selves to each other, with names and home departments,an uninformed observer might be forgiven for thinking he'd stumbled into either a social or a therapeutic event. It's when the students go beyond name and department and briefly describe the projects they're working on—"the influence of dia- lect on phoneme perception," "the rise of fallen women in mid-Victorian literature," "eco-industrialism and the Houston Ship Channel"—that the visitor clearly under- stands that the gathering in question is in fact Honors 470, also known as the Rice Undergraduate Scholars Program. RUSP,as the program is commonly and affectionately known, is a yearlong class in which juniors and seniors from all across the university get to work on sophisti- cated research projects, the kinds of projects that a generation ago were restricted to professors and gradu- ate students. Besides the investigations mentioned above, Rice undergrads have done research into gender differ- ences in spatial reasoning abilities (a gender difference that doesn't hold true for Rice students, according to the student's experiment),on the relationship between urban sprawl and air quality in Houston, and on the snap judgments employers make when they learn that a job-seeker is disabled. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect ofthe research is not that it's performed by undergraduates,but that all these undergraduates present their research not only to their faculty mentors but to each other. The young "knot theory" mathematician has to present his re- search into DNA folding in a way that the budding Victorian lit scholar has at least an outside chance of grasping. In other words, RUSP is the perhaps the ultimate Rice undergraduate experience; it cuts across disci- plines in a way that appeals to the university's many double- and triple-majors, and it challenges students WINTER '02 39 who love to work hard."RUSP students tion of university professors. "It's not to persuade any- are Rice students squared," says Jim one," says another faculty coordinator, Jim Pomerantz, 11 faculty member Kinsey, the D.R. Bullard—Welch Founda- professor of psychology and director of Rice's Neuro- tion Professor ofScience in the chemistry sciences Program. "It's to help them figure out early on" in chemistry or department. if they're interested in academic careers or not. "Most Kinsey, who is one of three faculty RUSP students are at least going to graduate or profes- biochemistry will haue coordinators for the program, has been sional school," he says. active in RUSP since 1988,when he came In addition to teaching the orientation classes, the a research group that to Rice as dean ofnatural sciences."RUSP faculty coordinators—Kinsey, Pomerantz, and Don was in its infancy," according to Kinsey. Johnson,the J.S. Abercrombie Professor in Electrical and has a program of RUSP had begun a few years before as a Computer Engineering and Statistics—also fill in the result of a doomsday book and a Ford students on "life in the academy," as Pomerantz puts it, research. That Foundation grant. The book, written by based on their own richly varied experiences. Kinsey Princeton University president Bill taught at MIT for years and,from 1977 to 1982,was head program has niches, Bowen,declared that not enough young ofthe chemistry department there. He also has served for scholars were going into academic careers many years as dean ofnatural sciences at Rice. Pomerantz and the student will and prophesied that, by the end of the served as provost at Brown University. "I'm just a Rice 1990s, there would not be enough new- faculty member," Johnson says unassumingly."Just chair- be offered a niche." generation Ph.D.s to fill university posi- man of the department." tions across the country. Most of the students have little idea of what a -Jim Kinsey Bowen's prediction was wrong, of professor does outside ofclassroom and office hours."It's course, but it had a positive effect any- an eye-opener to them to learn how demanding teaching way. The Ford Foundation wanted to is," Pomerantz says. encourage young scholars to seriously These days, guest speakers who prepare the under- consider academic careers, and it funded a Rice program graduates for concerns not directly related to their aca- to do just that. demic focus seem to make the greatest impression on the Indeed,preparing undergraduates for lives dedicated faculty coordinators and students alike. For example,one to research, scholarship, and teaching was the original, speaker addresses venture capital issues for students whose and now somewhat lessened, emphasis at RUSP. In projects have economic potential. Faculty from Rice's addition to introducing the students to the world of Cain Project in Engineering and Professional Communi- research, it also prepared them, via weekly seminars on cations present well-received sessions each year on devel- various topics, for possible academic life. oping professional identity through effective communi- Seminar topics included items such as how to apply cation. The Cain Project's Linda Driskill and Tracy Volz enjoy working with RUSP students."They will need excellent communication skills to become leaders in their fields," Volz says. "If they pursue academic careers, these students will eventually have to write grants to fund their research,and then they'll have to promote their work through journal publications and confer- ence presentations." One of the ways in which the Cain Project Johnson Kinsey Pomerantz supports students' progress toward this goal is by helping students plan and practice presenta- tions. Teaching students to give effective pre- to graduate school, how to really use the library, women sentations is perhaps the Cain Project's most important in academia, and intellectual property law. function at RUSP. That's because every student has to In fact, RUSP students still attend similar seminars, give detailed presentations on his or her project twice but the accent is now less on recruiting the next genera- during the course ofthe semester. And in some cases,they 40 SALLYPORT will be addressing students who have only the vaguestidea Kinsey says,"I have the role ofbeing a nudge."Ifhe hasn't of what they're talking about,so they have to communi- gotten a progress reportfrom a student in two weeks,"I'll cate very clearly indeed. send an e-mail." The students' first presentation comes late in the fall A few weeks before the fall semester ends, the semester. The previous spring, when they applied for students make their first presentations, detailing their acceptance to RUSP,the students had to turn in both the preliminary research, and what it is they're hoping to name ofthe faculty adviser who was going to mentor them accomplish in the second semester, when they will put in a weekly series of meetings and a their research into practice, either by preliminary sketch of their research conducting experiments or writing a proposal. scholarly paper. Here's where the The students will likely have de- challenge of communicating across cided on their proposal after talking departmental boundaries begins. to their potential mentors."They usu- Brad Lega is a senior in the ally pick an adviser they like and whose philosophy department. Last year, work they're interested in," says under the mentorship of professor Kinsey, "and then say,'I'd like to do of philosophy Hugo Englehardt, he undergraduate research with you.'The began his inquiry into "Property faculty member will usually suggest a Rights and the Post-Modern Di- not-very -detailed range of subjects." lemma." In his readings and meet- Different fields have very differ- ings with Englehardt, he discovered ent ways of conducting research, and that "you can't use reason to justify each student is encouraged to do re- moral beliefs" and that moral beliefs search in the manner of his or her are instead tied to the "ethical com- major or in the style of the depart- munities" that one is associated ment that the student's project falls with—religions, for example. So, under—the students can choose to "how do you justify ownership?" do research in a field outside their Lega asks. "Ownership is a moral major."A faculty member in chemis- question. How do we structure a try or biochemistry will have a re- society in which people own things?" search group that has a program of He adds, "In which cases should research," Kinsey says. "That pro- property rights be limited? You can't gram has niches, and the student will rationally justify limitations." be offered a niche." Humanities re- In preparing for his presenta- search Brad Lega styles are quite different, of tion, Lega found his Cain coaching course. "Most humanities faculty to be very helpful. "They point out members have graduate students," Kinsey says, "but the little things," he says."If you're going to stand at the those students are much more independent of the pro- podium for this amount oftime, make yourselfcomfort- gram the faculty member might have." able." He laughs a little when he remembers that "some In either case, the students attend the weekly RUSP people got very conscious of certain things, like making classes, begin their readings, their experiments, and their eye contact." meetings with their advisers,and also report to the faculty Some ofthe presentations were too technical for him, coordinator who has been assigned to them. Pomerantz but everybody, scientist or humanist, has an opinion on takes the social science students; Kinsey the chemistry, rationality, morality, and property rights. "They tried to biochemistry, and geological sciences students; and argue with me," Lega recalls, sounding bemused."They Johnson the engineering and the humanities students. tried to say that moral beliefs were rational." "Don's got the hardest job," Kinsey confides,as those are But far from being intimidated, Lega enjoyed both the two broad groupings that are hardest to reconcile. the intellectual give-and-take and the challenge of com- The students are generally very good about doing municating his ideas with nonphilosophers who brought their work and meeting regularly with their mentors, but a fresh perspective to the debate. WINTER '02 41 "A philosophy student would place me Mentored by Professor Helena Michie, Contreras in the field ofphilosophy," Lega says. "It was doing research into Victorian gender roles as ex- She approached was interesting to see how people outside pressed in novels by the Brontë sisters and by George the field approached it." Sand. Michie had once commented in class that, in Michie about doing He had never spoken at such length certain Victorian novels, the young and often unruly about philosophy before, and the chal- female protagonist will disappear from the story for a research into the lenge taught him a great deal. "You time before returning either as the embodiment ofyoung couldn't gloss over Victorian womanhood or as a non- subject and decided anything. You had to conforming woman who is doomed admit where you were to failure. that RUSP offered the unsure." Contreras became very inter- After the students ested in this off-stage transforma- ideal structure for come back for the tion process and what it said about spring semester, they Victorian views of a woman's role. such a complicated attend more classes on She approached Michie about doing life in the academy research into the subject and de- and time-consuming and get their first real cided that RUSP offered the ideal taste of postgraduate structure for such a complicated and inuestigation. life. That is, they do time-consuming investigation. real research. She went to England with a "For any student to letter ofintroduction from Michie— participate in an hon- another trick of academic life well est-to-goodness research project is a learned—and with it was able to gain transforming experience," Kinsey says. entrance to rare book collections at "No lab course can give the experi- Oxford that even Oxford under- ence of actually doing research. If graduates seldom enter. There she you're in a class, you're doing the found period conduct manuals for same experiment as everybody else. girls that clearly spelled out what Somebody will work the experiment Contreras calls the "Victorian view out. But finding the answer in your of maturation." own research is completely on you— She also learned her own hard and you may fail." Leslie Contreras lessons about research. There's never Before the spring semester is over, enough time, and it might take you all the students will have made second presentations, this a whole day to find a single relevant page. time giving the results oftheir research. Not every experi- The RUSP grant also greatly broadened her hori- ment will have turned out well. But failed experiments are zons."I'd never been out ofTexas before,"says Contreras, part of academic life too. a native Houstonian. "My parents were very worried." "They usually wind up with a lot oftears," Pomerantz After Contreras returned and finished her paper,she says. "People don't know how hard it is to do a project. realized that she'd gotten the research bug."The expe- So they learn patience, tolerance, and how hard you have rience made me want to continue," she says,then she lists to work to make something good happen." the graduate schools she's applying to. She hopes for a There is a final important component to the RUSP career in academia. experience. Through monies made available by the In the meantime, RUSP coordinators Pomerantz, provost's office, students receive small grants that are Kinsey, and Johnson look on their students with de- usually spent on travel. Most student trips are made to light—and a little envy. "When I was an undergrad," attend professional conferences. But last year, Leslie Pomerantz says, "we got a 10-minute presentation on Contreras,then a junior in the English department,used academic life. I was completely in the dark." Kinsey adds her $1,600 grant to go England for a week over winter enthusiastically, "I wish I'd had all this stuff." break. 42 SALLYPORT /f you don't know what surprise to Rice English pro- a hobbit is, very likely ELVES AND TROLLS. fessor Jane Chance,however. you've been in isolation Chance has been teaching The for a very long time. In the WIZARDS AND Lord ofthe Rings(LotR) since nearly half a century since its 1976, and she has authored publication,J. R.R. Tolkien's DARK RIDERS. several books and collections The Lord ofthe Rings has sold of essays on Tolkien and his more then 100 million cop- A /VIAGICAL RING. work. Revised editions oftwo ies. It has been translated into of those books—Tolkien's just about every major lan- AND, OF COURSE, Art:A Mythologyfor England guage, including Chinese, (first published in 1979)and and Tolkien societies can be THOSE LITTLE PEOPLE Lord ofthe Rings: The Mythol- found worldwide. The new ogy ofPower (first published movie version, part one of WITH FURRY FEET. in 1992)—were rereleased which was released this holi- this past year by the Univer- day season, was perhaps the BY CHRISTOPHER Dow sity Press of Kentucky. most anticipated movie in his- Chance's expertise is medi- tory—when the movie trailer was first posted on the eval mythography, Anglo—Saxon and Middle En- official website, three and a half million fans trying glish literature, and Chaucer, and most of her 15 to get a look almost immediately crashed the server. books, including her award-winning two-volume If it seems amazing that a fantasy set in an magnum opus, Medieval Mythography, are on those imaginary realm called Middle-earth and featuring topics. She also serves as general editor of the such unlikely heroes as hobbits could generate such Library of Medieval Women and series co-editor of powerful interest, even more curious is that this the new Greenwood Guide to Historical Events in popular epic recently has been hailed as one of the the Ancient and Medieval World. But what she is greatest books of the 20th century. That idea is no known for these days is her understanding ofTolkien WINTER '02 43 and his works. "I guess this is my 15 minutes of identifiable corpus of heroes like the ones in Ovid's fame," she laughs. So far, she's been interviewed by Metamorphosis or Homer. You could point to King the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, TV Guide, Arthur, but those legends are affected by French Entertainment Weekly, Chronicle ofHigher Educa- Norman influence, which Tolkien didn't like. What tion, and Fox TV,among others,and the he did have was a corpus ofwork in Old and Middle requests continue to come in."I am a bit English, such as Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the leery of it," she admits. "I've spent a Green Knight, and Scandinavian sagas, such as the lifetime studying mythography, and Norse Eddas. But most of those, even Beowulf, are Tolkien had been an ancillary,fun inter- about Scandinavian, not English, heroes." est. It's ironic to me that I'm important Even so, Tolkien's knowledge of northern Eu- now as an authority on Tolkien,because ropean myth and languages profoundly influenced that has nothing to do with what I his work, particularly with regard to the themes, normally consider important in my images, and structures he uses and the names he work." gives to people and places. Frodo, for example, is Chance may minimize her Tolkien from the Old English word fr?d, which means wise, scholarship, but his work has suffi- and mordor is the Anglo—Saxon word for death. ciently intrigued her that, in addition Certainly, though,the reality oftwo world wars to publishing books on the subject,she affected Tolkien as profoundly as any myth."Many organized two sessions on Tolkien at ofhis good friends whom he had gone to school with last year's International Congress on died in World War I," Chance says. "He never got Medieval Studies—the first time that Tolkien has over that. He had a terrible reaction to the war and been formally discussed at the ICMS in its more than had to be sent home early. He was really shell- 30 years. The sessions have lead to yet another book, shocked." Tolkien the Medievalist, which is a collection of Much ofLotR was written during World War II, theoretically driven essays by Tolkien scholars that and many readers have drawn parallels between will be published soon in the Routledge Studies in Sauron and Hitler, between the blasted landscape of Medieval Religion and Culture series by Routledge Mordor and the destruction ofthe European coun- LTD. tryside. While Tolkien denied that LotR was a veiled Besides, there's no mistaking the glow in her reference to the war, Chance says that there is a eyes as she discusses Tolkien's epic, its cultural growing body of work by scholars who are inter- context, and its internal meanings. ested in LotR as a reaction to World War II."Tolkien Chance was in her first teaching job, at the makes that statement of denial in the foreword to University of Saskatchewan, when a medievalist The Lord of the Rings," Chance says, "and there's colleague recommended LotR. "I took a weekend also a letter in which he denies any parallelism. But out and started reading very skeptically," Chance if you read carefully, what he's saying is that he says. "I got immersed in the magic of it and just doesn't want his work to be taken as an allegory of devoured all three volumes.I don't know if! became the war. He always talks about applicability, that the a convert—that almost sounds like something reli- war might be applicable to the situation." gious. I certainly became convinced that it was a text When Tolkien first created hobbits in The Hobbit, you could teach and that it was worthy of scholarly they were childlike creatures about whom he could study." create stories for his children. But in LotR, with the Tolkien, a professor of Old and Middle English backdrop of World War II, they took on another literature at Leeds and Oxford,was unhappy,Chance nuance. "I think he was saying that they are ordi- explains, with the lack ofan English mythology."He nary, everyday people who may be called on to wanted to create a mythic world that could do justice perform in extraordinary circumstances and find to the richness ofEnglish culture," she says. "Other heroism in themselves," Chance explains. "He was cultures—Mediterranean, Greek, Roman, Scandi- responding to the need for everyone to help their navian, and even Irish and Welsh—have native my- country during the war." thologies, but England has no mythic gods, no Chance believes that today's readers and viewers 44 SALLYPORT ofthe movie will similarly link LotR's battle between and he fails. He doesn't throw the ring into the fire good and evil with current world events. "It's very but decides to retain possession of it—or let it much comparable to what's going on right now in possess him. And his final struggle with Gollum on America following September 11. How do you deal the brink ofthe pit is as much to keep the ring from with that kind of enormous threat to peace and Gollum as it is to prevent it from falling into the Dark harmony and civilization? The Lord of the Rings Lord's hands. Butin that struggle,Frodo has donned provides the solution in the title ofthe first volume, the ring,and only Gollum—a degenerated hobbit— The Fellowship of the Ring. The solution is fellow- is visible."The part students most love to talk about ship—the idea that people have to band together. is that ending," Chance says."The doubles there are We have to learn to be part of a community and multiple and therefore rather exciting in an analogi- accept and tolerate that which makes us different, as cal way." do the members ofthe fellowship. Only in that way Tolkien even turns the traditional happy ending can we help each other work together as a commu- on its head. "I'm not so sure it is a happy ending," nity. Actually, that's a powerful Christian message. Chance says. "The destruction of the ring and the Tolkien was a staunch Roman Catholic,and he drew fall of the Dark Lord crystallize things, but on it's that other chief influence in his work." interesting that Tolkien didn't stop there. Things LotR is the story of an epic heroic quest, yet have changed in the Shire towards industrialization, Tolkien frequently inverts the established heroic and they'll never return to the idyllic days that formula. "A hero goes on a quest to achieve some- existed before. Frodo and the elves go away to the thing," Chance says. "It may be to kill the dragon Grey Havens, leaving a world without wisdom and and win the lady. It's this Horatio Alger idea of magic, as history moves into the age of Man,which achievement and attainment, which is basically a is a lesser age." self-aggrandizing tendency." The quest usually cul- The epic does not end on a note of doom, minates in a battle in which the hero triumphs though,for Sam rebuilds the Shire. He against the villain and is then held up as a model. plants the seeds that Galadriel gave Often after that, there is a happy ending. him, and there is a great crop. Many In LotR, there is a climactic battle, but it is a children are born, and there is fertility distraction, not the key. While the battle of the and happiness for a period of time. armies is taking place, the real hero, Frodo, is "What he has to help him is his memory sneaking into Mordor through the back door. For ofthe visit to Galadriel in LothlOrien," Tolkien, Chance says, humility and self-control are Chance says. "Remember, Sam has the true virtues ofthe hero,and the important battle had that glimpse of paradise—he for those take place within Frodo himself. knows there is a paradise, and that's "What Tolkien has done with Frodo is so bril- so reassuring. Tolkien talks in some liant. Frodo could have used the ring to become a ofhis fairy stories about why fantasy Dark Lord and take what he wanted. Instead, he is so reassuring,and he says that the carries it through Mordor to destroy it. So the ultimate fantasy—in a literary Ultimate heroism is an act of renunciation, not of sense—is the resurrection ofChrist boast, which is very hard. That's one element ofthe because it means there's going to book that is so appealing, because we're all anxious be a happy ending for us all somewhere and there is to leave something ofour lives for posterity. Tolkien, some plan and order to the world. through Frodo,is saying that it's okay to be the way "I think that's the reason many modern readers we are and do something in our lives that maybe are drawn to The Lord ofthe Rings. So I no longer nobody will ever know about. And who knows that think of it as escapist literature. I think you can see Frodo has accomplished something so amazing and it as escape and read it as fantasy, but what it provides saved Middle-earth except Gandalf and the fellow- is reassurance and consolation that the world is not ship?" a bad place but ultimately a place of good." The epic irony is that, in the end, Frodo ulti- mately falls prey to the enervating power ofthe ring, WINTER '02 45 WHO ' S WHO Closet Full of Hats Kathy Felker gets tired of people oohing and aahing over her husband's job as a flight controller at NASA's mission control. "Kathy has succeeded in winning Felker adds that the environment respect and friendly cooperation from in the MBA for Executives program both faculty and students," stated is like a family. "I'm here whenever Wil Uecker, associate dean for ex- the students are here,and it's a small- ecutive education, and Kay Henry, enough program that it really is like director of MBA for Executives,in a family. We don't just know the a letter nominating Felker for the students, we know their spouses and award. "She handles all her tasks kids too." She admires the fact that with a spirit of excellence as well the executive students have very chal- as with considerable tact, diplo- lenging schedules—going to school macy, and concern for the feel- full time,working full-time jobs,and ings of co-workers and custom- fulfilling their family responsibilities. ers alike." And there have been times when "My diplomacy skills have students have told her that they have been fine-tuned in this job," to quit the program, revealing that explains Felker. "These are they're facing problems at work or often top-level managers, so I have home, which means Felker some- to deal with them on their level." times serves as a counselor of sorts. Her diplomacy likewise extends to Despite wearing multiple hats, She's got a pretty good job of her faculty. Felker enjoys her work. "It's some- own. She's a recruiter, an external Felker is charged with handling thing that I really believe in, and I relations professional, a counselor, the registration of students and ad- need that component where I help and more—all rolled into one.Felker ministrative responsibilities, such as people." She feels the highlight of does a little bit of everything as the ordering books and producing grade her four years in her job was the assistant director of the MBA for reports. But she notes, "My job graduation ofthe first class of MBA Executives program at Rice's Jesse changes depending on what time of executive students in May 2000.Says H. Jones Graduate School of Man- year it is. During the admissions Felker,"To see someone start some- agement. And she's so good at what season, I'm a recruiter. During thing they really wanted to do and she does that she recently was recog- graduation, I'm almost like a public then struggle and then carry through nized with the university's Distin- relations/external relations staffper- to graduation is very rewarding." guished Employee Award. The son. But all year round, I interface honor is presented to employees who between the students and the rest of -DANA BENSON go above and beyond their job de- the university." scriptions. She counts working with the ex- ecutive education students as her Felker was praised for her ability Kathy Felker, shown above in front to work with students and faculty as favorite part of the job. Students attend the program only on week- ofthe Jones School building that well as with other university staff to currently is under construction, make the MBA for Executives pro- ends, and they must have at least 10 years of work experience, meaning was honored with a Distinguished gram run seamlessly. She started Employee Award. working in the field as an under- most ofthem are middle- and upper- graduate at the University of New level managers. Felker describes the Mexico, and she was the only Jones students as "incredibly demanding, School staff member who had expe- but not in a negative way. They have rience working in executive educa- high standards; they challenge rules tion when the program was initiated that don't make sense because they at Rice. work in the real world. They cer- tainly challenge our faculty, but the faculty love to work with them." 46 SALLYPORT WHO' S WHO classroom, you knew you were going Welcome Back,Mrs. Rozek to work and do things." In some other classes, he said, students Who's your favorite teacher? would waste the hour and, before long, an entire week would go by For Ally McBeal star Peter MacNicol, means so much." and nothing had been learned. it was Barbara Rozek, his 10th-grade She admitted to not watching "He also said that I treated world history teacher, who since 1999 Ally McBeal before learning of her them like adults," Rozek recounted. has worked at Rice as an editor of the honor as MacNicol's favorite "I don't remember that. I thought Jefferson Davis Papers. teacher. But she remembered her of them as students, but I felt that The duo, along with several former student. He gave her a book, students should be respected and other celebrities and their favorite Civilization by Kenneth Clark. not talked down to." Rozek had her teachers, was featured in a Target Rozek described MacNicol, students read the newspaper every advertising campaign that appeared who stars as John Cage on the hit day and bring in clippings that re- in national magazines. The cam- show, as an outgoing student who lated to history. She recalled that paign promotes Target's "Take was involved in drama and debate. MacNicol enjoyed that activity and Charge of Education" program, She was surprised that he selected a that he was never afraid to make a which donates a portion of charges world history teacher as his favorite presentation or raise his hand. made on Target credit cards to rather than a drama or debate coach. The two had a chance to remi- schools of the customers' choice. When she met MacNicol at the nisce during the photo shoot. Rozek Rozek, who earned her doctor- photo shoot in L.A., he mentioned said the shoot was a "really neat op- ate in history from Rice in 1995, was several things that made her stand portunity to make a reconnection. notified of her selection by out as a teacher. He told her and the He's such a genuine, down-to-earth MacNicol last winter, and in April organizers of the advertising cam- person that it just felt comfortable she and her husband were flown to paign that "when you went into her right off." Los Angeles for a photo shoot with The photo shoot also gave the Emmy-winning actor. She was Rozek a glimpse into celebrity life. thrilled to be reunited with her She had her hair and makeup profes- former student, but it wasn't that or sionally done, but she noted that she the star treatment she received that wore her own outfit for the shoot, was the best part of the experience. which surprised her since there was a "The best thing was getting large wardrobe room. Photogra- that phone call telling me somebody phers took countless photos, she I taught 25 years ago thought I said, including ones of her hold- was a special teacher," Rozek ing an apple, books, and a said. "I just floated on a cloud ruler. But it was MacNicol for days. Most teachers don't who suggested they pose often get that kind of with his arms around her, praise." and that was the picture Rozek taught that was ultimately selected. MacNicol at a Dallas-area "I was having fun at high school in 1969 and the photo shoot telling the 1970 when she was a makeup artists and others "rookie" teacher fresh out why I was there, and later I of Southern Methodist heard several of them say- University with her ing,'You know, I need to master's degree. write a note to my favorite Of teaching, Rozek said, teacher.' That was another "There's nothing like it. fun part of the experience, There's something about that ripple effect," Rozek being in the classroom and said. the old cliche about seeing She has some fa- the lightbulb go off in stu- vorite teachers of her dents." She reiterated that own,including John teachers rarely get a pat on Boles, the William P. the back from their students, Hobby Professor of His- "and that's why receiving a tory. Boles, who also is the book or getting a phone call managing editor of the or a letter from students Journal ofSouthern History, WINTER '02 47 , was Rozek's adviser when she was a Rice graduate student. She described IN THE NEVVS Boles as a superb teacher and the ul- timate historian and said that he is very supportive of his students. "He's caring, willing to spend time with you, and encourages you in your own interests in history," she commented. "I came as an older graduate student, and to be sup- ported in that type of environment was special." Rozek also recalled an eighth- VICKI COLVIN NEAL LANE JENNIFER WEST grade science teacher who made quite an impact on her. She said that Richard Stoll has stepped down as associate director ofthe James A. Baker she was "fussing and fuming" about III Institute for Public Policy to become associate dean ofsocial sciences. In his latest test, and he challenged her his new position. Among his duties will be coordinating development efforts to make out the next one. The for the school and overseeing the Center for the Study of Institutions and teacher used the test and said it was Values as well as interdisciplinary majors and Leadership Rice. Stoll, a great. "That was one of the first professor of political science, also will coordinate research, teaching, and times I thought that maybe I could other collaborations with the Baker Institute. be a teacher," Rozek said. Vicki Colvin, associate professor of chemistry, has received a Camille A U.S. history professor at Dreyfus Teacher—Scholar Award for 2001. Colvin earned the $60,000 prize Valparaiso University in Indiana also for her project titled "Protein Crystals as Scaffolds for Materials Design." left his mark on Rozek. He made his The award was established by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation students learn about maps and geog- to strengthen the teaching and research careers of talented young faculty in raphy, and Rozek said that is some- the chemical sciences. The Camille Dreyfus Teacher—Scholar Awards Pro- thing she did as a history teacher as gram focuses on individual research attainment and promise, and evidence well. "I cannot teach history without of excellence in teaching also is expected. In general, 15 awards are made maps. You have to have an under- annually. standing of where the place is that Neal Lane,university professor and former science adviser to President you're learning about." Clinton, has been named to the Committee on International Security After the photo shoot, she and Studies(CISS) of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Founded in her husband went to lunch with 1982, the committee plans and sponsors multidisciplinary studies focusing MacNicol and his wife. The lunch on emerging issues with global implications and exploring cooperative, gave Rozek the opportunity to learn multilateral means ofproviding peace and security. Lane also holds appoint- more about MacNicol's life today. ments in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rice and as senior Since learning of the honor, she's fellow of Rice's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. tuned in to Ally McBeal, and she The Houston Press chose Mark Ramont, director of the Rice Players compared his television personality to and lecturer in the English department, as the year's best Houston director. his real-life personality. "It's intrigu- The Press said about Ramont and a play, Jon Maran's Old Wicked Songs, he ing because you're interested with an produced: "It is a delicate story, rich with the sort of nuance that requires actor in how much of the character intelligence, patience, generosity and reserve from its director, which is they play is the same as the person. exactly what the gifted director Mark Ramont brought to Stages this past One of things he does on the show is winter." put his hand to his face to think for a The groundbreaking work of Rice's scientists was displayed in the second. And he's a very thoughtful September issue of Scientific American. The issue, dedicated to kind of person in real life too." nanotechnology,featured a cover article by Richard E. Smalley, the Gene Rozek and MacNicol were fea- and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry and professor of physics. tured in the August issue of Rosie and But he was not alone. Six of the nine articles in the special nanotechnology the September issue of Oprah. The section mention the research of Rice faculty, including Robert Curl, the ads also will be featured in People and Harry C. and Olga Keith Wiess Professor of Natural Sciences; James Tour, in three educational journals: Ameri- the Chao Professor of Chemistry, professor of mechanical engineering and can School Board Journal, Principal, materials science, and professor of computer science; Naomi Halas, the and Today's Catholic Teacher. Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and -DANA BENSON professor of chemistry; and Jennifer West, associate professor of bioengi- neering and associate professor of chemical engineering. 48 SALLYPORT SE, & AL AIDEMs Segura Secures Schlumberger Fellowship Mike Segura's goal of developing enzymes that make new natural products has earned him this year's Schlumberger Foundation Fellowship. Segura, a graduate student in the tion. He put thousands of mutant mix the fragments, and recombine Department of Chemistry, is study- cycloartenol synthases into a yeast strain them into millions of randomly gen- ing how plants make triterpenes— that needs lanosterol to live. These erated DNA combinations. Segura is compounds that are useful for me- strains were then grown without lanos- looking for enzymes that make lanos- dicinal and agricultural applications. terol, and only those that acquired an terol using the same genetic selection He's trying to determine how enzyme that can make lanosterol lived. system as before. "We created a new synthases, or enzymes, that make Because only the yeast that can make way to get yeast to grow triterpenes on form their complicated lanosterol thrived, Segura was able to cycloartenol, which is a nonnatural structures. By changing the sequence sort the randomly generated mutant compound to yeast since it is made in of amino acids in these triterpene genes to find amino acid combinations plants," Segura said. Using this engi- synthases, Segura can make new com- necessary to make lanosterol. Segura neered yeast strain, he can genetically pounds with different properties. found the catalytic amino acid that select mutant triterpene synthases that "The reactions that triterpene caused the difference by DNA sequenc- make cycloartenol,even though nor- synthases catalyze are so complicated ing. He is mutating this amino acid mal yeast can't use cycloartenol for that chemists can't do them without further to make other compounds. anything. He gradually is zeroing in enzymes, and the best way to make In a more complicated method, on the amino acids that produce the new triterpenes is to develop new Segura uses a technique known as triterpene. Once Segura finds the es- triterpene synthases," said Segura, "DNA shuffling" to fragment two sential features, he will begin study- whose fourth year of graduate study genes that perform different reactions, ing what new and different reactions at Rice is being supported by the they can be manipulated to perform. 2001-02 Schlumberger Foundation "You have to know what to Fellowship. change before you can change it," he The fellowship is awarded each said. "Right now I'm still trying to year to a student in the Wiess School find out which parts are relevant to of Natural Sciences in mathematics, the tinkering." earth science, chemistry, or physics. Segura's adviser,Seiichi Matsuda, Dean Kathleen Matthews selected is very enthusiastic about his future. Segura from the students nominated "Mike is extremely creative but also by the department chairs in natural gets things done efficiently and with sciences. Schlumberger Ltd.,the sec- great technical expertise," said ond-largest provider of oil-field ser- Matsuda,associate professor ofchem- vices, funds the fellowship through a istry and biochemistry and cell biol- charitable foundation it established ogy."This combination is rare and is in New York City. the reason that he is so productive. I Segura's approach has been to am confident that he will succeed at make large pools ofmutant triterpene any level." synthases and then identify individual Segura hopes that his research mutants that make the desired com- will eventually lead to a way to get pound. One such compound is lanos- yeast to modify compounds to have terol, a steroid that yeast needs to new properties. Many natural prod- make cell membranes. Another is ucts have interesting biological ac- cycloartenol, a very complex mol- tivities but cannot be used for drugs ecule that is found only in plants and because parts oftheir structures cause that is required for plant growth. undesired side effects. His work to Segura found that a mutant of develop new ways to alter natural the enzyme that normally makes product structures might eventually cycloartenol can make lanosterol us- lead to new drugs. ing a technique called genetic selec- WINTER '02 49 ANNI SEs & ACADENIs Rice Engineering Team Makes a Splash at Boating Competition A group of Rice mechanical and electrical engineering The grueling four-hour endurance race consisted of undergraduates sailed to success in a solar boat building two two-hour races, Cunningham explained. The first competition last summer. test was made up oftwo heats. The top performers in the Solar Splash, the world championship of solar and two heats met for the championship race,while the lower electric boating,is an international intercollegiate compe- performers competed in a consolation race."We won our tition in which entrants design, build, and competitively heat," Cunningham said,"but were beaten in the cham- test manned solar-powered boats. Now in its eighth year, pionship race by the winner of the other heat, an eight- the event is sponsored by the American Society of Me- year veteran." chanical Engineers. The team of six Rice students The competition was tough,and some took fourth-place honors in the competition, of the rival boats were designed and which concluded June 24 in Buffalo, New York. built by professionals, such as the It was the first time a team from Rice partici- U.S. Coast Guard Academy's pated in the competition. entry, which was designed Their entry was the senior design by a naval architect. Except project for a team that included re- for many ofthe power sys- cently graduated mechanical engi- tem components—solar neering students Fernando cells, motor, power con- Acosta, Sandra Anuras, troller,etc.—which were Tanya Hanway, and purchased as complete Chris Tracy and electri- subassemblies and inte- cal engineering seniors grated into the craft, the Rajiv Bala and Ryan Rice team designed and built Hammer. J. D. Wise, their boat,as well as the power lecturer in electrical en- and drive systems. The hull, gineering,and Robert steering, drive system, and Cunningham,lecturer other parts were built from in mechanical engi- scratch. neering and coordina- "During the [Mechanical tor for the department's Engineering 407/8] course," senior design projects, Wise said, "they did all the things advised the group. a design team is supposed to do: With a boat designed, They researched different hull con- built, tested, and driven by figurations, built scale models of the the team, they picked up a list of most promising ones, and tested them honors: They were first in knot tying, DAVID CHIEN in the wave tank. They studied other first in visual display, second in endurance, teams' boats, talked with vendors, and did third in qualifying round, and fifth in sprint good old engineering analysis to develop parameters race. They took fourth place overall and the top rookie and establish sources for the drive train and steering." award. Cunningham had high praise for the Rice students' Cunningham said that success in the endurance com- entry. "I saw no team that matched the Rice team with petition was particularly sweet because that phase of the a complete engineering approach in all phases of the contest "required good equipment and skilled conserva- design and construction process." tion ofpower supplied by both batteries and solar cells. It More information about Solar Splash 2001 can be also contributed the largest number of points toward the found at www.solarsplash.com/. final score." -ANN LUGG 50 SALLYPORT SCOREBOARD Hearts of Champions were finally doing things that We'ye been hoping to see. A lot made a real effort to come out of their rooms when they heard the team was here because they didn't want to miss them." The visit was held in the hospital's activity area, but when Baker College junior Omar-Seli Mance,Lovett College senior T. J. McKenzie, and Sid Rich College junior Michael Walton were informed that one six-year-old patient was not able to make it out of her room, the trio made it a point to take a little extra time to visit her. The girl was from South America and didn't speak any WHEN OMAR-SELI MANCE (LEFT), MICHAEL WALTON (SECOND FROM LEFT), English, but through a translator, AND T. J. MCKENZIE (RIGHT), LEARNED THAT ONE SIX-YEAR-OLD PATIENT WAS the players explained that UNABLE TO LEAVE she could HER ROOM, THEY MADE A POINT OF PAYING HER A SPECIAL VISIT. PHOTO BY JOHN SULLIVAN see the Rice campus from her window and that they hoped she could come to one of their games this season. Hoop dreams weren't the only things "These young patients are very The girl's smiles needed no on the minds ofRice men's basketball brave and inspirational," Wilson translation. players this fall. Just a little over two added."Our players sure get a sense "Different groups will come weeks before the team held its first of that, and it's really easy to be visit but to have a college basketball practice for the upcoming season, moved. Ifwe brightened their day, team was really extra special," the team and coaching staff visited that is great because I know they Harlan noted."Adults always seem nearby Shriners Hospital for Children brightened ours." big to kids but these basketball to help lift the spirits of the young For the better part of the players are so tall and athletic that patients and their families. afternoon, the Rice players I think the kids were kind of in At the end of the visit, the only participated with the children in awe. The team wasn't just in one question on the mind of Rice head their daily activities, including a area either. They interacted in all coach Willis Wilson was "Who host of games and crafts. Margaret the different areas, and that was enjoyed the afternoon more, the Harlan, a child life assistant for the pretty unique. children or the Owl players?" hospital, said the impact of the "I know the kids,their families, "This is a voluntary trip we make Owls' visit was easy to see. and the hospital staff are all very from time to time, and it's just "Having the Rice players come thankful that Rice's basketball team amazing each and every time," over was a tremendous treat for the took the time to come out. It really Wilson said. "The faces ofthose kids children and made them more active means a lot." just light up when they get visitors, than I've seen them in quite some —JOHN SULLIVAN and by the end ofthe afternoon, our time," Harlan said."Being active is team is having just as good a time as an important part of their the children they came to see. rehabilitation,and today some kids WINTER '02 51 ANL SCOR ESCIA Rice Inducts Hall of Famers Three athletes who were influential in Rice's athletic resurgence in the 1990s have been inducted into the university's Athletic Hall of Fame. Jose Cruz Jr., Kareem Streete- Thompson, and Valerie Tulloch became the newest members ofthe hall on October 5 at ceremonies in the Owl Club. Also honored were former football lettermen Dan Drake and Matt Gorges as Distin- guished "R" Men. Carl Isgren received an honorary "R." Cruz, now the starting centerfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays, was a three-time all-American during his Rice career( 1993- 95), leading the Owls to their first NCAA play-off appearance in 1995. He ended his career as the Owls'all-time leader in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in— records that all have been eclipsed in the past six seasons. Thompson, still one of the top long jumpers in the world,won the 1995 NCAA championship in the event for the Owls. His jump of 28 3 3/4" in 1994 stands as the Rice school record. Thompson also shares the Rice record in the 100-meter dash at 10.16 seconds, and he represented the Cayman Islands in the 1992 Barcelona and 2000 Sydney Olympics in the two events. Tulloch was a three-time NCAA cham- pion in the javelin, winning the event in 1992, 1994, and 1995. The four-time all- American and three-time Southwest Con- ference champion still holds the Rice record of 198' 9", set at the 1995 Pan American Games while competing for Canada. Drake,a successful Houston business- man, quarterbacked the Owls in 1951-52, while Gorges was an all-SWC guard for the Owls'1957 conference championship team. An Edinburg, Texas, businessman, Gorges has been a long-time Owl supporter in the Rio Grande Valley. Isgren, a 1961 Rice graduate, has been an avid booster of all Rice athletic programs. OWLS FLEW HIGH DURING THE 2001 CAMPAIGN, GOING 8-4 OVERALL AND 5-3 IN THE WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE. DESPITE BEING BOWL ELIGIBLE FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1997, THE OWLS WERE PASSED OVER FOR A POSTSEASON TRIP. LINEBACKER DAN DAWSON AND DEFENSIVE END BRANDON GREEN WERE NAMED TO THE WAC ALL-LEAGUE FIRST TEAM. 52 SALLYPORT YESTERYEAR WHO SAYS HOUSTON DOESN'T HAVE SNOWY OWLS? A SIGHTING RIGHT HERE ON THE RICE CAMPUS SOMETIME IN THE '70S PROVES THAT STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED, LIKE ENOUGH SNOW TO ACTUALLY BUILD AN OWLMAN. WE UNDERSTAND THAT THE FAVORITE YULETIDE SONG THAT YEAR WAS "SAM-MY THE SNOWMAN." Rice University Nonprofit Organization Sakyport U.S. Postage Publications Office—MS 95 PAID P.O. Box 1892 Permit #7549 g Houston, Texas 77251-1892 Houston, Texas Address service requested On December 10, the A BIRD'S EYE VIEW MOB lined the path to 2002- Olympic torch cheer on the torch- came through Houston bearer, but nobody had and the Rice campus a better view of the on its way to Salt Lake festivities than these two City Faculty, staff, Owls perched in the students, and even the windows of Lovett Hall.