John and Gertrude Petersen Make Gift for New Pitt Olympic Sports Complex the Gertrude E
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INSIDE John Wallace new holder Of Philip Hallen Chair........ 2 The Thomas Bigley Baseball Scholarship....... 3 PittNewspaper of the University of PittsburghChronicle Volume X • Number 28 • October 26, 2009 John and Gertrude Petersen Make Gift University of Pittsburgh Names 12 New Legacy For New Pitt Olympic Sports Complex Laureates The University of Pittsburgh has named 12 new Legacy Laureates, alumni recognized for their outstanding personal and professional accomplishments. The laureates were honored during Pitt’s Oct. 22-25 Homecoming festivities. The Pitt Legacy Laureates program was launched in 2000. Following are brief biographies of this year’s honorees. Charles I. Berlin Charles I. Berlin, renowned for iden- tifying the Mengel-Konigsmark-Berlin- McKusick syndrome of conductive hearing loss and malformed low-set ears, received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in speech- language pathology from the University of Pittsburgh School of Arts and Sciences in 1958. Berlin is a professor of communication sciences and disorders at the University of South Florida and an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, where he served as the Kenneth and Frances Barnes Bullington Professor of Hearing Science and the director of the Kresge Hearing Research Laboratory. The lab has been cited as “one of the best places in the United States to be treated for hearing problems.” Contributions totaling $1 million from grateful patients, colleagues, and friends allowed Louisiana State University to endow the Dr. Charles I. Berlin Chair in Genetic and Molecular Hearing Science. Among Berlin’s other numerous awards and honors are the 2000 Honors of the CIDDE Association from the American Speech- John M. and Gertrude E. Petersen Language-Hearing Association and the American Academy of Otolaryngology’s By E.J. Borghetti Presidential Citation, that organization’s highest award for teaching, research, and The University of Pittsburgh has commencement and “The Petersen Institute of and Gertrude Petersen science. received a generous and substantial gift other important pro- is equaled only by the A member of Pitt’s School of Health from alumnus John Petersen and his wife, grams, created a new NanoScience and Engineer- significance of the proj- and Rehabilitation Sciences Board of Visi- Gertrude, for the construction of the Pan- center of student life, ing positioned our scientists ect which now bears tors, Berlin has served in multiple advisory thers’ new Olympic Sports Complex. and serves as a bridge their names,” Athletics and governance roles for many professional The facility, to be named the Petersen between the upper and to earn national recogni- Director Steve Peder- organizations. He has authored or coau- Sports Complex, is being built on 12 acres lower portions of our son said. “For years we thored 12 books and numerous scholarly at the peak of Pitt’s upper campus and campus. tion for the quality of their have had a dream to publications. will provide state-of-the-art homes for the “The Petersen construct a sports com- Panthers’ baseball, softball, and men’s and Institute of NanoSci- research in that increas- plex that would give Christine L. Borgman women’s soccer teams. The Petersen Sports ence and Engineering our baseball, softball, Christine L. Borgman is an interna- Complex will not only give Pitt student- positioned our scien- ingly important area. Now, and men’s and women’s tionally recognized scholar in information athletes nationally competitive facilities, but tists to earn national their support for our new soccer teams the kind of science specializing in digital libraries, it also will rejuvenate a previously untapped recognition for the facilities that will allow information retrieval, information policy, area of land that neighbors the University of quality of their research Petersen Sports Complex them to compete for Big infrastructure, learning and cyberlearning, Pittsburgh campus. in that increasingly East championships on and human-computer interaction. She is “The University of Pittsburgh is a important area,” Nor- will help us turn a long- a regular basis. The gift professor and Presidential Chair of informa- world-class institution led by a great chan- denberg continued. from the Petersens has tion studies at the UCLA; she received her cellor in Mark Nordenberg and his outstand- “Now, their support time dream into a sparkling helped make this dream master’s degree in library and information ing leadership team that has brought Pitt for our new Petersen a reality. Their generos- science from Pitt’s School of Information to the pinnacle of excellence in so many Sports Complex will reality of world-class prac- ity in previous commit- Sciences (iSchool) in 1974. different areas,” John Petersen said. “It is help us turn a longtime tice facilities and competi- ments has impacted our Borgman is the author of more than a great pleasure for Gertrude and me to dream into a sparkling programs in ways few 150 books, book chapters, and publications. again contribute to the University’s success reality of world-class tion sites for our baseball, could have imagined, Her books Scholarship in the Digital Age: and future.” practice facilities and and now they are doing Information, Infrastructure, and the Inter- Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg said, competition sites for softball, and men’s and it again. It would be net (MIT Press, 2007) and From Gutenberg “The extraordinary support that Pitt has our baseball, soft- hard to imagine a more to the Global Information Infrastructure: received from John and Gertrude Petersen ball, and men’s and women’s soccer teams.” worthwhile commitment Access to Information in the Networked has played a critical role in elevating our women’s soccer teams. —Mark A. Nordenberg to fine young men and World (MIT Press, 2000) won the Best University on many important fronts. The Pitt is blessed to have women. It is our honor to Information Science Book Award from Petersen Events Center provided the founda- enjoyed the support of have the Petersen name the American Society for Information Sci- tion for the rise to national prominence of such wonderful and wonderfully generous on this fabulous new Petersen Sports Com- ence and Technology in 2008 and 2001, our men’s and women’s basketball teams, people.” gave us a spectacular on-campus site for “The significance of this gift from John Continued on page 3 Continued on page 4 2 • Pitt Chronicle • October 26, 2009 John Wallace to Hold Philip Hallen Chair BrieflyNoted In Community Health and Social Justice JOE KAPELEWSKI/CIDDE John Wallace By Sharon S. Blake Pitt to Sponsor Annual Slovak Spergel’s talk, “The Youth Gang Problem: A Comprehensive Communitywide Approach,” is free University of Pittsburgh School of Encyclopedia of Social Work. JOE KAPELEWSKI/CIDDE Heritage Festival Nov. 1 and open to the public. Registration is not required, Social Work faculty member John Wallace Wallace sits on the boards of a number The 19th annual Slovak Heritage Festival— and lunch will be provided. For more information, call has been named the new holder of the Philip of organizations, including Operation Better Hallen Chair in Community Health and featuring professional song and dance performances 412-624-7382. Block. He also was appointed to the Youth Spergel’s approach to the gang problem, Social Justice. Future’s Commission and Census 2010 by Slovakian artists, educationalContinued lectures on page and 6 “The Philip Hallen Chair in Commu- referred to as The Spergel Model, calls for a committees by Allegheny County Executive displays, and vendors selling Slovakian merchandise nity Health and Social Justice honors the Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke and ethnic food—will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. coordinated response from law enforcement, life’s work of Phil Hallen, who served as Ravenstahl. Nov. 1 in the University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of community groups, social services, and government president of the Maurice Falk Medical Fund Wallace is the pastor of Bible Center Learning’s Commons Room. organizations. Having won the endorsement of the for 35 years,” said Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Church of God in Christ in Homewood, the The free event will include performances by U.S. Department of Justice, the plan is being tested Nordenberg. “Under his leadership, the fund Pentecostal church his grandfather founded such local groups as the Pittsburgh Slovakians, in 20 American cities. Its use in Chicago resulted in a developed a set of priorities that continue to in the 1950s. Later, as a 12-year-old, Wallace Slavjane Folk Ensemble, and the Pittsburgh Area 40 percent decrease in violent crimes among young guide the work of the Falk Foundation today. helped demolish dilapidated homes near Slovaks. For the first time at the festival, the Univer- people. Those priorities include working to achieve the church. His grandfather paid him $20 a just and inclusive society, a goal that Pitt sity of Pittsburgh Carpathian Ensemble will perform. Spergel’s book, The Youth Gang Problem: a day to haul lumber, tear down walls, and (Oxford University Press, Professor John Wallace also embraces. His cut copper pipes. Now, Wallace and other Slovakian artists include the Singing Revil’ak Family A Community Approach elevation to the Hallen Chair constitutes one 1995), is considered to be a leading work in the members of the church teach teenage boys and Jozef Ivaska. of the highest honors this University can and girls those same skills as they rehab The event is sponsored by Pitt’s Slovak study of gangs. Overall, he has authored more than bestow upon a member of its faculty. It also homes in the neighborhood. The young Studies Program and the Pitt Students’ Slovak Club. 100 books, articles, and other publications. recognizes his significant work in investigat- people learn other life skills as well—how For more information, call 412-624-5906 or e-mail —Sharon S.