Magazine of the American University Winter 1995 •

I er1can MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WINTER 1995 • American is the official alumni publica eric an tion of The American University. It is TABLE OF CONTENTS WINTER 1995 VOLUME 46 No. I written and designed by the University Publications and Printing Office. Personal views on subjects of public interest expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect official policies of the university. Suggestions, com ments, and letters concerning American may be mailed to American Magazine, University Publications and Printing Office, Constitution Building, Tenley Campus, The American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington, DC 20016-812 1, or s~ nt vi~ E-mail to [email protected]. Director, University Publications and Printing Office Karen Sloan Lebovich 9 18 15 Managing Editor Mary Jo Binker Writers Jim Edwards, Diane Henry, C. J. Features Houtchens, Charles Spencer Class Notes Editors 9 Priscilla McPherson '92 and Judy Miller Tales front cyberspace Production Editor From chemistry classes to Shakespeare studies, computers- and the vast universe Judy Miller they open-have become an integral part of teaching and learning on the AU campus. Photographer Melissa Laitsch 15 "Does it take a few whiles?": Designer Kevin Grasty Making sense of language acquisition AU linguistics professor Naomi Baron, author of Growing Up with Language, Cover Design John Paul McCarty has been studying how children learn to talk for quite a few "whiles" twenty years to be exact. In an interview with American, she shares her expertise American is published by The American and offers practical advice on how our offspring get from "goo-goo" to good English. University. With a circulation of about 70,000, American is sent to alumni and 18 other constituents o f the university commun1ty. Copyri ght 1995 , The Benjantin Ladner inaugurated as AU's president Amencan University, an equal opportu It was a day of celebration, reflection, and promise, as Benjamin Ladner mty/affirmative action university. was officially inaugurated as AU's president. UP95-002 Special Section Have you seen these lost aluntni? People move, get married, and sometimes lose touch with the university. Now, with Reunion '95 fast approaching, we're trying to bring our records up to date for this year's honored classes. Can you give us a clue where to find any of these lost alumni? Departments 2 Communiques 28 Alumni 25 Pages 32 Class Notes 26 Developments 42 Viewpoint I COMMUNIQUES De Klerk: South Africa can be economic success story the award with South African president Nelson Mandela), invited to speak at AU by the Kennedy Political Union, didn't dwell on the past. Rather, he used the forum to encourage foreign investment in the -fledgling democracy. "We in South Africa are in a building process," said de ¢BKkey Klerk, who is second in com mand to Mandela in the transi tional government. "We have a Key honor vision of a prosperous coun try. We see ourselves becom Not long ago, College of Arts ing part of the great process of and Science dean Betty economic development that is Bennett went looking for her transforming societies from Phi Beta Kappa key and found Malaysia to Mexico, from it- in a bank vault, underneath China to Chile." her son's coin collection. De Klerk emphasized that ''I'm glad I found it because much work lies ahead "to con now, after thirty years, I have solidate the progress that a real reason to wear it," she [South Africans] have made." says. Last summer, the oldest Toward that end, he met with and most prestigious honor business and political leaders society in the country voted and economists during his overwhelmingly to admit AU visit to the United States and to membership. assured them and his audi- Only 249 liberal arts col ~ ence that the political climate leges in the country have met j is right for investment in the rigorous qualifications to ~ South Africa's rich natural join <l>BK, a group formed 218 ~ resources and human talent. years ago to foster and recog ~ He said South Africa has the nize excellence in undergrad F. W.DEKLERK potential to be "the first eco- uate liberal arts education. nomic success story" in "There are many honorary Africa, and that it intends "to societies, but Phi Beta Kappa is The timing of F. W. de Klerk's United Methodist Church take the southern African the recognized premier honor visit couldn't have been more about his country's four-year region with [it]." * society, and being accepted is appropriate. On November 8-- process toward democracy. a tribute to the quality of our as Americans nationwide exer The historic reforms culminat university and the quality of cised their right to vote-the ed in South Africa's first uni the students," says Ann Ferren, South African executive deputy versal elections last April. interim provost. president spoke to an overflow But the former South To join <l>BK, a college or crowd of mostly AU students African president and 1993 university's liberal arts and at the Metropolitan Memorial Nobel Prize winner (he shared 2 AMERICAN sciences program must under School of Public Affairs will be go examination of its faculty's eligible for membership con backgrounds and teaching sideration, says Bennett, who loads, as well as faculty and led the university's multiyear student research, institutional effort to obtain a <PBK chapter. finances, and the university Landing a chapter of the library. In all, the process prestigious honor society, takes years, with visits, inter says Bennett, "attests to the views, and the preparation of quality, depth, and breadth of thick reports. liberal arts and sciences at Now that AU has joined the the American University and ranks of <PBK, top students allows us a special way of from the College of Arts and handing that tradition on to Science, the School of Inter our most accomplished stu national Service, and the dents." * Morella resigns Global enterprise After twenty-five years of capacities he "provided more service to the university, than just legal advice," accord First-year Kogod College of Business Administration Anthony Morella '58 resigned ing to board chairman Edward MBA students Rebecca Astin and Jim Gallagher have a as general counsel and assis R. Carr '62. "Tony has been a brush with global enterprise, Kogod-style, as they help tant secretary to the board of great counselor to the board," paint a giant map of the world on the playground at trustees last fall. Morella, a says Carr. "His vast institu Washington, D.C.'s, Horace Mann Elementary School. senior partner in the tional knowledge and commit About seventy-five new M.B.A. students worked on the Washington law firm of ment to the university have map project, raked leaves, mowed the athletic field, and Hewes, Morella, been invaluable to did other fall spruce-up chores at the public school as a Gel band, the trustees, to me, community service project during orientation for and Lamberton, and to those who Kogod's innovative, redesigned M.B.A. program. will continue to preceded me as (See American, Spring 1994.) * teach at the Wash chairman." ~ ington College of Morella's other 8 Law (WCL), where AU accomplish- ~ he has been a facul ments include ty member since serving as associ- ~~ 1960. ate dean of the law 15 As general school from 1967 ::lu; counsel, Morella to 1969 and raising helped guide the funds for the uni- !5 it university board ANTHONY MORELLA versity's new law and administration school building. for more than two decades, He is also the longest serving serving as a university vice member of the WCL faculty, a president, 1969-72, and as record he will continue to hold, assistant secretary to the since according to Carr, "Tony's board since 1972. In all these still a university citizen." * WINTER 1995 3 Leonard Haynes named senior assistant to Ladner Radio romance Leonard L. Haynes III, former University of Maryland, Col Panel in Washington, D.C. To hear his old pal, "Today" assistant secretary of the U.S. lege Park; a consultant to the Before that, he was director of show weatherman Willard Department of Education, has German/U.S. Fulbright Com academic programs for the Scott '55, tell it, "nobody loved been named senior assistant mission in Bonn, Germany; U.S. Information Agency. He radio more than little Johnny to AU president Benjamin and a senior consultant for has also served as assistant Hickman." For the last thirty Ladner. In that capacity, he the National Education Goals superintendent of Louisiana's years, Hickman '66 has shared will work with Ladner in the State Department of Education that love with the listeners of areas of planning, government and executive vice president WAMU 88.5 FM via "The Big relations, community rela of academic affairs for the Broadcast," a program he cre tions, diversity, and interna three-campus Southern ated based on his extensive tional activities. University System, among collection of vintage radio news Haynes, who served as other positions. and entertainment recordings. assistant secretary for post He holds a B.A. from Last summer Hickman donat secondary education from Southern University, an M.A. ed the entire collection to the 1989 to 1991, oversaw the from Carnegie-Mellon, and a university's Bender Library. nation's $13 billion budget for Ph.D. from Ohio State, as well Spanning nearly forty years of Title Ill programs. as nine honorary degrees. * "the golden age of radio" (from Prior to coming to AU, the 1920s to 1961), the 10,000- Haynes was a visiting scholar piece collection includes epi LEONARD L. HAYNES lii in educational policy at the sodes from such popular pro grams as "Amos n' Andy," "Dragnet," and "The Fred Allen Show," along with such historic radio broadcasts as Charles Lindbergh's 1927 return to the Athletics review starts United States following his trans-Atlantic flight and the AU has launched a year ensure that athletics athletics on campus.

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