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Alumni News Homecoming / Reunion Weekend 1998 Alumni Leadership Conference 1998
Alumni Miniprofiles
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'These Are the Days' Neither a close but still disappointing loss to the University of Michigan nor weather unfit for human or beast could douse the enthusiasm of alumni who trekked from near and far for Homecoming/Reunion Weekend Oct. 16-18. Those attending had a full plate of activities to choose from, including reunion parties; a Homecoming Parade that, miraculously, was not rained on; the game (a 12-6 free-for-all on turf that one Northwestern player described to the Chicago Tribune as a "pigpen"); a thought-provoking faculty panel; and brunch with University President Henry S. Bienen. Class parties began Friday evening - a departure from tradition necessitated by the 6 p.m. Saturday kickoff. This year, the classes of 1958, 1962-64, 1973, 1982-84, 1988 and 1993 celebrated in typically unabashed Northwestern fashion. On Saturday morning, a panel discussion was moderated by Eric J. Sundquist, dean of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Titled "Perspectives on America: Changes in Culture and Society," the panel featured Charles C. Moskos, professor of sociology; Susan V. Herbst, associate professor of communication studies; and Jeanne Dunning, associate professor of art theory and practice. Moskos covered his specialty, women in the military, while Herbst commented on the lack of responsibility in the media today, and Dunning issued a plea for universities to act as a haven for controversial art. Following the panel, President Bienen hosted a brunch for reunion celebrants. Pamela Roberts Ashley (WCAS84) won a drawing for an overseas alumni tour for two to Switzerland. At 11:40 a.m., five minutes before the Homecoming Parade was slated to step off from Scott Hall, fate intervened and stopped the rain for an hour. "I was very impressed by the turnout," one sophomore told the Daily Northwestern. "Despite the rain [beforehand], everyone was really enthusiastic, and you could tell that they were having fun." Appropriately for alumni, the theme of this year's parade was "These are the Days." Floats, which could be decorated only in purple, black and white, had to reflect different eras, from the Roaring '20s into the future. The 1998 float winners were Kappa Delta and Delta Upsilon. This year's grand marshal was Jeri Ryan (S90). To many, she may be better known as Seven of Nine, the half-human, half-android character featured on television's Star Trek Voyager. Ryan lives much of the year in neighboring Wilmette. At the football game, professor John Pople, who was informed earlier that week that he had won the Nobel Prize for chemistry, intrepidly accompanied the team captains onto the field in a pelting rain for the coin toss. A British citizen and, thus, not terribly knowledgeable about American football, Pople remarked afterward to one University official, "Those were some very large young men out there." As for the actual contest, the rain turned out to be a major factor that allowed the Wildcats to keep it close. "They [Michigan] made enough plays to win the game," said Gary Barnett, former Northwestern head football coach, to the Tribune. "We made just one short."
Alumni Leaders Return to Campus With obvious pleasure, Cathy Jaros performed her first official duty as newly elected Northwestern Alumni Association president by introducing the 1998 Excellence in Teaching honorees at the Oct. 1-3 Alumni Leadership Conference. "Some of our fondest memories of Northwestern are of those teachers who made our four years here special," Jaros said. "When we think about Northwestern, it is these professors who come to mind." This year's honorees were Richard F. Gaber, associate professor in the department of biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology; Dan A. Lewis, professor of education in the School of Education and Social Policy and a fellow of the Institute for Policy Research; and David M. Meyer, associate professor in physics and astronomy. More than 200 alumni leaders - regional club presidents, members of the Alumni Admission Council (AAC) and alumni regents returned to campus to pay tribute to these faculty members, elect officers, learn how to connect with alumni online and generally recharge their Northwestern batteries. At Friday's annual meeting, the NAA slate of officers was unanimously approved. Outgoing board members were recognized for their service. The afternoon session was highlighted by Rex Petrasko of Publishing Concepts, who demonstrated online services to assist clubs in identifying future members, tracking event attendance and maintaining dues payment records. Friday evening saw the gala kickoff celebration of Campaign Northwestern, a black-tie event drawing more than 600 that was held at the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion. Campaign Northwestern, unveiled in May, is a five-year plan to raise $1 billion to elevate the University to the top level of American higher education. On Saturday, after breakfast discussions, buses took the group to Ryan Field, where the Northwestern Wildcats took on the Illini from the University of Illinois. It was a close game, but the Fighting Illini fought better.
Teaching Awards Richard F. Gaber joined the Northwestern faculty in 1986. His major professional interests are ion transporters and channels; glucose sensing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae; and the role of cyclophilins in molecular chaperoning. He earned his doctorate in genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Gaber was awarded pre- and postdoctoral fellowships by the National Institutes of Health and was named a Presidential Young Investigator in 1987 by the National Science Foundation. His research has been supported by the NIH, the NSF and the American Heart Association. He currently serves on an NSF panel and from 1987 to 1989 was on the World Health Organization steering committee on tropical diseases. Effectively balancing research and teaching, Gaber lives his belief that virtually all faculty members at an institution like Northwestern can be superior instructors and mentors. "I was struck by his energy and the gleam in his eye as he taught us," wrote one student in his recommendation. "It was readily apparent that he loved what he was talking about and that he wanted nothing more than for us to understand and love it also." Dan A. Lewis joined the Northwestern faculty in 1980. Since 1994, he has been director of undergraduate education. During his career at the University, Lewis has served as associate dean of the School of Education and Social Policy, chair of the General Faculty Committee and chair of the executive committee of the Faculty Senate. In 1990, he was a visiting scholar at Stanford University. He received the Dean's Award for Innovative Teaching from Northwestern in 1997. From 1975 to 1980, Lewis was projects administrator for the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research (now called the Institute for Policy Research). Lewis earned a doctorate in the history of consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A prolific contributor to scholarly journals, he is also the editor, co-author and contributing writer of six books, among them Race and Educational Reform in the American Metropolis (SUNY Press, 1995). Lewis' research on community crime and mental illness has been supported by the Ford Foundation and other organizations. Students emphasize Lewis' innovative teaching techniques, which help them learn "how the world works and how [they] learn in the world," according to one undergraduate. Toward this goal, Lewis developed a junior-year practicum as an integral part of the undergraduate major's educational experience. Practica have included working for a legal assistance organization and apprenticing with a social worker in a hospital emergency room. "All a student needs to do is ask, and professor Lewis will sit down for hours and discuss job opportunities, education and personal concerns," wrote one undergraduate in his recommendation. David M. Meyer has been at Northwestern since 1987. From 1984 to 1987, he was a Robert R. McCormick Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago's Enrico Fermi Institute. He received a doctoral degree in astronomy from the University of California, Los Angeles. Meyer's research focuses on optical and ultraviolet observations of interstellar atoms, molecules and dust; quasar absorption-line systems, galactic chemical evolution and cosmology; and techniques in high signal-to-noise astronomical spectroscopy. His work has been supported by the NSF, the Illinois Space Institute, NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute. Meyer is a member of the International Astronomical Union, the American Astronomical Society and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. "What distinguishes Professor Meyer from other teachers are the innovations that he has introduced in his courses," wrote Ronald Taam, professor of physics and astronomy and former chair of Meyer's department. An undergraduate noted, "Professor Meyer succeeds in getting his students to think. His lectures not only introduce new material but do so in a way that is both enlightening and entertaining, as they often institute clever comparisons and analogies that make otherwise daunting material more palpable." The NU Club of Sacramento hosted a party for new students Aug. 9 to welcome members of the class of 2002 and their parents. Hope Kosh (J74), club president, called the party "excellent! Parents and students were flattered by our efforts and loved the T-shirts. There was great food and camaraderie, and the students got a great welcome to NU!" The NU Club of Sarasota has been active this year. The July meeting, which included a tour of the Mote Marine facility, was a great success. The club donated $200 to the aquarium to purchase bricks with the club's name for a new addition. Member Jackie Pillsbury (WCAS48) attended her 50th reunion in June and commented, "What a beautiful University our alma mater is. (Associate Justice) Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the commencement speaker. It was a very interesting weekend." Members Patty (WCAS49, G50) and Frank (G51) Sturtevant spent a fortnight in the Maritime Provinces and then took a monthlong tour of China. Bob (EB55) and Anne Wagner report that they are now four-time grandparents. The Wagners spent the month of August in Paris on a house-exchange arrangement. New board member Gary Geers (S51) and his wife, Roseann, took an alumni tour of the national parks of the West. Bobi Sanderson (WCAS45) capped a five-week adventure in France, Monaco, Italy and Switzerland by flying home to see her grandson graduate from Yale University "in the rain!" Gloria Davis (S48) is looking forward to a trip to Tibet and the Himalayas. The Sarasota club held a luncheon/speaker program in September at the Field Club in which Clay Long, vice president of Huntington Bank, spoke on innovative changes in the banking business. The NU Club of New York's young alumni held a kickoff and "Welcome to the Big Apple" party at O'Flaherty's Ale House Sept. 23, the first of several fall Wednesday events. The West Coast chapter of NUEA (Northwestern University Entertainment Alliance) publishes a bimonthly newsletter to keep members up-to-date on everybody's activities. The club also has a hotline (213/368-9637) that lists upcoming activities, free or discounted theater tickets, casting notices, script readings and job openings. The hotline is updated for each issue. NUEA offers a job bank, a mentoring program, round-table panels and a writers' program. NUEA's annual WildCuts Showcase is for members who have lived in Los Angeles two or more years. The first showcase was guest-directed by advisory board member Garry Marshall (J56) and was seen by more than 150 top industry professionals. Auditions are in early spring for the June production. The chapter held Festival '98 at Paramount Studios in Hollywood in September. The evening, hosted by Brad Hall (S80), featured the screening of student and alumni short films. More than 300 entertainment industry alumnae attended the event. Guest of honor David Gersh (S70) of the Gersh Agency received the first annual NUEA Excellence Award for his support for NU alums. Sherry Lansing (S66), president of Paramount Studios, donated the use of the Paramount Theatre for the festival screening. The evening included student Emmy Award-winning Claymation pieces, a student award-winning documentary, a spoof based on the television show Gilligan's Island, and visits from an Elvis impersonator and Jerry Springer (L68). For more information about NUEA West, visit www.nuea.org. In March, the NU Club of Cincinnati and the Walnut Hills High School Alumni Association hosted Irwin Weil, professor of Slavic languages and literatures. Weil treated alumni to insights into Russian culture and to a sampling of folk songs. At the event, Tom Riser (G68) announced the establishment of the Northwestern Book Award in Weil's honor. It will be presented to an outstanding senior in languages and literature who is graduating from the high school. In May, the club hosted NU President Henry Bienen.
Alumnus Robert Furchgott Wins Nobel Prize in Medicine BY WILLIAM BURTON Pharmacologist Robert F. Furchgott (G40, H98) easily recalled the sunny June day he received his Northwestern degree. It wasn't hard to do because it was barely six months ago. The degree was an honorary doctor of science, acknowledging a lifetime of contributions in cardiovascular drug research but highlighting his discovery of the role of a gas, nitric oxide, in the way cells communicate and regulate each other. "That was my first graduation at Northwestern," says Furchgott, 82, an emeritus professor at the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn. When he received his graduate degree in biochemistry in 1940, he explains, he missed commencement because he had already begun his postdoctoral research. Four months after his belated commencement, he learned his next award ceremony would be in Stockholm - to receive the 1998 Nobel Prize in medicine. Furchgott, along with Ferid Murad of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and Louis Ignarro of UCLA, shared the honor for their pathbreaking discovery that the simple inorganic molecule nitric oxide is emitted by cells to influence their neighbors' behavior. As the Nobel committee notes, "It was a sensation that this simple, common air pollutant . . . could exert important functions in the organism." Nitric oxide is totally different from any other known signal molecule. It is now known to control a wide range of bodily actions. It is most famous for its role in initiating erections and underlies the mechanism of the anti-impotency drug Viagra. In the 1970s, Furchgott was studying the effects of various drugs on blood vessels but was puzzled that the same drug sometimes caused constriction and other times dilation. He wondered if this might depend on the lining cells, or endothelium, inside the blood vessel. In 1980, he showed that the neurotransmitter acetylcholine dilated blood vessels only if the endothelium was intact. He concluded that the endothelial cells produce a signal molecule that makes the surrounding smooth muscle cells relax. He called this signal molecule EDRF, the endothelium-derived relaxing factor, and the hunt was on to identify that factor. "Then, early in 1986, it was sort of like a lightbulb suddenly flashed," Furchgott says. "Certain things came together and I said, 'Oh my gosh, it's nitric oxide.' Lou Ignarro and I both proclaimed this at the same meeting." But there were no squabbles over priority. "We knew each other, and Murad, and we've always been friendly competitors." Furchgott was born in Charleston, S.C., the son and grandson of retailers who owned Furchgott's, a department store. There was never any pressure on him to carry on the family business. "I always enjoyed my studies," Furchgott says, "and my parents encouraged me - there were chemistry sets and a little microscope. Before I was 13, I had the opportunity to learn something about natural history at the Charleston Museum and I went out with some very good naturalists on field trips. That was formative." During the Depression, the store folded and Furchgott's family moved around the Carolinas. He began studying chemistry at the University of South Carolina before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received his bachelor of science degree in 1937. That same year, Furchgott came to Northwestern. He lived a mile from the Chicago campus; he took the "el" up to Evanston for courses and did his research at the Medical School. "I'd never lived outside of the South before. When I first faced that winter wind coming off the lake down Chicago Avenue - that was really something," he recalls. During World War II, Furchgott did research at Cornell University Medical School on circulatory shock after wounds or hemorrhage. He went to Washington University in St. Louis in 1949 and to SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in 1956. William Burton is a senior editor in Northwestern's Department of University Relations.
Power Packer After Volney Wilson (WCAS32) received his master's degree in physics from Ohio State University, he moved back to Evanston to live with his mother. "I couldn't find a decent job," he says. Eight years later, he and Enrico Fermi were huddled under the west bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, lighting the first nuclear fire and hoping their research would give the U.S. the ultimate weapon to end World War II. At the age of 88, this stalwart of science spends a little time each day on the waters of Green Bay in Wisconsin, cruising the waves in a small sailboat he re-rigged. "I'm just existing," Wilson says, although he has only recently allowed himself to retire. Even nearing 90, he has come out of retirement twice to consult and finds that "most people are surprised by my age when I tell them." The octogenarian reminisces on an eventful life. From flying to the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932 as a swimming alternate to sitting with physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer on the steering committee of the Manhattan Project, Wilson has lived large. First a chemistry undergraduate at Northwestern, Wilson moved on to the University of Chicago, where he began work with Nobel Prize-winner H.H. Compton, famed for his research on X-rays. After an experiment for his doctorate landed Wilson (and Compton) on the cover of Look magazine, Wilson went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and invented the first planned position indicator, now the standard electronic display for radar. In January 1942, Compton called him back to Chicago to work on a new project - the atom bomb. During that time, Wilson headed a group that made instruments to control the first nuclear reactor. "At that point, nobody had started an atomic fire," Wilson says. "We thought if the fire got out of control, we would kill everyone within three miles. But it was the urgency of the war. We thought the Germans were going to get [the bomb] first." Since those days, Wilson has worked on such scientifically complex projects as ion propulsion as an alternate energy source for more efficient and precise maneuvering in outer space, and safer ways to dispose of nuclear waste. He invented the thermiotic converter, which converts heat directly to electricity and can be used in a nuclear reactor. One of his more recent consulting projects, for which he engineered an ion gun, lost funding not long ago. "It's just sitting there," he says of his latest creation. "I hope somebody in the next century will remember that I invented it." With his remarkable range of accomplishments, Volney Wilson is a man history will not forget. - Jenny Pritchett (J98)
Intrepid Adventurer The incident with the seventh-grader was a pretty steep hurdle for Tracey Uber (S95) during her year in Japan. "It was my first day," she recalls. "I was so nervous. I had never taught in my life. I walked in, and some boy said in Japanese, 'I hate Americans, I hate America, I hate you, I don't want to learn English.' And then he spat on me." Not exactly the red carpet for the then-21-year-old film school grad, recently arrived in Japan for a year with the Japanese Exchange Teaching (JET) program. Her assignment was a two-week rotation at five junior high schools, teaching English to 3,000 seventh- through ninth-graders. Uber rallied her courage and began a year of assistant teaching, the only foreigner in the town of Handa, about 30 miles from Nagoya. After the program ended, she took a backpacking tour through Indonesia and realized that nothing could deter her from staying in the Far East. Now 25, Uber has been a trip leader with Intrepid Travel, the same adventure group with whom she backpacked, for more than a year. The seventh-grade boy is not forgotten; rather, he is fondly remembered. At an assembly at the end of that school year, he presented Uber with a bouquet of flowers and said in English, "My life is better because you came to Japan. Please come back and visit anytime." Before joining Intrepid, Uber returned to her Pinckney, Mich., home when her sister suffered a spinal cord injury after falling from a horse. She stayed with her family for a year, and only after her sister returned to high school did Uber's urge to travel lead her to call the company. The trip through Indonesia had never been far from her mind. Intrepid took her on in Melbourne, Australia, and six weeks later, Uber was leading her first tour through Thailand. These expeditions are not for the timid. "I don't carry a flag and wear a little yellow hat," she says. Responsible for 12 travelers, Uber is prepared to deal with bandits, discord in the group, medical emergencies, even the threat of death. She has had to splint a broken leg with two sticks of bamboo and a T-shirt, organize travel by elephant and lead hikers through a flooding gorge. Knowing Japanese, Thai, Chinese and a bit of Bahasa (spoken in Malaysia) helps tremendously. But it is the beauty of the people and the Asian countryside that keeps her enthralled. "I love what I do," Uber says. "I love my job. I never thought I'd have a life like this." - Jenny Pritchett (J98)
Visiting Mr. Baron Jeff Baron (S74) has a theory about why his first play, Visiting Mr. Green, has met with global success, from the biggest off-Broadway theater in New York to productions in Germany, Israel and South Africa, among other countries. Baron's two characters, a crotchety older Jewish man and a young gay professional who must visit the elder in court-appointed reparation for nearly hitting him with his car, develop a relationship in which any audience member can find humanity. "Family strife is the universal language," says Baron, "and my target audience is everyone, everywhere." Playwright is only Baron's latest incarnation. After getting his master's degree from Harvard University's Business School, he was an executive for the Coca-Cola Co. From the chemistry lab to marketing meetings, he created and named the company's Ramblin' Root Beer. But soda pop wasn't the fizz Baron was looking for, so he shucked his corporate gear and began writing for performance, mainly screenplays and television scripts. Success was bittersweet. Although each of his four screenplays was optioned, one even going to Disney, none was produced. His television work for Showtime and TV shows like the Tracey Ullman Show, A Year in the Life and Sisters was equally frustrating. Producers would praise his scripts as the best a show had seen, and then make so many changes before the show came out that Baron would cringe when the credits rolled. "It was horrifying," he says. "[The credits] still said 'Written by Jeff Baron,' not 'Written by Jeff Baron and Changed Arbitrarily by Someone Else.' ... It's not for the faint-hearted." The time had come for a different medium, a medium in which he had the final say - writing for the theater. Now Baron's first play has hit the big time. Visiting Mr. Green has been running at New York's Union Square Theatre since November 1997. International reviews have generated a growing list of foreign theater companies eager to stage the play, but Baron, a New Jersey native, most loves the run in what he calls his hometown, New York City. As he puts it, the audience there speaks a language he can understand. "As a playwright, no one knows who I am, so I can eavesdrop," he says of his favorite activity during intermissions. The consensus from audiences worldwide is that more and more people are visiting Mr. Baron's show. - Jenny Pritchett (J98)
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