News On Campus
New Name for UC
8 O'Clock Classes Slumber
Child's Eye View
Every Patch Tells a Tale
SEC Head Questions Market
If I Had a Hammer
Four Elected to Society
The Quarter-Century Club
Up for the Count
Beacon of Light
Danny Glover Gives Lecture
You've Got (Purple) Mail
Medill Aces Hearsts

Time Past
Historical Hangouts

Lab Notes

The Clock in Us
The Future in Polymers
A Price of Creativity
Hope for Hearing
Dangerous Drug
Pee Wee Primates
Parallel Paths

Sesquicentennial

All Aboard the 150 Express

Deaths
Lee Anderson
Earl H. Merz
George Thodos
Tom W. Tillman

Campaign Northwestern
Northwestern Raises Campaign Goal to $1.4 Billion

Northwestern's newest alumni were overjoyed to be at the 2000 Commencement in Ryan Field.

(Photo by Mary Harlon)

U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky at Northwestern's Commencement

(Photo by Mary Hanlon)

Poet Laureate Speaks at Commencement


Calling a graduation ceremony "the most elaborate secular ritual" in this country, U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky addressed about 12,000 guests and 3,939 degree recipients from the class of 2000 at Northwestern's 142nd Commencement.

The festivities took place on June 16 at Ryan Field under cloudy skies that threatened rain but held off.

Pinsky drew laughter by pointing out the "very funny outfits" worn by the seniors. However, he emphasized that the caps and gowns were a symbolic link to the accumulated wisdom and accomplishments of the graduates' predecessors.

"Whatever you do will be less important than the fact that you keep going and pass on to others those arts, that knowledge and that information," he said. "The process of memory is the process of culture."

Pinsky, who was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters, was named poet laureate in 1997 and is currently serving an unprecedented third term. He served as writer in residence at Northwestern's Center for the Writing Arts the year he was named poet laureate.

Honorary degree recipients included well-known novelist Joyce Carol Oates; Selim Beslagic, mayor of Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Henry W. Foster, senior adviser to President Clinton on youth issues; Brian P. Lamb, chair and CEO of Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network; Rudolph Marcus, Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology; and Joseph Eugene Stiglitz, professor of economics at Stanford University.

Rodrigo Sierra (SCS96), deputy press secretary to the Chicago mayor, spoke at the graduation ceremony for the School of Continuing Studies (formerly University College). David Satcher, U.S. surgeon general, spoke before the Dental School. John W. Madigan, chair, president and CEO of Tribune Co., spoke at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management's graduation ceremony. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno delivered the address at the graduation for the School of Law. Abraham Verghese, professor of medicine and former chief of infectious diseases at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, El Paso, spoke before the Medical School at its convocation.

New Names for UC, Traffic Institute
Reflecting their ever-growing range of responsibilities, two Northwestern institutions — University College (and its Division of Continuing Education) and the Traffic Institute — have new names.

University College is now the School of Continuing Studies, and the Traffic Institute has become the Center for Public Safety. At the center Alexander Weiss (G92) has also been appointed director, succeeding Noel Bufe.

"The new name [for the School of Continuing Studies] reflects the broad academic offerings of the school — a diverse range for a variety of students, from high school seniors to college graduates," said Richard L. Lorenzen, associate provost and dean of the school.

The SCS will expand in the fall with a new initiative, Professional Development Programs in computer technologies and writing. "These new programs will allow working professionals an opportunity to earn certificates or degrees in concentrated areas of study within a single academic year," said Lorenzen. "The curriculum is specifically designed for postbaccalaureate working professionals seeking advanced, high-quality educational opportunities."

Northwestern's continuing education roots reach back to 1903 when the College of Liberal Arts began to offer evening courses for teachers on the Evanston campus. Thirty years later a more expansive program of undergraduate studies was created on the Chicago campus, under the name University College.

After World War II, University College offered both full- and part-time college programs that lured many veterans to the classroom.

As for the Center for Public Safety, "the new name reflects the expanded scope of our original mission — education and training in traffic safety," said Weiss, who comes to Northwestern from Indiana University at Bloomington, where he taught in the department of criminal justice. Over its 64-year history, the Traffic Institute has offered programs in many areas, including traffic services, transportation engineering, law enforcement management and administration, and police instructor training.

The center recently partnered with the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy to provide continuing education courses for supervisors and middle managers in fire services. It also offers courses in forensics in cooperation with Northwestern's Center for Biotechnology.

The Traffic Institute will be one of two units in the center. The other will be the Traffic Safety School, now in its 11th year of operation. The school has conducted classes off campus for more than 1.7 million Illinois and Wisconsin drivers who were ticketed for minor violations.

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8 O'Clock Classes Slumber


The alarm goes off at 7 a.m. with an incessant, irritating beeping. It is cold outside. Sleep did not come until 2:45 a.m. Ahead lies a small chair in a stuffy lecture hall filled with 100 cranky, tired students. Ready to get up?

Most Northwestern students are not. And lucky for them, early starting times over the past 20 years have slowly found their way out of the class schedule.

"What drives a lot of scheduling is the availability of classrooms," says former assistant provost and registrar Don Gwinn (GSESP65, 72), who went to an 8 a.m. class six days a week in college. "Faculty are sometimes forced to teach a class at 8 a.m. to get a particular room, but very few classes are held at that time by choice. A popular course is seldom as popular at 8 a.m. as it would be at 11 a.m."

For the last academic year, only about a dozen classes were scheduled for 7:30 or 8 a.m., according to the Registrar's Office. The bulk of classes now take place between 10 a.m. and noon and 1 and 3 p.m.

Professor emeritus Richard Leopold remembers when his American Foreign Policy course at 8:30 a.m. had students banging down the door to get admitted. One student shelled out money to get a coveted spot in the political science offering, he says.

Leopold, who began teaching at Northwestern in 1948 and retired in 1980, wanted only the most talkative students in his classroom. That meant they would have to interview beforehand with the professor and endure an early starting time.

"I used the 8:30 a.m. start as a method of skimming the cream off the top," he says. "Nobody's going to get up at 8 a.m. only to get a bad grade for not talking."

Over the years, Leopold observed more and more students complaining about 8 a.m. classes, then 9 a.m. classes, until 10 a.m. has finally become the norm.

"I went against the tide," he says. "Nobody tries to hold classes that early now, and I don't think anyone will try it again."

— Alex Ortolani (WCAS01)

 

 

The Dotty-Spotty Rhino, by Czech artist Kvèta Pacovskà, was one of the many illustrations in the Bologna exhibit at Northwestern.

Child's Eye View: Bologna Book Fair Exhibit

Two-inch alien invaders...dancing grizzly bears... feathered dragons...a musical zebra.

In its first-ever appearance in this country, the illustrators' exhibit of Italy's world-famous Bologna Children's Book Fair set the second floor of University Library ablaze last spring with bright designs, vivid creativity and a myriad of multicolored characters.

The traveling six-week show featured original art by 83 illustrators of children's fiction representing 22 countries. An international jury selected the pieces from nearly 2,000 submissions worldwide.

"We wanted to open the eyes of American visitors to the whole width and breadth of world art for children's literature," said David F. Bishop, Charles Deering McCormick University Librarian at Northwestern. "As a storehouse of the written word and, increasingly, of the image, it was appropriate that the University Library host this exhibit devoted to book illustration."

The presentation also featured guided tours, lectures, storytelling, theatrical events, seminars and a guest appearance by Chicago's Bozo the Clown, who taped a segment for his television show at the exhibit. Bozo was especially smitten with illustrator Kvčta Pacovskà's ubiquitous "dotty-spotty-rhino," adopted as the exhibit's unofficial mascot.

Noted storyteller Rives Collins, associate professor of theater at Northwestern's School of Speech, helped to open the exhibit with a night of children's storytelling. Writer, children's book author and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer also spoke.

The exhibit, which ran from April 24 to June 4, was scheduled to coincide with BookExpo America at Chicago's McCormick Place.

— Ed Fanselow (J02)

 

Every Patch Tells a Tale

In the spring, the Survey of African American Culture class from the fall quarter donated its final project, a handmade quilt, to the Office of African American Student Affairs. Patchwork quilts play a large role in black American culture. In this case, each patch contains a personal story from a member of the class. Two unnamed donors paid for mounting and framing the work.

SEC Head Questions Market

At a joint School of Law–Kellogg Graduate School of Management forum last March, Arthur Levitt, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, criticized abuses of what are called limit orders in the equities markets.

"I am deeply troubled by this apparent disregard for customer orders and systemic competition," Levitt said at the event, which was sponsored by the Morgan E. and Belle B. O'Brien Fund.

At the time, he promised a full report, which was issued in May. In the report the SEC pointed out serious flaws in how brokers handle customer limit orders to buy or sell securities at a preset price. The SEC requires over-the-counter market makers to display limit orders within 30 seconds. If handlers do not execute such orders at the given price within the time limit, they can keep spreads wider and reap higher profits.

David Ruder, William W. Gurley Memorial Professor of Law and former SEC chair, was chief among those who invited Levitt to the University. Ruder was named chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission Historical Society in the spring.

Levitt's remarks may be heard in full by going to the Web site of the Department of University Relations (www.northwestern.edu/ univ-relations/media/).

If I Had a Hammer
During spring break, Northwestern's Habitat for Humanity chapter hammered nails and lugged lumber in San Francisco, New York City and Philadelphia to provide housing for low-income families.

On the home front, as well, the chapter has been working hard. Since the beginning of January group members raised the roof on campus to collect funds for tools and supplies for a targeted Habitat site in Waukegan, Ill., and they helped to paint, drywall and do basic construction at other locations in that community.

It was an exciting development for the participants because it represented the first time members had actually constructed homes. Up to now, the Northwestern Habitat group had only tackled restoration of apartments in the Chicago area.

On a dustier note, the group cleared brush, cut down trees and took part in other rigorous restoration activities at the Berkeley Prairie in Highland Park, Ill.

Four Elected to Society
The prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences has selected four faculty members to join its ranks.

Elected were David Austen-Smith, professor of political science; Thomas Dixon Cook, professor of sociology; Dale T. Mortensen, the Ida C. Cook Professor of Consumer Economics and director of the Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences Program; and Joseph S. Takahashi, Walter and Mary Elizabeth Glass Professor of Neurobiology and Physiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.

Austen-Smith's research interests are in positive political theory, social choice theory and micro-economics. Cook is noted for his analyses of both the theory and practice of meta-analysis. Mortensen conducts research in labor economics, information economics and mathematical social sciences. Takahashi is a leading researcher on mouse and human clock genes.

Donald P. Jacobs, dean of the Kellogg Graduate School of Management

(Photo by John Morrison)

The Quarter-Century Club

A quarter century ago, Donald P. Jacobs, then chairman of the Finance Department of the Northwestern Graduate School of Management, took on the deanship of the school for one year until a permanent replacement could be found.

Jacobs, dean of what is now the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, still has the job of heading one of the leading business management education schools in the country. He has been dean longer than any other business school head.

A profile on Jacobs in The New York Times praised him for making many innovations that are by now routinely copied at similar institutions. "Kellogg caters to its students as if they were customers," the author wrote. "It unabashedly considers the teaching of skills like teamwork and social networking as central to its mission and seeks students who agree."

Up for the Count
Bruce Spencer, professor of statistics, won't be going door-to-door or doing any counting himself, but his expertise could have a huge effect on the final numbers of the 2000 U.S. Census.

As he did in 1990, Spencer is working with the federal government to evaluate the accuracy of the 2000 census with and without adjustments based on statistical sampling.

"Is it better to use statistical adjustments or leave the original count alone? That is essentially the question we need to answer," he said.

While the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled sampling illegal in congressional apportionment — determining how many representatives each state gets — it can be used for drawing congressional districts, which are supposed to be of equal size, within each state. In addition, sampling-based estimates are used for other purposes such as the allocation of federal and state funds, health planning and Social Security forecasting.

Spencer's academic research at Northwestern focuses on developing principles and practical methods for evaluating the accuracy of large-scale statistical programs.

Before joining Northwestern in 1980, Spencer conducted reviews of census programs at the National Academy of Sciences.

Beacon of Light
Northwestern and Evanston-Skokie School District 65 are collaborating on the Lighthouse Partnership, a three-year project to enhance curriculum in elementary and middle-school mathematics and science and to help launch a bilingual education program.

The program carries a price tag of approximately $670,000, with about $500,000 to be provided by Northwestern.

The agreement calls for three middle schools and two elementary-level magnet schools to join 69 public schools in Chicago and Detroit that are already instituting inquiry-based science curricula from the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools (LeTUS).

Jointly run by Northwestern, the University of Michigan and the two big-city districts, LeTUS has developed technology-infused lesson plans that allow students to engage in scientific inquiry and work with complex data in much the way real-world scientists do. The partnership provides intense support for district teachers as they learn to use technology for new pedagogical approaches.

In mathematics, the Learn-While-Teaching program will offer a series of in-service training sessions for teachers at two elementary schools in the Evanston-Skokie district. At two other schools, a Northwestern professor who has previously worked with Evanston teachers is providing additional curricula to strengthen students' computational skills, an area that some parents and teachers consider a trouble spot.

For the bilingual program, slated for implementation this fall, the partnership is providing a professor to evaluate a language immersion program at two schools and monitor the academic and language progress of participating students.

Alfred G. Hess, SESP research professor and director of the Northwestern's Center for Urban School Policy, is coordinating the Lighthouse Partnership. Hess will assist School District 65 in evaluating the partnership's programs and in reviewing the effectiveness of existing district programs.

(Photo by Jim Ziv)

Danny Glover Gives First Leon Forrest Lecture

Film and theater actor Danny Glover, third from left, inaugurated the Leon Forrest Lecture with a dramatic reading in May. Working with jazz musician Henry Threadgill and actress Catherine Slade, Glover read from Forrest's novella The Meteor in the Madhouse. Glover is pictured here with, from left, Eric Sundquist, dean of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences; Marianne Forrest, Forrest's widow; and Sandra Richards, professor of African American Studies and theater. The lecture honors Forrest (whose photo is in the background), an acclaimed novelist and scholar who taught at Northwestern for more than 20 years. Forrest wrote four novels, including the 1,000-plus-page Divine Days. His work and writing style are often compared to James Joyce and William Faulkner.

You've Got (Purple) Mail
Northwestern became one of the first universities in the country last spring to send congratulatory notices via electronic mail to admitted high school seniors.

In all, about 4,500 applicants received the letters, reported Rebecca Dixon, associate provost of University enrollment. In every e-mail message a hyperlink led directly to a personally addressed acceptance on the admissions Web home page. Example: "Congratulations, George! We are pleased that you have been invited to join us in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences."

The student could then click on the link to the school or college or to a number of other sites of possible interest to him or her.

In addition to communications through cyberspace, all official acceptances were sent by government mail as well, as were denials and wait-list notifications.

The change is the latest in Northwestern's attempt to make the application and admissions processes easier for pro-spective undergraduates. Beginning last year, students were invited to apply for admission online. This year, almost 16 percent of the 14,728 applicants applied online.

An estimated 1,900 students will be in this year's freshman class.

Medill Aces Hearsts
The Medill School of Journalism continues to solidify its place among the top journalism schools in the nation — this year taking home first-place honors for writing in the 2000 William Randolph Hearst Foundation Journalism Awards Program. The Hearst Awards are considered the Pulitzer Prize of college journalism.

This marks the 12th consecutive year that Medill has finished either first or second in the writing competition. None of the other 100 competing journalism schools has finished in the top five more than nine times in that span.

"Every school can have a good year or a bad year," said Roger Boye, assistant dean and director of the undergraduate program. "But this consistency says a lot about the quality of our program."

Nine of Medill's 12 individual writing entrants finished among the top 20 in their categories.

Senior Travis Miller of Nashville placed second in sportswriting for a story in the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader about 2,000 former assistant college coaches suing the NCAA for imposing salary restrictions. Senior Heather MacDonald of Chicago placed third for in-depth writing for a story in the Orange County (Calif.) Register about neglected children living in rundown motels outside Disneyland.

Medill also came in sixth overall in the separate broadcast journalism awards program.

The Scott Hall grill was the 'in' place to hang out in 1948.

The Amazingrace Family in 1977: from left, John Williams (S74), Lenny Karpel (McC72), Darcie Sanders (WCAS79), David Conant (SESP72), Jeff Beamsley (McC72) and Benjamin Kanters (S76)

(Photos courtesy of NU Archives)

Times Past
Historical Hangouts

For almost as long as Northwestern students have crammed for midterms and final exams, they've flocked to popular places like Scott Hall, the Amazingrace Coffeehouse and the Norris University Center to escape the rigors of academe.

Constructed in 1939 in honor of the recently retired president Walter Dill Scott, Scott Hall was the center of University social life from 1940 until 1972, housing 35 meeting rooms and lounges, a cafeteria, a student grill and Cahn Auditorium, built to seat 1,225.

Known as the building with a foundation of sandwiches, Scott Hall cost $750,000 to construct, about $200,000 of which came from the Woman's Building Association of the University Guild of Evanston. Students helped raise money as well — most notably through sandwich sales. On Sandwich Day in 1939, Northwestern women sold more than 2,000 sandwiches to students and faculty for 10 cents each as well as Walter Dill Scott specials, which included a Scottwich, a dill pickle and a glass of wa(l)ter, for 15 cents.

Enthusiasm for the building was so high that its popularity was predicted before it even opened. One 1939 advertising pamphlet read: "As Deering Library is representative of the intellectual interests of the campus, so Scott Hall will represent the social center of the University. 'Meet me in Scott Hall' will swiftly become a byword on both campuses." The favorite Scott hangout was the grill, where in 1949, a student could get one main dish, soup or salad, a beverage and dessert for just 55 cents.

The dark blue ceiling was studded with star-shaped light fixtures, leading to an oft-repeated rumor that they were arranged in the constellations from 1851, the year Northwestern was founded. Clever idea but false.

In addition to being a popular place to grab a bite, the grill was a favorite for meeting potential Saturday night dates. Doris Schaffer (GS55) entered the grill one day and said hello to her friend Ed Stephens (GJ55). Another man at his table, E.J. O'Brien (WCAS55), noticed the young woman and asked Stephens to introduce him to her. The next time Schaffer entered the grill, Stephens and O'Brien were eating together and invited her to join them. "I did not realize until a long time later that it was a setup," says Doris (now O'Brien), who thought she met the man who became her husband of 45 years completely by coincidence.

As times changed, so did Scott Hall. In May 1970, it became the strike center for students protesting U.S. involvement in Cambodia. The Scott Hall Grill Committee was formed in 1971 to find an alternative to what some felt was a sterile cafeteria environment. The result was the Amazingrace Coffeehouse, a new hangout in Scott Hall for music, entertainment and inexpensive food.

In 1972 Norris University Center supplanted Scott's hangout status. When Norris opened, Scott was converted to office space and the Amazingrace Coffeehouse moved to Shanley Hall, later called Shanley Pavilion.

By 1974 the Amazingrace Family, a collective of students and former students who ran the coffeehouse, had moved off-campus to south Evanston. In the same way that Scott Hall changed with the times, Norris has adapted to student life over the years.

In 1982 the University opened a bar that operated on the ground level during the evenings. The bar was referred to by students simply as, well, the Bar. In fact, even after the bar was officially named the Gathering Place, students continued to fondly call it the Bar. Popular for its convenient location, inexpensive beer and thick, hot french fries, the Bar served Northwestern students until it officially closed in September 1992 because of financial and other difficulties. Today's Norris offers Willie's Food Court, the Cone Zone, the Higher Grounds Coffeehouse and a basement game room for gathering purposes.

As Northwestern advances into the new century, the hangouts may be different, but the concept is still the same — students just need a place to relax and get away from it all. And having good food and drinks and friends to share them with doesn't hurt either.

— AnnMarie Harris (J00)

Joseph Takahashi, professor of neurobiology and physiology, right, with graduate students, from left, Sharon Low-Zeddies, Phillip Lowrey and Lisa Wilsbacher

Lab Notes
The Clock in Us
A research team led by Joseph S. Takahashi, professor of neurobiology and physiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, has discovered another gene that affects the circadian rhythm of mammals, a finding that could aid in a better understanding of human sleep disruptions, such as jet lag, and affective disorders, such as depression and bipolar disease.

When a human's circadian clock is working correctly, the normal rhythms adhere to a 24-hour cycle. When something goes wrong, the sleep-wake cycle is thrown off its normal pattern.

The gene, called casein kinase I epsilon, or CKIe, is the ninth to be identified in connection with circadian rhythm in mammals. Takahashi believes it could make an ideal target for the development of drugs to treat circadian rhythm–related problems.

Their team's findings were reported in April in the journal Science.

Materials science professor Samuel Stupp and his researchers use nanoribbons, shown here at the molecular level, to modify the structure and properties of polymers.

The Future in Polymers
A research team led by Northwestern materials scientist Samuel I. Stupp has discovered a novel way to improve polymers that could have a major impact not only on the plastics industry but also on fields as diverse as optics and medicine.

The development alters and greatly strengthens polystyrene, a widely used polymer, by using small molecules as additives and not by the conventional but costlier method of changing a polymer's chemical structure with catalysts, said Stupp, who is Board of Trustees Professor of Materials Science, Chemistry and Medicine.

The process also changes polystyrene's optical properties dramatically, making it easier to move light — and possibly organic cells — in specific directions. Stupp's collaborators include graduate student Eli Sone.

A Price of Creativity
There's creativity and then there's creativity fired by absinthe, the liqueur of choice among so many 19th- and early 20th-century artists, musicians and literateurs.

For the first time researchers at Northwestern (principally Toshio Narahashi, John Evans Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry and Alfred Richards Professor of Pharmacology) and the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered how the bitter drink affects the brain — and does its toxic damage. It is believed that absinthe may have been at least partly responsible for the erratic behavior of artist Vincent van Gogh.

Absinthe, now banned in most countries in its most potent form, is primarily a distillate of wormwood and other herbs that cause the brain's neurons to fire off wildly. The scientists decisively linked the process to a component, called alpha-thujone, that is in the drink.

The research carries significance for the present because wormwood oil is used in some herbal preparations. The findings were reported in April's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Hope for Hearing
Millions of people affected by hearing loss from degenerating outer hair cell function in the ear may ultimately have hope, thanks to a Northwestern research team.

The group, under the direction of Peter Dallos, John Evans Professor of Neuroscience and Hugh Knowles Professor of Audiology, and Laird D. Madison, assistant professor of medicine, has cloned a gene that plays an important molecular role as a rapidly moving motor of sorts in the outer hair cell. Partly borrowing the musical term presto, or rapid tempo, the team named the gene prestin.

It is widely believed that outer hair cells act as local mechanical amplifiers of incoming sound vibrations, giving the mammalian ear its extraordinary sensitivity and frequency-resolving capacity. The findings were reported in May in the journal Nature.

Dangerous Drug
A medication used since 1998 by 3 million recipients of coronary artery stents may cause a rare but potentially fatal blood disease known as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

The findings about clopidogrel, which helps prevent blood clotting and is also used for stroke prevention, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Principal researchers were two associate professors of medicine, hematologist/oncologist Charles L. Bennett and Charles J. Davidson, a cardiologist.

TTP causes mass destruction of blood platelets, anemia, neurologic changes (including stroke), seizures, loss of consciousness, kidney failure and fever.

Ironically, clopidogrel was developed to be a less toxic, but chemically similar, replacement for ticlopidine, a first-generation antiplatelet drug that was also found to cause TTP. All but one of the 11 patients whom Bennett and Davidson discovered with TTP were able to recover, but some required extensive treatment.

Pee Wee Primates
A team from several universities that included Marian Dagosto, associate professor of cell and molecular biology, discovered the fossils of 45-million-year-old thumb-length primates in a limestone quarry in China.

The fossils represent by far the smallest known primates, with one species estimated to have weighed only 10 grams. These distant relatives of monkeys, apes and humans were once the prey of owls, the researchers say. The discovery of the smallest primates may have widespread implications as scientists plot out the evolutionary family tree leading from lower to higher primates.

Writing in the April Journal of Human Evolution, the team reports on two of the tiny primate fossils.

Parallel Paths
For the first time, an eight-pen nanoplotter has created eight identical patterns with tiny lines of molecular ink.

The breakthrough transforms dip-pen nanolithography from a serial into a parallel process, paving the way to making it competitive with other optical and stamping lithographic methods used for patterning areas on metal or semiconductor substrates, including silicon wafers.

Chad Mirkin, George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry (see story), and Seunghun Hong, a research assistant professor in chemistry, published their research in June in Science magazine. They report that the nanoplotter could be equipped with a significantly greater number of pens than eight, possibly hundreds or even thousands of nanopens working together to perform such tasks as miniaturizing electronic circuits or patterning precise arrays of biomolecules such as DNA.

Bienen, left, and Patrick Ryan (EB59), chair of the board of trustees, unveil a plaque to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the University's founding. The marker is at the corner of Lake and Clark Streets in Chicago.

(Photo by Mary Harlon)

Sesquicentennial
All Aboard the 150 Express

Northwestern will kick off its yearlong Sesquicentennial celebration on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 20-21.

Opening ceremonies will be at 2 p.m. Friday. The first-ever all-Northwestern picnic will take place on the east lawn of Norris University Center and the lakefill at 5 p.m. History professor and noted author Garry Wills will give the keynote address in Pick-Staiger concert hall at 7 p.m. Wills' lecture will be followed by a reception in Norris and a fireworks display on the lakefill (weather permitting).

On Saturday a super special "Kids Fare" in the morning is being sponsored by the School of Music.

Saturday afternoon will feature historical and architectural campus tours, as well as some behind-the-scenes looks at the inner workings of the campus. There will also be tours of the expanded Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art and readings from the new book, Northwestern University: Celebrating 150 Years.

Saturday night will offer the world premiere of a video on the history of Northwestern at Cahn Auditorium and perhaps additional venues on campus.

In other Sesquicentennial happenings, the NU Club of Greater New York and special-interest clubs in the region are planning a Sesquicentennial Party for Sept. 25 at the Supper Club in Manhattan. Contact the New York club, the Department of Alumni Relations or the Sesquicentennial Office for more information. Sesqui-parties in other cities around the country will be added to the schedule and posted on the Sesquicentennial Web site (www.NU150.northwestern.edu).

  Deaths

Lee Anderson, 66, professor emeritus of political science and education and former chair of political science, died June 12 in Evanston.

Mr. Anderson, who taught at Northwestern for 38 years before retiring in 1999, was one of the chief designers of the University's undergraduate program in international studies.

Committed to internationalism, he was also a pioneer in education on global issues for school-age children. Mr. Anderson worked with his wife, Charlotte, also an educator, on several projects.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Anderson is survived by a son and a daughter, a sister and five grandchildren.

Earl H. Merz (WCAS35, M38), 91, professor emeritus of ophthalmology, died April 5 in Chicago.

Dr. Merz was first attracted to medicine because his family owned Merz Apothecary, an institution on Chicago's North Side still in operation but under different management.

After army service in World War II, Dr. Merz came back to Chicago, where he primarily taught and practiced at Wesley Memorial Hospital (later incorporated into Northwestern Memorial Hospital). For many years he was chief of the ophthalmology service.

Dr. Merz was preceded in death by two wives and is survived by two sons, two stepchildren, a brother and six grandchildren.

George Thodos, 84, professor emeritus of chemical engineering, died February 29 in Washington, D.C.

In four decades at Northwestern, Mr. Thodos published 300 technical papers. His main focus was on the measurement of transport properties in fluids and materials.

Mr. Thodos was Walter P. Murphy Professor and former chair of the department of chemical engineering. In 1956, he received the Ernest W. Thiele Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Mr. Thodos is survived by his wife, Dianne Nickols Thodos, four daughters, a son, two brothers, a sister and a grandson.

Tom W. Tillman (GS59), 68, professor emeritus of audiology and hearing sciences, died March 27 in Wilmette, Ill.

On the faculty for 31 years, Mr. Tillman was associate dean of the School of Speech from 1972 to 1990. He retired the following year.

Author of 40 papers in his field, Mr. Tillman was a founding member and chair of the Council on Professional Standards in Speech Pathology and Audiology. He also chaired the American Board of Examiners in speech pathology and audiology.

Mr. Tillman is survived by his wife, Helen, a son, a daughter and five grandchildren.

Neil Bluhm (L62), right, celebrates the dedication of the Bluhm Legal Clinic with University President Henry Bienen, left, and David Van Zandt, dean of the School of Law.

(Photo by Jim Ziv)

Campaign goals

Campaign Northwestern
Northwestern Raises Campaign Goal to $1.4 Billion
Northwestern is aiming higher.

The University has increased the goal of its fundraising campaign by $400 million, to $1.4 billion, as a result of the significant success of the campaign to date.

With a little more than three years left on the five-year schedule for the campaign, 90 percent of the original $1 billion goal already has been committed.The campaign was announced publicly in May 1998 with initial gift commitments of $456.5 million. Gifts and commitments to date total $935 million.

"The outpouring of support during the campaign's first two years has been remarkable," said Northwestern President Henry Bienen. "As we examine where we stand now, we realize that we need to focus on some specific areas crucial to Northwestern's future. Raising the goal will help us achieve these objectives."

Although the overall goal has been largely fulfilled, individual goals for some specific projects remain unmet, Bienen noted. As a result, the University will focus its fundraising efforts on several key projects, including

• Construction of three new science facilities, the $200 million Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center on the Chicago campus and the $65 million Pancoe-Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Life Sciences Pavilion and the $33 million Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly on the Evanston campus.

• Construction of two new residence halls at an estimated cost of $25 million.

• A major renovation of the Norris University Center, estimated to cost $15 million.

• Additional funding for the $10 million Combe Tennis Center, a new indoor tennis facility (see story on page 19).

• Increased endowment for scholarships, fellowships and faculty chairs. (Approximately 64 percent of the $75 million endowment goal for undergraduate scholarships has been raised. The campaign's $50 million goal for graduate fellowships is only 25 percent fulfilled. Less than half of the campaign's $160 million goal for endowed chairs has been raised.)

• New endowment for the University's centers and institutes. These include the Center for International and Comparative Studies, the Institute for Policy Research, the Institute for Health Services Research and Policy Studies and the Materials Research Center.

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Thomas Hayward Jr. (WCAS62, L65) was named co-chair of Campaign Northwestern. Hayward, a partner in the law firm of Bell, Boyd & Lloyd in Chicago, joins Donald S. Perkins in heading the fundraising effort.

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The Legal Clinic at the School of Law was renamed in April to recognize a $7 million gift from Neil Bluhm (L62), a trustee of the University and long-time benefactor of the school.

"Once again Neil has come through for the Law School — this time building upon the tremendous momentum generated by our strategic plan and capital campaign," said dean David Van Zandt.

Including the Bluhm gift, the Law School's capital campaign has received $55 million in cash and pledges toward its $60 million goal.

Bluhm's first major gift to the Law School was in 1984 for the Rubloff Building Campaign, and he named a classroom in the new building, Schachtman-Gordon Hall. In 1987 he made a gift in memory of his mother for an endowed chair, the Beatrice Kuhn Professor of Law, currently held by Richard E. Speidel.

Bluhm is president of JMB Realty Corp. and a principal in Walton Street Capital, which invests in real estate in partnerships with institutional and individual investors. He also is a member of the board of directors of Northwestern Memorial Hospital Corp. and of the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association.

The Bluhm Legal Clinic teaches trial advocacy skills through complex simulated trials, live client representation in Chicago's courts and externships in various legal agencies.

The clinic also is known for its reform efforts, including the pathbreaking work of Lawrence Marshall (L85), professor of law, on wrongful convictions. Its Children and Family Justice Center also has been actively engaged in reform efforts, striving to make the Juvenile Court of Cook County serve as a model of justice for children.

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"A match made in heaven" is how University trustee Barbara Olin Taylor (KGSM78, GSESP84) described a $3 million gift from the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Foundation that will create a professorship with equal footing in the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and the School of Education and Social Policy.

"Both schools have high-quality groups of re-searchers doing parallel research," said Kellogg dean Donald P. Jacobs. "This is a marvelous opportunity to create a bridge between the two groups and dramatically raise the profile of both."

The chair is one of the first examples of a joint appointment between schools of management and education. Topics that may be addressed by the professor, who has not yet been named, include leadership development, organizational design, technology in education and training and re-education. The Olin Professor will also conduct applied research and outreach that will contribute to public school reform.

"As people will need to learn continuously across their lifetime, the challenge for both schools and workplaces of the future is to become places where people continue to learn and develop their knowledge and skills," said Penelope Peterson, dean of the School of Education and Social Policy.

After receiving her graduate degree from Kellogg and her doctorate from the School of Education and Social Policy, Taylor, who is the Olins' daughter, helped launch the National Center for Effective Schools Research and Development and has authored several books on school reform.

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