The Rochester Review, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA

Class ACTS

TO THEIR (AND OUR) HEALTH

Recently named to the newly created joint post of dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine: Edward D. Miller, Jr. '68M (MD), who also serves as the vice president for medicine at Hopkins. Officially appointed last January, Miller had been interim dean since March 1996. He lives in Baltimore County, Md., with his wife and four children. . . . Up north in Cambridge, Joseph Martin '71M (PhD) became the new dean of the Harvard Medical Faculty on July 1. He had been chancellor of the University of California at San Francisco. . . . And in Washington, D.C., Janet Corrigan '79S (MBA), '79M (MS) became the executive director of the President's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in Health Care--a commission convened by President Clinton. Before she received her one-year appointment, she had been a health-policy analyst with the Center for Studying Health System Change.

MEN AND WOMEN OF LETTERS

Journalists, authors, screenwriters--Rochester alumni enjoy considerable success in the media, movies, and literature. Take Michael Walsh '71E, for instance: The former music critic for Time magazine is currently at work on a novel, tentatively titled As Time Goes By, that will be a sequel to the classic tale behind the movie Casablanca. Walsh's book will be published by Warner Books. . . . Far from the fiction and romance of World War II is the painful truth of the Holocaust, documented by survivors like Bernard Schuster, a partner in the Rochester law firm of Claus, Curry, Schuster, and Schwartzman. Schuster's memoir, I May Die Tomorrow, But Not Today, recounts how he survived the Nazi genocide. He has also recorded an oral history for Steven Spielberg's Shoah Project. . . . In April, PBS aired a one-hour documentary, Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant-Garde, written by Neil Baldwin '69. Baldwin published a biography of Man Ray in 1988 and more recently authored the critically acclaimed biography Edison. . . . The University counts many journalists among the ranks of its alumni, including Michael Remez '80, who won the Thomas L. Stokes Award from the National Press Foundation for "the best writing in a daily newspaper during 1996 on the subject of energy." Remez is a staff writer for the Hartford Courant.

HE'LL FLY ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE

In April, NASA announced that James Pawelczyk '82 will be a primary payload specialist for the 16-day Neurolab mission on the Space Shuttle Columbia. Scheduled for launch in March 1998, Neurolab is a joint venture of six space agencies and seven U.S. research agencies and is dedicated to research on the nervous system and behavior. Investigating teams from nine countries will conduct 31 studies in the microgravity environment of space, posing basic research questions and probing the mechanisms responsible for neurological and behavioral changes in space. Pawelczyk, 35, holds a doctorate in biology from the University of North Texas in Denton and is an assistant professor of applied physiology at Penn State.

A TRIBUTE TO 'MR. ABBOTT'

During his last interview, the late George Abbott '11 was asked to name one of the biggest changes he'd seen on Broadway during his long and legendary career.

"Electricity," he replied dryly.

In many ways, it was Abbott himself who brought electricity to Broadway. He held sway on the Great White Way for more than 60 years, as producer and director of dozens of hit musicals like Pal Joey, Damn Yankees, The Pajama Game, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Call Me Madam, The Boys from Syracuse, and Fiorello! He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiorello! and also claimed six Tony Awards and the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award. He died in 1994 at the age of 107.

Working with faculty members Fred Sturm '84E (MM) and Kim Kowalke, Joy Abbott, his widow, staged a musical tribute in Abbott's honor last March at the Eastman Theatre. Featuring Eastman faculty artists and eight student ensembles, the concert benefited student scholarships at Eastman and the College. Principal guest artist was Davis Gaines--Broadway's Phantom of the Opera and a protégé of Abbott. Joy Abbott performed also and Michael Lasser, host of the nationally syndicated radio program Fascinatin' Rhythm, narrated.

QUIZ-SHOW WHIZ KIDS

What were the names of the two gangs that fought one another in West Side Story? Who was Helen Keller's teacher? Who ran against Ronald Reagan in 1984? Who was the supreme commander of U.S. troops in the South Pacific in World War II? (Answers: The Sharks and the Jets. Anne Sullivan. Walter Mondale. General Douglas MacArthur.)

If you got all of these right, you rank right up there with the three alumni who appeared in April as contestants on "Remember This," a quiz show cablecast on MSNBC. Hosted by Al Roker and reminiscent of the "College Bowl" of yore, the show pits alumni of different colleges against one another to raise scholarship funds for their schools. The Rochester contestants were Robin Lynn '70 (director of the University's New York City office), Paul Asher '91 (manager of special projects for Bell Technology Group in New York City), and Rick Peltzman '79 (CEO of End Point Corporation), who competed as a team against Kalamazoo, Fordham, and Vassar. The Rochester team lost to Fordham by 10 points in the first game of the semi-finals.

TO MARKET, TO MARKET

The best way to learn, as we've all learned, is by doing. And that's how undergraduates in Peter Waasdorp's marketing course are acquiring hands-on experience preparing real marketing plans for real customers. Waasdorp '62, '69S (MBA) is a senior lecturer at the Simon School. His students, working in teams mentored by second-year M.B.A. students, have been developing plans for a variety of businesses and nonprofits ranging from an Adirondack Mountain club to a company fabricating salt spreaders. For their part, the collaborating businesses cover direct costs and contribute valuable, hard-nosed input on how the students are doing. As Waasdorp says, "It's a rich learning experience for our students and produces a quality marketing plan for our customers."

Waasdorp, incidentally, is another one with strong University ties. In addition to his dual degrees and current faculty position, he is the grandson of architect Leonard Waasdorp, who helped design the original buildings on the River Campus, and the son of two Rochester alums: Gordon L. Waasdorp '35, a member of one of the first classes to study on that campus, and of Life Trustee of the University Margaret Doerffel Waasdorp '37.

THE TWO SIDES TO TODD GARRETT '63

"The work side is Side One of my life. Side Two is the music side." That's corporate exec/romantic-jazz composer Todd Garrett speaking about his dual careers--which in recent months have made simultaneous major advances. Procter & Gamble has elevated him to the new post of senior vice president and chief information officer, the company's first CIO. And, at just about the same time, he launched his first CD, "Love Light," recorded on the Aquarius label.

During the period he was rocketing to the top in the corporate world--promoting such household-name products as Pringles potato chips and NyQuil cold remedies--he always felt he was missing something. Says this former high school jazz musician who combined studies at the Eastman School with his psych major in the College, "One of my frustrations was that I always wanted to do something with my music." Things began to come together a few years ago when he met Russian pianist Valeri Grokhovski, a contestant at a world music competition Garrett was helping to direct. The two formed a friendship and later a partnership, and have now produced the CD.

These days, in addition to his Side One job, Garrett is putting his marketing skills to work promoting the recording. Noting that he gave one of the first copies to his father for his 90th birthday, Garrett says cheerfully, "Now at least the folks at home are playing it."

A VISIT FROM PUCCINI'S GRANDDAUGHTER

Physician John Flagg '36 is a gifted amateur musician whose favorite composer is Puccini. In past years, Flagg has made a number of gifts to Sibley Music Library of rare first and early editions of Puccini operas. His gifts have augmented the outstanding core collection of proofs, corrected in Puccini's own hand, of scores to Edgar, Madama Butterfly, and La Rondine.

In April, Flagg made yet another generous gift to Eastman by sponsoring a visit by Simonetta Puccini, the composer's granddaughter and only living descendant. Signora Puccini spoke of her grandfather's legacy, embellishing her talk with slides and recordings, and helped unveil a new catalog listing the entire Puccini holdings in the Watanabe Special Collections of the Sibley Music Library. These holdings now form an extraordinarily valuable research collection and reveal how the artist polished his own work.

MUSICIAN OF NOTE

Formerly the second bassoonist for the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, Roger Nye '86E is now principal bassoonist for the Sydney Symphony, Australia's premier orchestra. Nye has always wanted to live in a foreign country, he told the Omaha World-Herald. At the same time, he said, "I've always had the dream of playing in a major orchestra. It's an incredible feeling sitting on that stage, whether it's the most beautiful, quiet moment of a Mahler symphony or it's an incredibly loud, brassy part in a Strauss tone poem."

'EASTMAN ALUMNI CONCERTS' IN BUFFALO AND PHILLY

Thanks to Harrington ("Kit") Crissey, Jr. '66, alumni in the Philadelphia and Buffalo areas will enjoy the music of Eastman composers and musicians at upcoming concerts. Alumni and friends in the Buffalo region are invited to an all-Eastman concert on Saturday, October 4, at 3 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 1 Symphony Circle in downtown Buffalo opposite Kleinhans Music Hall. Among the composers featured are John Armesto '49E; Steven Wasson '69E, '71E (MM) (who will also be performing); Paul Hartley '57E, '60E (MM); Anne Sinclair Tobey '68E; and John Landis '62E. For details, contact Crissey at (215) 782-8213 or Armesto at (716) 884-2871. At press time, Crissey reports that he's producing another concert, this time in conjunction with the Delaware Valley Regional Alumni Council: "Three Sopranos" on Saturday, November 1 (location to be announced), featuring Carol Dawn Moyer Winkelman '58E, '59E (MM), Esther Jane Kulp '81E, '83E (MM), and Charlene Campbell Butler '70E. For details, contact Crissey at (215) 782-8213.

HOW TO LIVE TO BE 100

"People used to say, 'Who would want to be 100?'" says Harvard geriatrician Thomas Perls '86M (MD). "Now they're realizing it's an opportunity." Director of the New England Centenarian Study that shows increasing numbers of Americans achieving that age in good shape, Perls was one of two medical school alums cited in a Newsweek cover story on successfully cracking the century mark. The other is John Rowe '70M (MD), another geriatrician, who heads the MacArthur Foundation's Research Network on Successful Aging. "Until recently, there was so much preoccupation with disease that little work was done on the characteristics that permit people to do well," Rowe says. His group has published numerous studies confirming that the secret lies mainly in the genes--plus how wisely you eat, exercise, and flex your brain.

GROWING APPLE

Lee Moore '81 (MS) sends an e-mail note regarding Avadis Tevanian '83, who is now head of system software engineering at Apple Computer. Tevanian was a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon under Richard Rashid '80 (PhD), who now heads up research at Microsoft.

. . . AND HELPING PEOPLE GROW

Paula Simmons '80 and Michele Tofany '88W (PhD) have formed a nonprofit organization to aid women incarcerated for minor crimes in making a successful transition back into the community. Ghaliyah Gardens (the name derives from an African word meaning "fragrant") teaches fundamental skills like reading, writing, math, computer basics, and how to handle money--and focuses also on the therapeutic pursuit of organic gardening. Last spring, volunteers from the University's Community Service Network helped clean up the organization's first garden site.

THE ART OF COMBINING SCIENCE AND BUSINESS

In the University's annual report for 1996-97 (up front in this magazine), it's noted that the Simon School has established a new concentration in health care management. It's important to add here that R. Lawrence Van Horn '89, '90M (MPH), '92S (MBA) was instrumental in setting up the new program. He's an assistant professor of economics and management at the Simon School and is currently at work on a doctorate in health care systems and management in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Van Horn joined the Simon faculty in 1996.

IN HONOR OF ONE OF ROCHESTER'S FIRST ALUMNAE

Helen Thomas Kates '06 (pictured here) was one of the University's first female graduates--and the grandmother of Anne Larkin Gardner '60N, '83N. Gardner, who lives in Cleveland, Ohio, has made a special gift to the School of Nursing in honor of her grandmother, who was one of 12 women to graduate in 1906, just six years after the University first admitted women.

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