Distinguished Alumnus
The 1999 SAS Distinguished Alumni Award was presented to Roy Vagelos, C'50, former CEO of Merck, Inc., and chair of Penn's Board of Trustees. The award was presented at the annual Society of Arts and Sciences dinner on April 27 in NYC's Equitable Center. The award citation read: "Like our founder, Benjamin Franklin--himself a scientist and businessman, a master of many practical and theoretical disciplines--you have maintained a vision that encompasses the many pieces that make up the whole. You cross boundaries that many see as barriers circumscribing their pursuits and their lives." Nominations for the 2000 Distinguished Alumni Award are now being sought. Please send nominations, along with a brief account of their accomplishments in the liberal arts, to Distinguished Alumni Award, 3440 Market Street, Suite 300, University of Pennsylvania, PA 19104-3325.
Laureate Dean
Besides being SAS dean, Sam Preston is widely recognized as "the preeminent American demographer," according to the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. In naming him their 1998 laureate, the demographer's association told Dean Preston that the award is a "symbol of all IUSSP's recognition of your enormous scientific work, your brilliant personality, and your prominent role in the promotion of population sciences."
Wallace Receives Lowell Prize
David Wallace, the Judith Rodin Professor of English, has won the 29th James Russell Lowell Prize for his book Chaucerian Polity: Absolutist Lineages and Associational Forms in England and Italy. The prize was awarded by the Modern Language Association, the largest and one of the oldest of American learned societies. The MLA also cited Joan DeJean, professor of Romance languages, for her book Ancients against Moderns: Culture Wars and the Making of a Fin de Siecle.
Top Teachers
This year's winner of the Ira Abrams Award for Distinguished Teaching is Robert Rescorla, professor of psychology and former dean of the College. The award acknowledges teaching that is "intellectually challenging and exceptionally coherent." Lindback Award winners for the spring of 1999 are Chung-Pei Ma, assistant professor of physics and astronomy; Brent Shaw, professor of classical studies; and Robert St. George, associate professor of folklore and folklife. The Provost's Award this year went to Janet Tighe, a lecturer in the history and sociology of science department.
Arts & Sciences Fellows
Four SAS faculty have been elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Dorothy Cheney of biology, Lila Gleitman of psychology, Paul Guyer of philosophy, and Jeremy Sabloff of anthropology. Election to the Academy represents distinction and achievement in science, scholarship, the arts, or public affairs.
The Holocaust and the Future
Documenting the Holocaust was the title of a joint presentation from the National Museum of American Jewish History and the College Alumni Society. The program was held at the National Museum on April 15 and featured presentations by Benjamin Nathans, assistant professor of history and Jewish studies, and Barbie Zelizer, associate professor of communications at the Annenberg School for Communications.
Smokin' Mad
As part of the Alumni Lecture Series, anti-tobacco activist William Novelli, C'63, ASC'64, spoke on March 4 about the maneuverings between "Big Tobacco" and Washington, and the cigarette industry's marketing strategies. Novelli, the executive vice president of the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids, is a former principal of Porter/Novelli, a national public relations agency. The talk, presented in Penniman Lounge, was co-sponsored by the Annenberg School for Communications.
Honoring DuBois
On February 23-24, distinguished scholars from around the country offered original papers in honor of W.E.B. DuBois and his work. The conference was organized by sociology professor Elijah Anderson and Tukufu Zuberi, director of the SAS program in African Studies. Papers from The Study of African American Problems conference will be published in the summer 2000 issue of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the journal in which DuBois first published the proposal for his seminal work, The Philadelphia Negro.
Dutch History and Culture Explored
The Culture of Exchange: Real and Imagined Markets in the Low Countries 1500-1800, a conference exploring a period of economic dominance by the Dutch Low Countries, was organized by the Program in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory. From March 5 through 7, American and European scholars from a variety of fields presented research about the Netherlands as a cultural and economic crossroads.