Précis | Autumn 2003

Women and the arts: In a renovated Masonic temple just a few blocks from the White House, Judy L. Larson ’98PhD presides over the only museum in the country dedicated solely to art by women. The National Museum of Women in the Arts–with a permanent collection containing works by eight hundred female artists dating from the sixteenth century to the present–is so surprising in scope that visitors who intend to take a quick tour between the Smithsonian and the Mall end up spending the whole afternoon wandering its galleries.

Remembering war: A distinct, close-knit group of World War II veterans who attended the Emory School of Law in the years 1947-1951 have maintained their special bond, gathering regularly at dinners and social events. These men and their stories are now the focus of the Emory Oral History Project: WWII Era, an effort to preserve their experiences and memories for future generations of Emory students.

Fighting cancer: This summer, Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute moved into a state-of-the-art, $75-million building on Uppergate Drive behind Emory Clinic A. The first four levels provide patient care and services; the top three floors are dedicated to research.

Welcome, Class of 2007: After eighteen years in the same house, at the same school, and on the same swim team, Andrew and Thomas Roos, twins from Culver City, California, didn’t necessarily plan to attend the same college. It just so happens, however, that they both chose Emory. The Roos brothers competed for a place at Emory with a record number of applicants: 10,384 students vying for 4,316 acceptance letters. About 1,270 arrived on campus this fall.

Taking it to the next level: For the fifth-grade students of Jason Clark ’02C, a lunch at the DUC was about more than just eating hamburgers and pizza. Clark arranged for his entire class to spend a day at the University last spring, and for an Emory student or faculty member to be at each table during lunch.

27 Questions: The Internet isn’t just for dating services anymore. Freshman roommates Kelly Kristal and Sarah Sweeney found one another through Emory’s Online Housing Selection Process, a roommate-matching program developed by the company WebRoomz that the University used for the first time this year. Fewer than a dozen colleges offer such a program.

Carnegie scholar: Associate professor of political science Carrie Rosefsky Wickham Wickham has been named one of thirteen new Carnegie Scholars by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the first Emory scholar ever selected for this prestigious honor. Carnegie Scholars receive up to $100,000 over two years to pursue pathbreaking research in their fields. Wickham has been studying Islamic movements for more than fifteen years—long before four hijacked airplanes thrust the subject to the forefront of national consciousness.

Transition: Howard O. “Woody” Hunter, who has served as interim provost since July 1, 2001, stepped down from the University’s chief academic position on September 1. “Emory owes a real debt of gratitude to Woody for his service,” President James W. Wagner said. Holli Semetko, an expert on the role and influence of media in elections, politics, and public opinion, is Emory’s new vice provost and director of the Halle Institute for Global Learning.

Building awareness of brain injury: Woodrow Leake ’66C had never worked with disabled people when he moved back to Atlanta to become president of the Brain Injury Association of Georgia in 2001. Now facts and statistics roll off his tongue with ease. Brain injuries are among the most overlooked and under-reported conditions in the nation, says Leake, with eighty thousand Americans becoming permanently disabled each year. There are 150,000 in Georgia living with brain injury, a figure that jumps by three thousand annually. Brain injury is the leading cause of death and disability among people aged 16 to 35.

Invoking the spirits: Female masks from Nigeria, the Congo, Sierra Leone, and Liberia are on display in the Michael C. Carlos Museum’s third floor Sutker Galleries, a renovated space that will be devoted to displaying items from the museum’s permanent collection of West and Central African art. The masks portray a wide representation of female beauty and spirituality–decorative scars, elongated necks, condensed features. As in Elizabethan plays or Greek dramas, many were worn by male dancers impersonating women.