Even as the emotional aftershocks of the devastating tsunamis in Southeast Asia were being felt around the globe, students were forming Emory Tsunami Relief. Their efforts yielded more than $13,000, and staff and faculty contributions, funneled through the Emory Gives program, brought the amount to more then $18,000.

University professors are known to write books about all manner of curious and esoteric subjects. Strangely, though, almost none write about what they do every day: teach students. Patrick Allitt, professor of U.S. history and holder of the Arthur Blank Chair for Teaching Excellence, has changed that with I'm the Teacher, You're the Student: A Semester in the University Classroom.

Principal Nash Alexander III ’89C decided to change the name of his northwest Atlanta public school from West Fulton Middle School to Benjamin S. Carson Honors Preparatory School in honor of Dr. Benjamin Carson, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Carson’s autobiography, Gifted Hands, is required reading for all students at the school.

What is the soul of Emory? What makes this University distinctive? What sets it apart from its peers? What are its aspirations? These questions are being asked in committees, open forums, town hall meetings, and spirited conversations across campus as part of an initiative to examine Emory from the inside out, analyze its strengths and weaknesses, set priorities for the University as a whole, and chart a course for its future.

Lawrence Benveniste, dean of the Carlson School of Management and U.S. Bancorp Professor in Finance at the University of Minnesota, will assume the deanship of Goizueta Business School on July 1.

As the new vice president and secretary of the University, Rosemary Magee ’82G has to attend to plenty of logistics, from “meetings to memos to minutes,” as she puts it. But through her more than two decades at Emory, she has learned to welcome diversions—those tangents of thought, spontaneous conversations, or unexpected detours that often lead to insights and adventures.

“Like it or not, we live in a society that puts great value on appearance,” says Seth Yellin ’84C, director of the Emory Facial Center.“One’s self-image is critical. Attractive, confident people have a social advantage. Most of my patients are already attractive. But they want to regain their youthful advantage.”

Thirty students sit in rapt attention, busily taking notes and frequently raising their hands to ask questions. The average age of the students is somewhere in the thirty-five to forty range, although there are people in their twenties and a few grey heads, as well. About the only thing this group has in common is this: They all want to be married in a year.

Alan Palmer ’86Ox-’88C had three passions in life, according to those who knew him best: golf, his friends, and Oxford College. Palmer, president of the Palmer Agency in Decatur, died suddenly of a heart attack in 2003 at age thirty-seven. His family and friends decided to hold an annual Alan Palmer Memorial Golf Tournament, with the proceeds going to fund a scholarship in his name at Oxford.

After thirty-four years with the University, William H. Fox, senior vice president for external affairs, retired January 17.


 
 

 

© 2005 Emory University