Funeral mass for Wendy Klag is planned for Wednesday

TA funeral mass will be on Wednesday, Aug. 23, for Wendy Klag, wife of School of Public Health Dean Michael Klag.

She died on Aug. 15 when the family was en route to the Galapagos Islands for a vacation.

The service will be held at 10:30 a.m. at St. Isaac Jogues Church, 9215 Old Harford Rd., Baltimore, and will be followed by a reception in the parish hall.

Dean Klag and the couple's three children, Julia, Stephen and Sarah, will receive visitors at the Ruck Funeral Home at 1050 York Rd., Towson, on Monday, Aug. 21, from 7 to 9 p.m. and on Tuesday, Aug. 22, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.

Condolences may be sent to the Klag family by e-mail to deanklag@jhsph.edu.

The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, gifts in Wendy Klag's memory be made to the Wendy Klag Fund at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St., W1600, Baltimore, MD 21205.

 

New 'U.S. News' rankings put JHU at No. 16, down from '06

Johns Hopkins took a slide this year in U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings of the nation's best universities. After moving up last year to a tied spot at No. 13 (following a string of years tied at 14, 15 and 16), it ranked No. 16 in the 2007 rankings released on Friday.

The No. 1 spot this year went to Princeton, which last year had been tied at the top with Harvard, which moves into the No. 2 spot. Yale takes the No. 3 spot, followed by Cal Tech, MIT and Stanford tied at No. 4.

In rankings for best undergraduate engineering programs among schools whose highest degree is a PhD, Johns Hopkins is tied for 14th, as it was last year.

In specialty rankings, JHU again landed the No. 1 spot in biomedical engineering, followed by Duke, UC San Diego, Georgia Tech and MIT--a repeat of last year's list--and moved into the top five in environmental engineering, landing at No. 3.

In the "Economic Diversity" section, Hopkins is tied for 16th (same as last year), ranked by percentage of undergraduates receiving Pell Grants (11 percent, also steady from last year).

The unranked section called "Programs to Look for" highlights Hopkins under "Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects."

For a detailed look at the rankings, go to www.usnews.com.

 

Libraries and JHU Press sign agreements for electronic archiving

The Johns Hopkins University Press and University Libraries have jointly announced their participation in Portico, a nonprofit service that provides low-cost digital archiving for publishers and guarantees preservation and access to libraries.

The licensing agreements, signed by Winston Tabb, Sheridan Dean of University Libraries, and Kathleen Keane, director of the JHU Press, provide perpetual access to a permanent archive of electronic scholarly journals.

The agreement will provide the five Hopkins libraries guaranteed access to Portico's full archive of an estimated 7,000 electronic journals, thereby providing protection against the potential loss of access to e-literature that is integral to the collection. Currently, 15 leading publishers have entrusted their journals to the Portico archive. With one of the largest journals publishing operations among university presses in the United States, Hopkins Press will provide digital files for its 60 journals to Portico for long-term storage.

"A real benefit for presses is that Portico plans to manage an archival function for our library customers," Keane said. "It would be a significant expense for each publisher to do this independently, so Portico and its funders are providing an extremely valuable service for publishers and libraries who want to ensure that their electronic publications will be available for the long term."

Portico does not replace agreements between publishers and libraries for access to electronic publications; rather, it guarantees preservation and permanent access to electronic materials under circumstances such as a publisher ceasing operations or the catastrophic and sustained failure of a publishers' delivery platform. It relieves both libraries and publishers of the burden and expense of creating and sustaining permanent electronic archives.

 

Homewood House Museum to begin docent training sessions

Homewood House Museum will begin training next month for new docents. Prospective participants should have an interest in architecture, art or history and a desire to share that interest with others. The docents present the National Historic Landmark as a Federal country house reflecting the architecture, ideals and culture of the new nation, and interpret the early-19th-century lifestyle of a prominent Maryland family to visitors.

Training includes lectures and readings on the history of Baltimore in the Federal era, the Carroll family who built the house and Federal-style architecture and decorative arts. Guides also will learn about museum practices and will be taught techniques for presenting Homewood House in ways that satisfy visitor expectations.

Classes will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on four Saturdays, Sept. 9, 16, 23 and 30. Guides will be expected to commit to a minimum of one three-hour shift a month. To register or for more information, contact Judith Proffitt at 410-516-5589.

Volunteers are invited to participate in special social events, openings, lectures and monthly trips to historic sites and exhibitions. They also are eligible for the staff membership rate at the O'Connor Recreation Center and partial borrowing privileges at the Sheridan Libraries.

 

'Gazette' returns to weekly schedule with next edition

This is the last biweekly summer edition of The Gazette. We return to our weekly publishing schedule after Labor Day, on Tuesday, Sept. 5, with the first issue of the 2006-2007 academic year. The deadline for Calendar and Classifieds submissions is noon on Monday, Aug. 28.

 

Employer registration deadline for Student Job Fair is Aug. 18

Last year's Student Job Fair at Homewood drew nearly 1,000 students looking for part-time work in offices and labs during the school year, and its organizers expect even larger attendance this year as the event will run in tandem with the Student Activities Fair.

Friday, Aug. 18, is the deadline for university departments to reserve one of the spots, which are free and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

The fair, which will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8, in the O'Connor Recreation Center, provides an excellent opportunity for faculty and staff to meet, interview and hire qualified students.

To register, go to www.jhu.edu/~stujob and click on "Student Job Fair." Questions can be directed to D. Lynn O'Neil at dlynn@jhu.edu or Ruth Scally at rscally1@jhu.edu.

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