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Updates
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Stoking the fight against cancer Some $13.75 million aimed at cancer prevention and treatment will flow into Hopkins this fiscal year as the state of Maryland begins allocating its share of the national tobacco settlement. Of the Hopkins funds, $3.75 million will be targeted at cancer research, treatment, and education (a significant portion is being used to recruit new faculty in behavioral research, genetic and cancer epidemiology, molecular genetics of cancer, and viral vaccine development). The remaining $10 million will go toward construction of a new research building at the corner of Broadway and Madison Street and two new research wings at the School of Public Health. The funding won't end there. Over the next 10 years, Hopkins is expected to receive no less than $150 million in tobacco money for both cancer research and related facility construction, according to Annie Kronk, the university's director of state and local affairs.
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Pietramala comes home If you are the Hopkins men's lacrosse coach, expectations automatically run high. The team's loyal following expects no less than a national championship contender every season and is quick to point out that no Hopkins team has won it all since 1987. Welcome to Dave Pietramala's world. Pietramala '90, revered by many as the best defenseman ever to play for the Blue Jays, became Hopkins's 22nd men's lacrosse coach in June. He replaced John Haus, who unexpectedly resigned after two seasons to become head coach at the University of North Carolina. Haus had led the Jays to consecutive appearances in the NCAA Final Four, but could not resist the lure of returning to his alma mater. Pietramala's hiring was announced within a few days of Haus's resignation and was treated as a homecoming. At the press conference, Hopkins director of athletics Tom Calder described Pietramala as "one of our greatest and brightest stars." And the new coach opened, "What an exciting day for me--the chance to come home." Pietramala, 32, played on that last Hopkins national championship team. A ferocious defender, he garnered a list of honors longer than a defenseman's stick: three-time first-team All American, the nation's outstanding defenseman in 1988 and 1989, the 1989 Ennis Award as the country's best player. In 1995, he was one of 10 Hopkins alumni named to the NCAA Silver Anniversary Team, and last fall Lacrosse Magazine placed him on its all-century team. Hopkins lacrosse aficionados (you'll find them clustered in the reserve section at every home game) swear that he was the only defender in the late '80s ever to shut down the legendary attackman Gary Gait of Syracuse University. For the last three years, Pietramala has been busy reviving the program at Cornell University. He was hired by Cornell after a 3-11 season in 1997. He reversed that team's fortunes, leading it this past season to a 10-4 record and only its second NCAA tournament appearance since 1989. At the press conference, Pietramala said his first priority would be recruiting. He noted the importance of bringing more of Baltimore's best players to Hopkins. He added, "But if there's a great player in northern Virginia or out in Ohio, we're going to go out there and get him." He has seen the game from all angles, as player, assistant coach, and head coach, for 15 years. "The biggest change," he says, "has been in the athletes. They're bigger, stronger, faster. The caliber of athlete is much greater now." His subsequent comments did not surprise anyone who remembered him as a player: "There's not so much hitting in the game now, and I'd like to see that come back." Pietramala announced that he will retain his former teammate, Brian Voelker, as defensive coordinator. Another former teammate, Seth Tierney, joins Hopkins as offensive coordinator. -Dale Keiger
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More fun than a plaque? An engraved park bench or a stone statue make wonderful gifts to leave behind on a college campus. But for the fun-loving Class of 2000, such traditional choices were a little too, uh, concrete. So the graduating seniors instead left a legacy of fun, raising money to endow a week full of picnics, concerts, sports eventsperhaps even a midnight harbor cruise. Their intent for the annual social whirl, to be dubbed Millennium Week: to induce undergrads from a variety of cultural and student groups to take a break from their studies and join together for some carefree carousing. From the very beginning, ours has been a very social, very active class, says Tom Noone, who co-chaired the Senior Class Gift Committee with class president George Soterakis. We very much wanted to contribute something to the university that reflected the personality of our class.
A new class of dual passions
High school valedictorians take note: If you're intent on
attending Johns Hopkins, you'd best put in many hours of arts,
sports, or volunteer-related activities. And it also helps to
achieve regional--if not national--prominence in some activity or
area of study.
That's the message from dean of admissions and enrollment Lorna
Whalen, who notes that her office was the choosiest in known
Hopkins history in selecting the nearly 1,000 members of the
Class of 2004. The university admitted just 32 percent of the
9,444 who applied, the lowest "accept" percentage since the
school started keeping records in 1950; last year's rate: 33
percent. About 660 students will join the Krieger School of Arts
& Sciences; 320 will enroll in the School of Engineering.
"I would say most of these students have dual passions--a science
lover who spends a lot of time working on his music, or a writer
or poet who also has a passion for athletics," says Whalen. Other
points worth noting:
Male students outnumber
female students in the incoming class, 58 to 42 percent.
International students make
up a record high 12 percent of the Class of 2004; that figure was
7 percent just three years ago.
The overall yield of accepted
students who actually committed to Hopkins increased as well this
year. -SD
RETURN TO
SEPTEMBER 2000 TABLE OF CONTENTS.
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