Johns Hopkins Magazine -- November 2000
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NOVEMBER 2000
CONTENTS

O N    C A M P U S E S

Updates

Mourning the loss of Zanvyl Krieger
"A nice marriage of skills"
An "outpouring of outrage"
New venues for favorite events
Scooterin' by to say, "Hi!"
Olympic glory



Zanvyl Krieger '28: "A Johns Hopkins for our time"
Mourning the loss of Zanvyl Krieger

Zanvyl Krieger '28, the noted entrepreneur and philanthropist who made history in 1992 with his $50 million challenge grant to Hopkins's School of Arts and Sciences, died September 15 at his Baltimore home. He was 94.

A lifelong Baltimorean, civic leader, and sports enthusiast- -who was crucial to bringing both the Colts and Orioles to the city--Krieger was a loyal supporter of his alma mater. His gift to Arts & Sciences was aimed at adding $100 million to the endowment and was believed at the time to be the largest gift ever directed exclusively to a U.S. school of arts and sciences. In addition, other Hopkins affiliates attest to his generosity: the Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, the Krieger Children's Eye Center at the Wilmer Eye Institute, and the Kennedy-Krieger Institute. In 1995, the university paid tribute by renaming its core institution the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences.

"Zan Krieger was a Johns Hopkins for our time, a hard-working, very successful man with a vision for what philanthropy can accomplish," says university president William R. Brody. "It will never be possible to calculate all the good he has done for Baltimore, but we are a far better city because of him. Zan was also a genuinely warm and human man, a delight to be with. We will all miss him."

Krieger was a friend and adviser to Hopkins president Milton S. Eisenhower (1956-67 and 1971-72). The fellow sports fans were frequently seen together in Krieger's box at Memorial Stadium, during the years Krieger owned the city's baseball franchise. In honor of the duo's friendship, part of the Krieger Fund has been used to establish 10 endowed chairs at Arts & Sciences--called the Zanvyl Krieger/Milton S. Eisenhower Distinguished Professorships.

After graduating from Hopkins, Krieger earned a law degree and went on to serve as assistant attorney general of Maryland. He later launched a successful career in real estate development, in part by using income from the Krieger family brewery, makers of Gunther beer and distilled rye whiskey.

But the seeds for his fortune were sown primarily in 1964, when the entrepreneur signed on as key investor for U.S. Surgical; the start-up company owned the rights to the surgical staple and would go on to pioneer the field of laparoscopic surgery.

A diminutive man with an impish grin, Krieger lived frugally; he eschewed expensive vacations and pumped his own gas well into his 80s. At the time of his 1992 gift, he compared philanthropy to eating olives. Both are habit-forming, he said. "The first olive doesn't always taste good, but as you eat more olives, you learn to like them." --Sue De Pasquale

"A nice marriage of skills"

Hopkins's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), which in recent years has adapted to an economics-oriented international scene, also is beefing up its public service mission, offering a concurrent degree starting this fall with Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and an upcoming certificate program with Hopkins's Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).

"The real reason SAIS was created was to promote public service," says Stephen Szabo, associate dean for academic affairs. "We can take advantage of the division of labor and share resources and expenses. SAIS does politics, culture, and economics and they do quantitative public policy analysis. It's a nice marriage of skills."

SAIS and Maxwell School students can work toward a concurrent MA-MPA, with three semesters at SAIS and two semesters and a summer session at the Maxwell School. Courses also will be available via a certificate program with the two-year Master of Arts in Policy Studies program at IPS.

There are other opportunities for SAIS students to list two prestigious graduate programs on their resumes. While earning a master's in international relations, they can also pick up a law degree from Stanford, a Master of Health Science degree from Hopkins's School of Public Health, or an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. --JCS

An "outpouring of outrage"

In early October, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)--under intense and protracted pressure from animal rights activist groups--agreed to expand regulation of research animals to include mice, rats, and birds for the first time.

The decision was met with "an outpouring of outrage" by research institutions around the country, according to Estelle Fishbein, Johns Hopkins vice president and general counsel. At Hopkins, which is the leading recipient of federal research dollars, officials warned that the increased cost and paperwork involved will greatly slow the pace of biomedical advances and prompt research to be moved to areas of the world without regulatory oversight.

Hopkins currently has 468 faculty members using a total of 42,000 mice, 3,000 rats, and 300 birds in their labs. Nationally, some 23 million mice and rats were used in research nationwide in 1999, according to the National Association for Biomedical Research, which expects that number to grow by 50 percent in three years, given the explosion of genetics research.

"The animal rights groups' true motive in this case is to halt all animal-based medical research in the United States, with total disregard for the human consequences," said Fishbein.

Until now, mice, rats, and birds had been exempt from USDA rules that protect larger warm-blooded animals like primates and dogs. The National Institutes of Health, however, has regulated rodent care for scientists receiving federal money.

In late September, the university filed a petition asking a federal court for permission to intervene in the dispute. "Keeping such individualized written records on the many thousands of mice, rats, and birds at Hopkins to comply with USDA regulations designed for other species would be virtually impractical, and probably impossible; would greatly increase the financial and personnel burden on Hopkins's research; and [would] undermine the cost-based reasons for using these animals in research," said Hopkins in a filing in U.S. District Court.

At press time, a federal judge ruled that Hopkins could not block the settlement between the USDA and animal rights activists, while congressional House and Senate conferees were considering an appropriations amendment that would prevent the USDA from proceeding with a new rule this year. --SD

New venues for favorite events

For the first time in 40 years, family and friends who attend the universitywide commencement ceremony in May will not gather beneath a big white tent on Homewood's Upper Quad.

The change comes as a result of recent campus renovation efforts, which are nearing completion: newly laid irrigation and drainage lines run the risk of being punctured by tent spikes. Administrators are leaning toward using Homewood Field for the big event, according to Dennis O'Shea, executive director of Communications and Public Affairs.

Also affected is April's popular Spring Fair. New brick and marble walkways aren't capable of supporting the trucks that have brought concessions to the Upper and Lower Quads for the last 29 years. Fair planners are considering moving much of the fair--including the heavy carnival rides traditionally housed on the freshman quad--to Garland Field and the parking lot behind it. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

Illustration by Mike Lane

Scooterin' by to say, "Hi!"

It's a familiar sight by now, on freshman move-in day: the athletic university president, William R. Brody, and wife, Wendy, on in-line skates, zipping between cars to shake hands and offer greetings. This year, however, the First Couple traded in their skates for scooters, in order to get around safely during campus renovations.

Olympic glory

Hopkins had three Olympians take part in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Joanna Zeiger, a graduate student and research data assistant in the School of Public Health, placed fourth in the first-ever women's triathlon. Undergraduate Kamal Masud swam the 100-meter butterfly for his native Pakistan. And rower Ruth Davidon '98 came in fourth in the women's double sculls.

Zeiger is a PhD candidate in genetic epidemiology. At the end of the .9-mile swim that opens the Olympic triathlon, she was seventh. By the end of the 24.6-mile cycle, she was in the hunt for a medal. Zeiger ran well (she's a good enough runner to have competed in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials earlier in the year) in the 6.2-mile run that concludes the event, but couldn't stay with the leaders when they surged near the end of the race. It didn't help that she dropped her asthma inhaler with two miles left in the run.

For Masud, the games were about taking part, not about contending for a medal. An honorable mention all-American on the Hopkins swim team, he was Pakistan's entire swim team and finished 62nd in his event.


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