While You Were Away


      While many members of the Hopkins community took leave of
the Baltimore area during the summer, the university did not
rest. So, here is a brief summary of some of the activities that
kept busy those who stayed behind.

June
----------
      The 12th Children s Miracle Network Telethon aired on June
4, raising more than $2.1 million for the Johns Hopkins Children
s Center. 
 
     On June 7, the departments of Surgery and Pediatrics
celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Blalock-Taussig
shunt--more commonly known as the blue baby operation--and the
men and women who made it possible, among them Hopkins chief
surgeon Alfred Blalock, pediatric cardiologist Helen Taussig and
lab technician Vivien Thomas. 

     On June 10, a farewell banquet--attended by more than 700
former players, colleagues, friends and family--was held to honor
Bob Scott, alum, former coach and longtime athletic director, who
retired June 30 after 41 years with Hopkins athletics. As coach
of the Blue Jays men's lacrosse team from 1955 to 1974, Scott won
seven national championships, including the NCAA in his final
year.
 
     At the American Astronomical Society meeting in Pittsburgh
on June 12, astrophysicist Arthur Davidsen announced the
discovery of the first definitive detection of primordial helium,
the cosmic soup from which everything in the universe was created
in the first three minutes after the birth of the cosmos. The
findings confirm a critical prediction of the Big Bang
theory--that helium should have been widespread in the early
universe, long before the gas condensed to form the first stars.
  
      In late June, trustees of The Johns Hopkins University and
the Johns Hopkins Health System approved a new governance
structure for the hospital, which retains separate leadership and
corporate structures for the health system and the School of
Medicine but organizes them to integrate the medical enterprises
in a more systematic way.

      Also in late June, it was announced that WJHU-FM, the
university's radio station and Baltimore's only National Public
Radio affiliate, was switching its weekday, daytime programming
format from classical music to an all-news and information
format. 


July
----------
     David Kingsbury--director of the Welch Medical Library and
associate dean for information sciences--became the university s
first chief information officer. Kingsbury, who reports directly
to the president, will plan, guide and oversee the integration of
all principal categories of information at Hopkins, including
library resources, multimedia instruction tools,
telecommunications and distance learning.
 
     Nearly 1,200 cyclists completed the 300-mile Cycle Across
Maryland bicycle race by pedaling onto the Homewood campus on
July 29. 


August
----------
      The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation pledged $20
million to the hospital to support construction of the new
comprehensive cancer center on the East Baltimore campus. The
gift brought the total of gifts and pledges to $382 million of
the $900 million Hopkins fundraising initiative announced in
October.

      In mid-month, Audrey Smith was named the university's new
vice president for human resources. Smith, who currently holds a
similar position at Princeton University, joins Johns Hopkins
University on Nov. 1. Edgar Roulhac, who has served as interim
vice president since the departure of Jimmy Jones in November
1994, will return to his permanent position as vice provost for
academic affairs.