Snow and ice first closed the university on January 18, and again the following day. Faculty and staff who ventured onto campus anyway found parking lots turned into hockey rinks; Lot P by Wyman Park Drive bore a sheet of ice so flawless it appeared to have been finished by a Zamboni machine. The ice made steps and brick walkways especially treacherous. Pedestrians mastered an odd sort of Hopkins waddle that allowed them to walk without actually lifting their feet more than an inch from the surface; it looked funny and it wasn't fast, but it got you there.
Heavy snow closed Homewood down again on February 11. The ice had never really left, and by mid-February, several of the larger lots were beginning to glaciate. There were rumors of wolves near the athletic fields. People were bartering heirlooms for precious bags of road salt.
In the nick of time, temperatures climbed into the 50s near the end of the month and the Big Thaw was on. As the ice fractured and became slush, San Martin Drive revealed itself to be cratered like the dark side of the moon, with puddles deep enough to float ducks.
At press time, March had arrived and people had begun to think about lacrosse season and Spring Fair and students sunning on the Beach. And outside? It was snowing, with sleet promised for afternoon. --DK
"AKZO is not the villain," says Scott Bennett, MSE director. "They made a substantial investment, but not enough folks were buying into the process."
AKZO had treated about 12,000 books from Hopkins during the last three years--a mere fraction of the nearly 2 million books that are at risk over the next 100 years, Bennett says. The company used a system, developed by the Library of Congress, that bathed books in di-ethyl zinc gas at a cost to Hopkins of about $10 per book. The process works, but Bennett says about 7 percent of the treated books came back to the MSE with some sort of damage, such as to the covers or the binding adhesives. This kind of damage, though minor, caused other librarians to hesitate, says Bennett: "Librarians were having difficulty coming to terms with a process that was satisfactory but not perfect. They wanted to wait for the perfect process to come along." AKZO, the only commercial supplier of this process, couldn't wait for their business.
Bennett says he hopes someone will bring the di-ethyl zinc process back and attract enough customers to stay in business. Until then, he says, the MSE will protect its most at-risk volumes with special cardboard cases that help prevent unnecessary wear. "We buy time," he says. --DK
"It's important that we work with the community to enhance the environment in which we work," says James A. Block, president and CEO of Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. "We are an integral part of this community."
The city and state each matched JHMI's grant to create the coalition, which wants to attract millions of dollars in development money to the neighborhoods, where 43 percent of the 47,524 residents live below the poverty line. Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke says the effort will help Baltimore compete with other cities for designation as a federal empowerment zone. The federal government intends to create nine such zones, and Schmoke has estimated the city will receive $100 million in federal funds if it succeeds in being so designated. --DK
In her nine years at Welch,Matheson developed a system in which items like genetic databases or journal articles, from the Welch and othersites, are fully available online. The new Welch Laboratory for Applied Research continues to explore ways for libraries to be of use. In 1993, Matheson received the Marcia C. Noyes Award of the Medical Library Association, the profession's highest distinction.
David Kingsbury, director of the Welch Laboratory, has been named acting director of the library. --EH
If you're a personal computer user equipped with a modem,
you need only dial 410/516-6666 to tap into a whole world of
Hopkins information, thanks to the advent of JHUniverse,
Hopkins's new university-wide information system.
System manager Laura O'Callaghan describes JHUniverse, which
came online in February and is free to all users, as one small
"entrance ramp" to the much-heralded information superhighway.
"This will connect you to all of Hopkins's resources, and also
allow you to ' drive' right through Hopkins to the rest of the
world," she says. Computer users can use the system to gain
access to Internet and a whole host of research databases. (For
users who already have access to Internet, JHUniverse can be
accessed at jhuniverse.jhu.edu, using Telnet or Gopher
software.)
"We're planning to provide information to alumni this way,"
says alumni relations director Jerry Schnydman--"everything from
the phone numbers of our regional chapter presidents, to calendar
listings of alumni events, to minutes of Alumni Council
meetings."
JHUniverse's menu will continue to grow throughout the
spring and summer. Already, computer users can call up articles
from the student weekly newspaper, the News-Letter . As for the
Johns Hopkins Magazine? Stay tuned:er, online. --SD
The editors encourage and publish submissions by their young
readers. For instance, each issue of Imagine includes a review of
an American university, compiled from surveys of former CTY
students now attending there. One recent issue looks at Johns
Hopkins. The students surveyed praise the faculty, complain about
the social life, and reveal mixed emotions about whether they'd
do it all again. Asked to describe the person who would be most
compatible with the academic and social atmosphere of Hopkins,
one student replied, "Being a born prodigy would help."
"We're aiming at a national audience of people who want the
best pre-college education you can get," says Linda Brody,
director of CTY's Study of Exceptional Talent and editor of
Imagine. The fundamental idea of the newsletter, she says, is to
help gifted students find their own accelerated programs, secure
the individualized attention they need, and break out of the
boundaries too often imposed by schools that either can't or
don't know how to handle the brightest and most motivated
kids.
Subscriptions to Imagine are $30 for five issues. Write to
Journals Publishing Division, The Johns Hopkins University Press,
2715 North Charles St., Baltimore, MD, 21218-4319.
--DK
Irene Davis Corwin, the woman who served for 44 years as
registrar, counselor, and "Mother Confessor" to thousands of
Hopkins students, died on February 4 at her home. She was 92.
"It is almost impossible to convey the breadth of influence
that she had on the university community, especially at
Homewood," says Ross Jones, vice president and secretary. "She
admitted students, often betting on their potential rather than
their records. She guided them through their course selections.
She interceded for them when their grades slipped beyond an
acceptable level, encouraging the faculty to give them a second
chance. And she did all of this as a woman in what was entirely a
man's environment."
Corwin, who retired from Hopkins in 1968, was the wife of
Alsoph H. Corwin, professor emeritus of chemistry, whom she
married in 1938.
For those of you keeping score at home, the first official
sighting of a Hopkins student in shorts occurred on February 16.
The subject, who was male, appeared to be an undergraduate. He
was spotted on the Lower Quad at about 11 a.m. in baggy khaki
shorts. And no, it wasn't warm enough.
Written by Sue De Pasquale, Elise Hancock, and Dale
Keiger.
A world of information with
JHUniverse
Need directions to the Homewood campus? Want to skim the School
of Continuing Studies' summer course offerings? Curious about the
holdings of Hopkins's many libraries?
For bright students:
Imagine
The Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) has launched Imagine,
a newsletter meant to help precocious junior and senior high
school kids take charge of their own learning. The publication
has attracted 3,000 subscribers since its debut last
September.
In brief
Hopkins undergraduate tuition will increase by $900 next fall to
$18,800. Including room and board ($6,740) and books and personal
costs ($1,500)the total price tag for 1994-95 will be $27,040.