'U.S. News' releases rankings of best graduate schools

In the issue of U.S. News & World Report that appears on newsstands today, March 22, Harvard once again holds the top spot and Hopkins the second in the magazine's annual ranking of best medical schools. The listings appear as part of the Best Graduate Schools for the year 2000. Filling out the medicine category are, in order, the University of Pennsylvania; Washington University; Yale; tied at 7, Duke and the University of California at San Francisco; Columbia; the University of Washington; and, tied at 10, Stanford, UCLA and Michigan.

Areas in which Hopkins departments hold one of the top three spots are internal medicine, genetics, neurosciences and bioengineering/biomedical.

JHH Women's Board opens coffee bar at Green Spring

Volunteers from the Johns Hopkins Hospital Women's Board are proving that they have what it takes to be formidable coffee bar entrepreneurs. Six years ago they opened a coffee bar at the Outpatient Center that has netted about $100,000 each year since it opened. This month they opened a similar operation at Green Spring Station, the largest freestanding physician office facility in Maryland.

Staffed by volunteers, the coffee bar offers cappuccinos, lattes, bagels, sandwiches, muffins and other foods and snacks, Monday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Women's Board's fund-raising projects, which include gift shops and the Best Dressed Sale, have provided more than $5 million to JHH in this decade alone.

NPR's Dvorkin to deliver Frank Kent journalism lecture

Jeffrey Dvorkin, vice president of news and information at National Public Radio, will deliver the spring 1999 Frank R. Kent Memorial Lecture in journalism. Dvorkin's topic is "Journalism in the 21st Century: Will We Ever Be High-Minded Again?" The lecture will take place at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20, in Shriver Hall.

As the senior news manager at NPR, Dvorkin has responsibility for all news programming, manages the news staff and budget and strengthens relationships with member stations. He joined NPR after 21 years at the Canadian Broadcast Corp., where he rose to chief journalist and managing editor of CBC Radio News. Previously, he reported, wrote, edited and produced for CBC from London, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.

In 1989, he reported from Prague and Budapest on the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. He has spoken on freedom of speech issues and been a consultant on public broadcasting for journalists in Slovenia, Hungary and Poland.

The Frank R. Kent Memorial Lecture, established in 1965, honors the late Baltimore journalist who served as a Sun correspondent in the 1920s and as its managing editor for 10 years. Speakers have included James Reston, Ben Bradlee, Marvin Kalb, David Halberstam, Frank Rich and, most recently, New Yorker European correspondent Jane Kramer.

The lecture is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Call 410-516-7157.

Peabody exhibit offers orientalist treasures from Hopkins collections

Orientalist Treasures from Johns Hopkins Collections," now on view at the Peabody Library, will set the scene for a March 22 reception for members of the American Oriental Society, currently convening in Baltimore for its 209th annual meeting.

The exhibit comprises artifacts from the Johns Hopkins Archaelogical Collection, rare books from the Garrett and Peabody libraries and memorabilia of Oriental Studies at Hopkins from the university archives, featuring letters and photographs of great Hopkins scholars, such as Sanskritist Maurice Bloomfield, Biblicist William Foxwell Albright and Sinologist Owen Lattimore.

The American Oriental Society, founded in 1842, is the oldest learned society in the United States devoted to a particular field of scholarship. Hopkins' first president, Daniel Coit Gilman, was a longtime member and served as president for several years, during which time the society met frequently in Baltimore.

Historian to speak on 'daring women' of 19th century

Historian Kathleen Waters Sander will speak at 2 p.m. on April 14 at Evergreen House, 4545 N. Charles St. Sander's talk, "Not a Lady Among Us!: Those Dynamic and Daring Women of the 19th Century," will focus on the changing roles of American women. She will also look at the sense of pride women developed when they finally pushed past society's restricted view of "proper ladies" to become productive and creative "working women," who were actively involved in important activities in their communities and the nation.

Sander is the author of The Business of Charity: The Women's Exchange Movement,1832-1900 and teaches U.S. history at the University of Maryland, College Park. In addition to the lecture, an afternoon tea will be served at 3 p.m. Admission is $20 for Evergreen members and $25 for non-members.

To make reservations or for more information, call 410-516-0341.