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A P R I L 2 0 0 3 Alumni News
Editors: Jeanne Johnson, Jeff Labrecque, A&S '95
Follow this link to
Send email to
Construction at the
Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese
and American Studies
Caryle Murphy, SAIS '87
But while she lived in Egypt, Murphy witnessed a change.
"Usually the native's idea of murder was talking you to
death," she says. But she saw Egypt evolve into a place
that "sired youths who gunned down tourists" as a violent
Islamist insurgency swept over the country in the early
1990s. That rebellion was part of a broader Islamic revival
that bred a number of the al Qaeda terrorists who planned
and executed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Murphy's recently released book, Passion for Islam,
Shaping
the Modern Middle East: The Egyptian Experience,
reports on
different viewpoints through personal stories and
insightful analysis that help shed light on the Arab
mindset. She introduces people who represent the various
faces of Egypt, from secular young professionals to
radicalized Islamists, from those who think that
rationalism and reason are essential to restructuring
Islam, to those who seethe with contempt for any variation
from ultra-orthodox Islamic interpretations.
"My goal in writing the book was to help ordinary people
understand why there is such turmoil in the Middle East and
to break down complex issues so that they become
accessible," says Murphy, a Post reporter for more
than 20
years and the winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for
International Reporting. The Middle East is fueled by
ancient animosities, but Murphy believes that insights
gleaned from an analysis of Egypt can be applied to other
Arab countries and at least augment American understanding
of that part of the world.
"You have to understand that the majority of Arabs don't
hate Americans, but they do oppose some U.S. foreign
policies like sanctions against Iraq and what they see as
bias [favoring] Israel, especially when it comes to
Israel's occupation of the West Bank," says Murphy. The
Israeli-Palestinian conflict "has aggravated Arab feelings
of powerlessness and humiliation before the policies of a
seemingly all-powerful United States, which they regard as
Israel's main benefactor and protector," she writes.
As the Arab world has become more religiously conservative,
its respect for the United States and its culture has
eroded. While some Arabs believe imitating the West is the
key to modernity and power, others increasingly believe
that the West is a corrupting influence. There's even a
term for it: Westoxification.
Murphy writes that Arab ideas about American culture, often
derived from American movies and television shows, become
distorted to the point where the United States is viewed as
the domain of violent and greedy sex addicts. For many
Arabs, Islam is increasingly seen as a way to protect Arab
culture from this corrupting, pervasive influence.
Murphy's personal assessment? "It's just not practical to
hate all Westerners, all the time," she says. "Islam can't
maintain its appeal in the modern world unless moderates
prevail and make it relevant to a new generation. There's a
need for a new interpretation of Islam's moral message that
rises above arcane legalisms."
As Murphy sees it, the essential Islamic message that will
prevail is one that teaches the need for "submission of the
will to the one true God and the inherent equality of the
human race." -- Jeanne Johnson
Jeff Caldwell, Engr '84
Caldwell's explanation for the detour: He lacked
engineering aptitude. In his comedy routine, he sometimes
pokes fun at his own lack of prowess, noting, "You know
you're not cut out to be an engineer when you use a
screwdriver and have to say 'lefty-loosey,
righty-tighty.'"
The career change seems to be paying off. Last summer he
signed a contract to develop and star in his own CBS
sitcom. The show's premise revolves around a married guy
who leaves a sensible job "and the financial pressures that
ensue," says Caldwell. "It's pretty much my life
exaggerated."
It all began in 1987 when Caldwell took a break from
working on his PhD thesis (on the mathematical modeling of
air pollution transport) and summoned the courage to try
open-mike night at a Baltimore comedy club. "I was
horrific," he says, "but I was also defiant. I thought,
'There's no way I'm going to not be good.'" But honing his
craft was a slow process. "Eventually, I actually became
sort of proficient," he says. "I'm fortunate in that I can
headline and get TV attention. My fear was that I would end
up opening for some obscure band in Reading, Pennsylvania,
when I was 60."
His television work has included A&E's Evening at the
Improv, MSNBC's Internight, and ESPN's
Lighter Side of
Sports, where he hosted a show that used sports to
teach
physics. "My engineering background probably helped with
that one," says Caldwell. "I think they liked that I could
pronounce parabola."
He was one of four comics to represent the DC Improv at The
Smithsonian's first-ever comedy program, and he has also
performed for such corporate clients as USAirways and the
Discovery Channel.
These days, Caldwell's life is a whirlwind of traveling
between his home in Hoboken, New Jersey, and Los Angeles,
California, where he works on the logistics of show
development. He meets with agents and managers and works
with writers to develop scripts. "They're a bunch of smart,
funny guys who used to work on shows like Cheers," says
Caldwell.
In the midst of it all, he performs in clubs, works on his
material, and takes acting classes. To develop material, he
says, "I carry around pen and paper at all times and write
down everything I observe that might be funny. I probably
end up using about two percent of it. A lot of it's really
about awareness."
At Hopkins, Caldwell says he was a "very erratic,
unmotivated student" until his senior year, when he "sort
of got it together. I remember getting an abysmal grade on
my first physics test and just sitting there and thinking
'Oh my god, what have I done? I used to be the smart
kid!'"
The verdict on his show will come in June. That's when
he'll know for sure whether his pilot has been picked up
for 13 episodes. "The interest level seems high," says
Caldwell.
So stay tuned. -- JJ
In 524 pages plus 128 pages of notes, Dalton makes her case
for TR as "America's most fascinating president." He lusted
after challenge, physical or political, and wore out the
Republican Party in his efforts to reform it. Quoting often
from newly available letters, she incidentally establishes
with recurrent sics that Teddy did harbor a weakness: he
couldn't spell well. The reader grasps at that humanizing
frailty.
Geographer Monmonier surveils the hard- and software that
looks down on us to take our measure, for good or ill, even
as it revolutionizes fields from agriculture to medicine.
He vows not to frighten us but to instill "wariness
grounded in understanding." Still, fear of Big Brother
comes with this territory, and privacy ends up looking
precarious.
Mona Golabek, Peab '71
Mona Golabek, Peab '71, was just 15 when she arrived on
Peabody's doorstep after taking the red eye flight from Los
Angeles. And she was a romantic even then.
The highly-acclaimed concert pianist and hostess of the
nationally syndicated weekly radio program "The Romantic
Hours" remembers being struck by the "quality of light" in
the early morning hours when she first viewed Baltimore and
says she was especially impressed by "the uniqueness of the
city, its sense of history."
She was drawn to Baltimore, and to Peabody, where she was
part of a select group of young musicians chosen to attend
a summer program studying with renowned pianist Leon
Fleischer. That summer, says Golabek, "affected the course
of my life," prompting her to return later to Peabody to
continue her studies as an undergraduate.
But Golabek was looking for something more. "Being on the
road all the time is a very lonely life, especially for
women," she notes. "I always knew that I wanted to carve
out my own path. I like to think of myself as a Renaissance
woman."
The opportunity came almost five years ago while Golabek
was on hiatus from performing. In an interview with John
Santana of KMZT-FM in Los Angeles, she mentioned a
"fantasy" of hers about being a "voice in the night on the
radio" and talked about how she had been incorporating
composer's letters and journals into her recitals in recent
years. At Santana's request, she did a demo tape. Station
owner Saul Levine was struck by her "sultry" voice and
flair for weaving together classical music and the written
word -- from poetry to love letters.
And so "The Romantic Hours" was born, executive produced by
New York's WQXR. The show is now heard on almost 100 public
and commercial stations, usually on Saturday and Sunday
evenings. In "The Romantic Hours," readings may be
interspersed among or combined with classical selections.
Guests, ranging from Van Cliburn to John Rubenstein, may
also read from their favorite poetry. Some episodes center
on themes such as the Civil War, the life of Oscar Wilde,
or a great love affair (for example, that of Frederic
Chopin and George Sand).
"I think we can reach young people by creating an
atmosphere that lets them hear music in a different way,"
says Golabek. "Chopin wrote his nocturne for a woman he was
passionate about -- it was his love letter. Beethoven
expressed his feelings about Napoleon and the political
scene through his symphonies."
Golabek has a strong interest in reaching young audiences
with classical music. Through both "The Romantic Hours" and
a new book, The Children of Willesden Lane (which
chronicles her mother's escape from Austria before World
War II and was co-authored with Lee Cohen), she seeks to
"seduce audiences into classical music." -- Judy
Phair
Ambrose was working as a marketing consultant for a
manufacturer of pet doors when he got the idea to start
canineloft.com -- right around the time when many other
Web-based businesses were going under. "Most spent way too
much money to acquire customers," says Ambrose. "But we
[kept] costs down and the Web is a huge advantage for us
because it allows us to inexpensively showcase our
inventory to potential customers." -- JJ
Michael Liebman, Engr '67
In 1636, Jean de Brebeuf, a French missionary in Canada,
witnessed a group of Hurons playing a strange game. The
players passed a ball around using sticks that reminded the
Jesuit priest of a bishop's crosier, and his written
descriptions of the sport introduced la crosse to European
settlers. Michael Liebman, Engr '67, is a missionary of a
different sort: He isn't learning the game from the Native
Americans but teaching it to them. The former Hopkins
lacrosse player, who now lives in Denver, is the
vice-president of Native Lacrosse, a community program
dedicated to instilling pride in the hearts and minds of
Native American children through the game of lacrosse.
Last spring, Liebman combined his talents when he joined
Habitat in building adobe housing in Taos, New Mexico.
These clay dwellings, with the exception of modern-day
insulation, are nearly identical to the traditional adobes
that Native Americans in the Southwest have built for
centuries. "Adobes are cheap, energy-efficient, and
environmentally friendly," says Liebman. "They maintain
temperature much like a thermos bottle." While working on
the Habitat project, Liebman brought along some lacrosse
sticks and conducted clinics for the local Native American
and Hispanic communities.
Lacrosse has long been an important part of Liebman's life,
and his twin 2-year-old grandsons are already carrying
lacrosse sticks. Native Lacrosse, which began only seven
years ago, is also yielding results: Two of Liebman's
players made Team Colorado.
Greg Roehrig, A&S '98 & Erin McFeely,
A&S '98
Greg Roehrig, A&S '98, is every guy's nightmare. He was a
four-time all-conference basketball player and graduated as
the second all-time leading scorer in Hopkins basketball
history. He's an assistant for the current men's team and
is preparing to graduate from the School of Medicine this
spring. He's modest, friendly and polite, to a fault. He
even cooks. But the worst thing about him is his stubborn
insistence on creative and thoughtful ways to surprise his
girlfriend, Erin McFeely, A&S '98.
McFeely was totally surprised, but she should be accustomed
to this by now. The two have dated since freshman year in
1994, and Roehrig's "Super Dates," as they were called,
shamed every other man on campus. Formal dating at all was
a rarity in college, but Roehrig never hesitated to go the
extra mile. "I remember once, he invited me to meet him for
dinner at the restaurant in the Hyatt downtown, and when I
arrived, he wasn't there but a rose was waiting for me at
the table."
Roehrig wasn't late, though, thus eliminating every other
man's primary excuse for giving flowers in the first place.
"I got there early to watch her arrive and see her face
when she saw the rose."
All evidence to the contrary, Roehrig was very shy.
McFeely, actually, had to take matters into her own hands
before Roehrig's first overnight road trip to New York City
with the basketball team in December 1994. "I was convinced
that he was just going to go to New York and party, so on
Friday night (December 2) I kissed him." Whatever works.
Roehrig scored 24 points on Sunday afternoon against NYU,
and the rest is history.
It goes without saying that Roehrig asked McFeely's parents
for their blessing before proposing, but it also goes
without saying that he wouldn't just ask. True to form, he
gave a humorous Power Point presentation illustrating his
flawless genetics and untapped earning potential to win
them over.
"This was the perfect way to cap eight unbelievable years
at Hopkins," Roehrig said. "I had always wanted to propose
to Erin at Hopkins, where everything started, and it was
great to do this at the one place on campus that we had
never been together -- the Gilman clock tower."
And they will live happily ever after. -- JL
President George Bush has named long-time Hopkins trustee
John W. Snow, A&S '88 (MLA), as the 73rd United States
Secretary of the Treasury. After the U.S. Senate confirmed
Snow's nomination in January, he was required to resign
from the Hopkins board. In his new role, Snow is
responsible for administering the president's $674 billion
economic stimulus package.
An attorney who holds a doctorate in economics, Snow was
deputy undersecretary of transportation during the Ford
administration. Since 1989, he has been chief executive of
CSX Corp.
Roger Lipitz: Caring Firsthand
Little research had been done on how best to care for
people with chronic illness: When is it better for the
patient to stay home or get institutional care? What is the
cost-benefit of various services?
In pursuit of research-based answers, Lipitz turned to the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health. University
Trustee Shale Stiller had introduced him to the School and
its mission in the early 1990s, thinking Lipitz would have
a natural interest. Lipitz, now a trustee himself, was
impressed by the School's mission and Dean Al Sommer, SPH
'73 (MHS). Since then, he's contributed $3.5 million to the
School, including the initial gift for the Center for
Health Policy and Practice, which focuses on assuring that
discoveries by the School's faculty are rapidly translated
into policies and practice.
Earlier, he created the Lipitz Research and Policy Center,
and the Eugene and Mildred Lipitz Professorship to address
his concerns about research-based government policy.
"Hopefully over the years, as the research develops, it
will improve those [government] decisions," says Lipitz,
chair of the School's new fund-raising campaign.
Throughout his career, Lipitz has mixed his professional
work with caring philanthropy. Lipitz co-founded Meridian
Health Care in 1969, and the company grew to be Maryland's
largest provider of long-term care services. While he was
developing his business, he also donated time and money to
Baltimore civic and academic organizations such as the
Baltimore Development Corporation, United Way of Central
Maryland, THE ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of
Baltimore, and others.
"I've always had the philosophy that if the community is
helping you to be a success, you owe something back," says
Lipitz, a native Baltimorean.
Though Lipitz and his wife, Flo, are retired and divide
their time between Florida and Baltimore, he says he
welcomes the challenges of leading the new campaign, which
emphasizes the "human capital" of faculty and students so
necessary for the School to succeed in its mission of
"protecting health, saving lives -- millions at a time."
Endowment for student and faculty support must be increased
in order to ensure that the best and the brightest in the
field can afford to come to the School, says Lipitz. "If we
want to continue to be the best school of public health in
the world, then we better train the leaders." -- Brian
Simpson
Returning to Homewood as a Johns Hopkins staff member in
Alumni Relations has prompted alumnus Jeff Labrecque, A&S
'95, to ponder "what is" vs. "what used to be."
As a freshman, I was routinely disoriented by Gilman Hall.
It didn't matter which entrance I used or which class I was
running late to, I would inevitably lose my bearings, take
the long route around the building, or end up on the wrong
floor altogether. Even leaving the building was a
challenge, and I was always surprised by where those spiral
staircases spit me out.
I've had a similar feeling in recent weeks as I've
reacquainted myself with the Homewood campus. Although it
has been only five years since I left Johns Hopkins, the
University's appearance has changed dramatically, with the
addition of the Mattin Center, the O'Connor Recreation
Center, and Clark and Hodson Halls. These new structures
don't rival Gilman as my own personal Bermuda Triangle, but
they have transformed the look and feel of the campus. I
still have to look twice at the red bricks that rise above
the bust of Mr. Hopkins at the end of 33rd Street. The two
new buildings behind Garland Hall blend in so seamlessly
that I debated whether they had been there all along and I
had just never ventured into them (entirely possible).
As my own Hopkins memories fade into some surreal composite
of past and present, it's been a great comfort to discover
that the people haven't changed. Many of the faces are
different, of course, but they share the impeccable
standards and uncompromising character that I remember.
There is an intellectual curiosity and thoroughness that
fuel everything at Hopkins and a near-religious reverence
for brilliance that will humble the most accomplished
student or employee.
Buildings come and go, but people have always been the
school's greatest asset. Hopkins has forged its reputation
from the collective intelligence, resourcefulness, and
leadership of its community, and it takes only two minutes
of listening to Ross Jones, A&S '53, Hopkins' most credible
and eloquent voice, at an employee orientation meeting to
be reminded of that and get excited by it all over again.
Being invited to join Hopkins for a second tour of duty is
especially satisfying, since it finally puts to rest the
long-held suspicion that the first invitation was a
clerical error. I know some people idealize their college
days, perhaps because it's where they came of age, but I
didn't come back to Homewood to recapture some chapter of
my youth. Rather, I'm back at Hopkins for the same reason I
came in the first place: to learn. To learn from the best,
to work with the best, and to somehow, someway, get my
hands on the blueprints for Gilman Hall so I can finally
get in and out of that building in less than three
hours.
Melissaratos said he would use his position to attract more
Wall Street investment in Maryland start-up companies,
streamline regulations to lure more business, and work to
implement the governor's goal of directing more state
business to minority contractors.
Melissaratos served as vice president in charge of
manufacturing operations for Westinghouse (now known as
Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems), and managed research
and development for Thermo Electron Corp. before starting
the business incubator, Armel Scientific, LLC.
According to the Washington Post, many of the
state's
business leaders approved of Melissaratos' appointment,
given his broad array of business experience in
manufacturing and technology.
Friday, April 4
Wednesday, April 9
May 1-4, 2003
Chicago Chapter
Thursday, April 10
Cincinnati Chapter
Saturday, June 14
Detroit Chapter
Wednesday, April 2
Georgia Chapter
Tuesday, May 6
Los Angeles Chapter
Wednesday, May 28
Massachusetts Chapter
Saturday, April 12
Sunday, June 22
Philadelphia Chapter
Saturday, April 12
San Diego Chapter
Saturday, April 12
San Francisco Chapter
Tuesday, May 27
Washington, D.C. Chapter
Thursday, April 10
Tuesday, April 22
On February 20, dozens of former and current co-workers
gathered at the Hopkins Club to honor Lou Forster, A&S '41,
for his 25 years of service to the Alumni Relations Office.
A Baltimore native, Forster taught high school and
collegiate English for 29 years before "retiring from
retiring" and joining the Steinwald House staff in 1978.
Friends, including Doris Sunderland (right), came from as
far away as California to share his special
day. |
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The Johns Hopkins Magazine | The Johns Hopkins University |
3003 North Charles Street | Suite 100 | Baltimore, Maryland 21218 | Phone 410.516.7645 | Fax 410.516.5251 |
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The city of Nanjing, China -- site of the pagoda below --
is rich with the history of one of the world's oldest
civilizations. The city is also home to the
Caryle Murphy, SAIS '87 (pictured at right), loves
Egypt. She spent five years as the Washington Post's
correspondent in Cairo (1989-94) reporting on the Arab
world, and found Egyptians to be "lovely people who know
how to have fun."
Jeff Caldwell, Engr '84 (pictured at right), is an
engineer-turned-comic. Really. It may seem a bit
incongruous, but after working briefly as a civil engineer,
Caldwell returned to Hopkins to work on his PhD, and ended
up doing stand-up comedy.
Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life, by Kathleen
Dalton, A&S '75 (MA), '79 (PhD), Alfred A. Knopf
(2002)
Spying With Maps: Surveillance Technologies and the
Future of Privacy, by Mark Monmonier, A&S '64,
University of Chicago Press (2002)
Golabek went on to study privately in Rome and London after
graduating from Peabody, winning an Avery Fisher Recital
Award in 1979. She toured internationally for almost 15
years and has been a prolific, Grammy-nominated recording
artist as well as producer.
Are you in the market for a Shetland Sheepdog silk tie? How
about a poodle painting or a Rhodesian Ridgeback garden
sculpture?
Richard Ambrose, Engr '97, A&S '97 (pictured at
left), is the founder of Canine Loft Corporation, one
of the most visited sites on the Web for dog-breed-specific
gifts and artwork. Found at
Although Native Americans developed lacrosse, most of
Liebman's players are beginners. "Some of the Iroquois in
upstate New York are taught lacrosse as soon as they can
walk, but many of our players are picking up a stick for
the first time," Liebman says. The program includes
year-round clinics for boys and girls, ages 6 to 18, and
competitive league play in the spring. Lacrosse is
exploding in and around Denver, and the program provides an
opportunity for outstanding players from low-income
families to be noticed by prestigious private schools,
while educating youngsters about a sport that continues to
be a sacred ceremony for many Native Americans. (According
to legend, lacrosse was a gift from the Creator, and games
were not only played to train for war, but also to bring
good weather or to cure the sick.)
On December 2, 2002, he outdid even himself, celebrating
their eighth "anniversary" by proposing marriage while atop
the clock tower of Gilman Hall. He had enticed McFeely up
there with the promise of a gift, an original drawing --
did I mention Roehrig's an artist, too -- of Gilman Hall
itself. As they gazed across Hopkins' landscape from the
terrace beneath the clock, he presented McFeely with his
framed masterpiece. McFeely immediately noticed that the
drawing's clock lacked hands, so Roehrig handed her a pen
so that she could complete his drawing and accurately
capture the moment. As the clock began to chime 12:30,
Roehrig dropped to one knee and popped the question.
Roehrig's efforts didn't hurt matters, but McFeely did not
require too much convincing. They lived in neighboring
houses -- Adams and Baker -- as freshmen and quickly became
study partners and close friends. "He had to walk past my
door to get to the showers, and we always knew he was
coming because he had these squeaky shower shoes," McFeely
said. "One day, after he squeaked past, I said to my
roommate, 'I think I like him,' but I almost said it in
surprise." 
"John Snow will be a key advisor on the economy, and a key
advocate for my administration's agenda for growth, new
jobs, and wider and more international trade," said
President Bush. In announcing Snow's nomination, Bush
praised his nominee as someone who "has excelled as a
business leader, an expert on economic policy, an academic,
and as a public servant. He'll be a superb member of my
Cabinet."
Roger Lipitz (pictured at right) knows firsthand
about the issues involved in long-term health care. A
pioneer in the long-term care industry, he was concerned
that major decisions were usually made hastily in the midst
of crisis, with government policy based more on anecdotal
information than scientific research. He was also concerned
that cost issues loomed too large and would often override
good policy.
Raise $75 million for the Global Health Scholars, modeled
on the Rhodes Scholars program, to train public health
leaders around the world.
But it might be the more modest modifications that warp my
daily dose of déjà vu most. The subtle
beautification project that paved the campus's walkways
with red brick and altered the layout of the green meadow
in front of the Eisenhower Library was done so skillfully
that I am increasingly doubting what used to be when
confronted with what is. 
Angel investor and former Westinghouse executive Aris
Melissaratos, Engr '66 (pictured at right), has
been chosen by Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich to head the
state's Department of Business and Economic Development.
United
States
