C O L L E G E O F A RT S & S C I E N C E V A N D E R B I L T U N I V E R S I T Y

In a remote jungle of Guatemala, ProfessorArthur Demarest and his team of Vanderbiltand Guatemalan archeologists have uncov-

ered one of the largest and most elaborate Mayapalaces ever discovered. With 170 rooms builtaround 11 courtyards, it occupies an area largerthan two football fields. The palace is located in

the ancient city of Cancuén, which means thePlace of Serpents.

“It’s a truly amazing palace,” says Demarest,the Ingram Professor of Anthropology, who ledthe discovery team with Tomás Barrientos fromthe Universidád del Valle in Guatemala (pleasesee sidebar, page 4).

The Cancuén research might cause scholarsto revise their views of Maya civilizations, andit has garnered national attention for Demarest.Included in the media attention is the namingof Demarest’s find as one of the top science pro-jects of the year 2000 by Discover magazine.

While enjoying his “15 minutes of fame,”(please turn to page 4)

W I N T E R 2 0 0 1

Archaeologists unearthsplendid Maya palace

3

A & S N e w s

For more information aboutthe College of

Arts and Science,visit our Web page at

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/cas.htm

You can also access themain alumni Web page at

www.vanderbilt.edu/alumni

and the on-line version ofthe A&S Cornerstone at

www.vanderbilt.edu/alumni/publications/

cornerstone.html

O N T H E C O V E RPhotos of Maya sculptures byChristopher Talbot, National Geographic Society

A & S N e w s

Homebrew supercomputer crunches data at bargain-basement prices

Agroup of physicists, biologists andcomputer technicians from the Col-

lege of Arts and Science and the MedicalCenter have assembled a powerful super-computer from off-the-shelf PC parts fora bargain-basement price.

The new number cruncher, namedVAMPIRE (Vanderbilt Multiple Proces-sor Integrated Research Engine), will sup-port a huge range of research projectsacross the campus in physics, medicalresearch, and the Human Genome pro-ject, says Paul Sheldon, associate profes-sor of physics and astronomy. Such researchcould result in better understanding andtreatment of Alzheimer’s disease, cardio-vascular illness and diabetes.

In its current configuration, VAM-PIRE cost about $90,000 to build. Thatis about the same price as a single thin node, or processingunit, for IBM’s supercomputer, the IBM RS/6000 SP. Inaddition, two VAMPIRE nodes are more powerful than asingle SP node, says Alan Tackett, the Information Tech-nology Services administrator who manages the new machine.VAMPIRE received funding from A&S, Medical Centerand University Discovery Grants, and funds from theindividual investigators.

Sheldon spearheaded the project along with Jason Moore,assistant professor of molecular physiology and biophysics,and Will Johns, assistant professor of physics and astrono-

my. Johns and Sheldon decided to build the supercomput-er to support the research that they are conducting at theFermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill. Theyare studying the behavior of quarks, the tiny particles thatmake up the protons and neutrons that reside in the nucle-us of the atom.

“VAMPIRE provides campus investigators with an invalu-able research tool,” says Sheldon. “It will allow them to com-pete successfully for research projects that involve intensivecomputation, as well as bringing increased funding specifi-cally targeted to support computer facilities to campus.”

A&S CORNERSTONEis published by the College of Artsand Science in cooperation with theOffice of Alumni Publications. Youmay contact the editor by e-mail atCornerstone@vanderbilt.edu or byU.S. mail at Station B 35770, 2301Vanderbilt Place, Nashville,Tennessee 37235-7703. Copyright © 2000 by VanderbiltUniversity.

Joanne Lamphere Beckham, BA’62,Editor

Lew Harris, Elizabeth Latt, Kristina Lomperis, Amy Pate,David Salisbury, Contributors

David Crenshaw, Peyton Hoge,Tommy Lawson, Phonethip M. Liu,Andrew Sandlin, Vanderbilt Register,Photography

Rebecca Folmar, Student Intern

Donna Pritchett, Art Director

Keith Wood, Designer

Anthony J. Spence, E’80Director of Alumni Publications

Vanderbilt University is committed toprinciples of equal opportunity andaffirmative action.

For half a century,Vanderbilt center has

devoted itself to Latin American culture

Last August, Jane Landers, associate professor of history,became director of the Center for Latin American and Iber-ian Studies, making her the first woman to lead the centerin its 53-year history. Kurt Weyland, a political scientist, isthe new associate director.

Their appointments coincided with a Gourman Reportthat ranked the center’s undergraduate program eighth inthe nation.

In 1947, Brazil’s president Eurico Dutra inaugurated theA&S center as one of the first four permanent university cen-ters on Latin America in the U.S. Today, it is the oldest,largest and best-supported area studies program at Vander-bilt, with leading scholars from the anthropology, fine arts,history, political science, Portuguese, sociology and Spanishdepartments.

One of Landers’ primary goals, she says, is “to build uponthe center’s reputation, bringing it to even higher levels ofexcellence.”

“By bringing people of different backgrounds togetherfrom Vanderbilt, Nashville and the greater U.S. and LatinAmerican communities,” she says, “the center can pave theway to a stronger commitment to diversity at Vanderbilt.”

Learning while serving

Landers hopes to expand upon the Center for Latin Amer-ican and Iberian Studies’ tradition of diversity through a newservice-learning project, developed by former associate direc-tor Marshall Eakin, professor of history.

“Last fall we started a year-long faculty development sem-

inar with 12 faculty members from all schools of the uni-versity,” Eakin says. “It will be held each year for the nextthree years and will specifically help faculty understandservice-learning and develop their own courses.”

The seminar is fund-ed by an $87,000 grantfrom the Corporation forNational Service, whichEakin obtained while withthe center.

The project will also“provide students with anopportunity to combineacademic learning withhands-on experience byworking with Nashville’sHispanic community,”Landers says.

There are currently onlya few service-learning cours-es at Vanderbilt, but Eakin hopes the seminar will increasetheir number. In addition to Eakin, who has taught a ser-vice-learning course on Chile, a few other A&S faculty mem-bers have already incorporated service-learning into theircourses. They include Professor of Sociology Gary Jensen,who has developed a criminology course, and Professor Emer-itus Melvin Joesten, who has offered service-learning cours-es in chemistry. Richard Pride, associate professor of politicalscience, and Paula Arai, assistant professor of religious stud-ies, also are developing courses in their fields, Eakin says.

(Please see related article page 6.)

Diversity with Distinction

Two prestigious Fulbright Fellowships, the government’spremier scholarship program for overseas studies, have

been awarded this year to a recent Vanderbilt graduate anda current student.

Mark Pettus, BA’00, is currently studying in Russia.Rhonda Collier, a doctoral candidate in comparative lit-erature, will study for a year in Brazil.

“National competition for these fellowships is extreme-ly sharp, and Vanderbilt is fortunate to have two repre-sentatives among the award recipients,” said Joel Harrington,associate professor of history, director of the Center for

European Studies and Fulbright Pro-gram adviser. “International exchangesof all kinds are fundamental to theliberal arts mission of the college as wellas to the University’s goal of nurturingfuture national and global leaders.”

Pettus, a native of Franklin, Ten-nessee, whose undergraduate majorswere history and German, is currentlystudying Russian language and litera-

ture at St. Petersburg State University, with a special focuson the theme of political dissent in the lives and writingsof Dostoyevsky and Solzhenitsyn.

Collier, a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, received aBS degree in engineering from the University of Tennesseein 1991. She also received a master’sdegree in engineering from GeorgiaTech and has worked for six years as ahealth systems engineer for GeneralElectric. Fluent in Portuguese, she willconduct a comparative analysis of Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, and Afro-Amer-ican women’s poetry at the Universidadede São Paulo.

The Fulbright Program was createdby an act of Congress after World War II in order to pro-mote mutual understanding among nations through edu-cational and cultural exchanges. Today it enables morethan 800 American students, artists and other profession-als to study and conduct research in more than 100 countries.

Alumnus, student win Fulbright Fellowships

R ichard McCarty, executive director of science forthe American Psychological Association, will become

the new A&S dean July 1, 2001. McCarty, who is also a professor of psychology and for-

mer department chair at the University of Virginia (UVA),said he was interested in coming toVanderbilt “because it is such an out-standing research institution with aspi-rations to be even better. It is unusualto find an institution with both highstandards and a tremendous base ofsupport.”

He succeeds John H. Venable, whobecame dean of the University’s largestcollege upon the resignation last sum-

mer of Ettore “Jim” Infante. Venable agreed to serve asdean while the University conducted a national search fora successor to Infante.

An authority on the physiological and behavioral aspectsof stress, McCarty was professor and chair of UVA’s psy-chology department from 1990 to 1998. He has been withthe American Psychological Association since 1998. In

1994-95 he was visiting scientist for the Clinical Neuro-science Branch of the National Institute of NeurologicalDisorders and Stroke.

McCarty came to his field of study in a somewhat round-about way. “I started out to be a biologist,” he said, “beforebecoming interested in psychology.” He received his bach-elor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in zoologyfrom Old Dominion University before earning a PhD incomparative animal behavior from the Johns Hopkins Uni-versity.

He spent two years as a research associate in pharma-cology with the National Institute of Mental Health beforejoining UVA in 1978 as an assistant professor of psy-chology. He also was a senior fellow at the National Heart,Lung and Blood Institute and spent 10 years as behavioralscience coordinator for the FBI National Academy.

He is a fellow of numerous professional organizationsand serves as editor of the American Psychologist.

McCarty plans to teach classes at Vanderbilt but willforego his research. He will make regular trips to the cam-pus during the spring semester to meet faculty and stu-dents before assuming the deanship next summer.

University names new A&S dean

In October, Jane Landers, left,director of Vanderbilt’s Centerfor Latin American andIberian Studies, welcomedJesús Reyes-Heroles, theMexican ambassador to theUnited States, as part of thecenter’s speaker’s series.

DA

NA

JOH

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ON

The VAMPIRE crew, left to right: Professors Will Johns, Jason Moore, and Paul Sheldon

Mark Pettus

2

Rhonda Collier

D I D YO U K N O W ?

The College of Arts

and Science offers

majors in more than

25 fields and 15 inter-

disciplinary majors.

Students may also

design their own

major with approval

of the dean.

A&S Cornerstone: For the past three years, the col-lege and the other schools of the University have beenengaged in developing a strategic plan for the future.Although the process is still underway, what can youtell us about that plan?Dean Venable: Our first goal is to renew our com-mitment to provide undergraduate students withan outstanding education. Next, we need to increaseour efforts to advance some of our graduate andresearch programs.

Graduate education, while important in its ownright, also contributes to strengthening under-graduate education in several important ways. First,a strong graduate program is a major factor in help-ing us attract and keep outstanding faculty. Ourfaculty places a high value on having top quality,engaged graduate students who stimulate and chal-lenge them, and with whom they can develop men-tor/apprentice relationships. These faculty memberswill also teach undergraduates.

Secondly, graduate students enormously enrichthe academic environment for undergraduates. Interms of sophistication, knowledge, and maturity,graduate students bridge the gap between under-graduates and the faculty. They often can com-municate with younger students more easily andon more equal terms.

What graduate students cannot do at Vander-bilt, of course, is replace the faculty. But they can

mentor undergraduate students and help thempursue their own research projects.

Stronger graduate programs will also benefitundergraduates and the college generally throughimproved and expanded facilities. A case in pointis the new Biological Sciences/Medical ResearchBuilding III, which is now under construction nearStevenson Center. Designed to house a commu-nity of scientists with shared interests, the build-ing combines facilities for the study of genetics,neurobiology, and structural biology—to cite threeareas—jointly undertaken by faculty members inseveral medical school departments and our Depart-ment of Biological Sciences. The building differsfrom conventional research structures by incor-porating classrooms and laboratories where under-graduate students will learn in proximity to renownedresearchers and graduate students.

A&S Cornerstone: You mentioned the biological sci-ences as an area of interdisciplinary research programs.Are there others under way in the college?Dean Venable: One of the college’s strongestand most promising interdisciplinary programs isthe Center for Latin American and Iberian Stud-ies (please see related story, page 3). Probably moreA&S departments participate in that center thanany other, from history, to political science, toanthropology and even the sciences. We hope toexpand the vision and influence of this center byrecruiting several outstanding faculty members inthe humanities and social sciences. They will com-plement the outstanding scholars we already haveon the faculty, such as Arthur Demarest, IngramProfessor of Anthropology (please see related arti-cle, page 1).

We also have strong interdisciplinary researchin psychology. Professors Jon Kaas, Jeff Schall, andRandolph Blake are international leaders in thefield of neuroscience. They are collaborating withscientists in the medical center and the KennedyCenter to unlock secrets of the brain and devel-op our understanding of it to the point that bet-ter treatments for disorders such as schizophreniaand Alzheimer’s disease can be found (please seerelated article on Professor Blake, page 7).

We could not attractfaculty of the stature ofArthur Demarest and JonKaas if we could not offerthem endowed chairs. Giftsfrom alumni for facultychairs and scholarships foroutstanding students arevitally important in strength-ening the College of Artsand Science.

Demarest says he is most excited about the oppor-tunity to help preserve the ancient site and alsoprovide economic support for the modern Maya.

It’s the economy, sweetheartThe Cancuén palace rivals the buildings at thecentral acropolis in Tikal, one of the grandest seatsof Maya power in Guatemala, Demarest says. Ear-lier expeditions either overlooked or underesti-mated the size and grandeur of the palace and thecity around it, a prosperous center of commerceand crafts at the head of the Pasión River.

“It is an extraordinarily important find,” DavidFreidel, a Maya studies specialist at SouthernMethodist University in Dallas, said in a New YorkTimes article. “It’s been a long time since a majorpalace complex has come to light. A scientificinvestigation of the ruins should help us under-stand political life in the late classic period of theMaya.”

The site has already produced one surprise:commerce, rather than warfare or religion, seems

to have been the basis ofpower in this kingdom.The occupants tradedprincipally in jade, pyritefor making mirrors, andobsidian for razor andknife blades. Thousandsof people appeared to liveat the center during itspeak.

“Even the workmenat Cancuén were well-to-do,” Demarest says.“They had teeth filledwith jade inlays and wereburied with fine ceram-ic figurines with beauti-ful headdresses.”

These discoveries maycause scholars to recon-sider their ideas about the Maya civilization,Demarest says. “I have a book in press that I’llhave to revise,” he notes wryly.

Real-life Indiana JonesDemarest has spent the last decade at Dos Pilasand other sites in northern Guatemala, where hefound evidence of a highly militaristic kingdomcalled Petexbatún. He decided to visit Cancuénlast year to follow up a lead. Members of his teamhad found records of a marriage alliance betweena Dos Pilas prince and a Cancuén princess.

Demarest literally fell into the palace at Can-cuén. “To the untrained eye, the palace looks justlike a great, jungle-covered hill,” he says. Whilewalking along the ruin’s highest level, he fell up tohis armpits into vegetation filling one of the court-yards. “I immediately heard the snakes movingaround,” he says, adding that he had to remainabsolutely still until they quieted down and thenslowly climb to the top again, inch by inch.

“That’s when I realized this hill was the thirdstory of the palace, and we were walking on topof the roof,” he explains.

Further archeological study and developmentof the site is being carried out under the auspicesof Vanderbilt’s Institute of Mesoamerican Archae-ology, which Demarest heads. Among those fund-ing his work are Vanderbilt University and itsCollege of Arts and Science, the American Philo-sophical Society, the Guatemalan Institute ofAnthropology and History, and the NationalGeographic Society.

Saving the Maya, rain forest “Archeologists can’t just keep excavating ancientMaya ruins while the modern Maya settlementsnearby are starving,” Demarest says. This senti-ment has led him to use the publicity about theroyal palace at Cancuén to test a new approachto archaeological preservation that not only willprotect the ancient site, but will also provide eco-

nomic support for the modern Maya villagerswho live in the area.

Demarest is attempting to raise sufficient pri-vate funding to recreate the former splendor ofthe huge, labyrinthine palace and make it thecenterpiece of a new ecotourism center.

“We hope this project will create a model forfuture archaeological research in developing coun-tries—and especially for the Maya area,” he says,“using the ancient treasures of the Maya civi-lization to benefit their descendants.”

His plans call for an educational programthat will train members of the local village in thevarious skills needed to operate an ecotourismcenter and to preserve and protect the site. Healso hopes to recruit Guatemalan medical stu-dents to provide health care for the villagers.

Demarest has taken the first step toward thisgoal by contracting a nearby village of modernMaya K’ekchi people to protect the site fromlooters.

His efforts have the support of Guatemala’snew minister of culture, Otilia Lux de Coti, anative Quiche Maya. She has said that she wouldlike to see more projects that will help the mod-ern Maya discover and benefit from their greatancient heritage.

— David Salisbury

4 5

The College of Arts and Science recentlynamed Richard McCarty as dean, to replaceEttore F. Infante, who retired last sum-

mer. John H. Venable, associate professor of mol-ecular biology and associate provost, agreed to serveas dean until McCarty takes office on July 1, 2001.We spoke with Venable recently about the strengthsand challenges facing the college today. Here is anexcerpt from that discussion:

A&S Cornerstone: What are the major challengesfacing the College of Arts and Science today?Dean Venable: In one of the first conversationsI had with our new chancellor, Gordon Gee, heasked me what I consider the toughest challengefacing the college. My answer was “maintainingthe optimal balance between teaching and research.

A&S Cornerstone: How is that balance being accomplished?Dean Venable: There is no magic solution, butthere are a number of things we know we haveto do. We start with the appointment of facultymembers who, by their training and personality,are likely to sustain an interest in both under-graduate teaching and research throughout theircareers. Then we need to reinforce the faculty inboth endeavors through various means that letthem know that both teaching and research con-tinue to be valued. Teaching and research awardsare just one of the numerous ways to send this mes-sage. We must continue to require excellence inboth teaching and research for promotion, tenure,and salary advancement. Finally, we provide assis-tance to faculty members in both teaching andresearch through, for example, the Center for Teach-ing and research leaves. Still, teaching and researchare in a delicate balance that requires an ongoingcommitment and attention on the part of the fac-ulty and administrators.

A&S Cornerstone: What do you see as the majorstrengths of the college?Dean Venable: One of our great strengths, some-thing relatively rare among the top schools withwhom we compete, is that all of our regular fac-ulty members teach, and they teach undergradu-ates—regardless of how many research accoladesthey have garnered. As former Dean Jacque Voegelionce put it, “We teach undergraduates willingly,and we teach them well.”

Another strength is directly related to balanc-ing teaching and research. At Vanderbilt, weprovide our students the advantages of attendinga small liberal arts college within a research uni-versity, where they encounter and even participatein pathbreaking research. This is something thatliberal arts colleges cannot do to the same extent.

State of the College

Arthur Demarest, the Ingram Professor of Anthropology, left, and GeorgeHigginbotham, a Vanderbilt graduate student, right, are excavating a three-story, 170-room palace at Cancuén, Guatemala. Alejandro Seijas, center, is anundergraduate at the Universidád del Valle in that country.

John H. Venable

Although the campus continues to change with theconstruction of new buildings, some things, likeKirkland and Alumni Halls, provide continuity forthe college and its people.

PE

YT

ON

HO

GE

A side effect of Arthur Demarest’s work

in Guatemala has been the attraction of

numerous graduate students to Vander-

bilt, who have returned to Guatemala to

take leadership roles in the field of archae-

ology.

Take Tomás Barrientos for instance. A

faculty member at the Universidád del

Valle in Guatemala, Barrientos is explor-

ing the new palace at Cancuén and the

ancient city along with Demarest. During

Guatemala’s rainy season, Barrientos works

on his PhD at Vanderbilt. He is one of eight

leading Guatemalan archeologists to earn

a PhD degree at Vanderbilt.

“Our former students are the leaders

in archeology in Guatemala, “Demarest

says, “They run the museums and teach

at the Universidád del Valle, where they

have established an anthropology depart-

ment.”

Last year, Demarest spent a semes-

ter teaching at the Universidád del Valle,

supported by a Fulbright Fellowship. Dur-

ing that time, he became the first for-

eigner to receive the Order of the POP,

the Maya symbol of leadership, given by

the Guatemalan museums for career

achievement and leadership in Maya

archaeology.

ATTRACTING GUATEMALA’S BEST, BRIGHTEST

(Maya Palace, continued from page 1)

Dean Venable discusses the strengths and challenges facing A&S

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A l u m n i & D e v e l o p m e n t

6

RESEARCH BRIEFS

How they voted • Religiouscommitment and doctrinalconservatism have becomeincreasingly important predic-tors of how Americans voteand the party with which theyidentify, according to GeoffLayman, assistant professorof political science. In his newbook, The Great Divide: Reli-gious and Cultural Conflict inAmerican Party Politics, pub-lished by Columbia UniversityPress, he says that Americanpolitical parties are becomingincreasingly divided along thelines of a new religious andcultural cleavage. “The Repub-lican Party is becoming thehome of religious and culturaltraditionalists,” he says, “whilethe Democratic Party growsincreasingly attractive to reli-gious liberals and secular indi-viduals.”

Attacking free radicals • Every-day events like exposure tosunlight and normal process-es like respiration can gener-ate free radicals in the body,says Ned Porter, StevensonProfessor of Chemistry.

“My group and I try tounderstand how these organ-ic free radicals react withoxygen and how antioxidantslike vitamins C and E canaffect and even stop thisreaction,” Porter says.

Researchers know that freeradicals attack low-densitylipoprotein (LDL or so-called“bad cholesterol.”) Porterbelieves this process may becritical to the development ofarterial plaque that can lead toheart attacks and strokes.

“We’ve shown that vitaminE slows this reaction, but alsoaffects the kinds and amountsof product formed…which canbe more damaging. We don’tknow yet what kind of disor-ders might be related to freeradical reactions.” Porterrecently received the presti-gious Arthur C. Cope ScholarAward from the AmericanChemical Society for hisgroundbreaking research.

Christian witnesses • Joel Har-rington, associate professor ofhistory, has written a newbook on the history of Chris-tianity titled A Cloud of Wit-nesses: Readings in theHistory of WesternChristianity. The book takes aunique approach, introducingthe reader to the works ofmore than 100 men andwomen from Christianity’spast and present.

“It not only includes writ-ings by such well-knownChristian authors as St.Augustine, Martin Luther, andJohn Calvin,” he says, “butalso lesser known figures,including previously unknownor ignored women.” As aresult, it makes 2,000 years ofChristian ideas and practicesaccessible to the averagereader. The book is, Harringtonnotes, “the ideal introductionto the history of WesternChristianity.”

Connecting hearts and minds

F a c u l t y N o t e s

The young woman listened intently to the small childas he described the drawing he was making. Carefully

she drew him out, encouraging his efforts. Patricia “Peachy”Myers was in her element—helping others.

A four-year Ingram Scholar, Myers received her BAdegree with honors during Commencement 2000. Today,as an employee of Americorps-Vista for the MassachusettsCampus Compact in Boston, she helps college professorsintegrate service-learning into their classes at the Uni-versity of Massachusetts-Boston and Bunker Hill Com-munity College.

“Service-learning,” she explains, “involves applying class-room knowledge within the community, helping to meetreal needs, and then bringing that valuable experienceback into the academic setting. It deepens student learningin any discipline and has the power to transform institutionsof higher education into true community partners.”

The middle child of a hospice nurse and an engineer-ing professor from Rolla, Missouri, Myers learned the valueof service early in life from her parents. “We grew up know-ing that service ought to be part of everyone’s life,” she explains.

Among her many volunteer activities at Vanderbilt, Myersdesigned a creative arts enrichment program called V.E.R.S.E.S.(indiVidual Exploration & creative Self ExpresSion) for youthwho live in Nashville public housing.

In her senior sociology honors thesis, Myers set out herview of service-learning and its possibilities for A&S: “Whileservice is generally reserved for the sphere of the human heartand learning is usually restricted to activities of the mind,”she wrote, “the basic aim of service-learning is to combineboth elements in a more powerful pedagogy.” (Please seerelated article, page 3.)

Kudos

Jimmie L. Franklin, professor of history, received the 2000Jefferson Award, the third major honor during his distin-guished Vanderbilt career. He also received the MadisonSarratt Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in

1993 and the Chancellor’sCup in 1990. The JeffersonAward honors a faculty mem-ber who exemplifies service tothe University based on thecharacter, work, influence,principles, and ideals ofThomas Jefferson. Franklincelebrates his award with hiswife, Golda, at left.

Assistant Professor of English Tony Earley has complet-ed his first novel, Jim the Boy. It has received excellentreviews in newspapers and magazines, and it appeared onthe cover of the New York Times Book Review. Earley isthe author of a book of stories, Here We Are in Paradise. Abook of his essays, Somehow Form a Family, will be pub-lished by Algonquin Press in April.

Robert Drews, professor of classics and of history, organizedan international conference last spring at the University ofRichmond, where he was the National Endowment forthe Humanities Visiting Professor of Classical Studies. Thecolloquium, titled “Greater Anatolia and the Indo-HittiteLanguage Family,” brought together a number of prominentscholars of the archaeology and languages of Anatolia, thepart of Turkey comprising the peninsula of Asia Minor.

Samuel T. McSeveney,associate professor of his-tory, received the 2000Chancellor’s Cup. Thisaward is given annuallyfor the “greatest contri-bution outside the class-room to undergraduatestudent-faculty relation-ships in the recent past.”The award was establishedin 1963 by the NashvilleVanderbilt Club. McSev-

eney, at left in the photo above, received the award from JimLittlejohn, BE’76, club president, and Chancellor Gee.

Professor of political science Bruce Oppenheimer andone of his former students, Frances Lee, PhD’97, havewon the prestigious D.B. Hardeman Prize for their bookSizing Up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of EqualRepresentation (University of Chicago Press). Lee is nowan assistant professor of political science at Case West-ern University. The Hardeman Prize is funded with a grantfrom the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation, and entriesare judged on the importance of their contribution toscholarship, originality, and depth of research. The bookwas cited as the best book published in 1999 on a con-gressional topic.

A t the close of Vanderbilt’s fiscal year on June 30, alum-ni and other friends had contributed $12.7 million to

the College of Arts and Science. Those gifts included morethan $1.46 million for endowed scholarships, $3.75 millionfor endowed professorships, and $935,000 for endowed teach-ing fellowships.

Contributions to the Studio Arts Building totaled $1.69million, bringing the total amount contributed for that pro-ject to $3.1 million. Donors added about $6.9 million to theA&S endowment, which now totals $280 million.

Twenty-one percent of the 31,000 A&S alumni con-tributed to the college, and another 11 percent supported

other parts of the University. Members of the College Cab-inet, the A&S donor society made up of those giving $1,000or more to the college, contributed 67 percent or $1.64 mil-lion of the unrestricted funds, the largest amount in theschool’s history. Membership in the cabinet climbed to 863,the highest since its founding 25 years ago.

“We can never overstate the crucial role of our alumniand other friends in the ongoing process of strengtheningthe college,” said Dean John H. Venable. “Their continuedsupport is vital as we increasingly find ourselves competingwith liberal arts colleges who have a much larger endowmentper student than we do.”

Francille Bergquist, associate dean of the College of Artsand Science, likes the idea of people looking in the sky

where her brother loved to fly. That’s why she and herfamily donated a new telescope to the university in his mem-ory. Eric Bergquist was a 24-year-old Army helicopterpilot who was shot down in Vietnam in 1969.

“My brother loved to fly,” says Dean Bergquist, addingthat he enlisted in the army because he believed in the causeand it gave him the opportunity to fly.

The 14-inch-diameter telescope has been mounted in itsown dome at Dyer Observatory. Although not as large asthe observatory’s main telescope, it will serve many usefulpurposes, says Douglas S. Hall, professor of astronomy anddirector of the observatory.

“This [gift] will help us branch out to make Vanderbilt’sriches and treasure more available to the broader public,”Hall says.

Bergquist says giving the telescope, which cost $15,000,is a positive way to memorialize her brother.

“I want it to be used to open up people’s ideas of the uni-verse, especially children,” she says. “Eric was always explor-ing. He was never afraid to try something new.”

The new Bergquist C14 telescope can be seen at the obser-vatory’s Web site: www.dyer.vanderbilt.edu

Twenty-five years of dedicated service

Vanderbilt has recognized the following faculty members who recently completed25 years of full-time service to the University:

Centennial Professor of Psychology Randolph Blake, a national leader in neuroscienceresearch, particularly in visual perception and cognition, received the Earl Suther-

land Prize in November.Blake is well known for his work on binocular perception—how the brain combines

information from the two eyes. He is considered a world expert on binocular rivalry, theperceptual competition that occurs between the two eyes when the images in each eyeare different. Besides shedding light on normal vision, this work has practical implica-tions for understanding visual disorders. His most recent research focuses on how thebrain assembles pieces of visual information into meaningful perceptions of objects andevents. This work could eventually shed light on developmentaldisabilities such as dyslexia.

A fellow of both the American Association for the Advancementof Science and the American Psychological Society, Blake has beencalled “an international leader in visual psychophysics and visualneuroscience” by William T. Newsome, professor of neurobiologyat Stanford University.

Blake is also adept at creatively communicating brain scienceto non-scientists. He co-authored with Robert Sekuler of BrandeisUniversity the book, Star Trek on the Brain: Alien Minds, HumanMinds, in which they use “Star Trek” episodes and movies to explain the neurological andpsychological basis of human behavior. They also wrote a seminal textbook, Perception,now in its third edition.

Blake came to Vanderbilt from Northwestern University in 1988 as chair of thepsychology department and continued in that role until 1996. He was awarded the titleof Centennial Professor last fall.

The Sutherland Prize, established in 1976, is named for Vanderbilt’s late Nobel lau-reate, Earl W. Sutherland Jr., who won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in1971. More than half of those receiving the Sutherland Prize since its inception havebeen A&S faculty members.

Donors give $12.7 million to A&S

Eye on the sky

Noted neuroscientist receives Sutherland Prize

New appointments

Paul Edelman, a distinguished math-ematician, has joined the faculty as pro-fessor of mathematics, with a secondaryappointment in the School of Law. Hisexpertise is in the ways mathematicscan inform a variety of legal issues.

Randolph Blake

Roy K. Gottfried,professor of English

Thomas A. Gregor,professor and chairof anthropologyand professor ofreligious studies

Charles F. Maguire,professor of physics

Joel BartonTellinghuisen, professor ofchemistry

A&S Associate Dean Francille Bergquist looks through the newtelescope that she and her family donated to Vanderbilt inmemory of her brother, Eric. Looking on is Eric’s widow, GaeNell Bergquist Trommald.

While anundergraduate,Patricia “Peachy”Myers, BA’00, startedVERSES, an artprogram for youngsterswho live in Nashvillepublic housing.

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VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY

A&S Cornerstone

College of Arts and Science

2201 West End Avenue

Nashville, TN 37235

NonprofitOrganizationU.S. Postage

P A I DNashville, TNPermit No. 581

W H E R E A R E T H E Y N O W ?

The Fine Arts Gallery is presenting a special treat for

Parent’s Weekend: the first-ever exhibition of Robert

Frost’s poetry with woodcut illustrations by J.J.

Lankes.The exhibit will open March 31 and run through

June 15.

Drawn primarily from the extensive private col-

lection of Patrick J. Alger, a Nashville collector, the

exhibition will present rare first editions of Frost’s

poetry, each containing woodcut illustrations by

Lankes, as well as a large selection of his original

woodcuts.

“Exhibited for the first time, this remarkable col-

lection will reveal a vignette of a rural America that

is both simple, yet eloquent,”says Joseph Mella, cura-

tor of the gallery.

A s associate dean of the College of Artsand Science from 1973 to 1985, Ruth

Grace Zibart, MA’42, advised and counseledmany students concerningtheir academic careers. Aftereach counseling session, shewould write a summary onthe student’s interview card.

“Dean Zibart was famousfor her humorous, insight-ful, and wise counsel, as

well as for a wonderful use and appreciationfor the English language,” says FrancilleBergquist, who worked with Zibart. Here area few of Dean Zibart’s more ‘famous’ lines: • About a student who was considering atransfer to another school: “Initially coun-seled student to stay, then urged to go.”

• Concerning a student who came to heroffice wearing earphones: “He came in wiredfor sound.”

• About a student that she had difficulty get-ting out of her office: “Came to talk, stayedto pray.”

In addition to her administrative duties,Dean Zibart also taught in the French depart-ment. She became a student again at age 40,earning her PhD degree in French literaturefrom the University of Michigan.

When her late husband, Alan, died in1995 after a long illness, she began to travelabroad, making trips to Panama, Scandinavia,Italy, Hong Kong and Bali. She continues tolive in Nashville and is actively involved withher two granddaughters and 15 great-niecesand great-nephews.

The Vanderbilt AlumniAssociation has named AntonioGotto, BA’57, MD’65, right,Distinguished Alumnus for theyear 2000. Dean of CornellUniversity’s Medical School,Gotto is one of the world’sforemost authorities onatherosclerosis, the primarycause of cardiovascular disease.He is also the author of severalpopular books, including TheNew Living Heart Cookbookand The New Living HeartDiet. Presenting Gotto withthe award are Wayne Hyatt,BA’65, JD’68, left, andChancellor Gordon Gee.

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Ruth Zibart

A Shared Vision of America

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