Language Merger Put on Hold: The proposed consolidation of the foreign language departments is on hold until fall quarter. Following a contentious Faculty Senate discussion, Provost John Etchemendy announced on May 3 that he was appointing a blue-ribbon committee to study the proposal and consider alternatives. "What I took as the strong message from the discussion . . . was that we should slow down," said Etchemendy, PhD '82. In a follow-up memo to faculty, he added that related offers from the dean's office -- including funding for new senior faculty positions--"have been taken off the table," and two current searches for scholars of European literature have been frozen.
A Think Tank Gets the Go-Ahead: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching won county approval May 8 to build a new facility in Stanford's Lathrop District, adjacent to the Dish area. The Committee for Green Foothills attempted to block plans for the 21,000-square-foot building, claiming that it threatened the habitat of the endangered California tiger salamander and fell outside the University's growth boundary. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors denied the environmentalists' appeal but required that Carnegie move its site downhill 35 feet to make the building less visible, and take steps to keep tiger salamanders out of the construction zone.
Discrimination Suit Settled: Stanford in May settled a lawsuit brought by former medical research scientist Colleen Crangle without admitting any wrongdoing. A San Jose jury had awarded Crangle $545,000 last year, finding that the University had retaliated against her after she complained of gender discrimination. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, and both sides dropped their appeals. Crangle, PhD '84, who now runs a local research company, said, "I will continue to tell my story and to work for change."
Remembering a Shining Star: As a mentor for doctoral students from underrepresented groups -- including almost 40 African-Americans and Sally Ride, '73, MS '75, PhD '78, America's first woman in space -- solar physicist Art Walker was a "guide star," according to Bob Byer, MS '67, PhD '69, chair of applied physics. Walker, who died April 29 after a long battle with cancer, had recently presided over a Stanford meeting of the National Conference of Black Physics Students, where he encouraged 250 high school, undergraduate and graduate students to stick with physics. At a daylong campus celebration in his honor last September, Walker received a medal from NASA, and former students recalled his contributions to the black community at Stanford.
Sending Off the Vice Provost in Style: More than 100 students and staff donned red construction-paper bow ties and gathered in White Plaza in late May to pay tribute to vice provost of student affairs Jim Montoya, who stepped down June 30 to become vice president of the College Board. Montoya, '75, ma '78, worked at Stanford for 10 years, initially as dean of undergraduate admissions. Top administrators praised his dedication to students and reminisced about his enthusiastic performances in Gaieties. As the Stanford Band closed the event with a rousing rendition of "All Right Now," a plane flew overhead bearing the message, "Thank You Jim Montoya."
Graduate Student Charged with Sex Offense: Alexander Simon, a doctoral student in cancer biology, was arrested May 17 for attempted lewd and lascivious acts with a child. Simon, a volunteer safety instructor at local elementary schools through a program at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, allegedly sent a 10-year-old student an e-mail message containing a cartoon of rabbits mating. Her father contacted the San Mateo County sheriff's department, and two detectives took over the girl's e-mail account. According to the department, Simon's messages became progressively more explicit, and he was taken into custody at a meeting he thought he had arranged with the girl. He has pleaded not guilty.
Fire Guts Career Development Center: A two-alarm fire swept through the Career Development Center May 26, causing an estimated $300,000 in damage. No one was injured in the weekend blaze, and student reference files were unharmed. It took two hours for 30 firefighters from Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Santa Clara County to contain the fire, which gutted much of the two-story building and destroyed computers. The facility housed career counselors and posted job and internship listings for students and alumni. The center has been temporarily relocated to the Bakewell building on Galvez Street.
For Med Students, Help Is at Hand: The Stanford Mobile Med project is teaching doctors of the future about the future of doctors. The pilot program has equipped 240 medical students with Palm Vx personal digital assistants, onto which they can download study materials and classmates' contact information, as well as drug interaction data and Stanford Hospital's acceptable ranges for common medical tests. In the future, says associate professor of medicine Phyllis Gardner, "doctors will have PDAs to access patient histories, results of physicals, other electronic medical records and laboratory information. We're training students for that."
