For SLAC, a Familiar Face in the Top Job
Dean of Students Marc Wais has booted the Phi Delts out of their Jonathan Dorfan, a physicist who led the B-Factory project that studies why the universe is dominated by matter, will take over as director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center this summer. Dorfan came to SLAC as a postdoctoral fellow in 1976 and has served as associate director since 1994. A native of South Africa, he has done research in experimental particle physics and accelerator design. Dorfan, 51, succeeds the research facility's second director, Nobel laureate Burton Richter, who will step down August 31 after 15 years at the helm.
A Fast-Track Provost Search
The next provost will be no stranger to Stanford. That was the message from President Gerhard Casper at a January Faculty Senate meeting when he appointed a 12-member search committee. The incumbent, Condoleezza Rice, will step down in June after six years as the top academic and budget officer. "It is very clear to me that the search should be limited to the Stanford community," Casper said. "We need someone with a detailed knowledge of the University." Casper is co-chairing the committee with developmental biology professor Lucy Shapiro. They hope to name the new provost by April 1. Searches continue for Law School and Business School deans.
Back in the Former USSR
The Cardinal is returning to Red Square. Students will be back at the Moscow Overseas Study campus in September, a year after operations were suspended because of the political and financial turmoil in Russia. When banks closed, officials worried about being able to conduct business, says Carole Price, associate director of Overseas Studies. The 17 students who were set to spend last fall quarter there returned to campus or were placed in programs in Berlin, Oxford and Santiago. The chaos in the country has not diminished student interest: a full Moscow contingent is expected this fall.
A Modest Tuition Increase
Get out your checkbook. The cost of tuition, room and board at Stanford will rise next fall to $30,939 -- the first time ever above $30,000. The 3.5 percent hike, approved by the Board of Trustees at its February meeting, is the same as last year's increase. The Farm still costs less than Harvard, Yale or Princeton, board chairman Robert Bass, MBA '74, said after the meeting. The trustees also added $500,000 to the financial-aid pot aimed at low-income students and President's Scholars. "Our Ivy competition has become more focused on financial aid," Bass said. "We need to stay competitive."
From the West Coast, a Medical Journal
Bauer
Physicians who turn to the venerable New England Journal of Medicine for the latest medical breakthrough might want to look west as well. Working in partnership with the British Medical Journal Publishing Group, UCSF Stanford Health Care has purchased the monthly Western Journal of Medicine and is hoping to relaunch the 96-year-old publication this spring. The aim, says Medical School Dean Eugene A. Bauer, is to offer a peer-reviewed outlet for advances from the perspective of the Western states. Planners hope to make the journal more useful to practicing physicians.
After Nine Years, the Museum Reopens
Art isn't dead at Stanford -- it was just resting. More than nine years after the Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the University's museum, it rose again in January as the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts. The grand reopening weekend included a gala dinner for donors and a day for members of the Stanford community to wander the galleries and grounds. During four days of kickoff events, 17,000 people visited the expanded complex, enjoying old favorites like Rodin's sculptures as well as new offerings. One highlight was a collection of 120 Picasso etchings, lithographs and color linocuts from the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif.
They Came, They Played, They Gave
Loyal alumni dug into their pockets and gave $27 million to Stanford as part of the 1998 Reunion Homecoming campaigns. With 57 percent of its graduates donating, the Class of 1948 won the Wilbur Reynolds Cup for the highest participation in a reunion year. The Reunion Giving Trophy for the most dollars raised during a reunion year went to the Class of 1973, which brought in $5 million. The Class of 1978 received the President's Cup for raising $2 million for the discretionary fund. And the new Wonder Class of 1937 Award went to the Wonder Class itself, which had 87 percent participation in The Stanford Fund.
Thick Envelopes for a Lucky Few
Kinnally
The Stanford family grew by 484 in December when acceptances went out to early-decision candidates for next year's freshman class. The high school seniors, who promised to attend if accepted, were chosen from 2,009 applicants. Rejection letters went out to 1,272 students, or 63 percent of the pool. Decisions on another 253 applications were deferred for consideration in the regular admission round. Dean Robert Kinnally and his staff are now elbow-deep in files: all told, 17,876 students applied for a spot in the class of 2003, down 5 percent from last year's all-time high of 18,888. Regular decision letters go out at the beginning of April.
