Pipe Dreams

For six summers, students and faculty physicians have been trekking into Papua New Guinea to set up makeshift clinics and train local medics. The villagers greet them with songs praising Stanford in pidgin.

by Uma Sanghvi

Starting with the Phoenix, his rock'n'roll hotel that rose from a shabby San Francisco neighborhood, this unorthodox businessman has created a stir in the hospitality industry. But his growing concern is more about people than buildings.

by Robert L. Strauss

A writer/photographer visited the tiny Canadian town of Wallace Stegner's boyhood, looking for clues to the author's world view. He found a setting both beautiful and austere, and the rugged character that shapes Stegner's stories.

by Jim Foley

When English professor John Felstiner stumbled upon a former student's decades-old honors thesis, he set out to renew his acquaintance with the student. What began as a casual inquiry became a monthslong search into a troubled past, with disquieting results.

by John Felstiner

K-12 education continues to attract promising new teachers, including dozens each year from Stanford. Keeping them is another matter.

by Christine Foster

The Toledo Six, a half-dozen sophomores-to-be, hope to outwit Stanford’s complicated housing draw and score a plum dorm assignment. They have a plan, but can they beat the house rules?

by Marisa Milanese

Comic-book writer Kelley Puckett's new Batgirl packs a wallop but hides a shadowy past. Now if he could only figure out who she really is.

by Taylor Antrim

Buckle up, bell hooks is in the building. The feminist author known for her frank style and tempestuous nature can dish out withering criticism, but insists she's really all about love.

by Diane Rogers

More than 60 summers ago, a Stanford student and his buddies staked their vacation on an improbable quest: to find gold in the Sierra. They endured blistering heat, poisoned water and sore backs, but came away with a treasured memory--and a few nuggets of wisdom.

by Henry Clay Lindgren

What is a former radical atheist hippie doing as the dean for religious life? In his first year on the job, the Rev. Scotty McLennan is trying to show Stanford and the rest of Silicon Valley that faith and action go together.

by Nancy Day