On October 29, 2009 I met with Vice President for Alumni Affairs and President of the Stanford Alumni Association (SAA) Howard Wolf. VP Wolf received an undergraduate degree in psychology from Stanford in 1980. He was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity and participated in the Florence, Italy study abroad program from September 1978 to March 1979. He lived in the Wilbur Madera residence which is now known as Okada during the 1976-1977 academic year. He later received an MBA from Harvard Business School. VP Wolf joined Stanford in his current position in April 2001 after taking a leadership role in a class reunion fundraising campaign and being recruited by the University.
The University's first graduates founded the SAA in 1892. The SAA started out as independent organization but was acquired by Stanford University in 1998. The SAA "aims to deliver the most effective alumni relations program anywhere in higher education. Its diverse offerings include a bimonthly magazine; online communication and networking tools; academic and social programming (on and off-campus); a worldwide travel/study program; and numerous Stanford-related products and initiatives" (SAA About Us Page). One point of confusion with the community that VP Wolf mentioned is that the SAA does no fundraising yet many people think they do. This is because many universities place their alumni association under their development office but at Stanford the SAA and the Office of Development are two completely independent organizations both reporting directly to the university president. At Stanford the Office of Development oversees and coordinates all fundraising activity, which allows the SAA to focus on engaging alumni/alumnae and building community through events like Reunion Homecoming weekend.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
On Dominating USC
Yesterday Stanford Football dominated USC! Stanford won 55 to 21 - this is the most points ever scored against USC - EVER. Anywhere. From the LA Times Peter Carroll said "'We played hard,' he says, the Trojans apparently giving everything they had but obviously not belonging in the same class as a group of future engineers and astronauts from Stanford. 'We were trying hard.'" I was in the Stanford Stadium Skybox at the Sophomore Class sponsored viewing party watching the game. The atmosphere was amazing! I hope Athletics does this for every away game. Stanford Football is back! Now it is time to Beat Cal and get the Axe back! See you at Big Game!
Meeting with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Director
On November 12, 2009 I met with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Director Persis Drell. Director Drell’s father is a Stanford professor (now emeritus) and she grew up on the Stanford campus. She grew up in what is now called the Griffin Drell house located behind Sigma Nu. Director Drell’s parents moved out of the house four years ago when construction for the new Munger Graduate Residence (MGR) began. The house was originally located on the MGR site (at the corner of Campus Drive and Alvarado Row) and therefore was moved to its current location behind Sigma Nu to make room for the MGR. It now houses the Stanford Law Review.
Director Drell attended Wellesley College as an undergraduate and majored in math and physics. She then went to Berkeley and earned a PhD in physics focusing on atomic physics. She later switched her focus to particle physics. She was a post-doc at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories and was an assistant professor for fourteen years at Cornell. Seven years ago Director Drell came to SLAC as an associate director and managed the particle facility and particle astrophysics research program. She then was promoted to deputy director and became director approximately two years ago. Director Drell misses teaching and doing research which she unfortunately does not have time for in her current position. This is different from the position of associate director, which was fun and close to the science. In addition, at Cornell she did significant teaching, which she enjoyed immensely.
SLAC is a Department of Energy funded and Stanford operated lab that does basic research exploring the structure and dynamics of matter and topics such as how matter is put together and what it is doing. SLAC works on scales from universe sized down to single atoms moving around in chemical processes and single particles. SLAC is currently undergoing a significant change in its scientific mission and the way the facility operates which has not been an easy process. It is switching from a focus on using the accelerators to do particle physics to now making x-rays. SLAC used to identify with particle physics but now is identifying with photon science.
SLAC recently turned on the world’s first x-ray free electron laser. This laser features ultra bright and short pulses that produce stop action pictures of atoms and chemical processes in real-time. Up until now, the strobe and flash speed was not fast enough so only blurry pictures were produced. The pulses with the new x-ray laser are a few femto seconds long, which is the time scale on which these particles move and reactions take place. The project cost $420M. It was turned on, on April 10, 2009 and it just worked and has continued to work without any problems. It uses 1KM of the old linear accelerator and 1KM of a new beam line. Teams from around the world of 10-20 people visit SLAC to use the laser for 4-5 days at a time. Each year a couple hundred scientists are able to use the laser.
Another project SLAC was recently involved with is the Fermi-Gamma Ray Space Telescope. Fermi has two parts, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor. The LAT was integrated and assembled at SLAC and the Primary Investigator was Professor Peter Michelson. Fermi was launched on June 11, 2008 and now sits in low earth orbit producing spectacular data that is processed back at the SLAC Instrument Science Operation Center (ISOC).
In terms of the University, SLAC is sort of like one of the seven schools. SLAC has approximately 1,400 employees and fifty tenure track faculty. Director Drell is analogous to a school Dean. Many of the SLAC faculty hold joint appointments with one of the other seven schools. SLAC also has approximately 100 to 120 graduate students.
Director Drell attended Wellesley College as an undergraduate and majored in math and physics. She then went to Berkeley and earned a PhD in physics focusing on atomic physics. She later switched her focus to particle physics. She was a post-doc at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories and was an assistant professor for fourteen years at Cornell. Seven years ago Director Drell came to SLAC as an associate director and managed the particle facility and particle astrophysics research program. She then was promoted to deputy director and became director approximately two years ago. Director Drell misses teaching and doing research which she unfortunately does not have time for in her current position. This is different from the position of associate director, which was fun and close to the science. In addition, at Cornell she did significant teaching, which she enjoyed immensely.
SLAC is a Department of Energy funded and Stanford operated lab that does basic research exploring the structure and dynamics of matter and topics such as how matter is put together and what it is doing. SLAC works on scales from universe sized down to single atoms moving around in chemical processes and single particles. SLAC is currently undergoing a significant change in its scientific mission and the way the facility operates which has not been an easy process. It is switching from a focus on using the accelerators to do particle physics to now making x-rays. SLAC used to identify with particle physics but now is identifying with photon science.
SLAC recently turned on the world’s first x-ray free electron laser. This laser features ultra bright and short pulses that produce stop action pictures of atoms and chemical processes in real-time. Up until now, the strobe and flash speed was not fast enough so only blurry pictures were produced. The pulses with the new x-ray laser are a few femto seconds long, which is the time scale on which these particles move and reactions take place. The project cost $420M. It was turned on, on April 10, 2009 and it just worked and has continued to work without any problems. It uses 1KM of the old linear accelerator and 1KM of a new beam line. Teams from around the world of 10-20 people visit SLAC to use the laser for 4-5 days at a time. Each year a couple hundred scientists are able to use the laser.
Another project SLAC was recently involved with is the Fermi-Gamma Ray Space Telescope. Fermi has two parts, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor. The LAT was integrated and assembled at SLAC and the Primary Investigator was Professor Peter Michelson. Fermi was launched on June 11, 2008 and now sits in low earth orbit producing spectacular data that is processed back at the SLAC Instrument Science Operation Center (ISOC).
In terms of the University, SLAC is sort of like one of the seven schools. SLAC has approximately 1,400 employees and fifty tenure track faculty. Director Drell is analogous to a school Dean. Many of the SLAC faculty hold joint appointments with one of the other seven schools. SLAC also has approximately 100 to 120 graduate students.
Meeting with Director of Athletics Robert Bowlsby
On November 4, 2009 I met with Director of Athletics Robert Bowlsby. Director Bowlsby oversees approximately 850 student athletes. He is removed from the day to day activities of the Athletics Department and is a generalist. He reports to the Provost and is responsible for raising money and for a budget of $75M of which $20M comes from endowments and the rest is generated. Director Bowlsby solicits gifts, works with friends and alumni, and has nine direct reports including external affairs, website, ticket office, service elements, and sports reporting.
There is no typical day for Director Bowlsby. His days vary from working on finances, student disciplinary issues, speaking off-campus, to meeting with the University President and trustees. Director Bowlsby travels a lot and spends on average 100 nights a year off campus. He also sits on the Alumni Association Board of Director.
In the past each sports program would raise their own money and they heavily competed with each other. They also overspent their budget which resulted in a large deficit. Today the fundraising is centralized in the Buck/Cardinal Club which was created five years ago and is analogous to The Stanford Fund.
There is no typical day for Director Bowlsby. His days vary from working on finances, student disciplinary issues, speaking off-campus, to meeting with the University President and trustees. Director Bowlsby travels a lot and spends on average 100 nights a year off campus. He also sits on the Alumni Association Board of Director.
In the past each sports program would raise their own money and they heavily competed with each other. They also overspent their budget which resulted in a large deficit. Today the fundraising is centralized in the Buck/Cardinal Club which was created five years ago and is analogous to The Stanford Fund.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
R&DE, Transportation, and Sustainability Town Hall
The ASSU is hosting a Town Hall featuring Residential and Dining Enterprises, Transportation, and Sustainability on October 29, 2009 at 5:30PM-7:30PM in the Black Community Services Center Community Room. You can RSVP at http://j.mp/4FhOzD and there will be a live webcast at http://assu.stanford.edu/townhall.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Ray's Taste Testing
Finally, after The 750, the pub in the Graduate Community Center, closed around the end of the 08-09 academic year, there is now a new restaurant in the space! Ray Klein, owner of the Treehouse and CoHo has opened a new restaurant called Ray's where The 750 used to be. On 10/16/09 I attended the inaugural taste testing event and I can report that the food is good and the prices reasonable! The menu is very similar to the Treehouse menu with some new additions like fish & chips and pastries. Ray's is also serving coffee drinks and plans to have a good assortment of beers available including my favorite, Dog Fishhead Palo Santo Marron! Ray's also features a whole new look and feel that makes the venue much more welcoming. The bar has been stained a much darker color, there is a new matching dark wood floor, and the furniture has been replaced with much comfortable and cozy chairs and tables! Make sure to visit Ray's the next time you are at the GCC!
Woods Student Leader Lunch
On October 14, 2009 I attended the Woods Student Leader Lunch with Co-Director Professor Buzz Thompson. There are almost 40 student groups involved with environmental issues this year - truly an impressive number! It is a very exciting time to be involved with sustainability and environmental research and initiatives at Stanford where we are very lucky to have dedicated and brilliant faculty and administration working both on academic teaching & research and infrastructure & operations. During the lunch, environmental curriculum, research opportunities for students, conferences, workshops, and other ways of engaging students in environmental research and education were explored and discussed. It was a very productive lunch and allowed many of the student leaders focusing on environmental issues, to come together, meet each other, and discuss ways to collaborate not only with each other but also with the faculty and administrators. It is a very exciting year for environmental projects!
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