1999 Alumni Association Awards
The Woodrow Wilson
Award
Honors alumni who have brought credit to the University by
their current or recently concluded distinguished service to the
public as elected or appointed officials.
Lynn Goldman, SPH '81
Lynn Goldman was appointed by President Clinton in 1993 as
assistant administrator of the Office of Prevention, Pesticides
and Toxic Substances of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In this position, she has been the country's leader in pollution
prevention, pesticide regulation, toxic substances control, and
right-to-know programs, as well as children's environmental
health issues. Dr. Goldman holds three degrees from the
University of California and is a board-certified
pediatrician.
Edward L. Rowny, Engr '37
Ambassador Edward Rowny, who also holds degrees from West Point,
Yale, and American University, commanded units in World War II,
Korea, and Vietnam. He was a key figure in U.S.-Soviet nuclear
arms negotiations for five U.S. presidents. Mr. Rowny was
awarded the rank of ambassador by President Reagan and retired
from government in 1990.
The Heritage
Award
Honors alumni or friends who have contributed outstanding
service over an extended period to the progress of the University
and the activities of the Alumni Association.
William Banks, A&S '29
William Banks, retired president of Lord Baltimore Press, has
served as a class agent and
reunion chairman for the Class of '29, leading his classmates in
building a scholarship endowment of nearly
$1 million. He has been an active member of the Senior Alumni
Program and of the Johns Hopkins Club.
Stanley C. Gabor, Dean, SCS
Stanley Gabor has served as dean of the School of Continuing
Studies for 17 years, introducing many initiatives and expanding
the School's programs. He also established the School's Division
of Undergraduate Programs in 1996 and has been a pioneer in a
distance learning partnership with Caliber Learning Network.
Innovative programs launched during his tenure include the Police
Executive Leadership Program, the first of its kind in the
country, and the nationally acclaimed Business of Medicine
Program.
Donald Giddens, Dean Emeritus, Engr
Donald Giddens was named dean of the Whiting School in 1992,
following 25 years at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He
left Hopkins in 1997 to resume his research at Georgia Tech and
the Emory University School of Medicine. While at the Whiting
School, Dean Giddens emphasized faculty recruitment and the
development of infrastructure in areas of strategic importance to
the engineering program. His policies were directly responsible
for the School's significant rise in the U.S. News & World Report
rankings during his tenure.
Thomas McCann, Friend, SPH
Thomas McCann became associated with the School of Public Health
as a vice president at Bristol Myers Squibb, which, during the
1980s, took a particular interest in the School's Center for
Alternatives to Animal Testing. From that association, Mr.
McCann became an active supporter of the School, serving on the
Advisory Board from 1989 through 1997 and playing a key role in
the School's 75th anniversary celebration. Mr. McCann also
initiated the School's Declaration of Health Rights, a credo for
graduates and a document that has been signed by health and
political leaders in many countries.
Naneen Hunter Neubohn, SAIS '64
Naneen Neubohn, a managing director in the London office of
Morgan Stanley & Company, is a University trustee and chair of
the Bologna Center Advisory Council. Ms. Neubohn served for many
years on the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Advisory Council and has devoted much of her time and resources
to the School. In addition to serving as a career mentor to SAIS
alumni and students, she has helped to raise the profile of SAIS
and Johns Hopkins in the international financial community. She
has also hosted several events for Hopkins alumni in New York and
London.
Barbara Schweizer, Nurs '86
Since her graduation, Barbara Schweizer has been an active
volunteer at the School of Nursing. For more than a decade she
has chaired the Isabel Hampton Robb Society, which, under her
leadership, has grown from 71 to 201 members. She has been a
member of the National Council for Johns Hopkins Nursing and has
also been a dedicated volunteer for the School's annual
Nightingala event.
Levi Watkins Jr., Associate Dean, Med
The first African-American student to attend Vanderbilt Medical
School (1966-70), Levi Watkins was also the first black resident
in surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital (1970). In 1980, Dr.
Watkins initiated the first annual Martin Luther King Jr.
commemoration program at Hopkins, an event that has drawn
prestigious national leaders ever since. He plays a vital role
each year in the recruitment, retention, and matriculation of
talented minority students at the Hospital and School of
Medicine. Dr. Watkins has also been a generous donor to medical
programs at Johns Hopkins.
The Distinguished Alumnus
Award
Honors alumni who have typified the Johns Hopkins tradition of
excellence and brought credit to the University by their personal
accomplishment, professional achievement, or humanitarian
service.
John Astin, A&S '52
John Astin graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1952 with a degree in
writing, speech, and drama. A veteran stage, film, and
television performer, he is perhaps best known as the zany
patriarch of television's "The Addams Family." He has recently
been appearing on stages across the country in his one-man show,
"Edgar Allan Poe--Once Upon a Midnight." Mr. Astin took part in
the celebrations surrounding the 50th anniversary of the Johns
Hopkins Writing Seminars, reading "The Raven" to a
standing-room-only crowd.
Wolf Blitzer, SAIS '72
Wolf Blitzer joined the staff of CNN in 1990 as a military
affairs correspondent at the Pentagon, a position that allowed
him to be one of the first Western correspondents invited into
KGB headquarters in Moscow. In 1992, Mr. Blitzer became CNN's
senior White House correspondent. He was honored in 1994 by
American Journalism Review with the coveted Best in Business
Award for the "best coverage of the Clinton administration." Mr.
Blitzer also won an Emmy Award in 1996 for his coverage of the
Oklahoma City bombing. He is the author of numerous books and
articles on political topics.
Rashi Fein, A&S '48, '56 (Ph.D.)
A professor in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard
Medical School for the past 30 years, Rashi Fein is recognized
worldwide as an authority on public health and the economics of
medicine. He is a charter member of the Institute of Medicine at
the National Academy of Sciences and serves on numerous boards
and advisory committees. His work has established a central role
for economics in health care policy. Dr. Fein is the author of
eight books and countless articles on public health
issues.
Jeong Hun Kim, Engr '82, '89 (M.S.)
Jeong Kim emigrated from Korea at age 14 and worked tirelessly to
achieve academic and professional success at a young age. At
Hopkins he earned his bachelor's degree in three years and later
earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in just two
years. In 1992 Dr. Kim founded Yurie Systems, a
telecommunications company he recently sold to Lucent
Technologies for $1 billion. He has been featured on the cover
of Business Week and was recently named Emerging Entrepreneur of
the Year by Ernst and Young.
Guy Knickerbocker, Engr '54, '58, '70 (Ph.D.)
Dr. Knickerbocker is perhaps best known for developing the
closed-chest defibrillator that eliminated the need to open the
chest cavity for open-heart surgery. The equipment for this
procedure is now standard in hospitals around the world. He was
also a leading contributor to the closed-chest cardiac massage
procedure that restores heart activity and has saved countless
lives in many countries. Formerly on the Hopkins faculty, he has
been with the Emergency Care Research Institute in Pennsylvania
since 1972.
Richard Macksey, A&S '54, '57 (Ph.D.)
Richard Macksey has been a Johns Hopkins faculty member for over
40 years, starting as an assistant professor in comparative
literature in 1958. He is well known in the Hopkins community
for founding the University's Humanities Center, serving as its
first director from 1970 to 1982. Dr. Macksey holds joint
appointments in the Writing Seminars and in the History of
Medicine Department at the School of Medicine. He is the author
or editor of 12 books, more than 200 articles, two novels, two
volumes of poetry, and countless reviews and translations. In
1992 he received Hopkins' George E. Owen Teaching Award.
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, SAIS '82
Prince Bandar bin Sultan has been the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to
the United States since 1983. He previously served as a fighter
pilot in the Royal Air Force and as a defense and military
attaché to the U.S. He has been instrumental in maintaining the
Saudi-American partnership in the Middle East, and he facilitated
Saudi Arabian support against Iraq during the Gulf War. As the
most senior diplomat in Washington, he currently serves as dean
of the Diplomatic Corps.
Richard Sonnenfeldt, Engr '49
Richard Sonnenfeldt has had a distinguished career in business
and communications, serving as CEO and president of Digitronics,
vice president of RCA, executive vice president of NBC, and
chairman and CEO of NAPP Systems, Inc. He was a developer of
color television, for which he earned 34 patents between 1949 and
1955. In addition, he was decorated as chief interpreter at the
Nuremberg Trials in 1945. A member of the Whiting School's
National Advisory Council, Mr. Sonnenfeldt established the
Sonnenfeldt Family Fund in Engineering with a major gift to the
School in 1985.
Rowena Spencer, Med '47
After receiving her medical degree, Rowena Spencer became the
first female surgical intern at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. She
was the first female appointed to the full-time surgery staff at
Louisiana State University and the first female surgeon in
Louisiana. Dr. Spencer practiced at Tulane University Hospital
from 1968 to 1977, after which she maintained a private practice
until her retirement in 1984. She began extensive research on
conjoined twins in 1990 and went on to review over 1,200 such
cases, becoming one of the world's leading authorities on the
subject.
Jody Williams, SAIS '84
After graduating from SAIS, Jody Williams worked for 11 years
with the Nicaragua-Honduras Education Project, through which she
led U.S. fact-finding delegations to Central America. She later
became associate director of Medical Aid to El Salvador, a Los
Angeles-based humanitarian relief organization. Her career in
Latin American human rights efforts continued and eventually
shifted to a focus on antipersonnel landmine eradication. She
was awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in that
field.
Convocations Draw Crowds in L.A., San
Francisco
Some 600 alumni and friends of the University and Johns Hopkins
Medicine attended West Coast convocations on a weekend in March,
at the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Fairmont Hotel on Nob
Hill in San Francisco.
Guests heard University President William Brody, as well as other
outstanding faculty speakers presenting the latest research from
their divisions. Area trustees and alumni chapter officers also
helped make the events a huge success.
 |
| Actor John Astin, A&S '52,
right, who received the Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus
Award during the Los Angeles convocation, is congratulated by Erv
Sekulow, A&S '59, SCS '76, executive director of alumni
relations. |
 |
| Arts and Sciences Dean Herbert
Kessler, one of the convocation speakers, visits with Los Angeles
convocation guests on the terrace of the Getty Center. |
 |
| Trustee Charles D. Miller
talks with other guests in Los Angeles. During the convocation
weekend, President Brody presented Mr. Miller with the
President's Medal for his long and productive advocacy of the
Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Institute for the
Academic Advancement of Youth. |
 |
| San Francisco Alumni Chapter
President Douglas Gneiser, A&S '83, at right, talks with trustee
Robert Abernathy, A&S '62, second from right, and other guests at
the San Francisco convocation on Nob Hill. |
 |
| Trustee John Cooke, who also
serves on the board of the J. Paul Getty Trust, was emcee for the
Los Angeles convocation, which he was instrumental in arranging
at the Getty Center. Mr. Cooke also hosted a dinner for the
president and the speakers. |
 |
| Trustee Ernest Bates, A&S '58,
chats with Ilaya Rome Hopkins, Bol '92, SAIS '93, in San
Francisco, where he served as emcee for the convocation. Dr.
Bates also hosted a dinner for President Brody and the
convocation speakers. |
Summer Schedule of Alumni Events
Greek Isles, July
9-23
These are just a few of the many things hands are good for,
according to second- and third-graders at Tench Tilghman
Elementary School. Students at this and six other schools in
East Baltimore have participated in "Hands Are NOT For Hitting,"
a classroom activity developed by the American Medical
Association Alliance.