Remembering Frederick DeKuyper
September 29, 2008
In an article in today’s print edition, Jim Astrachan shares his memories of the life and work of Frederick DeKuyper, the retired associate general counsel at the Johns Hopkins University who died last week at the age of 70. But DeKuyper shared his own memories of the GC’s office with the JHU Gazette more than 13 years ago. Here’s a sample:
“There was a man in California who believed we had a brain-wave modification machine staffed 24 hours a day,” said DeKuyper, a Hopkins associate general counsel. “This machine allegedly was sending electronic emissions to the West Coast. These emissions, he said, were entering his left ear and doing harm to him.”
Eventually, the case was dismissed.
“I realized later I should have said, ‘You’re right, there is such a machine — but it’s at Harvard,’” he added, laughing.
What were your favorite DeKuyper quips?
BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor/Law
Sphere: Related ContentMaking the grade
August 22, 2008
The U.S. News & World Report’s 2009 college rankings are out, and Maryland schools performed pretty well.
Hopkins is 15th overall among national universities — no great surprise there. The University of Maryland at College Park came in at No. 53.
Maryland’s liberal arts colleges should be proud. In the Liberal Arts Rankings, we had: the U.S. Naval Academy, 22; St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 84; Washington College, 94; and Goucher, 111. I know my dad will be pleased for the state. “It’s important to have a good liberal arts education,” he always says.
Take a look at the various ranking categories and see where your alma mater fell. And be sure to use the info to start arguments throughout your office for the rest of the day.
JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist (graduate of No. 18)
Sphere: Related ContentHow prevalent is gender bias in academia?
May 2, 2008
In researching a story the other day about a former professor’s lawsuit against the Johns Hopkins University’s medical school, I came across a report on the university’s Web site that outlined a “longstanding” history of gender inequity.
The 2006 report, Vision 2020, was JHU’s latest in a long series of attempts to address the issue since 1985, when a committee was formed after “an egregious incident on the Homewood campus.”
Vision 2020 found the climate at the university to be “at best indifferent and at worst hostile to the concerns of women.”
Hopkins has apparently been working on implementing the suggestions of the Vision 2020 report, although it declined to comment on those efforts for my story. (It also declined to comment on Dr. Anne C. Fischer’s gender bias lawsuit; however, according to The Sun, it has since issued a statement denying Fischer’s allegations.)
For example, Vision 2020 highlighted a lack of women in executive positions at the school, saying the university tied for dead last among its peers in the number of women in leadership roles in 2005. A year after the report came out, the school appointed its first female provost: Kristina M. Johnson, an electrical engineer, was dean of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering prior to joining Hopkins.
Since running the story on Fischer’s lawsuit, though, I’ve received feedback from readers who question how different things really are now compared to a few years ago.
Given how open the university has been about past criticism, and the reader accounts I’ve received, I have to wonder how persistent this problem is — and if it is pervasive, is it limited to medical academia alone?
BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor
Sphere: Related ContentHopkins denies allegations of gender bias lawsuit
May 1, 2008
In Wednesday’s Daily Record I wrote about a former surgeon/professor at the Johns Hopkins University who is suing the school and two of her former supervisors for employment discrimination. (Web readers saw the story even earlier, as it was posted to our site on Tuesday evening.)
Asked about Dr. Anne Fischer’s allegations on Tuesday afternoon, a Hopkins spokesman declined to comment on the pending litigation, citing longstanding policy at the university.
According to an item on The (Baltimore) Sun’s Web site on Thursday, though, the school has broken its silence to issue a denial.
“In a statement released yesterday,” the Sun site says, “Johns Hopkins’ press office wrote: ‘The Johns Hopkins defendants, including the two individual faculty members, deny the claims and intend vigorously to defend the case. We believe the complaint has no merit.’”
BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor
Sphere: Related ContentBrody, others discuss health care on MPT
May 1, 2008
Aptly enough, JHU President Bill Brody will be on Retirement Living TV.
He’s conducting the interviews for a special on health care.
“Healthcare ‘08: Search for Solution” is being produced by RLTV and Maryland Public Television, with help from Johns Hopkins University and the National Coalition on Health Care.
The program will feature Brody having “in-depth conversations” with public figures about the present and future state of health care.
“This series presents an insight into both how our health care system really works and what needs to be done to fix it. Dr. Brody does an exceptional job at challenging conventional wisdom in these interviews,” said Elliot Jacobson, VP of programming and production, RLTV.
Here’s the schedule:
MPT - 8 p.m. EDT
May 1: Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City
May 8: John Erickson, CEO, Erickson Retirement Communities
May 15: Bill Novelli, CEO, AARP
May 22: Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House
TBA: Elias A. Zerhouni, MD, Director, NIH
If Brody asked you, what would you say about the future of health care?
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentJHU President Bloomberg?
April 23, 2008
Is the mayor of the Big Apple considering the soon-to-be open position of Johns Hopkins University president?
The AP seems to think it’s possible.
From their story:
Consider his answers this week when he was asked about two of the most recent rumors: that he would buy the Times or could be president of Johns Hopkins University, his alma mater, to which he’s given more than $100 million.
……
Regarding the buzz about taking over Johns Hopkins, where a fraternity brother has reportedly circulated a letter to get the idea going, Bloomberg said his average grades in school likely keep him off the short list.
“Nobody thinks I should be president,” he said.
From Karen Buckelew’s March story about Brody’s retirement:
Standing on Decker Quadrangle, a swath of grass adjacent to the visitor’s center on the university’s Homewood campus, he squinted into the brisk wind and recalled what Michael Bloomberg told him May 2002, when the recently elected mayor of New York resigned as Hopkins board chair.
“He turned to me and said, ‘Don’t screw it up!’” Brody recalled, laughing.
What do you think? Should Michael Bloomberg replace William Brody?
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentHopkins luminary passes away
April 14, 2008
One of the Johns Hopkins University’s most famous graduates has passed away at 96. John A. Wheeler, who earned a doctorate in physics from Hopkins in 1933, was involved in the Manhattan Project and made a number of major scientific advancements.
If the name sounds at all familiar to you, it’s because he’s also the father of the term “black hole.”
I don’t suppose there’s too much “new news” to this story, but he was a major figure in science, and I wanted to get the word out.
JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist
Sphere: Related ContentFirst building opens at Hopkins science + tech park
April 11, 2008
You’ve probably heard by now that the first building at The Science and Technology Park at Johns Hopkins opened today after a ceremony honoring businessman (and contributor) John G. Rangos Sr., the building’s namesake.
The 278,000-square-foot research building, at 855 North Wolfe Street, will house life science research companies.
A new branding campaign for the New East Side was also revealed…
And you know what a new branding campaign brings: pastries!
(Well, technically real estate reporter Robbie Whelan brought them).
From the release:
“The Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins is one component of the transformation that is happening on the New East Side,” said Jack Shannon, President and CEO of East Baltimore Development Inc. “With new senior and workforce housing now available and job development training taking place, the community is ready to meet the growing demands of current and future tenants of the Park.”
The New East Side project will provide 850 new residential units in mixed-income housing for new and returning residents and graduate students as well as offer new life science, office and retail space. A new K-8 community school and open spaces are also planned.
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentWhy the B-more biotech bigwigs should vote Dem in November
April 10, 2008
This week, at an event related to the release of the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business’s annual “Trend Watch” report, attorney Ray Truitt of Ballad Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll made some interesting remarks about development, public housing and the relevance of the upcoming presidential election.
If a Democrat is elected president come November, he said, it is likely that HOPE-VI, the public housing improvement program spearheaded by Sen. Mikulski in 1993, will be resuscitated, “and that may be critical for the development of low-income and affordable housing.”
HOPE-VI is a program meant to help convert “severely distressed” public housing into more livable space. Since George W. Bush became president, however, the federal government has been cutting funding for the program every year.
To some, HOPE-VI is an invaluable lifeline of public money to improve public housing stock. To others, it is a way of tearing down poor people’s homes in order to replace them with mixed-income developments that are privately-owned, and generally more profitable for developers. The most recent issue of The Economist has an interesting article about the possible renewal of HOPE-VI in the next few months or years.
So what’s biotech got to do with it?
For one, the success of the new University of Maryland BioPark on Baltimore’s west side is inextricably tied to a corresponding neighborhood redevelopment effort in the surrounding communities, and it probably would not have moved forward if the city hadn’t cleaned up the public Read more
Sphere: Related ContentVideo: JHU President Brody on retirement
March 10, 2008
You may have seen Karen Buckelew’s report this morning on President Bill Brody’s impending (well, Dec. 31) retirement from Johns Hopkins University.
Watch below as Brody talks about his experiences with the JHU faculty, student body and connecting with the community during his twelve years as president.
Video shot by Daily Record photographer Max Franz.
-
Business
Business posts- Put your dukes up
- Who’s the big winner at Constellation’s Senior Players Championship?
- A recap of TechNite
- Slots groups make waves with radio ads
- Irony at an accident site
- Brian Wilson leaving Baltimore’s airwaves again
- GBTC hosts TechNite tomorrow
- Snyder a confirmed Top Chef contestant
- ‘All the comforts of home’ now include Wii
- Legislation up for vote
Law
Law postsRecent Posts
- Put your dukes up
- This week in Maryland Lawyer
- Law blog round-up
- Who’s the big winner at Constellation’s Senior Players Championship?
Recent Comments
- Tim: The kid was wrong! He either was not taught to respect others especially those in authority or he has rebelled...
- Richard Simon: If you would like to see a live video feed from Technite at the Baltimore Convention Center, go to...
- Kim: A typical root canal with a specialist will usually run a human from $1000 to $2000.
- publicus: Of course Congress should pass such a law. Without it, the freedom of speech in every country would be...
- neil helfrich: Barbara, Dana is Dan Moylan’s daughter not Charles Moylan”s daughter. BTW, the theory does...
On Commenting
We ask that our readers follow a few guidelines, noted below.Please do not post any personal attacks, profanity, spam or other advertisements — they will be removed. Also, please post using only one name or pseudonym, as this consistency helps establish a sense of community. We will delete posts if they are signed with different names but originate from the same IP or email address. And if you’re going to comment using a proper name, please make it your own. Deliberate misrepresentations will be removed.