Contact by email:
Director (or send email to emeriti@emory.edu) Letters to the Editor Click on the above link to let us know what you think (or send email to emeriti@emory.edu)! |
Contact Other Members
Click here to read about the use of these listservs
find out about a travel destination or find other EUEC members who would like to travel with you, send an email to:
Find other members to get together for shared interests, whether it is forming a book club or a photography club, or getting together to take a hike. Send email to the following link to contact member who would like the same activity!
|
|
 |
|
This issue of our newsletter is sent to members and friends of the Emory University Emeritus College (EUEC). I hope the newsletter will help keep you informed about our activities and help you feel connected with our members throughout the U.S. On the left are links to our website and links to contact either me or the EUEC office.
With best wishes,
Gray
Gray F. Crouse
Director, EUEC
|
 Message from the Director
It may be summer, but there is a lot happening at EUEC and there is a lot in this issue. Of particular interest, Donna Troka at the CFDE is doing research for an exhibition in 2019 on the history of teaching at Emory. As explained below, she is seeking help in her research and who better to help her than our members? She is interested in teaching viewed broadly, and not just in the classroom, and is also interested in how students here might have changed over the years. I hope some of you with stories to tell will contact her.
It is not often that someone like Jeremy Irons would have second billing to a lecture by one of our members, but such was the case in May--see Faculty Activities below to find out more.
Most of you are aware that we have a voting representative to the University Senate and that our members can and do serve on Senate and Faculty Council Committees. There is a report on a Senate motion below that I think is worth reading, particularly as it concerns retirement assets of faculty and staff.
In this issue is also an announcement of this year's Bianchi Excellence Award grant and reports on two talks here, as well as a short report on the excursion to the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse for the performance of Richard III.
Most of you likely did not recognize Dianne's picture in the last issue of the newsletter. As you can read below, that picture is related to the demolition of the DUC and the building of the new Campus Life Center. The DUC is the first major building to have been both built and demolished while I have been on the faculty here. Have any of you seen other buildings both built and demolished while at Emory?
I am very grateful to John Bugge, Herb Benario, and Gretchen Schulz for help with proofing and editing.
|
Lunch Colloquium July 10
 |
|
|
Lunch Colloquium June 19
The Keys to the Kingdom: An Everyman's Guide to Loving Shakespeare
|
Afternoon Seminar June 13
All the Kings' Doctors: How the Medical Treatment of Leaders Changed History
|
Faculty Activities
|
A summary of the University Senate meeting of April 18 can be seen by clicking here. The above item was present in the May 29 newsletter. If you happened to click on the link for the summary of the April 18 meeting of the University Senate, you would have found the following: Following his report on the Fringe Benefits Committee, Sid Stein proposed this SENATE MOTION: To endorse the Committee's recommendation that the proposal to auto-enroll new hires be sent back to the Ways and Means Committee for further consideration. The motion passed unanimously.
|
Teaching at Emory
The Emory Campus probably did not look like it does now when you started teaching at Emory! The way you taught, the tools you used, and the students you worked with were also likely very different then compared with the present. No matter whether your teaching was in the classroom, in the lab, or in the clinic, Donna Troka is interested in hearing about your experiences in teaching at Emory. Her invitation is below. This is a great opportunity for you to contribute to what is known about the history of teaching and the students being taught. If you are interested, please contact Donna directly. CALLING ALL RETIRED EMORY TEACHERS!!! Dr. Donna Troka, Associate Director of Teaching and Pedagogy at the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence (CFDE) at Emory University is researching and curating an exhibit on the history and present of teaching at Emory University. It will debut in fall 2019 in the Schatten Gallery in Woodruff Library. Most broadly, it will focus on teaching at Emory since its inception: what has and has not changed when it comes to teaching and pedagogy. Donna is looking for retired faculty who are willing to be interviewed this summer and fall. The interviews will be videotaped as they might become part of the actual exhibit. Are you willing to share your views/memories on teaching at Emory? If so, please email Donna at: dtroka@emory.edu.
|
Bianchi Award--2017
Judith C. Rohrer Associate Professor Emerita, Art History The Awards and Honors Committee is pleased to grant a Bianchi Excellence Fund to EUEC Member Judith Rohrer. Judy writes about her project: "I am writing to apply for a Bianchi Excellence Fund award to assist in expenses that will be incurred in the preparation of a book, 'La Nova Escola Catalana': arquitectura i política en la Barcelona 'modernista', 1888-1910, which will be published at the end of this year (or early the next) by the Editorial L'Avenç in Barcelona, Spain. This book represents research over several decades.
"Recently I made the acquaintance of a publisher in Barcelona who expressed interest in my early work, especially given the fact that 2017-18 has been designated as the 'Year of Puig i Cadafalch' in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the architect-politician's birth and the centrality of his practice to my scholarly concerns. The publisher applied for a co-publication grant from the Barcelona city government and just last week the application was approved.
"With the current movement for Catalan independence from Spain and an increasing desire for greater understanding of historical precedence, the material in this book has enhanced resonance and will play an important role in current scholarly debates engaging national identity, modernism, and tradition.
"In order to complete the bibliographic review necessary for this project, I will need to make one more research trip to Barcelona. Thus, I am requesting Bianchi funding to help with airfare and lodging in Barcelona for one month. My plan would be to travel in October when I will be giving a keynote paper at the International Conference on Puig i Cadafalch (October 20-22), arriving 3 weeks before and staying one week beyond."
Congratulations to Judy, and thanks to the donors who have made these Bianchi Excellence Awards possible!
|
Walking the Campus with Dianne
|
Lunch Colloquium July 10
Artificial Photosynthesis: Tackling Both Global Energy Needs and Climate Change
Craig Hill, Goodrich C. White Professor, Department of Chemistry "Globally, our energy requirements are expected to double in the next 30 to 40 years, maybe less. This and the remarkable international consensus (174 signatory countries to the 2016 Paris convention) that fossil fuel use is already changing the global climate in deeply worrisome ways constitute a research challenge as great as any." So says Emory's Goodrich C. White Professor of Chemistry, Craig Hill, who has spent years now consulting and collaborating with experts in many disciplines working on ways to solve these problems. As most acknowledge, fossil fuels, wind power, biofuels, geothermal power, and nuclear energy are all means to that end. But an undeniable fact remains: the only energy source that can come close to sustainably powering our long-term needs is sunlight. We have made real advances in tapping that resource. The solar power industry, which converts sunlight into electricity, is booming and continues to grow, but it has (and will continue to have) severe limitations. We're at the point now where we have solar powered buildings and electric cars, but we are never going to run airplanes, ships and most other forms of transportation on electricity. The solution to both these dual crises of energy availability and climate protection, as Craig will explain, is learning to do what plants do, only better---that is, learning to make fuel from sunlight--by artificial photosynthesis, a process in which we'll use solar energy to split water and/or reverse combustion (photosynthesis) to generate carbon-neutral fuels without pollution. "Making artificial photosynthesis a reality is a tremendous challenge," Craig says, "but it's also tremendously exciting." About Craig Hill
Craig received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 under the direction of George M. Whitesides and did postdoctoral work at Stanford University under the direction of Richard H. Holm (1975-1977). After teaching at the University of California, Berkeley (1977-1983), he moved to Emory University where he is currently Goodrich C. White Professor of Science. His research encompasses fundamental structural and reactivity studies, catalysis, functional nanomaterials, and solar energy conversion. Craig's research has been recognized by a Senior Award from the von Humboldt Society (1995), the Emory Albert E. Levy Science Research Award (1996), the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Group Honor Award for Excellence in Research (1996), and three awards of the American Chemical Society: the Charles H. Stone Award (1992), the Southern Chemist Award (2002), and the Herty Medal (2009). He is Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2006) and the Victorian Institute of Chemical Sciences (2006).
|
Lunch Colloquium June 19
The Keys to the Kingdom: An Everyman's Guide to Loving Shakespeare
Jeffrey Watkins, CEO and Artistic Director, Atlanta Shakespeare Company or... "A Horse! A Horse! My Kingdom for a Horse"
Richard III opens with the well-known phrase "Now is the winter of our discontent." I can't imagine there were any discontented listeners as Jeff Watkins, CEO and Artistic Director of the Atlanta Shakespeare Company, demonstrated his remarkable talent as a teacher and an actor at the Lunch Colloquium on Monday, June 19. Jeff Watkins has led the Shakespeare Company from its humble beginnings putting on Shakespeare plays in the side room of Manuel's Tavern to its current position as the pre-eminent interpreter of the work of Shakespeare in Atlanta and indeed the entire southeast. Under his direction, the Company acquired its current building on Peachtree Street as a rental in 1989 and a purchase in 2000 (and more recently expanded into the adjacent building). He is, as he puts it "saving the world with iambic pentameter"! Before turning to the current production of Richard III, Jeff gave us his reasons why Shakespeare is so important. Language is fundamental to the development of all civilizations. William Shakespeare was quite simply the greatest master of the English language, writing at the time when the language was taking its modern form. His work is the basis of all the dramatic works we enjoy today--not to mention the many phrases that he contributed to the language that are still in use like "love is blind," "set my teeth on edge," "in my heart of hearts," "seen better days" and many, many more. Jeff presented us with what he called "The Keys to the Kingdom," five things that need to be understood about Shakespeare plays. First, he demonstrated the performance reality of the Elizabethan theater. These plays were written to be performed before a huge audience. Jeff referenced his own appearance at London's New Globe Theater where he was the first American actor ever to take that stage. He realized he was in a space where an actor would be surrounded by an audience of 3,000 with whom he must communicate. The Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern with 200 seats is tiny by comparison. Actors in Elizabethan times had to speak up! Second, he described the role of the audience. Actors did not pretend that the audience was not present. Soliloquies were directed to them, not to the air. Third, the plays reflected the Elizabethan world view. In that world, everyone had a place from God above, to the king, to nobles, to peasants, and on down to the devil below, and the plays, especially the history plays, affirm this social order. Richard III is an example of what happens when that order is disrupted. It comes at the culmination of the long and terrible years of civil war known as the Wars of the Roses. It is also blatant Elizabethan propaganda. The Richard of the historical record was not the evil monster depicted in the play, but it was in the political interests of Elizabeth I and her court to paint Richard and the Yorkists as black as possible. Anyone interested in a more nuanced view of his reign might enjoy Josephine Tey's novel The Daughter of Time.) Fourth, the structure of the texts of the plays reflected the need of actors to memorize lines. Blank verse was simply easier to learn and deliver than prose. Jeff demonstrated the way the structure of the poetic text enhances the words by delivering a speech by Macbeth, a character he has played many times. Fifth, there is the question of Shakespeare's dirty jokes and bawdy language. It is difficult to stay true to the text and remove language that was no doubt well received at the time of writing but might be seen as offensive today. So be warned! Finally, Jeff turned to the current production of Richard III. He showed us photos of some of the cast members. For myself, I have been fascinated by the play ever since seeing Laurence Olivier lurching across the screen in the classic 1955 film. (Richard III has been filmed many times. The earliest surviving American feature film is a silent version of Richard III from 1912.) I even had a cat named Richard, Duke of Gloucester--we called him Gloucester. He was a great cat! I am looking forward to meeting another great Richard in the Tavern's Andrew Houchins. Thanks to Jeff for an absolutely riveting Colloquium. See you at the theater! --Jan Pratt
ADDENDUM: Our resident Shakespearean, Gretchen Schulz, reports that an enthusiastic group of 20 emeriti (including family and friends) attended the ASC production of Richard III on the evening of Sunday, June 25. The fact that their enthusiasm didn't fade--and indeed intensified--as three-and-a-half hours went by (!!!) attests to the quality of the play itself and that of this powerful version of the play. Gretchen would encourage the Shakespeare buff among us to attend the next production at the Tavern--one of the two plays she admires (and enjoys seeing--and thinking about) the most: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Believe it nor not, she ranks it right up there with King Lear for profundity, though the means to that end is laughter rather than tears. Midsummer will be running from July 8 to July 30 with preview performances on July 6 and 7.
Click here to return to top
|
Afternoon Seminar June 13
All the Kings' Doctors: How the Medical Treatment of Leaders Changed History
Maan Jokhadar, MD, FACC, Associate Professor, Internal Medicine, Division of CardiologyIn a talk on Tuesday afternoon, June 13, Dr. Maan Jokhadar, Associate Professor, Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, discussed his thesis that treating VIPs (Very Intimidating Persons) affects the judgment of the medical men (and they were all men) treating them. His talk, "All the Kings' Doctors: How the Medical Treatment of Leaders Changed History," presented several historical examples of doctors who had lapses in judgment or were overruled by patients such as George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Dwight Eisenhower, and Princess Charlotte of Wales. Those decisions often had significant effects on world or national events. He introduced his talk with a quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt: "Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself." Dr. Jokhadar spent much of his time on Franklin Roosevelt, whose many known physical problems provided opportunities for medical people both to shine and make mistakes. In addition to his well-known early bout with polio, Roosevelt had significant health issues as president. Early in his presidency, he had an attack of severe anemia, which put him in the hospital. He also had severe sinus problems, which were treated regularly with strong vasoconstrictor medications; these might have triggered high blood pressure, which led to later problems. Late in his third term FDR developed an alternating strong and weak pulse, which foretold oncoming heart failure. His doctor prescribed only a cigarette and a back rub! Tests eventually showed an enlarged heart, among other issues. As an additional piece of information about FDR's health, Dr.Jokhadar mentioned that the president in early 1944 already had worsening dyspenea and other signs of serious heart failure and consulted doctors about whether or not he should run for a fourth term. While one of his civilian doctors strongly recommended that he not run, another said that the president was in good enough shape for another term, which he subsequently won. During that fourth term, the president's failing health supported the concerns of the doctor who had not wanted him to run and perhaps provided opportunities for others to take advantage of the United States. By 1945, when he participated in the Yalta Conference, Roosevelt was extremely sick, a situation that Stalin and Churchill used to their benefits. Many debates have occurred over whether the president's bad health affected his decision-making ability at that important conference and played a part in the partition of Germany and eastern Europe and the beginning of the Cold War. Another example of the effect of a VIP on the judgment of his doctors appears with Lyndon Johnson, who was one of the most powerful people in Washington as Majority Leader of the US Senate at the time of his heart attack in 1955. It was a serious heart attack, but Johnson ignored many of his doctor's orders and virtually strong-armed him to let him return to politics to run for re-election to the Senate. Had he not run that year, he would not have been in the position to run for vice-president in 1960 and eventually become president, and we possibly would not have had the civil rights and other societal legislation that he pushed through Congress. In 1955, while playing golf, President Dwight Eisenhower got frustrated and angry because he had to go back and forth to the clubhouse to respond to frequent phone calls from Washington. He developed chest pains, which his doctor first attributed to a burger he'd eaten, but which later developed into a full-blown and serious heart attack. He eventually recovered and was sent to a rehab center. Although he'd not wanted to run for a second time, Eisenhower got so bored in rehab that he changed his mind. He had several strokes while in office that second term and had to delegate many responsibilities, with the likely result that the United States government did not handle such major issues of the day as civil rights, the space race, and Middle East developments as effectively as it might have had Ike been at full strength. After these twentieth-century examples of how medical science affected history, Dr. Jokhadar reviewed the sad death of the nineteenth-century Princess Charlotte of Wales. She was the only child of the Prince of Wales, later to become George IV. When the princess got pregnant, her physician prescribed a strict diet, which was the practice of the time and, of course, weakened her. Her labor lasted 50 hours; her physician bled her over and over and continued to restrict her dietary intake. Her child was still-born and she died within a few days. These deaths ultimately led the way to Queen Victoria and her many children, as well as the inherited hemophilia which affected many generations of European royal families. The final example from Dr. Jokhadar was George Washington, who got chilled and developed a serious respiratory illness. Even after his doctor had bled him, Washington himself insisted on being bled over and over, which continued to weaken him, and he eventually died of his illness. Dr. Jokhdar closed his presentation with the reminder that medicine is an art that relies on science and judgment and that the relationship of the doctor to his or her patient can often affect the outcome of illness in ordinary people like us, as well as world leaders. --Lynn Ganim Click here to return to top
|
Ronald Schuchard
Goodrich C. White Professor of English, Emeritus
EUEC Member Ron Schuchard delivered the University of London International Programmes' inaugural 1858 Charter Lecture on May 16. Following his lecture there was a reading of some of Eliot's poetry by the actor Jeremy Irons. A press release on the lecture can be seen by clicking here. An article on the lecture was published in the May 25 issue of Times Higher Education and was also posted online; the article can be seen by clicking here.
|
New Members
New members are the lifeblood of any organization. Please make a special effort to welcome them to EUEC!
Lee Pasackow, BA, BSW, MSLIS, Business Librarian, retired
Click here to return to top
|
Following his report on the Fringe Benefits Committee, Sid Stein proposed this SENATE MOTION: To endorse the Committee's recommendation that the proposal to auto-enroll new hires be sent back to the Ways and Means Committee for further consideration. The motion passed unanimously. To find out more about this motion, I contacted Sid Stein, who is Chair of the Fringe Benefits Committee. (As a side note, EUEC Member Jim Keller is a member of the Fringe Benefits Committee, and that Committee has been tireless in looking out for the interests of Emory retirees.) Thanks to Sid, here is some background information on the Senate resolution: We are all aware that many Americans have very inadequate savings for retirement. One survey found that 56% of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. A major concern for most Emory faculty thinking about retirement is whether they have sufficient savings. (Fortunately, for most faculty, the answer is YES.) Emory's current retirement plan (a 403(b) savings plan) is as follows. After one year of service, Emory contributes 6% of an employee's salary to the 403(b) plan. In addition, an employee can choose to contribute 2% of his or her salary to the 403(b) plan, and if the employee does so, Emory will contribute another 3% of his or her salary to the plan. Thus, employees who don't contribute anything to the plan end up with 6% of their salary being saved per year, whereas employees who contribute 2% of their salary to the plan end up with 11% of their salary being saved per year. Making a 2% per year contribution to the plan is certainly a "no-brainer" as it garners free money, and most faculty likely contribute much more per year to the plan. What are the data about Emory's retirement plan? Data from 2014 show that 82% of employees make the optional contribution to the plan and thus receive the additional Emory match. As one might expect from the above numbers, those who do not contribute to the plan leave Emory with about half of the retirement income of those who participate in the match. Employees who don't contribute are not equally spread across the employee pool: - 33% of employees under 35 do not contribute;
- 36% of employees with salary less than $40k do not contribute;
- 25-30% of employees who do not identify as white do not contribute.
In addition, it is primarily staff, rather than faculty, who don't contribute any matching funds. |
|
Staff
| |
Annual Base Salary Grouped
|
Percent No Match
| |
Less than $40,000
|
38.1%
| |
$40,000 - $100,000
|
15.2%
| |
>$100,000
|
3.5%
| |
Grand Total
|
17.7%
|
The fact that some employees don't opt to make contributions on their own is a well-known phenomenon. Automatically enrolling employees to make contributions to a savings plan (with an opt-out provision) is considered best practice for Human Resources, though it is relatively rare in academic institutions. It is found that in places where employees are auto-enrolled, most employees do not opt-out and thus end up with higher retirement savings than they would otherwise have had. One out of many articles that discuss this issue of behavioral economics can be read by clicking here. Here we have an interesting philosophical issue: if you give employees the opportunity to make the "right" decision (i.e. contribute to the retirement plan) but they choose not to, do you make it more difficult for them to make the wrong decision by auto-enrolling them in the savings plan and requiring them to opt-out if they don't want to? Does it make a difference that certain groups are disproportionately represented in those who don't choose to make a contribution? Does it make a difference that auto-enrollment would be more expensive for the University? For the past several years, the Senate Fringe Benefit Committee has put auto-enrollment of employees at the top of its priority list for fringe benefits. There are several ways in which auto-enrollment could be implemented; the most important distinction is whether only new hires would be auto-enrolled, or whether all employees would be auto-enrolled. The Ways and Means Committee discussed auto-enrollment of all employees and decided that the additional cost (which they estimated at $2.4 million the first year) would equate to an additional quarter point on the fringe benefit rate, which would be too high an impact on the budgets of the schools and colleges, particularly at a time of limited revenue increases. It is within this context that the Fringe Benefits Committee proposed the resolution that auto-enrollment of new hires be sent to the Ways and Means Committee for reconsideration. Auto-enrollment of new hires would have approximately 1/5 the cost of auto-enrollment of all employees (because the result would be fewer employees making the match). Letters to the Editor concerning this issue, as for issues raised by all other articles in the newsletter, are welcome. Click here to return to top
|
Walking the campus with Dianne
The brand-new place on campus for our last walk? It's the DUC-ling! --the temporary student dining hall put in place while the new Campus Life Center is being constructed. It is basically a big tent placed in front of the WoodPEC. During a recent walk, I was peeping through the door of the facility when an Emory catering employee beckoned me inside. They had just completed clean-up after a building debut event. She was nice enough to allow me to get a look at the new, quiet, empty space. I've supplied some additional photos below. If you find yourself near this structure, take a look inside and marvel at the rather permanent looking "temporary" building.
Let's stay in the same general area for our next walk (hint!). This place is almost always busy and has very prominent front and back entrances. The next photo is a space near the back entrance of the building.
Where will you find this on the Emory campus?
Click here to return to top
|
Emory University Emeritus College The Luce Center
825 Houston Mill Road NE #206 Atlanta, GA 30329 |
|
|
|
|
