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)! |
Upcoming Events--
All on Zoom
Lunch Colloquium Ron Gould June 22, 2020
Lunch Colloquium Pamela Scully June 29, 2020
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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
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 Message from the Director
In the past two weeks, there have been two major news stories affecting Emory. The first has been the protests against racial injustice; you can read a recent article in
Emory News by clicking here. The fact that during this period two white APD officers would be responsible for the shooting death of an unarmed black man found asleep in his car illustrates how profound the systemic problem is.
The second major story is Emory's announcement of its plans for the fall semester. A summary of the current plans can be read by clicking here. A very basic summary is that all 15,000 students are expected to return to campus a week earlier than usual and stay without any holidays or breaks until Thanksgiving when they will return home and complete final exams and projects remotely, with the semester ending at approximately the same time as usual. The campus will look very different, with tents everywhere for dining and other activities and everyone wearing masks, and classrooms will have many fewer, appropriately distanced, students. Due to faculty concerns, approximately 1/3 of classes will be taught remotely. There are many details still to be worked out, but the planning to date has already accomplished an enormous, unprecedented task.
We have continued to have a great series of talks that are intellectually stimulating and give us a chance to feel like we are together, even as we meet remotely. Thanks to John and Hilary Ford, you can read about the fascinating talk by Vernon Robbins and thanks to Liza Davis you can read about Holly York's wonderful poetry class. Next week we will learn about Ron Gould's colleague and friend Paul Erdös, a mathematical oddball. The week after, Pamela Scully will speak from her own personal and scholarly knowledge about similarities and differences between South Africa and the USA, a particularly appropriate topic as we struggle with the society we actually have here, versus the society we think we have or want to have.
We are also entering a very exciting period for us as we begin to welcome new, and newly retired, members to our ranks. I hope you will find time to read about the new members profiled below and will welcome them as they are able to join our programs.
I am very grateful to Gretchen Schulz, Ann Hartle, and Marge Crouse for help with editing and proofing.
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Lunch Colloquium--Monday, June 22
"The Oddball's Oddball: The Unusual Life of a Mathematical Genius" Location: Wherever you are 11:30-1:00
Ronald J. Gould, Goodrich C. White Professor of Mathematics Emeritus
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Lunch Colloquium--Monday, June 29
"Settler Societies after Colonialism: South Africa and the USA" Location: Wherever you are 11:30-1:00
Pamela Scully, Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and of African Studies, and Vice Provost, Undergraduate Affairs
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Lunch Colloquium Report--Monday, June 1
"The Birth of Jesus to Virgin Mary in the Infancy Gospel of James (Protevangelium Jacobi)"
Vernon K. Robbins, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Winship Distinguished Research Professor in the Humanities
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Lunch Colloquium Report--Monday, June 8
"Reading Collaboratively: Poems by Emily Dickinson and
Walt Whitman"
Holly York, Senior Lecturer Emerita, Department of French and Italian
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COVID-19 Teaching Stories
Some of our members taught online classes this past semester. Read Part 2 of these experiences!
Click here to read below about some of their experiences
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New Members
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Walking the Campus with Dianne
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Lunch Colloquium--Monday, June 22
"The Oddball's Oddball: The Unusual Life of a Mathematical Genius"
Ronald J. Gould, Goodrich C. White Professor of Mathematics Emeritus
In this talk, our own unusually gifted mathematician, Ron Gould, will describe the life and work of Paul Erdös, one of the most important mathematicians of the 20th century and the most prolific. He'll explain how Erdös' enormous influence on many branches of mathematics and many other mathematicians changed the very way mathematics research is conducted, transforming the famously solo endeavor into a wonderfully collaborative one. But, as Ron will also explain, Erdös was at least as strange as he was brilliant, so much so that Time Magazine dubbed him "The Oddball's Oddball." (Sheldon Cooper of "The Big Bang Theory" had nothing on him!) Join us to learn about Erdös' professional successes and personal eccentricities from one who knew him well enough to appreciate both.
About Ron Gould
Ron received a BS in mathematics from SUNY Fredonia, an MS in Computer Science from Western Michigan University, and a PhD in mathematics from Western Michigan University. After spending two years as a lecturer at San Jose State University, he came to Emory in 1979 as an Assistant Professor and rose through the ranks, becoming Professor in 1990 and being named to the Goodrich C. White professorship in 2001. He retired in 2016 as the Goodrich C. White Professor of Mathematics Emeritus. He has received numerous honors, including the Emory Williams Teaching Award, alumni awards from both SUNY Fredonia and Western Michigan University, a Heilbrun Fellowship (in 2017), and an EUEC Faculty Award of Distinction (in 2019). He serves on the Executive Committee of the Emeritus College and on the Mind Matters Committee, as well.
Specializing in combinatorics and graph theory, Ron has published over 180 articles in scientific journals as well as several books and book chapters. His book, Mathematics in Games, Sports, and Gambling: The Games People Play, won the American Library Association Award for Outstanding Academic titles in 2010. He has directed 28 PhD and 26 Masters students (work he has continued to do even after his retirement). And he still sits on the editorial boards of five journals (while serving as a referee for others).
If you would like more information about Ron, you can visit his personal website by clicking here.
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Lunch Colloquium--Monday, June 29
"Settler Societies after Colonialism: South Africa and the USA"
Pamela Scully, Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and of African Studies, and Vice Provost, Undergraduate Affairs
Pamela Scully, who has most recently co-authored a book on Writing Transnational History, will discuss the concept of Settler Society as it has been applied historically and in the contemporary era. Using her expertise in South African and transnational history, and her experience as someone who grew up under Apartheid, Professor Scully will discuss similarities and differences between South Africa and the USA (with brief forays into the situations in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) as a way of theorizing our contemporary US moment.
Pamela Scully is Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Professor of African Studies, and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs at Emory University. She has worked in the Office of the Provost since 2013 in various roles, including director of the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence, having served previously as director of Emory's Institute of African Studies and then chair of the Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She has her PhD in history from the University of Michigan. Her research interests focus on comparative women's and gender history with an emphasis on slave emancipation, biography, and sexual violence in wartime and in post-conflict societies. Her books include Liberating the Family? Gender and British Slave Emancipation in the Rural Western Cape, South Africa, 1823-1853 (Heinemann, 1997), Gender and Slave Emancipation in the Atlantic World (Duke University Press, 2005), co-edited with Diana Paton, and Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography, co-authored with Clifton Crais (Princeton, 2009, 2010). She is the author of the AHA pamphlet, Race and Ethnicity in Women's and Gender History in Global Perspective (2006). Professor Scully has most recently completed a book co-authored with Professor Fiona Paisley of Griffith University, Australia, Writing Transnational History (Bloomsbury Press, 2019). Professor Scully has also been involved in various collaborations on Ebola. She teaches courses on humanitarian interventions and sexual violence, gender violence and gender justice, and the history of rape in wartime. She is the co-convener of the Coursera MOOC course Understanding Violence. She serves on the editorial boards of The Journal of Women's History, The Journal of British Studies, and Social Dynamics, and is on the advisory board of The Journal of Southern African Studies. Professor Scully works closely with the Institute for Developing Nations, a partnership between Emory University and The Carter Center that focuses on collaborative research regarding issues of poverty and development.
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Lunch Colloquium Report--Monday, June 1
"The Birth of Jesus to Virgin Mary in the Infancy Gospel of James
(Protevangelium Jacobi)"
Vernon K. Robbins, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Winship Distinguished Research Professor in the Humanities
In the Zoom Colloquium held on June 1, Vernon shared his study of a little known version of the story of the conception and birth of Jesus, one drawn from the so-called Protevangelium Jacobi or Infancy Gospel of James, material written around 180 CE and well known for centuries until the time of the Reformation when Christians were instructed not to read Gospels that were not included in the New Testament.
Vernon had made copies of this version of the story available to us ahead of time and then, in our Zoom session, reviewed it with us, beginning with its account of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna. Before Mary was born, Joachim's offerings at the temple were rejected because he and Anna had not borne a child for the people of Israel. Anna's plaintive sorrow and frustration eventually led the Lord to hear her prayers for a child. "Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to her and said: 'Anna, Anna, the Lord God has heard your prayer. You will conceive and give birth, and your child will be talked about all over the world.'"
Vernon reminded us that the Immaculate Conception refers to the birth of Mary to Anna, not to the birth of Jesus to Mary. This means that Mary was completely free from original sin from the time she was conceived by Anna, and was born completely holy. And she stayed that way. As a baby and toddler, Mary was kept in the holy environment of her bedroom sanctuary, never allowed out to "play in the dirt." Then from age three until age twelve she lived in the Jerusalem temple where she was fed by angels, a story known and referenced in the Muslim book of the Qur'an.
When Mary was twelve years old and her monthly flow was about to begin the priests removed her from the temple so she would not pollute it. The priests recruited Joseph, a widower who already had children, to care for Mary. In a typically lively passage from this version of the story, the text reads thus:
7 "Joseph, Joseph," the high priest said, "you've been chosen by lot to take the virgin of the Lord into your care and protection." 8 But Joseph objected: "I already have sons and I'm an old man; she's only a young woman. I'm afraid that I'll become the butt of jokes among the people of Israel." 9 And the high priest responded, "Joseph, fear the Lord your God . . ." 11 And so out of fear Joseph took her into his care and protection. 12 He said to her, "Mary, I've gotten you from the temple of the Lord, but now I'm leaving you at home. I'm going away to build houses, but I'll come back to you. The Lord will protect you."
Questions arose when Mary became pregnant while Joseph was away for six months on his carpentry job. Even Mary was confused, not sure what to make of the angel who told her
"Don't be afraid, Mary. You see, you've found favor in the sight of the Lord of all. You will conceive by means of his Word (ek logou autou)." 6 But as she listened, Mary was doubtful and said, "If I actually conceive by the Lord, the living God, will I also give birth the way women usually do?" 7 And the angel of the Lord replied, "No, Mary, because the power of God will overshadow you."
Joseph wasn't sure what to think either. When he "came home from his building projects and found her pregnant, he began to cry bitterly." First he blamed others ("Who has done this evil deed in my house?"), then he blamed Mary ("How could you have done this?"). But an angel appeared to reassure him: "Don't be afraid of this girl, because the child in her is the holy spirit's doing. 6 She will have a son and you will name him Jesus--the name means 'he will save his people from their sins.'"
The unusual birth occurred in a cave by the side of the road when Mary's labor pains interrupt their trip to Bethlehem. Joseph sought a midwife to assist them, yielding the exchange Gretchen Schulz identified as her favorite in the text: "She's not really my wife; she's pregnant by the holy spirit." 10 The midwife said, "Really?" 11 Joseph responded, "Come and see."
And see they do. First, a dark cloud overshadowed the cave, then there was light, and then the light became flesh as the suckling baby Jesus. The midwife was persuaded she had seen a miracle: "A virgin has given birth, and you know that's impossible!" And in a remarkably gynecological passage, a woman who doubts this claim asks to examine Mary ("Position yourself for an examination"). Sure enough, a virgin birth. And only her pleas for forgiveness save this "doubting-Thomas midwife" from losing the hand she presumed to "insert" into Mary.
Vernon's presentation of this fascinating version of the story we thought we knew elicited several interesting questions and comments from the audience, such as what is the source of this version, so different from the versions in Matthew and Luke in the New Testament. So where did it come from? And what are the implications of this version in which God predestines people to perform certain special tasks?
It seems that only God knows the traits essential for the performance of certain holy tasks. Key figures frequently ask themselves, "Why me?" Is the message that divine powers always have and always will work through imperfection?
Many thanks to Vernon for shedding light on this "breathtaking" second century CE version of the story.
---John and Hilary Ford
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Lunch Colloquium Report--Monday, June 8
"Reading Collaboratively: Poems by Emily Dickinson and
Walt Whitman"
Holly York, Senior Lecturer Emerita, Department of French and Italian
At our Zoom Colloquium on Monday, June 8, Holly York led a fascinating group discussion of two poems, Emily Dickinson's "I dwell in Possibility" and Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" (focusing on several excerpts from that much longer piece). She explained that Dickinson and Whitman had little in common besides their determination to break with the poetic traditions of their time, each adopting distinctive practices that themselves became seminal in the American poetry that followed from their work. Then, instead of offering further biographical introduction, Dr. York invited attendees to join her in explicating each poem, starting with Dickinson's lyric. Like the excellent teacher she is, she first demonstrated this strategy of explication, explaining that however simple the meter and rhyme scheme, the poem can be sung to the tune for "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Individual words, in isolation, merit close analysis. Dr. York observed that the word "Possibility," for example, carries layered meanings, suggesting both something that might happen and the power of imaginative freedom. Raised hands and insightful comments soon followed. Exploring the images of "numerous" windows and "superior doors" in the first stanza, one EUEC member observed that the house in the poem represents poetry itself, "fairer . . . than Prose." Another commented on connotations of the term "fair," which suggests both beautiful and just, elegant and exact. The second stanza drew commentary on the privacy of the poet's many-chambered vision, "Impregnable" to others. Several EUEC members also pondered the biblical resonances in the stanza that would have been familiar to her readers; the reference to John 14:2, "In my Father's house are many mansions," stands out as particularly significant. The final stanza evokes the biblical Paradise described in the Book of Genesis, but with a secular twist: the poem's speaker "gathers" words and images, perhaps the "Visitors" in the first line, finding joy in shaping them into poetry. Dr. York then turned the discussion to Whitman's "Song of Myself," emphasizing its unconventional use of free verse. Whitman, she maintained, is interested in direct experience, not the "Possibility" of Dickinson's poem. As a result, she noted, the poem requires less "unwinding" than "I dwell in Possibility"; Whitman was politically democratic and wanted his poetry to be open to all people. Turning to the poem, she asked what her audience thought of the second line of the opening stanza, where Whitman writes, "what I assume you shall assume." Is he being arrogant and presumptive, she asked? Or celebrating human community--what we share? Consensus favored the latter interpretation. Later in the discussion, Dr. York suggested that Whitman nevertheless embraced the centrality of personal observation: "You shall not look through my eyes," he writes in Section 2 of "Song of Myself"; "You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self."
At this point, Dr. York opened the floor to questions and further discussion. One EUEC attendee was curious about Dickinson's random use of capitalization, the result, the group learned, of editors interpreting original manuscripts that were unclear. Another asked whether Whitman's "I" was an artful construction of his persona, however intimate it appeared--a probability. At the end of the question-and-answer session, Dr. York concluded her talk by comparing Whitman's "barbaric yawp" to Dickinson's "fairer," more disciplined poetic voice; for Whitman, there was no hierarchy of sounds. Virtual applause and extra discussion followed, in recognition of Dr. York's excellent contribution to the EUEC series of Lunch Colloquiums. --Liza Davis
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New Members
New members are the lifeblood of any organization. Please make a special effort to welcome them to EUEC!
Lynn Wood Bertrand, PhD, Associate Professor Emerita of Music
Professor Bertrand received her PhD from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music in 1978. She was appointed to the Emory faculty in 1979 as Assistant Professor of Music and was appointed Chair of the Department of Music in 1985, a position she held for thirteen years. As an administrator she saw the department grow from three faculty positions to sixteen, the number of majors in music increase ten-fold and oversaw the foundation of the Friends of Music organization. She wrote the curricula for the Master of Music and Master of Sacred Music programs in music and held the position of Director of Graduate Studies in Music for twenty years. As an official evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Music she trained new evaluators and gave keynote addresses on the place of music in the liberal arts curriculum. Professor Bertrand's research has focused on late sixteenth century Neapolitan madrigal literature, specifically the contemporaries of Don Carlo Gesualdo; early Georgian (Soviet) polyphony in the hymns of St. Michael Modrikeli and its relationship to the folk traditions of Georgia; contemporary settings of the Passion story; and topics related to women, music, and culture. Professor Bertrand calls herself an "institution person." By this she means that the vast majority of her work at Emory was aimed at forwarding the mission and goals of the university, Emory College, and the Department of Music. She is most proud of the fine and highly talented faculty of music she has helped to assemble and the success of the students she has guided.
From Professor Bertrand: I would like to offer some words of encouragement during this difficult time. Emory has weathered other times as traumatic but please remember that we are lucky to still have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our students and fellow faculty members. Above all be kind to each other and give assistance unselfishly when asked - this will be remembered long after our journal articles have been recycled or disregarded.
Rong Cai, PhD, Associate Professor Emerita of Chinese
Professor Cai received her PhD from Washington University in St. Louis in 1995. She was appointed to the Emory faculty in 1999 as Assistant Professor of Chinese. Professor Cai's research focuses on modern and contemporary Chinese literature, culture, and society in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with a more specific research emphasis on the post-Tian'anmen era in mainland China (1989-present). Professor Cai was instrumental in establishing the Chinese major and securing the grant that brought the Confucius Institute in Atlanta to Emory University to support China Studies at Emory. From Professor Cai: We have each other. We will get through the Covid-19 pandemic together.
Omar M Lattouf, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Surgery
I am extremely honored that President Claire Sterk has bestowed upon me the distinct honor of Professor Emeritus at Emory University, my great institution where I have committed 47 years of learning, teaching and caring for patients suffering from diseases of the heart and chest.
Since my first day at Emory in early January 1973 as a 3rd-year undergraduate transfer, Emory has been a home for learning, teaching, research and patient care.
As I look back at my early days at Emory when I obtained my Bachelor's, Master's, PhD, and MD, I am reminded of wonderful years of learning. Those formative years, followed by further specializing in General and Cardiothoracic Surgery and Transplantation, shaped my personality and made me into the man I am today.
Emory has been a rich place for research discovery and growth in multiple spheres. I was blessed to have worked with great mentors, colleagues, residents and students, each of whom made my Emory experience richer and more enjoyable.
Furthermore, Emory become an academic home for my wife Lina who completed a graduate degree in Public Health, my son Rashid, to whom in 2009 I handed his Emory Goizueta Business School diploma, and in 2016 when I walked across the stage with my youngest daughter Zeena as she was conferred her College diploma.
As I move into a Professor Emeritus status at Emory, I cannot be more proud to have spent the majority of my adult life as a member of this grand institution. I am delighted to maintain my association with my alma mater through the Emeritus College.
William G. Woods, MD, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics
A native of Maryland, I attended Bucknell University as an undergrad, and Penn Medical school. I did my pediatric training at the University of Minnesota, thinking it would be a great three years away from the East; and then spent 22 of the next 24 years there. If someone in med school had told me that I would become a pediatric oncologist, I would have told them that they had read the wrong tealeaves! But it seemed like every kid who crawled under my skin as a resident had cancer; and I also became smitten with the limited knowledge we had then of why a normal cell transformed into a malignancy. I was a middling bench researcher but good at clinical trials and was fortunate enough to help to improve the survival of kids with cancer, especially leukemia, through national randomized clinical trials in an NCI sponsored Cooperative Group. I watched the overall cure rate for all childhood cancer go from 30% or so when I entered medicine to 80% over the last several years.
After my long tenure at Minnesota I went to the University of South Carolina to run their cancer center, but after five years I followed my passion back to childhood cancer, and became the first director of the combined Scottish Rite/Egleston Hospitals' Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. This collaboration helped to lay the groundwork for a merger of most of the pediatric subspecialties at the two disparate hospitals, helping to form the Pediatric Institute, a partnership between Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory. Children's is one of the two biggest childhood healthcare centers in the US; and the Department of Pediatrics is now ranked in the top five programs nationally for research. Along the way, we have helped thousands of Georgia's kids survive life-threatening diseases.
I am blessed by a wife of 48 years, Kathleen, and two sons, one in academic law and the other training in internal medicine. I loved to bike and swim until I developed a condition which greatly limits my physical activity, but continue to read, and enjoy cultural outings. I look forward to getting more involved with non-medical activities over the next months to years.
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COVID-19 Teaching Stories
Joel Bowman Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry
My course for junior and senior chemistry majors, like all courses at Emory in spring semester, underwent a schizophrenic transition . . . The first class [after the transition] was almost surreal as more and more students joined in (the electronic door-bell sound) at 11:30. Most did not use video and there were very few questions as I proceeded with the first "lecture". . .
I'm sure this first class was pretty dismal. Well things did get better . . .
Denise Raynor
Professor Emerita of Gynecology and Obstetrics
For a course like mine, given for OLLI, "Let's talk about So You Want To Talk About Race," transitioning from an intimate group discussion about a difficult subject was a bit of a bumpy ride . . .
In person classes posed a problem when some speakers just blurted out comments rather than waiting their turn, but Zoom makes controlling that even more difficult, more so I think with a small class . . .
There is something about face to face communication that can invoke trust which is missing in Zoom classes. In part, it involves the loss of touch that can provide reassurance for those fearful of offending or anticipating a reproach. It may be possible to build up the kind of rapport that one has with associates or acquaintances over time on Zoom, but the time needed is longer than 6 sessions . . .
I think there is great potential for the medium. On the other hand, an important component of senior adult education is socializing and the opportunity to get out of the house to mix and mingle, especially for those living alone.
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Walking the Campus with Dianne
The Lion statue from our last walk can be found at a location not many staff or faculty frequent. It guards one of the frat houses on campus. Specifically, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) frat house at 15 Eagle Row.
In 1928 the university began development on what would become Fraternity Row, later known as Eagle Row, in which the SAE fraternity became the first chapter to occupy an official Greek residence. (Note: In 2006, Sorority Village was added on Eagle Row.)
This house is the row's oldest house at 90 years old. It is also the only house that has a swimming pool, and, the only house that includes a statue on their front lawn. I couldn't find any information on what the lion may symbolize for the fraternity...if anyone knows, please share with us.
Let's stay on the main campus and find a place to rest on a warm summer day. These very modern looking chairs might be suitable ...
Where will you find these on the Emory Campus?
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Emory University Emeritus College The Luce Center
825 Houston Mill Road NE #206 Atlanta, GA 30329 |
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