Zoom update!

The most recent, as of this writing, is 5.11.10

If you have any problems getting the update, please contact Dianne at dianne.becht@emory.edu for more information.





Lunch Colloquium - Monday, September 19, 2022

“The Don Stein Story: When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It”

Donald Stein

Asa Griggs Candler Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology, Director Emeritus of Emory's Brain Research Laboratory

Zoom Lunch Colloquium

11:30 - 1:00 pm

As a kid from the Bronx, I was a big fan of the NY Yankees, and one of my heroes was Yogi Berra. I have appropriated one of his (in)famous sayings for the title of my talk because it represents how I made most of the choices that guided my career from my undergraduate days, through graduate school and post-doc training, and to and through my many years working at Emory. “Taking the fork in the road” has led me on an exciting journey in which I have challenged established paradigms in neuroscience, focusing on how the inaccurately labeled “female” hormone, progesterone, can play an important role in the treatment of traumatic brain injury, glioblastoma, and other diseases of the CNS. Today, I’ll share some of the outcomes of my research (ad)ventures—including a brief update on the preliminary results of the study my 2022 Heilbrun grant is helping me to pursue right now.

.

About Don Stein:

Donald Stein is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. He received his BA and MA degrees from Michigan State University and his PhD from the University of Oregon. He was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at MIT before accepting a position at Clark University (in Worcester, Massachusetts), where he rose to the rank of Professor. He then moved on to Rutgers, where he served as Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School, before coming to Emory in 1995, serving as Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School here until 2000, when he joined the School of Medicine faculty. From 1995 until his recent retirement, he directed Emory’s Brain Research Laboratory. In that position, to pursue the work on the powers of progesterone that has been central to his career from its beginnings.

Convinced that progesterone, long known as vital during fetal development, might well help patients seeking recovery from such problems as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), stroke, and glioblastoma, he and his fellow researchers have garnered decades of support for clinical trials that have demonstrated the promise of progesterone therapies—trials conducted both here and abroad. It is no wonder that a glance at Don’s c.v. shows many instances of appointments of one (impressive) sort or another overseas—from his first Fulbright in France in 1971-72, followed by multiple further Fulbright-related and other research and teaching positions in that country, through a more recent series of Visiting Fellowships in New Zealand. And, of course, over the years, Don has received recognition for important work well done in the US, too, as with his AAAS Congressional Fellowship in Science and Engineering in 1980-81.

We won’t attempt to pull more details from the multiple pages of Don’s C.V. that lists his awards from organizations here, and, again, abroad, not to mention his election to leadership positions within such organizations, the lectures he’s been invited to give all around the world, and, of course, the hundreds of articles and book chapters that he has authored and co-authored. We’ll just close this very abbreviated version of his bio with a mention of his most recent honor, the 2022 Heilbrun Distinguished Emeritus Fellowshiip, in support of “A Phase 1 clinical study of subcutaneously administered natural progesterone for the treatment of recurrent Glioblastoma Multiforma.” He’ll be sharing information about this newest research into the wonderfully promising neuroprotective effects of progesterone with us in the Lunch Colloquium described above.



Lunch Colloquium -- Monday, October 3, 2022

“The Courage to Build: Black Religion and the Development of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)”

Marla Frederick

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Religion and Culture, 

Candler School of Theology

Religion scholars have long framed black religion as a paradigm that sits along a continuum between protest and accommodation. While the paradigm has been challenged as too binary, not giving space for nuance, overlap, and change over time, the fundamental idea that black religion embodies at least in part some element of protest remains. In his canonical book Black Religion and Black Radicalism, for example, Gayraud Wilmore frames black radicalism almost exclusively in terms of faith-inspired slave revolts and the movements for civil rights and black power. Education, as protest, as radical, as counter to the established order, rarely shows up. In this presentation, Marla Frederick will reframe our understanding of the building of black educational institutions by black religious organizations (and white religious structures) as radical, counter-cultural, and central to the pursuit of justice sought by black religious leaders. Furthermore, she will contend that the ongoing struggle for their full and equitable funding is part and parcel of the ongoing work toward justice we face today. 

About Marla Frederick:

Dr. Marla F. Frederick has been the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Religion and Culture since 2019. As a leading ethnographer, she uses an interdisciplinary approach to probe the intersections of religion, race, gender, media, politics, and economics. Her focus has been on the African American religious experience, examining the relationships between religion and economics and media. More recently, she has focused on the sustainability of Black institutions in the current environment. After completing her undergraduate degree at Spelman College and PhD at Duke University, she held fellowships at Duke, Princeton, and Harvard/Radcliffe Universities. Later, she became a fellow at the Louisville Institute. She has published numerous articles and chapters in books and has authored or co-authored multiple books, the latest Televised Redemption: Black Religious Media and Racial Empowerment, which examines how Black Christians, Muslims, and Hebrew Israelites use media for the “redemption” of the race. Her work has earned her major awards and significant recognition from her fellow scholars, as when she was elected president of the American Academy of Religion in 2021. She has been a prolific lecturer, panelist, and discussant across an array of platforms, including the AJC, NPR, and the Religion News Service. And we might finally note that in 2020, she was invited to give the Commencement Convocation address here at Emory.



Article of Interest

A study in the journal Social Science and Medicine discovered that people who read books live longer than people who don’t.

The extended lifespan applied to all reading participants, regardless of “gender, wealth, education, or health” factors.

To read the article, Please click here



Emeritus Member News

Timothy Albrecht, Professor Emeritus of Music, recently published the book, Exploring the Magic of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier I and II: Short Notes for Performers and Listeners.

The book can be purchased through Amazon Kindle using this link.

Our October 17 Lunch Colloquium will feature Timothy sharing his passion for this extraordinary collection of preludes and fugues as well as playing some selections on the piano – more information on this colloquium in the next issue of the newsletter.  

New Members

New members are the lifeblood of any organization.

Please make a special effort to welcome them to the EUEC!

Charles L. (Karl) Saxe III, PhD

Scientific Program Director, American Cancer Society, Associate Professor, Cell Biology, Emory University

Catherine Vena, PhD, RN

Associate Professor, Clinical Track, School of Nursing

Michael A. Ross, MD, FACEP, FACC

Professor, Department of Medicine, Medical Director, Chest Pain Center, Emory University Hospital



In Memoriam

Gretchen E. Schulz

Professor Emeritus of English



We are deeply saddened by the sudden and very unexpected death of Gretchen Schulz on Tuesday, August 30 at her home in Oxford at the age of 79. 

GRETCHEN ELIZABETH SCHULZ was born in Syracuse, NY, on April 28, 1943. She died suddenly in her home in Oxford, GA, on August 30, 2022. Predeceased by her parents, Richard and Jane Schulz, and her sister Kristina, she is survived by her sister Erika Schulz and Erika’s husband, Tim Beers, of Federalsburg, MD; a nephew, Michael Fanuele, three great-nephews, and many loving friends and colleagues.

She was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Wellesley College in 1964 and earned her PhD from the University of Wisconsin and, later, an M.A. from St. Johns College in Santa Fe.

Professor Schulz taught English, specializing in Shakespeare, at Oxford College of Emory University for decades. When she retired in 2011, she became a valuable contributor to the Emeritus College. She chaired the Mind Matters Committee and arranged speakers for the biweekly colloquium series, as well as working for regional and national Retirement Organizations in higher education.

She received the 2022 Distinguished Service Award at our Awards and Honors Reception this Spring -- Please click here to view the article.

An enthusiastic scholar, Gretchen was for years co-editor of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, served on the board of the Atlanta Shakespeare Company, holding theater gatherings at the Shakespeare Tavern right through their current season. She participated in the Covington Women’s Book Club, played in a recorder group, and maintained friends in “Dancing Dynamics,” a close-knit exercise group for fifty years.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in her name may be made to the Atlanta Shakespeare Company, the Emeritus College of Emory University, and to the Arts, Music, and Theater Programs of Oxford College.

We will miss her intelligence, curiosity, and enthusiasm. She has left a wonderful legacy to the EUEC.

Arrangements are being made for a Memory Party for Gretchen  -- we will share that information when it becomes available. 

Eugene J. Gangarosa

Professor Emeritus of Public Health

From the Rollins School of Public Health:

I am writing to share the sobering news that our longtime friend and colleague, Dr. Eugene J. Gangarosa, passed away on August 11 at the age of 96.

Though I did not get the chance to know him personally, it is clear that he was part of the founding fabric of this school and a true hero of public health. He was greatly beloved here at Rollins and I am so sorry to hear of his passing. 

Dr. Gangarosa began teaching in Emory’s Master of Community Health Program (the precursor of the MPH program) in 1975 when it was first established by Emory. As director of the MPH program from 1983-1990, Dr. Gangarosa worked to build the MPH program, and paved the way for the founding of Emory’s first new school in 72 years in 1990. To honor his legacy, the Department of Environmental Health was named in his honor in 2020. Until recently, Dr. Gangarosa taught the occasional class at Rollins in his role as emeritus professor and was actively involved with the Center for Global Safe Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene—a center that he helped establish. 

During his service in World War II, Dr. Gangarosa worked to rebuild water and sanitation systems in Naples, Italy. His interest in medicine and enteric pathogens took him to Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where his intestinal biopsy studies are credited with the widespread adoption of rehydration therapy, which has dramatically influenced the standard operating procedure for treating cholera, and saves approximately 1 million children a year. His various public health roles have included serving as director of the University of Maryland’s Pakistan Medical Research Center, working in various leadership positions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which included leading the Epidemic Intelligence Service, and serving as dean of public health at the American University of Beirut.  

He and his wife, Rose, have been married more than 70 years and spent much of their lives traveling the world and advocating for public health through philanthropy. The Gangarosas’ many gifts to the Rollins School of Public Health include the school’s first global field experience fund, three endowed distinguished professorships, a scholarship fund, and an unrestricted endowment for the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health.

Jim Curran recently remarked that Dr. Gangarosa’s numerous legacies...science, public health action, education, mentoring, and philanthropy will inspire and assure public health success for decades to come.

He will be dearly missed, and we are grateful for the impact he has made on us all. Please keep Dr. Gangarosa’s family in your thoughts during this difficult time. I will send along memorial information as soon as it is available.  

With sympathy and gratitude, 

M. Daniele Fallin, Ph.D.

James W. Curran Dean of Public Health

Rollins School of Public Health

Emory University

To view an obituary, please click here.

Carl C. Hug, Jr.

Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology

Carl Hug passed away August 27, 2022. A celebration of his well-lived life will begin with a family visitation at 10am and Mass at 11am on Saturday, October 1, 2022 at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, 801 Tom Smith Road SW, Lilburn, Georgia 30047, (770) 923-6633. A reception will follow the service.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Catholic Relief Services (https://support.crs.org or P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, MD 21297-0303).

"Dr Hug, professor of anesthesiology and pharmacology at the Emory University School of Medicine, became a senior faculty fellow at the Emory Center for Ethics when he retired. He began his participation in the luncheon speakers programs soon after the Emeritus College was founded. He was always generous with his time and his presentations on opioid pharmacology, addiction, end-of-life care, and clinical ethics were well-informed and thoughtfully directed to his medical and non-medical colleagues."

To view an obituary please click here.



A new semester and new opportunities to explore the campus....

Since we had an article about “reading” in this newsletter, let’s keep with that theme, and take a look at a spot on campus where books are involved.  This place was created for the pandemic to replace in-person visits to the library -- an obvious hint to its location!



Where will you find this on the Emory campus?