Here's to your health (center)
Saying it will help solidify Northeastern's reputation as a regional
leader in health sciences education and developer of architecturally magnificent
buildings, university officials last month broke ground on the new Behrakis
Health Sciences Center, a $37 million facility that will bring under one
roof the schools and programs of Bouvé College.
"This will be a beautiful building," President
Freeland told a crowd of nearly 1,000 faculty, staff, students, trustees,
and invited guests at a groundbreaking ceremony October 11. "It will
symbolize in its beauty our commitment to the health sciences and to study
and scholarship in the field of health sciences. It will become the center
of campus life for our students, and the center of student life in the
area of health education."
Slated to be built adjacent to the African-American Institute on the
corner of Leon and Ruggles streets, the new center is named for trustee
George Behrakis, PAH'57, H'98, whose $6 million donation spearheaded the
building's development.
Scheduled to open in fall 2002, the center will stand seven stories
with a curved facade of tinted green glass. Inside will be a 150-seat amphitheater;
a simulation teaching theater; clinical and counseling areas; and numerous
classrooms, laboratories, and lecture halls designed to encourage teams
of students and faculty to work and learn together.
InfoCommons: Computing for the next generation
Touted as Boston's premier student-centered computing facility, Northeastern's
new InfoCommons opened inside Snell Library this fall, offering state-of-the-art
amenities, and training and services for faculty, staff, and students.
"It lifts my heart to have students come to me
and say, 'This is great,'" said Eva Kochanski, director of information
services customer services, which manages the site. "Not only do students
come in here and use our resources, but they learn by interacting together."
At the heart of the $1.5 million facility is a 153-seat general-access
computer lab containing 123 Dell PCs, thirty iMacs, and seven open stations
for laptop access. All computers are hooked up to three high-speed laser
jet printers, and each workstation comes equipped with ample storage and
disk space.
Other features include an E-bar, ten workstations designed for quick
access to e-mail and light web browsing; a help desk, which provides general
computing assistance and troubleshooting; and a training area for course
instruction and software demonstrations.
The facility is open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.
Take a BOW!
Thomas Harrington,
professor emeritus of counseling psychology, rehabilitation, and special
education, was given the Distinguished Senior Contributor Award by the
Counseling Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association.
The award is presented once every five years.
Twelve sophomores who have demonstrated excellence
in their majors, liberal arts courses, and cooperative education have been
awarded Presidential Scholarships and will receive full tuition for the
remainder of their undergraduate careers at Northeastern. Recipients are:
Shaheem Ali, theater; Melissa Boulay, cardiopulmonary sciences;
Barbara Fenton, physical therapy; Patrick Finlon, music;
Anders Hoeyem, finance; Shawna Liff, mechanical engineering;
Sarah Lorimer, speech pathology/audiology; Jennifer Murphy,
journalism; Gilbert Owuor, management information systems; Nirali
Patel, pharmacy; Justin Richer, computer science; and Nicole
Winters, chemical engineering.
Freeland taps Onan as special assistant
Citing her strong administrative and teaching background and her broad
knowledge of university issues, President Freeland has tapped Arts and
Sciences graduate director Kay Onan to serve as his new special assistant,
succeeding Patricia Maguire Meservey in the post.
Onan, who has served on the Northeastern faculty since 1979, will advise
Freeland on a wide range of policy issues, assume responsibility for a
number of special projects, and serve as a liaison between the faculty
and the president's office.
"Dr. Onan's depth of knowledge about Northeastern and breadth of
experience in both administrative and teaching capacities make her well-suited
for her new position," Freeland said.
Said Onan, "These are extremely exciting times for Northeastern.
I think it will be fascinating to be in a position that will allow me to
contribute to the university on a larger scale."
Fowler urges grads to give back to society
Recalling the words of the commonwealth's first
governor, John Winthrop, former Northeastern history chair William Fowler
Jr. urged the university's fall graduates to build their own city on a
hill, one in which charity and kindness reign superior to high-paying jobs
and stock options.
"It is a pity that the creative
genius that has enabled us to amass riches has not also shown us a better
way to use them," Fowler, now director of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, told the 900 graduates in Matthews Arena. "No one in this
country should be hungry. Yet we know that there are many. No one in this
country should want for education. Yet there are many. No one should be
sick and left unattended. Yet there are many."
A popular history professor and department chair
for nearly three decades, Fowler has served as the historical society head
since leaving Northeastern in 1998. He continues to serve as coeditor of
the New England Quarterly, a historical review of New England life and
scholarship.
At the September 12 commencement ceremonies, President
Freeland presented Fowler with an honorary degree of humane letters.
Freeland: Stay focused on reaching top-100
status
Cautioning against growing complacent with past successes, President
Freeland last month urged faculty and staff to coalesce around Northeastern's
goal of becoming one of the top 100 national universities by the end of
the decade.
"We have proved to ourselves that our goal is attainable,"
Freeland told an audience of about 600 at his fifth annual state-of-the-university
address in Blackman Auditorium. "Our challenge now is to stay the
course, to stay focused, to keep raising the quality of our work in every
corner of the university."
As departmental goals and programmatic initiatives are formulated in
the coming months, Freeland said, each academic and administrative unit
should bear in mind three overarching objectives: increasing student success,
enhancing Northeastern's reputation, and strengthening the university's
resources.
The most important challenge facing the university, Freeland said, is
improving student graduation rates, a factor that figures prominently in
college ratings guides. NU currently graduates about 45 percent of its
students.
Pivotal to enhancing the university's academic standing, Freeland said,
are continued improvements to the cooperative education program, which
he said will help cement Northeastern's reputation as the leader in practice-oriented
education. He also called for each of the colleges to improve their competitive
standing, for continued improvements in graduate education and research,
for strengthening the quality and diversity of the faculty, and for improving
administrative and facilities support for scholars.
None of these improvements can take hold, Freeland acknowledged, without
adequate resources. To that end, he stressed the importance of ongoing
fund-raising and outreach initiatives in development and alumni relations
and of the business office's need to carefully manage the endowment and
control spending.
Entering class largest in more than a decade
While conceding they still have no definitive explanation for the reasons
behind Northeastern's largest entering class in more than a decade, admissions
officials say the enrollment spike ultimately reflects positively on the
university.
"It's really very good news because it means we're attractive to
more students and because it provides us an opportunity to continue our
progress toward becoming one of the top 100 national universities,"
acting vice president for enrollment management Patricia Meservey said.
Approximately 3,457 first-year students-some 615 more than last year-began
their five-year matriculation in September alongside nearly 5,940 returning
upperclass students, officials said. It marks the largest entering class
since 1989, when 3,780 first-year students converged on Huntington Avenue.
The university's intention was to enroll 2,800 freshmen, a cap President
Freeland set in 1997 as part of a larger plan to improve the quality of
the student body. But by mid-April it became evident that the yield rate-the
percentage of admitted students who go on to enroll at the university-was
running well ahead of last year and that the cap would be exceeded.
Major factors contributing to the spike, according to Meservey, were
the improved reputation of Northeastern's academic programs and physical
campus; a larger high school applicant pool coupled with strong economic
conditions, which serve to give consumers more confidence to choose private
over public education; and the decision to send out financial aid awards
in early March-about four weeks earlier than normal-giving students more
time to consider their matriculation options.
To cope with the additional students, officials took several measures,
including hiring additional instructors, cooperative education coordinators,
advisers, and specialists; adding eighty course sections, mostly in arts
and sciences; leasing an additional 185 beds from area institutions to
offset the housing crunch; and expanding and enhancing student activities.
Q&A: Heather Patrick, senior, School
of Nursing
Heather Patrick, a twenty-two-year-old nursing student from North Grafton,
Massachusetts, is seeking to become the lone member of the class of 2001
to graduate with a 4.0 grade-point average. Here, she talks about the rigors
of a Northeastern education, and other things.
Q. I suppose we shouldn't bother asking what your high school GPA
was.
A. 4.0.
Q. Middle school?
A. All As, except for one A-minus, in eighth-grade Spanish.
Q. OK, grade school?
A. I've never gotten lower than an A in any grade.
Q. What will it mean to graduate from Northeastern with a 4.0?
A. It's a big goal for me. I know it won't necessarily help me find
a better job, because there are so many nursing opportunities available
right now. But it will show that the goals I've set for myself, I've been
able to attain. Nursing is a difficult program, and I've had to work hard
for my grades.
Q. How did you become so driven?
A. I don't know. Even in kindergarten, my teacher would write "very
conscientious." My mom is very laid-back, as far as doing things at
the last minute, and most of my family's like that. My father plans, studies,
does everything ahead of time. So I guess I get it from my father.
Q. How much studying do you do a day?
A. Freshman and sophomore years, I would go to the library right after
classes and study until 10 at night. So if I was done with classes at 5,
I'd study five hours. If I was done at 2, I'd study eight hours. Over the
past year, I've learned moderation-what's important to focus on, what's
not important to focus on. So I probably average about three hours a night
now. If it's a test night, up to seven.
Q. How do you know when you've studied enough?
A. When I become extremely bored, I know it's time to stop.
Q. What's your favorite comfort food when you study?
A. Little chocolate candies, like M&Ms or Raisinets, that I can
pick at. But I try not to do that too often. Usually, I just have a bottle
of water nearby.
Q. Any pre-test rituals or superstitions?
A. I always have to wear my rings. If I don't have my jewelry on, it
feels like something's out of place.
Q. What's the grossest thing you've had to do in nursing school?
A. When a person gets phlegm in their throat and spits it into an emesis
basin, and then you have to rinse it out, that bothers me. I've seen open-heart
surgery. I've seen a gastric bypass. I've seen people with wounds that
are six inches deep. Those don't bother me. But phlegm bothers me.
Q. Do they teach you how to empty a bedpan, or are you pretty much
on your own there?
A. You actually learn how to do it.
Q. What's the secret?
A. Always make sure it's centered under the patient. And when they're
ready to get off, tell them not to move until you're holding onto it. Otherwise,
it may tip.
Q. Something I've always wondered: How do you know when to stop pumping
the sphygmomanometer?
A. You keep pumping until the pulse disappears, and then you go about
thirty or so points up from there. So if the pulse disappears at 120, you
pump it up to about 150.
Q. Who's bigger: Clara Barton or Florence Nightingale?
A. Florence Nightingale, by far. She revolutionized nursing. She did
so much to make it a profession.
Q. Dream date: Dr. Carter (ER) or Dr. Dre?
A. Dr. Carter, definitely.
Q. Which do you think we'll wipe out first: AIDS, cancer, or boring
professors?
A. I don't think we'll ever wipe out any of them completely. But in
defense of professors, I have to say that even the boring ones usually
have some redeeming quality.
Q. OK, let's get serious. What's your dream job?
A. I would love to be in some sort of health-care administration so
I can do something to make sure that patients are receiving quality care.
The worst thing a nurse or a doctor can do is not to be sensitive to a
patient's needs. If a patient is sick, mentally or physically, they need
someone to help them, to listen to them.
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