Hockey women raise Beanpot trophy
On track for reprising as ECAC
champions, the women's hockey team last month notched its third straight
Beanpot victory and its fourteenth title in the tournament's twenty-year
history.
Freshman Lisa Giovanelli, who tallied two goals
and an assist in the Huskies' 5-4 victory over Harvard University in the
championship game, was named the tourney's most valuable player.
Giovanelli led a freshman trio that accounted
for four Northeastern goals in the title match. Betsy Dyke scored the Huskies'
first goal on a breakaway midway through the first period and Jennifer
Santerre added a power-play goal later in the frame.
The victory marked the Huskies' third win over
Harvard this year. They previously defeated the Crimson during a two-game
weekend series in December.
Heading into late February, Northeastern sported
a 24-4-4 overall record, a 16-2-2 mark in the Eastern College Athletic
Conference, and a number two national ranking. The Huskies, coached by
Heather Linstad, won last year's ECAC championship, the unofficial national
title.
The men's team, meanwhile, continued to struggle
in Beanpot play, finishing out of the money for the tenth straight year.
The Huskies lost 4-1 to Boston University in the
opener and then dropped the consolation game to Boston College by the same
score.
The men's last Beanpot title came in 1988.
The team has fared better, however, in regular-season
play this year. Through late February, coach Bruce Crowder's charges were
18-12-2 overall and 11-7-2 in Hockey East conference games.
Looney wears Olympic gold
Shelley Looney's Olympic performance
was as good as gold.
The 1995 Bouvé graduate scored the game-winning
goal in the U.S. women's hockey team's 3-1 victory over Canada in Nagano,
Japan, last month, leading the Americans to the first Olympic gold medal
in the sport's history.
Looney, a Trenton, Michigan, native who starred
at Northeastern from 1990 until 1994, notched the deciding goal midway
through the third period when she deflected a shot past Canada's star goaltender,
Manon Rheaume.
Though a handful of former N.U. athletes have
won Olympic medals before-all in the sport of crew-Looney is the first
to earn a gold.
Several other former Northeasterners made their
mark in Nagano as well. Ben Smith, who led the N.U. men's hockey team from
1991 until 1996, served as coach of the championship U.S. women's squad.
Looney's U.S. teammate, Vicki Movessian, was an assistant coach on N.U.'s
199596 women's team. And former Husky icers Laura Schuler (198993)
and Vicky Sunohara (198890) played for Canada's silver medalwinning
team.
Khrushchev's son sheds light on Cold War
If former Soviet premier Nikita
Khrushchev had stayed in power longer, the Cold War might have ended more
than three decades ago, Khrushchev's son said during a campus lecture in
January.
Speaking as part of the World History Center's
World History Seminar series, Sergei Khrushchev asserted that in the early
1960s his father was intent on reducing the size of the Soviet military,
which likely would have led to similar reductions by the United States
and its allies.
"His reduction in Soviet military buildup
might have been mirrored by other countries," said Khrushchev, a senior
visiting scholar at Brown University's Watson Institute for International
Studies.
Sergei Khrushchev also offered insight into the
1962 Cuban missile crisis, in which his father attempted to place Soviet
missiles in Cuba, ninety miles south of Florida. The action prompted a
tense standoff with President Kennedy that many historians believe was
the world's closest brush with nuclear war.
In the midst of the showdown, Khrushchev said,
the barriers between the two superpowers began to crumble. "It was
[the] first time that both [leaders] began to trust each other," he
said. "It was [the] first time in the Cold War history that they tried
to solve this problem not through threatening each other, not through the
publication of official letters, but through the exchange of everyday letters."
As a result, both sides began to acknowledge that
they had to help each other find a solution to the crisis, Khrushchev said.
"Kennedy knew he had to help Russia, help Khrushchev to save face.
It was the first time an American president had thought like that. At the
same time, Khrushchev knew he had to help President Kennedy to solve this
crisis."
The crisis ended on October 28, 1964, when the
Soviet premier announced he would dismantle the missile installations in
Cuba.
Freeland.edu
President Freeland has taken his place in cyberspace.
The president's home page made its debut on the
World Wide Web last month at <www.president.neu.edu>. The page contains
more than a dozen links, including Freeland's biography; an archive of
his major speeches and published opinion pieces; a listing of his office
staff and cabinet members; a Web version of the 1997 annual report; and
a brief history of Northeastern and its past presidents. It also includes
a form for readers to submit questions, comments, and suggestions. The
page can also be accessed from the Northeastern home page at <www.neu.edu>.
Matthews to step down as trustee chairman
George Matthews, who as chairman
of Northeastern's Board of Trustees for the past nine years has steered
the university through both difficult and prosperous times, will step down
from his post at the end of June, he announced last month.
The sixty-eight-year-old Matthews, a 1956 graduate
and strong financial contributor to the university, said that, as Northeastern
prepares for its second century, it made sense to make way for a new board
leader. "Nine years is a long time," he said in an interview.
"It's time for somebody else's new dream, somebody else's new effort."
The Northeastern Corporation will elect Matthews's
successor at its annual meeting, scheduled for May 21.
Matthews, who worked alongside Presidents John
Curry and Richard Freeland, said he is confident that Northeastern is on
firm footing as he leaves the top trustee post.
"Enrollments are up. Finances are in good
shape. We have a very good president in place, a very good administration
and staff," he said. "We put up some outstanding facilities,
and we did it during not very good economic times. We've attracted brilliant
faculty members. And I think our students are of a higher caliber than
when I came in. I think the university is really on a roll right now."
During his tenure as board chairman, from the
tough economic times of the early 1990s to the greater stability of the
past several years, Matthews engineered Northeastern's move to become a
"smaller, better" university by capping undergraduate enrollments
while dramatically improving student quality, boosting outside research
funding by more than sixty percent, launching a $100 million building program
that changed the face of the campus, and successfully guiding the largest
fund-raising campaign in the university's history.
"I think I'm leaving the university hopefully
in much better condition than when I came in," he said.
Freeland praised Matthews for his vision, his
leadership, and his dedication to Northeastern. "George Matthews has
led the Board of Trustees and the entire university through one of the
most significant periods in our history," he said. "George assumed
the chairmanship shortly before the crisis of 1990. He and Jack Curry came
in at almost the same time. It fell to George and Jack together to respond
to those circumstances. And it was under their leadership that the university
was placed on a new course which we have been pursuing ever since."
Curry hailed Matthews for taking a strong and
active interest in university affairs. "I have the highest respect
and appreciation for what George Matthews has done for Northeastern University,"
he said. "He will be a very difficult person to replace."
Matthews took over as board chairman in July 1989.
In succeeding Robert Willis, who had led the board for the previous eighteen
years, Matthews became only the fourth chairman of the governing body since
the founding of the university's corporation and board of trustees in 1936.
Initially elected to the corporation in 1978,
Matthews became a trustee one year later, and in 1987 was named one of
four vice chairmen of the board. He has also served on various board committees,
including its executive, governance, development, and nominating panels,
the latter two which he chaired.
Matthews is also a director of the university's
National Council and is founder and first chairman of the College of Business
Administration's Board of Visitors.
He chaired one of the university's earlier fund-raising
campaigns, The Century FundPhase I, from 1980 to 1985, helping raise
$43 million. He also made the principal donation enabling Northeastern
to renovate the landmark Boston Arena in the early 1980s, which was renamed
the George J. and Hope M. Matthews Arena in 1982, after Matthews and his
first wife, who died in 1990.
Matthews and his second wife, Kathleen Waters
Matthews, have taken an active interest in Northeastern's academic programs.
Their contributions fund the Matthews distinguished professors program
and the Matthews scholarship program for senior honors students.
Matthews, who has won numerous university awards,
was granted an honorary doctorate of laws in 1986 and an Outstanding Alumni
Award in 1987. In 1989, he was inducted into the university's Athletic
Hall of Fame for his ardent support of Northeastern athletics.
Streamlining co-op
Seeking to streamline its administrative operations,
the co-op department has named five faculty members to the new position
of group leader.
Interim dean Kristin Woolever said the leaders,
who form the nucleus of a new co-op administrative council, will play a
key role in helping integrate students' cooperative work experiences with
their classroom learning. "We are already getting academic faculty
involved in reflection seminars for students coming back from co-op,"
she said. "And we're trying to get more faculty involved."
The new group leaders are Charles Bognanni, who
will head the business group; Ann Galligan, arts and humanities; Stephen
Kane, science and engineering; Francis Williams, social sciences; and Mark
Yorra, health.
Lembo named v.p.
University counsel Vincent Lembo, LA'73, L'76,
has been named the university's newest vice president. His responsibilities
will continue to include oversight of the office of the university counsel,
environmental health and safety, and the office of the Board of Trustees.
In addition, he retains his position as secretary to the Board of Trustees.
"There's nothing better than to be recognized by your alma mater,"
said Lembo, a nineteen-year university employee. "I feel deeply honored
by it." Lembo has served as university counsel and trustee secretary
since 1988. During that period, he served as secretary-administrator of
two presidential search processes and directed the inauguration of President
Freeland.
MBA team brings home the hardware
At Northeastern, MBA is beginning to stand for
More Business Awards.
A team of four master's in business administration
students-Amitabh Amitabh, Brian Fahey, Jean King, and Richard Outcault-won
two international case competitions in a three-week period earlier this
year, netting several thousand dollars in prize money.
In January, the team, coached by professor Ravi
Ramamurti, captured the Concordia University International MBA Case Competition
in Montreal, becoming the first American school since 1982 to win the event.
The $4,000 prize will be used to establish a scholarship fund at Northeastern
in the name of Outcault's father, Richard, who died shortly before the
competition.
In February, the same foursome beat out students
representing twelve business schools from around the world at the Dalhousie
International MBA Competition, sponsored by Dalhousie University of Nova
Scotia, Canada. During the two-stage competition, the teams were asked
to solve current unpublished case studies involving actual companies. The
panel of judges included executives from several multinational corporations.
Take a BOW!
Thomas Barnes, associate professor of cardiopulmonary
sciences, received the Jimmy A. Young Medal from the American Association
for Respiratory Care-the organization's highest honor. He was cited for
his active role in ensuring the integrity of respiratory-care testing programs,
furthering the profession through clinical practice guidelines, and adding
to the scientific basis of respiratory care through research.
Alan Klein, professor of anthropology, won the
North American Society for Sport Sociology's Book of the Year Award for
Baseball on the Border: A Tale of Two Laredos.
Jorge José, Matthews distinguished professor
of physics, has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society.
The election to the fellowship is limited to one-half of one percent of
the total membership and recognizes outstanding contributions to physics.
On Huntington, you gotta have art
Proclaiming Huntington Avenue an essential piece of Boston's cultural
community, Mayor Thomas Menino has renamed a section of the thoroughfare
"The Avenue of the Arts."
Making his proclamation during festivities celebrating his inauguration
to a second term in office, Menino also pledged to devote a $2.8 million
state grant toward the revitalization of the area by summer.
The section of Huntington that gained the new moniker runs from Massachusetts
Avenue to Longwood Avenue, a stretch that is home to the Museum of Fine
Arts, the Huntington Theater, Symphony Hall, and a host of educational
institutions, including Northeastern.
"We're trying to create an identity for the area," said Jeanne
Levesque, Northeastern's associate director of city relations. "Where
do you think of when you want to go shopping? Faneuil Hall and Newbury
Street. When you think of the arts, culture, and education, we want you
think of 'The Avenue of the Arts.' "
The revitalization effort will get a boost from the state transportation
department, which has earmarked $15.8 million to renovate the area by the
end of the century. Renovations include improving the Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority stations, widening and landscaping the avenue,
adding more turning lanes and a bicycle lane, and expanding the sidewalks.
"This should be a grand boulevard," Levesque said. "It's
not only getting a new name, it's getting a new face."
Collection sails into Marine Science Center
Northeastern's ship has come in.
Make that model ship. The family of Hubert Dunston, E'36, recently donated
a collection of twelve miniature vessels to N.U.'s Marine Science Center
in Nahant, where they will remain on permanent display. Dunston, who died
last November, devoted more than thirty years to model shipbuilding.
"This was more than a hobby," said Philip Cunningham, director
of alumni development for the College of Engineering. "These ships
are a result of a lifelong hobby and love."
The collection includes replicas of such historic ships as the USS Constitution,
the Mayflower, and the Santa Maria. The family also donated Dunston's shipbuilding
tools, including drills, shaving equipment, pliers, clamps, and other rigging
equipment.
Dunston, who earned his degree in mechanical engineering, was a former
director of economic development for the town of Bedford, Massachusetts.
He spent much of his later years on Cape Neddick, Maine.
QuoteWorthy
"This is South Africa. That's the context. That's our history.
That's the background. That's where the shoe pinches."
South African judge Albert Louis Sachs, at the law school's fifth annual
Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture, on why, in the wake of apartheid,
his country's new constitution places equality above every other right,
including the right to life.
"In any good organization, good people who demonstrate their
value are ultimately going to have opportunities to move on."
President Freeland, on provost Michael Baer's decision to accept a new
job as senior vice president at the American Council on Education in Washington,
D.C.
"They may be great environmentalists, but they could be committing
crimes on the side."
Brookline, Massachusetts, town attorney Jennifer Dopazo, on why selectmen,
six months after presenting N.U. fraternity Phi Gamma Pi with a community
service award, suspended the organization's lodging license for alleged
hazing.
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