Summer 2001 Dear Alumni and Friends, On May 24 we celebrated the conclusion of the university's 125th academic year during commencement ceremonies on Garland Field. Although rain threatened all week, we were lucky this year to once again have beautiful sunny weather in which to award more than 5,200 degrees and certificates from every academic division. In considering my remarks to the graduates, I thought a great deal about what significance we should attach to the 125th anniversary milestone we had reached. My first inclination was simply to celebrate our longevity: when Johns Hopkins admitted its first students, Ulysses S. Grant was president; the incandescent light bulb was still several years in the future. Those days seem impossibly remote in this age of space exploration and the Internet, but in fact, the university is not that old at all when considered in context of other great institutions. I asked the graduates to keep in mind that when Johns Hopkins was founded, Harvard was already four decades into its third century. In 1876, the other Cambridge--the one in England--had been home to a university for more than 600 years. And the University of Bologna, adjacent to which we operate one of Europe's foremost centers for graduate studies in International Relations, was already more than 800 years old. What is the cause then, for celebration? I suggested it is not the number of years but the scope of our achievement that warrants recognition. We are, I noted, proud of our heritage as the first research university in America. Hopkins innovations range from the introduction of the system of water chlorination that provides families the world over with safe, dependable drinking water, to the discovery of restriction enzymes, which have unleashed the power of genetic medicine. They range from the discovery of saccharine to the invention of CPR; the founding of the discipline of the History of Ideas to the verification of the authenticity of the Dead Sea Scrolls; from the composition of great symphonies and operas, to the eradication of smallpox. These achievements are part of our history. They inspire our current efforts by reminding us how certain accomplishments can change history. And they inform and guide our plans for the future. Looking forward to the next 125 years, we imagine a world of less sickness, intolerance and ignorance; more health, happiness, understanding and beauty. It is a world which Johns Hopkins will have a significant role in helping to create. As we move into what some are calling the new global century, one of the most significant challenges for Johns Hopkins will be to try to learn how to best employ this new globalism for our mission of education, research, and service. I believe we are uniquely positioned in this regard. Recently, someone remarked to me that no one else can say they have campuses on three continents, as we do. Our international presence is broad-based and deep- rooted. The Bologna Center in Italy, for example, has existed for nearly half a century now. The Nanjing Center is a unique American outpost in China that has now completed its fifteenth academic year. We have a new medical campus in Singapore, and last year opened an office in Berlin to explore additional opportunities in Europe. Meanwhile, the School of Public Health alone works in 38 countries around the world, and has students from 80 countries enrolled in a master's degree program over the Internet. Our faculty in all divisions collaborate routinely with colleagues across the globe. Part of the reason we are positioned so well is that the Johns Hopkins Initiative was successful beyond what we dared imagine possible at the campaign's kick-off. Our final total when we closed the campaign was $1.52 billion. Although still smaller than those of our peer institutions, our endowment is now close to $2 billion. Virtually all of this money supports very specific undertakings designated by its donors. It is difficult to over-estimate the importance of this achievement. It enabled us to double the number of named scholarships and fellowships. We endowed 130 professorships. We also endowed the deanships at the Schools of Medicine and Arts & Sciences. In May, we named the School of Hygiene and Public Health after alumnus and University Board of Trustee chairman Michael R. Bloomberg in recognition of his unprecedented commitment of energy and financial support to the School and the entire University. The School's official name is now The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. As you know, Mike has been chairman since 1996 and previously chaired the Johns Hopkins Initiative fundraising campaign. He has given the largest single gift in the 125-year history of the Johns Hopkins Institutions and has contributed more than $107 million, including $100 million to the Johns Hopkins Initiative. Of that, $35 million was designated for the unrestricted use of what will now be known as the Bloomberg School of Public Health. The success of the campaign has enabled us to modernize and improve facilities on every campus, and to build a number of significant new buildings. Some of the projects that have recently been completed or are nearing completion include: The Downtown Center at Charles and Fayette Streets, which has opened for business to great critical acclaim in the architectural community. The three-story, glass-sheathed facility represents a renewed commitment to the university's partnership with the downtown business community, and it provides the School of Professional Studies Division of Business and Management with 35,000 square feet of office space, "smart" classrooms, conference rooms, auditorium, bookstore, library and two computer labs. On the Homewood Campus, the Mattin Student Arts Center was dedicated on April 20. We have negotiated an agreement with the Baltimore Museum of Art which will allow us to construct a stairway connecting the Student Arts Center with the BMA's Levi Sculpture Garden. This is just one more way in which the Arts Center will provide a valuable interface with the community. From my office window, I have been eagerly watching Clark Hall go up. This building, which will house the Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Institute, is now substantially complete and will be occupied over the summer. On the other side of campus, the Recreation Center is expected to be completed in August and occupied in September. The open space improvements at Homewood are moving toward completion. Brick pathways now grace much of the campus, and the road between the Athletic Center and Dunning Hall has been transformed to a brick and granite walkway. Hundreds of trees and shrubs have been planted and much of the landscaping completed. Work that continues on the University Parkway entrance, the circular driveway at the Charles Street entrance, and on the terrace linking the lower and upper quads should be completed over the summer. The Homewood Master Plan, of which the open space project is but one part, addresses important issues of traffic, parking, storm water management, and most importantly, future growth on campus. Continuing tasks of the master plan include development of a comprehensive signage system and establishment of architectural guidelines. We will soon be breaking ground for Hodson Hall, which is being constructed with funds generously provided by the Hodson Trust. The building will have state-of-the art classrooms, and it will be constructed just north of Clark Hall, helping to define a new quadrangle with Garland and Levering Halls. Later this summer, we plan to begin the first phase of the Peabody Institute renovations. The central feature of the $24 million effort will be a grand arcade cascading from Mount Vernon Place to the Peabody Plaza, restoring Peabody's principal entrance to Mount Vernon Place and providing more convenient access to the Miriam Friedberg Concert Hall, Griswold Hall, and the George Peabody Library. Plans also call for a new theater/lecture hall, a large dedicated orchestral rehearsal space, more practice studios, a percussion suite, an expanded piano repair workshop, and a new box office. Temporary quarters for the Johns Hopkins Medicine administrative offices are now in place, and work is under way on the Broadway Research Building on the East Baltimore medical campus. This 10- story, 380,000 gross-square-foot, $140 million biomedical research building will house the new Institute for Cell Engineering, the McKusick-Nathans Institute for Genetic Research, a state-of-the-art mouse facility, and laboratories. At the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the 3rd and 4th additions should be complete in January 2002 and we will begin construction of the 5th and 6th additions this fall. Looking further ahead, Joanie Millane, our new director of real estate, will be working with a developer on adding possibly a third, and perhaps even a fourth, building to the School of Professional Studies' Montgomery County Center. We have also expanded programmatically as well. Consider just some of the exciting new Hopkins ventures now underway: The School of Medicine has established the Institute for Cell Engineering with a phenomenal $58.5 million gift from an anonymous donor. The Institute's purpose is to conduct research into the fundamental nature of cells. It will build upon the groundbreaking stem-cell research of Hopkins scientists, such as John Gearhart and Curt Civin, which has opened our eyes to ways cells might be used to regenerate tissues and perhaps, ultimately, entire organs. This research actually represents a paradigm shift in the way we think about and approach health and disease. The possibilities of this research stagger the imagination. At its core will be a multidisciplinary cadre of basic scientists, complemented by researchers in the various academic departments who will work to translate discoveries into therapies. We expect that the Institute will foster unprecedented collaboration across disciplines. For some time, we have been working towards the creation of the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute. In December, an anonymous gift of $10 million permitted us to announce the Institute's launch. Although this new research center will be administered by the Whiting School, it will bring together experts from around the university--as well as in government and private industry--to tackle the wide variety of issues relating to information security. These issues include cyber crime, protection of intellectual property, patient privacy in medical databases, identity theft, e-mail viruses, and security of e-business transactions. In addition to the research to be conducted, the Institute will help our students prepare for careers in information security. They will be able to do hands-on work, and we also plan to offer new degree programs in the field that will blend disciplines from across the university. In April I announced the appointment of Claude Earl Fox as the first permanent Director of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute. The Institute was established last year on the recommendation of the Urban Health Council, a group of Hopkins faculty and staff, community leaders and city officials who examined how Hopkins could more effectively coordinate its many community health efforts in East Baltimore. The University and the Health System allocated $4.5 million in funding for the Institute's first five years, during which it will coordinate research activities while working with the community to ensure that all city residents have good access to preventive and primary health care services. Baltimore's inner city communities, like those in many cities around the country, face major problems of substance abuse, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases. The Institute's job will be to help us better focus our research, teaching and clinical expertise on these problems, in close cooperation with the communities themselves and with other partners from government, business and foundations. During a recent visit to Hopkins, Dan Goldin, the director of NASA, gave us some remarkable news: Johns Hopkins is the number one university recipient of NASA funding. We have long been the top recipient of federal research dollars. And last year, for the ninth year in a row, we ranked first in National Institutes of Health research funding with over $300 million received. But not enough people understand how significant is our role in the exploration and future colonization of outer space. Yet consider just two of our recent accomplishments in this field. On February 12, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft, known as NEAR Shoemaker, became the first spacecraft ever to land--or even attempt to land--on an asteroid. As you may recall, our Applied Physics Laboratory scientists built NEAR-Shoemaker and managed its mission to study the asteroid known as Eros. After traveling 2 billion miles, NEAR Shoemaker entered into close orbit around Eros and spent a year collecting mountains of scientific data--ten times more than originally planned, including 160,000 images. NASA characterized NEAR as "a mission planner's dream." At the same time, another NASA mission operated by Johns Hopkins--the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, or FUSE--observed close to 700 astronomical objects in its first year of operation and provided data for more than 40 papers at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January. Project management, satellite and science planning and operations for the mission are all conducted on the Homewood campus. As I have said before on numerous occasions, the very strongest programs at Johns Hopkins are those where there is a focus on discovery. It is what we do best, and it provides a unique strategic advantage for us. Last October, I traveled with several university trustees to our Nanjing Center in China, where we joined Nanjing University President Jiang Shusheng to formally launch the Institute for International Research. The new research Institute at the Nanjing Center will add the discovery dimension to the Center's traditional teaching mission. It is designed to attract both senior scholars and junior post-doctoral fellows interested in contributing to research in a range of fields--either in international studies or in other areas related to the research missions of Johns Hopkins and Nanjing Universities. Scholars-in- residence will find a research environment with unique resources--such as the only uncensored, open-stack library in China. Through Nanjing University, there will also be mechanisms for facilitating access to other library collections and archival materials in China. In bringing together American, Chinese and international scholars under the auspices of the research institute, we aim to encourage the development of collaborative research among them. We also hope to bring new methodological approaches to Chinese scholars, and to provide important access to contemporary China for international scholars. And, of course, we want to enrich the academic experience of the students at the Nanjing Center through interaction with these senior scholars. It is an exciting new initiative, and I look forward to watching the Institute's progress. Finally, and perhaps most spectacularly, an anonymous donor has pledged $100 million to the Bloomberg School of Public Health for a 10-year effort to rid the world of malaria by developing a new vaccine and drugs. The gift -- the university's largest ever for a single purpose -- will establish the Johns Hopkins Malaria Institute. The multidisciplinary center will combine traditional approaches with new weapons such as genomics and bioinformatics to take aim at a disease that kills an estimated 1 million to 2 million people a year and leaves hundreds of millions of others sick and destitute. Malaria has long been a global scourge that drains the lives and finances of villages and whole countries every year, afflicting nearly half a billion people with acute disease. A child is killed by malaria every 30 seconds of every hour of every day of every year. This gift is a visionary investment in the health of millions and the future of humanity, especially in the developing world, and we are determined to make that investment pay off. In closing, I'd like to acknowledge the conclusion of a major project that has been going on at the University since 1963--the editing of the papers of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Thirty-eight years later, the papers fill twenty-one volumes-the last of which was published in October by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Two members of the project staff in particular deserve special mention. Editor Lou Galambos worked on the project for 30 years, and Executive Editor Betsy Hughes devoted 28 years to the Eisenhower Papers. My congratulations to everyone, past and present, who worked on this monumental task. And while acknowledging great achievements, we must also recognize two outstanding individuals who have stepped down as dean. At the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, dean Paul Wolfowitz was appointed Deputy Secretary of Defense and is now serving in President Bush's administration. In the seven years that Paul was at Hopkins, the school repositioned itself from the Cold War orientation it had since its founding, to a new focus on the impact and challenges of Globalization in the post-Cold War era. He strengthened the faculty, increased the endowment, raised funds for student aid and enhanced the school's visibility among policymakers in Washington and around the world. As we conduct a search for his successor, associate dean Stephen Szabo has assumed the position of interim dean. We are also losing Sue Donaldson as Dean of the School of Nursing. Sue has decided to step down after nearly seven years as dean to return to research and teaching. She is in the enviable position of having met all the goals she set for herself when she came to Johns Hopkins in 1994, most notably by helping bring the school to a place of national prominence. Johns Hopkins Nursing now has excellent programs at all levels--undergraduate and graduate--and a model program in clinical care, which includes a strong component focused on community care. Research has grown and flourished. Sue also oversaw the planning and construction of the school's first stand-alone headquarters, and she was instrumental in the success of the school's campaign during the Johns Hopkins Initiative. Nursing professor Martha Hill, director of the Center for Nursing Research, has been appointed interim dean while we conduct a search for Sue's replacement. For anyone who is a Hopkins lacrosse fan, it is old-- but good--news that alumnus Dave Pietramala '90 was appointed as the men's head lacrosse coach. During his three years as Cornell's head coach, Dave turned around the men's lacrosse team, which won an appearance in the 2000 NCAA Tournament and ranked ninth nationally. While playing defense as a Hopkins undergraduate, Dave led the Blue Jays to the 1987 NCAA Division I Championship and was a three- time First Team All-American. We're glad to have him back, and excited about the team and organization he has begun building. Without doubt, our 125th year was a great one. We continue to recruit and retain the best faculty and students. Federal grant support is at a record high and continues to grow. While we face significant challenges, Johns Hopkins is well-positioned to meet them. We continue to flourish--in large part because of the tremendous talent and the excellence of our faculty, students, staff, and alumni. I was reminded of this last October when the number of Nobel Prizes awarded to Johns Hopkins alumni and faculty increased to 29. The latest went to Kreiger School alumnus Paul Greengard for his research into the basic workings of the brain and the nervous system. Dr. Greengard, who is currently at Rockefeller University, was among the first students to earn a Ph.D. in the University's new biophysics program in 1953. I was also reminded of this when one of our newest graduates, Westley Moore, was selected as a Rhodes Scholar. Wes majored in international relations, minored in economics, was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve and a student representative in the admissions office. He played wide receiver on the Blue Jay football team and created a mentoring program for Baltimore youth who have gotten in trouble with the law. When he goes to Oxford in the fall, he will be working towards a master of philosophy degree in international relations and is particularly interested in researching refugee issues at Oxford's Refugee Studies Center. While Wes is certainly outstanding, Johns Hopkins has many students with similar abilities, talents, intellect, vision, and drive. With this kind of human capital to work with, I am convinced that this university will continue to excel and to lead, far into our next 125 years. Have a wonderful summer. Sincerely, William R. Brody |
