Akhil Reed Amar, the Southmayd Professor of Law, will sign copies of his new book, "The Bill of Rights," on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 4-5:30 p.m. at Book Haven, 290 York St. Amar's book, published by Yale University Press, discusses the import of the first 10 amendments to human rights issues in America and worldwide. Refreshments will be served at the signing, which is free and open to the public.
The next book discussion in the "Books Sandwiched In" series sponsored by the Friends of the New Haven Free Public Library, will feature James Tobin, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Economics. On Thursday, Oct. 22, Tobin will discuss "The Commanding Heights: The Battle Between Government and the Marketplace that is Remaking the Modern World," written by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw. His talk will take place 12:10-12:50 p.m. at the United Church on the Green, corner of Temple and Elm streets. The talk is free and open to the public. Attendees are invited to bring lunch; coffee, tea and cookies will be available for purchase in the basement of the church 11:20 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
Robin Winks, the Townsend Professor of History and chair of the history department, received two awards from the U.S. National Park Service this summer. The first was the presentation of a goldpan, inscribed to Winks on the occasion of his visit to the Yukon-Charley National Preserve in Alaska. With this visit, Winks became only the second person ever known to have visited all 376 units of the National Park System. Later in the summer, he received the Park Service's Trailblazer Award for his contributions to national parks in Alaska.
President Richard C. Levin has announced that Donald M. Engelman, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, has been appointed director of the division of biological sciences for a two-year term. He succeeds Spyridon Artavanis-Tsakonas, who will leave Yale to become the Kurt J. Isselbacher/Peter D. Schwartz Professor at Harvard Medical School's Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. Other news from the President's Office includes the reappointment of Cynthia A. Terry, associate University chaplain, to a three-year term, and the appointment of Alvin K. Klevorick, the John Thomas Smith Professor of Law and deputy dean of the law school, to a three-year term as director of the division of the social sciences.
Chris Mooney '99 recently spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Campus Freethought Alliance (CFA). Mooney, who is copresident and a founding member of the Yale College Society for Humanists, Atheists and Agnostics, addressed the issue of discrimination against those who don't believe in God. Mooney interned with the CFA over the summer, where he helped draft the organization's "Bill of Rights for Unbelievers."
Duane Clark, who has had a 17-year professional career in food service management in both higher education and business, has been named director of Yale Dining Services. He comes to Yale from the University of Delaware, where he directed all food-service operations for five years. Clark is a native of Connecticut who holds degrees from Widener University and Paul Smith's College. The University has contracted with Aramark Corporation for Clark's services. Aramark offers an array of customized services and resources in such areas as training, innovation, design, quality control, marketing and customer satisfaction.
The National Institutes of Health has named Alanna Schepartz, professor of chemistry, as chair of the Bio-Organic and Natural Products Chemistry Study Section for a two-year term. Schepartz' laboratory works at the junction between chemistry and molecular biology and specializes in the study of nucleic acid structure and interactions involved in viral and cellular transcription. Her previous honors include the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, the David and Lucile Packard Fellowship, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award and the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry.
Linda Z. Mowad, project director of the Cancer Information Service for New England at the Yale Cancer Center, has received the American Cancer Society's National Divisional Award, the St. George Medal. The award is the highest honor any volunteer in the country can receive from the society. Mowad, a volunteer with the American Cancer Society for over 10 years, serves on the board of directors for its New England Division. She is responsible for bringing to Connecticut the "Look Good ... Feel Better Program," which provides wardrobe and makeup advice to women undergoing cancer treatments, and she was instrumental in fostering the American Cancer Society's earliest breast cancer programs in the state. "Linda Mowad is truly one of the best friends that cancer patients and their families ever had in Connecticut," says Linda Uhler, New England division chief of the American Cancer Society.