VOL. 129 | NO. 216 | Wednesday, November 05, 2014

By background, Maria Lensing perhaps doesnt fit the expected parameters of someone quick to defend Memphis and eager to take on the challenge of revitalizing a local universitys alumni association.

She moved here from Lima, Peru, at age 14, when her family brought her little brother to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital for treatment of his leukemia. Now, at age 35, she is a vice president with AT&T and has a five-state territory that would allow her to live in Nashville or Atlanta or Miami, if that were her desire.

Maria Lensing is the inaugural chair of CBUnited, the rebranded alumni association at Christian Brothers University that is working to reconnect with the universitys graduates.

(Daily News/Andrew J. Breig)

But it isnt her desire, and the way she speaks on behalf of Memphis suggests that she will be a dynamic force in her role as the inaugural chair of Christian Brothers Universitys newly renamed/rebranded alumni association, CBUnited.

For example, she doesnt much care for the glitz of Miami not as a mother of two young sons hoping to instill values consistent with CBUs Lasallian tradition of a holistic education. And Nashville? Bring that up at your own risk.

Tell me, whats the big difference between Nashville and Memphis? she said. Youre more expensive and you have a couple of country stars.

Founded in Memphis in 1871 making it the oldest university founded in the city CBU has an enrollment of 1,600 students, and its 2014-15 freshmen class of 371 is the largest in its history.

A chief part of Lensings task is connect with lost alumni who might live blocks from the 75-acre wooded Midtown campus or on the other side of the world. Or in Miami, where Lensing recently had a business meeting with a man who turned out to be a CBU grad and one of those lost alumni.

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Alumni United

Originally published November 3, 2014 at 5:24 PM | Page modified November 3, 2014 at 5:42 PM

MARYSVILLE After 10 emotional days weighed down by tragedy, grief and loss, Mondays reopening of Marysville-Pilchuck High School amid support from hundreds of community members was called an important step in the right direction.

It feels really good to be back at school, said a sophomore, Jordan Reynolds, shortly after re-entering the school. People are upbeat. Not in a happy way, but just in an appreciation of each others company.

Today was a good day in Marysville, said Becky Berg, superintendent of the Marysville School District. She said the students had lots of time to be together, and to hug, and to cry, and to begin the processing of this event together.

Hot chocolate, doughnuts and roses greeted students on their return to the school in which freshman Jaylen Fryberg opened fire with a handgun on Oct. 24, fatally wounding three 14-year-old girls and seriously injuring two male students before killing himself.

About 85 to 90 percent of students attended the abbreviated day Monday, Berg said, with regular classes to resume Tuesday.

Its really weird ... coming back to school and not being able to see those people, said student Michael Stope, 17.

But beginning the healing process is necessary, said Strope. Gesturing toward a fence lined with bouquets, balloons, stuffed animals and messages of support, he said, I dont think we could have done it any better than this.

A third student, Karina Gavrilchik, 15, said the school didnt feel the same, due especially to an unsettling feeling near the cafeteria, where the shootings occurred.

Doors to the cafeteria were closed and its windows were papered over, she said. Students ate in the gym, where a lunch of sub sandwiches, salad, breadsticks and pizza was provided.

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Marysville students return amid grief, outpouring of support

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Ive had the great privilege of being associated with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Alumni Association for some years now. It never ceases to amaze me what our graduates are accomplishing, especially given the fact that we are such a young medical school. Our first graduating class was small, and is now barely 30 years old, and especially in the first few years, our classes consisted only of a handful of people.

With that in mind, it is tremendous to consider what we have done for the medical care of the people in South Carolina and beyond. We are small in number, but grand in accomplishments.

With that in mind, I also need to point out that given our relatively small number of graduates, every person and every deed makes a difference. For other institutions, if you contribute your money or your time, you are one of the many. For us, by the very nature of our institution, you are one of the few. If you agree to mentor a medical or graduate student, you are providing a tremendous resource. If you support the alumni association fundraising activities, your contribution may actually make a difference as to whether we can fully fund a scholarship or not. If you serve on a committee, it wont be an honorary position; youll be a contributing member of an important group.

You may ask why you would want to do any of these things. Why would you want to come to the Black Tie/White Coat Gala, attend your class reunion, or come to a football game? Why would you want to serve on a committee or the alumni association board? In answer, I will tell you medicine is changing. Whether you disagree or agree with the way things are heading, I think we can all agree that things will very be very different this time next year. In uncertain times, it helps to have a home. It helps to have a group of people one can rely on. What better group of folks to navigate these times with than the classmates with whom you went through gross anatomy, biochemistry, and pathology. Come home to the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.

Thank you B. James McCallum, M.D. Class of 2001 President, School of Medicine Alumni Association

Join My Carolina Alumni Association today!

Member Benefits include:

Nominations for MyCarolina Board of Governors

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Alumni & Friends- University of South Carolina School of ...

Austin College will honor five graduates and two faculty members for distinguished professional accomplishment and service to the college on Friday during Homecoming events on the campus. Awards will be presented during a dinner in Mabee Hall of Robert J. and Mary Wright Campus Center. For information, contact the Office of Alumni Engagement at 903-813-2335.

Distinguished Alumni Awards recognize those who have distinguished themselves in their profession and in their communities, exemplifying leadership and ethical standards in their interactions. First Decade Award recipients are selected on the same basis, but for accomplishments within 10 years of graduation. Austin College Alumni Board president Kirsten Brandt James of Dallas, Class of 1985, and Dr. Marjorie Hass, president of Austin College, will present the awards to alumni.

2014 Distinguished Alumni Awards

Craig Florence, Class of 1984, of Dallas is a partner and trial attorney with Gardere Wynne Sewell in Dallas. He has been recognized for his work by Chambers USA: Americas Leading Lawyers for Business, Best Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers, and holds an AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating. He earned a law degree, cum laude, from Baylor University School of Law.

Tara Jo Gibson Myers, Class of 1978, of Jersey Village headed to University of Texas Medical School at Houston upon completing her Austin College education and earned her M.D. in 1983. She completed her residency at UTMS Houston in internal medicine before beginning private practice in 1986. She continued in private practice in internal medicine until 1995 when she began the hospital-based practice in emergency medicine she continues today. She has held many leadership roles within her professional career, including serving as medical director for several services and serving as state commander for the Disaster Medical Assistance Team.

Kim Powers, Class of 1979, of New York City, New York is the senior writer for ABCs news magazine 20/20, for which he received the Edward R. Murrow Award for continuing excellence this year. During his nearly 20-year career at ABC News, he also won Emmy and Peabody Awards for his 9/11 reporting for Good Morning America. He also wrote the popular What Would You Do? Series, hosted by John Quinones, and has written numerous primetime TV specials for the leading ladies of ABC News: Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Robin Roberts, and Katie Couric.

First Decade Award

Abbas Ravjani, Class of 2004, of Washington, D.C. completed his Austin College degree in political science and Middle East studies, having enjoyed a semester abroad at Oxford University and served as student body president back on campus. In the intervening 10 years, he has had an impressive array of experiences, including selection as a Truman Scholar, a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, and a Center for a New American Security Next Generation National Security Leader. He spent two years working for the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, then served as law clerk for the Honorable Barbara Lynn in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. In 2012, he returned to Washington, D.C., where he is an attorney in the U.S. State Department.

Heywood C. Clemons Volunteer Service Award

The Clemons Award is given to alumni or friends of Austin College in honor of continued service and commitment to the College. The award is named to honor longtime Austin College Board of Trustees chair Heywood Clemons of Fort Worth, Texas. The 2014 recipient is Billy Core.

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AC to honor alumni at homecoming

Third-year medical students usually don't have much time for a visit home.

But a home visit is just what is prescribed for students at Southern Illinois University.

After two years of book work, medical students go through a rotation of medical specialties, most of which are on campus in Springfield, but this month, several Decatur area students had a chance to work with patients under the direction of local family practice doctors.

Dr. Brooke Ballard at the Mount Zion Family Care Center oversaw the work of Decatur native Paige Tsuda.

Its just exciting to be involved in the direct education of future physicians, Ballard said.

For her, being part of the program is invigorating. The medical students' joy and excitement about learning takes Ballard back to when she was a student. When the SIU alum participated in the program, she worked under Dr. Daniel Smith, the same doctor she now shares an office with.

Thats how I found out I loved family medicine, Ballard said.

SIU's Tracey Smith sets up students with about 172 preceptors, or physician mentors, around the state, many of whom are alumni.

It's a wonderful opportunity for them to give back to try and share what pulled them into family medicine, said Smith, director of medical student education for the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Five of the rotations, or clerkships (pediatrics, internal, surgery, psychiatry and obstetrics) are available on campus through physicians with the SIU school of medicine. However, we know that 99 percent of healthcare occurs outside an academic institution, Smith said.

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Program offers medical students real patient contact

The fall season means many hours devoted to reviewing applications for the Office of Admissions at the Perelman School of Medicine. Last year, the school received over 5,700 applications and interviewed 898 candidates, but accepted just 239 a 4.1 percent acceptance rate.

Admissions staff have been organizing interviews since August, and the interviews will continue into January. Unlike some schools that do not require an interview, Penn Med only considers applicants that it interviews. Applicants spend a day on campus composed of two interviews one with faculty, one with students as well as the opportunity to attend lunch, sit in a class and participate in clinical simulations, Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Gaye Sheffler said.

Brian Chang , a 2014 College and Wharton graduate, is now a first-year student at the Medical School, after applying to 15 schools. He said the interview process was long and required him to leave class during the day, but he would absolutely go through the application process again.

I love medical school now. I think that the privilege of being a doctor is very unique, because you hold a very valuable and unique position in patient care. Its worth the time and energy, Chang said.

Changs positive outlook could be attributed to his passion for medicine. His father, who is a doctor, provided Chang his first exposure to a career in medicine. He also worked as a patient care technician and an EMT before coming to Penn. While an undergraduate, Chang said that he was able to develop a more scientific understanding of medicine to support his clinical exposure. He became involved in genetic research on aging, as well as research on the Affordable Care Act.

Since Chang knew that he wanted to attend medical school from the time he got to Penn, competition did not distract him from his goal. For the most part, though, he said he tried to get involved in activities that were not medically related so that it didnt always seem like [he] was in the thick of the competition.

Rosaline Zhang , a 2014 College graduate who majored in biology and urban studies, is one of Changs classmates. She also avoided the competition of applying to medical school by being involved with urban studies.

I was much more involved with the urban studies major, which is [in] a very small department, Zhang said. I didnt really feel that bogged down by the pre-med, competitive atmosphere, and so I just decided to do things I was just interested in.

Zhang applied to about 20 medical schools and ended up accepting 10 interview offers. Her first interview was very nerve-wracking, but Zhang said that advice given by upperclassmen helped her to prepare.

You kind of hit this groove, because [the medical schools] ask the same questions, and the medical schools are also trying to sell themselves to you, Zhang said. The interview process reaffirmed Zhangs desire to attend medical school, because the interview questions required her to reflect on why she was going into medicine.

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For aspiring doctors, it's application season

UMKCs School of Medicine selected Steven L. Kanter, M.D,, to serve as the schools new Dean after Dr. Betty Drees, who held the position for 12 years.

Kanter, a neurosurgeon, was a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania since 1991, and served as Vice Dean from 2002-2014. He received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&I University and earned his M.D. at the University of Texas Medical School in San Antonio. He completed residencies in general surgery and neurological surgery in 1982 and 1987, respectively, at the University of Florida.

Dean Kanter

He also served as the Editor-in-Chief of Academic Medicine, the Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges from 2008-2012. He received the Merrell Flair Award, the highest award given by the AAMCs Group of Educational Affairs, for his contributions to the journal.

This is an important juncture in the history of the UMKC School of Medicine because it is nearing the end of its first half-century, and that raises interesting questions about what should be the directions and strategies and goals for its second 50 years, Kanter said.

Kanter aims to use his past experience as vice dean at other medical institutions in order to lead the school down the right path. He said that his work at the University of Pittsburgh helped him transition into his new position as UMKCs Dean of the School of Medicine because he is used to working with urban populations in metropolitan areas.

I am enthusiastic about beginning a process with students, staff, faculty, alumni and other key stakeholders to contemplate in what ways the school should build on its existing strengths as it prepares to embark on this next very important phase of its journey.

Along with his clinical and administrative experience, Kanter brings his knowledge of medical informatics, which is the use of information to improve the quality of care for patients. Medical informatics also helps evaluate large amounts of data on patient populations so methods can be developed to maximize patient care and improve medical practices.

One of the first things on Kanters to-do list as the new dean is to meet with students, faculty, staff, alumni and others on what he calls a listening tour. His aim is to gather as much information as he can about all aspects of the school, so he can identify things that the school needs to address.

My approach will be to pursue identifying those areas in a collaborative fashion, tapping the collective intellectual capital of those who come everyday to work and learn on Hospital Hill as well as many on the Volker campus and other sites, Kanter said.

Excerpt from:
Steven L. Kanter: A deans story

Jim Y. Kim, former president of Dartmouth and the current president of the World Bank, speaks at the Harvard Asian American Alumni Summit on Friday evening.

Hundreds of alumni returned to campusthis weekend to engage in a series of planned conversationsand build connections with fellow alumni and affiliates during the second Harvard Asian Alumni Summit, the first such meeting since 2010.

The summit, which featured prominent speakers and panelists of Asian descent affiliated with the University, was organized by the Harvard Asian American Alumni Alliance.

Jim Y. Kim, president of the World Bank and an alumnus of the Medical School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, opened the summit with an address that received a standing ovation. He recounted the experience of growing up as a Korean-American, being elected the president of Dartmouth College, and subsequently heading the World Bank.

There is no question that my friendships here, the classes I took here, and the people I met here had an absolutely unequivocal impact on my thinking that theres nothing that I or a team of us couldnt do, Kim said, referring to his years at Harvard.

Kim also urged the U.S. government to devote more resources to improving the quality of the educational system and learn from Asian countries such as South Korea.

Of all the countries Ive visited, we are not at the top ranks in terms of being serious and reflective about what our education system is producing, he said. The countries that get health care and education right will have a huge advantage in the future.

During a separate address on Saturday, Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation William F. Lee 72 remarked on how diversity at Harvard has increased dramatically since the Universitys founding.

Im quite sure that the Puritans who organized the Harvard Corporation back then didnt [foresee] the little Chinese Senior Fellow who is shorter that the woman President, Lee said. But thats what we have today. Its sign of great progress.

Lee also highlighted the significance of the $350 million gift from alumnus Gerald L. Chan to the School of Public Health that was announced in September. He added that, during the ceremony celebrating the donation, his mother and Chans connected for the first time and found out that they, grew up on the same street in Shanghai.

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Asian Alumni Reflect and Reconnect at Summit

Four South High School alumni will be inducted into the schools hall of fame at the annual alumni foundation dinner at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center on Nov. 1

The dinner is scheduled for 6 p.m., followed by the induction program. Cost is $40 per person and reservations may be made by calling 242-5620.

The theme for this years dinner is The Road Back to Hollywood ... 55 Years of Excellence.

The 2014 inductees are Anthony Nunez, Class of 1965; Marilyn Mendell-Lile, Class of 1966; Kent Tiny Reed, Class of 1970; and Leslie Dreier Nazario, Class of 1986.

Raised by a single parent in a poor neighborhood, Nunez has dedicated his life to serving and helping others.

Nunez has served on the board of numerous organizations that work with children, including the Pueblo Hispanic Education Foundation and the Southern Colorado Sports Foundation.

Nunez also has served on many community boards of organizations, including the Pueblo City-County Library District, Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, Airport Advisory Board and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.

He served two terms as a Pueblo County commissioner and has served as chairman of the Pueblo Democratic party.

Mendell-Lile has spent her career working with children with special needs as an early interventionist in the infant and toddler program at Colorado Bluesky Enterprises.

She collaborated on a research-based model to validate the need for in-home early intervention services for children from birth to 3 years old who have special needs.

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4 South alumni to be honored

George A. Gebelein, former director of alumni relations at McDonogh School who later designed, coordinated and expanded the Owings Mills private school's stewardship program, died Monday of pneumonia at Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie.

The Glen Burnie resident was 72.

"George was probably one of the most beloved people at McDonogh. And as director of alumni relations, he touched the lives of so many and got people to connect and reconnect to the school. He just loved people," said Barry Rollins, director of gift planning at McDonogh, who worked closely with Mr. Gebelein.

"If one said his wealth would be measured by what he gives, then George would be a billionaire," said Mr. Rollins. "He was all about relationships."

The son of Andrew Gebelein, an upholsterer, and Rosa Gebelein, a homemaker, George Andrew Gebelein was born in Baltimore and raised in Waverly.

After graduating from McDonogh in 1960, he earned a bachelor's degree in physics with a minor in mathematics at what is now McDaniel College, where he was also enrolled in the ROTC program.

Mr. Gebelein served in the Army Signal Corps as a radio communications specialist in Ethiopia for two years until being discharged in 1966. He remained an active reservist and attained the rank of captain.

After leaving the Army, he took a job with the old Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. He later held management positions with successor companies Bell Atlantic, Lucent Technologies and Verizon, retiring in 2000.

While working in the telecommunications industry, Mr. Gebelein earned a master's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park.

He returned to McDonogh in 2003 when he was named director of alumni relations. Four years later, he "stepped into a newly created part-time position designed to coordinate and expand McDonogh's stewardship program," Headmaster Charles W. Britton said in remarks delivered when Mr. Gebelein retired this year.

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George A. Gebelein, McDonogh alumni director