WDCSA Newsletter – March 2002

Mar. 3, Sun. Copenhagen performance
Mar. 3, Sun. Book club meeting
Mar. 7-9 Pac-10 men’s basketball tournament
Mar. 16, Sat. "Think Again DC"
Mar. 18, Mon. Capitol Hill Brown bag lunch
Mar. 21, Thurs. Young alums happy hour
Mar. 22, Fri. Ivy singles party
Apr. 7, Sun. Book club meeting

Alumni Consulting Teams
John Gardner


Think Again DC
Saturday, March 16
2:00-9:00 p.m.

Think Again DC is a half-day educational adventure showcasing Stanford’s undergraduate experience,
its students, and its faculty. In addition, it is an opportunity to reconnect with old friends and
new over cocktails, dinner, and an extraordinary virtual visit to campus.

Schedule of the day:

2:00 Check in and Registration
2:30 Welcome by Gerhard Casper 
2:45 Student Panel with John Bravman
3:30 Faculty Panels and Seminars (you choose)
4:30 Break
5:00 Repeat of Faculty Panels and Seminars. 
6:00 Cocktails to unwind from the intellectual rigors of the day
7:00 Dinner and Virtual Visit to Stanford; Remarks by President John Hennessy
9:00 Coffee with friends surrounded by Stanford memories

Location: Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center at 13th & Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW.

Metro: Federal Triangle on the Orange and Blue Line, or Metro Center on the Red Line. Underground
parking is available at the Trade Center.

Price: $74, with a half-price special for young alumni (Classes of ’97 – ’01) or guests under 28 of
$37. A portion of the expenses for these events has been generously underwritten.

Registration: Access the Think Again DC website at
http://cue.stanford.edu/think_again/locations/washington

or call (650) 724-1000. Registration deadline is Wednesday,
March 6th. Detailed information on parking and other information will be mailed to you following
your registration.

Dress: Business casual.

Who’s Coming? Over 314 as of 2/21 (see who at  http://cue.stanford.edu/think_again/locations/washington/swc.html

If you are interested in organizing a table for dinner, have questions about the event, would like
to volunteer, would like to attend a session in another city (LA 4/13, NYC 4/20, Chicago 5/4, Orange
County 5/18, Stanford 6/1), or would like to register over the phone, please call (650) 724-1000 or
e-mail at cue-registration@stanford.edu

Please note: You will choose which panel or seminar to attend on the day of the event. Information
on the panels and seminars follows.  Faculty biographies and
photos

If you are planning on being elsewhere that day, THINK AGAIN!


2:45 p.m. Student Panel: Joining the Search to Know: Undergraduate Research at Stanford 

Moderator: John Bravman, Freeman-Thornton Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Bing
Centennial Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Panelists: Current undergraduate Stanford students 

We’ve told you how Stanford has changed the face of undergraduate education-now hear it from the
students’ perspective. Meet just a few of the countless undergraduates who have benefited from
Stanford’s innovative new programs, and learn about some of the important work they’ve produced as a
result of these opportunities. 

3:30 p.m. & 5 p.m. Panels 

Now That We’ve Conquered Nature, How Do We Save Ourselves?
Moderator: Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor, Population Studies
Panelists: Pamela Matson, Goldman Professor, Environmental Studies;
Christopher Field
, director of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology at
Stanford and professor of biological sciences (by courtesy). 

What are the sociological, biological, political, and legal implications of managing Earth’s
life-support system? Is it possible to preserve biodiversity and encourage economic development? Do
Darwin’s theories explain or contradict human evolution? Can national environmental policies be
effective in the face of cross-boundary environmental threats?

What Has Happened to Citizenship?
Moderator: Gerhard Casper, president emeritus; Bing Professor in Undergraduate Education;
professor, law 
Panelists: Coit Blacker, deputy director, Institute for International Studies;
David Brady
, professor, political science, Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Professor of
Political Science in the Graduate School of Business;
Jack Rakove
, Coe Professor of History and American Studies; professor, political science 

A political theorist said that the starting point of citizenship is the attempt by ordinary people
to impose order on chaos. Is citizenship being transformed by globalization and other modern
developments that seem to be weakening the nation-state? And can democratic societies function
effectively with a concept of citizenship based on liberal rights and legalization rather than
republic obligations and virtues? 

3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Seminars 

Why Did Europeans Dominate the World for Five Centuries? 
David Abernethy, professor, political science 

That a few countries comprising less than 2 percent of the earth’s land surface could have dominated
the world for centuries, establishing colonial empires in all continents, sounds wildly improbable.
Yet this is what happened, with consequences profoundly shaping the modern world. How and why did
Western Europeans acquire their overseas colonies and retain them, in sixty instances for over a
century? Learn how geography, biology, technology, worldviews, institutions, and the European
interstate system influenced world order for 500 years.

Death and Life
Christopher Bobonich
, assistant professor, philosophy

Our most fundamental questions arise from our own mortality. How does our awareness of death
structure our lives? Consider some Western and non-Western cultural practices concerning death and
dying, and explore what these very different practices suggest about how cultures view the self and
its relation to society.

Top Ten Success Factors in High-Technology Entrepreneurship
Thomas Byers
, associate professor (teaching) and deputy chair, Management Science and
Engineering; academic director, Stanford Technology Ventures Program

The health of the economy is dependent on new technology ventures. Fortunately, high-technology
entrepreneurship and Stanford University are synonymous and have been for many years. The Stanford
Technology Ventures Program, which is the entrepreneurship education and research center hosted by
the School of Engineering, now sponsors 14 courses on this subject. Get some perspective on the key
elements in high technology ventures formation and growth.

Staging the National Conscience: Contemporary American Theater
Harry J. Elam, Jr.
, professor, drama 

What is the potential social and political impact of contemporary American theater? Can the theater
operate as a forum for today’s social issues? Has theater remained a vital and vibrant site for
national debate and social discourse? Using the recent work of playwrights Anna Deavere Smith, Tony
Kushner, and August Wilson, this seminar will explore these issues as it examine their works in
relation to such issues as the Los Angeles riots, the Matthew Shepard case, and the growth of urban
violence. 

Humanities in Contemporary America
J. Martin Evans
, professor, English

Stanford requires all freshmen to take a three-quarters-long program entitled "Introduction to
the Humanities," in which they are exposed to some of the major texts produced in Western
Europe and the rest of the world over the course of the centuries. What is the point of studying the
thought and literature of such distant times and places as classical Greece and Renaissance England?
How do the humanities differ from the sciences and social sciences?

From Fish to Fowl to Flying Objects: The Battle over San Francisco Bay
Jeffrey Koseff
, professor, civil and environmental engineering

San Francisco Bay has been "ground zero" in the struggles over water allocations in
California for over 60 years. The interplay between the natural system, our ability to understand it
and characterize it scientifically, economics, law, politics, and policy-making is explored using
two issues: the historic Bay-Delta Accord, which contains principles for environmental protections
and water flow for the San Francisco Bay-Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta, and the proposed San
Francisco Airport runway extension.

Is State Sovereignty Dead?
Stephen D. Krasner
, professor, political science; senior fellow in the Institute for
International Studies.

To many contemporary observers, state sovereignty is under unprecedented attack. Globalization has
weakened the ability of states to control transborder flows of goods, capital, people, and ideas.
Universal human-rights norms have delegitimated state claims to exclusive authority over the
treatment of individuals within their borders. Non-government organizations (NGOs) are not only
challenging state policies, but in some cases supplanting state authority. Such observations are the
commonplace stuff of popular discourse, official speeches, and academic analysis, but for the most
part they are exaggerated and historically myopic. The sovereign state has never been as sovereign
as some would have us believe. Contemporary developments do not represent a unique challenge to the
scope and effectiveness of state sovereignty.

A Marriage of True Minds: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes
Diane Middlebrook
, professor emerita, English

The story of the creative partnership of the American writer Sylvia Plath and the English writer Ted
Hughes is one of the major literary legacies of the 20th century. A marriage that failed but never
ended, it is preserved in the amber of their poems, stories, journals, letters-and the world’s
incessant gossip.

Perils of Proliferation: Nuclear Weapons, Terrorism, and South Asia 
Scott D. Sagan
, professor, political science; co-director of the Center for International
Security and Cooperation (CISAC)

How has the spread of nuclear weapons to India and Pakistan influenced regional and international
security? Are terrorists interested in getting and using nuclear weapons and materials, and how
secure from theft are the weapons in the Pakistani and Indian arsenals? Discuss the consequences of
nuclear proliferation in this very unstable region of the world.


Brownbag Lunch: The Capital Hill Experience
Monday, March 18
12:30 p.m.

Charles Hokanson ’93, MA ’93, professional staff member to the House Committee on Education and the
Workforce (majority staff). Last year, Charles served as a staff negotiator on the president’s
education bill, the No Child Left Behind Act, and currently serves as the Committee’s lead staffer
on special education and disability law, early childhood programs, charitable choice legislation,
and civil rights.

Lorri Elder ’96, senior legislative assistant to Representative Joseph Hoeffel (D-PA). Lorri spends
the bulk of her time on Congressman Hoeffel’s International Relations Committee work, as well as
working on science policy and defense, veterans, environment, agriculture, and energy issues.

James Kvall ’96, legislative associate to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce
(minority staff), works primarily on higher education legislation.

Additional panelists, including Senate staffers, to be added.

Bring your lunch (or buy something to eat at the basement cafeteria in the Rayburn House Office
Building) and bring your questions to Room 2257 of the Rayburn HOB.

The Rayburn House Office Building is at the corner of S. Capitol Street and Independence Ave. on
Capitol Hill, halfway between the Federal Center SW and Capitol South Metro exits on the Orange/Blue
Lines. Room 2257 is on the second floor.

For more information, contact Charles Hokanson at 703-351-1091 or charles_hokanson@stanfordalumni.org


Third Thursday
Thursday, March 21
6:30 p.m. 

The March Third Thursday young alumni happy hour will be held at Bedrock Billiards, 1841 Columbia
Road, NW in Adams Morgan (closest Metro is Dupont Circle on the Red Line). 

Young alumni happy hours are also publicized through weekly DC_Cardinal e-mails that highlight
upcoming young alumni events as well as provide announcements of housing needs, job opportunities,
etc. To subscribe to the DC_Cardinal e-mail list, please email Atiba Pertilla ’99 (akpert@journalism.org). 


Ivy Singles Social Club 
Friday, March 22
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

The Cornell Club of Washington, DC, is sponsoring this month’s social event for over 30 Ivy singles.
Mix and mingle at the Annapolis Grill, 1160 20th St , NW in downtown DC, between L and M Streets.
The Annapolis Grill is a great new hot spot, which received a superb review in The Washington Post
and is accessible from the Dupont Circle Metro (Red Line) or Farragut West (Orange/Blue Lines).

Enjoy delicious appetizers and a cash bar. $20 advanced reservations; $25 for walk-ins. Make checks
available to "Cornell Club of Washington" and send to Bonni Dutcher, 13304 Sunny Brooke
Place, Potomac, MD 20854. For more information, contact Bonni at (301) 315-2619 or bsdutcher@aol.com


Launch of New Alumni Consulting Teams

The Stanford GSB Alumni Association in the Greater DC area is excited and proud to announce the
local launch of Alumni Consulting Teams (ACT). ACT initiatives aim to enhance our community by
linking the management skill of Biz School alumni and other alumni with the needs of nonprofit,
public benefit organizations.

Thanks to the excellent caliber and level of volunteer interest by our alumni community, the DC area
ACT will be launching two projects simultaneously. The clients are the Washington Humane Society (WHS)
and Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS). 

For more information on ACT, please visit www.gsb.stanford.edu/alumni/act  One-liners on the client organizations are
below. 

The Washington Humane Society: "Founded in 1870 to protect animals in D.C., it annually serves
over 15,000 animals and responds to over 19,000 calls for assistance. It cares for more animals than
any other local organization and, uniquely, never turns an animal away."
Friends of Choice in Urban Schools: "Promoting quality public education for D.C. families
through the development of public charter schools."

Alumni who wish to become involved with ACT by providing management consulting or assisting with the
initiative at large (public relations, etc.), including undergraduate alumni seeking management
consulting experience and mentorships with experienced Biz School alumni, are encouraged to
contact: 
Rani Saad, Director of ACT in Greater DC, and Board Member, Stanford GSB Alumni Association in
Greater DC, rani.saad@stanfordalumni.org
703-346-8731.


Cardinal Basketball

The 17th-ranked men’s Stanford basketball team (17-8, 10-6 Pac-10) enters the home stretch:

Thursday, Feb. 28 at Arizona-10:30 p.m.-Fox Sports Net 
Saturday, March 2 at Arizona State-6 p.m.-Fox Net (See sports bars listed below) 
Thursday-Saturday March 7-9 Pac-10 Tournament in Los Angeles 
Thursday-Friday March 14-15 NCAA Tournament 1st Round 

All times are EST with current TV coverage indicated. Most, if not all, games on Fox Sports Net will
be televised on your local cable system as part of their basic/expanded basic service (e.g. Comcast
SportsNet in Arlington and Alexandria). Information regarding the Pac-10 and NCAA Tournament first
round will be sent out via email (and posted on the WDCSA website) a few days prior to these games
when scheduling and TV coverage is determined.

MARYLAND
Location: Willie and Reeds, 4901 Fairmont Ave. (corner of Norfolk St.) in downtown Bethesda
[301-951-1100].
Metro: Exit Bethesda Metro stop on the Red Line. After a long and a short escalator, turn left on
Old Georgetown Road. Walk 3 short blocks and turn right on Fairmont. Willie and Reeds is on the left
at the end of the block.

VIRGINIA
Location: Crystal City Sports Pub, 529 South 23rd Street, Arlington [703-521-8215]. From DC, come
over 14th Street Bridge, and come south on Route 1. Make a right at 23rd (gas station on corner)
before turnoff to National Airport. The sports bar is in the second block on your right.
Metro: Exit Crystal City Metro (8th Street) and walk under underpass to Eads, and left to 23rd, and
right on 23rd.

WASHINGTON, DC
Location: Grand Slam Sports Bar in the Grand Hyatt Hotel, 1000 H St. NW, Washington, DC
[202-637-4736].
Metro: Exit at Metro Center and go through the Washington Center Exit. In the Washington Center,
follow directions to the Grand Hyatt and head for the Grand Slam Bar.


Book Club Meetings

The D.C. Stanford Alumni Book Club is open to any Stanford alumnus or friend interested in
discussing and sharing ideas about good literature. Our upcoming schedule is as follows:

Sunday, March 3: Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice-Like Interview with a Vampire, Memnoch
has a half-maddened fever pitch intensity. Narrated by Rice’s most cherished character, Lestat, Memnoch
tells a tale as old as Scripture’s legends and as modern as today’s religious strife.

Sunday, April 7: White Teeth by Zadie Smith-Epic in scale and intimate in approach, White
Teeth
is a formidably ambitious debut. First novelist Zadie Smith takes on race, sex, class,
history, and the minefield of gender politics, and such is her wit and inventiveness that these
weighty subjects seem effortlessly light. 

Please contact Marisa at mbfitzgerald@air.org or (202)
332-4826 for more information, including times and locations.


In Memory…

John Gardner ’35, MA ’36, founder of Common Cause, engineer of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s
"Great Society" program, died on February 16 at age 89 from complications related to
cancer at his home on the Stanford campus. A longtime activist who played a major role in civil
rights enforcement, education reform, and campaign finance reform, as well as in creating the
Medicare program, establishing the public television network, and garnering support for volunteer
community service, Gardner served as a Cabinet Secretary, founder of Common Cause, head of the Urban
Coalition, and chair of numerous presidential tasks forces and commissions. He received the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civil honor, in 1964.

A member of the Stanford Board of Trustees from 1968 to 1982, Gardner was awarded the Herbert Hoover
Medal for Distinguished Service by the Stanford Alumni Association and the Degree of Uncommon Man,
the University’s highest honor, by the Stanford Associates. In 1989, Gardner was named the first
Miriam and Peter Haas Centennial Professor in Public Service at Stanford and was a consulting
professor in the Graduate School of Education at the time of his death.

"John Gardner stands as an exemplar of the power of one individual to have a positive impact on
society," said Stanford President John Hennessey. "His life should remind all of us that
education and public service can work together as a powerful force to improve the world in which we
live.