Laurels

SAILING HALL OF FAMER BETSY ALISON, J81, was the only woman in the inaugural group of fifteen inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame during ceremonies at the San Diego Yacht Club on October 23. Alison, who first took to the water at age seven on Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, has evolved from a world-renowned racer to a high-profile coach. At Tufts, she won the 1978 New England Intercollegiate Singlehanded Sailing Championship, and was a three-time national singlehanded champion. Her world championship titles in the Women’s Laser (1983) and Yngling (2002) and five victories in the Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship earned her Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year honors five times (the media mogul Ted Turner only won four). She currently coaches the U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team, which won gold and bronze medals at the 2008 Paralympic Games in China. “The beauty of the sport is that you can be at the top of your game at any age,” says Alison, fifty-one. “If you combine maturity with dedication, you can keep your edge in sailing.”

HEALTH SYSTEM CEOVICTORIA BAYLESS, J91, is the new chief executive officer of the Anne Arundel Health System in Maryland. She had been president since 2009 and chief operating officer since 2006.

NYC COMMISSIONERNew York City Mayor MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG, H07, has appointed Judge RONALD E. RICHTER, A87, commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). A Family Court judge since 2009, Richter has adjudicated child protective issues, including child abuse, neglect, termination of parental rights, and custody. He has worked in child services for twenty years, including serving as ACS deputy commissioner.

ORTHODONTIC CHIEFBARRY BRISS, D66, DG70, professor and chair of orthodontics at the School of Dental Medicine, is the new president of the American Board of Orthodontics.

VIETNAMESE AMBASSADORNGUYEN QUOC CUONG, F97, presented his credentials to the State Department to become Vietnam’s ambassador to the United States on May 2. A career diplomat, he previously served as deputy foreign minister, in charge of the Press and Information Service as well as relations between Vietnam and Europe.

KID-FRIENDLY TVDANIEL FLANNERY, a graduate student in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development, is the recipient of a Fred Rogers Memorial Scholarship, awarded by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. Named after the star of the PBS television show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the $10,000 scholarship honors students who have worked to improve children’s media. Flannery, a teacher at the Tufts Educational Day Care Center, was recognized for his proposal for a kids’ TV show that would incorporate a songwriting workshop. He and his brother, Mike, record CDs for children as the Flannery Brothers. Listen in at www.flannerybrothers.com.

DENTAL PROMOTIONMARK GONTHIER, the associate dean for admissions and student affairs at the School of Dental Medicine since 2001, has been promoted to executive associate dean at the school. He has worked at Tufts for twenty-five years. In his new job, Gonthier is the school’s chief operating officer, helping to ensure that management and administrative functions support the school’s mission.

$500,000 RESEARCH AWARDEKATERINA HELDWEIN, an assistant professor of molecular biology and microbiology at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, received a prestigious Burroughs-Wellcome Investigators Award for her research on the mechanisms through which the herpes virus attacks cells. Heldwein will use the $500,000 grant to unravel, in atomic-level detail, how herpes virus particles escape their host cells—a new direction that could lead to a better understanding of the viruses that cause blindness, encephalitis, and some cancers.

VETERINARY LEADERDEBORAH KOCHEVAR, dean of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, is the president-elect of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, a national organization that advocates on behalf of academic veterinary medicine.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS FELLOWADAM LEVY, A08, has been named a 2011 Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellow. Funded by the State Department, the fellowship will provide support for Levy to complete a master’s degree at Harvard University and prepare to enter the Foreign Service.

COLLEGE PREZ RETIRINGLebanon Valley College President STEPHEN MACDONALD, A69, will retire next June from the post he has held since 2004. “It has been the greatest professional honor of my life to be president of this college,” he said. “I love this place, and I love the students.” The popular president, known for his trademark white beard, sport jacket, and bowtie, said his proudest achievement was bringing the Pennsylvania liberal arts college through the economic downturn largely unscathed.

NEW OVERSEERSKATHLEEN T. O’LOUGHLIN, D81, a university trustee and executive director and chief operating officer of the American Dental Association, is now an overseer to the School of Dental Medicine. MEG SPENCER, chief executive officer and founder of Hamilton Thorne Inc., a provider of medical laser systems based in Beverly, Massachusetts, has been appointed to the Board of Overseers to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

WORLD BANK APPOINTEEJESWALD W. SALACUSE, the Henry J. Braker Professor of Law and former dean of the Fletcher School (and a columnist for this magazine), was the only American named to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Panel of Conciliators by Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank and ex-officio chair of the ICSID. Because of the increasing number of investor-state disputes, the World Bank is seeking to encourage disputants to use alternatives to arbitration. Salacuse will serve until 2017.

CHEMISTRY SCHOLARCHARLIE SYKES, an associate professor of chemistry, was named a 2011 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, an award that supports the nation’s talented young chemists and chemical engineers. Sykes, whose research involves turning molecules into motors and other mechanical devices, received a $75,000 unrestricted grant to support his work.

BRITISH ACADEMY POSTDOCDACIA VIEJO-ROSE, J96, a research associate at the McDonald Institute for Archeological Research at the University of Cambridge, has been awarded a three-year postdoctoral fellowship from the British Academy to pursue a study on “Cultural Violence/Violence Against Culture.”

TOP JUDGED.C. Court of Appeals Chief Judge ERIC T. WASHINGTON, A76, has been elected president of the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ), a national organization that promotes the interests and effectiveness of state judicial systems. Washington was also named to the board of directors of the National Center for State Courts, a nonprofit that serves as the executive staff for the CCJ. Washington, whom Clinton nominated to the Superior Court in 1995, says the focus of his presidency will be on securing adequate funding for state courts and ensuring language access to the courts for those with limited English proficiency.

TWITTER KINGSTEVE WILSON, A79, the European sports editor for the Associated Press news service, made the Sports Illustrated list of top 100 Twitter feeds. “The writer will be a must-read when the 2012 London Olympics come around,” according to the magazine.