LAURELS

SPECIAL REP TO LIBERIA LOUIS M. AUCOIN, a professor of the practice at the Fletcher School and academic director of the school’s master’s program in international law, has been named deputy special representative for rule of law for Liberia by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Aucoin has advised a number of countries—including Haiti, East Timor, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Kosovo—on matters relating to the rule of law, transitional justice, and constitutional reform.

NEW ADVISORS The Tufts Boards of Overseers are now the Boards of Advisors, a name change that more accurately reflects their role. JAAFAR AL-HILLAWI, E74, E11P, senior vice president of URS Corporation in Bahrain, has been named to the International Board of Advisors. Newly appointed to the Friedman School Board of Advisors are JOAN K. COHN, J65, of New York City; CRISTIANA FALCONE SORRELL, N01, F01, a senior advisor to the executive chair and founder of the World Economic Forum USA; and TERI VOLPERT, J84, of New York City. ALICE A. COOMBS, D11P, M14P, a critical care specialist at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts, has been appointed an advisor to the School of Dental Medicine. MEE KIM, F10, A10P, chair of the Kim Koo Foundation in the Republic of Korea, has been appointed to the Board of Advisors to the Fletcher School. STACEY COLEMAN MORSE, E77, of Hong Kong, has joined the Board of Advisors to the School of Engineering. ELIZABETH SAUL, founder of Petfinder.com, a virtual pet adoption clearinghouse, is an advisor to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

OSTEOPOROSIS HONORS BESS DAWSON-HUGHES, M75, director of the Bone Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts and a professor of medicine, received the International Osteoporosis Foundation’s Pierre D. Delmas Award in recognition of her contributions in advancing the work of the organization. Internationally known for her research on osteoporosis, she is investigating ways in which calcium, vitamin D, protein, and other nutrients influence age-related bone loss and the risk of fractures.

ROMANIAN FINANCE MINISTER BOGDAN DRAGOI, A02, has been appointed finance minister of Romania by Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu. Dragoi, who had been secretary of state in the finance ministry since 2009, was involved in several successful euro and dollar bond placements over the past two years.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT SONYA ELDER, N05, N09, food services director for the Brookline (Massachusetts) Public Schools, was named 2012 Brookline Woman of the Year by the Brookline Commission for Women, in recognition of her efforts to get students to eat healthier. She introduced vegetarian options and more fruits and vegetables on school lunch menus. “A lot of people think of school food as being highly processed,” Elder said. “If you look at our menus, you’ll see a lot of fresh produce and raw ingredients. We’re trying to make it more like home cooking.”

BEST BOOK AWARD KELLY GREENHILL, an associate professor of political science, received the International Studies Association Best Book Award for 2011 for Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion, and Foreign Policy (Cornell University Press).

VP FOR ADVANCEMENT ERIC C. JOHNSON is Tufts’ new vice president for University Advancement, succeeding Brian Lee, now at the California Institute of Technology. Johnson has twenty-eight years of fundraising experience, twenty-four of them at Tufts. He helped lead successful campaigns to complete the Tisch Library and the Gantcher Family Sports and Convocation Center in his previous roles as director of principal and leadership gifts and as executive director of development.

DENTAL ADMISSIONS DEAN ROBERT H. KASBERG JR. is the new associate dean for admissions and student affairs at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. Previously he was assistant dean for student affairs at the Indiana University School of Dentistry.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT STUART B. LEVY, a professor of molecular biology and microbiology and director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts, is the recipient of the 2012 Abbott-American Society for Microbiology Lifetime Achievement Award for his many decades of work in antimicrobial drug resistance. Levy has served for thirty years as president of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, which he cofounded in 1981.

NEW HOPKINS DEAN VALI NASR, A83, F84, A15P, has been appointed dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. A leading scholar on the politics of the Middle East and the Muslim world, he has served as a foreign policy advisor to Democratic and Republican administrations and as a commentator on international relations. He had been a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School since 2007.

UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE TARA D. SONENSHINE, J81, was confirmed as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the State Department on March 29. She had been an advisor at the U.S. Institute of Peace, focusing on projects related to outreach and growth. Before joining the institute, she was special advisor to National Security Advisor Sandy Berger. She served in various capacities during the Clinton administration, including transition director for the National Security Council. She began her career in broadcast journalism in 1982 at ABC News in New York, eventually becoming editorial producer of Nightline. Sonenshine earned ten Emmy Awards during her time at ABC. A former contributing editor for Newsweek, she has written on foreign affairs for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other newspapers.

LEADER IN DENTISTRY HUW F. THOMAS, dean of Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, has been elected vice president for deans of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) for a three-year term. He is the former chair of the ADEA Council of Deans and the American Association for the Advancement of Science Section on Dentistry and Oral Health Sciences.

JUSTICE FOR ALL JO-ANN WALLACE, J79, president and CEO of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, was one of sixteen attorneys honored as White House Champions of Change for their work to ensure quality legal representation for those who can’t afford it. “With millions of families facing economic crisis, the need to close the justice gap has never been greater,” Wallace said in response to the honor.

NATIONAL EDUCATOR AWARD ESTHER WILKINS, D49, DG66, a professor emerita at Tufts School of Dental Medicine and the author of what is known as the bible of dental hygiene, received the 2012 Gies Award for Achievement by a Dental Educator from the American Dental Education Association in March. A former dental hygienist, Wilkins wrote Clinical Practice of the Dental Hygienist in 1959; the eleventh edition was published in January by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. “When she is with the students, her eyes light up,” says LINDA BOYD, N98, dean of the Forsyth School of Dental Hygiene in Boston, where Wilkins, age ninety-five, still meets weekly with students, who regard her as a rock star of their profession.