Faculty and Staff on the Move

DR. SUE ELLEN ABDALIAN, professor of pediatrics and chief of the section of adolescent medicine, is medical director of a clinic at Warren Easton High School that will open in 2009. She was on hand on Sept. 27 to accept a check for $35,000 from the owner of the San Francisco 49ers and the 49ers Foundation toward the building of the clinic for the New Orleans high school.

An additional $5,000 was pledged by one of the members of the foundation during the ceremony. The clinic is a joint project of Tulane Medical Center, School Health Connection and Warren Easton High School Charter Foundation. Major funding is being provided by the Kellogg Foundation.

Abdalian also is one of several members of the faculty who received awards from FACES (Family Advocacy Care and Educational Services) at the organization's 20th anniversary celebration at Children's Hospital in October.

Also receiving awards to recognize their partnership with FACES to serve families affected by HIV/AIDS were DR. THOMAS ALCHEDIAK, associate professor of pediatrics; PATRICIA KISSINGER, professor of epidemiology; DR. MARGARITA SILIO, associate professor of pediatrics; and DR. RUSSELL VANDYKE, professor of pediatrics and chief of pediatric infectious diseases.

LINDA L. CARROLL, professor of Italian, translated a book, Venice, Cita Excelentissima: Selections from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo, published this year.

DR. LEE HAMM, professor and chair of internal medicine, received the 2008 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Council on the Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease at the American Heart Association's 62nd High Blood Pressure Research Conference in September in Atlanta. Hamm was recognized for making major contributions to the affairs of the scientific council and substantial professional contributions in his field.

JULIE JACKSON, assistant dean for public interest programs at Tulane Law School, received an award for cultural economic development on behalf of the Entertainment Law Legal Assistance (ELLA) at the 20th Governor's Arts Awards ceremony in Baton Rouge, La., in October. ELLA is a pro bono program begun in 2005 by the law school and its partners, Tulane Law School Pro Bono Program, Tipitina's Foundation and the Arts Council of Louisiana. ELLA has provided free legal assistance to more than 500 artists, musicians and arts organizations. Tulane law students who are studying entertainment and intellectual property law provide legal assistance under the supervision of Tulane law school graduate ASHLYE KEATON.

JONI JENSEN, professor of practice in the Newcomb Department of Music, led a panel discussion, “A Balancing Act,” on teaching strategies at the Louisiana Music Teachers Association 56th annual state convention on Oct. 24 at Centenary College in Shreveport, La.

DR. BENJAMIN R. LEE joined the faculty of the School of Medicine as professor of urology and director of robotics, laparoscopy and endourology at Tulane Medical Center. Lee has extensive experience with minimally invasive approaches to treating kidney disease and specializes in robotic urologic surgery. He has pioneered several innovative surgical techniques in the treatment of kidney cancer and is the author of more than 250 manuscripts and abstracts in this field.

FAINA LUSHTAK, professor of music in piano performance in the Newcomb Department of Music, was a guest artist at California State University–Sacramento on Oct. 4. She also conducted a master class at West Chester University's School of Music in Pennsylvania on Oct. 21. Lushtak holds the Downman/Eminent Scholars Trust Fund Chair in the Performing Arts at Tulane.

DR. NORMAN E. MCSWAIN received the 2008 Spirit of Charity Award from the Medical Center of Louisiana Foundation Charity and University Hospitals at a gala dinner and program at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside on Sept. 19. McSwain, who follows in a distinguished line of award recipients, starting in 1998 with the late Dr. Michael DeBakey, a Tulane alumnus, received a glass sculpture of healing hands and a picture of Charity Hospital. For the past three decades, McSwain has provided care to almost every severely injured police officer taken to the trauma center. While on the faculty at Tulane, he wrote or revised more than 25 textbooks and more than 360 articles, and traveled the world giving more than 800 presentations.

BAPI PAHAR, ARPITA DAS, ANDREW LACKNER, RON VEAZEY and XIAOLEI WANG of the Tulane National Primate Research Center published an article on “Intestinal double-positive CD4+CD8+T cells of neonatal rhesus macaques are proliferating, activated, memory cells and primary targets for SIVMAC251 infection” in the Sept. 26, 2008, issue of Blood.

MATT SAKAKEENY, assistant professor of music in ethnomusicology in the Newcomb Department of Music, was honored by the Society for Ethnomusicology with the Charles Seeger Prize for the most distinguished student paper presented at the organization's annual meeting in October. The paper will be published in the society's journal, Ethnomusicology.

THE OFFICE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS has added several staff members this academic year:

• LAUREN BOYD is an area director in housing and residence life for Monroe and Sharp residential communities.

• DAVID HOTZ is director of fraternity and sorority programs, overseeing the 24 fraternities and sororities on campus. Hotz works with the national headquarters of each organization to reduce risk, enhance programs and promote the advancement of fraternity and sorority life at Tulane.

• DANIELLE KLEIN is an area director in housing and residence life for Willow, Aron and the modular unit residential communities.

• NANCY KOCKOTT is director of finances and university conferences in housing and residence life.

• MAEGHAN LIVACCARI is associate director of wellness services, directing alcohol and other substance abuse education and coordinating a community coalition.

• NATHAN SLIFE is an area director in housing and residence life for Josephine Louise, Warren and Butler residential communities.

• CELENA TRAHAN is assistant director of housing services in housing and residence life, a member of the crisis management team and a member of the student affairs staff development committee.

• LUELLA WILLIAMS is an area director in housing and residence life for Mayer, Irby and Phelps residential communities.

• ERICA WOODLEY is assistant dean of students for case management in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. Woodley is responsible for developing and maintaining a case management system for distressed students, facilitating programs and services to resolve student issues, and helping with student-related critical incidences.

• PENNY WYATT rejoins Tulane as director of orientation and student transitions. Wyatt is responsible for summer orientation, the new student convocation, parent programs and other transitional programming for first-year and transfer students.