Hellenic Profiles - Senior Theses, Papers & Projects

Hellenic Profiles
WILLIAM CAPITAN, a very active
member of the Hellenic Network, is
President of Georgia Southwestern
College. Recently he announced a joint
project with NASA, the Space Agency,
which would enable professors from
Georgia to spend time at the NASA
Research Center doing research into
new programs for mathematics, science
and technology. With new training techniques
these educators would contact
high school seniors who wish to continue
their studies as sceientists. These
studies would stimulate scientific
advances in the USA which are presently
lagging as compared to Western
Europe and Japan. Capitan is very
enthusiastic about this new strategy.
NASA presently has about 30 similar
programs with other schools.
ZACHARY STRATIS is a young filmmaker
of great creativity and vision. He
was born in Everett, Mass., a small
town which was not a city nor a suburb,
it was in between, according to Stratis,
it was a midburd, a community which
he once ridiculed. A graduate of Rhode
Island School of Design, he is an award
winning filmmaker having worked with
Costa Gavras. Later in Africa, he was
assistant director for the feature film
"The Short Cut." In 1988 he won first
prize at the Festival de Belfort in
France, and second prize in the Marin
County Film Festival. His latest film is
about his home town Everett which he
no longer scorns. His movie "Midburb"
is about his boyhood roots, its a movie
about laughing with, not laughing at us.
The film was presented at the Everett
Centennial Celebration. We must all
look back at our roots with a grain of
salt, I was born in Hell's Kitchen and
I'm proud of it.
DR. DELORES HARITOS, director
of nursing education at Northern Essex
Community College, wrote an article
recently which was included in "American
Nursing: A Biographical Dictionary.
Dr. Haritos joined the registered
nursing faculty at N. Essex in 1972 and
was appointed to her present position in
1987. A colonel in the Air Force, she has
a Bachelor's and Master's in nursing
from Boston University and a Doctorate
in education from Boston College.
DR. BASIL RIGAS of Cornell University,
Ithaca, N.Y., is the co-developer
for a new screening technique to detect
cervical cancer in women. This new test
method offers great advantages over the
widely used "Pap" test, developed more
than 60 years ago by Dr. GEORGE
PAPANICOLAOU. Dr. Rigas is an
assistant professor of medicine and
works with his colleague Dr. Patrick
Wong who is a Canadian. The new technique
involves using infrared spectoscopy
which enables doctors to
distinguish between normal and cancerous
cells, with a greater degree of
identity.
KATHERINE GILLIS, a native of Biddeford,
Maine, went back to school at
the age of 60 to study Byzantine music!
This takes agreat deal of guts, even most
native-born Greeks know that Byzantine
music, to read it and to verbalize it
takes a great deal of stamina and talent.
She read both English and Greek text at
Hellenic College in Brookline, Mass;
she learned to chant 33 hymns by heart;
in many classes she was the only
woman. For anyone at 60 to learn
Byzantine chants is indeed a great
achievement. Yasou Yiaya!
STAVROS MANOLAGAS of the
Veterans Medical Center & Indiana
University School of Medicine in India-
By Thomas Spelios
napolis, Indiana, believes that he and
his team have found the reason why
women develop osteoporosis after
menopause. The lack of the hormone
estrogen causes the weakening of the
bones and developes into the so-called
"widow's hump" which causes bones to
shrink when they are attacked by scavenger
cells called osteoclasts. These are
the culprits in bone degeneration.
TIDBITS
JOHN MARGARITIS serves as the
president of the prestigious law firm
Ogily, Adams & Rinehart in Manhattan...
another very active member of the
Hellenic Network is Louis Strike, the
president of Cinpack, Inc. in Cincinnati,
Ohio... ANNE KARALEKAS is
the publisher of the Washington Post
"Magazine." She was the co-hostess for
100 Network members at the Army &
Navy Club recently... DR. ALICE
SCOURBY is the chairman of the
Anthropology & Sociology Dept. at
Long Island University. She was elected
president of the Greek American
Women's Network Society...
GEORGE ECONOMIDES is president
of the Olympic Group in Germantown,
Maryland, a company dedicated to
solving environmental problems in the
USA and Europe... DR. DEBORAH
GEFTEAS, who heads her own consul-
OCTOBER, 1992 29

ting company, provides CTB (Compyter
based training) for ITT, Sheraton, Citibank
and the American Express...
ANN PANAGOULIAS plays the role
of Lisa in the opera "The Sorrows of
Young Werther which is based upon a
Goethe novel at the Santa Fe Opera...
ANDREAS KATSULAS is appearing
in a new video release of the comedy
film, "Blame it on the Bellboy" which
stars Dudley Moore. It is a hilarious
mountain of fun... BASIL POLEDOU-
RIS, the musical genius of Hollywood
composed the musical score for the new
movie entitled "Wind," a spectacular
adventure film which was produced by
Francis Ford Coppola... NICHOLAS
VELIOTES, a former career diplomat
who served as U.S. Ambassador to the
Sudan, has become very active in the
American Hellenic Network along with
BARBARA SPYRIDON POPE, the
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the
highest ranking female in the Defense
Department... ALEX DESCAS, a very
talented actor is appearing in the new
movie, "No Fear, No Die," which is
directed by Claire Denis...
VANGELIS, the celebrated composer
wrote the musical score for the new
movie "Blade Runner" which stars Harrison
Ford... Vangelis gave us the
immortal score for "Chariots of Fire"...
STEPHAI,IIE DUNCAN-PETERS
serves as an Associate Judge in
Washington. Prior to this post she
served as a public defender for more
than 12 years. For a time she also gave
courses at Harvard University... TATI-
ANA TROYANOS, the well known
mezzo-soprano, is appearing in the
world premiere of the new opera, the
"Voyage," composed by Philip Glass at
the Met in Manhattan... DEMOS
KOUVARIS has been promoted to
manager of the prestigious international
and audiding firm of Coopers &
Lynbrand in Boston... THAAO
PENGHLIS, the Greco-Australian
movie star, was in Boston filming scenes
for the NBC daytime Soap Opera. His
co-star is Kim Zimmar... DOROTHEA
TSIPOPOULOS, a talented young
journalist, was acclaimed as the top
reporter for analytical writing by the
New Hampshire Press Association...
CHRISTOPHER ECONOMAKOS
had a starring role in the recent production
of "Bye Bye Birdie" which was
staged in Groton, New York... VIRGI-
NIA STEPHAKIS is the spokeswoman
for the U.S. Army Surgeon General in
Washington, D.C. She is the second
ranking Hellenic female in the Pentagon
after BARBARA SPYRIDON
POPE who serves as Assistant Secretary
of the Navy...
JOHN KAMB of Darby, Penn. sent a
letter to Rep. Weldon thanking him for
his support on the Macedonian Question
which has been rekindled by
Sarajevo after 80 years. This problem,
which the French called "La Salade
Macedonie," was finalized in 1912 after
the Balkan Wars... PHILIP COCORI-
NOS, the celebrated baritone, performed
in the Mozart opera "The
Impressario" at Lincoln Center
recently... TED BAFALOUKOS was
the production designer for the new
movie "A Brief History of Time," an
adventure film that got excellent
reviews from the critics... OLYMPIA
SNOWE, the only Hellenic-American
female in the U.S. Congress, is running
for reelection in Augusta, Maine. Her
husband is the state Governor McKearney...
MARK LAMOS is the director of
the Benjamin Britten opera, "Turn of
30 GREEK-AMERICAN REVIEW

the Screw" which is playing in Cooperstown,
New York...
MARINA SIRTIS, 32, is well known to
Trekkies as the Counselor Troi on the
syndicated TV series, "Star Trek: the
Next Generation"... MIKE CHEO-
KAS, a Democratic delegate from
Georgia, thinks Bill Clinton can win the
Oval Office but PAUL TSONGAS had
the best economic program, even Ross
Perot praised Tsongas... DR. MARY
LEKAS of Providence, R.I. was
honored recently as Woman Physician
of the Year by the R.I. Woman's Medical
Association... DR. ARTHUR
ENGLISH, a fellow Hellene, was
elected chairman of the political science
department at the University of Arkansas
in Little Rock... WILLIAM ADA-
MOPOULOS was the general manager
of the Asian Wall Street Journal. He is a
Harvard graduate and joined the company
in 1985. For a few years he worked
in Singapore handing the Far East
branch offices...
DEAN FANIKOS of Danver, Mass.
was the class valedictorian at the 82nd
Commencement exercises at the prestighious
St. John's Preparatory
School... GABRIELLE CARTERIS is
playing the role of Nan in the new movie
"Raising Cain" just released by Universas
Studios... PHIL JOANNOU is the
director-producer of a new documentary
about diversity entitled "Children
Age Seven in America"... DR.
GEORGE KORFIATIS of the Stevens
Institute of Technology in Hoboken,
New Jersey, is organizing an environmental
conference which will be
attended by members from 20 universities
and consulting firms. Maybe they
will clear the air we breath... GUS
STAVROS, the Florida philanthropist,
plans to give more financial aid if the
State gives matching funds. He recently
donated $1.2 million to Florida State
University... ED SARPOLUS, a
Democratic pollster from Michigan,
says that Bill Clinton can recapture the
Reagan Democrats and win the Oval
Office.
Historical Trivia
GREEK MARITIME ACHIEVE-
MENTS
The Greeks were the first Mediterranean
people to master celestial navigation.
The Egyptians, Jews, Hittites and
Persians never became mariners. Much
later came the Phoenicians who did
build a merchant fleet. As early as 1500
BC, the Minoans from Crete and the
Myceneans from mainland Greece built
warships and a vast merchant fleet. A
Greek navigator named Pytheas of
Massalia (330 BC) sailed into the Atlantic
and explored Gaul, England, and
Greenland. In the east a Greek admiral
named Nearchus of Crete commanded
the fleet of Alexander the Great from
India back to Babylonia sailing the
Indian Ocean in 324 BC. In modern
times Greeks own and control the largest
Merchant Fleet in the world.
Greek Jewelry
Exhibit in Manhattan
The celebrated Athenian jewelry
designer, Ms. Villy Alexandrakis will
exhibit her unique collection of traditional
and modern Greek jewelry once
again in Manhattan this year.
She has been visiting the USA for the
last eight years presenting her dazzling
styles of 18 and 22 karat jewelry inspired
from ancient and Byzantine art.
Having expanded her business from
publisher of books on jewelry, she now
designs and manufactures artistic bijou
for the taste of her American clientele.
This year her exhibit will be in cooperation
with The Givenchy Madison
Avenue boutique during November
3rd-6th, 1992.
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