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T UFTS
ALMA MAT TER S
A N E W S L E T T E R F O R A L U M N I O F T H E T U F T S G R A D U A T E S C H O O L O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S
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The Dean’s Column
Welcome to Our Premier Issue
We are in an era of new Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences
traditions and
rhythms. Last year, the
GSAS instituted several new programs including
a workshop to develop the capabilities of
grant and fellowship seekers, as well as an
accompanying handbook available in print and
on the web, and a Ph.D.
hooding ceremony to accord
special recognition to doctoral
degree recipients, whose educational
accomplishments represent
the highest level of
graduate study. In partnership
with the Center for Teaching
Excellence and the Summer
Session, we co-sponsored a
Summer Institute on College
Teaching to help prepare students
who eventually will be
competing for teaching jobs.
We also held the first in what
will become a yearly graduate
student award ceremony honoring
students for outstanding
teaching, dedication in developing
graduate student initiatives
like the Graduate
Student Council, and, to recognize
other remarkable
accomplishments, we offered
the Deans’ Award for Special
Achievement.
All of these new developments mark the
continued vitality and growth of the Graduate
School. Among our goals to enrich and improve
the graduate experience at Tufts is to strengthen
contact with our alumni. Last summer we sent a
survey to over 8,000 GSAS alumni. The many
who responded expressed enthusiasm for
improving and facilitating contact with fellow
alumni and urged us to keep
them updated about current
campus news by way of
newsletters and events. This
newsletter has been created in
response to that request, and
we look forward to your comments
and perhaps, to your
future contributions.
Robert M. Hollister
New Course on Community Leadership
This spring semester, Dean Robert Hollister, Tufts President John
DiBiaggio, and Prof. Badi Foster, director of The Lincoln Filene
Center are co-teaching a new course titled Leadership for Active
Citizenship. Part of the recently founded University College of
Citizenship and Public Service, this course will challenge students
to explore alternative styles and strategies of leadership,
as well as help them reflect on community service and active citizenship.
Guest speakers from a broad range of fields—electoral
politics, government agencies, business, philanthropy, arts, nonprofit
organizations, social movements, and education—will talk
at a community forum, open to all Tufts students, preceding
each class session. Watch for a feature article next issue!
in this issue
1 The Dean’s Column
2 New Certificate
Programs
3 Alumni Profile:
Catching up with
Peggy Powers
4 Graduate Student
Awards
6 Graduate Student
Council
7 Summer Institute on
Teaching
8 Join the Tufts C*A*N

ALMA MAT TER S
T U F T S G R A D U A T E S C H O O L O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S A L U M N I N E W S L E T T E R
Professional and Continuing Studies Launches
New Certificate Programs
Another Reason to return to Tufts!
Whether it’s because of their research
interests or community service activities,
Tufts faculty are often the first
to hear about the latest trends in their
disciplines.
Last year, several Tufts faculty members
approached the Office of Professional and
Continuing Studies with a great idea. Professors
Sharan Schwartzberg (BSOT),
Francine Jacobs (UEP/Child Development),
Sal Soraci (Psychology), Rob Jacob
(EE/CS), and John Kreifeldt (ME) collaborated
with Program Directors Liz Regan,
and Maureen Sakakeeny, P.E. to create
advanced training programs in the new
fields of human-computer interaction and
program evaluation.
Launched in the fall of ’98, each of these
certificate programs can be completed in
just one or two years of part-time study.
Each consists of four to five courses,
offered mainly in late afternoon and
evening slots to accommodate work schedules.
Because the certificate courses are
drawn from the graduate curriculum and
are taught by our own faculty, graduate
credit is awarded.
Read more about these programs
on the web, or contact:
Tufts Professional and
Continuing Studies
112 Packard Avenue
Medford, MA 02155
phone: 617-627-3562
e-mail: pcs@infonet.tufts.edu
website: http://ase.tufts.edu/
continuing-ed/certhome.html
Human-Computer Interaction
Interface design is shaped not only by the
visual structure of the display, but by
the user’s physical characteristics, and the
cognitive and perceptual processes that
influence the way the user acts and reacts.
Courses in engineering psychology, interface
design, and programming identify
both the physical and psychological constraints
of the computer user as well as
enhance the student’s design and imple-
mentation skills. The certificate is especially
useful for software engineers and
programmers as well as interface designers.
The program in Human Computer
Interaction is offered in collaboration with
the Department of Psychology, the College
of Engineering, and the Boston School of
Occupational Therapy.
Program Evaluation
The increasing demand for evaluation as a
provision for program funding has created
the need for more professionals trained in
program evaluation. In response to this
need, the departments of Child Development,
Urban and Environmental Policy,
the School of Nutrition Science and Policy,
and the School of Medicine have
developed a certificate program for midcareer
professionals who wish to learn
about the design and implementation of
effective evaluation strategies. Through
courses in applied statistics and research
methods, students learn skills that can be
put to use in the evaluation of many social
service, public health, community development,
and environmental programs.
Alumni only! Earn a $100
scholarship for each course
taken toward any one of these
certificates.

C AT CHING UP WITH
Powers teaching Pediatric
Psychology last fall at Tufts
Powers says since a
dissertation “usually
sits on a shelf in a
library, this kind of
attention feels
unreal.”
Peggy Powers
(Ph.D. 1998, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development)
With a 21-month-old baby and
currently teaching half time at
Wheelock College, as well as
winding up a consultation for PathoGenesis,
Peggy Powers confesses to a heady mixture
of weariness and adrenaline. Still, she
says, “To have been involved in such meaningful
work, I feel very fortunate.”
Her relationship with PathoGenesis
began in 1997 when a company physician
saw her research data displayed at a conference
in Vienna. Powers’ study, funded
by a five-year fellowship from the National
Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, looks at family perceptions
of the quality of life of teenagers with cystic
fibrosis(CF). Her interest in this issue
was sparked by her job as a child life specialist
at Baystate Medical Center in
Springfield, where she worked for eight
years before starting her graduate work at
Tufts.
PathoGenesis is replicating her dissertation
research as part of a drug trial in
England, and over the last year the pharmaceutical
company sponsored her to present
her research in Montreal, Holland,
and Seattle. PathoGenesis also commissioned
her to submit for review a shorter
version of her dissertation to the medical
journal Pediatrics. Powers says since a
dissertation “usually sits on a shelf in a
library, this kind of attention feels unreal.”
Because CF is chronic and progressive,
Powers wanted her study to take a holistic
view of the illness. “For years, the traditional
medical model has been focusing on
keeping people alive longer. Now they do
live longer, but sometimes there are implications
for the quality of their lives.”
At Massachusetts General Hospital
and Baystate Medical Center, she gave 75-
item questionnaires separately to teens
with CF and their moms and dads. The
questions—which gauged issues such as
self-esteem, social activities, and physical
limitations—were then correlated with
actual physical functioning.
The study demonstrates the need for a
multidimensional measure of healthrelated
quality of life because a physical
monitor does not capture social or behavioral
health as reported by these teens and
their parents. Her study also highlights the
need for multiple family member informants.
Fathers and adolescents with CF
offer a unique perspective of adolescent
health.
The results, she says, partially dispel the
myth that teens deny the seriousness of
their symptoms. They know how sick they
are, but choose to engage the world around
them as fully as they can.
During her research, Powers worked
with adviser Don Wertlieb. He offered his
insight not only while she was writing her
dissertation, but has continued to be a
solid source of support. She comments
that “Since I graduated he has been a fabulous
mentor. In fact, I’ve found myself in
continual contact with him as job opportunities
have arisen.”

ALMA MAT TER S
T U F T S G R A D U A T E S C H O O L O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S A L U M N I N E W S L E T T E R
Accolades for Outstanding Graduate Students
Awards recognize teaching leadership and contributions to student life
On April 28, 1999 a significant
milestone was reached by the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences,
with the celebration of the First
Annual Graduate Student Awards Presentation
in the Coolidge Room of Ballou
Hall. This event was a signal, not so much
of the “coming of age” of the Graduate
School itself, but of the university’s awareness
and acknowledgment of the contributions
of the students of the Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences to the overall
mission of Arts and Sciences. And the presentation
of the first Robert P. Guertin
Graduate Student Leadership Awards at
the ceremony was an appropriate way to
acknowledge the pivotal role played by
Professor Guertin in developing the Graduate
School during his years as its dean.
Current dean of the Graduate School of
Arts and Sciences, Rob Hollister, noted the
passion with which the writers of the nomination
letters argued for their candidates.
So taken with the glowing statements of
the recommenders was he that he embellished
his award presentations with
excerpts. We learned of the humility of one
awardee (apparently a noteworthy trait in a
philosopher) in responding to the philosophical
questions of her students, and the
enthusiasm with which another com-
“It was an
inspiring
testimonial
to the teaching
provided to all of
us by our
colleagues, the
students of the
graduate school”
mented on every page of her students’ journals,
as if each were part of a manuscript
submitted to a scholarly journal. We
learned that another had been named by
graduating seniors as providing their most
significant educational experience in their
years at Tufts. It was an inspiring testimonial
to the teaching and leadership provided
to all of us by our colleagues, the
students of the Graduate School.
Dean Hollister served as master of ceremonies,
introducing Vice President of
Arts, Sciences and Technology Mel Bernstein,
who celebrated the role of the graduate
students in a primarily undergraduate
institution. Hollister then made the presentations
of cash and certificates to the
six winners of the Awards for Outstanding
Contributions to Undergraduate Education:
Margaret Bloch Qazi of Biology,
Christine Jaworek of Chemistry, Jennifer
Stiles of Drama/Dance, Cheryl Smith of
English, Michael McLaughlin of Music,
and Barbara Martin of Philosophy. Former
Dean Guertin joined Hollister in the
awarding of the Robert P. Guertin Awards
for Graduate Student Leadership to Ludo
Juurlink of Chemistry and Kimberly
And the categories are. . .
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences has initiated
the first new awards to recognize exceptional
performance by students in several categories.
Recipients were selected by a subcommittee of the
Graduate Policy and Programs Committee, and the
prizes were awarded at a special reception in Ballou
Hall on April 28, 1999.
Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education
These awards acknowledge excellence in service as a Teaching Assistant
or in other roles such as mentoring undergraduates in lab teams and
other settings.
Robert P. Guertin Award for Graduate Student Leadership
During his tenure as Dean of the Graduate School, Robert Guertin,
a passionate advocate of student interests, skillfully nurtured the development
of the Graduate Student Council.The council and a host of affiliated
graduate student organizations have become major contributors
to the quality of students’ experiences at Tufts. This award recognizes
outstanding graduate leadership through the GSC and other student
groups and venues.
The Dean’s Award for Special Achievement
This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the overall quality
of student life at Tufts for both graduate and undergraduate students.

So what was missing
Awards for academic excellence, the
sine qua non of graduate education.
We need the help of GSAS alumni (and
other friends of the Graduate School)
in funding awards for scholarship
analogous to the many endowed
undergraduate awards. We need to
recognize and reward the quest for
academic excellence, the maturity
and serious commitment to the pursuit
of scholarship which characterizes
and differentiates the students of
GSAS at Tufts.Those interested in contributing
to the establishment of such
awards should contact Dean Hollister
or the Development Office.
Opposite page, Judith Brown, and Madhavi
Menon of the English department. Above:
Dean Guertin, Ludo Juurlink, and Dean Hollister.
Left, Marc d’Alarcao, Christine Jaworek,
and Arthur Utz of the Chemistry department.
Frederick and David Proctor of History.
The formal part of the ceremony was concluded
by Hollister, who presented the
Dean’s Award for Special Achievement to
Judith Brown of English, for her exceptional
work as interim director and then
director of the Tufts Transgendered, Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual Collective.
In addition to our awardees, my department,
Chemistry, was well represented at
the event by several faculty and graduate
student attendees. Perhaps because of the
special nature of graduate research work in
the sciences, in which faculty and students
are engaged in truly collaborative relationships,
it seems to me our department has
always cherished its graduate students as
partners in our dual role as teachers and
researchers, recruiting them, lavishing
attention on their academic pursuits, and
rewarding their accomplishments every bit
as ardently as A & S has done for its undergraduate
population. It’s nice to see that
sort of attention and recognition now coming
from the university as a whole, through
the GSAS.
In instituting these awards, Dean Hollister
is continuing the progressive leadership
exemplified by his predecessor, Robert
Guertin. When Guertin became Dean, the
fact that the job was a half-time position
indicated the status of GSAS within the
university. By selflessly working for the best
interests of the graduate students and pursuing
excellence in research, not only did
Guertin help the university achieve
Research I status, but the deanship grew
into a full-time position and was elevated
from lowly quarters on Packard Avenue
to the lofty heights of the third floor of
Ballou. Many individual graduate students
felt the benefits of Dean Guertin’s encouragement,
research and travel support, and
unflagging advocacy. It is most fitting that
the graduate student leadership awards
should bear his name.
In the pre-Guertin/Hollister years,
graduate students were not always
acknowledged for their contributions to
intellectual life; they had problems with
health services, housing, and general “second
class citizen” status on the Medford
campus. Unfortunately, not all these problems
have been solved. But, with the recent
formation of the Graduate Student Council,
improved intercommunication among
graduate students in different departments
and programs, and representation of their
contributions, views, and needs to the
administration and trustees by vigorous
advocates, the situation is improving. Earlier
this year, I was inspired by the eloquence
of Donna Wilson, graduate student
representative to the trustees, who showed
such strong leadership in presenting to the
Trustees the issues important to the GSAS
student body and demanding attention
commensurate with the role of the graduate
students on this campus.
Jonathan E. Kenny, Professor of Chemistry
and American Studies

ALMA MAT TER S
T U F T S G R A D U A T E S C H O O L O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S A L U M N I N E W S L E T T E R
President Peter
Lin-Marcus and
Vice President
Federico Rivera
Campus Activism Takes Shape
Graduate Student Council Sets an Agenda
The Graduate Student
Council, formed in
1993, is comprised
entirely of graduate students
who function as officers,
department representatives,
and standing committee members.
The main duties of the
Council are:
• Representing graduate students
to the administration
and faculty
• Active pursuit of graduate life
improvement
• Providing a forum for students
to voice concerns and
take collective action through
both the GSC and through
its subsidiary special interest
Graduate Student Organizations
(GSOs)
• Subsidizing student travel to
conferences and meetings
• Providing academic, social
and community activities
• Publishing the GradRag (our
graduate student newsletter)
One of our central accomplishments
in 1999 was the
Health Issues Committee’s
efforts to urge the university to
improve its health services for
graduate students. The committee
gathered comparative
information of health services
provided by similar graduate
programs throughout the country,
and presented this information,
along with a statement
detailing the inequities in
health care that Tufts graduate
students presently bear, to the
Trustees of Tufts, Director of
Health Services Michelle
Bowdler, President DiBiaggio,
several faculty committees, and
relevant departments across the
university. We feel that Tufts
University falls drastically
below the bar that has been set
by other graduate programs of
the same caliber. Currently, the
main goals of the committee are
to include the student
health fee in the cost of tuition,
and to implement an adequate
payment plan for insurance and
health fees, in which fees are
made payable by credit card or
in monthly installments debited
directly from paychecks. Implementation
of the payment plan
looks promising, however there
is still much to accomplish.
Other GSC standing committees
include: the Non-Academic
Affairs Committee, the
Speaker’s Series Committee, the
Social Committee, and the
Annual 5K Run Committee.
These committees have been
aggressive in accomplishing
their mandates for the past year.
The Annual Graduate Student
Symposium (GSS), the Hosting
Program, Holiday and Spring
parties, and the Annual 5K Run
for Head Start are but some of
the events which testify to the
successful efforts of the individuals
who have served on these
committees.
In addition to the standing
committees, the GSC helps to
fund a variety of affiliated Graduate
Student Organizations,
which provide workshops, talks,
If you would like to find out more
about the GSC, please contact us at:
GSC Office,
120 Packard Avenue, Third Floor
617-627-3576
e-mail: gsc@emerald.tufts.edu
website: http://www.tufts.edu/~gsc/
Current Officers for 1999-2000
Peter Lin-Marcus
Federico Rivera
Donna Wilson
discussion forums, social events,
and other activities, which are
open to all graduate students.
There are presently eight active
GSOs:
• Students of Occupational
Therapy Association
• Tufts Black Graduate
Student Organization
• Tufts Chinese Students and
Scholars Association
• Tufts English Graduate
Organization
• Graduate Student Diversity
Forum
• Indian Society at Tufts
• Past and Present (History
Department)
• Urban and Environmental
Policy Graduate Students
Donna Wilson, Treasurer and
former President, Graduate
Student Council
President
Vice-President
Treasurer

Gaining a Competitive Edge
Graduate Students Build Teaching Skills at New Summer Institute
By the time a graduate student
becomes a professor, he or she has
probably logged thousands of hours
in the classroom but may still not know
how to be a good teacher. “It’s probably
true that the typical kindergarten teacher
has more pedagogical training than a
college teacher,” said Robert
Beck, Director of Tufts’ Center
for Teaching Excellence.
To help students become
better teachers, the Center,
along with the Summer Session
and the Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences
(GSAS), offered the first
Summer Institute on College
Teaching between June
and August, 1999. Thirteen
graduate students took
courses on teaching and then
co-taught a course with a
mentor for the second part of
the summer session.
“The Summer Institute is
a key part of our efforts to
improve the effectiveness of
teaching assistants and also
to strengthen the ability of
the GSAS graduates to compete
for teaching positions,”
said Rob Hollister, Dean of
the Graduate School. “Our
vision is to make the development of
teaching skills a hallmark of GSAS doctoral
programs.”
Beck said the impetus for the institute
came from Tricia Butler, the former director
of the Tufts Summer Session, as well as
from Hollister. Christopher Morse, the
graduate training coordinator, was also
instrumental in organizing the institute.
“There’s a national trend called Preparing
Future Faculty (PFF),” Beck said, “and a
number of university consortia around the
country have been developing programs to
“Our vision is
to make the
development
of teaching
skills a
hallmark of
GSAS doctoral
programs”
prepare graduate students for their roles as
teachers. The PFF movement is designed
to enhance the teaching skills of faculty
and to socialize them into the world of
college teaching.” Beck said the Tufts
institute received support from the University
of New Hampshire, which is considered
the “preeminent
center for PFF.”
In addition to improving
teaching techniques, Beck
said, the hope was that the
institute might help improve
the marketability of graduate
students. “It’s a highly competitive
marketplace,” he said.
“In my area of political science,
there are 150 people
applying for each job. For
Tufts students to be competitive,
it’s highly desirable for
them to have a solid teaching
credential and to have gone
beyond the typical teaching
assistant experience.”
The first part of the institute
offered six courses over
three weeks. Fellows were
required to take at least three
of the courses. These included
“Teaching with Writing,”
“Cognition Teaching and
Learning,” and “College Students
and the Undergraduate Culture.”
The second portion of the institute paired
each student with a Tufts faculty member
who served as a mentor. Together they cotaught
a course, with the mentor providing
feedback and instruction.
Marjorie Howard, originally published in
the September ’99 issue of the Tufts Journal
Top photo: Masters student Jaya Duuvuri
(joint degree UEP/Economics) and faculty
mentor Andrew Morrison of Economics;
above: Robert Beck, director of Tufts Center
for Teaching Excellence

ALMA MAT TER S
T U F T S G R A D U A T E S C H O O L O F A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S A L U M N I N E W S L E T T E R
Join the TUFTS C*A*N
Join hundreds of Tufts alumni, parents,
and friends in becoming a member of
the Tufts Career Advisory Network
(C*A*N) program. By meeting with Tufts
students and alumni to discuss your
career and work experience, you can
assist them in making professional decisions
and realizing their goals. In addition
to providing information and advice
about your field of expertise, you can
also choose to participate in any of the
following ways:
• List internship opportunities
• Sponsor Winter Shadow Programs
• Participate in an Alumni Career Panel
• Join the Engineering Mentor Program
• List job openings
• Provide graduate school advice
Register on line! If you have Internet
access, simply go to the Tufts CAN site
http://job.tufts.edu/AC2/Welcome.htm
and fill out the online form. This will take
approximately 15 minutes, after which
you will automatically be in the network.
If you are unable to access the network
electronically, call Career Services
(617-627-3299) and someone will
arrange a time to enter your information
into the system for you.
If there are comments you would like to
make, issues you would like to see covered,
an article you would like to contribute,
or if there is a fellow alumnus
whom you would like to see interviewed
for future “Catching Up With” profiles,
please send your comments and suggestions
to:
ALMA MAT TERS
Tufts University
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
120 Packard Ave.
Medford, MA 02155
phone: 617-627-3395
website: ase.tufts.edu/graduate
e-mail: gsas@infonet.tufts.edu
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EDITOR
DAWN MENDOZA
DOCTORAL CANDIDATE,
ENGLISH
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
RACHEL FINK
DONNA WILSON
JONATHAN KENNEY
MARJORIE HOWARD
STEPHANIE GODLEY
GRAPHIC DESIGN
TUFTS UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF PUBLICATIONS
TUFTS
ALMA MATTERS
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