Ridiculous Alum of the Day: Timur Galen

Timur Galen (Skyscraper Museum)

 
Timur Galen... cool name right? Coincidentally, Timur, Class of 1978, is also a really cool guy!

(Shout-out to Dylan Lazovik who gave me the idea for this post.)

After graduating from Haverford with a degree in physics (and spending a year undertaking a very prestigious Luce fellowship), Timur recieved a Masters in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

Yet, Timur didn't just become any sort of run of the mill architect. Instead, he worked at such firms as Venturi & Scott Brown and Maki and Associates!!!! (For the non-Cities majors out there.... THIS IS A BIG DEAL :D). Then, he changed gears and worked as the chief Imagineer for Disney! Specifically, while Timur was at Disney, he spearheaded the renovation and expansion of the classic Disneyland theme park.

Timur when he worked at Disney (Laughingplace.com)

Of course, bringing joy to the hearts of children and designing fantastically innovative buildings did not sate Timur's thirst for a really cool career.

Timur then started to work for Goldman Sachs and is now the Global Head of Corporate Services and Real Estate! Additionally, Timur continues to give back, not only by serving on various arts and philanthropic councils in New York City, but also by giving back to Haverford through service on the Board of Managers. He also is on the Ryan Gym Renovation Committee.... so perhaps a Disneyland-like Ryan Gym is in our future?

So... in summary.... Timur Galen: Architect, Disney Imagineer, Goldman Sachs Executive... all-around badass.


For more information about Timur:
http://www.design.upenn.edu/calendar/timur-galen

Ridiculous Alum of the Day: William H. Harris

For today's ridiculous alum of the day, I've decided (on the advice of a certain Claire Perry) to focus away from finance and instead look towards life-saving alums. After some quick research (aided greatly by Rilka Spieler and Josh Thorn), I found someone incredible: William H. Harris.

Harris thinking about ways to be an even bigger badass (ORS)

William (Bill) H. Harris, Haverford Class of 1949, received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently ended up completing his residency in orthopedic surgery at the famed Massachusetts General Hospital. After this robust education, his career really took off. 

To summarize, Harris pioneered pretty much everything having to do with hip surgery. Also, by everything... I really mean EVERYTHING. 

According to the Orthopedic Research Society (which gives out an award in Harris' honor):

"The contributions of William H. Harris, MD, to hip replacement are vast and range from the identification of the nature of osteolysis to the development of surgical techniques and implants. He invented the cement gun which replaced finger packing and improved cementing technique. He designed the first modular metal-backed acetabular component, which gave surgeons the ability to replace the polyethylene liner without having to remove the entire component."

Sounds impressive right? Well, that is just the first of four paragraphs detailing Harris' amazingness. In addition to his lengthy list of surgical accomplishments, Harris has published over 400 scientific publications and three textbooks relating to orthopedic surgery and arthritis and won the most prestigious awards in his field multiple times... each. Seriously... wow. 

Finally, Harris' accomplishments were so profound that Haverford actually named the Harris Wing in the INSC after him, in addition to having him as a longtime member of our Board of Managers. Cool!  

Harris and his wife (in the center) celebrating the opening of the Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center with their family (Haverford)

Also, on a personal note, I actually met Dr. Harris at a Board of Managers student lunch! It was exciting!

For more information about William H. Harris:

http://www.ors.org/awards_harris.html

http://www.haverford.edu/news/stories/23281/51