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

Double Win!!!

Founders: The Center of the Friendly/Generous Haverford Campus (Haverford)

What an exciting week! Haverford has been named as one of the nation's "FRIENDLIEST" Colleges! It has also been recognized as having one of the top 12 financial aid policies in the country!

Also... we are the only college on both lists!!! :D :D :D :D

So in summary: if you want a friendly and generous college experience you should come to Haverford.

For more information:

Friendliest College List (Thanks to Matt da Silva for referring me to this link): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/the-friendliest-colleges_n_896867.html#s307251&title=Haverford_College

Best Financial Aid List: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/the-12-best-college-financial-aid-policies/2011/07/11/gIQA8RvF9H_blog.html

An era ends...

The Goodmans (NY Times)

An era ends... Oscar Goodman, Haverford Class of 1961, (as profiled in an earlier post) is retiring due to term limits, from mayor of Las Vegas. However, his wife (Carolyn Goodman, Bryn Mawr class of 1961 and ex-college consultant and private school founder) is "taking over" from Oscar at the sprightly age of 72. The dynamic between the two members of the power couple is hilarious, as evidenced by this New York Times article.

Additionally, there looks to be the possibility for future Oscar Goodman entertainment:

"He [Oscar Goodman] mentioned several possibilities for his next chapter, including a book and/or a documentary about his life, a reality show focusing on the transition from his administration to his wife's, and providing national representation for a law firm.
Goodman has long talked about opening a speakeasy bar, perhaps next to or near the Mob Museum, and on Thursday he said a downtown hotel wants to talk to him about partnering in a steakhouse.
"I understand that there's a CSI part that's being written for me which will be filmed in August," the mayor added, referring to the television show 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.'" -Alan Choate


Personally, I can't wait for this next chapter in Oscar Goodman's life to begin!

For more information: http://www.lvrj.com/news/oscar-goodman-readies-for-life-after-the-mayor-s-office-124462114.html

Keeping up with the Koshlands: A Saga of Epicness

The INSC (Pre-landscaping apparently)

Koshland. The name alone sounds cool, yet vaguely mysterious, like a deep-sea coral or an alien planet. Haverford students mainly know it from the Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center (KINSC or INSC or the "Big Science Building" depending on who you ask). Yet, what exactly  is a Koshland and how did it get its name on Haverford's largest building?

Well, the direct answer is that Koshland is the last name of the dynamic husband and wife team of Catherine P. Koshland and James M. Koshland. Both are prime representatives of our wildly successful and interesting alum base.

Catherine Koshland, Class of '72 (Haverford)

Catherine, one of the first female students at Haverford, graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts from Haverford's Class of 1972. She then studied painting at the New York School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, and received her M.S. in 1978 and then... get this... got her PhD in Mechnical Engineering from Stanford University in 1985. Seriously, from fine arts to mechanical engineering! I understand the connection, but let's sit back and just reflect on how much of a badass Catherine really is for a moment.

Now that that moment has passed, let's also note that Catherine then became an acclaimed professor at UC Berkeley and is now the Vice Provost for Teaching, Learning, Academic Planning & Facilities. Finally, she is the Chairman of the Board of Managers of Haverford. Wow.

James Koshland, Class of '73 (DLA Piper)

 Her husband did pretty well too. A history major, James is a member of the Class of  1973. He then got a J.D. from Stanford Law School. He is now a partner at DLA Piper, a prestigious law firm, where he works mainly with Venture Capital. 


Finally, it is important to note that both of Daniel's parents were, like his wife, eminent scientists. Marion E. Koshland (for whom the KINSC is named after) was a prominent immunologist and Daniel Koshland was a noted biochemist.

Yet, the question still remains... how did the Koshlands, a family of academics and attorneys, make enough money to get their family name all over Haverford's campus? The answer is simple... jeans.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the "Ex-Girlfriend Jeans" (Levi Strauss)

For you see, Daniel Koshland (and now Catherine and James) was one of the heirs to the vast Levi Strauss fortune. So essentially denim paid for the INSC.


Since the family still controls the company, this is truly something to think about the next time one buys jeans.


For more information about the RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING Koshland Family:

http://www.haverford.edu/kinsc/about/sdarticle.pdf
http://www.haverford.edu/kinsc/about/marian_koshland_bio.phphttp://www.dlapiper.com/jim_koshland/
http://erg.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/Cathy_Koshland/koshland.shtml

Ridiculous Alum of the Day: Joel Selanikio

The Face of a Winner: Joel Selanikio

Today's ridiculous alum of the day is Dr. Joel Selanikio, practicing pediatrician and CEO and co-founder of DataDyne (Shout out to Claire Perry for suggesting Joel as a topic! :D) 

After graduating from the Haverford class of 1986, Joel went to work in finance on Wall Street. Yet, making a great deal of money was apparently not fulfilling for Joel, so after a year he went to Brown Medical School and became a practicing pediatrician. Yet, saving the lives of children was still not enough for him, so he went on a 2-year fellowship with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

While at the CDC, he noticed that epidemic detection services in the developing world were horribly ineffective. He also noticed that cellphones were increasingly becoming prevalent. Logically, he created a cellphone app that helped aid workers track epidemics. This app, Episurveyor, soon became wildly successful and was soon declared to be the official software for tracking diseases by the World Health Organization (WHO). Clearly no slacker, Joel, through his non-profit Datadyne, made the app relevant beyond disease. For instance, it is now used to track election results and other governmental services prone to corruption across the world.

Joel's work has been amply recognized by the global community, as he has been named as one of the most powerful innovators by Forbes and Internet Evolution and he has won a 2009 $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability and the 2009 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award for Healthcare IT.

To put it simply... he is ridiculously awesome!!! :D

For more information about Joel and his organization:
 http://www.datadyne.org/
http://web.mit.edu/invent/a-winners/a-selanikio.html

Fun Fact of the Day: Room Draw Predates Consensus

Hey everyone,

Sorry, for being delinquent in posting another entry , its been a busy couple of weeks.

In honor of room draw ending this week (Housing Committee shoutout!), I just wanted to relate a quick fun fact:

Contrary to popular belief: Consensus, although always part of Quaker procedures, only appeared on Haverford's campus after a long process of evaulating the "Quaker Business Method" as it was then known.

Therefore, room draw in its current form actually predates the introduction of consensus in Haverford decision making.

More information about the introduction of consensus: http://triceratops.brynmawr.edu/dspace/handle/10066/2643

Not sure what you want to do after graduation? Become a College President!!!

Hello everyone! Today, I'm blogging from the nation's capitol... Washington D.C., where I am visiting some friends at The George Washington University.

(GWU)

In honor of my current residence in the same city as the President of the United States, I will quickly describe three of my favorite Haverford alums whose days jobs were college presidents (besides of course, Steve Emerson, who has already been profiled).

The first one is Hunter Rawlings III, Class of 1966, and President of Cornell University from 1995 to 2003.

Hunter Rawlings III (Cornell)

There are two primary reasons why I love Hunter. One, he has a badass name. Two, because under his tenure, Cornell adopted a superb program of supporting undergraduates by building more on-campus housing, centralizing the dormitories of freshmen, and otherwise making the undergraduate experience at Cornell more like a liberal arts college (such as.... Haverford ;). He also began other intelligent initiatives such as building programs in areas such as bioinformatics, materials science, and genomics. Finally, he was, and continues to be, a noted classics scholar (PhD from Princeton) and also was the President of the University of Iowa for some time.

The next exciting profile in  higher education leadership is Christoph M. Kimmich, who has a PhD in History from Oxford, is a member of Haverford's Class of 1961, and was President of Brooklyn College from 2000-2009.

Christophe M. Kimmich (Brooklyn College)

I really like Christoph for three major reasons. First, like Hunter, he has a cool name (Christoph? not Christopher... how chic). Second, he was president of the college that my dad and my uncles went to, so at a personal level I feel connected to him in two ways. Third, he has dramatically increased the quality of the education of Brooklyn College, which is great because it still represents an important pillar of college access in America. 


My final favorite president is David W. Fraser, Haverford Class of 1965, graduate of Harvard Medical School, and President of Swarthmore from 1982-1991. 

David W. Fraser (Swarthmore)

Although, I'm sure he did a lot of great things for Swat and I'm all for Tri-Co love, I really don't find helping our rival to be that cool. What I do find awesome is the fact that an expert on Toxic Shock Syndrome and Legionnaire's disease also happens to be a fabric basket designer. What a renaissance man! (Also, let's collectively note that while Swat needed a Ford to lead it, Haverford has interestingly enough never felt that a Swattie in its highest office was truly necessary ;). 


Finally, I'm going to be honest, I really just chose this topic so I could post a video of GW's current president dancing to Shots.

Enjoy!

Also, if you want more information about Hunter, Christoph, or David:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_R._Rawlings_III
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_M._Kimmich
http://www.plan.gs/Article.do;jsessionid=802DFF6AF4D6372FA17F60369EF037AC?orgId=1045&articleId=16670