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Civic Life RisingJonathan and Lizzie Tisch invest $15 million so all our students can shape a better future

Isabel Schneider at work in the game room she designed for an afterschool program in León

From the President

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University RelationsTufts University, 80 George St. Medford, MA 02155 USA 617.627.3200 n giving@tufts.edu

Chairman, Board of TrusteesPeter Dolan, A78, A08P

PresidentAnthony P. Monaco

Provost & Senior Vice President David R. Harris

Senior Vice President for University AdvancementEric Johnson

Published by Tufts Publications. Monica Jimenez, editor; Carolynn DeCillo, designer.

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Blueprint is published three times a year for alumni, parents and friends who generously support Tufts University as donors and volunteers.

An engine for social good. That, I believe, is one of the most important

roles of higher education, and one that has become even more essen-

tial as our society confronts the complex problems of modern life.

Here at Tufts, the notion of using education, scholarship, research

and service to lift people up, to make our world a better place, is not

a recent innovation. It has been a distinctive imprint of this institu-

tion throughout its history—founding the Fletcher School during the

Depression to assist the community of nations in the international

arena; setting up the nation’s first two community health clinics in the

mid-1960s to become a model for public health; and establishing what

is now the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life to prepare our stu-

dents to be productive citizen-leaders, regardless of their chosen profession.

Ten years ago, alumnus Jonathan Tisch, a longtime advocate of driving social change

through individual and corporate action, made a gift of $40 million to endow the college that

now bears his name. That magnificent act of philanthropy emboldened our institutional com-

mitment to work in service to the common good and has made Tufts University a national

leader in civic education and research. Now, as you’ll read in this issue of Blueprint, Jonathan

and Lizzie Tisch have stepped forward with another significant investment in civic education

at Tufts to ensure that our students will continue to have the tools to become agents for advo-

cacy, action and positive change.

There are moments in any institution’s history that stand out as seminal, and this is surely

one. Seeded by the Tisches’ vision and support, the work being carried out by the thousands

of students and faculty involved in research, programs and outreach through Tisch College is

transforming communities and individuals alike. There can be no more noble legacy for Tufts

than this.

As you’ll see elsewhere in this issue, other members of the Tufts community are equally com-

mitted to this mission. They are providing internships and scholarships that allow our wonder-

ful students to pursue their passions, creating endowed professorships that enable us to recruit

exceptional faculty to teach and mentor, and funding pioneering research that will ensure that

our civic lives are also healthy lives.

I am deeply grateful to everyone who embraces this mission. As a community, we celebrate

and salute their good works.

ANTHONY P. MONACOPresident, Tufts University

Investing in Civic Life

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Breeder of SuccessRussell Cohen grooms champions on the racetrack, in the clinic and now in the classroom BY RACHEL SLADE

Cummings

WHEN YOU GET fortunate in life, you share,” says Russell

Cohen, V87, about his decision to create a scholarship at

Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

And Cohen knows a thing or two about fortune. After

decades working in the horse-racing industry, the equine

veterinarian and breeder has produced a few champions. His latest is his best: the

5-year-old dark bay colt Effinex, who was named the New York Thoroughbred

Breeders’ 2015 NY-Bred Horse of the Year on April 4 after finishing second in the

Breeders’ Cup Classic last October. The one horse faster than Effinex was none other

than American Pharoah, the first to win the Grand Slam of American racing—the

Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes and Breeders’ Cup. A month later,

in November 2015, Effinex claimed the top spot at the Clark Handicap at Churchill

Downs, and then won the Grade II Oaklawn Handicap on April 16.

In other words, Cohen’s horse is no slacker.

A burly former powerlifter with a massive salt-and-pepper handlebar mustache,

Cohen has always been a risk-taker. He grew up in New York City with two broth-

ers—three “boneheads” in total, a moniker that inspired the name of the family

racing operation (Tri-Bone Stables) and the Cummings School scholarship (the Tri-

Bone and Cohen Family Scholarship).

In his second year at Tufts, Cohen started working with horses with Hank Jann,

a senior surgical resident who is now chief of surgery at Oklahoma State University’s

veterinary school. Cohen soon found that working on horses with Jann was intoxi-

cating. Back in the ’80s, the majority of equine

patients coming to Tufts—mostly quarter

horses, some Thoroughbreds—were from

nearby Suffolk Downs, which gave Cohen

plenty of time to learn the fundamentals of

racing medicine.

After graduation, Cohen returned to New

York to work with the storied Thoroughbred

breeder and veterinarian William O. Reed at

his veterinary hospital across the street from

Belmont Park.

Cohen has treated high-profile clients,

including Gulch (who earned his owner $3

million in the ’80s) and Memories of Silver

(proclaimed one of the finest fillies in the

country in 1998). The industry isn’t easy,

he says.

He’s particularly concerned about the use

of drugs as performance enhancers: “I believe

that DNA beats medication.” He’s been a vocal

opponent of Lasix, for example, a diuretic that

has proven to turn so-so horses into winners.

On any given day, you’ll find Cohen any-

where top horses race. Of the 33 horses he’s bred,

two have become champions. So how does he

win at this high-stakes game? “If you learn from

your mistakes and do your homework, then you

dramatically increase your odds,” he says.

Once every two weeks or so, you’ll find

him at Cummings School, sharing what he’s

learned with students in Carl Kirker-Head’s

equine surgery classes. He gives lectures,

teaches seminars and runs anatomy labs

whenever he’s needed.

The $100,000 scholarship he established is

actually a $200,000 gift, matched by the univer-

sity’s Financial Aid Initiative, designed to pro-

vide opportunities for more students to receive

a Tufts education. What was his motivation?

On the one hand, Cohen follows the gambler’s

edict that sharing one’s bounty is the best way

to build goodwill with Lady Luck: “I’ve made

a ton of money, and I’ve been in very humble

circumstances. I’ve lost everything ... and I got

lucky again.” He pauses. “Talk the talk and walk

the walk. It’s that simple.” n

Racetrack veterinarian Russell Cohen, V87, going nose to nose with Distant Sky at Belmont

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Dental

Gifts that Keep on GivingEndowed professorships promote research, mentorship and outreach BY ABBY KLINGBEIL

ROBERT B. AMATO, D80, DG83, always makes sure to pass along

this advice to his students: “We’ve been given a gift to have this

profession and take care of patients, so whenever we have the

opportunity we should give back.”

Amato, the Winkler Professor of Endodontics at the School of

Dental Medicine, is one of three school faculty members to hold an endowed pro-

fessorship—one of the highest honors for any college professor.

The family of his mentor, the late Thomas F. Winkler III, A62, D66, D10P,

DG12P, created the endowed chair that his former student now holds. Winkler

taught at the dental school and was a Tufts trustee and chair of the dental school’s

board of advisors. “He was involved with everything, and he did it with a smile,”

Amato says.

Amato continued to emulate his former professor after he joined Winkler’s

endodontic practice after graduation. He served on the board of the Tufts

University Dental Alumni Association, including a term as president, and directed

the dental school’s postgraduate endodontics program.

In addition to recognition within the academy, endowed chairs provide a per-

petual stream of support to professors who have made significant contributions

in the classroom and in research and scholarship. And they enable Tufts to recruit

faculty who are preeminent in their fields.

Athena Papas, J66, G91P, A97P, A04P, the Dr. Erling Johansen, D49, Professor,

says her endowed chair “is recognition for the work I have done. It has helped me

secure more grants and expand my research,” says Papas, who has done pioneering

work with patients with the autoimmune disease Sjögren’s syndrome as well as with

those with complex medical issues that affect their oral health.

She has been a prolific scientist during her 30 years at Tufts. Papas, who heads

the school’s oral medicine division, has been the principal investigator for more

than 65 clinical trials and secured more than $20 million in research grants. Many

of her discoveries have led to treatments that have improved people’s lives—a rinse

that heals mouth sores in patients who have received a bone marrow transplant

or undergone radiation therapy and a drug that stimulates saliva production in

Sjögren’s patients, who suffer from extremely dry mouth.

Robert Amato

Mark Nehring

Athena Papas

PHOTOS LEFT AND CENTER: KELVIN MA; RIGHT: SHAM STHANKIYA

It is only fitting that Papas, whose two

sons and husband also attended Tufts, holds an

endowed professorship steeped in university his-

tory. Edward Becker, D34, H94, who named the

alumni center and created a scholarship at the

school, established the professorship in honor

of his friend, Erling Johansen, D49, the dental

school’s longest-serving dean (1979 to 1995).

Mark E. Nehring is the newest dental fac-

ulty member to hold an endowed chair—the

Delta Dental of Massachusetts Professorship

in Public Health and Community Service. The

professorship helped Tufts recruit Nehring,

the former acting chief dental officer for

the federal Health Resources and Services

Administration and chief dental officer of the

agency’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau, to

expand its community outreach initiatives.

The endowed professorship, established in

2006 with a $5 million gift from the insurance

provider for which it is named, was instrumen-

tal in establishing the dental school’s depart-

ment of public health and community service,

which Nehring chairs.

“An endowment lends itself to bringing a

sense of stability and regard for the importance

associated with the position,” he says.

The Delta Dental donation also funded an

electronic patient record system, which enables

the school to evaluate clinical outcomes for

patients with special needs. Nehring has guided

Tufts dental students as they help provide care

to nearly 6,500 Massachusetts residents with

developmental disabilities at eight clinics Tufts

runs for the state, as well as others at a school-

based clinic in Boston’s Chinatown neighbor-

hood and in underserved communities from

Arizona to Maine. “With that experience and

understanding,” he says, “there will be a work-

force in place to help in meeting the needs of

those most underserved.”

When all is said and done, the endowed

professorships help Nehring, Amato and Papas

do one all-important thing: help people. “I’m

very grateful to Tufts and the donors who

make this possible,” Papas says. n

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Friedman

The Good LifeJohn Hancock teams up with the Friedman School to promote wellness BY LAURA FERGUSON

A GOOD DIET IS one of the most consequential choices you can make

to enjoy a long, healthy life. But it can also be one of the toughest

to get right—even though the stakes are so high. Poor diets are the

leading cause of death in the United States, killing more people than

all other risk factors, including smoking, drinking and drug use.

Most of us find it difficult to determine which foods are good for you—and

which are not. “An expanding world of media pundits, book authors, bloggers, social

media, mobile apps, for-profit wellness companies and food marketers is creating

an unfiltered firehose of often conflicting and contradictory messages,” says Dariush

Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts.

Now, through a new collaboration with John Hancock, the Friedman School will

help more people get it right. Last year, John Hancock introduced a new approach

to life insurance that offers savings and rewards to encourage people to pursue a

healthy lifestyle, including walking, exercising and medical checkups. This year the

insurance company expanded the program to include a HealthyFood benefit, allow-

ing policyholders to save money when they purchase healthy foods at more than

16,000 grocery stores nationwide.

Working with John Hancock and the new HealthyFood program, Friedman

School researchers will help the insurer’s Vitality policyholders make smart dietary

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choices by providing credible, science-based

expertise in health and nutrition, including a

free online subscription to the school’s flag-

ship monthly newsletter, the Tufts Health &

Nutrition Letter.

“John Hancock is collaborating with us

because of our focus on real-world impact, one

of their main goals as well,” says Mozaffarian, a

cardiologist. “Maintaining a healthy diet is one

of the greatest opportunities, and challenges,

facing society today, and it remains poorly

addressed by traditional health care,” he says.

“We’re excited to be part of this initiative to

help people make better nutritional choices.”

“Over the past year, consumers have

embraced the John Hancock Vitality solu-

tion,” says Michael Doughty, president of John

Hancock Insurance. “However, combining phys-

ical fitness with good nutrition is even more

impactful on your health. That’s why we are

delighted to be collaborating with the Friedman

School, one of the country’s leading authorities

on nutrition. Now our policyholders will have

access to expert information and guidance that

will help them adopt healthier eating habits and

improve their overall health,” he says.

The Friedman School also will reap addi-

tional benefits from the collaboration, which

renews the company’s longstanding commit-

ment to the Tufts Marathon Team, the largest

known collegiate marathon program in the

United States. The Tufts runners raise funds to

support nutrition research and programs at the

university, including efforts to stem the child-

hood obesity epidemic.

Thanks to the Boston Marathon bibs

that John Hancock, the marathon’s principal

sponsor, has provided, the Tufts Marathon

Team has raised more than $5 million since

its inception in 2003. Starting with the 2017

Hopkinton-to-Boston run, John Hancock will

increase the number of slots, or bibs, it con-

tributes to the team.

The collaboration will also enable the

Friedman School to create new programs, activ-

ities and initiatives with broad social impact,

such as school- and workplace-based initiatives.

“I believe all universities, and in particu-

lar Tufts and the Friedman School, should be

centers for public impact,” Mozaffarian says.

“To achieve that goal, we need to be more

innovative about translating our scholarship

and expertise into real-world change.” n

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Tisch

$15 Million Gift Bolsters Tisch CollegeJonathan and Lizzie Tisch reaffirm their commitment to advancing civic life and producing leaders who can engage in thoughtful discourse BY TAYLOR MCNEIL

A S THE NATION continues to engage in increasingly fractious political

discourse, it’s more important than ever to develop a community of

leaders who are able to rise above the fray and bring positive change

to the public sphere. Fostering such change has been a cornerstone

of Tisch College, and now, with a $15 million gift from Lizzie and

Jonathan Tisch, A76, and a new name that more clearly describes its mission, the

Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life is poised to extend its reach, both on cam-

pus and in the world.

The Tisches’ gift will endow professorships in the emerging

field of civic studies, which examines why people get involved

in causes and what happens when they do; support ongoing

research on youth voting and political engagement; and

expand opportunities for students from all socioeco-

nomic backgrounds to participate in service learning and

leadership development programs as well as internships.

“Lizzie and I believe in the evolution of Tisch

College and wanted to help ensure that it has a bright

future, offering even more to the students at Tufts

for decades to come,” says Tisch, vice chair of the Tufts

University Board of Trustees. “What we’re seeing here at

Tufts is that young people today want to be engaged. They

want to make a difference. Hopefully they will bring the experi-

ence and knowledge from Tisch College with them as they work with

others to create an even better world.”

Tufts takes seriously its role as an engine for social good. “We believe that

higher education has a responsibility to act to help young people become agents for

thoughtful advocacy, action and positive change,” says Tufts President Anthony P.

Monaco. “Jonathan and Lizzie Tisch share this belief. Their generous support will

enable us to help prepare every student for this important role, whether he or she is

studying to be a physician or a diplomat, an actor or an engineer.”

The Tisches’ investment in Tufts, Monaco notes, “will advance the university’s

standing as an intellectual center for studying civic life.”

Jonathan Tisch, co-chairman of the board and a member of the office of the presi-

dent of Loews Corp. and chairman of its subsidiary, Loews Hotels, has been a longtime

champion for addressing society’s problems via the civic engagement of individuals and

corporations. Ten years ago, he made a $40 million gift to Tufts to endow the first insti-

tution-wide college of its kind, the University College of Citizenship and Public Service,

as the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. He is the co-author

of Citizen You: Doing Your Part to Change the World, which profiles individuals who

have gone well beyond simple acts of volunteerism to make a sustained commitment to

solving seemingly intractable social problems.

MILLENNIAL POWERIn the decade since Tisch’s initial investment,

the college has emerged as a leader in educa-

tion, research and practice and has gained

recognition as the foremost authority on

youth voting patterns and civic engagement

in the U.S.

“It is clear that we need the talent, diver-

sity, activism and civic engagement

of the millennial generation to

address major problems and

shape a more just, equal and

prosperous future,” says Alan

Solomont, A70, A08P, the

Pierre and Pamela Omidyar

Dean of Tisch College and

former ambassador

to Spain and Andorra.

Each of us has a profes-

sional life and a personal life,

says Jeffrey Stewart, A90, who

chairs the board of advisors to

Tisch College. What Tisch College does

is instill that third crucial component, civic

life, in every student who graduates from

Tufts, he says.

Deb Jospin, J80, A14P, who served as

director of AmeriCorps from 1997 to 2001, has

been part of the civic engagement movement

at Tufts since the beginning. “It doesn’t mat-

ter what your politics are, as long as you are

engaged in the civic life of your community,”

she says.

It’s important, says Jospin, formerly a

longtime chair of the Tisch advisory board,

“to weave civic life and civic responsibility into

everything you do, to make it an important

part of your life, how you view the world, and

how you interact with the world.”

That global engagement begins on cam-

pus. More than 250 students have participated

ILLUSTRATION: ALEX NABAUM

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in the Tisch Scholars, a leadership develop-

ment program to create positive social change

in communities near Tufts’ campuses. Another

program, the Tisch Summer Fellows, supports

students in 10-week, full-time public interest

internships in Washington, D.C., New York

City and the Boston area; an international

component of the program funds student-

driven projects around the world. The college

also runs a Faculty Fellows program, support-

ing Tufts faculty who integrate active citizen-

Jonathan and Lizzie Tisch in front of the newly renamed Tisch College.

“What we’re seeing here at Tufts is that young people today want to be

engaged,” says Jonathan Tisch.

ship into their teaching and research.

The work of Tisch College extends to every

school at the university. For example, in 2014,

the School of Medicine, in conjunction with

Tisch, instituted a graduation requirement that

students perform at least 50 hours of service in

a community-based organization or through

an independent project of their own creation.

In 2015, medical students completed more than

10,000 hours of service at 30 nonprofit partner

organizations.

“ This allows us to create even more engaged citizens who will graduate from Tufts with an even better understanding of the real world that they are about to enter.”

“That whole notion of throwing a pebble

in the water, and seeing the ripples go out—

that is what Tisch College is doing with its

students,” says Stewart.

The new professorships that will be cre-

ated through the Tisches’ philanthropy are part

of an ongoing effort to advance Tisch College

as a national leader in civic studies. Faculty in

these positions will hold joint appointments in

Tisch College and in another school at Tufts.

The Tisch research program, including

the Center for Information and Research on

Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE),

the nation’s leading center on youth voting

and political engagement, and the Institute for

Democracy and Higher Education, which is

conducting a first-of-its-kind national study of

college voting rates, “is on a growth trajectory,”

says Peter Levine, the college’s associate dean of

research. “We have 10 social scientists on staff

doing research. We have an agenda of trying to

change civic life in America.”

One way to do that is to develop bet-

ter high school civic education, says Levine.

“A civics class is not the only way to improve

civic life, but our research shows it works and

it can reach all young people.” He points to

work Tisch researchers did to help implement

Florida’s new required course and exam for

civics.

Another component of the Tisch expe-

rience is the new 1+4 Bridge-Year Service

Learning Program, in which accepted under-

graduates spend a year doing full-time com-

munity service before beginning their four

years of study on campus. The initial class of

15 students will complete their assignments in

Nicaragua, Spain and Brazil in May.

All of these programs, Jonathan Tisch says,

are what make a Tufts education so valuable.

“When you can take what you learn in the

classroom and apply it to real-life situations,

then it becomes even more indelible in your

philosophy and your understanding of your

responsibility to the community,” he says. “It

allows us to create even more engaged citizens

who will graduate from Tufts with an even bet-

ter understanding of the real world that they

are about to enter.” n

If you’d like to learn more about supporting

Tisch College initiatives, email torrey.androski@

tufts.edu.

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Engineering

EntrepreneurialEducation Karol Professorship will support collaborations between engineering and the liberal arts BY LAURA FERGUSON

F ORGET THE TRADITIONAL college education defined by majors,

departments and even schools. At Tufts, learning without boundaries

is considered essential to students’ future success. Bridge Professors are

being hired with expertise spanning multiple departments, and a new

major in film and media studies offers a cross-genre option for students

interested in both.

And engineers can no longer just be engineers, says Jianmin Qu, who came to

Tufts from Northwestern University last summer to lead the School of Engineering.

“The liberal arts should be a prerequisite for everything,” he says. “Engineers must be

leaders with communication and social skills who can be creative and entrepreneur-

ial. The infusion of the liberal arts in engineering will help us produce engineers who

are problem solvers and leaders and entrepreneurs.”

That philosophy is shared by entrepreneur, philanthropist and university trustee

Steven Karol, A76, A04P, A13P, who holds a bachelor’s degree in social psychology

from the School of Arts and Sciences. He and his family have established the Karol

Family Professorship in the School of Engineering to advance interdisciplinary edu-

cation and research. Qu is the first appointee to the chair.

“If you want to make advances in engineering or science today,” Qu says, “it has

to be interdisciplinary to have impact, because society’s problems are interdisciplin-

ary. Engineers have to know about politics, law, public policy, culture.”

The Karol Professorship, the dean says, will support research that has the poten-

tial for broader impact by allowing him to develop the natural synergies among fac-

ulty in engineering, the sciences and the liberal arts. Qu’s own research in theoretical

and applied mechanics has led to safer airplanes, among other advances.

From the printing press to the iPad, progress is “a result of an engineer applying

his or her engineering expertise to challenges in a real-world context in order to cre-

ate meaningful change,” says Karol, who chairs the board of advisors to the School of

Engineering and serves on the board of Tufts’ Center for Engineering Education and

Outreach, focused on improving STEM (sci-

ence, technology, engineering and math) edu-

cation from kindergarten through high school.

He is the managing partner of Watermill

Group, a private equity firm in Lexington,

Massachusetts, that helps businesses move

onto a trajectory toward successful futures.

Karol’s personal trajectory took advantage

of the fluidity among academic disciplines. As

a high school student at Vermont Academy, he

played drums and trumpet in the jazz band

Duke’s Devils—they enjoyed a “modicum

of success,” he says—but he also was pretty

good in math and science. He applied early

decision and was accepted to Tufts School

of Engineering, but soon discovered that he

wanted more than the traditional engineering

major offered back then. He transferred into

the School of Arts and Sciences and pursued

what was, in the 1970s, an unconventional

study of the human brain through the lens of

such diverse disciplines as sociology, math-

ematics, music and psychology.

“I had the free run of many great think-

ers and ideas. It was a broad experience,” says

Karol. “I am grateful that Tufts allowed me to

follow my intellectual curiosity and inquisi-

tiveness down whichever path it led and pro-

vided exceptional professors and mentors to

guide me along the way. To this day, I continue

to pursue opportunities to expand my hori-

zons, challenge myself and the status quo, and

learn new things in much the same way I was

inspired to learn while I was at Tufts.”

With his wife, Michelle, and their three

daughters, two of whom graduated from Tufts,

Karol previously endowed a scholarship fund

to give undergraduates those same opportuni-

ties. And through the endowed professorship,

Karol is supporting a talented academic leader

and researcher who shares his passion for what

makes a Tufts education distinctive: a person-

alized experience that encourages students to

inquire, innovate and invent.

Qu, who came of age in China during

the Cultural Revolution, and left for graduate

study in the United States after earning a B.S.

in mathematics from Jilin University, “embod-

ies Tufts to me,” Karol says.

“The more we can develop critical think-

ing and enable the entrepreneurial spirit,” he

says, “the better chance we have of making the

world a better place.” n

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President Anthony P. Monaco

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Medicine

A $10 Million Investment in the Life SciencesBiologist Michael Levin will lead one of two Allen Discovery Centers in the nation designed to speed the pace of discovery BY JACQUELINE MITCHELL

GROWING NEW EYES and limbs in place, preventing tumors from

forming, slowing the process of aging—these are just some of the med-

ical breakthroughs Tufts researchers will explore thanks to a $10 mil-

lion grant, one of only two in the nation given by Microsoft co-founder

Paul G. Allen to fund research at the frontiers of the life sciences.

The grant will fund the new Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University for

Reading and Writing the Morphogenetic Code, which Tufts developmental biologist

Michael Levin will lead.

The center will focus on the role of bioelectrical signaling in how cells commu-

nicate as they create and repair complex anatomical shapes—an area of inquiry that

is “the key to most problems in biomedicine,” says Levin, A92, the Vannevar Bush

Professor and director of the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology.

“We’re going to understand how cells and tissues decide what shape they’re sup-

posed to build, how they figure out what to do in order to make that shape, and how

they know when they’ve achieved that shape and can stop growth,” says Levin.

The center will likely be a game changer for the life sciences at Tufts, says President

Anthony P. Monaco. “We expect this center to drive a fundamental change in how we

investigate, teach and learn the quantitative biological sciences and how we extend that

knowledge,” he says. “If we can unravel the mystery of how organisms develop and

control their shapes, we may see significant applications to other biological phenom-

ena, including disorders such as cancer and diabetes.”

It’s well-established that cells in the nervous

system relay electrical signals throughout the body

via rapid changes in voltage. But in their ground-

breaking research, Levin and his colleagues have

demonstrated that many other cell types speak

this same bioelectrical language during the com-

plex organization of cells and tissues in embryonic

development and during the maintenance and

repair of that organization in adulthood.

Going further, Levin and his colleagues

have shown that bioelectric signaling is also

important in controlling gene expression. That

is, if our genes are the list of parts from which

our bodies are built, bioelectricity coordinates

the construction workers.

Levin’s lab is now determining how to pre-

vent or correct errors in the bioelectric signaling

process that lead to genetic disorders and birth

defects, degenerative diseases, aging and cancer.

In March, Levin and his team reported

that they had used light to control electrical

signaling among cells and prevent tumors from

forming, as well as reverse malignancies that

had already developed.

Because the research program will focus not

just on the molecular mechanism of cells during

development, but also on information process-

ing and computation among them, Levin has

picked a team with expertise in biology, engi-

neering and computer science. The collaborators

include more than a dozen people in his own lab

and another nine or so at Harvard University,

Princeton University and elsewhere.

The Allen Discovery Center at Tufts will

receive up to $30 million over the next eight

years, allowing Levin to invest in the team and

the tools needed to make more breakthroughs

in this emerging and highly cross-disciplinary

field. The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group will

also invest up to $30 million in a second Allen

Discovery Center at Stanford. nALO

NSO

NIC

HO

LS

“ We’re going to understand how cells and tissues decide what shape they’re supposed to build,” says Michael Levin.

10

EDWARD SCHUMACHER-MATOS, F73, learned about newspapering

from the best and the brightest: While at Fletcher, he took a course with

the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist David Halberstam. It was one of

those chance encounters that launched a career.

Halberstam introduced him to the legendary editor of the Boston

Globe, Tom Winship, who suggested he gain some reporting chops at a local paper.

Schumacher-Matos started working part-time for the Quincy Patriot Ledger, a regional

paper on Boston’s South Shore, covering school and planning board meetings and the

annual town meetings where the simple act of raising a hand approves multimillion-

dollar budgets. “I really loved it,” he says.

He went on to share a 1980 Pulitzer Prize as part of the Philadelphia Inquirer

team that covered the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident. He is a former

Madrid and Buenos Aires bureau chief for the New York Times, associate publisher of

the Wall Street Journal’s Americas editions in Spanish and Portuguese, and ombuds-

man for the Miami Herald and, until last year, for National Public Radio.

He’s come full circle now, returning to the Fletcher School as director of the newly

renamed Edward R. Murrow Center for a Digital World. His latest assignment: trans-

form the center into a global player in how the proliferation of information is altering

international relations.

Aided by a generous gift, Schumacher-Matos wants the center—inaugurated 50

years ago by Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey to honor its namesake’s distin-

guished career in journalism and leadership of the U.S. Information Agency—to be the

leading voice in analyzing how the digital age can give rise to democracies or plunge

the world into chaos.

“Just as Murrow himself was very much a leader, first in the possibilities of radio

journalism and then in television, we think the center should become a leader in the

digital era,” Schumacher-Matos says.

The center has all the buzz of a startup,

with new ventures such as the TEDx-style

Fletcher Ideas Exchange, which helps students

develop public diplomacy skills.

This summer, the center and the Woodrow

Wilson International Center for Scholars are host-

ing a roundtable discussion in Bogotá, Colombia,

that will bring together digital rights experts to

design model Internet laws in Latin America.

“Digital rights are starting to be seen as a human

rights issue,” says Schumacher-Matos. “Laws that

give people the right to Internet access are viewed

by many as essential to economic development.”

There are now more than 7 billion mobile

device subscriptions worldwide, up from 738

million in 2000, according to the U.N.

International Telecommunication Union.

Internet use has increased sevenfold since 2000,

to more than 3.2 billion people, 2 billion of

whom live in developing countries.

Schumacher-Matos wants to put the Murrow

Center smack in the middle of this digital revolu-

tion by developing an online, interactive news

platform in conjunction with media outlet

partners in India and China. “I see it as a global

understanding project,” Schumacher-Matos

says. “The whole idea is that by opening up each

other’s markets to each other’s voices, we will

contribute to understanding, and, over time, we

hope good things will come from it.”

Other good things in the works are a school-

wide research initiative, Cyberspace and World

Order, which will identify how Fletcher can best

contribute to a digital and unified cyber strategy,

and support faculty and student research in this

emerging field.

The Murrow Center is taking a comprehen-

sive approach to addressing the extremely high

student demand for communication skills, too.

Schumacher-Matos teaches editing and op-ed

writing for Ph.D. students and editors of student

journals.

He is characteristically upbeat about what’s

next for the center: “We’ll keep building it, and

hopefully continue to get more financing to

support it.” n

Brave New Digital WorldA new director works to transform the Murrow Center into a global player BY LAURA FERGUSON

Fletcher

SHAM

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“Just as we have land, sea, and air and space, we now have this

whole new domain, cyber,” says Murrow Center director Edward

Schumacher-Matos.

11

May 2016 News of Giving , Growth and Gratitude

11

11

A S A YOUNG man, Stanley H. Kaplan lived by the words “Tikkun

Olam”—Hebrew for “heal the world.”

“My father believed human life and health are keys to happiness,”

says his daughter, Nancy Kaplan Belsky, president of the Rita J. &

Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation, which in that spirit estab-

lished a scholarship fund at the Tufts University School of Medicine in recognition

of Nancy’s husband, Mark Belsky, M74.

The son of Jewish immigrants who ran a plumbing business in Flatbush,

Brooklyn, Kaplan aspired to become a doctor. He graduated second in his class at

Brooklyn College, applied to every public medical school in New York State—and

was rejected by them all.

The reason: his faith. The Immigration Act of 1924, which limited immigra-

tion from Southern and Eastern Europe, had given rise to quotas capping the Jewish

population of student bodies, according to Sol Gittleman, the Alice and Nathan

Gantcher University Professor of Judaic Studies at Tufts. Kaplan faced a choice:

leave home and train in Europe, as his cousins had done, or give up on his dream of

becoming a physician. He did neither. Instead, Kaplan, who had a gift for tutoring

his peers in grade school, found a new way to help and heal: He opened a tutoring

business in his parents’ basement to assist others in gaining admission to college

based solely on their abilities.

That mom-and-pop business, the Stanley H. Kaplan Educational Center, blos-

somed into a company whose name has become synonymous with success on col-

lege entrance exams, Kaplan Test Prep. “Instead of becoming a doctor, my father

trained hundreds of thousands of scholars to become doctors with his MCAT

[Medical College Admissions Test] and medi-

cal boards [United States Medical Licensing

Examination] courses,” says Nancy.

In 1984, the Washington Post Company

bought the family business, and Stanley and

his wife, Rita, used a portion of the proceeds

to create the Rita J. & Stanley H. Kaplan

Family Foundation with missions of creating

greater access to education and improving

medical care.

Last summer, the foundation’s board

established the Rita J. & Stanley H. Kaplan

Family Foundation Scholarship Fund in honor

of Mark Belsky at the School of Medicine; the

gift will be doubled through the university’s

Financial Aid Initiative.

Scholarships can level the playing field,

Nancy and Mark say, noting that someone who

has the passion and skill should never fear that

money is a barrier to his or her success.

Mark, who also serves on the board of the

family foundation, became a highly sought-

after Boston-area hand surgeon, treating every-

one from athletes and musicians to infants

and the elderly. He was consistently named to

Boston Magazine’s “Top Doctors” list.

As chairman of orthopedics at Newton-

Wellesley Hospital for 26 years, Mark perpetu-

ated the teaching legacy in the Kaplan family

by mentoring students. These days, he is semi-

retired, but remains involved with the School

of Medicine as a member of its board of advi-

sors and as a clinical professor of orthopedics.

“The opportunity to become a physician

and train at Tufts transformed my life,” says

Mark. “I thought this scholarship would be

a good use of our philanthropic resources to

make it more affordable for good, young doc-

tors to train at Tufts.”

Tufts School of Medicine, unlike other

American medical schools in the 1930s, did

not apply a Jewish quota, says Gittleman.

Though the school received a letter of rep-

rimand from the American Association of

Medical Colleges because of that, Tufts stood

by its decision.

The Belskys say that made their gift all the

more meaningful. “We’re really committed to

helping young people reach their aspirations,

which my father was unable to do because of

his religious faith,” says Nancy. “Supporting an

institution for which religion was not a barrier

is very important to us.” n

Leveling the FieldNew scholarship continues family legacy of helping, healing and educating BY DIVYA AMLADI

Medicine

JAK

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It doesn’t matter how much money you have if you don’t have your health and don’t train doctors to heal others, say Nancy and Mark Belsky.

University Relations, 80 George Street, Medford, MA 02155

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PA IDBOSTON, MA

PERMIT NO. 1161

Fourteen undergraduates deferred admission this year to participate in the inaugural 1+4 Bridge-Year Service Learning Program of the Tisch College of Civic Life. They are volunteering their talents in service to communities at sponsored sites in Nicaragua, Spain and Brazil.

Justin Mejia near the Prado Museum in Madrid

LEARNING BY DOING

Abigail Barton in front of a mural made of recycled materials that her team created in León, Nicaragua

Madeline Weir and Daniela Sanchez explore Madrid’s Retiro Park.

Isabel Schneider at work in the game room she designed for an afterschool program in León