March at Hopkins
April 6 2010 | 
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March is always a wonderful month at the Homewood campus. As the tons of snow melted away, the spring season brought life back to the quads. The Admissions Office was quite busy with completing the JHU Class of 2014, while the rest of Hopkins focused on new traditions, new social awareness partnerships, new sustainability initiatives, and new investigations of astrophysics. Read on to check out the top stories from the past month.
HOMEWOOD OR HOGWARTS?
Nearly 400 freshmen had the opportunity to join in a new tradition that appeared to be a scene out of Harry Potter, though it had a decidedly Homewood twist. The inaugural High Table dinner, served in the Fresh Food Café, was a formally served meal with an academic flavor, which is meant to be an annual occurrence for the freshman class. It is based on the British tradition of Formal Hall, a style of dining that has taken place at Oxford and Cambridge for centuries.
For a gallery of more pictures, take a look at this JHU Gazette article: http://gazette.jhu.edu/2010/03/08/a-new-tradition-is-served/
JOHNS HOPKINS, CITY SCHOOLS LAUNCH SERVICE PARTNERSHIP
The Johns Hopkins Takes Times For Schools Program, created under the leadership of Johns Hopkins President Ron Daniels and with the endorsement of Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Andrés Alonso allows university staff up to two days per year of paid leave to pursue service opportunities in the Baltimore City public schools. The school system has seen an increase in test scores, enrollment and diversity of academic settings over the past two years, thanks in part to the outreach efforts of volunteers. The school system has recently implemented an automated volunteer and partnership matching system to make it easier for both the individual volunteer and large employers to get involved. Johns Hopkins University is the first employer to make use of the system. The Johns Hopkins Takes Time For Schools Program was unveiled at Barclay Elementary School, as part of a public service event at the school and in conjunction with Read Across America Day.
To read the JHU Gazette article, click here.http://gazette.jhu.edu/2010/03/02/johns-hopkins-city-schools-launch-service-partnership/
Learn more by watching the video: at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4-EmF8NrX4
JH-U-TURN SALE
In keeping with Johns Hopkins University’s mission of demonstrating smart, sensible, and creative actions promoting sustainability and community strengthening, we are proud to announce “JH-U-Turn.” Homewood students, faculty and staff are asked to donate their unwanted end of the year items (such as clothing, furniture, books, and electronics) which will be sold with 100% of proceeds to benefit the United Way’s Neighborhood Fund. The sale will take place on June 12 at the Ralph S. O’Connor Recreation Center and is open to the public.
http://web.jhu.edu/announcements/faculty-staff/targetpage.html?baid=29829
JHU TO HALVE CO2 GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS IN 15 YEARS
Johns Hopkins has announced that it will cut its emissions of climate-changing carbon dioxide gas by more than half from projected levels by 2025. This goal will be met by investing more than $73 million in conservation and efficiency measures, which will account for 57% of the overall goal of cutting 141,000 metric tons from the 276,000 a year it would otherwise be generating 15 years from now. The remainder of the goal will be achieved by adopting new technologies that emerge over the next 15 years and by motivating members of the university community to reduce their energy consumption and environmental impact. The goal is part of a broad multifaceted Implementation Plan for Advancing Sustainability and Climate Stewardship, which also includes research, education and community outreach in addition to the greenhouse gas reduction.
To learn more, read the release: http://releases.jhu.edu/2010/03/11/climate/ and the JHU Gazette Article: http://gazette.jhu.edu/2010/03/15/bold-new-plan-for-confronting-climate-change/
ASTROPHYSICIST, TEAM WIN STIMULUS GRANT TO BUILD TELESCOPE
Charles “Chuck” Bennett, a Johns Hopkins astrophysicist will be leading a team in building an instrument designed to probe what happened during the universe’s first trillionth of a second, when it suddenly grew from submicroscopic to astronomical size. The team has won a $5 million National Science Foundation grant, administered through the stimulus act. The instrument is expected to take five years to build and will be a ground-based telescope that will be shipped to a perch in Chile’s Atacama desert upon completion.
To learn more about the project, read this JHU Gazette article: http://gazette.jhu.edu/2010/03/15/astrophysicist-team-win-stimulus-grant-to-build-telescope/
