The pictures in this blog are all from my B&W film photography class (an opportunitiy I decided to seize my senior year).
Senior year has brought with it quite a whirlwind of events and opportunities and, consequently, a sense of community. One of these opportunities was to attend a Zelicof Family Dinner with the Dean program at Dean Newman’s house (which is conveniently two blocks from campus). Dean Newman is the new dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Hopkins. To read about these dinner programs, click here.
A picture I took in Hampden, a nearby neighborhood in Baltimore.
As stated in the article, the idea behind the program is to offer “students and their professors who are in for-credit Krieger School courses a chance to get together outside the classroom.” In my case, I was able to hear Dr. Gebo, the professor of my thesis class and the director of the undergraduate program in public health studies, casually discuss her research on HIV in the United States over dinner.
The dinner itself exceeded my expectations. Well, firstly, the food was great (and vegetarian!) And, for me, the expectation Dean Newman has for the program, “more one-on-one time with their professors, and a greater sense of community,” was met. I was able to talk to Dr. Gebo outside of the classroom about herself rather than my own work. I learned about her time at Hopkins as an undergraduate basketball player, her time as a Hopkins med student, then as a Hopkins Hospital resident, and then as a Hopkins Masters of Public Health student. Yup, that would make her an alum to the fourth power.
On top of all of this, I was also able to witness Dean Newman first-hand. I was pleasantly surprised by how down to earth her and her husband are. Prior to the dinner all I knew about Dean Newman was that over the summer she had filled up my email with university-wide emails. Why? Well she had completely reconfigured the school’s top administrative structure. She had split my precious Krieger School into two by creating a vice dean for science and research infrastructure and a vice dean for humanities, social sciences and graduate programs.
I may have lost my readers after that last paragraph. I don’t blame you. This summer I quickly “archived” any university-wide email about the restructuring. I just didn’t think what the Dean did really would influence much of my day-to-day activities at Hopkins. And I must certainly did not play any emphasis when touring schools as a prospective student on a school’s president, let alone its administration.
But now, well, my views have changed. The administration basically had to hand me the chance to enter Dean Newman’s house before I realized how important the administration behind a school is and has been in my experience at Hopkins. I picked Hopkins because of its interdisciplinary majors. I never had one subject that stood out as my strength in high school nor could focus my mind on just seeing the world through one lens.
It is because of the administration that these interdisciplinary majors have exceeded. I was looking for a major in environmental studies. Hopkins hadn’t created an interdisciplinary major in that…well not yet. The closest thing I had to that was a major in public health studies. And well I grabbed onto that major. And public health basically has become a love of mine. Of course now there is a major in Global Environmental Chance and Sustainability but that’s besides the point.
Dean Newman was recently asked by The Gazette the following question:
“The public health major continues to be very popular among undergraduates, as does a new major on sustainability. Do you feel we have an excess of altruistic students, those who want to go out and save the world?”
Personally, I was surprised that this question was asked. The question itself means that one may question the type of education that Hopkins provides. However, her response was:
A tomato plant grows in a greenhouse at a E. Baltimore high school, as part of the Real Food Farm (a public health inspired program).
“I think Johns Hopkins students are very oriented toward service in the world, as are many people of their generation. Young people throughout the United States share the ethic of service. They want to make the world a better place than the way they found it.
Ironically, I think that the catastrophe of 9/11 had a profound effect on the generation that is in college right now. It left them with questions about the place of our country in the world. Enrollment in languages such as Arabic and Chinese has just skyrocketed. Why is that? There are many reasons. Students see that there are opportunities for them in the future if they can master these languages, but I think there is also just a broader sense of interest in the world beyond our boundaries that was catalyzed by truly tragic events.
Public health is part of this calling because a focus on international well-being of people far from our shores is integral to the study of public health, as well as questions of the underserved in our own country. This same ethic of service attracts students to international studies and to medical science.”
Well said, Dean Newman. To those that question an interdisciplinary major, well it looks like you’re out of luck, Dean Newman is not about to let that change. To those prospective students out there, add “university administration” to your list of things to evaluate a school on when making pro-con lists.
And, well, it took a four-course dinner for me to realize that it’s Hopkins administration that’s behind the agenda I have at the library today.
Until next time,
Jessica
PS To read the entire interview with Dean Newman, click here.
What a cool experience!! I am sure this is acting as a bit of inspiration for your thesis. Good luck!
I hope this question doesn’t make me sound self-righteous or naïve (or both!), but could there really be such a thing as an excess of altruistic students?