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Appointed
January/February 2004
by Adrian Brune

Thinking and acting globally, not just locally, will define Harold Koh’s philosophy as dean of the Yale Law School. It’s no surprise, considering Koh’s background as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor during the Clinton administration and his past testimony, before UN commissions, on universal standards of human rights. Koh, who was chosen in November to succeed Anthony Kronman as dean, believes that legal education must be more mindful of the world beyond our borders. “Beginning in the early 1900s, Yale stopped teaching just Connecticut law,” he says. “Now we have to stop teaching just American law and start focusing on globalization.”

A popular professor at the Law School for the past 18 years, Koh immerses his first-year procedure students in international matters, discussing war-crime tribunals and the introduction of evidence abroad in a class that, he says, most teachers reserve for the basics of “suing people.” Koh’s father, a South Korean law professor and diplomat, was exiled after the military coup of 1961, and came to Yale in that year as a part of a lectureship offered by then-dean Eugene Rostow '33, '37LLB. Rostow’s use of his office to reach across borders, says Koh, made an impression on him.

As a second priority of his deanship, Koh plans to encourage students to apply their education toward societal, rather than personal, gain. “Many law schools have accepted the path of least resistance, which is letting students be driven by their own financial pressures to forsake careers in public service,” he says. He plans to seek more substantial post-graduate fellowships for students to work in the public sector.

James Gustave Speth '64, '69JD, was appointed in November to a second five-year term as dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Speth’s first term has seen increases in faculty, applications, donations, and financial aid. In announcing the reappointment, President Richard Levin called Speth “a respected ambassador for the school within the Yale community, across the nation, and around the globe.”

Ron Van Lieu has been named the new Lloyd Richards Professor and chair of the Department of Acting at the School of Drama. A veteran stage actor and director, Van Lieu has taught acting since 1975 at New York University, where he won the Distinguished Teaching Medal.

Frank Turner '71 PhD has been named director of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Turner, whose field is British and European intellectual history, has been a professor in the history department for 30 years and was provost from 1988 to 1992. Turner has served as interim director since July, when former director Barbara Shailor was appointed a deputy provost.

Elected

Benjamin Healey '04 won another term as alderman in the Yale-dominated first ward on November 4. Healey, a Democrat, earned 403 votes; challenger Dan Kruger '04, an independent, got 128. Kruger had made constituent service an issue in the race, charging that Healey was unresponsive to student concerns. Healey said he had taken Kruger’s criticisms to heart and will communicate more effectively in his next term.

Remembered

Paul Calabresi '51, '55MD, an oncologist who pioneered the use of chemotherapy while teaching at Yale, died on October 25 of cancer. Calabresi, who taught at the School of Medicine until becoming the founding director of the Brown University Cancer Center in 1968, developed an effective treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other diseases. He was a brother of federal judge and former Yale Law School dean Guido Calabresi '53, '58LB.

Honored

Justin A. Chen '03 won the Chronicle of Higher Education’s first annual David W. Miller Award for Student Journalists for two Yale Herald articles he wrote last year. Chen, who is currently in Germany on a Fulbright fellowship, will attend the Medical School next year. He hopes to combine medicine and journalism in his career.

Christopher Wells '04 was one of 32 new Rhodes Scholars chosen from among 963 applicants in the United States. A history major with a strong interest in the Middle East, Wells will pursue a Master of Philosophy degree at the University of Oxford in England.

Robby Schrum '05 made it to the semifinals of the Jeopardy! College Championship but was eliminated there by Joshua Perkins of Rice. Keith Williams of Middlebury was the ultimate champion. Schrum won a total of $5,000 in the tournament, which was taped at Yale’s Lanman Center and broadcast in November.  

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