Newsmakers

Eve Marder ’69, the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience, and Irv Epstein, the Henry F. Fischbach Professor of Chemistry, have been named University Professors, one of Brandeis’ highest honors. The title is conferred on faculty members whose renown crosses disciplinary boundaries, who have achieved exceptional scholarly or professional distinction within the academic community and whose work enhances the university’s reputation.

In a headline-grabbing appearance on the TV quiz show “Jeopardy,” Brandeis sports information director Adam Levin ’94 came very close to upending champion James Holzhauer’s celebrated 32-game winning streak. On the episode that aired April 29, Levin racked up $53,999, the highest-ever total for a second-place finish and a mere $18 shy of Holzhauer’s winning amount. Both men correctly answered the Final Jeopardy question, under the category “Organizations”: “The oldest of these business booster groups, formed in Marseille in 1599, uses ‘de’ instead of ‘of’ in the name.” (Answer: “What is the Chamber of Commerce.”) Levin’s love for competitive trivia dates back to his student days, when he was a member of the university’s College Bowl team.

Track and cross-country star Emily Bryson ’19 is one of two University Athletic Association nominees for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year award. The winner will be named and the top 30 honorees celebrated at an Indianapolis awards ceremony on Oct. 20. Bryson, who grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts, finished her college career as a nine-time All-American (tied for fourth-most in program history) and a four-time national champion (tied for second-most in program history). Emily’s twin sister, Julia ’19, another standout runner for the Judges, competed alongside her on the distance medley relay squad.

In the 2020 U.S. News & World Report ranking of public-affairs graduate schools, the Heller School for Social Policy and Management earned the No. 7 spot in the social-policy category. In the overall public-affairs category, Heller was ranked among the top 20% and was listed as one of the top four New England schools. Heller, which celebrates its 60th anniversary during the 2019-20 academic year, was also listed for the first time in the public-policy analysis category, at No. 32.

Anthropology professor Sarah Lamb, a cultural anthropologist who studies aging and gender, has been named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Lamb is the first Brandeis faculty member to receive the program’s so-called Brainy Award, which includes a $200,000 grant that allows scholars to devote time to research, writing and publishing in the humanities and the social sciences. Lamb’s research focuses on “successful aging,” the concept that individuals can postpone or even eliminate the negatives of old age through medical intervention and individual effort. She will use the grant to expand the cultural reach of her studies.

At the end of the 2018-19 academic year, teaching awards were given to three Arts and Sciences faculty members in recognition of their distinction in the classroom. Keith Merrill, assistant professor of mathematics, received the Louis Dembitz Brandeis Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Elizabeth Brainerd, the Susan and Barton Winokur Professor in Economics, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, picked up the Lerman-Neubauer ’69 Prize for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring. And Naghmeh Sohrabi, the Charles (Corky) Goodman Chair in Middle East History, earned the Michael L. Walzer ’56 Award for Teaching. In addition, Dmitry Kleinbock received the Dean’s Mentoring Award, given annually to a faculty member involved in the supervision of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences students; he is the first mathematics professor to win the award.

Three new administrators have joined the university community. Raymond Lu-Ming Ou, formerly senior associate dean of student affairs at Tufts, is the first person to fill the role of vice provost of student affairs at Brandeis. He will oversee many key student-facing departments, including the Dean of Students Office, the Hiatt Career Center and Community Living. Danial Kim is the university’s new senior vice president for communications, marketing and external relations. He comes from the College of the Holy Cross, where he was vice president for communications. Kim will lead Brandeis’ central communications, marketing and external relations office, and serve on the president’s leadership team. And Lauren Haynie joins Brandeis as director of athletics, overseeing the university’s entire athletics program. Previously, she was Wellesley College’s senior associate director of athletics and PERA (physical education, recreation and athletics).