Spring 2004
New, Nifty, and Noteworthy
Alumnus Miguel Sebastian (Ph.D. '85, economics) is a high-ranking economic advisor in Spain's new government, led by president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who was elected in March. According to a March 16 news dispatch from Madrid, Sebastian "is considered by his peers to be a first-class economist who explains issues directly and clearly."
On record as a political independent, Sebastian headed a committee that drew up the economic program of the Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). Before that, he was director of research at the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), where he had worked for seven years.
Sebastian has been a consultant to the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Inter-American Development Bank. He has worked in the research department of the Bank of Spain, and is the author of several books and articles.
Gloria Leon (psychology) was named to the External Advisory Council for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), a consortium of institutions studying the health risks related to long-duration space flight.
Leon has conducted extensive research on the assessment of personality and behavioral functioning in extreme or traumatic situations, including Vietnam combat and living in the Chernobyl area. She became a national spokesperson on coping with trauma following the September 11 attacks. Her studies have focused on polar expedition teams as an analog for long-duration space missions.
NSBRI research projects address space health concerns such as bone loss, muscle weakening, cardiovascular changes, sleep disturbances, immunology, balance and orientation problems, radiation exposure, nutrition, neurobehavioral and psychosocial factors, and remote-treatment technologies.
Photo by Terry Faust
Richard Hermes (M.F.A. student, creative writing) is one of 15 scholars nationwide to receive a Luce Scholarship for a professional internship experience in Asia. The program is funded by the Henry Luce Foundation and administered in Asia in cooperation with the Asia Foundation. He also received the 2004 Gesell Award for fiction.
Hermes served as an editorial fellow for Utne Magazine and was hired by author and humorist Garrison Keillor (B.A. '66, English) to write scripts for "The Writer's Almanac." He is nearing completion of a book-length manuscript of short fiction set largely in Ireland.
We asked Hermes—who at press time said he probably was headed for Thailand as a writer for the Bangkok Post—to tell us about the award and about his University experience:
"As a writer, it's exhilarating to be able to do what you love, but it's also easy at times to wonder if your work will ever make a difference to anyone. It may sound naive, but here at Minnesota my professors and colleagues have made me feel that, if I'm persistent, I can get anywhere I'm trying to go. Since the day I arrived, I've felt so lucky to be here.
"When you're selected [for the Luce Program], you don't know where in Asia you'll end up. This kind of experience is invaluable for someone like me because a writer needs to learn how to make his way around a new place—not just a literal place…but also the kind of unfamiliar imaginative territory that a fiction writer might deal with."
Photo by Terry Faust
Maya Babu (junior honors student, psychology and neuroscience) has been named a 2004 Truman Scholar in recognition of her scholarship and her commitment to public service. Babu plans to earn both an M.D. and a J.D. in preparation for a career in health care policy. She is especially passionate about improving access to health care for women, youth (particularly those in the juvenile justice system), and people who are mentally ill. Her public service experience ranges from mentoring incarcerated youth to recruiting community boards to serving in an advisory role to government at many levels.
Donna Gillen, who directed the Minnesota Alliance With Youth when Maya was a cochair, writes that "Maya's sense of vision and purpose are unequaled for someone her age." Sarah Dixon, director of Americorps SERVE Minnesota, says, "Service is not something Maya does in addition to her many other responsibilities….It is part of who she is, an intrinsic value."
Photo by Terry Faust
Pakou Hang, a first-year doctoral student in political science, received a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. The fellowship provides opportunities for accomplished new Americans to achieve leadership in their chosen fields.
Born in the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand, Hang was among the first generation of Hmong to attend college in the United States. She graduated from Yale University in 1999.
In 2002, as Minnesota State Representative Mee Moua's campaign manager, Hang played an instrumental role in the election of the first Hmong representative to statewide office in the United States. She also served as deputy political director for the late Senator Paul Wellstone.
Hang has also been active in the nonprofit civic organization Progressive Minnesota and in the Jane Addams School for Democracy, a civic engagement organization with strong ties to the University that helps new immigrants learn English, pass the citizenship test, and get involved in local and state issues important to them. In 2003, Hang received the University of Minnesota Hubert H. Humphrey Public Leadership Award.