Stanford Emeriti Council Autobiographical Reflections

Milbrey McLauglin, the David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy at Stanford University, Emerita, spoke to an emeriti/ae audience on April 22, 2021.She traced her life trajectory through college and an “awakening” of sorts in Kansas City, Missouri, to policy analysis at the RAND Corporation focused on disadvantaged youth, and quite “unintentionally” to a faculty position at Stanford where she was the founding director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities. Professor McLaughlin discussed several themes in her work helping to identify policies that can improve outcomes for vulnerable urban youth, including “mutual adaptation” by local educators and careful attention to the settings and contexts of both teachers and students. She highlighted the power of well-designed extra-curricular opportunities such as the CYCLE program in Chicago, that allowed youth to overcome hostile conditions in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green public housing project and embark on positive life paths.

Eve Vivienne Clark, Richard W. Lyman Professor in the Humanities and Professor Emerita of Linguistics presented a lecture via Zoom on Feb. 17, 2021 entitled “From French Literature to First Language Acquisition.” She discussed her early life and her education in France and Edinburgh, advice along the way from important mentors, and joining Stanford’s Department of Linguistics in 1974. She shared vivid examples of her extensive research on how children acquire language, the development of principles in language acquisition and use, and how new words are coined by children and adults. Clark described sabbaticals and summers doing research, teaching, and sailing in The Netherlands and multiple other European countries along with her husband, Stanford Psychology Professor Herbert Clark. She expressed gratitude for Stanford’s supportive environment and answered audience questions about her research and what it was like to be one of very few women faculty members and part of a rare couple with two faculty appointments at Stanford beginning in the 1970s.

James Gibbons, Stanford Professor of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus, spoke in the Abernethy Emeriti/ae Lecture Series. In his talk he traces the origins and uses of the Tutored Video Instruction (TVI) process, which he developed in 1972 while serving on President Nixon’s Science Advisory Council. Originally designed to teach Stanford electrical engineering graduate courses to Silicon Valley engineers at off-campus locations, Gibbons outlines the positive learning outcomes achieved through TVI and DTVI (Distributed TVI) as well as the elements contributing to that success, including the importance of tutor selection and training. He describes subsequent uses of TVI in very different settings: teaching computer literacy to children of migrant farm workers and teaching emotional skills to youth in a variety of school and juvenile justice settings across the country. Gibbons mentions that the TVI methodology was also used in a Stanford poetry course and adopted by faculty at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara.

In a lecture on Nov. 20, 2019, entitled “A Fortunate Life,” David Abernethy, Stanford Professor of Political Science, Emeritus reflects on the advantages of being born into an American, white, middle class, Protestant family. His youthful commitment to doing something about sub-Saharan Africa led to summer experiences in Nigeria and Guinea with Operation Crossroads Africa and eventually to filling a new faculty billet at Stanford in African politics. He discusses changes at Stanford since he arrived in 1965, including the increased diversity of the student body and trends in student activism; his support for replacing the freshman Western Culture requirement with more globally oriented courses; involvement in campus anti-apartheid and disinvestment issues; and his role in the controversy over the location in the campus foothills of the proposed Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. He describes his post-retirement desire to balance activities that are familiar vs. unfamiliar and benefitting himself vs. others. New activities include singing in the Stanford Symphonic Chorus and chairing the Emeriti Council. He advises that it is okay in retirement to step back from our hectic lives. He also answers audience questions about his book, “The Dynamics of Global Dominance: European Overseas Empires, 1415-1980,” published in 2000. 

Albert Camarillo, Stanford Professor emeritus of History, reflects on growing up as a Mexican American in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton and the profound effect of that environment and the opportunities it provided in shaping his scholarship and his life. He discusses racial restrictive covenants, changing demographics, school integration in the 1960s, and the value of playing team sports. As one of very few Mexican American students when he entered UCLA, he met his wife Susan and discovered the nascent field of Chicano history, going on to earn the first PhD in this field. Coming to Stanford in 1975 as an affirmative action hire, he praises senior faculty mentors in the history department. After founding Stanford’s Center for Chicano Research, he directed the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and credits Stanford for taking a chance and investing in the development of this new field. He mentions chairing a major two-year study, the University Commission on Minority Issues. And he notes that his service as associate dean of Humanities & Sciences helped him learn how the university works from the inside.

Lee Shulman, Ducommun Professor of Education, Emeritus at Stanford, reflects on his life and academic career, describing the chance-filled path he took from slicing pastrami in his parents’ deli to teaching at Michigan State and Stanford and then presiding over the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He talks about his Yeshiva high school in Chicago, undergraduate and PhD experiences at the University of Chicago, his research interests in the philosophy and psychology of education, integration of pedagogy with content, development of new forms of teaching assessment, and his work at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching which moved to the Stanford campus. He comments that just as pastrami is marbled, teaching and research should be equal parts of a well-marbled career.

How does a Jewish high school student from Great Falls, Montana with "B" grades become a world-renowned scientist and founding director of Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine? In these autobiographical reflections, Irv Weissman, Professor of Pathology and of Developmental Biology, describes his journey to Stanford Medical School and his decision to make medical research his life-long priority. He discusses his laboratory's work on blood-forming stem cells with the ability to cure some cancers, his experience and advice concerning formation of biotech companies in order to ensure that promising therapies reach patients in need , and his role in writing California Proposition 71 in 2004 that established the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine.

Professor Emeritus Ewart Thomas reflected on his growing-up years in Guyana, his education at University of the West Indies and Cambridge University, and decision to join Stanford's Psychology Department. He focussed on the key role friends and colleagues played throughout his life, encouraging him to perform at his best and to take leadership roles as department chair and as Dean of Humanities and Sciences.

Channing Robertson, Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, explained how advisers from high school through graduate school urged him to move to the next educational level, enabling a once-unthinkable career in academia to become a reality. He discussed the opportunities Stanford presented to work closely with researchers in several scientific disciplines, achieving results a specialist in only one field could not attain. He also described being an expert witness in important trials against pharmaceutical and tobacco companies.

Determined to oppose the habit of self-importance almost endemic to an autobiographical talk, Bill Chace instead discussed his life with irony, eloquence, and humor. A professor of literature who valued his teaching, he discovered he also liked administration and put to good use—as president of Wesleyan and Emory Universities—his observations during two decades at Stanford. He believes that leadership at a university must be fundamentally truth-telling.

Reflecting on his Stanford years and a long career of public service, David A. Hamburg, M.D., former professor and chair of psychiatry at Stanford, spoke about the establishment of his chimpanzee research in Tanzania, the kidnapping (and release) of 4 students, and coming face to face with problems of poverty, disease and revolution. He also discussed his time as head of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, President of Carnegie Corporation, and co-chair of Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict. He worked with several US presidents on issues including national health policy, war and peace, nuclear disarmament and preventing mass violence.

Jim Sheehan, Stanford Professor of History, Emeritus, describes the two ways in which he has lived in history: as a historian who studies the past, while at the same time living in a present that will become a part of history. He reflects on his Irish Catholic upbringing in San Francisco, Stanford undergraduate years in the 1950s, and doctorate in German history at UC Berkeley. He discusses his career academic focus on Germany within the broader context of European history.

Paul Berg, Stanford Professor of Cancer Research Emeritus and 1980 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, spoke about: his arrival at Stanford in 1959, along with six colleagues from Washington Univ. in St. Louis, who created the open, sharing environment of the new Biochemistry Department; research on genetic processes and a search to understand cancer; work developing novel tools for manipulating DNA; and his role in organizing the important, public Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA in 1975 where scientists evaluated risks and policy issues and agreed to voluntary limitations and guidelines.

Alain Enthoven, Professor of Public and Private Management, Emeritus in the Graduate School of Business reflects on his life and career. He discusses his contributions to a fundamental change in national and NATO defense strategy that reduced dependence on nuclear weapons and describes his contributions to the transformation of American health care finance.

Donald Knuth, Professor of the Art of Computer Programming, describes how his own experiences as a young student inspired him to become a professor. He speaks about the privilege of connecting with the best students and being part of the world's leading department of Computer Science when that subject was just beginning to take shape. Knuth talks about contributing to a revolution in the printing industry by making computers do new tricks, mentions some of his over 30 books and many papers, as well as his love of music and composing.

Walter Vincenti, Professor Emeritus of Aeronautics & Astronautics, reminisces about undergraduate student life at Stanford in the 1930s.

Helen Quinn, Professor Emerita of Particle Physics and Astrophysics at SLAC, speaks about her life and career, lack of early recognition as a woman in physics, and recent extensive involvement in K-12 science education.

In the "Autobiographical Reflections" series, Mike Kirst, Professor Emeritus in the Graduate School of Business, talks about his career in the federal government prior to Stanford, and his current role as president of the California State Board of Education (for the 2nd time) and advisor to Governor Jerry Brown.

Saul Rosenberg, a professor emeritus in the Stanford School of Medicine, came to Stanford in 1961, establishing and directing the Division of Medical Oncology from 1963 to 1993. He spoke about his career, the curing of Hodgkin's disease, and the joy of being a professor and a physician at Stanford.

A lecture by former Stanford Law School dean Tom Ehrlich speaking primarily about his government service and his three senior roles in academic administration: dean of Stanford law school, provost at University of Pennsylvania, and president of University of Indiana.

William F. Miller, Professor Emeritus in Computer Science and in the Graduate School of Business, and former Stanford Provost spoke in the Emeriti Council's Autobiographical Reflections series. He reflected on his experiences and changes in the University.

William Perry, Berberian Professor emeritus in Management Science and Engineering, and Senior Fellow at the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies and at the Hoover Institution spoke about his life and career in an autobiographical talk.

Nancy Packer speaks with candor and humor about her personal life and her career as a teacher and a writer of short stories and non-fiction books.

Lecture & musical demonstration by John Chowning, professor emeritus of music and founder of Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. He talks about his invention of FM synthesis, his musical compositions, and the Stanford environment that fostered his work.

Sanford (Sandy) Dornbusch talks about how he became a sociologist, his path to Stanford, the growth of the sociology department, and the origins of the undergraduate human biology program. (March 7, 2012)

Artie Bienenstock, Professor Emeritus of Photon Science, speaks on divergent paths in his early life and on his professional career, both at Stanford and during his service at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. (November 7, 2011)

Wanda Corn, professor emerita of art and art history, recalls her life and career, discussing her scholarly work and her work as museum curator. (April 26, 2011)

Paul Brest, professor emeritus of law and President of the Hewlett Foundation, reflects on his career at Stanford. He focuses on his observations of legal education, philanthropy, and management styles. (February 7, 2011)

David Kennedy recounts the story of his life, from his days growing up in Seattle and attending Stanford University to his later experiences as a professor and historian. (November 15, 2010)

Haresh Shah speaks about his personal journey from India to Stanford and his career in the field of catastrophic risk management. (June 9, 2010)

Jim March, professor emeritus of education, psychology, political science, sociology, and business, speaks about his career at Stanford. He discusses how being at Stanford allowed him to be successful in such a diverse group of fields. (February 2, 2010)

Herbert Lindenberger, professor emeritus of humanities, speaks about his life and career at Stanford and elsewhere. He discusses his unconventional career as a researcher and compares the work he did in the sciences and humanities. (November 10, 2009)

Albert Macovski, professor emeritus of electrical engineering and radiology, speaks about the evolution of his career. He discusses how his career shifted from commercial imaging to medical imaging and how he transferred his skill set. (May 26, 2009)

Member of Stanford's Emeriti Council, Herant Katchadourian, speaks about his four-decade career at Stanford University. He was an emeritus professor of psychiatry and human biology and focuses on his career and the role of serendipity. (February 23, 2009)

Professor Emerita Eleanor Maccoby discusses developments in the field of psychology over the past fifty years, as well as her own research on gender, families, and child development.

Stanford Medical School Professor Luigi Cavalli-Sforza discusses his research on the evolutionary history of modern humans, focusing on the role of genetic drift and geography in evolution.

Arthur Kornberg, professor emeritus of biochemistry and a Nobel laureate, discusses his time at Stanford and the research he conducted in the field of biochemistry. (May 14, 2007)

As part of the Emereti Council's "Autobiographical Reflections" series, Diane Middlebrook, emerita professor of English, speaks about the influence of taking early retirement to facilitate a career change to full-time writer. (January 23, 2007)

Patrick Suppes, professor emeritus of philosophy, statistics, psychology, and education, discusses his time spent at Stanford and much of his life in general. (May 23, 2006)