Alumni in the News: November 30

On November 24, The New York Times published an op-ed by Dr. Ashish Jha ’92, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, “The Snake-Oil Salesmen of the Senate.” In the piece, Jha opines: “There is no evidence that hydroxychloroquine helps Covid-19 patients. So why is Congress still holding hearings on it?”

Santiago Tobar Potes ’20 has received a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Potes will pursue an M.St. (master of studies) in global and imperial history to study the relationship between aesthetics and law in Deng Xiaoping’s China at the University of Oxford. Established in 1903, the Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest international scholarship in the world; 100 fully funded scholarships are given each year.

Three alumni and their works were included in The New York Times’s “The 10 Best Books of 2020.” Robert Kolker ’91’s nonfiction Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family, President Barack Obama ’83’s latest memoir A Promised Land and James Shapiro ’77’s Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future all made the prestigious list, which was released on November 23.

On November 20, First Lady Melania Trump announced that Floor Frame, a work by sculptor Isamu Noguchi CC 1926, would be installed in the White House Rose Garden. The 1962 installation will be the first work by an Asian-American artist in the White House collection.

Daniella Zalcman ’09’s photographs are featured in the December 2020 issue of Smithsonian Magazine. The article, “The Inspiring Quest to Revive the Hawaiian Language,” focuses on one couple’s efforts to develop Hawaiian language programs throughout the state’s islands.