The Dish
Heather Perry, an environmental engineer in Environmental Health and Safety competes in the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run, which started in Squaw Valley and ended in Auburn, Calif. Here she's seen on Cougar Rock at mile 12.
Keith Devlin, a consulting professor in mathematics finishes the Death Ride, a 129-mile ride through the Sierra Nevada mountains on July 11, 2009.
When your cell phone lights up and it’s Stanford Police Chief LAURA WILSON, there’s a good chance it won’t be good news, but a few weeks ago, she called to relay just that. Her scoop? On June 28, HEATHER PERRY, an environmental engineer in Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S), had completed the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run, which started in Squaw Valley and ended in Auburn, Calif. The trail takes runners across rugged and mountainous terrain through high altitudes and extreme heat. “I arrived in Auburn 29 hours and 3 minutes after I set off from Squaw Valley, tired, dirty and totally elated,” said Perry. What made the accomplishment even sweeter was that Perry had trained, qualified and survived the lottery for the 2008 race, only to have organizers cancel it due to wildfires and bad air quality – three days before the event. “My car was already packed!” Perry recalled. This time she was joined on the home stretch by husband KEITH PERRY, emergency manager in EH&S, and their daughters Sarah Jo, 6, and Shannon, 9. “I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Keith and our daughters for allowing me the latitude to train and prepare not just once, but twice.”
...Going 129 miles, this time on wheels. KEITH DEVLIN, a consulting professor in mathematics, also known as the “Math Guy” for his appearances on National Public Radio, endured one of the toughest bike rides around, the Death Ride in the Sierra. The route is uphill, and then uphill again, and again, for 11 hours. “Beautiful but grueling,” he said.
...And speaking of folks on the move, last weekend four university administrators were among the more than 40 runners carrying a solar-powered torch through campus to inaugurate the 2009 Summer National Senior Games. They were PATRICK DUNKLEY, senior university counsel; PAUL GOLDSTEIN, director of financial and strategic studies in the University Budget Office; RANDY LIVINGSTON, vice president for business affairs and chief financial officer; and TIM WARNER, vice provost for budget and auxiliaries management.
...It won’t be just a jog around the block for KEITH HUMPHREYS, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, who is taking leave from the Medical School after accepting an appointment in D.C. as senior policy adviser at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. And last month, President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate geophysics Professor MARCIA MCNUTT to be the director of the U.S. Geological Survey and Science Adviser to the Secretary of the Interior. McNutt also is president and chief executive officer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
…The Big Apple has taken a bite out of the Farm: PETER HENRY, professor in the Graduate School of Business, will become dean of the Stern School of Business at New York University in January; and earlier this year Columbia announced its new provost – Stanford psychology Professor CLAUDE STEELE, who most recently had served as director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. That means spouse DOROTHY STEELE, executive director of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, also has bid the Farm farewell.
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