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August 25, 2004

College News

by Evan Silverstein

DANVILLE, KY — Mills Funk Davis, who graduated from Centre College in 1993, successfully climbed to the summit of Mount Everest on May 24. It took Davis 58 days to reach the icy peak, situated 29,035 feet —  about six miles — above sea level. Davis suffered some minor injuries along the way. The double major graduate from Centre and resident of Bowling Green, KY, is believed to be the first Kentuckian to conquer Everest.

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TULSA, OK — Steadman Upham, president of Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA, has been named the University of Tulsa’s 17th president. He succeeds former TU president Bob Lawless, who announced his retirement last fall. Upham earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Arizona State University in Tempe, where he also earned a master’s degree.

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ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Eckerd College alumnus Mark E. Lewis, class of 1992, has received the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers — the nation’s highest honor for promising professionals at the start of their research careers. Lewis is currently an assistant professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Eight federal departments and agencies nominate scientists and engineers for the annual awards.

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ALMA, MI — Fourteen Alma College students and their professor recently visited the Arctic Circle to investigate the long-term impact of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, the school said in a news release earlier this summer. Marek Payerhin, assistant professor of political science, and the students traveled 560 miles along the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline until reaching the Arctic Circle. It was the first time Alma College students reached the Arctic Circle, according to Payerhin. The spill on March 24, 1989, dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil across 1,300 miles of coastline when the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, AK.