Renowned poet Philip Booth '47 died Monday following a long illness complicated by Alzheimer's disease, according to The Bangor Daily News. He was 81 years old. Booth was born in Hanover on October 8, 1925, the son of Edmund Booth, a former professor in Dartmouth's English department. Following his service in the US Air Force during World War II, Booth studied poetry at Dartmouth alongside Robert Frost. He received a Master's Degree in English from Columbia University and taught at Dartmouth for one year before joining the faculty at Wellesley College. He later founded a graduate program in creative writing at Syracuse University. In 2002, following an Alzheimer's diagnosis, Booth returned to Hanover to an assisted living community. He is survived by his wife of sixty-one years, Margaret and his three daughters Margot, Carol and Robin.
Dr. Jack Wennberg, the founder of the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth, is stepping down as the center's director. Under Wennberg's leadership CECS was credited with "the most important health service research of the century," revealing that disparities in health care are a function of location, Donald Berwick, cofounder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, said, according to a press release from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Wennberg also pioneered research regarding the communication of medical practices to patients and helped compile data for the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, a collection of reports on the way in which health care is delivered across the nation. Beginning August 1, the center will be known as the Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice under the leadership of Dr. James N. Weinstein, who began working at CECS in 1996. "I am absolutely delighted that Jim will lead the next generation of CECS," Dr. Wennberg said in the press release. "More than anyone, he understands how our research can be applied in the real world to improve patient care, reform our health care system and produce a new kind of health care leader."
Drew Faust officially stepped into the role of President of Harvard University on July 1, celebrating her new post by hosting an ice cream social for members of the Harvard community. Faust hopes to increase collaboration and a sense of unity between the university's 10 separate schools. To help achieve that goal, she will host a retreat for the university's deans next week. She will oversee a new capital campaign and the construction of the new Allston campus. Faust will also establish a committee to explore the role of the arts within the Harvard community.
