c u record columbia lions head football coach bob shoop ... · shoop explains. “they’re...

James Patrick Shenton,CC’49, a noted scholar of Amer-ican history who taught atColumbia for more than 50years, died on Friday, July 25, inPaterson, N.J. Shenton hadrecently undergone heart surgeryat St. Joseph's Hospital in Pater-son. He was 78.

"Jim Shenton was a Columbiainstitution, and a Columbia leg-end, for half a century—a devot-ed and charismatic teacher, awarm and caring mentor to gen-erations of students, and abeloved colleague to those of usin the history department," saidUniversity Provost Alan Brink-ley. "His death closes an impor-

tise in the Civil War and Recon-struction, the history of radicalmovements, ethnicity and immi-gration, and World War II. Hewas a mainstay of the College'sContemporary Civilization pro-gram and directed the historydepartment's summer session formany years. He also led summerseminars sponsored by theNational Endowment for theHumanities for college and sec-ondary school teachers.

At Columbia, Shentonreceived virtually every awardpossible for a teacher and alum-nus, including the Mark VanDoren Award (1971), the GreatTeacher Award (1976), the JohnJay Award for Distinguished Pro-fessional Achievement (1995),the Presidential Award for Out-standing Teaching (1996) and the

C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y RECORD September 12, 2003 9

James Shenton

BY TIMOTHY P. CROSS

Alexander Hamilton Medal(1999). In addition, the AmericanHistorical Association and theSociety for History Educationawarded him the Eugene AsherDistinguished Teaching Award in1995.

Born on March 17, 1925, inPassaic, N.J., Shenton was theoldest of four children. Heattended public schools in NewJersey and served as a medic withthe U.S. Army in the Europeantheater during World War II. In1946, Shenton arrived at Colum-bia College as a 21-year-oldfreshman on the G.I. Bill. Afterfinishing his bachelor's degree inthree years, he earned his M.A. in1950 and his Ph. D. in 1954 fromthe Graduate School of Arts andSciences. He began teaching inthe history department in 1951

and became a full professor in1967.

A well-know supporter of lib-eral causes, Shenton participatedin the March on Selma in 1965and counseled draft resistersduring the Vietnam War.

Shenton's published worksinclude Robert John Walker: APolitician from Jackson to Lin-coln (1960), An Historian's His-tory of the United States (1967),The Melting Pot (1973) and FreeEnterprise Forever (1979). Inthe 1960s, he taught a 76-hoursurvey course on public televi-sion, entitled "The Rise of theAmerican Nation."

For more information regard-ing the memorial service oncampus on Oct 2, please go tohttp://www.college.columbia.edu/alumni/events/index.php#2420

Howard Levene

BY DOOD KALICHARAN

Howard Levene, who made anumber of important contribu-tions to statistics and genetics andwas a professor of mathematicalstatistics and genetics at ColumbiaUniversity before his retirement in1982, died of natural causes onJuly 2 at his home in New YorkCity at the age of 89.

Levene received his Ph.D. inmathematical statistics fromColumbia in 1947 and thenbecame a faculty member at theUniversity, holding a jointappointment in statistics and biol-ogy. He began a long period ofcollaboration with the distin-guished geneticists Theodosius

Dobzhansky and Leslie Dunn atColumbia. His best-known workwith Dobzhansky involved thegenetics of the fruit fly (Drosophi-la), which has been used in experi-mental studies of heredity becauseof its short life cycle and greatreproductive ability. He workedwith Dunn on population dynam-ics and the effects of mutations ondevelopments in mammals. Hewrote a chapter on statistical infer-ence in genetics in Principles ofGenetics by Dunn, Dobzhanskyand Sinnott, which became animportant reference on the subjectafter its publication in 1958.

It was an exciting period ingenetics and evolutionary biologyat Columbia, and among Levene'sprominent students during thatperiod were Richard Charles

Lewontin and the late Stephen JayGould, who were biology profes-sors at Harvard.

In the field of statistics, Levenedeveloped run tests of randomness,techniques for assessing the effec-tiveness of quality control charts,and the Levene tests for the equal-ity of two population variances. Heserved as chairman of the Depart-ment of Mathematical Statistics atColumbia for many years, includ-ing an uninterrupted period from1975 to his retirement in 1982.

Levene was born on Jan 7, 1914,in New York City. He received hisundergraduate education at NewYork University, graduating with aB.A. degree (Summa Cum Laude)in 1941. During World War II heworked at Columbia University inthe Statistical Research Group and

finished his Ph.D. thesis after thewar in 1947. The StatisticalResearch Group was part of theU.S. Office of Scientific Develop-ment from 1942 to 1945 to per-form statistical quality control anddevelop new methodologies insupport of the war effort.

It consisted of many eminentstatisticians, including HaroldHotelling, Abraham Wald, AllenWallis, Jacob Wolfowitz (whowas Levene's Ph.D. thesis advi-sor), and the Nobel laureates Ken-neth Arrow, Milton Friedman andGeorge Stigler.

Howard Levene was the onlyson of Mr. and Mrs. AlexanderLevene, and is survived by hiscousins Mrs. Marie P. Lampardand Dr. Benjamin. F. Levene Jr.

In a year of new administra-tion, overhauls and promise,first-year Lions Head Foot-

ball Coach Bob Shoop sees the bigpicture.

“A good piece of advice some-one gave me was to learn the com-pleteness of things,” explainsShoop. Flanked by new state-of-the-art, NFL quality video equip-ment, the new coach prefers sittingand speaking in the middle of theoffice, far from the confines of hiscorner desk. Outside his room, thefootball program’s offices arebeing physically overhauled.Shuffling back and forth amongthe construction are new facesaround the facility. These changesmark Shoop’s goal for Columbiafootball: a new identity.

Before accepting his new posi-tion, Shoop was the defensivecoordinator for Boston College’sfootball program. As a defensivepowerhouse in the Big East Con-ference, BC enjoyed the most suc-cessful run their history withShoop, going to four straightbowls, winning the last three andholding down a regular spot in thetop 25. “I don’t know that we hadthe best talent. We didn’t try andreinvent the wheel,” Shoopexplains. “We worked—and Idon’t mean we worked 24 hours aday, but we worked smarter.”

Shoop describes that over theyears “when you watched them

play, you could say ‘that’s aBoston College football team.’That’s what I want this team to be,”Shoop says. “I want us to have anidentity where people can say‘that’s Columbia Lions football.’”

Shoop will attempt to expand on

what he already sees as a solidColumbia defense. “I want ourguys to be opportunistic and toplay fast,” the coach explains.“The success of our defense isbased on keeping it simple. It’snot rocket science, but I think

we’re really good with defense.” The Yale alumnus' straightfor-

ward approach is embodied by histhree rules for the game: passion,toughness and togetherness. Hehas been applying these ethics tohis new squad in practice andtraining since his appointment lastwinter. “The players have doneeverything we’ve asked of themover winter and spring. I studiedthe composition of our team and Ithink this might be the year,” saysShoop. “There are a lot of seniorswho have played a lot of footballin close games—six of our ninelosses last year were by sevenpoints or less, and we led severalgames in the fourth quarter.”

As a new coach, Shoop stressesthat the completeness of Colum-bia’s identity includes life off thefield as well.

“We demanded a tremendousamount of time and energy fromour student athletes, and a lot ofpeople say it doesn’t work thatway in the ivy-league, but 40 ofour 70 players who participated inthe winter program achieved a 3.0grade point average or better,”Shoop says. “I think that’s reallyimpressive.”

“We challenged all our athletesto become a big league footballteam, and we sure got better, but Idon’t think we compromised theirachievement in the classroom,”Shoop explains. “They’re passion-ate, they’re unique, and they’ll besuccessful in everything they pur-sue. It’s amazing what some of

these guys are doing. There’s aColumbia football player in a posi-tion of leadership in any field onemight chose to pursue, and theytake care of and look out for eachother. It’s as tight and close-knit ofa group of individuals I’ve everbeen around.”

The new Lions administrationlooks to continue that trend throughrevamping the program’s recruitingscheme. Shoop describes havingone month last winter to recruit theclass for the coming year—a featthat traditionally takes up to threemonths. Yet the new campaignwas successful. “We beat out everyivy-league school in at least onehead to head, except for Harvard,”Shoop explains. “We beat out somedivision I-AA scholarship pro-grams head to head, so I think thatwas very positive.”

Shoop has been very pleasedwith the support he’s received fromColumbia. “The administration hasprovided us with everything we’veasked for, in a new practice facilitygoing up, new state-of-the-art play-ing surface, new office construc-tion, NFL quality video equipment,even new uniforms,” Shoopbeams. “We’ve had great coopera-tion from admissions and financialaid as well as being able to hire thestaff we wanted.” In its 250th year,the University certainly sharesShoop’s vision of completeness.

For more information on LionsFootball, go to http://www.colum-bia.edu/cu/athletics/comm/Teams/football/

Columbia Lions Head Football Coach Bob Shoop looks to Create a New Team Identity BY COLIN MORRIS

tant and brilliant chapter in theUniversity's history."

Shenton was a highly regardedhistorian of 19th- and 20th-centu-ry America, with special exper-

First-year coach Bob Shoop expects his team to play with passion,toughness and togetherness.

RECORD PHOTO BY GENE BOYARS

In Memoriam...