The National Institutes of Health named Mark VanLandingham, professor at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, the 12th Matilda White Riley Honors Distinguished Lecturer. VanLandingham was honored for his pioneering research on how culture and shared history helped the Vietnamese American community in New Orleans recover from Hurricane Katrina more quickly than other communities.

The Poydras Corridor Sculpture Exhibition presented by the Helis Foundation features a sculpture by the late Ida Kohlmeyer (NC ’33, G ’56). The sculpture, Box of Artificial Flowers #6, is the largest sculpture Kohlmeyer created, standing at 17 feet tall and 14 feet wide. The Helis Foundation purchased the sculpture from a private collector in Chicago in 2018 and invested in the restoration of the piece. The sculpture now sits on the neutral ground of Poydras Street and Loyola Avenue.

Tulane baseball third baseman Kody Hoese was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers with the 25th pick in the first round of the 2019 Major League Baseball draft. Hoese is the 10th player in program history to be selected in the first round. He follows Shooter Hunt, who was selected 31st in the first round in 2008 by the Minnesota Twins. Hoese was the first of seven Tulane players drafted this year. The other players are Brendan Cellucci, Chase Solesky, Trevor Jensen, Kaleb Roper, Grant Mathews and Sal Gozzo.

“By restricting ballet to pure romance, the art form loses its power to make critical commentary on the state of things.” Felicia McCarren, professor of French and dance historian, said in a New York Times article, “Is Ballet Camp?”

School of Architecture faculty members Carrie Norman and Adam Modesitt, along with their students, created an intricate mural as a part of the “Unframed” project of the Arts Council of New Orleans. The project includes five murals within walking distance of each other in the city’s Arts District. The mural by Norman, Modesitt and their students is a life-size architectural drawing of a mid-19th century shotgun house called “Open House.” The project’s goal is to bring vibrancy to New Orleans outside of gallery walls and was funded by a $175,000 grant from the Helis Foundation.

“The mental health system in the U.S. is broken and in times of disaster it’s even more on the back burner.” Reggie Ferreira, director of Tulane’s Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy, quoted in Rolling Stone on the impact climate change has on mental health.

The first book-length study of award-winning writer and Tulane English professor Jesmyn Ward has been published in Xavier Review. The 177-page publication celebrates Ward’s literary accomplishments with a collection of critical readings and scholarly responses. It includes Ward’s prologue to her memoir Men We Reaped, a chronology of her work and reviews of her publications.

Tulane’s School of Professional Advancement, in collaboration with the university’s Center for Sport, announced its new online master’s degree and graduate certificates in sports studies. Students can receive graduate-level certifications in sport administration, sport coaching or sport security.

Tulane Law School Dean David Meyer announced the school is launching a new Immigrants’ Rights Clinic. The law school has launched a national search for the director of the clinic and will begin enrolling students in fall 2020. It will enroll up to 15 students annually and provide about 3,200 hours of service through individual client representation and community consultations.

James Zadina, professor of medicine, and other researchers have developed a new kind of opioid, called ZH853, that accelerates the recovery time from pain and does not have the side effects morphine does.