Saket Vora

Stanford’s President John Hennessy makes it a point to have dinner with a small number of graduate students several times a year. I was fortunate to attend one of these dinners yesterday night. There were about 15 graduate students present, from first years to fifth years and across a variety of schools. Instead of sitting at a table, we all sat in a lounge, giving the forum a very informal and casual feel. President Hennessy reciprocated this, being open to any question being asked. The discussion was free ranging with a variety of diverse topics. We asked him how he became President, how he transitioned from being a researcher to an administrator, the unique administrative challenges that Stanford has, the lack of Verizon cell phone reception, lack of overseas opportunities for students, potential overseas sites for Stanford, how the university is positioning itself to face the new problems, what his day-to-day life is, the recent appointment of Rumsfeld to the Hoover Institution, Ahmedinejad’s speech at Columbia, President Bush’s visit, the football team’s win over USC, etc. President Hennessy chatted with us for nearly 1.5 hours, and likely would have gone on more if the Community Associate hadn’t interjected.

He’s mentally quick, able to comfortably move from specific problems covering healthcare coverage for graduate students to discussion 20 year plans for the University. He really opened up near the end, and isn’t afraid to voice his own opinions and beliefs on certain issues. Here are a few mental notes I made during the dinner:

• Stanford has strengths across an especially wide number of disciplines for a school of its size. It has a Medical School, Business School, Law School, School of Education, Engineering School, etc. This does involve some sacrifices though. Stanford doesn’t have a Kennedy Center or Woodrow Wilson center for International Affairs. It doesn’t have a dedicated Public Health school either.
• Hennessy’s first job after graduating was being an assistant professor in CS/EE at Stanford. He rose to Lab Director, then Department Chair, then Dean of Engineering, then took the Provost job after Condoleeza Rice stepped down in 2000, then a year later found himself as President of Stanford.
• He really really enjoyed the Dean of Engineering job.
• Stanford has been exploring options of developing a presence in India or China, but it will take time. It’s faster to get things done in China, but it’s also a difficult environment. India is slow, and there is the question of where to put a campus. Bangalore/Hyderabad is tech, Mumbai is financial, New Delhi is government. Infrastructure issues too.
• Says this country has a problem where we automatically say “NO!” to nuclear energy. Thinks this is wrong and that coal power plants kill more people every year than all the nuclear plants in their history. Nice!
• He dismisses the hype about corn based ethanol, points out it consumes 8 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of ethanol, the pesticides needed to grow it are derived in part from petroleum, etc. Nice!
• Hydrogen fuel cell cars are 50 years into the future. We need to improve efficiency, hybrids, and electric cars now.
• If you want to study transportation engineering, go to MIT! They have a great program there. If you want to study environmental engineering, come to Stanford. We’re best in that.
• Very soon, Stanford will be opening up many lectures videotaped to the public.
• Thinks the Ahmedinejad speech could have been handled better with a tough moderator.
• Rumsfeld appointment (first, its by the Hoover Institution, not Stanford directly) and presents a diversity of viewpoints. Accepting an visiting fellow appointment isn’t an endorsement.
• Proudest moment as president was when Stanford won two Nobel Prizes last year. He felt especially proud for Dr. Kornberg. Back in 1959 Dr. Kornberg’s father help start the first hard sciences program at Stanford in biochemistry. There is a photo of Dr. Kornberg when he was twelve toasting his father, who had won a Nobel Prize. Dr. Kornberg followed in his father’s footsteps, and to see him come full circle and too win a Nobel Prize was truly special.
• Read an article praising the football team to the team at practice.
• Tries to take up golf, carries his own golf bag for exercise.
• Does about 10-12 trips a year.

It was a great evening. He even responded to my thank you email the next morning.