When FBI Special Agent Jaime Barajas looked out onto the nearly 200 faces gathered for an assembly Friday at McKenzie Junior High School, he saw himself.

Barajas, whose fledgling foundation donates money to the Guadalupe Union School District, grew up in the fields of the Santa Maria Valley, one of nine children picking broccoli and strawberries with his parents. He went on to college -- playing tennis at Hancock College and Cal State Northridge -- and a successful career in law enforcement, first with the Los Angeles Police Department and now with the FBI.

Now, as founder of the Barajas Foundation, he stops by the school every year trying to inspire them to work hard in school and their community, while honoring them for their effort in the classroom.

This year, Barajas was joined by Jose Nichols, former principal at Mary Buren Elementary who is now director of the Barajas Foundation, McKenzie alumnus Anthony Santana, an executive in the medical industry, and Joe Ayala, an attorney with the Legislative Counsel Bureau in Sacramento.

Together, they told the students the effort they expend in school will eventually bear fruit.

"I was sitting exactly where you're sitting," he told the 200 eighth-graders stuffed into the school's tiny cafeteria. "We want you to believe anything is possible."

Santana is another local kid -- a second-generation Guadalupean -- who made good. He wasn't the first of his generation in Guadalupe. His father also attended the school.

Santana went from McKenzie to Righetti High School to Hancock College and to Cal Poly before launching a successful 27-year career in the medical industry. He works for Covidien, a global company that manufactures and sells surgical equipment.

Santana said his path wasn't always straight and smooth -- he essentially failed his first quarter at Cal Poly -- but it paid off.

"My dad used to tell me, 'If you take the easy road, life will be hard. If you take the hard road, life will be easy," he said. "You'll fail along the way. We all fail. Failure is part of success. You have to keep pushing."

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McKenzie alumni inspire, honor students

NEW YORK (AP) Harvard is top of the IPO class for 2014.

The Ivy League school is the alma mater for seven chief executives who led their companies' IPOs last year. That's more than twice the amount of the next highest schools in the rankings, according to figures from Equilar, an executive compensation data firm.

Harvard's performance wasn't a fluke. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, school has led the rankings for at least the last three years, according to Equilar.

Tied for second place last year were Columbia University, Stanford University, Texas Tech University and University of North Carolina. Each school produced three CEOs who took their companies public.

The seven newly publicly traded companies led by Harvard alumni range from online bank Ally Financial to pharmaceutical company Kite Pharma. The group notched an average gain of 74 percent from the date of their market debut to the end of the year. By comparison, the FTSE Renaissance US IPO index, which tracks the performance of U.S. initial public offerings, gained 9.6 percent last year.

The average gain of the companies led by Harvard-schooled CEOs was also better than that of other schools. The IPOs led by former University of North Carolina students rose an average of 39 percent. Stanford graduates posted an average gain of 37 percent. Texas Tech University graduates saw an average increase of nearly 7 percent, while IPOs led by Columbia alumni had an average loss of almost 3 percent.

The Harvard executives are following one of the school's most famous students. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, studied computer science at the school from September 2002 to May 2004 before leaving to focus on the social networking company. Facebook raised about $16 billion in its market debut in 2012.

Among the Harvard graduates who oversaw IPOs in 2014, two earned undergraduate degrees, one completed a residency at Harvard Medical School, while four earned graduate degrees, including two who studied at Harvard Business School.

Thomas Eisenmann, a professor at the business school, says that the program has been placing an emphasis on entrepreneurship for at least a decade. "It's a very strong focus for us," he said, noting that almost half of the school's alumni have started at least one company.

Kent Bennett, a partner at venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, started at Harvard Business School in 2006 and says the school had not yet launched a lot of the formal entrepreneurship programs that now exist.

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Harvard grads lead IPO class of 2014

By STEVE ROTHWELL AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Harvard is top of the IPO class for 2014.

The Ivy League school is the alma mater for seven chief executives who led their companies' IPOs last year. That's more than twice the amount of the next highest schools in the rankings, according to figures from Equilar, an executive compensation data firm.

Harvard's performance wasn't a fluke. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, school has led the rankings for at least the last three years, according to Equilar.

Tied for second place last year were Columbia University, Stanford University, Texas Tech University and University of North Carolina. Each school produced three CEOs who took their companies public.

The seven newly publicly traded companies led by Harvard alumni range from online bank Ally Financial to pharmaceutical company Kite Pharma. The group notched an average gain of 74 percent from the date of their market debut to the end of the year. By comparison, the FTSE Renaissance US IPO index, which tracks the performance of U.S. initial public offerings, gained 9.6 percent last year.

The average gain of the companies led by Harvard-schooled CEOs was also better than that of other schools. The IPOs led by former University of North Carolina students rose an average of 39 percent. Stanford graduates posted an average gain of 37 percent. Texas Tech University graduates saw an average increase of nearly 7 percent, while IPOs led by Columbia alumni had an average loss of almost 3 percent.

The Harvard executives are following one of the school's most famous students. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, studied computer science at the school from September 2002 to May 2004 before leaving to focus on the social networking company. Facebook raised about $16 billion in its market debut in 2012.

Among the Harvard graduates who oversaw IPOs in 2014, two earned undergraduate degrees, one completed a residency at Harvard Medical School, while four earned graduate degrees, including two who studied at Harvard Business School.

Thomas Eisenmann, a professor at the business school, says that the program has been placing an emphasis on entrepreneurship for at least a decade. "It's a very strong focus for us," he said, noting that almost half of the school's alumni have started at least one company.

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Harvard grads lead IPO class of 2014 - Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois & Missouri News, Sports

In US initial stock sales Harvard grads lead the way (02-13 16:11) The US university Harvard is top of the initial public offering class for 2014. The Ivy League school is the alma mater for seven chief executives who led their companies' IPOs last year. That is more than twice the amount of the next highest schools in the rankings, according to figures from Equilar, an executive compensation data firm. (Pictured, Ally Financial chief Michael Carpenter). The Cambridge, Massachusetts, school has led the rankings for at least the last three years, according to Equilar. Tied for second place last year were Columbia University, Stanford University, Texas Tech University and University of North Carolina. Each school produced three chief executives who took their companies public. The seven newly publicly traded companies led by Harvard alumni range from online bank Ally Financial to pharmaceutical company Kite Pharma. The group notched an average gain of 74 percent from the date of their market debut to the end of the year. By comparison, the FTSE Renaissance US IPO index, which tracks the performance of US initial public offerings, gained 9.6 percent last year. The average gain of the companies led by Harvard-schooled CEOs was also better than that of other schools. The IPOs led by former University of North Carolina students gained an average of 39 percent. Stanford graduates posted an average gain of 37 percent. Texas Tech University graduates saw an average increase of nearly 7 percent, while IPOs led by Columbia alumni had an average loss of almost 3 percent. Among the Harvard graduates who oversaw IPOs in 2014, two earned undergraduate degrees, one completed a residency at Harvard Medical School, while four earned graduate degrees, including two who studied at Harvard Business School. Last year's US IPO market was strong. A total of 293 companies raised US$96 billion from initial stock sales, according to data provider Dealogic. That was the most cash raised from IPOs since 2000. Michael Carpenter, CEO of Ally Financial, led the biggest IPO of any Harvard graduate last year, when he oversaw the financial service company's US$12 billion sale of stock in April. Carpenter holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He stepped down as Ally's CEO February 2 of this year. Graduating from Harvard does not guarantee that your stock sale will be a success. Daniel Yates, the founder and CEO of Opower, which uses data to help utilities reduce energy consumption, has seen the value of the company's stock slump more than 30 percent since its IPO in April. Yates graduated with a degree in computer science from the school. Equilar's research was based on IPOs that raised US$100 million or more in 2014. A total of 84 different schools were represented in the survey. The rankings include both graduate and undergraduate institutions. Harvard didn't claim every honor. The biggest IPO of 2014, and largest ever, was Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, which went public in September and raised US$25 billion. Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman, earned his undergraduate degree from China's Hangzhou Normal University.AP

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In US initial stock sales Harvard grads lead the way

Monday, February 9, 10:46 AM EST

Special to the Daily Record

The Advance Directives for Seniors pro bono project met with 15 lower-income, elderly clients. All were helped by trained law students, pro bono attorneys and a paralegal. The group generously donated its time and talents to the cause.

The program was designed to address the legal needs of seniors who wish to have the necessary documentation needed to describe preferences for end-of-life care, but cannot afford the legal fees.

The event was a terrific opportunity for the law students to see how what they are learning in the classroom is applied in the practice of law while helping the underserved in our community, said Karen Millard, professor of lawyering process and director of the pro bono program.

During an hourlong consult, clients were asked to fill out a questionnaire with information regarding their designees for each of the documents.

At sessions end, students and attorneys provided their clients with notarized documents. Documents prepared for clients were: durable power of attorney, health care surrogate designation, living will and designation of pre-need guardian.

Preston Oughton, principal at the Law Office of Preston H. Oughton and a Florida Coastal graduate, said, I am proud of Coastal Laws efforts in the community involvement. Our alumni are doing an outstanding job on meeting people where they are at and assisting with their legal needs.

The schools alumni board and faculty have adopted the Dunn Avenue MCCI Clinic for the Advance Directives for Seniors. The law school needs local attorneys to volunteer as it expands the program.

While this was the first event for the program, more directives for seniors are being planned on a quarterly basis at MCCI.

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Florida Coastal School of Law students, alumni help area senior citizens

For a few years, Tim Lanza led a double life: as a student at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, and a cook at Marigold Kitchen, West Philadelphia's laboratory of modernist cooking. By the time he'd worked his way up from garde-manger to sous chef, school felt redundant.

"I was learning so much at Marigold: molecular gastronomy, gels and foams," he said. "Then, I'd be sitting in a class where we're learning how to make omelets correctly."

So, he dropped out.

Then, he got a real education. Last year, at 26, he and chef Andrew Kochan purchased Marigold.

"Doing it on our own has been a crazy learning experience," he said. "Did going to culinary school help prepare for it? I'd say, not really."

It's a common sentiment among many of the chefs electrifying Philadelphia's restaurant scene - a landscape once dominated by European-trained chefs and alumni of the elite Culinary Institute of America.

It raises a familiar question: Are culinary schools worth the money when there's on-the-job education to be had for free? And, perhaps more important, are they adequately training the talent to fuel the city's restaurant boom?

Chef and restaurateur Marc Vetri, who learned to cook on the job, has his doubts. "I just think culinary school is antiquated," he said. He thinks it's too shallow, too one-size-fits-all for a food culture that demands deep knowledge and expertise. "They're teaching things you can learn working. They have just not evolved with the restaurant world."

Nonetheless, he now teaches a culinary class at Drexel.

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Is culinary school necessary?

To hear Michael Simons MED 84 tell it, the sexual misconduct case against him which ended in Simonss removal from his posts as chief of cardiology at the Yale School of Medicine and director of the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center (YCVRC) exhibited a lynch mob mentality. But numerous faculty and administrators interviewed disagreed with Simonss characterization.

PROFOUNDLY UNFAIR?

The faculty felt Simons original penalty was not adequate, saidprofessor of immunobiology at the School of Medicine and chair of the Womens Faculty Forum Paula Kavathas, referring to Provost Benjamin Polaks decision to turn a permanent removal from the helm of the cardiology department, recommended by the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct, into an 18-month suspension. There was no lynching involved.

Simons was accused of sexual harassment and retaliation in 2013, after School of Medicine researchers Annarita Di Lorenzo and Frank Giordano complained that Simons had made unwanted advances towards Di Lorenzo, and then, in retaliation, prevented Di Lorenzos husband Giordano from being promoted.

Simons, who refused an interview with the News because he felt he had already expressed in the Yale Alumni Magazine his perception of his treatment, acknowledged an error in judgment in his sexual conduct in an email to the Alumni Magazine. But he said that the details of a New York Times article on the case, which included claims that Simons had removed Giordanos name from a grant thus preventing him from receiving credit for the work were wrong.

In an email to the News, he added that coverage from the New York Times was one-sided, as no one at the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center had been interviewed, and thus their side of the story in defense of Simons has been unheard. Members of the YCVRC, including Medical School Cardiology Professor Martin Schwarz and Vice Chairman of Pharmacology William Sessa, declined the News requests for comment.

Professor of Cardiology and Cellular and Molecular Physiology Anne Eichmann, who in the past has supported Simons, said she could not comment directly on whether Giordano was rightfully denied promotion. However, she suggested that looking at [Giordanos] publication records and grant records is an objective way to assess promotion.

Eichmann also stressed that the weakening of Simons original punishment needs to be put into context, noting that Simons was brought in to create a basic science program with which, she added, he has done a great job and the University wants to protect that program. She added that Simons created a wonderful working environment in the basic science department, that his hiring of women was second to none, with almost equal numbers of men and women faculty in the YCVRC, and that the Times coverage of the case was completely skewed.

The whole [Times] article was biased in favor of the victim, she said.

While Dean of the School of Medicine Robert Alpern refused to comment directly on the case because of confidentiality reasons, he said that the way Simons case was dealt with is no different to how anyone elses case would have been handled.

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Simons calls treatment unfair, but faculty disagree

The Medical Center Alumni Society, organized in 1960, now has more than 20,000 members including graduates of the Medical School, those who trained in one of the specialty or doctoral programs, and current and emeritus faculty members.

The MCAS Board meets semi-annually, in the fall and spring. The standing committees Academy, Awards and Nominating, Alumni Programs, Student and House Officers, and Development, carry on the work of the organization.

Each fall, MCAS supports a Medical School Reunion for classes at five-year intervals, beginning with the fifth year after graduation. Reunions include special celebrations for alumni who graduated 25 and 50 years prior, including presentation of the Emeritus Medallion to those celebrating their 50th year.

MCAS also bestows four awards each year: the Distinguished Achievement Award which is conferred upon alumni, former or current faculty, and outstanding persons who have made distinguished achievements in their field; the Distinguished Service Award which honors an individual who has contributed outstanding service to the Health System, one of its units, MCAS or the health sciences; the Distinguished Humanitarian Award, which honors an individual who has brought credit to their profession through their humanitarian service to the welfare of mankind; and the Early Career Distinguished Achievement Award which recognizes the distinguished achievements of alumni who have graduated from the Health System within the last 20 years. These individuals are recognized at an awards dinner each spring.

MCAS sponsors a number of initiatives to support students in the University of Michigan Medical School. These initiatives are developed by members of the Student and House Officer Support Committee in collaboration with the Office of Student Programs and the Office of Admissions and include such programs as the White Coat Ceremony, HOST Program, Graduation Awards Luncheon, and Commencement.

The presidents of the Student Council, graduate students, and House Officers Association serve as representatives to the MCAS board. These students are encouraged to offer their perspectives regarding the student experience and to suggest opportunities for MCAS services that can enhance student life.

For questions, please contact meddevalumni@umich.edu.

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The Medical Center Alumni Society | University of Michigan ...

The Mount Sinai Health System

Make It Count

The Mount Sinai Health System seeks an exceptional development and alumni relations professional to raise $50 million in philanthropic support for medical education during the post-campaign period of 2014 to 2018. The Director of Development for Medical Education and Alumni Relations will expand major and principle gifts capacity for scholarships and other Mount Sinai Health System-related capital projects, increase parent philanthropy for scholarships, and manage the Parents Council. The candidate will have oversight of an alumni relations team who will oversee an alumni advisory council, manage the dissolution of the Mount Sinai Alumni, Inc., and oversee all alumni relations events, including: reunion activities, reunion class giving, and alumni annual giving programs.

The successful candidate will identify and maintain a portfolio of 150 top prospects, while leading a system-wide fundraising effort that capitalizes on current and emerging opportunities for support in medical education and alumni relations at sister institutions New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Beth Israel. The Director of Medical Education and Alumni Relations will report quarterly to the Medical Education Sub-Committee of the Mount Sinai Board of Trustees and will work closely with key faculty and administrative leaders of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This position reports to the Senior Director of Development and is responsible for managing three direct reports: Associate Director of Development, Medical Education; Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving; and Development Associate, Medical Education.

What Youll Do:

What Youll Bring:

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Director of Development

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) More than 800 students and alumni attended the first joint Education City Career Fair which concluded yesterday at the Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU) Student Center.

The two-day career fair was hosted by HBKU in collaboration with its partner universities, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ), Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Northwestern University in Qatar, HEC Paris in Qatar, and UCL Qatar.

The career fair, sponsored by Qatar Shell, enabled students and alumni from universities across Education City to connect with representatives from more than 90 Qatar-based companies and organizations in order to obtain information on internship and employment opportunities. Many of the companies in attendance invited students to take part in on-site interviews and company sessions.

The inaugural event presented students with the perfect opportunity to explore the many ways through which they can develop their post-university careers while at the same time learn how they could play a valuable part in contributing to Qatar's vibrant and growing economy.

Dr Khalid Al Khanji, Vice President of Student Affairs for HBKU, said: "Education City has developed rapidly and remarkably since its foundation, producing highly capable alumni from HBKU and its partner universities who are ready to contribute to Qatar's future. The Education City Career Fair provided these enthusiastic students and alumni the opportunity to connect with local employers to help these young professionals identify and embark on an exciting and rewarding career path."

Mohamed Habib Soliman, a senior from TAMUQ, majoring in chemical engineering, said: "We've never had a joint career fair before, and it's a big event for everyone in Education City. For more than 90 companies to be in one place together - engineering, media, business, journalism - it's great practice for future career opportunities to meet these people."

Noor Al Thani, an alumna from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar, who majored in international economics, said:"It's great that there is one fair this year, unlike other years, because there is space for different types of students in different companies."

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Qatar- Career Fair attracts over 800 students and alumni