The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 24, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 13, 1977 Page: 1 of 12
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O'Connor named Trustee of University
Ralph S. O'Connor, who
considers Rice students "an
important element in the
American system of private
higher education," has been
named a Trustee of the
University, it was announced
recently by James U. Teague,
Chairman of Rice's Board of
Governors.
O'Connor's high regard for
the University's students is
matched by his resolve to
continue a family tradition of
service to Rice.
In joining the Rice Trustees,
O'Connor is solidifying a
family tradition of several
decades. That tradition was
established in the early 1940's
when O'Connor's father-in-
law, George R. Brown, became
a Trustee of the University
and helped put the school on
the enviable fiscal and
planning basis that allowed
Rice to meet its postwars
challenges and opportunities.
Brown retired as Trustee and
Chairman of the Board of
RiSiM
_IUbC w W
Thresher
volume 64 number 24
january 13, 1977
Carter appoints Rice alum
Charles W. Duncan, Jr., '47,
Vice Chairman of the
University's Board of
Governors and longtime
leader in Rice's alumni and
planning projects, is the new
deputy secretary of defense.
Duncan's was among the top-
level appointments announ-
ced during the transition
period by President-elect
Jimmy Carter. Duncan brings
to his new assignment in the
Pentagon an extensive
background of business and
community leadership in
addition to his involvement at
Rice. After serving as a term
member on the Rice board,
Duncan became one of the
seven University Trustees in
1975 and advanced to the vice
chairmanship in 1976. At the
time of his appointment to the
Carter administration
Duncan's business interests
included the chairmanships of
Rotan Mosle Financial
Corporation and of the
Houston-based Robertson
Distribution Systems, Inc.
After graduating from Rice
with a B.S. degree in chemical
engineering, Duncan did
graduate work in manage-
ment at the University of
Texas at Austin and subse-
quently worked as a rousta-
bout and chemical engineer for
Humble Oil and Refining Co.
After World War II service in
the Air Force, Duncan joined
what was then the Duncan
Coffee Company, predecessor
of Duncan Foods Company,
which was merged with the
Coca-Cola Company in 1964
with Duncan joining the Coca-
Cola Board of Directors. After
serving in a number of high
corporate posts with Coca-
Cola, Duncan became the
company's president in 1971
with headquarters in Atlanta.
He resigned that post in May
1974 and returned to Houston.
Heart attack fells prof
by Karen Moross
Dr. Mino Badner, associate
professor of fine arts at Rice,
died on New Year's Day at the
age of 38. He collapsed
unexpectedly from a heart
attack at his home at 3803
Pittsburg Street.
Dr. Badner joined the Rice
faculty in 1970 and was
chairman of the art depart-
ment from 1972 to 1974. He
was a specialist in primitive
art and also served on various
university committees
including the Mellon Chair
committee and the Sewall Hall
Gallery committee.
Of Italian origin, Dr. Badner
was raised and educated in
New York. After graduating
from the City College of the
City University of New York
with honors in 1959 he
completed his graduate work
at Columbia under the
renowned art historian,
Douglas Fraser, and attained
a fellowship there from 1961 to
1962.
In 1965, he moved to
Houston and taught at the
University of St. Thomas.
Other than a brief return to
Columbia in 1969 as a visitng
professor, he spent most of his
working life here. He was due
to return to New York as
curator of the Brooklyn
Museum.
He had numerous publica-
tions including works on
primitive art such as pre-
Colombian art and archeo-
logy.
Dr. Badner is survived by
his wife, Carol, their five-year-
old daughter, Jessica, and his
mother living in Miami. He
was well-liked and respected
by both his students and
colleagues.
Memorial services were held
last week at Adaph Israel
Cemetary on Airline Road.
He continued as a director of
the Coca-Cola Company and
also served on the boards of
the Great Southern Corpora-
tion and the Southern Railway
System and the advisory
board of the Texas Commerce
Bancshares.
In addi^on to his service to
Rice, Duncan is a trustee of
Emory University and is
chairman of the finance
committee of the Westminster
School in Atlanta, Georgia.
Nielsen
President Carter's Reli-
gion, the newest book by Niels
C. Nielsen Jr., Rice Universi-
ty's J. Newton Rayzor
Professor of Philosophy and
Religious Thought, will be
published in February.
Dr. Nielsen started work on
the book in the spring of
1976—several months before
Carter's nomination for the
Presidency.
During his research for the
book, Dr. Nielsen interviewed
Carter's former minister in
Atlanta and conferred with
some of the Southern Baptist
Governors in the late 1960's
after spearheading Rice's
successful $33 million
campaign which was over-
subscribed by almost $10
million thanks largely to his
dedicated and personal
involvement. Brown retains
an active interest in the
University's affairs through
his service as Trustee
Emeritus.
It is this family tradition
that helps deepen O'Connor's
own longstanding commit-
ment to private higher
education in the United States.
O'Connor is no newcomer to
the University's governing
(continued on page ten)
Lynn to leave ICSA
by Steve Sullivan
Dr. M. Stuart Lynn, who has
served as Rice's director of
ICSA for the last five and a
half years, is leaving Rice to
tackle a similar post at the
University of California at
Berkeley. In an announcement
released shortly before
Christmas, Dr. Lynn was
named Director of Computing
Affairs and professor of
computer science.
Dr. Lynn, whose new duties
commence on February 1,
described his new job as
mostly administrative,
although he still intends to do
some teaching and research.
He described his new job as an
"enlargement of respon-
sibilities," and said he hopes to
bring good computing to
Berkeley.
Because he considered Rice
and Berkeley to be too
different, Dr. Lynn was
reluctant to draw comparisons
between ICSA and its
counterpart in California.
Although he will undoubtedly
have more money at his
disposal in his new post, a slew
of new problems associated
with catering to a much larger
student body will also greet Dr.
Lynn.
ICSA owes much to Dr.
Lynn. ICSA as such did not
exist until Dr. Lynn changed
the administrative structure of
the old Rice Computing
Center. A year later, Rice's old
Burroughs B5500 computer,
which was rapidly approach
ing obsolescence, was replaced
by the current IBM 370/155.
largely through the efforts of
Dr. Lynn. Since that time
ICSA has become renowned as
a top-flight computing center
and its faciliies have been used
by NASA to interpret data
from satellites and by the
media to give instantaneous
interpretations of election
returns.
Priscilla Jane Huston, who
has been Manager of
Computer Services for the last
four years under Dr. Lynn, will
step up as Acting Director of
ICSA and attempt to fill the
void left by Dr. Lynn's
departure, effective im-
mediately.
Dr. Lynn says he is sad to
leave his friends behind at
Rice and that he will always
"remember Rice very fondly."
work on Carter
denominational officials who
were instrumental in sending
Carter on his first missionary
visits to the northeastern
section of the US.
Other segments of Dr.
Nielsen's book deal with the
widely-discussed interview in
Playboy magazine and
Carter's conversion experi-
ence.
The Carter book is Dr.
Nielsen's second major work
in which he explores the
religious background of an
internationally known public-
figure. In September, 1975, he
published Solzhenitsyn's
Religion, a detailed analysis
of the spiritual insight of the
exiled Russian writer. Like the
forthcoming Carter volume,
the Solzhenitsyn book was
published by*Thomas Nelson,
Inc. The company is planning
an extensive national
promotion for President
Carter's Religion.
Dr. Nielsen received his PhD
from Yale University in 1951
and joined the Rice faculty
that year after service as
instructor in religion at Yale,
beginning in 1948.
John Miertschin, left, and Marty King partake of the first Tuesday—Thursday luncheon at the Pub
Walter Underwood
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McFarland, Carla. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 24, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 13, 1977, newspaper, January 13, 1977; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245315/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.