Sheldon Segal Elected Honorary Trustee
On November 8, 2002, Sheldon Segal stepped down as Chair of the MBL Board of Trustees and handed his virtual gavel to Al Zeien, the former Chairman and CEO of the Gillette Company, who will assume the duties of Chair at the Board's February 2003 meeting.
Shelly has served as a member of the Board for twenty years, ten years as its Chairman. He will now serve as an Honorary Trustee, having been so voted by the Board at the November meeting.
"Shelly skillfully guided the MBL through some of its most interesting and sometimes difficult times," says MBL Director and CEO William T. Speck. "He helped bring about an historic change in governance that paved the way for our record-breaking Discovery Campaign and, ultimately, laid the foundation for our recent efforts in strategic planning. Shelly has been, and will continue to be, a vital force at the MBL. I know we can count on his guidance and wisdom in the future."
Shelly first came to the MBL during the summer of 1953 while working as a postdoc in the laboratory of Professor Emil Witschi. He returned again in 1957 and worked as a guest investigator in the Laboratory of Albert Tyler and Alberto Munroy, where he studied the effect of a chemical compound on the fertilization and the developing embryo of the sea urchin Arbacia. "This compound led to the development of the widely used fertility drug, Clomid," says Shelly.
"We started coming to Woods Hole as a family in 1973 when Jim Ebert invited me to give a Friday Evening Lecture titled 'Population Growth: Challenge to Modern Science,'" Shelly recalls. He joined the MBL Corporation that same year. During the many summers in the lab that followed, Shelly continued to use sea urchins and surf clams to study the interactions of sperm and egg in the process of fertilization. The use of marine organisms as experimental models in the reproductive sciences has yielded much of what we know about the biology of human reproduction, including the environmental factors that affect fertility and development.
Shelly is a leading authority on global population issues, family planning and contraceptive technology. A preeminent spokesperson for reproductive science, he has helped shape public policy concerning population in the United States and abroad. Shelly received his Ph.D. in embryology and biochemistry from the University of Iowa. He is the recipient of the 1984 United Nations Population Award and the author of more than 200 publications in embryology, endocrinology, contraceptive development, and family planning. His latest book, a memoir, Under the Banyan Tree: A Population Scientist's Odyssey, was published in December 2002 by Oxford University Press.
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2002 Chairman’s Report to the Corporation
This is the final year of my term as Chairman of the Board of the MBL. You gave me the privilege and the honor of serving as Board Chairman beginning in 1991. I hope I have not let you down. I have always tried to do what seemed to be in the best interest of the MBL.
Together, we went through a change in governance that maintains the role of the scientific community in providing scientific guidance to the MBL. The Corporation-elected Science Council serves both the Board and the Director in all matters requiring scientific judgment. This was what was intended at the time of the governance change, and it has been effective. At the same time we have provided opportunities for friends and colleagues from the general community to participate in the affairs of the institution with both their expertise and financial support. This, too, has worked to the MBL’s benefit.
Our capital campaign of 1996-2000 was a demonstration of devotion, loyalty and even affection for the MBL. Together, we surprised all the fund-raising experts, by nearly doubling our stated goal of $25 million. Annual giving has risen phenomenally, as well.
Together, we have seen the year-round program grow and the physical plant has grown with it. Many buildings have been renovated to accommodate the changing needs and the C.V. Starr Building for environmental sciences has completed the natural quadrangle that adds to the beauty of our campus. The Mitch Sogin-led program in molecular evolution has expanded in renovated space in the Lillie Building and soon, we’ll see further expansion of the Bay Paul Center when Steve Hajduk moves his group from Alabama to participate in the Ellison Foundation-funded program in the molecular biology of infectious diseases.
We have seen the maturation of the Marine Resources Center. In recent years investigators from over 200 institutions in the United States as well as from many other countries have come to the MBL to use marine models available at the MRC. In addition, the MRC ships organisms to nearly 250 institutions. Lab space in the MRC has now been completely furbished with the addition last year of Rick Goetz’s program in marine aquaculture.
Memorials, such as the one at this morning’s meeting always bring moments of sadness. Perhaps the saddest moment during my tenure as Chairman was the news of the deaths of Alma and Jim Ebert, as they drove north from Baltimore for yet another MBL summer. Ebert Hall, fully refurbished and modernized, is a lasting tribute to their great devotion to the MBL. Other renovations have also improved or added room space for students and visiting investigators, but housing continues to be the bottleneck that future administrations will have to address.
The MBL continues to stand on three pillars: education, visiting research, and resident research. This is our present and I am confident it will continue to be our future. Summer research no longer can be considered synonymous with visiting research at the MBL. There are visiting scientists here year round, and in growing numbers.
The same is true of our education program. Summer courses are only a part of our educational activities which go on year-round. We now have the largest number of courses ever offered, including the Semester in Environmental Sciences for undergraduates.
The summer courses continue to attract record numbers of applications. I’m sure it has not escaped your attention that work that began in an MBL summer course led to the advances in cell-cycle control for which Nobel Prizes were awarded last year. One of the recipients, Tim Hunt, will deliver a Friday Evening Lecture on August 16, 2002.
There is no evidence of a slackening of interest in coming to the MBL for summer research. For the past two years, all available space has been taken, and we have the largest number of summer investigators ever, crammed into the space available. Devil’s Lane and Memorial Circle cottages are at a premium from May through August.
The cluster idea for scientific themes during the summer seems to be working well. But you can be assured that MBL will always welcome the individual investigator who doesn’t want to cluster, convene, collaborate, cooperate or even converse, as long as his or her science is good and the work is appropriate for the MBL.
I first came to the MBL at the suggestion of Albert Tyler to test on sea urchin embryos the embryotoxicity of a compound destined to become a post-coital or morning-after pill for women. My colleagues in contraceptive research thought that was rather weird. If I’m not mistaken, Bill Speck first came from Cleveland with equally nutty projects. I hope we’ll never turn away young people with crazy ideas.
We are now able to provide about 20 summer fellowships. Will we ever be able to provide fellowship support to all summer investigators? Perhaps it is a dream, but I think it can be done.
Something has happened since last year that I want to tell you about. One of the largest grants from an individual, not a foundation of government agency, ever given to the MBL was received. The gift is specifically for the purpose of supporting summer investigators. I do not have permission from the donors to mention their generosity at this meeting but I hope they’ll forgive me for asking you to join me in a standing ovation for these devoted members of the MBL family, Laura and Arthur Colwin.
I closed my remarks last year by assuring you that the state of the MBL is excellent and by saying that we have every reason to be fully confident of our future. As I leave the position of Chairman,
I continue to believe that this is an accurate assessment. Thank you very much for the honor you have bestowed on me. I have a great satisfaction for what we have done together.
— Sheldon Segal, August 2002
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