United States, helping to found theShimoda Conference in 1967 andplaying a key role in establishingthe first parliamentary exchangeprogram between Washington andTokyo.

Passin served as the editor inchief on the first Japanese editionof the Encyclopedia Britannicafrom 1969 to 1970. He wrote andedited many books about Japan inboth English and Japanese includ-ing, The United States and Japan(Prentice-Hall, 1966); Japaneseand the Japanese: Japanese Cul-

with both sympathetic under-standing and cool analytic rea-son,” said Carol Gluck, ColumbiaGeorge Sansom professor of his-tory. “Outside the University heshowed Japanese and Americansalike the way to cross divides ofdifference with bridges of com-parison—and always with a grin.”

Passin was born in Chicago onDec. 16, 1916. He studied genet-ics at the University of Illinois and

went on to earna bachelor’s anda master’sdegree in anthro-pology from theUniversity ofChicago, wherehe later taught.Passin’s passionfor Japanese cul-ture was firstevident when heenrolled in anarmy languageschool to learnJapanese inpreparation for apost-surrenderoccupation.

Passin was theFar Eastern rep-

resentative for the internationalmagazine Encounter, based inTokyo from 1954 to 1957, andheld positions at the University ofCalifornia, the Social ScienceResearch Council in Japan, OhioState University and University ofWashington before coming toColumbia in 1962. On Morning-side Heights, he taught classes atthe East Asian Institute as a pro-fessor of sociology and served asthe chairman of the Department ofSociology from 1973 until 1977.

Passin continued to work as aliaison between Japan and the

C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y RECORD April 25, 2003 12

Canadian Doctorate for Kandel—University Professor Eric Kandel was recentlyawarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Montreal during a ceremony in the Faculty Roomof Low Library. Pictured with Kandel, center, from the University of Montreal, are, from left: MichelLespérance, secretary general; Vincent Castellucci, vice-dean, Faculty of Medecine; Louis Maheu, dean,Faculty of Graduate Studies, and Robert Lacroix, University Rector.

President Lee C. Bollinger opened the ceremony with welcoming remarks. After receiving the hon-orary doctorate, Kandel gave a lecture on “how the brain forms long-term memories.”

RECORD PHOTO BY EILEEN BARROSO

GS Student Eleena Melamed Recognized by Goldman Sachs as a ‘Global Leader’

School of General Studiessophomore EleenaMelamed has beennamed one of 20 undergraduatesacross the United States andCanada to win a 2003 GoldmanSachs Global Leadership Award.The award honors second-yearcollege students around theworld who have demonstratedoutstanding academic abilityand leadership achievements.

Melamed, a political scienceand Middle East and Asian lan-guages and cultures major, co-founded a campus organizationto help students to combatdepression. She has also beganan independent research projecton the subject of a newlylaunched grassroots Middle Eastpeace initiative. Her efforts haveled to an internship this summerwith the program’s developers,including Ami Ayalon, the for-mer head of the Israeli SecretService, and Sari Nusseibeh, anadvisor to Yasser Arafat.

“The basic idea is to get agrassroots movement going,some sort of peace processgoing again,” Melamed said. “Ihad a chance to interview AmiAyalon for my research project.Ayalon and Nusseibeh alsoinvited me to the KennedySchool at Harvard to hear theboth of them speak.” Melamedsaid she then begged them to

come help with the peace initia-tive. And, after evaluating herresume, coursework and strongacademic achievement—with aGPA over 4.0—they offered heran internship. “I’m going to helpthem with whatever I can,” shesaid.

Melamed, who was born inJerusalem, came to New York

City at age five. She soon dis-covered a passion for ballet andbegan training. At 17, she wasoffered a job with the AmericanBallet Theater, which sheaccepted.

Five years later, she decidedto pursue her other dream, a col-lege education. She enrolled inColumbia’s School of General

Studies, created specifically forstudents whose educations sincehigh school have been interrupt-ed or postponed for at least oneacademic year, and who nowwish to complete the B.A. orB.S. degree.

During her ballet career,Melamed struggled with andovercame an eating disorder.She now volunteers her time toeducate others about the disor-der by telling about her experi-ences, appearing in a PBSNOVA documentary “Dying toBe Thin,” and most recentlyserving as a panelist in a Colum-bia program on eating disorderscalled “How Do I Look?”—partof the healthLIVE series of townhall meetings produced throughColumbia Health Services.

Here at Columbia, she wasone of the founders of StudentsAgainst Silence, a campus orga-nization to help students combatdepression that was instigatedfollowing several incidents ofsuicide on campus during herfreshman year.

“We got together and decidedwe needed to do something andto start a group that can be asupport, maybe try and buildmore of a sense of communityon campus,” said Melamed ofthe organization. “Last year wehad a vigil in memory of thosewe lost. This year we’re havinga poetry slam, and we’re bring-ing in poets and singers and uni-versity bands, just trying to

BY CAROLINE LADHANI

School of General Studies sophomore Eleena Melamed has beennamed one of 20 undergraduates across the United States andCanada to win a 2003 Goldman Sachs Global Leadership Award.

May 6 Memorial Scheduled for Herbert Passin, Renowned Japan Scholar and Professor

A special memorial receptionwill be held May 6 forrenowned Japan scholar,anthropologist and sociologistHerbert Passin. Passin, a mem-ber of the Weatherhead EastAsian Institute and the Depart-ment of Sociology, died Feb. 26of heart failure at the age of 86.

Passin wasrecognized asone of the lead-ing worldexperts on post-World War IIJapan and apowerful forcein fosteringpolitical, eco-nomic and cul-tural tiesbetween theUnited Statesand the country.He served aschief of the Pub-lic Opinion andSoc io log ica lResearch Divi-sion in theAllied Occupation of Japan underGeneral Douglas MacArthur.With responsibilities in land andeducation reform, Passin played aseminal role in helping to reshapepost-war Japan. During hiscareer, he consulted for twoJapanese prime ministers, Yasuhi-ro Nakasone and Noboru Takeshi-ta, as well as many American andJapanese corporations and foun-dations on broad aspects of U.S.-Japanese relations.

“In his teaching and writingHerb Passin taught us the virtuesof approaching Japanese society

Sociologist Herbert Passin

BY KATIE MOOREture Seen Through the JapaneseLanguage (Kinseido, 1980); and,Encounter with Japan, (KodanshaInternational, 1982.).

“Herb was truly a man for allseasons and cultures,” said RobertImmerman, senior research scholarat the Weatherhead East AsianInstitute and three-decade oldfriend and associate. “Although hespecialized in Japan, his insightsinto Western Europe and LatinAmerica were equally penetrating.He made it clear to me and to thosehe taught in and out of the class-

room that intellectual curiosity waswhat made life worth living.”

Passin is survived by his wife,Helen; his brother, Sidney; a son,Thomas; a stepson, Scott Latham;and four grandchildren. TheWeatherhead East Asian Institutereception will be held Tuesday,May 6 from 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.in Columbia Law School’sJerome Greene Annex Lounge,next door to the Faculty House.Please RSVP to Jasmine Polanskiat jtp16@columbia.edu if youwish to attend.

bring the community together.We all work together, with Pro-fessor Dennis Dalton as ouradvisor.”

In the coming weeks, ten of the20 U.S. and Canadian GlobalLeader winners will be chosen tojoin 40 other students selectedinternationally to attend theGoldman Sachs Global Leader-ship Institute in New York Citythis July. The Institute will offerfurther opportunities for thoseselected to examine current glob-al issues under the guidance offaculty from Morehouse Collegeand the Wharton School, Gold-man Sachs executives, and lead-ers from nonprofit, business andgovernment sectors.

The Goldman Sachs GlobalLeadership Award Program, nowin its third year, is funded by theGoldman Sachs Foundation andadministered by the Institute ofInternational Education—thesame organization that adminis-ters the Fulbright Programs.

“We’re hoping that this pro-gram creates the opportunity forthese bright leaders of the nextgeneration to learn how to breakdown cultural barriers by com-ing together and meeting youngpeople from other cultures andother countries and ethnicities,”said Stephanie Bell-Rose, presi-dent of the Goldman SachsFoundation. “Some of this willchallenge them to have to thinkoutside of the box of their ownculture.”