Alumna named business dean

Sally Blount-Lyon ’83 began her service as the first female dean of the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University on July 1.

Dean Blount-Lyon has been a professor of management in the Stern School since 2001. Previously she was a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.

Dean Blount-Lyon is the author of more than 30 research articles and is best known for her research in the area of negations and decision making. Her current research focuses on how people perceive and manage time in social interaction, and she is investigating the dynamics of consultant-client interactions.

She received her B.S.E. in civil engineering from Princeton and her M.S. and Ph.D. from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

James F. McDonnell ’60 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Election to the academy has always been one of the highest honors in the United States. Fellows and foreign honorary members include the finest minds and the most influential leaders from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 19th, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the 20th. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1780, and currently has 4,500 members, including 150 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners. Mr. McDonnell earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aeronautical engineering from Princeton. He is retired chairman of the McDonnell Douglas Corp.
Thomas Edwards ’82 was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is chief of the aviation systems division at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering.


Anil Rao '96 was named Outstanding Professor of the Year in the College of Engineering at Boston University, where he is a member of the adjunct faculty in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. Professor Rao has taught the core undergraduate engineering dynamics course for three years. He is a senior member of the technical staff in the guidance and navigation division at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. The award was presented at the Engineering Commencement Awards Ceremony. Professor Rao earned his Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton. His research interests are in control, dynamics, navigation, and optimization of aerospace and mechanical systems. He is currently involved in several research projects, including the geometric nonlinear-control real-time optimization for use in guidance and navigation of aerospace vehicles, the development of new numerical methods for solving large-scale optimal control problems, and the application of global positioning systems (GPS) to vehicle navigation.

The Rev. Theodore Witmer ’76 (front, center) is pictured with the students he taught in the master’s program at Bunia Seminary in Bunia, Congo. The Rev. Witmer is a missionary with UFM International. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton.