David Giles and Story Bellows: BPL’s Strategy Team Looks Ahead; Library Journal, 2/3/16

Lisa Peet, Library Journal; David Giles and Story Bellows: BPL’s Strategy Team Looks Ahead:

"In Fall 2015, the Brooklyn Public Library’s (BPL) strategy team gained two codirectors, David Giles and Story Bellows—urban innovators with strong backgrounds in government policy. Giles joined the library as chief strategy officer in November 2015, after serving as research director at New York’s Center for an Urban Future (CUF), which in 2014 published Re-Envisioning New York’s Branch Libraries, a report examining the physical and economic challenges facing the buildings that make up New York City’s three library systems. In his new role, he will provide strategic leadership around program development, partnerships, advocacy, and capital planning, among other aspects of BPL’s mission.

Leading the strategy team with Giles is Bellows, who became BPL’s chief innovation and performance officer in October. Before arriving in Brooklyn, Bellows cofounded and directed the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics in Philadelphia, an in-house research and development lab aimed at supporting innovative approaches to civic problem solving.

LJ recently caught up with Giles and Bellows to talk about their previous work, aspirations for BPL, and thoughts on what 21st-century libraries can accomplish."

New UN stamps promote LGBT rights; Associated Press via Guardian, 2/4/16

Associated Press via Guardian; New UN stamps promote LGBT rights:

"The United Nations Postal Administration has released six new postage stamps promoting equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

The colourful stamps by artist and UNPA art director Sergio Baradat are also meant to celebrate the diversity of the gay community and marks the first time the global body’s post office has issued stamps with an LGBT theme...

“We need to change attitudes to one of acceptance,” said Stephen Cutts, UN assistant secretary general.

The stamps support the UN human rights office’s Free & Equal campaign, which aims to promote fair treatment of the LGBT community.

Charles Radcliffe, chief of the global issues section of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said there have been advances in human rights for members of the LGBT community, but more must be done because hate crimes are still too common and homosexuality is still criminalised in some countries."

Humane Society boss on leave says she is victim of smear campaign; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2/4/16

Madasyn Czebiniak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Humane Society boss on leave says she is victim of smear campaign:

"Former employees estimate that in Joy Braunstein’s 13-month tenure as executive director of the Western PA Humane Society, more than a third of the roughly 60-member staff was either fired or quit.

Those seeking to get her fired say that exodus is part of the driving force behind an online change.org petition demanding her removal. The petition, which has attracted more than 1,400 signatures, also describes Ms. Braunstein’s decision “to purchase a collie puppy from a breeder who charges $1,000 per pup as opposed to adopting one of the dogs at her own shelter or another dog in need of rescue” as “the height of hypocrisy.”

Earlier this week, Ms. Braunstein was placed on paid administrative leave — a decision that she told the Post-Gazette was made to “get me out of the direct line of fire.” Against the advice of her attorney, she spoke to the Post-Gazette late Wednesday, saying that she was the victim of an online bullying and character defamation campaign and had received violent threats.

Two women, Diane Bandy and Tara Vybiral, were charged Tuesday with harassment for making threats on social media against Ms. Braunstein, who could not be reached for further comment Thursday...

Ms. Braunstein’s supporters on Wednesday started their own counter-petition in which they laud her efforts at the society, including increasing donations, outreach and community awareness, and advocacy. It also had about 1,400 signatures by Thursday."

Chicago Professor Resigns Amid Sexual Misconduct Investigation; New York Times, 2/2/16

Amy Harmon, New York Times; Chicago Professor Resigns Amid Sexual Misconduct Investigation:

"Both the University of California, Berkeley, and the California Institute of Technology have fielded criticism recently for failing to publicly acknowledge their own conclusions that a prominent male scientist on each faculty had harassed female students until the details were uncovered by news media. A third case was reportedly unearthed only because of a bureaucratic error at the University of Arizona.

“Although institutions proclaim that they have zero tolerance for abuse of the policies that they claim to enforce, too often their primary concern seems to be secrecy and reputation management,” the science journal Nature wrote in a Jan. 20 editorial headlined “Harassment Victims Deserve Better.”

At Chicago, students praised the university for swift and decisive action. But some students and faculty members also raised pointed questions about whether the university had placed female graduate students at risk by hiring Dr. Lieb, who brought scientific cachet and a record of winning lucrative grants to a department that had recently lost two of its stars to other institutions.

He was put on staff despite potential warning signs.

Before he was hired, molecular biologists on the University of Chicago faculty and at other academic institutions received emails from an anonymous address stating that Dr. Lieb had faced allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct at previous jobs at Princeton and the University of North Carolina."

LGBT-Inclusive Companies Are Better at 3 Big Things; Harvard Business Review, 2/2/16

Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Kenji Yoshino, Harvard Business Review; LGBT-Inclusive Companies Are Better at 3 Big Things:

"For the first time in the history of Davos, LGBT rights made the official agenda at the World Economic Forum. Business leaders including Beth Brooke-Marciniak, the global vice chair for public policy at EY, and Shamina Singh, the executive director of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, spoke at length about the unparalleled opportunity businesses have to make a difference in the lives of LGBT individuals around the world. “Multinational companies have enormous economies and employ millions of people,” said Brooke-Marciniak. “This gives them the ability to influence change on this issue in a unique and powerful way.”

LGBT inclusion is top of mind for the business community — and not just because it’s the right thing to do. The Center for Talent Innovation’s newest report, “Out in the World: Securing LGBT Rights in the Global Marketplace,” demonstrates that countering LGBT discrimination makes a corporation competitive on three fronts. Fostering an LGBT-inclusive workplace helps a company attract and retain top talent, woo and win critical consumer segments, and innovate for underserved markets."

A Yahoo Employee-Ranking System Favored by Marissa Mayer Is Challenged in Court; New York Times, 2/1/16

Vindu Goel, New York Times; A Yahoo Employee-Ranking System Favored by Marissa Mayer Is Challenged in Court:

"Mr. Anderson’s suit provides a peek inside Yahoo’s controversial quarterly performance review system, which Ms. Mayer adopted on the recommendation of McKinsey & Company, a management consulting company. Similar systems were once widely used in corporate America, and companies like Amazon.com still employ analogous methods.

But others, like General Electric and Microsoft, have dropped such rankings as a tool for routine firings because of their corrosive effect on productivity and employee morale.

At Yahoo, the program, known internally as Q.P.R., has been a sore spot among managers and employees since it began. The court filing said that managers were forced to give poor rankings to a certain percentage of their team, regardless of actual performance. Ratings given by front-line managers were arbitrarily changed by higher-level executives who often had no direct knowledge of the employee’s work. And employees were never told their exact rating and had no effective avenue of appeal.

“The Q.P.R. process was opaque and the employees did not know who was making the final decisions, what numbers were being assigned by whom along the way, or why those numbers were being changed,” the lawsuit says. “This manipulation of the Q.P.R. process permitted employment decisions, including terminations, to be made on the basis of personal biases and stereotyping.”"

Best Small Library in America 2016; Library Journal, 1/28/16

John N. Berry III, Library Journal; Best Small Library in America 2016:

"After decades of low funding and an inadequate facility, in 2007 the citizens of Warwick, NY, voted to approve an $8.5 million bond issue to build a new library. Their new Albert Wisner Public Library (AWPL), completed a short six years ago, has been totally reborn.

And not just the library itself: through careful planning, engaged public input, and the creative acquisition and introduction of technology and social media, AWPL has transformed its community as well. It has modernized both library service and life in Warwick and the district...

ABOUT THE BEST SMALL LIBRARY IN AMERICA AWARD

LJ’s annual award, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was created in 2005 to encourage and showcase the exemplary work of libraries serving populations under 25,000.

The winning library receives a $20,000 cash prize from the Gates Foundation, along with conference costs for two library representatives to attend the Public Library Association (PLA) biennial conference in 2016 in Denver. The two finalist libraries will each receive a $10,000 cash award, conference costs for two library representatives to attend the 2016 PLA meeting and award celebration, and more."

Suffolk University’s board taking a PR hit; Boston Globe, 2/1/16

Adrian Walker, Boston Globe; Suffolk University’s board taking a PR hit:

"Ultimately, McKenna wanted to dislodge Suffolk’s entrenched power structure — which includes Regan, who has managed to maintain an outsized influence since he left the Suffolk board.

He resigned several years ago after Coakley, ironically, charged that it was a conflict of interest for a board member to also hold a $366,000 annual contract to be the school’s public relations czar. But Regan didn’t need a title to maintain his juice with the board. It doesn’t hurt that his deputy remains on the board...

Lost in the maneuvering is the fate of the school itself. Honestly, who would want to work for this board? Or become a serious donor? The guys who run Suffolk like to say all they care about is the school and its mission. But everything they are doing says just the opposite."

Suffolk president says she will not resign; Boston Globe, 1/29/16

Laura Krantz, Boston Globe; Suffolk president says she will not resign:

"As McKenna’s job seemed to be in question, faculty, students, and alumni sprang to her defense. They focused their anger at trustees, who critics said have been allowed to micromanage the downtown school with little accountability or concern for its best interest.

The student government association plans to take a vote of no confidence in Meyer, the chairman of the board of trustees, and call for him to step down next week. The faculty senate took a vote of “deep and sincere” confidence in McKenna on Friday.

Many students and professors called the board’s move to oust McKenna the last straw in trustees’ failed track record to resurrect the troubled school. They pointed out that McKenna is Suffolk’s fifth president in five years and the first whom they considered truly capable of improving the college...

Students and professors don’t agree with all the changes McKenna has announced but said she has their respect.

“President McKenna has been nothing but a godsend,” said Suffolk senior Victoria Ireton. “We need stability at Suffolk University, and she has brought that to us.”

McKenna started in July knowing the job would be tough. The college has a small endowment and lacks direction because of its revolving door of presidents since 2010, when longtime leader David Sargent retired abruptly amid outrage over his lavish pay, which totaled $2.8 million in the 2006-07 academic year."

What Leaders Can Learn From Teaching Undergraduates; Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/24/16

Stephen C. Bahls, Chronicle of Higher Education; What Leaders Can Learn From Teaching Undergraduates:

"After the first class I realized that I had forgotten how difficult and time-consuming teaching is. My knowledge of what I taught — mainly Supreme Court cases — was sometimes a mile wide and an inch deep, and other times an inch wide and a mile deep. Experienced teachers need both depth and breadth, and that takes time, as does meeting with students outside the classroom, writing letters of recommendation, and so forth. That’s why we administrators must respect reasonable teaching loads, sabbaticals, and professional-development time. But experienced teachers also know that just because you teach it, doesn’t mean students will learn it. The hard part is cultivating learning...

But my greatest lesson directly relates to my role as president of the college. Just as I learned to encourage deep engagement and thought-provoking conversations with our students, I realized that I also needed to foster deeper and more profound discussion among our faculty, staff, trustees, and administration about how to achieve our goals...

Today’s challenges call for shared governance, which can only be accomplished with an engaged faculty and administration, and such governance cannot be effective without meaningful faculty control of academic programs. Presidents need to be effective teachers when it comes to helping the faculty understand financial realities, as well as the realities of changing demographics and increasing calls for accountability. But at times presidents need to be students, listening to the faculty concerning the academic programs...

A college president does not need to be the smartest person in the room. Instead, I aim to be the best listener in the room and a good teacher. And, just as most often the best teachers are humble, the best presidents should be also. They should be committed to helping the institution’s entire work force develop the habits of mind, heart, and soul to provide the best outcomes to our students."

PNC Presents--Transforming Pittsburgh, Again; Town Hall Series, Wednesday, 1/27/16 at 6 PM

Town Hall Series: PNC Presents--Transforming Pittsburgh, Again:

"Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Senator John Heinz Regional History Center

Admission Info: Free Event...

Introducing PNC Presents, a new town hall series featuring conversations hosted by the Post-Gazette with the most fascinating people making news in Pittsburgh today. The inaugural event, Transforming Pittsburgh, Again, will welcome Mayor Bill Peduto and a roundtable of Pittsburgh luminaries to explore the future of our city’s revitalization. Audiences will be engaged, enlightened and entertained by the discussion and lively Q&A session.

Register for this event at www.post-gazette.com/pncseries or call at 412-263-1541.

Brought to you by: PNC + Pittsburgh Post-Gazette"

McDonald’s Reports Strong Earnings, Helped by All-Day Breakfast; New York Times, 1/25/16

Stephanie Strom, New York Times; New York Times; McDonald’s Reports Strong Earnings, Helped by All-Day Breakfast:

"McDonald’s surprised even the most bullish investors on Monday, reporting stronger-than-expected quarterly gains in earnings thanks largely to serving items from its breakfast menu all day.

Same-store sales, the numbers for stores open at least a year, rose 5.7 percent in the United States in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, and 5 percent on a global basis. It was the strongest gain in such sales in almost four years.

“We begin 2016 in a much better place than we were 12 months ago,” Steve Easterbrook, chief executive of McDonald’s, said during a conference call with investment analysts.

McDonald’s has been in a turnaround that Mr. Easterbrook started when he became chief executive last March. The company changed its structure to try to encourage the exchange of ideas around the globe, and it announced it would sell off some 3,500 of its company-owned stores."

WTF Is Organizational Culture?; HuffingtonPost.com, 1/19/16

Garrett Mintz, HuffingtonPost.com; WTF Is Organizational Culture? :

"When hired, every person enters the hiring company with a set of values and beliefs. That individual has an influence on the overall culture, but will ultimately have to adapt their values and beliefs to that of what already exists at the company. The individual can either fight those values and beliefs by not seeing how their values and beliefs can be fulfilled through the company or they can buy into the culture of the company.

Many employees for a company fall in between these two choices because they have not taken the time to think about their own values and beliefs and how they pertain to the company in which they are working. Many employees accept their job for what it is without acknowledging or appreciating the little things their company may be trying to do to make their work more enjoyable."

"It Is Obvious We Need To Educate The Visitors"; 12/30/15

Kurt Repanshek, National Parks Traveler; "It Is Obvious We Need To Educate The Visitors" :

"How should we act in a national park? That might seem to carry an obvious answer, but it's not always so obvious these days.

As different generations, different racial groups, and different cultures enter the National Park System, not everyone seems to be there to enjoy the natural beauty on display in the landscape parks, content merely to walk about, gaze at the setting, hike or backpack, paddle or climb, or watch wildlife.

The parks are backdrops for enjoyment, that's for sure, but some visitors don't understand that barriers are there to preserve the landscapes and protect visitors...sometimes from each other..

“We had an interesting conversation with staff, because a lot of trails are crowded with folks and you hear a lot of people and you see a lot of people, and one of the staff members said, 'Well, that’s not a good park experience.' And I threw a, 'Why do you say that?' And he said, 'Because it’s not quiet and it's not solitude.' And I said it depends on what you define as peaceful and solitude, not hearing horns being blown, or helicopters or airplanes," the superintendent recounted. "It’s all relative, and so I think we have to give the next generation of users and supporters space for them to define what is the park experience for them, because I think it’s going to change. And I think like anything else we have to change with it.""

The bottom line on emotional intelligence; San Diego Union-Tribune, 12/27/15

Jennifer Davies, San Diego Union-Tribune; The bottom line on emotional intelligence:

"You may be smart, but that may not be enough in today’s job market. More companies are looking for those who are emotionally savvy as well.

Trevor Blair, director of executive search for Manpower San Diego, a local employment agency, said the importance of a high EQ, also known as emotional intelligence, cannot be understated, especially for “knowledge workers, millennials and members of the creative class, who simply don’t respond to old-school methods of motivation in the workplace.”

But what exactly is emotional intelligence?

Travis Bradberry, the author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0, has described it this way: “Emotional intelligence is the ‘something’ in each of us that is a bit intangible. It affects how we manage behavior, navigate social complexities and make personal decisions that achieve positive results.”"

The 5 things people with high emotional intelligence are likely to do; Independent, 1/7/16

Mollie Goodfellow, , Independent; The 5 things people with high emotional intelligence are likely to do:

"If you have high emotional intelligence, it suggest that you are good at recognising your emotions and the emotions of those around you.

You use this intelligence to influence your behaviour - if someone around you is upset, you’ll be comforting, or if someone is angry you’ll try and be a calming influence.

There are however some characteristics and actions that those with high emotional intelligence won’t do, which may differ from those who have an average level of EQ.

In a thread on Quora, some users discussed the various behaviours of those with high emotional understanding, and which were less common for those without."

Manage Your Emotional Culture; Harvard Business Review, January-February 2016

Sigal Barsade and Olivia A. O'Neill, Harvard Business Review; Manage Your Emotional Culture:

"Cognitive culture is undeniably important to an organization’s success. But it’s only part of the story. The other critical part is what we call the group’s emotional culture: the shared affective values, norms, artifacts, and assumptions that govern which emotions people have and express at work and which ones they are better off suppressing. Though the key distinction here is thinking versus feeling, the two types of culture are also transmitted differently: Cognitive culture is often conveyed verbally, whereas emotional culture tends to be conveyed through nonverbal cues such as body language and facial expression.

Despite a renaissance of scholarship (dubbed “the affective revolution”) on the ways that emotions shape people’s behavior at work, emotional culture is rarely managed as deliberately as cognitive culture—and often it’s not managed at all. Companies suffer as a result. Employees who should be showing compassion (in health care, for example) become callous and indifferent. Teams that would benefit from joy and pride instead tolerate a culture of anger. People who lack a healthy amount of fear (say, in security firms or investment banks) act recklessly. The effects can be especially damaging during times of upheaval, such as organizational restructurings and financial downturns.

In our research over the past decade, we have found that emotional culture influences employee satisfaction, burnout, teamwork, and even hard measures such as financial performance and absenteeism. Countless empirical studies show the significant impact of emotions on how people perform on tasks, how engaged and creative they are, how committed they are to their organizations, and how they make decisions. Positive emotions are consistently associated with better performance, quality, and customer service—this holds true across roles and industries and at various organizational levels. On the flip side (with certain short-term exceptions), negative emotions such as group anger, sadness, fear, and the like usually lead to negative outcomes, including poor performance and high turnover.

So when managers ignore emotional culture, they’re glossing over a vital part of what makes people—and organizations—tick."

Rather than a last stand, the Bengals stupidly went for a last punch; Guardian, 1/10/16

Les Carpenter, Guardian; Rather than a last stand, the Bengals stupidly went for a last punch:

"The best NFL teams aren’t necessarily those with the most talent.

The best NFL teams are those that don’t do what the Bengals did against the Steelers.

The best teams resist the urge to throw the last punch."

Nicolle Ingui Davies: LJ’s 2016 Librarian of the Year; Library Journal, 1/4/16

John N. Berry III, Library Journal; Nicolle Ingui Davies: LJ’s 2016 Librarian of the Year:

"There is more than enough evidence to confirm the choice of Nicolle Ingui Davies as the 2016 LJ Librarian of the Year, our award sponsored by Baker & Taylor. Take her special skills at communicating with community members in and outside of the library. Then there is her leadership in building and developing a committed and passionate staff dedicated to patron service. That is complemented by her unequivocal belief that libraries are essential services, not just “nice” assets, and the best medium to achieve an informed citizenry. The results of Davies’s leadership convinced voters in 2015 that they ought to tax themselves to the tune of $30 million a year, increasing the Arapahoe Library District (ALD) budget by $6 million."

Carnegie of Homestead broadens its offerings; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/3/16

Joyce Gannon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Carnegie of Homestead broadens its offerings:

"Ms. Shrieve, who joined the board in 2010 and became full-time director of administration in 2012, was among those who helped craft a strategy to generate revenues through more diverse programs and to seek outside funding sources.

By then the facility had gotten some buzz — and income — from high-profile entertainment acts it began booking at its music hall in 2007.

That venue “blossomed into a revenue generator for us and an economic driver for the community,” said Ms. Shrieve, who noted that restaurants and hotels at the nearby Waterfront retail complex in Homestead saw increased business from a steady lineup of concerts featuring well-known names such as Boz Scaggs, David Crosby and Melissa Etheridge. Paula Poundstone and Gregg Allman are among the acts booked for 2016...

Two years ago, the facility dropped the word library from its official name and rebranded as The Carnegie of Homestead.

“We are so much more than a library,” said Ms. Shrieve, who tapped her own artistic talent — she has a degree from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh — to help design the new logo that features an image of steel mill stacks and an open book."

New director shows off his favorite at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/5/16

David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; New director shows off his favorite at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History:

"Mr. Dorfman, 52, began his role as museum director on Aug. 31, based largely on notable successes he had during a 4½-year stint as director of the Whanganui Regional Museum and Ward Observatory on New Zealand’s North Island.

That dual-culture museum with half its board members from the indigenous Maori population persuaded him to interact with the community to understand how the museum best could reflect local culture and community interests. That connection helped him craft a visitor-friendly thrust of exhibitions and programs weaving indigenous perspectives with natural and cultural history. In one example, he had Maori artists do modern artwork with gourds while encouraging children communitywide to grow them.

And such ideas worked with annual visitation quadrupling in four years from 19,000 to 74,000 people, and the museum’s funding base expanding by 35 percent...

“He’s demonstrated leadership skills and is well-versed in natural history museums and the challenges facing them,” said Lee B. Foster, chairman of the natural history museums board of directors. “And he is someone who has dealt with and accomplished change in improving the visitor experience and admissions.”

His skill in interacting regularly with the community coupled with fundraising success “probably were the key characteristics we were looking for, and I can tell you that Eric hit every one of them,” he said."

Twitter faces backlash over its new diversity lead; Washington Post, 12/30/15

Hayley Tsukayama, Washington Post; Twitter faces backlash over its new diversity lead:

"To address some of those issues, Twitter announced that it has hired a new vice president for diversity and inclusion, Jeffery Siminoff. The fifty-year-old replaces Janet Van Huysse, and comes from a similar role at Apple. He is known for his extensive work with Out Leadership -- a group dedicated to demonstrating how equality in general makes for good business, with a particular focus on LGBT executives. He was also named in a TechCrunch piece identifying "10 Men Making Waves for Women in Tech."

But he's also a white man — something that hasn't been lost on those who've repeatedly criticized the tech industry at large for its lack of diversity. Many argue that Twitter's largely white and male workforce keep it from seeing community issues with its product...

But others welcomed the appointment.

“Members of underrepresented groups in tech are tired of being the only advocates of cultural change in the field,” said Lucy Sanders, co-founder of the National Center for Women in Information Technology. “We encourage those who think otherwise to become more informed and consider the complexities.” She added that the industry needs more white men in diversity and inclusion roles advocating for more underrepresented groups.

Diversity and inclusion, of course, can mean many things to many people."

Why the Post Office Makes America Great; New York Times, 1/1/16

Zeynep Tufekci, New York Times; Why the Post Office Makes America Great:

"I bit my tongue and did not tell my already suspicious friends that the country was also dotted with libraries that provided books to all patrons free of charge. They wouldn’t believe me anyway since I hadn’t believed it myself. My first time in a library in the United States was very brief: I walked in, looked around, and ran right back out in a panic, certain that I had accidentally used the wrong entrance. Surely, these open stacks full of books were reserved for staff only. I was used to libraries being rare, and their few books inaccessible. To this day, my heart races a bit in a library.

Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate the link between infrastructure, innovation — and even ruthless competition. Much of our modern economy thrives here because you can order things online and expect them to be delivered. There are major private delivery services, too, but the United States Postal Service is often better equipped to make it to certain destinations. In fact, Internet sellers, and even private carriers, often use the U.S.P.S. as their delivery mechanism to addresses outside densely populated cities.

Almost every aspect of the most innovative parts of the United States, from cutting-edge medical research to its technology scene, thrives on publicly funded infrastructure. The post office is struggling these days, in some ways because of how much people rely on the web to do much of what they used to turn to the post office for. But the Internet is a testament to infrastructure, too: It exists partly because the National Science Foundation funded much of the research that makes it possible. Even some of the Internet’s biggest companies, like Google, got a start from N.S.F.-funded research.

Infrastructure is often the least-appreciated part of what makes a country strong, and what makes innovation take flight. From my spot in line at the post office, I see a country that does both well; not a country that emphasizes one at the expense of the other."

Robert Spitzer,' Most Influential Psychiatrist,' Dies at 83; Associated Press via New York Times, 12/27/15

Associated Press via New York Times; Robert Spitzer,' Most Influential Psychiatrist,' Dies at 83:

"Gay-rights activists credit Dr. Spitzer with removing homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in the D.S.M. in 1973. He decided to push for the change after he met with gay activists and determined that homosexuality could not be a disorder if gay people were comfortable with their sexuality.

At the time of the psychiatric profession's debate over homosexuality, Dr. Spitzer told the Washington Post: "A medical disorder either had to be associated with subjective distress — pain — or general impairment in social function."

Dr. Jack Drescher, a gay psychoanalyst in New York, told the Times that Spitzer's successful push to remove homosexuality from the list of disorders was a major advance for gay rights. "The fact that gay marriage is allowed today is in part owed to Bob Spitzer," he said.

In 2012, Dr. Spitzer publicly apologized for a 2001 study that found so-called reparative therapy on gay people can turn them straight if they really want to do so. He told the Times in 2012 that he concluded the study was flawed because it simply asked people who had gone through reparative therapy if they had changed their sexual orientation."

Apple Makes Shifts in Senior Management; New York Times, 12/17/15

Katie Benner, New York Times; Apple Makes Shifts in Senior Management:

"Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, is continuing to make over the company’s executive ranks.

On Thursday, Apple made several shifts in its senior management team, including the promotion of a longtime executive, Jeff Williams, to the job of chief operating officer, a position that had gone unfilled since 2011...

The changes, which include new leadership in the company’s hardware and marketing divisions, are the latest executive moves by Mr. Cook, who became chief of Apple in 2011. Early in his tenure, Mr. Cook shook up the management team that had been put in place by his predecessor, Steven P. Jobs, by pushing out Scott Forstall, the mobile software head."