June 18, 2019: Johnson *03 Elected Mayor of Dallas; Smith *01’s New Post in Hong Kong

Texas State Rep. Eric Johnson *03 won election as the next mayor of Dallas, defeating City Councilman Scott Griggs in a runoff. Johnson, a late entry in the nine-person mayoral field, earned his MPA at the Woodrow Wilson School. Read more in The Dallas Morning News.

Diplomat M. Hanscom Smith *01 will begin a new post as the U.S. consul general in Hong Kong. He previously held the same position in Shanghai. — South China Morning Post
 
Stanford University history professor Gordon Chang ’70 explains how Chinese workers cleared the way for the most challenging part of the Transcontinental Railroad — and how their contributions were nearly erased from historical accounts. — CBS Sunday Morning
 
In a recent article, Yale law dean Heather Gerken ’91 writes that framing debates about legal education in terms of the split between theory and practice reinforces “the very categories we ought to resist.” — Harvard Law Review

“I promised him that I will not rest until he’s freed. He’s a student, he was doing his research. Nothing justifies him being left behind.”

— Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese citizen and U.S. resident freed from an Iranian prison last week, speaking about one of his former cellmates, Princeton graduate student Xiyue Wang, a historian who was arrested in 2016 and charged with spying. Read more in The New York Times.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi ’95, an Illinois Democrat and the chair of the House Oversight Committee on Economic and Consumer Policy, is leading a congressional investigation of e-cigarette use by teenagers. — Bloomberg
 
New Yorker editor David Remnick ’81’s interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Robert Caro ’57, recorded last month at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, was included in this week’s episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour. — The New Yorker Radio Hour
 
New York Public Library president and CEO Anthony Marx *86 *90discusses how the institution remains vital to its community in a recent episode of the “Business of Giving” podcast. — The Chronicle of Philanthropy
 
Capitol Hill can seem “very homogeneous,” says Kristin Lynch ’05,communications director for Sen. Cory Booker, but Lynch has found ways to express her identity as a lesbian and Latina. — Roll Call
 
Dean Cain ’88, co-star of FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers, a staged reading of text messages between former FBI attorney Lisa Page and agent Peter Strzok, explains why he supports President Donald Trump (but identifies as a political independent). — The Washington Post
 
Oberlin College president Carmen Twillie Ambar *94 has initiated “good neighbor” programs for students following a contentious lawsuit in which a local bakery and convenience store was awarded $11 million in damages from the college after student protests accused the business of racial profiling. — The Washington Post 
 
Isaiah Nieves ’19, a first-generation college graduate from Paterson, N.J., is heading to Tulsa, Okla., to join Teach for America and help other low-income students reach their educational goals. — Paterson Press
 
University of Illinois engineering professor Megan Konar *12, an expert on water resources, speaks about the roots of her interest in environmental studies. — The News-Gazette (Champaign, Ill.)
 
Molly Battin ’93 has been named WarnerMedia’s chief corporate marketing and brand-strategy officer. — Variety
 
Freelance journalist Ibby Caputo ’03 is one of three recipients of the 2019 Carter Journalism Institute Reporting Award. She will use the stipend to investigate racial and ethnic disparities in bone-marrow donor registries. — New York University