Favorite Son Provost and engineering professor John Hennessy spent 22 years teaching, researching and rising through the academic ranks. And, like every self-respecting computer scientist, he took a year's sabbatical to start a company. In September, he becomes the University's 10th president.

They Pay Me to Do This? From sportscaster to CEO, from ranger to webmaster, we profile the coolest jobs at Stanford -- and the students who do them.

Where on Earth? The Global Positioning System changed navigation forever. Now GPS pioneer Brad Parkinson and his band of graduate students are harnessing the technology to track the precise location of almost anything.

The Treasure of Mata Ortiz In a remote Mexican village, second-grade dropout Juan Quezada rediscovered the secret of fashioning exquisite pottery -- and shared it with his neighbors. Walt Parks helped introduce the rest of the world to this extraordinary art.

My Road to Nowhere For more than two decades, he has grappled with waste and absurdity as a Third World development expert. Now the author wonders why he bothered -- and why he can't quit.

Mrs. Stanford and the Netherworld Haunted by the sudden death of her beloved son, Jane Stanford tried séances as a way to reach him. Plus: The Practical Jane Sentimentality aside, Mrs. Stanford was no flake.

Digest

• Brains on tour
• Bowling is no varsity sport
• Pulitzer-worthy
• For the urologist in all of us
• Stanford-in-Reno
• A frisbee world champ's ultimate comeback

Follow-Up Anna Deavere Smith goes solo again

SPORTS

• Men's Basketball The Stanford squad has arrived
• Women's Basketball The Cardinal goes down to Georgia
• Ultimate Frisbee A quirky sport gets off the ground
• Sports Notebook

NEWS

• Social Sciences Does the Internet lead to isolation?
• Distance Learning Double-click for Demosthenes
• Dining Eating clubs avoid the chopping block
• Head of the Class
• Financial Aid Most happy fellows
• Gender Equity Focus on female faculty
• New Economy Live, from MemAud
• Inquiring Minds
• Management Science Debra Meyerson knocks on the glass ceiling
• Extracurriculars Students snag seats at the political conventions
• Campus Notebook
• Speakers' Corner
• Humanities The battle of the books
• Syllabi
• Essentials What's in my backpack?
• Top Jobs Stanford Management Co. gets a new CEO
• Psychology What bugs crickets

Review From slavery to success

Excerpt For democracies, might make right

Bestsellers

Book Blurbs

• Legacy and Destiny, by J. Michael Reidenbach, '67, and Dana K. Drenkowski
• Fixed for Life: The True Saga of How Tom Became Sally, by Irene Preiss, MA '68
• Reflections on a Ravaged Century, by Robert Conquest
• Now Hear This: The Life of Hugh S. Knowles, Acoustical Engineer and Entrepreneur, by Susan Goodwillie, '63

First Impressions Who wants to be a billionaire?

President's Column

Who's Who

Letters to the Editor

1,000 Words

On the Job with Roberta Katz
Silicon Valley's voice in Washington

Cardinal Numbers

Bright Ideas Building a better ticketing system

Student Voice Don't call her a dumb jock

SAA Corner Uncle Stanford wants you

Endnotes Could he have made it in the bigs?

The Notes: Tidings from classmates near and far

Whatever Happened to . . . Head yell leader Richard Stark

Spotlight Ginger Summit is into her gourds

Spotlight Selling coffee for a cause

Snapshot The ultimate girl gig

Grad Notes

Obituaries

Remembering Country doctor Ehler Eiskamp