[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 34 (Thursday, March 21, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E407-E408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  IN HONOR OF DR. DONALD N. LANGENBERG

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 20, 2002

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, on April 30, Dr. Donald N. Langenberg, who 
has served as chancellor of the University System of Maryland for more 
than a decade, will retire after a lifetime of service to higher 
education.
  Dr. Langenberg has left a mark in academe as few others have. As 
chancellor of the University System of Maryland, he has overseen the 
emergence of a nationally recognized public university system, with 
top-ranked programs, unprecedented levels of state funding,

[[Page E408]]

and extraordinary increases in grants and contracts to conduct 
research. As the first chancellor of the University of Illinois at 
Chicago, he was instrumental in creating a campus now known for its 
quality and diversity. His leadership at the National Science 
Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania, the National Association of 
System Heads, and other academic groups has contributed to an era of 
extraordinary growth and vitality in American higher education.
  Mr. Speaker, as a founding member of Maryland's K-16 Partnership for 
Teaching and Learning, he led the state toward an education system that 
will provide students a seamless transition from preschool to the 
college years and beyond. His work as chair of the National Reading 
Panel helped disseminate groundbreaking research and bold 
recommendations about the bedrock of education: teaching children how 
to read.
  Dr. Langenberg has also contributed enormously to his academic field 
of physics, conducting research into experimental condensed matter 
physics and materials science. His earliest research was concerned with 
the electronic properties and Fermi surfaces of metals and degenerate 
semiconductors. A major part of his research career was devoted to the 
study of superconductivity, particularly the Josephson effects and 
nonequilibrium superconductivity. He is perhaps best known for his work 
on the determination of certain fundamental physical constants using 
the ac Josephson effect. A practical consequence of this work was the 
development of a radically new type of voltage standard that is now 
used around the world. One of the major publications resulting from 
this work is among the most frequently cited papers published by the 
Reviews of Modern Physics during the 1955-86 period, and has been 
dubbed a ``citation classic.'' The work has also been recognized by the 
award to Dr. Langenberg and his co-workers of the John Price Wetherill 
Medal of the Franklin Institute.
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. Langenberg is the author or co-author of over one 
hundred papers and articles, and has edited several books. In addition 
to serving as Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation from 
1980-1982, he has held predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships from 
the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and 
the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. He has been a visiting professor 
or researcher at Oxford University, the Ecole Normale Superieure, the 
California Institute of Technology, and the Technische Universitat 
Munchen. In addition to the Wetherill Medal, he has been awarded the 
Distinguished Contribution to Research Administration Award of the 
Society of Research Administrators, the Distinguished Achievement 
Citation of the Iowa State University Alumni Association, and the 
Significant Sig Award of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
  Dr. Langenberg has served as advisor or consultant to a variety of 
universities, industrial firms, and governmental agencies. He currently 
serves on the Board of Directors of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is 
President of the National Association of System Heads (NASH), and is 
Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Education Trust, Inc. He is a 
member of the Business-Higher Education Forum, a partnership of the 
American Council on Education and the National Alliance of Business 
intended to foster communication among national business and education 
leaders. He has been President and Chairman of the Board of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Chairman of 
the Board of the National Association of State Universities and Land-
Grant Colleges (NASULGC), and President of the American Physical 
Society (APS). He also recently concluded ten years of service on the 
Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and is the 
immediate past Chairman of the Presidents' Council of the Association 
of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB).
  Mr. Speaker, in addition to serving the larger public through his 
work on various boards, Dr. Langenberg has also served in quieter, 
though equally profound ways. Both through his example and through 
individual mentoring, he has helped develop key academic leaders for 
the University System of Maryland and for higher education in general. 
By serving as an advisor to people of talent and ability, Dr. 
Langenberg has helped many institutions find exceptional faculty, 
provosts, and presidents.
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. Langenberg's lifetime of achievement and service 
will be celebrated on April 20 at a special retirement gala that will 
raise endowment funds for the Langenberg Lecture and Award, two efforts 
to continue his vision of education as a life-long journey of the human 
mind. Mr. Speaker, I know the Members of the House join me in thanking 
Dr. Langenberg for nearly 50 years of service in higher education and I 
rise to congratulate him on his well-deserved retirement.

                          ____________________