*Carol Becker, dean of faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has been named dean of the School of the Arts at Columbia University in Manhattan. Becker, who joined SAIC as an assistant professor in 1978, will assume the post Sept. 1. Among her many publications is “The Invisible Drama: Women and the Anxiety of Change,” which has been translated into seven languages.
*A leaked audiotape in which Paula Abdul can be heard sobbing and bad-mouthing a former spokesman has made its way to the Internet. In what appears to be a recent conference call with a group of publicists, the “American Idol” judge rails against Howard Bragman and discusses her various health problems. The conversation has Abdul saying she’d “been going through tremendous amounts of a difficult time” and had “never been treated this way.”
*Angelina Jolie’s son Pax Thien now has the Jolie-Pitt family name. Jolie traveled to Vietnam in March to adopt Pax from a Ho Chi Minh City orphanage. The 31-year-old actress filed adoption papers as a single parent because she and partner Brad Pitt aren’t married. The 3-year-old boy is now Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt, according to a decree signed Thursday by a Superior Court judge.
*Soprano Ruth Ann Swenson has withdrawn from the New York City Opera’s production of Handel’s “Agrippina” this fall to recuperate from treatments following surgery for breast cancer. City Opera said Friday she will be replaced by Nelly Miricioiu. “Ruth Ann is in excellent health,” said a spokeswoman, Georgiana Francisco, adding that she needed time to recover.
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Personals was compiled by Alan Leo from Tribune news services and staff reports
