president`s message - Digital Scholarship Services

CRISTIN MACDONALD '05
ANALYZING STUDENT HOUSING CONSTRUCTION
AS C O N S T R U C T I O N C O N T I N U E S on new
student residence halls on campus, civil engineering
major Cristin MacDonald '05 analyzed the workers'
productivity in an effort to identity ways to improve
it in an honors thesis.
"Construction productivity is said to be decreasing
throughout the United States since 1970, while every
other industry's productivity has gone up," she says.
"I argue that a correct method of measuring productivity
has not been found."
She met twice a week with John Ricketts '03,
an engineer from Manhattan-based Turner Construction
Co., which is overseeing the four-building project.
The two examined weekly schedules on the construction,
and MacDonald used the data in her analysis.
David Veshosky, associate professor of civil and
environmental engineering, served as her research adviser.
Previously, he led MacDonald in EXCEL Scholars
research using a computer program to examine and
resolve different scenarios that might occur on Boston's
Central Artery/Tunnel project or Big Dig. The computer
program, which will be made available for distribution,
is used for project management and construction
management classes on campus.
She worked on anodier EXCEL project using a
computer modeling system called ANSYS that may help
young patients who require hip implants. She also was a
member of a student team that developed an inexpensive
method to remove arsenic from drinking water in New
Mexico for the 13th annual International Environmental
Design Contest.
MacDonald was an associate representative for Student
Government and a member of the swimming and diving
team and Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. •
FEATURE
4
DAN WEISS
Lafayette's 16th president
BY ROBERT ). BLIWISE '76
CHRONICLES
18
TREASURES' HOME
Special collections and archives have
bright new quarters in Skillman Library.
21
LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Students opt for special-interest living groups.
22
GREAT DEBATE
Teamwork and preparation make
the difference in forensics.
24
FORGET T H E BEACH
Dan and Sandra Weiss with sons Teddy and Joel,
and family pet Callie.
Lafayette volunteers pitch in from
Virginia to Honduras.
26
PEZ POPS D O W N T O W N
DEPARTMENTS
Easton museum displays distinctive dispensers.
36
ROBESON REMEMBERED
Three-day event kicks off a series of
Lafayette conferences on the history and
culture of civil rights and civil liberties.
38
2
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
3
LETTERS
28
170™ C O M M E N C E M E N T
Tom Ridge speaks, College honors Rothkopfs.
40
FOR MORE
www.lafayette.edu
FROM THE CLASSROOM
Francis A. March: Selected Writings of the
First Professor of English, edited by Paul
and June Schlueter, celebrates a towering
figure among faculty of the 19th century.
SNAPSPOTS
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
YOUR DEVOTION AND SUPPORT
I FIRST SAW T H E LAFAYETTE CAMPUS when I arrived for freshman
orientation on September 17, 1951, along with 375 or so other nervous,
beanie-wearing members of the Class of 1955.1 had never really been
away from home before. And I certainly had no idea that the College
would become my "home" not only for the next four years but also for
a significant portion of my life.
My second extended stay on College Hill began in 1993, when I
returned as acting president. I have always thought of myself as an
"accidental president." If another president, George Herbert Walker Bush,
had been re-elected, I would never have relocated from Washington to
Easton. It was, however, a move that led to
the most rewarding period of my career—
the opportunity to serve a college that I love and
to work closely and productively with so many
others who feel as I do about Lafayette.
As I make my final preparations to leave the
President's Office, my feelings are understandably
complex. Last month I congratulated my twelfth
and final group of proud and relieved seniors.
Two weeks later I was joined here on campus by a number of the classmates
with whom I graduated fifty years ago, most of us with considerably less
hair than we had under our freshman "dinks" but all of us with the same
bond to one another and to our college that we shared then.
Barbara and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of
you for making the past twelve years so special. The memories—and
the friendships—will always be important to us. Thank you, as well,
for the warm welcome I know you will extend to Dan and Sandra
Weiss and their family as Dan begins his term as president.
I remain confident that the best is yet to come for Lafayette, and
I look forward, as I know you do, to celebrating the many wonderful
things that lie ahead.
A.
" L a f a y e t t e C o l l e g e h a s d o n e its
h o m e w o r k a n d is e a r n i n g h i g h e r
and higher points a m o n g top students.
—Fiske Guide to Colleges
2005
Arthur J. Rothkopf '55
Lafayette Magazine is published for the alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and friends of Lafayette College by
the Office of Public Information, Lafayette College, 17 Watson Hall, Easton, PA 18042; (610) 330-5120,
Fax (610) 330-5127, www.lafayette.edu.
Managing Editor Pam Lott
[email protected]
Senior Editor Roger B. Clow
[email protected]
Executive Editor Glenn Airgood
[email protected]
Design Editor Donna Kneule
[email protected]
LETTERS
TRULY TRANSFORMED
It is with sadness that I just
read that President Rothkopf
will be stepping down after
this academic year. I am happy
to have had the honor of
meeting and speaking with
him at several alumni events
in San Francisco.
Often I find the praise
awarded to one at the end of
a career appears unjustified,
or at least hyperbolic. This is
certainly not the case with
Art Rothkopf—and in a very
personal way, not for me.
When I attended Lafayette,
I was blessed to receive
an extraordinarily good
education—one that more
than prepared me for an
excellent graduate school
career and beyond.
Unfortunately, at that time
the College was still a terribly
homogeneous place where I,
as a lower middle class woman,
frequently felt painfully
an outcast socially. Pay no
attention to the fact that I
was a sorority member and
all that—the pecking order was
well defined. I left the College
never to look back, feeling
academically enhanced but
emotionally scarred.
Well, somewhere along the
line, Lafayette found me and
I began, somewhat unwillingly
at first, to read the alumni
magazine. I noted scores
of changes from my day,
especially increased diversity,
routing of rogue fraternities,
championing of volunteerism.
So much of this occurred
under President Rothkopf's
watch. I see a college truly
transformed, retaining its best
aspects, while changing those
that kept it from being the
most it could be.
So I say a resounding
"thank you" to all my teachers
for all that you taught and
instilled in me, and to
President Rothkopf, his
administration, and others
who have recreated the
institution that is Lafayette
in my eyes. As a token of my
appreciation here is my first
donation to Lafayette. In
tremendous gratitude for the
work that the financial aid
office did in my behalf, I hope,
if possible, that it be placed
in a Hind intended to defray
costs for female engineering
students, but I am certain
that one way or another, the
College will use it wisely.
Kathleen A. Dudley '81
Oakland, Ca.
THE RIGHT PLACE
Lafayette has turned out to
be everything that we had
hoped for—plain and simple.
The professors are incredible—
and have rekindled the
learning fire that had been
dormant in Ben for a number
of years. The other kids have
become great friends and
support for him. Ben is a very
happy young man—and so
is his dad. Thanks for all
you have done for us. We are
looking forward to another
3 years—or longer if Maggie
decides she likes the place!
John A. Gardner P'08
Lewisburg, Pa.
EXTERNSHIP PROMISE
I just wanted to thank Ms.
Dayna De Simone, Marketing
Coordinator, Scholastic Inc.,
New York, N.Y. for being
such a fantastic externship
host. Even though neither of
us had any previous experience
with the wonderful world
of externships, I'd say we
succeeded in achieving what
Lafayette has always promised
the program to be. I can
certainly say that all of the
expectations that I had going
in to the externship were not
only met, but far exceeded.
I learned so much. Having
little professional experience
myself, it was quite the eyeopener (in the best possible
sense). I am now more
concretely convinced that a
career in the publishing world
is for me, if not in marketing,
then perhaps editorial or
copywriting.
The externship has really
given me the confidence to
push forward as I begin my
job search. Thanks.
Michael Bruno '05
Massapequa Park, N. T.
Write to Us!
We welcome your letters and comments
about the contents of the magazine as well
as all aspects of the Lafayette Experience.
Email: [email protected]
or send to Lafayette Magazine,
Office of Public Information,
Lafayette College, 17 Watson Hall,
Easton, PA 18042.
Letters may be edited for length and clarity.
DANIEL WEISS
LAFAYETTE'S NEW 16™ PRESI D E N T — " T H E W H O L E PACKAGE"
N O O N E AT J O H N S HOPKINS
University pokes holes in the image
of Dan Weiss' doughnut consistency.
When he brings in morning snacks
for his dean's-office colleagues,
forget about the strawberry-frosted,
cinnamon-cake, or apple-and-spice
varieties. It's all about upholding
the primacy of glazed doughnuts.
If he won't think outside the
glazed-doughnut box, Daniel H.
Weiss is wide-ranging in his thinking,
and his accomplishments, in every
other sense. Weiss, named in
December as Lafayette's 16th
president, has fans all across
Hopkins—and beyond. William G.
Bowen, president of the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation and formerly
president of Princeton University,
calls him "one of those rare people
who have, as it were, the whole
package. He's a very, very talented
academic, an outstanding art historian
with a worldwide reputation, and a
fine teacher. Beyond that, he had
business experience and a background
in management consulting before he
became an art historian; that gave
him, early on, experience working
BY R O B E R T J. B L I W I S E '76
|
with genuinely complex problems.
Then, of course, he's had major
administrative experience at Johns
Hopkins. And his interpersonal skills
are outstanding. He listens well and
he tells you what he thinks, and
without a trace of arrogance."
Weiss has been James B. Knapp
Dean of the Krieger School of Arts
and Sciences at Johns Hopkins since
2002. His responsibilities include
oversight of academic departments,
graduate and undergraduate academic
programs, scholarly and scientific
research, budget and financial
P H OTO C R A P H Y B Y D E N N IS CO N N O R S
Alan R. Griffith '64 and Dan Weiss
John Meier, professor of mathematics, and Dan Weiss
operations, strategic planning,
development and alumni affairs,
student life, and admissions. "One of
the particular things about Hopkins
is the high degree of decentralization,"
says Paula Burger, who reports to
Weiss as dean of undergraduate life.
"The deans really run mini-colleges;
they have the responsibilities that
the president would have at a
college. They have a great deal of
independence in establishing their
school's priorities and identifying
the resources to achieve them."
In Burger's view, Weiss' core values,
as well as his responsibilities as dean,
make him ideally suited for a college
presidency. "At his heart, in terms
of his university service as a teacher
and scholar, he has always been
passionate about undergraduates in
the classroom," she says. Hopkins is
the nation's first research university,
ONE OF THOSE RARE PEOPLE WHO HAVE, AS IT WERE, THE
WHOLE PACKAGE. HE LISTENS WELL AND HE TELLS YOU
WHAT HE THINKS, AND WITHOUT A TRACE OF ARROGANCE."
—William
C. Bower), president of the Andrew W. Mellon
and formerly president of Princeton
University
Foundation
and it has long stressed teaching and
graduate education. Weiss, though,
"has been persuasive in holding
up the vision that our advances in
undergraduate education don't have
to be at the expense of graduate
education," says Burger. "He's gotten
the faculty on board with that. And
that's no mean accomplishment."
Adds the Hopkins provost, Steven
Knapp, who once held Weiss' job as
dean of arts and sciences, "This was
not a place that paid a lot of attention
to the integrated experience of the
student inside and outside the
classroom. That has been a really
strong emphasis of Dan's. He has
become the principal point of
accountability for student life on
the campus." Knapp says Hopkins'
administration "did a very unusual
thing" when Weiss' predecessor left:
"We appointed Dan to the position
without doing a national search. We
were confident that we had in him the
right person for the deanship, and the
faculty agreed with us. That's a pretty
extraordinary tribute to him."
As dean, Weiss put in place an
advisory council of high-powered
alumni to help in formulating, and
gathering support for, the school's
strategic plan. Its chair was Tony
Coles, now a Hopkins trustee and
senior vice president, commercial
operations, for Vertex
Pharmaceuticals. Coles speaks
admiringly of Weiss' ability to reach
out broadly, incorporate the ideas
of many individuals, and then build
consensus. Weiss' savvy understanding
of management, he says, makes him
an effective leader, focused on
accomplishing results and capable
of getting the most from those he's
working with. Weiss is equally sensitive
to the values of the academy, he says,
and "models himself after some of the
great educators of our time." (Weiss
mentions as role models A. Bartlett
Giamatti, who was Yale's celebrated
president, and Princeton's Bowen.)
"I think Dan has every capability to
have a huge impact on this century's
education," Coles says.
Part of Weiss' impact at Hopkins
came on the issue of diversity, where
he's spearheaded more assertive
efforts in student and faculty
recruiting, along with a push to
endow professorships and open
centers in ethnic and regional studies.
"It's not done by incremental
change," he says. "You have to simply
take it on all at once." He points out
that Hopkins, which had lagged in
its diversity efforts, last year was cited
by the Journal of Blacks in Higher
Education as a leader in campus
diversity. A faculty-member colleague
notes that as international students
were feeling besieged by new visa
WHAT I FOUND VERY EXCITING AND APPEALING ABOUT
LAFAYETTE IS A SENSE OF COMMUNITY, A COMMITMENT
THAT EVERYONE HAS TO CREATING A LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT THAT IS PRODUCTIVE AND REWARDING
AND COMPREHENSIVE."
—Dan Weiss
restrictions, Weiss wrote them to
assure them that the university
community valued their presence.
The faculty has been another
priority for Weiss. Together with the
engineering school, he worked to
revamp the policy for granting tenure,
so that faculty members there, as at
most campuses, could earn tenure at
the associate-professor rank. Under
the old policy, tenure could be an
11-year quest—a fact that had hurt
faculty recruiting. The outcome of
that complex but collegial effort shows
that Weiss is "very good at articulating
a vision," Knapp, the provost, says.
"That's one of those important things
that a president does—to be able
to say in very clear terms where it is
that he's trying to lead the institution.
I've seen his effecdveness in being
able to get support from above and
below. He's very thoughtful on the
issues of higher education. So he
can provide the kind of philosophical
and moral leadership that you want
from a president."
Weiss' dedication to higher
education began at George Washington
University. As a sophomore, he found
himself attracted to a woman planning
to enroll in an art-history course, and
he duly followed her lead. Art history
(along with psychology) would become
his major. His professor, a medievalist,
impressed him as "dynamic, articulate,
and energetic." Weiss speaks
passionately about the transformative
influence of teachers; he dedicates
one of his books, Art and Crusade
in the Age of Saint Louis, to all of his
teachers, and he's still in touch with
HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN
PASSIONATE ABOUT
UNDERGRADUATES IN
THE CLASSROOM."
—Paula
Burger, dean of
undergraduate life at
Johns Hopkins
University
his second-grade teacher.
The day after he graduated in 1979,
he started working at the Kennedy
Center in Washington, managing the
gift shops. To prepare for graduate
work, he took courses in French,
German, and Greek. After two years
he went to Johns Hopkins for a
master's degree in art history.
He was drawn to the medieval
period because of the influence of his
art-history professor, and also because
it was intellectually challenging,
requiring him to look below the
surface, to consider meanings beyond
the obvious. His scholarship has cast
a new light on the Sainte-Chapelle,
the stained-glass-saturated Paris
church dedicated in 1248—under
the patronage of King Louis IX—
to enshrine sacred relics, notably
Christ's crown of thorns. "One has
to look beyond the religious images
to understand what those images really
mean," says Weiss. "All the things
that I've studied are fundamentally or
explicitly about religious subjects, but
in fact they're much broader than that.
So my study of the Sainte-Chapelle is
really about the way in which that
building, which is completely dripping
with religious imagery, is a political
and social monument that speaks to
the ambitions of the king. And as it
turns out, people in the Middle Ages
were no different from people today
in that they had the same kinds of
curiosities and concerns. But they
expressed those curiosities and
SANDRA jARVA WEISS
IT WAS A SHARED CULTURAL INTEREST—or a shared employer—
that brought Dan Weiss and Sandra Jarva together. As George Washington
University undergraduates, Weiss was working in a Kennedy Center shop,
and his future wife was a Kennedy Center theater usher.
larva Weiss majored in economics and continued into law school at
George Washington. Starting out as a corporate attorney, she did legal
work for a hospital, became interested in health care, and then worked
as a hospital general counsel. She later entered private practice with a
specialty in health care. She is now a partner in the Baltimore office of
DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary. "I work on 10 or 12 different things
a day," she says. "It's a juggling act."
She'll be continuing that juggling
act with the move to College Hill.
The firm, through a recent merger,
is one of the largest law firms in
the United States, with over 50 offices
world wide. Those offices include
Philadelphia, and Jarva Weiss plans to
work there part-time. She says she's
also looking forward to taking part
in campus events, and to finding
community involvements as well.
Dan and Sandra Jarva Weiss are
the parents of two sons—Teddy, eight,
Dan and Sandra with (L-R)
and Joel, six. She says that both boys
Teddy and Joel.
are excited by the adventure of the
impending move; they're already
enamored of the Crayola Factory at Two Rivers Landing in Easton.
"Every visit we've made to Lafayette has been more terrific than the last,"
Jarva Weiss says. "This is a friendly environment. You see that as you walk
past people and they naturally smile at you. We have had such an incredibly
welcoming reception, whether being greeted by students on campus or
by shopkeepers in Easton. It will be a wonderful place for the family."
concerns through a more limited
range, namely, through Christian
subject matter. I've found the
possibility intriguing of trying to
see beyond the surface of that
subject matter."
Although he was invited into the
Ph.D. program, Weiss—contemplating
a career in museum administration—
left Hopkins to study nonprofit
management at the Yale School of
Management. With his M.B.A. in
hand, he joined the global consulting
firm Booz Allen Hamilton. "None
of the work that I did was in any way
involved with higher education," he
recalls. "That said, however, I learned
more about how to be a teacher and
to work in a collegial environment at
Booz Allen than I did anywhere else.
It was a total meritocracy—whoever
had the right answer for the client
would prevail, whether that was
the senior partner or a brand-new
associate. There was no thought
of hierarchy."
I THINK DAN HAS EVERY
CAPABILITY TO HAVE A
HUGE IMPACT ON THIS
CENTURY'S EDUCATION."
—Tony Coles, trustee of
Johns Hopkins
University
He says that he also learned that
"in order to be a successful consultant,
you have to be able to develop skills
in expressing your ideas clearly and
compellingly. And that was a very
valuable lesson for a teacher. I had
to organize my thoughts clearly and
intelligently and make a compelling
case for students to engage in what
it was that I cared about. If I didn't
do that, then I would have lost the
students in the same way that I
would have lost the clients."
After four years as a consultant,
Weiss returned to Johns Hopkins
and to Ph.D. work in art history. He
joined the Hopkins faculty in 1992,
three weeks after defending his
dissertation. He was chair of art
history from 1998 to 2001 and then,
before being tapped to take the helm
of the Krieger School, dean of the
faculty in 2001-02.
One of his longtime faculty
colleagues, Steven Nichols, chair of
Romance languages and literatures,
points to Weiss' work on the SainteChapelle as the sign of an original
thinker. "What he did was to take
something that was under everybody's
nose, the set of windows of the SainteChapelle that deal with the Crusades,
and showed a very different way of
looking at it. Through that process
he unearthed a whole series of things
having to do with politics, religious
"THE CLOSER WE G E T T O EXCELLENCE, THE HARDER IT IS
TO DO BETTER. THE DECISIONS THAT WE'LL MAKE IN THE
NEXT TEN YEARS ARE GOING TO BE HARDER DECISIONS
THAN THE ONES WE'VE HAD TO MAKE IN THE PAST,
BECAUSE WE'RE GETTING CLOSER TO THAT RAREFIED LEVEL"
—Dan
Weiss
"THAT'S ONE OF THOSE IMPORTANT THINGS THAT A
PRESIDENT DOES—TO BE ABLE TO SAY IN VERY CLEAR
TERMS WHERE IT IS THAT HE'S TRYING TO LEAD THE
INSTITUTION. I'VE SEEN HIS EFFECTIVENESS IN BEING
ABLE TO GET SUPPORT FROM ABOVE AND BELOW."
—Steven Knapp, provost of Johns Hopkins
reforms, and cultural movements.
There's an Italian term, meraviglia.,
it's a kind of wonder, marvel, awe—
the excitement of discovery. That's
the quality that has propelled Dan
as a scholar."
Nichols has cotaught with Weiss
and considers him a gifted teacher
with a particular knack for encouraging
student engagement. That assessment
is echoed by Meredith Pasmantier,
who took a survey and two other
classes with Weiss and became one of
his advisees. "He had such enthusiasm
for the material that it was always an
energetic atmosphere. It was never
that he was talking at the students;
he would always engage them. And
University
he has such a wonderful sense of
humor that you would find yourself
laughing through the lecture. You
wouldn't necessarily expect that in art
history," she says. She later transferred
to Columbia to be near her mother,
who was receiving cancer treatment in
New York. Even after she transferred,
she says, Weiss remained a mentor.
Pasmantier is aiming for a career
as a professor in theater studies. She
says that goal reflects Weiss' enduring
influence. "I remember how he would
perfectly time every lecture. He would
never seem to be consulting notes, but
everything was perfectly laid out and
would end perfectly on time, on just
the right theme."
Weiss is thematically wide-ranging
as a scholar. Part of the "enormous
privilege" of working in the academy,
as he puts it, is "the time to reflect and
think about whatever one wants to."
Much of the Crusader-era art that he
explores is steeped in representations
of war. And the intersections between
war and culture have shaped his
scholarship in other areas. He has
written about Masha Bruskina,
who was born in Minsk in the Soviet
Union, and during World War II
volunteered as a nurse to care for
wounded Red Army soldiers. She also
helped them escape by supplying them
with civilian clothing and false identity
papers. Bruskina was informed on and
then captured by the Nazi occupying
troops. Looking defiant and dignified
in facing death, she appears in photos
of the first public execution of Soviet
partisans. But in later Soviet narratives
she was officially identified as
"unknown," despite evidence of her
identity as a young Jewish w o m a n elements of a troubling history that
prompted Weiss to explore "the spirit
of resistance" and "the politics of
denial" as parallel strands in the story.
More recently Weiss has embarked
on a Vietnam-era project. It centers
on Michael O'Donnell, who was shot
down while piloting a helicopter and
DAN IS GOING TO FIGURE OUT WHERE LAFAYETTE CAN
MAKE SOME BOLD DECISIONS TO DIFFERENTIATE ITSELF
FROM OTHER LIBERAL-ARTS COLLEGES."
—William
Conley, dean of enrollment services at Johns Hopkins
listed for decades as missing in action.
He was also a poet whose poem "Save
Them a Place," which reflects on lives
wasted in war, appears on physical
and virtual sites dedicated to Vietnam
veterans.
As he takes on the assignment of
mastering a new campus culture,
Weiss has made frequent visits to
Lafayette. He has also read through
the Skillman and Gendebien histories
of the College—which, he jokes,
together are longer than a standard
history of the Crusades. He's laying
the groundwork to lead the College
through a comprehensive strategicplanning process.
"What I found very exciting and
appealing about Lafayette is a sense
University
of community, a commitment that
everyone has to creating a learning
environment that is productive and
rewarding and comprehensive. And
that's something that I've been
trying to do in my own way at Johns
Hopkins. So I think those experiences
that I've had here will translate rather
well to Lafayette. I want to make sure
that I'm respectful of the culture
and the community. But at the same
time, I will bring new ideas and new
perspectives. I think the challenge is
to manage that balance in a way that
is productive and collégial. I'm not
going to come in with lots of ideas
that don't fit well into that
community. By the same token,
I'm not looking to fit into a
Students organized an April reception to meet the new president.
community that doesn't need to
move forward or change."
One of the most important strategic
issues facing the College in the next
several years, Weiss says, will be
"to develop a viable approach to our
athletics program that is consistent
with the mission of the College."
He calls himself a firm believer in a
strong athletics program. At Hopkins,
he's helped oversee a bifurcated
program—Division I lacrosse, Division
III in other sports. Ideally, he says,
the Patriot League would have been
able to maintain its commitment to
its basic principles—"presidential
oversight of athletics, academic
comparability of athletes and nonathletes, and no athletic scholarships."
But Lafayette is the only college in
the league that doesn't award athletic
scholarships. "We are now," says
Weiss, "in a position that is, over
the long term, probably untenable,
which is to be the smallest school in
the Patriot League, the only one not
giving athletic scholarships, and trying
to compete at the Division I level."
He doesn't have predetermined
answers, he says, but he does welcome
sparking "a very careful and collegial
process among students, faculty,
administration, alumni, and trustees
to talk about how athletics ought to
be envisioned."
Hopkins' William Conley isn't
surprised that Weiss would place such
an emphasis on the collegial process
of change. Conley, who was hired by
Weiss as dean of enrollment services,
worked in Lafayette's admissions
office in the early 1980s. Weiss is
not a maverick, he says, but he is
Sandra, Teddy, Dan, and Joel tour a wintry campus.
"a bold thinker." Just as he worked
to transform the undergraduate
experience at Hopkins, he is likely
to challenge an ethos of risk-aversion
at Lafayette, Conley says. Conley calls
Lafayette "a sleeping leopard." As he
puts it, "Dan is going to figure out
where Lafayette can make some bold
decisions to differentiate itself from
other liberal-arts colleges."
For his part, Weiss says,
"Lafayette is in many ways an
absolutely wonderful place that need
not be any different than it is. It has
a lot going for it. But that isn't what
the leadership of the college aspires
to. What I see is a platform to do
more. Lafayette wants to be a place
that embraces its history and tradition
but that has stronger academic
programs than it has today, that
continues to challenge itself to
increase the quality of the
experience—not just the quality
of what goes on in the classroom
but the learning environment
comprehensively. The difference
between Lafayette and a lot of other
places is it has the goods to do
that: It has the resources, it has the
commitment, it has the infrastructure.
And it has had the leadership that
now allows us to ask hard questions
about how we can do better. The
last 12 years under Arthur Rothkopf
have been exceptional."
Weiss says he expects to see
Lafayette adopt a version of what,
in the Hopkins context, is known as
selective excellence. He's especially
attuned to the need to build up
the arts and humanities. Nationally,
colleges and universities have been
concentrating resources in the
sciences and technology. But with
a targeted strategy, the arts and
humanities too can be a source of
"buzz," areas of excitement and
visibility, he says.
And so he sees challenge and an
opportunity ahead. "It's my sense
that there's a very strong egalitarian
principle at work in everything that
happens at Lafayette. Everybody is
deserving. At some level that is a very
appealing thing. But if we are going
to go to the next level of academic
excellence, we're going to have to
make investments in some things
more aggressively than in other things.
We're going to have to be identified
for a handful of academic programs
that are the equal of any in the
country." Those programs, he says,
are likely to make connections among
disciplines, and they're likely to build
on core strengths. They may even
exploit unrealized strengths, such
as Lafayette's proximity to New York
and Philadelphia and the possibility
of tapping into the intellectual
energy of those two cities.
"The closer we get to excellence,
the harder it is to do better," he says.
"The decisions that we'll make in the
next 10 years are going to be harder
decisions than the ones we've had to
make in the past, because we're
getting closer to that rarefied level." •
Bliwise '76, a former editor of this
magazine, is editor a/Duke Magazine
and teaches magazine journalism at
Duke University.
Students and faculty in government & law and history explore the relationship between the imperial past and the contemporary world
COMMUNITY OF
SCHOLARS
NEW GRANT SUPPORTS TEAMS FOR THREE-YEAR RESEARCH PROJECTS
LAFAYETTE IS RECOGNIZED as
a national leader in undergraduate
research in U.S. News & World Report's
America's Best Colleges 2005, and
over the past two years, 81 Lafayette
students have been invited to present
their work at the National Conference
on Undergraduate Research. One of
the major opportunities for under-
graduate research is the College's
EXCEL Scholars program, which
provided more than 160 students with
a stipend to assist professors with their
research last school year. Many EXCEL
Scholars publish their work in academic
journals and present it at conferences.
A $200,000 grant from the Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation is providing
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY D A V I D W. C O U L T E R
more opportunities for EXCEL
collaborations in the humanities
and social sciences. The grant has
established Community of Scholars,
a series of three-year projects in which
faculty research an academic topic with
a team of students. Four Community
of Scholars projects launched last
summer or fall.
LAFAYETTE IS RECOGNIZED
AS A NATIONAL LEADER
IN UNDERGRADUATE
RESEARCH IN U.S. NEWS
e[ WORLD REPORT'S
AMERICA'S BEST
COLLEGES 2005.
The Imperialism Project is an effort
to create the most comprehensive
and searchable database about the
characteristics of empires and colonies.
The first group to work on it was
comprised of Brian Geraghty '05,
Sandamali Wijeratne '06, Vijay
Krishnan '07, Milos Jovanovic '07,
Neil Englehart, assistant professor
of government and law, Paul Barclay,
assistant professor of history, and
Joshua Sanborn, associate professor
of history.
Countless books and papers
outline various aspects of colonialism
throughout history, but no one
has ever assembled a comprehensive
database of these colonies. This
will allow scholars and researchers
to conduct statistical analyses on
various components of colonialism
and imperialism.
Curlee Holton, professor of art, mentors (L-R) seniors Zoe Cavriilidis, Maya Freelon,
and Nicole Kozyra in projects based at the Experimental Printmaking Institute.
Wijeratne, who hails from Sri
Lanka, says the project had personal
significance because she comes "from
a country that was colonized and
where die impact of that imperialism
is still felt, more than 50 years after
independence."
Using photographic images from the
past and present, and original works
that envision the future, seniors Maya
Freelon, Zoe Gavriilidis, and Nicole
Kozyra joined with Curlee Holton,
professor of art and director of the
Experimental Printmaking Institute,
to create and install a 130-foot mural
in Farinon College Center. The series
of one-foot digital images blends
together in a montage that illustrates
Lafayette's past, present, and future.
The women also were involved in
a variety of tasks linked to the EPI,
including taking care of prints for
other artists and making prints of
works created by artist Faith Ringgold
Bruce Allen Murphy (center), Kirby Professor of Civil Rights, and (L-R) seniors Jamie Hughes, Josie Dykstra, and Mitchell Feld analyze
how life's phases influence U.S. Supreme Court justices.
for a display at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
"I want to be able to create my
own art and go to grad school," notes
Kozyra. "This has been an invaluable
experience because it's really showed
me what I'm going to deal with
when I practice art myself—it's
an introduction to the art world."
THE EXCEL SCHOLARS
PROGRAM PROVIDES
MORE THAN
150 STUDENTS EACH
YEAR WITH STIPENDS
TO ASSIST PROFESSORS
WITH THEIR RESEARCH.
Seniors Mitchell Feld, Josie
Dykstra, and Jamie Hughes, and
mentor Bruce Allen Murphy,
Fred Morgan Kirby Professor of Civil
Rights, used a theory based on Daniel
Levinson's Seasons of Life to explain
why a Supreme Court justice casts
certain votes. The team believes this
theory can be used to predict justices'
future actions.
Similar to the four seasons of
nature, humans have four life seasons,
Murphy explains, and almost everyone
faces certain crisis points and periods
of stability in each.
"Being a justice is a job like no
other," he says. "You are married to
eight other people for the rest of your
life; there's a lot of pressure built into
this and everything you do has a lot of
scrutiny. If we could figure out how
they evolve as humans, maybe we could
transfer that understanding as a human
being to their evolution as a judicial
decision-maker."
Community of Scholars also funded
the extension of a collaboration that
Donald L. Miller, John Henry
MacCracken Professor of History,
began in fall 2003. He enlisted
Emily Goldberg '05 as chief student
researcher and Alexandra Kenney '06
and Jessica Cygler '07 as assistants
in writing D-Days in the Pacific, a
448-page companion volume to a series
that will air on the History Channel.
"The students were involved in
every aspect of this book and were
really a tremendous help," says Miller,
who thanks them in the book.
The students conducted research,
helped assemble the bibliography,
did copy editing and fact checking,
proofread the manuscript, and worked
with Simon & Schuster staff.
World War IPs largest D-Day was
not the invasion of Normandy, says
Miller, but rather the April 1 invasion
Emily Goldberg '05 and several other students assist Donald L. Miller, MacCracken
Professor of History, with research on World War II and the Battle of Vicksburg.
VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC
of Okinawa. It was the largest
amphibious operation in history,
both in number of ships and troops.
The students, joined this spring by
Marisa Floriani '07, also continued
work they did in fall 2003 on one of
Miller's books-in-progress, Bomber
Boys, about the American Air Force
in World War II. Kenney also
conducted research last summer and
over the January interim session at
the Library of Congress and the
National Archives to collect
photographs for Bomber Boys. She
uncovered a cache of unpublished
pictures and discovered that a large
collection of relevant photos is
available in Savannah, Ga.
In addition, the group worked
on a second book-in-progress,
The Crisis of the Confederacy: The Siege
of Vicksburg, a full-scale social and
military history of the Civil War's
decisive campaign. •
DONALD L. MILLER, John Henry MacCracken Professor of History,
is a featured on-camera expert in "Victory in the Pacific," a program
that debuted May 2 on the most-watched history series on television,
PBS' American Experience. Miller's book The Story of World War II
is listed as a main source for "Victory in the Pacific" on
the program's companion web site.
His most recent book, D-Days in the Pacific, is a sweeping
chronicle of the four-year battle for Pacific dominance in
World War II. Its publication this year coincides with the
60th anniversary of the final stages of the war with Japan.
Miller also has been selected from 200 candidates
nationwide by The National D-Day Museum in New Orleans
for its first yearlong fellowship, which includes a role as cochair of its International WWII Conference Oct. 5-9. Expected
to be the largest World War II conference ever, it will bring together
historians, World War II veterans, and other participants from all over
the world to discuss the evolution and implications of World War II
thought and writings over the last 60 years. In addition to Miller,
conference speakers will include Ken Burns, Sir Max Hastings, Andy
Rooney, Austin Hoyt, Viscount David Montgomery, and Enola Gay
Commander Paul Tibbets.
Denise Calarza Sepulveda, assistant professor of foreign languages and literatures, researches in the special collections reading room.
TREASURES' HOME
SKILLMAN'S BRIGHT NEW QUARTERS FOR SPECIAL C O L L E C T I O N S AND ARCHIVES
AMONG MYRIAD other benefits
to die College, Skillman Library's
expansion and renovation provides
attractive, practical new quarters for
special collections and archives.
The Griffith Special Collections
Suite, named for Board Chair Alan
Griffith '64 and Penny Griffith,
features a large reading room where
students and scholars can consult
materials and a work room with
facilities for cataloging, digital
imaging, and preservation. The
second-floor suite, close to rooms
used for classes focusing on special
collections materials, overlooks the
Simon Room and its "Alcuin and
Charlemagne" Tiffany window.
The Schlueter Rare Book Room,
named for Provost June Schlueter
and Paul Schlueter, houses archives,
manuscripts, and rare books widi
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY D A V I D
ARETZ
ample space for processing collections,
including organizing and rehousing
materials and creating finding aids to
assist researchers.
"We now have more collection
storage space, organized and usable
work areas, and a gracious reading
room," says Diane Windham Shaw,
special collections librarian and College
archivist. "The entire area is both
functional and beautifiil." •
20 L A F A Y E T T E . SUMMER 2OO5
mm
fföwam.
CHRONICLE
LEARNING COMMUNITIES
S T U D E N T S OPT FOR SPECIAL-INTEREST LIVING GROUPS
ACADEMIC INTERESTS, lifestyles,
and social goals are among the
bonds bringing together students in
special-interest living groups. Based
in designated sections of residence
halls, the groups integrate living
and learning.
"They are an alternative to Greek
life and they make college a more
pleasant environment," says Rasheim
Donaldson '06, resident adviser for
the Brothers of Lafayette floor. "They
usually result in students creating
stronger bonds because they have
similar interests."
Cassandra Schettino '06, president
of Haven, says her substance-free
group is more than a living floor,
it's also a club.
"The people on the floor really
get to know each other and become
friends," she says. "Most of the time,
the lounge is full with people playing
games, working, or just hanging out."
The German House consists of
those who speak German, are taking
or have taken German classes, or are
members of the German Club.
Activities include film nights, field trips
to restaurants and museums, and
seasonal events such as Oktoberfest.
"The German House is very
successfi.il and enjoys a strong,
dedicated membership," says Nicole
Kozyra '05, who just finished her
third year as a member and second
as president.
Dry Surfers focuses on technology
and a substance-free lifestyle. Activities
have included game nights, movie
nights, and build-a-computer or cleanyour-computer-out days. The group
hosts brown bag discussions on
BY K E L L Y S A V A C O O L
|
Enjoying Trivial Pursuit are Volunteer Floor residents (clockwise from bottom left)
Amanda DeLoureiro '07, Rachel Fischer '07, Stacey Cromer '05, Kristen Balsamo '05,
Michael Favara '08, Liz Nguyen '07, and Angie Boyd '06.
biotechnology, manufacturing,
and globalization.
"I think that a living group is an
excellent idea," says Joanna Vogel '06.
"It gives people who share a common
lifestyle a chance to develop their own
community. For the Dry Surfers,
technological literacy isn't something
we can get together as a club and just
do; it's something we are. And living
together lets us express that."
Other special-interest living groups
are the Japanese Interest Floor, French
House, H.O.L.A. (Heritage of Latin
America), El Mundo, Lafayette
Communications Union, Volunteer
Floor, and CHANCE (Creating
Harmony and Necessary Cultural
Equality), as well as Arts House
apartments. •
PHOTOGRAPHY
William Hwang '07 and Lan Nguyen '07
hang a banner on the Japanese floor.
BY D A V I D W. C O U L T E R A N D L I S A M A S S E Y
BUFFER
GREAT DEBATE
TEAM WORK AND PREPARATION M A K E T H E DIFFERENCE IN FORENSICS
MOST WEEKS during the school
year, a half-dozen students pore
through a host of newspapers and clip
more than 100 articles, each student
focusing on a particular region.
The time-consuming work isn't
an assignment for a journalism class,
or any course at all, for that matter.
It's preparation for extemporaneous
speech, one event among many
in which members of Forensics
Society compete.
In extemporaneous speech,
contestants are given three topics in
the general area of current events,
choose one, and have 30 minutes to
prepare and then deliver an original
speech of up to seven minutes.
Limited notes are permitted.
The students' arduous labor and
skillful on-the-fly speechwriting have
paid dividends in a number of events.
Forensics Society placed third in
speech and sixth in debate in a field
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY D A V I D W. C O U L T E R
of more than 80 schools at the
National Forensic Association's annual
championship tournament in April.
Erik Heins '05 finished in the top
16 and Christian Dato '07 in the top
32 among the 78 competitors in
debate. Heins also was within the top
24 among 188 impromptu speakers
and Mark Kokoska '08 was one of
the top 12 extemporaneous speech
competitors among 143 students.
Teamwork is rarely a factor in the
THE FORENSICS SOCIETY
PLACED THIRD IN SPEECH
AND SIXTH IN DEBATE OF
MORE THAN 80 SCHOOLS
AT THE NATIONAL
FORENSIC ASSOCIATION'S
ANNUAL CHAMPIONSHIP
TOURNAMENT
actual performances of forensics
events, nearly all of which are solo
ones, such as informative, persuasive,
and after-dinner speaking, rhetorical
criticism, prose interpretation,
dramatic interpretation, and LincolnDouglas debate. Yet teamwork is
a major ingredient in Forensic
Society's success.
"The students often work with each
other during the week, especially the
senior members with the younger
ones, giving them fresh perspectives,"
says Scott Placke, director of forensics
and one of two Forensics Society
coaches along with Jonathan
Honiball, debate coach. "That's part
of what makes Lafayette a good team."
Between meeting with one other
and the coaches and preparing on their
own, Placke estimates that the more
active competitors devote five or six
hours to preparation each week.
Tournaments also are time-consuming,
requiring one or two days for a
regional competition and up to three
or four for national ones.
Yet the rewards for devoting so
much time to the cocurricular
activity are many.
"I started with forensics because
I thought it would be a good skillbuilding activity for law school," says
Heins. "I've kept with it because it's
fun, the team is very good, and we're
a family-like community."
"You learn a lot about important
topics," adds Heins. "Through
debate, I've learned about issues
dealing with the environment,
criminal justice, terrorism, and other
areas. In extemporaneous speech,
you have to know what's going on
in the world at any given moment."
Students also find it rewarding to be
part of a program that has enjoyed a
meteoric rise to prominence since its
founding six years ago by Bruce Allen
Murphy, Kirby Professor of Civil
Rights. In addition to the national
tournament, this season's highlights
included placing second at the state
championship for the third straight
year through 22 event finishes in
the top six or better, including
the top four places in debate; winning
St. Anselm College's Jack Lynch
Tournament, besting last year's
national speech and debate champion
along the way; taking the first four
places in debate at a Bloomsburg
University tournament; and having
Dato be a semifinalist in impromptu
speech and Bill O'Brien '07 place
fifth in communication analysis
at a University of Texas at Austin
tournament, "the most impressive
and difficult speech tournament I have
ever attended, outside of a national
championship," according to Placke. •
Scott Placke, director of the forensics team (L-R), works with team members
Jeremy Bennett '05, Mark Kokoska '08, Bill O'Brien '07, and Kim Moore '05.
Christian Dato '07 (opposite, left) preparing for a tournament with team members.
FORGET THE BEACH
LAFAYETTE V O L U N T E E R S PITCH IN FROM VIRGINIA TO H O N D U R A S
MORE T H A N 30 STUDENTS served
communities this school year through
the Alternative School Break (ASB)
Club, with two projects taking place
over spring break and two during
the January interim session.
One group traveled to Danville,
Va., from Jan. 15-22 to restore houses
with Telamon Corporation, which
constructs and renovates houses that
are then sold to low- and middleincome families. Each day, the students
split into two groups and worked on
restoring two homes. One group
worked on a house that required
cosmetic work, including painting
and staining woodwork, and the
other focused on construction.
"The most rewarding part was to
look at the progress we had made by
the last day," says Natalie Kamphaus
'05. "We started with the basic frame
of a home and we left with die home
having installation, door frames,
and drywall."
Her ASB teammates were Sandra
Goldman '05, Emily Allen '06,
Elizabeth Litchfield '05, Ingrid
DeVries '05, Emily White '05,
JoAnna Vetreno '06, Jillian Carinci
'08, Kathleen Reddington '08,
Christina Morley '06, and
Amy Ahart '97, special assistant
to the dean of students.
The second interim group
complemented the Engineers
Without Borders' ongoing project
to provide a local water supply to
villages in Honduras. The ASB team,
which worked with Hondurans to
build a grain house, included Emily
Groves '05, Odakwei Mills '06,
Jackie Golden '07, Christa ICelleher
'08, and Stephanie Cote, Landis
Community Outreach Center
coordinator. The group arrived
Jan. 8 and returned Jan. 16.
Spring break (March 14-18) marked
the fifth time that an ASB group has
volunteered in Sea Island, S.C., with
Habitat for Humanity, where students
worked on various stages of house
construction.
"I joined ASB because I wanted to
Opposite (L-R): Helping build a
grain house for Honduran villagers.
Ingrid DeVries '05 (left) and
Christina Morley '06 restore a
house in Danville, Va. Framing
a new house in Sea Island, S.C.
Emily White '05 (left, L-R) and
Jillian Carina '08 paint in Virginia.
Matt Verbyla '06 (below, L-R),
Kate Brandes, and Fidel Maltez '05
survey in Honduras.
give back to the community at large,"
says Veronica Hart '05. "It seemed
fitting to make my last spring break
at Lafayette meaningful by doing a
service project."
Her teammates were Lauren
Cash '07, Jillian Gaeta '07, Frank
Giannelli '07, H u o n g Nguyen '08,
Sara Windish '08, Meredith Jeffers
'05, Kristin Radziwanowski '07,
Steve Caruso '06, and Kevin
Worthen, associate dean of students
and director of student life
administration.
Another team traveled to
Homestead, Fla., to volunteer with
the Outpost and Wildlife Refuge
in the Everglades, working on
environmental and animal protection
projects.
"I have always loved the environment and wish to preserve the
quality of outdoor life," says Daina
White '07, who volunteered at the
Gesundheit! Institute in West Virginia
last year. "I also love animals and have
wanted to work with them, so this
trip [was] a dream for me."
Joining her in Florida were
Long Tran '08, Allison Kramer '08,
Rasheim Donaldson '06, Martha
Petre '08, Amy Goldstein '05,
and Dan Ruch, AmeriCorps*VISTA
staff member in the Landis Center. •
ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS
T H E S T U D E N T chapter of
Engineers Without Borders-USA
is featured on the cover of a National
f l ^ v C u P W. ^ ' y
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An article features Lafayette's EWB
chapter, which was founded last
M . . ] \ ^g^fe
school year and is working to provide H a f t * I : J
ft.-^'
about 1,000 Hondurans with clean
'J^^iSS^
F
drinking water. EWB students
attended a National Engineers Week Banquet held Feb. 25 at Green Pond
Country Club in Bethlehem, where Bernard Amadei, founder of the
national Engineers Without Borders organization, was keynote speaker.
PEZ POPS DOWNTOWh
EASTON MUSEUM DISPLAYS DISTINCTIVE DISPENSERS
SINCE JULY 2003, EASTON
has been home to one of two Pez
dispenser museums in the world.
The colorful and nostalgic Easton
Museum of Pez dispensers tells the
history of Pez through interactive
time-period displays, detailed character
scenes, and challenging games.
Around the corner from die Crayola
Factory, the vibrant purple, teal, pink,
and yellow painted windows and doors
invite visitors to encounter the
surprises inside. Created by brothers
Kevin and Tim Coyle, the museum
developed from a chance cleaning
of their father's attic that uncovered
a box of old Pez dispensers.
In 1927 Austria, Edward Haas
created Pez as an alternative to
smoking. Derived from the first,
middle, and last letters of pfefferminz,
the German word for peppermint,
Pez received mild acceptance from
adults, but once character heads and
Visit the
Easton Museum
of Pez Dispensers
at 15-19 South
Bank Street.
fruit-flavored candies were added to
the dispensers in 1952, Pez became
a huge hit with children.
The museum uses sequential exhibits
to display original and reproduction
dispensers. Character collections
include Star Wars, Sesame Street,
Popeye, SpongeBob Squarepants, Kiss,
and many others. Displays include a
real Volkswagen Beetle, a haunted
house with sound effects, a magical
tree with hidden treasures, and a castle.
The museum offers age-appropriate
puzzles and a store that sells classic,
new, small, large, and talking Pez
dispensers and related items. Admission
is $4 for adults, $2 for children from
four to 12 years old, and free for
children under four. Visitors are free
to browse the museum at their leisure
or join a free guided tour through the
last 50 years of Pez.
Interesting facts shared by the
museum include a story about a man
who created an Internet auction site
so his girlfriend could buy and sell Pez
dispensers. The couple is now married
and the auction site, on eBay, helped
make them one of the top 40 richest
families in the country. Winnie the
Pooh is the most popular dispenser
of all time; only three real people have
ever been produced on dispensers:
Betsy Ross, Paul Revere, and Daniel
Boone dispensers were created as part
of the American bicentennial series. •
FROM THE CLASSROOM
A NATIONAL REPUTATION FOR ACADEMIC E X C E L L E N C E
FIRST PROFESSOR
OF ENGLISH
T H O U G H IT IS C O M M O N for one
academic generation's leaders to be
eclipsed by succeeding generations,
some groundbreaking researchers have
been so instrumental in advancing the
profession that it is imperative they be
remembered. Francis Andrew March
(1825-1911), distinguished American
philologist, lexicographer, educator,
and professor of English at Lafayette
College, is such a figure. For March
in his day was preeminent among both
American academicians and scholars
of language. Note these specifics:
• He was the first to hold the title
"Professor of English Language
and Literature" anywhere in the
United States or Europe.
• He was the first to teach a required
Shakespeare course.
• He was the first to teach Milton
as well as a number of other English
and American authors, including
then-contemporary writers, at the
college level.
• He was the first to study and write
about the history of English from a
historical perspective, thus establishing
the ground from which most
subsequent historical linguistic
research sprang.
• He was among the first to embark
on then-uncharted linguistic frontiers
such as spelling reform and phonetic
spelling.
• He formulated concepts about
the teaching of English in college and
about the role of liberal arts colleges
that still resonate with relevance and
original insights.
As Frederick L. Rudolph, an
historian of higher education, has
Lafayette faculty are experts in their fields. In "From the Classroom," faculty members give insight into their particular subject,
providing a window on the intellectual rigor that characterizes the environment of academic excellence at Lafayette. Departing
from the norm, this issue features a towering figure among faculty of the 19th century to celebrate the publication of Francis A.
March: Selected Writings of the First Professor of English by Paul and June Schlueter. Copyright ©2005, Lafayette College.
A L B E R T K. M U R R A Y ; P O R T R A I T O F F R A N C I S A. M A R C H , 1 9 4 1
LAFAYETTE C O L L E G E ART C O L L E C T I O N .
OIL ON
CANVAS
G I F T O F T H O M A S J. W A T S O N
FROM THE CLASSROOM
A NATIONAL REPUTATION FOR ACADEMIC E X C E L L E N C E
Francis Andrew March (shown with his wife, Mildred, in 1909) was the first to hold the title
"Professor of English Language and Literature" anywhere in the United States or Europe.
noted, March, in combining literary
analysis and comparative philology,
"wrested English literature away from
the old rhetoric tradition, with its
stultifying emphasis on form and rules,
and took to it some of the concern
with thought, criticism, and esthetics
that had characterized the uses of
literature in the literary societies."
Lexicographer Clarence L. Barnhart
observed that the fact that "English
has been established as a serious
discipline instead of an avocation is in
no small part owing to March." Stuart
Berg Flexner called March "a true
linguistic pioneer" and "one of the
best linguistic minds America has
produced." Norman Cousins quotes
an editor for whom he worked when
he was young as believing March's
famed Thesaurus-Dictionary to be
the "most remarkable reference book
about words to grace the English
language"; the editor stated that
although Peter Mark Roget "employed
the basic principles of a thesaurus,"
it was March who "converted those
principles into art." Kemp Malone,
himself a pioneering linguistic and
literary researcher, once noted that
March "raised collegiate instruction
in English to the dignity of a mental
discipline, and gave it the place which
it has since occupied alongside the
study of the classics."
In addition, during his long
professorial career, spent wholly at
Lafayette College from 1855-1906,
March demonstrated unusual breadth
and dexterity, even for the relatively
relaxed professional standards of the
era, by also teaching numerous other
subjects, including constitutional,
public, and Roman law (he was also
an attorney), mental and moral
philosophy, political science, languages
(French, German, Latin, and Greek),
and even botany, and he served as the
college's first librarian. Were the term
not so easily abused, one would be
tempted to apply the label "renaissance
man" to March, for it seems in
retrospect that there was little that he
tackled that he couldn't do well. . . .
March was a prolific, pioneering
author of papers and books—some
195 in one incomplete 1895
compilation—in philology, the
historical study of grammar, lexicography, spelling reform, the teaching
of literature, and pedagogy. He was
the director of American readers for
the creation of the Oxford English
Dictionary (and is cited some 15 times
in the OED as the source of various
usages), he was instrumental in the
creation of the Standard Dictionary
(1893-95), and he edited four volumes
of Greek and Latin classics.
March has long been recognized for
these contributions; for example, he
has been the subject of an entry in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica since 1910,
he is the subject of a fine tribute by
Kemp Malone in the Dictionary of
American Biography, and he has been
praised for his pioneering work by
other, varied voices. . . . Given
[the] varied explicit and implicit
acknowledgments of March's
pioneering efforts, it is astonishing
to realize that only one of his
highly influential books—
THE SCHLUETERS AND FRANCIS A. MARCH
March's long academic career, 1855-1906,
was spent wholly at Lafayette.
A Comparative Grammar of the
Anglo-Saxon Language . . . (1870)—
is currently listed in Books in Print,
though not from a major academic
or scholarly press. His most popular
work, A Thesaurus Dictionary of the
English Language, prepared with his
namesake son and published in 1903,
went through five editions and
remained in print for more than
40 years; it was reprinted (with
slight variations in title) in 1958
by Doubleday in both cloth- and
paperbound editions and in 1980 by
Abbeville Press. March prepared the
theoretical organizational plan for this
influential work in 1861, the year
before English philologist Peter Mark
Roget (1779-1869) issued the first
edition of his more renowned—and
endlessly reprinted—thesaurus; initial
editions of Roget's thesaurus used a
cumbersome organization that was
changed in succeeding editions to the
format that March initially proposed
and that even today makes March's
thesaurus far more usable. . . .
March's work may not be widely
read today; indeed, to a modern
audience, removed from the century
in which his groundbreaking analyses
PAUL SCHLUETER AND JUNE SCHLUETER are editors of Francis
A. March: Selected Writings of the First Professor of English, newly published
by Lafayette College for the Friends of Skillman Library.
Paul Schlueter taught college English for many years before turning
to research and writing. He has published widely on modern literature
and other subjects. June Schlueter, provost and Charles A. Dana Professor
of English, is a specialist in Renaissance and modern drama. In addition to
many publications they have authored and edited individually, the Schlueters
have collaborated on three previously edited works, most recently
An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers {1988, 1999).
Having been appointed tutor at Lafayette in 1855, Francis A. March was
named, in 1857, Professor of the English Language and Lecturer in
Comparative Philology, the first such professorship anywhere in the United
States, giving Lafayette "the honor and distinction of being the first college
in America to establish a chair for the extended and systematic study of the
English language in the English classics in the light of modern philology"
(David Bishop Skillman).
.March's simple question, "Why not teach English like the Latin and
Greek?", was a revolutionary concept. The weekly journal The Independent
said opportunities to study English were "the best in the country" at
Lafayette; British Quarterly said "nowhere else" was the subject treated with
"equal competence and success"; and the London Athenaeum claimed
March's philological instructional methods "are not surpassed by those
which we are accustomed to associate with the German universities."
first saw print, his ideas may seem
dated . . . Yet much of his scholarship
remains remarkably current, and there
is no dispute about the major role this
distinguished figure played in the
establishment of English as an
independent discipline. . . .
March specialized, in common with
then-contemporary interests and tastes,
in "Anglo-Saxon," i.e., Old English or
early medieval English. His landmark
book A Comparative Grammar of the
Anglo-Saxon Language, in Which its
Forms are Illustrated by Those of the
Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, Gothic, Old
Saxon, Old Friesic, Old Norse, and Old
High German (1870), is not just a
mouth-filling title; it also suggests
the kind of work he was attempting in
virgin scholarly territory, a profoundly
detailed comparative analysis of the
forms of the English language with
other major Indo-European tongues.
As Kemp Malone noted, in this book
March "laid the foundation on which
all future historical grammarians . . .
were destined to build, and his fame
will ever rest secure as . . . the founder
of a science." In the same year
of 1870, March published his
Introduction to Anglo-Saxon: An
Anglo-Saxon Reader, a textbook
intended for classroom instruction
(and in continual use for graduate
study for some 80 years, until 1950
or thereabouts), suggesting his dual
thrust of scholarly writing for both
specialists in the field and for students
FROM THE CLASSROOM
A NATIONAL REPUTATION FOR ACADEMIC E X C E L L E N C E
"Irregyular and Unrizonabl"
"Dhi preblem ev illiterasi haz leng bin familiar tu Americanz as
won ev dhi most important ev soshal saiens. It haz letli cum up
fresh and ftrful in England. And it iz fuli recegnaizd dhat dhi trubl
laiz in dhi irregyular and unrizonabl speling of English."
— A t the forefront of the 19th-century movement in spelling reform, March "advocated
such widespread changes that it almost became an obsessive cause." While he
used conventional spelling in all but a few writings (including this 1877 essay,
"Spelling and Progress"), "March was indeed a true believer in such change."
March played a major role in the
establishment of English as an independent
discipline. His scholarly accomplishments
greatly influenced several generations
of scholars in some of the nation's
foremost academic institutions.
just beginning linguistic analysis, a
practice also illustrated in his earlier
Method of Philological Study of the
English Language (1865).
Nor was March interested solely in
linguistics, for, as indicated by some
of the selections that follow, he was
also a pioneer in teaching works of
literature previously unrepresented in
college classrooms. March had much
to say, of course, about writings in
Latin and Greek, for these were the
heart of the nineteenth-century
literature curriculum. But recognizing
the importance of literature in English,
March transferred his instructional
methods to the study of the vernacular,
relying on select literary passages for
an analysis that the professor would
"make . . . as hard as Greek." . . .
What survived long into the twentieth
century was March's esthetic sense:
a lover of both language and literature,
he characterized the language of
literature as "an ideal language, shaped
to peculiar forms by men of genius
under the direction of an idea of the
beautiful."
March . . . wrote numerous essays
and reviews of literature in English.
He showed a special interest in Malory,
Shakespeare, and Milton, but he also
had perceptive comments to offer on
nineteenth-century figures, including
Lamb, Tennyson, Arnold, Browning,
and Morris. Generally respectful of
these now-canonical writers, he
bristled on his first encounter with
Whitman, railing in his review of
Leaves of Grass against the poet's
"dullness" and "repulsive" diction.
(It is an essay we may now say reflected
more about the nineteenth century's
squeamishness about sexual expression
in literature than about Whitman's
merits as a poet.)
March wrote about education as
well: the idea of the scholar; tributes to
other scholars; high school instruction
as preparation for admission to and
success in college. His comments
about the teaching of English at
Lafayette College, his sole home as a
professor, are equal mixtures of dated
pedantry and tributes to a college that
had proven willing to concur with
[the] innovative ideas . . . evident
throughout his scholarly career. Much
of his pioneering work in language and
literature was accomplished before the
Civil War, but he was still active in his
70s, contributing important and
influential writing. Although only a
fraction of his work remains in print
a century after his death, his essays
form a body of historical literature that
remains fascinating and instructive,
not only to those holding a Lafayette
College degree but to all who use
and admire the English language. •
Francis A. March: Selected Writings of
the First Professor of English is available
through the Lafayette College Store,
(610) 330-5513.
CHRONICLE
EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY
S T U D E N T S E N H A N C E LANGUAGE SKILLS T H R O U G H MULTIMEDIA
Mary Toulouse, director of the Foreign Languages and Literatures Resource Center, works with
Andrey Chelebiev '05 on the Smart Board, a giant computer monitor.
T H E FOREIGN LANGUAGES
and Literatures Resource Center
has changed significantly since its
establishment in 1990, transforming
into a full-service, multimedia facility.
Located on the fourth floor of
Pardee Hall, the center is home to
two state-of-the-art computer rooms
(Mac and PC); a software developer's
studio; informal work space with
satellite connections for resources such
as international news broadcasts; an
interactive Smart Board for annotating
and editing students' written
assignments, videos, and presentations;
newspapers from different countries;
and an international fashion exhibit.
"The main goal is to create a
cooperative learning center," says
director Mary Toulouse, adding that
even in informal work space, students
"encounter not only each other, but
also different cultures."
Many students have benefited from
the FLLRC and its technology,
including Meghan Jackson '05.
"She used the new iMovie software
to subtitle a long clip from a
commercial," Toulouse explains.
The FLLRC web site has an archive
of video projects, such as performances
by elementary German students
depicting campus life, humorous
situations filmed by an intermediate
Spanish class, and scenes from
Le Fantôme de l'Opéra as interpreted
by intermediate French students.
Kathy Schubel '06 used the Smart
Board to create a presentation on
Japanese cartoons, and many students
BY K E L L Y S A V A C O O L
|
PHOTOGRAPHY
have used the center's language software, which allows them to view and
record their voices over silent film clips.
"I think the language software is an
amazing tool for interactive learning,"
says Simon Mushi '06. "After using it
for the first time, I could immediately
tell that it was a good way to sharpen
my comprehension and feedback skills
in French, both of which are essential
if you aim to be fully conversant."
"Over the past few years, I have
noticed more professors integrating the
video, moderated language laboratory
teaching, and computer-based grammar
and oral exercises into their curricula,"
adds Hart Feuer '05. "It's a very
powerful arrangement and a unique
opportunity for language students at
Lafayette." •
BY D A V I D W. C O U L T E R
Iv \
T H E MAJOR AMERICAN ARTIST MAKES A S I G N I F I C A N T GIFT TO LAFAYETTE
FOLLOWING HIS HIGHLY
successful experience at Lafayette
last year as the Grossman Visiting
Artist, Stephen Antonakos has made
a significant gift to the College
of 19 original works on paper.
Antonakos is a major twentieth
century American artist who, at
80 years old, is enjoying significant
resurgent interest in his work.
The works he has given to Lafayette
are examples of his minimalist approach
from 1970 to 1998 and complement
the neon piece he gave the College,
PHOTOGRAPHY
"FOR J.T.," at the conclusion of
his Grossman Artist visit and exhibit.
The New York City sculptor was
featured in multiple exhibitions
that spanned the Williams Center
for the Arts and Grossman Galleries
at Lafayette, and the former
BY R I C K S M I T H A N D D A V I D W. C O U L T E R
ANTONAKOS IS A MAJOR
TWENTIETH CENTURY
AMERICAN ARTIST WHO,
AT 80 YEARS OLD, IS
ENJOYING SIGNIFICANT
RESURGENT INTEREST
IN HIS WORK.
MCS Gallery in downtown Easton.
"Antonakos, who uses light in the way
that painters employ brushes, has the
distinct ability to use light as both line
and form," says sculptor Jim Toia,
director of the Grossman Gallery
and former assistant to the artist.
In presenting the 19 pieces to
Ed Kerns, Clapp Professor of Art
and director of Williams Visual Arts
Building, Antonakos said his chief
reason for the gift was to encourage
development of a "teaching" collection,
and some day a College museum.
F O R M O R E WWW.lafayette.edu Click on Magazine Highlights.
He told Kerns his visit to
Lafayette was one of the best
experiences he has had as a visiting
artist. Kerns (pictured above on right),
reviews one of the 19 gift pieces with
Lew Minter, media lab director,
Williams Visual Arts Building. •
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Keynote speaker: Paul Robeson Jr.
AN APRIL CONFERENCE on
Paul Robeson's history and development as an intellectual inaugurated a
series of major Lafayette conferences
on the history and culture of civil
rights and civil liberties.
The event included three days of
keynote talks, performances, films,
and scholarly presentations on a
range of topics relating to Robeson,
from his work as a singer and actor
to his influence on the U.S. civil
rights movement. Attendees of the
conference's various sessions totaled
more than 1,000 people.
Performer: Saul Williams, poet and actor
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Keynote speaker: Randall Robinson, founder and former president of TransAfrica
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MAURICE BENNETT '06 RECEIVES AWARD
Performer: Monique Saunders of Greater
Shiloh Church, Easton, Pa.
T H E CONFERENCE included the awarding of Lafayette's inaugural
Paul Robeson Humanitarian Award to Maurice Bennett '06, an
outstanding student in economics and business and Patriot League
all-star middle linebacker.
Currently serving a 10-week internship on Wall Street through the
national organization Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, Bennett
this spring did an independent study of the wealth gap between whites
and African-Americans and differences in their approaches to investing
with guidance from Sheila Handy, assistant professor of economics and
business. He has also analyzed real estate investment opportunities under
the direction of Rexford Ahene, professor of economics and business,
and researched the effects of outsourcing on the U.S. economy with
David Stifel, assistant professor of economics and business. Bennett's
other activities include serving as a peer mentor and as treasurer of
Brothers of Lafayette.
"The rich diversity and
complexity of Paul Robeson's
life is an important prism
through which the American
national identity can be
contemplated. Robeson's
life is a prime example of
a life-long quest in the
exploration of personal
and national identity issues.
Not only did he achieve
Paul Robeson Jr. and his wife Marilyn look
noteworthy excellence
on as Maurice Bennett '06 receives the
in performance and with
Paul Robeson Humanitarian Award from
his scholarship, but he was
Gladstone Hutchinson, dean of studies.
also an influential and
controversial political and social activist, especially on civil rights and
civil liberties issues," said Gladstone (Fluney) Hutchinson, dean of
studies, who presented the award to Bennett.
"As an academic institution, Lafayette highly values these ideals and
sees them as the best example of lifelong liberal learning. This is why
we have decided to honor Maurice, a standout in the classroom, on the
football field, and as a mentor and humanist, as the student who best
represents the ideal of Robeson's life."
Presenter: James E. Lennertz, Lafayette
associate professor of government and law
FOR MORE www.lafayette.edu Click on Magazine Highlights.
COMMENCEMENT
LAFAYETTE AWARDED 532 degrees to 524
I graduating seniors and honorary doctorates to five
I distinguished leaders, including Tom Ridge, former
^ V ^ H n f l ^ U U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and former
^ H J I J I I I P J H M i Governor of Pennsylvania, at the 170th
•RH
LAFAYETTE 3= C o m m e n c e m e n t M a y 2 1 .
President Arthur J. R o t h k o p f ' 5 5 awarded
i mm Ridge the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
B - t i k i i jfflk Brian P. Lamb, president and chief executive officer
of C-SPAN, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters, and Dorothy
Gulbenkian Blaney, president of Cedar Crest College, received an
honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
The College conferred honorary degrees upon Rothkopf and
Barbara S. Rothkopf in recognition of their contributions to Lafayette.
Arthur Rothkopf concludes his service as the College's 15 th president
in June after 12 years in the position, during which he led a far-reaching
transformation of Lafayette. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of
Laws. Barbara Rothkopf received an honorary Doctor of Humane
Letters. The faculty adopted on Commencement weekend a resolution
expressing "profound appreciation of Arthur Rothkopf for unwaveringly
and courageously advancing the College's educational mission."
Clockwise from bottom left: Veronica Hart, who was the first graduate to
receive her diploma as holder of the top C P A in the class, with Jeffrey Chittim ;
Lisa Cosenza; Trustee Riley K. Temple '71 with Britney McCoy; Fidel Maltez;
Pepper Prize winner Oliver Bowen delivers farewell remarks for the class with
commencement speaker Tom Ridge looking on; Barbara S. Rothkopf and
President Arthur j. Rothkopf '55 were awarded honorary doctorates.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY D A V I D W. C O U L T E R
SNAPSPOTS
ROTHKOPF NAMED
AT U.S. CHAMBER
A HANDLE ON CALLING
equipment.
Waite worked to improve
a prototype machine that
was created last year in a
Lafayette senior design
project to automate die
method of testing a
material's resistance to
galling. "Unlike a lot of
odier areas in engineering,
designing against galling
or characterizing galling
resistance does not have a
straightforward recipe,"
Waite says. "That's the
excidng aspect, working
on discovering how galling
occurs and how we can
prevent it from presenting
design problems."
Waite's mentor,
Scott Hummel, associate
professor of mechanical
engineering, has advised
several students in research
on galling in stainless steel.
Their results have been
published in Tribology
International and Wear and
presented at the American
Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM)
Committee Week
conference. Hummel was
awarded a National Science
Foundation grant and
appointed chairman of a
Galling Resistance Test
Review Task Group by the
ASTM Subcommittee on
Non-Abrasive Wear. •
Vijay Krishnan. They
were mentored by James
DeVault and Edward
Gamber, associate
professors of economics
and business.
Following a talk by
Fed chairman Alan
Greenspan, the student
teams simulated a Federal
Open Market Committee
meeting, with each team
member taking on the
identity of a committee
governor or chairperson.
They used their knowledge
of die Fed and economics
to forecast where the
economy is headed and
recommend national
monetary policy and then
were questioned by three
judges for about 15
minutes.
The Lafayette contingent
advanced to the final round
by winning a 12-team
regional competition at
the Baltimore Branch of
the Federal Reserve of
Richmond. This was just
the second year that
Lafayette participated in
the contest. •
Ryan Waite '05 (left) and Scott Hummel, associate professor
of mechanical engineering.
SENIOR honors research
by Ryan Waite '05 will
help enable engineers to
accurately test galling,
or wear that occurs in
metal-to-metal contact.
The biomedical field will
benefit most from the
work, which Waite hopes
will prolong the life of
expensive operating-room
MEETING THE CHALLENGE
A TEAM of students
took third place at the
College Fed Challenge
National Championship
in Washington, D.C. The
octet shared a $5,000 prize
and won an additional
$2,500 for the economics
and business department.
Team members were
seniors Peter Gagliano,
Jennifer Rute, Shreedhar
Sasikumar, Samantha
Schackman, and Katelyn
Wilkins, juniors Daniela
Simova and Dogan
Yiginer, and sophomore
PRESIDENT Arthur J.
R o t h k o p f ' 5 5 has been
named senior vice president
and counselor to the
president of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce,
Washington, D.C. He will
assist on several initiatives
including workforce
development, education,
and transportation, as
well as assist with the
chamber's new initiative
on capital markets.
"Arthur's skills and
experience will be invaluable
as we address the important
challenges facing the business
community—finding
workers with the right skills,
rebuilding our nation's
infrastructure, and protecting
the capital markets," said
Thomas J. Donohue,
president and CEO of
the chamber, the world's
largest business federation,
representing more than three
million businesses of every
size, sector, and region.
"At a time when businessbashing has become a
popular sport, Ardiur's
wisdom, keen intellect, and
corporate legal experience
will provide a reasoned
influence. He can provide
a unique perspective with
combined knowledge
from academia, public
service, law, and finance." •
TAKING RESEARCH OVERSEAS
CHEMICAL engineering
major Gabriella Engelhart
' 0 5 (right) conducted
research with James K.
Ferri (left), assistant
professor of chemical
engineering, at the
Max Planck Institute for
Colloids and Interface
Science in Golm-Potsdam,
Germany, as part of her
yearlong honors thesis.
The recipient of the
national Goldwater and
Udall Scholarships, she
earned second place in the
poster competition for her
presentation at November's
annual meeting of the
American Institute of
Chemical Engineers.
Ferri is conducting 18
months of research at the
Planck Institute over three
years through a fellowship
from the Alexander von
GRANT FUNDS
BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
Humboldt Foundation,
focusing on the materials
science of nanoscale films—
those at the atomic,
molecular, or macromolecular level—
synthesized using layerby-layer adsorption of
oppositely charged
polymers. These new
materials are finding
application as sustained
drug-delivery vehicles; as
photonic crystals used in
telecommunications, detector technologies, and lasers;
and in biotechnology and
chemical catalyst areas. •
Earning Outstanding
Soloist kudos for "Can't
Take My Eyes Off of You,"
Toni Ahrens ' 0 5 (above)
led the women of Cadence
to a second-place finish in
an 11-team field and a spot
in the regional finals later
that day where they
placed third. Cadence
qualified for the Cornell
competition by placing
third in a divisional contest
at Rochester Institute of
Technology, where
Ahrens was also named
Outstanding Soloist.
Quintessence, a coed
jazz group, and The
Chorduroys, a male
ensemble, advanced to
the semifinals by finishing
third and fourth,
respectively, in a divisional
competition at Rutgers
University. Kaytlin Henry
' 0 7 of Quintessence
received an Outstanding
Arrangement award for
"I Dream of Jeannie." •
SWEET SOUNDS
LAFAYETTE was the
only school with three
ensembles in the midAtlantic regional semifinal
round of the International
Championship of
Collegiate A Cappella
at Cornell University.
T H E NATIONAL Science
Foundation awarded
Yih-Choung Yu, assistant
professor of electrical and
computer engineering, a
$138,000 grant to enhance
learning opportunities for
students in his biomedical
laboratory in Acopian
Engineering Center.
Funded by a Lindback
Foundation grant, Yu and
three students developed
a mock circulatory system
that simulates key blood
pressures and flows in the
systemic circulation of the
human cardiovascular
system. The NSF grant
makes possible continued
improvement of the system
as well as development and
testing of a controller for
ventricular-assist devices,
or heart pumps, used as
bridge-to-transplant or
bridge-to-recovery devices
for heart-failure patients.
Six students have
worked with Yu, and
more will help model the
human cardiovascular
system and develop
ventricular-assist devices
through independent
studies, honors theses,
and EXCEL collaborations
with Yu and other
professors. •
FOR MORE
www.lafayette.edu
Click on Undergraduate
Research.
HILLEL RECORDS HEBREW BALLADS
TREASURE RESTORED
HILLEL SOCIETY
president Benji Berlow '06
and other students are
recording a CD of Hebrew
ballads to enrich the
society's weekly Friday
evening services. Jessica
Lenza '05 is singing lead
vocals, and Berlow is
accompanying her on
guitar and singing on
some tracks. The CD,
which includes English
translations of the lyrics as
well as Hebrew-to-English
transliterations, will be
available to all students.
"It's exciting to think
we're close to having a
professionally recorded
CD," says Lenza, the
society's religious chair,
who hopes to become
a cantor.
"I love Jewish music and
find my own spirituality
AN EGYPTIAN papyrus
from Skillman Library's
special collections underwent conservation treatment
at the Conservation Center
for Art and Historic
Artifacts in Philadelphia,
one of the nation's largest
regional conservation
laboratories. Adhered to
a thick pane of glass in a
number of areas, the papyrus
had suffered major damage,
including tears and cracks.
Staff at CCAHA have
removed the papyrus from
the glass and consolidated
it and are preparing a new
housing for it.
Jessica Lenza '05 sings vocals and Benji Berlow '06 is
accompanying her on guitar.
when I play during
services," Berlow says.
"Many people have told
me the services have
opened them up to a
different and invigorating
style of service that tries
to be as inclusive as
possible."
Lafayette Hillel has
about 100 active members.
"I love that our Hillel
attracts a lot of non-Jewish
members and I think this
CD will encourage even
more people to come
and be a part of Hillel,"
Lenza says. •
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: PICTURING US
AN EXHIBITION
of students' photos
showing how students
of color see themselves
at Lafayette and how
others perceive them
was a highlight of
Black History Month.
The College's
celebration explored
perceptions and pictorial
representations of Africans,
African-Americans, and
the Diaspora across
generations and illustrated
the many different ways
that students of color
have been and continue
to be a part of the
Lafayette community. •
The center features the
restoration on its home
page (www.ccaha.org),
with images of the papyrus.
Lafayette students in
the Ancient Art class taught
by Ida Sinkevic, associate
professor of art, visited
the lab to learn about the
treatment. The papyrus will
be returned to the College
during the summer. •
FOR MORE
www. I afayette.edu
Click on News/Headlines for
Campus News, updated daily.
EQUI-LIBRIUM
PLAN FOR Project
ATHLETICS CERTIFICATION
SHE'S LEARNED
as much outside the
classroom as in it, says
Emily Fogelberg '05.
That's saying something
for a double major (history
and economics & business)
who has studied abroad,
collaborated with faculty
in EXCEL research, and
written an honors thesis.
Among other
cocurricular and
extracurricular activities,
Fogelberg headed the
Landis Community
Outreach Center's
Equi-librium program,
which provides weekly
horse-riding lessons for
children and adults with
cognitive and physical
disabilities.
"It helps people
physically by working their
muscles and helping them
learn to control their body
and posture, but there is a
C O M P U T E R science
majors developed a plan
to guide the Easton human
services organization
ProJeCt for People in
updating its technology and
using it to promote literacy.
It was a senior capstone
project for Michael Bohr,
Konstantinos Bousmalis,
Rob McEwen, Lucas
Girdley, Matthew
Hokanson, Stephen
Kelley, and Andrew
Phillips. They were
guided by Chun Wai Liew,
assistant professor of
computer science.
ProJeCt administers
language and literacy,
emergency assistance, and
children's programs and is
the administrative agency
for Northampton County
Communities That
Care, which serves local
elementary and secondary
students. •
W I T H T H E second
cycle of the National
Collegiate Athletic
Association's Division I
athletics certification
program under way, the
College and the NCAA
are reviewing Lafayette's
athletics program in
accordance with NCAA
guidelines mandating
periodic evaluations.
Lafayette has been certified
by the NCAA since 1998,
the first phase of
the
^^^^^^^^
really important
psychological aspect in
having them control, ride,
and develop a relationship
with a horse," says
Fogelberg, who has 14
years' experience riding
horses and has competed in
national and international
equestrian competitions.
"When you can ride and
control a 1,000-pound
animal, you open up a lot
of other possibilities." •
FEUER'S FULBRICHT
T H E N I N T H student
to receive a Fulbright
grant in the last six years
is Hart Feuer ' 0 5 who
will study trans-boundary
environmental cooperation
between Israel and Jordan.
A two-time Udall
Scholarship recipient,
Oregon state finalist
in this year's Rhodes
Scholarship competition,
and national finalist for a
2004 Truman Scholarship,
he conducted research in
Cambodia with funding
from the Henry Luce
Foundation. He analyzed
the social capital, market
interaction, and incomegeneration capability
of two Cambodian villages
in a senior honors thesis
with the guidance of
David Stifel (right),
assistant professor
of economics and business.
The former president
of Lafayette Environmental Awareness and
Protection, he is interning
at the Philadelphia-based
organizations Energy
Justice Network and
ActionPA and intends
to pursue a career with
agencies engaged in the
topic of social capital
and environmental
conflict mediation. •
initiative,
which
evaluates
academic integrity,
rules compliance,
student-athlete welfare
and equity, and other
factors. The current
process is designed to
earn reaffirmation of that
certification. Lafayette will
submit a self-study report
to the NCAA in October.
Representatives of other
colleges and universities
will visit the College in
February to evaluate the
report and how the athletics
program conforms with
the College's mission and
with NCAA rules. •
STOCKTON STUDIES KOREA
AWARDED A Fall
Fellowship in Korean
Studies by Freeman
Foundation and Korea
Information Service,
Larry Stockton (left
with Ashlee Snyder '05),
professor and head
of music, visited points
of historical and cultural
significance in South Korea
for 12 days, hearing
prominent scholars speak
on Korea's history, art,
language, architecture,
economy, literature,
and culture.
"As former director of
East Asian Studies, I am
SENOCAKIN RESIDENCE
|
§
|
2
very interested in adding
more depth to the Korea
component of the program.
Our current strengths lie
primarily in Japan and
China, and we are
committed to expanding
elements of Korean
studies," he says.
Stockton also intends
to incorporate traditional
Korean culture in his
World Music Traditions
course. His similar previous
experiences in Japan
(1986), Indonesia (1991),
and Ghana (2000) all
resulted in either new
courses or significant
additions to courses.
"The direct educational
benefits of these experiences
have been fantastic,"
he says. •
REMEMBERING TSUNAMI VICTIMS
T H E COLLEGE
community honored
tsunami victims with
a candlelight vigil
on the Farinon College
Center steps. Speakers
included President
Arthur J. Rothkopf'55;
Char Gray, director of
the Landis Community
Outreach Center; College
Chaplain John Colatch;
Patti Price '75, deputy
director of the Northeast
region of CARE; Mevan
Jayasinghe '08; and
Inku Subedi '05.
"It was frustrating to
College Chaplain John Colatch speaks at a candlelight vigil
for tsunami victims.
be unable to approach
and console my friends
and family during the
worst times," says
Jayasinghe of Colombo,
Sri Lanka. "Being so far
away from home, I could
only hope that things
would get better. I owe
it to my professors and
companions at Lafayette
for supporting me morally
during those difficult and
helpless times."
A Tsunami Relief
Committee of students,
faculty, and staff coordinated by the Landis Center
organized the event.
A number of fund raising
events have been planned
by the committee and
others on campus, including
a Phi Psi poker tournament
that raised $260. •
TURKISH-GERMAN
writer Zafer Senocak, a
leading voice in discussions
of German national and
cultural identity, was the
College's first Max Kade
Distinguished Writerin-Residence.
With Margarete
Lamb-Faffelberger,
associate professor and
head of foreign languages
and literatures, Senocak
taught a course that
explored the concepts
of identity and home in
contemporary German
literature. He also gave
poetry readings and
participated in discussions
with students and faculty.
Senocak is a widely
published poet, essayist,
journalist, and editor
whose works have been
translated into English,
Hebrew, Turkish, Dutch,
and French. His essays
and articles often address
Turkish-German issues and
problems of multiculturalism
in Germany.
Lamb-Faffelberger is
director of Lafayette's
Max Kade Center for
German Studies, established
in 2002-03 through a
grant from the Max Kade
Foundation. •
POETIC JUSTICE
T H E POETRY Society
of America honored
Lee Upton, professor
of English and writer-inresidence, with two awards
at its 95th annual awards
ceremony this spring.
Upton received the
society's Lyric Poetry
Award and The Writer
Magazine/EmAy Dickinson
Award. Author of nine
books, Upton is the
recipient of a National
Poetry Series Award
and Pushcart Prize, and
was twice the winner of
the Georgia Contemporary
Poetry Series Award.
Her fourdi book of
literary criticism, Defensive
Measures, is forthcoming
this year. Some of her
poems will be published
soon in the New Republic,
American Poetry Review,
and Vespertine, and her
fiction has appeared in
the most recent issues of
The Antioch Review and
in Ascent. •
ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIPS INCREASED
T H E LAFAYETTE
Scholars Program is being
enhanced. Beginning with
the class of 2009 awards
to Marquis Scholars
with no or low financial
need will increase from
$12,500 to $16,000 per
year. Marquis Scholars
with high need will now
receive $2,500 in addition
to assistance in the
full amount of their
demonstrated need.
All Marquis Scholars
will continue receiving
one interim-session
study-abroad course
with program fees paid
by the College. The
minimum award to
Trustee Scholar-ship
recipients has been
increased from $7,500
to $8,000 each year for
students with no or low
need, or full grant to need
each year if need exceeds
$8,000. The College
awards about 90 Marquis
and Trustee scholarships
annually. •
WHAT YOU SEE...
CORTAZAR SHINES
LEOPARDS' third baseman
Frank Cortazar '07 was
named to the ESPN The
Magazine Academic AllDistrict II Team. A starter
in all but one of Lafayette's
44 games, Cortazar batted
.310 with 3 home runs
and 18 runs batted in and
was named second-team
All-Patriot League.
Throughout the academic
year, Cortazar,
a Marquis Scholar and
biochemistry major,
conducted research on
a protein called DNA
photolyase as an EXCEL
Scholar in collaboration
with Yvonne Gindt,
assistant professor of
chemistry. The work is
continuing this summer. •
Students helped French artist Georges Rousse create
an "optical puzzle" in the Williams Center Gallery, part
of an exhibition entitled Interventions.
Rousse integrates
photography with drawing, painting, sculpture, and
architecture to create site-specific work. H e and the students
worked with paint, simple building materials, and the laws
of perspective.
FOR MORE
www.lafayette.edu
Click on Calendar of Events for a listing
of campus exhibits, performances, etc.
Official Lafayette
Sports Photos Available
for Purchase Online
Lafayette alumni,
parents, and fans can
purchase official photos
of their favorite Leopard
student-athletes at
www. GoLeopards. com.
Action photos from
2005 men's and women's
lacrosse, Softball, track
and field, and baseball
seasons are available.
DANCIN'FOR CHARITY
MATH TEAM ISN0.1
Proceeds from the 26th
annual 24-hour Dance
Marathon, hosted by
Kappa Delta Rho fraternity
and Pi Beta Phi sorority,
benefited the Children's
H o m e o f Easton. O r g a n i z e d
by Joanna Mack '05, the
event featured performances
by the Lafayette Dance
Team, cheerleaders, T h e
Chorduroys, guitarist Kevin
Fitzpatrick '05, and a rock
band led by Dan Fast '05.
F O R T H E fifth
consecutive year, a
Lafayette team earned first
place in the annual math
contest conducted by the
Lehigh Valley Association
of Independent Colleges.
Leading the way with 91
of a possible 100 points
were Rob McEwen '05,
Ekaterina Jager '06, and
Jinjin Qian '08. Lafayette
squads took four of the
top five places in the
October event hosted
by Moravian College. •
STUDENT EXPERIENCES: "THROUGH MY EYES, IN MY WORDS"
STUDENTS have begun
sharing their Lafayette
Experience on the web
by telling their story
using their own words
complemented by
a small photo album.
The project is
coordinated by Toni
Ahrens '05 who is one
of the featured students.
She writes on her page:
"There is something for
everyone at Lafayette, but
if you can't find what you
are looking for, you can
create it."
Creating is just what
Ashlee Snyder '05, a
neuroscience and music
graduate, did when she
came to Lafayette with
ambitions of tackling not
only the sciences but the
arts as well. In her photo
album, she can be seen
singing in Soulfege,
touring with classmates
AWARD AIDS
MATH STUDENTS
in Finland, and helping
students as a chemistry
teaching assistant (above
center). Snyder plans on
using both of her majors to
attend medical school and
become an entertainment
specialist.
Throughout the coming
year, more students will
be adding their Lafayette
Experience to the site.
Currently featured
are Ahrens, Snyder,
Jay Amarillo '05,
Benji Berlow '06, Gabi
Engelhart '05, LeAnn
Dourte '05, Hart Feuer
'05, Emily Fogelberg '05,
Maya Freelon '05, Brad
Maurer '07, Dave Mitchell
'05, and Ben Wilmoth '05.
Assisting with the project
are Dan DiMartino '08,
who developed a Flash
presentation for the photos,
and photographer Greg
Davis '08. •
F O R M O R E WWW.lafayette.edu Click on Magazine Highlights to visit
"Student Experiences: Through My Eyes,
In My Words."
LAFAYETTE IS one of
six colleges and universities
nationally this year to receive
the American Mathematical
Society's Waldemar J.
Trjitzinsky Memorial Award
to aid talented undergraduates studying math.
Prince Chidyagwai '05,
Ekaterina Jager '06, and
Blerta Shtylla '05 benefited
from the $4,000 award.
Chidyagwai has presented
research at national
conferences. Jager has
presented research at
a national conference
and had a publication
accepted by an academic
journal. Last summer
Shtylla participated in the
Program for Women in
Mathematics held by the
Institute for Advanced
Study and Princeton
University and studied
in the bioengineering
department at the
Mayo Graduate School. •
WILEY PLAYS ON
CHEMICAL engineering
major Alyssa Wiley '05
was tapped to perform
in the spring festival of
the Pennsylvania
Intercollegiate Band, a
125-member ensemble
that brings together the
best college musicians
in the state.
A clarinetist, she's the
first Lafayette student so
BEINECKE FORGENDLER
honored in nearly 20 years,
and nothing could stop
her from performing in
the March fest, not even
a January auto accident
that put her right hand
in a cast for 7 weeks
with multiple compound
fractures of four bones
and doctors' cautionary
pronouncements that
she might never play
her instrument again.
"This is a big
accomplishment; it's
like a student presenting
a paper at a national
conference," says James
Moyer, associate professor
of music and director of
bands. "This puts us on
the map for high school
students who want to
play in college." •
ALUMNI SHARE CAREER INSIGHTS
NEUROSCIENCE major
Amy Goldstein '05
spent five days shadowing
Philip Pacchiana '91,
staff surgeon at Fifth
Avenue Veterinary
Specialists & Emergency
Care, New York City,
during January interim.
She was among 215
students who gained first-
hand knowledge of the
professional world through
short externships with
191 alumni and parents
in various occupations.
The students observed
work practices, learned
about careers, and
developed professional
networking contacts.
"The externship was a
really great experience," says
Goldstein. "It taught me a
lot of things and definitely
confirmed for me that I
want to go to vet school."
"I did a similar
externship myself while
I was at Lafayette," says
Pacchiana. "It's a great
position to be in to do
that for someone else." •
F O R MORES WWW.lafayette.edu Click on Externships and Internships
to read about other sudents' experiences
or volunteer to host.
A BEINECKE Scholarship,
providing funding for
graduate studies in the
arts, humanities, or social
sciences, was awarded
to Alex Gendler '06, a
double major in English
and philosophy.
One of 18 recipients,
Gendler is in excellent
company. Each year about
100 colleges and universities
are invited to nominate one
student each for the award.
This year's 104 eligible
institutions included 41
of the nation's top liberal
arts colleges as currently
ranked by U.S. News &
World Report. Of these,
only five had scholarship
recipients: Lafayette,
Holy Cross, Mount
Holyoke, Pomona, and
Reed. Other recipients are
from national universities,
including Harvard,
Princeton, Pennsylvania,
Columbia, Stanford, and
Johns Hopkins.
A Trustee Scholar,
Gendler is currently
serving as EXCEL research
assistant to James Woolley
(right), Frank Lee and
Edna M. Smith Professor
of English. •
SNAPSPOTS
KIDS AND BOOKS
ONEOFAKIND
T H E LAND IS
Community Outreach
Center launched its new
First Book program during
the center's fourth annual
Literacy Day on campus.
Each child participating in
Literacy Day activities was
given two new books.
First Book, a national
nonprofit whose mission
is to give children from
low-income families the
opportunity to read and
own their first new books,
distributes books to
children through existing
outreach programs.
Scholastic Community
Starter Books donated
4,000 new books to
Lafayette's First Book
program.
NATURE, the international
weekly journal of science,
featured the simulated
snowflakes of Cliff Reiter,
professor of mathematics, as
the lead item on its web site.
Working with Prince
Chidyagwai '05, Reiter
used mathematical processes
called cellular automata
to model the growth of
snowtlakes with "the classic
'dendrite' form, in which six
central stems divide and
taper to increasingly fine
fronds," the site says. The
research will be published in
the journal Chaos, Solutions
and Fractals.
Reiter has mentored more
than 30 students in various
academic projects in the last
seven years.
"To be able to publish
has been the biggest thing
for me as an undergraduate,
and a lot of it is due to
the wonderful working
relationship I've had with
Cliff," Chidyagwai says. •
"The goal of First Book
is that each child will
receive a book per month
for a whole year. This is
how First Book enables
children to build their own
collections, and this is
how it is able to make the
impact that it has," says
Dan Ruch, chair of
Lafayette's First Book
campus advisory board. •
McCOURT SCORES WITH MAXWELL CLUB
T H E MAXWELL Football
Club of Philadelphia
named Joe McCourt '05,
powerhouse tailback of the
Patriot League champion
football team, Tri-State
Player of the Year.
The league's Offensive
Player of the Year, McCourt
was named All-America
by the American Football
Coaches Association and
CollegeSportsReport.com
and All-Adantic Region
by Football Gazette. He
ran for 1,193 yards and a
school-record-tying 16
touchdowns to help
Lafayette advance to the
NCAA Division I-AA
Playoffs for the first time.
He's Lafayette's No. 2
career rusher (4,474 yards)
and just the second player
to run for 1,000 yards in
three different seasons.
McCourt received the
Maxwell prize at the club's
68th annual awards banquet
March 4. Among other
honorees were Indianapolis
Colts quarterback Peyton
Manning, the pro player
of the year, and Oklahoma
University quarterback
Jason White, national
collegiate player of the
year. •
SHOWCASING INTERIM COURSES ABROAD
ON TOP DOWN UNDER
PICTURED by the 10thcentury Muiredach Cross
at Ireland's Monastery
of Monasterboice are
Erin Whittaker ' 0 5 (L-R),
Jodie Ahart '06, Toni
Regan ' 0 5 , Catherine
Hobby ' 0 5 , Meghan
Mara '05, and Jillian
Carpenter '05. They
were among two dozen
students who studied
Ireland's land and landscape
during interim session with
Joseph J. Martin, associate
professor emeritus of
English, and Jack Truten,
visiting assistant professor
of English.
Each year more than
150 Lafayette students
take three-week, faculty-led
courses around the world in
January. Other destinations
this year were Kenya and
Tanzania, Thailand and
Myanmar, Germany and
the Czech Republic, the
Bahamas, and France. •
AN ACADEMIC prize
and Dean of Students
Commendation were won
by Inku Subedi ' 0 5 while
studying at Australia's
University of Queensland.
F O R M O R E WWW.lafayette.edu Click on Magazine Highlights. Students
share their experiences and images in
"Through My Eyes, In My Words."
PROGRAMMED FOR SUCCESS
TWO TEAMS of
Lafayette students
combined to place sixth
among 73 institutions in
the mid-Atlantic regional
competition of the
Association of Computing
Machinery's International
Collegiate Programming
Contest.
The first team included
Oliver Bowen '05,
Stephen Kelley ' 0 5 , and
Zachary Reiter '07, and
the second Farhan Ahmed
'05, Konstantinos
Bousmalis '05, and
Mayank Lahiri '05.
"The students worked
very well together and
came very close to
qualifying for the world
championships to be held
in Shanghai, China, since
the top four teams overall
qualify," says team adviser
Chun Wai Liew, assistant
professor of computer
science. •
She received Queensland's
Frank Pavlin Memorial
Prize, which includes a
cash award, for earning
the highest mark in an
introductory course in
social work. The dean's
commendation was for
placing in the top tier of
students enrolled in the
university's study-abroad
program.
A double major in
anthropology & sociology
and psychology, Subedi
was active outside the
classroom as an events
coordinator for Oxfam-UQ,
events convener of Amnesty
International-UQ, and
member of the NepalAustralian friendship
association. •
NEW CENTER, NEW LOGO
ROTHKOPF SCHOLARS TO SPAIN
T H E FIRST Arthur J.'55
and Barbara S. Rothkopf
Scholars studied art and
architecture in Spain during
May. Stefany Feliciano '06
(L-R), art historian
Lynette Bosch, Greg
Herchenroetlier '06,
Jenna Cellini '06, and
Kristen Holahan '06
visited Segovia's gothic
cathedral (above) on
Plaza Mayor (Main Square).
"Each year a select
group of the department's
most promising junior
majors will study overseas,"
says Robert S. Mattison,
Metzgar Professor and
head of art, funded by an
endowment established
through gifts to the
Lafayette Leadership
Campaign in the
Rothkopfs' honor.
The students explored
multiculturalism in Spain,
examining Christian,
Jewish, and Muslim
components of Spanish
culture through art and
architecture in Madrid,
Santiago de Campostela,
Granada, Segovia,
Salamanca, Avila,
and Toledo.
Experts from outside
Lafayette will lead the
trips. The first was
Bosch, associate professor
of art history at State
University of New York
College at Geneseo. •
INSPIRED BY Roy
Lichtenstein, Elizabeth
Robb '05 designed the
logo for downtown
Easton's new Lehigh Valley
Center for Modern Art.
2ML
A
|LEHIGH VALLEY CENTER FOR MODERN
1
Students in the course
Solving Communication
Problems, taught by
Lew Minier, director of
the art department's media
lab in the Williams Visual
Arts Building, took their
shots at coming up with a
logo for the new center, with
Robb's coming out on top.
The students also developed
letterhead, envelopes, and
business cards. •
FOR MORE
www.lafayette.edu
SENIORS' PROM
T H E LANDIS Community
Outreach Center's third
annual Lafapalooza
weekend volunteering
blitz mobilized scores
of members of the Lafayette
community for two solid
days of service projects
in Easton and the
surrounding area.
Jen Spiciarich '08
helped out at a "senior
prom" featuring dining
and dancing at Easton
Senior Citizens Center. •
ART|
Click on Creative Projects.
HONOR FOR HOLTON
T H E LIBRARY of Congress
has selected The Skillet,
an etching and collage by
Curlee Raven Holton,
professor of art and director
of the Experimental
Printmaking Institute, for
inclusion in its collection.
Measuring 22 by 30 inches,
The Skillet is a hand-cut,
acid-effected metal-plate
etching featuring the image
ATHLETIC AND
ACADEMIC
ACCOLADES
of an African mask. It was
produced in 1989. Another
Holton piece, The Qiiilt,
was recently acquired by
Pennsylvania Academy
of the Fine Arts. •
AUTHENTIC ARTIFACTS
A first-team Patriot
League all-star at right
guard and co-captain of
the Leopards' league
championship team,
Stephen Bono '05 (right)
was awarded an NCAA
Postgraduate Scholarship
and Division I-AA Athletic
Directors Association
Postgraduate Scholarship.
The Marquis Scholar civil
engineering graduate plans
to pursue an advanced
degree in structural
engineering.
A four-year starter
on the gridiron and the
league's Scholar-Athlete
of the Year in football,
Bono was also named to
the ESPN The Magazine
Academic All-America
First Team and made
his third consecutive
appearance on both
the CoSIDA Academic
All-District II Team and
I-AA Athletic Directors'
Academic All-Star Team.
He is the only two-time
winner of the Maroon
Club's Scholar-Athlete
of the Year Award. •
DIGITAL STORYTELLING
Lindsay Laborda '08 (left), Solange Bethart '08, and classmates
created "artifacts" of a fictitious civilization in their First-Year
Seminar "Fact or Fiction: Authenticity and Artifact." The results
were displayed at the Williams Center Gallery.
T H E CENTER FOR
Educational Technology,
Middlebury, Vt., and
Lafayette's instructional
technology staff presented
a workshop for faculty,
librarians, and technologists
on multimedia narrative
at Skillman Library.
Multimedia narrative, or
digital storytelling, uses
digital media (e.g., recorded
voice, still images, video,
visual effects) to build
a short video that can
teach a lesson, illustrate
literature, describe a process,
recall historical or family
events, or accomplish
other communications
purposes. The workshop
gave attendees greater
theoretical understanding
of multimedia narrative
and technical skills to
create pedagogical materials
and teach students to
communicate effectively
through multimedia
projects. •
FACULTY BOOKS
Sotise A Huit
Personnages
[Le Nouveau Monde]
Librairie Droz S.A.,
2005, 344 pp.
By Olga Anna Duhl, associate
professor of foreign languages
and literatures
Faith Ringgold:
A View from the Studio
Bunker Hill Publishing,
2004, 64 pp.
By Curlee Holton, professor
of art and director of Lafayette's
Experimental Printmaking
Institute, with Faith Ringgold
Wildlife Diseases: Landscape
Epidemiology, Spatial
Distribution and
Utilization
of Remote Sensing Technology
The Pennsylvania Academy
of Science, 2005, 506 pp.
Co-edited by Shyamal K.
Majumdar, Gideon R. Jr.
and Alice L. Kreider Professor
of Biology
SOTISE
A H U I T PERSONNAIGES
|1 r .Nnuma M.ntr|
The Missing Person
Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, 294 pp.
By Alix Ohlin, assistant
professor of English
Francis A. March: Selected
Writings of the First Professor
of English
Lafayette College, 2005,
280 pp.
Edited by Paul Schlueter
and June Schlueter, provost
and Charles A. Dana Professor
of English
Literature, Religion, and
East/West Comparison: Essays
in Honor of Anthony C. Tu
University of Delaware Press,
2005, 296 pp.
Edited by Eric J. Ziolkowski,
Charles A. Dana Professor
of Religious Studies and
department head
D-Days in the Pacific
Simon & Schuster Paperbacks,
2005, 426 pp.
By Donald L. Miller,
John Henry MacCracken
Professor of History
F O R M O R E WWW.lafayette.edu Click on Exceptional Faculty.
SPOTLICHT
BRENDAN RIVAGE-SEUL '05
STUDYING PERILS OF WATER PRIVATIZATION
HAVING TRAVELED ACROSS the globe through
four study abroad experiences, Brendan Rivage-Seul '05
has witnessed the negative consequences when water
becomes a privatized commodity in impoverished areas.
The double major in international affairs and Spanish
examined the issue in an honors thesis guided by James
DeVault, associate professor of economics and business.
"The increasing levels of unregulated water
privatization in developed and undeveloped countries
alike represent a direct threat to the lives of the nearly
2.2 billion people worldwide living in absolute poverty,"
says Rivage-Seul.
His interest was piqued by an eight-month program
that took him to England, Tanzania, Oman, Singapore,
India, New Zealand, and Mexico, where he saw firsthand
what happens when people are denied access to clean
drinking water.
"I came away from the experience convinced that
water has become the new oil, and will be the hot topic
of the 21st century," he says.
Rivage-Seul was chair of the Programming Committee,
student director of Lafayette's Kids in the Community
program at St. Anthony's Recreation Center, student
associate with the Landis Community Outreach Center,
and representative for the College's study abroad Spanish
program. He also was a member of the junior varsity
basketball team, the varsity golf team, Students for
Social Justice, Investment Club, International Students
Association, and the Kirby Government and Law Society.
He was a resident adviser and Residence Hall Council
liaison, assistant fitness trainer, intramural basketball
referee, student representative on the faculty Wellness
Committee, writer for The Lafayette, and member of
the orchestra. •
• U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges 2005
spotlights Lafayette as a national leader in undergraduate
research, an "outstanding example of academic programs
that are believed to lead to student success." "In College,
In Depth" highlights the EXCEL Scholars Program and
the collaborative research of Noah Goldstein '04 and Ilan
Peleg, Dana Professor of Government and Law.
• Katelyn Connell '04, Gabriella Engelhart '05, and
Elizabeth Ponder '04 are recipients of National Science
Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.
• Fox News Channel's national "Fox Report Saturday"
features Lafayette in a story about the new Scholastic
Aptitude Test, saying, "This is Lafayette College in Easton,
Pa. It's listed in Barron's as one of the toughest schools to
get into in the whole country."
• Alex Gendler '06, a double major in English and
philosophy, is awarded a Beinecke Scholarship for graduate studies in the arts, humanities, or social sciences.
• History Channel International's weekly Global View
program features Joshua Sanborn, associate professor of
history, in an episode on the Russian Revolution and its
impact on the 20th century.
• Katie Thoren '06 is awarded a Goldwater Scholarship,
the premier national undergraduate award in math,
science, and engineering. Lafayette students have received
11 Goldwaters in the last six years, and the College is No.
1 among the nation's top 100 liberal arts colleges in U.S.
News & World Report in the number of Goldwaters (nine)
in the last four years.
• The New York Times features the 140th renewal of
Lafayette vs. Lehigh, college football's most-played
rivalry, in "Still Playing After All Those Years."
• Thirty-nine students are invited to make presentations
on their scholarly research at the 19th annual National
Conference on Undergraduate Research.
• The Christian Science Monitor mentions Lafayette's
interim-session course in Kenya and Tanzania in a
story on "short, tightly focused programs abroad [that
allow students] exposure to worlds they might otherwise
never see."
• Donald L. Miller, MacCracken Professor of History, is
a featured on-camera expert in "Victory in the Pacific," a
program on PBS' American Experience series. He is author
of a new book. D-Days in the Pacific, companion volume
to a three-part History Channel program of the same name.
He has been selected as co-chair of the National D-Day
Museum's International WWII Conference in October.
• U.S. News & World Report spotlights Jamila Bookwala,
assistant professor of psychology, in its cover story "50
Ways to Fix Your Life."
• Joseph Crobak '06 is among fewer than 20 students in the
nation to receive a scholarship from Upsilon Pi Epsilon, the
international computer science honor society. Lafayette is
the only institution to have three students in four years earn
a UPE scholarship.
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