Dickinson Magazine: Winter 2015

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NUMBER 3

DICKINSON MAGAZINE

WINTER 2015

VOLUME 92

NUMBER 3

[ contents ] Dickinson Published by the Division of Enrollment, Marketing & Communications Executive Director of Marketing & Communications Connie McNamara Editor Michelle Simmons Assistant Editor Lauren Davidson College Photographer Carl Socolow ’77 Design Landesberg Design Printer Intelligencer Contributing Writers Matt Getty MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson Tony Moore Grace Fisher ’15 Sasha Shapiro ’15 Magazine Advisory Group Gail Birch Huganir ’80 Donna Hughes Jim Gerencser ’93 Matthew Fahnestock ’02 Marsha M. Ray David Richeson Adrienne Su Web site www.dickinson.edu/magazine E-mail Address dsonmag@dickinson.edu Telephone 717-245-1289 Facebook www.facebook.com/DickinsonMagazine © Dickinson College 2015. Dickinson Magazine (USPS Permit No. 19568, ISSN 2719134) is published four times a year, in January, April, July and October, by Dickinson College, P.O. Box 1773, Carlisle, Cumberland County, PA 17013-1773. Periodicals postage paid at Carlisle, PA, and additional mailing office.

17 Crossing Boundaries: President’s Report As an engaged community of learners, Dickinson remains dedicated to the liberal arts and focused on crossing boundaries, connecting disciplines and challenging the status quo. President Nancy A. Roseman provides an extensive, holistic view of what’s happening at Dickinson, including her vision for what’s ahead and reports by members of her senior leadership team outlining progress and challenges.

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Please recycle after reading.

See Web exclusives at www.dickinson.edu/magazine.

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UP FRONT

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your view

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college & west high

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kudos

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in the game

IN BACK

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beyond the limestone walls

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our Dickinson

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obituaries

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closing thoughts

[ your view ] Resonant Voices I just completed reading the most recent Dickinson Magazine, including the Ask the Archivist column regarding the guests at Dickinson. As a 1983 graduate I not only remember the Commencement speech from Sir Richard Attenborough but also the heavy downpour that caused the ceremony to be held in the Kline Center. Although I cannot quote from the speech, I do remember everyone in attendance stood and applauded.

Another guest I vividly recall is Ted Koppel. He spoke of then-current world events and responded to a question from the audience about Barbara Walters. Ted Koppel was the epitome of professionalism and integrity.

He demonstrated for me the art of being direct without the callousness and self-serving mentality seen too often today.

As much as Sir Attenborough and Mr. Koppel “resonated” with me, no single individual had more impact on the way I think, the way I look at things and the advice I share with my own kids, both now in college, than Professor Eugene Hickok. He always encouraged us to not take anyone’s word alone: to think, learn and benefit.

SCOTT SAMANSKY ’83

SPRINGFIELD, N.J.

The Worst Dickinsonians?

Tribute to Arturo Fox

Marking Twain

I must issue a strong dissent to the letter (opinion) of Michael A. Della Vecchia ‘68 published in the fall issue, in which he brags about two Dickinson graduates: Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, class of 1795, and President James Buchanan, class of 1809.

I feel nothing but chagrin that I share a Dickinson degree with these two personages. Taney, who was chief justice from 1835 until his death in 1861, was the author of the horrific Dred Scott decision, which upheld slavery in the most strident terms, stating for example that slaves were not citizens of the United States. Buchanan, a single-term president (1857-61) is almost uniformly thought to have been the worst U.S. president: Nate Silver recently stated that Buchanan was the “43rd best President.” There are many Dickinson graduates of whom we can be very proud, but certainly not Taney and Buchanan. Let’s keep their affiliation to ourselves.

It was with great sadness and grateful memories that I learned of the passing of Arturo Fox (see obituary on Page 55). El profesor Fox entered my college career when I was a junior and he had just arrived on campus. Until that time the emphasis of my Spanish courses had been entirely on peninsular Spanish.

I barely knew Latin America existed. Fox not only provided me with some of the greatest intellectual stimulation I’d yet experienced at Dickinson but he also opened to me the world of Latin American literature, history and culture that has been my passion ever since. His survey course of Latin American literature gave me the basis; his subsequent courses in short story, drama and novel¥—¥ several as seminars with only two of us¥—¥provided me with my first real opportunity to think and speak in Spanish to the point of acquiring fluency while never having been abroad. Because of Professor Fox I went on to teach high-school Spanish for 37 years and have been a constant traveler to Latin America.

My experiences with the people and cultures of that region have been meaningful beyond anything I could have imagined, and my ability to share my love of this vibrant culture and language with thousands of high-school students was the great joy of my professional life. Muchisimas gracias, profe, for all you enabled me to do and to be.

Your fall 2014 article about Professor of Theatre Todd Wronski’s turn as Mark Twain brought back vivid memories: Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Well, not exactly. Different makeup, different actor, but still Mark Twain.

As an undergraduate, I often had the responsibility of hanging, aiming and running dramatic stage lighting for some of our visiting artists, including Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight. After spending a day and a half setting up two sets of lighting effects for his performance, I got to watch Mr. Holbrook apply his makeup. It took several hours and the transformation was amazing.

Opportunities like that, plus the important influence of theatre professor David F. Brubaker, have kept theatre active in my life today. In the last 11 months I have acted in productions of Little Shop of Horrors and Measure for Measure, run lights for Blithe Spirit and been production assistant for Hairspray and Much Ado About Nothing, each a community-theatre project. Thank you, Mr. Holbrook, Dave Brubaker and Dickinson College!

ROBERT D. KAPLAN ’58

SARASOTA, FLA.

TRISH NIECE ’68

WALLINGFORD, CONN.

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JOHN T. “JACK” HALL ’60

RALEIGH, N.C.

Send letters via e-mail to dsonmag@dickinson.edu or mail to: Dickinson Magazine, P.O. Box 1773, Carlisle, PA 17013-1773.

Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

[ college & west high ]

Heather Shelley

Run for Steph

The Dickinson community celebrated Homecoming & Family Weekend Sept. 19-21, including the 10th-annual Run for Steph, in memory of drunk-driving victim Stephanie Kreiner ’03. The 5K race boasted a record of 477 participants and $10,940 raised. Watch race highlights at dson.co/dsonhfw14.

[ college & west high ]

Carl Socolow ’77

Out of Context

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H

e must have spun a wondrous scene, perched on the front steps of his childhood home in Sherburne, N.Y., with his first invention — a jerry-rigged bubble-machine, made from an electric fan, a record player, an old LP with holes drilled in it and a slosh of soapy water — sending cascades of iridescence into the air, delighting passersby. Some 40 years later, Jim Hoefler is still community minded, as both a political science professor and a volunteer, and still quite the showman — though these days, he channels that verve into his lectures.

And he’s never stopped tinkering, gifting loved ones with handmade puzzle boxes and carving out a secret cubbyhole in his home — accessible, Scooby-Doo-style, by a revolving bookcase — for a daughter who loved to squirrel away with a book. Now, those workshop labors are paying off, as this end-of-life-policy expert rolls out an award-winning invention aimed at an agile and time-pressed generation.

With the help of just one Allen wrench, Hoefler’s XoomRooms are lightweight, fire-code-friendly and attractive temporary-wall systems that are easily installed and dismantled, leaving no telltale dents or scuffs in their wake.

Reusable and quickly assembled by children and adults alike, they create multiple possibilities for living-space, business

Two years later, Hoefler’s XoomRooms are ready to unveil. They feature adjustable anchor poles and lightweight panels for quick setup in a variety of straight and angled configurations, for rooms with a range of ceiling heights.

They also can be laid flat for storage when not in use.

Hoefler submitted his invention to the 2014 International A’ Design Competition, which draws approximately 12,000 entries from professional designers in 100-plus countries.

With a score in the top four percent, XoomRooms garnered a coveted Silver Award.

Now, after minor tweaking and several prototypes — one was installed by the two elementary-school-age children of a former student, Becca Raley ’94 — Hoefler is ready for the mass market, and he’s permitting his senior-seminar students a sneak peek behind the scenes.

Mike Adams ’15, a double major in policy management and international business & management (IB&M), and policymanagement major Casey Colburn ’15 learned about Hoefler’s ventures while chatting informally with the professor after class. “It seemed really exciting, so I just said, ‘Hey, I could use a wall!’ ” Colburn recalls.

She explained that she shares a double room with neuroscience major Carla Vazquez-Ramos ’15, and there’s an

Policy professor invents dwelling-space solution for mobile generation and trade-show experimentation. They are, as an international panel of judges noted, ideal for dynamic spaces and fastmoving lives.

Inspiration struck in 2012, as Hoefler helped his daughters move in to a first apartment in Washington, D.C. Their rent was steep, and they planned to sublet a section of their living room. After constructing a sturdy-yet-adjustable temporary wall for them, Hoefler realized that there were many others who could benefit from DIY enclosed spaces.

He got to work.

In his basement workshop, Hoefler tested many special-order materials and designs, intent on pinpointing a mass-marketable product, keeping the price point low for young people who were just starting out. He also prioritized sustainability, insisting on durable supporting elements and hardware that could be reused as clients moved from one home to the next.

“None of these [objectives] were difficult in themselves, but it was tough to meet them all at once,” Hoefler says with a laugh. “It took a lot of trial-and-error — I would think that I finally had it right, and test it. Then I’d start again the next morning, from scratch.”

open doorway — once framing French doors — between their living areas. The roommates had planned to hang a privacy curtain in the doorjamb but wondered if a XoomRoom unit might do the trick. So one day in October, Hoefler stopped by their senior-housing unit, components in tow. Adams, who is interested in learning about startups, and is conducting in-depth XoomRoom market research as part of an independent-study course, came along.

Four minutes and 37 seconds later, the first official XoomRoom installation was complete. And that weekend, Colburn did not wake up when Vazquez arose for an earlySunday-morning swim meet.

“I’m not a do-it-yourselfer kind of guy, but this installation was so easy!” says Adams, noting that the unit took just two minutes to uninstall, and about four minutes to put back up.

“And it’s not heavy at all. I can see someone like my mom putting one in.”— MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson

Learn more about XoomRooms and watch a video of an installation at www.dickinson.edu/magazine.

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fine print Dead of Autumn

By Sherry Knowlton ’72 Dead of Autumn is a murder mystery set in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania. Alexa Williams is a successful lawyer with an endearing best friend in her English mastiff, Scout. But one autumn day, when Scout takes off into the woods, Alexa becomes entangled in a murder mystery — one that she tries to unravel by linking to experiences and symbols in her own life. In her first novel, Sherry Knowlton ’72 ties together the struggles faced by women, young and old, past and present, and the degrees of power they embrace to combat their situations.

A Billion Ways to Die

By Chris Knopf ’73 At the start of Chris Knopf ’73’s highly inventive third mystery featuring market researcher Arthur Cathcart (after 2013’s Cries of the Lost), armed men seize Cathcart and girlfriend Natsumi Fitzgerald from their sailboat and threaten them with torture unless they reveal the location of a missing billion dollars, of which they know nothing. A temporary reprieve allows the couple, who have been living in the

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Caribbean under aliases, to assess their situation and conclude that they will never be safe until they get out from under the (false) charges against them back in the States, including fraud, embezzlement and murder. Some actions they take are as basic as shaking someone tailing them or adopting a disguise.

At other times, they must deal with “the ineluctable modality of the calculable.”

The Devil's to Pay: John Buford at Gettysburg. A History and Walking Tour

By Eric Wittenberg ’83 Although many books on Gettysburg have addressed the role played by Brig. Gen. John Buford and his First Cavalry Division troops, there is not a single book-length study devoted entirely to the critical delaying actions waged by Buford and his dismounted troopers and his horse artillerists on the morning of July 1, 1863. Award-winning Civil War historian Eric J. Wittenberg ’83 rectifies this with The Devil's to Pay: John Buford at Gettysburg. A History and Walking Tour. This comprehensive tactical study examines the role Buford and his horse soldiers played from June 29 through July 2, 1863, including the important actions that saved the shattered remnants of the First and the 11th Corps.

Goodbye Monsters

By Susan Rusnak-Hemme ’02 Goodbye Monsters, created by Master Sgt. Ben and Susan Rusnak-Hemme ’02, is the story of a little boy who is terrified of monsters. One day he is introduced to a magical creature named Zimbobo who has supernatural powers that keep all of the monsters away. The book comes with a stuffed replica of Zimbobo, which offers children tangible protection from the scary monsters. The concept was developed after the Hemmes continued to hear from fellow military families about the number of children who were experiencing more bedtime fear than usual with Mommy or Daddy deployed. Recognizing a need to support men and women in uniform and children everywhere who suffer from bedtime fear, Goodbye Monsters was born.

Kudos

[ college & west high ] Grants

The U.S. Department of State FY14 U.S.Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Program awarded Assistant Professor of Russian Alyssa DeBlasio and Associate Professor of Russian Elena Duzs $76,573 to conduct a two-way scholar exchange between Dickinson and the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH), with the primary goal of exchanging best practices in liberal-arts teaching, both in person and virtually.

The exchange will place faculty and students from Russia and the U.S. in consistent dialogue with their peers and will deepen the already established partnership between the two institutions. Learn more at dson.co/opendialogue.

Presentations Julie Vastine ’03, director of the Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM),

was the keynote speaker at the 10th annual MiCorps Conference of the Michigan Clean Water Corps, where she spoke on “Volunteer Monitoring: A Tool for Change.” Vastine, who has been named as the alternate volunteer monitoring representative to the National Water Quality Monitoring Council, also presented “Pennsylvania Stream Monitoring: Data Collection to Policy Action” at the Exploring Public Participation in Scientific Research Under Western Skies Conference.

Publications Michael Fratantuono, associate professor of international studies, business and management; David Sarcone, associate professor of international business and management; and John D. Colwell, deputy director of academic engagement at the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), U.S. Army War College, published The U.S.-India Relationship: Cross-Sector Collaboration to Promote Sustainable Development, a collection of reflections and transcripts from a March 2013 workshop co-hosted by Dickinson and SSI. Learn more at dson.co/roadmapthicket.

From Herman Melville’s claim that “failure is the true test of greatness” to Henry Adams’s self-identification with the “mortifying failure in [his] long education” and William Faulkner’s eagerness to be judged by his

“splendid failure to do the impossible,” the rhetoric of failure has served as a master trope of modernist American literary expression.

In False Starts: The Rhetoric of Failure and the Making of American Modernism, recently published by Northwestern University Press, Associate Professor of English David Ball addresses the fundamental questions of language, meaning and authority that run counter to claims of American innocence and positivity, beginning with the American Renaissance and extending into modernist and contemporary literature.

Professor of History Karl Qualls’ “From Niños to Soviets? Raising Spanish Refugee Children in House No. 1, 1937–1951” was published in Canadian-American Slavic Studies 48 (2014).

The journal article explores the lives of roughly 3,000 children, with teachers and caregivers, after their move to the Soviet Union in the wake of 1937-38 bombings of Guernica and northern Spain. Despite the horrors of war and multiple evacuations, oral historians have shown that overwhelmingly, although not exclusively, niños’ memories of time spent in the USSR were quite positive.

In Qualls’ close reading of archival sources, he shows that Soviet authorities removed “bad” influences from the children’s lives and provided a school curriculum and extracurricular activities that modeled proper Soviet behavior and thought. Without adults around who could provide a counternarrative, Soviets were able to control the remaking of these children into Spanish-Soviet hybrids once it became clear that the children would not be returning to Spain.

Beverley Driver Eddy, professor emerita of

German, published Camp Sharpe’s ‘Psycho Boys’: From Gettysburg to Germany, Merriam Press (2014). Drawing on company histories, memoirs and interviews, Eddy traces the history of the men of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Mobile Radio Broadcasting Companies during World War II. Lars English, associate professor of physics,

recently published two articles in Phys.Rev. E: Liam Timms ’13, L.Q. English, “Synchronization

in Phase-Coupled Kuramoto Oscillator Networks with Axonal Delay and Synaptic Plasticity,” Phys. Rev. E 89, 032906 (2014); L.Q. English, F. Palmero, Joseph F. Stormes ’13, J. Cuevas, Carretero-Gonzalez, P. G. Kevrekidis, “Nonlinear localized modes in

two-dimensional electrical lattices,” Phys.

Rev. E 88, 022912 (2013). Lars also published “Chapter 5: Experimental Results for the sine-Gordon Equation in Arrays of Coupled Torsion Pendula” in The sine-Gordon Model and its Applications: From Pendula and Josephson Junctions to Gravity and High Energy Physics (Edited by J. Cuevas, P. Kevrekidis, F. Williams), Springer Verlag, 2014.

Assistant Professor of Political Science David O’Connell’s God Wills It: Presidents and

the Political Use of Religion was published by Transaction Publishers. The book is a comprehensive study of presidential religious rhetoric. Using careful analysis of hundreds of transcripts, O’Connell reveals the hidden strategy behind presidential religious speech.

He asks when and why religious language is used and whether such language is influential.

In the News

Associate Professor of Music Lynn Helding co-founded and is chief operating officer of the Pan-American Vocology Association (PAVA), the first organization devoted to the scientific study of voice. PAVA offers symposia and online educational opportunities for voice professionals, clinicians and researchers, applying the scientific method to better understand, teach and practice the art. Learn more at dson.co/heldingPAVA. The Forum on Education Abroad recognized a group of Dickinson and Akita International University faculty for Excellence in Education Abroad Curriculum Design for their interdisciplinary course, Living Well in Later Life, offered as part of Dickinson’s U.S.-Japan Global Scholars Program. The course was one of 24 nominated for the award, which was announced in celebration of International Education Week. The award recognized Shawn Bender, associate professor of East Asian studies; John Henson, Charles A. Dana Professor of Biology; David Sarcone, associate professor of international business and management; Shalom Staub, associate provost for academic affairs; and Yoshitaka Kumagai, dean of international collaboration, director of the Center for Regional Sustainability Initiatives and director of the Center for East Asia Research at Akita International University. Learn more at dson.co/excellenceabroad.

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Events music lecture art theatre

JAN. 27

Classic Brass

Dickinson College Faculty Brass Quintet FEB. 5

The Clarke Forum

The Costs of War Catherine Lutz, Brown University FEB. 6

The Soldier’s Tale

Calendar of Arts: dickinson.edu/coa The Clarke Forum: clarke.dickinson.edu (includes event podcasts)

Mathers Theatre FEB. 19

Art: Take It Personally (A Critic’s Life)

Holland Cotter FEB. 24

Mary Ellen Borges Memorial Lecture

James Calvin Davis ’92, Middlebury College FEB. 9-MARCH 27

Sylvia J. Smith Visiting Artist Residency

Feng Weina, Porcelain Work FEB. 27-APRIL 11

The Trout Gallery

The Spirit of the Sixties: Art as an Agent for Change MARCH 5-APRIL 2

The Trout Gallery

Bones: Representing the Macabre MARCH 26

Joseph Priestley Lecture

Timothy Gowers, University of Cambridge APRIL 25

Red & White Day

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[ college & west high ]

out T

“The ability to make connections with people who were different from me was life-saving, and it helped me later on when I had to grapple with my own being as a transgender woman.”

— Emily Newberry ’66 (left, third from top)

he last time Emily Newberry ’66 was at Dickinson, the Holland Union Building was still being built.

As Newberry, whose poem “Signs” was recently nominated for a prestigious Pushcart Prize, addressed the crowd of students, faculty and community members who huddled together against the blustery wind on Oct. 9, she declared that “Dickinson today is a very different place than it was in the 1960s. It feels more open and inclusive than it did back then.” She paused. “There is still a long way to go.”

Newberry returned to campus after 50 years to be the keynote speaker at Out on Britton, an annual event hosted and sponsored by the Office of LGBTQ Services traditionally held on the Thursday preceding National Coming Out Day. Community members and organizations are invited to set up stations to disseminate information about their resources and services. “Students, faculty and staff also have the opportunity to share their coming-out stories and voices of support,” said Erica Gordon, interim director of LGTBQ services.

An Out on Britton tradition includes an honorary closet door symbolizing the coming-out process coated with multicolor signatures and messages from students and staff.

“I can’t tell you how happy I was to see that door over there!”

Newberry said, beaming.

Newberry also noted how much the social scene had shifted since she was a student. “[I learned] how to build allies among people, many of whom were not like me,” Newberry said of her Dickinson experience. “The ability to make connections with people who were different from me was life-saving, and it helped me later on when I had to grapple with my own being as a transgender woman.”

on Britton

During her speech, Newberry recalled feelings of isolation that had followed her since childhood. The 50 years it took her to come out as a transgender woman were marked with discrimination and misunderstandings, but she continued to seek out resources and support systems. “By having people get to know me before I came out, [I was able to make] friendships,” she said, “so by the time I came out [people understood that] they were dealing with a real human being and not an abstraction.” She stressed the importance of having a safe, supportive space in helping her gain confidence.

The decision to come out, Newberry stressed in her speech, was very personal and one that took her half a century to feel comfortable making. “That was the right thing for me,” she said. “It’s part of my life’s work. Other people have their own journeys and their own life’s work, and we all have the right to be just who we are and not have to live up to somebody else’s ideas.”

The safe social space that Newberry called for is one that Gordon is working diligently to provide for students, faculty and staff. “I think that many students feel like they do have a community [at Dickinson], but there are other[s] that don’t feel like that,” she said. “We can do more to provide a supportive environment for students.”

Gordon has focused her efforts on solidifying communication among students, faculty and staff that will ultimately serve as the foundation for the safe space that was missing for previous students. One such event was a casual dinner in Allison Hall, where students were able to connect and informally converse with “out” faculty, staff and administrators. Gordon hopes to continue this informal discourse every semester and is excited about launching Queer Peers, a peer-to-peer mentoring program.

Gordon also wants to continue strengthening connections with LGBTQ alumni. Newberry’s visit to campus was one of monumental significance, Gordon says. “I think [Newberry] was really touched by how welcoming and supportive the campus was,” said Gordon, “while recognizing that we still have work to do.”—Sasha Shapiro ’15

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[ college & west high ]

joyful

make a

noise

he mandated goals for most college students are clear: Focus on your academics, build your resumé and have a job after graduating.

It’s easy to forget during these four years, though, that it’s also important to do things just because they make you happy.

For many, that’s singing a cappella, whether it is in one of Dickinson’s three coed groups — the Dtones, the Infernos or the Crescendevils — or with the Octals, the all-male group on campus. For me, and for many others since 1998, it’s singing with the Syrens, the all-female a cappella group. Singing and arranging music is not something I will be pursuing professionally after college; I haven’t even taken a music class at Dickinson. But singing, and more specifically, singing with this group of women, is something that I absolutely love, and it is a large part of why my Dickinson experience has been so amazing.

On paper, the women in the Syrens don’t necessarily seem like a group that would mesh. We come from nearly every corner of campus life: We have varsity student-athletes, members of Greek organizations and on-campus workers.

We participate in academic clubs, honor societies, religious life, community service, environmental committees, Student Senate, DTG, Mermaid Players and the Liberty Cap Society.

Aside from our love of singing, our interests hardly ever match up. Yet every year we share countless inside jokes, agree on common goals and, as Paige Hollenbeck ’12 describes it, “We become more than an a cappella group.

We become a support system, teaching all of us the importance of a collaborative team.”

Brooke Taylor ’18 already has found her home away from home within the Syrens. “The Syrens is the best possible club I could have joined my first semester at Dickinson,” she notes.

“I’m so lucky to be a part of such a well-rounded group.”

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Everyone involved has their fair share of commitments, and yet everyone makes the time to practice for six hours a week, along with the many performances we do on and off campus. Despite the time commitment, Syrens is never stressful; rather, it’s the best place for its members to come together and forget the pressures of college life — to just do something they love with people who love it just as much as they do.

For Melissa Canu ’13, Syrens was “a treat, an escape and a time during which I could satiate my urge to break out in song or hum a rhythm. My roommates were grateful that I found a place to do this outside my apartment.”

While being in an a cappella group doesn’t immediately scream “resumé booster,” the skills one learns from being part of this type of team are invaluable. As president, I’ve been responsible for the entire organization of the group.

I’ve strengthened my time-management skills and my ability to communicate with members in my group along with the organizations and clubs who want us to perform, and I’ve learned how to delegate effectively.

Hollenbeck, who also served as president of Syrens while double-majoring in biology and geology, is now a biologist / marine mammal observer / divemaster with Dolphin Swim Australia. “Syrens instilled that strength, passion and leadership in me,” she says. “The Syrens made me who I am today.”

Sarah Koch ’14, who served as the group’s music director during her junior and senior years, agrees. “From leading practices for a group of close friends to creating musical arrangements for the songs we would sing and being on the

While being in an a cappella group doesn’t immediately scream “resumé booster,” the skills one learns from being part of this type of team are invaluable.

‘other side of the piano,’ Syrens is where I had a whole new set of responsibilities,” she says. “These were things I had never done before. Since graduating I’ve brought this confidence with me into interviews and the workforce.”

It is these skills that we all acquire that help us reach our biggest goal: each semester’s final concert, which showcases everything we’ve worked on that semester. The Syrens typically learn 10 new songs per semester, covering a wide range of genres, with the arrangements almost always written by either a current member or an alumna. In this concert we get to show the community what we’ve been working so hard on, and as Liz Mauri ’13 puts it, “It helps us gain the confidence to never shy away from the spotlight.”

The concert ends, and we all share mixed feelings of accomplishment, relief and sadness that another semester of singing has reached its end. Then, we enter the spring with an even stronger sense of who we are as a group, or we wipe away tears as we say goodbye to our graduating seniors.

The tears never last too long, though: Our alumnae return for our concerts, are in constant contact over social media and meet up with one another whenever possible. We all join the group as an individual who just wants to sing, and we end up finding friendships that stay with us long after we leave our practice rooms in South College.

“I learned from the Syrens that it is possible to find a group of girls who you will love, and who will love you, unconditionally,” says Parisa Kaliush ’14. “I miss my Syrens every day. But I know in my heart, at least, that once a Syren, always a Syren.”— Grace Fisher ’15

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[ college & west high ] Kimberly Dozier

The Trout Gallery

seen

•

spoken

•

shared

•

signed

Amernet String Quartet

James Balog

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Lorrie Moore

Kimberly Dozier, a Peabody Awardwinning journalist, contributor to CNN and The Daily Beast and former correspondent for CBS News and the Associated Press, is the 2014-15 General Omar N. Bradley Chair in Strategic Leadership. In addition to teaching at Dickinson, she served on a Veterans Day panel discussion about PTSD: dson.co/exploring_ptsd.

Todd Arsenault ’99, Andrew Bale, Anthony Cervino, Ward Davenny and Barbara Diduk presented a joint faculty exhibition this fall at The Trout Gallery¤— the first such event in roughly 10 years.

(It was well worth the wait.) See more at dson.co/artfulexchanges.

Lorrie Moore, author of the acclaimed short-story collections Birds of America and Like Life, visited Dickinson this fall as the recipient of the 2014 Harold and Ethel L. Stellfox Visiting Scholars and Writers Award. Learn more at dson.co/moorestellfox.

Amernet String Quartet was one of seven artists-in-residence to visit campus this fall, and the internationally celebrated musicians read new works by student-composers: dson.co/collaborative_compositions.

Black Lives Matter

The One College One Community program launched with conversations around Chasing Ice, an award-winning documentary by James Balog, recipient of the 2014 Sam Rose ’58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Global Environmental Activism. Learn more at dson.co/dson1college.

Fond Farewell Les Poolman, chair of physical education and director of athletics at Dickinson for nearly three decades, will retire at the end of January. Poolman has overseen the most successful years in Dickinson athletics history, including 48 Centennial Conference championships in 12 different sports, postseason championship play in 18 sports and a national ranking of 41 out of 450 Division III schools in the 2013-14 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, a nine-place improvement from the previous season. During his time here, he worked ardently to support Dickinson’s intercollegiate teams by securing additional coaching and athletic training support, and he oversaw the addition of three varsity teams, including women’s golf and, most recently, men’s and women’s squash.

Poolman served on numerous college committees including the Student Wellness Advisory Group, Title IX Committee, President’s Commission for Women, McAndrews Fund for Athletics Committee and the Hillel Advisory Board. He taught physical education classes and three First-Year Seminars, and participated in several spring break trips and summer sessions in England and South America with faculty and students. He has taken a leadership role in the construction or renovation of many athletic facilities, including: Dickinson Park, MacPhail Baseball Field and Phyllis Joan Miller Memorial Field; the renovation of the Biddle Field complex; the state-of-the-art Durden Athletic Training Center; and the newly opened Kline Fitness Center and its squash courts.

We invite you to join in celebrating Poolman’s time at Dickinson by sending fond memories, well-wishes and photos to dsonmag@dickinson.edu. These will be collected and shared during a celebration as part of this year’s Red & White Day festivities on April 25.

View a video, gallery and tributes from Poolman’s Division III colleagues at dickinsonathletics.com.

Over the course of several days, students and faculty responded to grand-jury decisions not to indict police officers in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner with an evening vigil on the steps of Bosler Hall, a die-in protest and a panel discussion, Black Lives Matter. Learn more at dson.co/nationalconversation.

Green Dot

Students observed the Week Without Violence (third week of October) by attending a Green Dot event on campus, part of a nationwide campaign to fight violence by spotting potentially dangerous situations and safely intervening. Learn more at dson.co/wordswithoutviolence.

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[ in the game ] on both the All-Region and All-CC teams, and Emily Fuss ’16 received honorable mention. The Red Devils set school records for the second-straight year in goals scored and points.

Volleyball

James Rasp

Women’s Soccer

Women’s Cross Country The team turned in a great performance at the NCAA Mideast Regionals, capturing second place behind No. 1-ranked Johns Hopkins University. The Red Devils had five runners earn All-Region honors as they led Dickinson to its 14th-straight appearance at the National Championships. Sarah Rutkowski ’15 led the contingent with a fourth-place finish overall.

They ran to their 21st-consecutive Little Three title and finished third at the Centennial Conference championship.

Men’s Cross Country The men’s team overcame several injuries to earn an at-large bid to nationals, making the program’s eighth-straight appearance.

The Red Devils placed fifth, earning four spots on the All-Region squad, led by Nick Stender ’15 and Mark Weinhoffer ’15, who placed 12th and 13th, respectively. Dickinson placed third at the Centennial Conference (CC) championship and captured the program’s 14th-straight Little Three title over Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg colleges.

The team had one of the best starts in program history but was plagued by injuries throughout the season. The Red Devils won their first seven games and ran their record to 10-1-1. They would finish 11-5-1 and just missed the CC playoffs despite a solid 5-2-1 mark in the conference. Hannah Matlack ’16 was named first-team All-Conference while Allie Young ’15 earned second-team honors.

Despite struggling in the win column the team battled in every match and turned in some outstanding individual performances. Jennifer Morrissey ’16 handed out 602 assists and ranks fourth on the school career list with 1,684. Lauren Beecher ‘18 led a balanced attack with 152 kills and 24 blocks while Emily Smith ‘17 tallied 151 kills. Arielle Misrok ’17 closed out the season with a rank of No. 10 in the conference, averaging 4.28 digs per match. The Devils finished 6-16 overall.

Men’s Soccer Men’s soccer made its fourth-straight appearance in the conference semifinals and earned a fourth-consecutive bid to the NCAA tournament. The Devils garnered four spots on the All-Conference team, with Alfred Hylton-Dei ’16, Danny Sheppard ’17 and Drew Carneal ’15 earning first-team honors while Ned Wagner ’16 was a second-team selection.

Carneal tied for the top spot in the CC with eight assists, matching a program record for single-season assists by a defender. Dickinson led the conference in scoring with 37 goals and 35 assists, finishing 11-5-2 overall.

Field Hockey The Red Devils had another great year, posting double-digit wins for the second straight season. After dropping the season opener, the team rattled off nine straight wins to earn a ranking in the national coaches’ poll.

They finished 11-6 overall and just missed the playoffs after a very competitive conference schedule. Merritt Davis ’17 anchored a tremendous defensive effort, earning firstteam All-Region and All-CC honors. Catherine Perlmutter ’17 was a second-team selection

Football The team had a season of highs and lows, posting big wins during Homecoming & Family Weekend and in the Conestoga Wagon rivalry. The Red Devils rallied for a thrilling 29-28 come-from-behind win over Susquehanna University, scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Dickinson handed Franklin & Marshall College a 27-14 loss to reclaim the wagon, as Cedric Madden ’16 rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns.

Madden ran for 270 yards in the season finale to become the first Devil to rush for over 1,000 yards since 1992. Cole Ahnell ’15 moved into second on the school all-time list with over 5,000 yards of total offense. The Red Devils finished 3-7 overall and 3-6 in the CC. —Charlie McGuire, sports information director

Need more Red Devil sports? Check Check out outall allthe thestats, stats,scores, scores, schedules schedules andand highlights highlights at www.dickinsonathletics. at www.dickinsonathletics.com.

Information com. Information about about live live streaming streaming andand radio radio broadcasts broadcasts is isavailable availableon onaagame-by-game game-by-game basis, basis,so socheck checkthe theWeb Web site site regularly regularly or follow or @ follow DsonRedDevils @DsonRedDevils on Twitter on for Twitter the latest forupdates. the latest updates.

d i ck i n s o n ma g a zi ne Winter 2015

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Final Round

Carl Socolow ’77

Red Devils women’s golf has been through three coaches in the past four years. But in seniors Casey Colburn and Melanie Campbell, who have played all four years, the team found “a real leader” and “a driving force,” respectively, according to Coach Scott McQuaig, whose inaugural season began last fall.

Rounding out the senior contingent is Alex Goodson, whom McQuaig calls the “personality of the team.”

“I’ve gotten to know so many amazing, kind, smart, motivated people here,” says Campbell, “and seeing them makes me happy and pushes me to do better myself.” Campbell has been the team’s No. 1 player the past three years, and McQuaig cites her “deep passion for golf and real competitive spirit” for keeping her in the top spot.

When she wasn’t driving a golf ball, Campbell, an earth-sciences major, says her favorite moment at Dickinson was on a summer research trip to the Canadian Arctic. “The mountains and glaciers and icebergs we saw were beautiful,” she says. “It was just amazing!”

Goodson mentions Assistant Professor of History Emily Pawley’s Environmental History class and Jazz Band as off-the-course highlights.

“The trombone has not only been there for me when the rest of schoolwork gets overwhelming,” the environmental-studies major says, “but it’s also showed me how much I truly love music.”

Of Colburn, McQuaig says, “She’s been a real leader, and because of her role in student government, it seems to come very naturally for her.” The senior class president and policy management major has interned the past three summers with the Tiger Woods Foundation, and her mother, Catherine Colburn ’77, plays for the U.S. Virgin Islands national golf team. The pair often lock horns on the course.

“I absolutely love when I drive farther than she does or when I make a putt that she doesn’t,” Colburn says, noting that both of her grandparents (John ’52 and Patricia [Hoffman] Colburn ’52) and an uncle (John Colburn Jr. ’74) also play golf.

With these three graduating, next year the team will be in the hands of the likes of first-year student Stephanie Heiring, who earned AllConference honors at the 2014 Centennial Conference (CC) championships and was named CC Rookie of the Year. Not a bad foundation on which to base a rebuilding year.¢— Tony Moore

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This path led me to …

Happiness, fulfillment, a year abroad in the U.S., lifelong friends and a lot of snow.

The world!

My future wife.

On a wonderful walk with my grandfather Dr. Horace E. Rogers — chemistry professor for many, many years. He would take me into the labs and I would go exploring!

An understanding of the importance of civic engagement, a lifelong love of travel and the best friends a girl could ask for.

A love of education, an open heart, amazing friends and experiences that changed my life.

Sheetz. And the G-Man. And a lifetime of incredible memories!

A year abroad in Costa Rica and Australia. Friends that will last me a lifetime. The opportunity to TA as an undergrad. The opportunity to travel to New Orleans after Katrina.

A citizen scholar’s sense of academic inquiry; close interaction with faculty who care about students, their research and their teaching; my dearest friends; and a desire to serve my community.

My Dickinson education determined my current career: I am a member of the literature faculty at American University and teach service-learning writing courses for first-year students.

Last spring, the photo at right was posted to the Dickinson College Facebook page with the prompt, “Finish this sentence: This path led me to …” Nearly 30 comments followed from all corners of the Dickinson community, and a selection of those have been edited and reprinted above. Join the conversation — we will share the same photo and prompt on the Dickinson Magazine Facebook page when this issue goes live, so add your comment there or e-mail it to dsonmag@dickinson.edu. d i ck i n s on ma gazi ne Winter 2015

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Sarah Sheriff

The last 25 years of my life as an employee and parent ’04 and ’08.

CROSSING

BOUNDARIES CONNECTING DISCIPLINES CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO PRESIDENT’S REPORT

17

STATE O F TH E COL L EGE

NANCY A . ROSEMAN, PRESIDENT AND PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY

A

s I travel around the country and abroad, meeting with members of the Dickinson community, I am always impressed by the keen interest parents and alumni show in the college.

Since I haven’t had the opportunity to meet with all 30,000 of you (at least not yet), I want to provide an extensive, holistic view of what’s happening at Dickinson, as well as my vision for what’s ahead. I am fortunate to be working with an exceptional leadership team, which includes individuals who have been with Dickinson for decades as well as newcomers who have been here for just a few months.

With their extensive experience and dedication, we are continuing the college’s positive momentum.

Rest assured that Dickinson’s standing as a premier liberal-arts institution remains firm. While some of our peers have seen applications decline dramatically, we continue to attract a robust applicant pool. Our talented faculty continue to reach across disciplines, finding innovative ways to help our students see connections and imagine solutions to complex problems. Our academic program is, without question, exemplary.

Yet we do face challenges. While we have made great strides increasing diversity on campus, we know that there is more that we can and must do. The newest member of our senior leadership team is Mike Reed, vice president for institutional initiatives. Mike will be focusing on creating a culture of inclusion on campus so that all students feel welcomed within our community and so that we continue to attract a vibrant and diverse faculty.

Another challenge is financial. Our highly personal residential liberal-arts approach, which relies on small

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classes, expert faculty, and social interaction within a caring community, is not inexpensive. We must maintain our high quality education while ensuring Dickinson is accessible to qualified students from across the socioeconomic spectrum.

As you will see in this report, however, our endowment is much less than many of our peers. In addition, during the past decade, the percentage of alumni giving to the college has decreased significantly. I ask each of you to help us reverse that trend by making a gift to Dickinson. Gifts of all sizes provide crucial support.

In the pages ahead, I share my vision, and the senior leader responsible for each section provides a progress report.

I think you will be pleased as you read about the great work we are doing.

Finding solutions to challenging issues is what Dickinsonians do. As an engaged community of learners, Dickinson remains dedicated to the liberal arts and focused on crossing boundaries, connecting disciplines and challenging the status quo. Working together, we can realize Dickinson’s tremendous potential. Like the students we graduate, Dickinson is always ready to face the future.

WORKING TOGETHER, WE CAN REALIZE DICKINSON’S TREMENDOUS POTENTIAL. LIKE THE STUDENTS WE GRADUATE, DICKINSON IS ALWAYS READY TO FACE THE FUTURE.

From left: Marsha Ray, vice president for college advancement; Catherine McDonald Davenport ’87, dean of admissions; Joyce Bylander, vice president and dean of student life; Robert Renaud, vice president and chief information officer; Neil Weissman, provost, dean of the college and professor of history; Nancy A. Roseman, president and professor of biology; Michael E. Reed, vice president for institutional initiatives; Brontè Jones, vice president for finance and administration; Karen Neely Faryniak ’86, chief of staff and secretary of the college; and Dana Scaduto, general counsel.

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9:1 STUDENT-FACULTY RATIO AND AVERAGE CLASS SIZE OF 15

$700,000

GRANT FROM THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION TO SUPPORT INNOVATIVE DIGITAL APPROACHES TO THE HUMANITIES

ACA D EMI C A F FAI R S PRESIDENT’S VISION

NEIL B. WEISSMAN, PROVOST, DEAN OF THE COLLEGE AND PROFESSOR OF HISTORY

We have an exceptional academic program and world-class faculty who regularly cross the borders of their individual disciplines and fully embrace Dickinson’s interdisciplinary approach to the liberal arts. As we continue to provide an education that prepares students to take on an ever-changing world, we also must continue to provide faculty the resources they need to innovate and cross boundaries, and we must provide the support our students need to achieve academic success. Our nationally recognized, multilingual Norman M. Eberly Writing Center provides an excellent model of this support. This year we will begin to explore how we might adapt that model to quantitative fields in math and science. To strengthen our position as a leader in global education, we also will undertake a thorough review of our global-education programs this year. Sustainability will continue to be a philosophy at the core of our curriculum and our operations. Lastly, we will seek new ways to leverage our work in the digital humanities, highlighting the value of technology to enhance, not replace, our high-touch, intensely collaborative approach to education.

C

oncluding an article on college rankings, Wall Street Journal columnist Eric Felten asked the apt question, “Who wants an education with an expiration date?”

At Dickinson we value the inherited insights and practices of liberal learning, including emphasis on such habits of mind as critical thinking, reflection on meaning and the ability to communicate well. Yet liberal learning in our vision is also dynamic, able to join inherited wisdom with connection to the contemporary and future.

Take the case of writing. Facility with the written word has been and remains central to the liberal arts; its value has increased as its forms and uses have become more specialized and variegated, from philosophical treatises to text-messaging shortcuts. Instruction in writing infuses our entire curriculum but centers in our vibrant writing program.

Last year our Writing Center hosted 4,592 tutoring sessions, had 73 student tutors on staff and provided student-mentor writing associates for 45 courses. And we established a distinctive Multilingual Writing Center to support work in 10 foreign languages.

We now seek to extend the same support for quantitative skills. A working group led by Associate Provost and Writing Program Director Noreen Lape is designing blueprints for an enhanced quantitative-skill program. Its multifold targets include providing quantitative literacy for all students, enhanced training for majors requiring strong mathematical ability and support for emerging work in big data. We anticipate recommendations as early as this spring.

The melding of inherited strengths with new approaches characterizes our ongoing work in global education and sustainability, two fields in which Dickinson is a national leader. Our much-envied network of study-abroad programs was founded on deep study of foreign language and

culture. We now also must align our offerings with newly emerging emphases in global education on transnational issues, such as immigration and climate change. These shifts in global education as a field parallel changes in our curriculum, particularly the rise of interdisciplinary majors in international business & management, international studies and environmental studies. Executive Director of the Center for Global Study & Engagement Michael Monahan has launched a review of our abroad programs to ensure that we continue to define best practice in education abroad.

Sustainability studies is another arena in which we bring depth and perspective to a pressing contemporary issue, to connect the liberal arts with the wider world. Other institutions interpret sustainability only in terms of facilities (“green operations, brown curriculum,” one expert put it).

Our Center for Sustainability Education works with faculty to infuse engagement with the issue across the curriculum — 92 percent of the class of 2014 took one or more sustainabilityrelated courses. We continue to find ways ranging from our biodiesel-fuel project to the certified-organic College Farm to make the campus a “living laboratory.” And we extend the reach of sustainability studies beyond the campus, whether through community-based activities such as ALLARM

21

“THE MELDING OF INHERITED STRENGTHS WITH NEW APPROACHES CHARACTERIZES OUR ONGOING WORK IN GLOBAL EDUCATION AND SUSTAINABILITY, TWO FIELDS IN WHICH DICKINSON IS A NATIONAL LEADER."

d i ck i n s on ma gazi ne Winter 2015

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(Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring), expanded options at our abroad sites, EPA-GRO fellowships or new opportunities in different bioregions provided by our recent membership in the Eco League.

Our track record for faculty, administrators and students receiving grant awards from prestigious national funding sources is impressive. In 2013-14, members of the Dickinson community garnered awards from the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, National Geographic Society, American Council of Learned Societies, Association of American Colleges and Universities, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, among others.

Finally, technology. Despite all the talk of “disruption” and the threat of displacement of residential education epitomized by MOOCs, computing makes the liberal arts taught through direct student-faculty contact more, not less, germane. Rather than being replaced, liberal learning is enriched by technology as a tool. Each year, select Dickinson faculty in the Willoughby Institute for Teaching with Technology explore approaches to pedagogy ranging from the use of tablet computers in the classroom to new models of commentary on Greek and Latin texts. Supported by a $700,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation, faculty are investigating digital approaches to the humanities. Another Mellon award has made possible a Central Pennsylvania Consortium faculty project on “blended learning” through the use of technology.

In sum, Dickinson continues to offer a vibrant liberal arts and sciences education without an expiration date.

ACA D EMI CS BY TH E N U M B E R S

43

MAJORS RANGING FROM NEUROSCIENCE TO MIDDLE EAST STUDIES

22 INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS

4

CERTIFICATE OFFERINGS

5

10 255 FOREIGN LANGUAGES SUPPORTED BY THE MULTILINGUAL WRITING CENTER

RANKING AMONG LIBERAL-ARTS COLLEGES IN THE NUMBER OF LONG-TERM STUDY-ABROAD PARTICIPANTS

STUDENT-FACULTY RESEARCH AND INDEPENDENT-STUDY PROJECTS WITH FACULTY MENTORS COMPLETED BY THE CLASS OF 2014

68%

OF STUDENTS RECEIVED MERIT OR NEED-BASED AID

41 million

$ >

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION (CLASS OF 2018)

RACIAL/ETHNIC BACKGROUND (CLASS OF 2018*)

19% 81% 9% 29 14

70%

IN-STATE OUT-OF-STATE

19%

DOMESTIC STUDENTS OF COLOR

FOREIGN COUNTRIES STATES PLUS DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

AFRICAN AMERICAN: 6% ASIAN AMERICAN: 2% HISPANIC AMERICAN: 7% MULTIETHNIC: 4% NATIVE HAWAIIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER: <1%

10%

COUNTRIES

WHITE

INTERNATIONALS

*Due to rounding, the figures do not total 100 percent.

d i ck i n s on ma gazi ne Winter 2015

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IN FINANCIAL AID ANNUALLY

ENR O L L MENT PRESIDENT’S VISION

CATHERINE MCDONALD DAVENPORT ’87, DEAN OF ADMISSIONS

Dickinson’s student body must reflect the diversity of the world in which our students and graduates will live. We have increased the number of students of color and international students on our campus, and we must continue that momentum, while also increasing the number of first-generation college students. We provide more than $41 million in financial aid annually, and we must increase that aid in the years ahead. In addition, as shifting demographics reshape the landscape of higher-education admissions, we will continue to travel the country and the globe to enroll students with the potential to become Dickinsonians.

T

he landscape of higher education has changed dramatically during my 25 years in the field. From the rising cost of tuition and the increasing need for financial aid to the changing demographics of high-school graduates (more diverse and female) and the shift of this tech-savvy generation toward exploring and applying to colleges completely online, all institutions are taking a hard look at how we recruit, enroll and retain students.

One priority that has remained an area of focus for Dickinson is increasing the diversity of our student body.

The more students from disparate backgrounds, regions, ethnicities and customs, the richer the experience for all students. Our current first-year class, the class of 2018, includes 19 percent domestic students of color, 10 percent international students and 11 percent first-generation college students. We also welcomed 15 transfer students, with four students joining us from our community college partners (Montgomery College, Northampton Community College and Montgomery County Community College). Our partnerships with community-based organizations like the Posse Foundation, Philadelphia Futures, New Jersey SEEDS and College Match are growing, which give qualified, historically underrepresented students the chance to attend institutions like Dickinson. We also are doing more work with high schools committed to college preparation and access — the Cristo Rey Network, the Noble Network of Charter Schools and Young Women’s Leadership are a few examples We are committed to enrolling and retaining the most talented and diverse class that we can afford. As tuition costs increase, more families are applying for financial aid, although not all are eligible. Meeting this gap has been a challenge, as the competition for academically talented students has never been greater than this last admissions cycle. In the class of 2018, 70 percent of students received $11.7 million in institutional aid, while in the class of 2008, 56 percent of students received $6.2 million.

Moreover, none of our students (or their families) actually pay the real cost of a Dickinson education. While the direct price this academic year is $59,664 (tuition, fees, room and board), the annual cost is about $75,000, and the college’s endowment and annual fund subsidizes the gap.

While the admissions and aid staff is committed to making a Dickinson education affordable to all, we cannot continue to provide additional financial aid if we do not have the money in our budget. Dickinson also remains committed to educating the wider world about the value of a liberal-arts education when the question, “Is it worth it?” is on the lips of nearly every parent.

The admissions and coaching staff and members of our Dickinson Admissions Volunteer Society expanded visits around the world, connecting with students at more than 900 locations in more than 35 states and numerous countries. We will continue to expand to new geographic and demographic markets, with the help of the greater visibility being provided to Dickinson by news and social media efforts headed by our colleagues in marketing & communications, but we also remain focused on the students within the home regions that have solid enrollment success each year.

Our recruiting efforts also have been bolstered by the launch of a responsive and accessible new Web site in February, which greatly enhances prospective students’ and parents’ ability to discover Dickinson virtually. Our campus visit numbers also remain strong, which is critical given the high conversion rate for students applying and enrolling after spending time on campus.

25

>

50

%

OF TITLES IN THE LIBRARY CATALOG ARE DIGITIAL

> 60,000 PAGES OF STUDENT RECORDS FROM THE CARLISLE INDIAN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL HAVE BEEN SCANNED AND DIGITIZED

62

FACULTY MEMBERS HAVE COMPLETED THE WILLOUGHBY INSTITUTE FOR TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY

L I BR A RY & IN F OR M AT I ON SE R V I C ES PRESIDENT’S VISION

ROBERT RENAUD, VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER

Dickinson must keep pace with the ever-increasing speed of technological change while providing the tools students will need to think critically and creatively in a world awash with information. To support a world-class faculty and a vibrant intellectual community, the college also must think critically and creatively about its scholarly resources—from maintaining robust digital and print collections to offering innovative programs and services.

I

recently had the opportunity to revisit an article I co-authored in 1996 about the future of academic libraries.

Over the last 18 years, the explosion in digital collections and services, facilitated by the Internet, has fundamentally reshaped the academic library. Besides being a facility where students use scholarly resources, it is used for classroom instruction by faculty, musical and artistic events, photographic exhibits and receptions. In its services and spaces the academic library has become the center of intellectual life on campus, and our thoughtful application of technology prepares our students for a world that is increasingly shaped by rapidly changing, emerging technologies.

Instead of the “one size fits all” template used in many colleges and universities, Dickinson’s Library & Information Services (LIS) tailors its services. For example, each academic department is assigned an individual librarian and an instructional technologist, both of whom develop collaborative relationships with individual faculty members and can anticipate their needs. Every two years we conduct a deep-dive survey to shape programs and services, and the library constantly assesses the usefulness of its digital collections by measuring use. These data are used to shape our collections going forward.

The Willoughby Institute for Teaching with Technology, which is funded by the Edwin Eliott Willoughby Memorial Fund of the Dickinson College Library, is a year-long opportunity for faculty to develop effective, media-rich courses. The program provides training and support to help faculty design and deliver courses that use technology to engage students in active learning. Topics include copyright, digital storytelling, podcasting, 3-D printing and the use of video in teaching. Each faculty member is paired with an instructional technologist to redesign courses over the next two semesters, and members of each Willoughby class meet during the academic year to share ideas and experiences.

Since its launch seven years ago, 62 faculty members have completed the program.

Archives & Special Collections has become a pioneer among liberal-arts colleges in the large-scale digitization of its collections, including the Dickinson Scholar, a digital repository of scholarly work by faculty and students, and the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, a Web site dedicated to posting all available records of the children who attended the Carlisle Industrial Indian School (CIIS) between

1879 and 1918. To date, about 4,400 CIIS records have been scanned — over 60,000 pages — from the records held at the National Archives and Records Administration. Archives also partnered with the LGBT Center of Central PA History Project, which received the 2014 J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award from the Society of American Archivists.

The Media Center provides spaces for students and faculty to create videos, podcasts and blogs, as well as to use gaming for instructional purposes. This facility also includes the Makery, a space in which members of the campus community are encouraged to experiment with 3-D printing, robotics and “wearable technology.” The Makery prepares students and faculty for the “Internet of everything,” in which technology is embedded in vehicles, appliances and even clothing.

LIS also has created a program for liaison librarians oriented to the needs of our international students, and several information-literacy seminars are taught in other languages, including Spanish and German. Our librarians teach students in their First-Year Seminars and other courses how best to use scholarly resources and to navigate complex databases, and several LIS staff members are contributing faculty in academic departments such as earth sciences and computer science.

The Waidner-Spahr Library and the Media Center support the college’s rich curriculum and assist students and faculty to leverage new and emerging technologies. At the same time our emphasis on personalized, face-to-face service mirrors Dickinson’s intensive student-faculty interaction in and beyond the classroom. The energy, willingness to experiment and spirit of innovation seen in the Waidner-Spahr Library and the Media Center make this an exciting time to be at Dickinson.

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101 43 FIRST-YEAR INTEREST GROUPS

STUDENT CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS

> 39,000 HOURS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE COMPLETED ANNUALLY BY DICKINSON STUDENTS

STU D ENT L I F E PRESIDENTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S VISION

JOYCE BYLANDER, VICE PRESIDENT AND DEAN OF STUDENT LIFE

Our students need a supportive community to reach their full potential. At a small, residential liberal-arts college like ours, life and learning go hand in hand. Staff, faculty, alumni and peers all play a role in enriching life on campus, where learning and personal growth often occur outside the classroom. With this in mind, we will focus on providing each of our students with layers of supportive Dickinsonians so that all students feel connected to this greater community.

W

e have all heard the saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Well, I believe it takes a community to educate a college student, and building and strengthening the Dickinson community is our goal in student life. We have made significant changes in our structure and programming to achieve that mission. We know enrolling students in Dickinson is just the beginning. We need to help them feel that they belong. Before students stepped into their first classroom, we were working with them to develop personal connections on campus. For several weeks in July, faculty members made personal calls to incoming first-year students to help them select classes. We also re-instituted Pre-Orientation programs, which give incoming first-year students a chance to meet and share adventures with members of the Dickinson community. Those programs included outdoor adventures in West Virginia, Pine Grove Furnace and Laurel Lake, as well as opportunities for community service and learning about the local region.

To further build community, we have enlisted the support of upper-level students as well as faculty, staff and alumni to create First-Year Interest Groups, or FIGs. These groups meet regularly throughout the academic year, providing new students with a built-in support network of peers and adult mentors. All of these efforts are aimed at helping students adjust so that we can increase our already strong 90 percent retention rate for first-year students.

We know that instilling a sense of community relies, in part, on shared spaces where students can gather or unexpectedly run into their classmates. The Kline Center expansion provides greater space for students to enjoy wellness activities, with an expanded fitness space, a juice bar and squash courts. We have been intentional about creating social spaces, and are looking for ways to leverage Allison Hall, formerly the Allison United Methodist Church, as a hub for student activities.

We also are developing plans for a new residence hall, which would allow us to provide additional on-campus living space, bringing more of our seniors back into our residential model. Right now, about 123 seniors live off campus. Since many of these students are coming back from a year spent studying abroad, we want to welcome them back onto campus and ensure they feel connected to the Dickinson community.

Changes in demographics and the challenges with recruiting and enrolling future classes are going to reduce our need for off-campus housing permissions. We must make sure our programming meets the needs of seniors in their important transition year.

We increased our efforts to launch students into their postgraduate lives. Our Career Center staff begins working with students their first year on campus, encouraging those students to get practical work experience. More than 70 percent of the class of 2014 completed at least one internship prior to graduation.

For students to really feel a sense of belonging, they must feel safe. The subject of sexual violence on campus rightly has been a topic of national conversation. Dickinson is committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment, and we have been engaged on this issue for many years. We are focused on doing everything we can to prevent sexual violence, including having a full-time violence prevention coordinator on staff, who supports education and training for students, faculty and staff. We provide education to help our students form healthy relationships, and we have implemented a bystander program that enlists the entire community in a shared responsibility to keep our campus community safe.

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9.7MILLION

$

IN GIFTS TO THE COLLEGE

51,000

62

SQUARE FEET OF NEW DONOR-SUPPORTED STATE-OF-THE-ART ATHLETICS AND STUDENT-LIFE FACILITIES

ALUMNI FAMILY MEMBERS CELEBRATED MULTIGENERATION TIES BY PRESENTING DIPLOMAS TO LEGACY GRADUATES DURING COMMENCEMENT 2014

CO L L EG E A DVAN C E M E N T PRESIDENT’S VISION

MARSHA RAY, VICE PRESIDENT FOR COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT

Our graduates are the most powerful proof of the value of a Dickinson education. We need to increase engagement among alumni, as well as the college’s extended community of parents and friends, while encouraging Dickinsonians to freely share their pride in their alma mater. We are refocusing our efforts to foster and support regional Dickinson communities around the globe, while offering alumni and parents opportunities to engage in experiences that—like the Dickinson experience itself—merge social interaction with intellectual enrichment. We will bring faculty to you, through regional events throughout the country. While we are pleased to have successfully concluded the First in America campaign, we know that Dickinson will need greater financial resources in the years ahead.

T

he Division of College Advancement’s primary focus this year has been enhancing our connections with the Dickinson community. In addition to managing ongoing fundraising efforts as well as alumni and parent programs, advancement staff sought to better understand exactly how our alumni and parents would most like to engage with the college so that we can provide opportunities to deepen their relationships with Dickinson.

The first step in this effort was a comprehensive engagement survey, which was sent to all of the 23,000 alumni for whom we have contact information. We received 2,661 completed surveys. The responses indicated that while pride in the college is high, alumni’s sense of connection to the college does not match that level of pride. The survey also revealed that there is a desire among alumni to interact with the college through avenues that marry social and intellectual pursuits in the same way Dickinson’s distinctive residential liberal-arts experience did for them as undergraduates.

To meet this desire for engagement where it is, we have reorganized our staff to focus on regional engagement, affinity groups and opportunities to combine intellectual and social experiences. To this end, we launched the new One College One Community initiative, which brings together alumni, parents, faculty and students to consider a common theme and connect through a series of events on campus and around the world. This fall, One College One Community kicked off with events fostering community discussions about climate change, art and perseverance as epitomized

by James Balog, the recipient of the 2014 Samuel G. Rose ’58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Global Environmental Activism.

Highlights of the fall program included a series of events in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago attended by several hundred Dickinsonians as well as a live-stream of Balog’s multimedia presentation on campus, which generated more than 40 questions and comments

from the extended Dickinson community via e-mail and social media. Plans are underway for the spring 2015 One College One Community theme, which will focus on the documentary Happy and purposefully connect alumni and parents with our first-year students, who all watched the film as part of Orientation. We’re also planning a number of live-streaming and regional events that continue to offer opportunities to interact with faculty, students and campus speakers throughout the year.

In addition to bringing more than 1,800 parents and alumni to campus through Alumni Weekend and Homecoming & Family Weekend, we launched a new annual spring campus event to help turn Dickinson pride into engagement. Red & White Day, held April 12, celebrated Dickinson athletics with the dedication of the new Durden Athletic Training Center, a carnival-style picnic, numerous Red Devil home games and alumni athletic contests. (The second Red & White Day is scheduled for April 25, 2015.)

We also celebrated the opening of the Kline Center expansion during Homecoming & Family Weekend, offering alumni and parents tours of the new fitness center and squash courts.

The completion of these facilities enhancements also marked the successful conclusion of the First in America comprehensive campaign, which raised $208.9 million

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FIRST IN AMERICA JULY 2004-JUNE 2014

ANNUAL FUND: $38.7 M

The $208.9 million that alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends gave to Dickinson through the First in America campaign transformed this college, reaching into every corner of campus.

BEQUEST INTENTIONS: $20 M

SCHOLARSHIPS: $45.4 M

$208.9 MILLION

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT: $45.5 M

for 75 new endowed scholarships, 16 new endowed faculty chairs and numerous campus improvements. In addition to the Durden Center and the Kline expansion, the campaign funded renovations to Biddle Field, the new Rector Science Complex, the Dr. Inge P. Stafford Greenhouse for Teaching and Research and the Phyllis Joan Miller Memorial Field.

Of course, fundraising remains a priority. In 2013-14 the college received gifts from nearly 9,000 alumni totaling $9.7 million. However, for the third consecutive year, the percentage of alumni who made a gift to the Dickinson Fund dropped, bringing the participation rate down to 27 percent.

While this decline in giving is part of a national trend faced by many of our peer institutions, we must do better if we are to continue to provide the quality experience and education synonymous with our name. Reversing this decline will require alumni to play a more active role in advancing the college. Accordingly, we are expanding our alumni volunteer program through which Dickinsonians can inspire their classmates to actively support their alma mater.

The 73 percent of our alumni who did not make a gift last year represent enormous untapped potential for this community. By inspiring them to reconnect with and recommit to Dickinson, we are hopeful that we can move the college to even greater heights. This year, our goal is

d i ck i n s on ma gazi ne Winter 2015

OTHER: $8.4 M

32

FACILITIES: $50.9 M

to raise $11 million and to inspire 29 percent of our alumni to make a gift to the college. It is important that all alumni recognize that their gifts to the college, no matter the size, make an impact on Dickinson’s success now and in the future.

As we enhance alumni engagement and deepen the connection between the college campus and the wider college community, we are confident that Dickinson will reverse the recent downward trend in giving. By making Dickinson more of a priority in the lives of all Dickinsonians, our efforts this year will help make this powerful community more inspired about, and more confident in, investing in the college’s future.

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT ALL ALUMNI RECOGNIZE THAT THEIR GIFTS TO THE COLLEGE, NO MATTER THE SIZE, MAKE AN IMPACT ON DICKINSON’S SUCCESS NOW AND IN THE FUTURE.

D I CK I NS O N COMMU N I T Y BY T H E N U M B E R S

> 400

5

DICKINSON STUDENTS REPORTED COMPLETING INTERNSHIPS OR RESEARCH EXPERIENCES IN SUMMER 2014, AND THEY TOOK PLACE IN 30 STATES AND 14 COUNTRIES

ALL-AMERICANS IN MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD IN 2013-14

TOP FOR BEST COLLEGE BRANDS BY GLOBAL LANGUAGE MONITOR

24–7

25

THE MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM HAD A SCHOOL-RECORD 24 WINS (24-7) AND ADVANCED TO THE "ELITE EIGHT" OF THE NCAA DIVISION III TOURNAMENT

55

%

OF DICKINSON STUDENTS STUDY ABROAD DURING THEIR ACADEMIC CAREERS — AND 25 PERCENT OF DICKINSON STUDENTS WHO STUDY ABROAD DO SO FOR AN ENTIRE ACADEMIC YEAR OR LONGER

> 50% OF OUR SCIENCE MAJORS STUDY ABROAD

1

OF

24 3 &

ONE OF JUST 24 COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES NATIONWIDE, AND ONE OF ONLY THREE LIBERAL-ARTS COLLEGES, TO EARN A SPOT ON THE PRINCETON REVIEW’S 2015 GREEN HONOR ROLL

OVER

80% OF THE COLLEGE’S OPERATING BUDGET FUNDED BY REVENUE FROM TUITION, FEES, ROOM AND BOARD

100% 100% OF FOOD WASTE GOES TO THE FARM FOR COMPOSTING

YURTS AT THE FARM GET 100% OF ENERGY FROM THE SUN AND FROM WOOD

100% OF ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IS OFFSET BY RENEWABLE ENERGY CREDITS

F I NA NCE & AD MI N I ST R AT I ON PRESIDENT’S VISION

BRONTÈ JONES, VICE PRESIDENT FOR FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

Delivering a highly personalized liberal-arts education that relies on close student interaction with faculty and staff is an expensive proposition. We must continue to be disciplined in our budgeting and work to rebuild our financial reserves for the needed projects ahead of us. Learning occurs in a social context on our campus, and we must ensure that we have facilities that encourage that interaction.

D

ickinson is in a strong financial position, with a healthy endowment and adequate operating funds. We continue to invest in our academic program and our facilities, while also being disciplined about building our financial reserves. Over the past year, we have taken a close look at all of our resources — from facilities to people to space — to ensure that we are maximizing their potential in the most effective, sustainable way.

At present, revenue from tuition, fees, room and board funds over 80 percent of the college’s operating budget, with another 11 percent coming from the endowment. Philanthropy from alumni, parents and friends of Dickinson and other, miscellaneous sources, make up about 9 percent of the revenue stream, which allows us to provide an excellent residential liberal-arts education. As a tuition-dependent institution, we know that we must do our best to hold the line on tuition increases, as we remain committed to making a Dickinson education affordable, especially in light of the increased demand for financial assistance. Each year, we provide more than $41 million in financial aid to students, with 70 percent of our student body receiving some form of financial assistance.

We have held operating budgets relatively flat for the past two years. Because we must contain spending while continuing to invest in our institutional priorities, we are preparing to implement Zero Based Budgeting in the 2015-16 budget. This is not intended as a cost-savings measure but as a focused approach to appropriate and deliberate resource allocation.

As a premier residential liberal-arts institution, we are a people-driven operation, and so it is not surprising that the largest share of our expenditures are personnel costs. Health care accounts for an increasingly large portion of the budget, and we have been focused on finding ways to keep those costs down. An all-campus health care task force has been studying this issue, and several changes were implemented last year, including increasing deductibles and co-pays. The committee is considering additional measures for next year.

A healthy workforce is one of the best ways to contain health care costs, and I am pleased to share that the American Heart Association (AHA) this year recognized Dickinson

as a gold-level Fit-Friendly Worksite, a national honor that acknowledges the college’s commitment to encouraging and supporting physical activity, healthy eating and a wellness culture on campus.

We completed several building projects this past year, including the Durden Athletic Training Center and the Kline Center expansion. In addition, we have been exploring uses for Allison Hall, formerly the Allison United Methodist Church, which we acquired in 2013. An all-campus committee was formed to determine the best use of that space but expanded to consider all administrative and academic space.

We want to ensure we are optimizing our existing facilities.

A campus space-utilization audit was completed last spring, and the committee is considering next steps. The committee also is reviewing previously developed plans for a new residence hall, which would provide additional housing to allow more senior students to live on campus.

Meanwhile, we continue to invest in our existing buildings. As part of a long-term campus renewal strategy, upgrades were made to Malcolm and Adams halls, including improving bathrooms, lounge areas and bedrooms. Each of those improvements was made with best-practice sustainability features in mind. To ensure that we keep sustainability at the forefront of all operational and facilities decisions, we have named an associate vice president for sustainability and facilities planning.

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E N DOWMENT R EPO R T

ENDOWMENT PERFORMANCE Dickinson’s endowment ended fiscal year 2014 (July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2014) at a record high of $436 million. This record high resulted from another strong year of performance in fiscal year 2014, with investment returns of 14 percent for the one-year period, net of all fees and expenses.

Since 2004, the endowment has yielded an average annual investment return of 8.9 percent (FIGU R E 1 ) .

This means that, thanks to a sound investment strategy, the endowment has outperformed the S&P 500 and Dickinson’s strategic goal of spending plus inflation (the Consumer Price Index plus 1 percent), a key metric in attaining intergenerational equity.

During that time, Dickinson also has regularly reported top quartile performance in the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) Commonfund Study of Endowments and reported 10-year returns in the top 6 percent of the 510 institutions reporting to NACUBO in 2013.

8.9

FIGURE 1

10-YEAR AVERAGE ANNUAL RETURN

%

DICKINSON

7.8 7.9 %

SPENDING PLUS INFLATION

S&P 500

INVESTMENT RETURNS As high as the rate of return has been, it’s important to note that the endowment is not managed for short-term gains, but rather for long-term growth. The endowment is managed to maximize annual returns over rolling 10-year periods while adhering to risk parameters to avoid annualized shortfalls relative to peers. Accordingly, when you examine how the endowment has performed throughout the last 10 years (FIGURE 2) you’ll see steady growth despite losses in the turbulent down market of the 2009 fiscal year, which were managed to be less significant than those of our peers.

%

FIGURE 2

ENDOWMENT MARKET VALUE FOR FISCAL YEARS 2004-14 in millions

$436.0 $388.6

HOW THE ENDOWMENT FUNDS THE DICKINSON EXPERIENCE Every endowed gift provides permanent funding for a college priority ( FI GURE 5 ) . From making this priceless education affordable to helping recruit and retain top faculty and supporting innovative research, the endowment’s impact can be seen all across campus.

$360.2 $355.8

$349.8 $330.8 $312.3 $280.1

$280.2 $251.4

$198.3

Note: Dickinson’s endowment is composed of the pooled endowment, which is managed as part of a consortium of colleges and universities by Investure, and the nonpooled endowment, which consists of funds held in trust for the college, endowed pledges and other assets. The pooled endowment makes up roughly 80 percent of the total endowment, while the nonpooled assets make up about 20 percent. Throughout this report information about the endowment’s investment returns refer solely to the pooled endowment, while information about the endowment’s total value refers to the pooled endowment and the nonpooled assets.

d i ck i n s on ma gazi ne Winter 2015

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FY04

FY05

FY06

FY07

FY08

FY09

FY10

FY11

FY12

FY13

FY14

FIGURE 3 $400

$350

POOLED ENDOWMENT GROWTH SINCE INVESTURE area chart in millions

GROWTH IN ENDOWMENT POOL MARKET VALUE $148 MILLION

$300

$250

TOTAL CONTRIBUTION $77 MILLION $200

$150

$100

$50

TOTAL INVESTMENT GAIN/LOSS $162 MILLION

0

TOTAL SPENDING $91 MILLION

–$50

–$100

APR ’06

APR ’07

APR ’08

APR ’09

APR ’10

APR ’11

APR ’12

APR ’13

APR ’14

FIGURE 4

FISCAL YEAR 2014 AVERAGE ASSET ALLOCATION OF ENDOWMENT POOL GLOBAL EQUITY 41%

PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS 25%

CASH AND MISCELLANEOUS 2% FIXED INCOME 6% ALTERNATIVE EQUITY 26%

37

E N D OWMEN T R EP O R T

Each year Dickinson uses 5 percent of the endowment’s prior 12 quarters’ average to support the budget and restricted funds so that we can balance today’s needs against tomorrow’s.

Dickinson is committed to this disciplined approach to ensure that we never steal from the future to fund the present.

ENDOWMENT DONORS REMAIN CRITICAL As impressive as the endowment’s current total and high rate of return are, it’s not enough. As demographic shifts and the rising cost of higher education continue to increase the need for financial aid, and as new technologies and new fields of study continue to increase the need for new faculty, resources and facilities, Dickinson will need to grow its endowment significantly.

Though we are clearly outperforming many of our peer institutions, a quick scan of the higher-education landscape shows that many of the institutions with which we now compete for students have far larger endowments.

Shrewd asset management alone will not close the gap between Dickinson and the wealthiest institutions. The simple truth is that donors play the most critical role in the endowment’s growth, and it is only through increased donor support that we will be able to make the endowment gains needed to compete with the country’s wealthiest institutions.

FIGURE 6

PEER INSTITUTION COMPARISON endowment dollars per full-time student

SWARTHMORE $1,069,120 WELLESLEY $648,830 MIDDLEBURY $389,041 HAMILTON $379,300 VASSAR $354,588 COLBY $348,895 DAVIDSON $315,440 MOUNT HOLYOKE $274,880 COLGATE $263,541 WESLEYAN $210,763 DICKINSON $153,041 F&M $131,424 CONNECTICUT $126,419 KENYON $115,045 SKIDMORE $112,802

FIGURE 5

ENDOWMENT SPENDING FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015 in millions

WHEATON (MA) $106,769 ST. LAWRENCE $104,715 GETTYSBURG $90,567

OTHER PURPOSES $3.1

LECTURES, FELLOWSHIPS, OTHER ACADEMIC

HOBART & WILLIAM SMITH $78,578

OTHER BUDGET SUPPORT $2.3

$0.6

STUDENT AND FACULTY RESEARCH AND TRAVEL $0.3

MUHLENBERG $84,405

FACILITIES MAINTENANCE

$17.1 MILLION

$1.6

LIBRARY $0.2

d ic k in s on ma g a z i n e Winter 2015

ENDOWED CHAIRS AND FACULTY SALARY SUPPORT $2.2

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Based on June 2013 data reported by NACUBO. The institutions used for comparison in this chart make up the college’s dean’s peer group, which provides a combination of aspirant institutions and application-overlap schools.

SCHOLARSHIPS AND FINANCIAL AID $6.8

GREAT THINGS HAPPEN WHEN DICKINSONIANS COME TOGETHER www.dickinson.edu/gift

}

Fulfilling Dickinson’s bold mission depends on the entire Dickinson community.

As you can see in this report, we’re continuing to achieve great things in the classroom and around the world. Imagine how much more we could do with your help.

Because the Dickinson Fund harnesses the collective energy of our donors, even small gifts make a big difference.

Make your gift to the Dickinson Fund today.

IN ORDER TO PROVIDE AN EDUCATION THAT PREPARES STUDENTS FOR PRODUCTIVE, MEANINGFUL LIVES IN AN EVER-CHANGING WORLD, WE ALSO MUST PROVIDE THE RESOURCES FOR THEM TO EXPLORE, INNOVATE AND ACHIEVE ACADEMIC SUCCESS WHILE AT DICKINSON.

Photography by Carl Socolow ’77, Matt Atwood ’15, Joey Steadman ’17 and Heather Shelley.

[ beyond the limestone walls ]

Volunteerism’s benefits

Carl Socolow ’77

TY SAINI ’93, ALUMNI COUNCIL PRESIDENT

D

uring the holiday season, perhaps you found yourself as I did being reminded of the high points, and even challenges, in your life. Time for reflection is both important and therapeutic. As I take time to pause and really look around, I am grateful for those who have shaped and impacted my life. And while I was thinking about this issue’s column, I kept coming back to the notion of how Dickinson continues to influence my world, even after I graduated 21 years ago.

As I consider the eight years I’ve served on the Alumni Council, I am proud to state that the council has accomplished much in a short time. As you’ll see from the list at right, it is a well-organized, diverse, motivated and close-knit group of individuals. We don’t always agree with one another, but that is OK — and healthy for meaningful discussion. To effectively serve the college and its alumni, we try to delve deeper into questions and issues. We may not arrive at an immediate answer, but we strive for practical, long-term solutions that integrate a variety of considerations and viewpoints.

I would attribute this to our liberal-arts outlook and what our Dickinson professors stretched us to discover while in their classrooms.

My life is richer not only because of the council members and Dickinson staff whom I have had the honor to meet and work with but also for what they have taught me and challenged me to accomplish. Every month there is something to work on. It’s no different than the rest of our lives, both at

work and at home. But just like those other facets in your life, the more that is asked of you, the more you learn, grow and feel good about. As I have written in the past, volunteerism benefits a person in so many ways, and I ask you to make it a goal for 2015 and beyond — both in your community and here at Dickinson.

As I look ahead, my wish for our alma mater is to see more of its alumni reconnect. For many schools, the question about why alumni are not engaged remains the biggest nut to crack. It’s harder for me to solve this puzzle when it comes to Dickinson, because I witness firsthand the potential for greatness. How? Speak with current students about their interests, experiences and aspirations, and you will be amazed and impressed by their intellect, maturity and capabilities.

Ask a professor about their research or pedagogy, and you will want to be a student all over again. Chat with a coach, admissions officer or another member of the college staff, and you hear about a genuine passion for Dickinson. They deserve our support and presence.

I invite you to join the fun, hard work and opportunities as an alumni volunteer. There are many ways to get involved, so feel free to drop us a line at alumni@dickinson.edu. It is never too late to reconnect or strengthen your connection with Dickinson.

Alumni Council 2014-15 Robert Paull ’62 Eric Evans ’68 Stan Springel ’68 A. Pierce Bounds ’71 Karen Pflug-Felder ’71 David Haag ’73 Cynthia McNicholas ’74 Albert Masland ’79, P’06 Catherine Erviti Rebhun ’80 Lisa Gutenstein Silvershein ’84 Colleen Sweeney Superko ’84 Joseph Kleine ’85 Will Pollins ’88 Robert Garrett ’90 David Lee ’91 Artrese Morrison ’92 Kristin Holdt Pracitto ’92 Craig Tucker ’92 Tania Miller Conte ’93 Francesca Dea ’93

Monique Ribando ’93 Ty Saini ’93 Julie Wise McClure ’94 David Carlson ’99 Darren Silvis ’00 Michael Donnelly ’02 Matthew Fahnestock ’02 Jonathan McEvoy ’02 Michael Henry ’06 Michael Pennington ’07 David Talton ’07 Caroline Salamack Clark ’08 Nicholas C. Smith ’08 Andrew Williams ’08 Jason Fine ’09 James Liska ’09 Andrew Heist ’10 Rachel Warzala Chesley ’11 Laura Wilson ’11 Darrell Pacheco ’12

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[ closing thoughts ]

The ties that bind…

D AV I D R . H A A G ’ 7 3

M

Michael Artman

ost Dickinsonians have never heard of The Spring Letter.

But thanks to a recent donation

by Peter Marks ’73 to Archives & Special Collections, the publication — minus a handful of issues — is now available to anyone wishing to learn more about Dickinson.

The Spring Letter, which first appeared in 1910, was the brainchild of class of 1907 members George Briner and Allen Thompson, and was one of the ways alumni brothers of the Beta Pi chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity stayed connected.

Commonly included were letters from alumni compiled by class year, a directory with names and contact information, a report on the status of the undergraduate chapter, a letter from the college president and a letter from the editor. Since 1910, there are only four years in which the letter was not produced: in 1919 (WWI), in 1944 and 1945 (WWII), and again in 1996.

My fellow fraternity brothers of the Beta Pi chapter of Kappa Sigma Alumni Association have made the preservation of the letter — and our connection to Dickinson — a priority. Sylvester “Bud” Aichele ’42, the association’s longtime secretary, started saving copies of the publication a long time ago. When he stepped down, he forwarded them to Bob Meade ’64, the new secretary, who sent them to Marks, when he assumed the secretary position. In addition to soliciting news from alums, we return to campus three times a year, to coincide with Alumni Weekend, Homecoming & Family Weekend and the initiation of the pledge class each year in March.

The fraternity experience was a big part of my education at Dickinson.

The ties that bind me and my brothers do not tie us to a national organization; they bind us to the college. They compel us to return to campus and engage as often as we can to strengthen and renew those relationships that meant so much to us when we studied and lived here.

Those fraternal bonds don’t dissolve when we graduate or degrade over time.

We support the active brotherhood, we support the college, and we support one another — including annual scholarships in excess of $10,000 to needy and deserving brothers.

In 2011, we established additional scholarships to recognize the individual achievements of four active brothers in leadership, scholastic achievement, service to the college and the Carlisle community, and fellowship in the names of four distinguished alumni Kappa Sigs: Bishop Fred P. Corson, class of 1917 and past president of Dickinson; Henry L. Stuart ’38; Aichele; and Walter E. Beach ’56.

This is a way to support the students and honor our tradition on campus.

I’m an old-school guy. Maybe because of that, tradition means a lot to me. I worked for two of the best law-enforcement organizations in the world: the FBI and the Diplomatic Security Service for over 30 years.

Each organization had a tradition of exemplary service to our country, and I am proud to have been a member of each. But my exposure to tradition began way before that: It began at Dickinson, and it began with Kappa Sigma. Brotherhood, friendship and service bound us together — and still do.

David Haag ’73 is a retired foreign-service supervisory special agent with the Diplomatic Security Service, the law-enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of State. He has served in Mexico, Australia, Jamaica and Hungary, as well as numerous domestic assignments.

Haag is the current president of the Beta Pi chapter of the Kappa Sigma Alumni Association.

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Photo courtesy of Wadi Rum Productions.

Happy.

This spring, join us for conversations around Happy, an award-winning documentary bringing full circle a wealth of scientific, empirical and national research on happiness.

Dickinson first-year students, along with upper-level mentors, faculty and staff, watched the film during Orientation, and the conversations havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stopped since.

April 2

Baltimore

Higher Education and Happiness with Shalom Staub, associate provost of academic affairs and civic engagement.

April 12

Chicago

April 18

Dickinson College

Are We in the Midst of a Happiness Revolution? Join us for a discussion with Roko Belic, director of Happy, via livestream or on campus.

April 22

Happiness in the Social Media Age with Shawn Bender, associate professor of East Asian studies.

April 12

Los Angeles

Washington, D.C.

Happiness in the Social Media Age with Shawn Bender, associate professor of East Asian studies.

April 28

Slap Happy: Positive Psychology and the Meaning of Life with Crispin Sartwell, associate professor of philosophy.

Philadelphia

April 13

April 29

Slap Happy: Positive Psychology and the Meaning of Life with Crispin Sartwell, associate professor of philosophy.

Is Happiness Even Real? A discussion with Cotten Seiler, associate professor American studies.

San Francisco

The Pursuit of Happiness with Douglas E. Edlin, associate professor of political science.

Boston

Stay tuned for information about the New York City One College One Community event!

Learn more about regional events and register at www.dickinson.edu/regionalevents.

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P. O . B O X 1 7 7 3 C A R L I S L E , P A 1 7 0 1 3 - 2 8 9 6 PERIODICAL

W W W. D I C K I N S O N . E D U / M A G A Z I N E

P O S TA G E P A I D AT C A R L I S L E , P A AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICE

[

well-stated

]

The Dickinson Fund played a huge role in allowing me to accomplish everything that I have at Dickinson. I wanted to share that realization and my passion for Dickinson.

M A DI S ON A L L E Y ’ 1 6 ,

who has 13 Dickinson alumni in her family. Learn more at dson.co/thanksforgiving14.

what is a mind? who has a mind? what kind of things can have a mind? a couple really famous philosophers, contemporary famous philosophers, seem to think that plants have minds.

C H AU N C E Y M A H E R ,

associate professor of philosophy. Learn more at dson.co/maherplants.

I’m honored to be a part of this series.

So the story I’m going to read tonight is ‘Thank You for Having Me.’ Because that’s how I feel.

L OR R I E MO OR E , 2014 recipient of the Harold and Ethel L. Stellfox Visiting Scholars and Writers Program Award. Read more at dson.co/moorestellfox.

I’m a firm believer that we live in what I call an ‘experience economy.’ It’s not what we deliver to a client, but it’s how we make them feel and how we engage them emotionally.

CHARLES CHRISTIANSON ’87,

senior vice president of Connexions Loyalty in “How an ‘Experience Economy’ Shapes the Future of Loyalty.” More at dson.co/christianson87.

Give back to create a college dedicated to ideals that are bigger than all of us. Your gift tells the world that we believe in this place.

G R E G MOY E R ’ 0 6 ,

speaking during Thanks for Giving.

Read more at dson.co/thanksforgiving14.

as the mom of three boys, i ’ m pretty unflappable, and a good sense of humor helps keep me that way.

C AT H E R I N E MC D ON A L D D AV E N P OR T ’ 8 7 , dean of admissions, in Sound Advice for Parents, on her HuffPostCollege blog.

Read more at dson.co/davenportsoundadvice.

Wheel and Chain stems from a long line of strong, intelligent and passionate women, and this weekend made me appreciative of the opportunity I have to work with them.

W E N DY G OM E Z ’ 1 5 ,

at the Wheel and Chain 90th anniversary. Learn more at dson.co/wheelchain90.