Earlhamite - Spring 2024

Earlhamite

CONTENTS

42

Meet the next generation of disrupters

Fawzia Istrabadi ’20 stages Shakespeare through an Arabic lens. features

28

32

38

Rocket Man

01 President’s Message

Sascha Deri ’93 works to make a greener, more thoughtful vision of space entrepreneurship a reality.

Embedding in crisis

Mourning Fox ’89 went from majoring in peace to working closely with the police.

Speak again, bright angel

David Matthews’ ’65 innovative research and Quaker values paved the way for medical progress. 20 14 24

Snapshots of the modern classroom

Earlham faculty engage with the rise of AI.

Next-gen textbook

A textbook project saves money and creates equitable access.

Going (Anti) Viral

02 New & Notable

46 Earlham School of Religion

48 Homecoming Highlights

50 Class Notes & In Memoriam

51 Looking Back

54 Earlham Scene

56 Final Word

on the cover

Illustration by Zhenia Vasiliev

istock.com illustrations: page 9 Lantapix; page 14 Alisa Trubnikova; page 17 Peter Hermes Furian (map), Webtools (globe), Denys (leaf); page 21 Amphotora; page 23 nurdongel

Science Photo Library: page 38 Omikron

Earlhamite

The magazine of Earlham College

EDITOR

Alicia Anstead

CLASS NOTES EDITOR

Cooper Cox

DESIGNER

Emily Aldrich, AldrichDesign.biz

MANAGING EDITOR

Brian Zimmerman

STAFF WRITERS

Adam Knaub

Kelsey Mackey

Jensen Pennock ’16 ESR ’22

VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS

Kristen Lainsbury

Read the latest alumni profiles, submit class notes, check out upcoming events and more at earlham.edu/alumni.

Earlhamite magazine is the oldest college alumni magazine in continuous publication in the United States. Today it is published twice yearly and continues to follow the statement of purpose that has guided it since its 1873 founding: “a regular messenger going out and bearing tidings of prosperity and vicissitudes of Earlham to its friends and supporters, and bringing all associated here into communication with one another.”

Opinions expressed in the magazine are those of its contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the official position of Earlham College.

Send story ideas to earlhamite@earlham.edu

Send class notes, obituaries and address changes to alums@earlham.edu

Please recycle after reading. Paper for the Earlhamite is printed from 10% recycled fiber and is FSC, SFI and PEFC certified.

© 2024 Earlham College.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

When I became president in 2019, my primary goal was to widen the path to an Earlham education so more students could experience the transformative opportunities that only we can offer.

Little did I know that a pandemic would upend our campus and our lives, bringing with it great uncertainty and unprecedented enrollment challenges. We needed to adapt quickly and often. However, we never lost sight of our identity as a residential liberal arts college and the strength of our in-person living and learning experience.

This crisis affirmed what makes Earlham Earlham — the character of our community, our shared commitment to our Principles and Practices, and the indomitable spirit of Earlhamites. Even countless Zoom meetings couldn’t change that. At the same time, we found new ways to enhance the Earlham experience in ways that will help widen the path to Earlham for years to come.

One of the resounding highlights of my presidency has been the comprehensive launch of the Epic Journey, our signature student success initiative, which combines outstanding classroom experiences with robust opportunities for students to prepare for a career.

The INspire Earlham program, a tuition waiver for students from low- and moderate-income families in Indiana, has removed barriers for hundreds of students to study here. And the launch of new or reimagined academic programs and the introduction of new athletics teams have begun to attract students.

As I prepare to retire at the end of this academic year, it is fitting that this issue is dominated by stories about progress and change. Not only the institutional progress that has marked my presidency, but the kind of societal progress that is possible because of disrupters and do-gooders that have graced this campus for 177 years.

The Earlhamites profiled in this issue are changing the way communities think about policing, science, medicine, space exploration and more. You will also read about how we are using a $25 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. — coupled with $83 million in commitments from local leaders in Richmond and Wayne County — to spark a much-needed renaissance in our hometown and increase our appeal to future generations of Earlhamites. As we prepare to wrap up For Good: The Campaign for Earlham College at the end of June, this grant ensures that we will far surpass our fundraising goal. Throughout my presidency, I have been consistently impressed with the ongoing commitment and generosity of alums and friends of the college.

Our progress and rich legacy of doing good in the world give me great confidence in the future.

Thank you for indelibly shaping the last five years of my life. Serving as Earlham’s 20th president, and first woman president, has been the most significant honor and joy of my career.

As I have said time and again, the world needs more Earlhamites. Now more than ever. I am proud to retire as an Earlhamite, and I look forward to seeing what lies ahead for this great college.

RADICAL REUSE

Earlham College Art, Metals and 3D Fabrication Department collaborated with artists from across the Midwest as part of a growing initiative to transform unwanted jewelry into new, sustainably sourced pieces.

Radical Jewelry Makeover is an initiative by the nonprofit Ethical Metalsmiths with a goal of bringing awareness to the perils of the traditional gem mining industry. Lauren Darrouzet, a visiting assistant professor of art, metals and 3D fabrication, brought the project to campus in the fall.

“The mining and production of gemstones and metals is a largely unregulated industry that has long presented issues such as environmental damage, contribution to conflict and human rights abuses,” said Darrouzet. “New regulations on the industry aim to support producing countries to engage with systems of accountability throughout the supply chain. This effort is challenging and relies on global participation.”

Earlham participated in a Radical Jewelry Makeover project based in Bloomington, Indiana. The college was joined in the effort by professional jewelers from Chicago’s Gallery 2052 and students from Indiana UniversityBloomington, Ball State University, Bowling Green University, Western Michigan University and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

The

more online

For more pictures from Lauren Darrouzet’s class, including images of the finished pieces, visit earlhamite.earlham.edu/jewelry-makeover

JOSH SMITH

FROM THE BOARD CHAIR

A Tribute to Anne Houtman

When William H. McRaven left as chancellor of the University of Texas System in 2018, the former Navy Admiral famously stated, “The toughest job in the nation is the one of an academic- or health-institution president.”

He was right. And he didn’t even have to steer his institution through a global pandemic, a national racial reckoning and several foreign wars that hit painfully close to home.

Anne Houtman did. And Earlham’s first woman president did it with grace, courage and compassion.

“Anne is leaving Earlham College in a better place than she found it, with a solid and clearly articulated plan for the future.”

— THOMAS H. THORNBURG ’84

When she began her tenure as Earlham’s 20th president, it was a tumultuous time for the college. Anne took on the unenviable task of making difficult financial decisions, including a reduction of staff, in order to secure the college’s future. During the pandemic, she maintained Earlham’s commitment to in-person living and learning and provided steady direction during great uncertainty. And during the Richmond fire emergency, a situation outside of her control and

rife with uncertainty, Anne prioritized the health and safety of our students.

Her hand proved just as steady during prosperous times. Anne fostered the full launch of the Epic Journey, which provides wonderful career-discerning opportunities for students, distinguishes us from other colleges and emphatically underscores the value of an Earlham education. She worked with faculty to launch new majors and championed the development of new athletics programs. She oversaw the most ambitious fundraising effort in the college’s history, the For Good campaign.

The campaign was on track to exceed its $85 million goal even without the landmark $25 million grant that Earlham received from Lilly Endowment Inc., in late 2023. Anne and her team collaborated with the community to spur the Revitalize Richmond initiative, and their proposal was awarded a grant that will ignite a renaissance in Earlham’s hometown. Under Anne’s guidance, the college has created an ambitious plan for enrollment growth, and we are starting to see results from that plan.

Anne is leaving Earlham College in a better place than she found it, with a solid and clearly articulated plan for the future. On behalf of the Earlham Board of Trustees, I express great gratitude to Anne, her husband, Will, and her family for their remarkable work in service of Earlham.

Anne: Thank you for rising to the challenge of the toughest job in the nation. For not backing down. For moving this great college forward — for now, and for good.

Thomas H. Thornburg ’84 Chair, Earlham Board of Trustees

JOSH SMITH

Earlham President Anne Houtman at the President’s Circle Tea during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend in October 2023.

Earlham College continues to be recognized as a national leader in higher education by some of the nation’s top college guides and most respected publications.

In the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges guidebook for 2024, Earlham remains one of the nation’s top 100 national liberal arts colleges.

In a new national college-access index, the New York Times ranks Earlham 13th in the nation for having the most economic diversity. In compiling the ranking, the Times used Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges and other metrics to rank 286 of some of the nation’s most selective colleges and universities. Schools with the highest percentages of students receiving federal Pell grants ranked highest on the list.

Earlham was also recognized for excellence in higher education in the fall by The Princeton Review’s Best 389 Colleges: 2024 edition. This is the eighth consecutive year Earlham has been recognized as a “Best Classroom Experience.”

Adding to a record of nearly 40 consecutive years, The Fiske Guide to Colleges once again recognized Earlham as one of the nation’s “best and most interesting” institutions of higher education. ■

EARLHAMITE ODYSEEY

“I was like, ‘Ok, that’s it, I’m going to Earlham.’”

Flipping through old copies of Earlhamite magazine, 6,000 miles away in Japan, John Ozai ’27 was struck by the obituaries, which revealed the meaningful lives Earlham College alums had lived. At that moment, he knew he wanted to apply to the college and spend the next four years of his life on the Richmond campus.

“It is a strange approach, to read the obituaries and say, I want to live like that,” says Ozai. “But that was the first thought that came to mind, that these people were genuinely happy with what they did and what they were able to give to their community. And I was like, ‘Ok, that’s it, I’m going to Earlham.’”

Ozai grew up in Japan with his mother, who is originally from Ohio. The family made friends with one of the few other American immigrants in the area, including Earlham alum Paul Rector ’69

Ozai always admired and respected the life that Rector led — he’d lived with his family in the mountains and had originally moved to Japan during the Vietnam War as a conscientious objector. When Rector passed away, his wife gave the Ozai family his old Earlhamite magazines during the time Ozai was trying to decide where to attend college. It felt like fate.

“I would say it’s the greatest decision that I made in life,” he said. “It’s just like my curiosity is sparking all over the place, and it’s just phenomenal.” ■ Story by Autumn Young

JOSH SMITH

Hair Affair

A collaboration between Black students at Earlham College and faculty from the Student Life Division is making hair care easier for students.

Hair Affair, an initiative led by Amari BradfordSargent ’25, Kiyomi Johnson ’24 and Tamarianna Mason ’25, happens twice per semester. Six hair stylists visit campus from nearby cities and open their books for free appointments. Students leave with a fresh look and a goody bag full of hair care products that are hard to find locally. They also leave with a greater sense of community.

“Doing hair is a very communal activity,” Johnson said. “Usually you do your hair in groups, you go to the salon, you have conversation. We wanted to try to bring that experience to campus and that kind of community-based activity to campus.”

“This was my first time getting my hair done professionally,” said Nic Wilson ’25 after the inaugural Hair Affair event on campus in the fall. “I’ve done my hair myself before in my room, but it never came out well. I’m excited.”

Access to stylists and hair care products for the college’s Black community is limited — but that is changing. In addition to Hair Affair, inclusive hair care products are now available for purchase in the campus store.

“What I want people to take away is the fact that they are not alone on this campus,” BradfordSargent said.

“The students are all smiles,” Mason added. “It feels really good to build that sense of community with other students — not just Black students but students of color and everyone else.” ■ Story by

Brian Zimmerman

/Photos by Kate Young and Tsitsi Makufa

“Doing hair is a very communal activity.”

— KIYOMI JOHNSON ’24

center: Amari Bradford-Sargent ’25, Kiyomi Johnson ’24 and Tamarianna Mason ’25 are the force behind Hair Affair that brings in stylists for free appointments twice a month.

Scan the QR code to watch a video from last fall’s inaugural Hair Affair event.

YOUNG ALUM PROFILE

Reflections from Capitol Hill

When the Capitol was breached on January 6, 2021, most people watched it from afar. Sonia Norton ’18, on the other hand, was in D.C.

At the time, Norton worked for one of the members of Congress who was trapped in the gallery. If it hadn’t been for pandemic-related health precautions, she would have been on the Hill and sending interns on assignments in the very halls and rooms where violence unfolded.

For Norton, the events of January 6 cannot be discussed without addressing the very real impacts not just on those who work in the Capitol, but also on the residents of D.C. whose home city was attacked. After the attack, many great public servants left the Hill for their well-being, Norton says.

Norton was also in D.C. when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away in 2020 and when the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision was announced in 2022. She found comfort in being steeped in an involved and passionate community during those pivotal moments.

“[I find optimism in] having little wins that are impactful and really help people.”

— SONIA NORTON ’18

Kahele and Blumenauer. In addition to her roles on staff, Norton was also recently elected to her third term on the Women’s Congressional Staff Association Board.

Norton credits Earlham with teaching her how to ask questions and process complex topics quickly with others. This allows her to hold space for multiple perspectives and recognize the humanity in whomever she’s speaking with.

Even though she has witnessed firsthand the stark political polarization that the country is experiencing, she has built friendships across the aisle with people who care just as deeply as she does.

“[I find optimism in] having little wins that are impactful and really help people, even if it’s not the monumental change that we ultimately need,” says Norton. “Seeing people be really involved in that process in the violence prevention space, in the climate space, but also more and more across the board, is meaningful.” ■

Story by Jensen Pennock ’16 ESR ’22

Currently working on Capitol Hill as the senior legislative assistant in the office of Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Norton has a portfolio that includes drug policy reform, immigration, housing and homelessness, foreign affairs and defense. She is grateful to work for someone who is also passionate about a plethora of issues. “We both come from a place of wanting to really help people and make Congress work better for our constituents,” she says.

In her role, Norton has become an expert on navigating the issues in her portfolio, helping advance the member’s priorities and supporting impactful policy.

After graduating from Earlham, where she majored in politics with a minor in women’s, gender and sexuality studies, Norton served as a Fulbright-Neru English Teaching Assistant in the first such cohort in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. She interned in D.C. during college, but since moving there in 2019, she has taken on various congressional staff roles in the offices of Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Congressman Kaiali’i

SCHOLAR

“Earlham is a community of amazing people who are passionate about making the world a better place.”

Nico Quijano Franco ’23 became one of 10 global leaders chosen for the Future Nobel Laureate Scholarship in the fall of 2023. The scholarship is the result of a collaboration between the Forum on Education Abroad, the College Study Division of Education First and the Nobel Prize Museum.

FRANCO TRAVELED TO GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN, IN DECEMBER ON AN ALLEXPENSES PAID TRIP TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NOBEL WEEK DIALOGUE. THE ANNUAL EVENT BRINGS SOME OF THE WORLD’S LEADING SCIENTISTS, POLICYMAKERS AND THINKERS TOGETHER TO EXPLORE SCIENTIFIC TOPICS THROUGH A GLOBAL LENS.

Author Anne Lamott to speak at spring

Quaker Leadership Conference

Bestselling novelist and essayist Anne  Lamott will join the Earlham School of Religion for the opening of the 2024 Quaker Leadership Conference and the seminary’s all-school reunion.

Lamott will speak at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 25, at Goddard Auditorium in Carpenter Hall. The lecture is funded by the Perkins Family Speaker Series, which is named after the Perkins-Wildman family. The family has provided two generations of stewardship and ministry to ESR and the Religious Society of Friends.

Lamott is a New York Times bestselling

author. Her works include: Help, Thanks, Wow; Small Victories; Stitches; Some Assembly Required; Grace (Eventually); Plan B; Traveling Mercies; and Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, a foundational work for many practitioners of the craft. Lamott writes about loss — loss of loved ones and loss of personal control. She is known for telling stories with honesty, compassion and a pureness of voice.

She is a past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an inductee to the California Hall of Fame. ■

3

3 FOR

TREVOR MARIMBIRE ’22 AND DARYL MIFSUD ’22, WERE SELECTED FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP’S 2021 AND 2022 COHORTS, RESPECTIVELY.

EARLHAM COMMUNITY

NOBEL LAUREATE

SAM LAMOTT

REVITALIZE RICHMOND

Earlham College awarded $25 million grant

Earlham College has been selected for a highly competitive $25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.’s College and Community Collaboration initiative, which is designed to encourage Indiana’s colleges and universities to work closely with community stakeholders to envision and jointly undertake significant community development efforts to create more vibrant places in which to live, learn, work and play.

The grant will fund the new Revitalize Richmond initiative — a five-year effort between Earlham and Wayne County community partners that will accelerate community development in Richmond with a specific concentration on downtown. Revitalize Richmond builds on community feedback and research to accelerate existing key community initiatives that are in the planning stages and introduces new efforts to strengthen the connections between Earlham’s campus and downtown Richmond.

“It has the power to transform and elevate our hometown.”

— EARLHAM PRESIDENT ANNE HOUTMAN

our community and the guidance of our partners, we have created a vision that takes our city’s current assets and builds upon them to increase the beauty, livability and economic stability of the downtown city center. Revitalize Richmond is a bridge, connecting the passion and expertise of our community partners with the additional resources they need to make a lasting impact. It has the power to transform and elevate our hometown.”

Revitalize Richmond includes three areas of focus: activate, build and connect. The projects in these areas are mutually beneficial to Earlham and neighbors in Wayne County and include the development of new urban housing in downtown Richmond, improved transit connecting Earlham’s campus to downtown, new outdoor recreation opportunities in the Whitewater Valley Gorge and other quality-of-place improvements to help Earlham and Richmond grow together.

“We know that the success of Earlham and Wayne County are inextricably linked — Earlham’s history is Richmond’s history,” Earlham President Anne Houtman said.

“Listening to the voices of

Earlham will administer the $25 million grant. With the $83 million in cost-share funding that has been committed by Earlham’s partners in the effort, the community will realize an impact of more than $100 million in investments. Revitalize Richmond

partners include the City of Richmond, Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County, Wayne County Foundation, Forward Wayne County, Main Street Richmond, Richmond Neighborhood Restoration, and Eric ’96 and Becky ’97 Dimick Eastman, the founders of a nascent makerspace.

“The scope of the projects included in the Revitalize Richmond initiative would typically take decades to effectively secure funding for,” said Valerie Shaffer, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County. “Now we can move confidently and quickly forward on key efforts that have been planned to secure a strong future for our community. We also know that progress of this magnitude has the potential to attract additional interest and investment in our community for

years to come. The impact of this grant cannot be overstated.”

Lilly Endowment launched the College and Community Collaboration initiative in February 2023, allocating up to $300 million in funding to be approved in multiple phases.

“We are so grateful to Lilly Endowment for creating this visionary grant opportunity, which has the potential to transform college towns across Indiana,” Houtman said. “There is palpable excitement within our community in Richmond and at Earlham as we consider the extraordinary impact that a grant of this magnitude can support.” ■

Story by Brian Zimmerman/Photos by Josh Smith

more online earlham.edu/revitalize-richmond

SARA MISAK

ALUM CAREER CONNECTIONS

Fostering Friendship

Alex Topalovic ’19 and Overpower Gore ’23 grew up on different continents. Topalovic is from Serbia. Gore is from Zimbabwe. Though their paths never crossed at Earlham, they were both drawn to enFocus, a talent incubator and innovation hub in South Bend, Indiana. The company specializes in recruiting recent graduates to create innovations and solve problems within a diverse array of regional businesses, such as health care and engineering. Topalovic works as a strategic operations coordinator, and Gore is an innovation fellow.

The two first met during Gore’s virtual interview with the company, and Topalovic was on the interview panel. Gore was sitting in a part of Earlham that Topalovic recognized on the screen.

“I sat there, I had my suit on, and you know, I was nervous, because this is my first job, and Alex goes, are you in ‘The U?’ I remember being just so confused because I’m scared of this meeting, and somehow this random guy knew exactly where I was,” Gore said.

With that small connection, Gore became more relaxed during the interview and was eventually hired for the job. When Gore reached out to thank Topalovic in person, the moment became the start of a friendship that has continued to grow over the last year.

Having Topalovic as a friend, Gore said, has been a huge help, as he’s navigated his first job in a new part of the country. “Having somebody international and somebody from Earlham, somebody who understands where I’m coming from, it was kind of almost a customized help, because he understands everything,” said Gore.

Topalovic also noted that sharing not only the same school, but also the same field — they both graduated with degrees in global management — meant that they could easily communicate with each other as they collaborated on projects. “I could say, this is the thing that we learned here, and this is how I use it in the actual workplace,” he said.

In many ways, they see their friendship as a natural extension of their time at Earlham. Both Gore and Topalovic emphasized the success they’ve experienced is, in part, because of the many people at Earlham who have helped and supported them on their journey, on and off campus.

“I think having somebody who can help you, especially as international students, having somebody to help navigate independently of having a professor, has helped me tremendously in my life.” Topalovic said. ■

Story by Autumn Young

TSITSI MAKUFA

Sparking wonder for a total solar eclipse

Rachael Van Schoik ’08 teamed up with the Joseph Moore Museum last fall to inspire educators to deepen their connection with the natural world ahead of the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.

Van Schoik, who is the Science Action Club Program Manager for the California Academy of Sciences, facilitated training at the museum for 15 after-school organizations in Indiana and Ohio, including the Cope Environmental Center and Girls, Inc. of Wayne County. The training was supported by the Indiana and Ohio Afterschool networks, TechPoint Foundation for Youth, Purdue University, 4-H Youth Development and the Simons Foundation’s In the Path of Totality initiative.

“Science Action Club uses handson STEM activities to help youth and educators learn how science and nature are awe-producing and encourage curiosity,” said Van Schoik. “The curriculum is focused on middle school-age youth because that’s a pivotal time when a student’s natural curiosity can be permanently sparked or squashed depending on their experience with science instruction. We want to make students feel welcome and pair them with educators who are enthusiastic about the natural world. We want them to have memorable positive experiences in science that they can take with them for the rest of their life.”

With Richmond and Wayne County situated along the eclipse’s path of totality, Earlham’s campus will offer a rare vantage point to see the sun totally eclipsed by the moon on April 8. The astronomical phenomenon will reach the county at 3:07 p.m. and last for nearly four minutes.

“Almost everyone has experienced an eclipse in their lifetime, and it’s always exciting,” Van Schoik said. “We want people to get outside, observe and celebrate.”

Van Schoik has been working at the intersection of equity, learning and science since earning her degree in biology from Earlham.

“I’m proud of the work I am doing at the California Academy of Sciences,” Van Schoik said. “My colleagues are all experts in their fields and are extremely passionate about the work they do. We are giving youth and educators access to the natural world. That’s a really powerful mechanism and tool for building a scientifically literate workforce and society.” ■

Story by Brian Zimmerman

“We want to make students feel welcome and pair them with educators who are enthusiastic about the natural world.”

— RACHAEL VAN SCHOIK ’08

ALUM SPOTLIGHT

JOSH SMITH

Rachael Van Schoik (center) encourages hands-on STEM activities.

ROCKET MAN

Sascha Deri ’93 works to make a greener, more thoughtful vision of space entrepreneurship a reality.

BY ABIGAIL CURTIS PHOTOS COURTESY OF SASCHA

On a rainy November day,

Sascha Deri ’93 aimed his pickup truck through deep mud holes and across long-neglected swathes of land on a former military airport near the coast of Maine.

His destination? A rough cinder block enclosure tucked into a remote corner of the runway that looks nondescript until you learn what happens there: rocket science.

Deri is the founder and CEO of bluShift Aerospace, a Brunswick, Maine-based startup focused on developing rocket technology. Two years ago, it was the first in the world to launch a commercial, suborbital rocket powered by carbon-neutral biofuel — a closely guarded formula he developed a decade ago.

A few months after his visit to the cinder block enclosure in November of last year, the old airbase became the site of a critical test for the company. If all goes well, the test will show that bluShift’s latest engine prototype can successfully ignite and burn for a full 60 seconds, the amount of time needed to launch a rocket through the stratosphere and deploy satellites into space.

From there, the physics major believes the sky’s the limit.

“I want to do something with technology that benefits humanity on our planet in some way,” Deri said. “It seems like it’s a good thing to found a company on — doing space in a more sustainable way.”

Still, it’s an uphill climb. Maine, a state known more for tourism than for tech, seems an unlikely locale for a company engaged in a modern-day space race. And Deri, a quirky visionary who once ate a chunk of his solid-state rocket fuel on CNN to prove it could be done, is not your typical space entrepreneur.

But the universe is vast, and if there’s room in it for space-minded billionaires such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, why isn’t there a place for an everyday idealist like Deri?

He is betting there is and that a greener, more thoughtful vision of space entrepreneurship and travel can take root and grow in his home state. Other people think so, too.

Robert Bayer, the emeritus director of the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine and the research director for a small startup called Lobster Unlimited, was excited

to learn about Deri’s environmentally friendly rocket fuel. So excited, in fact, that he ran a trial at his home to assure Mainers that the secret substance would not harm the state’s all-important lobster industry.

He set up a fish tank in his basement, filled it with seawater and installed a live lobster before adding some of the fuel to the tank.

“I kept it for two weeks — the lobster that was in the tank was happy, and so was I. You couldn’t ask for anything much safer than this,” Bayer said. “I can’t tell you what it is, but I can tell you that it’s safe and that you have eaten some of this at some point in your life.”

There’s an extra bonus that comes with Deri doing this work in the state where he grew up.

“Sascha’s really pushing the envelope within the industry itself,” said Terry Shehata, longtime executive director of the nonprofit Maine Space Grant Consortium and interim director of the public-private Maine Space Corporation.

Deri with Gov. Janet Mills of Maine

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SASCHA DERI

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Because Maine juts into the Atlantic Ocean, companies such as bluShift will be able to safely launch rockets without going over land and houses — one of very few places on the crowded eastern seaboard where that is possible.

“And he never forgot where he’s from. We’re glad that he wanted to come home and give back to the community.”

From Maine to the stars

In some ways, Maine is a great place to start a space company. In 2022, Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill into law that established Maine Space Corp., a public-private partnership aimed at establishing the state as a U.S. space industry leader. The potential seems as vast as space, with the American government estimating in 2021 that the U.S. space industry accounted for more than $200 billion of gross output and 360,000 private industry jobs.

Deri is a member of the board of directors for Maine Space Corp., and has been a tireless ambassador for the state’s space economy, according to Shehata.

“He’s out there all the time, speaking on behalf not only of his company and the corporation, but also sending a message that Maine is really ready to participate in a big way in the growing space economy,” Shehata said.

The group has targeted 2030 as the year Maine will be seen as an integral player in the emerging global network of suborbital and orbital transportation to space. The biggest reason for that is the state’s geography, Deri said. Because Maine juts into the Atlantic Ocean, companies such as bluShift will be able to safely launch rockets without going over land and houses — one of very few places on the crowded eastern seaboard where that is possible.

The bluShift fleet will fill an important role by sending smaller satellites developed by businesses, researchers and students into a polar orbit that circles the earth by soaring high over the eastern seaboard.

BluShift builds hybrid rocket systems that use both solid and gas or liquid propellants. The fuel, a plantderived substance, works even better than petroleum-based fuels.

He anticipates that a few years, bluShift, which now employs nine people, will regularly launch rockets from a liftboat anchored two nautical miles off the coast of Steuben in the heart of the region known as Downeast Maine. Much smaller than the rockets built by SpaceX, the bluShift fleet will fill an important role by sending smaller satellites developed by businesses, researchers and students into a polar orbit that circles the earth by soaring high over the eastern seaboard. Those smaller satellites will make space research accessible to more people.

“Short-term hope, we’d like to provide researchers, including students, the ability to access space quickly and cost-effectively,” he said.

Eyes on the skies

Deri has turned his gaze skyward since he was a boy, growing up in an off-grid homestead tucked amid the forests and lakes of East Orland in Maine’s rural Hancock County. When he was 3 and his younger brother Justin Deri ’95 was 1, their parents moved there from Cleveland, Ohio, in search of a simpler, safer way of life.

They didn’t have much in the way of amenities. Early on, the family lived in a wooden cabin that lacked proper insulation and indoor plumbing. At night, there wasn’t much to separate them from the stars.

Deri as a child with his family on Toddy Pond in Maine

Steuben AUGUSTA

PORTLAND

“The origin of bluShift kind of comes from growing up in Maine,” Deri, 52, said. “You could very clearly see the stars at night, and the Milky Way, especially in the wintertime. And we lived on a lake, so you really had this big open space where you could see the universe.”

All those stars and all that mystery caught his imagination. Space seemed alluring and inevitable, a not-uncommon sentiment for many of the children who grew up in the 1970s. Astronauts had walked on the moon, and the future of space exploration seemed bright.

“You have this vision, because you’ve seen all these books, and you’ve watched Battlestar Galactica and the Star Wars movies, you just know you’re going to space in the next decade or two. It’s happening. We’re just around the corner,” he remembered thinking. “So you come with this pumped-up expectation for what we’re going to do as a race of living beings.”

Of course, that’s not what happened. America’s appetite for space exploration took a nose-dive after the 1986 Challenger explosion killed all seven crew members. The tragedy brought the U.S. space program to an abrupt halt that lasted almost three years.

For Deri, further space-related disappointments were in store. As a boy, he wanted to be an astronaut, then a pilot, then an aerospace engineer. Bad vision and parental persuasion put an end to those dreams.

“I thought, OK, I want to understand how the universe works and that’s why I got into physics,” he said. “But my roots were that I always wanted to do space as a kid.”

College days

Deri was drawn to Earlham College by its academics, small size, roots and values. Raised by a Quaker mother and a father who had been a member of Students for a Democratic Society, he felt the Earlham ethos was the right fit.

“The Quaker philosophy was really tuned in very much to my own sort of belief system,” he said. “My desire wasn’t just purely the sciences. My desire was to learn and grow as a person.”

He loved how, as a student enrolled in a science program, he took lots of humanities classes and met people from all around the globe. “You’re getting your eyes open to the rest of the world just a little bit. I think that kind of solidified my desire to align my passions and my belief in my internal moral guidance system,” he said.

He also found time to goof around. One of his most cherished memories happened when he and friends from

the physics department employed a three-man slingshot to see how far water balloons would travel. They went up to the roof of the science building, to which Deri happened to have a key, and lobbed their barrage of balloons across the Heart and all the way to Earlham Hall.

“You could hear people yelling, wondering where the heck they were coming from. That caused a bit of calamity,” Deri said. “And then being good Earlham students, you cannot tell a lie. Truth is one of the Quaker testimonies, and you have to be truthful. So when it eventually came around to who did it, we had to let on.”

As a consequence, he forfeited his key.

“It was a good learning lesson,” he said. “And it was a heck of a lot of fun.”

While Deri’s pranks are fun to recall, other aspects of his Earlham experience had a deep impact on his life decisions, especially the quantum mechanics class he took with John Howell, research professor emeritus of physics. The class, which looked at matter and energy at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles, was very abstract. It was a challenge for what Deri calls his “3D mind,” and ultimately changed his path.

“I had thought I was going to be a nutty professor,” he said. “I ended up not going that route. I knew I wanted to go into electrical engineering in part because of quantum physics.”

An entrepreneurial spirit

After Earlham, Deri’s trajectory was not precisely linear. He went on to get another bachelor’s degree, this one in electrical engineering from the University of Southern Maine, and was hired to be a software programmer. “Which I detested,” he said.

After that, he worked as a test engineer for a telecom manufacturing company, which he found to be more tangible and enjoyable than software programming. But it still didn’t fill his cup.

Thanks in part to his upbringing as the son of a jack-ofall-trades who worked as a machinist, a mechanic, a teacher, a carpenter, a kelp fisherman and a woodcutter, among other professions, Deri had a willingness to try new things.

“I think that kind of created the entrepreneurial spirit,” he said. “I’ve also got the bug of taking risks where I think a lot of people feel really timid about taking risks.”

In 1999, he and some partners founded a renewable energy startup, the Boxborough, Massachusetts-based altE store, which specialized in providing do-it-yourself customers with off-grid and grid-tied solar power systems.

“I want to provide young, rural students like myself with the sense that the world, if not the universe, is your oyster.”

— SASCHA DERI ’93

The company thrived. But Deri’s dream of space continued to orbit inside him: “My passion for space and my frustration that humanity really hasn’t done anything was always mounting and mounting. So I said, ‘Well, I’m sort of independently capable. Why don’t I just kick off and start doing something myself?’”

Open to the moment

Deri read every book and paper he could find on propulsion systems, rocket technologies and more. He quickly focused his attention on the type of propulsion system that bluShift is building today: a hybrid rocket system that uses both solid and gas or liquid propellants.

“They’re safer and lower cost to build, and you could do them without using really toxic materials, which tends to be the case with normal rockets,” he said.

His curiosity lit, Deri began what he called a “skunkworks,” an innovative side laboratory, to become more familiarized with hybrid rocket engines. He was doing an engine test on his brother’s organic farm in North Yarmouth, Maine, when he made a discovery.

“We sat at his kitchen table on the farm, and we saw a certain substance growing on the windowsill,” Deri said. “I was like, ‘Man, I wonder if that could be used as fuel instead?’ Even if this doesn’t work as well as the petroleum version, it’s more sustainable.”

So far, he said, the plant-derived substance, which he has not publicly identified, exceeded expectations and works even better than petroleum-based fuels.

“It was serendipity, right? You want to think that discovery is part of a high level of academic intelligence,” he said. “But it’s also really about being open to the moment and trying to connect things with possibility, and being willing to experiment and veer off the path, which I think is part of the entrepreneurial spirit. Like being able to take risks, and jump, and find out and be OK with being wrong.”

That spirit infuses bluShift, a company built on the dream of developing a rocket that uses carbon-neutral biofuel to ultimately send a probe toward the next closest

star system. It also will allow Deri to meet tough challenges including finding financing and persuading wary environmentalists that the rockets will not harm the Maine coast.

“I want to provide young, rural students like myself with the sense that the world, if not the universe, is your oyster,” he said. “Just because you grew up rurally, and you didn’t have much, you can do incredible things if you put your mind to it and you put your persistence to it.”

Deri knows that’s true. After all, the boy who gazed up at the stars never gave up on space, the universe or doing good in the world. ■

Deri (above) and a rocket at the test site in Maine.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SASCHA DERI

Embedding in Crisis

Mourning Fox ’89 went from majoring in peace to working closely with the police.

BY RAY MARK RINALDI

ourning Fox ’89 doesn’t mind if people get tripped up over his unusual name. Actually, that is part of his strategy.

He chose it himself a few years after graduating from Earlham College as Todd Hurwitz, so that anyone he introduced himself to would stop in their tracks.

“It’s meant to be a vehicle, a conversation starter,” he said. “Every time I write a check or use a credit card, people ask about it.”

Like a lot of things in the life of Fox — most people call him that rather than by his first name — there is some logic to it. Todd actually means “fox” in Gaelic and so that was a natural change. As for “mourning,” that is his reflection on the state of a world plagued by issues such as racism, sexism and inequality.

Chatting about his name provides a platform to engage on those topics.

“I don’t care what people’s opinions are. I just want them to hear this message,” he said. “One of the things I learned at Earlham was to think globally and act locally. This is about as local as I can get.”

From peace to police

Fox credits much of what happened to him over the last three decades to his time at Earlham, even though the path he took after earning a bachelor’s degree in peace and global studies was quite unexpected. For one thing, Fox never envisioned that he — a selfdescribed “tree hugger” — would be working in his current field, which is law enforcement. His employer is the Vermont Department of Public Safety, the state’s main police agency.

How did that happen to a peace and global studies student?

Fox says it all makes sense — if you follow his story, which involves a couple of unexpected obstacles, some of them small and others rather large, like the fall of the Berlin Wall, which happened the same year he was completing a degree concentration in Soviet foreign policy. Fox was serious about it, even traveling to the Soviet Union as part of his college program.

But when the wall came tumbling down so did his career opportunities. Fox made the first of several professional pivots, sending resumes to primary and high schools hoping someone would hire him as a paraprofessional teacher.

The Greenwood School, a Putney, Vermontbased residential facility for boys with significant learning disabilities, offered him a job. He accepted and that was followed by another post as a special education teacher in nearby Montpelier. A career began to take shape.

Following daily lesson plans as a teacher bored him, but he did find satisfaction volunteering to help the schools’ crisis management teams.

“I found that I really preferred helping students manage crises at different times in their lives,” he said. “I felt like the one thing I was good at was helping people feel like they were being heard.”

It was a calling he needed to pursue. He enrolled in Goddard College and earned a master’s degree in psychology in 1994. “I was able to focus a lot of my studies on emergency psychiatric interventions, crisis interventions and things of that sort,” he said.

He began working full-time at the Howard Center in Burlington, which offers mental health and substance abuse counseling to families in need. That is where his connection to policing began in earnest. It was not uncommon that he would

interact with law enforcement on cases. “When people are in crisis, that is always a hard day for them,” he said. “But when they are in crisis and law enforcement is involved, it is arguably one the worst days in a person’s life. To be able to help someone in those moments was very gratifying for me.”

Becoming a gatekeeper

Fox spent the next six years finding his place in that equation — trying to help people who were in a bad state but doing everything possible to get them through it in the least complicated way — before they needed hospitalization or before they were hauled off to jail.

Howard created a new position specifically for Fox, as a liaison between health care and criminal courts. Eventually it grew to where he was working directly out of the Chittenden County Superior Courthouse.

“If there was a question of an individual’s competency to stand trial, or during their arraignment, I would assess them and make a recommendation to the court,” he said.

Should they be held for their crimes?

Released to a doctor’s care? Sent to a state hospital? These were crucial and important decisions, and Fox believed he had developed the skill, through his unique combination of experiences and studies, to make them in the person’s best interest. “It was nice to be able to be the gatekeeper in that sense,” he said.

But then there was a break in the trajectory. Eleven years after graduating from college, Fox headed back to Richmond, Indiana. He was in a new relationship with Heather Caldera, whom he would later marry, and they wanted a new place to move together. Earlham offered him a job as a student counselor, and he accepted. He spent three years there. “Going from being a student to now being staff was interesting,” he said. At Earlham, he was instrumental in setting up a new counseling center for students.

He might have stayed there except that Caldera’s grandmother, who lived in Massachusetts, became ill and needed hospice care. Because Caldera is a registered nurse, it made sense for the family to move back East.

In Massachusetts, Fox made something of career leap, taking on a position at Bridgewater

“When they are in crisis and law enforcement is involved, it is arguably one the worst days in a person’s life. To be able to help someone in those moments was very gratifying for me.”

— MOURNING FOX ’89

State Hospital, which is run by the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. Bridgewater houses individuals charged with crimes but who have been found incompetent to stand trial. Fox was director of its maximum security units.

It was his first time working officially for the law enforcement side of government. “Bridgewater was not a very friendly place,” he said. “You see a lot of the dark side of humanity.”

Assisting recovery

Still, he still saw himself primarily as an advocate for the people inside the facility. “There could be people there who had charges of unlawful trespass, a very minor charge,” he said, “but I also worked with serial killers and arsonists, and with people who had killed several people.”

His goal was always to assist their recovery so that they could go to trial. “The way I looked at it is that not only do the victims have a right for the trial to go forward, but the people being accused have a right, as well, to their day in court,” he said. “They could be found guilty. They could be found not guilty, but they have a right to face their accuser, to say ‘I didn’t do it.’”

At Bridgewater, he availed himself to deeper training in crisis negation, including with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He became an authority on how to de-escalate difficult situations with incarcerated people across the state prison system.

He eventually left Bridgewater and started his own consulting firm with a business partner, teaching hostage negotiation skills to police departments across the region. Part of his preparation for that was attending the Vermont Police Academy. He went through 16 weeks of full-on training. In some ways, he said, he felt out of place though he embraced it and got firsthand knowledge of the level of crisis training law enforcement officers receive through regular academy courses.

That was in 2009 when the economy was stumbling and police departments were cutting budgets, so Fox took a new full-time position at High Point Treatment Center in New Bedford, Massachusetts. There he managed a 40-bed detox and psychiatric facility for women.

Two years in, Fox and Caldera found themselves missing family and friends in Vermont. Fox used his resume to quickly secure a job at the

Vermont Department of Mental Health, and they returned to the state where they met.

That Fox was able to move from stateto-state-to-state and land on his feet did not surprise Matt Saltus ’89, a longtime friend. The two met at Earlham in their first year when they were living on different floors of the same dorm. They used to play a lot of disc golf together on the college lawns.

“Things always do tend to work out for him,” said Saltus. “But that does not mean he’s not actively thinking about his next step a lot of the time.”

The two have remained close. In fact, they do improv together. They have a side business taking their act, the Kamikaze Comedy Troupe, to small night clubs and events. Saltus now lives in Vermont, too.

A force for good

Fox worked his way up the ladder to deputy commissioner, a position he held for more than four years. There, he oversaw a pilot program that began embedding non-uniformed crisis specialists in the barracks of the Vermont State Police. The program — a partnership between the state’s mental health and public safety departments — was a national leader.

Over time, Fox jumped across the bureaucratic line. He left the Vermont Department of Mental Health and started working for the Vermont Department of Public Safety, which oversees the state police. It was a

natural progression, he said, since so much of his work involved police departments already. And it fit perfectly into his career arc, since he has spent so much of his work life — in one way or another — at the intersection of mental health and law enforcement.

He is dedicated to making the embed program work. At first, he said, police officers were not too happy about having counselors going along with them on calls. It was just one more person to keep safe when things got dangerous.

“Coming out of college, we weren’t careeroriented as much as we just wanted interesting jobs that stimulated us intellectually and were still a force of good in the world.”

— MATT SALTUS ’89

But experience showed them otherwise. “Frankly, they are not trained to be mental health professionals,” said Fox. “The crisis specialists actually took a lot of work off their hands.” And it was better for the individuals caught up in whatever scene was going on. The counselors worked to calm things down, assess needs and, whenever possible, keep people from going to jail or being sent to hospitals. The specialists also had the time to do follow up and make sure people got medical and psychiatric help.

Fox likes to hire specialists who have personal experience themselves with life crises. They do not need degrees in mental health counseling, but they do need to share his skill of making others “feel heard,” he said.

The program has quickly become institutionalized across all 10 of Vermont’s state police barracks, and Fox — who has testified many times already before the state’s legislature — plans to ask for funds to expand it to other police departments in the state.

He will stay in the position, he said, until he accomplishes that mission. He has had a lot of jobs during his career, but he understands how it all came together. It’s a model for others to follow who want to discover their true work purpose and are not afraid to take risks.

He talks about his life unfolding in chapters, how he always availed himself to whatever training he could get and always let his passions lead the decision-making. And he has always planned out his next step, just as his college friend Matt Saltus observed early on in their friendship.

“Coming out of college, we weren’t career-oriented as much as we just wanted interesting jobs that stimulated us intellectually and were still a force of good in the world,” said Saltus.

Fox, he believes, succeeded at that goal. ■

Speakagain, brightangel:

timethis in Arabic

Story by Autumn Young

Photos by John Ollila

OOne bright evening last summer, just off the cobblestone streets of Prague, Fawzia Istrabadi ’20 began performing her adaptation of Romeo and Juliet at the Estates Theatre, on the same stage where Mozart premiered some of his most famous works.

The three-minute play focuses on Juliet’s perspective and was delivered in both English and Arabic. It might have been the first time that Arabic has been spoken on the stage, despite the theater’s centuries of history. It was also the culmination of months of work.

Istrabadi adapted the script and acted in the play, which was directed by Guy Roberts, a member of the Prague Shakespeare Company, and translated into Arabic by Adham Sayed. Istrabadi was accompanied on stage by two other Juliets, Bridget Stephen Bullard and Hind Jadallah-Karraa.

Istrabadi is in her third year of an MFA program in Shakespeare and performance at Mary Baldwin College in Virginia. The idea for the Romeo and Juliet adaptation initially stemmed from Istrabadi’s thesis work, though Shakespeare and acting have always been an important part of her life.

When Istrabadi was 6 months old, her parents took her to her first Shakespeare play. When she was 2, her grandmother, who was an expert in translating Shakespeare’s works to Arabic and taught at a university in Baghdad, gave her a book of Shakespeare’s complete works. As Istrabadi puts it, “Shakespeare has always sort of been in my blood.”

As Istrabadi worked on her thesis, which examines Islamophobia and Orientalism on the modern Shakespearean stage, she began to imagine a version of Shakespeare that incorporated more diverse voices, “because in theater generally, you don’t see a lot of Arabs, Arab Americans, people of that diaspora onstage, especially when you start getting into classical theater,” she said.

The idea also came from her own personal experience as an Arab American growing up in rural

Indiana. “I’ve been told, ‘Oh, well, you don’t look like a Juliet,’” she said. She hopes that by showing three Arab Americans playing Juliet that, “it just maybe broadens people’s worldview a little bit.” Or, at the very least, she said, helps people reimagine “who can play what or what a character can or can’t be.”

As she adapted the script, it was also important for her to portray the two families, the Capulets and the Montagues, as equals, despite their perceived differences. She had the perfect example from her own life: Her mother is Catholic, and her father is Muslim.

“I know very personally what the mix between Irish and Slovak culture and an Iraqi Middle Eastern culture can look like, and how great it is,” she said. “And I feel like I was very lucky the way

this page: Fawzia Istrabadi ’20 as Juliet at the Estates Theatre in Prague, Czech Republic

opposite page: Cast members: Hind Jadallah-Karraa, Istrabadi and Bridget Stephen Bullard

that I grew up, in that there was an example of what the world can look like when cultures can interact and share and find that they have a lot in common.”

At Earlham, Istrabadi majored in theatre arts, and she said being part of a smaller theater program and college gave her a strong foundation for the work she’s doing now. “You can’t just be an actor,” she said. “You have to be able to do a lot of things.” The department’s emphasis on collaboration also helped in the process of adapting a script to three Juliets. “Because of how key collaboration was in my Earlham theater experience, it’s become really easy to transfer that and recognize the bigger picture, the art, is always more important than personal ego,” she added.

Lynne Perkins Socey, a professor of theatre arts, said that Earlham’s theater program encourages its students to think about the impact of the story they’re telling. “Why are we telling this story to this audience today? How is this relevant to our lives?” she said. “We’re offering this gift of perspective so that hopefully audiences will think about some things they haven’t thought about or have a little bit more empathy for somebody. That’s what a classic story is for.”

Perkins Socey believes Istrabadi’s ability to look closely at those questions has helped her succeed in theater.

Istrabadi recently expanded the three-minute version of her play into a 20-minute performance for the Blackfriars Playhouse Conference in Staunton, Virginia. Her goal is to turn the adaptation into a fulllength production.

“Juliet Capulet is one of Shakespeare’s most incredible characters, arguably one of his most complex heroines. And so, with this lens, she is this fully fledged Arab, Middle Eastern woman,” Istrabadi said. “I’m trying to keep finding ways to highlight the Arabic language and uplift Arabs.” ■

“Fawzia is not just an actor. Fawzia is also a historian and a dramaturg and is really interested in everything about the story.” — LYNNE PERKINS SOCEY

“Fawzia is not just an actor. Fawzia is also a historian and a dramaturg and is really interested in everything about the story,” Perkins Socey said. “Fawzia approaches theater as an art form and an intellectual form of humans sharing thoughts. That’s a large part of what is driving Fawzia in the success that she’s having right now.”

Snapshots of the Modern Classroom: How Earlham Faculty are Engaging with the Rise of AI

When ChatGPT was released in 2022, predictions of how AI would affect our lives began to pop up in the media. And while no one knows exactly how our relationship with AI will look in another year, Earlham faculty are grappling with both the challenges and opportunities this technology brings to the classroom — particularly when it comes to large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and others.

Here’s how Earlham faculty are engaging with these programs and AI-generated content — and how they see higher ed adapting now and in the future.

STORY BY JEN GOSE / PHOTOS BY JOSH SMITH

Asking AI the right questions

Nate Eastman, Director of First Year Success and Convener of the Honors Program

“The way I design assignments, I want students doing authentic, real-world tasks. If they’re aspiring teachers, I want them writing a lesson plan for Hamlet. If they’re aspiring writers, I want them looking at how Hamlet uses character webs or symbols so that they can learn how to use those same tools in their own writing. And so the target I’m trying to hit is technology-agnostic. If a student can use AI to write a better lesson plan, that’s what they should do. If they can use it to write a better story, they should do that.

I should add that there’s a pretty

significant skill component to using an LLM in this way. As with most projects, half the work is asking the right questions and defining your criteria for success.

An AI is a collaborator. It’s a specific kind of collaborator that, for the most part, won’t ask you clarifying questions when your prompt is vague or ambiguous, and which may also have different criteria for success, or different assumptions about pertinent constraints, than you do. And so, teaching writing to students who have access to generative AI is a lot like teaching them to manage a project with a lot of contributors.”

JOSH SMITH

Maintaining academic integrity through clear expectations

Leanna Barlow, Associate

“At first, I was very worried that we were going to see the end of independently written work, since AI and ChatGPT are so accessible, sophisticated and easy to use — which makes it very tempting. It’s a particularly accessible shortcut for students who are often busy or overwhelmed. Over time, though, I’ve seen how well faculty have adapted their assignments to either be difficult for AI alone to complete or to incorporate the use of AI in specific ways — so I’m less worried.

My primary emphasis when communicating with faculty about AI

Academic Dean for Students is really on the importance of setting very clear guidelines for the use of AI and ChatGPT in the syllabus or in each assignment, so students know what to expect. If students shouldn’t ever use AI, even in the idea generation phase, that should be clearly noted. If the use of AI is acceptable with a citation or in certain circumstances, that should also be clearly noted. I think it’s important to give students the information they need to make good decisions about their work and how to do it independently.”

Coaching students to be better (human) writers

Elliot Ratzman, Chair in Jewish Studies and Visiting Assistant Professor in Religion

“This has been my disappointment: Some students are using it to cut corners, rather than develop real, critical skills and become better writers. My fear is that the systems will become more and more sophisticated, making it harder to discern what is student-created and what is AI-generated — and also that students’ writing could become less colorful.

I’ve always given a speech about plagiarism at the beginning of my classes. Now, I’ve had to expand that to include ChatGPT. It goes something like this: ‘When reading the Hebrew Bible, I can tell when the Hebrew shifts from one century to another, from Bronze to Iron Age. And I can tell when an undergraduate’s writing shifts from sentences that are expected of an undergrad to perfectly polished, encyclopedia-level prose. I can’t help you become a better writer or a better thinker unless I am able to see your writing. It does not please me to read the perfect but soulless prose of a machine rather than to be able to coach you into becoming a better writer than you are right now.’

Rethinking the role of the professor

Peng Yu, Associate Professor of Politics

Exploring the possibilities — and the limits

Marya Bower, Professor of Liberal Studies

“I was initially a little worried about students using AI in writing papers, but now I think that if used properly, ChatGPT can help students improve their writing. I encourage students to use AI as one of their sources for information, but not to completely rely on AI or use it to replace other sources. In writing papers, for example, students cannot use AI to replace their own effort and thought work in writing and revising the paper, but they may compare their work with those generated by AI and critically reflect on the difference.

AI has prompted me to rethink my relationship with students. In the context of AI’s rising influence, I have been reevaluating the role I play in my students’ learning experience, the guidance I provide for the students, and the extent to which I trust their responsible use of the technology.”

“I’m at two levels in my thinking. I think AI in general is potentially a huge threat — the ability to create images and sounds that are not true is dangerous.

I think AI in the classroom is not as dangerous. It can be useful, particularly for students who don’t process the written word as easily as others. If it gets their ideas out in an easier manner — particularly if they’re facing any number of learning challenges — that’s amazingly wonderful.

I’m hoping to do a summer collaborative research project with students to explore the limits of AI-generated writing and art. I’m also interested in creating assignments where students take an initial idea, feed it into ChatGPT, and then critique what it creates. I think this could be a great way to examine writing and thinking and development.” ■

Karla Fribley ’03

NEXT GEN TEXTBOOKS

A textbook affordability project saves students money and creates a more equitable system for acquiring and using textbooks.

Story by Bill Engle / Photos by Josh Smith

When Karla Fribley ’03 heard about PALSave, a textbook affordability project in Indiana, she thought it was a “nice” concept. When Fribley, Earlham’s instructional technology director and seminaries librarian, dug deeper, she recognized the concept as a chance to promote equity and social justice, and support diversity on the Earlham campus.

“Social justice and equity can seem like such overwhelming concepts, and you often wonder how on earth you can possibly make a difference and change things,” Fribley said. “With PALSave, I realized there was an overlap with textbook access and equity in education, and then I thought, ‘Oh, I can make a difference here.’”

The goal of PALSave, a project of Private Academic Library Network of Indiana, is to encourage faculty at the state’s colleges and universities to build courses using library e-books and other digital textbooks and materials that are available under open license for free.

The project’s goal is to save students money by adopting Open Educational Resources (OER) to reduce costs for students, improve access to required texts and increase student success and retention.

Fribley worked with former Earlham Library director Neal Baker and current director Amy Bryant to invite PALSave administrators to Earlham and do training and spread the word through on-campus teaching circles. Instantly, they found strong faculty support.

“This is one initiative where [teaching faculty] got it right away. It was exciting,” Fribley said. “Upon learning about it, faculty was 100 percent accepting right away.”

She knew that students across the country were burdened with the cost of higher education. Some, especially those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, often needed to take out additional student loans. They skipped meals or worked extra shifts off campus to make ends meet.

Others waited until courses began — or until student loans came through — to order books, thus leaving them behind from the start. Or they simply skipped buying books altogether.

“It’s definitely a concern with students [nationwide]. It adds to their stress,” Fribley said. “When I learned about [the issues] I thought ‘Oh my gosh, we have to be doing work in this area.’”

Earlham faculty quickly saw the value of textbook affordability to students whose very existence on campus depended on availability and frugal use of dollars and cents. Her response was fueled by principles she learned while a student at Earlham.

For Fribley, PALSave has become a passion project.

Since the program’s inception, Earlham has become a leading participant in PALSave, according to Amanda Hurford, PALNI’s scholarly communications director and PALSave project lead.

And that, Hurford said, is key, since PALSave is a project delivered to the door of each campus but is dependent upon “campus champions” to give it life and breath.

“Karla has been a champion, and we have been very impressed with Earlham’s involvement,” Hurford said. “They have risen to the top as star adopters of open education resources. That’s what it takes, a grassroots effort. It takes faculty and librarians sharing awareness and expertise about this to effect this change.”

Since the program’s inception in 2019, faculty across all four of Earlham’s academic divisions have participated in PALSave, redesigning classes to find and use textbooks and other materials that students can access at no charge.

Earlham is now second in the state with an average savings of $82.26 per student and third in percentage with 1,134 students enrolled in courses with free textbooks. The 1,134 students is a reflection of the number of students served since the program’s inception. Some students have benefitted more than once.

One of the early proponents was Earlham chemistry professor Lori Watson.

“Textbooks can be hugely expensive, especially science textbooks,” Watson said. “PALNI gave us training and resources that allowed us to put courses using open educational resources together. Access to educational resources should be available to all our students. It’s part of Earlham’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.”

A NATIONAL LOOK AT NUMBERS

31.9

Percentage of difference in cost between e-books and printed book

$105.37

Average cost of college textbook

$339-$600

Average amount undergraduate student pays for books and supplies in one academic year

25

Percentage of students who reported they worked extra hours to pay for their books and materials

11

Percentage of students who skipped meals in order to afford books and course materials

66

Percentage of college students who skipped buying or renting expensive course materials such as textbooks at some point in their career

source: National Center for Education Data Statistics

José-Ignacio Pareja

TSITSI MAKUFA

Another champion was Earlham biochemistry assistant professor Lexie Kuzmishin Nagy.

“OER supported my pedagogy and reduced the equity gap in my classes,” Kuzmishin Nagy said. “Rather than use an expensive biochemistry textbook for a single upper-level class, I use various open textbooks to provide students with a foundation before diving into scientific journals to explore a topic. I did not want money or a financial burden to be a barrier to the study of science, and it is for some students. OER reduced the financial burden of education for my students, while also giving me flexibility in how to approach topics in biochemistry.”

Watson was selected as one of nine educators statewide for PALNI’s PALSave Open Educator Award for 2022, and Kuzmishin Nagy received the same award for 2023.

PALSave is supported by a grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. and staff and leadership from PALNI, having an impact on 24,000 students across the state since inception in 2019, Hurford said. All 24 of the PALNI-supported colleges, universities and seminaries have instituted the PALSave program.

“I’ve seen champions come to the surface at Earlham,” Hurford said. “Faculty don’t have an impact on college tuition

or the food students buy or the rent they pay. But this is one area in which they can impact a student’s life and finances.”

Librarians across Indiana have played a role in expanding PALSave since they often assist in helping faculty find source material for their classes.

“That’s what we’re good at, sifting through options, sifting through complicated websites,” Fribley said. “What’s also exciting is there are lots of ways you can switch to free course materials. Sometimes a library can buy unlimited user e-books that faculty can use that are freely available to everyone in the class.”

José-Ignacio Pareja teaches nutrition science and is a science technology learning specialist and part of the librarian team at Earlham. He redesigned his nutrition science class to have an open resource book for students.

“I knew I wanted to have something that would be accessible to all students,” Pareja said. “The course book I was considering was $160 at the time, and I had 18 to 20 students that year. If you do the math this can become a financial burden to most students.

“My hope is to provide access to all students regardless of backgrounds, where they come from and their needs. Some students have access to lots of resources, others don’t. So to reduce

“OER reduced the financial burden of education for my students, while also giving me flexibility in how to approach topics in biochemistry.”

— Lexie Kuzmishin Nagy

that gap of access is important. You want to think about equity as much as you can.”

Pareja harkened back to his college days in South America when current textbooks, especially in science, were often difficult to come by.

“I would have access to books but only because my professor would travel to the States or Europe for a conference and bring back a book, and we would share it,” he said. “We would literally copy chapters of the book. I did have access, but only because of my professors.”

The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana is a 501(c)(3) owned by 24 supported private institutions. This libraryto-library collaboration strives to enhance faculty teaching and student learning for academic success. Through PALNI, each school benefits from reducing the duplication of efforts and achieving more in quality, value and support. More information can be found at palni.org.

Beth Mechlin, associate professor of psychology and convener of Earlham’s neuroscience program, used an OER textbook for the first time this fall.

She found two zero-cost textbooks and created her own lecture videos that actually helped her teach her brain and behavior course.

“I found it’s easier to mix and match material to better

serve the students and their learning process,” Mechlin said. “In the beginning it’s more work for me, but then in the long run, it’s not. It allows me to give students a wider perspective and has helped me to think more creatively.”

PALNI asks faculty to have students do an end-of-term evaluation of texts and other class source materials. The response has been hugely positive with more than 90 percent of students responding that they are satisfied with the quality of the course material, Hurford said.

“That’s what we have been hearing from students pretty much across the board,” she said. “They like that they have constant access to material and they are not having to lug around big, heavy textbooks. And pay for them. This program really does have an impact. If we can remove one burden from their scholastic lives, we’re happy to do that.” ■

“I found it’s easier to mix and match material to better serve the students and their learning process.”

— Beth Mechlin

EVERYTHING WE DO, WE DO FOR GOOD.

The good we do shines far beyond the Earlham campus. Help us build a brighter future through For Good: The Campaign for Earlham College, which ends June 30.

We believe that a truly great school is the one doing the greatest good for those who need it. at’s why we’re focused on maximizing the good Earlhamites can do. Here’s how we will empower and inspire students, and how you can be part of it. Make your contribution today!

CAMPAIGN GOAL 1

Widen the Path to Earlham

$ 35 million

• Enhance recruitment initiatives

• Expand endowed scholarships

• Strengthen the Earlham Fund

CAMPAIGN GOAL 2

Enrich the Epic Journey

$ 35 million

• Invest in the Epic Advantage

• Expand endowed travel funds

• Support student-faculty research

CAMPAIGN GOAL 3

Elevate the Student Experience

$ 15 million

• Endow the Clarence Cunningham Student Emergency Fund

• Transform the residential experience on College Avenue

• Invigorate donor-supported initiatives

Join the campaign for good: earlham.edu/forgood

above: David Matthews ’65 (at computer keyboard) in an x-ray crystallography lab at Agouron in 1991. left: Color enhanced x-ray diffraction showing a set of fringes interference pattern. X-ray diffraction is a technique in crystallography used to find the shape or structure of a molecule.

(Anti) Viral Going

David Matthews’ commitment to innovative research and Quaker values paved the way for scientific developments that changed the medical trajectories of HIV/AIDS and COVID-19.

BY MICHAEL HAGAN

Developing new drug therapeutics in medicine can be a bit like laying one brick next to another, constantly building and adjusting for strong structures. It’s an iterative process in which test after test, reaction after reaction, chemical formulas inch progressively closer to desired treatments. Progress can be agonizingly slow, especially given the lives hanging in the balance in humanity’s struggle against disease.

These pressures are real for David A. Matthews ’65, but his work in drug discovery, including the protein structure-based method he helped pioneer decades ago, has led him to another discovery: “Really nothing is impossible.”

As a young postdoctoral research chemist at the University of California San Diego, Matthews and his colleagues began using X-ray diffraction methods to understand the structures of cellular proteins. The research had little to do with medicine, but Matthews elected to focus on the dihydrofolate reductase, or DHFR, protein, crucial to cellular replication in all organisms. The protein happened to be the target of several

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

medically important drugs treating cancer, bacterial infection and malaria. The choice and the coincidence turned out to be of enormous consequence for Matthews and to the future of pharmaceuticals.

In 1977, Matthews was the first author for an article in Science magazine that detailed the three-dimensional structure of the cancer drug methotrexate bound to its biological target DHFR. Methotrexate binds 1,000 times more strongly to the DHFR protein than the latter’s natural companion or substrate, despite variation of only a single atom between the two molecules. Bottom line, cancer cells cannot replicate in the presence of methotrexate. Instead, they die.

Methotrexate itself was an achievement of an earlier method of drug discovery whereby a limited library of chemical compounds was screened and deployed in experimental reactions nearly at random. Before Matthews’ findings in Science, the exact atomic details of methotrexate binding to DHFR was a mystery. Aided by X-ray crystallography, a process that reveals atomic structures, researchers could understand it.

The potential applications of their discovery were staggering: The structural knowledge provided by X-ray images could provide an “opportunity for rational design of specific chemotherapeutic drugs.”

Faced with the magnitude of this breakthrough and committed to doing the most — and most effective — good with his innovation, Matthews came to a crossroads. He was certain that structural analysis was good for more than explaining the function of existing drug therapeutics. What else might the method reveal? And was the scientific community within academia the right setting for discovery?

“My exposure to Quaker values at Earlham, including openness, respect, integrity and simplicity, had major impacts on our business approach.”

— DAVID A. MATTHEWS ‘65

“When I realized the forward-looking applications of the structural approach, it was clear to me that such work would be difficult in academia. It requires very close coordination between disciplines often siloed in universities including biochemistry, computational chemistry, medicinal chemistry and X-ray crystallography,” Matthews said.

In other words, it required entrepreneurial spirit and vision — beyond academic, pharmaceutical companies.

In 1985, Matthews was the scientific founder of Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in La Jolla, California, with the vision of “determining protein structures of therapeutic interest and then using these models to create new drugs.” In founding a company and determining the right corporate culture, Matthews looked to institutions and organizations for which he had tremendous respect. Among them, Earlham College.

“My exposure to Quaker values at Earlham, including openness, respect, integrity and simplicity, had major impacts on our business approach,” Matthews said. Agouron had a “flat” administrative structure, an appealing arrangement that attracted numerous young and emerging scientists interested in interdisciplinary work in a climate of respect.

The name Agouron itself reflects these principles. It comes from the Greek “agora,” meaning a common square or marketplace of ideas. When the company later went public, Agouron conducted a study to test less esoteric names for the company. Ultimately, Agouron stuck because it fit.

Matthews was born in 1943 in the midst of World War II. He was heading into junior high school in Northern Virginia when the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

As segregationist Virginia institutions mounted campaigns of massive resistance to integration, Matthews’ family stood firmly on the integrationist side of the struggle. His mother was arrested at multiple sit-ins. Matthews was a math tutor to one of the first four Black students admitted to his previously all-white high school. His parents and sister attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.

Matthews and his new company upheld similar values as they stood ready to meet one of the most urgent medical challenges of the 20th century. In the early 1980s, hospitals

Matthews, right, in an x-ray crystallography lab with colleagues at Agouron in 1991.

COURTESY AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

observed a shocking increase in rare, opportunistic infections and cancers primarily among gay men and injection drug users with no other known impairments to immunity. By September 1982, AIDS had been named but there was no treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, that caused it. The National Institutes of Health sought proposals for structure-based approaches to HIV therapeutic design, and Agouron was one of six groups awarded grants to do the work. Matthews was the principal investigator in Agouron’s HIV/AIDS research arm.

As a first-year student at Earlham College in 1961, Matthews had what amounted to a transformation in his scientific education. His high school chemistry had been based on rote memorization. At Earlham, professors more actively engaged him in understanding the theory of covalent chemical bonding.

“It was literally a roadmap for what I did in graduate school and beyond,” Matthews said. In other words, the road to Viracept, the leading first-generation HIV protease inhibitor drug for treating HIV and AIDS, ran through Richmond, Indiana. It was Agouron’s greatest early breakthrough and provided what, at the time, was the most successful first-year biotech drug launch in U.S. history.

With the winds of success at their backs, Matthews and his partners at Agouron continued to grow their company. By the time it merged with Warner-Lambert in 1999, Agouron had 1,500 employees in the San Diego area. The next year, the merged companies were acquired by Pfizer.

Throughout the growth, mergers and takeovers, Matthews held fast to his mission of developing life-saving drug therapeutics. In the face of the severe acute respiratory illness outbreak caused by the SARS-CoV-1 virus in the early 2000s, Agouron was able to translate research on the virus that causes the common cold into potential leads for drugs to treat SARS.

“Pfizer pulled out all the stops. It was a huge drug discovery initiative. By 2004, former Agouron labs in San Diego, now called Pfizer La Jolla, had a clinical candidate, but fortunately SARS-1 never became the pandemic that SARS-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, became,” Matthews said.

company a significant head start over competitors racing to discover effective treatments. The result was Paxlovid, an oral antiviral containing the drugs nirmatrelvir and ritonavir used to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults.

In other words, scientists put Pfizer La Jolla’s clinical candidate for SARS-1 in a freezer and took it out when they needed it over a decade later, further optimizing it for enhanced oral bioavailability. The structure-based approach worked exactly as its pioneers had hoped. Discoveries on one viral front lead to discoveries on others, and protein structure-modeling empowers researchers to anticipate drug needs before they arise.

Brick by brick, progress toward a therapeutic treatment for Covid-19 could have been slow. Thanks to innovators such as Matthews, real-time developments appeared to materialize miraculously fast.

“There hasn’t been anywhere near sufficient appreciation of the breakthrough status of Paxlovid,” said Matthews. “Every few months, a mutated form of the virus requires a reformulated vaccine. Paxlovid acts at the highly conserved substrate binding site of a key virally encoded protein absolutely required for viral replication. It works against all known SARS variants.”

In April 2005, Matthews retired from Pfizer. He has had anything but a traditional retirement. He served on the Expert Scientific Advisory Committee for the Medicines for Malaria Venture. He has been a leader in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation drug discovery initiatives for malaria and tuberculosis. He supports pharmaceutical capacity building in developing countries helping to relieve dependencies on foreign drug companies that often fail to focus sufficiently on regionally urgent medical needs.

Research into SARS-1 therapeutics in the early 2000s was far from wasted, however. It became the basis for Pfizer’s drug discovery campaign in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, giving the pharmaceutical

“Pharma companies often get criticized for making decisions based mainly on profit,” said Matthews. “Profits are important for these companies to survive. But my experiences working with the Medicines for Malaria Venture and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is that pharmaceutical companies are now much more willing to bring their massive resources to bear on global health initiatives including those of the developing world.”

Even in retirement, Matthews has found ways to stay engaged in drug discovery using structure based approaches, an innovation for which he is widely known. ■

Matthews with his wife Jeanne during a family vacation in 2022 on the Big Island in Hawai’i.

PHOTO COURTESY DAVID MATTHEWS

MEET THE NEXT GENERATION

OF

D

STORY

Meadowe Freeman

Meadowe Freeman ’27 had already confirmed her enrollment to Earlham College when she auditioned for Carroll High School’s rendition of Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood. Happy to play any role, Freeman wasn’t expecting her principal to announce that there had been complaints from community members over LGBTQ+ themes in the play.

The school had to choose a different play to perform, he declared. But Freeman and her peers weren’t willing to give up on the play.

Reece Axel-Adams

Reece Axel-Adams ’27 knew he wanted a college that was in-state, private and small. Earlham College checked all of those boxes and gave him space to grow his passion for politics and advocacy through student government and The Earlham Word.

Axel-Adams needed a place to continue his fight against injustice, which began in his high school in Pendleton, Indiana, when he saw student organizations were being treated unequally. He partnered with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana to take a stand and make a difference.

MEADOWE FREEMAN ’27

The problem

The student body was excited for Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood because it was a compel ling story that allowed for a large cast.

“It was a good story with represen tation for characters who deserved to be represented,” Freeman said. “It was normal, we were just doing a play.”

But after community complaints were issued, the principal sat with students and informed them that the show could not go on due to “safety concerns.”

Everyone was disappointed. They were told to choose a different play, but nobody wanted to give up on performing Robin Hood’s “true” story.

Bumps in the road

“We weren’t sure how to do this play independently,” Freeman said. But the community rallied behind the students and supported them through the journey.

After creating a video asking for help, funds and volunteers, the students received $84,000 in donations. A producer and director also volunteered their time; places in town donated space, props and sets.

The mayor of Fort Wayne waived the fee for using the Parks and Rec’s Foellinger Theatre for the performance.

“It was reassuring to know that people in the community, Fort Wayne and across the country knew we weren’t doing anything bad; we were simply putting on a play with a good message,” she said. “It became obvious to us that the people who complained were a loud minority. They did not represent the majority of people.”

Lessons learned

The show was a huge success. The theater was packed and the audience was accepting, loving and excited to see the show students worked so hard to plan, produce and perform. Freeman knew she and her fellow students had done the right thing by fighting so hard.

“If you see something happening and you don’t feel like it’s right, you have to speak up. You can’t stay silent,” she said. “You have to stand up for what you believe in.”

The solution

Freeman and her friends tried to convince the school board to reverse the decision, but it held firm. Students weren’t ready to give up and started thinking about their next steps.

“I think we all felt a sense of ‘this is not OK.’ We should be able to do this play. It was a fictional story, but it was about real people. It was just people living their lives,” she said. “It felt like we were being silenced.”

The student’s decided to organize the play outside of Carroll High School.

Tips for disrupting the status quo

The situation seemed bleak at the start. Some students were crying as they walked out of that original meeting with the principal. Freeman cautioned: Don’t let those feelings of disappointment or despair deter you. Keep fighting. Your people will find and support you.

“There is always going to be another perspective. There is always going to be another side and someone who supports you,” she said. “You’re always going to find people who support you no matter what.”

What the future holds

Freeman already feels like Earlham is her home. She has made friends and built a community, knowing that people are there to support her. Her first year has been busy, but she hopes to get involved with more organizations in the coming years as she settles in as an Earlhamite.

She also hopes to become involved with politics after graduation.

“Not as a politician, but I’ve always found politics interesting,” she said. “I grew up in a house that was politically involved. I’ve always been surrounded by politics and current happenings, and I would like to become more involved in the future.”

REECE AXEL-ADAMS ’27

The problem

Axel-Adams’ disillusionment with Pendleton High School began when administration forced teachers to remove pride flags from their classrooms.

“I thought it was an infringement to the teach er’s first amendment rights and a slap in the face to the queer community in Pendleton,” he said. “I didn’t think it was right. That’s why I fought for an appeal from the school board, but they stood firm.”

Axel-Adams was disappointed, but came back his senior year invigorated and ready to restart the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance.

However, the school would not offer the same advertising opportunities to the GSA as it would other school organizations, stating that the organization was a “student group” and not a “school-sponsored group.” This difference meant that bulletin boards and other advertising opportunities were off limits to the newly started GSA, making it hard to get the new group off the ground.

Bumps in the road

The school was ordered to give each organization the same opportunities. But, instead of allowing the GSA to advertise, the school declared that no extracurricular club could advertise, thus making it “fair” to all.

“For me, there was this immense despair,” AxelAdams said. “I had spent so much time, effort and energy fighting for this. It was really disheartening. I felt like we had actually lost, instead of won.”

This left a bitter taste with the other clubs, whose advertising rights were suddenly taken from them as well.

Axel-Adams tried to appeal the school’s decision. He once again talked to the principal, superintendent and school board, but they held firm.

Lessons learned

Even though the outcome was unfavorable, AxelAdams is happy to have had this experience and even credits this legal battle with sparking his passion for political and social advocacy. He also learned the value of standing your ground and backing your beliefs.

“It is important to fight for what you believe in,” he said. “Even if you are one of the only voices fighting.”

The solution

Axel-Adams partnered with the ACLU-IN to pursue a lawsuit against his high school for infringement of The Equal Access Act, which promises equal access to extracurricular student clubs. They sought zero compensation, but instead wanted to stop the school board from preventing GSA access to advertising.

For Axel-Adams, this spurred a potential interest in a civil rights law degree.

“This process was very fun and educational. I learned a lot about civil rights law,” he said. “The lawsuit was really cool, but also sad, because I didn’t want to have to do this. But they forced our hands, and I’m glad this is something I did.”

Then, a couple days before Christmas, Axel-Adams received a call informing him that the judge issued a preliminary injunction on the GSA side, effectively halting the school’s actions.

The school surrendered before going to trial. Axel-Adams and the ACLU-IN won. And lost at the same time.

Tips for disrupting the status quo

From the beginning, AxelAdams knew it was critical to do his research and get the facts right before taking any action. Then, he followed all of the proper channels to raise the issue, instead of jumping the chain of command or stepping on any toes.

He knew that the only attitude he could control was his own. The other side might not treat him with compassion and understanding, but he could be respectful in his quest to fight injustice.

“I can only control how I will approach things,” he said. “I cannot control how others will approach things.”

What the future holds

Axel-Adams plans to continue to fight for change at Earlham and beyond. On campus, he aspires to increase connection between students and administration, and further efforts by students to advocate for the campus’ workforce.

His goals for after graduation are still developing, but his dreams are as large as his will to make a difference.

“My current goal is just to survive and graduate college,” he said. “My dream would be to serve in the United States Congress. But I would also be content to be a state legislator.”

A Look Forward

BY GRETCHEN CASTLE ’79, DEAN OF THE EARLHAM SCHOOL OF RELIGION

“Rather than taking things at face value, I want to ask more questions, to notice how I feel, then consider the deeper response. It brings me closer to God.”

In January, I spent more time than usual thinking about how to approach the New Year, feeling a need to shore myself up for what the year might bring for our country and our world. How will we adapt, respond, survive? How will a winter pause in our busy lives help prepare us to be resilient and hopeful? At ESR we prepare people for the ministries that will help people cope with overwhelming challenges. We prepare ministers to offer spiritual perspectives and, most importantly, hope. How can I offer an example of self-care through a New Year’s reflection?

Considering resolutions for the year, my first is to survive. My second is to offer my life and work to the good of the world — a step beyond surviving! David Sedaris describes watching his mother furiously writing New Year’s resolutions on note cards year after year, only to find out after her death that they all said the same thing: Be good.

I consider the strength of love. For this year I have adopted the advice of a news pundit: Stay close to those you love. I am staying closer than usual — for mutual sustenance.

I hear the voice of writer and theologian Howard Thurman saying that challenges require us to go deeper. This spiritual response resonates with me. Go deeper. Seek out a deeper space when it is tempting to remain shallow and critical. Rather than taking things at face value, I want to ask more questions, to notice how I feel, then consider the deeper response. It brings me closer to God. Those around us benefit from our insistence on staying more grounded in God’s comfort and hope.

Richard Rohr, in his daily meditations, has adopted as an annual theme “Radical Resilience.” We might think of the word radical as meaning on the edges, when in fact it means thorough and rooted, complete and rigorous. We think of resilience as bouncing back after experiencing something that was hard to go through. It implies strength of character and buoyancy. It also implies an imagination for a better future. Rooted in Godly presence, may we be flexible, seeing the best of God in ourselves and others. As Rohr says, “Imagining a better future begins by finding it within ourselves.” Through Radical Resilience, he says, we can face hardship with greater love and deeper awareness.

Who knows what lies ahead of us for our societies, our relationships and our earth? I do know that it is immensely satisfying to talk with students about their sense of ministering to others and their hope to bring a spiritual consciousness to the world.

Regardless of what we endure this year, life continues. The beauty of life abounds. May it be a good year for you in unexpected ways as you find yourself going deeper and staying very close to those you love.

Wishing you every blessing,

Gretchen

Homecoming and Reunion Weekend 2024

We can’t wait to see you on campus in the fall! Save the date and join us for Homecoming and Reunion Weekend on Oct. 17-20.

You won’t want to miss the Alumni-Student Connections Social, Alumni Awards, Homecoming Bash, classroom experiences, home athletics games, class reunions and so much more.

EARLHAM.EDU/HOMECOMING

Homecoming 2023

The adventures and joys of an Earlham College Homecoming gathering are countless. Seeing old friends, making art together, cheering on the Quakers and taking a moment to smile offer a whilrwind of memories and reconnections, and a reminder of the uniqueness of an Earlham education. Homecoming and Reunion Weekend was Oct. 17-20, 2023.

CLASS NOTES

Send us your news > The deadline to submit entries for the next issue is June 1, 2024. Go to earlham.edu/classnotes to submit yours, or write to alums@earlham.edu. Submissions may be edited for length of other editorial considerations. This issue of Earlhamite magazine includes notes and obituaries received by May 1, 2024.

2014

Tom Webb ’14 is pleased (and slightly bewildered) to announce that, after five years of serving Baltimore Yearly Meeting (including two years as the clerk of the Young Adult Friends), he has been nominated and confirmed as the new Clerk of the Interim Meeting.

2013

Kat Hardy ’13 received a Ph.D. in biomedical neuroscience from Kent State University and Northeast Ohio Medical University. Dr. Kat’s dissertation explored the effects of early-life stress on animal acoustic communication and learning, and is eager to pursue their career in animal training research. Dr. Kat lives in northeast Ohio and will marry their partner, Chris Dum, in the fall of 2024 with rings by master metalsmith Martin Moon ’13.

CLASS CHAIRS

For class chair contact information, please visit earlham.edu/classchairs

The chairs serve as goodwill ambassadors and are encouraged to help organize class reunions and other alumni gatherings.

2010

In December of 2023, Mariah Ellingwood Torres ’10 and Gabriel Torres ’10 welcomed the arrival of their first baby, Cecilia Rose Torres. Mom and baby are doing well, and Mom and Dad are over the moon in love with their sweet little girl.

1994

Gwyneth Doland ’94: “After more than 20 years as a journalist working in newspapers, radio, television and digital outlets, I completed my transition to teaching full-time. In 2022, I finished a master’s degree in journalism at Harvard Extension School — great option for news veterans who want to teach — and this semester I was named Professor of Practice in Journalism at the University of New Mexico. I’ve been teaching part-time at UNM for 13 years, so this was a long, slow career change. But teaching is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done! And I think back often to great teachers I had at Earlham. I’m still here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I still hang out with some of the old crew from Bundy and Fell House. Come visit us!”

Ame (Langmack) Kole ’94: “I’ve been working in a freestanding birth center for four years, helping parents and babies. Mike and I just celebrated our

20-year anniversary with a trip to Northern Italy and Switzerland to do some hiking in the Alps. Trying to fight the good fight living in a conservative Indiana town (Fishers), which keeps making headlines. I hope everyone is doing well!”

1991

Jamie Baker ’91 continues to reside in Westchester, New York, and recently celebrated his 22nd anniversary with J.P. Morgan. He was recently inducted into the Institutional Investor Hall of Fame, one of 77 such analysts since the Hall’s inception in 1972. An avid traveler and empty nester, Jamie and his wife endeavor to visit at least two new countries each year, having recently added both North Korea and Iraq, and always leaving behind an Earlham trinket for the next traveler to stumble upon. Yes, there’s an EC keychain hanging on a branch along the banks of the Tigris, just outside of Samarra.

1984

Martha Henn ’84: “Though this note will appear in the Spring 2024 Earlhamite issue, I am writing it just prior to Thanksgiving in 2023. By the time this appears, we will be mere months shy of our 40th reunion, which is as of this writing about a year away. I know by now we will be seeing the usual Class of 1984 uptick in excitement for the coming reunion, and that we will have made a stellar showing,

LOOKING BACK

1980s

New-wave rockers!

Students impersonated the band DEVO during an event on campus in the late 1980s.

as always, for Earlham Day 2024, which counts toward our reunion class gift! Though those who will be volunteering by the end of 2023 to serve our reunion committee are not yet fully identified, I want to take this opportunity to say a special word of appreciation to those currently unknown-to-me good deed-doers, and I hope all of you will join me in sharing kudos for their efforts. So to those volunteers, thank you; and goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.”

1977

Jean Reagan ’77 recently published her 19th picture book for children. Her how-to series with Penguin Random House, which includes How to Babysit a

Grandma and How to Babysit a Grandpa, has spent 38 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Her new “truck book,” Turbo’s Special Delivery (Clarion/HarperCollins), will hopefully start a new series.

1976

Jonathan “Now” Knight ’76 is enjoying his 7th year of retirement with his wife, Dianne, after 37 years of ministry with the United Church of Christ. They live in Downers Grove, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. They are glad to have two of their adult children in the area. Josh (eldest) is in the city with two boys and Elizabeth (youngest) is in Elmhurst with two boys. Kyle (middle) lives in Ft. Myers, Florida, with two daughters. Josh is a music agent booking bands such

as The Teskey Brothers, The Infamous Stringdusters, Trampled by Turtles, Lettuce, Los Lobos and others. Kyle is a vice-president in his area with D.R. Horton homebuilders. Elizabeth is a preschool teacher and loves it! Jonathan and Dianne have been actively volunteering in schools and on their church Mission Board. They enjoy our summers sharing their family cottage at Crystal Lake, Michigan. They have also spent the last few years traveling to England, Ireland, the American southwest, the American west and Scotland — with an upcoming trip to Alaska to see the northern lights (they hope) in March. They are also avid college basketball fans (sorry Indiana fans, but it’s the Kansas Jayhawks as the Knights lived in Lawrence during the several years they were in the

EARLHAM ARCHIVES

Final Four) and Chicago Cubs baseball fans! Jonathan is enjoying life and hoping that all of his Earlham friends have been, too. He enjoys reading about them in these notes and the Earlham “In My Words.”

John Tatgenhorst ’76: “In September 2023, five former Bundy hallmates from the Class of ’76 gathered for a mini-reunion in California, replete with hikes, food and tales of their Earlham days and beyond. Proudly displaying their Earlham t-shirts while walking through Carmel-By-The-Sea, they hoped to run into Clint Eastwood. The classmates vowed to gather every half century to commemorate their friendship.”

Charles Crawley ’76 and his wife, Libby Slappey, have moved to a retirement community in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in an effort to be proactive, downsize and reduce their carbon footprint. It’s like going back to college, where their condo building is like a dorm, and they are meeting new people. One new friend is Chuck Silliman, father of Anna Silliman ’76 and Matthew Silliman ’79. They are looking forward to the 50th reunion of the Class of 76 at Earlham in 2026!

Rick Burian ’76 was fortunate this year to add a few new countries to his list of places visited including Israel, Bhutan, Ireland and Papua New Guinea. He got ill in that last location and had a couple of months in hospitals and a nursing home, but is on the mend. He looks forward to getting back in the travel saddle in 2024. Rick has been the class representative for many years and is not sure if he has asked for feedback as to what he can do better to keep you updated

and involved with the college. Please let him know if you have any suggestions.

1975

In 2023, Randy Wisehart ’75 and Debbie Rickey published an article featuring the voices of Earlham MAT grads When Questions Guide the Work: Voices of Passionate Teachers. Randy wrote two cozy mysteries featuring Greyhounds and also local history connections, A Greyt Greyhound Rescue and A Greyt Deception. His third historical fiction novel for middle school students, Families of Two Fires: Forging America’s Frontiers 1776-1832, is available from the Indiana Historical Society Press. In addition, he is working with Debbie Rickey on a book coming out of the article The Habit of Passionate Teaching, to be published in 2024, which is when he will start on his third cozy mystery featuring Greyhounds and a local history connection. (Yes, being retired has allowed him to pursue a number of writing projects.)

Kathy Cole ’75: “I would like to give a shoutout to class chairs Phil Auerbach ’75 and Jeff May ’75 for keeping us informed about happenings of interest to Earlham alums (and for nudging us to send in class notes). Terence and I are enjoying our retirement though we’ve had our share of Covid. We are grateful to have a big family, long-time and new friends, Herndon Friends Meeting and good health that made this year purposeful. We celebrated our 40th anniversary with a trip to New Zealand with Road Scholars (great, though not quite as fantastic as traveling to Greece with Steve and Pat Heiny

and Earlhamites and other friends). The highlight of the year for us was the arrival of a 5th grandchild in May — Francis Levity (Frankie) McCormally Goldbeck — whose parents are Anna McCormally ’12 and Aaron Goldbeck ’10 Barbara Price Monahan ’75 finished up her job at Pendle Hill and honored us with a visit and was brave enough to go out sailing with us on the Chesapeake. We are just three years into learning to sail. Terence and I have plans to view the solar eclipse in Richmond, Indiana, with Earlham friends. I will tell you about that next spring. Hoping for clear skies in so many ways for all of us in 2024.”

1969

Keith Jenkins ’69 published a book, RF and Time-domain Techniques for Evaluating Novel Semiconductor Transistors. It’s a slim volume describing some of the techniques he used and invented when he was at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center.

1961

Mary “Shorty” (Friedman) Birenbaum ’61: “Georges ’63 and I continue to live in Portland, Oregon, where we’re seriously thinking about a less labor-intensive lifestyle, particularly when the leaves begin to fall. Georges did one volunteer eye surgery trip to Mexico in ’23, and we completed our 2020 ’round the world cruise that was halted with the Covid outbreak. December found us sailing around South America with a side trip to Antarctica. Our three children (David ’88, Becky ’92 and Mike) all live nearby with our three grandchildren. Please stay in touch and let everyone know how you’re doing!”

1960

Dottie (Hatton) Lasley ’60: “My husband, John Lasley, passed away on June 30. Of course, I’m prejudiced, but he really was an amazing man — active, kind, intelligent, and fun-loving. Among other things, he was once named Person of the Year by the Princeton Chamber of Commerce. Our brief 10-year marriage was packed with adventure — over 20 big trips in that short time. John and I met on match.com in 2012. Imagine doing that at this late stage in our lives! We were so lucky to have met and spent those wonderful years together.”

1959

Neil ’59 and Diana Sowards were nominated for the Lifetime Achiever Award of the Amani Family Service of Fort Wayne, Indiana. They founded Friends of Burma, Inc. in 1985 and over the years have had over 50 programs to help the people of Burma (now Myanmar). Their main current programs are scholarships for Christian Workers, supporting 130 orphans and helping two hospitals. They also give grants to 52 Bible schools and seminaries. Their support of micro credit groups for women has resulted in over 60 such self-help groups. Over the 38 years, Friends of Burma has given out over 13,814 scholarships. A $150 scholarship will pay a third to half of school fees. Families and churches can pay the rest in baskets of rice.

Alumni

2012

Sandra Mamus Ngeseyan

2007

Sara Elizabeth Howell

2003

Ranjit Jose

2001

Jeremiah David Liepold

1985

Jeffrey Scott Binkley

1977

Steven Douglas Dunnings

1973

Martin “Marty” Cziraky

1972

Harry Mykrantz

1970

Gregory Paul Dinkins

Paul Justman

1968

Thomas Lawrence Budd

Jeffrey William Fuson

1967

David “Davey” J. Strawbridge

1966

Jeffrey Holmes Garrison

1965

Ralph K. Andrew

Julia Celestia Alford Davis

1964

Marian Lorraine (McCollough) Siek

David Boettiger

Dr. Margaret “Peg” Ensminger

1963

William (Bill) Cullen Dennis

David Brooks Moyer, Sr.

Mariellen Owens Gilpin

1962

David A. Lower

Eleanor Merritt

Susan Bienstock Burke

1960

David E. Gettinger

Mary Margaret Kelsay

1959

David Jenkins

Diane Neumann-Hernsdorf

Philip Barrett Furnas

1958

Carol Jean Baldwin

1956

The Reverend Allen M. Humes

1955

Idris Suzanne Schull

more online

Obituaries are available online at earlham.edu/obits

EARLHAM SCENE

Both Sides Now

Van Jones, one of the nation’s most recognizable voices in politics and media, was the inaugural speaker of Earlham College’s Presidential Lecture Series in fall 2023. The series, which will take place annually, focuses on bringing prominent speakers and changemakers to campus to address important topics of the day, especially those focused on diversity, innovation, social justice and overcoming adversity.

Jones’ lecture was called: How do We Talk Across Political Polarization? A question-and-answer session moderated by Thor Hogan, professor of politics and environmental sustainability, followed.

The Presidential Lecture Series is funded by the Hawkins Just Society Lecture Fund, the Artist and Lecture Series and the President’s Discretionary Fund.

The Hawkins Just Society Lecture Fund was established by Neil and Annmarie Hawkins and their daughter, Rachel Hawkins ’10. The fund is named in the honor of Neil’s parents, Kazue Fukada Hawkins and Julian Neil Hawkins, whose lives were forever changed by World War II and the Korean War.

These free lectures are designed to bring Earlham and its neighbors together for a shared experience.

JOSH SMITH

We asked the Class of 2024 to tell us about the best decision they ever made as an Earlham student. Here’s what they had to say about key moments that changed the way they think about themselves and the world.

Aniqa Ali

COUNTRY : Pakistan

MAJOR : Peace and Global Studies, Psychology

▶ “The best decision was saying yes to (former Earlham professor) Ahmed Khanani when they asked me if I would work with the Center for Social Justice. Collaborating with CSJ, where discussions revolved around our collective role in addressing social justice issues on campus and creating a safe space for underrepresented groups, has significantly altered my perspective. Instead of getting frustrated and fighting against the system, I began focusing more on the people and their needs. It changed my mindset from being angry to considering what I could do to help and what people really wanted. Through Ahmed and the CSJ, I learned a lot about kindness and empathy.”

Rose Abigail León-Alvarado

COUNTRY : Honduras

MAJOR : Neuroscience

MINOR : Chemistry and Public Health

▶ “The best decision I have ever made is to seek people out. By people, I mean professors and peers alike. The only way I learned about the opportunities at Earlham was through word of mouth. Finding my first summer internship and deciding what major and minors to do were all thanks to someone at Earlham I talked to about my interests and concerns, who cared enough to guide me. Sometimes, we think that to succeed, you must keep others from knowing about your struggles, but this was not the case for me at Earlham.”

Jessica Okomo Ongole

COUNTRY : Uganda & Eswatini

MAJOR : Global Management (Marketing), Media & Communications

▶ “Attending Professor Womai Song’s Pan-Africanism course was one of the most important choices I’ve made at Earlham College. With his enlightening guidance, I explored the deep-rooted desire for racial emancipation and self-determination that binds Black people together and the complex dynamics defining their relationship. The class also emphasized how important it is for our community to celebrate our cultural history and promote self-affirmation. Having interacted with the ideas and rhetoric of Pan-Africanism, I have developed a deep respect and affection for those who have fought for our freedom as a people and for those who continue to do so.”

Tyler Wayne Smith

COUNTRY : Germantown, Ohio, USA

MAJOR : English and Media & Communications

MINOR : Sports Management

▶ “At Earlham you always hear that you should get involved, join this club, work for this organization — and more. While getting involved is a common

more online

Read more submissions from current seniors at earlhamite.earlham.edu.

college/university cliché, Earlham is not a common college/university. I got involved on campus by working for Admissions, Residence Life and the Athletics Department. I host a weekly sports talk show on WECI. I became a Student Government leader, Co-President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council and a member of the Men’s soccer team. Getting involved at Earlham has been the greatest experience possible. The people I have met and the people I consider a friend is the most Earlham idea ever.”

Marlenne Garcia

COUNTRY : Chicago, Illinois, USA

MAJOR : Sociology/Anthropology & Spanish and Hispanic Studies

▶ “The best decision I ever made on campus was to leave for a semester. I spent a spring semester in Tucson, Arizona, with the Border Studies Program — learning, volunteering and gaining a new family. I grew an appreciation and a more critical view of the movements and communities connected through border issues. At the same time, I found myself self-reflecting on my own identity and my family’s story as one connected by migration. I returned to Earlham with greater confidence and a drive to engage with issues more urgently.”

BRENT WILSON

Your gift. Your voice.

When you give through the Earlham Fund, your dedication and generosity provides world-changing opportunities for our students, supports our nationally recognized faculty and helps us keep our campus beautiful. Learn more about how you can support our college—the college you love—through the Earlham Fund.

“We always give an unrestricted gift—so we trust Earlham to spend money in the right place. I have to say the upgrades over the years have been impressive.”

Bill Asch ’93

“For me, giving through the Earlham Fund means making sure that Earlham remains successful, and allows other students to have the experience that I had and to continue to put Earlhamites into the world. We need more.”

Emily Asch ’94

Scan the QR code or go online to give: earlham.edu/online-giving