URSINUS MAGAZINE
in·no·va·tion noun
1. the introduction of something new 2. a new idea, method or device
THE I N NOVAT ION ISSUE
CRUISE INTO COLLEGEVILLE FOR ALUMNI WEEKEND! APRIL 12-13, 2019
CALLING ALL ALUMNI FROM THE CLASSES OF 1935-1969! Red, Old Gold & Black Society members—all alumni who have reached their milestone 50th anniversary—are invited to come back to campus for Alumni Weekend! Join fellow alumni for fun and festivities ranging from social gatherings to informative classes taught by current faculty. Reconnect with old friends and meet current students and professors. Discover the Ursinus of today and relive your glory days as a student. Special milestone reunion celebrations for the classes of 1969, 1964, 1959 and 1954. For more information: ursinus.edu/alumniweekend Office of Advancement | 610-409-3585 | ucalumni@ursinus.edu
VOLUME #125 | WINTER 2019
Third class postage paid at Utica, N.Y. Ursinus Magazine is published seasonally three times a year. Copyright © 2019 by Ursinus College
DEAR READERS,
Editorial correspondence & submissions: Ursinus Magazine 601 E. Main Street Collegeville, Pa. 19426 610-409-3000 ucmag@ursinus.edu CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER Thomas Yencho tyencho@ursinus.edu MAGAZINE EDITOR Ed Moorhouse emoorhouse@ursinus.edu CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dominic Monte dmonte@ursinus.edu GRAPHIC DESIGNER Erica Gramm CONTRIBUTING TO THIS ISSUE Photography: Jeff Fusco, Dan Z. Johnson, Dominic Monte, Jim Roese and Alix Segil ’21 Editorial: Jack Croft, Geoff Gehman, Mary Lobo ’15, Susan Tuttle and Jennifer Meininger Wolfe MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD Abbie Cichowski ’10, Mary Lobo ’15, Mark Ouellette, Rosemary Pall P’12, Pamela Panarella and Jennifer Meininger Wolfe URSINUS COLLEGE PRESIDENT Brock Blomberg SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADVANCEMENT Jill Leauber Marsteller ’78 ONLINE MAGAZINE (URSINUS.EDU/MAGAZINE) Erin Hovey ’96 CAMPAIGN NEWSLETTER Jacqueline D’Ercole, Kristin Maag The mission of Ursinus College is to enable students to become independent, responsible and thoughtful individuals through a program of liberal education. That education prepares them to live creatively and usefully and to provide leadership for their society in an interdependent world.
When I think of what makes Ursinus innovative, I often reflect on our strength in learning across disciplines, something that is essential to our changing world. So much of what we do here is amplified by a liberal arts context, whether you’re studying business, policy, technology, the sciences or something else. It’s the crosspollination of people and ideas that allows positive change to happen. In this issue, you’ll learn about some of the people that make us truly innovative. Alumni Joe DeSimone ’86 and Aubrey Paris ’15 blend scientific advances with other industry. In the classroom, our digital liberal arts working group and student fellows bring together the liberal arts and 21st century technologies; students in our Bears Make History course digitize Ursinus’s history every fall semester; and the U-Imagine Center for Integrative and Entrepreneurial Studies helps students transform innovative ideas into reality. Finally, when I think of innovation, I’m immediately drawn to the new Quest: Open Questions Open Minds core curriculum. Our enduring questions permeate our campus culture in ways that engage not only students, but faculty, staff and alumni as well, and their emphasis leads to a transformative personal experience that you can’t find in many other places. It’s that experience that allows us all to be truly innovative.
BROCK BLOMBERG
President
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It’s the crosspollination of people and ideas that allows positive change to happen.
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CONTENTS
12 THE NEXT FRONTIER Joe DeSimone ’86 P’12 is recognized for his achievements in developing and commercializing advanced technologies in several cutting-edge fields, such as 3D printing, precision medicine, nanoparticle fabrication and green chemistry. His work merges disciplines and fosters innovation, something Ursinus strives for in and out of the classroom.
photo IAN MOMSEN AT CARBON, INC.
GETTING TO KNOW
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Aubrey Paris ’15 has been chosen as one of the world’s 118 top young chemists by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).
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ASKING ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Ursinus is doubling down on its liberal arts mission with an innovative new core curriculum that asks four open questions: What should matter to me? How should we live together? How can we understand the world? What will I do?
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OFFICE SPACE
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At the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia, the spotlight shines backstage, where Tyler Shipley ’11 brings scenery to life as the head flyman.
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POETIC DEVICES
What does a 14th century poet have in common with a modern programming language for computers? Two Ursinus scholars are merging computer science and English research to translate an epic.
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LOST AND FOUND
LIFE IN PIXELS
When Dennis Krauss ’63 purchased an old stained-glass window from a friend, he brought into his possession a piece of Ursinus history. The window is an original part of iconic Bomberger Hall, built in 1891.
The Ursinus community came together on a blustery October day to dedicate the $29 million Innovation and Discovery Center, a new hub for science, policy and entrepreneurship.
THE GATEWAY
LAUNCHING THE COMMONS
GIDDENS TO SPEAK AT COMMENCEMENT Singer, instrumentalist and songwriter Rhiannon Giddens will deliver the keynote address and receive an honorary degree during Ursinus’s 146th commencement on Saturday, May 18. She is the cofounder of the Grammy award-winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, in which she also plays banjo and fiddle. A recipient of a 2017 “Genius Grant” from the MacArthur Foundation, Giddens was called “the 21st Century’s revelator” by National Public Radio and has made a career out of revitalizing and invigorating music reflecting the African American experience.
Preliminary site work on the Commons, including laying cable and pipes, commenced in early 2019 with the physical construction of the new welcome center to follow, along with renovations to Keigwin Hall. On Feb. 8, Ursinus and community leaders, along with the Ursinus board of trustees, toasted the start of the project and early progress. “Serving as a social hub for the campus, as well as for Collegeville, the Commons signals our commitment to community and to the ongoing partnership with our neighbors,” President Brock Blomberg said. “I would like to thank all of the folks who have worked together to make this moment possible.” Completion is slated for late 2019.
photo DAVID McCLISTER PHOTOGRAPHY, LLC. (above left)
RESEARCH WITH HEART Ursinus has been awarded its first-ever grant from the American Heart Association to support ongoing research by the HEART lab, which is focused on the effects of lifestyle modifications on cardiovascular health and, specifically, blood pressure. The grant will support a two-year clinical study at $76,000 per year and will be used in part to purchase a pulse wave velocity system. In the HEART lab, Deborah Feairheller, an assistant professor of health and exercise physiology, works with students to examine cardiovascular health in volunteer firefighters, athletes and other adults.
URSINUS CELEBRATES MLK WEEK Students, faculty and staff celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement from Jan. 21-28. “Claiming Spaces: Service, Community, Reflection” began with a day of service on Jan. 21, in which more than 100 student leaders and staff participated in community projects in Philadelphia and surrounding towns. MLK Week events also included a series of readings, talks and discussions, as well as the words of prominent African American artists, writers, activists and performers displayed all over campus.
photo DAN Z. JOHNSON (above right)
URSINUS HOSTS 20th SNELL-SHILLINGFORD SYMPOSIUM
URSINUS COLLEGE AND its Centennial Conference peers celebrated two of the most influential women in the coaching profession while preparing future generations of female coaches at the 20th annual Snell-Shillingford Symposium in December. The event honors the contributions of Eleanor Frost Snell and Jen Shillingford ’54. Snell led the Ursinus field hockey team for nearly 40 years and developed the program into a national powerhouse. The symposium was started in 1999 by Shillingford, who served as field hockey coach and athletic director for more than 20 years at Bryn Mawr and was president of the United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA). “We’re honored to host the event on its 20th anniversary,” Ursinus Director of Athletics Laura Moliken said. “Our hope is that young women will continue to pursue roles in athletics at all levels photos DAN Z. JOHNSON
and that they will inspire the next generation in the same way they’ve been inspired by all those who have come before them.” During the symposium, female athlete representatives and coaches from Centennial Conference schools converge to participate in sessions designed to empower women in the coaching profession and address various issues pertaining to coaching and athletics. The Ursinus student-athletes who participated in this year’s symposium were: Courtney Cortese ’19 (lacrosse), Hailey DiCicco ’21 (gymnastics), Sydney Gonzalez ’19 (volleyball), Erin McIlhenny ’21 (field hockey) and Erin Saybolt ’20 (field hockey). Ursinus coaching participants included Taylor Gardner (softball), Cecily Scavicchio (volleyball), and Kim Valenti and Brittany Montalbano (gymnastics). Senior Associate Athletic Director
Erin Stroble ’02, Assistant Director of Residence Life EJ Madarasz, and alums Kelly Becker ’10 and Kitty Dawson ’15 were also in attendance. Moliken and Ellen Staurowsky ’77, a member of the Ursinus board of trustees, were among the presenters. A Centennial Conference article about the symposium states of Snell that, “Conventional wisdom during the decades she coached encouraged polite and restrained engagement in athletic pursuits for women. Under Snell, Ursinus women cultivated more expansive dreams of athletic excellence, dreams that would lead two of her former athletes to take up the mantle of head coach of the U.S. Women’s Field Hockey team and countless others making an impact throughout the athletic world as competitors, coaches, officials, physical educators, administrators, and academics.”
Ursinus Magazine • Winter 2019
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THE GATEWAY
photo JEFF FUSCO
GE TTIN G TO KN OW
AUBREY PARIS ’15 This Ursinus graduate was recently chosen as one of the world’s 118 top young chemists by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). Aubrey appears on its Periodic Table of Younger Chemists and is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Princeton, where she is pursuing her Ph.D. She is a senior fellow for the Institute on Science for Global Policy (ISGP) and is a founding co-host of ISGP’s The Forum podcast. Aside from your own, which podcasts to you enjoy listening to? To be completely honest, I really don’t listen to many! Science Friday and Science Vs. are great science-related shows, and I definitely listen to them occasionally as inspiration for my own podcast writing. I never received any formal training in podcasting, of course, so listening to those sorts of podcasts—ones that are both entertaining and educational— definitely helped me “learn on the job.” As a big baseball fan, though, the only other shows I listen to are podcasts that feature the San Francisco Giants coaches as guests. Is there a podcast you would love to either guest host or appear on as a guest? Princeton University—where I’m currently a graduate student— recently launched a podcast called She Roars. This show profiles female alumnae who have become influential powerhouses in their fields. I’d love to be a guest on that show one day—if I was ever lucky enough to be worthy of such a distinction! Also, this isn’t a podcast, but ever since it premiered, I’ve wanted to be a guest or correspondent on the Netflix show Bill Nye Saves the World. The coolness of that should be self-explanatory!
of
You were an inaugural fellow of Ursinus’s Parlee Center for Science and the Common Good and you work at the intersection of science and policy. What is the most significant thing from your Ursinus and experience you’ve carried with you as a Ph.D. candidate?
I attribute almost everything that I’m doing today to my time with the Parlee Center. Without my experience as a fellow, I never would have known that science policy could be a career path, nor would I have known that I liked it so much! But if I had to pick the most significant thing that I learned from Ursinus and CSCG that I still reflect on every day in my Ph.D. program, it’d probably be the importance of interdisciplinary thinking and communicating. It’s critical to be able to assess one’s specific research project in the context of a bigger picture, whether that be the broader field of chemistry, science in general, or society as a whole. You were recognized on the Periodic Table of Younger Chemists as one of the 118 top young chemists around the world. How does it feel to be recognized like that?
can and should feel free to explore these atypical fields, whether as extracurriculars or even careers. What do you think is exciting about being a young scientist at this point in time? It’s really easy to look at the world we live in today and be anxious or scared, with realities like worsening climate change, new food recalls every other week, and diseases we can barely pronounce. Fear is a perfectly reasonable reaction. Another reasonable reaction, though, especially for young scientists like myself, is feeling like you can change the world despite those problems. The pressing challenges that we, as a society, face today will be solved tomorrow by scientists and engineers performing new research and translating that research into new technologies. As young scientists, we have the option to look at the glass half-full; we’ve been given an opportunity to use our science to have direct, meaningful impacts on society. I can’t think of something more exciting than that.
It’s hard not to be humbled by my selection when I read the names, credentials, and accomplishments of the other recipients. I interpret my selection as evidence that Do you have a favorite element being a civically engaged scientist on on the Periodic Table? is something to be proud of and commended. This hasn’t always been Ever since sixth grade, I’ve been fond the case. Academics have often of arsenic because I’m a big fan of been discouraged, whether formally Agatha Christie; arsenic is one of a or informally, from participating in few poisons employed regularly in her the kind of extracurricular work that murder mysteries. Nowadays, though, have made me unique as a scientist— chromium is up there on the list things like science communication because it’s a major component of the and science policy. But if someone most exciting catalyst I’ve developed like me, who balances those activities during my graduate studies. alongside a full-time job as a graduate student, is being recognized as an outstanding chemist, then maybe that’s validation that scientists Ursinus Magazine • Winter 2019
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THE GATEWAY
OFFICE SPACE THE FLYMAN At the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia, Tyler Shipley’s office space isn’t too far from the spotlight itself. Backstage, in what’s known as the hemp house, the 2011 Ursinus graduate— who simply goes by his last name—is the head flyman, which means he’s responsible for all of the “flying” scenery moving above actors’ heads during stage productions. “I always wanted to be in theater in some aspect,” says Shipley, who earned his wings working on Ursinus productions before doing freelance production work and then working for a production company. His backstage résumé also includes haunted houses, rock and roll concerts, and television and movie sets, and he credits his International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE local 8) with the work. Hemp houses get their name from the manila hemp once most commonly used to make the ropes that, along with pulleys and sandbags, are used to fly theatrical scenery in and out of scenes on stage. His job is quite literally a heavy lift—Shipley says one giant gate used during a recent production of Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical weighed about 600 pounds—and can sometimes take him high in the air. “I worked on the NFL draft [held on Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 2017], building and climbing steel, 80 to 90 feet in the air above everyone else,” Shipley says. “I was most known for being a steel climber. I’ve gotten that reputation. I really enjoy that kind of work. I’m a climber, I’m a rigger, an audio-visual technician, a lighting technician, a carpenter, a grip. There are many, many descriptions for what I do.” Shipley says he remembers the first time he walked backstage at Ursinus with the intent on working behind the scenes on productions. “Ursinus set me up with an advantage,” he says. “It gave me a much more diverse set of skills that I wouldn’t have had if I went somewhere else. Ursinus gave me that overarching experience and being a theater major set me up to diversify myself in the industry.” photo JEFF FUSCO
Ursinus Ursinus Magazine Magazine •• Winter Winter 2019
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THE WELL
A love for research and polymers, born at Ursinus College, fuels Joe DeSimone’s quest for innovation. BY JACK CROFT It was only after he had earned his doctorate in chemistry at Virginia Tech and joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that Joe DeSimone ’86 P’12 came to fully appreciate the value of the liberal arts education he received at Ursinus College.
courses ranging from Western literature to Latin to economics “gave me a leg up on others,” he says. “I could write. I was much more effective. And it dawned on me that, boy, I’m glad I did all that other stuff because it’s proven to be really valuable.”
“As an assistant professor, you’ve got to not only do research, but you’ve got to write and you’ve got to make arguments and you’ve got to do analysis, and you’ve got to pull disparate things together,” DeSimone says.
A scientist, entrepreneur, academic, and innovator with a passion for polymers, DeSimone is now cofounder and CEO of Carbon, a highly successful Silicon Valley startup that is revolutionizing 3D printing. Through its partnership with the German-based, global sportswear company Adidas, Carbon is pioneering the use of 3D printing to manufacture products at scale by using the Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP)
He candidly admits that as a student, he questioned why he was taking liberal arts classes at Ursinus. But
technology developed by DeSimone and his research team at UNC. Carbon plans to produce millions of lightweight, latticework midsoles for the company’s Futurecraft 4D running shoes in 2019. For DeSimone, the academic and entrepreneurial aspects of his distinguished career work together hand-in-glove. Both have been fueled by his love of research and, more specifically, polymers—a love that was first kindled as a student at Ursinus.
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photo DAN 2019 Z. JOHNSON Ursinus Magazine • Winter
THE WELL
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rowing up in Collegeville, DeSimone was always familiar with Ursinus College. As a student at Perkiomen Valley High School, he played sports and attended other activities on campus, took some courses there his senior year, and had his high school graduation ceremony in the Ursinus gym. “My family was not very well-off financially, and I ended up getting pretty good scholarship money from Ursinus,” DeSimone says. “I was the first in my family to go to college.” DeSimone had discovered in high school that he had a knack for understanding and explaining chemistry, and a weeklong, hands-on summer chemistry camp at Lebanon Valley College confirmed that he would enter Ursinus as a chemistry major.
“Virginia Tech had really good experience with Ursinus students and they rolled out the red carpet for me,” he recalls. It was at Virginia Tech that DeSimone came to a realization that has become an important theme in his career: “Polymer science lends itself to a utilitarian mindset.” “I became really enamored with doing research toward making better products or trying to achieve functionality that was needed in microelectronics or in cars,” he recalls. “It was very much an applied field.” After earning his doctorate from Virginia Tech, DeSimone was recruited to the faculty of UNC at Chapel Hill as a 25-year-old assistant professor. As a mentor, he has graduated 80 students from his research group—half of them from groups who are underrepresented in the sciences.
“I fell in love with research at Ursinus,” he says. “It was really a wonderful time.”
“I really revel in their careers,” he says.
DeSimone fondly recalls the chemistry professors who helped set him on his course, among them Roger Staiger, Ron Hess, who taught organic chemistry, and Vic Tortorelli, who taught a special reactivity course. But most influential was Ray Schultz, a polymer scientist who taught an undergraduate polymer course.
DeSimone also credits his students with encouraging his entrepreneurial efforts. The first company he launched with his students used CO2 to make a better solvent for dry cleaning clothes. A local North Carolina business invested $5 million to help start the company in exchange for half interest in the new venture.
“I think Ursinus was the only undergraduate school on the East Coast or possibly in the nation that had a polymer chemistry course,” DeSimone says. “Ray’s love for the topic really hooked me and I fell in love with it, too. I did research in his lab and it was really awesome exposure. It galvanized my love for the subject.”
“I learned a lot in that process. I realized that I could control my own destiny,” he says.
DeSimone also credits Schultz with opening the door for him to get into the prestigious graduate chemistry program at Virginia Tech led by nationally renowned polymers expert James E. McGrath. Schultz created a pipeline between the two schools by sending three or four previous students to McGrath’s program.
DeSimone quickly realized that, because of entrenched interests at DuPont, what he knew could be an environmentally transformational process was never going to be fully implemented. The experience, coupled with the success of the dry cleaning project, sealed his resolve to control his own destiny in the future.
photo DAN Z. JOHNSON
At the same time, DeSimone and his students had developed an environmentally friendly process to make Teflon. “But we had licensed it to DuPont exclusively,” he says.
“I think that’s what drove my entrepreneurial career,” he says. Since those early experiences, DeSimone has cofounded Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions, a company that makes polymerbased, biodegradable stents which was acquired by Guidant and then ultimately commercialized by Abbott; and Liquidia Technologies, a clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of human therapeutics using the powerful nanomolding technique PRINT developed by the DeSimone Research Group at UNC. PRINT enables the fabrication of particles with precise control over the shape, size, composition and surface functionality. Liquidia had a successful IPO on the NASDAQ in the fall of 2018. UNC has not only supported and recognized DeSimone’s entrepreneurial activities over the years, but called on him to help revise and codify the university’s policies and procedures regarding entrepreneurship and conflict-of-interest management. “It was all about engaging a broad group of people, talking through the challenges and—back to my liberal arts upbringing—bringing communities together to talk through the issues and engaging different groups. Over time, we came up with policies and procedures that ended up giving UNC a well-written, well-documented, clear and balanced approach.” DeSimone’s latest startup, Carbon, launched in 2013 with the audacious goal of developing a 3D printing process fast enough to create a new category: 3D manufacturing. The biggest knock on 3D printing has always been that it’s slow. “3D printing is a bit of a misnomer. It’s 2D printing over and over and over again,” DeSimone says. Carbon came up with a new process, fusing light and oxygen to rapidly produce products from a pool of liquid resin. It showed such promise that the
company soon moved from North Carolina to Silicon Valley, with DeSimone going on sabbatical from the university to serve as CEO. The company has continued to develop innovative technology, including a softwarecontrolled chemical reaction that both speeds up the process further and makes parts that have great surface quality, uniform properties in all directions, and can be printed from materials with properties best suited to the parts’ use. Innovation and bringing people together across disciplines have been hallmarks of DeSimone’s career, something he traces back to his days as an undergraduate student at Ursinus. “Diversity of thought is a fundamental tenet of innovation,” he said at Ursinus in October. “It is a key part of who we are and it’s the only way we’re going to solve some of the problems facing our society. Ursinus brings people together in that way. We learn the most from those we have the least in common with.” He is one of a select few to be elected to all three branches of the U.S. National Academies: the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.
He also is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among his many honors, DeSimone was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Barack Obama in 2016. More recently, he received the 2018 National Academy of Sciences Award for Convergent Science, which comes with a $350,000 prize. The prestigious award was presented to DeSimone for his breakthroughs to improve human health, including 3D printed dentures approved by the FDA, nanomedicines for cancer therapy, drug delivery devices that can be implanted and tailored to a patient’s needs, and an inhalable pulmonary vaccine platform that can be used to target diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia.
“Diversity of thought is a fundamental tenet of innovation ... It is a key part of who we are and it’s the only way we’re going to solve some of the problems facing our society. Ursinus brings people together in that way. We learn the most from those we have the least in common with.” (above) Joe DeSimone speaks during Ursinus’s IDC dedication
In accepting the award, DeSimone noted that it “raises awareness of the importance of the integration of knowledge from the life and physical sciences, as well as disciplines in engineering and other areas, including the humanities and social sciences.” He announced that the prize money would be donated to The Institute for Convergent Science at Carolina and Ursinus College’s Innovation and Discovery Center (IDC) a new interdisciplinary facility that, for the first time in the college’s history, combines science, policy and entrepreneurship under one roof (p. 30–31). At the IDC’s dedication ceremony in October 2018, DeSimone told attendees, “Solutions to some of the most complicated problems we have today involve disciplines coming together. We do that well here at Ursinus, where a broader contextual understanding—a quest—happens. That’s where the frontier is now.” For DeSimone, the quest he began at Ursinus continues to push into bold new frontiers of innovation and technology. And there is no final frontier in sight. Ursinus Magazine • Winter 2019
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An Ursinus Quest Twenty years after establishing its flagship Common Intellectual Experience (CIE), Ursinus is again redefining a liberal arts education with an innovative new core curriculum—a Quest—that asks four open questions: What should matter to me? How should we live together? How can we understand the world? What will I do? BY ED MOORHOUSE
U
rsinus College has long provided an excellent undergraduate liberal arts education, its academic rigor and prestige setting it apart as one of the nation’s Colleges That Change Lives. But at a time when such an education continues to be called into question, Ursinus has decided to not only evolve its curriculum, but double down on it, taking the undergraduate experience on the Collegeville, Pa., campus to the next level while providing a national model for higher education. “These four questions are central to our new core curriculum, but they have become a catalyst for re-visioning our entire institution,” says Mark Schneider, vice president of academic affairs and dean of the college. “That will change us by bringing us closer to what we always believed in.” Emphasizing the four questions leads to a more transformative personal experience and capitalizes on a residential liberal education in ways that haven’t been done before at any institution, Schneider says. At Ursinus, the hope is that, regardless of academic major, every student will be able to think through these themes, apply them to his or her area of study, and return to them when confronted with personal or professional uncertainty. “We emphasize these four questions rather than any particular texts, tradition or discipline,” says Stephanie Mackler, associate professor of education and assistant dean of the college. “We boldly require common courses while also allowing students to choose electives across the disciplines with the understanding that the entire curriculum shares one underlying aim: to encourage students, in Rainer Maria Rilke’s words, to ‘love the questions themselves.’” For 20 years, Ursinus students have begun their collegiate journey in CIE, the two-semester course that still resonates with alumni, even years after they’ve graduated. Students engage in common conversations built around a set of works selected to prompt thoughtful reflection. When it came
THE WELL time to update the entire curriculum, faculty who helped revise it decided to take the principles of CIE and apply a questions-based, inquiry-driven experience that could be applied to all four years.
curriculum on four enduring questions may seem innovative, and in many ways it is. But it’s also a doubling down on what Ursinus already thinks it— and liberal arts colleges generally— does best.”
And it goes beyond the classroom.
“Building our curriculum around questions is a statement about what education fundamentally means here at Ursinus,” says Abby Kluchin, an assistant professor of philosophy and religious studies and pedagogy coordinator for CIE. “It’s the beginning of a process that won't only last four years, but a lifetime. I also think it reflects what you might call a stance of epistemic humility. None of us can hope to know or even to learn everything, but despite (or maybe precisely because of) that, we'll keep on reading, talking, thinking and reflecting, both alone and together.”
“By framing our new core with four open questions, the core is not constrained to the curriculum, but encourages students—and faculty— to think about the full residential experience,” Schneider says. “Students are asked to think about experiences as a resident advisor, as a studentathlete, while in a research laboratory or during a performance, or simply in the dining hall. In the process, connections between the academic and the co-curricular will be discovered and reinforced.” The four open questions shift away from an idea that at college, students seek out the answer or the right answer and that these answers have already been found. “You don’t have to know the answer or settle on an answer,” Mackler says. “Instead, the questions give the students the ability to explore different ways of thinking about it. In this society, I think we’re attached to answers and solving a problem. We’re uncomfortable with uncertainty and I think that’s why this is a radical curriculum. It’s very counterculture in a subtle way.” If it’s countercultural, it’s because we live in a society oriented ever more insistently on short-term self-interest, says Paul Stern, a professor of politics who helped revise the curriculum. “Ursinus aims to be a counterweight to this trend by educating students to think beyond the immediate, beyond narrow self-interest,” he says. “We think that this education is more beneficial not only for their own lives, but for the community they inhabit.” The open questions core has already gained national media attention, appearing in Inside Higher Ed and the Chronicle of Higher Education, both well-respected publications in the higher education industry. The Inside Higher Ed piece posits, “Basing a
photos JIM ROESE (opposite left, opposite right), JEFF FUSCO (opposite middle)
Stern adds, “We think individuals live a better, a richer life if they base their responses to these questions on serious reflection, reflection each must undertake for him or herself. Doing so, individuals live on the basis of principles that are neither arbitrary nor coerced.” While a student’s Quest begins in CIE, the questions are being infused into first-year advising groups, study abroad, and Career and Post-Graduate Development, which asks students to use the four questions and their reflections as preparation for applying for internships, fellowships, graduate programs and jobs. Ursinus has developed a new interdisciplinary core capstone course requirement and the Parlee Center for Science and the Common Good regularly frames its popular speaker series around at least one question. “The environment of the small liberal arts college—its existence as an intellectual community that comprises the efforts of faculty, students and staff—provides the best circumstances in which to begin those reflections,” Stern says. “But only begin. The questions that structure our inquiry at Ursinus are genuine questions, not simply problems to be solved. If we succeed, these inherently controversial issues will be the object of our students’ lifetime inquiry, as they pursue greater clarity regarding what should matter most to each of them.”
—RAINER MARIA RILKE, LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET
Ursinus Magazine • Winter 2019
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THE WELL
Poetic D Two Ursinus professors are using machine learning to translate a centuries-old poem. BY GEOFF GEHMAN
Devices 21
Ursinus Magazine • Winter photo 2019 JEFF FUSCO
THE WELL
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computational linguist who began learning Japanese to play a video game. A literary scholar who digitally tracks foreign and fake languages in medieval texts. A 14th-century epic starring an elderly poet who confesses to committing seven deadly sins. A programming language named after a comedy troupe that mocks myths of the Middle Ages. These are the components of a unique collaboration between two Ursinus scholars studying at the intersection of modern technology and archaic texts, putting an experimental spin on the digital liberal arts. One might call Alvin C. Grissom II and Kara L. McShane kindred spirits in analyzing textual styles. Grissom, an assistant professor of computer science, uses software to analyze incremental language processing. In a coauthored paper, he revealed ways to speed up simultaneous machine translation. His sly sense of humor is reflected in the paper’s title: “Don’t Until the Final Verb Wait.” In college, McShane was a disciple of 20th-century British literature until she took a required Middle Ages course on the legends of King Arthur and his roundtable knights. Captivated by the exotic blend of drama, power and flair, she decided to roll back the centuries and become a medievalist. Her parents rewarded her new calling by giving her a copy of the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It’s no wonder, then, that the linguistic detectives are using Python, a programming language invented by Monty Python fans, to crunch data about topical and thematic patterns in Confessio Amantis (The Lover’s Confession), a 33,000-line poetic treatise by John Gower, the second most famous medieval poet after his good friend, Geoffrey Chaucer. “We both have a deep and abiding fascination with language, which is part of why we work well together and why this project is a natural fit for both of us,” McShane says. photo DOMINIC MONTE
Grissom adds, “I have been working in machine learning and natural language processing for over a decade, and I’m happy that the technologies our community has developed are being used for forms of literary inquiry. Professor McShane has shown a knack and enthusiasm for applying new technologies to literary inquiry, so in some ways, we’re a perfect match.”
“
We both have a deep and abiding fascination with language.
” Medievalists have been early adopters of digital tools, and collaboration between medievalists and computer scientists isn’t unprecedented. But while medievalists have tried to use machine reading for these texts, the challenges of inconsistent handwriting, varied dialects and nonstandard spelling have left many medievalists skeptical (or despairing) about what machine reading can tell us about these works. Programming languages, McShane points out, can detect patterns that
can help scholars navigate mazelike manuscripts with a dizzying assortment of sources, styles and spellings. She’s only half-joking when she says Middle English spelling “is optional at best.” She’s on a mission that she describes as “reinventing the Middle Ages.” McShane is an editor with Medievally Speaking, an open-access review journal, and works with the Gower Project, a consortium dedicated to bold theories produced with new technologies. She also developed a venture on illustrating Chaucer texts sponsored by the Robbins Library Digital Projects, based at the University of Rochester, where she earned her graduate degrees. At Ursinus, she helps run the Digital Liberal Arts working group (see sidebar) and co-teaches Bears Make History, which accesses the college’s archives to promote digital entrepreneurship. Meanwhile, Grissom was drawn to the research collaboration because he likes cross-curricular, cross-cultural challenges involving language. While Confessio Amantis is the first medieval text he’s decoded, he’s a veteran at deciphering the vastly different meanings of similar or identical words. Grissom borrows a quote from linguistics pioneer J.R. Firth, one that could be mistaken for a translation of an inscription on a medieval crest: “You shall know a word by the company
“
What’s exciting to me, at least, is how these tools provide us with new ways to explore questions. New technologies can be both extra eyes— helping us process more text more quickly—and fresh eyes, helping us return to well-known works with a new perspective, which is essential to the work of studying literature.
” it keeps.” He calls it the underlying principle behind this particular computational approach. Gower’s first long poem in English, reportedly commissioned by Richard II because he wanted more texts in his kingdom’s native tongue, Confessio Amantis is an early source of standard modern English and is the third-most copied manuscript before the invention of the printing press. The scholars began by tracking Gower’s terms of emotion: “love,” “lust,” “vice.” The poem, after all, is the extremely emotional pilgrimage of an extremely emotional poet. McShane initially thought it was an unconventional point of departure, given that Gower is generally considered more of a moralist than a romantic. Her skepticism faded as emotion terms unexpectedly produced terms associated with place and location. Typing “rage,” for example, triggered a list of seemingly unrelated words, including “peace,” “star,” “ship” and “water.” Python introduced them to the idea that Gower regarded water as an emotional force, a raging river of the heart or a tidal wave of the soul. Identifying water as a kind of lifeboat in Confessio Amantis led her to suggest that Gower is not only a spiritual cartographer but an emotional one as well.
Of course, digital scholarship works best when scholars comb manuscripts—originals, copies, reference materials—with their digits. But McShane says, “What’s exciting to me, at least, is how these tools provide us with new ways to explore questions. New technologies can be both extra eyes—helping us process more text more quickly—and fresh eyes, helping us return to well-known works with a new perspective, which is essential to the work of studying literature.” In January, the Ursinus professors presented their research at a Gower seminar at the annual Modern Languages Association conference. The project is in its infancy, and McShane and Grissom envision using Python to dissect dialects in other medieval texts, or subjecting medieval texts to automatic translation. It might be fun, Grissom adds, to program a system that produces Gower-esque poetry. McShane loves the idea. “I can’t tell you,” she says, “how much fun that would be at parties.”
Expanding Our Digital Footprint by Mary Lobo ’15 On the surface, the study of the liberal arts and the exploration of new and innovative technologies don’t seem related, but a digital liberal arts working group at Ursinus hopes to change that. Meredith Goldsmith, a professor of English and associate dean of the college, and Kara McShane, an assistant professor of English, have been leading the charge in promoting the link between liberal arts and modern tech. Their goals range from fostering experimental thinking and understanding, to integrating digital technologies into course planning and research training. The impact can already be seen across campus in a variety of ways. A new fellowship program is pairing student digital fellows with faculty to create technology-based assignments, meet with students and assist in the development of digital projects. That effort is supported by funding from the Pennsylvania Consortium for the Liberal Arts (PCLA) via a grant it received from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. The effort has also been supported by alumni like Winnifred Berg Cutler ’73, whose contributions allow several faculty members to attend technology workshops that will encourage them to utilize their newfound digital learnings in their courses. While faculty representatives from English, history, computer science, politics and other disciplines serve on the working group, Goldsmith and McShane hope to continue fostering a campuswide interest in digital learning. The scholars say the program will tie in with Ursinus’s new Quest core curriculum and that a digital studies minor may not be too far behind.
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CONVERSATIONS
URSINUS IS 150! We’re commemorating our sesquicentennial throughout the 2019-2020 academic year in honor of the college’s very first incoming class of students in 1869-1870. This occasion gives us the opportunity to honor our past and our long commitment to the liberal arts while also celebrating a future that holds so much promise. As part of the celebration, we’re planning a special anniversary edition of Ursinus Magazine to pay tribute to the people who have been part of the fabric of our college for many years. The Pioneers. The Mentors. The Philanthropists. The Thought Leaders. The Unsung Heroes. The Good Samaritans. Send in your nominations by emailing ucmag@ursinus.edu. Then, check your mailboxes this fall for the anniversary issue. Go, Bears!
THE MINERVA TERM AT URSINUS COLLEGE Named for Minerva Weinberger, Ursinus’s first admitted female student, graduate and valedictorian, this day-long event is an opportunity to take a course taught by Ursinus professors and fulfill Ursinus’s commitment to lifelong learning. Date
Sunday, April 14, during Alumni Weekend
Time
9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Cost
Free for current students, faculty and staff; $120 for alumni and members of the public
Choose between one of two classes: “The Promise and Peril of Genome Editing” or “The Word Becomes You: Documentary Theater” No advance preparation is required. Meals are included. Space is limited. Register at ursinus.edu/150years or email minerva@ursinus.edu. Ursinus Magazine • Winter 2019
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CONVERSATIONS
ART AND ARCHITECTURE
photos JIM ROESE
A
n iconic public sculpture that was once a familiar sight to millions in midtown Manhattan has moved from the bustling streets of New York City to the tree-lined Ursinus campus. Cubed Curve (1972), by American sculptor William Crovello, joined the collection at the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art in October after 42 years adorning the plaza of the Time-Life Building on West 50th Street and Sixth Avenue (the Avenue of the Americas). A Manhattan landmark for many passersby, it was donated to the Berman Museum by the Rockefeller Group. Light blue in color and geometric in shape, the 3,500-pound sculpture consists of formed, bent and welded stainless
steel plate that measures 144 inches high by 48 inches long. Cubed Curve is a seminal example of the artist’s skill in silhouetting open and closed spaces in three-dimensional form. Installed outside the Time-Life Building in 1972, the sculpture was presented by the Association for a Better New York, Inc., but hasn’t been seen by New Yorkers since 2015, when renovations on the plaza at the Time-Life Building began. “Just as it was a recognizable feature in New York City, so too will it be a place marker and meeting place on our campus, as well as a symbol of our commitment to showcasing the best examples of contemporary art,” Berman Museum Director Charles Stainback said.
(above) Cubed Curve was installed Monday, October 22, near Main Street.
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CONVERSATIONS
LOST & FOUND
photo JIM ROESE
D
uring his days as an Ursinus student, Dennis Krauss ’63 was a familiar face in Bomberger Hall, the oldest building on the Ursinus campus. He attended chapel there, performed in the annual Messiah concert and took political science courses taught by his mentor, Sieber Pancoast ’37. Now, a historic piece of Bomberger has found its way to Krauss’s home. The proud Ursinus alumnus purchased stained glass that is original to the iconic Ursinus landmark, constructed on the Collegeville, Pa., campus in 1891. Krauss says he bought the glass from the late Ronald R. Moyer, a friend and the first chief executive officer of the Peter Becker Community in Harleysville, Pa., where Krauss now resides. Moyer found the glass at a yard sale. “Ursinus was a special place to me,” says Krauss, who has the stained glass situated against a window in his bedroom so that the light catches the red and gold colors. “I often find myself just sitting and looking at it, reflecting on my time there.”
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IDC DEDICATION CEREMONY
The Ursinus community came together on a blustery October day to dedicate the $29 million Innovation and Discovery Center during a special public event. The ceremony was presided over by Rob Wonderling P’16, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia and chair of the Ursinus board of trustees. Joe DeSimone ’86 P’12, CEO and cofounder of leading technology manufacturer Carbon, was among those to deliver remarks during the dedication. A portrait of the late Ursinus President Bobby Fong, a passionate advocate of the liberal arts and learning across disciplines, was unveiled on the first floor of the IDC. See the Keep the Promise newsletter insert for a full story.
photos DAN Z. JOHNSON, JEFF FUSCO (top), GBUILD (opposite top left)
LIFE IN PIXELS
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CLASS NOTES 1950s
Molly Hall-Terres ’52 shares that her three daughters joined her on a cruise to Cuba last year. They loved the old cars, the architecture and the arts.
Joseph C. Donia ’57 and Deanne Farese Donia ’58 are still enjoying their retirement condo in Stratford, Conn., and encourage friends to ring their doorbell any time!
1960s
Murray S. Feldstein ’63 loves his adopted state of Arizona, where he has lived since 1972. He is now living in Phoenix and enjoying retirement. He writes that his spouse, Judy, has created a website for the identification and care of indoor houseplants (houseplant411.com) and is finishing her second book on the same subject. They volunteer at public school literacy programs. Murray, an emeritus faculty of the Mayo Clinic Medical School, still teaches part-time and is a visiting fellow for health care policy at the Goldwater Institute. He has four children and 11 grandchildren.
Charles Peraino ’63 published a book called The Dark Side of Mistakes.
Evelyn McNaull Hartmann ’65 was awarded the 2018 Professional Lawyer of the
Year Award by the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law and the Middlesex County Bar Association at the commission’s professional awards luncheon. The award recognizes attorneys for “exemplary conduct, competence, diligence and demeanor.”
1970s Steve McCormick ’71 retired on April 30, 2018, after 44 years and 11 months with the U.S. Department of Defense, including three years of active duty with the U.S. Army.
Jim Williams ’71 recently published Claiming the Desert: Settlers, Homesteaders and Ranchers in Oro Valley, Arizona 1865-1965.
Susan (Groff) Mahaney ’73 P’09 says that she and spouse David have been working at the VA Medical Center as registered nurses for the past 30 years.
William Fries ’76 was recently elected to the board of directors of the National Fire Protection Association. He is employed with the Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services as deputy director of standards and compliance and serves as the fire marshal/chief supervising fire protection engineer based in the Pentagon.
1980s
Gregory R. Gifford ’81 has been appointed president of the Montgomery Bar Association.
1990s
Skye Donovan ’95 was promoted to full professor at Marymount University in Arlington, Va., where she currently serves as chair of the department of physical therapy and as associate dean of the Malek School of Health Professions.
Karen Huller ’99 is starting as an adjunct professor of communication at Cabrini University. She will be teaching a career management course to graduating seniors.
Patrick J. Kurtas ’99 is president-elect of the Montgomery Bar Association and will serve as its president in 2020.
2000s Alan R. Silverstein ’02 has been promoted to counsel by Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP. Alan has experience representing clients in Delaware state courts and in federal courts around the country. He is experienced with large-scale electronic discovery, managing scientific experts and costeffective litigation strategies.
BEARS’ DEN
I N MEMO RI AM
W. ROBERT CRIGLER ’56 Steve Malagari ’06 was recently elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, assuming his seat in December 2018.
Julie A. Balko ’08 accepted a tenure-track position as assistant professor of anesthesiology at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. She recently achieved board certification and is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. Julie received her veterinary degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 2012.
2010s Roger Lee ’10 is a full-time program manager at Drexel University’s Close School of Entrepreneurship. Danielle Eisenstock ’13 earned the associate professional in talent development (APTD) certification from the Association for Talent Development. She currently serves as the training and development specialist for the firm’s Urban Training Institute. Lauren Geiger ’17 reports that she is entering her second year of doctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Christine Dobisch ’18 earned her juris doctor from Temple University Beasley School of Law in May 2018. Amanda Palladino ’18 accepted a graduate assistantship at East Stroudsburg University, where she will pursue a master’s degree in sports management.
BIRTHS
Christina (Tropiano) Dellobuono ’09 and Michael Dellobuono ’10 welcomed a daughter, Josephine Dorothy, on July 22, 2017.
DEATHS 1940s Dorothy P. “Patt” Myatt ’40 died September 14, 2018. Franklin E. Morris ’41 died December 7, 2018. Mary (Hyde) Saunders ’41 died October 10, 2018. Lillian W. (Wright) Ashenfelter ’45 died December 11, 2018. Faith (Cramer) Walsh ’45 died September 26, 2018. Carol A. (Fawthorp) Kulp ’48 died November 15, 2018.
W. Robert Crigler ’56, the college’s first African American graduate, passed away on Saturday, October 20, 2018. He was 84. Crigler was a first-generation college student and the first African American from his hometown of Orville, Ohio, to attend college. He was a psychology major and a student-athlete during his time at Ursinus, where he received an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 2006. For most of his professional career, Crigler served as the executive director of the Chaparral Treatment Center in Colton, Calif., a multidisciplinary residential care therapy and education center for children. At Ursinus, the Crigler program, named in his honor in 2011, offers first-year students a four-credit course during the summer before their first semester at the college. In addition to the coursework, students are given the opportunity to participate in a community service project, connect with Ursinus alumni and attend leadership workshops. His work helping troubled families and children led Ursinus to award him the Alumni Association Professional Achievement Award in 1998.
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1950s Donald E. Smith ’50 died September 8, 2018. Marjorie A. (Paynter) Devlin ’51 died September 6, 2018. Brandt N. Earhart ’51 died December 27, 2018. Robert N. Jordan Jr. ’51 died September 13, 2018. Kathryne “Kathy” H. (Haney) Lord ’51 died December 23, 2018. Bernita (Gross) Stanwood ’51 died December 10, 2018. Wilmer (Wil) F. Loomis ’52 died November 2, 2018. Joseph V. Hahn Jr. ’53 died November 19, 2018. Rolf Sternberg ’53 died August 14, 2018. Eugene J. Haag ’54 died November 25, 2018. Eleanor “Ellie” B. Bankert ’55 died December 5, 2018. Elsie R. (Belz) Brown ’55 died September 1, 2018.
Mark E. Weand Jr. ’58 died November 24, 2018. Bruce J. Cuthbert ’59 died November 24, 2018.
1960s Rev. George W. Busler ’60 died November 18, 2018. Nancy E. (Van Buskirk) Fago ’61 died November 12, 2018. Rita A. (Elmo) Imbastaro ’61 died October 6, 2018. Ruth A. (Barker) Witman ’62 died December 19, 2018. Anne T. (Thorburn) Barnett ’63 died December 14, 2018. Glenn H. Landis ’65 died December 1, 2018. John M. Clark ’66 died October 2, 2018.
1970s Holly K. Green ’70 died September 27, 2018. Earl L. Decker ’72 (Evening) died November 26, 2018. Karen L. (Guskey) Terzopolos ’74 died November 24, 2018. Rita C. (Barry) Mesthos ’75 died October 23, 2018.
1980s Gregg R. Lawson ’82 died October 17, 2018.
Michael J. Mulligan ’82 died December 18, 2018.
Frank R. Moulton Jr. ’89 died July 27, 2018.
1990s
Luther L. Lightcap Sr. ’66 (Evening) died December 11, 2018.
Richard S. Haines Jr. ’93 died October 6, 2018.
Elsa M. (Heimerer) Brader ’67 died December 14, 2018.
Friends of the College
Paul R. (Stringer) Buck ’67 died September 20, 2018.
Mildred “Misty” (Mistovich) Schwartzman ’55 died July 9, 2018.
Barbara (Evans) Miller ’67 died November 2, 2018.
Roy C. Green ’57 died August 19, 2018.
Susan S. Spohn ’68 died October 19, 2018.
Eleanor R. “Ruth” McKelvie ’57 died August 22, 2018.
Nancy L. (Kiefer) Van Saun ’68 died December 15, 2018.
Sally Guthrie Whitman died January 6, 2018.
BEARS’ DEN
IN MEMORIAM DORINDA MA 1993-2018
An English major, Dorinda was described as a light, making a room feel brighter with her presence and treating every person with respect, kindness and compassion. She approached everything she did on campus, whether working in the campus safety office, spending time with her Sigma sisters or writing poetry, with a sincere desire to make a difference for others. She was passionate about serving young people through education and touched countless lives despite her short tenure as a teacher. The Ursinus community will remember Dorinda’s smile, one that communicated authenticity, warmth and affection.
MICROSCOPICALLY BRAIDED by Dorinda Ma Black silk Ox strong Like you, grandmother. Dirt roads and fresh ginger plaited Into my braids, into my tresses. Fold your history into my hair Give me deep creases Let me embrace your sorrow And strength. Poem provided by M. Nzadi Keita, associate professor of English and coordinator of African American/ Africana Studies.
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1
3
2
4
5
WEDDINGS
6
1 Jillian B. Alacci ’13 and Adam McGonigle ’13 were married on September 15, 2018. 2 Victoria Cameron ’14 and Richard Griffith III ’14 were married October 29, 2017. 3 James Noebels ’12 and Megan Teller were married September 22, 2018. 4 Danielle Michielli ’12 and Dan Fryer ’11 were married June 9, 2018. 5 Michele Snead ’15 and Matthew Tucker were married October 20, 2018. 6 Jessica McIlhenny ’11 and Grey Johnson ’09 were married November 2, 2018.
URSINUS WEDDING PHOTOS Ursinus Magazine publishes wedding photos in the magazine as well as online. Please send your favorite wedding memories. Digital photos can be emailed to ucmag@ursinus.edu. Ursinus College reserves the right to reject publication of photos that are not of publishable quality. We regret that we are not able to return print photographs. Questions can be addressed to the Office of Alumni Relations, 610-409-3585, or by emailing ucmag@ursinus.edu.
IT’S
easy
TO FALL IN
AT Wedding packages are available for 2019! Alumni receive a 25% discount on space rentals!
Ursinus
Contact case@ursinus.edu or 610-409-3002.
BEARS’ DEN
THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019 RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve 100 RiverCrest Drive, Phoenixville, PA 19460 Cocktails and Silent Auction - 6:30 p.m. Dinner and Program - 8 p.m. Tickets are now available at ursinus.edu/bear2bearbenefit. All proceeds support The Bear2Bear Student Emergency Fund, which provides grants to Ursinus students who are facing temporary financial hardship as a result of an emergency or crisis situation. If you are unable to attend this year’s event, please consider making a gift or placing an online bid on your favorite silent auction item. To learn more, please contact Jason Bodman, associate director of annual giving at jbodman@ursinus.edu or 610-409-3751.
Honoring Joan Abele and Wilbert Abele ’61
S COLL E GE URSINU
Give my regards to Broad Street ... and Main Street!
SAFE. SECURE. SENSIBLE.
S E L E C TE D O N E - L I F E A N N U I TY R AT ES ANNUITANT AGE
T H E CHA RI TA BLE GIFT ANNUIT Y
“MAKE A GIFT AND RECEIVE INCOME FOR LIFE.” For more information on how a Charitable Gift Annuity might help you realize your philanthropic and financial planning needs, or to receive a confidential, personalized illustration, please contact: Mark P. Gadson Executive Director of Leadership Giving and Advancement Resources Ursinus College Office of Advancement 601 East Main Street Collegeville, PA 19426 (610) 409-3164 mgadson@ursinus.edu
RATE
65
5.1%
72
5.8%
75
6.2%
80
7.3%
85
8.3%
90+
9.0%
S E L E C TE D TW O - L I F E A N N U I TY R AT ES ANNUITANT AGES FIRST
SECOND
RATE
65
60
4.3%
75
78
5.6%
80
80
6.2%
80
84
6.5%
85
85
7.3% 7.9%
85
89
90
90
9.1%
93+
93+
9.3%
Note: The above rates are for illustration purposes only and may vary based on the date of gift and other monthly adjusted factors. Each annuitant must be at least age 60 at the time the annuity is created. Gift annuities are not offered in all states.
Ursinus Magazine • Winter 2019
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LET’S GET SOCIAL! @rocketfoot7
Never thought I’d feel this way about retiring a pair of hockey gloves... but these babies made it all the way to an NCAA DIII national championship! I may be replacing them with the exact same pair, but these new gloves will never hold the same memories with my UCFH fam #fhockeyforlife #ucfh #whatadifference #holeygloves
@UrsinusCollege #Ursinus @CoachPGallagher
Never in a million years would I think I would karaoke to “Lost in Japan” in the middle of my dining hall. Junior year mood @CHRIS_cross113
Historic Patterson Field on campus of @UrsinusCollege November 6th 2018. Go Bears! #UCFB126
Tonight on Ursinus College’s campus I witnessed something moving. A student came outside when all was quiet and played Taps on his trumpet for fallen soldiers. Whoever you are, thank you. Thank you to all the Veterans on this Veterans Day @em_saw10
Let’s be real, seeing the posts about the annual Campus Thanksgiving makes me wish I was still at Ursinus once again. @emmcooper42
THE BEAR NETWORK The Ursinus Externship Program provides students with the opportunity to explore career options and gain insight into workplace realities by shadowing Ursinus alumni and parents during winter break. The program is open to Ursinus students of all class years and majors. For information on how you can have an Ursinus student shadow you in the workplace, contact the Office of Career and Post-Graduate Development at 610-409-3599 or career@ursinus.edu. Thank you to all alumni who participated this January. For a complete list of alumni and students who participated this year, visit ursinus.edu/magazine.
Paul Cottam ’19 (right) shadowed Vance Whitfield ’02 at Cardno International Development.
Millie Drury ’21 shadowed Corinne Moulder ’07, vice president of business development at Smith Publicity, Inc.
SAVE THE DATE! HOMECOMING AND FAMILY WEEKEND SEPTEMBER 21–22, 2019
2019, 2014, 2009, 2004, 1999, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1979 and 1974 will be celebrating class reunions. Alpha Phi Epsilon, Alpha Sigma Nu, Field Hockey, Football, Kappa Delta Kappa, Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse, Phi Kappa Sigma, Swimming, Student Affairs (RAs, Orientation Leaders, Ambassadors), Men’s and Women’s Tennis, Tau Sigma Gamma and Zeta Chi will be celebrating organizational reunions.
NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE 601 E. Main St. • Collegeville, PA 19426-1000 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
PAID
UTICA, NY PERMIT NO.566
photo ALIX SEGIL ’21