Expression Winter 2003

Expression WINTER 2003

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE

Diversity in the Communication Why it Industry matters and how we are missing the mark

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Forty-five percent of daily newspapers do not have a single minority staff member — American Society of Newspaper Editors

QUIET ON THE SET!

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os angeles-area alumni, L.A. Center students and prospective students and parents gathered on the set of the Emmy-winning television program Will & Grace to hear from three alums behind some of television’s most innovative programming.

The alums, Max Mutchnick ’87 (Will & Grace), Vin Di Bona ’67 (America’s Funniest Home Videos) and Doug Herzog ’81 (president, USA Channel), spoke about their respective careers and the TV industry.

The panel was moderated by Maria Menounos ’00, correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. In another event, Emerson Emmy winners were honored at an alum’s home.

Maria Menounos ’00, Max Mutchnick ’87 and Doug Herzog ’81 speak at a panel on the set of Will & Grace.

John Ferraro ’80, Scott Davis ’73, Kate Boutilier ’81 and Paul Dini ’79

A group of Los Angeles-area alums and others gather at Vin Di Bona’s (left) home to honor Emmy winners.

Neal Roscoe ’92 (left) and Chris Jackson ’92

Deeny Kaplan ’73 (right), who won a 2001 Emmy, accepts a recognition award from Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott at a reception at the home of Vin Di Bona ‘67.

CONTENTS WINTER 2003

Expression

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MEMORY LANE

For alumni and friends of Emerson College

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CAMPUS DIGEST WERS enjoys its best-ever fundraiser, a new athletic director is named, the distinguished faculty award winner is selected, and more

E X EC U T I V E E D I TO R D AV I D R O S E N E D I TO R

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R H E A B EC K E R

DIVERSITY IN THE COMMUNICATION INDUSTRY Read our report on this critical issue and find out what the College is doing to help address the crisis.

WRITER C H R I STO P H E R H E N N ESSY E D I TO R I A L A S S I S TA N T

PA G E 5

TA R A P I E R S O N

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THE UNSWERVING GAZE Documentary film remains an uncompromising witness in the midst of the ‘reality’ glut; also, several Emerson film experts choose the top documentaries of our time

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Cover illustration by Joel Holland EXPRESSION is published three times a year (fall, winter and spring) for alumni and friends of Emerson College by the Office of Public Affairs (David Rosen, associate vice president) in conjunction with the Department of Institutional Advancement (Jeanne Brodeur ’72, vice president) and the Office of Alumni Relations (Barbara Rutberg ’68, director).

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS public_affairs@emerson.edu (617) 824-8540, fax (617) 824-8916 OFFICE OF ALUMNI RELATIONS alumni@emerson.edu (800) 255-4259, (617) 824-8535, fax (617) 824-7807 Copyright © 2003 Emerson College 120 Boylston St. Boston, MA 02116-4624

AS GOOD AS GOLD The Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Center and the annual Spring Musical each mark 50 years

24 NOTABLE EXPRESSIONS

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A compendium of accomplishments in various fields

26 ALUMNI DIGEST Photo coverage from events all around the country, and more

30 CLASS NOTES 33 PROFILES Meet a man who markets a pro football team, a woman who dispenses therapeutic advice to the masses, and a young actor who has taken the Boston stage by storm

PA G E 3 4

36 MY TURN Alum Charles Collins ’76 finds himself returning to campus when his daughter enrolls at Emerson

PA G E 3 6

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memory lane

IN THIS ISSUE

Fifty years ago, the Emerson campus saw many changes, including the inauguration of the 8th president of the College, Dr. S. Justus McKinley, in December 1953.

Many other events occurred that year, both large and small, as covered by the student newspaper, the Berkeley Beacon: “THE WERS DRIVE is moving along. . . . The higher-wattaged WERS will be beneficial to Emerson as a whole. If you have a dollar or more, stop into the Broadcasting office on the 3rd floor.” —January 1953 “THE FIRST JOSEPH E. CONNOR memorial award for distinguished contribution to theater, radio, motion pictures or television has been conferred upon Edward R. Murrow. Mr. Murrow received the unanimous vote of the entire fraternity [Phi Alpha Tau].”

—April 1953

The Boys’ Dormitory, circa 1950

“THE PRESENT CONDITION of the café is tantamount to Bedlam – or in plain English – a mess. It would help the workers in the Snack Bar if each of us would make it a point to put his rubbish in a receptacle, and the end result would be a clean café for all.”

—October 1953 “THE ANNUAL BENEFIT party to purchase new records for the Emerson College campus station, WECB, will be held in the Emerson College Theatre on the night of December 5th. . . . John McDuff also reports that he has bid for the services of a “name” entertainer to drop in and give out with a few numbers. It is hoped that as many students as possible will turn out for this gala affair, which in the past has proved to be one of the highlights of the Emerson Social Calendar. Tickets [are] 75 cents per person, $1.25 for couples.”

—November 1953 2

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“AS PART OF THE CHRISTMAS festivities this year, Phi Mu Gamma and Phi Alpha Tau are sponsoring an all-school carol singing party. Plans, at present, call for the group to stop at several places along the way to sing carols for shut-ins and older people. . . . After the group has finished their singing, there will be refreshments and a good time for all at the Boys’ Dormitory.”

—December 1953 SEVERAL LOCAL establishments advertised in the 1953 editions of the Berkeley Beacon. Newbury’s Steak House promoted its special “Char-Broiled Steak Dinner” for a thrifty 99 cents and Charlie Mun’s “Complete Laundry Service” was offered at a storefront located at 88 Massachusetts Ave.

Expression welcomes short letters to the editor on topics covered in the magazine. The editor will select a representative sample of letters to publish and reserves the right to edit copy for style and length. Send letters to: Editor, Expression, Office of Public Affairs, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116-4624; public_affairs@emerson.edu.

When is a newsroom not a newsroom? When its staff does not reflect the complexion of the world on which it reports. Diversity in the communication industries – journalism, broadcasting, public relations, advertising – is sorely lacking across the country. Our cover story, written by David Rosen, examines the rationale for diversity and points out how Emerson College is pursuing initiatives to help increase minority representation in these fields.

The College is marking two important milestones this year – the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Center and the 50th annual Spring Musical. You’ll enjoy learning how these venerable institutions have made a century worth of history at Emerson.

Documentary film has long influenced social activism. Sometimes this history is obscured by today’s ‘docu-tainment’ - television programming like Survivor, The Osbournes and The Real World. Jim Lane, executive director of Emerson College’s Los Angeles Center, takes a look at documentary film and its important place in film history. In an accompanying story, we ask Emerson cinema experts to nominate their all-time top documentary films.

With this issue, we are introducing a new section, Notable Expressions, which takes a look at the accomplishments of alumni and other members of the Emerson community in a wide range of fields.

And don’t overlook the photo coverage of alumni events from around the country, including Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and New York.

Enjoy the issue and let us know what you think.

Rhea Becker, editor

campus digest WERS enjoys bestever fundraiser emerson’s student-run FM radio station WERS (88.9) must be doing something very right. The station collected approximately $122,000 in pledges from 2,395 listeners during its most recent WERS Member Madness Week (November 2002).

“WERS just concluded the most successful membership drive in the station’s history,” said Dave Murphy, general manager of the station. The fundraiser chalked up a 20% increase over last year’s drive.

“The [students] are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that WERS is able to continue providing its

listeners with the best music available and succeeding generations of Emersonians with the opportunity to work at the best college radio station in the country,” Murphy said.

In other WERS news, the station began broadcasting around the clock at the start of the fall term 2002, and in doing so, joined the ranks of the other premier Boston-based FM radio stations that also air programming 24

New athletic director named rudy keeling, former head basketball coach at Northeastern University, has been named director of athletics at Emerson. Keeling said he was attracted to Emerson because of its increasing prominence among Boston-area col-

Rudy Keeling, new director of athletics

leges and universities and its commitment to building a strong NCAA Division III athletic program.

Keeling began his professional career in 1980 as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. In 1986, he assumed a similar position at Marquette University in Milwaukee. Keeling came to New England in 1988 to become head men’s basketball coach at the University of Maine (Orono), where he led the team to its most successful record in over 90 years. In 1996, Keeling was named head men’s basketball coach at Northeastern. In addition to improving the team’s ranking, he graduated every senior in a timely fashion. Keeling succeeds Rick Bagby, who is now athletic director at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky.

hours a day. The move gives the station 14 extra producer and deejay positions, helping satisfy the demand for student on-air slots, and provides an extra four hours per day to broadcast.

WERS is the first non-commercial station established in Boston (1949).

Berkeley Beacon wins journalism competition The student newspaper, the Berkeley Beacon, has won the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2001 Mark of Excellence Award for outstanding student journalism.

The award recognizes the newspaper as the best in the nation for editorial writing. The paper beat out weekly and daily newspapers at hundreds of colleges and universities across the country. The Beacon also won a regional second place award for Best All Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper and third place for Spot News Photography.

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campus digest

Film alums share success stories with Emersonians Emerson alums who work in the film industry returned to campus last fall to share success stories with a packed house of current students.

Pam Abdy ’95, president of production for Danny DeVito’s Jersey Films in Los Angeles, and Sid Levin ’78, co-owner of the Boston-based Firstframe Inc. and three-time Cine Gold Eagle award winner, spoke.

Remarkably, Abdy began her career after a bad break – literally a broken foot, which took her out of Emerson’s dance program and into media arts. She soon found herself interning at Jersey Films in L.A. She was eventually promoted to an executive post, and ultimately to president of production, the position she currently holds.

Abdy has worked as a producer on the films Man on the Moon and How High, and she now generates her own material for films.

Sid Levin, one of the “founding fathers” of EIV at Emerson, now produces pieces for the Home and Garden network as well as PBS, Discovery Channel and A&E. He recalled his beginnings at an Emerson newswriting internship at WHDH (Channel 7) in Boston, even though he had absolutely no background in newswriting.

Levin is impressed with Emerson’s facilities today. “I saw the Ansin Building, and you’re on the cutting edge of technology, so edit away,” he told the students.

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Distinguished Faculty Award recipient named

the 2002 mann stearns Distinguished Faculty Award has been given this year to Jean Stawarz, assistant professor of visual and media arts. Last year’s recipient, John Bell, assistant professor of performing arts, gave a presentation on a new work for puppet theater that he produced with the support he received as the 2001 recipient of the

Norman and Irma Stearns, Assistant Professor John Bell (seated), President Jacqueline Liebergott and Assistant Professor Jean Stawarz

award. Stawarz will present a talk on her work next fall. The award was created with an endowment by Norman and Irma Stearns ’67, Hon. ’92.

Friends of the Majestic hold benefit Kent Atkins, Jane Rose, Carol Reed and Helen Rose ’38 attended the Friends of the Emerson Majestic Theatre annual fall fundraising event at the Ritz-Carlton on Boston Common in October 2002. The event chairperson was Patrick Morris, G ‘97. The silent auction was led by Ana Costa and Professor Emeritus Leo Nickole, who coordinated entertainment, which included performances by Neil Davin ’72 as well as current students. Helen Rose is the founder of the Friends of the Majestic.

The Friends have raised money to help restore the Emerson Majestic Theatre as one of Boston’s historic landmarks and an important center for the performing arts for Emerson students and faculty and the Greater Boston community.

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D AV I D

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iversity in the communication industry

Why it matters and how we are missing the mark

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hat do americans look like?

What languages do they speak? What do they cherish and believe in? How do they view the world at large? And how does that world view them?

More than ever before, attitudes and perceptions related to these questions – at home and abroad – are shaped by the information and images that people receive from the news media and other segments of the communication industry. And this is what makes the issue of diversity in communication so crucial.

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Assuring that those who direct and staff the nation’s communication outlets reflect society as a whole is a matter of national concern not only because America is committed to equal opportunity, and not only because many corporate executives see diversity as good for business, but because — as a people — we value the truth. We want to see ourselves as we really are, and we want others to understand who we are and what we stand for.

DIVERSIFYING THE DISCOURSE

“Media outlets exert tremendous influence over what Americans think about themselves and what others think of America,” says Charles Beard, an emeritus member and former chair of the Emerson College Board of Trustees and the first African-American attorney named a partner in a major Boston law firm (Foley Hoag & Eliot, where his practice area includes communication law). “As you move from one ethnic group to another, there are fundamentally different views of the world, and these different viewpoints need to be expressed in the public discourse. This can only happen if there is sufficient minority repreDifferent sentation within the industry.” viewpoints “Diversity on the street and back in the need to be newsroom is important because it brings depth and perspective to the reporting of expressed in the events,” adds Pam Cross ’75, reporter and public discourse. news anchor at WCVB-TV (Channel 5) in This can only Boston. “Most of the reporting about the happen if there African-American and Latino communities is sufficient in the mainstream media is one-dimensionminority al. The stories usually deal with conflict and representation.” violence. You don’t see much about everyday CHARLES BEARD life and all the good things that are going on.”

Joseph Torres, communications director for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, says his organization is concerned about the numbers of Latinos and other minorities in newsrooms, but adds, “what we are most concerned about is intellectual diversity. We need to have a healthy discussion and debate over what stories get covered and how they are presented.”

COLORING THE NEWS

Some commentators downplay the importance of newsroom diversity and a few, like William McGowan, author of the controversial new book Coloring the News, have urged news organizations to abandon minority hiring goals. McGowan, who has reported for several major media outlets, argues that the push toward diversity creates a political correctness that “corrupts” rather than enhances how the news is reported.

He writes: “America is at a demographic and public policy crossroads. But just when information about its changing national 6

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identity needs to be robust, knowledgeable and honest, the ongoing media crusade for diversity has made American journalism weaker, particularly on complex stories involving race, gay rights, feminism, affirmative action and immigration. Encouraging a narrow orthodoxy that restricts debate and affirms identity politics, this crusade has fostered a journalistic climate in which important reporting is often skewed; facts that call into question a preconceived, pro-diversity script get short shrift; and double standards that favor ‘oppressed’ groups over others become the norm.”

McGowan’s thesis has been challenged by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists and other organizations.

Jerry Lanson, chair of Emerson’s Department of Journalism and a former deputy city editor of the Pulitzer Prizewinning San Jose Mercury News in California, also takes issue with McGowan.

“Some journalists argue that any good reporter can interview anyone and cover any story, and to a certain extent this is true,” he says. “But we’re all products of our environment and our socio-economic background as well as our racial ancestry, class, generation, sex, sexual orientation and religion. We do not always see things the same way.”

Lanson cites the following example: “When the [historic exhibition of ] Tall Ships came to Boston some years ago, many journalists and others were surprised to learn that

EMERSON SET TO DEDICATE RESOURCES TO DIVERSITY ISSUES

Major grant will fund important efforts some in the African-American community did not look favorably on the event. We learned that because of an article written in the Boston Globe by an African-American reporter.

It never occurred to white people, myself included, that these ships were used in the slave trade.”

When covering and assigning stories, journalists need to “test their own fault lines,” he adds, crediting this phrase and its implications to Robert Maynard, the late publisher of the Oakland Tribune. “When a newspaper has diverse representation on its staff, it is likely to do a better job covering the news.”

Lanson recalls that when he was at the Mercury News back in the early 1990s, people of color already comprised a majority of San Jose’s population. About a third of the city was Latino and there were significant numbers of Vietnamese and African-American residents as well. Yet the staff of the newspaper was nearly 90 percent white.

Coverage of the Latino community back then was usually relegated to a weekly section. It was against this backdrop that the Mercury News developed a two-part series on gang violence. The first part dealt with the problem and the second focused on solutions. The first installment began on page one and featured a prominent photo of Latino teens beating up a Vietnamese youth. But the day the series began, a devastating fire burned a huge swath through the nearby city of Oakland, and the Mercury News ran a special wraparound section on the fire. The second part of the series, which discussed efforts by community leaders to curb violence, was buried inside the paper.

JERRY LANSON, chair of Emerson College’s Department of Journalism: “Some journalists argue that any good reporter can interview anyone and cover any story . . . but we’re all products of our environment. . . . We do not always see things the same way.”

Emerson has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation, Fleet National Bank Trustee, to help the College advance its goal of increasing diversity in the communication industry.

The five-year grant was awarded in October 2002 in response to a proposal the College submitted to the Boston-based foundation outlining a series of interrelated programs involving high school partnerships, recruiting programs, curriculum development and career placement. The goal is to create a more diverse and culturally sensitive generation of communication leaders.

In announcing the grant, President Jacqueline Liebergott said, “We are enormously grateful to the Balfour Foundation, and we look forward to working with them as we proceed with this vital project.”

She said one of the first orders of business is to establish a new Center for Diversity and to hire a director who will report directly to her.

The Center will help coordinate existing efforts to broaden diversity on campus and undertake new initiatives.

The grant comes as the College engages in a campus-wide conversation about the importance and place of diversity and diverse populations at Emerson. Enhancing the diversity of the student body and faculty and bringing a multicultural perspective to the Emerson curriculum and cocurricular activities are among the top priorities articulated in the College’s five-year strategic plan.

Stuart Sigman, dean of the School of Communication, served as the principal author of the grant proposal. He worked closely with Jeanne Brodeur, vice president for institutional advancement, and Thomas Hanold, director of corporate and foundation relations. Trustee Emeritus and former Board chair Charles Beard was also instrumental in securing the grant.

The Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation arose out of the estate of Lloyd G. Balfour. Balfour, who died in 1973, was the owner of the L.G. Balfour Co., the renowned Attleboro, Mass., manufacturer of class rings, membership insignia and other related products. One of the foundation’s major grant priorities is to provide “opportunities that will improve upon the education, career and life options available to disadvantaged populations.”

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“The Latino community was outraged, first by the picture and then by the perceived focus on the problem but not the solutions,” Lanson said. “The paper took a hard look at itself and instituted a new policy to increase its minority staff by hiring one person of color for each white hire. We also changed our news coverage patterns and developed a team approach to reporting on minority communities.” Today, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE), people of color comprise 31 percent of the Mercury News staff.

SO HOW ARE WE DOING?

But accomplishments like this are the exception, not the rule.

Despite commitments to diversity expressed by industry associations and media companies, America is doing poorly when it comes to increasing the level of minority representation at newspapers, television and radio stations, public relations and advertising agencies, and other segments of the communication industry.

Non-whites comprise 31 percent of the American population (including 12.9 percent Diversity African-Americans, 12.5 percent Hispanics on the and 4.2 percent Asian Americans), accordstreet and back ing to the 2000 U.S. Census, and these percentages are expected to increase throughout in the newsroom the decade. is important But at the 1,435 daily newspapers across because it brings the country, minorities comprise only 12 perdepth and percent of newsroom staffs (including 5.3 percent spective to the African-Americans, 3.9 percent Hispanics, reporting of and 2.4 percent Asian Americans), according events.” to ASNE’s 2002 employment survey.

PA M C R O S S ’ 75 And a staggering 45 percent of daily newspapers in America do not have a single minority staff member. This number represents a 1 percentage point increase over 2001 and a 6 percentage point increase over 2000. In other words, as the number of nonwhite Americans has increased, the number of newspapers employing people of color has actually decreased. The results are particularly disturbing in light of ASNE’s long-standing commitment to minority employment, as stated in its diversity mission statement: “[T]he nation’s newsrooms must reflect the racial diversity of American society by 2005 or sooner. At a minimum, all newsrooms should employ journalists of color and every newspaper should reflect the diversity of its community.”

Most newspapers that have no minority staff are smallsized publications in rural areas. In Montana, for example, 10 of the 11 daily newspapers in the ASNE survey report they have no non-white news staff members. The same is true for four of five dailies in North Dakota and 23 of 26 dailies in Iowa.

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While newspapers in most major East Coast cities report significant minority representation (for example, 16 percent at the New York Times, 17 percent at the Wall Street Journal, 16 percent at the Philadelphia Inquirer, 18 percent at the Boston Globe and 10 percent at the Boston Herald), the numbers generally fall short of the non-white populations in those cities. And a surprising number of papers in medium-sized cities report no minority representation (for example, Pawtucket, R.I.; Portsmouth, N.H.; Brattleboro, Vt.; Pittsfield, Mass.; and Palm Beach, Fla.).

The highest percentages of minority staff members are found at the newspapers in Honolulu (45 percent), Miami (46 percent), Detroit (23 percent) and Washington, D.C. (21 percent). The percentages in Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas and Houston are, respectively, 15, 17, 17, and 18 percent.

Overall, from 2001 to 2002, the percentage of minority journalists working at daily newspapers increased from 11.6 percent to 12.1 percent, after having dipped slightly in 2000.

That decline was the first in 23 years, ASNE said, and it was caused by an overall reduction in the total number of newsroom jobs.

BROADCASTING THE NEWS

The level of minority representation in broadcast news and in broadcasting generally is higher than it is in the newspaper industry, but it is very much a mixed bag. The annual

A POOR TRACK RECORD The issue of diversity in communication is not new. It was raised at least as far back as 1947 in a report titled A Free and Responsible Press issued by a 13-member commission on freedom of the press funded by the publisher of Time magazine and chaired

by Robert Maynard Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago.

The Hutchins report dealt with radio, television and film as well as newspapers, magazines and books. It called for greater “diversity of information and discussion” in mass communication and urged the media to project “a more representative picture of the constituent groups in the society.” It did not, however, explicitly connect these goals with a need for diversity in media staffing and ownership.

Two decades later, a panel established by President Lyndon B. Johnson to probe the causes of race riots that had rocked Los Angeles, Newark, Detroit and other cities, addressed the issue of diversity in the newsroom headon. The Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (chaired by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner) said, “The Commission’s major concern with the news media is not in riot reporting, as such, but in the failure to report adequately on race relations and ghetto problems and to bring more Negroes into journalism.” The Commission concluded that “news organizations must employ enough Negroes in positions of significant authority to establish an effective link to Negro actions and ideas and to meet legitimate employment expectations.”

THE FOLLOWING ARE EXCERPTS FROM THE 1968 KERNER COMMISSION REPORT:

“The journalistic profession has been shockingly backwards in seeking out, hiring, training, and promoting Negroes. Fewer than 5 percent of the people employed by the news business in editorial jobs in the United States today are Negroes. Fewer than 1 percent of the editors and supervisors are Negroes, and most of them work for Negro-owned organizations. The lines of [communication in] various news organizations to the militant blacks are, by admission of the newsmen themselves, almost nonexistent. The plaint is, ‘We can’t find qualified Negroes.’ But this rings hollow from an industry where, only yesterday, jobs were scarce and promotion unthinkable for a man whose skin was black …”

“Editorial decisions about which stories to cover and which to use are made by editors. Yet, very few Negroes in this country are involved in making these decisions, because very few, if any, supervisory editorial jobs are held by Negroes. We urge the news media to do everything possible to train and promote their Negro reporters to positions where those who are qualified can contribute to and have an effect on policy decisions …”

“If the media are to report with understanding, wisdom and sympathy on the problems of the cities and the problems of the black man – for the two are increasingly intertwined – they must employ, promote and listen to Negro journalists.”

“Television should develop programming which integrates Negroes into all aspects of televised presentations … Negro reporters and performers should appear more frequently – and at prime time – in news broadcasts, on weather shows, in documentaries, and in advertisements … Any initial surprise at seeing a Negro selling a sponsor’s product will eventually fade into routine acceptance, an attitude that white society must ultimately develop toward all Negroes.”

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staffing survey conducted by the Radio, Television and News Directors Association (RTNDA) and Ball State University shows that the minority workforce in television newsrooms actually dropped from 24.6 percent in 2001 to 20.6 percent in 2002. The decline was steepest among Hispanics. In radio, minority newsroom staffing decreased from 10.7 percent in 2001 to 8 percent in 2002. Again, Hispanics accounted for most of the drop.

Minority representation among television news directors, who shape the content of newscasts, increased by a percentage point to just over 9 percent in 2002. Only 5 percent of radio news directors in 2002 were minorities, up less than 1 percentage point over 2001.

Michael Carson, vice president and general manager of WHDH-TV (Channel 7) in Boston and an Emerson College trustee, says the station’s parent company, Sunbeam Television Corp., is “mindful of the fact that we are a business that operates over the public airways.” In addition to supporting diversity for ethical reasons, Carson believes that “achieving diversity in our industry is a good business practice. When we are sensitive to When we the needs and interests of all segments of the are sensimarkets we attract more viewers, and as the tive to the needs On the positive side, Dukes notes that size of our audience increases, so does our PRSA recently adopted diversity as one of its advertising potential.” and interests of three major policy initiatives for the upcomCarson says that both WHDH-TV and all segments of ing year.

The initiative includes compiling a WSVN-TV (Channel 7) in Miami, which is the markets we minority employment database, outreach to also owned by Sunbeam, continue to follow attract more minority students studying public relations once-mandatory equal employment opporviewers...” in college and mentoring programs. tunity guidelines set by the Federal ComMICHAEL CARSON Douglas Holloway ’76, president of netmunications Commission, even though they work distribution and affiliate relations at no longer have the force of law. In keeping Universal Television and an Emerson trustee, with those guidelines, the staff in Miami is says minority employment in the communication industry more than 50 percent minorities, reflecting the composition is “uneven” and “particularly weak” in terms of Africanof the station’s Miami-area audience, according to Carson.

American employment. “We haven’t seen much progress Minorities comprise 18 percent of the staff of Channel 7 in in middle management and senior positions in the industry.

Boston, which reaches some 2.5 million viewers throughout People like Richard Parsons [chief executive officer of AOL New England. The minority population of Boston, where the Time Warner and an African-American] are the exception,” station is based, is around 10 percent. he adds.

Reliable figures for minority employment in public relaTo Holloway, the issue of minority representation is first tions and advertising are harder to come by, but by all acand foremost a matter of equal opportunity. “Companies counts, these two industries lag behind the print and broadshould be reflective of the communities they serve,” he says. cast news media.

He also notes that people of different backgrounds bring en“While many Fortune 500 executives have come to rechanced levels of awareness of the preferences and sensitivognize the need to have diverse workforces in order to comities of large segments of the viewing and listening public. pete in a global economy, the public relations industry has “This is important when it comes to developing programs.” moved slowly in this area,” says Ofield Dukes, chair of the Dwight Ellis, vice president for human resources at the diversity committee of the Public Relations Society of AmerNational Association of Broadcasters, says broadcasters and ica (PRSA) and founder of one of the first black-owned pubadvertisers should pursue diversity “because it’s the right lic relations firms in the country, in Washington, D.C. “There thing to do for both ethical and business reasons.” He adds, have been very few incentives, and as a result minority rep“With the increasing number of African-Americans and othresentation is very low.”

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MINORITY REPRESENTATION IN PRINT AND BROADCAST JOURNALISM Minorities comprised only 12.2 percent of editorial staff members at daily newspapers in 2002, according to the annual employment survey conducted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE). The figure is up onehalf of a percentage point over figures for 2001. Minority representation in television newsrooms stood at 20.6 percent in 2000, a decrease of four percentage points over 2001, according to the annual staffing survey conducted by the Radio, Television and News Directors Association (RTNDA) and Ball State University. The survey indicates that the percentage of minorities in radio newsrooms also dropped (by nearly three percentage points) from 10.7 percent in 2001 to 8 percent in 2002. The ASNE and RTNDA survey results are reported below.

DAILY NEWSPAPER WORK FORCE

Caucasian African American Hispanic Asian American Native American Total Non-Caucasian

2002* 87.9% 5.3 3.9 2.4 0.6 12.2

2001 88.4% 5.2 3.7 2.3 0.4 11.6

*Total does not equal 100% due to rounding

BROADCAST NEWS WORK FORCE TELEVISION Caucasian African American Hispanic Asian American Native American Total Non-Caucasian

2002 79.4% 9.3 7.7 3.1 0.5 20.6

2001 75.4% 9.9 10.1 4.1 0.6 24.7

2002 92.0% 4.1 2.4 0.8 0.7 8.0

2001 89.3% 5.2 5.5 <1.0 <1.0 10.7

MINORITY REPRESENTATION IN THE PUBLIC AT LARGE Non-whites comprise 31 percent of the American population, according to the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau survey. Most demographers believe the percentage has grown since then and will continue to grow in the years to come. The 31 percent figure includes 12.9 percent African-Americans, 12.5 percent Hispanics and 4.2 percent Asian Americans.

RADIO Caucasian African American Hispanic Asian American Native American Total Non-Caucasian

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ideas, and they need to take risks.”

Trustee Emeritus Charles Beard cites two reasons for lack of progress in achieving diversity in the communication industry. The first is that minorities lack the capital needed to acquire and operate cable systems, radio and television stations and other media outlets. The other is the limited success that African-Americans and other minority groups have had gaining industry experience, particularly at the management level.

Both Holloway, who is leading a campaign to endow a SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? scholarship fund for minority students at Emerson, and Many communication-industry trade organizations have emBeard see education as a key ingredient in any recipe to adbraced diversity as a goal and established programs aimed dress the diversity issue. at helping companies increase minority employment. Pro“Emerson is a college of communication,” says Holloway. gram elements range from the creation of minority databases “If we can put more well-trained people of color into the into the establishment of fellowships and mentoring produstry pipeline, it can make a difference.” grams.

Adds Beard, “To the extent that Emerson and other colWhile supporting these initiatives, most observers believe leges can increase the number of minority people who are they will bear limited fruit by themselves. qualified to become editors, station managers, and movie “I’ve been working on the issue of diversity for 20 years,” producers and directors, it can play a pivotal role because misays Holloway. “The various segments of the industry tend norities with real industry experito be dominated by people from certain ethnic ence will be better equipped to acand religious groups. They tend to hire people We will now take on quire capital and start their own they feel comfortable with, which usually means the challenge of probusinesses.” people who come from the same background viding a more diverse Emerson President Jacqueline that they do. So the status quo keeps perpetuatgroup of students to Liebergott says increasing racial and ing itself. If we’re going to make real progress, internship sites and ethnic diversity among students, people need to look outside of themselves. They helping our students faculty and staff is one of the major need to evaluate people’s work to find the best goals enumerated in the College’s carry that strategic plan. She also notes that experience the College recently received a forward...” $500,000 grant from the Lloyd G. JACQUELINE Balfour Foundation to support iniL I E B E R G OT T tiatives aimed at increasing diversity in the communication industry (see accompanying story on p. 7).

“This grant will support the College’s efforts to recruit and graduate a diverse group of students who will hold positions of influence throughout the communication industry,” said Liebergott. “Emerson has an outstanding record of placing students in internship positions that give them an advantage upon graduation over job candidates from other schools. We will now take on the challenge of providing a more diverse group of students to internship sites and helping our students carry that experience forward into the job market.” n er minorities in the domestic marketplace, businesses need to provide the goods and services they want. To do this effectively, businesses need to understand the essence of minority communities. Generally speaking, people of color are better equipped than whites to do this. This is even more so when it comes to marketing to and communicating with people in countries where non-whites and non-Christians are in the majority.”

David Rosen is associate vice president for public affairs at Emerson College and a former political writer, journalism instructor and public relations consultant. He served as chief communication officer at four universities prior to coming to Emerson in 1999.

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g

By Jim Lane

The unswerving

aze

from the recent documentary Bowling For Columbine, filmmaker Michael Moore appears on camera as he attempts to ask National Rifle Association (NRA) President Charlton Heston why Heston agreed to speak at NRA rallies immediately after two horrifying gunrelated murders — the Columbine shootings and the accidental shooting of a 6year-old girl by a 6-year-old boy in Flint, Mich. Heston is unable to provide a cogent response to Moore’s inquiries and eerily walks away from the film crew, leaving them to find their own way out of his palatial Beverly Hills estate.

If nothing else, this powerful documentary moment compels us to question Americans’ relationship to violence

IN A SCENE

DOCUMENTARY FILM REMAINS AN UNCOMPROMISING WITNESS IN THE MIDST OF THE ‘REALITY’ GLUT

P H OTO G RA P H CO U RT ESY O F M G M ST U D I OS

MICHAEL MOORE displays his weapons – a gun and a film camera – as writer, producer, and director of United Artists and Alliance Atlantis’ award-winning documentary Bowling for Columbine.

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The Most Moving Pictures Emerson experts select the finest documentaries

and, specifically, firearms. By showing a Hollywood film icon in a radically different light, Bowling for Columbine forces media, celebrity and gun politics to collapse under the weight of senseless and avoidable loss of life.

This scene is a brief moment in a feature-length film but it succinctly illustrates the power of documentary to reveal certain aspects of our social world, revelations that are often unattainable in mainstream American film. The fiction film form, mostly controlled by well-financed interests, tends to be far less willing to take risks in what it does or does not present. Moreover, because the fiction film stems from predetermined scripts, casting of actors, and securing of directors and producers, all at a high price, the need for return on investment weighs heavily. As a result, the fiction film tends to reproduce what ‘IN THE CLASS I has already proved financially sucTEACH ... I HAVE cessful and to rely more on stereotype, NOTICED THAT especially as it pertains to race, class WHEN STUDENTS and gender. The fiction film operates in the world of fantasy. But the docuTHINK OF DOCUmentary operates from the non-imagMENTARY THEY ...THINK OF REAL- inary world. The way that documenITY [TV] SHOWS.’ tary makes its meaning continues to be a potent, cultural force.

— J. LANE

EXPOSING DOCUMENTARY FILM

New, unanticipated documentary forms have surfaced recently, perhaps obscuring the traditional forms of documentary with which most of us are familiar. Americans, for example, seem fascinated with the documentary-style representations of the world as offered by television programs such as The Osbournes, Fear Factor and The Real World. Reality television has generated much ink and income over the past decade. It is produced for commercial venues and its essential purpose is to entertain for commercial profit. Consequently, these programs may experience the same economic pressures as fiction films and therefore periodically suffer from the inherently retrograde attitudes contained in many fiction films. This, of course, is no great revelation. What seems potentially most problematic, at least at the historical level, is that the ‘reality TV’ genre may be overshadowing other forms of nonfiction in the minds and memories of Americans. It is important not to overlook documentary works that seek to make succinct arguments about the social world or that have had a decidedly important impact on us all (see accompanying story).

In the documentary film class I teach at Emerson College’s Los Angeles Center, I have noticed that when students think of documentary, they often think of reality shows. This may be because the airwaves are virtually saturated with this form of programming. It may also be the result of the impression on the part of many students who wish to work in media that 14

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Expression asked several Emerson film authorities to give their opinions on the best English-language documentaries of our time. Although it was difficult for them to narrow their lists, our experts have named the following documentaries as works that have stood the test of time and had a lasting impact on viewers.

MICHAEL SELIG, associate professor, Department of Visual and Media Arts The Battle of San Pietro (1944) This work was one of hundreds of documentary films made by Hollywood personnel during World War II. Intended as a combat documentary for propaganda purposes during World War II, it was so graphic in its representation of the ground combat in Italy’s Liri Valley that it wasn’t released by the U.S. government until after the War had ended. In stark black and white, the film is unsparing in its images of the death of both Allied and Axis troops, as well as the destruction of the village of San Pietro. It’s narrated by filmmaker John Huston, who maintains a matter-of-fact and, at times, ironic tone that makes the film even more compelling.

The War Game (1966) by Peter Watkins for the BBC. An enactment of the possible results of a nuclear attack in England, this film’s newsreel-style presentation makes for a convincing and harrowing experience. Watkins’ style of (re)enacting events is a unique approach to documentary filmmaking. Although it was never released for television viewing, the BBC did allow theatrical distribution.

Titicut Follies (1967) by Frederick Wiseman. This was the first production by Wiseman, a Boston-based attorneyturned-filmmaker. The film uses a cinema-vérité style, presenting the day-to-day activities of the Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane without voice-over commentary. The film’s disturbing exposé of the hospital resulted in a series of lawsuits, and the film was released only to mental health professionals for several years after its completion.

CRISTINA A. KOTZ CORNEJO, assistant professor, Department of Visual and Media Arts Roger & Me (1989) by Michael Moore. The ironic tone in Roger & Me is a perfect approach to what is an ironic situation surrounding the closing of the General Motors plant in Flint, Mich. The fact that the plant was making more money than ever yet the company and CEO Roger Smith chose to close the plant, leaving hundreds of families out of work and homeless, couldn’t have been better portrayed. It’s clear

About the Harlem drag balls, Paris is Burning depicts how “ . . . a younger generation of gay black men have transformed their oppressive reality into an intricate world of glamour and fantasy.” —Outweek magazine

GRAFTON NUNES, Dean of the School of the Arts

COURTESY OF PHOTOFEST

The River (1937) by Pare Lorentz for the WPA. Imagine a poetic documentary on a dam project! The force and terrible beauty of the raging floods, juxtaposed with a mellifluous dramatic soundtrack of the names of American rivers, and the human effort to tame them through the Tennessee Valley Authority produce a documentary that is beautiful to the eye and ear, stirring and haunting.

Woodstock (1970) by Michael Wadleigh. The film chronicles the chaos, idealism, naiveté, chutzpah and sheer good luck of this iconic moment in American culture. It is enthralling and exhausting, portraying the arc of a unique event that so many of us attended or wish we had attended. With some of the best rock performances ever caught on film.

that the company had no rational or ethical explanation for its decision, otherwise the CEO would have sat down with Michael Moore to explain the company’s reasons. It is, in fact, the skirting of the decision that makes this film work so well. It touches on many issues, including that of business ethics, the American dream for the average blue-collar laborer, and, ultimately, the meaning of capitalism.

Point of Order (1964) by Emile de Antonio. This film portrays the horror and absurdity of the Army-McCarthy trials, the craven demagogue who was compelled to destroy lives in order to remain in the national spotlight, and the courageous people who fought the Red Scare at the height of its contagious power. The climactic confrontation between Senator McCarthy and Joseph Welch remains one of the most dramatic ever captured on film.

Incident at Oglala (1992) by Michael Apted. This film really touched me because it’s essentially the story of how badly America has treated, and continues to treat the Native American population. Although the film is essentially the story of Leonard Peltier, an incarcerated Native American activist, the film’s larger theme is the continued repressive assault on the native population of this land — a theme that has not been addressed by our government and which has not been an issue for most Americans. This film serves as an eye-opening experience and a shameful reminder of how our government will go to extremes, including that of violating constitutional, civil and human rights — rights that we hold dear and which we flaunt all over the globe as what sets us apart from other nations.

COURTESY OF PHOTOFEST

Paris is Burning (1990) by Jennie Livingston. This film is an amazingly captivating work as it depicts a subculture of gay Harlem and how these individuals, not accepted by the larger society, have the same needs as everyone else — for recognition, security and a sense of belonging. Livingston does an excellent job of showing the performers’ lives without imposing judgment on them. It’s clear from the way the film was shot that she was accepted into the group and trusted. She was not on an ‘anthropological’ study of a group of outsiders but instead became an insider, allowing the people to really show who they were as individuals and as people who are normally perceived as being on the fringes of society.

No one anticipated the thousands that would attend the 1969 music festival known as Woodstock, pictured here in Michael Wadleigh’s film about the event.

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nets for them. In striking contrast to most of today’s broadcast journalists, Murrow pointedly advocated for the central role the federal government should play in improving these abject conditions. The film directly led to a number of congressional regulations. Harvest of Shame was broadcast at the beginning of JFK’s Camelot, a period in which, despite Cold War anxiety, America still enjoyed the fruits of its WWII victory and the subsequent prosperity it brought to many Americans. It was a time when many felt that this prosperity should extend to many more in the social strata. Harvest of Shame endorsed this prevailing liberal progressive agenda and articulated many concerns that were soon to be addressed by Cesar Chavez’s labor movement in California and LBJ’s Great Society policies of the mid-’60s.

In November 1963, a clothing merchandiser named Abraham Zapruder eagerly awaited the presidential motorcade to pass through Dealey Plaza in Dallas. As the motorcade passed within his view, he filmed the president’s limousine at the moment it was assaulted by a sniper’s bullets. The subsequent “home movie,” later to be called, simply, The Zapruder Film, became the key piece of visual evidence in the assassination of JFK. Moreover, this brief bit of exposed 8mm Kodachrome film, became a hauntingly graphic symbol of the end of an age in American social life. It ushered in a new age of the mediation of the everyday world and forever burned into the emulsion of history the blurring of private and public space. Like many middle-class Americans of the time, Zapruder had purchased his home movie camera to document family activities. Little could he have known that this consumer product, made primarily for the recording of everyday, private events, would produce one of the most famous records of a public event in the 20th century. Home movies and public life converged and led to the growing popularity of home movie cameras.

With the development of portable, professional film cameras in the 1960s, broadcast journalists rearranged the American landscape via American television. Against the wishes of many, broadcasters showed us horrifying scenes of American excesses in Vietnam and police muggings in the streets of Chicago. Through committed documentary work, broadcasters challenged Americans’ sense of national identity.

Socially committed documentarists in post-’60s America, such as Peter Davis with The Selling of the Pentagon (1971) and the Academy Award-winning Hearts and Minds (1974), set the stage for much tighter control of the media in the U.S., especially when it came to military matters. When U.S.-led coali© 1 9 6 7, B R I D G E W A T E R F I L M C O . , I N C .

there are more jobs in reality television than in other areas of media. I spend the majority of the class exposing students to other forms of documentary from various points in history.

Through this exposure my students very eagerly put reality television in what I hope is a more historically accurate place.

One of the ideas I emphasize is that documentary is both a product of history as much as it is a reflection on historical events. This fundamental critical idea can help us make sense of documentaries.

For instance, in 1937, noted documentarist Pare Lorentz was able to convince the Roosevelt Administration that a film should be made on the problems of flooding in the Mississippi River Valley and its tributaries. Focusing on the Tennessee River Valley and its vulnerability to chronic, devastating floods, The HARVEST OF River documented the problem and ilSHAME, WHICH lustrated how to rectify the situation.

EXAMINED THE By promoting many of the same tenets as FDR’s New Deal policies, including PLIGHT OF the pivotal role the federal government MIGRANT FARM could play in improving the quality of WORKERS, LED TO A NUMBER OF life of U.S. citizens, the film delineatCONGRESSIONAL ed an external set of social circumstances at the same time it implicitly REGULATIONS. aligned itself with progressive social policy. The River was as much a film about the history of the poor rural South as it was a promotion of the political ethos of the day.

During World War II, the Hollywood film industry aligned itself closely with the war effort. Noted Hollywood directors such as John Ford, Frank Capra, William Wyler and John Huston produced significant documentary work during this period. While the overwhelming thrust of these documentaries was pro-war effort, Huston had the intellectual sensitivity to produce The Battle of San Pietro, a film that complicated our notion of war. Produced in 1944, San Pietro presented such controversial, conflicted ideas about the effects of war on individuals that its release was delayed until the very end of the war. Huston challenged prevailing attitudes toward the war by showing the raw, human tragedy of death and destruction.

Echoing the ironic sensibility of Hemingway, Huston revealed, by filming from the vantage point of the soldier on the ground, how war could be as much a failure as it could be a triumph.

In later years, documentary proved its flexibility once more by easily transitioning to television. Echoing many of the themes initially voiced in The River, the film Harvest of Shame, produced by Fred Friendly and narrated by Edward R. Murrow, was broadcast on CBS Reports on Thanksgiving Day 1960.

By illustrating the plight of migrant farm workers and families, Harvest of Shame drew in sharp relief the workers’ horrifying labor conditions and the complete lack of social safety

Named after the annual talent show in which both prisoners and staff participate, Frederick Wiseman’s Titicut Follies graphically documents conditions during the mid-'60s at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane in Bridgewater, Mass. The film was banned until 1992 on the grounds that it was an invasion of inmate privacy.

cast by local media. In a much faster media age than 1963, this latest “amateur video” was quickly picked up by media outlets across the country and eventually led to the arrest of four Los Angeles Police Department officers whose subsequent trials led to what has come to be known as the L.A. “riots,” or “uprising,” depending on your perspective. Indeed, Holliday had accidentally happened upon an event that was to place national scrutiny on a troubled police department at a particularly low point in race relations in Los Angeles. Holliday made one of America’s “unfunniest” home videos and in so doing forced us to look once again at America’s racist legacy.

CHANGING THE WORLD

tion forces invaded Kuwait in 1991, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf deftly orchestrated a daily stream of thoroughly filtered facts to the media, who blithely accepted the General’s reporting without question. The military-industrial complex, previously exposed in documentary work by Davis, had obviously recognized the power of documentary as a potential threat.

In the late 1980s, during some of the darkest days in American labor history, filmmaker Michael Moore was able to convince Warner Brothers to distribute Roger and Me. The basic premise of the film is an ultimate red herring — Michael Moore, outraged citizen of Flint, Mich., demands an on-camera interview with Roger Smith, CEO of General Motors. This, of course, never happens. But the premise nonetheless allows Moore the forum to critique, in his now-familiar sardonic fashion, the ruthless corporate downsizing at the expense of entire cities. Moore’s blame did not end with GM, however. In a daring move, Moore implicates many of the unemployed workers as being a party to their own demise. Moore unflinchingly showed how workers themselves lacked the consciousness to connect the dots and see the pattern of corporate decision-making that echoed the Reagan Administration’s hostility toward organized labor. Roger and Me, a film about the demise of labor, set the box-office record for a theatrically-released documentary — and this was during the peak of the Reagan-Bush era. This kind of success proves Americans’ occasional desire to seek alternative perspectives on prevailing political discourse.

In 1991 a man named George Holliday happened to be standing on his apartment balcony in Los Angeles County when he witnessed an altercation between L.A. police officers and an African-American man. Holliday grabbed his home video camera and shot for two minutes as police officers repeatedly beat Rodney King. I happened to be living in Los Angeles at the time and saw the video as it was first broad-

Despite contemporary America’s paradoxical desire for the postmodern simulation of reality — as witnessed in television programming such as Survivor — the world portrayed through nonfiction film and television still matters. Through the documentary, we encounter our world in a distinctly different manner than we would through the ‘reality’ simulations.

Moreover, as spectators we sense the significant weight of “the real” on a very different plane than we do “reality TV.” The potential for social change, a long-standing function of the documentary tradition, remains intact despite the proliferation of docu-tainment subgenres.

Accidental or intentional, the power of documentary is that it can define a historical moment, result in legislation, or cause social unrest. Because we live in a world so highly saturated with media, we must be able to criticize and synthesize documentary meaning. We should be able to see clearly the differences between docu-tainment and that other thing we call documentary.

On a daily basis, we are confronted with all kinds of documentary iterations, from the nightly news to even the most seemingly innocent home videos. We need to recognize that these expressions are points of view on the world that need to be evaluated. The sources of these points of view can vary. They can emanate from one individual, small groups or corporate America. Understanding the sources of the expression can be crucial to an overall understanding of what is really being expressed in a documentary.

Through documentary we can be asked to reflect on who we are as individuals, who we are as a cultural group and who we are as a nation. The protean nature of documentary has proved itself a significant place where these questions are played out in a public forum. It is our responsibility to challenge and be challenged by the points of view that are articulated in documentary. n Jim Lane, Ph.D., author of The Autobiographical Documentary in America (University of Wisconsin, 2002), is executive director of Emerson College’s Los Angeles Center.

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As good as

gold Two Emerson institutions mark 50-year milestones

At Emerson College, where communication and the arts meet in harmony, one very harmonious convergence takes place this year. The Samuel D. Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Center marks the 50th year since its founding, and the annual Spring Musical marks its 50th production this year.

In the following accounts, Expression recaptures 100 years of history that have helped make the College what it is today.

A ROBBINS CENTER PICTORIAL

Samuel D. Robbins, a founding father of modern speech pathology and a former Emerson professor for whom the Robbins Center was named, demonstrates the principles of breath control; Emerson students are shown how to operate a psychogalvonometer; making an observation of a clinician and a young client through a two-way mirror.

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T H E RO B B I N S C E N T E R

known” and the Clinic was “recognized as one of Boston’s leading social services.”

By Christopher Hennessy When the Clinic opened its doors, it was housed on the first two floors of 145 Beacon St. in Boston’s Back Bay. It was piece of living history resides on the Emerson College campus, and this year it marks a half-century of thought to be the largest clinic of its kind in New England. And like its founder, it was considered a pioneering center for achievement and service.

The Samuel D. Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing speech therapy. The student newspaper, the Berkeley Beacon, Center, now located at 216 Tremont St., Boston, has been at the declared that the opening of a “new and modern speech clinforefront of treating communication impairments and train- ic” had “made history” for the Emerson community. The teacher training courses begun by Robbins and conducted in ing future speech-language therapists since its beginnings.

When the Center was founded 50 years ago, it was linked the Clinic were “the first of [their] kind in any New England with the earliest study and practice of modern speech-language college,” the Beacon continued.

Professor Emeritus Charles Klim ’49, MA ’53, asserts that therapy in the United States. Today, it remains a vital force in former faculty member and Emerson the Greater Boston community and an inalumna Catherine Perry ’20 was the printegral part of Emerson’s nationally ranked The Robbins Center cipal Emersonian behind the Center’s creCommunication Sciences and Disorders is linked with the ation. Perry worked with Robbins himself Department. earliest study and in the 1940s, and at his retirement dedipractice of modern cated herself to the naming of a new cenHISTORIC ORIGINS ter in his honor. Perry served as the Clinic’s The Robbins Speech and Hearing Clinic, speech therapy.... first director and was succeeded by Klim. as it was then called, opened its doors to the The Beacon also noted that the Emerson College Women’s public on Sept. 29, 1953. The Clinic was named after Samuel D. Robbins, one of the fathers of modern speech therapy, an Committee, a small group of alumnae who passionately supEmerson professor emeritus, and co-founder and former pres- ported the Robbins Clinic, raised $1,200 for its opening. Memident of the American Speech and Hearing Association, who bers of the Committee also actually pitched in at the Clinic was “internationally known for his pioneer[ing] work in the (see accompanying story). The group later changed its name field of speech therapy in this country,” according to an alum- to Aid to Speech Therapy, and its membership grew into the hundreds in the late ’50s as it continued to raise funds for ni issue of the Emerson College Bulletin.

Before Emerson had its own clinic, Emerson students trav- the Robbins Clinic.

“There were very few places to get help in those days beeled to various state-run clinics and “mental hygiene centers” in the area, where they worked under Robbins’ observation cause people weren’t much aware of speech and language and supervision. Robbins was a faculty member and chair of problems,” says Klim. “And the Robbins Clinic was one of only the Emerson College Department of Speech Pathology and a few clinics in those early years.”

Audiology from 1936 to 1953. Upon Robbins’ death in 1968, Dean of the College Richard Pierce noted that the department THE GROWING YEARS Robbins had “established single-handedly” was “nationally The Clinic experienced “phenomenal growth” during its first

A

A VO I C E F RO M T H E PAST

It’s 1953. The Robbins Center has been open only a few weeks and Director Catherine Perry ’20 already sees signs of great promise. Step back in time to read Perry’s charming first-ever progress note: “The Samuel D. Robbins Speech Clinic has opened with 20 patients….

[Tuesdays and Thursdays] are now filled completely, and we must soon open up Monday and Wednesday afternoons as well. Our youngest patient is a little girl three years old, and our oldest is a man of middle age. The variation in age is hardly greater than shown in the speech defects to be corrected.

These include cerebral palsy, delayed speech, sound substitution, poor articulation and voice quality, foreign accent, stuttering, and aphasia.

“The Women’s Committee, responsible for the entire physical setup for the Clinic of which we are justly proud, have also most graciously provided hostesses for the waiting room, who lend a very friendly atmosphere to our Clinic…. They outdo themselves by serving tea to waiting patients and providing a lollipop for each child as he leaves. Helen Volansky Rose ’38 brought in beautiful plants as well as delightful and fabulous toys, a pony on wheels, a realistic monkey, a clown that is ideal for teaching relaxation, and a Raggedy Ann doll for the enjoyment, not only of the regular patients while they wait for their lessons, but also for small brothers and sisters whom the mothers cannot leave at home.

“Parents and children alike have been most responsive. We hear such comments as: ‘We just love to come here, it’s such fun!’ Parents who have hardly been able to get their children to come the first time, now find them eagerly looking forward to their next day at the Clinic and speaking favorably of their progress.”

five years, according to documents written by its first director, Perry. On opening day, 13 children were treated. The Clinic’s caseload increased steadily over five years to a total of 135 clients.

The Clinic dealt with “almost every kind and degree of speech and/or hearing impairment,” according to Perry, including children and adults who stutter, individuals with speech impairment due to cleft palate or cerebral palsy, and those with profound hearing loss. By 1958, the Clinic was staffed by three speech pathologists, an audiologist, a psychologist, a pediatrician and graduate assistants. The 60 clinicians who were training at the College in 1958 were required to clock 200 hours of clinical experience before graduation.

Klim recalls a time when the Clinic had no secretary to handle scheduling clients, leading to some confusion – like two clients showing up for the same hour of therapy time. “Many a time I never ate lunch, and I wasn’t the only one,” laughs Excerpted from A Century of Eloquence: The History of Emerson College by AsKlim. sociate Professor John Coffee and Richard L. Wentworth ’79.

Clients at the clinic also benefited from pediatricians, psychologists and a range of consulting specialists who were often called in or were aphasia, teaching voice production to those whose voice boxon hand, says Klim. Documents from the time indicate spe- es or larynx were removed due to cancer, and working with cialists included those in otology, laryngology, orthodontia and children with speech and hearing problems.

In 1959, the College announced that a $25,000 grant from neurology.

The clinicians themselves benefited from the Clinic’s nu- the Charles E. Merrill Trust would be used for “the support merous professional associations. Through these local con- of speech and hearing research and rehabilitation.” Dr. S. Jusnections, student clinicians were afforded opportunities to tus McKinley, then president of the College, declared those work in the community — offering therapy to individuals with funds would be applied to the Robbins Clinic. (According to

THE MODERN ERA

The Robbins Center’s first director, Catherine Perry ‘ 20, instructs students — with the help of a young man; working with a toddler at the Clinic; a graduate student in speech pathology works with a man who suffers from aphasia as a result of stroke in the Robbins Clinic when it was housed at 168 Beacon St.; in 1974, a clinician uses a game to engage a child.

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a statement released by the College at the time of the award, the clinic treated “over 150 cases of speech and hearing impairment a year” and scheduled “over 5,000 hours a year of speech and hearing therapy.”)

The timing couldn’t have been better. A grant application document for the Clinic stated that more than 4 million people in this country suffered from a speech or hearing impairment (including 3 out of every 100 schoolchildren) and only 3,000 qualified speech pathologists and/or audiologists were available to treat them. By 1960, services were in such demand that the Clinic was operating year round. By 1965, more than 200 adults and children were being treated (Beacon, 1997).

In the late 1960s, growing enrollment in Boston-area public schools meant that Emerson speech pathologists and student clinicians were sought-after specialists who could perform much needed speech disorder screening. These screenings were used to determine if the schools needed to hire additional full-time specialists to provide speech pathology services.

As the need for speech therapists increased, says Klim, Emerson’s student population in the field increased. “Public schools were beginning to hire speech therapists left and right,” recalls Klim.

In 1965, the Clinic reached a milestone when a young professor named David Luterman founded the Thayer Lindsley Parent-Centered Nursery, which today boasts an international reputation. “The nursery added and continues to add a whole new dimension to the Center,” Luterman explained in a recent interview. “It’s one of the few institutions across the country that trains speech therapists to work with young deaf children in a family-centered model.” The Nursery also has its own visiting fellow grant program that brings in specialists from all over the world. Luterman, currently a professor emeritus teaching at Emerson, has witnessed how the Center, “one of the oldest programs in the country, has really blossomed over the years.”

The 1960s also saw another advance for the Center. When it moved to a new location at 168 Beacon St., the Center benefited from the addition of new technology to help the hearing impaired. A soundproof booth was added and a complete audiometric diagnostic set-up was installed, recalls Klim.

A NEW ERA

The Thayer Lindsley Nursery is just one of several specialized programs that the Center now houses and which allow current Emersonians an ever-broadening array of clinical experiences. Other programs include the Center for Acquired Communication Disorders (est. 1997), which provides cognitive, linguistic, speech and language treatment for adults with neurologically based communication disorders; and affiliated programs such as the Children’s Hospital Group Language Therapy Program (est. 1975). Two more affiliated programs, the Pediatric Feeding and Swallowing Program and the New England Fluency Program, have both been added in the last four years.

In the 1980s and ’90s, Naomi Stroh Janover ’30 made several large gifts, supporting the Center’s programs.

The growth in programs housed at the Center was made possible by another “monumental milestone” – its move from 168 Beacon St. to 216 Tremont St. five years ago, according to the Center’s current director, Betsy Micucci. She recalls seeing the new space for the first time and realizing almost immediately “that our wish list for the clinic of our dreams had essentially been filled.” Micucci, who earned her M.S.Sp. from Emerson in 1976, vividly remembers clinical training during her own school days when students were doing “therapy in different nooks and crannies” of the old brownstone on Beacon Street.

Now, graduate students and clinical supervisors have “stateof-the-art facilities,” says Micucci, including nine therapy rooms observable through two-way mirrors and television monitors fed by video cameras in the rooms. Students are out-

T H E A N N UA L S P R I N G M U S I CA L

By Tara Pierson fitted with wireless communication earpieces that clinical suhen the curtain rose on Emerson’s first spring pervisors use to offer suggestions without disrupting theramusical, nobody in the little theater behind 130 Beapy, Miccuci says. The Center, which also boasts a Communicon Street could have fathomed the impact the cation Science Laboratory and its own new Computer show would have on the College. What began as a modest proLaboratory, is housed on two floors at 216 Tremont St. and is duction of Lady in the Dark has evolved into an all-out musifully handicapped accessible. cal extravaganza that is unquestionably the grandest theatriToday, the Center has a robust reputation in the commu- cal performance of the academic year, combining the talents nity for producing quality speech pathologists and for making of nearly 100 students, faculty and staff members. This year, a real impact in the lives of its clients. Annually, the Center’s the 50th musical will be produced, Of Thee I Sing, which will various programs treat over 200 children and adult clients. be staged April 3-12.

“Emerson is highly regarded for proOne man has stood at the center of this ducing not only creative but thoughtful cliDepartment of Performing Arts tradition: nicians,” says Sandy Cohn-Thau, current Professor Leonidas Nickole, who directed ‘When we started ..., director of clinical education. “That thinkall but two of the annual shows between we did not start with ing begins at the Robbins Center.” Cohn1954 and his retirement in 2001. the idea that it be an Thau places Emerson graduate students – “When we started out, we did not start who have had their “first steps” at the Robwith the idea that it be an annual event,” annual event.’ bins Center – in sites like schools and hossaid Nickole in a recent interview. “We pre— Leo Nickole pitals all over the Greater Boston area. sented it in the old carriage house behind Alumna Debby Finn, MS ’76, agrees 130 Beacon. To our happy surprise, tickets with Cohn-Thau. Finn, who is director of speech, language were sold out weeks ahead, so we said, let’s continue this.” The and hearing services for the Medford (Mass.) Public School annual show’s following mushroomed so quickly that the system outside of Boston, says Emerson alums are “extreme- show outgrew the carriage house. Over the years, the venue ly well prepared, self-confident, good thinkers, self-starters, has changed several times. Most recently, the musical has been and they have great clinical and people skills.” Currently, near- presented at the Emerson Majestic Theatre. ly half of Finn’s staff come with an Emerson pedigree.

Nickole hoped the Spring Musical could be a vehicle to conMuch has changed in the field of communication sciences nect the College and the Greater Boston communities, and – new disorders, changing diagnoses, the evolution of tech- give the students involved an invaluable educational experinologies, higher standards for clinical training – but the Rob- ence. The goal was to present the city with a professional-calbins Center’s mission remains the same. Though the Center iber production that would showcase the talents of Emerson has changed locations, grown in size and broadened its array students and give them a taste of what they had to look forof services, after 50 years it continues to march toward two ward to should they pursue a career in the theater. very important goals – training top speech-language patholoAlong the way, many wonderful things happened. gists and helping those with speech, language and hearing disIn 1956, the then-new Leonard Bernstein musical Wonorders. These two goals ensure that the Robbins Center will derful Town was chosen to be the annual show. The weekend continue its important mission for years to come. of the performance, the composer happened to be passing

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AN ANNUAL EXTRAVAGANZA

Spanning the decades, the Spring Musical tradition has involved hundreds of students over the past half-century in productions that have included 1954’s Lady in the Dark; Wonderful Town in 1956; West Side Story in 1982; and Carnival in 1964.

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E M E R S O N ’S 5 0 A N N UA L S P R I N G M U S I CA L S

through Boston and got wind of Emerson’s production. Though he was unable to attend, he sent a note to the cast and crew, bidding them good luck and thanking them for choosing his musical.

To help support the production of the musical, Nickole launched the student-run Musical Theatre Society in 1969. The Department of Performing Arts’ production arm, Emerson Stage, was created in 1980 to oversee the choice of show, as well as staffing and budget.

The College purchased the rundown Majestic Theatre in downtown Boston in the fall of 1989.

Once the sale was complete, Nickole wasted no time in directing that year’s musical, the patrioticthemed George M!, on the Majestic stage. The opening of the Majestic was a weekend-long affair which included the show, a gala celebration and a parade.

THE MUSICAL TODAY

1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978

Each fall, the Department takes stock of the available student talent. If the student body is full of hoofers, for example, you can expect to see a show loaded with dance numbers. A more emotive bunch of students may elicit a play that focuses on drama rather than choreography.

The spring musical relies on the most student involvement of any theatrical production in a given year. The cast generally ranges from 35 to 40 students, and the crew is made up of another 30 to 40. The orchestra originally consisted of a trio – piano, bass and percussion. Today, the music is provided by some 13 musicians.

Over the years, several now-famous Emersonians appeared in the musicals. Actor Henry Winkler performed in Carnival in 1964 and The Fantasticks in 1965. Eleven years later, Joely Fisher (The Ellen DeGeneres Show) starred in 1987’s A Little Night Music. Newsman Morton Dean appeared in Guys and

Lady in the Dark Finian’s Rainbow Wonderful Town Guys and Dolls The Pajama Game Bloomer Girl Brigadoon Bells are Ringing Wildcat South Pacific Carnival The Fantasticks Finian’s Rainbow Anything Goes How to Succeed…

Fiorello West Side Story Cabaret Fiddler on the Roof Applause No, No Nanette Anyone Can Whistle On The Town Zorba Where’s Charley?

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Oklahoma!

My Fair Lady The Music Man West Side Story Merrily We Roll Along Candide Little Mary Szance Pirates of Penzance A Little Night Music A Chorus Line George M! The Pajama Game Into The Woods Cabaret Hello, Dolly City of Angels Merrily We Roll Along Wonderful Town Fame Gypsy Candide Follies Children of Eden Mystery of Edwin Drood Of Thee I Sing

Dolls and actor Richard Dysart in Finian’s Rainbow. Countless other cast and crew have gone on to Hollywood or Broadway notability.

In conjunction with the spring musical, the Musical Theatre Society annually bestows an Award of Distinction to an individual or individuals who have distinguished themselves in the field of American musical theater.

For information on the 50th musical, Of Thee I Sing, visit pages.emerson.edu/emersonstage this spring. n

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notable expressions A compendium of accomplishments by members of the Emerson community

film Emmy Award winner and alumna KATE BOUTILIER ’81 is the primary writer for the animated feature film The Wild Thornberrys Movie, which was released in late 2002 by Paramount Pictures. The film is based on Nickelodeon’s animated TV show about a family of naturalists and their globe-trotting adventures in the wild, a program that was developed

by Boutilier.

BRENT HANLEY ’98 has penned a screenplay that has garnered praise from directorial top dogs Sam Raimi and James Cameron and suspense master Stephen King. The supernatural thriller, Frailty, opened nationwide last April, was

directed by Bill Paxton and stars Matthew McConaughey.

He goes by the name KAOS, and he’s the director of the action blockbuster Ballistic: Ecks vs.

Sever. Kaos (Wych Kaosayananda), who earned a film degree at Emerson in 1996, was born in Bangkok to parents in the Thai diplomatic corps. His movie Fha, which opened in Thailand in 1998, remains one of that country’s top-10 highest-grossing films of the last five years.

Antonio Banderas, Talisa Soto and director Kaos ‘96 on the set of Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever

DAVID MORWICK ’96 has produced Little Erin Merryweather, which was recently accepted into the N.E. Film Festival.

ERIC SLADE ’82 directed a documentary, Hope Along the Wind: The Life of Harry Hay, which aired on public television last year. The film won the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival. The film, co-produced by KQED/San Francisco, tells the life story of gay rights activist Harry Hay.

ANDREW VAN DEN HOUTEN ’02 appears in the film Alma Mater, which screened last fall at the Austin Film Festival (where it won the audience award) and at the Hamptons International Film Festival.

Alma Mater, which van den Houten associate-produced, is “set against the backdrop of John F. Kennedy’s alma mater, Harvard University, just prior to his assassination in 1963…[and] grapples with social politics related to gender, sexuality, religion and class.” Van den Houten’s own film, Inherent Darkness and Enlightenment, was screened at the San Diego Asian Film Festival last year.

CHRISTIAN WISECARVER ’01 and John-Michael Trojan ’00, film graduates, created The Red Brick Road, a film that screened at the New Hampshire Film Expo last fall. Wisecarver wrote the screenplay and appears in the film, and Trojan is producer and co-editor. Most of the crew is composed of Emersonians: Tim LaDue ’00, director of photography, lighting design; Christopher Dorff ’00, assistant director, actor; Andy Dennis ’00, original music; DeWayne Dickerson ’01, actor; and Abby Fillman ’00, actress.

theater tured Bebe Neuwirth as a woman who witnesses the 9/11 attacks. Evered has received attention for the play from the L.A. Times, Newsday, National Public Radio and several other media outlets.

p CHARLES EVERED, Emerson assistant professor, saw his play Adopt a Sailor become part of a three-day theater marathon commemorating the attacks on New York City of Sept. 11, 2001. The marathon, called “Brave New World,” was held at Manhattan’s Town Hall and benefited the New York Children’s Foundation. Adopt a Sailor fea24

EXPRESSION WINTER 2003

p JOHN KUNTZ ’90, well-known in Boston John Kuntz ‘90

for his unique one-man shows, won the Best Solo Performance award at the New

literature Night Train, a new literary magazine edited by Emerson alumni RUSTY BARNES, MFA ’95, and ROD SIINO, MFA ’99, was published last year, with a Boston Globe editorial heralding its launch.

What’s the Girl Worth?, the debut novel by CHRISTINA FITZPATRICK ’95, hit bookstores recently to positive reviews. Set in Madrid, the story chronicles the summer during which a young woman tries to break free of her past, only to be confronted by it thousands of miles from home.

music NANCY KAYE ’94, the singer known as Rosey, has been signed to Island Records and recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Her CD, Dirty Child, was released last summer. Rosey has toured with singer Melissa Etheridge.

York Fringe Festival for his play Star****ers. The show presents a series of vignettes about “a wild group of people who have either sought fame in unexpected ways or had fame thrust upon them.” Kuntz has won awards for his Boston-based shows, including three Elliot Norton Awards. His most recent work, Jump Rope, was staged in Boston.

SHEILA HICKEY GARVEY ’71 recounts the life of the late great Jason Robards in the new book Jason Robards Remembered.

Edited in part by Garvey, the book combines essays, tributes and anecdotes that celebrate Robards’ career, and includes pieces by Garvey, Kevin Spacey, Eli Wallach and Blythe Danner.

Editor of the Emerson-based literary journal Ploughshares DON LEE, MFA ’87, has a short story, “The Possible Husband,” in this year’s O. Henry Prize Stories.

Since 1918, the O. Henry awards have been given to the best stories chosen from large and small literary magazines in the U.S. and Canada.

PETER JAY SHIPPY ’84

was recently awarded the 2002 Iowa Poetry Prize for his manuscript Thieves’ Latin. The national competition, open to both

emerging and established writers, is administered by the University of Iowa Press, which will publish Shippy’s book in April 2003. Shippy has recently had work published in the Harvard Review, Poetry Ireland and the Denver Quarterly. He is also a longtime adjunct creative writing professor at Emerson.

THOMAS MCNEELY’s “Tickle Torture” won the Texas Institute of Letters’ Brazos Bookstore Award for the best short story of 2001. The competition is open to native or resident Texan writers or to stories with a Texan setting. The Texas Institute of Letters was founded in 1938, and the Brazos Bookstore is a well-respected bookstore in Houston. McNeely, MFA ’97, is currently a fellow in the prestigious Wallace Stegner Fellowship program at Stanford University.

ADAM MELL ’01 was one of the winners in the Associated Writing Programs Intro Journals Project for his nonfiction entry “The Courage of Despair,” which was taken from his senior thesis and tells the story of his friendship with the comedian Brother Theodore. Mell’s piece will be published in the Bellingham Review in conjunction with the award.

Welcome to Heavenly Heights, a novel by M.F.A. alumna RISA MILLER ’95 (pictured left), was published this year by St. Martin’s Press. The book, about American immigrants living in a West Bank community outside of Jerusalem, began as Miller’s Emerson thesis. Miller won the PEN New England Discovery Award for fiction in 1999.

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alumni digest Chicago From left, Gail Golden Gold ’65, MSSp ’68, with an Emerson student and her mother.

Chicago-area Emerson alumni, parents and friends got together at the Adobe Grill in November 2002.

Gina Makris ’78 (left) and Elizabeth Hollendoner ’92 attended.

Boston Authors Robert Parker and Calvin Trillin were on hand recently to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Emerson-based literary journal Ploughshares.

Above: Parker, Jacqueline Liebergott, Trillin and Don Lee, MFA ’87 (Ploughshares editor).

Members of the College’s Alumni Association New England chapter gathered at the Regattabar in Cambridge last fall for a jazz concert. From left are Judi Levin ’66, Mort Glovin ’57, Joan Florsheim ’66, Diane Purdy Theriault ’55, Paul Ricci ’65, Ellen Rodman ’66 and Bonnie Glovin ’58.

Sid Levin ’78, co-owner of the Boston-based Firstframe Inc. and three-time Cine Gold Eagle award winner, and Pam Abdy ’95, president of production for Danny DeVito’s Jersey Films in Los Angeles, came to campus recently to talk about their careers.

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EXPRESSION WINTER 2003

At the Stearns Lecture, given

by Michael Solomon in October 2002, were (from left) President Jacqueline Liebergott; Irma Mann Stearns ’67, H ’92, Michael Solomon ’59, and his wife, Luciana.

Washington, D.C. Jennifer Cover Payne ’71 (left), committee member for the EBONI Reunion 2004, and Debra JervayPendergrass ’73, committee chair for the EBONI Alumni Reunion 2004 Steering Committee.

More than 30 EBONI alumni gathered for their first reunion, in Washington, D.C. The event drew alums (from 1969 to 1993) from as far away as New York, North Carolina and Florida for a reception and dinner at the Henley Park Hotel in November 2002.

New York Alumni, parents and prospective students gathered at the Penn Club in New York City in December 2002 to hear Marye Tharp, the new chair of Emerson’s Department of Marketing Communication, speak on the world of marketing. Paul Marte ’83 and Samantha Sallee ’01 were among the attendees.

Bill Miller ’74 hosted his New York alumni friends at his home in December 2002. From left are Ken Fallin ’74, Ron Mandelbaum, Charles Rosen ’68 and Miller.

Deborah Komarow ’85, Sandra Goldfarb ’78 (president of the Emerson Alumni Association) and Jim Nussbaum ’84.

Hope Linderman ’74 and Lynne Lamberis Roos ’74 WINTER 2003 EXPRESSION

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alumni digest

Los Angeles In Los Angeles at a reception at the home of Vin Di Bona ’65 to honor 14 Emerson alumni who were nominated for 2002 Emmy awards were Gene Braunstein ’72 (left) and Don De Mesquita ’70.

President Liebergott and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Madden, parents of an Emerson student.

Among those celebrating Emersonians who were nominated for Emmys last year were President Liebergott (center) and (from left) Kevin Bright ’76, Gary Grossman ’70, Deeny Kaplan ’73, President Liebergott, David Levinson ’97, Kate Boutilier ’81 and Paul Dini ’79.

Clifton Powell ’78, Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott and Brent Jennings ’74.

Emerson alumni and friends on the set of Will & Grace.

A special Emerson program was held on the set of the hit TV series Will & Grace in November 2002. An evening celebrating some of Emerson’s most successful TV executives included (from left) Max Mutchnick ’87, creator of NBC’s Will & Grace; moderator Maria Menounos ’00, an Entertainment Tonight correspondent; Doug Herzog ’81, president of USA Network; and Vin Di Bona ’65, Emmy-winning producer.

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Emerson faculty and administrators Jim Lane, Rob Sabal, Grafton Nunes, Tom Kingdon and Stuart Sigman

Mimi Cozzens ’56, Racelle Schaefer ’81, G ’83, and Jeanne Brodeur ’72

alumni digest

Reunion Weekend— May 30, 31 and June 1 The Reunion classes are: ’33, ’38, ’43, ’48, ’53, ’58, ’63, ’68, ’73, ’78, ’83, ’88, ’93 and ’98. Members of the Reunion classes along with all other alums are warmly invited back to campus to enjoy these events: 100TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION of the recently

restored Emerson Majestic Theatre. Enjoy a special performance commemorating this occasion.

50TH ANNIVERSARY of the

Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Center

Inaugurations Galore from time to time, alumni of Emerson College are requested to attend presidential inaugurals at other institutions of higher learning, particularly in cases in which President Liebergott is unable to do so. The following recently represented the College: JUDITH ESPINOLA ’61, Inauguration of Carol Christ, Smith College, Oct. 19, 2002.

FRANK GELMAN ’78, Inauguration of Judson Shaver, Marymount Manhattan College, Oct. 18, 2002.

BARBARA RANDOLPH ’65, Inauguration of Jo Ann M. Gora, University of Massachusetts/Boston, Sept. 27, 2002.

BILL HENNESSEY ’56, Inauguration of Elaine Tuttle Hansen, Bates College, Oct. 26, 2002.

MADELINE YUSNA ’76, Inauguration of Brian Barefoot, Babson College, Sept. 20, 2002.

Bill Hennessey ‘56 representing Emerson College at the inauguration of the new president of Bates College last fall.

CLASS LUNCHEONS with your

favorite professors

IN MEMORIAM ALUMNI COLLEGE COURSES

taught by faculty and friends TOUR THE NEWLY renovated Majestic Theatre and the newly built Tufte Performance and Production Center

Scholarship to be created in honor of Lucille Salhany merson college has received a gift of $200,000 from Compaq Computer Corp. in honor of Lucille Salhany, a member of the Board of Trustees of Emerson College and a member of the Board of Directors of Compaq Computer. This gift will be used to create The Hal & Tillie Mady Scholarship. The scholarship fund will honor Ms. Salhany’s parents and will be awarded to American citizens of Arabic descent who wish to attend Emerson.

E

1923 1929 1929 1939 1942 1943 1945 1950 1951 1953 1957 1964 1970 1970 1974 1976 1993

of Lake Wales, Fla. of Portland, Maine LINDA (ROGERS) MALONEY of Naples, Fla. MARY B. JONES of Milton, Mass.

ROSE YVONNE (LEMIEUX) PARK of Duxbury, Mass.

PHYLLIS (KAPLAN) RITTER of Hilton Head, S.C. OLIVE CARMAN RUSSELL of Avon, Conn.

LAUREL KINCAID IRVINE of Sarasota, Fla. G. BRADFORD TIFFANY of Moultonboro, N.H. VIRGINIA MATTHEWS WHEELER of Watertown, Conn.

JOSEPHINE M. BROADBENT of South Lawrence, Mass.

CHRISTINE A. PALMER of Charlestown, Mass.

PETER E. DIERKS of Yonkers, N.Y. THOMAS R. FOLEY of Fitchburg, Mass.

ANITA D. FISHER of Los Angeles, Calif.

ALDO M. MIGLIORINI of Stoneham, Mass.

JEFFERY F. CABRAL of Raynham, Mass.

EIRWEN H. LLOYD-REES

JEANETTE (SCHWARTZ) LEVENSON

CALLING ALL MEMBERS OF THE CLASS OF 1963 Walter Berhinger and John Bertsch are co-chairs and New England representatives for the Class of 1963. If you are part of the Class and preparing to celebrate your 40th reunion, please contact the co-chairs. Walter: Wjb0841@aol.com; John: Jprbertsch@aol.com.

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class notes Expression welcomes Class Notes submissions. We reserve the right to edit copy and regret that we may have to withhold some items due to space limitations. Send news items and nonreturnable photos to Barbara Rutberg, Office of Alumni Relations, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116-4624 or e-mail Barbara_Rutberg@emerson. edu. Please include information on how we can contact you.

1957 and his wife, BONNIE GLOVIN ’58, who own Boston Coffee Exchange, were honored with the City Search Editor’s Choice Award for the Best Cup of Coffee in Boston, 2002. The contest is conducted yearly on the Internet, and the public votes for their favorite Boston eating and drinking establishments.

MORT GLOVIN

1959 SHELLEY

(KAPLAN)

ABRAMS

loves her new home on the “gorgeous and secluded” Hypoluxo Island, one mile south

of Palm Beach, Fla. She can be contacted at rka15226@earthlink.net.

1960 In

December 2002, BOB retired from teaching after nearly 40 years. He taught at Ohio State University, Worcester State College, Graham Junior College, Newton Junior College, and, most recently, at Northern Kentucky University, where he taught for 31 years. Bob and his wife, Dianna Delgado, currently live in Covington, Ky.

MULLEN

1961 ELENA (ALTOBELLI) STUART recently celebrated her twentyfifth year on the faculty at West Chester University, Pa. Aside from teaching, Elena serves as chairperson of the Department of Communicative Disorders as well as coordinator of the Speech/Language/Hearing Clinic, a position she has held for 12 years. Elena is putting her Emerson training to use as a cast member in local Gilbert and Sullivan productions, and spends any free time she has traveling.

CLASS REUNIONS For information regarding your Class Reunion in 2003, contact one of the following people: 1938, 1943, 1948, 1953, 1958, 1958: Carolyn_Vandervelden@emerson.edu 1963, 1988: Bethel_Nathan@emerson.edu 1968: Barbara_Rutberg@emerson.edu 1973, 1978: Bethel_Nathan@emerson.edu 1983, 1998: Elizabeth_Baker@emerson.edu 1993: Jon_Iarrobino@emerson.edu Call 1-800-255-4259 to speak to any of the above.

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1968 35th Reunion

was recently “twice honored” by the city of Sheboygan for his 20plus years of local theater work. Accolades came from the board of directors of the Sheboygan Theatre Company as well as from an association of local backstage technicians.

RALPH MAFFONGELLI

1969 ARDENE LYONS recently relocated to “sunny” Sarasota, Fla., where she works as a certified home health aide for the elderly, disabled and terminally ill.

She would love to hear from old friends at Ardene2000@ comcast.net.

1973 30th Reunion

was honored in June of 2002 by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Fort Lauderdale for her commitment and volunteer work with the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

JANE GUTERMAN

1974 BARRY LUBIN was inducted into

the International Clown Hall of Fame in November 2002, joining the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Emmett Kelly. He is currently in his 14th year touring with the Big Apple Circus and is developing a children’s TV show based on his character, “Grandma.” E-mail him at BarryLubin@aol.com.

1976 RAYMOND RONCI,

former Emerson faculty member, had his

volume of poetry, The World of Difference, published by Pressed Wafer Press in 2001.

His Selected Poems was recently published online by the literary journal Sugar Mule. Ray teaches in the English Department at the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he lives with his wife and son. A practicing Zen Buddhist for over two decades, Ray is the director for the Hokoku-An Zen Center in Columbia.

1979 PHIL ADLER is starting his fifth year as the audio supervisor of the national “A” game of the NFL on CBS. Over the last 15 years, he’s worked on five Olympic Games broadcasts and one Super Bowl. He currently resides in Ashland, Mass., with his wife and son, and is “always available” at sportsound@bigfoot.com.

1983 20th Reunion

and her husband, Ted Gravlin, welcomed their first child, daughter Kelly Kathryn, on March 8, 2002.

Visit www.kellygravlin.com for photos and info.

FRANK GORRELL is currently employed as a senior accountant and financial analyst for a multi-state insurance company, Meadowbrook/TPA Associates, in Andover, Mass.

Frank, his wife, Jenny, and their two sons live in Groveland, Mass., where Frank serves on the town’s finance committee and is a member of the fire department.

VALERIE SURIANO

ROSALIE (KAUFMAN) SHEFFIELD ’81 has been appointed manager of business development for People Productions in Boulder, Colo. The media production and post-production company has hired Rosalie to help highlight its growing digital media capabilities. She can be contacted at Rosalie@peopleproductions.com

1985 JOHN LAMB was recently named

vice president of public affairs at KeyBank. He is based in Portland, Maine, with responsibilities in both Maine and Vermont.

DAVID MAZZAFERRO has been active in the New England theater scene, playing Nick in Over the River and Through the Woods at The Theater Project in West Springfield, Mass., as well as Carlino in Wait Until Dark at the Greenwoods Theatre in Connecticut.

1987 ALLISON LANDRESS and her husband, Keith Murch, had “a busy year starting a small construction company and having a beautiful baby boy,” Ian, in 2002. The baby’s godmother is KRISTIN LAVIANO RHODES ’88.

1988 15th Reunion KAREN (CORRENTE) MCDOWELL

and her husband Joseph wel-

comed their first child, son Corey Joseph, to their family on Sept. 26, 2002. Karen, who’s working as a freelance copywriter, “would love to hear from former classmates” at Karenmcd@attbi.com.

JAN VAN DER LANDE has become general manager of StrICT Consultancy, a technical ICT consultancy company based in the Netherlands.

1990 was recently promoted to web communications manager at HewlettPackard Company “after 10 fun years in L.A. working in network television and advertising.” Donna, her husband, Tim, and son Ben also welcomed a new addition to their family–a daughter, Elizabeth Ivy. They currently reside in Eagle, Idaho. Donna “would love to hear from Terri M. ’90 or any Kappa gals.”

DONNA STOKES

SARA (DECESARE) ROBINSON

and husband Brendan are the proud new parents of daughter MARC DUBE ’91 is currently working on the CBS television drama CSI. He and his wife of 10 years, Eileen, recently “took the leap into parenthood,” and welcomed daughter Juliette.

Abigail Rose, who was born Oct. 3, 2002. Sara recently completed work as the associate visual effects producer for the feature film Scooby Doo, released last year.

1991 KAREN (STEVENSON) DAVIS and her husband, Bob, are enjoying their life on Long Island, N.Y., with their 3-year-old daughter, Jennifer. Karen is teaching sixth-grade science, and would love her friends to write her at MrsDavisKR@aol. com.

MEREDITH GREENBURG is assistant professor of theater arts as well as production manager for California State University/Los Angeles Department of Theatre Arts and Dance.

Aside from teaching, Meredith is a stage manager for the Los Angeles Opera. Her most recent undertaking is the Mark Taper Forum and Deaf West Theatre’s co-production of Big River, which features both hearing and non-hearing cast members. Write to Meredith at mgreenb@calstatela.edu.

1994 MELISSA (YOUNG) CENTENO was married in Feisole, Italy (“very amazing”), to Isaias Centeno in October 2001. The newlyweds met while working on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and currently live in Woodland Hills, Calif. Contact Melissa at melissa.young@mindspring. com.

1995 KATE (WORTHINGTON) POITRAS

married Brian Poitras on July 27, 2002, in Boston. Fellow Emersonians TANYA BAZLAMIT ’94 and KEVIN O’REGAN ’95 were members of the wedding party, and JASON PAPAGAN ’95 and JENIFER BOND ’95 attended the wedding. Contact Kate at kpoitras@charter.net CHARISE (HALL) KRUPINSKI is happily married and living in Austin, Texas, and is kept busy with two sons, a stepson and a stepdaughter. She’d enjoy hearing from “y’all” at CMHAK@aol. com.

JUDITH LOGSDON has received

1992 ADELE D’MAN will appear on screen with fellow Emersonian DENNIS LEARY ’79 in the feature film The Secret Lives of Dentists.

Adele and her husband, PETER GOLDBERG ’91, who have their own production company (BFGF Productions), are currently in pre-production for their own feature film.

1993 10th Reunion

directed a documentary Quality of Life, which chronicles the lives of people with disabilities living in Florida’s Landmark Learning Center.

MICHELLE DEBAKEY

SUSAN CHADWICK ’96 has been hired as communications and media specialist for Bi-State Primary Care Association, a nonprofit organization that brings community-based primary care services to the medically underserved of Vermont and New Hampshire.

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class notes REM, Fiona Apple and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

1998 5th Reunion

was recently promoted to director of sales at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Mass. Write to saraberkowitz@hotmail.com.

ERIC LATEK wrote, produced and directed the film A Life in the Day of Ringo Vings.

JOHN PALISANO was recognized for his hard work when his first feature film, Man Made, was selected to screen at the Silver Lake Film Festival in September.

CHARLOTTE PENCE, MFA, received the state of Tennessee’s Writing Fellowship in Poetry for 2003. She has been teaching at Belmont University in Nashville since 1998. E-mail her at pencejenkins@yahoo. com.

SARA BERKOWITZ

LUCY HOLSTEDT ’94, an associate professor of harmony at Berklee College of Music in Boston, was honored for her many years of dedicated service to the College Diversity Committee. She is shown here with Berklee President Lee Berk (center) and Holstedt’s husband, Kirk Etherton.

the Stella Gray Teaching Excellence Award at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, the second teaching award she’s received since she started at the university in 1978.

1996 earned his law degree in 2002 from Loyola Law School, Loyola Marymount University. He proudly reports he passed the bar and BENJAMIN RAJOTTE

is now a member of the California Bar Association.

1997 is working in New York City as a producer for Stephane Sednaoui, an acclaimed photographer and music video director. Erica’s most recent project is a DVD compilation of Sednaoui’s work, which will include clips of his videos for Bjork, U2,

ERICA TRAVERS

HEATHER (CALDER) ROBERTS

and her husband, Drew, gave birth to their first child, son Brandon, on Sept. 23, 2002.

The couple is also in the

ALEXIS (SMITH) BURRIS ’94 and her husband, Blayde, welcomed their first child, son Bostyn Todd, on Aug. 2, 2002. KRISTEN (TANZER) TEIXEIRA ’84 is the child’s godmother.

process of adopting their first child, 2-year-old Mariah, who has been living with them since May 2002.

1999 ANTHONY SILVA screened his avant-garde film animal mechanique at several film festivals, including Silver Lake, where it won an award.

2000 STEVEN WITHROW,

Please use the form below to submit news that you would like to share with your fellow Emersonians. Or, if you prefer, e-mail your news to Barbara_Rutberg@emerson.edu.

New job? Recently engaged or married? New baby? Moving? Recently ran into an old classmate? Received an award? Let us know.

NAME

ORIGINAL LAST NAME

ADDRESS

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YOUR NEWS

Mail to: Class Notes, Emerson College, Office of Alumni Relations, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116-4624

32

EXPRESSION WINTER 2003

MA, recently wrote a book called Toon Art: The Graphic Art of Digital Cartooning, which is slated to be published in June 2003.

2002 Fresh from receiving his M.S.Sp., ANTHONY GREGORY was hired by Framingham Public Schools as a speech-language pathologist, and he reports that he is working alongside several other Emerson alums, including: ANDREA OSTROSKY ’00, MARY DAVIES ’96 and MICHELE ROSS ’82. He encourages “other ‘speechies’ out there” to contact him at Anthony_ Ashley@msn.com.

·

WHERE ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

profiles S C O R I N G A G O A L FO R M A R K E T I N G Marketing V.P. Lee Stacey ’76 helps the New York Jets to soar marketing the team in gennhl. nba. nfl. wnba. Neither alphaeral. Marketing can run the bet soup nor top-secret code, these letgamut from organizing ters represent four of the biggest proplayers’ visits to schools as fessional sports leagues – and they part of community service trace one alum’s rise through the projects to reviewing season ranks of professional sports sales and ticket-holder research to demarketing. After more than two termine new ways of giving decades of experience in marketing, Jets fans the best possible sales and advertising, Lee Stacey ’76 game-day experience. With is now vice president of sales and the new stadium construcmarketing for the New York Jets. tion on the horizon, Stacey But Lee had ‘gone pro’ years before. will oversee all new sales in Prior to coming to New York, Stacey the building from premium worked as vice president of corporate club seats to all suite and sales and broadcasting for the National corporate sales.

Basketball Association’s Cleveland Stacey says star-power at Cavaliers and the Women’s National games is a bonus for the Basketball Association’s franchise and the fans. Last Cleveland Rockers. Before ‘EVER SINCE EMERSON, BROADCASTING that, he oversaw the corpoHAS BEEN MY FIRST LOVE.’ fall, he escorted Frasier star and Jets fan Kelsey Gramrate sales initiatives of the mer around the stadium before and tion, admits a fondness for the broadNBA’s Washington Bullets and the casting elements of his job. “Ever since during a game. This past season, National Hockey League’s Washington Michael Imperioli (from The Sopranos) Emerson, broadcasting has been my Capitals. and Chris Meloni (from Law & Order: first love,” he says. At Emerson Stacey For the Jets, Stacey was tapped “to SVU) also attended games. worked for the WERS sports desk and lead the revitalization of all aspects of Though he has worked for teams even played a year of Lions basketball the Jets’ sales and marketing efforts in the NBA, WNBA and NHL, Stacey himself – perhaps an early sign that a and spearhead an initiative to build a says he’s discovered that due to the blend of sports and broadcasting new stadium in New York City,” he NFL’s shorter season and smaller staff would be his calling. says. And he’s bringing to these tasks “every game means something. The The Jets television show he overinnovation and a love for broadcasting highs are high and the lows are low.” sees is called 24/7, “a reality-based – a passion that began as an underThis season, the Jets were Super Bowl coach’s show” which follows the weekgraduate at Emerson. contenders right up to a semifinal Stacey has directed the creation of a ly activities of Jets Head Coach Herplayoff game. new television show and two new radio man Edwards. It airs on New York But for this alum, there are more City’s WCBS-TV. The two new radio shows for the Jets franchise. “The touchdowns than fumbles in his job. shows are not only a revenue producer, shows air on the New York ESPN local “I work in the number-one market in but they’re also a branding opportunity affiliate and include a weekly coach’s the country, I’m working for a rejuvereport and an hour-long General Manfor us — to get our coach, our general nated franchise, and we’re pursuing a ager’s show hosted by Jets G.M. Terry manager and our players out to the major construction project.” His only Bradway. community so that [fans] can see them challenge? Rooting against the New Stacey’s responsibilities also inwithout their helmets on,” he explains.

England Patriots after all those years clude directing all sales and broadcastBut Stacey, who graduated with a as a fan. — Christopher Hennessy bachelor’s degree in mass communica- ing functions for the Jets as well as WINTER 2003 EXPRESSION

33

profiles

ASK DR. JENN Jennifer (Mann) Berman ’91-92 broadcasts therapeutic advice from coast to coast perhaps you’ve read her column, caught her appearances on the nationally syndicated daytime talk show The Other Half or taken her advice in national magazines like Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping. Dr. Jennifer (Mann) Berman, a Beverly Hills-based psychotherapist known to her audience as “Dr. Jenn,” is busy dispensing information on issues such as self-esteem and family relationships through media in the Los Angeles area and throughout the country.

As an undergraduate at Emerson College, Berman ’91-92 studied print and television journalism. When she learned about the tragic issue of date rape, she promptly felt compelled to work toward a career either in law or psychotherapy. When she went West for her final semester to participate in the Los Angeles Program, she volunteered at a rape crisis center. After graduation she did further volunteer work at the Los Angeles Commission on Assault Against Women, training more than 100 people to work children in the the crisis hotlines.

TWO OF THE PROBLEMS THAT OCCUPY MOST public eye. To that Berman went on to earn a OF HER TIME ARE RELATIONSHIP ISSUES end, she is a conmaster’s degree in clinical psyAND EATING DISORDERS. sultant to a Los chology from Antioch UniverAngeles-based organization called A sity and a doctorate in psychology from jects, including PMS and various perMinor Consideration, an advocacy sonality types and how they affect relaCalifornia Graduate School. group founded by former child actor tionships. A typical day for Dr. Jenn Of all the issues she deals with toPaul Peterson (The Donna Reed Show) may include “shooting a show in the day, she says that three areas occupy that protects child stars and athletes. morning, seeing clients in the aftermost of her time – relationships (“It’s “I have a deeper understanding of the noon and evening and having a writeverything from helping people get pressures of being a young performer,” ing meeting after that. I do a lot of difinto a potentially healthy relationship she says. ferent things and it keeps me from to a relationship that is falling apart Dr. Jenn (doctorjenn.com) has fond burning out,” she says. Her monthly because of poor communication”); enmemories of her Emerson experience. column, “Dr. Jenn,” appears in Los Antertainment-industry issues (“every“I was involved with about five million geles Family magazine. She is currently thing from coping with the pressures organizations on campus,” she says writing a self-help book with co-author of stardom to helping assistants deal with enthusiasm. “I’m still in touch Donna Corwin. with difficult bosses”); and eating diswith my Kappa Gamma Chi sisters in One of Berman’s specialties is orders (“This forms 20 percent of my Los Angeles and New York.” And the sports psychology, and there’s a good practice”). reason for that. As a child, Berman was skills she cultivated at Emerson – pubOn television’s The Other Half, lic speaking, writing, broadcast joura nationally ranked rhythmic gymnast. which is hosted by Danny Bonaduce and Dick Clark among others, Berman Her firsthand experience has made her nalism – are never far off.

— Rhea Becker sensitive to the demands placed on has expounded on a wide array of sub34

EXPRESSION WINTER 2003

H O LY S TA G E P R E S E N C E , B AT M A N !

Young actor Miguel Cervantes ’99 swoops to cult fame in Bat Boy: The Musical miguel cervantes really sank his teeth into his latest role.

Late last year, the young alum, a member of the Class of 1999, played the title character in the New England premiere of the off-Broadway hit Bat Boy: The Musical. Like a bat out of hell, the show became a runaway hit at Boston’s SpeakEasy Stage Company.

The local media went batty over it, and audiences fell in love with his halfboy-half-bat character, and the show sold out nearly every night after its first week. The production now ranks as the biggestchanged the world: Sept. 11, ever box office success at 2001. Cervantes recalls the the SpeakEasy, Cervantes day after the tragedy when said, and this winter, the he called his mother and campy, quirky musical resaid simply, “Momma, I’m turned for a back-by-popucoming home.” lar-demand four-week run Home for the budding in January. actor was Dallas, Texas, The show is set in West where he took a job working Virginia, where Bat Boy, at a car shop, wondering if who is captured in the wild he’d ever make it back to the by three local youths, strugstage. gles to find love and accept- IT’S THE ‘PERFECT COMBINATION OF ACTING Luckily, his Emerson ance in a small town.

AND SINGING AND PHYSICALITY FOR SOMEONE friends in Boston urged him The musical requires LIKE ME. IT [IS] EVERYTHING I LOVE.’ to return to his East Coast Cervantes to “act, dance, haunts in an effort to resurrect his thebe mobile on stage, to be very physiclimb and scurry; belt out a rock song; ater career. cal.” croon a Broadway ballad; crack jokes; Then, in the fall he got the call that Cervantes’ biggest test was his charand emote beautifully while hanging he’d snagged the role of Bat Boy. acter’s rock-like musical numbers — upside down,” wrote a Boston Globe Cervantes proudly reports that audi“a very challenging vocal role for anycritic. ences compare the show to the New body” but “so moving because of its The role, which he admits was York City production, a huge complipower,” he said. “much different from anything that ment considering that the production Cervantes graduated with honors I’d done before,” offers Cervantes the won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best from Emerson, where he appeared in “perfect combination of acting and Off-Broadway Musical of 2001. shows at the Emerson Majestic Thesinging and physicality for someone Soon, Cervantes may find himself atre each of his four years at Emerson, like me. It’s [great] to be able to do all flying back to the Big Apple. It seems including in the title role of Candide. these things at the same time and still New York agents have heard about his Upon graduation, Cervantes moved have a real, meaningful character,” he performance and are clamoring to see to New York City, where he spent two said. “It encompasses everything I this curious creature. So, too, are the years making a go of it. He secured an love.”

Bat Boy fanatics who, Cervantes reagent, his Actors’ Equity card, was doWith previous training in dance, ports, come to the show prepared with ing off-Broadway readings and similar the triple-threat actor enjoyed being an issue of the Weekly World News gigs, “and everything was humming able “to jump around and be an anitabloid – where the Bat Boy was first mal” on stage, creating an entire physi- along,” he says. “spotted.”

—C.H. Then came the morning that cal persona for his character. “I like to PHOTOGRAPHS BY CRAIG BAILEY

WINTER 2003 EXPRESSION

35

my turn

A Family Affair An alumnus finds himself reconnecting with the College when his daughter enrolls as an undergraduate at Emerson by charles collins ’76

O

ver a quarter-century has passed since I left Emerson with my new wife the day after my graduation to live and work in Mexico, the country of her birth. I didn’t know then that I would spend the greater part of the next 25+ years traveling the world putting my studies in business, organizational and political communication into practice, establishing and managing strategic alliances in the worlds of business and politics.

In time, I would return to Boston to live and work, and raise a small family.

And although today I live not a great distance from the College, my work, travel and the passing years have imposed, as they sometimes do, a “distance of the spirit.”

Philosopher Charles Wesley Emerson once wrote: “The teacher is the gardener, his service – his full service – is to surround the young plant with favorable conditions of light and soil and atmosphere; then stand out of its way while it unfolds its full blossom and final fruitage.”

In June 1984 my daughter Alejandra was born to my wife, Lourdes, and I. And like most parents we watched her grow and evolve from a child, and in the twinkling of an eye, blossom into a young woman in full possession of a mind of her own and a thirst to find her place in the world. Her day in the sun.

As her gardeners, we found Charles Wesley Emerson’s principle useful on more than one occasion, especially when the “delicate little blossom” appeared much more like a stubborn weed one is tempted to pull up by the roots.

“Expression” and “communication” 36

EXPRESSION WINTER 2003

have long been popular vocabulary words with teachers, family and friends to describe Alejandra’s natural talents and interests. She speaks well, writes well and as both her mother and I can attest, her acting and argumentation skills are finely tuned instruments. For Alejandra, “distance” (as in a long way from home) also found its place in her vocabulary. Although she had been encouraged by high school counselors not to dismiss communication schools in Boston such as Emerson, the lure of “distance” had to be reckoned with.

And so began the search in distant places to find the right soil and atmosphere for her to take root and blossom.

Many things happen on journeys to places distant. One of which is perspective on places near. So, after a number of college visits distant from Boston, my daughter decided on her own to take a tour of Emerson and that I accompany her. I did not find the request extraordinary, in part because I understood it was a natural reaction even if only temporary to the effects of “distance.” We visited the “Campus on the Common” one late summer afternoon in 2001 and there together, each of us

bridged our distances. It was a homecoming of years past, and of times to come.

Today, as my daughter begins her own exploration of the communication arts and sciences, just as I did, as a freshman 30 years ago, I, too, am beginning a new “freshman” relationship with Emerson. I am coming to know an institution which is at once familiar, but like the “Evolution of Expression,” has itself grown and adapted over the past quarter-century to flourish in the ever-changing environment of human expression.

I look forward to seeing my daughter develop, as I did, her own unique set of skills and to find her place in the world. Her day in the sun. I only hope she doesn’t study argumentation. n Charles P. Collins ‘76 graduated from Emerson College with a bachelor’s degree in speech with a concentration in business and political communication. He serves as director of strategic alliances with several organizations spanning high tech to bio-tech and government agencies.

Why Emerson College?

Because enhancing diversity in the communication industry is an important goal.

With a leadership gift from

program is to recruit and

Trustee Douglas Holloway

support students of color

’76, Emerson College has

who have the potential to

established the Mary Burrill

become leaders in the

Scholarship Fund.

various communication

The Fund is named in

professions,” says Holloway,

honor of one of Emerson’s

who is president of Network

first African-American

Distribution and Affiliate

graduates, Mary “Mamie”

Relations at Universal

Burrill, a renowned

Television in New York City.

playwright, activist and

“Emerson alone cannot

educator who, after

change an entire industry,

graduating in 1904, played a prominent role in the

but we can play a pivotal DOUGLAS HOLLOWAY

role in stimulating change

Harlem Renaissance. She returned to Emerson

by educating some of the men and women

to earn a second degree in 1930.

who will make crucial programming and

The Fund will provide scholarships for deserving AHANA (African-American,

hiring decisions in the years to come.

“I hope that my fellow alumni and other

Hispanic, Asian, and Native American)

friends of the College will join me in

students attending Emerson College. The

supporting this important initiative.”

recipients will be selected by a committee

Contributions to The Mary Burrill Scholarship

named by President Jacqueline Liebergott

Fund may be sent to: Office of Institutional

and chaired by Holloway.

Advancement, Emerson College, 120 Boylston

“Our goal in creating this scholarship

St., Boston, MA 02116-4624.

To learn more about how you can help support Emerson College, contact Jon Iarrobino ’98, Office of Institutional Advancement, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116-4624; (617) 824-8561.

THEREâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NO BUSINESS LIKE SNOW BUSINESS. Storm-ready Emerson students take a break from their studies to engage in a little snow business. For Emersonians, the Campus on the Common provides open space just steps away from classrooms and residence halls, meaning students are never far from a winter wonderland. The students topped off the snow figure with an Emerson cap.

Emerson College 120 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02116-4624

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