Skidmore Scope Fall13 by Michael Malone

SCOPE THE SKIDMORE COLLEGE MAGAZINE FALL 2013

PROGRESS

CHARTING 10 YEARS OF KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT SKIDMORE, FROM THE FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE TO THE ZANKEL MUSIC CENTER AND MORE.

COMMENCEMENT 2013

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PO SI TI VELY MEDIEVAL

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BIZ PRI ZE WINNER

ADDY SHREFFLER ’13

8 Caffè Lena’s legends

SCOPE CO N T EN TS

F E AT U R ES:

13 DECENNIAL DEB RIE F ING Cover story: A 10-year view of how far Skidmore has come, with thoughts and ideas about the next 10 years

4 Hats off...

23 TRUST EES’ TOP PICK Three board chairs describe the 10-year job performance of President Phil Glotzbach and Marie Glotzbach

7 Ocean physics

DE PA RT M E NTS

LE T TERS & OBSERVATIONS 2 CAMPUS SCENE 4 ALUMNI N EWS 26 WHO, WHAT, WHEN 64 CL ASS N OTES 31

T’bred champs

ON THE COVER: Marie and Phil Glotzbach have 10 years of success and service under their belts. See page 13. (Portrait by Mark McCarty, design by Michael Malone)

26 Reunion spirit

SCOPE FALL 2013 Volume 44, Number 1 C O L LY E R V I C E P R E S I D E N T F O R A D VA N C E M E N T

Michael Casey EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR O F C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

Dan Forbush EDITOR

Susan Rosenberg srosenbe@skidmore.edu A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

Paul Dwyer ’83 pdwyer@skidmore.edu CLASS NOTES EDITOR

Mary Monigan mmonigan@skidmore.edu DESIGNERS

Michael Malone Maryann Teale Snell WRITERS

Kathryn Gallien Bob Kimmerle Peter MacDonald Maryann Teale Snell Andrea Wise EDITORIAL OFFICES

Office of Communications Skidmore College 815 North Broadway Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518-580-5747 www.skidmore.edu/scope SKIDMORE COLLEGE

Switchboard: 518-580-5000 Alumni Affairs and College Events: 518-580-5670 Communications: 518-580-5733 Admissions: 518-580-5570 or 800-867-6007 Scope is published three times a year by Skidmore College for alumni, parents, and friends. Printed on recycled paper (10% postconsumer)

LETTERS

Food and trust I read with great interest the discussion on food (“Goliath vs. Bantam,” spring Scope). In my “Anthropology of Food” course, we engage these same issues—what to eat and how to source your food. As Michael Pollan has argued in his famous book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, American consumers don’t have cultural food traditions to guide them to healthy and appropriate choices, and supermarkets overflow with processed food that’s full of flavor and empty of nutrition. Last year, during my sabbatical research in Japan, I encountered the opposite: plenty of cultural guideposts but not enough food to choose from. Japan is a land rich with cultural food traditions. Although there is a “moral panic” about what young people are eating today— instant ramen was voted to be the best invention of the 20th century!—the average Japanese citizen knows what is good and proper. Elementary schools devote enormous time and energy to helping their students not only taste and know proper Japanese food, but actually like it. So far, so good (except for the 6-yearolds, who don’t like vegetables), but the March 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown changed that. Beyond the tragedy of more than 15,000 lost lives, a nuclear plume moved unevenly over the northern half of Japan. As farms were contaminated (some with trace amounts, oth-

DO THE WRITE THING Scope welcomes letters to the editor. Send your comments by e-mail to srosenbe@skidmore.edu or mail c/o Skidmore College. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.

ers lost for centuries), the idea of what is “proper” and “healthy” food became scrambled. With limited scientific consensus on how much nuclear contamination is “safe,” individuals were left to decide for themselves what food to eat. Most trusted the government’s assurances, but many didn’t. Most stayed put, but some fled Tokyo or sent their families away. Most continue their lives in more or less the same ways, but others try to avoid food from affected areas or even restaurants altogether. This tragedy has cleaved Japanese society, and whether it’ll become whole again remains to be seen. The act of eating is always an act of trust and a renewal of social bonds. As food (products, cuisines, restaurants) races around the world, sitting down to dinner is often our most significant act as “global citizens”—for better or for worse. Kenji Tierney, assistant professor of anthropology, Skidmore College

Profound professor For Ed Hausman (spring Scope, “In Memoriam”), the classroom was a sacred space in which the mysteries of music were explored with intelligence and humor, but above all with profound reverence. He was often economical in his speech, but every word was as precise and weighted as liturgy. Sometimes you had to listen to the silences—Ed said as much in his as most professors do in a lifetime of lecturing. If you were paying attention, he might just have changed your life. Alexandria Halloran Zander ’68 Newton, N.J

O B S E R VAT I O N S

BY ERIC MORSER

Fast-food fallout In ways that Americans don’t often consider, the story of fast food is an environmental saga extending back to the 19th century. Before the mid-1800s the dominant meat in the nation was pork, not beef. As historian Ted Steinberg points out, swine have large litters, in contrast to a cow’s typical one calf; their gestation period is five months instead of a cow’s nine; and they eat almost anything, so they could forage freely, even on city streets (New York City officials used pigs as street cleaners until midcentury). Also, swine meat was relatively easy to preserve. As a result, according to Steinberg, hog butchers in 1849 were producing some 139 pounds of pork per American citizen. Once refrigerated railroad cars could ship dressed meat from Chicago to Boston, beef production became a national industry that helped make meatpacking cities such as Chicago into teeming metropolises. Not everyone was happy about this trend. In 1882, John A. Renggly, the city physician for La Crosse, Wis., feared that “the condition of many of the yards of slaughter houses” in town would lead to epidemics of typhus, scarlet fever, and measles. Large-scale meatpacking was disgusting and dangerous: laborers became ill in cold meat lockers, cut off fingers as they butchered animals, and fell into meat vats. The rise of King Beef helped make city life in places like Chicago and La Crosse quite unappetizing by the turn of the century. Cattle ranching also had important ecological impacts on the American West.

ous environmental cost. Ranching, notes Overgrazing weakened arid grasslands in Steinberg, requires huge amounts of gasoareas like northern New Mexico during line to run farm equipment, consumes the 1880s and 1890s. Cattle and sheep millions of gallons of water in an increasfeasted on native vegetation, which was ingly arid region, and (often with federal replaced by weaker plants that could not approval) overgrazes the land, which aghold soil as well as the original grasses gravates soil erosion. Critics have also did. Aggressive cattle ranching set the attacked the industry, and McDonald’s stage for a massive transformation of the especially, for cramming landfills with entire ecology of the West, contributing polystyrene and other packaging. to the terrible Dust Bowl of the 1930s. McDonald’s executives soon realized King Beef has had another lasting imthat being a polluter was bad for business, pact on our social as well as natural ecoland since the 1970s the ogy: the huge fast-food THE FAST-FOOD INDUSTRY company has tried to industry. As Steinberg PROVIDES AMERICANS improve its environreminds us, the first perWITH CONVENIENT MEALS, mental practices. In son to cement fast food BUT AT A SERIOUS 1989 it worked with the in the nation’s conENVIRONMENTAL COST. Environmental Defense sciousness was Ray Fund to reduce the amount of packaging Kroc, who in the 1950s partnered with for a Big Mac meal from 46 to 25 grams. the McDonald brothers, owners of a popJust a few months ago it introduced Fish ular hamburger restaurant in San McBites, from wild Alaskan pollock fishBernardino, Calif. Kroc soon made histoeries certified by the Marine Stewardship ry when he opened the first McDonald’s Council. While the US Environmental franchise, outside Chicago in 1955. A Protection Agency and others have cited marketing genius, he offered bland food such actions as ecologically responsible, designed to appeal to the widest range of others have a different view. According to customers, from children’s Happy Meals a recent story on National Public Radio, to overeaters’ “supersized” options. He for example, the MSC often certifies fishtapped into postwar suburban culture by eries on the understanding that they will replicating franchises in shopping centake steps to become sustainable, not beters and housing developments. Like cause they already are sustainable. In the Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford before minds of many critics, McDonald’s is him, Kroc understood a simple reality of adept at “greenwashing,” to look good in American capitalism: whoever could dethe eyes of environmentally minded but vise the fastest and cheapest manufacunsophisticated customers. turing could become fantastically Ultimately, the story of fast food helps wealthy. To lower costs, he simplified demonstrate how the everyday choices and mechanized McDonald’s production we make—to recycle or not, to bicycle to processes, which allowed the hiring work or not, or, in this case, to go for the of unskilled workers; he also cracked Double Quarter Pounder or not—tie us down on unions. By the late 1990s into our larger environment and situate McDonald’s was selling billions of its us in a history that reaches well beyond iconic hamburgers every year. In 2012 the comfortable confines of Skidmore the company enjoyed revenue of College. $27.6 billion, and today it employs 1.8 million people worldEric Morser joined Skidmore’s history faculty wide. in 2009. His research and teaching include Undeniably, the fast-food indussuch subjects as the American West and entry provides Americans with convenient, vironmental history. affordable meals. But these come at a seri-

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DID

UPDATE

FROM THE FIELD

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IT!

AND HONOREES ON DECK

PHIL SCALIA

TRUSTEES

PHIL SCALIA

CONGRATS!

OHIL SCALIA

CLIFF WILLIAMS

Gala graduation

SAYING “CHEESE”

PRESIDENTIAL KUDOS

BOUQUET

AT THE READY

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CLIFF WILLIAMS

ERIC JENKS ’08 ANDY CAMP CLIFF WILLIAMS

GRADS AND FAMILIES AT THE POST-PARTY

It’s 1377, in plague-ravaged Rottweil, Germany, and you’re Heinrich Berg, a priest hunting for witches; or Jos Baum, an illiterate laborer with no family surviving; or maybe Margaret Schaffen, a young nun having visions of the Virgin Mary. These and other identities are adopted by students in Erica BastressDukehart’s introduction to medieval history. She explains, “I want my students to understand, as best they can with the sources we have, what it was actually like to live in medieval Europe. To do that, we have to enter different mindsets—it takes a creative leap.” When Bastress-Dukehart won this year’s Ciancio Award in teaching, classicist Michael Arnush said, “I can always tell when I’m teaching one of hers. When students exemplify excellence in learning, that means they have experienced F ROM CATAPULTS TO LUNCH DATES , HISTORIAN E RICA B ASTRESS -D UKEHART WILL USE excellence in teaching.” WHATEVER SHE CAN TO BRING SCHOLARS TOGETHER . Bastress-Dukehart’s 300-level course on medieval warfare last spring was her most and third-year system, pairing new ures, realizing that history is simply the ambitious teaching experiment yet. She tenure-track faculty with a mentor to preresult of people reacting to the circumasked the 20 students to help design the pare for their three-year review. She says, stances in which they live.” Lyle Stephcourse, and for part of it they decided to “When we hire new people, we want enson ’15 adds that, to today’s students, form four “alliances” on crusade to find them to succeed. And they appreciate people’s behavior in distant history “can the Holy Grail. While completing readthat the institution is investing in them.” seem irrational or ridiculous, which ings and research papers on feudalism, Also popular are the writing groups makes it easy to dehumanize them. theories of holy war, chivalry, alchemy, she organizes each semester and sumWhat Erica taught me about mindset and other topics, the questing kept many mer. All faculty are welcome; the admishas affected me throughout my college students engaged into the wee hours. sion price is simply a commitment to career.” Bastress-Dukehart gave each alliance work on their scholarship for a threeIn fact, Bastress-Dukehart wants to cues for action, and a Council of Twelve hour period a few mornings each week. help open and sharpen minds all across judged the quality Some gather in Scribner Library’s Weller campus. As Skid“PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR IN HISTORY more’s director of of each response. Room, a new space for faculty, and some CAN SEEM IRRATIONAL, WHICH A typical cue: faculty developwork in their offices or studios; some MAKES IT EASY TO DEHUMANIZE ment, she says, “One of your write grant proposals or book chapters THEM. WHAT ERICA TAUGHT ME knights has been “my goal is to or journal articles, and some create art ABOUT MINDSETS HAS HELPED kidnapped. Negobuild our learning or music; but all convene afterward for ME THROUGHOUT COLLEGE.” tiate a ransom.” community.” lunch. “We hold each other accountThat prompted a heated, hour-long disUnder the aegis of the dean of the faculable, so it helps us make the time for cussion about codes of chivalrous bety and working with department chairs, our scholarship,” Bastress-Dukehart exhavior. She also appointed three stushe coordinates a two-day orientation for plains. She adds, “People enjoy the camadents as secret spies who could buy or new faculty members, covering topics raderie across disciplines and length of steal information and share it with othfrom syllabus writing and classroom intenure.” She also uses the Weller Room ers. An end-of-term barbecue at her clusiveness to basic campus logistics. The to host faculty discussions on research or home even featured a scale-model trenewcomers are then urged to keep meetpedagogy. buchet (which catapulted water balloons ing monthly with senior faculty mentors Whether including her students in quite nicely). for the rest of their first year. “We’ve seen course design or forming her colleagues Student Zoe Bent ’13 says, “We terrific turnout,” Bastress-Dukehart reinto a mutual aid society, “for me,” she learned to empathize with historical figports, and now she’s arranged a secondsays, “it’s all about that community of

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PHIL SCALIA

Spurring collective learning

EXPERT OPINION : Ocean physics with Greg Gerbi

It’s fundamentally interdisciplinary. Geology and topography affect ocean physics, ocean physics and circulation affect biology and chemistry, and biology and chemistry can also feed back on physics. My focus is on the interaction of the ocean with its surroundings—land and the atmosphere. Most of my work has been in the upper ocean, roughly the top 100 meters. This is where oxygen and carbon dioxide get mixed down from the atmosphere, nutrients get brought upward from depth, and sunlight fuels phytoplankton growth. I’m interested in the turbulence that mixes these things and transports these things within the surface boundary layer. I am interested in coastal regions, partly because they’re more convenient to study than the open ocean, but mostly because they’re the areas of ocean with which humans interact frequently. For example, pollution from the land comes out with river water through estuaries. Understanding the near-surface and coastal dynamics is essential to predicting where and how our runoff will affect water quality and ecosystem health. Every estuary and every shelf is different. Water from the Chesapeake comes out into a nice straight coast and tends to flow southward. Most of the water from the Hudson eventually flows southward as well, but because its mouth is in the corner of the Long Island and New Jersey coasts, the circulation is much more complicated.

How does the ocean influence hurricanes? The warm waters in the upper ocean are an important source of that energy for hurricanes. In the late spring, summer, and into fall, sunlight is absorbed by particles of sediment and plankton in the upper ocean. When there are more particles near the surface, most of the sunlight gets absorbed there; fewer nearsurface particles will allow a thicker layer of warm water, but the layer will be less

warm. Some computer models have shown that changes in light absorption can affect the number and intensity of hurricanes. Seasonal growth and decay of phytoplankton communities is one factor that can alter the particle density, and thereby the light absorption and temperature, in the upper ocean. This is one case in which biology affects physics.

What technologies do oceanographers use? We work with electrical sensors for temperature and salinity, and we use both acoustic and optical instruments to study currents and particles in the ocean. Acoustic current-measuring equipment sends out sound pulses, and we can examine the pulses bouncing back off small particles in the water to determine how fast the water is moving. Different types of these instruments can measure at a single point or tens or hundreds of meters away. I work with a colleague at Rutgers who uses particle image velocimetry, a highfrequency, high-resolution technique to map the flow field in laboratory experiments. We’re working on a project to study how the swimming behavior of snail larvae changes in different turbulence conditions. From only a few days of field work, I can collect enough data to keep me busy with analysis for a long time. I also use computer models similar to the ones meteorologists use to predict the weather. My students and I can run simple models on a laptop, but right now I'm setting up a new server to handle more data and more complicated simulations that take a day or two to run. Currently, with collaborators at the University of Maine, I’m measuring light intensity with what we call autonomous platforms—four-foot-long cylinders that drift in the ocean and then come to the surface, measuring

temperature, salinity, particle concentrations, and sunlight as they rise; from the surface, they send us their data and receive instructions via satellites. Our project's goal is to help calibrate satellite-based imaging systems that use ocean color to estimate chlorophyll and particle concentrations in the nearsurface waters. A much larger study using similar floats is the international Argo program; you can learn about that at www.argo.net. Greg Gerbi, who arrived at Skidmore in 2011, teaches courses in physics, geosciences, and geophysics. He earned his doctorate from a joint program of MIT and Woods Hole.

MARK BOLLES

Physical oceanography... animal, vegetable, or mineral?

Conservatory of folk music

DANELL BEEDE

Lena History Project, funded by grants dent Phil Glotzbach and his wife, local What does Jocelyn Arem ’04 have from the prestigious Grammy Foundaarts advocate Marie Glotzbach; numerin common with Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, tion and others, is her recently pubous faculty members; the Tang Teaching Odetta, Don McLean, and Emmylou lished Caffè Lena: Inside America’s LegMuseum, now showing an exhibit from Harris? They’ve all sung on the Caffè endary Folk Music Coffeehouse. The book her archives through Oct. 20; as well as Lena stage. introduces never-before-seen images by community resources, such as Saratoga’s A landmark in Saratoga Springs and photographer Joe Alper, city historian. a nonprofit showcase for both emerging “THE MORE I UNCOVERED, as well as firsthand inter“The project is a coland established talent, the cafe is AmeriTHE MORE I REALIZED I views with renowned laboration,” she says, ca’s oldest folk-music coffeehouse still WAS JUST SCRATCHING and it reaches beyond folk artists and their operating, established in 1960 by actress THE SURFACE.” family members, which Saratoga Springs. In Lena Spencer. Arem has described the she crisscrossed the country to conduct. 2008 the Library of Congress acquired late Spencer, whom she reveres, as a “Each was a bread crumb leading me to the archival collection for inclusion in “defiant dreamer.” the next,” Arem says, adding, “The more the American Folklife Center. The daughter of artistic parents who I uncovered, the more I realized I was The café tells “a multilayered, compliencouraged her to embrace her expresjust scratching the surface. I worried cated story,” Arem says. “It’s a time capsive gifts as a singer-songwriter, Arem that if I didn’t document it, the history sule from the ’60s, when a lot of people found her way up the cafe’s notoriously could be lost.” She admits, “I have been were experiencing the freedom of dissteep stairwell as a Skidmore student. totally absorbed,” although somehow covery, a theme that has timeless appeal “The first time I walked up the stairs she also managed to earn a graduate deto artists.” She points to singer, composwith my guitar over my shoulder,” she gree in folklore and culture studies from er, scholar, and social activist Bernice recalls, “I knew I was in a place with a the University of North Carolina at Johnson Reagon as one fulfillment of history worth knowing and being part Chapel Hill. the mythology about inauspicious beof.” Lena’s offered a forum for her fasciThe history project had the blessing ginnings leading to remarkable outnations with music, American studies, of the cafe’s leadership; in fact, Arem’s comes thanks to Caffè Lena. Reagon was and history, which she blended into a zeal has been rewarded with a seat on a waitress at Hattie’s Chicken Shack, self-determined major in ethnomusicolthe board. In addition, she is grateful for next door to Lena’s and a local icon in ogy. She found herself comfortable among support from Skidmore Presiits own right. Someone heard musicians and raconteurs who could her singing gospel and urged share sentiments, memories, her to approach her neighand insights about the cafe. bor Lena. Bolstered by her Arem’s curiosity intensified success in the cafe’s low-key, during study abroad in Lonintimate environment, Readon, where she researched gon went on to found the folk music as storytelling, exacclaimed a cappella ensemploring its roots and role in ble Sweet Honey in the Rock, social movements. “Caffè in 1973, and has performed Lena was a window into all of at the White House. these worlds,” she says. “And This was the type of inhundreds of people have said spiring narrative that fueled that to me since.” Arem’s quest to conserve the Arem’s conversations Caffè Lena legacy. “People about Caffè Lena have been were afraid of Lena and her long and deep over the past ideas when she first opened 11 years. She went to work the cafe,” Arem says. “It was there upon graduation and viewed as a beatnik hangout. has now curated an extraorBut Lena eventually won dinary assemblage of 6,000 everybody over, even though photos, 700 hours of recordshe was so poor at times that ings, 45 boxes of memorashe slept in the cafe in a bilia, and 100 interviews to chair. I hope I have the courilluminate and preserve the age to live my passion too.” cafe’s legacy. The culmina—Helen S. Edelman ’74 tion of the exhaustive Caffè CAFFÈ LENA CURATOR JOCELYN AREM ’04

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NGHIA LUU ’14

China business wins big

JUDGES (WITH SOME SWAG PROVIDED BY CONTESTANTS) STRUGGLE TO PICK THE WINNERS.

The $20,000 first prize in the Freirich Business Plan Competition went to Sam Scxhultz ’13 in April. Schultz impressed the judges with his plan for Summer Destinations, his “dream job” of a placement service to match Chinese young people with summer camps in the United States. A major in Asian studies and international affairs, Schultz studied in China and speaks Mandarin. He says the prize was thrilling, “and then reality hit. What you’d like to do and what you’ll really be able to do come into sharp focus.” In August he moved to Beijing, where he says, “I’m prepared to be frugal. Three meals a day? Maybe two. But I’m ready to hit the street; my goal is to sign up 15 campers this fall.” Ken Freirich ’90, president of Health Monitor Network, launched the entrepreneurship competition three years ago and donated the $20,000 first prize. He says the judges saw Schultz’s plan as very scalable: “He can be a trusted, reliable source and networker for Chinese families who are seeking all kinds of services in the US, and I think that's the next step for him.” Second prize—$10,000 in cash and $4,000 in legal services donated by the New York law firm Phillips Nizer—went to Alexander Nassief ’16 and Brianna Barros ’16 for Rum Dogs Inc. and its proprietary method of aging rum in barrels submerged in the Caribbean Sea. Third

prize—$5,000 cash, plus $2,000 in acherty, president and CEO of Cove Risk counting services from the Flynn, Walk, Services; Jody Klein ’85, P ’15, president of Diggin firm—was awarded to Seth Berger ABKCO Records; Jim Rossi ’82, managing ’14 to develop the firm he established in partner of Saratoga Polo Association and 2010, East Coast Lacrosse, into a leader in chief marketing officer for the US Polo Ascustom athletic apparel. sociation; Mary Vail ’80, president and The winners were chosen from six fichief designer at Joyelles Jewelers; Cathernalists who survived the ine Hill, Skidmore’s first round. Those six reHarder Professor of fined their business Business Administraplans with help from tion; Alvaro De Molina, alumni and parent menP ’15, former CFO at tors before pitching Bank of America and them at the finals, held CEO of GMAC; Susan at the Tang Museum. Magrino Dunning ’83, Schultz says his mentor president of the Susan Nancy Wekselbaum ’73, Magrino Agency; Brian president of the GraKelley ’00, internet enWINNER SAM SCHULTZ ’13 cious Gourmet, spent trepreneur and founder many hours helping of Reputation.com; “IT’S AN OPPORTUNITY him sharpen his plan. Nick MacShane ’91, TO DISCOVER A PART The other three finalists president of Progress OF THEMSELVES THAT each took home $1,000. Partners; Rosendo Parra, OTHERWISE THEY “It gives students the P ’13, managing direcMIGHT NEVER FIND.” opportunity to discover tor of Daylight Partners a part of themselves that otherwise they and owner of Millennium Farms; Ellen might never find,” says Roy Rotheim, Sherman ’68, producer of NBC’s Dateline; professor of economics and the competiand Michael Stein ’89, founding partner tion’s director for the past three years. of Pensam Capital. “This is a distinctly Skidmore event that The 2014 contest is already gearing up, enables students to turn their creative and organizers are seeking businesspeople thought into creative action.” to serve as mentors or judges; for details, He and Freirich are quick to thank the visit skidmore.edu and search for “Freirich mentors and judges, including Rich FlaCompetition.” —DF, SR ANDY CAMP

FREIRICH-CONTEST

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Sweet and savory research From equine showmanship to fetal alcohol syndrome, this summer’s 62 collaborative research projects explored the good, the bad, the controversial, and the just plain fascinating. Having run some preliminary tastetesting in a perceptions course taught by neuroscientist Robert Hallock last spring, Maura LaBrecque ’14 organized a full trial for their summer project comparing natural and artifical sweeteners. She asked a panel of 17 Skidmore students to taste sugar, stevia, Sweet’N Lo, Equal, and xylitol in varying concentrations and to rate them by their intensity of sweetness and bitterness. Xylitol ranked closest to sugar, while Sweet’N Lo was found to be markedly higher in both sweetness and bitterness. “It really packs a punch,” LaBrecque says. Other students researched aspects of divorce and forgiveness, quick and easy malaria testing, online retailing, “greedy” computer processors, hurricanes, galaxies, The Canterbury Tales, the

Vietnamese stock market, childhood fears, faith in the workplace in three very different countries, and more. All told, nearly 50 faculty mentors joined 85 students at the final presentation of posters and PowerPoints. “It just gets stronger and stronger—these students are amazing,” marveled trustee Sara Lee Schupf ’62, who created the $1.1 million Schupf Scholars Program, focused on supporting interdisciplinary projects and female students in fields where women are typically underrepresented. For the rising seniors, the five- to tenweek summer experience was an opportunity to get a running start on research they’ll continue through the year and submit as senior theses. Most of the stu-

dents also presented their research at September’s undergrad research conference of the New York Six consortium, hosted this year by St. Lawrence University. Ultimately, many students will see their work published in academic journals. Hallock’s students have had six or seven papers accepted in the last year, and he’s confident that LaBrecque will get her work into print, perhaps in the Oxford-published Chemical Senses. —DF, SR

Library legacy

PHIL SCALIA

“A young man came to the circulation desk to check out a book, and when I saw the name on his ID card, I mentioned that he reminded me of a girl who used to work here, and he said, ‘That’s my mother.’” That’s just one of Mary O’Donnell’s legacy stories from her work at Skidmore’s Scribner Library between arriving in 1976 and retiring this past spring. O’Donnell herself is part of a legacy family of Skidmore employees, as her mother, Katherine O’Donnell, was a housekeeper on both the old and new campuses. A native Saratogian and a lifelong lover of words and ideas, Mary O’Donnell especially enjoyed attending talks by prominent speakers at Skidmore. While still in high school, she asked a teacher to take a group to campus for a talk by New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy. She says, “A friend and I stood 10 SCOPE

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along the wall inside College Hall, which was full. Senator Kennedy came down our way and we shook his hand. It was really exciting.” Later, as a Skidmore employee, O’Donnell heard such speakers as Bernadette Devlin, the youngest person elected to Parliament in Northern Ireland; US Representative Shirley Chisholm; and actor and activist Charlton Heston. Chip Carter, speaking on campus during his father’s presidential campaign, spotted O’Donnell with her camera, gave it to an aide, “and we stood together and had our picture taken,” she recalls. As a Scribner circulation and public access assistant, she saw enormous technological changes. In the beginning, books had sign-out cards, which were counted daily. “When items were returned, we had to match all the books

and book cards. Overdue notices were handwritten weekly and sent through campus mail,” she says. Scribner Library introduced computers in 1985 and an automated checkout system in 1991. The current system tracks overdue books, fines, course reserves, renewals, “and so much more than anything we thought of 40 years ago.” Her favorite part of the job: “I have a special place in my heart for the many student workers I trained over the years. We average about 30 a year, about 1,000 students have passed through our ‘boot camp.’ I now find familiar names and faces on Facebook and in Scope. I love to see what they’ve been doing and how their families have grown.” O’Donnell’s retirement plans include more reading, volunteering for her church, and perhaps selling the family homestead, owned by O’Donnells since 1902. “My time at Skidmore has flown by,” she says, “and I feel lucky to have had a job that I loved.” —AW

8GOOD PLAY

4SPORTSWRAP L AUREN BOSCHE ’15 AND TOBEY PREP

JOE GLEASON

FOR ANOTHER RIDING SEASON.

Riding. Skidmore won its seventh national championship in May. St. Lawrence tied Skidmore’s 22 points, so the teams were IHSA co-champions. Flavia D’Urso ’13 won the team Open Over Fences and later finished second in the Cacchione Cup for the nation’s top riders. Julia Mazzarella ’13 won the individual Open Over Fences, and Sandrine Couldwell ’13 won the individual Novice on the Flat. Golf. The team (including Makenzie Denver ’15, at right) won a sixth straight Liberty League title and 27th straight trip to nationals. Fred Fruisen was northeast regional Coach of the Year. Tennis. The women won their third straight Liberty League championship and earned a 17th NCAA Division III tournament berth. Ranked 19th nationally, they advanced to the DIII regional finals behind doubles pair Nataly Mendoza ’13 (Liberty’s Player of the Year) and Lee Ford ’14, both AllAmericans. The men ranked 25th nationally after their sixth straight DIII tournament, where they also made it into the regional finals. Jonah Epstein ’16 was Liberty’s Rookie of the Year. Baseball. The team finished at 16-22. Erik Watkins ’14 made the ECAC Upstate NY first team, and Nick Petrella ’15 went third-team ABCA All-Region. Softball. Skidmore was 11-27. Catcher Carol Brown ’13 was named a Capital One Academic All-American after leading the team in hits, walks, and on-base percentage. She caught 142 games in her career, all with a near-perfect gradepoint average. Lacrosse. The women went 3-13; four players earned All-Liberty League honorable mention. For the men, at 4-11, Mike Perlow ’13 became the program’s second three-time All-American, scoring a teamhigh 34 goals. He and Jon Hoeg ’13 played in the North/South All-Star game. Crew. Olivia McQuade ’13 and Brian Geraghty ’14 made the All-ECAC team. They and Alyssa Pomfrey ’13 and Rachel Bowen ’14 also made the Liberty League All-Conference team. At the New York State championships, the women took second and third with a novice four and varsity four. THOROUGHBRED NEWS: Get full results and schedules for all teams at skidmoreathletics.com.

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Legacy society

Honor the past. Provide for the future.

Give and you shall receive . . . literally!

SK IDMO RE DONOR

A Skidmore charitable gift annuity pays you fixed lifetime income. To learn more: skidmore.edu/giftplanning • 518-580-5655 • www.skidmore.edu/giftplanning GIFT PLANNING FOR SKIDMORE

New Heights A decade of accomplishment under the Glotzbach presidency

A decade ago, Philip Glotzbach and wife Marie headed out on a cross-country

MARK MC CARTY

drive from Redlands, Calif., to Saratoga Springs, N.Y. They stopped along the way to visit with family and friends and talk over the new post that awaited: The presidency of Skidmore College. The closer they drew to New York, the more optimistic they became about the possibilities that lay ahead. As Phil Glotzbach recalls, “We had been impressed by Skidmore’s focus on creativity, its welcoming community, and especially its forward-looking nature.” But even they could not have foreseen how dramatically the college would change in his first decade as its seventh leader. A stronger footing At the base of Skidmore’s great strides in the Glotzbach years is a significantly strengthened financial foundation. The college has nearly doubled its endowment, from $156 million to $303 million, earning an A1 bond rating from Moody’s. Much of this success is attributable to the “Creative Thought, Bold Promise” campaign to build Skidmore’s endowment and fund the “Engaged Liberal Learning” strategic plan for 2005–15. The campaign’s goal was roughly divided into $50 million for each of four areas: the annual fund and endowment, academic priorities, financial aid, and campus construction. Under the leadership of the Glotzbach adminisPHIL AND MARIE GLOTZBACH tration and the Skidmore College Board of Trustees, the campaign exceeded its $200 million goal by $12 million. More than 18,000 alumni, parents, employees, and students contributed, and nearly 1,000 alumni and parents attended presidential advisory dinners and town-hall meetings to help the College lay out its strategies for transforming the Skidmore enterprise. Virtually every constituency rallied to invest in the new vision. Trustee Janet Lucas Whitman ’59 recalls, “People put their trust in Skidmore. They knew that giving was a terrific investment.” A new campus footprint Visitors returning to Skidmore’s campus after 10 years are astounded by its physical changes. New student residences abound, including the Northwood Apartments that debuted in 2006 and the recently opened 230-apartment Sussman

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Village, which replaced Scribner Village. Other residences have been refurbished and appointed to entice more students back on campus, especially after Moore Hall was closed and sold. A dramatic renovation of the Murray-Aikins Dining Hall included a revamped array of fresh, healthy, and award-winning food that draws the entire campus community. Renovations were also made to the Saisselin Art Building, Filene Hall, and a broad cross-section of classrooms, laboratories, and gathering places. The College also added new athletic fields and has ambitious plans for a refurbished boathouse. The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, built in 2000, has continued its development into a groundbreaking center of creativity that draws thousands of visitors to its shows and events. It serves as a national model for the way college museums can integrate academics and exhibitions. The most dramatic addition to the campus is the Arthur Zankel Music Center, funded by the estate of trustee Arthur Zankel, P ’82, ’92, and other donors. The state-of-the-art facility offers fully wired classrooms and soundproof practice studios and fosters the development of interdisciplinary presentations for its 600-seat Ladd Concert Hall. The center has been hailed by experts and audiences far and wide for its “warm and bright” acoustics and advanced technologies. The superb facility is the headquarters of a precedent-setting partnership with Carnegie Hall, attracts Grammy-winning record producers, and presents a schedule of renowned guest artists from around the world.

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and vice president for academic affairs. “Over the past Sustainability from the ground up decade, we’ve been making curricular changes that better Zankel and the other new buildings and renovations were prepare students to transition into the next stages of their all undertaken with a keen eye to the College’s carbon footlives.” print. Skidmore hired its first campus sustainability coordiThe First-Year Experience, a 2005 innovation, helps nator in 2008 through a pilot grant, and today the job is freshmen start strong in academic engagement with faculty permanent, with two other staffers added through further mentors and peers. FYE’s Scribner Seminars immediately imgrants. The office’s portfolio includes strengthening campus merse new students in small-group studies of their choice stewardship of the 300-acre North Woods, advising the stuthat are amplified with study-skills workshops and field dent-run organic garden that supplies over half a ton of protrips. Seminar members are housed close together, and the duce to the dining hall each year, and running lively annual same professors mentor their students programs like the Skidmore Un“A LIBERAL EDUCATION IS through their sophomore year. The FYE plugged residence-hall energy conserONE THAT OPENS THE MIND summer reading is now a well-estabvation contest. Dan Rodecker, director of facilities AND FREES THE SOUL—SOME- lished academic tradition that involves first-years with upperclassmen in yearservices, says 35% of the campus is THING SKIDMORE DOES long discussions and events about a now geothermally heated and cooled, PARTICULARLY WELL,” book, film, or music selection. The imand the old, 60%-efficiency heating portance of the FYE was quickly visible as freshman retenplant has been updated to 90%- efficient boilers. With Skidtion rates rose to 92%. more’s creative use of geothermal (lauded by the Association Engagement at the intersections of knowledge, Breslin for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) says, is the key to an effective 21st-century education—and and other efficiencies, Rodecker estimates that the new resito Skidmore’s very identity. “Our style of integrating our dences and the 56,000-square-foot Zankel were added with strengths in the arts, the humanities, and increasingly the virtually no increase in campus energy consumption. He sciences, is what makes us distinctive.” Over the past decade, credits the Glotzbach administration’s vision and commitinterdisciplinary programs have blossomed into some of the ment: “Bringing in a sustainability coordinator, supporting most popular majors. In 2012 Skidmore became the first US facility upgrades and new ideas, advocating for conservation college to offer a minor in intergroup relations, synthesizing by the whole community—these all came from Phil and his race and dialogue courses with work in sociology and other cabinet,” he says. fields. Another new addition, the minor in arts administration, combines Skidmore’s traditional vigor in arts and busiA curriculum revitalized ness courses with independent real-world experiences. “A liberal education is one that opens the mind and frees “Thinking creatively, integrating varied perspectives, and the soul—something Skidmore does particularly well,” ascommunicating across difference are all critical for our stu- g serts government professor Beau Breslin, dean of the faculty

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FIRST-YEAR

ORIENTATIONS AND SEMINARS GIVE NEW STUDENTS A STRONG START.

This year it stands at $39 million and 22% of the budget—a rise of 20% since 2003. Also the average aid package has doubled, to $31,315 last year. But demand has been skyrocketing just as fast. Since 2007, the portion of applicants reA focus on financial aid questing aid went from 52% to 68%, and Skidmore could afNo priority has been higher than helping more families afford to offer aid to only 44%. “It’s inford a Skidmore education. As IN THE PAST DECADE, CLEARLY credibly hard any time we can’t admit Glotzbach has said, “If we expect to NO OTHER PRIORITY HAS BEEN a compelling student because of limitgraduate students who value the comed aid,” says Mary Lou Bates, vice presmon good, then Skidmore has to HIGHER THAN HELPING A ident and dean of admissions and fimodel this kind of behavior.” WIDE RANGE OF STUDENTS nancial aid. But she’s proud of SkidWith applications hitting a recordAND FAMILIES AFFORD more’s commitment to enrolling more shattering high of 8,400 this year, A SKIDMORE EDUCATION. socio-economically and culturally diSkidmore has no trouble filling its verse classes: “It’s palpable on campus that students are freshman classes with strong students. But the College’s bringing more varied perspectives.” mission to educate a diverse cadre of skilled, broad-minded, As long as financial aid remains a top priority, Bates says and creative leaders means opening the doors for those with financial need. Even when the national economy soured in her staff will be able to populate Skidmore with a diverse, 2008, Skidmore tightened other budgets across campus to creative, capable student body, and still with a smaller burcontinue enlarging its aid resources and keep tuition inden of student-loan debt than the national average. She creases to a minimum (1.9% in 2010). says, “Skidmore is seen as an increasingly strong institution. A decade ago, Skidmore’s financial aid budget was $16 We are competing successfully for top students with increasmillion, representing 15% of the overall operating budget. ingly selective and well-funded colleges.” dents as they negotiate and shape the global environment they are entering,” says Breslin.

Launch of Saratoga Reads Inauguration

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creation of FOSA

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all sorts of boundaries. Our goal is to help facilitate and orVibrancy and diversity in student life ganize that, while also fostering students’ autonomy.” In As the campus community has grown significantly more diher five years at Skidmore, she says, the College has heightverse in the Glotzbach years, Rochelle Calhoun, dean of stuened its “attentiveness to the foundational and healthy valdents and vice president for student affairs, says the Skidues that help our students become some of the most cremore is “a particularly fine example of how to challenge ative human beings I know.” young people to integrate their intellectual, emotional, and social selves and move forward with their whole lives.” One Science’s big boom avenue for this—which has swelled into a broad, busy thorOne of the most transformative aspects of Skidmore’s acaoughfare—is ethnic and cultural diversity, which, says Caldemic evolution during the Glotzbach presidency has been houn, makes for “a very dynamic, stimulating environment in the physical and life sciences. He of both rigor and curiosity.” “THIS GENERATION WANTS has consistently stressed that science In the past decade, the percentage TO CONNECT ACROSS ALL literacy is essential for every citizen of domestic students of color nearly and that the world at large needs more doubled, from 12% to over 20%, and SORTS OF BOUNDARIES. OUR and better scientific minds to address the percentage of international stuGOAL IS TO HELP FACILITATE the urgent problems we face, and he dents has quintupled. New support AND ORGANIZE THAT.” adds, “All of academic life benefits services are helping with what Calfrom a healthy balance among the natural sciences, humanhoun calls “navigating and celebrating the increased variety ities, social sciences, and arts.” in our community.” A full-time coordinator now assists stuOne-third of Skidmore students now major in a science, a dents with learning, mobility, and other disability needs, 50% jump over the decade, and much of the growth has and a faculty director of intercultural studies, a new acabeen in interdisciplinary fields. The environmental studies demic program in intergroup relations, and enhanced orienand neuroscience programs together boast more than 100 tation programs focus on bridging differences. majors, even though these interdisciplinary programs are g Calhoun says, “This generation wants to connect across

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First Saratoga ArtsFest

Science vision endorsed by faculty

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“The easy problems in science have already been solved. barely a decade old. The hard ones, the exciting ones, are at the intersections.” The Lubin Family Professorship for Women in Science The science center will offer independent project spaces, continues to bring in top-flight young scholars, and the with many rooms flexibly designed to be reshaped or new Williamson Chair in Neuroscience bolsters that discishared. Rather than departmental wings or floors, the laypline. Articulation agreements with engineering schools and out puts people and equipment into user groups, where, for a recent compact with NYU’s nursing school is facilitating a example, all the animal labs or a particular suite of instrurange of graduate training for science students. The number ments can be housed in proximity to the faculty who use of Skidmore students applying to med schools and other them. graduate health programs has tripled, and their acceptance The Skidmore community is abuzz over the new facility. rates remain far higher than the national average. In Kellogg’s words, “This is a building for As research becomes a centerpiece of “A LIBERAL EDUCATION,” the whole campus. It will enrich all science teaching, Skidmore’s 90 science BY PHIL GLOTZBACH’S teaching and research by fueling both faculty are winning more grant funding formal cooperation in labs and casual for their research—up from $2 million in DEFINITION, “IS AN 2005 to $9 million today. Faculty-menINVESTMENT IN THE FULL conversations in hallways and lounges.” Imagining a business student seeking tored summer research, which entails a SCOPE OF ONE’S LIFE.” help building a product in a science lab, 40-hour-a-week immersion in lab, stuand the collaboration and ingenuity such work can foster, dio, library, or other academic work with a faculty partner, Frederick predicts, “This is going to unleash creativity in has grown from an average of 20 students to nearly 100 in ways we cannot even imagine.” recent years. A state-of-the-art science center With interest in science on fire at Skidmore, the College’s science facilities are “bursting at the seams,” says chemistry professor Kim Frederick. Harder Hall, Dana Science Center, the Tisch Learning Center, and Williamson Sports Center labs were all built for older, smaller-scale work. Meanwhile, “Skidmore’s interdisciplinarity is deep and meaningful to students. They don’t just study science and another discipline; they bring their different passions together and collaborate in really fascinating ways,” says Karen Kellogg, environmental scientist and associate dean of the faculty for infrastructure, sustainability, and civic engagement. After more than a decade of faculty discussion and task forces, she and Frederick are helping translate the resulting vision for the sciences into the plans for an innovative, interdisciplinary science building, now being vetted by architects, faculty, administrators, and trustees. “We want strong core sciences, but we want to make sure they’re very permeable,” Kellogg says—after all, adds Frederick,

Town-hall meetings

World-savvy graduates “A liberal education,” by Phil Glotzbach’s definition, “is an investment in the full scope of one’s life.” And today the full scope is increasingly global. Programs like SEE-Beyond and internships support scores of Skidmore students in apprenticeships, workshops, and international service that complement and enrich their academic programs. The international affairs program has grown from a minor to a major. International connections have also been sharpened by the Intercultural and Global Understanding Task Force, which has awarded presidential discretionary funds to projects like a Muslim chaplain’s residency and a Chinese music concert. Supportive alumni have made possible other rich experiences like the Freirich Business Plan Competition, the grassroots Skidmore Business Network, and more summer collaborative research and overseas study. In 2001 Skidmore ran just two of its own overseas programs, and only 30% of students studied abroad. Today it’s up to 60%, placing Skidmore fourth among U.S. baccalau- g

Campaign ends with $216M

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NOW ATTRACTS MORE STUDENTS TO SHARE MORE MEALS.

reate colleges. Cori Filson, director of off-campus study and exchanges, says her office now facilitating not just college study but internships, work, and volunteer opportunities where students interact deeply with people of other cultures, tackle issues that are new to them, and help create real solutions to international problems. Filson urges students to explore locations beyond Western Europe, because “they really blossom in communities they couldn’t enter otherwise.” She observes, “Our students want to engage with the world. They don’t see international education as a check-mark on their to-do list; they’re integrating it into their entire academic career and pursuing it after graduation too.” Surveys show that such in-depth activities are transformational, providing students with better-focused ambitions, higher skill levels, and greater confidence and maturity. These experiences often become stepping stones to grad school or a first job. And Skidmore has ramped up services in the Career De-

velopment Center to help students articulate and act on their job goals. The CDC trains peer mentors to help with resumes and other prep, offers a wide range of resources, cosponsors a popular Career Jam each year, and teaches job-related workshops. A new career counseling position was added to focus on the transition to grad and professional school. Louise Mallette ’74, a career-planning veteran and alumni board member who is consulting for the CDC, says, “The beauty of the liberal arts is that its diversity enables students to follow many amazing paths. Skidmore helps them make a thoughtful, deliberate segue between the liberal arts and translating their passions into job skills.” A healthier campus community “A liberal education provides the best possible preparation for a well-rounded life of human flourishing,” declares Glotzbach in the 2005 strategic plan. Such a life includes “personal growth and the cultivation of mature friendships

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as well as community involvement, attention to the arts classmen are glad to eat more meals on campus, and many and other sources of spiritual renewal, and a commitment professors are now regulars too. A vast range of student to health and wellness.” clubs and other cocurricular outlets also add to conviviality. Recently Skidmore has placed special emphasis on subAthletics boosted stance abuse, including the appointment of a new director Just a few months into his presidency, Glotzbach had to reguiding new programming. A Harvard-trained epidemiolobalance the men’s and women’s gist, Jen Burden started up the pro“WE HAVE A LOT OF WELL-CON- sports programs with no wiggle room gram and has used donations to hire DITIONED, WELL-EXPERIENCED in the budget. Having seen as a father a health educator and a substancewhat sports can do for a young perabuse prevention coordinator. BurATHLETES WHO ARE ALSO son’s sense of self, he was a fan of all den says, “Nutrition advice or more GREAT STUDENTS, AND THAT treadmills can be easy fixes, but MAKES US STRONGER OVERALL. Thoroughbred teams. But he bit the bullet and announced a plan to shut when it comes to excessive drinking, down the ice-hockey program. we’re talking about changing a national culture.” And so Immediately, hockey alumni and parents bonded together her office is persistent in conducting research, requiring onin protest—and in constructive work toward a solution. line prevention courses, partnering with parents and peers, Glotzbach met with them, and together they restarted the and following up on counseling. Friends of Skidmore Athletics. Soon FOSA had raised enough Offering fresher and wider food choices, longer hours, money not just to save hockey but also to support all 19 varand an interactive ambience, the renovated Murray-Aikins sity teams and create a Skidmore Athletics Hall of Fame. g Dining Hall serves up both health and social growth. Upper-

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Sussman Village opens Applications hit record-high 8,400

Launch of SEE-Beyond program WINTER 2010

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JEANNIE EDDY

A SKIDMORE DELIVERY NEW YORK CITY

OF SUPPLIES FOR

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With athletics’ role in a liberal arts education expressly Saratoga Reads began in the Glotzbachs’ first autumn. endorsed in the Glotzbach-guided strategic plan, athletics, Each year a citywide vote is held to choose a book for adults fitness, and recreation programming have grown steadily. and youths to read, and then related discussions, book signSome part-time varsity coaching positions increased to fullings, performances, and other activities are organized time, an additional trainer was hired, fitness offerings are around it. Marie Glotzbach says the branding of the proexpanding, and more Thoroughbred teams are earning gram came through a Skidmore marketing course working postseason berths and winning league championships. with a Saratoga communications firm. “The program caught All the while, Skidmore athletes are staying true to their on quickly,” she says, “and now we’re celebrating its 10th strong academic and service ethics. The Thoroughbred Socianniversary, which is very gratifying.” ety, introduced by Athletics Director Gail Cummings-DanSaratogaArtsFest, a collaboration with several arts nonson in 2006 to honor varsity players profits, began in June 2005, to help THE HOLIDAY-SEASON who earn grade-point averages of 3.67 kick off the Saratoga summer season DONATION DRIVE, SKIDMORE or better, is inducting more members and market the long, strong arts legafrom all teams. She says athletics foscy that plays such a defining role for CARES, HAS ALSO BECOME A ters “many skills you’d want to see WELCOME ANNUAL TRADITION. both city and college. A faculty memyoung people develop while they’re ber in theater and a veteran arts proat college—leadership, conflict management, diversity selfmoter, Glotzbach was in her element as she helped shape advocacy, teamwork, and community service.” Looking the extremely popular festival in its early years. It now has ahead, she notes, “We have a lot of well-conditioned, wellmore than 60 partners presenting a four-day smorgasbord of experienced athletes who are also great students, and that visual arts, music, literature, and performing arts. makes us stronger overall. As students get more and more The holiday-season donation drive, Skidmore Cares, has sophisticated in making college choices, we’ll bring in even also become a welcome annual tradition. In its first winter, more athletes who can get it done in the classroom and on the program collected much more than expected, and it just the field.” keeps growing. “Last year we collected more than $12,000 and gave 3,500 food, toiletry, and school items to nine area Building community agencies,” Glotzbach reports. “That’s a powerful collective In addition to serving as the president’s partner and key advoice saying, ‘We want to give back to this community that visor, Marie Glotzbach is a dynamic leader in her own right. we care so much about.’” She began spearheading public outreach as soon as her husIt is a heady time for the College, she says of her husband was inaugurated, building on the College’s “creative band’s successful first 10 years, and they foresee much more and thoughtful spirit and the vibrancy of community in progress to come. As they embark upon their next decade, Saratoga Springs to help catalyze a collaborative sense of she says, “We are both exactly where we want to be.” shared mission.”

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The

s u a e l p of the re board BY KATHRYN GALLIEN

i Skidmore’s president, unlike those at many other colleges, serves at the pleasure of the board of trustees, without a formal contract. Talk with the three board chairs of his first decade—Sue Corbet Thomas ’62 (2002–08), Janet Lucas Whitman ’59 (2008–12), and Linda Toohey (current)—and it’s clear that the “pleasure of the board” is considerable.

ll three served on the search committee for Skidmism that says ‘we’re going to get through this.’” Whitman, who became board chair in 2008, recalls in particular his posmore’s seventh president in 2003, and they rememitive attitude in the face of tough financial pressures and ber well the day they interviewed Philip Glotzbach. budget decisions. “He had not been in the room three minutes when I nudged the person next to me and said, ‘Oh, my, I think this is the Glotzbach readily fulfilled their request that there be “no one,’” recalls Thomas. “He was so full of energy and eagersurprises.” As Toohey says, “I’ve never read anything in the newspaper about Skidmore that he ness. He had a glimmer in his eye.” “He has brought us a long hasn’t shared with me first.” KnowWhitman agrees, “It was a unaniway, but he can’t stop thinking ing and trusting each other is the mous feeling of joy—we were just key to the working partnerships: thrilled that we had found him.” He about Skidmore and where “There was a great openness behad a strong commitment to and viwe can still go.” tween us,” Thomas says. And Whitsion for liberal arts education, and, she man deemed her working relationship with him “very consays, “he understood who we were and what we wanted.” genial,” noting that “he’s a good listener, and that’s terribly They describe him as a leader of great intellect, insight, important.” and people skills, a consensus builder who is not afraid to Of course no college president governs alone, and the make decisions and does so with an eye toward their impact chairs are quick to point out that Glotzbach put in place a on future generations. “People have confidence in him and great administrative staff and has an excellent partner in his are comfortable with him,” says Thomas, adding that “nowife, Marie. “They’re a team,” says Toohey, noting that it is a body is afraid of him, and he is not afraid to face controversy more than full-time job for her as well, particularly in comhead on.” In times of crisis, says Toohey, “he’s very human— munity relations and fundraising. g a decent human being to the core—with a strength and opti-

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THOMAS...WHITMAN...TOOHEY... lives in Saratoga Springs, cites “enormous strides in strengthtionship with him “very congenial,” noting that “he’s a ening the college-community relationship,” noting that good listener, and that’s terribly important.” “Phil and Marie have been very welcoming of the communiOf course no college president governs alone, and the ty.” And Whitman is impressed with his careful attention to chairs are quick to point out that Glotzbach put in place a Skidmore’s distinctive approach to interdisciplinary liberal great administrative staff and has an excellent partner in his arts education. Ultimately, she says, “I think his proudest acwife, Marie. “They’re a team,” says Toohey, noting that it is a complishments would be his students. He’s very focused on more than full-time job for her as well, particularly in comproducing a Skidmore graduate who is going to contribute to munity relations and fundraising. the world.” Asked about his strengths, Thomas says simply, “He has While it is quite common for college presidents to move it all—the academic background, a philosophical approach, on after a major campaign or initiapeople skills.” Whitman talks of his “He has brought us a long tive, Glotzbach is staying, and these thoroughness, his strong but calm leadership, his active role and visibili- way, but he can’t stop thinking trustees understand why. “I can’t see him ever thinking that his job is finty in the wider world of higher eduabout Skidmore and where ished,” says Thomas. “He has cation. “He presents the case for priwe can still go.” brought us a long way, but he can’t vate, small, liberal arts education,” stop thinking about Skidmore and where we can still go.” she explains, “and he represents Skidmore so well—we feel “He truly loves his job,” Toohey says. “While most of the we’re unique, and he feels we’re unique.” components of his strategic planning initiative are finished, a All three have enjoyed occasional relaxed evenings with few big ones aren’t. He would feel as if the job weren’t finthe Glotzbachs, where the conversation might range from ished if he didn’t help raise the money and see the new scihigher education to politics, literature, movies, and theater. ence building to fruition.” Also, she says, he sees more work While it’s not easy to separate the man from the job—“he to do in “diversifying the student body, faculty, staff, and adthinks about Skidmore all the time,” says Thomas—they all say he is fun and has a great sense of humor. And he sure ministration” and in “ensuring that our students leave Skidloves his dog, Summit. Whitman fondly recalls evenings at more equipped to live in a global culture.” Whitman says, “I the Surrey-Williamson Inn, after long days of board busithink he’s found satisfaction. And challenge—it’s a very tough ness, when man and dog would stop in after their walk “for job. You have to satisfy so many different constituencies.” a few laughs.” Clearly he has satisfied the constituency responsible for The trustees point to the fruits of Glotzbach’s solid stratehis employment: “There’s not a person on this board who gic planning. Thomas lauds Skidmore’s “increased diversity, wouldn’t want him to stay forever,” declares Thomas. “He incredible improvements in the physical plant, moving forhas just been outstanding.” And as for that glimmer in his ward in the sciences, and national visibility.” Toohey, who eye? “He still has it,” she says.

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There’s an easier way for Skidmore parents to make a lasting impression. Skidmore parents always show their support in a big way. Last year parents gave more than $1 million to the Annual Fund—gifts that strengthen the educational experience for all students.

Support Skidmore’s Annual Parents Fund Contact Ann Dejnozka, director of family leadership giving: adejnozk@skidmore.edu or 518-580-5635

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Reunion 2013

‘53ERS

AS FRESHMEN AGAIN

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Consistent and unflagging “Constantly astonished” by the achievements of so many alumni, awards-committee chair Steven Cohen ’72, P ’10, told the Reunion audience he was pleased to “recognize the application of the Skidmore experience in the pursuit of excellence and to express our deep appreciation to those whose support of the College has been consistent and unflagging.” Creative Thought Matters Award. Jill Holler Durovsik ’78, founder of the Corporate Concierge commercial realestate services firm, wanted to improve support for cancer patients and their families. With Connie Masciale Carino ’58, chair of mental-health nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, who was starting a wellness community, Durovsik helped replicate centers nationwide to create the Cancer Support Community. She now serves on CSC’s national board and is slated to become its chair in 2014. She says she’s delighted that CSC has grown “from a fledgling organization that called the basement of a mattress store home” into “a global force of licensed mental-health professionals.” Distinguished Achievement Award. Business major Shep Murray ’93 and brother Ian started a small necktie business in 1998; by 2012 their Vineyard Vines apparel firm was doing more than $100 million in sales and signing licensing agreements with the likes of Major League Baseball. With their commitment to “the good life” not just in their merchandise but in their employee relations and community philanthropy, the Murrays were profiled in Entrepreneur magazine’s “Hot 500” list in 2007. As Shep Murray told the Reunion crowd, “‘Every day should feel this good’ is the Vineyard Vines motto, and quite frankly that’s how I felt every day I was at Skidmore.” Palamountain Award for Young Alumni Achievement. Jonathan Brestoff Parker ’08, who won a Goldwater

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Scholarship as a chemistry and exercisescience double major, is now a joint MD-PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania. He already holds a master’s in public health. On a Mitchell Scholarship to study epidemiology in Ireland, he co-wrote a textbook on the topic. He is also the co-discoverer, with Skidmore professor T.H. Reynolds, of a patent-pending anti-obesity compound. His goal is to direct a biomedical research lab to help develop new ways of fighting obesity and other metabolic disorders. The most important key to his accomplishments, he says, “has been the interdisciplinary nature of inquiry that Skidmore infused in me.” 50th-Reunion Outstanding Service Award. Joan Layng Dayton ’63, P ’90, ’93, went from president of the alumni club in Minneapolis in the mid-1970s to chair of the Skidmore Board of Trustees by 1998. Her many volunteer roles in between—and up to this day—have included leadership in the past two major campaigns and helping to launch the Tang Museum, chairing its National Advisory committee, and endowing its directorship. She says, “Skidmore just keeps giving me more and more wonderful people to work with.” Porter Young Alumni Service Award. Patrick McEvoy ’03, a varsity tennis star, joined the Friends of Skidmore Athletics as a brand-new grad. Still active in FOSA and the Hall of Fame, he has also been a class and national Annual Fund and Friends of the Presidents volunteer and an alumni board member. He told his fellow alumni at Reunion, “We’re all different. We all have different backgrounds. We’re so interdisciplinary. I love that about Skidmore.” Outstanding Service Awards. Elizabeth VanNess Reid ’48, known her for her outgoing warmth and friendliness, has been a reunion and fundraising volunteer, class president, class historian,

and—as she was in her student days— class singing director. She’s also active in regional alumni events. She says the award is “very meaningful because Skidmore gave me so much... I am happy to give back.” Natalie Jones Teri ’53 started volunteering as a new alumna and never quit. She rallied her classmates to recordbreaking attendance and giving in their 40th and 50th reunions and has been active in regional Skidmore events; she is currently class president. Treasuring her class friendships, she says, “I have found that, in volunteering, you get more back

than you ever put into it.” Meg Reitman Jacobs ’63, P ’91, has been a longtime volunteer on behalf of Skidmore, in fundraising, on the alumni board, for reunions, on the Tang Museum’s National Advisory Committee, and in other roles. As she sees it, “I’ve always felt so lucky to have benefited from a Skidmore education, so how could I not give back to the College that gave me this opportunity?” Carrie Van Kloberg ’68, a Saratoga resident, enjoys teaching aquatic fitness at Skidmore. She has also been a reunion volunteer, class officer, alumni board

member, volunteer for the Palamountain Scholarship polo events, and more. She told the Reunion audience, “I feel this is a shared award with all of the people I’ve had the privilege to work with.” Barbara Kahn Moller ’78, P ’11, ’13, didn’t reconnect much with Skidmore until classmates urged her to join the 25th reunion. Soon she was a Tang Museum advisor and is now a class fundraising agent and a Skidmore trustee. A key lesson she’s learned: “Do not ever put the word ‘never’ in your vocabulary. Life takes you down very interesting and unexpected paths.” —MM, SR

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The Skidmore Career Development Center presented its second annual Graduate and Professional School Expo, for students and alumni, on Oct. 8. Representatives from a wide variety of graduate programs were on hand in Case Center from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. to answer questions. Information sessions, workshops, and panel discussions that evening covered topics such as admission exams and personal statements, as well as graduate programs in business and accounting, law, health care, education, social work, sustainability, the arts, and more. A participant in last year’s expo was Evan Friedler ’13, an economics major and government minor who co-founded the Pre-Law Society. He found that the information sessions after the fair were particularly relevant to his situation. “I

Mix and mingle with other Skidmore community members

Share your career

LAUREN ELSNER ’13

CAREER CORNER: Eye-opening expo knew from the outset that I wanted to attend law school,” he says, but the CDC event “opened my eyes to a school I hadn’t considered”—and that’s the school, Boston College Law, where he is now enrolled. For him, “the fair provided the opportunity to see what graduate programs were available, in a forum that allowed for informal dialogue and an in-depth look at the opportuniPOSTGRADUTE ties.” No registration is needed for alumni attending the annual expo or its evening events—watch for news of next year’s expo in the early fall. For a complete

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listing of the CDC’s programs, resources, and events, visit its Web site; questions can be e-mailed to cdc@ skidmore.edu.

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The Career Development Center seeks volunteer mentors to inspire alumni and students. At three upcoming programs, volunteers will stand at tables grouped by career field to provide information about career options, tips to prepare for jobs or internships, ideas for what to expect of graduate school, or other suggested steps to advance in their career fields. October 18, 2013 Career Jam, Saratoga Springs, NY

January 16, 2014 An Evening of Career Transition and Transformation, NYC

March 13, 2014 An Evening of Career Transition and Transformation, Boston, MA Details: 518-580-5790 or cdc@skidmore.edu

All roads will lead you back. Join us at Skidmore for

May 29–June 1 Rekindle old friendships • Rediscover Saratoga Springs Reconnect with faculty • Join the parade • Picnic on the green • Go back to class • Visit the alumni art exhibition • Enjoy live music and fireworks For details, visit www.skidmore.edu/reunion

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OPEN WIDE AND SAY AHH? Who are these students, and what are they practicing? Did you ever use such a menacing apparatus in your studies? Tell us your answers at 518-580-5747,srosenbe@skidmore.edu, or Scope c/o Skidmore College. We’ll report answers, and run a new quiz, in the upcoming Scope magazine.

FROM LAST TIME Morticians? “Now I know it’s been a while since I graduated if I can answer these historical questions,” quips Matt Stanger ’00. But he does remember these ornithological mortuary scientists: “The two guys in the photo are Dave Vogel ’99 and Dana Warren ’98. I’m guessing that they’re with Dr. Corey Freeman-Gallant’s bird collection. I know both these guys were in some of my ecology and evolutionary bio classes.” Indeed the photo of the biology department’s collection of stuffed bird specimens was shot for an April 1998 Scope story describing how the collection was being enlarged through the work-study jobs of Vogel and Warren. When he was hired in 1997, biology professor Freeman-Gallant, an orPHIL HAGGERTY

JERRY COOKE, PIX INC.

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nithologist, was pleased to find that Skidmore’s bird collection was surprisingly good, thanks to faculty colleagues Laurie Freeman (no relation), Bill Brown, and others who’d collected, preserved, and donated a wide range of avian cadavers. Even before the student workers reorganized and enlarged it, it encompassed 151 species, with some species represented by several individuals, ranging in age from antiques with labels dating to the early 1900s right up to the freshly thawed and carefully everted, eviscerated, and gauzestuffed yellow-bellied sapsucker, barred owl, sharp-shinned hawk, downy woodpecker, and others prepared by Warren, Vogel, and FreemanGallant.—SR

YOUR GIFT MATTERS Make your gift to Skidmore, and say more than just “thank you” for the life-changing experience you had. Tell us “Skidmore matters today,” and it matters to you and to the next generation of students who will make their own impact on the world!

Skidmore College, 815 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 800-584-0115 www.skidmore.edu/makeagift

SCOPE

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID

Skidmore College

PHIL HAGGERTY

Skidmore College 815 North Broadway Saratoga Springs, NY 12866-1632

ERIC JENKS ’08

REUNION 2013 LIGHTS UP CAMPUS. SEE PAGE 26.

CREDIT TK

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Support Skidmore’s Annual Parents Fund Contact Ann Dejnozka, director of family leadership giving: adejnozk@skidmore.edu or 518-580-5635

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OVER

ZANKEL

PHIL SCALIA

FIREWORKS

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Reunion 2013

‘53ERS

AS FRESHMEN AGAIN

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LAWN

PARTY

PHIL SCALIA

THE

LAUREN BOSCHE ’15

GUIDED TOUR IN TANG MUSEUM

UNDER THE TENT

BOCCE

KLATSCH

NGHIA LUU ’14

NIGHTCLUB

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DINNERTIME

DANCE

NORTH WOODS

PARADE PHIL SCALIA

ON FEVER

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Mix and mingle with other Skidmore community members

Share your career

LAUREN ELSNER ’13

STUDY OPTIONS ON DISPLAY

listing of the CDC’s programs, resources, and events, visit its Web site; questions can be e-mailed to cdc@ skidmore.edu.

r nto Me dent

u a st lu m or a

journey

Help the Skidmore Net-WORK!

January 16, 2014 An Evening of Career Transition and Transformation, NYC

March 13, 2014 An Evening of Career Transition and Transformation, Boston, MA Details: 518-580-5790 or cdc@skidmore.edu

All roads will lead you back. Join us at Skidmore for

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QG: CLASS NOTES — pp31–63 — ARE IN SEPARATE QUARK FILE

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JERRY COOKE, PIX INC.

WHO, WHAT, WHEN

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Skidmore College, 815 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 800-584-0115 www.skidmore.edu/makeagift

SCOPE

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID

Skidmore College

PHIL HAGGERTY

Skidmore College 815 North Broadway Saratoga Springs, NY 12866-1632

ERIC JENKS ’08

REUNION 2013 LIGHTS UP CAMPUS. SEE PAGE 26.