Reed College Magazine September 2015

‰ september 2015

The Art of the Conference Is there a secret formula for great classroom discussion?

Twelve from ’15 | Baltimore Rises | Tracy + the Plastics

AFR STEERING COMMITTEE 2014–15 Konrad Stephen Alt ’81, Outgoing Chair Michael Bradley Stapleton ’10, Chair Keith D. Allen ’83 Deborah Kalahan Altschul ’75 David R. Buckler ’85 Jacob Samet Canter ’14 Caroll McCall Casbeer ’10 Glenn C. Davis ’68 Maya Claire Edelstein ’12 W. Doug Evans ’84 Jay M. Hubert ’66

Charli Rena Krause ’09 Christine Elisabeth Lewis ’07 Jan R. Liss ’74 Linda Hammill Matthews ’67 Rachel Elizabeth Mossey ’11 Sebastian Pastore ’88 Phillip Schwartz ’10 Clara Hart Siegel ’09 Mark Alexander Srere ’81 Gina Nicole Vorderstrasse ’10

AFR VOLUNTEERS 2014–15

A special thanks to founder and outgoing AFR chair, Konrad Alt ’81.

Over the past six years, Konrad has made it his mission to inspire Reedies to give. We are grateful for his leadership, vision, and willingness to hunker down and make hundreds of phone calls.

Konrad, we salute your heroic feats of philanthropy.

David Thomas Adler ’63 Elica Yordanova Angelova Parkes ’09 Rachel Ruth Arnold ’91 Steven P. Auerbach ’66 Peter Gordon Barr-Gillespie ’81 Eric D. Britton ’82 Susan E. Brody ’71 Suzanne Bletterman Cassidy ’65 Emily Corso ’10 Bonnie Joann Cuthbert ’10 Katherine Ross Davis ’13 Katherine Rose Duffy ’14 Anne E. Schmitt Gendler ’81 Ann Burton Goetcheus ’65 Hilary Gray ’08 Janet Lorraine Gunzner-Toste ’93 David R. Hardy ’71 Meredith Johanna Horel ’15 Lesley Anne Hyman Hyatt ’88 Jeri S. Janowsky ’78 Nina Lee Johnson ’99 Leslie Vickers Jones ’83 Majda Sajovic Jones ’64 Deborah D. Kamali ’85 Molly McCarthy King ’09 Keith L. Kutler ’80 Cyd Quetzal La Luz ’10 Kim D. Lambert ’80 Arthur D. Levy ’73

Paul Alan Levy ’72 Melissa Dawn Lewis ’13 Jeffrey M. Mason ’79 Aaron Ivor McCray-Goldsmith ’14 Jean Marie McMahon ’11 Celia Hansen Morris ’64 Robert A. Morris ’65 Julianne Marie Myers ’14 Heather Jeanne Rode Niemi ’00 Susan C. Orlansky ’75 Karl M. Peters ’83 Frances N. Phillips ’73 Lawrence O. Picus ’77 Richard C. Roistacher ’65 A. Richard Ross ’72 Corrine Marie Savaiano ’11 Lindsey Marie Schuette ’12 Aaron Michael Smith ’13 Peter C. Stockman ’77 William B. Swarts, IV ’92 Dedie Uunila Taylor ’69 Benjamin Pearce Thompson ’95 James C. Waggoner ’68 Shelby E.R. Wauson ’13 John S. Weber ’78 Ruth Beckhard Werner ’82 Rachel Lynn Wolcott ’93 En-Szu Hu-Van Wright ’13 Marcia Yaross ’73

To learn more about AFR, contact annual-fund@reed.edu.

p h o t o s b y m at t d ’a n n u n z i o

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DEPARTMENTS

Features 14

The Last Lectures

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Saluting our retiring (and not-so-retiring) professors

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Randall S. Barton & Chris Lydgate ’90 20

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Secrets of the Classroom Eight Reed professors provide the recipe for a great conference class

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18

A Witness to Baltimore

On the ground for the “Baltimore riots”

by Anna Evans-Goldstein ’10 cover illustration by golden cosmos

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What Is a Reedie Anyway?

Easy to identify but hard to define: 12 from the class of ’15

By Randall S. Barton

Letters Eliot Circular Annual Fund soars to $4.4M Cooley/New Museum partner Our brilliant students CS program in design Profs garner grants

12 Empire of the Griffin Reunions 2015 highlights New trustees on board Travel study takes in jazz & LBJ Constitution revised 38 Reediana Vanishing Games & The Secret Game

40 Class Notes 48 In Memoriam september 2015 Reed magazine

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‰

Letter from the editor

Brooding with Max Weber

September 2015

www.reed.edu/reed_magazine 3203 SE Woodstock Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 97202 503/777-7591 Volume 94, No. 3 MAGAZINE editor Chris Lydgate ’90 503/777-7596 chris.lydgate@reed.edu class notes editor Laurie Lindquist 503/777-7591 reed.magazine@reed.edu Art director Tom Humphrey 503/459-4632 tom.humphrey@reed.edu REED COLLEGE RELATIONS vice president, college relations Hugh Porter

Reading through Prof. Margot Minardi’s excellent essay on the secret ingredients of a great conference (see page 24), I was struck by this marvelous quote from Max Weber: Ideas come when we do not expect them, and not when we are brooding and searching at our desks. Yet ideas would certainly not come to mind had we not brooded at our desks and searched for answers with passionate devotion.

(From Science as a Vocation, 1917)

Weber, as you may recall, was a nineteenth-century German dude with a flinty gaze and a monumental beard. He was also one of the most influential thinkers of modern times. It was he who proposed that the Protestant work ethic laid the foundations for modern capitalism. As one of the founders of the field of sociology, he wrote about science and superstition, politics and authority, disenchantment, Polish farm workers, and the stock exchange. He coined a dozen abstract terms. He even identified the defining characteristics (and uses) of bureaucracy. Weber wasn’t just prolific—he was a veritable font of ideas, a fountain of insight, a reckless bubbling fire hydrant of genius.

As someone who has logged many hours brooding at my desk, I take great delight in this thought of Weber’s, that the long afternoons spent hunting for synonyms or wrestling with dependent clauses reap their true harvest at another place and time. It is as if the universe is a sort of cosmic game of 2

Reed magazine September 2015

pinball—you concentrate your skill and energy on flipping the ball at a bumper, never knowing exactly what trajectory it will follow afterwards, which hidden levers it will operate nor what bonuses it will unlock.

Weber delivered his lecture in Munich in 1917, as Europe was tearing itself apart at the seams. The horrifying carnage of the Great War was annihilating the ideals of a generation. The Russian Revolution was turning the old social order upside down. War, riots, starvation, disease—in the face of this chaos,

“ Ideas come when we do not expect them, and not when we are brooding and searching at our desks.” why would anyone would sit down and brood about the value of science?

Weber did it because that’s the kind of guy he was. And almost 100 years later, in a world he could never have predicted, we can still open up his lecture and find the ideas flying off the page like pinballs—bright, shiny, and liable at any moment to strike the jackpot.

—CHRIS LYDGATE ’90

Executive director, communications & public affairs Mandy Heaton director, alumni relations Mike Teskey director, development Jan Kurtz Reed College is a private, independent, non-sectarian four-year college of liberal arts and sciences. Reed provides news of interest to alumni, parents, and friends. Views expressed in the magazine belong to their authors and do not necessarily represent officers, trustees, faculty, alumni, students, administrators, or anyone else at Reed, all of whom are eminently capable of articulating their own beliefs.

Reed (ISSN 0895-8564) is published quarterly, in March, June, September, and December, by the Office of Public Affairs at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 97202.

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Postmaster: Send address changes to Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., Portland OR 97202-8138.

Letters to Reed Write to us! We love getting mail from readers. Letters should be about Reed (and its alumni) or Reed (and its contents) and run no more than 300 words; subsequent replies may run only half the length of their predecessors. Our decision to print a letter does not imply any endorsement. Letters are subject to editing. (Beware the editor’s hatchet.) For contact information, look to your left. Read more letters and commentary at www.reed.edu/reed_magazine.

More Fossil Fuel on the Fire

I must say, I like it when my alma mater, including its organ for alumni, challenges us to be engaged critically. I appreciate the work you’re doing and what it’s produced.

Living with a now-retired UC San Diego professor (music) I met living off campus as a Reed sophomore in 1961, I took note of UCSD professor Brad Werner’s paper titled “Is Earth F**ked?” delivered to the American Geophysical Union in 2012. His answer: “More or less.” Another dispatch from the frontier of the great scientific consensus on climate change.

Sojourning in Sydney, I recently read an op-ed in the Sydney Morning Herald by a former fossilfuel CEO in which he refers to business as usual among his heirs as “crimes against humanity.”

The language is not mere rhetoric.

President Obama, that most attractive and hopelessly hopeful of presidents, delivers fine rhetoric on climate change, then spruiks the snake oil of another free-trade agreement that promises to eviscerate any attempt to address climate change that threatens corporate profits (as any serious attempt must) and, perhaps given wind, gives Shell the go-ahead to plunder our Arctic Ocean for more fossil fuel.

Meanwhile, our Reed trustees worry about a rumored “slippery slope”—imagine the carcass of a giant airliner, momentarily afloat, with slides deployed from its emergency exits (a form of escapism)—and what it may mean for “academic freedom.” As the world burns, our trustees fiddle.

Denial has many faces.

The question you have to ask: how can it have come to pass that we, with what appears to be willful blindness, fail to recognize catastrophe overtaking us? Of course, there have been many precedents for this kind of behavior, but any notion that a Reed education should be proof against it is at risk. Is the pride we take in our

reputed intellect and rigor misplaced? Smug?

All of us are responsible. That’s our problem.

All includes 20,000 surviving Reed alumni. We must act. There’s no neutral territory. Reed must divest, and we must bring it about now.

If, still, you insist on your slippery slope, yes, divesting is just a beginning. There’s much more that we can and should do to address climate change. We must be willing to address critically what appears to be complacent understanding of who we are, so that our reputation, let alone academic freedom, may have merit.

—Felix Prael ’66 San Diego, California

Full of Fulbrights

“The Zen of Fulbright” indeed [Reediana, June 2015]. Landing a Fulbright, like gaining entrance to Reed, is an act of self-definition with lifelong consequence. I was inspired to go after an early career professional Fulbright fellowship as a working journalist, because I wanted to immerse myself—and my wife and I wanted to immerse our young family—in late 20th-century Japan.

My goal was to better understand the Japanese investment juggernaut in America. I interviewed Akio Morita about his family sake business and the ascent of Sony. My wife and I chatted with the crown prince, now Emperor Akihito, at a reception and were awestruck not by his royalty but how his subjects dealt with it. We walked the Tokaido road that samurai traversed. We soaked in fast vanishing neighborhood baths. In the shogun’s castle we were transfixed by floors that chirped with each step to alert sleeping lords of assassin intruders. It would be fascinating to know more about the subset of Reed graduates who have had their career and personal horizons lifted by the program launched by a farsighted former senator from Arkansas. How many Reedies have snagged the scholarship? [It’s 89—Ed.] What are their stories? For answers, Reed’s Center for Life Beyond Reed might want to launch a cyber-forum for this subset of alums, and invite interested students to listen in.

—Marty Rosenberg ’71 Overland Park, Kansas

In Defense of Academic Freedom

This is a reply to Professor Nigel Nicholson’s remarks about academic freedom (Eliot Circular, June 2015). His remarks neglect a crucial part of Reed’s history. In 1954, the board of trustees discharged Prof. Stanley Moore [philosophy 1948–54], a tenured member of the faculty, for refusing to discuss his political beliefs with the

board. This was during the time when the spirit of McCarthyism had run wild throughout the country. It was clear to me that taking over academic institutions had become a serious sport where the prestige of the academy was hijacked to satisfy political aims.

Indeed, the very next year, acting president F.L. Griffin [mathematics 1911–56] circulated a memo to the faculty, asking them to identify colleagues with Communist sympathies.

Fortunately, he withdrew his request after a delegation consisting of Prof. Frank Smith Fussner [history 1950–75], Prof. Warren Susman [history 1953–58], and myself persuaded him that it would lead the college down a perilous road.

Reed had clearly violated one tenet, though not the only one, of academic freedom. It had given in to political pressure, and the pressure was so severe that the precepts of faculty governance were violated. But academic freedom also means that the political, religious, or philosophical beliefs of politicians, administrators, and members of the public cannot be imposed on students or faculty.

This imposition was at work under the Solomon Amendment, which was passed in 1995 when the controversy over U.S. involvement in Central America was at its height. The amendment required that colleges welcome the ROTC and military recruiters or risk losing their federal contracts, and that students would lose their federal aid unless they registered for the draft. It imposed political views on colleges and college students and represented a direct attack on academic freedom.

The purpose of this comment is to inform the reader of only some of the defenses which must be in place when academic freedom is under attack. And I have barely touched the subject.

Academic freedom is always under attack. People are anxious to apply the label, less anxious to focus on the things that justify its application.

For example, I am also troubled about the idea that Reed should be understood as a college which regards one of its tasks as promoting something called “inclusivity.” It may be a good or bad thing, but there is nothing in this notion which flows naturally from our precepts about teaching and passing on the properties of serious inquiry to students. If not watched carefully, it could reach the areas guarded by academic freedom—the evaluations of teaching and the composition of the curriculum. But this is simply cautionary. It does require watching.

—Prof. Marvin Levich [philosophy 1953–94] Portland september 2015 Reed magazine

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Letters to Reed Cheating Heisenberg

William Abernathy ’88 concludes (“Cheating Heisenberg, Reed, June 2015) that we do not know how William of Ockham would account for the qubit measurements of Kater Murch ’02. But we do know that Libert Froidmont, a 17th-century scientist and theologian, coined the phrase “Occam’s Razor” as an insult. He claimed that Ockham used it to “cut away and scrape off all distinct entities, leaving only a plurality of names,” when we ought to posit faculties of intellect and will distinct from the rational soul as Aquinas did. Ockham disagreed about what distinctions to posit in the human soul. And I’m inclined to think that he might also have held that we need not suppose that future states cause present ones in order to calculate a radiation value based on the states before and after a target we cannot measure directly. Whether the math is simple or not, this supposition seems to involve fewer inconsistencies. But, then, I may not understand what’s up, since it’s clear that Abernathy has simplified the situation radically.

With thanks for the article about Murch’s work.

—Rega Wood ’66 Bloomington, Indiana

Triumph on the Slopes

Two letters prompted my response. I share in the sadness over the passing of Terry Chase ’59. I distinctly remember the ski meet referred to by Roger Moment ’59 because I was one of the spectators. What Roger did not remember was that the course was very, very foggy, such that the great Austrian skier Toni Sailer (three Olympic medals in 1956) who “foreran” the race (prerace ski run), was almost invisible coming down the hill. I recall being asked by a bystander when Sailer would appear and had to tell him that Sailer had already gone by. That was why the more powerful programs fell so often or missed gates while the Reed ski team practically snowplowed down the hill but all four skiers completed the race! The next morning the Oregonian ran a headline, “Reed College Wins Ski Tournament????” It was indeed memorable.

And thanks to Roger for recalling it. By the way, like all athletics at Reed, the “ski team” was four volunteers who were all recreational skiers, but they didn’t embarrass themselves. Both Eric Terzaghi ’58, who was Norwegian, and Terry had skied in Europe, which was pretty exotic in those days.

I was also a freshman in the New Men’s Dorm and one of the #10-can-stackers in front of the dorm room of Prof. John Hancock [chemistry 1955–89]. (It was in honor of his efforts to build his own pipe organ out of #10 cans.) Upon returning from a rainy afternoon he encountered the “curtain” in his doorway.

I vividly recall that he was characteristically unruffled, reached out the handle of his ever4

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present umbrella, and pulled out one of the bottom cans. There ensued the most deafening din in the history of the school when those empty cans hit the floor in the corridor. He calmly stepped over the pile of cans and went into his room without a word.

—John Graef ’60 Boston, Massachusetts Full credit to Roger Moment ’59 for his recollections of the Great Northwest Winter Carnival.

Reed was one of the few coed, if not the only school, which fielded (sloped?) a coed team. Ruth Leeds Love ’58 was our heroine. Reed’s success on the slopes did not, however, end the day. Even more dramatically, Reed’s triumph was assured in the snow sculpture contest. Our free-standing, larger-than-lifesize entry of a couple in a decidedly romantic pose so outclassed the frieze efforts of the Stanford “S” or the Washington “Pinetree” that there was no second! As to the imposing silver plate trophy, we knew not quite what to do with it. Sunday night, many of the team converged at an off-campus apartment whereat it served as a splendid pizza tray. Monday morning, absent a trophy case in which to enshrine the evidence of Reed’s athletic and artistic prowess, the plate was presented with appropriate pomp and ceremony to the president of Reed. Thence, we know not its journey nor where it may, this night, repose.

—Jonathan Hough ’59 Boulder, Colorado

Dancing with Trisha

In the latest Reed issue, the letter from Bernice Livingston Youtz touched off good memories of Trisha Brown. I was the student hired to babysit preschoolers while faculty women and wives participated in her dance class. A vent (with a grill!) afforded a nice view of the gymnasium dance floor from above and the kids glanced from time to time down at the dancing moms.

—Ann Birnbaum ’62 Seattle, Washington

From Reed to Martha Graham

Your obituary of Prof. Judy Massee was especially of interest because I left Reed in 1959 precisely because there was no dance. I went—almost— straight from Reed to the Martha Graham Studio of Contemporary Dance. There were no auditions. Anyone off the street could take a class if there was room. Hundreds of students came and went unnoticed. The atmosphere was charged and intimidating. The teachers—all members of Graham’s company at the last period of rich creativity—recognized perseverance, improvement, and talent. The beginners’ classes could be crowded; advanced never.

—Nonny Burack ’60 Amherst, Massachusetts

English and Math

Who could disagree with Prof. Paul Gronke [political science 2001–] pointing out the need to acknowledge that it is the chosen major and the senior thesis rather than the first-year humanities class that defines a Reed education? (Letters, June 2015.)

However, I want to note a slippage in his argument about Reed’s identity and reputation that concerns me. Paul’s letter notes, “If you look at theses, it is quite clear that Reed emphasizes the natural and physical sciences, mathematics, psychology, English, and the social sciences,” correctly grouping English among the most popular majors. A few lines later, however, the letter concludes that the majority of Reed students do “classes . . . quals, and . . . theses . . . in the sciences, mathematics, and the social and behavioral sciences. This is our emphasis.”

How did English drop off the radar here?

English has long been and remains one of the top three majors at Reed. Focusing attention on the importance of the disciplines in which most Reed students work should acknowledge this fact, not sidestep it. I am concerned about a vision being articulated here of Reed as a place which is “really” about the natural and social sciences which ignores the actual numbers. This unwarranted sidelining renders English peripheral, if not invisible, as a major, and does a disservice to English students and faculty at Reed.

I may be a professor of English, but I believe numbers are very important.

—Prof. Maureen Harkin [English 2002–] Portland

Reedites Rebel, Zorgs Attack

Hurrah for Rosina Corbett Morgan [’41] (Letters, June 2015). I have also loathed the cringe-inducing word “Reedie” for decades. It makes me think of a weenie wearing a beanie or a Trekkie taking a selfie. Are there Vardies, Mouthies, Fordies, or even Lewies? Granted, there are Yalies (George Bush comes to mind). “Reedie” is a lazy word that means everything and nothing. It does not reflect either the seriousness or the joy that are part of being a member of the Reed community.

I propose the alternative word Zorg.

—John Cushing ’67 Portland From the Editor: Zealous Olde Reed Graduate? Zaftig Old Reed Granny? Zombie Of Reed oriGin? Acronymous suggestions welcome.

Corrections

In the last issue, we mangled the name of the late Prof. Fred D. Ayres [chemistry 1940–70], mistakenly dubbing him Frederick. His widow, Prof. Angela Ayres [Spanish 1966–73], was kind enough to remind us that his name was indeed Fred, pure and simple and in need of no ornament. We made the same mistake in December 2011. We’re sorry for the errors.

photo by don hunstein © Underwood & Underwood/Corbis

Ellington & Strayhorn: A Celebration NOVEMBER 6–8, 2015

Join us for a series of lectures and performances to commemorate the one-hundredth birthday of Billy Strayhorn, presented by the 23rd International Duke Ellington Study Group Conference in partnership with Reed College.

Celebrate jazz greats Strayhorn and Duke Ellington and explore a creative partnership unique in the history of music.

All events are free and open to the public.

GUEST SCHOLARS AND PERFORMERS

Lisa Barg, McGill University Luca Bragalini, Conservatory in L’Aquila, Italy Harvey G. Cohen, King’s College, London Matt Cooper, Eastern Oregon University Darrell Grant, Portland State University Rebecca Kilgore, jazz vocalist and one of American’s leading song stylists Walter van de Leur, Conservatorium of Amsterdam Willie Ruff, Yale University David Schiff, Reed College David Shifrin, Yale University Carl Woideck, University of Oregon

LEARN MORE: reed.edu/ellington-strayhorn This event is supported by Reed’s GREENBERG Distinguished Scholar Program.

Eliot Circular news from campus

Annual Fund Raises Record-Breaking $4.4 Million Bouncing Back Thanks to a last-minute surge of support, Reed, who reached out to their classmates 4800 Reed alumni, parents, and friends shat- and asked them to give back.

4600 tered the record in giving to the AnnuThe late-breaking surge of support—which 4400 al Fund this fiscal year, which ended on gathered force hours before the deadline— 4200 midnight June 30. stunned Annual Fund staff members, who 4000 According to the latest returns, contribu- spent the next several weeks hunched over 3800 tions to the Annual Fund amounted to an their abaci double-checking the figures.

3600 3400 astonishing $4,441,136.22—the biggest in We want to express profound gratitude 3200 Reed’s history—blowing past last year’s total to our amazing alumni for helping us pass 3000 of $4,084,000. the torch to the next generation. But perhaps 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Some 4,458 alumni gave to the annual fund in Even more remarkable, no fewer the most eloquent thank-you comes from that FY15, reversing a downward drift. than 4,458 individual alumni made gifts, the generation: largest number in several years, exceeding the “When I arrived at Reed three years target of 4,400. The number of alumni donors ago, I knew I had finally found what I had photography, I’ll always feel at home in is considered a key indicator of the college’s been looking for,” says Georgia Miller Reed’s vibrant community of unapologetlong term strength. ’15. “From classroom debates about Levi- ic nerdiness! Without support from peoThe campaign got a boost from hundreds Strauss and gendered rituals to lunchtime ple like you, none of this would be possible. of volunteers with Alumni Fundraising for dialogues about Walter Benjamin and film Thank you!” —CHRIS LYDGATE ’90

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Reed magazine september 2015

leah nash

Cooley Takes Tracy + the Plastics to New York

As a youth, Seattle artist Wynne Greenwood borrowed a neighbor’s video camera and filmed stories about her family and friends.

The slapstick humor of those early efforts carried forward into her professional work, where she combined her unique voice with whatever was at hand to tell a story.

Greenwood built a reputation as a queer feminist, performance artist working in various media.

But she is perhaps most famous for her work as Tracy + the Plastics, a band that celebrated life on the margin.

In September, Reed’s Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery and New York’s New Museum will partner to mount an exhibition of Greenwood’s work in the Big Apple.

Cooley director Stephanie Sakellaris Snyder ’91 will curate the show with the New Museum’s curator Johanna Burton. Snyder will write and edit the exhibition catalogue.

The show is an evolution of the residency and exhibition that Greenwood did at Reed in 2014.

Starting in 1999, Greenwood created nearly 30 performance pieces as Tracy + the Plastics, playing all three roles of the band. She created the backup singers “Nikki”

and “Cola” by prerecording herself on videos and then projecting them behind Tracy as she performed live.

The project ended in 2006, but as the Tracy role was always live, there was no documentation of the pieces with all three players.

“I’ve followed Wynne’s work for a long time and believed she

“ The most interesting work opens a conversation or shows us a new vision of the world.”

—Stephanie Snyder ’91 deserved the support to do it right,” says Snyder. “If the Cooley Gallery hadn’t supported creating that archive, nobody would be able to see those performances.”

During her residency at Reed, Greenwood got back into the role of Tracy, both physically and emotionally. She reproduced all of Tracy’s performances and combined them with the old footage. The new films will be mastered as editions and made available to collectors and museums.

“The work is captivating because Wynne is able to express her identity in ways that are at once extremely simple and complicated,” Snyder says. “With a beautiful, open spirit she weaves together fact and fiction to explore politics, queer identity, and aesthetics. She’s one of those rare people who doesn’t edit or censor herself based upon presumptions of other people’s feedback and criticisms. To me, that makes her a visionary.”

“The most interesting work opens a conversation or shows us a new vision of the world,” Snyder says. “Wynne’s work is so relevant to students raised on video culture. They are at an age where they’re exploring their identities, trying to find a voice and trust themselves. Our students related to the way Wynne externalizes the conversations we all have in our heads about who we are— our sexuality, politics, self-image, and self-criticism.”

Snyder hopes that Reedies in New York will join the opening party and plans to stage several special events just for alumni.

The Wynne Greenwood exhibit will run at the New Museum from September 16 to January 10.

—RANDALL S. BARTON

september 2015 Reed magazine

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Eliot Circular

Math Major Zeroes in on Class of ’21 Award

Our Brilliant Students

History Types Win Lankford Prize

Histor y major Kalina Hadzhikova ’15 and history-literature major Kieran Hanrahan ’15 won the William T. Lankford III Humanities Award. The award recognizes accomplishment in both history and literature and is given to students with outstanding academic records and strong potential for further achievement.

The award committee praised Kalina’s senior thesis, Rome against Romans: Configurations of Imperial Authority in 12th-Century Germany and Byzantium, hailing it as “an exceptional thesis” and “an impressive and original achievement.”

Her thesis adviser was Prof. Michael Breen [history 2000–]. She also worked closely with Prof. David Sacks [history 1986–2015], who described her paper as

“the most intellectually ambitious history thesis with which I have worked in my time at Reed.”

“I am very grateful for this award and hope that my senior thesis serves as an appropriate tribute to William Lankford’s memory,” Kalina told us.

“I wish to thank David Sacks and Michael Breen in particular; my project would not have been possible without their help and encouragement.”

During Kalina’s time at Reed she learned Latin, developed a passion for medieval studies, worked in the library, spent a year at the University of Oxford, and coedited the student body handbook. (See page 29.)

Kieran wrote his thesis, “Writing in Water, Building with Sand: American Military Strategy and the Soldier’s Experience in the Iraqi Environment during the Iraq War,” with Prof. Pancho Savery [English 1995–] and Prof.

Josh Howe [history 2012–].

The Lankford committee praised Kieran for “an exceptional thesis” that raises “bold

and challenging questions.”

Prof. Howe wrote, “Kieran has succeeded remarkably in his academics at Reed, capped off by an excellent thesis. But what his thesis and his academic record do not reveal is his equally impressive success as a member of the Reed community. He has gained the trust and respect of his peers and mentors by listening closely, collaborating openly and openmindedly, and working hard.”

Kieran edited the Quest for four semesters, served as elections czar, and was an editor of the Reed College Creative Review. He hails from Portland, Maine.

The Lankford Award honors Prof. Bill Lankford [English 1977–83], a beloved teacher and Dickens scholar who believed that devoted teaching makes a difference in the lives of young people and that it helps them to fulfill their potentials as intellectuals, citizens, and human beings.

Both winners received a cash prize and a copy of David Copperfield.

Seniors Grasp Philosophy Prize Philosophy majors Eliya Cohen ’15 and John Mills ’15 were recipients of the Edwin N. Garlan Memorial Prize, which recognizes outstanding scholarship in philosphy.

John’s thesis is titled “Revealed Peer Disagreement and The Equal Weight View.” His adviser was Prof. Mark Bedau ’76 [1991–]. He hails from Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

Eliya’s thesis, “Some Considerations on Problems of Time and Tense,” was advised

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by Prof. Mark Hinchliff ’81 [1991–]. In addition to her philosophical leanings, Eliya worked as a lifeguard at the Reed pool. She is from Piedmont, California.

The prize was established by a group of alumni to honor the iconic Prof. Ed Garlan [philosophy 1946–73] and is awarded to graduating seniors who have demonstrated an ability to carry out truly outstanding scholarship in philosophy. It includes a gift certificate for philosophy books.

Mathematics major Maddie Brandt ’15 won the Class of ’21 Award for her thesis on the ErdősKo-Rado theorem.

The award recognizes “work of notable character, involving an unusual degree of initiative and spontaneity.”

Maddie’s thesis carries the rather imposing title “Intersecting Hypergraphs and Decompositions of Complete Uniform Hypergraphs.” As Prof.

David Perkinson [1990–] explains: Maddie’s thesis topic is extremal combinatorics, an area of mathematics with connections to information/ computer science, biology, and statistics . . . It had been suggested to her that a certain result known as the Baranyai theorem might somehow be used to prove the Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem, and Maddie set out to see if that was true.

Her systematic attack on the problem is impressive. She collected and explained seven different known proofs of the Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem in order to understand the range of relevant ideas. She goes on to present why one might hope that the Baranyai theorem might imply Erdős-Ko-Rado, then figures out a way to do a (nontrivial) computer search to find examples that show there is no way this hope can be realized. So at this point, she has solved the problem that had been posed to her, unfortunately, in the negative. I would like to emphasize that this resolution to the problem is almost certainly more difficult than if the result had been positive. Nonetheless, not content with that resolution, she considered what minimal generalization of the Baranyai theorem would be needed to actually prove Erdős-Ko-Rado. In this way, she independently discovered what turns out to be known in the literature as the wreath conjecture. An original result of her thesis is to show that the wreath conjecture is sufficient to prove Erdős-Ko-Rado.

Maddie wrote her thesis with Prof. Angélica Osorno [2013–].

(See page 30.)

Economics Major Earns Meier Prize

Mat Olson ’15 won the Gerald M. Meier Award for Distinction in Economics, given by the economics department for outstanding achievement.

Mat’s thesis was titled “The Relevance of Irrelevance: Exploring Decoy Effect and Conjunction Fallacy,” and his adviser was Prof. Jon Rork [2010–].

“Mat’s thesis explored two phenomena in behavioral economics— the conjunction fallacy and the decoy effect—that explain why people make suboptimal choices in certain scenarios,” Prof. Rork told us. “One thing Mat wanted to look at was whether people exposed to certain types of academic approaches (statistical, logic, linguistic, etc.) were less likely to succumb to these fallacies. No such luck, showing that our innate decision-making processes cannot be ‘taught’ away.” In addition to his scholarly work at Reed, Mat moonlighted as an improv comedian, hosted a talk show, edited the student handbook, and wrote articles for Sallyportal. He hails from Kirkland, Washington.

The Meier Award is named for Jerry Meier ’47, a Rhodes scholar, Guggenheim fellow, and leading expert in the economies of developing nations.

Literature–Theatre Major Nabs Class of ’21 Award Literature-theatre major Leah Artenian ’15 also won the Class of ’21 Award for her senior thesis, an adaptation of Kevin Brockmeier’s short story “The Year of Silence” for the stage.

Leah wrote the script, assembled the cast, and directed the 90-minute production, which played to packed houses at the Blackbox Theatre in Reed’s Per for ming Ar ts Building. Nominating Leah for the award, her advisers Prof. Peter Ksander [theatre 2011–] and Prof. Gail Berkeley Sherman [English 1981–] wrote: Leah’s immensely successful and creative project was ambitious in scope (an hour-and-a-half play), involved translating from one artistic medium to another (short story to devised theatre piece), and included the creation of a highly skilled ensemble of actors from a group that had never worked together before . . .

Leah Artenian ’15 won the Class of ’21 award for her senior thesis adapting “The Year of Silence” for the stage.

Often a literature-theatre thesis will be strong in one aspect but not the other, but Leah’s work was outstanding in every way. The document thoughtfully explores big questions about the nature of narrative, and is equally successful at discussing narratology and the history of devising theatre. It provides an exceptionally well-written, clear, and thoughtful analysis of the process of putting on a successful theatre production. The

production played to large, wellpleased audiences, including both students and faculty.

“I am shocked, touched, and very excited by this news,” Leah said after learning of the award. Her thesis is titled “Listen Well: An Examination of the Relationship between Literary and Theatrical Narratives through a Devised Theatrical Adaptation of Kevin Brockmeier’s ‘The Year of Silence.’”

Chinese Major Wins Unrue Award Chinese major Joan Guldin ’15 won the newly-minted John Gregory Unrue ’84 Memorial Award for her thesis, “Abandoned Trails and False Peaks: A Journey Through the Xiyouji.” Her adviser, Prof. Hyong Rhew [1988–], praised Joan’s thesis as an “original work with masterful reading and beautiful writing.”

Xiyouji, also known in English as The Journey to the West, is a 17th-century Chinese novel about a pilgrimage to the “Western Heaven” to obtain Buddhist scriptures. Joan combed through early records to trace historical and literary depictions of one of its main characters, the monk Tripitaka. In the course of her research, she also translated an early chantefable which had never before been translated into English—“a remarkable achievement,” according to Prof. Rhew. (We suspect it is no coincidence that Joan also recently organized a Reed expedition to the summit of Mount Hood.)

Chinese major Joan Guldin ’15 (center) won the Unrue Award for her thesis. She is flanked by members of the Unrue family, who created the award to honor Greg Unrue ’84.

The Unrue award recognizes outstanding work in the Division of Literature and Languages and comes with a prize of $2,500. It was created with a gift from John and Darlene Unrue in memory of their son Greg Unrue ’84, who died in 2008.

— BY CHRIS LYDGATE ’90

september 2015 Reed magazine

9

Eliot Circular Digital Pioneers Help Reed Design CS Program A formidable array of computing brainpower converged on campus this spring to help Reed think through a long-awaited computer science (CS) program.

The digital elders represented a full spectrum of computing expertise: mathematicians, cryptographers, AI gurus, network wizards, codeslingers, and technology innovators, all focused on a fascinating problem—how Reed can build a computer science program that dovetails with its distinctive mission.

Reed has a long and proud tradition of computing, but has never had a CS department or a CS major. Computing is currently offered through the mathematics

department, but students’ ravenous intellectual appetite for the subject is overtaxing department resources. Since 2007, the number of students enrolled in the introductory CS course has soared from 34 to 102. The

Reed students is immense,” said President John Kroger.

Reed is seeking to raise $5 million to expand the curriculum, establish a major, and hire two new professors.

Demand for computer science among Reed students is immense. college has recently created a CS concentration in mathematics and launched a Software Design Studio to give students more handson coding experience.

“The demand for computer science among

Prof. Jim Fix [mathematics 1999–] outlined Reed’s current curriculum and sketched out some possibilities for expansion, including courses on artificial intelligence, interface design, cryptography, and quantum

Reed Profs Win $2.2 Million in Grants, Set 10-Year Record

BY RANDALL S. BARTON

Professors at Reed won a total of $2,251,849 in research grants in fiscal year 2014–15, the highest figure in at least a decade (and possibly longer).

Prof. Suzy Renn [biology 2006–] won a $618,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate a striking example of maternal behavior—voluntary starvation among African cichlid fish.

Her research could shed light on the evolution of maternal instincts and deepen our understanding of metabolic and feeding disorders.

Prof. Todd Schlenke [biology 2013–] won a $373,000 NIH grant to study one of nature’s most unforgiving arms races— the struggle between fruit flies and venomous parasitic wasps. (May the contest be long and bloody.)

10 Reed magazine september 2015

Prof. Jay Mellies [biology 1999–] won a $362,769 NIH grant to investigate a key regulatory protein that enables a sinister pathogen to sicken children.

Prof. Marc Schneiberg [sociology 2000–] won a $170,824 NSF grant to investigate how community banks and credit unions helped Americans weather the Great Recession.

Prof. Erik Zornik [biology 2012–] won a $444,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to research mechanisms in the brain that generate rhythmic behavior, with the goal of finding new treatments for neurological disorders.

Prof. Noelwah Netusil [economics 1990–] won a $99,256 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate how the restoration of Johnson Creek has affected local property values.

Prof. Kristen Anderson [psychology 2007–] won a $73,000 NIH grant to understand the role gender plays in outcomes from an adolescent alcohol prevention program.

Prof. Rebecca LaLonde ’01 [chemistr y 2013–] won a $40,000 grant from the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement to investigate the heavy metal bismuth as a potential catalyst in the synthesis of medical compounds.

Prof. Paul Silverstein [anthropology 2000–] won a Fulbright fellowship to trace the Moroccan Berber diaspora in Western Europe.

Prof. Angélica Osorno [mathematics 2013–] won a Collaboration Grant for Mathematicians for $35,000 from the Simons Foundation to study infinite loop spaces.

Prof. Osorno and Prof. Kyle Ormsby [mathematics 2014–] also won a $28,000 NSF grant for a conference on Equivariant and Motivic Homotopy Theory.

Prof. Alan Shane Dillingham [history 2014-] won a $6,000 summer stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities to continue an historical study of incorporating native peoples into the national political and economic structures of Latin America.

The total for research grants tops the 10-year record set in FY2003-04. In prior years, Reed did not keep a tally of grants received, so it is unclear if this is an all-time high.

computation. “Reed has an embarrassment of riches,“ Prof. Fix said. “We have great students. They’ll be very dangerous given the breadth and rigor of Reed’s education.”

The digerati shared some striking insights about how to design a strong CS program.

Ivan Sutherland invented the pioneering CAD system Sketchpad, ran the Information Processing Techniques Office for DARPA, and founded the CS program at Caltech. “When I started that program, I got some good advice,” he said. “They told me, ‘You’re too small to do everything.’ And I suggest that’s good advice for Reed.”

Nancy Groschwitz ’74 majored in psychology and paid no attention to computers until she got to grad school, where she taught herself how to program the PDP-8s and went on to become a software developer at Apple. She is passionate about boosting the number of women in computing. “I’m here to make a little noise, talk to people, and see if Reed can help change that,” she said.

Peter Norton ’65, the author of Norton Utilities, emphasized the importance of aesthetics of computing. “Elegant coding is faster and more reliable,” he said. “And we know that aesthetics matter in interface design. So let’s stir art, art history, and graphic design into our computer science major.”

Other digerati included Geoff Baldwin ’62, retired software engineer for Standard Oil Company of California; David Goldschmidt ’65, research consultant, former VP for research for Edgestream Partners; Bob Morris ’65, biodiversity informatician, Harvard; Alan Borning ’71, professor of CS at UW; Don Helfgott ’74, cofounder of Inspiration Software; John Fine ’82, retired program manager, Microsoft; Dayne Freitag ’86, program director, Artificial Intelligence Center, SRI International; Lennon-Day Reynolds ’03, technologist-in-residence for Reed’s Software Design Studio; Jacqueline Freeman and Layton Freeman, cofounders, Hedgemetrix; Steve Romero, founder of Critical Path Software; Rico Mariani, software engineer, Microsoft; David Walter, cofounder of Aldus Corporation; Kurt DelBene, senior executive at Microsoft and Healthcare.gov; and Ed Lazowska, professor of CS and engineering at the University of Washington.

THE LOYAL OWL SOCIETY RECOGNIZES THE STEADFAST SUPPORT OF ALUMNI WHO GIVE TO REED EVERY YEAR.

Are you a Loyal Owl?

Visit giving.reed.edu/loyal-owl to find out.

REED COLLEGE Annual Fund

Empire of the Griffin Connecting Reed alumni across the globe

Alumnae Win Honors

Marianne Buchwalter ’45 and Kathia Emery ’67 are honored

The Foster-Scholz Club bestowed the Distinguished Service Award on two worthy alumnae at Reunions ’15.

Marianne Schybílski Buchwalter ’45 escaped with her family from Nazi Germany and arrived in Portland in 1939—an experience she would later describe in her autobiography Memories of a Berlin Childhood.

She spent two years at Reed, then earned a BA from Stanford and an MSW from Columbia, and trained to be a psychotherapist with Anna Freud. She helped establish the Cooperative Nursery School in Lake Oswego and founded the Oregon Psychoanalytic Foundation. Marianne cofounded the Oregon Contemporary Theatre with Craig Latrell ’74. She has volunteered for the Reed College Women’s Committee, the Friends of the Gallery, the Annual Fund, and Reunions.

Kathia Nauman Emery ’67 is an interior designer specializing in historic restoration and rehabilitation. Her projects (happily) have included restoration of Prexy and the Parker House for Reed, the Waverly Country Club, and the Spotswood, Fields, and Biddle estates. Kathia attended Reed and UNC. She has served on the Foster-Scholz Club steering committee and has volunteered for Reed’s career network, the alumni board, and the international student host program.

She’s a member of the American Society of Interior Designers, the Northwest Society of Interior Designers, the Architectural Heritage Center, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and has won several awards, including the Architectural Heritage Center Preservation in Action Award. Kathia has two sons; she and Jim Kahan ’64 reconnected and married in 2005.

12 Reed magazine September 2015

New Trustees Reed welcomes two alumni to the board of trustees.

Deborah D. Kamali ’85 is an obstetrician and gynecologist at UCSF Women’s Health Center. She previously worked at Women’s Care, a group practice affiliated with Somerset Medical Center in New Jersey. She began her career on the faculty of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Deb graduated from Reed with a BA in biology and earned an MD from OHSU. She has served as chair of Reed’s Strategic Planning Partners and has participated in Working Weekend and as a career network volunteer. Deb and her husband, Kevan Shokat ’86, have three children, including Kasra, who graduated from Reed in 2014, and Mitra, who has just completed her first year.

Dylan Rivera ’95 is a public information officer for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, where he advises

Commissioner Steve Novick on media and communications. He is passionate about urban development and the importance of transportation for quality of life. Before entering public service, he was a newspaper reporter for 14 years, most of them at the Oregonian.

Dylan earned his BA from Reed in political science. He has been a career network volunteer, has served on the alumni board, and has participated in Working Weekend and the Oral History Project. He has advised Reed students and alumni on entering the communications field. As a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, he is working on opportunities for ensuring access to Reed for minorities and economically disadvantaged students.

Dylan and his wife, Ramona Perrault, have one child.

He was appointed for a four-year term as an alumni trustee.

Captivated by New Orleans Some lucky alumni enjoyed a travel study trip to New Orleans during the French Quarter Music Festival in April. The weekend kicked off with a reception at the historic home of Juliet Laughlin ’88 and her husband Tim, where Davis Rogan ’90 played tunes on a lovely grand piano and gave an overview of the great musicians who were on stage at the festival. The evening ended at a local club where Tim took the stage to play traditional New Orleans jazz.

The next day, we visited with Prof. Mark Burford [music 2007–], who spent his sabbatical researching gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and who treated us to an insightful overview of her life and work.

Through the generosity of the Historic New Orleans Collection, and assistant director Daniel Hammer ’00, we got up

Prof. Mark Burford talks Mahalia Jackson

close to historic maps, books, and artwork that comprise this fantastic collection. Imagine what it was like to look at a map of the Gulf Coast from the 1500s— a mere decade after Columbus’ voyages!

The trip got rave reviews and we’re planning another soon. Watch for updates at alumni.reed.edu.

photos by Leah Nash & Christopher Onstott

REUNIONS 2015

An impressive 1,433 classmates and allied life forms—one of the biggest turnouts ever—descended on campus for Reunions ’15. Alumni of recent vintage (’06–’15) made a particularly impressive showing, with 328 classmates. What drew them back?

[Clockwise from left] Pyrotechnic bursts of joy on the Great Lawn. Tributes to retiring professors in Cerf amphitheatre. A carnival outside Eliot Hall. Hot tunes by bluesman Davis Rogan ’90 in the student union. The epic all-class parade culminating in a giant feast on the Quad.

Check out more photos at reunions.reed.edu, and mark your calendar for Reunions ’16, slated for June 8–12.

Alumni Alter Constitution

Deep in the Heart of Texas

At its meetings during 2014–15, the alumni board unanimously approved and recommended to the membership several revisions to the constitution and bylaws of the Reed College Alumni Association. The intent of the revisions is to bring the governance documents in line with association and board practices, rather than to change

Alumni explored Austin, Texas, and the legacy of former president Lyndon B. Johnson on a travel study trip to the Texas Hill Country. Tracy Poe ’91 and Greg Sullivan ’90 treated us to an amazing evening of local food and drink while we took in the 360-degree view from their new home. Thunder, lightning, and rain added an unforgetable element to the experience. A wonderful discovery that evening was that Greg and Tracy and Laura Leviton ’72 and Sheldon Hochheiser ’72, as well, reconnected for their second marriages because of Reed.

those practices.

See the proposed changes at alumni.reed.edu. Pursuant to Article VIII, these changes shall take effect 30 days after publication of this magazine. A copy of the recommended changes is also available upon request by contacting Reed College Alumni Relations, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., Portland OR 97202-8199.

september 2015 Reed magazine 13

The Last Lectures Saluting our retiring (and not-so-retiring) professors

Fire in the Belly To the locals in South Korea he is known as kaeguri paksa, “frog doctor.” But to his students, he will always be Bob. After 32 years, Prof. Robert Kaplan [bio 1983– 2015] is retiring.

“Given that so many in the world miss out on good fortune, one might worry that to educate a few so brilliantly is unfair,” he says. “And yet, many are so goodhearted and will take what they learned here and do a lot of good in the world. They are out making the world a much better place because of their exposure to Reed’s attitudes toward things like poverty, diversity, and injustice. They don’t take their education for granted.”

As a boy growing up in Brooklyn, Kaplan loved small animals and made excursions to Woolworth’s for pet turtles. After his parents purchased a cabin in the woods, his summers were filled with studying critters, fueling his determination to become a field biologist.

At Brooklyn College, he honed his vision for studying the natural world and graduated in 1970, a time when zero population growth (ZPG) was seen as the panacea for many of the world’s ills. But ZPG lost primacy as the United States ceased being a role model for cultural change in the rest of the world.

As a graduate student at the City University of New York and postdoctoral fellow at the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, UC Berkeley, Kaplan longed to study animals in the wilderness.

But he came to realize that a pristine wilderness was a romantic notion that no longer existed.

“With the world becoming so crowded, we have to redefine what wilderness is, because there really isn’t anything unaffected by humans on the planet anymore,” he says. “The atmosphere, the air that we breathe, and our water are all interconnected globally. No matter where you are on the planet, there are human impacts on what we might have ideally thought of as wilderness.”

Kaplan began teaching at Reed in 1983, earning a reputation for his imaginative and enthusiastic style. He

14 Reed magazine september 2015

worked side by side with undergraduates investigating population biology, ecology, and evolution, involving students in rigorous research.

His own research has focused on the ecology, genetics, and development of the

looking carefully at a situation, being rigorous, and taking down all the observations you possibly can.”

“Bob was very gracious to me,” says Dave, who now runs his own lab at the University of Washington. “He taught me

“He taught me a certain kind of humanity . . .” —Dave Parichy ’91 Asian fire-bellied toad, Bombina orientalis, a model organism for studies in embryology and ecology because it can be bred in the laboratory every 10 weeks, is long lived, and is accessible in the field.

Kaplan began traveling to South Korea to freshen his stock of toads and study them in their natural habitat. Dave Parichy ’91 was one of the students that accompanied him in the summer of ’89.

“It was an unbelievable experience that shaped everything from then on,” Dave remembers. “I began to understand how much can be learned by just

a certain kind of humanity about the way I think about science and the way I interact with my students.”

After finishing up projects in his lab at Reed, Kaplan is expanding his interests to the amphibians of the deserts in Southern California and the influence of climate change on vertebrate distributions in the Mojave desert. He will also continue to collaborate with Korean colleagues and cochair the Amphibian Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission.

—RANDALL S. BARTON

Literary Epicure In a convocation address, Prof. Roger Porter [English 1961–2015] once explained that the word memory had not always meant the power to recall.

“Originally,” he said, “the term designated a constant, concentrated abiding with something—not just with something that has passed, but with what is present and with what may come.”

As the celebrated English professor retires from Reed, he abides with what has passed.

Prof. Porter was a student at Amherst, locked and loaded for law school, when he traveled on break with a friend to South Africa. Jungle sounds breached the walls of their thatched hut in Kruger Park as he read from a thin volume of Yeats’ poems.

A crystalline thought formed in his head: “This is what I want to do—keep reading poetry and literature.”

During his senior year he invited his thesis adviser to come for wine and cheese.

“I’d love to,” the adviser replied, “but Robert

well-known in Portland and nominated for best restaurant criticism in America by the James Beard Foundation.

“For me there’s a connection between the pleasure I take in writing and the pleasure I take in food, so it was wonderful to have the chance to combine those two hedonisms,” he says. “Restaurant

Porter also authored three books on the subject of autobiography, The Voice Within: Reading and Writing Autobiography; Self-Same Songs: Autobiographical Performances and Reflections; and Bureau of Missing Persons: Writing the Secret Lives of Fathers.

He’s had a lifelong devotion to the

“ This is what I want to do—keep reading poetry and literature.” —Roger Porter Frost is in town and staying with us.”

“Bring him along,” Porter replied.

For five hours Frost feted Porter and his roommates with stories about Yeats and T.S. Eliot. “We were agog,” Porter remembers. “I thought to myself, ‘To hell with law school.’”

He got his MA from Yale (and a PhD in 1967), and began teaching at Reed.

Generations of Reedies discoursed with him on Shakespeare, modern drama and fiction, and life writing. Today the student body is more diverse, Porter says, but their work and interests haven’t changed much.

“Students stand out for being not just inquisitive but skeptical and often pugnaciously opposed to the dominant trend of the culture—that has been Reed from day one.”

By day, he was an eminent professor, but at night he took on the mantle of restaurant critic and food writer—becoming

reviews are very different from academic writing. It loosened my tongue and gave me a kind of freedom. I could be playful.”

Porter had a reputation for crafting toothsome bons mots. An Italian restaurant opened in Portland, decorated with paintings of the Mona Lisa, Botticelli’s Venus, and Adam from the Sistine Chapel all sporting long, wooden noses. The restaurant was named Pinocchio’s and Porter was impressed with neither the decor nor the food.

“I cannot tell a lie,” he wrote. “Pinocchio needs more than a makeover. Like the puppet, it needs a rhinoplasty.”

Recently he has been working on Eating Words: The Norton Anthology of Food Writing, a collection that begins with the food taboos in Leviticus and then folds in ingredients such as essays by Thoreau on watermelons, Chekhov on oysters, Upton Sinclair on the stockyards, and of course, the piquant Proust.

theatre. In the ’70s, he began directing plays at Reed and in Portland, and later was on the board of Artists Repertory Theatre.

On an impulse, he pitched the director of Portland parks with the idea of staging A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Washington Park. She immediately penciled him in for a summer music festival beginning in three days.

“But you don’t know anything about me,” he said incredulously. “I’m a professor at Reed.”

“Well,” she replied, “we all have to start somewhere.”

Despite a predilection for autobiographies, Porter has no plans to write his own.

He’s interested in starting a business to cater to tourists flocking to Portland as a food destination. Clearly he would give them some food for thought.

—RANDALL S. BARTON

september 2015 Reed magazine 15

The Last Lectures Saluting our retiring (and not-so-retiring) professors

Passion for the Unknown For Prof. Maryanne McClellan [biology 1982–2015] it was never about whether her students went on to a career in biology; a Reed education set them up for doing all kinds of things.

“It’s about the passion,” she says. “You start out with curiosity, which can be random and unfocused. But if somebody’s able to help you see how to be disciplined, you can turn that into disciplined passion, and then you can just do it for yourself.”

Prof. McClellan, the Laurens N. Ruben Professor of Biology, has been a fan of the biology department’s teaching paradigm since she interviewed for the job 33 years ago.

“It’s in the lab associated with the course that you learn the tools that scientists use and the way they ask questions in that field,” she says. “When you partner up with a faculty member, discuss your ideas, and develop a project that may or may not succeed—that’s where you start to get energized and excited about science.”

As an undergraduate at Auburn University, McClellan’s innate interest in cell biology progressed into an investigation of how metabolism is organized in the cells. Then, during her graduate career at Colorado State, she began studying hormones—specifically how female sex steroid synthesis is compartmentalized in different subcellular structures within ovarian cells. Her postdoctoral work focused on the relationships between the specific receptors through which female sex steroids act and their target cells in the female reproductive tract.

McClellan was researching estrogen action in the Brenner lab at Oregon Regional Primate Research Center when she saw the advertisement for a faculty position in cell biology at Reed. In a twist of fate, her postdoctoral mentor, a Reed chemistry parent, explained Reed’s special academic program.

She discovered it to be a place where students take ownership of amazing ideas and then go to work in the laboratory, solving the technical problems that spring up.

16 Reed magazine september 2015

“Being willing to accept some failures and defeats is what makes or breaks you as a scientist,” McClellan says. “If everything works perfectly the first time, it’s guaranteed not to repeat. You learn way more from things that don’t go well, because in science that’s often telling you where to go next or how to modify your thesis.”

Eric Kofoed ’99, a graduate student in molecular and cell biology at the UC Berkeley, pinpoints McClellan’s introduc-

students made teaching so much fun with their energy and eagerness.

“If you ever said ‘I don’t know’ to a question somebody asked, the students were all over it,” she recalls. “A day or so later somebody would have found a paper or a lead, and they’d want to sit and chat about it. They taught me that they’re going to do most of the work, but they have to be encouraged to know that this is the frontier, this question is out there.”

“ Being willing to accept some failures and defeats is what makes or breaks you as a scientist.” —Maryanne McClellan tory cellular biology lecture as the most transformational moment in his career.

“I remember being shocked and intrigued at the beauty and perfection of complex cellular processes built over time from relatively simple molecules,” he says. “The complexity of life and its processes continue to astound me.”

On the eve of her retirement, McClellan remembers that Reed

McClellan concedes that being a Reed student isn’t easy.

“Working as hard as you can possibly muster during those four years gives you an intellectual advantage,” she says. “The world doesn’t run on the latte-sipping crowd. Reedies are great at being part of the world that’s running things, and I love that about them.”

—RANDALL S. BARTON

The Man Who Knows Everything Students, professors, and alumni all agree: Prof. David Sacks [history 1986–2015] commands his field with a grasp that verges on the superhuman. Over the decades, he earned the reputation at Reed as “the professor who knows everything.”

Prof. Sacks earned his PhD at Harvard, where he studied under the eminent historian Wallace T. MacCaffrey ’42, who was a profound influence. Since receiving his PhD in 1977, he has written more than 25 scholarly articles, published an edition of Thomas More’s Utopia, and authored The Widening Gate: Bristol and the Atlantic Economy, 1450–1700, considered a foundational text in the field of Atlantic history, of which he is a pioneer. “He was one of the first scholars to recognize that English history was always about much more than England,” says Brian Cowan ’92, one of Sacks’ thesis students who is now a professor at McGill University.

Over the years, Sacks taught courses

“ He was one of the first scholars to recognize that English history was always about more than England.”

—Brian Cowan ’92 on a dazzling range of topics that crossed geographical, chronological, and thematic boundaries. His courses were among the most intellectually rigorous in an intellectually rigorous college, with notorious reading loads. Several alumni have described him as one of the most challenging professors they have ever encountered. “There was almost no higher praise as a history major at Reed than to elicit a half smile from David by correctly identifying the central idea he was obliquely leading you towards,” says Scott Foreman-Murray ’06. “That smile, perhaps accompanied by a few small nods, was especially well earned if you could meaningfully answer one of his favorite questions, ‘So what?’”

“Never before in my academic life,” recalls Joshua Newton ’06, “had I undergone the kind of intellectual

calisthenics that I did in David’s Atlantic World seminar.”

Sacks’ range of knowledge is legendary.

“He could tell you that the year Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus was published was the same year that Sabbatai Zevi, the Jewish pseudo-messiah, apostatized to Islam and devastated thousands of Jews throughout the Early Modern world,” says Andrew Berns ’02, now a visiting fellow at Harvard. “He could tell you about Thomas More’s legal career and early education; styles of Latin poetry in the Quattrocento; the price of wool in England and Spain in the sixteenth century; shipping routes between Aragonese possessions in the Mediterranean and northern European ports; excise taxes on mead and malmsey in London; the approximate number of ships the Ottoman fleet lost in the Battle of Lepanto; Rabelais’s method of learning

Greek; the economic background to the Dutch Revolt; radical thinkers in Spinoza’s time you never heard of, who may have anticipated some of his political ideas; Milton’s divorce tracts and the economic influences on their composition; classical scholarship in Oxford and Cambridge; Lorenzo Valla’s rhetorical strategies in proving that the Donation of Constantine was a forgery; and so on, ad infinitum.”

Sacks earned many accolades during his career, including a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies, three NEH Fellowships, a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars fellowship, fellowships to the John Carter Brown and Folger Shakespeare Libraries, and visiting research fellowships to the United Kingdom. In addition to these awards and honors, he sat on the editorial boards of Journal of British Studies and Journal of the History of Ideas, was elected a Life Member of Clare Hall at Cambridge University, has served as a visiting professor at Yale, and is Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

—CHRIS LYDGATE ’90

september 2015 Reed magazine 17

Adventures in the First Person

A Witness to Baltimore

BY ANNA EVANS-GOLDSTEIN ’10

I’m surrounded by teenagers whose emotions are running high, attempting to hand out slips of paper with the local Jail Support number on them when a rock hits me squarely in the chest. Shit, that hurt, I think, scooting towards a nearby bush for shelter. A rubber pellet whizzes by my head and down the block I see a cloud of pepper spray billowing towards the sidewalk. A 30-strong convoy of police cars, shiny black SUVs, a van, and an armored tank race down the street while the screaming crowd hurls rocks at their windshields. I size up the situation and realize: it’s time to get the hell out of here.

I’m not in Fallujah, I’m not in Damascus, and I’m not in Cairo. I’m in Baltimore City, Maryland, my hometown, on Monday, April 27, 2015, the start of what the national media

18 Reed magazine september 2015

would dub “the Baltimore riots.” But the sensational media narrative of a city dissolving into violence was a lot more complicated on the ground. Baltimore may have burst into flames that day, but the city has been smoldering for a long time.

The spark was the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man from an impoverished neighborhood on the Westside. On April 12, police stopped Gray on the street; he ran.

They chased him, caught him, and arrested him for carrying a small lock-blade knife. The police cuffed him and loaded him into a van without buckling him in, and then made several stops, constituting what is referred to as a “rough ride,” before ending at the station.

In between running from the police and the final destination, Gray’s spine was 80% severed. He died from complications a week later.

I grew up in Baltimore. Since graduating

Anna (right) witnessed the protests as a volunteer legal observer.

Anna Evans-Goldstein ’10

shields and shouting, “Move back!”

It was with some apprehension that I responded to the call for a legal observer at Mondawmin Mall on what became Riot Monday. I had just left a meeting downtown and decided I could stop by on my way home.

I parked my car half a block from the mall and walked towards the screams and the smoke. The crowd consisted largely of students from nearby Frederick Douglass High School—most of them from the same neighborhood as Gray. I was the only white person within view who was not wearing a police uniform. The mood was powerful, unfocused, and angry. Apparently the police had heard about

While the media zeroed in on the storefront looting, it downplayed or ignored the discrepancies in income, housing, opportunity, and health . . .

from Reed, I’ve worked in some of its most impoverished neighborhoods supporting residents’ efforts to transform vacant lots into community gardens, urban farms, and pocket parks. After Gray died, I decided to volunteer as a legal observer through the National Lawyers Guild. My job was to watch the protests objectively to ensure the legality and safety of all those involved.

Except for Riot Monday, the protests were peaceful. Protesters marched for eight hours on Saturday, April 25, with remarkably little presence from law enforcement. But after nightfall, police started using increasingly aggressive tactics involving riot gear and mounted horses. I saw at least six people pepper sprayed; two youths break through the windshield of a cop car; and a line of 50 police officers in riot gear charge at protesters, banging their batons against their

a note that had allegedly been passed around at the school that mentioned the movie The Purge, where all criminal activity is legalized for a 12-hour period. The authorities’ reaction was to: 1) shut down public transportation to Mondawmin, which is right next to the high school; 2) let school out early; and 3) flood the area with police officers in riot gear.

The students spilled out of school to find all buses gone, the subway stopped, and a line of riot police blocking their way home, prepared to confront them as if they were the enemy.

This is what ignited the violence. The youths spread out over a large area to get around the police lines and were joined by adults as they made their way towards Pennsylvania and North avenues—the focus of the Gray protests.

As night fell, a number of storefronts were vandalized and some looted. The media pounced on the narrative of the “riots in Baltimore.”

In succession, Mayor Stephanie RawlingsBlake announced a curfew and Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and sent in the National Guard. The police borrowed officers from as far away as New Jersey. For the following week, Baltimore was an occupied city, locked down. Ignoring the peaceful protests from the weekend before, the week of nonviolent marching the week

after, talking heads on both national and local news shows lamented, “What a shame, why did they destroy their neighborhood?”

If there’s one thing that I learned at Reed, it is to look at context, whether that’s hermeneutics, history, family structure, or political configuration. So what is the Baltimore context?

One third of the city’s residents earn less than $25,000 a year; 20% of families live below the federal poverty line; unemployment stands at 15%. Baltimore has a longstanding and serious problem with drug addiction, as depicted by the HBO show The Wire. Racist housing practices such as redlining, blockbusting, and restrictive covenants translated into de facto segregation and some of the worst economic mobility in the country. Between the 1950s and today, Baltimore City lost more than onethird of its population during a period regularly referred to as “white flight.” It is often said, “People left the city and forgot to take their houses,” leaving whole blocks of abandoned houses and vacant lots.

Did the people of Baltimore destroy property on Riot Monday? Yes. But the national conversation we ought to have is about the destruction of black lives. While the media zeroed in on the storefront looting, it downplayed or ignored the discrepancies in income, housing, opportunity, and health— the frontal assault on black lives in Baltimore symbolized by the death of Freddie Gray.

I will never forget the week my hometown became a police state. My chest constricts and my throat clenches when I think what it felt like seeing armored vehicles and M16s on my walk to work. But the bitter truth is that many Baltimoreans live their lives under the steely glare of the police, knowing that a chance encounter could end in death.

It may sound strange, but I was proud of my city during the uprising. While the internet crackled with broken glass, I saw people from rival gangs standing side by side holding peace signs. While news anchors deplored the descent into lawlessness, I watched hundreds of volunteers pick up trash and deliver supplies. I saw medics protecting protestors, and legal observers waiting outside the jail to provide support for those arrested. I saw coalitions forming around essential fights. The issues facing Baltimore are enormous and complicated. But that doesn’t mean we give up— that means we get educated and get working.

Anna E. Evans-Goldstein ’10 was a religion major at Reed and runs the Community Greening Resource Network in Baltimore City.

september 2015 Reed magazine 19

The Art of the Conference

Is there a secret formula for great classroom discussion?

Introduction

by Prof. Kathryn Oleson [psychology 1995–]

illustration for reed magazine by golden cosmos

20 Reed magazine september 2015

What is the secret (or not-so-secret) formula for a great Reed conference? We asked seven professors representing all five academic divisions to share their insights on this subject— one of the most important, but also most elusive, aspects of a Reed education.

As you read through their responses, you’ll see that preparation and imagination are fundamental.

Professors must select challenging course readings, devise an adaptable plan to guide classroom discussion, forge a sense of community, and prepare themselves to take risks.

But it’s not enough for students just to show up—their preparation, commitment, and engagement are equally vital. Indeed, when professors inspire students to share the responsibility for class together, we experience that Reed moment— communal ownership of learning.

The hard work of education becomes the joy of discovery.

A t Re e d ’s ne w Center for Teaching and Learning, we are

honored to have become the repository for the college’s collective pedagogical practice and look forward to the student-, staff- and facultygenerated innovations to come. We encourage you to share your observations and hone your teaching and learning skills in affirmation of Reed’s traditions.

Prof. Oleson is the director of Reed’s Center for Teaching and Learning. She has been associate editor of the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology and coeditor of the Handbook of the Uncertain Self. Her research is focused on the ways the social self reacts in challenging academic contexts, concentrating primarily on self-doubt, achievement goals, academic procrastination, and behavioral strategies.

Find out more about the Center for Teaching at Learning at reed.edu/ctl.

Learning from the Inside Out

by Prof. Jennifer Henderlong Corpus [psychology 2000–]

Students learn best when they’re intrinsically motivated—when they’re guided by curiosity and interest, and given the opportunity to tackle challenges. Intrinsic motivation is powerful because it sustains beyond the walls of the classroom and provides a foundation for learning and life. Nobody at Reed needs to be convinced of this.

But intrinsic motivation is a fragile virtue, even for Reedies. Research shows that students can only maintain intrinsic motivation when their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met. A great conference, then, is one that supports these psychological needs.

So what does that look like?

Autonomy is supported when students see value in what they’re learning. How this is accomplished certainly varies by discipline, but in my field of developmental psychology we often consider how theory and research inform practice. For example, my students consider how socialization research guides the production of Sesame Street, how motivation research makes a case against high-stakes

testing, and how developmental theories shed light on service-learning experiences. Of course, autonomy support is inherent to the conference method itself. When students take responsibility for their own learning through active discussion and debate, they become co-creators of knowledge. This sense of ownership is critical for fostering intrinsic motivation.

Competence flourishes when learning is structured, perhaps ironically even in a student-centered conference setting. This often means opening each conference with a few minutes of contextualizing commentary, followed by an “invisible” lesson plan of prompts and observations that guide students toward essential themes. Conference can also be structured through preparatory activities: In introductory psychology, for example, students complete written questions before conference that require them to extract design elements and interpret numerical data from each primary source reading. This type of scaffolding not

only provides tools for understanding but also sends the important message that competence itself can grow.

Relatedness is supported when students feel security and connectedness in their learning environments. In my experience, this requires ongoing dialogue about active listening, openness to differences, and the learning that comes from articulating our ideas to others. It involves referring to students by name, and encouraging them to talk to each other and build on one another’s contributions.

It requires making space for all voices to enter the conversation. Research shows clearly that emotionally supportive classrooms promote well-being, intrinsic motivation, and achievement. We are drawn toward connection with others, and a great conference recognizes this aspect of our humanity.

Prof. Corpus is an expert on academic motivation and has conducted extensive research on the role of praise.

She was named Oregon Professor of the Year in 2014.

september 2015 Reed magazine 21

Conference Method

Each Class is Unique

by Prof. Kate Ming T’ien Duffly [theatre 2012–]

Each conference group has its own unique culture. What works for one group might not work for another group. Recognizing this is one key element of a great conference. One of the things that makes Reed classes so exciting to teach is that they often include a mix of students from across the college. For example, in my recent class, “Race and Identity in American Theatre,” there were many theatre majors, but also majors from anthropology, chemistry, economics, psychology, and sociology departments. Because students in any given course do often bring such a wide range of areas of interest and relative expertise as well as learning styles, I typically begin the semester by working with the students to collectively create a set of guidelines unique to that group. These guidelines become our commitment as a group to actively engage in creating a productive and rewarding class together.

When composing these guidelines, I start by asking the students to consider what makes for productive discussions. How can we encourage participation and hear everyone’s voice? What do we do if a controversy arises?

What do we do if we are feeling silenced? We then generate a list as a large group. As a group we also discuss some of the delicate aspects of cultivating an inclusive and productive classroom conversation, particularly when discussing a difficult or provocative topic. We generate

22 Reed magazine september 2015

ideas about how to remain engaged in the conversation even when we may be feeling afraid to contribute to the discussion. And we talk about experiencing discomfort with difficult conversations—for example about race, racism, and privilege—and allowing for moments of not knowing. Through such conversations, students have invariably come up with excellent guidelines for class, such as:

it emphasizes. These guidelines are thus a good opportunity to affirm that this is a unique group that has formed for one semester and must commit to each other and the class. They have proven to be an effective way of bringing the class together around an agreed-upon set of goals and guidelines and encouraging the active participation of all members of the class.

“Let the classroom be a space to test ideas.”

“Make space for people to talk: Step up and step aside.”

“Disagree compassionately.”

“Accept when you are wrong and move on.”

“Don’t make assumptions about people.”

“Recognize the difference between feeling uncomfortable and unsafe.”

“Assume the best intentions in others.”

At the halfway point of the semester, we check in as a group with our guidelines to see if we have been keeping our commitment to the class. Though there are often overlaps, each group’s list also varies in terms of the ideas or ethic that

Prof. Duffly is a scholar-director and communityengaged theatre artist with a PhD in performance studies from UC-Berkeley. Her interests include acting, directing, socially engaged and communitybased theatre, 20th- and 21st-century American theatre, race theory and performance, feminist performance, and food as/in performance.

Getting out of the Way

By Prof. Walter Englert [classics 1981–]

Writing about what makes a good Reed conference isn’t easy, since there are many different models of conference teaching at Reed. I teach four kinds of courses: Greek and Latin language courses, advanced literature courses in Greek and Latin, Humanities 110, and classics courses taught in English translation. How I teach these different types of conferences varies, but no matter what the course, I have found that a great conference includes a number of essential ingredients: compelling material, a well-thought-out syllabus, students and faculty who are committed to going deeply into the material, and a willingness to learn from one another. In addition, the best conferences I have been a part of are ones in which I can gradually get out of the way, becoming less of a traditional teacher and more of a guide.

A good conference starts with an engaging topic and a syllabus made up

The best conferences I have been a of thought-provoking readings part of are ones in which I can gradually arranged in a sequence that get out of the way, becoming less of a enables the participants to get up to speed quickly and go traditional teacher and more of a guide. deeper as the semester goes on.

Everyone is responsible for reading the going. Writing also plays an important role, material carefully and contributing to class whether in writing out points before conferdiscussions. At the beginning of a semes- ence to share with others, posting thoughts ter, some people talk readily, while others on a class Moodle, or developing ideas furare more reticent. But as the semester pro- ther in papers. gresses, faculty and students find a balance Ultimately, when a conference functions in conference participation, as those who well, it is an amazing experience. It allows talk a lot learn to be more focused and con- all participants in the class, faculty and stucise, while others find their voices and con- dents alike, to learn from the texts and each tribute more to the discussion. As the group other. There is a sense of joy in taking the becomes more cohesive, members challenge material to a deeper level of understanding, each other to go further, helping everyone to and becoming part of a group that learns engage with the material more productively. together and is deeply invested in how much Ideally, there should also be opportunities each one of us learns. for everyone to have a chance to lead the Prof. Englert is the Omar and Althea Hoskins Professor conference, taking responsibility for asking of Classical Studies and Humanities and teaches Humanities 110, Greek, Latin, and ancient philosophy. key questions and keeping the conversation

Nourishing Discord

By Prof. Sarah Schaack [biology 2011–]

Orin Zyvan ’04

different strengths. In any class, there of the paper to class to participate in In my classes, our discussions center on are mavens who can find data and the discussion, thereby giving stupapers from the primary scientific literadetails quickly. There are also those dents the chance to pose their questure. Typically, they are very difficult—both who are great at not missing the fortions to the author, not the ether.

This conceptually and technically. In addition, in est for the trees. One goal of a good provides a window into the process of most cases there is a substantial foundation conference is to practice, develop, and science, its communication, and the true of previous theoretical and experimental reward people for their strengths as discuscomplexity underlying the text.

work, much of which cannot be explained sants—but another is to try and help them The “Author, Not Ether” series arms studue to space constraints, upon which any appreciate and develop in the areas they feel dents for deeper and more generous discusgiven paper that we are discussing is delweak in. Although I icately perched. rarely need to fuel Despite the diffiAs one of my students once said, “if it wasn’t hard, it wouldn’t be any fun.” the discussion, I culty presented by occasionally act as translator, fact checker, sions of texts, even when the author is not reading, understanding, and learning from framer of contexts, or provocateur.

present, as is typically the case.

In discussion, a scientific paper at the margins of one’s A truly great conference is one where we reading and exploring the text and the data knowledge, or the margins of all knowledge, not only unpack the study we are reading often leads to a plurality of interpretations, this challenge is what makes such discusabout at the moment, but go further. When disagreements, and more questions. These sions joyful, productive, and rewarding. As kinds of engagement, dissent, and controwe can bring our diversity of backgrounds one of my students once said, “if it wasn’t versy are a regular and positive feature of a to a specific paper and link its questions hard, it wouldn’t be any fun.” good discussion.

Nourishing discord, while and discoveries to the broader landscape As a conference leader, my main goal is to maintaining an encouraging environment, of knowledge based on the primary literaprovide a forum for all voices. This begins by is the most difficult part of leading a discus- ture as a whole—that is a great discussion. welcoming questions, many of which can be sion that matters and is memorable. answered from evidence, but many of which Prof. Schaack is an expert on genetics, genomics, Leading a discussion involves tending to cannot be answered, or cannot be answered transposable elements, and mutation. the fine balance between discussants with yet. In one of my classes, I invite an author

september 2015 Reed magazine 23

When It Clicks

Plan for the Unexpected

It was mid-semester and students in my large seminar on late imperial China now knew each other’s names, as well as our expectations for each class: reading, pondering, and being prepared to discuss the assignment (R. Bachelor’s “The Seldon map rediscovered” and T. Brook’s “Gazetteer cartography of Ye Chunji”).

Four students had each prepared two discussion questions (DQs), and those questions were now in everyone’s hands. But right now, several important decisions were mine to make. Should I start with Jan’s questions? She had articulated some especially complex ideas but they might not engender active discussion. Would colleagues understand why she had asked us to imagine the Ming cartographer arguing with his literati field staff over surveying techniques? Perhaps start with Silas, a first-year student who rarely spoke in class? Would he shy away from the articulate ideas I often found in his written work if I The fundamentals called on him first? The order for success rely on of questions on the handout seemed the most logical way common practices and to go, but Phil’s was first and cultivated habits. he’s been overly talkative these last few meetings. Maybe start with Sarah’s #2, which referred to the maps of border regions and the paintings of frontier aborigines that we analyzed on Wednesday. I know we need that review.

As it turned out, four students had written critical summaries of the reading. Combined with the thoughtful DQs, that morning’s discussion was primed for success. Yet the fundamentals for success rely on common practices and cultivated habits. Early in the semester, we had created a set of criteria for excellent DQs. Précis assignments and my systematic guidance of reading strategies had encouraged careful, critical reading of the assignments. Seminar colleagues were familiar with each other now, and they thrived on the healthy competition that had emerged from mutual stimulation and diligent preparation. I had remembered not to assign too much reading, to keep us focused on DQ-writers’ problematics, and to guide discussion, not derail it.

And I was lucky to have Ben’s coherent and subtle explanation of a key term (Ye’s relational grid) that many did not comprehend, and Jill’s concise summary of the morning’s insights when our 50-minute class was about to end. When it clicks like this, I know why I love my job.

For me, teaching means having a categorization or the framing of the Plan A, a Plan B, and a willingness Constitution? How might I arrange to abandon both if something more the students and even the furniinteresting or important happens. ture to promote different kinds of The mystique around Reed’s confer- interactions? What would happen ence model is that intellectual con- if students sat face-to-face in small versations unfold organically the clusters of four, rather than around moment everyone comes into the a gigantic table? room. When that happens, it is On a good day, I come into class indeed magical. But magic is with a sense of how I want to unreliable, especially when approach each of these aspects it’s ten weeks into the of the class, and I have a backsemester and you haven’t up plan if my initial inclinaseen the sun in 21 days. tions don’t work (that’s the I apply to conference “Plan B”). Some days we end up teaching and learning what Max doing none of the things that I had Weber said of social science research: planned, and we still have a great “Ideas come when we do not expect conference. Preparation doesn’t them, and not when we are brood- mean sticking to a script. ing and searching at our desks. Yet Planning and preparing are ideas would certainly not come to those “ingredients” that I try to mind had we not brooded at our bring to the table as a teacher. But desks and searched for answers with in a conference that goes well, the passionate devotion.” students have done those very same The preparation I do before class things—they’ve not only finished is the “brooding and searching” that reading Harriet Jacobs’s autobiogwill (with any luck) spark greater raphy, Incidents in the Life of a Slave insight and wonder when we are Girl, but they’ve contemplated all together in the classroom. What how it compares to another classic questions will cut to the core of a slave narrative we’ve just read by Supreme Court opinion or a nar- Frederick Douglass. That way, the rative about a shoePreparation doesn’t mean sticking to a script. maker’s role in the American Revolution? Is there conference benefits from all of our an image from antislavery propa- separate “brooding and searching,” ganda or a passage from an 18th- and we move closer in the short century novel that might offer a time we are together toward fulfillprovocative entry point? Would a ing and furthering the curiosity that map, a timeline, or a brief discus- brought us there in the first place. sion of the scholarly literature pro- Prof. Minardi is the author of Making Slavery History: Abolitionism and the Politics vide useful context? How might I of Memory in Massachusetts. In addition to encourage students to think about Humanities 110, she teaches classes on what’s at stake (intellectually, politi- early American history, race, and social reform movements. cally, morally) in the history of racial

By Prof. Douglas Fix [history 1990–]

Prof. Fix leads seminars on the history of China and Japan, and is part of the faculty that teaches Reed’s unique multidisciplinary course on Chinese humanities.

24 Reed magazine september 2015

By Prof. Margot Minardi [history 2007–]

leah nash

Conference Method

The Dangerous Journey

By Prof. Charlene Makley [anthropology 2000–]

In my way of thinking, the ideal conference at Reed, like the intellectual journey of anthropology in general, is dangerous.

But not just to those who might feel shy or marginalized in such communal encounters.

For if we acknowledge that Reed conferences, regardless of subject matter, are highstakes performances in which students and professors’ intellectual selves are on display, we have to move beyond the theatrics of what I call the “brains-on-sticks” model of conference dynamics to create a space in which all participants can be open to the unexpected.

In my 15 years of teaching anthropology and Chinese studies at Reed, the best conferences I have had were multivoiced conversations in which we trusted each other enough to pose real risks to the presumptions, as well as to the personas we had brought to the room. This is not the danger of soul-crushing intellectual conquest, but, just as in anthropological research, the challenge of holistic intellectual experimentation, the courage to open one’s self to others and to other worlds.

If we are to realize the promise of the liberal arts education that a Reed conference supposedly embodies, we have to ask ourselves what does it really mean to share time? The anthropologist Johannes Fabian

famously differentiated the state of In the ideal Reed conference, the subject shared (or “coeval”) time from mere simultaneous presence on the one matter is less relevant than the delicate work hand (e.g., occupying a classroom of creating the grounds for the unexpected . . . between 10 a.m. and noon), and on the other, from simple contemporaneWhen students begin to address each ous existence (e.g., presuming we all inhabit other by name and respond to something new a particular era, like we are all students, enjoy- offered by another, I know we have begun to ing the liminal period of a college education). share time. When a shy or minority-identiSuch notions of unproblematic copresence, fied student feels supported enough to break I would say, allow us to presume an easy silence and share a thought, I can tell we have sameness of personhood and motives, successfully created the conditions for knowlthe liberal pretensions of simple dia- edge. When the fear of error or political corlogue and multicultural tolerance. By rectness fades and students allow each other contrast, shared or coeval time is a to test ideas out loud, I realize we have conjoint achievement, in which partici- structed the grounds for mutual respect and pants work hard to create the condi- trust. It is only then, I find, that conferences tions for co-constructed knowledge despite become truly dynamic, even kinetic, as we (and because of) our many differences. break from tables and move around the room, In the ideal Reed conference, the subject using the board, changing up groups, altering matter is less relevant than this delicate work the space. Achieving such shared intellectuof creating the grounds for the unexpected, al time can be fun, but also frightening. If we of opening the floor to all. In my wide-rang- can only encounter the unexpected by opening anthropology courses, the best semesters ing to the other, by allowing our interlocutors we have had were when I did not over-struc- a glimpse of our selves as works in progress, ture students’ encounters with the materials, than that is the true challenge, the productive but instead when I worked in the first weeks danger, of an ideal Reed conference. especially to facilitate their encounters with Prof. Makley teaches courses on sex and gender, Tibet, China, and globalization. She is an expert on each other, ceding some of my leadership to the history and ethnography of the Sino-Tibetan them so that we shared responsibility for our frontier zone. sustained conversations.

september 2015 Reed magazine 25

What Is a Reedie, Anyway?

BY RANDALL S. BARTON | PHOTOS BY MATT D’ANNUNZIO

They're easy to identify but hard to define. To shed light on this fascinating but elusive species, we tracked down a dozen members of the class of ’15 and asked them about their theses, their professors, and their time at Reed. You'll be surprised by what they have to say.

April Kaplowitz E C O N O M I C S Hometown: Austin, Texas Thesis Adviser: Prof. Kim Clausing [economics 1996-] Thesis: “Do We Really Know that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Will Increase Trade? A Study on the Effectiveness of Regional Trade Agreements in Promoting Trade” What it’s about: Measuring the effects of trade agreements, like NAFTA and the European Union, on world trade with hopes that my findings will encourage the creation of new trade agreements.

What it’s really about: The whole world is better off when we get along.

Who I was when I got to Reed: I was passionate about working for the rights of poor black kids—and about making music.

Favorite class: Sociology 244, Race and Ethnicity, with Prof.

Marc Schneiberg. It was reassuring to see the theory behind the racist world we live in.

Cool stuff: Studied abroad in Italy. Worked at the Paradox Café and the Bike Co-op. Was an HA in MacNaughton, a Financial Services Fellow, Mercy Corps Northwest intern, and wrote music that I recorded with my band, Imani Gold.

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Issues I’ve faced: As a woman of color from a working class background my sense of reality was shaken at Reed. After my sophomore year I left to tutor and mentor poor black youth at a school in West Philadelphia. That experience helped me realize how much of an asset a college education can be in elevating someone socioeconomically. Income isn’t the important thing—college signals optionality. “You can assume whatever you want about me, but I graduated from college.” I returned to Reed when I realized that it was actually the best college for me.

How Reed changed me: I am much better prepared to work within systems that are not built for me as a black queer woman. I didn’t learn that in spite of Reed; I learned it because of Reed.

Word to prospies: Make an effort to connect with faculty and staff. Do internships, volunteer work, service work and on-campus jobs that give you answer-focused stuff. Reed is all about the questions, and that’s special, but graduates would be ill-equipped if all they did was ponder the questions.

What’s next: The equities division of Morgan Stanley in New York City. Because I’m a Reedie I’m always asking questions. There is a market for people who can look at the world around them and see where the business is going, who can think critically when everything is moving so fast.

Chris Graulty B I O L O G Y / P S Y C H O L O G Y Hometown: Kobe, Japan; Cincinnati, Ohio; Beijing, China Adviser: Prof. Enriqueta Canseco-Gonzalez [psychology 1992–] Thesis: Neuronal Dynamics of Grapheme-Color Synesthesia What it’s about: People with grapheme-color synesthesia perceive color when looking at numbers and letters. I reviewed the previous studies that investigate the neural mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. I then performed my own experiment to record the brain activity of 10 people with this kind of synesthesia.

I isolated two neural correlates of synesthetic perception and explored how they are influenced by the availability of attentional resources.

What it’s really about: Data from brain recording suggests that attention is necessary for synesthetic perception.

Who I was when I got to Reed: I was born in Cincinnati, went to elementary school in Japan, middle school back in Ohio, and high school in Beijing. I don’t really have a hometown where I feel, “This is where I’m from.”

I’m multiracial and because of my ethnicity, there is no country where I look like the people who live there.

Influential professors: Prof.

Enriqueta Canseco-Gonzalez and Prof. Michael Pitts have been my mentors. I’ve written grants with them, gone to conferences with them, and hopefully will be publishing with them soon.

They taught me how to do good science and for that, I am forever grateful.

A concept that blew my mind: Your brain knows things that you don’t.

Another concept that blew my mind: If you don’t use it, you lose it. Your brain is constantly adapting to the inputs you give it, so a function that’s never used is just taking up space. If you don’t speak a language for long enough, you’ll lose it. If you close your eyes long enough, you’ll go blind. Give your brain amazing experiences, because it builds a network around them.

Outside the Classroom: Assistant stage manager for a show. Worked in the scene shop building sets. Spun fire in Weapons of Mass Distraction.

Was an international student mentor. House adviser in Naito.

Awards/honors: I received generous support from the Murdock grant for life sciences, the Reed College Science Research Fellowship, the Reed College Opportunity Grant, and the Reed College Initiative Grant.

Word to prospies: Be willing to listen. Some people are eager to question everything, but then don’t listen to the responses.

What’s next: I'll be working in the psych department as a lab manager while I send out applications for medical school.

september 2015 Reed magazine 27

Danielle Juncal E N G L I S H L I T E R AT U R E Hometown: San Clemente, California Adviser: Prof. Roger Porter [English 1961–2015] Thesis: Japanese American Internment Poetry: Lawson Inada and Mitsuye Yamada’s Re-Mappings of Memory and Identity What it’s about: I explore how poetry written by Japanese Americans about the Japanese internment camp experience during World War II is a unique type of historical testimony.

The poetries of Lawson Inada and Mitsuye Yamada, two former internees, refigure the memory of confinement as a creative source to redeem a new Japanese American subjectivity.

I’m a fifth-generation Japanese American and two of my grandparents were in the camps.

What it’s really about: Rewriting history with badass, intersectional feminism and jazz poetics.

Who I was when I got to Reed: My high school was huge and I felt out of place and ostracized. I came to Reed and found a place that embraced me. I wanted to embrace it back.

Influential professor: Prof.

Lisa Steinman [English 1976–] taught me to close read with a keen eye, share ideas big and small, and love poetry both critically and tenderly. In my first years at Reed I felt that what I said had to be a complete, articulated thought before I put it out into the world. Lisa helped me realize that not every thought needed to be polished; that it’s normal to ask questions, have a half-baked thought, and just give out some impressions.

The joy and enthusiasm she exudes don’t shut people down.

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Influential piece of music I encountered at Reed: The Talking Heads’ album Stop Making Sense has been an anthem for many of my moments at Reed. I remember singing “Psycho Killer” in the back of a full Reed van on the way to the ski cabin, and writing the lyrics “same as it ever was” and “What have I done?” on the walls of the student senate office.

A concept that blew my mind: Student autonomy.

Outside the Classroom: Student body president.

Coeditor in chief of the Reed College Creative Review. House adviser in Canyon House. Wrote for the Quest. Ended up running a half marathon for a PE class I was in.

How Reed changed me: I used to speak in class only when I knew I was right. Now, my best contributions to conversations are in the form of questions or things I want to explore.

Reed taught me that it’s okay to not understand; curiosity is celebrated! I learn best when I am sharing thoughts aloud with others and spitballing ideas in a group.

Word to prospies: Visit Reed in the spring, stand beneath the cherry blossoms, sit in on a class and listen to the conversation.

Remember that what you do outside of the classroom can change you just as much as what you do inside the classroom.

What’s next: Working as a junior project manager in the public affairs office at Reed.

Kalina Hadzhikova H I S T O R Y Hometown: Sofia, Bulgaria Adviser: Prof. Michael Breen [history 2000–] Thesis: Rome Against the Romans: Configurations of Imperial Authority in TwelfthCentury Western Europe and Byzantium What it’s about: The various definitions of romanitas, or Romanness, deployed in political discourse at the courts of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus and the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, as well as in diplomatic correspondence between Byzantium, Germany, and the papacy, in the 12th century. The Second Crusade had a hand in bringing Byzantium and Germany closer together and helping them cross-pollinate their historical mythologies.

What it’s really about: The cultural and political prestige of Roman antiquity at a turning point in medieval history.

Who I was when I got to Reed: To be honest I was kind of a stock character who listened to depressing music, was a slacker in school, and thought I was better than other teenagers because I read books in my room while they socialized.

Favorite class: Classics 373, Ancient History: Rome with Prof. Ellen Millender [classics 2002], combined a demanding syllabus with a topic I found fascinating: the destabilization of Roman masculinity and Roman identity in the late Republican period. The bowling PE class I took as a sophomore comes in a close second because I’ve been beating my friends at bowling ever since.

Influential book: I read Lynn Struve’s Voices from the MingQing Cataclysm in the class on late imperial China led by Prof.

Doug Fix [history 1990–]. The primary sources Struve has collected in this book are too vivid to be called historical artifacts; they feel more like direct encounters with the people who wrote them. This collection first made me think of historical analysis as a séance between past and present rather than as unilateral extraction of information.

A concept that blew my mind: I was amazed that you get soda refills in American restaurants.

That never happens in Bulgaria.

Also, the trees here are so big.

The Pacific Northwest looks like a dinosaur documentary.

Outside the Classroom: Worked in the library. Sat on the International Student Advisory Board. Spent a year abroad at the University of Oxford. Organized two ’90s-themed dance parties.

Coedited the Student Body Handbook. Learned Latin. Won the Lankford Award.

How Reed changed me: I made amazing friends and drastically widened my intellectual horizons, becoming a more thoughtful and empathetic person. My professors challenged me and gave me the tools to subject my own ideas to critical examination. They showed me there is value in trying to see every issue from a different perspective. Everybody doesn’t have to agree with you.

Financial aid: I’m very thankful that Reed gave me a lot of aid.

Word to prospies: At Reed a student thrives either through hard work or by being a genius.

It’s truly not for everyone, but also not as scary as its reputation makes it seem.

What’s next: I’m working as a data analyst and thinking about graduate school.

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Madeline Brandt M AT H E M AT I C S Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri Adviser: Prof. Angélica Osorno [mathematics 2013–] Thesis: Intersecting Hypergraphs and Decompositions of Complete Uniform Hypergraphs What it’s about: I studied the relationship between two theorems from combinatorics: the Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem and the Baranyai theorem. The Baranyai theorem guarantees a certain decomposition of complete uniform hypergraphs, and the Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem puts an upper bound on the size of an intersecting uniform hypergraph.

What it’s really about: Doing cool tricks with sets to make statements about their structure.

Who I was when I got to Reed: I was shy, but excited about all of the changes of coming to college—I wanted to be friends with every person I met, and like every book I read.

Favorite class: I loved the problems and the style of thinking in Math 372, Combinatorics, with Prof. David Perkinson [math 1990–]. It was the first time I was able to use tools from abstract algebra to solve problems from another area of mathematics.

Influential professor: Prof.

Irena Swanson ’87 [math 2005–] shaped the way I think about mathematics. She also suggested that I study abroad in Budapest.

I had a hard time leaving Reed because I like it so much, but that semester in Budapest ended up being one of my favorites.

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Influential work of art: In my art history class, I wrote my final paper about the sculpture Tilted Arc by Richard Serra. It’s interesting because it is not a work of art that one would think would disturb people—it is just a long piece of tilted metal. Yet when it went up people had visceral reactions to it, both positive and negative.

Like mathematics, many people looked at that sculpture and said, “I don’t get it.” But a few people saw its beauty, and fought for it.

Outside the Classroom: Ran the Reed reactor. Did ceramics.

Spent a semester abroad in Budapest. Won the Class of ’21 Award.

How Reed changed me: I learned that I loved math. When I first came to Reed, I thought I wanted to study physics, and it wasn’t until sophomore year that I realized I wanted to major in math. Since then, I have gained a lot of skills that transferred to other areas of my life—patience, diligence, and doubtfulness— and regular sleeping hours.

What’s next: Pursuing a PhD in math at UC Berkeley. My goal is to become a professor at a college like Reed.

Word to prospies: At Reed there is no such thing as a freshman dorm. Some of my closest friends my freshman year were seniors. I hung out with them, asked them questions, watched them apply to grad school, and learned by osmosis.

Other than the academics, the people here are my favorite thing.

Maya Campbell H I S T O R Y Hometown: Silver Spring, Maryland Adviser: Prof. Radhika Natarajan [history 2014–] Thesis: So we don’t have to beg anymore: Black Power and Self-Defense in Radical Social Movements in the United States and United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s What it’s about: How black/ non-black and American/ non-American radical social movements coming out of the late 1960s connected to and ultimately used black power and the ethno-political identity of “blackness” as organizational concepts in their formulations of community self-defense.

What it’s really about: Interracial and international solidarity and collective responses to societal oppression in the postcolonial moment.

Who I was when I got to Reed: A shy, fast-talking, field-hockeyplaying, sometimes-poet— completely unsure of who I was or who I wanted to become.

Influential professor: Prof. Doug Fix [history 1990–] taught me how to view all kinds of things as historical artifacts: from houses and songs, to music, and food preparation practices. It was the first class that truly challenged me to “think out of the box” and to reevaluate what it means to study history. I’m always thinking, “What else can I do? How can I make this broader, tell this story stronger?” Doug really taught me that.

A concept that changed the way I think: Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectionality became a key part of my daily lexicon. Formally learning about the term was such a “duh” moment. “You mean there’s a term for the fact that my identity is multifaceted and that influences how I experience life?

Wow.”

Outside the Classroom: Worked as a social justice educator at the multicultural resource center.

Spent a semester abroad in France. Traveled to London on a Reed grant to do research for my thesis. House adviser in French House. Restarted the Black and African Student Union. Worked as a student coordinator for the Peer Mentor Program. Spent a summer as a research assistant for Prof. Margot Minardi [history 2007–].

Obstacles I overcame: Reed was the first time I had ever been somewhere where I did not regularly see someone who looked like me or had a similar experience to my own. I ended up channeling this frustration into my extracurricular activities and tried to make Reed a more comfortable place for students like me.

How Reed changed me: Reed taught me to never be afraid of my ideas, to never silence my voice, and to constantly reaffirm the value of my own individuality. I can think quicker on my feet, am better at listening to someone else’s argument and much more able to figure how things fit together.

What’s next: Antitrust paralegal at Cohen Milstein in Washington, D.C. Financial aid: Financial aid made it possible for me to stay at Reed and I will eternally be grateful for it.

Word to prospies: Reed will push and stretch you in ways you didn’t even know you could bend. But part of that newfound flexibility is the greatest academic and social experience that you will ever have. Reed is a place where the learning never stops and frankly, it is a place where you will never want to stop learning.

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Paapa Kwaku hMensa ECONOMICS

Hometown: Aburi, Ghana Thesis: Missio-nomics: Examining the Effect of Historic Missionary Activity on Current Economic Development Adviser: Prof. Nicholas Wilson [economics 2013–] What it’s about: My thesis investigates the effects of historical missionary activity on population density growth, my proxy for economic growth, in 66 non-European regions in 1600–2000. Using differencein-differences analysis, I track the changes in economic activity between the regions that historically experienced Protestant and/or Catholic missionary activity and those that did not.

What it’s really about: Did Christian missionaries in 1600– 2000 make mission destinations better or worse off?

Who I was when I got to Reed: A bright-eyed, smiley and enthusiastic Ghanaian patriot.

Favorite class: Economics 385, Asian Economies in Transition,

by Prof. Denise Hare [economics 1992–], opened my eyes and heart to how beautifully diverse and interdisciplinary economics is.

Influential professor: Prof.

Peter Steinberger [political science 1977–] led my Hum 110 conference and was the perfect professor: charismatic enough to hold my attention, insightful enough to feed my intellectual curiosity, and nurturing enough to groom my critical thinking and writing skills.

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Outside the Classroom: Two weeks before starting at Reed I released the first single from my album, Solar. When I returned to Ghana after my freshman year, there was a huge demand for gigs. I recorded my second album, Songs for Kukua, in my dorm room my sophomore year. I also sang with the Herodotones, played piano in the Reed jazz ensemble, interviewed prospies for the admission office, and was a house adviser in Sullivan.

How Reed changed me: The West African education system is mostly about who has their hand up first with the answer.

At Reed, a good answer is always followed with a “but.” A peer or faculty always has a question for your answer, which leads to conversation. Instead of being consumed with finding good answers to questions, I’ve become consumed with finding good questions to answers. Reed stretched my mind through rigorous coursework, and my heart through deep and intimate relationships.

Financial aid: I wouldn’t have been able to be here without financial aid. Not a day goes by that I don’t appreciate and seek to honor the privilege and blessing it is.

Word to prospies: Reed is undoubtedly the kind of place that pushes you to grow intellectually. But what gives Reed its unique stroke is that it actually wants to learn from its students just as much as it wants to teach them. The symbiosis between faculty and students is phenomenal.

What’s next: I’ll be living, working, serving, and singing in Portland with the Adsideo Church for the foreseeable future.

Rachel Apone A N T H R O P O L O G Y Hometown: North Bend, Washington (where Twin Peaks was filmed).

Adviser: Prof. Courtney Handman ’98 [anthropology 2009–] Thesis: Defacing Things: Emerging Pentecostal Modes of Action in Papua New Guinea What it’s about: In Papua New Guinea the Speaker of Parliament removed traditional artwork from the Parliament building because he believed the artifacts contained evil ancestral spirits and PNG is a Christian nation. He was criticized for not respecting Melanesian culture. But I take another perspective. As a Pentecostal he has a different stance on materiality and what can be known about the world. You have to continually reconstitute the past in order to break away from it. I also look at the murders of suspected sorcerers in PNG, despite the population’s conversion to Christianity.

What it’s really about: The charismatic Christian public in Papua New Guinea.

Who I was when I got to Reed: I had recently battled severe depression and was attracted to Reed because it emphasized diversity and expanding people’s experiences.

A concept that blew my mind: In The Gender of the Gift, Marilyn Strathern talks about how in Melanesia individuality is about eliciting reactions from other people who define your personhood. For example, gender isn’t defined by your body, but is more an elicited form or essence.

Influential piece of music: String Quartet Number 8 in C Minor by Shostakovich is a sentimental choice because it’s the last piece we’re performing this year at Reed. It was written in remembrance of the Holocaust. It’s haunting.

Obstacles I overcame: I was diagnosed with ADHD my freshman year—a transformative but difficult experience. Because Reed is so rigorous, at first I viewed it as something holding me back, but as my Reed experience progressed, I came to see my ADHD as an asset.

Outside the Classroom: Played in both the orchestra and chamber quartet. Played tango music with a professional group from Argentina. Mentored for Eye to Eye, a program that matches college students with elementary students who have ADHD or other learning disabilities.

How Reed changed me: Although Reed has definitely enhanced my critical thinking skills in particular and my academic inclinations more generally, the most transformative aspects of Reed for me were the moments of unintentional, unconscious learning from my peers and professors. Coming from a place that lacked diversity, it was amazing how much my world expanded just by listening to the wealth of perspectives and points of view.

What I would tell prospies: Some days Reed will be overwhelming and stressful, but it will augment you so profoundly that it is definitely all worth it.

What’s next: I’m considering graduate schools to apply to in anthropology.

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Zachary Garriss C L A S S I C S Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland Adviser: Prof. Sonia Sabnis [classics 2006–] Thesis: Acerrimus What it’s about: I explore various interpretations of the Nisus character from book 9 of Virgil’s Aeneid through three creative adaptations: a film screenplay of the episode, a poetic journal written from the Nisus’ perspective, and a theatrical dialogue between Nisus and Hades shortly after the events of the episode.

What it’s really about: Virgilian fanfiction.

Who I was when I got to Reed: A 29-year-old game developer without any academic background overwhelmingly grateful that Reed decided to take a chance on him. I was on campus for about five minutes when I knew, “This is where I want to go.”

Favorite class: Intro to Dance with Prof. Carla Mann [dance 1995–] is brilliant, dancing awkwardly is therapeutic, and you earn an art credit and two PE credits simultaneously.

Influential professor: Prof.

Pancho Savery [English 1995-] taught me to consider conference—and all my work at Reed—through the lens of what I can contribute, and not according to what I get from the experience.

Influential work of art: Someone scrawled, “Art lives and Art dies” on the wall by mail services. I think about it constantly.

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A concept that blew my mind: Humanity in itself is a series of ecosystems wherein ideas live, fight, breed, and die.

Outside the Classroom: I ran a Dungeons and Dragons group for three years. Some of my best memories here involved dice and a hand-drawn map.

House adviser in the Birchwood Apartments. Tutored writing, humanities, and Latin.

How Reed changed me: Before coming here, I was quick to answer a question. Now I examine the framework first, and am prone to rejecting a question I don’t like in favor of a better one rather than let a question guide my thinking out of the gate.

Financial aid: I wouldn’t have been able to come here if the financial aid package at Reed was not so incredibly generous.

Word to prospies: Remember that success here isn’t about what you can accomplish on your very best day—Reed is a marathon. Success is about what you accomplish on your hundred worst days. So take it one step at a time, and don’t give up. That said, when the dust settles and Reed’s in your rear view, the work you did won’t matter at all compared to the people you’ve met and the kind of person you chose to be in their lives.

What’s next: I'm working as a freelance writer, researcher, and game developer in Los Angeles.

Rennie Meyers E N V I R O N M E N TA L S T U D I E S A N D H I S T O R Y Hometown: Bronx, NY Adviser: Prof. Joshua Howe [history and environmental studies 2012–] Thesis: Justifying the Field : the Evolution of Marine Science in Monterey Bay, 1880–1970 What it’s about: How industrial, military, and social interests altered the meaning of ecological thought in Monterey Bay, California. Over a century of shifting social priorities and new funding sources, educational institutions prioritized different parts of Monterey’s ecology over time to capture those changing interests—you see this change reflected in developing research methodologies.

What it’s really about: People (with the resources to do so) will find any excuse to be in the field.

Scientific success often went hand-in-hand with a sense of wonder.

Who I was when I got to Reed: I was ready to have integrity matter and to set my own high standards.

Favorite class: In History of Science, 1680–1880, Prof.

Mary Ashburn Miller [history 2008–] showed us how to deploy historical methodology and theory, while critically engaging the methodological origins of Western science itself. From the early days of the scientific method on, the social narrative underlying any scientific discovery was (and is) as important as the “discovery” itself. The ways that we come upon ideas or revelation, the ways we approach the biological world, are deeply embedded in human social norms.

Influential professor: Prof.

Josh Howe recognizes his students as people as well as academics. His classes were always accessible, and his office was always open.

Outside the Classroom: Friends. Lived in the Reed pool. Was student body vice president. Went surfing with the Gray Fund. Let off steam in the ceramic studio. Led a trip to see the lunar eclipse with Sky Appreciation Society. Worked as a dive master in Puget Sound.

House adviser.

How Reed changed me: Ask for what you need. Reed is hard enough as it is. Students owe their classmates and professors good work and commitment, but the school owes you support—and it’s usually there.

When it wasn’t, I tried (with senate and student leaders, it’s a multigenerational team effort) to make those resources available for future students.

Own your community.

What’s next: I’m off on a Watson Fellowship to investigate coral conservation in Thailand, Fiji, Brunei, and Japan. Coral restoration highlights the different ways that people think about their own agency in dealing with the impacts of global climate change. Ultimately I’m interested in working with underrepresented and disempowered groups, “Climate Refugees,” to give them advocacy rights as we talk about “resiliency.”

Reed gave me the tools to break problems into smaller fragments and figure out which ones I’m best suited to take on.

Word to prospies: If you were that kid who was pissed off in high school because people cared more about the grade, or pleasing a parent, than the material at hand, you will find a home here.

Reed is a place where you can go as deep as you like for as long as you’d like. Professors are brilliant and excited to work with truly engaged students, and other excited students make you better.

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Will Horner B I O L O G Y Hometown: Steamboat Springs, Colorado Adviser: Prof. Kara Cerveny [biology 2012–] Thesis: Retinoic Acid Signaling and Retinal Ganglion Cell Neurogenesis in the Developing Zebrafish What it’s about: I’m investigating the role of retinoic acid in the formation of neurons in the retina. I use mutant zebrafish with expanded retinoic acid signaling and treat them with retinoic acid agonists or antagonists. With confocal microscopy, I’m able to study how retinoic acid interacts with other signaling pathways and influences the development of new neurons.

What it’s really about: I shoot lasers at mutant fish eyes. They glow. I take pictures.

Who I was when I got to Reed: I was a kid from a small mountain town and a graduating class of 20. Reed is kind of small, but still large and varied enough that there’s always something new to find.

Favorite class: German 220.

Sometimes I just want to read short stories and learn funny words.

Influential professor: Prof.

Kara Cerveny taught me how to think critically, manage my time, and the fundamentals of being a researcher. She really built up my confidence.

Influential music: One day I happened on this country radio station playing, “Something About a Truck.” The gist of the song is that there’s something about a truck. I kept listening to bad country music because when I’m in the lab I want to listen to something fun and a little bit ridiculous.

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A concept that blew my mind: I learned about chirality in organic chemistry and have never looked at my hands the same way. [Note to non–science majors: chiral molecules have identical composition, but are essentially mirror images of each other.]

Outside the Classroom: Running the nuclear reactor— that was pretty much the coolest thing I’ve done. House adviser in Naito. Won the John Van Zytveld Award in the Life Sciences for a presentation I gave on my research.

Obstacles I overcame: Halfway through the first semester of organic chemistry things were getting pretty bad, but Prof. Alan Shusterman [chemistry 1989–] helped me realize that the only thing in the way of my learning was myself. After working many, many long nights in the library, I finally put the pieces together and realized that I’m capable of much more than I first thought.

How Reed changed me: I’m much more culturally and intellectually aware and particularly well equipped to engage in discussion.

What’s next: Going to Germany to study German and do a biology internship through the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange.

What you would tell prospies: Reed makes you work hard but it’s also incredibly rewarding.

Conference learning enables you to converse with other people, think about your own opinions in the context of theirs, and then consider how everything fits together. You’ll also find your people here and they’ll get you through all the tough times.

Mark Angeles C H E M I S T R Y A N D E N V I R O N M E N TA L S T U D I E S Editor’s Note: The Reed community suffered a terrible blow in May when Mark was killed in a traffic collision just nine days after he graduated (see In Memoriam, page 56). He was an exceptional student who was nominated for this feature by many professors who were impressed by his scholarship and devotion to others. Ride in peace, Mark.

Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the Philippines Adviser: Prof. Sarah Kliegman ’02 [chemistry 2014–] Thesis: The Role of Cobalt, Rhodium, and Iridium Bis(imino)pyridine Catalysts in Degrading Chlorinated Ethylenes What it’s about: Synthesizing certain types of organometallic catalysts to assist in degrading certain types of environmental pollutants.

What it’s really about: Lab. Lots and lots of time in lab.

Who I was when I got to Reed: An impressionable, idealistic, and somewhat naive boy determined to be his own person and find his place in the world.

A concept that blew my mind: Atoms never die but are endlessly recycled and recombined into different elements that make up the fabric of the universe. Every being, every thing was birthed in an instantaneous explosion at the beginning of time and forged over billions of years, a neverending cycle of energy remaking itself endlessly through space and time. But the real question, in the words of Marcus Chown, is: “Now, why should the universe be constructed in such a way that atoms acquire the ability to be curious about themselves? That, surely, is one of the great unexplained puzzles of science.”

Outside the Classroom: Fire dancing with Weapons of Mass Distraction. Managed the Bike Co-op. Learned to be a bike mechanic. House adviser in Anna Mann. Sang with the Herodotones. Paideia czar.

SEEDS intern.

How Reed changed me: My cultural values taught me to listen before speaking, and weigh the pros and cons of every side, often to the point of not participating from uncertainty.

It’s important for people who historically have not been heard to speak up. Diversity of thought and opinion are what a conference should thrive on.

Initially I found it difficult to participate in conference, even though I was overflowing with ideas. At some point, you have to decide what you stand for and what you believe in. Finding my place on that spectrum has been one of the most important things I’ve done at Reed.

Financial aid: Classes at state and community colleges before I got here made me realize what a gift a Reed education is. Having attended this institution on financial aid, I wanted to give back to the community and leave things better than I found them.

Word to prospies: Reed is challenging, difficult, and will make you fight for your education, and for your voice in the student body. But it also can be an incredibly fulfilling experience and teach you things you had never even thought to consider before. You’re given a chance here—if you take it and run with it, Reed can be the most fulfilling intellectual endeavor you’ll ever have a shot at.

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Reediana

books. music. FILM. send us your work!

Vanishing Games by Roger Hobbs ’11 Knopf, 304 pages Jack Delton is a ghostman— a professional criminal, who’s spent his career making enemies and disappearing at the right moment. When he receives an emergency message from an old partner, he leaves his skip-out in the Oregon desert for Macau, a gangster’s paradise.

It’s a classical Portuguese colonial town with a bustling Chinese g a m b l i n g m e t ro p o lis slapped on top of it.

Industrial yards border on golf courses, cobblestone alleys lead to billion-dollar casinos. The vine-covered streets are packed with rusted bicycles and brandnew Lamborghinis . . . There are prayer flags and porn mags.

Jack can dislocate an attacker’s shoulder in one twist, but he’s

curiously naïve about the larger issues in his life. Despite his age and access to unlimited, ill-gained resources, he leads a monastic life.

No girlfriends, no cheap tricks.

Crime is what thrills him, and he serves it faithfully.

In Macau, Jack meets up with his partner, Angela. He owes her all he has; she introduced him to the underworld, guided him through his first big heists, and bailed him out after their last job went sideways. That was eight years ago.

Now, she’s the one who needs help. A plot to steal a few dozen uncut sapphires exposed another, more valuable prize. This mystery object is already hot, and Angela unwittingly enmeshes herself in a deeper conspiracy. She needs to

Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics, by Robert J. Hardy ’56 (Wiley, 2014). Bob and colleague Christian Binek have published a new book on thermal physics.

Like Newtonian mechanics, quantum mechanics, and electromagnetism, the macroscopic and microscopic theories of thermal physics are based on small sets of postulates about the physical world. Many texts merge the two aspects of the subject and select the approach used according to the result being sought. Scientists investigating new phenomena often mix concepts from different theories in this way, but this is not a good approach when teaching, since it tends to leaves students with a hodgepodge of ideas instead of a coherent understanding of the concepts. The presentation of thermodynamics is unusual in how it preserves the elegant logic developed in the 19th century by Rudolf Clausius and Lord Kelvin, before the atomic-level structure of matter was fully understood, while utilizing the modern student’s knowledge of atomic-level phenomena. (See Class Notes.)

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disappear with the sapphires— she needs a ghostman.

Although Vanishing Games is born straight out of the tradition of Elmore Leonard, Ian Fleming, and the Dirty Harry series, it has a few moments that defy the genre’s conventions. There is a refreshing sense of equality between Jack and Angela. The exact nature of their relationship is obscured—are they former lovers? Mentor and mentee?

Angela’s sexuality doesn’t enter the picture, and, unlike many of the Bond heroines who wield rifles or pick locks, her clothes stay on. That’s groundbreaking in a genre that is sprinkled with sex slaves and bad girls in catsuits.

Additionally, Hobbs entices the reader to suspend disbelief by providing lavish technical detail.

Ever wondered how to break

Educating Across Cultures: Anatolia College in Turkey and Greece, by Bill McGrew ’56 (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).

Bill chronicles a remarkable educational undertaking that spanned two continents, survived three wars, and continues to flourish today. It began with Anatolia’s 19thcentury Boston-based founders, who hoped to bring Calvinist Christianity to the diverse peoples of the Ottoman Empire but gradually shifted their emphasis to educational goals. While seeking to enrich the lives of the inhabitants of Asia Minor and beyond the college’s campus south of the Black Sea, Protestant educators encountered rampant ethnic strife and loss. Most memorable was the pursuit on horseback across Turkey’s plains by two American women to save 50 Armenian girls otherwise destined to perish at the hands of the Turks. After WWI, renewed violence forced Anatolia to relocate from Turkey to Thessaloniki, Greece. The book follows Anatolia over the decades as it embraced a society experiencing an often-violent trajectory, including Nazi occupation and civil war. Close collaboration

into a hotel room? How a piano-wire garrote works? How to get a gun through a metal detector? It’s all here. Armed with “a wallet full of cash, four passports, four driver’s licenses, three prepaid international phones, a couple stolen credit cards, a radio detector, gloves, glasses . . . and a dog-eared copy of Robert Fagles’ translation of The Odyssey,” Jack takes on his mission with confidence and flair.

A gut-wrenching, high-tension crime thriller, Vanishing Games is hardly highbrow. But at the same time, the novel bears all the earmarks of a Reed education, right down to its Homeric references. This mix of high and low, airport fiction and classical epic, tickles the reader and keeps the pages turning.

—CLAIRE RUDY FOSTER ’06

between Greek and American educators enabled Anatolia to become today one of Greece’s most outstanding institutions. Bill served as president of Anatolia College for 25 years, during which time he drew upon values gained at Reed when shaping a new liberal arts college at Anatolia. The book is dedicated in part to Prof. Richard H. Jones [history 1941–86], who visited Anatolia and offered wise counsel. Bill also wrote Land and Revolution in Modern Greece, 1800–1880.

The Never-Ending Feast: The Anthropology and Archaeology of Feasting, by Kaori O’Connor ’68 (Bloomsbury, 2015). Throughout human history, and in all parts of the world, feasts have been at the heart of life. Why were they important and what purpose did they serve?

Kaori’s pioneering work draws on anthropology, archaeology, and history to look at the dynamics of feasting among the great societies of antiquity renowned for their magnificence and might. The focus shifts beyond the medieval and early

The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball’s Lost Triumph

by Scott Ellsworth ’76

Little, Brown and Company, 2015

At 11 o’clock on a Sunday morning in March 1944, two of the best college basketball teams in the United States did something unthinkable. They played each other.

No cameras, no cheerleaders, no screaming fans greeted the players as they took position on the court. In fact, the gym had been locked in an effort to keep spectators out. The reason for the secrecy was simple. The Duke Medical School team was white. The North Carolina College team was black. And in 1944, the color line in Durham, North Carolina, ran right through the basketball court. Crossing that line was not just an act of defiance— it was against the law.

This extraordinar y contest constitutes the focal point

of the book, but it’s about far more than a single game. It’s about the evolution of a sport, the tortured legacy of race and repression, and how basketball, which for decades had served as an instrument to defend segregation, finally became a tool to undermine it.

Ellsworth combines an irresistible narrative with outsized characters, particularly the North Carolina coach, John McLendon, who came of age in the Great Depression, as basketball fever was sweeping across the Midwest. Too poor to afford a ball, McLendon and his friends tossed rocks and socks through a playground hoop. His stepmother forbade him to play unless he read the Bible for an hour every day and swore off coffee, soda, snuff, cigarettes,

modern periods in Western Europe, eastwards to Mesopotamia, Assyria and Achaemenid Persia, early Greece, the Mongol Empire, Shang China, and Heian Japan. (See Class Notes.)

DaVinci’s Baby Boomer Survival Guide: Live, Prosper, and Thrive in Your Retirement, by Barbara Rockefeller ’68 (a DaVinci guide published by Newsmax, 2015). Barbara and cowriter Nick Tate provide a comprehensive guide to financial, health care, and lifestyle issues for those anticipating retirement. Barbara is the founder of the foreign exchange forecasting firm Rockefeller Treasury Services and has written several books.

Interplay: Traditional Tunes, Classical Elegance, by Terry Boyarsky ’70, piano, and Oleg Kruglyakov, balalaika, is a compilation of 13 tracks, everything from French baroque to tango to folk

and alcohol—an abstemious regimen he maintained for the rest of his life.

McLendon made his way to the University of Kansas, where razzle-dazzle coach Phog Allen had built a basketball juggernaut.

But the Jayhawks maintained an unwritten rule: no black players, no exceptions. Denied the chance to make his mark as a player, McLendon decided to make his mark as a coach. And in this choice he found an unlikely ally— the game’s inventor, James Naismith, by now whitehaired and bespectacled, long retired as coach of KU but still a forlorn evangelist for basketball as a means of self-improvement.

McLendon became, in essence, Naismith’s last student.

Ellsworth provides a riveting account of how McLendon assembled his squad at the allblack North Carolina College and

tune to film score. A review on clevelandclassical. com calls Interplay a “must-have” CD. “The Hidden Wonders of the Musée des Arts et Métiers—Paris’ Museum of Art and Invention,” by Gary Rogowski ’72, was published in Craftsmanship in spring 2015. (See Class Notes.)

True Tales from a Physician Assistant, by Seth Wittner ’73 (Chimney Rock Books, 2015).

“Physician assistants [PAs] are an important, albeit too little recognized part of the American healthcare system,” writes Seth. “I felt it was time for the profession to have a book of its own.” Unlike most physicians, PAs often enter medicine after working in other fields. Seth has gathered these memorable anecdotes— intriguing, disturbing, or inspiring— during his 15 years as a PA.

pioneered the fast break and the full-court press. Even as the team demolished opponents and won the 1941 CIAA Championship, however, they were haunted by a nagging question: how would they stack up against a top-notch all-white team? To find out, coaches and players—black and white— would gamble with their careers.

Ellsworth spent the better part of 20 years working on this book, stockpiling an astonishing wealth of detail that makes the narrative sing. It is a mark of his skill as a writer that by the last page, the reader cares less about the final score than about the broader questions that he raises—whether sports really do build character, whether winning is all that matters, and when it’s okay to break the rules.

—CHRIS LYDGATE ’90 Adapted from a review that ran in the Oregonian.

Jewish Philosophical Politics in Germany, 1789–1848, by SvenErik Rose ’91 (Brandeis University Press, 2014). SvenErik’s book illuminates the extraordinary creativity of Jewish intellectuals as they reevaluated Judaism with the tools of a German philosophical tradition fast emerging as central to modern intellectual life. While previous work emphasizes the “subversive” dimensions of German-Jewish thought or the “inner antisemitism” of the German philosophical tradition, SvenErik shows the tremendous resources German philosophy offered contemporary Jews for thinking about the place of Jews in the wider polity. Offering a fundamental reevaluation of seminal figures and key texts, he emphasizes the productive encounter between Jewish intellectuals and German philosophy.

Susan Lynch ’10 has published the poem “A Brief Explanation of the Fourth Dimension” in Bombay Gin (41st issue, 2015). (See Class Notes.)

september 2015 Reed magazine 39

In Memoriam Joseph Frederick Bunnett ’42

SHARE your memories of classmates at www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/in-memoriam or reed.magazine@reed.edu.

REACH OUT to us at Reed magazine, 3203 SE Woodstock Boulevard, Portland OR 97202-8199.

Derrol Elwood Pennington ’38 January 8, 2015, in Milwaukie, Oregon.

Born on a prune farm on Kiger Island in the Willamette River, Derrol and his family, including brother Lloyd [’39], later moved to Portland, where Derrol attended Reed as a day-dodger, commuting from the West Hills, along with Dorothy H. Taunton ’36. While at Reed, Derrol and Dorothy joined the Outing Club and the Mazamas. They camped, hiked, and climbed most of the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Derrol worked in the chemistry lab for his tuition and wrote a thesis on the carbon-hydrogen ratio with Prof. Walter Carmody [1926–41]. Derrol and Dorothy married in 1938, and he went on to Oregon State College and to the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a PhD in biochemistry and microbiology. He began teaching at the University of Oregon, but in 1943 was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy for submarine service.

Following the war, he taught at the University of Washington, worked for a chemical company, and then joined Tektronix, where he met his lifelong friend Howard Vollum ’36. Derrol was a member of the board of Tektronix, the Beaverton School Board, the Foreign Policy Association, Great Decisions, and the Cedar Mill Library Board. He and Dorothy enjoyed square dancing, bridge, and classical music. Their gift to Reed of an 18th-century cello continues to reside with the college’s music department. Survivors include Dorothy, three children, six grandchildren, and four greatgrandchildren. A daughter predeceased him.

48 Reed magazine september 2015

May 23, 2015, in Santa Cruz, California.

Joe entered Reed with Washington High classmates Jack Dudman ’42, Irwin Harrowitz ’42, Russell Parker ’42, and Douglas Smith ’42.

At the new student mixer in fall 1938, he met Sara A . Telfer ’42—a good dancer, he noted, whose mother, Annie Harrison Telfer ’15, was a member of Reed’s first graduating class.

Joe and Sara spent a lot of time on the dance floor and in Outing Club adventures in the years that followed; they married after they graduated.

At Reed, Joe worked closely with his thesis adviser, Prof. Arthur Scott [chemistry 1923– 79]. After earning a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Rochester, Joe returned to Reed to teach organic chemistry in 1946–52.

Joe was interested in kinetics, equilibria, and the mechanisms of organic reactions. He chaired the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Committee on Chemical Weapons Destruction Technologies; served on committees of the National Research Council, Department of Defense, and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons; and participated in several NATO Advanced Research Workshops concerned with chemical weapons.

He taught at the University of North Carolina, Brown, and UC Santa Cruz, where he remained until his retirement in 1991. During his career, he held visiting positions in Argentina, Australia, Germany, Scotland, India, Japan, Jerusalem, Moscow, New Zealand, and the People’s Republic of China. He won two Fulbright fellowships—one to University College in London and one to the University of Munich in Germany (where he also spent a Guggenheim fellowship). He founded the journal Accounts of Chemical Research and was a fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

In 2001, Joe’s colleagues at UCSC founded the annual Joseph F. Bunnett Research Organic Chemistry Lecture to celebrate his career.

His honors included Phi Beta Kappa, the Society of Sigma Xi, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He won the James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry from

victor schiffrin ucsc

HONOR departed classmates, professors, or friends by making a gift to Reed in their name. Visit giving.reed.edu or use the enclosed envelope.

[chemistry 1946–52]

the American Chemical Society in 1992 and the University of Rochester Distinguished Scholar Award in 1995.

Joe served on Reed’s board of trustees for 27 years and earned the Foster-Scholz Club’s distinguished service award in 2007. He and Sara also established the Annie Jordan Harrison Memorial Scholarship.

Prof. Ilan Benjamin, chair of the UCSC chemistry department, remarked that Joe was already an outstanding scientist when he arrived at the university. “He continued a distinguished career as one of the most nationally and internationally respected physical organic chemists, making his mark not only in publishing seminal papers in the area of organic reaction mechanisms, but also as an educator and leader.”

Survivors include two sons, Alfred and David.

Joe was predeceased by Sara and his son Peter.

David Howie Ernst ’42 January 19, 2015, in Massachusetts, following a lengthy illness.

David came to Reed from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and earned a BA in political science. His thesis, written with Prof.

George Noble [1922– 48], was on Roosevelt’s foreign policy. “Looking back on those four years,” he wrote, “my memories of faculty and fellow students are totally pleasant. Four-year segments since have never been the same.”

David went on to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts, where he earned an MA in international studies in 1943 (as well as a PhD in 1950). He served in the U.S. Army in Germany during World War II. In 1947, he joined the State Department as a foreign-service officer and assumed posts in Cairo, Athens, Bombay, Paris, the Fiji Islands, New Delhi, and Washington, D.C. In Cairo, he met Rachel J. Bell; they were married for 63 years and had three children, Elizabeth, David, and Rodney Ernst ’81.

David retired to Massachusetts, where he continued his public service on numerous committees and boards. He was a Wellfleet selectman for 14 years and a 10-year member of the Cape Cod Commission. He donated some of the family’s Wellfleet property to the Wellfleet Conservation Trust, which he helped establish.

He enjoyed sailing and shell fishing. Survivors include his children.

on the Griffin staff. She completed a BFA at Fort Wright College of the Holy Names in 1977, having also taken art courses at Washington State University in the ’60s. Her landscape paintings were in juried art shows at the Seattle Art Museum, and the Cheney Cowles Museum, and in other shows in Washington and California. She also sculpted and made quilts. Dorothy and John Ainslie were married in 1944 and had three children.

Survivors include her daughter and sons, five grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and a sister and brother. “Having attended Reed has opened a lot of doors for me all my life,” Dorothy wrote in 1994. “It’s a great name to drop.”

Estelle Frances Asher Wertheimer ’46

November 8, 2013, in Seattle, following a brief illness.

Ruth Susan Hahnel Watson ’43 February 19, 2015, in Vancouver, Washington.

Ruth grew up in Portland, where her father worked for the Oregon Journal. She earned a BA from Reed in general literature, writing her thesis, “The Propaganda Value of War Fiction,” with Prof. Victor L.O. Chittick [English 1921–48].

A year before graduating, she married Edward G. Watson ’43. Ruth went on to study education at Hastings College in Nebraska, taught high school in Portland, and worked in the library at Whitman College. After earning an MLS from the University of Washington, she became the director of the Coos Bay Public Library and the director of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library, where she oversaw major growth and expansion of the library system over two decades. She was a member of numerous professional, community, and service organizations, including the American Library Association, the Pacific Northwest Library Association, the AAUW, and the YWCA. Ruth and Ed parted ways in 1966, but remained lifelong friends in the care of their daughter and son. Ruth’s partner, Luci Graffunder, preceded her in death. Ruth is remembered as forthright, honest, fair, accomplished, and compassionate.

Her life lesson was “to rise above most conflicts, never sink to low or unethical levels, be honest, be direct and you will succeed, and, in doing so, you will help others do the same.” Survivors include her children, four grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.

Paul E. Ingwalson AMP ’44 May 10, 2015, in Crosby, North Dakota.

Paul attended the University of Minnesota for a year and a half before becoming a cadet in the premeteorology program during World War II. After a year at Reed, where he studied mathematics in great detail, he went to Harvard to study

electronic engineering. Following his military service, he took up flying, logging 12,000 hours in his 55 years as a private pilot, and flying in (nearly) all of the air force first-line fighters. In 2011, he was invited to participate in the North Dakota Roughrider Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.— the last flight for North Dakota World War II veterans to visit the World War II memorial. With his father, he owned real estate in three states, and he was a Ford and Mercury dealer for 39 years. Survivors include his wife, Ardel Johnson Ingwalson; a stepson; and two stepdaughters.

Arthur David Soderberg AMP ’44 April 21, 2015, in Lakeside-Marblehead, Ohio.

A Seattle native, Art earned a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Washington and attended Yale. During World War II, he studied at Reed in the premeteorology program and served as a navigator and in search and rescue operations with the U.S. Army Air Corps. After the war, Art pursued a career with U.S. Gypsum, and he worked in numerous plants throughout the Midwest over a span of 40 years. He played semipro baseball and enjoyed boating, golf, swimming, and gardening. He was a member of the United Methodist Church, the American Legion, the Elks, and Kiwanis. His family notes that he was a role model of patience, perseverance, and optimism. Art and Dorothy J. Sandberg were married for nearly 50 years. Survivors include their daughter, three sons, seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Dorothy Jean Robinson Ainslie ’46 March 27, 2015, in Spokane, Washington.

Dorothy was valedictorian of her graduating class at Walla Walla High School. She attended Reed for two years, focused on art, and served

Known as Stuff to her dear friends, Estelle earned a BA from Reed in psychology. Her uncle, Arthur M. Hoffman ’18, was also a Reed grad.

In 1946, Estelle and Stephen Wertheimer ’48 were married; they had four children and later divorced. “Our mother wore many hats throughout her life,” Brian, Linda, Sheri, and Emily wrote. “During her college summers, she worked in a candy factory and drove a forklift truck at a naval shipyard. She always laughed when recalling those early jobs. She was assuredly a lifelong learner, an adventurous world traveler, a politically active and articulate voter, and a volunteer with the League of Women Voters for decades.” Estelle also volunteered at the Youth Service Center in the ’60s and for many years at the Seattle Art Museum Rental Loft; she was a member of the Women’s University Club. In addition, she was a gourmet cook, a green-thumbed gardener, a passionate lover of the arts and of poetry, and a dear friend to a great many people. “Of all these things, closest to our hearts is, of course, being our wonderful Mom and Gramma to Emily, her sole grandchild. She raised us solo—back when that was unusual—with love, humor, grace, and wisdom.”

Mary Lou Williams Thomas ’47 May 28, 2015, in Portland.

A native of Portland, Mary Lou came to Reed from Grant High School and earned her BA in general literature. She and Lloyd T. Thomas ’47 had three children and lived in Salem for many years, where Mary Lou taught in the Talented and Gifted Program in the Salem Public Schools.

Mary Lou’s lifelong passion, reports her family, september 2015 Reed magazine 49

In Memoriam

Evelyn Louise Boese Dostal ’50

was for the pursuit of knowledge—nature, science, art, oceans, and sea life—and she “graciously shared her joy in these subjects.” A gifted artist and skilled in calligraphy and in working with gold leaf, Mary Lou was a member of the Portland Society for Calligraphy and the Gold Bugs. She also was a member of the Mazamas and summited every peak in the Cascade Range. Lloyd and their daughter Margaret Ann (Megan) preceded her in death. Survivors include two sons, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Evelyn served with the U.S. Marines during World War II, and during an army-marine dance event, met Louis Q. Dostal, a Nebraska grain farmer. They corresponded for 10 years before marrying in the Eliot Hall chapel in 1954.

Evelyn earned a BA from Reed in political science, writing a thesis, “The Public Reaction to the 1906 Campaign of Jonathan Bourne Jr., for the U.S. Senate,” with Prof. Maure Goldschmidt [1935–81]. After college, she went to work at Jantzen clothing as an export clerk. In Nebraska, she led a home extension club, gardened extensively, quilted, and sewed. She enjoyed genealogy and researching iron crosses in Czech Catholic cemeteries. Louis died in 2014. Survivors include their two sons and four grandchildren.

Dario Michael Raschio MA ’49

April 5, 2015, in Portland.

The son of Italian immigrants, Dario graduated from Oregon State College in 1938 and taught high school science until enlisting in the navy and serving as a pilot in the Pacific. In 1944, he was shot down while operating a floatplane and was rescued by a U.S. Navy destroyer, whose crew spotted a shark circling below the wreckage on which Dario and his crewmate floated. After the war, Dario married Maria Dardano and built a home in Eastmoreland, where they raised their three children. After earning an MA from Reed, Dario taught at Franklin High School, covering the subjects biology, chemistry, physics, aeronautics, and driver’s ed. A “dapper dresser,” he augmented his teacher’s salary by selling men’s suits at Meier & Frank. He grew tomatoes; was a runner; played tennis, racquetball, and handball; and he loved to dance. He was active in the parish of St. Michael the Archangel Church, having been baptized, confirmed, and married there. At the age of 100, he was honored for his heroic war service by Oregon senator Ron Wyden. Dario is survived by a son and two daughters, including Pamela Brown MAT ’69; three grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and his dance partner and companion, Karyn Conlon.

Richard Lewis Meigs ’50 December 9, 2014, in Olympia, Washington, from pneumonia.

Dick attended Reed for close to three years before serving in the U.S. Army and the OSS during World War II. He returned to Reed, but completed a bachelor’s degree at Lewis & Clark. He earned an MA from the University of Washington and taught in a number of Washington high schools. A love of the outdoors led to his hiking and camping on Mount Rainier and in the North Cascades. In the mid-’60s, Dick moved to California, where he taught school and went on to obtain a degree in law. Admitted to the bar in four states, Dick practiced law in San Francisco for a number of years, doing pro bono work for homeless veterans. He returned to Washington in the ’90s, where he lived on Offutt Lake. Dick and Janet Bright ’52 married in 1952. They had two children and later divorced. His son and daughter survive him, as do three grandchildren and his brother, Gilbert.

50 Reed magazine september 2015

March 8, 2015, in David City, Nebraska.

Ulrich Berthold Jacobsohn ’50 May 6, 2015, in Augusta, Maine.

Born in Berlin, Ulli escaped Germany in 1933 with his mother, brother Peter [’50], and sisters Irene and Lillian. They met their father in Switzerland, where he had fled one hour after learning he was to be picked up by the Gestapo.

The family found safety in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, until war erupted and forced them to move again—this time to Bangkok. His father, an ophthalmologist, was able to practice medicine in Thailand and founded the country’s first school for the blind. Ulli and Peter were tutored by their mother before the brothers found their way to Reed.

Though formal education in the U.S. was a challenge, Prof. L.E. Griffin [biology 1920–45] kept him from floundering, Ulli said. “Reed took a chance on helping a war refugee without citizenship . . . my first year was almost a disaster, but Reed helped me step by step until graduation.” He majored in biology and wrote a thesis, “Tracer Studies of Serine and Glycine Metabolism in the Silkworm,” with Prof. Frank

P. Hungate [biology 1946–52]. He went on to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he earned an MD in psychiatry.

After medical school, Ulli enlisted in the navy reserve medical corps. He did a residency at St. Louis City Hospital and Barnes Hospital, where he met his future wife, Dorothy Jeanne Williams.

They married in 1955 and went to Oakland, California, where Ulli completed his residency in psychiatry at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital.

Following active duty, he remained with the navy reserve for 20 more years. During that time, says his family, he observed veterans returning from combat with a mental illness now identified as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and he was a pioneer in treating the condition.

Ulli joined the staff at Camarillo State Hospital, was chief of the psychiatric emergency service at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, and had a successful private psychiatric practice in Northridge, California.

In 1971, he was named a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and became assistant superintendent of the Augusta Mental Health Institute (Riverview Psychiatric Center) in Maine. He developed an interest in forensic psychiatry and was the first psychiatrist in Maine to be board certified in that specialty. He was director of the State Forensic Services and likewise the first psychiatrist to serve as president of the Maine Medical Association, which presented him with the president’s award for distinguished service in 1984.

Ulli was a clinical professor in psychiatry at the University of Maine at Orono and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. He received the lifetime achievement award from the Maine Psychiatric Association and was honored with the Joint Maine Senate and House of Representatives Recognition for Service to the State when he retired in 1998.

In addition to his public work, he served on school boards in California and Maine, as health officer to the Town of Farmingdale, as an advocate for families of patients living with mental illness, and as a dedicated supporter of local theatre and arts. In 2001, he was presented with the Spirit of America Award for volunteer work with the local community theatre, where his wife and daughters also performed.

Following Jeanne’s death in 2004, Ulli moved to Hallowell, Maine. He is remembered as a loving and devoted father and a compassionate and skilled physician. “The hundreds of colleagues and thousands of patients he affected revered him for treating them all as his own family, demanding the best, and healing the worst in all of them.”

Survivors include two sons, Mark and David, two daughters, Julia and Stacey; seven grandsons; and his sister Lillian.

Frederick David Schatz ’50 March 7, 2015, in Jacksonville, Oregon.

Fred graduated from high school in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and served two years with the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II. He spent two years at Reed and served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. In 1955, he completed a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Oregon and became a certified public accountant. Fred and Donna L. Anderson married in 1957 and lived in the Willamette Valley and Rogue Valley. In 1967, they built a home in Jacksonville, where they raised their two children. The family enjoyed visits to the cabin Fred built on Crescent Lake in Oregon—they sailed, canoed, skied, and hiked. Fred volunteered on the Jacksonville planning commission and with the Boy Scouts. As a member of the Jacksonville Kiwanis, he helped design and build more than 100 wheelchair ramps throughout the Rogue Valley. He also built beautiful furniture. Survivors include his wife, son, daughter, granddaughter, brother, sister, and nephew.

William David Howell ’51 December 24, 2014, in Omaha, Nebraska.

William earned a BA from Reed in biology, writing a thesis on pterin pigments of Lepidoptera with Prof. Ralph W. Macy [1942–55]. He went on to earn an MD from the University of Oregon and an MS in radiation biology from the University of Rochester. He was a career U.S. Air Force medical officer who was recognized as an expert in occupational medicine and medical epidemiology and in biological, chemical, and radiological defense. He was promoted to chief of preventive medicine in 1974, and his medical practice took him to numerous locations in the Pacific and Middle East. William and Carolyn R. Risk were married for 50 years and had two daughters and two sons. His wife and children survive him, as do five grandchildren.

Alfred Cecil Rhodes Hughes ’51

May 1, 2014, in Los Altos, California, following a long illness.

Hailing from New York, Fred served in the army before coming to Reed.

He majored in psychology and wrote a thesis on the Bellevue scale with Prof. Frederick A. Courts [psycholog y 1945–69]. Fred earned an MD from Washington University in St. Louis and did an internship and residency in pathology at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles and at Highland View Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1964, he and his

wife, Danish nurse Else Bertelsen, and their two children moved to California, where Fred directed physical medicine at El Camino Hospital. He later opened a private practice in electromyography diagnostics. Fred and Else were married for 56 years and enjoyed performances at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Survivors include his wife, son, and daughter.

Alice Elaine Tiura Moss ’52 April 11, 2015, in Seattle, Washington.

Alice’s grandparents emigrated from Finland and homesteaded in Washington. She was born in their log home, and throughout her life took pride in her heritage, serving as a trustee of the Finnish American Literary Heritage Foundation. She attended Reed for four years, but did not graduate. In fall 1950, she married Michael Mahar ’53. They lived in a Reed house on Southeast Lambert Street, where Gary Snyder ’51 and Allen Ginsburg stayed during their travels in 1956. Alice completed a BA and an MSW from PSU in the early ’60s, then was a caseworker and a mental health specialist for the Clackamas County Mental Health Department. She retired in 1986. Alice enjoyed photography and travel, and visited at least 26 countries. She and Robert Allen ’51 were married and she also was married to S. Roy Moss and helped raise his five children.

She enjoyed making short films during retirement, including the video Tibetan Pilgrimage: The Real Tibet.

Bonnie Jean Mentzer ’53 March 5, 2015, in Portland.

Bonnie trained as a welder at the Kaiser Shipyard during World War II, then attended Reed for two years before transferring to Oregon State College.

She earned a JD from Northwestern College of Law (Lewis & Clark) and served as assistant attorney general assigned to the welfare recovery division of the State Welfare Commission and Bureau of Labor. She also worked for Multnomah County legal aid service. Bonnie traveled by bus to the American South during the early years of the civil rights movement and Freedom Marches. In 1998, she won the E.B. MacNaughton Civil Liberties Award, presented by the Oregon ACLU for participating in the Mississippi Civil Rights Program of the ABA’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She lived in her house in Sullivan’s Gulch in Portland for more than 60 years and was actively involved in her community. She is remembered for her contributions to neighborhood planning and development efforts, her amazing tomato garden, and most of all, her kindness and generosity to those in need. Survivors include a niece and nephew.

Dean St. Dennis ’53

January 11, 2015, in Port Haywood, Virginia, from congestive heart failure.

Dean attended Reed for three and half years.

He became a journalist, working on several

newspapers before reporting for the Associated Press and later the San Francisco Chronicle. He then moved to Washington, D.C., where he was appointed assistant director of public affairs under Attorney General Ramsey Clark at the U.S. Department of Justice. He worked for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration and set up the press office for Archibald Cox during the Watergate investigation. He also worked for the FBI and was assistant director of public affairs under Director Louis Freeh. Survivors include his wife, Helena Uunila St. Dennis, to whom he was married for 54 years, and his daughter and brother. A son predeceased him.

Clyde Wilbur Van Cleve ’55 March 6, 2015, on Vashon Island, Washington.

Born in Missouri, Clyde came to Reed to learn from Prof. Lloyd Reynolds [English & art 1929–69]. “The workshop [established by Lloyd] was kind of a haven, or a hideout place to escape the toughness of the academic world. It was not that I didn’t care for the academic work, but if you have a tendency or a desire to make an object, rather than manipulate an idea, there’s no real substitute for that. It was really the making of objects—whether they are letter forms or lines of type or broadsides or printed books— that had great appeal.”

Clyde earned a BA from Reed and a BFA from the Museum Art School (PNCA) in art, writing his thesis, “Colored Wood-Engraving as a Medium for Book Illustration,” with Prof.

Reynolds. On the testimonial he created for the Heritage of Calligraphy exhibition at Reunions 2003, Clyde wrote that Ray DaBoll’s 1948 broadside, which asserts, “Disciplined freedom is the essence of it,” remained the brightest principle of the enlightenments that Reed and Reynolds provided him.

Clyde taught letter forms at Reed as an associate in graphic arts in 1967 and at the Museum Art School in 1966–75, and worked as a designer with Doug Lynch Associates before opening his own studio in Lake Oswego. He did calligraphic and print projects for Louisiana Pacific Corporation, First Interstate Bank, Willamette University, the University of Portland, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Arlington Club.

One of Clyde’s more visible projects—the logo he designed for TriMet—is still in use today, albeit in modified form.

“One of the pioneers of graphic design in Portland and the Pacific Northwest, and greatly admired in the field, Clyde had an innate talent for design,” says Robert J. Palladino, who taught calligraphy at Reed in 1969–84. “Students responded well to his teaching and improved as september 2015 Reed magazine 51

In Memoriam

David B. Smithhisler ’57

Kent Hugh Johnston ’60

a result of his instruction and ideas. Clyde’s layout, form, and letters had relationship and were beautifully written, and Lloyd was very impressed with Clyde and intended for him to take over Reed’s graphic arts program.” Clyde was a good friend, says Robert, who always left him knowing more about the art they loved and shared.

Clyde and (Alice) Jane Clapperton ’59, MAT ’65, were married in 1957. Survivors include Alice and their two daughters and three grandchildren.

David was a U.S. Army veteran who attended Reed for one year with a focus on physics. He later worked for Tektronix. He loved the outdoors, art, music, culture, and travel. Survivors include a sister and two brothers. His wife, Clara Brainerd Smithhisler, predeceased him.

Kent enlisted in the U.S. Nav y in 1950 and served in communications in the Philippines.

Following the Korean War, he enrolled at Reed, where he earned a BA in physics, writing his thesis ,“Negative Corona Configurations along a Fine Wire,” with Prof.

Jean Delord [1950–88]. Kent pursued a career in materials science at Tektronix. Survivors include his wife, Lorraine; his son and daughter; and two sisters.

October 13, 2014, in Portland.

Paul Markley Mockett ’59 March 30, 2015, in Seattle, Washington.

Allan Silverthorne ’56 January 25, 2015, in Washington.

March 26, 2015, in Portland.

James Gill Dennis ’63

May 13, 2015, in Portland, from a heart attack.

Allan earned his BA from Reed in philosophy and political science, writing his thesis, “A Definition of Freedom,” with Prof. Edwin Garlan [philosophy 1946–73]. Allan went on to earn an MA from UC Berkeley in political science, to teach at Chabot College, and to earn a PhD from UCLA in political science. Allan’s concern for issues of justice and equality were central to his professional and personal life. He worked for the federal government as an organization development specialist, assisting in changes to major private and public institutions such as Blue Cross, Pacific Bell, and the FAA. He also supported the work of many diverse nonprofit organizations. He enjoyed spending time in California’s mountains, deserts, and coastline, and took pleasure in hiking, body surfing, skiing, and basketball. He also enjoyed music and a good pun. He was passionate about ideas, and studied and read extensively throughout his life, including study in spirituality through the Diamond Approach. In the ’90s, Allan moved from California to Seattle and there met Ann Tamminen, whom he married. They lived in Normandy Park. Allan was very close to his daughters from his first two marriages, Barbara and Katherine, and their families, who survive him, as do Ann, her children, and his brother, Wesley Silverthorne ’62.

52 Reed magazine september 2015

Paul grew up on a Nebraska wheat farm that had been in his family for generations and learned how to run the operation with his brother and sister. His mother suggested he attend Reed, where he majored in physics and wrote a thesis on the theory of magnetoresistance with Prof.

Jean Delord [1950–88]. Paul went on to earn a PhD from MIT and was a professor of physics at the University of Washington (1972–2005).

His experiments in particle physics took him to Brookhaven National Lab in New York, Fermilab in Illinois, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California, and the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas. His final project involved building muon detectors in the ATLAS project at the CERN proton collider near Geneva, Switzerland. His device measured controlled collisions to detect fundamental subatomic particles called muons, whose presence might indicate new particles or mini black holes, which slough off muons in their decay.

In 2008, Paul honored Prof. Delord by endowing a chair in Reed’s physics department in his name. “I was surprised that no one had done this before,” he said. “One of the strengths of small colleges is the level of interaction with faculty, in a department that interacts with other departments. It gave me insights and powerful tools for viewing the world outside of the sciences.”

“Nothing gave him greater pleasure than being with his family,” we read in his obituary. “He was a wonderful man with a rich life, and will be missed.”

Survivors include Sara, to whom he was married for 50 years; his son and 3 daughters; 12 grandchildren; and a sister.

Gill attended Reed for two years, and then served in the U.S. Army in Korea. He went on to earn an MFA from the American Film Institute (AFI) Conservatory. He became a highly respected screenwriter and teacher, who conducted workshops in Australia, Ireland, Portugal, and Scotland, and who also was active in the Portland writing community. His screenwriting credits include Riders of the Purple Sage, Return to Oz, and On My Own, and he co-wrote and directed Without Evidence. With his student James Mangold, he created the Oscarwinning film Walk the Line. Mangold remarked in an interview in 2005 that Gill’s teaching style surpassed traditional master-pupil roles.

“He shared with students the struggles he was working through in his own work. We traded a lot of things back and forth and watched them get better. It was very exciting.” In his marriage to Elizabeth Hartman, Gill had two sons, who survive him, as do his widow, Kristen Peckinpah, and his two sisters.

Marilyn Campbell Holsinger MAT ’65 March 10, 2015, in Portland.

Miki earned a BA from the University of Oregon in drawing and painting in 1944, moving to San Francisco to work in advertising. She joined the ar t and advertising department of the San Francisco Examiner, and, with an interest in clothing, even modeled shoes for the newspaper’s store ads. In 1949, she married Frank W. Holsinger; they had one daughter, Joan. In 1960, Miki and Joan moved to Portland, where Miki worked on the staff of Studio 1030, a notable group of Portland designers and artists. She was drawn to Reed to study with Prof. Lloyd Reynolds [English & art

Franklin Delano Faulkner MAT ’66

1929–69], she said, and earned a master’s degree in art. “Having Lloyd Reynolds as my teacher not only gave my artwork a new skill (calligraphy), but also gave me a fulfilling new philosophy of life.” Miki worked for the Oregon State University Press and for Western Oregon State.

She taught calligraphy classes at the Bush Barn in Salem and at Linn-Benton Community College. In 1981–87, she taught art at the University of Missouri at Columbia. In retirement, she did graphic design for the Friends of the Columbia Gorge, who honored her as volunteer of the year in 1994; she also volunteered with the First Unitarian Church, ran competitively, and skied. Survivors include her daughter and granddaughter.

February 17, 2014, in Portland, following a long illness.

Frank lost his father at age 3 and his stepfather at 12 and supported his family by selling newspapers and by working at Fred Meyer. He was a superb high school athlete who excelled at track. While earning an associate degree from Multnomah Junior College, he met his future wife, Norma Faulkner MALS ’70. The couple had one daughter, Marie. Frank went on to earn a BS in history and English from Portland State and a JD from Northwestern School of Law (Lewis & Clark); his master’s degree from Reed was focused on the social sciences. Frank taught at PSU and Mt. Hood Community College. Survivors include his wife and daughter, a grandson, and three brothers.

Richard Carl Spangler MAT ’65 May 2, 2015, in Tacoma, Washington, from ALS.

Dick grew up in West Seattle and served in the navy during the Korean War. Following the war, he enrolled at Seattle Pacific College, where he met Margaret Wubbena in a math class; they married and raised three children.

Dick earned a master’s degree in education from Seattle Pacific and an MAT with a focus on teaching math from Reed. He taught math in elementary and junior high schools and community colleges in Washington, where he initiated the first community college math learning center in the state. He also created a mathematicslearning lab (now MARC) at Tacoma Community College, where he served as head of developmental education and also was active in literacy associations. Dick worked as a consultant and reviewer for major publishing houses and wrote 22 books on mathematics, which have been used in classrooms across the United States. He retired in 1993 and enjoyed travels with Margaret to many destinations abroad. In reporting his death to the college, Margaret wrote that Dick felt that Reed had opened the door for furthering his love of individualized instruction for students of mathematics. Dick’s love of mathematics was also shared by his daughter and two sons, who survive him, as do his four grandchildren.

Carole Anne Smith Taylor ’65, MAT ’67

March 11, 2015, in Scarborough, Maine.

Carole earned a BA in general literature and a master’s degree in teaching. Her adviser, Prof.

George Roush [English 1964–70], assisted with her thesis “Piers the Plowman: Toward a Re-Evaluation of the Allegorical Method.”

“Carole and I were freshmen roommates and then good friends again for the last 20-plus years,” writes Cynthia Brodine Snow ’65. “I

have never known a more thoughtful and imaginative person or anyone as committed to social justice. That first year at Reed, Carole threw herself into an acting class (a monkey, in our Abington room) and created interesting dialogues with the rudiments of first-year German. She erupted from the bathtub one evening and rushed off to the music building, having been struck by inspiration for the incidental music she was writing for a production of The Tempest. We shared a love of folk dancing throughout our years at Reed, and she was still dancing along with Serbian folk dance videos the last time I saw her.”

Carole studied at Harvard and devoted her life to work in social justice, scholarship, and teaching. She joined the faculty in English at Bates College in 1978 and became one of the first women to earn tenure there. She was promoted to full professor of English in 1993. She was a founding member of the programs in African American Studies and American Cultural Studies, and played a crucial role in developing Bates’ first affirmative action policy in the ’80s. She won the Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching— twice—and retired in 2011.

“Carole played a crucial role in transforming the college from what it was then into the Bates of 2011,” wrote Prof. Lillian Nayder. “A liberal arts institution still, but one in which gender, class, and race are significant categories of critical analysis.” Prof. Charles Carnegie called Carole “a champion of justice both on campus and in the wider community, who encouraged students to bridge the divide between theory and practice.”

Carole wrote The Tragedy and Comedy of Resistance: Reading Modernity through Black Women’s Fiction and A Poetics of Seeing: The Implications of Visual Form in Modern Poetry.

During her marriage to Peter Taylor MAT ’67, she had one son, Eric, who survives her, as do her partner William Corlett, two granddaughters, and a brother and sister.

Elizabeth Carpenter Lindsay MAT ’66 February 8, 2015, in Portland.

Betty earned a BA in English literature from Oberlin in 1943 and then moved to Brooklyn to work for Life magazine. She met Dennis Lindsay in New York and they married in 1944, moving to Portland four years later with their first child.

Shortly after arriving, Betty volunteered with the relief efforts for the Vanport Flood. During the ’60s, she served on the Riverdale School Board and earned a master’s from Reed in English literature and social studies. “I will always be grateful for the MAT experience,” she remarked. “It was simply magnificent.” Betty taught English and humanities at Marshall High School for decades and retired in 1987. She was a volunteer with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Portland Center Stage. She enjoyed travel, books, and art, as well as her association with the Unitarian Church.

Survivors include three daughters and a son, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Peter Dobkin Hall ’68

April 30, 2015, in a traffic accident near Branford, Connecticut.

During his freshman year, Peter joined an informal organization founded by his friends Kim Stapley ’68 and Howard Rheingold ’68 called september 2015 Reed magazine 53

In Memoriam the Bureau of Iconoclastic Projects (BIP) and passed out business cards bearing BIP’s motto: Chaos=Eternity. “During the 1965–66 school year, Peter and Kim lived in a funky apartment called the Woodstock Arms,” Debbie Guyol ’68 recalls. “The scene was (understatement) colorful. There was a jukebox to lend atmosphere.

All kinds of art was everywhere in the apartment—paintings by Kim, Howard, and others, smallish statues left by a previous tenant, and Peter’s mural of the harbor at Castine, Maine, on one large wall. The mural was pure Peter, erudite and quirky. Peter chose the smallest bedroom for himself—it was draped with India prints and other exotic fabric so it resembled the tent-like quarters of some desert dignitary.

In the midst of this full-on psychedelic decor and the hippie attire of his friends, Peter always kept his preppy look—tweed jackets, oxford cloth shirts, and horn-rimmed spectacles.”

Peter played banjo, guitar, and bass, and performed with the group Laura and the Vipers, founded by Laura Fisher ’68. “Peter was funny and smart,” she remembers. “He was like a radio; he could talk for hours on any subject,” a sentiment echoed by his wife, Kathryn, who said, “Every day with Peter was a salon.” He was an imaginative amateur painter and also collaborated with Kim on a Quest comic strip, “Milli the Model,” featuring the adventures of a statuesque blonde (rumored to be based on Kim’s sister Andrea Stapley ’69). “It was Peter who talked us into hand binding and illustrating our own books,” said Howard, who added, “When I think of Peter, which is often lately, his wicked laugh dominates my memories.”

Peter earned his BA in international studies from Reed, then went on to obtain an MA and PhD in American history from State University of New York at Stony Brook and became a professor of history and theory in the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College and a senior research fellow at Harvard. He held appointments at Wesleyan, Yale, and Harvard.

A pioneer in the field of nonprofit scholarship, he was a founding member of Yale’s program on nonprofit organizations. In 1993, he received the John Grenzebach Award for Outstanding Research in Philanthropy for Educational Advancement from the America Association of Fundraising Counsel Trust for Philanthropy and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. In 2008, he was given the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action Award for Distinguished Achievement in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Research. In addition, Peter was scholar in residence at the Rockefeller Archive Center in 1988–89.

Peter published four books, The Organization of American Culture, 1700–1900, The Lehigh Valley: An Illustrated History, Lives in Trust, and 54 Reed magazine september 2015

Inventing the Nonprofit Sector. He was coeditor of Sacred Companies: Organizational Aspects of Religion and Religious Aspects of Organizations and editor of the chapter on nonprofit, voluntary, and religious entities and activities for Historical Statistics of the United States—Millennial Edition.

His articles on the development of nonprofit institutions, religion, philanthropic elites, higher education, charities law, corporate social responsibility, and public policy appeared in the American Sociological Review, Commonwealth, Foundation News, History of Education Quarterly, History of Higher Education Annual, Journal of American History, New York Law School Law Review, Nonprofit Management & Leadership, Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Philanthropy Monthly, Science & Society, and Theology Today, as well as in more than a dozen edited volumes.

Peter served the community as officer and director of a number of agencies, including the New Haven Historic District Commission, the Branford Planning & Zoning and Inland Wetland Commissions, the Church of Christ– Stony Creek, the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government, the Eli Whitney Museum, the New Haven Colony Historical Society, the Ronan-Edgehill Neighborhood Association, and St. Thomas Episcopal Church and Day School.

He was a member of the Century Association.

“Peter did what he loved his entire life,” says Laura.

In addition to his wife, Kathryn Bonese, he is survived by his former wife, Karyl Lee Hall Pfaff; his four children, Sam, Mary, Becca, and Allison; and his brother Jonathan and sisters Marion and Suzannah.

Memorial by John Allen Cushing ’67.

Joe Alvin Hudson Jr. ’69 April 14, 2015, in Dallas, Texas.

Joe, also known as Skipper, grew up in Dallas and in south Los Angeles. He attended Reed across a span of several years and was a founding member of the Black Student Union (BSU).

Among his Reed friends was Calvin Freeman ’69, first president of the BSU, with whom he hosted a local soul and jazz radio program.

Joe went on to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and earned a degree in political science and history from Bishop College in Dallas. Joe and Elaine Robinson were married in 1974 and left Texas for Los Angeles, where Joe worked for the Los Angeles Community College District as a project assistant. He then worked in human resources in Texas before returning to Los Angeles, where he taught and coached basketball at Normandie Christian School and at California Christian School. He also taught adult education for the Los Angeles Unified School District and was an amnesty instructor for the Los Angeles Community College District. In 1993, the couple and their two children moved to Dallas, where Joe continued to teach school and where he took a leadership

role at Valley Creek Church of Christ. A lifelong learner, Joe completed a master’s degree in education from American InterContinental University while undergoing dialysis. A kidney transplant in 2005 enabled him to continue to work, and he focused on writing and editing.

“He was an encouragement to all those around him, ministering to them, and giving them the confidence to believe in themselves.” Survivors include his wife, his son and daughter, and his brother.

Constance Helen Crooker ’69

April 10, 2015, in Portland.

Connie earned her BA from Reed in art, writing her thesis on the revival of Italic handwriting with Prof. Lloyd Reynolds [English & art 1929–69].

After Reed, she did window dressing for J.C. Penney and earned money buying and selling clothing. She adopted a hippie lifestyle, she wrote, and lived in a teepee. Her career in law began when friend Michael Krasik ’73 asked, “Why don’t we take the LSATs?” She discovered an aptitude for law and earned a JD from Northwestern School of Law (Lewis & Clark Law School) in 1977. Connie established a practice in criminal defense, focusing on the Hispanic community, and led efforts in Oregon to professionalize the use of interpreters in the courts. She also was the first woman in Oregon to contract with the state to run a public defenders office, serving the community of Tillamook for many years. In 2000, she retired from legal practice, but taught comparative criminal law at the Universidad Latina de America in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico.

She joined the board of directors of Portland’s Corbett–Terwilliger–Lair Hill Neighborhood Association and continued to travel and to study language. She presented a mock criminal jury trial in Morelia for the legal community there, accompanied by Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Edward Jones ’69 and attorney Jenny Marlin Cooke ’71.

Connie’s talents would stretch any catalogue: photography, skiing, hiking, camping, dancing, singing, and playing the guitar and the balalaika.

She played with Richard Crandall ’69 in the Reed band Central Nervous System and also performed in Raw Silk. Connie remarked, “I’m glad that, back then, we weren’t ashamed of our musical naivety, because our youth, our unbridled optimism, and our drive to have rollicking good fun made for a special time in our lives.”

One of her passions was writing and she established a pen name, Constance Emerson Crooker, taking Emerson from ancestor Ralph Waldo Emerson. For Paideia 2005, she conducted a four-session creative writing workshop. She served as editor for Over the Hill Hikers, which chronicles the ups and downs of a group of White Mountain hikers led by her mother. And she wrote and published several books, including Gun Control and Gun Rights and The Art of Legal Interpretation. Connie lived with stage four melanoma for eight years. In her book Melanoma Mama: On Life, Death, and Tent Camping, published in 2012, she shared her experiences of a cross-country trip she initiated to celebrate an unexpected reprieve from cancer treatments. “The cumulative effect is a poignant, sweet-and-sour tale of a life lived with intensity and unbounded curiosity,” she wrote.

That same year, Connie underwent surgery for a brain tumor. “Having a perfectly good day suddenly detour this way is not one of life’s finer moments,” she wrote, “but I’m recovering well from the massive surgery with lots of help from my sister-caregiver and her family.”

Connie also published Doc Jackson’s Letters Home: A Combat Medic’s 1968 Letters from Vietnam.

In an inter view in 1994, “ Ten Most Interesting Portlanders,” for Portland’s Downtowner newspaper, Connie remarked that she was encouraged by her parents to pursue the things that interested her. “My only goal is to throw myself fully into whatever I do for as long as I can.”

Survivors include two sisters and a brother and extended family, including niece Elizabeth Crooker, for whom she was a second mother.

Elizabeth Marie Andrew ’72

April 6, 2015, in Memphis, Tennessee, from cancer.

Beth earned a BA from Reed in biology, writing her thesis on the crustacean hyperglycemic hormone with Prof. Lewis Kleinholz [1946– 80]. Among her recollections of Reed were hikes on Mount Hood, calligraphy class, singing in the chorus, and playing soccer. She went on to do graduate work at MIT and later entered a graduate program in nutritional science at Cornell University. She earned an MNS in community nutrition in 1977 and was employed as research assistant in the Nutrition Center of Tufts New England Medical Center before entering medical school. She earned an MD from New York University in 1984. After completing residency at the University of North Carolina’s Memorial Hospital, she practiced pediatrics in

Silver Spring, Maryland, and moved to Memphis in 1992 with her partner, Thaddeus N. Nowak, director of research in the neurology department of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. Beth worked for the Memphis Children’s Clinic. She was recognized as an advocate for children and adolescents and their health and well being. She also was a longtime member of the Memphis Symphony Chorus and an accomplished photographer and knitter. Beth danced, played basketball, and ran numerous half and full marathons, including the Boston Marathon in 2006. She cultivated prolific gardens at home and at Shelby Farms Park in Memphis. Survivors include Thad, her mother, three sisters, and three brothers.

Michael Mercy ’87

May 13, 2015, in Boise, Idaho, from cancer.

Mike came to Reed from Boise, Idaho, and quickly made his mark on c a m p u s , w h e re h e learned to fence, whisked the Doyle Owl away from the Society for Creative Anachronism, and participated in a truly epic prank— the burial of an MG Midget under the Hauser Library. He also was a founding member of the African American Student Union.

He majored in chemistry and biology, writing his thesis with Prof. Ronda Bard [chemistry 1984–89] and Prof. Ann Frazier [biology 1986–89]. He went on to earn an MD from Johns Hopkins in 1992 and was honored to serve as chief resident in his final year at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He returned to Boise and specialized in emergency medicine. He was a doctor of emergency medicine for Emergency Medicine of Idaho and St. Luke’s Health System.

He also served as chair and medical director of the emergency department at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and as a consultant for the American College of Surgeons, verifying trauma facilities throughout the nation. After earning an EMBA from Boise State University in 2012, he became the chief medical officer for Predixion Software.

“He was able to create an immediate connection with those he came in contact with, in a way precious few can,” says his family. “Perhaps most importantly, he used that connection to understand the needs and aspirations of those around him, in an effort to help them achieve their goals.

Mike really cared about people and wanted to help everyone be the best they could be.”

Mike loved jazz and R&B music and Boise State University football. He was a nationally ranked foilist and a competitive cyclist; he skied and played squash. He served on the boards of the Idaho Black History Museum and the Ada County Medical Society, advocated access

for citizens to substance abuse treatment and mental healthcare, and frequently gave talks on substance abuse at local high schools.

Mike’s service to Reed included eight years as a trustee. “Mike’s commitment to students was readily apparent to me from the first day we met, and grew steadily in the ensuing years,” says Mike Brody, vice president of student services. “As a clinician and a deeply compassionate human being, he brought not only his intellect and training, but also his heart and soul to his work. Mike’s patients and professional colleagues were privileged to have known him, and all of us at Reed owe him a debt of gratitude. We will miss him.”

Mike and Debra Green were married in 1996 and welcomed triplets Paige, Blake, and Cameron in 2000. Cameron lived for only two hours. Mike later married Heather Hollenbeck Youngwerth, who survives him, as do Paige and Blake; stepchildren Abby, Alex, and Drew; and his mother, twin sister, and grandmother.

Edward Winslow Coolidge ’90 March 8, 2015, in Troy, New York, from brain cancer.

Ed earned a BA from Reed in English literature and wrote his thesis with Prof. Tom Gillcrist [1962–2001] on “The Grotesque in Flannery O’Connor.”

After graduation, Ed became a case manager for Janus Youth Programs in Portland.

This experience became a foundation for teaching and working with disadvantaged youth.

He went on to earn an MFA from the California Institute for the Arts and stayed in Los Angeles for 10 years, teaching, making, and exhibiting art.

In 2008 he moved to Troy, New York, where he taught art and technology at Tech Valley High School, which serves underprivileged youth in the Albany region. Ed excelled in encouraging his students to push artistic boundaries and was a talented academic adviser. In his free time, he renovated an 1890 row house. In 2012, stricken with glioblastoma, he withstood four brain surgeries with a fierce will to live, while continuing to care for his students.

Always a dreamer, at Reed and beyond, Ed was unbounded by his own ideas about the future. His family and many friends will remember his deep love of the outdoors, his epic snow camping trips with fellow Reedies on Mount Hood, his infectious laugh and impish sense of humor, and his ability to forge strong september 2015 Reed magazine 55

In Memoriam

Mark James Martinez Angeles ’15 May 27, 2015, in Portland, from head trauma.

daniel cronin

56 Reed magazine september 2015

Memorial by Prof. Kathleen Worley [theatre 1985–2014].

Prof. Gretchen Icenogle [theatre 2008–09]

April 11, 2015, in Portland, from cancer.

Prof. Icenogle taught playwriting, directing, and theatre histor y and directed an energetic and memorable production of Marivaux’s The Double Inconstancy. After Reed, she continued her rich life as a writer, receiving an award from Literar y A r ts , and Gretchen Icenogle in trained to work with aniLalibela, Ethiopia, and likely a St. George’s lager. mals, founding her own company, Bridgetown Dog Training. When diagnosed with cancer, she blogged about her experiences at Mouth of the Wolf. Her essay “Kansas in Technicolor” appeared in the Fix issue of Oregon Humanities magazine.

A tribute to her life and work aired on Weekend Edition on OPB radio in April.

Staff, Faculty, and Friends

Memorial by Prof. Kathleen Worley [theatre 1985–2014].

Prof. Betty Bernhard

Douglas Leedy [music 1973–76]

March 21, 2015, in Claremont, California, from cancer.

Also known as Bhishma Xenotechnites, Doug was a composer, scholar, and teacher. He studied at Pomona and UC Berkeley, completing an MA in composition, and performed on French horn with the Oakland Symphony and the San Francisco Opera and Ballet orchestras. He also sang and played harpsichord. His interests included early European, ancient Greek, and South Indian music. He created chamber and theatre work, and traveled in Poland. He taught at UCLA, where he established the electronic music studio and an early music performance group, and also taught at Centro Simón Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela. Reed students admired and respected Doug for his erudition, his passion, and his insistence on excellence. He also served as musical director of the Portland Baroque Orchestra and directed the Portland Handel Festival in 1985.

[theatre 1980–84]

Mark was killed when a tow truck struck his bicycle just nine days after he graduated from Reed. Professors and friends described him as a dedicated student who was passionate about chemistry, cycling, and community service.

“Mark brought all his gifts to the Reed chemistry department: his intelligence, hard work, and discipline could penetrate any topic, a huge heart that could lift any classmate, and a deep laugh that melted away sadness,” writes Prof. Alan Shusterman [chemistry 1989–]. “My chemistry colleagues and I loved having Mark in our classes, as a student, a scholar, and a friend.”

Mark wrote his thesis on the role of organometallic catalysts in neutralizing toxic pollution with Prof. Sarah Kliegman ’02 [chemistry 2014–]. He dedicated it to the late Prof. Maggie Geselbracht [chemistry 1993–2014], who introduced him to “the beauty and wonder present in science, mathematics, and the natural world.”

Mark cut a distinctive figure on campus. He ran the Bike Co-op; served as a Paideia czar; sang with Reed’s a cappella group, the Herodotones; and was a house adviser.

He was also deeply committed to serving the community. He volunteered as a mentor for underprivileged youth at Lane Middle School with Reed’s SEEDS program. He fixed bikes for

Asian Theatre Scholarship by the Association for Asian Performance.

Peter Stevens

friendships wherever he went. At Reunions 2015, a group of Reedies organized by Lucinda Gilman ’91 and Geoff Houghton ’90 commemorated Ed’s life with a hike around the canyon, reminiscences of kindnesses and misadventures past, and cannon fire.

Ed died holding hands with his mother and his sister, Elizabeth Coolidge Nassikas ’92.

Other survivors include his father and stepmother, his brother, and his infant son, Arthur.

free and taught bike safety to kids in northeast Portland. “Mark excelled at connecting with others and building community and also inspiring people to push their own boundaries,” says Meredith Dickinson, program manager for SEEDS. “Giving to the community and to those around me has always been part of who I am,” he wrote in a thank-you letter to the donor who provided the scholarship that made it possible for him to attend Reed. “I am extraordinarily thankful for this opportunity, and hope I can pay it forward in the future—both to the Reed community and the world at large.”

“Mark represents among the best in us,” writes his family. “He was smart, witty, passionate, and driven, but at the same time incredibly thoughtful and loving. He made it his mission every single day to simply love people, in whatever way he could. He always saw the good in other people, even when all they could see was bad. He was a true and unique light to this world, and he will be sorely missed.”

Survivors include his parents; a sister; and a multitude of grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.

March 28, 2015, in Corvallis, Oregon.

Pending

Prof. Bernhard taught acting and other theatre courses and directed four plays, including a memorable production of the Threepenny Opera.

She left Reed for a tenure-track position at Pomona, where she directed more than 30 productions, including two Sanskrit plays, Shakuntala and The Little Clay Cart. Her research interests were primarily focused on the confluence of theatre for social change and Indian theatre. She was named a Founding Mother of

As Reed went to press, we learned of the deaths of the following people: John MacTarnaghan ’37, Mary Bankhead McBrayer ’39, Mary Kuylaars Jones Pennington ’39, Esther Dorles Lewis ’42, Bruce Oldfield ’45, Jeanne Hansen Gordner ’46, Edith Griffith Swoboda ’48, Shirley Georges Gittelsohn ’49, Clifford Ashby ’50, Gloria Thomas Conver ’50, Lori Courant Berkowitz Lax ’50, Ralph Pratt ’50, Wilmer Cummins ’51, Arthur Schneider ’51, David Straus ’53, J. Robert Wallace ’54, David Mason ’58, Elizabeth Berry Barber ’63, Richard Roistacher ’65, Stephen Tipton MAT ’68, Vernon Marttala ’69, Gary Wright ’76, David Heinze ’79, David Ranals ’79, James Dinsdale ’84, Evan Rose ’86, and Don Frisbee, trustee emeritus.

Mark your calendars and register now for Parent & Family Weekend!

Parent & Family Weekend Schedule and registration: reed.edu/pfw

SAVE THE DATE

NOVEMBER 6 & 7, 2015

You and your family are invited to campus for two days of exciting events: • Immerse yourself in the Reed student experience by attending a class.

• Learn about student research, declaring a major, the thesis process, career services, and life after Reed.

• Enjoy a special jazz performance on Friday night.

REED COLLEGE

3203 SE Woodstock Boulevard Portland, Oregon 97202-8199

Periodicals Postage Paid Portland, Oregon

leah nash

LOOK TO THE FUTURE. Psych major Corinna Jackson ’15 and some 318 proud members of the class of ’15 received their hard-won diplomas at commencement.