Winter 2009
In this issue: Homecoming and ReunionS Texas Cheeses, Unwrapped
P. 13
P. 7
Cullen goes Hollywood
P. 5
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Helping Students Succeed
By the time you receive this magazine, we will have completed construction of our new Wilhelmina Cullen Admission Center. In addition to being our fi rst “green” building on campus, we hope this building will provide a good fi rst impression about Southwestern to prospective students and their families. However, it’s not enough to just recruit students. We need to make sure that their experience at Southwestern is a positive one—from the day they arrive on campus until the day they graduate. I’m pleased that we continue to develop programs designed to accomplish this. This fall marked the 10th anniversary of our First-Year Seminar program at Southwestern. While certainly not unique among colleges, we have put our own mark on this program in which all incoming students participate. Where else can students learn the skills necessary to succeed in college by studying subjects as diverse as chocolate or surfi ng? This program has helped students form bonds with professors and other students that often last a lifetime—and in some cases, even influence their career paths. Four years ago, we extended our First-Year Seminars beyond the walls of the classroom to form Living-Learning Communities, in which students live in the same suite with their First-Year Seminar classmates. Participation in LivingLearning Communities has grown each year they have been offered, and this fall we had 176 students from the fi rst-year class participating in 13 Living-Learning Communities. Next year, we will expand the number of Living-Learning Communities to 15 to meet demand for them.
For the fi rst time this fall, we offered our new transfer students the same experience our fi rst-year students get in their First-Year Seminars. The new Advanced Entry Seminars also were offered in Living-Learning Communities to help transfer students quickly form bonds with each other. Initial response to this program—which is part of a larger initiative to recruit and retain transfer students—has been very positive. This fall we also started a new program to help sophomores, who often fall through the cracks with all the attention given to fi rst-year students and those closer to graduating. The Sophomore Spotlight program includes a combination of educational and social experiences designed to help improve retention of sophomores, and help them assess their strengths as they choose a major at Southwestern. Two other initiatives we launched this fall are designed to make sure our students succeed academically. The Early Warning System program—which previously targeted only first-year students—has been expanded to target any students who demonstrate early signs of struggling with one or more courses before it is too late for them to make significant improvements. I hope students and parents alike will appreciate these latest efforts to help our students succeed. As always, we welcome your feedback.
Jake B. Schrum ’68 President, Southwestern University
Winter 2009
5 26
In every issue
Features
2 | President’s Message
5 | On Location Meet Shawn Pipkin ’94 on the set of her latest movie
10 | Teaching 16 | Kiosk
7 | Homecoming & Reunion Weekend 2008 A weekend in pictures
17 | On Campus 24 | Athletics
12 | Distinguished Alumnus Honoring Bill Engvall ’55
2 5 | Engaging Find 2 6 | Alumni News 2 8 | Class Notes 3 6 | Academics in Focus
13 | Local Flavor Storing your cheese in plastic wrap? Cheese expert Kendra Scott ’03 might make you think again.
3 8 | Last Word
Andrew Loehman
On the cover Southwestern men’s lacrosse is the first team in Texas to go varsity! Coach Bill Bowman ’92 (pictured) led the men’s lacrosse team to tremendous success as a club sport, winning the Lone Star Alliance Division II Championship for the past four years and advancing to the national championship tournament. Read more in “Athletics,” pg. 24.
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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A FILM CAREER? IT’S IN THE SCRIPT Standing in front of Mood-Bridwell Hall, Pipkin goes over the movie script with locations manager Logan Cooper and production assistant Luke Crawford.
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Southwestern Magazine
On Location When Shawn Pipkin ’94 comes back to campus, she brings Hollywood with her by Ellen Davis
Ellen Davis
The filming of an HBO movie on campus in October
was particularly exciting for Shawn Pipkin ’94. Pipkin had the chance to return to her alma mater as the second assistant director on the movie about the life of Temple Grandin. It was the latest in a string of more than 30 movies and television shows that Pipkin has been involved with since graduating from Southwestern. Although she has always been interested in movies, Pipkin says she didn’t plan on pursuing a career in the film industry when she came to Southwestern. “I was thinking more about business, like marketing or advertising,” she says. After graduation and a three-year stint working in the publicity department of NBC Sports, Pipkin decided she wanted to be involved with movies after all. She returned to her hometown of Houston and called the Houston Film Commission. “I told them I didn’t have any experience, but I wanted to know what I needed to do to get into the business,” she says. She sent in her resume, and two weeks later, she got a call to be the production assistant on a commercial for Kroger. And from there, her career took off. “I kept meeting people. This business is all about referrals,” she says. She met her mentor and first assistant director, Phil Hardage, working on the 2002 movie “The Rookie” with Dennis Quaid. Hardage then brought her on board to help with “Tears of the Sun” and “The Life of David Gale.” In 2002, Pipkin was accepted to the Directors Guild Training Program in Los Angeles. About 2,000 people a year apply for this program, and less than 20 get accepted. The program takes two years or 400 days on the sets of various movies and television shows. Shows Pipkin worked on during this period included “Haunted Mansion” with Eddie Murphy, “Without a Trace” and “NCIS.”
After completing the Directors Guild program, Pipkin was qualified to be a second assistant director. Her name was put on the Southern California Qualification List for job opportunities. She got her first job—working on “The Longest Yard” with Adam Sandler—just two weeks after graduating. “For two years straight I just went from show to show,” Pipkin says. Shows she worked on during this period included “School for Scoundrels,” “Dreamgirls,” “Reign Over Me” and “The Family Stone,” which she says has been her favorite project to date. It was working on this movie that Pipkin first met Claire Danes, who stars in the Temple Grandin movie filmed at Southwestern. (A complete list of all the shows Pipkin has been involved with can be found at www.imdb.com.) In her current role as a second assistant director, Pipkin serves as the management on the set—coordinating everything from make-up, hair and wardrobe to lights and grips. “We’re the director’s team,” she says. “We make it happen.” As the Temple Grandin movie was being filmed at Southwestern, Pipkin was right in the middle of all the action, moving back and forth between the set and the off-campus staging area where a variety of trailers were brought in for costumes, changing and make-up. “My job is to look ahead and make sure everything we need will be there,” she says. These days, Pipkin can be selective about the shows she works on. She moved back to Austin in the summer of 2006 to be closer to home, although she still travels back to California frequently to work on shows. Pipkin says she hopes to be able to produce her own movie some day. “I’m really blessed,” she says. “I get paid to do what I love.” Learn more about the Temple Grandin movie and filming at SU on the following page. Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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Southwestern on Screen ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR CLOSE-UP? Both the Cullen Building and Mood-Bridwell Hall became sets for an HBO movie last October. At left: spotlights were used to help light a classroom scene filmed in Cullen. About 60 Southwestern students got a taste of what it is like to be in the movies as HBO filmed several scenes for a movie on campus over Fall Break. The movie is the true life story of Temple Grandin, a woman born with autism who went on to become one of the country’s leading experts on animal behavior. Grandin earned her undergraduate degree from Franklin Pierce College (now Franklin Pierce University) in New Hampshire. She earned a master’s degree in animal science from Arizona State University and Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. She currently is a professor at Colorado State University and a noted leader in both the animal welfare and autism advocacy movements. She used her insight into the minds of cattle to help design more humane slaughterhouses. Livestock handling facilities she has designed are used worldwide to help reduce stress on animals during handling. Most of the scenes from Grandin’s undergraduate days were filmed at Southwestern. These included a shot of her mother dropping her off at college, a scene where she gets called to the dean’s office, a classroom scene and her college graduation. The scenes at Southwestern were filmed in the Cullen Building and Mood-Bridwell Hall, and on the Academic Mall. “It was fun to see how they do everything,” says Katherine Shipman, a first-year student who was selected to be an extra in the movie. Shipman was filmed in several shots with Claire Danes, who plays the role of Temple Grandin in the movie. In addition to Danes, the movie stars David Strathairn, who played the role of Edward R. Murrow in the 2005 movie “Good Night and Good Luck,” as well as Julia Ormond and Catherine O’Hara. Other scenes for the movie were filmed at various locations throughout Central Texas in October and November. During a filming day in Bastrop, two Great Danes owned by 1979 Southwestern graduate Lisa Pelosi Butterfield ’79 also had the opportunity to be in the movie. The dogs, Lucy and Sadie, were used to portray a Great Dane owned by one of Grandin’s mentors, William Carlock. During the filming, Butterfield had the opportunity to meet David Strathairn, who plays the role of Carlock in the movie. “He even signed a photo of Lucy for us,” Butterfield says. The movie was directed by Mick Jackson, who directed the 1992 movie “The Bodyguard (1992), the television series “Numb3rs,” and the 2002 HBO movie “Live From Baghdad.” It is expected to air on HBO in May. 6
Southwestern Magazine
Southwestern’s Greatest Hits! 2008 Homecoming and Reunion Weekend breaks records
Shelley Dormont ’11
SING! Members of E.B.O.N.Y. sing and dance to “It’s Raining Men” in their skit, “One Night Only.”
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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Pearl A. Neas Award: Monty Curtis It’s easy to see why Monty Curtis was the 2008 recipient of the Pearl A. Neas Award. As associate vice president for enrollment services and co-founder and former coach of the lacrosse team, Curtis is the textbook definition of well-rounded. And, with over 20 years dedicated to the University, his service as an admissions recruiter is more than a career, it is a personal mission. As a dedicated staff member and perennial lacrosse supporter, Curtis has been an innovator in both fields who continually goes above and beyond the call of duty. For him, the admission process is about more than the right grade point average and the requisite amount of extracurricular activities. “I do not form a class,” he says, “I shape a community,” carefully selecting students who not only have the potential to succeed academically at Southwestern, but who will both enrich, and be enriched by this community. His genuine regard for the diverse and exceptional composition of the student body not only makes him a favorite on campus, but consistently serves to produce outstanding first-year classes. When it comes to lacrosse, Curtis has been an integral part of the team from its beginning as a fledgling club sport to its establishment as the first varsity lacrosse team in Texas. Though he retired as coach in 1995, he attends nearly every game, playoff and championship. He has been a player, coach, advisor and advocate, and proudly displays the team’s awards in his office. The Pearl A. Neas Award is awarded to a staff member who exhibits long and faithful service to the University; someone who gives more in every task with which he or she is entrusted. To say Monty Curtis is dedicated would be an understatement, but it’s a good start.
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Southwestern Magazine
The 2nd Annual Pirate Golf Classic
Mr. Homecoming: Ken Roberts The subject of economics has not historically been part of the Humanities curriculum, but this year’s “Mr. Homecoming” has done more than his share to change that image. Ken Roberts, professor of economics, has a knack for putting human faces to the numbers and helping students understand the culture behind the trends. It is his compassion and care for all humankind that moved former students to bestow upon him this prestigious honor as a token of their affection and respect. It seems to all who know him that Roberts’ dedication to the rigorous study of economics is not motivated by professional recognition, but rather by the sincere desire to foster change in the world. He travels the globe to gain a better perspective of the cultural foundations that inform economic movements, and brings his findings straight into the classroom. For Roberts, opening his students’ eyes is as important as them opening their textbooks. He recounts for his students a trip to Tiananmen Square where he witnessed a protesting Chinese woman’s encounter with local authorities. Realizing that his vigilance had prevented the woman from being imprisoned for defying the government, he then followed her home to ensure the police did not arrest her. “Some people think economics is only about numbers, but it’s about people’s lives,” he says. Students who take his classes agree as they leave with a better understanding of humanity as well as of economics. Roberts is a distinguished academician: he holds the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cullen Chair in Economics, earned a B.B.A., M.B.A. and Ph.D., and has received more than 10 prestigious fellowship and scholarship awards. But, just as he teaches his students, it’s not just the numbers that are important; it’s the human persons behind the facts and figures that make the difference. Jameson 5K
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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Alison Kafer
Assistant Professor of Feminist Studies
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Southwestern Magazine
Andrew Loehman
TEACHING
“Working with Alison was like re-learning how to navigate life justly, but in a way that brings the most joy to both yourself and those around you.” –Brodie Reynolds ’06
Alison Kafer, assistant professor of feminist studies, hopes to challenge her students
every day. “Mostly I want students to ask questions, and then to ask questions about their questions. Southwestern students are willing to let themselves—their lives, their beliefs, their practices—be changed by what they learn both in and outside the classroom, and I see my job as making space for them to do so,” she says. Kafer grew up near the coast in New Bern, N.C. She graduated from Wake Forest University with a B.A. in studio art with a concentration in painting. “It seemed like the right choice for me, because I love creative people making creative things. I love going to see art and hearing artists talk about their work,” she says. Kafer discovered the disability rights movement and the field of disability studies in graduate school, both of which offered her tools to understand the world around her and her experiences in it. These discoveries prompted her to obtain her master’s degree and doctorate in women’s studies and religion. Teaching has been an interest of Kafer’s for quite some time, and upon completing a few fellowships, she found her way to Southwestern. “When I saw the job posting, I knew I had found my dream job. It was great to find a feminist studies program that was committed to feminism both intellectually and politically,” she says. Kafer joined the Southwestern faculty in the fall of 2004, and received her Ph.D. in women’s studies and religion from Claremont Graduate University in 2005. Her research explores the connections among feminist, queer, and disability theory. Some of the classes she teaches include Ecofeminists and Queer Greens, Feminist Theory, and Transnational Feminism. In addition to teaching, she is the faculty advisor for Feminist Voices, an activism group on campus to foster awareness of societal issues from feminist perspectives, and sits on the Board of the Society for Disability Studies. She also serves on the Board of Forklift Danceworks, a modern dance company based in Austin that focuses on community-oriented projects and often uses non-dancers in their performances. “I’m becoming increasingly interested in dance, performance and the visual arts, especially from a disability studies and disability culture perspective,” she says. As if those don’t keep her busy enough, she also serves on the Board of Generations Ahead, an Oakland-based nonprofit organization focused on cross-movement work around issues of genetic technologies. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, artwork and the outdoors. She currently is working on manuscripts for two books, Accessible Futures: Queer, Crip, Feminist, and Political, and At the Intersection: Deaf and Disability Studies, which she is co-editing. “The outdoors is a refuge to me. I get to the hike and bike trail around Town Lake in Austin every chance I get. Rolling around the river helps me clear my head, and often helps me write. My folks live on a river in North Carolina, so being on or around water has always been important to me,” she says. Kafer appreciates the opportunity to teach at Southwestern. “Students are open and earnest, they get involved in issues around them; they ask questions. And my colleagues make me think, which I greatly appreciate,” she says. “I am incredibly lucky to have a job that feeds me, challenges me and nourishes me. I hope to keep doing it for a very long time.” –Stuart Marshall ’09
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The Top Things I Want My Students to Remember
1 There’s always more
going on than you think. Feminist Studies asks students to question their assumptions, to uncover the complexity of our ideas about gender, sexuality, sex, race, class, disability.
2 Dissent, debate,
disagreement, protest.
These occur within feminism and between feminists, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Dissent helps us see where we might have missed something, where we might have excluded a group of people or practices.
3 The personal is political. Seeing the personal as political means recognizing that the things we take for granted as “common sense” or “natural” are, in fact, historically situated, contextual, specific—and therefore open to debate.
4 There is no single feminist position.
Popular culture likes to present feminism as a monolithic entity, when, in reality, feminist thought varies widely not only in different historical moments and cultural locations, but among feminists in the same time and place.
5 Always ask questions, always be curious.
Sometimes the most exciting insights come when we start asking questions about something—an idea, an object, a practice—that we never thought about before. Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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Andrew Loehman
“My time at the University was four of the best years of my life, and I’m proud that I am able to give back in any way.”
Dr. William R. Engvall ’55 Distinguished Alumnus by Miranda Bradley
When this year’s Distinguished Alumnus recipient, Dr. Bill Engvall ’55, was told he would be honored with the award, he knew he was right to listen to his mother all those years ago. The well-respected family medicine practitioner and anesthesiologist admits it’s usually not a good idea for children to follow their parents’ plan for their career path. “I always tell people not to let their parents tell them what to be when they grow up,” he said. “But for me, I’m glad I followed my mother’s advice.” His mother, a nurse, thought doctors were “the absolute best things there were,” he said. So, she encouraged her son to make that his profession. Bill never looked back. “I never imagined myself as anything else,” he said. “Since I was a child, I knew I was going to be a doctor.” Bill Engvall, chemistry major at Southwestern University, Class of 1955, not only became a doctor, but he became the kind of doctor that patients repeatedly requested and medical students loved as a teacher. He earned his medical degree from the University of Texas at Galveston, and then proceeded to hold appointments with the United States Public Health Service, the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas, Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Scott & White Hospital in Temple and Texas A & M University College of Medicine. He is also a member of the American Board of Anesthesiologists.
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Southwestern Magazine
Before his family medicine career was over, he was averaging 175 deliveries each year, evidence of just how sought-after he was. Just three years ago, at the height of his anesthesiology career, however, Bill chose to retire. “I wanted to go out when people still wanted me around,” he said, “instead of when they were begging me to go.” Retirement is a relative term, however. Especially when it is connected to a man of such drive. Bill has served in almost every possible volunteer role at Southwestern, including Class Agent and 50th Reunion Chair. “I don’t look at my serving Southwestern in those capacities as any sacrifice,” he said. “My time at the University was four of the best years of my life, and I’m proud that I am able to give back in any way.” Honored by the place he has held in such great esteem, Bill says he is “totally humbled.” The father of four was a little nervous, though, about standing up to receive his award. One thing was for certain—he had to include a very special thank you as part of his acceptance speech. “My mother,” he said. “I’m sure she would have been happy for me.” Miranda Bradley is a part-time editor at Austin Family Magazine and is author of the book, My Cup Runneth Over, Now How Do I Clean Up the Mess?. She and her family live in Georgetown.
Local
flavor
Kendra Scott ’03 puts Texas cheeses on the map by Kalie Trueper ’08
BRIAn DIGGS
Recently, Kendra Scott ’03 appeared on the Houston radio
show, “Delicious Mischief,” (AM 740 KTRH) to explain why the new Texas artisan cheeses and wines have transformed the tried-and-true “wine and cheese party”—once the domain of same-old-same-old cheddars and California Chablis—into a truly local affair. Before her brush with radio celebrity, Scott graduated from Southwestern with French and studio art degrees. “When I graduated from Southwestern, I set out to find a career, but knew that I might not settle on one for a few years. I chose to try on a few hats before settling on something, rather than go full steam ahead, with blinders on…” Just two years after graduation, including a brief stint in graduate school, Scott hit upon the perfect pairing: she combined her background in French with her love of food and took a job as a cheese buyer. Working as a buyer, Scott fi ne-tuned her palate with cheeses from all over the world. Interacting directly with farms and artisans became one of her favorite parts of the job, giving her insight into the craft of cheesemaking that she could then share with her clients. In 2006, Scott moved to Houston and she and a partner launched the Houston Dairymaids, a business that sells artisan cheeses and specialty foods from Texas at local farmers’ markets. In 2007, under the headline, “Texas Cheese Comes of Age,” the Houston Chronicle dubbed Scott and her partner the “Big Wheels of Cheese.” This Summer, Scott began work as an independent cheese consultant, selecting and sourcing local cheese for Houston restaurants and wine bars, doing private catering, and leading cheese and wine tours along her well-worn buying routes in the Texas Hill Country. On the following pages, Scott shares some cheese-buying tips, insights, and favorites, wine pairings optional. Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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A Good Cheese Monger …
A Few of Kendra Scott’s
Texas
… cuts to order.
In a small specialty food store or at a farmer’s market, you should be able to get your cheese cut just for you. It’s okay to ask. In large grocery stores, cheese may only come pre-cut and wrapped in plastic, so “cut to order” may not always be an option.
… lets you taste everything.
Cheese varies from batch to batch, season to season, maker to maker, with many other factors in between. Your cheese monger should let you taste everything before you buy it, even things you buy on a regular basis.
{ fig. 1} fresh chèvre Cheeses are numbered in tasting order, or clockwise starting from the bottom left. Not all fresh chèvre is worthy of its own spot on a cheese plate. I call this fresh goat’s milk cheese from La Cuesta Farm in Clifton, Texas, the “Champagne” of goat cheeses. Cheesemaker Alberto Garza focuses on making fresh, simple goat cheese, from the milk of his own herd, perfect. With its bright, clean flavor, and soft texture, La Cuesta’s Chèvre promises to be a delightful opening to any cheese plate. Pair with a sparkling rose or white, like Flat Creek Estate’s Sparkling Raspberry.
… pushes the good stuff.
Cheese mongers take great pride in the products they sell. They want you to be happy when you eat it. Their goal is to sell cheese that is ripe and ready to be eaten, so be sure to let them know if you do not plan to eat it right away.
… helps you decide.
The more information you give regarding what you plan to do with a cheese, the better your cheese expert can help you make a selection. with a good cheese monger, you can leave all of the decisions up to them.
{ fig. 2} paragon The Veldhuizen Family Farm in Dublin, Texas, devotes their energy to producing raw cow’s milk cheeses from the milk of their own happy, grass-grazing herd. Paragon, meaning “model of excellence,” is a Veldhuizen original, finding similarities with a young Gouda, but having no basis on any specific European precedent. Aged for three months, Paragon is semi-soft in texture, with astoundingly complex, grassy flavors for this mild cheese. Pair with St. Arnold’s Fancy Lawnmower beer.
… knows your language.
The more information you can give about what you like and don’t like, the better equipped the cheese expert is in helping you find the right cheese. Use whatever descriptors come to mind: salty, peppery, caramelly, tangy, etc. It’s the cheese monger’s job to do the translation.
{ fig. 2}
… knows the source.
Your cheese monger should know where your cheese comes from and how it’s made—not just the town where the cheese is produced, but also where the milk comes from. The quality of a cheese can never exceed the quality of milk from which it is made.
… uses cheese paper.
Cheese is a living thing and needs air to survive. Cheese paper helps extend the life of a cheese once it has been cut, protecting the cheese from unwanted aromas and bacteria while allowing it to breathe. If you do purchase cheese wrapped in plastic (aka the death shroud), rewrap it in parchment or wax paper when you get home. 14
Southwestern Magazine
{ fig. 1}
Favorites
to Try & Taste
Know the Lingo artisan
A cheese that is made with a minimal amount of mechanized equipment, with no additives and no preservatives. The milk should come from one single farm or a co-op.
{ fig. 3} sainte maure Amelia Sweethardt of Pure Luck Dairy in Dripping Springs, Texas, makes a very limited number of this award-winning cheese. Sainte Maure is patterned after the traditional French cheese of the same name. Rolled in vegetable ash and coated with a thin layer of downy white mold, Sainte Maure possesses a robust, sharp, earthy flavor reminiscent of a blue cheese. Its center is dry and mild but will soften and intensify in flavor with time. Pair with Haak Winery’s Chardonnay.
{ fig. 4} blanca bianca Paula Lambert of The Mozzarella Company in Dallas, Texas, is mostly known for her 25 years of making fresh mozzarella. Blanca Bianca is a washed-rind creation of her own. Styled after Italian Taleggio, daily baths in white wine give this raw cow’s milk cheese its luxurious texture and tangy yet pungent flavor. Pair with Haak Winery’s Nouveau Jacques.
face
If you cut a wedge from a wheel of cheese, there are two visibly distinct parts, the rind and the face. Both are intended to be eaten.
farmstead
A cheese that is made on the same farm where the animals are raised and milked. Much care and integrity is put into every stage of this kind of cheese, all the way from the care of the animals to the cheese cave.
fresh This is a cheese that is moist and has a “dead” point (the point when it’s no longer pleasing and/or safe to eat), no matter what the storage circumstances are. Its production time lasts no longer than three days. glass-wrap This technique of wrapping the cheese in plastic, with the smooth side against the face, is often used to display cheese in a retail setting (like a grocery store). For a more cheese-friendly way to store cheese, see “cheese paper” on the list to the left. raw
This term refers to the milk used to make the cheese. FDA states that cheeses made with raw milk have to be aged for a minimum of 60 days. There are varying degrees of heat in pasteurization and non-pasteurization. True raw milk cheese makers make sure the milk never gets higher than the body temperature of the animal.
{ fig. 3}
soft-ripened
This is a type of cheese that can be made with any type of milk. It typically has a white mold exterior, like Brie, and softens with time. Due to FDA rules on pasteurization, you will never find a true Brie or Camembert (both soft-ripened) in the U.S., but you can get pretty close.
{ fig. 4}
T
Y oMM
L av
eRG
ne
washed-rind Some cheeses are washed on a daily basis throughout their life in the cheese cave, pre-sale. It can be washed with anything from a simple brine solution to wine or beer. The washing helps create the cheese’s flavor in many ways, some simple, some more scientific. Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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March 30 The King Creativity Fund, established and endowed by alumnus W. Joseph King ‘93, annually supports “innovative and visionary projects” of enrolled students. Learn more at: http://www. southwestern.edu/academics/kcf/
The 31st annual Brown Symposium, “Science & Religion: Conflict or Convergence?,” brought scientists and intellectuals from around the world to campus in February
The Roy and Margaret Shilling Lecture Series brought nobel Peace Laureate wangari Maathai to campus in February, where she addressed a sold-out crowd in the Alma Thomas Theatre on “Sustainable Development, Democracy and Peace.”
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Southwestern Magazine
Conflict or Convergence?
on campus Christopher Bader, Ph.D & Paul Froese, Ph.D Baylor University “Images of God and Views on Science: Findings from the Baylor Religion Survey” Andrew Newberg, MD University of Pennsylvania “How God Can Change Your Brain” Simon Conway Morris, Ph.D University of Cambridge “Darwin’s Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Songs of Creation” Mary Evelyn Tucker, Ph.D Yale University “The Emerging Alliance of Religion and Ecology” David Sloan Wilson, Ph.D State University of New York, Binghamton “Evolution as the Theory of Choice for the Study of Religion” Christian Lavigne “The Science and the Spirituality as Sources of Inspiration and Questioning for the Digital Arts”
April 15 Students will share their research and creative projects through presentations and exhibits at the 10th annual Student work Symposium, “From every voice.” For details, visit: http://www. southwestern.edu/academics/studentworks/
Portland-based rock band The Decemberists performed for Southwestern’s annual Large Act Concert in october.
On campus
Red and Charline McCombs Honored for Their Contributions to Higher Education in Texas Red ’49 and Charline Hamblin McCombs ’50, who have been among Southwestern’s most visible donors and supporters, were recognized in January for their contributions to higher education in Texas. The couple received the Mirabeau B. Lamar Medal, which has been presented since 1977 to those providing exemplary service to Texas higher education. The Lamar Medal is named for Mirabeau B. Lamar, the second president of the Republic of Texas who was called the “Father of Education.” It is presented by Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas (ICUT), the Council for Public University Presidents and Chancellors, and the Texas Association of Community Colleges. Southwester n nom i nated the McCombs for the award because of their contributions to colleges and universities across the state. “All branches of higher education in Texas have been deeply strengthened and are more accessible because of the McCombs’ support,” Southwestern President Jake B. Schrum ’68 said in nominating the couple for the award. The McCombs have made multimillion dollar gifts to several institutions in Texas, including The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, The University of Texas at Austin and Southwestern University. Their gifts to Southwestern have helped fund minority scholarships, residential facilities and the campus center, which bears their name.
Three New Members Named to Board of Trustees Three new members have been elected to the Southwestern University Board of Trustees. Laura Merrill ’84 of Wimberley and Namiqa Shipman of Big Spring were elected to four-year terms on the board. Merrill is senior pastor of the Wimberley United Methodist Church and Shipman is district superintendent of the Big Spring District of the United Methodist Church. Doak Worley ’08 will serve a twoyear term as a recent graduate elected by the board. Worley graduated with a degree in business and is currently working as an independent landman. As a student at Southwestern, Worley served as president of the Interfraternity Council and chair of the Student Affairs Council.
Robert & Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust Receives President’s Philanthropy Award The Robert & Ruby Priddy Charitable Trust of Wichita Falls received the 2008 President’s Philanthropy Award from Southwestern. The award was presented at a dinner on campus Sept. 27. The Trust was established in 2000 by Robert T. Priddy and the late Ruby Norwood Priddy. In 2001, Mr. Priddy posed a remarkable question to 19 leading liberal arts colleges, asking them to define “the major challenges as well as opportunities for liberal arts colleges for the next 10 years.” Southwestern responded with its vision of a heightened, more intentional approach to undergraduate education—a response that would eventually lead to a groundbreaking grant of $8.5 million from the Trust to found Southwestern’s Paideia Program in 2002.
This grant enabled Southwestern to hire several new faculty members, fund a program director and provide stipends for students to cover Paideiarelated expenses. Part of the grant was a challenge grant for a new Center for Lifelong Learning, which will house the Paideia Program. Construction of that building is now under way. Southwestern currently has 240 students participating in its Paideia Program. The Priddy Charitable Trust and its officers have been active partners in the development and success of the program. “Through its support of our Paideia Program, the Priddy Trust is giving Southwestern the opportunity to become one of the most distinctive undergraduate colleges in America,” says President Jake B. Schrum ’68. “We will forever be grateful for their belief in this concept of Paideia integrated into a liberal arts education.”
New Program Welcomes Transfer Students The 29 students who transferred to Southwestern last fall had a new program waiting for them. T he seven-week Adva nced Entr y Seminar was modeled on Southwestern’s First-Year Seminar program, which celebrated its 10th year this fall. Transfer students had a choice of two seminars to participate in: Erika Berroth, associate professor of German, led a seminar titled “Berlin Stor ies” and Thom McClendon, professor of history, led a seminar titled “New Orleans: Landscapes of Desire.” The seminars were designed to prepare transfer students for the r igorou s academ ic c u r r ic u lu m at Southwestern and help them understand the concept of a liberal arts education. In addition to taking the seminars together, the transfer
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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On campus
students lived together in the same residence hall. “We hope these seminars will provide transfer students with the same learning experience we have been offering our first-year students for the past 10 years,” says Julie Cowley, associate vice president for academic administration. The program is part of a larger initiative to recruit and retain transfer students that Southwestern is developing through a gift provided by the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TG).
Residential Center at Southwestern Recognized as ‘Dorm of Distinction’ Southwestern’s Dorothy Manning Lord Residential Center was recognized in a national search for “Dorms of Distinction.” University Business magazine sponsored the competition, and received 76 nominations from colleges and universities across the country. Of these, four were named winners and eight were named runners-up. Southwestern was a runner-up in the category of small private institutions. Dorms recognized were chosen for their ability to meet the needs of today’s students, including: • Making students feel at home • Fostering a sense of community through interior and/or exterior spaces • Helping keep students and their belongings safe • Incorporating green elements in an aesthetically pleasing way T he D or ot hy M a n n i ng L or d Residential Center was designed by Group Two Architecture in Austin and opened in the fall of 2007. It features three residence halls that house a total of 64 students. One of the residence halls is a Civic Engagement/Green 18
Southwestern Magazine
Hall Living-Learning Community. The residence halls offer apartment-style living, with private bedrooms and baths, living rooms and complete kitchens in each unit. The complex is fully furnished, and for the first time on campus, students have fullsize beds, rather than the standard twin-size dorm bed. Each apartment also has its own balcony or patio, and the complex has a community room and recreation areas. Large trees were preserved during construction of the center, giving it a park-like setting. The team that selected the winners included current and prospective college students, parents of current and prospective college students, and several staff members from University Business.
Program Enhances the Sophomore Experience Fall 2008 marked the first year Southwestern required sophomores to live on campus. To make that experience a positive one, and to help improve retention of sophomores, the University launched a new program called “Sophomore Spotlight.” The program includes a combination of educational and social experiences. For example, there will be monthly dinners just for sophomores and all sophomores will participate in an activity designed to assess their strengths because most of them will need to declare a major by the end of their sophomore year. Resident assistants will do in-person interviews with sophomores each semester to identify any problems they might be having. The new program was developed by a task force that included representatives from Student Life, Residence Life, the Center for Academic Success, Athletics and Career Services. As one of its contributions to the program, Career Services developed a new “Pirate Apprentice” program, in which they matched sophomores with alumni
who are now working in fields they are interested in. Forty sophomores took advantage of the program and spent a day with alumni over Winter Break.
Southwestern Selects New Endowment Fund Manager Southwester n ha s selected a new firm to handle the bulk of its endowment. The Board of Trustees Investment Committee, which was formed in 2007 to help maximize the potential of Southwestern’s endowment, selected Commonfund to manage the University’s endowment after considering proposals from companies across the country. Commonfund was founded in 1971 to help colleges and other nonprofit institutions improve their financial resources. It currently is the largest nonprofit investment manager in the country, with more than 1,800 clients and $40 billion in assets under management in a broad range of highly diversified investment strategies suitable for endowments. “Commonfund is one of the most effective endowment managers in the country,” says Richard Anderson, vice president for fiscal affairs. “Our investment portfolio has now been separated into a broad range of diversified investment vehicles similar to the asset allocation of the best-performing college endowments. These investments include stocks, bonds, alternatives and other asset classes.” About 10–15 percent of the university’s assets will remain under the management of Houston-based Fayez Sarofim & Company. Southwestern relies on income from its endowment, as well as gifts from alumni and friends, to keep its tuition prices for students as low as possible. Thanks to endowment income and gifts, students only pay about 60 percent of the actual cost of attending Southwestern.
Faculty news Computer Science Professor Returns From Two Years of Teaching in Ghana Suzanne Buchele, associate professor of computer science, returned to Southwestern last fall after two years of teaching students in the West African country of Ghana. Buchele received a Fu lbr ig ht Award to teach at Ashesi University College, a private liberal arts college in Ghana’s capital city of Accra. The university was founded in 2002 by Patrick Awuah, a native of Ghana who earned an engineering degree from Swarthmore College and later became financially independent after working for Microsoft. “Patrick wanted to do something to help his country,” Buchele explains. “Most good students in Ghana go abroad for college, which creates a real ‘brain drain’ for that country.” Ashesi is the only liberal arts college in West Africa. The university had just been approved for Fulbright Awards at the time Buchele applied, and she became the first Fulbright Scholar to go there. Although Buchele was originally supposed to spend just a year in Ghana, her Fulbright grant was renewed so she ended up spending two years there. During her second year at Ashesi, she was asked to serve as the university’s acting dean of academic affairs. “It was an amazing process to be part of a new school,” Buchele says. “We made several new policy decisions each week.” Buchele helped Ashesi put new procedures in place for student advising and registration. She also helped Ashesi adopt an examination honor system for selected classes, the first such honor code in West Africa. During her second year in Ghana, Buchele also helped with a pilot project to distribute computers to children in Ghana through the Massachusettsbased foundation, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). The organization distributed computers to 40 students in a fourth-grade school in Accra.
ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD During her two years in Ghana, Suzanne Buchele worked with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project to bring computers to children in that country.
As a result of her involvement with the OLPC project, Buchele had the opportunity to meet the president of Ghana, as well as the ministers of education, finance and communications. She also learned quite a bit about the educational system in Ghana. In addition to infrastructure problems, she says there is a shortage of qualified teachers, school buildings and textbooks. Students face many other obstacles as well. While children in Ghana are technically entitled to a free basic education up to junior high school, many of them have to help their families in the fields or carry water to their houses. The monthly household income in some villages in Ghana is only about $10 a month, which makes it difficult for families to purchase the supplies and uniforms children need for school.
“The laptop program is good because it gives children access to education even if they can’t get to school,” Buchele says. (For more information on OLPC, visit http://laptop.org/.) Buchele gave several presentations on her experience in Ghana to the campus community last fall, and also shared her experience with OLPC in Ghana at the 8th Annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference, which was held in Colorado in October. Buchele says the Fulbright experience has made her a much better teacher. In addition to learning how to encourage more classroom participation and interaction, she says she learned a lot about global issues she can address in her classes. “It was an amazing experience. I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” she says.
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
19
Thinking Ahead: Michael Brinkman ’04
Thinking Ahead: Margaret Remkus Salinas ’03
Thinking Ahead: Dr. Fred Griffin ’70
Why do
give?
Please make your gift today at www.southwestern.edu/giving or by calling 800-960-6363, ext. 1416. 20
Southwestern Magazine
LUCAS ADAMS
FACuLTY NEWS
Kinesiology Professor Works With Olympic Swimmers The summer Olympics in Beijing prov ided a n oppor t u n it y for a Southwestern kinesiology professor to expand his research. Scott McLean, associate professor of kinesiology, spent a week working with the U.S. Olympic swim team at their training camp at Stanford University just before they left for Beijing. Along with colleagues from the United States Olympic Training Center and Arizona State University, McLean helped the Olympic swimmers improve their starting performance. Using video and a starting block instrumented with sensors to measure the forces produced by the hands and feet, McLean and his colleagues were able to provide the swimmers with critical information about their start performance. “We were able to give them instantaneous feedback on what technique modifications produced the best starts,” he says. McLean says a number of the swimmers were able to achieve faster speeds with improved trajectories, which corresponded to increased
start distances of 10–15 centimeters. “In races that are often decided by hundredths of a second, getting 10–15 centimeters farther out on the start is huge,” he says. Swimmers McLean had a chance to work with included Dara Torres, the 41-year-old mother who won two medals at the games, as well as several current and former University of Texas swimmers who competed in the games. “Dara was one of our big success stories,” McLean says. “At the Olympic Trials, it appeared that her start needed some work. She was lifting her head too high and not doing enough with her lower body. By adjusting her head position and her arm position, we were able to improve her speed off the block without negatively affecting her trajectory. She swam nearly two-tenths of a second faster at the Olympic Games. We like to think that we had a hand in that.” In all, McLean and his colleagues worked with about two-thirds of the U.S. Olympic swim team. The swimmers thanked McLean by signing a large Olympic banner for him,
which he has framed and hung in his office. “This experience was the highlight of my professional career,” McLean says. “It brought together everything I have worked on for the past 15 years.” McLean plans to spend his sabbatical this spring working on a newer design of the instrumented starting block that is more economical and more portable. “Eventually I would like to be prepared to go to a pool and set it up when a coach calls,” he says. Kas Kramer, a senior kinesiology major at Southwestern, is helping McLean with his research as part of her capstone project. I n t he mea nti me, McL ea n is bringing this new technology to the Southwestern swim program, where he is working with each swimmer to develop his/her best start. “The swim team here at Southwestern benefits greatly from Dr. McLean’s research,” says interim co-coach Nicole Kaupp. “It is great to have someone with his expertise working with our swimmers on a daily basis.” Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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STUDENT news
Southwestern Students Tackle Smoking Despite well-documented research that smoking is dangerous, 15 percent of the population continues to smoke. Four students have teamed up with faculty members from the Departments of Economics and Sociology to conduct research on the reasoning behind this, particularly in Williamson County. With the help of grant money Southwestern received from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop collaborative programs among faculty members, the students and faculty members are working with the Williamson County and Cities Health District (WCCHD) to explore the effectiveness of tobacco cessation strategies available to employers in Williamson County. “The prevalence of smoking has not decreased to levels one would expect with the increased awareness of its dangers,” says senior economics major Eric Franco. “This is one of the greatest public policy dilemmas facing the government right now.” Federal law to be enacted in 2010 will require parity in coverage for mental health, including substance abuse disorders. This is likely to i ncrease uti l ization of tobacco cessation programs as cost declines, therefore increasing the need for an understanding of which programs are most effective. To date, the students and faculty members working on the project have examined past research conducted by other organizations and developed a survey for target groups. Working in partnership with WCCHD, they have distributed their survey to 2,000 people and plan to survey 1,600 more. The survey asks questions about tobacco use, knowledge of tobaccorelated health problems, and the awareness, use and efficacy of tobacco cessation programs. The project has given students the chance to work on research with 22
Southwestern Magazine
national implications and gain some experience that may transfer into a career setting. “It really pertains to what I will be doing in the future,” says Franco, who plans to pursue a career in consulting, which will involve research. Senior economics major Wes Rivers says it has been very rewarding to work with Economics professor, Mary Young, on this project. “Professor Young has so much experience in this field,” he says. “It has allowed me to see what goes into reallife research.” Rivers plans to attend graduate school and is interested in pursuing a career in public policy. The interdisciplinary study also has given students from different majors the opportunity to work together. “It has been interesting to work with students outside of the Sociology Department,” says senior sociology major Tristine Baccam. “It has opened my eyes to different perspectives.” The students are now inputting and analyzing the data they have collected for any patterns. They hope to present their findings at several state and national meetings in 2009.
Student Programmers Take Top Honors For the second year in a row, a team of students from Southwestern has claimed the title of Top Undergraduate Institution in the region in the world’s most prestigious computer programming competition. The IBM-sponsored Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest requ i res st udents to use thei r programming skills to solve as many problems as possible within a five-hour period. Two three-person teams from Southwestern participated in a regional competition held at Baylor University in October. More than 70 schools from Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma participated in the competition, including 25
teams from schools that do not have graduate programs. The SU Root team made up of junior Tommy Rogers and seniors Stephen Foster and Bob Potter placed sixth overall and took top honors among the undergraduate-only institutions. In addition to winning the Top Undergraduate Institution award, the SU Root team placed first in a Friday night “scripting contest” that was targeted at programming in scripting languages such as Perl, P ython, PHP and Ruby. The Southwestern team programmed in Ruby, which is used to rapidly build Web-based database applications.
Southwestern Student Named American Chemical Society Scholar Junior biochemistry major Carissa Fritz has been named an American Chemical Society Scholar, the first student from Southwestern to earn this honor. The American Chemical Society’s Scholars Program gives merit-based scholarships of up to $5,000 per academic year to students who want to enter the fields of chemistr y, biochemistry or chemical engineering, or who are seeking two-year degrees in chemical technology. Scholarship recipients also are matched with mentors who can help guide them in their careers. “Only about 120 students a year are named ACS Scholars, so this is quite an honor for Carissa,” says Gulnar Rawji, associate professor of chemistry. “I am really proud of her. She was competing with students from very highly regarded institutions such as MIT, Stanford and Yale.” Fritz has conducted research with Rawji the past two summers through the Chemistry Department’s Welch Summer Research Program, which is funded by the Robert A. Welch Foundation of Houston. Their research involves synthesizing platinum (II)
Our Stimulus Plan? Supporting Scholars with Scholarships.
“We consider it important to continue supporting scholarships at Southwestern in this time of economic crisis. Making our contribution as a distribution from our IRA simplifies our income tax return and reduces our taxes.” –Russell and Joan Hollier Georgetown Residents and loyal donors to Southwestern for more than 20 years
For assistance with your gift planning, contact Justin Gould ’98, Director of Gift & Estate Planning, toll free at 800-960-6363, ext. 1997 or: justin.gould@southwestern.edu.
Keep Thinking Ahead.
and copper (II) metal complexes and observing how they interact with DNA. Such complexes have the potential to be developed as therapeutic and diagnostic agents for diseases such as cancer. Fritz and fellow Southwestern student Tammy Nguyen presented a poster on the work on copper (II) complexes at the American Chemical Society National Meeting held in New Orleans in early April. Fritz says she was “surprised and excited” to learn of her scholarship from the ACS. “It is a wonderful opportunity, and I am very grateful to have received it,” she says. “I hope to take advantage of their mentor program to learn more about the various career opportunities that the study of chemistry affords.” After graduating from Southwestern, Fritz plans to pursue graduate studies in biochemistry.
Southwestern Students Take Honors in Statewide Ethics Match A team of students from Southwestern won its division and placed second overall in the 2008 Business Ethics Match hosted by the Texas Independent College Fund (TICF). The competition was held Oct. 30–31, 2008, in Fort Worth, and featured 18 teams from small, independent (private) colleges and universities in Texas. The competition provides students the oppor tu n it y to show thei r reasoning skills through debating current issues in business ethics. For example, in the final round of the competition, the two teams had to debate whether it was ethical for a fictional university to offer financial
incentives to students to get them to retake the SAT in an effort to boost the school’s standings in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings. This year’s Southwestern team consisted of senior business majors Michael Hust, Christy Catlin, Debran Meyer and Kevin O’Neil. The team won its division, but lost in the final round. “The team represented themselves and the institution proudly, and this is a great example of how Southwestern is achieving its mission of creating bright, moral and courageous leaders. The outcome reflects their maturity, confidence and moral reasoning skills,” says team advisor Andy Ross, a visiting instructor in the Department of Economics and Business.
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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First in Texas!
AnDRew LoeHMAn
After offering men’s lacrosse for 25 years as a club sport, Southwestern will become the first university in Texas to offer lacrosse as a varsity sport. The University plans to field its first team in fall 2009 and begin NCAA competition in spring 2010, with longtime lacrosse veteran Joe Ernst as head coach. In recent years, the men’s lacrosse team has enjoyed tremendous success as a club sport, winning the Lone Star Alliance Division II Championship for the past four years and advancing to the national championship tournament.
ATHLETICS SCOREBOARD Cross Countr y
ju n ior Ta m r a Warner received All-Region honors at the 2008 NCAA Division III South/ Southeast Regional Cross Country Championships. The team fi nished in 15th place in the region out of 24 teams and fi nished sixth among conference schools. Sam Marsh and Kelly Parmet were named to the SCAC All-Sportsmanship team.
Championships (15-1 SCAC). Coach Hannah Long was named SCAC Coach of the Year, Junior Audra Gentry was named SCAC Player of the Year.
overall record and 7-3 in the SCAC. Kevin Jordan and David Lozano were both named to the SCAC First Team
Women’s Soccer ended the season
Volleyball
Men’s Soccer fi nished in second
season by the National Golf Coaches Association as having the third highest team GPA (3.7) among all Division I, II, III schools. Marisa Mauldin, a senior from Utopia, Texas, was the #1 ranked Division III women’s golfer according to Golfstat in fall 2008.
finished the season at 36-5 overall, placing third at the SCAC 24
Southwestern Magazine
13-4-1 (6-3-0 SCAC) and placed second in the conference. A.J. Andreola was named to the 2008 All-SCAC Women’s Soccer First Team. place in the conference for the third straight season. They ended with a 9-10
Women’s Golf was recognized last
Engaging Find: Agnès Varda’s The Gleaners and I A film review by Aaron Prevots Assistant Professor of Modern Languages, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures Having asked my students in Contemporary French Culture to write about films, I wanted to put together a brief look at one of our favorites: Agnès Varda’s The Gleaners and I. What especially intrigues me in watching this quiet, conversational documentary from 2000 is how open it is to interpretation. It follows the pattern not unusual in French fi lms of examining an idea from several angles without allowing easy resolution. Inspired by images in 19th-century art of farmhands collecting the last stalks left untouched on the ground after the harvest, it features the filmmaker herself setting out with digital video camera in hand to gather images of people gathering—be it potatoes, grapes, packaged food past its sell-by date, or stray furniture in the street awaiting a new resting place. Sound too layered and broad? To the film’s admirers, therein lies much of its appeal. Because Varda interviews all kinds of people, from farmhands to barkeepers to artists to those living without a fi xed address, there’s a real authenticity that allows for an open viewer response. Is it a poetic meditation on time and the evolution of Western consumer society? A biting social critique focused on people and things that get
Chianti
discarded and left behind? A gentle reflection on the power of objects to circulate and lead second lives? For Southwestern’s Family Days 2006, Professor of Art Mary Visser offered a Classroom Exchange titled “Wave of Light: poetry is the breath of memory, and sculpture is that memory in time and space.” This title really stuck with me. It recently got me to thinking how one could refer to Varda’s perspective on gleaning as the breath of memory within the contemporary social sphere. The film sculpts a vision not only of people learning to survive through the years, but also of things in the outer world taking on a life of their own and transmitting to us a kind of knowledge. It instills awareness not didactically, but by providing the raw material for the viewer to explore how and why people and things persevere. In reconsidering traditions of graceful survival, it both shares a portrait of France heading into the new millennium and gives humble gatherers of all kinds an unexpected voice. Looking for other recommendations? Visit the A. Frank Smith, Jr. Library Center Web site: www.southwestern.edu/ library/reviews/what-reading.html.
Sept. 13–21, 2009
Travel with The Association of Southwestern University Alumni to the heart of Tuscany and savor the sensations of northern Italian cuisine, climate and culture at the height of the wine season. Come enjoy the irresistible charms of Chianti in a Tuscan villa, where you’ll unpack only once and spend seven memorable nights in the beautiful Villa Borgo di Cortefreda in the small hilltop village of Tavarenelle Val di Pesa. The tour offers the ideal balance of planned events and free time. Enjoy preferred access to popular attractions, along with specially arranged cultural experiences and exclusive lifelong learning programs focused on the Chianti region, its history and its people. Approximately $2,495 per person ($2,395 before April 14), plus airfare and value-added tax (V.A.T.), based on double occupancy. Please contact AHI Travel at 800.323.7373 with questions or to make a reservation.
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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1909: Southwestern’s First Homecoming Picnic
Dear Southwestern University Alumni, The Association of Southwestern University Alumni now offers local associations in 13 cities, 16 alumni connection groups that connect alumni through shared interests and will soon launch an enhanced online community. As alumni move to new cities, seek employment, raise families, volunteer in their communities and pursue personal goals, we can help one another by building a strong, mobilized, connected community. We hope that you will keep your contact information updated with the University so that you may receive news, information about upcoming events and opportunities to volunteer. Likewise, let us know what you are doing by submitting a Class Note. The Class Notes section continues to be the most-read feature of Southwestern, the University magazine. Whether you have an accomplishment to share, a business to promote or just fun news, Class Notes is a great way to connect with others. Finally, we hope that you will mark your calendar for Homecoming and Reunion Weekend, Nov. 6–8, 2009. It has been 100 years since Southwestern alumni gathered for the first Homecoming. We’d like to share the opening lines of a letter Mrs. Early Price, Class of 1908, wrote to her soon-to-be husband Morris Fleming, Class of 1906, who wasn’t able to be present: April 23, 1909 My Dear Morris, You cannot imagine the revelry that has occurred in Georgetown with this magnificent Homecoming. It was an occasion that I will remember always. So many grads gathered for the reunion—you would have enjoyed seeing so many of your old friends. I wish it were so that you could have been here… Read the rest of Early Price’s letter online at sualumni.net. And, write your classmates and friends and ask them to meet you in Georgetown for this very special Homecoming and Reunion Weekend. We’ve had two consecutive Homecomings with record-breaking attendance. We’d love to see you come this year! Sincerely,
Ann Tyrrell Cochran ’72 President, The Association of Southwestern University Alumni
26
Southwestern Magazine
ALuMNI NEWS
LARRY weISS
Remembering the Negro Fine Arts School
PACIFIC NORTHWEST ALuMNI 7 WINE AND CHEESE EVENT. Front row, left to right: Kathryn Pursch ’00 (programming chair), Linda Hall ’89 (finance chair), Gwen Griffin Sherman ’80 (membership chair), Catherine Pi-Sunyer ’96 (communications chair), Jeanne Clifford Weiss ’83 (president). Second row: Eric Coe ’85, Irene Dinning Hardy ’59, Leslie Armsworth Koutroulis ’91, Shelia Kandeler ’94. Third row: Carrie Cornforth ’00, Scarlett Foster-Moss ’86, Marla Steinhoff ’93, Barbara Kearley ’93, Kelley McClelland Wells ’00. Fourth row: Dana Sanders ’03, Ashlea Rives Frank ’02, Chris Cadle ’94. Back row: Holly Allen ’06, Jay Frank ’02, Jason Wells ’99.
Local Associations News The local associations are expanding in the west! Two of the newest local associations, The Colorado Association and The Pacific Northwest Association, held their inaugural events last summer. In Colorado, alumni began with a July happy hour in downtown Denver, followed by a barbecue in Gold Hill, northwest of Boulder, at the home of co-chairs Arthur and Joan Schelling Few, both ’62. Though the gathering had to be moved inside due to late summer rain, “the spirits of the alumni were not dampened; a great time was had by all.” The Pacific Northwest Association was officially established Sept. 7, 2008, at a wine and cheese reception at the home of Ben and Gwen Griffin Sherman ’80. Nearly 40 alumni, family members and friends were present at the event, as well as Vice President for Institutional Advancement Rick McKelvey. For more information about your 13 local associations, visit the newly redesigned alumni Web site at www.sualumni.net. Interested in building a local association in your area? Contact the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations at alumni@southwestern.edu or 800-960-6363.
At the 2008 Homecoming and Reunion Weekend, 74 alumni, students and friends of Southwestern University attended the dedication of a plaque commemorating the Negro Fine Arts School. Inspired to take action against racial segregation, several Southwestern students and alumni conceived of the program in 1946. With the support of First United Methodist Church, Georgetown ISD and other community entities, Georgetown-area African-American and Hispanic students were able to take music and art lessons through the Negro Fine Arts School for 20 years, until the desegregation of the local schools in 1966. “To know that the school fi nally loved itself out of existence is one of the wonderful surprises that we as God’s people can expect,” remarks Appletree Rodden ’64, who taught in the program. In 2004, Nettie Ruth Brucks Bratton ’48, one of the schools initiators, was honored with the Distinguished Alumna Award. At that time, the University made a commitment to create a permanent display to memorialize the program once the renovations to the University’s Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center were complete. The unveiling celebration was hosted by Southwestern’s African-American student organization, E.B.O.N.Y., and sponsored by The Association of Southwestern University Alumni, the Sarofi m School of Fine Arts and the Diversity Enrichment Committee. A special feature of the program was a piano performance by Ernest Clark ’69, a Negro Fine Arts School alumnus and the fi rst African-American student to graduate from Southwestern University. In this way, the occasion also served as the inaugural event in a year-long celebration of the legacy of Southwestern University African-American alumni over the 40 years since Clark’s graduation. The celebration is set to culminate in a gala event at the 2009 Homecoming and Reunion Weekend.
2008 Legacy Students Southwestern University welcomed 27 legacy students among the 2008 first-year class. Contact the Office of Admission at 800-252-3166 to register your child or relative for the Legacy Link program.
TAKING A STAND AGAINST SEGREGATION IN 1946 Iola Bowden Chambers, Southwestern professor of music and Negro Fine Arts School program director, with two students, E. J. Johnson and Margie Nell Johnson. Photo by Evans Studio, Georgetown, Texas, courtesy of Mary Elizabeth Fox.
CoURTeSY oF SoUTHweSTeRn UnIveRSITY SPeCIAL CoLLeCTIonS, ReSeARCHeD BY SHeRAn JoHLe
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Southwestern Magazine
CLASS NOTES
1952
Kay McKinney Burton, San Marcos, was nominated for the Ernestine Block Grigsby Award by the Heart of Texas Tri-Delta Fraternity alumnae. The award was established in 1978 to honor Grigsby, a past fraternity president and chair of the National Panhellenic Conference. Fellow members say Burton’s dedication, loyalty, support and love for the ideals of Delta Delta Delta exemplify her lifetime commitment to the fraternity’s purpose.
1955
Ann Truog Hardy, Colleyville, won third place at the Oil Painters of America National, a prestigious and growing representational art organization. She also took two awards at the International Salon of Contemporary Art at the Greenhouse Gallery.
1964
Kenneth McAllister, Austin, served 18 years as executive director of the U.S. Tennis Association Texas section. He was re-elected president of the National Public Parks Tennis Association and was pleased to be part of the naming ceremony of the Marvin D. Henderson, Sr. Tennis Center.
1967
J. Mike Holt, Dallas, was named to the 2009 peer-selected list of “The Best Lawyers in America” for employee benefits law. This is Holt’s 20th consecutive year of inclusion in the list. In 2008, he was also included in D Magazine’s “Best Lawyers in Dallas” and in Texas Monthly’s “Texas Super Lawyers” for his area of practice. Holt practices with the firm Thompson & Knight LLP.
1968
John Murrell, Calgary, Canada. [see sidebar page 30]
1971
Tom Forbes, Austin, was appointed to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Government Affairs.
1972
Raymond Ford, Spring Hill, Tenn., serves as vice president of business development for Brim Healthcare, Inc., a national healthcare management company. He has more than 30 years experience in healthcare management and will be responsible for development of new contract management and consulting services.
Deborah Selden, Houston, earned a doctorate in English literature and published her dissertation: “I am but shadow of myself”: English Common Law and Legal Identity in Shakespeare’s “1 Henry 6,” available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. She has served as senior staff attorney for Harris County 59th district courts for 10 years.
1973
Rev. R. Christian Harrison, Georgetown, serves as a Presbyterian minister and is a former state and federal prosecutor.
Joseph “Chris” Rodriguez, Midland, works as an attorney in the oil and gas industry after having served for 23 years as a trial lawyer in Corpus Christi and South Texas. He has four children and one grandson.
1974
Suzanne McDaniel, Austin [see 1987].
1975
Beverly Brown Harrison, Georgetown, has served for 25 years as orchestra director, cellist and studio teacher.
1976
Laurence Musgrove, Chicago, Ill., is an associate professor of English at Saint Xavier University and was appointed as director of the general education program. He published two articles in the past year on liberal arts education, “The Metaphors We Gen-Ed By” in Liberal Education and “Mystery and Humility in General Education” in The Chronicle of Higher Education. He also is a frequent contributor to Inside Higher Ed, where one of his poems, “Overseeding,” recently appeared.
1977
Gwendolyn Reed, Missouri City, serves as business office manager of Riverside General Hospital, the first historically Black hospital in Texas. She is a mother and grandmother and is happily married to an engineer named Mike.
1978
Tanya Fairburn Allen, Flower Mound, serves as director of music ministry for Rejoice Lutheran Church in Coppell.
1980
Rebecca Burkhardt, Waterloo, Iowa, is the music director of the Northern Iowa Symphony Orchestra and associate director for graduate studies in music at the University of Northern Iowa School of Music. She co-authored a new musical with playwright Cynthia Goatley, professor of theatre at UNI, entitled “Scotch Verdict.” The work is based on the book of the same name by Lillian Faderman. Southwestern University part-time assistant professor of music Carol Kreuscher sang a leading role in the initial staged reading of the musical in January 2007 at UNI. “Scotch Verdict,” selected as one of eight new works for Theatre Building Chicago’s (TBC) festival of new musicals, was presented in November 2008 on the TBC’s developmental series, “Monday Night Musicals.” Donna Carter Worley, Round Rock, serves as a S.T.A.R. (Strategies for Teaching Based on Autism Research) support specialist after teaching preschool children with disabilities for 20 years in Round Rock ISD. Her husband, Matt Worley, is an accountant with Black & Vernooy Architects in Austin. Their son, Doak Matthews Worley IV ’08, is selfemployed in the field of land-management and is serving on the Southwestern University Board of Trustees.
1982
Births: Chou Miao-Miao and David Herren ’82, Tyler, a daughter, Julia Irene Herren, July 21, 2007.
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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Canada Honors John Murrell ’68 John Murrell ’68, Calgary, Canada, has won numerous awards for his work as a playwright, theatre director and arts advocate. He has worked as playwright-in-residence at Theatre Calgary and Alberta Theatre Projects, associate director of the Stratford Festival of Canada, head of the Banff Playwrights Colony, head of the theatre section of the Canada Council for the Arts, and artistic director/executive producer of theatre arts at The Banff Centre. The National Theatre School of Canada presented him with the 1998 Gascon-Thomas award in recognition of an outstanding lifetime of service to arts education. He received the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellency in the Performing Arts and the Alberta Order of Excellence. In 2003, he was appointed officer of the Order of Canada, and in 2008, he was awarded the Governor General’s Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award. Murrell’s play, “Power in the Blood” (1975) won the University of Alberta’s Clifford E. Lee Playwriting Award. Several of his other works, “Waiting for the Parade” (1977), “Farther West” (1982) and “The Faraway Nearby” (1995) were honored with Chalmers Awards, and “Democracy” (1991) received the Canadian Authors Association’s and the Writers Guild of Alberta’s Best Play Awards. Murrell also has written a number of opera libretti, including “Frobisher” and “Filumena,” which received four Betty Mitchell Awards, including Outstanding New Play.
1984
Skip Downham, The Woodlands, volunteers with his wife Tracy, and Mark ’84 and Laurie Rothhammer Lewis ’86 at Class Act Productions, a youth community theatre in which their sons participate. This spring and summer, the families spent much of their spare time building sets, assisting with productions and keeping track of the actors’ siblings, in addition to maintaining busy careers. Laurie and Tracy serve on the board of Class Action Productions. Skip works for Hallmark Cards and Tracy owns her own interior decorating firm, Tracy Downham Interiors. Mark works with Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supply and Laurie is sales director for Neofirma, Inc. Says Skip, “Who knew the Kappa Alphas and Pi Kappa Alphas could get along?” Michael English, Georgetown [see 1985]. Stephanie Stephens, Nacogdoches [see 1987].
1985
Sheila LeDoux English, Georgetown, teaches at Tippit Middle School. She and her husband, Michael English ’84, have a son, Joey.
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Southwestern Magazine
1986
Laurie Rothhammer Lewis, The Woodlands [see 1984].
Rev. Karen Monk, Tannersville, N.Y., received her Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Marriages: K. Ann Koch ’86 to Dr. Gary E. Seeton, Jan. 4, 2008, living in College Station.
1987
Bradford Allen, Santa Fe, N.M., serves as senior IT manager/database administrator for the Honorable Mary Herrera, New Mexico secretary of state. Having relocated from Massachusetts, he says: “I am enjoying my new job very much, but I do miss attending Red Sox games at Fenway.” Lourdes Huang, Panama City, Panama, serves as assistant vice president at Banco Latinoamericano de Exportaciones, S.A. (BLADEX), a supranational bank specializing in foreign trade in the Latin American Region.
Amy Smith, Houston, has joined Crime Stoppers of Houston as the public relations director. Previously, she served almost 20 years at the Harris County
district attorney’s office, with the last 10 years as director of the Victim Witness Division. She serves with fellow alumnae Suzanne McDaniel ’74 and Stephanie Stephens ’84 on the State Bar of Texas Crime Victims Committee. Amy Wink, Austin, joined the Houston Area Carriage Association, where she serves as the newsletter editor. She is currently learning to drive her Morgan horse, Will.
1989
Austin James, Houston, is co-owner of Bering & James art gallery with his wife, Blakely Bering. The gallery opened in 2001, and in June 2008 they celebrated its 100th exhibit opening. Bering & James was ranked second among the Houston Business Journal’s 2008 “Top 50 Fastest-Growing Woman-Owned Businesses.” For more information about the gallery, visit www. beringandjames.com. Austin and Blakely have a daughter, Granger Bering-James.
1990
Anne Meadows Boothe, Gonzales, is married to John D. Boothe, with whom she has two sons, Paden and Sawyer. Anne is in her 17th year as an educator and her ninth year as a school administrator. She is also leader of the Methodist Praise Team.
Nicholas De La Rosa III, Blackpool, U.K., works as food service manager in the conference and banqueting operations department of Hilton Blackpool. He put his theatre degree to good use winning first place in the 2008 “Hilton’s Got Talent” competition and fundraiser. He also completed his first half marathon with a time of 2 hours, 13 minutes.
1991
Roxanne Barnes, Cincinnati, Ohio, published her inaugural release, New Life and Joy: Songs in the Shadow, a treatise on the transformation that comes when our lives are touched by loss. The work is based on her personal writings inspired by time spent with a terminally ill friend, an experience that captured the depth of loss and the celebration of life. She designed the book’s layout and produced the photography, including the cover photograph taken from Laura Kuykendall Hall during her senior year at
Southwestern. The book is available at http://stores.lulu.com/roxannebarnes.
Resident Playwright
Scott Hanson, Mansfield, serves as vice president at Decision Analyst, Inc., a leading international marketing research firm based in Dallas-Fort Worth. Previously, he taught psychology at Washington University and later worked as an associate consultant for The Mattson Jack Group, Inc., a pharmaceutical research and forecasting firm.
Marisela Treviño Orta ‘99, San Francisco, Calif., works as one of six Resident Playwrights at the Playwrights Foundation (http://playwrightsfoundation.org).
Laura Runyen-Janecky, Richmond, Va., was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor of biology at the University of Richmond. Marriages: Dr. Julia McElreath ’91 to Dr. Anthony Bayless, May 24, 2008, living in Montgomery Village, Md.
1992
Cullen Clark Lutz, Amarillo [see 1993].
Nate McCarty, Fremont, Calif., works as real estate services director/ broker-officer for Equity Community Builders LLC, a Bay Area development and management services company. He manages initial lease-up and tenant improvements for the David Brower Center for sustainability and the Ed Roberts Campus for disabled rights, both located in Berkeley, Calif. He is married to Karen Okimoto McCarty ’98, a physical therapist at Washington Hospital in Fremont. They have a daughter, Sophie. Births: Nate ’92 and Karen Okimoto McCarty ’98, Fremont, Calif., a daughter, Sophie Akemi McCarty, May 20, 2008.
1993
Konrad Bouffard, Round Rock, is founder and owner of Round Rock Honey. The business, which has distribution in Central Texas and Dallas, has increased in size by 10 times since its establishment in 2002. Round Rock Honey is the honey of choice for Greenling Organic Delivery in Austin. Over the next five years, Bouffard plans to begin expanding operations and distribution, first to Houston and San Antonio, with the goal of achieving a national presence. For more information on products and services, visit www.roundrockhoney.com. Kevin Considine, Portland, Ore., serves as environmental manager for Vestas Americas Wind Technology,
At Southwestern, her academic work in Latin American Studies with faculty like Professor of History Daniel Castro and Professor of Political Science and University Scholar Eric Selbin, greatly impacted her writing. Dr. Castro encouraged Marisela to start a literary journal, “La Voz,” which featured poetry and essays by Latino students. That experience, she says, is what put her on the path to a writing life. Orta’s first play, “Braided Sorrow,” draws “parallels between the cultural conquest of the Aztecs and the economic conquest of Latin America” and has been taught in a course at New York University that explores how theatre can be used to examine social justice issues. Another play, “Ghost Limb,” deals with the disappeared in Argentina. “My plays push the boundaries of reality,” relates Marisela. “In my plays pomegranates bleed, paintings rise from beneath the surface of a blank canvas, guardian angels detach from their wings, stars appear indoors, and the desert floor is covered with marigolds instead of sand.” “Braided Sorrow” won the Chicano/Latino Literary Prize in Drama in 2006, and was one of five plays out of 500 selected for the 2005 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Follow Marisela’s latest work on her literary blog, www.xanga.com/mtorta.
a company that constructs wind turbines and services wind farms throughout the U.S. and Canada to provide renewable energy solutions. John Lutz, Amarillo, serves as president and chief technology officer of Firestream Worldwide, Inc., a global software and technology provider to the downstream petroleum industry, where he is responsible for the company’s sales, consulting, customer care and development teams. He and his wife, Cullen Clark Lutz ’92, have two children, Olivia and Layton. Kate Eliassen Marley, Lincoln, Neb., was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor of biology at Doane College, where she continues to work with undergraduate students on research into alterations in human gene expression associated with cancer progression. She and her husband, Tom, have two daughters, Jana and Carmen. Steve Mendenhall, Columbus, Ga., serves as meteorologist for CBS affiliate WRBL News 3 after completing the broadcast meteorology program at Mississippi State University. Previously, he worked in the area of student affairs at the University of Virginia.
Darien Kubik Wilson, Austin, is president and founder of ZoloWear, a company that specializes in baby slings. ZoloWear slings have been featured on “The Today Show” and in Pregnancy, Life and Style, Parenting’s Baby Must-Haves, Baby Bargains, Parents, Mothering, and Parents BABY. Actress and fellow alumna Jill Crowley Blackwood ’97 models the baby slings on the ZoloWear Web site, www.zolowear.com. Marriages: Nancy McCorpin ’93 to David “Randy” Stevens, June 23, 2008, living in Wimberley.
1994
Elizabeth Oltremari Lovaas, Austin, serves as director of regulatory compliance at New York Life Long-Term Care, where she has been employed for 10 years. She recently made a gift to the Paideia Scholars fund in honor of her daughter, Audrey. ®
Brad Reagan, Brooklyn, N.Y., has written for The Wall Street Journal, Austin American Statesman and numerous consumer magazines. He is the co-author of three books: Aces and Kings, with Michael Kaplan; Honkey Tonk Hero,
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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1994 ctd. with Billy Joe Shaver; and Debunking 9/11 Myths, with David Dunbar. Marriages: Leslie Wright ’94 to Christian Boettcher, Aug. 31, 2007, living in Cranford, N.J.
1995
Lee Silva Ferguson, Plano, earned a master’s degree in science education at The University of Texas at Dallas. She works as the Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate biology teacher at Allen High School and serves on the Texas Education Agency’s committee to review the state’s biology curriculum standards.
Births: Christopher ’95 and Stacey Robinson Gardner ’97, San Marcos, a daughter, Brynn Marie Gardner, May 14, 2008; Jed Lee Jr. and Rebecca Phillips Howard, both ’95, Houston, twin sons, Thomas Samuel Howard and James Joseph Howard, May 16, 2008.
1996
Margaret Dorsey, McAllen, is a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. She presently conducts ethnographic fieldwork on immigration, citizenship and the border “wall” construction along the U.S.-Mexico border. Laurel Hartley, Denver, Colo., is assistant professor of biology at the University of Colorado Denver, where her research centers on the fields of science education and ecology. Madeline Rhodes, Westminster, Md., accepted a tenure-track position in the Psychology Department at McDaniel College. Brian Woodard, Pearland, teaches Spanish and coaches basketball at South Houston High School in Pasadena ISD.
1997
Jill Crowley Blackwood, Austin [see 1993]. Weston Collman, Georgetown, teaches Advanced Placement senior and sophomore English at Georgetown High School. In 2003, 2007 and 2008, he was voted Georgetown High School’s Outstanding
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Southwestern Magazine
Teacher of the Year by the senior class academic excellence committee. Rev. Christie Brunner Robbins, Lorena, is the pastor of Lorena United Methodist Church. Her husband, Rev. Joel Robbins, is the pastor of nearby Mooreville United Methodist Church. Christine was ordained an elder in the United Methodist Church in June 2007. She is pursuing a doctorate of ministry in family ministries and counseling through Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. Births: Christopher ‘95 and Stacey Robinson Gardner ‘97, San Marcos, a daughter, Brynn Marie Gardner, May 14, 2008; Benjamin and M.C. Clay Gatzke ‘97, Fort Worth, a son, Benjamin Ethan Gatzke, May 2, 2008; Daren and Lana Williams Head ‘97, Cypress, a daughter, Alyssa Sue Head, April 10, 2008.
1998
Rebecca Eaton, Fort Worth, graduated from Texas Wesleyan Law School and works at Whitaker, Chalk, Swindle & Sawyer in the areas of commercial litigation and corporate/business law. She published an article related to Hurricane Katrina, “Escape Denied: The Gretna Bridge and the Government’s Armed Blockade in the Wake of Katrina,” in the Texas Wesleyan Law Review.
Janet Lopez, Denver, Colo., serves as director for P-20 Education Initiatives for the University of Colorado Denver. Previously, she served as deputy director of Colorado Governor Bill Ritter’s P-20 Education Council, where she assisted in formulating state policy recommendations for the governor regarding his education policy agenda. Lopez holds a master’s degree in educational policy, foundation and practice from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Ph.D. in culture, curriculum and change from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Education. She serves on the Board of The Latina Initiative, a nonprofit organization that cultivates the civic and political engagement of Latinas in the state of Colorado. She recently discovered another Southwestern alumna among her UC-Denver science faculty colleagues, Laurel Hartley ’96, assistant professor of biology. Karen Okimoto McCarty, Fremont, Calif. [see 1992].
Births: Jonathan and Jaime Raynor Fordham, both ‘98, Austin, a son, Benjamin Cade Fordham, July 21, 2008; Nate ’92 and Karen Okimoto McCarty ‘98, Fremont, Calif., a daughter, Sophie Akemi McCarty, May 20, 2008; Dr. Eva Mackey and Julien Meyrat ’98, Rockwall, a son, Corrin Meyrat, Nov. 7, 2007.
1999
Michael Disch, Austin [see 2000].
Marisela Orta, San Francisco, Calif. [see sidebar on page 31]. Carney Soderberg III, Natick, Mass., received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium and works as a postdoctoral fellow in pediatric neuropsychology at NESCA (Neuropsychology and Education Services for Children and Adolescents), a private group practice in Newton, Mass. He and his wife, Alicia, are newly married and enjoy traveling to visit family and friends whenever possible. Marriages: Carney Soderberg III ‘99, to Alicia Strain, April 28, 2008, living in Natick, Mass.
2000
Niall McGinty, Chicago, Ill., performed in the Chicago premiere of “Scenes from the Big Picture” by Owen McCafferty with the Seanachai Theatre Company.
Ben Miller, Houston, graduated from South Texas College of Law in May 2008. He holds a master’s degree in forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. In September, he began working for Germer & Gertz LLP. Ben is married to Kallie Miller. Katie Popp, Austin, and her husband, Michael Disch ’99, relocated from the Bay Area when Michael accepted a position as assistant professor of psychology at St. Edward’s University. Sarah Smith, Austin, is pursuing a master of education degree through Loyola College in Baltimore, Md., and an International Montessori teaching certificate through Montessori Institute Northwest in Portland, Ore. Previously, she worked as an educational consultant with LeapFrog.
Births: Brian and Eryn Kaiser Barker ‘00, Portland, Ore., a daughter, Hazel Gregg Barker, Aug. 4, 2008; Tom and Dr. Adrianne Cones Browning ‘00, Dallas, a daughter, Lillian Claire Browning, Feb. 15, 2008.
2001
Sarah Berg-Devney, Arlington, Va., works in mathematical and statistical research at the U.S. Census Bureau in the Economic Directorate after earning a master of science degree in industrial mathematics at The University of Texas at San Antonio.
John Boyd, San Antonio, was accepted to the doctoral program in theatre history at Ohio State University. Sylvia Mayer, Round Rock, is president of the Williamson County Young Republicans. She was nominated for Woman of the Year at the 2008 Texas Young Republican Federation State Convention in Dallas. Ricardo Romanillos, Richardson, was named director of secondary science curriculum and instruction for Richardson ISD after completing a master of education degree in leadership and policy studies from The University of Texas at Arlington.
2002
Lindsay Dold, Pasadena, Calif., serves as assistant dean of admissions for Pomona College.
Sara Lopez, Princeton, N.J., is pursuing the development track of the master of public affairs program at Princeton University. From 2003-06, she worked with the Peace Corps, and from 2006-08 she was the high school student servicelearning coordinator for the Escuela Americana in San Salvador, El Salvador. Ryan McFarlin, Dallas, has opened his own law firm, The McFarlin Firm PLLC. He continues to practice personal injury trial law, including medical malpractice, motor vehicle accidents and other negligence cases. He can be reached at themcfarlinfirm@gmail.com. Amanda Ackermann Misfeldt, Nashville, Tenn., earned a Ph.D. in molecular physiology and biophysics from Vanderbilt University, and returned to the Vanderbilt University Medical School to take part in the Medical Scientist Training Program.
Even Superman Has a Day Job... But it can’t possibly be as cool as the one Andrew Arnold ’04 has, working in New York City as a custom publishing coordinator at DC Comics, home of Batman, Superman and Green Lantern. By night, Arnold has completed several of his own projects (started prior to signing on at DC) and writes: “One of the most valuable things I learned at Southwestern was time management. When you have so many things going on at once it can be hard to find the energy to study for a test, finish a paper or go to the studio. The same goes for making comics. With so many stages you need to treat each stage equally. And when you have a full-time job this can lead to very long nights.”
Crowded, Andrew Arnold ’04
Looking at his to-do list, it’s easy to see why. Arnold is co-author and co-illustrator of Adventures in Cartooning, a children’s book that teaches the fundamentals of cartooning. He illustrated Mission: Save the Planet, showing readers how to fight global warming with fun facts, activities and practical things to do to live a greener life. Going greener yet, Arnold inked, colored and lettered TMNT issue #53 (a.k.a. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). In March 2009, Arnold’s work will be featured in Trivial, the third in a series of 4-Square anthologies published by I Know Joe Kimpel comics, which will be available at http://www.iknowjoekimpel.com/ Anthologies.php
TMNT issue #53, Andrew Arnold ’04
Jeanine Ashdown Webb, Pocatello, Idaho [see 2003].
Wright ’05, Midland, a daughter, Megan Elise Wright, Aug. 12, 2008.
Marriages: Persis Mehta ‘02 to Matthew Dean ’03, June 14, 2008, living in Houston; Tommy T. Henson II ‘02 to Elizabeth Mills ’04, Oct. 2008, living in Austin.
2003
Births: Joel ‘03 and Jeanine Ashdown Webb ‘02, Pocatello, Idaho, a son, Thomas Joel Webb, March 28, 2008; Jimmy ‘02 and Laura Wheeler
Kelly Laabs Land, Pearland, works in Houston for KPMG LLP as a manager in the audit practice. She and her husband, Shaun Land, have a son, Rhett Jackson.
Nicole Kosarek Stancel, Irving, is pursuing a post-doctoral fellowship after earning a Ph.D. in genetics from The University of Texas Southwestern Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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2003 ctd. Medical Center at Dallas. She is married to Dr. Gregory Stancel. Michael Nguyen, Mountain View, Calif., earned a J.D. at the University of California Hastings College of the Law and is now a patent associate with the law firm Fenwick & West LLP. His law review note in the Hastings Law Journal, “The Myth of ‘Lucky’ Patent Verdicts: Improving the Quality of Appellate Review by Incorporating Fuzzy Logic in Jury Verdicts,” won the 2007 Robert C. Watson Writing Competition sponsored by the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Joel T. Webb, Pocatello, Idaho, serves as a physician assistant at an urgent care center after earning a master’s degree in physician assistant studies from Idaho State University. His wife, Jeanine Ashdown Webb ’02, is enjoying her new career as a full-time stay-at-home mom with their newborn son, Thomas Joel. Melissa Whited, Cambridge, Mass., was accepted to the University of WisconsinMadison and received the Nelson Distinguished Fellowship for graduate study in environment and resources. Marriages: Matthew Dean to Persis Mehta ’02, June 14, 2008, living in Houston; Melissa Whited to Emily Lammert, June 14, 2008, living in Cambridge, Mass. Births: Ryan Fiedler Jones ’03 and Christopher Bryan Jones ’04, Dallas, a son, Sawyer Andrew Jones, Aug. 4, 2008; Shaun and Kelly Laabs Land ’03, Pearland, a son, Rhett Jackson Land, Jan. 18, 2008; Joel ’03 and Jeanine
Ashdown Webb ‘02, Pocatello, Idaho, a son, Thomas Joel Webb, March 28, 2008.
living in Austin; Leslie Nairn to Thomas Erwin, May 31, 2008, living in Austin.
2004
Births: Christopher Bryan Jones ’04 and Ryan Fiedler Jones ’03, Dallas, a son, Sawyer Andrew Jones, Aug. 4, 2008.
Andrew Arnold, New York, NY [see sidebar, page 33] Erin Bales, Cypress, sings professionally with the Houston Grand Opera and teaches voice and piano in Houston. Emily Latour de Guzman, San Antonio, traveled to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro as part of a global development partnership between Accenture, Inc. and the U.K.-based international development organization, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). Accenture employees from around the world gathered at Mount Kilimanjaro to experience first-hand the significant impact that VSO makes in the impoverished communities of southern Tanzania. Emily raised over $6,000 to support VSO’s vision of a world without poverty, where people work together to fulfill their potential. For more information, visit www.justgiving. com/emilydeguzman or www.vso.org.uk/ accenturekilimanjarochallenge/2008.
Scott Rocher, Playa Vista, Calif., works for Yahoo! Movies and Yahoo! TV, developing the next generation of Web sites for those properties. Jen Kight Spencer, Houston, works as a legal assistant at Vinson & Elkins LLP. She is married to Jeff Spencer. MARRIAGES: Natalie Beck to Matt Bachop, May 24, 2008, living in Austin; Jennifer Kight to Jeff Spencer, April 12, 2008, living in Houston; Elizabeth Mills to Tommy T. Henson II ‘02, Oct. 2008,
“Oklahoma!”
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Christine Carlisle Cutler ’97, Brandon Hobratschk ’02, Bobby Linhart ’92 and Nicole Cowan Morgan ’91 took part in the performance and production of “Oklahoma!” at the Country Playhouse in Houston. Bobby and Brandon starred in the lead roles of Curly and Jud, respectively. Nicole directed the production, and Christine served as music director and played the role of Mrs. Carnes. Several other Houston area alumni gathered to attend the show and a reception afterward at the theater. Southwestern Magazine
2005
Rev. Ray Altman, Kerrville, was appointed associate pastor at First United Methodist Church. He received a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he was awarded a Maxwell Fellowship. The Maxwell Fellowship, established at Auburn Theological Seminary in 1911, is awarded to one or more graduating seniors who show the most promise of excellence for future service in the parish ministry. Ray’s wife, Megan Browning and Randy Monk ’87 were in attendance at the graduation ceremony, as well as Rev. Karen Monk ’86, who was receiving her Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary. Megan is a clinical social worker at La Hacienda Treatment Center in Hunt. She received a master of social work degree from Smith College for Social Work and is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW). Kurt Bischoff, San Antonio, earned a master of science degree in biotechnology from The University of Texas at San Antonio. He works as a clinical research coordinator in pediatric hematology and oncology at the Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Josh Reiner, Arlington, Va., is the legislative correspondent/assistant for Congressman Wally Herger of California. Josh is enrolled in the master’s degree program in political management at George Washington University and holds a Congressional Fellowship with the Heritage Foundation. Loren Watt, San Antonio, graduated from Loyola College in Maryland with a master of science degree in pastoral counseling. She works as a counselor at San Antonio’s Eating Disorder Center. Marriages: Bethany Yoder ’05 to Kristian Gusmer, Aug. 16, 2008, living in Saint Paul, Minn. Births: Nathan and Krista Fithian Mery, both ’05, Richmond, a son, Owen Guy Mery, Aug. 11, 2008; Jimmy ‘02 and Laura
Wheeler Wright ’05, Midland, a daughter, Megan Elise Wright, Aug. 12, 2008.
2006
Jessica Tonahill Blanchard, Austin, serves as director of marketing and enrollment for the Acton School of Business. Nora Cobo, Washington, D.C., is pursuing a master’s degree through the International Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) Program at American University’s School of International Service. Meredith Cockerell, San Antonio, completed a master’s degree in kinesiology at Michigan State University, and serves as head athletic trainer at St. Mary’s University. Kevin High, Houston, has been pursuing a master of music degree in cello performance at the University of Houston. He is taking time off from study to give private lessons at the Cinco Ranch Conservatory of Music and to perform with the piano trio, Gitana Piano Trio, of which he is a co-founder. Bailey Kinkel, Las Cruces, N.M., is pursuing a master of landscape architecture degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Anna Matis, Houston, works for the pharmacy practice of Employee Benefit Solutions, Inc. Her photography is on display at H Gallery in Houston.
Mary Kierst, Irving, works as an admission counselor at the University of Dallas. She says, “Though it’s not Southwestern, it’s a great place full of great people, and I love my job.” Chesney McKenzie, Barcelona, Spain, teaches English and welcomes contact from Southwestern University alumni and students. Laura Talbert, Austin, serves as coordinator of the Escalera Program for American Youthworks. Doak Matthews Worley IV, Round Rock [see 1980].
In Memoriam Julius Holland Porter ’33, Bryan, Sept. 10, 2008 Margaret Wynne Cardwell ’37, Houston, Sept. 21, 2008 Armstrong Kerr ’38, Boerne, July 27, 2008 Arline Smith Nesbitt ’38, Three Rivers, Feb. 3, 2008 Dr. William G. Godbey ’40, Skagway, Ala., April 12, 2008 Laurence C. Morgan ’40, Wharton, April 11, 2008 Irene Belle Pope Clement ’41, Bartlett, Sept. 18, 2008
Alexis Scobie, Houston, completed a master’s degree in industrial organizational psychology and works as a compensation analyst for National Oilwell Varco, Inc.
Emmalou Logan Brink Pennell ’41, Georgetown, June 24, 2008
Marriages: Clair Hardisty Baker to James Silliman, both ’06, June 21, 2008, living in Washington, D.C.; Megan Stevenson ’06 to Gareth Bayford, June 7, 2008, living in London, England.
Gilbert Conoley ’42, San Marcos, May 25, 2008
2007
Sarah Clay, Galveston, is enrolled in the physician assistant program at The University of Texas Medical Branch.
Marriages: Johanna Hankins ’07 to Charles House Jr., May 30, 2008, living in Austin.
2008
Matthew Beard, Austin, works as a technical writer for National Instruments.
R. Clinton Schulze ’41, Mason, Aug. 12, 2007
Libbye Jo Wallace Lowe Young ’43, Sonora, Aug. 16, 2008 Howard H. Behrens Sr. ’46, Fairbanks, July 6, 2008 Rev. Ernest O. DeWald ’46, Georgetown, March 23, 2008 Emily Brown Hudspeth ’46, Madison, Miss., June 7, 2008 Richard K. Hershey ’47, Dallas, Oct. 29, 2007
Nicholas J. Salibo Jr. ’48, Houston, Sept. 16, 2008 Patricia Bossy Rosin ’49, Houston, Sept. 30, 2008 R. Odell Charles ’50, Round Rock, July 7, 2008 Ray Arbuckle Jr. ’51, Elgin, Dec. 17, 2007 Dr. Kelly P. Burkhart ’52, Corsicana, June 26, 2008 William R. Duff ’52, Marlin, July 6, 2008 Patricia Brigham Morehead ’52, Friendswood, Aug. 13, 2008 Brucene Cox Norton ’52, San Antonio, July 4, 2008 Bertie Lee Rogers Murphy ’58, Belize, Sept. 9, 2008 Harriet Berglund Spinn ’60, Waco, Aug. 21, 2008 Nancy Seerden Jennings ’61, Sweeny, Sept. 7, 2007 Dr. James A. Reid ’62, Norman, Okla., June 12, 2008 Harold R. Vogler ’64, Georgetown, July 10, 2008 Edgar C. Cearley III ’70, Marianna, Fla., Aug. 22, 2008 Gaynor Ford ’71, Hutto, June 5, 2008 Joann Kullin-Smith ’71, Harlingen, Sept. 24, 2008 Gordon A. Bade ’72, San Antonio, May 30, 2008 Debra Webster Youngs ’82, Leander, July 18, 2008 Patrick L. Waller ’02, LacyLakeview, June 18, 2008 Matthew Boeer ’05, Brenham, Aug. 29, 2008 Sergio Machado ’05, Mozambique, June 1, 2008 Leslie Ann Spear ’06, Coppell, June 29, 2008 Kerry Stevenson Morton, Austin, July 26, 2008 Ruby Norwood Priddy, Wichita Falls, May 31, 2008
Sue Lane Tarpley ’47, Austin, Sept. 15, 2008
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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Academics in focus Academics in Focus is compiled from In Focus, Southwestern’s official weekly newsletter, and highlights student, faculty and staff honors.
Biology
Slovakia with other businesspersons. In addition to research data, he gathered case materials for his international business classes. In May 2009, he will travel to Africa on a similar fact-finding tour.
participated in the eighth North Eastern Workshop on Southern Africa in Burlington, Vt. Green Musselman discussed the practicalities and possibilities of scholarly podcasting, while McClendon participated in a panel on whiteness in 20th-century southern African history.
the divide: The female body in Y tu Mama tambien and Machuca” in Studies in Hispanic Cinemas. The article was co-authored with former Communication Studies professor HECTOR AMAYA.
Three Southwestern students received the Freeman-Asia FERN NGUYEN, a senior chemistry Scholarship for the fall 2008 major, and EMILY NIEMEYER, semester. All three—KYLE Mathematics associate professor of chemistry, published an article in the Sept. 24 RICK DENMAN, associate professor MATHIS, TYLER RANKIN and LINDSAY WALDROP—used their of mathematics and computer issue of the Journal of Agricultural awards to study in China. Mathis science, and senior philosophy and Food Chemistry titled “Effects is a junior majoring in political and computer science major of Nitrogen Fertilization on science, Rankin is a junior majoring STEPHEN FOSTER have had their the Phenolic Composition and paper titled “Using Clausal Graphs in communication studies and Antioxidant Properties of Basil.” Waldrop is a junior doing an to Determine the Computational Education independent major in Chinese. Complexity of k-Bounded Positive ALICIA MOORE, associate One-in-Three SAT” accepted Political Science professor of education, for publication in the Journal of ALISA GAUNDER, associate co-presented a two-part workshop Discrete Applied Mathematics. professor of political science, has MAX TAUB, associate professor on “The Quest for Black Citizenship an essay based on a conference FUMIKO FUTAMURA, assistant of biology, participated in a in the Americas” at the 93rd presentation titled “Bringing professor of mathematics, particiworkshop in Washington, D.C., Annual Association for the Study Scholarship to the classroom: pated in a workshop titled “Frames in October that was designed to of African-American Life and Strategies for promoting research for the Finite World: Sampling, teach faculty members how to History (ASALH) Conference. through teaching” in the fall Coding and Quantization” at the organize large quantities of data Senior KRISTIN M. LAHAIE recently American Institute of Mathematics 2008 volume of ASIA Network for use in the classroom. The won a Texas Association of School in Palo Alto, Calif., Aug. 18–22. Exchange: A Journal for Asian workshop was sponsored by the Personnel Administrators (TASPA) Studies in the Liberal Arts. Ecological Society of America. BARBARA OWENS, associate Education Scholarship. Lahaie SHANNON MARIOTTI, assistant professor of math and computer BEN PIERCE, professor of is one of only three education professor of political science, science, gave a keynote address biology and holder of the Lillian students in the state of Texas to had a book review titled “Critique Nelson Pratt Chair, and former win this prestigious scholarship this at a conference held in Pretoria, from the Margins: Adorno and the South Africa, that was sponsored Southwestern students, JOSE year. Lahaie is the ninth straight Politics of Withdrawal” published by the National Advisory Council GRANDA ’07 and ROBERT Southwestern student to win this in the June 2008 issue of Political on Innovation. The speech was PENA ’06, published an article scholarship—a feat not matched Theory. Another article, titled covered in allAfrica.com. in Applied Herpetology titled by any other Texas university. “The Death of the First-born Son: “Effects of disturbance, position Modern Languages HISTORY Emerson’s ‘Focal Distancing,’ Du of observer, and moonlight on An article by ANDREW MILLS, LISA MOSES LEFF, associate Bois’ ‘Second Sight,’ and Disruptive efficiency of anuran call surveys.” visiting instructor of German, professor of history, is spending Particularity,” has been accepted Business/Economics titled “When Opportunism the fall semester as a fellow at for publication in a forthcoming MARY GRACE NEVILLE, assistant Knocks: Evaluating the Career of the Minda de Gunzburg Center issue of Political Theory. Her professor of economics and German Popular Entertainment for European Studies at Harvard article, “Thoreau, Adorno, and the business, had a paper on ethical University. The Center is dedicated Musician Peter Kreuder in the Critical Potential of Particularity,” business practices and paradigms Third Reich” appeared in the to fostering the study of European will be included in A Political for leading “good business” Music Research Forum published history, politics and society at Companion to Henry David Thoreau, accepted for publication in the by the University of Cincinnati Harvard, and selects visiting to be published in spring 2009. Business and Society Review. The College-Conservatory of Music. scholars who will play an active ERIC SELBIN, professor of paper focuses on the company role in the intellectual life of KATY ROSS, assistant professor political science and University Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. the Center and the University. of Spanish, had an article Scholar, had an article titled A.J. SENCHACK, professor of busi- Leff is conducting research at titled “Trauma, Violence and “Conjugating the Cuban Revolution: ness and holder of the Brown Chair the Center on the ownership of Pornography: Un mal año It Mattered, It Matters, It Will French-Jewish history and archives para Miki by José Ovejero” in International Business, made a Matter” accepted for publication in transit after World War II. trip to Central Europe. He toured published in Letras Hispanas. in Latin American Perspectives. manufacturing firms and small ELIZABETH GREEN MUSSELMAN SELBIN also had an article titled LAURA SENIO BLAIR, assistant businesses in Croatia, the Czech and THOM MCCLENDON, both of “What Was Revolutionary About professor of Spanish, published Republic, Hungary, Montenegro and the History Department, recently the Iranian Revolution? The an article titled “Bridges between DELIA SHELTON, a senior biology major, presented a poster at the annual meeting of the Animal Behavior Society Aug. 16–20 in Snowbird, Utah. The work was done in Professor of Psychology JESSE PURDY’S lab over the past 18 months and the poster was one of nine accepted for the ABS-sponsored Genesis Poster Competition for Undergraduates. Shelton flew in for the meeting from Costa Rica, where she was doing research at a field station.
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Southwestern Magazine
Chemistry
Power of Possibility” accepted for publication in Comparative Studies of South Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East.
the Shifting Portrayals of the Millennial Generation” at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association in Boston, Mass., July 31–Aug. 4. Nenga also was a panelist at a professional workshop on “Succeeding at a Liberal Arts College.”
and research of historical percussion ensemble repertoire.
MICHAEL COOPER, associate professor of music, contributed two chapters to a book titled Psychology Mendelssohn in Performance. JESSE PURDY, professor of Cooper’s first essay, titled psychology, and former student “From Notation to Edition to LUDI ROUSEAU RUSSELL ’03, Performance,” concerns particularly Two sociology majors presented presented a poster describing the thorny issues that arise in moving their research as part of the findings of their work with Weddell from Mendelssohn’s manuscripts American Sociological Association seals at the annual meeting of to printed musical notation that Honors Program at the annual the Animal Behavior Society will convey the same suggestions meetings of the ASA in Boston, Aug. 16–20 in Snowbird, Utah. to modern performers that it Mass., July 31–Aug. 4. TRISTINE The poster describes a unique did for his contemporaries. The methodology that allowed them to BACCAM, senior sociology major, second essay, “’For you see I presented her paper, “Deriving observe the underwater courtship am the eternal objector’: On Self-Image: A Study of Upper and behavior of Weddell seals as Performing Mendelssohn’ music Upper Middle-Class Students and they interact under the fast-ice of in translation,” addresses the How They Construct Self Image,” at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The problems and opportunities posed a roundtable on demography. Her film “The World of Seals,” produced by his extraordinary variety of research was done as part of a by Purdy and Davis to introduce linguistic fluencies for modern class taught by SANDI NENGA. the 2008 Brown Symposium, was performers. Cooper also published PHILLIP CANTU ’08 presented selected as a semi-finalist at the his paper, “Activists on the Margin: the premier edition of the first annual film festival sponsored complete version of Mendelssohn’s High Risk Activism in a Needle by the Animal Behavior Society. secular cantata Die erste Exchange Program,” at a roundtable Purdy presented his documentary Walpurgisnacht (The first Walpurgis on social deviance. His research to an audience at Centre College night) as part of the series was done as part of a capstone and gave a talk, titled “Umwelt: “Recent Researches Concerning class under the direction of MARIA Exploring the Self-Worlds of the Music of the Nineteenth and LOWE, professor of sociology. Human and Non-Human Animals.” Early Twentieth Centuries,” based Religion Sociology on a 1799 ballad by Goethe. Laura Hobgood-Oster, professor Junior sociology major LAUREN LOIS FERRARI, associate professor of religion and chair of the HAMLETT participated in a of music and music director of the Environmental Studies Program, summer research program on Austin Civic Orchestra, conducted was the keynote speaker at a Population, Health and Aging at one of the ACO’s seven 07–08 luncheon held at St. Edward’s Western Washington University season concerts in May 2008. This University Nov. 12. The luncheon in Bellingham, Wash. The program featured the talents of was part of a day-long program program was funded by the Southwestern’s own BRUCE CAIN, titled “Religion and Environment National Institute on Aging. associate professor of music, – Dominion or Stewardship?” EDWARD L. KAIN, professor of CAROL KREUSCHER, assistant Hobgood-Oster also is featured sociology and University Scholar, professor of music, former faculty in a documentary just released by delivered the opening keynote member CLAIRE VANGELISTI, and the Humane Society of the United address for a preconference on David Stevens of Austin. In June, States titled “Eating Mercifully.” teaching at the annual meetings Ferrari was recruited by Professor PHIL HOPKINS, associate professor Emeritus F. ELLSWORTH of the American Sociological of religion and philosophy, had an Association in Boston, Mass., PETERSON ‘55 to conduct article titled “Weaving the Fish July 31–Aug. 4. The title of Mendelssohn’s rarely performed Basket: Heraclitus on the Relation his talk was “Increasing Your opera, “Son and Stranger,” as part of World and Word” accepted Pedagogical Footprint.” He also of the Georgetown Festival of for publication in the spring 2009 organized and co-led an academic the Arts. Several Southwestern volume of Epoche: A Journal workshop on “Bridging the Gap students performed with Ferrari, for the History of Philosophy. Between Cultures of Teaching along with Cain and Southwestern and Cultures of Research, and graduates LYNN PARR MOCK Sarofim School helped with the orientation for ’83 and VIRGINIA DUPUY ’71. of Fine Arts the ASA Honors Program. RICK ROEMER, professor of THAD ANDERSON, percussion SANDI NENGA, assistant professor instructor, is the artistic director theatre, played the role of of sociology, presented a paper Salieri in the Austin Playhouse’s of a new group called the Cage titled “From Selfless Heroes to 2008–09 season opener of Percussion Players, which is Narcissistic Praisehounds: Tracing “Amadeus.” Several Southwestern dedicated to the performance
theatre graduates also were involved with the production: BRIAN COUGHLIN ’92 had an acting role and DAVID STAHL ’84 was co-director.
OTHER SUZANNE BUCHELE, associate professor of mathematics and computer science, presented “Experiences with OLPC Technology in Ghana, West Africa” at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computer Science Conference in Keystone, Colo., Oct. 3. BROOKE ARNOLD CALDER, a junior English and Feminist Studies major, presented “As American as Apple Pie: Deconstructions of American Identity in Kavalier and Clay” at Sigma Tau Delta’s Southwestern Regional Conference. Calder originally wrote this paper for her Contemporary Jewish Literature course, taught by HELENE MEYERS, professor of English. Sigma Tau Delta is an English honor society. First-year student CATHRIN WINSOR was a finalist in a video contest sponsored by the Democratic National Committee. The contest asked entrants to make a video about “Why Are You a Democrat in 2008?” Two Southwestern students have received the Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship for the fall 2008 semester. ALICIA BURNS and HAILEY EASLEY were both awarded $4,500 through the program. Burns will use her scholarship to study abroad at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. Easley will use her scholarship to study abroad in India. Burns is a senior majoring in biology and Easley is a junior majoring in anthropology. At the 2008 Career Services Institute held at Pomona College, the “Success Stories Showcase” maintained by Southwestern’s Career Services office in the campus center was recognized as being one of the six “Best Practices for 2008.” For submissions, please e-mail in-focus@southwestern.edu.
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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The last word
How I Met Southwestern Small towns possess a community unity that more urban areas seem to lack. This is obviously because of a smaller population’s ability to meet and organize, but other traits exist that metropolitan, concrete–enforced cities fail to provide. The stereotypical small-town folk are always genuine and open, and the roads are always filled with people waving “Hi” through the windshield, even if they are strangers. Glen Rose, Texas, is one of these towns, and has been my hometown for the last 13 years of my life. Growing up there seems to thrive around the themes of “urban versus rural,” “5A school versus 3A school,” and the like. When it came time to pick a college to attend, I had not heard of Southwestern University. I was initially introduced to Southwestern through my ambition to play collegiate baseball. Coming from a small school, I do not have the skills nor the exposure to attend any of the Division I schools. A summer coach mentioned the Pirate baseball team to me, and my interest quickly evolved. During the fall of my senior year, I was extremely interested in Southwestern University as well as Trinity University in San Antonio. Both liberal arts schools could provide me with the opportunity to play baseball, while at the same time offering the stimulation of rigorous academic programs. However, it was a very different aspect of college that sold me on Southwestern. In January 2008, I met with Mr. Monty Curtis, the associate vice president for enrollment services at Southwestern, to interview for a scholarship. We met at a hotel lobby in Arlington. We sat down, and he pushed my file away, saying “let’s just chat, friend.” He mentioned how much he enjoyed my essay, and throughout his gentle soft rhetoric, he would frequently start sentences with “friend.” We continued to talk about literature and philosophy for about an hour, and what I anticipated to be an interrogation of my high school
by Remy Robertson
career turned into a friendly discussion of ideas and beliefs. He concluded by mentioning that I was “what Southwestern wants,” and all I could think was that he was the type of person that I want at the college I attend. Aside from Mr. Curtis, other interactions have shown me the type of people that Southwestern seems to harvest. In December 2007, baseball coach Jim Shelton invited me to tour the campus with him, and again my expectations were overturned. Coach Shelton personal ly tou red my fam i ly around campus, telling us about the social life and the atmosphere, while equally emphasizing the importance of academics, baseball, and my personal ability to adapt in Georgetown. Coach Shelton showed that he is more than a coach—he is a friend and colleague, and he sees his players as much more than athletes. With the experience of meeting both Coach Shelton and Mr. Curtis, Southwestern University began to stand out as the place for me. I have undergone a very personal relationship with Glen Rose as well as Glen Rose High School, and all of the unique informalities of my hometown seem to be present in Georgetown and Southwestern University. The University is not only valuable because of the low teacher-to-student ratio or widely recognized academic programs, but because the faculty, staff and students recognize each other as people, and not as statistics. With the August sun burning my shoulders, I look forward to taking my place in the enlightening experience that will resonate as one of the best decisions of my life.
[Southwestern] is not only valuable because of the low teacher-to-student ratio or widely recognized academic programs, but because the faculty, staff and students recognize each other as people, and not as statistics.
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Southwestern Magazine
Remy Robertson is a first-year student at Southwestern planning to major in philosophy with a minor in Chinese. A writer for the SU Megaphone, Robertson also writes a monthly column for The Williamson County Sun, which is where this essay first appeared.
Winter 2009
Mandy Solin Director of Creative Services Kalie Trueper ’08 Editorial Coordinator Antonio Banda Graphic Designer Joshua Logsdon Web Magazine Design magazine @ southwestern.edu BOARD OF TRuSTEES Merriman Morton ’63, Austin, Chair Helen E. Black McAllister ’49, San Antonio, Co-Vice Chair Larry J. Haynes ’72, Dallas, Co-Vice Chair R. Griffin Lord, Belton, Secretary-Treasurer Martin Aleman Jr. ’68, Austin Mitch Barnett ’07, Austin Douglas M. Benold ’44, Georgetown W. Earl Bledsoe*, Dallas Ann Tyrrell Cochran ’72*, Houston Bobby Smith Cohn, Houston W. Mark Craig, Dallas Roy H. Cullen, Houston John S. Curry ’70, Pampa James E. Dorff*, San Antonio Robert W. Dupuy ’69, Dallas Thomas A. Forbes ’71, Austin James W. Foster ’72, Houston Jack Garey, Georgetown Roberto L. Gómez ’69, Mission Robert H. Graham, Houston Kay Granger, Fort Worth Ronald D. Henderson, Plano Janice Riggle Huie*, Houston
Robert W. Karr ’71, St. Louis, Missouri W. Joseph King ’93, Fort Worth Bart C. Koontz ’78, San Antonio J. Michael Lowry*, Fort Worth Red McCombs ’49, San Antonio Michael McKee, Hurst J. Eric McKinney ’72, Georgetown Laura A. Merrill ‘84, Wimberley Charles R. Millikan ’68, Houston James W. Moore, Fairview Barbara Prats Neely ’77, Fort Worth Ernesto Nieto ’64, Kyle Steven A. Raben ’63*, Houston Robert T. Rork ’62, San Antonio Jake B. Schrum ’68*, Georgetown Robert C. Scott, San Antonio Peter A. Sessions ’78, Dallas Namiqa A. Shipman, Big Spring Donald W. underwood ’70, Plano James V. Walzel, Houston D. Max Whitfield*, Albuquerque, N.M. Doak M. Worley IV ‘08, Round Rock Robert D. Wunsch, Austin
*Ex-Officio
ALuMNI & PARENT RELATIONS Georgianne Hewett ’90 Associate Vice President for Alumni and Parent Relations Amanda Randall Assistant Director for Alumni and Parent Relations Daniel Webb ’08 Assistant Director for Alumni Relations alumni @ southwestern.edu parents @ southwestern.edu uNIVERSITY RELATIONS Cindy Locke Associate Vice President for university Relations Ellen Davis Director of Communications John Kotarski ’93 Director of Web Development and Communication CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS Jake B. Schrum ’68, President Richard L. Anderson, Vice President for Fiscal Affairs Gerald Brody, Vice President for Student Life
SOuTHWESTERN uNIVERSITY’S CORE PuRPOSE
James W. Hunt, Provost and Dean of the Faculty
Fostering a liberal arts community whose values and actions encourage contributions toward the well-being of humanity.
J. Eric McKinney ‘72, Interim university Chaplain
SOuTHWESTERN uNIVERSITY’S CORE VALuES Cultivating academic excellence. Promoting lifelong learning and a passion for intellectual and personal growth. Fostering diverse perspectives. Being true to one’s self and others. Respecting the worth and dignity of persons. Encouraging activism in the pursuit of justice and the common good. Southwestern university’s recruiting of students, awarding of fi nancial aid, and operation of programs and facilities are without regard to sex, race, color, religion, age, physical handicap, national or ethnic origin, or any other impermissible factor. The university’s commitment to equal opportunity includes nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Southwestern magazine is printed on Galerie Art Cover and Text, which is made from 30 percent post-consumer fi ber. It is printed by The Whitley Printing Company in Austin, which is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
C. Richard McKelvey, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Thomas J. Oliver ’89, Vice President for Enrollment Services Francie Schroeder, Executive Assistant to the President Ronald L. Swain, Senior Advisor to the President for Strategic Planning and Assessment Telephone: (512) 863-6511
Southwestern magazine is published semiannually by the Office of Institutional Advancement. Bulk rate postage paid at Austin, Texas.
Winter 2009 www.southwestern.edu
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Photographer Shelley Dormont ’11 captures a quintessential SU thunderstorm.