Quarterly - Summer 2013

SUMMER 2013

Research with a side of adventure Tropical biology takes students way out into the field

Q UARTERLY

WHEATON

Inside Swinging for the fences 18 Kenneth Babby ’02 aims to score big as the new owner of a baseball team.

By Andrew Faught

Go Beyond 22 Alums go “mad” in March for challenge; Frances “Phoebe” Lovejoy Russell ’01 and Janet Lindholm Lebovitz ’72 collaborate to revitalize an important campus space; and Julia Lamenzo Fox ’93 supports research opportunities.

Research with a side of adventure 26 Tropical biology takes students way out into the field.

By Michael Graca

DEPARTMENTS BETWEEN THE LINES Lessons in living 2 Letters 2 CONVERGENCE The arts of the deal 3 AROUND THE DIMPLE Dear Class of 2013 4 Lessons from South Africa 5 A minute with…Lindsay Petrenchik ’13 6 Traveling scholars 7 Remote control 8 Programmed for success 9 Wheaton means business 10 New institute connects humanities to careers 11 PANORAMA “Sex and Work” 12 Publications, honors and creative works 13 FIELD REPORT At the top of her game—on and off the court 14 Replay 15 SNAP SHOTS 16 WHEATON IN THE NEWS 17

ALUMNAE/I ASSOCIATION NEWS Return to music feeds the soul 32 Following her passion at 80 33 Talent, luck star in award-winning producer’s life 34 Making a big deal of little things 35 CLASS NOTES Margaret Gibson ’63 honored for her work anthropology 41 Anne Crosman’s (’66) writing attracts attention 43 Journalist Ted Nesi ’07 is the news 56 Wheaton clubs, regional contacts and Filene Center liaisons 60 END PAGE A handle on the history of shovels 64

ON THE COVER Top: Brittany Sullivan ’14 and Samantha Ferguson ’14 study a canopy emergent tree in the rainforest of the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica.

Bottom: A school of gray angelfish swim over the coral reef at the South Water Caye Marine Reserve in Belize.

Photos by Scott Shumway and Shawn McCafferty

WHEATON QUARTERLY Vol. CI, No. 3 Editor

Sandy Coleman

Senior Writer Art Director Designer

Hannah Benoit Robert Owens

David Laferriere

Staff Writer

Michelle Monti Ellen Cataloni

Administrative Assistant

Assistant Vice President for Communications

Michael Graca

The Quarterly (ISSN 1068-1558) is published four times a year (summer, fall, winter and spring) by Wheaton College and printed by Lane Press of Burlington, Vt. Periodicals postage paid at Norton, Mass., and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Wheaton College, Norton, MA 02766.

Wheaton College © 2013

SUMMER 2013 1 KEITH NORDSTROM

BETWEEN THE LINES

BY SANDY COLEMAN, EDITOR

Lessons in living cover story that Michael Graca wrote on the For the past two years, heading toward Commencement, I’ve asked alums to send us their best advice for the members of the graduating “Tropical Field Biology” course taught in Belize and Costa Rica to see how far out of the range class, as students end their journeys at Wheaton and set off to find of comfort students and professors are willing their way in the world. to go to do intriguing research. Page 26.

We always receive great heartfelt advice. You’ll find it on page 4. But, Lesson No. 4: Be nice. as I was reading all the words of wisdom while working on this issue, The smallest acts of kindness it dawned on me that the entire summer Quarterly offers great advice do, indeed, make a difference from students, faculty and alums (some of it unspoken) and lessons in in a world that is too often living and finding your path—even from those who, sadly, are no longer filled with awful acts like the Newtown, Conn., shootings with us. In Memoriam is full of short stories about alums and friends and the recent Boston who made the most of life in big as well as small ways.

Lesson No. 1: Stay open to change and growth. Wheaton exemplifies that with the creation of a new business major and the new humanities institute, highlighting how a liberal arts education is the best preparation for any career. The stories are on pages 10 and 11.

bold enough to just go for it. You want to own a baseball team? You can.

Kenneth Babby ’02 tells us all about his new reality as a baseball team owner and how he learned to dream big right here at Wheaton. Page 18.

Lesson No. 3: Never be afraid to step

Lesson No. 2: Expect your wildest dream to come true—if you build a varied background of experience, work hard and are

out of your comfort zone to learn something new—even if you are surrounded by screaming monkeys. Check out the

Marathon bombing. Read about how one alum is encouraging good deeds for the greater good of us all. Page 35.

Lesson No. 5: Follow your heart—even if it means going in unexpected directions and then circling back at age 80. See our Second Acts stories by Hannah Benoit. Pages 32 and 33.

Consider this your summer assignment: read, enjoy, be inspired—and, of course, write us. Q

LETTERS

Be prepared for anything During the Boston Marathon, I was in the main medical tent when the bombs went off.

In an event like the marathon bombings, a person has two choices—get out of the way or help. I did not save any lives that day, nor did I even go near the critical patients—there were plenty of experienced professionals handling them. But I did step up and I did my best to help.

As the spokesperson for Boston EMS for the past five years, I have seen a few ordinary marathons—a very hot one last year, and a colder one. I have seen runners cry in pain from leg cramps, runners who have needed to be held in an ice bath to cool their bodies, and horrible blisters, and I have experienced terrible smells. I have seen elite runners pass by looking as if they could run it again.

I felt that I had seen it all. I was wrong. This year, as 2 WHEATON QUARTERLY

I stood in the medical tent and saw wheelchairs with victims covered in blood coming at me, I threw my camera down, grabbed gloves and followed orders.

At 4:42 p.m., I texted my brother, “I’m OK. Tell everyone. Call mom.” Later, “Someone’s blood is on my clothes. I want to take a bath.” The Boston EMS staff did not leave the scene until around midnight.

After a tragedy like this, there are simple things that every person can do to make themselves both feel safer and be safer—learn CPR, learn First Aid, have a First Aid kit in the house and car, teach your kids how and when to call 911.

We all hope that terrorist acts are not the new normal, but we should be prepared anyway.

Jennifer “Jen” Mehigan ’00

We want to hear your story Were you directly impacted by the bombing that occurred at the Boston Marathon? Were you there? Email us at quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu.

The Quarterly welcomes letters to the editor on topics you’ve read in these pages or on other topics concerning the Wheaton community.

Email us: quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu Or send letters to: Sandy Coleman, editor Wheaton Quarterly Wheaton College 26 E. Main St. Norton, MA 02766

CONVERGENCE

BY RONALD A. CRUTCHER, PRESIDENT

The arts of the deal In looking for leadership inspiration, Itay Talgam debunks what he terms the “myth of the maestro.” The former orchestra conductor has made a name for himself by looking at great orchestra leaders for ideas on how to create environments that value innovation and creativity and celebrate both individual and collective achievement.

In his much-watched TED talk, Talgam said, “[A conductor’s] happiness does not come from only his own story and his joy of the music. The joy is about enabling other people’s stories to be heard at the same time.”

His point speaks to the importance that lies in tapping the insights, knowledge and skills of an organization’s members; creating the space for each Former orchestra conductor Itay Talgam’s TED talk person to shine; and focusing individual efforts on an overall goal. lege graduates’ future careers, advance their Talgam’s observation resonates with me as earning potential and ensure their fulfillment both a chamber musician and an educator substantially, well beyond their initial paydedicated to the value of the liberal arts. check. In fact, more than 200 senior execuThe metaphor of conductor as business tives have joined with LEAP in a compact to leader illustrates, for me, the insight, creative promote broad-based learning. synthesis and ability to communicate perOur college excels in this type of suasively that liberal arts study fosters. These education. However, I am most proud of are essential skills for success, and they are Wheaton’s restless nature, always seeking intellectual habits that Wheaton’s distinctive to improve the value of what we offer to interdisciplinary liberal arts curriculum enstudents. That spirit infused the planning for courages. A new national survey of business our newest major: business and manageand nonprofit leaders affirms the advantage ment. While business is not a traditional of this kind of education. discipline in the liberal arts, our major fits The study, conducted by Hart Research Wheaton perfectly: it is practical, flexible Associates on behalf of the campaign Liberal and academically rigorous.

Education and America’s Promise (LEAP)— The faculty members who designed the for which I serve as national co-chair—finds business major outlined a course of study that an overwhelming 93 percent of employ- that builds upon our liberal arts strengths. It ers prize broader and more flexible skills, eschews the narrow focus of the traditional such as being able to think critically, combusiness program in that it extends beyond municate clearly and solve problems. foundation courses in management, finance, Perhaps even more telling: 95 percent accounting and marketing to embrace a say that those they hire should demonstrate wide range of interests and opportunities. integrity, intercultural skills and the ability to Thus, it offers concentrations in five areas, keep learning. These are what will drive col- including corporate ethics and the respon-

Comment on a story? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

sibilities of nonprofit organizations; balancing the profit motive with environmental concerns; and the emerging fields of data analysis and new media communications.

As you might expect, the business and I am most proud management major includes a requirement of Wheaton’s for all students to parrestless nature, ticipate in experiential always seeking learning opportunities, to improve the such as internships or community service value of what positions. Long a we offer to hallmark of a Wheaton students. That education, internships and other learning spirit infused the experiences outside planning for our the classroom allow newest major: students to apply what business and they know in realworld settings, to put management. theory into practice.

The establishment of the business and management major is just one of a number of efforts undertaken by our faculty to continually grow the strength, quality and diversity of the college’s academic programs. In just the past two years, our faculty members have also designed new majors in neuroscience and in film and new media, as well as new minors in Jewish studies, public health, and peace and social justice studies. This doesn’t take into account other innovative projects, such as the WHALE lab—a makerspace—for student creativity, and the Wheaton Institute for the Interdisciplinary Humanities.

The business and management major, along with all the other new offerings at Wheaton, underscores the vitality of our learning community. More important, these programs sharpen the edge that we offer students in preparing for lives of leadership, intellectual curiosity and professional success. They will be ready, in short, to lead the orchestra as well as to contribute their own voices to the music of life. Q

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 3

AROUND THE DIMPLE

Dear Class of 2013: As you leave, words of wisdom from alums “My mom’s advice to me has held me in good stead: You can have it all; you just can’t have it all at once. This advice reminds me to take the long view of life. Instead of going through my twenties and early thirties thinking I had to be everything at once, I gave myself the space to enjoy each stage.”

—Elisabeth Stitt ’88

“As far as the job search goes, take a deep breath and relax; don’t panic. The majority of the young alums I know are happily employed at jobs they love, but it took time. You will find something great, but don’t put too much pressure on yourself to find something immediately.”

—Chloe LeVine ’11

“I believe in getting an education for a profession that might be of interest.

And then be realistic about the possibilities in that profession and do not be afraid to realize your true potential—whether it be higher or lower than you had expected.”

“Cherish the chaos in you.

According to Nietzsche, ‘One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.’ If you have a tidy and orderly mind that doesn’t allow creative thoughts to intrude, you’ve lost a lot of the joy in life. Leave yourself open to wild and chaotic ideas that rev up your creative spirit and give birth to your dancing star. Put ‘be happy’ at the top of your to-do list. I used to beat myself up every day because I wasn’t meeting my own expectations about what I should be doing. Then one day it hit me. There’s really only one thing that matters. Each day should be a joy.”

“It’s tempting to put a laser beam of focus on a particular career direction. After all, it’s a competitive job market out there. But my advice is—in the beginning—to find a job that feels like a good fit for your talents, and let your path be open to opportunities as you move through life. A natural writer (and polished by my Wheaton education), I went from being an ad writer for a real estate company to public service director at a radio station to event planner for Seattle Center to marketing director of financial institutions to real estate professional to (hired at age 64!) flight attendant. Sometimes circumstances make you feel like you are stalled or losing ground. Don’t worry about it; stay tuned to what gives you joy and the work will follow.”

—Tani Clinchard Erickson ’65

—Mary Kennard McHugh ’50

“Know what you are good at, build on your special talents. Experience new adventures to expand your learning and growing into the person you want to be. Keep your aspirations high and determination strong. When roadblocks to your dream career get in the way, be flexible. Never underestimate the network of friends and people resources. Remember that you are unique. There is a place for your God-given talents in this world.”

— Elizabeth Adams Noyes ’40

“Read Susan Cain’s book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. It is an important study of the reflective, humble individuals who make up at least one-third of the general population. Her research suggests that the ‘extrovert ideal’ often seen in American culture—outgoing, talkative—doesn’t do so well without the steadying influence of the ‘quiet people.’ It is these quiet individuals who are hard at work bringing their rich inner landscapes and brilliant creative constructs into the reality of the world. It takes all kinds.”

—Jane Protzman ’59

—Lucile Roesler Bollman ’54

4 WHEATON QUARTERLY

WheatonCollege

@wheaton

Lessons from South Africa Having read Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Shiwei Huang ’15 knew about the “dom passes” that black South Africans were required to carry during the apartheid era. But when she visited Johannesburg’s Apartheid Museum and saw an exhibition on black South Africans’ fight for citizenship, she truly understood their plight.

“You can learn history from a book, but at the museum, you saw it, in videos, documents and pictures,” she said. “It had a big impact on me.”

That was one of many lessons that Huang and 15 other Wheaton students learned when they visited Cape Town and Johannesburg for the January course “Witnessing Contemporary African Society and Culture,” an interdisciplinary program launched in 2008.

The one-credit winter-break course, taught this year by professors James Freeman (economics) and Marcus Allen (political science), focuses on “trying to understand the culture, the sociology, the politics and the economics of post-apartheid South Africa—sort of witnessing the evolution, if you will, of a society reborn,” Allen said.

In the fall semester, the group prepared for the trip in two class sessions and through readings such as Long Road to Freedom, the Mandela autobiography.

The students stayed in South Africa for 15 days, visiting townships, museums, historic sites and a wild game park. They attended lectures and met college professors, students, civic leaders and ordinary citizens.

“When I teach this course, my hope is that these visits and interactions nudge students to approach issues of power and privilege, injustice, inequality, poverty, housing disparity, and so on from multiple perspectives,” said Freeman, who has co-led the course four times. In past years, faculty members from English, psychology and sociology have also co-taught the course.

Alicia Alvarez ’15 was stirred by a visit to

Students (above) listen to a presentation by a tour guide at Langa Township; left, they visit the Old Fort Prison Complex, where political activists, including Nelson Mandela, were once detained. (Go online to see more photos.)

Langa Township, a community outside of Cape Town that was designated for black South Africans before apartheid. Alvarez found that despite poverty and overcrowding, people there maintained cultural pride and compassion for other community members.

“This experience showed me that no matter what challenges you are going through, you can overcome them and work to become the person you want to be,” she said.

“It also taught me that having strong bonds with the people you care about is the most important thing in life.”

The group visited Robben Island and Johannesburg’s Constitution Hill, the site of the nation’s supreme court and the nowclosed Old Fort Prison Complex, where political activists such as Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi were once detained.

“They tore down part of the prison struc-

Comment on a story? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

ture and used the materials to rebuild part of the supreme court,” Allen said. “Every brick you see when you walk inside the chamber used to be part of the structure that housed prisoners. They were able to marry something tragic with a notion of hope, while also making sure that the prison remains part of our memory.”

For Jonathan Wolinsky ’10, a political science major who participated in 2010, the course meant he could go abroad without being away for a whole semester.

“I had not planned to study abroad,” he said. “I was involved in student government and my campus job, and I loved being on campus.” Then, early in his senior year, he learned about the Africa trip. “I remember thinking I wouldn’t have to miss anything at Wheaton, and I could go to Africa.”

Wolinksy said the experience was “an 11 on a scale of 10.” Now an admissions officer at Wheaton, he stresses to prospective students that Wheaton’s study abroad options offer something for everyone, “from a semester in Bhutan or London to three weeks in Africa. Wheaton commits itself to making these exciting opportunities available.” Q —Hannah Benoit

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 5

AROUND THE DIMPLE

A minute with…Lindsay Petrenchik ’13

KEITH NORDSTROM

6 WHEATON QUARTERLY

Lindsay Petrenchik, a biochemistry major, has been working with Professor of Biology Barbara Brennessel conducting research on spotted turtles on Cape Cod. The project recently won a grant from the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative. Turtle talk: “Spotted turtles are in rapid decline because their habitats are being fragmented and altered by humans. The objective of our study is to compare the genetic differences between spotted turtle populations on Nantucket Island and on the mainland, which allows us to determine how related the island populations are to the mainland populations.

Because island populations are isolated, there is a high degree of inbreeding that can make animals less adaptable or more susceptible to disease. Once we have analyzed the data, we will submit a report to the Nantucket Conservation Foundation.

Foundation officials have explained that a comparison between the island and mainland populations could possibly help to determine appropriate conservation and management methods of spotted turtles that have become isolated due to habitat fragmentation.” Rewarding work: “I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to work on the turtle research because not only do I find every day in lab a rewarding experience, I also love that I am contributing to a greater cause by providing information to spotted turtle conservationists. And although I work independently on most days, I greatly value the time I spend with Professor Brennessel.

Her extreme passion for this research is definitely contagious.” Discovery in the marsh: “My experience in taking the winter course ‘Cape Cod Barrier Beach Winter Ecology’ on Sandy Neck Beach in January 2012 opened my eyes to the importance of conservation biology. Because I am pre-med, I had previously focused more on threats to human lives. By studying salt marshes, I realized that trying to prevent threats to species in an ecosystem is just as important as trying to prevent threats to humans, as we are also sharing the earth with other species.” Major decision: “I decided to major in biochemistry my freshman year while taking ‘Cells and Genes’ and ‘Organic Chemistry’ at the same time. Taking these classes at the same time made me want to further understand biological processes at the cellular and chemical level. I have truly enjoyed drawing connections between my biology and chemistry courses throughout my college career. In the future, my ideal job would be one that allows me to stay involved in biochemistry and keeps me up to date on the latest scientific advancements in order to make a contribution to the world around me, such as a career in conservation biology.” Q —Elizabeth Meyer ’14 WheatonCollege

@wheaton

Traveling scholars Juniors win Gilman awards to study abroad

Three Wheaton juniors this winter won awards from the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program to study abroad during the spring semester in Egypt, Spain and Brazil.

Maya Ennis, of Brooklyn, New York, traveled to Egypt with a $4,000 scholarship. Gilda Rodrigues, of Boston, went to Brazil with a $4,500 award, and Alexis Nieves, of Brooklyn, headed to Spain with an award of $3,000.

The Gilman Scholarship program aims to diversify the kinds of students who study abroad, as well as the countries and regions to which they go, by supporting undergraduates who might not otherwise participate because of financial constraints. Sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, the program is intended to help prepare U.S. students to play meaningful roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world.

Nieves traveled to the city of International Training program Córdoba in January to particiin Brazil, Rodrigues is living with pate in the Programa de Estudios local families and participating Hispánicos en Córdoba, known in an academic program as PRESHCO. focusing on public health, race “Living in Spain for several and human rights through June months will give me the oppor3. She is investigating health tunity to improve my Spanish care delivery models in Brazil speaking and writing skills, which and studying Portuguese with an will be beneficial as I seek to help emphasis on health sciences.

As a religion major on a the members of my community,” pre-med track, Rodrigues wants he said before leaving.

A double major in Hispanic to learn more about how the studies and international relaBrazilian health care system intions, Nieves has a keen interest corporates spiritual practices, thus in diplomacy and positive social connecting her two main interchange. He is interweaving ests. She also plans to conduct an these interests during his time independent study of the role of abroad, particularly through spiritual healing in medical care.

Ennis is attending the a course called “Community Organizations and Local Politics American University of Cairo, continuing to work toward her in Córdoba.” psychology major and sociology “That course directly engages minor. She is particularly excited me with an NGO committed about taking an urban develto local issues, including opment course, “to study the gender inequality, integration various ways individuals interact of immigrants, rights of the within their communities.” differently abled, LGBT rights, Last summer, with the supecology and poverty,” he said. port of a Wheaton fellowship, Embarking on a School of

Maya Ennis ’14

HANNAH BENOIT

Gilda Rodrigues ’14

HANNAH BENOIT

KEITH NORDSTROM

Alexis Nieves ’14

Ennis worked at the Brooklyn Young Mothers’ Collective, an organization that helps young women move out of poverty by getting educated and becoming self-sufficient.

She says she is enjoying “experiencing an ancient culture that has

Comment on a story? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

not been completely influenced by Western culture,” and hopes “that living in a vastly unfamiliar place will sharpen my self-awareness and arm me with the tools needed to be an agent of change.” Q —Hannah Benoit

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 7

AROUND THE DIMPLE

Sophomore thrives as telecommuting software engineer Samuel Kottler ’15 fondly remembers his childhood days of sitting in his living room and carefully dissecting the television remote and piecing it back together—just for fun. Armed with the same passion for figuring out how things work, today he can be found working for one of America’s leading software companies.

Kottler is a software engineer for Red Hat, where he uses his knowledge of systems design to write automation software. The company is known as an international leader in open source software, a format that allows software to be freely and universally distributed over the Internet.

The sophomore’s interest in computer science began when he built a website for his father’s company when he was 12 years old.

He learned Drupal, an open source content management system, and, as a ninth-grade student, he started a Drupal consulting company to help businesses manage their web content. Kottler’s paying clientele quickly grew from several small local businesses to about a dozen customers, including Chamber Music of America.

After nearly three years of management,

8 WHEATON QUARTERLY

Kottler ended his business and ventured into the corporate world of open source software design. In 2011, he earned a job as a software engineer for Acquia, a Bostonbased company, and then moved to financial services company Venmo as a systems engineer in February 2012. Kottler accepted an engineering position at Red Hat in June 2012.

What makes him slightly unusual as a Red Hat employee is that he completes his work at home as a full-time student— starting at first in his bedroom at home in Fairfield, Conn., and now in his dorm room at Wheaton.

Sometimes, he works in the early morning in his room at Lindens House. At other times, he can be found in the Balfour-Hood Café, writing his complex code on his small Lenovo ThinkPad laptop. “Anywhere that has a fast Internet connection,” Kottler said. In contrast, his work could not be more global in scope. He is part of a tight-knit five-person team of international engineers based primarily in the United Kingdom and Israel.

While Kottler is proud of his accomplishments as a software engineer, he tends to keep his business life and academic life separate. A political science and computer science double major, his work inside the classroom has caught the eye of his professors, including his advisor, Professor of Computer Science Mark LeBlanc.

“Sam is a classic Wheaton student, given his talents in such broad areas,” LeBlanc said. “He is a superb system administrator who amazes even his professors.”

After graduation, Kottler wants to combine his love for computer science with political science. “I’m really interested in political advertising and how campaigns promote their candidate,” he said. Kottler worked on data processing and various software applications with Technology for Obama during the 2012 presidential campaign, an avenue he wants to further pursue after his time at Wheaton.

Judging by the recommendations that continue to fly in on Kottler’s LinkedIn page, his future is as bright as his present.

“Sam is one of my favorite people,” wrote Venmo founder Andrew Kortina in one of those recommendations. “It’s clear that he loves to build things (at work and outside of it), and as a result he spends lots of time doing so and learns very quickly.” Q —Alex Cilley ’14

WheatonCollege

@wheaton

KEITH NORDSTROM

Remote control

Programmed for success Computer whiz blends technology, liberal arts Apple’s late founder Steve Jobs once said he believed that technology, on its own, is not enough: “It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing,” he explained.

Richard Neal ’15 is a great example of what Jobs meant, and what Wheaton’s curriculum encourages. He is double majoring in computer science and mathematics and also earning a minor in secondary education. Neal is deeply involved in some of the college’s most innovative initiatives, while also serving as a teaching assistant and a tutor. On top of all that, he plans to graduate in just three years.

Neal, who grew up in a suburb outside Boston, said that technology has always been a major part of his life, but he didn’t arrive at Wheaton planning to major in computer science. However, he was drawn in by a few introductory classes and encouragement from two professors of computer science, Mark LeBlanc and Tom Armstrong. Neal has done independent studies with both professors; during one he helped create cowDuck, a free iPhone app that provides Wheaton students with information about the college.

LeBlanc, who is Neal’s academic advisor, called him one of the strongest programmers he’d encountered in 20 years. “He is a rock star,” LeBlanc declared.

“And he is a complete gentleman.”

Neal’s programming skills have been a boon to Wheaton’s Lexomics Research Group, which uses English, math and computer science to analyze written material for unknown connections. Neal described the research group as “a perfect example of the way Wheaton is able to blend courses, ideas and research across disciplines.” In one case, a student used Lexomics to determine that parts of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works had actually been written by his son, Christopher.

Neal stayed on campus last summer to develop a new tool for Lexomics called Scrubber, which “scrubs” texts uploaded by researchers to remove extraneous charac-

KEITH NORDSTROM

As a teaching assistant, RIchard Neal ’15 helps other students; left, he works with the three-dimensional printer in the WHALE lab.

ters, making them easier to analyze. “It’s very different from working on a program that I’d have for class,” he said, “both in that it’s much more labor-intensive and on a far longer scale, but also that I get the satisfaction of having something I built be used by scholars not just here, but in research around the nation.”

Then there’s the place Neal calls his “second home on campus”—the Wheaton Autonomous Learning Laboratory (WHALE), which opened as part of the renovated Science Center. The WHALE Lab offers students space and materials—including one of Neal’s favorite tools, a three-dimensional printer—to create whatever they can come up with.

“Richard is extremely thoughtful about his educational experience and improving that of

Comment on a story? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

other students,” said Armstrong, who oversees the lab. “He is committed to hands-on learning inside and outside of the classroom, and growing the community around ‘computational thinking’ at Wheaton.”

Neal said he isn’t sure what he wants to do after he graduates. He might become a high school teacher. He might go to graduate school and eventually become a professor.

Or he might go into software engineering, preferably developing technology related to education. Right now he’s focused on next summer, when he’ll take part in The Foundry, a 12-week internship program in Cambridge that Microsoft has created for student developers. “It’s an amazing opportunity,” he said.

Whatever he chooses, Neal said his college experience is giving him the best of both worlds: the broad education provided by the liberal arts along with the resources and support that have helped his programming talent flourish. “Wheaton has really allowed me the autonomy to pursue these choices. I’m very grateful for that,” he said. Q —Ted Nesi ’07

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 9

AROUND THE DIMPLE

Wheaton means business Wheaton has established a new major in business and management that draws upon the breadth and depth of the college’s liberal arts curriculum and its commitment to experiential learning to prepare students as future organizational leaders.

The new major, which the college’s faculty approved on March 1, will also draw practical strength from affiliations with a number of business and nonprofit organizations that currently offer internships to Wheaton students. Learning through internship experiences, which has been integral to a Wheaton education for nearly three decades, will be a required part of the business and management program.

“This is a comprehensive and novel approach to the study of business and management that takes advantage of the intellectual strength and range of the liberal arts,” said Provost Linda Eisenmann, who served with seven faculty members on the ad hoc committee that designed the new major.

“The study of business may not be considered a traditional discipline within the liberal arts, but the design of this program fits Wheaton perfectly. We have a long history of innovation in academic programs, and our emphasis on cross-disciplinary study provides a foundation that will help us to offer an outstanding course of study in business.”

The new program addresses a growing area of interest among college-bound high school students. Nationally, nearly 20 percent of all bachelor’s degrees are awarded in business, finance, accounting, marketing or a related field. Many Wheaton students share these interests. A number of the college’s students have expressed the desire to study business and management in greater depth, and courses within an enhanced business minor created last year have been extremely popular.

10 WHEATON QUARTERLY

“This is a comprehensive and novel approach to the study of business and management that takes advantage of the intellectual strength and range of the liberal arts.”

—Provost Linda Eisenmann The major also answers the nation’s need for a workforce of skilled and flexible learners who can adapt to a rapidly changing, technological and global society, said President Ronald A. Crutcher. “In survey after survey, business leaders across the country consistently say that they want to hire employees who possess the critical thinking, communication and creative problem-solving skills that liberal arts study

emphasizes,” he said. “With this new major in business and management, we also can offer students some grounding in business to complement the essential skills that every Wheaton student develops.”

Faculty members involved in designing the program say that their goal is to help prepare a new generation of leaders.

“Our business major seeks to educate the next citizen leaders of tomorrow’s organizations,” said Francisco de Alba, a Hispanic studies professor who served on the faculty ad hoc committee that designed the program. “Our majors will be versed in the latest theories in management and leadership. They will have a solid command of the quantitative and data side of business, but they will also understand that they, and the organizations they lead, are part of a broader whole that is both local and global.”

Beyond foundation courses such as accounting, finance and marketing, the major draws upon existing courses in economics, statistics, philosophy and psychology to help students develop a holistic view of what it takes to lead an organization, whether it be an international corporation or a local nonprofit.

In addition, the major includes five areas of concentration from which students will choose an area of focus to deepen their insights and pursue individual interests more closely. The five concentrations are: equality, diversity and social responsibility; policy, nonprofits and the arts; globalization and development; society and the environment; and analytics and new media.

Finally, the program will require each student to participate in at least one internship experience as part of a capstone program in strategy and leadership during the senior year of study. The internship will connect to students’ concentrations and expand their understanding of that field. Q —Michael Graca WheatonCollege

@wheaton

New institute connects humanities to careers

“The ability to conduct an interview, ask questions, listen closely and build a relationship of trust with a patient or client applies to being an attorney, too,” he said.

“There’s a real cross-application of skills.”

Hall arrived at his observation at the conclusion of Practicing Medicine and Practicing the Humanities, the inaugural event sponsored by the Wheaton Institute for the Interdisciplinary Humanities (WIIH), cofounded and co-directed

by Assistant Professor of Art History Touba Ghadessi and Associate Touba Professor of History Ghadessi Yuen-Gen Liang.

The institute aims to enable students to take learning achieved in the classroom and apply it to real-world situations.

Each year, a team of two professors will co-direct the institute by developing a cutting-edge theme and designing activities Yuen-Gen that explore it.

Liang Conferences, art exhibitions, performances, film series, panels and lectures will bring distinguished guests from New England and beyond to present innovative scholarship and work, which will be incorporated into coursework. Another

event, The Humanities Give Back, was held on April 1 in which Anthony Grafton, a history professor at Princeton University, moderated a roundtable discussion inaugurating the institute.

The purpose of the institute’s debut programs this winter was to shed light on the ways in which the study of the arts and humanities builds skills and habits of mind that contribute to professional success in many fields.

Ghadessi described the mission of the events as an exploration into how the arts and humanities come together in facilitating a successful professional life.

The physicians who participated in the February panel described a number of ways in which their humanities study helps them every day.

“There is an art involved in eliciting a patient’s narrative,” said general internist Melissa DiPetrillo, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University’s School of Medicine.

Angela Leung, M.D., who specializes in research at BU’s medical school and practices medicine at a clinic in Quincy, noted that part of the challenge in understanding patients lies in “trying to figure out where people are culturally.” In some cases, she says, the root cause of a complaint may be emotional rather than physiological. “I try to get to the heart of what’s really going on with the person.”

The doctors’ comments not only demon-

Comment on a story? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

strated the ways in which the humanities and the arts inform disparate professional fields, but also illustrated that art happens in everyday life, said Adrianne Madden ’14, a double major in art history and studio art. “Creating art does not necessarily mean that you are producing a painting, drawing or sculpture.”

A painter and photographer in his spare time, Cheng-Chieh Chuang, M.D., described the similarities between the artistic process and the practice of medicine.

“As a painter you need to investigate your subject before you start the creative process,” said Chuang, a family practitioner who practices medicine in Raynham, Mass. “As physicians, if we conduct a good examination and we are creative in using the tools of medicine, we create a masterpiece in healthy lives.” Q —Michael Graca

Read more about the Wheaton Institute for the Interdisciplinary Humanities online at wheatoncollege.edu.

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 11

KEITH NORDSTROM

Since Nicholas Hall ’14 plans to go to law school, he hasn’t given much thought to the skills that medical doctors need to care for patients.

But after attending an hourlong panel at Wheaton on February 28 in which four medical doctors talked about their work, Hall said he was struck by the similarities between talents required of both doctors and lawyers.

PANORAMA

“Sex and Work” Professor looks at gender divisions of labor

This winter the ban on female soldiers serving on the frontlines was lifted, which, according to news reports, could free up to 237,000 Army jobs for women, who make up 15 percent of the U.S. military. We talked to Associate Professor of History Kathryn Tomasek about the decision. During the spring semester, she taught “Sex and Work,” about the role gender plays in the workforce. In the course, she examines the persistence of gender division of labor as it has differentiated women’s work from that of men; that division’s organization over time, place and occupation; and its variations by race, class and religion.

First, how does this relate to your course?

In women’s studies we talk about the gender division of labor all the time. Historically speaking, gender divisions of labor are specific to time and place. One of the most intransigent assumptions about gender divisions of labor is that women shouldn’t be in combat positions. If we think about 18th century ideas about who could be a citizen in the United States, they are built on the notion that a citizen is someone who would be able to bear arms in defense of the nation. Women being in combat positions in the United States is something that, in a lot of ways, we are way behind on, because women have cross-dressed to fight in wars before—Joan of Arc, for example. So it’s not new on the face of the earth. Personally, I would rather we were not at war and that nobody had to put their lives on the line.

What is the significance of this recent decision?

One of the arguments against women in combat positions is that they’re not physically strong enough to do that kind of work.

12 WHEATON QUARTERLY

That’s nonsense, because that perpetuates a set of ideas about who all women are.

It’s about attitudes about gender and what women can do. Women had to struggle for a long time in the 20th century to be allowed to do jobs that were associated with men because of ideas about women and physical strength. So if this decision changes ideas about what people can do based on gender, this is a profound shift.

What is the source of your interest in gender and labor?

One of the things that I’ve been fascinated with for my entire academic career is housework and how invisible it is. I expect you would not be surprised to learn that I hate housework. If you come to my house, I can show you the cat hair in the corner, and I can tell you exactly how long it took for me, living in a new place, for the balls of cat hair to develop. When I was married that was all we fought about—who is going to do this work? That’s another incredibly intractable gender division of labor. A lot of things have changed over the past couple of genera-

tions, but those kinds of assumptions about who does what kinds of work are part of our daily lives. These ideas are going to hit every single student in their daily lives the moment they are out in the world. So what we’re studying is not just about “big ideas” and it’s not just about public policy. When we study these issues, we’re also thinking about how we spend hours of our own lives.

What do you hope your students get out of this course?

I want the students to learn the ways in which both the work that women did and the ideas about the work have changed over time. Women have always worked, but the transition to industrial capitalism in the 19th century created new ways of valuing work and compensating people for it. I hope they learn the value of women’s labor and ways to make arguments for that value. We still live in a world in which we need somebody like Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, to tell us that women need to “lean in,” women need to have a particular kind of attitude in order to be WheatonCollege

@wheaton

PUBLICATIONS, HONORS AND CREATIVE WORKS

Faculty Alexander Bloom, professor of history, presented the following seminars and talks at the University of Rome in March 2013: “Route 66 and the Postwar Westward Expansion”; “John F. Kennedy and the New Frontier”; “America Views Europe, 1945–2013: From Inferiority to Superiority”; “‘The Personal Is Political, The Political Is Personal’: Understanding the 1960s”; and “American Nuclear Culture in the 1950s: Learning to Live (and Die) with the Bomb.” He also wrote a review for the American Historical Review (February 2013) of Stuart Henderson’s Making the Scene: Yorkville and Hip Toronto in the 1960s.

Barbara Brennessel, professor of biology, received a grant from the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative (NBI) in February. She is conducting the research “Fine Scale Population Genetic Analysis of the Spotted Turtle” with student Lindsay Petrenchik ’13, which will be presented at the NBI conference.

Stephanie Burlington Daniels, associate professor of theatre, presented the solo show “Birth Breath Bride Elizabeth” at Wheaton on February 7 and at Emerson College on February 22 and 23.

The Boston Globe featured the production by the company Sleeping Weazel, which was created by Professor Charlotte Meehan and is run in collaboration with Amanda Weir ’04, Adara Meyers ’08 and Jessica Foster ’05.

KEITH NORDSTROM

Tommasina Gabriele, professor of Italian studies, wrote the article “Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt: Lesbian Desire in Maria Rosa Cutrufelli’s Complice il dubbio,” published in the journal Italian Culture (March 2013).

able to succeed. I think we teach women in our culture practices that prevent us from succeeding. Some might say that Sandberg is blaming women, but I think that our culture does continue to teach girls that there are other things that are more important than their brains and their work—even after all of these years of feminism, attention to equality and noticing sexual harassment.

Despite centuries of efforts on the parts of countless women and men to break down gender assumptions in various places at various times, human beings keep positing these differences. But then, on the bright side, there are characters like Olivia Pope [Kerry Washington] on ABC’s “Scandal,” which I totally love. She was held up as an example in a recent NPR story I listened to.

Olivia Pope knows that she works hard, that the work she does is good, and she knows her value, so she can say to anybody, “You would be lucky to have me because my work is so valuable; I’m so good at what I do.” I want every student in this class to be as clear about the value of her work as Olivia Pope is. Q

Michael Gousie, computer science professor, wrote “The Case for 3D Visualization in DEM Assessment,” published in Advances in Spatial Data Handling: Geospatial Dynamics, Geosimulation and Exploratory Visualization (Springer, 2013). He also presented his work at the biennial International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling in Bonn, Germany, in August 2012.

Tim Harbold, associate professor of music, presented “Marching Along with Time: Songs by Irving Berlin 1935–1945,” a theatrical show in collaboration with Valerie Anastasio, Benjamin Sears and Bradford Conner. Performances took place in September 2012 and February 2013 at Wheaton, Follen Church in Lexington, Mass., and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass. Harbold’s choral arrangement of “Marchin’ to Zion” was released by Santa Barbara Music Publishing in October 2012. Also in 2012, Harbold and Anastasio released “Give ’em the Oo-La-La,” a selfproduced CD. Eric Kelley, visiting instructor of anthropology, published the article “Yva Poty Rising: From the Ashes, a Cause for Hope,” in the Cultural Survival Quarterly (March 2013). Q

Alumnae/i Robin Bowman ’82, in partnership with the American Teenager Project of Richmond, Calif., received a 2012 Audience Engagement Grant from the Open Society Foundation. Bowman’s collection of photographs and interviews of adolescents, titled It’s Complicated: The American Teenager, is central to the project’s initiative to engage youths in civil and human rights issues.

Jessica Knauss ’97 translated from Spanish to English Carmino sin returno (No Turning Back) by Lidia Falcón (Loose Leaves Publishing, January 2013).

Dorothy Kerper Monnelly ’58 published For My Daughters (Hudson Hills, 2013). The book pairs her own photography with poetry written by her mother, Dorothy Darling Kerper.

Jane Protzman ’59 showed her photographs in the “Water, Water Everywhere” exhibition at the Port Jefferson Free Library in Port Jefferson, N.Y., in early 2013. Q

Comment on a story? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 13

FIELD REPORT

Sophomore McKenzie “Kenzie” Kuhn, a point guard on the women’s basketball team, has always been a motivated person.

In high school she would spend hours in her driveway working on her jump shot— even with snow on the pavement. And she would travel two hours from her home in Glenwood Springs, Colo., to practice and play with the Amateur Athletic Union basketball team, the Colorado Heat, to improve her skills.

Her determination on the hardwood was matched in the classroom, where her finely honed time-management skills helped her maintain a perfect grade point average throughout high school—all while she was also involved in three varsity sports and numerous clubs.

At Wheaton, the environmental science major has continued to do the same as a student-athlete.

“Ever since I was little I have had a competitive drive to do the best that I can in whatever I am trying to do,” says Kuhn. “Whether it’s a class or a drill, I want to get the most out of my time by working my hardest.”

Kuhn caught the attention of women’s basketball head coach Melissa Hodgdon, who recalls watching and admiring her energy, hustle and toughness on the court.

“At first I only knew how good Kenzie was as a basketball player; I loved how hard she played. And she had such positive interactions with her teammates. I could tell she was a strong leader,” says Hodgdon. “Later,

14 WHEATON QUARTERLY

I learned that she was a straight-A student, which showed her tremendous work ethic off the court.”

Since arriving at Wheaton, Kuhn has made an impact. She started every game with the Lyons this past season and averaged 29.3 minutes per game, the most among all players.

In two seasons she has tallied 297 points, 189 rebounds, 159 assists, 68 steals and 52 three-pointers. She also was selected in February to the Capital One All-District women’s basketball team by the College Sports Information Directors of America in New England. Selection is based on academic and athletic performance.

She’s also a Wheaton Athletic Mentor, a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and a lab buddy in Professor Janina Benoit’s “Aqueous Equilibria” course.

And she maintains a perfect grade point average. It’s a great accomplishment, given her balancing act as a student-athlete, yet she remains grounded about it.

“I am pretty realistic,” she says. “I know that I will take some challenging classes in my time here at Wheaton, so I just try to work my hardest. So far that has resulted in a 4.0.”

She is majoring in environmental science because of her love for the outdoors and admiration for her father’s work with the Colorado River Water Conservation District.

“I’ve always liked science and I can get a deeper understanding of the world around me from my classes. I love seeing something in nature or watching any process and knowing how it works,” says Kuhn.

Last summer, she interned with Professor Matthew Evans, assisting him with two projects, one funded by NASA, the other by the National Science Foundation.

The first project focused on hot spring and river samples from Bhutan, in an attempt to better understand the global carbon cycle; the other concentrated on careful chemical

analysis of ice core segments from Antarctica as part of a project to examine glacier–sea ice dynamics and climate change.

“Kenzie was great to work with and she’s funny. I’ve never seen her stressed or down. Her positive attitude is amazing,” Evans says. “She certainly came into the project a little shy, mostly just trying to get a feel for the work and how things would run, but by the end she was a much more confident researcher.”

How does she manage it all so well? “I keep a weekly planner that has everything for the upcoming week scheduled in it,” she says, “and I make a lot of large ‘to-do’ lists.” Q —Matt Noonan ’10

WheatonCollege

@wheaton

KEITH NORDSTROM

At the top of her game—on and off the court

REPLAY

Sync team finishes in top 10 Wheaton’s synchronized swimming team placed sixth overall at the U.S. Collegiate Nationals hosted by Stanford University at the Avery Aquatics Center. The team wrapped up its 2012–13 season with its 25thstraight top-10 performance at

the nationals and 27th overall in program history. The Lyons also placed second overall for the fourth-straight season at the East Collegiate Regional/ Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships earlier this year. Q

KEITH NORDSTROM PHOTOS

Men’s cross-country team recognized for academic excellence The men’s cross-country team was named to the 2012 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association AllAcademic Cross Country Team list.

The Lyons posted a 3.24 cumulative grade point

average, which ranked fourth overall among all New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) teams listed. Academically, senior Michael Richard earned NEWMAC Academic All-Conference accolades

Michael Richard ’13 earned NEWMAC Academic AllConference accolades.

this past fall for the third consecutive season.

As a team, Wheaton finished seventh overall at the NEWMAC Championships and 29th overall at the NCAA Division III New England Championships. Q

Three earn soccer honors Women’s soccer team twins Cassey and Jordan Muse, along with Lauren Corigliano, were named to the New England Women’s Intercollegiate Soccer Association (NEWISA) All-New England Team.

Jordan Muse ’13 became an All-American soccer player this past year, and her sister Cassey Muse ’13 has been a four-year all-conference player and is only the ninth player in the history of women’s soccer at Wheaton to reach the 100-point milestone in women’s soccer. Also, they were both team captains and both made the Dean’s List during the fall semester.

This year, Cassey Muse picked up her third career NEWISA AllNew England Team honor with a selection to the first team. She earned second team laurels in 2009 and third team accolades in 2011. She ranked second on Wheaton’s team in scoring this season with 28 points on 10 goals and eight assists. In the NEWMAC, she finished second overall in points, tied for fourth in

Lauren Corigliano ’15

Cassey Muse ’13

Jordan Muse ’13

goals, tied for second in assists and tied for first in game-winning markers. She currently ranks seventh in program history in points (112), fourth in goals (45), and is tied for eighth all time in games played (93).

Jordan Muse, who was chosen for the All-New England third team, has also enjoyed a banner year. She earned four postseason awards to close out her career. Earlier this fall, she was named to the NEWMAC All-League first team and earned a spot on the Eastern College Athletic Conference

(ECAC) New England Division III All-Star Team. In addition, she was selected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) AllNew England first team and was also named an NSCAA All-American. She guided the Lyons backline to three separate NCAA Division III top-50 defensive rankings, as Wheaton finished the year ranked 25th overall in wonlost-tied percentage (.808), 49th in goals against average (.691) and 50th in shutout percentage (.538).

The third All-New England team member, Corigliano, earned several honors, including a NEWMAC AllLeague first team selection, an ECAC Division III All-Star Team nod, and an NSCAA All-New England Team selection. She led the NEWMAC in several offensive categories, including goals (13), points (33), gamewinning goals (4) and games started (24). Q

Comment on a story? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

Compiled by Shawn Medeiros.

To read more athletics news, visit wheatoncollege.edu.

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 15

SNAP SHOTS

Stage right In fall 2012, the music and theatre departments collaborated to present the musical Cabaret, choreographed by Christien Polos, with Professor Tim Harbold as musical director.

A+

16  WHEATON QUARTERLY

MICHELLE MONTI

For 22 years, Wheaton’s annual Academic Festival has celebrated student scholarship and creativity. On April 26, the campus came together in Balfour-Hood Center for an energizing exhibition of student work from across the academic disciplines.

WHEATON IN THE NEWS

Globe praises professor’s performance Professor Stephanie Burlington Daniels, in collaboration with Boston theater company Sleeping Weazel, delivered a quirky and lively performance of Kenneth Prestininzi’s onewoman play Birth Breath Bride Elizabeth at The Next Thing Festival at Emerson College on February 22 and 23.

Daniels plays Mary Shelley-Breath, a “mad” academic, and, as described by Sleeping Weazel, “gives birth to a newly imagined post-feminist manifesto that re-mixes Frankenstein with Princess Diana, Elvis Presley and a young bride’s hope to have the cake of her dreams.”

The Boston Globe featured a review praising her performance. “As portrayed by Stephanie Burlington Daniels, who delivers one of the more fearless performances in recent memory, Mary is a creation as singularly unnerving as the monster in Frankenstein, a paperback copy of which she lovingly cradles against her cheek,” according to the reviewer. “Daniels further spices the mix by endowing Mary with an array of eccentricities that include a wheezing accordion laugh very reminiscent of Shelley Long’s Diane Chambers in Cheers…. Mary drops her voice to a whisper; she rails at an unseen projectionist who ignores her demand for a clip from James Whale’s film adaptation of Frankenstein; she struggles for breath; she unleashes sudden, horror-movie screams that rival the young Jamie Lee Curtis. You have no idea what she will do or say next—and you sometimes get the exhilarating sense that she doesn’t, either.”

Wheaton Professor Clinton O’Dell was the costume designer for the play. Professor Charlotte Meehan is the founder of Sleeping Weazel, which explores and engages novel approaches to developing, presenting and exhibiting multimedia theater, interdisciplinary installations, performance events, music, poetry and video/audio. Q JESSICA KUSZAJ

MICHELLE MONTI

Colorful celebration Each year students celebrate the last day of classes for the spring semester by observing Holi, the Hindu festival of color.

Holi symbolizes the triumph of good over bad—throwing away the bad and ugly, revealing color and beauty.

Bhutan daily notes students’ work Students taking part in Wheaton’s study abroad program in partnership with Royal Thimphu College in Bhutan this semester spent three days helping with reconstruction of Konchosum Lhakhang in Bumthang.

The temple was destroyed in a fire in 2010 and reconstruction began in October 2012.

Kuensel Online, a Bhutan daily news website, featured a story about their efforts, which included moving rocks, plastering walls, pounding clay and putting bricks together.

“The main objective is to give back to the country in the form of such social service,” Wheaton Professor Bruce Owens, resident director for the program, was quoted saying in the article. “It’s special for our students to realize that the work that they’ve done here will be around for hundreds and thousands of years.”

The students told the writer for the daily that it was fun and rewarding to be able to do the work and make a small contribution. Q

CO N TE NT S

SUMMER 2013 17

for the

fences

Swinging for the fences 18  WHEATON QUARTERLY

Kenneth Babby ’02 aims to score big as new owner of Akron baseball team

By Andrew Faught

There’s no professional sports team owner in the United States like Kenneth Babby ’02. His birth certificate attests to that. At 33, the new head of the Akron Aeros Double-A baseball club is the youngest team owner in the country.

In a game that loves numbers, Babby doesn’t dwell on this distinction from this northeast Ohio city known as the “rubber capital of the world.” His marathon work days—he’ll arrive at downtown’s Canal Park by 8 a.m. and sometimes not leave until midnight—are consumed by altogether different metrics.

Such as the 68-foot-wide video board he recently installed beyond the left-center-field fence. Or the 20-scoop ice cream colossus known as “The Screamer,” which debuted at the Aeros’ season opener in April. The confection is even served in an authentic batting helmet that fans can take home.

This is baseball, Babby style.

“For me, it’s more about what happens outside the lines,” says Babby, a computer science and economics major at Wheaton. “I’ve always had this obsession with the fan experience, from the moment they get out of the car to the moment they decide where to sit.”

That obsession—and dreams of owning his own team—dates back to his days as a kid doing homework in the warehouse at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home to Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles. His father, Lon Babby, was the team’s general counsel from 1979 to 1994, during which time the younger Babby’s love affair with the game began.

Day after day, he watched the Oriole faithful descend on the stadium to root for their team.

Nothing got to the city’s soul better.

“There’s something magical about these places,” says Babby, who was raised in Bethesda, Md. “You’re really walking into the epicenter of a community.”

Community is a common refrain in Babby’s life, and it’s an ethos he experienced in no small measure at Wheaton. He calls the college a “small but mighty community” that

PHOTOS BY DAVID MONSEUR / AKRON AEROS

values personal connections. He enrolled at Wheaton not only for its beautiful campus, but also because “people talked to you and took you in.” As a student, Babby wasted little time joining the fold.

He was class president his sophomore year, and as Student Government Association (SGA) treasurer during his junior and senior years, he helped manage a $300,000 SGA budget. And SUMMER 2013 19

so began the budding career of a businessman and community booster.

Babby continues to play critical roles at the college. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and he sits on the Go Beyond: Campaign for Wheaton steering committee. He says raising funds for the college is vital to ensuring that future generations of Wheaton students can have the same transAs a new owner, Kenneth Babby ’02 is ready for the formative learning and character-building challenges coming his way. experiences that he did.

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, Wheaton ence,” says Babby. “To be a successful has made me who I am,” Babby says. “I business, you have to be a giving and caring arrived on that campus as a teenager not corporate and community citizen, and that’s knowing what I wanted to do with my life, exactly what we’re going to do.” and Wheaton helped build in me a love of Babby brings an impressive pedigree community, of philanthropy and giving back.” (he earned an M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins These days, Babby harks back to lessons University in 2007) and an enthusiasm that learned at the college to reinvigorate an should bode well for Aeros fans, according Aeros team that has lost its entertainment to those who know him. After graduating cachet in recent years. from Wheaton, he landed a position in the “My very early strategic lessons were information technology department at the taught right there in Knapton Hall at Washington Post. It wasn’t his first exposure Wheaton,” Babby says, citing economics to the paper; he completed an IT internship professor John Gildea’s lectures on supply at the Post in the summer after his sophoand demand and strategic corporate finance more year. His rise within the company ranks skills. “Wheaton taught me how to think was unprecedented. When he resigned in and how to solve things strategically. To an March 2012, Babby was the newspaper’s outsider, we’re selling hot dogs, tickets and chief revenue officer and general manager advertising. But in terms of a price strategy, for digital operations, and the youngest semarketing and trying to fill a 9,000-seat ball- nior officer in the history of the Post. park 71 nights a year, it’s hard work.”

He oversaw the development of the newsThat’s particularly been the case in recent paper’s mobile, video and email outreach, years. Between 2004 and 2010, Aeros aninnovations that in 2011 generated record nual attendance plunged 40 percent—to just traffic to the Post’s digital properties. In a over 260,000. It was a bitter pill for a team memo to staff announcing Babby’s resignathat previously led all 30 Double-A frantion, President and General Manager Steve chises in attendance (the Aeros also were Hills lauded him for “tremendous energy as the first team at the Double-A level to draw well as innovative ideas, a results-focused a half million fans). orientation, and humility.”

But, with only weeks before opening day in April, Babby wasn’t dwelling on the past; there was too much work to be done. The Aeros’ mascot, Orbit the Space Cat, has made 70 public appearances and counting since Babby assumed ownership last October. The new owner is similarly ubiquitous, speaking to service groups, organizations and anyone in Akron who, like Babby, sees magic in baseball.

“This is a rededication to the fan experi20 WHEATON QUARTERLY

It’s those traits he’s expected to draw from in making the Aeros a regional draw once again.

Boston Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino, who has known the Babby family since he worked with Lon Babby in Baltimore, urged Ken—much to the young man’s chagrin—to forge a path, at least initially, away from baseball. It was at the Post that Babby learned marketing skills that Lucchino says will translate well to baseball.

“He made a good decision years ago to develop his own body of work rather than jump too soon into the sports world,” Lucchino says. “There are a lot of people who love sports, but what’s important is you bring a skill, a talent, a body of experience to the table so that you can do the job. Ken went out on his own and developed those skills and his own reputation. I give him great credit for that.

“If I could buy stock in the Akron Aeros, I would, because of the faith I have in Ken and his energy, drive and passion,” adds Lucchino.

Wheaton classmate and friend Nathaniel “Nash” Oven ’02 recalls joining Babby at an Aeros game in June 2012, before he bought the team. Oven and his wife, Amy, didn’t spend so much time watching the game as they did switching seats to consider sight lines and to study fans.

“We sat in 10 or 15 different sections of the stadium,” recalls Oven, assistant track and field coach at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania. “Ken was talking his plan and we were giving our ideas about what we’d like to see a ballpark be. For someone who’s been around sports all his life, he wanted the fan’s perspective.”

Are the bleachers comfortable? Is there enough shade? How are the concessions?

Approaching a year later, Babby is still inquiring.

“There’s something to be said for going in with your eyes wide open and thinking differently about how to do things,” he says. “For me, that’s been very much the process here: hiring great people, asking great questions, and making mistakes and trying to learn from them. I’ve always tried to keep that intern mentality that I learned in WheatonCollege

@wheaton

Kenneth Babby ’02 has some fun on the baseball field with the Aeros mascot, Orbit the Space Cat.

my Wheaton days, and it’s a huge part of my early success here in Akron.”

Says Oven: “He wants you to come to the ballpark and be a kid while you’re there for three hours, to really enjoy the game of baseball and all that happens with it, from the smell of the ballpark food to how you watch the replays on the scoreboard, to making sure you’re comfortable in your seat.

He thinks about the overall product; it’s not just the endgame. That’s what makes him such a great businessperson.”

Babby grew up aspiring to play professional ball, and he even considered trying out for catcher on the Wheaton squad. But despite strong defensive skills, he had a mediocre arm and couldn’t hit a breaking ball.

“It was a blessing and I didn’t even realize it,” Babby says. “In the end, it was more appropriate for me to be studying.”

He approached academics in earnest.

But it didn’t always come easy. “Ken was a good student, but he had to work at it,” says Gildea. “He had to work at a lot of things he did in life.”

That drive is exactly what makes Babby suited for the work ahead, Gildea adds.

Over the next two years, Babby is committed to making $3.5 million in privately financed improvements to Canal Park. The video board is the crowning touch, the largest of its kind at the Double-A level, and equal in size to the board at Boston’s Fenway Park. Babby says the board won’t be limited

to baseball; on Sundays, Akronites will be invited to gather on the outfield turf to watch a movie. He’s also planning to build a restaurant in the right-field concourse.

Don’t look for Babby to cloister himself in the owner’s box. He plans to attend games with his 4-year-old son, Josh, who lives in Maryland with Babby’s former wife, Jill Barents Babby ’02. “You’ll probably find me in the bleachers,” he says, his enthusiasm unrestrained. “Where else would anybody want to spend their time? It’s northeast Ohio in the summertime. It’s gorgeous.”

Babby’s boosterism hasn’t gone unnoticed

by Akron’s powers that be. Akron Mayor Donald Plusquellic says he immediately was struck by Babby’s geniality and readiness to dive into life in his adopted city. Babby signed a 30-year stadium lease, in addition to inking a four-year player development extension with the Indians.

“We embraced him right at the beginning.

I felt early on that I could trust him, and he proved that out. It was a relatively easy negotiation,” Plusquellic says. “Ken brings this great enthusiasm and a great amount of personal exuberance and energy that we really needed.”

Babby can expect challenges. Unlike most businesses, minor league baseball team owners don’t control the product on the field.

Players come and go at the discretion of big league clubs, so marketing the team around star athletes isn’t part of the prospectus.

Comment on a story? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

Successful team ownership at this level relies on more than just home runs and the chance to watch soon-to-be-famous prospects.

“You have to provide the fun and the activities and the things that make minor league baseball what it is,” Plusquellic says.

“You might be watching a person running around the bases in a ketchup uniform.

There are so many things that make it a fun, family-oriented activity center.”

Gildea knows his old charge will be equal to the task.

“This is absolutely the perfect job for Ken,” says Gildea, a self-professed Indians nut who plans to travel to Akron this summer to see his protégé and take in a game.

“He has the big picture of what fans want to see, plus he has such great interpersonal skills. He’s going to be one of these owners who knows all of his employees on a firstname basis. He’s going to bring a love and compassion to the game and community that I think the people of Akron are really going to appreciate.”

Babby doesn’t take his role for granted.

“This is a very flattering position that I’m in,” he says. “I’m humbled every day by how much I’ve learned.”

For baseball’s youngest owner, the to-do list’s last order of business is short and to the point: Play ball! Q Andrew Faught is a freelance writer who lives in California.

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 21

GO BEYOND

Progress in numbers The generosity of alumnae/i, parents and friends is delivering benefits to our students across campus through gifts to Go Beyond: Campaign for Wheaton.

Science center: $36,118,382 committed to expanding and enhancing science facilities through the Mars Center for Science and Technology.

Goal: $35 million

Student scholarships: $43,180,449 committed to increasing scholarship support for Wheaton students and their families.

Goal: $50.6 million

Annual support: $30,735,801 contributed to the Wheaton Fund since July 1, 2005. Alumnae/i, parents and friends committed $4,053,453 from July 1, 2012, through April 30, 2013.

Goal: $4.5 million for fiscal year 2013 (ended on June 30, 2013); $34.4 million by June 30, 2014

Student-faculty research: $1,408,388 committed to support student-faculty research collaborations through the establishment of endowed funds for that purpose.

Artificial turf field: $3,138,735 committed for construction of an artificial turf field and lighting to expand opportunities for intercollegiate, club and intramural sports.

Goal: $3,865,000 by June 30, 2013

Campaign leadership Kenneth R. Babby ’02 Nancy Pearlstine Conger ’67, co-chair Deborah Haigh Dluhy ’62 Debra Kent Glidden ’68, co-chair Thomas Hollister, co-chair Janet Lindholm Lebovitz ’72 Margaret Dunn Smith ’73

More online wheatoncollege.edu/giving

22 WHEATON QUARTERLY

A tale of two cities Boston and New York; New York and Boston. The distance separating these two metropolitan areas often feels much greater than the 200 miles of Route 95 that lie between them. When the gulf is at its widest, say any time the Yankees visit Fenway Park, the differences appear to be unbridgeable.

Given the history, anything that unites the residents of the two cities is noteworthy. For example, the reactions of alumnae/i to the college’s second annual March Matchness challenge. The campaign, which coincides with March Madness, pits the graduates of even years from 2000 and later against the graduating classes of odd years starting in 2001.

Inspired by the theme, recent graduates in both cities decided to throw a party to coincide with the event.

The Young Alumnae/i Club of Boston acted first with an informal gathering on March 6 at the appropriately named sports-theme bar, Game On, which is located just beyond the third-base-side grandstand at Fenway.

“There was no formal agenda or presentation for the evening, it was simply a great opportunity to catch up and hear what’s new on campus,” said Molly Galler ’06, who organized the event with Laura Blanchard ’08, Amy Dumont ’09 and Emily Firment ’11. “The goal of the event was to encourage donations, especially from firsttime donors, to Wheaton’s March Matchness Challenge in support of the Wheaton Fund.”

The gathering attracted a healthy crowd and photos from the event filled Facebook. The members of the Tri-State Wheaton Alumnae/i

Wheaton alumnae and alumni packed into The Crooked Knife in Midtown Manhattan for fun raising and fundraising.

Young alums in Boston gathered at Game On. Above left (left to right): event organizers Molly Galler ’06 and Amy Dumont ’09 hang out with Victoria Hay ’08 and Amanda Cumings ’09.

Chatting, above right (left to right), are Nicholas Welter ’10, David Perelman ’12, Richard Oliver ’12 and Philip Delaney ’12.

At right, members of the Class of 2009 have an impromptu mini-reunion (left to right): Brian Peckrill, Basannya Babumba, Sarah Williams and Miriam Ledley.

Club were watching and waiting with their own event scheduled for the end of the month at a Midtown spot called The Crooked Knife.

“We took a page from the New York– Boston baseball rivalry and created a promotional tagline, ‘Boston Alums started March Matchness off strong, now it’s up to New York to show them the value of a closer,’” said Kathryn Leiby ’06, who planned the event along with Christopher Paquet ’03 and Patricia Landry ’01.

Rebecca Fassio, leadership gifts officer for the Wheaton Fund, said some of the organizers in Boston and New York work as professional fundraisers for nonprofit organizations and apply their expertise to help the college. “Both groups really make a

point at their events to have a ‘pitch’ for the Wheaton Fund and the importance of giving and participation,” she said.

Beantown partisans may be chagrined to learn that Wheaton’s New York City alumnae/i delivered a slightly larger crowd to the event and raised a bit more than the Boston group did.

“The Boston challenge was definitely one of our more successful campaigns,” Leiby said. “Providing a goal definitely helps.”

Hub alumnae/i also were pleased with the outcome. Said Galler: “We are thrilled to inspire such healthy competition.” Q —Michael Graca

CO NTE NT S

SUMMER 2013 23

Making a statement Collaborative support Janet Lindholm Lebovitz ’72 brings a sharp business perspective to her work as a member of the college’s Board of Trustees.

After graduating magna cum laude with a double major in economics and math, she earned an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College and a leadership position with Citicorp as vice president of new product development.

When she saw the college’s main conference room in Park Hall last autumn, she proposed a renovation to make the tired space work better for Wheaton and offered the financial support to make it happen.

A PROJECT IS BORN: The point at which it struck me that I wanted to do something about renovating the conference room was when I realized that the dean uses it to meet with students and families and the president meets with visitors there.

SMALL PROJECT, BIG IMPACT: This conference room needs to represent all that’s good about Wheaton. It struck me that it was a relatively

NICKI PARDO PHOTOS

a great time working on this project. She loved the fact that she was giving back to Wheaton; I loved meeting and working with a Wheaton alumna whom I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise.

Janet Lindholm Lebovitz ’72 and her husband, Peter

small project, but it could have a broad impact, inside and outside Wheaton. And I knew it wouldn’t happen without sponsorship.

DESIGN INSPIRATION: Phoebe [Lovejoy Russell ’01] has wonderful style and a wonderful approach to doing the work. Those historical photos of alumnae/i were her idea and they are fabulous, spanning the ages.

PARTNERSHIP POWER: Phoebe and I had

WHAT’S IN THE NAME: I love the fact that people will call it the Eliza Wheaton Conference Room. It honors the college’s founder. There was no space on the campus named for her.

RECOGNIZING EFFORT: The staff and faculty of the college are constantly giving their very best to make Wheaton the institution that it is. This little project was a way for me to give back and make the environment better and thank them for all that they do to move the college forward. Q —Michael Graca

Meaningful design Frances “Phoebe” Lovejoy Russell ’01 provided the design expertise for the renovation of the Eliza Wheaton Conference Room in Park Hall. She is the head of Lovejoy Designs and was recently named one of New England Home magazine’s 5 under 40, the short list for the hottest emerging talents in the region. At Wheaton, she majored in psychology, which she credits for helping her work effectively and cooperatively with clients. As an undergraduate, she also rediscovered her passion for design, then studied at the New York School of Interior Design.

WHY THE PROJECT WAS SPECIAL: I loved making the trip down from Boston and putting on my professional hat for a place that is so meaningful to me. Utilizing my skills and my love for design, which I have been cultivating since graduating in 2001, was a complete honor.

24 WHEATON QUARTERLY

MATERIAL INSPIRATION: Using finishes like antique brass for all the metal surfaces and rich walnuts and burled oaks complements the school’s traditional look. And I had to use blue.

CAMPUS COLLABORATORS: The college archivists were a great resource for photos.

We took all the photos and printed them in a sepia tone to give them an aged, classic look.

Frances “Phoebe” Lovejoy Russell ’01 and her husband, Peter

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION: I wanted people to feel welcome and generous toward a place that I know so many people hold close to their hearts. To achieve a look that would complement all ages, I envisioned how the space may have looked in the 1920s, 1950s, 2000s and beyond.

SURPRISE DEDICATION: I was floored to see my name on the door! It made the experience all the more meaningful and left a smile on my face for days. I will forever be thankful to Janet [Lindholm Lebovitz ’72] for including Lovejoy Designs in this way. She is a true Wheaton example of kindness, determination and loyalty to this institution’s success. Q —Michael Graca

WheatonCollege

@wheaton

A successful experiment Julia Lamenzo Fox ’93 spends her days on biomedical research work that didn’t exist when she was a student, yet she credits Wheaton with helping her get there.

“My curiosity was fostered at Wheaton and I got a foundation in science and research that was so strong I’ve been able to be really versatile in the roles I’ve taken,” she said.

That sense of gratitude has inspired Fox to reach back and help current and future students by supporting research opportunities in the biology department.

A career researcher in health and medicine, Fox currently holds the title scientific data curator for Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass. Her job involves organizing and managing experimental results so that researchers are able to access results from work that takes place in labs around the world.

“If you had asked me about this when I was a student, I wouldn’t have been able to imagine it,” she said, adding that each step along her path led naturally to the next.

The journey began at Wheaton, where Fox held a position as a work-study assistant for Professor of Biology Betsey Dexter Dyer ’75. She also conducted an independent research project in Dyer’s lab. Her first publication credit in a scientific journal came from work done at Wheaton.

After graduation, Fox spent a year as a research assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico before beginning graduate studies at Brown University,

“If you had asked me about this when I was a student, I wouldn’t have been able to imagine it.” from which she earned a Ph.D. Since then, she has worked as an investigator in a number of major research labs, including in the Chemical Biology Program at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass., and at Tufts University School of Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital.

“My career has just evolved organically over time, based on where I’ve been and where those experiences have led me,” said Fox, explaining her transition from working directly in the lab to a management role overseeing the collection and organization of data.

“Fundamentally, the root of my career comes from a very solid science education, biology in particular but definitely chemistry and mathematics. That’s part and parcel with being able to do any of this well,” she

Comment on a story? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

said. “I was fortunate to work with professors like Betsey Dyer who really encouraged my curiosity and allowed me to get involved in research.”

Now firmly established in her career, Fox wanted to ensure that other students would have the same opportunity. The gift that she has made to the college will provide funding for students to pursue research in molecular biology over the next two years.

“My real desire came from the fact that I was in a position to do something that would make a difference,” she said. “It’s the opportunity to be involved in research. That by itself is important, especially for anyone who is thinking of having research as any component of their career.” Q —Michael Graca

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 25

Research with a side of adventure

26  WHEATON QUARTERLY

By Michael Graca

The screams began before sunrise. And once they started, it was impossible to sleep. In the early morning darkness, the sounds suggested awful things: large beasts, such as dragons, trumpeting in anger. Or perhaps the sounds of war and death.

“The way I describe it is that it sounded like something being killed, or animals killing each other, like in a slow, painful way,” said Samantha Ferguson ’14. “It definitely sounded like death.”

The source of the sound: a troop of aptly named howler monkeys that had taken up residence in a stand of trees sheltering the river station dormitory at La Selva Biological Station. “The first time you hear that sound, every hair on your body stands up,” said Professor of Biology Scott Shumway, who has been visiting the tropics for more than 20 years.

Tropical biology takes students way out into the field Students (left) get an underwater view and one 100 feet off the ground; a howler monkey (right) looks on as the “Tropical Field Biology” class explores his territory.

Photos by Scott Shumway and

“It’s not like your mother waking you up,” said Francine Camacho ’14. “It’s this screeching and then it hits you: ‘Wow, I’m really sleeping in the rainforest.’”

In point of fact, Camacho and 13 other Wheaton students found themselves waking up in a small dormitory at the La Selva Biological Station, set in the lowland rainforest of northern Costa Rica, just beyond the borders of Braulio Carrillo National Park. They had arrived the day before for the second half of a two-week trip that is the culmination of the course, BIO 318: Tropical Field Biology.

The howler monkeys had arrived at the river station sometime during the night and decided to spend the week in the area. “That does not happen all the time, but tropical rainforests are anything but predictable,” said Associate Professor of Biology Shawn McCafferty, who team-teaches the course and serves as co-

Shawn McCafferty SUMMER 2013 27

leader of the trip with Professor Shumway.

“We could have gone an entire trip without seeing a single howler monkey. That would have been surprising, but entirely possible. Instead, they got to see an entire troop camped out in front of them. That was really good.”

The students’ weeklong encounter with the monkeys exemplifies the way in which the course, which also includes a week exploring a tropical reef system off the coast of Belize, serves as a primer on the procedures of field biology as well as its pleasures and pains. In addition, students gain an appreciation for tropical ecosystems and the roles of the flora and fauna to be found there.

The idea for the class stretches all the way back to Professor Shumway’s experiences as an undergraduate in biology and environmental studies working with Tufts University Professor Norton Nickerson.

“I first met Dr. Nick at a visiting day when I was still in high school,” he said. “It was March in Boston, and I’m talking to this guy who’s got a killer suntan and I remember thinking, ‘I can learn something from this guy.’”

28 WHEATON QUARTERLY

Throughout his undergraduate studies, Shumway traveled to Hummingbird Cay in the Bahamas each spring break with his mentor, who brought students to the tropics for three decades. Those experiences shaped Shumway’s career plans and they influenced how he thought about teaching.

When Shumway joined the Wheaton faculty in 1991, he arrived with the desire to offer a similar experience for his students. It took nearly 10 years before he led his first trip to the tropics, but it was always a goal.

“For me, the field is the most effective learning environment,” he said. “I can show hundreds of slides of mangrove trees and lecture about their role in the ecosystem, but you’ll remember it a lot better if you’re standing ankle-deep in a mangrove swamp as we talk about it.”

Professor McCafferty brings similar affinity for fieldwork. A molecular biologist, he lived in Latin America for more than a decade, spending much of that time as a researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. His work involved exploring evolution in the tropics, using

Molly Horan ’13 takes a closer look at sea fans and corals (above, left). Naomi Hodges ’13 and Brittany Sullivan ’14 return from identifying corals and fish on their patch reef (above, right).

modern molecular methods, such as DNA sequencing, to understand the relationships among organisms.

“I’ve been to many, many different countries in Latin America, not just visiting but spending time in those countries,” McCafferty said. “I enjoy bringing students down there and introducing the region to them in a way where they are not just tourists. And they are not tourists: we keep them really, really busy.”

The work begins long before the trip, however. Originally, the entirety of the “Tropical Field Biology” course comprised the two weeks spent in Belize and Costa Rica. The professors distributed readings for the students to study in advance, but there was no time for discussion of the material.

So first, they added a half dozen meetings to discuss the readings, before deciding to make it a semester-long course, meeting

once each week for three hours.

The topics that the course covers range from the geology and climate of the tropics to the structure and function of coral reefs and rainforests and conservation issues in those environments.

In keeping with the goal of helping undergraduates to develop the habits of scientists, the students read—in addition to Professor of Biology John Kricher’s book A Neotropical Companion—a number of journal articles to familiarize themselves with field research methodologies as well as the structure of primary research reports. The students also lead many of the class discussions, with each individual being responsible for at least one research article.

The course’s emphasis on reading primary literature represents a challenge for the students, many of whom have read just a few journal articles and are unfamiliar with the language and structure of these documents. “It was intense. In a lot of classes, you read from a textbook and then look at a few studies from journals and proceedings,” said Ferguson, an environmental science major. “The field biology class was mostly papers with some textbook readings, so it was flip-flopped.”

The study pays off, students said. “It was really incredibly helpful,” said Patricia Kaishian ’13. “The semester really prepared us very well for what we encountered.”

“I think part of the appreciation students have for the rainforest is that when they are there, it’s not a sea of unidentifiable green,” McCafferty said. “When you enter a rainforest, the diversity is mind-boggling. Our students are able to identify species and see the diversity because of the hard work that they put in beforehand on campus.”

In some ways, however, no amount of reading and discussion can really prepare an individual for the first views of the tropics.

“The reality of the trip didn’t hit me until I was on the boat and I saw the island coming

In the rainforest classroom, Anne Bennett ’14 stares up the buttressed trunk of a large rainforest tree at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica.

up into our view,” Naomi Hodges ’13 said. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, it’s so beautiful.’”

For most students, the trip not only represents their first encounter with the tropics; for some, it is also their first trip abroad, the professors said. Many of the students in the course had learned of the class in their first year at Wheaton, and they had been waiting and hoping to go.

“I knew as a science major it would be very difficult to go abroad, due to the heavy course load and lab requirements,” said Camacho, a biology major who has spent her summers interning, most recently at the Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. “I knew that this would be the best option for me to go abroad because my summers were already booked with research opportunities.”

The journey to Belize had been long. It began in the early morning hours of January 3 at Logan Airport, with a flight to Miami.

SUMMER 2013 29

From there, the class changed planes to Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport in Belize City, and climbed aboard four small planes to the southern town of Dangriga before boarding the boat to the tiny island of South Water Caye, which is located 14 miles off the coast.

Immediately after arriving, the students pulled on their wetsuits for an introductory swim. “I was really excited,” said Hodges, an environmental science major. “I had never put on a wetsuit before, so that was a struggle. But after I got it on I ran down to the beach—we all did.”

The students shuffled into the clear blue water, picking their way past stingrays that

hide in the shallows and swimming over beds of turtle grass before encountering the first small outcroppings of the reef, which has formed in patches around the island.

“Suddenly, you are on the reef and there are huge masses of coral, fish swimming everywhere. It was beautiful,” Hodges said.

“The colors underwater were spectacular,” said Molly Horan ’13. “The fish were very vibrant colors, all the different colors of the rainbow. And some of the sponges that were attached to the coral reef were almost like neon colors.”

Those first views of the reef both captivated the students and confirmed what they had already learned during their studies on

Native characters The reef and rainforest ecosystems that students visit in the “Tropical Field Biology” course are incredibly diverse. Professor Scott Shumway offered field notes on a few of the species that students often focus on during the trip:

Pentaclethra macroloba—Not only is this tree one of the tallest trees of the forest, it is also the most abundant tree at La Selva. It is a member of the legume family and has large bean-pod fruits and large seeds. What are the secrets to its success?

Walking palm (Socratea)— Understory palm with stilt roots that give the impression of it being able to walk across the forest floor. (This is one for “Mythbusters!”)

30 WHEATON QUARTERLY

Understory palms—Palms are the most abundant trees in the forest understory. Some never exceed a few meters in height, while others hold out for years waiting for an opening in the canopy to let in enough light for them to grow taller. Welfia, Socratea, Iriartea and Geonoma are common genera.

Canopy emergent trees— These are the giants of the forest.

Awesome to behold, frustrating to identify, as all you can easily see is a massive wall of tree trunk.

Buttresses at the base appear to help hold them up, but do they really? Ex: Dipteryx and Ceiba.

Epiphylls —Tree leaves are often covered with tiny plants (liverworts) and lichens known

collectively as epiphylls. The epiphylls clearly reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the tree leaf. The apparently negative impact on the host leaf may not be so bad, as nitrogen-fixing bacteria are often associated with the epiphylls. Some leaves will be completely covered with epiphylls, while others will remain clear of epiphylls. How come?

Epiphytes—Epiphytes are plants that live on other plants.

Tropical trees are draped with epiphytic plants belonging to a variety of different families. The most common epiphytes are orchids, tank-forming bromeliads, members of the arum family (Anthurium, Philodendron, Monstera) and ferns.

For more information on these and other plants, as well as photographs and illustrations, you can visit the website RainForest Plants, which Professor Scott Shumway has created with help from a colleague and Wheaton students, and support from a Patricia Higgins Arnold ’66 and Christopher B. Arnold Faculty Enrichment Award, a Wheaton Faculty Scholarship Award and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (wikis.wheatoncollege.edu/ rainforest/).

campus: the Belize reef ecosystem—the world’s second-largest barrier reef and a UNESCO World Heritage site—is in sharp decline due to changing environmental conditions linked to global warming. While areas of the reef continue to be vital, the size of the ecosystem has dwindled, and in some spots, students saw more sand and dead coral than vibrant, healthy reef.

“It’s one of the places with the highest biodiversity in the world, so it’s really sad to see the decline,” said Horan, an anthropology major who is minoring in environmental studies. “I don’t want to downplay what I saw in Belize because it was beautiful, but you could definitely notice the decline. We saw very few bigger fish, which is a change in species composition.”

The class spent the week in Belize studying the reef system. Each day included forays to locations such as “Whale Shoals,” “Twin Cay,” “Tobacco Cut” and “Man-OWar Cay.” In addition to the reef itself, they explored mangrove islands and bird habitats.

They also conducted two studies: one, measuring fish diversity along a section of the reef; the second, mapping out a section of the patch reef, identifying the coral and taking a census of the fish.

The schedule was full. With classroom time for discussion and presentations by students interspersed among the dives on the reef, each day began by 7 a.m. and continued with activities until nearly 10 p.m. on many nights.

The second week of the trip, to the rainforest surrounding the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica, followed a similar pattern (though each day began earlier, thanks to the howler monkeys).

“A lot of the literature that is published on tropical biology comes from work that has been done at La Selva, so there are a number of scientists there who are doing really neat stuff and who are eager to talk about it,” said Kaishian, a biology major who is interested in sustainable living and agriculture.

“I was able to speak with a lot of different people from all over the world, working on things like the biochemistry of a type of butterfly larvae to research on sloths.”

WheatonCollege

@wheaton

Professor Shumway said the students in this year’s course were particularly adventurous; the entire class made the daylong hike from the La Selva Station to the border of Braulio Carillo National Park. “The corridor created between lowland rainforest of La Selva and the park, which is crowned by the peak of a volcano, is the only remaining undisturbed and protected swath of land linking the highlands and lowlands in all of Central America,” he said. “This connection is important for birds and mammals that migrate seasonally between the two elevations.”

Getting there was not easy. To guard against insects, students trooped along in shin-high rubber boots, long pants and longsleeve shirts in the hot, humid atmosphere.

The terrain grew more challenging, too, the farther down the trail they went. “We got to one place where we had to go down a very steep hill that was muddy and there was no place to put your feet,” Ferguson said. “And when we all got to the bottom, there was no more path, it was just river.”

Despite the hardships, the hike was a highlight of the trip for many of the students

The “final exam” for plant identification was a forest-wide scavenger hunt. Back at the traditional classroom, students show off their test results.

in the class. “We had a lot of fun doing that as a group,” said Hodges. “People were slipping and falling where the trail was muddy and steep, but the experience was amazing.”

During the week, the class took several other group trips, including a river tour and a visit to a nearby banana plantation.

Students also set off on their own, in pairs,

A Belizean day in the life The course is designed to make the most of every minute on the two-week field trip. Professor Scott Shumway offers a snapshot of the typical day in the field: A typical day began with 7 a.m. breakfast, perhaps preceded by a moment of solitude walking the shoreline or out on the dock. After breakfast, we would gather in the classroom for instructions. Most mornings we boarded a boat for a 20-minute ride to one of the snorkel sites.

Afternoons were spent studying the patch reefs near the island. Between lunch and the afternoon snorkel, Professor Shawn McCafferty would lecture on coral identification or fish biology.

After dinner the students would reassemble in the classroom for an overview of the day’s activities, a showing of the photos that Professor McCafferty took during the day, and planning the events of the next day. The final two days were devoted to the student patch reef projects.

After dinner activities also included student presentations. During the fall semester each student wrote a paper about a particular species that lives on the reef or in the rainforest. Each student was required to give a presentation, teaching the class about their particular species.

to design and conduct short field research projects that they would present to the class and write up as part of a final paper after the trip was complete.

“We run the course in a way that students get hands-on experience in conducting research through a short project,” Shumway said. “That’s an essential part of the course.

It’s what I did when I was an undergraduate.”

Horan and classmate Cole LarsonWhitaker chose to observe green iguanas’ sun-basking behavior to identify the optimal amount of time and temperature at which the lizards spend sunning themselves in treetops each day. To see the iguanas, Horan and Larson-Whitaker staked out an observation post on a suspension bridge near the river station, allowing them to see into treetops.

“One morning I went out with my partner to look at iguanas and we got to hear the howler monkeys,” Horan said. “We were actually up and out before the howler monkeys were awake, which was really cool. Off the bridge, we got to be within a foot of one of the monkeys and her baby, which was really, really spectacular.” Q

Links for information on each of the locations: Some of these “expert species presentations” took place in the classroom, but most occurred in the field while the entire class was looking at the species in question. So when we were ankledeep in mangrove muck, Rachel Giannone ’14 gave her presentation on mangrove ecology.

Comment on a story? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

Belize: http://goo.gl/94RPU La Selva: http://goo.gl/BRiHd

CO NT E N TS

SUMMER 2013 31

32 WHEATON QUARTERLY

Janna Frelich ’78 started singing when she was 2 years old, took up piano at 7, and joined her first chorus at 9. It was the beginning of a life steeped in music.

Frelich earned two degrees in music.

She sang in adult choruses, wrote songs, learned to play the harp and worked as a church soloist. But as much as she loved music, it remained a part-time pursuit, until recently. In 2010, after working in health research positions for 26 years, Frelich quit her job as a statistical programmer and enrolled in graduate school to become a music therapist and mental health counselor.

“I rediscovered the joys of my true vocation and decided to embark on a new path to help others heal and stay well,” she says.

Frelich majored in music at Wheaton, with a minor in studio art. At a medieval festival on campus, she got her first taste of early music and “was hooked.” She and classmate Rose Larrabee Fox founded a chamber singing group and hosted a music festival during their senior year.

Frelich went on to earn a master’s degree in early music from Sarah Lawrence College, then moved to Boston to be with her boyfriend, whom she later married.

Unable to find the right job in music, Frelich took an administrative position at Harvard University that morphed into a job in computer programming.

Understanding computers, she says, came naturally to her.

She found that the job offered a decent living, but, especially toward the end, it didn’t feed her soul.

“In the last several years at the university, I was not as fulfilled by my projects.

For me, it was a job, not a career,” she says. Though she didn’t know what to call it at the time, she was also suffering from depression.

“I never felt that my work was contributing to making a difference in the world,” she adds.

After leaving her job, she pondered what to do next.

“The turning point came in January 2012, when I heard a news report about

Return to music feeds the soul

come out of the program with both a certificate in music therapy and a license in mental health counseling. Her first-year internship is at the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in Dorchester, which serves families of homicide victims.

the use of music therapy for those goals.”

Frelich has emerged from depression and says her creativity has been “reborn” now that she has more time to devote to music. An active performer, she writes a blog on creativity (janna-

Janna Frelich in her home studio, playing a folk lever harp, and, left, in a 1978 yearbook photo.

Life is a work in progress. Sometimes the career path is a meandering adventure. Here are two stories in our occasional ongoing series featuring alums who have rethought their ways forward.

ALUMNAE/I ASSOCIATION NEWS ROISIN MARGARITA FOLEY

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 33

“A bonus life.”

That’s how Dorothy Weber Trogdon ’47 describes her career as a working poet, which didn’t reach full flower until she was 80 years old.

Initially, her life’s path led her to design, not poetry. Trogdon majored in art history at Wheaton, then earned a master of architecture degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design. It was there she met her future husband Bill Trogdon, who was studying under the renowned Walter Gropius.

After marrying, the couple moved to Seattle, Bill’s hometown. He found work right away in a leading architectural firm, but for Trogdon it wasn’t so easy.

“In office after office, I was turned away because I was a woman,” she says.

“One potential employer stated frankly that having a woman in the drafting room would mean the guys couldn’t tell their dirty stories.”

Eventually, Trogdon did find a job, but soon Bill accepted a new position—in Spokane, Wash. The couple relocated.

“And I was newly pregnant,” she says.

Over the next 30 years, Bill worked as a partner in an architectural firm and Trogdon reared the couple’s three sons. She also worked part time as an interior design consultant and became a site visitor for the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research, which accredits interior design education programs. She was elected to the board, and served a year as chair.

Meanwhile, she was writing poetry, but showing it to almost no one.

“I had a locked drawer in a small desk in our bedroom, and that’s where the poems went,” she says. Occasionally, she would share a poem with a woman friend, a painter, who encouraged her.

In 1985, after Bill retired, the couple moved to Orcas Island, Wash., and Trogdon started to devote more time to writing.

“I began to wonder if my work had any merit beyond the approval of a friend, so I entered a competition run by the journal Passager, a publication of the University of Baltimore,” she says.

“They published my poem ‘Every Day Something New’ under the title ‘Roses.’

My first published poem. I was 80.”

Following her passion at 80

the use of Melodic Intonation Therapy (singing therapy) for stroke or brain injury victims,” she says. “The report was about Representative Gabby Giffords’s treatment with that therapy, to learn how to speak again. I said to myself, ‘That sounds awesome. I want to do that!’”

Frelich is now in her first year of grad school at Lesley University. She will

Encouraged, she entered another competition, sponsored by Floating Bridge Review, and had another poem accepted.

She decided to self-publish a chapbook, Tributaries, printing 100 copies that quickly sold out. Then she published a second chapbook, 31 Poems.

Poet Kathleen Flenniken, an editor at Floating Bridge Review, offered to help Trogdon compile a book-length manuscript and sent some of the poems to an

Dorothy Weber Trogdon, in 1947 (left) and today.

WILLIAM TROGDON

Recently certified as a postpartum doula, a specialist who cares for new mothers at home, she believes that music therapy will blend well into this practice.

“Music therapy techniques can help women mentally prepare for becoming a parent, physically cope with pain in childbirth, and bond with and breastfeed the baby,” she says. “Research supports

editor at Blue Begonia Press in Selah, Wash. Blue Begonia published the collection, Tall Woman Looking, in 2012.

Flenniken, now the poet laureate of Washington State, featured one of Trogdon’s poems in her first blog post as laureate.

Trogdon’s poetry, she says, reflects “an eager, interesting mind, a lovely restraint, and an unquenched—maybe unquenchable— desire for something just beyond. These poems feel very alive—and ageless.”

Trogdon’s love of art threads its way through her poetry, which is full of visual imagery and references to color. Several of her poems are reflections on paintings by well-known artists.

Nature is also a recurring theme. “Tall Woman Looking,” the title poem of her book, evokes her childhood home in Maine, with its “brown shingled siding, blue hydrangeas, and … an old birch tree hammered by a woodpecker every April.”

“Sometimes I wish I had focused on poetry sooner,” she says, “so that I had time to get better at it. But these last few years have been incredibly rich ones, a kind of bonus life. I am the most fortunate of women.” Q —Hannah Benoit

Read their tips for staging a second act wheaton.edu/quarterly. Email us about your second act: quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu

More online

writing songs again.

In fact, much of her homework takes the form of reflection papers and artistic responses, so “often, an assignment means I get to write another song and create another melody,” she says. “To me, that is homework from heaven.” Q —Hannah Benoit

mariahappy.wordpress.com) and is

ALUMNAE/I ASSOCIATION NEWS

“A series of happy accidents,” that’s how Marion Lear Swaybill ’63 describes the journey that took her from a Wheaton freshman to Emmy Award–winning television producer and founder and president of Molly Two Productions.

“There was no path,” says Swaybill, “no bold idea.”

Swaybill majored in American history, “mainly because it interested me.” History proved fertile ground for the future documentary filmmaker. Her films have covered a wide range of topics: the Holocaust (“Witness: Voices from the Holocaust,” 2000); growing up in war-torn Kosovo (“A Normal Life,” 2003, winner of the Tribeca Film Festival Best Documentary award); sex trafficking in America (“10,000 Men,” 2012); and choral music (“Conspirare: A Company of Voices,” 2009).

After graduating from Wheaton, Swaybill studied for her master’s degree in social work at Columbia University but left after a year. Though she worked in foster care for a time afterward, social work did not fulfill her, she says.

In the spring of 1966, she met Roger Swaybill, her future husband. “He hated the fact that I didn’t like what I was doing and encouraged me to quit my job and find something more satisfying—and fun. So I did.”

The first happy accident: Swaybill was hired as a secretary at Francis Thompson Inc., a small film production company. “It was an extraordinary learning experience,” she says. “I had my hand in everything. In

34 WHEATON QUARTERLY

retrospect, it laid the foundation for my career as a documentary producer. When I started there, I was unaware that Francis was an iconic figure in documentary filmmaking in America.”

Three years later, Swaybill wanted to expand her horizons and landed her first of several jobs at NBC News. She moved up the ranks from film researcher to associate producer to producer. “I had incredible mentors at NBC, men and women who invented television documentaries. I learned and loved production.”

Another happy accident was being recruited as director of program acquisitions and international co-productions at WNET, the PBS affiliate in New York City.

“It was a dream job.” For more than 10 years, Swaybill was responsible for hundreds of hours of programming, raised tens of millions of dollars in production funds and created financing models that became the industry standard.

Swaybill’s projects received numerous awards, including the International Emmy for Outstanding Drama for “A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia” in 1991.

She says the projects she has most enjoyed in her career are those where she followed her instincts against the odds. “A Dangerous Man” was like that. “It was a great script that had been kicking around for years. No one could figure out how to get it funded. I knew I could make it happen and dug in.”

In 1992, Swaybill struck out on her own and founded Molly Two Productions. She’s still making films, consulting on a range of media projects and has no interest in slowing down.

She has several documentary projects in the works and an option on a book that she plans to adapt for the stage. Swaybill is on the board of Conspirare, a choral organization in Austin, Texas, and is a pro-bono consultant for two nonprofits that deal with sex trafficking and girls’ empowerment. She is always happy to mentor young women (and men) interested in film and television production, a reflection of her early professional experiences.

“I have been blessed with terrific opportunities and a rich, diverse career,” she says.

“In many ways, it began at Wheaton.” Q —Mary Howard ’85

ROSSA COLE

Talent, luck star in award-winning producer’s life

Making a big deal of little things

In that effort, the Amesbury, Mass., resident, along with her friend Danielle Levy, launched The Littlest Change in January. The company promotes kindness by encouraging people to do small thoughtful acts for others.

Through the sale of T-shirts and other items, The Littlest Change raises money for operating costs and creates stickers and postcards that help spread the word about how doing good for others can be good for all.

People are encouraged to do nice things and upload their good-deed photos to the company’s website and Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts. McGrath and Levy also are reaching out to local store owners and teachers nationwide to spread the word.

“Random acts of kindness create a sense of community,” says McGrath. “We are all here together. In the everyday busyness, people forget to teach kindness. It’s an extremely valuable lesson.”

The philosophy of seeing the world beyond her own comfort zone and wanting to help others stems from her college experience, she says.

“Wheaton encourages you to find yourself. There is so much more in the world than what is right there in front of us.

Wheaton gave me the confidence to see that, and it definitely changed who I am.”

She also says that studying abroad for a semester at the University of Queensland in Australia, “gave me my first big view of the world and opened my eyes to all the potential.”

KELLY CHADWICK

Whether she is leaving popcorn for a Redbox video customer or donating items to her local cat shelter, Dorothy Brighton McGrath ’96 is committed to helping people through good deeds—and to making it easier for others to do the same.

“Wheaton encourages you to find yourself. There is so much more in the world than what is right there in front of us.

Wheaton gave me the confidence to see that, and it definitely changed who I am.”

A psychology and biology double major, McGrath has a master’s degree in physician assistant studies from Boston’s Northeastern University. She currently works as a physician assistant in a primary care office— helping people.

“It’s the nature of who I am.”

Her son Aidan, 9, and daughter Peyton, 7, are also eager to get in on the act, she says, and were inspirations for starting The Littlest Change in January.

Comment on a story? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

“I love to volunteer. The littlest act of kindness can change someone’s whole day.

And that’s something I really want my kids to learn,” she says. “We want to reach as many people as we can to create a happier and safer community for our kids and other people’s kids. The hope is for a domino effect.”

It’s already happening.

Amesbury library assistant Julie Lemieux was at work one morning when McGrath and Levy brought in muffins and a plant for library employees.

“It was totally unexpected, and it’s nice to feel appreciated and special,” Lemieux says. In turn, Lemieux widened a neighbor’s walkway during a snowstorm. Q —Cheryl Alkon

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 35

CLASS NOTES

Guidelines Upcoming Deadlines

Fall 2013: Winter 2014: Spring 2014: Summer 2014:

June 24, 2013 Sept. 23, 2013 Dec. 18, 2013 March 10, 2014

These deadlines apply to class secretaries and their columns.

Submissions from classmates should be made directly to class secretaries before these deadlines.

We cannot guarantee the publication of class notes received after the deadline as production schedules and resources require strict deadline compliance.

Photo Guidelines

Traditional photographic prints (made from a negative) or digital photos can be submitted to the Quarterly for publication.

Tips for Digital Photos

• In general, digital photos should be taken on the highest-quality setting.

• Digital photos should be 4 x 6 inches or larger and 300 dpi.

• Save the photo as a TIFF or JPEG and email it as an attachment to quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu.

How to Submit Class Notes Email: Email your notes to quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu.

(Subject line: Class Notes “year”) By fax:

(508) 286-8228

By post: Yes,

the postperson is still welcome at our door. You may mail columns or your news to: Class Notes Wheaton Quarterly Wheaton College Norton, MA 02766 Questions?

We are here to help tackle any questions, concerns or problems that come up as you work on your class notes.

News about members of classes that are not listed or do not have a class secretary may be submitted to the Wheaton Quarterly, preferably by email.

Stay connected to the latest Wheaton news Join us on Facebook.com/WheatonCollege and follow us on Twitter @wheaton 36 WHEATON QUARTERLY

Margaret Gibson ’63 honored for her work in anthropology Margaret “Greta” Gibson ’63 has been a pioneer in the field of educational anthropology for more than 30 years.

Last fall she was honored with the George and Louise Spindler Award for Educational Anthropology at the American Anthropological Association’s 2012 meeting.

The award is the most prestigious in the field of educational anthropology.

In nominating Gibson for the award, her colleagues wrote, “One simply cannot examine immigrant education without close scrutiny of her scholarship.”

Gibson, who majored in philosophy and religion at Wheaton, says she came to focus her research on immigrant education “quite by accident.”

“I went to St. Croix [U.S. Virgin Islands] in spring 1973 to carry out dissertation research on the role of ethnicity in shaping school performance, expecting that almost all students would be native Crucians and students of Puerto Rican origin. However, in 1970, by court order, the public schools had been required to admit noncitizens. By the time I arrived, nearly 40 percent of all K–12 public school students were immigrants from neighboring Caribbean islands. My research focus shifted to include these children and how immigrant status as well as ethnicity influenced school engagement.”

Gibson’s expertise in educational anthropology led California educators to ask her to study inter-ethnic tensions between Punjabi immigrants and native citizens— tensions that had been mounting both within the schools and the community at large. Gibson’s findings were published in a landmark 1988 book, Accommodation without Assimilation: Sikh Immigrants in an American High School. This book advanced the then-controversial thesis that, contrary to conventional wisdom about assimilation, students with immigrant backgrounds perform better academically if they maintain their cultural identity rather than rushing to adopt every American custom that surrounds them.

The findings have since been corrobo-

rated by other anthropologists’ research about immigrant and ethnic minority youths. Through this study, Gibson coined the terms “accommodation and acculturation without assimilation” and “additive acculturation” to describe the various social processes surrounding immigrant assimilation. These terms are now widely used in anthropology, a testament to her high standing within her field.

In 2010, she retired from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she had been a professor since 1990. Despite retiring, she remains an active anthropologist, currently researching the effects of the federally funded Migrant Education Program in improving educational outcomes for the children of migrant California farm workers. Additionally, she continues to research the social and academic incorporation of immigrant youth in schools in Catalonia and California.

—Brian Jencunas ’14

Anne Crosman’s writing attracts attention “As a child, I kept diaries, because my mother had kept a diary for me, starting the day I was born,” recalls Anne Crosman ’66. “I still have it! I continued her tradition and I wrote every day. I still do.” With a deeply rooted penchant for writing and a childhood love of radio shows, Crosman has forged her path as an author and news reporter in radio, television and print.

Recently, she gained attention for her self-published books. In January, Sedona. biz (Arizona) featured an article about her book The New Immigrants: American Success Stories (Book Publishers Network, 2012) and a panel that she hosted featuring the book subjects as guest speakers.

The book delves into the stories of immigrants who live in her current home state, Arizona.

“These people prove the adage that America is a land of opportunity,” Crosman says. “I wanted to show that the majority of Arizona immigrants are legal, patriotic, hard-working residents, who have worked to improve their English and communication skills and have given back to their communities. All of them deeply appreciate the freedom to speak and live as they wish.”

Crosman’s other book, Young at Heart: Aging Gracefully with

Attitude, a collection of personal portraits originally published in 2003 and reprinted in 2004 and 2005, won a national Benjamin Franklin Award. She also was interviewed on KNAU, Arizona Public Radio in Flagstaff, where she previously has hosted NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

While at Wheaton, Crosman, who continued to write in the journal that her mother started, honed her skills here as an English literature major and writer for the college newspaper. After graduating, she earned her master’s degree in journalism at the American University in Washington, D.C. At age 28, she was the first woman whom CBS radio had ever hired to do full-time hourly newscasts.

“The microphone is a magic tool,” she says. “Every night at CBS Radio, I talked to an estimated 18 million people. That was in 1973. Imagine today’s numbers.”

She moved on to cover political news for NBC Radio Network in Washington, D.C., and freelanced abroad in Switzerland, Rome, Warsaw and Cairo, before hosting at Arizona Public Radio from 2009 through 2011.

Throughout her career she has combined her love for journalism with curiosity for culture and the desire to tell the personal stories of others.

Now, when she’s not writing, the author is busy with various interests. She encourages others to mine their own experience by teaching memoir writing at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Sedona, Ariz. She leads yoga classes and silent meditative hikes.

She continues to play piano and violin and has even learned how to play Scottish bagpipes.

In February, Crosman won a bronze medal at the Arizona Senior Olympics for racewalking. “I’m back in training for racewalking on the streets of Sedona,” she says. “Honk if you pass me. I’m the one walking fast, like a duck!”

Still on her agenda: “To climb Mount Snowden in northern Wales. My middle name is Snowden.”

—Elizabeth Meyer ’14

Join the club Did you know that Wheaton alumnae/i are eligible for full membership privileges at the Downtown Harvard Club of Boston? There are many ways to make the club a part of your life.

Enjoy private meeting and reception facilities, exclusive monthly events, two dining rooms with varied menus, and other amenities. Also, a network of more than 130 private city clubs worldwide stand ready to welcome you when you travel for business or pleasure. For more information on this Wheaton alum benefit, contact the Downtown Harvard Club’s membership office at 617-450-8468, or visit harvardclub.com and click on Downtown Club to apply under the special Wheaton initiative. Downtown Harvard Club is located at One Federal Street, 38th Floor, Boston, MA 02110.

CONTENTS

SUMMER 2013 37

Journalist Ted Nesi ’07 is the news While Ted Nesi is best known for writing about political news in Rhode Island, he also often ends up in the news himself. On January 9, the Providence Phoenix published an article titled “WPRI’s ambitious play for the Ocean State’s screens” featuring Nesi.

With the Providence Journal’s decision to create a pay wall (accessible to paying subscribers) last year, WPRI, where Nesi works, hopes to provide more free coverage for Rhode Island. Nesi’s blog will help to provide much of this coverage, as it has in the past. As the first blogger for WPRI, Nesi has made an impact in the world of Rhode Island political coverage and is the face of the future for WPRI’s ambitious endeavor, according to the news article. Nesi’s own ambition has paid dividends for the station in the past. After stints with the Sun Chronicle (Attleboro, Mass.) and Providence Business News as a print reporter and website editor, Nesi pitched his idea of starting a local political blog with the depth and readablility of Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein’s national political blog to then WRPI general manager Jay Howell. Howell, now vice president for regional television for LIN Media, the Providence-based company that owns WPRI and 42 other television stations across the country, talked about Nesi’s pitch in the article: “I still have the email, it’s really terrific: ‘you should hire me, here’s why.’” While Nesi originally was not scheduled to appear on television as a blogger, his blogging on Rhode Island’s pension reform and the collapse of tax-supported 38 Studios video-game company brought him on air. He currently is a regular panelist on Newsmakers and has his own show, Executive Suite, where he talks with local business leaders. Also, in 2011, Politico.com listed Nesi as one of 50 political observers to watch in the blogger category. The national spotlight on his work began while he was still at Wheaton, where he graduated summa cum laude. His senior honor thesis on Senator Edward Kennedy was cited by the late senator himself in his book True Compass: A Memoir.

—Monica Vendituoli ’15

Stay connected Has your last name changed due to a change in marital status?

Did you move recently? Do you have a new email address?

We want to know.

Please keep Wheaton updated with your latest information.

Go to wheatoncollege.net. Once you are on the page, look for the link on the right-hand side that says “update my info.” Please note that in order to update your contact information, you will need to join/register for the online community.

Too complicated?

Email your updated information to alum@wheatoncollege.edu.

38 WHEATON QUARTERLY

WheatonCollege

@wheaton

Wheaton clubs, regional contacts and Filene Center liaisons For more information, please contact the Alumnae/i Relations Office at 508-286-8207 or alumnaei@wheatoncollege.edu.

Please note that this list is updated on an ongoing basis and is available online at wheatoncollege.edu/alumnaei/regional-club-contacts/.

CALIFORNIA

MASSACHUSETTS

NEW YORK

LOS ANGELES Adam Bart ’96 abartca@yahoo.com Club coordinator

GREATER BOSTON Margaret Bratschi ’78 shawmutshire@hotmail.com Club coordinator

SAN FRANCISCO/BAY AREA Julie Lydon ’94 julie@lydonpr.com Club coordinator

CAPE COD CLUB Helen “Holly” Mitchell Burleson ’85 hmb@capecod.net Club coordinator Doreen Teixeira McKenzie ’87 doreenmckenzie@comcast.net Club coordinator

NEW YORK CITY Christopher Paquet ’03 cbp220@gmail.com Club coordinator Kathryn “Katie” Leiby ’06 katie.leiby@gmail.com Club coordinator Patricia “Patty” Landry ’01 pattylandrynyc@gmail.com Club coordinator

CONNECTICUT FAIRFIELD COUNTY Louise Seeber Scrivines ’92 ltseeber@optonline.net Club coordinator NEW HAVEN/EAST SHORE Deborah “Deb” Roselli Kelly ’86 saranjosh@gmail.com Regional contact FLORIDA MIAMI Jennifer Richards Gibbs ’86 jennifer_gibbs@wpbt.org Regional contact, Filene Center liaison GEORGIA ATLANTA Julie Simmermon Elgar ’95 julie.elgar@GAPAC.com Regional contact MAINE PORTLAND Michele Napier Whitmore ’92 mwhitmore@rmdavis.com Club coordinator Margaret “Maggie” Carey Stone ’03 margaretelizabethstone@gmail.com Club committee Caeley Cote ’00 caeley_cote@hotmail.com Club committee MARYLAND BALTIMORE Sally Kenyon Grant ’91 robandsally@comcast.net Regional contact

LEXINGTON-WINCHESTER CLUB Susan Carter ’82 suecarter2005@comcast.net Club coordinator Laura Pasek McCaughey ’81 mrscpw@yahoo.com Club coordinator MISSOURI ST. LOUIS Delta Stokes ’97 deltastokes@gmail.com Stephany Roller Mendelsohn ’62 gmend@sbcglobal.net Regional contacts NEW HAMPSHIRE SOUTHEASTERN REGION Mary Hillyer ’78 maryfhillyer@yahoo.com Karyn Wheeler O’Neil ’86 Karyn.O’Neil@citizensbank.com Regional contacts NEW JERSEY NORTHERN NEW JERSEY Beth Peterson Wahlig ’81 bethwahlig@yahoo.com Club coordinator PRINCETON Martha “Marty” Chilson Akers ’64 Co-chairperson NEW MEXICO SANTA FE Susan Suss ’78 Susanjsuss@aol.com Regional contact

Have a comment? quarterly@wheatoncollege.edu (Subject line: Feedback)

ROCHESTER Mary Clute Lyon ’44 maryclyon@yahoo.com Regional contact NORTH CAROLINA TRIANGLE AREA Susan Haberberger ’85 suehab@bellsouth.net Regional contact

WASHINGTON, D.C. Catherine “Katy” O’Toole ’88 katyotoole99@gmail.com Club coordinator FRANCE AND BELGIUM Simone Burger Robin ’86 snrobin@scarlet.bc Regional contact SPAIN Lynne Friedman ’78 lynnefrw@gmail.com Regional contact UK Claire Richmond ’87 Claire@findatvexpert.com Regional contact James Ricci ’00 jamesbricciii@gmail.com

OHIO CLEVELAND Sarah “Sally” Weaver Chisholm ’58 Swc2@mac.com Regional contact PENNSYLVANIA PHILADELPHIA Laura Naden ’04 laura.naden@gmail.com Co-coordinator Ace Brinkmann ’05 abr4@subaru.com Co-coordinator PITTSBURGH Patrick Tracy ’95 tracypj@upmc.edu Regional contact TEXAS DALLAS Lynn Prendergast Cromartie ’77 lynncromar@aol.com Regional contact VERMONT Sarah Lenes ’05 sarah.lenes@uvm.edu Club coordinator, National Regional Chair, Alumnae/i Board Emily McHugh Mitchell ’94 elmogirloop@hotmail.com Club coordinator

CO N TE NT S

SUMMER 2013 39

DANIELLE MOURNING ’99

My gift.

My way.

Dellie Smith Woodring ’62 Member, Board of Directors, Marin Village (California), a nonprofit that helps senior citizens Founder and former executive director, Kentfield After School Center Former member, Wheaton Board of Directors Married to Doug Woodring; mother of two; grandmother of three

“I am forever thankful for the well-rounded liberal arts education I received. Not a week has gone by in the past 50 years when I haven’t thought of Wheaton in one way or another. The college gave me the gift of learning to be an independent thinker. This has enabled me to undertake business endeavors and community activities with self-confidence. I am still in touch with several of my Wheaton friends, including classmates, faculty and staff members. I am grateful for these long-lasting relationships and how they continue to enrich my life. My husband, Doug, and I married the summer after my graduation. Wheaton is a natural fit for our long-range estate planning, as he was a frequent visitor to the campus (from Brown University), and we both appreciate the lifelong benefits I have received from Wheaton. I feel fortunate that I’m able to give back in the form of annual contributions and a charitable gift annuity. Supporting Wheaton and maintaining the vitality of its educational program is a high priority for me as we face the challenges of higher education in today’s world.”

Your gift. Your way.

Learn how you can give for the future right now.

Call the Office of Gift Planning at 508-286-3459 or online at wheatoncollege.edu/gift-planning

CONTENTS

END PAGE

NICKI PARDO

During the groundbreaking for the new Diane C. Nordin ’80 artificial turf field, Wheaton’s shovels played a key role. Visit wheaton.edu/quarterly to see archival images.

A handle on the history of shovels During the Homecoming groundbreaking for the new Diane C. Nordin ’80 artificial turf field, an array of Wheaton shovels, which date back to 1916, were out on display and used during the ceremony. We asked College Archivist Zephorene Stickney for the scoop on these historic shovels that play such a starring role in our new endeavors.

At the end of the 19th century, graduating seniors began planting class ivy or class trees on campus. Photographs indicate that the entire class gathered at the chosen location, reciting poems crafted for the occasion, singing the class song written by the class song leader, and often reading a class will. In later years, graduating classes also began to bury a treasure box filled with mementos near its tree. (During their 25th Reunion celebrations, classes open the box, if it can be located beneath the tree’s growing root system.)

All of this digging, of course, required a

64 WHEATON QUARTERLY

good shovel. The Oliver Ames shovel factory in nearby Easton, Mass., manufactured our earliest class shovels. The narrow, square shovels were designed for digging ditches.

The shaft and handle are only 38" tall, making the shovel perfect for the ceremonial turning of a few clods of earth.

The first class to use a special shovel was the Class of 1916, as noted by the class year scratched into the handle. Beginning in 1917, the class years have been professionally inscribed.

Prior to the annual senior class tree plant-

CO NTE NTS

Class years are inscribed on the handles of shovels.

ing, the college carpenters carve the class year into the shovel handle, and paint the carving in the class color. Over the years, this practice has resulted in colorful shovels that serve as reminders of preceding classes and of a long-standing campus tradition. ­The college now has five class shovels that recently have been used at groundbreaking ceremonies for buildings and athletic fields. Q —Zephorene Stickney

WheatonCollege

@wheaton

YOU connected?

Are

Download Wheaton’s NEW mobile app!

CONTENTS

wheatoncollege.edu/connect

Wheaton College, 26 E. Main Street, Norton, MA 02766 www.wheatoncollege.edu

Focus on the future Christopher Paquet ’03

NYC Department of Health, director of policy and strategic initiatives, Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response 2012 NYC Distinguished Service Award recipient Wheaton Fund supporter

Collaborates for success: “In my role I focus on emergency policy and strategic initiatives by collaborating with several agencies to prepare for the unexpected, including natural disasters, contagious disease outbreaks and various other threats to New York City. I’m fortunate to work with some of the best health and response experts around.”

Knows what’s important: “I love my job. I’ve worked hard, but it would not have been possible to get here without the education, connections and experiences I’ve received from Wheaton. Not only was I able to learn from dedicated professors, but I also gained valuable experience outside of the classroom. My internships and work on campus with several offices showed me how to take classroom knowledge and apply it to practical work.”

Thinks ahead:

BINDY CROUCH

“I may not be able to give millions, but I support Wheaton because I want the college to continue to educate students in a multifaceted way. The college gave me an interdisciplinary education, which has helped me succeed in a variety of jobs. Still to this day, Wheaton students, alums, faculty and staff continue to support me in my development. These people are part of my extended family and I grow stronger each day because of them.”

Support Wheaton Call 800-896-3145 (option 2) or visit wheatoncollege.edu/giving

CONTENTS