WHEATON The magazine of Wheaton College, Massachusetts
Presidential transition
Celebrating Dennis M. Hanno Welcoming Michaele Whelan
Winter 2022
Principals and presidents
1897–1925 Samuel Valentine Cole
Principals oversaw Wheaton from its founding until 1897 when the first president was installed. With the current presidential transition, we thought it would be a good time to revisit Wheaton’s leadership legacy and history. The top of this timeline indicates the years served. The bottom portion shows milestones that occurred with each leader. Principals
Presidents
1925–1926 George S. Smart*
* Acting presidents
1835–1837 Eunice Caldwell 1837–1838 Susan Palmer 1838–1840 Eliza R. Knight
1926–1944 John Edgar Park
1840–1842 Martha E. W. Vose 1842–1846 Martha C. Sawyer 1847–1849 Elizabeth A. Cate 1849–1850 Margaret Mann 1850–1876 Caroline Cutler Metcalf
1944–1961 A. Howard Meneely
1876–1879 Ellen M. Haskell 1879–1880 Martha W. Sprague 1880–1897 A. Ellen Stanton
1834
1850
Wheaton is founded as a female seminary
1839
The seminary’s first Commencement 1840
Library established 1849
Mary Lyon Hall constructed
1870
1875
Wheaton Alumnae Association founded
1884
Hebe statue 1889
Founder’s Day established 1898
Electricity is installed
Eliza Baylies Chapin Wheaton, pictured left, persuaded Judge Laban Wheaton and his wife, Fanny, to found a female seminary in memory of their only daughter, Eliza Wheaton Strong, who died at the age of 39 in March 1834.
1900
1900
First class tree planted 1905
Eliza Baylies Chapin Wheaton dies at age 95
Mrs. Wheaton’s house converted to Presidents’ House 1908
Emerson Dining Hall 1908
Larcom Hall
1911
Cragin Hall
Knapton Hall 1912
Wheaton becomes a college
First senior hoop roll 1914
College awards its first degrees 1916
First yearbook published
1925
1917
Construction begins on Cole Memorial Chapel 1921
Wheaton News published Stanton Hall 1923
Madeleine Clark Wallace Library Candle light ceremony established
1926
Everett Hall 1929
Peacock Pond 1931
Nursery school founded 1932
Kilham Hall 1933
Metcalf Hall 1934
Park Hall 1935
Metcalf Temple
wheatoncollege.edu/about-wheaton-college/history-mission
19
1961–1962 Elizabeth Stoffregen May*
2004–2014 Ronald A. Crutcher
Features 19
Celebrating Dennis M. Hanno
Wheaton’s eighth president leaves a legacy of connectedness, growth and forward momentum By Sandy Coleman
1991–1992 Hannah Goldberg* 1962–1975 William C.H. Prentice
2014–2021 Dennis M. Hanno
27
Welcoming Michaele Whelan Wheaton’s ninth president ready to listen, learn and lead next chapter in history By Michael Graca
1992–2004 Dale Rogers Marshall 1975–1991 Alice Frey Emerson
2022– Michaele Whelan
32
Inspiring careers Min Jung Kim ’92 becomes first female director of Saint Louis Art Museum By Sandy Coleman Carolina Kaufman ’98 broadens narratives at the Pentacrest Museums By Laura Pedulli
Departments
Between the Lines 50
1957
Young Hall 1958
Tennis courts and athletic fields 1959
Chase Dining Hall
McIntire Hall
Meneely Hall 1960
Clark Hall
1962
Watson Fine Arts Center 1963
Hood Court
1975
1978
Radio station WCCS founded 1984–85
1964
Sesquicentennial Celebration
1965
Balfour-Hood Center
Meadows Hall Clark Recreation Center 1966
Elisabeth Amen Nursery School 1968
Science Center
1986 1987
Coeducation begins Kollett Hall 1988
First coeducational class arrives 1989
Keefe Field
1991
2000
Haas Athletic Center 1991
First Head of the Peacock Regatta held 1992
First coeducational class graduates Gebbie Hall
2000
Mars Arts and Humanities Center Beard and Weil Galleries 2001
Campus master plan developed 2002
Beard Hall
Connections curriculum 2009
Wheaton celebrates 175 years 2011
1996
Mars Center for Science and Technology
1998
Wheaton Edge
Sidell Stadium First Senior Honors Thesis Parade 1998
Keefe Hall
Source: Marion B. Gebbie Class of 1901 Archives and Special Collections
2015 2018
Pine Hall 2020
Compass curriculum 2021
Diana Davis Spencer Discovery Center, Dedicated to Free Speech and Innovation
2
@DHANNO 3 Around the Dimple
4
Conversation 12 Lyons Pride
14
Campus Scene
16
Alumni Association Network
36
Class Notes
38
In Memoriam
62
Perspective 64
On this page
Timeline by David Laferriere
On the cover
Photo by Keith Nordstrom
Read us online
Find all our stories and more online at wheatoncollege.edu/wheaton-magazine.
Connect with us on social media
WheatonCollege @wheaton Email us: magazine@wheatoncollege.edu WINTER 2022 1
BETWEEN THE LINES
A fond farewell and welcome President Dennis M. Hanno has done some amazingly important work here at Wheaton, but on a personal level what I treasure most is his sense of fun, starting with his first days on campus when he allowed buckets of ice water to be dumped on his head for a charitable cause, inspired by the Ice Bucket Challenge that promotes awareness of ALS. He was barely a week into his term as our eighth president and there he was nicely dressed in khaki pants, a shirt and tie (which he covered in a T-shirt for the challenge). Sitting in a folding chair on the lawn between Mars Center for Science and Technology and Haas Athletic Center, he waited as a giant bucket of water was held over his head and then dumped as a crowd cheered. Once finished, his lovely, gracious and just-as-fun wife, Sue, who was standing nearby, handed him a towel to dry off so he could rush off to change for his next meeting. That sense of unguarded engagement with the campus community has continued all these years. I’ve had the privilege of working with him to create several videos that required hours of his time, often on a weekend, as well as a good-hearted nature as we repeated scenes over and over to get them just right. And I’ve enjoyed watching him and his best bud, Roary, who often starred alongside him. (I have outtakes of the two of them dancing between takes. And most people don’t know this, but Sue handmade lots of wardrobe items for Roary for our video shoots.) Dennis has willingly allowed pies to be thrown at him during a 2 WHEATON MAGAZINE
WHEATON MAGAZINE
Vol. 112, No. 1
Director of communications and magazine editor Sandy Coleman Designer David Laferriere
Multimedia producer Keith Nordstrom Associate director of communications Laura Pedulli Administrative assistant Ellen Cataloni
Assistant vice president of marketing and communications Michael Graca
BECCA MANNING
President Dennis M. Hanno during a 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge (above) and with Roary between takes during a 2021 video recording session
SANDY COLEMAN
recent “Pie the Professor” event. Once he allowed his hair and goatee to be painted blue, keeping his promise to do so if the Class of 2016 reached a certain participation rate in their senior class gift to the Wheaton Fund. And who can ever forget the times he has climbed aboard the winning “boat” after the Peacock Pond regatta in a suit to ride across the water? Even during the challenges of the pandemic, he has maintained his sense of humor while showing us the best of what it means to be
human and a caring member of a campus community. As we bid a fond farewell to him as president, we hope his memories of Wheaton bring him just as much joy. In this issue, our cover story focuses on the presidential transition. We celebrate Dennis’s accomplishments, and, with great excitement, we welcome our ninth president, Michaele Whelan. During the photo shoot for the magazine cover, I enjoyed meeting Michaele and her husband, Peter Wiederspahn, for the first time. I can’t wait to get to know them, too. We thank President Hanno for the remarkable legacy he is leaving and we look forward to the history President Whelan will make.
Vice president for marketing and communications Gene Begin
Wheaton , The Magazine of Wheaton College (ISSN 1068-1558), is published three times a year (winter, spring and fall) 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 © 2022
@DHANNO
Can-do attitude
For 187 years, Wheaton has started each academic year with Opening Convocation, which by tradition takes place in Cole Memorial Chapel. Even in 2020, when the ceremony went virtual, the speakers addressed the audience from the chapel. This year was different. Students, faculty and staff gathered in person, in the Dimple, preferring to be together outdoors (albeit masked), rather than resorting to Zoom once more. It was a great choice—an incredibly beautiful spot, plenty of fresh air, blue skies and late summer sun. More importantly, it was good to gather as a campus community. As I reflect on what to say in my final column as president, I find my thoughts returning to that event not simply because the setting was memorable (and unique for Opening Convocation), but because of the keynote address “The Things We Can,” delivered by Associate Professor of Psychology Christina Riggs Romaine. “What would it Dennis M. Hanno, mean for us to pay president attention to the things we can—do, or control or influence—in all the complexity of real life?” she asked. It’s an important question. Among the answers that Professor Riggs Romaine offered was something I consider essential: showing up for each other. She talked about the positive impact of being together, particularly during tough times. The excitement of returning more fully to in-person learning, even with the concerns that it brings, underscores the point. We are social beings. For me, showing up also means pitching in and doing what you can. I believe deeply in the idea that each of us has a capacity to improve the lives of others. It’s what has motivated me during my three-plus
KEITH NORDSTROM
Associate Professor of Psychology Christina Riggs Romaine delivered the keynote address titled “The Things We Can” at Opening Convocation, which was held in the Dimple.
decades in higher education. The opportunity to help young adults find their passion and develop their unique voice and talents has been a driving force in my professional pursuits. Seeing the effect of being engaged with students also has been the greatest reward of my career. I am far from alone. The Wheaton community is filled with people who share this ideal. In fact, it’s central to the college’s mission. During the challenges presented by the pandemic, I have seen many students, faculty, staff, alumni and parents put this principle into practice, to offer support to those who are struggling, to sustain our sense of community, and to improve the college. A recent example from campus: Invasive water chestnuts began spreading quickly through Peacock Pond, harming the pond’s ecosystem and water quality. Sophomore Abigail Tinkham, a resident advisor who returned to campus in August, noticed the non-native plants during lunch breaks when sitting on a bench near the pond. She asked Instructor of Biology Deb Cato, “What can I do to address this problem?” Her final answer came in the form of more than 70 students whom she organized to wade
into the pond on two separate days to uproot the plants. Everything that Wheaton has achieved during the eight years that I’ve been honored to serve as president—from new courses of interdisciplinary study and the new Compass curriculum to a growing and increasingly diverse and talented student body—reflects contributions from the many dedicated individuals who are part of our extended learning community. The college’s growing strength is the result of talented people taking action to provide an outstanding liberal arts education for young students. In the process, we strengthen Wheaton’s ability to continue making a difference for students in the future. Attending to the things we can do is what matters most. I’m grateful that Professor Riggs Romaine reminded us of this at the start of the academic year. And I am deeply appreciative of the generous support and advocacy that the college has enjoyed during my years here. It means so much to me, and does so much good for Wheaton and our students.
WINTER 2022 3
AROUND THE DIMPLE
Wheaton receives high marks in national rankings Wheaton, for the second consecutive year, has been recognized among the top 100 Best Value U.S. Liberal Arts Colleges and Best National Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, which were released in September 2021. The accolades are among several that Wheaton received in 2021 noting innovation spaces; affordable, high-quality education; and ongoing work toward gender equality and reduction in inequities. Wheaton is ranked No. 53 in the Best Value U.S. Liberal Arts Colleges category and No. 85 overall in the U.S. Best Liberal Arts Colleges category in U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges. Wheaton made the list of A-plus Schools for B students, which notes colleges with strong rankings that accept students who have a range of test scores and GPAs. Wheaton also was one of the schools that performed well in the social mobility category. On the 2022 Top Performers on Social Mobility list, Wheaton now is ranked No. 4 WHEATON MAGAZINE
115—moving up from No. 126 in 2021. The ranking measures the extent schools enrolled and graduated students who received federal Pell Grants. (Usually the students come from lower-income households.) The latest edition assesses 1,466 U.S. bachelor’s degree-granting institutions on 17 measures of academic quality. To determine which colleges and universities offer the best value for students, U.S. News & World Report states that it factors academic quality and cost after accounting for total expenses and financial aid. In addition, graduation rates, social mobility, graduate indebtedness, faculty information and admissions data are considered. In the Wall Street Journal / Times Higher Education US College Rankings 2022, Wheaton is No. 57 among U.S. liberal arts schools. The rankings include the results of a student survey that examines a range of key issues, including students’ engagement with their studies, their interaction with their teachers and their satisfaction
with their experience. The rankings also take into consideration 15 individual performance indicators that are combined to create an overall score that reflects the broad strength of the institution. Wheaton also is included in The Princeton Review’s 2022 edition of The Best 387 Colleges and among the top 100 liberal arts colleges (No. 97) in Niche’s 2022 Best Colleges in America rankings. In August 2021, Newsweek named Wheaton on “The Best Maker Schools 2021” list that includes higher education institutions in the U.S. and abroad. The list highlights schools that encourage learning by doing. In April 2021, Wheaton also earned recognition in The Princeton Review Best Value Colleges for 2021 for providing a high-quality education with great career preparation at an affordable price and in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for gender equality and reducing inequities. —Sandy Coleman
Welcome, new tenure-track faculty
Pictured from left: Professors Alessandra Ward, Ada McKenzie Thomas, Hope Bastian and Wesley Jacques
Wheaton welcomed four new tenure-track faculty members during the fall semester. Go online to read in-depth interviews with each about their research focus and their hopes for students.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology Hope Bastian
• Bachelor’s degree in anthropology/sociology and Spanish, Guilford College • Master’s degree in public anthropology and Ph.D. in anthropology, American University “My research focuses on maternal-infant health and social inequalities.”
Assistant Professor of English Wesley Jacques
• Bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy, Tufts University • Master’s degree in English and creative writing, Hofstra University • Ph.D. in children’s literature , Illinois State University “My research is about considering the earnest potential and power of youth culture in our politics, entertainment and collective efforts to positively impact the future.”
Assistant Professor of English Ada McKenzie Thomas
• Bachelor’s degree in philosophy, Columbia University • Master’s degree and Ph.D. in comparative literature, University of Massachusetts-Amherst “My current research focuses on migration, memoir and music in African diasporic literature. I am intrigued by how writers and songwriters narrate their geographic and metaphysical journeys through written works.”
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Assistant Professor of Education Alessandra Ward
• Bachelor’s degree in Hispanic studies/theology, Boston College • Master’s degree in elementary education, University of Notre Dame • Ph.D. in education, Boston University “I do research on reading motivation and engagement, especially in the primary grades. I’m interested in what gets kids excited about reading.” —Sandy Coleman
WINTER 2022 5
AROUND THE DIMPLE
A minute with Tatianna Staszkow ’22
Tatianna Staszkow ’22, an anthropology major, last summer was selected to participate in the Public Policy and International Affairs Junior Summer Institute Fellowship Program at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. The competitive fellowship is a rigorous academic graduate-level preparation program for undergraduate juniors committed to public service careers. Action plan: “In every course, we were challenged to put what we learned into action by writing policy memorandums based on our interests as well as conducting our own quantitative research and creating a solid, well-thought-out plan for the next five years of our lives.” Love at first sight: “Being born and raised in Hawaii has instilled within me a unique perspective and appreciation for cultural practices. After failing to find a passion for my original major plan of astronomy and physics, I took a step back and decided to take a course that would reflect my love for my own Native Hawaiian culture. On a whim, I took ‘Introduction to Cultural Anthropology’ with [Visiting Instructor of Anthropology] Professor [Joshua] MacLeod, and that same semester I declared my major in anthropology so that I could further explore the studies of people and cultures around the world.” Experiential learning: “At Wheaton, I’ve done anthropological work with Professor [M. Gabriela] Torres in her pro bono work as an expert witness for asylum seekers coming from the northern triangle of Central America. Throughout my time conducting research and writing with her, 6 WHEATON MAGAZINE
Tatianna Staszkow ’22 at Opening Convocation 2021
I’ve learned a lot about the ins and outs of the law and how it is applied in the case of immigration law. Studying policy analysis and how to conduct policy research allowed me to go beyond the understanding of how law is interpreted and dive deeper into the legislative processes that take place for policy and law to happen.” Future focus: “My goal is to attend graduate school and obtain a master’s degree in
public policy and a J.D./Ph.D. in anthropology so that I can take my knowledge back home. I want to participate in my own state’s systems so that I can work in Indigenous justice to maintain and obtain stronger rights for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Having a background in public policy and law will give me the tools to be a voice in my community.” —Sandy Coleman
Students explore possibilities through summer internships Students tested out a variety of careers during summer break 2021. More than 130 students took advantage of scholarships and fellowships to participate in internships and other experiences that helped them weave connections between their liberal arts coursework and real-world application. Support for many of these opportunities is provided through the Wheaton Edge, which offers guaranteed access to internship funding. Here are just a few:
Ryan Ouellette ’23, American Heritage Museum
wheatoncollege.edu/wheaton-magazine
Phoebe Nerone ’23, South County Hospital
Dhruval Thakkar ’22, Boston Children’s Hospital
Jordan Tiberi ’23, Barrington Farm School
Rachel Paré ’22, Buttonwood Park Zoo Ashley Wechsler ’22, American Shark Conservancy
Adele Rossignol ’23, Computational Behavioral Science Lab at Northeastern James Sena ’22, GSMC Podcast Network
WINTER 2022 7
AROUND THE DIMPLE
Science majors, friends earn Goldwater scholarships Jillian Riveros ’22 and Ishaan Madan ’22 are good friends who have a lot in common. The two are both Posse Scholars, first-generation college students and highly driven campus leaders. Now, they both have the honor of being winners of prestigious 2021 Barry Goldwater Scholarships. The scholarship, named in honor of the late U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, is a national award in the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics that seeks to identify and support sophomores and juniors who show exceptional promise in becoming research leaders in these fields. Nationwide, 408 were selected to receive the honor from a total of 1,256 natural science, engineering and mathematics students who were nominated to compete by 438 academic institutions. The scholarship contributes to the cost of tuition, books, fees and room and board. Riveros, a biochemistry major, is co-founder and president of the Ohm Initiative at Wheaton, which is a theme residence that strives for a more inclusive community within the STEM field. She plans to pursue a career as a physicianscientist specializing in pediatric cardiology and conducting research in cardiovascular medicine. “I feel very inspired. As a woman of color who is first-gen and has no one in her family who has taken on careers in the STEM field, it can be very challenging navigating through it,” Riveros said. “Winning this award has given me reassurance and motivation to keep going. It has shown me that I can do great things.” Madan, a biochemistry major, said he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in organic chemistry and conduct research in astrobiology with the goal of collaborating on space exploration missions for ocean world environments to understand the emergence of precursors of life. “Receiving the Goldwater scholarship is a steppingstone that will allow me to 8 WHEATON MAGAZINE
KEITH NORDSTROM
Ishaan Madan ’22 and Jillian Riveros ’22 in front of the Mars Center for Science and Technology
foster connections with other young and early career scientists,” said Madan, who is co-president of the First-Gen Theme House and president of the Pre-Health Society. Riveros and Madan point to professors and staff members as supportive mentors, and their professors speak highly of them. Riveros is a Wheaton Inclusive STEM Excellence (WISE) Scholar and was a teaching assistant in Professor of Chemistry Jani Benoit’s introductory chemistry course. “Jillian is a brilliant scholar and a remarkable leader on campus,” Benoit said. “The WISE initiative recently hired her to work out of the Marshall Center developing activities to engage first-generation students and students of color with the goals of building strong relationships among STEM students and sharing information about resources on
and off campus.” Professor of Geology Geoffrey Collins, who is a mentor to Madan, said he is impressed with Madan’s focus, initiative and entrepreneurial spirit in creating opportunities for himself. “Ishaan has strong interdisciplinary interests across the sciences, doing work in chemistry, biology, physics and astronomy. He has become well-versed in several disparate fields,” Collins said. Both students noted that the connections they have made at Wheaton have proven invaluable. “Wheaton’s small campus really helps students get connected with faculty members and these connections allow them to do things they never imagined they could,” Riveros said. —Sandy Coleman
Collaborating with NASA on conservation projects The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is best known for its space expeditions, but the agency also is engaged in work to address diverse environmental issues using its satellite images of Earth. Kezang Tshering ’22 recently honed her research and analytical skills at NASA DEVELOP, which engages in interdisciplinary projects that apply the lens of NASA Earth Observations, the agency’s satellite data, to community concerns around the globe. Her focus: using satellite data to research Asian elephant habitat in her home country of Bhutan. Tshering originally connected with the agency for a 10-week project during the spring semester. It went so well that her assignment was extended through the summer. “Being a Bhutanese, respecting the environment and sustainable living were key values I grew up with. So, I felt that the NASA DEVELOP project would be an outstanding experience through which I could learn and develop my technical and professional skill sets while working on something that I enjoy,” said Tshering, a double major in biochemistry and psychology. Collaborating with other Bhutanese students studying in the U.S., Tshering utilized satellite data to assess land cover change and model a potential corridor map for Asian elephants in southern Bhutan. The population of these endangered animals continues to shrink due to habitat loss, poaching and retaliatory killings, according to Tshering. “One consequence of the habitat shrinkage has been the increase in human-elephant conflict in southern Bhutan, which has resulted in the loss of lives and the livelihood of farmers in the region. Appropriate allocation and maintenance of suitable corridors for elephants that can facilitate their movement from one habitat to another
NASA DEVELOP
The map above is from work Kezang Tshering ’22, left, has done with NASA DEVELOP to research Asian elephant habitats in Bhutan.
without coming in close contact with human settlements can help alleviate this conflict,” she said. Tshering and her colleagues corresponded with partner organizations, including the Bhutan Foundation, regularly and produced maps and results to help inform the decision-making process of these organizations and other policymakers in southern Bhutan.
Tshering also assisted in the production of various science communication materials, including a research paper, presentation and story map. “Through this project, I developed and honed important interpersonal skills such as teamwork, communication, professional etiquette, project management and presentation ability. I gained various technical skills such as Python, cartography and accessing and analyzing satellite data,” Tshering said. The experience will serve her well in a future career that benefits from her interdisciplinary and multicultural background, she said. “I have always wanted to work in a career that would make a substantial difference in the world and this project has helped me gain such an experience.” —Laura Pedulli WINTER 2022 9
AROUND THE DIMPLE
Applause for playwright Charlotte Meehan
Charlotte Meehan’s work as a playwright has always been about holding up life and observing it in the bright spotlight of the stage. Even a random personal conversation or a simple weather report in her hands can become fodder for a play that shows something significant about human nature. In May 2021, the Wheaton playwrightin-residence and professor of English received an honor that recognizes her creativity and talent and encourages her to keep going—a $15,000 Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) Artist Fellowship in Dramatic Writing to freely use in support of her work and life. The award recognizes exceptional work by Massachusetts artists across a range of disciplines. “Being honored with an MCC playwriting fellowship this year was particularly meaningful because I applied with my new play, ‘Everyday Life and Other Odds and Ends,’ that deals with the vicissitudes of living with Parkinson’s disease, from which my husband, Steven Bell, passed away Charlotte Meehan in May 2020 after I’d not been allowed to visit him for two months due to COVID-19,” Meehan said. “Everyday Life and Other Odds and Ends” is scheduled to premiere March 12 through March 27, 2022, as part of the ArtsEmerson mainstage season at The Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theatre, located in the Paramount Center at Emerson College in Boston. The subject matter is heavy, but Meehan hopes that it can be uplifting for audiences. “Although this new multimedia play with dance deals with a debilitating degenerative disease, above all I want 10 WHEATON MAGAZINE
DAVID MARSHALL
Several of Meehan’s Sleeping Weazel productions include “Cleanliness, Godliness, and Madness: A User’s Guide” (2016) with Robbie McCauley, top, and Veronica Wiseman, lower left, and Stephanie Burlington Daniels ’97, on screen; and “The Audacity: Women Speak” (2019) with Raijene Murchison, lower right.
people to feel the strength of love and the triumph of will it takes to live with Parkinson’s and to empathize with this compressed version of the aging process,” she said. Simran Lamba ’21, who majored in film and new media studies, was Meehan’s research assistant in the early investigation of how to incorporate dance into the play. Over the years, the professor has collaborated with students, alumni and professors (especially Stephanie Burlington Daniels ’97) on Sleeping Weazel productions. “Relaunching Sleeping Weazel 10
years ago has allowed me to develop my work freely and to present the works of others that, with mine, create a theatrical landscape of my own imagining,” Meehan said. “Beginning this journey with former Wheaton students Adara Meyers ’08, Amanda Weir ’04 and Jessica Foster Norton ’09 was a great joy that moved me beyond worrying about fitting my aesthetic into the American theatrical mainstream. That was the key to my artistic freedom.” —Sandy Coleman More online at wheatoncollege.edu/ wheaton-magazine
Professor wins Whiting fellowship for research in France on slavery Professor Kim Miller won a fellowship from the 2021 Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation to support a 2022 summer research trip to France. Her focus is on the visual culture of slavery and how it is being used to teach about the past and to advocate for change in the future. “My primary geographic focus is France because of the tremendous commitment that country has made to confronting its role in the history of the slave trade. It has created more museums and memorials than any other country, including the United States,” stated Miller, professor of history of art and women’s and gender studies, in her application. The Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation fellowships enable professors to study abroad or away from their home institutions. Miller said she feels deeply honored to receive the fellowship. “Doing research is one of the best parts of my job, and the research for this project will take me to places I’ve never been before, and will allow me to study critically important issues,” she said. In the summer of 2022, Miller will visit the Atlantic port city of Nantes, which once was France’s major slave-trading hub responsible for 45 percent of the country’s slave trade, carrying nearly 700,000 Africans into slavery. She will conduct research at the Nantes History Museum, the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery and the Nantes Slavery Trail. In Paris, she will visit the slavery memorial and meet with individuals who are developing the city’s future museum dedicated to the history and memory of slavery, including members of the Representative Council of France’s Black Associations. Miller’s research will enhance the courses she teaches at Wheaton, lay the groundwork for a possible new travel course, and provide material for a scholarly article providing a comparative analysis of how the history and experience of slavery is presented in memorials
Professor of History of Art and Women’s and Gender Studies Kim Miller
Miller’s research will enhance the courses she teaches at Wheaton, lay the groundwork for a possible new travel course, and provide material for a scholarly article providing a comparative analysis of how the history and experience of slavery is presented in memorials and museums. and museums, she said. “My hope is that this research trip will greatly enhance my own knowledge of commemoration politics related to the history of slavery. It will also transform—and add to—what and how I teach. I will return from France with new visual materials, including images of sites that
KEITH NORDSTROM
have not been published elsewhere, and with fresh perspectives. This will greatly benefit my students and my own scholarly production,” she said. During the fall semester, her research was part of the new Compass curriculum for the First-Year Experience course “Storytelling and Social Change,” which she taught with C.C. Chapman, instructor of business and management. “C.C. and I designed our class around stories and narratives that have been unheard, unseen or actively silenced, and to be sure, the history of slavery and the slave trade is one of those stories. It is a story that needs to be reimagined. It is a story that is shared, in that it did—and does—impact the lives of most people in Europe and in the U.S. in one way or another,” Miller said. —Laura Pedulli
WINTER 2022 11
CONVERSATION
LEAH DYJAK
“ORCS, 2020” depicts the Old River Control Structure, which regulates the flow of water from the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya River.
Prize-worthy focus Assistant Professor of Visual Art Leah Dyjak won a $5,000 Me&EVE Grant from the nonprofit organization Center Photographic Arts Santa Fe in recognition of Dyjak’s project titled “As we play God.” The professor describes the project as “a visual investigation into infrastructure failure Leah Dyjak and environmental collapse in the fastest-disappearing land on Earth: Southeastern Louisiana.” It is a timely exploration as the region continues to experience natural disasters. Wheaton magazine editor Sandy Coleman asked the professor about the work.
Tell us about “As we play God.”
“In this photographic and field research project, I consider the poetry of material systems failure to illustrate the 12 WHEATON MAGAZINE
overlooked human errors that collide in a once-inconceivable series to produce catastrophic events, such as levee breaches. My photographs attempt to unveil the absurdity of our reliance on outdated technologies—sandbags, small-scale physical models—intended to provide remedies for impending environmental collapse.”
What inspired you?
“On a road trip from Texas to Massachusetts, while I was in grad school, I took I-10, the southernmost route. The interstate over the Atchafalaya River delta is 18 miles of concrete and asphalt suspended over the water, the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge. It is the intersection of two massively complex systems, one natural and one engineered. This visual and conceptual collision encompasses so much of what I am interested in. I knew I would come back to the region to create work. The highway is such an absurd spectacle
in the sense that you have all of this concrete, so necessary for daily living, hoisted over this dynamic, living ecosystem. “I am interested in our collective relationship to water as a life force and threat. My photographic work attempts to trace the fine line between hope and denial. I am interested in how our perception of place is derived from an evershifting ‘river’ and always-constructed ‘levee’ edge and how we can settle into a false sense of safety within the confines of manufactured landscapes. Southeastern Louisiana’s disappearance was an obvious choice.”
Are there ties to your scholarship and coursework?
“The way landscape photography historically has been aestheticized often excludes conflict, contested histories and social-ecological concerns. In my teaching and artistic work, I center on all the other
PUBLICATIONS, HONORS AND CREATIVE WORKS
Faculty Michael Berg, professor of psychology, cowrote the article “Predictors of COVID-19 vaccine intentions in the United States: the role of psychosocial health constructs and demographic factors,” published in the July 2021 issue of Translational Behavioral Medicine. Delvyn Case, associate professor of music, wrote the article “A Man or Amanuensis,” published in August 2021 Partnering with God: Exploring Collaboration in Open and Relational Theology (SacraSage Press, 2021). As a 2021 commissioned composer for the Maine Music Teachers Association, Case created “Psalms of Ascent” for flute, clarinet, violin and cello, which was premiered by Hub New Music at the association’s Quad State Conference in Saco, Maine, in October.
Francisco Fernandez de Alba, professor of Hispanic studies, in May 2021 won an Independent Publisher silver medal award for Best European Non-Fiction for his book Sex, Drugs, and Fashion in 1970s Madrid (Bloomsbury, 2021). Lisa Lebduska, professor of English, wrote the essay “Confessions in Canyonlands” published in the spring 2021 issue of The Hamilton Stone Review. Joel Relihan, professor of classics, translated Lucian: Three Menippean Fantasies (Hackett Publishing Co., Inc., 2021) and wrote the introduction and notes.
Dolita Cathcart, associate professor of history, wrote the chapter “Echoes of the History of Black Utopian Visions, ‘Black Manhood,’ and Black Feminism in the Making of Black Panther” in Afrofuturism in Black Panther: Gender, Identity, and the Re-Making of Blackness (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).
M. Gabriela Torres, professor of anthropology, co-wrote the article “Rules Matter: How Can Professional Associations Remap Intracommunity Norms Around Sexual Violence?,” published in the September 2021 issue of Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. She also co-wrote the peerreviewed research report titled “Cascading Disasters, Gender, and Vulnerability in Southwestern Puerto Rico” for the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder in August 2021. Anna Fairbairn ’22
things photographs can do, such as creating links between the viewer and urgent social issues pertaining to the collective body and the experience of climate change. Photography can connect the dots between disparate fields. I identify with the emerging field of environmental
humanities, which disrupts the divide between the humanities and the natural sciences. My work elevates crossdisciplinary collaboration with other areas of research in engineering, anthropology and geology. I find my students are increasingly concerned with locating
and Elizabeth Eaton ’23 also are co-authors on the research that was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Science Foundation. A. Javier Trevino, professor of sociology, wrote The Emerald Guide to C. Wright Mills (Emerald Publishing, 2021).
Alumni Ellen Booraem ’73 wrote River Magic (Penguin/Dial Books for Young Readers, 2021). Gregory Jones-Katz ’03 wrote Deconstruction: An American Institution (University of Chicago Press, 2021). Lesley Stahl ’63 received the Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism from The Poynter Institute in November 2021. The award is presented to an accomplished journalist whose career has made a significant impact on democracy and its institutions.
meaningful, positive ways to contribute to the world through the cultivation of their passions and intellect. I try to find ways to support them in this process.” Read more online and view a gallery, wheatoncollege.edu/wheaton-magazine WINTER 2022 13
LYONS PRIDE
Rendering of expanded strength and conditioning center in Haas Athletic Center by S3 Design, which specializes in sports and recreation
Creating a competitive edge
President Hanno announces Catalyst Fund for Wheaton Athletics An anonymous alum and their spouse have issued a matching gift challenge for Wheaton College Athletics designed to generate $6 million in support of key enhancements that will improve the student experience on campus. President Dennis M. Hanno announced the Catalyst Fund for Wheaton Athletics during a President’s Commission meeting on Oct. 28, 2021. The major fundraising initiative will create endowed coaching positions and significant renovations to upgrade the spaces where studentathletes learn, train and compete. The fund already is off to an impressive start with current gifts and pledges just under $3.5 million toward the $6 million goal. “This generous $3 million in seed funding from a longtime supporter is greatly appreciated and already is inspiring new leadership commitments to Wheaton Athletics from eight members of our community,” said Hanno. “This effort will 14 WHEATON MAGAZINE
provide Wheaton with the resources to strategically—and significantly— enhance and expand our focus on intercollegiate and recreational athletics as well as student health and wellness.” Joan McNamara Crowley ’78, who majored in American history and literature, is an early supporter of the Catalyst Fund because the goal is close to her heart. Crowley, owner of Scraggy Neck Design, was the captain of the Wheaton field hockey team during the 1977–78 season and a member of the President’s Commission from 2007 to 2012. “I support Wheaton because of my fond memories in the classroom and on the athletic field. I believe there are lessons to be learned from extracurricular activities, be it sports, art, music, theater, etc.,” Crowley said. “Engaging in something beyond the classroom gives your life balance. It is important that Wheaton continues to offer quality extracurricular opportunities.”
Gavin Viano, director of athletics and recreation, welcomes the opportunity to create a competitive edge for studentathletes as well as enhance spaces that also contribute to well-being. “When promising recruits visit our beautiful campus, we want to showcase top-notch facilities for training, recreation and competition,” Viano said. “We want to present an athletics program that is on par with the college’s strong curricular offerings. Improved facilities will strengthen recruitment efforts, helping to maintain the college’s excellent retention of student-athletes.” Wheaton varsity athletes comprise 25% of the student body. The retention rate among student-athletes is 5% higher than the overall average, and the fouryear graduation rate for student-athletes is 3.6% higher than students who do not participate in athletics. The first phase of planning upgrades to the Haas Athletic Center is well
News splash
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, has added artistic swimming to conference competition. Wheaton’s artistic swimming team will join three other schools for the inaugural 2022 season—Stanford University, University of the Incarnate Word and Texas Woman’s University, according to a September 16 announcement. “The MPSF is the perfect fit for artistic swimming,” said Wheaton artistic swimming head coach Rebecca Ercoli. “The conference was created to help support and offer more competitive options for sports [like artistic swimming] that are highly athletic and popular at the Olympic level but struggle for a voice within the collegiate realm. This inclusion helps drive home the idea that every sport can have a bigger impact.” Wheaton will be the longest-running program, the only program from the East Coast and the only small liberal arts school represented in the conference, Ercoli added. Members of the Wheaton team also welcomed the news. “I am beyond excited about being in the new conference with such highlevel athletes. It’s a great opportunity,” said Hannah Halberg ’25, a political science major.
“The best part of being in this new conference is that it allows our very small sport to begin to have a larger role in the college athletics scene,” said Sydney McClaren ’23, a biology major. “Also, it’s so special that Wheaton is the longest-running collegiate program. I hope this new conference influences other programs to rise and continue on.”
underway. The college is working with S3 Design, which is based in Braintree, Mass. The architecture and interior design firm specializes in athletics, recreation and wellness facilities. The plan calls for a renovated 1,800-square-foot strength and conditioning center that will create a workout space for varsity teams that is four times the current size. “The new strength and conditioning facility will benefit all varsity teams as
well as future generations of studentathletes at Wheaton,” said Kim Spence ’04, head cross country and track and field coach. Current planning also includes renovations to Emerson Gymnasium locker rooms and team meeting room, along with enhancements to the Balfour Natatorium, tennis courts and outdoor fields. Supporting student-athletes has been important to their success both in the
Artistic swimming team members Mia Canzone ’25, Kelsey Dolack ’23, Hannah Halberg ’25, Lauriina Heinonen ’22 and Sydney McClaren ’23
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classroom as well as on the playing fields. “Our student-athletes are drawn here because we provide them with a liberal arts education that offers rigorous academics, flexibility in making intentional decisions about their own educational course, paths to professional life as well as opportunities for competitive Division III athletics,” Hanno said. “The Catalyst Fund for Wheaton Athletics will be a game-changer for recruitment and player development.” WINTER 2022 15
CAMPUS SCENE
Back in person
President Dennis M. Hanno, student leaders and volunteers help students move into residence halls on a hot day in August 2021.
Big screen event
Students enjoy the first social of the academic year, featuring a movie on a giant outdoor screen, and ice cream and games on campus.
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Let there be light
In a time-honored tradition, incoming students gather for the lighting of candles around the Dimple during the opening weekend of the academic year.
Off to a great start
Opening Convocation marks the official start of the academic year. For the first time the event was held in the Dimple instead of Cole Memorial Chapel.
Together again Family and Friends Weekend in September provided an opportunity for everyone to mingle (safely), meet Roary and indulge in some sweet treats and fun activities. Photos by Keith Nordstrom
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Celebrating Dennis M. Hanno Wheaton’s eighth president leaves a legacy of connectedness, growth and forward momentum By Sandy Coleman
Standing in the Dimple in August during the Opening Day ceremony, President Dennis M. Hanno scanned the audience of incoming students and took a dramatic pause. “Stop for a minute,” he told them. “I want you to take all of this in. You are part of the history of this college. Think about it. For 180-some years—almost 200 years—this place has seen people come and go, and people who have been
dedicated to making a difference, making a change. And now you are part of that legacy.” His words appropriately set the tone for the 2021–22 academic year and the stage for the future as he prepared to exit Wheaton as the eighth president of the college after nearly eight years of service. President Hanno himself leaves a legacy of contributions that have shaped and In August 2021, President Dennis M. Hanno, below, welcomes first-year and transfer students to campus, marking the official beginning of their Wheaton journey.
elevated Wheaton’s mission and helped it successfully navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most challenging times in the college’s history. During his tenure, he championed experiential learning; helped Wheaton grow its influence in the world through local, national and international programs and partnerships, including in Africa and India; fueled growth in enrollment; initiated campuswide CELEBRATING, continued on Page 20
PHOTOS BY KEITH NORDSTROM
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Wheaton community pays tribute
“President Hanno brought a unique vision to Wheaton, one where students create meaningful social impact in communities around the world by combining a liberal arts education with professional training in business and related disciplines. Dennis’s championing of social entrepreneurship and innovation as ways to bring about positive change has contributed to Wheaton being a leader in this field among liberal arts colleges. I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from Dennis. I know that his influence on Wheaton will be felt for decades to come.”
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Hanno speaks in October 2019 at a ribbon-cutting for Pine Hall, Wheaton’s newest residence hall.
Imran Chowdhury, Diana Davis Spencer chair of social entrepreneurship “Dennis Hanno was exactly the right president for Wheaton at exactly the right time. His vision for how we could weather the economic storms that the college would face during his presidency, and the leadership he showed to help us navigate those waters, were keys to our great success during these challenging years. One thing I especially appreciate, and will undoubtedly miss, is Dennis’s energy. From his cheerful greetings in meetings, to his positive social media posts, to his friendly taunts of competing teams as he played softball or ran obstacle courses around campus, to the bottomless ice cream cart he hosted on the Dimple, I have found Dennis’s energy inspiring, uplifting and infectious. Both of my daughters were Wheaton students during Dennis Hanno’s time here, and for all he did for them and for the college, we are a family of Dennis Hanno fans.” Robert Morris, professor of biology “I was very fortunate to be able to join Dennis on a trip to Rwanda in 2016 and to participate in the entrepreneurship program he runs there for high school students. What a wonderful experience it was working with Dennis and the students! Dennis was tireless in his appreciation for all the hard work the TRIBUTES, continued on Page 22 20 WHEATON MAGAZINE
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Students participate in the 2017 Summer Institute for Social Entrepreneurship, which is offered in collaboration with the Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship Network. Hanno provides guidance, inspiration and encouragement to use social innovation to solve big problems.
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work around racial justice; and sought to invest in the campus—leading to the construction of Pine Hall, the renovation of Chase and Emerson dining halls, Admission building accessibility updates and the transformation of the former science center into the Diana Davis Spencer Discovery Center, Dedicated to Free Speech and Innovation. He also has strengthened local connections with neighbors and infused a sense of fun on campus by being his authentic self. On Dec. 9, 2020, Hanno announced to the community that he would be stepping down at the end of 2021, saying that he leaves with mixed emotions because leading Wheaton has been the highlight of his entire career. “I have been truly honored to lead this special place for the past several years,
but I am even more grateful for the many friendships and connections I have formed here,” Hanno wrote. “You are what makes Wheaton such a special community and what has made my time at Wheaton so memorable.” Board of Trustees Chair Janet Lindholm Lebovitz ’72 praised him for his outstanding leadership in serving students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni and friends—particularly throughout the pandemic, working tirelessly to keep the community safe, connected and engaged. “I believe that his years of relationshipbuilding and investment in making tight connections within our community fueled our resiliency during these many challenging months,” Lebovitz recently said. “He leads with such remarkable energy, has an incredible knack for engagement and an CELEBRATING, continued on Page 24
AP/TOM GILKS
Students, faculty and staff join Hanno on trips to sub-Saharan Africa (including to Rwanda, above, in 2015, and Ghana) to teach workshops in innovation and entrepreneurship.
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Hanno’s Wheaton journey officially begins at his inauguration in Cole Memorial Chapel in 2014.
Honorary degree recipient Lisa Szarkowski ’90 takes a selfie with Hanno before Commencement in 2015. Commencement is one of the many events he treasures.
NICKI PARDO
Hanno wins Burke Presidential Award
Leading the way on enriching the liberal arts with experiential education Students benefit greatly from internships, research experiences and volunteer work—when they are able to access them. During his tenure, President Dennis M. Hanno has ensured that experiential learning opportunities are within reach for every student at Wheaton. As a result, experiential learning—long part of Wheaton’s offerings—is formally integrated into the curriculum, and the college provides students with numerous ways to put their passion into practice. The extensive portfolio of opportunities for learning by doing distinguishes Wheaton among liberal arts colleges.
In recognition, The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars and The National Society for Experiential Education named Hanno as the 2021 recipient of the William M. Burke Presidential Award for Excellence in Experiential Education. The award recognizes leaders who have personally championed experiential education as essential to the undergraduate experience, established and expanded opportunities to learn through experience and promoted it beyond campus. “We are thrilled to award Dennis Hanno for his vision and leadership, which have proven critical in Wheaton College’s transformation
to an experiential learning powerhouse,” said Chris Norton, president of The Washington Center. “President Hanno is an exemplary campus leader who is unwilling to accept limitations, who seeks innovative ways to better serve students as they begin examining career paths. Congratulations to President Hanno, the college’s dedicated faculty and staff, and all of Wheaton College’s student body and alumni.” Under Hanno’s leadership, the first step in ensuring that experiential education is part of every student’s experience came BURKE AWARD, continued on Page 24
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students put into the program. He was such a great cheerleader, motivating the students and helping them to think about how their particular skills/interests matched up with the needs of their communities. Quite an inspiring two weeks for me.” Nancy Kendrick, professor of philosophy “I have had the pleasure of working with Dennis since 2007—first at Babson and then at Wheaton. I have rarely seen a more student-centric leader in my 46-year academic career. The ability to sustain this orientation throughout his career is an absolute rarity. He carried none of the ‘airs’ of executive leadership. He was down-to-earth and genuine. He spoke from his head and his heart. He rolled up his sleeves and worked side by side with his leadership team and the student community. Consequently, he could be found everywhere all the time—a critical skill set for a small school like Wheaton. His work with the community on COVID-19 represents a textbook example of leadership. The ability of the Wheaton community to have had a successful [in-person] fall term to date is largely built on the trust built among faculty, staff and students.” Leonard Schlesinger, Harvard Business School professor and Wheaton trustee emeritus “I am extremely grateful for the remarkable impact Dennis Hanno has had on the entire Wheaton community. The contribution that I admire the most is his extraordinary ability to relate to, communicate with and inspire so many students throughout his career. I’ll never forget the image of the countless enthusiastic seniors giving Dennis appreciative hugs as he handed them their Wheaton diplomas.” Mary “Polly” Bartlett Bryson ’79, trustee emerita “In March 2020, the campus got the news that we had to immediately leave and go home [due to pandemic-related safety concerns]. The sudden news left us all in shock. This occurred during my first year on campus. I had only interacted with President Hanno a couple of times. But, as I struggled TRIBUTES, continued on Page 23 22 WHEATON MAGAZINE
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After the Class of 2016 met Hanno’s challenge to reach 50% participation in their senior class gift contributions to the Wheaton Fund, the president keeps his promise to dye his hair and goatee blue.
Hanno (far left) enjoys connecting and building relationships with local neighbors at Wheaton’s annual
Questions and answers with Hanno After President Hanno announced that he was stepping down from his position, Wheaton magazine editor Sandy Coleman had a question-and-answer session with him via Zoom.
Q: What have been your most treasured moments?
A: “I love going to student events. I still remember walking home during Homecoming Fall Fest weekend back in 2014, my first year here. Sue and I went to the musical event in the chapel featuring six or seven a cappella groups. Walking back past Mary Lyon, I looked at Sue and said, ‘I think I’ve died and gone to heaven,’ because of the talent that was there and the passion that everyone who was performing had for what they were doing. We also had alumni here and it was the first opportunity to meet a range of graduates
from many classes. “I also can picture the faculty meeting when the new Compass curriculum was approved. I remember looking at the piece of paper with the vote being handed to me. I probably still have that piece of paper somewhere. All these kinds of things, when you think about what they all are, they are events and places where people came together for a common purpose and good things happening—the College World Series, academic events on campus, Commencement. Those will all stay with me forever.”
Q: What has surprised you?
A: “The level of engagement of people who weren’t necessarily here on campus—the level of engagement of alums, for example, of parents, current and past parents. You focus on the campus community—the students, staff and the faculty who are
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to figure out where I could go, President Hanno helped me figure things out. He also helped me get there and made sure that I was safe. At all times he would check in on me to ensure I had everything I needed. ... President Hanno willingly became a part of my support system, continues to be, and I will always be grateful for that.” Dalwin Corcino ’23
Hanno hands out free ice cream to students on a warm spring day in April 2017.
STEW MILNE
“President Hanno is truly a unique leader in the field of academia. He exhibits not only a strong and respectable character on campus but also allows students the space to make personal connections with him. He has been an advocate for the student body and has been an important part of my Wheaton experience, one that I will miss dearly in my last semester.” Delaney Beaudoin ’22
Community Pancake Breakfast in Emerson Dining Hall in 2019.
here and the alums—but there also are thousands of people out there with a vested interest in Wheaton College. To see how invested they stay, even though they may not have that direct connection or are not here experiencing what’s happening here every day, is awe-inspiring and shows the sense of community that exists when you are here and clearly exists long after you are here.”
Q: How have students inspired you or shaped your view of the world? A: “I’m inspired by their creativity. I’ve never been in an environment where there is so much creativity spread across so many passions that students have. My best times here have had to do with seeing students perform and present their ideas and academic work. I have always been in awe of the things they would do, the ideas they came up with, the way they pursued
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those ideas and the passion they showed for the things they were committed to. “I’ve enjoyed having so many conversations about issues that are so important to our students—whether it has been around anti-racism, social justice more generally or campus climate issues. All the tough conversations have been rewarding because I have walked away having a sense of what is important to the members of our community and inspired by their passion and ability to offer creative solutions to problems that need to be addressed. A role like mine in a community like Wheaton requires me to be a good listener. I have enjoyed listening to students throughout my time here and getting so many ideas from them.” More online at wheatoncollege.edu/ wheaton-magazine
“My first interaction with President Hanno was during orientation week. It was my first few days in the United States. I was really excited about everything, talking with everyone. He was very friendly and not intimidating at all. It was really refreshing to see him mingling with the students and having a cheerful personality. He also invited me and two other students to a baseball game. That day I learned a lot about the Red Sox and Boston culture. President Hanno really embraces the family aspect of the Wheaton community and we will all miss his friendly energy, always stopping by to have conversations with us and bringing ice cream to the Dimple.” Dolma Tsering Lama ’22 “I am beyond grateful for the relationship that developed during my senior year and for his mentorship. Thanks to President Hanno, I found my passion and the courage to take the steps to pursue it. Real interaction began my senior year of college after I was accepted into his Ghana course, which included travel to teach an entrepreneurship workshop to high school students. He brought various faculty and students together and we became a team in a matter of days. Our time spent in Ghana are days I will never forget. I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn from him and work alongside him. Thank you, President Hanno, for all you do for Wheaton. It TRIBUTES, continued on Page 24 WINTER 2022 23
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abundance of good cheer.” In October 2021, in a tent under the stars in the Presidents’ Garden, the Board of Trustees hosted a dinner celebrating Hanno. There, Lebovitz and many others, including students and alumni, spoke of his accomplishments, describing him as an advocate for the institution but also as a friend to individuals. “In 2014, you brought to Wheaton a
vision focused on innovation and growth, and a set of values grounded solidly in Wheaton’s liberal arts mission. During your tenure, the college has experienced an exceptional 10 percent growth in enrollment at a time when other colleges across the country were contracting, merging with larger institutions or closing their doors,” Lebovitz said. “You helped to introduce the Compass curriculum to further expand the definition of the liberal arts. You encouraged
the community to think broadly about academic programs and how they might dovetail with, or expand, Wheaton’s offerings,” she said. “And you heightened Wheaton’s long-standing social justice commitment to include programs in social entrepreneurship.” In the social entrepreneurship courses Hanno has taught at Wheaton and abroad, he tells students to know who they are and to take time to reflect on values and priorities. The pandemic provided him the time
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is truly a place I will consider as part of ‘home’ forever. Above all, thank you for instilling in me that leading with heart, respect and drive can get you anywhere.” Lauren Hunt ’20, graduate student at Johns Hopkins “Kendra and I would like to thank President Hanno for his endless commitment to Wheaton. Having grown up nearby, we knew Wheaton but have been amazed at how he and the Wheaton community have been so welcoming. We especially love what Wheaton is doing regarding social entrepreneurship.” John and Kendra Malloy P’22 “I’ll never forget watching Dennis interact with local families during the annual holiday party hosted with Norton Head Start. His eyes sparkled. It wasn’t just that he relished the joy of children unwrapping presents, but how much he cared about Wheaton’s relationship with and impact on the surrounding community. I have been in awe of his work in this area. One of my favorite leaders, Shirley Chisholm, reminds us that ‘you make progress by implementing ideas.’ Dennis Hanno is an ideas man. His willingness to partner, innovate and challenge conventional understanding of what it means for a liberal arts college to stoke intellectual curiosity has left an indelible mark. He has solidified Wheaton’s understanding of itself as an institution of and for changemakers. President Hanno is a stalwart champion of inclusion. It is one of his greatest changemaking contributions. He has a clearTRIBUTES, continued on Page 25
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Led by organizer Abigail Tinkham ’24, students, Instructor of Biology Deborah Cato and Hanno in September 2021 clear non-native invasive water chestnuts that threaten the ecosystem of Peacock Pond. Hanno had special blue T-shirts created for the crew of volunteers.
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with the establishment of the Wheaton Edge, which guarantees access to funding to participate in a professional or researchbased internship. He introduced the program in 2015. Experiential learning was further integrated into the Wheaton experience with the fall 2020 launch of the Compass curriculum. Developed by faculty and staff in a true communitywide effort, the curriculum helps students prepare for their post-academic futures by giving them the freedom and flexibility to create their own path to success through personalized
advising and professional mentorship. Hanno also led the introduction of social innovation and social entrepreneurship programs at Wheaton. With a $10 million gift from the Diana Davis Spencer Family Foundation, the college established a professorship in social entrepreneurship, among the first liberal arts colleges in the nation to do so. The college’s business and management program offers a concentration in social entrepreneurship, nonprofit management and philanthropy. The social entrepreneurship concentration program is complemented by a portfolio of co-curricular offerings and campus resources, particularly the Innovation
to take his own advice for self-reflection. Like many others during the global health crisis, he came to clearly see the shortness of life and what is most important. A key part of his decision to step down as president was the desire to spend more time with his family, which has grown since the start of the pandemic. Hanno and his wife, Sue, have two adult children and two grandchildren. “This is a 24/7 job, 365 days a year. My family would say that I’ve always been a
workaholic, but I also have always made decisions along the way that made it possible for family to be part of my work life,” President Hanno said. “I chose to come to Wheaton because I thought Sue and my kids could be part of the community—and they have been. Now, I really do want to have the flexibility and the time to be able to prioritize family more. “Education and higher education are critically important to me, so I will find ways to continue to be engaged. However
this global health crisis, even with all of the challenges, has provided the space for me to reflect on some of the other things I’ve been missing out on.” At the trustees’ celebration, Lebovitz raised a glass to toast Hanno and invited others to do the same, ending her tribute with heartfelt words: “Dennis, you have given of yourself to Wheaton, and that is a gift to the college of immeasurable value. ... Thank you.”
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eyed understanding of the centrality of antioppression work as an imperative for higher education and has prioritized investments in this area. Dennis Hanno has been a champion of progress and a true devotee to the Wheaton family’s original vision of eminence in liberal academic pursuits.” Shaya Gregory Poku, associate vice president for institutional equity and belonging
The president has fun at his fingertips at the Opening Day ceremony in 2017.
Spaces, a network of interdisciplinary makerspace labs that have been expanded during Hanno’s tenure. In fact, the Idea Lab serves as a center for co-curricular innovation and entrepreneurship activities. “Wheaton has a long history of combining the liberal arts with experiential education, which has always resonated with me as an extremely high-impact approach to teaching and learning,” Hanno said. “My goal has been to build on this historic strength, and I see this award as confirmation that our work as a community is amplifying that strength in ways that make a difference for students preparing to pursue their professional and personal interests.”
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Hanno’s focus on strengthening and expanding experiential education at Wheaton continues his career-long emphasis on social innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. He is the founder and head of IDEA4Africa, and he has two decades of experience educating, mentoring and helping young entrepreneurs develop their skills to solve problems and improve the regional economy. Since 2000, hundreds of college and university students, alumni, staff and professors have traveled with him to subSaharan Africa to teach entrepreneurship to high school students, community members and small business owners. —Michael Graca
“My first memory of Dennis is actually from before I started working at Wheaton: I was driving through greater Norton with my 1 month-old gurgling in the backseat one brilliantly sunny April day. I stopped at the crosswalk by the Presidents’ House to let a gentleman, who was backlit by the sun, cross the street. As I came out of my daydream cooing to the baby in the back and saw the man come into focus, I realized that the man crossing the street was donning a suit, but had bright Wheaton-blue hair and a dyed Wheaton-blue goatee to match. Then, I realized it was President Hanno! I knew at that moment what a special person and leader Dennis had to be: fun, humble, giving, open, accepting, kind to and endlessly supportive of our community—most of all our students. I learned later that Dennis had agreed to dye his hair if seniors in the Class of 2016 met a Wheaton Fund senior gift participation percentage.” Kate Boylan ’04, director of archives and digital initiatives More online at wheatoncollege.edu/ wheaton-magazine
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Welcoming Michaele Whelan Wheaton’s ninth president ready to listen, learn and lead next chapter in history By Michael Graca
Michaele Whelan likes to visit college classes. When she served as the provost of Emerson College, she started each academic year by reminding the faculty that she welcomed opportunities to visit a class, learn something new and participate in teaching and learning. She never lacked invitations. WINTER 2022 27
“We would have a Faculty Institute where all 200 full-time faculty would gather and every year I’d make my pitch about how the most fun that I have occurs when faculty invite me into their classes,” she said. “This was not for any evaluative purpose, just to visit and learn.” “And professors responded. ‘Sure I’d love for you to come visit my class.’ I visited classes on acting and breathing techniques, cinematography, crisis communications, contemporary literature, creative writing and public health—great classes,” she said. “I tried to do that every semester. Seeing students and faculty in classes gives you different and important insights into the institution.” It’s also an excellent way to gain exposure to new ideas. “Visiting new classes every semester, that’s one of my favorite things to do,” President Whelan said. For those who know her, this comes as no surprise. Friends and colleagues say that her interest in learning new things, and the speed with which she acquires knowledge, is one of Whelan’s superpowers. Whelan, who was named Wheaton’s ninth president in September 2021 following an intensive eight-month national search to identify a leader to succeed President Dennis M. Hanno, is now applying her “quick study” skills to getting to know Wheaton and the members of its worldwide community. In truth, she began preparing as soon as her appointment was announced, meeting regularly with Hanno and other senior leaders throughout the fall. In announcing her appointment, Janet Lindholm Lebovitz ’72, chair of the Wheaton Board of Trustees and chair of the Presidential Search Committee, said, “Among an impressive and highly qualified group of candidates from across the country, Michaele Whelan stood out as particularly well-suited to lead Wheaton at this moment. She is a proven leader with an outstanding track record of innovation and collaboration. Wheaton’s hallmark is its liberal arts education that combines rigorous academics with experiential learning, 28 WHEATON MAGAZINE
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Presidents Michaele Whelan and Dennis M. Hanno chat during her campus visit in October 2021.
student-centered programs and innovative pedagogy within a highly collaborative community. Michaele is uniquely well-equipped to lead the college in building on those strengths.”
Setting open-ended goals A major goal for Whelan’s presidency will be to develop and implement new offerings that help Wheaton continue to grow its enrollment and further broaden its reach. It’s an endeavor that will be familiar to Whelan. During her time at Emerson, she facilitated the hiring of 40 new faculty members from diverse backgrounds; oversaw efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion on campus; championed the establishment of innovative new majors; managed the introduction of a portfolio of global programs offered in partnership with institutions in Australia, China, France, Spain and Switzerland; and
strengthened an institute for liberal arts and interdisciplinary studies. The former president of Emerson College, M. Lee Pelton, offered high praise of her ability to bring people together around new initiatives. “Michaele is among the most brilliant academic leaders I have known in my more than three decades in higher education,” he said. “She is smart, quick thinking and astute. She is a learner by temperament—a strategic leader who knows how to get things done. Her approach to leadership involves the kind of collaboration, careful listening, creative thinking and sympathetic imagination that engenders empathetic partnerships.” Whelan’s reputation as a leader extends beyond the campuses at which she has worked, too. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the New England Commission of Higher Education, the region’s institutional accreditor for colleges and universities.
“Michaele is among the most brilliant academic leaders I have known in my more than three decades in higher education. Her approach to leadership involves the kind of collaboration, careful listening, creative thinking and sympathetic imagination that engenders empathetic partnerships.” M. Lee Pelton, former president of Emerson College
ALICIA CARLSON
Whelan speaks during Emerson College’s 2020 commencement at Fenway Park in Boston.
“She’s a very quick study, and she does her homework,” said Harvard University’s Deputy Provost Peggy Newell, who first worked with Whelan at Tufts and now serves with her on the New England Commission of Higher Education. “From her first meeting as a member of the commission, it was very clear, from the questions she asked and the issues she raised, that Michaele had read all of the materials and identified the most salient points,” Newell said. Whelan also has been a frequent contributor to and participant in educational conferences and leadership groups, including the Board of Directors for the Association of Chief Academic Officers, the American Council on Education (ACE) Commission on Internationalization and Global Engagement, the ACE Network of Women Leaders in Higher Education, the New England Resource Center for Higher Education Academic Affairs Think Tank,
and the Aspen Institute. The new president relishes the opportunity to build on Wheaton’s strengths, and said that she doesn’t see her role as arriving on campus with grand, ready-made plans to change the institution. “Leadership is about fostering a collaborative process to create a vision and plan to move the whole college forward,” she said. “And that vision will come through discussion with the entire Wheaton community. Literally everyone will have to be involved.”
Becoming a scholar The author of Travel Implies Destination (Aracne, 2010) and Navigating the Minefield: Hawkes’s Narratives of Perversion (Peter Lang Publishers, 1998), Whelan has received numerous awards, fellowships and honors, including a Woodrow Wilson Foundation Grant for Mellon Fellowships in the Humanities. In retrospect, it may seem preordained
that Whelan would pursue a career in academia. Her father, Robert J. Whelan, was a professor of German literature and language, first at Boston College and then at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, where he taught until his retirement. In fact, she remembers going to campus with her father and writing on the chalkboard as he prepared for his class. In addition, her mother, Teresa, who was a registered nurse, also taught psychiatric nursing for a time at McLean Hospital and Boston College. Perhaps more telling is Whelan’s early love of reading. Growing up in Weston, Mass., she recalls riding her bike to the town’s public library to stock up on reading material, piling books into a handlebar basket and onto a rack on the back of her bicycle. Sometimes, her curiosity and passion for reading could lead to trouble as it did in grammar school. “You were supposed to read books from the shelves that were in your grade area, but I was always rebellious, wanting to read more or different things beyond the specific books that had been selected for us. Rebellious reading was an early and frequent problem,” she said. The bookshelves in Whelan’s Somerville, Mass., home office confirm the fact that her passion for reading still runs strong. Among the volumes behind WINTER 2022 29
her desk are favorites by novelists Haruki Murakami and Joan Didion, and collections by poets Wallace Stevens, Seamus Heaney, Elizabeth Bishop, June Jordan and former U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith. When it came time for college, Whelan, the eldest of five children, decided on Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., drawn by its faculty and its founding principle that “any person can find instruction in any study,” as well as its beautiful campus located a healthy five-plus-hour drive from home. She enrolled with the idea of studying science, pre-med or psychology. While she completed most of the courses required for a degree in psychology, the pull of literature proved stronger. She talks about her time as an undergraduate with great fondness, recalling a poetry reading room visited by numerous writers, faculty members who were well-known as poets and novelists, and challenging classes. “I remember I wanted to take this class, ‘The Art of the Essay.’ I was a first-year student and the course was intended for juniors. I said to the professor, ‘I think I can write pretty well. You know, why don’t we try it and see what you think?’” she recounted, laughing at the memory. “So I persuaded him to let me take the class, and it was a great experience. “I would have happily stayed in school for another decade, which is why when I got the Mellon grant for doctoral study in the humanities, it was such great news,” she said. Whelan ended up enrolling in The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, where she earned her doctorate in English and American literature. She also met her husband, Peter Wiederspahn, who was then a graduate student in architecture and is now a practicing architect and an associate professor of architecture at Northeastern University.
Moving to administration After Harvard, Whelan took a faculty position at Pennsylvania State University in the departments of English and American Studies. During her four years 30 WHEATON MAGAZINE
Selected honors, associations and symposia Commissioner and executive committee member, New England Commission of Higher Education, 2020–present
Commissioner, Commission on Internationalization and Global Engagement, American Council on Education (ACE), 2014–2017
Participant, Aspen Executive Seminar on Leadership, Values, and the Good Society, 2004 Member, ACE Network of Women Leaders in Higher Education
Danforth Teaching Award for Excellence, Harvard University, 1996 Teaching Award, Pennsylvania State University, 1994 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Grant for Mellon Fellowships in the Humanities, 1986–1991
Jens Aubrey Westengard Scholarship, Harvard University, 1990 The Presidential Scholarship, Radcliffe College, 1990
at Penn State, she won an award for teaching excellence; she won a second award for teaching from Harvard when she returned there as a faculty member in 1995. The Cambridge campus was also where she got her first experience as an administrator, serving as assistant director of undergraduate studies in the English Department. And while it was unplanned, she found that the skills she had developed as a teacher translated well to administrative roles. “A lot of teaching techniques, such as making sure everyone in the room is heard and has a chance to speak and mediating divergent viewpoints, are directly applicable to administrative work and academic leadership,” she said. “Synthesizing emerging ideas and facilitating large group discussions
are skills that come from teaching. So whether you’re teaching or you’re running a meeting, you have a very similar mindset: be engaged, listen and value all contributions.” Having opened the door to taking on administrative roles, Whelan was soon presented with new and increasingly more senior leadership opportunities: a move to Tufts University, where she served as associate dean for academic planning in the School of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Engineering, and then to Brandeis as associate provost for the whole university. At both institutions, her work included the development of global programs and partnerships, as well as the introduction of new processes and structures to promote diversity and inclusion goals among staff, faculty and students. Ioannis Miaoulis, now the president of Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I., recalled working with Whelan at Tufts when he served as the dean of its engineering school. “Michaele was always greatly skilled in facilitating negotiations and helping all of the deans to see the big picture beyond our schools. She was a great, great team player and an excellent addition to the team,” Miaoulis said. During her tenure at Brandeis, where she finished her service as the vice provost for academic affairs, Whelan played a leadership role in launching and managing academic initiatives, overseeing preparations for the re-accreditation process, creating programs in graduate professional studies, working with colleagues on diversity, and fundraising. Whelan said she particularly enjoyed her work with the Brandeis National Committee, an organization of friends of the university with 80 chapters across the country. “It involved strategic planning, change management and working with talented and dedicated volunteers,” she said. Janice Fineman, who served as the executive director of the committee under Whelan’s supervision, said that her former boss excelled at working with the volunteers who were navigating the
process of integrating men into the organization and changing its name from the Brandeis National Women’s Committee. “She was extremely well-received when she visited chapters because she’s very articulate, and she was able to present what was going on at the university in a way that a general audience could understand,” Fineman said. For her part, Whelan attributes the success of the organization’s change to a careful and collaborative process that began with the commitment and ideas of the members and months of conversation within and among the chapters across the country.
entrepreneurship programs and the renewed commitment to experiential learning. “Wheaton has been daring, the college has taken risks and been innovative, exploring other ways of gaining knowledge and skills through experiential learning,” she said. “The faculty have been creative thinkers, reimagining the curriculum to emphasize flexibility and allowing students to create mentored learning pathways. These are all great ideas. So the questions now are how do we augment that, how do we grow, and how do we differentiate and distill the Wheaton story?” Change through collaboration Those questions are important, The value of discussion is as the college seeks to navigate KEITH NORDSTROM President Whelan and her husband, Peter Wiederspahn central to Whelan’s approach to through challenging times for leadership. In fact, she credits higher education in general and conversations with others for several of small liberal arts colleges in particular. “This college has a long and the new programs that were launched The difficulties confronting colleges proud history, and it will have a at Emerson College during her tenure as and universities include a decline in the long and promising future. I took number of college-aged students that is provost. The fruits of those collaborations included a new major in comedic this position to help advance the forecast to steepen dramatically by 2025 arts, which captured national attention college and see it thrive into the combined with ever-increasing costs and for its innovative combination of writwidespread questions about the value future. I’m doing this because ing, performance and production with of a college degree. Wheaton’s response an in-depth examination of comedy I believe in Wheaton’s mission to those pressures has been to carefully through the liberal arts. control expenses while broadening its and in the people who comprise reach to students by strategically expand“The major in the comedic arts draws its community on campus and ing its offerings. on Emerson’s strengths in the performing arts, visual arts and media, and in writ“It will take the entire Wheaton around the world.” ing, literature and history,” she said. “And community to move the college forward Michaele Whelan, Wheaton’s I would just say that it wasn’t my idea. It in this path of blending innovation and ninth president was a faculty member’s idea.” tradition. From alumni, parents and The same is true of the college estabdonors to faculty, staff and students, we’re lishment of a major in the business of always the generator of the idea; you’re the going to need the talents of the entire creative arts, a business program adapted facilitator and catalyst of the idea.” community. Everyone needs to be a part to the needs and concerns of Whelan intends to foster that kind of this,” Whelan said. performers, filmmakers and other of dialogue at Wheaton, as she works “To be the president of Wheaton is both creative professionals. to continue the development of new an exciting and humbling opportunity,” The lesson, said Whelan, is that a educational offerings that expand and she said. “This college has a long and leader’s role is not to generate all the ideas enhance the value of the liberal arts. proud history, and it will have a long and for organizational innovation and growth. The college has had success in recent promising future. I took this position to “You have to create an environment years with the addition of new interhelp advance the college and see it thrive where people will come and talk to you and disciplinary majors in public health, into the future. I’m doing this because I say, ‘Hey, I have this idea,’” she said. “It’s neuroscience, business and managebelieve in Wheaton’s mission and in the the leader’s job to create the environment ment, and film and new media studies, people who comprise its community on where these ideas can flourish. You’re not as well as the establishment of social campus and around the world.” WINTER 2022 31
Inspiring
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SAINT LOUIS ART MUSEUM
Min Jung Kim ’92 (in the forefront) observes the conservation team at work at the Saint Louis Art Museum, where she has been appointed director.
Min Jung Kim ’92 becomes first female director of Saint Louis Art Museum By Sandy Coleman Many years after the fact, Min Jung Kim ’92 still vividly recalls the phone call home from Wheaton to her father in Seoul, South Korea, when she excitedly announced that she had chosen her major—art history. “There was this long pause,” Kim said, “because I think he really was hoping that 32 WHEATON MAGAZINE
I wanted to become a lawyer or a doctor or an accountant. But art history? ‘What will you do with that?’ he asked.” “I said, ‘Well, maybe work at a museum.’ And I said that thinking, I don’t know. Yet, lo and behold, here I am having worked in the museum field for almost 30 years now,” said Kim, who also has a master’s degree in art history from Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London.
She tells this story during a Zoom interview while sitting in her office at the Saint Louis Art Museum, where in September 2021 she began her new role as the director. Kim, who was born in Seoul, is the first female, first immigrant and first person of color appointed as director in the institution’s 142-year history. Go to Min Jung Kim ’92, page 34
careers
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PENTACREST MUSEUMS
In the Pentacrest Museums’ Hageboeck Hall of Birds, Carolina Kaufman ’98 directs students to hold paper plates on their heads and draw a bird. This activity was among many opportunities for engagement during an open house organized by the Student Advisory Board, which Kaufman leads.
Carolina Kaufman ’98 broadens narratives at the Pentacrest Museums By Laura Pedulli
When Carolina Kaufman ’98 was asked to organize a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage at the Pentacrest Museums at the University of Iowa, her first thought was on how to shine a light on as many perspectives as possible. Kaufman—the museums’ director of education and engagement—soon
recruited a group of women to participate in a thought-provoking webinar series that examined the untold stories of Black, Latino, Middle Eastern and Indigenous women during the suffrage movement. “As a woman of color, I have a mission in my work in museums to broaden the narratives, representations and interpretations of our collections and the stories they tell. Through this series, audiences
heard narratives that were often undercut or eliminated from history books,” said Kaufman, who double majored in studio art and art history at Wheaton and studied abroad in Rome. The suffrage webinar series is just one example of how Kaufman carries out her mission to make museum programs and Go to Carolina Kaufman ’98, page 35 WINTER 2022 33
Min Jung Kim ’92 from page 32
Prior to this role, Kim had been director and CEO of the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut since 2015. From 2011 to 2015, she was deputy director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum of Michigan State University. She worked as managing director of exhibitions and programming for the Global Cultural Asset Management Group from 2008 to 2011. From 1996 to 2008, she worked at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, in a variety of roles, including as director of strategic development of Asia and director of content alliances, where she managed the collaboration among the Guggenheim, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. Earlier in her career Kim also was assistant curator in South Korea for the Samsung Foundation of Culture and spent one year working with Sotheby’s Korea right after graduating from Wheaton. Imagining new partnerships and collaborations has been a consistent thread throughout her career that she said she looks forward to continuing at the Saint Louis Art Museum, which is known for its comprehensive collection spanning 5,000 years of history, cultures and genres. “One of the great strengths of the Saint Louis Art Museum is the breadth of the encyclopedic collection, which provides endless cultural narratives that can continue to be told about the extraordinary ways in which we are connected,” Kim said. “And what’s really wonderful about this museum is that it is a well-established, highly regarded institution that has an extraordinary team in place.” “I recognize that I am so very, very fortunate to have been exposed to so 34 WHEATON MAGAZINE
an important bridge between this great institution, our community and the world in which we live.” Kim’s passion for art history was sparked her first year at Wheaton during a seminar course that allowed students to explore several subjects. “Culture was something that I found utterly fascinating. But, perhaps even more so, I was impressed by every one of the art history professors standing up and speaking with such passion,” she said. ‘You could tell they were deeply engaged. I remember thinking I don’t know much about art history as a subject but that passion is something that I PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SAINT LOUIS ART MUSEUM know I want some of.” Ask Kim what she now enjoys most Kim’s passion for art history about art history and working in the was sparked her first year at museum field and she answers with a Wheaton during a seminar question. “What’s not to like? In many ways, course that allowed students to art and culture as a whole are very explore several subjects. much a part of all of our lives,” she said. “Regardless of whether you are talking many possibilities. I can thank Wheaton about contemporary art or art throughfor that—for the experiences that helped out history and from different periods of me identify an area and a field in which time, artists are always looking at issues not only have I been able to study but also that relate to how we live in the world pursue as a career that has stayed with and how we might better understand me throughout my life,” said Kim. our world, and that’s been a continuum In a media release announcing her throughout time. appointment after an extensive search, “So, in many ways, everything that Charles Lowenhaupt, president of I encounter as part of a museum deals the Saint Louis Art Museum Board of with life in general. As a result, it opens Commissioners, stressed the critical up pathways in which to not only engage role the director plays at the museum, with the world but, more specifically, our especially at this point in its history as communities, in really meaningful ways. the museum seeks to deepen community I find that tremendously gratifying, but engagement and broaden inclusivity. also a continued education for me. What I “In Min Jung Kim we have found a love perhaps most about my job is that I’m director who is uniquely qualified to constantly learning. build on our rich tradition, provide “I’m learning from the artists and a worldview of art and culture, and learning from the works of art and enhance the relationship between the collection. I’m learning from my our institution and our community in esteemed colleagues and learning from this next era for the Saint Louis Art collectors and donors. I’m learning from Museum,” he said. “Min Jung’s the community members and I’m learning background, passion and energy will from partners and collaborators. It’s an further advance our museum’s role as extraordinary field.”
Carolina Kaufman ’98 from page 33
exhibitions more inclusive, accessible and participatory, according to Liz Crooks, the director of Pentacrest Museums, which includes the Old Capitol Museum and the Museum of Natural History in Iowa City, Iowa. “The women’s suffrage webinar series perfectly captures Carolina’s passion for what she does and the connections she makes. Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the core of everything she does,” Crooks said. “The enthusiasm Carolina brings to the position makes her invaluable. She shares the stories of our collections, programs and exhibits with passion and our audiences benefit greatly.” Since August 2020, Kaufman has been overseeing engagement and programs for the 130,000 objects at the Pentacrest Museums. From training the college docent team to engaging and inspiring audiences during onsite and virtual tours—she thrives at community building and forging cross-disciplinary partnerships. At Wheaton, an art history survey course taught by a team of professors, including Ann Murray, Roberta Olson and Elizabeth Calil Zarur, opened Kaufman’s eyes to a career in the museum field. “Art history courses transported me like a time traveler to a whole new area of investigation and ideas. I especially loved being challenged to look more closely, ask more questions, reflect more deeply and build a greater understanding of the human experience throughout time,” Kaufman said. Professor David Sanford—who taught Indian art—was a great model on diversity, equity and inclusion, Kaufman said. Her advisor, Professor of Visual Art Claudia Fieo, taught her the benefits of taking risks and making mistakes for better artistic results. “Her coaching still influences the way I approach ideation, experimentation, collaboration, project management and creativity in my work in museums,” she said.
“The role of engagement invites me to consider who our audiences and partners are, learn what matters to them, and find creative ways that ideas and stories from the collection can be used to inspire and evoke curiosity,” she said. Kaufman’s work has included inviting community members across the state to showcase their personal collections at the Museum of Natural History. “The response has been trePHOTO COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PENTACREST MUSEUMS mendous. The ‘My Collections’ Post-graduation, Kaufman has exhibition program has showcased people served in multiple mission-driven of all ages and professions who collect Mr. organizations. She spent more than 10 Potato Heads, vintage ceramic chickens, years with the Computer Museum and 19th- and 20th-century sheet music, Pez, MIT Media Lab’s Computer Clubhouse geodes and butter pat dishes,” Kaufman Network, an after-school program that said. “It’s wonderful to bring these stories connects underserved young people to the forefront and let audiences know with technology. that their views on collecting and collecAfter earning her master’s degree in tions matter.” technology in education and interpretaShe also leads the Student Advisory tion at the Harvard Graduate School of Board, which aims to strengthen relationEducation, she combined her interests ships between students and the museums. in museums, youth development and the In September 2021, the board organized a humanities to take on technology-focused fall open house that attracted hundreds of roles at the Art Institute of Chicago and undergraduate students. the Field Museum. Kaufman played an important role “Nonprofit institutions ended up being leading grant-funded programming called the work settings I enjoyed the most “Connected for Life: Object-based Digital because they were human-centered, and Programming to Foster Active Minds in the business to help transform lives,” for Senior Living Communities,” which she said. serves older adults and senior living comKaufman harnessed her technology munities in Iowa. Through her Old Capitol skills on day one when she joined the Roundtable and Exhibition Spotlight Pentacrest Museums. She came into program series, Kaufman also invited a this position working remotely, which diverse group of experts to explore currequired her to take time to reflect, asrent topics. sess, adapt and strategize to best engage She believes that designing inclusive audiences at a time when it was not safe cross-disciplinary engagement is not a to gather in person due to COVID-19 solo mission, but requires collaboration protocols. so that everyone can contribute. As pandemic restrictions have lifted, “If I can end my day knowing that Kaufman is spending more time on hybrid we are going in a direction of inclusive experiences developing online experimuseum experiences in and beyond the ences while also engaging with the public museum space, I know I’m doing what in museum galleries, and the university’s museums are supposed to do. It’s an inundergraduate students, on the latest credibly stimulating and creative position collections or interactive exhibits. I love coming to every day,” she said. WINTER 2022 35
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NETWORK
New Alumni Association president invites participation Kathryn ‘Katie’ Leiby Schneider ’06 hopes to encourage volunteerism
Since graduating from Wheaton, Kathryn “Katie” Leiby Schneider ’06 has embodied what it means to truly advocate for and support her alma mater. Now she is poised to make an even greater impact as the new president of the Alumni Association, which boasts more than 19,000 members. As an alumna, Schneider has proven herself the consummate volunteer through roles including nominating chair for the Alumni Board of Directors, committee member for her class’s 10th Reunion, co-president of the Wheaton College Tri-State Alumni Council, member of the Alumni and Parent Admission Committee and regional contact for the Filene Center for Academic Advising and Career Services. “I tell people that Wheaton’s impact on my life didn’t stop when I graduated. The experiences I have had as a volunteer have been integral in shaping who I am, personally and professionally, and have given me incredibly valuable relationships. As president, I hope to encourage more Wheaton alumni to join me as a volunteer and keep Wheaton as a part of their past, present and future,” said Schneider, whose three-year term began on July 1. Schneider majored in theatre studies and dance at Wheaton and received her master’s degree in nonprofit management from Columbia University. She now serves as the director of development and special events for Hope & Heroes, which supports life-saving work on childhood cancer and blood disorders at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “Wheaton’s influence on my life is woven throughout. As a student, 36 WHEATON MAGAZINE
Kathryn Leiby Schneider ’06 is director of development and special events for Hope & Heroes.
classes with theater professors Stephanie Burlington Daniels ’97 and David Fox; being able to direct a play my senior year; and my time as a resident advisor all gave me lessons and experience that I still use every day,” she said. Early during her career, Schneider worked in professional theater before pivoting to theater education nonprofit management. She eventually worked for an international education NGO, through
which she gained experience collaborating with a board of directors and highlevel donors. Around that time, she connected with her administrative advisor from Wheaton, Heather Corbett ’86, and through her encouragement became an active alumna. She soon discovered a passion for fundraising. “It was through volunteering at Wheaton that I realized that I wanted to
be professionally fully focused on fundraising and donor relationships. I’ve now been solely focusing on fundraising for 11 years,” Schneider said. “What I love about my job is that you are giving people the opportunity to impact something meaningful to them. It’s the same thing at Wheaton. I’ve been able to meet alumni who are generations older than me, learn from their experiences and help them reconnect with the college.
“I’ve also gotten to know younger alums, and watch them blossom. We all have that common experience, and we owe it to Wheaton, and I want to help them see that and connect and give back to the institution that has given to them. Also, it feels good to give back,” she said. Schneider said she is hopeful for the year ahead, and for the future of Wheaton. “With every challenge that has arisen,
the Wheaton community has continued to show its resilience and willingness to step up—from everything happening to keep people on campus safe, to the many ways that Wheaties around the world are impacting their communities. I know we have work ahead of us, but I know anything is possible and am excited for what the future holds,” she said.
Four embrace the call to serve on Alumni Board of Directors The Wheaton Alumni Board of Directors has welcomed one new alumni trustee and three members-at-large for threeyear terms. They each shared why they embraced the call to serve—as well as a little about themselves and how Wheaton has shaped their lives.
ALUMNI TRUSTEE
Priscilla Brown Carey ’74
» Majored in psychology » Assistant manager, travelers aide, Reagan National Airport; retired federal member of Senior Executive Service with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Agriculture Why I’m serving on the board: “I want to be more active in my commitment to Wheaton, and I believe that my life experience since I graduated has given me skills that can be useful in a leadership role at the college.” Wheaton influence in my life: “My four years at Wheaton made me who I am today and I am forever grateful. I left Wheaton confident that I could do anything. I learned the skills needed to be successful in the workplace and in every aspect of life.” Fun fact: “Traveling is my true passion. I am happiest when in line at an airport with a passport in hand.”
MEMBERS-AT-LARGE Andru Anderson ’19 » Double majored in anthropology and business and management » Human resources program manager, Google, LLC
Why I’m serving on the board: “My goal is to pave a better college and postgraduate experience for future BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color] students.” Wheaton influence in my life: “Incalculable.” Fun fact: “I’m great at calculus, but not good at trigonometry.”
Claryce Medard ’14 » Majored in computer science » Senior software engineer, DRUM Associates
Why I’m serving on the board: “The Wheaton campus community provided me with the tools to succeed professionally and to thrive as a person. I would like for this already great community to become even more inclusive and equitable.” Wheaton influence in my life: “Wheaton opened the possibility of a career in tech for me. The great Computer Science Department and faculty, especially my advisor
Professor Mark LeBlanc, helped prepare me well for what is needed in the market.” Fun fact: “I enjoy learning about different cultures through dance.”
Melissa Namiot ’88 » Majored in French language and literature » Senior systems analyst/release manager, Fidelity Investments
Why I’m serving on the board: “Wheaton is very important to me and as a long-serving class fund agent, I felt that being a member-at-large on the board would be a nice complement to my involvement at the college.” Wheaton influence in my life: “Wheaton empowers its students to feel comfortable having a voice and instills the values of learning from one another. It also has allowed me to feel comfortable and confident in both my personal and professional life. I am often referred to as ‘brave’ at work because I am not afraid to question why we are doing something or point out issues to senior management even if they may not be popular.” Fun fact: “Before coming to Wheaton, I had never done synchronized/artistic swimming, but I had been swimming competitively. I was the only freshman to make the Tritons and ended up graduating as one of the few fouryear athletes in my class.” —Laura Pedulli
WINTER 2022 37
CLASS NOTES
YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT
Life coach Shanita Gopie Liu ’07 in June 2021 presented the TEDx Talk “How to activate courage.” In the talk, she shared how she overcame big fears by figuring out how to call in courage. “Courage matters because every day we all have to do big and little things that we’ve never done before despite the unknowns,” said Liu, a Posse Scholar who majored in English at Wheaton. Watch her talk on YouTube to be inspired and see how she uses metaphor as a tool at https://youtu.be/857BpGzkfPg.
Making strides for Wheaton
The Run with Roary 5K in November encouraged Wheaton alumni to lace up their shoes and break a sweat for a good cause. TE
CK
COWDU AM
Top miles
Nerissa Wilhelm P’19, 68 miles Jordan Silva ’16, 66.36 miles
TEAM
OSE GO
UCE THE BR
Top miles
Social media winners, Gabrielle Ferreira ’12 and Emily Hebert ’12, for having the most Wheaton spirit 38 WHEATON MAGAZINE
Jennifer Dennison ’89, 59.18 miles Adam Beach, 38.87 miles
Class of 2016 participants Emily Bergmann, Alexandra Natale, Adam Kilduff and Zachary Marlay-Wright
Did your contact information change?
Report changes of address and email to Alumni Relations at 508-286-8207 or alum@wheatoncollege.edu.
Is your class year missing and you have news to share?
Contact us at classnotes@wheatoncollege.edu and we will put you in touch with your class secretary.
Looking to volunteer?
Contact our Alumni Relations Office to get involved at 508-286-8207.
For class secretaries: How to submit your Class Notes
By email: Submit Class Notes to classnotes@wheatoncollege.edu. Include your class year in the subject line (e.g., “Class Notes, 2001”).
Deadlines
Spring: Jan. 18, 2022 Fall: June 7, 2022 Winter: Sept. 27, 2022
Photos Annabel Snowden ’93 shared the story behind this photo: “I am up from Florida, visiting family for the Thanksgiving holiday, when I found out that Preservation Connecticut was hosting an organized tour of the Brown-Randall burial ground in North Stonington, Conn., on Nov. 21, 2021. I’ve been fascinated with early burial grounds since writing my anthropology senior thesis at Wheaton—a material culture analysis of gender and social inequalities as reflected in 17th- and 18th-century headstones. So there I was, standing in the middle of the woods, looking at early stones, and I miraculously met an alumna of Wheaton—Nancy Snider Dickinson ‘62. Nancy and I hit it off with our Wheaton bond and mutual interests and backgrounds in history, archaeology, burial grounds, etc. It was a remarkable day, and Nancy and I now have a wonderful friendship.”
Shop alumni-owned businesses year-round The holidays may be over, but it’s still worth perusing Wheaton’s “Alumni-Owned Small Business Holiday Shopping Guide,” which features more than 50 alumni businesses. Find gifts for any occasion while supporting your fellow alumni. Find the shopping guide on Wheaton’s blog at wheatoncollege.blog (scroll down to Nov. 12, 2021, post).
Amy Rowbottom ’06 is among the alumni featured.
To submit digital photos (preferred), email them as an attachment to classnotes@wheatoncollege.edu. For full guidelines, visit wheatoncollege.edu/wheaton-magazine/ submitting-digital-images. For all photos: Please supply a brief description of the event and all the names and class years of the alumni in the picture. Please note: The photos you send in must be sharp and clear. Photos that are out of focus, or that have harsh shadows, over-exposed areas or “red-eyed” subjects may not be usable. Often we receive more photos than we can use in any one issue. When this happens, we will select photos that represent a variety of class years and timely events.
Alumni recognition comes in many forms The Alumni Board of Directors is interested to know about alumni whose work deserves to be recognized or whose talents enrich our community. Please share their stories (or yours) with the Alumni Board at alum@wheatoncollege.edu or call 508-286-8207. To learn more, please visit wheatoncollege.edu/alumni
Commencement/Reunion is May 20–22, 2022 WINTER 2022 39
CLASS NOTES
Advocating for the seafood industry Morgan Bell ’14 named director of public policy for National Fisheries Institute
The National Fisheries Institute (NFI), a leading trade association for the seafood industry, has tapped Morgan Bell ’14 to serve as its new director of public policy. The organization created the role—which will focus on the interaction of domestic and global business and public policy—to meet the evolving needs of the seafood industry, according to the recent article “NFI Names New Director of Public Policy” in the Progressive Grocer. Bell, a former student-athlete on Wheaton’s women’s tennis team, majored in political science. While a student, she completed a number of government-related internships, including one with the office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. After graduation, Bell served as fisher-
Morgan Bell ’14
ies policy advisor and regional director for U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, who serves Massachusetts’s 6th District. She later graduated with a master’s degree in international affairs from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, where she focused on
international environmental and resource policy and global maritime studies. “Morgan knows fisheries, from water to table. Seafood isn’t just wild capture or aquaculture, imports or exports. It’s all of those things. Having a professional who understands that policy impacts the entire value chain is vital. I am excited to see Morgan bring her expertise and passion to NFI’s important work representing our members,” said NFI Chairman Derek Figueroa, president and CEO of Seattle Fish, in the article. Bell said she is thrilled with her new role. “With my background in government and fisheries advocacy, NFI is really a perfect fit for me. I am excited to bring my expertise and passion to the role. I look forward to continuing to advocate for an industry that is near and dear to my heart but also working with partners in and outside of the industry to develop sound fishery policy,” she said. — Laura Pedulli
AP story notes alum’s journey Claudine Humure ’17 continues path toward opening Rwandan clinic to provide prosthetics
Claudine Humure ’17 is continuing to pursue her goal of opening a clinic specializing in affordable prosthetic limbs in her home country of Rwanda. A new prosthetic that she recently received is helping her along the way and reaffirming her commitment to assist others. A September 23 Associated Press (AP) story, “Woman plans to help fellow Rwandan amputees get prosthetics,” profiles Humure’s journey from being orphaned during Rwanda’s genocide and losing part of her leg to cancer as a child to now working to make an impact in her homeland. To help support her in her goal, Next Step Bionics and Prosthetics in Newton, Mass., in September provided her with a new hightech prosthetic leg for free. “Claudine Humure has dreams of giving back to her once war-torn homeland. First, though, she needed a new leg to propel her on the next part of her journey,” the AP story notes. “The artificial leg she’s had the last four years took a beating on Rwanda’s hilly terrain. The knee joint no longer moved smoothly. Duct tape held together the socket connecting the artificial appendage to her surviving limb.” Humure majored in biology at Wheaton. Since graduating she has been working in the global health field for University of Global Health Equity in various roles. Her most recent position was as partnership coordinator. She currently is pursuing a master’s 40 WHEATON MAGAZINE
degree in prosthetics and orthotics at the University of Washington. In a follow-up interview with Wheaton magazine editor Sandy Coleman about the AP article, Humure emphasized her ongoing passion for being a changemaker in the world. “My focus in the past four years has been to raise awareness about the need to include amputation and prosthetic care services in the global health conversations,” she said. “My plan is simple—learn as much as I can about prosthetics and orthotics and take that knowledge back home to Rwanda to help improve the lives of amputees there.” She credits her Wheaton education and experiences for contributing to her success. “It goes without saying that without the education and support system I received at Wheaton, I would not be here,” she said. While a student, Humure—in partnership with Associate Professor of Biology Laura Ekstrom—used 3D printers in the college’s maker lab to design her own version of above-the-knee prosthetic sockets. Unlike current prosthetic sockets, Humure’s design is adjustable to account for growth and other daily changes in the body. In 2015, she landed a summer internship in the MIT Media Lab’s biomechanics group, where she learned more about designing prosthetics using software by Autodesk, a San Francisco-based company. She also secured an internship the following summer at Autodesk, where she improved upon her work. In 2017, Humure was among 10 students chosen from hundreds of applicants to receive a $10,000 OZY Genius Award to sup-
Claudine Humure ’17
port her work creating low-cost 3D printed adjustable prosthetic sockets for amputees in developing countries. “A huge thank you and shoutout to Professor Emeritus of Biology John Kricher for being my biggest fan and supporter from my freshman year to this day,” she said. —Sandy Coleman
Up-and-coming artist Alum finds early success in chosen field
Sophia Hatzikos ’20 humbly calls her early success as an artist “a happy accident”—but her multidisciplinary approach to artmaking has garnered much recognition due to her talent and dedication to the field. A recent article in The Hollywood Star News, “Emerging artist and Grant Park neighbor Sophia Hatzikos launches career” highlighted Hatzikos after she was designated as a Kimberly Gales Emerging Artist Scholar in summer 2021 by Portland Open Studies. Hatzikos, who double majored in economics and visual art, is a teacher of sculpture at Upper School at the Oregon Episcopal School in Portland, Ore. In her practice as an artist, she specializes in sculpture, textiles and photography, and is committed to giving waste resources a second life. She crafts much of her work from organic and ephemeral materials like eggshells, leather, seaweed, ropes, paper and clay. Hatzikos incorporated parts of the natural environment in her art, including seaweed, beeswax and sheep wool, in Wheaton’s Arts in Ireland exhibit in 2018. She describes her art as a series of experiments that incorporate the use of both raw and found materials that allow her to discover and push a chosen material’s functional and aesthetics limits, ultimately culminating in sculptures that speak to broader social and ecological issues. Hatzikos has been selected for six group exhibitions in 2021 and was in four others between 2018 and 2020, according to The Hollywood Star News article. “When [Hatzikos] returned to Portland last year, she said the city looked different to her, possibly because she was seeing it through an arts lens. She didn’t expect to have art opportunities after college, but she applied to galleries and special programs during the pandemic. ‘I had a lot of yeses,’ [Hatzikos] said, which connected her with other artists and opened new opportunities,” wrote reporter Janet Goetze in the article. In a conversation with Wheaton magazine writer Laura Pedulli, Hatzikos said after graduation she was considering a career in economic development. But the energy
Sophia Hatzikos ’20
of organizations was directed toward the pandemic and public health, areas that did not interest her. Hatzikos instead found meaningful work in art education. Recognizing her artistic ability and leadership qualities, Oregon Episcopal School offered her a position teaching sculpture—a role she assumed in the fall of 2020. While at Wheaton, she was a Projects for
Peace grant winner for a project that focused on reducing food waste (2018), was an artistin-residence in Bolivia (2019) and served as student body president (2018–20). She also was awarded the Miriam F. Carpenter Prize in Visual Art. Since graduating, Hatzikos has been an artist-in-residence in several locations, including Norton Island, Maine, and Alta, Utah. — Laura Pedulli
WINTER 2022 41
CLASS NOTES
Commencement/Reunion is May 20–22, 2022
Class of 2020
42 WHEATON MAGAZINE
Invest Today. Inspire Tomorrow. Will Coleman ’22
Film and new media studies and English double major Cee Greene ’82 Wheaton Fund for Experiential Learning recipient
“I have always had a passion to pursue a career in film. I want to learn as much as
possible to work in the industry, particularly
in screenwriting. My summer internship with
the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival provided a unique behind-the-scenes look into what it takes to run a film festival and
what drives interest and engagement. These insights will be invaluable.”
Give to the Wheaton Fund today to support the dreams of tomorrow.
Go online to learn more about how your support creates opportunities for Will and other students. wheatoncollege.edu/giving
WINTER 2022 43
IN MEMORIAM 1943
1946
Pauline Driscoll Deaver, 99, died on May 27, 2021. Pauline graduated from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in history. After graduation, she worked in Washington, D.C., and New York for a year. In November 1944, Pauline married John Deaver. The couple, who had three children, moved more than 30 times over the years. They lived in South America, the Far East and all over the Southern U.S. as well as New England and Maryland. Pauline led the Red Cross Gray Ladies volunteer group in both Fort Rucker, Ala., and Fort Hood, Texas, and she was an active alumna and advocate for Wheaton.
Doris Bestor Deffaa, 96, died on May 2, 2021. After graduating from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in history, she married the late Richard Deffaa. They were married for 60 years. Doris was a longtime member of Faxon-Kenmar U.M. Church, where she taught Sunday school. She was a member of the Clio Club, the Woman’s Club, the Loyalsock Garden Club, a life member of Beta Sigma Phi, a 50-year member and past secretary of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a past YWCA board member, and a former Girl Scout leader and PTA member.
Marion Black Kennedy, 99, died on Sept. 21, 2021, in Orleans, Mass. She graduated from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. She was recruited to work in Naval communications in Washington, D.C., during WWII. She married Richard Kennedy and they raised two children. They lived in South Africa and later Bethesda, Md. In the 1960s, Marion became a computer programmer. She enjoyed living in Orleans full time since 1980, when she and her husband retired there from Maryland. Marion received the Agnes Hopkins Life of the Church Award in 2019.
Helen Bolton Myers, 93, died on Feb. 23, 2021. She graduated from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. She was married to the late Bruce Myers. She was the executive director of The Reading Center/Dyslexia Institute of Minnesota.
Elizabeth “Libby” Hawn Tyson, 100, a former resident of Darien, Conn., for 50 years, died on July 8, 2021, in Hightstown, N.J. After graduating from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in English, she worked at J. Walter Thompson in New York. There she met husband James Tyson. Libby was a founding partner of Gallery Antiques in Darien and was active with the Darien Community Association, Parent Teachers Association, Red Cross and the Junior Leagues of Albany, Stamford, Norwalk and Washington, D.C. In 2008, Libby moved to Hightstown, N.J.
1948
1950
Mary Tonna Cocaine, 94, died on Oct. 6, 2021. She attended Wheaton.
1951
Jean Smith Osman, 90, of Rochester, Minn., died on May 17, 2020. She was married to the late Oscar Osman. Jean was a psychology major at Wheaton.
1952
1944
Diana Baldwin Dunnan, 90, died on Feb. 22, 2021. She was married to the late Weaver Dunnan. She was a history major at Wheaton. Diana served as the head docent of the National Gallery of Art when she was a young mother in the 1960s, volunteered at St. Albans School, and supported secondary and collegiate education, environmental causes and hospitals financially, most notably York Hospital in York, Maine. She was president of the Baldwin Foundation and she was a member of the Junior League of Greater Washington, Chevy Chase Club and the Sulgrave Club. Diana also was an active alumna and generous supporter of Wheaton.
Marjorie Boyle Orza, 99, died in Rye, N.Y., on Sept. 15, 2021. Marjorie attended Wheaton.
Margaret deMille Buchanan, 89, died on Oct. 5, 2021, in Rockport, Maine. She majored in psychology at Wheaton. She was married to the late Thomas Buchanan. The first part of her adult life was spent in Orange, Conn., where her occupations included piano teacher, elementary school music teacher, church organist and choir director, legal secretary and office manager. In 1992, she moved to Bristol, where she was active in the Congregational Church of Bristol and the Bristol library. Margaret knitted more than 80 winter hats every year for Caring for Kids.
Arlene Betz Benson, 98, died in East Norwalk, Conn., on July 1, 2021. She was married to the late James Benson. She attended Wheaton. She moved to Fort Riley, Kan., then to Southern California, shortly after her 1943 wedding, then back to Buffalo when her husband deployed in WWII to North Africa and Europe. She and her husband eventually became Florida residents. She moved to Connecticut in late 2017 at age 94 to be closer to family. Arlene loved to host parties, travel to Europe, take cruises, play golf and play bridge.
62 WHEATON MAGAZINE
1953
Claire Pollack Kanter, 89, died on Oct. 8, 2021. She was married to Richard Kanter, who died on the same day. They were married for more than 68 years. She majored in psychology at Wheaton. She and Richard founded the NewtonBeijing Jingshan student exchange program in China. A special education teacher, Claire developed programs for students before integrated special education programs were nationally mandated. She was the recipient of the 1983 Distinguished Citizen Award from the Massachusetts Association for Retarded Citizens. She was a music educator for the Boston Conservatory. Claire and her husband circumnavigated the world for 12 years on a sailboat before settling in Sarasota, Fla.
1955
Constance Hall Denault, 88, died in Marblehead, Mass., on May 22, 2021. She attended Wheaton.
1956
Priscilla Nalchajian Slade, 87, died on Aug. 16, 2021, in Rockport, Maine. She graduated from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She was on the college’s equestrian team. After graduation, she taught elementary school before marrying William Slade in 1960. She lived in Boxford, Mass., for 49 years. She worked for Talbots, where she won numerous sales contests.
1957
Anne Blackmer Atherton died on Jan. 11, 2021. She majored in history at Wheaton. Cherie Irwin Everett, 85, of Vero Beach, Fla., died on May 23, 2021. She attended Wheaton. Elizabeth “Tish” Villa Gibbs, 85, of Norwalk, Conn., died on July 22, 2021. She majored in art, history and English at Wheaton. After graduation, she worked as a staff writer for Good Housekeeping magazine. Tish managed four successful mayoral campaigns for her husband, Bill Collins, and served as city clerk for many years. She also worked as a grants coordinator at Norwalk Community College. Tish was the volunteer executive director of the Norwalk/Nagarote Sister City Project. In 2018, she and her husband were honored by the Connecticut Citizen Action and Research Group, receiving The Nancy Benedict Social Justice Award.
1958
Marion Arnold Harding, 84, of Rockport, Mass., died on Oct. 22, 2020. Marion graduated from Wheaton with her bachelor’s degree in art history. Marion worked in the Education
Department of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She married Lawrence Harding in 1960, and they moved to Philadelphia. There, she continued her career at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The couple moved back to Cape Ann to start their family. She was an active community volunteer participating in the PTO, the American Red Cross and the Rockport Garden Club, among many others. After raising her children, Marion worked for the Cape Ann Museum.
1959
Mary “Mimi” Andrews Chenoweth, 83, died on July 18, 2021. She majored in U.S. history at Wheaton. She did public relations work in Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., before marrying Donald Bain and moving to Denver in 1962. After Donald died, she married William Chenoweth. She served on boards at Graland Country Day School and Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood.
1960
Champ Roberts Johnson, 83, died in Richmond, Va., on Aug. 25, 2021. Champ lived an exciting life, including time in San Francisco and Madrid, but Paris was always her favorite city. After settling back in Richmond, she taught fifth-grade girls at Collegiate School and will be remembered fondly for sharing her love of literature. She also thrived as a registrar at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Champ’s optimistic, curious and creative spirit attracted friends of all ages, and she loved her time in book clubs and the Three Chopt Garden Club. Emily “Thellie” Walker Jones, 83, died on Aug. 17, 2021. She graduated from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and received master’s degrees from both Simmons College (1981) and Dartmouth College (1993). Thellie’s life was full of adventure, traveling the world and befriending people of all backgrounds. She and husband Sam started Bush Galleries, which promoted and sold original art from children’s books. Her real love was her family and those in the community she served. Thellie welcomed countless international students and people into her home. Susan Walden Wieland, 83, of Atlanta, Ga., died on June 28, 2021. She majored in psychology at Wheaton. In 1963, she married John Wieland. After living in Carrollton, Ga., Susan and John arrived in Atlanta in 1971 with two children in tow. Over the decades, she chaired the boards of Communities in School (formerly Exodus, Inc.), Families First and
Literacy Action. Susan loved to travel and sail. With John, she began to collect contemporary art and managed their collection for years. She has been recognized by the Points of Light Foundation, the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers, 11 Alive’s Community Service Award and the Atlanta History Center. She and John were named Philanthropists of the Year in 2005. They received the Tocqueville Award from United Way in 2006. Wheaton recognized Susan with an Alumni Achievement Award in 2008.
1961
Constance “Connie” Euler Spencer, 82, of Carmel, Calif., died on Aug. 11, 2021. After graduating from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in English, she worked at Lord and Taylor before becoming a teacher at The Town School in New York City. She married Bob Spencer in 1963 and settled in Menlo Park, Calif. In addition to being a loving wife and devoted mother, Connie poured her heart into a lifelong group of friends by organizing backyard water volleyball games, hosting lively dinner parties, instructing tablemates on how to do “The Laugh,” and planning the next “Stitch and Bitch” gathering. Connie loved the 49ers, Giants and her family. Later in life, Connie moved to Carmel.
1962
M. Judith McNamara Bland, 82, of Chestnut Hill, Mass., died on Sept. 17, 2021. She was married to Bob Bland. Marjorie majored in psychology at Wheaton. She showed her fortitude and determination by working several jobs to pay her way through school. Her challenges in earning her degree inspired her to support others in their educational pursuits. She created the Emergency Discretionary Fund at Wheaton to support students who experience sudden financial setbacks. She became a reading specialist at Dedham Country Day School for 17 years. She loved tennis, bridge, quilting and gardening. Katharine “Katie” Hammond Cady, 80, died on May 18, 2021. After graduating from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in economics, she worked in financial firms in Denver. She moved to Anchorage, Alaska, in 1968, where she worked in finance and at Alyeska Ski Resort, and met Fred Cady. They were married in 1970 and moved to Christchurch, New Zealand. They lived there until 1980, while Katie continued working and her daughter was born. They then moved to Bozeman, Mont., where Katie became
an active volunteer in local schools and groups supporting the environment, women’s rights and equitable health care. She loved tennis, hiking and cross-country skiing.
1963
Stephanie Wotka McDonald of Chesterfield, Mo., died on July 30, 2021. Stephanie attended Wheaton.
1965
Eleanor Weitzman Rosenthal died on Aug. 11, 2021. She double majored in philosophy and religion at Wheaton.
1966
Barbara Jean Hayes DiPadova, 77, died on May 19, 2021, in Corona, Calif. She was a history major at Wheaton. She worked as an education administrator for many years at Wheaton. She later worked at the University of New England. Her jobs included being assistant dean of students, assistant to the president of the college and administrative assistant. Barbara and her husband, Theodore, met at the University of New England. She loved knitting, crafts, gardening and cooking.
1968
Judith Leonard, 73, of Ben Wheeler, Texas, died on Aug. 1, 2020. She majored in physics at Wheaton.
1969
Elizabeth Glatfelter, 74, died on Sept. 5, 2021. After graduating from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in English, she graduated from The School of Visual Art and The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. Elizabeth lived in Toronto, Brooklyn and Barto, Pa., where she began a career as a decorative painter of residences and furniture, before settling in Chestnut Hill, Pa. In the mid-1990s, she began a decades-long passion for jewelry and printmaking. Elizabeth served as president of her family’s charitable foundation.
1970
Martha English, 73, of Brewster, Mass., died on Sept. 16, 2021. After she graduated from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in English, she received her master’s degree in English from Boston University. She worked at the Gillette headquarters and retired from State Street Financial in 2001 and moved to Brewster. During Martha’s retirement years, she took to painting Cape Cod scenery. Laura MacNaughton, 72, died on May 11, 2021, in New York. She attended Wheaton.
1971
Susan Cullen Hamilton, 72, died on July 17, 2021. She graduated from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in government. Susan was the director of international relations at Harvard Business School. Early in her career, she assembled a team of professionals who traveled throughout Europe to raise millions of dollars for international and planned giving. Susan also was known for her approachable personality, impeccable fashion sense and affinity for tasteful perfumes. In her spare time, Susan enjoyed calligraphy, reading, gardening, needlepoint and relaxing trips to Nantucket.
1980
Anne Wellington Lane, 62, of Seminole, Fla., died on Feb. 26, 2021. She was an English major at Wheaton.
1984
Susan McGrath Larcom died on Oct. 18, 2021. She was the wife of Robert Larcom for 33 years. She was an art history and German double major at Wheaton. At Bridgewater State University, Susan earned two master’s degrees in special education and reading. Susan taught special education at the Masie Quinn School in West Warwick, R.I., before becoming a program administrator working with children with special needs. She was proud of her work and maintained that all students have a right to develop to their maximum capabilities.
1990
Tracy Maranchie Gallagher, 52, of East Falmouth, Mass., died on Sept. 11, 2021. Tracy earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Wheaton. She earned her doctor of chiropractic degree at New York Chiropractic College. She married Sean Gallagher in 1992. Tracy and her husband built their practice, Gallagher Family Chiropractic, in Falmouth, where she treated patients for more than 25 years. She enjoyed playing and teaching music. As an accomplished award-winning fiddler, she traveled around New England and Canada competing and performing with her family. She also played in the Young People’s Symphony in Springfield, Mass.
1995
William Galvin, 51, died in Lowell, Mass., on July 13, 2021. He attended Wheaton and spent the rest of his life in the Boston area, working first as a teacher and most recently for the Novanta Corp. One of William’s greatest gifts was his mellifluous baritone voice. His singing career began in the Men and Boys Choir at Christ Church Greenwich. He continued to sing in
college as a member of Wheaton’s a cappella group, The Gentlemen Callers.
1999
Aisha Bugg, 46, died on Sept. 23, 2021. She attended Wheaton, where she showcased her beautiful singing voice alongside the Wheaton Whims a capella group. Amy Lydon, 44, of Easton, Mass., died on Aug. 20, 2021. Amy double majored in Hispanic studies and psychology at Wheaton. She also held a master’s degree in education from Lesley University. Amy traveled extensively and loved to document her travels through photography. She was a muchloved science teacher at O’Donnell Middle School for 15 years.
Relatives
1953 Richard Kanter, husband of Claire Pollack Kanter, in October 2021 1954 James Fleming, husband of Charlotte Vercoe Fleming, in April 2020 1957 Alex Polson, husband of Dianne Polson, in May 2021 1958 George White, husband of Josephine Volkening White, in August 2021 1959 Stephen Ulman, husband of Martha Heck Ulman, in July 2021 1959 Robert Groover, husband of Ann Mulder Groover, in July 2021 1959 Lewis Kay, husband of Jo Ann Feldman Kay, in March 2021 1970 Pauline Driscoll Deaver, mother of Nell Deaver Anton, in May 2021 1971 John Geraghty, husband of Jean Freeze Geraghty, in July 2021 1981 Elizabeth Paparello, mother of Kimberly Paparello Vaccari, in May 2021 1984 Janet Stackpole, mother of Kerin Stackpole, in February 2021 1988 John Barrett, husband of Hayley Dalton Barrett, in August 2021 1990 Roger Jenks, father of Susan Jenks Beard, in August 2021 1992 Roger Jenks, father of Lauren Jenks Dews, in August 2021 1992 Priscilla Nalchajian Slade, mother of Julie Slade, in August 2021 1996 Henry Lincoln, father of Edward Lincoln, in July 2021 1996 Katharine Hammond Cady, mother of Elizabeth Cady, in May 2021 1997 Barbara Jean Hayes DiPadova, mother of Mark Tramontana, in May 2021 2000 Lawrence Merrifield, father of Alisa Merrifield Saunders, in September 2021 2007 Mark Peel, father of Benjamin Silverton-Peel, in June 2021
WINTER 2022 63
PERSPECTIVE
Eliza’s carriage gets a makeover
President Dennis M. Hanno, Director of Archives and Digital Initiatives Kate Boylan ’04, former Norton Board of Selectman Bob Kimball, Norton Historic District Commission member Samuel Arena and Amish craftsman Paul Stoltzfus helped take Eliza’s carriage from before (above) to after.
KEITH NORDSTROM
Eliza Wheaton’s carriage sparkled in the sunlight as it sat in the parking lot at the Presidents’ House one morning, surrounded by admirers at a staff kickoff event. After being off road and tucked away for decades, this 19th century vehicle looks brand new, thanks to an extensive restoration project initiated by President Dennis M. Hanno that involved a collaboration with the college archivist, local residents and a skilled Amish carriage maker in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Wheaton’s ride was 64 WHEATON MAGAZINE
manufactured by Brownell & Burt of Taunton, Mass., in the 1800s. “From what we can determine from reading her [transcribed] diaries, the carriage was purchased in 1876,” said Kate Boylan ’04, director of archives and digital initiatives. “Eliza and the family used the ‘buggy’ for transportation and errands. Eliza would often hold meetings while riding in the carriage.” Hanno, who has lived in her residence since becoming president in 2014, noted why it was important to spruce up the carriage.
KEITH NORDSTROM
“This carriage was a big part of her life, just like this house is,” he said. “We preserve the house because it was a big part of her life and the history of the college. Here’s another slice of it. It is rare for something like this to even still be around. The restoration is in honor of her and the fact that she was a woman way ahead of her time.” —Sandy Coleman Go online to read the full story and see a gallery of images at wheatoncollege. edu/wheaton-magazine
Planning the future.
William Walsh
“Wheaton changed the trajectory of my life, starting with the generous scholarship that I received. I loved the campus from the beginning and I treasure the friendships I developed that are still ongoing. What continues to impress me about Wheaton is its holistic approach to education—the rigorous academics, the arts, the makerspaces and plentiful extracurriculars. Thanks to the education I received, I was well prepared to pursue other great opportunities, including graduate school at Cornell University. My entire career has been centered on financial aid at Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT]. So, I am passionate about the importance of scholarships, and that led me to create a named Wheaton Fund scholarship and to include Wheaton in my estate planning. I have eight grandchildren, and if every one of them went to Wheaton, I would be very happy. You can go anywhere with a Wheaton education.”
Susan Anthony Wilson ’71
Retired associate director of student financial aid and resource development at MIT
Giving possibility.
For information, call the Office of Gift Planning at 508-286-3391 or visit giftplanning.wheatoncollege.edu.
Wheaton College, 26 E. Main Street, Norton, MA 02766 wheatoncollege.edu
Invest Today. Inspire Tomorrow. Wheaton Fund donor and volunteer
“My heart will always be at Wheaton. When I started, liberal arts was still a new concept for my family, which mostly knew college for trade. However, I vividly remember my parents dropping me off at Young Hall and having a conversation with me about not learning a trade but instead learning how to learn, how to communicate, how to write and how to open my mind. I embraced those words and followed the calling that led to my current career. Without a lot of financial aid, I wouldn’t have been able to afford my Wheaton education. During the past 25 years, I have served in many roles as a volunteer, including as class vice president and a member of the LGBTQ Steering Committee and Alumni Board of Directors. Since graduating, it has been important for me to contribute as much as I can to the Wheaton Fund each year. I want to support students in need the way other alumni helped me.”
Adam Bart ’96
Wheaton Fund Your investment today inspires the dreams of tomorrow.
Learn more at wheatoncollege.edu/giving.
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Senior executive director of USC Associates and director of major gifts, University of Southern California