Wilson Magazine - Fall 2015

The State of

education Wilson faculty and graduates discuss the important issues and personal challenges of education today

Students Study Abroad in China | Good News on Enrollment President's Report | MFA Program Begins | An Australian Narrative volume 88 | FALL 2015 | number 3

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3 Days | 3 Ways | TRIPLE THE IMPACT ONLY Wilson Fund gifts or pledges dated Nov. 16-18 will be TRIPLED!

STEP UP TO THE

CHALLENGE MAKE YOUR GIFT TODAY - Make your gift online at wilson.edu/makeagift -

- Call 717-262-2010 (pledges must be payable by Dec. 31, 2015) -

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volume 88 | FALL 2015 | number 3

FEATURES

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16 The State of Education No Child Left Behind. Common Core. A roundtable discussion of these and other current education topics was held with Wilson education faculty and alumnae/i.

Read the transcript and meet some Wilson alumnae who have dedicated themselves to teaching careers.

26 “Narratives Matter”

By Coleen Dee Berry Lucy Pritchard Frost ’63 has devoted her career to giving voice to the women pioneers and female convicts who helped settle her adopted country of Australia.

12 2013-14 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

AROUND THE GREEN 30 Everything (In Art) Is Connected Wilson’s new Master of Fine Arts program begins this summer with a four-week intensive course of study.

32 A SWUFE "Summer Camp" Two Wilson students study abroad in Chengdu, China, this summer under a new exchange agreement.

34 Remains Of The Past A summer course in archaeology takes students to a Chambersburg cemetery.

36 First Pitch New men’s soccer coach Caleb Davis leads the inaugural program, plus Wilson’s fall sports roundup.

ALUMNAE/I 40 Alumnae Association AAWC President’s Letter, fiscal report, Ring-It-Forward ceremony, creating the Silver Lining Fund, AAWC trips.

43 Class Notes 62 In Memoriam

26

DEPARTMENTS

02 Letter from the Editor

12

03 Wilson News Enrollment is up; a new Lenfest Challenge is announced; the Reimaging the John Stewart Library project meets its fundraising goal; the Board of Trustees welcomes three new members; the Hankey center has a new exhibit and a new project; Wilson has a new chaplain; the Fulton Farm has a new composting partner; Wilson adds a new Bachelor of Science degree in nursing (BSN) program, the fall lecture series talks about climate change and the apocalyptic.

ON THE COVER Spotlight on the state of education today.

09 Alumnae/i News Literary notes on two new alumnae authors; meet the Franklin Scholarship winner; Robin Weaver ’76 elected Women’s National Republican Club president; a cappella group members sought; a Wilson visit in Connecticut.

38 Hidden History

By Leigh Rupinski Restoring the portraits of Sarah Wilson and the Rev. James Wightman.

64 Last Word A lifelong learner advises: “So give it a try!”

STAFF

WILSON MAGAZINE COMMITTEE Coleen Dee Berry, Managing Editor Mary F. Cramer ’91, Alumnae Association President Amy Ensley, Director of the Hankey Center Marybeth Famulare, Director of Alumnae/i Relations Lisbeth Sheppard Luka ’69, Alumnae Association Cathy Mentzer, Manager of Media Relations and College Editor Camilla Rawleigh, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Brian Speer, Vice President for Marketing and Communications Kendra Tidd, Graphic Designer Courtney D. Wolfe ’12, Class Notes Coordinator Judy Kreutz Young ’63, Alumnae Association Wilson Magazine is published quarterly by the Office of Marketing and Communications and the Alumnae Association of Wilson College.

Send address changes to: Wilson College Alumnae/i Relations, 1015 Philadelphia Ave., Chambersburg, Pa. 17201-1279, 717-262-2010 or mag@wilson.edu.

Opinions expressed are those of the contributors or the editor and do not represent the official positions of Wilson College or the Alumnae Association of Wilson College.

— letter from the —

editor A

PHOTO BY JAMES BUTTS

Brian Speer Executive Editor Coleen Dee Berry Managing Editor Kendra Tidd Design Cathy Mentzer College Editor Courtney D. Wolfe ’12 Class Notes Coordinator Contributing Writers Coleen Dee Berry, Samantha Burmeister, Gina Gallucci-White, Cathy Mentzer, Leigh Rupinski, Brian Speer, Courtney D. Wolfe �12 Contributing Photographers Coleen Dee Berry, James Butts, Jeff Jacobsen, Matt Lester, Cathy Mentzer, Ryan Smith, Brian Speer, Bob Stoler, Kendra Tidd Cover Photo by: Brian Speer

utumn is now synonymous with back to school. Across the nation as summer wanes, everyone from kindergarteners to college students, parents to educators, turns their attention to matters of the classroom.

For the fall edition, Wilson Magazine decided to take a look at how our alumnae/i who work as educators view the state of education in America today. Lynn Newman, chair of the education department, led Wilson education faculty members and alumnae/i in a roundtable discussion on issues such as No Child Left Behind and Common Core, among other topics. Read the edited transcript of this thought-provoking discussion— along with profiles of four Wilson alumnae who are dedicated educators—beginning on page 16.

Fall also brought more excellent news for Wilson— enrollment figures are up, fundraising for the library project is complete and a new Lenfest Challenge is planned.

Find more information in the News section, and don’t miss the annual report by Wilson President Barbara Mistick on page 12.

Looking back on this past summer at Wilson, the College saw the inaugural session of the new Master of Fine Arts Program, a summer archaeology course that went to a local cemetery and Wilson students undertaking study abroad in China. Check out these stories in the Around the Green section.

This issue also catches up with alumna Lucy Pritchard Frost ’63, who has spent more than four decades in Australia and Tasmania, chronicling the lives of both the early female pioneers and the women convicts who settled in those lands. Read about her fascinating career on page 26.

Just after the magazine went to press, the College held a celebration to rededicate the John Stewart Memorial Library and to spotlight an environmental sculpture created on the campus green by renowned artist Patrick Dougherty. Check Wilson’s webpage and social media sites for coverage of these two landmark events (#CelebrateWilson) and look for full coverage in the winter edition of the magazine.

There’s a lot to look forward to, so read on and enjoy!

Coleen Dee Berry Managing Editor

CONTACT US: Wilson Magazine mag@wilson.edu 717-262-2607 www.wilson.edu/magazine Alumnae Association aawc@wilson.edu 717-262-2010 www.wilson.edu/aawc Office of Alumnae/i Relations alumnae@wilson.edu 717-262-2010 www.wilson.edu/alumnae

Editor’s Note: Wilson Magazine would like to acknowledge the generous gift of Dr. Dorothy Anne Miller ’52 and Esther Wood, who donated the Wilson Jensen ring that belonged to Mildred Savacool ’36 (Esther’s older sister) to the C. Elizabeth Boyd ’33 Archives. The ring was featured in the Hidden History article in the summer 2015 edition.

You can read Wilson Magazine online at:

www.wilson.edu/wilsonmag

FPO

Class notes are not published online for privacy reasons.

If you would like to receive a PDF of the class notes, please email Wilson Magazine at mag@wilson.edu.

PHOTO BY KENDRA TIDD

WILSON NEWS

Wilson welcomed its largest incoming class in 46 years this fall.

WILSON ENROLLMENT

GROWTH CONTINUES

W

ilson College has experienced its second year of enrollment growth under the College’s comprehensive Wilson Today plan, making this year's incoming class the largest since 1969. A total of 923 students are enrolled for the fall semester, an increase of more than 21 percent over fall 2014.

The traditional undergraduate college has added 166 new students—first-year and transfer students—a 15 percent increase from last fall. This class represents 16 states, 12 countries and six continents.

“It is wonderful to see the continuing growth in enrollment at Wilson. This result is a product of the entire campus community working together to make the initiatives of the Wilson Today plan a reality,” said Wilson President Barbara K. Mistick. “Now, with two large classes, you can feel a new energy on campus. And the diversity in our student body truly enhances the Wilson experience for everyone.”

College officials credit the initiatives of the Wilson Today plan for the increase in enrollment. Approved in January 2013, the plan includes a tuition reduction and student debt buyback program, new career-oriented academic programs, campus improvements, coeducation in all programs and improved marketing and retention efforts. As part of these efforts, the College placed an emphasis on creating a transfer-friendly environment, which has more than doubled the number of transfer students enrolling since 2013.

The largest increase at the College is seen in graduate study, with 234 students enrolled across six degree programs—a 54 percent increase over fall 2014. Wilson’s graduate degree programs include accounting, education, humanities and, new this past year, nursing, fine arts and healthcare management for sustain-

ability. The Adult Degree Program—for those who’ve been out of high school for at least four years—saw an increase of 19 students this fall for a total of 292 students enrolled.

“People most often think of traditional-age students when they think of Wilson, but we really serve a much wider community,” said Mistick. “And they all play an important role in the financial stability of Wilson, as well as impacting the local economy.”

Wilson College has its largest enrollment in the traditional undergraduate program, made up of primarily residential students, since 1973. This year, 397 are enrolled in the traditional undergraduate college, a 15 percent increase of students from a year ago. Men now represent 15 percent of this population and 17 percent of the total enrollment.

“The changes at Wilson, from coeducation to new career-oriented programs like special education certification, health and physical education and nursing, have led more students to look at Wilson. And Wilson’s recent reduction in tuition has been attractive to parents as well,” said Wilson Vice President for Enrollment Mary Ann Naso. “The hard work and dedication of our program directors, recruitment staff, coaches, faculty, staff and students has made our continued growth possible.”

Wilson’s continued enrollment increase stands in contrast to national enrollment trends. Based on the most recent data available, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported a decline of 1.3 percent in higher education enrollment nationally for 2014, while showing a modest 1.6 percent increase at private, four-year colleges. Since 2013, Wilson has seen a 28.8 percent increase in traditional undergraduate enrollment, with a 39.4 percent increase overall. —Brian Speer

fall 2015 03

WILSON NEWS WILSON OFFERS NEW

NURSING MAJOR FOR FALL TERM A year after the successful launch of bachelor’s and master’s degree programs for existing registered nurses, Wilson College added a new Bachelor of Science degree in nursing (BSN) program this fall.

The Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing gave preliminary approval for Wilson’s new BSN program on June 25, but the College could not begin enrolling students until final approval, which came July 15 after a site visit. As of the add/drop date in September, 22 students had enrolled in the BSN program.

Although a bachelor’s degree is not required to become an RN, the health care industry is moving in that direction, according to Carolyn Hart, program director for Wilson’s Department of Nursing. “Generally, registered nurses with at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing will have better job prospects than those without one,” she said.

Nursing is the among the programs most requested by college-bound students nationwide, according to Wilson’s admissions

office. “The need for well-educated nurses continues to grow, with opportunities for employment steadily increasing,” Hart said.

Wilson’s new BSN program will include an emphasis on liberal arts. The College’s interactive practice labs will give students handson experience with procedures such as IV therapy, wound care and physical assessment, according to Hart.

In addition, students enrolled in the program will benefit from Wilson’s partnership with several area health care organizations—including Summit Health, Keystone Health and Menno Haven—that have agreed to provide clinical sites where students can work with patients and put what they learn in the classroom into practice on actual patients. “That will make our graduates much more skilled, much more confident and achieve better outcomes for the patient,” said Hart.

—Cathy Mentzer

NEW CHAPLAIN BRINGS CHANGE In mid-August, Wilson welcomed its new Helen Carnell Eden chaplain, the Rev. Emily Morgan. Most recently, she served as young adult ministry specialist at the Presbyterian Mission Agency in Louisville, Ky. She received a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2013 and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 2014.

As Wilson’s chaplain, Morgan says she will strive to forge close, personal relationships with students. She also has an interest in teaching—in addition to her M.Div., she has a Master of Arts in Teaching from Princeton. Her bachelor’s degree from Drury University in Missouri is in history.

“My goals are to connect with students, listen to them, understand where they’re coming from, be there for them and provide meaningful programs for them, working with other departments,” said Morgan. “I’m also hoping to get more connection from this campus to faith communities [in the Chambersburg area].”

While at Drury, Morgan thought about teaching anthropology and mythology, but that began to change in her junior year when

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she participated in a study-abroad program in Greece. On her last day in Volos, as she sat on a pier contemplating the experience, she “realized I didn’t want to go back and have the same kind of life as before—that there was something missing.” From there, she began her journey toward the ministry.

Morgan will continue to oversee Wilson’s Habitat for Humanity and Curran Scholars programs, as well as groups like Fiber Fellowship and Agape and traditions such as the Blessing of the Animals. But she also wants to make some changes. She prefers a less formal atmosphere in the weekly chapel services and wants to bring in more outside speakers.

Morgan hopes to bring people of different faiths together to improve understanding. Since her early undergraduate years, Morgan has supported LGBT advocacy, anti-racism efforts and interfaith education. “I really do believe that we have more in common than [differences]. That’s the reason I became a college chaplain,” Morgan said.

Morgan has offered to serve as adviser to Wilson’s Allies organization and the drama club. —CM

NEW LENFEST CHALLENGE PLANNED Marguerite Brooks Lenfest ’55, one of Wilson’s most generous supporters, has once again affirmed her confidence in the Wilson Today plan by pledging $500,000 toward a matching challenge to the Wilson Fund.

17 or 18. Please note in the memo portion that this is for the 2016 Lenfest Challenge.

The new Lenfest Wilson Today Challenge kicks off in November with a “triple play”—all gifts or pledges to the Wilson Fund will be tripled on the first three days of the challenge, Nov.16-18. After those three days, all gifts will be matched dollar for dollar. The challenge will continue until the $500,000 is raised.

Marguerite Lenfest offered a $3.6 million match for the Reimagining the John Stewart Library project on Feb. 1, 2013, and in one year, that match was completed. In 2015, Lenfest offered a $300,000 dollar-for-dollar match for the Wilson Fund.

Those interested in tripling the impact of their support can make their gift online at www.wilson.edu/makeagift from Nov. 16-18; call the advancement office at 717-262-2010 on those days; or send a check, which must be dated Nov. 16,

Marguerite Lenfest and her husband, Gerry, are longtime supporters of Wilson College.

Over the years, the Lenfests have supported Wilson’s annual fund and generously contributed to the unrestricted endowment, student scholarships, faculty development, Women with Children program and facilities renovations.

—BDS

HANKEY CENTER RECEIVES GRANT The Hankey Center recently received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in conjunction with the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), to use the Shared Shelf database platform to store and share digital collections from the C. Elizabeth Boyd ’33 Archives.

The $2.2 million grant will be shared among the 42 members of the CIC Shared Shelf Consortium. The grant will provide a subscription to the software and funds for Hankey Center Director Amy Ensley and College Archivist Leigh Rupinski to attend three annual users conferences to share ideas and collaborate with other members of the consortium.

Shared Shelf is a sophisticated database that is used to tag, organize, catalog, preserve and share unique collections of digital artifacts. The goals of the project are to improve teaching and learning at liberal arts colleges and to allow faculty members at small institutions to collaborate in both scholarship and teaching through the use of these collections.

“This is particularly important to Wilson because our collections include a valuable mix of unique sources providing insight into women’s academic and professional lives during the first generation of college-educated women and beyond,” said Ensley. “Our

collection also includes materials that provide important contributions to our understanding of events of national significance.”

Shared Shelf will allow the Hankey Center to combine its historic photographs and documents with oral histories into dynamic Web -based packages. The first Wilson collection to be shared on the new platform will be the papers and letters of Patricia Vail ’63. Vail was a volunteer for the Mississippi Freedom Project during the summer of 1964 when three civil rights workers disappeared and were later found murdered by the Ku Klux Klan.

The second collection to be shared will be the papers and memorabilia of Elizabeth McGeorge Sullivan ’38. Sullivan was a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) pilot during World War II and ferried planes from factories to military bases throughout the United States and Canada.

In addition to content created by Hankey Center staff, the grant will provide opportunities for students and interns to do research and create Web pages and documentaries. Faculty and scholars of women’s history and the history of education will also be able to use the database to find a wealth of primary-source information that has the potential to significantly add to scholarship on women’s history, said Ensley. —Coleen Dee Berry

fall 2015 05

TRAILBLAZERS AND INNOVATORS EXHIBIT BEGINS THIS FALL The new Hankey Center exhibit, Trailblazers and Innovators, explores the roles Wilson alumnae have played in breaking free of gender constraints in higher education and in the workplace, concentrating primarily on the century between 1880 and 1980.

young men.” And in 1965, an article called “Marriage as a Career” explained how women can think about solutions to important world problems while doing the routine household work of making beds and washing dishes.

The exhibit, which opened in October, focuses on Wilson alumnae who earned graduate and professional degrees in a variety of disciplines, including many fields which traditionally had been closed to women. Individual narratives of alumnae in academia, medicine, the sciences and social sciences are highlighted, as well as those in more women-centered fields such as education, social work and library science.

By the fall 1971 issue, the entire Quarterly was devoted to “The Debate on Women’s Role,” featuring an article by Cesi Kellinger called “Almost Equals,” suggesting that “imaginative counseling is needed to break the barriers of traditional occupations and enable young women to enter new fields.”

The changing attitudes toward women’s roles can also be seen through excerpts from the Alumnae Quarterly included in the exhibit. Shortly after World War II, there were articles discussing the exciting opportunities in science and technology newly available to women. But then in 1955, an article by President Paul Swain Havens assured parents that there were more than sufficient opportunities for “every Wilson freshman to make acquaintances of desirable

We are still discussing remedies for the lack of women in the C-suite and in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. Trailblazers and Innovators highlights the history and some of the reasoning behind the complex expectations of highly educated women.

— The new exhibit can be viewed at the Hankey Center and will run through Reunion Weekend in June 2016. —CDB

WILSON CONFRONTS CLIMATE CHANGE AND EXPLORES THE APOCALYPTIC Wilson’s 2015 fall lecture series explores two popular—and somewhat interconnected— topics: climate change and the apocalypse.

The dual lecture series will alternate between the “Confronting Climate Change” discussions sponsored by the Global Citizens Fund and Wilson’s 2016 Orr Forum lectures on the topic of “The Return of the Apocalyptic.”

The genesis for the climate change lecture series came from recent suggestions for Orr Forum topics. “The Orr is religious and climate change falls more into ethics,” said David True, chair of the philosophy and religion department and Orr Forum director.

But True sees symmetry between the two topics. The dual lecture series allows for a multi-disciplinary discussion on climate change—specifically its effect on human society and culture— along with its warning of a coming apocalypse, which ties into the subject of the 2016 Orr Forum.

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The fall lecture series culminates Tuesday, Nov. 10, with two lectures by geologist Richard Alley, Ph.D., sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences. Alley will speak at noon on “Abrupt climate change and sea-level rise: How we don’t know what might hurt us,” and at 7 p.m. on “Good News in the Greenhouse?”

Alley is the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University and has authored more than 200 publications on climate change. He hosted the 2011 PBS mini-series Earth: The Operator’s Manual, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2008 and was elected as a American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow in 2010.

The dual lecture series will continue with new discussions during the spring semester. —Courtney D. Wolfe '12

WILSON NEWS VOLVO CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT PARTNERS

WITH FULTON FARM It’s been an eventful fall at the Fulton Farm, with a new partnership, a successful fundraiser and a pair of favorable online rankings.

For the better part of the last 10 years, Fulton Farm workers have composted kitchen waste material from the campus dining hall for use on the farm’s fields. Now the farm will have another compost contributor—the Volvo Construction Equipment manufacturing facility in Shippensburg.

Volvo will send its facility’s pre-cooked kitchen waste—such as vegetable and fruit parings, coffee grounds and food scraps—to Fulton Farm’s outdoor composting area, beginning in November, according to Chris Mayer, director of Wilson’s Fulton Center for Sustainable Living. Officials from Volvo, Wilson and Fulton Farm will hold a kick-off ceremony for the newly expanded composting area at the farm, scheduled for Nov. 10.

Chris Mayer, director of Wilson's Fulton Center for Sustainable Living, speaks at Fulton Farm's fundraising dinner.

The Shippensburg Volvo site employs nearly 1,000 people representing more than 20 nationalities working in operations, technology, sales and marketing, and customer support. The facility manufactures soil and asphalt compactors, pavers, screeds and wheel-loaders.

The company’s participation is part of its initiative to become a zero-landfill facility, said Mary Reid, an environmental consultant for Volvo. ”When we looked around for composting options and realized we could partner with a local college and make a contribution to the community, it just was the right path to take,” Reid said.

Wilson’s Fulton Farm recently held a family-style fundraising dinner, “People, Place, Plates: Growing for the Future,” at its Owens Barn that featured organically grown food from the farm and other local partners. Proceeds from the event will support “ongoing development and education of our future farmers, stewards and leaders at the Fulton Farm,” Mayer said.

In addition to sponsoring the expansion of the composting area, Volvo will provide a $1,000 grant each semester to a Wilson student who will help tend to the farm’s compost area. This year, the grant recipient is Danniele Fulmer ’17—a participant in Wilson’s 3+1 degree program with Vermont Law School—who also works as an intern in Volvo’s safety and environment area. The 3+1 law degree program allows qualified students to earn a bachelor’s degree from Wilson and a master’s degree from VLS in just four years.

And more good news: Two college online ranking sites—College Ranker and College Values Online—included the Fulton Farm in their fall listings of best college farms in the United States. On College Ranker’s list of the Best 40 College Farms, Fulton Farm was ranked #24, outranking some much larger institutions such as Ohio State University and Penn State. On the College Values list of the Top 30 Sustainable College-Run Farms, Fulton Farm was ranked #19. —CDB

COLLEGE MEETS LIBRARY FUNDRAISING GOAL The College met its revised Reimagining the John Stewart Memorial Library fundraising goal of $12.2 million in October, according to Vice President for Institutional Advancement Camilla Rawleigh. She said that by Oct. 7, a total of 750 donors had contributed $12,225,431 to the library project. “We had an amazing response from a small community—impressive by any measure, but especially at a time of tremendous change for Wilson,” said Rawleigh. “We are deeply grateful to all who supported the effort.” The fundraising effort had broad support, but several large contributions were key in providing momentum, including: initial gifts of $1.1 million from Thérèse “Terry” Murray Goodwin ’49, a matching gift of $3.6 million from Marguerite Brooks Lenfest ’55, and gifts totaling more than $3.6 million from Sue Davison Cooley ’44. —CM

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WILSON NEWS WILSON WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS

TO BOARD OF TRUSTEES Lynne E. DiStasio ’74 has tremendous expertise in employment law. After 32 years of service at MetLife in New York City, she retired in 2012 as vice president of employee relations and chief diversity officer in the company’s human resources department, where she built and led an employee relations organization. Prior to her role in human resources, she served as associate general counsel in MetLife’s law department.

DiStasio joins the board as an alumnae/i trustee, having been elected by the Alumnae Association of Wilson College in June 2015. She also currently serves on the Wilson College Alumnae Association board.

DiStasio holds a juris doctorate from Emory University School of Law and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wilson.

Christopher Gable is senior vice president—investments for Wells Fargo Advisors in Hollidaysburg, Pa., where he advises both individuals and small organizations on investments.

Gable has significant board experience, having served in both nonprofit and for-profit organizations. He has served on the boards of the Blair County Arts Foundation, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art and Altoona Area School District Foundation—all in Pennsylvania. He currently serves as a board member for the J.W. Marriott Hotel Condominium in Camelback, Ariz.

Gable studied economics at the graduate level at the University of Virginia and earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration with dual majors in finance and economics from the Pennsylvania State University. He also earned, and still maintains, the designation of Certified Financial Planner (CFP).

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Dr. James A. Orsini is associate professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. He received his D.V.M. from Cornell University in 1977 and completed his internship and surgery residency training at Penn’s New Bolton Center campus.

An equine surgeon with more than 30 years of experience, Orsini just completed a seven-year term as director of the Laminitis Institute at PennVet, leading the research, clinical and educational components of the institute with the goal to conquer laminitis by 2020. Laminitis is a serious inflammatory disease that can cripple horses. Orsini currently serves as Penn’s director of equi-assist—the first home-care nursing programming for horses—providing compassionate continuity of care from hospital to home.

Orsini is board-certified in surgery by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, with a special interest and expertise in orthopedic and reconstructive surgery and laminitis, among other surgery areas. He is course director of clinical pharmacology in Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine and has published extensively in more than 400 publications. Orsini’s current research interests are in understanding the pathophysiology, prevention and improved treatments of laminitis.

Orsini serves on multiple regional and national charity boards and several editorial boards. He just completed a stint as editor-in-chief of the journal, Clinical Techniques in Equine Practice, and is currently associate editor of the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science. He is also co-editor of Equine Emergencies: Treatment and Procedures, which is in its fourth edition and published in six languages.

New board members serve three-year terms and may be re-elected to two additional terms. —CDB

ALUMNAE/I NEWS MEET THE 2015

FRANKLIN COUNTY CLUB SCHOLARSHIP WINNER

E

ven before her first day of class at Wilson, Noel Robinson ’19 said being accepted at the College “turned me into a whole new person.”

Robinson, the 2015 recipient of the Franklin County Club Scholarship, applied to Wilson early and was accepted during her junior year at Chambersburg Area Senior High School. “From its caring staff and faculty to their warm students and advisers, Wilson truly made me feel like this campus is going to be my second home,” Robinson said A writer of short stories and novellas, Robinson grew up in Chambersburg, 15 minutes away from Wilson. She plans to major in English and eventually wants to go into teaching.

“I value and cherish all the gifts Wilson College has given me because each scholarship, each grant and each chance they give me to show my true potential takes me closer to fulfilling my career goal to become an educator,” Robinson said. “When I become an educator, I will give back to my community by giving children hope, encouragement and patience.”

The Franklin County Club of Wilson College awards an annual $1,500 spring scholarship to a high school senior planning to attend Wilson College. The recipient must be a new or transfer student who lives in Franklin or Fulton County and plans to attend Wilson in the full-time undergraduate program in the next academic year. More information can be found online at www.wilson. edu/regional-clubs. —CDB

LITERARY NOTES Two Wilson alumnae, Jessica Wysopal ’00 and Sara Patterson ’05, are celebrating the recent publication of their works of fantasy/science fiction.

do much creative writing at Wilson.” But a paper she wrote for her mass communications class about pop culture’s depiction of people with disabilities “planted the seed for the story” that would become “A Sense All Its Own.”

Wysopal, writing under the name of Sara Mariam TaGalbi, is the author of Green Girl, the first book in a fantasy trilogy about an outcast young woman named Allanas, whose body is metamorphosing to take on a photosynthesis skin. Allanas is drawn to the mystery and history of the dragons that once populated her world.

Wysopal said while minoring in French at Wilson, she wrote a short story, in French, about a girl with a photosynthetic skin. Not having used French in years, “I cannot now read my original short story,” Wysopal admitted. “But the idea lingered and percolated.”

Patterson has written a science fiction short story that was included in the recently published anthology of disability-themed science fiction stories Accessing the Future, edited by Kathryn Allan and Djibril al-Ayada and published by The Future Fire. Her piece, “A Sense All Its Own,” is about a blind droid pilot taking part in a deadly competition.

Both writers credit writings they undertook while at Wilson for inspiring their recent publications. Patterson, who is legally blind, said as a veterinary medical technology major, “I really did not

Patterson now lives in Malvern, Pa., and works for a dog grooming business while working on a young-adult fantasy trilogy in her spare time. Wysopal is a high school chemistry teacher in West Virginia and is finishing up books two and three of Green Girl.

Both their works can be found on Amazon. —CDB

fall 2015 09

ALUMNAE/I EVENTS

ALUMNAE/I NEWS A CAPPELLA CLUB AT WILSON Wilson College Choir Director Lisa Turchi has announced the formation of an A Cappella Club that will carry on the tradition begun by the College’s illustrious Ten Tones.

The first meeting of the A Cappella Club took place on Sept. 2. and a cappella enthusiasts heard from former Ten Tones member Judy Kreutz Young '63, listened to some of the choral group’s recordings, and started working on an a cappella version of "Say Something" by A Great Big World, as inspired by Pentatonix. Wilson singers even tried out some harmonies in the stairwell of Thomson Hall.

Tom and Charlene Cronenberg Berardino ’63 hosted President Barbara Mistick and Wilson alumnae and friends at their home in New Canaan, Conn., on Sept. 9.

Standing, from left: President Barbara Mistick; Camilla Rawleigh, vice president for institutional advancement; Terry Dankel Counselman ’59; Carol Mansi Crikelair ’70; Charlene Cronenberg Berardino ’63 and Millicent Friedberg Zolan. Seated, from left: Tessa Peruzzi Pascarella ’60, Centes Williams ’71 and Linda Woodruff ’71.

If you were a Ten Tones member, please contact the Office of Alumnae/i Relations to make sure you’re listed as past participant. We would like to reconnect and keep you in the music loop.

For more information contact choir director Lisa Turchi at elisabeth.turchi@wilson.edu.

Stay tuned for more music news in future magazines!

ROBIN WEAVER '76 ELECTED

WOMEN'S NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CLUB PRESIDENT Ever since middle school, Robin Weaver ’76 has been a self-proclaimed “political junkie.” She followed local and national campaigns and in high school joined a Young Republican Club outside Pittsburgh. “I’ve always enjoyed the give and take of a good debate on public policy,” she said.

When her law career took her to the financial district of New York City, she became a member of the Women’s National Republican Club (WNRC). This summer, Weaver was elected as the club’s president.

One of the oldest Republican women’s clubs in the country, the WNRC was founded in 1921 by New York suffragist Henrietta Wells Livermore after women received the right to vote in 1919.

Livermore believed voters should be well-informed and designed the club as a meeting place to spread political knowledge.

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Weaver has been a member of the club for 10 years and recently served as the chair of the WNRC annual awards dinner. The club, which is located on 37th Street in Manhattan, hosts political talks

by GOP luminaries such as former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, pollster Doug Schoen and current Republican presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

After she graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Wilson, Weaver went on to earn a law degree from Emory University Law School. She has worked for Fiduciary Trust Company, New York Life Insurance Co. and MetLife.

She is currently an adjunct professor in the English and communications department at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Weaver is also the vice president of the New York Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. —CDB

CHAMPIONSHIP STOCK Kudos to Shelley Novak and her Wilson Phoenix field hockey team, which hosted Wells College for the inaugural North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) championship on Oct. 31. The team—led by three-time NEAC Athlete of the Week Kari Lehman ’18—finished the regular season undefeated in conference play, including a double-overtime match against Wells.

Photo by Matt Lester

fall 2015 11

PRESIDENT PHOTO BY RYAN SMITH

W

ilson College has long been distinguished by the individual nature of the education it provides to students. While this remains true, it is the act of working together that allows us to realize our mission to prepare students for “ethical leadership and humane stewardship of our communities and our world.” Teamwork is also the essence of the liberal arts tradition that we continue to practice at Wilson.

Togetherness at Wilson springs from the institution’s long-standing values that seek to nurture—the individual, the mind, the community. As I looked back on the accomplishments of the past year, it was evident that these values still drive the College today.

In this Report of the President, I will share some of the achievements of the past year that would not have been possible without people from the Wilson community coming together. And I’m sure that many of you will see that the same spirit of Wilson that you experienced is alive and well today.

Last September we announced the exciting news that Wilson was awarded the largest federal grant in the College’s history. The $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Strengthening Institutions Program is part of the federal government’s Title III program. The award was both the culmination and beginning of a collaborative effort by the Office of Institutional Advancement, the library, academic support, information technology, academic affairs and student development, first in creating and now in implementing a plan to improve academic quality and support for low-income students.

12 wilson magazine

The resulting plan ties directly to the new learning commons of the John Stewart Memorial Library. Upgrades to the campus technology infrastructure and new software systems set the table for a variety of services intended to increase enrollment and strengthen retention.

Among these programs is a new learning management system that provides improved tracking of academic performance, increasing our ability to provide timely academic support.

The grant has also brought about a restructuring that brings together the library, academic support and information technology under the newly created position of associate vice president for information and library services. This new position will work with another initiative under the grant, the new Office of Institutional Effectiveness.

As part of the College’s plan to build our capacity for data-driven decision-making processes—both at the academic and institutional levels—the associate dean for institutional effectiveness will help improve our data collection and analysis, which will have an impact on a range of programs.

The implications of the Title III grant, which were reviewed in detail last fall, reach much deeper and require a consortium of departments to successfully implement. This past year we have reached a number of benchmarks in the Title III process and we look forward to welcoming new staff that will help propel the programs in the next year.

Connected to the Strengthening Institutions grant is a reworking of the First-Year Seminars (FYS). Improved retention efforts are embedded into the Wilson Today plan and as academic affairs and student development began the process of redesigning the FYS program, Wilson’s faculty stepped forward to drive the process. Intended to prepare first-year students for the rigor and expectations of coursework at Wilson, the new program was unveiled this fall with an improved structure and greatly increased faculty participation.

PHOTOS BY MATT LESTER

2014-15 REPORT OF THE

PHOTO BY KENDRA TIDD

Clockwise from left: students on campus, Master of Fine Arts class, nursing, First-Year Seminar.

FYS was not the only academic program in which a group effort led to a successful launch. The initial on-campus residency portion of the new Master of Fine Arts degree program—which kicked off its first session in late May—has collaboration as its core philosophy. The program, which has concentrations in the visual arts and choreography, had degree candidates in both concentrations working side by side, incorporating the perspectives and experiences of each discipline into their own work. You can read more about it in this issue on page 30.

Wilson’s new Bachelor of Science degree program in nursing received approval this summer from the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing. This, of course, was very late in the admissions process.

But through cooperation between the Department of Nursing and our Office of Admissions, we were poised to begin enrolling students immediately, resulting in an inaugural class of 22 students in the onsite BSN program.

Academic opportunities and enrollment met again when, at this time last year, we began a partnership with FriendlyPA—a nonprofit organization formed to increase cultural and educational exchange between Pennsylvania and China. I traveled to China and had the opportunity to meet with counterparts at Chinese universities, as well as having the chance to speak with some prospective students and their families. The advantage of having a partner like FriendlyPA is that it has staff members in China who know Wilson and the Chinese educational system. And by traveling there, we are able to interact and develop the kind of relationship that yields positive results over time.

An outcome of my visit to China, this summer we entered into an agreement with the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) in Chengdu, China. The pact provides opportunities for Wilson professors to serve on SWUFE’s summer faculty and reserves two spots for Wilson students to attend the university during a sum-

mer session. These relationships will take time to fully develop, but when combined with our Office of Admissions presence in the Middle East last year, we have begun to see the results. The latest U.S. News ranking for “Most International Students” put Wilson ninth in our region for most international population, with seven percent of students coming from outside of the United States.

Enrollment, as these examples demonstrate, is an effort of the whole campus. That was true once again this year as we welcomed a new class of 166 students—the largest we have seen since 1969. This marks two years in a row that we have reached traditional undergraduate enrollment levels not seen in 40 years or more. The overall enrollment now sits at 923, a 21 percent increase over last fall. The largest increase was in graduate programs, which now stand at 234 students in six programs—a 54 percent increase over fall 2014. In aggregate, we have seen a 39.4 percent increase in enrollment since fall 2013, and none of that could have occurred with the combined efforts of so many campus constituencies.

Alumnae and alumni also came together this year to have an important impact on the quality of life for our students. The Wilson Fund has a direct impact on our students’ lives, with all donations going directly to the current operating budget in support of, among other things, scholarships and the academic program. The College has been working to strengthen the donor base for the fund and, recognizing the strength of community among our alumnae, one of Wilson’s most ardent supporters, Marguerite Brooks Lenfest ’55, made a $300,000 matching challenge gift through the Wilson Fund.

And Wilson alumnae responded. Many donors chose to increase their gifts, with 184 giving more than the previous year. Another 103 who did not give at all during the 2013-14 fiscal year made gifts and 52 alumnae who had not supported the College since the Wilson Today

fall 2015 13

PHOTO BY MATTHEW LESTER

PHOTO BY CATHY MENTZER

From left: vegetable literacy program, field hockey practice, students on alternative spring break.

plan was approved made donations of support. What I value most in the challenge—more than the fact that it helped us exceed the Wilson Fund goal for the first time since 2007—is the demonstration of the strength we have when we come together as a community, in this case to support our students and their future.

The Alumnae Association of Wilson College provides another example for us that you can read about on page 42, with the introduction of the Silver Lining Fund. This association fund will help provide financial assistance to students who are experiencing a crisis or unexpected financial need. Events of this nature happen to students each year, and the compassion and community that AAWC demonstrates through this program is truly admirable.

This past year we began to see a much wider degree of interaction between the College and the local community, as well. The partnership between Wilson and the Borough of Chambersburg on the Streetscape and Pedestrian Safety program, as well as the Fulton Center for Sustainable Living’s “Vegetable Literacy” program—which was developed with funding from Summit Health and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for elementary school-age children in Franklin County—serve as examples of the College working together with local groups.

But perhaps no project captures the interaction of the College and the community like one that took place this October. Internationally acclaimed sculptor Patrick Dougherty came to Wilson to produce one

of his “stickworks” installations. These sculptures are interactive, public art pieces and his process very purposefully gives a sense of ownership to the community by using local volunteers to assist with the construction of the piece. For three weeks in October, faculty, staff and students were joined by area residents and organizations in the physical task of bending and weaving saplings and branches to create an amazing sculpture on the campus green (a feature article about the process is scheduled for the winter issue of Wilson Magazine). The project also drew an array of co-sponsors to the project, including Downtown Chambersburg Inc., the Chambersburg Council for the Arts, Volvo Construction Equipment, the Penn State Mont Alto School of Forestry and Shippensburg University. Events of this nature broaden the College’s reputation and help to strengthen existing connections or create new ones.

There are many more accomplishments from this past year that speak to the power of working together: the women’s field hockey team won the National Collegiate Academic Team Award for team gradepoint average from the National Field Hockey Coaches Association; the 50th anniversary of the Orr Forum; the “No More” campaign against domestic abuse and sexual violence and the “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” efforts; and the support of our Nepali students, who initiated a fundraising campaign to help their homeland after the tragic earthquake earlier this year.

WILSON BY THE NUMBERS

923 21.6% INCREASE

14 wilson magazine

FALL-TO-FALL

R E T EN T ION

72% NATIONAL AVG.=67%

1341

total applications

16% increase

NA

L S T U DENT

I N T ER N A TI

FALL 2015 ENROLLMENT

O

S :

APPLication

7% OF TOTAL STUDENT BODY

17.7% 166 IN TOTAL INCREASE IN NEW STUDENTS

WILSON COLLEGE

2014-15 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

more than

40%

of students are first in their family to attend college

29

MAJORS

EXPENSES

STUDENT TUITION/FEES.......... 67.5% PRIVATE GIFTS..........................5.8% GOVERNMENT GRANTS............. 1.1% INTEREST & DIVIDENDS............ 1.7% INTEREST RECEIVED FROM TRUSTS HELD BY OTHERS..........2.0% OTHER SOURCES....................... 3.9% AUXILIARY REVENUE..............18.0%

INSTRUCTIONAL.....................16.8% ACADEMIC SUPPORT..............16.8% STUDENT SERVICES................. 13.5% INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT.......20.2% AUXILIARY ENTERPRISES.......... 9.5% FINANCIAL AID....................... 18.6% INFRASTRUCTURE/ DEFERRED MAINTENANCE........4.6%

ENDOWMENT VALUE $56,020,994

15 fiscal year

So much of what happened this past year could not have occurred without the Wilson community coming together, determined to make our collective future brighter. But to bring this report to a close, I want to tell you about one more event. March marked a notable milestone for the College’s Alternative Spring Break. For 20 years, Wilson students have been forgoing their spring break time on sunny beaches or in the comfort of their own homes to build houses for others through Habitat for Humanity. This year they were in the Ohio communities of Athens and Logan. In her fourth Alternative Spring Break trip, Kellen Kissinger ’15 summed up the power of working together when she said, “Sometimes you’re at the edge of your comfort zone with some of the work, but everyone supports you. There’s no fear of failure with a support system like that.” W

REVENUE

14

$60,305,877

13

$60,028,291 $57,180,278

12

$60,520,915

11

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 in millions

: 11 1 STUDENT: FACULTY RATIO

NUMBER OF DONORS TO THE

2014-15 WILSON FUND

1,491 16% INCREASE

WILSON FUND TOTAL GIVING $1,092,674 fall 2015 15

The State of

education

A Roundtable Discussion at Wilson

16 wilson magazine

PHOTO BY BRIAN SPEER

T

he debate over the state of education in America today shows no signs of easing.

Educators and parents alike grapple with federal mandates such as No Child Left Behind (which requires school districts to continually test students to assess their skill levels) and Common Core (which sets national education standards for math and reading), as well as issues specific to their local school districts.

Wilson Magazine held a roundtable discussion in September with members of Wilson College’s education department and four alumnae/i who, as current or former teachers and administrators, have first-hand knowledge of the challenges of education today. The 90-minute discussion was forthright and thought-provoking.

Wilson students take many different paths to become teachers. Some arrive fresh from high school as undergraduates majoring in education. Some are older students, already with a bachelor’s degree in hand, who enroll in Wilson’s Teacher Intern Program looking to be certified to teach and embark on a second career.

And there are those who graduate from Wilson with a non-education degree and along the way, hear the calling to become an educator.

Along with the roundtable discussion, learn about how four Wilson graduates became transformative educators in different ways and in different disciplines: as a preschool director, a special education teacher and administrator, a lifelong learner and a contemporary elementary school teacher.

fall 2015 17

Roundtable Discussion Lynn: This evening we are going focus on education, focus on a variety of topics and your thoughts on the past, present and future of education. To start, I’d like you to reflect on something positive, something that you feel is an accomplishment.

Logan: I was in the Navy 20 years ago and was trained as an optician. Several years ago, an opportunity for a state grant came up and with that, we created a vision care program.

Over the past two years, my students in this program have made more than 500 pairs of glasses for kids in the city school district, for free. This spring, I had my first group of students graduate from [one of ] the only two colleges in New York state where you can go to for optician training.

It was such an amazing feeling to look at these kids walking across the stage and realize that they did it because of things that I taught them that really, really excited them.

Samantha: Last year my team and I got published in the Journal of Science and Mathematics for how we are teaching math. Four years ago, our school got a 50 percent pass rate on our end of the year mathematics test, so we totally changed the way we taught math. We really believed in what we did. We ended up the next year with an 89 percent pass rate.

Melissa: So I’m coming from a different lens, as a principal.

It’s my third year as the leader of a very large building. I do miss working in a teaching capacity in the classroom. But yesterday I had a moment that reminded me I chose the right path, for the right reasons. I have more than 1,000

kids, and I make it a point to try to get to know every one of them. I went to a youth leadership meeting yesterday. A lot of former students were there, and when the conference leader said, “Does anyone know Mrs. Cashdollar?” in back of the room 15 to 20 hands went up. He said, “Really? Tell me something about her.” And one of the kids, probably one of my toughest kids, said, “She knows everyone’s name.” It may sound silly, but I think that was a really good moment to remind me why I chose to do what I do.

Cynthia: I went into the principalship for a school (in Chambersburg) that was on school improvement on the state watch list. I sought Eric’s (Michael) advice and he got me started on how we were going to approach pulling a building out of school improvement. Over a period of three years, it really was a revolution in terms of our instruction, the supports we provided students, the relationships we built with students and the teachers and the staff. We all were able to pull the building out of school improvement. We ended up being proficient and we had growth, one of the highest of the elementary schools in the district. But it was a tough journey.

Lynn: What are the challenges you face today in education?

Melissa: Sometimes as the administrator you have to find it in yourself to champion or cheerlead when you know there are demands on you that are out of your control. When there are things you may not agree with, you have to champion the efforts and with a positive attitude, rally the troops in the right direction … You have to find it within yourself to be that continued on page 20…

Roundtable Participants LYNN NEWMAN

CYNTHIA HENRY ’93

Chair, Education Department, former elementary school teacher and primary reading specialist

Retired elementary school principal, intervention specialist, special programs coordinator, fifth-grade head teacher for Chambersburg Area School District

BETH BYERS Director of Teacher Intern Program at Wilson, former elementary school teacher

ERIC MICHAEL Director, Master of Education program, former high school principal and assistant superintendent for Chambersburg Area School District

MELISSA CASHDOLLAR ’01 Current principal of Chambersburg Area Middle School South

18 wilson magazine

SAMANTHA VANCE GATES ’10 M.Ed., third-grade teacher in Winchester, Va., School District

LOGAN NEWMAN ’01 Secondary education teacher in Rochester, N.Y., School District, Navy veteran

Educator prepares children to

take next step

By Gina Gallucci-White

C

atharine MacKorell Brennan’s interest in Montessori education began with a lecture during her junior year at Wilson, when she was studying the social aspects of inner-city neighborhoods in Detroit as an exchange student at Merrill Palmer Institute.

PHOTO BY JEFF JACOBSEN

Often, the students would have tea at the institute’s administration building and guest lecturers would speak on a variety of subjects. One lecturer discussed Montessori education, which offers a child-centered curriculum with a focus on independent learning.

“I saw her demonstration and I said, ‘Wow,’” Brennan ’76 said.

“That is the way to teach little children. Ever since that demonstration, I just had it tucked in the back of my head—Montessori education sounds kind of interesting.”

Several years after graduating from Wilson with bachelor’s degrees in religious studies and psychology, the Charleston, W.Va., native met two Catholic nuns who were involved with a Montessori school in Lexington, Ky. Brennan became a preschool teacher at that school for three years, and her experience only confirmed her initial impression.

“I just absolutely fell in love with Montessori education,” Brennan said. “I am a perfectionist and that seems to fit quite well with Montessori education. I just look at the world a little differently than the way the public school system does.” Public schools have norms and standards but for Brennan, Montessori education means, “I’m going to supply you with an environment that is going to help you develop to be the person that you are meant to be and not what some curriculum says this is what you should know.”

Brennan took some time off to raise four children and relocate to Topeka, Kan., for her husband’s job. After her youngest started kindergarten, she landed a teaching position at the Discovery School Montessori Preschool in Topeka. She recently began her 24th year at the school and has served as its director since 2000. “We are looking to prepare the children to take that next step in their education, which will be kindergarten,” she said.

Brennan acknowledged that coming from the Montessori perspective, she finds it difficult to send children who have been in her school for two years to a public school where they are subject to the No Child Left Behind philosophy and testing. “We strive to allow children to develop through discovery and learn through their senses. [To] take in information at their own individual pace,” Brennan said. “Public schools are not set up to allow for this kind of learning philosophy. We do what we can to prepare our children for what is ahead without compromising our philosophy, but it is not easy.”

After spending nearly a quarter of a century at the school, Brennan considers the all-natural, outdoor classroom space her legacy. Begun in 2006 with the help of a group of parents, the area includes a Native American teepee, hay bales, flower garden and a slide built into a hill. She plans to expand the area over the next school year to include a vegetable garden and a pond. “One of my parents asked, ‘Are you ever going to be finished with that play yard?’ and I said, ‘No. I don’t think so.’”

fall 2015 19

leader and convince others to follow you, even though you can’t guarantee at the end that’s it’s going to work the way you want it to work. That’s a big challenge for me.

Samantha: It’s important to have that great attitude, like Melissa said, but one of the biggest challenges is keeping that great attitude in the face of adversity. We recently regrouped this year and I now teach most of the below-level readers for most of the day. It can be so frustrating and yet so rewarding all at once. You have to keep trying to find what works for the kids.

Melissa: Well Sam, I’m a big believer—and I know Cyn is too— that you put your best teachers with your neediest students.

If you were in my building, that’s why you’d be in that room.

From my side of the fence, my frustration would be if I were to place you in that position year after year after year, then I’m burning out someone who has a passion and a love for the position. And I don’t want to lose people Logan: I teach in Rochester, which is the either the third or fifth-most impoverished school district in the nation, depending on what article you read. Our school is now under the direction of the University of Rochester, specifically the Warner School. So there are lots of changes. Everyone had to reapply for their job. Fifty percent of us got back in. Challenges—there’s a lot of new stuff, a lot of it really, really good, a lot very difficult to embrace. And you just don’t have the time you would like to work with the students as much as you want to.

It’s like you’re always running and it wears you out quickly.

Eric: I think many of our accomplishments have yet to be seen because we never know the lives we have touched until, many times, years later. For a lot of us, we may never know all the lives we touch.

Logan: I distinctly remember John McDermott (a former Wilson professor) and what he always said: “Be happy if you really touch just one student in your entire life because then you’ll know you’ve made a difference.” Samantha, you’re talking about teaching those high-needs students and I’m up here in this high-needs area. The nice thing about teaching high-needs students … I know that every year I’m making a difference to some of them.

Eric: I tend to frame the challenges to education today into three categories: resources, which include money and community support; time; and—I wouldn’t have said this five years ago—culture. Although we provide a lot of lip service to how important education is, I see the international students at Wilson, the work ethic that they have, and I’m not sure we have the culture for education in the U.S. as much as we did in the past.

Logan: There’s lip service but there also seems to be an antipathy to educators and public education. Reformers

keep talking about how we need to fix education, and how education and educators in the U.S. are so terrible. They tell us how to teach and what to teach, but the reformers really have no education background. We see this so much in the media that it becomes a detriment to what we are trying to do, because they are constantly telling our students: your teachers are terrible, the schools are bad and the curriculum is no good for you. It’s it like what we say about bad music lyrics—if you keep listening you’ll believe them.

Cynthia: Many parents today just do not have or understand the skills needed. They don’t understand the concept of having books and paper and pencils at home, or the value of reading books aloud to your children. It’s not that most parents don’t care—they do. But they are working two jobs, there are a lot of stressors. They’re tired. They just don’t have the time.

Logan: My other thought on this is: For so long we heard that if you want to be better in life, you have to go to college. We still have that college-for-all mentality, but people are going to college and still have menial jobs. And we have gotten rid of all of the important classes! [In Rochester] we don’t have wood shop and metal shop or any other classes where kids can learn the other important skills such as perseverance, critical thinking and teamwork—all things you learn in handson programs. We need to get back to those programs.

Samantha: And Logan, it’s so important what you said because so many of the jobs we’re teaching for now may not exist in 10 years.

Lynn: I’d like to tie this into the Common Core debate.

What do you think are the positive and negatives on Common Core?

Cynthia: It’s important to be consistent with teaching standards at grade levels so that students receive consistent instruction on the standards. That said, I do not believe the Common Core is benefiting the advanced and the higher students at all. At all. I think we have stifled creativity and problem-solving for advanced students.

Melissa: Two big words that pop up: conformity and uniformity. I think they are big themes in PA [Common] Core. The positive is the conformity. There wasn’t consistency before that and there were children all over our district, and all districts, receiving inconsistent instruction and experiences. So the consistency part I view as a big positive. It forced everyone to reflect, think, plan and then start to move towards a level playing field. That got turned and viewed as uniformity.

In the workshops, I see the teachers who hold their hands out to me like they have been handcuffed. [They think] everyone must do everything the same way, at the same time, in the same text; hence, the handcuff mentality. That is continued on page 22…

20 wilson magazine

A lifetime of work in

special education

By Coleen Dee Berry

W

hen she graduated from Wilson with a degree in political science and went on to get a master’s degree from Georgetown University, Jacqueline Elder Murren ’69 envisioned a career with the U.S. Foreign Service. But circumstance brought her back to teach a special education class with the newly formed Lincoln Intermediate Unit 12, serving Adams and Franklin counties.

And she found her true calling. “I thought, this is what I should be doing,” Murren said. “The kids were so much fun to work with, and you could see so much progress if you got them early enough.” She taught three days in classroom and spent two days doing home instruction, while teaching in the preschool program.

PHOTO BY JAMES BUTTS

For the next 37 years, Murren devoted her talents to the LIU, working in the capacities of special education teacher, instructional adviser and supervisor of the various programs of preschool, life skills support, occupational/physical therapy and hearing and vision support. “I was a troubleshooter for a lot of my career,” she said. “I went where they needed me.”

LIU 12 is one of the 29 intermediate units formed by the Pennsylvania State Legislature in 1971 to give consultative and advisory support to local school districts. One of the LIU’s initial mandates was to provide school districts with special education instruction and support.

Murren attended Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) to get her master’s degree in special education and her certification to teach. During her career with the LIU, she worked with special education students from grades K-12, with conditions ranging from behavioral/emotional problems and Down syndrome to severe mental and physical challenges.

“Parents who care for handicapped children really are heroes. Back when I first started working, there just were not a lot of services and support available for these parents—especially those who were living in some of the more remote rural areas of Franklin and Adams,” Murren said. “The home visits were very important so parents could get that oneon-one instruction and support many so badly needed.”

Her biggest accomplishment, Murren said, was the establishment of a summer program for LIU special education students. “The kids made so much more progress if they did not take the summer off,” she said, noting that her program was in place ahead of Pennsylvania’s mandate in the mid-1980s that the required 180 school days for special education kids be spread year-round.

Wilson prepared her well for her teaching career—even though she did not major in education. “Wilson taught me to think on my feet, something I am eternally grateful for,” Murren said. ”They taught me to be a problem-solver—and believe me, I’ve had to deal with solving many problems over the years.”

Murren finds herself encouraged by the state of education today. “I think we are achieving at a higher rate than ever before. I know a lot of people don’t like No Child Left Behind, but I think it has brought about higher expectations and in general, teaching at a better level,” she said. “Graduation rates have risen, absenteeism is down. I think at least in Pennsylvania, we are in a good place.”

Although Murren retired from the LIU in 2010, she found herself back at work in 2014 for the Littlestown School District, when the district’s director of special education was asked to step in as acting superintendent. “They called me to see if I could help,” said Murren, a longtime resident of Littlestown. “I was hired as special education consultant and helped run the school district’s special education program for six months. It was actually great to be back working at a school again.”

fall 2015 21

PHOTO BY JEFF JACOBSEN

Catharine MacKorell Brennan '76 leads her Montessori preschool students on an outing.

not a positive. That’s consistency taken to extremes. So the uniformity piece is where we are now in the process. Creativity will be [the] gateway to the next step. If we don’t think of a creative way to do it, there will always be some group who will be left on the side of the road.

Logan: I really like the idea of standards. What I don’t like are the prepared modules in Common Core that the teachers have to do. It’s what Cyn said. There’s a lack of creativity.

Common Core causes issues simply because it does not allow teachers to do one of the things that they got into profession for—to be creative and teach kids the way they need to be taught. My buddy and I talk about this and call it the “one-size-fits-none” model.

Samantha: We do not have Common Core in Virginia. I do like the Virginia standards; they are extremely rigorous. We do find that when kids come from out of state, they have gaps. They do Common Core and we’re not, so the standards aren’t the same. But I think our standards lend themselves a little better to our situation.

Lynn: If you could wish for anything for your district, or for the current state of education, what would that be?

Cynthia: My grandson is attending a career magnet school.

Now throughout his entire educational career—he will be 15—he has hated school with every ounce of being. I have never ever seen him as excited as he is this year. He absolutely loves the career magnet school. I’m on the bandwagon here for more of these programs.

Beth: That’s our best hope for students, is that they find their niche and they reach their potential. And that’s something that can’t always be measured on a test.

Logan: When I started teaching this vision care program, the big difference with this type of program versus AP biology is that I can see in my students the application of knowledge so much more completely, and I see them enjoying doing something rather than reciting facts.

Melissa: My wish is that every child who spends the time in my building feels valued. What a shame and what failure I would feel if the kids can’t give one example of a time when they were successful in the classroom. If you have one little soul that walks through the building with no example of educational value or success, then we have failed that child, because that child then becomes the parent of a child and they won’t respect the system, they won’t feel connected to the school system and it becomes cyclical.

Samantha: I wish that all kids would love learning. I hear a lot of them say they hate reading and hate school. Just to hear some of them say now in my class that they like reading or that they are good at reading now, when they have felt all along they were terrible at it—it’s just a great feeling.

Logan: The one thing I would like to see us get rid of is the [constant testing] or the value-added model that we see all over, because I feel that is really destroying education from the inside. It’s not realistic, it’s not real. I think it’s taking the heart out of education. Common Core goes along with that. continued on page 25…

22 wilson magazine

Savoring the

"aha! moment"

By Gina Gallucci-White

J

essaca Campbell ’11 knows how to multitask. While earning her bachelor's degree at Wilson, she held down a full-time office manager job, attended classes and had two small children at home.

"Trying to juggle a full-time job and then coming home and trying to do the papers was stressful at times, but I definitely have an amazing husband that entertained the two kids whenever I had to write papers and my parents would fill in for me whenever they could," she said. "It was definitely stressful at times but we made it through it."

PHOTO BY BRIAN SPEER

All that hard work paid off. This September, Campbell was recognized by the Chambersburg Lions Club with a Teachers Excellence Award. Nominated by her principal at Hamilton Heights Elementary School, she was shocked to win. "I got a little emotional," Campbell said. "Being a third-year teacher, I just wasn't expecting something like that. It's awesome to be appreciated for the work that I do for my kids."

Growing up in the Fort Loudon, Pa., area, Campbell joined the workforce after graduating from high school, but at age 24, chose to continue her education at Wilson because of her grandfather, Alan McKee. His career spanned 30 years at Wilson, beginning as a security guard and rising to director of operations. "When I was thinking about going back to school, I wanted to do Wilson because that's where he spent most of his [career]," she said.

When she began classes at Wilson in 2005, Campbell had decided to pursue an accounting degree. Watching her children grow influenced her to switch her major to elementary education.

"I had a few teachers here and there that always inspired me to want to be a teacher," Campbell said. "The [Wilson] staff and the professors gave a lot of great constructive criticism and feedback to push you, but also helped you grow as a student."

She credits Lynn Newman, chair of the education department, as being a mentor and counselor. "I can't say enough about Dr. Newman," Campbell said. "She is an amazing lady."

After graduating, Campbell continued to work her office manager job four days a week and substitute teach on Fridays and sometimes other weekdays. "The company that I worked for was very, very flexible … They knew that I wanted to be a teacher so they were flexible in regard to letting me go and substitute when something arose," she said.

By 2013, she was teaching full time in Chambersburg as a fifth-grade English language arts teacher at Hamilton Heights. One of the biggest challenges she says she has faced is preparing her students to reach the standardized academic goals the state requires. “We know that our [students] are growing,” said Campbell, but she finds it difficult at times to show that growth using state requirements.

Campbell now knows pursuing a degree in education from Wilson was the right move for her because she loves her job. "The kids are all unique individuals and [I love] to see them grow and to see them have that ‘Aha! moment’—that lightbulb moment where it finally clicks,” Campbell said. “That moment for me is why I am doing what I am doing."

fall 2015 23

Teacher remains

lifelong learner

By Gina Gallucci-White

Z

anada Green Maleki ’71, who spent four decades teaching elementary school, art and music instruction, retired from teaching last year, but that didn’t stop her from taking up a new project in education.

With online learning growing in popularity, Maleki is making videos to help students with math, reading and writing. She created the videos after speaking with a home-school community in Maine, where the parents complained that their children had trouble mastering long division.

Maleki’s videos serve as learning tools that allow both parents and students the opportunity to watch the videos several times until they understand the concepts. "It's not as intimidating as having an adult with the child face to face and the kid doesn't want to say the wrong thing," Maleki said of the video tutorials.

Growing up in Washington, D.C., Maleki chose Wilson College after learning about the school during a higher education night at her high school. "The entire time I spent (at Wilson), all four years, was an experience very different from where I grew up," she said.

PHOTO BY FRED FIELD

Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and a minor in elementary education, she went on to serve as a teacher for 13 years with the Houston Independent Schools District in Texas, instructing mainly fifth-graders.

With her husband's job in the nuclear power industry, the couple relocated to the Pottstown, Pa., area and then to Maine, where she acquired her master of education degree at the University of New England. Maleki taught music and art education as a substitute teacher in Pennsylvania and Maine, and then spent the next 17 years as a fifth- and fourth-grade teacher, as well as an Odyssey of the Mind coach in the Lewiston, Maine, public school system.

Maleki enjoyed working with the students, helping them untangle challenges and providing encouragement. "I wasn't a traditional teacher and I was not fond of assigning worksheets. Rather than having students write books about their learning, I found that creating learning quiz games, projects at school and documentary videos was more productive," she said. "I couldn't stand worksheets. I preferred the interaction with the students and working with experiential approaches."

Teachers today face a myriad of challenges—Maleki can quickly list at least a dozen. Among them: encouraging a sense of wonder and discovery in students, motivating students to become managers of their own learning, striving to reach 100 per cent of student populations 100 per cent of the time—regardless of their learning challenges and increasingly diverse ranges of abilities and English language proficiencies.

She is not a fan of today’s heavy emphasis and reliance on standardized test scores. “Somewhere, there has to be room for teaching foundational learning in between the teaching to score high on tests,” Maleki said.

While she was teaching in Maine, Maleki authored The Catnip Papers. The 132-page book, published in 2007, was inspired by the conversations she has with her own cat, with the timeframe set during the hectic holiday season.

While she was writing the book, Maleki would allow her students to critique her work by looking for holes in the story or making suggestions for content. "Essentially, my students helped me to write the book," she said. "They were my first line editors."

Maleki is looking forward to more projects in her “retirement”—more videos to create, other books to write. She said she intends to take the time to “interact with other sources of inspirational creativity as a lifelong learner.”

24 wilson magazine

It keeps us from being creative and learning how to best help all the students.

Cynthia: So then my question would be how can we have a system in place to ensure that our kids receive a consistent education, but yet be able to deliver our instruction in a creative manner?

Samantha: One answer to that question is adjusting the way we are assessing students. Apparently the only way they’re really assessed is to take a test. Not all students should be learning that way, not all students perform their best that way. So I think opening up to a more performance-based system could make a big difference.

Eric: Concerning all the testing with [the] No Child Left Behind mandate—yes, there are a lot of faults in all this, but I think, with good intentions, they were trying to level the playing field. We just haven’t gotten to the right balance yet.

And sometimes I’m not sure if we ever will. But there has to be …

Lynn: … There has to be some accountability.

Melissa: It’s an unfunded mandate. There are parts of it that haven’t been worked out at this point. The intention is there, the reasoning behind it is there. It’s the fine-tuning that we haven’t achieved yet.

Lynn: As we end this evening, what do you feel we at Wilson should be teaching our education students? What do our first-year teachers need to have when they walk into the classroom so that they feel prepared?

Cynthia: They have to understand the data. They need to understand that data drives instruction. They need to understand they are going to have standards that they have to teach to. You have to be able to do your homework and to research and plan. And then you do that creative thing.

Melissa: When I hire, I will hire 10 out of 10 times, not the content expert, but the person who is always open to learning and trying new things. Because I wish that I could predict exactly what direction education is going to go, but I can’t.

Samantha: There’s a huge achievement gap among minorities and you just have to find ways to reach them. Keep trying, keep being creative. You may find yourself having to teach the same lesson five different ways in the same classroom.

Logan: You have to be able to laugh at yourself and allow students to laugh at you—sometimes there’s nothing better.

Remember that the first year is the hardest. Everything is a new experience. It’s like riding a bicycle. In order to learn, you have to fall off and in order to get better, you have to get back on the bicycle. Keep working until you can ride [the] bike around the block—fast! W

The Education Program at Wilson At Wilson, those majoring in education range from traditional undergraduate and graduate students to students enrolled through the college’s Adult Degree Program and those who already have bachelor’s degrees seeking teacher certification through the college’s Teacher Intern Program.

The education program at Wilson offers associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Upon enrolling in the undergraduate teacher education curriculum, a student begins a program of field experiences designed to integrate theory and practice, culminating in a fulltime, off-campus, semester-long Student Teaching Practicum.

The Master of Education degree is designed for both elementary and secondary teachers and is based on the premise that successful teachers will need an in-depth knowledge of pedagogy, a mastery of current theory and an understanding of research-based practices and technology to move from being good teachers to becoming great teachers.

The education department at Wilson College is accredited by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to offer certification programs in the following areas:

Early Childhood (PreK-4) and Special Education (PreK-8) • PreK-4 • PreK-4 and special education (dual certification)

Middle-Level (4-8) Education • English/Language Arts • Mathematics • Science • Social Studies

Secondary Certification (7-12) • Biology • Chemistry • English • Mathematics • Social Studies

PreK-12 Certification • Health and Physical Education • Spanish

Candidates for certification must pass all required Pearson/ ETS tests. The Pennsylvania certificate is valid in 46 states.

fall 2015 25

26 wilson magazine

"Narratives Matter" Lucy Pritchard Frost ’63 gives voice to the past

By Coleen Dee Berry

S

he was a petty thief arrested on the streets of Dundee, Scotland. Her crime: stealing a pair of trousers. Her punishment: indentured servitude halfway around the world. In 1837, Jean Boyd endured an arduous ocean voyage, only to arrive in Van Diemen’s Land—known today as Tasmania—to face bouts of solitary confinement in a prison/workhouse known as the “female factory,” and the uncomfortable role of servant.

But Jean Boyd persevered and ultimately prospered in this strange land. She married a fellow convict, had a family, briefly ran a pub and then a successful farm.

Boyd and other Tasmanian convict women come to life in the writings and research of Lucy Pritchard Frost ’63, who believes “narratives matter.”

Frost used these words to begin her inaugural lecture as the chair of English at the University of Tasmania more than 16 years ago. Narratives matter, she contended, because of their importance in how communities imagine themselves.

A large part of Frost’s career has been spent giving voice to women’s narratives from the past in her adopted country, Australia. She began by recounting the experiences of women settlers in Australia. More recently, her work has illuminated the lives of female convicts transported to the country in the 1800s.

Australian settlement stories are “very similar to popular culture about the American West,” Frost said.

“From the male perspective of telling the story, it’s all very heroic and romantic. But when you look at the women’s perspective, you see a very different story. You see so much more of the hardship and heartbreak involved.”

Frost first came to Australia in 1970, after graduating from Wilson with a bachelor’s degree in English, completing postgraduate degrees at the University of Rochester and then teaching at UCLA. She taught American literature at La Trobe University in Melbourne, but it was a work of Australian literature—Barbara Baynton’s short story collection, Bush Studies—that set her on a mission. Baynton’s uncompromisingly bleak fiction about life in Australia’s outback “made me wonder how the women on the Australian frontier would write about their own lives,” Frost said. “So I began to look at their unpublished letters and diaries.”

The result was her first book, No Place for a Nervous Lady: Voices from the Australian Bush, published in 1984 and now considered a classic in Australian nonfiction. Taken from letters and diaries written between 1840 and 1883, the narratives include stories about an increasingly pessimistic 25-year-old Louisa Clifton

At left: Portrait photo of convict Jean Boyd, transported to Tasmania in 1837, from Abandoned Women: Scottish Convicts Exiled Beyond the Seas by Lucy Frost. Background: the Cascades Female Factory in Hobart, Tasmania. Photos courtesy of E.R. Pretyman collection, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.

helping her family settle a new town; the bitter governess, Rosa Payne, who despises her bush posting; and the adventurous Lucy Jones, who wrote illustrated letters to relatives detailing a harrowing journey through the outback, signing one, “I remain, A conglomeration of wonder and hope!”

But if narratives help communities imagine themselves, Frost discovered that a large part of the story was missing in Australia and especially in the island state of Tasmania, located off Australia’s southeastern coast.

More than 70,000 convicts from across the British Empire were sent to Tasmania in the early 1800s. Many

ans alike. “A kind of amnesia settled over convict sites and family histories, an aversion to what was known as ‘the convict stain,’” she said.

Many factors went into the overthrow of the convict stain, but “the main one seems to be the celebration of the Australian bicentennial in 1988 and the resulting long look back into the country’s history,” Frost said.

In 1997, Frost became the first woman to hold the chair of English at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, the state capital. “Once I came to Tasmania, I began to think about the role of convict women in the foundation narrative of Australia,” Frost said. Taking advantage of the newly opened records, she began researching the lives of women “transported beyond the seas.”

In 2001, Frost was appointed to the board of directors of the Cascades Female Factory Historic Site in Hobart.

Cascades was in many ways the institution at the center of the female convict story, but when Frost arrived in Tasmania, most of the buildings had been sold off or destroyed.

The convicts were assigned employment after their long voyage when they arrived here. If children had accompanied them, the women were required to leave them at the factory and many were then shipped to orphanages. If a woman became pregnant, she returned to the factory to give birth and again, was required to leave her child behind when she returned to work. If employers lodged complaints against their convict servants—even for something as trivial as talking back—punishment was solitary confinement at the factory.

"I remain, A conglomeration of wonder and hope!"

—Lucy Jones convicts, like Jean Boyd and her husband John Clark, embraced the land that was once their prison and provided it with descendants. Today, some estimate close to three-quarters of Tasmanians can claim a convict ancestor.

However, until recently, no one in Tasmania or elsewhere in Australia wanted to acknowledge the early convicts, Frost said. Until the late 1980s, official records of the convict period were closed to scholars and family histori-

28 wilson magazine

As a Cascades board member, Frost spent the next decade as part of the effort to return the female factory to public visibility. Today, the Cascades Female Factory is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a historic tourist destination.

While on the board, Frost and another member, Alison Alexander, formed a subcommittee that blossomed into the Female Convicts Research Centre. The center, now with more than 4,000 members worldwide, encourages research into the experiences of Tasmanian convict women and their children. Frost, who retired from the University of Tasmania in 2009, remains the organization’s president.

Frost has also written or co-written six books detailing the lives of convict women. Abandoned Women: Scottish Convicts Exiled Beyond the Seas, published in 2012, traces the lives of women transported on a ship named HMS

will highlight narratives about women from all corners of the British Empire, such as India and Jamaica, who were transported to Tasmania.

After 45 years in Australia, Frost is comfortably settled.

She moved to Tasmania after visiting a friend who is a sixth generation Tasmanian. “It has mountains and lots of water.

I grew up in a town just outside the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains and a lot of what I loved about that area, I found in Tasmania,” Frost said. Her two daughters also live in Australia.

Frost said she regrets losing touch with many Wilson friends—when she first moved to Australia, long-distance phone calls were expensive, flights were exorbitant and social media didn’t exist. (“If only I had Facebook back then!” she lamented.) But she has maintained a long friend-

Above, from left: Dr. Lucy Prichard Frost ’63 at work; outdoor exhibit at the Cascades Female Factory UNESCO World Heritage Site in Hobart, Tasmania. Left, visitors read display board at the Cascades Female Factory UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Atwick. Compiling this narrative was no easy task, Frost said. Her educated Australian women settlers left behind diaries, letters and journals. Most Tasmanian female convicts were illiterate petty criminals who were essentially voiceless and anonymous.

It took her “six to seven years of real detective work” to piece together the convicts’ lives. “You have to remember I was a full-time professor at the time!” Frost said. She traveled four times to Edinburgh to research the voluminous court records there, and combed libraries in Scotland, England and Australia for news articles.

Frost is now at work on her 10th book, From the Edges of Empire: Convict Women From Beyond the British Isles, which

ship with Wilson classmate Sarah Walker Risher ’63. “We do a lot of traveling together. And we Skype.”

Frost credits her time at Wilson with encouraging her love of writing. “I also have no doubt that being taught by strong, smart women gave me the role models I needed to survive in a career seen very much as a man’s world when I entered the workforce in the 1960s,” Frost said. “Almost all my career has focused on the literature and history of women, and again, I’m sure that, directly and indirectly, my years at Wilson were crucial in giving me the confidence to believe that this was a worthwhile subject.” W

fall 2015 29

AROUND THE GREEN

EVERYTHING

(IN ART ) IS CONNECTED Master of Fine Arts program begins with summer-intensive session

By Courtney D. Wolfe '12

A

red string with seemingly random objects dangling from it stretches across a bulletin board in Lortz Hall. There are drawings and cartoons; a large, lacy piece of bark and notes of all kinds. A student enters and attaches a plastic bag full of freshly mown grass to the string and then sits down.

The last week of the summer-intensive residency for Wilson’s inaugural Master of Fine Arts program has begun.

The M.F.A. program at Wilson is designed to be completed in two years with 20 courses, including two required, four-week summer residency periods when students live, study and work on the Wilson campus.

After the summer semester, the M.F.A. program will provide a Wilson-approved faculty mentor near the student’s home, giving each student one-on-one personal contact with a professional who can offer ongoing advice and motivation, an aspect that distinguishes it from other M.F.A programs.

30 wilson magazine

Wilson’s program is also designed to be interdisciplinary, offering concentrations in both visual arts and choreography, continuing Wilson’s tradition of multi-disciplinary liberal arts discovery by exploring the intersection of choreography and visual arts, and of art and the world.

“We’re asking questions about how visual arts and choreography are related, and how they are the same,” said program director RoseAnne Spradlin. “The M.F.A. has the ability to bridge the gap between artists working in both mediums.”

The interdisciplinary approach is cutting edge, according to Wilson Associate Professor of Fine Arts Philip Lindsey. “The approach fits into what’s happening in the art world right now. Artists today are much more interested in bringing more to the table,” Lindsey said.

The 2015 M.F.A. program enrolled an even split of choreographers and visual artists—three of each. But it was the inter-

disciplinary approach of the program that attracted Mandoline Whittlesey, who currently lives in France and had been thinking about graduate school for a decade before applying to Wilson’s program.

“If the program had been just choreography, I would not have applied,” Whittlesey said. “We’re looking at the how the art world is of the world; every walk of life is connected and interrelated. We’re seeing how art is a part of everything else and everything is becoming multifaceted in dialogue and those blurry edges are happening everywhere, not just in art.”

And so the red string. The M.F.A. students said the objects hanging from it reminded them how all things are connected and reinforced the elimination of boundaries, and so pushed them to explore the relationships that exist in the world.

The curriculum for the summer-intensive session illustrated the breadth of studies for the program: history and philosophy

of art, current trends in art and performance, media techniques and the meaning of embodied movement and human form are all topics the students immersed themselves in during the four-week period. In addition, the students spent hours in their studio, producing art that reflected their experiences in the program.

“Our students bring different experiences to our M.F.A.,” said Department of Fine Arts Chair and Associate Professor Robert Dickson. “They are learning to translate their experiences and to find their voice.”

Students in the program will continue working throughout the 2015-16 academic year in online classes and producing artwork in their home studios with the guidance of a local mentor, allowing time for the students

We're asking questions about how visual arts and choreography are related, and how they are the same. The M.F.A. has the ability to bridge the gap between artists working in both mediums.

— RoseAnne Spradlin M.F.A. program director

to explore the lessons of the residency in their work.

How visual arts and choreography interconnect will be the first lesson the students explore in their home studios.

The four weeks at Wilson have sparked a reevaluation. "Art is not what I thought it was," said Rebecca "Beck" Metzbower '14, whose focus is visual arts. Feeling inspired by the discussions in her class-

es, Metzbower has a journal full of ideas to explore in her work. “I can’t wait to get back into my studio to see how this experience has changed me as an artist.” W

fall 2015 31

PHOTO BY KENDRA TIDD

Students in Wilson’s first Master of Fine Arts summer residency session used an inspiration board to remind them how all things are connected.

A SWUFE

"SUMMER CAMP" Two Wilson students study abroad in China under new agreement

By Coleen Dee Berry

T

his summer, Wilson forged a new international partnership with the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) in Chengdu, China.

This partnership includes an exchange program with either waived or reduced tuition for Wilson students, an opportunity for Wilson professors to serve on SWUFE’s summer faculty and two reserved spots for Wilson students to attend the university’s 10-day study-abroad program

The first Wilson students to take advantage of the “Discover SWUFE International Summer Camp” were Christina Gonzalez ’16 and Danniele Fulmer ’17. From July 5-14, they took part in discussions on international relations and entrepreneurship at SWUFE, experienced Chinese theater and archaeological sites, took a few basic lessons in speaking Mandarin and tried their hand at calligraphy and fan-painting.

SWUFE is a public research university under the direction of the Chinese Ministry of Education. Last fall, Wilson President Barbara K. Mistick visited SWUFE with a group of educators from FriendlyPA, an economic development initiative aimed at building partnerships and promoting exchange activities between Pennsylvania and Chinese educational institutions.

Mistick and a small group from Wilson then met this summer in Pittsburgh with SWUFE representatives to finalize the exchange agreement.

“This is a great opportunity for our Wilson students to gain first-hand experience about China,” President Mistick said.

“China is now the world’s second-largest economy, and our agreement creates an important educational exchange not only for our faculty and staff, but for SWUFE’s as well.”

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Gonzalez and Fulmer were part of a group of 56 students from 39 different countries participating in the session. “Now I can say I have friends on every continent except for Antarctica!” Fulmer said.

Fulmer, a junior from Clymer, Pa., is participating in the 3+1 program with Vermont Law School, in which she will earn her undergraduate degree from Wilson and a master’s degree in environmental law and policy from VLS in four years. Gonzalez, a senior from Santa Barbara, Calif., carries a double major in political science and Spanish, and was elected this spring as the president of the Wilson College Government Association. She is a participant in the Women with Children program.

Both said they found Chengdu a fastpaced, crowded city full of new skyscrapers that contrasted with older, traditional pagoda-style buildings. Traffic was “organized chaos—I had more than one hair-raising taxi ride,’ Fulmer said—and the Szechwan cuisine was tongue-tingling.

While Chengdu is new and vibrant, with evidence of a vast amount of wealth, there are still reminders of the country’s communist past, Gonzalez said. “I learned more in these 10 days about China than I could learn in an entire semester Chinese immersion course, and I came away with an admiration for their traditions and culture and their work ethic,” she said. “But you have to go into this with your eyes open.”

The cultural education became a two-way street when 50 Chinese students visited the summer camp to take part in discussion groups with the international students. “I think what is interesting is that the younger generation of Chinese [is] starting to ask the challenging questions,” Gonza-

lez said. “They are very curious about how we do things in Western culture. You could see this clearly during the international student discussion group segment.”

While many of the academic lectures and discussions had a business slant, Fulmer said, the summer camp’s main focus seemed to be to introduce students to the area’s Chinese culture and to foster international cooperation. Fulmer found the Mandarin lessons to be both fascinating and challenging. “It was eye-opening to deal with a language that is that complex.

Just going to McDonalds and trying to order food was hard.”

Fulmer was also impressed by a field trip the group took to the region known as the Panda area, which included a visit to a panda breeding facility where the World Wildlife Federation has a headquarters.

“After seeing their facility, I’d consider applying to work at WWF,” said Fulmer, who spent the rest of her summer interning at Volvo Construction Equipment in Shippensburg, Pa., working in the company’s environmental regulations section.

Chengdu was not the only study-abroad program Gonzalez took part in this summer. Under Wilson guidelines, she was able to design a personalized studyabroad program in Mexico.

“It’s important to take study abroad in non-European countries, to go to a country and a culture where you are out of your comfort zone, where you can look at a culture without a Western lens,” Gonzalez said. “You discover, at the bottom, we are all human. The heart breaks the same way; mothers love their children the same way. You can still make those connections, despite all the differences.” W

AROUND THE GREEN

Now I can say I have friends on every continent except Antarctica.

— Danniele Fulmer '17

Clockwise from top: Student discussion group at SWUFE (Danniele Fulmer ’17 at head of table, Christina Gonzalez ’16 at right); Fulmer during Chinese field trip; a panda at World Wildlife Federation; Fulmer (left) and Gonzalez share a selfie; the students at the SWUFE Summer Camp gather for a group shot.

fall 2015 33

PHOTO BY CAHTY MENTZER

AROUND THE GREEN

Students Sarah Neville, left, and Siri Skowronek record information about headstones at Cedar Grove Cemetery as part of the Summer II course “Introduction to Archaeology.”

34 wilson magazine

REMAINS OF

THE PAST Intro to Archaeology summer course digs deep into history

By Cathy Mentzer

T

his summer, students in Bonnie Rock-McCutcheon’s “Introduction to Archaeology” class session studied Chambersburg’s Cedar Grove Cemetery, seeking clues about the people who’ve lived in the area over the years by examining and interpreting gravestones.

Cedar Grove is one of the largest cemeteries in Chambersburg. The first burial there was in 1854 and although plots are no longer being sold, burials are still held today, according to Rock-McCutcheon, adjunct instructor in fine arts, history and political science.

“Cemeteries to me are just fascinating because they tell you so much about the community around them,” said Rock-McCutcheon, who has a master’s degree in ancient history from Ohio State University and is working on her doctoral dissertation there in the same subject. “They’re microcosms of social history and economic history, social norms and what we want to say about ourselves and who we are.”

Rock-McCutcheon had originally planned for the class to perform an archaeological dig at Rocky Spring Church, whose cemetery contains the grave of Wilson benefactor Sarah Wilson. When the owners of the church had second thoughts, she decided to refocus the course on Cedar Grove Cemetery—which opened up a set of new possibilities.

“A lot of people think archaeology is just digging. It’s not just digging,” Rock-McCutcheon said. “The goal of archaeology is to study human culture in the past, using material remains. In that sense, cemeteries are material remains of the past that can tell us about communities, how those communities wanted to present themselves to the

world, how they remembered their dead, how people wanted other people to think about them after they died.”

Rock-McCutcheon and her class of four students—Siri Skowronek '16, Heather Schuler '20, Josephine Wolford '21 and Sarah Neville '18—identified an overarching research question: What people made up the community that was buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery? They also wanted to know how diverse the commu-

to answer it entirely because there were certain elements, such as ethnicity, that couldn't be determined based on the data that we were able to access,” said Skowronek, a veterinary medical technology major.

The class was able to draw a few conclusions from the limited sample of graves it studied. “The majority of the graves that we looked at had some sort of religious symbolism,” said Rock-McCutcheon. “We found that generally, the graves really

They're [cemeteries] microcosms of social history and economic history, social norms and what we want to say about ourselves and who we are.

— Bonnie Rock-McCutcheon

adjunct instructor in fine arts, history and political science nity was in terms of religion, ethnicity and socio-economic status, and what symbols and symbolic language on the gravestones say about what was important to community residents and how they wanted to be remembered.

The students identified three small sections of the cemetery to study—a total of only 32 plots out of 2,000 or more—then recorded things like the longitude and latitude of the gravestones, everything written on the stone, its orientation (i.e., facing east, west, north, south), its condition and iconography.

seemed to focus around the family unit. A surprising number of women were buried with their birth families and that was really interesting. And the way people were memorialized emphasized the family.” For example, footstones often said “mother” and “father” rather than the person’s name.

“We found a surprising lack of any other sort of language or symbolism that had anything to do with anything other than family or religion,” Rock-McCutcheon said. “The things that in death people wanted to talk about were pretty much family or religion.” W

“Our initial research question was very broad and ambitious, but we were not able

fall 2015 35

FIRST

PITCH New Men's Soccer Coach Caleb Davis Leads Inaugural Program

By Samantha Burmeister

S

ports fans can have a new experience at Kris’s Meadow on the Wilson College campus—a soccer double-header featuring both women’s and men’s teams.

That's because men’s soccer was added to the Wilson athletics lineup this year.

The Wilson men’s soccer team is led by head coach Caleb Davis, who began recruiting last year in order to compete this fall. His recruiting efforts yielded an

assistant women’s soccer coach and facilities and events manager.

you speak or where you are from. Soccer is the same all around the world.”

A Chambersburg native, Davis’ many local connections both in and out of the soccer community have assisted him in his recruitment efforts.

Davis added, “It’s fun to see how guys from different areas of the world play just a little differently, then blend their style into what we are trying to accomplish here at Wilson.”

His friendships include both the former and current soccer coaches at Chambersburg Area Senior High School. “I really enjoy calling them and chatting with them

The men’s soccer team will compete in the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC). For its debut season, the team’s schedule includes 15 games, with 12 conference contests. The team will often play before the women’s team in back-to-back matchups this season.

One of the many aspects about the game of soccer is it does not matter what language you speak or where you are from. Soccer is the same all around the world.

— Caleb Davis

Men's soccer coach 18-member squad—an impressive number for a first-year program.

“I am very happy to have these truly dedicated soccer players on the roster for our program,” said Davis. “Having this kind of depth as a first-year program allows us to give guys breaks when they need it, and allows us to move players around in different positions when needed. The depth is going to be key when we get into the middle of the season and need to look to our bench for help.”

Along with his coaching duties, Davis has been named the College’s assistant athletic director for athletics and recreation management. Previously, he served as the

36 wilson magazine

about strategy for upcoming games and to sometimes just talk soccer in general, and of course I always have to check in to see how certain players are performing,” Davis said.

Davis’ diverse squad consists of international student-athletes from Ghana, Jamaica, Australia and Saudi Arabia. In addition, twins Aaron and Ethan Russ made the long trek to Chambersburg from Hawaii.

“It is fascinating to see soccer players from different areas of the world on a field together and observe how they instantly understand each other,” said Davis. “One of the many aspects about the game of soccer is it does not matter what language

The men’s soccer team debuted on Sept. 1 at home against Shenandoah University. The squad lost 4-0 in its program opener, but won its first game, 3-0, against Bryn Athyn on Sept. 26.

The team’s first goal was scored Sept. 9 on the road against Cairn University. Freshman Justin Teague will be remembered as the first Wilson men’s soccer player to score a goal, with Kostantinos Zois credited for the first assist in the program. The team lost to Cairn 5-1.

“Being an extremely young team this year, I expect we will take our bumps, but at the same time I look to surprise some teams within the NEAC as well. Even though we are young, the guys on the team are extremely talented,” Davis said. “As we play each game you can see our team growing and getting better each minute of the game. It is very exciting to watch.” W

AROUND THE GREEN

Wilson men’s soccer team members huddle before a game.

PHOENIX SPORTS WRAP Wilson College athletics kicked off its 2015 fall season with both the women’s soccer and field hockey teams notching victories, and with the women’s cross country team taking second place in the Bryn Athyn College Invitational Meet.

WOMEN’S SOCCER began its 2015 season with a 4-1 road

win over Mary Baldwin College. The crew, led by head coach Beth Weixel, will look to improve in its North Eastern Athletics Conference (NEAC) standings. In addition, the team will face nonconference opponents Cedar Crest College, Mount Aloysius College and the University of Valley Forge this fall.

ference, the team becomes eligible for a conference championship—an opportunity it has never encountered in previous play.

In addition, head coach Shelly Novak’s crew was TIED FOR FIRST PLACE with Morrisville State in the inaugural NEAC coaches’ preseason poll. The preseason poll rankings were spearheaded by the NEAC field hockey coaches, with each coach ranking all teams except their own.

The FIELD HOCKEY team opened its 2015 season with an 8-0 win over Notre Dame of Maryland University on their home turf. This season the field hockey team hosts the WILSON INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT, welcoming Kean University, Sweet Briar College and Keuka College.

The WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY team opened up the 2015 season competing at the Bryn Athyn College Invitational Meet on Sept. 4. Head coach Richard Meyers’ crew finished in second place as a team and individual runners ERIN STEPHAN and JESSIE THRUSH crossed the line in third and fourth place, respectively. The team will compete in five additional matches this fall and end its season running at the NEAC Championship meet on Oct. 31.

The Wilson field hockey team will also compete in the NEAC for the first time as the conference recently added field hockey as a sponsored sport. With the addition of field hockey to the con-

Wilson athletics will add another team this year with the addition of MEN’S VOLLEYBALL , scheduled to begin in 2016 under head coach Jason Barshinger.

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history

RESTORING HISTORY

By Leigh Rupinski, Archivist

F

were actually fuzzy! Although the portrait retained its original or decades, portraits of one of Wilson’s founders, the Rev. frame, the frame’s finish was severely cracked and marred by chips James Wightman, and the College’s first donor and namesake, Sarah Wilson, graced buildings on campus. By 2015, they both were in several places. The frame had to be cleaned, reformed and refinished with gold leaf. After weeks of intensive work, both portraits in need of some tender loving care. were again ready for display this summer.

Wightman’s portrait, missing its frame, had been relegated to The restoration also brought to light some interesting history storage in Wilson’s archives after the canvas suffered two large about the artist who painted Sarah Wilson’s portrait. The artist’s punctures. Meanwhile, Sarah Wilson’s position in the college cafsignature reads “M.R. Dixon, 1912.” Hartmann’s research identified eteria, which had become the stuff of campus mythology, left the the artist as Maria Dixon, who always signed her work with initials canvas exposed to years of residual grease. Both the portrait and to avoid gender discrimination. frame were sticky to the touch.

As an archivist, it is my responsibility to preserve our collections and determine if items are in need of restorative care so they can be enjoyed for years to come. To that end, the two Wilson historic paintings were sent out for conservation work at Hartmann Fine Art Conservation Services in Carlisle, Pa. The company’s president, John Hartmann, came to Wilson in February and personally evaluated both paintings before recommending treatment.

Art conservators are trained to improve the condition of physically deteriorating artifacts by correcting flaws while retaining original materials. If successful, the final product will look as close as possible to when it was first created.

Both portraits, oil paintings on medium-weight woven canvases, required the same basic treatments for initial Above, from left: Partially restored portrait of the Rev. James Wightman; fully rerestoration. Hartmann’s team removed discolored varstored portrait with frame. Left, portrait of Sarah Wilson demonstrates the impact of nish and dirt with appropriate solvents and gels. Then, cleaning and restoration. The left side of the painting has been cleaned; the darker, minor paint loss and abrasions were corrected with gesso right side has not. primer and conservation-grade paints.

In addition to those treatments, each painting faced Dixon studied at the Art Students League under Charles Yardley unique issues. Hartmann’s team seamlessly realigned the puncTurner and many of her works were exhibited in New York and Chitures in Wightman’s portrait and restored the lost paint so the cago during her lifetime. punctures are now virtually invisible. The archives staff located We are excited to share the restored portraits with the Wilson the portrait’s frame and brought it to Hartmann’s facility for restocommunity.

The portraits will be on display in the newly renovated ration. Once the frame was cleaned, John Stewart Memorial Library following the Oct. 23 rededication. it was reunited with the portrait.

After years in the cafeteria, Sarah Wilson’s portrait took an For more information on the restoration project, please contact the extremely long time to clean. In fact, when restoration work began, C. Elizabeth Boyd ’33 Archives. the portrait and frame were so thickly coated with grime that they

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ASSOCIATION NEWS

Hello to all Alumnae/i!

Fall is upon us and another school year has begun. The campus is alive—with excited students, more sports events and the rededication of the reimagined John Stewart Memorial Library.

We are thrilled that with each semester, we move forward to offer a variety of opportunities. With the arrival of new students comes a need for more Aunt Sarahs. Please consider volunteering for this activity. It is wonderful and gratifying to connect with a student to support and encourage them throughout the year.

In the past, the association has collaborated with the College’s Office of Career Development to offer internships to students.

This year will not be any different. Hopefully you or your employer are willing to take part in developing a student’s career. Contact us at AAWC@wilson.edu if you are interested.

Fall Weekend 2015 took place at the end of September. One of the sessions offered a chance for input on changes to the Volunteer Handbook. It is not too late—your suggestions are still welcome. The board will be discussing the handbook at our meeting during Winter Retreat.

During the 2014-15 academic year, it came to our attention that in several instances, students needed emergency funds in the face of an immediate crisis. These crises directly impacted the students’ ability to continue their education at Wilson. Out

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of these experiences, an idea was launched at the Alumnae Association board meeting in June 2015. The Alumnae Association of Wilson College is starting a fund for students who are experiencing a crisis or time of need. The Silver Lining Fund, as it is to be called, will provide the student with a limited amount of immediate cash to carry them through the crisis. Restricted donations will provide the money to have on hand for such gifts. See page 42 for more information.

For these and all opportunities, please contact us at AAWC@wilson.edu.

Thank you for all that you do…..

Mary F. Cramer ’91 President , Alumnae Association of Wilson College Marybeth Famulare Director of Alumnae/i Relations

2016 TOURS AND TRAVEL The new year brings an itinerary of stimulating new trips to Cuba, the Caribbean, Europe and Alaska. Sign up for these 2016 trips sponsored by the Alumnae Association of Wilson College’s Tours and Travel Committee: JANUARY 13-17—LONG WEEKEND IN HAVANA Five days and four nights in Cuba’s capital city, led by Insight Cuba’s excellent local guides. Experience Havana’s art, music, dance and Cuban cuisine. Accommodations will be at the five-star Meliá Cohiba.

For more information, call Insight Cuba at 800-450-2822 or visit insightcuba.com/custom-cuba-tours.

MARCH 13-20—COLORFUL CARIBBEAN: LUXURY CRUISE ON THE OCEANIA RIVIERA Departing from and returning to Miami, Fla., the cruise includes stops in Key West, Fla.; Honduras; Belize and Cozumel, Mexico. Please contact Go Next at www.gonext.com or 800-842-9023.

APRIL 22-MAY 1—PORTUGAL: PORTO AND LISBON Four nights in Porto and four nights in Lisbon. Visit seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Please contact AHI Travel at www.wilson. ahitravel.com or call 800-323-7373.

Havana, Cuba

JUNE 22-29—COASTAL MAINE AND NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA Two nights in Bar Harbor, Maine; three nights on Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada; two nights in St. Andrews by-the-Sea, New Brunswick. Please contact AHI Travel at www.wilson.ahitravel.com or call 800-323-7373.

JULY 15-22—DISCOVER SOUTHEAST ALASKA Seven nights on the Admiralty Dream. Enjoy Sitka, Hidden Falls, Glacier Bay, Point Adolphus, Juneau and Baranof Island, with an optional pre-tour in Denali National Park. Note: this ship has a 66-guest maximum. For more information, call Orbridge at 866-639-0079 or visit wilson.orbridge.com.

AUGUST 10-18—OXFORD, THE COTSWOLDS AND THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE A visit to Downton Abbey’s Highclere Castle and the village of Bampton; a private lunch at Blenheim Palace and a meeting with Lord Charles Spencer-Churchill. Please contact Gohagan at www.gohagantravel. com or call 800-922-3088.

SEPTEMBER 8-16—ITALIAN LAKES AND VENICE Three nights in Venice, four nights in Cernobbia on Lake Como, Bellagio, Maggiore, Verona. Please contact Gohagan at www. gohagantravel.com or call 800-922-3088

RING-IT-FORWARD CEREMONY Three Wilson seniors received the gift of class rings from alumnae in a special Ring-It-Forward ceremony held during Fall Weekend on Saturday, Sept. 26.

The matches made: • Diane Lewis ’16, ring presented by Kenneth Wildonger on behalf of Emma A. Wildonger ’42.

• Christina Gonzalez ’16, ring presented by Julia A. Solleveld Osborne ’64.

• Katelyn Wingerd ’16, ring presented by Amy Allen Boyce ’73 on behalf of Carol Tschop ’72.

From left, students Katelyn Wingerd ’16, The Alumnae Association of Wilson College is grateful for the generosity of Diane Lewis ’16 and Christina Gonzalez ’16. these alumnae in donating their rings. The new owners of the rings will add their Wilson stories to the history of the ring as they participate in this tradition.

fall 2015 41

ASSOCIATION NEWS ASSOCIATION GIFTS 2014-15 Student Internship Gift Program Cynthia Fink Barber ’73 Cynthia Fink Barber ’73 – In memory of D’Arcy Charney Wagonhurst ’90 Pittsburgh Club

Franklin County Club Every year, the Franklin County Club raises money to award a $1,500 scholarship to a local student who plans to attend Wilson. The following individuals contributed this year:

Unrestricted Donations Cynthia Fink Barber ’73 Loretta Hunt Marion ’61

Marie Lanser Beck ’76 Grace Rogers Brown ’54 Mary F. Cramer ’91 Bruce Foreman Edna “Denise” Sites Foreman ’48 Maxine Lesher Gindlesperger ’98 Robin Herring ’07 Patricia Markle Keffer ’96

Reunion Raffle Jane Appleyard ’66 Cynthia Fink Barber ’73 Sue Ann Morin Cook ’81 Mary F. Cramer ’91 Diana Otto Hollada ’07

Kendal Hopkins ’80 Patricia Markle Keffer ’96 Lisbeth Sheppard Luka ’69 Jacqueline Elder Murren ’69 Margaret Ward ’65

Anne Pearce Lehman ’49 Laureen Lutz ’08 Gretchen Mackey ’69 Peggy McCleary ’71 Stephen Oldt ’99 Dorothy Van Brakle ’09 Kathleen Wolfinger ’66

THE AAWC SILVER LINING FUND The Alumnae Association of Wilson College has created the Silver Lining Fund to help students who are experiencing a time of crisis or financial need. The fund will provide students with a limited amount of immediate cash to get through their initial crisis.

During the 2014-15 academic year, several students encountered crises that required emergency funds. These crises directly impacted the students’ ability to continue their education at Wilson. In each case, financial help was provided and the student was aided in making appropriate contacts for additional assistance.

Out of these experiences, the idea of the Silver Lining Fund was launched at the Alumnae Association board meeting in June 2015.

Restricted donations will provide the money to for such gifts. The AAWC is currently accepting donations for the fund.

The executive board of the AAWC recognizes several principles in creating the fund: • Students have the right to have their identity protected in these situations.

• For these purposes, a Wilson student is defined as someone currently enrolled for at least three credits in a degree program offered by the College.

The dean of students will work with the director of alumnae/i relations to identify students in need, which could mean: a student suddenly left homeless or without adequate resources for food, or a student with a transportation emergency.

Students are only eligible for this emergency gift once per term.

The director of alumnae/i relations will report to the Alumnae Association board at each meeting about any disbursement from the Silver Lining Fund, while maintaining confidentiality.

Further guidelines can be found online at the AAWC webpage at www.wilson.edu/alumnae-association.

Please make donations payable to AAWC with Silver Lining Fund in the memo line. Mail to AAWC, 1015 Philadelphia Ave., Chambersburg, PA 17201.

• The assistance offered is a gift, not a loan, and is not expected to be reimbursed.

WILSON ALUMNAE/I EMPORIUM Looking for a special Wilson gift or memento, especially as the holidays are around the corner? Do your one-stop alumnae/i shopping at the Wilson Alumnae/i Emporium!

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You’ll find AAWC tote bags, wine tumblers, great T-shirts and special ornaments, among many other items. Visit www.wilson.edu/alumnaei-emporium to get started!

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"SO GIVE IT A TRY!" To Wilson Magazine: I’m a 1941 graduate. Ridgefield Park [N.J.] High School named me to their Wall of Achievement one month before my 96th birthday this July. What interested them, apparently, was my approach to learning new, unexpected things.

I was an 8th-grade piano student when the high school needed a bass viol player. I was too bashful to refuse when the music director suggested the senior bass player give me a lesson, and then told me to show up for orchestra practice. I was scared stiff when I was introduced at practice. The first notes from the bass embarrassed me so much that I fled behind the stage curtain. [The music director] Mr. Cross came up, scrunched down beside me in the dark and said, “It was wrong of me to get you up here so soon. But whatever you do, do not give up, because you will love orchestra. So give it a try!”

He was so right. I played in high school and college orchestras, in the New Jersey All-State Orchestra and in two symphony orchestras after graduation. And at age 80, I started a swing band of retirees.

After graduating from Wilson with a bachelor’s in English, engineering was the farthest thing from my mind when I began working. I wanted to write. But something I wrote in my spare time at my job at Sylvania Electric Products Inc. caught the eye of my boss. He then hired a woman from Westinghouse (a competitor) to teach me the fine points of lighting. It turned out that the Sylvania representative to the Illuminating Engineering Society was recently widowed and needed to stay at home with his child. So I took his place and helped write post-war residence lighting standards.

I became Sylvania Electric’s Home Lighting Consultant. Public speaking was never on my early list of interests. But I lectured across the country, on radio and finally, as the featured speaker at the first Women’s International Exposition in Madison Square Garden.

“Give it a try” works in private life as well. I studied for an amateur radio license to please my husband. Then, as a secretary of the Young Ladies Radio Club of Los Angeles, I made friends all over the world. I studied photography and then photographed spacecraft tracking stations around the world! Over the years, I’ve headed scholarship committees, YMCA camp committees and taught writing at a Christian Science Church.

So to Wilson students: the world is as open as your mind and heart. Just give it a try!

Kathleen “Kay” Hanway Goodwin ’41 La Canada, California

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Many Paths

one spirit REUNION 2016—JUNE 3-5

For her name is Alma Mater, And we’ll ever stand as one, Firmly pledged to love and honor, Till the sands of life are run.

Bertha Peifer, Class of 1921 Virginia Mayer Zacharias, Class of 1920

www.wilson.edu/reunion Contact the Office of Alumnae/i Relations at 717-262-2010 or alumnae@wilson.edu

1015 Philadelphia Ave. Chambersburg, PA 17201-1279

PHOTO BY KENDRA TIDD

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Artist Patrick Dougherty, aided by volunteers from Wilson and the surrounding community, began work on his environmental sculpture on the campus green on Oct. 7. Check the winter edition of Wilson Magazine for the whole story of Dougherty’s unique creation for the Wilson campus!