MORE THAN A
Classroom Migrant student tutoring program impacts students and tutors alike
Building a Team from the Ground Up | Moving Wilson Forward Accepting a New Library Challenge | The Imagination of Betsy McGowen ’75 volume 88 | SPRING 2015 | number 1
LENFEST CHALLENGE
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volume 88 | SPRING 2015 | number 1
FEATURES 12 More than a Classroom By Courtney D. Wolfe ’12 The Migrant Education Tutoring Program at Wilson fosters life-changing moments for students and tutors alike. 12
18 Starting from Scratch By Coleen Dee Berry Building a men’s basketball team from the ground up takes dedicated coaches, a tightknit group of student-athletes and a supportive campus. 24 Boundless By Coleen Dee Berry There are no limits to what Betsy McGowen ’75 and her imagination can accomplish in her role as children’s programming media consultant.
AROUND THE GREEN 32 Changing with Technology Kathleen Murphy accepts a new challenge. 34 Changing Lives Forever, for the Better A team of Wilson students works on Habitat for Humanity projects in Ohio. 36 Herd Mentality Han Yan ’16 and Assistant Professor Alexander Munson seek a better Wall Street metric. 38 The Joy of Sports Wilson student-athletes share their love of sports with area Special Olympians.
ALUMNAE/I
28 What Does Muhibbah Mean? 40 Alumnae Association Wilson’s international students share President's message, AAWC slate. their thoughts on what the celebration of their cultural heritage means to them. 46 Class Notes 62 In Memoriam
DEPARTMENTS 02 Letter from the Editor 18
24
03 Wilson News Sue Cooley ’44 gives $1.2 million toward the library project; major gift establishes “equi-assist” program; Wilson hires Master of Fine Arts director; Pittsburgh Zoo’s Baker to address commencement; President Mistick recognizes Newcombe Foundation; and a first-of-its-kind scholarship is created at Wilson. 08 Alumnae/i News A ceremony remembering Frances Speer Farmer ’50; Wilson Clubs meet in Florida; and Alice McDannell Drum ’57 returns to poetry.
10 President’s Forum: Hiking, Energy and the First Law of Thermodynamics By President Barbara K. Mistick 39 Hidden History By Amy Ensley The civil rights movement of the 1960s hits close to home when Wilson students are denied service at a local restaurant. 64 Last Word Courtney D. Wolfe ’12 on her experience with the Migrant Education Tutoring Program.
ON THE COVER Aurora Ortiz ’18 tutors child at the Migrant Education Tutoring Program at Wilson.
STAFF
WILSON MAGAZINE COMMITTEE Coleen Dee Berry, Managing Editor Mark Blackmon, Director of Communications Samantha Burmeister, Director of Athletics Communication/Sports Information 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.
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
FPO
— letter from the —
editor I
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, Amy Ensley, Cathy Mentzer, Courtney D. Wolfe �12 Contributing Photographers Coleen Dee Berry, James Butts, Kevin Gilbert, Denise McDowell, Cathy Mentzer, John Ross, Bill Stoler, Bob Stoler, Kendra Tidd, David Yates Cover Photo by: Kevin Gilbert
t’s amazing how a splash of purple can lift your spirits after a long winter.
By all accounts, this past winter was a nasty one—all that snow and “wintry mix” certainly challenged my driving skills on my commute from Adams County to the Wilson campus. I learned to drive on the snow-covered hills of Connecticut, but more than 30 years as a flatlander at the Jersey Shore obviously spoiled me. I white-knuckled more than one drive over the Ragged Edge this winter. As spring officially came and went, I found myself looking in vain for signs of daffodils or blooming forsythia. Instead—more snow showers! Then I found it—the circle of purple crocuses on the side of my driveway, the sure sign that winter was finally losing its grip, a welcome whisper to hold on, that warm weather was almost here. By the time you read this magazine, the leaves will be out (I hope) on the trees and the lilacs blooming. You will find in this issue wonderful stories about Wilson students who make a difference—whether it is tutoring migrant children from Chambersburg elementary schools, spending their spring break at a Habitat for Humanity project, or sharing their love of sport with Special Olympians. Spring brings great news about the generosity of our alumnae/i, including Sue Davison Cooley ’44, who has given a third gift of $1.2 million for the Reimagining the John Stewart Memorial Library fundraising effort. Cooley, a Portland, Oregon, area philanthropist, contributed $2.4 million to the project last year. Read more about other generous donors in the News section. You can also read about Wilson’s historic first men’s basketball season. Find out about some surprising research relating to Wall Street from Han Yan ’16 and mathematics professor Alexander Munson. And be sure to take in the profile of alumna Betsy McGowen ’75 and her creative career in children’s television programming. Reunion will be upon us in June. The slate of the Alumnae Association board nominees is included in this issue, as is other information about Reunion Weekend to be held on June 5-7. You’ll also discover a Flat Phoenix insert inside, suitable for inclusion in your vacation photos. Be sure to share the photos with Wilson on Facebook and Twitter using #WilsonCollegePA . Read on, and enjoy! Coleen Dee Berry Managing Editor
WILSON NEWS
John Stewart Library Quad—An architect’s rendering depicts what a new, academic quad between Warfield Hall and the library (left), and the Harry R. Brooks Science Complex might look like.
THIRD COOLEY GIFT CONTRIBUTES
$1.2 MILLION TOWARD LIBRARY PROJECT S ue Davison Cooley ’44 has pledged $1.2 million for the Reimagining the John Stewart Memorial Library fundraising effort. The gift—her third to the project— brings the total of her donations toward the library to $3.6 million. Cooley, a Portland, Oregon, area philanthropist, made the gift in honor of Wilson’s longest-serving dean, Margaret Criswell Disert ’20. Cooley’s latest gift brings the total raised for the $12 million library project to more than $11.8 million in cash and pledges. “Mrs. Cooley’s generosity to her alma mater has been extraordinary, especially when it comes to helping us provide our students with a comprehensive, state-of-the-art library,” said President Barbara K. Mistick. “We are grateful to Mrs. Cooley for supporting Wilson College and contributing in a significant way to our future.” Cooley’s initial contribution early last year assisted in completing a matching gift from Marguerite Lenfest ’55, and her most recent gift will allow the construction of a plaza off of the new learning commons and an academic green the college had planned as part of the library project, according to Mistick. The Reimagining project includes repairing and restoring the College’s 1924 library building and replacing the 1961 addition with a contemporary learning commons equipped to meet the needs of today’s students. The learning commons will house academic support, writing labs, two “smart” classrooms, a commuter lounge, bookstore and outdoor plaza, as well as the “Sue Davison Cooley Gallery,” named in honor of Cooley’s transformational gifts. Cooley said her experience at the College had a profound and lasting effect and she is happy to give back to the institution that she holds dear to this day. “I have so many fond memories of
being at Wilson that it is very much a part of my life,” Cooley said. “Students are given very special gifts when they are at Wilson. They get an outstanding experience.” Cooley, who recognizes how important a modern library is to the vitality of any college campus, said her gift is an expression of confidence in Wilson’s current leadership and the path the College is on today. “I am a very, very big fan of Wilson,” she said. Cooley is a longtime supporter of the College. She donated $1 million in 2005 to establish a scholarship for participants in the Women with Children Program in honor of old friends Sylvia Scalera Davison and Mary Meinecke Dee, both with the Wilson College Class of 1944. She has also been a faithful contributor to the College’s annual fund. Wilson’s library building has been closed since fall 2011 due to a heating system failure. Its functions were relocated to the lower level of Lenfest Commons. Work on the library project began in earnest last fall and construction went smoothly over the winter. “The library is progressing quite nicely,” said Vice President for Finance and Administration Brian Ecker. “All of the concrete [for the learning commons] has been poured and they’re starting to put up the steel structure.” The external façade of the learning commons should be completed around the beginning of June, according to Ecker. He said work has commenced on preparations for the drainage and stormwater management systems, and in the original Stewart library, the electrical service is being upgraded and interior rooms are being reframed. Construction is on schedule for completion in September or October, Ecker said. —Cathy Mentzer
spring 2015 03
WILSON NEWS WILSON LAUNCHES MASTER OF FINE ARTS PROGRAM Experimental Choreographer RoseAnne Spradlin Named Director This summer, the College will host the first students in an innovative, low-residency, Master of Fine Arts program with concentrations in visual arts and choreography. Internationally renowned choreographer RoseAnne Spradlin has been appointed director of the new M.F.A. program, which is supported in part through an endowment from the late Francis Speer Farmer ’50. Designed for experienced artists and working professionals with busy lives, Wilson’s M.F.A. is only the fifth low-residency M.F.A. program in the country offering a concentration in choreography, according to Robert Dickson, chair of the Department of Fine Arts. He said the program is further distinguished by a unique mentoring component that provides a college-approved faculty mentor near the student’s home to give each student one-on-one personal contact with a professional who can offer ongoing advice, support and motivation. “It’s a way to give students something special in their home setting,” Dickson said. “It helps bring them into the greater community of artists.” The M.F.A. program 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. Visiting faculty—“people from major cities, people with national reputations, the best people we can provide to work with our students”—will teach the summer residencies, Dickson said.
During the non-residence periods, students will have regular contact with Wilson program faculty members and with their mentors. Each semester at home will include an online seminar with other members of the M.F.A. program learning community. Spradlin, who has worked in New York City since 1982, has been called one of the most influential experimental choreographers in the city. She has received numerous awards for her work, most recently winning the 2014 United States Artists Ford Fellowship in Dance. She has also held fellowships in choreography from the Guggenheim and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her work has been shown around the world, from San Francisco to London and Vienna. Spradlin, who has a background in both visual arts and dance choreography, is excited to be the first director of Wilson’s M.F.A. program, in which she will also teach. “I am eager to share my knowledge of the body and my creative artistic tools with the next generation of artists, whoever they may be—young people just out of college, working artists hungry for pure creative time and peer feedback, and teachers or other working professionals seeking the professional upgrade of an advanced degree,” Spradlin said. —CM
BEQUEST TO FUND WILSON'S FIRST
PHOTO BY CATHY MENTZER
FULL-RIDE SCHOLARSHIP
PUSHING UP DAISIES
Spring Convocation was replaced this year with a student-led celebration of Wilson seniors, held Feb. 10 in Alumnae Chapel and attended by students, faculty, staff and administrators. Dubbed "Pushing Up Daisies,” the event included remarks and a photo presentation with music. It closed with students inviting audience members to write words of advice or encouragement on sticky notes, which were placed on a bulletin board and displayed in Lenfest Commons. —CM
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Wilson College has received a bequest of nearly $1 million from the estate of Elizabeth Holliday Ramsey in memory of her mother, Glennavee Prothero Holliday, Class of 1909, to create a first-of-itskind endowed scholarship. The Glennavee Prothero Holliday, Class of 1909, Scholarship will be awarded to the first-year female student with the highest cumulative grade-point average, with preference given to students from Blair County, Pa. The scholarship will pay for the student’s tuition, fees, room-and-board, supplies and, if applicable, studyabroad costs that are not covered by other grants or scholarships. The scholarship, which when fully funded will benefit multiple students, will follow recipients throughout four years of study at Wilson, provided they maintain a 3.5 cumulative gradepoint average. “This scholarship is the only one of its kind at Wilson and we are grateful to Mrs. Ramsey for this wonderful gift to the College,” said Wilson President Barbara K. Mistick. —Courtney D. Wolfe �12
UNLEASHING
THE CLEAN
PHOTOS BY KENDRA TIDD
Members of the Wilson College Veterinary Medical Technology Club hosted their popular dog wash event on campus April 11 and 12. Pictured here: (left) Marybeth Lowe and Sierra Bielobocky wash Luke; (center) Sierra Bielobocky, Emily Sullivan, Alyssa Query and Sarah Six work with canine clients; (right) Rebecca Day and Amber Dibert groom Cooper. —Coleen Dee Berry
DUPREY GIFT TO FUND NEW 'EQUI-ASSIST' CONCENTRATION The College has received a major gift that will be used to establish an innovative program that trains students to provide home health care for horses. The new “equi-assist” program will be a concentration within Wilson’s veterinary medical technology (VMT) major beginning next fall. The equi-assist concentration is being developed in conjunction with philanthropist and lifelong horsewoman Margaret Hamilton Duprey, who recently pledged $500,000 over three years to build the program. Duprey and her husband, Bob, own and operate Cherry Knoll Farm, which is the home of dressage, open jumpers, steeplechase and hunter competition horses, as well as prize-winning Black Angus cattle. The farm has locations in Pennsylvania and Florida. According to Duprey, horses with health issues often respond more positively to treatment in their home setting than they do in a veterinary hospital. The equi-assist program will give Wilson VMT graduates the training and ability to work independently, under the direction of the attending veterinarian, to provide equine nursing veterinary care in a horse’s home environment.
“Wilson College is on the map for its vet tech program but this would make it world-renowned,” said Duprey, who decided to make the gift after visiting the Wilson campus last summer. The equi-assist concentration will complement existing VMT concentrations in biology and business and entrepreneurship. Students enrolled in the concentration “will be trained to coordinate communication and care between all stakeholders—owner, trainer, and managers,” according to Wilson’s proposal for the program. “This specialized training … would increase the veterinary technologist’s ability to be a valuable resource in the veterinary medical team, allowing better utilization of veterinary technologists in the workforce and a strategic advantage for the equine veterinarian. This unprecedented level of training will distinguish Wilson graduates and the program.” Duprey is a member of a variety of boards and serves as a trustee for the United States Equestrian Team Foundation and the Hamilton Family Foundation, a private charitable foundation based in Wayne, Pa. —CM
spring 2015 05
NEWS
IN BRIEF
WILSON REACHES OUT TO SWEET BRIAR STUDENTS
MISTICK AWARDS MEDAL
TO NEWCOMBE FOUNDATION Wilson President Barbara K. Mistick presented the Robert P. Casey Medal for Commitment to Independent Higher Education to Thomas and Diane Wilfrid of the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation at the 55th annual meeting of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania held March 23 in Hershey, Pa. Wilson nominated the Wilfrids for the medal, which is awarded to individuals or organizations that have shown extraordinary commitment to the value of independent higher education. Thomas Wilfrid is the Newcombe Foundation's executive director and Diane Wilfrid is its program officer. Wilson is one of 32 institutional partners in the foundation’s mature women program, which has provided approximately $336,000 in scholarships since 1986 to Wilson adult degree and Women with Children program students. “Our partnership with the Newcombe Foundation has greatly impacted Wilson College,” Mistick said in presenting the award. “As one of the first colleges in the nation to welcome Women with Children students, and soon to celebrate our 20th anniversary, recognizing the Wilfreds today celebrates not only the successes of our graduates—some of whom have gone on to medical school and law school—but also the impact the program has on the children of our graduates, some of whom have now enrolled at Wilson.” Based in Princeton, N.J., the Newcombe Foundation began in 1979 with a bequest from the estate of Philadelphia philanthropist Charlotte W. Newcombe, who wanted it to continue her lifelong interest in supporting students seeking degrees in higher education. Since 1981, the foundation has awarded grants totaling more than $58.6 million to provide scholarships and fellowships in higher education. —CM
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The Office of Admissions has taken several steps to assist students looking to transfer from Sweet Briar College, including attending a transfer fair on March 18 and allowing any Sweet Briar student who enrolls at Wilson with the same major to complete her degree program under existing Sweet Briar requirements. Several students from the Virginia women’s college—which plans to close in August—have submitted applications, according to admissions officials.
ONSITE BACHELOR'S IN NURSING TO BE OFFERED THIS FALL At its February meeting, the Board of Trustees approved an onsite Bachelor of Science degree in nursing—a response to a strong enrollment trend, as well as marketplace needs. The program supports the Wilson Today plan in expanding the College’s health sciences offerings. Since the College began offering its online RN-to-BSN program in fall 2014, the healthcare community has strongly supported the creation of an onsite BSN degree program. Summit Health and Keystone Health have offered classroom and simulation lab space, as well as the use of clinical sites, according to Director of Nursing Carolyn Hart.
FULTON FARM NEWS Even in the dead of winter—and despite some nights of sub-zero temps—the greenhouses at Fulton Farm had something to offer the campus dining hall. Winter greens, in the form of spinach, arugula, spring mix and some green and red leaf lettuce sprouted in the greenhouse after being planted in October. In February, the farm was able to deliver several pounds of greens every other day for the salad bar, according to farm manager Sarah Bay. By April, the farm will be busy with spring planting. Beginning on May 23, locavores can find Fulton Farm produce at the North Square Farmers Market in downtown Chambersburg, marking Wilson’s 15th year at the market.
WILSON NEWS PITTSBURGH ZOO CHIEF BARBARA BAKER
TO SPEAK AT COMMENCEMENT Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium President and CEO Barbara Baker will speak at the 145th annual Wilson College commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 17. Baker was nominated by the Class of 2015 as its first choice for commencement speaker. Under Baker’s leadership, the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium— which hosts 1 million visitors a year and is ranked in the top five zoos for families in the nation—has excelled in all areas of operation. The number of endangered species has increased, conservation efforts toward targeted species have grown and attendance at formal and informal
education programs has increased. Baker has directed the growth of the zoo’s elephant herd from two to 10 animals—one of the largest in the United States. The zoo recently developed a 724-acre property into its International Conservation Center, a conservation, breeding and education center with a primary focus on African elephants. Over her 28-year career, Baker has been a veterinarian at a number of respected facilities housing African and Asian elephants, including the Bronx Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago and Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, S.C. She has a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Auburn University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of South Carolina. Wilson has a strong connection to Baker’s work and the Pittsburgh Zoo through internships, visits to the elephant sanctuary and post-graduation career options. —CM
SENIORS PRESENT RESEARCH AT
PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE PHOTO BY DENISE McDOWELL
Five Wilson College seniors presented the results of their research and one was recognized for her oral presentation at the 91st Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science, held April 10 to 12 at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. Students from 21 colleges and universities participated. The following Wilson students presented research: Kotcha Mangkalaphiban of Thailand; Jessica Meck of Huntingdon, Pa.; Martina Mellott of Mercersburg, Pa.; Ashley Perkins of Singlehouse, Pa.; and Allison Shastay of Bedford, Pa. Meck, who is majoring in biology, placed second in the oral presentation category for her research project, “The Effects of Temperature on the Competitive Interactions between Pseudogymnoascus destructans and Native Cave Fungi.” Meck was last year’s winner of Wilson’s John D. Rose Award in Environmental Studies. Three of the Wilson students, Meck, Shastay and Mangkalaphiban, received PAS Outstanding Research Grants last fall in support of their undergraduate research. PAS judged oral presentations and posters, and provided monetary awards for the top three places in each category. Oral presentations were assessed in categories for scientific merit—ranging from experimental methodologies to analysis of results—and presentation qualities, including visual impact and fielding of questions. The overall score was reflective of all subcategories This is the fourth year for the award competition and the fourth year that a Wilson student has been recognized by the Pennsylvania Academy of Science for excellence in the oral presentation category. —CM
SENDING SIGNATURES
SKYWARD
Guests at last October’s groundbreaking ceremony for the Reimagining the John Stewart Memorial Library project were invited to sign a beam that would be used in the construction of the new learning commons. On March 30, that beam containing those signatures was hoisted into place on the second floor of the learning commons to applause from onlooking faculty, staff and students. The audience had a chance to pose with the beam just before the big moment. —CDB
spring 2015 07
ALUMNAE/I NEWS REMEMBERING FRANCES SPEER FARMER '50
WILSON
ALUMNAE NEWS
n Feb. 5, Wilson College President Barbara K. Mistick, former Chaplain Rosie Magee and a group of alumnae granted the last wish of Frances Speer Farmer ’50 to return to her beloved Wilson College and have her ashes scattered on the Conococheague. During the ceremony, Anne Pearce Lehman ’49 offered a reflection on Farmer’s life. While the Rev. Mark Scheneman played “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes, Mistick and Vice President for Institutional Advancement Camilla Rawleigh scattered Farmer’s ashes over the creek. Farmer grew up across from the Wilson campus on Park Avenue in Chambersburg. Her grandmother, Louise Prather Nelson, was a member of the Class of 1899 and her great aunt was Anne Nelson Magill, Class of 1903. Farmer, who graduated from Wilson with a bachelor’s degree in English, was also a graduate of Penn Hall Girls Preparatory School in Chambersburg and the Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School in New York City. After secretarial school, Farmer was hired by the Central Intelligence Agency. She later worked for the W.G. Ammon Corp. and the U.S. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. In 2006, she received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Wilson and moved back to Chambersburg. Upon her passing on Feb. 12, 2014, at the age of 85, she established the Frances S. Farmer Endowment for the Fine and Performing Arts at Wilson College. Her endowment of more than $600,000 will assist qualified students in making successful transitions to professional careers in the fine and performing arts. “Ms. Farmer’s service was an opportunity to celebrate the life of a true critical thinker and lifelong learner. Her passion for the arts and humanities was evident through the manner in which she lived; an example for us all,” said Philip Lindsey, professor of fine arts. “Ms. Farmer was incredibly supportive and generous to the Department of Fine Arts and Dance, and her endowed gift to the College will result in enhanced educational experiences in the arts for generations of Wilson students. We are incredibly grateful for her generosity.”
PHOTOS BY JOHN ROSS
O
From top: The Rev. Mark Scheneman, on bagpipes, leads procession to the Conococheague; former Wilson Chaplain Rosie Magee speaks at ceremony (left); scattering Farmer’s ashes on the Conococheague.
Sarasota, Fla. – Jan. 24, 2015 Hosted by the Sarasota Club of Wilson College
Naples, Fla. – Feb. 13, 2015 Hosted by Trustee Robin Bernstein
Back row, from left, Sarah Walker Risher ’63, Peggy Kauffman Hyde ’64, Valerie Oakley ’64, Julia Solleveld Osborne ’64, Martha Spendlove Strohl ’64, Jane Forsyth Messimer ’50, Ann Vanderhoff Watral ’50, Damaris Swartz Weidner ’55, Jeanne Dunning Tyrer ’50, Patricia Roberts Cohen ’50 and Dorothea Holberton Brown ’62. Front row, from left, Sarah Stewart Krell ’54, Karen Siladi Chouinard ’74, Pat Vail ’63, Virginia Trotter Haydon ’48 and Joan Hoover Hellwege ’56. Missing from picture are Anne Walker Reiner ’55 and Ann Marlow Lafabregue ’59.
From left, President Barbara K. Mistick, Trustee Robin Bernstein, Eleanor Beltz Shihadeh ’46 and Louise Buttrick Davies ’53.
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ALICE McDANNELL DRUM
RETURNS TO POETRY Two poems, “This Great Gift” (see below) and “Calypso Music,” were published in the Third Wednesday Quarterly Journal of Prose, Poetry and Art. Another poem, “Lost Village,” will be published in the Still Crazy Literary Magazine.
Alice McDannell Drum ’57 is no stranger to the literary scene. In her career as an English professor at Georgetown University and Gettysburg, Hood and Franklin & Marshall colleges, she has written numerous critical essays on such works as The Idylls of the King, Kamela Markandaya’s Two Virgins, and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon—along with essays on English Romanticism and authors such as Edith Wharton, Virginia Wolfe and John Updike. Now she can add poetry and fiction to her published work. “After years of writing critical articles and a higher education book, I’m returning in retirement to writing fiction and poetry, as I did in college,” Drum said.
Her short story, “Brunch at the Riverside Café,” was published in Florida’s Avalon Literary Review last year. Drum was a member of the Wilson College Board of Trustees from 1997 through 2010, and served as the vice president of Franklin & Marshall before her retirement. Alice McDannell Drum ’57 adds poetry to her considerable resume.
THIS GREAT GIFT There comes a moment on a cool autumn afternoon, when all I want is to be in the house I no longer own but live in still in my dreams, and to sit with you by the fireplace in the Red Room—you and I still middle-aging parents, and the children, who have said I’m the meanest mother in the world, still too young to have really broken my heart. Here they come laughing. There comes a moment on a cold winter evening, when all I want is to be drifting with you from the theater and heading to narrow old Maiden Lane and dinner at Rule’s, where nothing ever changes—you and I still middle-aged lovers, able to climb mountains all day, stay up half the night, and start again in the morning, smiling, as if this life will go on forever.
Venice, Fla. – March 25, 2015 Hosted by Julie Solleveld Osborne '64 From left, Valerie Oakley ’64, Elizabeth Wade Siegel ’64, Charlene Cronenberg Berardino ’63, Dorothea Holberton Brown ’62, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Camilla B. Rawleigh, Martha Spendlove Strohl ’64, Ann Marlow Lafabregue ’59, Director of the Hankey Center Amy Ensley, Julia Solleveld Osborne ’64, Bonnie Mercer Cohn ’64 and Marybeth Famulare, director of alumnae/i relations.
There come nights when I dream that you’re gone— calling to you in the Red Room, with the fire extinguished, I hear only my racing heart; walking alone in Maiden Lane, where everything’s changed, I see only your shadow, disappearing down the dark street. But morning comes: our pillows are close, our lives closer still—and in this last great gift of time, we’re quietly, gratefully aging here. —Alice McDannell Drum �57
spring 2015 09
— president’s —
forum
HIKING, ENERGY AND THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS By Barbara K. Mistick, president
I
PHOTO BY RYAN SMITH
f you have ever gone on a particularly challenging mountain hike, there are a number of truths you have come to expect. You need to put in the time to prepare: planning the trek, getting your gear together, deciding which trail to follow and being mentally and physically prepared.
The most difficult part is often mental preparation. It’s one thing to read that a trail requires eight hours of rigorous hiking to reach the summit, but it’s quite another to do it. Then there are those things that are beyond your control—obstacles, changing weather, bad jerky. How you react has great bearing on your journey. Each hike takes great energy to accomplish and is full of highs and lows. By now you’ve likely guessed where I’m going with this analogy. We stand about two and a half years (and a lot of work) beyond the adoption of Wilson Today—the five-part plan approved by the Board to provide fiscal sustainability for the College. While we have built a firm foundation and have much to celebrate, we are still in the early stages of a journey that has faced its share of obstacles. News of troubled small colleges has not been uncommon over the past two years. Closures, mergers and financial exigency have been announced at a range of institutions. None of these situations had any bearing on Wilson, nor did they have any particular resonance in the Wilson community. That changed in early March when Sweet Briar College announced it was closing at the end of the summer. Very quickly after the announcement, news reports began to include Wilson in their stories because of the court intervention of
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Wilson’s closure in 1979. Since, however, the two schools seem to have become intertwined in unhealthy ways. Many people, looking at the surface of Sweet Briar along with a pre-Wilson Today view of the College, began trying to draw comparisons. At first glance, it is easy to see why this might happen. Both institutions share some common traits: small, tuition-driven schools; liberal arts; women’s college history; enrollment challenges; carrying bond debt; right down to popular equestrian programs. For some, this comparison leads to a conclusion that Sweet Briar can survive; for others it leads them to question Wilson’s ability to thrive. The latter of these interpretations serves as a distraction from the work at hand. What we know about Sweet Briar cannot provide any of us with a full picture of the issues facing that institution or its viability. Digging a little deeper reveals some clear differences in the circumstances of the two institutions. For example, Wilson has population centers totaling 1.08 million people within an hour’s drive, compared to just under 300,000 for Sweet Briar. Wilson offers undergraduate, graduate and adult degree programs as opposed to only undergraduate education for Sweet Briar. Wilson also costs $10,000 less and has deferred maintenance costs approximately $20 million less than Sweet Briar. I had a whole table to illustrate the differences, but in the end, those differences are not important because, to put it simply, the particular situations faced by the two institutions are not the same. There is one clear difference that is worth discussing though, and that is the process
used to arrive at decisions. With each college or university that makes decisions about its own future, the strength of the Wilson commission process becomes more evident. Chatham University announced its intent to examine coeducation over a three-month period before announcing a change; Cooper Union made a decision to move away from its free tuition model in a closed process—a track Sweet Briar chose as well.
this goal, but that we continue to strengthen the institution beyond the point of balanced operations. The projections of the Wilson Today plan extend through the year 2022. We will continue to celebrate our successes, but we will
We will continue to celebrate our successes, but we will also face tough decisions.”
Was the method of research, examination and decision-making wrong at these institutions? That’s not for us to say. We do know it was necessary for Wilson to invite representatives from all constituencies into our process—to examine, propose, discuss and refine ideas that have provided a plan to thrive. This process led us to some very different conclusions than Sweet Briar. We were able to develop a business plan that makes sense for our location, for our institution, for our future. And it is working for us.
The first Law of Thermodynamics tells us that energy is constant and cannot be destroyed, but it can change from one state to another. For many, the commission process was so intensive, with an incredible number of hours invested over a year’s time, that they looked upon the Trustees’ approval of the Wilson Today plan as a pivot point—a summit if you will—with only blue skies and an easy hike down to success. But that success was never going to happen overnight. Approval of the plan was really what hikers would refer to as a false summit. As you ascend a mountain, you approach what you perceive to be the summit, only to reach that point and see the real summit still before you. If you let it, this can be disheartening. The positive energy you have harbored can flip on you, making continued progress unnecessarily difficult. As often happens within organizations, we serve as our own obstacle to success.
— President Barbara K. Mistick
also face tough decisions and disappointment in that time as well. How will the Wilson community respond to adversity? How will you respond if your own expectations aren’t met in the way you envision? Will we be an obstacle, or will we look within ourselves and find the positive energy that allows us to work together—as partners, as a community—and complete our journey together? Since the Board decision, we have demonstrated the power of collective determination. We have invested a lot of effort and resources to accomplish our goals and we are moving in the right direction. We stand on a firm foundation and need to remain focused on continuing to strengthen the College. Now is the time to sharpen our focus, our actions and our energy to continue this challenging trek and to ask ourselves: What will I do to maintain positive energy and help achieve the ultimate goal of Wilson Today—to make Wilson a thriving institution?
For Wilson, the summit of our journey is enrollment at levels that provide balanced operational budgets. We are moving in the right direction and will likely see our summit in two to three years. There is still much work to be done to ensure that we not only reach
spring 2015 11
PHOTO BY JAMES BUTTS
Tutor Stephanie O’Neal ’16 delivers a high-five at the Migrant Education Tutoring Program.
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Migrant Tutoring Program Proves to be a Powerful Experience for All By Courtney D. Wolfe '12
A
classroom on the lower level of Wilson’s Warfield Hall has become a wellspring for life-changing moments: a fourth-grade boy recently decided to “give up the ‘hood” to become a scientist; a fifth-grader confessed that life in prison would be the easiest option for his future; one Wilson student found her inner teacher; and another became an activist for equality and social justice. The impact of the Migrant Education Tutoring Program at Wilson transcends typical classroom learning. Students and tutors alike learn from each other, confront their fears and prejudices, discover who they are and prepare for the future.
PHOTO BY KEVIN GILBERT
For close to 20 years, the Lincoln Intermediate Unit’s migrant children tutoring program has provided supplemental educational services to the children of migrant workers in Franklin County. Families qualify for migrant educational services when they move across a school district boundary for seasonal agricultural work within a 36-month window. “Anyone can be migrant,” explained Eric Mandell, student support specialist from the Franklin County LIU Field Office in Chambersburg. “[It’s] not someone who speaks a second language or has a different shade of skin, or someone with less money— it’s the employment of the parents that qualifies [them for the program].” Prior to moving to Wilson in 2011, the program was hosted by the First United Methodist Church in Chambersburg. As the size of the program grew with an influx of mostly Latino migrant families into Franklin County, the church was unable to continue providing space. The decision was made to relocate the program and Mandell went scouting for a new community partner. Wilson wasn’t a new name for Mandell. For years, Wilson students had been helping with LIU programs and both organizations were part of Pennsylvania’s statewide early literacy program, One Book, Every Young Child. In 2011, Wilson hosted a One Book event in Sarah’s Coffeehouse, coordinated by Associate Professor of Education Lynn Newman. Mandell, a never-ceasing advocate for his program, immediately recognized a fortuitous opportunity and contacted Newman to discuss establishing the program at Wilson. “Seeing her students as teachers, watching them apply what they’d learned in the classroom and apply it to a unique program that was a one-day [event]—it worked,” he recalled.
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A NEW LENS Newman wholeheartedly embraced the idea and worked quickly to put things in motion. In March 2011, the program began in the Brooks Science Center. Today, the program operates out of Warfield Hall, using four classrooms, with trips to the computer lab. “The move to Warfield allowed us to divide the kids up by grade,” Newman said. “And it provided additional space for growth.” The after-school program meets at Wilson every Tuesday and Thursday for one hour during the academic year. Wilson students provide tutoring in reading, writing and math, but Newman wants more to blossom during that hour. “This year especially, we are focusing on students being more like mentors than tutors,” she said. “We want our students talking with the children in the program and building relationships. And we can do that within the structure because talking is literacy. Talking to the students is teaching English and grammar.” Funding for the program comes from state and federal grants and is in part based on the number of families enrolled in the program. Recent funding reductions have resulted in cuts to the program. “We used to meet four days a week, for a total of four hours,” Mandell said. Additionally, funding for after-school tutoring services beyond elementary school has been completely eliminated. For this reason, Newman wants the sessions for the young students at Wilson to be engaging and memorable. “They’ve been on a college campus and can maybe now see themselves as a college student,” she said. Wilson’s location allows it to offer these students a unique opportunity. According to the National Farm Workers Minis-
try, the majority of migrant workers live in rural areas where agricultural jobs are located, which means that most children of migrant families rarely get the chance to see a college campus, let alone work in a college classroom. “By being on campus these kids see that they have opportunities,” Mandell said. “It helps to challenge their perspective—it’s a new lens to see life through.”
This year especially, we
are focusing on students being more like mentors
than tutors. We want our students talking with the children in the program
and building relationships.”
— LYNN NEWMAN
guage the students are using can be, and how to work toward stopping the cycle of prejudice and building acceptance and compassion among the students. And the conversations seem to work. Earlier this year, after an intense deconstruction of a bullying situation, one student declared to Dewald that he was “done with the ’hood” and is going to be a scientist. “It’s about so much more than getting your homework done,” Dewald said. “It’s about creating a sense of empathy and compassion in them—and making them proud to be here.”
A DIFFERENT KIND OF CLASSROOM Invoking a sense of pride about being in the program can help build pride in the students, which can alter a child’s outlook for the future. Earlier this year, Dewald noticed a marked change in the behavior of one of the fifth-graders. A model student in previous years, he began acting out and became disengaged from the program. After months of trying to talk with him and getting shut out, Dewald was shocked when the breakthrough finally came. “I didn’t want to tell you because you’ll try to fix it,” he said, “but I’m going to jail. It’s safer.” Often living at or below the poverty level, most migrant families tend to live in high-crime neighborhoods where children may become socialized to expect a future of limited opportunities. Mandell hopes that the time on campus resonates with
Associate Professor of Education
DONE WITH THE ’HOOD
One of those hurdles is bullying. Students in the program are often the victim of racial bullying at school, which often leads to built-up frustration that can erupt during tutoring hours. Dewald was initially taken aback by the vulgarity of the epithets the children were using, and the ease with which they used them. “My upbringing was sheltered,” Dewald said. “I knew it [racial bullying] existed and was bad, but I didn’t know how bad. It wasn’t my life.” When conflicts arise, Mandell and the tutors engage in what Dewald calls “real conversations” about how powerful the lan-
PHOTO BY JAMES BUTTS
For some children in the program, this new lens can be a game changer. Wilson student and migrant tutoring program coordinator Krista Dewald ’16 talks about the stresses some of the children in the program deal with. “These kids carry heavy, heavy burdens,” she said. “Some have a brother back in Mexico that they miss and want in the program with them. Some don’t know where their next meal is going to come from.” Establishing trust between tutors and students can provide solid footing when confronting some of the emotional hurdles the children face.
Above, Wilson tutor Jamie Burnett ’17 assists student with homework. Left, Eric Mandell from the Franklin County LIU Field Office (center) directs students and tutors during a recent session.
the students and expands their idea of what the future can hold. The tutoring program also helps bridge cultural gaps in education. American classrooms are much stricter than those that
spring 2015 15
BUILDING LEADERS, BUILDING COMMUNITY The after-school program provides additional learning opportunities for Wilson students in the form of experiential learning. “They’re taking the knowledge they’ve just learned in a Wilson class and they come to us as experts,” Mandell said. Work-study coordinator for the program and early childhood education major Stephanie O’Neal ’16 has experienced this firsthand. Earlier this academic year, O’Neal began questioning if teaching was the right career path for her. She had her “ah-ha” moment this spring in a pedagogy course, as she was introduced to an instructional method different from anything she had seen before. “I was really excited by what [the professor] was showing us,” she said.
Above, Wendell Smith, associate professor of Spanish, reads with a student. Right, the Migrant Education Tutoring Program classroom at Warfield Hall provides a comfortable place for learning.
many of the migrant students are used to, according to Dewald. Students who began elementary school in Latin American countries have memories of classrooms with less emphasis on sustained silent reading or sitting still for long periods. They are also accustomed to teachers who hug. “Can you imagine coming from that type of environment, where it’s OK to hug your teacher, to our standards?” Dewald asked. The program at Wilson combines both educational lessons and the freedom to move around the classroom and encourages students to be creative with their learning through games and group activities. The program also encourages tutors to give high-fives for accomplishments. While the atmosphere provides a familiar and comfortable space for the students, Dewald admits that the seemingly chaotic rhythm isn’t for everyone. “It can be loud,” she laughed. “We’ve had feedback from tutors in the past that it’s too overwhelming.” But for Mandell, it’s all about creating an environment where the kids have fun learning. College faculty and staff also are invited to participate in the program as tutors and in the curriculum by sponsoring a Wilson Experience Day. In the past, the students have participated in science experiments with faculty and students from the life and environmental sciences departments, and have learned about sustainability, safe food handling and Earth Day from the Fulton Center for Sustainable Living. The after-school program provides a different classroom, according to Mandell. “They do fun-filled experiments, they can wear lab coats. It’s a completely different experience than what they get in a brick-and-mortar school building.”
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O’Neal had the opportunity to try the approach herself while working with a group of students in the program. “I was teaching them,” she said. “I became a teacher.” O’Neal has not only found her inner teacher through the program, but her inner leader as well. She is the program’s volunteer coordinator for this academic year and admits that before getting involved with the program, stepping outside of her comfort zone was not one of her strengths. But when Dewald, the program’s veteran coordinator, departed early in the semester to study abroad, O’Neal found herself thrust into a leadership role. Dewald’s absence forced O’Neal to assume more responsibility for the day-to-day coordination of the program, and to plan ahead and be proactive in her communication with Newman, Mandell and the other tutors—all lessons that O’Neal recognizes as invaluable in her chosen field. “You can’t go through life comfortable,” she said. “You have to step out to achieve.” O’Neal believes this part of the program has had the greatest
They're taking knowledge they've just learned in
a Wilson class and they
come to us as experts.” — ERIC MANDELL Student Support Specialist, Franklin Co. LIU Field Office
impact on her and Newman agrees. “She’s really grown this last semester,” Newman said of O’Neal. “I’m so proud of her.”
You can't go through life
comfortable. You have to step out to achieve.”
ilies, who, according to Dewald, may not have the proficiency necessary to read materials provided in Spanish. Dewald works to translate the information. “It’s not always easy,” she said. “We end up drawing pictures and acting things out to get it done, but we get it done.”
PHOTOS BY KEVIN GILBERT
Experiential learning isn’t the only draw for the afterschool tutoring program. — STEPHANIE O'NEAL ’16 Service learning can also The advocacy and community-building aspects of the tutoring help to define a student’s future, and the program has done program resonate most with Dewald. She plans to pursue a that for Dewald. master’s degree in international development or international Her relationship with the LIU’s migrant education program education, with a focus on community building. She envisions a doesn’t end with Thursday tutoring; she also volunteers to help life working in developing countries, helping to build communiwith Saturday reading programs and the summer literacy proties. For Dewald, the answer always comes back to community. gram. And about a year ago she began accompanying Mandell Frustrated by biases that surround migrant families, Dewald on home visits to families in the program. Meeting with the defends programs like the LIU Migrant Education Program. parents, understanding their worries and concerns for their “It’s so easy to dehumanize,” she said. “If you’ve never been children and helping them find the answers they need is, for Dewald, part of building a community. It was through these vis- around [migrant families] … it’s so easy to dehumanize someone.” Dewald emphasized that the education is reciprocal—by its that Dewald gained a deeper understanding of the struggles volunteering with the program, interacting with the children of migrant families face. migrant families and listening to their stories, volunteers learn “Some of our families aren’t English as a Second Language,” she about the struggles of migrant life and learn empathy and comsaid. “Some speak an indigenous language, primarily, a little passion for others. Spanish and no English.” Indigenous languages and region“Education,” she said, “is a powerful agent for change.” W al dialects are staggering in number and cannot always be addressed in publications and materials given to migrant fam-
spring 2015 17
STARTING
FROM S A
ll they had to do was step out onto the court to make history. On Nov. 15, 2014, the Wilson College men’s basketball team competed in a tournament hosted by Penn State Mont Alto for its historic first game wearing Wilson blue. Other firsts followed: the team chalked up its first win against Christendom College and its first North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) win against Bryn Athyn College. It was coach Miles Smith’s first season as a head basketball coach and the first year coaching for assistant Ben Schlotter. “We all went through this first time thing together. It was a learning experience for everyone,” Smith said of the coaching staff and the team.
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CRATCH Men’s Basketball Head Coach Miles Smith helps to build a tightknit program
By Coleen Dee Berry / Photos by Bob Stoler
spring 2015 19 Tipoff at the first home game against Christendom College.
The season flashed by with thrilling finishes and heartbreaking losses, ending with a 3-19 record. But the win-loss record didn’t seem to matter that much to the fans. The Wilson community wholeheartedly embraced its new team. “Everyone would stand up (at home games) and applaud even though we lost,” Schlotter said. “That threw me at first—they were clapping after a loss. To me, that meant that the players must be doing well off the court to get that type of a reaction.” Wilson women have been playing NCAA basketball since the College joined the NCAA Division III in 1995.The women’s
and volleyball round out the new men’s sports offerings. The men’s basketball team’s journey actually began more than 18 months prior to that first game in Mont Alto. The key to building the team was the hiring of Smith in February 2013. His dual mission: to recruit and build Wilson’s first men’s team while he did his other, full-time job as an admissions counselor. “From day one, Wilson was looking for someone who could be the basketball coach, recruit and handle admissions for traditional students,” said Patty Beidel, director of admissions. ”We knew it would be like looking for a needle in a
team advanced to the Atlantic Women’s Colleges Conference playoffs four times before Wilson athletics joined the NEAC in 2007. The addition of men’s athletics teams came as part of the Wilson Today plan, approved by the Board of Trustees in early 2013, which extended coeducation to the residential undergraduate program. To be in compliance with Title IX and NCAA Division III, Wilson must field five men’s teams by 2016. In addition to basketball, golf, soccer, cross country
haystack, but fortunately for us, Miles had those skill sets, that combination.” College administrators wanted to give Smith plenty of time to form the new team. “We hired Coach Smith a year and a half before the first season so that he could get to know the community and learn about Wilson,” said Lori Frey, director of athletics. “From a coaching point of view, it must have killed him to wait that long, but I think it’s paid off in the way he has built a team of student-athletes.”
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Smith, who had been first assistant coach at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), came to Wilson with a concrete plan. He wanted to run the Princeton offense—an offense that relies on an unselfish team effort, not one or two stars. Players must have a good understanding of the game and know how to read the defense. But more than that, Smith wanted to build a team based on his own deep beliefs in the importance of a college education and in the value of community service. “My goal is not just to win basketball games. My goal is to mold young men into successful role models,” Smith said. “I want them to graduate and go off and do amazing things in their careers. It’s more than just the basketball.” For Wilson, it was definitely the right mindset. “We’re a Division III school. We’re not talking about a ‘win at all cost’ type of environment. Academics come first,” Beidel said. “Miles gets it. He’s good at passing that along to his players.” For those first 18 months, Smith would juggle his traditional undergraduate student admissions work with the task of building a basketball team from scratch. His recruitment efforts took the form of hundreds of emails, countless phone calls, scores of visits to high school gyms from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and Florida—and “many, many cups of coffee,” he recalled. Smith used the contacts that he made as first assistant coach at TCNJ and as assistant coach at Mercer County Community College in New Jersey. He scoured YouTube videos of teams and targeted players that he liked. He attended AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) games and checked out the action at the area high school summer leagues. Smith was upfront with recruits that committing to Wilson meant venturing into uncharted territory. “I tell my guys right away, any candidate that’s come up on a visit—if you’re looking for a program that has a rich tradition and history in men’s athletics, then look elsewhere,” Smith said. “But if you want to be history
and tradition, then this is the place for you.” Selling Wilson on the road was easy, according to Smith. The small class sizes and the College’s academic reputation were big pluses. Many of the players he spoke to were intrigued by the 3+1 programs, particularly in accounting. “Parents know I’m not there just as a basketball coach and a recruiter, but that my goal is to have their son graduate and be successful in whatever career he chooses,” Smith said of his visits with potential players. “The lure of Wilson is not the basketball program—it’s the Master of Accountancy, the English program. It’s the sciences and the business MILES SMITH department, not the basketball program. And that’s my goal for all my players. The academics are my main concern.” Smith also knew that to be competitive, he could not field an entire team of firstyear students. He needed a few transfer students to lend on-court experience.
the lure of wilson is not the basketball program—it’s the master of accountancy, the english program. it’s the sciences and the business department … the ACADEMICS are my main concern." —
One of the students he reached out to was Rahim Bunch, a junior guard from Rutgers-Newark. Bunch had been recruited by Smith (unsuccessfully) when Smith was at TCNJ and Bunch was playing for Egg Harbor Township High School in New Jersey. “I wasn’t happy at Rutgers and so I decided I wanted to play for Coach Smith at Wilson,” Bunch said. “I like his coaching style. He lets you play through your mistakes and helps you learn from them. He doesn’t really yell, he talks to you, he teaches you, he’s always mentoring you.” Bunch, who went on to become one of the team’s top scorers despite being injured for several games, has found that Wilson’s size suits him. “At Rutgers, we had like 100 or more kids in class and it kind of encouraged you to sit in the back row with your friends and just go through the motions,” Bunch said. “Here, I get personal attention from the professors and I’m really learning.” When the 2014-15 school year began, Smith had 11 players—three transfers and the rest first-years. (NCAA rules allow for a maximum of 15 players.)
Above, left: Wilson guard Rahim Bunch ’16 drives for the basket; right, Wilson forward Ben Holl ’18 reaches for a layup. Opposite page: Coach Miles Smith speaks to team members at practice.
spring 2015 21
Even before the season started, Smith put into practice his community service requirements, which all Wilson student-athletes—male and female—must meet (see related story on page 38). Men’s basketball players participated at the Read Out Loud program in the Chambersburg elementary schools, and also helped with a project at NETwork Ministries in Chambersburg. Several of the players spent a day interacting with middle school students and helping to clear out a building on Hollywell Avenue that NETwork plans to use as an arts and teen center. NETwork Executive Director Benjamin Raber stressed that it is important for college students to give back to the community. “Meeting the players also has a positive impact on the middle school kids, who see these college kids and it starts them thinking about furthering their education—that they can also go to college when they graduate high school,” Raber said. At the Read Out Loud program, guard Rasul Jackson ’18 found his calling. “I did two readings and by the end of the second program, it just showed me how much I liked working with kids,” he said. “I had never really considered making it a career until that moment.” He has since switched his major from business to early childhood education. As basketball practices began, players discovered their coach was not one to direct from the sidelines. Smith, who played basketball in high school and at Johnson State College in Vermont, was out on the court during practice, demonstrating drills and giving players handson advice.
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And at the end of each session, he gave his players the same message: Study hard, focus on your schoolwork and keep your grades up so you can play. “He’s trying to prepare us for more than just basketball. He has our future in mind,” Bunch said. “He reminds us that basketball isn’t always going to be there for us and that we have to prepare for real life. He has our best interests at heart.” Once games began, players and spectators alike discovered another side to Smith. Associate Professor of Fine Arts Robert Dickson put it this way: “We would watch Miles’ evil twin come out during the games.” Smith is fiery, passionate and loud, exhorting his players, pacing the sidelines, waving his arms. “Miles is usually so calm and collected in his admissions role. He’s really intense on the sidelines,” said Lorie Helman, student development office manager. “His passion really comes through at the games. He inspires the team to play better,” said Wilson President Barbara K. Mistick. “They were very competitive and I’m darn proud of them.” That’s the one word everyone uses to describe Wilson’s first season of men’s basketball: competitive. “They are fast, they are good and they bring a new level of enthusiasm to each game,” said Frey. “They are competitive and fun to watch.”
he’s trying to prepare us for more than just basketball. he has our FUTURE in mind ... he has our best interests at heart.” — RAHIM BUNCH '16
“The kids were generally hustling, working hard, and you have a coach who is obviously working as hard as he can to instill his philosophy in his athletes,” said Gary Martin, a color commentator on ESPN Radio 1380 and basketball coach at Greencastle-Antrim Senior High School. “The team was a pretty cohesive unit and in a lot of games to the end, very competitive.” But competitive was not the word the Wilson coaches really wanted to hear. “It’s nice everyone says you were really competitive, but we wanted to do so much more. It was a disappointing season,” said Schlotter. Both Smith and Schlotter thought the team had the potential to make the NEAC playoffs.
said. “We have to get better at defense. We have to be better at free throws. We have to become more disciplined.” But another description of the team works to its benefit: good chemistry. “We all stuck together even though we lost a lot of games,” said forward Ben Holl ’18. “There wasn’t a lot of negativity. That’s really rare for a lot of college teams. We’re a tightknit group.” He also credits Smith. “The coach helped keep us together.” Smith, Schlotter and team members are grateful for the support of the Wilson faculty and staff, as well as from their
dents and for his team,” Beidel said. Mistick praised Smith’s dedication to Wilson and its philosophy. ”When you’re committed to a place, you have an understanding of where that place is going, where the quest is. People who understand a quest seek out challenge and constantly find ways to perform successfully,” she said. “Miles understands our quest to be a thriving institution and he understands he can play a big role in helping us thrive, not just as an admissions counselor, but also as a coach.” For Smith—who was recognized in 2014 with the James McKeever Promising
Above, from left: guard Rahim Bunch ’16 soars for the basket; Coach Miles Smith on the sidelines during game; forward Darren Mohamed ’18 on defense during game. Opposite page: guard Rasul Jackson ’18 at the Read Out Loud program in Chambersburg.
While watching Wilson’s fast-break offense may have been exciting from a fan’s standpoint, both coaches agree it wasn’t the deliberate pace of the Princeton offense they had planned. And for a team that at times only had eight players suiting up for a game (due to injuries), the fast pace and shallow bench meant the players often wore themselves out in games that were within their reach. Six of the team’s losses were by a margin of seven points or less. Smith shoulders the blame for the losses. “I have to work harder at coaching. This year was ‘teach, teach, teach.’ Next season it will be ‘intensity, intensity, intensity,’ ” Smith
women basketball counterparts. Smith and Women’s Basketball Head Coach Jared Trulear developed a mutual support system. “We would bounce basketball ideas off each other on the bus to away games,” Trulear said. Now recruitment starts again for the next basketball season—the phone calls, the high school visits, the cups of coffee. Smith said he hopes that all his current players return in the fall, and his goal is to add more players so that the team can benefit from a full bench. The Wilson community expresses confidence in Smith. “He is the best role model ever that we could have hired for the stu-
Professional Award at the Pennsylvania Association for College Admission Counseling Conference—there is no doubt in his mind that he has found a home at Wilson. “Players have asked me if I will be here for all four of their years. I tell them it’s not like I’m going to be gone in two to three years. I have a chance to stay and build something here,” Smith said. “Maybe I could end up with my name on a field house here. I believe Wilson has the potential for great things and I want to help make those things happen.” W
spring 2015 23
Betsy McGowen '75 parlayed her liberal arts degree into a creative career in children's programming
By Coleen Dee Berry
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I
n Betsy McGowen’s world, a soft-hearted zombie makes an ideal summer camp counselor; unicorns and dragons dream of being superheroes; and a very human hologram of Thomas Edison dispenses sage advice to young scientists. In animated children’s television shows, McGowen ’75 says, creativity truly can be boundless. “Animation is great—your imagination has no limits. You can go anywhere, do anything, create any character and make them say whatever you want, just as long as the artists can draw it,” said McGowen.
Over the past two decades, McGowen has worked as a children’s programming media consultant in Los Angeles. It’s a career that calls for expert juggling of multiple roles: She is a story editor for a new children’s series called Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab; she is the co-creator of the Camp Lakebottom series that runs on the Disney XD channel; and she is helping to develop an animated preschool learning series for a European television market. She’s also co-written one of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episodes for the Hub Network and she writes and illustrates children’s Kindle books under the pen name, Ainsley Beekersnap. McGowen has also founded and managed an application development company, Free4All Apps. As one of the story editors for Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab, McGowen shepherds story ideas through multiple drafts and story conferences.” My job is to get the script into the best condition possible for production purposes,” she said. Produced by Genius Brands International, the show began airing in April on PBS stations. The series follows 12-yearold prodigy Angie and members of her science club, who accidentally discover Thomas Edison’s secret lab in New Jersey–complete with a hologram that brings the inventor to life.
I
didn’t realize until much, much later how Wilson prepared me
for what I was doing. I received both a liberal arts degree and technical training. Technical training got me my first job in television, but as I went on in my career, what really helped me was that liberal arts degree.” — BETSY McGOWEN '75
Produced in association with Georgia Public Broadcasting, each of the 26 half-hour episodes depicts the fun of exploring science, technology, engineering and math as Edison encourages Angie and her friends in their explorations.
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“By blending real science educational experiences with fun, interactive entertainment, we hope to inspire children and encourage them in the love of science,” Andy Heyward, chairman and CEO of Genius Brands, said in announcing the series last year. “We are especially excited to have a dynamic young woman like Angie as our lead character and young role model scientist.” One of McGowen’s tasks is to inject more “fun” into the program. “We tried to mix in a little comedy and more interaction between all the characters, along with all the science,” McGowen said of her writing team. “At first Edison was just a hologram and saying things he would have said in real life, but as the series progressed, we had him interact more with the kids and take more of an interest in them.” While many of her projects have a learning component to them, her Camp Lakebottom series was an exercise in sheer wacky fun. Friends McGee, Gretchen and Squirt board the wrong bus and end up at the derelict Camp Lakebottom, home to a kind-hearted zombie counselor, a sasquatch with a passion for acting and arts and crafts, and a tyrannical cook who dishes up meals that quite literally have a life of their own. Rather than fleeing, the trio of friends embraces Lakebottom’s weirdness and defends the camp from its rival, snobby Camp Sunny Smiles. McGowen created the series with longtime colleague Eric Jacobson. Initially the two were trying to construct a live action sitcom for the Disney Channel, but the unlimited possibilities of animation prevailed. “Live action is constricted by real life. You’re limited by your set and you can’t just change things overnight,” McGowen said. “Animation gives you so much more creative freedom.” Jacobson credits McGowen with coming up with the inspiration for Camp Lakebottom. “Remember the old real estate saying, ‘Location, location, location?’ In writing, it’s ‘Character, character, character,’” he said. “The very first time Betsy mentioned the Camp Lakebottom idea, she said that the residents should be a real creep show. I followed her lead and thought up the creepiest creatures you would never want to go camping with.”
The best part of working with McGowen is that “she’s an awesome writer and has an amazing sense of what will work and what won’t,” Jacobson said. ”Her long-running success in kids’ television has opened a lot of doors. Also, when I run out of ideas, I can be pretty sure she hasn’t.” When she left Wilson College in 1975 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and theater, McGowen said she knew she wanted to work in television, but she never dreamed that children’s programming would end up being her forte. She had spent her childhood in West Hartford, Conn., and Long Island, and was a big fan of the classic Rocky and Bullwinkle animated series. At Wilson, she was part of the Kittochtinny Players and enjoyed acting and directing. “I realized shortly before leaving Wilson that I wanted to go into television work, but it became apparent after I graduated that I needed to get a technical education to accomplish that,” McGowen said.
WB! reign as the number one children’s Saturday morning broadcaster. Shows like Pokémon, Teen Titans, Legion of Super Heroes and Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island had the network topping the charts. The WB network merged with CBS Corp. in 2006 and launched a new consolidated network, The CW. By 2008, the children’s programming arm of the network had been phased out, McGowen said, and she began to focus on contract and freelance work, such as her Camp Lakebottom project. “I didn’t realize until much, much later how Wilson prepared me for what I was doing. I received both a liberal arts degree and technical training. Technical training got me my first job in television, but as I went on in my career,
After volunteering at a TV station in San Francisco hoping to land a job, McGowen moved near family members in Wisconsin and took courses at the Milwaukee Area Technical College. With her associate in applied science degree in television production and engineering in hand, she landed a job at WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee. She was one of only two women in the department at the time. “But then I got tired of all the cold!” McGowen said, adding that her goal all along had been to return to California. While on vacation in Los Angeles, she dropped off a resume at NBC Burbank and was offered a job in the mostly male videotape department. “Wilson College prepared me in this way: Early on in my career I was often the only woman, or maybe one of two women, working in my department. I never thought, ‘Gee maybe I shouldn’t be applying for this job,’” McGowen said. “I attribute that to my experience at Wilson, because there, every job was being done in some fashion by women, and it would have never occurred to us there that we couldn’t do a certain job if we wanted to. I carried that attitude through life.” From NBC Burbank, a freelance job brought her to the Fox Kids Network in 1992 as a writer and producer. Another freelance job in 1995 led to her being hired as a writer/producer at the Warner Bros. Network’s Kids’ WB! division. By 1997, she was the director of the Kids’ WB! marketing department, and when she was appointed senior vice president and general manager in 2004, she overhauled and reinvigorated the network’s programming department. For the next four years, she led both the marketing and programming teams to a number of industry awards, including 62 PROMAX, two PRISM and two Emmy wins.
Above, Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab debuts this spring on PBS stations. Left, the crew of the Camp Lakebottom animated series.
what really helped me was that liberal arts degree,” said McGowen, who now lives with her 13-year-old son, John, in the Hollywood Hills “with a view of the big Hollywood sign.” “When I went into editing and management and programming, it was everything I learned with my liberal arts degree that was most valuable to me. Technical training helps in a very narrow focus, but for the long haul, you get more use out of a liberal arts education. I think people today lose sight of that,” she said. W
McGowen served as the most senior executive in charge of all programming, marketing and branding during the Kids’
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PHOTO BY BOB STOLER
The Meaning of
28 wilson magazine
Muhibbah In Malaysia, the word Muhibbah means “unity among nations.” The
aptly named Muhibbah Club at Wilson—which has both international and domestic students as members—strives to promote diversity and multiculturalism, and build awareness and acceptance of other cultures and traditions.
For the students who organize and perform at the annual Muhibbah Dinner—a showcase of food, culture, poetry, music and dance performances unique to the students’ home countries—the meaning of the word goes much deeper: fellowship; sharing; understanding.
Wilson Magazine asked some of the club members what the event means to them:
For me, the Muhibbah Dinner is important because it brings awareness of other cultures to citizens of the United States today. Sometimes I feel like the media gives most Americans false images of different countries and cultures." PHOTO BY BILL STOLER
— Christian Wagner ’18 Maryland
Above, Christian Wagner ’18 and Hong Nguyen ’18, Vietnam, during the international tango portion of the dinner. Left, Korean exchange students Seunghee Cho (left), Bomin Kwak, Miyoung Kwon perform a traditional fan dance.
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The Muhibbah Dinner provides opportunities for students to work together, celebrate and appreciate the diversity that we have at Wilson. We get opportunities to share our talents and unique culture through various performances and at the same time, we get to entertain the community as well. — Neena Gurung ’15
Nepal
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PHOTO BY BOB STOLER
Nana Ama Ohene-Manu ’17 and Ayorkor Dua ’14, both from Ghana, dance at last year’s Muhibbah dinner.
PHOTOS BY BILL STOLER
Omar Ben Tanfous ’18, Tunisia demonstrated his karate moves.
Neena Gurung ’15 (left) and Kisha Prahdan ’15, both from Nepal, enact a traditional dance.
The Muhibbah Dinner is important because it serves as a way for other nationalities to be educated and involved with other countries. Performing is fun and helps me have a better understanding about my culture and nationality, so I can show and teach others." — Nana Ama Ohene-Manu ’17 Ghana, West Africa
I consider myself a cultural ambassador of Tunisia and so at Muhibbah, I wanted to represent my country in different performances—in karate (I took lessons in Tunisia for 10 years), international tango and the fashion show, where I wore the traditional Tunisian clothes. It was a very rewarding experience." —Omar Ben Tanfous ’18
Tunisia Exchange Student Muhibbah Club Co-President spring 2015 31
CHANGING WITH PHOTO BY KENDRA TIDD
TECHNOLOGY Kathleen Murphy helps guide the evolution of the John Stewart Memorial Library By Cathy Mentzer
W
hen Wilson Library Director Kathleen Murphy ’67 began working in academic libraries in 1976, there were no online databases, e-books or even computers. Typewriters were used for word processing and patrons found books, by and large, by thumbing through card catalogs or browsing the shelves. “There was no talking allowed unless you needed to talk to a staff member and there was definitely no food or drink allowed,” said Murphy. “But there was a room in which you were allowed to smoke!” Since those days, there has been a sea change in the way libraries operate. They still deliver reading material, but libraries— once hallowed halls of whispers—are hubs of activity today. In academe, “learning commons” is the new vogue within libraries. In these modern spaces, large swaths of bookshelves have been replaced with workstations where students plug in laptops to access online databases and download e-books. Conversation is encouraged
32 wilson magazine
in comfortable gathering places, coffee houses and bookstores. As Wilson restores the original John Stewart Memorial Library and builds an adjacent learning commons, Murphy, Wilson’s library director since 1999, has deferred her planned retirement to serve as interim dean of library, information and technology services—a newly created position that reflects the changing role of academic libraries. The dean of LITS reports to the academic dean and oversees the library, as well as information technology (IT) and academic support services. In addition, the dean's portfolio will include networks, wireless technology, project management, information security, learning management systems, planning and budgeting. “It’s a very complex position,” said Murphy, whose academic library experience includes jobs at York College, Mount St. Mary’s University, the University of South Carolina and Mount Aloysius College.
Wilson’s revamped Stewart Library will be a bridge between the libraries of the past and those of today. “Lots of people have really romantic notions about libraries being sort of havens away from everything,” Murphy said. “We’re going to try to maintain some of that in the traditional building because there’s still plenty of sentiment for that kind of library—a quiet space for heads-down study and contemplation. But then the learning commons reflects what’s going on today in libraries and that is, a large, open, potentially noisy space where there is all kinds of collaboration going on.” The new learning commons will include the college bookstore, a coffee shop, an art gallery, a lounge for commuters, and a variety of study and gathering spaces, many of which can be reconfigured as necessary. Since her first job managing the circulation desk at the York College library, Murphy—who has a master’s degree in library science from Clarion University and an
AROUND THE GREEN
The library has become much more intergrated into the teaching/learning function of the College. —Kathleen Murphy ’67
MBA from Mount St. Mary’s College—has seen major shifts in how academic libraries deliver services, including the virtualization of book and periodical collections; proliferation of online databases; integration of libraries into the teaching/learning process; and the professionalization of library staffs. Wilson’s library, like others all over the world, has been converting more of its collection of books and periodicals to virtual versions. “The truth is, many academic libraries today are being built with no shelving in them at all,” said Murphy. “The likeliest thing is that our physical collections will shrink rather than grow. For instance, we’ve been shrinking our bound periodical collection for years because we’ve added databases like JSTOR that have complete, retrospective holdings for all of the titles.” Online databases provide access to information that is proprietary. “They’re not free on the Internet. Someone has to buy access for you and that’s what academic libraries
do,” Murphy said. That is how students are able to use JSTOR and the largest online database Wilson has access to, Academic Search Complete, which offers thousands of journal, newspaper and magazine titles. With regard to the growing involvement of librarians in academics, Murphy says library staffs are being asked to perform more and more technology and education-related tasks. “The profession is not a haven—if it ever was one—for people who are looking for escape into books,” she said. “The library has become much more integrated into the teaching/learning function of the College. It used to sort of stand alone.” Now library staff “help faculty members to integrate technology into their courses, which is becoming one of the most important trends in higher education,” said Murphy. “Students expect an active learning environment; they expect to collaborate; they expect to be using tablets and phones and other mobile technologies in class and out of class. They expect faculty members
to flip the classroom [studying subject matter online in advance of class] to use video and other technology, and to teach them to use technology.” With all of the technological advancements Murphy has observed during her career, does she think something has been lost when readers no longer get to have the sensory experience of touching a book or a centuries-old periodical, turning pages worn by previous readers and appreciating photos and illustrations as they were meant to be seen? “I can say that because that’s how I feel, but I have to tell you, I never saw a student touch some of those things in the 15 years that I’ve been here,” she said. “You have to recognize who your clientele are.” W
spring 2015 33
AROUND THE GREEN
Clockwise from top: With flooring project in Ohio; the Phoenix house project in Chambersburg; at work in Ohio; atop the retaining wall the Wilson team helped to build; Wilson’s Habitat team in Ohio (left to right) Back row: Kellen Kissinger ‘16, Chris Mayer, Marissa Kosko-Blyler ’15, Jenna Kauffman ‘17, Ali Madrigal ’17 and Maddie Chausse ‘17. Front Row: Katelyn Wingerd ’16 (black sweatshirt), Megan Foreacre’15, Ali Gohar, Kaitlyn Eberhart ‘18, Annie Demmy ‘18 and Jaimie Costa.
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CHANGING LIVES FOREVER,
FOR THE BETTER Wilson Alternative Spring Break Marks 20 Years of Service By Coleen Dee Berry
C
hecklist for spring break essentials: Sunglasses. Sunblock. Water bottle. Hammer. Utility knife. Work boots. Welcome to the Wilson College Alternative Spring Break. For the past 20 years, students have traded fun-in-the-sun spring breaks for community service projects to help those in need, including this year’s Habitat for Humanity trip. Wilson's first Alternative Spring Break took place in 1995, when 10 students and the college chaplain headed to Drift, Ky., to rebuild homes for the disadvantaged. This year, under the supervision of Chris Mayer ’07, director of the Fulton Center for Sustainable Living, 11 students traveled to
Gohar said meeting the family whose house the team had worked on was inspiring. “My life has been changed. I gave part of myself to that family, and what they gave me will continue to grow in my heart. That family gave me renewed faith in humanity’s benevolence and compassion, a renewed sense of myself, and an awareness of life’s inestimable value.” The Wilson team spent part of its time working on a home site in Logan. Students installed floor joists and laid the subflooring for a home. At another home in Athens, the team helped to build a retaining wall. “Building that 70-plus-foot retaining wall was no small feat,” said Mayer.
My life has been changed. I gave part of myself to that family, and what they gave me will continue to grow in my heart.” — Ali Gohar
International Exchange Student Ohio, where they worked on two separate Habitat for Humanity jobsites in the communities of Athens and Logan. “You’re not just building a house, you’re building them a home,” said Katelyn Wingerd ’16, the student organizer for this year’s trip. “In a lot of instances, you’re doing work that is going to change people’s lives forever, for the better.” For the first time, Wilson fielded a male undergraduate as part of their spring project team. ”I am the first ever guy from Wilson College who went to Alternative Spring Break for Habitat, which makes me very proud,” said Ali Gohar, an exchange student from Pakistan.
The work is demanding and rewarding. “You can really see how you are making an impact on the community because you are physically building something,” said Kellen Kissinger ’16, who was logging her fourth Habitat Alternative Spring Break. During those trips, Kissinger has assisted in framing a house, putting up vinyl siding, and installing drywall. “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,” she said. Wilson students normally receive a warm welcome on all their Habitat trips. But Mayer said she was especially struck this
year by the outpouring of hospitality by the communities. The Wilson team was fed dinner by several churches, including a Lenten fish fry sponsored by the Knights of Columbus at the area Catholic church; and had a chance to meet members of the community at a special dinner midway through the trip. Susan Dietz, a volunteer with the Habitat for Humanity of Southeast Ohio and one of the hosts for Wilson’s trip, told the Wilson team, “You all made a lasting, positive impression on our community,” Past Alternative Spring Breaks took Wilson volunteers to Washington, D.C., in 1997 to build shelters for the homeless and D’Iberville, Miss., in 2006 to help build housing for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Wilson’s Habitat for Humanity became a national college chapter in 2008. Besides the spring break projects, the club works with the Franklin County Habitat for Humanity in Chambersburg. Last year in November, the Franklin County chapter undertook a special project, that involved rebuilding a home on King Street severely damaged by fire. Led by Wilson’s Habitat chapter president Taylor Stoudt ’15, the students not only helped in the construction, but also were instrumental in canvassing some 500 residents in the area to let them know about the upcoming project. The house eventually became home to a family of seven. The county chapter named the project “The Phoenix House” in part to honor the students’ commitment, according to Mark Story, executive director of the Franklin County Habitat. “As Wilson students participate in our Habitat projects, hopefully we are helping to create the nonprofit leaders of tomorrow,’’ he said. W
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HERD
MENTALITY Han Yan '16 Works to Correct Flaw in Stock Market Prediction By Coleen Dee Berry
A
ttempting to predict the behavior of Wall Street investors is a lot like the old saying about trying to herd cats—a daunting task at best. But “herding” is actually an investment behavior that has a mathematical metric all its own. For her senior thesis, Han Yan ’16 decided to study the Wall Street herding metric and not only discovered it had a flaw—she discovered a method to correct the equation. “She worked very hard on this project and we are excited because we think we have solved one of the basic problems with the equation,” said her adviser, Alexander Munson, assistant professor of mathematics. The current herding metric, developed by University of Maryland finance professor Russ Wermers, has been in use since 1995. Yan and Munson’s research showed that the mathematical equation was good at predicting when there would be positive herding (when investors watch what another investor does and follows his or her lead). But the metric often failed at spotting contrarian herding—when investors act contrary to a trend, selling when others buy and vice versa. Yan not only uncovered the failure in the equation, she found she could correct it by modifying a part of the old metric. A senior who will graduate this fall, Yan plans to present her finding during Student Research Day on May 1. Munson said that the College has received an offer from a donor that would give the pair access to mutual fund data. “We would be able to mine these data and apply the corrected equation to see if it can be used as a predictor for contrarian trends,” Mun-
36 wilson magazine
son said. “This would help to sharpen the metric to measure herding under different market conditions.”
cations giant China Mobile, oil company Sinopec and Bank of China and China Merchants Bank.
Herding tendencies in stock markets often increase volatility and can lead to the destabilization of a market, which is why being able to predict herding trends is important, Yan noted.
At the time, China did not allow the purchase of stock options, and the student trading camp was one of the test models for the market to allow the practice. The Chinese government just approved the limited buying of stock options in February.
Born in the lake country of Wuhan, China, Yan chose to apply to Wilson after a friend who attended the College recommended it to her. “She said it was good because of the small class size and you were able to get close to your professors,” Yan said, “Also, she said that it had a good atmosphere that was conducive to study.” A double major in financial mathematics and economics, Yan plans to go on to graduate school and become a financial analyst.
“It was a lot of fun to have all that money to invest, even if it was not real,” Yan said. Her current herding research project involves a collaboration between Wilson’s mathematics and business departments. “The Roman Emperor Diocletian used mathematics to study the fluctuation in the price of commodities such as salt, so mathematics has played an integral part of
She worked very hard on this project and we are excited because we think we have solved one of the basic problems with the equation.”
— Alexander Munson
Assistant Professor of Mathematics In the summer of 2014, Yan took part in the Morgan Stanley Student Trading Camp on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in China. A group of 20 students practiced buying options on the Hushen 300 Index and measuring key parameters of buying options, such as volatility. The students had $5 million in hypothetical funds to invest in options in such Chinese companies as communi-
economics at least since the third century A.D.,” Munson said. “I’m very happy to be collaborating with the business department on this very promising project.” W
PHOTO BY KENDRA TIDD
AROUND THE GREEN
HERDING: A mentality characterized by a lack of individual decision-making, causing people to think and act in the same way as the majority of those around them. In finance, investors herd when they follow a lead to buy or sell the same investments.
CONTRARIAN HERDING: A movement opposite a popular investment, where a majority of investors may sell when a lead investor buys a particular stock or option (or vice versa).
Riding herd on a Wall Street equation: Han Yan ’16 (left) and Alexander Munson, assistant professor of mathematics.
spring 2015 37
AROUND THE GREEN
THE JOY OF
SPORTS Wilson Student-Athletes Team Up with Special Olympians By Samantha Burmeister
W
hether they are scoring a bowling tournament, hosting a swimming practice or running through a field hockey clinic, Wilson student-athletes are happy to share their joy of sports with area Special Olympians.
“The experience with the Special Olympics athletes is unforgettable,” said multi-sport student-athlete Taylor Crouse ’16. “The athletes are very energetic, and value the encouragement and guidance we give them in order to have a successful experience.” Active participation by student-athletes in the community through service is one of the pillars of the NCAA Division III philosophy. In support of this goal, the NCAA formed a national partnership between
Division III and the Special Olympics, designed to improve and enhance the lives of the Special Olympic athletes. Since 2011, Wilson College athletics has collaborated with the local Franklin County Special Olympics organization. Throughout the year, student-athletes volunteer to provide assistance at events such as swimming practices and multi-sport training sessions. Teams have also hosted clinics specifically structured for Special Olympic athletes on the Wilson campus. One such program this past year was hosted by the Wilson field hockey team, with a series of skills clinics for the athletes. The program provides a unique opportunity for personal connections between Wilson’s student-athletes and the Special Olympians, who work closely with the players and coaching staff. The clinics incorporate various shooting and ball-handling drills, as well as live game competition.
Chanteal Cobb ’15 of the Wilson field hockey team leads a drill with Special Olympians.
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“The clinics have been a special opportunity for the field hockey team,” said field hockey head coach Shelly Novak. “We have the good fortune to share the sport that we love with a tremendous
group of individuals and have a terrific experience.” In February, Wilson athletics team members assisted at the Franklin County Special Olympics bowling tournament, running the scoring tables and helping with the awards ceremony. “When they get a strike, they are all jumping up and down, whooping and hollering, and we all are too!” Crouse said. “The awards ceremony (at the end of the bowling tournament) is always so cool because everyone gets an award and they all get so excited,” said Katelyn Wingerd ’16, a member of the Wilson softball team. “They are thrilled to be considered an athlete. No matter what, they are always striving to do their best. They really brighten my day when I’ve been with them.” John Klenzing, who is in charge of training for the Franklin County Special Olympics, said the athletes look forward to these events. “I think a lot of the Special Olympians like the one-on-one attention they get from the Wilson students, because they know they are talking with another athlete, that they are being taken seriously,” Klenzing said. “It makes them feel that they are being recognized as an athlete.” “After I spend an afternoon with them, I come home with a big ol’ smile on my face,” said Crouse. “Being able to work with the Special Olympians has been a very rewarding experience, and one that I will continue to value through college.” W
— hidden —
history
The civil rights exhibit currently on display at the Hankey Center (running through Reunion Weekend 2015) documents an array of racial justice issues that challenged the College and the Chambersburg community—and mirrored the fight that was going on nationally. In the late 1950s, Wilson students were confronted with news of civil rights sitins, protests and marches. Wilson students from a variety of college organizations, including the Wilson College Government Association (WCGA) and the Billboard, were drawn to the issue as they became more aware of widespread prejudice and instances of injustice. As early as 1958, the Billboard carried editorials on race relations. A series of strong, independent Billboard editors, including Suzanne Sunday Sanderson ’60, Elizabeth “Betty” Mohn Ericksen ’60, Loretta Hunt Marion ’61 and Judith Hummer Smith ’63, relentlessly covered these issues. WCGA meetings addressed what the Wilson students could do to alleviate discrimination in their own community. This led to a Billboard project on the issue of unfair labor practices, with reporters calling area businesses to survey whether or not they employed and/or served African-Americans. The Billboard then printed the eye-opening results in its April 22, 1960, issue. The state of racial prejudice hit particularly close to home in the fall of 1960 when a group of black and white Wilson students were refused service at the Penn-Wilson Restaurant just off the square in Chambersburg. Outraged students in the group brought the issue up to WCGA to gain support for a college-wide boycott of the restaurant. “If a restaurant can carry the name of our college,” one student declared, “it should serve all of our students.” At first, the WCGA cabinet leaders were reluctant to institute a boycott of the Penn-Wilson unless it was a unanimous vote. A majority vote would impose its will on a minority, “which is exactly the problem against which we are struggling,” stated a Billboard article from Nov. 18, 1960. But several impassioned letters to the editor in the Billboard swayed the Members of Students for A Democratic Society WCGA cabinet. “I wish to extend my thanks to the Wilson student body … at Wilson (shown above) were active in civil rights for saying that they believe discrimination is wrong, although they lack the issues during the 1960s. fortitude and desire to actively support their ‘principle,’” Freida Greer ’62 pointedly wrote. On Dec. 2, 1960, members of the WCGA voted, and although the vote was not unanimous, the student body issued a policy stating they would boycott the PennWilson Restaurant. A student could defy the boycott “on grounds of conscience” but would risk the “disapproval and pressure of the student body,” according to the policy. WCGA President Lynn Negus ’61 met with the restaurant owner to try to persuade him to change his discriminatory practices. The owner responded that while he would be sorry to lose the Wilson business and that he was not personally racist, he had to accept the wishes of his clientele, who did not feel comfortable around black people. Negus then wrote a letter to the editor of Chambersburg’s newspaper, Public Opinion, explaining the reason for the boycott. Eventually, the district attorney of Franklin County met with the owner, reminding him it was against the law to refuse to serve black customers. The owner capitulated and said while blacks would not be turned away, he could not guarantee a friendly atmosphere. There were no subsequent incidents at the restaurant. For more stories about Wilson’s involvement with the civil rights movement, visit the Hankey Center exhibit, which will run through June 6. —Amy Ensley
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ASSOCIATION NEWS
Happy Spring! After a long, cold winter here in Chambersburg, spring is finally here. Time to honor the newest members of the Alumnae Association—the soon-to-be graduates. It is also a time for renewing friendships and visiting the campus for Reunion Weekend. We hope you plan to join us on June 5-7 for Reunion 2015. The schedule was included in the winter issue of the Wilson Magazine and is online at www.wilson. edu/reunion15. We have many activities planned for you. Friday morning we will tour the grounds and church of Rocky Spring. The alumnae/i college sessions are particularly interesting—update on the library, oral histories, highlights of the academic area, Margaret Ward ’65 sharing passages from her book, and a session on 3D printing. This year, we will have a special performance by Orchesis/Orcheswas on Friday afternoon. The Picnic on the Green (celebrating “I am WILSON!”) is a family-friendly event. Although the focus is the reunion years ending in ’05 and ’00, all are welcome. This issue highlights the new volunteers who are being put forth for the AAWC board of directors. Please take a moment to read about them. We would like to thank all of you who serve in any volunteer capacity for the activities of the association (board of directors, Aunt Sarah program, Ring It Forward, campus events, etc.). We are excited that each semester, we move forward to offer a greater variety of opportunities with increased collaboration both on and off campus. Thank you for all that you do. Mary F. Cramer ’91 President , Alumnae Association of Wilson College Marybeth Famulare Director of Alumnae/i Relations
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We would like to thank all of you who serve in any volunteer capacity for the activities of the association. — Mary F. Cramer ’91
REUNION AWARD
WINNERS ANNOUNCED
AAWC FALL WEEKEND
The Alumnae Association of Wilson College has named the 2015 award recipients to be honored at Reunion Weekend:
SAVE the date — ALL WELCOME!
• Distinguished Alumna Award—Margaret Ward ’65 • Distinguished Adult Degree Program Alumna/us Award—D'Arcy Charney Wagonhurst ’90, awarded posthumously • Outstanding Young Alumna Award—Patricia Clough ’95 • Tift College Award—Freya Burnett ’85 • Faculty Award—Karen Adams
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 25–27, 2015 Join us on campus for an activity-filled weekend, including: • Paint Nite Wilson style • Athletic games and tour athletic facility updates
Please join us in honoring these recipients during the awards presentation on June 6 during Reunion Weekend. Due to Karen Adams’ schedule, her presentation will occur on Saturday, Sept. 26, during Fall Weekend.
• Reunion 2016 planning sessions
The Alumnae Association will also honor Julie Englund by presenting her with Honorary Alumna status. Englund served on the Wilson College Board of Trustees from 2005-14. She has also enjoyed career success with many nonprofit and higher education institutions. Please join us in welcoming her as an alumna on June 6 during the Alumnae Association general meeting.
• AAWC Faculty Award presentation
If you would like to nominate a classmate for a future award, please send an email to alumnae@wilson.edu
• And MORE!
• Ring It Forward presentation • Library update • Mix and mingle with students
RING IT FORWARD CEREMONY
Erb’s ring was given by Linda Farnsworth Gregory ’69; Marshall’s by Janet Wright Bloomfield ’50; and Tafesh’s by Margaret Frost Funch ’63. Sutton’s ring, given by Arilda Elskus Densch ’79, originally belonged to Elizabeth Marshall Seitz ’32. The alumnae ring donors are pictured on the display board. Absent from ceremony was Carolyn Lawrence ’14, who was given a ring by Janice Pritchard Rockmore ’63.
PHOTO BY CATHY MENTZER
From left, students Shelby Erb ’15, Stephanie Marshall ’17, Ghada Tafesh ’16 and Lindsey Sutton ’16 receive class rings from alumnae at an AAWC Ring It Forward presentation held March 10 in Patterson Lounge.
From left, students Shelby Erb ’15, Stephanie Marshall ’17, Ghada Tafesh ’16 and Lindsey Sutton ’16.
spring 2015 41
ORCHESIS/ORCHESWAS COLLABORATION
Canadian Rockies
ADVENTURES AWAIT! Travel with alumnae/i and friends of Wilson College to these exciting destinations, sponsored by the Alumnae Association of Wilson College Tours and Travel Committee.
Please join us for a unique event at reunion this year! Former Orchesis members will collaborate with current members to create a short piece that will be performed at 4 p.m. on Friday, June 5, in the Appenzellar-Buchanan Dance Studio. Rehearsals for dancers and choreographers will be held Thursday and Friday during the day. For more information, visit www.wilson.edu/reunion.
CAREER CONNECTIONS
MAY 15, 2015, LONGWOOD GARDENS IN KENNETT SQUARE, PA Come enjoy a jolt of spring! View a riot of color with blooming azaleas, columbines, Virginia bluebells, foam-flowers and much more! Admission is $25 per person. To register, email alumnae@wilson.edu or call 717-262-2010 for registration or with any questions.
Do you want to lend a hand to help Wilson students pursue their chosen careers? Linda Boeckman is the new director of career development at Wilson. She welcomes all alumnae/i who want to contribute time, information and expertise to her office.
Other upcoming 2015 trips include:
There are many ways alumnae/i can assist:
AUG. 6-12, CANADIAN ROCKIES PARKS AND RESORTS (CALGARY, LAKE LOUISE, JASPER, BANFF, CALGARY) For more information, call Orbridge at 866-639-0079 or visit wilson.orbridge.com AUGUST 23-29, BARGE CRUISE IN NORTHERN BURGUNDY, FRANCE Contact Barge Cruise Specialist Beth Hanson at 888-264-3983 or beth@canalbargecruises.com for more information. SEPT, 25-OCT. 3, SICILY, ITALY For more information, call AHI at 800-680-4244. OCT. 3-11, FLAVORS OF NORTHERN ITALY Optional extension to Venice. For more information, call Orbridge at 866-639-0079 or visit wilson.orbridge.com OCT. 4-13, MEDITERRANEAN MOSAIC CRUISE Join alumnae from Agnes Scott and Sweet Briar Colleges for this unique traveling experience. To learn more, call Go Next at 800-842-9023.
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• Allow a student to serve as intern or job shadow you. • Give a campus presentation. • Help with mock interviews. • Refer employers to the career office. • Send job openings to the career office. • Provide information to our students about areas where they might be thinking about moving. • Sponsor or assist in finding funds for the Internship Gift program. • Sponsor or assist in finding funds for career events on campus such as etiquette dinners. Boeckman is available to provide career guidance for alumnae/i as well. She can be reached at 717-264-4141 ext. 3314, or linda.boeckman@wilson.edu.
ASSOCIATION NEWS ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION
BOARD NOMINEES Alumnae/i can vote by mail or online at www.wilson.edu/2015slate. Online voting will close on June 3, 2015, before Reunion Weekend. Members can vote in person during the annual Alumnae Association General Meeting from 10:15 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 6, in Brooks Auditorium.
PRESIDENT: Mary F. Cramer ’91 graduated from Wilson’s Adult Degree Program and recently retired after 40 years at F&M Trust in Chambersburg. Her degree made it possible for her to work her way through a variety of departments and to gain valuable knowledge of the banking industry. Cramer feels it is important to give back to your community and has been involved with many organizations over the years. She continues to volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association. Married with two grown children, Cramer enjoys spending time with her family, especially her two granddaughters. In her own words: “I will continue to encourage opportunities for interaction among alumnae and between alumnae and all members of the college community. I will encourage positive engagement with students. I will encourage fellow alumnae to contribute their time, talents and treasure to the College.”
ALUMNAE/I TRUSTEE: Lynne DiStasio ’74 attended Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Ga., after graduating from Wilson, and practiced law in New York. She worked at MetLife for 32 years, mostly as an attorney, but spent four years in human resources, building and leading an employee relations organization. She believes that the business acumen and collaborative skills she developed over her career can be of benefit to Wilson. In her own words: “I am a big fan of Wilson College, and want to see it not just survive, but thrive in the future. I believe it needs to continue to develop innovative programs that make it relevant and attractive to the increasingly diverse population that comprises our potential student body. The voices of those of us who attended the college in the past bring perspective and history to the dialogue about Wilson’s future.”
DIRECTORS: Amanda Harrity ’07 currently works for the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania as the product program operations manager, overseeing the logistics of the cookie sale. While at Wilson, she lettered in soccer and softball, served as vice president of the Wilson College Government Association, was class song leader and a member of the Candle Club. She still plays softball and is an active musician. In her own words: “As a legacy graduate, it would be my honor to serve on the board. My experience at Wilson shaped me into the woman I am today and I want the chance to give back. I know I can be an integral member to help shape the college culture.”
Ashlee Yealy Vandewater ’14 is currently seeking her master’s degree in American Studies at Penn State, Harrisburg, and enjoying life as a new wife. In her own words: “My love for Wilson is continuing to grow, even after graduating this past spring. After graduation I was saddened to leave a place that had become a home for me, including the friends, teachers, staff, traditions, events, and yes...even some of the dining hall foods (Waffle Wednesday and pierogies!). I am now overjoyed to be a part of the alumnae board to further contribute my experience to the betterment of the entire Wilson community.”
Carole Stoehr Ashbridge ’70 credits Wilson College with giving her the tools for a rewarding 35-year career as a school library media specialist. She is now in “retirement,” as a genealogist in a new business endeavor. In her own words: “The College is at a crossroads in its history and it would be
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my goal to help it make that progression to a viable and thriving community. Wilson’s heritage is that of an institution committed to the education of women and as she moves forward we must be mindful of how we can continue that strong tradition while at the same time making the adjustment to her new role in the higher education world. I welcome the opportunity to be a part of that transitional team.”
De-Enda Rotz ’05 received a bachelor’s degree in mass communications through Wilson’s Adult Degree Program. She has been employed in the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations at Mercersburg Academy for the last 20 years. She works closely with the assistant head of school for advancement in managing the Daring to Lead Campaign. She and husband Dirk reside in Fort Loudon, Pa. and have two sons, Derek, 14, and Devin, 7. In her own words: “As a student in the Adult Degree Program, I did not have the opportunity to experience Wilson’s longstanding traditions like Odds and Evens and the daisy chain during Commencement. It has been my honor to learn about them as a member of the board. I look forward to three more years on the board and to using my time on campus to continue to learn the school’s traditions and building relationships with many alumnae.”
Diana Otto Hollada ’07 earned her bachelor’s in business and economics, and has been a member of the board since 2012. She sits on the board of Habitat for Humanity of Franklin County and maintains an active membership with Association of Fundraising Professionals of Central Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna Valley Planned Giving Council and Central Pennsylvania Female Executives. She is currently a capital campaign consultant for Medic II in Waynesboro, Pa. In her own words: “I welcome the opportunity of continued service to the College and look forward to a fulfilling second term. I currently serve as chair of the nominating committee and am also a member of the fundraising and recognition/ stewardship committees.”
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Maxine Lesher Gindlesperger ’98 is a resident of Chambersburg and the chief administrative officer of a local software company. In her own words: “For many college graduates, the experiences at their alma maters are remembered as one of their most significant and treasured life-changing events. The same is true of my experiences at Wilson College. Wilson College is not only an integral part of the community in which I live, but, equally important, it holds a well-earned international reputation for excellence among liberal arts colleges. Coupled with my business and community experience, my participation now as a member of the AAWC board offers an opportunity for me to promote the College so that others may gain the same kind of positive influence that Wilson College has had on my life.”
Lisa Havilland ’04 currently lives in Poolesville, Md., and works in the legal department at Pacific Western Bank, while she attends law school at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., at night. She plans to practice family law, estate planning and immigration law upon her graduation in 2016. In her own words: “I would like to serve on the alumnae board so I can help preserve Wilson’s wonderful culture and traditions while creating positivity as the College undergoes current and future changes. If elected, I promise to do my best to represent the wants and needs of my diverse alumnae family and current Wilson College students.”
Martha Estep O’Brien ’65 is employed by Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pa., as the associate dean of general education. Her community service includes directing a church choir, serving as an elder, participating in service trips to Haiti and continued involvement in Girl Scout activities. She resides in Ebensburg, Pa., with her husband, and is the mother of two and grandmother of seven.
MAIL-IN BALLOT FORM TEAR OFF AND MAIL TO:
In her own words: “I have enjoyed serving on the AAWC board for the past few years—reconnecting with some alumnae whom I knew from my days as a student and meeting many more who were new to me. I have appreciated the discussions we have had, the informal exchanges we have enjoyed, and the opportunity to visit the campus and meet current students, faculty and staff. I cherish the friendships that I have made while serving as a member of the board and look forward to continuing to widen that circle as I take on another term.”
NOMINATING REPRESENTATIVE: Mary K. Hetzel-Weaver ’92 graduated with a degree in political science/history and economics and went on to Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., for a master’s of economics. She has worked for banking institutions in Illinois and Pennsylvania. She is the co-owner and general manager of Connie’s Confections of York and also serves as secretary/board member of the Kreutz Creek Valley Lionesses Club. Currently, she works with her husband, Dr. Christopher Weaver, in his medical practice. In her own words: “I would be honored to serve Wilson College as a director. With my educational background, along with the financial work experience I have—from banking to running a business—I know I can provide powerful feedback for the continuing success of Wilson College.”
Wilson College Alumnae Association of Wilson College 1015 Philadelphia Ave. Chambersburg, Pa. 17201-1279
NOMINEES FOR ELECTION TO THE ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION BOARD SLATE 2015-2018 PRESIDENT Mary F. Cramer '91 ALUMNAE TRUSTEE Lynne DiStasio '74 DIRECTORS Amanda Harrity '07 Ashlee Yealy Vandewater '14 Carole Stoehr Ashbridge '70 De-Enda Rotz '05 Diana Otto Hollada '07 Maxine Lesher Gindlesperger '98 Lisa Havilland '04 Martha Estep O'Brien '65 NOMINATING REPRESENTATIVE Mary K. Hetzel-Weaver '92
D VOTE FOR D VOTE AGAINST
_____________________________________________ Name/Class Year
_____________________________________________ Date
Vote online at www.wilson.edu/2015slate before June 3, 2015.
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memoriam Margaret Hunt Dunn ’31, February 14, 2015, at 105. Dunn received a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion. In 1934, she traveled to Korea with her parents to perform missionary work. She married the Rev. Leslie A. Dunn in 1946. Church life was central to her life and in later years, gardening also brought enjoyment. She was predeceased by her sister, Mary Hunt Cummings ’32. She is survived by her daughter and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Katherine Bowser Kaplan ’35, October 25, 2014, at 99. Kaplan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French. After graduation she taught English at Hagerstown High School in Maryland. She and her husband, Abner J. Kaplan, raised three children and served as foster parents to more than 60 children. In later years, she provided family daycare services out of her home. She is survived by three sons, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Janet McMaster Dally ’42, January 14, 2015, at 94. Dally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature. She worked for United States Steel from 19421949 and began a nearly 57-year marriage to Charles A. Dally III in 1949. Dally was a volunteer with the Salvation Army and Meals on Wheels, and her hobbies included reading, needlepoint, knitting and gardening. In addition to her husband, Dally is predeceased by a son. She is survived by three daughters, a son and four grandchildren. Ruth Bishop Velker ’42, February 20, 2015, at 95. Velker graduated with a Bachelor of
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Arts degree in chemistry. She worked as an analytic chemist for Davison Chemical in the Curtis Bay neighborhood of Baltimore, where she met her husband. Velker loved the theater and movies, as well as playing bridge. She volunteered for Meals on Wheels for more than 45 years until she was 90, and was a member of the Catonsville Presbyterian Church Women’s Association and the Rolling Hills Women’s Association. Among her favorite memories were the three consecutive summers she spent with her grandson, traveling to Russia, Italy, Greece and Alaska. Velker is survived by a son and grandson. Janet Sharp Walz ’43, January 11, 2015, at 93. Walz graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. In 1945 she married the Rev. Norman Walz and went on to play an active role in the Methodist churches under her husband’s care, teaching Sunday school classes, singing in church choirs and working in ministry outreach. She was an avid hiker and camper and, along with her husband, was a member of the 4,000-Footer Club of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Walz is survived by three sons, two granddaughters and a great-granddaughter. Jean Dooley Galbreath ’48, August 4, 2014, at 87. Galbreath received a bachelor’s degree in economics and in her later years, taught elementary school. She was the wife of David Clark Barkley Galbreath, who preceded her in death. Elizabeth Ricketts Knott ’48, December 19, 2014, at 88. Knott graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology. After
graduation she worked as a laboratory technician in Orlando, Fla., marrying Mahlon Shelby Knott in 1953. While raising her family, Knott was involved in the Girl Scouts and PTA. In her later years she enjoyed hydroponic gardening and participated in survey courses at a local museum in anthropology, geology and marine science. A member of the Methodist Church, she served as church librarian and chair of worship and nurture. She was predeceased by her sister, Rowena Ricketts Roberts ’43. Betty Allaben Buttrick ’49, January 10, 2015, at 87. Buttrick graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music. In 1950, she received a master’s degree in special education from Columbia University Teacher’s College and was married to David G. Buttrick. She worked as a tutor in New York’s Lexington School for the Deaf. She is survived by her husband, a daughter and two grandchildren. Marvin Miller ’50, February 3, 2015, at 87. Miller, who graduated from Eckels College of Mortuary Science in 1949, also attended Wilson and the University of Maryland. He became a licensed funeral director in 1951 and in 1970, he became a partner in Minnich Funeral Home (now Miller-Bowersox Funeral Home) in Greencastle, Pa., until his retirement in 1984. He was a member of Grace United Church of Christ in Greencastle, Pa. Other memberships included the Carbaugh American Legion Post 373, Rescue Hose Co. 1, and Mount Pisgah Lodge 443, all in Greencastle. He was also past president of the Greencastle Rotary Club. Miller was an
avid woodworker and music box creator. He was predeceased by his wife, Jane L. Wilson Miller, and is survived by two sons and two granddaughters. Jane Gallager Price ’51, April 15, 2014, at 83. Price graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. After graduation she worked in the employment division of Curtis Publishing Co. in Philadelphia. She married Amos C. Price Jr. in 1953. From 1969-1971, her husband’s work relocated the family to Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. Lois Eney Winston ’51, March 2, 2015, at 85. Winston graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and completed graduate work at Duke University, where she met and married Anthony "Tony " Winston. In 1959, the couple relocated to Morgantown, W.V., where Mr. Winston joined the chemistry department at West Virginia University, and Mrs. Winston stayed active with volunteer work, Cub Scouts, and work at the West Virginia University Hospital gift shop. Together, the Winstons directed the Rotary Student Exchange Program for District 7530 for 20 years and Mrs. Winston was a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow. She enjoyed counted cross-stitch and knitting, and put her needles to use making blankets for Project Linus. Inspired by her husband’s photography, Winston took up the hobby as well and later joined the Photographic Society of America, where she wrote for the PSA Journal and earned two editorial awards. Her prints, entered in international exhibitions, won eight honorable mentions and one title. The Winstons were also members of the Stonewall Jackson Photo Club and they displayed photos at the
OBITUARI E S I N BRI E F Wilson does not always learn about alumnae/i deaths in a timely fashion and in some instances information for a longer obituary cannot be found. In those cases we will provide the information that is available. Frances Gamble Wolfe ’34, March 19, 2014, at 102.
local festivals. Winston is survived by her husband, four sons, seven grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. Sally West Woodburn ’53, February 26, 2015, at 83. Woodburn belonged to the Medical Auxiliary and the 99s, a women’s pilot group. As a member of the 99s, Woodburn flew donated blood to the St. Paul Red Cross for processing and organized aircraft transport of medical supplies to overseas locations. She flew to Europe twice and made numerous cross-country flights. Her on-the-ground hobbies included knitting, sewing and writing poetry (mostly for herself). Woodburn is survived by her husband, Robert Woodburn, three children, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Elizabeth Jane Graig Bodamer ’54, June 20, 2014, at 82. Bodamer earned her Master of Arts degree in English from City College of New York in 1956 and taught English in Yonkers, N.Y., and Decatur, Ill. She married William Bodamer in 1958 in Yonkers at Westminster Presbyterian Church. She is survived by her husband, three daughters, a son, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
in biology, Barnett earned a Master of Arts degree in zoology from Indiana University in 1957 and a doctorate in genetics from Indiana in 1962. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University. Barnett taught at Western College for Women, Bryn Mawr and the University of Maryland, where she later became the director of graduate studies in biology. She retired from the University of Maryland in 1997. Henry Charles Adams Jr. ’94, January 25, 2015, at 80. Adams graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Wilson’s Adult Degree Program and earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of the District of Columbia. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha. Adams retired from the Bureau of Personnel for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where he was an advocate for fair employment practices in state government. He founded the Ripple Group, an organization working to advance sickle cell anemia research. Adams was a member of St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church, where he served as deacon and Sunday school teacher. He was a U.S. Army veteran and an avid golfer. Adams is survived by his wife, Eleanor D. Adams, and a son.
Audrey Barnett ’55, January 24, 2015, at 81. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree
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I
n her interview for the More Than a Classroom feature, Krista Dewald ’16 said to me about migrant families, “If you’ve never been around these families, if you’ve only watched the news, it’s so easy to dehumanize.” Krista’s words summed up exactly one of the issues I hoped to tackle in the story. I wanted to provide insight into the reality of migrant family life, through the eyes of the children of migrant workers. While working on the story I realized that I had been guilty of stereotyping. I went in with preconceptions. It’s easy to do. You listen to the information you’re exposed to through news reports and stories, you make a quip in conversation, you receive affirmation and you know. But you don’t know, not without experience. And migrant families are a demographic that few of us have experience with, often by choice. On my first day of tutoring in the program for migrant students, I sat in a room in which I was the minority. I went to the back of the room and just watched the activity, trying to get a feel for the rhythm. Two seats down from me, a fourth-grade boy sat down, put his backpack on the back of his chair, looked around a bit puzzled, and then made for the bookshelf in the corner, picked a book and went back to his seat. He flipped through the book—too quickly to really be reading—but his eyes as he scanned the pictures showed his interest in the pages. I summoned my courage, slid down two chairs and asked if he would like to read the book together. He looked up with the biggest brown eyes I have ever seen and nodded his head. I found out his name was Brian. Another young man came over and said, “He doesn’t speak English. Do you want me to translate?” I thought about it for a minute and told him thank you but not yet—but if we need help we will definitely let you know. And then Brian and I sat down and read. After two pages I realized that Brian, who does struggle with reading, knows English. And he’s a quick learner. Watching him was a deja-vu moment. It was like watching my own children learn to read. He sounded out words, used his finger as a guide and asked for help with words or sounds that he couldn’t work
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through on his own. And together we read the entire book, and Brian smiled when we finished. After reading a couple more books, we worked on his math homework—an addition fact sheet that he breezed through in about five minutes. With homework and reading behind us, we grabbed a coloring book and then Brian threw me a curveball by stopping on a page with the Block and Dots game—a game in which two opponents take turns connecting dots with lines to make squares, and the person with the most squares in the end wins. We started playing, and I was stunned by how methodical Brian was in his strategy. He knew exactly how to set up a series of squares in a row to claim them all. Why was I surprised? Because someone had told me that Brian doesn’t speak English? Because he’s part of a migrant family and in a very specific tutoring program? Because he doesn’t look like me? In hindsight, I was surprised by all of Brian’s accomplishments that afternoon. I had made assumptions about Brian before our first interaction. And because of that, when he hugged me that afternoon before he left, I felt chagrined. Working with Brian and the other children in the program forced me to confront prejudices I didn’t think I had—a sobering, introspective process—and provided me with a new perspective on community and my role in it. And I hope that in the 10 weeks I’ve been part of the migrant student tutoring program, I made a difference in the life of one of the students, because I know they have made a difference in mine.
Courtney D. Wolfe ’12
I Am
WILSON REUNION 2015—JUNE 5-7
For there is no place like Wilson Though we search o’er land and sea; She is small but she is mighty And she’s wonderful to me, 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
PHOTO BY BOB STOLER
1015 Philadelphia Ave. Chambersburg, PA 17201-1285
Muhibbah means “unity among nations” in Malaysian, but at Wilson’s annual Muhibbah Club Dinner, it takes on a very personal meaning. Story on Page 28.