scene: Winter 2014
Duy Trinh ’14
life of the mind 16
Transformed into a high-tech space for foreign language learning, the W.M. Keck Humanities Resource Center in Lawrence Hall features new computers and software.
furniture, the center has a new look and employs the latest technologies to broaden students’ global perspectives. “The goal is to expand and improve the ways in which students learn languages,” said Yukari Hirata, a Japanese professor who was heavily involved in the renovation project. “We wanted to create a friendly lounge so that students find language practice enjoyable, instead of intimidating.” One highlight is a new office for language interns from eight countries, who are serving as tutors for homework and who facilitate conversations that help students practice their speaking skills. The Keck has new high-end Mac computers, laptops, iPads, and highquality microphones and headphones, as well as two flat-screen TVs in the lounge that display content from international channels throughout the day. Also available are Transparent Language, an online language learning program; Nanogong, an audio recording application; and Praat, a tool that allows for visual analyses of spoken utterances; as well as Skype and Final Cut Pro. The center has been piloting a new program: Saturday morning Korean-language classes, taught by a professor based in Syracuse, through innovative technology and video conferencing. Although the program is not offered for credit, the hope is that more foreign languages not offered in Colgate’s curriculum will be offered to students in the future. “Nothing can replace the valuable student-teacher interactions that we offer here,” said Zlatko Grozl, instructional technologist for the Keck Center. “But I can imagine us offering
languages that we normally don’t teach through these new technologies. We’re always looking for ways to enhance language learning.” — Aminat Olayinka Agaba ’14
Chapel House changeover
influenced my relationship with my students, how I work as a scholar, my relationship with my family, and how I face adversity.” Kevin Trainor ’90, a professor and chair of the religion department at the University of Vermont, said that through his interaction with Carter and other professors, “I was given opportunities to engage with serious intellectual and moral issues in a setting where my struggles to make sense of things were respected and encouraged to develop, and where the framework for understanding those issues was continually expanded beyond the narrow perspectives of the dominant culture.” Both Uddin and Trainor also spoke about how Chapel House was a meaningful part of their Colgate experience. Stepping in to continue Chapel House’s mission, Steven Kepnes, a professor of religion and Jewish studies, has been named the new director, as well as director of the Fund for the Study of the Great Religions. Having taught at Colgate since 1988, he brings his deep appreciation for religious and spiritual practices and his prominence in inter-religious dialogue through the “Scriptural Reasoning” movement. One of the founders of Colgate’s Jewish Studies Program, Kepnes is a scholar of Jewish philosophy, theology, and ethics; biblical and rabbinic hermeneutics; Holocaust and
How does the Colgate experience help one to live life well? Nearly a dozen alumni spanning the classes of 1974 to 2005 shared their thoughts in September, at an event honoring the retirement of John Ross Carter. The contemplative event was a fitting tribute to the man who directed Chapel House, Colgate’s spiritual sanctuary and retreat center, for 41 years. A philosophy and religion professor, he also directed Colgate’s Fund for the Study of the Great Religions of the World. Sufia Mendez Uddin ’88, a religious studies professor at Connecticut College, reflected on how a January term class on Japanese tea ceremony cotaught by Carter has shaped her approach to everything from her cancer diagnosis to parenting. “I came to see the importance of focusing the mind, being present in a task, being devoted to one’s John Ross Carter (seated) with former staffers at Chapel House task,” she said. “It