Summer 2009 by John Bowers

OWL&SPADE

T H E A LU M N I M A G A Z I N E O F WA R R E N W I L S O N CO L L E G E SUMMER 2009

Environmentalist and race car driver Leilani M端nter releases a rehabilitated owl at the June 2009 Mountain Green Conference

FOLLOW THE TOMATO MOUNTAIN GREEN SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE THE ORGANIC MECHANIC THE WORKING WORD REVISED 9.10.09

OWL&SPADE SUMMER 2009

WARREN WILSON COLLEGE Interim Editor Tracy Bleeker Designer Martha Smith Contributing Writer Ben Anderson Interim Alumni Relations Coordinator Rodney Lytle ’73 Contributors Tracy Bleeker Gideon Burdick ’10 Bates Canon Laura Dison ’10 Ally Donlan David Ellum Paula Garrett Arlin Geyer Philip Gibson Paul M. Howey Jack Igelman Murray Lee Nina Otter ’10 Catherine Reid Diana Sanderson Jason Sandford SG Seguret ’84 Kevin Walden Alissa Whelan Copy Editor Jennie Vaughn ALUMNI BOARD 2008-09 President Faris A. Ashkar ’72 President Elect Susannah Chewning ’87 Past President Sue Hartwyk ’66 Secretary Melissa Thomas Davis ’71 Class of 2009 Harry Atkins ’56 Britta Dedrick ’93 Susan Harriot ’95 A. Eugene Hilman ’56 Peter Kenny ’82 James Oiler ’66 Class of 2010 Vijaykumar Barnabas ’82 Peggy Burke ’56 Suzanne Daley ’77 Jim “JD” Hilliard ’66 Adeeb Sayyar ’73 John Snider ’91 Class of 2011 James Bailes ’78 Charlotte Black ’70 Ben Kimmel ’91 Dancia Langley ’95 David Sullivan ’73 Megan Swett ’00 Graduating Class Rep. Ryan Morra ’08 www.warren-wilson.edu/~owlandspade

Alumni Oﬃce PO Box 9000 Asheville NC 28815-9000 828.771.2046

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

TRIAD NEWS

alumni@warren-wilson.edu

T S

WWC COMMENCEMENT 2009—JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE • 2009 HARWOOD-COLE MEMORIAL LECTURE ANNOUNCED • FROM AMARILLO TO ASHEVILLE: DEBRA ALLBERY IS NEW MFA DIRECTOR • A SNOWY START BUT A SUNNY END TO WORK DAY ’09 • DONGPING HAN AND STUDENTS RECEIVE FREEMAN FELLOW SHIP • JESSICA CULPEPPER—USING THE LAW TO HELP PEOPLE LIVE HEALTHIER LIVES • JOHN BOWERS EXPRESSES THANKS • WWC STUDENT SELECTED AS NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION CAMPUS ECOLOGY FELLOW • WILSON CARES—THE HEART OF THE ISSUE • SPORTS WRAP-UP • NOT A FULL NELSON, BUT A BIG BEAR HUG AND A STANDING OVATION • MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY AND NOTE-BY-NOTE COOKING—TWO DISCIPLINES TO STRETCH THE IMAGINATION • THE ECODORM GOES PLATINUM • COLLEGE FOREST HOSTS INTERNATIONAL SILVICULTURE FIELD TRIP • WWC STUDENT SELECTED AS NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION CAMPUS ECOLOGY FELLOW • GEORGIA ANTON IS ON THE GO WITH THE TRIAD, PLUS ONE

FACULTY & STAFF NEWS

INSIGHTS FROM ENVIRONMENTAL-CAMPUS BIRKENFIELD—A SEMESTER IN GERMANY

FOLLOW THE TOMATO

DONOR PROFILE

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

RACE CAR CHICK LEILANI MÜNTER RELEASES OWL

MOUNTAIN GREEN SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE

CHARLIE WILSON ‘03—THE ORGANIC MECHANIC

THE WORKING WORD—WARREN WILSON WRITERS ON THEIR WORK

ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENTS

LOOKING BACK: WORDS ABOUT FRED OHLER

ALUMNI PROFILES

ALUMNI NOTES

ALUMNI LOSSES

HOMECOMING 2009

On the Cover: Leilani Münter, environmentalist and one of the top ten female race car drivers in the world, released a rehabilitated, orphaned owl from Carolina Raptor Center back into the the wild during the Mountain Green Sustainability Conference held on campus in June 2009. She was assisted by Mountain Green Steering Committee Chair Bob Deutsch, who dubbed the owl “Warren.” Münter was the conference’s keynote speaker. Owl & Spade (ISSN: 202-707-4111) is published twice a year (winter, summer) by the staff of Warren Wilson College. Address changes and distribution issues should be sent to alumni@warren-wilson.edu or Rodney Lytle, CPO 6376, PO Box 9000, Asheville, NC 28815. Printed on Environment by Neenah Paper (made with 100% post-consumer waste and processed totally chlorine free). Printed with vegetable oil-base inks. Compared to virgin paper, using this paper saved 81 trees, 29,261 gallons of water, 56 min BTUs of energy (224 days of power for an average American household), 7, 049 pounds of emissions, 3,758 of solid waste recycled instead of landﬁlled! These ﬁgures calculated using Environment Savings Calculator at www.neenahpapers.com/environmentalsavings.

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

n his benediction closing the 2009 Commencement in May, College Chaplain Steve Runholt directed a hypothetical question to our new graduates: “Who knew Bryson Gym would be a metaphor for the economy that now awaits you out there?” You may recall that part of Bryson collapsed in May 2008, just a few months before the economy came crashing down. Now, as the economy still struggles to recover, I’m happy to report that we’re planning to have Bryson back in fine form in the fall. The renovated building, which opened soon after World War I as a wooden-floor gymnasium, will be an inviting space for a range of campus events, as it always has been. Despite the problems a disastrous economy has posed to colleges and universities around the nation, Warren Wilson continues to thrive and attract praise from many quarters. For example, because so many more accepted students decided to attend than have done so in the past, we are facing the pleasant challenge of enrolling more students than we had anticipated for the fall semester. The higher enrollment also can be attributed to greater interest in the College among prospective students and to higher retention rates of current students. Clearly more and more students and their families are recognizing the value of a Warren Wilson education in good times and bad—just as the 2010 Fiske Guide to Colleges has in naming the College, once again, as one of its 24 “Best Buys” among private institutions nationwide. Because of our strong enrollment and the fact that our budget is largely driven by tuition, the College has been able to avoid layoffs, salary freezes and serious budget cuts during the severe economic downturn. And even though our relatively modest endowment has contracted somewhat in the past year, thanks to wise investment strategies it has lost much less ground than most college endowments. That said, the College will continue to need your strong financial support over the coming months and years. Speaking of the future, an exciting effort is under way to produce a new Warren Wilson College Strategic Plan by the end of 2009, for consideration by the Board of Trustees at or before the Board’s February 2010 meeting. The new plan is needed to help us set and fund priorities for the College in the coming years. With information and feedback provided by a recent campus survey, a committee of trustees has been working on drafts of some plan components—namely the mission, vision and value statements. This summer the President’s Advisory Council, serving as an on-campus steering committee for planning, is developing a process that invites faculty, staff, students and alumni to participate during the Fall 2009 semester. I look forward to seeing you Oct. 2-4 at Homecoming and Family Weekend. In the meantime, have a wonderful final few weeks of summer.

Sandy Pfeiﬀer

T R I ADNE WS WWC Commencement 2009—just another day in paradise By Ben Anderson

“Just another day in paradise.”

hose words from an early arrival nicely summed up the setting for the 2009 Warren Wilson College Commencement. After a rainy week, the morning of May 16 broke with a blue sky overhead and a warm sun shining on the patch of green known as Sunderland Lawn, site of the annual ceremony. A large crowd extending beyond the lawn gathered beneath the hemlocks and hardwoods to see 156 graduates receive their diplomas, tangible conﬁrmation of four years of Triad achievement. In some ways Commencement at Warren Wilson is almost like a spring Homecoming. The gathering included former faculty member Hun Lye, 2008 Pfaﬀ Cup recipient Ryan Morra, and former admission counselor Kendra Powell ’00, who was visiting all the way from her new home in Montana. Families and friends also joined the festivities in droves, celebrating the graduates’ big day and enjoying the lush scenery of an Appalachian spring. One father said he feels as if he’s on vacation every time he comes to campus. But the day, as always, belonged to the graduates. Their senior class speaker was the spandex-clad Jacob Salt, an environmental studies major from New York City, who promised to pepper his remarks with “at least three clichés.” Jake may or may not have achieved that, but he did challenge his fellow graduates to “catalyze change on a much broader scale” beyond Warren Wilson. He also noted, in reference to the College’s work program, that WWC graduates are “not afraid of bumps and bruises, as Wilson has given us calluses.”

This year’s main address, titled “A Moment in Time,” was delivered by Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of carpet-tile maker Interface Inc. He is often called “the greenest chief executive in America.” Anderson took the gathering on what he described as a one-mile walk through time on planet Earth, noting that Homo sapiens appeared on the scene only during the past .7 inch of the mile-long timeline. Even more recently, he pointed out, was humans’ discovery of oil, leading to what he labeled as the “great carbon blowout.” As a result, Anderson said, Earth’s “sixth mass extinction is under way, but this one’s diﬀerent. You might say that we’re tripping on a hair and perilously close to ruining the whole walk.” But Anderson also said that he is hopeful about the future, even if “I cannot say that a new wisdom has permeated society,” because change has at least started.

“I had not a clue [about the environment] 50 years ago,” he said, referring the late 1950s when he was a young graduate of Georgia Tech. “But in 2059, you can come back here and talk about how you turned it around.” This year’s Pfaff Cup award, the College’s highest student honor, went to Lauren Kriel, an English/theatre major from Springfield, Ill. Emily Brigham, a biology/environmental studies major from Charlotte, received the Sullivan Award in recognition of spiritual qualities applied to daily living. Other award recipients included Catherine Reid, faculty member in the Undergraduate Writing Program who received the Faculty Teaching Excellence award. Retiring staff members Buz and Marilyn Eichman, from the Electrical and Student Life crews respectively, jointly received the Staff Teaching Excellence award.

OWL & SPADE

T R I A D N E WS 2009 Harwood-Cole Memorial Lecture Announced The Harwood-Cole Memorial Lecture will be held on Saturday, November 7, 2009, in Canon Lounge. There will be a reception for friends of the College and the Friends of the Library at 3 p.m., followed by the lecture at 4 p.m. Debra Allbery, the College’s new Director of the Master of Fine Arts Program for Writers, will deliver the lecture. The public is invited and there is no charge.

From Amarillo to Asheville: Debra Allbery is new MFA director By Ben Anderson

“I ﬁrst taught in the MFA program in 1995, and immediately felt I’d found a home. The depth of commitment to teaching and writing at Warren Wilson is extraordinary.” –Debra Allbery

fter teaching in the Master of Fine Arts Program for Writers for several semesters, accepting the opportunity to become its director wasn’t a difficult decision for Debra Allbery. “I first taught in the MFA program in 1995, and immediately felt I’d found a home,” Allbery said. “The depth of commitment to teaching and writing at Warren Wilson is extraordinary.” Allbery comes to Warren Wilson and Asheville full time from a bit farther west on I-40—Amarillo, to be exact. She assumed her new position in June, succeeding interim director Kevin “Mc” McIlvoy, who steered the MFA ship after longtime director Peter Turchi departed for Arizona in 2008. Turchi and McIlvoy are both serving as fiction faculty during Allbery’s first semester as director. In addition to teaching in the lowresidency MFA program, Allbery has served on the MFA Academic Board and in various other capacities. She has administrative and organizational experience that is rare among writers and teachers, having worked for many years in the publishing industry. She also created and ran the onsite bookstore for six Dodge Poetry Festivals.

SUMMER 2009

Allbery’s many awards include the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, a “Discovery”/The Nation award, a Hawthornden Fellowship and two NEA Fellowships. Her ﬁrst book, “Walking Distance,” was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press; her second, “FimbulWinter,” will be published by Four Way Books in October 2010. Allbery has been writer-in-residence at Phillips Exeter Academy and Interlochen Arts Academy, and has taught at Randolph College, Dickinson College and the University of Michigan. Her husband, Matthew Gildea, works in book retailing. They have an eight-year-old son, Wyatt. She is eager to step into her new role as MFA director, building on the exceptional work of those who preceded her. “I think all of us—faculty, students, alumni —appreciate how rare and remarkable Ellen Voigt’s vision was in founding this program 33 years ago,” Allbery said. “We all feel it’s a privilege to take part in it, and to help sustain it.” “I’ve experienced the most rewarding work of my life here, and I’m thrilled and honored to now be involved in this program full time.” 3

T R I ADNE WS A snowy start but a sunny end to Work Day ’09

ork Day, the collective story of celebrating community with sweat equity, is a Warren Wilson rite of spring that doesn’t always bring the weather of spring. Although it’s not unusual for temperatures to climb well into the 70s on Work Day, early April can be cold and wet in the North Carolina mountains. This year, Work Day began below freezing with a frosting of snow on the ground. Fortunately, plenty of sunshine pushed temperatures well into the 50s by the afternoon, even as the lofty Great Craggy and Swannanoa ranges framing the campus remained snow-capped. The day’s snowy start didn’t deter a large crowd of students, faculty and staff from gathering outside Gladfelter Student Center at about 12:30. The throng even included a few future Warren Wilson students—transfer students planning to enroll this fall who were just visiting campus. Apparently they just couldn’t wait until next spring to get their first taste of Work Day. Many current first-year students also were experiencing their first Work Day, just as a number of seniors were engaged in their final one before graduating. First-year staff such as Julie Wilson (Writing Center), Leah McCullough (Spiritual Life) and Ally Donlan (Advancement) also were involved in their first Work Day, toiling alongside many grizzled—OK, experienced—Work Day veterans among the faculty and staff joining in. The first order of business, as orchestrated by Dean of Work Ian Robertson, was to herd the workers to the grassy bank below Gladfelter for another Work Day ritual: a group photo shoot by panoramic photographer Benjamin Porter. Soon, however, Robertson was back on his bullhorn calling out descriptions of the 27 projects and asking volunteers to come forward and go forth. He began with a project that’s always on the Work Day todo list: Warren Wilson Cemetery cleanup and maintenance, a project Robertson couldn’t resist observing “that everyone is dying to work on.” 4

It didn’t take long for the project crews to scatter to various parts of campus, from the cemetery on the western edge to the Village residence halls on the northern tip. The largest number could be found removing invasive plants on Suicide Ridge, above the soccer fields. Below the fields, in a steep ravine, a group not only removed invasives but also planted trees. Swannanoa River cleanup, a typical Work Day project, invariably yields some interesting treasures but this year’s major haul was truly exceptional: a large fuel-oil tank that may have been a vestige of the major floods of 2004. Moving the tank to a point where it could be hauled off was no easy (or safe) task. Not all the work on Work Day is done on campus, however. BK Segall’s Library Crew, for example, gathered early in the day to depart on a service project at Animal Haven, an animal shelter and rehabilitation center not far from campus. By the afternoon, BK and some of her regular crew members were planting native grasses at the Village. Music is always part of Work Day, and not just the live music at the picnic at Morris’ Community Pavilion capping

the day. Some project crews bring a radio or recorded music; others belt out their own impromptu songs. Oldies fans were in business on the Jensen Trail—where mulching was the task at hand—when The Foundations’ “Build Me Up Buttercup” was earnestly sung. Later, the music at the picnic provided by the student-staﬀ band Bluegrass Wednesdays was a huge hit. At day’s end, with all the shovels and gloves put away, the 1,100-acre campus that Time magazine has labeled “one of the 20 most beautiful campuses in the country” was even more beautiful than before. And that’s one reason why Work Day is always one of the most anticipated days of the year at Warren Wilson.

OWL & SPADE

T R I A D N E WS Dongping Han and students receive Freeman Fellowship By Ben Anderson

he ASIANetwork, a consortium of liberal arts colleges that promotes Asian studies, has awarded Dr. Dongping Han and five students a 2009 Freeman Foundation Student-Faculty Fellowship. The fellowship will fund Han and his students as they conduct research on the impact of globalization in rural China. The WWC Freeman Fellows include Anna Petrie, Chris Sterling, Sean Moffitt, Elizabeth Greene, and Allison Hoyman-Browe. Each student from WWC will be paired with a Chinese university student who is proficient in English. Pairings are coordinated by Professor Song Yanting, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office from Liaocheng University.

“We will make best use of this important opportunity to study rural China,” says Han. “This opportunity will enable me and my students to gain insights into the contemporary Chinese countryside which is still not easily accessible to outsiders.” The Fellowship will also allow Han to strengthen Warren Wilson’s impressive program in political science. Project titles

for past fellowships have included: “100 Faces of Japanese Women: How Japanese Women and Bigaku (The Japanese Sense of Beauty) are Portrayed in Japanese Pop Culture”; “Traditional Japanese Theater Street Fashion: Rebellion against Traditional Gender Roles?”; and “A Dynamic Diet: The South Korean Nutrition Transition and Movement toward a Westernized Diet.”

“Doing research in China is always a challenge for many people due to lack of access caused by language barriers, unsanitary conditions, and uncooperative local officials. But it is not so for me,” Han says, “because I grew up in a Chinese village and have been doing research in the Chinese rural areas for the last ten years.” Both of Dr. Han’s master theses at the University of Vermont and his dissertation at Brandeis University were based on extensive interviews with the rural population. “I have been able to build up an important network with local officials and Chinese academics,” says Han, “some of whom will provide important access for this research team I am going to lead.” “I have learned a great deal from my last fellowship program,” says Han. “The crucial part for a research team to work well is to have a good coordination.” To build espirit de corps Han has talked with faculty in the Outdoor Leadership Program about ideas to help his students develop team unity and communication skills. Han teaches Warren Wilson’s courses on Chinese Government, International Politics in the Pacific, and other courses with an Asian or global perspective. He also regularly teaches Warren Wilson course offerings in China through the Study Abroad program. SUMMER 2009

T R I ADNE WS Jessica Culpepper ‘04—using the law to help people live healthier lives By Jack Igelman

chance visit to Warren Wilson’s campus with a friend enticed Jessica Culpepper, now an animal welfare and environmental attorney in Washington D.C., to apply. However, it was during the year before she enrolled at the College that she discovered her chosen path. After graduating from high school, Culpepper was employed for a year by a law oﬃce in her hometown of Decatur, Georgia. Her time there left a lasting impression. “The ﬁrm was a cornerstone of the local culture; the attorneys knew everyone,” she says. “It seemed they were able to help people in ways I wanted to help.” That experience motivated her to follow a similar path: using the law to help people live healthier lives. After graduating from WWC with a degree in political science and history, Culpepper enrolled at Georgetown Law and in her second year interned in the litigation department of the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. There, she contributed to two cases that were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, including Massachusetts vs. EPA—a landmark ruling in which the high court decided that gases causing global warming are pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Culpepper considers her contribution to the case to be among her most prized accomplishments because of its long-term impact on the environment.

Culpepper earned a JD in 2007 and was awarded the annual Barker Foundation Fellowship in Animal Law by the Georgetown Law Center and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). She is currently one of thirteen staff lawyers at HSUS, the nation’s largest animal protection litigation office. But her work isn’t just focused on advocacy for animals. Culpepper uses her legal knowledge to work on precedent-setting legal campaigns focused on emissions generated by large-scale industrial farms. Factory farms, as they are called, raise animals for the production of egg, meat and dairy products, through a process in which scores of livestock are squeezed into overcrowded facilities that generate high rates of air contaminants and water pollution. “Not only do these farms affect the animals and the environment, they hurt nearby communities,” she explains. According to Culpepper factory farms are often built in low-income areas and their emissions are poorly regulated. Therefore, her work often involves determining the effects of these agricultural emissions on humans. In the future, Culpepper would like to return to serving small communities in the South where large scale livestock agriculture is a major industry—and polluter. For now, her long hours typically

Jessica Culpepper ‘04 and husband Justin Martin ‘06.

“Not only do these farms affect the animals and the environment, they hurt the communities.” –Jessica Culpepper ‘04

involve gathering facts, collecting documents, meeting with experts, recording depositions, researching the law, and, most meaningful to Culpepper, providing counsel to people. “People who live near the facilities have no way of knowing what made them sick. In some cases, people have had horrible infections for years and thought they just had a weak immune system,” she says. “Often they call me when they have problems and questions. It is a relationship and a friendship—I am most proud of helping them and their communities.”

John Bowers expresses thanks

his past May John Bowers was involved in a serious bike accident. The good news is he miraculously survived the broken ribs, punctured lung, broken bones in his face, fractured skull, brain surgery, pneumonia, some really bad road rash and losing a few pieces of gear he really liked (which is what he seems to be talking about the most these days!). John is recovering quickly and will be back at the helm as editor for the Winter 2010 issue. A few words from the editor of the Owl & Spade, John Bowers (AKA the Comeback Kid!): “Thanks to everyone! I am a grateful, fortunate and blessed man to have excellent medical care and amazing family, friends, students and workmates who have all provided and continue to provide me with inspiration, support and strength. All the prayers, cards, emails, calls, Facebook notes, healing food, and good vibes sent my way have made and continue to make my recovery and healing possible. 6

OWL & SPADE

T R I A D N E WS Wilson cares—the heart of the issue By Jack Igelman

hile residing oﬀ campus in the summer of 2008, student Joe Cattell-Gordon struck up a conversation with a drifter who was temporarily living next door. That exchange led to another and soon the two formed a remarkably strong camaraderie. Cattell-Gordon discovered that Roy (not his real name), a veteran, was a substance abuser and had been intermittently homeless for the last two decades. While Cattell-Gordon had considered homelessness a vital topic, his relationship with Roy added a genuinely personal dimension to the complex issue and compelled him to examine why the lives of veterans can so drastically unravel. His chance friendship coincided with the development of an initiative known as Wilson CARES (Community Action through Responsibility, Education, and Service). The concept of Wilson CARES originated from the Bonner Foundation —a Princeton, N.J.-based organization dedicated to implementing programs that encourage students to serve in their communities. Interim Dean of Service Learning Franklin Tate explained the initiative’s goal is to use service to facilitate students’ appreciation of how current policy aﬀects community agencies and the populations they serve. Its primary component is a handful of semester-long “Heart of the Issue” workshops designed and delivered by the Service-Learning

“It was very genuine. They have interesting lives and stories; by hearing their perspective you get the big picture. In class you’re getting the academic perspective, then the same day you are experiencing it.” –Philip Hamilton Service-Learning Ofﬁce work crew member

Oﬃce student work crew. Each of the half dozen workshops focuses on a single social or environmental issue. This approach enables students to reap a comprehensive understanding of an issue that they are passionate about, such as HIV/AIDS, child nutrition, or homelessness. As it happened, a work trip to a recently established garden at the Veteran’s Restoration Quarters (VRQ), a nearby men’s shelter managed by the Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry (ABCCM), was coordinated by work crew member Philip Hamilton in September 2008 for a First-Year Seminar focusing on food issues. The ¾-acre “Victory Garden” supplies fresh produce to supplement meals provided to its 150 residents—the majority of whom are veterans. Knowing of Cattell-Gordon’s interest in veterans issues and homelessness, Hamilton invited

SUMMER 2009

him along. The experience at the garden inspired the two, along with a third student, Madeline Wadley, to choose hunger and homelessness as the topic of their Heart of the Issue workshop during the spring term of 2009. In addition to recruiting seven members of the student body to participate in their workshop, the three leaders organized work trips to the garden, meetings with experts, visits to local agencies, and a winter “night out” in Asheville. Cattell-Gordon also coordinated a weekly visit to spend time with residents of the shelter—above and beyond his workshop duties. In all, the group generated over 200 hours of service at the VRQ and other agencies in the area. “It was a tremendous experience,” recalls Hamilton. “It was very genuine. They have interesting lives and stories; by hearing their perspective you get the big picture. In class you’re getting the academic perspective, then the same day you are experiencing it. It makes it more real and more complicated.” And that’s exactly the kind of engagement Warren Wilson’s Service Learning Program hopes to provide. For Tate and the ServiceLearning Oﬃce, the next challenge is to obtain more precise measurements of the educational beneﬁts of service. That data will better quantify learning outcomes and ultimately solidify WWC’s innovative approach to service learning. 7

T R I ADNE WS 2008–2009 sports wrap-up By Kevin Walden

Men’s soccer—The men’s soccer team

enjoyed their best season in seven years in 2008, posting a record of six wins and seven losses. The Owls finished perched 13th in the USCAA National Rankings. Highlighting their season were two wins against NCAA Division II opponents, three away victories (two in overtime), and the first Homecoming win in four years. Senior Luke Bernard led the team with 23 points (10 goals and 3 assists) and was named USCAA Player of the Week twice. He is the first Warren Wilson College player to win this recognition twice in one year. Women’s soccer—The women’s soccer team

ﬁnished the 2008 season with a 3-6-2 record including wins over Toccoa Falls College, Kentucky Christian University, and Peace College. Senior Mel Janarelli was named USCAA First Team All-American for her eﬀorts throughout the year. Lauren Kriel, Lauren Bangasser, Leah Lamdin, Maya Rios, and Rachel Schonberg were named USCAA Academic All-Americans. Men’s basketball—The men’s basketball

team enjoyed a successful season tallying a 10-15 overall record capped oﬀ by an 8168 victory over Piedmont College. Their ten wins was the highest number of wins in one year since the 1992-1993 season. Senior Jermon Marsh and sophomore Aleks Spasovski were named USCAA Honorable Mention All-Americans after both averaged 18 points per game. Women’s basketball—The women’s

basketball team continued to improve as they bested last year’s record by one game to ﬁnish 3-9 on the season. Juniors Georgia Anton and Laura Dison led the way for the Owls by averaging close to 10 points per contest. Anton and Dison were joined by Alissa Gore, Hannah Hess, and Philippa Sanders in being named USCAA Academic All-Americans.

II and NAIA schools at the Appalachian Swimming Conference Championships in Huntington, West Virginia, the Owls raced well and placed 9th out of 10 teams in the combined scoring. A strong ﬁrst-year class of women and some experienced men added depth, insuring fast swims. Lifetime best times were had by all. First-year Amelia Hubbard led the team by resetting four varsity records in the 200- and 500yard freestyle and the 100- and 200-yard butterﬂy. Cross country—The Warren Wilson College

men’s and women’s cross country teams finished in fifth place at the USCAA Cross Country National Championships held in Buena Vista, Virginia. The women were led by All-American Chelsea Gay’s thirdplace finish (25:59.43) while the men were led by Geoffrey Steen (29:19.3) and Chas Beiderman (30:00.1) who finished in 13th and 17th place, respectively.

Mountain biking—Led by senior Matthew

Williams, Warren Wilson College’s mountain bike team earned the bronze medal in Division II of the Collegiate National Mountain Bike Championships, held at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk. Williams, who took 2nd place in the overall Men’s Omnium title, had podium finishes in the cross country and short track, as well as strong finishes in dual slalom and downhill. Other top finishes, including Hanna Waldman’s 6th in the dual slalom, and Tallulah Winquist’s 6th in the short track, contributed to this year’s top team finish.

Swimming—The Warren Wilson Owls

had a strong 2008-2009 season, with the men going 3-3 and the women 3-4 in winlosses. Competing against NCAA Division 8

OWL & SPADE

T R I A D N E WS Not a full Nelson, but a big bear hug and a standing ovation By Kevin Walden

ny hug between two people who care about each other is nice, but some hugs seem to carry more meaning than others. Such was the case when Warren Wilson basketball players Chris and John Nelson gave each other a bear hug near the end of a season-closing 81-68 victory over Piedmont College, on a festive Fat Tuesday in DeVries Gym.

When Chris stepped off the court, his twin brother was there to exchange a heartfelt hug, win No. 10 safely in the bag thanks in part to several clutch free throws by the Nelsons down the stretch.

SUMMER 2009

The Nelson twins, seniors from Austin, Texas, are nothing if not studies in athletic “stick-to-it-tiveness.” It might have been easy for them to walk away from the men’s basketball program at any point during the past few years as the lopsided losses piled up, teammates came and went, and coaches passed through a revolving door. But like so many Warren Wilson students in so many different activities, the Nelson boys persevered. The Owls went into the Piedmont finale with an opportunity to win 10 games in a season for the first time since the 1992-1993 season. In fact, a victory over the Lions from Demorest, Georgia, would have given Warren Wilson more wins than the team had accumulated in the previous three seasons combined. Needless to say, it was a game that the Nelsons and all the

Owls—including fellow seniors Jamie Hart of Middlebury, Vermont and Jermon Marsh of Sanford—badly wanted to win. John Nelson’s college career ended first when he fouled out late in the game, exiting to a long and loud ovation from an appreciative crowd. Chris’s ended a couple of minutes later, when Walden took him and Marsh out of the game so that Owl fans could show them some love too. When Chris stepped off the court, his twin brother was there to exchange a heartfelt hug, win No. 10 safely in the bag. This was thanks, in part, to several clutch free throws by the Nelsons down the stretch. Being an intercollegiate athlete at Warren Wilson isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to do, in combination with the Triad’s demands of academics, work and service. But each year, scores of young men and women at Warren Wilson somehow manage to pull it off, with lots of hard work and good time management skills. The road wasn’t always easy for Chris and John Nelson, but you can bet they’re glad they have stayed on it until the happy end on that memorable February night.

T R I ADNE WS Molecular gastronomy and note-by-note cooking— two disciplines to stretch the imagination By SG Séguret ‘84

“In the hands of a great cook

eep in the belly of an amphitheater from another time, decorated in a browning mosaic of agricultural patterns, les 4ème rencontres des sciences, art et cuisine springs to life. Wooden benches with ledges for writing, reminiscent of prayer benches, invite both the eager and the hesitant to rest their bones and contemplate the significance of the equivalent meanings of these words in French and English: science, art, cuisine. The event is a meeting of scientists, journalists, educators, culinary students and chefs, and it occurs once monthly at AgroParis Tech, l’Institut des Sciences et Industries du Vivant et de l’Environnement (Institute of Sciences and Industries of Life and the Environment). The force behind this meeting of minds is Dr. Hervé This, physical chemist, author of seventeen books and hundreds of scientific articles, and co-founder of the phenomenon called molecular gastronomy. Begun as a means of explaining or disproving old wives’ tales, molecular gastronomy has evolved to define culinary

transformations and the sensory phenomena associated with eating. Today, the globe’s top chefs have been set apart by their willingness to stray from traditional sauces and dabble in the world of molecular possibilities: Chicago’s Grant Atchaz, London’s Hester Blumenthal, Catalonia’s Ferran Adrià, and Paris’s Pierre Gagnaire, to name a few.

a meal is capable of touching us as a love song does.” –Dr. Hervé This

Today, This is on to yet another quest which he calls la Cuisine Note-à-Note, or Note-by-Note Cooking, whereby separate molecules of ﬂavor may be equated with individual notes of the musical scale. In the appropriate combination, they form a chord, and when the right chords unite, a symphony to the senses is created. “In the hands of a great cook,” says This, “a meal is capable of touching us as a love song does.”

Photo by SG Séguret

This kicked oﬀ this summer’s sessions of the Swannanoa School of Culinary Arts with a public lecture on July 12. The lecture was held in conjunction with Warren Wilson College’s chemistry department. Physical chemist, author and chef Dr. Hervé This prepares a meal.

The Swannanoa School of Culinary Arts— a hands-on, garden-to-table experience Swannanoa School of Culinary Arts, (SSCA), drawing from Warren Wilson’s organic garden and Asheville’s host of experienced chefs, is a hands-on, garden-to-table experience for all ages and all levels of skill. Past students have included professors, chefs, doctors, chemists, teenagers, grandfathers, mother-son teams, father-daughter teams, grandmother-granddaughter teams, young husband-wife teams, women and men in the midst of mid-life change, dieters, dreamers, and many more. With an emphasis on quality ingredients and quality time spent around the table, friendships are formed, passions are realized, balance is achieved. Music and laughter are an integral part of the feast, and students leave with enthusiasm to go forth and nourish the world, starting at their own table. For more information, contact ssca@warren-wilson.edu, or call 828.301.2792. SSCA director Susi Gott Séguret ‘84

Photo by Murray Lee

On the Web: www.schoolofculinaryarts.org OWL & SPADE

T R I A D N E WS

The EcoDorm goes Platinum

arren Wilson’s iconic EcoDorm has become the first building on a college campus to achieve LEED Platinum certification in the Existing Buildings category. As the first LEED Platinum building of any kind on the Warren Wilson campus, the Ecodorm joins the Orr Cottage and the Village South and Village North residence halls, which achieved LEED Gold for New Construction. One of the EcoDorm’s most important features is a 10,000-gallon salvaged train tanker buried outside the building. It collects rainwater and pumps it inside to flush toilets and outside to irrigate landscaping plants. The two-story residence hall also has an abundance of windows, and it was built with a true-south orientation to allow it to capture the sun’s warmth. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a rating system of the United States Green Building Council that sets standards for the “design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.” The category of Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance “identifies and rewards current best practices and provides an outline for buildings to use less energy, water and natural resources; improve SUMMER 2009

the indoor environment; and uncover operating inefficiencies.” According to Paul Braese, the College’s facilities management director, “Reaching the LEED Platinum level requires hitting steep benchmarks not only in the building’s design but also in its daily operation. Just because you built the building well doesn’t mean it’s going to stay energy-efficient. The more important focus is how we are taking care of the building.” The EcoDorm utilizes four green principles: energy efficiency, water conservation, healthy indoor air quality and use of local and recyclable materials.

The dormitory, which houses 36 students committed to living a sustainable lifestyle, was designed by Samsel Architects of Asheville. Designed in collaboration with students, faculty and administration, the building utilizes four green principles: energy eﬃciency, water conservation, healthy indoor air quality and use of local and recyclable materials.

“The EcoDorm stands out in the way it functions efficiently on an ongoing basis. Even in the smallest details, like using green cleaning products and carefully metering the use of utilities,” Braese says. Other EcoDorm features include energy-saving technologies such as solar hot water and photovoltaic panels, high-efficiency boilers, and radiant floor heating. A web-based energy-monitoring system also is in place. The North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association used data provided by the Warren Wilson Campus Greening Crew to prompt the North Carolina General Assembly to enact a law promoting the conservation of energy and water use in state, university and community college buildings. USGBC spokeswoman Marie Coleman said via email that she “expect(s) the EcoDorm to inspire other institutions to take the same holistic approach” and that “Warren Wilson’s Platinum certification is a tremendous achievement and is an example for other colleges and universities to do the same with their existing facilities.”

T R IADNE WS College Forest hosts international silviculture ﬁeld trip By David Ellum

The highlight of the program was a tour of the Warren Wilson College Forest followed by a barbeque at the Garden Cabin. The day began with sustainable forestry professor Dave Ellum giving an overview of forest management at the College. WWC forestry students designed and implemented a demonstration of directional felling, horse logging and sawmill operation, as well as a discussion of the College’s shiitake mushroom operation. The day ended in the beautiful surroundings of the College Garden with University of Munich faculty

Photo by David Ellum

n March Warren Wilson College had the opportunity to host 40 students and faculty from Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the Technical University of Munich. The event was the ﬁnal leg of a two-week ﬁeld trip focused on forest management in the southeastern United States. WWC students and faculty participated in tours of Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, Bent Creek Experimental Forest and the Biltmore Estate. The group also visited the Cataloochee Valley where they hiked the Boogerman Trail and learned about old growth forests and national park management. Field trip participants included a group of forestry and environmental science students and faculty from Yale University, the Technical University of Munich and Warren Wilson College.

and students putting on a comical play about their journey through the forests of the Southeast. This event was part of an ongoing eﬀort to raise the proﬁle of Warren Wilson’s sustainable forestry program and to showcase the College Forest’s potential as a regional demonstration site for sustainable forestry practices. University of Munich

professor of forest policy Michal Suda was quite impressed with WWC’s unique “learning by doing” approach to education and was not aware of a program quite like it in all of Germany. This fall, WWC will host the Annual Southeastern Regional Meeting of the Forest Guild, bringing professional foresters from the region to the College Forest.

WWC student selected as National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Fellow By Ben Anderson

The monitoring system is intended to provide the campus community, including facilities maintenance, with real-time feedback on student energy consumption. By making information available online, the project goal was to educate the Warren Wilson community about the impacts of energy use.

ideon Burdick, a Warren Wilson College junior from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was selected as a 2008 National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Fellow. The award included a $2,000 grant to support Burdick’s eﬀorts on campus to slow global warming. Selected for his proposal to establish a real-time energy monitoring system for Warren Wilson’s twenty residence halls, Burdick initially worked with John Moon, a professor from Canada’s Cambrian College on sabbatical at Warren Wilson. While working with Moon, Burdick was also awarded a $10,000 grant from the Brita Products Co. through the company’s Filter For Good Eco-Challenge Program, as well as a grant from the Climate Action Fund of 12

Gideon Burdick and Dr. John Moon with real-time energy monitoring device. Photo by Margo Flood

The energy monitoring initiative also supported eﬀorts by the College to reduce its carbon footprint, as pledged by President Sandy Pfeiﬀer through the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.

WWC President Sandy Pfeiﬀer. Burdick, Moon and Warren Wilson students Cammie Taylor and Wes Roberts implemented the real-time energy monitoring system as quickly as possible. OWL & SPADE

T R I A D N E WS Georgia Anton is on the go with the Triad, plus one By Laura Dison ’10

hrough her excellence in academics, leadership on Landscaping’s tree crew and self-organized service on the Arizona border, Georgia Anton ’10 “has got it goin’ on” when it comes to the Triad. But for Georgia, the balancing act extends beyond the Triad to include what many Warren Wilson athletes call “the Triad, plus one,” as she is also captain of the WWC women’s basketball team.

“She is an amazing leader through her actions and her voice both on the court and in the classroom. As a coach, I know that I can always look to her

to help motivate, encourage, Georgia, from Santa Rosa, Calif., transferred push, and praise her teammates. to Warren Wilson in her second year of college. She joined sister Curry Anton ’08, Georgia is an excellent example forming yet another power duo of siblings of what it takes to be to attend the College. a successful student-athlete “Coming here with my sister was the best at Warren Wilson College.” decision I have ever made,” Georgia says. “It has been the greatest experience of my life. –Coach Rob Shook We got to know each other as peers and as friends, and that was phenomenal.” Georgia, who was her high school’s valedictorian, studies history and political science. She will be graduating in December 2009, one semester early, and hopes to continue her passion for environmental law and international politics in law school. Now in her third semester on the Tree Crew, Georgia takes pride in maintaining tree health on central campus. The crew

saves the College thousands of dollars each year through pruning, dead wooding, tree removal and hemlock treatment. “I get to learn a skill at school that I could really build a livelihood out of,” she says. “It’s neat that the nature of the College encourages you to work somewhere unrelated to your studies.” Georgia has been the captain of every team she’s played on since she began playing basketball in the third grade. She joined the Lady Fighting Owls in her ﬁrst semester at Warren Wilson, bringing strength and dedication to the program. “She is an amazing leader through her actions and her voice both on the court and in the classroom,” Coach Rob Shook explained. “As a coach, I know that I can always look to her to help motivate, encourage, push, and praise her teammates. Georgia is an excellent example of what it takes to be a successful studentathlete at Warren Wilson College.”

is a major improvement from the past few years. “We’ve improved tremendously and were evenly matched and competitive with other schools,” says Georgia, who ﬁnished the season with a broken wrist and an ankle that needed surgery. “We really built on last year and have set up a great base for next year.” Georgia says she loves basketball at Warren Wilson because of the amazing dynamic of teammates who wish to work hard and be serious, but also like to have a lot of fun. “Here,” she says, “work and play can be sustained. There are many skill levels among us, and playing for this school emphasizes ‘teach and be taught.’” Georgia is inspired by her love of life and by a passion to recognize and enjoy the moment. She says that Warren Wilson has prepared her for life by immersing her in a community-oriented space that emphasizes ideals such as sharing and open-mindedness.

This year, the Lady Owls completed the 2008-2009 season with a 3-9 record, which SUMMER 2009

FACULT Y&STAFF NE WS The Environmental Studies Department received a $50,000 grant from the Cargill Foundation. The grant will support the ongoing mission of the department and will be distributed in the amount of $10,000 per year for ﬁve years. The Foundation is the legacy of Margaret A. Cargill, the granddaughter of one of the founders of Cargill Inc. and was created at her direction after her death in 2006. The foundation’s vision is “dedication to providing meaningful assistance and support to society, the arts, the environment, and all living things.”

Associate Dean for Faculty Carol Howard contributed the essay “A Female Freemason on Stage?: Eliza Haywood’s Patriotism at Henry Fielding’s Haymarket Theatre” to the volume The Public’s Open to Us All: Essays on Women and Performance in EighteenthCentury England, edited by Laura Engel. She also served as a juror for the Graduate Student Essay Prize at the Southeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and has begun a three-year term on the Board of Directors at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts.

The Chemistry Department received a grant of $10,000 from the Pittsburgh Conference Memorial National College Grant Program. Professor Stephen Cartier wrote the grant proposal. These funds, and matching funds provided by the Oﬃces of the President and Academic Aﬀairs, will be used to purchase an FT-IR spectrometer. This instrument will enable faculty and students in the Chemistry Department to study the absorption of infrared radiation by a wide variety of important molecules in order to better identify and understand chemical processes. In particular, students at all levels will now have the opportunity to investigate the properties and behavior of such greenhouse gases as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, methane and others. Students will also have the opportunity to use the instrument to characterize the wide variety of organic compounds synthesized and isolated in their chemistry lab courses as well as those investigated in their NSS projects.

Natasha Shipman, Biology and Environmental Studies Department assistant and crew supervisor, and student Noah Wilson ’10 were recognized in Conservation Conservations, a publication of the Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District. The Buncombe SWCD has been working on a rain harvesting project that will collect storm water from the roof of the science building. The rainwater harvesting system will improve water quality and also cut the amount of water the College buys from the City of Asheville. A portion of the costs for the project were paid by the Community Conservation Assistance Program.

Social Sciences Chair Ben Feinberg’s article, “ ‘A Symbol of Wisdom and Love’? Counter-cultural Tourism and the Multiple Faces of María Sabina in Huautla, Oaxaca,” was published in the book Cultural Tourism in Latin America: The Politics of Space and Imagery, edited by Michiel Baud and Annelou Ypeij. The volume emerged out of a 2007 conference on cultural tourism in Amsterdam hosted by the Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA) that Feinberg was invited to attend.

Chemistry Department Chair John Brock received a Mellon Fellowship through the Appalachian College Association to attend the Salzburg Global Seminar Session titled “Greening the Minds: Universities, Climate Leadership and Sustainable Futures.” The session took place July 11–16 in Salzburg, Austria. Brock has an extensive background in environmental chemistry. During his earlier career as a research supervisor at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and since his arrival at Warren Wilson eight years ago, he has coauthored more than 50 articles in the ﬁeld. Although he now teaches broadly on environmental issues, his own research has focused on the relationship between environmental toxins and human health. History professor Tom Showalter and media relations director Ben Anderson are longtime backcountry volunteers with Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and both were among several hundred people attending the Volunteers in Parks (VIP) annual

banquet March 21 in Gatlinburg, Tenn. This year’s banquet was especially meaningful because it was held during the 75th anniversary year of GSMNP, and marked the final volunteer banquet for retiring VIP coordinator Babette Collavo and backcountry operations specialist George Minnigh. Anderson was asked to say a few words at the banquet in tribute to Collavo and her dedication in coordinating the park’s 2,000plus volunteers each year. Lucy Lawrence, social work professor and director of field education, received a Ping Fellowship from the Council on International Education Exchange to attend its International Faculty Development Seminar in Peru titled “A Fusion of Identities: Exploring Peru’s Complex Past, Present, and Future” this summer. History and political science professor Ruth Currie attended the Lincoln Bicentennial Symposium in Springfield, Illinois, which was held at the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. There she saw WWC friend Justice Frank Williams (R.I. Supreme Court), who was on one of the panel presentations. Williams had visited the Warren Wilson campus back in fall 2007 and although he has retired as chief justice, he is still a justice on the court. Archaeology and anthropology professor Dave Moore and colleagues presented at a recent national meeting of the Society of American Archaeology in Atlanta and received the Amerind Award, which is presented to the outstanding symposium of the entire meeting. The symposium was titled “Native and Imperial Morphogenesis: Comparing 16th Century Entradas in the American Southwest and Southeast.” The paper was entitled “Spanish Contact and Conflict with Native Peoples of the Southeastern United States.” In addition, Moore and his colleagues applied for and received a National Science Foundation grant to hold a similar seminar for the research project. The grants are designed for NSF grant recipients who do not have financial resources to gather their research teams in one place for intensive work sessions.

OWL & SPADE

FAC U LT Y& S TA F F N E WS Music professor Milton Crotts was very busy this spring and summer. First, he served as a guest conductor with members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as part of an evening that raised more than $60,000 for the VSO. Crotts was also invited to guest conduct the Asheville Chamber Players and Choir for its performance of Bach’s Cantata No. 137 “Lobe den herren” and Dvorak’s “Te Deum” at St. Matthias Episcopal Church. He also guest conducted the Asheville-Buncombe Youth Orchestra with the Asheville Ballet in their production of Copland’s “Billy the Kid” in Diana Wortham Theatre. In addition, Milt presented the College’s Folk Choir at the John C. Campbell School in Brasstown, at the Lake Eden Arts Festival, at Deerﬁeld Retirement Center and at First United Church of Christ in downtown Asheville. Crotts and the Folk Choir were featured in a live interview and performance on WNCW 88.7 FM. Photography professor Eric Baden was among eight local photographers who presented the photography discipline via a group show at Blue Spiral 1, one of Asheville’s most highly-acclaimed art galleries. History and political science professor Dongping Han was invited to give two speeches at Winthrop University about his latest book, The Unknown Cultural Revolution. In addition, Han was invited by Simon Fraser University to speak on Chinese Cultural Revolution and its impact on rural education. Alison Climo, social work program director, has been selected as a 2009 GlaxoSmithKline Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) at N.C. State University. Climo, the ﬁrst professor from a small liberal arts college to be chosen for the IEI, aims to help the state meet some of the challenges it will face related to an aging population over the next several decades. Climo’s fellowship also will enhance Warren Wilson’s social work program, which supports the study of multigenerational practice as a central part of its mission.

SUMMER 2009

Outdoor leadership professor Ed Raiola has a chapter in the new two-volume book, Beyond Dewey and Hahn: Foundations of Experiential Education, which profiles 30 people who have contributed to the foundations of experiential education. His contribution is a chapter on the educator Earl Kelly titled, “Earl C. Kelly: The Role of Experience in Learning.” In addition, Raiola and Marty O’Keefe co-published two chapters in the book. These chapters are for college and university professors teaching outdoor leadership and provide a toolbox of lessons concerning the theories, models, and concepts that inform experiential education. They are titled “A History of Outdoor Adventure Education in the United States” and “Flow Theory: Risk Taking and Adventure Experiences.” In June, history and political science professor Phillip Otterness attended the Atlantic Academy in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in a conference marking the 300th anniversary of the beginning of mass emigration from the Palatinate region of Germany to America. Otterness and two other professors shared research on Palatine settlements in New York’s Hudson Valley and the survival of Palatine cooking and eating traditions, architecture, and material culture. The conference gave participants—academics as well as local historians—a unique opportunity to share and gain insights into little-known aspects of the emigration from the Palatinate to America, one of the major chapters of German-American history. Robert Swoap, chair of the Psychology Department, attended a CIEE seminar in Ireland through funding from the College’s academic affairs office. The seminar, titled “After the Celtic Tiger: The Politics and Sociology of Ireland,” gave Swoap an opportunity to enhance psychology course o_erings by incorporating a cross-cultural perspective. Each year the Teaching Excellence Award goes to the faculty member nominated by students and selected by peers as the outstanding teacher for the year. This year’s recipient was Catherine Reid, professor of undergraduate writing who came to the college in 2006. Colleagues note that Reid’s

Welcome Rodney Lytle ‘73, former director of multicultural aﬀairs, as the Interim Alumni Relations Coordinator! You can contact Rodney at 828.771.2046 or rlytle@warren-wilson.edu.

The folks at the Owl & Spade would like to send a giant thank you to Jon Hettrick ‘88. We recognize and appreciate your service to Warren Wilson College. Many, many thanks to a kind father, husband, alumnus and community member.

classes oﬀer an environment conducive to creativity and hard work. The staﬀ Teaching Excellence Award was given to the dynamic duo of Buz and Marilyn Eichman, whose retirement from the college was announced this spring. The awards were presented as part of the Honors and Awards ceremony in May. The Andrew Summers Award for Faculty Leadership in Service-Learning is given to the faculty member or members who have made sustainable progress in the adoption and teaching of service-learning courses. Outdoor leadership professors Marty O’Keefe and Ed Raiola, who both exemplify a passion for learning and teaching with grounding in an ethic of service, received the award for 2008-2009. The award honors longtime Minister to Students Andrew “Andy” Summers, who died in 2008. This year’s Service-Learning Leadership Award also was awarded to Buz and Marilyn Eichman.

S T UDENTPROFILE

INSIGHTS FROM ENVIRONMENTAL-CAMPUS BIRKENFELD—A SEMESTER IN GERMANY By Nina Otter ‘10

Campus

Established in 1996, Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld (UCB) was an American military hospital retrofitted to become a technical college. The campus sources its heat and electrical power exclusively from biogas and solar energy. If I walk down a dark hallway in the main building, the lights automatically turn on and then turn off again after I leave. Energy efficiency, optimized natural lighting, geothermal tunnels, and other innovative design elements allow UCB to claim itself as a “zero emissions” campus. It does not have a garden though, except for the small lettuce and kale patch I planted outside my dorm window. Birkenfeld is located in one of the most rural parts of Germany, close to the French border. There are small, well-paved roads that are great for bike riding. Lacking a city and student anemities on campus, I ride my bike a lot, and often with a few friends. On my rides I have witnessed old farming villages, beautiful view points, foxes and earth-covered roofs.

My project group is creating a short video to advertise the event. It’s been a great handson learning experience which has improved my directing and editing skills. I also saw Paris Hilton lose her silicon breast as part of the story line in our parody called Red Carpet. Crossmedia is a campus podcast web-radio program I am also involved with. I just ﬁnished one piece about industrial ecology and my experience at an international conference about competition and conﬂict regarding resource use. I am excited about the discipline. Another class I am taking is Life Cycle Assessment, which is a tool of industrial ecology. It models a product from cradle to grave and evaluates its environmental impact. Classes only meet once a week. For the most part, students take one exam that covers the class material for the whole semester. Seventy percent of them fail. I like the project-based classes. Student Life

Getting a gang together, ﬁring up some coals, and grilling bratwurst is a beloved activity on campus. The fact is, it is one of the few things to do on campus. The Umwelt-Campus, or EnvironmentalCampus, is the only facility in this section of town besides the train station. It is even more rural than Swannanoa here, but having a barbeque livens up the place.

My dorm room at Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld.

Academics

Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld is an applied technical college with a focus on the environment. Environmental planning, business and economics, environmental law, and mechanical engineering are among the majors. I participate in a class that is organizing an environmental ﬁlm festival. 16

my silver milk pail. Being half German and knowing how to speak the language gives me an advantage in integrating myself on campus. The surrounding area is a diﬀerent story, though. I can’t understand half the time when passersby speak to each other in the local dialect. The same is true for the women I play soccer with on Mondays. Soccer is soccer, though, and few words are needed while playing. Some weekends and breaks, I visit my grandmother, cousins, and other friends and family who live throughout Germany. How lucky am I? In the same four months abroad I am studying: exploring Berlin, Cologne and Munich; connecting with family; and keeping active.

You can see a few of my friends in the picture on the bottom right of the opposite page. Seated in front are from left: Levent, Turkish-German Media IT student; me; and Angel, an Ecuadorian International Material Flow Management master’s student. In the back, Chris, Dila and Nicki are all German Media IT students. Integration in Germany

There is a small dairy farm close to campus where I buy frische Milch—0.50 Euro to ﬁll OWL & SPADE

Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld Summer Semester 2009—Personal Goals

• Ride bikes • Meet cool people • Have fun. Let myself go • Speak and learn lots of German • Keep in touch with folks back home • See family and friends in Germany • Get a job babysitting • Learn about technical environmental applications like renewable energy, material ﬂow management and building science

SUMMER 2009

Follow the Tomato By Laura Dison ’10

ew understand the integration of service and academics better than Kathryn Burleson and her 2008 First-Year Seminar, “Follow the Tomato: Food Sources and Food Security.” In order to explore the complex and interelated issues regarding food sources and food security, Burleson’s class of twelve freshmen “followed the tomato” as it moved from a garden to its final destination on a hungry person’s plate. Each First-Year Seminar at the College is designed to help students negotiate the transitions of college life and become well-rounded members of the Warren Wilson community. Students are given opportunities to familiarize themselves with the library, the Writing Center, academic support services, and the Counseling and Health Center, as well as other facilities. However, Burleson’s class went above and beyond. In the classroom, students thought critically about the connections between economics, diet, environment, equity, and public health. In the field, the class teamed up with the Service-Learning Program to perform service with several local non-profit organizations dedicated to reducing hunger in the region. “From what I heard,” says Follow the Tomato leader Jourdi Bosley, “FYS classes are supposed to serve as an attempt to help first-year students integrate into the

Wilson community with a support system of peers who are experiencing the same things. This was so true in our FYS. We were a family in our awkward freshman struggle, addressing serious issues of global, national, and local proportions at the same time.” The class worked with several community partners, including the Black Mountain Community Garden, MANNA FoodBank, Welcome Table, and the AshevilleBuncombe Community Christian Ministry’s men’s shelter. Burleson also invited several guest speakers to the classroom, including: Michael Gentry, a farmer from Shelby; a representative from MANNA; Katie Anne Towner ’06 from Black Mountain Recreation, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project; Sarah Osmer from the Living Wage group; and Buzz Durham from the ABCCM men’s shelter.

“I grew a lot

from my ﬁrst year seminar, and think about everything I learned about food each and every time I sit down to eat anything!” –Jourdi Bosley First-Year Seminar student

OWL & SPADE

Follow the Tomato peer group leader Connor Soderquist ‘09 takes a break.

“Through this course,” Burleson said, “students were able to work with possible solutions and be encouraged to explore new alternatives. Students found themselves investigating issues related to migrant workers, starting a letter-writing campaign, or running a food drive.”

in the ﬁeld, and come up with a project that stemmed from their experiences. Then they set up a table in the library featuring what they came up with; zines, small illustrated books, creative posters and manuals. All addressed food sources and food security.

“Not only did our FYS oﬀer us service opportunities and deep learning experiences,” Bosley says, “but our class was a small and happy close community.”

“I grew a lot from my ﬁrst year seminar, and think about everything thing I learned about food each and every time I sit down to eat anything!” says Bosley. “It was honestly one of my favorite Wilson experiences so far.”

At the end of the course, students were able to reﬂect and interpret what they had learned both in the classroom and

SUMMER 2009

D O NORPROFILE From the Alps to the Appalachians, Waldensian legacy lives on By Ally Donlan

enturies ago, the snowcapped mountains along the border of northern Italy and France provided a tenuous sanctuary for a colony of exiled Christians known as the Waldensians. Believing that each individual, guided by the Holy Spirit, could interpret the Scriptures in his or her own way, the Waldensians approached the Bible as an “open” book. The Church disagreed with this assertion of spiritual independence and excommunicated the Waldensian people in 1184. Afterwards, the Waldensians faced centuries of persecution and barbaric treatment. However, these acts of tyranny only served to strengthen the Waldensians’ faith, as well as their belief in the value of education. After centuries of struggle, King Charles Albert of Sardinia ﬁnally granted religious and political freedom to the Waldensians in 1848. With this newfound liberty, the Waldensians prospered and, eventually, the very Alpine valleys that provided refuge began to limit their growth. Community

members began leaving the Alps in search of land and economic opportunities. In 1893, one group of settlers found their way to western North Carolina after a Waldensian preacher connected them to a Morganton landowner. On a solid foundation of faith, education, and community, they built the town of Valdese. Despite facing early struggles adapting to life in North Carolina, the Waldensians remained true to their core beliefs. Within years of immigrating, 18 men from Valdese attended the Asheville Farm School. This early incarnation of Warren Wilson College appealed to the Waldensians because it provided the opportunity to work their way through school and because of its ties to the Presbyterian Church. After graduating from the Asheville Farm School, these men led commendable lives as leaders of industry, community, and educational institutions. Today, their legacy endures in the form of a bequest to Warren Wilson College made in their honor by Philip Garrou.

The Alps provided sanctuary for a colony of exiled Christians known as Waldensians.

Philip Garrou’s own legacy endures as a scholarship for future students.

Throughout his life, Garrou exemplified the values of Valdese’s founding fathers. He graduated from Davidson College and returned home to work at the local hosiery mill. Thanks to his hard work, he became the Vice President for Manufacturing. He was also involved in the Waldensian Presbyterian Church and farmed land at his home until his death at the age of 89. Garrou used his estate plans as a vehicle to convey the values and principles that guided his life. He made a generous gift to Warren Wilson College in memory and in honor of those young Waldensian men who pursued education and went on to have significant lives of a productive and exemplary nature. In Warren Wilson, Garrou recognized shared values as the College strives to be a learning community that enhances productive and fulfilling lives. Now, Garrou’s own legacy endures as a scholarship for future students to have the opportunity of a life-altering education.

Photo by Tracy Bleeker

OWL & SPADE

Warren Wilson College

P R E S I D E N T ’S R E P O R T Dear Community Member,

The liberal arts education provided by Warren Wilson College is unique in higher education, and your commitment and dedication are necessary to ensure its success. From daily operations to sustainability initiatives such as INSULATE!, there are countless examples of the differences that each and every gift makes possible. Partnerships abroad in places like Ghana and Nicaragua allow our students to receive a life-changing study abroad experience. Work Day and our work program give students meaningful, skill-enhancing opportunities, as do service-learning trips such as the one to Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Your gifts also help the College attract and retain gifted faculty. Our faculty educate and mentor our students while remaining competitive in their fields by producing scholarship, participating in conferences, and publishing articles (often with our students). The key to success for Warren Wilson, especially in these challenging economic times, is to remain focused on our mission of providing a Triad education of academics, work, and service-learning, complemented by strong environmental and international emphases. The College’s mission is why we remain successful in attracting outstanding students. Our students and their parents know that the value of our unique liberal arts education has never been more timely, and our graduates overwhelmingly report that the Triad has served them well. Like the Bucket Brigade on Work Day, we need all hands on deck at this critical time. Your gift, no matter what size, will make a difference. Whether through the Warren Wilson College Fund, a bequest, or some other means, all gifts are vital to the College and its students. This past year donations had an immense impact on the lives of our students and the life of the College. On behalf of the students, faculty, and staff of Warren Wilson College, I thank you for your generous support this past year and for your continued involvement with the College. We simply can’t do it without you.

Partnership in Pine Ridge. WWC students, faculty and staff traveled to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for service-learning trips during fall and spring breaks this year.

Calling All Workers! On work Day 2009, the entire campus gathered in front of Gladfelter, listened as Dean of Work Ian Robertson gave instructions, and then completed 27 projects across the College’s 1,100-acre campus.

New Courses Abroad. In an upcoming study abroad course, WWC students will visit historic, eco-tourism and agricultural sites; attend lectures at the University of Ghana; and volunteer at a local primary school.

From Swannanoa to Liaocheng. Dr. Dongping Han was awarded the 2009 Freeman Foundation Student-Faculty Fellowship. The fellowship allowed Han and ﬁve students to travel to rural China this summer to study the impact of globalization there.

Sandy Pfeiffer P.S. Watch for news about our exciting new initiative, the Warren Wilson College Circle, coming soon! INSULATE! For this environmental initiative, nine students and two staff members weatherized five Buncombe County homes in five days.

2009-2010 Projected Expenses Salaries, Benefits, Stipends and Student Labor 42%

All Other Expenses 39%

2009-2010 Projected Revenues

Tuition-Related Revenues 78% All Other Revenues 15%

Auxiliary Services* 2%

Auxiliary Services* 2% Financial Aid Funded from Operations 14%

Debt Retirement Funded from Operations 3%

Warren Wilson College Fund 3% Endowment, Trust & Interest Income For Operations 2%

*Auxiliary Services: Bookstore, Farm, Sage Cafe, etc.

Market Value of College Endowment as of June 30 of each fiscal year

$50,000,000

Market Value of College Endowment as of June 30 of each fiscal year

$50,000,000 $40,000,000 $40,000,000 $30,000,000 $30,000,000 $20,000,000 $20,000,000 $10,000,000 $10,000,000 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Warren Wilson students work hard in the classroom and laboratory, in majors ranging from biology to outdoor leadership. They also work hard on their campus work crews, with each student toiling 15 hours per week in jobs scattered across a picturesque 1,100acre campus. And they work hard doing service to communityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not only to meet the Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 100-hour graduation requirement, but also in a heartfelt effort to make a difference beyond Warren Wilson. This Triad of academics, work and service is singular in higher education.

Student Enrollment

1000 1000 800

Student Enrollment

Total FTE Enrolled Total FTE Enrolled

800 600 600 400 400 200

New Enrolled New Enrolled

200 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009* 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 *estimated 2009*

*estimated

All Giving by Source $4,500,000

Unowned Assets/Other

$4,000,000 $3,500,000

Bequests

$3,000,000

Foundations

$2,500,000

Corporations & NCICF

$2,000,000 $1,500,000

Churches & Interfaith

$1,000,000

Friends

$500,000 0

Parents & Grandparents 2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

Alumni Trustees

Warren Wilson College Fund Giving by Source Bequests not included

$600,000

Foundations

$500,000

Corporations & NCICF

$400,000

Churches & Interfaith

$300,000

Friends

$200,000

Parents & Grandparents

$100,000

Alumni

Trustees 2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

Earning a college degree takes hard work, perseverance, dedication—and ﬁnancial assistance from people like you who care enough to help. Endowed and annual scholarships play an essential part in making a Warren Wilson education more affordable for many deserving students, now and for years to come. In the 20082009 academic year, 594 students received scholarships totaling $4.8 million. Thanks to the support of many people who have created and continue to add to the College’s scholarship funds, more students can obtain the beneﬁts of the Warren Wilson experience.

Giving Participation 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Faculty & Staff Trustees Alumni Board Alumni

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009 23

The Warren Wilson College Fund: Leading the Way The books for the 2008-09 fiscal year are now closed, and so we reflect on the generosity of so many members of the Warren Wilson College family who gave this year. Many gave despite their own hardships, because they believe in the importance of leading the way for our students, our community, and our world. Often the importance of doing so was realized here in the Swannanoa Valley through interactions with our College community. Entering a new fiscal year, we understand that these are challenging times, but we also understand that where there are challenges, there are opportunities. The goal for the 2009-10 Warren Wilson College Fund is $600,000. It’s an ambitious goal, but we know that nothing worthwhile is ever easy, and the Warren Wilson College Fund is certainly worthwhile. Support through this Fund helps our College community by making resources for scholarships available for students and by supporting the Triad of academics, work and service. Passion about and dedication to the College is a common thread in our Warren Wilson family. What better way to reflect this than by giving to the College this year? When each of us gives at the level we can, we not only strengthen our College community but also inspire others to do the same. If every alumnus, faculty and staff member, friend and parent contributes what they can this year, we’ll easily reach our $600,000 goal. Some can contribute less than they’d like this year, we realize, but some can contribute more than they have in the past, so let us focus on what we can do together!

“And like a thousand stars by night, we shall faithfully lead the way.” –from the WWC Alma Mater by Henry Jensen

Because together… we’re leading the way. The Bannerman Society Individuals who inform the Office of Advancement of their decision to give to Warren Wilson College through wills, trusts, and other planned gifts are recognized through membership in The Bannerman Society. This group, named for Arthur M. Bannerman, the first president of the College, joins Dr. Bannerman and the rest of our founders in securing the College’s financial future. Many members of The Bannerman Society have chosen to ensure a bright financial future for Warren Wilson by including the College in their wills or estate plans, with their giving largely targeted towards increasing endowment support of student scholarships and faculty and staff salary support. This special group is recognized at various times throughout the year. If

Thank You, Members of the Bannerman Society! Many thanks to the generous members of the Bannerman Society for their investment in the future of our students. This ﬁscal year we received over $175,000 from bequests and other planned gifts to the College.

you have questions about gift planning, or if you would like to inform the Ofﬁce of Advancement of your decision to give to Warren Wilson College through a planned gift, please call 828.771.2042.

WARREN WILSON COLLEGE

“Never underestimate a vegetarian hippie chick with a race car!” By Tracy Bleeker

n June 24, 2009, the Mountain Green Conference at Warren Wilson kicked oﬀ when Leilani Münter, the conference

keynote speaker, released a rehabilitated, orphaned owl from the Carolina Raptor Center back into the wild. An eco-minded vegetarian with a biology degree, Leilani Münter is also one of the top 10 female race car drivers in the world. And she is on a personal mission to be carbon neutral and also to “clean up” the #1 spectator sport in America, one race at a time. The goal of Münter’s Eco Dream Team is to call to action race fans in the U.S. to make a diﬀerence by spreading environmental awareness about sustainable living alternatives, clean energy, alternative fuel vehicles, and environmental legislation. Münter hopes her eﬀorts will encourage racing sanctioning bodies to increase their environmental initiatives with expanded recycling programs and the use of alternative fuels.

Leilani Münter and Bob Deutsch release Warren the owl.

Photo by Jason Sandford.

From Münter’s interview at Warren Wilson “We’re not all that different. Sometimes the environmentalists look at the race fans and say ‘I don’t know how to talk to them’ and the race fans look at the environmentalists and say ‘I don’t know how to talk to them.’ And I go to a lot of these conferences, and when I speak to a whole room of people who are on board, I think, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here telling ya’ll about clean energy because you already get it and you already know. ‘ But the people we need to be talking to are the people who don’t get it and aren’t on board. There are 100 million race fans in the United States. I see it as a huge opportunity for me to be talking to these people. That’s how you move the needle and create change. I’m an avid environmentalist, composter, vegetarian, recycling tree-hugger hippie chick and I’m trying to use my voice to talk to race fans, because small actions multiplied by millions make a big difference. ” For more about Münter go to: carbonfreegirl.com Münter in a promo photo for Konica Minolta Printing Solutions in spring of 2006.

SUMMER 2009

Photo by Phil Cavali and Konica Minolta, Charlotte, NC

Mountain Green urges your participation in future conferences. “Our alumni and friends are out there doing great things in the world,”

Mountain Green Sustainability Conference Warren Wilson College By Tracy Bleeker Photos by Arlin Geyer

explains conference organizer Phillip Gibson. “Please let us know what technologies or services you’re providing that might help us move Mountain Green and sustainability in western North Carolina forward. Warren Wilson College has inspired many, now it’s time for you to inspire

Master speaker Beth Sinnott opened the conference.

he Mountain Green conference, held at Warren Wilson each summer, provides an opportunity to showcase the College’s story and serves as an important relationship-

building forum. This year, 52 professional vendors displayed the latest green technolo-

the world!”

gies, ranging from cleaning products, to construction materials, to Eco Developments.

For more information on the Mountain Green program or conference go to: www.mountaingreenwnc.org

agriculture, and Beth Sinnott of Proximity Hotel, the world’s ﬁrst LEED Platinum certi-

Or contact Philip Gibson directly: pgibson@warren-wilson.edu 828.771.3781.

The conference is one component of the Environmental Leadership Center’s Mountain

Conference speakers included former WWC Trustee Cy Rich, who spoke on energy and ﬁed hotel.

Green program. The other four components are a seminar certificate program on sustainable communities, a Home Energy Rating System certificate, a Building Performance Institute certificate, and INSULATE!, a direct action program to assist families in poverty with weatherizing their homes. The Mountain Green Program has emerged as a pivotal educational program for western North Carolina by representing fully WWC’s sustainability commitment. Originally developed in order to create a body of leaders in the sectors of development, real estate, tourism, manufacturing and business who are versed in the area of sustainability, the Mountain Green conference now finds its strength providing networking opportunities in the WNC region. At the 2009 conference, over 260 participants, including experts in architecture, development, energy, and construction, gathered to discuss best practices.

Vendors at the Mountain Green Conference displayed products ranging from environmentally friendly construction materials to biodegradable cleaning products.

An example of this networking is Leilani Münter. While she was the conference keynote speaker, she was also a participant. Münter was introduced to WWC alumus Charlie Wilson, owner of the Organic Mechanic, and the two discussed options for greening her pit crew operations. Minutes later, Eric Henry of T-S Designs spoke with Münter about North Carolina organic cotton and options available for her clothing line. This was the true success of the conference—WWC facilitated great dialogue.

OWL & SPADE

How “green” is the Mountain Green Conference? Being “green” requires transparency and accountability. The conference organizers utilized the purchasing principles of Warren Wilson College to make this event as green as possible and also asked sponsors and vendors to adhere to these principles while participating in the conference. This means that the content and intent of the products and/or services of the company promote environmentally and health sensitive principles. Additionally, the conference organizers implemented the following to minimize the impact that the event may have on the environment: ECO-SERVICES

• Warren Wilson College provides disposable-free and/or biodegradable food and beverage services. In 2008, lunch was served on china and silverware was used rather than having disposable materials. The evening reception featured biodegradable cups and plates. Utensils were not used and napkins were unbleached and made of post-consumer waste. • All conference materials provided by WWC were printed on 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. Either soy-based or Mutoh biodegradable ink was used. • Recycling stations are located throughout the campus of WWC. • Shelving and banners for the conference were made from 100 percent post-consumer waste. Eco-boards were printed with Bio-ink technology. ECO-ACCOMMODATIONS

Mountain Green Steering Committee members Bob Deutsch, chair and Kelly Miller, Asheville Chamber of Commerce, vice president.

Mountain Green would like to extend a warm thank-you to its wonderful conference sponsors! PLATINUM SPONSORS

• WWC meeting rooms in Jensen utilize geothermal heating and cooling units. • 100 percent RECs for electricity. • Energy-eﬃcient lighting is installed throughout WWC. • WWC uses environmentally safe cleaning solutions. • Buildings contain water-saving devices such as waterless urinals. • Landscaping of the buildings is managed with locally sourced native plant species.

AdvantageWest

ECO-CUISINE

Progress Energy

• Sodexo is WWC’s food vendor. Sodexo provides our campus with a “green” menu option that relies upon local, seasonal and organically grown foods. • In 2008 Green Sage Coﬀee House and Cafe donated fair-trade coﬀee and Blue Moon donated locally sourced water—which came in large dispensers, not individual bottles. Conference participants were encouraged to bring their own water bottles. ECO-OFFSETS

• WWC purchased carbon oﬀsets for the travel incurred by the keynote speaker and en couraged all participants to do the same. • WWC also provided the conference participants with the conference attendee list weeks in advance so that they could coordinate carpooling.

Mack and Janice Pearsall

GOLD SPONSORS Natural Home Magazine

Robert J. Deutsch, P.A.

SILVER SPONSORS Bank of America Builder Architect Magazine Equinox Environmental Handmade in America New Life Journal Roberts and Stevens, PA The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa

FRIEND SPONSORS Ambient Design Group Asheville Board of REALTORS Blue Moon Water GreenLife Grocery jamesgangcreative+communications, LLC KP Communications Top Floor Studios Fifty-two vendors were represented at the Mountain Green Conference.

SUMMER 2009

Solvent based cleaning products will damage your banner.

CLEAN with SOAPY WATER only.

DO NOT clean with solvent based cleaning products.

Solvent based cleaning products will damage your banner.

CLEAN with SOAPY WATER only.

DO NOT clean with solvent based cleaning products.

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Charlie Wilson ’03

T he Organic Me c h a n i c By Tracy Bleeker

Owl & Spade interim editor Tracy Bleeker recently sat down with Charles Wilson ’03, founder and owner of the Organic Mechanic auto shop in Asheville. Here’s what he had to say: “When I was at Wilson I worked on a lot of faculty and student cars. After I graduated, I continued to do that. Then I realized what I had was a business. Most of the concepts formulated at the Organic Mechanic I got in school. I majored in biology and had an interest in bioremediation. In terms of the environment, you can’t ﬁght all battles. You gotta pick something you want to improve. That’s how I formulated the idea for the Organic Mechanic. When people think of my industry, they don’t think of it as a clean business. And that’s because that’s just the way it’s been. At least historically, there’s been less environmental stewardship with auto repair than other businesses. Before college, I was pretty cynical about environmental issues. I had taken some time oﬀ and had been doing a lot of traveling in the Developing World. I thought, so much of the world is living like this, so what’s me recycling this aluminum can really going to do? I’m not even going to make a dent in it. Then I got around like-minded folks again at Warren Wilson and I had that support and I began to change my thinking for the better. You have to think of the impact locally. It’s a process in my mind. Environmental stewardship is a process. We’re never going to get there, but if you make small changes over time as a nation, lots of small changes…. Well, it’s all about where we’re going. And you have to be practical. I think my shop is a good example of that.” 28

Charlie Wilson ‘03, owner of the Organic Mechanic.

How is the Organic Mechanic really organic? OM has their used oil ﬁlters recycled. Until October 2008, North Carolina law allowed

used oil filters and the oil they contain to be disposed of in the regular trash, thus ending up in the landfill. Five years before disposal restrictions were mandated, OM began contracting with a company that takes the filters, squeezes them to recover the residual oil and then shreds the steel to be recycled. OM does not use absorbents. A clay type absorbent is often used in shops to soak up

spilled oil. This oil-soaked “kitty litter” is then often disposed of in the trash. Instead OM takes extra measures to avoid spills. When a spill does happen, they use professionally laundered shop rags and wet-dry vacuums to recapture the spill for recycling. OM uses re-reﬁned motor oil. When motor oil does not break down under normal use,

it becomes dirty. OM’s “house brand”oil (used when a vehicle doesn’t require a speciﬁc brand of oil) is used oil that has been put through the same reﬁning process as virgin oil. They contract with a national company that collects used oil, breaks it back down into its base oils, and then builds it back up into new product. Then, they buy it back. A closed loop! OM uses a water based, bioremediation parts washer. Rather than using a regular parts

cleaner that contains mineral spirits, they use a water-based solvent that contains oil-eating bacteria. Also, rather than washing off oil and then having to dispose of it, the bacteria break down the long carbon chains of the oil leaving only carbon dioxide and water as a byproduct. This is healthier for OM staff and the environment! OM recycles all cardboard (car parts come in boxes) along with all of the plastic, steel and glass collected. Additionally, the front office only uses 100% recycled paper in the

printers, and OM is increasing eﬀorts to go completely “paperless.”

OM has a strong commitment to local economy. They try to use local small businesses

for oﬃce and production needs. They also do cooperative advertising to help strengthen neighboring businesses. OM pays a living wage to employees and provides health insurance. OM provides the

best work environment for its employees that is realistically possible and also believes in equal opportunity regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation, and expects employees to conform to this same code of ethics. OWL & SPADE

Tips from the Organic Mechanic for greener driving Plan your trips

Service your car regularly

Plan to do a number of errands in one trip rather than several trips and save both time and fuel. Avoid peak-hour traﬃc, hard accelerating and heavy braking, as they waste fuel. Driving smoothly and avoiding stop-start traﬃc saves fuel and up to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

This can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 15 percent through fuel savings. Repair any leaks immediately. Leaking fluids are not only a sure sign that the vehicle needs repair, but the fluids are also harmful to the environment. Routinely inspect the spot where the vehicle is parked for signs of fluid leaks, and check for fumes.

Select the right gear

Change up through the gears and into the top gear as soon as possible without accelerating harder than necessary. Driving in a gear lower than you need wastes fuel and so does letting the engine labor in top gear on hills and corners. Automatic transmissions will shift up more quickly and smoothly if you ease back slightly on the accelerator once the car gathers momentum.

Get your car’s emissions output tested

Speed kills economy

Consider alternative fuels

High speeds result in high fuel consumption. At 70 mph your car uses up to 25 percent more fuel than it would cruising at 55 mph. On the open road, drive within the posted speed limits.

• Biodiesel burns cleaner than standard petrodiesel and can be used in any diesel vehicle with no modiﬁcation. Because biodiesel is produced from both new and waste vegetable oils, dependence on petroleum is decreased.

Stopping and braking

Resting your foot on the brake or driving with the hand brake on wastes fuel, increases brake wear and decreases braking eﬃciency. Rather than using a regular pats cleaner that containsmineral spirits, they us

This gives you a starting point from which to base your awareness of your vehicle’s emissions. Keep track of your gas mileage

Any sudden decrease in mileage could indicate an engine problem that could also be causing an increase in emissions.

• Ethanol. Most conventional automobiles can use gasoline blended with up to 10 percent ethanol, without any modiﬁcation to their fuel systems or engines, and still be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. • Natural gas is generally considered to be the cleanest of all the commercially available fuels and produces low tailpipe emissions. Most conventional vehicles can be converted to operate on natural gas. The gas is stored in high-pressure cylinders that are located under the vehicle, or in the trunk or rear compartment. For convenience, most conversions leave the original gasoline system in place in case you need to refuel in a location where natural gas is unavailable. • Propane is currently the most widely available of the alternative fuels. Most conventional vehicles can be converted to propane operation. As with natural gas, propane is stored under pressure in cylinders that are located under the vehicle or in the trunk or rear compartment. It is also possible to leave the original gasoline system in place as a backup. On the Web: www.organic-mechanic.com/

Look after your car’s tires

Inﬂate your car’s tires to the pressure range recommended by the manufacturer for the use of the car, and make sure your wheels are properly aligned. Looking after your tires will not only reduce your fuel consumption, but it will also extend tire life and improve handling. Travel light

The more a car carries the more fuel it uses; an extra 25 pounds of weight can increase your fuel bill by 2 percent. Anything ﬁxed to the outside of the car increases wind resistance and fuel consumption.

The Organic Mechanic has moved to its new shop. The design of this new building, and especially of the parking lot, solves many runoff and contamination issues. Check out the website for more information.

SUMMER 2009

The Working Word By Catherine Reid

Since arriving at Warren Wilson three years ago, I have become aware of a creative intelligence in my writing classes, the likes of which I hadn’t known in my previous teaching experience. I initially attributed the level of talent to the kind of students the College attracts—independent thinkers tend to produce original work—as well as to the MFA program, as though a love of language and form lingered in the air long after the graduate students departed. More recently, however, I have begun to suspect that the Triad, with its emphasis on “learning through doing,” has a great deal to do with the liveliness of the writing that appears in my classes. More specifically, it seems likely that meaningful work, undertaken in a community that values and depends on it, helps nurture an environment conducive to creative thinking and writing. This is, of course, a tough thing to prove, though two recent projects suggest such a connection exists. In the first, “Initial Evidence on the Long-Term Impacts of Work Colleges,” (Research in Higher Education, Vol. 48, No. 1, February 2007) Gregory Wolniak and Ernest Pascarella compare the experiences of students from five work colleges with those from twenty other liberal arts colleges and five public universities in the central Appalachian region. The results suggest much about the connection between doing and thinking. Alumni of the work colleges, the authors found, seem uniquely advantaged over those from the other schools in areas such as “problem solving, speech and writing skills, appreciating the arts, and life long learning.” (Our graduates also appear better prepared in such areas as “entrepreneurial and leadership skills” and “orientations towards citizenship and the global environment.”) “The work activities of students are intended to provide a rich context for learning that… appears to be effective from the perspective of alumni.” Closer to home, the second example deals directly with work activities at Warren Wilson—heavy duty, plumbing, auto shop, 30

admissions—and ways that students think and write about the labor of their crews. “The Working Word: Warren Wilson Writers on Their Work” was shaped and edited by Andrew Jones ’10 as part of the internship required for his creative writing major. The collection is a tribute both to the intellectual and physical pleasures derived from hard work, as well as to the artistic choices students make when describing such labors. There is, of course, much about work that is also messy and mind-numbing (Andrew opens the collection with a description of his work with the recycling crew). But then come those moments when the worker-artists forget what separates them from the tasks and simply become part of them, “so lost in the act,” Andrew writes, “that we don’t realize the change we are creating.” Whether for the writer at her desk or the worker sorting glass, “Each job and task has a purpose, and each one tells a story.” The challenge Andrew presents is simply to listen, which we invite you to do with the excerpts that follow. Out of the culture of work at the heart of the college, creativity emerges, alive and well.

Warren Wilson Writers on Their Work

Andrew Jones ’10, editor of The Working Word: Warren Wilson Writers on Their Work Catherine Reid teaches in the writing program and is currently exploring the connections, within the context of the work colleges, between story and work and creativity. OWL & SPADE

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Excerpt from Plumbing By Cameron Lash ’09

t was dark when we left. It is always dark when rowers hit the water; they can row out with the moon and in with the sun that way. Race time was 7:05 and our coach was somewhere pleading with the other teams for a boat we could borrow. We were in Georgia, so I ﬁgured it would be warm when I had packed, but the chilled, latefall air brushed our spandexed legs as we huddled in a clump of mismatched layers. The team to our right jumping-jacked in their yellow and black warm-up suits. To our left, the SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) Crew circled around their trailer of sleek boats named after legendary painters. They stretched, counting in unison. Another team nearby began a competition, counting their stretches even louder. Snuggling together on our blue tarp to keep warm, we tried to sing louder than the thumping of their chanting numbers. I would look up to see glances from the color-coordinated mobs and couldn’t help but think of Cool Runnings. SUMMER 2009

Claire Arman ‘12

I don’t remember the name of the race. I don’t remember who won. And I don’t remember our ranking. But waiting in the bathroom line as the announcer tried to fade out “The Macarena,” trying to hold the pee I had been holding since the starting line, that is something I remember well. The line was longer than three eight-boats, and I asked the girl in front of me if she knew how many stalls there were. She said there were four, but that one was out of order. I had only been on the Plumbing Crew for a few months, but the thought of an out-oforder toilet felt like home. I excused myself down the line, through the well-postured, tall, lean, young women who might as well have been waiting to audition for a ballet of thick-thighed ballerinas, and entered the bathroom with the still stall. I removed the top of the tank. I rolled up my sleeve, reached my hand to the fallen-oﬀ chain resting at the bottom of the cool water, and re-hooked it. I smiled. Flushed. Exited.

of-Order” sign from the metal stall door. I turned in time to catch her horrified face. “I think it’ll work now,” I gently notified her. “You fixed it, you use it.” Punctuating her demand with a scan up and down my body, she brushed me a fake smile. Back on our blue tarp, the bananas and peanut butter were being passed around and our coach overheard my story of the line of snobby rowers and the plumbing victory at the end. With a prideful grin, he nodded and paused. Knowing these were signs of a good rant from our favorite coach-fathermentor-big brother, we gathered in a clump around him. Plumbers have not always been allowed to be rowers. He told us how it used to be, that those who made their living by using their hands were not welcomed in any rowing clubs. The wooden oars were saved for the soft-handed elites that had to discover a callus.

I felt the girl at the front of the line stare at me as I removed the handwritten “Out31

Excerpt from 1,500 Bathrooms: A Voice of Heavy Duty By Katie Anderson ‘12

cott Fair, Bill Baunack, Tom Wilder, and Tom Hodges are the major reason I do not want to leave my crew. They do not get enough credit for the amount of work they do, not only for the College, but for their students. They make being at work a good thing; they make the time pass faster and the weeks seem shorter. And when we’re out there on the job they are always looking for ways to make it easier and keep morale high. If they need help they come to us, and when we need help we go to then, regardless of whether it’s work-related. Respect is undeniably mutual. I can always count on Scott for a good pick-meup because I cannot frown in his presence. Bill will give me fried fish in return for helping him organize his music library. Tom Wilder graciously appreciates it when I do something as little as sweeping the floor. And I rely on Tom Hodges to laugh when I made the most obscure jokes about Futurama. These men are the backbone of my experience with the Work Program. By the end of the semester I will have cleaned one thousand twenty bathrooms in Sunderland, each with a different stench than the day before. My friends ask me why it is that I stay on this crew because I make it seem terrible and boring. I tell them that leaning over a toilet all day doesn’t bother me, that my supervisors are awesome, and that my hours are good. I have a responsibility to my fellow members in this community to keep them healthy and safe. At the end of the day I know I have worked hard because I am tired, but I feel like I have just woken up, like the day never happened at all. Then it is seven-thirty once more and I hang up the phone before Tom answers because I have the whole day ahead of me, and I am nine hundred twenty-eight bathrooms until the end of the semester.

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Claire Arman ‘12

10 Reasons You Know You’re on Heavy Duty 1. You look down at the carpet and think to yourself, “Wow,” this needs to be vacuumed…badly.” 2. Railings are something you never touch. 3. Your friend spills beer on the ﬂoor and you go straight for the JCM closet. 4. There’s an ant infestation in your room and you spray the suckers down with Blue Skies. 5. You wonder why there’s a mark on the wall, how it got there, and how to get rid of it. 6. You are genuinely excited by microﬁber rags and the Carpe Diem disinfectant. 7. You reach into your back pocket for your bandana and pull out a dirty rag. 8. Your hands smell like latex long after you’ve left work. 9. When Tom Wilder says, “I invite you to do this,” you absolutely RSVP. 10. You’re never off duty.

Clatterbuck

a Dison ‘10

Woodlot Women

Donny LeVasseur ‘11

OWL & SPADE

“Warren Wilson College, Office of Admissions, What can I do for you today?” or, what I’m not saying when I answer the phone We—the paper-cut-tongue envelope-lickers & those who cut the hair from the vacuum cleaner’s dust-drum, we who have perfected the art of placating apprehensive mothers and can laugh at every last bad joke you crack to make you feel at home, we with brains like almanacs and hearts like broad-bottomed pontoon boats—we are not gods. We are more like demigods, the Archangel Michael standing at the gate to heaven like a leather-jacketed bouncer outside the nightclub of the eternal, scanning wide eyes over a clipboarded list. Over and over, we have rehearsed the line “I’m sorry, I don’t see your name here,” trying different tones and inflections so as to somehow deflect the stubbed-toe blunt-force shock of being turned away. We are the airport bathrooms’ droopy-eyed attendants awake since 4:30 AM sitting beside hand lotions, breath mints, industrial-sized dispensers of mouthwash. Half the time, you don’t even see us, but even so we want you to leave with clean hands. At worst, we are Potemkin’s peasants erecting pleasant-looking facades along the riverside to show you what you want to see, and at best we are like Jesus, placing your untrusting hands into our own pierced sides, saying “stop doubting and believe.” We are your care-package-sending grandmother, your track meet’s cheerleader counting down laps, & the mountaintop’s trailblazer building cairns above tree line, stacking rocks on top of rocks on top of rocks. We know your propensity to be lost and confused. We are trying to show you the way up. —Lindsay Popper ‘10

SUMMER 2009

A LUMNI AC HIE VEMENTS Warren Wilson alumnus receives prestigious Distinguished Eagle Scout Award Dr. David L. Briscoe, a 1974 alumnus and a 2007 Distinguished Alumni recipient was recently presented the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He is professor of sociology and distinguished teaching fellow in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Created in 1969, the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award is the only distinguished service recognition that depends on one’s association with Scouting as a youth. The recipient must have attained the Eagle Scout rank a minimum of 25 years before his nomination, and over those years he must have distinguished himself in his profession and rendered outstanding service to his community. Award recipients have included 38th President Gerald R. Ford; former astronaut Neil Armstrong; cartoonist Milton Caniﬀ; late actor Ozzie Nelson; H. Ross Perot, founder of Electronic Data Systems and The Perot Group; United States Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld; retired General William C. Westmoreland; retired Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr.; Senator Richard G. Lugar; ﬁlm director Steven Spielberg; former FBI Director William S. Sessions; former United States Representative J. J. Pickle; Donald F. Wright, senior vice president of the Times Mirror Co.; and former Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander. Recipients are chosen by a national prominent committee of Distinguished Eagle Scout Award recipients.

Dr. David L. Briscoe

M FA B O O K S H E L F Marck L. Beggs ’87

Catastrophic Chords (poems) was published by Salmon Poetry in Ireland.

Elizabeth Haukaas ’06

Leap won the 2008 Walt McDonald First Book Award for poetry and will be published by Texas Tech University Press.

Victoria Chang ’05

Salvinia Molesta (poems) was published by University of Georgia Press.

Donna Henderson ’06

Elizabeth Eslami ’03

Janet Holmes ’85

Bone Worship, a novel, was published by Pegasus Books. Mindy Friddle ’05

St. Martin’s Press published Friddle’s second novel, Secret Keepers.

The Eddy Fence (poems) was published by Airlie Press. The ms of m y kin, an erasure of Emily Dickinson’s 1861 and 1862 poems into poems reﬂecting the start of the Iraq war, was published by Shearsman Books.

A. Van Jordan ’98

Dona Stein ’84

Veronica Patterson ’00

Anne Sullivan ’92

Jordan was one of nine writers selected for a $50,000 United States Artists Fellowship, awarded to “emerging and established writers of unique vision.” His most recent poetry collection is Quantum Lyrics. Patterson’s manuscript Thresh/Hold won the Kenneth and Geraldine Gell Poetry Prize and comes out this fall from Big Pencil Press.

Basil’s Dream, Hale’s ﬁrst novel, was published by Livingston Press at the University of West Alabama.

The Soul Tree, a poetry collaboration with photographer John Fletcher, was published by Grateful Steps.

Casagrande Press published The Moon in Deep Winter, a novel. Nate Pritts ’00

Pritts’s second poetry collection, Honorary Astronaut, was published by Ghost Road.

Kath Jesme ’00 Ken Hart ’98

Anhinga Press published Hart’s ﬁrst poetry collection, Uh Oh Time. A poem from the book, “Keep America Beautiful,” was read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac.

The Plum-Stone Game (poems) was published by Ahsahta Press.

Ecology II: Throat Song from the Everglades (poems) was published by WordTech. Tracy Winn ’02

Lee Polevoi ’92

Laura Hope-Gill ’98 Christine Hale ’96

Stein has received a grant from Colorado Humanities to compile an anthology of works featured on The Poetry Show, a radio program that she has produced and hosted for six years.

Mrs. Somebody Somebody (stories) was published by Southern Methodist University Press and received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Jim Zervanos ’04

LOVE Park, a novel, was published this spring.

Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet ’05

Tulips, Water, Ash won the 2009 Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize and will be published by the University Press of New England in the fall.

Martha Zweig ’98

Monkey Lightning, Zweig’s third poetry collection, will be published by Tupelo Press.

OWL & SPADE

LOOKINGBACK FRED OHLER’S SERMONS Many alumni have asked about the availability of Frederick Ohler’s sermons. Since his death, his wife, Bev, has been trying to convert the sermons from the cassette tapes on which they were recorded to CDs and she has enough ready to begin to share with those who wish to have copies. You may ask for speciﬁc dates, themes, and occasions (such as Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and festivals) and she will try to accommodate your request. EMAIL: theschlag@aol.com or WRITE: Beverly Ohler, 210 North Fork Road, Black Mountain, NC 28711

Words about Fred Ohler by Diana Sanderson

t’s hard to describe Fred Ohler (1931-2004) in just a few words, to sum up all that he meant to the Warren Wilson College community for nearly 45 years: teacher, pastor, preacher, mentor, counselor, chaplain, violinist, singer, coach, baseball fan, writer and poet. (Fred would probably describe himself in just two words: husband and father.) These capture just a small part of this multifaceted human being. Someone once asked Fred why he chose to stay in one place for so long, and he replied: “I’ve stayed in one place, but by staying have been to many places, preached to different congregations, taught thousands of students, been a part of so much growth and change—that made it possible.”

Please include: • Your full name and maiden name • The years you were at WWC • Your mailing address

How did you ﬁnd out about Warren Wilson College? TWO WAYS YOU CAN HELP US RECRUIT WONDERFUL STUDENTS • Refer a student to us. If you know a great ﬁt for Warren Wilson College please give us that student’s contact information and we will follow up. • Sign up as a college fair volunteer in your area. This will only take a few hours of your time. Also, it is fun and easy and helps us out immensely.

New students are our future.

CALL 800-934-3536 or EMAIL ADMIT@WARREN-WILSON.EDU

SUMMER 2009

A LUMNI PROFILE Pat Addabbo ’08 gives back through mentoring program By Laura Dison ’10

“I

t’s occasions like these that remind me just how amazing my four years at Warren Wilson were, and the countless ways it has impacted my life, my peers’, and all those who came before me,” Pat Addabbo ’08 wrote in an email after a gathering hosted by Disabled Sports USA in Washington, D.C. Since graduating from Warren Wilson with a degree in outdoor leadership and history, Addabbo has worked in Washington as DS/USA’s youth sports mentoring program manager. DS/USA is a national nonproﬁt that oﬀers sports rehabilitation programs nationwide to anyone with a permanent disability. With 99 chapters in 38 states, DS/USA serves thousands of people with disabilities every year through dozens of sports, some of which include skiing, water sports, rock climbing, cycling, and wheelchair basketball. As manager of the youth sports mentoring program, Addabbo facilitates matching disabled youth with adult mentors. He also oversees the community inclusion project, which seeks to increase sport and recreation activities for disabled youth by providing training for community organizations. “I constantly refer to skills I learned in WWC courses like Program Planning and Design, Leadership for Adventure Education, Senior History Seminar, and, of course, Universal Adventure Programming,” says Addabbo. “Warren Wilson has given me a multitude of skills advantageous for work in a variety of situations.”

storage,” he says. “A few turns of a wrench and a phone call to a local auto shop had the batteries recharged, a new solenoid installed, and a golf cart ready to take soldiers who had lost mobility in conﬂicts overseas out with their friends and family.” Although not directly related to his work with DS/USA, Addabbo participated in the 20st Annual Bataan Memorial Death March 2010, a challenging march thr ough the high desert terrain of White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. This march is conducted annually in honor of the heroic service members who defended the Philippine Islands during World War II. Addabbo and DS/USA brought 30 seriously injured service members who’ve served in Iraq or Afghanistan to participate in the march.

“No matter when a person graduates from WWC, they share a common bond with other alumni unlike that of any other institution,” Addabbo explains. “Wilson alumni understand that each of us shares a respect for hard work, the environment, and giving back to which no other college or university seems to compare.”

Addabbo, who spent several semesters working at the auto shop on campus, has found ways to complete not-so-common tasks that save DS/USA time and money. “Just two weeks ago I was able to ﬁx our accessible golf cart which lay dead in 36

OWL & SPADE

A LU M N I P RO F I L E From the coalmines to the stars By Tracy Bleeker

fter graduating from high school in 1954, Harry Atkins had very little insight into the world outside the local coal mining communities of Boone County, West Virginia. However, his father and a local educator and friend of Dr. Henry Jensen named Gerald Smith, believed in Atkins’s potential and enrolled him in Warren Wilson College.

“For the intervention and guidance in my life in my early and formative years, I owe a debt of sincere and extreme gratitude to Warren Wilson College, and especially Coach DeVries. It was a deﬁning moment in my life’s travel through God’s time and space.” –Harry Atkins ‘56

There Atkins “began a long career of catching up in the sciences,” and was assigned to the work crew of Samuel H. “Coach” DeVries, a strict disciplinarian who took a personal, and almost fatherly interest in Atkins’ future. “At Warren Wilson the work was hard and the studies were hard,” Atkins explained. Once his crew was loading coal for the College onto a truck bed in Swannanoa. “We suggested to Coach that it would be more eﬃcient and less strenuous if we had an automatic loader to transfer the coal from the railroad cars to the truck. In a serious grunting voice Couch responded ‘What do you think this is, an Ivy League school? Get to work!’ Coach DeVries instilled in me a commitment to succeed. He kept saying, ‘You can do it. You can do it.’” After Atkins graduated from Warren Wilson in 1956 he returned to his native West Virginia, where he worked in the coalmines for funds to continue his education. Then he enrolled at Marshall

University in 1958. From there, Atkins joined the NASA Von Braun team in Huntsville, Alabama, in July 1961. He was assigned both scientific and management leadership roles for a wide variety of space flight experiments with NASA and member countries of the European Space Administration (ESA), and later he was nominated by the French Government for a position as a Science Astronaut on Skylab 1. As Special Assistant to NASA Headquarters he helped the Office of Commercial Space Programs. He was reassigned to the U.S. Senate Staff, where he was a technical and management liaison between Senate staff Harry Atkins, WWC Owls awardmembers and winning pitcher. NASA, then was given successive assignments to the staffs of the governors of Alabama and West Virginia for similar duties. Atkins retired from NASA in 1995 and held management positions related to space programs with U.S. and international companies in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Russia. He is currently a consultant to U.S. companies engaged with NASA and Department of Defense national security initiatives and a member of the Warren Wilson Alumni Board. Akins would like to express his appreciation to Dr. Von Braun and his team, and, most importantly, to his wife and children. About Warren Wilson, Atkins says, “For the intervention and guidance in my life in my early and formative years, I owe a debt of sincere and extreme gratitude to Warren Wilson College, and especially Coach DeVries. It was a defining moment in my life’s travel through God’s time and space.”

WWC’s ﬁnest males in 1955 in Sunderland .

SUMMER 2009

A LUMNI NOTES ’40s

Souhail Kassabri ’73 ﬁnished

story about ham radio published in QST magazine, in which he mentioned his mentor, Dr. Jensen. He also wrote a story about his experience as a pilot in Korea for the Air Force.

building a new home in beautiful Waynesville. He hopes to move to the mountains full time within the next couple of years, and looks forward to many homecomings and chances to see many WWC friends in the future.

Pat and Ernst Laursen ’49 are

Jerry Kilpatrick ’74 and his wife,

William McMurray ’45 had a

enjoying retirement and hope former students and staﬀ will stop by to see their view of campus and share a glass of tea or a cup of coﬀee.

’50s

Karen Sutton James ’58 has two

new grandchildren, Carlo and Nina, fraternal twins born to Sid and his wife, Marta, in 2006. Karen lives in Santa Fe and runs daily along the ridges above her home. She is a Christian Science practitioner. Charles Montoya ’59 continues to

provide services to the Hispanic community in the Winchester area. He writes, “I practice my Spanish with the numerous families and my Farsi with several friends from Iran.”

’60s

Shirley Standahl ’63 wishes

to share the sad news that her husband, Jon Standahl, passed away on September 5, 2008. Honey (Bond) Scarcliff ’66 was

diagnosed with advanced breast cancer and went through chemo and two surgeries. She has retired from her job as a civil servant for the city of Mobile, Ala., and would love to hear from the class of ’66.

’70s

Melissa Davis ’71 retired from

being an elementary school principal and now works hard volunteering for peace and environmental justice issues. She would love to hear from classmates at mdavis6435@gmail.com. Sheila Johnston ’72 is living in

Arlington, Va., with husband Joe Loring, Bernese mountain dog Lulu, and fat cat Eva. She’s a volunteer docent at the Kreeger Museum in D.C. and invites any WWC alums to contact her on Facebook.

30 38

Margie, retired in 2008 and have returned to Jerry’s hometown of Marble. Jerry works part time teaching graduate business classes online for the University of Phoenix. Jerry’s email is jdkilp@rocketmail.com. Mildred Moore Thompson ’75

is retiring after 34 years as an educator in the Union County School System in Blairsville, Georgia. She is looking forward to spending time reading, painting, gardening, traveling, and being an active Lions Club member. She would love to hear from members of the Class of ’75. Tracy Stanﬁel ’77 retired

after 30 years of teaching ﬁrst through fourth grades at Oakley Elementary School in Asheville. After taking several months oﬀ, she is now the nanny for an 18month-old boy! She also keeps a 20-month-old girl a few days a week. She would love to hear from friends at dogaholic3@yahoo.com. Beth (Marvin) Stewart ’78 is

executive director of the Plymouth Canton Symphony in Michigan. She and her husband, John, have been married 30 years this May! Their daughters both live in Charlotte and her parents are still living in Asheville, so she gets back often and hopes to see her friends while visiting. Beth Williams Dail ’79 left the

classroom over a year ago (after 28 years) and is now an instructional technology facilitator. She works at ﬁve elementary schools and absolutely loves her new job, and has started on her master’s degree at East Carolina University.

’80s

Lee Anne (Day) Vickers ’80 is

living in Crystal River, Fla. She is married and has a son, Steven, who is 14. She teaches ESL Self Contained/Resource K-5 and is also a Mary Kay consultant.

She is enjoying small town life, a wonderful family, great health, a new motorcycle, and scuba diving. Rhonda Kensinger ’80 is working

at Biltmore Estate in Asheville. She is active with contra dancing and raising Peter, who is almost 10. Jimmy (24) graduated summa cum laude from Virginia Tech and Nick (23) graduated from UNC Asheville. She is working on a novel which she hopes to complete by December. Her latest hobby is sailing. Patti Kerr ’80 spent 8 years

helping her father care for her mother, who lost her battle with Alzheimer’s in December 2007. She is now getting back into the “real world,” writing a book about loving and caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s, working at a health food store, teaching infant massage, and gardening. Paddy Cunningham Pascatore ’80

is the coordinator of the Everglades Birding Festival. This festival explores the natural wonders of the Everglades and its unique sub-tropical environment. It targets rare birds and offers mini field workshops to help birders improve their identification skills. Paddy can be contacted through birdadventure.com. Kim Wright ’81 has been traveling

for the last year, interviewing lawyers for her new website, cuttingedgelaw.com. She’s visited 16 national parks and 25 states. Vijay Barnabas ’82 lives in

Dallas and works for the U.S. Government Accountability Oﬃce conducting reviews of defenserelated matters. Julia Nunnally Duncan ’82

announces the publication of her forthcoming novel When Day Is Done, scheduled for a 2009 release by March Street Press. Other recent and upcoming publications include stories and poems in Western North Carolina Woman, Appalachian Heritage, and North Carolina Literary Review. Robin Cope Knupp ’83 is living

in Asheville doing medical transcription at home. She and David have started rock climbing and traveling the Southeast

to diﬀerent walls. They also mountain bike, which is their usual activity when they go out west. They made another trip to Colorado and Moab, Utah, last fall. Susi Gott Séguret ’84 has

recently joined the ranks of Julia Child, Jaques Pépin, Anne Willan and Shirley Corriher as a Certiﬁed Culinary Professional, a title designed to recognize and distinguish those who have reached the highest level of culinary achievement. Julie Booth ’85 and Ed Allen are

still in Portland, Oregon, enjoying life. They celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary this year and thank the WWC online alumni bulletin board for reconnecting them. Ron Burgin ’85 is completing his

20th year of teaching Spanish in the McDowell County schools just east of Swannanoa. He also works with Aspect Foundation, an exchange agency. He is doing a lot of traveling and enjoying life. Ron would love to hear from any former classmates or friends. Mary Elfner ’85 and Geoff Wilson ’85, and their son, Elijah, have

moved to Richmond, Va. Mary works for the National Audubon Society coordinating Virginia’s Important Bird Areas Program, and Geoﬀ is a clinical coordinator of the intensive care unit at Retreat Hospital. You can contact them at marygeoﬀ@comcast.net. Chris Mixon ’85 and his wife,

Kacie, and son, Jackson, have been living in Roosevelt, N.J., for the past three years. Chris is a professional actor, and Kacie works for Princeton Montessori School. Jackson is 7 years old, in the second grade, and loves karate and Cub Scouts! Barbara Abelhauser ’86, who

never had an artistic bone in her body at WWC, is now a fractal artist! You can check out her digital art under her artist name, Serenity Questi, on Facebook, Myspace, Zazzle.com, and in seven galleries in the virtual world called Second Life.

OWL & SPADE

A LU M N I N OT E S Clipper Holder ’86 graduated

in May from Western Carolina University with a master’s in entrepreneurship and planned to take LEED certiﬁcation training in June. He hopes to teach both of these at a local community college. Mark McCoy ’87 is working

on the periphery of the ﬁlm industry in Wilmington and also delving into 3D illustration and visualization for set design and architecture. He bought a new house in August 2008. Graham Neale ’87 received his

would love to have any WWC alumni visit anytime.

husband, Sydney, and working at Beth El Synagogue.

’90s

Stefanie Olson ’93 is working

Gregory Wilkins ’90 moved to

Minnesota in February and is loving it! He is the associate director of student activities at Minnesota State University in Mankato, working with 15,000 undergraduates in creating a vibrant campus life. He can be contacted on Facebook or at grego rytoddwilkins@hotmail.com. Mary Henn-Lecordier ’91 earned a

master’s from the University of Montana in Missoula in 2000 and is currently working with Garcia and Associates in Bozeman as an endangered species ecologist. He is married to Diana Tremaine Neale and has a 4-year-old daughter, Kester.

master’s of library science from the University of Maryland in 2008 and promptly took oﬀ for South America (Peru and Argentina) for ﬁve months to get her Spanish and her groove back. She visited Amy Jackson-Besnard (’91) in Florianopolis, Brazil, along the way.

Andrew Kang Bartlett ’88 is

Laura Kershaw ’91 is studying

helping coordinate a year of 40hour fasts each month for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with the purpose of learning about and trying to respond to the global food crisis. Donna Hall ’88 lives in Winston-

Salem and is a partner and business development manager for Bald Eagle Technologies, a technology consulting ﬁrm specializing in computer network management and Cisco phone systems for businesses. She has three miniature horses and four dogs and would love to hear from WWC alumni. Tripp Clarke ’89 co-authored

Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred, a coffee table book containing profiles and photos of more than 500 famous people with roots in that city. Clarke profiled over 90 of Pittsburgh’s great musicians for the book, which celebrates the region’s 250th anniversary. He misses Warren Wilson but has enjoyed reconnecting with friends and alumni on Facebook. Lucretia Egan Woodruff ’89 has

been living in Maine the last 16 years with her husband, Michael, and their four children. They bought a farm in Brunswick four years ago and are now raising pigs, chicken, turkeys and veggies and milking a nice Jersey cow. They

SUMMER 2009

esthiology at the Aveda Institute of Chapel Hill, living in Hillsborough, and working as a certiﬁed massage therapist at a local acupuncture clinic. She had a blast at the Aveda Earth Jam 2009, helping out doing makeup on the runway models. Randy Fields ’92 was named

director of sales for Terraine Inc. In this role he will lead a focused and strategic sales initiative of Terraine’s Adesso/DigitalFormz Technology Platform. Robin Hyatt ’92 has been working

for the City of Asheville water department since October 2000 as a laboratory technician and before that, as a cross connection control/ backﬂow prevention inspector. She greatly enjoys her work, as it has allowed her to return to campus in a professional capacity. Megan Best Davis ’93 and Boone Davis ’94 moved to Holly Springs

with children Elli (11), Mac (8), and Owen (1). Megan is a teacher and Boone is a manager. Britta Dedrick ’93 sends her

greetings from Oregon. She has designed and is attempting to build a (very tiny) eco-house this summer. Krisha Song Parkey Miller ’93

is living in Durham with her

at the Oklahoma Assistive Technology Center. In May, she celebrated 14 years of marriage with her husband, Glen. Their daughter, Evie, turned 3 in June. Stefanie works with children who have disabilities in the Oklahoma public school system. Jason Robertson ’93 is relocating

from D.C. to Denver, where he will supervise Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recreation, wilderness management, monuments and conservation areas, archaeology, paleontology, and environmental planning throughout Colorado. His girls, August (4) and Kaia (2), say they are looking forward to skiing, climbing, and “bunk beds!” Ketaki Bhattacharyya ’93 and Joshua Prentice ’94 live in

Takoma Park, Md., with their two sons, Zachary (12) and Noah (7). Josh is the director of operations for the National Council for Interior Design Qualiﬁcation (NCIDQ). Ketaki started back to work in June 2008 as a ﬁnance and administration manager for John Snow Inc. You can e-mail them at jgprentice@gmail.com and ketakib@gmail.com. Morgan Geer ’94 released his

second Drunken Prayer CD.

Three Merians ’94 was married on

the WWC campus in June.

Rachel (Stevens) Nation ’94 and

her husband, Gordon, celebrated the ﬁrst birthday of their twin boys, Logan and Quinnlan. Daughters Alexandra (15) and Gillian (11) continue to enjoy homeschooling and the rural life the family shares on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northern Montana. John Jeter ’95 ﬁnished his M.Ed.

at Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2008, bought his ﬁrst home the following month, fell in love in January and will be oﬃciating someone else’s wedding in Seattle this August. He also discovered that he likes Depeche Mode, which is unsettling, to say the least.

Jonathan Lillie ’95, along with his wife, Michelle, and son, Elijah (as well as a baby on the way), moved from Honolulu to Maryland. He is enjoying his new job as assistant professor of communication at Loyola College in Baltimore. Amanda Pearson ’95 and her

husband, Will, welcomed their second child, Margaret “Mattie” Dornan, on July 24, 2008. Todd Phillips ’95 and his wife,

Cristina, welcomed their second son, Marcus, and moved to a new home in Holly Springs. Cristina started an autism consulting business, and Todd’s environmental ﬁrm joined a national ﬁrm. Jessica Summers ’95 passed

her social work licensure exam in January and is working as a hospice and palliative care social worker in Richmond, Va. She is married to Evan Scully (the May 27, 2007, ceremony was held at the WWC Formal Garden) and enjoys gardening and pottery in her spare time. Will Chatham ’96 lives in Asheville

and works for a federal IT contractor at the 14th Weather Squadron of the Air Force. He plays drums in two bands, The Whappers and Garbage Bear. He is married to Alicia and has two boys, Gray (5) and Dax (3). He can be contacted via Facebook, Twitter (willc), or willchatham. com. Jessi Cinque Herr ’96 and

Josh Herr are happily living in Asheville with Jasper (8) and Josie (4). Their tiny garden grows right next to their tiny pond. They live, work, play and go to school right in their Montford neighborhood, have fabulous friends and neighbors, and love their community. Melissa (Harder) Lillie ’96 has

moved back to Asheville. Before returning from L.A. she took time oﬀ to travel and spent time exploring Costa Rica, Panama, England and India. She enjoys being closer to her family and working as a clinical social worker and child therapist at the Olson Huﬀ Center with Mission Children’s Clinic.

31 39

A LUMNI NOTES Obie Roberts ’96 married Troy

DeGroﬀ, his partner of 17 years, at San Francisco City Hall in August 2008. Obie received a master’s in philosophy and religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2004. Their home is on the banks of Lees Creek in Asheville. Elam Blackman ’97 started a record

label called Constant Clip Records. The ﬁrst oﬃcial release—Speck by Alexa Woodward—came out this month. He is enjoying dogwoods in bloom otherwise. Ty Gilpin ’97 works for Crossroads

Music, a full service record label in Arden, and plays in multiple regional touring groups, primarily with the bluegrass outﬁt High Windy. He released an album with that group in 2008 and released a project in collaboration with singer/ song writer Taylor Martin in April 2009. Rebecca Porter ’97 works at Duke

University Hospital as a RN in the medical ICU. She gave birth to daughter Annabeth Lillian Bass on Feb 28, 2007, and completed a bachelor’s in nursing (BSN) at Western Carolina University in May 2008. Jane Bradshaw ’98 was elected

President of the Young Democrats of Georgia this April. She can be reached at jcb5858@yahoo.com.

Alumni Career Services JOIN the Wilson Career Network (LinkedIn group) to connect with Wilson students and other alumni, and to learn more about alumni career services. VISIT the Alumni Career Services link at: www.warren-wilson. edu/ ~careers/ to ﬁnd out more. Or contact Bates Canon at bcanon@warrenwilson.edu or 828.771.3759.

Let’s Connect! 40

Jesse Emry ’98 was married April

Douglas Korb ’99 won Bright Hill

Erin (Eller) Jones ’98 and Jerry

Eli Ellis Ogburn ’99 is enjoying his

8, 2009, and loves teaching third grade at Isaac Dickson Elementary in Asheville. Jones ’00 are living in Wilmington. They have two children, Elijah (3) and Grace (1). Erin stays at home with the kiddos and Jerry is a mass spec chemist for international ﬁrm SGS. Christine Size ’98 moved back to

Atlanta after graduation to pursue a graduate degree in education. She taught pre-K and ﬁfth grade for 11 years and now lives in Boston. In the fall she will be a full-time student at Harvard in the Mind, Brian, and Education program, where she’ll study math instruction. Betsy Fife Archer ’99 lives in

western Massachusetts with her wife, Shuli, and works at UMass Amherst with students who have gotten in trouble due to alcohol and drugs. She would like to quit her day job in the next couple of years to focus on her photography business, betsyarcher.com. Elizabeth Bricken ’99 is living in

France and studying French at a language school south of Paris. She recently completed the Marathon de Paris, her ﬁrst marathon. Kate Coskey ’99 celebrated the

birth of her second daughter, Iris Ruby Ida Hale, on August 26, 2008. Esther Denise is thrilled to be a big sister. The family still lives in Alaska, and you can see pictures on Kate’s blog, hooperbaytundra. blogspot.com. Kate received her M.A. in cross-cultural studies from University of Alaska in May 2008. Jessie Dulberger ’99 lives in

Press’s Poetry Chapbook Award and his book, The Cut Worm, is available for viewing or purchase. life in Seattle with his partner, three cats, and dog. He will start the MSW program at the University of Washington in the fall and currently works as an HIV/AIDS health insurance advocate at Lifelong AIDS Alliance. He may move back to the South one day. Lee Sessions ’99 bought a little

bungalow in his hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., where he enjoys gardening. He works as a secretary for the Oﬃce and Professional Employees International Union and as a library assistant at the University of Tennessee. Amy Jessica Wilson ’99 is utilizing

her M.A. from Naropa University through documentary ﬁlmmaking and event production throughout the U.S. and internationally, most recently wrapping the Sundance Film Festival while working on the Coachella, StageCoach, and San Francisco International festivals. She is grateful to Warren Wilson for teaching her a strong work ethic and dedication to her craft.

’00s

Katy Post Copley ’00 enjoyed a one-

year sabbatical from teaching sixth grade to be with her new baby boy, Quinn. Along with her husband, Jay Copley, she is livin’ it up in Black Mountain. Ben Edson ’00 writes that he’s

pulling up stakes and heading to the Grand Canyon and Alaska for the summer. He looks forward to seeing old Wilson friends along the way!

Boulder, Colo., and just graduated with an M.S. in ecology from Colorado State University. Her life is ﬁlled with her friends, boyfriend, rock climbing, running, hiking, and reading. She traveled to Spain for a post-graduation trip in May.

Sara Olliges ’00 is pursuing an M.S.

Adrianne Gordon ’99 is celebrating

Annie (Carnegie) Seier ’00 is a

10 years as a birth doula! She has been honored to be part of the amazing journey of labor and childbirth for many families. She reports that there seems to be a baby boom in Asheville, which is keeping her happily busy.

in food policy and applied nutrition at Tufts University in Boston. She had lived in North Carolina for eight years after graduation, and hopes to return after ﬁnishing her graduate degree next year. clinical social worker in private practice and also the day program coordinator at a holistic day treatment program for adults living with brain injury. When she is not working in either of those jobs, she focuses on her art company, little yellow bird.

Jeff Thompson ’00 is living in

Boulder, Colo., with his ﬁancée, Liz Cross. He completed a master’s in transpersonal counseling psychology in 2006 at Naropa University. He now divides his time between private practice, time spent with loved ones and friends, and a night job as a singer/songwriter. His website is jeﬀeryhyde.com. Heather Brooks ’01 earned a

M.Ed. in special education from North Carolina Central University and accepted a job with the state working as a teaching consultant, assisting schools and families with children with visual impairments. This summer, she will return to live in Asheville. Betsy Collins ’01 bought a house

with her partner, Nicola Thompson, in Kirkwood in Atlanta. She’s been gardening like mad and is enjoying the wonderful spring weather in the South. She is still an OB/GYN resident at Emory and is excited to say she’s halfway done! Matt Drury ’01 is the lead prescribed

fire technician for the first-ever North Carolina Department of Parks and Recreation Wildland Fire Crew. He supervises a five-person crew traveling from the mountains to the coast conducting prescribed burns, writing burn plans, and performing post-burn evaluations.

Justina Prenatt ’01 ﬁnished her ﬁrst

year of graduate study at Western Carolina University, where she is working toward her M.S. in community counseling. She still lives on beautiful acreage in Bat Cave, occasionally performs her poetry in Asheville, and generally loves the WNC community. Sky Stephens ’01 received her

Ph.D. in forest science from Northern Arizona University in December 2008. She works as the international seminar and distance learning coordinator for the NAU School of Forestry, coordinating education via distance learning platforms and study abroad programs. Adam Michael Wallace ’01 and

his wife, Stephanie (former staﬀ), welcomed their ﬁrst child, Claire Holden Wallace, on March 7, 2009. Dana Marsh ’02 is a practicing

equine veterinarian in Lakemoor,

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A LU M N I N OT E S Ill. She is an associate at Merritt & Associates Equine Hospital. John Matte ’01 and Jenny Rose ’02

were married in October 2008 in Atlanta. They have a house in the metro area. Mike Campbell ’03 is currently

working as the lead case manager at a homeless shelter for families in Frederick, Md., and has a silly but wonderful 4-year-old boy named Max. S. Forry Eisenhart III ’03 married

Gabriela E. Noviello on November 9, 2008. They honeymooned in Maui and live in Atlanta. Christen Elaine Ericsson ’03 is in

the ﬁrst year of the Ph.D. program at the University of Southampton, England, studying Victorian women and their use of ﬂowers in personal expression. She received an M.A. in the history of textiles and dress in 2008 from the Textile Conservation Centre in Winchester, England. Sorren Norris ’03 expects to

graduate from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in May 2010. He is living in a recently purchased, historic four-bedroom Colonial with wife, Tashalee, son Nikoy (8), and daughter Nikena (6). Laura “Lyon” Vick ’03 is living in

Middleham, North Yorkshire, UK, with her partner, Filippo Protani. She is a violin maker for Roger Hansell Violins. Tim De Benedetti ’04 lives in New

York City, where he is a music teacher and composer. His band, The Wiles (which started at WWC), has been together for six years and will soon release its second album and embark on a North American tour. Helen Brew ’04 has decided to

get her Ph.D. after two years of teaching English 101. She has been accepted to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and she and her four horses, three cats, and two dogs will move there in the fall. She will specialize in African-American science ﬁction. Kelly Davis ’04 graduated from

the University of Texas School of Law. Beginning this fall, she will clerk for a federal judge and then pursue a career in public interest environmental law.

SUMMER 2009

Joey Honeycutt ’04 received her

master’s in social work from UNCCharlotte in May. She continues to live in Charlotte with her partner, Rebecca Pierson (’04), and their menagerie of psychotic but lovable animals.

Awards celebrate the best work on the Web. This year, more than 10,000 entries were submitted from over 60 countries. Robin Lenner ’05 lives in

Gelsey Malferrari ’06 lives and

works on a ﬁve-acre farm near Boulder, Colo. Laughing Coyote Project, which she and her partner founded, connects children ages 7-14 to the land through playing games, tracking, gardening from seed to table, animal husbandry, nature-based arts, and local wanderings into nature. Learn more at laughingcoyoteproject.org.

Back in 2006, Audrey Preston ’04 accepted the position of assistant director for a brand new residential environmental education program at Beckwith Camp and Conference Center in Alabama. She’s been at Coastal Wonders for almost three years now and is program director.

Brasstown. She works for a nonproﬁt outdoor education program for at-risk and adjudicated youth and is assisting in the development of an environmental education center. She is an active member of the John C. Campbell Folk School Stix in the Mud Border Morris and Dames Rocket Northwest Clog Morris dance teams.

Dana Robison ’04 received an

Brooks Nelson-Major ’05 is in the

82nd Airborne Division (Army). In April he began his ﬁrst deployment to Afghanistan and will be gone for at least a year.

years as a Peace Corps volunteer stationed in Mauritania. She has extended her Peace Corps service for another year and will travel to China to train future English teachers. When she ﬁnishes this one-year stint, she will be coming back to North Carolina to enter law school at UNC.

Ashley Rogers ’04 lives in Denver

Melissa Bertolo ’06 returned to

Elizabeth Crenshaw ’07 works

master’s of public health in environmental and occupational health from Emory University in May. and will start graduate school at Colorado State University in the fall. She will be moving to Fort Collins in July with Sam CatlettSirchio 06, another WWC alumnus. Anna Flewelling Watson ’04, her

husband, Tony Watson, and their daughter, Alexandra, are pleased to announce the latest addition to the Watson family. Angus James Watson was born April 21, 2009, in Cambridge, England. The family will be moving to Baltimore, Md., and are looking forward to attending Homecoming this fall. Janna Willoughby ’04 teaches

poetry and coordinates the Ripley Writes creative writing program for middle-school students in Chautauqua County, N.Y., and also edits for Earth’s Daughters, a feminist literary and arts magazine published in Buﬀalo. She was nominated for Artvoice’s Best of Buﬀalo Awards for Best Spoken Word Artist and Best HipHop Artist. Jennifer Wilson ’04 is entering her

fourth and ﬁnal year at University of Louisville School of Dentistry, and has a dental externship in Anchorage, Alaska, this summer. In September, Jennifer will ride her bike 150 miles from Louisville to Lexington, Ky., to raise money for cancer research. Sara Benincasa Donnelly ’05 was

nominated for a Webby Award for Best Individual Performance for her series of Sarah Palin vlogs (video blogs). The 13th Annual Webby

school two years after graduating from Warren Wilson, and is now pursuing two master’s degrees at New Mexico State University, one in public health and one in social work . Nicholas Bissett ’06 works as a news

reporter and anchor for Cleveland Headline News TV33 in Shelby. Jennifer Bowers ’06 married high

school sweetheart Grant Cummings in June 2007. The couple then moved to Pittsburgh, where Jen received her master’s in social work. They now live in Madison, Wisc. Jen is a clinician at the county jail and Grant is pursuing a master’s in public aﬀairs. Tyler Grove ’06 currently lives in

Hickory. He recently ﬁnished his second year teaching at Catawba Valley High School and is nearly halfway through a master’s program in history and secondary education at Appalachian State. Contact him at w.t.grove@gmail.com.

SIGNME UP! Email alumni@warren-wilson.edu to subscribe to the Warren Wilson College E-newsletter. You’ll get monthly news, feature stories, event notices and links to keep you updated and in tune with Warren Wilson College.

Kat Slager ’06 recently ﬁnished two

in strategic planning with EPB, a non-proﬁt electric utility and communications company in Chattanooga, Tenn. She received LEED accreditation and plans to go back to school in fall 2009. Elizabeth lives in Chattanooga with her boyfriend, Chris. Martha Eberle ’07 has been

accepted to the master’s of landscape architecture program at NC State University. Kat Kennedy ’07 recently ﬁnished

her second year of veterinary school at Texas A&M. Lawson Revan ’07 has been working

for Upstate Forever, a conservation organization in his hometown of Spartanburg, S.C., since December 2008. He has been accepted to Vermont Law School in South Royalton, Vt., and will pursue a law degree and a master’s in environmental law and policy. Allison Long ’07 and Forest Doyle ’08 are both pursuing a master’s in

library science at UNC after having such wonderful experiences working in the Warren Wilson library. While in school, Allison is working in the resource center of a global nonproﬁt, and Forest is the invoicer at the local used bookstore. Ryan Morra ’08 is enjoying teaching

at the Eagle Rock School in Estes Park, Colo. He was recently accepted to the Peace Corps and is scheduled to depart in January.

WA RREN W ILSON COLLEGE LO S S E S Laile Hampton ’40 died January 14, 2009, at his home in Johnson City, Tennessee. Laile came to the Farm School in June 1936 at the age of 13. He graduated with the class of 1940 and worked at Beacon Manufacturing in Swannanoa for two years. He was a World War II U.S. Army veteran serving in the 10th Armored Division in the European Theater and participated in the Battle of the Bulge. After the service, he went on to Princeton University for further studies. He became owner of a communications company in Johnson City and helped the College receive its ﬁrst radio equipment in 1977. Laile served in many alumni leadership roles including president of the Alumni Association Board (1979-1981) and as the alumni class agent for all the “Farm School Boys” for many years. At home in Johnson City, he was involved with local churches as a member and deacon. He was also active with Johnson City Parks and Recreation, serving on its board and as a softball coach. Laile’s service and involvement led to his receiving the Alton Wright Alumni Leadership Award from Warren Wilson in 2000. Laile wrote in January 2004 that “the most useful lessons from my four years (at the Farm School) were self-conﬁdence. If someone else can, so can you. How do you know it can’t be done if you don’t try?” Laile’s service, devotion and involvement to the College will be remembered. His daughter, Susan Hampton Kubenka, is a class of 1978 alumna. And in 2007, Laile and his wife, Helen Anest Hampton ANTC ’42, created the Hampton-Newcombe Endowed Scholarship to help deserving students attend Warren Wilson College. David Kwok Wai Ning ’54 died June 15, 2009, at home in Lakeland, Florida, in the arms of Elaine Lehmann, his wife of 33 years. Living with pancreatic cancer for eight years, David enjoyed visits from many friends and family, some journeying across the nation and Canada to be with him. Born July 29, 1932, in Hong Kong, David spent his youth in Shanghai, travelling from Bangkok, Thailand, in 1950 to study at Warren Wilson College. Two of David’s siblings, Jimmy ’56 and Judy ’58, also attended Warren Wilson, and the family has been actively involved with the College for years. David graduated from Warren Wilson Junior College in 1954, completed his BA at the University of New Mexico, and then worked 21 years in the City of Albuquerque Planning Department. Loving games, David was especially fond of playing bridge. He also sang with the First Unitarian Church choir, traveled (once he embarked on a16-month world trip), relished all cuisines, and enjoyed socializing with friends. “Delight” best sums up his attitude toward life. David will be greatly missed.

Mildred McMican died May 3, 2009, at the age of 83. Mildred, born in North Dakota, was the daughter of Henry and Jessie McMican. Her father was a Presbyterian minister; she is survived by Velva Maddox, a sister in California, and nephews and a niece in California. She was a graduate of Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa. She served as registrar and/or in administrative positions at Lindenwood College, Oberlin College, Washington University and Inter American University in Puerto Rico. Seventeen years of her life were spent assisting the director of the Enlarged Parish of Arkansas Valley, a group of Indian, white and black churches in Oklahoma and Arkansas. For 17 years she was the Registrar at Warren Wilson College. Mildred expressed special thanks to many friends from Warren Wilson Presbyterian Church and especially to Julia Richards, who made her final days as peaceful as possible. Harold Francis McKnight ’44 died March 11, 2009. Harold was a devoted husband, father, grandfather and friend who used his talents in the church and community throughout life. He was born March 29, 1926, in Rowan County, N.C., son of the late Carl S. and Eula C. McKnight. Harold graduated from China Grove High School in 1942; from Warren Wilson College in 1944 as president of his graduating class; and from North Carolina State University in 1950 with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering as a member of the Honorary Engineering Fraternity, Theta Tau. He served honorably in the U.S. Army during World War II from 1944 to 1946. His professional career culminated in his founding of McKnight Engineers Inc., a mechanical consulting engineering firm, in 1967 where he served as president for 25 years and later worked as a consultant. A lifelong active member of the Lutheran Church in America, now the ELCA, he actively served his local congregation. In addition to his dedication to family, church, and profession, Harold displayed sincere interest in his fellow man within the community. For 12 years, he served with the Sharon Volunteer Fire Department; he was Lieutenant-in-Charge of First Aid for six of those years. His hobbies included watching and going to ball games; fishing with his daughter, Anne, especially at the Outer Banks; playing bridge; and gardening. Time spent playing with his three grandsons was always treasured. Harold served two terms on the Alumni Board of Directors for Warren Wilson College and also served on the Board of Visitors. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the Harold F. McKnight Scholarship Endowment was created in his honor.

WE CARE DEEPLY ABOUT OUR COLLEGE ALUMNI AND FRIENDS. IF YOU ARE AWARE OF A LOSS WE HAVE FAILED TO ACKNOWLEDGE, PLEASE CONTACT US TO LET US KNOW. INTERIM ALUMNI RELATIONS COORDINATOR • RODNEY LYTLE 828.771.2046 • RLYTLE@WARREN-WILSON.EDU

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WA R R E N W I L S O N CO L L E G E LO S S E S Asheville Farm School Ernest Z. Therrell ‘38 • June 7, 2008 Clyde M. Wilson ‘39 • July 7, 2008 Silas Edward Wood ‘44 • July 12, 2008 Paul S. Banks ‘39 • October 14, 2008 James Able ‘35 • November 4, 2008 S. T. Randolph ‘39 • November 13, 2008 Ray S. Robinson ‘32 • December 29, 2008 Robert P. Osborne ‘42 • February 15, 2009 Clarence Dixon Richardson ‘38 • March 16, 2009 Charles N. Brooks ‘42 • May 20, 2009

Asheville Normal and Teacher’s College Annie George Williams ‘32 • April 22, 2008 Frances Spainhour Hardee ‘32 • May 14, 2008 Jean Coley Allen ‘32 • May 31, 2008 Beatrice Rice Wells ‘20 • June 6, 2008 Cora Ratchford Rhyne ‘32 • June 25, 2008 Dorothy McMillin Thompson ‘37 • July 26, 2008 Sarah Lee Allison ‘32 • October 9, 2008 Willie Sue Toms Hudgins ‘39 • November 18, 2008 Alma Brown Bradley ‘36 • December 4, 2008 Jeanette Wilson • December 4, 2008 Winnie Borders Brittain ‘32 • December 30, 2008 Helen Kincaid Lackey ‘40 • January 6, 2009 Sibyl Ayres Thompson ‘34 • January 7, 2009 Laurene Burnette ‘43 • February 1, 2009 Sally Jo Anderson Warren ‘40 • March 10, 2009 Ruth Roberts Schmitt ‘40 • March 26, 2009 Elva Ball Sluder ‘41 • March 28, 2009 Theda Garrett Crawford ‘35 • April 22, 2009

Dorland-Bell School Mary Elizabeth Holt Mays ‘38 • May 15, 2008 Carrie Parker Cox ‘42 • July 30, 2008

Warren Wilson College Rosie Swink Stamey ‘82 • June 2, 2008 Ted McCarter ‘57 • July 28, 2008 Ruth Blalock Cureton ‘43 • December 15, 2008 Clarence Frizzell ‘51 • December 15, 2008 Margaret Meacham ‘65 • December 30, 2008 Christine Dowie Moore ‘99 • January 4, 2009 Eleanor Fosmire Peterson ‘63 • January 20, 2009 Ella Kumley Yee ‘50 • February 12, 2009 Elda Hammond Butler ‘47 • March 16, 2009 Katie McCullough Delgado ‘77 • March 19, 2009 Elizabeth Waeger Beaty ‘82 • June 12, 2009

Faculty, Staff & Volunteers Malcolm Dean Maccubbin • July 17, 2008 Thomas Crumpler • December 9, 2008

SUMMER 2009

In Memoriam • Gwen Bridwell Pettit Asheville Normal and Teacher’s College Alumna 1922-2009

met her shortly after my third birthday when my family moved from Texas to South Carolina. She instantly made a connection with my parents, so she became a fixture in my life. To say that she was one of the more colorful fixtures is an understatement. Gwen Bridwell Pettit shared with me uproarious laughter, her own brand of scandal, and unwavering support all of the time that I knew her. In fact, in some ways, I could even say that she shared Warren Wilson with me. As a woman in her late 40s when I met her, Gwen had an uncanny ability to relate to me as I grew up. When I was very young, she let me play with her jewelry and even let me wear one of her rings at church or even around the mall, panicking my mother with fears that I would lose it. When I was a little older, she gave me hilarious lessons about being a woman and about self-acceptance with a level of honesty few women of that time would brave. By the time I was in junior high, I knew that she had her blond hair rinsed in beer every week before it was finely coifed into her signature French twist, all of which was pretty exotic for my young, Baptist self. When I was in high school and college, we began having breakfast together whenever I had time. Of course, at first, it was always her treat. But soon I began to want to pay my share. Somehow, though I cannot remember why, she started telling me that she would let me buy breakfast when I finished my doctorate. In my mind, she started this long before I really took seriously the idea of pursuing graduate school. Regardless of when it started, for years Gwen bought my breakfast and told me that I could return the favor when I became “Dr. Garrett.” An almost constant backdrop to all of my conversations with Gwen was her time in Asheville as a student at Asheville Normal and Teacher’s College. Early on, she had demonstrated for me the value of words with a little edge and of wordplay, so no conversation about her time at ANTC was complete without a play on “normal.” Of all

the words I would use to describe Gwen Bridwell Pettit, “normal” would not be high on the list. The idea that she had attended a school called “normal” made us both laugh, every time, without exception. I think she genuinely delighted in the irony of the school’s name. I didn’t know before I came to interview at Warren Wilson that ANTC alumni are now affiliated as our alumni. I didn’t know, either, that we had an ANTC dorm. As soon as I learned of this, I told Gwen. And then, when I came here as Associate Dean, we both delighted in this connection. Gwen Bridwell Pettit died on March 2, 2009, at the age 86. Shortly after her death, I learned that ANTC records are actually housed in the basement of my building. Our registrar showed me the files, and I searched through to find Gwen Bridwell. There, amid the records of many more women whose lives were forever altered by their time at ANTC, I found the records of my lifelong friend. I read the notes from teachers, and I saw her grades. I literally howled when I saw that she had made a C in a course called “hygiene”; I chuckled that she had earned an A in “Foods and Cookery” though I had never known her to cook a meal. And I longed to be able to go to breakfast with her, insisting now that I pay, and talk with her more about her time as a student at Asheville “Normal.” Dr. Paula Garrett is the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College at Warren Wilson. She came to the College as Associate Dean in 2007 from her position as Associate Professor of English and American Studies and Writing Program Director at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.

HOME

COMING 2 0 0 9 October 2-4

Let’s Get Together! Homecoming 2009 Class Reunion Dinners Join your classmates for reunions at Homecoming, October 2-4, 2009. Most events are dinners on Saturday evening, October 3, with some classes planning activities throughout Homecoming weekend. If your class is listed below, then watch your mail and email for details. REUNION PLANS ANNOUNCED AS OF PRESS TIME 1949—60th Reunion All 1940s alumni are invited. Contact Ernst Laursen ’49 • 828.298.3213 or Richard McKinney ’49 • 828.877.3051

1954—55th Reunion All 1950s high school and junior college alumni are invited to the sixth annual “Golden Anniversary Reunion.” Contact Fran (Mofﬁtt) Whitﬁeld ’55 • 919.493.3732 • fmw815@aol.com

1959—50th Reunion Junior college alumni from 1958–1960 are invited. Contact Danny Starnes ’59 • 828.777.6539 • danpstarnes@yahoo.com

1969—40th Reunion Alumni from 1966–1972 are invited. Contact Wilma (Parvin) Leary ’69 • 828.686.7036 • WilmaLeary@aol.com

1979—30th Reunion Alumni from nearby classes are welcome. There will also be a get-together of the 1979 clogging team that toured with David Holt. Contact Ted White ’79 • 828.681.5963 • papersol_efw@msn.com

CLASSES CELEBRATING REUNIONS If your class is listed without any activities and you would like to plan a gettogether, please contact Miranda Hipple at mhipple@warren-wilson.edu or 828.771.2088 so the Ofﬁce of Advancement can support you and help spread the word. 1964—45th Reunion 1974—35th Reunion 1984—25th Reunion 1989—20th Reunion 1994—15th Reunion 1999—10th Reunion 2004—5th Reunion 44

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Return to campus and reconnect with all that made your time here special. Reminisce with classmates, feast on barbecue, kick up your heels square dancing, jog or walk the Homecoming 5K, or simply relax in a rocking chair. Regardless of how you spend your time here, be sure to…

return, reconnect and reminisce.

HOME

COMING 2 0 0 9 October 2-4

2009 Class Reunions

It’s your reunion year if you graduated in 1949, 1954, 1959, 1964, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999 or 2004. If you have questions concerning Homecoming, please email alumni@warren-wilson.edu, call 828.771.2046, or visit warren-wilson.edu.

HAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR LIFE? A new job, a new home, a wedding or birth of a child? Please take a few minutes to let us know about the latest developments in your life by filling out this form. Please print clearly and indicate dates and/or places of events so we get the facts straight. We generally refrain from publishing events that are expected to occur in the future to avoid any mishaps. If you have a picture of an event or child, please send it along. ❏ I would like the news below printed in the Class Notes section of the Owl & Spade. ❏ It is not necessary to print this news in Class Notes. Name (Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms.) ___________________________________________________________________ Class ______________ Street address ______________________________________________________________________ City ______________________ State ____________ Zip _________________ Country __________________ Email _______________________________________ Home phone ________________________ Office phone _______________________ Cell phone _____________________________ Job title _______________________________________ Company _____________________________________________________ Marital status ________________________ Spouse’s name _____________________________________________________________ Class Notes News: Please limit to 50 words or less. Alumni Office reserves the right to edit for space and content. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Please fill out this form and send it to: Alumni Office, Warren Wilson College, CPO 6324, PO Box 9000, Asheville, NC 28815-9000 Fax 828.771.5850 • alumni@warren-wilson.edu

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arren Wilson graduates receive more than a diploma at Commencement. Since 1999, graduating seniors also have received a hemlock sapling that

many choose to plant at a favorite place on campus. Before 1999, each graduate received a Colorado blue spruce. But at the urging of Molly Nicholie ’99, the College decided to begin giving an evergreen that is native to the region. One thing that hasn’t changed: Dean of Work Ian Robertson continues to hand out the graduation trees to graduates as they descend the Commencement stage.

Nonproﬁt Organization U.S. Postage

PA I D Permit #272 Asheville, NC