Io Triumphe! Fall-Winter 2015-16

Io Triumphe!

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF ALBION COLLEGE

FALL-WINTER 2015-16

ASSIGNMENT: EDUCATION Albion experts weigh in, around Michigan and beyond

INSIDE 20 Alumni Climb the Pebble Beach Leaderboard 24 Small Touches Make a Big Impact in the Mountain West 30 Bill Ferguson, ’52: A Daughter’s Revisited Words Say It All

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Contents

FALL-WINTER 2015-16

Features A NEW COURSE TOWARD UNDERSTANDING Professor Kyle Shanton’s ongoing lesson plan in teaching language and culture. Plus, education insights from Briton experts.

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NO ORDINARY LINKS Steve John, ’86, and Sarah Percoulis, ’07, make lasting community connections by hosting one of golf’s premier events: the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

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IN BIG SKY COUNTRY, IT’S 24 THE LITTLE THINGS The personal touch goes a long way in the Mountain West for Bob Flaherty, ’71, Robert Harbaugh, ’98, and Dory Lerew, ’02.

REMEMBRANCE AND REVERENCE 30 Bill Ferguson, ’52, did it all for Albion, dear Albion. Revisited words from his daughter Ellen, ’80, are a perfect way to honor a forever Briton.

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Departments BRITON BITS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS

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ALBIONOTES 35

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COVER PHOTO: VALENTINA G / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

BRITON BITS

An Exemplary Pursuit We just concluded a dynamic and spirited fall semester, already my third semester at Albion. It was one that featured our largest entering class in seven years as well as important and empowering discussion and learning both in and out of the classroom.

Throughout October, The Big Read—the highly successful and competitive National Endowment for the Arts program— was celebrated on campus and in town.

Individually, hundreds of community members and schoolchildren were touched by the power of wizards and dragons and the pure joy of reading, while at a macro level our local school district opened a new line of thoughtful yet difficult discussion about what it might look like in future years.

Around the same time, the College officially launched a strategic planning process, a task most colleges and universities undertake roughly every five to 10 years.

The goal is audacious: to plot a path for becoming America’s exemplary liberal arts college. But as we collaborate over the next year, we are well aware that ideas and plans already exist in our community, on and off campus, that can serve as the basis of an exemplary liberal arts college. As such, we intend to “discover” and sharpen our community’s best ideas rather than invent a new direction for our institution.

living-learning environment where students from disparate majors will work together on big projects that can be put to the test right here in Albion. A remodeled 101 N. Superior St. will house several College offices and a range of programs designed to encourage collaboration with our host community—among them the Build Albion Fellows program as it moves into its second year. And the downtown hotel and expansion of Held Equestrian Center to attract large regional horse shows will have a communitywide impact over the long term, as will our revamped athletic fields, to be named the Davis Athletic Complex. (Please see page 4 for more on these construction projects.)

Our College took bold steps on several fronts this fall. Many more steps—some rather steep, all arm in arm with our greater community— lie ahead in the months, and indeed years, to come. But that is what makes this pursuit so special. And, as Britons, you are joining us in this effort. Together, continued dynamic and spirited times await!

Mauri Ditzler President

MAURI’S MILES

JUST A SAMPLING OF SOME OF PRESIDENT DITZLER’S TRAVELS FROM HIS FIRST 18 MONTHS AT ALBION: 2014 OCT 8-10: Denver NOV 17-19: Washington, DC NOV 20-21: New York DEC 16: Chicago 2015 JAN 5-8: San Diego JAN 15-17: Washington, DC JAN 23-24: Charleston, SC FEB 23-24: Arizona MAR 3-6: Florida MAR 16-18: Florida MAR 19-20: Atlanta MAY 27-29: Boston JUN 9-11: California JUN 15-17: Baltimore JUL 15-16: New York JUL 29: Philadelphia AUG 13-14: Atlanta OCT 1-4: Mackinac Island, MI

Some of those ideas and strengths will be harnessed in a physical sense in 2016 through a number of building initiatives.

Munger Place will reopen as a reimagined

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CONSTRUCTION NEXT 12 MONTHS From the heart of downtown to the outskirts of campus, no fewer than six building projects around the College are taking shape.

While some changes will be dramatic and easy to see, others may be more subtle, though their impact figures to last for years.

The cost of the work is more than $17 million and, according to Vice President for Finance and Administration Jerry White, each project would benefit all of Albion—the community and the College.

BOUTIQUE HOTEL: A spring groundbreaking is planned for a new 72-room hotel on a plot of land at South Superior, South Clinton, West Porter and West Center streets. An $8.4 million project visioned by Saginaw-based Shaheen Development, headed by doctor Sam Shaheen, ’88, the hotel aims to further revitalize the downtown and provide a place for College parents, guests, and visitors to stay during school events. White said the College has made

a $4 million investment from its endowment; a $1 million Michigan Economic Development Corporation grant and private funding are also committed to the project.

101 N. SUPERIOR ST.: The prominently located century-old building, owned and currently being renovated by Shaheen, will be the home of several College programs, but more importantly, White said, it will be a community resource as a downtown accelerator and hands-on learning and collaboration environment for students and community members. Completion is slated for sometime in 2016.

MUNGER PLACE: A recent gift from Gary Noble, ’57, and his wife, Peggy Noble, has made it possible for the former residence hall, closed for the past two years due to structural issues, to return to viability.

Located at 300 E. Michigan Ave., plans are well under way to start work in the spring on a unique “living-learning community” for students, to open next fall. It will also open up another part of the campus and, White said, continue the College’s connection with downtown. “This will start the corridor back to Superior Street,” he said.

Familiar, Yet New Over four years, college students get to know their campus inside out to the point where it is a genuine home away from home. The same can be said for college employees, too, and after five years as part of Albion’s marketing and communications

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team I have a pretty good idea of what this College is all about.

In short, it’s a special place in a special community filled with amazing people (students, faculty, staff, and, of course, alumni) doing amazing things.

DAVIS ATHLETIC COMPLEX: Work will start this spring on revamping the soccer, baseball, and softball fields. The complex, named for donors and longtime Albion residents Bud and Olivia Davis, will reposition the softball and baseball fields and equip them with permanent fences, new dugouts, and press boxes.

Additionally, a new multipurpose artificial-turf field for soccer and lacrosse will be built. “It’s going to bring us into a quality expected of an MIAA school,” White said.

As well this winter, a new athletic surface will be laid down in the Dow Recreation and Wellness Center.

STOCKWELL-MUDD LIBRARY: White said the most dramatic need is updating the heating and air conditioning systems, which won’t be easy since much of it is original work. “That’s a big project,” he said, adding that a timetable hasn’t been set yet, though discussions with architects are under way.

HELD EQUESTRIAN CENTER: Plans are set following the end of the spring semester in May to replace the current main building with a new, larger one. The project will be the first step in making the center a stop on the regional horse show circuit. Future plans include new stables, paddocks, and show buildings.

“We want to host multiple different types of horse shows and we have to build new arenas,” White said. “The long-term goal is to host A-rated hunter/jumper shows, which will bring in 500 horses.”

A significant estate commitment will jumpstart the project.

— Chuck Carlson

I am privileged to move into the editor role of this magazine, recognized the last two years by Albion’s Great Lakes-region peers as one of the best small-college alumni publications. There is a proud tradition to both maintain and build upon, and we will do just that in these pages in the issues to come. Indeed, it already has been great fun.

As always, we welcome your feedback and ideas. Drop us a line at communications@albion.edu.

John Perney

PREPARING FOR TAKEOFF

Transformative Journey

By Jake Weber Home to Nat Turner’s Bible, an Angola Prison guard tower, and even Oprah’s couch, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is set to become one of the National Mall’s most popular attractions next fall. One of its inaugural exhibits will feature the iconic “Mothership” concert prop from George Clinton’s ParliamentFunkadelic band, thanks in part to the work of Mallory Fellows Bower, ’10.

More challenging work came as Bower and the crew prepared the Mothership for restoration.

During its years on the road, most damage had been repaired with tape, leaving residue that couldn’t simply be vacuumed up.

“Chemical solvents can do really good things and really bad things and you can’t undo it.

That added a level of complexity that made me really nervous,” says Bower, whose Albion degree in chemistry was a critical requirement for the internship.

Bower, who received her master’s degree in historic preservation last spring from Eastern Michigan University, is thrilled to play a small part in an important national project while gaining experience for a challenging and competitive career.

“You can feel the sense of anticipation,” she says, noting that while the building won’t open for almost another year, the museum is

University of Michigan book conservator Marieka Kaye needed two years to fix what more than 400 had inflicted on Albion College’s first-edition King James Bible.

H. SCHWAB PHOTO

The recipient of a highly competitive Andrew W. Mellon Foundation internship in conservation, Bower spent much of this fall in Washington, D.C., helping to restore the Mothership to its original glory. She first used a toolkit of brushes to remove residue from surfaces, gathering it with a specialized vacuum as she went.

Before-and-after photos offer hints of the extent of the work performed on the College’s 1611 Bible.

Mallory Fellows Bower, ’10, who double majored in chemistry and history with an English minor, stands in front of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The opening of the Smithsonian’s 19th museum, complete with 33,000 artifacts, will be a 2016 cultural highlight.

already serving the public. “We recently had a program celebrating the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and the passage of the 13th Amendment and the 50-year anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. There were speakers and music and a video projected on the side of the museum.

“It was very emotional and a reaffirming moment in the life of this museum,” she adds.

“I was excited and humbled to be part of such a huge endeavor to conserve and interpret and display this cultural heritage that too frequently has been left out.”

In October, as part of the annual Marilyn Crandell Schleg, ’58, Memorial Lecture, Kaye unveiled to an enthralled Bobbitt Auditorium audience the restored English-language Bible, which dates to 1611 and has been kept at Albion since the 1940s, a donation from 1894 alumnus William Longstreet.

“It’s very rare,” Kaye said of the Bible. “It is a really important book and most special collections try to have a copy of it. It was the first Bible that was legally allowed to be printed in English.”

The College contacted Kaye to restore the deteriorating volume and, with help and sizable donations from the Class of 1963, she was able to painstakingly put the book back together.

Justin Seidler, Stockwell-Mudd Library archivist and special collections librarian, said that while the Bible is back at home, it won’t go on public display. His plan is to develop policies for handling it, while accommodating research appointments to view it, so it can last for a fifth century and beyond.

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BRITON BITS

Albion 24/7

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points—a school regular-season record— by a prolific Britons offense was more than good enough to secure a share of Albion’s 36th Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association football championship and a trip to the NCAA Division III playoffs.

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zombies, ranging from Albion schoolchildren to a department chair’s mother, converged in Upper Baldwin for a Halloween re-creation of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

The performance was part of the Inhabiting Albion humanities lab created by faculty from five academic departments with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Anthropology assistant professor Allison Harnish’s first-year seminar examined the 300-year evolution of zombie lore, including the global phenomenon of the iconic 1983 video. Said Harnish: “One goal of the humanities labs is to bring people together, and we knew we could do that with music and dance.”

Golden Sounds

On December 6, the College’s 50th Lessons and Carols service was celebrated in Goodrich Chapel. An alumni choir gathered for the event, which longtime choir conductor David Strickler first brought to Albion in 1966. Watch the 2015 edition of the cherished tradition at ustream.tv/ channel/albioncollege.

No. 8 404 is Albion’s national ranking for accessible and approachable professors on liberalartscolleges.com (to go with 16th in student satisfaction). No surprise here—we had a pretty good idea judging by the Rate My Professors feedback they read aloud earlier this year.

Find two videos at youtube. com/albioncollege.

is the main area code for Atlanta, Georgia, the hometown of eight firstyear Albion students, seven of whom were high school classmates as well. The octet received a Peach State picnic sendoff from College representatives in August.

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total participants—including a hula-hooping President Ditzler— at the Family Weekend/ Admission Open House dual event, during the City’s Festival of the Forks, made September 19 an especially proud day to be a Brit. (Looking for Homecoming pride? See photos on page 34.)

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KEEPING IT REAL

In a Wi-Fi world, Albion students are plugged in.

Muskegon native Travell Oakes, ’16, is just your typical college student: economics and management major; communications minor; likes to read, play in the band, and socialize both online and offline.

Then again, not many are all-league basketball players, win gold medals in unified volleyball at the Special Olympics, or have tweeted more than 32,000 times.

Above, a sample of social media musings from Oakes, aka The Real T.O.™ on Twitter as @Hoop_Mentality5.

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BRITON BITS

Venerable Venue FORTY YEARS OF AUDITIONS, REHEARSALS, PRODUCTIONS, AND LEARNING AT HERRICK THEATRE.

By Chuck Carlson Royal Ward remembers stepping on the Albion College campus in 1979 and looking at the facility that would be his second home for the next three decades.

The Ray Herrick Center for Speech and Theatre was still relatively new then, having been built just four years earlier in honor of Michigan industrialist Dr. Ray Herrick.

And for Ward, who had come to Albion from Ohio’s Hiram College to teach acting and to direct plays, this was the place to be.

“Absolutely,” Ward said, “That’s one of the reasons I was happy to come here. The whole building was pretty state of the art.”

Now, as it celebrates a 40th anniversary in 2015-2016, the place still has plenty of life left in it.

Through it all, the 180-seat Herrick Theatre, and the smaller and more intimate 150-seat adjoining Herrick Black Box have provided plenty of memories, hosting dozens of plays from modern avant garde writers to Shakespeare and providing countless opportunities to students, whether they were looking to careers in theatre or just wanted a chance to perform on stage to see what it was all about.

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But the theatre has been more than that over the years.

The Albion football team uses it to view game film. It hosts the Mar Lee School spring play every year.

Classes are held here, too.

In short, it has become a focal point for many on campus.

Ward recalls how a colleague, Tom Oosting (who has been a professor emeritus at Albion since 2003 and came to the College in 1970), would talk about how almost daily he’d keep an eye on the construction of the complex.

“He oversaw the building of it,” Ward said, adding how the creation of the black box was a constant concern. “The architects could never get it out of their minds that it was never going to ever be anything more than storage space.

The blueprints said it was storage.

They didn’t understand it was going to be a black box.”

Because of that belief, Ward said, there were only two electrical outlets in the black box/storage room. “We needed a lot of extension cords,” he said.

But two separate theatres did develop, an unusual concept at the time but one which proved to be ideal for a school of Albion’s size.

“I’d come from a school where the theatre was too big for the school, and that can be dispiriting to performers to look out and see so many empty seats,” Ward said.

Ward recalls in the early years alternating shows from the main theatre to the black box, which offered opportunities to use different types of seating.

“We wanted to see the challenges it provided,” Ward said. “We’d choose small-scale plays and put them in the black box. It was an empty room; you can adjust seating the way you want it. You could do a theatre in the round, and we’d have tennis-court seating where the audience faces each other on two sides. The black box theatre idea was fairly new back then, but not anymore. Most every place is doing it now.”

And Herrick continues to be a vital part of the College.

“As things continue to grow, we don’t know where we’re going,” said Mark Hoffland, who is in his 12th year at Albion performing various roles from staff technical director to scenic designer to staff lecturer in theatre and theatre design.

But the journey is half the fun, he said.

Herrick Theatre has enjoyed a fourdecade run of students and faculty developing and honing their craft, most recently for The Fantasticks in November, featuring Brittney DeShano, ’16, Kailey Henderson, ’18, and Zach Dahlmann, ’18. DeShano will direct the first production of 2016, Joined at the Head, February 25-28.

Hoffland directed the Theatre Department’s most recent production, The Fantasticks, in November. Department Chair Robert Starko, who arrived at Albion in 1999, guided this season’s first production, Shakespeare in Hollywood, in October.

Starko will again be at the helm for the April 7-10 production of The White Snake. The season concludes with student workshops April 22-24. For more information or to make reservations from off campus, call 517/629-0344 or email theatre@albion.edu.

Two Minutes with . . .

MANDY DUBIEL

The director of admission has been part of Albion’s enrollment effort for 19 years.

Dubiel: We experienced so many difficult years, and I believe in this place so much, and I know what it’s capable of, and so to finally be able to achieve what we’ve worked so hard for, it was a really special time.

Did anything about the result surprise you?

The growth in one year certainly, but also that we were able to achieve such growth in our outof-state markets—the focus on California, Florida, and Texas and the success we were able to achieve there. And the alumni referral program—150 was our goal for referrals. We ended up with 537 referrals and 128 students who deposited in the freshman class. We also brought in the most diverse class in the time that I’ve been here. So it was this really large class that had all these great attributes to it.

What made the referral program so successful in its first year?

Alums absolutely saw it as a way to help the institution, and once they got the hang of it, they realized how easy it was. I think the other thing that helped was that as a staff, and not just the admission staff but the development staff and others on campus, we reiterated the message when meeting with prospective students. “Do you know anyone that’s gone to Albion? Go back home and talk to them about your visit today.” We worked at it from both angles.

What about Albion stands out right now to prospectives and their families?

At this point there’s a lot of positive energy, and you can feel that when you come to campus.

Last year throughout the whole year there were good things happening at Albion that were in the press and that were out there for people to see, that kept us on people’s radar. And that energy creates a buzz on campus that, when kids come to visit, you can’t re-create.

The Open House during Family Weekend seemed to feature a lot of energy. How do you think the day went?

It was amazing. There were hundreds of families walking around, and our [admission] families that we’re here looking at Albion had the opportunity not only to see that, but then also to ask questions about why your student chose Albion, what did you like… Days like that are really special.

D. LAWRENCE PHOTO

Io Triumphe!: Officially, the College had 456 first-year students this fall, 99 more than a year ago and the largest entering class since 2008. What did this success mean to you personally?

So how does the Class of 2020 effort look so far?

We have knocked it out of the park with referrals and with visits. Both numbers are up over last year, and those are two of the lead indicators for applications, which hopefully will lead to a strong deposit number again.

What is it about admission you love so much?

It’s the interaction with the students. After the Smooth Transitions dinner (hosted by the Office of Intercultural Affairs) that first week of school, that night and that event and being with students, I could never go and work at a big school. You just don’t get that same type of interaction, the relationships you get to build with the students here.

Mandy Dubiel started at the Bonta front desk in August 1996 as individual visit coordinator. Her Albion experience also includes group visits, athletics recruitment, and financial aid.

I recruited Dusty (Beuer, ’05, the football team’s offensive coordinator), and so to get to know him from his senior year in high school, through college, and as a grown man back working at the College—you know, my “kids” are married now and have babies.

My mom teases me because I call them my kids. But it’s a special place, and I wouldn’t imagine doing admission anywhere else.

Interview by John Perney.

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D. LAWRENCE PHOTO

Kyle Shanton stands outside the former Harrington Elementary School in Albion.

As the ever-changing education landscape progresses in the 21st century—be it curriculum debates; funding and enrollment concerns at local, state, and federal levels; respecting and incorporating languages and cultures (Shanton’s focus); or other issues—his recent book, in its own way, “is an attempt to describe the grit of that most important work—teaching and learning—working together, rolling up your sleeves, and getting involved in that grit.”

A NEW COURSE TOWARD UNDERSTANDING Education professor Kyle Shanton pursues an ongoing lesson plan in the teaching of language and culture.

By Michelle Mueller and John Perney It’s been 30 years, but Kyle Shanton still remembers vividly the first days of his first teaching job.

“When I became a teacher in 1985, I was a Spanish-English bilingual teacher and ESL teacher in Nogales, Arizona, in what is commonly referred to as a border town,” he says of his third-grade assignment. “That town was profoundly affected by the Gadsden Purchase [of 1853-54], by which the U.S.-Mexico national border was redrawn. The children I taught were from families who were separated by that—who crossed the border to shop, work, and go to school in Nogales Sonora, or vice versa, so it was both a complex and complicated situation.”

Today, Shanton is in the middle of his ninth year at Albion College, professor and chair of the Education Department and a leader in the continuing conversation about the role and value of language and culture in teaching and learning. Two and a half years ago he was a Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Costa Rica, and he reciprocated by sponsoring at Albion a visiting Fulbright Scholar from the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica for the 2014-2015 academic year.

A Midwest native, Shanton didn’t think much about languages until his first Spanish class in junior high. Later, while attending the University of Iowa on an athletic scholarship, the four-year letter winner in gymnastics found himself becoming more drawn to education, especially bilingual education.

Of course, studying and preparing to go into a field is one thing; actually making the entrance into it is often quite another.

“When I went to teach in Nogales, the first

language I heard when I stepped outside my apartment was Spanish—and I was in the United States of America,” Shanton says. “That experience really made me question what I thought the U.S. was, and rethink the kind of elementary teacher I needed to be in Nogales.

“It made me rethink what the school day was like for my students,” he continues, “because the minute they left the classroom what you’d hear was Spanish, compared to the switching between Spanish and English you heard in the classroom. And for the very taken-forgranted experiences in school—like being in the lunchroom, going to the bathroom, going out for recess, walking to school—I’m hearing Spanish in all of these places, and that was different from where I had grown up.

“It made me think about such ideas as English only, the value of a student’s home language, the role of a national language, what is sovereign in people’s lives, what is sovereign in curriculum, what is sovereign in instruction, what matters when you teach, what matters when kids learn.”

Collaborative Efforts Shanton has honed those thoughts into a wealth of research over the years, a stretch that took him 70 miles north to Tucson, then to Washington state and New Mexico before his Albion arrival. Earlier this year, his research and professional passion coalesced in a volume of essays, for which he served as editor, titled The Most Important Work: Stories of Sovereignty in the Struggle for Literacy, published by University Press of America.

The book, built primarily around three distinct participatory action research studies, attempts to “engage in and try to make sense of the struggle for the place of language and culture in education, while honoring different and shared understandings,” Shanton says.

In each case, made up of three essays, an academic scholar works with a practitioner or community leader on a particular struggle concerning teaching, learning, and literacy. The first essay in each series is a narrative from the perspective of the academic scholar—one project is led by Shanton himself, the others by a pair of esteemed scholar friends. The second piece is a narrative by the practitioner who serves children and engages them in some kind of inquiry together around an issue of language, culture, and education (in one case, a group of fifth and sixth graders explored writing “from the heart”). The third essay is a synthesis of the collaborative effort.

An overall conclusion is also presented to synthesize the most salient findings and reflections across the three series, as well as pose critical questions for further consideration and future inquiry.

The Most Important Work may be scholarly in nature and focused on the Southwestern U.S., but the roads it travels and questions it asks stretch nationwide.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE IN GOVERNANCE, IN BUSINESS, AND IN EDUCATION IN THE U.S.?”

“What I’m trying to do in my research, writing, and teaching is bring attention to a longstanding, very serious question: what is the role of language and culture in governance, in business, and in education in the U.S.?”

Shanton explains. “It’s not just an interesting historical question. It is a relevant and timely question today because of the ongoing shift in demographics.”

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D. LAWRENCE PHOTO

Shanton outside Olin Hall with Susana Murillo Leon, visiting Fulbright Scholar from Costa Rica in 2014-15. “My admiration to the Education Department; they really do amazing projects,” she said. “And I love the fact that they like to involve their students with the community and vice versa, so that they can have the sense of how real life can be out there. I will never forget them.”

Shanton points out that, according to U.S. Census Bureau records from 2000 into 2015, the fastest growing segment of the population under the age of 18 is that which self-identifies as Hispanic, and the number of those who select the racial selfidentification option for “white” is decreasing noticeably.

“In schools the issue becomes, ‘Do we support teaching and learning in more than one language?’ And whether we do or don’t, there are questions about resources,” Shanton argues. “And there is also the question of the right and value to teach and to learn in what is one’s mother tongue.”

‘A Mosaic of Faces’ Questions like these tie into broader themes that go back centuries, before the founding of the U.S. Always simmering, but gaining more steam with the mass immigration of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has

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been the struggle about English and how, for many, it factors into citizenship or even simply being considered an American.

When planning and editing the book, Shanton says he “wanted people to see that while you don’t teach five-year-olds exactly the same way you teach 17-year-olds, the issue of the place of language and culture in teaching and learning is relevant whether they’re five or 17, whether they self-identify as Caucasian, from Michigan with English as their first language, or as Yaquis from the Yaqui nation, where there are three languages: Yoeme [their indigenous language], Spanish, and English.”

That said, “The point of the book is not to say that people should identify their specific group and then draw a boundary around it and not engage with other people,” Shanton emphasizes. “None of the writer/scholars, early-care practitioners, tribal leaders, or I make that argument.”

He acknowledges the difficulty in getting to a place where there can be “agreements that honor the integrity of everyone involved and a sense of sovereignty, a regard for the authority, on what all bring to engage the challenge at hand. Often the way sovereignty around schools gets talked about today comes from this strong sense of competition we have in this national culture, that there’s going to be some ‘winner,’” Shanton says. “People reading the book will see that this is not how we get to a sense of authority, that is, there doesn’t have to be one winner—‘Spanish is going to win,’ or ‘English is going to win,’ or the Common Core curriculum is going to win. We don’t have to think about it in that either-or way.”

The editor explains that his book, which takes a different tack by presenting the research as dialogue, is aimed at preservice and in-service educators, policymakers, and foundation directors who might want to sponsor research. But it can also resonate with anyone who may be intrigued by current challenges—and opportunities— in the classroom.

“I have great respect for what it took for all of us to work together to write this book,” Shanton says.

“And what they wrote about, in my opinion, is really quite beautiful. What the tribal elders [in one of the series] put forward is remarkable, their concern for youth and for their understanding of both their history and who they are today, and moving forward being members of their tribal nation and also being citizens of the U.S. with integrity.

When it comes down to it, “This book is an attempt to describe the grit of that most important work— teaching and learning—working together, rolling up your sleeves, and getting involved in that grit.

All the things that we did on these cases with children and youth, on these projects, and writing about it, they mattered.”

And Albion’s Education Department, recognized nationally in recent years among liberalarts-college teacher education programs, is preparing tomorrow’s classroom leaders to make even more of a difference—starting as student-teachers in the local schools—by bringing the world to campus. The burgeoning relationships in Costa Rica, associate professor Suellyn Henke’s teaching connections on the island of Hawai’i, and the highly successful Sister City relationship between the City of Albion and Noisy-le-Roi and Bailly, France, are but a few examples.

“What we do now more intentionally in the department is pay attention to languages and cultures and why they matter in education,” Shanton says.

“Classrooms are increasingly going to have a mosaic of faces and cultural representations and are going to be largely and primarily influenced by heritages that go back to Mexico, Central America, and South America,” he says. “And that’s just a fact.”

Michelle Mueller is a freelance writer from Albion, Michigan.

GROUP PROJECT Education is about as complex and controversial a topic as it gets. It’s also fluid and prone to the political winds of the time.

But snapshots of insight can be hugely valuable—and a great way to show off just a few of Albion’s fantastic alumni who are making inspiring contributions in the education sector.

MARIDAV / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM PHOTO

Take a field trip with us as Briton educators share expertise and offer various perspectives on topics they believe deserve more attention in the continually evolving “classroom discussion.”

Call it a collage, maybe even a diorama—just don’t call it a book report. —John Perney

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Christopher Wigent, ’79

Jim French, ’90

Executive Director, Michigan Association of School Administrators

Principal, Portage Northern High School, Portage, MI

A ROAD MAP TO THE TOP Brian Whiston, the new state superintendent for public instruction, and the state Board of Education have set a goal for Michigan to be one of the top 10 states in public education in 10 years. I am very supportive of this goal and had the opportunity recently to provide the Board of Education with four ideas on how we might collectively move forward in this direction. These concepts were embraced by public school superintendents from around the state and have been widely accepted by other state associations and agencies.

A Pre-K-to-14 “System” We must continue to strive to ensure that young children are healthy and ready to learn long before they reach kindergarten. This is the responsibility of parents and organizations that provide wraparound services, and requires the full engagement of early childhood educators.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are many great examples of school districts that are providing early/middle college courses and even an associate’s degree to students before they leave high school. While this might not be a fit for every student, it is an opportunity that is on the forefront and will help students take a big step toward being college and career ready by the time they graduate.

An Appropriate Funding Structure The concept of equity for student funding needs to be addressed in an appropriate manner so that all students, regardless of their ZIP code, will be able to receive a quality education with all of the opportunities that only some are currently receiving. The new funding structure must also address poverty and all of the other factors that go into providing a quality education for all students.

The Right Amount of Accountability and Assessment Legislation was recently approved that addresses the ongoing challenge of appropriate educator evaluation and ensures that those who are involved in the education of our children, either directly

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or indirectly, are performing at the highest level of competency. In addition, at all levels, we must continue to carefully address the appropriateness and frequency of the assessment/testing of our students.

Educator Training, Retention, and a Shift in Thinking Discussions must continue with postsecondary institutions that prepare future educators to ensure that the teachers of the future are positioned to address all of the instructional needs of their students. It is imperative that we retain our current quality educators everywhere, but especially in those geographic areas that are the most challenged by poverty, violence, or other factors. In addition, we need to continue to increase the positive news about the great things that are happening in public education. Collectively, we also must work hard to return to the days when there was a higher level of respect for educators, so that we can once again attract the best and brightest to the profession of teaching—and that they will want to stay in Michigan to pursue their careers.

It is clear that moving Michigan forward to become one of the top 10 states in public education is critical if we are going to continue to improve and thrive as a state. MASA looks forward to working with all partners on this important initiative.

Wigent joined MASA as executive director in March 2015. MASA is a professional association serving more than 700 public school superintendents and firstline assistants in 584 school districts and 56 intermediate school districts. Previously, Wigent spent eight years as superintendent of the Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency. Prior to WRESA, he served as superintendent of Calhoun Intermediate School District, Olivet Community Schools, and Dryden Community Schools.

LET’S LOOK LOCAL Where is education in the state of Michigan?

More important, how is society embracing education when it comes to our single most important resource, our children? That question is asked often in education circles, so let me shed a little light on the topic.

Currently, we have lost most local control and have witnessed legislation take over many aspects of our system—from teacher evaluation, administrator evaluation, and school funding to curriculum, calendar, and school effectiveness (accreditation). Those actions all indicate that our educational system is broken.

I have to disagree! Throughout the state we have excellent institutions and instructors who are providing high quality instruction, challenging coursework, and countless opportunities for students to engage in their school community. I see this every day in our building where students thrive; they desire to attend school and engage in their own learning, and it’s refreshing.

Evidently, these opportunities may not be as accessible everywhere, so legislators created the “school of choice” initiative, giving students in underperforming institutions the opportunity to attend a different school district. Therein lies the problem. How are students with limited means able to transport and attend another district when they are already dealing with difficult financial constraints? It seems juxtaposed to say the least.

The initiative was meant to allow students the opportunity to enroll in another school district if they can provide their own transportation.

Also, districts are able to count their nonresident students for state funding. So while we have provided families the choice, we haven’t attacked the real issue of equity.

Regarding teacher evaluation, as a state we have spent countless dollars on the review of several evaluation programs and concluded that four programs when, implemented with fidelity, are effective at enhancing professional practice in the classroom. That was in 2013. We still have not acted as a state to implement any

Abby Moore, ’12 Teacher, American International School Kuwait of the four programs. Instead, the legislature and Department of Education have bantered back and forth about the funding of these programs and their alignment with state testing.

Meanwhile, we are operating in limbo as we try to prioritize district spending of limited dollars.

Until we are able and willing to tackle the local-control issue, we will continue to provide solutions that, on the surface, may address state requirements but do little to help individual families and students. My challenge over the remainder of my career in education is to continue to push legislators to give local school boards and districts the ability to develop curriculum, policy, and evaluation. This will require additional funding, but with a stroke of the pen we can develop legislation and appropriate funding to assist local districts in meeting the needs of their students. That is what our legislators do well; I only ask that they stick to the big picture via funding and let the districts work on the logistics.

French majored in mathematics with a concentration in mathematics education at Albion. He has been the principal at Portage Northern High since 2005 and recently became a member of the Michigan Association of Secondary Principals Region 7 Board of Directors, which advocates for policy and legislative change in education.

CONNECTING FROM HALF A WORLD AWAY While my job search took me overseas, my passion for helping people have a more worldly view has kept me there. I have been teaching elementary-age students for three years at the American International School Kuwait using the Common Core, which I would also be using in a school in the United States. About 60 percent of our students are Kuwaiti, 30 percent are from other Arab countries, and 10 percent are from other parts of the world.

I realize how big the world can seem to my students, but my goal is to make the world a smaller place by helping them and their parents realize the similarities we all hold as humans. As teachers, we have a duty to teach our students about more than just what happens inside a classroom. I have connected my first graders with classes around the world.

They have communicated with other students in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ethiopia, and the connections they’ve made have helped them see how similar they are. Something as simple as the same clock has awed them! With these connections we can slowly break down the barriers between cultures and countries.

During Skype calls, one of my favorite things to do is to let the students wonder. I don’t steer them in the direction I want them to go. They just ask what they are truly wondering about.

My favorite question to date was from a student at Coburn Elementary in Battle Creek: “Do you have doors?” Learning about someone’s home, family, or school and making that connection will stick with a young person a lot longer than rote memorization, maybe even for a lifetime.

Connecting a classroom does not take a teacher who is working or living overseas. It has to start within the teacher. Something needs to spark that teacher’s interest to learn about other cultures. Once the spark has been made, teachers can learn right along with their students.

When people hear that I am teaching in the Middle East, they often assume I am working through the U.S. government. They probably think this because why else would anyone live there? These are the kind of assumptions I am working to get rid of as an international teacher. The more I learn about other cultures and religions, the more I learn about my own. It is important for all children and adults around the world to make connections and break down the barriers between us.

Moore, a native of Battle Creek, Michigan, majored in history with an elementary education concentration at Albion. Not long after graduation, she moved to Kuwait to substitute-teach and live with her older sister and brother-in-law, and has been teaching there ever since.

WHEN PEOPLE HEAR THAT I AM TEACHING IN THE MIDDLE EAST, THEY OFTEN ASSUME I AM WORKING THROUGH THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. THEY PROBABLY THINK THIS BECAUSE WHY ELSE WOULD ANYONE LIVE THERE?”

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Kristina Jelinek, ’05 Administrator, New York City Department of Education

EQUIPPING TODAY’S TEACHERS FOR TOMORROW Recently, it’s been difficult to encounter a news source that doesn’t warn against, or at least question, the rigor of the Common Core State Standards. As an educator in New York City, my response is, “What about the rigor that will face today’s students as they become adults and tomorrow’s decision makers?” While there is plenty of debate about the merit of the Common Core in general and significant misinformation about the intention of the standards themselves, my preference is to focus on my responsibility as an educator, and our moral imperative as a society to prepare today’s students for the ever-changing world that awaits them.

The Common Core State Standards do not dictate curriculum or testing, but they do provide a road map for instruction that promotes critical thinking and problem-solving abilities in students regardless of where they attend school. As we look to the future, who can argue that today’s students, who can access information at the drop of a hat, won’t need critical thinking and problem-solving skills in droves as they reach adulthood?

There is no doubt that schools today face increasing complexity. In massive districts like New York City, as well as in much smaller districts like my hometown of Suttons Bay and the town of Albion, which we Brits hold so dearly, schools are asked to meet the needs of increasingly diverse student populations with what seems like ever more limited resources.

This requires creative problem solving from adults, which isn’t so different from the critical thinking and decision-making skills that the standards are trying to promote in students.

In order to meet this increasing complexity, teachers and other education professionals need to be armed with appropriate tools to meet the demands they face in order to

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create conditions for students to meet the challenges they will encounter as adults. In New York City, we are doing this by shifting the conversation from one of “professional development,” which brings to mind in-service days where students stay home so that teachers can sit in workshop after workshop, to that of “professional learning,” where teachers are actively engaged in ongoing, job-embedded practices that promote learning relevant to their students’ needs. These practices—guided by authentic learning processes where teachers plan, implement, reflect and adjust, and share lessons learned—seek to help all educators become more capable in their work and shift their own thinking first in order to promote increased skills and outcomes for students.

In fact, this kind of thinking isn’t brand new: I hope we can all think back to at least one teacher whose constant ability to try something and reflect on it created a classroom environment where questions were welcomed and learning was contagious. Thus, by using a common language around professional learning, and seeing it as an expectation rather than an option, we can ensure that all students have access to the kinds of teachers and schools where this work is happening day in and day out.

Education is, and likely always will be, a political issue. That in itself isn’t the problem, as political issues should help promote healthy debate and continuous improvement. When we focus on the politics over the improvement in the discussion, however, we lose sight of what matters: helping today’s students acquire the knowledge and skills that promote problem solving and critical thinking. As a society, it is our responsibility to promote these skills in all our students, regardless of location, as they will be the leaders of a world we can only begin to imagine.

Jelinek, a native of Suttons Bay, Michigan, double majored in anthropology/ sociology and Spanish at Albion with concentrations in human services and public policy and service.

She holds education master’s degrees from Mercy College and Columbia University. Now in her 10th year in the New York City Department of Education, Jelinek is currently interim acting assistant principal at the 30th Avenue School in Queens.

Matthew Randazzo, ’00 CEO, National Math + Science Initiative, Dallas, Texas

UNLOCKING POTENTIAL ON A BROAD SCALE The quality of our students’ education is critical to the well-being of our communities and our economy. Given what is at stake, it’s of little surprise that the national conversation about how to educate our children and improve our schools has been heated. However, my years of experience in education reform and advocacy have taught me that to make real progress, we must focus not on the politics, but on scaling solutions that work.

I have been fortunate in my career to work with organizations committed to providing the best educational opportunities for students, regardless of their ZIP code. And in that time, a differentiating factor has been a focus on datadriven solutions, particularly for programs that aim to improve college and career readiness.

Through our work at the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), I know firsthand how teachers, school administrators, and hardworking students are collaborating to defy expectations and make dreams of college and career a reality.

This fall, NMSI had the exciting opportunity to participate in the launch of a national movement called Think It Up. Spearheaded by the Entertainment Industry Foundation, the team that created Stand Up to Cancer, Think It Up calls on everyone from business leaders and Hollywood celebrities to local community members across the country to celebrate the power of learning. The initiative kicked off with a live telecast, aired simultaneously on all major networks, to highlight innovative, proven education programs in action. With so much discussion these days about what is broken in education, and who is to blame, it’s refreshing to showcase programs that are creating positive outcomes for young people.

Among the success stories featured on Think It Up was that of IDEA San Benito, one of seven IDEA Public Schools in south Texas

participating in NMSI’s College Readiness Program, which seeks to increase the number of students participating and succeeding in rigorous college-level coursework in math, science, and English, while expanding access to traditionally underrepresented students. Why? Because data show that students who take Advanced Placement and similar courses are more likely to enroll and succeed in college.

Improving student outcomes motivates our work, but it’s also about the lives we affect. The teachers, principals, students, and parents I meet at our partner schools inspire me every day. IDEA San Benito sits just 15 minutes north of the Mexico border in a predominantly lowincome community, yet the students there go on to graduate in remarkable numbers. We must continue to elevate these success stories and support the dedicated educators and students who are creating a brighter future for us all.

NMSI’s College Readiness Program started in Dallas, and has expanded to more than 750 schools nationwide, impacting more than a million students, because it’s working. Ours is just one example of many across the country that prompt us to rethink our approach to helping students reach their potential. Now, as a nation, we must look to these model programs and determine how to bring them to thousands of other communities in need.

MAKE IT MAGICAL “If we want children to be involved, you have to make learning exciting,” says retired longtime Albion educator Mae Ola Dunklin, who earlier this year joined the College’s Board of Trustees.

“To read a book, and sit down, and just say we’re going to discuss the book, you’re not going to excite students.”

But you don’t need a wizard’s spell to inject excitement into learning, either. Teachers, highly skilled in their craft, do just that every day. But Albion did have in its possession a special potion of sorts this fall. Through the efforts of dozens in the community (and captained by English professor Jess Roberts), The Big Read enchanted Albionians of all ages throughout October.

As one of 75 towns nationally to receive 2015 funding for the National Endowment for the Arts program, administered by Arts Midwest, Albion celebrated the joy of reading through events ranging from a kickoff parade to book discussions to marquee visiting speakers and more—all centered around the 1968 science fantasy classic A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Dunklin (pictured below), an Albion Big Read committee member, talked about the festivities and what they have meant for Albion schoolchildren and the community as a whole in a recent edition of Town and Gown, Albion College’s podcast series exploring the relationship between colleges and their communities in the 21st century. Listen at albioncollege.fm/dunklin and read more about The Big Read at albionbigread.org.

Randazzo, who was named CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative in August 2015, is generously providing support to the Build Albion Fellows Program, where admitted Albion College students who reside in the Albion Public Schools district and attended APS for a minimum of three years are eligible to apply for a fellowship in which the College covers four-year tuition, room, and board costs in exchange for work and service that becomes increasingly tied to a student’s career interests.

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Margaret Leiby, ’09

Wynter Pitts, ’14

Pre-K teacher, KIPP Explore Academy, Houston, Texas

Corps member, Teach For America

EARLY BOOSTER When I graduated from Albion in 2009 I never could have anticipated that my career path would lead to early childhood education. My ultimate blurry goal was to work for a nonprofit that supported women’s rights in some nebulous capacity. Yet everything that I have done since Albion has contributed toward a passion I have discovered for prekindergarten and my unwavering belief that it is a crucial piece of the education puzzle.

After Albion I spent a year in Dresden, Germany, on a Fulbright Scholarship working as an English teaching assistant for grades 5-12.

I had also applied to Teach For America during my senior year and had been able to defer so that I could go to Germany. While in Germany I received my new placement for TFA: prekindergarten with a Head Start program in Las Vegas. I was skeptical. I had almost no experience around young children, and I was committing to teaching a classroom full of three- and four-year-olds.

While my first four months were exhausting, as they are for any first-year teacher, I found myself realizing as I came home for Christmas that I actually really enjoyed teaching. By the end of my two-year commitment in Las Vegas I knew that I wanted to stay in the classroom, but I wanted to live in a different city. My search for a new job teaching prekindergarten led me to KIPP Explore Academy in Houston, where I helped found the prekindergarten 4 (PK4) program. I am now in my fourth school year here and third as grade-level chair. I am also writing the PK4 oral-language curriculum for the KIPP Houston Public School district.

So why is prekindergarten so important? In 1995, University of Kansas researchers Betty Hart and Todd Risley published a study calculating that by the time children from professional/higher-income families enter kindergarten they have heard about 32 million more words than their peers from

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low-income families. That is a staggering statistic. Vocabulary and oral language are the building blocks for literacy. If a child has low vocabulary and limited exposure to complex sentences, it makes learning—pulling words off a page, building meaning of those words— extremely difficult.

WHEN PROBLEM SOLVING GETS PERSONAL

In 2007, Dr. Corinne Eisenhart of the Foundation for Literacy published research comparing the future reading levels of kindergarten students with high oral-language skills to students with low oral-language skills.

The students who had low oral-language skills in kindergarten were, on average, five years behind their high oral-language peers in reading-age level by the time they got to middle school. This means that if we want to fix the disparity in reading abilities in older grade levels, we have to start at the foundation, because the majority of students from low-income households entering our schools are already behind by the time they enter kindergarten. Early childhood education exposes children to a broader vocabulary and provides opportunities to use language.

There is a lot of recent research that examines the relationship between social and emotional learning, and how this type of learning in particular can foster positive correlations within academics. While teaching, I’ve encountered many of these experiences in which my students’ social and emotional state, once handled properly, led to transferable skills that assisted them not only in their studies in subjects across the curriculum, but in life experiences outside of school as well.

Prekindergarten is certainly not a panacea.

Students need to receive quality instruction every year. But pre-K can greatly strengthen the education base and positively impact the trajectory of students from low-income households. If states and the federal government are serious about giving every child in the United States a high-quality education, then there needs to be significantly more funding for it during early childhood.

Leiby (top left), a native of Lansing, Michigan, majored in German and women’s studies at Albion and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She received her master’s degree in education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2012.

After completing my first year as a teacher in urban education, I’ve come to the realization that education is a fascinating yet complex subject. Just like the ocean and its entirety, there are so many layers. Social and emotional learning, for example, is a topic that needs to be included in the discussion.

I can recall a time in which a young man had a physical and verbal altercation with a classmate because of a disagreement regarding a group project. This disagreement affected more than just their academics; it altered their respect for one another. In this situation, both students struggled with managing their emotions and the completion of their assignment in the time frame it was given.

So after they were sent to the office to receive their demerit, I had them sit with me to reflect on the actions that led to their consequences.

I felt this was crucial because I wanted them to comprehend, as well as acknowledge, that there are more suitable approaches when it comes to conflict, such as quarrels.

FOR LOVE OF THE GAME The purpose behind this intervention was to give my scholars a space to critically think about their actions and produce alternate solutions for future disputes in the classroom and beyond. If students aren’t able to effectively understand and manage their emotions, illustrate empathy toward others, and generate and continue positive interactions (including differences) with their classmates and educators, then how can we as educators demand exceptional grades or even test scores?

Beverly Hannett-Price, ’58, is a Detroit Country Day School legend, only— unlike that noun’s primary definition—the English teacher is the real deal and still going strong 46 years after becoming the first woman to lead a DCDS Upper School classroom.

An old African proverb states that “Knowledge is like a garden; if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.” Just like a gardener would prepare the soil for planting, it is our responsibility as parents, educators, and community members to prep students’ minds by creating opportunities for self-discovery and self-management. We have to remember that we are not building robots; we are preparing the minds of human beings. A healthy balance of social and emotional learning in conjunction with academics is critical for overall success within the lives of our scholars.

Kyle Henry, ’12, also teaches English on the Beverly Hills campus. He is in his first year in the Middle School. Unlike for Hannett-Price, who always knew she would be a teacher (fourth generation in her family, to be exact), education as a profession was not on Henry’s radar until an unexpected experience leading a Ford Institute class discussion contributed toward a change in course (ah, the liberal arts).

Pitts, a native of Detroit, Michigan, majored in organizational communication studies and minored in French. She is in the middle of her Cleveland, Ohio-based Teach For America assignment.

The two, in different innings of their careers, met for lunch in the cafeteria on a beautiful fall Friday, looking fondly back at Albion (each student-taught in Albion Public Schools) and touching on the forever wonders of teaching.

Below are snippets of a much longer and storyfilled conversation that can be found online at www.albion.edu/iotriumphe.

ON THE EXCITEMENT OF TEACHING: BHP: I’ve missed five days of school in 58 years… [and] I’ve never had a bad day teaching. I’ve never walked out of the building wishing I were doing anything else in my life but teaching high school students. Love the age, love the enthusiasm… I have a lot of energy, they have a lot, and if we can combine it and direct that positive energy, you can create magic in a classroom.

KH: I get up every day, and I’m tired, and I come here, and I don’t think twice about it.

Could I do other things? Sure. But nothing is

as fun, and intimate, and humiliating, and true, and human as this job.… It’s the most human profession I can think of.

ON WHAT IS BEING OVERLOOKED IN THE EDUCATION CONVERSATION TODAY: BHP: My issue is that we in America have lived “Bigger is better.” And in education, that is not the case. Bloomfield Hills has consolidated two large Class A high schools into one high school.… At Country Day, we won’t go over 700 in the high school. We know what’s going on in this school.… Bigger is not better in American education. We’ve got to rethink how we are grouping our students in schools.

KH: We’re a global society, increasingly more global. I think about students in 20 years and what globally connected really means.… We’re so “connected,” but I also see the adverse effect with students, where they become a lot more, almost introverted, in the way in which they compose themselves socially. I’d like to see a lot more connectedness, not just virtually but in real time.

ON THEIR FAVORITE BOOK TO TEACH: KH: I would say The Catcher in the Rye.… I have read that book every year since I was 16, and every year I see it a little bit differently.

I used to hate Holden Caulfield; now I love him.… I’ve had students who have read it in my class who loathed it, and then they come back a year later, and now it’s their favorite book. I read it every year because it grows with me, just as literature should. I think it’s a testament to how literature will always be relevant.

BHP: My favorite is The Scarlet Letter.

My ambition is to get my students excited about reading that book, as difficult as the vocabulary, the sentence structure is.… The College Board claims it’s the number-one book all students going to college should read. And I take it as a challenge, to have my students so passionate and connected to that 1850 novel that they will cheer at parts of the story!

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NO ORDINARY LINKS

By Tess Haadsma, ’15

The annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am might be famous for its stunning scenery and A-list celebrities, not to mention the world’s top golfers, but tucked away from the dramatic ocean views, just adjacent to the massive 16,000-square-foot clubhouse, is a small cluster of double-wide trailers that can be found buzzing with activity well before sunrise and late into the night, long after the crowds have left the renowned Pebble Beach Golf Links.

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Spectators at home won’t see these trailers on TV, and even the players might not notice them right away. Yet coming and going from these trailers all day are Tournament Director and CEO Steve John and Program Officer Sarah Percoulis, along with the rest of the staff of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, the California nonprofit organization responsible for staging the tournament and disbursing the proceeds to local community entities.

And while the weeks leading up to and during the February tournament are certainly the busiest, preparing for the event and awarding grants to local organizations is a year-round job for both John and Percoulis. A year-round job that allows them to do the kind of work they’re truly passionate about: improving the quality of life for people in their community.

MONTEREY PENINSULA FOUNDATION PHOTOS

Through dedication and teamwork hosting one of golf’s premier events—and perhaps a stroke or two of fate— Steve John, ’86, and Sarah Percoulis, ’07, are making lasting community connections in California.

The 18th-hole gallery and the dramatic eighth hole (far left) at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

A DRIVING FORCE

THE SWEET SPOT

An avid golfer for most of his life, it’s no surprise that John eventually ended up in the business of managing golf tournaments. He was a member of the Albion College golf team coached by Mike Turner—league champion in 1983, league MVP a year later, and a 2001 Athletic Hall of Fame inductee.

Percoulis completed her Albion studies not long before the start of the recession, when the job market for recent college graduates was anything but lucrative. Graduate school was always on the radar, possibly even law school, but after a semester abroad she became interested in doing something more international in scope—she just wasn’t sure what.

John moved out west to Santa Cruz, California, right after graduation, but golf or grant-making wasn’t on his mind at the time. Rather, it was growing his family’s car dealership enterprise, which he did for 25 successful years. Still, John learned early on that he was drawn to philanthropy, and went out of his way to ensure that his business did all it could to impact the local community.

“I built the dealership and probably could have kept a few more dollars and not shared it with the community, but I just didn’t think it was the right thing to do,” John says. “I knew if you genuinely support your community, you feel better at night. I have no regrets.”

After retiring in 2010, John, who had participated in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am a number of times and had developed relationships with the Monterey Peninsula Foundation (MPF) board, was asked by a member if he knew of anyone who might be interested in the tournament director and CEO position. John, who describes himself as being “not very good at retirement,” responded that yes, he did—himself. In December 2011, John officially teed off the newest round of his career.

Luckily, her advisor, French professor Dianne Guenin-Lelle, offered a suggestion that would set Percoulis on her course: an international studies program in Monterey that seemed right up her alley.

“And so I came out here, studied, and then found out that my passion really was nonprofit work on an international level, but I didn’t know if I wanted to go away,” she says. “So I got an internship and found out that foundations exist—these organizations with money give it out to nonprofits to do their work, and I was like, ‘I really want to do that!’ And so I found this internship at the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, and that just really guided me.”

During her MPF internship, Percoulis saw just how far a foundation’s reach can be in its surrounding community. Afterward she returned to Michigan for a brief period, working at the Battle Creek Community Foundation, before eventually returning to MPF as program officer in 2012, where she reviews all incoming grant applications and makes recommendations to the foundation’s grant committee.

Despite their different paths to MPF, John and Percoulis agree that Albion was a crucial starting point, teaching them the importance of keeping an open mind and exposing oneself to a wide range of people, places, and ideas.

“I wouldn’t be here unless people had shown me the way or provided me with opportunities.

Honestly, I would not be here,” says Percoulis, adding that her Albion experience served as “a trajectory on what I wanted to do. Albion gave me a good foundation, but studying abroad and a lot of the liberal arts classes there opened my perspective.”

Similarly, John believes the exposure to his surrounding community in Santa Cruz inspired him to become genuinely involved in helping to improve the lives of others. He specifically recalls a time during his early years in the area when he became distinctly aware of the hardships and less-than-ideal living conditions many people faced—including those who worked at his car dealership.

“I think that hit me pretty close to home because we had employees who were living there,” John says. “Realizing, you know, they’re working at the dealership, living in that environment, which just isn’t good.

Sometimes there’s a disconnect; we don’t really realize that right here in our own backyard that that exists. But it’s real and it’s not going anywhere, and so you have to do your best, take your part, and make a genuine effort to get involved.”

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Sarah Percoulis, ’07, and Steve John, ’86.

A TRADITION OF GIVING The Pebble Beach Pro-Am is a tournament rich in history, its story beginning in 1937 when singer and actor Bing Crosby organized a clambake and golf outing with some of his friends to raise money for a local youth charity. It didn’t take long for the event to gain popularity, and it soon became a social and sporting highlight among athletes, celebrities, and local community members.

While it has certainly grown in size and stature over the decades, at its core it remains the same event: a pro-am fundraiser for the local community. And, according to the Albion duo, that is why it remains so successful.

John (center) presents a check for $250,000 in 2013 to the Cabrillo College Foundation. This year’s Monterey Peninsula Foundation grant-making activity exceeded $9 million, benefiting organizations throughout Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties in central California.

sure everything happens behind the scenes,” John said. “You have no idea how many crazy things happen. There are always disasters, but as long as it doesn’t come to the surface, to the spectators or our players, we don’t care.”

In fact, just two years ago, John himself was part of a near-disaster, when he choked on a piece of cheese at a tournament event. Clint Eastwood, the foundation’s board chairman, performed the Heimlich maneuver, saving John’s life. It’s a story the MPF staff doesn’t let John easily forget.

“It started from the beginning as being charitable. It was about Bing bringing a few of his close friends together to play golf and give back to charity,” Percoulis says. “And it’s gone on for so long, it’s really ingrained in the culture—from the board to our volunteers to our staff and everyone in the community.”

The foundation also hosts the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, a September event that pairs Champions Tour players with top junior golfers and other amateurs. For all the tournament-week chaos, though, the undertaking is wholly worthwhile, given its impact over the rest of the year: In 2015, the Monterey Peninsula Foundation’s philanthropic footprint was $9.1 million, encompassing more than 200 grants to local organizations ranging from art museums to health clinics to educational organizations, and everything in between.

“The volunteers all take great pride in what we do for the community and they’re always asking how much have we given out, what have we done. And you know, they play a key role,” John says. “A lot of them will take their vacation—their yearly vacation—to come to work the tournament at Pebble Beach.”

“And that’s the reward,” John says. “It really is the most rewarding part of what we do. The golf is great. Running a golf tournament is really fun, but you know, put it into perspective. When you’re able to give someone a check that’s so, so meaningful and it’s going to be used in such proper ways, that’s what it’s about.”

With more than 2,000 volunteers, 300-plus players, and over 30,000 spectators on site each day during the tournament, there is plenty of work to keep John, Percoulis, and their foundation colleagues busy.

ATOP THE COMMUNITY LEADERBOARD

“We arrive in the dark and leave in the dark, and in between just work really, really hard to make

22 | Albion College Io Triumphe!

MPF differs from most foundations in that it receives all of its funds directly from the two golf tournaments and does not need to depend on donor funds. It’s a luxury, to be sure, and it gives the foundation more freedom to fund a wide variety of projects.

“Overall, we fund everything from basic needs to arts and culture to youth initiatives, and we did some outside-the-box grants recently,” Percoulis says. “A lot of funders have very strict guidelines because either their donors have a very narrow focus, or they just have limited funds so they have to narrow it down. For us, we are generalists. We fund everything.”

John remembers an MPF initiative a few years ago that provided the local police department with body cameras—a cutting-edge practice at the time. Percoulis recalls an effort with a local school district in which MPF gave a turnaround school nearly $700,000 to fund a program called Imagine College, which aims to develop a college-going culture.

Beyond the dollars is the gift of time that goes into developing relationships with grantees.

For two Albion alumni a generation apart, coincidence may have brought them together as colleagues on the central California coast, but through the stories they have seen and heard in just a few years, John and Percoulis know they are in exactly the right place.

“What Sarah and I are involved with is so worthwhile and it affects so many people in our communities,” John says. “We’re really extremely proud of the work we do as a small organization— we’re very effective. And it’s because of the support we receive from everybody.

“You know, in nonprofit work, there’s not a lot of money,” he adds, “but you get it back in your heart and you feel so good for what we’re doing day in and day out, knowing that we’re changing lives.”

Tess Haadsma graduated in May with a degree in English-Creative Writing.

TAKE NO MULLIGANS DUFFERS, BEWARE: USGA RULES CHAIRMAN MARK NEWELL, ’77, IS A GUARDIAN OF THE GAME.

Actually, let’s try that again: Mark Newell describes himself on the golf course as “just your ordinary recreational hacker,” but there is so much more that he brings to the game than his ability to drive, pitch, and putt for 18 holes.

Cup (contested for the first time in Asia) between the United States and International team, and was in Albion for board meetings when he sat down with Chuck Carlson to talk about the game he loves so much.

Newell is in his third year as rules chairman of the United States Golf Association, which in cooperation with the other ruling body, the R&A in Scotland, writes and interprets the very particular, and almost obsessively followed, code that has governed the game since rules were first written down more than 270 years ago.

Can you speak to the changes that will take effect in 2016?

The USGA and R&A revise the rules every four years, and the new rulebook for 2016 was announced in October. A leading change is the prohibition against anchored strokes, which especially affects putting. That was a very publicized and controversial rule change where we took a lot of input from the public and we explained it in depth.

STEFANO T / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM PHOTO

A Livonia, Michigan, native, Newell graduated summa cum laude from Albion with economics and political science degrees, then earned both law and master of public policy degrees from Harvard University in 1981.

From 1983-2011, he was an attorney at the international law firm of Latham and Watkins, and he has lived in the Washington, D.C., area for 35 years. In 2007 he joined the Albion College Board of Trustees, and in 2013 he chaired the committee that eventually selected Mauri Ditzler as the College’s 16th president.

A longtime lover of golf, Newell joined the USGA executive committee five years ago as its volunteer general counsel. In mid-October, he had just returned from the biennial Presidents

So what was the first rule of golf?

(Laughing) There were 13 original rules of golf, but I think the most basic one was “Play your ball as it lies.”

What do you like best about your role with the USGA? I love golf and I’m a longtime student of the history of the game. It’s a fascinating sport, and having a chance to participate in the writing of the rules—which are critical to defining what the game is about—is interesting to me. The first rules were written in 1744 at a club in Scotland, and ever since then people have been revising them and arguing about what the game should be, and now I’m lucky to be a part of that process.

It seems that in every sport, competitors are looking for ways to get around the rules

to gain an advantage. But you don’t see that in professional golf. Why? It’s certainly true that respect for the rules has been part of the ethos of golf for centuries. It’s a game of honor and integrity, and golfers are expected to call penalties on themselves and follow the rules. One of the reasons that’s been maintained is that, unlike other major sports that are played with an umpire or a referee whose job is to identify violations of the rules, golf is almost entirely played without referees. That helped develop the idea that you really need to call penalties on yourself, rather than hope to get away with something or hope the referee doesn’t see it. It’s a wonderful characteristic that makes golf special and unique.

You were the chair of the College’s presidential search committee. What is your assessment of Dr. Ditzler so far?

I think Mauri is doing a phenomenal job and all the feedback I’ve heard from every constituency—faculty, students, alumni, administration, and staff—confirms that. He focused immediately on the key challenges facing the College, especially enrollment, and developed and implemented strong plans and has achieved some great results already.

More important is the spirit of teamwork and collegiality that he has brought to the campus.

He has a fabulous ability to connect with people, to listen to them, to talk with them, to pull them together and to lead them. That has created a great sense of enthusiasm and momentum. We chose him among many good candidates believing he had these qualities, and he has absolutely lived up to those expectations.

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IN BIG SKY COUNTRY, The personal touch goes a long way for three Albion alumni in the Mountain West.

24 | Albion College Io Triumphe!

SNEHIT / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM PHOTO

IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS

C. FLAHERTY, ’70, PHOTO

Bob Flaherty, ’71: Treating People, Not Problems

By John Perney “My Albion experience was one of the defining experiences of my life,” says Dr. Bob Flaherty from his home base in the Treasure State of Montana. For the better part of 35 years, Flaherty has been one of Bozeman’s unsung jewels, between his family medical practice and molding future doctors’ minds in medical school.

He’s transitioning now, having retired from his practice in August. But as he becomes a bit more involved in Montana State’s medical school (“The Hippocratic Oath talks about teaching, and I take that to heart”), Flaherty can’t help but refocus on his own education, particularly his undergraduate days.

“I went to Albion, and it helped me mature as an individual and as a thinker,” he says, adding that people he met in admission and financial aid “were open to helping a Detroit firefighter’s son get into Albion and pay for it.”

A couple of generations later, the importance of the college years for future physicians hasn’t changed much, in Flaherty’s view.

To be effective, they need to be well-rounded. “[Students] have to learn to communicate, in speaking and in writing. They have to learn how the world works—they need

Bob Flaherty near his home in Bozeman. In the background is the Bridger Range, where Bob and his wife, Carol, enjoy hiking and cross-country skiing.

to learn about economics and government,” he says. “They need to learn from the great, and notso-great, literature. It even helps them to learn about different religions. And I can’t think of a better way to do that than at a small liberal arts college, and Albion is the paragon of that.”

Inspired by the likes of professors Robert Dininny (chemistry, Flaherty’s major) and Richard Mortensen (biology)—coauthoring a paper with the latter, when undergraduate research was still quite rare—Flaherty pursued a combined M.D./Ph.D. program at Washington University in St. Louis, only to find that patient care was his true passion. In 1975, medical degree in hand, he headed west, first to Salt Lake City for his residency, and then to Bozeman, joining a Utah colleague’s family practice and realizing with his wife, Carol (Gibson) Flaherty, ’70, that this was the place for them.

“I realized I really liked the West and the mountain areas,” Flaherty says.

And about that passion?

“I just really enjoy taking care of people and helping people get better,” he says. “It became pretty clear to me pretty soon on that this was really a calling, a powerful feeling that I had to practice medicine.”

That calling naturally extended beyond his office door. For a number of years in a variety of venues, Flaherty has given his time toward health care for the area’s homeless population. But it was one of his more recent volunteering efforts, providing the most basic of medical care Wednesday evenings to visitors at Bozeman’s Warming Center, that drove him to pull an all-nighter at the computer during the holiday season last year.

“After a particularly profound and gratifying night, I came home and I woke up at 2 o’clock in the morning, and I was compelled to write about the experience,” Flaherty says. “It was that powerful. I wrote until 6 o’clock.

It was just a story that needed to be told.”

To his surprise, soon after he “tossed it over the transom” to

The Wall Street Journal, his favorite newspaper expressed interest in publishing his piece (the paper receives thousands of unsolicited submissions annually). Still, while seeing his article in print was a bona fide thrill—not to mention the responses and donations it generated—the reward of his ongoing Warming Center work is something else altogether.

“It’s a profound experience,” Flaherty says. “It’s a whole different level of health care with an entirely different population than most physicians get to work with.

“They are my friends,” he continues. “It’s amazing. I’ll see them on the street, and they wave at me and recognize me and stop to talk. It’s an entirely different way than most people would interact with them, if they don’t avoid them.”

The Cross Country column on the top of page 26 was originally published in the January 17-18, 2015 weekend print edition of The Wall Street Journal. It is reprinted here by permission of the author.

Fall-Winter 2015-16 | 25

The Wall Street Journal, January

17-18, 2015 - By Bob Flaherty

melessness Diagnosing the Many Routes to Ho

14, “I’m Trina,” she says. About ER It keeps a lot of people out of the y, fleeting eye contact. Long skinn I don’t ask, but with familiarity . there work ls Ange and the hospital. eye. “Do le in dark hair worn over her left and trust bits of their history bubb Sharon had a big crack d, ng you know what this is?” Embarrasse up. Divorce, lost jobs, disappeari which ago, s week few a heel her drugs, to show a twohusbands or wives, alcohol, with she pulls the hair away treated y ssfull succe we le. temp are left on the mental illness. These homeless ent and a centimeter mass , I less some antibiotic ointm I ask if I can touch it. “Yeah often different from the home smart polyethylene dressing. Clearly or r Yorke inflamed. I shine not New soft, The is in It guess.” lf you read about herse rs armo she ted, glows. many and educa a light into one side of it and it hear about on NPR. Certainly, many with profanity. has it been there, Trina?” have hit hard times, but just as a professional “How long ibes descr She want .” prefer to live off the grid. They growing up “Forever, I guess They father and mother, I tell her it’s a fluid-filled sack most of all to be left alone. . She skiing and horseback riding cal politi can be removed for and ren cyst child a r ent called are not poste speaks proudly of her knee ligam Sudden eye contact, assumptions. a privileged pretty easily. of em embl an r, repai “Really?”

Shah, a regular, says he is from been wide hopeful brown eyes. youth. No clues to why she has anical I tell her. CHP might be ,” “Sure er Mumbai and has a mech Anoth r. a regular here this winte refer ana Seeing patients at able to do it, or they could engineering degree from Mont do it and ry. “What’s mystery. is her to a doctor who could ht tonig Bozeman’s Warming Center, State University. A myste me with ing Work hurries nt would take Medicaid. Trina with that cough, Shah?”

Tiffany, a first-year medical stude I find that people’s hardtting to say thanks in “I have had a cold for a few days, University. She is away, forge State ana the Mont ’t tive at aren forma love I .” trans often luck stories and the cough is getting worse a line her excitement. The checking blood pressure for “Any power of a plan. is his clipped and musical accent. ure press expected ones. blood the me of men, but My assistant, Tiffany, will soon iful hot flashes or chills?” “No.” “Let y not the point—a friendly, beaut enter the world of 21st-centur take a listen.” is a rare and cares who n woma g ds, youn medicine: electronic health recor Harsh lung noises. Bronchitis, for them. ience exper ant and pleas Harvey is a big man, friendly and not ostic probably asthma, quality metrics, diagn maybe to his I tease the men: “Hey, how come the open. His laptop is tethered performancecodes, treatment pneumonia. “I just gave away is, as guys don’t ask me to take your you insurance Try cellphone Wi-Fi hot spot and he Shah. , drops last of my cough only based reimbursement, but , — smile video ing They ure?” stream a press ing ss blood usual, watch They exchanges. Medicine as proce some honey for the cough. the in less ishly. home s, sheep other little a lost. many like at the where the patient can easily get should have some by the tea he’s going deaf; my s think Jerry has she ng 21st century but connected. unity But on this cold eveni Community Café.” The Comm ears packed nt Harvey tells me his feet “have run by otoscope reveals both seen a doctor helping one patie Café serves free dinners and is if I wax. Tiffany and I irrigate his with s that by been hurting bad” and asks better not are you teers. “If ss at a time, doing small thing volun Succe kit. ssive ble impre porta has my He with In let ears can take a look. can make a big difference.

Friday, you better go to CHP and heels, and gratitude. thickening of the soles of his one of the few place s left them check you.” him a her early 30s but perhaps in is n Mary care le and with large red cracks. I give simp ice The CHP Medical Clinic y with in America to pract know has seen a lot of miles, mostl of tube of foot cream. “Let me and simple caring. the CHP Dental Clinic are part les. She has started to trust me potho h how it is doing next week.”

Healt unity Comm the nonprofit , and y over the last couple of weeks “Thanks, doc.” Then, hesitantly, ng Dr. Flaherty practices famil ems Partners. I was involved with starti I tonight, as we talk about her probl .

“Why do you come here, doc?”

15 years ago about clinic cal medi , medicine in Bozeman, Mont the aches appro God.” ter daugh n’s Mary an’s smile: “I’m on a mission from to provide health care for Bozem and ies. hesitant and ready to bolt.

He gets the movie reference low-income individuals and famil smiles also.

Karyn gives me a hug. “I got that better. tooth pulled, and it feels a lot Wanna look?” s.

I introduce myself to newcomer s but Some don’t tell me their name first their most do, although only real names, and maybe not their ding ones. For whatever reason, inclu r to perhaps fear of arrest, they prefe mity; remain submerged in anony to ed chang are the names I use here protect privacy.

Bozeman, Mont. p Some wait in battered picku tte trucks or cars or vans, cigare pen smoke drifting from half-o the windows. Others emerge from p.m., 7 ly exact freezing darkness. At form Ray opens the door and they at the a mostly orderly line inside r and front desk to be assigned a locke bunk. No pushing, no anger. e outsid zero It is already below l shop the converted machinery-renta ing that serves as Bozeman’s Warm local Center for the homeless. A rces nonprofit, the Human Resou opened Council, Development a the center a few years ago after in a homeless man froze to death must U-Haul truck. Overnight guests ps leave at 7 a.m. But for tonight perha s. no cold, lonely death I come to the center Wednesday office evenings after seeing my last ine patient. It is the practice of medic ears, at a basic level: I’m here to clean listen sses, absce trim toenails, drain to fix to worries and give advice; that small but important problems e will allow the people here to surviv er anoth on the edge of society for x toolbo large a day or week. I bring s and with basic medical instrument s. several over-the-counter medication The gas heater hanging from the the ceiling works hard to warm of Warming Center, its humid mix ns. human smells and low conversatio guests As I take off my coat several like greet me: “Hey, Dr. Bob.” They “Bob.” the “Dr.” and they also like the So do I.

Robert Harbaugh, ’98: His Own Idaho

By Erica Eash

How exactly does a congressional aide who grew up 30 minutes from Albion end up teaching at a community college in Boise? Rob Harbaugh will tell you with a smile that it’s been nothing short of a wild ride. Although he couldn’t have known years ago that Capitol Hill would lead him to the capital of Idaho, he was certain that he eventually wanted to become an educator.

“While at Albion, any class that I took with Dr. Kim Tunnicliff reaffirmed that I was making the right choices and that I wanted to go to Washington. What Dr. Andy Grossman made me realize was that I didn’t want to spend my whole

26 | Albion College Io Triumphe!

life in Washington and that I wanted to teach this stuff,” Harbaugh says while speaking fondly of the Albion professors who helped guide his career. Perhaps it’s safe to say that he knew early on that he would be able to make a bigger difference in education than he could in politics.

Harbaugh originates from Jonesville, a small community roughly 20 miles south of Albion. It was after he spent a semester in D.C. interning at The Heritage Foundation that he knew, without a doubt, that he would one day return to the capital. “I went from Jonesville, to Albion, to D.C. It was such an amazing leap that I knew I had to go back when I was done with school,” he says. “Washington, D.C., was just too important.”

Long Journey, Nonstop Growth After nearly nine years inside the Beltway, including time as a legislative aide to a member of the House of Representatives, Harbaugh realized that he had garnered the real-world knowledge necessary to make a difference as an educator. And so began the transition to Idaho, which wasn’t exactly a direct flight. He had a four-year layover in Michigan, where he jumped into teaching as an adjunct professor at local colleges, including three years at Albion. Then in 2011, a friend told him about an open position at the College of Western Idaho.

Harbaugh explains that the eight-year-old community college already has grown from 1,300 students to more than 10,000.

“When I became the first full-time political science faculty member, I went into that job with no preconceptions about what was to come because it was so new,” he says with a tinge of excitement. “I don’t think we knew how big we were going to get.”

He describes the rapid rise in enrollment as essentially building the school from the ground up: “We often describe what we’re doing as building a jet while it’s flying without all the systems in place, the seats aren’t there yet, and we’re still keeping it in the air.”

Challenges aside, Harbaugh says it’s special to teach at one of the country’s newest community colleges. Higher education in Idaho hasn’t always been readily or widely available, he says, and many students now have the opportunity to attend college who previously thought they could

“One thing that Albion taught me is that there are real bonds that can be built between students and faculty, bonds of friendship and mentoring.”

never afford it. In fact, many of Harbaugh’s students are firstgeneration students, some of whom are in their 50s.

“They come to our school and they’re brilliant, they have talent, and they’re getting chances,” he says. “We’re becoming a real integral part of the Treasure Valley, and that is something I’m very happy to be a part of.”

As a one-man department, Harbaugh advises over 100 majors, single-handedly designs the curriculum, develops numerous internal policies, and engages in negotiations with partner institutions. He says his favorite aspect of the job is his ability to make an impact on the lives of his students—something that derives from his experience at Albion.

“One thing that Albion taught me is that there are real bonds that can be built between students and faculty, bonds of friendship and mentoring. I’ve made it a point to provide that to my students,” he says. “I don’t want them to feel like the moment they graduate that I’ll never speak to them or see them again, that they were just a number. That’s an Albion lesson.”

Connections and Reconnections During a recent visit to Albion, Harbaugh shared a pizza at Cascarelli’s with one of his former

students, Patrick Lopez, ’15, who came east in large part because of him. The professor explains that he makes a true effort to be attentive to the needs of his students, asking them what they want out of life. In doing so, Harbaugh hopes to develop his students’ critical thinking skills and make them realize that they have a responsibility to engage in the civic process. Harbaugh also tries to assure them that it’s OK to look beyond their traditions and explore the world outside of Idaho.

“Some students just can’t do it, whether it’s because of financial reasons or something else, so I encourage them to stay local,” he says. “But I ask my students, do you have options? Because if you do, then we have options.”

Harbaugh has sent students to four-year institutions across the U.S., but he keeps an eye out for those whom he feels would benefit from an Albion experience.

So far, two students have taken him up on it. Lopez was one of the three flag bearers at 2015 Commencement—representing the highest academic achievement in the class—and plans to attend graduate school. Benjamin Whittaker, ’16, is a military veteran who participated this past spring in the College’s Holocaust Studies Service-Learning Project, offered every other year, which included a trip to Poland. Harbaugh says that with both Patrick and Ben, he recognized that they had an opportunity to look at different

Rob Harbaugh, political science professor at the College of Western Idaho, earned his M.A. from Western Michigan University. colleges and wanted a political science education. So he knew exactly where to send them.

Whittaker says he used to think political science was “a joke,” until he took one of Harbaugh’s classes.

After receiving a final grade of 62 percent, he took it more seriously the second time around, worked closely with Harbaugh, and this time scored a 98. “If it wasn’t for him, I would probably be failing at a four-year university,” Whittaker says.

When looking at the big picture, Harbaugh says he will have had a successful career if his students have been impacted in some small way and make a positive contribution to the world because of something he taught them.

Sounds a bit like his own feelings at Albion in the late ’90s; now, he’s feeling more like Tunnicliff and Grossman.

“It’s the students who come up to me at graduation and give me a hug and say, ‘Thank you. You don’t know what you mean to me. You don’t know what your classes taught me,’” Harbaugh says. “Those moments are immeasurable.”

Fall-Winter 2015-16 | 27

Dory Lerew, ’02: An Act to Follow in Montana

By Erica Eash Dory Lerew was attending middle school in Pennsylvania when the Missoula Children’s Theatre came to town. And although she was picked for a role in Hansel and Gretel, what she didn’t realize at the time was that her connection to the Theatre would extend far beyond this play she was in as a child.

In fact, two weeks before graduating from Albion College, Lerew was hired as a tour actor/ director with the Theatre. “Right when I finished at Albion, I came out to Missoula for a few weeks of training, and then I started driving around the country producing plays,” she says.

The Missoula Children’s Theatre (MCT) isn’t just any theatre, nor is it for the faint of heart. For the past 40 years the Montana operation has been sending teams of directors all over the country to cast and produce children’s plays in merely a week’s time. “You hop in a little red truck with your tour partner and you go from spot to spot, and town to town,” Lerew explains. “On Mondays you have an audition and you cast 50 to 60 local kids. By Saturday you put on an hour-long musical production.

I would bring everything with me that was needed for the production, except for the kids.”

28 | Albion College Io Triumphe!

It takes a certain type of individual to be able to handle life on the road and the pressure of repeatedly pulling off a children’s play in such a short time frame.

Lerew says the experience she gained while studying theatre and education at Albion has been crucial to her success with MCT. “Anything can happen. It’s live theatre and kids are unpredictable. So you have to be on your toes,” she says. “My liberal arts training at Albion has helped me out immensely. Not only was I communicating with the kids and trying to teach them so much in a short time, but I was working with their parents, other adults, and my host family. So you’re making small talk with different people and trying to be a gracious house guest, all while having this underlying stress of whether or not the show is coming together fast enough!”

decided that I just couldn’t live out of a suitcase anymore,” she says.

“I knew that I needed to settle down somewhere, but I didn’t know where because I had been traveling ever since I graduated from college.”

As fate would have it, that somewhere was in Michigan— indeed, at Albion. Lerew’s return as an admission counselor in 2009 was a new role, yet one that felt familiar. She had, after all, worked with students as a resident assistant and SOAR leader while attending Albion herself. “When I was a student, the staff appeared to really enjoy what they were doing and working together,” she says of the team at Bonta Admission Center. “It was fun to come back as a staff member and see that this is really the case.”

Back to Bonta In 2005, Lerew’s sister, Annie, ’04, joined MCT after graduating from Albion and the duo became a tour team. For the next five months they traveled all over California, Nevada, Washington, and Oregon, which Dory describes as one of the most special times of her career thus far. But after a couple more years of life on the road, she recognized that she needed to take a break from touring. “I

Lerew’s recruiting territory included Calhoun County, which is when she recognized a need for theatre in the Albion community.

“I decided to approach the Albion Youth Theatre by going to one of their board meetings. By the end of the meeting I was on the board,” she says with a chuckle.

She then worked with the committee to raise enough money to bring the Missoula Children’s Theatre to Albion.

“The first play, they had 21 kids audition to perform King Arthur’s Quest at Washington Gardner Middle School. The next year they had 35 kids audition,” she explains. “The Theatre has come to Albion for the last five years and now they have so many kids audition that they actually have to turn kids away.”

One local student who attracted the spotlight was Paul Lewis, ’14. First, Lerew had a role in the Albion High School track and field star’s decision to attend Albion College over Michigan State. Then, as a junior, Lewis applied for a summer touring position. “The next thing I knew, Paul showed up here in Missoula, Montana, and was going through training,” she says. Lewis, a four-year Britons cross-country standout, graduated from Albion with physics and philosophy degrees, toured with MCT for another summer, and is now pursuing an acting and music career in Los Angeles.

After a few years of making an impact in Albion, it gradually became clear to Lerew just how much she missed MCT. She knew she had to return to Missoula.

Today, Lerew is back in Montana, working out of the Theatre’s home office as a tour marketing associate. “Essentially, I help decide which team will go to which town, in which order, and with what production,” she says.

“I also work with people from the community to help brainstorm how we can best meet their goals.”

She may not be driving a red truck from state to state, but Lerew still gets to travel on occasion. Last year she put on a play in Guam, and plans are in the works for her to do the same in Iceland.

Then there is the new MCT effort she helped to launch last year that she is quite excited about.

“A woman called me one day and asked if we could put on a play with the seniors that were living in an assisted living center along with some of the local children,” Lerew says. “The first location was in Billings, and we had a cast that ranged from 5 to 96 years old! We did this four times last summer and so far it’s been a success.”

The bigger success: Lerew is practicing her passion and touching lives—whether she’s teaching children valuable life skills through the performing arts or finding joy in rehearsing scenes with nonagenarians.

“I will somehow always be connected to this Theatre,” she says. “I’ve known it since I was young. Montana is far from my roots, but I love this company and what we stand for. It all boils down to the fact that kids are really amazing and capable of so much.”

M. LAPOINTE PHOTO

Taking the Cue

“Anything can happen. It’s live theatre and kids are unpredictable.

So you have to be on your toes. My liberal arts training at Albion has helped me out immensely.”

Dory Lerew stands backstage in the heart of the Missoula Children’s Theatre operation. “I will somehow always be connected to this Theatre,” she says. The MCT returns to Albion the week of February 8-13, 2016 with its production of Rumpelstiltskin.

Erica Eash is a freelance writer from Marshall, Michigan.

Fall-Winter 2015-16 | 29

Remembrance and Reverence From his initial trainee position at Michigan Bell in 1954, Bill Ferguson climbed to the top of the telecommunications ladder over the course of a highly successful four-decade career.

Words from a daughter of Bill Ferguson, ’52, in this magazine 26 years ago are a perfect way to honor a forever Briton who did it all for Albion, dear Albion.

“

By offering my service to Albion I am supporting an education, and a school, I strongly believe in.”

William C. Ferguson shared that sentiment in 1989 upon becoming chairman of Albion College’s Board of Trustees. At that time, the head of NYNEX (one of the seven Baby Bell telephone companies) had already been fully reconnected with his alma mater for nine years as a trustee.

But his impact on the College would only continue to deepen: seven years as board chair, which included overseeing a successful capital campaign; and a momentous 1995-96 academic year in which he served as acting president for a semester, visiting professor in economics and management, and the 1996 Commencement speaker.

“As the acting president of Albion College, Bill applied his executive talents and experience to solving problems that, before he addressed them, had proven intractable and in all likelihood would have remained so,” said professor emeritus James Cook, ’54, back in 2005. “The students, faculty, alumni, and administration of Albion College owe Bill Ferguson a continuing debt of gratitude.”

Ferguson remained a trustee until 2004, and to this day his generosity and legacy are felt every day on campus—from the William C. Ferguson Student, Technology, and Administrative Services Building; to the Ferguson Center for Technology-Aided Teaching; to scholarships in education, the Gerstacker Institute, communication studies, and music; and endowments that support faculty development, the Whitehouse Nature Center, and the Art and Art History Department.

Bill Ferguson passed away in Florida October 14 at the age of 84. He is survived by his loving wife of 63 years, Joyce Ferguson; his three daughters Laura Ferguson, Ellen (Bob) Keleman, ’80, and Joanne (Shep) Gerrish, ’89; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Ellen wrote an article about her father in the Summer 1989 issue of Io Triumphe! as he moved into the role of board chair. The piece is reprinted here in its entirety.

May 6, 1989—My sister, Joanne, graduated from Albion College today, upholding somewhat of a family tradition. Our father, Bill Ferguson, graduated with the class of ’52, and I, with the class of ’80.

As we gathered after the ceremony and reviewed her parchment with great pride and curiosity, we all commented on something of historic importance: if she had only failed a few classes and graduated at a later date, dad’s signature—as the new chairman of the Albion College Board of Trustees—would have appeared in the lower lefthand corner of her diploma. Our father made one of his comments which I, over the years, have learned to file under “Dadisms.”

Addressing Joanne, he remarked, “If you were smart, you would have flunked.”

While this anecdote may only whet one’s appetite for his entertaining wit, it seems an appropriately rare introduction to the man who will become chairman of the Albion Board of Trustees July 1.

William C. Ferguson, chairman and chief executive officer of NYNEX Corp. (effective Oct. 1), brings wisdom, insight and experience to his Albion post, with a sincere belief in the value of a liberal arts education and a special dedication to his alma mater.

“We need a broader base for life than simply concentrating on one skill,” he says. “A liberal arts education gives us a foundation for learning. It builds the ‘learning platform,’ instilling in us a lifelong appetite for new knowledge—an interest in understanding more about the diverse aspects of the world, and in reaching our full potential.

“By offering my service to Albion I am supporting an education, and a school, I strongly believe in.”

On Giving Back For my father, believing in the organizations he serves is key. It must be, given the hours he puts into a day, and the devotion he gives each assignment he accepts.

“We all have to put something back into the world and try to leave it in better shape than when we entered,” he states. “That’s why I give of my time and talents to organizations that I feel contribute to society in a significant way.”

In addition to his “day job,” for example, my father is a director and former chairman of The Business Council of New York State, Inc., whose members are drawn from the top business leaders in the state. He is chairman of the Leadership Giving Committee of United Way of Tri-State (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut), a member of the board of United Way of New York City and vice chairman/chairman-elect for 1990-91 of the Greater New York Blood Donor Program.

He serves on New York Governor Mario Cuomo’s Council on Fiscal and Economic Priorities, as well as the Governor’s Business Advisory Board, Industrial Cooperation Council, School/Business Alliance Task Force and the Voluntary Enterprise Commission for New York State. In addition, he serves on the boards of directors of several corporations.

A member of the Leadership Committee for Lincoln Center’s Consolidated Corporate Fund, he is also on the Business Committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

“There’s a very good feeling that comes from giving, whether it’s of talent, time or money,” he says. “Basically, if we don’t give something of ourselves, we just aren’t as happy.”

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Among his many honors for outstanding community service, my father received the 1988 Distinguished Citizen Award from Boy Scouts of America Greater New York Councils, and he was honored with the 1988 First Person Award from New York City Mission Society, a charity helping needy New Yorkers for more than 175 years.

Class of ’52 My father graduated from Albion with a major in mathematics and a teaching certificate in secondary education.

Starting first baseman for three years on the Briton baseball team, he was ATO treasurer during his senior year.

Nearly 30 years later, my father became deeply involved once again in the life of the College.

A member of Albion’s Board of Trustees since 1980, Dad has also served on the Albion College Finance Committee and the Steering Committee for the Campaign for Albion College. He is currently chairman of Albion’s Buildings and Grounds Committee, a position he held during the planning and construction of the Dow Recreation and Wellness Center and the renovation of Kresge Gymnasium.

Together, my parents have established the William C. and Joyce G. Ferguson Scholarship for students in the Gerstacker Liberal Arts Program in Professional Management. They recently completed the Ferguson Dance Studio in Kresge Gymnasium, dedicated today, Commencement Day 1989, in honor of my sisters, Laura Bonacci, Joanne Ferguson and myself. It is a compliment the three of us greatly appreciate and cherish deeply.

Humble Beginnings A boy from Trenton, (MI), whose parents never graduated from high school, Dad worked his way through college in the fraternity kitchen.

During the summers, he worked in the Downriver factories of Firestone and Penn Salt, loading rims in box cars and working on the labor gang, respectively.

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At 1989 Commencement, the Ferguson family dedicated the Ferguson Dance Studio in Kresge Gymnasium.

Bill Ferguson (left) and Joyce Ferguson (right) are joined by their daughters, from left, Laura, Ellen, ’80, and Joanne, ’89.

On graduating and landing his first job in the traffic department of Michigan Bell in Detroit, he wasn’t as concerned with reaching the top of the corporate ladder as he was with just doing his best.

“If you do your best, everything else will fall into place,” he says. “I did have a good start, though. My Albion education allowed me to secure that entry-level position right out of college.”

After a two-year stint in the Army (“defending New Jersey from invasion,” he boasts), my father rose through various management positions, and was elected an officer in 1971.

In 1977, he left the position of vice president– personnel at Michigan Bell to become vice president–New York City Region for New York Telephone. He returned to Michigan Bell in 1978 as executive vice president and chief operating officer, a position he held until 1983, when he was appointed president and chief executive officer of New York Telephone.

In 1987, he was elected vice chairman of NYNEX Corp. in charge of telecommunications activities.

Formed from the break-up of AT&T, NYNEX encompasses New York Telephone, New England Telephone and 11 other subsidiaries.

With $13 billion in revenue, NYNEX is one of the top 25 companies in the United States.

On June 1, 1989, Bill Ferguson assumed responsibility for the entire family of NYNEX companies and its nearly 98,000 employees as NYNEX president and chief executive officer, and on Oct. 1, he will drop the title of president and be chairman and CEO. Among other things, my father credits persistence, constant attention to selfimprovement, high inner-work standards and good luck to his success.

“I always try to be honest and fair, and I continue to try and learn,” he states. “I also try hard to not beat myself up over things I can’t control or mistakes I’ve made—that’s why they put the rubout key on the PC.” This profile would not be complete without one final note—a request from my father to recognize the love and support my mother, Joyce Ferguson, has given him throughout the years. Although I doubt anyone could estimate the magnitude of her contribution, from my vantage point, she has been, and continues to be, a constant source of strength and inspiration to my father.

My parents are a team, demonstrating together some of the world’s greatest values: commitment, responsibility, loyalty and love.

And, together, they are dedicated to sharing these values with others—giving back to society. All in all, making it a better place to hang our hats.

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS

UPCOMING Alumni and Regional Events JANUARY 21: Cocktail & Hors d’Oeuvres Social Hour with President Ditzler, Indianapolis, IN 1

JANUARY 22:

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Admission Recruitment Information Session and Training, Indianapolis, IN

FEBRUARY 29: Alumni Event, Columbus, OH

APRIL 22: Distinguished Alumni and Young Alumni Awards, Albion College

MAY 7:

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Commencement, Albion College

OCTOBER 14: Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Albion College

OCTOBER 14-15: Homecoming Weekend 2016 Visit www.albion.edu/alumni/events to stay up to date on upcoming alumni events!

5 1. Karen Harder (wife of Andy Harder, ’80), John McManus, ’86, Roc Roney, ’86, Jim Anderson, ’83, Eileen Smith, ’86, and College Engagement Officer Elinor Marsh at the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel in September.

2. Lauren Scott, ’13, and Natalie Hewitt, ’13, cheer on the Tigers at the Grand Slam Summer event at Detroit’s Comerica Park in August.

3. Atlanta-area alumni were treated to a VIP experience at a Braves baseball game at Turner Field in August, care of team Vice President of Human Resources Lara Juras, ’91 (far right).

The group took in the game from a private club suite and also met Braves president and legendary baseball executive John Schuerholz.

6 4. President Ditzler shares a laugh with Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez and Lara Juras, ’91, during batting practice at the Turner Field event.

5. Representing three generations at the sixth annual Grand Getaway at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in early October, from left: Kathy Stroud, Carl Gladstone, ’01 (holding the youngest Gladstone), and Anna Stroud Gladstone, ’06.

6. Alumni around Austin, Texas, shared good times and memories in November at Clay Pit restaurant in the historic downtown Bertram building.

Clockwise from left: Debi Rosenfeld Cohen, ’84, Kathy Reichard, ’88, Tammi Toay Claycamp, ’83, West Region Engagement Officer Mark Neisler, ’94, Tahmineh Gueramy, ’94; Cameron Farah, ’88, and Rose-Anne Meissner, ’03.

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEWS

HOMECOMING 2015 The chill of a 47-degree early fall day only made the tailgate grill that much warmer and the football team’s victory that much sweeter. The Britons made a key late-game defensive stop to preserve a 30-25 win over Adrian.

Before and after the action at Sprankle-Sprandel—from early morning to late evening—alumni reconnected with classmates, friends, and faculty in gettogethers around campus and around town. Find many more Homecoming photos at www.flickr.com/photos/albioncollege, and watch for details on Homecoming 2016 (set for October 14-15) in the spring.

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5 1. Josh Cassada, ’95, snaps a selfie with children at Albion Community School.

Cassada, who has a Ph.D. in physics, became a member of the NASA astronaut corps last summer after two years of candidate training; he combined a return for his 20th reunion with talks about his life and career, including his experiences as a Navy pilot.

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3 2. The British Eighth Marching Band, on the field and on the scoreboard during the pregame performance.

3. Alumni from the Class of 2005 met at Dark Horse Brewing Co. in Marshall for their 10th reunion.

4. The 2005 women’s basketball team was among this year’s inductees into the College’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

6 5. Jim and Tamara Royle (’63 and ’63) in their purpleand-gold best.

6. Members of the Class of 1960 present their check as winner of the Race for the Shield competition to President Ditzler during a reception at the Bohm Theatre.

7. Members of the Class of 1965 gathered for a 50threunion photo outside Schuler’s Restaurant in Marshall.

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Io Triumphe!

EDITOR John Perney CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Chuck Carlson, Erica Eash, Bob Flaherty, ’71, Jim French, ’90, Tess Haadsma, ’15, Kristina Jelinek, ’05, Ellen Ferguson Keleman, ’80, Margaret Leiby, ’09, Abby Moore, ’12, Michelle Mueller, Wynter Pitts, ’14, Matthew Randazzo, ’00, Jake Weber, Christopher Wigent, ’79 CLASS NOTES WRITERS Luann Shepherd, Matthew Kleinow DESIGNER Katherine Mueting Hibbs MARKETING/COMMUNICATIONS John Thompson, Chuck Carlson, David Lawrence Io Triumphe! is published twice annually by the Office of Marketing and Communications. It is distributed free to alumni and friends of the College.

Letters to the editor may be sent to: Office of Marketing and Communications Albion College 611 E. Porter Street Albion, MI 49224 communications@albion.edu www.albion.edu ABOUT OUR NAME The unusual name for this publication comes from a yell written by members of the Class of 1900. The beginning words of the yell, “Io Triumphe!,” were probably borrowed from the poems of the Roman writer, Horace.

In 1936, the alumni of Albion College voted to name their magazine after the yell which by then had become a College tradition.

For years, Albion’s incoming students have learned these lines by heart: Io Triumphe! Io Triumphe!

Haben swaben rebecca le animor Whoop te whoop te sheller de-vere De-boom de ral de-i de-pa— Hooneka henaka whack a whack A-hob dob balde bora bolde bara Con slomade hob dob rah!

Al-bi-on Rah! FIND MORE ONLINE: www.albion.edu

Connect with students, faculty, staff, and alumni through Albion College’s social media channels.

Enhance the Albion Experience Albion College changes lives. Whether you are a graduate, a parent, or a friend of the College, we ask you to support our students and their hands-on learning experiences that equip them with the skills required to be our future leaders. Every gift has a direct impact on our students and our College.

Give online at albion.edu/give or call 517/629-0347.

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Office of Marketing and Communications 611 East Porter Street Albion, MI 49224

L. MCGINNIS PHOTO

D. LAWRENCE PHOTO

Building Success Fresh off Albion’s first men’s lacrosse league title, Joe Silvestri, ’15, became the College’s 13th NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient. The Phi Beta Kappa graduate is currently studying at the University of Toledo medical school. Following the spring 2016 season, construction will begin on the Davis Athletic Complex, which will include a new lacrosse and soccer facility as well as a revamped Joranko Field for baseball and Dempsey Field for softball. Read more about upcoming construction on page 4.