Clark Magazine Spring 2012 by Clark University

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CLARK CELEBRATES 125 YEARS 1887-2012

YOUNG CLARK ALUMNI WHO ARE SHAKING UP THE WORLD

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ALUMNI MAGAZINE

SPRING 2012

“I will be eternally grateful to Clark.” ELIOT STRIAR ’62, Attorney-at-Law, Columbia, Maryland

C L A R K H A S A LWAYS H E L D A S P E C I A L P L AC E I N MY H E A R T. I WO U L D N OT B E A N AT TO R N E Y TO DAY I F I T W E R E N OT F O R T H E VA L U E S I N S T I L L E D I N M E

Law school was a natural extension and maturation of the seeds planted in me by my Clark professors. Clark’s diverse student body taught me to be tolerant and sensitive to the needs of others regardless of their ethnic or racial backgrounds or their religious beliefs or sexual preferences. These teachings were a precursor to the satisfaction I have received in my law practice from representing and counseling clients from all walks of life and helping them resolve a myriad of legal issues and conflicts they confront in their daily lives. This was true when I was a VISTA Volunteer and a legal aid attorney, and again when I served as a county attorney.

Be a Clarkie.

A N D T H E E D U C AT I O N

I R E C E I V E D D U R I N G MY

U N D E R G R A D UAT E Y E A R S AT C L A R K .

a Clarkie.

Today, as a private attorney with my own law office, the lessons learned at Clark govern how I practice law and lead my life, and are reflected in the respect and deference I bestow on others, whether they are my clients, opposing attorneys, judges, litigants, friends or adversaries. Hopefully with my donation I have begun to repay Clark for a debt I have owed for many years for the significant role Clark played in molding me into the person I am today. A debt that no gift can ever fully repay.

Be a Clarkie.

a Clarkie.

Be a Clarkie.

a Clarkie.

Show your Clarkie Pride and give to Clark today at clarku.edu/gift

IN THIS ISSUE

SPRING 2012

Features

The man in the glass

COVER STORY:

20 under 30 Twenty young alumni, and the accomplishments that are putting them on the map

One hundred years ago this spring, Louis Tyree ’12 broke the color barrier at Clark

Jonas & Stanley

By Anne Gibson, Ph.D. ’95

Clark’s founder and its first

Backstage confidential

president were higher educa-

As it hits the 10-year mark, the

tion’s odd couple. But from their

International Gala remains a miracle

competing visions, a world-class

of planning and execution. An insider

university was born

delivers the low-down on how it’s

By Albert B. Southwick ’41

done

By Chanchala Gunewardena ’11, M.S.P.C. ’12

spring 2012

EIGHT GREAT WAYS TO STAY CONNECTED TO CLARK

TWITTER

CLARK VOICES

CLARK NEWS

YOUTUBE CHANNEL LINKEDIN

FLICKR

VISIT CLARKCONNECT.CLARKU.EDU, THE ONLINE COMMUNITY FOR CLARK ALUMNI, FAMILY AND FRIENDS

1 clark alumni magazine

FACEBOOK

In This Issue SPRING 2012

™

Departments

Your Turn How Clark changed my life without my knowing it

Red Square Clark’s Congo summit; Going with the grains; Rats!

Class Notes/ In Memoriam Fond farewell to Wally Bither ’33; Forbes toasts alumni brewer; What Clarkie has cooked up a “High Desert Barbecue”?

Executive Editor Paula David

Editor

Jim Keogh Design Kaajal Asher Editorial Staff Kevin Anderson, Angela Bazydlo, Anne Gibson, Ph.D. ’95, Gitanjali Laad, M.S.P.C. ’12, Wendy Linden, Melissa Lynch ’95, Jane Salerno Creative Services Manager Lori Fearebay Vice President of University Advancement C. Andrew McGadney

Advancing Clark

Director of Alumni Affairs Aixa Kidd

The Higgins School at 25

Contributing Photographers Roger Duncan, Steven King, Ashley Klann ’12, Champo Mapulanga ’12, Liz Mattarazzo, John Sladewski Contributing Illustrators Stephanie Dalton Cowan, John Ritter, Lara Tomlin

CLARK alumni magazine is printed by Universal Printing, which recycles 100% of excess papers generated in the printing and finishing of this product and uses soy-based inks. This issue is printed on Utopia U2:XG, an FSC-certified paper, with electricity

Sports Matt O’Toole expects to kick it up a notch

Alumni News Gwen Bell’s legacy rings true; Answering history’s call; Breath of fresh AIR

in the form of renewable energy (wind, hydro and biogas), and includes a minimum of 30% post-consumer recovered fiber.

Their Other Lives Tina Zlody shuts down Park Ave.

CLARK alumni magazine is printed twice a year, in the fall and

spring, and is distributed to members of the Clark community,

No walk in the park

Address correspondence to: jkeogh@clarku.edu

I Witness

including alumni, parents and friends. The magazine can be viewed online at: clarku.edu/clarkmagazine

or mail to: Jim Keogh Clark University Marketing and Communications 950 Main St. Worcester MA 01610

Letters to the editor are welcome.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Dear Alumni, Family, and Friends, “Educating ... for what? Renewing the deep purposes of higher education.”

HIS THEME reverberated at Clark

throughout the fall as part of the Higgins School of Humanities’ Difficult Dialogues symposium. How do we at Clark University answer the question “Educating for what?” and how does this vision for liberal education inform my leadership of the University today? In my remarks at the October symposium, I reaffirmed what I take to be the enduring purpose of liberal education — to fully prepare our graduates for productive lives, careers, and citizenship. As former Board Chair Alice Higgins was fond of saying, we are educating the whole person, empowering students to pursue fulfilling lives of meaning and purpose. We aspire for our graduates to discover their passions, to make lives and careers out of what they love, and to contribute to the world as effective leaders. With the support of the Higgins School, the humanities and the arts remain a powerful force in enabling Clark University students to think deeply about their values, their relationships with others, and their paths to career and life success. Under Clark’s pioneering model, Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP™), we are deliberately educating the whole person. Some of the public discussions on liberal

education suggest that this focus is a luxury that our students and our country can no longer afford, demanding that education must shift to a singular emphasis on preparing students for work. I disagree. Engaging our students around issues of meaning and purpose is one of liberal education’s most precious gifts, and it serves our country and our world well. We are inspired by the accomplishments of so many of our alumni who provide thoughtful leadership in their lives, work, and citizenship. The successful graduates profiled in this issue of CLARK magazine affirm that we have much to be proud of regarding liberal education at Clark University. Clearly, one central purpose of liberal education must be to prepare students for long-term success in the world of work. With LEEP, we are especially influenced by feedback from leading employers. Time and again, these employers cite critical thinking, strong communication skills, creative problem-solving, and the ability to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty as keys to recruitment and advancement in their organizations, whether a business, hospital, investment firm, city government, or nonprofit. As part of LEEP, we are partnering with alumni and a host of organizations to expand the opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate these capabilities while working to solve problems in challenging situations around the world. We are building a new model of liberal education that is responsive to the profound changes underway in the global economy and that renews our commitment to enable our graduates to successfully transition from college to career, whether that path leads them to graduate or professional school, or to their first job. The case for liberal education must be made in words and deeds. In response to challenges of affordability and the large investments that families are making in education, Clark must clearly articulate the value of the education our students receive, must work tirelessly to control costs, and must be accountable for results. Clark has created a new website (clarku.edu/neverstops/) that specifically addresses the lifelong “return on education” for our graduates. And we will do more. LEEP is a major step forward

in providing students with world and workplace experiences that open the door to initial career opportunities. We are also exploring ways to further support early-career alumni as they navigate the first decade beyond Clark. For all of our efforts here, Clark alumni and friends are critical to our success, whether as mentors to recent graduates or as resources for new networking opportunities and career building. Beyond life and career, we believe that a liberal education must serve the critical purpose of effective citizenship. How are we to prosper as a country and a world if universities and colleges do not commit to fostering effective participation in our democracy? The Association of American Colleges and Universities describes this time as a “crucible moment” for higher education, one in which we must urgently reverse a growing deficit in civic and democratic engagement in society. We will look to new generations of college graduates to demonstrate greater understanding and fluency of cultures, languages, and societies beyond our own. When national organizations search for examples of universities and colleges that have successfully taken on this challenge, they will see Clark University’s commitment to deep and transformative engagement in our neighborhood and beyond. Ours is a powerful success story about the ways in which students can connect their education to the world and acquire the skills and capacities needed for dynamic citizenship in their communities. These three strands of liberal education — preparation for life, career, and citizenship — define our commitment to Clark graduates today. Our approach to strengthening educational opportunities for our students builds on Clark’s heritage while responding to the challenges that mark a rapidly changing economy and society. Thank you for the opportunities that your ongoing support affords new generations of Clark students.

DAVID P. ANGEL

President

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Ah, to be young. And a Clarkie.

spring 2012

JIM KEOGH Editor

clark alumni magazine

o track down the young alumni featured in this issue’s cover story, “20 Under 30,” and its online complement, our staff had to do some calling around … to Cyprus, to London, to Tanzania, to Sweden and to Serbia. Closer to home we made connections to Clarkies in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., Portland (Oregon) and Boston. If you’re concerned about whether Clark was able to pay last month’s phone bill, don’t worry. A good number of these folks were so busy they only had time to answer our questions via email. Nagraj Rao ’08 apologized for the delay in getting us his photograph, but he was stuck on a little island off the coast of Tanzania that simply had no scanner. When I asked Gunnar Hagstrom ’07, M.B.A. ’08, if he had any photos of himself without sunglasses, he also apologized, but noted that in Cyprus, where he does much of his coaching and teaching outdoors, the sun beats down so intensely that temperatures rarely dip below 100 degrees in the summer. Wearing sunglasses there is like wearing a shirt anywhere else — they’re part of the wardrobe. The conclusion to the profile of documentary filmmaker Jay Shapiro ’04 had to wait until he returned from Uganda, where for the past three years he’s been filming the story of the nation’s first Little League team. He was there in January to capture a momentous event: The Ugandans finally played (and won) against a squad from Canada, an opportunity the African team had previously been denied when their lack of documentation kept them out of the Little League World Series. I felt badly when I inadvertently woke Dr. Mary Badon ’05 with a phone call to set up a photo appointment. If you know anything about the crushing schedules that surgical interns keep, you know that sleep is a precious commodity. Chemist Kelley Shortsleeves ’09 managed to respond to my nosy questions during a train ride to the Boston lab where she helps develop revolutionary treatments for a host of troubling diseases. It was no chore to find Clarkies less than 10 years out of school — some of them only one or two years removed — who were impressively accomplished. In fact, we had more profiles than we could fit into the magazine (read them all online at clarku.edu/alumnistories). As I step back and look at the collective result, I can fully appreciate the impact these Clark graduates are having in the world, and anticipate the good things yet to come. In a relatively short span of time they have already displayed remarkable ambition, ingenuity and resilience. Some have started their own businesses; some have devoted themselves to public service; others are forging careers in law, medicine, education, finance and the arts. Many readers of this magazine are well past their twenties, but they undoubtedly have their own colorful tales about launching a career, starting a family, and shaping a life for themselves at a time when the potential they exhibited in college was beginning to pay dividends in the “real world.” The stories in these pages will resonate with those who remember what it was like to be a newly minted Clarkie with a resume still under construction, but with a strong thirst for experience, knowledge and achievement. The generation represented by these young alumni has been branded “millennials” by the popular media. Labels, of course, can be a crutch for making universal assumptions about a group of any age (just ask the boomers). But I think you’ll find our Clark twenty-somethings defy simple classification. So much individual brilliance is on display here, no single designation can possibly contain them all.

// P lease email me at jkeogh@clarku.edu with your comments, suggestions, letters to the editor and, most importantly, your story ideas. All are welcome.

etween now and May 31st. That’s the time frame and Clark’s the place. Say the best in liberal education matters. Your gift in any amount helps us educate another bright, gritty, nimble Clarkie. So make your intention count!

Be aYOClarkie. a Clarkie. U’VE GOT THE BEST OF CLARK. Be a Clarkie.

a Clarkie.

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a Clarkie.

5 clark alumni magazine

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spring 2012

Commit by May 31st to take advantage of the Chairman’s Challenge—you may triple the value of your impact.

YOUR TURN

All right already The Fall 2011 CLARK alumni magazine is extra special from cover to cover. The graphics/pictures/layout ... and I think I read almost all of it. So, thanks! I had a bit of fun with the headline to the Buzz Aldrin piece (page 16): “Can you hear me alright?” I seem to recall when I was in junior high school that the English teacher taught us the correct spelling was “all right” and that those of us who wrote “alright” lost some points. The teacher went on to say we could remember this by recalling that the opposite of “all right” is all wrong, and, of course, that the opposite of “all wrong” is not “alright.” Amazing that this stuck with me all these 70 or so years later. So, I decided to do a spell check in the old-fashioned way. My source: “Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language” (copyright several years from 1953 to 1964). This dictionary lists the word “alright” as follows: “adv. all right; a spelling much used but still generally considered a substandard usage.” Case closed? Notwithstanding, the 2011 alumni magazine is superb. Mitchell Jaffe ’49 Plainview, N.Y. 

clark

alumni magazine

From Clark Wonderful production, as usual, of the alumni magato the zine — but horrendous error on page 16! How can an moon institution as renowned as Clark write a headline using “alright”? I was about to send the article to my F-18 Marine son but was stopped by that in embarrassment. I think it is such an exciting article with many personal connections. I grew up in Worcester (my Dad became the alumni secretary at WPI in 1920, from which he had graduated in 1912, so he and Aldrin Sr. at least were in Worcester at the same time), and I came back there for graduate school on full scholarship. I got my master’s in international relations under Dr. Jordan in 1951 and put it to work in the government for several years (all right, it was the CIA). Believe it or not, Esther Goddard was in my class. It was a couple of weeks before it dawned on me who she was. Keep up the good work, but please, someone proofread.

spring 2012

Edwin Aldrin ’15 helped a nation look skyward alongside Goddard, Lindbergh, and a son named Buzz

clark alumni magazine

Nancy Taylor Ganyard̦ M.A. ’51 Boca Raton, Fla. 

Editor’s note: We [reluctantly] concede the point to our eagle-eyed readers. The AP Stylebook is adamant that the only acceptable usage is “all right,” while Merriam-Webster and several other grammatical sources are more forgiving and note that “alright” has become increasingly common, especially in journalism and fiction. Perhaps we’re just ahead of the curve? Regardless, for now, “alright” is never “all right.”.

How Clark changed my life without my knowing it BY PATRICK DAVIS ’00

’ve always been able to think and speak on my feet. In honesty, it can be both a blessing and a curse. I’ve found myself in just as many predicaments as I have opportunities as a result of it. Therefore, I never considered my Irish wit a bankable commodity. When I began my college search I focused on institutions that I was told would “be a good fit” for me, as most kids do, and in the process, I tripped over Clark. It turns out that choosing to attend Clark was one of the best afterthoughts I have ever had. Today, I proudly wear my Clark sweatshirt to work, visit Annie’s Clark Brunch on every occasion I can, and speak boldly and proudly with my business associates about the power and richness of my Clark experience. I call it the “unintended consequence” of my time at Clark. I recently took inventory of all the doors Clark opened for me that I never expected or understood. Unlike others who regale family and friends with mundane, often directly consequential results of a college education, I thought I would share some of those “unintended” opportunities being a Clarkie offered me. fall 2011

1. Being a Clarkie taught me how to survive. In my junior year, I learned — late first semester — that my mother was dying from an autoimmune disease and would need a kidney transplant. I had to drop out. The expenses of uncovered medical bills, thousand-dollar-a-month prescriptions and general family anguish required me to begin COPACE classes and continue credit to credit. I was sure I’d never finish. My Clark community supported me, most importantly close friends and trusted mentors like Michael Bamberg. I took early leave of my dorm room and moved to Maywood Street in an apartment owned by a fellow Clarkie. I faced rent, bills, food … and for the first time, real paying work became a necessity. As I worked in the city, more opportunities arose and I took advantage of them as they came. As I look back now, it was my time at Clark that really solidified my understanding that communication, concept, and context drove all successful business endeavors. I quickly rose to the challenge, using those critical thinking and speaking skills to survive. Without this “unintended consequence” I’m not sure where I would be today. And by the way, Mom’s still with us and I finally got that piece of paper.

Clark Newsmakers

HE CLARK COMMUNITY continues its worthy — and newsworthy

— activities, with members regularly featured or mentioned in media reports around the world. Visit the Clark News Hub (news.

2. Being a Clarkie made me a Dad. I met my wife Julie (Bell) ’00 when she was working as a photocopy work-study in the Psychology Department my sophomore year. She was strong-willed, intelligent, athletic and popular. At that time in my life she was everything that made my teeth grind, except I couldn’t get her out of my head. We never clicked, although I always knew something more was there between us. While working in my junior year, it was my job as low man on the totem pole to visit Stop & Shop in Shrewsbury to procure a specific and exhaustively described brand of coffee. It was that day I met Julie again. I saw her from a distance and was awestruck. I knew she would be my wife from that moment on. We got married in 2001 surrounded by our Clark community. We now have two beautiful children, Siobhan (9) and Cathal (6) who are a unique blend of both of us. We will celebrate 11 years next July, and neither one of us can imagine nor understand just how we were brought together. Credit Clark with this “unintended” but awesome voyage.

clarku.edu/) for a complete online archive with summaries and links. Here is a recent sampling:

Scientific American: Research by Arshad Kudrolli, chair of the Physics Department, and doctoral research associate Julien Chopin, titled “Building Designed Granular Towers One Drop at a Time,” was also highlighted in Physical Review Letters, Science and Nature. Huffington Post: Psychology Professor Abbie Goldberg’s research on gay parenting was cited at LiveScience.com and by multiple major media, including CBS-TV’s “The Talk” and MSNBC, and generated countless conversations in blogs and social media. MSNBC: Psychology Professor Michael Addis commented in an article about how extreme war stresses may have played a role in a case of alleged Marine misconduct in Afghanistan. An excerpt of Addis’ book “Invisible Men: Men’s Inner Lives and the Consequences of Silence” appeared in The Atlantic. Addis was also featured on AARP Radio.

3. Being a Clarkie gave me a career. All the late-night postulations about Heinz Werner and his intentions with genetic theory, volumes of Lev Vygotsky translated into English, and examinations of discourse and narrative theory were meant to prepare me for a life steeped in academia. By accident, they prepared me for the business world. Since 2004 I have been self-employed in marketing and communications, where I have run the gamut of roles and responsibilities. I created and ran a successful Web design startup company, which I sold in late 2009 to my then-partner. I have since taken on executive communications projects for many large companies, writing position papers, marketing programs, and creating advertising. I focused on key projects with long-term relationships of value, where I could be of demonstrable, change-oriented help. Now I serve as the director of sales and marketing for a small, energetic family company on the move and it’s rewarding and frustrating at every turn. Clark University taught me how to work through the tough stuff with my eyes open — eager to see opportunities and questions with the same zeal. To work collectively with the same vigor as one might selfishly work alone. Most importantly, the concept of effecting real, lasting change through one individual’s efforts is a Clark message burned on the deepest parts of myself. Not only did Clark give me a career, it gave me an “unintended” passion as well. There are few parts of my every day where I struggle to find a direct connection to Clark. That says something. Thanks, Clark.

The New York Times: Historian and Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Director Debórah Dwork was interviewed regarding New York Historical Society plans for a public display of so-called Hitler silverware. Nature: Geographer Karen Frey provided comment as part of an international team of scientists presenting the 2011 Arctic Report Card issued by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. U.S. News & World Report: Clark’s decision for SAT-optional admissions was also covered by Inside Higher Ed, The Boston Globe, and other media. TIME magazine: A game-based, math-learning intervention program led by education Professor Sharon Griffin earned a mention. BBC World Television: Taner Akçam, associate professor of history, was interviewed via Skype for a live broadcast about France’s move to ban denial of the Armenian genocide. Akçam was interviewed by several other major media, including Le Monde. All Things Considered (NPR): Psychology Professor Jeffrey Jensen Arnett was a key source for the segment, “Parenting advice for the 20-something years.” Christian Science Monitor: Wayne Gray, chair of the Economics Department, commented on the scale of costs of environmental regulations in an article titled, “Is the EPA really a ‘jobs killer’?” Marketplace (American Public Media/NPR): Industrial relations Professor Gary Chaison’s comments on a variety of breaking news topics appeared in numerous major media, including CNN, Associated Press, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg/BusinessWeek, the New York Times, and more. CNN.com: Political science Professor Ravi Perry spoke about Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s stance on gay rights and activism.

RED

SQUARE

News from the Campus

Conflict, complicity and Congo

spring 2012

HOUCHOU NAMEGABE (pictured at right) stood before

clark alumni magazine

a spellbound audience in the Kneller Athletic Center and talked about the rape of her country. “Women’s bodies are being used as a battlefield,” Namegabe said. “Each single case is a tragedy.” The journalist and activist described how systematic sexual assaults on women and children in east Congo are used to control and destabilize the villages that lie near valuable mineral mines, whose extracted materials power many of the world’s cellphones and computers. The mass rapes, murders, beatings and countless other human rights abuses are weapons of war, she said. Namegabe’s testimony was part of her keynote address for “Informed Activism: Armed Conflict, Scarce Resources, and Congo” (Sept. 24-25), an international summit that brought students, prominent scholars, activists, and policymakers by the hundreds onto campus for lectures and panel discussions that heightened awareness of the atrocities in Congo and sought strategies to combat them. The conference was presented by the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in partnership with Jewish World Watch. Speaker after speaker noted that the demand for high technology is helping fuel the conflict in Congo. President David Angel announced that Clark is instituting a purchasing policy favoring companies that have made “significant progress”

toward conflict-free certification of the minerals they use to manufacture their products. Clark is one of only a handful of colleges and universities nationwide that has such a protocol in place. Angel lauded the persistence of students in the Clark chapter of STAND, a student anti-genocide coalition, who have been pushing for the University to adopt a noconflict minerals purchasing program. Kambale Musavuli, student coordinator for Friends of the Congo, urged a youth movement similar to the one that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East. “Half of the population of Congo is under the age of eighteen — here is a prescription [for protest]. No one is addressing how to empower Congolese youth,” he said. The media took notice of the day’s events, with news of the conference traveling across the world via outlets ranging from the Associated Press to National Public Radio.

cellphone may have something to do rape in the Congo.

I think my with mass

NAAMA HAVIV ’00, M.A. ’06, at the Sept. 24 “Informed Activism” conference at Clark, correlating how mineral extraction for high-technology items fuels violence and systematic sexual assault in Congo.

Dialoguing LEEP

A-mazing fact college broke new research ground, even if the particular example of thought leadership involved the directional idiosyncracies of rodents?

Two recent stories, in Slate.com and Monitor on Psychology,

the publication of the American Psychological Association, credit Clark with being the birthplace of the rat maze, which was the brainchild of Edmund Sanford, Ph.D., and graduate students Linus Kline and Willard Small. Slate recounted that in 1901, Small, the lead researcher on the project, developed a contraption. It was “a platform about 6 feet long by 8 feet wide, covered with sawdust, and divided into galleries with walls of wire netting. [Willard] took the plan from a diagram of the hedge maze at Hampton Court [Palace in England], with an open space at the center, and six cul-de-sacs. The layout was selected with a natural setting in mind, he wrote, so that his experiments would be ‘couched in a familiar language of rodent burrows.’” Every evening, Willard Small released two rats at a time by sliding open a glass door with pulley. He would then observe the animals’ movements, “recording their every sniff and sojourn in his notebook, before leaving them to wander the maze for the rest of the night.” Soon after, other researchers had adopted the maze as a research tool. Is it mere coinci-

spring 2012

dence that 70 years later Hollywood made a horror movie about an odd young man who

commands an army of rats, and that the character’s name, as well as the movie’s title, was “Willard”?

ENGLISH PROFESSOR SUNHEE KIM GERTZ INTRODUCES THE DIFFICULT DIALOGUES SYMPOSIUM ON CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT.

clark alumni magazine

ho doesn’t take pride in learning that their

“Educating…for what? Renewing the deep purposes of higher education” was the theme of a semester-long symposium organized by Clark University’s Difficult Dialogues program and the Higgins School of the Humanities this past fall. The symposium fostered a series of vivid campus conversations around such topics as engagement and citizenry, livelihood and vocation, and creativity and resilience. The conversations have helped to guide and enrich the development of Clark’s new approach to undergraduate education, Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP™ ). The symposium was sponsored by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which has taken an interest in the LEEP initiative and especially in the role of the humanities in advancing new approaches to liberal education in the 21st century. The symposium also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Higgins School of Humanities (see related story on page 62), honoring the vision and leadership of Alice Coonley Higgins, who served as chair of the Clark University Board of Trustees from 1967 to 1974. For more about LEEP, visit clarku.edu/leep.

RED

SQUARE The man and his building

ohn M. Johansen consid-

“I was a wild man at that time,”

ered the audience seated

Johansen told the standing-room-

before him inside the

only crowd, “and still believe I am.”

Robert Hutchings God-

Foote said the addition of the

dard Library’s Rare Book Room,

Academic Commons was inevita-

and offered a humble assessment

ble — designed to accommodate

of the building he designed 43

new modes of learning, which are

years ago.

more collaborative, more social in

“Architects think of their most

nature, than they were in the days

recent work as being their best,”

when librarians shushed students

he said. “But they can come back to earlier work and they say, ‘Not bad.’”

Goddard Library architect John Johansen chats with Professor Kristina Wilson before the start of the March 14 event.

spring 2012 clark alumni magazine

said, have evolved “from places where knowledge is stored, to places where knowledge is cre-

Johansen, 96, returned to Clark

among the stacks. Libraries, he

ated.”

University on March 14 to help

reflects Johansen’s recollection of “being

launch the exhibition “The Life of a Cam-

full of ideas — possible and impossible.” He

Johansen, who viewed the Academic

pus: Clark Buildings Then & Now, 1887-

was joined at the March 14 event by archi-

Commons for the first time since its con-

2012” created by the students of Kristina

tects Steven Foote and Mark Freeman, who

struction, praised the space as a “wonder-

Wilson, associate professor of art history.

in 2009 augmented the original building by

ful” alteration, and noted that, while he re-

The exhibition traces the evolution of Clark

creating the Academic Commons.

spects history, it’s the promise of the future that sustains him.

architecture from its first building, Jonas

In May of 1969, a mere two months

Clark Hall, through the campus’ gothic and

before he left footprints on the moon,

“This building is 43 years old,” he said.

modernist periods, and concludes with the

astronaut Buzz Aldrin cut the ribbon on the

“That’s young, isn’t it? I hope it’s here some

University’s “green construction” exempli-

Goddard Library. Aldrin’s participation was

time longer.”

fied by the Lasry Center for Bioscience and

the perfect match of man and building,

“The Life of a Campus” features original

Blackstone Hall.

whose design was so radical that it attracted

art and essays by Wilson’s students that re-

The Goddard Library remains an enduring

national scrutiny while it spoke to the univer-

call and interpret the history of Clark’s signa-

example of “brutalist” architecture, an inno-

sity’s commitment to modernity, ambition

ture architecture. The exhibit is on display in

vative, forward-thinking style that perhaps

and forward-thinking.

Dana Commons through May 21.

The opera ain’t over til the Clark alums sing. The Alumni Gala Concert held Jan. 27 in the Traina Center featured four star alums who have gone on to careers as professional singers. Darlene Ann Dobisch ’95, Zhanna Alkhazov ’02, Thaddeus Bell ’98 and Tara Goodhue Alcorn ’07 were accompanied by pianist and Clark music professor Sima Kustanovich in a program that included favorite arias, duets and ensembles from the opera repertory, ranging from Handel and Mozart to Tchaikovsky and Verdi. Pictured are Bell and Dobisch.

Going with the grains

VERYBODY at one time or another has

ments. In “Of Granular Material and Singing Sands,”

built a sandcastle. But Arshad Kudrolli,

the self-professed “science geek” wrote:

chair of the Physics Department, and postdoctoral research associate Julien Chopin

have taken beachside architecture to a, well, granular level. In the process, they also scored a “hat trickplus-one” in the science media. A research paper written by Kudrolli and Chopin titled “Building Designed Granular Towers One Drop at a Time” was highlighted not only in Physical Review Letters, but also in Science, Nature and Scientific American magazines. From Nature: “Reminiscent of children building castles at the beach by dripping wet sand from their fist, researchers in Massachusetts have created their own slender towers by dripping a suspension of glass beads in a water-glycerine mixture over a granular surface. … The researchers suggest that the technique could be an alternative route to surface patterning and three-dimensional printing.” Scientific American’s Cocktail Party Physics columnist Jennifer Ouellette also cites the scholars’ experi-

“Sand is pretty fascinating stuff, from a physics standpoint. You can build far more stable and intricate sand castle designs if you have a fundamental grasp of these basic principles. And if you’re Arshad Kudrolli of Clark University, you can exploit the physics of granular media to build all kinds of unusual slender structures ... building so-called ‘granular towers,’ drop by meticulous drop.” Kudrolli’s research uses both two- and three-dimensional imaging techniques and includes a broad range of topics including soft-condensed matter physics; granular materials; nonlinear physics; geomorphology; biomechanics; and elasticity and crumpling, population dynamics, and patterns in biological systems. And, yes, it also involves some pretty neat-looking artwork created in a scientific sandbox.

DUTY AND HONOR

ORMER CLARK UNIVERSITY field hockey student-athlete Katherine Rowe ’12 was

commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, Signal Corps, in the United States Army, along with two other members of the Worcester Consortium United States Army

Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC), in a ceremony held Dec. 17, 2011, at WPI’s Higgins House. For Rowe, the commissioning ceremony was particularly significant, as her father,

Cougars to a pair of NEWMAC Tournament appearances and spent the 2011 campaign as a member of the coaching staff while completing her undergraduate degree in political science. During her time as a ROTC cadet with the Bay State Battalion, she earned the Superior Cadet Award and served as the battalion’s executive officer. Upon completion of the Signal Corps Basic Officer Leader’s Course, which began in February at Fort Gordon, Ga., Rowe’s first assignment was to be with the 25th Signal Battalion in Afghanistan.

11 clark alumni magazine

Rowe (pictured at left with her father) spent three seasons as a member of the field hockey team at Clark, serving as captain in her senior season of 2010. She helped the

spring 2012

retired United States Army Major General Richard Rowe, presided over the event.

RED

SQUARE High Five CLARK

ALUMNI MAGAZINE

MEDIC OF THE From Iraq to Afghanistan to U.S. veterans’ clinics, psychologist Maj. Clifford Trott ’87 heals the hidden wounds of war

NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH

rofessor Taner Akçam has spent his career bravely challenging his native Turkey to accept responsibility for the Armenian Genocide of 1915 — or even acknowledge that it occurred, something the country has vehemently resisted.

Akçam has not hesitated to throw himself into the fray in recent years, debating the de-

niers at every turn through his writings, teaching, and during his many major media appearances, sometimes in front of hostile Turkish TV audiences. In October, he received a substantial measure of vindication when the European Court for

SPRING 2011

Clark University took home five awards in the annual Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) communications contest. CLARK alumni magazine was named best overall magazine in the 30,000-74,999 circulation class, earning a silver award (there was no gold given), and took a bronze for best design. Clark’s recruitment poster, “Change Our World,” earned a silver award, and honorable mentions went to the University’s recruiting packages and the @Clark electronic newsletter. Clark competes in CASE District I, which includes the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.

Human Rights ruled that Turkey violated Akçam’s freedom of expression. Akçam, the first Turkish scholar to publicly express his conviction that the Armenian genocide occurred under the Ottoman Empire (of which Turkey is a successor state), brought his case to the European Court to tackle the constant fear of prosecution that caused him to stop writing on the subject in 2007. “There is no ‘Armenian’ side or ‘Turkish’ side to history,” Akçam told Today’s Zaman, an English-language newspaper in Turkey. “To discuss what really happened in history is to speak freely and openly about it, without legends or myths.” Akçam, who has published widely on the subject of the Armenian Genocide, feared prosecution by the Turkish government under Article 301. The law makes it a crime to insult Turkishness and it has been used to prosecute writers and intellectuals. Although Turkey had not brought charges against Akçam under Article 301, he was the subject of numerous legal actions and the target of death threats and intimidation from Turkish ultranationalists. spring 2012

The court agreed with his claim that his treatment constituted a pattern of harassment and

clark alumni magazine

that he faced risk of prosecution despite amendments having been made to the Turkish law.

“Without acknowledging a historic wrongdoing there will be no democracy,” Akçam said. “Turkey should learn that facing history and coming to terms with past human rights abuses is not a crime but a prerequisite for peace and reconciliation in the region.” At least one other country publicly agrees. In January the French Senate voted to criminalize any public denial of the Armenian genocide. Akçam continues his scholarship, delving into hundreds of secret Ottoman documents. His latest book, “The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity,” covers factors that set the stage for the Armenian Genocide.

Fruitful pitches Clark graduate student Brad McNamara won second place at the Princeton Entrepreneurship Pitch Contest in Boston on Nov. 17, presenting his “Kickstarter” campaign to create local fresh food that is accessible to Main South residents and other distressed city neighborhoods while boosting the local economy and empowering each community to provide for itself. This was McNamara’s third entrepreneurship contest in recent months. In October, he made it to the semifinals of the WPI Venture Forum Business Contest and finished in the top five of the WalMart Better Living Contest held at the Net Impact Conference in Portland, Ore.

FROM THE PODIUM No mend in sight

Information age

Making a Statement

And justice for all

The American healthcare system

In a world awash with information,

“The fight is on, and it’s going to

The legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther

treads the fine line between trying

where everyone from retailers to on-

be very hard. That’s the glory of it,

King Jr. — particularly his message

to serve the good of the many and

line dating services gathers, studies

and the frightening thing about it.”

of justice and tolerance for all — was

the interests of the individual. But

and deploys targeted data to improve

The times may be different, but the

recalled by activist and author Kevin

no one has yet figured out a cost-

performance, it stands to reason that

message was eternal, as delivered

Powell in a Jan. 24 speech commemo-

effective, yet humane, way to do

the United States’ education sys-

by Tom Hayden, one of the best

rating Clark’s 27th annual celebration

both. As such, there is “much inef-

tem would make similar strides to

known political activists of the 1960s.

of the life of the slain civil rights leader.

fective,

care

boost student achievement. But

Hayden spoke at a Difficult Dialogues

Powell acknowledged that King was

being delivered,” said Jessie Gruman,

extra,

inappropriate

that hasn’t been so, according to

symposium

about

a flawed human being, but he was

president of the Center for Advancing

Aimee Rogstad Guidera, executive

authoring the “The Port Huron State-

a charismatic general in the fight for

Health, during the Oct. 4 Alex Drapos

director of the national Data Quality

ment,” the manifesto that helped

equality and peaceful revolution. He

Memorial Lecture. Gruman touted the

Campaign, who delivered the Lee

launch the ’60s student movements.

speculated on what King would make

use of “evidence-based medicine,”

Gurel ’48 Lecture on Education in No-

“We thought we could change the

of the economic disparity in contem-

which often clashes with the desires

vember. Guidera said she is enlisting

country and the world,” he told the

porary America, and said he sees par-

of the individual patient, who may

all stakeholders in public education

packed room in Dana Commons.

allels between the Occupy Wall Street

seek treatment he or she believes will

— from parents to policymakers —

Hayden was encouraged by the

movement and the civil rights unrest

work, but which has not been proven

on a “data crusade” to demand that

uprisings in the Middle East and on

in King’s time. Powell urged students

effective through objective measure-

a comprehensive information system

Wall Street, noting the power of direct

to use their education to find ways to

ment. It’s critical that people become

be employed to enhance educational

action to effect change. “You put your

elevate others. “We need people not

better informed about their health

outcomes. “We have more data than

body on the line. You vote with your

to be Dr. King, but to be yourselves,”

care, Gruman advised. “The rates of

ever before. But who cares, if no one

whole life, not just a piece of paper.”

he said.

health illiteracy and innumeracy are

trusts it or knows how to access it?”

November

appalling,” she said.

FROST ON THE PUMPKIN

spring 2012

13 clark alumni magazine

lumni of a certain vintage still wax nostalgic over the Blizzard of ’78, which left much of the Northeast without power for days, forced the cancellation of classes, and produced snowdrifts that rose to the third floor of Wright Hall. Today’s Clark students perhaps one day will regale their children with the story of the freakish Oct. 29, 2011, snowstorm that left the quad looking like a war zone and, even more traumatically, forced the postponement of Halloween. The storm’s early arrival meant that more than a foot of wet, heavy snow was dumped onto trees that hadn’t yet shed their leaves. Thanks to the accumulated weight, countless limbs cracked and snapped off during the night, taking down power lines along the East Coast. Clark was largely spared the outages, though many staff and faculty living in other parts of Worcester and surrounding towns were without electricity for days, and were offered the use of the shower facilities at the Kneller Athletic Center. The cleanup job was so extensive, students joined Physical Plant employees to drag brush off the quad. Ironically, this winter didn’t come close to matching autumn’s snowfall, with the temps so mild that the newly built skating rink on Charlotte Street struggled to remain frozen and was finally dismantled in March.

20 THIRTY

YOUNG ALUMNI WHO ARE SHAKING UP THE WORLD

spring 2012

MARY BADON SURGICALLY MENDS BROKEN BONES. SARA BROWN IS HELPING MEND A BROKEN COUNTRY. JAY SHAPIRO’S NEW FILM CHRONICLES UGANDA’S FIRST LITTLE LEAGUE TEAM. SCOTT SILVER’S NEW FILM AIMS FOR MAJOR-LEAGUE THRILLS. CAITLYN THAYER TEACHES BUSINESS OWNERS HOW TO BE SOCIAL-MEDIA SAVVY. GUNNAR HAGSTROM TEACHES KIDS SEPARATED BY CONFLICT HOW TO BE SAVVY ABOUT EACH OTHER.

clark alumni magazine

hey are all Clark University alumni, all of them under 30 years old, and, like so many of their fellow graduates, they are exerting influence in their professional spheres, in their fields of study, and in the wider world. ¶ In this special cover story, we celebrate the accomplishments of 20 young alumni who already have made an impact in medicine and finance, high tech and the arts, government and education. They work in rural African villages and teeming American cities, in Manhattan skyscrapers and London laboratories, pursuing their passions with the kind of conviction and focus that are the hallmark of a Clark education.¶ Whoever came up with the adage, “Youth is wasted on the young,” never met the talented men and women who appear on these pages, nor their Clark peers profiled at clarku.edu/alumnistories. This likely is the first time you are hearing about them, but it certainly won’t be the last.

residency right now is all-consuming.” The daughter of a pathologist father and physical therapist mother, Badon has kept her medical career in focus while making sure science, business and art also stay in the picture.

JONATHON D. BLUMENTHAL ’06 Major: Mathematics and Computer Science Software Site Reliability Engineer, Google, Portland, Ore.

spring 2012

Mary Badon knows how to focus. She was eyeing the premed track even before enrolling at Clark, where she went on to excel in biochemistry and molecular biology. Not one to view her education through a narrow lens, she managed to add a second major in studio art, specifically photography. Today, the 28-year-old from Connecticut is a surgeon in residence in orthopedics at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. While studying at the Yale University School of Medicine, some of Badon’s photos about homelessness were featured in an exhibit there. As a Clark undergraduate, Badon received a coveted Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, a Pfizer Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship and an Anton Fellowship. She graduated summa cum laude in 2005, with highest honors in both majors. At Yale, Badon didn’t stop at an M.D. She added an M.B.A. and focused her joint business and medicine degrees on public policy. She studied allocation of medical resources

and how different interests in medicine lobby for their causes in the political arena. Last summer, she and a Yale Medical Group surgeon presented a study on a musculoskeletal ultrasound technique that could translate into more than $650 million in Medicare savings. “Working in hospitals, you notice that things don’t always run the way you anticipate,” Badon says. “So I’ve learned about processes from a business perspective — efficiencies, financial incentives that influence medical care. I don’t think business concerns and finance in health care are necessarily negative influences, as long as they’re aligned with patients’ interests.” Badon says she enjoys the hands-on nature of orthopedics. “I like being in the operating room. I like the procedures and the fact that, for the most part, orthopedics cases have positive outcomes.” Orthopedics is becoming “more molecular,” Badon adds, noting that her Clark studies with the likes of adviser Denis Larochelle provided a “strong foundation in molecular biology, so I can understand the new growth factors that are becoming a more important area in orthopedics.” What are Badon’s goals for the future? “I’m still figuring that out,” she laughs. “Being in

15 clark alumni magazine

MARY A. BADON ’05 Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Studio Art Doctor, Orthopedics, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester

If you Google the best companies at which to work, you’ll find Google. Google “Jonathon Blumenthal” and you’ll also find Google, where he has worked for the past three and a half years. Blumenthal is with Google’s Emerging Markets team, bringing products and services to countries with far less developed infrastructure than the United States. He finds the company, the opportunities, and his location to his liking. Google was rated the top company to work for in 2012, and Blumenthal cites strong benefits and perks, and the way Google “offers opportunities to change the world.” His biggest challenges and rewards on the job? “Scale, for both,” he answers. “When thinking about problems and solutions, the scale is always amazing. The problem most likely doesn’t impact a few people, but rather thousands or even millions of people. That is a pretty tall order to think about; however, the reward is just as big — if not bigger.” Blumenthal values the teamwork he learned at Clark. “While my computer science and mathematics majors provided the necessary foundation and fundamentals, I’ve found that academic coursework is nothing like corporate

and commercial software engineering. However, I’m still using the teamwork and group skills that I learned from doing research with Professor Li Han and group projects in advanced math courses with Professor Natalia Sternberg.” His future plans include continuing to challenge himself at Google. “I see endless ways of growing my career as a software engineer. Technology is always changing and there is always room to grow.” When asked to recall the most exciting thing to happen to him both at Clark and after Clark, Blumenthal had only one answer: “I met my future wife at Clark (Katie Spencer ’05), and we were married this past October.”

3 spring 2012

SARA E. BROWN ’05 Major: International Relations/Holocaust and Genocide Studies Ph.D. student in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark

clark alumni magazine

But what about law school? Like college students through the ages, Sara Brown was asked that question just after telling her mother that she’d decided to switch her major from prelaw to government and international relations with a concentration in Holocaust and genocide studies. After taking an introductory course on genocide, “I literally dropped everything I was doing and changed my major,” Brown says. Since then, she has taught, studied and worked in Israel, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and the United States. She’s been chased by elephants

in Zambia, done refugee resettlement work in Dallas, and worked with post-Hurricane Katrina shelter populations in Baton Rouge. Brown’s life path began to reveal itself in Rwanda during the summer of 2004. Mentored by Professor Shelly Tenenbaum, she received the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Foundation award for an internship there with the Alternatives to Violence Project. “It was right at the 10-year anniversary of the Rwandan genocide,” Brown said. “I left feeling like I hadn’t done enough. I’d also fallen in love with the sights, smells and the people.” Brown graduated with honors in 2005. Now, she’s back at Clark in her second year as a doctoral student, working on a dissertation in comparative genocide studies. “I think Clark raised me,” Brown says. “I grew into myself as an academic and as a humanitarian. That sounds so self-aggrandizing. … But Clark made me go out and do something with my life. Clark drew the dots for me and then I was able to connect them.” Brown earned a master’s degree in diplomacy and conflict studies at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, led a team of six graduate students on a service-learning trip to Rwanda, and also conducted research in Burundi. In spring 2011, Brown participated in the highly selective Clinton Global Initiative University, hosted by President Bill Clinton. The annual conference aims to inspire, educate and motivate students who want to make a difference. Her project involved working with high-level members of the Rwandan government as the country strives to recover from the 1994 genocide that claimed an estimated 800,000 lives. Last summer, Brown spent five weeks in Rwanda. She met with organizations where women are primary stakeholders and studied the role of women in genocide — as victims, as bystanders, and as perpetrators. Brown’s contributions to education include conference presentations in Sarajevo and in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. Coming full circle, she guest-lectured for the same Introduction to Genocide Studies course that inspired her as an undergraduate. She taught two classes — one on central Africa and another on the Rwandan genocide.

At the time of this writing, Brown had just returned from Kigali, where she was continuing her doctoral research. “I have to be in the field,” she says. “I have to get a little dirt under my fingernails to have a good day.”

DAMON GINANDES ’04 Major: Studio Art and Philosophy Knowledge Worker, Capgemini, Jersey City, N.J.; Painter/Sculptor, New York area damonginandes.com How would you like to get paid for doodling at work, drawing images to illustrate ideas that percolate at corporate workshops? And when you’re done with that, you hit the streets to create celebrated pieces of art in locales ranging from the traditional (art galleries) to the urbanexotic (a decommissioned subway station). Welcome to Damon Ginanades’ world. He’s a “knowledge worker” in the Accelerated Solutions Environment at the consulting agency Capgemini. In the ASE, executives from large companies and government agencies participate in focused, intense workshops where they try to solve problems in a compressed amount of time. Ginandes facilitates these workshops by graphically recording the conversations through sketches he composes in real time to help participants absorb information more efficiently and make sure the flow and content of the discussions are captured accurately. Art has always been a big part of Ginandes’ life. He has seriously pursued a career as a painter/sculpture for more than four years and sees plenty of room for entrepreneurship in the visual arts, especially with the growth of technology and media. After graduation, Ginandes did post-production work as an assistant editor on historical documentaries for PBS. He also tried his hand as a graphic artist. “While both involve levels of creativity, I missed the hands-on, tactile nature of artmaking,” he says. Ginandes aspires to show his art to a broad audience through exhibitions and public work. He’s off to a great start. In 2007, he was commissioned to paint The DeGraw Street

GUNNAR HAGSTROM ’07, M.B.A. ’08 Major: Management International Fellow, PeacePlayers International, Cyprus “Anyone who ever got me a job was a Clark grad.” Gunnar Hagstrom chuckles when he says this, but not because it isn’t true. The former Clark basketball and baseball player is speaking by phone from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where he works with PeacePlayers International, an organization that uses athletics to foster conflict resolution in troubled spots around the world, including South Africa, Israel and the West Bank, and Northern Ireland. Hagstrom landed the position with help from contacts Lawrence Norman ’94, M.B.A. ’95, a member of the PeacePlayers board of directors, and John Ginnity ’01, a former assistant basketball coach at Clark. Prior to heading overseas, Hagstrom was an assistant coach with the MIT men’s basketball

KELLEY SHORTSLEEVES ’09 Major: Chemistry Associate Scientist at Ensemble Therapeutics, Cambridge, Mass. It’s no coincidence that when she describes her profession, Kelley Shortsleeves’ phrases are peppered with the vocabulary of conflict. She speaks of “antagonists” and “targets,” and about locating the weakness in an enemy that

spring 2012

“If I gave up, or simply relegated art making to a hobby at this point, I think I would be deeply disappointed with myself for not following through on a true passion.”

17 clark alumni magazine

Mural, a 60-foot-long mural in Brooklyn. He toiled every day for a month on the piece, which he says “generated more acclaim than I could have ever imagined.” In 2008, he had a solo show at a gallery in Brooklyn. In 2010, he and more than 100 street artists from all over the world created the “Underbelly Project,” an exhibition mounted in a long-abandoned subway station. His work has also been exhibited in Los Angeles, Miami and London. Ginandes has done a handful of large-scale commission projects, including murals in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and a sculptural relief installation on the facade of the Carlton Arms Hotel in Manhattan. Although his works physically reside in and around New York, photos of his larger works, featured on websites and blogs, have generated regional and international interest in his art. He has created numerous studio pieces on commission for individual collectors. “It’s a challenge to stay inspired without getting discouraged,” he says. “It takes a lot of focus and self-motivation to continually create new work, especially when creativity is not always financially rewarding.” Whether Ginandes can earn a living as an artist is still to be determined, but he insists he must try.

team. His Clark connection there was former MIT assistant Oliver Eslinger ’97, now head coach at CalTech. Last year Hagstrom played in the North Cyprus Professional Basketball League. (“My buddies from Clark joke that of all the people who got to play professional basketball, somehow it was me.”) Riven by conflict between Greek and Turkish factions since 1974, Cyprus has proven to be the perfect locale for PeacePlayers’ efforts. Hagstrom and other organizers work with children and coaches on both sides of the “green line” — the United Nations-monitored buffer zone separating northern and southern Cyprus. The players practice in their own communities, and they are taught conflict-resolution through basketball. “They’re low-skilled players, but we make the game fun and enjoyable,” Hagstrom says. “This is more about getting kids involved than creating the next Michael Jordan.” Once a month, teams from the north and south are brought together for friendly competition. Sometimes they cross through the armed checkpoints; other times they play at a court in the neutral zone. “We try to get them as many interactions as possible over the course of a year,” Hagstrom says. PeacePlayers also runs summer camps and teaches a leadership development program for 16- to 18-year-olds. “The earlier we get these kids the better; we can really help shape the way they see the other community. Our motto is: Children who can play together can live together.”

spring 2012 clark alumni magazine

has proven impervious to traditional methods of attack. Shortsleeves is a chemist, and the front line in the war against disease is populated by soldiers like her who are uniformed in white lab coats and do battle at the molecular level. And yes, they do have victories. Ensemble Therapeutics, the Cambridge, Mass.-based biotechnology company where Shortsleeves works as an associate scientist, recently announced that it has identified a series of small-molecule antagonists of Interleukin-17 (IL-17), a cytokine — a type of protein molecule implicated in multiple inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s and intestinal bowel disease. The company is working to develop an oral inhibitor to IL-17 by the end of 2012. “It’s still in the very early stages,” says Shortsleeves. “I’ve been fortunate to work on this project almost since its inception at Ensemble and have contributed a large amount of work to the med-chem and development of this lead series.” At Ensemble Therapeutics, Shortsleeves helps build large libraries of macrocyclic molecules and screen them against drug-resistant protein-toprotein interactions that are common in oncology and inflammation-related diseases. “As a chemist, my job is to take the hits from these library screens, synthesize them on a larger scale, and supply compounds for in vitro testing,” she says. A high school teacher inspired a love of chemistry in Shortsleeves, who pursued her passion at Clark. The summer after her junior year she interned at Abbott Labs in Worcester in the Organic Synthesis Department, and she later established a project working with Abbott in their labs to complete her master’s degree. “While writing my thesis, I started applying to small biotech companies in and around Boston,” she recalls. “I got one interview with Ensemble. It was the only interview I went on, and they offered me the job a day later.”

Ensemble Therapeutics has created a new class of synthetic macrocyles called Ensemblins™ using its proprietary chemistry platforms. These macrocycles are uniquely suited to address many protein targets that cannot be modulated effectively by traditional small-molecule pharmaceuticals. As Ensemble develops this novel class of therapeutics, it’s leveraging its findings to establish high-value partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer. Can Shortsleeves shed any light on other Ensemble initiatives in the pipeline? She laughs. “Not without breaking confidentiality.”

JANETTE EKANEM ’09, M.P.A. ’10 Major: Government and International Relations Second-year student, Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, Mass. When Roderick Ireland, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts, issues an opinion, he does so with the support of a staff that conducts deep research into the surrounding case law and helps the judge shape his final document. Janette Ekanem is a valued member of Justice Ireland’s team. The second-year law student at Northeastern, who is working for Ireland as part of the school’s co-op program, is steeping herself in case law these days, researching and comparing the legal literature in different states and combing through decisions in lower courts to unearth cases that can be successfully appealed at the Supreme Court level. Though still a student, Ekanem has been handed substantial responsibility, which she

accepts with grace and equanimity. Her first internship was with the civil division of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston during the capture of renowned gangster Whitey Bulger, so she’s also used to distractions in the workplace. Ekanem’s passion is civil rights law, particularly in the area of labor and employment, so she is eager to process the lessons learned in Ireland’s office and apply them in her legal career. “One of the things that always stuck with me is that I have an eye for justice,” she says. “And I realize that small decisions can have very broad, significant impacts in the way they affect people with different racial, social and economic backgrounds.” The Lexington, Mass., native served as the president of the Black Student Union at Clark and helped lead tutoring efforts for young students in the Main South neighborhood. At Northeastern, she is the director of academic affairs for the Black Law Student Association, matching first-year students with upper-level students for mentoring. She looks forward to eventually landing with a firm that will give her plenty of general litigation experience before she moves into civil rights practice. “One of the things I really like about civil rights law is the ability to advocate for someone whose voice has been silenced by systematic forms of oppression,” she says. “I’d really like the chance to push the envelope.”

JAY SHAPIRO ’04 Major: Screen Studies Documentary Filmmaker, New York, N.Y. The boy’s name is Ivan, and he is poor even by Ugandan standards. He lives with seven other relatives in an equipment shed, sleeping on the bare ground, which turns to mud during rainstorms. Once his eyes shut, though, he is happy. “When I lay here at night, I dream about baseball,” Ivan says with a slight smile, looking directly into the lens of Jay Shapiro’s camera. Ivan and dozens of other boys from Uganda are the stars of Shapiro’s documentary, “Opposite Field,” which chronicles the unlikely rise of baseball in the east African nation and the vision of a Long Island businessman who

says, then adds with a laugh, “Of course I could never tell my friends that.” When the league realigned its operations, Shapiro’s job became redundant in New York, and rather than move to a new office in Secaucus, N.J., he decided to make a change. Earlier, Shapiro had met Richard Stanley, an area businessman who was building a baseball field in Uganda and who dreamed of hosting Little League tournaments there. With the assistance of Nick Goldfarb, a producer he’d met on “The F Word,” Shapiro worked to secure investors for a documentary on the Ugandan team, and beginning in 2009, he traveled to Africa, camera in hand, to film “Opposite Field.” Shapiro acknowledges he caught lightning in a bottle. In a huge upset, the Ugandan team defeated Saudi Arabia in a regional final to earn entrée into the Little League World Series before the visa snafu dashed its chances. Their story drew worldwide headlines, including on the front page of the New York Times. And now, the happy ending. A community organizer from Vancouver named Ruth Hoffman learned that if it had been allowed to play in the World Series, the Ugandan team’s first opponent would have been Canada. With the help of Major League ballplayers like Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies and Derrek Lee of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Hoffman launched a successful $155,000 fundraising drive to send a Canadian team to Uganda, build more baseball fields there, and supply funds for the Ugandan team to travel to future Little League competitions. On Jan. 17, on a brilliant day in Uganda’s capital city of Kampala, the Pearl of Africa Series was played, with the Ugandan team beating the Canadians, 2-1. The game, and all its peripheral drama and joy, was captured on film by Jay Shapiro. When this interview took place, Shapiro was shopping the distribution rights for “Opposite Field” and was in talks with Turner Sports about the possibility of making a basketball-themed film in South America. He marvels that on the fields of Uganda he was able to unite his three loves — baseball, storytelling and filmmaking — in an endeavor that sometimes feels less like a job than it does a sweet dream.

spring 2012

could apply his skills, and by sophomore year he’d secured an internship in the Philadelphia area to learn editing. “I think I earned half my credits outside the classroom,” he says. Shapiro also earned an Anton Fellowship, which sent him to Ghana. There, he gave his camera to a 10-year-old boy and had him chronicle his world. The result was the documentary, “Like Me, I am Here.” “The quandary of Africa has always interested me,” he says. “I wanted to focus on the notion of changing the way people identify themselves, and how it can change the trajectory of a community, and ultimately an entire nation. What happens when you give a camera to a kid who’s never seen one? What’s that transformation like?” After college, Shapiro moved to New York where he hustled for freelance jobs, including shooting industrial videos. He worked as an unpaid assistant on an independent film called “The F Word,” which led him into ad agency work. Then Shapiro, a former high school baseball player, landed a job working for Major League Baseball. He began as a freelancer, editing each day’s game highlights from across the country for the league’s website. The position evolved into a full-time job, with Shapiro filming major leaguers for use in MLB marketing campaigns. “I did it for three years; met most of the players, got to go to spring training. It was a fantasy job, but I was getting burnt out on it,” he

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transformed swamps into ball fields to bring Little League games there. Shapiro has spent nearly three years filming the saga of Uganda’s Little League team, which in 2011 became the first African squad to qualify for the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. In a heartbreaking turn, the team was denied visas because many of the players lacked the proper documentation that would confirm their ages. “There was no intentional cheating,” Shapiro says. “Where they grew up, paperwork was not a priority. A lot of these kids really don’t know how old they are.” At ESPN’s request, Shapiro put together a five-minute feature about the team that was aired on the sports channel last August. The response was overwhelming. “We had calls from Hollywood stars, Major League Baseball stars, asking what they could do to help,” Shapiro recalls. “I had kids who wanted to send me their gloves.” In the spirit of Shapiro’s profession of filmmaker, we’ll save the ending for last, and instead go to a flashback. A native of Allentown, Pa., Shapiro had a love for storytelling that early on manifested itself in short-story writing. At Clark, he took a screenwriting class and fell in love with the idea of structuring a story through film. Shapiro became fluent in the techniques and technologies of filmmaking. He shot his own short films, found outside projects where he

LAURA M. FAULKNER ’10, M.P.A.’11 Major: Political Science Policy Analyst, The Poverty Institute, Providence, R.I.

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After a nine-month stint with the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, Laura Faulkner left for an opportunity at The Poverty Institute in Providence. She can’t say enough about the need to “follow your heart and intuition” when it comes to career opportunities. While she notes that her position at RIPEC, a fiscally conservative, business-backed think tank, challenged her to research and write from a perspective that didn’t necessarily jibe with her personal ideology, one gets the impression she is grateful she kept her options open. Faulkner describes her job at The Poverty Institute as “the right blend of analysis and advocacy” that allows her to take an active role in wiping out poverty in Rhode Island. Working with political coalitions, Faulkner encourages legislators to pass laws that benefit those most in need. “Policymakers want clear and specific solutions to eradicating poverty and providing support to those in need, but the political climate and various agendas present a challenge at times,” she acknowledges. Faulkner says her experience at the Expenditure Council and working on the Family Impact Seminar with Jim Gomes, executive director of Clark’s Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise, were “absolutely formative to my current career path.” Faulkner found that her involvement in Student Council and other campus organizations resulted in “real world” applications, and the discovery that group work comes with its own distinct lessons: consensus-building is essen-

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tial, one person will always use group time as a personal sounding board, there isn’t always a simple “good” or “bad” vote. Faulkner hopes to continue working in social policy for several years, and would consider a career in government. While politics energizes her, she doesn’t predict she would ever run for public office. “I’ll stick to think-tank policy work and possibly state government,” she says.

DAN ROBERTS ’07, M.A. ’08 Major: History Director of History and Research, Wilson History and Research Center, Little Rock, Ark. Dan Roberts’ love of history was practically predestined by his hometown. He grew up in South Portland, Maine, on a coastline dotted with old fortresses, and near the Portland Harbor shipyard where workers flocked to build the “liberty ships” that would establish United States naval dominance during World War II. He played on streets named for generals and presidents. “You can imagine the mystique,” he says. “It was like growing up next to a castle.” Roberts parlayed his passion into history degrees at Clark (a bachelor’s and master’s), which included professional opportunities provided to him through the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. During the summer of 2006 he worked at the Lidice Memorial and Museum for three months in the Czech Republic, and in 2007 he worked as an historical archivist for a Worcester insurance company. (“Both of these looked better on my resumé when I applied for jobs in the history field than my previous summer job as a pizza delivery guy,” he notes.) He graduated into one of the bleakest economies in recent memory, but Roberts remained optimistic that he would land a position in his field of interest. Three months into his employment search, he was named the director of history and research at the Wilson History and Research Center in Little Rock, Ark. The center is devoted to the preservation and display of 20th-century military uniforms and headgear. Roberts is responsible for the historical messaging behind the museum’s exhibits, books and presentations; he oversees a team of re-

searchers who identify and write about each of the 10,000 artifacts in the museum’s archives. His job has evolved into a history major’s dream, offering him many opportunities to travel, including a trip to the Airborne Museum in St. Mere Eglise where his museum gifted a WWII-era artillery spotter plane in honor of the 65th anniversary of D-Day. Roberts’ latest project is a book he’s writing for the museum about an Italian-American GI named Basil Antonelli, who immigrated to the U.S. with his family in the 1920s, and enlisted in the service during World War II. Antonelli persevered through several campaigns before landing in Naples and fought his way up the very road he traveled as a child on the way to America, says Roberts. Antonelli was killed in the Battle of Monte Cassino, just miles from his ancestral village. In researching and writing the book, Roberts met with the Antonelli family in New Jersey, then traveled with them to Italy to visit Basil’s birthplace of Sant’Andrea, and Monte Cassino. Roberts’ book recounting the soldier’s saga is expected to be published this April.

ERIKA LECLAIR ’05 Major: Biology Bacteriologist, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Jamaica Plain, Mass. Most people run the other way when they hear “West Nile” or “H1N1.” Not Erika LeClair. She thrives on her proximity to these potentially deadly viruses. LeClair is a bacteriologist in the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s State Laboratory Institute in Jamaica Plain, Mass. The lab tests for West Nile Virus, Eastern Equine Encephalitus, seasonal influenza, H1N1, measles and bioterrorist agents. “It’s very rewarding being on the front lines,” she says. “I like helping in the detection of major public health concerns and doing it rap-

JENNIFER GOLDSTEIN ’05 Majors: Political Science and History Desk Officer, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C. Jennifer Goldstein remembers a session of Professor Cynthia Enloe’s Comparative Politics class where the discussion centered on one topic: tomatoes.

“The basic premise was that you take what would appear to be mundane issues,” Goldstein says, “and discuss how everything is political. People’s motivations are political, whether they realize it or not.” After graduating from Clark, she worked for Harris Bank as a privacy analyst; for a political media firm; and then moved to D.C. to be an intern for Rep. Melissa Bean of Illinois. A detour to the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she earned a master’s in human rights, led to four and a half years of living in the U.K., first studying and then working for LSE’s external relations department and the mayor of London. But an interest in the U.S. Foreign Service had long been percolating, and Goldstein pursued and obtained her current position as desk officer for the countries of Malawi and Botswana. Goldstein is “a communication linchpin” connecting the U.S. embassies in Botswana and Malawi, those countries’ embassies in the U.S., the State Department, and other components of the federal government. She is also the Washington, D.C.-based “subject matter expert” on the political and economic climate in the two countries, and is an advocate in Washington on their behalf. In August, Goldstein will prepare for a two-year tour in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo. Her first task? Learning French, so she can properly do her job as consular chief in the U.S. Embassy. She will oversee American citizen services and visa requests, along with other consular duties. Sometimes a Foreign Service officer’s role is more about conflict resolution, Goldstein says. “You want to get to your goal, and you have to convince people to come along with you — so you need to figure out what’s bothering them and what’s affecting them.” Even if it’s tomatoes.

“I always think my ‘career’ started in my freshman year,” says Long Lin. At the time he was unsure of his professional path, but he discovered very quickly how best to move in the right direction. With the help of Career Services and the online alumni database, Lin reached out to alumni working in the fields that interested him, and they brought him in. “I remember my first meeting was on a chilly Sunday in Boston with Mollie (Grotpeter) Murphy [’03], who was also an economics major. Mollie introduced me to her work as a consultant at Bill Mosakowski’s [’76] Public Consulting Group, and I was lucky to get an internship at PCG after my first year at Clark, and returned for a second summer after my sophomore year,” he recalls. “After meetings with Mollie, my friends at Clark could often spot me on a bus or train to Boston or New York on weekends, for coffee with Clark alumni, informational interviews, and then job interviews. Gary Rosen [’85] helped me land an internship at Wells Fargo Advisors’ Investment Management Group after my junior year. I first met my current boss, Arrien Schiltkamp [’78], at a board of trustees meeting on campus when I was a sophomore.” The buses and trains that transported Lin have since been replaced by airplanes, which every two months carry him to China. As a financial analyst for Schiltkamp International Consultants in New York, Lin conducts economic and financial research for the company and assists managing its Asian clients. A native of Chengdu, Lin knew he wanted to work in a profession involved with establishing and maintaining a connection between China and the United States. His facility with the Mandarin language and his business skills are a perfect pairing for this sensitive job. “I feel excited to be part of a team when we help a Chinese client understand the market in the U.S. and invest internationally,” Lin says. “I’m passionate about improving my own skills while learning to bring people together across cultures.”

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“In my current position a sterile environment is essential so I do not contaminate myself, coworkers and samples,” she explains. “A false positive in a test can be a very expensive learning experience that can send people into hysteria and [initiate] a massive cleanup that may not have been necessary.”

LONG LIN ’09 Major: Economics Financial Analyst, Schiltkamp International Consultants, New York, N.Y.

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idly.” LeClair’s lab works with many city, state and federal agencies, responding to concerns and threats, and developing tests for various viruses and bacteria strains. LeClair landed her position after being a contract worker in another state laboratory. When H1N1 influenza broke out in 2009, she assisted by processing samples. When a position opened up in the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, she applied. “They had already seen my work ethic so they knew I could handle high-stress situations,” she says. LeClair developed her skills and love of the laboratory at Clark under the tutelage of biology Professor Tom Leonard. She was responsible for making media cultures, which required her to develop a sterile technique so that the plates were not contaminated.

He says the meaningful undergraduate research opportunities he enjoyed at Clark were key to his development. As early as his sophomore year he was “learning the ABCs” of economics research from Professor Wayne Gray. With the guidance of his professors, he was then able to secure a junior-year-abroad slot at the prestigious London School of Economics. Those collective Clark experiences — from his research responsibilities to the valuable alumni mentoring he received — are serving Long Lin well as he realizes his dream of bridging the two countries that have nurtured and educated him.

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NAGRAJ RAO ’08 Major: Math and Economics Research Analyst, World Bank, Tanzania

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Nagraj Rao crunches numbers for a living, but to him these are not just figures on a spread sheet. They represent thousands of little stories from which emerges a human narrative, one that describes the day-to-day circumstances of individual people, and, when considered collectively, of an entire country. Rao, a research analyst with the World Bank, manages data collection on families in the African country of Tanzania, overseeing the teams who conduct interviews in remote villages and bustling cities. Working through grants from the Gates Foundation and other donors, Rao helps design survey models and deploys interviewers to gather information that will give the government hard numbers on such issues as poverty, housing, agriculture, water and sanitation, and consumer price index. These and other key indicators help determine Tanzania’s social and economic health, and are meant to supply the basis for informed decision-making about the nation’s future. A native of New Delhi, India, Rao earned his bachelor’s degree at Clark in math and economics, then obtained a master’s degree in

agricultural economics from the University of Maryland. The job, he says, is the perfect amalgam of the skills he learned in both disciplines. Tanzania is a fascinating case study, he notes. “You don’t see much of a middle class here,” Rao says, “certainly less so than in India, which has a very strong middle class. It’s critical for people to have a voice that’s not washed away in the politics of the place.” The surveys are a multi-year process (Rao came on board during the second year). His teams follow up with families who were interviewed last year, then enter the data via computer software, which will tell Rao the types of changes that have occurred. He spends about 50 percent of his time traveling the country to ensure the surveys are being conducted properly. “We’re looking at trends,” he says. “Obviously there is quite a bit of movement — people get new jobs, get married, move away. Tracing the same people [who were previously interviewed] is the hard part, and we have to devise strategies to reach them. There are no locational addresses in Tanzania — even in the cities — and not everyone owns a phone.” Once the data are collected, Rao and his colleagues in Washington pore over the information to check its legitimacy, a process that takes two to three months. When the government has given its approval, the data are publicly posted. Rao describes his job as “perfectly symbiotic” for the way it meshes his twin passions of

statistical analysis and international development. He’s also done work in Ethiopia, which helped hone his ability to work and negotiate with various entities that include the government, international organizations and donors. This spring he’s off to Liberia to conduct a major survey with the Ministry of Statistics. “It’s an interesting place because they were in a civil war for almost twenty years,” he says. “The country is dynamic, it’s changing, but there’s no data for the last thirty or forty years — nothing on poverty or consumption. We’ll be setting up the survey for them and build the statistical capacity for the country. It’s exciting to be part of things as they change in Liberia — it’s on the verge of becoming a great nation.”

HARRISON MACKLER ’07 Major: Biology Periodontal student Harvard Dental School, Boston, Mass.; Researcher Harrison Mackler cut his teeth in a London dentistry internship, where his research was quite literally bone deep. While studying abroad on Clark’s London Internship Program his junior year, Mackler worked at King’s College’s London Dental Institute, and began learning about tissue engineering. “Tissue engineering means recreating organs, such as bone, a heart valve, or an entire pancreas, in the laboratory. By combining

Mackler will start his residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry, where he’ll spend three years specializing in clinical periodontology. “I am working toward a career as a practicing periodontist, but I will undoubtedly maintain a connection back to academics, whether that be through research, teaching, or a combination of the two,” he says. “I am working in a field within dentistry that I’m really passionate about,” Mackler adds, “and I’m positive that I wouldn’t have been able to have these experiences without the opportunities I was given at Clark.”

Meghan Rosa’s mother is a high school teacher in Attleboro, Mass., and three of her star students went on to attend Clark University. “She thought there must be something magic about Clark for attracting these three seemingly different but equally thoughtful and original students, so she encouraged me to apply,” Rosa says. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Meghan Rosa not only studied at Clark, but that she now leads her own classroom as a high school teacher at the University Park Campus School in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood, where she is now preparing students for their own college experiences. “Academically, I came away from undergrad with a clear understanding that there was some stuff in the world that needed fixing,” Rosa says. But that doesn’t mean she was predestined to become a teacher. At a school that preaches the power of challenging convention, pursuing a career in education seemed, well, conventional. “Teaching was too much of an obvious choice, and I didn’t want to do the thing that everybody expected me to do,” she says. “However, when it came time to consider my life after college graduation, I couldn’t really see myself doing anything else. I love kids and I love school. It only made sense.” Every day in her classes — a packed slate that includes 7th grade literacy, 10th grade AP

SCOTT SILVER ’06 Major: Screen Studies Co-owner of Silvatar Media, Los Angeles Scott Silver makes movies for a living, but often his most essential tool is not a camera or an editing machine, but his cellphone. As co-owner of the production company Silvatar Media, Silver must stay almost obsessively networked. Phone calls — thousands of them — are what get the deals done so that the films can be launched. In Hollywood, if you don’t have a phone to your ear, you aren’t even trying. But he most relishes the creative component of his job. The Texas native, who during his time at Clark made short films starring theater students, honed his editing skills at the prestigious American Film Institute and by doing freelance post-production work. His company’s first major film, “Removal,” a Hitchcockian psychological thriller starring Billy Burke of “Twilight” and Elliott Gould, has just been released on DVD. He’s now in discussions with

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MEGHAN ROSA ’06, M.A. ED. ’07 Major: English, Education Teacher, University Park Campus School, Worcester

English Language & Composition, 11th and 12th grade journalism, and 12th grade honors English — Rosa embraces the daunting task of engaging students of multiple abilities and backgrounds. Not all are so easily inspired. “Motivating students — to do work, to do work well, to take risks — is a daily challenge,” she acknowledges. “It’s different for every assignment and every kid, but through lots of trial and error I’ve found that emphasizing the particular student’s strengths, instead of his or her weaknesses, as is commonplace in academia, tends to work.” The payback of her efforts is tangible. “The first seventh graders I ever taught back as a student-teacher are now my current seniors. They’ve come so far in their six years at the school. We’re like a family now and it’s so fun to be with them in their final year and to see them off to college.”

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stem cells and growth factors onto materials that mimic our own body,” he explains, “we can make a final product that could be used to replace our own wounded or aged body parts.” When he returned to Clark, he used his Steinbrecher and Comer fellowships to deepen his research with Professor Tim Lyerla. Mackler focused on a synthetic alternative to bone grafts that could be used to repair bone damaged by injury or disease such as osteoporosis, arthritis and cancer. After Clark, Mackler expanded his tissueengineering research to include teeth, first in a lab at Tufts Dental School and then at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His interests also encompassed the workings of the immune system. “When someone has gum disease, the immune system naturally tries to fight the bacteria that started it. Unfortunately, this response does not clear the infection,” Mackler says. “In fact, while it’s trying, the immune cells inadvertently break down bone and cause more of a problem.” Continuing on this trajectory, he became the only dental student in the country to be selected for a year-long Howard Hughes Medical Institute research fellowship, which he carried out at the Forsyth Institute and the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. There, he took a year off from dental school to investigate a cure to suppress the immune responses in the mouth, trying selectively to stop the bone from breaking down. That year of research translated into his winning five science prizes in 2011 and making presentations about his findings at academic conferences across the country. After graduating from Harvard in May 2012,

heavy-hitting producer Mark Canton (“300”) to create a thriller set in an unexplored Egyptian tomb. The film, “Site 146,” is being prepared for a theatrical release. Silver is making headway in a notoriously tough business where “it takes a good three to four years to get your feet planted.” His wife, Laurel (Polumbaum) Silver ’06, M.A. ’07, helps keep him grounded. “It’s tough to have two people in the industry when you’re starting career and life together,” he says. “It’s unstable, the hours are terrible. Fortunately, Laurel is a teacher and very level-headed. “Some days everything works,” Silver continues, “and then you can go three to four weeks with bad news. The truth is, you can be as good as you want, but you still need that lucky break.” Given the number of entertainment vehicles available to the average person, Silver believes the film industry is on the cusp of a golden age. People are always hungry for good cinema, he says, whether a movie is being projected on a 40foot screen or transmitted through an iPhone. Yes, somehow it is inevitable that phones will be involved.

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CAITLIN THAYER ’07 Major: History Owner of Barefoot Media LLC, Hartford, Conn.

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ing anything that comes between her soles and the street. Her business — appropriately named Barefoot Media — is equally as scrappy as her running style. Thayer launched her company (originally called Thayer Consulting) on the notion that she could coach nonprofits on using social media to spread the word about their organizations effectively and cheaply. Her clients, like The Alliance for Nonprofit Growth and Opportunity, the Hartford Public Library, the United Way and the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, hire Thayer to train them and strategize ways they can employ social media platforms to their advantage. Thayer is no stranger to the nonprofit world. Following her graduation from Clark, the Maine native moved to Hartford to work as assistant manager of visitor services at The Mark Twain House and Museum. She was soon asked to run the museum’s Facebook page, and realized she had a knack for optimizing social media. Over time, Thayer was approached by other nonprofits to help with their online presence, her clientele list expanding to the point that she quit her museum job to start her consulting company. “I actually think my young age made it easier to go out on my own,” Thayer says. “My biggest challenge has been that I don’t have a business background, so it’s been a learning experience dealing with invoicing, taxes and the

Caitlin Thayer does not take her feet for granted, and with good reason. As a competitive runner, those feet carry her over hundreds of miles of New England roads each year, hitting the weather-worn, trafficscarred pavement for races ranging in distance from 5K to a half marathon. And that’s not to mention the practice runs — three times a week if she’s being good. But here’s the thing: Thayer doesn’t fear doing all that without the benefit of wearing shoes. She sometimes runs barefoot, eschew-

legalities of starting and running a business.” Much of Thayer’s job involves illuminating clients — some who are skittish about new technologies — about how social media can be synthesized into their business plans. “I teach my clients to use social media in a natural way, grow it organically,” she says. “There are so many people who think that social media is just for selling products and marketing themselves, which doesn’t help their company or organization in the long run. So I teach organizations how to be natural, how to connect with their audience and how to use social media for long-term success.” Thayer’s own success is getting her noticed. She’s a familiar presence in the Hartford media, who frequently seek her out to comment on social-media topics. Hartford Magazine named Thayer one of the county’s top young achievers, and she leads training seminars to help nonprofits enhance their online portfolio. As her business grows, Thayer is compiling tips and techniques she’s developed for clients over the years and will post a do-it-yourself social-media manual that folks can download for free. She knows that effective communication, like running, cannot be fettered by traditional methods; that success will take you in exciting, sometimes unexpected, directions. Yes, Caitlin Thayer is on the move, but she also has her feet firmly planted.

BRIDGET T. MILLMAN ’08 Major: International Development and Social Change Project Coordinator, Balkan Trust for Democracy, Serbia Bridget T. Millman wrapped up her bachelor’s degree when the U.S. economy was poised for the Great Recession, a time when college graduates around the country were struggling to find employment. Nonetheless, Millman, who double-majored in philosophy and international development and social change, has

managed during these tough economic times to land a personally meaningful job that utilizes her interests and skills. Millman grabbed an opportunity to intern with the Business Start-up Centre Kragujevac, an initiative of the Dutch organization SPARK. During her internship she conducted interviews with entrepreneurs, local partners, and training participants in Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, countries where Business Start-up Centres had been established. She returned to Clark to pursue a master’s in international development and social change. Her course research led her back to the Balkans to study the effects of international development assistance on political systems. Millman’s return to the Balkans was precipitated by her frustration in finding objective information on that part of the world. “I had questions I couldn’t find answers to by staying put,” she explains. “I identified a gap in the quality and objectivity of information available to me in the U.S. on issues and events in the Balkans. I continue to see in the international media discrepancies in the portrayal of local events, and perspectives on those events. The reality is frequently much more complex.” Millman is still in the Balkans, now working with the Balkan Trust for Democracy, an innovative public-private partnership that supports democracy, good governance, and EuroAtlantic integration in Southeastern Europe. Among her many responsibilities, Millman reviews project proposals and analyzes budgets, monitors ongoing projects and evaluates reports, meets with grantees and applicants, and conducts field-monitoring visits. In addition to working as part of a closeknit team, Millman enjoys the opportunity to travel and become familiar with Balkan culture and history. “Travel,” she notes, “whether international or domestic, is an invaluable education.”

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Introduction to American Politics with Professor Mark Miller. It was his first class, in his first semester, and it was all Ethan Zorfas needed to see his career path. “I knew then that politics was where I wanted to be,” Zorfas says. He’s never flip-flopped on that decision. Zorfas is chief of staff for Congressman Frank Guinta (R-N.H.), managing the lawmaker’s staffs in Washington and New Hampshire, and serving as liaison to the leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives. “I manage my boss in a sense, too,” he says. “I work with him on what his focus will be legislatively; how he’ll work through his decisions.” After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, Zorfas worked on campaigns “as one of those guys who does everything — driving the candidates, fundraising, coordinating what needs to be coordinated.” In 2008 he went to work for the National Republican Congressional Committee, traveling across the country to gauge what kind of support local campaigns needed from the committee in Washington. He clicked with two candidates in particular, Dr. William Cassidy (R-Louisiana) and Cynthia Loomis (R-Wyoming), who were both elected to Congress for the first time in 2008. At their request, Zorfas remained with their campaigns; he added four more clients, and soon he’d built his own campaign-consulting business. His political views meshed especially closely

with Rep. Guinta’s. “We just hit it off,” Zorfas says. “We saw the world through the same lens.” In January 2011, Zorfas accepted Guinta’s offer to become his chief of staff. He acknowledges the messy legislative gridlock in Washington on major fiscal issues, but is quick to add that off the radar much is being accomplished across the political divide. He cites the work that Guinta’s office has done in tandem with Democratic Congressman Barney Frank on issues involving commercial fishing, which affect the coastal populations of both New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Zorfas himself is no stranger to reaching across the aisle. As a Republican at Clark, he found his positions often were at odds with those of more liberal-leaning students, including many of his friends. But their discussions, he says, “made me sharper.” “If I argued politics with a Clarkie, I had to be on my game. I loved it,” he says with a laugh. “Clark helped me interact with people who don’t agree with my political ideology; it gave me an understanding of things beyond my own world.” That experience has carried over into his professional life, where “I have to put my head in the place of someone who did not grow up as I had. That’s important when I’m in New Hampshire talking to a commercial fisherman.” Despite his love of politics, Zorfas has no aspirations for elective office. “I see what those guys go through; I’m happy where I am,” he says. “I’d like to continue to find ways to work in policy through the government.”

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ETHAN ZORFAS ’07, M.P.A. ’08 Major: Government and International Relations Chief of Staff for Congressman Frank Guinta, Washington, D.C.

(Opposite page) Jonas Clark, pictured at lower left; G. Stanley Hall, at upper right, and images from Clark University’s history.

Jonas Stanley CLARK’S FOUNDER AND ITS FIRST PRESIDENT WERE HIGHER EDUCATION’S ODD COUPLE. BUT FROM THEIR COMPETING VISIONS, A WORLD-CLASS UNIVERSITY WAS BORN.

By Albert B. Southwick ’41

ONAS GILMAN CLARK was born in the hardscrabble

town of Hubbardston, Mass., in 1815. ¶ Granville Stanley Hall was born about 80 miles west in the hardscrabble town of Ashfield, Mass., in 1845. ¶ Their humble beginnings were about the only thing they shared. ¶ Jonas Clark had become wealthy in the shipping trade to California after the 1849 gold rush. He later was in the furniture business in New York. When he retired in 1880, he owned substantial real estate in San Francisco, New York and Worcester. He and his wife moved to Worcester, where he built a large granite house on Elm Street and a substantial five-story office

building on Main Street — long rented by Denholms, the big department store — and made plans to endow a college in the city. Worcester at that time had about 85,000 people, thousands of them immigrants who labored in the mills that were transforming the bustling city. G. Stanley Hall took a much different life path. He was a pioneer in several fields — education, psychology, child development, scientific pedagogy and philosophy. In 1888 he was on the faculty of Johns Hopkins. He had already founded The American Journal of Psychology and was well known in university circles. He was charismatic and a brilliant lecturer. He also was intensely ambitious and could be duplicitous in achieving his goals. Hall’s brilliant conversations and discussions convinced Clark that he was just what was needed to head the new university, and in 1888 Hall was appointed the first president of Clark University, which had been incorporated a year earlier. Jonas Clark thought he and Hall were on the same page in their vision of a new university. But they were not. Hall had spent several months studying German universities that had impressed him mightily. Back in Worcester, he set about establishing the new Clark University on the German lines of research and graduate study. He was not interested in establishing a teaching college. But a teaching college similar to Harvard or Cornell was what Jonas Clark wanted above all. How he was frustrated time and again by the wily Hall, a fascinating study in human ambition and unscrupulous drive. Clark University folks today might be surprised to learn that some of the school’s most impressive achievements were made possible by the sly maneuvering of its first president.

When Jonas Clark realized how he had been conned by Hall, he stopped attending trustee meetings and sent the board an ultimatum: Either get a regular college started or forget about any more financial aid. And make sure that Hall has no connection to it. The trustees, who had been under the charismatic sway of Dr. Hall, capitulated. Clark College opened its doors in 1902. In 1920, long after Jonas Clark was dead, the University and the College were merged under the presidency of Dr. Wallace Atwood, a geographer. During those early years, Clark was an amazing place. From its Main South setting emerged ideas that changed the world and established an impression of the new University that still resonates. In the academic world, Hall was praised and criticized in about equal measure. The non-academic world was equally puzzled and sometimes appalled by what they believed was going on in the handsome building looking out on Main Street. In 1891, the Worcester Telegram began a crusade against Clark for its experiments on animals, telling about “devilish contrivances.” The paper also derided the University for the experiments conducted on the “mutilated remains of Laura Bridgman’s brain.” The late Laura Bridgman was well known as the first blind and deaf child to gain a significant education in the English language 50 years before the more famous Helen (Below left) G. Stanley Hall, seated at center, flanked by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung in 1909. (Below) Noted Clark alum Paul Siple, Ph.D. ’39, conducting Arctic research.

CLARK MOMENTS Keller. Bridgman, whose educational success was touted by Charles Dickens, lived to the age of 69, and her brain was the subject of pioneering studies in the Clark labs. Dr. Hall was never fazed by publicity, good or bad. He lapped it up. He had an uncanny ability to publicize and promote his ideas and his fads. In his study of the illustrious people who established Clark’s reputation, former Clark President Richard P. Traina wrote that Hall was “the promoter, the impresario par excellence.” That was impressively shown in 1909, the University’s 20th anniversary celebration, when Hall succeeded in attracting an astonishing list of world academic celebrities to Worcester to participate. They included Ernest Rutherford, A.A. Michelson, Franz Boas, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Freud’s five lectures at Clark helped establish psychology firmly on American shores. Probably in the audience for those various lectures was a young physicist named Robert Goddard, whose rocketry experiments would change the world. What he thought about any of them is unknown. Dr. Traina aptly summed up Hall’s career: “Under his leadership the University was characterized by high aspiration, intellectual excitement, extraordinary freedom, readiness to challenge the conventional and always hard, hard work.” Not a bad heritage. Albert B. Southwick ’41 is the retired editorial page editor of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. He continues to write a regular column about Worcester history for the newspaper.

1892 Clark’s first president, G. Stanley

1953 Clark is the first college in Worces-

Hall, establishes the American Psychological Association. The A.P.A. is now the largest scientific and professional organization in the United States.

ter to institute a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

The Earle of architecture

1920 IXZ, a community radio station,

1905 President Theodore Roosevelt delivers the address for Clark’s first public commencement ceremonies.

1907 Physics Professor A. A. Michelson is awarded the Nobel, making him the first American to win a Nobel Prize in any science.

1909 Clark is the location for Sigmund Freud’s famous “Clark Lectures,” introducing psychoanalysis to this country. It was Freud’s only visit to America and the only honorary degree he received. Carl Jung’s first visit to America also was made at the 1909 conference.

1963 Soccer player Liberty Mhlanga becomes the first Clark athlete to earn All-America status.

1967 Alice Higgins is named chair of the Clark Board of Trustees, the first woman to chair the governing board of a private research university in the United States.

1968 Jimi Hendrix plays at Clark on March 15.

1969 Goddard Library is dedicated, with Sen. Edward Kennedy as principal speaker and astronaut Buzz Aldrin receiving an honorary degree.

is launched by Clark physics Professor Robert Goddard. At that time, IXZ was one of fewer than 20 radio stations in the country.

1982 Clark’s cogeneration plant goes

and was raised by his father’s cousin, Edward Earle, a promi-

1920 Francis Cecil Sumner becomes

1997 The University Park Campus

nent manufacturer and later mayor.

the first African-American male to receive a Doctorate of Philosophy in Psychology in the United States. He would go on to found the Department of Psychology at Howard University.

STEPHEN C. EARLE, my grandfather, was born in Leicester to a Quaker family. When his father died he came to Worcester

Although raised as a Quaker, Stephen served in the medical corps of the Union army during the Civil War. Back in Worcester, he embarked on a long career as an architect. Among many other buildings, he designed Boynton Hall at WPI, the Denholm building, Bancroft Tower, the Worcester Art Museum, and public libraries, schools and churches throughout Worcester County. He also is the man responsible for designing Clark Univer-

Churchill Semple becomes the first woman on Clark’s faculty.

2007 The Mosakowski Institute for

as Jonas Clark Hall.

Goddard ushers in the Space Age with his launch of the first liquid-fuel rocket on March 16, in Auburn, Mass.

er if she remembered anything about it.

1939 Paul Siple’s Ph.D. dissertation

“I remember what he always said about the Clark building,” she recalled. “He said: ‘I wasn’t the architect, I was the draftsman!’” Jonas Clark, it seems, had his own ideas about what the building should look like and how it would function. That may be the origin of the apocryphal story that he wanted the building capable of serving as a factory in case the University didn’t work out.

–A. B. S.

1998 The Strassler Center for Holocaust

1921 Geography Professor Ellen

1926 Clark physics professor Robert H.

grandfather had designed the Main Building, I asked my moth-

School opens.

and Genocide Studies opens, providing the first Ph.D. program in the United States for Holocaust and genocide studies and the world’s first Ph.D. program in Holocaust history.

sity’s signature structure, the Main Building, later to be known When I was attending Clark University and learned that my

online, allowing the University to generate electricity, steam heat, and hot water.

from Clark advances the theory of wind chill and creates an index to measure it.

1942 The first class of women enrolls as undergraduates in the Women’s College of Clark University. For more on Clark’s 125th anniversary, visit clarku.edu/clark125.

Public Enterprise is established with a $10 million gift from William ’76 and Jane ’75 Mosakowski.

2008 United States Senator Hillary Clinton speaks to a crowd of 3,500 at the Kneller Athletic Center.

2010 Clark receives the single largest gift in its history, the $14.2 million Ruth and John Adam Educational Fund.

2012 Clark’s pioneering model for liberal education, LEEP™ (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is officially announced.

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Trustees votes to confer doctoral degrees on men and women, or, as the board puts it, “without regard to the distinction of sex.”

ducted research on female sex hormone biogenesis and metabolism during his seven-year stint as a Clark professor (1938-1945), and colleague Hudson Hoagland, former chairman of Clark’s Biology Department, release the birth control pill through the Worcester Foundation of Experimental Biology.

29 clark alumni magazine

1900 The Clark University Board of

1960 Dr. Gregory Pincus, who con-

PAST TENSE :

William Koelsch’s book illuminates Clark history BY JIM KEOGH

spring 2012

“Check the Koelsch book.”

clark alumni magazine

It’s the standard response to the innumerable questions that arise about Clark’s past. Why was anthropology professor Franz Boas’ research considered revolutionary for its time? What president of the United States delivered Clark’s 1905 commencement address? How did Clark students respond during war time, from the world wars through Vietnam? “Check the Koelsch book.” The Koelsch in question is William A. Koelsch, M.A. ’59, Ph.D. (University of Chicago), retired Clark archivist and professor of history and geography, and his book is “Clark University, 1887-1987: A Narrative

History.” The 270-page volume is the repository of Clark University history, researched and written over five years and published to coincide with the University’s centennial celebration. Koelsch recalls that in 1982 he convinced then-Clark President Mortimer Appley to give him time to prepare the Clark book for the 1987 centennial. They agreed on a five-year deal that would allow Koelsch to teach three courses in the fall, then have the spring semesters off to write the book. Crafting the book had its challenges, not the least of which was distilling a century of robust history into a manageable length, and ensuring the material was accessible for multiple audiences. Koelsch also was committed to making the book an accurate, honest accounting of Clark’s journey, which sometimes meant revealing uncomfortable truths about the University’s past — for instance, the lack of harmony between first president

ues to write. His newest book, “Geography and the Classical World: Unearthing Historical Geography’s Forgotten Past,” will be published this summer. Clark’s past remains in his blood. Since retirement Koelsch has written scholarly articles about G. Stanley Hall, and about the influence that Jonas Clark’s strong abolitionist beliefs had on the formation of the University that bears his name. His new book includes an examination of renowned Clark professor Ellen Churchill Semple’s writings about the geography of the Mediterranean region. Of course, his narrative history of Clark remains his calling card; the volume is easily spied on bookshelves throughout the campus. Koelsch most treasures the positive reaction he received for including photographs of two custodians in the book. (“I learned indirectly that Physical Plant was very pleased that two members of their department were in the book. And by God, if the Physical Plant department likes the book, then it was worthwhile.”) One of the former custodians pictured, Harvey Curry, also delivered mail, and was a welcome sight during the World War II years when he would stop by classrooms with letters written by soldiers overseas for their sweethearts at Clark. “I remembered Harvey from my student days,” Koelsch recalls. “One day I saw him back on campus and I introduced myself. He told me he was here because he wanted to take a look at the new library. He’d heard that some people liked it, and some didn’t, and he wanted to see it for himself so he could make up his mind. “That is so Clark. Even the custodians evaluate the evidence and make their own judgments.”

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(Above left) William Koelsch in the stacks at Goddard Library. (Above) Custodian Harvey Curry, a familiar face at Clark.

31 clark alumni magazine

G. Stanley Hall and Clark’s founder, Jonas G. Clark, and Hall’s penchant for alienating faculty members. “Non-Clark people are more interested in the University’s early years, and Clark people tend not to know about them,” he says. “I tried to get the record reasonably straight about those years. “Obviously if I didn’t feel good about Clark I wouldn’t have written the book, but it was not an attempt to create a public relations piece. I attempted to call the shots as I saw them, and if something happened to be negative, that was included. One tries to be as fair and balanced as one can.” Koelsch scoured the academic landscape for sources, as befits the man who founded the Clark University Archives and was named University Historian in 1982. In the 1970s he’d crossed the country looking for original manuscripts related to early Clark, and the book draws heavily on that material. He also conducted interviews with former faculty and administrators, and culled from the unpublished memoirs of former presidents Howard Jefferson and Appley. “By the time I wrote I was in a secure position against anyone who might want to squawk about something,” he says with a chuckle. “I can defend every sentence using the backup material.” The latter part of the book is informed by Koelsch’s personal knowledge of Clark. During his many years at the University he was heavily involved in faculty governance and earned a reputation for exercising careful judgment with a measured voice. His access to the inner workings of Clark gave him a unique insight when it came time to compose some of the more recent history. “The last two chapters are a mix of what was documented in the archives, my own experience, and a set of videotaped interviews that [Dean of the College] Bob Campbell had done,” he recalls. “I also had a good deal of background material from other faculty who had been at Clark throughout those years.” Koelsch, who retired in 1998 and now lives in San Diego, contin-

THE MAN IN THE GLASS

100 YEARS AGO THIS SPRING, LOUIS TYREE BROKE THE COLOR BARRIER AT CLARK BY ANNE GIBSON, PH.D. ’95 ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE DALTON COWAN

IF YOU FLIP TO PAGE 534 OF THE CLARK COLLEGE MONTHLY FOR JUNE 1912, YOU WILL FIND A BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPH OF THAT YEAR’S GRADUATING CLASS.

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t is a formal portrait from a formal time, an era when, especially if you hoped to get on in the world, you conformed to the prevailing dress code that signified respectability. No individuality here, just rows of serious young men dressed in their best. Under the academic gowns, suits, starched white colors, and snugly knotted ties are de rigueur. Under the mortarboards, hair is cropped short and the faces are all clean-shaven. But if you look more closely, you will see that one man has not been able to fully conform. His complexion, noticeably darker than that of his fellows, sets Louis Clarkson Tyree apart. Though he was the first African-American student to graduate from Clark College — 100 years ago this spring — he likely cared less about the historic significance of that achievement than he did the practical challenges that still faced him. His travels would take him from the Midwest to New England to Europe. But that’s just geography. Louis Tyree’s more significant journey was his trek as a black man in a white man’s America that would regard him with discomfort, sometimes with animosity. He persevered in a country that once had him feeling so overwhelmed, so beaten up, that he urged his brother to emigrate from this “hotbed of Negro prejudice.” Tyree knew there had to be a better way, and progress could only be obtained by engaging with respected institutions that in turn would confer on him the respect of others, allow him to build the kind of life his own parents could never have known. That’s why he came east. That’s why he came to Clark.

••••

Louis Tyree was born in Indiana in 1884 to Charles William and Lucy Jane Mace Tyree, formerly of Tennessee. Whether Charles and Lucy Jane had ever been enslaved is unclear; communities of free blacks had existed in Tennessee before the Civil War. But whatever Charles’ status, he felt sufficiently committed to the Union cause — or perhaps just the promise of freedom — to enlist with the 14th regiment of U.S. Colored Troops mustered in Gallatin, Tenn., in December 1863, the same year President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Charles Tyree’s enlistment papers cited his occupation as “farmer” and revealed, by his “mark,” that he could not, at that time, write. Over the next two years Charles was promoted, first to corporal and then to sergeant, the latter after being wounded in action at Decatur, Ala. Of the “colored troops” in this fight, Major General R. S. Granger was quoted as reporting that they “were cool, brave, and determined; and under the heaviest fire of the enemy exhibited no signs of confusion.” Charles was later awarded an initial monthly pension of $4 in compensation for a gunshot wound to his left shoulder. Charles and Lucy Jane were among the many African-Americans who made their way north in the aftermath of the Civil War, hoping to find more opportunity than would be available to them in the ruins of the Confederacy. Eventually they settled in Indianapolis, where Louis Tyree was born, along with most of his many siblings (early records show his given name as “Lewis,” but he later would adopt “Louis” as the preferred spelling). The 1880 federal census shows Charles working in Indianapolis as a school janitor while Lucy Jane “kept house.” It appears that by then Charles could write as well as read. Lucy Jane, who wrote both fluently and eloquently, expressed her hopes for her family in a letter to a friend immediately after World War I: “My husband and I have labored and sacrificed … that our children might be prepared to be of service in the world, and live a credit and honor to their name.” Tyree started his high school career at Manual Training High School (now Emmerich Manual), probably in the company of white as well as black students. But here his story takes an unexpected turn. Somehow he found his way to one of the most prestigious college preparatory schools in the country, New Hampshire’s Phillips Exeter Academy, from which he received a Classical Diploma in 1909. Several months later he matriculated at Clark.

••••

When Louis Tyree was three years old, events unfolded 900 miles northeast of Indianapolis that would eventually allow him to further his education at the collegiate level. On March 31, 1887, the gover-

nor of Massachusetts signed the act incorporating Clark University, been recounted in the Historical Journal of Massachusetts by retired Clark founded and funded by former abolitionist Jonas Gilman Clark. In his historian and professor of geography William Koelsch. will, Clark stated “it is my earnest desire, will and direction, that the Unfortunately, in Louis Tyree’s Worcester, as in many northern cities, said University, in its practical management, as well as in theory, may early support for abolitionism did not always translate into the absence be wholly free from every kind of denominational or sectarian control, of discrimination. It was easier to talk the talk than walk the walk, bias or limitation, and that its doors may be ever open to all classes and especially when “they” moved in next door and competed for jobs. persons whatsoever may be their religious faith or political sympathies, In “First Fruits,” Greenwood documents a shift in the attitudes or to whatever creed, sect or party they may belong.” It would seem of Worcester’s white population toward its black citizens. By the consistent with Jonas Clark’s abolitionist views, as well as his desire to late 1800s, after the Union had been secured, tolerance for Africanmake a Clark education available to young men of Americans waned. They weren’t welcome as workmodest means, for his University to admit students ers in the city’s burgeoning industries, and job regardless of race as well. opportunities were largely limited to those of a Clark University was located in a city known for domestic nature — servant, waiter, barber, laundress. its early abolitionist sympathies. Worcester’s distinIn 1900, nine years before Tyree arrived at Clark, guished role in the abolitionist movement is revealed African-Americans were still very much in the in Clark history professor Janette Greenwood’s minority, numbering only about 1,100 in a city “First Fruits of Freedom: The Migration of Former of more than 118,000 people. Clark political Slaves and Their Search for Equality in Worcester, science Professor Ravi Perry, who is president of Massachusetts, 1862-1900.” She notes that in 1765 the Worcester Chapter of the National Association Worcester had charged its representative to the for the Advancement of Colored People, notes Massachusetts General Court to call for the that while some northern educational institutions abolition of slavery, and that in 1781 a Worcester like Clark, Holy Cross and Phillips Exeter appear County slave successfully sued for his freedom. to have welcomed African-Americans, the wider “From the 1830s on,” Greenwood writes, “Worcescommunity may have been less tolerant. ter played a leading role in nearly every major antiAccording to Koelsch, author of “Clark slavery endeavor of the era. In many ways Worcester University, 1887-1987: A Narrative History,” the -LOUIS TYREE, initiated more groundbreaking and radical anti-slavmajority of Clark undergraduates during this time WRITING FROM FRANCE ery activity … than Boston.” hailed from New England, and the bulk of those were from Worcester or elsewhere in Massachusetts. Clark College — the former undergraduate arm of Clark University — tended to attract working-class and other students of modest means, so one can reasonably assume that at least the economic disparity between Tyree and his classmates wasn’t uncomfortably wide. Tyree, age 28 when he completed his degree, was one of the oldest in his class, but there was a spread of about 10 years between the youngest and oldest of his fellow graduates.

••••

Louis Tyree, known as Ty to friends, seems to have spared no effort to combat the isolation he must have felt as

35 clark alumni magazine

Escaped slaves making their way along the Underground Railroad took refuge at homes like that of Worcester’s Stephen and Abby Kelly Foster. Worcester was the birthplace in 1848 of the Free Soil Party that opposed the extension of slavery into western territories, and Worcester minister Thomas Wentworth Higginson supplied weapons to John Brown for his attack on Harper’s Ferry. Worcester’s College of the Holy Cross records that the valedictorian at its first 1849 Commencement was also its first African-American graduate, James Healy. And counted among Central Massachusetts abolitionists were Jonas and Susan Clark, whose anti-slavery sentiments have

spring 2012

“I DO NOT KNOW THAT I AM COLORED UNLESS I LOOK IN THE GLASS.”

the only African-American Class of 1912 Commencement. and one of the relatively few As reported in the Worcester non-New Englanders at the Evening Standard, prominent college. His yearbook profile theologian Dr. Lyman Abbott lists him as a member of the addressed the importance of Cosmopolitan Club (formed ensuring the “purity of respecto promote understanding tive races on this earth. Such a between students of different thing as intermarriage among nationalities), YMCA, Debatthe black and white races is deing Society, the Republican structive to both.” Club, and the Wright Social •••• Science Club (named for Clark Tyree’s educational trajectory College’s former president was not unimpeded. Despite and U.S. Commissioner of his access to educational instituLabor Carroll Wright). Tyree tions willing to open their doors also attended the French Bapto blacks, financing his educatist Church on Main Street, an tion was a continual, almost interesting detail, considering spirit-breaking struggle. he was voted Class Heathen at In a poignant letter to Clark Phillips Exeter. College President Edmund Tyree’s time at Clark was Sanford in July 1913, Tyree bracketed by two events that speaks of having been “greatly received global news coverdiscouraged” and “on the point age: Frederick Cook’s conof leaving school two or three troversial claim that he had reached the North times.” He explains that his only extravagant Pole in 1908, one year before Robert Peary, expense while at Clark was taxi fare to the and the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic in April Senior Ball. “I live as cheaply as possible,” he 1912. Closer to home, world-champion cyclist writes, “and that is the way I have been able to Major Taylor of Worcester, like Tyree an African get along this far. I deprive myself of nearly American who was raised in Indianapolis, all amusements, do not use tobacco nor liquor. retired from racing in 1910. Two years later saw Most of the last year I ate two meals per day so the opening of Fenway Park and a Red Sox as to keep down expenses.” Similar difficulties World Series victory, one year before the team were revealed in a 1916 letter addressed to colwould sign a promising left-handed pitcher lege dean James Porter requesting a financial named Babe Ruth. reference. September 1909 was also a notable year for Census records, city directories and other -PROFESSOR RAVI PERRY the Clark community. In observance of the 20th documents from 1905 to about 1918 show anniversary of the University’s founding, PresiTyree working as bellman, waiter, or servant at dent G. Stanley Hall scheduled conferences in a variety of places, including the historic Wolfe July and September to highlight Clark’s major areas of graduate study. Tavern in Newburyport, the Parker House Hotel in Boston, a tea A five-day national conference on child welfare was held in July, while room in Cambridge, and a boarding house in Worcester. Scholarships the two weeks of September conferences were devoted to the scifrom Phillips Exeter Academy helped pay his way through that instituences, psychology, and China and the Far East. One wonders if Tyree tion (annual tuition $150), but they were partial and his coursework went to hear the lectures of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, not to there was interrupted. He also studied at Newburyport High School, mention Franz Boas, former Clark professor and pioneering anthroprobably while working and boarding at the Wolfe Tavern. Clark’s pologist, who unleashed a crusade against racial prejudice in his book, tuition of $50 a year was more manageable, and Tyree was able to “The Mind of Primitive Man,” published two years later. make it through the three-year baccalaureate course without having He undoubtedly did hear the remarks of a speaker featured at the to take time off.

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“NOT EVERYONE IN THAT DAY AND AGE FELT WELCOMED BY CAUCASIANS.”

clark alumni magazine

In 1919, one year after the end of World War I, cities in the United States were rocked by a series of race riots, a time that came to be called The Red Summer. Two years later, after receiving his law degree from Boston University, Tyree traveled to France. In a June 1922 letter to his brother Charles Tyree Jr., he described France as possessing a social climate more congenial to African-Americans than that which he had left in the states. “I like France very much,” he wrote. “The people here do not show any prejudice. I do not know that I am colored unless I look in the glass.” Tyree considered purchasing a combination of bar, restaurant and living space “in a working district near the docks” of Marseilles and expressed hope that his brother would consider joining him to “cook and run the kitchen.” Of this Mediterranean city Tyree rhapsodized that, “The climate is fine, the winters are very mild. The section of France in which I live is a land of perpetual springtime.”

•••• Three years after Tyree graduated, Clark College awarded a B.A. to African-American Francis C. Sumner. He went on to complete a Ph.D. in psychology at Clark in 1920, the first doctoral degree in psychology earned by a black man in the United States. That same year African-American E. Franklin Frazier completed an M.A. in sociology at Clark. In later years not everyone agreed that Clark was sufficiently receptive to students of color. The year 1969 witnessed a black student sit-in on campus, which resulted in a Black Student Scholarship Fund and the establishment of a black student cultural center. Today, Clark actively recruits and supports promising students of color, as well as those who are the first in their families to go to college, and provides them with transitional support through the ALANA (African-American, Latino, Asian and Native American) program. Numerous student-run clubs celebrate the racial and ethnic diversity that now characterizes the campus. Aside from some of the older structures, Louis Tyree probably wouldn’t recognize the place today. But he would likely take heart in the number of Clark students who don’t see color, even when they look in the glass. Acknowledgments: Wilma Moore, Senior Archivist, African-American History, Indiana Historical Society; Edouard L. Desrochers, Assistant Librarian and Academy Archivist, and Shelley C. Bronk, Library Assistant in Technical Services, Phillips Exeter Academy; Fordyce Williams, Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections, Clark University.

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••••

He went on to confess, “The people at home are angry with me because I came to France, but I could not stay in the hotbed of Negro prejudice any longer.” This was Tyree’s second trip to the continent. He had spent several months in Belgium the previous year, possibly in a military capacity. Greenwood notes that often “black soldiers in World War I … found France much more color blind than the U.S., with some returning as expats.” Tyree’s dream of running a bar and restaurant in Marseilles failed to materialize; the details are unknown. A September 1924 letter to one of his sisters carries a return address of Chicago, where Tyree appears to have resided and practiced law until retirement. His death on October 12, 1963, reported in Jet magazine, caused him to miss by less than a year the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Tyree’s baccalaureate degree was a significant achievement for anyone in pre-World War I America, of whatever race or gender. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that in the year 1910, fewer than 40,000 Americans earned a bachelor’s degree, slightly more than one quarter of whom were women. In those days, even completing high school was an accomplishment.

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Tyree wanted to go to law school, but injuries sustained when he was hit by an automobile during the summer of 1912 hindered his ability to work for a time. He received a $150 scholarship to Harvard Law School from the Harvard Club of Newburyport to defray the $250 annual tuition, attended for one year, but had to drop out. For the academic year 1913-1914 he served as principal at Broadway High School in Madison, Ind. He later returned to Harvard to complete a second year, but eventually earned his Bachelor of Laws (1919) and Master of Laws (1921) degrees from Boston University. In addition to scholarships, Tyree was able to obtain financial assistance for law school from several prominent white men of the day, including Daniel H. Fowle, owner of the Wolfe Tavern; David. H. Fanning, president of the Worcester Corset Factory (located only a few blocks from Clark), and Moorfield Storey, the white Boston attorney who served as the first president of the NAACP. Tyree was introduced to Storey by William Monroe Trotter, the black editor of the Boston Guardian, an African-American newspaper. Most of this money appeared to be in the form of loans — at least some of which bore interest — and had to be paid back. Professor Perry explains that Tyree’s ability to garner the backing of prominent white men was significant in the larger context of U.S. race relations. Tyree’s case, Perry says, illustrates “the history of black and white relations that have gone on in this country since the beginning. Without a biracial coalition, both groups would not be where they are today in terms of various levels of progress.” Perry finds it encouraging that Tyree was able not only to ask for financial assistance, but to take advantage of that aid when offered. “Not everyone in that day and age felt welcomed by Caucasians,” he says, “nor did they necessarily want to have their education funded by Caucasians. It’s very gratifying to stumble upon that type of support.”

clark alumni magazine

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BACKSTAGE CONFIDENTIAL AS IT HITS THE 10-YEAR MARK, CLARK’S INTERNATIONAL GALA REMAINS A MIRACLE OF PLANNING AND EXECUTION. AN INSIDER DELIVERS THE LOW-DOWN ON HOW IT’S DONE. BY CHANCHALA GUNEWARDENA ’11, M.S.P.C. ’12 PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVEN KING

T’S ABOUT 3 A.M. the morning of the show

— earlier than I expected to be contemplating the prospect of sleep. Final dress rehearsal wrapped up around 2 a.m. Sound and stage lights have been put to rest by a student crew, and they along with Director of Student Leadership and Programming Mike McKenna (collectively known as Mike’s Team) are preparing to head home. International Students Association (ISA) members are done with their final checks, which include a last-minute trip to pick up safety pins, resetting the space to opening-night form, and hanging a world’s-worth of flags that proudly decorate the perimeter of the Kneller Athletic Center. About eight of us are pulling out sleeping bags, sheets and pillows, and making our way to the stage that didn’t even exist 24 hours ago. This will be our soft place to land for the night. We must stay here because the wiring and temperaturesensitive equipment prevent the Kneller doors from being locked, and anyone could walk in. Some stayed behind for the camaraderie of a last night together. I don’t have it in me to point out that they will have to cancel their slumber-party dreams — they will be out before their heads hit the pillows. So I just say my good-nights and demonstrate. We’ve got five hours of quiet time ahead

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of us. Then, things will move fast and furiously.

clark alumni magazine

I saw Clark’s International Gala long before I landed in Worcester. My brother, also a Clarkie, would bring a performance DVD home over break and I would watch, enthralled — not so much by the show, but by the sight of my brother bangra-ing and beat boxing, his onstage persona incongruent with my pre-college image of him as more of a backstage, two-left-feet kind of person. Yet, I would soon learn, that’s the thing about Gala: It transforms. My first taste of the show would be, in structure, different from my brother’s. Under Ihar Valodzin ’07, the 2007 show had reached new

heights, yet had also grown beyond the seating and backstage constraints of its then-Atwood home. By the time I arrived for the April 2008 edition, Atwood Hall had been reconstituted as our “Hell Week” rehearsal space with new ISA president Shyamal Asher and Mike McKenna initiating the experiment of relocating the Gala performance to the Kneller Athletic Center. Still, despite all the new logistical concerns brought on by the move, the core of the show — its heart and soul-bound performances — retained its passion. This is why seeing the performances take shape each year reminds all involved that it will work even on the most impossible days. Committing to Gala happens long before the show goes into performance. With so much to do, and so much opportunity for student initiative, Gala allows students to dive into the deep end, contribute meaningfully, and make their mark. That’s what hooked me and what I believe has continued to attract the campuswide involvement on which the show relies. Even though the International Students Association

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(Opposite page) Flags from many nations adorn the Kneller Athletic Center on Gala night. The Salsa team swings into action. (From top) Anabelle Ngack '13 leads a dance on stage. Zack Meager '12 of New Zealand decorates the face of Crystal Fam '13 with Maori art. A dancer catches some air during the rousing Ukrainian number. (Left) Levi Natkins '13 and his fellow tribesmen energize the audience with their performance of a traditional Maori haka dance.

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has officially run the event for 10 years, preparing and performing the concert has given us the greatest understanding of how collaborative a project it truly is. The International Gala is a Clark community production. The day after the curtain falls on the current show, the discussion of the next begins — that’s no exaggeration. Together with Student Leadership and Programming, ISA assesses how well the completed show was managed and budgeted; we note immediate concerns and areas for improvement. Then we set a date. With other events to attend to in the fall we give the Gala conversation a deliberate rest until late November. Then we press “PLAY.” The International Students Association, which usually boasts some semblance of cohesive structure with committees and specialized positions, then rescinds all boundaries, allowing members to jump around — brainstorming, teamworking, shouting and head-butting. Though the process may seem dysfunctional to the untrained eye, this is how the ever-vibrant and diverse personalities of the ISA executive board get things done. It also fosters an undeniable sense of family. Our rock, as always, is Amy Daly Gardner, head of the Office of Intercultural Affairs. Since Gala’s inception in 2002, she has helped guide ISA to put on a show that celebrates all forms of diversity on campus while still being incredibly entertaining. Gala is, for better or worse, cause for our evergrowing team to spend too much time together. There are the usual weekly meetings plus an assortment of new project meetings to attend as we divvy up work on commercial shoots (video and photo), T-shirt design, invitations, flag ceremony organization, stage management, volunteer prep and more. Thankfully, we’ve always found indispensable help from friends. Outsourcing in true globalized style, last year we received assistance from ISA alum Anuj Adhikary ’10, who worked remotely from his Nep-

spring 2012 clark alumni magazine

alese home to create a signature Gala website that included a promo shot by my best friend Aris Kouvaras ’11 (responsible for four years of great gala videos), and photos by Champo Mapulanga ’12 and Anna Voremberg ’13. While we all work to build what is essentially the framework for the show, students (and since 2010, geography professor/flamenco dancer Yuko Aoyama) create, teach and perfect show-stopping national and regional performances over a period of weeks and days. Costumes and props are sometimes shipped in or gathered straight from the source over December break. These extra touches not only highlight pride in presentation but imbue a performance with a kind of authenticity and traditional glamour — such as the Bolivian masks and spears that graced the stage in 2009, or the swirling, glistening sarees that highlight the India performance. Our now 300-plus performers give up their weekends and free time between classes to rehearse tirelessly in any makeshift practice space that can be found — which has been known to include the Johnson and Dodd Hall basements, the Kneller squash courts, the abandoned floor of an off-campus house, the Kneller and Atwood lobbies, and even the concrete courtyard outside Atwood. And it’s they, with much-appreciated patience, who bear with the organizers as we ask them to stay in poorly ventilated, belowground-level squash court “dressing rooms” on show night and line up along the pool deck while anxiously awaiting their turn to perform. For this they are rewarded by staying behind to dismantle the bleachers and stage only minutes after their well-deserved curtain call. On show night, the performers’ comings and goings are orchestrated by a varying four- to six-person “host” team. This rigorously auditioned, practiced and advised group carries the weight of representing all of what the show is about, usually while being asked to keep it tightly timed and appropriate. It’s a tough gig subjecting yourself to being the man or woman in this particular arena. You’re open to much criticism and exhaustion, but it can be a prized challenge that reaps at least a week’s worth of adulation from those who think you got it right.

We also boast an incredible group of volunteers who jump on board with no intention of taking the stage. They come solely to fill vital, but perhaps more off-radar, positions such as security and ushers. The stage builders join ISA and Mike’s Team in the week leading up to the performance to unload three trucks of staging, sound and light equipment on Wednesday evening, build the stage till around midnight, and then return at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday to help assemble bleachers in time for the 3 p.m. tech rehearsal — often solely on the promise of coffee, donuts and entrance to the show. While we stand in awe of our fellow Clarkies through all of this, nothing compares to knowing that the wider Clark community does as well. There are the professors who patiently bear with half-functional students shuffling into class after too-long rehearsals, and faculty and staff who attend to cheer on their pupils, student interns and even their own children. High school teacher Nellie Maley ’08, M.A.T. ’09, has brought her students to Gala for the past two years to help them experience her alma mater. Family and friends arrive from all over on show night, some traveling from out of state, and at least one from outside the continent. In 2010, the parents of Terrance Ma ’11 flew in from China to see for themselves the moment

when Gala participants become something our often quiet, awkward, eccentric or merely nervous selves didn’t know we could be. Behind the scenes, or under spotlights, but with audience support unfolding before us — we transform. The 8 a.m. wake-up is conducted by Mike McKenna. Appropriate to our basketball-court setting, the knowledge that it’s “game time” gets me up. Members of the ISA reconstitute in the Kneller, as Mike’s Team, Jim Cormier from Media Services, Clark Cable Network members who are here to tape the show, all the volunteers, and of course, the performers, roll in for the last push. As evening approaches there will be a few more anxious moments as videos require last-minute reformatting

and

performers

anxiously

await

their time on stage. Yet all the while I breathe, feeling calmer than anticipated. In the last few days I had decided, as I watched my ISA family and our friends prepare the three-hour show to come, that the night would manifest itself as we all deserved it to — spectacularly. The calendar reads April 1, but outside, Clark has been blanketed by an unseasonal yet beautiful snowshower. Even Mother Earth seems to have set her stage for some magic to happen. Showtime.

CLARKWORK

USOFF NAMED GSOM DEAN Catherine Usoff, Ph.D., was selected as dean of the Graduate School of Management in February. She previously served as professor and chair of the Information & Process Management Department at Bentley University. She starts her new post on June 1. Usoff joined the Bentley faculty in 1993; she helped design the university’s first cohort-based M.B.A. program in 1999. She played a pivotal role in Bentley’s Business Process Management course, where teams of students have worked on major improvement projects with area businesses, including prominent companies like Fidelity Investments, Genzyme, EMC and Children’s Hospital Boston. In 2006, Usoff worked with faculty from three other Bentley departments to establish the Information & Process Management Department. Prior to the launch of the IPM Department, she was a senior faculty member in the Accountancy Department. She and a colleague created a joint finance-accounting undergraduate major — one of the most popular majors at Bentley. Building on the success of Clark’s master of science in finance degree, GSOM is launching a new master of science in accounting this fall. NEW DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL PLANT R. Michael Dawley joined Clark University this year as the director of Physical Plant, replacing Paul Bottis, who was in the director’s post for 26 years. Dawley was formerly director of operations for Wellesley College Facilities Management where he oversaw grounds, maintenance, custodial services and small projects. He holds a master of science in facilities management and a bachelor’s in marine engineering from Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Prior to working at Wellesley, Dawley was project engineer for BVA Cogen, where he oversaw the planning, installation and operation of cogeneration plants. “My most rewarding experience thus far at Clark is working with students who bring an amazing level of enthusiasm and thoughtfulness as to how we can support their education and integrate academics and experience with the physical environment through innovative programs such as LEEP,” he says.

(From left) Catherine Usoff, R. Michael Dawley, and Mary-Ellen Boyle

BOYLE IS DEAN OF THE COLLEGE Mary-Ellen Boyle, Ph.D., has been appointed dean of the college. She will take over for Walter Wright, who has served in the dean’s capacity during three separate stints in his long career. Boyle is positioned to help ensure that a Clark student’s education extends beyond the school gates and into the worlds of work, research and public service. She will be one of the drivers behind the execution of Clark’s LEEP™ (Liberal

Education and Effective Practice) initiative. LEEP is the University’s innovative model for higher education that connects classroom learning with the kinds of professional and research opportunities that equip students to pursue their passions in a 21st-century society and economy. Before becoming the associate dean of the college at Clark, Boyle was the faculty director of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Department and a professor in the Graduate School of Management.

Global perspectives. Ethical framework. What does it take to achieve success in a business environment where supply chains are international, competition is fierce, and access to information is instant? How can the economic policies and corporate practices of one nation impact communities halfway around the world? At Clark, you’ll gain an in-depth understanding of the cultural, economic, environmental, and political realities that shape our world and impact the global economy. You’ll learn to develop innovative solutions to complex management challenges and make sound – and socially responsible – business decisions.

MBA – Southborough & Worcester MBA in Social Change

Business for Social Change I Community Development Environmental Policy I International Development Social Entrepreneurship I Sustainability

MBA in Sustainability MBA/MA in Community Development and Planning MBA/MA in Environmental Science and Policy Master of Science in Finance

Students are drawn to Clark for a transformative experience. Are you ready to join them? clarku.edu/gsom I 508.793.7406 I clarkmba@clarku.edu

Clark Alumni: We encourage your applications and referrals and will waive your application fee. Clark is ranked a top 16 green MBA program by The Princeton Review and a top 100 business school for social and environmental impact by the Aspen Institute’s Beyond Grey Pinstripes.

By Kevin Anderson SPORTS

spring 2012

Buzzer Beaters

clark alumni magazine

We’ve all done it. Time winding down. Game tied. Or better yet, down two and the ball is in your hands. 3 … 2 … 1 … SWISH! Buzzer sounds and the gym goes crazy. Then suddenly you realize that buzzer isn’t the horn sounding the end of the game you’ve just won. It’s the alarm clock going off, ending your championship moment. Well, your dream was Travis Curley’s reality, not once but twice on a sleepy Wednesday night in February. Men’s basketball was in a back-and-forth battle with New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) rival Springfield at the Kneller Athletic Center. The Cougars led for most of the game and were ahead with less than a minute to play when Springfield tied the game at 60-60 and forced overtime in the waning seconds of regulation. Clark was now playing its third overtime contest in its last four games and it showed as Springfield led by four with 35 seconds left. The teams exchanged missed shots and then the long-range show began for Curley. First he made a three-pointer that was so deep, some thought it might be a pass. Then after two made Springfield free throws, a perfect inbounds play found Curley on the left side of the court and, while fading away in front of his own team bench, he forced a second overtime with a shot that swished through the net as time expired. Often, when someone does what Curley and the rest of his teammates did, there isn’t enough gas left in the tank to actually get the win. But the Cougars, still in the midst of a playoff race, needed the victory. In the second overtime, Clark led by three with 15 seconds to go, but Springfield tied the game at 79-79 with 10 seconds left. Most thought a third overtime was inevitable. Not Travis Curley. He took the inbounds pass, dribbled right — avoiding two defenders — and stopped outside the free throw line, where he saw two more defenders. He gave a slight pump fake, and then rose up and let fly a shot that snuck over the front of the rim and nestled in the nylon as the horn sounded. Word spread quickly around campus of Curley’s heroics, and when he woke up the next morning it was clear the news had reached farther than just the four corners of Red Square. His plays were being broadcast on ESPN’s SportsCenter all morning for the world to see. “I’d hit buzzer beaters on JV in high school, but nothing of this magnitude,” Curley said. “This tops all of them. It’s the highest

TRAVIS CURLEY

feeling of my sports career.” And to think, when Travis Curley arrived on campus, he spent his first year injured, and then his next was spent mostly on the junior varsity. In the end, dreams do come true.

Women’s basketball on the rise The arrow is pointing up for the Clark women’s basketball team. Two years ago, they were 5-20 and missed out on the conference tournament for the first time in program history. 2010-11 was a step in the right direction, as the Cougars enjoyed an influx of talent in the Class of 2014 that helped them return the program to one of the best in New England. The Cougars made a postseason appearance in the ECAC Tournament, won the most games (12) in league play in program history, finished third in the conference, hosted a home playoff contest and won 16 total games — their most since 2005-06, when most of the current team was still in middle school. Led by sophomores Ashleigh Condon, Megan Grondin and Emily Reilly, Clark has one of the best scoring threesomes in the nation. Condon, who became Clark’s first first-team

all-conference selection since 2007-08, finished the season fifth in the conference in scoring (13.1), second in assists (4.1) and first in free throw percentage (86.2). Reilly, meanwhile, was named to the all-conference second team, giving the Cougars their first pair of all-conference performers in the same season since 2005-06. She was fourth in the conference in scoring (14.3) and fifth in three-point percentage (32.9). The unbelievably consistent Reilly has started all 53 games in her career and has been in double figures 47 times. Grondin, however, might have had the best season of the three. She raised her scoring average by nearly four points a game, finished second in the league in field goal percentage (50.0), shot better than 82 percent from the free throw line and scored 20 points or more in three consecutive contests. A great deal of credit for the Cougars’ success

ASHLEIGH CONDON

goes to the individual student-athletes, but head coach Pat Glispin, who has amassed 478 wins, certainly deserves kudos, too. Under Glispin’s watch, Clark has been to the NCAA Tournament seven times and won three ECAC championships. But it was seven seasons between postseason appearances. With the way the arrow is pointing, it definitely won’t take that long for the next one.

O’Toole named men’s soccer coach “Coach O’Toole displayed solid leadership skills on the field in his time as a [Providence College] Friar. I have no doubt that the intangibles that he displayed as a player will translate into success. Clark University is fortunate to have him as their head coach.” – Chaka Daley, Head Coach, University of Michigan

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the Eircom Premier League of Ireland. It’s hard not to think Clark got its man when you look at O’Toole’s resume. He has had his hands on some of the most successful teams in New England over the last decade and knows what it takes to build a champion. “Hiring Matt was an absolute slam dunk,” says Sean Sullivan, director of athletics and recreation. “He’s so incredibly well prepared and has an affinity for the scholar-athlete and a vision to help Clark reach the upper echelon of NEWMAC play.” Here is what the soccer world is saying about Matt O’Toole: “I am excited to have Matt coaching in our league. He is very professional and will have Clark very organized and prepared to play. As a friend and peer I am very happy to have him back in New England where he and his family have always wanted to be.” – Matt Cushing, Head Coach, Wheaton College “I couldn’t be happier for Matt, or prouder. He was such a big part of our success last fall and will be missed. Matt is the perfect example of a coach who will not only do great things on the field, but off of it as well.” – Justin Serpone, Head Coach, Amherst College

MATT O’TOOLE

clark alumni magazine

Matt O’Toole, an assistant at one of the most successful programs in the country, and with extensive ties to New England, has been tabbed as the new head men’s soccer coach. O’Toole brings with him an impressive resume of accomplishments and accolades and was most recently an assistant coach at Amherst College, the nation’s 10th ranked Division III program in 2011. Thanks in part to his tutelage, the 2011 Lord Jeffs led the New England Small College Athletic Conference in 14 different statistical categories, including all eight offensive rankings — news that should bode well for future Clark soccer teams. O’Toole got his start at league rival Wheaton where he helped guide the Lyons to a NEWMAC regular season (2002) and conference tournament title (2003) in his two seasons. Wheaton, compiled a 34-8-2 overall record during his stay and advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 2003 — a season in which they won 19 games. Following a stellar four-year career at Providence College that saw him start 64 of 65 games and earn All-New England honors, O’Toole was invited to train with three different Major League Soccer clubs, as well as with Bohemians FC of

CLARK CHAPTERS

Published and Presented 1

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1 2 3 4 5

THE YOUNG TURKS’ CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY // By Taner Akçam, Associate Professor of History/Robert Aram, Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marion Mugar Chair in Armenian Genocide Studies Introducing new evidence from more than 600 secret Ottoman documents, Taner Akçam demonstrates in unprecedented detail that the Armenian Genocide and the expulsion of Greeks from the late Ottoman Empire resulted from an official effort to rid the empire of its Christian subjects. Akçam goes deep inside the bureaucratic machinery of Ottoman Turkey to show how a dying empire embraced genocide and ethnic cleansing.

SHAKESPEARE IN AMERICA // By Virginia Mason Vaughan, Professor of English, and Alden T. Vaughan The Vaughans trace Shakespeare’s contributions to America’s cultural history from the colonial era to the present, with substantial attention to theatre history, publishing history, and criticism. The book identifies four broad themes that distinguish Shakespeare in the United States from the dramatist’s reception in other countries.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NGOS: STATE FORMATION IN SRI LANKA AND BANGLADESH // By Jude Fernando, Associate Professor of International Development Exploring the paradoxical relationship between non-governmental organizations and capitalism, Jude Fernando shows that supposedly progressive organizations often promote essentially the same policies and ideas as existing governments. The book examines how a diverse group of NGOs have shaped the formation of the Bangladesh and Sri Lanka states, integrating into the capitalist system and adapting their language to give traditional exploitative social relations a transformative appearance.

INVISIBLE MEN // By Michael Addis, Professor of Psychology Drawing on scientific research, as well as his own personal and clinical experience, Michael Addis describes an epidemic of personal, relational, and societal problems that are caused by the widespread invisibility of men’s vulnerabilities. From increasing suicide rates among men, to alcohol abuse, to violence and school shootings, his research reveals the continued cost of staying silent when emotional, physical, or spiritual pain enters men’s lives.

ENCLOSED // By Liza Grandia, Professor of International Development and Social Change Professor Liza Grandia’s impassioned and rigorous analysis of the territorial plight of the Q’eqchi Maya of Guatemala highlights an urgent problem for indigenous communities around the world — repeated displacement from their lands. Grandia uses the tools of ethnography, history, cartography and ecology to explore the waves of dispossession that unsettled these agrarian people.

ALUMNI NEWS LETTER TO ALUMNI:

SCOTT ZOBACK ’04, M.P.A. ’05

Alumni Association President

// I've been proud to serve you. As always, I welcome your thoughts or comments. Contact me anytime at szoback@alumni.clarku.edu, or by mail at Scott Zoback c/o Alumni Office, Clark University, 950 Main St., Worcester, MA 01610.

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here’s a saying: “When I came into this world, there were trees here for me. It is my duty to make sure there are trees for those who come after.” Take a minute, right now, to remember your Clark experience. Remember the friends you made for life; the professors; the uniqueness of the school. Clark exists for students, but it exists because of alumni. Over the past two years, I’ve talked to hundreds of alumni, from Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) to our 50-Year Association members. Our specific experiences may differ from era to era, but there is a certain tie that binds us all. And that tie matters. Regardless of generation, we are Clark. And all of our experiences at the University were due to those who came before us. Clark today is a vibrant campus with one of the best student bodies anywhere — because of alumni support. I’ve been consistently impressed with the passion we have as alumni for our school. And because of that, our Alumni Association and our University have made some incredible strides over the past two years. But there’s a lot more we can do to stay involved. For my fellow young alumni, there has never been a more important time to show your support for Clark. Attend an event in your area. Write into Class Notes. Register for Clark Connect, our online community. Donate to Clark in recognition that you benefited from alumni donations. Whether it’s $25 or $2,500, your contribution makes a significant impact on our GOLD giving rate. For all alumni, this is a great time to register to come back to campus for reunion — or just to say hi. Whatever your reason for returning, I’m proud to announce that the initial phase of the Clark University Virtual Alumni Center is just about complete. The center, which will be part of the Clark Connect website, describes the privileges available to alumni who are back on campus. Returning alumni will be able to access Wi-Fi, get a free coffee in the Academic Commons, get a discount lunch in the cafeteria, take a walking tour of campus, and access the special collections and archives, with an appointment. Additional programs are coming to the Virtual Alumni Center. For more information, or to let Clark know you’ll be back, please contact the Alumni Affairs office through clarku.edu/alumni or at 800-793-6246. This is my last column as Alumni Association president. Shaké Sulikyan ’01 is our president-elect, and we as an alumni body couldn’t be in more capable, intelligent, or insightful care. She’s going to be a fantastic leader and voice for us all. I love Clark. I’ve always believed that you can judge an academic institution best, not by its buildings or its surroundings, but by the people it attracts. And simply, Clark attracts the best. We are lucky to be alumni from a singularly special institution. I’m proud of what Clark is, and I look forward to continuing to plant trees for those who come after us for a long time. I hope you’ll join me. Best regards,

spring 2012

ALUMNI NEWS

Alumni, students get some AIR time

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t’s become a rite of fall. The Alumni-in-Residence program lures alumni back to campus to discuss with students the challenges they’ve faced, the successes they’ve achieved, and the roads they’ve traveled to reach their career destinations. Last November, an eclectic group of Clarkies returned to tell their personal stories and offer insight into the world of work. To see video interviews with these and other alumni, visit clarku.edu/alumnistories.

clark alumni magazine

MICHAEL STATON ’02, M.A. ’03 CEO, Inigral Inc.

JILL DAGILIS, M.P.A. ’01 Director of Worcester Community Action Council

After teaching high school for three years, Michael Staton joined a company in Palo Alto, Calif., and lived with a friend who at the time was working for a little startup called Facebook. The site launched to high school students, and soon Staton found his students looking to “friend” him. “I thought that was kind of creepy,” he recalls. But he also saw the potential for an app that would foster intra-student relationships in a constructive way. “I set out to take advantage of the launch of the Facebook platform to try and create a transformative company in education.” The result is a new category of software called the student “lifecycle engagement platform.” It’s a “social, open kind of communications medium that a university would use starting early in the recruitment cycle all the way through to graduating alumni.” Use of the software is showing a clear correlation with increasing persistence rates in schools across the country, he says. Staton’s company, Inigral Inc., works with a number of state schools and community colleges, and the endeavor is so highly regarded that it’s been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “We try to help with a national goal of returning to our spot as the world’s leader in producing college graduates,” Staton says. Staton’s teaching career made him passionate about the challenges facing the U.S. education system. Now he embraces the notion of energetic entrepreneurs tackling the problems head on, employing the latest technological tools to enhance educational, or even social, outcomes. His Clark experience, he says, helped him develop skills of collaboration, communication and compromise, but also stiffened his resolve to stand up for what he believed was right. “You start to understand the kind of person you are and how you approach things. And when you walk into the world, even if you spend the first six months trying to find your job, you have this kind of model for how you want to live your life. I found that really powerful.”

When she returned to campus in November, Jill Dagilis was excited to meet with Katy Cleminson ’12, who is leading a student effort to replace a decrepit playground at the corner of Downing and Florence streets. As the director of the Worcester Community Action Council, an anti-poverty agency serving Central Massachusetts, Dagilis knows well the value of early intervention in the lives of children, whether through education programs, health services … or sturdy playgrounds. “I’m blessed to have been able to work with Clark University over the course of 20 years. I have a long view of seeing how meaningful Clark is in terms of a neighborhood,” she says. “It’s one corner, one neighborhood, one family at a time.” Dagilis has devoted her professional life to the betterment of Worcester, beginning with the Office of Planning and Community Development and climbing the city ladder to Commissioner of Code Enforcement and Commissioner of Health and Human Services. “I got to see every neighborhood of the city,” she says. “So my work at the neighborhood level — like in and around Clark — to the whole citywide and regionwide perspective has been something that I’m really passionate about. I like to be able to come back and talk to students and say here is a career track that I believe has been purposeful, and productive, and successful.” The Worcester Community Action Council is helping people move to economic self-sufficiency through programs, partnerships and advocacy. It is, Dagilis says, where she’s meant to be. “I’m a Worcester fan and a Central Massachusetts fan. I wanted to be able to give back to this city and this region in a meaningful way through my work.”

Numbers have always spoken to George Russell. It’s why he majored in math at Clark, why he earned his M.B.A. at New York University, and why he’s spent his entire career crunching those numbers, analyzing them, figuring out where they’ll do the most good. After grad school he was hired by State Street Corp. in Boston and found himself helping to create a lending group for small businesses all over the country, including hightech startups. “I liked the people,” he recalls. “They weren’t your typical business people. They were kind of quirky, did interesting things and developed some interesting products. That was enjoyable.” He did national lending with Fortune 500 companies, “which really turned me into a banker.” Since State Street at the time could not lend more than $20 million to any company, it couldn’t compete for some of the biggest fish, which might be seeking nine-figure loans. “That meant I had to learn about all the other different services that the bank offered: cash management, foreign exchange, trust services, etc., and that was part of my bag of tricks that I could come in and offer to a company.” Ten years into his career he’d enjoyed a great deal of success, but was getting antsy to try something else. That “something else” was government. Russell was appointed treasurer and chief financial officer of the City of Boston under then-Mayor Raymond Flynn. “I had responsibility for cash management, debt management and investment management, and that meant running a billion-dollar cash flow, which meant going to Wall Street to raise money for infrastructure repairs, and doing investor tours. That was all fascinating and a lot of fun.” Russell then made one more change, becoming the president and CEO of a small community bank in New York, which eventually closed. The CEO of State Street had been calling Russell every year for nine years to ask if he was ready to return to his old company, but he’d always resisted. This time, the offer was too enticing to pass up: Russell would be heading up State Street Foundation, the company’s charitable grant-making division. “I make sure that whenever we have a physical presence anywhere in the world, not only are we doing business in those locales, but we’re investing in those communities,” he says. “For the last 20 years that’s what I’ve been doing; it takes me all over the world. I have committees in 38 locations worldwide, and that’s how I spend my time.”

As the sports editor of The Scarlet, David Brenerman decided not only which stories would be covered, but also the content and tone of the editorials appearing on his pages. If you think that sports pages don’t typically court controversy, remember that Brenerman attended Clark in the late ’60s and early ’70s, when countless topics provoked passionate disagreement. “We wrote some pretty controversial editorials and took on some issues that some people wish we hadn’t,” he recalls. “The question always was, should we write this or not? Later, as I moved through my career, every day I had to make similar kinds of decisions.” Brenerman embarked on a career path where decisiveness is a virtue. The Maine native was elected to the state legislature at the age of 25, and served six years in the House of Representatives. He followed that with three years as executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, was elected to the Portland City Council, and in his last year on the council was elected Mayor of Portland. For the last 26 years, Brenerman has been working as the vice president of government affairs for Unum, one of the largest insurance companies in the country. The lobbying position requires him to be persuasive, but also willing to negotiate and find areas of compromise. “Negotiations are so important in any particular job where you’re working with other people,” he says. “Not everybody agrees on what ought to be done and how it ought to be done. “One of the things I learned at Clark was collaboration, and that’s helped me in my career, both in politics and as a government affairs person and lobbyist. I was a member of the baseball team, and no team can be successful unless all the players are working together. When I was in the state legislature, no one person could get a bill passed. You needed other people — Democrats, Republicans, independents — people who were conservative and people who were liberal. You had to bring them all together in order to pass a new law. “And I was able to do that in part, I think, from working together with other people here at Clark, on classroom projects, on the playing field, and at The Scarlet.”

spring 2012

DAVID BRENERMAN ’73 Vice President of Government Affairs, Unum

49 clark alumni magazine

GEORGE RUSSELL JR. ’72 President, State Street Foundation

By Jim Keogh ALUMNI NEWS

Gwen Bell’s legacy rings true

T spring 2012

HE COMPUTER HISTORY MUSEUM occupies 119,000 square

clark alumni magazine

feet of prime real estate nestled in Silicon Valley. The museum’s exhibits and programs — both physical and online — trace the journey of computing, from primitive calculators and cumbersome mainframes to the ongoing revolution of online technology. It’s the world’s largest and most comprehensive effort to collect and display the artifacts and stories of the information age. Impressive, to be sure, but even more so knowing that it all began in a converted coat closet. The museum’s humble origins, and its glorious present, are the brainchild of computer scientist Gordon Bell and his wife Gwendolyn Bell, Ph.D. ’67, the founding director. Just last year, Gwen welcomed fellow Clark alumni to the museum, where they were given an after-hours tour of a place that has lovingly preserved the artifacts and stories of the information age. To reach that moment means going back into history, a favorite pastime of Gwen’s. Her love of both history and geography began as a young girl in her hometown of Prairie du Chien, Wisc., at the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers where famed explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette roamed the banks in the late 1600s, and where John Jacob Astor once traded furs. “My father organized tours for people coming up from Chicago, and I would accompany him,” she recalls. “In 1944 there was a labor shortage due to World War II. At the age of 10, I began working as tour guide at the Villa Louis, a Victorian-era estate and museum. I made as much as

five dollars an hour — a fairly decent wage for child labor.” After graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1956, Gwen pursued a master’s in city planning at Harvard, and earned a Fulbright Scholarship to the University of Sydney, Australia, where she planned an irrigation project for a small town “that transformed the geography of the area from what was once a desert into a farming community.” An unintended, and fortuitous, consequence of her time in Australia is that she met a promising MIT student named Gordon Bell, who was also Down Under on a Fulbright. The two were soon married. During her last semester at Harvard, Gwen Bell realized that her heart was in the field of geography and she enrolled in Clark’s Ph.D. program, earning her doctorate in 1967. She went on to do city planning in Boston and served on the faculties of Harvard and Pittsburgh University. At this time, Gordon was working for Digital Equipment Corporation in Maynard, Mass., an industry leader in the early days of computers. Concerned that no institution was making a serious effort to preserve artifacts for study, exhibition or posterity, Gordon and Digital founder Ken Olsen in 1975 established the “Museum Project” in a converted closet in Digital’s Maynard headquarters. In 1978, Gwen joined the effort as full-time volunteer director of The Digital Computer Museum, established in the lobby of a Marlboro, Mass., building that Digital had purchased from RCA. The museum would later migrate to Boston and be renamed The Computer Museum. Gwen committed 20 years to ensuring the museum’s success. She established a classification taxonomy and acquisition criteria for the artifacts to be collected, and started building exhibits. She organized a series of lectures to capture the stories of key industry pioneers, which were published in the The Computer Museum Report (1980-1998). The principles and practices she put in place have remained almost unchanged for the museum’s 30-plus years. Most computer manufacturing had left New England for the West Coast by the late 1990s. While the museum continued to receive support from the city, state and Boston companies, Gwen penned a memo to the executive committee sounding a warning that the institution had become “marginal” in its Boston location and was failing to live up to the industry standard of “refinement or pizzazz.” By this time, the Bells were entertaining a proposal to move the museum to California’s Silicon Valley, the nation’s hub of high technology. The Boston museum was dissolved in 1999, and its science and technology assets were acquired by the Boston Museum of Science. Truckloads of artifacts were relocated to a 119,000-square-foot building the museum had purchased in Mountain View, Calif. In May 2003, the Computer History Museum was opened. “In a serendipitous manner my childhood love of history, my travels around the world as a Fulbright, my marriage to computer scientist Gordon Bell, and my experience with geography at Clark University combined to give me, and I hope others, a broader view of the world,” Gwen Bell says. “It also provided the basis for collecting and preserving the artifacts and stories for this wonderful and unique place.”

By Gitanjali Laad, M.S.P.C. ’12

try, but a career spent developing the technologies of the future could not blunt his appreciation for the past. Far from it. Connors’ longtime passion for history led him to earn a master’s degree from Harvard University Extension School, a process he began when he was in his late 40s. Despite an already hectic work and family schedule, he then enrolled in doctorate studies at Clark, earning his Ph.D. in early American history at the age of 59. “It started as sort of a hobby, but I wanted it to be more than that. I wanted to truly understand history,” he says of his decision to return to school. “And to feel that I understood history meant I had to test it academically.” Or course, accruing historical knowledge is one thing; applying that expertise in a contemporary setting is an entirely different challenge. After spending 30 years in software management, most recently at Oracle Corp., the East Providence, R.I., native moved in 2006 to the Massachusetts coastal town of Westport, a place he’d visited frequently while growing up. He joined the local historical society, serving as president the past four years, and he is the only trained historian in the group. When Westport’s oldest home, the 18th-century Handy House, was put up for sale in the summer of 2010, Connors led the society’s effort to pur-

chase the house. He eventually convinced town-meeting voters that spending $375,000 to preserve a valuable historic asset during tight fiscal times was a wise investment. The staff of the local daily newspaper, The New Bedford Standard-Times, took note of Connors’ actions and named him its 2011 Westport Man of the Year. In an interview with the newspaper, the historical society’s vice president, Betty Slade, noted that while many people were involved with preserving the Handy House, “Without [Connors’] endeavors to make it happen, it would not have happened.” “It’s been wonderful, it’s enjoyable, it’s a thing that I am most adept at,” Connors says of his work. “I wanted to play some sort of role in capturing the town’s history and making it available to other people. “One of the things I found when I was young was that the town had history — Westport was a whaling port back in the 19th century. But I never knew that a small town can have such varied and rich history. So when I moved here, I thought about volunteering, something I can do and care about, and the historical society was an obvious choice,” he says. Connors was drawn to Clark by the prospect of studying under Drew McCoy, the Jacob and Frances Hiatt Professor of History. He’d read McCoy’s two books on early American history, and he’d had McCoy recommended to him by his Harvard professors. “He was in the field that interested me the most,” Connors said. “He was the person with whom I spent the most time. A great teacher, gifted writer, and gentle critic.” Connors, who is married and has three grown stepchildren, found that Clark’s flexible approach was the right fit as he balanced career and family with his studies. “They seemed to appreciate the fact that I was trying to do this under somewhat difficult circumstances,” he recalls. “As I look back at it, I cannot think of doing it anywhere else.” It took Connors eight years to complete his Ph.D., a process that gave him a deep, nuanced perspective of the American past. He has edited two historical works, including “Conflicts in American History: A Documentary Encyclopedia,” published by Facts on File, Inc., and “Westport,” published by Arcadia Publishing. Connors most recently published “Andrew Craigie — Brief life of a patriot and scoundrel: 1754-1819,” in Harvard Magazine. He has also taught history courses at Suffolk University and at Clark. Connors plans to build on his knowledge of history through teaching, volunteering and writing. And just maybe down the line there will be another old house worth saving.

51 clark alumni magazine

ONY CONNORS, PH.D. ’05, made his living in the software indus-

spring 2012

Tony Connors, Ph.D. ’05, answers history’s call

CLASS NOTES

1963 HANK MESHORER recently completed a successful

cross-country ski trek to the South Pole.

1964 KIRBY FARRELL has published “Berserk Style

in American Culture,” which explores the way extreme behavior is disguised in everyday experience in post-Vietnam American culture. The book’s chapters range from military violence in the War on Terror and economics amok, to binge addictions and apocalyptic religion.

1965

2001

MARTIN GARMENT retired in December 2012

MARTINEZ-RUCKMAN WEDDING // P. 56

and, after 46 years in Wisconsin, moved to Palm Springs, Calif.

1966 ELIOT GOLDMAN retired from SAP Business

Objects in January 2011. He writes, “My wife and

1973

1978

I continue to make our home in Paris, where we

ALLAN G. SAVAGE retired in June 2011 from his

NANCY H. GOODY recently joined the New York

have lived for the past 12 years.”

position as senior technical information special-

Office of the Attorney General as its sustainability

ist at the National Library of Medicine. He has

coordinator. The OAG’s sustainability efforts will

returned to his previous vocation as a profes-

focus on reducing the agency’s carbon footprint

JOHN B. HENCH received the 2011 DeLong

sional chess teacher and chess journalist in the

by increasing green procurement, encourag-

Book History Book Prize from The Society for the

Washington, D.C. area. He can be reached at

ing more reuse and recycling, and maximizing

History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing, for

allansav@aol.com.

employee participation in sustainable business

1968 “Books as Weapons: Publishing, Propaganda, and

management practices. Nancy and her husband,

the Battle for Global Markets in the Era of World

1974

War Two” (Cornell University Press, 2010). The

STEVEN A. KANDARIAN has been named to the

chair of the Prize Committee, Professor Marija

board of directors of The American Council of Life

1981

Dalbello, said the book is “about war but it is

Insurers, whose member companies provide millions

JONATHAN KAPPEL is now vice president of

also a book about the diplomacy of books. As an

of Americans with financial protection and retirement

development for Jewish Family and Children’s

international and comparative history of wartime

security. Steven, who last May became president

Service, based in Waltham, Mass.

publishing, it presents deeply contextualized ac-

and CEO of MetLife Inc., will serve through 2014.

counts, offering multiple contemporary perspec-

He also serves as a member of MetLife’s board of

STEVE SOOKIKIAN was recently promoted to

tives, a true mark of scholarship that constructs

directors. Steven is a board member of the Damon

associate vice president of communications at

the book trade as an international phenomenon.”

Runyon Cancer Research Foundation as well as a

the Greater New England Chapter of the National

John spent 33 years on the staff of the American

member of the Financial Services Forum and the

Multiple Sclerosis Society, serving Maine,

Antiquarian Society, an independent research

Economic Club of New York.

Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

president for collections and programs and

1976

NANCY CURTIS WERTHEIM retired after 30 re-

resides in Shrewsbury, Mass.

JANE MINER was recently promoted to

markable years with Deloitte Tax LLP. Nancy was

business manager for the Graduate School of

a tax partner in Boston and led the U.S. Retail

Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island’s

Industry tax practice.

library in Worcester. He retired in 2006 as vice

1970

Gregg Bell, live in Albany.

BRADFORD G. BLODGET has published “Miriam

Narragansett Bay campus. She finds it hard to

Foster’s Boston and Maine Railroad,” which

believe that she has been involved with GSO for

chronicles the railroad culture that has now

40 of its 50 years of existence. In 2010, Jane was

JENNIE LEE COLOSI, M.B.A. ’82, is president of

disappeared from New England. It includes

lucky enough to represent Clark at the inaugura-

E.T. & L. Corp. of Stow, Mass., which specializes

photos taken by Foster during her 41 years of

tion of URI’s new president, and then returned

in building roads, bridges and dams, landfills

employment with the B&M. The book is available

the favor by representing URI at the inauguration

and airports. The company employs 180 people

from the Historical Society of Cheshire County in

of David Angel as Clark’s ninth president.

during the peak construction season and has

1982

Keene, N.H. (hsccnh.org). Brad retired from his

worked on major projects such as the Sagamore

post as Massachusetts state ornithologist in 2002.

Bridge flyover. It has also begun a joint venture

to build six new bridges in the Worcester area to

Hollins University in Roanoke, Va. Her website is

sive schoolteacher and an unemployed business

accommodate trains loaded with double-stacked

paulinekaldas.com.

writer with a taste for anarchy.

women-led businesses in Massachusetts since

1985

1988

2000 and is regularly in the top 50. The firm won a

THOMAS H. HILLERY wrote and financed a

JULIE HAMMEL BROOK writes and manages the

Family Business Award last year. Colosi’s husband,

psychological thriller starring Eric Roberts titled

blog for California’s Continuing Education of the

Garry Balboni, is vice president, and her brother-

“Project Solitude: BURIED ALIVE.” The film is in

Bar. Julie’s blog was just named a Top 100 Blawg

in-law, Jay Balboni, is general superintendent. Her

distribution in domestic and foreign markets. It can

(law blog) by the ABA (American Bar Association)

oldest daughter, Francesca, helps with the firm’s

be found at Amazon.com, WalMart.com and other

Journal. She’d love for fellow Clarkies to check out

marketing and other projects, while her other

outlets. To see the trailer, go to http://bit.ly/yprVB0.

the blog at blog.ceb.com.

daughter, Laura Lee, is earning her degree in civil

You can read a newspaper story about the making

engineering. “When you’re getting an engineering

of the movie at http://bit.ly/ydueXk.

containers. E.T. & L. has been one of the top 100

degree, you don’t get much business schooling,”

ADAM W. COHEN was recently appointed as the

deputy director of the Federal Witness Security

Colosi told the GSOM’s Connect newsletter. “My

1987

M.B.A. complemented my engineering degree. It

JERRY TUCCILLE reports that his gonzo novel,

in the Office of Enforcement Operations at the

was important to learn strategic planning, dealing

“High Desert Barbecue,” was published in

United States Department of Justice.

with people, the financial aspects of running a

November 2011. In the story, when a dangerously

business. It’s more what I’m doing today.”

inept gang of mammal-hating extremists and

1989

federal bureaucrats with a bad case of mission-

KAREN DANFORTH DIAZ is now the elementary

ANNA-LEILA WILLIAMS, of Hamden, Conn.,

creep hatch a plot to burn human habitation out of

literacy coach for the West Springfield, Mass.,

recently began her new role as an assistant

the forests of the West, the only people standing

public schools. She has had three books published

professor of basic medical sciences at Quinnipiac

in their way are a misanthropic hermit, a subver-

by Hameray Publishing.

Program, and chief of the Special Operations Unit

University School of Medicine. She comes to Quinnipiac from the Dartmouth Medical School where she was a research fellow in cancer control. Over the course of her career, Williams has developed expertise in the sociobehavioral factors that influence health. Her areas of research have included complementary and alternative therapies, palliative and end-of-life care, and the role of family caregivers. Most recently at Dartmouth she took part in a wide-scale intervention study in psychooncology, investigating how best to support family

HAZEL’S GIRLS HOLD COURT

nn (McKenny) Early ’46, Ruth (Butterfield) Robinson ’48 and M. Catherine Butler ’46 were on hand for the May 21, 2011, dedication of a plaque memorializing the late Hazel Hughes, Clark’s legendary dean of woman and coach of the University’s first women’s

basketball teams. Dean Hughes’ former players and students shared reminiscences during a presentation inside Room 001 of Jonas Clark Hall, aka the former Women’s Gym.

caregivers of adults with cancer. Williams received both her doctorate in clinical research and her physician associate degree from Yale University.

1983 DENISE L. DAVIDSON has been appointed to the

Fellowship Committee of the Honor Society of Phi

Between Places: Stories that Weave in and out of Egypt and America” (University of Arkansas Press, 2010). Her other publications include “Egyptian Compass,” a collection of poetry published by Custom Words; “Letters from Cairo,” a travel memoir published by Syracuse University Press; and “Dinarzad’s Children: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Fiction,” published by The University of Arkansas Press. She is currently an associate professor of English at

53 clark alumni magazine

PAULINE B. KALDAS has published “The Time

spring 2012

Kappa Phi.

CLASS NOTES

ELLEN WALTHER SOUSA published her first

to this picture by Photoshopping the University’s

with which Shifrin is intimately familiar. A school

book “The Green Garden” (Bunker Hill, Nov. 2011)

seal on his iPad.

psychologist for the South River, N.J., public

for New Englanders looking for ways to “green”

schools, Shifrin specializes in learning disabili-

their home landscapes. Ellen is a garden coach

1993

and ecological landscaping instructor based on a

LYNNE WILLIAMS and her husband, Steve

Disorders, and has led presentations on the

small farm in Central Massachusetts, and speaks

Swift, are thrilled to announce the birth of their

subject of ADHD. “I haven’t seen many books

regularly across New England about earth-friendly

son, Griffin Williams Swift, on Dec. 20, 2010.

with an emphasis on the underlying difficulties

landscaping.

Griffin was born at home, in front of the family’s

associated with a learning disability,” he says.

Christmas tree, and weighed in at 8 lbs., 2 oz. He

Shifrin’s other books include “101 Incredible

joins big brother Phoenix Williams Swift, who was

Moments in Tennis” and “Study Tips 101.” He

Members of the class of 1991 came together

born on Sept. 4, 2006. Lynne lives with her family

lives in West Caldwell, N.J., with his wife and two

to participate in the Seacoast Half Marathon in

in Charlotte, N.C., and works ’round the clock as a

children.

Portsmouth, N.H., on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011. From

stay-at-home mom. She was previously employed

left: KRISTEN FOOTE, FRANCESCA MAFFEI-

by Microsoft Corporation as a software support

1994

LAZEV and KERRI (SMITH) SINGH.

engineer (from 1999-2007). Lynne also ran her

LAWRENCE NORMAN ’94, M.B.A. ’95, a member

first half marathon (Thunder Road, in Charlotte)

of the GSOM Advisory Council and vice president

in November 2011 and can’t wait for the next one!

of global basketball at Adidas, participated in a

1991

NINE CLARKIES gathered on Manhattan’s Upper

West Side on Aug. 4 to catch up. (Standing, l.

ties, has published in The Journal of Attention

panel discussion on “Developing the Athlete’s

to r.) Steve Eliau, ’91, Mark Perilstein, ’91, Dan

JOSHUA SHIFRIN, Ph.D. ’93, has written three

Brand” at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics

Weiss ’91, Jamie Markovitz Hoffman ’90 and

books, the most recent published by Old Line

Conference.

Stephen Bandler ’91; (seated) Kathleen Brennan

Publishing. Set on the campus of Yale University,

’90, Adam Bacall ’91, Matthew Levine ’91 and

“Chasing Victory” is a psychological thriller with

DARIUS SHIRAZDI is executive director of

Josh Eisenman ’91. Bacall added a bit of Clark flair

an emphasis on learning disabilities, a subject

Project GOAL, which has teamed up with the SportsCorps group and Sport and Development Project at Brown University. SportsCorps is composed of Brown students who wish to volunteer for sport-for-social-change initiatives. Project GOAL Inc. (Greater Opportunity for Athletes to Learn) is an after-school initiative that partners with the Central Falls School Department, SCOPE/Central Falls School District, and Rhode Island College’s M.Ed. in Reading program. The mission is to facilitate the development of New England’s disadvantaged inner city youth through after-school tutoring, health education, and soccer-related programs. AVI Z. WEIDER’s feature documentary film

“Welcome to the Machine” is premiering in competition at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Only eight out of more than 800 submitted films were selected for this prestigious position. Produced, directed and co-edited by Avi, “Welcome to the Machine” explores our human relationship to technology through the personal experience of the filmmaker — the father of triplets. Avi also is the producer of the feature

2006 POLUMBAUM-SILVER WEDDING // P. 58

documentary film, “Danland,” which premiered in January 2012 at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The film, directed by Avi’s wife, Alexandra Berger, follows amateur porn producer Dan Leal, aka “Porno Dan,” and his search for inti-

macy despite his industry and in spite of himself. The official website is: danlandmovie.com.

1996 MARTIN BALGACH recently completed his M.F.A

in writing, and his poetry and criticism have been published or are forthcoming in journals such as Bitter Oleander, Cream City Review, The Dirty Napkin, Fogged Clarity, Many Mountains Moving, Opium Magazine, and Rain Taxi. Currently, he is the director of sales and marketing for a regional book publisher in Boulder, Colo., where he lives with his wife Lisa and their newborn son, Mason. He welcomes correspondence from old friends as well as fellow Clark writers or others working in publishing. He may be reached at mbalgach@ yahoo.com. RUSSELL BROOME married Nicole Terrenzio last

summer, and the Clarkies in attendance had a blast. Pictured from left are Vaughn Thompson ’97, Ronda Cage ’96, Russell Broome ’96, Carl Nation ’94, Ina Willers ’98, Sean Simpson ’96, Onika Clarke Jenkins, Darnell Jenkins and Nicola Bazie Hayes ’98.

1997 PETER GRAY and his wife, Alissa Gray, of

Stamford, Conn., welcomed a daughter, Willow Margaret Gray, on Jan. 19, 2011.

1998 AMANDA R. REYNA, with her husband, Paul

Risner, welcomed Olivia Marie in June 2011.

1999 JESSICA (CRISTIANO) O’CONNELL married

Sean O’Connell ’98 on Aug. 13, 2011. Jane Morse ’99 was Jessica’s bridesmaid. Other Clarkies in attendance included Joshua Davidowitz ’99, Chad

Scotland.

2001 CHERILYNN (FARMER) BLUMENTHAL married (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP) NYC CLARKIES GATHER, P. 54; HOMOLISKI PROMOTED, P. 56; CLARK RUNNERS LEG IT OUT, P. 54; WILLIAMS JOINS QUINNIPIAC, P. 53

Joshua Blumenthal on July 16, 2011, at the MGM/ Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut. Lori Wittner ’02 served as the maid of honor. Other Clarkies in attendance were Colleen McNeil and Beth (Noar) Woodward ’81. Cherilynn recently earned her personal trainer certification through the National

55 clark alumni magazine

’99. The newlyweds honeymooned in Ireland and

spring 2012

Morin ’99, Sophia Morin ’00 and Areg Mekerian

CLASS NOTES

FORBES TOASTS LUKE LIVINGSTON

STAY

connected

uke Livingston ’07 earned a spot on Forbes.com’s “30 Under 30” list in the Food & Wine

Alumni are always encouraged to send us

category. Livingston, 27, is CEO of Baxter Brewing Company, which he opened in 2010 in a

their news for Class Notes. If you’ve got

Lewiston, Maine, textile mill that he rehabbed. Forbes noted, “The canned beer evangelist’s

brewery sold nearly 5K barrels during its first year, and is still expanding.”

something you’d like to share with fellow alumni, visit the Clark Connect site (clarkconnect.clarku.edu), which gives alumni more news, stories, personal and professional networking opportunities. There, you will find a Class Notes link to submit your information. You can also mail your item to: Clark University 950 Main St. Worcester, MA 01610 Attn: Alumni Affairs Please let us know what you’re up to!

AMANDA WITTMAN, Ph.D., has joined the

national staff of Campus Compact as manager of academic and strategic affairs. She provides leadership and strategic focus for Campus Compact’s work to embed civic and community engagement within teaching and research activities on college and university campuses nationwide. Most recently, Wittman managed the research efforts of the ADVANCE (Advancing Women in Interdisciplinary and International Networks) Academy of Sports Medicine and is working in

program at Northeastern University, collaborating

the Boston area as a personal trainer, in addition

SHAKÉ SULIKYAN and her husband, James

with faculty, administrators and students to cre-

to her full-time job as a family child care coordina-

Curtis, announce the birth of their son, Victor

ate resource materials and communicate findings

tor at the Guild of St. Agnes in Worcester with

Drake Curtis, on Oct. 4, 2011.

and best practices. Wittman earned a Ph.D.

fellow Clarkies Gerald Nugent ’58, Richard Miller

in politics and international relations from the

’63 and Sharon Woodbury ’90. She completed

2002

the Worcester half marathon last spring and looks

GEOFFREY A. HOMOLISKI has been promoted

at Worcester State College and at the University

forward to her next half marathon this May.

to vice president and credit analysis manager in

of Edinburgh, and is currently a lecturer at Clark.

the commercial lending division of Middlesex

University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She has taught

PAMELA (BENOIT) BROCK, M.B.A. ’01, is a mar-

Savings Bank. Homoliski oversees a staff of

2003

keting specialist at Iatric Systems, Inc. of Boxford,

10 analysts who assess loan applications from

RICHARD FIELDS is the president and chief

Mass., a leading provider of integrated software

prospective and existing customers of Middlesex,

volunteer officer of the Boys & Girls Clubs

applications, interfaces and reporting solutions for

a $4 billion institution with an extensive portfolio

of Middlesex County, Inc. (Mass.), a non-

hospitals and healthcare systems.

of commercial loans to a wide variety of business

profit corporation operating Boys & Girls Clubs in

clients. Before joining Middlesex Savings in July

Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, and Everett.

STEPHANIE MARTINEZ married Rob Ruckman

2011, Homoliski held a series of increasingly

on June 25, 2011, in Royal Oak, Md. Pictured,

responsible positions over a decade of work at

2004

from left, are: Gina (Graham) Cekala ’01, Emily

TD Bank. An avid golfer, Homoliski has also been

GERARD RICHARD BARSOUM ’04, M.B.A. ’05, is

(Bigham) Holmes ’01, Paul Holmes ’02, Rachael

treasurer of the Wachusett Food Pantry in Holden,

director of the Interpreter Services Department

Lappen ’01, Talia Loggia ’01, Nick Guerin ’01,

Mass., for the last four years. He lives in Holden

at Boston Medical Center. He oversees 79 direct

Julia (Lindner) Dalton-Brush, Sean Dunbar ’01,

with his wife and son.

reports in the department, which offers around-

Stephanie Martinez-Ruckman ’01, Rob Ruckman,

the-clock interpreting for more than 20 languages

Dan Bresette ’01, Melissa (Oakes-Cook) Robbins

for limited-English-proficiency patients.

’01, and Kristen (Fisher) Murphy ’01.

ELORA HALIM CHOWDHURY has published

“Transnationalism Reversed: Women Organizing against Gendered Violence in Bangladesh” (SUNY Press, 2011). Dr. Chowdhury is an Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. ANNA K. SCHWARTZ has been appointed the interim

REMEMBERING WALLY

he Clark community was saddened to learn of the Dec. 30, 2011, passing of Wally Bither ’33, one of the University’s most ardent supporters. Mr. Bither was the oldest Clark alum to attend reunion, which he did with astounding consistency over the course of his long

life. Well into his later years he would drive up from his home in Florida with wife Hattie (pictured) to

director of student engagement at Maine College of

enjoy the festivities. At the May 20, 2011, Alumni Dinner, the former history major, retired teacher

Art.

and World War II veteran was presented with a cake to celebrate his 100th birthday. Mr. Bither died two days before he would have turned 101.

SERGE SHNAYDER recently expanded his existing

SAT/ACT tutoring and college consulting business (SergeConsulting.com) to a new website, BestEssayEditing.com. Best Essay Editing offers essay and resumé editing services with 48-hour turnaround. SCOTT ZOBACK ’04, M.P.A. ’05, is district press

secretary/director of new media for Congressman Jim McGovern, in Worcester.

2005 KELLI BLANK ’05, MPA ’06, has been named director

of human resources of the Worcester Art Museum. She was most recently the human resources generalist for WAM, where she has worked since 2003. Blank serves as chairperson of the Clark University Regional Alumni Committee and is a docent at

spring 2012

Preservation Worcester. She is a Worcester resident.

(ABOVE) RUSSELL BROOME MARRIED IN NEW YORK, P. 55. (RIGHT) KELLI BLANK PROMOTED AT WORCESTER ART MUSEUM.

clark alumni magazine

CLASS NOTES

ALEX MCGOWEN has earned a professional certifi-

knowledge, she will be better able to assist

2009

cate in Early Education Leadership of Young Deaf

teachers when they are accepted into the NOAA

BILLIE N. KENYON ’09, M.S.P.C. ’10, married a

and Hard of Hearing Children and their Families

Teacher at Sea Program, as well as share this

fellow Clarkie, Cory Kenyon ’08, on Aug. 28, 2011.

from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

knowledge with students and educators. The

MIRIAM B. SWAFFER is living in San Francisco

with fellow Clarkie Sam Schlang ’05. Miriam

blog is posted on NOAA’s Teacher at Sea website

RUMIANA PAVLOVA, M.B.A. ’09, is the

(teacheratsea.wordpress.com/).

cross-agency Medicaid program manager for the MassHealth/Office of Medicaid.

works for the Union of Concerned Scientists

2008

on California climate, energy and transportation

EZRA BARNEHAMA, M.B.A. ’08, is a commercial

2011

policy, while Sam is a banker.

lines underwriter for Liberty Mutual Group.

SHUO CHEN, M.S.F. ’11, is a business valuation

2006

specialist for Deloitte in New York, N.Y.

OMOROGIEVA GUOBADIA, M.B.A., M.S.F. ’06,

is an assistant vice president at BB&T Capital Markets in Boston. LAUREN POLUMBAUM and Scott C. Silver, both

class of ’06, were married on Nov. 5, 2011, in Simsbury, Conn. Clarkies in attendance included Carissa Ekholm, Tara (Gartside) De’Oliveira, Rachel (Jackowitz) Berezin, Larissa Price, Alex Leibowitz, Nick Colony, Adam Tomczik, Sam Blier, and David De Angelo (all class of 2006). PERY POLYZOIDIS, M.B.A. ’06, is working in

international support at Oxette Perideo S.A., a fashion jewelry and watch brand.

2007 ROBERT CHEGE, M.B.A. ’07, is an account associ-

ate for MindSHIFT Technologies, Inc. of Waltham, Mass. CHERYL A. PARKER received a juris doctor de-

gree cum laude from New England Law - Boston on May 27, 2011. A dean’s list student, Parker was a New England Scholar and the recipient of a Dean’s Scholarship. She was a member of the New England Law Review, had an internship at the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, and a clerkship at the Massachusetts Land Court for the Honorable Gordon H. Piper. ELIZABETH (LIZ) BULLOCK, an employee of the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Teacher at Sea Program, will join NOAA scientists aboard the R/V Walton Smith as part of an ecosystem-monitoring survey research team. She will spend five days assisting scientists with the research and also work to bridge science and education via her blog. Elizabeth will create blog entries that include information about important research of the day, life at sea, interviews with scientists, and photos. With this newfound

(ABOVE) O'CONNELL NUPTIALS, P. 55. (BELOW, LEFT) WITTMAN JOINS CAMPUS COMPACT, P. 56. (BELOW RIGHT) SHAKÉ SULIKYAN'S NEW ADDITION TO THE CLARK FAMILY, P. 56.

WESLEY R. GILES ’52

BRADFORD T. BEATON ’65

Bradenton, Fla., 12/30/2011

Ashland, Ore., 7/11/2011

Sutton, Mass., 8/10/2011

JAMES S. BICKMAN ’39

BASIL STRATES ’53

JUNE E. PATRON ’65

Swampscott, Mass., 10/3/2011

Boulder, Colo., 9/19/2010

Washington, D.C., 1/1/2012

DR. RAYMOND HARRINGA ’39

HARRY J. WARMS ’53

RICHARD D. SHAPIRO ’66

Ithaca, N.Y., 9/5/2011

Paxton, Mass., 10/25/2011

Rockaway, N.J., 7/22/2011

GORDON H. BROOKS ’42

ROBERT P. COUILLARD ’54

DAVID J. QUARTON, M.A. ’67

Brewster, Mass., 11/24/2011

Mashpee, Mass., 10/8/2011

Denver, Colo., 7/18/2011

ROBERT M. SMITH ’43

ROBERT C. MISCH, PH.D. ’54

RAYMOND H. LABRIE ’68

Worcester, Mass., 11/30/2011

Wayland, Mass., 2/6/2011

Auburn, Mass., 8/15/2011

RUSSELL WHEELER ’43

IDA (SMITH) SCHAECHTER ’54

MARY E. COLEMAN ’69

Ellicott City, Md., 10/15/2011

West Hartford, Conn., 11/1/2011

West Hartford, Conn., 11/24/2011

GERTRUDE E. FOLEY ’44

WILLIAM L. HAITH ’54

KAREN M. WAGNER ’69

Worcester, Mass., 12/27/2011

Shrewsbury, Mass., 12/13/2011

Seattle, Wash., 11/16/2011

PHYLLIS M. MORGAN ’45

DONALD T. NICHOLSON, M.A. ’56

ERIC SANDQUIST ’69

Norwell, Mass., 8/5/2011

Paxton, Mass., 8/30.2011

Holden, Mass., 9/27/2011

JOHN J. WHITNEY ’46

DR. DAVID SIMMONS ’56

RABBI DONALD J. POLLOCK ’69

Suffield, Conn., 8/8/2011

St. Louis, Mo., 4/19/2011

Brookline, Mass., 10/1/2011

JAMES A. GILMORE ’47

GEORGE R. GORMAN ’57

HELEN V. GERDEN ’70

Turnwater, Wash., 9/4/2011

Avon, Conn., 11/2/2011

Westborough, Mass., 11/20/2011

MELVIN C. VAN DE WORKEEN ’47

HERBERT H. HADDAD ’57

ALEXANDRA LENT ’73

Dudley, Mass., 8/19/2011

Worcester, Mass., 7/17/2011

Jenkintown, Pa., 9/26/2010

JEAN W. WILLIAMS ’47

LOUIS J. WEINBERGER ’57

JANE W. (MCHUGH) ANDERSON ’70

Leicester, Mass., 11/12/2011

Tuscaloosa, Ala., 9/5/2011

Marlborough, Mass., 10/19/2011

JOSEPH W. KERN ’48

NEIL BARTON ’58

WALTER C. KANE ’74

Prescott, Ariz., 8/13/2011

Lloyd Harbor, N.Y., 4/6/2011

Upton, Mass., 7/2/2011

WILLIAM ARAMONY ’49

RONALD E. MCCROHON ’59

WILLIAM A. JOSEPH ’75

Alexandria, Va., 11/11/2011

Worcester, Mass., 9/14/2011

Torrance, Calif., 7/26/2011

LOUIS C. GALLO ’49

ARNOLD MILLER ’59

JANE W. ANDERSON ’76

Worcester, Mass., 7/27/2011

Newton, Mass., 8/27/2011

Marlborough, Mass., 10/19/2011

RALPH W. ELLIS ’50

J. DAVID FALK ’60

STEPHEN P. CAHILL ’76

Holden, Mass., 9/2/2011

Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., 11/1/2011

Indianapolis, Ind., 7/13/2011

BRENT T. FARRAND ’50

GREGORY J. PASCERI ’60

WILLIAM LANE ’76

Walden, N.Y., 8/5/2011

Worcester, Mass., 12/4/2011

Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., 11/25/2011

JEAN B. NAAS ’50

WALTER P. PLUCINSKI ’60

DENIS F. RAFFERTY ’76

Silver Spring, Md., 6/22/2011

Worcester, Mass., 11/8/2011

Boylston, Mass., 9/12/2011

RICHARD P. SANDBERG ’50, M.A. ’51

LOUIS PRUNIER ’60

ROBERT L. CONROY ’78, M.A. ’82

Bangor, Maine, 7/9/2011

Oxford, Mass., 11/4/2011

Worcester, Mass., 5/16/2011

RICHARD V. GORHAM, M.A. ’61,

RONALD C. SEMONE ’60

LYNDA D. PLANTE ’78

Gorham’s Bluff, N.B., Canada, 6/18/2011

Washington, D.C., 10/26/2011

West Brookfield, Mass., 10/12/2011

GENO F. SALVATELLI ’51

SANFORD L. PATASHNIK ’62

HAZEL SIMMONS ’78

Leominster, Mass., 10/27/2011

Worcester, Mass., 8/21/2011

Worcester, Mass., 9/5/2011

MARY E. VESPA ’51

BERNARD GOLDSMITH ’63

DANIEL C. SCHACKMAN ’86

Bolton, Mass., 7/17/2011

Northborough, Mass., 12/4/2011

New Paltz, N.Y., 11/20/2011

GEORGE E. CORMIER ’52

J. BRADFORD POWERS ’64

MARCIA J. (MCKEE) REICH ’91

Sartell, Minn., 11/5/2011

Brimfield, Mass., 12/30/2011

Auburn, Mass., 11/15/2011

59 clark alumni magazine

WALLACE F. BITHER ’33

spring 2012

PASSINGS

IN MEMORIAM

spring 2012

JAMES BICKMAN ’39 died on Oct. 3, 2011, at his home in Swampscott, Mass. Mr. Bickman, with his sons Martin and David, in 1989 established the Sara Bickman Music and Arts Summer Internships for Undergraduates in memory of his late wife. These awards support summer internships for students majoring in the visual and performing arts. He also endowed, with his second wife, Ada, the James and Ada Bickman Summer Science Research Internships for Undergraduates. This fund supports summer research internships for undergraduate students majoring in the biological and physical sciences. The Bickman Fitness Center at the Kneller Athletic Center was built thanks to his generous donation.

clark alumni magazine

She taught algebra at Dartmouth High School from 1964 until she retired in 1987. She was the first president of the Dartmouth Teachers Association and a member of the College Club of New Bedford, the Massachusetts Retired Teachers Association and the Bristol County Retired Teachers Association.

SAMUEL CHAFETZ, M.A. ’81, died in Worcester on Feb. 16, 2012, at age 94. He began his undergraduate studies at Clark in 1935 but did not complete a degree here until he returned after retiring from business in 1978, earning his master’s degree in 1981. Mr. Chafetz proved that there is life after retirement. In his first attempt at sailboat racing, he came in fourth (of more than 200 boats) in the Figawi Race between Hyannis and Nantucket. In 1981, he won the Senior Doubles Tournament Championship at Kings Grant Tennis Club in Cotuit, Mass. And in 2009, at age 92, he took his first step on a stage, appearing in “Oliver!” at the Hanover Theatre.

GORDON BROOKS ’42 died on Nov. 24, 2011, at his home in Brewster, Mass. Brooks was a cartoonist whose creations graced the editorial pages of the Cape Codder for 54 years. He served on a number of Brewster town committees over the years and, for 34 seasons straight, led the town’s annual Christmas caroling session in front of its Brewster Store. He was a talented musician who played violin with the Worcester Philharmonic, the Brockton Philharmonic and the Riverside Symphony in Manhattan.

GERTRUDE E. FOLEY ’44, age 104, died on Dec. 27, 2011. She earned her degree from Clark at a time when women were just beginning to attend the undergraduate school. Ms. Foley’s life revolved around education. Once she received her own, she spent her working years teaching the next generation. She taught in Oxford, Mass., and then joined the Worcester Public Schools. She was later appointed principal of the former Middlesex School on Grafton Hill, and she retired in 1974, as principal of the Rice Square School. She spent her final years residing at Homestead Hall in Worcester.

ANGELA M. (FARINELLI) CASTALDI ’46 died on Feb. 15, 2012, in Providence, R.I. She was a member of the first female class to graduate from Clark.

T. LLOYD FLETCHER ’37, M.A. ’38, died on Oct. 15, 2011, in Seattle, Wash. Instilled with a love of books and learning at an early age by his parents, he enrolled at Clark

at the age of 15. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and became a professor in the surgery department at the University of Washington’s Medical School, serving as the head of the Chemistry Research lab there, and obtaining grants to study gastrin, arterial grafts and compounds that cause cancer. He also worked at the Pacific Northwest Research Foundation and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where he was head of Oncological Organic Chemistry. He received two National Institutes of Health Career Development Awards during his career.

IDA SCHAECHTER ’54 died on Nov. 1, 2011, in West Hartford, Conn., after a life dedicated to education. She was the salutatorian of her high school graduating class and graduated from Clark with honors. She earned her master’s degree and sixth-year certificate from the University of Hartford, then went on to teach in the Hartford Public Schools for 36 years. She also served as an adjunct math faculty member at the University of Hartford. She was Past President of the National Council of Jewish Women.

ANDREW VIGLUCCI ’51 died on Jan. 7, 2012, in Albany, N.Y. Mr. Viglucci was a founding member of the staff of the English-language San Juan Star newspaper in the late 1950s, along with his friend, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist William Kennedy. Viglucci was the paper’s first city editor and was in that position when it won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. The paper was the basis for “The Rum Diary,” a novel by Hunter S. Thompson that was turned into a film starring Johnny Depp. Viglucci was the Star’s editor for more than 25 years and its editor-in-chief for 12. He retired to Albany in 2006.

By Melissa Lynch ’95

ADVANCING CLARK

from her collection to benefit the Isaiah Alonso Foundation, which helps families dealing with childhood cancer. Lorenzo, who still lives in Central Massachusetts, credits Clark with giving her the skills that have gotten her where she is. When she graduated in 1991, the job market was very much like today’s — uncertain. That’s when the value of her Clark years became apparent. “An education that allows you to be a chameleon is super important,” she says. Her Clark tools helped her to navigate the rocky economy and achieve success in the nonprofit sector as a community liaison for the Boys and Girls Club, and then as a well-respected human resources professional with experience in multiple industries, leading up to her role at OnePIN. Today, she is back working part time at OnePIN, while devoting the rest of her time to creating her jewelry line. “I loved Clark so much,” Lorenzo says. “I’m not a person who went there knowing what I wanted to do. I’m very open to everything; I don’t have an Excel spreadsheet of what my life has got to look like. I’ve always been open to exploring the universe, and that’s brought me to where I am now. “Clark was a really great jumping-off point because there were so many great people from all over the world — and the faculty looks to expand your brain, not just pigeonhole you. It was a really good fit for me.”

61 clark alumni magazine

Christine Lorenzo ’91 wants to give you the evil eye. Or, to be more specific, she’d like to give you an evil-eye bead — something that, when worn as jewelry, becomes a “lucky eye” and wards off negative spirits. The motto of her company, SariBlue (sariblue.com), proclaims: “There’s nothing evil about it.” Lorenzo founded the company just last June. She had been laid off from her job and was going through a divorce, so it was a rough time. Her daughters were the ones who encouraged her. “What it took was a six- and seven-year-old to say, ‘Mom, you deserve to do what you want to do. You’re really creative, we want you to open your own jewelry company,’” she says. “Every time I think about it, it brings tears to my eyes — that my two little muses told me to do it.” Lorenzo’s appreciation for the origins behind the evil eye developed more than six years ago when she was director of human resources/operations for OnePIN Inc. of Westboro, Mass., a company that develops technology for mobile phone SIM cards. The technology is not used in North America, so Lorenzo often traveled to Turkey for her work and was smitten with the nation’s art, history, food and people. During her travels, Lorenzo realized that she so closely identified with the Turkish culture because it is very similar to that of Italy; she was raised in a strong Italian family with a focus on “food, family, history, craft and love.” She particularly connected to the concept of the evil eye, a notion also prevalent in Italian culture (as the Mallochio), and the Nazar Boncuk — the evil-eye bead. In Turkey, Lorenzo marveled at the oldworld techniques the bead makers used, and still travels to the country to buy their beads for her jewelry. “You would not believe the process they use,” she says. “It’s very old fashioned, and it’s really eco-friendly. They sit around a fire, barefoot; they use pine — which produces low emissions as it burns — and the tools that they use have been around for hundreds of years. They get recycled glass, and every single bead is on this metal spit that they hand roll over the fire. It’s a generational, beautiful art.” SariBlue is a member of The Artisan Group, an international organization that promotes its members and alerts them to extraordinary opportunities. Recently, Lorenzo handcrafted 100 pendants that were given to celebrities at the Golden Globe Awards — her website includes photos of actor Jeremy Irons and Clark’s own “Bachelorette” Ali Fedotowsky ’06 with her pieces — and bracelets for members of the press covering the Academy Awards. She’s currently crafting 130 pairs of earrings to be gifted at June’s MTV Movie Awards, and has created customized pieces for celebrities like Josh Sussman, Zooey Deschanel, Jessica Alba and Hillary Duff. While getting her work into the hands of Hollywood’s well-known is an amazing feat, Lorenzo also makes a point of contributing to those in need. She donates pieces to auctions and sells SariBlue T-shirts and items

spring 2012

Christine Lorenzo ’91 has a bead on her career

ADVANCING CLARK

By Jim Keogh

The Higgins School celebrates 25 years, thanks to Alice

spring 2012

PADDED ROCKING CHAIR sits in the lounge

clark alumni magazine

of the Anderson (English) House. It’s very comfortable, a perfect seat to settle in and read a good book. Alice Higgins paid for the chair, but she wasn’t enamored with the furniture choice. “She was upset with me because the chair has a bit of a rocker to it,” recalls English Professor Virginia Vaughan, who made the purchase. “Alice said she wasn’t ready for a rocker.” No she wasn’t. The longtime Clark trustee (19631974) and benefactor was known for a dynamism that matched her generosity. The wife of one of Worcester’s leading industrialists dedicated herself to improving the University in such a rich variety of ways — through endowments, fundraising, and visionary leadership; she even personally planted tulips around campus — that her name has become almost talismanic in Clark lore. Since the day she joined the board in 1963, finding a Clark story that doesn’t somehow wend its way back to Alice Higgins is nearly impossible. The rocking chair is, in fact, much more than a chair. It was one of the first pieces to furnish the Alice Coonley Higgins School of Humanities, which she endowed with a $1 million gift in 1986. With a few chairs and a table set up in the Carriage House (the school later relocated to Dana Commons), faculty could engage in conversations over coffee or lunch. “Alice would always have you over to her house for a cup of tea to discuss an idea. She understood the importance of that,” says Vaughan, who was named the school’s first director. Vaughan recalls that the idea for the Higgins School was first proposed by then-provost Leonard Berry, who wanted to find a way to maximize Clark’s potential by bringing together related programs, including the humanities. Alice Higgins, who passed away in 2000, was committed to the ideal that a college must educate the whole person. Her philosophy was woven into the Higgins School’s mission to develop innovative programs and fund faculty research in English, history, foreign languages, philosophy and the visual and performing arts. As Vaughan notes, those areas don’t have access to a grant-making organization equivalent to a National Science Foundation, so internal funding for scholarly research is critical.

“I made it a stipulation that if you got a substantial grant, you had to give a lecture about your research,” Vaughan says. “My first goal as director was to try and make the work of humanities scholars and students at Clark more visible.” She and Higgins shared ideas, and as Vaughan remembers, “Alice said to me several times that there wasn’t any problem that couldn’t be solved if people would just sit down and talk to each other.” She wasn’t alone. Following several more directors at the Higgins School, Sarah Buie, longtime professor in the Visual and Performing Arts Department, took the helm in 2004. She envisioned the school as “a kind of ideal forum. What if we could have the best kinds of exchanges human beings could have? What if we could ask ourselves the questions we really need to address right now in our world? The humanities center is the best place within a university to create that kind of forum.”

ty have also incorporated Difficult Dialogues into their classrooms, with more than 25 courses emphasizing dialogic methods. The Difficult Dialogues program continues to flourish, yet its original Ford funding ended in 2008. “We do it with mirrors,” Buie says. The program has received some assistance from a trustee donor, and she continues to pursue additional funding to sustain the work. A Mellon planning grant helped support the “Educating … for what?” series, and now Sarah Buie and team are applying for major Mellon funding to help perpetuate new Higgins School curriculum innovations and programs that will contribute to the LEEP initiative. For 25 years, the Higgins School of Humanities has sponsored interdisciplinary seminars and convened innumerable public programs, conferences, faculty talks, exhibitions and community conversations. That legacy was recognized last fall, when the Higgins School held a celebration titled “Thanks to Alice.” The woman who eschewed the rocking chair was feted for her vision and philanthropy, which threw a spotlight on the humanities and led to an institution-within-the-institution that’s become a hub for the frank, civil exchange of ideas. “I think Alice would be out of her mind with joy with the Difficult Dialogues program,” says Virginia Vaughan. “She’d be thrilled with everything that’s going on at the Higgins School.”

spring 2012

der and sustainability. Fall 2010’s theme of “Slowing in a Wired World” gave fresh focus to modern society’s reliance on instant communication, and delved into how the avenues by which our brains process information have been altered as a result. Last fall, Difficult Dialogues threaded its theme “Educating … for what?” with Clark’s Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP™) initiative, bringing together a rich group of speakers — from college presidents, to poets, to renowned activist Tom Hayden — to grapple with higher education’s role in preparing students for the 21st century world. This spring, Difficult Dialogues takes on “agency” — in the broadest sense meaning the capacity to act, particularly timely after the emergence of the Occupy movement, and when many are feeling powerless in the face of current political, economic and environmental conditions. Facul-

63 clark alumni magazine

In 2004, three years after 9/11 and with the U.S. at war in Iraq, Buie knew that while the Higgins School would continue with its core mission of supporting faculty research and other programs, it also needed to engage with contemporary issues. “We were living in a time where our national politics felt as difficult as they had in my lifetime,” she recalls. “We needed to be asking a lot of questions and creating opportunities for those conversations to take place.” As Buie began to promote this engagement through Higgins programs, the Ford Foundation in the spring of 2005 put out a call for grant applications for Difficult Dialogues, asking that colleges and universities create programs to skillfully address divisive issues, and issues of academic freedom. “When I saw the call, I felt immediately that it had our name on it,” Buie says. “I thought, ‘Yes, this is what we’re supposed to be doing.’” Working in tandem with William Fisher, director of International Development, Community and Environment, Buie assembled an initial proposal, and Clark was chosen as one of 150 finalists from a group of 720 applicants. They then spent the summer crafting the final application and were selected by the foundation as one of 27 colleges and universities to receive funding for a Difficult Dialogues program. The Higgins goal was ambitious: To create a culture of dialogue on the campus that encourages participants to reflect on their own discourse and ways of thinking; to take some of the toughest issues of the day, and explore them in conscious ways, where the ability to listen is as highly valued as the expression of one’s own thoughts. The symposia, lectures and workshops would encourage developing the skills and mindfulness to communicate respectfully across difference, no simple task in the takeno-prisoners age of instantaneous, polarized punditry. Launching a conversation-based program required a good deal of discourse in its own right. With an executive committee at the core, and the contributions of a larger steering committee with 50 members at its largest, the various aspects of the Difficult Dialogues initiative (public symposia, courses with a DD emphasis, dialogue seminars, DD fellows, and more) evolved. Soon, students, faculty, staff and members of the public streamed into the Dana Commons “fishbowl” to steep themselves in the issues of the day, and to participate in dialogue. “We see it as a transformative process,” Buie says. “The implications of this work are serious for pedagogy, for student life, for campus culture as a whole, and of course for our participation in society and the world.” The first year of Difficult Dialogues programming (2007) had an ambitious lineup of topics: the state of our democracy, race, religion and tolerance, and power. “But it worked,” Buie says with a laugh. “We’ve had a good deal of grace and synchronicity over the course of the project, likely the benefits of good listening, collaboration, and a project whose time was ripe.” Buie has been fortunate with her choice of topics, often “catching the wave” of significant and timely issues. When President Obama was elected, “Race in the Era of Obama” became the focus of the program. Higgins participants have explored subjects as varied as climate change, gen-

By Melissa Lynch ’95

ADVANCING CLARK

Chris Hohenemser’s physics of compassion

spring 2012

HEN THE CHERNOBYL nuclear disaster occurred in

clark alumni magazine

April 1986, the Soviet government was reluctant to share its enormity with the world. But Christoph Hohenemser figured it out. Robert Goble, Clark research professor of physics, tells how Hohenemser, working at a lab in Konstanz, Germany, at the time, collected rainwater outside his lab to test its radioactivity. After testing the sample, and conferring with Goble, who had access to a reactor safety study, Hohenemser determined the severity of the meltdown — before any official announcement was made. Hohenemser, a longtime Clark physics professor, wrote the first technical paper on the composition of the radioactivity released from Chernobyl. In addition, he helped the mayor of Konstanz set up testing programs to make sure that the town’s food supply was safe. “He loved his physics, but he also cared about its implications for society,” Goble says. Hohenemser, who passed away in November at the age of 74, was a mainstay at Clark. He taught, published more than 80 papers on physics, and worked on public policy issues relating to nuclear weapons, nuclear electric power and technological hazards. Shortly after his arrival in 1971, he founded Clark’s pioneering Science, Technology and Society program — an early iteration of Environmental Science and Policy. He later co-founded the master’s program in that field as well. The first course offered in the environmental program required students to study Clark’s energy usage, recalls Goble. They looked at heating and electricity bills and searched out broken equipment to show where efficiencies were needed. Their findings led to a student proposal that Clark could become energy-independent with its own cogeneration plant. Hohenemser charged his colleague Goble with the task of convincing the administration to apply for federal funding to build a cogeneration plant that would connect to local utilities (to supply any energy needed above what the plant could create, or to purchase any excess). Clark received the money and completed construction before the government eliminated the program funding. The plant began operation in 1982, and “its success and savings are documented,” Goble says. “Chris did all kinds of things at Clark,” his widow, Anne Hohenemser, says, adding that her husband always tried to work collaboratively, across departments. “Clark was so open to it — it’s to their credit. They let him be, and do.” Joseph DeCarolis ’00 was one of Hohenemser’s students. “At a time when the vast majority of universities were stove-piped into traditional academic departments, he understood that difficult problems did not

respect traditional disciplinary boundaries,” DeCarolis says. In 1987, Hohenemser was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but he never let it stop him from doing what he loved — educating Clark students. “He just didn’t want to give up,” Anne Hohenemser says. “Chris loved teaching, and I think that’s what kept him going as long as he did. He had a pretty unique style — always trying to get students involved in solving problems, giving them a way to think about scientific issues.” DeCarolis echoes those thoughts. “As an undergraduate student, I could not have had a better faculty mentor than Chris Hohenemser. He taught me that the best research starts by posing an interesting question. If your line of research isn’t motivated by a difficult and thoughtprovoking question, then it probably isn’t worthwhile,” he says. “I remember being awestruck at his retirement to see how many lives he touched deeply as an academic adviser, and it was a key motivating factor for me to pursue a Ph.D. and, ultimately, an academic job myself [as assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University]. It is without exaggeration that I say that Chris Hohenemser is among the most significant people to touch my life.” When the multiple sclerosis made his commute to Clark too much to handle, and he was unable to function in the lab, the professor invited his students to his home for seminars. “We had a great big white board that lived in our barn, and we took it out when students came,” Anne Hohenemser remembers. Eventually, continuing to work became impossible, and Hohenemser retired. “There was a real decline in his condition in the last ten years,” his wife says. The couple made the decision to move to Eugene, Ore., to be near their younger daughter and her family, and also to enjoy the milder weather of the Pacific Northwest. In Oregon, Hohenemser was able to do some outdoor photography, and also kept in touch with his academic colleagues and friends. “Chris was an amazingly energetic person,” Goble notes. “He really had, in effect, two careers put together, so that he was a world-class physicist in his own territory with a group that had an international reputation … and he did that with a string of excellent graduate students who were established in labs across the country. “Through that all, Chris was a good friend, and a good colleague. He saw the University as an arena where you could learn important things about science just by looking at the environment around you.”

By Jim Keogh

Thirty years ago, Cinema 320 came in out of the cold One in an occasional series about folks who work in and around Clark University.

is reluctant to venture out in poor weather, a New England inevitability (business “fell off the table” following a freak October snowstorm, he says). He’s noted a drop in the number of students coming through the doors. Distributors also are taking fewer chances with the movies they supply, making it difficult to fill a full schedule. “There just aren’t as many good films to choose from,” Sandberg says. But reasons for the falloff are also nuanced, including patrons’ reluctance to take a chance on darker, emotionally draining films. Sandberg cites last fall’s “City of Life and Death,” a historical drama about the Japanese invasion and occupation of Nanking, as an example of a film that earned strong reviews yet suffered from weak attendance. Sandberg says the movie industry’s unwillingness to take risks has resulted in its “conceding the creative cutting edge to cable television,” where programs like “Mad Men” and “Boardwalk Empire” are filling the longform storytelling niche that theatrical films once dominated. Other forces are at play as well, including a wealth of entertainment options and countless technology-driven distractions that have splintered the typical attention span. “I’m dubious of a society that allows people to come into a collective space and then allows them to tweet, to make phone calls, to access the Internet,” he says. “Watching a movie in a theater with a group of people is to accept that there’s something greater than yourself. But society is now set up to say there is nothing greater than yourself.” Regardless of the obstacles, Sandberg will continue his mission to expose Clark and the Worcester community to quality films as long as it’s economically feasible. Each movie, he says, is mortar in the foundation of his long-running series, which keeps the cultural chill at bay just a little longer.

65 clark alumni magazine

hen he found himself chipping away at the ice in the toilets, Steve Sandberg knew it was time to find a new home. He and his compatriots running the Voldenuit (roughly “fly by night”) film series in downtown Worcester’s ramshackle Paris Cinema typically screened movies for blanket-wrapped audiences in conditions that violated any number of health and occupancy codes. Worcester winters are rough, and when the only heat in the room is being produced by the bulb in the projector, something’s got to give. It did, in the form of an eviction notice from the theater owner. Forced out into the cold (metaphorically anyway — nothing was colder than the Paris), the group was left scrambling for a new location to exhibit their eclectic schedule of foreign, offbeat and classic films, the kind of movies the multiplexes sneered at. In the fall of 1982, thanks to the help of fellow cinephile Rockie Blunt, M.A. ’74, they relocated to the friendly confines of Room 320 in Jefferson Hall — and Cinema 320 was born. Today, 30 years later, Sandberg is the last man standing — Cinema 320’s lone soldier in the culture wars. He took over the series in 1993 and since then has stuck to his abiding mission of bringing memorable, if lesser known, films to the city. Anyone at Clark last fall who wanted to experience “Meek’s Cutoff,” “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” or “Le Quattro Volte” on a big screen in Worcester could only have seen them in Jefferson 320. Sandberg has championed the burgeoning Iranian film scene, screened Marcel Ophuls’ four-hour Nazi-hunting epic “Hotel Terminus,” and helped directors and actors from all over the world tell their stories of war, peace, love and laughter. He may be the ultimate optimist, clinging to the article of faith that American audiences are sophisticated enough to be engaged with global cinema, and that we do not fear subtitles. It’s safe to say no movie with more bombs than brains has snaked its way through his projector. (Well, maybe one. “The Toxic Avenger” was a violent misstep, he acknowledges.) Every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday during both the fall and spring semesters, Sandberg has beamed films onto the 320 screen, a labor of love that has sustained itself financially — if just barely. Attendance has declined over the years; his once faithful audience members are aging and they are not being replaced by younger moviegoers. To stay afloat, Sandberg has reduced the number of films on his schedule. “It’s like a parish where the congregation is getting older. If the trend doesn’t change, you have to close down the church,” he says. There are practical considerations, such as the fact that an aging audience

spring 2012

By Jim Keogh

ADVANCING CLARK

Peter Kole connects Clark to Albania

spring 2012

HE BOY WAS 15 when his mother grabbed a shovel, went into

clark alumni magazine

the yard, and dug up a can of gold coins. She shook the coins into his palms and those of his three brothers, telling them it was time to leave Albania. Her sons would soon be drafted into the Turkish army where they would be treated as little more than cannon fodder, and she would not allow that to happen. So they left. Judging by the measured tone of his voice, it’s clear Peter Kole has told this story many times before. The boy was his father, who departed Albania in 1913 and made his way to the United States via Marseilles and Montreal. He would return to his native country years later to take a bride. They would have a son, Peter, who came to the U.S. in 1938 with his mother, passing through Ellis Island, to rejoin his father who had settled in Cleveland to work at a GM plant. Peter Kole’s is an American success story. This son of immigrants purchased a small metal-stamping company in 1963 and from that he built a network of six companies under the umbrella of Paramount Metal Products. For 20 years Paramount produced metal seat frames for six of every 10 GM automobiles. At its peak the company employed 300 people. (He has since sold off five of the companies and retains the original business, Paramount Stamping and Welding.) Despite his achievements, Kole remained passionate about his native Albania. For years he and other Albania supporters watched as the nation’s freedoms and progress were strangled under the communist rule of Enver Hoxha. “He had gulags for his own people,” Kole says. “Hoxha destroyed churches, mosques and temples. You would go to jail if you had an English-language book or newspaper; he despised Americans. It was a deplorable empire.” The regime collapsed in 1990 and was replaced by a republic in 1991, but the country remained in severe economic distress. In May 1990, Kole made a humanitarian trip to Albania where he was devastated by the conditions he witnessed. On the trip he met fellow traveler Dr. Lambi Adams ’33. “I didn’t know anything about him, and he didn’t know anything about me,” Kole recalls with a chuckle. “He wanted me to contribute to Clark, but I didn’t even know where Clark was.” He learned soon enough. Thanks to Adams’ intercession, Kole over time grew acquainted with a number of Clarkies, include Dr. Dennis Dimitri ’75 and Tom Dolan ’62, with whom he became good friends. He accepted the invitation of President Richard Traina to visit Clark, where he found himself particularly impressed by the University Park Campus School. “My father could not read or write; my mother had an eighth grade education. The importance of education was ingrained on me, my sister

and my brother. We all went to college because this is America, and this is what you must do,” he says. Kole had returned from that 1990 trip determined to make a difference in Albania. He became a leading member of the New England Relief Organization (NERO), an Albanian charity. He established three major libraries in the country — including the largest library in the Balkans and the Library of the Supreme Court in Albania — overseeing the shipment of hundreds of thousands of English-language books into the country. Kole rebuilt a decrepit school in his father’s home village, and coordinated the shipment of equipment, furnishings and fixtures from a decommissioned U.S. hospital to an Albanian hospital. His commitment to Albania, and his connection to Clark, have led to the establishment of the Peter Kole/Pogradec Endowed Fund, which benefits students of Albanian descent; the Richard Traina & Peter Kole [a] and the Nancy & Peter Kole-William Holmes Education Scholarship; McGuffey Award. He notes that learning never stops, and as an example he looks to his own mother. “She went to night school to learn English and earn her citizenship,” Kole says. “Education has lifted me up, and lifted my family up.” Kole has been to Albania five times, and he remains confident the country will continue to make strides. “The Albanians are very aggressive people, and the country is night and day from when I went there in 1990,” he says. “At that time there were practically no cars in the capital of Tirana. Government officials were living better than the Romans did. It was disastrous.” Albania’s president, Dr. Bamir Topi, a former scientist and professor, and its prime minister, Sali Berisha, a cardiologist, are good men, he says, and committed to reasonable government and intellectual pursuits. Peter Kole knows both these leaders on a first-name basis — an incredible coda to a story that began with a can of coins buried in the Albanian soil.

By Angela Bazydlo

THEIR OTHER LIVES

Tina Zlody shuts down Park Avenue

it was drawing an estimated 40,000 people. Two hundred fifty artists and crafters displayed and sold their wares in tents along Park Avenue, from Highland Street to Pleasant Street. Over time and with the city’s ongoing support (closing Park Avenue for a day is no small feat), Zlody and her crew have added a large food court, and four stages featuring more than 30 acts including indie rock, belly dancing, string quartets, poets and folk singers. Each year, Clark students participate as artists or volunteers. “People say to me at our events that they ‘have never seen Worcester like this,’ with music, art, food, and so many people. And they are all getting something wonderful from the experience, whether it’s a person seeing a living statue for the first time, or being brought up on stage to play an African drum,” Zlody says. “The secret to stART’s success,” she says, is “good leadership and the ability to work within a team. All nine individuals on the event’s organizing committee have individual strengths that mesh well with everyone else’s abilities. A sense of humor is a MUST!” stART is so popular, Zlody has added a December edition, stART at the Station (at Worcester’s Union Station), and is introducing a spring version, June 3, on Green Street. It’s easy to tell Zlody is proud to be uniting thousands of people in their common appreciation for Worcester art and culture. “Truth be told, I would love for someone with as much passion and drive as the current directors have to take it over in a few years,” she says. “I would love to attend an event I helped create purely as a spectator. I hear it’s a wonderful experience.”

spring 2012

look for a head cheerleader — someone whose job is to celebrate local art by throwing a really huge party — it would have to look no further than Tina Zlody. Not only would she readily accept that position, she’s already created it. The only unpredictable element may be whether her hair color — which switches from red to blonde to brown several times a year — would match her uniform. Zlody is the ultimate arts enthusiast. Fittingly, she spends her workdays with creative types, assisting Clark students and faculty artists, photographers and musicians, as program/events coordinator in the Visual and Performing Arts Department. At home she gets to spend her time with photographer-husband Louis Despres. “I truly respect the faculty, their dedication to their scholarly work, to the students and to the greater Worcester community. I am proud to say that there is a core group of staff here that are my friends. We have a great bond and it is part of why Clark is so important to me,” Zlody says. She credits her mom, Maureen Zlody, with introducing her to the Worcester art scene. A collector, painter and pianist, Maureen made sure her children knew about the art that was being displayed in public areas and behind museum doors. Zlody remembers her mother slowing down the car so her daughter could appreciate the World War II Eagle monument and statue on West Boylston Street designed by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles. “Artists, musicians, actors, poets, writers all see and hear the world their own way and then interpret that in a way I can’t really comprehend. It amazes me,” she says. Zlody claims that most of the artists she spends time with, both at work and in her non-Clark life (and there is a significant overlap) “have wonderful senses of humor, are slightly wacky, and have the truest hearts I have ever known.” Zlody’s love of art prompted her to attend a public meeting in 2002, where there was discussion about Worcester’s proposed arts district. When the news came that it would take years to get the district off the ground, she and many of her artist friends were disappointed. “I just happened to be sitting at a table of artists and organizers who didn’t want to wait,” she recalls. “We wanted to put art on the street, so we did.” And stART on the Street was born. As co-director and founding member of stART, Zlody has helped bring the day-long roving arts festival to the city over the last decade. The first three events were held in Main South. After a brief hiatus, the planning committee brought the festival back with a bang, relocating to Park Avenue. Given the rising attendance figures, residents clearly have a hunger for it. The 2002 event attracted 3,000 to 4,000 attendees, and by the fall of 2011

67 clark alumni magazine

F THE CITY OF WORCESTER were ever to

By Breanna “Bre” Lembitz ’12 I WITNESS

No walk in the park

spring 2012

clark alumni magazine

MADE THE DECISION to go to Zuccotti Park in about six hours, which was crazy. I packed two sets of clothes, a yoga mat, a comforter, and some canned food and said, “Okay, I’ll go sleep in the park and see how it goes.” At Clark I’d started out majoring in political science because I wanted to make a difference and change the world, but I realized you can’t really make a difference in a political system without realizing where the money’s coming from. So I started studying economics with the goal of changing this country’s economic thinking and structure — and then the Occupy Wall Street movement happened and it was perfect for me to be there. The first two weeks, the energy was incredible. It was like everybody there felt they’d spent their whole lives working on projects that were preparation for this occupation. But it started to fall apart a little bit because you can’t live that intensely and work that hard without burnout. Eventually, people with mental issues were living inside the park. Newly released ex-cons from Riker’s Island were being bused two blocks away and were told there was free food in the park. We became the most popular tourist destination in New York. A lot of people showed up to take advantage of the spectacle, though some found solidarity with the cause. I started on the medical team, and then I joined the finance team. Every section of the park had a donation bin, and after 700 people were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge we collected 10,000 dollars in cash a day for several days. We kept track of all of it. I had death threats from inside and outside the group, and the security team knew where I slept. Some people saw the Occupy movement as a protest of people who hated money, and here I was running the money in that protest. While it was terrifying at times, I never felt anyone would follow through on those threats; I just felt they were angry. I could have done media interviews all day, but I had to start turning them down. I was quoted in The Wall Street Journal and NBC; I was on ABC, NPR and CBC out of Canada. One of the problems we’d had was that some of the people who were interviewed didn’t know the issues. Their response was simply, “I’m angry, and I’m here!” and they offered no solutions. Our PR team had me on the interview list because I knew the economics behind the movement and could articulate solutions. I also speak Chinese and Spanish, and one interesting thing I learned is that apparently I’m the figurehead of the movement in China. At one point I had Japanese reporters find me in the park. They said they recognized me from Chinese TV and wanted to interview me. On Nov. 15, I was in my tent with my boyfriend when I heard people

yelling, “It’s happening! We’re being raided!” I left the tent, and it was chaos; people screaming and running; crazy people with sharpened sticks; people having schizophrenic breakdowns. Spotlights shined down on us. The police surrounded the park and had rows of paddy wagons down one side of the park and cruisers down the other side. Eventually the police moved from the perimeter into the middle of the kitchen, where a group of us were with our arms locked, and just stood

in a circle around us. There was commotion outside, but in that kitchen everything was still. Some of the cops — the community service police — were actually crying and wouldn’t make eye contact with us. Later, we were waiting against the wall to be processed, and this girl who had a medical issue kept saying, “I need to use the bathroom.” The guards wouldn’t let her. So we started singing “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” very loudly, and we got all the way to twenty-one, before they said, “OKAY, we’ll let you use the bathroom!” I started living in a Brooklyn apartment after my arrest, and stopped working with the occupation on Dec. 19 because I had to reinvolve myself in school. Has the movement been successful? We convinced a lot of people that what must be addressed in the next election are issues surrounding the rich and the poor, while terms like “Occupy” and “the 99 percent” have become branded in the American consciousness and are now part of the national discussion. In that way, I think it’s been completely successful. Excerpted from Bre Lembitz’s Feb. 3 interview with CLARK magazine.

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Clark Magazine Spring 2012

Published on Apr 16, 2012

Clark's alumni magazine

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