Dispatches periscope Gleaned from the campus newsletter, FYI
A Model Graduate
International Airport on a dark and stormy Sunday night for the first medical summer program. They rented a van to drive from Bangor to Colby. They drove and drove. And when they read a sign that said “Next Exit Woodstock, New Brunswick” it dawned on them that they had wanted I-95 South.
Allen LaPan (student mailroom) pointed out that the model on the cover of a recent Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue might look familiar around here. It’s Dylan Commeret ’99. One young lady in the Eustis mailroom who knew Dylan from classes didn’t recognize his yearbook picture but said “Oh sure!” when she saw the shirtless cover guy. A source in New York reports we might see more of Dylan, who’s also modeling for Jockey.
Above and Beyond the Cans At the Salvation Army’s Annual Civic Dinner in Waterville in May, Colby’s Dining Services received an “above and beyond” award, recognizing its successful food drive last holiday season. Varun Avasthi (dining services) accepted on behalf of the College. Dining Services credits faculty and staff for making the Caring Cans program a success. Colby contributed more than a quarter ton of canned goods to the Salvation Army in December.
A Wealth of Information As part of the Waterville Bicentennial celebration in June, Dan Casavant of Century 21-Surette presented a historic leather-bound daybook from the 18th century to Colby’s Special Collections on May 2. Nehemiah Getchell of Vassalboro, a tavern owner, businessman and one-time business partner of Asa Redington of Waterville, kept the journal from 1793 to 1796. The book documents store transactions and includes a wealth of primary source information about the nature of business in the Winslow/Vassalboro area back in the day. Pat Burdick (special collections) says the gift is a significant complement to Maine-related materials already in our collection. 4 | C O L B Y •
summer 2002
The Sled Dog Ate My Homework?
Taking on Einstein An article co-authored by Robert Bluhm (physics) in March generated its own media flurry after NASA issued a press release with the headline “Was Einstein Wrong? Space Station Research May Find Out.” Bluhm’s research involves putting ultra-precise clocks on space missions to try to determine if Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity is correct. If not, it could dramatically change our understanding of the universe.
Baker is Back Sally Baker returned to Colby as executive assistant to the president and secretary of the college starting July 1 and replaced Earl Smith, who retired. Baker assists and advises President Bro Adams and is the principal liaison between his office and trustees and overseers. Baker was director of communications at Colby during the nine years she worked on Mayflower Hill from 1989 to 1998. Since then she has been director of communications for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University and associate vice president for communications at Colgate University.
What a Long, Wet Ride Two inches of cold rain arrived the day that cyclist Paul Johnston (dean of students office) had agreed to accompany three students on their first century ride. Chris Cogbill ’02, Tom Mace ’03 and Cary Fridrich ’05 had found each other
through the student digest and ride the local roads together but had never done 100 miles in a day. “They learned that even though the calendar says it’s midMay, it can still be pretty cold and nasty in Maine,” Johnston reported. “I learned that biking with folks half my age isn’t good for my ego.” Johnston and Steve Thomas (admissions) began a five-week Portland-to-Portland ride (that’s Oregon to Maine) on Memorial Day.
Better Late (or Early) . . . On Thursday morning, May 30, Joanne Lafreniere (communications) was between Eustis and Cotter Union when a member of the Class of ‘43 approached to say, “I know I’m a little early but I’m here for reunion--where do I register?” She had come from Massachusetts and, in fact, she was more than a whole week early. Oops. . . . Later Joan Sanzenbacher reported on a quartet of doctors from the Midwest who arrived at Bangor
Cal Mackenzie (government) shares this unusual excuse, received as e-mail from a student who hails from midcoast Maine: “I missed class on Monday. This was because I had to go home for a family dinner and got snowed in. I have the notes and just wanted to apologize.” Cal notes that it’s not everywhere a professor might get such a message on the last day of April, much less believe it.
Research Search Call it project-based learning or research, increasingly it’s what students do at Colby. When the call went out for student research presentations this spring, more than 300 answered. Together they made the third annual Colby Undergraduate Research Symposium, May 2-3, the most varied and ambitious yet. Students from all the divisions presented their work. To name just one percent of them, presentations included “Viking Technology and Environmental Degradation in the Colonization of Iceland” (Andrew Schannen ’02), “Letters of Love: An Evolution of Letter Writing History As Seen Through Saint Anselm and Peter Abelard” (Nicole Wakely ’02) and “The Role of Venture Capital Financing in Building the Tech Stock Market Bubble” (Jessica Rosenbloom ’02).