Colby Magazine vol. 96, no. 1

Opposite, Bob Diamond ’73 listens to speakers at the dedication of the Diamond Building with Sheri and Joe Boulos ’68, chair of the Board of Trustees. Left, top, Amy Walter ’91, Mark Howard ’85, and Dan Harris ’93 speak on a panel discussion of international and national issues. Middle photo, Philip Nyhus, assistant professor of environmental studies, gives a tour of the Diamond Building's Geographic Information System's lab.

Bottom photo, from left, panelists Elizabeth Dugan ’78, Ambassador Robert Gelbard ’64, Admiral Gregory Johnson P’98, and Sean McCormack ’86, discuss foreign policy challenges.

Three Goldfarb Center panels coordinated with the dedication of the Diamond Building addressed opportunities and challenges that today’s graduates face in the arenas of community building, globalization, technology, politics, disease, and foreign policy.

In a panel about national concerns, Dan Harris ’93, ABC news correspondent and anchor, discussed the ways technology is changing news gathering and dissemination. Mark Howard ’85, managing director and global head of credit research at Barclays Capital, spoke about the how the global economy—and the potential impact of climate change on the U.S. economy—are likely to affect this generation. Amy Walter ’91, senior editor of the Cook Political Report and an analyst for CNN, looked ahead to the 2008 presidential election.

At a discussion titled Colby Engages Local Communities, four graduates discussed community involvement and praised developments at the College that have institutionalized civic engagement. Rich Abramson ’71, superintendent of Maine’s Maranacook School District, recalled that, “It was reaching out from the Colby campus that really changed my life.”

Jackie Dupont ’04, program coordinator for Hardy Girls Healthy Women in Waterville, praised the mentoring that steered her into working with teenagers. The regional coordinator in the Boston mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, Karen Fried Salfity ’94, urged students interested in nonprofit work to study business so they’re prepared to deal with budgets and marketing.

Elizabeth Ward Saxl ’87, executive director of the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said learning to understand the opposing view was a valuable lesson she learned at Colby. “You make a powerful argument by first recognizing the strengths of the other side.”

At a panel, Colby Engages the World, Sean McCormack ’86, assistant secretary of state for public affairs and State Department spokesman, compared the post-September 11 period to the post-World War II era—significant in its turbulence and civil unrest, and marked by new and rising powers.

Admiral Gregory “Grog” Johnson P’98, (USN Ret.), said, “There was a grand national strategy of containment that worked through the Cold War. Since then, there has been no national strategy on a grand scale.”

Elizabeth Dugan ’78, vice president for programs at the International Republican Institute, was bound for Nigeria to monitor elections. “Our organization advances democracy overseas,” she said, “and we will continue to support U.S. foreign policy. ... Democracy does not just consist of having elections and replacing dictators. The democracy must govern well.”

Ambassador (Ret.) Robert Gelbard ’64, Colby trustee and chairman of Washington Global Partners LLC, concluded, “We have not come up with post-Cold War strategies in a rapidly changing world. … We have not thought through what kind of foreign policies this new world requires. ... We need to think about alliances in a very different world than we had before.”

Audio files and podcasts of all three panels are available at www.colby.edu/goldfarb.

Read more about the highlights of the Diamond weekend.

Go to www.colby.edu/mag, keyword: diamond.

COLBY / spring 2007 35