scene team
Vice President for Public Relations and Communications Charles Melichar Managing Editor Rebecca Costello Associate Editor Aleta Mayne Director of Publications Gerald Gall Coordinator of Photographic Services Andrew Daddio Production Assistant Kathy Bridge Colgate Ladies in Moroccan Dress, Atlas Mountains, Morocco, by Evan Kramer ’09
Texting Along the Grand Canal, Venice, Italy, by Christie Lebano ’09
Contributing writers and designers: Director of Web Content Timothy O’Keeffe Art Director Karen Luciani Designer Jennifer Kirsteins Assistant Director of Athletic Communications John Gilger Director of Marketing and Public Relations Barbara Brooks Senior Advancement Writer Mark Walden Manager of Media Communications Anthony Adornato
Long Road Home, Hampi, India, by Sarah MacKenzie ’09
Contact: scene@colgate.edu 315-228-7417 www.colgatealumni.org/scene
Global Colgate
Alumni often say that taking advantage of Colgate’s study-abroad or extended-study programs provided them with some of their best experiences and memories. Go to www.colgate.edu/photos to see images taken by students who studied abroad this past semester. You’ll see photos from around the world. You also can see what students had to say about their trips on the Global Colgate blog: http://colgate. blogs.com/globalcolgate/. Want to share your favorite study-abroad experience? Go to the message board at colgatealumni.org.
Colgate Conversations: www.colgate.edu/podcasts Colgate parent Harold Ramis, whose film credits include Ghostbusters, Year One, and Groundhog Day, offers a funny and insightful look at making movies in Hollywood.
Look Photo Galleries: www.colgate.edu/photos See photographs from former President Rebecca Chopp’s last month on campus as she said goodbye to colleagues, students, and friends, and took part in her final commencement exercise.
Listen
Watch
Success After Colgate: www.colgate.edu/success Eight members of the Class of 2009 talk about their Colgate experiences and share their plans for the future in these unique video profiles. You also can track many other recent graduates on a Google “mashup” that shows what they are doing and where.
Get connected
Talk
Feedback form: http://www.colgate.edu/eeg The Economic Environment Working Group is charged with identifying scenarios for the strategic realignment of Colgate’s operating budget as a result of the economic downturn and investment losses sustained by the university’s endowment since the summer of 2008. Colgate alumni, faculty, staff, students, and community members are invited to offer suggestions.
It has been a few engrossing months
committee, ably led by Peg Flanagan ’80, vice chair of the board, has been gathering feedback on what skills and qualities will be most important in our next leader, we also have reflected on what made President Rebecca Chopp so remarkably effective. In addition to confidence, determination, vision, and skill as manager of our complex and particular community, President Chopp had an admirable and certain generosity of spirit. She recognized and valued the contributions of everyone to the resultant good works. Lao-Tzu, the founder of Taoism who lived sometime around 600 years before the Christian era in China, said, “To lead people, walk beside them … When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!’” Indeed, under President Chopp’s leadership, we all celebrated — and took personal pride in — our very transformation. In this issue of the Scene, we are pleased to share a retrospective and a tribute to President Chopp’s very memorable seven-year tenure. Thanks in large part to President Chopp, I will preside in the coming year over an institution that is in a solid position despite uncertain economic times. We are secure in our status as a top liberal arts academic institution whose can-do character and larger size set us apart from even our most impressive peer institutions. Is this perhaps the Colgate DNA?
Being a scientist, I am tempted to play with the metaphor a bit, as the double-stranded DNA molecule has such an interesting structure and function. In much the same way that pairs of genes, intertwined after reproduction in side-by-side strands, determine qualities such as the color of our eyes, consider what characterizes the uniqueness of Colgate. Here we are combining the best of the liberal arts model with its close facultystudent relationships, and the research university with its interest in generating new knowledge and providing a broad array of areas of study. This unique genetic combination of the liberal arts college and research university strands — the liberal arts university — is surely a fortuitous one, dedicated as it is to fostering the development of liberally educated, adventuresome, and achievement-oriented students and alumni. Alas, as adventuresome and achievement-oriented as we are, the coming year will challenge us to stay our course. Passion for the Climb: The Campaign for Colgate is well on its way to completion. We will continue to tackle issues of affordability and access. Following our governing strategic plan, diversity initiatives will continue to be important, as will continued innovation in the areas of student-faculty engagement beyond the classroom. As I move down the hill from McGregory Hall to the stately James B. Colgate administration building, I am grateful to the senior staff assembled by President Chopp who bring incredible strength and expertise to their positions. In the coming year, I will rely on them for their wisdom and skill. In addition, I am delighted that history professor Jill Harsin, a long-time member of the Core 152 staff and, until called to step up, the director of the Division of Social Sciences, has agreed to serve as interim provost and dean of the faculty. I am honored to serve as Colgate’s interim president for 2009–2010, following President Chopp, a leader whose impact on Colgate has been immeasurable and whose accomplishments will be celebrated for a long time. It promises to be a most interesting year, as together we sustain Colgate’s incredible momentum while shoring up resources in an adverse economic environment and awaiting the exciting outcome of the search for Colgate’s 16th president.
Printed and mailed from Lane Press in South Burlington, Vt. If you’re moving... Please clip the address label and send with your new address to: Alumni Records Clerk, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346-1398, call 315-228-7453, or e-mail alumnirecords@colgate.edu. Opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by the university, the publishers, or the editors. Notice of Non-Discrimination: Colgate University does not discriminate in its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, citizenship status, sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, physical or mental disability (including AIDS), age, marital status, sexual orientation, status as a disabled veteran of the Vietnam era, or any other category protected under applicable law. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the university’s nondiscrimination policies: Keenan Grenell, Vice President and Dean for Diversity, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346; 315-228-6161.
Online Community: www.colgatealumni.org Your class page has the latest news and an RSS feed highlighting classmates who are mentioned in the media. Log on and learn about your class! 10%
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Colgate Board of Trustees asked me to serve as interim president. While the 18-member presidential search
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scene online
Volume XXXVIII Number 4 The Scene is published by Colgate University four times a year — in autumn, winter, spring, and summer. The Scene is circulated without charge to alumni, parents, friends, and students.
Message from Interim President Lyle D. Roelofs
Since joining Colgate in 2004 as provost and dean of the faculty and professor of physics, Lyle Roelofs has been responsible for faculty personnel, curriculum, information technology, athletics, and overseeing instructional budgets. As interim president during the 2009–2010 academic year, he will focus on budgetary impact of the economic downturn; strategic planning for residential education; diversity issues; bolstering Colgate’s relationship with the village of Hamilton and the region; and sustainability and energy efficiency.
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scene: Summer 2009
News and views for the Colgate community
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