Spring Scene 2016

scene Spring 2016

News and views for the Colgate community

With gratitude Business accelerated Behind the Shadow

scene

Spring 2016

22 With gratitude

Lasting impressions translated to heartfelt expressions of thanks to professors.

28 Business accelerated

Racing against the clock, student teams create and pitch entrepreneurial solutions for real-world problems.

30 Behind the Shadow

The Shadow was merely a sinister laugh until Walter Gibson ’20 breathed life into the character who’s still

fighting crime to this day.

DEPARTMENTS 3

Message from Interim President Jill Harsin

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13346 — Inbox

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Work & Play

12

Tableau: “Refugee crisis: report from Lesvos”

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When the tour bus stopped in town: 13 chart-toppers

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Life of the Mind

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Arts & Culture

18

Go ’gate

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New, Noted & Quoted

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The Big Picture

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Stay Connected

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Class News 69 Marriages & Unions 69 Births & Adoptions 69 In Memoriam

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Salmagundi: Remembering Slapshot, 13 Words (or fewer) contest

On the cover: Duane Lee Holland, one of the foremost scholar/practitioners of hiphop dance, led workshops for students taking Core 152: Challenges of Modernity and dance courses. Exploring performance from a variety of angles in Core 152, the students discussed how hip hop is an artistic response to challenges like racism and economic crisis that shape modernity. Left: Joining the studious masses during the last week of classes, as night falls on Case Library. Both photos by Andrew Daddio News and views for the Colgate community

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Primary analysis With candidates knitting their brows, pouting, barking

Engage with us

at hecklers, making sweeping hand gestures, and

colgate.edu/scene

wearing high-heeled boots, the 2016 presidential

facebook.com/colgateuniversity

primary season has been a true Wild West show.

Professor of Psychology Carrie Keating, an expert on

@colgateuniv

nonverbal communication in politics, analyzed the

instagram.com/colgateuniversity

appearance and behavior of America’s 2016 presidential front-runners. Visit colgate.edu/primaries2016.

E-mail: scene@colgate.edu

scene team

What's online

Volume XLV Number 3 The Colgate Scene is published by Colgate University four times a year (autumn, winter, spring, and summer) without charge to alumni, parents, friends, and students.

Interim Vice President of Communications Rebecca Downing Managing Editor Aleta Mayne Editorial Director Mark Walden Creative Director Tim Horn Senior Designer and Visual Brand Manager Karen Luciani Senior Designer Katherine Mutz University Photographer Andrew Daddio Production Assistant Kathy Owen

Contributors: Daniel DeVries, Admission Marketing and Media Relations Manager; Matt Hames, Communications Strategist; David Herringshaw, Digital Production Specialist; Jason Kammerdiener ’10, Lead Information and Digital Architect; Brian Ness, Video Journalism Coordinator; John Painter, Director of Athletic Communications; Gerald Gall, Freelance Designer Contact: scene@colgate.edu; 315-228-6669 colgate.edu/scene Colgate University: 315-228-1000

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 or call 315-228-7453.

Premiering Page 13

Let them eat snake

Page 13 will be part of the Scene online for the first

When the English department hosted its second

time. You may be surprised to see who has played

annual “Miltonathon” — a marathon reading of

at Colgate over the years when you check out our

Paradise Lost — Emily Daniel ’18 tweeted about it

timeline highlighting famous musical acts, from

in iambic pentameter.

Duke Ellington to Billy Joel. We’d like to hear what you remember (or sort of remember).

Go paperless To stop receiving the printed Scene, e-mail Scene@ colgate.edu with your name, class year, address, and e-mail address, and put Online Mailing List in the subject. We'll send you an e-mail when we post new online editions (colgate.edu/scene).

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scene: Spring 2016

Opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by the university, the publishers, or the editors.

Non-discrimination notice: Colgate University does not discriminate in its programs and activities because of race, color, sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, national origin (including ancestry), citizenship status, physical or mental disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, veteran or military status (including special disabled veteran, Vietnam-era veteran, or recently separated veteran), predisposing genetic characteristics, domestic violence victim status, or any other protected category under applicable local, state, or federal law. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the university’s non-discrimination policies: Marilyn Rugg, Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346; 315-228-7288.

Title IX notice In compliance with requirements under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Colgate University does not discriminate on the basis of sex in its educational programs and activities. Colgate’s Title IX Coordinator is Marilyn Rugg, Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346; 315-228-7288; mrugg@colgate.edu.

Message from Interim President Jill Harsin

As Colgate prepares to celebrate

its bicentennial

in 2018–19, we find ourselves with a wealth of beginnings. Howard D. Williams, history professor and author of A History of Colgate University, 1819–1969, lists multiple possible dates for celebration. The most significant was Sept. 24, 1817, the meeting of the 13 founders in the home of Jonathan Olmsted, who formed the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York with the goal of educating missionaries to spread the Gospel. Another critical date was March 5, 1819, when the New York State Legislature granted the charter to found the school that would become Madison A Merrill House mural depicts the 13 founders’ meeting at University and, Olmsted House. later, Colgate.

Finally, on May 1, 1820, the very first class, conducted by Reverend Daniel Hascall (who also supervised the building of West Hall in 1827), marked the effective beginning of Colgate as an institution of higher learning.

And, of course, there were other noteworthy firsts. Nov. 10, 1819, saw the authorization to purchase the first library books. In 1825, the Society of Alumni and Friends was formed — the first alumni organization, with likely more “friends” than alumni. The Hamilton Student newspaper, begun in 1846, was to be an important chronicler of the abolitionist arguments that divided students and the administration.

Our first intercollegiate football game was played in 1890, against rival Hamilton College.

Colgate began celebrating the milestones of its founding in 1869. The 50-year ceremony was a rather uneventful affair, described in the New York Times by a disgruntled reporter who devoted half his column to explaining the difficulties he had endured in traveling to Hamilton, and the rest complaining that the speeches were too long.

The centennial in 1919, coming just after World War I and the evenmore–deadly influenza epidemic, was cast as a determinedly cheerful “birthday party.” The celebration’s motto, “Every living alumnus on the campus for the Centennial,” was almost too successful: out of more than 3,100 living alumni, 1,284 turned up for the events. (The problem was where to put them: the answer seemed to be lots of cots, lined up in every hallway and throughout the village.) Homage was paid to the more than 1,000 veterans of the recent Great War and the 22 who had been

killed. Nearly every speaker, including board leader Sidney Colgate and President Elmer Bryan, expressed genuine humility in contemplating the contrast between the school’s modest beginnings and its extraordinary success.

At the first Founders’ Day Convocation 25 years later, when many students, faculty, and staff members were serving overseas or about to depart for World War II combat, the mood was considerably more somber. The speech deliberately invoked “The Faith of the Thirteen,” noting that they, too, were “global-minded men” who had ventured forth into the world — a deliberate use of the past as a solid anchor for a difficult present.

The sesquicentennial in 1969 was noteworthy for the publication of Howard Williams’s history, a performance by Lionel Hampton, and the Charter Day speech by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Internally, the celebration’s preparation marked a profound evaluation of the university and long-range planning that would see Colgate transformed in the 1970s.

The bicentennial will again offer us a chance to consider Colgate’s future; I would also ask for sufficient time to consider where we have been. I have long been fascinated by a boulder alongside the road to Chapel House that bears a plaque: “In this ravine was held Aug. 13 1843 a missionary meeting by Eugenio Kincaid ’22 and Alfred Bennett. An epochal event for this institution and the Baptists of New York.” The plaque, placed by the Class of 1900, indicates that the memory of that gathering had lasted at least 60 years; yet now, more than 100 years later, the inscription is more likely to mystify than enlighten. Why was it so meaningful to those who put it there?

The bicentennial will be a moment for thinking about our connections to those of the past, however remote they may seem, and for considering our long-standing commitment to the region and the world. We can highlight parts of our history that were obscured because, at the time, we preferred to tell a different sort of story. We should avoid idealizing our past, even as we also recognize moments of courage, generosity, and inspiration.

As my year as interim president comes to a close, I’m preparing to return to my Alumni Hall history office, overlooking both the centuryold Memorial Chapel and West Hall, our oldest building. Bicentennial planning, which has occupied a part of my past year, has allowed me, or perhaps forced me, to be reflective about where we’re going and where we’ve been. I’m humbled to have had the opportunity to serve this extraordinary institution as interim president, and I’m eager to return to the classroom next fall as we welcome Brian Casey as Colgate’s 17th president.

[Citations from Colgate University Centennial Celebration (published by the university, 1920); archived notes from Howard D. Williams, and archived references to the Founders' Day Convocation and the sesquicentennial; my thanks to Jason Petrulis, bicentennial fellow, for directing me to these resources.]

News and views for the Colgate community

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scene

Inbox

Winter 2016

News and views for the Colgate community

Keeping it real Team VIPER in the Arctic What is art?

Sex co-education

The Scene welcomes letters. We reserve the right to decide whether a letter is acceptable for publication and to edit for accuracy, clarity, and length. Letters deemed potentially libelous or that malign a person or group will not be published.

Letters should not exceed 250 words. You can reach us by mail, or e-mail sceneletters @colgate.edu. Please include your full name, class year if applicable, address, phone number, and/or e-mail address. If we receive many letters on a given topic, we will print a representative sample of the opinions expressed.

Lauding the liberal arts

Identifying the problem

It was a pleasure to read Julia Queller’s insightful and engaging article in the winter Scene about why she has chosen to major in religious studies (“Questions a religion major gets asked,” pg. 12). At a time when many seem to regard a college education as little more than a stepping stone to financial security and question the value of a liberal arts degree, it was refreshing and encouraging to hear that some students still see college as primarily an opportunity to pursue their intellectual interests and develop a deeper understanding of the world and human culture. I am also sure that after Ms. Queller graduates she will find many professional opportunities available to her, other than becoming a rabbi.

If ever one of the Scenes had a theme, it was your winter 2016 edition.

From front cover to back — and most especially Suzy Nelson’s message — your staff made certain the opener was the close. You made it quite clear that women students at Colgate are everything from “vulnerable” to “bystanders” to “protesting” sexual climate to being under “sexual assault.”

A Hamilton winter may have sent the courageous and glorified protesters indoors, but the resonant theme does just that — resonates. Armed with the New York State legal definition of sexual assault and responsibility for “positive consent,” your far-too-many assistant deans and assistant provosts and adjunct professors in charge of everything from Title IX adherence to inclusivity should have very little trouble making the females on the Hill less uncomfortable. More to the point, though, is identifying the real problem in all of this “climate.”

The great unsaid here — at least as far as your staff goes — is the negative climate created by the men students at Colgate. If I further add the “racial justice” element, then that field is reduced to white men students at Colgate. Nowhere do I read that that particular slice of the community is your starting point, let alone your problem. With young women standing alone on a stage, groups of young women protesting outside campus centers catering to them, and with young women coalescing to even come to grips with their own sexual proclivities, it would seem to me that one of the “tools” a Colgate female undergraduate can pull from her belt in order to navigate the “road map” is to seek the truth by starting at the beginning. What’s the beginning?

Articulating the question.

I submit that the Scene did not have the courage to identify and articulate the question. That lack of

Jeff Cook ’67 Cresskill, N.J.

Asking for an update I read Dean Suzy Nelson’s piece in the winter Colgate Scene (“A message from Dean of the College Suzy Nelson,” pg.

3) with interest at first because she was going to touch on racism and sexual assault on campus. However, as I went through it, I was unhappy that she did not give much attention to what’s being done to deal with racism on campus. Even if discussions remain work in progress, it’s still important to know that they’re even happening at all. I was left with an impression that little has been done since all the discussions between students and the administration back in 2014. The campus has been dealing with sexual assaults for years (heck, my own major adviser was on the committee when I was there 2005–2008). I’d like to see Dean Nelson address the “other” story in the next Scene.

Sara Halpern ’08 Columbus, Ohio

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scene: Spring 2016

integrity is more than lack of academic rigor; it is dishonest. There is something more that Colgate faculty and staff can do to ensure that rape does emphatically not happen before these young women undergraduates become graduates. Your community can ensure the “public community” does not repeat the Duke University venom and rush to judgment of 2006.

Finally, the Colgate “prevention and support services” can make the realworld point that single women must not cry “rape” and married women must not cry “divorce” so as to get the perpetual paycheck that the grossly irresponsible State of New York itself regularly doles out.

In the meantime, if this is your “scene,” I’ll make sure my grandchildren don’t make it.

Todd A. Clemens ’77 Scottsdale, Ariz.

Still more folklore

Loved the article (“Colgate Folklore, Facts & Falsehoods,” autumn 2015, pg. 24)! Here’s some Colgate folklore I remember from my days in the fair Chenango Valley: 1. The New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams, who attended Colgate for two years in the late 1920s, was inspired to create his “Addams

Family” cartoons after boarding with an eccentric family who lived in an old Victorian house on Maple Avenue.

2. While working the night shift at the Colgate observatory, two students sighted a mysterious heavenly body that wasn’t on any of their astronomical charts. Convinced that they might have discovered a new planet, and unable to contain their excitement, they woke up their physics professor from a deep sleep. The professor dutifully threw a coat over his pajamas and drove to the observatory, where, peering through the telescope, he determined that the new planet was in fact the “o” in the red neon Grand Union supermarket sign.

3. After taking a campus tour during the early 1970s, famed CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite was rumored to have said: “There are two places I would never allow my daughter to visit: the DMZ in Vietnam and Colgate during spring party weekend.” (In some versions, it was — oddly enough — President Lyndon Johnson who said this.)

4. This last anecdote I heard from the great Professor Douglas “Doc” Reading. The college All-American and pro football hall of fame running back Jim Brown wanted very badly to attend Colgate in the 1950s, but was unable to meet the stringent academic requirements, so went to Syracuse instead. The Doc was painfully reminded of this fact every time he saw Brown charging down the lacrosse field (he was an All-American in this sport as well), trampling over the half-dozen Colgate players who were desperately trying to stop him.

Speaking of The Doc, there were many, many legends surrounding his tenure at Colgate, but alas — they’re just a wee bit too “salty” to repeat here.

On “Folklore, Facts & Falsehoods”: Thanks for this enlightening and amusing article! As to what has gone into and been pulled from Taylor Lake, let me add another auto: a 1968 Plymouth Fury III (I believe) … a car that was figuratively, and in this case literally, a boat! It was senior week 1977, and a bunch of my fraternity brothers convinced one of us to drive his car into (temptingly close) Taylor Lake.

Several piled in, took it a short way on Broad Street, turned off on a footpath, then turned off the footpath and sped headfirst into the lake! Thankfully, it wasn’t deep and all made it out safely, but it wasn’t long before there was a call from a dean (Fred Dobens, I believe) telling the car owner and his buddies to get the car out of the lake if they wanted to graduate. Apparently, they did, since all managed to graduate and proceed to illustrious careers in the law, national defense, and business. Go, ’gate!

Picture this: stunning Colgate University photography, just a click away Visit our galleries at colgate.photoshelter.com to order customized photographic prints in a variety of sizes. Bring home images you’ve seen in the Colgate Scene and other university publications as well as scenic views from around one of America’s most beautiful campuses.

Ladd Connell ’77 Arlington, Va.

Colgate pride My father (Donald D. Hodges) was in the Class of ’32. I am attaching a photo

of his beanie on a beloved bear. He was always proud to have gone to Colgate. Although he is deceased, we have treasured many of his memories.

We had not ever heard of the green beanies, though (“Colgate Folklore, Facts & Falsehoods,” autumn 2015, pg.

24). He was a leader in the orchestra band, playing the drums, as has one grandson and one great-grandson.

Thank you for the stories. We sure enjoy the format of the Scene.

William E. Hodges Sherburne, N.Y.

Kelly Yoho ’82 Rochester, N.Y.

News and views for the Colgate community

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work & play

Campus scrapbook A

B

A

Memorial Chapel silhouetted against a strawberry-streaked sky.

Photo by Andrew Daddio

B

Chloe Weiss ’18, MaryKathryn McCann ’18, and Brendan Corrodi ’18 take a study sunshine break on the soft grassy Quad. Photo

by Andrew Daddio

C

Bold patterns on display in the African Student Union fashion show. Photo by Zoe Zhong ’17 C

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D

It’s electric! Professor Ken Segall looks on during an electronics project demonstration in the Ho Science Center.

Photo by Andrew Daddio

E

A rush of water — and adrenaline — while kayaking down Woodhull Creek during an Outdoor Education trip where students met up with local paddlers. Photo by Nick Gilbert ’18

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Finding a fine-feathered friend in Austin, Texas, during the travel portion of Professor Ian Helfant’s Sophomore Residential Seminar Hunting, Eating, Vegetarianism. Photo

by Nick Gilbert ’18

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Collin Orr ’18 leaves the competition in the dust. Photo by Bob Cornell

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Students spruce up the Earlville Opera House as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, coordinated by Colgate’s Max A. Shacknai Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education. Photo by Andrew Daddio

scene: Spring 2016

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H

E

F

E

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News and views for the Colgate community

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Andrew Daddio

MLK Week’s X factor

Ilyasah Al Shabazz, daughter of civil rights leader Malcolm X, spoke to a packed Love Auditorium crowd at the end of January, wrapping up this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Week celebration. Shabazz is a community organizer, educator, social activist,

motivational speaker, and author. Her most well-known book, Growing Up X, is both a memoir and a tribute to her parents.

In her keynote address, Shabazz focused on the Black Lives Matter social movement, speaking to the importance of compassion and the

Fifteen years ago, the Quinan family was ascending the stairs next to Little Hall when then–Colgate photographer John Hubbard ’72 stopped them to take the boys’ picture.

Michael was 4, Matthew was 6, Sam was 8. Now, at 19, 20, and 22, all three are students at Colgate — a decision that was strongly influenced by their father, Mike ’81. “Our dad’s obsessed with Colgate,” Sam ’16 said, half-jokingly.

Sam has vague memories of this campus visit for Mike’s 20th Reunion: the colorful tents on Whitnall, playing baseball with his brothers on the football turf, and getting their picture taken in front of West Hall, where Mike had lived.

Spending some time with the Quinan brothers to re-stage the 2001 photo, I gathered a few insights. Sam and Matthew ’17 are both in Theta Chi, so they see each other “all day, every day.” Michael ’19 “hangs around a lot,” so they see him, too. Surprisingly, the oldest and the youngest claim to be the most similar. Both are history majors, and agree that they’re “the mean ones.” Matthew (a geology major) is “the nice guy,” Michael said. A typical middle child, Matthew is “the voice of reason,” Sam added. All to which Matthew chimed in with a simple: “I concur.” — Aleta Mayne

scene: Spring 2016

John Hubbard ’72

Flash forward

Brian Ness

work & play 8

The Mantiphondrakes student a cappella group performed during the MLK week opening ceremony.

idea that hatred is a learned behavior.

Her talk — a call to action for young people — highlighted the history of social activism in America. “We cannot point fingers at others without first pointing fingers at ourselves,” Shabazz said. “Each of us has an obligation to stand up and right the wrongs of society. Young people, this is your time to invest in yourselves by any means necessary — with a quality education, with significant purpose to your lives, with utilizing power to be your absolute best.”

Shabazz said that her goal is to encourage a new generation to recognize their power to enact positive change. “My father was just in his 20s, not much older than most of you here today, when the world learned of him,” Shabazz said. “Brother Malcolm stood up against the injustices around him. He said, ‘We demand our human rights as your brothers.’ He did not compromise; he lived his entire life serving his country.”

The subsequent question-andanswer period included discussion of the 2016 U.S. presidential candidates, personal identity, and structural violence.

Other events that took place during the celebratory week included an afternoon of community service, coordinated by the Max A. Shacknai Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education; a keynote address

by Alexandria Davis ’16; a screening of The New Black at the Hamilton Theater; and workshops designed to spark important conversations.

— Emma Loftus ’16

Coding with confidence

Little fingers tapped away on computer keys after school at Hamilton Central Elementary on a recent sunny afternoon, but instead of manipulating blocks in Minecraft or posting to Facebook, they were busy writing computer code.

The coding class, for students in grades three through five, is the creation of Colgate’s Women in Computer Science club, whose members decided to share the skills they learned in their classrooms with the eager elementary school students.

“We are using a lesson plan from Code.org that has fun, free computer games, puzzles, and mazes that are integrated with coding concepts,” explained Jesse O’Loughlin ’18, a math and computer science double major

Fox scholars Last summer, former trustee Robert A. Fox ’59 made a $10 million gift to Colgate, inspiring 26 partners to join him in supporting financial aid programs at the university. Together, they amassed a total of nearly $27 million in just 12 months and brought an inaugural crew of Fox Scholars to campus with the bicentennial Class of 2019.

I chose Colgate partially because it reminded me of home. Colgate brought all the best things of my upbringing into a college atmosphere.

Andrew Daddio

The highlight of my first year on campus so far was performing in Cabaret.

Samantha Braver ’18 helps a Hamilton Central Elementary School student with coding.

“HCS is making plans to offer our middle- and high-school students computer science and coding classes in the near future. It is our hope that this coding club will be an impetus for elementary students to gain interest in this area,” said Ellis.

Dan Miller ’19 Thurmont, Md.

The highlight of my first year has been having opportunities to meet new people, learn new things, and try new activities. I know that as a Colgate graduate, I will be endowed with not only knowledge and skills that will propel me to success in the real world, but also long-lasting relationships with friends and professors.

Dialoguing with Junot Diaz

When Junot Diaz — the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and a creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology — visited Colgate at the end of January, he created a classroom environment for the packed house in Love Auditorium. Rather than conducting a formalized lecture, Diaz facilitated open conversation with the audience.

Speaking candidly about race and class issues, Diaz said: “It’s an important conversation for us to have in a public space, [because] there is power in coming together for these dialogues.” Diaz urged students to talk to each other about issues like systemic inequality, privilege, and identity politics.

Mara Stein ’19 Demarest, N.J.

The highlight of my first year would probably have to be track season. I’ve met a lot of cool people and traveled to a lot of places because of it. Being on the team has really influenced my experience at Colgate.

Financial aid played a big part in choosing my school. My mom is a single parent, and she does not make nearly enough to get me through college and to take care of my sister, who is also about to go to college. I wanted to minimize the burden tuition payments would put on my mom.

Anthony Castillo ’19 Los Angeles, Calif.

Nicholas Friedman ’16

from Medfield, Mass. “I am excited to say that about 25 students signed up for the club.”

Samantha Braver ’18, a computer science and art and art history major from Gladwyne, Pa., looked over the shoulder of one student who had a furrowed brow. The student was trying to fix a string of code to finish a puzzle that, once solved, would form a picture of a house. Braver gently suggested the student consider moving one part of the code as an experiment to see how it would respond.

“See, now that went too far,” Braver said of the line that stretched past the foundation of the cartoon house. The student smiled after making another minor adjustment herself, completing the puzzle.

“I have really loved tutoring the kids and seeing so many girls in the club,” Braver said. “I have been impressed with how quickly the students have moved through the lessons, and I hope we inspire them to explore computer science in a time where the number of unfilled tech jobs continues to grow.”

While the idea is local, the longterm implications are large as technology companies nationwide search for more women with computer science backgrounds to balance a workforce that is still predominantly male.

Hamilton Central School (HCS) Elementary Principal Kevin Ellis said the new coding club is another example of the positive impact that the university has had on students in his school.

Colgate students currently volunteer their time and expertise with six active after-school groups.

Financial aid was one of the most important factors in my choice of schools. I have five siblings, so it was really important for me to get good financial aid.

I love the fact that Colgate offers small class sizes and many travel-abroad options. I love what the Colgate community has to offer — being part of the choir family, the OUS family — and I cannot say how much I appreciate my international friends here.

Hong (Cindy) Vuong ’19 Rosemead, Calif.

News and views for the Colgate community

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scene: Spring 2016

Alumnus speaks on shifting global dynamics

On March 3, Jackson Janes ’69 returned to campus to discuss GermanAmerican relations. His lecture, sponsored by the German department, was titled “A Study of Friendships, Frictions, and Transforming Interests in the 21st Century.”

Janes is the president of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Atlantic Council of the United States. He often provides commentary for domestic and foreign media outlets, including CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, PBS, CBC, and other networks.

His lecture focused on the shifting dynamics in a post–Cold War world. On both sides of the Atlantic, governments are grappling with globalization and increased interdependence in the wake of world issues such as climate change, nuclear weapons crises, and terrorism.

“The end of the Cold War did not make the world safer; it made it more complicated,” said Janes. “It challenged us to develop new ways of responding to the challenges ahead.”

In the European Union specifically, Germany is trying to show robust leadership in a time when the Euro is struggling to remain strong, and countries are coping with Russian aggression, crisis in Ukraine, and massive migration from the Middle East and North Africa.

“Germany has become a pivotal power, a leader, in partnership within the European Union and beyond,” Janes said. “Given its economic power and diplomatic networks, Germany has appeared as a source of stability and reliability in dealing with many crises.”

He left the audience with a question: “How do we need each other in 2016?” In a U.S. presidential election year, with shifting global powers, there are certainly going to be changes to world dynamics, he said.

“In examining the choices ahead for Europe and the United States over the next ten years,” Janes said, “three factors will be central in importance for shaping the world to come: the increasing interdependence in transatlantic relations, the sliding scale of consensus and competition, and the sharing of burdens and power across the Atlantic.”

— Emma Loftus ’16

Go figure: Unite to Fight Lymphoma

Anna Heil ’16

work & play CAMERA ALWAYS READY! Although I had driven the loop from the Broad Street traffic light toward Case Library on my way to Olin Hall thousands of times in my Colgate career, April 4, 2015, turned out to be the best drive ever. It was a windy, snowy, early morning, and I observed a bald eagle perching in a willow tree on the edge of Taylor Lake. Stopping at the library, I slowly walked down the Willow Path, stalking the bird in the distance. I braced my camera against a tree near the “Kissing Bridge” and photographed a series of images, from which this photo was selected.

— John A. Novak, professor of biology emeritus

The author focused on his belief that we are all responsible for the oppression of others. Diaz noted that we should each have “possessive investments in each other’s liberations [from oppression].

“We all have narcissistic investments in our own identities,” Diaz said. He explained that we treat identities as stock rather than viewing them as the unique attributes that have the power to connect us to others. Our identities, Diaz noted, have become “forts with narrow drawbridges,” whereas the author sees the need for “open fields” of identity that allow for cohesion and cooperation.

Our differences should be the bridges that connect us to others, not sources of victorious pride, he asserted.

The famed author last visited campus when he participated in the 2009 Living Writers Series for his novel The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. This year’s event — hosted by the Latin American Student Organization — was coordinated by LASO president Manuel Medina ’17, who has been working since his first year to bring Diaz back to campus to speak about his commitment to social justice.

“His lecture profoundly challenged and motivated the audience in many ways,” Medina said.

— Lauren Casella ’ 16

In the beautifully decorated Hall of Presidents, students, faculty, and staff joined together for a gala on Dec. 3, 2015. The semiformal night of dancing, mingling, and fellowship honored a student recently diagnosed with lymphoma. All proceeds went to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

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CAMPUS ORGANIZATION COSPONSORS

6 $11,000 GREEK HOUSES DONATED FOOD

RAISED

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PROFESSORS ENTERTAINED — AS FACULTY BAND DANGERBOY — Emma Loftus ’16

Scott Lochmus

Making movie magic

Actor and director Ron Perlman chose Hamilton as the location for Pottersville, his new quirky comedy starring Michael Shannon, Judy Greer, and Christina Hendricks (to cite a few of the big names). Colgate people also had roles in the production: actor Michael Torpey ’02 was a cast member, six students served as interns, and Reyna Stagnaro (greenhouse superintendent) was an extra.

The Pottersville plotline follows a destitute town that becomes a media spectacle after a Sasquatch sighting. In reality, the believed-to-be Bigfoot is actually a local general store owner named Maynard who was drunkenly rambling around town in a gorilla costume, but he’s afraid to fess up. Meanwhile, reality TV “monster hunter” Brock Masterson arrives to track down the beast.

Nearby towns Cazenovia and Skaneateles were also under consideration for location filming, but Hamilton was selected because of “the quality of some of the exterior places that fit their script,” Mayor and Colgate Professor Bob McVaugh told Syracuse.com. Swank boutique was the setting for Maynard’s shop, and the film crew spent countless hours on the village green shooting that corner of downtown. “For sale” and “No trespassing” signs hung in the windows of several stores as part of the setting. One afternoon, a helicopter landed in front of the inn for a particular scene. And in the off hours, Hamilton residents buzzed with celebrity spottings.

Torpey, who lives in New York City, had no idea when he auditioned that he would be returning to his old college community. In early December, his agent arranged for him to read for a part, and he was hired shortly after. Then during a wardrobe fitting, he heard a rumor that the movie was being filmed in Hamilton. “I was floored,” Torpey recalled. He was still uncertain about the location until he was informed that he would be flying into Syracuse and staying at the Colgate Inn. The actor — who’s recently been on Inside Amy Schumer and Veep — played “Norm” in Pottersville. Norm and his partner, Tony, moved there on a whim, wanting to leave the city in search of “the country life that they [envision] based

Left to Right: Actor Michael Shannon prepares for a scene. Sasquatch on set. Extras gather as the helicopter lands.

Scott Lochmus

movie in January — which it was.

Karen Luciani

windows, the Colgate Inn looked like the set of a monster

on the J. Crew catalogue,” Torpey explained. Hoping to capitalize on the Sasquatch phenomenon, they sell merchandise out of Maynard’s shop.

The chance to work closely with actors whom he idolized was thrilling for Torpey. For example, Thomas Lennon, who was in The State, “shaped a lot of my comedic sensibility,” Torpey said. “They were my generation’s Monty Python.”

He emphasized that movie making isn’t all about hobnobbing and glamour, though — especially when shooting in central New York in the dead of winter. “There were long, hard nights outdoors when you couldn’t feel your feet. It’s a lot of waiting

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With dingy sheets draping the façade and boarded-up

— for the camera, for lighting to be ready,” he said.

Seeing the practical side of a production was valuable for the student interns, who were involved in everything from managing extras to wardrobe to set design. “It was unpredictable,” Erin Moroney ’18, a molecular biology major from Gaithersburg, Md., said of performing various tasks. The interns sewed patches, ironed costumes, hauled props, wrapped cables, and ran errands.

One of the less-desirable duties was “lockups — basically standing outside telling people to be quiet,” said Sam Whalen ’16, a computer science major from Quincy, Mass.

This kind of hands-on opportunity can be “an eye opener,” said Lynn Schwarzer, film and media studies professor. “From hauling in snow because there wasn’t enough on the sidewalk, to the tiniest of details. It’s where creativity, technology, and real-life problem solving all converge.

It’s difficult, stick-to-it work.”

Stagnaro, a local singer/songwriter who has worked at Colgate for more than 25 years, said she’ll never look at a movie the same again. She had a bit part as “a townie,” and one line, saying “thank you” to Shannon in the shop. “And I’ll never look at Hamilton the same again,” she added.

“It really shone.”

Torpey echoed the sentiment: “The movie has a magical feeling to it, and the town of Hamilton mirrors that,” he said. “It’s this special, small town in the middle of New York State that has this great community, a great learning environment, and is a place where ideas are prized.”

— Aleta Mayne

News and views for the Colgate community

11

Tableau

Refugee crisis: report from Lesvos

By Woody Freiman ’77, P’13

Shaan R. Ali

On a starry night last December, we drove along a one-lane road that hugs the rocky coastline of the Greek island of Lesvos. We parked tight to a wall and, guided by the faint light of a dying fire, crossed the narrow roadway onto a deserted beach. The sliver of moon made no impression on the black sea. The lights from Turkey, only 6 miles away, sparkled eerily in the distance. Water lapped at

the carcass of an abandoned ship rotting at water’s edge. There were three of us on beach duty that night: myself, my wife, Paulette Douglas, and Jane Marriott from Devon, England — who, like us, had just arrived. A chatty local carpenter who wanted to assist the volunteer effort brought firewood, turning the embers into a roaring bonfire. We sat on discarded life vests and remnants of plastic floorboards, counting the streaks of shooting stars.

At approximately 3:00 a.m., our waiting and watching was interrupted by a searchlight from an unseen Greek Coast Guard ship shining into a cove east of us.

Our view was blocked by the jagged shoreline, but Jane had a hunch and quickly hiked up the bluff to check it out. Minutes later, Paulette’s phone rang. A breathless Jane told her, “It’s a boat and people are jumping into the water. Call for help.”

As I sprinted to catch up with Jane, Paulette phoned a young volunteer from the Netherlands, starting a response team phone chain.

In the few minutes it took me to reach the cove, volunteers seemed to materialize from nowhere: doctors from France, lifeguards from Sweden, transportation coordinators from Germany. Ten yards off the rocks, a two-story wooden boat was listing. Approximately 150 soaking-wet people — each carrying no more than a backpack or plastic bag — were making their way up the steep embankment.

Babies huddled in their mother’s arms, elderly people stopped often to catch their breath, and a volunteer helped a pregnant woman into the arms of a doctor.

Paulette led the new arrivals to our campfire, where we wrapped them in emergency blankets and distributed dry socks and water bottles. We masked the anxiety and stress of responsibility we felt with welcoming smiles and feigned self-confidence. A sense of gratitude and relief filled the cold night air as the families and young men were shuttled to a transit center. A tearful Jane intensely hugged a crying young woman whom she’d helped — both afraid to let go.

The three of us were completely humbled and devastated by what we were witnessing. With the beach again deserted but now littered with wet clothes and empty water bottles, we silently awaited sunrise and the next volunteer team.

Since last summer, many similarly dramatic scenes have played out on the Eastern Aegean islands of Greece. More than a million refugees from the Middle East (most from Syria) have arrived in Europe since last year; more than 500,000 have passed through Lesvos. Greece is not their destination; it is an

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scene: Spring 2016

entry point into the European Union, where they hope they will be offered a safe haven. Each day, anywhere from 1,000 to 6,000 desperate people flee the horrors of their homelands, making the dangerous crossing to Lesvos. At the mercy of gun-toting Turkish smugglers, they pay approximately $1,500 per person to pile into barely seaworthy vessels. Motors give out, and many boats capsize or sink because of the weather, waves, or overcrowding. More than 1,000 refugees — many of them children — have died during these 6- to 10-mile crossings from Turkey.

Paulette and I were inspired by heart-wrenching stories posted on Facebook by a friend’s daughter who was volunteering on Lesvos, and decided to join the effort for two weeks in early December 2015. (Social media is the chief form of communication behind this worldwide volunteer movement.) We arrived carrying two 25-pound bags of medical supplies donated by the Afya Foundation in Yonkers, in addition to our luggage stuffed with dozens of hats, gloves, warm socks, and blankets we had bought.

Our first full day on the island, we joined a group on a beach cleanup, hauling debris off the rocks and shoreline. We collected discarded life vests and boat wreckage. Our hearts broke as we retrieved the soaked remnants of a child’s stuffed animal. That evening, we attended a brief course by Doctors Without Borders about how to help those suffering from hypothermia. The following night would become our first encounter with a refugee boat.

After that powerful night on Eftalou Beach, we joined the independent Starfish Foundation and spent the next 10 days working different shifts (many of them through the night), sorting clothes, making hundreds of sandwiches, greeting refugees. We worked in the makeshift transit center, where refugees received temporary shelter before being bused to registration centers run by the Greek authorities. We distributed food, clothing, blankets, hygiene products, and diapers, and coordinated loading people onto buses.

It is difficult to describe the emotional weight I felt when looking into the pleading eyes of a mother while trying to quickly provide dry clothes for her children. Of those we assisted, very few spoke English and there were few Farsi or Arabic translators on hand, but the refugees all understood that we were saying “welcome” and in return offered a smile that said “thank you.”

The second week, we worked outside a registration camp at Moria, a former prison that’s surrounded by fences, barbed wire, and Greek soldiers. There, the refugees wait for processing by the Greek authorities, which can take up to six days before they are allowed to purchase a ticket and board a ferry to Athens.

There was some housing within the camp for Syrian families, but everyone else had to spend the cold nights outside in an old olive grove, which came to be called Afghan Hill. Volunteers set up hot-food and chai tea tents, clothing distribution, a medical area, and a children’s art center. I distributed clothes while Paulette worked in the children’s art tent. A Dutch organization supplied small tents as shelter for the Syrian, Iraqi, Afghani, Pakistani, and Iranian refugees, but there were barely enough for all. The evenings were dark, lighted only by small fires made from whatever could be scavenged. We could see the trauma and worry on the refugees’ faces, so we focused on offering a helping hand and any physical comforts we could provide. A number were struggling, having survived while witnessing family members or others drown on the treacherous crossing.

It is both tragic and frustrating that there is no plan from the United Nations or the European Union for how to aid these desperate people who have risked everything in search of safety for their families. But we were inspired by the volunteers from around the world who put their lives on hold in order to help. Some may Woody Freiman ’77, P’13 question, given the and his wife, Paulette politically compliDouglas, spent two cated and overweeks in December whelming situation, aiding refugees arriving whether individual in Lesvos, Greece. Freiefforts actually acman is vice president complish anything. of production and proI believe the answer gramming for the YES is clear, and I ask: Network.

How could we not do something?

More than 4,000 people bought tickets for The Doors show in Starr Rink, part of the Fortnight of Active

8 Grateful Dead Nov. 4, 1977

4 The Doors March 15, 1968

13 chart-toppers

The Grateful Dead came “Truckin'“ into Hamilton to perform for a standing-room-only crowd of 3,000 in Cotterell Court. It was the smallest show the Dead had played in years, which is why that performance is reputedly one of the best.

From jazz to punk rock, Huntington Gym to Starr Rink, Colgate has hosted a surprising number of legendary musicians. Aretha Franklin’s recent concert inspired us to take a look back.

April 23, 1993

11 Phish

— Jessica Rice ’16 Credit for archive images: Special Collections and University Archives

Arts. Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys opened. The Doors had to perform the first two songs without vocals because Jim Morrison’s mic experienced technical issues, but he was eventually able to sing crowd favorites like “Love Me Two Times” and “Light My Fire.”

“Everyone... could relate to his music and the feeling of love it carried with it.”

World-famed contralto Marian Anderson performed in the chapel for a capacity crowd, belting out “Ave Maria” (in German) and spirituals. One freshman told the Colgate Maroon: “Wow, what a singer. That gal was really in the groove.”

5 Fleetwood Mac Colgate welcomed Fleetwood Mac and jazz-fusion group Return to Forever with Chick Corea for the homecoming concert. The gym was crowded but not filled — “many people complained that the ticket price at $4 was too high,” the Colgate News reported.

April 9, 1976

6 Bruce Springsteen

Stopping at Colgate between concerts in Toronto and New York City, Louis Armstrong and his trumpet, backed by a six-piece band, wowed the audience 7 Billy Joel in Huntington Gym. Piano Man Billy Joel appeared in Cotterell Court with opening act Deadly Nightshade, an all-female group.

Oct. 15, 1976

Dec. 8, 1956

3 Louis Armstrong

When students returned from spring break, they learned that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were coming from Asbury Park for a surprise concert. With a $15,000 booking fee, Springsteen marked the largest amount Colgate had paid for a performer to date.

Swedish house producer and deejay Avicii played remixes of David Guetta’s “Titanium,” along with his own hits like “Fade into Darkness” and “Levels,” for this Spring Party Weekend.

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10 The Clash April 27, 1984

“Wow, what a singer.”

Oct. 24, 1975

Oct. 22, 1942

2 Marian Anderson

12 Avicii April 20, 2012

Orchestra leader Duke Ellington was joined by vocalists Ivie Anderson and Herbie Jeffrey in Memorial Chapel.

They opened with “The Sergeant Was Shy,” followed by 21 other songs including “Boy Meets Horn,” “Harlem Airshaft,” and “Concerto for Cootie.”

The band was thereafter made welcome at the Colgate Inn, which was unusual for a pre-war white community in America.

After R&B artist Betty Wright and her band opened the show, Bob Marley and the Wailers took the stage. “Everyone … could relate to his music and the feeling of love it carried with it,” John Grady ’82 wrote in the Maroon. In the encore, they played “No Woman, No Cry” and a rendition of “Jammin’ ” before closing with “Get Up, Stand Up!”

March 5, 2016

Dec. 12, 1940

1 Duke Ellington

Oct. 31, 1979

9 Bob Marley and the Wailers

During Spring Party Weekend, Phish entertained students with “Sparkle,” “Fluffhead,” and “Divided Sky” in Cotterell Court. Drummer Jon Fishman brought his mom, Mimi, on stage to play the vacuum cleaner. During the second set, the band paraded around the stage with signs that read, “We Win in Our Gym” and “We Play Hard,” presumably left behind from a game.

Sporting a strawberry-blond mohawk, lead singer Joe Strummer whispered to the crowd: “Go straight to hell, boys.” The Maroon reported on the crowd’s mixed reaction to the British punk rockers: “There were those in the front — dancing, slamming, singing along. There were those in the back who just did not understand what was happening.

There were people dancing with their hands over their ears.”

“There were people dancing with their hands over their ears.”

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When the tour bus stopped in town:

Aretha Franklin See pg. 16.

13 Page 13 is the showplace

for Colgate tradition, history, and school spirit.

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life of the mind

The Beckman Scholars Program will provide research funding for chemistry and biology students.

Advancing science research

Colgate has been named as a Beckman Scholars Program institutional award recipient for 2016. The grant, totaling $104,000, will provide multiyear research funding for students majoring in biology or chemistry.

Colgate joins a distinguished list of universities that received the award from the Irvine, Calif.–based Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation.

The award “offers our top students unparalleled opportunities to engage in extended scholarship,” Damhnait McHugh, director of the division of natural sciences and mathematics, said.

To be considered for the Beckman Scholars Program at Colgate, biology and chemistry students will be required to undergo a rigorous application process in consultation with one of 13 faculty mentors. A steering committee will name one or two Beckman Scholars each year.

Beckman Scholars will receive stipend support for research, travel, and supplies during 18 months of independent research, and will present findings from their research both on campus and at national and international conferences. They will submit articles for publication by peer-reviewed journals and use their explorations as a springboard to graduate programs.

of the Ciccone Commons to discuss their findings.

The Ciccone Commons — the first of four residential commons to be launched at Colgate — hosts programming that provides an enriching living and learning environment where students can thrive.

As part of their project, group members Gabby Yates ’19, Charlie Rodiger ’19, Liam Emmart ’19, and Chris Munoz ’19 designed a presentation, titled “Netflix and Will,” to address procrastination and the distracting powers of various types of media, including the popular entertainment provider Netflix.

They argued that willpower is like a muscle — the more you put it to use, the stronger it gets. Their contention is that Netflix and other websites manipulate users into spending more time with their services by prompting the viewer to watch one more episode or refresh a newsfeed one more time.

While it’s important to stay focused on coursework instead of giving in to the many distractions that the Internet offers, allowing for 10-minute breaks every hour or so while studying can renew focus and prevent long periods of procrastination, the group found. Keeping that goal in mind and learning to say “no” to distractions helps to train one’s willpower, effectively making it easier to stay motivated in the future.

The group also discussed tips such as removing oneself from an enticing distraction, sleeping and eating properly, and giving yourself rewards.

A movie screening, complete with snacks and good company, followed the presentation as a well-deserved

Syllabus POSC 390: Silent Warfare: Intelligence Analysis and Statecraft Danielle Lupton, Assistant Professor of Political Science MW 1:20–2:35, Persson 133 Course Description: This course introduces students to the complex and crucial process of obtaining, analyzing, and producing intelligence in the making of American foreign policy. We cover subjects including problems with the structure of the intelligence community, covert action, psychological and bureaucratic constraints on analysts and policy makers, and how the intelligence community has responded to key threats. This course also explores the ethical issues raised by intelligence gathering, such as the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, the role of whistleblowers, and accountability of the intelligence community.

Key assignments: Analysis of an intelligence agency: Students identify challenges facing an agency and provide solutions. Active learning: Students conduct research on themselves based on publicly available data and write a report regarding the ethics of open-source intelligence based on their findings. Final paper: in-depth investigation into a major intelligence failure, its causes, and ways to prevent such failures in the future.

Stress, sleep deprivation, and constant pressure can be a drain on even the most hardworking college student’s motivation. Last November, members of the first-year seminar (FSEM) Willpower: The Science of Self-Control, studied ways in which students can manage their workload by finding ways to motivate themselves. Then, they gave a presentation to members

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scene: Spring 2016

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The power of will

The professor says: “Students will gain a deeper understanding of the interworkings of foreign policy. We engage with critical issues that affect not only policy makers, but also each of us as individuals, such as the use of drones to combat terrorism, the rise of increased domestic surveillance, and the ethics of enhanced interrogation techniques.

“We focus on dissecting problems facing the intelligence community as well as providing solutions to those problems.

Using this approach, students can apply the skills developed through discussions and written work to any area of analysis in the future.”

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Professor Ellen Percy Kraly was honored by Curtin University in Western Australia for returning Noongar aboriginal artworks — including this painting (Hunting, Reynold Hart) — to their homeland.

Achievements and accolades

Through continued scholarship, Colgate professors keep at the top of their fields. Within the past year, numerous faculty members have been recognized for their achievements. Here are some recent highlights: • Ellen Percy Kraly (geography, environmental studies) received an honorary doctorate from Curtin University in Perth, Australia, in recognition of her work returning Noongar aboriginal art to Australia. In February, she addressed graduates of the university’s School of Media, Culture, and Creative arts; School of Art and Design; and Centre for Aboriginal Studies.

• Michael Hay (computer science) was awarded a $500,000 data security contract. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awards program challenges people to develop systems that will facilitate data analysis while preserving individual privacy. Hay and his team of student researchers will help in designing the system architecture, coding a prototype, and collaborating with other project teams to integrate that prototype into a larger system.

• Margaret Maurer (English) received the 2015 Textual Cultures prize for her essay “The Text of Goodf and John Donne’s Itinerary in April 1613.”

The award is given to the best article published in the Society of Textual

Scholarship’s journal, Textual Cultures.

• Alice Nakhimovsky (Jewish studies, Russian and Eurasian studies) was given the National Jewish Book Award for Dear Mendyl, Dear Reyzl: Yiddish Letter Manuals from Russia and America. The award was in the category of Anthologies and Collections.

• Heather Roller (history) received the 2015 Howard Cline Memorial Prize for her book Amazonian Routes: Indigenous Mobility and Colonial Communities in Northern Brazil. The award is given for the book or article judged to be the most significant contribution to the history of indigenous people in Latin America.

– Emma Loftus ’16

Remembering Helen Sperling

Holocaust survivor and educator Helen Kacenelenbogen Sperling died on December 3 in New Hartford, N.Y., at

Tim Sofranko

break and a demonstration of the power of a good reward.

— Kim Ravold ’19

Live and learn: SophoMORE Connections

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the age of 95. Many in the Colgate and Hamilton communities knew Sperling from her numerous speaking visits on campus over the past decades.

Sperling was born in Otwock, Poland, outside of Warsaw. She and her family were arrested by the Nazis in 1939, and after time in the Warsaw ghetto, she was sent to Nazi concentration camps. After she was liberated by the U.S. Army in 1945, she spent three years as a hospital patient in Munich before she emigrated to the United States. In 1952, she married Leon Sperling, also a Holocaust survivor, and in 1956 they moved to New Hartford, where they raised their children.

In 1967, Sperling began to lecture publicly about her Holocaust experience. In the mid-1970s she became close friends with Terrence Des Pres, an English professor at Colgate and author of The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps. Shortly thereafter, Sperling began her 40 years of speaking at Colgate. Her testimony became part of various courses in the departments of philosophy and religion, peace and conflict studies, and English.

In 2000, Sperling was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to a standing ovation from the graduating class. So deeply affected were students and faculty by her survivor story that some of them planted lilacs (her father’s favorite flower) in memory of her family at the Saperstein Center for Jewish studies.

A gifted teacher and storyteller, Sperling was a remarkable person whose life-affirming spirit defined her public work. Her friends estimate that she spoke to more than 200,000 students in her life — to schools, colleges, churches, and even police academies.

When she spoke at Colgate, Sperling insisted that we must continue to bear witness to the great capacity of humans to do evil. But at the same time, she implored us to recognize the deep human resources for human dignity and goodness. The final message of her talks was that one must act in the world for the sake of any people in peril. Sperling’s last talk to any audience was at Colgate, this past October 15. As usual, students lined up to give her a hug and thank her at the end of her address.

— Professors Peter Balakian and Steven Kepnes; a formal obituary is in this issue’s In Memoriam section

Keynote speaker Sian-Pierre Regis ’06 The sophomore class experienced one of the many amazing opportunities Colgate offers students when it comes to figuring out what the heck we are going to do after graduation. During the January SophoMORE Connections, a weekend to remember, many alumni traveled back to campus to help bring us closer to deciding a career path.

My classmates and I were unsure of what to expect. We anxiously talked about the pantsuits that our moms made us buy and if we actually had to wear them — as well as how nervous we were to confront what everyone has been talking about these days: “networking.” This new and uncharted territory was daunting. However, the weekend turned out to be one of the most positive experiences of our college careers thus far. Not only did we realize that we could forgo that dreadful pantsuit, but also that the weekend was going to be much more comfortable than we had imagined.

The alumni were approachable and excited to assist us through this intimidating process, and they helped make the sessions something that we wanted to attend — and enjoyed. Topics ranging from business and consulting to art and sustainability were talked about in panels, allowing students to explore different interests.

The keynote speaker, Sian-Pierre Regis ’06 (Swagger founder and pop-culture/ social contributor to CNN/HLN), talked about a gut feeling that he encouraged us to look for when choosing a career. What I took away from this weekend was to do what you love. I learned that failure is not only OK, but also necessary to succeed.

If all goes well, hopefully I will be the one talking to Colgate students in the future, motivating them to find their passion just as alumni did for me.

— Meghan Sadera ’18; a longer version was first published on Hercampus.com

News and views for the Colgate community

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Andrew Daddio

More than 1,000 alumni and parents came to campus for performing arts weekend.

scene: Spring 2016

Queen of Soul highlights performing arts weekend

Under the glow of disco ball lights twinkling on the ceiling, many people didn’t stay in their seats when Aretha Franklin took to the stage in Sanford Field House on March 5. Franklin and her orchestra pulled in a crowd of more than 4,100 for a special weekend celebrating the performing arts at Colgate.

The Colgate Chamber Singers, backed up by a student and faculty band, warmed up the crowd with lively renditions of Motown, Stevie Wonder, and Jackson Five tunes.

Then, when Franklin opened with her 1987 hit (with George Michael) “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me,” both longtime fans and new ones were on their feet, bopping at their seats or dancing in the aisles. During the performance, Franklin delivered

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arts & culture 16

Capturing life

favorites from throughout her career, like “Think” and “Freeway of Love.”

She also belted out covers from her new album, Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, including “Rolling in the Deep” (Adele), “People” (Barbra Streisand), and a tribute to Natalie Cole with “Inseparable.” And when it came to her signature tune, the Queen of Soul didn’t disappoint, pulling out “Respect” as her encore.

More than 1,000 alumni and parents came to campus to steep themselves in the weekend of performing arts. Events included University Theater’s production of Erin Courtney’s A Map of Virtue; a dance performance featuring student groups; a lecture/demonstration on jazz by saxophonist Glenn Cashman and friends; and a Colgate Chamber Players recital featuring works by Mozart, Moszkowski, and more.

From family moments to campus life to selfies, student photography filled a spring-semester exhibition called Captured by the Lens.

The exhibition was the culminating work of 12 students in the fall course Photography: Anthropology and Archaeology, taught by Nick Shepherd, the A. Lindsay O’Connor Professor of American institutions.

Shepherd based the idea on his book, The Mirror in the Ground: Archaeology, Photography, and the Making of a Disciplinary Archive, which dealt with “archival photographs of archaeologists at work in Africa, from the 1920s to the 1950s,” he explained.

“I saw this as a great opportunity to pick up on some of the themes and ideas from the book, in a classroom setting,” Shepherd said.

Addressing themes of objectification, humanization, selfstylization, and even selfie culture, the exhibition explored “how people capture one another through the medium of photography,” said Sarah Horowitz, curatorial assistant at the Picker Art Gallery and Longyear Museum of Anthropology. “In many ways, the work is a social commentary on the students’ reactions to their everyday world, and how that relates to their lives as students.”

Shepherd explained: “I wanted students not only to be reading and thinking about these issues, but also practicing and thinking about what it means to take photographs and curate them in a public exhibition.”

Some projects tackled current events at Colgate. A number of students “looked at selfies as an emergent genre of images, and at the role that social media and selfie

culture play in student life,” Shepherd said. “Others worked in quite an inward way from the basis of their own experiences, or experiences of people close to them.”

Madison Bailey ’18 explained that one of her photographs — with the working title Flathands (pictured) — shows her dad’s hands and an injury that he sustained while working in an aerospace machinery factory when he was younger. “I owe everything to my dad for allowing me to show the world an imperfection that he deals with and transforming it into a celebration of the unique,” Bailey said.

The exhibition was on display at the Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Creative Arts House, and the Thought Into Action Entrepreneurship Institute.

— Jessica Rice ’16

“Kentridge’s work is full of nuances, metaphors, and figures that make the viewer question what they actually know about the object they are looking at.”

— Natalie Ramirez ’19

Ref 2, 2012. William Kentridge. Linocut printed on non-archival pages from The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Image courtesy of Gund Gallery, Kenyon College, and David Krut Projects, Johannesburg/New York.

Out of the ordinary

Renowned South African artist William Kentridge reflects on a lifetime of work and reimagines elements of everyday life in the exhibition Universal Archive, on display at the Picker Art Gallery until May 15.

More than 75 of Kentridge’s linocut prints are featured in the exhibition, depicting images of coffee makers, trees, birds, and typewriters, most of which are printed on pages of the Oxford English Dictionary. The prints are based on an earlier set of ink drawings that he produced.

“It’s Kentridge reflecting upon his overall body of work, and certain subject matters that are reoccurring throughout,” explained Sarah Horowitz, curatorial assistant.

“He’s trying to document what we think are these ordinary objects, and how they are part of our overall understanding or knowledge of the world.”

The traveling exhibition from the Gund Gallery at Kenyon College was adapted for its time at the Picker.

Two sculptures, titled Nose II (Walking), were brought to the gallery on loan from the collections of Anne M.

Huntington ’07 and Ahmar and Noreen Ahmad.

In preparation for the exhibition, Daniel Serrano ’16 conducted extensive research on Kentridge’s work. He did much of that research with Jessie Cohen, a scholar from the David Krut Workshop in Johannesburg, where the Universal Archive print series was produced.

Then, Serrano considered different elements to add to the show. Serrano and Cohen worked with the workshop to obtain two rare documentary films on view and photographs of Kentridge creating some of the pieces on display in his studio in Johannesburg.

“It was interesting to decide which piece of video art would work best to show Kentridge’s abilities with a different medium, but would also flow seamlessly with the print materials being exhibited,” said Serrano.

In addition, Natalie Ramirez ’19 and Serrano gave tours of the exhibition during the opening, and wrote labels for a few of Kentridge’s pieces on display from their extended research on his work with Cohen. They also helped create a docent program for the exhibition.

“Kentridge’s work is full of nuances, metaphors, and figures that make the viewer question what they actually know about the object they are looking at,” Ramirez said. “Especially with this exhibit, each print seems like a still in a film, allowing viewers to narrate their own story.”

— Jessica Rice ’16

VACANCY in CNY

Collaboration is at the heart of the artistic works of Chris Adler ’11 and Ali Edmark ’12. The Los Angeles–based couple, who co-direct and curate their gallery, VACANCY, visited central New York this winter to connect with local artists.

They were offered a joint opportunity at Colgate and at Utica’s Sculpture Space, by Professor DeWitt Godfrey and his wife, Monika Burczyk, respectively.

Sculpture Space hosts between 18 and 20 artists in residence annually, providing a supportive environment for experimentation and creation. Burczyk, the director, is trying out a program that would bring back alumni artists from area colleges for a joint residency program with their alma maters and Sculpture Space.

While at Sculpture Space, Adler and Edmark curated the exhibition Soft Remove at a graduate student–run space at Syracuse University called Random Access. The pair fabricated all work on site by using instructions sent in from artists around the world.

In addition to running VACANCY, Adler and Edmark work as an artistic pair, combining digital media with everyday objects to form expansive installations. They used part of their time at Sculpture Space to explore a new body of photo-based sculptures made from folded largeformat prints.

Meanwhile, at Colgate, Adler and Edmark advised senior art majors on their final projects — something close to their hearts, because they both created their own projects within the last five years. The seniors, who were approximately two months from installing their projects when they met with the artists, each presented what they were working on.

“Visiting at a pivotal moment in the project, it was fun for us to talk to them about things that hadn’t quite come together yet, helping to form the discourse around the work,” Edmark said.

In addition, the duo gave real-world advice to the students. “We tried to pass along a Colgate perspective,” Adler said. “Like what to expect when you’re transitioning from a small undergrad experience, and how to navigate that when moving out into the wider spheres of art practice.”

In all, the couple met with eight senior studio art majors, who had all been assigned spaces at the Paul J. Schupf Studio Arts Center.

“It was really cool to talk with artists who have graduated from Colgate and to see where their paths have taken them,” said Sara Hinton ’16. “Ali and Chris were so helpful in discussing our projects, because they completely understood the struggle. Chris explained that a lot of what he is working on now relates to themes he explored in his senior project at Colgate.”

— Emma Loftus ’16

News and views for the Colgate community

17

Bob Cornell

go ’gate Much to onlookers’ amusement, Coach Don Vaughan kissed the ice after his team’s last game in Starr Rink.

Sunset for Starr Rink

The time has come to bid farewell to an old friend. After 56 seasons, more than 1,000 games, and countless memories, Starr Rink served as home of Colgate hockey for one last weekend at the end of February.

Women’s ice hockey had the last game in the rink, beating Harvard with a thrilling overtime victory (3–2) in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals. At press time, the team was advancing to the ECAC tournament semifinals for the second time in program history.

They’d also broken their all-time win record (22 and counting).

The men’s team also reigned victorious in its last two games in Starr Rink, beating RPI (2–0) and Union (2–1). At press time, the team was heading into the ECAC tournament.

In addition, that weekend the men’s hockey program and the Silver Puck Club honored Murray Decock ’80 with the Silver Puck Award. Decock has been closely associated with men’s ice hockey for nearly 40 years, ever since his arrival on campus as a

Spotlighting the Spink twins

A longer version of this article, originally titled “Canada’s Spink twins ruling NCAA ice for the Colgate University Raiders” (by David Shoalts), was first published in the Globe and Mail (Toronto). At press time, fans were still voting for the Hobey Baker Award winner.

Bob Cornell

Members of the 1959 hockey team, who played the first game in Starr Rink, were invited back as special guests for the final two games in the rink. Attending were (L to R): Dave Eldon ’60, Joe Wignot ’60, Dick Scott ’62, Clint Rappole ’62, Terry Connolly ’62, and Joe Hine ’61.

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first-year in the fall of 1976.

A four-year member of the program, Decock appeared in 115 games for the Raiders, compiling 91 points on 40 goals and 51 assists. His best season came during his junior campaign of 1978–79 when he tallied 33 points (16g, 17a) in 28 games.

Decock went on to become instrumental as a Colgate professional in engaging alumni and parents to support institutional priorities, including the planning and construction of the the Class of 1965 Arena. After serving as vice president for institutional advancement from 2002–2015, he was promoted to senior vice president for external relations, advancement, and initiatives in July.

“Murray has a passion for Colgate that is second to none,” said Colgate Men’s Hockey Head Coach Don Vaughan. “His hard work and commitment have allowed not only the men’s hockey program, but also the entire Colgate community, to thrive and prosper.”

Starr Rink’s successor, the Class of 1965 Arena, will formally open its doors in October, for the start of the 2016–17 season.

For all of their 23 years, Tyson ’16 and Tylor ’16 Spink have been a package deal. So you can’t blame them for thinking perhaps that should apply to the Hobey Baker Award as well. The identical twin brothers from the small Eastern Ontario [Canada] town of Williamstown rank one-two in points for the Raiders. Tyson is the leader with 37 points in 37 games, three better than his linemate Tylor, and it was his name that was included in the first round of 66 nominees for the Hobey Baker, which goes to the season’s best NCAA men’s player.

“I do feel a little bit guilty because I’ve played with Tylor so long my success is a credit to him as well,” Tyson said. Actually, Tylor said, he’s good with it for the same reason. “Obviously I’d like to be nominated as well, but I feel like we’re the same people,” Tylor said. “If he gets nominated, I’m kind of getting nominated at the same time.”

The Spink brothers have been on the same line since they began playing organized hockey when they were 4. There was only one brief stretch when they were separated. Nineteen years later, neither player needs to look where the other one is on the ice — they just know. “There was one year in peewee when our coaches split us up for half a year,” Tylor, the more talkative of the pair, said. “It was kind of a rough year for the team and I think the coaches wanted to change things up. It didn’t do any good. Our success comes from being familiar with playing with one another. It’s our advantage.” The brothers also

study together. They are both education majors.

The only big difference between them is that Tyson, a center, shoots left while Tylor is a right-hand shot on the right wing. “Mirror-image twins,” Tyson once told an interviewer.

The brothers went into junior hockey together, playing for four seasons in Junior A with the Cornwall Colts of the Central Canada Hockey League before landing in 2012 at Colgate. It was their friendship with Colorado Avalanche player Jesse Winchester ’08, who also grew up in the Cornwall area, that brought them to Colgate.

The Spinks met Winchester, who

Raiders’ PL Honor Roll 100

Colgate placed an even 100 studentathletes from seven sports on the 2015 Patriot League Fall Academic Honor Roll for strong performances in the classroom — more than a 17 percent increase over the fall 2014 total, and more than 40 percent above 2013’s.

Football led the way (23 recipients), followed closely by women’s soccer (20), men’s soccer (14), and field hockey (13). To be eligible for the Academic Honor Roll, a student-athlete must earn a 3.20 grade point average in the fall semester and participate in one of the Patriot League’s seven fall championship sports.

Julia Barcello ’18 (#33) and the Raiders beat Lehigh (82–72) on March 2, vaulting the women’s basketball team into the Patriot League Tournament first-round home game. They won that game over Lafayette, but fell in the quarterfinals to top-seeded Army West Point.

Bob Cornell

Tillotson’s shot goes viral

For Austin Tillotson ’16 and the rest of the men’s basketball team, Senior Day had a storybook ending that even many in the crowd couldn’t believe.

For those who weren’t there on February 21, luckily, there is video.

It was a critical Patriot League game, and Loyola’s Andre Walker had tied the score at 90–90 by hitting a contested 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds left in overtime. When Tillotson received the ensuing inbound pass, he

took two dribbles and heaved the ball from half-court. Nothing but net.

The winning play garnered national publicity, beating out the best finish in Daytona 500 history as the No. 1 play on ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 and going viral online.

Bob Cornell

Jonathan Beach

Tylor ’16 (left) and Tyson ’16 Spink

started his NHL career with the Ottawa Senators, about 10 years ago, when they all worked with the same fitness trainer in Cornwall.

Winchester spent a lot of time talking up his school.

“He’s been a huge mentor,” Tyson said. “He showed us the ropes, convinced us to come to Colgate. He put in a good word for us. I’m glad I took his advice.”

The Hobey Baker nomination is the first major individual recognition Tyson has received. Both he and Tylor are considered undersized for the NHL at 5 foot 10 and 185 pounds each and neither was drafted when they became eligible.

They are both still hoping to play professionally, and when the NCAA season is over, they will be free agents.

They attended the Detroit Red Wings development camp in 2014 and have drawn some interest from other NHL teams.

True to form, the brothers are hoping to stick together in professional hockey. “Hopefully whoever offers a contract, they’ll want both of us,” Tylor said. “I think teams can benefit from both of us rather than trying to separate us.”

“Sometimes it’s just your day,” Head Coach Matt Langel said of Tillotson’s heroic shot. “I couldn’t be more proud of Austin… [There’s no one] more deserving to make a desperation shot like that to win the game.”

This was Colgate’s second Sports Center Top 10 play this season. On December 5, tight end John Quazza ’16 made an unbelievable touchdown catch in the NCAA Division I Football playoffs against No. 5-seeded James Madison.

Football breaks top 20 in polls

After its second-best postseason run in history last fall, Colgate football landed inside the final top 20 in both major national polls. The 2015 FCS Coaches Poll boosted Colgate to 13th, and the STATS FCS Poll put the Raiders 17th.

“This team showed it can play at a very high level, and we beat some very good teams during our run at the end,” Head Coach Dan Hunt said.

It was a remarkable year for the team. Patriot League championship.

Perfect league record. Six conference wins for the first time in 12 years.

NCAA playoff berth. Two road playoff victories for just the second time in Colgate and Patriot League history.

Nine overall wins for just the ninth time in program history.

“You returned Colgate football to national prominence,” Hunt told the team.

Hunt was named Patriot League and ECAC Coach of the Year, and 12 Raiders were named to either the AllPatriot League first or second teams.

“I am very happy for our players,” Hunt said. “They deserve the recognition.”

News and views for the Colgate community

19

Information is provided by publishers, authors, and artists.

Finding Forever: a Deadline Diaries Exclusive Ken Baker ’92 (Running Press Teens)

Our International Education: Stories of Living, Teaching, and Parenting Abroad

Monica Berrien ’90 Housen, co-author (Sense Publishers) In 2011, three women — a high school math teacher (Housen), a university professor, and an English teacher — accepted one-year Fulbright grants to teach in Hungary. Accompanied by their families, they enrolled their children in local elementary schools, although none of them spoke Hungarian. In this account of their intrepid overseas adventure, the co-authors weave together the deeply personal and professional dimensions of life

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scene: Spring 2016

between pineclad ridges, the valley is home to a small band of Abenaki. The settlers and Native Americans trade with each other and live in peace until a love affair blossoms between a young Abenaki and the daughter of a village elder. A crime reverberates down the generations, leading Everett Scudder and his daughter, Roseanne, to struggle for the dignity of all people. (For more on author Geoffrey Craig, see pg. 54.)

Urbanization and Religion in Ancient Central Mexico

A Fateful Reunion

David M. Carballo ’95 (Oxford University Press)

This book examines the ways in which urbanization and religion intersected in pre-Columbian central Mexico, with a focus on the later Formative period and the transition to the Classic period.

The major societal transformations of this interval occurred approximately 2,000 years ago and more than a millennium before Mexico’s best-known early civilization. Carballo presents a synthesis of data from archaeological projects and key sites such as Teotihuacan and Cuicuilco, while relying on his own excavations at the site of La Laguna. Cities and states developed hand in hand with elements of a religious tradition of remarkable endurance, and these processes were fundamentally entangled. The book provides a history of religion, with the temporal depth that archaeology can provide, and an archaeology of cities that considers religion seriously as a generative force in societal change.

Scudder’s Gorge Geoffrey Craig ’65 (Prolific Press)

Scudder’s Gorge shines a harsh light on what man is capable of doing to his fellow man, beginning with the day of “the bomb” in Hiroshima and then moving backwards in time to an 18th-century Vermont village founded by post-Revolutionary settlers. Nestled

Allen Foster ’76 (Green Ivy Publishing) This murder mystery, centered on fictional superstar rock group The Upper Hand, weaves classic rock history into its narrative. The legendary quintet disbanded in the wake of their famed guitarist Jeff Britton’s heroin-induced abandonment of the group. After a 14-year hiatus, band members miraculously orchestrate an end to the estrangement between Jeff and fellow guitarist Mark Donahue, clearing the path for a triumphant return to glory. When troublesome Denise Blake, the woman blamed for Jeff’s heroin addiction, suddenly reappears, Jeff is drawn back into the destructive lifestyle that left him, and the band, in ruins. Jeff’s reconnection with Denise infuriates the band, leading to confrontation, violent clashes … and murder. As detectives scramble to identify the killer, stunning secrets are uncovered about the victim, broadening the list of possible suspects. allen foster

Brooklyn Brant is a teenager with the instincts of a journalist and the mind of a detective. She runs a blog called Deadline Diaries, featuring the clickbait hookups, break-ups, and screw-ups of the Hollywood glitterati. Dying to have her big break, she has yet to nab the one juicy scoop that will establish her as the ultimate insider. In this first book of a series, Brooklyn has been called upon to locate America’s sweetheart, Taylor Prince, when the 16-year-old actress disappears. Taylor’s assistant asks Brooklyn to locate the missing starlet under the radar and on a tight deadline. She will need both her sleuthing and journalistic skills to solve the mystery and get the story of a lifetime. Written by Ken Baker, E! News correspondent, this suspenseful, dual-narrative thriller alternates between the perspectives of Brooklyn and Taylor. Baker uses his in-depth experience with celebrity journalism and behind-the-scenes truths to explore the ugly underbelly of Hollywood’s obsession with finding the ever-elusive fountain of youth.

abroad. Their stories illuminate not only the realities of negotiating work, school, and family life in another country, but also the complexities of cultural adjustment and second-language acquisition. While the United States laments current educational reform, this first-person narrative offers a refreshing look at an alternative means of encouraging children’s resilience and a global perspective.

a fateful reunion

new, noted , & quoted

Books, music & film

Tribal Justice: Twenty-five Years as a Tribal Appellate Justice Frank Pommersheim ’65 (Carolina Academic Press)

Tribal Justice provides an in-depth review and survey of tribal appellate court jurisprudence. The topics covered include enrollment and disenrollment, civil rights, elections and political participation, criminal law and procedure, rights of juveniles, tribal constitutions, and traditions

In the media and customs. The book focuses on the procedure and substance of tribal court appellate decision making as revealed in the text of actual court opinions.

The decisions and accompanying notes are further amplified by the development of a model of tribal court jurisprudence and a discussion of various theories of tribal court judging.

Noble Chase

Michael Rudolph ’58 (Penguin Random House) Lawyer Beth Swahn makes a rookie mistake: believing her client. Basking in the glory of winning a $100-million judgment for a U.S. division of C.K. Leung, Beth realizes that because of her naïveté, Leonard Sloane, division president, has absconded to the Caribbean with his girlfriend and some of the judgment money. Shortly thereafter, they are both presumed dead following a report of their yacht sinking.

Determined to save her firm from bankruptcy, Beth investigates a maze of money laundering and white-collar corruption. When the trail leads her to Sloane’s son, she is torn between her attraction to him and her fear that he is involved in the theft. When a missing file that has the power to ignite a geopolitical firestorm comes to light, Leung becomes convinced that Beth is a party to Sloane’s scheme, and her life becomes threatened.

Letters of Love: From A to Z, With Words and Birds for Your Children Amy Saypol Tomkins ’76 (Any Pumpkin Productions, Inc.) A unique alphabet book with words that every child is happy to hear, this is the second book in the Letters of Love series. Illustrated by whimsical bird

photographs, each letter in the alphabet is accompanied by an expression of love to let children know that they are especially cherished. Letters of Love: From A to Z is a gift to tell the special child in your life how much you care — 26 times.

The Global War on Tobacco: Mapping the World’s First Public Health Treaty Heather Wipfli ’98 (Johns Hopkins University Press)

Amid evidence of an emerging pandemic, a committed group of public health professionals and institutions sought to challenge the tobacco industry’s expansion by negotiating a binding international law. The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) — the first collective global response to the causation of avoidable chronic disease — was one of the most quickly ratified treaties in United Nations history. (It was adopted in 2003 and entered into force in 2005.) In The Global War on Tobacco, Heather Wipfli tells the story of the FCTC, revealing how globalization offers anti-tobacco advocates significant cooperative opportunities to share knowledge and address crossborder public health problems. The book seeks to advance understanding of how non-state actors, transnational networks, and international institutionalization can impact global governance for health. Case studies from diverse high-, middle-, and lowincome countries provide real-world examples of the success or failure of tobacco control.

Also of note:

Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Lawrence Hasbrouck ’53 has chronicled his experience as “a Cold War warrior” in his book The Changing Culture of the Missileer. Hasbrouck spent 13 years in Strategic Air Command in both an underground and above-ground environment. The stories in the book are based on what he experienced in the early ’60s in the Minuteman Missile System.

“It’s a very trying time to be Muslim. When I spoke to Muslim students, they said they have not encountered hostility with fellow students … but did ask those of us who are faculty and Muslim to hang out after Friday prayers and talk with them. Students want to feel an affirmed sense of community with faculty members.”

— Aisha Musa, religion and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies professor, in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s article about how Muslim college students felt after the San Bernardino massacre.

“Teachers are great and always there to help you, and my biggest class is 30 people.”

— Anonymous quote about Colgate in “The 50 colleges where students work the hardest,” a Business Insider article on a recent ranking by Niche

“You constantly have to be open to the possibility that you can’t do what you need to do.”

— Catherine Cardelús, associate professor of biology and environmental studies, in Nature’s article about doing research in extreme conditions

“The Iranian people are a resourceful, hardworking, and dependable people, with a culture born out of a long history. The United States would be wise to better understand that history and culture in an effort to improve relations with Iran.”

— Shaw J. Dallal, professor of Arabic studies emeritus, in a New York Times letter to the editor about the article “A Safer World, Thanks to the Iran Pact”

“We are helping New York agriculture as a farm brewery and creating jobs and partnering in academic programs to make our community a better place.”

— Matt Whalen, who is co-owner with Carrie Blackmore ’08 of Hamilton’s Good Nature Brewery, speaking to Syracuse.com

“Being able to play them, at home, [and] having a sellout is just a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

— Basketball player Paige Kriftcher ’16 commented to Syracuse.com about playing the University of Connecticut, the No. 1 team in the country

News and views for the Colgate community

21

“Dear professor” letters, to professors held dear

BY ALETA MAYNE

Yellowed cards, e-mail updates, and social media threads — these communiqués to professors show appreciation from their students over the years.

Beyond a simple “thank you,” the correspondents revealed that their professors oftentimes helped

to make the seemingly impossible possible: think in new ways, finish a thesis, determine a career path.

Through these experiences, they formed a bond; the teachers became mentors and friends.

… Your teaching has taught me how to have dialogues with views other than my own, while also holding my own beliefs close to my heart.

Isaac Kim ’11 wrote to Jenna Reinbold (religion), with whom he took CORE 152: Challenges of Modernity and RELG 255: Church, State, and Law in America

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“We would be so honored to have you there” Date: Sep 18, 2015 To: John Carter (philosophy and religion) From: Shaun Hurley ’07

Dear Professor Carter, I took your Introduction to Religion class in the fall of 2007, and have thought of the class and your words often.

You welcomed us into your home on Halloween night, you brought us along on your hunt for Christmas trees, and most importantly, your “those of us” approach to life inspires me to open-mindedness and empathy to this day.

Incidentally, I also met my fiancée in your class. Her name is Arianne Templeton ’10. We always felt a very strong bond knowing that we had been lucky enough to see a small part of your practice of sharing in faith. Years later, your name still often comes up as we discuss faith-inspired conflicts and misconceptions around the world and in our own experiences.

To that end, I was wondering if you might be willing to join us at our wedding on July 30, 2016, in Brookfield, CT. We would be so honored to have you there, and would consider ourselves fortunate to be in the company of your inspiring philosophy.

— Shaun Hurley

Professor Xan Karn (history) with Jen Spindel ’11

News and views for the Colgate community

23

Date: May 11, 2014, 6:45 PM To: Connie Soja (geology) From: Bethanie Sawyer ’02 Subject: Thank you from an old student for your awesome course on evolution

to send you an eternal thanks for all your help and support over the years. You have been such an inspiration and I owe you so much! I could never have undertaken this project (and career!) without you.

Dear Professor Soja, I graduated with a degree in classics and French; I now teach Latin at a public high school in western Massachusetts. I took your course Evolution: Dinosaurs to Darwin in the fall semester of 1999. I loved the class…

Just this afternoon I was visiting my parents for Mothers’ Day, and we were watching Cosmos (with Neil deGrasse Tyson). The episode focused on the evolution of the planet. When the host started to build up suspense about a certain disaster in the Permian era, I piped up and said, “Oh, the P/T extinction event!

Ninety-six percent of all life on Earth perished!” I had a similar comment before the host mentioned what creatures survived the meteor that killed the dinosaurs — at which point, my mother paused the playback to demand how I knew this stuff. And, of course, it was because I remembered it from your class.

I wanted to say how interesting and fulfilling a course it was, and how dynamic you made it, that I still remember details (a lot more than those two) 15 years later. I hope I can incorporate some of these facts and information when I develop a unit on dinosaurs for my classes. I am so pleased and grateful that I had the experience of your wonderful teaching and the intriguing course to help me make my own teaching better. Thank you. — Bethanie

Much love, Dr. Chérie L. Hughes Head of Vocal Studies, Music Dept.

Seattle Pacific University

Sincerely, Diana

Date: Jul 19, 2010, 11:24 AM To: Nicole Simpson (economics) From: Jose Bernardo Yepez ’11

Hello, Professor Simpson, I want to thank you for everything you taught me this semester; it proved to be invaluable. I am in London working at Citi for the summer in the CEEMEA (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa) desk in the trading division. As summer analysts, we have to attend training sessions for whatever division we are in within the bank. Being in the trading division, I have to attend sessions on FX, trading concepts etc.

I was really worried that I was not going to do well since we do not have finance classes at Colgate.

However, to my surprise, I turned out to get the highest scores in our evaluations, and my partner and I are ahead on the FX game (mock currency trading competition) — and it was all because of everything you taught me. So, thank you again. — Bernardo Date: Sep 11, 2015, 1:42 PM To: Neva Pilgrim (voice) From: Chérie L. Hughes ’94

Hi, Neva, I am (finally) finishing my recording of voice and guitar music, and it should be released this November on Origin Classical as well as iTunes, etc. I have thought of you so much during the process and just wanted

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Its Remedies,” On Teaching and Learning, Volume 1). I also want to say thank you, Professor Dudrick, because you are truly an amazing professor. You had the most impact on my academic experience at Colgate, more than you’d know.

As an introvert, and due to my different cultural values that I grew up with (students must be listening, rather than speaking in front of teachers), I always had to challenge myself to raise my hand in class even when I had so much in my mind that I wanted to contribute to the discussion.

As it says in this article, it really helps female (or introverted, or shy) students to participate if the professor waits longer for the students’ response, and looks around the whole classroom, instead of letting a few students monopolize the discussion.

Looking back at myself in your Philosophy of Religion class (my first philosophy class), whether you were consciously doing it or you are naturally an amazing educator, I deeply appreciate how much your lecture style had encouraged me to speak up in class. It gave me confidence, which drove me to be more passionate about philosophy, go on a study abroad, take the Proseminar course, and writing an honors thesis with you.

Thank you, Professor Dudrick. As I study more about higher education and student development (my focus is on leadership development in minority students), I admire and appreciate your influence on me more and more.

To Professor Douglas Johnson (psychology) from Sarah Cummings ’15

Date: Nov 6, 2015, 12:41 PM To: Barbara Hoopes (biology) From: Brian Plosky ’97

Hi, Barbara, I wanted to drop you a note to let you know that I mentioned your Molecular Biology Seminar course as my inspiration for working on DNA Repair in an editorial that I wrote for Molecular Cell.

It really was a great class!

Best regards, Brian Plosky, Ph.D. Deputy Editor – Molecular Cell Cambridge, MA Date: Fri, Sep 7, 2012, 7:44 PM To: David Dudrick (philosophy) From: Diana Kim ’10

Dear Professor Dudrick, At Teachers College this week was the first week back in school, so it has been a busy week for me! I was reading for one of my classes, and this article made me think of you so much that I had share it with you (“Women and Men in the Classroom: Inequality and

Date: Aug 26, 2015, 11:27 PM To: Carolyn Hsu (sociology) From: Trinel Torian ’12

Hi, Carolyn!

I am finally all settled in [UC] Berkeley and just started classes today. My cohort is quite small (just 7 people) but very diverse, and luckily there is one other person in my group doing sociology of education. They pretty much have us doing foundational coursework for the first semester — quantitative methods (statistics), qualitative methods, theory, and an optional elective/content focused course.

I feel like I have a really strong theory foundation from your class. I was looking at the reading list, and it’s all the stuff I know like the back of my hand, thanks to your weekly assignments and in class games. I also remember a ton from the qualitative methods class I took with Chris [Henke; Carolyn’s husband and sociology professor]…

Expect random jottings from me for the next 6–8 years!

Best, Trinel Torian ’12

Dear Dave, Thanks for all your advice and support.

I can’t wait for graph theory next semester.

You’re the best, keep it up. C. Jennings To Professor Dave Howard (mathematics) from Charles Jennings ’15

From the tumblr page “Celebrating Rhonda Levine” to the sociology and anthropology professor as she prepared to retire I am a senior trial defense attorney with The Legal Aid Society, Bronx, New York. I am in charge of the Juvenile Offender Practice for the Criminal Division in the Bronx.

I believe I took every class Rhonda

taught. She was definitely my favorite professor. I still remember a small seminar class where she was about to give birth.

Professor Rhonda Levine (left) with Deborah Fox Rush ’86 (center) and Deborah’s grandmother at commencement

She would teach us with her legs up on the table and eating popcorn…

There was a lot of discussion about

Marxism and class inequality. Rhonda taught me to think critically about the world. She also made me a much better writer and factual reader. In fact, I still enjoy reading nonfiction books with a society

Nicole Vilanova ’13 (top row, fifth from right) went on an alternative spring break trip to Martinique with Professor Mahadevi Ramakrishnan (Romance languages; bottom row, second from left).

Rhonda Levine was recently given the 2016 Jerome Balmuth Award for Teaching.

lesson in them. My entire legal career has dealt with the issues of poverty and class inequality and its impact on defendants in the criminal justice system. The lessons I learned in her courses clearly started me on a path to my lifelong career.

Deborah Fox Rush ’86

Dear Professor Bordeaux, I’m really enjoying class so far and I can’t wait to use your Pope nickname next semester!

Sincerely, Jess

When Jess Benmen ’16 was preparing to study abroad in Rome last spring, she and Professor Joel Bordeaux (religion) joked that the Pope was going to become her new best friend. “So, it was only appropriate that I have a nickname for him," she said.

“I think we settled on ‘P Funk.’”

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When Meredith Reynolds ’16 (pictured, on left) studied abroad in Morocco last spring, she “had been really bad about sending postcards,” she said. So when she returned to Morocco in January on an AMS grant, she told Professor Susan Thomson (peace and conflict studies) that she was going back just to send her a postcard.

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Date: Jan 27, 2015, 9:02 PM To: Padma Kaimal (art and art history) From: Kristin Kwasnik ’08

Hi, Professor, Not sure if you remember me from my CORE India days at Colgate, but I wanted to reach out and say hello.

I am extremely excited to share with you that I finally have the opportunity to head out to India this spring. I was hoping for some teacherly wisdom on what I must experience my first time in South Asia.

I also wanted to let you know that I never would have had fostered and sustained my passion and love for South Asia if it wasn’t for you. Your constructive guidance, tailored attention, and inquisitive instruction throughout my time at Colgate was both humbling and inspiring, and I truly can’t thank you enough.

All the best, Kristin

To: Dan Saracino (mathematics) Excerpt from December 2013 letter

Professor Saracino, I can’t even begin to thank you for all that you’ve done for me. I was a little late for the Saracino train (our first class together was my junior year) but, boy, did the last two years really matter.

I remember having heard so much about you before Abstract Algebra II and Number Theory II and was afraid people were going to overhype you. Thankfully this was not the case. Abstract was by far the most fulfilling experience of my academic career (I still have your book on my desk and reference it often), and I daresay of my life. To be honest, the main thing I wanted out of the class was proving angle trisection impossibility. I really didn't know about Galois theory or solvability, but I was blown away by those lectures. It’s very tough to describe the satisfaction of waiting seven years for something and finally getting it. I really do put the whole Abstract II experience on the same level as something such as seeing the Eiffel Tower or shaking the president’s hand (true story!).

Anyway I do truly thank you for helping make me the person I am today. Taking your classes has greatly expanded my ability to problem solve, and also given me a stronger sense of confidence in myself, and my ability to tackle problems. — William Floyd ’14 Date: Apr 30, 2013, 12:15 PM To: Deborah Knuth Klenck (English) From: Nancy Famigletti ’86

Date: Apr 1, 2015 at 1:46 PM

To: Padma Kaimal From: Kristin Kwasnik

I am finally back and settled in stateside life. India was an absolutely amazing place — and absolutely nothing like I expected… I traveled for 3 weeks with another friend from Colgate (Kristen Brodgesell ’09, who was able to apply some of her knowledge from your Art & Architecture class) and went up north to Rishikesh, back to the Golden Triangle, and then ended in Mumbai and Goa. Even though you’re technically no longer my professor, I still hope to keep in touch as you continue your travels and studies, and as I start down the path of finally pursuing mine. Thank you again for everything you’ve shared with me over my years at Colgate, and I plan to keep you posted on my adventures down the line!

Best, Kristin

Hi, Dr. Knuth, I was a student of yours a few years ago. I loved taking your courses. Your analytical style appealed to the scientist in me. I eventually became a veterinarian, and now I’m pursuing a master’s degree in computer science. ...You taught me how to think. The skills I acquired analyzing prose have been a big help with my avanced mathematics courses and my software engineering studies. You can tell your students with confidence that your instruction will serve them well no matter what they decide to do later in life. Thanks, Dr. Knuth!

– Nancy Famigletti ’86 Date: Wed, Jun 3, 2015, 7:10 PM To: Ryan Endris (music professor and chorus director) From: David Gildin ’15

Hi, Dr. Endris, I just wanted to thank you SO much for putting together this fantastic European concert tour. I could not have asked for a better way to cap off my four years at Colgate...

You have brought excitement, life, and most importantly, incredible leadership to the [choir] program.

I was able to take a lot of your effective directing and leadership tactics and apply them to my position as the music director of the Resos this past year, which I am extremely grateful for...

I am hoping that from now on, choral music will always be a part of my life. — David Gildin ’15

News and views for the Colgate community

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BEHIND THE

BY ALETA MAYNE

WALTER B. GIBSON '20 GAVE LIFE TO THIS INFLUENTIAL CHARACTER. Orson Welles gave him a smooth baritone voice that oozed over the radio. Movie stars Rod La Rocque and Alec Baldwin personified him on the big screen. Other crime-fighting vigilantes — particularly Batman — cut their capes from the same cloth as he.

The Shadow, who first began hypnotizing audiences in 1930, has crept into various corners of American pop culture ever since.

Walter B. Gibson ’20 is responsible for giving shape to this influential character.

Before he became “the mystery man who strikes terror in the hearts of sharpsters, lawbreakers, and criminals,” the Shadow was simply a wicked cackle and a sinister voice that drew listeners into Detective Radio Hour.

That opening to the program — which was created to boost sales for the show’s accompanying magazine — so entranced the audience that the editors decided to capitalize on its popularity.

Gibson happened to be in the right place at the right time: New York City–based Street & Smith publishers in 1931. He was a newspaper reporter who also penned stories for magazines and books on magic, including ghostwriting for the likes of Harry Houdini, Howard Thurston, and Harry Blackstone. The plucky young writer was in New York pitching one of his true-crime stories to the editors, and they wondered if he had the potential to give life to their new idea. As the conversation unfolded, Gibson

told them about a character he’d been imagining, who had “Houdini’s penchant for escapes, with the hypnotic power of Tibetan mystics plus the knowledge shared by Thurston and Blackstone in the creation of illusions.”

Intrigued, the editors gave him a shot.

Gibson’s first pulp novel, The Living Shadow, was 75,000 words and sold out immediately. After his second novel also flew off the newsstands, the editors revised his contract with a more ambitious schedule: Instead of a quarterly, Gibson would now produce a monthly publication, each averaging about 60,000 words. The following year, he was asked to turn out two a month — totaling 1,440,000 words.

Having written 283 Shadow books in 15 years under the pseudonym Maxwell Grant, Gibson was deservedly described as prolific. “I am grateful [for the character’s success],” Gibson wrote in the introduction to The Weird Adventures of the Shadow in 1966.

“For it happened in the days of the Depression, of unemployment, of breadlines. And I was then a hungry young writer, even as writers have always been.”

“ ONCE I GOT THE TEMPO, I WOULD SUDDENLY GET A NEW IDEA, LIKE GETTING UP A NEW TRICK.”

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“ MY BEDTIME STORIES WERE THE PLOTS OF SHADOW NOVELS IN THEIR EMBRYONIC STAGE.” – SON ROBERT GIBSON

1939

1946

IN THE CARDS Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pa., Gibson became enchanted with magic at an early age, putting on shows for his family and getting chance meetings with professional magicians.

He published his first article, “A New Rising Card,” which described a trick, at age 18 for the magic magazine the Sphinx. He wrote several more for that publication and began writing for his school newspaper at Peddie Institute.

As a Colgate student, Gibson continued to write for magic-themed publications, and by graduation, he’d pulled 217 stories out of a hat. He also performed card tricks — the “four ace trick” was his favorite — for classmates.

Academically, Gibson had two English professors who made a lasting impression, as he noted when the Scene interviewed him during his 55th Reunion. William “Craw” Crawshaw “made you feel enthusiastic about things and went into literature in a very remarkable way,” Gibson recalled. Elmer “Precisely” Smith asked students to write 15 essays, requiring that 10 of them earn passing grades. Gibson scored an A+ on his first 10. Gibson’s interests played out in the Biological Society, the Outing Club, and the Music Club, which provided him a stage to perform magic tricks.

After Colgate, Gibson applied for newspaper jobs while working in insurance to pay the bills.

He befriended a circle of magicians and did a stint with a traveling carnival, assisting as an illusionist. Gleaning behind-the-scenes knowledge of carnival games, Gibson wrote exposé articles revealing the games’ gimmicks and eventually published The Bunco Book on the topic. He continued to pen articles for magazines like the Sphinx and Magic World.

In 1920, Philadelphia’s North American newspaper hired Gibson as a cub reporter. He got his first break one day when a bridge collapsed and the seasoned reporters were called away to the scene, leaving Gibson to man the office. “The phone rang — President Harding had stopped in town and he wanted to be interviewed by my paper,” Gibson recalled for the Scene. “So I ended up interviewing the president of the United States!”

The Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger hired Gibson away in 1921. The new job

provided him an opportunity to be more creative, and he even began making crossword puzzles, which were a novelty back then. He wrote a daily column, “After Dinner Tricks,” each describing a single magic trick. Selected columns from the five-year series were compiled into his first book, of the same title. His second book, Practical Card Tricks, was published that same year.

Between his writings and acquaintances, Gibson was becoming well known in the magic community. Master magician Thurston asked Gibson to write for him, followed by requests from Blackstone and Houdini, to whose private notes he was given sole access. As the Depression worsened, the newspaper biz suffered, so Gibson sought more lucrative opportunities with magazine writing — which is how he arrived at Street & Smith on that fateful day.

FLYING FINGERS In the foreword to Gibson’s biography, his son, Robert, remembered being 6 years old when his father began the Shadow: “The writing schedule demanded almost round-the-clock writing; I can still remember [hearing] the typing as I went to sleep.”

In 1932, when Gibson was asked to write 24 Shadow stories, he finished them in 10 months — and then produced four extra novels. “New plots popped up as fast as the books were finished,” Gibson said in The Weird Adventures of the Shadow. Oftentimes, he’d get ideas for future stories even before a book was finished.

“Once I got the tempo, I would suddenly get a new idea, like getting up a new trick,” he told the Washington Post. “I had a backlog of incidents.”

He’d test them out on Robert, who said, “My bedtime stories were the plots of Shadow novels in their embryonic stage.”

Getting five to six months ahead of his deadlines, Gibson said in The Weird Adventures, by the time an issue came out, “I even enjoyed reading it, and I often found myself wrapped up in a story that I had already forgotten.”

“ AT THE FINISH OF THE STORY, I OFTEN HAD TO TAKE A FEW DAYS OFF AS MY FINGERTIPS WERE TOO SORE TO BEGIN WORK ON THE NEXT BOOK.”

1937

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...

≥ Gibson’s brother, Theodore 1915, wrote the Colgate song “Fight

for the Team” and became a Colgate math professor. ≥ HIS

PEN NAME, MAXWELL GRANT, WAS A COMBINATION OF TWO NEW YORK CITY MAGIC DEALERS: MAXWELL HOLDEN AND U.F. GRANT.

≥ His uncle Frank was treasurer and professor of Greek at Colgate. ≥ Gibson wrote 283 full-length pulp novels of the Shadow, 187

books, 668 articles, 48 separate syndicated feature columns, 394 comic books and newspaper strips; aided in the development of 147 radio scripts; invented many widely used magic tricks. ≥ He estimated to

the Washington Post in 1978 that

he’d written 29 million words in his lifetime.

The Shadow came into the world with a bang, exploding into a comic strip and comic books — many of which were scripted by Gibson. Over the years, several publishing companies have kept the Shadow alive — most recently Dynamite, which launched its newest series in August 2015.

News and views for the Colgate community

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“ DO I ENJOY BEING A WRITER? I’D RATHER DO ANY OF A THOUSAND OTHER THINGS. BUT WHATEVER JOB I TOOK, I’D SPOIL ALL THE FUN OF IT, BY WANTING TO WRITE.” Gibson performed tricks and spoke in Brehmer Theater during first-year orientation in 1975.

Richard Broussard '60

THE SHADOW FLIP BOOKS The Shadow flip books were full novels with illustrations plus a flip-through scene in the corner of the pages. Colgate owns these three, which were written and drawn especially for this format, and published by Better Little Book. L to R: The Shadow and the Living Death, 1940; The Shadow and the Master of Evil, 1941; The Shadow and the Ghost Makers, 1942.

The hardcover minis were a standard size of 3 5/8" x 4 1/2" x 1 1/2".

Preparation was partially the source of Gibson’s expeditiousness. He pre-determined his plotlines and conclusions; he wrote with editor-approved chapter outlines on hand.

And when Gibson started writing, he didn’t stop. To this point, a story he liked to tell was about his move to Maine. “I arrived there so early in the season that I had to finish a Shadow story in a cabin that was literally being built around me,” he recalled in The Weird Adventures. “Picture me sitting at a desk, put together out of leftover lumber, in the middle of an empty room, with carpenters banging and nailing all around me.”

During those hectic publication times, he set a goal of 10,000 words a day, sometimes dashing off 15,000. “The typewriter keys would fly so fast that I wondered if my fingers could keep up with them,” he said. Gibson credited his dexterity to his knack for sleight-of-hand and card tricks. Still, “at the finish of the story, I often had to take a few days off as my fingertips were too sore to begin work on the next book.”

Up until March of 1943, he pumped out 24 pulps a year, but did eventually “slow” back down to one per month. In 1947, it was every

other month, and in the fall of ’48, he published quarterly until the summer of ’49.

Gibson once reflected: “Do I enjoy being a writer? I’d rather do any of a thousand other things. But whatever job I took, I’d spoil all the fun of it, by wanting to write.”

STAYING POWER After the successful run of his pulp novels, the “Wizard of Words” didn’t just fade into the shadows. He continued writing for true-crime magazines and released a number of books on magic, games, and the occult. Gibson coauthored several books with Litka Raymond, his third wife, whom he married in 1949. Litka was an illusionist and the widow of The Great Raymond, a magician with whom Gibson had been good friends.

There was a resurgence of interest in the Shadow in the late ’60s and early ’70s. A few publishers issued compilation books, and radio stations nationwide aired tapes of the old programs. Gibson traveled the lecture circuit and performed magic shows, even into1939 his later years.

Until his death on Dec. 6, 1985, Gibson and Litka lived in Eddyville, N.Y., in a 22-room house — with three libraries. “I’ve got a room for Shadow stuff, a room for true-crime stuff, a room for magic. I’ve got about 30,000 books in all,” he told the Washington Post.

Although Gibson’s typewriter is now silent, his legacy lives on: in the Shadow, who has been kept alive by various comic book writers since the 1970s; fan sites; and his influence on today’s superheroes who are protecting citizens from evildoers.

Thank you to the Special Collections and University Archives staff for providing images and research materials, especially Rachel Lavenda, who curated an exhibition in Case Library on the Shadow — and became so enamored with the character that she named her new gray Subaru Forester after him.

MEET KENT ALLARD Emerging from the fog, the Shadow would “pluck helpless victims of black-hearted villains from the brink of doom.” His piercing eyes peered from underneath his wide-brimmed hat while a crimson scarf hid his expression. The original caped crusader used two main crime-fighting tools: a fire opal ring with hypnotic properties and a pair of .45 caliber pistols.

Gibson revealed the Shadow’s identity as Kent Allard, a World War I spy and aviator. Allard had many aliases, but the most well known was Lamont Cranston — a wealthy businessman and playboy.

Donning a black business suit under his cape, the Shadow was intentionally portrayed as a real person with plausible powers. The character’s capers were often based on acrobatics and actual magicians’ tricks — but, in some cases, the Shadow’s maneuvers were born in Gibson’s imagination and later became part of magicians’ acts.

1973

1995

2015

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Andrew Daddio

News and views for the Colgate community

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Protecting the forcibly displaced For the past 10 years, I have spent the third week in February watching Colgate students in my course ALST 290: Model African Union participate in a simulation exercise hosted by Howard University, drawing students from more than 30 institutions nationwide. This year, the trip was enhanced by an alumni event hosted

by Michael Kershow ’77 at the University Club in downtown Washington, D.C., on February 19.

Michael, a lawyer who does extensive pro bono work, was joined by U.S. State Department veteran LeRoy Potts ’85, a research chief in the Department of Homeland Security. Both Michael and LeRoy work with people applying to the United States for asylum from a number of African countries.

LeRoy brought along Joseph Sebarenzi, exiled former member of the Rwandan parliament and author of the book God Sleeps in Rwanda: A Journey of Transformation. Joseph now works with LeRoy and the State Department on cases in The Office of Alumni Relations is pleased to offer many ways for alumni which refugees may have entered the United States while under indictment for to stay in touch with each other, and with Colgate! E-mail me with questions war crimes.

Michael, LeRoy, and Joseph all deor concerns at tmansfield@colgate. scribed the difficulties faced by vulnerable edu. – Tim Mansfield, associate vice populations fleeing political and economic president, institutional advancement persecution and seeking asylum in the and alumni relations United States. The massive influx of Muslim refugees attempting to find a haven Questions? Contact alumni relations: 315-228-7433 or alumni@colgate.edu in Europe or America may be coming from

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Exploring health care Kicking off the 2016 Michael J. Wolk ’60 Conference on Medical Education last month, the nationally renowned cardiologist and conference namesake spoke of the difficult problems American health care providers will face in the years to come.

Wolk returns to Colgate every two years to help current students explore the industry on which he has made an indelible mark. Alumni and parents — including dentists, genetic counselors, orthopedists, nurses, and physical therapists — also returned to Colgate to share their experiences and insights with current students.

Panelists included Dr. Jashodeep Datta ’06, Dr. John Marzo ’80, Dr. Ellen Larson ’94, nurse practitioner Alison Rhodes ’07, and Dr. Sharon Space ’86.

“The conference brought a lot of issues into perspective and [let us know] how we, as Colgate students, can better equip ourselves for the future,” said medical school applicant Julia Fisher ’16. “Throughout the lectures and panels, there was a clear focus on a patient-centered model for Eritrea, Libya, Mali, or Syria. They have health care delivery.” little in common beyond their shared The medical school acceptance rate religion, yet they are often treated as for first-time applicants from Colgate is an undifferentiated whole. Michael and approximately one and a half to two times LeRoy must fit thousands of individual stories into a limited range of categories. higher than the national average.

Hearing from Joseph was particularly “Here at Colgate, we are surrounded by mentors and support,” Fisher said. exciting for my 20 students because “This includes the entire Health Science Rwanda is one of the three countries Advising Committee, the physicians in the they represented at the Model AfriHealth Sciences Shadowing Program, and can Union this year. They also enjoyed meeting a range of D.C.-area alumni and our dedicated professors.”

Committee chair Julie Chanatry parents who attended. said that the Wolk Conference is about My students and I are so grateful to providing a broad picture of the health Michael for financing and hosting the event, and to LeRoy and Joseph for their sciences industry.

“We want students to know more generous engagement. We hope there about the strengths and weaknesses of will be many such opportunities in the future as Model African Union students the system and what they are going to be facing,” she said. “It’s not just about love make their annual trek to Washington. for the career, but also looking beyond that and examining the health care — Mary Moran, professor of system and what their role in that system anthropology and Africana and Latin may be in the future.”

American studies Sam Levitan

stay connected

Alumni programs, volunteer opportunities, career networking, and more

L to R: Michael Kershow ’77 and LeRoy Potts ’85 with Joseph Sebarenzi, exiled former member of the Rwandan parliament

scene: Spring 2016

Dr. Michael Wolk ’60 talks with students about the challenges facing the American health care system.

Professional networks online Colgate alumni are hard at work in cities around the world, and not everyone can attend networking events in specific locations. This spring, professional networks went online, making it possible for hundreds of Colgate grads to interact and exchange leads from the comfort of their own desks. The Scene put an ear to the screen, and we heard countless exchanges like this one:

Adam P. 41 minutes ago Hey there, I'm Adam Paul, Colgate '89, Commercial Director specializing in Comedy, Dialogue, Improv. Always looking to meet more agency people!

Reply | Share

Liz K. ≥ Adam P. 25 minutes ago Would love the links to your reels for future projects. I'm a freelance agency producer. I'd love to work with Colgate grads. Maybe we could get some Pizza Pub wings and taters shipped in for a lunch on set.

Reply | Share

Find out more about professional networks and upcoming events — both online and in person.

Visit colgate.edu/networks.

Current Colgate Thirteen members with Bill MacIntosh ’44, a founding member. Back row (L to R): Mike Rapaport ’18, Michael Zeitler ’17, Micah Bower-Kaiser ’17, Sean Maguire ’16, MacIntosh, Casey Konys ’16, Warren Dennis ’16, and Danny Foussard ’16. Front row (L to R): Alex Weig ’17, Evan Fireman ’17, Drew O'Hara ’19, Ben Newman ’16, Alex Drakos ’16, and Joe Baez ’17.

Current meets vintage When the Colgate Thirteen performed the final concert of their “JanTour” — on January 13 — they were joined by members of the Vintage Colgate Thirteen. The event honored a founding member of the a cappella group, Bill MacIntosh ’44, at his church, First Congressional Church of Western Springs in Illinois.

The group performed for a crowd of approximately 300 people at the Colgate Club of Chicago– sponsored event.

“Somehow, after six days on the road singing alumni concerts, the Thirteen put on a really entertaining show. It was outstanding,” said Ed Hines ’63, one of the Vintage Thirteen founders, who organized the event. With Bud Hedinger ’69 as emcee, the performance was followed by a reception where new and old members could bond over their shared experiences. “[The students] could not have been more courteous, engaging, and helpful!” Hines said.

The current members were excited, grateful, and a little bit nervous to meet their predecessors — primarily members from the ’60s, but also a few from the ’50s and ’70s.

“Meeting Bill MacIntosh really made me think about how lucky I am to be a part of such an incredible brotherhood that spans generations,” said Casey Konys ’16. “We, as a group, have changed so much over the decades, and while Winter Heat each new generation of Thirteeners puts its own twist on The Alumni of Color (AOC) organization the group, it’s incredible to see a common thread among all launched its 30th anniversary celebraof us. The gig in Chicago was by far my favorite part of our tion in Miami with a two-part event, JanTour.” And, it raised $1,000 for the Thirteen’s treasury.

January 5 and 6. On day one, Professor John Palmer met with alumni in the magic city to discuss campus issues and answer questions. On day two, Daniel Green ’06, account executive with the Miami Heat, helped to welcome alumni and friends as the Heat took on the New York Knicks. The alumni enjoyed the team’s pre-game shootaround, a greeting on the Jumbotron, and pictures at half court after the game. The AOC anniversary celebration continues through reunion this June.

— Emma Loftus ’16

“ Meeting Bill MacIntosh really made me think about how lucky I am to be a part of such an incredible brotherhood that spans generations.”

– Casey Konys ’16, Colgate Thirteen

News and views for the Colgate community

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salmagundi

Rewind To commemorate the end of the Starr Rink era, we remembered the most star-studded team to take the ice: the Charlestown Chiefs from the movie Slap Shot, filmed in Colgate’s rink. We posted this photograph of the team on Facebook, which was taken during shooting of the cult classic. Some of you shared your memories with us.

“I was there for the filming of the movie and could have reached over the glass to touch Paul Newman’s head (but I didn’t)!”

“We had brand-new boards courtesy of the film.”

— David DiNardo ’80

“The Northeastern game when the Zamboni crashed into the door and the power went out and then the brawl. Nucksies Nilan was in full thug mode.”

— Bill Bogle Jr. ’80

—Helen Davis Payne, assistant to the provost and dean of the faculty

“A classic I got to be part of.”

— Coach Ed Argast

“Our Colgate club team WAS the Chiefs … we all aspired to be The Hansens.”

“My favorite memories are lacing up the skates at night when I needed a break and just taking a spin in the dark (I had a key!).”

— Ron Locklin ’80

— Marc Fertik ’80

13 Words (or fewer) Submit your creative, clever, or humorous caption of 13 words or fewer for this vintage Colgate photo to scene@ colgate.edu or attn: Colgate Scene, 13 Oak Dr., Hamilton, NY 13346. The winner will receive a Colgate Scene T-shirt, and the winning caption will be announced next issue.

Deadline: May 30, 2016

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scene: Spring 2016

Above: At the 2016 SophoMORE Connections Luncheon, Kelechi Oguh â&#x20AC;&#x2122;08, a leader in the Colgate Real Estate Council, connects with students. For more on SophoMORE Connections, see pg. 15. Photo by Andrew M. Daddio Back cover: Pink flowering crabapple blossoms and a blue sky frame the chapel's golden cupola on a spring morning. Photo by Andrew M. Daddio

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