In 2003, the Petrie School of Music embarked upon a course to become the 30th All Steinway School in the world, joining the likes of The Juilliard School, Yale, and Oberlin Conservatory. This summer, Rella King ’60 became the first person to donate a Steinway to the effort. “This piano carries a lot of history,” said Rella. “It’s a Steinway Grand Model ‘M’, and was made in 1928. My mother was very serious about my piano lessons, and bought it for me in 1946 when I was seven years old. For 10 years, she drove me 65 miles from our home in Manning (SC) to Columbia for weekly piano lessons.” In 1979, Rella brought the piano to her home on John’s Island, SC. “The piano had a close call in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo blew ashore,” she said. “I stayed in my home during the storm just to protect the piano. An oak tree limb came through the
attic causing water to pour down directly on the piano. At first, I tried to cover the piano and bail the water, but finally sawed off the limb and covered the hole in the attic.”
Mac Boggs, Professor of Art, was invited to join artists from throughout the world in the Biennale of Contemporary Art exhibit in Florence, Italy. While there, he was interviewed by the BBC. He was also invited to exhibit in an international sculpture exhibition in Switzerland in 2005. Boggs has been appointed to the board of directors of the Johnny Lee Gray foundation.
Alia Lawson, founder of the Pre-College Program of Music and Dance, tries out the Petrie School’s new Steinway just after its arrival.
Mary Helen Garrison Dalton ’46 Designs Medallion for Converse President As part of her academic regalia, President Nancy Gray wore a new medallion and chain designed by Mary Helen Dalton ’46 during Commencement exercises in May. “The piece is gold and silver plated,” said Mary Helen, “and is large enough by design so that audience members can have a clear view of it.” Every other link of the chain is engraved with the names of past Converse presidents and their years of service. Cabochon amethyst and cabochon citrine are heavily used to reflect the Converse colors. “For three eightweek periods, I spent one day per week on the medallion,” Mary Helen explained. “I had to rent different studios that had the proper equipment to make such a piece.” 24
An English and history major at Converse, Mary Helen began experimenting with jewelry making in 1968. “Irene Weston Croft (’38) invited me to an Atlanta jewelry making workshop she was participating in because she knew I very much enjoyed other types of art such as oil paintings,” recalled Mary Helen. “I liked jewelry making from the start. I worked primarily with gold until the price went to $800 an ounce, then I began working mostly with silver.” Mary Helen Garrison Dalton ’46 presented the new Converse medallion to President Nancy Gray during Reunion Weekend 2004.
CLUBEVENTS
Accomplishments
Faculty
Rella read the recent article in the Bulletin about the Steinway program and decided she had found a permanent home for the piano. “I paid to have it completely refurbished so that it looks and sounds like new,” she said. “Because I don’t have children, it was important for me to ensure that the piano would be taken care of when I’m gone. I know that it will be used and treated properly at Converse. I think my mother would be proud.” A brass plaque will be attached to the piano in memory of Rella’s mother, Rea Hartwick King.
Faculty and Student
Dr. Jeff Barker, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, gave the keynote address at a conference on “Public Perception of the Applications of Genetic Technology,” at the University of Linköping, Sweden. After his presentation, he continued his research at the University of Iceland and at deCODE Genetics, in Reykjavík, Iceland. Barker also published a review of Allan Gibbard’s book, How Then Should We Live? (Harvard University Press, 2003), in Choice. Dr. Joe P. Dunn, Charles A. Dana Professor of History and Politics and Chair of the History and Politics Department, participated in the Council on International Education Exchange International Faculty Development Seminar in Amman, Jordan. His fifth book, a historical narrative of his mother titled A Good and Ordinary Life: A Memoir of the Rural Midwest, is being published this summer by Southeast Missouri State University Press. Rick Mulkey, Associate Professor of English and Chair of the English Department, has had the following works accepted for publication: “Gravity,” and “Summer If It Ends At All, Ends Here” (Poet Lore),
“Michelangelo’s St. Mathew,” and “Autumn in the Blue Ridge” (Connecticut Review), “Devolution Theory” and “Field Theory” (Talking River Review) and “Insomnia” (The Literary Review). Poetry East, a literary journal at DePaul University, will publish “American Love: Archeological Style” this fall. Dr. Monica McCoy, Associate Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Psychology Department, co-authored a research paper titled “The Impact of Extralegal Factors (Defendant Sex, Relationship to Victim) in Sexual Abuse Cases” with Nisbet Honors student Jennifer Gray ’05. McCoy will present the paper at the biennial conference of the American Psychology-Law Society in Scottsdale, Arizona. Teresa Prater, Associate Professor of Studio Art and Chair of the Art and Design Department, had several books in two national shows. Two of her books were juried into “An Open Book” at Gallery West, Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. She was also invited to participate in “Life By the Book,” an exhibition at the University of Virginia. “Two Lullabies,” a composition by Dr. Scott Robbins, Associate Professor and Chair of Music History, Theory, and Composition, was premiered by the Meredith College Chorale at the College Music Society’s MidAtlantic Regional Conference in Raleigh, NC. The Chorale also featured his lullabies on their spring tour in Virginia and North Carolina. His work, “AbiyoyOboe”, for oboe and electronic sounds was performed at the national conference of the Society of Composers, Inc. in Oklahoma.
CLUBEVENTS
April 3, 2004 Knoxville, TN
April 6, 2004 Roanoke, VA
Dr. Tara Sturdivant ’85 hosted a coffee in her home.
Roanoke alumnae met for lunch at the Shenandoah Club.
(l to r) Donna Jaccard, Cathy Raff ’87, Susan Hendershott, Christine Hendershott, and Tara Sturdivant ’85
(l to r) Diane Ansley, Howard Patillo, Elizabeth Wilson Patillo ’49, Sara Stonesifer Airheart ’49, Nancy Weld Wise ’56, Margaret McGowan Robertson ’52, Joan Westaway Alberti ’71, Laura Terry Norris ’53, Caroline Lemley Hedrick ’69, and Melissa Daves Jolly ’69
“The Flight Patterns of Birds,” a short story by Susan Tekulve, Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center, was accepted by the Connecticut Review for publication next year. Dr. Melissa Walker received press coverage in Tennessee and South Carolina for her new book, Country Women Cope with Hard Times. The book is a collection of oral histories that focuses on rural women born between 1890 and 1940 in eastern Tennessee and western South Carolina. Dr. Walker was also elected to the executive board of the Agricultural History Society, an international organization.
Students A research paper authored by Nisbet Honors student Jane Marion ’04 was awarded the Margaret C. Watson Award for the best undergraduate paper in SC history from the Confederation of SC Local Historical Societies. Her work focused on Matthew Irvine’s treatise about the rage of Yellow Fever in the South in 1817. Casey Addis ’04 and Sarajane LoGuirato ’05 were invited to take part in the Property and Environmental Research Center (PERC) Free Market Environmentalism Seminar in Bozeman, Montana this summer. Students from colleges throughout the country, including Dartmouth, Princeton and Auburn, applied for the 25 available slots. During the 2004 annual meeting of the SC Academy of Science, biology major Gretchen Williams ’04 was named Outstanding Female Undergraduate Science Student, won the Overall Outstanding Student Presentation and was awarded Best Paper in the field biology section for her year-long research into parasites in deer livers. Tharanga Goonetilleke ’05 and graduate students Patricia Crisan, Brandi Icard, Jennifer Mazzell and Leigha Pace have been selected to participate in the 2004 Operafestival di Roma in Italy this summer. The festival includes three weeks of master classes, coaching, and opera rehearsals led by a distinguished faculty from throughout the US and Italy. Converse music majors Keeley Causby ‘05, Jean Loder ’07, Ashley Hoover Piatt ’06, and Hollis Roberts ’06 —known collectively as the Pine Street String Quartet—were selected in a juried competition to study with the Juilliard String Quartet at Queens University in Charlotte (NC) on April 17. Converse’s reputation for excelling in the Model Arab League program resulted in Casey Addis ’04 and Josie Fingerhut ’05 serving as invited guests of Modern Montessori High School in Amman, Jordan, to help establish a Model Arab League program.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
CONVERSENEWS
Petrie Receives First Steinway Program Piano
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