A publication of New College of Florida
#83 FALL 2018
TRUTH, JUSTICE, AND THE NEW COLLEGE WAY Alumni laud their education for preparing them for law school and the legal profession
Complex Thinkers Solving Complex Problems Expanding interdisciplinary expertise
NCAA Communications Committee Hazel Bradford Cindy Hill Steve Jacobson Editorial Staff Ann Comer-Woods Director of Communications and Marketing David Gulliver News Services Manager Kim McDonald Creative Services Manager Kathleen McCoy Assistant Director of Alumnae/i Relations
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Linda Joffe Communications Specialist New College Foundation
Truth, Justice, and the New College Way Alumni laud their New College education for preparing them for law school and the legal profession
Publisher Office of Communications and Marketing New College of Florida 5800 Bay Shore Road Sarasota, FL 34243-2109 941.487.4153 communications@ncf.edu
20 Profiles
14 Complex Thinkers Solving Complex Problems New College hires 15 new assistant professors to expand faculty diversity and interdisciplinary expertise
Liliana Benitez ’16 Mark Dancigers Beverly Koski Christin Murphy ’00 Clinton Overton ’16
Also inside this issue: On Campus > 1 In the Community > 5 Op-Ed > 12 Alumnae/i Focus > 17 Foundation Focus > 26 Class Notes > 27
NCAA Board of Directors Executive Committee Chair – Cindy Hill ’89 Chair-Elect – Steve Jacobson ’71 Governance Chair – Chad Bickerton ’05 Immediate Past Chair – Frazier Carraway ’72 Lynne Allen ’72 Hazel Bradford ’75 Robert Bilott ’83 Jordan Clark ’04 Robert Freedman ’83 Ginger Lyon ’70 Gera Peoples ’94 Leslie Reinherz ’70 Henry Smyth ’76 Norman Stein ’69 Dan Stults ’77 James Tietsworth ’84 Jay White ’70 Troy Winfrey ’87 MaryAnne Young Vice President for Advancement Donal O’Shea, Ph.D. President of New College For a full board listing, visit ncf.edu.
THEN & NOW
The Road Still Taken Dort Promenade is still a popular route for students biking to and from class—but they don’t have to worry about car traffic anymore.
CAMPUS NEWS
Commencement Speakers Urge Graduates to Courageously Change the World arly-summer storms cleared long enough for another sunset commencement ceremony on May 18. New College awarded diplomas to the 184 graduates, including seven graduate students, who made up the 52nd graduating class in the College’s history. Margee M. Ensign, Ph.D., president of Dickinson College and a 1977 graduate of New College, was the commencement speaker. In her remarks, she cited lessons she learned from New College’s Peggy Bates, Ph.D., then urged the graduates to stoke their courage, apply their knowledge, and challenge the politics of division. “New College is a revolutionary place where truth is vigorously sought and treasured, freedom of speech and of inquiry cherished. Never, never underestimate its value. For this is the sort of place, you the sort of people, upon which our futures must be built,” she said. Chemistry Professor Paul Scudder, who is retiring after 40 years at the College, amplified the theme of seeking truth and teaching students how to develop their thinking. “We can’t teach critical thinking from the front of the class,” he said. “Students have to be given problems with branches to explore and have the instructor guide and refine their decision making. They need to learn from bad decisions, be encouraged to explore alternatives, and not be given an answer to memorize.” The graduating class included three Fulbright award winners, two Goldwater Scholarship recipients, and the first cohort of Daughters for Life Scholars, students from the Middle East supported by community donors and the Daughters for Life Foundation. The student speakers were (pictured above from left to
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right): Giulia Heyward, from Miami, Fla., editor of the New College student newspaper, the Catalyst; Fulbright recipient Miles Iton, from Homestead, Fla.; and Daughters for Life Scholar Leen al-Fatafta, from Amman, Jordan. They addressed issues of diversity and equality at New College and in the world. “It’s about refusing to surrender to a broken social order that continues to keep us from our dignified humanity,” Al-Fatafta said. “So really, it’s about faith, it’s about believing that the ills of this world are not without end, because a different world is not only possible, it’s already in the making.” As she closed, Dr. Ensign recalled a New College motto: “In the final analysis, education is our individual responsibility.” “That was true when I was a student here, and it is still true today. It takes courage to come to New College,” she said. “So stoke that courage, and apply your hard-won knowledge as you face the challenges of a planet that is heating, and a politics in the U.S.—and in many other countries, too—that would divide us and turn us upon each other. You can make this a better world. You can do it.”
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ON CAMPUS
FOUNDATION NEWS
Foundation Appoints Four to Board of Directors he New College Foundation appointed Robert Turffs, Allison Gardner, Raymonda Burgman and George Augustin to its board of directors. Robert Turffs ’74 is a board-certified, civil trial law attorney in Sarasota. He has a J.D. from Cumberland School of Law, Samford University. He currently serves on the board of directors for Sarasota Aid Support and as chair of the board for Comprehensive Care Clinic. He is a founding member of the board of directors of Guitar Sarasota and volunteers at Mote Marine. His son, Bryant Turffs ’08, is also a New College alumnus. Alison Gardner ’08 is a senior vice president and financial advisor with RBC Wealth Management, where she manages $125 million in assets. She began her career working for publishing firms in the U.S. and abroad. After a stint as a financial analyist at Celanese Corporation, Gardner spent 33 years at Morgan Stanley and its predecessor firms. Gardner received her MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and her Certificat d’Étude from La Sorbonne in Paris. She received a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Duke University. Raymonda “Ray” Burgman, Ph.D., ’95 is a director of HERS Institutes, which advocates for gender equity and women leaders in higher education. Burgman served as associate
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provost at New College of Florida from 2011 to 2013, where her responsibilities included student academic success programs, faculty development, assessment and accountability issues, and external relations. Burgman received her doctorate in economics from the University of Florida and her bachelor’s degree from New College. She has served on the New College Alumnae/i Association Board and lives in Denver. George I. Augustin is a certified public accountant with professional experience in public, industry, governmental and nonprofit accounting, auditing and taxation. He has worked in the fields of banking and hospital management. Augustin was born in St. Lucia, West Indies, and graduated from Florida International University in Miami with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Now a U.S. citizen and three-decade resident of Sarasota, Augustin has served on several boards, including the Sarasota Y and Circus Sarasota, and has provided volunteer consulting to nonprofits including Designing Women of Sarasota. All four members are appointed to three-year terms that began June 15, 2018.
CAMPUS NEWS
O’Shea Reappointed as President of New College he Florida State Board of Governors reappointed President Donal O’Shea, Ph.D., as president of New College at its June 28 meeting. The College’s Board of Trustees had voted unanimously to renew O’Shea’s contract for one year on June 9. In her presentation to the Board of Governors, Felice Schulaner ’81,
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chair of the College’s Board of Trustees, reviewed O’Shea’s achievements for the past year, including opening the Heiser expansion, completing nearly all of the growth plan’s goals for the first year, and bringing in 15 new faculty members. “On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I can share that we are energized by the prospects for growth and confident in his ability to lead us to achieve our aspirational objectives for the future,” Schulaner said. O’Shea began his sixth year as president on July 1. His new contract extends through June 30, 2019.
ON CAMPUS
CAMPUS NEWS
Biology Professors Receive EPA Grant for Mangrove Restoration ew College of Florida biologists have received a $294,198 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to identify the best methods for restoring the mangrove habitat on Tidy Island, a partially developed peninsula in Sarasota Bay. Tidy Island has the most extensive mangrove habitat remaining in Sarasota Bay. The three-year grant centers on removal of invasive plants along ditches dredged through the area for mosquito control – and now are important habitats for fish and other marine life. The lead investigators on the grant are Brad Oberle and Jayne Gardiner, both assistant professors of biology at New College. Oberle is a botanist whose research focuses on forests, carbon sequestration and climate change. Gardiner specializes in fishes, and her recent research has focused on shark nursery habitats. Working with teams of students, they will test two methods of disposing of the wood from the invasive plants. They will analyze how each method affects carbon in the environment, quality of the water and the use of the habitat by fish and other economically important marine species. They also will monitor mangroves to see how they respond to the removal of invasive plants. The project’s goal is to identify the best ways to restore mangrove habitats, so that future projects in Florida and elsewhere will be optimal for both the mangroves and the marine life in the ecosystem.
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HAVE YOU JOINED THE ONLINE DIRECTORY? The New College Alumnae/i Association has an online directory for New College alumni. This private, secure site is a great way for alums to connect with each other and to ensure that the College has up-to-date information on its graduates. Over 500 alums have already registered—but there are thousands of you out there! We invite you to sign up for the directory at: ncf.edu/alumni-directory. Once registered, you can update your information at any time, find friends, alums in your area, or alums in similar fields.
CAMPUS NEWS
Harris Joins New College as Associate VP of Administration ristie Harris has joined New College as its first associate vice president for administration. Harris began work at New College on May 21. She previously served as director of university budgets for the State University System of Florida, beginning in 2008, after joining the SUS as senior budget analyst in 2005. She previously held accounting and budget positions at Florida State University and the Leon County Office of Management and Budget from 2000 to 2005. At New College, Harris is responsible for oversight of the
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College’s budgets, including preparation and administration of the College’s annual operating budget throughout the year and preparation of legislative budget requests. Harris also provides executive leadership to several units within Finance & Administration, including Information Technology, Campus Police, and Emergency Management. Other duties include overseeing acquisition of land and management of property leases, serving as the College’s liaison with the shared campus bookstore, and assisting in staffing Board of Trustees committees and the New College Development Corporation Board. Harris has two degrees from Florida State University, a bachelor of science in finance and a master of science in public administration, with emphasis in public financial management and budgeting.
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ON CAMPUS
What’s Happening ORIENTATION
New College welcomed more than 220 new students during a week-long Orientation in August. Students moved into their residence halls, socialized with their new classmates, and participated in mini classes. For more information on this fall’s entering class, please see the back cover of this issue of Nimbus.
NEW MUSIC NEW COLLEGE
Celebrating its 20th anniversary season, New Music New College is presenting a total of five concerts featuring performances by Sō Percussion, Mark Dancigers and Grand Electric, Ensemble Dal Niente with George Lewis, Eliza Ladd, and Wet Ink Ensemble. Learn more: newmusicnewcollege.org
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ARTS + HUMANITIES
New College: Connecting the Arts and Humanities seeks to foster deeper understanding of the arts and humanities through new programs at New College of Florida, and with local arts organizations and the Cross-College Alliance. During the 2018-19 academic year, New College is hosting a variety of events that celebrate the arts and humanities. Learn more: ncf.edu/connecting-arts-humanities
IN THE COMMUNITY
New College takes on food insecurity BY JI M DEL A
IN THE COMMUNITY AND ON CAMPUS, New College students are addressing the issue of food insecurity. It began in spring 2018 with the opening of the New College Food Pantry, a place to help students when money may be tight and cupboards are empty. And it continued this fall with the adoption of food insecurity as the “common challenge” during Orientation and the focus of the year-long New College Cares program. Instead of a “common read,” a book that all incoming students would read, Orientation advisors opted to have students learn about—and work on—a community issue. The Food Pantry project recommended hunger as this year’s issue. In small-group discussions, first-year students learned of the many facets of food insecurity—from low wages, “food deserts” where grocery stores won’t locate, and more—and shared their own experiences. Then, a week after they arrived on campus, the entire first-year class headed out into Sarasota and Bradenton on a massive community service project. They went to All Faiths Food Bank, community service centers Turning Point and Newtown Nation, and the campus Food Pantry, among other sites. Jacob Brody-Ogborn was one of the volunteers at All Faiths, sorting and packing boxes of food for distribution to families. The Washington, D.C., native has participated in many service projects, but none were related to food insecurity. “I’ve always loved volunteering. I just want to understand this issue more,” he said. Brody-Ogborn had stopped by the office of Jada O’Neill, the college’s new VISTA volunteer coordinator. She said the day of service has created momentum. “A lot of students are saying, ‘I really liked what we did on Saturday—how can we keep doing it?’” she said. Many students spent the morning cleaning and renovating the Food Pantry, which is located on the first floor of Searing Residence Hall. The pantry is available at no cost to students 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The College also plans to eventually offer limited access to the public. The pantry will offer donated nonperishable items such as canned and dry goods. When available, the pantry will also offer bread and produce. Tara Centeno, director of student activities and campus
engagement, says the idea for a food bank came from a New College Student Association survey, which found “there were periods that some of our students experienced financial hardship,” she said. “We cannot expect students to be successful if they don’t have access to adequate nutrition.” Centeno said that for many students, they are one incident away from a change that could impact their financial and, in some cases, food security. “We thought more about what that could look like for students—they may need to purchase a lot of books or supplies at the start of the semester, and be tight on funds. Our hope was to build a space where students can access food when they need it.” She added that more campuses are recognizing this need and starting their own campus food pantries. “NCSA and our team felt like that was something we should work to provide as well.” Jasmyne Prophet, a firstyear student, is volunteering at the pantry as part of an independent study project called the Citizenship Project. “One of the topics we discussed is food and housing security within Sarasota and Manatee counties.” “Personally, there once was a time when I was food insecure,” she said. “So I understand the feeling of hunger and not being fed properly. I understand malnutrition, because I’ve lived through that. “So to be able to offer my help in any way that I can, and to remedy hunger within the place where I live, is gratifying and satisfying.” The New College pantry will work with the Food Bank of Manatee County, which will supply food, and the Peace Education and Action Center in Sarasota, which is assisting with grant applications. Organizers have had some help along the way. There were some fundraising activities involving alumni and the community. New College’s food service provider, Metz Culinary Management, gave the pantry a welcome kick-start by stocking the shelves last spring. “In our close vicinity, there aren’t many food pantries,” Centeno said. ”We figured that if it would be challenging for our students to access food pantries, others might face that as well. So we knew this was something impacting people in the area.”
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Truth, Justice, and the New College Way Alumni laud their New College education for preparing them for law school and the legal profession BY H A ZE L B R A DFO RD ‘ 75
Like most New College students, those who have pursued legal careers are hard to stereotype. They range from the California cannabis lawyer to the National War College professor of strategy, and everything in between, including corporate litigators, public defenders, nonprofit counsels, law school professors, and even an organized crime task force chief. As might be expected, several also reinvented themselves along the way. What they do have in common are the intellectual curiosity and self reliance that were honed, if not born, at New College, and often a commitment to an ideal or love that was born there as well. Those traits continue to define them today. New College degree ‘a kind of baccalaureate’
Many of the New College graduates who went on to law school pursued careers as unique as their experiences on campus, and they credit their time at the College for helping them get there. Jennifer Maglio ’89 started in natural sciences classes at New College, but her professors “gently pushed me into environmental law,” she said. She is now based in Sarasota with Maglio, Christopher and Toale, a law firm handling complex litigation, along with husband Altom’90. But she got her start with the Sarasota County Attorney’s office, handling land use cases, including one involving an adult entertainment ordinance. She soon realized that she really wanted to pursue litigation work, but was unlikely to get inside a courtroom while handling land use cases. After switching to commercial
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litigation, she excelled as an appellate attorney “probably because of my writing skills from New College 20 years ago,” Maglio said. “We certainly were encouraged to debate and to think on our feet. Ultimately an appellate case is a conversation, and it is a kind of baccalaureate. I have to know every fact of every case. They can ask you a question on anything you’ve ever done,” said Maglio, whose career highlights include watching Supreme Court oral arguments in a case that she briefed. Stephen Sparks ’72, a partner in the Kansas City law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, cited that same experience as excellent preparation for law school’s Socratic method, a form of cooperative argumentation. “The rigorous sort of discussions you had with the professors of New College helped prepare me for that kind of mental approach.”
Jennifer Maglio ’89 and her husband Altom ’90 take on nationwide cases against medical product manufacturers and others at their Sarasota firm Maglio, Christopher and Toale.
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COVER STORY / THE NEW COLLEGE WAY
Like Maglio, the writing excellence expected at New College paid off in law school for Glenn Hendrix ’76. “The whole thing about being able to write and articulate a complex idea, I felt I had such an edge from being at New College,” he said. His thesis on the Muslim Brotherhood won a Florida political science award, and he initially considered a career in the U.S. Foreign Service. A summer associate position for the Atlanta law firm Arnall, Golden & Gregory changed his career path, and he is now the firm’s chairman and managing partner. He specializes in international commercial and administrative dispute resolution, and defending false claims cases. Serving on a State Department advisory board for international law has allowed him to vicariously experience the Foreign Service, and practicing law “has worked out, because I can’t imagine doing anything else,” Hendrix said. Robert N. (Bob) Allen ’74, who runs his own Miami law firm specializing in international and yacht law, credits New College’s “fantastic teachers,” including thesis adviser Peggy Bates, with his success. Her repeated calls for redrafts helped him make law review at Notre Dame. “They challenged me. I was able to challenge them as well. Everything you did was challenged and the best was expected. The people I learned the most from were the ones I disagreed with the most. It helps in life and in law,” said Allen. Siblings Mariana ’99 and Rafael Ribeiro ’97 chose different paths after University of Florida law school, but both credit New College for teaching them how to write and think critically. Mariana, a 2002 graduate, chose to practice immigration law after the family experienced the process first hand when their father came from Brazil to practice medicine. Her practice today with the Miami law firm Gunster focuses on complex employment-based nonimmigrant and immigrant visa matters. Rafael, who graduated a year earlier, is now a senior team investigator with the law firm Hogan Lovells, which is conducting two of the largest anti-corruption investigations in Latin America focusing on the energy sector. They are still very close, with offices in the same Miami building, and both appreciate the skills they learned at New College. “Especially in the current climate, we have to be creative.
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New College helped me with that critical thinking, which I apply on a daily basis,” Mariana said. For Rafael, the writing skills made law school relatively easy, and continue to serve him well. “A lot of what we do on the advocacy front, if you can’t write it, it’s not coming across,” he said.
On a mission ‘to do justice’
Writing has been crucial, too, for Matthew Grieco ’94, who has his “dream job” of New York State assistant solicitor general. “There is nothing that can set you apart as a lawyer as much as being a good writer,” he said. He also credits his New College professors and the narrative evaluation system, which “makes you want to do the right thing in a way that just getting a letter grade would not have.” “Anyone can stand up and lecture, but a teacher who can help you focus on what you want to be is something else,” said Grieco. “I don’t think I would have the job today that I love so much if not for the education I got at New College.” While law school was always in the back of his mind, after graduation Grieco worked as a copy editor with the Bradenton Herald, where one of his favorite tasks was editing the Supreme Court report. That led him to Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, drawn in part by it being the birthplace of the Innocence Project, which works to exonerate people wrongly convicted of crimes. After discovering quickly that his real love was civil litigation and civil appeals, he interned and clerked for several federal judges before joining the New York State attorney general’s appeals division in September 2011. “Appellate law is one of the most interesting and intellectually stimulating areas of law,” Grieco said. “By that point, most of the factual points of the case are established. The more you go up, the issues become more challenging.” Writing appellate briefs, he said, “is one of the few ways in the legal profession that you can be a generalist, but a generalist at the highest levels. I always wanted to do a lot of different areas of law.” “When I go to work every day, our office’s only mission is to do justice. I mostly get to take positions that I believe in, which is a great thing to be able to do,” Grieco said. It’s safe to say that most New College students believe in protecting the environment, and so it’s natural that some graduates carry that belief into their legal careers. Joshua Gange ’99 studied biology and did field research during tutorials in Panama on coral reef and mangrove ecosystems, followed by more field work in the Everglades. That led him to Yale forestry graduate school to learn more about the management and policy side of things. He went on
THE NEW COLLEGE WAY / COVER STORY
to New York University law school to understand the framework of legal structures of ecosystems, “and how they can be better optimized to improve the management and conservation of ocean systems and resources,” he said. As a renewable energy program specialist with the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Gange uses all of these experiences to manage offshore wind projects, develop policies and regulations for renewable energy programs, and to keep himself engaged. “I think maintaining true interest in ocean systems is what keeps me passionate about what I do professionally,” he said. Teri Donaldson ’81, who was recently nominated by the White House to serve as inspector general of the Department of Energy, agrees that being able to pursue what interested students made all the difference in their careers. Her New College thesis was inspired during an internship in the Environmental Protection Agency’s hazardous air program during what she said was “a fun and ridiculously idealistic time.”
She entered New College thinking of a possible career as a veterinarian or architect, but soon changed course. “I made a hard left into the social sciences and never looked back,” she said. Donaldson took every environmental course she could at University of Florida law school, then began her career as an assistant U.S. attorney and general counsel for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. She worked in private practice as a partner in the Houston office of law firm DLA Piper, LP, where her clients included international energy companies. In her current role, Donaldson serves as general counsel for the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Robin Jacobs ’98 studied philosophy and religion at New College, where she realized she wanted to work in the nonprofit field. Her career in social justice began with a move to Washington, D.C., for a position with the American Humanist Association. Jacobs then studied environmental law at the University of Maryland.
Karen Flax ’78 serves as the lead operations lawyer for Tronc, Inc., which owns a number of national and regional newspapers on the East Coast.
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COVER STORY / THE NEW COLLEGE WAY
There, the New College self-starter mentality helped her avoid the typical law school intimidation from being called on. Jacobs worked with a community law center that deals with vacant housing issues in Baltimore. She is now an assistant attorney general for Maryland representing the Department of Environment in cases against landlords who violated the state’s lead-based paint statutes. “In public interest law, you have to find your own path,” she said. “Knowing how to do that from New College really helps.” Like Jacobs, Karen Flax ‘78 says her legal career “was not a straight line.” She is now lead operations lawyer for media company Tronc, Inc. (formerly Tribune Publishing) and vice president at the Chicago Tribune Media Group. In this role Flax handles newsroom counseling, litigation, intellectual property, marketing, and commercial speech
issues for the Chicago Tribune, as well business and legislative matters for the media group, which includes Chicago Magazine, the Baltimore Sun and other newspapers in Connecticut, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Before joining the company in 2000, Flax was a partner at Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, now part of the global law firm Dentons. The political science major taught legal writing for two years after law school, but decided she preferred litigation after clerking for a federal District Court judge in Chicago. Her experience at a large law firm allowed her to work on interesting cases like representing Planned Parenthood, to do pro bono work, and even make partner while working part time with a young family. After representing the Tribune, she became its in-house
Judge Vicky Kolakowski ’78 presides over the Superior Court of Califormia for Alameda County. She is the first openly transgender person to be elected a judge anywhere in the world.
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THE NEW COLLEGE WAY / COVER STORY
counsel in 2000 and continues to love her job. “I feel very honored to represent the newsrooms that I do. Those are places that have terrible problems. They do a tremendous job, despite economic pressures. When you have newsrooms as clients, it’s like a turtle shell you never take off. When your newsroom calls you, it means they need it right now,” said Flax. The editorial flock she watches over “is a combination of idealistic and snarky—they are like New College students! Who wouldn’t want to hang out with them?” She appreciates the New College thesis process for giving her confidence and the ability to be independent. “I think New College puts you in a position of being a risk-taker; just going there is a risk. Once you come out of New College, you are not a check-the-box person. There’s a part of you that they’re never going to be able to touch.”
Reinvention
That willingness to take risks leads to a common thread in many of the attorneys’ careers. Many reinvent themselves and sometimes leave successful careers for the challenge of the legal profession. Chaitanya (Shaq) Katikala ’07 reinvented himself before he even finished law school, teaching himself data science. He planned to practice intellectual property law until he noticed many of those practitioners were “miserable, while those in privacy law were happy lawyers,” he said. He is now a privacy attorney specializing in technology and entertainment law. Before joining law firm Morrison/Lee in New York, Katikala counseled the Network Advertising Initiative, a self-regulatory trade group for privacy in online advertising. Katikala has developed an impressive reputation as “a lawyer who can do code,” he said. He is a two-time winner of Vbers Hackathon: He won best legal app for RenterPeace, a web application he co-founded to help tenants with landlord issues; and he won a second time for an app that figures out moving transportation costs. One drawback: Like his New College days spent studying philosophy and economics, sleep is still an issue. “What’s that?” joked Katikala. Vicky Kolakowski ’78, judge of the Superior Court of California for Alameda County, has always been an overachiever. She is a self-confessed “grade-obsessed high school student” who studied natural sciences at New College and went on to earn graduate degrees in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, public administration, and law. At New College, Kolakowski first learned about being transgender, and she started counseling that ultimately led
her to transition during law school. She now serves as the first openly transgender elected a judge anywhere in the world. Her work, as the supervising judge of collaborative courts overseeing drug treatment, mental health, veterans and other issues, “is a very rewarding job—helping people to solve their problems and turn their lives around,” Kolakowski said. “At New College, I learned that ‘each student is responsible in the last analysis for his or her own education.’ I came to realize that reflected a broader truth,” Kolakowski said. “Each person is responsible, in the last analysis, for their own life. That is a lesson that carried me through the tough times. “My success, my failure, was ultimately my own responsibility, but I also learned at New College that I couldn’t, or at least shouldn’t, make it through life alone. I built a community of people around me that supported me through the tough times, and got me to where I am today.” Alissa Branham ’91 studied philosophy and religion at New College, and while many philosophy students go on to law school, that was not her path initially. Prior to law school she completed the doctoral program in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. One of her New College professors told her to pursue the philosophy doctorate only if she could embrace it as an end in itself because of the time commitment and scarcity of teaching positions. “I really thought about what he said, and I decided it was important enough for me personally to do it no matter what came of it career wise,” she said. “I think that was healthy and it always kept my focus while there on my own personal enrichment.” When she completed the degree, she again assessed where she was and realized she had gotten what she wanted from the experience. She decided she was ready to move on to law school. Law school was a natural fit because philosophers have expertise in two of the most valuable skills in the legal profession: reasoning and argumentation. Law would also allow her to choose where she would live, which was increasingly important to Branham. Upon graduation from law school at the University of Michigan, she finally moved to California and clerked for the Hon. Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She then worked for a wellregarded law firm, Munger, Tolles & Olson, which led to her current position as senior counsel at Twentieth Century Fox Films. “New College,” she said, “taught me to keep my focus on traveling a path that I find personally rewarding. And it has taught me to be open to, and look for, truth wherever it might be and whoever might be speaking it.”
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OP-ED
Cultivating Curiosity. Unleashing Potential. BY NEW CO LLEGE PR E SID E N T D O N AL O’SH E A AN D B OA RD O F T R U S T E E S CH A I R F E LI CE S CH U L A N E R ‘8 1
IN 2016, THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND THE STATE OF FLORIDA invested in New College, pledging to support a multi-year plan to increase the number of students to 1,200, and the faculty proportionately, to ensure the maintenance of our student-tofaculty ratio. With the first 15 months of the growth plan behind us, and the 60th anniversary of the College’s founding approaching in 2020, the time is particularly appropriate to review our progress and to place the College’s future plans and aspirations in a larger context. In October, the Board of Trustees officially adopted the College’s 10-year strategic plan, Cultivating Curiosity. Unleashing Potential. You can see the overview below, or view the full plan on our website at: ncf.edu/strategic-plan. This strategic plan derives from the College’s mission, reflects our values, builds on the goals of the growth plan, and incorporates input from the campus community and Board of Trustees. One of the motivations for the growth plan was to raise our four-year graduation rate to above 80 percent. The smallest, high-quality liberal arts colleges have enrollments around 1,200 students with the supporting systems and co-curricular activities that come with that scale. While New College’s current four-year graduation rate of 54 percent exceeds the 2025 State University System Strategic Plan goal, it is considerably lower than those of public institutions ahead of us in the U.S. News & World Report ranking of national liberal arts colleges. With the implementation of the growth plan, and during the lifetime of this strategic plan, we will achieve that 80 percent goal. Our aspirations are higher yet: Eventually, we want that rate to exceed 90 percent, which will put us on par with the top 20 national liberal arts colleges, public or private. This plan outlines in some detail the steps we will take over the next ten years to achieve our eventual goal, with particular emphasis on the first three years. Although we have framed where we are going in terms of rankings, our ultimate rationale is not to win a rankings war, but to provide our students with a superlative education while we supply Florida and the nation with more of the talented New College graduates needed to maintain competitive advantage in the global economy.
OVERVIEW Cultivating Curiosity. Unleashing Potential. The Strategic Plan for New College of Florida 2018-2028 Why do we exist? New College of Florida prepares intellectually curious students for lives of great achievement. Where are we headed? New College will be recognized among the best 20 liberal arts colleges, public or private, in the nation. What will we achieve? 1,200 students by 2023-24 80 percent four-year graduation rate by 2027-28 How will we do it? 1) Recruit more students who will thrive at New College a) Tell the New College story b) Target intellectually curious, high-ability students c) Enroll students who reflect Florida’s racial and economic diversity 2) Cultivate curiosity a) Make campus a place where students want to be b) Immerse students in curricula that inspires, as discoveries of our time meet the past c) Work with students to help each one knit together the elements of a superlative education 3) Unleash student potential a) Build pathways for academic and career success b) Make Sarasota an educational destination c) Intensify links with alumni and communities Which work will we not do? We will not promote silos. We will not duplicate when we can collaborate.
ncf.edu/strategic-plan
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SO PERCUSSION
INTER/ACTION
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6 - CLUB SUDAKOFF
ENSEMBLE DAL NIENTE WITH GEORGE LEWIS SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2019 - SAINER
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10 - SAINER
TIGERS ABOVE AND TIGERS BELOW ELIZA LADD WITH NEW COLLEGE STUDENTS FRIDAY-SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15-17 - BLACK BOX THEATER
WET INK ENSEMBLE: KATE SOPER’S VOICES FROM THE KILLING JAR
SATURDAY, APRIL 27 - CLUB SUDAKOFF
newmusicnewcollege.org facebook.com/newmusicnewcollege www.ncf.edu
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Complex Thinkers Solving Complex Problems New College hires 15 new assistant professors to expand faculty diversity and interdisciplinary expertise. BY JA ME S E S P O S I TO ‘13
KATHLEEN CASTO, ONE OF 15 NEW FACULTY MEMBERS WHO JOINED NEW COLLEGE’S FACULTY, has an ongoing research
project involving athletes’ hormone levels and how they affect the ways athletes socialize after competition. While her title is assistant professor of psychology, her work is a mix of psychology, biology and other fields. Other new arrivals include a new media artist, an environmental economist, a genomics researcher, and a human geographer. This cohort exemplifies New College’s goal of building diverse, interdisciplinary expertise and shaping its academic orientation as it expands the faculty by 50 percent over the next several years. “Problems are complex, and what we need are complex thinkers,” explains Provost Barbara Feldman, who oversaw the yearlong recruitment and hiring process for the new professors. Rather than seeking individual faculty in singular disciplines, New College pursued an alternative strategy of hiring clusters of candidates in interdisciplinary fields. “You end up getting really interesting people,” Feldman says, “because they have combinations of expertise you couldn’t sit and think about and design an ad for.” Casto, for example, found the ad for her position listed under neuroscience, which drew her to New College. “Usually, the job search requires you to pigeonhole yourself, to be a certain kind of psychologist. But I don’t fit any type of psychology to a T,” she said. “ So I was really happy to find a place that was searching for someone interdisciplinary. I feel like I found the perfect place, somewhere that wanted to embrace my interdisciplinary science.” Casto’s research interest—essentially the interaction of mind and body—stems from her time as a Division 1 runner at University of North Carolina Wilmington, but she notes that she is not a sports psychologist. Instead, she says, a Venn diagram of her research would
define the intersection of multiple fields—primarily behavioral endocrinology, the relationship between hormones and social behavior, but also neuroscience, social psychology and organizational behavior. “I like to apply those areas, not necessarily to sports performance, but to the interesting social dynamics between individuals on teams and individuals in competition,” she said. “It’s more the psychology of competition and managing social relationships in groups.” In one recent project, Casto measured women’s soccer players’ levels of the hormones testosterone and cortisol. After the game, she assessed the players’ willingness to reconcile with their opponents, measured by their willingness to shake hands, apologize for fouls, or just talk. She found that win or lose, players with higher testosterone levels were more willing to make peace with the other team. She says her findings suggest testosterone may motivate women to behaviors that promote status through social cohesion rather than individual dominance. Professor of English Miriam Wallace, who chairs the Humanities Division, lauded the opportunity to cultivate a greater breadth of interdisciplinary scholarship. “Because we’ve been so small, some people have been a little bit nervous about doing more interdisciplinary work or reaching outside of their disciplinary expertise because they’re afraid to get overwhelmed,” she says. “You already have as many students as you can handle, and I think that’s tended to make us stay in our corners more than we should. One of the strengths of a small school should be the flexibility.” Wallace also notes that the expansion of New College’s full-time faculty is remarkable because it defies the current trend of higher education institutions to rely increasingly on adjunct professors and part-time lecturers to teach their students. “The fact that [the state] funded us to do this is incredible,” Wallace said. “Almost always, it’s ‘You bring in
“Problems are complex, and what we need are complex thinkers.” - Provost Barbara Feldman
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COMPLEX THINKERS / FEATURE
As with most new faculty, Kathleen Casto’s research is at the intersection of several fields.
students, and then maybe we’ll give you some more faculty.’” By purposefully hiring professors in five clusters (arts, global, human and artificial intelligence, natural sciences, and sustainability) New College has been able to attract earlycareer scholars from burgeoning new fields of study. Casto’s position, for example, falls in the human and artificial intelligence cluster. She notes that research in behavioral endocrinology has only recently started to expand. She hopes to team with professors in psychology and biology to create a neuroscience/psychobiology core, which in turn will create opportunities for students. “Having a background, not only in the classics of psychology, but also in the up-andcoming bio-psychology, you have more options as to where you can go for grad programs,” she said. Students benefit in many ways from this infusion of new faculty, most notably in that it enables New College to maintain its low student/faculty ratio of 10:1 as it seeks to grow the size of its student body from approximately 850 to 1,200 students in the next several years. “That is important because our model really depends on face-to-face interaction
between faculty and students and building a kind of personal intellectual relationship,” Wallace says. The Theater Department emphasized the importance of student-centric learning in the search process by arranging for faculty candidates to meet with students, take student-led tours of the campus, and deliver lectures and workshops to students. Rachel Ceciro, a 2018 graduate with an area of concentration in literature and anthropology, had the opportunity to meet with each of the candidates and offer her input to the search committee. “It feels good to have been collaborated with in an important decision because it made me feel like students really mattered,” she says. As the new academic year gets underway, Provost Feldman and the New College faculty are ramping up for another round of hires. New College plans to recruit seven new professors in epidemiology and global public health, medical anthropology, constitutional law, applied statistics, medical humanities, Russian language and literature, and creative writing.
www.ncf.edu
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INVEST IN AN EXTRAORDINARY FUTURE. New College student Mackenna Jensen grew up in Ohio, a long way from Florida’s beautiful coastlines. But she always loved the water and by high school, she knew she wanted to study marine biology. Mackenna was excited to discover New College’s hands-on program—but didn’t think her family could afford it. Then her impossible dream came true, thanks to scholarships from generous donors. Her academic work at Florida’s honors college has included shark tagging in the Gulf of Mexico and conducting studies on the inter-tidal Sarasota Bay fish ecology. When she graduates, Mackenna wants to work with animals in an aquarium. She would love to help save threatened and endangered sea turtles. When you make a gift to the New College Fund, you are helping create an extraordinary future for intellectually-curious students like Mackenna Jensen. You are making it possible for them to worry less about how they can afford college—and more about how they’re going to use their education.
New College Foundation 941.487.4800 donate.ncf.edu/the-new-college-fund
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ALUMNAE/I FOCUS
Three Alums Join NCAA Board
The New College Alumnae/i Association welcomes three new members to its Board of Directors, each of whom will serve a single three-year term. (For a complete listing of the NCAA board, see the inside front cover of this Nimbus.) Rob Bilott ’83 is a partner with the Taft law firm, based in Cincinnati. A seasoned litigator, he represents a diverse range of clients on a wide variety of matters involving federal, state and local environmental laws. For more than 27 years, he has handled environmental issues of regulatory compliance, permitting and corporate/real estate transactions, as well as all aspects of litigation arising from such issues, from administrative hearings to multi-party, complex multi-district litigation, mass torts and class actions. Bilott has more than 17 years of experience handling issues involving perflurochemical contamination of drinking water supplies across the country, and he was featured in The New York Times article, “The Lawyer Who Became Dupont’s Worst Nightmare.” He attended New College from 1983 to 1987 with a concentration in political science, and he received his J.D., cum laude, from the Ohio State University College of Law, where he served as managing editor of the Law Journal. He is a Fellow in the Right Livelihood College and an Honorary Professor at the National University of Cόrdoba in Argentina. Dan Stults ’77 studied psychology at New College, then he earned an M.A. and Ph.D. from Michigan State. Now retired and living in Sarasota, Stults’s career focused on consumer products and pharmaceutical marketing research, most recently as head of Global Business Intelligence for AbbVie. He previously served as executive director of Bristol Myers
Squibb. Other posts include executive vice president of Research International, vice president & regional director of M/A/R/C, and market research director for The Quaker Oats Company. Jay White ’70 attended New College from 1970 to 1974 with a concentration in English/Creative Writing. He holds an M.A. in English Literature from Colorado State University and an M.F.A. from Vermont College. Now a semi-retired marketing consultant, White was owner of NaturMed, a nutritional supplement company located in Camp Verde, Ariz. He was a freelance writer/consultant for 40 years in the field of direct marketing, consulting with Fortune 500 companies such as Meredith Corporation and Time Life. White has published reviews, articles, fiction and poetry in over 100 well-known journals, including The New York Times, The L.A. Times and The New Republic. The NCAA Board meets four times a year and oversees the support organization’s core programs, services, fundraising, communications, and events. The Board of Directors and the NCAA staff welcome comments and suggestions for activities. Please email your ideas to ncalum@ncf.edu or directly to Kathleen McCoy, assistant director of alumnae/i relations, at kmccoy@ncf.edu.
2018 NCAA Book Awards
The New College book award program, administered by the NCAA, recognizes outstanding high school juniors by presenting them with a book from New College. The program is a great recruiting tool since it introduces high-achieving high school students to New College. Whenever possible, an alumnus or alumna represents the College. Frazier Carraway ’72 and Jack Massa ’71 participated in this year’s program. They are pictured here with Matt Schultz at Tampa Preparatory School and Anh Phung from Cardinal Mooney High School in Sarasota. Other participating schools this year included Broward College North Campus, Mater Academy, Bayshore High School, St. Thomas Aquinas High School, and St. Stephen’s Episcopal School.
www.ncf.edu
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PROFILE / CLINTON OVERTON ’16
A New Tack Learning to fix boats and sail them, Clinton Overton ’16 brings the
New College ethos to the waterfront program BY DAV ID GULLIV ER
IT’S A LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AT THE NEW COLLEGE WATERFRONT, the sun starting to set over Sarasota Bay.
Between that picture-postcard weather and the calendar—it’s just a few weeks before graduation—the waterfront is bustling. Clinton Overton is tightening the bolts on a catamaran’s rudder when a pair of students walks up, asking to use a sailboard. Overton, a third-year and a student worker at the waterfront, helps them get the board into the water and attach the brilliant pink, turquoise, and purple sail. By the time they’re set, two more students have shown up, looking to check out kayaks. He sets them up, then grabs a pitchfork and clears mounds of washed-up sea grass to let them drag the boats into the water more easily. Overton, a student staffer at the waterfront program, officially works there 10 to 15 hours a week, but admits he comes down another 10 to 15 hours on his own. “I’m here a lot,” he says, almost sheepishly. “It’s one of my favorite places to be. It’s where I spend most of my time.” Overton is a Florida native, but from Orlando, relatively
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far from Florida’s coasts. He came to New College for its programs in economics and computer science, but the access to the water was a big draw. “I’d only been sailing once before I came here,” he said. “Part of why I came here was for the waterfront. I’ve always loved the water, and the idea of being able to take out boats was definitely attractive to me.” He considered other colleges, but was sold on New College almost from the start. “It’s just such a unique college, plus the campus is gorgeous,” he said. “Classes are important, but I’m only in class a certain amount of time.” The self-taught sailor sees the waterfront program as an extension of New College’s academic ethos—to dive in, take on a challenge, and come at it from different angles until you find a solution. “I’ve certainly learned a lot about sailing and boats, but also I’ve learned a lot about repair work,” he said. “A lot of what I do is, I find something that’s broken, I head back into that tool shed over there, and I look for whatever bits of metal I think I can stick together to make whatever it is I’m working on, work again.” For him, his work maintaining and repairing the boats, and his enjoyment of sailing, are intertwined. “If I repair a boat, and I get to take it out for the first time it’s been out in however long, it feels good knowing that was something I put my time and effort into,” he said. He points to the boat he is working on, a Hobie 18 catamaran. The Hobie 18 is a beloved classic, but this one is at least 30 years old. “When I got here, that catamaran…nobody touched it, nobody was sailing it, it had mildew on it, it didn’t look like something you’d want out on the water.” In fact, he said, he was told it would never sail again, that
then lost key members to graduation. the hulls needed to be replaced. But he checked, and found it The first step is just getting people to appreciate what the just needed several smaller repairs. That didn’t mean they waterfront has to offer. were easy—for example, it was missing a “Walk down here, take your bike, do specialized cleat, and such things can be whatever it takes, put in the time to get difficult to replace on a boat that has been “I’d only been sailing once down here, because it’s worth the time,” out of production for 15 years. before I came here. he said. But with some improvisation, and about Part of why I came here “People say, ‘I don’t know how to sail, I 20 hours of work, the Hobie was ready. was for the waterfront. don’t know how to rig boats, do I really want “After putting that time in, I had a fully I’ve always loved the to walk all the way down there?’ Yes. You functioning boat that is now the fastest water, and the idea of do.” He laughs. boat we have here,” he said. “It just feels “Walk down here, and we can teach you, really, really good to be able to do that. being able to take out and get you to the point where every time And I can take people out on it, and it’s a boats was definitely you have a few hours free from class, you’re really good boat for teaching.” attractive to me.” coming down here, you’re getting out on the Teaching, in fact, is the heart of the water, you’re getting some exercise, you’re waterfront program, whether it’s how to getting your mind off classes. It’s really just being willing to use a sailboard, or how to race sailboats. Overton and other take the time to learn. You’re at college—that’s what you’re students are reviving New College’s sailing team, which just a doing here. Come and learn a new skill.” few years ago was one of the top teams in the southeast but
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PROFILE / CHRISTIN MURPHY ’04
Seal Scholar New College let Christin Murphy ’00 get access to a lab as an undergrad, kicking off a scientific career that’s helping the Navy make sensors inspired by seal whiskers BY B ETH LUBE RECKI FROM A YOUNG AGE, CHRISTIN MURPHY KNEW she wanted to pursue marine science research. So when she started looking at colleges, she was anxious to hear about all the experiments she’d be conducting and data she’d be collecting. “Everyplace that I visited would show me the labs they had—and then tell me that I wouldn’t be doing research until graduate school, of course,” she recalls. “Even though every university I looked at had great research facilities, they wouldn’t be accessible to me as an undergraduate. I felt like I had been waiting my whole life for this and it was all being pushed away from me. And then I got to New College.” She jumped at the opportunity to work in the lab as soon as she arrived at New College. “Within my first semester I was working at Mote Marine Laboratory and doing research side-by-side with my advisor,” says Murphy, who grew up in New York. “It was part of my education at New College the entire time.” That hands-on experience helped lay the groundwork for her post-college career. After graduating from New College in 2004 with a degree in biopsychology, Murphy earned a
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Fulbright fellowship to Spain, where she studied the neural components of spatial memory in fish. She’d conducted behavioral experiments researching that subject for her thesis at New College. That experience was followed by a stint as a teacher for the Ocean Classroom Foundation, an immersive, ship-based education program for high school students. “It was a kind of learning environment I was already used to from New College,” says Murphy. “It had a similar concept of learning through doing, of letting students lead their own educational path by asking questions and doing hands-on exploration.” As she began preparing for graduate school, she reconnected with her New College advisor, Professor Gordon Bauer, and started working with him again at Mote. That’s where she first met Dr. David Mann, a marine biologist from the University of South Florida who would later become her Ph.D. advisor. “While I was holding a manatee with both hands, Gordon decided to introduce me to Dr. Mann,” she laughs. She went to work as a tech in his lab at USF, where she eventually enrolled in the Ph.D. program in the Department of Biological Oceanography. For Murphy, the research-intensive focus of graduate school was akin to her undergraduate experience. “New College was structured so much like a graduate school that it was an environment I was already used to,” she says. “At New College it wasn’t so much about the facts that you were learning as it was about the process of inquiry. I learned how to ask the right questions and gather the tools to answer those questions, and how to think critically about all aspects of something.” For her Ph.D., she studied how seals use their whiskers to process their environment and detect prey. The potential technological applications of her doctoral research led to her current role as a research scientist for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island, where she’s
At left, Murphy receives the Navy’s “Top Scientists of the Year - Emergent Investigator Award” at a 2106 ceremony at the Pentagon. Right, Murphy works with a sea lion during her Ph.D. program. Below, Murphy and New College Professor Gordon Bauer at her Ph.D. graduation ceremony.
part of a team developing bio-inspired underwater sensor systems. “Seal whiskers have a highly specialized structure and have bumps on them that no other animals have,” explains Murphy, who is seeking to understand how those bumps might help seals extract information from their environment. One way to do that: measuring and analyzing responses to fluid disturbances. She works alongside theoretical mathematicians and mechanical, electrical, and software engineers in a cross-disciplinary collaboration that is reminiscent of her New College days. “It’s one of the things Professor Heidi Harley emphasized all throughout New College, how important it is getting other people at the table to think,” says Murphy. “That’s what helps you not be constrained in your questioning, and then the sky’s the limit, pretty much.” Murphy considers the relationships she developed with Professors Harley and Bauer among the most defining elements of her New College experience. Harley was the moderator for her dissertation, and Bauer hooded her at her Ph.D. graduation ceremony. “And now I go to them as colleagues for advice,” she says. New College also trained her to talk about her work in an interesting way, thanks to all the essay tests and class presentations that were part of her undergraduate education. “Every task we did was dependent on you taking your information or findings, putting it in your own words, and conveying it to your audience,” she says. “So now there’s really no audience you can throw at me that I would be afraid of. I feel prepared to tell these stories to anyone—and Iike it. That discourse was so much a part of the education at New College that it becomes second nature.”
“At New College it wasn’t so much about the facts that you were learning as it was about the process of inquiry. I learned how to ask the right questions and gather the tools to answer those questions, and how to think critically about all aspects of something.”
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PROFILE / MARK DANCIGERS
Classically Innovative Professor Mark Dancigers launches Digital Media and Music Program BY ER ICH BARGA NIE R ‘ 10
MARK DANCIGERS MAY HAVE TRAINED in a classical conservatory environment, but he isn’t your typical musician. “I got attracted to the electric guitar in the way many people do—rock music, metal music, elaborate progressive instrumental music,” Dancigers said. “I sort of heard there was a connection between interesting electric guitar music and classical music but the connection didn’t seem real to me until I got to college. When I got to undergrad, I realized people were really interested in writing for the electric guitar in all sorts of contexts. That was a gateway for me into the classical community.” Dancigers isn’t a stranger to new musical ideas or New College—in addition to being an active composer and electric guitarist in the trailblazing NOW Ensemble, he served as a visiting professor of music for five years before moving to teach at Redlands University. When he heard that New College was seeking an instructor for a newly-created music and media position, he jumped on the opportunity. “Technology makes leaps and bounds every year,” Dancigers said. “So to have a program that can adapt to that and be responsive to students is going to be a really cool project.” Dancigers has rejoined the New College community as assistant professor of digital media and music. “Now we’re going to have a regular schedule of at least two electronic music classes a year, possibly more,” Dancigers said. “These two things are going to be my priorities—how will the program move forward and how will we make sure the students coming out of the program are really successful in what they do and really satisfied with what New College will offer them?” In order to build the program of digital media and music, Dancigers plans to bridge gaps between AOCs by creating new dance, film, and music projects. “When I previously taught at New College, I had collaborated with professors in sculpture and professors in dance for a number of projects with electronic music, and in the future, I’m looking to make that broader,” Dancigers said. “Looking outside and saying ‘Okay, what would a collaboration with a sociology course look like?’ Could we take some interesting data sets and transform them into powerful pieces of sound art? I don’t know if there’s ever been a class like that. That’s the wonderful thing about New College—you can make that happen!” Dancigers also plans to expand the newly-minted program into the greater Sarasota community. “Ringling is an
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interesting possibility. We have a good number of music faculty and resources and Ringling College of Art and Design has great strengths in animation and film, and there could be opportunities to get those programs together. That’s certainly something on my radar,” Dancigers said. In preparation for the fall semester, Dancigers concocted several projects inspired by what he wished he had access to when he was a student. “Some things that were a little hard to get studio time with included things like multi-channel work—we can set up a studio where students have access to 4-, 6-, and 8-channel sound,” Dancigers said. “There’s so much to be done in multi-channel sound art just because it’s inaccessible. Why not make it more accessible? Same with analogue synths. There’s tremendous possibilities.” At the end of the day, Danciger’s vision of the program is driven by New College’s own ethos of open-mindedness and exploration. “New College’s experimental and rigorous academic model is very very relevant in the world of education today and can actually be a model for what an ideal educational experience can be,” Dancigers said. “I think that is true, having taught at a number of different places, and if I can be a small part of that, that is really an excellent, exciting prospect for me.”
LILIANA BENITEZ ’16 / PROFILE
The Buzz on Campus Students bring beekeeping back to New College BY DAVE GULLIV ER
BEES HAVE BEEN LILIANA “LILI” BENITEZ’S FRIENDS longer than she can remember—quite literally, as she’ll tell you. Benitez was very young, maybe 18 months old, and her mother brought her out to the backyard of their Austin, Texas, home. Mom looked away for a moment, looked back and saw bee after bee flying to Benitez and landing on her—not stinging her, just landing and flying off again. “And I was as happy as a clam,” she says. “So that was my first encounter with bees. I don’t remember it, but I believe it’s had a pretty lasting impact on me.” Apparently so. For much of her first two years at New College, Benitez has been working to bring bees back to campus. In May, she and other students reached a milestone: A team of science and arts students renovated and decoratively painted 10 hives that were placed on the Caples Campus. Sarasota Honey, a local company, will be housing its bees in the New College hives. For Benitez, it’s another stage of the lifelong relationship that began in her backyard. When she got to school, she became a bee rescuer. “You know how you can find bees on windowsills, inside, trying to get out through the window? Well, me and my friends, we would scoop up the bees in our hands and take them outside, so they wouldn’t die on the windowsill.” In middle school, a beekeeper came to her school, and her interest grew. She tried to bring beehives to her high school, but the project ended with resistance from the school’s administration. At New College, though, she found encouragement and support from her first days on campus. Emily Saarinen, associate professor of biology and environmental studies, and an alumna, had already been talking with students in the Pollinator Ecology Club, which had started a year before. She joined the club her first semester, and then leader Reed Barry, who graduated in 2017, broke the group into teams. Benitez joined the beekeeping team, which met with Alma Johnson, co-owner and chief beekeeper of Sarasota Honey. That meeting led to an independent study project in January, where Benitez and fellow students Sydney Clingo and Kevin Howlett read the “Beekeeper’s Handbook,” a introduction to beekeeping, wrote three papers, and then contacted members of the New College community, like Emeritus Professor Elzie McCord, an entonomologist. Benitez also interned with Johnson at Sarasota Honey. By spring of her first year, students wrote a proposal on
bringing hives to campus. It worked its way through committees and revisions, and led to a review of potential sites on the Caples Campus. As New College staff explored the Caples grounds, they stumbled upon thousands of bees living in dilapidated, decades-old man-made hives. Johnson recovered them, and now those bees—descendants of an earlier beekeeping effort at New College—will return and be among those housed in the new hives. By last fall, the start of Benitez’s second year, the approvals were in place. By early spring, students sought and received money from the College’s Green Fee for fencing around the hives’ location, and the painting project got underway. By fall 2018, 10 hives were in place, housing more than 40,000 bees It’s the sort of experience Benitez was expecting when she chose New College, after her mom gave her the guidebook 40 Colleges That Change Lives. “I looked through it and ruled out all the cold places,” she said, laughing. “I read the description of New College, and it really resonated with me.” “I went to Montessori school growing up, and that kind of holistic education is what I was really looking for,” she said. “I went to a huge high school and I was not a fan of feeling like I was a number in a huge sea of people, and I wanted to have that close relationship with professors.” New College’s narrative evaluations also were important to her, after being caught up chasing GPA and rankings through high school. “I just really wanted to get away from that and focus on learning because I love to learn, and not because of grades.” Benitez’s long-term plans include pursuing a graduate degree in conservation biology or natural resource management, as well as hiking the Appalachian Trail and completing the training she needs to be a certified teacher of kung fu. She’s also going to stick with beekeeping, even though her relationship with bees is occasionally painful. Becoming a beekeeper means she finally has been stung, and more than once (foot, arm, and pinky finger, the last one the most painful). But her sympathies still reside with the bees. “It just makes me sad, honestly, because honeybees die after they sting you. And I already feel bad since—it’s totally justified—we’re invading their home, moving things around, freaking them out. It’s totally valid for them to sting me.”
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PROFILE / BEVERLY KOSKI
A Transformative Philanthropist Without Beverly Koski, there would be no bell tower BY LINDA JOFFE
BEVERLY KOSKI AND HER LATE HUSBAND, BOB, always had a strong regard for libraries and books. So it was natural that Beverly’s entry into the New College universe was through the doors of the Jane Bancroft Cook Library. It was 1969, and Beverly and her husband had just decided to settle in Sarasota. They moved from Cleveland with three children under 10, and Bob spent two years working at a company called Fluid Controls. Beverly helped her husband launch what would become a leader in the industrial valve manufacturing business, Sun Hydraulics. The former elementary school teacher threw herself into the challenge, working in the office for about 10 years. “I wanted to get involved in the community, but I was still working,” recalls Beverly. “New College had really just begun, and I was attracted to its philosophy, the opportunities for young people to choose what they wanted to study, to be guided by mentors. I got involved in the library association not just because I’d always been interested in books, but because it was something I could do on my work schedule!” Over the years, her engagement grew. Beverly ran the
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circulating library, served as vice president in charge of speakers and eventually as president of the support organization. She and Bob made one of the first large gifts to the library, and the Koski Core Collection Fund continues to help acquire new books and resources today.
Bell Tower with a Twist
Beverly’s most philanthropic—and arguably most visible— contribution to New College was the erection of a bell tower in the plaza in front of the library. The entire academic plaza is named “Koski Plaza” in recognition of the $1 million gift she made on behalf of herself and her late husband. Beverly’s dream of a bell tower on the New College campus hearkened back to her fond memories of the chapel bells at Ohio Wesleyan, where she received her own liberal arts degree in education, English and history. She had first proposed the idea decades earlier, but at the time books were a higher priority. By the time the concept resurfaced in 2012, New College had become independent from the University of South Florida, and the College had big plans for a physical transformation that included a new academic building and plaza. “It was at a book club occasion at the library when Bev reminded me of the initial plans,” recalls Gordon E. “Mike” Michalson, former president of the College, and now professor of humanities. “She said, ‘now that New College is independent, is there any way we could consider the bell tower?’ I replied, ‘You know, I think we’re ready to take you up on it!’” Michalson and Vice President of Finance John Martin dug out the initial plans and, in concert with the Foundation’s executive at the time, Andy Walker, they proposed funding that would include the bell tower and a small endowment to maintain it, which grew into a naming opportunity for the entire plaza. The firm of Renker-Eich-Parks Architects of St. Petersburg was engaged to design the tower.
From Ordinary to Extraordinary
Beverly considered the initial designs to be ordinary. “They just didn’t speak to me,” she recalls. “The design didn’t reflect the uniqueness or modern vision of New College.” The firm went back to the drawing board, which included a reading of the history of the College to uncover its core essence. “On the second go around, they nailed it,” she says with a smile. The striking design evokes the historic Four Winds seal, similar in theme to the nearby Four Winds “New College is a Sculpture, but with a place where students leaner, edgier structure. can reach their potential Located at a 45-degree angle from the library and where the faculty entrance, the obeliskare an inspiration,” she style tower rises 64 feet says. “It’s truly a privilege and features four to help make a difference.” twisting, precast concrete pilasters of differing heights. Holding the pillars together are two rings, and mounted between them are four bells built by the French company Paccard, often referred to as the “Stradivarius of bell makers.”
The bell tower was officially dedicated in February 2013, in conjunction with President Donal O’Shea’s inauguration. That same year, its ascending, forceful flow won the tower a Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Design Award—a testament to the fact that its namesake had pushed for, and achieved, a suitably avant-garde design.
Unfailingly Gracious and Well-Informed
Professor Michalson characterizes Beverly Koski as an “unfailingly gracious human being” with a generosity of spirit and a well-thought-out view of things. “Bev combines real, sharp intelligence with a deep appreciation of the liberal arts experience,” comments New College’s former president. “She knows how to ask strong strategic questions. She is always well informed. She is mission rather than ego oriented, with a clear understanding of her value in an important conversation.” As for Beverly, she believes that Sarasota has many jewels, which has led her to support organizations like Selby Gardens, the Asolo Theater, and the Ringling Museum. Among these ‘jewels,’ New College continues to hold a special place her heart. “New College is a place where students can reach their potential and where the faculty are an inspiration,” she says. “It’s truly a privilege to help make a difference.”
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FOUNDATION FOCUS
02 Endowed chairs and professorships $241,875
Academic Programs and Enhancements $923,731
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And Now to the Future by MaryAnne Young
On June 30, the New College Foundation closed an extraordinarily busy and productive fiscal year. Thanks to the generosity of our donors— and the hard work of our Boards and staff—we raised $2,256,895 for the College. (See pie chart for allocations.) Our main priority was to raise funds for student scholarships, which represent the College’s greatest need. We are deeply grateful to the many donors who stepped forward to endow scholarships, underwrite Novo Scholarships (annual outright scholarships) and other scholarship gifts, and to the 2017 Clambake attendees and sponsors who contributed $250,000 to the cause. Our heartfelt thanks to all of the alumni, parents, and community friends who turn dreams into reality for our brilliant, highly motivated students. As we entered a new fiscal year, we are working closely with the Board of Trustees, President O’Shea and Provost Feldman on the strategic plan, as this is where the College’s highest priorities and dreams emerge. The State of Florida has invested in New College in a significant way. We need your help in making those dreams a reality by also investing in New College’s intellectually curious students and brilliant faculty. We need your help with financial support, and we need your gift of volunteering talent and time. I encourage you to get involved, and to join us in making New College one of the best colleges in the country. Thank you!
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New College Library $31,824
Scholarships and Student Grants $1,059,465
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Scholarship Luncheon In April, the Foundation held its annual Scholarship Luncheon at The Keating Center. The luncheon was an opportunity for students to gather with donors who generously provided the scholarships that made their New College education possible. The Foundation awarded more than $900,000 in private scholarships for the 2017-18 academic year, plus another $70,000 in Student Research and Travel Grants. Two students, Christianna DeWind and Timothy Manning, gave inspirational speeches about what their scholarships meant to them at the event.
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New College is considered one of the country’s most affordable colleges, yet approximately 90 percent of our students require some form of financial aid to attend. The needs are particularly acute among first-generation, minority, and nonFlorida students. The Scholarship Luncheon is a way to personally connect donors with students and reinforce the value of scholarship funding. Giving Challenge: A Big Success The 2018 Giving Challenge, a 24-hour, online campaign presented by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County with giving strengthened by The Patterson Foundation, was a big success for New College, yielding almost $150,000 in support. The total included $57,000 representing 642 gifts, plus matches from The Patterson Foundation and Board of Trustees member Bill Johnston and his wife, Betsy. The New College Foundation ranked seventh for dollars raised and eighth for number of gifts made among the more than 630 nonprofit organizations participating in this year’s Giving Challenge. Bravo!
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Fiscal 2018 Income Distribution Total: $2,256,895
Women’s Giving Circle The Foundation recently launched a Women’s Giving Circle to provide women who are committed to New College an opportunity to join with others who are equally passionate about the College and want to have a voice in where their gifts are allocated.
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“In our inaugural year we are empowering and inspiring women to fulfill their leadership and philanthropic potential through charitable giving that enhances the New College of Florida experience,” says Geri Serot, Circle chair. “I started the project because I know how compassionate women can be, and how they are often overlooked when it comes to the decision-making process of supporting significant causes.” Members will hold an annual meeting to decide on which student or faculty grants to fund, and sponsor a luncheon to honor those grantees. “The Women’s Giving Circle is a way to build a community of philanthropists who will leave a legacy of funding critical projects for New College,” states Serot, who has been deeply involved in philanthropic initiatives in both Missouri and Florida. For more information, email her at geri.serot@yahoo.com or call 941-556-9363.
CLASS NOTES
1960s Charter class member Vicki Pearthree Raeburn ’65 and her husband, Charles Raeburn ‘64, recently celebrated their 50th anniversary with a group of their charter class friends. The recipient of a Ph.D. from Yale, Vicki served for 10 years on the New College Board of Trustees and has been on the New College Foundation Board since 1994, including four years as Board chair. She currently chairs the Investment Committee. Now an independent consultant, she is retired senior vice president, critical information, of IHS Markit, a global information provider based in London. She and her husband live in Cold Spring, N.Y.
1970s
Left to right: Sam Black, Esther Barazzone ’64, Craig Ramey, Laura Peters, Charles Raeburn ’64, Vicki Pearthree Raeburn ’65 , Kathleen Dively Coty ’64, John Peters ’64, Claudia Blair ’66, Sharon Landesman Ramey ’65, Abby Allgood Meismer ’65, Kenny Meismer ’64
Housing Advocate Award by the Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid of North Carolina. In 2000, Joyner and Parnell founded the Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities, Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Mebane, N.C., that conducts research and advocacy in the areas of fair housing, environmental justice, disability rights and education. Robert Allen ‘74, the senior partner at Robert Allen Law in Miami, gave a
problems that yacht brokers might face in listing agreements and how to solve them. Rob Atkinson’s ‘74 new book, Big is Beautiful: Debunking the Myth of Small Business, was published by The MIT Press in March 2018. He and co-author Michael Lind argue that small business is not, as is widely claimed, the basis of American prosperity.
Rick Kahn ’70 offers this brief summary of his life: married, two kids, both launched, two Bernese Mountain dogs to fill in. Ann Moss Joyner ’72 and her husband and partner, Allan Parnell, were awarded the 2018 Stella J. Adams Fair
presentation at the International Yacht Brokers Association’s East Coast Yacht Sales Summit on June 26 in Fort Lauderdale. It was entitled “The Exes: How to Safely Navigate the Exclusions List in Listing Agreements and Purchase and Sale Agreements,” and focused on
Andrew Howard ’75 reports that he has five degrees, including his New College B.A. in History, M.A./Ph.D. from University of Chicago, California Teaching Credential, and A.S. in Water Systems Technology. “I have worked as college professor, secondary school
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CLASS NOTES
teacher, and wastewater operator,” he says. “All of this is consistent with my lifelong interests in social sciences and ecology.” His daughter, Gaia SaetermoeHoward, is currently enrolled at the Eastman School of Music/University of Rochester, double majoring in music and archaeology. Dan Ryan ‘77 “retired” as protest from Mills College and now works at USC teaching in the Iovine Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation, as well as the Gould School of Law. He is teaching Legal Design Lab, Justice Innovation Startup Lab, and The Garage Experience. He reports, “The latter is our 16-credit capstone; projects this year range from artificial intelligence to knife sharpeners, from online marketplaces to tools for teaching reading to deaf children. Except for the anxiety about grades, a lot of resonance with the sort of things we used to do in Selby and Hansen.”
Laura Johnston ’81 writes that she is enjoying Granville, Ohio, but planning to return to Sarasota in a year or two.
1990s Nicholas Tampio ’91 announces the publication of his new book, Common Core: National Education Standards and the Threat to Democracy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018). The book, which Tampio says aims to bring a New College spirit into K-12 education policy debates, has been reviewed in The Wall Street Journal and discussed on CSPAN Book TV.
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2000s
1980s
Lauren Fields ‘06 (L.A. Fields) has provided annotations and commentary for The Annotated Joseph and His Friend: The Story of America’s First Gay Novel, an original novel by Bayard Taylor. She reports that it was “edited and blurbed” by fellow New College alums Layla Byrd ’06 and Katharine Stevenson ‘08, Ph.D. Joseph and His Friend is the story of a young Pennsylvania farmer, Joseph Asten, and his marriage to Julia Blessing around the same time as a more powerful friendship arises in his life. Joseph’s chance meeting with Philip Held casts doubts on the motivations of his brideto-be, and as her duplicity is revealed during their marriage, Joseph’s love for Philip becomes more and more vital to his survival.
Submit a class note:
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Any day is a good day to give to New College, but on this year’s #GivingTuesday you have the chance to double your gift. All gifts received on #GivingTuesday (November 27) will be matched 1:1 up to $5,000 per gift/per person up to $100K. Help us reach our goal of $200K in 24 hours by going to donate.ncf.edu/the-new-college-fund. P.S. If you miss #GivingTuesday, your gift still matters!
The 56,000-square-foot Heiser Natural Sciences Complex includes teaching and research labs for chemistry, biochemistry, biology, bioinformatics, computational science, mathematics and physics. Each year, one-quarter to one-third of New College students major in sciences or mathematics—a greater percentage than any other Florida institution other than University of Florida.
PICTURE PERFECT
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ORIENTATION 2018
2018 Class Profile
222
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members of the 2018 incoming class at New College of Florida
foreign countries are represented including: Australia, Germany, Peru, Turkey, Switzerland, Mexico, Israel, Czech Republic, Japan, France, Cuba, Canada, and the UK
38 PERCENT of the new students were in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class, and 60 PERCENT were in the top 20 percent. Average GPA =
4.03
More than half of the incoming students had a GPA of 4.03 or better.
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states are represented