Earlhamite - Summer 2014 by Earlham College

Earlhamite INTEGRATED LEARNING

THE MAGAZINE OF EARLHAM COLLEGE / SUMMER 2014

Your old roommate may look a little different and some of the buildings may be new to you, but the spirit of Earlham is forever.

“

– Distinctively –

EARLHAM

EARLHAM IS a place which makes me feel optimistic about the world and good inside about myself. Earlham and my family are with me on a daily basis, reminding me to challenge the status quo, create and support community, think critically, and to listen to all sides. They are intrinsically entwined in my life. I always laugh the entire weekend. It’s definitely good for the soul!

”

—Adriene Codelia ’89

Make your way Back to The Heart for Homecoming and Reunion Weekend October 24-26, 2014.

Renew old friendships, discover wonderful things students and faculty are accomplishing together, and remind yourself what makes Earlham an amazing place as the College dedicates the new Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, hosts the very first All African American Alumni Celebration, and dedicates the new Randal R. Sadler Baseball Stadium.

Grab a friend

Earlham.

This year, we’ll be celebrating class years ending in 4 and 9. Visit earlham.edu/homecoming for more information or to make a gift in honor of your reunion.

Homecoming Reunion Weekend

BEARING TIDINGS OF PROSPERITY AND VICISSITUDES OF EARLHAM TO ITS FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS ...

SUMMER

2014

FEATURES

FINDING YOUR PATH BY JONATHAN GRAHAM

The College has opened the Center for Integrated Learning (CIL) — a hub for experiential learning that offers students a variety of services.

SKILLED SERVICE BY BRIAN ZIMMERMAN

Dakota Collins ’15 is helping a new generation of youth find their way into everyday discussions at the city building.

HANDS-ON LIBRARY CAREER EXPLORATION BY DENISE PURCELL

THE KALE GUY BY SUSAN MILLER

Drew Ramsay ’96, M.D., has passion for kale, and his skills as a psychiatrist have made him a well-known authority on the connections between diet and brain health.

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES BY DENISE PURCELL

LEARNING FROM VIRTUAL WORLDS BY DENISE PURCELL

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PRESIDENT’S NOTE

What do the following have in common?

rest of that unperceived spectrum like

Interstellar gases; AM radio stations; a

for us? Is it like the manifestation of

microwave oven; our skin; fireflies; the

God in the world?

Sun; an airport screening machine; and the universe?

At Earlham, our vision of liberal arts education aims for integrated learning.

If you didn’t succumb to old memories

Each individual Earlham student is

of test-taking panic but calmly guessed,

the site of potential integration, despite

“They all give off electromagnetic

being pulled in countless directions by

radiation,” you would be right! These

the disintegrative forces of our culture.

emitters of energy particles called

The goal of integrated learning and

photons define points on a single

our aspiration to personal and group

electromagnetic spectrum, points we

integrity go together: both knowledge

designate as radio waves, microwaves,

and self-identity require the recognition

infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet

of difference and the perception of

radiation, x-rays, and gamma rays.

interconnectedness, relationship, and

We don’t fully understand what any of

kinship. Integrated understanding is not

these points is unless we integrate our

homogenization; ultraviolet light rays

understanding and come to see them as

are not identical to X-rays, so it’s wise not

various manifestations of one thing —

to rely on sunscreen when we visit the

electromagnetic radiation.

dentist.

Our sense organs limit what we are able

But there is more. Earlham’s Quaker

to “put together,” and so much integrated

tradition also leads us to “sense” that the

understanding must be learned; it cannot

integrative understanding we seek goes

simply be perceived. In this case, we can

beyond what our physical senses may

see with our eyes only within that very

discern. Honorary “Quaker” poet William

small portion of the electromagnetic

Blake shared that perception in his 1788

spectrum known as visible light. We

declaration that “There is No Natural

cannot see x-rays or gamma rays with

Religion,” with an argument for the

our eyes (and as it turns out, we cannot

limitation of sense perception. He writes:

actually “see” what we call “visible” light with our eyes either, though we can

The Argument: Man has no sense of moral

perceive objects illuminated by that light).

fitness but from Education. Naturally he is

So understanding the electromagnetic

only a natural organ subject to Sense.

spectrum is the culmination of centuries

1. Man cannot naturally Percieve but

of experimentation and learning. Just waking up each day and looking around

through his natural or bodily organs. 2. Man by his reasoning power can

would never reveal to us the rest of the

only compare & judge of what he has

electromagnetic spectrum. What is the

already perciev’d.

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

3. From a perception of only 3 senses or 3 elements none could deduce a fourth or fifth. 4. None could have other than natural or organic thoughts if he had none but organic perceptions. 5. Man’s desires are limited by his perceptions; none can desire what he has not perciev’d. 6. The desires & perceptions of man, untaught by any thing but organs of sense, must be limited to objects of sense. But Blake believed, as do those of us who find ourselves being “shaped by the distinctive perspectives of the Society of Friends,” that we need not remain “untaught by any thing but organs of sense.” He declares that human perceptions “are not bounded by organs of perception”; we perceive “more than sense (tho’ ever so acute) can discover.” Learning by attending to what Blake called “the Poetic or Prophetic” sense, or what George Fox regarded as “that of God within,” holds out for Earlhamites the possibility of a more profound integration and integrity. —David Dawson, President

Earlhamite

THE MAGAZINE OF EARLHAM COLLEGE Editor Jonathan Graham Class Notes Editor Ellen Blevens Art Director Susanna Tanner Contributing Editors Denise Purcell and Brian Zimmerman Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications Tamara Cissna Vice President for Enrollment and Communications Jonathan Stroud Vice President for Institutional Advancement Jim McKey ’78 Academic Dean Greg Mahler President John David Dawson

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DEPARTMENTS

06 New & Notable 18 Three Pillars of Integrated Learning 23 Classnotes and Obituaries 26 Lookback 47 Fact Sheet 58 Earlham School of Religion 60 Sports Focus 62 Faculty Activities 68 Commencement Photo Collage 70 Last Laugh Read the latest alumni profiles, submit classnotes, check out upcoming events and more at earlham.edu/alumni.

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Earlhamite magazine is the oldest college alumni magazine in continuous publication in the United States. Today it is published twice a year, in January and July, and continues to follow the statement of purpose that has guided it since its 1873 founding: “a regular messenger going out and bearing tidings of prosperity and vicissitudes of Earlham to its friends and supporters, and bringing all associated here into communication with one another.” Opinions expressed in the magazine are those of the signed contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position of Earlham College. Writers wishing to submit manuscripts to the magazine are encouraged to submit a query letter to the editor first, as space is limited and issues of the magazine are planned months in advance and according to selected themes. Address correspondence to Earlhamite, Marketing and Communications, Earlham College, 801 National Road West, Richmond, IN 47374. Phone: 765-983-1292. Email: grahajo@earlham.edu Earlham College reaffirms its commitment, in all of its activities and processes, to treat all people equally, without concern for age, gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality or ethic origin.

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ABOUT THE COVER Mark Reidy’s digital work still maintains the sensitivity of the hand skills he learned while painting and drawing his way through the pre-computer age. “I’ve always viewed the computer as a tool to help me reproduce what I would have created by hand.” Mark graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design with recognition as the top advertising design graduate. earlham.edu

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NEW Notable A Banner Year for Fulbrights

Four students and two recent graduates from Earlham have earned prestigious Fulbright Scholarships for the 2014-15 academic year. The grants will fund ambitious research or teaching experiences in locations around the globe. The six recipients — Rosalyn Endlich ’12, Brian Forman ’14, Hanley Fultz ’14, Shannon Herbert ’14, Chris Marshall ’13 and Hugh Schmidt ’14 — continue the College’s strong tradition of producing well-prepared, postgraduate Rosalyn Endlich’12 scholars. In fact, Earlham has produced 25 Fulbrights since 2004 and was named to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s list of the Top Fulbright Producing Institutions in 2012. That Brian Forman ’14 and Hugh year the College produced Schmidt ’14 four Fulbrights.

Shannon Herbert ’14

“The Chronicle rates Earlham alongside the best institutions in the country, which is a testament to our talented students and the College’s emphasis on global engagement,” says Assistant Professor of History Elana Passman, the College’s Fulbright Grant Liaison. “There is fierce competition to make the list, and we are positioned to be included on it again this year.”

Hanley Fultz ’14

After graduation, Fultz, Herbert, Marshall and Schmidt will travel to Austria, Taiwan and South Korea, respectively, and serve as Englishlanguage teaching assistants. Schmidt also will conduct

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

research on what he calls the untold story of the Anschluss, the German annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. Endlich, now the Peace and Global Studies Program Associate at Earlham, will conduct research on the transformative power of urban agriculture in Toronto with funding from the grant. The grant also will support her enrollment in the master’s program in Environmental Studies at York University. Forman earned a Fulbright to research religion and witchcraft of the 14th and 15th centuries in France but has declined his grant. He instead will carry out his research at Northwestern University, where he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in history, beginning this fall. That research delves specifically into the radicalization of late medieval demonology by exploring changing conceptions of the witches’ Sabbath in elite culture. Designed to increase mutual understanding between people of the United States and other countries, the Fulbright Scholarship is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the United States government. The grants cover living and travel expenses. Earlham graduates have long been strong candidates for Fulbright scholarships, given the College’s emphasis on exceptional academics and international engagement. “My Earlham education completely shifted the way I see and understand the world,” Schmidt says. “I feel so much more prepared to step out and see it in a far more nuanced way.”

Building Boom

If you like heavy machinery, construction fencing and piles of dirt, this would be a great time to plan a visit back to your alma mater. Earlham’s campus is the site of multiple building projects this summer. When completed, they will provide excellent new facilities to students and take steps toward a more environmentally sustainable campus. Opening next fall is Center for Visual and Performing Arts, the College’s first purpose-built home for art, music

and

NEW Notable and theatre arts. The College will seek LEED certification for this building, which will include dedicated classroom, studio and rehearsal spaces for art, music and theatre arts, a welcoming lobby, an intimate theatre with moveable seats and Lingle Music Hall — a rehearsal and recital facility. The latest phase of the science facility project is currently underway, with completion expected by May of 2015. The 42,000 square foot addition, which will house computer science, mathematics, physics and the Science Center for Integrated Learning, is located directly west of Stanley Hall. Geothermal wells are being constructed to heat and cool the building. This is the second of three phases of improved science facilities, which will represent an investment of $30 million. The College will seek LEED certification for this building.

Awards from the Alumni Council

During Homecoming Weekend, the Alumni Council will present three Outstanding Alumni Awards as well as an award for Distinguished Service. OUTSTANDING ALUMNI As Executive Vice President for Health Sciences at Georgetown University and Executive Dean of the School of Medicine, Howard Federoff ’74, M.D., Ph.D., is responsible for Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). He is a professor of Neurology and Neuroscience. He previously held appointments at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, the Aab Institute of Biomedical Sciences, the Division of Molecular Medicine and Gene Therapy and the University of Rochester’s Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program. Federoff’s research interests include gene therapy and neurodegenerative diseases, and he was recently in the news for his research related to the early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease. He has published more than 250 peer reviewed and invited articles and currently serves on the editorial

boards of five journals. Federoff served as chair of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee from 2007-10. He chairs the Gene Therapy Resource Program for the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, was president of the American Society for Neural Therapy and Repair (2012-13) and is president of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics. After Earlham, Federoff earned his M.S., Ph.D., and M.D. degrees from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, did his internship, residency, and clinical and research fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and practiced medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and University of Rochester. He is a fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science and National Academy of Inventors. He resides in the greater Washington area with his wife, Wendy. His two daughters, Monica and Allison, are currently pursuing graduate studies in medicine and law, respectively. Jewell Spears ’57, R.N., worked as a nurse for many years before moving into leadership roles at Reid Hospital in Richmond, eventually serving as a vice president of the hospital from 1979 until her retirement in 1995. During her tenure at Reid, she was responsible for seven different departments of the hospital. She helped start the Aurora chemical dependency program, the Home Health Services Department and the Parish Nursing program. Spears served as president of the Indiana State Board Nursing Education and Registration and traveled to Serpukhov in the former Soviet Union as part of a local delegation. She has also served on Earlham’s Board of Trustees, Alumni Council, African American Advisory Board and Community Partnerships Council. Spears has received many honors including a Sagamore of the Wabash from Indiana Governor Bob Orr and a Lifetime Achievement in Nursing Award from the Indiana University School of Nursing.

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and

NEW Notable Arthur Wagner ’46, Ph.D., was head of the Graduate Professional Actor Training Program at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). A philosophy major at Earlham, Wagner earned a master’s degree from Smith College and a doctorate from Stanford University. He taught at Rollins College and founded the professional actor training programs at Tulane University, Ohio University, and Temple University. At UCSD, where he was the first chair of the theatre department, he served on the faculty from 1972-91, and was head of the graduate program in acting for most of his tenure. With colleagues, he built the theatre program from the ground up, creating graduate programs that are now considered among the best in the country. One of the theatres at UCSD is named in Wagner’s honor. He serves as a board member for La Jolla Playhouse, has extensive credits as an actor and director and is a member of Actor’s Equity Association. DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD Mervyn Love, Ph.D., has been the coordinator and on-site leader for Earlham’s Northern Ireland program since he created it in 1991. The goal of this program is to increase students’ understanding of the complexities of the conflict and the peace process in Northern Ireland and to use the knowledge gained to analyze and to increase understanding of the conflict in their own and other societies. Love is based in the department of history at the University of Ulster and has numerous contacts on all sides of the Northern Ireland conflict who help him to present a balanced view of the history and current events of Northern Ireland. He arranges all lodging, meals, transportation and programming in Northern Ireland. More than that, he is a mentor, friend, father, brother and troop leader during a student’s most formative Earlham experiences.

Chuck Yates Has Left the Building

Although Professor of History Chuck Yates has officially retired, he says he doesn’t intend to stop teaching until “they carry me out feet first.” “Teaching keeps my heart and mind alive,” Yates exclaims. “The most important thing about teaching and learning is the relationship. I try to be very thoughtful about the person I am and how I treat my students.” Already he has accepted an adjunct teaching position at The College of Idaho, where his wife Deb has been teaching for the past 12 years. Yates took an unconventional and unexpected path to academia, earning a high school equivalent in 1965, and then dropping out of college (twice) before settling in. His career aspirations perhaps began during 1963-64, Yates junior year in high school, when his father Ed Yates, who taught ceramics at the University of Nevada at the time, took a sabbatical to spend a year in Japan. He also took Yates and his brother with him. “He turned us loose in Japan for a year,” Yates remembers. “Family members cautioned him saying we would fall behind in school. Dad said that the year away would enrich our lives.” A language enthusiast, Yates became the family’s interpreter. “I enjoyed the language and the writing system,” he says. “I enjoyed the challenge of learning to think inside someone else’s language. This gave me an entirely different perspective on my own language.” Back in the U.S., Yates completed his high school equivalency and briefly studied zoology at the University of Nevada at Reno before enlisting in the U.S. Navy. He served

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

and

NEW Notable for four years as a communications technician during the Vietnam War. “Often I would be on duty in the middle of the night with nothing going on, and I would listen to the Vietnamese boys feeling homesick and lonely just like we were,” he remembers. “They were talking about the same things we were talking about. From this, I learned that we are all just humans.” After his military service, Yates spent time traveling in a Volkswagen bus and working odd jobs, including stints working at Earlham, where his father was teaching art. He eventually returned to college, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Indiana University. After earning a Ph.D. in East Asian Studies from Princeton in 1987, he joined the Earlham faculty. “[Professor of History] Jack Bailey had latched onto my dad’s interest in Japanese art, and through my dad he learned about my interest in Japan.” Bailey followed Yates’ progress through graduate school, and Yates was immediately hired as his successor to teach Japanese and Chinese history and humanities and to convene the Japanese Studies program. He also directed the Institute for Education on Japan from 1992 until January 2007. “The wonderful thing about Earlham is the first-year seminar,” he says. “I thought I would be teaching Japanese history. I didn’t know I would have these opportunities in the humanities. “And this has been my favorite aspect of my time here.” During these first-year courses, he meets a good percentage of the entering class, and he gets to work toward developing the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills that define a liberal education. “This is the most important thing we do here,” he says. “Practically every text I taught is a book that I would never have read on my own — Shakespeare, Chaucer. It broadened me and enriched me in ways I would never have imagined. When you teach from a text outside your area of expertise, it gives you the additional opportunity to model what it is to be a learner.”

Yates may be the only faculty member to claim an Earlham “shotgun wedding.” In 1990, he and Deb were asked to lead the Studies in Intercultural Education (SICE) program in Japan. Guidelines stated they had to be married. “We were heading in that direction, so we hurried it up a bit and had Professor of Religion Mary Garman officiate for us,” he says. Looking back, Yates hopes that he is remembered for making his students think. “I hope they will remember me as someone who made them go places they wouldn’t go on their own,” he says. “When I look at the course evaluations and see the good things students have to say, I realize that I learned all those fine things from colleagues like Paul Lacey and Steve Heiny.”

Goodbye, Nancy

Senior Director of Admissions Nancy Sinex ’76 has helped shape and form Earlham admissions for nearly three decades. After reading thousands of college applications and essays and logging even more airline miles, Sinex will depart from Earlham to join her family in Portland, OR, where she looks forward to gardening, exploring the Pacific Northwest, connecting with local Earlham alumni and volunteering in several of Portland’s public schools. She and her husband Rich ’76 were married in Stout Meetinghouse two days before their graduation day. She has worked in admissions for about 34 years, 29 of those on the counseling and leadership staff. She has twice served as an interim/acting dean and has been a student or administrator during seven Earlham presidencies and five admissions deans/VPs. She remembers well helping (literally on the maintenance truck) with the admissions office move from Carpenter to Bolling House more than 30 years ago and celebrates with others the return to earlham.edu

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NEW Notable center campus with the opening of the new Tyler Hall welcome center. “I spent a lot of time in this building as a student, and it’s exciting to see this space function as such an impressive first stop for our visiting families.” Sinex says her admissions work has been an “opportunity to help guide students through a really important decision in their lives. I feel privileged to participate in their college search and to hear their stories. That connection with students has been and continues to be the best part of what I do.” Sinex has also enjoyed (and has fully appreciated) exploring major cities across the U.S., meeting students on their turf, and making professional friends from colleges and high schools across the country. And although the lines are longer and airport security is tighter, Sinex feels the travel (about 10-12 weeks/year) remains an important benefit of the job. Sinex admits that her own college search experience informs her work. After graduating high school, she worked for various federal offices in her hometown of Washington, D.C. “I didn’t have help managing the college search process,” she says. “I thought you had to have a lot of money to attend college.” She became friends with a group of young professionals who convinced her to apply and helped her along the way. “I was the first in my entire extended family to go to college,” she says. Each year since at least 1995, Sinex has delivered a popular and detailed description of the entering class during New Student Orientation. The preparation for the address is very time-intensive — she calls it a labor of love. “My involvement during the last 15 years working with many current students and several faculty in planning for and implementing orientation has been a real gift.” Sinex says a plan has been in place for several years to join her daughter, son-in-law and grandson in Portland. Her husband moved there last year in the first phase of the retirement move. Her son-in-law’s parents (Professor Emeritus of Music) Dan Graves and his wife, Mary, had moved to Portland one year earlier.

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

And although she is eager to explore Portland, she knows that she will feel the loss of a place and work she loves. “I will miss the Earlham community. I am not sure I will ever find a community like this anywhere else.” “The best and most memorable experiences are those of connecting with students and their families,” says Sinex, who stays in touch with students throughout their time on campus and sometimes beyond graduation. “I have had one of the best jobs in the world.”

Groundbreaking Alzheimer’s Research

Groundbreaking Alzheimer’s research led by Howard Federoff ’74, M.D. provides new answers for how to detect and improve treatment of the cognitive disease. Federoff’s team of researchers from Georgetown University and six other institutions have developed the first blood test that can predict, with 90 percent accuracy, if a healthy person will develop the disorder within three years. “Our novel blood test offers the potential to identify people at risk for progressive cognitive decline and can change how patients, their families and treating physicians plan for and manage the disorder,” says Federoff, now the executive vice president for health sciences at Georgetown University Medical Center. The test is important because it could lead to the development of earlier treatment options for Alzheimer’s patients, or even prevent onset of the disease, Federoff says. Today, more than 5 million people suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and it is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The research study that led to the team’s discovery was published in the April issue of Nature Medicine. In the article, the study team explains how a set of 10 lipid biomarkers in the blood that predict both conditions was discovered and then validated.

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NEW Notable “We consider our results a major step toward the commercialization of a preclinical disease biomarker test that could be useful for large-scale screening to identify atrisk individuals,” Federoff says. Federoff says the education he received from Earlham was invaluable in pursuing a career in science. “I think, as a sort of fundamental training ground in biology and chemistry, the foundation in the liberal arts that I received from Earlham was solid,” Federoff says. “I wound up being able to do well in both medical school and graduate school. That kind of preparation gave me confidence later in life. “I always thought science was interesting, but I never imagined having the type of career that I’ve had,” he says. “The likelihood that I would become a physician scientist, and now an administrator that does this kind of work, would have been impossible to predict.”

Earlhamite in Transition

With this issue, Jonathan Graham has ended his tenure as editor of Earlhamite magazine. Graham came to Earlham in fall 2005 and mostly recently served as Creative Director in the marketing and communications office, providing editorial direction for a variety of print and digital publications. He earned several awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, Region V, for his work on the magazine. Graham is now Director of Publications and University Communications at the University of Oregon, where he serves as managing editor of Oregon Quarterly.

Alumni Council Corner

The Earlham Alumni Council held an Alumni Career Coaching event for students in cooperation with the Center for Integrated Learning on April 10, the day before the Council’s spring meeting. Thirty-five alumni and 46 students joined in one-on-one counseling sessions and a series of panel discussions. Panels included “A Beginner’s Guide to Your Career Search,” “Careers in Health,” “Success in the Social Sciences,” “The Path to Graduate School,” “Social Media and Your Future,” and “Those Who Can – TEACH!” During its meeting the Council expressed concern that the Campus Life Advisory Committee has still not reached consensus on making Earlham a tobacco-free campus, nearly two years after the Council took a position stating that Earlham should be tobacco-free. The Council will pursue the conversation on campus and with the Board of Trustees. The Council received a detailed report on the work of the Center for Integrated Learning (CIL) from director Jay Roberts. The Alumni Council’s regional conveners will be working with the Institutional Advancement Office to host events around the country featuring an opportunity for alumni, parents and friends to learn more about the CIL. Staff and students from the CIL are looking forward to visiting with Earlhamites around the U.S. this fall and next spring to share how alumni can be helpful to Earlham students through internships, mentoring, career coaching and other ways as they prepare for a life well-lived. (See page 12 for an article about the CIL.) In a spring meeting tradition, the Council welcomed members of the Senior Gift Committee for lunch on Friday. The Committee’s goal was to raise $10,000 for scholarships, with contributions above this amount to be used for the College’s sustainability efforts. Shortly after the spring meeting, Alumni Council learned the Committee surpassed its stretch goal of $15,000, proudly recording the highest class gift on record. The Alumni Council is proud to have been a part in the Class of 2014 success.

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BY JONATHAN GRAHAM PHOTOS BY SUSANNA TANNER

Finding Your Path Earlhamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new Center for Integrated Learning helps students figure out how to use their tangible knowledge, skills and abilities to improve the world.

arlham College is taking unprecedented steps to help students plan for postgraduate success. As a key component of its 2012 Strategic Plan, the College has opened the Center for Integrated Learning (CIL) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a hub for experiential learning that offers students a variety of services including career advising, internship placement and a slate of activities to help students make connections between their academic work and the tangible skills and abilities they develop during college.

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

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With connections across the College, the CIL has the potential to fundamentally change the way Earlham students approach academics, practical experience and life after graduation. Associate Professor of Chemistry Lori Watson, Ph.D., believes the Center has extraordinary potential. “The CIL promises to be central to the experience of every Earlham student,” says Watson. “From working with first-year seminars to programs that connect curricular opportunities with co-curricular activities to helping students discover their passion through self-reflection, connections with alumni, and work in various fields with internships and research experiences, the CIL will help students see the possible direction of their future — and how to get there!”

“

Campus leaders believe that the CIL offers something distinctive and compelling that other colleges are not providing.

Also under the umbrella of the CIL, are three “integrated programs” that focus resources and energy on supporting students who are interested in three popular career paths — health sciences, sustainability and business and entrepreneurship. These programs allow students from any major to access focused advising, mentorship, alumni contacts and practical skill development related to these career paths. The CIL also includes the College’s offices of Civic Engagement, Outdoor Education and Sustainability, an arrangement that emphasizes how central these initiatives are to the life of the College. “Earlham is a place that cares about both deep intellectual inquiry that comes with the liberal arts and practical application that comes from a desire to make the world a better place,” notes Jay Roberts, Ph.D.,associate vice president for academic affairs and director of the CIL. “The key goal of the center is to help students make connections between what they are learning, what skills they have developed and how they can make a positive impact on the world.”

From the very start of their time at Earlham, students At a time when college will be purposefully costs are rising and the exploring possible economy is faltering, future paths it is more challenging during their firstthan ever for elite year seminars, —Jay Roberts, associate vice president for schools to attract and having academic affairs and director of the CIL students who will conversations with thrive academically their advisers about and socially at a place various options. Through student-faculty research and like Earlham. Add to this the changing demographics — “immersive experiences” — like internships and off-campus study — students will gain experience putting their learning populations are shrinking in the Northeast and Midwest, the regions from which Earlham has traditionally drawn into action. And all along the way, the CIL will be there to many of its students — and the challenge the College faces support students’ exploration. is clear. In order to continue to recruit best-fit students, Earlham needs to show evidence that students can reach Located on the first floor of the Landrum Bolling Center, personal and professional goals once they graduate. The the CIL is closely linked with the academic life of the CIL is key to that effort, and colleagues in other offices are campus and designed to help students begin applying their noticing the impact that the Center’s staff is having. education as early as possible in their College careers.

I think what makes Earlham different in this case is that we’re going much further than other institutions in integrating academics with career preparation.”

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

“It has been wonderfully encouraging to watch the development of the Center for Integrated Learning in LBC

The Center for Integrated Learning helps students put their knowledge, skills and abilities to tangible use through “immersive experiences” like internships. One example is the Indiana Pathways program, funded by a $1 million grant from the Lilly Foundation, which provides more than 30 summer positions for Earlham students at such Indiana organizations as Conner Prairie, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Indiana High School Athletic Association and Riley Hospital for Children.

throughout the year,” note Patty Lamson, Ph.D., director of international programs. “The Center is filled with many new people and innovative programs that are reaching students and faculty alike. I’m particularly excited about the possibilities for community-based programs in Richmond and for partnerships with us in the International Programs Office. The Center will have a dramatic impact on an Earlham education and the future path of our students.”

File Under “Needs Improvement”

Robert Lugg ’12 could have used the CIL. Despite graduating Phi Beta Kappa and with college and departmental honors, Lugg left Earlham unsure of what his next steps should be. During his senior year, he spent many hours studying for his comprehensive exams in English, and also working as an R.A., participating in track and field, serving in student government and on the Senior Gift Committee. These activities left little time for him to think about plans for after graduation. “There is a lot of emphasis on community and service at Earlham and my time serving the Earlham community

was incredibly rewarding, but I think my transition out of Earlham would have gone much more smoothly had I taken more time for myself during my senior year, researching graduate schools and career options, preparing competitive applications, and generally preparing for the year after Earlham rather than giving so much of my time to the Earlham community.” According to Roberts, Lugg’s experience has been all too common among Earlham students. “I think if you ask Earlham alumni if they benefitted from the education they received here, they will say they did,” says Roberts. “But immediately following graduation, many alumni have trouble fully understanding those benefits and describing those to others. That can make it difficult for them to get started on the path to a meaningful career.” Lugg admits that he has had a challenging two years since graduation. He has worked several different jobs since graduating, and initially struggled to find a graduate school option that was a good fit.

earlham.edu

Practical Liberal Arts

“I really didn’t know how to market myself, so many of the things I applied for did not work out” Lugg recalls. “Luckily, Earlham was there to catch me when I fell.” This past year, Roberts and Associate Professor of English Scott Hess, Ph.D., have helped him with his graduate school applications, responding to multiple drafts of his application essay. With their support, he received three offers of full funding, and will begin a master’s degree program in environmental literature at the University of Nevada at Reno in the fall. “When I talk to friends who attended other schools, they are amazed by the support I received from Earlham faculty,” he says. “I am really excited to see Earlham putting much more of an emphasis on career preparation and advising, because I felt that was lacking when I was a student. If current students planning their next steps are challenged and supported to seek out the kind of assistance I received with graduate school applications, I think it will make a huge difference.”

Like other selective liberal arts colleges, Earlham has done a more effective job of preparing students to enter graduate school than in getting them ready to immediately enter the world of work. It turns out that some of the same skills and abilities that make good doctoral students can help young alumni thrive in their first jobs and bolster them as they continue along their career paths. Critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration and effective communications — these are skills that are of considerable use in any field. The CIL seeks to help students demonstrate the worth of these liberal arts skills while also highlighting the remarkable experiences and abilities that set Earlhamites apart from other recent college graduates. For Earlham faculty, the CIL represents an opportunity to enrich students’ educational experiences beyond what the College has offered in the past. “I’m excited about the prospect of expanding our students’ horizons even further beyond Earlham’s walls. The CIL offers us an opportunity to do this in two critical ways,” says Assistant Professor of Music Bill Culverhouse, D.M.A. “First, students will be able to connect what goes on in classes with what goes on in the Richmond Community, the state of Indiana, the country, and the globe, by participating in realworld projects that have real-world

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

impact. Second, students not only will be encouraged to think longer-term, but will be provided with concrete, critically important resources to support them as they do so, whether it be fine-tuning a resume and cover letter for a summer internship or exploring international postbaccalaureate grant opportunities worth tens of thousands of dollars,” Culverhouse added. “Instead of just talking about the cool things one can do in a certain field and leaving the students to their own devices, we can give the students concrete tools to begin doing them.”

Finding Her Way

While Earlham has made a significant investment in the Center for Integrated Learning and other components of the strategic plan, it is the students themselves who will ultimately determine the success of these efforts. While new resources are enabling Earlham to provide more support to students as they explore future paths, the College has always been a place of great possibilities — if only students embrace opportunities and take charge of their own learning. If Elsa Haag ’14 is any indication, there is reason for great hope. At 16, Haag volunteered weekly as an emergency medical technician in charge on 911 calls — an experience that caused her to shift her career focus from medicine to public health. “I began to see that health issues are greater than what can be addressed

one patient at a time,” she recalls. “I was seeing the results of the lack of comprehensive preventative care, of people getting sick because of massive inequities in race, gender and class that can have profound impacts on health. I decided that I wanted to play a role in creating greater equity in our health care system.” Also during high school, Haag suffered a serious head injury, and her experience as a patient also informed her career aspirations. “I realized how lucky I was to have two working parents. My father is a government employee, so I had excellent health benefits. With my father stably employed, my mother was able to take time off work to take care of me, and to take me to doctor after doctor until we found the right one, without worrying that she might be fired. I understand that I have benefitted from privilege and I received care that someone without those privileges might not receive. Where you come from has a major influence on your health, and that injustice makes me so angry,” says Haag. When Haag arrived at Earlham, she discovered that there were limited specific offerings on campus related to public health, but she discovered something else that is much more important. “Earlham is the kind of place where if something doesn’t exist, you can make it happen, because of the support you get from faculty, staff and other

students,” she says. So she did. Haag breathed new life into the Public Health Club, sponsoring campus blood drives, hosting speakers and more. She became her own best advocate, introducing herself to visiting lecturers — including Peter Gravatt ’83, who at the time was Director of the Office of Children’s Health Protection at the Environmental Protection Agency. She ended up completing an internship there, and later organized an annual summer internship at EPA for Earlham students. This is one of 35 funded internships now offered by Earlham. For her part, Haag is thrilled to have been able to help create opportunities for other Earlham students.

Elsa Haag, Class of 2014, takes charge of “I was so her own learning by breathing new life into grateful to see the Public Health Club. how a massive government agency does its work,” she recalls. “I wanted other Earlham students to be able to benefit from that type of experience.”

coalesce into a career. In other words, she believed that by pursuing opportunities, advocating for herself and beginning to think about career options early in her College career, she could find a tangible way to use her knowledge, skills and abilities to make a difference in the world. Along the way, she has developed many marketable skills. In addition to her academics, internships, and leadership of Public Health Club, she has led Wilderness Programs, and served as a student blogger for the College. “There are so many problems in the world, it is a little overwhelming to figure out how you fit in,” she notes. “None of us can do it all, but if we all divide and conquer, we can make progress. “For me, public health is where I think I can make a long-term, huge impact,” she says. “I want to help shape public policy in ways that will help thousands, if not millions, of people.” With her start at Earlham, she’s on her way.

During an interview shortly before graduation, Haag was not yet sure where she would be working in the fall, but she was confident that her major in Neuroscience and her interest in health policy will eventually

earlham.edu

Center for

INTEGRATED LEARNING CAREER EDUCATION ALUMNI CONNECTIONS GRAD SCHOOL PREPARATION POST-GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS

College to Life

Theory to Practice

The CIL helps students find ways to put their knowledge, skills and abilities to work through internships, off-campus study, student-faculty research experiences and more.

Key to the Center’s mission is an all-out effort to help students explore possible life paths early in their college careers and prepare them to articulate the benefits of an Earlham education.

FIRST-YEAR SEMINARS combine a traditional liberal

SOPHOMORE STUDENTS work with professors on

arts focus on critical thinking, reading, writing and discussion with an exploration of what it means to have a successful and meaningful life.

scholarly projects with the intention of discovering new knowledge, and not just learning what’s already in the textbooks.

All four years, our students get top-notch their college experience and

616

one-on-one career advising contacts with students

students and faculty engaged in communitybased applied research

Bonner Scholars setting the bar high with their commitment to community service

18,000+ LIVING ALUMNI TO INSPIRE STUDENTS TO

THE THREE PILLARS OF THE CENTER FOR INTEGRATED LEARNING The Center for Integrated Learning is all about helping students make connections. Following are the main themes of their work with students: INTERNSHIPS IMMERSION EXPERIENCES COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH

Campus to Community

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT OFF-CAMPUS STUDY COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH

Through funded internships, service learning, summer research projects, class projects and other “immersive experiences,” Earlham is encouraging students to engage with communities outside the College — in Richmond, across the country and around the world.

JUNIORS AND SENIORS complete “immersive experiences” by spending a semester studying off-campus, engaging in significant community service, participating in high-level research or completing an internship.

advising to help them get the most out of prepare for life after graduation.

Funded Internships (up from 0 in 2013)

300+

special “integrated programs” open to students of any major who are interested in careers related to health sciences, sustainability, or business and entrepreneurship

Ford/Knight student-faculty research projects since 1986, exploring new possibilities for collaborative learning

MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD. Center for Integrated Learning

SERVICE The Center for Integrated Learning is helping students find internships and jobs to feed on their passions and use their skills. BY BRIAN ZIMMERMAN PHOTOS BY SUSANNA TANNER

Dakota Collins ’15 was one of Richmond’s key players when his hometown secured an “All-America City” designation in 2009. During that year’s competition in Tampa, Fla., Collins and a group of 20 other Richmond High School students stated the city’s case for the designation to the National Civic League — instead of the usual city leaders. That it worked was hardly surprising to Collins. “That’s the power of youth. That’s what happens when you involve youth,” Collins says, reflecting on Richmond being named one of 10 winners, and representing the only team comprised

entirely of youth in that year’s competition. “The main thing we learned when we went to Tampa was that high school students know what’s happening in their communities, and what’s important to communities,” he says. “Sometimes adults forget that youth can have opinions and can change the course of what’s happening in their neighborhood.” Now a psychology major and McNair Scholar at Earlham, Collins is helping a new generation of youth find their way into every day discussions at the city building. With support from the Center for Integrated Learning and funding from

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

a private donor, Collins served as a paid intern this spring for Richmond Mayor Sally Hutton, work that is expected to continue throughout this summer. Collins is one of Hutton’s three advisors for the Mayor’s Youth Council, a group of about 20 concerned teens from the city. His charge is to provide leadership and expertise to encourage youth involvement in as many divisions of city government as possible. “Any group — economic development, city council, and historical preservation — can involve youth,” Collins says. “We’re starting slowly, starting small with hopes of establishing a setting for how the community can view and collaborate with youth.

“This ties in perfectly with my academic interests, both majoring in psychology and minoring in business and non-profit management and politics,” he says. The aim of the work is to provide a framework for the community to view youth. “Dakota has been great,” Hutton says. “He is doing investigative work basically to see where youth can fit in a little better. We know high school students are busy and concerned, but they really don’t want to sit on boards. They want a project and they want to make it happen, so if they have a concern, we’re going to figure out how to best make it happen.”

From classroom to community

Collins’ internship is one of a number of emerging internships supported by the CIL where student interest is coupled with real-world opportunities to get more out of their education and increase the likelihood for postgraduate success. Apart from his internship, the CIL has partnered with about 20 institutions across Indiana as part of a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., and other private-funded internships, and work-study opportunities. Environmental Studies major Clarice Perryman ’16 uses the CIL-supported Sustainability Office to advance her career ambitions and earn a paycheck while earning her degree. “I’m interested in a career in an

environmental regulatory capacity,” Perryman says. “As of right now, I’m working toward advocacy and am really interested in studying and gaining more experience in fossil fuel and extraction regulation, sustainable food and agriculture development.” One of her big responsibilities each year is managing the Energy Wars initiative as part of her role in the Student Sustainability Corps. The annual event encourages student residents to decrease their personal energy use. “I think that one of the big things I learned is the power of collaboration and how to collaborate effectively with other students and other departments,” she says. “It is a really great way to combine and make something even better than before. I think that just looking at problems from different angles really helps your end result become that much more effective.”

Timely career services

Theatre Arts Major Maggie Fero ’14 says Earlham’s approach to career services is a welcome change. “When I had a cover letter that I needed to submit within 24 hours of being contacted by a recruiter, I took it to the CIL and

I found that there are now a lot more people there for career services,” Fero recalls. “They were able to get me an appointment almost immediately with someone who was very helpful.” It wasn’t always that way. For an aspiring technical writer, who has been active in theatrical productions and work study opportunities through events and computer science, the opportunity to better articulate her skills and experiences has been critical. “I was working freelance for awhile and I made resume revisions on my own,” she says. “That was a really hard process. The way the College has restructured career services with the CIL has changed that. They now offer a lot of support that I know students can benefit from who haven’t needed that help previously.” Much like Fero and Perryman, Collins believes the CIL is positioned to provide the experiences and preparation that will lead to a rewarding career. “I think the CIL is doing a great job preparing not only me, but a lot of students for their post-graduate work in institutions throughout the community,” he says. “It’s extremely important to get the work experience, and the skills required to actually be a citizen in your community rather than just writing papers.”

To watch the video go to earlham.edu/ center-for-integrated-learning/. earlham.edu

Kale Guy the

by Susan Miller

Drew Ramsey â&#x20AC;&#x2122;96 M.D. has a passion for kale, and his skills as a psychiatrist have made him a wellknown authority on the connections between diet and brain health.

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

Ramsey’s loyal devotion to this under-appreciated vegetable led him to co-author the cookbook 50 Shades of Kale: 50 Fresh and Satisfying Recipes That Are Bound To Please (HarperWave 2013), with Jennifer Iserloh. A resident of New York City, Ramsey famously rode in a 2013 bike race through all five NYC boroughs while eating only kale. He was recently featured in New York magazine and his work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal, and he regularly provides expert commentary to news outlets. A native of rural Crawford County, Indiana, Ramsey received the Landrum Bolling Scholarship to attend Earlham as a pre-med/biology major. Following graduation, he attended Indiana University School of Medicine and completed specialty training in Adult Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he currently serves as an assistant clinical professor of Psychiatry. While working as a program director in a community mental health clinic in New York City, he began to inquire about what his patients ate, and he found that their answers uncovered a potentially powerful intervention. Emerging research at the time was finding strong correlations between “what was on the end of the fork” and the risk of depression, anxiety and dementia. Ramsey’s exploration of the relationship between diet and brain health ultimately led to the writing of his first book, The Happiness Diet (Rodale 2011), with Tyler Graham. As a psychiatrist, Ramsey incorporates dietary change to help people balance moods, sharpen brain functioning and improve overall mental health. After assessing his patients eating habits, he explains how their food choices may be impacting their moods and well-being, and encourages appropriate changes in their food selection. Due to its multitude of nutritional benefits, one of his favorite “prescriptions” is kale! While at Earlham, Ramsey knew that he wanted to become a physician. A number of faculty members influenced his future career, including his original academic adviser,

Len Clark; his pre-med adviser, Bill Harvey; and Amy Mulnix (biology). He recalls the “great teaching” of physics professor John Howell and still uses tips from Terry Glaser, a former professor of theatre arts, in his presentations. “Earlham students are not defined by just one thing…I could be more than just a ‘science geek,’” he recalls, taking that to heart by performing in musical theatre productions, singing in the Gospel Revelations choir, taking trips abroad to Cuba, London and Ecuador, playing varsity basketball, and achieving the outdoor pole vault record during his years on campus. He valued having the ability to be an actor, athlete, musician and world traveler, all while tackling a rigorous academic program. Growing up in a home that did not have a formal religious background, Ramsey found an appreciation of Earlham’s Quaker heritage, often enjoying the serenity of Stout Meetinghouse. Similarly, having been raised in a fairly racially homogenous community, he welcomed the diversity and sense of global community that is one of Earlham’s hallmarks. Experiencing a variety of cultures as an undergraduate undoubtedly pays off now for Ramsey as he and his wife, Lucy Emhardt ’97, daughter Greta, 3, and sixmonth old son Forrest, live, work and play in the “melting pot” of New York City. Ramsey practices what he preaches, sharing that his diet has “totally changed” over the past six or seven years. Luckily, he has a great personal source for the fresh food that he also prescribes to his patients. On most summer Thursday evenings, he flies to Indiana to work on his family’s farm, perhaps being the only Manhattan psychiatrist who sees patients during the week and jockeys a tractor on the weekends. (And yes, they grow kale — 37 varieties, in fact, with “lollipop kale”, a cross between Brussels sprouts and kale, being his current favorite. Perhaps all other species “kale” in comparison?) Ramsey’s work has definitely reinforced what many have been told over the years. For reasons old and new, “Eat your vegetables!” Susan Miller is a freelance writer based in Richmond, Ind.

ach spring two students are selected for the fellowship program, which combines a 135hour practicum, a one-credit tutorial, and upon completion, a $1,500 stipend, less taxes. “This is a hands-on career exploration that goes along with the liberal arts education,” says Amy Bryant, associate library director. “Earlham has a long history of having an extraordinarily large number of graduates going into library science. Each year students would ask us for this type of opportunity, and each year we had to reimagine a program. We were seeing this so often that we needed a more regular way of handling it.”

With the Kenlee Ray Library and

For nine hours during 15 weeks, students have an experiential immersion with units in archives, research and information literacy instruction, technical services, the science library, and library administration. For one hour each week, students have a text-based, one-credit conversation with a librarian or archivist. Other components of the program include job-seeker training, selfreflection, and engagement with alumni working in the field. “We wanted to break it up into modules, so students get a general overview of all the different sides of librarianship,” Bryant says. “They also talk to and develop relationships with the librarians to see how we came to our careers.”

Learning by Doing

During their time as Kenlee Ray Fellows, Ann MacNamara ’14 and Colin Andrews ’14 completed a number of projects in various library departments. These projects included selecting materials to be added to the library collection, relabeling DVDs with new call numbers to make them more user friendly, creating research guides, and co-teaching instructional technology workshops. In addition, they collaborated in a semester-long project to explore the use of library space in the 21st century. They gathered information from students, tested possible changes to Lilly Library’s main floor and made recommendations to improve library space.

“With the 21st century digitization, there is a move toward fewer books and more toward community spaces,” MacNamara says. For Lilly, the first floor’s reference section will be reduced by 75 percent because of digitization. Instead of the current eight lines of bookshelves, only two will remain. Digitization is fundamentally changing the role of libraries,” Andrews says. “Questions arise about how much the library is integrated with the greater community. Libraries are no longer just a repository of the past. The library has to be actively engaged in the present and future.” Both Andrews and MacNamara credit the program with helping them to better realize their career aspirations.

HANDS-ON LIBRARY CAREER

EXPLORATION by Denise Purcell

Archives Fellows program, Earlham’s library is once again leading the way.

“I value the variety of experiences we’ve had and that we’ve not just been focused on one department,” says MacNamara, who will gain more library experience before applying to graduate schools and eventually working in a public library. “This program has broadened my understanding of the different positions and how large the field is. It has confirmed my interest in becoming a librarian.” Andrews says the program is comprehensive. “It’s not a simulation,” he says. “We are put in real tasks in almost every department. I feel like this is a beacon for Earlham as far as career development that brings together both the practical and theoretical side. This is a well-integrated program in terms of taking learning into vocation.” Bryant says that one of the reasons for the large number of Earlham graduates pursuing library

careers is the strength of the College’s library instruction program. “Bibliographic instruction was born at Earlham College,” Bryant says. “[Former College Librarian] Evan Farber was a pioneer in the current model of librarians and faculty working together to make sure students have the resources they need to do the research the faculty member wants. Earlham students are exposed so often and so well to our library instruction program.” Farber was Earlham’s College Librarian from 1962-94. The fellowship program is funded by a generous donation from Kenlee Ray, who attended Earlham in 1967 and went on to a distinguished career at the World Bank, where she retired as Senior Information Officer.

LOOK BACK

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

From the scrapbook of Dr. Harold Armstrong Sanders, donated by Markaret Clarey in 2009. Courtesy of the Earlham Digital Archives.

80%

OF GRADUATES SAID THEIR FIRST JOBS AFTER GRADUATION WERE “OVERALL SATISFYING.”

CAREERS Top Career Paths for Earlham Graduates

Business

Education (post-secondary)

9.6%

Law

5.8%

11.2%

46%

OF GRADUATES REPORT A FULLTIME JOB OR INTERNSHIP.

98.6% POST-GRADUATION PLACEMENT RATE, WITH 92.3% FINDING EMPLOYMENT WITHIN ONE YEAR AFTER GRADUATION.

Medicine/ Public Health

9.4%

Arts/Culture

3.8%

Government

5.8% Education (K-12)

11.6%

Non-Profit Sector

5.4%

Social Service/ Counseling

3.8%

Earlham College prepares students for lives of achievement and purpose. As the success of our graduates demonstrates, Earlham excels at preparing students to be agile, reflective, confident leaders who are well prepared to make a positive difference in the world. Through experiential

learning, internships and research programs, Earlham graduates take full advantage of opportunities to put their knowledge into action in rewarding and successful careers. earlham.edu

SUSTAINABLE

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

BY DENISE PURCELL PHOTOS BY SUSANNA TANNER

EARLHAM STUDENTS PARTNER WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS IN RICHMOND.

COMMUNITIES

s part of its new Sustainable Communities Initiative, Earlham College teamed its academic resources and the energy of its students and faculty with local officials to work toward improving water quality, bolstering the City’s online identity, and enhancing the local farmers markets. Students from three courses gave brief presentations during a reception at Richmond’s Innovation Center at the end of the semester. “What you are doing is bringing your ideas and putting them to work in Richmond,” Richmond Mayor Sally Hutton said. “With these projects you are helping us to improve our community, and we really appreciate it.” Earlham President David Dawson, Ph.D., said the collaboration created actual productive relationships. “This initiative took some of what Earlham does best and applied that to some of the things that Richmond needs the most,” Dawson explained. Last fall, Richmond officials proposed challenging sustainability projects and issues, which were researched and studied during semester-long courses by Earlham students and faculty, who then made proposals and recommendations. “The Sustainable Communities Initiative is an excellent example of the work we are building in the Center for Integrated Learning (CIL),” said Jay Roberts, Ph.D., associate vice president for academic affairs, CIL

earlham.edu

director, and associate professor of education. “Applied research projects like these really allow our students to make the connections between theory and practice. As part of their research, students combined reviews of the scholarly literature with stakeholder interview and community survey methods. In my opinion, integrating these two domains in a real-world project is simultaneously more challenging and more engaging for both faculty and students and really helps animate Earlham’s education mission.”

Phosphorus ReductionThrough Water Treatment

Students in Earlham’s Equilibrium and Analysis chemistry course and Professors Corinne Deibel, Ph.D, and Michael Deibel, Ph.D., worked with the Richmond Sanitary District to evaluate contaminants, especially phosphorus, in the Whitewater River. The project also hoped to study the ability of the river to be diverted to the local Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) to treat for contaminants.

“

“From our results, we found that the Wastewater Treatment Plant could reduce phosphorous by diverting the river to the plant for treatment,” said Andrew Hood ’15. “Our results also indicate that the same process could significantly reduce the nitrates in the river water.” Newly proposed phosphorus regulations have increased awareness and if enacted could substantially impact WWTPs, many of which are making changes to minimize the effect. Diverting the river water for treatment would eliminate costly equipment purchases for WWTPs. “Too much phosphorous along with other nutrients creates optimal conditions for the overgrowth of algae, some of which can be dangerous to human health,” said Tim Orrill, Pretreatment Technician. “Increasing phosphorus, under the right conditions, can lead to accelerated plant growth — algae blooms. This creates oxygen depletion which can cause the death of aquatic animals.”

This initiative took some of what Earlham does best and applied that to some of the

—PRESIDENT DAVID DAWSON

things that Richmond needs the most.”

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

Eight water testing sites were developed and for three weeks beginning in April, students collected and analyzed samples for water quality parameters such as e. coli, chemical oxygen demand, ammonia, nitrate, phosphorous, hardness, heavy metals, conductivity, temperature and pH. “This work gives the students hands-on field experience in the environmental science field as well as introduces them to real life problem-solving,” said Tony Taylor, WWTP lab technician. “Regardless of whether or not the new regulations are enacted, this study may show that treatment plants are an easily available, readily usable asset and cost effective solution to cleaning up the nutrient contamination,” said Pat Smoker, WWTP lab technician. “Having the extra manpower and resources from Earlham was a great asset and allowed for more data collection over the course of time. As this study continues, we would hope that a process and framework could be realized that may be used in other communities,” Orrill added. Hood agreed that the project needs additional testing, especially testing done during the fall, which is the peak period for agricultural run-off when phosphorous levels will be markedly higher.

Social Media and City Online Identity Plan

Students in a social media and marketing course, taught by Assistant Professor of Business and Nonprofit Management Becky Jestice, Ph.D., analyzed the City’s social media usage and developed strategic social media marketing plans for the City. “This type of hands-on experience is the nature of my classes,” Jestice ’97 says. “The City has 39 departments, and each department could potentially have an online presence. We have a class of 22 students, and we divided the class into ROGER REICHERT (RIGHT), A LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER, GAVE STUDENTS A DETAILED TOUR OF RICHMOND’S DEPOT DISTRICT.

EARLHAM STUDENTS MEET WITH RICHMOND MAYOR SALLY HUTTON (CENTER). earlham.edu

“Working with a real client provided me with the opportunity to realize how business functions in the real world — how complex it is, and we had an opportunity to overcome and handle certain situations that would not have occurred in the classroom.” — IVAN ZOVKO ’14

five teams of four or five preparing plans.” Jestice said that because all students had the same client this year, she decided to turn the work into a competition. Three of the total five teams were selected to present their marketing plans to city officials, who then selected team Richmond Innovate as the overall winner. As members of the winning team Shea Henke ’16, Ben Parks ’14, Yeison Pavas ’15, Chehana Samarawickreme ’17, and Ivan Zovko ’14 received Visa gift cards. “We were really impressed by the amount of detail in their research and their ideas for community involvement,” said Doug Philbeck, City of Richmond Help Desk Manager. “We looked at ways to increase high quality traffic on the official government website,” Pavas said during the team’s presentation, which included suggestions that encouraged the Richmond government to focus on expanding its following on Facebook and Twitter, and adding Google+. “These platforms in particular offer the opportunity to develop high quality content in an engaging and relevant way,” according to the group’s digital marketing plan. “In addition, this plan will help increase traffic on the official government website and to city social media sites while fostering two-way communication and engagement with citizens. The team’s plan also details responsibilities and tasks for a social media manager, and it proposes the creation of a student internship. Additionally, the group suggested the City install a blog into the website. The blog would contain written posts of 300500 words with general and interesting information about

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

the City. Blog topics could be decided by research through Google AdWords, which uses keywords to improve Google ranking, or how near to the top a website displays in search engine results. The group also suggested utilizing the Facebook application Socialpuzzle to increase community engagement. Socialpuzzle creates contests and quizzes. Members suggested that businesses could donate prizes, which would further increase activity. Each of the three presenting teams suggested the City use Hootsuite, a social media management tool that allows for all of the City’s social media pages to be managed simultaneously from one central dashboard. With Hootsuite, posts also can be scheduled in advance. “Working with a real client provided me with the opportunity to realize how business functions in the real world ,” Zovko said. “It is completely different from just the theoretical approach in the classroom and writing papers. This opportunity has provided a chance to be better prepared for the job market.” Zovko said the experience benefitted everyone involved, students, faculty, Richmond government and residents. “This was a unique experience — one of the best experiences at Earlham so far,” Zovko said. “We should have more things like this in the future. It was very exciting and a lot of hard work was invested, but it paid off at the end.” During the semester, teams researched, collected and

analyzed data from Richmond and best practices from other cities. In addition, Richmond businessman Roger Richert gave class members a two-hour guided tour of Richmond’s historic and popular Depot District, and Mayor Hutton and Center City Development Corporation’s Executive Director Jason Witten engaged in presentations to and discussions with class members. “From previous course evaluations, I have found that the students are hungry for these hands-on learning opportunities,” Jestice said. “They want to practice what they are learning. They say that writing the plan is a very useful experience. It gives them confidence and shows them what professional communication looks like.”

Farmers Market Analysis and Strategic Planning

Led by Roberts, the Environmental Studies Senior Capstone class researched ways to revitalize the Richmond Farmers market in conjunction with a proposed 7th Street Park, which is part of Richmond’s Stellar Community grant to revitalize Richmond’s downtown. The Stellar Communities program is a multi-agency partnership designed to fund development projects in Indiana’s smaller communities. “Because our research took place during the spring semester rather than summer when farmers markets are most accessible, we contacted stakeholders of other markets in the area to better understand what attributes to a successful market,” said Gracie Anne Rosson ’14. “Our goal was to research what attracts farmer participation in a particular market as well as how to make our market more appealing to consumers. The group proposed four recommendations: create a market structure and improve market management; accept government assistance programs like Electronic Benefit Transfer; increase market publicity, awareness and transportation; and enhance market experience. “Establishing a market manager, a management committee or some combination of the two will provide needed leadership,” said David Friedman ’14, who spoke during the

group’s presentation at Richmond’s Innovation Center on April 29. “With a management structure in place, vendor guidelines could be established.” Accepting government assistance programs will make the farmers market produce available to a greater range of residents, including low-income residents. During the presentation, Elizabeth Tipton ’14 also suggested looking into the Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) and the Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), both of which are federally funded programs that provide low-income families or seniors with check booklets that can be used for food purchases at farmers markets. Students also studied ways to increase awareness of and accessibility to the market throughout the Richmond and Wayne County community. The group suggested a billboard be used for advertising, and that a shuttle be used in lowincome areas to provide transportation to and from the farmers market. Caroline Crick ’14 discussed enhancing market experience by providing activities such as live music and demonstrations to attract a broader range of consumers. Ideas gathered from other markets include free yoga classes, salsa lessons, face painting and cooking demonstrations. Rosson said she appreciated the opportunity to become better acquainted with Richmond and hopes that the research will help in providing a farmers market that the community can take pride in. “My hope is that a vibrant farmers market will provide fresh, local produce while also increasing awareness of healthier and more sustainable food options,” said Rosson, who hopes to earn a master’s degree at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University with a concentration in Sustainability and Sustainable Development. “This project provided me with experience in community outreach through the production and distribution of local food as well as a newfound perspective into the world of sustainable agriculture.”

earlham.edu

Learning from

BY DENISE PURCELL PHOTOS BY SUSANNA TANNER

letha Stahl, Ph.D., professor of French and francophone studies, and Becky Jestice ’97, Ph.D., assistant professor of business and nonprofit management, and six students experienced a unique collaboration supported by a Ford/Knight student–faculty research grant entitled Virtual Worlds in Education.

In the course, students and faculty created two virtual learning spaces that can be used in future Earlham courses. For the French language component, the group created a virtual village including an art museum, a restaurant, a ticket booth and a pharmacy, where the students’ avatars interact through conversation.

Virtual worlds are web-based 3-D graphic environments where users take the form of avatars, or 3-D graphical representations visible to others in these computer-based simulated environments.

Learning through Simulation

Jestice and Stahl proposed that virtual worlds offer opportunities for education that are not currently available in face-to-face or other types of settings.

“Some things are better learned through experience,” Jestice says. “We wanted to do something strategic that involved analysis and action.”

“Students in science classes can build models of fusion or atoms,” says Jestice, whose field of research is virtual worlds in education. “You can’t have those experiences with a textbook, sitting in a classroom or listening to a lecture.”

The business activity was an experiment to compare learning in a virtual world with learning with a written case study, a common tool used in management classrooms. “We created a written case study and then created the 3-D

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

For Jestice’s business courses, the group constructed an activity where students had to react to accepting a job at a company that could have some ethical issues.

“

A lot of what I do is simulation. Students learn the language in meaningful conversations or situations that call for students to constantly be using the language, and there’s no reason that couldn’t be done in a virtual world.” —Aletha Stahl, Ph.D., professor of French and francophone studies

earlham.edu

replication of that case study in the virtual world,” Jestice explains. “In a case study about ethics, the important pieces are spelled out on paper for students to pick up on. In a virtual world, the students can experience the situation in a way much more similar to real life where no one is pointing out that ‘hey, this might be an ethical issue.’ So, it was an activity and an experiment regarding learning tools for the classroom and student experiences/outcomes.” Jestice, who has been doing research on virtual worlds for the past seven years, says the course continued the research she did for her 2010 doctoral thesis at State University of New York at Binghamton “Learning in virtual worlds: results from two studies.” “We were learning alongside the students,” Jestice says of the Ford/Knight experience. “They helped me advance my research because I had no ability to build in a virtual world. For my dissertation I hired and paid good money to people to build.”

Creating New Learning Environments

The Ford/Knight students quickly learned to build the environments, and the professors kept the group focused on the learning outcomes. Stahl says the students also gained insight into how professors coordinate assignments and projects with learning. For the students, it was an opportunity to learn new technology and explore an emerging approach to pedagogy.

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

“On one hand I learned the technical aspects of building in a virtual world, but I also learned what it meant to teach and how to use the technical part to teach,” says Wynn Hawker-Boehnke ’14, a Middle East and Arab Studies and Women’s, Gender, Sexuality Studies major. “One of the questions we had was how do we make the experience Becky Jestice ’97, Ph.D., in the virtual world like what you assistant professor of would see in real life. We are still business and nonprofit not harnessing the potential of management virtual worlds, but this is getting closer to real time, bridging the gap between the academic world and the real world.” Both professors were able to complete test runs of their projects. Jestice says informal feedback indicated that students liked the virtual assignment better than the written case study. “Of the 11 or 12 students, only two said they would rather not do it again, and we had problems with computers freezing, which we hope would be eliminated,” Stahl says about the test run in her French class. “Seven were clearly interested and said they would like to do it again.” The two hope to make the activities available to their colleagues in the fall. In addition, Jestice, Stahl and the

students will present research based on the Ford/Knight during the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Conference in November in Florida. Both Jestice and Stahl appreciated the variety of disciplines that worked together on the projects. Four of the students were double majors, and there were four business majors, one French major, one comparative languages and linguistics major, and only one computer science major. “Usually management people get to collaborate with one another but to collaborate with a language professor and students from different disciplines has been fabulous,” Jestice says.

Committed to Collaboration

To mark Earlham’s commitment to fostering close faculty/ student collaboration, the College combined two substantial grants, one from the Ford Foundation, which was received in 1985, and another from the Knight Foundation in 1989 to fund Ford/Knight student/faculty research projects. The fund later was endowed during a capital campaign, which included collaborative research as a major objective. The endowment provides $200,000 to $250,000 per year to fund student/faculty research, and most projects have a budget of about $10,000. More than 300 projects have been funded and more than 1,600 students have taken part. Collaboration drives human innovation in a variety of interrelated ways, and the Ford/Knight student-faculty research project is an academic expression of this basic fact, says James Logan, Ph.D., associate professor of religion. “Faculty/student collaboration in the context of Ford/ Knight can be defined as a high impact education strategy because undergraduate students gain significant experience and play a significant role alongside faculty in the shaping, designing and crafting of research and its ultimate findings or results,” says Logan, who also serves as the convener of the Ford/Knight Committee. “It is hoped that among the various high impact qualities of collaborative research, there will be some envisioning of the possible contributions of the work not only to the academic academy and to the wider community, society and/or world.”

FORD/KNIGHT

Since the mid-1980s, Ford/Knight student-faculty research projects have provided defining academic experiences for Earlham students and faculty alike. Spanning all areas of academic endeavor, these projects provide opportunities to focus on areas of inquiry that are not covered in regular courses. Occasionally these projects introduced students and faculty to new scholarly passions. Here is a sampling of a few of the projects that have been completed over the years: Annie Bandy, The Forgotten Faces of Creoleness. A Comparative Research of East Indian and Chinese immigration in the French West Indies, 2009-10 Tony Bing, The Arab-Israeli Conflict and the American Peace Movement, 1988-89 Peter Blair, Exploring and Surveying the Microbial Diversity in Yellowstone National Park, 2005-06 Barbara Caruso, Adrienne Rich and the History of her Books, 1999-00 Julia May, Quakerism and Classicism in the Works of Marcus Mote, 2010-11 Dan Graves, Multiculturalism and the Choral Canon from 1975-2000, 1999-00 Chuck Martin, Geology Along the Oregon Trail, 1991-92 Rajaram Krishnan, Aggressive Unilateralism: An Approach to Poverty Alleviation, 2004-05 Randall Shrock, Compassion and Responsibility: Charity and Social Control in Richmond 1860s-1900, 1986-87 Brent Smith, The Presettlement Vegetation of the Whitewater Valley, Indiana, 2000-01 Mark Stocksdale, Pharmaceuticals, Then and Now; A Living History of Medicines and Drugs, 2006-07

earlham.edu

Integration + Theological Formation A REFLECTION ON INTEGRATED LEARNING IN A SEMINARY CONTEXT by Jay Marshall, Ph.D. The introduction of the term “spiritual formation” into the vocabulary was a significant change for theological education, and indeed for much of the church. One of the most practical definitions I have heard for the word “spirituality” came in conversation with former ESR Professor of Spirituality, Stephanie Ford, Ph.D., who defined spirituality simply as “lived faith.” Though less ethereal than some might desire, it is a focused and pragmatic depiction. When the term “formation” is added, at a minimum, this underscores the idea that this type of education has an extremely personal dimension as it shapes and molds who one is and how one manifests the spiritual convictions one comes to hold as true. Such an educational commitment recognizes that this process is more than a transfer of information held intellectually and recited on demand. Merely mastering the classical disciplines may have made one a learned individual but did not guarantee competency in ministry. One might note that for Friends, this is hardly a radical thought, as George Fox’s words in his Journal that “to be bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to make a man fit to be a minister of Christ,” made precisely that point. This begins to get to a core issue in the discussion of integrated learning. How does the knowledge and wisdom acquired in the educational process work itself into the fabric of one’s being in ways that are formative and transformative? A few things seem important as practiced within the discipline of theological education. First is the primacy of a commitment to formation, as noted earlier. A pedagogical strategy that works well in this context combines new information with the act of reflection — indeed, wrestling in many cases — followed by action, and then once again reflection to consider what the experience was like and what more has been learned. One can reasonably ask, “To what purpose does one pursue such formation?” The language of description varies. For some it is to become Christ-like. Others will describe it as an alignment of self with the Spirit, while for others it is about living with integrity of purpose. And, as

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

a professional degree it also includes an objective to develop competency for the practice of one’s service and ministry. Second, the action/reflection model is enhanced by opportunities for deep learning, which generally push for synthesis of learning and involve interactive learning opportunities. This is not as simple as departing from lecture driven and instructor-centered classrooms. It demands the acquisition of disposition and skills to read texts generously, yet also submit them, as well as one’s own point of view, to critical analysis and discussion with a goal of moving toward an improved understanding of the issues and creative responses as the matter is filtered through the lenses of those involved in the discussion. An instructor passionate about the subject and engaged students eager to explore new territory are key elements in this process. In such an environment there are few written tests, but every class involves an examination! Finally, a major wild card variable in this educational model for ministry is context. Peter Drucker is credited with having said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” That is an insight that should be internalized, less as a warning and more as reminder that context can be a force with which to contend as one attempts to find one’s place in the world. One may not simply apply and enforce one’s educational jewels on an unsuspecting group as though history begins with your arrival. Values, assumptions, and patterns have deep roots. Dynamics differ from community to community, and even then are not static. This is as true within a religious setting as within a family organization or geographic region. Given that spirituality is “lived faith,” that ministry is practiced within the communities to which one is called, and that an emerging ministry model expects authentic ministry that grows out of one’s identity, one may anticipate a reciprocal flow of influence between minister and context as each affects the other. Integrated learning opens the doors of possibility for integrated living, which allows for the richest impact of the educational journey. For the foreseeable future, this will be the well-worn path in theological education.

nominations please!

Alumni Association

Join us on

THE HEART

for the OUTSTANDING ALUMNI AWARD and the DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD

from anywhere

As alumni, you now have access to The Heart, Earlham’s password protected website. •

Look up contact information for friends, classmates and nearby Earlhamites.

The Alumni Association seeks nominees who demonstrate: • EXCELLENCE in a chosen career • SERVICE to Earlham College

• Order an official transcript online.

• PARTICIPATION in service and volunteer organizations

• View your unofficial transcript and scholarship awards.

• SERVICE to the Society of Friends

(for recent grads only)

• ACHIEVEMENT which reflects an interest or influence developed at Earlham College

For criteria and nomination materials: earlham.edu/alumni 765-983-1313 alums@earlham.edu

Nomination materials are due March 1. Awards are presented each year during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend.

Winning Culture Earlham’s first winning baseball season in 43 years took just 71 days to play, but was the culmination of a four-year effort by nine seniors and head coach Steve Sakosits. The Quakers posted an overall record of 21-18 this spring, only the fourth 20-win season in the College’s history. Earlham was 21-10 in 1969, 26-7 in 1970 and 24-12-1 in 1971 under coach Rick Carter. “Our goal when we came to Earlham was to make a cultural change to becoming a winning program,” said senior T.J. Plummer. The right-handed relief pitcher set new EC single-season and career records in saves with six in 2014 and 13 since 2011. A key factor in the team’s success was having an on-campus baseball facility — the Randal R. Sadler Stadium. The Quakers had played 39 consecutive road games before christening the new venue with a 7-0 victory over Kalamazoo on March 8, 2014. “We have pride in our new home,” said senior Ted Williams. “Now, when we bring recruits to campus, they are in awe of how beautiful the stadium is.” Hitting fourth in the lineup, Williams compiled a .293 batting average with five home runs and 23 runs batted in for the 2014 season. “We always could sell Earlham’s great academic program,” said Sakosits. “But the stadium is a significant asset in recruiting a higher tier of baseball player.” After four years at the helm, Sakosits states, “We’re more than a team. Now, we are a program that doesn’t hope for winning seasons, but expects them.” In addition to Plummer and Williams, the senior class included pitcher Zach Lee, catcher Ryan

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

McCray, pitcher T.J. Ilhardt, first baseman Ryan Hayes, pitcher Colton Miller, infielder Alex Arovits and pitcher Adam Warning. The most incredible aspect of this historic season is that it came close to never happening. The week of the opening game, two members of the team displayed symptoms of having mumps. The Quakers ventured to the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., for games on Feb. 22 and 23, not knowing if they would be able to play or if they would be quarantined for up to 30 days. Fortunately, the students did not test positive for the mumps and the campaign began. “The adversity brought the team together and allowed us to focus on a common goal of winning,”

BY DAVID KNIGHT PHOTOS BY SUSANNA TANNER AND TOM STRICKLAND

said Sakosits. “The team’s reaction to this situation was something they really should be proud of.” The Quakers, in fact, would sprint out to a 10-3 start before entering conference play. The victory pace was slowed for a while, then the high point of the season came during the first game of a series at RoseHulman on April 18. Earlham trailed 7-5 entering the ninth inning. Williams led off with a single before Hayes blasted a game-tying home run. Hayes is the EC career record-holder with 25 home runs. Arovits followed with a single. Ira Hughes was inserted as a pinch runner for Arovits, and he moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Barger. Josh Parr promptly doubled to score Hughes and the Quakers had the lead. Plummer would come in to shut the door on the host Engineers. The victory led to a series sweep over Rose-Hulman, a team that had won its last 10 games at home, and a belief that the Quakers could challenge for Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference honors in the future.

TENNIS CHAMPS

AGAIN The Earlham men’s tennis team won its fourth straight Heartland Collegiate Athletics Conference title this spring, finishing the season with a perfect 8-0 record in the conference and a 16-7 record overall. Anton Bartashevich ’15 was named the HCAC Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row, while Chauncey Nixon was selected as the HCAC Coach of the Year. In addition to Bartashevich, Phillip Locklear ’16, Hank Levin ’14 and Jack Ventura-Cruess ’16 were each All-HCAC First Team. Scott Lawrence ’14 and Andrey Gavrilov ’14 were both on the AllHCAC Honorable Mention list. Levin was also on the All-HCAC Sportsmanship Team. Bartashevich is ranked 19th on the most recent singles list from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III Men’s Central Region Poll. He was 7-0 at No. 1 singles against HCAC foes, while posting the same record in the top doubles position with partner VenturaCruess. The duo is ranked 15th in the region. As conference champions, Earlham earned a trip to the NCAA tournament, falling in the first

round to Coe College (Iowa). earlham.edu

Faculty Activities Professor Emeritus of French

presented “Cross-Sounding: Non-

and Translations grant, to collect,

Annie Bandy and the students

Traditional Expressions of Gender

translate, and disseminate traditional

participating in her Ford/Knight

in Musical Performance,” at a

Javanese song texts.

student-faculty research project

colloquium organized at Earlham by

hosted Karisko founder Marcel Rapon

Spectrum (the campus student GLBT

Photographs by

and filmmaker Christian Foret,

organization). Also in the fall of 2013

Walt Bistline,

both from Martinique, French West

his article “(Sous)entendre le (sou)

assistant

Indies, who helped them with their

rire dans la musique de gamelan à Java

professor of art,

research on the Carib Amerindians.

centre,” on humor in Javanese gamelan

are included

Bandy, along with Professor of German

music, was published in the latest

in the current

Margaret Hampton, and Visiting

issue of Cahiers d’ethnomusicologie

group exhibition

Guest Lecturer Branwen Okpako

(Geneva, Switzerland). January of

“Social Action” at

attended the annual conference of

2014 marked the beginning of a three-

Indiana University East, which opened

the College Language Association in

year collaborative project he directs,

in January and continues through this

New Orleans, La., on March 26-29.

funded by an NEH Scholarly Editions

summer.

Okpako and Hampton participated in a session titled “Transcultural Film as a Doorway to Comparative Literary and Language Investigation Across the German Diaspora.” Okpako’s 2003 film, Tal der Ahnungslosen ( Valley of the Innocent), was the focus of the session. During the summer of 2013 Marc Benamou, associate professor of music, spent ten weeks in highland Peru researching the orquesta típica (saxophone orchestra) tradition of the Mantaro Valley, documenting and performing with one of the premier groups, Los Intergalácticos Engreídos del Perú. The trip was funded by a Mellon Foundation New Directions Initiative grant (through the Great Lakes College Association) and an Earlham Professional Development

Director of Choral Activities William Culverhouse led the Earlham College Choirs in an East Coast Tour in January. The choirs performed at the historic Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia as well as at St. Luke’s, Greenwich Village, and St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Culverhouse also led Earlham’s Mellon-funded research program in Amman, Jordan, in May, where he conducted workshops with the Dozan wa Awtar chamber choir. In early June, Culverhouse conducted Dozan wa Awtar and members of the Amman Sinfonietta in the first performances of Handel’s Messiah in the Kingdom of Jordan.

Fund grant. In November he

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

Jonathan Graham, who until

of the Arms Trade Treaty in 2013 and

Iverson published several journal

recently was creative director in

is a response to the fact that the world

articles in the past few months,

marketing and communications,

now manufactures 14 billion bullets

including three on which Earlham

contributed two pieces to the Basile

every year, approximately two for every

alumni are co-authors. These pieces

Indianapolis One-Minute Play

man, woman and child alive today.

appeared in Conservation Physiology,

Festival, part of a national effort to

Hall won the Diane Ferlauto Award for

Herpetology Review and Florida Field

create place-based theatre in cities

Originality for “ Bullets per Person” at

Naturalist.

across the country.

the Richmond Art Museum show in November.

During 2013 and spring of 2014, Deborah Jackson, associate

Associate Professor of

Associate Professor of English Scott

professor of sociology and

Spanish and

Hess gave a lecture “Gathering Nature

anthropology, served as an expert

Hispanic

in a Time of Extinction: Isabella

witness in support of two First Nations

Studies, Rodolfo

Kirkland’s Ecological Art,” at the

(indigenous) individuals in Canada

Guzmán,

Dayton Art

who are suing the Suncor Corporation

presented a

Institute, part

for polluting their air, and the Ontario

paper at the XI

of the “Isabella

Ministry of Environment for issuing

International Conference of Caribbean

Kirkland:

the licenses that have allowed for

Studies in Cartagena, Colombia, in

Stilled Life”

this pollution to occur legally. The

August 2013. The title of his paper was

Exhibition and

First Nations plaintiffs are being

“Satan, Pirates, Creoles and Runaway

Public Lecture

represented by the environmental

Slaves in the Colonial Caribbean City.”

Series. Scott,

NGO Ecojustice.

who also teaches Professor of Politics Welling Hall

in environmental studies, served as

Ellen Keister, assistant professor

produced

a Visiting External Reviewer for the

of physics, is co-author of an article

artworks entitled

Dickinson College Environmental

cited under “Spotlighting Exceptional

“Two Bullets

Science/ Environmental Studies

Research” by the American Physical

per Person”

Department as part of that

Society.

and “Garden

department’s ten-year review.

The paper,

Shears” with

“Observation

support from

Laura Hutchison, vice president

and Control of

a Swords into

of student life, was part of a panel at

Shock Waves

Plowshares New

the National Association of Student

in Individual

Directions grant from the GLCA in

Personnel Administrators Annual

Nanoplasmas,”

Spring 2013. Assistant Professor of

Conference, in Baltimore Md.,

was published

Art Sungyeoul Lee served as Hall’s

discussing key first-year issues for

in Physical Review Letters.

teacher and mentor. “Two Bullets per

Chief Student Affairs Officers.

Person” commemorates the signing

Research Professor of Biology John

earlham.edu

Faculty Activities

Betsy Schlabach, assistant professor of history, published a book review in “African American Review”, a blog post on teaching for the American Studies Journal Online, and presented a conference paper on “Dream Books and Visual Culture” at the Berkshire Conference on the

Several Earlham faculty played important roles in the Richmond Shakespeare Festival’s inaugural season in June. Lynne Perkins Socey, assistant professor of theatre arts, directed The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet and Mia Khayat, visiting assistant professor of theatre, was costume designer for that production. Mickey White, professor of theatre arts, served as production manager and Associate Professor of English Nate Eastman was dramaturg for the festival, which also included a production of Much

Ado About Nothing. Kyle Zilic, visiting assistant professor of physics, was an actor in the festival. Performances were in the historic Starr-Gennett building in the Whitewater Valley Gorge Park. Socey taught multiple workshops for the 2014 Region III Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Saginaw, Mich., and The 2014 Indiana State Thespian Conference. Khayat also taught workshops for the 2014 Region III Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Chris Smith, assistant professor of biology, was among the authors of an article entitled, “Foraging Ecology of the Tropical Giant Hunting Ant Dinoponera Australis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)—Evaluating Mechanisms for High Abundance,” which was the cover story in the scholarly journal Biotropica and featured in the editor’s blog. The research also received coverage in Discover magazine and on

Phil Morgan,

Jay Roberts,

director of

associate vice

investments,

president of

was a moderator

academic affairs

and panelist

and director

at the U.S.

of the Center

Markets Ohio

for Integrated

Institutional

Learning, gave an

Investors Forum in Columbus, Ohio.

invited presentation to the faculty at

The topic of the panel was “Due

Brevard College entitled: “The Live

Diligence on Alternative Investment

Encounter: Experiential Education

Managers.”

and the Liberal Arts.”

History of Women in Toronto last May.

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

the website of Wired magazine. Maggie Thomas, assistant professor of psychology, presented a poster entitled “Vegan is the New Vegetarian” at the annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) conference in February. At the annual

style as “historical” and “literal,”

Midwestern Psychological Association

recently was

conference in May, she gave an invited

sustainability

talk about the transition from graduate

coordinator,

school to work. Thomas is one of

participated

the inaugural co-editors for a blog

in a panel

called “This is How I Teach” which

presentation

is sponsored by the Society for the

about the

Teaching of Psychology. It features

Richmond

psychologists and their teaching

Sustainable Communities Initiative at

strategies and ideas.

the Sustainable City Year Conference

which distinguished Richmond art from places as close as Indianapolis during the late 1800s. Earlham also contributed to the book through sponsorship and by providing photos and paintings from the art collection. Other contributors include Thomas

at the University of Oregon. The Associate Professor of Chemistry

conference brought together

Lori Watson gave an invited talk

colleges and universities engaged

at the spring

in community-based sustainability

National Meeting

research programs modeled after the

of the American

University of Oregon’s Sustainable

Chemical

City Year Program. Earlham was one

Society entitled

of only a few small liberal arts colleges

“Separation

represented at the conference.

Hamm, curator of the Quaker Collection and director of Special Collections and Carmina Maldonado, curatorial assistant.

of Trivalent Julia May,

Lanthanide and Actinide Ions Using Polyazine

associate

Extractants.”

professor of art history

Works by Mark Van Buskirk,

and curator

professor of art, and Sungyeoul

of Earlham

Lee, assistant professor of art, were

Art, wrote the

included in the annual Juried Art

introduction to

show, 24th Minnetrista, in Muncie

a newly published book, The

Ind., and they both won merit awards

Richmond Group Artists.

in the show. Lee was a visiting artist

The book highlights 19th

at the University of Illinois at Urbana

century Richmond as

Champaign and gave a three-day

a center for art with

“Eyewear making workshop” and slide

a focus on the role of

lecture at the university.

Quakers and Earlham College in the local

Sarah Waddle ’10, who until

art movement. May describes the impressionist earlham.edu

Center for

Visual and Performing Arts

The College is excited for the opening of the Center for Visual and Performing Arts, Earlhamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first purpose-built home for all things related to art, music and theatre arts on campus. Construction will be complete by August 1, with faculty immediately moving into the $22 million state-of-the-art facility in time for the start of the fall semester. Featured: the painting studio

Looking Back

and

The All Black Alumni Celebration:

Moving Forward

Homecoming

This celebration is sponsored by the African American Advisory Board and the Office of Institutional Advancement.

October

24-26

“

Your GENEROSITY inspires.

When I was a student, it grounded me to know that there were people out there who wanted to see me succeed.” —Chris Owens ’09

Reflecting on the generosity of the donors who made it possible for him to attend Earlham, Chris is grateful to those who came before him and is motivated to pay it forward to current students. For questions, contact Danna O’Connell, director of annual giving, 765-983-1779 or email at oconnda@earlham.edu or make a gift at earlham.edu/online-giving.

Earlham FUND Building Capacity to Inspire

1847

since

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

2014

COMMENCEMENT

Earlham celebrated its 167th Commencement on May 10, with 266 newly minted alumni earning their bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degrees, while 13 received degrees from the Earlham School of Religion and another 18 from the Master of Arts in Teaching program. The graduates and their loved ones celebrated the occasion with hugs, hand claps, music, speeches and more. Congratulations, Class of 2014. Go do amazing things, and keep in touch.

earlham.edu

Earlhamite: The Magazine of Earlham College /Summer 2014

world forward move the

At Earlham, we strive to be fully present: thoroughly immersed in our studies, intentionally direct in our interactions, and completely invested in our open, supportive community.

u Assist counselors at your local college fairs. u Refer exceptional students you know to consider EC. u Supply the landmark college guide Colleges that Change Lives to your local schools and libraries. u Refer potential students for the Explore-a-College program.

“You know you’re not going to a typical college when you count professors amongst those you’re closest to. The respect professors give to their students is unparalleled by any other college.” —David Shutt ‘14

become

fully present These and other opportunities are available. For more information contact Cindy Parshall, Director of the Admissions Visitor Program, parshci@earlham.edu or 1-800-EARLHAM, ext. 1591.

801 National Road West Richmond, Indiana 47374-4095