1970June

Page 1

TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY HARTfORD.! CONN_. 06106.

TRINITY REPORTER VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2

TRINITY COLLEGE, HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT

JUNE 1970

Tradition, Inno~ation ~ark CiJnrrnrrencenaent

Trinity's first "bachelor alumnae" chat here with a member of the class of 1948. Left to right they are: Mrs. John Gallo , Miss Judith Odium, President Lockwood, Miss Judith Dworin and Miss Roberta Russell. Caps and Gowns were optional and girls apparently split over decision as did most of their classmates.

Mr. Trinity

-Mason Retires As Alumni Secretary; ' To Assist. President in Alumni Affairs John A. Mason, the man who knows more Trinity College alumni than anyone else, will step down from his post as alumni secretary in September. Mr. Mason is "Mr. Trinity" to a great number of Trinity's 9,000 living alumni and he knows most of them by their first name . A graduate of the class of 1934, Mr. Mason has served Trinity in a number of administrative capacities since 1946. For the past decade, as alumni secretary, he has beeP the man that has kept tabs on individual alumni through mountains of correspondence, has overseen the reunion activities of over 68 active classes, has been the "answer man" for the national alumni association and some 27 area alumni associations. A loyal fan of Trinity teams for years, he was recently made an honorary coach by the athletic department and presented with a jacket, hat and whistle. He was one of the prime supporters of the revival of crew at Trinity in the early '60s and is secretary of the Friends of Trinity P.owing. In 1964, the Friends established the Mason-Downs Cup, presented to the winner of the varsity race on Connecticut Regatta Day, to honor Mr. Mason and Dr. Norton Downs for their interest and enthusiasm in Trinity rowing. He was honored at the June meeting of the Trinity Club of Hartford and has missed few of the monthly Tuesday luncheons of that group since returning ·to Hartford. As this issue goes to press, John Mason is recuperating from a mild coronary in Hartford Hospital. It is expected that he will be at home after July 1.

A native of Milton, Mass., he attended St. Mark's School, Southboro, before coming to Trinity. During his undergraduate days, he majored in the Classics, was active in the Political Science Club, was a fierce competitor on the squash court and was a member of St. Anthony Hall. After graduation he attended Harvard Law School, spent a decade working in a travel agency and later in a war production plant before joining · the

Trinity administration. He was a member of the Board of Fellows from 1938 to 1945. He has served his College in public relations, publications, development and as an assistant to the president before taking over the alumni office. For several years, he was editor of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. (see MASON, page 3)

During these unusual times, it was not surprising that the 1970 Trinity Co!llmencement was interrupted at several points. What might have been surprising to some was that all of the interruptions, without exception, were such traditional American gestures as applause and laughter. The Commencement speaker, Dr. John M. Blum, Farnam professor of history at Yale was stopped several times by applause from the some 309 graduates of the class of 1970, 93 gi'aduate students receiving masters degrees and some 2500 spectators. Dr. Blum was afforded a standing ovation at the end of his address as was Kenneth Mills, an assistant professor of philosophy at Yale, who spoke at the invitation of the senior class. (Extracts of what the two speakers said which brought the commencement audience to its feet with applause are found on page 7). There was also spontaneous applause wJ-.ich int-erruptec the procession of undergraduates receJVIng bachelor's degrees when college marshal, Professor John A. Dando, read the name of Judith Dworin. The pretty 5'2" coed from West Hartford dressed in a brown mini (caps and gowns were optional) exchanged smiles with President Lockwood as he handed her a bachelor's degree, the very first awarded to a coed at the College. There was also applause for the other three coeds who a short time later received their degrees: Miss Judith Odium of West Hartford; Mrs. John Gallo of Hartford; and Miss Roberta Russell of West Hartford.

were called back to the platform to receive a masters degree . Only three other students at Trinity have received two degrees atthe same commencement. Four other students, who received bachelor of science degrees were only a week away from receiving a second degree, this one a master of engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute , Troy, N.Y. The four, the first to complete a special cooperative five-year program between RPI and Trinity leading to the two degrees, were: Boris P. Bushueff Jr., Wellesley , Mass .; Walter A. Clearwaters, Quaker Hill, Conn.: Alexander S. Duncan, Mentor, Ohio and Anthony H. Furman , Plainfield, N.J. Trinity's 144th Commencement slipped into history, unusual in that there were two major speakers and unique in that coeds received bachelor's degrees for the first time. Also about one-third of the class of 1970 had crossed the platform without cap and gown thereby indicating their decision to give the rental fee to a special fund. (see COMMENCEMENT, page 3)

Smith Named Vice President

Miss Odium is the fifth member of her family to earn a Trinity degree. The others include three brothers: Dr. George H. Odium, '61; Dr. Brian H. Odium, '63 and Jerome Odium, '68 and a sister Mrs. Brenda Dailey who received an M.A. in 1966.

There was a hearty ch•.1ckle when Professor Dando noted that Mr. and Mrs. Gallo were the first husband and wife in an undergraduate class and that "Trinity had gone all the way in coeducation ." There was also laughter when one of the graduates, who was a member of the crew that went to Henley last year, was greeted with a fog horn when he received his degree. Of course, there was special applause for the honorary degree recipients and for the class valedictorian, Winston G. Davids of New York and the salutatorian, Steven K. Dowinsky of New Jersey who, along with Lawrence J . Fox of West Hartford and Paul H. Serafino of Southington, Conn., received their · degrees with honors · in general scholarship. All four had been elected to Phi Beta Kappa and finished their four-year college career with a I 0.5 average with 10 being A- ()nd 11 an A. After all the members of the class of 1970 had received .degrees, two members, Francis A. Miniter of New Britain and Richard R. Wyland of Rochester, N.Y.,

Thomas A. Smith '44, a member of the administration since 1953, has been named vice president of the College. Mr. Smith has served as an admissions officer. registrar, associate dean and, for the past year, as director of external affairs. Mr. Smith, who received an M.A. from Columbia in 1952, is vice president of the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges and is a representative to the State of Connecticut Commission for Higher Education, Subcommittee on Coordination of Planning. He is also a trustee of The Connecticut Educational Television Corporation. He is a past member of the West Hartford Board of Education. As vice president of the College. his areas of responsibility will include alumni affairs, community life, admissions and financial aid.


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